HFM

I'm pretty sure Freya's got hand, foot & mouth.

Yesterday I noticed a small blister on the tip of her tongue. Today there are 2 or 3 more on it. None on her palms or soles but there is a bump on the back of one of her fingers but am not sure if this could be HFM too or if it's limited to the palms!

It would certainly explain why she's been grouchy and sleepy (sleeping until 11am this morning after a quick 7am feed and not wanting to eat.

I'm not sure whether to take her to the Dr or not as it's one of those things thay can't give anything for according to the websites and books etc. I'll see how she goes. Aww.

Climbing, teeth and, this time, bugs!

The gum covering the bottom tooth that's been poking out for ages has at last split a little! You can't see anything but you can feel the tiniest bit of a sharp point. I thought this day would never come, lol!

She's been a bit unwell over the past few days. She was sick on Thursday night a couple of times, thick stuff that she had to force out. And for a couple of days she had a really watery bottom. Not sure if it's all related to teething or a bit of that and a bit of a bug. She hasn't wanted any finger foods (won't eat her morning toast, or her sandwiches and fruit etc. at lunch) but it happy with the mashed stuff and has had an extra bottle in the day. Her gums are obviously bothering her.

And since the last post she's not really attempted the stairs again. She's been happy to stand at the bottom one having a little bop and a shout! Being the bad mother that I am, I was tidying up the living room last night when she crept out and by the time I went to see where she was (her voice was getting a bit distant!) she was half way up the stairs! I stood behind her and she made it all the way to the top, even round the corner at the top. Urgh. It's exciting but a real pain!! It's also difficult because you have to go down two stairs to get into her bedroom so I can no longer leaving her playing in her bedroom in case she falls! Guess she'll just have to play in Noah's room and, shock horror, touch all his stuff!! ;)

She is also regularly saying her first proper word (other than Mumum & Dadad). When you give something to her she says 'datder' which is her way of saying thank you. She's always enjoyed a game of us giving her something, saying thank you and then her passing it back to us and saying it again and she's picked up on it bless her as she says it every time. Such a sweetie pie!

Climbing (and teeth...or lack of!)

Aargh! Since getting up on her feet she's not stopped!! She's quite fond of our hallway and I often find her playing with the curtain by the front door. This evening, while I was putting Noah to bed, Sy found her on the 2nd stair! We left her to it (standing behind her) and she slowly made her way up another 2 or 3 steps. Sigh...time to get another stair gate!! It really is eyes in the back of your head time!

Also...the child still has no teeth!!! I thought Noah was late getting his first tooth at 9 months but Freya is now 10 months with nothing to show for it. My nipples are pleased as I still feed her first and last thing but she's such a good eater it's starting to be a bit of a hindrance when she has her finger foods at lunch time (sandwiches, fruit/veg pieces, cocktail sausages, cheese etc. etc. etc.) as I have to chop it into tiiiiiny pieces for her!

Cruising!

Unlike Noah, it's taken Freya a month or so of being able to crawl before she started to pull herself up, which she started doing around Christmas Day. Since then there's been no stopping her and she's off round the furniture! Aargh!! She's a speed demon in every sense! Still not so hot at getting down though!

Catching up!

Hmmm...let me see....

Not much to report really! No teeth, no new tricks (can pull herself onto her knees but not up onto her feet yet...although will stand for ages holding on if put there!). She can go from crawling to sitting and sitting to crawling.

She's settled herself into her own little routine now though. I think she's had to with me working twice a week. Three solid meals a day and three feeds (first thing, mid afternoon and bedtime). She loves her bottles almost as much as she loves her boob now and we've even given her a bottle at bedtime on occasion as boob this week where she's been grouchy with cold and unsettled. Yes, I'm still breastfeeding. After a couple of weeks working my supply adapted (struggled for a few days) and I'm pleased as I do still really enjoy it, as does she. Who would've thought we'd get this far?!

