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!

3 months old!

My baby girl is growing far too fast. I have no idea how much she weighs as I've not been to clinic for ages must go on Tuesday as I'm curious! She's on her way out of her 0-3month clothes now and some size 2 nappies are getting a bit tight (they go up to about 13lbs roughly).

She is starting to grab onto things (other than clothing and hair which she's been doing for a while). Baby toys with small, narrow rings and bars...that kind of thing although it's all very un-coordinated! Anything she does get hold of is straight in her mouth although not for long as she still much prefers her hands to be in there than anything else. She's not really found her thumb yet but a few times has stuck her fore-finger in and been really pleased with herself!

She's really enjoying toys at the moment too - her gym and mobile and the things she can hold etc. Staring at them, talking to them and generally finding it all so amazing that her big brown eyes look like they'll pop out of their sockets!

She also looks like she's trying to roll which is a bit scary. She's been able to get herslef onto her side for a good few weeks now but I don't think it's intentional! Just happens when she's being nosey! She'll arch her back, tilt her head right back and kick and push with her feet and has actually turned herself 180degrees a few times in doing so (I'm already finding her upside down in her cot...needless to say blankets have now been ditched!).

Freya is also now giggling lots. Up until recently she's only done those diddy little huccup laughts when being spoken to in a funny voice or wwhen watching Noah. Now she will do a short little giggle when tickled...it's completely adorable! Add that to her little chatty noises that come out more and more and it's just yummy!

I'm sure she's going through another growth spurt as the past 2 or 3 days the feeds have been almost hourly again...and a couple of times during the night. Just when she'd settled down a bit and was going up to 3 hours on occasion during the day!! Typical. I'm exhausted...my boobies have lost the will to live, lol. Deb - I've not really had much of a chance to try out the pump yet because of this (and being ill) but promise I will have a proper play soon - I need to have a good supply for a couple of weeks time ayway!

We're moving house at the end of July and I've had a great time buying some pink things for her new bedroom! I really didn't think I'd be the type to go down the whole pink and fluffy route with her as I'm not like it myself but I just can't help myself. She's got some beautiful curtains and some pink drawers like Noah's blue ones....just need a couple of blankets, lol! She won't be in her room straight away so I'll have a month or so to sort it all out and get some pictures and pretty lights and such up...can't wait!

10wks 4days old

I've just been to get Freya weighed and she's now a healthy 11lb 2oz. Still hovering between the 25th and 50th centile so gaining steadily.

She's awake so much more during the day now and rotates between her bouncy chair, swing chair, play gym and cuddles and chat. She's usually very content and just watches the world go by...or watches Noah play and laughs and smiles at him. Occasionally she gets fed up and you're not quite sure what to do with her. This tends to be when she's getting tired but is fighting sleep! She's such a nosey girl! Yesterday she got really cross and the only thing that soothed her in the end was a cool bath - she was obviously feeling a bit hot!

She has found her hands in a big way and whenever she's awake she has her fists in her mouth. One hand will find it's way to her mouth and the other hand will come up to hold it in place! There's this permanent slurping/sucking noise going on! I'd be very surprised if she doesn't end up a thumb sucker once she gains more control of her limbs! She's also into grabbing things - not toys yet, obviously, but hair and a bit of my top when she's feeding/being carried etc. She's such a sweetie.

I was eventually able to dig out the 0-3 months clothes a week or so ago. We're going to have to do a shop when she goes into 3-6m as before she was born I assumed she'd be in that size for the summer so it's mostly summer stuff. Unless she has a major growth spurt I think it'll be too cool for her to wear them when they fit!

She smiles ALL the time now if she can see/hear somebody. And she does these adorable gaspy little laughs! She's certainly got a temper on her though when she gets bored or wants something.

I'm sure I've said a lot of this stuff before...I can just never remember!

She's growing so fast and it's making me sad. I'm really enjoying being Mummy to a little girly...and Mummy to two..most of the time !!

Sleeping in her cot!

Freya slept in the cot for the first time last week On her 2 month birthday, lol! She'd never even led in it before as, since I put it up before she was born, it's been where I've stored all the clean laundry that's waiting to be ironed/put away!!

I'd had a big tidy up in the bedroom that day and was so fed up of not having any space my side of the bed (I have the cot and the Moses basket between me and the wall!) that I ironed and put away all those clothes, moved the basket into the living room for daytime naps and made the cot up for the girly!

