- She is a big Mummy’s girl at the moment. We got the first proper smile on Monday when Paul gave her back to me (after fussing the moment she saw me come into the room)!
- She is an excellent night sleeper, even if this means she is awake for big slabs of the day. Having said that, we do go to bed at 8:30 or 9 now, but we are getting a good solid 8 or 9 hrs – me in a couple of chunks, Paul usually only wakes up once. Having a decent nights sleep makes everything else quite ok to deal with. And having Mum baby sit so I can have an afternoon nap certainly helps as well (Thanks Mum!)
- She is a happy camper in the morning and grizzly in the afternoon. Her two favourite things (after boobs and cuddles) are seeing stuff and listening to music, so I am happy she can be entertained by Prairie Home Companion while I am sewing. The Baby Bjorn (thanks again, Helen) and the swing (thanks, Robin and Dennis) are both great as they give us our hands back but allow Sarah to see stuff and then fall asleep when she is tired.
- She likes to save up her poo and do enormous poosplosions every so often (e.g. has a couple of big ones every second day). This has already made for quite a few leakages as the nappies just don’t cope with that much volume at once – so now as soon as we hear something happening, it’s a race to see if we can get the nappy off her in time! We have also got a ‘safety towel’ which is especially handy around 5 in the evening when most of the poosplosions happen. And I am pleased to report that I have been peed on, pooed on (both leakage and projectile when changing her nappy) and also projectile vomited on. It’s very glamorous taking care of a small person! Thank goodness my mother and I wear the similar sizes – we had a projectile vomit at Mum and Dad’s that required me to completely change my outfit, right down to underwear. Thankfully not too much ended up on the white leather recliner but it’s a bit demoralising to have to eat dinner at someone else’s house in their underwear and spare Pjs (I now have a change of clothes in the car).
- She definitely makes ‘little girl’ noises. I visited two friends who both have little boys (11 weeks and 3 weeks) and she makes cute little birdy noises when she wants some attention – and the boys both seems to grumble and growl (in a cute little baby way).
- She has started making noises to actually tell us specific stuff (And we are starting to work out what that stuff is) – e.g. cute birdy noises seem to mean ‘hey, you have left me on floor, where the heck are you?’ It’s making it much easier to take care of her when you vaguely know what she wants!
Other stuff they don’t tell you before you have a baby
- You will do A LOT of laundry. Especially when you co-sleep. She is mostly in her own bassinet but invariably when we take her into bed with us we end up with pee or breastmilk somewhere on the sheets.
- Pigeon breast pads and Libra maternity slim pads are the only way to go.
- Tea and coffee can be drunk cold. Just scull.
- If you really are breastfeeding on demand, don’t think about how many times you are feeding the baby (because it won’t be six times a day, every four hours). Yesterday I fed her 13 times – thank goodness she is a good baby because otherwise I would get limited stuff done otherwise.
- Don’t wake a sleeping baby! Those nappies will hold for a bit longer.
- Your own parents are invaluable. Thanks again to Mum and Dad for the:
- Hospital visits and bringing up all the things we forgot (and the cherries!),
- All the frozen meals and all the meals at your place over Christmas
- Phone call counselling and baby sitting
- Helping with the breastfeeding
- The pyjamas and nose cleaner
- And thanks to Paul’s Mum and Dad for:
- All the clothes Sarah will need until she is two (I kid you not people, Ann is a shopping machine!)
- All the lovely toys she got for Xmas
- The help and baby sitting over Xmas which allowed me and Paul to catch up on sleep and things around the house!
