Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve! Lee is at work, James is in bed and I'm just sitting enjoying some tea and a mince tart. I have managed to enjoy the build up to the big day and managed to cross off most of the activities on my advent list.



I took a few pictures around the flat to try to remember James's first Christmas.

Our wee tree

James's little tree

We also managed to get all of his advent pictures taken, including today's wonderfully naff outfit.

James at 4 months*

*we were obviously sleep deprived this month and cannot spell months!

Sleeping

Napping during the day has been pretty good this month, with 2-3 naps a day. Most naps are 45 minutes and it still amazes us how James will wake up bang on 45 minutes!

Nighttime sleep started off rather well at the beginning of the month, with only one wake up during the night. But things went downhill significantly once we returned from Canada. I initially attributed it to jet lag, but a few weeks after our return James was still waking up 3-4 times a night. This was pretty rough for both of us - sleep deprivation can make parents nuts.

Appearance

He has continued to fill out at weighed 14 pounds when the health visitor weighed him at 15 weeks.

Eating

James is eating every 3-4 hours now and still has a bottle of formula at night. There was a few nights where he was refusing the bottle, but thankfully that passed.

Clothing

He is still in mainly 3-6 month clothing with some 6 month pyjamas and sweaters.

Personality

He is generally a happy and smiley little boy but we went through a few weeks where he just didn't seem his usual self. He would cry a lot more than usual and wanted to be constantly kept busy. He also started sucking his thumb and fingers a lot more. This all tied in with what the Wonder Weeks describes as getting ready to make 'a leap'.

Events

• Flight back to the UK
• His first 3+ hour car ride (he slept most of the way!)
• His (and ours) first visit to York
• The birth of his friend Norah

A few pictures from the past month

In front of York Minster

York at night

Before the Advent procession

Excited for fish and chips!

Advent activities

Inspired by the internet (where else?) I have drawn up a list of activities to help me to savour the Advent season. James isn't old enough to appreciate this time of year, but as I am on maternity leave, this is the year to truly embrace the season.

The list has been going around in my head, but I think it would be good to put it in writing. I don't have a nice long list of 24 activities, but decided to keep it simple and hopefully manageable.

1. Make a wreath (done! See below)
2. Send Christmas cards
3. Make gingerbread cookies
4. Meet with friends for festive drinks
5. Go to a carol concert at Worcester cathedral
6. Go for a walk as a family up the Malvern hills
7. Start to sort out the multitude of pictures taken in 2012
8. Watch Christmas movies (Elf, Love Actually, The Holiday, etc).
9. Buy and hang mistletoe
10. Send grandparents a daily advent picture of James (ongoing)

 

I'm still working on completing all of the activities except for the first one, and it is already the 9th. I need to get cracking! For the first activity, I went with friends to a wreath making class run by a local florist. It was great fun and made me appreciate how hard florists do work (and how dirty and scratched their poor hands can get!).

 

Wreath making success!

 

My wreath on our front door

 

 

For activity #10, we have managed to send a daily picture of James and are a third of the way there! It is fun trying to think up different poses and locations.

 

Day 8 of the advent calendar

 

James at 3 months

Sleeping

James seems to have put himself on a bit of a schedule, which is a pleasant surprise. He is up for two hours and then needs to take a nap. This can be either in his cot or his carseat or pushchair if we are out and are usually around 45 minutes. He is waking up from his naps a lot more pleasant now and usually smiles a big gummy grin.

Sleeping at night is a bit hit or miss. He goes to bed at a regular time of 7 and then will wake up 1 to 3 times throughout the night. Thankfully he still is really good at going back to sleep after a nighttime feed.

Appearance

He has really started to fill out this month, with the appearance of a few chins and nice chunky thighs. His hair is growing a lot more too. We are undecided as to the colour, which appears dark blonde in some lights and rather reddish in others.

Eating

James is still eating every 2.5 to 3 hours during the day and usually has a bottle of formula at night.

Clothing

He is definitely into 3 to 6 month clothing now, with some 6 month clothing thrown in. Some of the sleepers he wore at the beginning of our trip to Canada no longer fit by the end of the 3-week trip.

Personality

James is so much fun now with lots of squeals, squeaks and smiles. He is so nosy and is always rubber-necking and looking around. He seems to enjoy tummy time a lot more and his neck control is getting so much better.

