Éowyn's first Easter

It seems with each passing day that Éowyn changes, develops or learns some new trick and this week has been no different, but more of that later.

I was working over last weekend, Thursday through to the Sunday but this week has been my short week, working only Wednesday and Thursday.  However with Éowyn’s latest regime it means that I don’t actually get to see her on the days that I work.  Yes, Éowyn’s sleeping regime is still working.  She goes to bed about 1900-1930, takes her dream feed of hungry baby milk at about 2230 and has been sleeping through the night until at least 0600 and sometimes later.  There has been a couple of days where she has woken earlier, but on the whole that is the routine.  As you can imagine we are delighted, for a disturbed night to be the exception and not the rule, means that we can go to bed relaxed in the knowledge that, in theory, we should get a good night’s sleep.

Good Friday saw a visit from Nanny Fran, Auntie Liz and Auntie Mary.  Apart from Nanny Fran’s brief cuddle at work last Wednesday they hadn’t seen Éowyn for over a month, so they saw some big changes in her appearance and demeanor.  Obviously she has grown quite a bit, but also she is mobile and far more aware of her surroundings.  Her crawling is still in a reverse direction, although she now lifts herself into the classic crawl stance, with legs tucked under her body; but still hasn’t worked out how this translates itself into forward motion.

Unfortunately, and why we still are not too sure, she wasn’t happy sitting on either Nanny Fran’s or her Auntie’s laps.  Perhaps her growing yet under-developed cognisance could not reconcile the fact that Nanny Fran and her Aunties were in her house, usually she goes to them; perhaps she just didn’t want to be cuddled, there were more interesting things on the floor to play with.  It is possible that it is because she hadn’t seen them for a month but we don’t think that it is because the next day she did the same thing to her Granddad when he and Nanny came to visit and she sees them quite regularly.  Then again, perhaps she is just going through one of those phases.  Obviously it is something that we will have to keep an eye on because it is a little upsetting to see her crying when she is being held by her grandparents.

Easter weekend has also seen her take a couple of steps forward.  She has begun to eat three solid meals a day, and eats whatever we give her with gusto, including her newest meal: Cauliflower Cheese.  She eats from her new feeding chair that Nanny Fran bought her for Easter, so she sits a little more upright and you don’t get into quite the same mess as when you have her sitting on your lap.  We have also given her some ‘finger food’:  a little bit of Easter Chocolate,  a little bit of cheese and most importantly, the finger food that no baby around town should ever be with out:  a Farleys Rusk.  She thoroughly enjoyed sitting, chewing her rusk, taking after her dad who even now would quite readily eat one.

One last trick that she has learnt this weekend, started out of the blue on Friday and was mastered by Saturday is the crawl-to-sitting manoeuvre.  She begun to tuck her legs in front of her on Friday and by Saturday morning she was in full sitting stance, as you can see from the photos below and on the Flickr page.  She is so precocious that sometimes we have a job to remember that she is only just 6 months old.  We are wondering whether this latest manoeuvre is a precursor to bum-shuffling.  Stay tuned to find out.

Please enjoy the photos

Love and Peace

Baggie!

Family Time

We have had a week of catching up with friends and family.  Friday night was my first night out on the town since Éowyn came along.  Getting into bed at 0100 in a morning to be woken up by a crying baby at 0530 is not conducive to assisting in hangover recovery.  Quite rightly sympathy was in short supply and you just have to get on with it.  I think Éowyn could sense there was something not quite right and therefore was in one of her fiesty moods especially when Daddy was on his own, and I was on my own for most of the morning.  An NCT organised ‘Nearly New’ sale had Lucinda sharpening her elbows for the mêlée that ensues at these events, while I took primary care responsibilities.  Her foraging proved fruitful as she came back with armfuls of toys for a fraction of the price of their retail value and Éowyn no longer looks like a deprived child.

Saturday afternoon we met up with good friends of mine, Andy and Máire and their daughter Éabha. We haven’t seen Andy and Máire for well over a year and it was the first time that we had met Éabha, who was born a couple of weeks after Éowyn.  We met for lunch near Sheen Gate, Richmond Park in a nice pub called the Plough.  While the weather continued its display of extremes we took advantage of the catering facilities, but managed to squeeze in a walk in the park between showers.  It was good to catch up and reassuring that all new parents go through the same problems and insecurities.  We will not leave it as long to meet up, next time.  You have read it here and so shall it be.

