Week 18

This week the baby's been showing off how well she can roll over. Unfortunately she still isn't very happy when she lands on her front. So we have to lay her down on her playmat and by the time you sit on the sofa she's on her front. The first couple of times she does it she's ok, she wriggles around trying to crawl and getting frustrated and then she starts screaming. The time that she's happy on her front seems to decrease each time she rolls over. It does get a bit annoying when you have to roll her onto her back every minute or so. I tend to get bored of it after a while and strap her into her chair. It does seem to tire her out though.


Over the last couple of days she's started to learn to blow raspberries. She doesn't do it on command and tends to only do it when she's on her own. It's quite funny after putting her to bed she starts talking to herself and blownig raspberries over the baby monitor. She's currently in her bouncer walking and bouncing around babling and blowing raspberries with a load of drool on her chin.


She's definately into the weaning at the moment. She gobbles the food down and gets a bit upset when it finishes and she goes back to the milk. As she's getting older we should be able to start increasing the solids and decreasing the milk soon which I think she'll be quite pleased about.


Mummy broke the pram this week. After nagging me to get a new one we found something cheap that suited us quite well but it is a little tricky to get the pram on and off the base to get it in the car. She was in the road trying to put it in the car when it jammed and she had to force it off which has broken a support. That's got to go back to be repaired/replaced but we don't have the original packaging so we need to try and find a new box. We've had to borrow the buggy from my parents until we get our one back.


She's dancing around in her bouncer at the moment so I'm going to get the video camera out and record it for posterity.

Week 14-17

Wow, it's been about 3 weeks since my last post. That's really beacuase so much has been happening recently. We started weaning the baby, she started rolling over, we've been to see my Nephew and introduced the babies.
So a couple of weeks ago mummy spoke to the nurse when taking the baby to be immunised. They agreed that we could start weaning as the baby has been looking very interested in what we're eating most of the time. So Mummy went out and got a few books on weaning and started to make the purees from the books. The baby didn't take too kindly to this change in her feeding. She likes her bottle and that's the end of it. After a bit of perseverance we managed to get her to start eating. The first day she started to cry when being fed, the second day she discovered that she could push it out with her tongue and then on the third day, Saturday, I had a go at feeding her in bed. She got a big mouthful and sneezed splattering me with carrot puree. From there on though she started to get the hang of it. We stopped following the book more or less and just fed her one or maybe two purees a day. Eventually we've got the hang of it and now the baby can't wait to finish each bowlful, most of the time anyway.


A couple of days ago she started to roll over. She's been threatening to do it for a while now but a couple of days ago she managed to get all the way over. She did it twice just before I got home. Then she promptly decided that she wasn't doing it anymore. Today she rolled over before I got home again and now she's just done it to show me as well. She's still quite distressed when she gets onto her stomach. She can manage a couple of minutes now but she's still a little way from getting comfortable that way.


The weekend before last was a bank holiday so I took an extra day off and we went up to Nottingham to see my brother and his family and we reintroduced the babies to each other.They were a bit reluctant to start with but after a day or so they started to be happy on the playmat together although our baby did start to assert her authority on the playmat occasionally hitting her cousin in the head. We bought them some rattles and the baby was getting to grips with them. I'm not convinced she really associated the noise with her actions but she got a good grip and managed to shake a bit. Sadly sometimes she managed to hit her cousin in the head so we had to separate them for a bit. Generally the weekend went well. We drove up early on Saturday morning, waking the baby up and feeding her so she slept all the way up. On the way back we hit rush hour on the M25 and the baby woke up wanting to be fed just as we hit the traffic jam. Sadly there's no where to stop on that stretch of road so mummy had to keep climbing into the back whever we were going slowly enough to stick her dummy in. That kept her going until we hit the next services.


