Month 11 - late but better late than never...

Dear Lexi,

I can't really remember much about October, your 11th month, except that I went to New York, which was great, and we had Halloween at home, a party at a friend's house and trick or treating.

It was a busy month for me - things were hard at Uni for a while there, and the Road Victims Trust counselling course was also pretty demanding and on at least once and often twice a week to boot - and I wasn't sure if I could bring myself to tough it out or not. As it stands, I did, and I'm glad but I am sorry that I didn't make the time to write you a proper blog post. The more I take on, the harder it is to make the time - every time I miss a month, a photo opportunity or what ever, I do remonstrate with myself. But I also know that although I'm missing stuff, good stuff that we'll likely forget, I'm also getting a lot of good stuff too, and I hope that one day you enjoy looking back on it together.

What I do have from October are pictures, so here are some, in lieu of a thousand words...

Month 12 - November 2010 - Now You Are 1

Dear Lexi,

This month has seen you turn one, and seen you officially named. We had a naming ceremony for Georgie when she was only four months old, but with everything that's been going on, the moving etc., there never seemed to be a good time. We thought that your first birthday offered a perfect opportunity, and we aren't doing it at a Church or at a registry office, so we can make it exactly the way we want, without anyone telling us what to do, or taking an outrageous fee for what can turn out to be a badly delivered event. Humpf. Anyway...

We had a lovely party at the St Albans Tennis Club House (pics to follow), and your godparents were singled out in public and gifts were bestowed upon them and upon you - much cake was eaten - your grandparents and your auntie Jackie were troopers with the baking and general helping out at the party (thanks so much guys!), and so thing went off very well.

During Georgie's naming ceremony, Fiona kindly read something by a favourite poet of mine, Billy Collins - a peom called Litany. I love that poem, and I'm not sure I can explain why (and I have been trying to do that for about an hour now but the right words are not coming.) I suppose in a way poetry is about as close as someone like me is likely to get to a religious or spiritual ritual...

Regardless of why, it is true to say that the sense of warmth and wonder that comes over me every time I read that Billy Collins poem felt right for Georgie's naming day because for some reason it meshed perfectly with that 'new mother' feeling that she engendered in me then.

With you it is different, for that reason and many others, I immediately knew that there was to be another poem for you, one by Adrienne Rich, called November 1968, although of course to me it should read November 2009.


November 1968

Stripped
you're beginning to float free
up through the smoke of brushfires
and incinerators
the unleafed branches won't hold you
nor the radar aerials

You're what the autumn knew would happen
after the last collapse
of primary color
once the last absolutes were torn to pieces
you could begin

How you broke open, what sheathed you
until this moment
I know nothing about it
my ignorance of you amazes me
now that I watch you
starting to give yourself away
to the wind

by Adrienne Rich

I didn't read this out or anything at your party - it didn't feel like that kind of event. But this poem is right for you, for us, for so many reasons and not just because it is autumnal, although I do like the fact that we are both autumn, Scorpio babies. Autumn is my favourite season and your being born into it gave me even more reason to enjoy it. Corny, I know, but true!

But in addition to that, this poem perfectly phrases my surprise when you appeared. Because, you see, up until you were actually born, there was, for me anyway, a slightly casual air to my pregnancy with you - not because I wasn't excited, or careful, but I felt I knew what I was in for, and what babies were like, and that if I wasn't exactly an 'old hand', I had some experience under my belt... and so as we drove to the hospital to liberate you from my body, although I was by no means cavalier, I wasn't exactly absorbing the moment and experiencing the intense range of anticipatory emotions that I did just before Georgie was born - perhaps because it didn't feel like quite such a threshold moment. I was confident that I knew enough, and it did seem that this confidence was going to take some of the wonder out of the experience.

But all that fell away when you were born. I looked at you and immediately understood that I knew nothing about you, that it would take time to get to know you - you were instantly familiar and by equal turns undeniably distinct - unique and totally different from your sister (well duh!) and so despite all my experience with Georgie, or maybe in part because of it, my ignorance of you really did amaze me, and it brought a new, unexpected wonder to an experience that I had believed I was totally prepared for.

So there you go.

New milestones to date include increased cruising and pulling yourself up; opening all the cupboards and pulling out their contents (and trapping your little baby fingers in the process) & refusing to eat unless you are allowed to have your own spoon and to use it while I try to feed you at the same time (sometimes you get the food in your mouth and sometimes it goes astray but your accuracy is improving - meal times are a LOT messier!)

