Hi my name is Gabriel and I am 8 weeks old

Hi everyone, my name is Gabriel and I am 8 weeks old.  Well to be precise I'm 9 weeks old by the time mummy penned this post ;)

In the first 6 weeks of my life, I had auntie with me and I was in a pair of good hands.  She called me didi (younger brother) affectionately, and I often had cuddles and kisses from her.  Mummy was recovering from her c-section wound, and so my primary caregiver was auntie.  I heard it was during the holiday season when I arrived, so daddy's workplace was quiet.  He still went in to work though, but took a week off to bring my jiejie (older sis) out to play.  In the first weeks, I slept a lot.  As with most newborns.  However in week 3, I started to fuss a bit more and refused to cooperate as much in terms of sleeping.  Mummy and auntie then decided to let me sleep in a prone position, after assessing my neck muscles and deciding it was safe to do so under supervision.

My birth weight was 3.9kg as you probably know, so yes I am a chunky baby!  Mummy called me chunky monkey and her friend Michelle joked that would probably end up as my favourite Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavour.  Hehe lame much?

I had jaundice in the first few weeks, and so daddy and mummy had to bring me to the children's A&E a couple of times.  Luckily it didn't become as bad as to require light therapy but I was classified as a prolonged jaundice case, which meant more bloods needed to be taken from me to check my liver.  Thankfully, the test results came back with an all clear.

My one month party

After milk

The first 3 weeks we have had health visitors and the midwife come to check in on mummy and me, to make sure we are settling in fine at home.  This is the standard practice provided by NHS here which mummy thinks is pretty nice.  Everyone gave the adults advice to let me drink as much milk as I wanted in order to flush the jaundice out.  So drink I did.  In fact I drank so much that I found my neck disappearing!  Geez, my mummy keeps teasing me by asking me "Gabriel, where's your neck?!"  Well it's there.. somewhere.  Don't you adore my double chin?  During our recent 6 week mum and baby check, the health visitor weighed me and said to mummy that my weight is close to the 91st percentile.  Wow, what an achievement!  Lol the health visitor told my parents "well done!"  Yes yes I know, I am bursting out of my clothes.  Well, what to do... chunky monkey here...

What neck?

Since auntie left beginning of this month, it was a tough two weeks for mummy and daddy.  They were getting to know me and my habits since they were now my main caregivers, and rightly so of course.  Jiejie is very active and I see her constantly on the move - singing, dancing, running, dashing.  I think she sings really well.  In fact she can compose her own songs - I am in awe.  Of course I just lie there and look at her.  Gee will she ever slow down?  I know she loves me because she keeps giving me kisses and calling me "baby brother" very affectionately.

I wake up once or twice in the middle of the night for milk, and jiejie too.  I think she's jealous I get milk whereas she doesn't and so I've heard her scream and yell for milkkkkk in the middle of the night.  Mummy keeps using the term "sleep deprivation" for her and daddy - what is that?  Mmm it doesn't sound very nice and I don't think I'll understand because I love my sleep and I do sleep a lot.

These past two weeks, mummy has been trying to put me into a routine, as well as sleep train me.  I think I've done pretty well and she's really proud of me.  She's been raving about me and how I am already sleep trained at 8 weeks.  When she senses that I am tired, she brings me to my cot, puts me in the prone position, and offer me the dummy.  That's when I know it is sleeping time and so yes slowly I drift off to sleep without her rocking or cuddling me.  I do love both milk and sleep - just don't ask me to choose my favourite because it is a tough choice.

Going to the childminder

Jiejie goes to the childminder full time for the time being, so I am enjoying my exclusive time with mummy for now.  Because I am mummy's dream baby, mummy can do the housework, and continue to cook yummy dinners for daddy to welcome him home every evening.  Everyone's trying to find a common rhythm for us as a family of four.  It's not the easiest thing in the world, but I think we are getting there.

Right, a few more photos below and I'll sign off for now.  I'm sure you will hear more from me in the future!

Accompanying jiejie to her ballet class while I slept