Generally though the hot weather has been upon us and the baby isn't terribly keen. We can't keep her room at a sensible temperature so it tends to be baking hot when we put her down and then cld by 4 or 5am which then wakes her up because we haven't covered her up enough. Then we have to have a fan in her room as well to keep it cool enough when we put her down but that can sometimes distract her. so I think it's going to be a long summer! We'll have to see what we can do to make it a bit easier for her to sleep.


Anyway, I hear a grizzly teething baby who wants a bath, bottle and bed.

Week 13

For the end of week 12 we went to visit my Gran, Aunt and her children. They all wanted to meet the baby and everyone got a chance to hold her. She took a littlewhile to settle and did scream the first two times that I handed her over to Granny. After about half an hour though she was sufficiently settled to be handed around which she was very good about. It's just a shame that she used to be very happy to be handed around and now she seems to be developing a bit of an aversion.

This week was characterised by mommy going out a lot in the evenings. This wasn't too significant at the time but became significant later in the week. We noticed a few weeks ago that the baby has a small problem with her lower eyelids. There's a small roll skin underneath each one which rolls the lid upwards and causes her lower eyelashes to point upwards and to go towards her eye. It hasn't really bothered her so we assumed she'd just grow out of it. On Tuesday we noticed that her eye was very red and swollen so mommy took her to the doctor who declared her eye infected. After a bit of persuasion she was able to get a referral to a paediatrician to get hte lash problem looked at. So all week we've been applying the eye drops which I'm not convinced has made any difference. Some days her eye looks fine and some days it looks bad which I put down to her rubbing it or not rubbing it. We'll persevere with the drops until the paediatrician visit comes up.


On Wednesday mommy went out to see Sister Act with her friend and got the wrong train home so got in very late. This left me in charge so I had to feed and bathe etc the baby. That was all fine but around this time she took to waking up between 4 and 5 am to have her dummy reinserted a few times. My position on this is that she had been sleeping since 7 or 8 in the evening and so going to 4 or 5 was pretty good. Mommys position is that this is acting out and bad behaviour so she has to be ignored for a couple of hours a day until she learns acceptable behaviour. Either way it continued all week and when mommy got back on Friday very late after going out for drinks she declared that she hadn't had enough sleep all week and wasn't coping because the baby was waking her up in the small hours.


Saturday, the baby slept through solidly until about 7am and the same on Sunday so I guess that whatever we changed in her routine over the weekend worked. Saturday we went out to see some friends. Again when the baby was passed around she wasn't terribly happy about being passed around all evening but I think that's something she's got to get used to. We were out until quite late which meant that the baby had to have a nap in our friends cot. She was kind of OK about that but didn't want to miss out on the social happenings so she wouldn't settle. Eventually at about 9pm she did drop off whilst I was holding her and then slept until we left.


Sunday she's just slept all day really. She must have been tired out after trying so hard to stay awake yesterday. She's woken up to eat and played a little bit but she's mostly wanted to keep going back to bed. We'll have to get her up soon though so that she gets tired enough to sleep through the night properly.

Week 11 -12

Pre-empting week 12 a bit here but I guess it's best to write the posts when I get the chance. Week 10 was a pretty normal week. The baby is developing well, she's engaged and looking at everything, taking it all in. We've started putting her in her doorframe bouncer again which she quite enjoys. She hasn't quite got the hang of putting her feet flat on the floor to bounce so she's a bit unsure about it. She tends to stand on one foot, on the side of her foot, and spin herself around with the other foot. There's some occasional bouncing but generally she likes to swing and move in it.
Week 11 was a long weekend  and my 30th Birthday. The baby was very good on Saturday and Sunday and was actually a bit too sleepy for everyone. She's been so sprightly and active that when she just wanted to eat and sleep for the weekend everyone thought that there must be something wrong. She soon recovered and decided that she wanted feeding at 4am instead of 6am on the Monday which was my brithday present from her I think. So after a distinct lack of sleep we managed to get through the day only for her to do the biggest smelliest poo she's ever managed for me in the evening. After that she was back to her normal playful self.
On Tuesday I had to go out to do some training with the compressor for the diving club which got me in big trouble with mummy because the baby had started to teethe. She's been sucking or chewing her hand a lot and dribbling a lot recently but in the afternoon she started to cry and get grizzly. So I was in trouble for leaving mummy with the unhappy baby all evening. As it turned out she slept all the time I was out anyway, the wonders of Calpol.
Since then she's had a few more incidents of teething trouble but she's generally been very good so far. I just hope it lasts when the more painful teeth start to come through a bit later on. Right now she's fed and gone back to bed for a couple of hours of peace.