She's so easy to feed. Has taken to lumps really well and have not yet found ANYTHING she won't eat. We've just started her on finger foods but only things like soft, cooked veg, rice cakes and toast. Oh, and anything she finds on the floor (a favourite being tinsel strands at the moment which certainly brighten up her nappies).

She sleeps though the night from around 7pm to 6am...goes down awake and settles herself. Sings when she wakes up for as long as half an hour before she decides she's starving!

She really has been as easy baby so far in that sense. She's quite laid back to. That doesn't mean she's a puchover though. She knows exactly what she wants and how to get it and she has a fab set of lungs and temper on her when she's feeling hard done by! She's a feisty one! I think she teases Noah as much as he teases her....either getting her own back or following his example!

She's in her sitty-uppy bath seat in the bath now and (bad mother alert!) has just moved permanently into her high chair from the bouncy chair!! It was just so much easier to do it that way while I could get away with it!!

She's just starting to suffer a bit with seperation anxiety. She'd only just gotten used to being left with her Grandma too. Still, she's a tough cookie, she shows no weakness if she can help it! Bless her. she even gets left in a creche while I take Noah swimming. Noah hasn't even been left with anyone other than family before!! Totally different the 2nd time round isn't it?!

I'd love to be able to take her swimming and do things with her like Jo Jingles etc. but that's going to have to wait until Noah goes to Pre-School. I've found giving each of them my 100% attention and devoted time on a one-to-one basis the hardest thing to adapt to but it's falling into place now.

I'm looking forward to her first Christmas and her first visit to Santa. It's so lovely to have a girly as well as a boy. A totally different bond. I keep saying to Simon that I was so worried I wouldn't love her as much as I love Noah but it was NEVER an issue and I love her so much.

Eight month check

Freya had her developmental check yesterday. Was quite exciting as Noah never had a proper one!

She now weighs 17lb 4oz and is 46cm long. Her length is around the 75th centile which is surprising as she's still quite a dinky dot to look at - chubby yet slight all at the same time too and is still comfortable in her 6-9m clothes.

It was nice to be able she can sit and crawl when only a couple of weeks ago she wasn't quite there with either! And of course she can roll both ways and stands supported (although isn't very interested on being on her feet!).

She's sussed out 'object permanence' and looks for things when they go out of sight and has a good go at picking up tiny objects with her developing fine motor skills. She can hold a brick and transfer it from hand to the other. There's no sign of a squint - she follows objects and turns to sounds.

Big ticks all round. The only thing the HV did say is that as I'm still breastfeeding as her main source of milk, to give her vitamin drops with her meals as other babies get extra from formula as it's put in. I'd not heard this before and it was a different HV so I might speak to my normal one first. She has two cartons of Aptamil a week and has three proper meals so I would've thought she'd be ok but it's definitely something I'll look into - don't want Freya going without essential vitamins!

Oh and we got our first Bookstart pack - different books to Noah's which is nice!

Crawling!

She's been wanting to and nearly able to for ages and at last Freya is crawling!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

From about 5 months she was up on all fours rocking back and forth and she's been succesfully crawling backwards for about a month now....she just couldn't work out how to go forwards! She'd get really cross and I was forever finding her under tables and chairs where she'd reversed in and gotten her bottom stuck!

BUT today she saw a toy she reeeaaally wanted and managed the two little paces it took to get to it. So, of course, since then, I've been setting her challenges, lol, putting things further and further away from her to make her come and get them and she's been doing it! Gets a bit cross, mind,a s it's very new and hard, lol. It's so cute - like those nappy adverts with an unsteady crawler on them! She has bright red knees from being on them all day though.

Noah caterpillar crawled for a few weeks before he crawled but Freya missed that stage out comletely. They really have been sooo different in the way and when they do things.

In other news, she's practically there with the sitting at long last. She's about 90% stable (still occasionally topples when she reaches for something too far away and flings herself backwards when she gets too excited!!) although still prefers to be on the floor and on the move!

She's also getting her first tooth. There's a very obvious bump below the surface of her bottom right-hand A.

So much going on with her right now....she's growing up far too fast!

