Little Cousins

So one of the favorite things for Aerten to do in Australia was hanging out with his BIG cousins. There seems to be a secret connection between LITTLE PEOPLE that big people just don't understand. Aerten spent hours on Eva's lap snoozing or admiringly staring at her. Eva was so caring of him that we had to keep reminding each other that she is only 4 years old! However I am sure that Aerten can count on Eva's protection forever more. As for Pip she LOVES to give Aerten BIG bear hugs and kisses. Not sure that she quite knows the difference between her baby doll and baby Aerten: "Where's the Baby? Can I hold IT?"

Beach Boy

It's time for an update on Aertens Verden after 2 lovely weeks in Australia. It was so so good to hang out as a little family and one of the memorable moments was Aertens first trip to the beach. Preparing for the beach is a 2-4 hour process these days! How do you make sure to cover every little inch of very pale baby skin with sunscreen?? It takes time - especially now that Aerten has developed numerous rolls on arms and thighs! Borrowed a sun shirt of the lovely cousin Pip and headed off dressed in lilac (hence the black and white photo - don't want little man to be traumatized for life). First attempt at the water resulted in a very stunned Aerten who does not enjoy cold water - but after a few dips he started enjoying it (or maybe I just want him to enjoy it as we are destined for a life near the beach). And the experience was further improved by removing the cold soggy nappy (for some reason I thought it most appropriate for Aerten to wear a nappy in the water - won't be repeating that mistake). The grand finale of our beach trip was another great bonding episode between father and son. As I was holding Aerten Daddy spotted a fair amount of poo running down my belly. He found this very hilarious and enjoyed pointing this out while drying off his hair with the towel I had had wrapped around Aerten only to realized that it was covered in poo too! Once again we realized that Aerten gets the final comment in every situation!

Where did I put the Baby???????

When I was pregnant my Mum gave me a book called: Where did I put the Baby (in Danish: Hvor lagde jeg babyen?) by Julia Lahme. At first I thought it was an inconsiderate hint from the Mormor-to-be but I soon realized that it is just a hilariously funny book about motherhood. Now I realize that what I thought was funny stories (embellished by the author) is the harsh reality of Motherhood!!!! So here is my own 'Where did I put the Baby story.

The first 3 weeks of Aertens life we had his Nana staying with us. (She was amazing and I wouldn't have survived without her support. Would recommend having family around to anyone who thinks having a baby is all about bonding between baby, you and hubby - think again - it's all about SURVIVAL). Most mornings Daddy would bring Aerten downstairs while having brekky and then hand him over to Nana when he had to leave for work. Nana would then bring Aerten back up the stairs when he couldn't possibly survive any longer without a feed (or at least that is what Aerten thinks every time he is hungry). Then one morning I woke up convinced that Daddy had brought Aerten up for a feed but Aerten was no where to be seen!!!! Where did I put the baby?? I was convinced that I could hear him in the room so ripped everything of our bed, of his bed and even looked under the beds!! As he was no where to be seen in the bedroom I stormed downstairs only to find Aerten peacefully asleep in Nana's arms!!!!

SLEEP DEPRIVATION IS DANGEROUS! (It should be illegal for us new Mum's to drive cars)

Quality time with Dad

So Saturday morning was quality time with Daddy which included peeing on his shorts and vomiting on his t-shirt all within 20 minutes as we were leaving the house - luckily Daddy is a tougher than what we thought he would be (before the arrival of Aerten none of us could imagine dealing with pee, poo and vomit in such a casual way) so he decided changing his clothes wasn't worth the effort (and he was also going to strap Aerten in the Baby Bjorn so no one would notice a bit of curdled milk on the t-shirt anyway).

Today is a BIG day

It is now official: Aerten has moved up in the world! He is now a wooping size 000!!! I'm not quite sure what that equals in European sizes but IT IS BIG!!! So time to pack away all of the tiny newborn clothes and bring on the BIG man's clothes! I am sure I can feel him getting heavier by the day! Some mornings I lift him out of bed and feel like my arms are going to fall off - if only my muscles could keep up with his weight gain!! No wonder I have to eat so much food (and cakes and chocolate) !!!

Bath Time

Time to tell you all about one of the daily activities with Little Man. Bath Time is probably Aerten's favorite activity despite all of our efforts to make him hate it in the early days: There was the time when I dunked him in COLD water! Absolutely NOT a hit! But Aerten is partly to blame for that incident (it is probably not really fair to blame some one who is 1 week old for anything!). It happened in the early days when I still thought I could be a Super-Mum (have now realized that it is much easier to ask someone to give you a hand) and dispose of nappy, fill bath and hold Aerten all at the same time! After filling the bath with not too hot water we embarked on the disposal of soiled nappy - unfortunately I had forgotten the bum-cream at previous nappy change (error not to be repeated) so poo was extremely stuck to poor Aerten's skin! 100 wipes later I had finally managed to get all poo off (now I ask my self why?? He was en route to the bath!) but Aerten then decided it was time for a pee! So we then had to change the towel (thanks to the Black's we have quite a few of those hooded towels). By the time we finally got to the bath itself the water was stone cold!!! Not enjoyable!

Second attempt to attempt to make Aerten dislike Bath Time happened the day after when Daddy had his first go at bathing a slippery little baby! Lets just say that he nearly dropped the Little man in the water.

But they are resilliant little ones and despite all of our efforts Aerten now LOVES his bath! An absolute second favourite activity right after eating (at least I hope so as I seem to spend half the day and night feeding him!)

Aertens New Cyber Verden

Little Man is asleep so here is my chance to create a blog which will hopefully allow Family and Friends around the World to follow the everyday life of Aerten (his cover name for this blog, alternatively I might call him Little Man so don't get confused).

First 5 weeks have passed and we are slowly getting used to sleep-deprivation, poo, pee, vomit and all the other beautiful moments a little person brings to you life.

Little Man is more and more awake these days which his Mum is finding a bit difficult getting used to - how to stimulate such a small person who in essence gets overstimulated when he has to pass a wind???? Well, I'm sure we'll get the hang of it sooner or later.

Ohh - have to run as Aerten has started his 'I'm waking up' grunts!