She actually went to sleep in her basket in the living room with us at 9pm but when I went to bed a few hours later I transferred her into the cot. She was fine. Slept as well as usual and didn't protest about being put somewhere strange after her 5am feed. It's a bit sad as she's still so diddy!

We've had no problem at all since then either. Freya's a star at bedtimes, she really is. Has her last feed at around 8pm, gets put into the cot where she settles herself to sleep by 9pm and then sleeps right through without a peep until 5am when she feeds and goes back to sleep for another couple of hours.

Last night she slept right through. What I consider right through anyway! To me, any time before 6am is the middle of the night!! 6am is the earliest I'd dare to call morning, lol and 6am is when Freya woke up this morning! I've been really awful at getting to bed myself recently (am often up until 1am finishing my jobs and fiddling about on the computer!) Last night I got to bed at 11pm and it was sooo lovely to have a solid 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep!


(P.S - for those of you who haven't heard the name Freya before it's pronounced Fray-ya as opposed to Free-ya!! Thanks 'Canada Jen' for pointing out it's not a common name that side of the pond!)

One down, two to go!

Freya had her first lot of jabs today and boy was she upset!

She was asleep in my arms when we went in to the nurse's room (after having some boob due to being cranky while we waited). When she woke up she was cross! Cross that I'd put her down and led her on a strange hard bed and cross because some nasty lady stuck something sharp in each of her legs!!

She cried and cried and it was such a sad little warbling cry. She really sticks her bottom lip out when she's upset - it's going to cause Daddy to buy her lots of things when she's older! It made me a little choked up as I knew she was genuinely upset - not just being bad-tempered and Noah had hardly cried at all with any of his jabs!

It took a good 5 mins to console her and ended up with her doing those involuntary gaspy sobs for a while! She bled a fair bit (on my top) and already has a bruise on one leg.

She's been a grouch this evening too so I actually gave her 2mls of Calpol and she's now asleep in her swing chair. Hope she doesn't have too bad a night.

8 weeks old!

My baby girl gets more beautiful every day!

Poorly Girl

Freya's got another cold. Her 2nd one. I guess she's getting more than Noah had at her age as he didn't have an older sibling to pass them onto him. And we didn't go to toddler groups when Noah was this diddy.

Freya had been ok with the cold at first. Sleeping a lot in the day (tilted up on my bed on the v-pillow) and then waking, having a sob, struggling through a feed before going back to sleep. The worst way it was affecting her was how snuffly and snotty she was...she kept over-feeding to make herself sick to bring all the mucus up. Nice.


Last night she was 'orrible!!

It took her ages to settle to sleep - got there at about 10pm in the end after lots of 'little bit' feeds.

She woke up at 2am, which is unheard of, had a feed and then cried and cried and cried and cried until 6.50am when she eventually fell asleep. Noah woke up at 7!

I think she was just feeling so rotten. She was warm to touch and sniffling and grunting and mucussy. Plus I think she had awful wind cause by all the gulping she does when she feeds. It was a a hard night with lots of tears from both of us!!

Typically, she's happy as Larry today and hasn't even wanted to catch up on her missed sleep like I do!

I've NEVER had to pull an all-nighter with a screaming baby before (apart from that almost bad night a few weeks ago)- such a shock to the system!

Weight Update

Birth weight: 6lb 13oz
5days old: 6lb 9oz (-4oz)
11days old: 7lb 2oz (+9oz)
2wks 3days old: 7lb 9.5oz (+7.5oz)
3wks 4days old: 8lb 3oz (+9.5oz)
5wks 4days old: 9lb 1oz (+ 14oz)
Today (7wks 4days old): 10lb 3oz (+1lb 2oz!)

Trouble with bottles...

6wks 5days

She hates them! Well the two types I've tried her with anyway - Avent and MAM - bought one of each as 'just in case' supplies before she was born.

I've been expressing milk every night for the past couple of weeks and freezing it should I ever need to not be with Freya for some reason (eg. the day Noah has his operation - wouldn't want to bring poor Freya to the hosptial all day and would want to give Noah my undivided attention!).

I pumped last night and left it in the fridge as I knew I was going to be out for a while rejoining Weight Watchers tonight and wanted to have some milk available for Sy to give her should she be desperate for some while I was gone. He didn't need it in the end as I wasn't gone long but I didn't want to waste the milk!

When Freya needed feeding I tried her with the bottle and she just coughed and spluttered and choked. The teat made her gag (she has the same reaction to dummies!). Just in case it was because she was with me and knew boob was nearby, Simon tried but she was the same.

