thisiskylie

Stuff and Nonsense

-  Isabella has a comforter.  It's the softest little cuddly blanket type toy from Noukies called Noa Tidou, but we call her Pocahontas.  Isabella absolutely adores it - whenever she sees it, she flaps around and gets all excited, and the minute she gets it in her hands, she presses it to her nose, closes her eyes, puts her thumb in her mouth, and enters some kind of baby zen.  She won't sleep without it, and the minute we put her in her cot, she searches the toy out.  We bought another Nouky soft toy in Munich, although not the Noa Tidou one, thinking that she would like it just as much, but she won't go near it.  Only Pocahontas will do.  So today I ordered two spare ones, just in case.  She has this tendency to throw the toy out of the pushchair and we have already had a couple of close calls.

-  Today we continued with an unofficial resolution to travel, and get out and about, and explore, and spent a pleasant afternoon in nearby Godalming, a beautiful and very old fashioned village.

-  Another thing I forgot to mention about LMI, is that she will not walk with us.  We stand her up, hold her hands and encourage her to toddle around the house, but the minute we do, she sticks her arms up above her head because "I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF so please let go of me", and then proceeds to happily crawl there, on her own.

- Since she's all about feeding herself these days, Isabella had fish fingers for lunch today, dipped in a sweet corn and carrot puree.  It took her about an hour to eat them - by thoroughly inspecting them, turning each one around and over and upside down, then bashing them on the tray, then throwing a few on the floor, then sucking the breadcrumb coating off, and then cramming the fish into her mouth.  It's a very serious business.

Weekly round-up

Saturday - yay for the grandparents.  They came over and gave us a couple of hours off this afternoon.  Which we spent wandering around thinking 'whatever shall we do now'.  Note to self: next time, dash straight to nearest pub on the river and order large jug of Pimms; or catch one of those movies you've been wanting to see for ages.  Oh, and the little missy also got her first sippy cup.  She can hold it in both hands, tip it back and guzzle the water.  But she can also give herself a sippy cup shower.

Sunday we all went for a long, three hour ramble in Richmond Park.  We took too many photos, took Isabella to the Isabella Plantation and ate some icecream.  Then we slept.

On Monday, we had a new aerial installed on our roof.  It's so large, rumour has it that it can be seen from space.  Has enabled us to receive the free digital channels (yay for film four, yay for E4, yay for BBC News).  And given us a reason to indulge in this sexy piece of technical trickery - the digital set-top box with inbuilt 160GB (!!!) hard drive.  We will never miss our favourite shows again.  It's already set up to automagically record Series 2 of Kath & Kim.  Qualidee.

On Tuesday, the bub and I met up with another mum and baby and we all visited the new Baby Cafe that has opened up in these parts.  Yes, we really do live in nappy valley if there is reason to open a cafe devoted to parents and children.  Great idea - babies can make noise, kids can play and parents can eat and drink without worrying about disturbing anyone.  It's only just opened so not quite there yet, but will be great once they get beanbags and lava lamps and soft play areas for the little ones.

On Wednesday, we had a visit from the carpenter to size up and arrange a quote for some cabinets in our lounge room.  He's a young lad, and very ... young... with a little graze on his knuckle that he worried was turning green and gangrous.  It wasn't - was just infected, so administered some tea tree lotion and wondered at this new image I have as a Mum who therefore knows all about such things!  It kinda tickled me.

We also had a visit from the surveyor to kick off the kitchen extension plans again  - but this time bigger and better - to hopefully include an eat-in kitchen, and a play area for the baby.  Don't look out for any news on this any time soon though.  Plans take 12 weeks to approve, and they haven't even been drawn up yet.

Thursday we had a family day out to Blenheim Palace.  Our time as stay-at-home parents is getting shorter, so we are going to make the most of it and have resolved to have a day out together each week.  Was a beautiful British day - gloomy and grey and moody in the morning, with blazing sunshine in the afternoon.  The palace is good - I'd recommend not paying to tour the palace, but just wander the gardens (for free) instead.

Friday was quiet.  Phew.

Saturday we decided to have an impromptu barbecue with the in-laws after seeing this recipe on Saturday Cooks.  And it was gooood.  So good, that we are having it again tonight.  And, the peanut started on real solids today, and not just baby rice, with a tasty meal of bright orange pureed carrot.  Cue much screwing up of face and poking out of tongue, but she still gobbled it all up.

The Usual

Back into the groove of our normal Saturdays, but now it's even better with the baby girl.  Long leisurely breakfast at our favourite cafe bar by the river, followed by a spot of shopping, and a nice easy night with good food and wine.

Lunch

I went out for a coffee and lunch at Starbucks today with a friend from the antenatal classes.  Bizarrely, my two closest friends from the class both had their babies on the exact same day that Isabella was born.  Even so, the babies are all completely different, in terms of size, feeding, routine and character.  The only thing that's really (reassuringly) the same is how we all feel as new mothers.

Anyway, as we were out, we popped into Clintons as she had to pick up a birthday card.  And a Fathers Day card.  Initially I just wandered straight past that section, as my dad is in Australia and Fathers Day for him is September.  I had a quick look around the rest of the store before it suddenly hit me that this year, I will need to get a card and I will need to let someone know what a great Dad they really are, for the very first time ever.

