Joseph's first Christmas.

Of course he didn't have a clue what was going on but he must have sensed something because he woke up and waited until the girls had opened all their presents before having his first bottle of the day and he didn't complain. He had some lovely gifts, mostly clothes and a few teddys but he also had an inflatable ring which he can sit in and play with toys. And he had a big blue elephant with crinkly ears which he loves. It also has a rattle on it's trunk and other bits and pieces, but Joseph just loves his ears so far.

My last post was 22nd December, on the 23rd I had to take Joseph to the drs because he couldn't keep a single feed down and he had terrible diarhorrea. The dr said he had gastronentritis but it was in the early stages and could either get better or much worse. Well, it took a while to get better, but he didn't really get much worse. I managed to keep him from dehydrating anyway. He hasn't been sick for just over a day now so fingers crossed it's over.

Also since my last post Joseph has had a tooth appear! It's a bottom front one, I thought there was two at first but the other one hasn't quite broken through yet so it doesn't count.

No Teeth, No Food but a Little More Hair!

My little man is going to be fair like Leila. His hair is growing more now and it's really light. My eldest son didn't grow hair until he was nearly two years old but then it grew really thick and dark. I thought that maybe Joseph would be the same as he was born bald too, but I was wrong.

He's still dribbling for England and chewing his fingers but no sign of any teeth yet. So I thought maybe he was hungry and tried him with a little baby rice but he spat it back at me. I left it a day or two and tried again with some baby breakfast cereal but that didn't go down either. He's not ready yet so I'm going to leave it a week before trying again, or I might just wait and give him finger foods instead, maybe he's not a mushy/puree baby.

One big shock is that he is a thumb sucker! Five kids and this is the first thumb sucker I've had. The three eldest had dummies, Leila had nothing and Joseph refused a dummy so I thought he was going to be like Leila, but he's found his thumb and he loves it. Not sure how I feel about it. I've always found it easy to get my kids to give up their dummies, but I know it's harder to get a child to give up thumb sucking.

3 more sleeps and it's Joseph's first Christmas. Not one he'll remember but I will. Lucy and Leila are going to be real excited this year when they see that Santa has been, I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning.

17 weeks/4months

Joseph almost slept through the night last night. He went to sleep around 8pm, I gave him a dream feed at 11pm and he didn't wake until 5am. I usually get up around 6am anyway. If he continues to do this (fingers tightly crossed because I'm fed up of getting up at 3am) then I might start dropping his dream feed. I'll probably have weaned him before then though.

I think he may be teething. He's constantly dribbling and chewing on his fingers, blanket or muslin. If he gets distressed it usually a little Dentinox rubbed in his gums that settles him. Leila cut her first tooth at 4 months so it won't be a surprise. Although I should have learnt by now that all kids are different and you can't make comparisons.

I was talking with Graham today and we decided that it was quite obvious which kids took after who, my eldest son takes after me, he has my mum's colouring and even looks like my brothers. So although he doesn't look like me he definately has the majority of my genes. My eldest daughter looks like me but has her dad's eyes and is very like him in her personality. Considering he left us when she was really young it has to be in the genes (score one for the nature side of the nurture/nature debate)
Lucy looks like me and acts like me, she has my temperament and everyone who knew me as a child says she is like me all over again. The  difference is her hair, it's definately from her daddy's side and so are her blue eyes. Leila is a trickier one, she's got my hair and eyes, but her personality is much more like her daddy's. So what of Joseph? We are split on this because he seems to change all the time. He looked just like his daddy at one point but now people say he looks like Leila. As for his personality, we have a long wait on that!

Weeks 15 and 16

My poor little man has been ill again. Last week there was a bug going around the whole family, Leila was off nursery all week, Lucy only went to school one day, even the grown-ups had poorly days. It was a miserable week. Then on Sunday Joseph got sick. I took the girls back to school on Monday and tried to get an appointment with the dr for Joe. forty minutes on the phone until I got through and all appointments were gone. They said the dr would call back but I had to call again to remind them as it was approaching lunch time and I'd still not had a call. The dr did call and told me to take him up during lunch time (the surgery closes for an hour) It was good because I didn't have to wait to be seen, there was no-one else there.
Joseph got penicillin for his chest, iboprofen for his temperature and kaolin for his upset tum. He's been taking them all like a trouper and now almost 4 days later he is looking much better.

He's holding himself up really well now, it won't be long before he can sit alone. I've bought him a play ring to sit in for Christmas. I'd love to use it now, but I have to keep it for a few more weeks.