Diary of one busy girl

Sometimes I feel like Lauren’s PA, as she is one busy lady at 10 weeks of age. This week included a fund raising event, lunch and a birthday party to name a few of the appointments in her diary and all of this on less sleep. I do wonder if she is mentally preparing us for her teenage years…

Monday: The social week began with a visit to Bondi to Lauren’s older partner in crime – Poppy. Lauren loves visiting her new friends as not only does she get lovely cuddles from Jen (Poppy's Mum) but Poppy too.

Tuesday: Lunch with Dad in Pyrmont – a picnic overlooking the harbour and plenty of admirers from the office. Then later in the afternoon we had a visit from Auntie Amy who helped us with some shopping in Potts Point. Lauren is certainly learning how to spend money. Mind you, it will be in the blood if she takes after me and her Nanna ;-)
Wednesday: This was rather a momentous day as Lauren moved out of newborn nappies into the bigger infant size. Thank God she’s not old enough yet to ask “does my bum look big in this?” as they look huge again compared to the newborn size. At the baby class in the afternoon we weighed her again and yes, she still gaining weight at a rather fast pace and was 4.8kg this week.

Thursday: Lauren’s first charity event – Australia’s biggest morning tea, raising money for the Cancer Council. This was at a friend's sister-in-law's house and it was crazy - there must have been at least 6 babies there aged under six months and about six two-year olds. Lauren was a dream though and sat happily on my lap, before having a bite to eat (not 4 pieces of cake like me!) and falling asleep in Auntie Sophie’s arms.

Friday: A visit to my office. With my head well and truly in baby-land for the last 10 weeks I had to pull a few sentences together and interview a couple of candidates. This meant that Lauren was doted on by everyone at work for a couple of hours as they all took turns to play babysitter. Listening to your baby cry for food while you’re asking someone about their career is a bit weird but thank god Blair reminded me to put some formula in the bag just in case. And lucky Auntie Lavinia was there with her magic touch and calming influence, Lauren was fed and asleep by the time I was finished.

Saturday: Poppy’s 2nd birthday party. This was a glimpse into our future – twenty two-year olds running round, playing, shouting, crying and having fun. Of course Lauren slept through most of it in the baby bjorn snuggled up to Daddy’s chest. Or she did until it was time to sing happy birthday and the noise got a bit too much, so we decided to go. Mind you, not before we got some cake and Lauren got her first party bag...complete with designer sunglasses.

Sunday: Morning tea with Roger and Barb. Once again Lauren was true to form and passed plenty of wind on her guests – we figure it’s part of her initiation and it means she likes you! She also made everyone smile with a few killer smiles, which she is now doing several times throughout the day.

So that concludes one busy week for our little socialite. Oh yes, except for the sleeping less thing… on top of all this Lauren decided that she was rather hungry again and would wake every 3 hours for food. Not only that but she would be awake and raring to go in the middle of the night, ready to play all over again. Like I said at the beginning, I’m fearful of the teenage version!!!!

The pics of the last week are available here.

Our angel returns

When Lauren arrived, my boss gave me some great advice, that “no matter what is happening, just remember it won’t last and that every week is different”. There has never been a truer word spoken. After the challenging week last week, this new week brought with it another new Lauren! Not only did she return to her smiling and playful self, she also discovered the new skill of sleeping for 5-7 hours in one block at night. What an angel!

We think we've discovered that sleeping longer is linked to bathing and so now Lauren gets a long soak in the tub every night. In fact anyone would think she’s at a day spa in our house, as the recent photos will show. I learnt baby massage this week and now Lauren gets her towels heated in the tumble dryer, before we lay them on a big cushion, put her in the middle and then massage her from head to toe! I wish someone would do it for me…

Lauren is growing fast and you can really see how much bigger she is now than when she was two weeks - it's unbelievable how fast she's growing. And she continues to be more alert. She's also started kicking in the the bath and pushing against the sides with her legs.

We discovered that the screaming last week was brought on by a growth phase in Lauren's brain. Apparently the part of her brain that controls sight developed so much that instead of being able to only see 30cm in front of her, she can now see up to 5m. That must be a big change for a little girl!

