Month 2 Highlights

Jaden is getting more and more active. He grunts a lot. Like a little piglet.
Jaden has a particular cry for me when he gets hungry.
Jaden celebrated his first Easter with the entire family. We even took family pictures that day. It was a lovely day.
Jaden goes home for the first time on Easter! I took him home for 4 hours. Manoj and Priya were going to watch a football match at home with Sundar and I decided to take Jaden along, too.
Jaden gets blessed by Father Mariano on April 23rd. It was a small, private affair. Just Sundar, me, mama and Grandma. (Oh, and there was also Margaret. Jaden's nanny who coincidentally joined us on the same day.)
We did a little "tummy time" for Jaden this month. He was able to hold his head up for quite a few seconds.
He holds his head up quite a lot now, especially when he is being burped.
We celebrated Jaden's second month birthday with a cake baked specially by his Grandma. I shaped out the feeding bottle on the cake.

Jaden has been drooling a lot lately. It's going to be time soon to bring out the bibs.
We celebrated my first Mother's Day on May 11th at our home. Sundar made dinner the previous night and breakfast and lunch for me. Jaden and I were delighted and I even got a beautiful platinum and diamond studded cross from Sundar on behalf of Baby. I felt very special.
I bathed Jaden myself on May 16th. It was my second time bathing him. I'm getting better at it and he seems to enjoy it.
Sundar left for the US for 10 days and it was his mum's birthday in between. So since Jaden and I couldn't go to spend time with her, we sent her flowers - lovely purple orchids and a sweet little card from Jaden.
We realized that the only way Jaden would get some sleep was if he slept on his stomach. So we started that this month and he sleeps for about 1.5 hours in the morning and 1 hour post his bath. All supervised, of course.

Mama's baby

Month 1 highlights

Jaden gets adept at latching on after the first week.  I worried about this at first, but he's been a good learner. He feeds for a long time and falls asleep often in between a feed. Tickling his ears and feet didn't really help.
Jaden took to the pacifier in the hospital on day 3.
Jaden took to the bottle once we got back home. So now, I express milk and feed it to him from the bottle each night.
Jaden rarely naps during the day. He's never really slept for more than 40 minutes at a stretch during the day.
One way to tell when Jaden is finally fast asleep is when both his hands go up and rest by his ears.
Jaden begins to sleep through the night from Week 2 onwards. There are nights he wakes up for a feed or diaper change, but so far he's been a good napper at night.
Jaden even allowed Sundar and me to go out one night during week 3.

Here's a selfie we took of our nightout at Tao Terraces.

A new mother's musings

Now I know for a fact that no one will ever know what it truly feels like to be a mother until they become a mother themselves. My sister had two babies before me and I never knew what she was feeling as a new mother. Nor did I really bother to find out.
But now I know.
For the past 5 years, it's just been Sundar and me and our hectic work schedules and social life. If we just wanted to take a drive to Corner House for ice-cream, we could do it without even a second thought. If we wanted to just chill with friends, we could just call and land up at their place, have a drink or two, eat some junk food and be back home late. There's never been anything else or anyone else to worry about really.
But the minute Jaden was born all that changed.

Knowing I'm responsible (almost solely) for a young life, is quite daunting. That feeling coupled with little to no sleep, makes for a very emotional new mother. Adjusting to breast-feeding and basically 'slowing' down your overall pace, has been one of the hardest mental shifts I've had to make.
Initially, I would sing to Jaden when feeding him. Edelweiss was the preferred song. I don't know why. I think it helped soothe me more than him. But after a week or so, I realized Jaden didn't really enjoying being sung to or talked to while he was feeding. He preferred the quiet.
So no talking and no singing, what was I going to do while I fed him almost the entire day? And considering Jaden has been a daytime cat-napper from the get-go, it was a bit difficult for me during the first two weeks. But as time went by, I realized there were things I could do - like constantly checking Baby Centre for various things on my phone! Now, I think my grandmother and mother might say I was reading up a bit too much and then reading too much into every one of Jaden's day to day changes - but I must admit, the reading up helped me learn a lot about babies and new mothers. It really helped drive out some of the baby blues I was feeling during the first few days. I realized I wasn't alone. Millions of mums around the world feel  the same way and it's perfectly normal.

By the middle of week two, things were getting better. I was learning more about Jaden and we were both getting to know each other. And finally I could feel the bond between us getting really strong. I loved my baby the day he was born, but I didn't know him. But as week three was approaching, I felt like we already knew each other so well. It felt as though he'd been in my life forever.
And then Jaden's first knowing smile was on April 9th - during week 3! It was the most amazing thing in the world and now I look forward to that smile every day. When I feel I haven't got my quota for the day, I feel a little sad actually. You have to see that smile to believe it.
It was only at this time that the 'joys' of motherhood (that everyone talks about) started to stare me in the face - quite literally!

Look at that smile!

Welcome, Baby Jaden!

I don't believe in miracles. I think with my head and not my heart. I don't believe that happiness just happens to you - I believe you need to seek it.

But a lot of that changed the night of March 17th, 2014. The night my baby boy was born.
In just a moment, our lives magnificently changed forever.