It's been an eventful couple of weeks. BFS returned to work leaving me on my ownsome for only the second time since SC was born, but I was much less apprehensive this time as I knew that I made it through the last three week trip virtually in one piece.
SC has definitely turned a corner in the past week or so and has chilled out and seems much more content for longer spells. Although I did think that, after having spent 4 hours in the Tula at the boys rugby tournament and the spells in the car seat which come with it, her screams of frustration in the evening translated to 'would you please just give me a routine and stop bloody winging it woman!!! I really felt for her as she just didn't know what to do with herself.
I have been feeling quite stressed about the time she spends in the car seat when BFS is at work (and indeed even quite a lot of time when he was home this last leave due to his commitments) I've been comparing it to her brothers and to be blunt it's pretty exponential. I just hope it doesn't hinder her skeletal development when she's older!
We finished up our massage class last week. She was pretty chilled during the class, but has pretty much hated any attempt by me to treat her to one at home! With the pending swimming classes due to replace them, I thought that I should try and acclimatise missy to the water again as since she face-planted at the taster session and swallowed a mouthful she's been less than happy with any water contact! I started 'taking her to the pool' (ie deep, warm bath) in the mornings after we'd walked Lex and initially I had to feed her in the water so she started associating it with contentment and slowly she's started to relax.
The big test was today when we returned to the Hydrotherapy pool in Dundee (which is amazing - as warm as an oversized bath) for our first official Water Babies session. She started to grumble at the poolside (I'm sure she recognised where she was!) but it didn't come to anything. She really wasn't sure throughout the whole half hour, but kept the tears at bay. I was very, very proud of her as she did her first 'underwater swim' which was basically the instructor dunking her under and passing her back up to me. She didn't cry (although was on the edge!) hopefully it will be the start of a beautiful relationship with the water.....CC had a swimming lesson today too! (On another subject, I'm so glad I've been so anal about the special pillows etc for her head as there were some pretty bad cases of flat heads at the pool today with the other babies. It was quite disturbing)
Another thing which enevitably had to happen was SC had her first fall! She was on the footstool (where she loves to lie and watch the light fitting) and must have used her feet against the sofa to push herself backwards - so much so that she slid off onto her head. Oooh the guilts. I was only a few feet away from her too. She also had her first bowt of being under the weather - literally last night! She suddently snotted up and snored all night (typical on the night before her swimming lesson) and subsequently spent all night in bed with me and we're both shattered. She's continued to be snotty all day, but I'm determined to have her in her own bed all night. She has already sent herself back to sleep after a wee cry and a lot of sucking on her fingers (she woke when I placed her in after her feed) which is a bit of a breakthrough.
Bedtime has been going a bit better. A few nights ago I managed to get her down around 9, and since then it's been a bit hit or miss, but generally she's been in bed and asleep by 10pm, so I've clawed back a couple of hours in the evening - and some of these nights she would even go 4 hours between wakes and feeds. There's been some regression in the past few days though and sometimes we're lucky to get to 2.5 hours. I can see why some people give up and turn to formula or wean early as it is really draining, but my determined side will persevere to 6 months whether that means I spend my days and nights like a dairy cow or not!
SC has also become very strong too. She sits very confidently in the bumbo, and I let her have a couple of minutes 'upright' in the door bouncer the other day (I won't give her any longer as I don't think it's great for their hips). She hasn't mastered the thumb/finger sucking, but she is taking her own weight on her feet and legs.
She's suddenly turned from a newborn baby to this interactive little human being. She will hold onto toys and actually 'play's with her playgym and toy bar on her bouncer. I haven't had her in the swing again as she really wasn't enamoured.
I suppose I should try and get some sleep (sleep when the baby sleeps......yeah right!) as she's snoring away beside me in her bed. Here's hoping I can turn my brain off!
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