We had our usual outings this week – Mothers’ Group (where she weighed in at 4.6kg this week), baby class, walking in the park and generally hanging out together at home while I talked non-stop to her. I wonder if she ever thinks “oh shut up mum” and just wishes she could say it? Mind you, I think the talking is rubbing off as she’s starting to make a lot more sounds and burbles quite contentedly to everyone in the room. 

We had some visitors this week too. Lavinia came and brought with her the most beautiful winter coat for Lauren – she is going to look adorable in it. I also think Lavinia has the magic touch as Lauren slept very calmly in her arms (note: Lavinia for babysitter). Then Jon and Amy came round on Sunday afternoon for a late lunch and some Lauren time. Lauren was very taken with Jon and was happy to sit in his lap and listen to what he had to say, which is more than can be said for Amy ;o)

We finished our lovely week together with another long bath – this time in the grown ups bath with her Daddy. She loved it! Mind you, she is truly a Daddy’s girl and would love anything as long as Daddy was holding her and she could stare dreamily into his eyes. I know I’m biased but they look so cute together. 

I wonder what this week will have in store for us – Angel or Demon?

Photos from last week can be viewed here. We will get around to putting up some more videos, just as soon as we can find the time!

How old is Lauren really?

I've decided it's time this blog had a mother's input and so Blair has been pushed out of the driver's seat this week so I can get in a word or two. And it has certainly been an interesting week. After being all smiles, sleeping well and hardly ever crying in front of the grandparents, Lauren decided enough was enough and it was time to put her parents to the test.

This started on Monday, when all she wanted was to cuddle, cry or sleep – not that I complained about the cuddles, but the newfound passion for crying was taking some getting used to. Also, now that she is 8 weeks old, she has decided that she wants to be awake in the evenings and even at this early age won’t be told that anything before 10pm is bedtime. This wouldn’t be so bad if she hadn’t been awake since 5pm, letting the neighbours know on and off who has the best lungs in the apartment block. Where are the grandparents when you need them!

With Lauren’s great mood in mind, we headed off to see the pediatrician on Tuesday about her tongue tie – thinking this could be the day from hell! Once again, we learned never to try and predict what our little girl will do. She was on her best behaviour for the doctor and didn’t even cry when he did the small and painless procedure of snipping her tongue tie, in fact she went straight to sleep! The really interesting thing that Dr. Chilton discussed was that as Lauren was a premature baby we should be treating her at her adjusted age. Since she was four weeks early this meant Lauren was in fact four weeks old…and not eight as we had thought. This meant we needed to dial everything back – less play, less stimulus, more sleep and a calmer environment.

This was going to be hard with a busy day planned on Wednesday…we had Lauren’s eight week check and our baby class at the hospital but she did well in front of everyone all day and reserved the screaming for only us.

The check up went well – now 4.4kg and 56 cms, the midwife was very pleased with her progress. She also thought that we should continue play with Lauren and the recent behaviour was just her changing and that really we should think of her as being 6 weeks old. And baby class in the afternoon left me thinking that we should be treating her like she is 5-6 weeks old and that she was either going through a brain development spurt or growth spurt. Whatever it was, it was showing no signs of disappearing by Weds night!

Thankfully on Friday morning Lauren smiled again and like any parent, my heart melted and the week of demon behaviour was forgotten in split second. She also made us smile at the weekend when she showed us how she good she was at now holding up her head on her own and having a look around.

What we have learned this week is that we don’t really know how old our daughter is and that all the “normal” things that happen to babies at certain ages, can’t be predicted for Lauren as she was premature and so apparently you just can’t tell when they will take place. And there begins our life of second guessing our daughter and forgiving everything when she smiles at you!

Photos for this week are available here. There are not very many this week, we're clearly missing Granddad Paul and his camera!

Nic

The last of the family departs

It has been eight weeks since Lauren entered our lives very impatiently. And in that time we've been fortunate to have family with us for all but one week. This week, the last of them headed home when Sue and Paul climbed into their business class seats (thanks to airpoints) and headed back to Rugby.

Nan and Granddad, as they are now known, have been tremendous and we're not entirely sure how we're going to cope without them. 

I don't remember the last

 time I cooked a proper meal and Nicola now needs to find other things to keep her busy during the day. Their last few days in Sydney were spent doing things they had not yet found time to do...like a walk around Bondi.