One Year, One Puppy, One House, One Baby!

One year ago, we were getting pruned and preened and dressed in our finest.  We were surrounded by our closest family and friends.  We drank the finest champagne and ate beautiful food, in gorgeous, romantic surroundings.  We tossed our shoes in the air and danced the night away to cheesy music.  We slept in a suite fit for a king and queen.  We woke in the morning full of plans for our future, before jetting off for a week of luxury and indulgence.

Today, we woke up together and got dressed in our grubbiest clothes.  We had a quick meal on the run in our local cafe, and a late, easy dinner at home.  We were running around after our puppy and our baby all day.  We still drank the finest champagne (one last bottle saved from the reception).  We watched the sun set over the river from our new bedroom.  We laughed at the TV.  We fell exhausted into bed.  We were woken up in the morning by our beautiful daughter and puppy, still full of plans for our future, before getting into our grubbies and continuing working, together.

I'm happier than I've ever been.  Happy anniversary gorgeous.

Getting there

Big news (for us anyway): Bella slept through until 8:30am this morning.  Bliss!

We've also started emerging from the newborn baby fog, and are beginning to pick up some of the traces of our pre-baby life.  Among other things, we've started working on the house again.  We finally bought some Ikea wardrobes for the master bedroom, so we actually have some storage and are almost organised.  This means that, aside from the windows, the master bedroom is finished, and we have been able to move in to a nice, fresh, clean room.  (pictures coming soon)

It also meant that this was the perfect time for Isabella to move out of our bedroom and stay in her nursery full-time, right through the night.  I missed hearing her little shrieks and sneezes and hiccups and burps and farting and snoring!

So, now that the second bedroom is empty, we've turned our attention to gutting it and redecorating.  A has started demolishing the old grotty wardrobes and removing all of the skirting boards, and we'll be stripping the wallpaper this week.  It will have new windows and get replastered next week, after which we'll paint and then lay the new carpet and that will be another room down.  Yeah!

Babies and babies and more babies

We had the reunion with our antenatal class this afternoon, and it was absolute chaos.  Can you imagine 10 new babies and 10 sets of new parents all together in the same cafe?!  At one stage, every single baby was grizzling, and most of the parents were either feeding or walking round and round the cafe rubbing their babies back and humming away.  It was the most bizarre afternoon out I've ever had.  And it might sound strange, but every baby was different - different height; weight; facial features; different cries; different expressions.

Towards the end of the reunion, someone decided it would be cool to line the babies up along the sofa for a bit of a photo opportunity.  I've never laughed so hard in my entire life.  It was like dominoes or a Mexican wave of crying, which started at one end and gradually reached a crescendo at the other end of the sofa as each baby started crying.

With a great sense of timing, Isabella did her first projectile vomit.  Thankfully it didn't hit anyone except me, so I spent most of the afternoon with baby vomit through my hair and all over my top.  Such is the life of a new mum I guess...

Result

Two things: Bella slept through the night; and I've managed to have a shower and get out of my pyjamas before midday!

So, last night, Bella slept from 8pm, through her dream feed at about 11, until 6:30 the next morning.  Hurrah!  She's been waking at about 3:30 or 4:30am lately, but only feeding for about 10 minutes, so I was wondering when she was going to drop the early morning feed.  Here's hoping it happens tonight as well, fingers crossed.  I'm not usually a morning person, so it feels strange to say that I can have a 6:30 wake up call and feel really refreshed.

She only fed for about 30 minutes, then went back to sleep (in bed with us, which I love) until about 8am, when I got up, put her in her cot to wake up slowly by 8:30, during which time I managed to have a lovely long shower and get out of my pj's in time for breakfast, instead of lunch.

No Mojo

Still finding our feet with this parenthood thing.  I don't know what to do with myself during the day yet, and it's hard to find a groove when Isabella is still a bit all over the place.  She was awake today from 8:30am until 8:30pm, and pretty grizzly too.  I think she may have had bad wind, which is a first for her.  About the only thing I managed to do was take her for a walk to the post office and supermarket (she grizzled most of the time in her Bugaboo).  I had grand plans to cook dinner for a change (Delia's Saltimbocca), but I was so exhausted from looking after her all day that we had a ready cooked chicken instead!

I did manage to get her passport photo done though.  Hope they are official enough.  One step closer to the holidays we have planned this year, including France, Poland, Australia and maybe Greece...

Six Weeks On...

God, I can't believe that six weeks have passed already.  Don't ask me what I've been doing the past six weeks.  They've passed in a blur of feeding, nappy changing and crying (Isabella and me!).  All I know is that life has changed in a big and momentous way, and while it now feels like it's definitely changed for the better, the first few weeks were hard as we got used to parenthood, and grieved for our old, less attached lives.

Even though the time has passed in a blur, it seems like there is loads to say.  And Isabella has come along in leaps and bounds.  She is so different now than when she was born or even just from two weeks ago.  So I'm just going to let you know how things are at the moment, and then hopefully continue posting regularly.  I suspect this might turn into the Bella Blog for now as she occupies my time and my thoughts so fully...