You're still full of surprises, most as yet unopened.

I'm sorry that I haven't had the chance to update your blog for the last couple of months, the demands on my time between you girls, the house and university course load is pretty immense, but all of it is worth it, and I have been taking pictures and paying attention to both of you. As soon as my first essay is handed in next week I'm going to get right on that.

But I wasn't about to let your first birthday pass without a post. We have another little party planned for you on your actual birthday. So Happy Birthday, beautiful girl.

I love you, Lex, thank you for a lovely year,

With lots of love from your Mummy xxx

If you would like to see what Georgie was like at one, click here.

Month 10 - September 2010 - On The Move at Last!

Dear Lexington,

Hello, little girl, here we are at the end of Month 10 - not long until your birthday now!

The Need for Speed

Over a ten day period towards the end of September you seemed to fast forward somehow - you went from crawling backwards (angrily) to crawling forwards, to pulling yourself up, to cruising around, pointing and waving! That's five milestones in about five minutes (compared to how things have gone thus far!)

Don't get me wrong, Lex, you can go your own speed as far as I'm concerned - whether quickly or slowly or the same speed as everyone else. I don't mind if you don't. But I have to admit there is something really exciting about watching you speed through a few phases, effortlessly owning these skills after weeks of watching you labour, flail and fail at crawling, which most other babies your age mastered weeks agol. It was almost as if you thought -

"Bugger, I'm behind my schedule, better get a move on!"

And a move-on is exactly what you got. There's no keeping up with you now.

For some reason you are particularly quick when you spot the potty, whether unattended in the corner of the room or (even better, it seems), complete with your big sister, astride and mid-toilet, who growls and groans (and occasionally attempts a side-swipe at your head,) at your enthusiastic, gummy approach. I have had to start giving it a thorough clean all over every time Georgie uses it because it has to live either on the cooker or the work surface - not exactly convenient, but needs must at the moment, as the building work continues....

You also love my phone (but it is pretty, so who could blame you x) and every remote control going.

Mama (as opposed to MMaaaaamAAAAAH!)

You have stopped moaning my name and now appear to have set yourself the task of pronouncing it with as many different emphases and intonations as possible. It's always lovely to hear.

Ta!

I am trying to teach you to say thank you, and so have resorted to the word Ta. So far you haven't really said it much but you do like to play a game called Ta - it seems to mean "Let's exchange toys when Mummy says ta". And you're happy to do that. You know that if someone says Ta to you, you're about to gain or lose something, and you accept both outcomes with charming equanimity.

Hide and Seek

Another phrase that you definitely understand (up to a point), is:

"Where's the baby?!"

It started as a peek-a-boo game underneath a towel. That was cute.

Now if I can't see you (which happens a lot more these days, now that you're mobile and all,) all I have to do to find you is enquire of the room:

"Where's the baby?!"

and then wait. I hear you before I see you, as a rule. I hear the quickening breath, the giggling, the drag of your knees on the floor and the slip-slap of pudgy palms on the floor. Occasionally, if you know I still can't see you, you raise yourself up like a meer cat, trying to catch my eye, as if to say:

"Look! I'm crawling! Simples!"

When you get to me, you don't waste any time - if I'm standing, you grab onto me and pull yourself up, grinning madly the whole time and swaying on my trouser-legs. Too cute! If a baby can be too cute, you are x

Swimming

We went swimming at the beginning of the month, and you loved it! So much fun! I would have taken pictures except of course you're not allowed to take pictures of your own children at a swimming pool (grr).

Head Banger

I've had to put your V-pillow into your cot, because you keep banging your head in your sleep, which results in a lot of screaming, bruising and general nocturnal trauma. Ouch!

New Car Seat

You and Georgie managed to become to be for your respective car seats at almost exactly the same time (thanks for that!) And so now you are in the back, in Georgie's old seat and she is in the front, on a booster seat. You both seem pretty happy with this arrangement. I keep forgetting who goes where but I'll get into the swing of it soon enough.

I'm writing this up a little late - it's October (Month 11) and I'm getting ready to go to New York. And I'm getting ready to miss you :( Not to intrude into Month 11 too much but I just wanted to say now, in case I'm blown up by terrorist en route, during the holiday or on the way back, that I love you so much, I'm sorry I'm leaving you when you're teething, when you have a cold and just in general but at the same time, I really really need a holiday, I haven't had one for ages and I have been dying to go to New York for like...ever!