As Thursday night approached we all got a little anxious and wondered just where the last 6 weeks had gone since they arrived. Soon the driver came to collect them and take them to the airport. Nic was obviously a bit upset to see her mum and Paul go which of course meant I was also a bit teary. And when Nic asked why I was crying I simply said "because now I have to iron my own shirts!"

But despite not having them around for the last few days we have managed to survive. The house is certainly a lot quieter and now we're making a plan to move Lauren out of our room. Lauren may be cute but when she sleeps she makes more noise than a couple of mating rhinos. We've already starting putting her down in the lounge now at night so Nic can get some sleep (I've cleverly adapted the ability to tune out all noise and so sleep through her grunts and whistles).

Lauren continues to get bigger and heavier and on Monday weighed in a 4.15kg, although I think she's piled on more weight since then. She was weighed by the doctor who was giving her the first batch of immunisation needles. The poor thing had a jab at the top of each thigh and was not at all happy about it. The accusing stare she gave her mother prompted Nic to tell me I was coming to the next one, like it or not.

She is also becoming increasingly aware of the world around her and loves the play mat we were given by a friend of Nic's. She is particularly taken by her reflection and loves to stare at the mirror and make faces at the little girl looking back at her.

Today is Mother's Day, Nicola's first. Lauren very considerately bought her the box set of Sex and the City - something Nic can watch at night while she's breastfeeding. And yesterday we went out for our first family picnic. We would have had it today but the weather forecast wasn't very promising so we took advantage of the sunshine yesterday to spend some time in Centennial Park

So next week will be our first test as new parents really. We'll have our first full week without anyone around to help us....we'll let you know how we get on.

In the meantime, here are the photos from last week.

The absence of time

One of the most perplexing things about being a parent is how little time you have. Despite being awake at 5am and planning everything you expect to achieve in the day, it never ceases to amaze how quickly the clock reaches 10pm and suddenly it is time to climb back into bed - and all you've done is change a few nappies in between watching your child sleep, feed and play. It's almost as if someone winds the clock forward when you're not looking.

It is for this reason that last week we missed what we now expect to be the first of many blog entries. And so we now find ourselves having to provide an update for the last two weeks. This is no easy feat given how quickly our little girl is changing. Just this week, for instance, she went on her first journey away with Mummy and the grandparents to Hardy's Bay on the central coast. When she returned just two days later it was clear she grown in the time she had been away. We weighed her on her return and she is now 4kg...an increase in the last six weeks of 75%.

Lauren now proudly sports chubby cheeks, Michelin Man arms and sumo wrestler legs. However, even at this hefty size, she is still lighter than our guess for the baby sweepstake...and my how pleased Nicola is that we were wrong!

Along with the increase in weight is an increase in coordination and alertness. Lauren is now awake for much longer periods during the day meaning we can now have more fun with her. She takes great delight in staring at her reflection in the mirror and now has enough strength in her neck to turn her head from side to side when lying on her tummy. I know that may seem like nothing much to those of us who have been doing this for 30+ years, but for a 6-week old it's a big deal!

From Lauren_Week07

The young lady also appears to be developing a bit of an attitude as the photo below demonstrates.

From Lauren_Week07

Lauren's hairstyle also appears to be changing. For the last 6 weeks she has sported a spiky, Rod Stewart style haircut which has (rather concerningly) had a ginger tinge. However this appears to be thinning now and Nic and I are hopeful it will be replaced by the blond locks we both enjoyed as children.

The last fortnight has been eventful for other reasons too. Granddad Paul celebrated his 60th and Mummy celebrated her 25th (again). Both events were celebrated in a local pub where Lauren found herself to be completely at ease. I can only hope this isn't a sign of things to come...

From Lauren_Week06

Lauren's Kiwi grandparents also made the trek over the Tasman in the last couple of weeks to shower her with even more love and affection. It was a flying visit in advance of further sojourns in the near future, but Lauren has been left in no doubt that she is loved by a multitude of people from both ends of the world.

So, the photos from the last couple of weeks are available here and here. There is video to come as well but I think I may have to accept that I'm only human and the video may have to come in fits and bursts. If I manage to only update the photos and the blog regularly then I think I'm doing well! In the meantime, there is video from previous weeks available here.

All the best to everyone - we send you all our love.