Week 9-10

Wow 2 and a bit weeks without posting. Time has been flying by. I think that part of the problem was that everythign was going so well and then we had some friends over for a meal on the Sunday at the start of week 10 when I would have written the week 9 post and the baby was a little out of sorts. The only thing that would console her was being walked around and rocked in her pram. As it was a nice day we had lunch outside with the baby in the shade. This was ok as she sort of slept on and off but she did get a bit upset from time to time. after our friends had gone we decided to take the baby for a walk through town. This usually settles her quickly but on this occasion she was a bit upset all the way and was starting to sneeze. So we did wonder if she was suffering with hayfever. Anyway it became clear that she'd got her first cold. Poor thing.


We did eventually manage to settle her in the evening and then had to start pandering to her for a few days. This generally involved earlier morning feeds and letting her sleep as much as possible. On the Sunday night she was snoring so badly that mummy insisted that we move her out of the bedroom into the hall. This did help and we all slept for a few hours more although moving the baby monitor and everything else out of the bedroom was a bit of a chore in the middle of the night!


We discovered teh joys of Calpol that night although I don't think the baby was too impressed but it does help her sleep. So over a few days she got over it. We also discovered that putting something under her matress to elevate her head helps to stopthe snoring so that helped her to move back into the bedroom. So now we're equipped to handle colds and minor ailments. What was surprising was that it didn't really bother the baby all that much. It did from time to time but not in general.


So that week was sort of spent sleep deprived. Although we only really lost sleep on that first night it took a while to catch up. Last weekend I snuck out to go and do some diving training which was nice but mommy got me back by going out in the evening to see a show with her friend and leaving me in charge. I think this is going to be a pattern as she's now involved in two local shows so I'm going to be left in charge a few evenings a week.


Last time I was left in charge I had to bathe the baby. This is normally ok but on this occasion we had a bit of a disaster. We have  seat to put in the bath which helps to keep the baby stable and you can almost let go of her for a second without her slipping too much. We moved on to use the baby bath instead of the sink a few weeks ago and we now wedge that on the rim of the normal bath. That's also fine as it means thatI don't have to lean over so far. Sadly, on this occasion whilst holding the baby in the bath seat I leaned on the edge of the baby bath which knocked it off the top of the normal bath. It dropped to the bath with the baby still in the seat. Everything was OK but I think she was a bit upset, at least judging by the scream!


Aside from all that we've increased her feed. She was ok on the previous amount but was starting to insist on being fed earlier between feeds which is bad for sleeping patterns. The next amount up was an extra 60ml which is a little excessive and did result in a  lot of throwing up as she wouldn't leave the bottle. She's started to get used to it now and we can make her leave some which has stopped the sickness. The upside is that she can go longer between feeds but the downsides are that it takes longer to warm up and she's full of energy after each feed most of the time which isn't very convenient in the mornings or at night. On the plus side of that though she's increasingly happy to be left on her playmat and talk to the animals. She's also getting very close to rolling onto her front. She can get right up onto her shoulder at the moment. A strong gust of wind and she'll be over so any day now I guess.