So be good for Daddy, and be good to Georgie (and be quick, or she'll get you!), and I'll try to get there and back in one piece.

Love, love and then more love from your Mummy xxx

And if you're at all curious about what Georgie was like at 10 months, have a click here.

Month 9 - Oh The Discontent and Cuteness!

Houston We Have a Tooth and a Half!

You have been teething for a long time now, and finally the much anticipated first tooth made it's pointy presence felt on my finger, earlier this month, about a couple of weeks ago. It's exact location is middle bottom (right), with it's middle bottom left companion beginning to poke it's way in over the last few days. Your godmother, Linda, swears you have at least one top middle tooth coming in too, and she may be right but I can't see it yet, chiefly because that tongue is still always poking out like this:



Generally people find out about your teeth when they allow you to suck (and then chew) on the things they leave around...wallets, watches, fingers, etc. So no, no pictures of it, but if a person was to ask your Gran about your tooth, I hear she can confirm that it's there...!

We are Trying to Crawl But We Can't Crawl At All So We Bawl



Yes, I have been reading lots of Dr Seuss to Georgie and yes, it has gotten under the skin of my vocabulary and no, I'm not sorry, we must take our simple pleasures where we can...so....

As soon as I put you down now you immediately look for ways to get moving. You end up, more often than not, either on your stomach or in a full or partial crawl position. Then you rock backwards and forwards. Sometimes your knees slip down and you manage to keep your head up. Sometimes you're quiet for a while and I look up and realise you're eating carpet, which is of course both tasty and nutritious. It also muffles the resulting din. For a time.



Anyway, you seem to understand that motion is what must come next, but sadly your grasp of the method required is limited at best. The result? An angry, confused and very loud backwards crawl. You end up jammed under furniture or squished into walls. And you look at me like I did it but I assure you, my little bobble head, it is not my fault.

So we're not crawling properly yet. But it can't be long....

Round and Round We Go, Will She Stop, Nobody Knows!



You have mastered all 360 degrees, and you're not afraid to demonstrate. You roll over and over and over, and from a tummy-time position you manage to sweep round and round like a roly-poly, fist-gnawing, ground-pawing, spiral-touring clock hand. If you're not dizzy from all that you can be sure that I am dizzy just watching you. And deaf. Very very deaf.

Pardon?

Oh, why? Um, because you are experiencing teething discomfort and limited motion ability, which appears to make you slightly frustrated.

A bit.

(Shudder. Rock. Moan.)

MaMaMaMaMaMAH!



This is not the way you hope to hear those words when you're a first time mummy. You think of a little baby softly patting your face, looking into your eyes and cooing "Mama", and fluttering gossemer eyelashes with and adoring, pudgy smile. Does anyeone get that the first time?

Hmm, well, luckily I am no longer a first-timer, and so I know that chances are the first word is 'Dadda', almost invariably a happy utterance of contentment.

Dadda - Check.

No so with 'Mama'. This was a recent addition to your vocabularly that is used to express frustration and discontent. It was bound to come in around the same time as your first tooth.

You look up with this kind of 'will this hell never end?!' expression in your blue-sky-eyes, you raise you arms up with tragic pathos, and moan...

"MaMaMaMAAAMah!"

If I make so bold as to ignore your plea for attention (yes, I'm that mean/busy/deaf at times), then you raise your arms imploringly and tone it up a notch or six hundred...

"MAAAAMAAAAAMAAAAAH!"

And it goes on and on until I sweep you up, at which point you, the seemingly inconsolable baby, becomes a cooing lamb. Until I put you down again. Repeat until crazy then move to padded cell.

And The Little One Said: Comb Over! Comb Over!

Your hair is growing but it's in no way an even coverage situation, and when the wind blows, you get some very interesting new looks. (Snigger. Snort. I get my kicks where I can...)

The Dummy Fairy Came-eth



Luckily for us you have never been much into your dummy. But it did seem to reduce the noise pollution a little so I had been giving you the dummy during the day instead of just occasionally to help you settle at night.



