Update, as promised.

This photo was taken at Fort Lauderdale beach on 23rd January 2011. Only a week has passed since then, but it seems that Isaac is quite different now. It serves to remind me that some things are inevitable and it's nice to remember them, even if they do all happen within a very short space of time.

Isaac has totally weaned himself from my breast milk. I always thought I'd be more upset about this than it turns out I am. I know that if he still needed it then he wouldn't have weaned himself, and he did wean himself. I continued to offer and he just didn't want it anymore. When they're done, they're done and that's the end of that. It's as though my body knew too. My breasts haven't swelled up to epic proportions, but I guess the amount he was taking gradually diminished and so my supply steadily decreased until it stopped production. As Vinnie Jones once said "it's been emotional", but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Our young man now wants to walk everywhere that he can. He LOVES walking. I think he'd prefer to never be carried again actually and seemingly never tires. It's been lovely while Simon's been here because we've held a hand each while Isaac confidently and carefully places one foot in-front of the the other between us. He really is very good and I'm sure, with a little more practice, that he'll be off on his own and, as everyone we meet delights in telling us, then the fun will really start.

He's had a growth spurt while he's been here and so now wears size 12-18 months. Finally he's the same age as his clothing size! Not that that is important at all, rather it feels strange not calculating sizes and weather! He's also outgrown his shoes and now measures a size 4 in the US which equates to bigger than 3 1/2, but not quite a 4 proper in the UK. Confused much? The only problem now is I can't bring myself to get rid of his old shoes. I've kept his first pair, but he was in and out of those so quickly that his second pair seem more like his first. Aah...silly old sentimental bugger.

Before he came away Isaac had a terrible time with teething, so much so that we resorted for the first time to the dreaded Calpol. It wasn't a decision we took lightly, but he was in so much pain that he couldn't nap and subsequently couldn't sleep. We've managed his teething well using Chamomilla and Gumomile until this point. He only had Calpol a couple of times, but it did the trick and he was able to sleep. Soon after arrived two bottom molars and two upper incisors...four teeth simultaneously!

So those are some changes we've experienced recently, but there's so much more that happens daily to make me realise how much of a little person he is now: his vehement dislike for vegetables (we keep trying in new and ingenious ways to no avail), his waving and saying goodbye to people and more recently saying "hiya" and waving hello, reactions to different things I whisper in his ear, the habitual fight at nappy changing time, his continued comical use of objects as telephones, his preferred use of a fork and spoon to fingers when eating, giving us proper kisses on the cheek at bedtime, how he looks at me to see what my reaction will be...this list is by no means exhaustive.

When I was younger I never understood why people wanted to have children, I found the idea (along with marriage) bewildering and somewhat ridiculous. Now, as I sit here pondering the life Simon and I created, there isn't a flicker of doubt that remains in my mind as to why we did. Isaac is the greatest joy, heartache, frustration and love I have ever experienced. I don't expect everyone to understand and I'n not saying children are for everyone, but I make no apologies for how I feel.

I’ve been naughty…

I went into Polarn O. Pyret today...there wasn't a sale on...BAD SARAH!

I couldn't resist these, aren't they the cutest?!

So, that's me & Simon eating beans on toast for a week!

Random words

I said I'd write about Isaac in my last post, but I haven't posted anything since 6th April. With it now being 24th April I decided it was high time I pulled my finger out & wrote! Some of the delay can be blamed on our unplanned "extra holiday" in Spain owing to a certain Icelandic volcano and its ash emissions. We should've been home on the afternoon of 18th April, but made it back on the night of 22nd instead. Isaac was a little star the whole time. He really is a placid little thing. He made lots of friends on holiday and took the travelling (flights & hideous coach journeys) in his stride and didn't seem upset at all by the time change. It was only an hour - we'll see how he fares next month when we go to Florida. I'm sure he'll be fine. How can he not be? He's perfect :-) Having travelled a 20 hour coach journey with him has made me realise - we can do anything.

Before our [dreaded] holiday I kept a note of Isaac-related things I wanted to write about in my Isaac-related post and now I sit down to write it, they don't really make any sense - just words on paper: hair, solids, sleeping, clothes, interested and nappies. Hmm. I'm sure they all made perfect sense when I wrote them! So much has scrambled my brain over the past week that I'm just going to have to hazard a guess as to what each meant.