I think I might try and give her a bottle of expressed milk once a week just to get her used to bottles otherwise it might make life harder in the long run. She's only had my milk from a bottle once before but that was in the early days when my milk first came in and I'd expressed because I was so engorged and she hadn't yet developed such a strong 'nipple' sucking action - toally different to how to suck a teat! She just doesnt get it!

I'm not trying her on bottles because I want to stop BF as it's going so well and I'm really loving it but I do want to get her used to having a bottle with my milk in so I can go to WW once a week and not have to worry she's at home screaming and starving! Until she's happy to drink my milk from a bottle I won't stay for the meetings after the weigh-in though - will come straight home to feed her.

Am going to buy a Tommee Tippee bottle as they look really booby like! I think it's going to be a case of trial and error for a while...

Happy girl!

Freya's been in a super-smiley mood today so I managed, at last, to capture it on camera!

I think her new swing chair has made her happy. It's made me happy, lol as it keeps her occupied for a few extra minutes so I can get jobs done and give Noah a bit of time. She's awake so much that she gets bored really easily but she likes to be in her chair! Glad we finally got round to getting one (good old ebay sales helped us afford one!).



These photos really show how much she's filling out too! She's going to be a chubby one!

6 weeks old!

Freya had her 6 week developmental review at the Doctor's surgery yesterday. The appointment only took 5 minutes...which is great as we'd been waiting half an hour in a hot, stuffy waiting room and both Noah and I were feeling a bit hot, bothered and fed up!

Freya now weighs 9lb 3oz (she was 9lbs 1oz two days before!). She is now 53cm long - so has only grown 2cm! Noah was 58cm at his 6wk review - they were both the same length at birth! Her head circumference is 38cm - 6cm more than birth. Hips, reflexes and the rest of it all passed with flying colours too.

She's now fitting perfectly into her 'Newborn' clothes at last! Although I'm sure she'll only be in them for a couple of weeks at the rate she's piling on the pounds and I'll soon be digging all the 0-3months stuff out! She's been ravenously hungry the past 2 or 3 days so I think she's got a growth spurt on!

Also, the Health Visitor kept prodding her naked flesh while we were there and exclaimed - 'I think she's just a dark-skinned baby, you know!'. Duh. I knew she was looking for signs of remaining jaundice but it's definitely all gone. She's going to be a lucky girly when she grows up as she has the kind of skin that tans well, lol!

Freya's a lovely little girl and fairly content most of the time although she does love to be cuddled and also prefers to be on the move! We've just invested in one of those swing chairs to hopefully keep her settled for a bit longer! She is so alert when awake and her little eyes dart about as she tries to find the noises and voices she hears!

She's still only waking once during most nights (sleeping from 8pm until 4am and then until 8am after she's fed). The breast-feeding is going really well. I'm finding it much easier this time round. I enjoyed feeding Noah but he was one of those constant feeders - very close together and for a long time! Freya still feeds every 2 hours roughly during the day but only for ten minutes or so. Being confident enough to feed her in public has made it that much easier too. I'm hoping she continues to be such an efficient feeder and I can keep it up until she's at least 6 months.

We've been enjoying the sunshine this week and time with family and it's been great. The first six weeks of a new baby are supposed to be the hardest but just like her brother, Freya has been a real joy. We're so lucky!

Bubbles in her tummy :(

Yesterday was horrible. From 3pm until about 1am Freya was having a really hard time and pretty much cried the whole time, sleeping a few minutes every now and then when the crying wore her out and feeding a little only a couple of times and for only a minute or two before she remembered her pain. It's the first experience I've ever had of a baby that cries like that! Hats off to the women who have babies that scream 24/7!

I think she had trapped wind. It was such a sad little cry. Surprisingly it didn't stress me out at all - it wasn't a high pitched wail - just constant sobbing. Bless her. Nothing would settle her especially as she was in too much discomfort to really feed. I think the wind was caused by her snuffly little nose and having to gulp a bit when she feeds. She certainly wasn't happy.

She finally drifted off properly just after 1 this morning and woke up at 4am for a feed back to her usual self. She fed again at 6.30am and since then has probably been the happiest I've ever known her to be! Hasn't grumbled once - led on my bed awake for an hour without making a sound while I slept a little more after her 6.30am feed, sat for ages in her bouncy chair and has been happy and alert with less than an hours sleeps since she first got up this morning! She's been a real joy!

I hope we don't get too many repeats of yesterday.