This resulted in Georgie getting super-jealous and robbing you of it. She back-slid in her use of the dummy to the extent that I couldn't understand a word she said and so the Dummy Fairy was summoned and exchanged the dummies for a Buzz LightYear and chocolate for Georgie. You have one emeregency dummy in your room, which we keep hidden. But you don't seem to care, and are happy to chew toys instead. Well done!

Standing Her Ground



One way to temporarily halt your devestating noise-making is to allow you to stand up, whether that's holding onto hands or resting casually against a handy sofa etc. Unlike your sister, you step one foot at a time in your walker, and occasionally when someone's holding your hands, you take a few steps there too - I'm torn between encouraging you to walk and the hell on earth that will surely follow once you are fully ambulatory, and the appaling caterwaling that we now suffer due to your inability to crawl or walk yourself - your lack of motion commotion, as it were. So yes...You like to stand. You can do it for a long time. But not unsupervised, and so this just gives you something else to moan about. Because you needed soemthing else x :-D



In summary, I can confirm (as if I need to) that you are not longer merely a cute, compliant little blob'o'joy, pukey or otherwise. What you are is loud and cross. But you are still cuter than cute. We never went through this stuff with Georgie when she was at this stage (as far as I remember,) because she was either sitting down or in her walker. She showed no interest in crawling until she could walk. When it was time to walk, she did that, and skipped crawling altogether until she didn't need it. Weird, I know. Still, she does give you crawling lessons, which shows she picked up the method somewhere down the line. You get to go in your walker but you upset Georgie a lot, particularly when you ram her while she's on the potty, which can be a messy and painful experience for us all. You also run around stealing items from the surrounding area, particularly tea towels. Once you have a little pile going, you run off, giggling and spreading the items around, or pause in front of the TV, which results in further crossness from your big sister.



But how ever uncomfortable or frustrated you are with your lot, it is plain to see that you genuinely always try to be as happy as possbile - after all it's the Harris way. And we love you very much, because that's our way too.

And if I can for one moment stop complaining about you (and believe it or not, I can!) I'd just like to thank you for managing to fall asleep and stay asleep while so much drilling, scraping, hammering and really off-key singing along to the radio goes on directly above you during this loft conversion time. Check it out:



I borrowed a travel cot from Jenny in case I need to put you to sleep in the living room, where it's quieter, but so far, to my utter amazement, this has been completely unnecessary.

So thank you for that, and your general existence, you lovely little sleeper, you xxx

Love from your MaaaaaMaaaah!
xxxx

If you would like to be reminded of Georgie at 9 months old, and find out for example that I was totally wrong and that Georgie did actually crawl backwards, despite what I just wrote above, I suggest you click here here!

Month 8 - Which contained the week of hell!

Dear Lex the Pex,

Things have not gone very smoothly this month but luckily you are adorable and so you continue to enjoy the position of resident, much-loved baby.

Not a fan of the heat (but a fan of the fan...)

It has been pretty hot and humid this month, and this did not sit well with me or with you, as it turns out. It intefered with your sleep (and therefore interfered with mine) and this all started when your daddy had gone away for a week to France, fishing with his mates. If ever I was at the end of my tether, it was that week, due in the main to lack of sleep - if only I could have found the electric fans, (they were in the shed I think), which we have now put to work, things might have gone better for all of us.

Anyway, there were some other new challenging behaviours of yours that saw fit to present themselves that week...

Still teething (Still no teeth!)

Your drooling, hand chewing, gum-grinding and general gurning has hit a new high. I have tried an amber teething necklance on you, which is very pretty but doesn't seem to do you much good. I'm too afraid to leave it on you while you sleep, so the fault could be mine. I take it off while you sleep because I can't shake the horrible fear of being the woman who let you strangle on an anti-teething necklace in order to save on infant Nurofen - how ever dumb that is, I can't get past it, what can I tell you...

So, you toothless wonder, the teething beat goes on, and I say unto you again: Slacker. X

There was one in the bed and the little one said, "Roll over! Roll over"

In addition to the disturbances caused by the heat and the incessant teething, you have started rolling onto your stomach just before you fall asleep (and sometimes while you are asleep).
This tends to lead to some initial and quite enchanting giggling on your part, and sleeping bag flapping and general cot banging, which begins as playful baby frolicks and gradually rises to a crescendo of outraged frustration when you are unable to flip back, probably because you often get your legs stuck in the cot bars (while you're still in your sleeping bag - it would be a neat trick if you could get yourself out again.)

