Rosalinde is growing up already.!
(middle of Week 11 update
photos and video update!)
Week 5
it's her 1-month vaccine appointment on Thursday.
She's had her first visit to the doctors as she got an abscess at the BCG injection site, but that's going down already
Rosalinde has some rules that she lives by... below is the updated version of the drat rules posted earlier:
When you are holding me, keep me warm and snug
When you are trying to soothe me, sway me side-to-side, don't bounce me.!
you can bounce me if we are dancing to the music of Roy Ayers and only Roy Ayers.
I am scared by any sudden noise please talk quietly and be quiet around me.
When I am crying, try the pacifier
if I accept the pacifier, I just need soothing... keep going...
if I reject the pacifier, check to see if I've got a wet nappy...
if I don't have a wet nappy, check to see if I need feeding...
If I don't need feeding, consult the Baby User Manual (can't find this anywhere!)
When I sleep, I will go through lots of emotions and facial expressions. just go with it, OK.
what you call Breast Milk, I call "Sleep Juice".... and it works...!
I need baths every day when the weather is too hot. I love them even though I cry through half of them.
I don't like being changed, so I will scream and cry all the time I'm being changed, but don't worry... as soon as you pick me up afterwards I will stop crying and sleep again.
I like singing... you can sing to me if you want.
Sometimes I just want to hang out and look at the paintings... I like that.
I am cute. Deal with it. LOL.
I'm growing up fast. Deal with it.
Week 6
This week started with a big change... people visiting and visiting other people..!
Ate Anne and Chris came over on Saturday, then Sunday we went to visit Laila and Paul and a whole bunch of other friends who joined the party..!
Rosalinde was really great... she was not fussed at all with other people holding her, and not bothered by the noise of the party either... that was a surprised for Rose and I... but a nice surprise..!
We ended this week with our first family trip to a restaurant... this was a huge unknown for us.. would she be well behaved, cry constantly, or what...?
She fell asleep on the walk to Ruby Tuesdays, woke up after about 10 mins in the restaurant at which point a 2-minute walk around the lobby put her back to sleep.! but she likes (and falls asleep to) the movement of walking whilst in the baby carrier, and she is easily woken by my talking as her ear is right next to my chest.... sooo... we spent the rest of our time in the restaurant being totally silent and with me swaying side-to-side to imitate the movement of walking....
yes... you're right... we looked pretty weird sitting in silence while one of us looked like we had a fart that we couldn't get out..!... lol
we had a few friends come over at the weekend and with the long walk after the meal on Saturday and another walk on Sunday, all-in-all it was just a lovely weekend.
Week 7
it's a great start with Rosalinde sleeping for 5 hours on Sunday night!
She's really starting to recognise us and getting some control of her arms and hands as she can almost grab for things, but definitely hold on to things that she can find, including my fingers... which is massively cute!
she's having good nights sleep and bad nights sleep, but we're really OK getting through it... it's really not bad, especially as Rose is really doing a fantastic job of looking after Rosalinde, and working her days around Rosalinde's sleep routine.
Rosalinde is starting to enjoy having books read to her... and Rose is really really good at reading books, Rosalinde is absolutely entranced hearing her read and talk about the books.. it's soooo lovely to watch..!
We were invited for lunch last Sunday and ended up out of the house for 6 hours... and she coped really well..!.. she even enjoyed the changing table in the shopping centre a lot that she was nice a quiet just laying there. lol.
Week 8
Things are changing with her sleeping... we're trying to bring a little structure to her sleep by putting her down at a semi-regular hour in the evenings, and letting her put herself to sleep if we can.
I'm very happy to say that in general she's responding to the sleep changes well... she's crying sometimes, but we're soothing her rather than just picking her up and putting her to sleep in our arms again like we used to do.
Rose is reading the Your Baby Week By Week book and it's really interesting so far.
Rosalinde is getting even cuter every day... it's fantastic to watch..!
She slept 6.5 hours on Sunday night..!... I think it was Russel's dulcet tones that kept her asleep
Week 9
We're easily into a routine now... each morning starts with me rushing to get ready so that I can look after Rosalinde while Rose prepares for her day.. shower, breakfast and 'hirap magmaganda' :-)
Rosalinde is starting to get a bit grumpy at times... it's that growing time when neither the nappy, feeding or anything will soothe her enough... but it's OK... we're taking our time and not getting stressed over it
Week 10
she's really starting to focus on things, people, etc... she loves the paintings around the flat (which I think are great!)
we're really getting into a rhythm in putting her to bed around 8pm... and that is giving us a little bit of time together, Rose and I.... which is really nice...
Rosalinde's regular sleep pattern is in 3-4 hour stints, which is also giving us enough time to get some sleep between feeds, though Rose is being very nice to me and mostly letting me sleep through the nights so that I'm not too tired at work.
Rose has also had a few breaks over the last few weekends, going out with her friends for afternoon tea and some shopping, which is great for her, though there has obviously been some separation anxiety to deal with, but that's quite normal... she's doing really well
Rosalinde is really enjoying the book readings... especially from Rose... though my renditions of the Gruffalo are quite nice with the mouse sounding more and more like the queen..!
Week 11
she's still getting taller..!
She's really starting to interact with people... either by watching, holding hands, etc... or by making sounds when we are reading books or talking to her.
Her night-time sleeps are getting longer, though she's still having trouble getting to sleep in the early evenings.. we try to put her down around 7 or 7:30pm, but usually she's not actually getting to sleep before 8, and usually she will wake up on-and-off until around 9:30pm... but it does give us some time to have some dinner together, even if we are having to dive into the bedroom to calm her down again.
we're going to try to break her need for the dummy soon, as apparently it's easier to do now rather than later.... hmm.. let's see how that goes.
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Celebrating Poo..!