7 Months Old!

Well, my baby girl is 7 months old already.

Over the past month she’s really developed her own little personality. She has such a sense of humour already and remembers how she gets reactions from us. She’ll ‘bite’ my nose to make me do a pretend scream and then giggle as I wipe her dribble off my nose on her tummy which tickles her. She spends much of the day laughing at her big brother acting the clown – it’s like you ‘knows’ he’s being silly and eggs him on with her grins and chuckles! She’s so desperate to play with him (which he’s not so interested in yet – he’s happy entertaining her for now!).

She’s still not sitting completely although is getting much better now I’m making a point of sitting playing with her. She’s far too much of a fidget and, as Noah’s always on the move and Freya wants to be where he is, there’s no reason for her to sit still!! She’ll get there. Noah was sitting at 5months and, although I don’t compare them as such, it’s interesting just how different they are and how they’ve done things at totally different times.

Freya’s not crawling yet either. She’s so very close but hasn’t managed that one shuffle forward yet that’ll make her little brain think ‘so that’s how you do it’. Backwards? Not a problem! She’s up on all fours, wiggling her bottom and shuffling backwards as she goes and you can just tell she’s meaning to go in the other direction...towards the toys, not away from them!

She used to be a little bit of tearful baby at times but is completely different now - she’s so happy and laid back and is a very sociable little thing. She really loves the days we go to toddler groups where she watches the children play with real interests and tries to roll towards them to join in with the action. I think I’m going to have my hands full when she does decide to crawl as she’ll be into everything! She already has a passion for wires/newspaper etc.! Time to baby-proof the house again I think!

She’s now on three meals a day. Breakfast (Weetabix, porridge etc. with or without fruit), lunch (still using up my vast selection of vegetable purees!) and tea (our dinners whizzed up). We’re working on the lumps and she’s not too bad with them. She’s trying very hard to learn how to chew at the moment and keeps poking her little tongue out as she tries to move the food around her mouth with it....very messy! Her breastfeeds have cut right down to 4 or 5 in a 24hr period. First thing in the morning, between lunch and tea, between tea and bedtime and at bedtime. Sometimes one during the night if she wakes (which she’s doing less and less now). When I’m working and she’s with her Grandma or her Daddy, I’ve been luckly enough to be able to go and feed her in my lunch hour (helping to keep my supply up, empty me so I don’t leak at work, and save us a few pennies on formula). On those days she has a bottle of formula in the afternoon which she’s still not convinced about and sometimes gets cross about but will usually take!

Freya is a really beautiful little girl. She gets so many comments on her beautiful big, brown eyes. Up until recently everyone told me how much she looks like her Daddy but over the past few weeks I’ve had a few more people compare her to me. She’s definitely changing. I often wonder what she’ll look like as she grows. Will her hair be curly or straight? Will it stay dark? Will she be tall? I have no idea. She’s the complete opposite of her brother and it’s so lovely to have two such individual children – completely different in every way and so unique!

Happy 7 month birthday Froggy!

Formula :(

I've decided (sadly) that as, when I return to work next week I'll now be doing two days instead of one, Freya's going to have to have some formula. I could've expressed enough for working one day during the week but not for two.

We went out last night after the kids had gone to bed but Freya has a cold so I thought she might wake up so bought a couple of cartons of formula just in case. Well, she woke up, was given a bottle and guzled 6 of the 7oz in an instant! I'm pleased she took the bottle well and liked the formula but there was also a part of me that was really sad! I haven't done it all completely myself anymore and she'd cope alright without me (I want her to need me, lol!!).

I'm pleased really. I've gotten over that hurdle. For now she'll only have it the days I'm working as I'm so enjoying feeding her myself still. Freya's obviously still loving it too. I was hoping to nurse her for a year and not bother buying expensive formula at all but to just go straight on to cows milk when she's 12 months (I'll probably get to a year and STILL want to continue feedin her!!). We'll see how she goes.

