Rainy Sunday

Today's outing was to the Baby & Kids Market held every 6 weeks or so where they sell "Pre-loved" baby goods. Clothes, toys, prams, cots, etc, etc. All in damn fine condition. Now, if you know ANYONE about to pop a baby in Oz, send them to the website: http://www.babykidsmarket.com.au/ to check when the next one is on near them!

PS: They don't let people sell stuff that is broken, dirty or manky in any other way.

Oh, I do love a bargain. $1 here, $2 outfit there. The snazzy brands, hardly worn...And what's more, I actually am able to go to a MARKET with my husband who would otherwise usually rather stick pins in his eyes than goanywhere near a MARKET. But see how clever I am to entice him on the outing by combining his interests in babies and saving money. So canny!!

Purchases:

What??




Come here you teddy:

Konked

Junkie

Baby's smile 'like an addictive drug'
By Tamara McLean July 08, 2008

A BABY'S smile gives a new mother a high like a drug hit and is equally addictive, a study of the female brain shows.
Neural scans on women help explain the extremely strong bond between mother and baby by showing how images of the infant affect the brain.
A study involving 28 first-time mothers shows that when a woman looks at a photo of her baby smiling the reward centres of her brain light up.
These regions, called the substantia nigra, the striatum and the frontal lobe, are involved in emotion processing, cognition and behavioural outputs.
Lead researcher Lane Strathearn, a Queenslander now based in the US, said these areas had also been activated in experiments associated with drug addiction.
"It may be that seeing your own baby's face is like a natural high," said Dr Strathearn, who is based at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.
The study, published in the journal Paediatrics, showed this maternal activation was strongest with smiling faces.
Photos of babies crying did not evoke the same brain response.
In fact, there was little difference in mothers' brains when they saw their own babies' crying face compared to that of an unknown child, Dr Strathearn said.
The findings could help scientists explain the inner workings of that critical mother-infant bond.
"Understanding how a mother responds uniquely to her own infant, when smiling or crying, may be the first step in understanding the neural basis of mother-infant attachment," he said.
It could also help shed light on how the bond fails to form in some cases.
"The relationship between mothers and infants is critical for child development," Dr Strathearn said.
"For whatever reason, in some cases, that relationship doesn't develop normally and neglect and abuse can result, with devastating effects on a child's development."

Moods

Look of Horror

I know he can have a very alarmed expression.
I think it's the flash that does it....
but it could be my singing.

13.1 weeks

and 6.3 kgs. Happy and Healthy. Just the way we like 'em.

See the baby at 4.5 weeks...



And see him now at 3 months!




Cor blimey...he's even got another chin!




Now we just need to work on the hair!

In News Just In....

...here in WA, we have discovered our bottom lip.




No sleep, plenty of smiles...mostly!

Oh Gawd, don't look now. It's her again. With her camera.


Oh, ha, look , still there. Hiiiii.

Cute tho'

Won't sleep, but we'll give him a few more chances.

Good Sleep, Bad sleep

Bundled up for a walk in the park. (Bloody cold here.)

We might be turning a corner here with our sleep issues. But it's one step forward, 2 steps back.

Had a 4 hour and the next night a 5 hour stretch!! Woo hoo. But last night a 3 hour then 2 hour stretches punctuated by about an hour of feeding (and nodding off in bed by mom & babe etc). Trying not to use the swing to get him to sleep but it's hard to resist a sure fire method when you're dog tired! I don't have the stamina to try and make the baby sleep for hours on end.

Thanks Emma And Dave for the handy gift that served as a distraction this evening attached to dad's cap when giving him a bottle of reflux formula (in the hopes it'll aid sleep). Still breastfeeding but giving him 1 formula bottle at night. When he'll take it!

And lastly, see Jessie chase a ball. Yes, a first! But the motivation, of course, is food as it's a treat ball!

Leg Room

What d'you mean you can't reach the latch?

Cuteness Continued

Blink and you'll miss it

When I wasn't looking, our boy went and grew him some eyelashes...
Click on pic for large (if somewhat shiny) version.



(War wounds = from fingernails on the ends of little arms that won't be swaddled)

Rock me Baby

This is the only way to make chubby boys sleep...

If the mountain won't come to Muhammed

Does that make sense? Oh, you know what I mean. The brain goes fudgy when the child waketh every 2 hours. So it does.

Guilt-free TV

Check this out.

Know how handy TV can be when you want to make a call/have a shower/nap or just have some good old fashioned peace and quiet??




Well.....know you can prop *them in front of the TV AND make sure they get their excercise too! Bloody marvellous.

Thanks Fisher Price!




"Developmental Benefits:

Teaches:

• upper & lowercase letters


• numbers & counting


• spelling


• problem-solving


• shapes


• matching


• creativity


• spatial reasoning


• motor skills & lots more!"

*them=little people not husbands!