Hair - it can't be my hair because I wrote about that already in my last post. Isaac's hair is lovely. It's so soft and fluffy. He's developing a little mohawk that makes it's best appearance when he wakes up from his night sleep. His slightly frightening baby mullet that emerged from the womb with him has now gone and he has the perfect little boy do right now. I'm just going to let it grow I think, see where that takes us.

Solids - yes, he eats them. What did I mean?? Hmm. I guess he eats a lot more now than he used to (!) ? He isn't a huge fan of the baby led weaning and seems to want the food in his mouth RIGHT NOW! Hungry boy. Purée/mashing it is. Who am I to argue? The kid knows what he wants. I'm finding myself up against a brick wall with vegan weaning. At a recent weigh-in, when questioned about what to give him, the weighing HV said "well you're more qualified than me to say really". Thanks for your complete and unwavering help and advice. I feel so...supported. Back to the drawing board with that one. All suggestions gratefully received!

Sleeping - since the commencement of solid food, Isaac hasn't been sleeping through the night. We've had one or two nights of uninterrupted sleep, but otherwise he sleeps from around 7pm until between 1am & 4am, has a nappy change & a feed & then goes back to sleep until just before 7am. I still think we're incredibly lucky that he doesn't wake more often.

Clothes - he's still in 3 - 6 months sized clothing. See, he's very long, but not very wide. He's not a porker by any stretch of the imagination. The 3-6 month bottoms are so loose around his little waist, they'll do him for a while methinks. It's a good job summer is on the way (or are we having it now?) so that I can pass short trousers off as 3/4 lengths or turn them up into shorts. I'd love to know from where the basis for children's clothing sizes comes as I know a few other babies who find clothing too big for the size.

What is this noise machine??

Interested - Isaac is so much more interested in everything around him now! It's so lovely to watch. He still isn't overly fussed with toys, preferring household objects - measuring cups, pegs, his monitor (the parent unit), the telephone (he's particularly taken with speaker phone!) He does love his little jangly bell froggy and his cuddly squeaky dog. His little face lights up and he does this amazingly cute little grab and grin when I pull it out of my bag :-D He also LOVES Rinny. She's always doing something so he always has something to watch. He very much enjoys our play time with her which consists of *me throwing the ball for her & her chasing after it & bringing it back, (rep from * until someone gets bored). He can watch this for a very long time!

Nappies - I know this one! He's finally moved up a nappy size! Woohoo! I don't know why I'm so pleased, I suppose it's physical evidence that's he's gaining weight and growing. So, we're now on size 3 Bambo Nature nappies! Just before we changed sizes, his other ones still fit him, but leaked a couple of times so we decided to move up a size and it's all going swimmingly.

While I've been writing the above I've made a mental note of some more I'd like to add: weight, smile, character, squeal.

Weight - at the last weigh in he was 12lbs exactly. Now, that's still about 3lbs under any kind of "normal" on the breastfed baby chart in his red book, but seriously. Who cares? He's healthy and happy. I could understand the need for concern if he was all skin and bone and wasn't himself, but he is. So. I see nothing wrong with him being the weight he is. HV comments are like water off a ducks back now. In one and out t'other.

Smile - he's beautiful enough already without him smiling, but when he does, oh boy. I melt. My face explodes into a super smile and I feel so overwhelmingly full of happiness and complete adoration for my little Wiggler. He smiles. A lot. He even smiles when you can tell he's tired or not feeling so great, only not for as long.

Character - our Little Man is such a character. Over the past few days I've noticed his personality start to come out. I'm looking forward to seeing more of it!

 Squeal - he's developed a sort of squeal that goes so high pitched it becomes silent. It's not a bad thing, just something he does. Right now I have some sort of throat thing so I can join in the disappearing squeal making!

Here ends the random wordage.

Ok. One more. Maybe two.

Own room.

I put the blackout blind up today and Isaac has gone to bed in his own room tonight for the first time. I'm looking forward to going to bed in our room and having a little read before I turn the light out. Honest. I'm very sad that he's not in there with us anymore. In-fact, I'm a bit downhearted that he's gone, but we were disturbing him when we came to bed and discovered he sleeps better on his own while we were on holiday. *sigh* Our room feels much emptier now, although there are actually more pieces of furniture in it now we've swapped his cot for our chest of drawers etc.

And now for the final two. Promise.

Separation anxiety.

Little Man loves his Mama.