Jake at 2 weeks

The first week of Jake's life seemed to go so slowly. Maybe it was the steep learning curve, maybe it was that the nights seemed as long as the days to begin with. The second week has fairly raced by in a flurry of family and friends visiting over the Jubilee weekend. We've crammed a lot into every day which in part is down to the fact that everything seems to take that bit longer with a new born.

Just leaving the house to go shopping means that you need to get a bag ready with food, wipes, nappies and spare clothes, not to mention the car seat and pram that amazingly folds down into the boot of Kelsey's car. Even around the house, the constant cycle of feeding, changing, burping and cuddling seems to eat up time, to the point where my sense of how much time has passed since I last looked at a clock has severely diminished. I worry for my return to work next work, not only because Kelsey is still taking her time to recover from the birth but also that my job relies on good timing and I fear my practise may suffer.

We marked Jake's two week birthday with visits from a few friends and my parents in the evening, and it's clear that while being 150 miles away in Leeds works when you're at university and then forging a career for yourself, it becomes a lot harder when you have a baby/grandchild. We're currently working out how to increase the amount of time that my grandparents get to spend with Jake, especially as we're on a two year plan to move to the US.

I said last week that I'd try and list new Jake behaviours as well as things that we've worked out. The list is shorter than last week, but it serves as a good test for me to see what changes have happened.

Jake
- Sleeping in his Wombie (see picture) is great
- Black and white are the most fascinating colours
- The taste of orange leads to food (got to love Infacol!)
- To lift his head off my chest a little during a cuddle
- Baths might not be the worst thing that can possible happen

Ben and Kelsey
- Jake needs to be burped regularly during feeding or you suffer the consequences
- The checklist of reasons why he cries is getting a little longer - he sometimes now responds better to being left alone somewhere quiet than being constantly cuddled
- You have to trust your instincts a little more
- Add an extra 30 minutes on to any deadline/meeting time
- Not all Jake noises require immediate attention
- Everyone is happier when there's flexibility in the 3am handover
- Taking funny pictures of Jake never, ever gets boring.

And with that in mind, here are a few of my favourites of Jake's second week: