Yannick is two months old today. He has changed so much in these nine weeks, it's incredible. My mum was here for two weeks and Yannick actually changed dramatically especially during that time. We really enjoyed having her here. Yannick is now taking in his surroundings, smiling loads and doesn't have to sleep or drink all the time anymore. He seems to have understood that it's possible not to drink all his waking time, as there will be more food later on. So he can actually enjoy his play mat and spends quite some time on there making happy sounds.

He also has a new 'toy', a bouncer chair that vibrates and plays music. He loves to sit in there and stare at the toys suspended from the arch. He's trying to reach him with his arms but doesn't have full control yet. All these toys allow me to finally do some stuff again in the house without him constantly crying for me, as he did at the beginning.

Nights seem to get better too, sometimes we get up to three or four hours of sleep in a piece and quite often two hour intervals for the rest of the night. It used to be one and a half hour intervals before. At the beginning I couldn't even get him to sleep away from me, now he starts his night upstairs on his own, after I fed him there for a last time. I get up once he is fast asleep and switch on the baby phone and do some stuff downstairs for an hour or two before I join him. This is great and I love to see him change, not only because it allows me to feel more like an independent person again, but also because it's just so nice to be able to play and laugh with the little man and finally build some kind of rapport.

We finally managed to get rid of our Irish number plate. How? Simple: buy a new car and trade in the old one.

Strangely enough we managed to buy a car that looks just like the old one, only this one is five years younger and from a completely different make. And this really wasn't on purpose.

New car!

Old car!

This was May

This picture really represents Yannick's first month of life: eating every moment that he was awake or half asleep.

You might have noticed already on the photos from Week 5, but I nearly forgot to mention that I get to see more and more smiles on Yannick's face lately. At the beginning they didn't seem to be directed at me, they were more like he was just expressing a general feeling of 'oh, I like whatever is happening'. But over the last week or so the smiles definitely come on - every now and then - when he sees me. This is really nice and rewarding after all the hours I spent on the sofa with him ever since he was born.

The other rewarding thing is to see him put on weight. The first week of their lives newborns usually lose weight and in the second week they have to regain what they lost. The third week wasn't that great either and I was starting to wonder if nursing is really the right solution, but the last two instances when Yannick was weighed he actually put on about 250g each time, so now he's just over 4kg. Yippeah!

So far Yannick's daytime had this routine: eat, sleep on mummy's lap, eat, sleep on mummy's lap, etc. Of course there also were some nappy changing breaks, at least one excursion in the buggy, and some time with daddy if possible. However, if it would be entirely up to Yannick he would eat and be with mummy all day. So far I couldn't put him anywhere (e.g. his crib) without him screaming after just a few minutes. Sometimes I managed to have him sleep for 20 to 30 minutes next to me on the sofa, but that's been rare occasions as he usually wakes up when I try to move him. For me to have a shower it takes daddy to be willing to go for a walk with the little needy bundle. Even going to the loo or getting myself more water to drink is stretching it, and to fix myself something to eat seems impossible at times. Sometimes my bum is hurting so much from sitting on the sofa with the extra four kilos on top of me, it's untrue. The warm weather doesn't help either, as both of us are boiling away.

I think I would have gone insane if I didn't have my laptop and the internet as a link to the world. Granted it's not easy for me to type most of the time, but I can use the mouse and read and I am happy about every single mail I get! I can also go shopping this way for all the baby things we still need, e.g. baby clothes, toys, furniture, etc.

In terms of me moving around the house, I believe my lifesaver arrived yesterday: a garishly colourful play mat. There is so much to see and discover that Yannick can't decide whether he wants to scream for 'la' (his sound when he wants to eat) or whether he should continue staring at one of the things that hang down from the beams. That mat itself also makes sounds, so that's even more fascinating.

There are lots of things to discover here in the south of England. While I was waiting for Yannick to be born my sister was over to visit. To pass the time we went to Winchester and had a look around. It's a lovely place and only 15 minutes to drive from where we live.