All this causes your body temperature to rise to that of liquid magma in the already unbearable heat, the teething makes you super-extra cranky and so in no time at all you become a frantic, sweaty, angry bundle and I end up almost no teeth myself due to excessive grinding (the grinding stops me from throwing the baby out the window - its a sacrifice but its absolutely worth it.)

Consistently Inconsistent

Actually that's not really true, you are quite consistent in general, but during the week of hell, that's how it felt to me. In fact what you were doing was not being inconsistent so much as adjusting your routine. So now instead of having an hour and a half at 9am, 1pm and then half an hour at 5, you now have an hour and a half at 10, and hour and a half at 3 and then that's it. We're still dream feeding you and doing that late because whenever we try to give less a bit earlier you wake up earlier and we don't like that. We would sooner dream feed you til your 10 years old and have you sleep to 7 or later, than endure the horrors of early early waking, which we could still get at any point, but please God no, don't let it happen, Amen.



"When will I see you...again?"

At around six or seven months babies start to realise that they are separate from their mothers and that they are individual entities. You decided to realise this in one of the worst weeks we have had together, just to make it super special and totally impossible. Don't worry, I know you haven't done any of this on purpose, the bitter tone of this post is not directed at you but at fate, because you are lovely and fate is occasionally not.

Anyway, separate entities. That doesn't sound so bad, does it? Woo hoo! That's not my bad hair day, that's Mummy's bad hair day! You'd think you'd be relieved to reach this important understanding of your separate physical identity. But no. Apparently it's very upsetting. I put you down. You bawl. I pick you up. You coo. I put you down. More screaming. You get the picture. It's totally fine if you have nothing to do but hold a gorgeous, dumpling baby. If only.... so there has been a LOT of crying. I hope my neighbours don't think I'm neglecting you. I promise, neighbours, I'm not. Honest :D Unless putting the baby down and doing the dishes counts. In which case, I am. :(

Lexina, The Diddy Dalek

You have really gotten into zipping about in the baby walker, and I quickly dubbed you the diddy dalek, for my own alliterative amusement. It's a bit easier for you to get over the carpet now that your daddy has unscrewed some unhelpful attachements from the bottom which seem to have been designed expressly for the purpose of making it very hard for a baby to move the walker over carpet.

You like to roll over to me while I'm having breakfast, make adorable eyes in my direction and wait until I send you shooting across the kitchen (in the walker!) by means of a well-placed foot, burbling with delight as you go, until you get yourself turned around and you come back for more of the same. That's always a lovely part of my morning :D

You have also figured out that you can corner the dog. Luckily for the dog, she has figured out that she can jump over the walker, or sidle out of the back door or creep under the kitchen table. To her credit, she never so much as shoves you, let alone nips or growls at your frankly annoying (to her) obsession with backing her into inanimate objects and then letting forth earsplitting screeches of delight.

If you could stop running into the back of my ankles and over my toes, that would be great. But it is worth it, because you are very funny in that baby walker. You seem to get drunk with the sudden ability at mobility. You are in fact the cheap date of upright motion. Totally tipsy on tip toes. God, I love you, little baby!

Not Much Hair Today, Not Much Prospect of More Hair Tomorrow

The parts of your fragrant little baby scalp that have always pushed out your fine, fluffy hair continue to do so, and so your hair is longer than last month, and a lot of it sticks up - your daddy refers to you as Stan Laurel, because it's so mad and sticky-uppy. Sadly you still have that receding forehead look, and so your current look is part baby, part mad professor and part Phil Collins, which may explain the way that you drum on, oh, EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME, WITH BOTH HANDS!

Piano Playing Poppet

You don't have a piano, but you seem to like to enjoy pretending, whether assisted or not. Perhaps we should get you a toy piano. It's like a double-handed wave gone mad, and can be produced by waving at you, talking to you, or just existing in your presence. Crazy child. x

Crawling

I am pleased to report that we have no crawling. Yet. That is all.



All in all I am pleased to say that we all seem to have made it through the month in one piece, and if you're in any doubt at all (and I sincerely hope you are not) I still love you, love you, love you, my precious little pain in the bum, dribble-fest, smelly bum

Love from your Mummy with the very bad hair every day xxx

To see what Georgie was like at 8 Months old click here

Month 7 - Off the Meds At Last!

