Sleep!

So Jake managed a 6 hour sleep stint the other night. The only problem was that it was from 6pm to 12 midnight...that said however, he proved to us he can sleep for 6 hours at a time. The next sleep was for 4 hours as well which gave us at least one sleep cycle.

We have a clock which projects the time onto our ceiling, have had for years and we've come to rely on it so as if we're away from home, we have to have some source of knowing the time the second we open our eyes. The advantage now is that we know exactly to the minute (the clock is automatically synced with the transmitter at Rugby!) when his last feed was started, when he fell back to sleep and how long he's been asleep. We're pretty sad I guess but we actually wake each other up to express our excitement that he's let us sleep for longer!

He's getting there, the little bundle of wonder.

Last night we took him to his first fireworks display. 'Display' is a little flattering as it was more a sound show due to the intense fog and firework smoke and ultimately the kind of show that the expression 'a damp squib' was designed for. If you care, a 'squib' is a firework of sorts, hence a damp one being something of an anticlimax. Anyway he went and he stayed awake which is very rare for an evening. He normally does his long sleep during our evening, which is good because we get to have a normal time together in the evening but not so good as we never know how long his next period of sleep will be. Anyway as he was awake throughout, we were convinced that this was to be 'the night', the night he slept for 6 hours during the correct period of the night. Predictably he didn't. It was Clare's turn to do both feeds and I woke up during both and was a bit disappointed but reminded myself that he's an eight week old baby and isn't going to do as he's told just yet!

Clare took the little man to craneology yesterday which is good for babies born via the dreaded forceps. They can sometimes get a pain in their necks and lower backs because of the concertina effect of a long labour. It seemed to calm him down and was during the part of the day when he screams for 3 hours at a time. The specialist reckons one more session will do the trick, which will be a welcome relief for Clare who has to deal with the screams before I get home from work to help her out.

He's starting to smile almost daily now and it's just amazing every time. A little feedback goes a long way and one smile makes you forget all about the lack of sleep, the screaming and the poo explosions in an instant. Bless him.

Here's a picture with his new monkey.