We had a lovely Christmas. Callum got lots of presents. It didn't start too well though. We were driving down to my parents on Christmas morning, trying to get there in time for smoked salmon, scrambled egg and champagne breakfast. Unfortunately, after about 30 miles, Stuart saw smoke coming out the back of our car. We pulled into the service station and saw that we had a big oil leak! We had to call AA out. Thankfully, they came super quick after telling them we had a hungry 4 month old in the car. He towed us to our garage and then we spent the rest of Christmas morning waiting for my dad to come and pick us up. This didn't dampen our Christmas spirit though, as we sang along to "Simply...having...a wonderful Christmas time!". We got to my mum and dad's too late for breakfast but quickly got onto the champagne and opening our presents. We all got spoilt.
I was determined, while there, to try to stick to Callum's routine as much as possible. It worked really well on the first day and night. He went down to bed after bath around 7pm and we dreamfed him at 11pm and he slept until about 4am. He was staying in mum and dad's room and mum did the 4am feed :o). Then we heard him wake up about 7.15am so we brought him down to us so we could get him up and mum and dad could have a lie in. The next day didn't go quite to plan. We went for a walk along the sea-front and Callum fell asleep in the car about 11am. He woke up when we put him in the pram and then fell asleep about 12.30pm. He then didn't wake again until 3.30pm. Normally, we would be grateful he had such a great sleep but this was too much. He then was tired about 5pm and I was really trying to keep him awake until his bath but he fell asleep in mum's arms and then he took a while to go down after his bath. Crying loads and got himself in quite a state. He did eventually go down though after about 45 minutes. He didn't last until 11pm for his dreamfeed, he woke up about 10.15pm. Mum was going to bed and Stuart was worried about feeding him and settling him when mum was trying to sleep so we brought the travel cot downstairs so we could see to him. Because that meant bringing Callum down where the TV was on and lights were on, it took us ages to get him back down to sleep. His sleep was then messed up again the next day when travelling back home as he slept in the car. He hasn't really been the same since.
Stuart and I have been trying hard to get him back into his routine but don't seem to be having much luck. He used to get up at 8am, have a nap at 10ish for around 45 minutes then he would go to sleep around 12 when he needed a two hour sleep. He then would go to sleep about 4pm for another 45 minutes and then I would bath him about 6.30pm and put him to bed. Now he wakes at around 7.15am and it has thrown us out for when he should have his next nap. We have been looking for the first signs of tiredness, the first yawn etc. but I think we might be putting him down too early as he then throws a huge tantrum and screams and screams and is inconsolable, even if you pick him up to comfort him. It could just be because it could be either Stuart or I putting him down and, even though we try to do exactly the same thing, we can't rule out inconsistencies. But to be honest, he should be able to go down to sleep regardless of who puts him to bed. Also, because he is now waking earlier, he gets tired earlier in the evening which results in bringing his bath forward earlier and earlier. It could also just be a 4 month blip. It appears that they have a blip at every month, according to the forum I'm a member of!
God, this being a parent lark is difficult!!!!! Where is the manual, that's what I want to know? The mark 1 Callum, 4 months old! If you have one, send it this way :o)