As avid readers will recall Lucinda’s cousin Alex and his wife Sally and daughter Isabel are currently over from Australia and we were hoping to meet up with them on Saturday night before the big family meeting on Sunday.  However due, in part to Éowyn’s fiestiness but also our own exhaustion we shamefully cancelled and took them for a walk around Savill Garden in Virginia Water on the Sunday morning instead.  Then it was back to Lucinda’s parents for a big family get together.  Éowyn was on her best behaviour which was nice and entertained everyone by blowing raspberries at each in turn.  It is nice being part of such a close family and it will be excellent for Éowyn as she grows up.

Wednesday saw a flying visit to West Bromwich  (my only day off this week, so we couldn’t stay overnight) to visit our solicitors (nothing bad, just a re-mortgage!) with the added bonus of seeing Nanny Fran.  We also popped in to see Éowyn‘s Great-Grandma, as it was her birthday.  I don’t think that we could have given her a better birthday present, as although Éowyn was tired and due a feed she kept her Great-Grandma entertained.  It is a shame that we don’t life closer so that we could see more of my family, but hopefully they will pop over during the Easter break.

The dream feed of hungry baby milk is doing its job.  We have had 5 nights of uninterrupted sleep this week, and Éowyn is waking up in a much better mood too.  She also is taking her morning naps easier too, however she still fights sleep if she thinks that there is something interesting going on.  At least I and especially Lucinda can feel a little more human again now that our sleep is not being disturbed.  We will see how long this lasts before the routine is altered again.  Perhaps we should try some of these albums to help her to sleep.

Hope that you all have a good week, or so and plenty of Easter eggs.

Love and Peace

Baggie!

The year marches on

Apologies for the first pun-use in a blog title on this website.  I cannot promise that it will be the last.  February has gone (not the best month for many of us) and spring approaches.  Unless that is you are the Met Office that decrees that today is the first day of spring.   I am of the traditional opinion that the first day of spring is the day following the Vernal Equinox (which is usually 20/21 March).  Any day that you can balance an egg on its point has to be special.

Éowyn’s progress also marches on.  We started her on solid food (well baby rice) last Saturday.  She is definitely a product of her parents, as she loves to eat.  As soon as the mouthful has been swallowed (and sometimes before) her mouth is opening for the next spoonful.  It is taking her body a little longer to adjust to digesting more than just milk but that has settled down through the week.  Today, she tried banana for the first time.  However, judging by the faces that she was pulling I think that the flavours were a little too strong, nevertheless mixed with a little baby rice and mom’s milk she finished her bowl.

She has reached the stage where everything she touches she has to taste.  Any toy, clock, book or hand has to be thoroughly investigated in case that it may be edible.  She gets mightily frustrated should you interrupt this important analysis, and complains loudly.  She has also found a renewed interest in her feet.  For a while she has held her feet when lying on her back but now coupled with the above she has to taste them; nibbling her own toes.  It seems an awfully long time since I could do that.

Éowyn’s curiosity is well developed too.  She likes to know what is going on and is afraid to miss out.  When there is a conversation she will follow the speakers intently.  I wonder what processes are going on her head.  What does she hear and what can she understand.  This curiosity was evident last Tuesday.  We had two other couples round for dinner and Éowyn would not settle.  Lucinda and I tried on a number of occasions in a tag-team rally to placate her and she was not cooperating.  Defeated we took her downstairs to meet the guests.  After satisfying herself, on who was there and what they were doing and then managing to rub her hands in Lucinda’s curry, she was ready for bed and went to sleep until morning.

She still isn’t sleeping as much as one would expect a baby to sleep.  Daytime naps are a rarity and although she used to sleep through the night, since her teeth have begun to move it is rare for her to sleep through to morning.  Yesterday, however we drove to Nanny Fran’s for the day and I think that it wore her out.  She usually sleeps in the car, and yesterday she slept on the way up and on the return journey.  We arrived back home about 2230 and she woke, and seemed wide-awake and we feared the worse.  We unpacked the car and got ourselves ready for bed.  Lucinda fed her and put her to bed and she slept solidly for 8 hours.  It was bliss.  She has also had a little nap this morning.  We both hope that this is the start of a new routine, if only for a couple of weeks or so.