Thank god for grandparents

With the week starting on a bad note (in last week’s blog I mentioned that Lauren was on hunger strike and I was sick), Gran and Granddad Cooke cancelled their flight back to NZ and stayed on for the week to help out. I had forgotten how good it is to have the extra sets of hands around the place!

Lauren was well looked after, with some extra walks in the park, some great kicking time in the bouncer seat (she has finally realised she has feet) and lots of chatting to Gran whilst being read stories. We had a very contented and angelic baby on our hands and with Gran’s magic touch she was even settling during the witching hour.

Now, Lauren is a little camera shy – strange considering she must be the most photographed and filmed baby in the world. But whenever she sees the camera come out she goes silent, stops doing what she is doing immediately and stares transfixed at the camera. From that point on there is no chance of a smile. This finally worked in our favour when we had to go and get Lauren’s passport photo done. We lay her on the floor on a white sheet and she looked straight down the lens and didn’t smile one bit. The man in the shop said it was the quickest baby passport photo he had ever done!

We said goodbye to Gran and Grandad Cooke on Saturday morning and hoped that Lauren wouldn’t miss all the extra attention and cuddles too much. To help take her mind of it, we went for a walk up to Potts Point and put her in the pram in the "grown-up" seat. Now Lauren has better head control, she can sit and face outwards and take in the world. We dressed her in the coat that Lavinia had bought her and looked so cute. It feels weird to be walking down the street and not being able to see her, but I think she enjoyed it...until she went to sleep that is.

In the afternoon I realised just how lucky I was that Lauren was early...and small. At our antenatal class reunion that day we were introduced to some BIG babies. Admittedly all the other babies from our class are boys which means they are naturally bigger but Lauren looked tiny compared to a 5-week old boy who is already 7kg!!

It was great to see everyone again and compare notes and of course Lauren was on her best behaviour as she hung out with everyone and then had a little nap in her pram - no settling required. To say we were the envy of a few of the parents would be an understatement.

We ended the week with a trip to Lauren’s favourite pub, The Lord Dudley. As a regular she was pretty relaxed, had a little snooze and swapped drinks for cuddles with a few of Blair’s uni friends. But we couldn’t stay long as we were finishing the cold, rainy Sunday with a roast dinner with Abi and Joe.

Never the one to miss out, Lauren refused to sleep while we had guests. No matter how hard Blair, Abi or I tried to settle her, she would not sleep in her room and so she joined us at the dinner table in her bouncer seat. That night she continued to be pretty unsettled and Dad ended up having to sleep on the sofa bed in her room with her for an hour to settle her to sleep. But he doesn't mind and secretly I think he likes it...

Photos from this week are here.