New things

I gave Freya an almost proper meal tonight. So far she's only had fruit/veg/baby rice for dinner from puree I've frozen but tonight when we were eating out roast I slipped in a bit of chicken with some broccoli and carot for her and she loved it! Coped really well with the rougher texture too!

I was also thinking about the whole 'baby-led weaning' thing that the health professionals have decided to encourage THIS month so gave her a broccoli floret to see what she did with it. She loved sucking on it and mashing it between her fingers (and flicking it across the table and wiping it in her hair!). It was really funny watch her stare intently at tiny bits of it on her high-chair tray and try to pick them up! Fine-motor skills? Not so developed yet!

Also I was thinking about the fact she's not interested in sitting at all and is still really floppy when I realised I hardly ever try sitting her up. She's such a skilled roller I just leave her to it on the floor to play. So, I tried sitting her up today and she's SO MUCH better. Was holiding herself upright for a good half a minute or so and was able to balance herself herself when starting to flop forwards or to the side but not when she went backwards! But, she's geting there!

Dainty little lady

I had Freya weighed for the first time in 2 months today! She's 15lb 4oz and hovering under the 25th centile (which is where she was last time).

She's not skinny in the slightest,I think she's just compact as she has chunky thighs and wobbly cheeks! Think she's going to be a short-arse, again - totally the opposite to Noah! She's still in her 3-6m clothes, although 2nd hand, well-washed 6-9m tops fit her.

She's having 2 decent meals a day now, although is on the move a fair bit. Anyway, she's doing well and it was soooo nice to see our old HV again (first time since we moved) as she's absolutely lovely!

Just because...

I just think Freya's getting more beautiful by the day! That's all!

Chesty

Freya been snotty and miserable since last weekend. She was briefly better mid-week but has slowly developed a cough. Until last night it was just tickly but last night was horrible for her as she was so obviously trying to cough stuff up and kept gagging and gasping for breath.

I'm terrible for taking the kids to the Dr as they always make you feel you're wasting your time and yoiu feel silly for worrying. However, it's the weekend now and I don't want it to get worse and for her to get really ill so have rung the out of hours Dr just in case...am waiting for a call back.

I feel I'm being a neurotic, over-protective Mother! Bothering them with a cough! I probably wouldn't have if Noah was the one with the cough but Freya's still so diddy.

UPDATE:
I've got an appointment in an hour or so. They asked lots of questions and felt that because she's coughing stuff up and sounds rattly and wheezy, because she's so young it's best to get her checked out.

She's even lost her little voice bless her - she just whistles and wheezes!

She's probably absolutely fine but I'd rather make sure. I was more paranoid for myself, lol, that if I didn't at least make them aware she was poorly, if she suddenly got worse I'd be labelled a negligent mother or something!

UPDATE:
She's fine - nothing sinister going on. She's 'noisy' but it's shifting, whatever it is and the Dr didn't seem too concerned. He checked her ears, nose and throat and everything and told me he just wanted to reassure me. Made me feel like one of those Mums that races to the Dr at the drop of the hat (which I'm not - Noah's only ever been once....apart from his op business) and for no reason although was very nice about it.

I really wasn't panicking about her, lol - just didn't want it to get worse if it was something horrible which it really does sound like! She can't even cry where's she's lost her voice - it's going to be a nightmare overnight knowing if she's ok while I'm sleeping if she can't make a sound!

On the move!

Freya actually pushed herself forward to get something she really wanted today!! She hoiked her legs up beneath her and pushed with her feet..whith her arms still tucked under her tummy causing her to slide along with her bum in the air and her face scraping along the floor! All for the dirty wheel of Noah's bike!

I think it was a bit of a one off for now but, like I said in my last post, she's definitely working out to get around - she already rolls back and forth whilst rotating to get her nearer to her treasure.

I was so desperate for Noah to crawl...I'd prefer it if Freya didn't! I don't have enough eyes or hands!!!

The solids have begun!