Weeks 8 and 9

Missed a post last week because the weekend was so busy. Week 8 ended with Easter and a four day weekend. Godd Friday was spent preparing the house for a small party on Saturday. This involved completing all of the minor jobs around the house like changing the door handle on the hatch to the loft, minor touchup painting etc. Saturday was the party so we spent the morning preparing some food. That of course meant that the oven took the opportunity to break so we were left with just the top oven. It turned out that we had cooked about twice as much food as necessary so there were plenty of leftovers.
The party was reasonably successful. It the first chance for a few friends and family to meet the baby and our first opportunity to meet the new Nephew as my brother and his wife and baby were down for the weekend. The baby was thoroughly spoiled for the day of course with lots of attention.
Sunday was easter so we went to my parents to have  family meal with Great granny in attendance and the new Nephew. So again the babies had lots of attention with lots of photographs and camcorder footage which needs to be edited down.
Monday was a rest day which involved cutting the leftover chicken off the bone and cooking a weeks worth of caserole and curry.
So the rest of the week went as normal really except that I was charged with doing the middle of the night feeding on Thursday night/Friday morning which had typically been at about 4am. Baby decided to be nice to me and slept through until 6.30 for me which upset mummy. Since then the baby has started sleeping through more and more often. During week 9 there were only one or two occasions when mommy had to do the middle of the night feed because she was sleeping until I had to get up for work. That did mean that I was getting a little less sleep because I have to get up at 6 instead of 6.30 to get the early feed done.
So week 9 was characterised by trying to encourage a good sleeping pattern so she'll go through the night. It's been fairly successful but it has been difficult to keep her awake in the evening on a few occasions. Those occasions have generally been followed by the baby waking up early for her feed though so it's definately worth the extra effort.
Right now it's Sunday night and I'm keeping the baby awake for another hour or so before she gets fed again and is then allowed to go to bed. She has been very sleepy today so she should be a bit more active right now. She's been quite happy for us to get on and do our stuff today and just sleep through it all which was quite nice. This morning she didn't sleep through but I think it's because we were too tired last night to keep her awake in the evening.
Today I've been able to get on and mow the lawn and fix the oven from last weekend.

Don't go to sleep yet baby bear!

Day 45-52 (Week 7)

So I think I'll switch to weeks now unless I post in between in which case maybe day of week. It's too much hassle to keep track of days at this stage!


This was an interesting week as it was mommys birthday. We decided to go and see Dirty Dancing in town which meant that the baby had to stay with my mother in law. It's just as well because I got a call at work in the morning asking what to do if the shower was cold. It  turned out that the boiler was broken. I presumed that I'd be able to do something when I got home in the evening but as we were going out that wasn't going to be until very late. It was a shame because I'd been looking forward to a full nights sleep. When we got home I spent about 30 minutes taking the covers off the boiler to discover that the fan was dead. so it was just as well the baby was already spending the night away from home because it was too cold for her to have stayed with us. I did work from home the next day which sort of made up for having a very late night but I had to be around, in the cold house, waiting for the plumber to get a part and he eventually repaired it about 6pm.


Apart from that it's been a normal sort of week really. The baby has started to sleep until 5 regularly which is great except that it creates a bit of a dilemma about who has to do the feed. Mommy normally does the 3-4am feed and then I feed the baby at 6 when I get up for work. With the baby being fed at 5 it means that I can't really feed her at 6. So we had one morning where we made her wait until 6 but the rest of the time it's been 5. This week the clocks went forwards so I imagine that she might possibly sleep until 6 for a few days. I think it won't be long until she's sleeping until then anyway but we shall see.


Today I've been pretty busy trying to get things done around the house ready for the housewarming/meet the baby party next weekend. This of course meant that the baby was going to be restless. She decided to throwup all the time and scream if we weren't holding her. She fell asleep when I held her but as soon as I went to put her down she woke up and started to scream again. Somehow I did manage to get a lot of stuff done without too much trauma.


Otherwise a normal week. Mommy didn't go out on Friday so we spent every evening together. I've been trying to get my study straight, which looks like a losing battle at the moment so I wasn't around as much in the evenings for the baby as I could have been but hopefully after this week the indoors will be ready to roll.