Age = 8 weeks 4 days

What is a Podcast?

For the past few months Bob and I have started listening to podcasts. If you haven’t come across these before, a podcast is an audio file that you download off the internet. They’re most commonly mentioned as something people play on their iPods, but in fact most of them can be played on any MP3 player or computer (you could even write them to CD/DVD and play them on your CD/DVD player!).

There are many different programmes you can use to search for and manage podcasts: I use iTunes, and it seems to work OK.

Why do I Listen to Podcasts?

I’ve become a big fan of these because:

1. You can choose shows that have content specifically of interest to you. The ones I listen to almost all relate to films, parenting, language, or science/skepticism.
2. I can listen to them at the computer (usually while playing a fairly “mindless” computer game like Spider Solitaire), OR even better I can listen to them on my MP3 player in bed in the wee small hours of the morning while I feed Linus (that’s why this is an entry in my Mummy blog).
3. Because the files are saved, I can listen to them at a time that suits me.
4. Once you subscribe to a podcast, each new episode comes to your computer automatically (although you wouldn’t want to do this if you have a slow connection or a download limit!).
5. They’re (almost all) free!

Parenting Podcasts

Here are some specific parenting podcasts I’ve enjoyed (in varying degrees):

• Two Boobs and a Baby
• Baby Time
• A Parent’s Diary
• Positive Parenting
• 101 Uses for Baby Wipes
• Manic Mommies
• Mommy Talk
• Mojo Mom
• La Leche League

Age = 6 weeks 6 days

After a feed, a cuddle and a nap (and, admittedly, some Pamol), Bug was fine. I was a bit shattered last night – perhaps it was the stress – but he slept like a baby.

He’s slept a lot today, though. Granny visited and did her best to rouse him, but to no avail.

Age = 6 weeks 5 days

Today was the dreaded day of the jabs, Linus’s 6 week immunisations. It’s a bit soon to tell perhaps, but for the most part he’s handled it very well.

Along with Nana we went to the doctor’s at 9:00 this morning, and the nurse was very accommodating and helpful. She took a lot of time to explain to me what the shots were for, and left us for 10 minutes so I could feed Linus to make him comfortable before his trauma.

During each of the shots (three of the blighters!) Linus cried a good deal, but he was surprisingly easily soothed by his Mummy afterwards – I think the whole thing was harder on the poor nurse than on the rest of us. I sure wouldn’t like having to inflict that pain on anyone – especially babies – on a regular basis!

After the shots we had twenty minutes to feed Linus in the nurse’s office, and then we took our cheerful boy up to meet ER for the first time. He performed very well with not a grizzle in sight.

This afternoon hasn’t been so smooth. Linus’s bad mood at lunchtime may have been due to simple tiredness and parents primed for trouble, but he seemed to cry more shrilly and more often than usual (even trying to cry while feeding), so Daddy and I decided to put a rush on getting the Pamol prescribed by the doctor. I also decided that a dose of TLC would complement the Pamol, and so the past couple of hours have been spent cuddling and feeding Linus in bed. He finally fell asleep 20 minutes ago (hence my typing this), so we’ll wait and see how the next 24 hours go. Fingers crossed!

(I was advised that the sites of the jabs might be sore and that gentle application of a cold cloth to the sites might provide relief. I tried that. It’s the loudest scream he’s made all day! Maybe the cloth was a bit too cold…?)

Age = 6 weeks 4 days

The big development of the last week is that our boy has started talking. Granted, we don’t have the foggiest idea what he is saying. Neither does he. But he has most definitely discovered his voice this week, and has started experimenting with it. Now instead of just cries and grunts of complaint, we get little yells, exclamations, and the occasional coo.

Now I’ve just got to work out whether to class this as intellectual, social, or physical development.