Wow, what a year it's been. I often sit in wonder when I think about all that has happened in 2012. My little miracle boy is my reason for being and I feel so blessed to have him. He is changing so quickly, and is his own little person already, and at times I think he has a really big personality for such a small boy.
October has been a mad month, I've had almost no time to do any blogging, so I'll do yet another flash update.
Ashton has started doing so many new things... he has started giggling and laughing, I can't help but laugh because it is so adorable. Other than that, he smiles so often now, and chats to me about all sorts of things that for now only he will know about. He's mimicking sounds, moving his head in the direction of things - try walk away from him and he follows you.
He loves to be held up in the air and moved from side to side, and if you make faces at him while he's up there, or smile at him he squeals in delight. He must think we are silly. You will be surprised at the things you do as a parent to try and get a response. He is also sitting with support, but sometimes falls over. We just say boom and smile at him, and then he smiles right back, no tears.
I got home yesterday to find him holding his zebra rattle, shaking it to hear the noise, and then grabbing it with his other hand and bringing it straight to his mouth. There was gob every where. He has been drooling up a storm. Or a river. He's also discovered the tags on his taglet, which is so awesome to watch. I can sit for hours watching him play, it really does feel like I'm experiencing life through his eyes. And I am going to be missing out on so much when I go back to work.
Sleeping is generally going okay. Not wonderful. What I will say though is we had a record night on Wednesday night. He passed out at 20h45 but not without a fight - took me 45 minutes to get him down. After his bath and massage, I dressed him in his pajamas and the second I had popped the last button in place, the crying started. He cried and cried, and it got progressively worse. He knew it was bed time and he wasn't having any of it. Nothing. Couldn't even bring the blanket close to try and wrap him. Before long he was screaming, nothing I could do would make him stop. I stood up, sat down, did both and rocked him, put him down on his back, his side, his tummy, you name it, nothing worked. I put him down one last time and re-wrapped him, leaned him onto his changing mat, and supporting him with my arms I rocked him. Next minute he just passed out. Relief.
Last night he woke up at 23h00, not because he was hungry, but because he was getting cold. I wrapped him up again and cuddled him for a bit and then he went right back to sleep.
It's actually quite sweet when he starts crying, he pushes his bottom lip out and does a sad little moan, which turns into a tiny little cry. When it goes on forever though is when I forget all about how sweet it can be.
I've also spent a lot of my time this month training for my new job and I've been enjoying it so much. I started with training on 3rd October and my last session will be on 31st October. I am really excited to make a fresh start.
To be honest, I have been a feeling a little down about leaving my baby when I return to work, for no other reason than feeling he might forget who I am. In my heart of hearts I know he won't forget me, but there were two days when I got home from training and he didn't even give me a glance. On both occasions it was quite a while before he noticed me, and then we were back to cooing and smiling and just melting his mommy's heart as per normal.
On Thursday morning I was cooling down a bottle in the bathroom basin, with Ashton in my arms. He started gurgling and laughing and then I realised he had noticed himself in the mirror and was going beserk. Too cute. I took him into the bathroom again this morning and got a repeat - I must remember to take a video of it for keepsake.
Speaking of videos... my father in law got us a video camera as a gift for our birthdays, it's so awesome! Mind you, I made it to the big three oh this month. It was an awesome pool party, three of us decided to combine our birthdays into one big bash. I have to remember to post pictures at some stage.
We went for a free trial class at Edenvale Moms and Babes last week. It was great. You wouldn't think so, but it's a lot of stimulation for the little ones. Ashton just plain refused to do a few of the exercises, and started moaning, and then crying. He then went back to moaning, and then started gurgling and making loud noises so he became the centre of attention - luckily everyone else laughed. I got to hear about so many new things and got a chance to chat to other moms afterwards, it was really informative. Something that was said about the babies was that all of a sudden it will seem like a light switch went on, and they become totally aware of their surroundings. I think it happened this week.
Ashton will be 4 months old in two days' time. Just look at him.