Events (there were a lot of firsts)

• He met his auntie MC for the first time when she visited us in Worcester
• His first flight! He did so well on the 8-hour flight and pretty much just ate and slept the entire time
• His first visit to Canada and visits with his great aunt Marg, great uncle Bob, auntie Megs and lots of friends
• His first exposure to snow
• His first Halloween
• The birth of his sweet cousin Layla

Pictures from the past month

James at 2 months

Sleeping

We as parents and James himself still struggle with daytime naps. We probably don't work hard enough scheduling naps and are just going with the flow, which leads to a range of nap times and nap lengths. Night times are a bit more scheduled and James is pretty great at going to sleep at 7. He wakes up at various times throughout the night but is generally pretty good at getting back to sleep.

Appearance

His hair is beginning to grow a bit more on the top of his head, with a slight baby mullet. It looks blond in some light and rather reddish in other lights. His baby acne cleared up after one week and he no longer has the dry skin problem on his head. A few days before he turned two months he weighed 10 pounds and 2 ounces.

Eating

He is still a great eater and usually eats every 2.5 to 3 hours during the day and twice in the night. He gets a bottle of formula at night or if his grandma is babysitting him during the day and if I haven't managed to pump enough.

Clothing

James is now in 0-3month sized clothes, with some 3-6 month sleepers and the odd pair of (rather large) newborn trousers. We are now able to have a little more fun when dressing him.

Personality

James is starting to develop his own personality. He has started to laugh and smile a lot more and has recently progressed from smiling with a big wide grin to making cooing noises and a high pitch squeal. When he is not hungry, tired or has a dirty nappy he is a very content little boy who likes nothing more than having people talk to him. James also likes nothing more than having his evening bath. He is very energetic in the water and enjoys kicking and splashing around with a big smile on his face.

Events

• He did pretty well at his first round of immunizations at 8 weeks
• First visit with my boss and colleagues
• Watched Daddy run a 10km assault course
• Started using our reusable nappies

Pictures from the past month

Not too sure about reusables

 

Visit with cousins

 

 

 

 

 

James and daddy

James is starting to engage with us a lot more now. His wide smile, coos, and squeaks melt my heart and make everything worthwhile.

James and daddy from The McWoods on Vimeo.

 

Untitled

James seems pretty pleased with the outfit Lee dressed him in today - his first pair of trousers!

I think he looks a bit like my grandfather, who had the tendency to wear his trousers a bit too high.

 

 

Milk coma

Snoring and comatose after a feed :)

milk coma from The McWoods on Vimeo.

 

James at one month

Sleep

His naps during the day are all over the place and there are some days where the only sleep he gets is when he falls asleep during a feed. At night James will usually sleep for 3 to 4 hours, waking to feed at around 1 and again at 4. His favorite place to sleep is on our chest.

Appearance

He has started to get a little bit of baby acne and his skin is continuing to peel like he has been sunburned. His lovely strawberry blonde hair is thinning on the top, leaving him with a hairline like an old man and a bit of a mullet. The red birth mark on his right eyelid seems to lighten and then darken over the course of the day. It turns bright red whenever he cries or becomes overtired. James has also inherited the Wood family ear lump - a small lump on his ear lobe that Lee, his sister, and both Lee's niece and nephew have. Let's just hope he inherits the good Wood family vision. At 1 month and 1 day James weighed 9 pounds, which was a great improvement from the previous week's measurement of 8 pounds 2 ounces.

Eating

James loves to eat but breastfeeding has been a struggle since we first tried to latch when he was placed on my chest post delivery. His shallow latch left me with painful nipples, a case of mastitis and lots of tears. We have been supplementing with formula since we got home from hospital due to the large weight loss (9%) and the lack of weight gain in the first 2 weeks. The supplementing with formula, along with whatever I could express, also helped to try and give my nipples a bit of a rest from the horrible latch. I'm just grateful that he is able to drink from a bottle and doesn't seem to have developed any confusion between the two. It is only in the past few days where we seem to be turning a corner with breastfeeding - the sensation is now manageable and no longer like he is shoving needles into my nipples.

Clothing 

He is still in all newborn sized clothes, which as it turns out, we didn't really have very many. There are tons of 0-3 outfits in his closet that remain untouched, but I'm sure that won't be for too much longer. The outfit that he came home from the hospital in is still quite loose in the body but is starting to get too tight in the length.

Likes and dislikes

Likes: baths, car rides, sleeping on our chests, eating, being in the Boba carrier
Dislikes: napping in his cot, getting out of the bath

Events

Getting his passport photo taken
Smiling!! (He first started smiling at around 3 weeks and we love to gurn at him like idiots to get him to smile)
1.5 hours car trip to visit family in Oxfordshire (he slept both directions)

Pictures from the past month