5months 2wks 4days old

I've begun weaning Freya! While we were on holiday she was so obviously hungry and wanting more than milk so I started giving her a couple of spoonfuls of baby cereal on the days she was cranky. Now she's had it a few times but still hasn't got the hang of it! She'll have maybe 5 spoonfulls but it takes a good 10 minutes to get it into her with all the spitting out she does (she enjoys it but hasn't learnt how to keep it in her mouth yet and even swallowing the different texture takes a bit of thinking about!). I'll keep going with just baby cereal mid-morning for a couple of weeks and then maybe start on my home-made fruit and veg purees!

Also, she's quite a mobile little thing now, rolling with ease from back to front to back across a room, and can do a 360 degree turn on her tummy to reach the toys she's after. I'm so pleased she's happy to spend more time on her tummy now. Last night was actually the first night she chose to roll onto her tummy to sleep which worried me as she has anabsolutely stinking cough and cold and I thought she'd smother herself so kept rolling her back over!

She's also started to do a very uncoordinated little wave! If you wave at her she'll either waggle her fingers back at you or do some kind of karate chop movement! So sweet!

She's a typical whingey whiney girly when she's not getting her own way, lol, and if I'm in view when Noah touches her she'll cry (fake!) although if I'm not around just plays nicely with him! She doesn't often take her eyes off him and even puts up with being his play thing and having him squeeze her hand (which for some reason he does a lot - the only unkind thing he does to her). Other than that she's a typical laid-back family member and is such a little joy to be Mummy to!

Weaning

I'm all prepared to start as of 14th September or after when we're back from Devon.

I've got some baby rice in and another box of baby cereal stuff. I've steamed and pureed a load of veg this morning and it's sat in ice cube trays cooling ready to go in the freezer (anybody remember how long I can keep it in the freezer for? I still want to do some fruit but don't want to go overboard and end up wasting it if it won't keep!). Just need to pump some milk and freeze it now for the rice and cereal.

I'm traumatised at how fast the time has gone and that Freya is nearly ready for solids!

Mrs Busy Body!

4months 4weeks 2days old

My daughter is so nosey!! It's really hard trying to feed her sometimes at the moment as she'll have a suck, stop to smile at me, have a suck, crank her head backwards to see what that noise was, have a suck, crank her head backwards to giggle at Noah etc. etc. etc.!!! Half the time when she pulls her head away and turns it round, she forgets to let go of me - ouch! I'm dreading the restart of the toddler groups after the holidays as when she does my nipple is in full view!!

Just looked it up online and it seems it's quite common at this age for babies to get distracted whilst feeding...hope it passes soon..my poor nipples!

Nearly 5 months and a proper little person

Freya's growing so much!

She has recently found her feet and likes nothing better than staring wide-eyed at her socks and having a good suck!

She can now roll completely over and get her arm out from underneath her at last - and isn't so grumpy when she lands on her tummy these days!

She's a bit of a 'flinger' and when sitting on your lap will sunddenly stiffen her legs and throw herself backwards...I think she just really wants to be able to play with Noah. He's her absolute world! Freya chuckles at everything he does and often tries to copies his actions and noises!

She's still exclusively breast-fed and is a pro. If I'm holding her and she decides she's hungry now, she'll just dive-bomb down towards my boob and start clawing and bashing at my top! I wanted to wait until she was 6 months to wean her (for my sake more than hers!!) but just recently she's been getting really stroppy while we've been eating - insisting on sitting on one of our laps while we eat and watching every mouthful we take! We go on holiday from 6th-13th september so once we're back I'm going to start her on the baby rice as she'll be 5 and a half months by then anyway.

Freya now sleeps in her own room too. Again I wanted to wait until she was 6 months but we have really narrow doorways in the house and I really couldn't be bothered to put the cot up in our room in the new house only to have to completely dismantle and move it again in a few weeks time so she's in her room already. She got into a bit of a habit of falling to sleep in her swing chair or on the boob for the fortnight we were staying with my Dad before the new hosue was ready so we had a few evenings of tears and screams as I trained her back into falling asleep alone but it didn't take long.

She's a really gorgeous little girly and I'm loving having a baby and a pink person in the house so much!

