In the system
We got a kick up the bum (politely) from Internal Affairs to say we hadn't filed baby's birth registration yet. Ooops.. I actually filled that out within hours of the birth, then one thing and another never got the chance to get the forms in to the appropriate department (Translation: keep forgetting!).
Okay, fair enough - time to post off the paperwork & the cheque. Registering a birth is free, but the certificate aint, and that's beauracracy for you.
Speaking of "the system", we slipped through the Plunket system until our midwife spotted that we hadn't had a visit from the Plunket nurse and chased that along. We met our PN yesterday, and that went well. Braeden is now 12 pounds 1 ounce, and is 59 cm long. (Sheesh! Do you get as confused as I do with the flipflops of measuring systems? I think in metric, but everyone seems to prefer babies' weights in Imperial so I have to roll with it)
For weight, height & other physical measurements Braeden sits around the 75 percentile, ie he's in the top quarter for boys ieie just as well he tends towards lean, because he's going to be a big 'un! Tall is fine - chunky is not. Not that it's a problem for a baby (hell no!) but I cringe when I see porky primary school children and want to bitchslap their parents.
Cos look at me, okay? Nicely rounded as a baby, sure, but I was a skinny kid and I remember being teased for being short and scrawny. Then my luck turned around (insert several rude words) and I was a fat teen. That was horrific. Imagine being a fat five year old - the teasing, the limitations on your fun, the health risks, and the loss of a childhood. Nah - I like my cats fat and my kids and dogs lean.
Anyhoo, the Plunket Nurse informed us that her first loyalty is to the children, and the only time she'll breach our confidentiality is if she believes our child needs intervention to protect them. I replied (juuuust keeping the edge out of my voice, perhaps?) that that was fine by me, but that I would expect that if she had any such concerns the first person she would address them to would be either of Braeden's parents. We got that assurance from her, and I DO understand absolutely why someone in her position has to take that line (and what's more I agree), but it does get up one's left nostril just a tad to think you've another critic looking over your shoulder.
Well good luck to them getting "shoulder time" because I'm too busy looking over my own shoulder and critiquing myself quite savagely at times.
Then I move back just a little, and kick myself right up the jacksie for being a twit.
Anyhoo, Braeden's had a hard couple of days because he's got a nasty cold. It makes it hard for a wee fella to feed when he's all blocked up, and all the cold medications for little-uns clearly state "not for use on babies under 3 months".
Last night Braeden was so miserable after his 3am feed that I put Vicks Vaporub on my own chest, then wrapped baby up and rocked him for the next three hours ..
Whereupon Wayne woke up and found me softly crying in sympathy with my unhappy baby, and took baby off me and popped (erm strong-armed!) me into bed. When I woke up an hour and a half later, Braeden had had his first morning feed, and was having snuggles with his Dad.
The secondary eucalyptus must have helped because Braeden's breathing is a lot better; although he's still a bit hot and snuffly, he's a bit more cheerful and nothing has stopped him looking avidly for each feed! Presently he's cuddled up and sleeping in the swinging bouncinette, and will probably wake in the next half hour.
I know this for two reasons!
1. He usually wakes about then, but more importantly,
2. It's not just HIS meals that he never wants to miss! I'm about to have lunch, and Braeden seems to make it his life's mission to ensure his parents are never allowed to have a hot meal ;-)
Btw, the Karitane nurse is coming tomorrow afternoon to help work out some kind of routine (loosely, but something is better than nothing) . I'm getting there gradually, but if there's one thing I definitely do need help with, it's convincing this child to go to sleep by himself between the hours of dawn and midnight!
Yeah.. I know.. I'm too soft ;-) But hopefully this nice lady can help me find a workable solution that will be acceptable to my "don't want to miss a thing" baby, and my ever-mounting work schedule.
Ye Gods.. I dimly recall telling clients I'd be back on track within a month. Maybe I should have said a year?
posted by Karl at
12:50 pm
2 Comments:
Wowsles! I was just about to reprimand you on going back to work because I had thought you were going to take a good long time off... then I realized it HAS BEEN that long! Now comes the good part of your being self employed where you get to have Braeden with you. Can you imagine at this point leaving him at a daycare or with his grandparents 40 hours each week? Not that you're going to have an easy time with his demands to be in the middle of it all, but I give you big kudos for going this route. Can he entertain himself at all at this point? My sister did what you are doing, and Allegra spent her first year either sleeping or playing under this or that desk and conference table and as a toddler Lee could take her to even the finest of restaurants without so much as a peep to clue anyone that she didn't belong. At home though... look out!
So what ever happened to that idea about selling one of the businesses? Is it still in the works or did you change your minds?
It doesn't seem that long, does it ;-) (Mind you, at 3am this morning when we'd tried for two and a half hours to convince baby to sleep in his own bed, it seemed every minute of the six weeks it's been, then some!)
The first client trip I'll do solo, because of the nature of the two jobs (and also I'll be at those clients in Christmas week, and the last thing I want to worry about is silly season traffic and an overtired baby! Wayne will bravely hold the fort at home, armed with bottles of Mum, his cellphone, and probably a good stiff wine cork (not being a drinker, the cork should be more than enough of a sedative).
It's my plan to integrate Braeden into my ... er ... OUR lifestyle, but slooooowly at first because I'm not utterly brilliant at change.
Re selling Lifestylers - still very likely, and more likely every day as Wayne finds it harder and harder to drag his aching old bod out of bed and go do physical labour. He had second thoughts during winter, but now can't wait to change direction and be more home-based. I think the spring flush (and new baby exhaustion) had a lot to do with that .. that, and getting older and more creaky. His bod's just not so keen to deal with the hard yards any more ;-)
Now to find time to sort it all out ready for marketing, and then to work out a price. Yikes..
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