The Honeymoon period is OVER!

It has been said that parents often decide on child number two during the blissful months 5 and 6 (often called the honeymoon period). Little do they know what is in store for them from month 7 to 18 years. Alas, the period of bliss is over for the Morris household. Owen is now 6.5 months old and showing signs of independence & frustration - sometimes at the same time. The transition has been like day and night. One day he would fall asleep in his bed quite happily on his own and the next not without lying in my arms. I knew this was the start of manipulation so I used all my tactics, my new found internet & book knowledge as well as a bit of Jo Frost initiative to stop this phase. To no avail. One day it took 45 minutes of Owen trying out every position possible in his bed including feet through the cot bars, intermittent crying, dummy throwing, soft toy waving about and biting but still no sleep. The minute that I picked him up in my arms he was fast asleep like a little angel. This has been the routine at most sleep times every day. This weekend Brendon & I will have decided to introduce some "tough love" and break this cycle. There is now way it will continue. So operation "having none of that" will start by mom leaving the house (as agreed by dad) so that there is no way that the little sausage can wangle his way. It is also an emotional defence mechanism for me as I do not think I can take the torture of hearing him cry whilst being assured that he can do this on his own again. Mmmmm.......Saturday.


Owen sits up nicely in his highchair and on the carpet (still surrounded by lots of pillows) now. His interest in the trees and flowers is still high and he notices the birds chirping and flying around. He has been practicing sitting in his next stage car seat while Brendon & I do laundry and it will not be long before he makes the move to this new seat.

The teething stage has now started. I feel very sorry for Owen having to go through this but lucky he will have no memory of the pain & suffering. Only I will remember the wailing - from both of us. Temperatures, runny nose, interrupted sleep, smelly nappies. Ahhh the joys. It would happen while Brendon is away in Australia. Thank goodness there is only one more day until the parent army is reinforced. The past 2 nights I have had to have Owen sleep in our bed as he really has been restless & niggly and by the time it was 11pm I had already gotten up at least 10 times to check on him. I was beginning to think he thought he had a new toy camped next to his bed - a bleary-eyed jack-in-the-box (aka mom). Amid a mountain of pillows he slept better and I was able to just reach out and touch him when I needed to. The disadvantage was that I had very restless nights as my concern was that I would smother him. Like clockwork when 5am came his little eyes would open and there would be a constant babble coming from his mouth. I would give him a toy and talk to him with my head still making a dent in the pillow and my eyes tightly shut. I secretly hoped he would drop off to sleep.

But having said all this he is still a wonderful little person and I would not put him back for anything in the world, not even at months 1 & 2!