Suck, suck!

She's been after it for weeks and weeks and, a few nights ago, found it good and proper while waiting for me to dress Noah before I then dressed her after her bath. In it popped and off to sleep she instantly dropped...it's hardly left her mouth since either! And she'll now settle herself back to sleep when she wakes at 5am instead of grumbling until she's fed!

Freya has found her thumb!

Awwwwww!!

Rolling!

My little frog is rolling! She's been able to get herself onto her side almost since birth but since Friday she's been able to flip herself right over from her back to her tummy.....and then squawks as she's stuck with her arm underneath her.

I can't believe she's doing it already. It's probably not that early at 17wks but Noah was 21wks when he rolled and in most other ways he's been more ahead of her in their development.

She also scoots along on her back although unintentionally! She'll be in her cot or on her gym and all of a sudden she has her head pressed against the bars or rubbing on the carpet!!

Bumbo time...

Freya's such a beast, she really is. She won't sit in her bouncy chair anymore as it lays too far back. Whenever she's in it she's pulling herself up and leaning forwards! She gets so cranky that she's not sitting up! She doesn't mind laying back in the swing chair but can't at the moment as the batteries have run out and I've stupidly packed the screwdrivers already so can't replace them!

We got the Bumbo out of the shed yesterday but some plank (*cough*SIMON*cough*) put a load of stuff on top of it and it's all squashed and out of shape. I'm really cross as I'd planned on selling it on eventually as they fetch a pretty good price on ebay still. Luckily a friend has said we can borrow hers.

I don't think she'll be able to spend long in it though as although she's very good at holding her head up she still gets tired and wobbly after a while!! And she's still so diddy......

Freya's day without boobies!

The girly survived on bottles of expressed milk all day (just!) while her big brother was in hospital having an operation!

I gave her a last feed at 11.30 am before we left for the hospital. She drank 3oz straight from the bottle a couple of hours later and cried for more so had another oz. She had 3oz another couple of hours later and cried with hunger again later on but refused the bottle, lol. Luckily this was just as we arrived to collect her so I was able to feed her! She did really well seeing as I was gone 6 hours!

She didn't miss her Mummy at all apart from that. She's not really old enough to really although I did get lots of smiles and coos when she saw me.

I took my breast-pump with me but didn't use it...I think my boobs are ok, lol. The only time they actually leaked all day was when I was cuddling Noah after his op! He must smell like Freya, lol! Funny old things, bodies!

Weight update

I took Freya to get weighed just now as we haven't been for over a month. Her weight has slowed down a bit now. Last time I took her she'd almost jumped up a centile line in a fortnight! She's now back down to the 25th centile where she always was weighing in at a healthy 12lb 8oz. I expected it to be more - she seems so porky with her cheeks and her thighs (as can be seen in the picture below taken of Freya and big brother Noah at our Toddler group a couple of weeks ago!)!!

Two down, one to go!

Freya eventually had her 2nd lot of jabs today. 2 weeks later than they were due. Cried lots again but only after the 2nd one although doesn't seem so miserable in herself afterwards this time round.One more lot to go and then she'll get a rest for a few months!

Breakthrough!

Freya has successfully taken 2oz of expressed breast milk from a bottle!!!!!! Yaaaaayyy!!

She fed CONSTANTLY yesterday evening - literally every half an hour and I was getting really tired and stroppy, lol, so I thawed some milk out and let Simon take over the next time she cried!

There was 3oz in the bottle at the start and the first oz was wasted with her chomping on the teat and spitting it out etc. I took her off Sy as he was getting frustrated that he wasn't being the King of making her be able to do it, lol, and as soon as I got the teat back in her mouth she suddenly got a good suck on and guzzled the rest!! As a reward, she was allowed some more boob, lol!!

Such a big step! Think I'll try her every evening now (especially now I have a lovely electric pump and am getting lots of extra milk out!!) and hopefully Freya will be much more confident by next Friday when she's away from me for the first time while Noah has his operation!