Life under a Pepper Tree

The past week since my Father's funeral has been tough.  Dylan has been sick and I have come down sick too.  Tristan has been cranky and not sleeping as much as I'd like him to.  So really just a pretty crappy time.  On Friday I decided I wouldn't let the opportunity pass me by and get a little comparison shot of Tristan.  I took a photo of Dylan during his very first Easter in 2013 wearing a lovely comfy onesie and his bunny ears beanie.  I absolutely adore that photo as he is the happiest lil bunny ever.  Tristan has been wearing the onesie too, but now his little toes are pushing at the ends of the feet of the suit, so I don't think we can get any more wear out of it.  Such a shame as I love the colour on him.  I tried to get him to smile, which he happily did, but as soon as the camera was in front of my face the smile disappeared! Dylan - 2013 Tristan - 2016   Some days I can see the exact same expressions and look ...

There was just so much running around during the last week with making arrangements for my Dad's funeral that I really didn't spend any significant time with the boys and getting photos of them.  I thought about taking photos of them on the morning of the funeral in their little outfits ready to go say "goodbye" to Poppy, but I don't know if I would have wanted to look at those photos much.  The boys have been dragged all over Sydney and everyone has been tired and grumpy and not getting enough sleep.  Dylan has come down with a horrid cold and ended up being sent home from daycare last Friday with a raised temperature.  I feel like I could sleep for a week given half a chance, but little Tristan just isn't very settled and won't get into any long stretches of sleep, day or night, at the moment. It's a tough time all round, but I'm sure we'll get there. Tristan having some playtime and enjoying the noises of a crinkly toy . A portrait o...

Late. Late. Late. I feel as though I could pour my heart out right here, but it's not the right time for me.  On the 22nd June, early on that Wednesday morning my father passed away. Such a shock for us all.  Took my breath away.  Somehow we managed to fumble our way through that week and into the next.  Life continues but not in the way we want.  This new normal without my Dad, the boys "Poppy", is going to take a lot of time to feel secure again. In the week or so before it happened, Tristan "found" his fists.  They really are tasty, wriggly little things apparently. A portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2016 In the days after it happened, if we were at home, I tried to get some quiet time for each of us.  Some days I'll admit it meant giving Dylan some time on the iPad to watch his favourite episodes of Octonauts or whatever other children's programs were available.  A portrait of my children, once a week, eve...

Overall not a bad week here. We've had a few outings, been on some walks and a 4th birthday party.  Its been a mostly wet weekend, and the perfect opportunity for cuddles on the lounge with my boys, and a little me time.  I've got the best excuse for some quiet days at home.  Hubby bought me (or was instructed to buy me) the box set of the Offspring TV show on DVD.  I love it! I've gone back to the beginning to watch the early years and see the episodes I missed out on, and to refresh my memory on the ones I saw.  So looking forward to the new season starting in a few weeks! Tristan has been pretty good this past week.  Napping has been reasonable and night times are ok.  He had a few feeding strikes, but I knew he wouldn't starve himself, so I haven't been too worried.  This past week he hit 12 weeks old and I'm noticing his size 000 clothes getting a bit tighter.  I'm sure by this age Dylan was bare...

It's funny how whenever I start each post and I think about the week that just been, the first thing I go to mention is about sleep.  Sleep cycles, sleep at night, daytime sleeps, or just the lack of sleep!  I guess it's better than discussing baby poo which is a pretty common topic around here! So sleep has been better again this week.  A couple of crappy days and blocks where he just wont go down for a nap, but it's about a million times better than a few weeks ago.  We took both boys out a few times this week.  Once was our first dinner out with Tristan for my sister in laws birthday.  Somehow the stars all aligned and it was a perfectly timed evening.  He woke for a feed about half an hour before we had to leave.  So it was a quick one, then into the car for the 5 minute drive.  All the inlaws were there so while he was happy and awake Tristan got passed around for kisses and cuddles.  He then finished feeding and had a snooze...

What can I say, more poor sleeps, more frustration... until Friday!  I had a terrible few days without quality day sleeps, tears (him and I), and general misery.  I was really getting just so upset about it that I knew I had to do something to change things up and try making a few differences to our day to day, hour to hour processes, in the hope of getting some contentment.  And wow what a difference!!  Tristan immediately was so much more capable of self settling.  I can now put him down for a nap awake, and he will drift off pretty quickly, and often I don't even need to go in and pop the dummy back in.  He will now doze off for approximately 1 sleep cycle, averaging 40 minutes which is ever so much more than the 10 minutes or less we were getting before.  It's just such a huge improvement!  From there we are now trying to get multiple sleep cycles without the need for resettling during the day.  Sure it's meant th...

We continue to struggle with getting Tristan to sleep during the day, but have had a couple of reasonable naps on some days this past week.  Its just such a relief when he does sleep, but it's just too infrequent for my liking. We had the in-laws over for lunch yesterday.  I'm sure they've heard all about the lack of sleeping going on from hubby, but they got to see it first hand and they were a bit shocked.  He just springs wide awake once in his room and will cry until you pick him up.  It went on all afternoon and no amount of feeding, patting, or coaxing would convince him to settle and sleep.  Makes it very difficult and frustrating when we are trying to entertain.  Although maybe choosing to entertain with a non sleeping baby wasn't such a great idea in the first place! During the week we progressed from attending the newborn Mothers group at the local Baby Health Clinic, and on to the 2 - 4 month old group.  Hearing from some of the mum...