Dear Bobble Head Baby,

This has been a good month for you and me - you've been sleeping well, you are generally pretty relaxed and chilled out, as long as I follow your cues well - if you're loud, you're either hungry, in pain, tired and/or sitting in a poo. Other than that, you're all good, and your tolerance of noise, crowds etc. has improved dramatically from what it was.



Off the Drugs!

I attritbute much of that to one of the best things about this month has been that you are finally off your meds - no more Gaviscon, no more Ranitidine, no more Domperidone - hooray! I had been trying on and off to see if you could keep your food down without chemical help, and this was the first time when it all seemed ok. You're still on special milk, but I will be trying you with a new formula - I think you're old enough for follow-on milk now but either way, we will no longer be obliged to make your milk up with boiling water and then try to make sure it's the right temperature when you decide you want to drink it. Honestly, I didn't realise the level of tension that we have been maintaining around your milk feeds and medicines until those issues were all but removed.

I have stopped sterilising your bottles too - my GP told me she stopped at 4 months, on the basis that babies put everything in their mouths anyway. We have waited until now and when you add the no sterilising to everything else, I'm almost dizzy with the sheer comparative ease of day to day Lexi care! I'm sure you'll find ways to change things up and keep us on our toes, but for now, beautiful, smiley, dumpling baby, congratulations on your maturing digestion system and phew!

Sitting Pretty



You're sitting up now - with a v-pillow behind in case of collapse!



And in your high-chair at meal times...


"Come into my beddy on the floor, Lex! it's very comfortable!"

Georgie makes little nests for you both, she makes sure you have enough toys to play with, and tries to pick you up when you fall.



The sitting (and the falling) has led to a bit more tummy-time than before, which has led to a couple of instances of your turning over from front to back or back to front, but not loads. You seem a lot happier to be sitting up on your own though, and as long as no one over-reacts when you fall over, you're still smiling into the carpet, or up at the ceiling, most of the time!

Drooler



If there is such a thing as a dribblometer (and if there isn't, there should be) you would be topping it now, surely. All that dribble. No sign of any teeth. I have one work for you, sweet cheeks. Slacker!

Tongue Out of Cheek



Your little tongue sits like a baby strawberry, jutting out just past your lips whether you're smiling and cooing or solemnly staring. Until my camera comes out, and it shoots back into your mouth as you squawk and reach for for the little machine that clicks - you love the camera!



You are turning from a baby into a little girl, which is exciting but also sad. Babies are perplexing, needy little creatures but they are bewitching and adorable nonetheless. I don't know if I'll ever have another baby and so I'm almost as sad to see each phase of your development pass as I am excited for you, as you learn and discover more about the world.

Happy little Lexi, don't go changing (too much, too fast!)

I love you as ever, from top to toe,

Love from Mummy xxx

And what was Georgie like at this age, I hear you ask - Georgie, Month 7


The Football Fans - It must be Sunday!

Month 5 and 6

My Little Bobble-Head,

You are growing up so fast!

Milk to Mush



The move from just milk to mush and milk is supposed to be gradual and I did feel a bit of a beginner, because Georgie was pretty ill on and off between about four and seven months, which meant that weaning didn't really begin properly until she was at stage 2 (mushy, textured fruit, veg and protein).

So I decided to just offer you breakfast, lunch and dinner at the usual times, and keep your original milk schedule, and then just see how we went. And I have to say we went just fine! Well done you! You prefer fruit (who wouldn't, if I do say so myself, my fruit purees are delish!) but actually you're also fine with any number of mushed vegetables.

Sleeping Beauty



We still offer you a dream feed between about 10 and midnight and then you sleep right on through, often until 7. Sometimes you wake in the early hours but you are generally easily shushed back to sleep - it's one of the few times you'll take a dummy actually. When you wake up a bit too early, sometimes at 6 or 7, I bring you into the bed and, if I gently prevent you from flailing about and sucking my chin, you nod back off to sleep (until your sister comes bounding into the mix with demands for breakfast....)

Rejection of the Play Mats - Standing Tall

You used to love you playmats, you would lie on them and....well, play.



Then you wanted to sit in a bouncy chair on a play mat.



Or on a bumbo in front of a play table.



Then one day you were having none of it. Luckily your Nanny and Grandad had saved an acitivity centre that we used for Georgie.



It was in their garden and hence was dirty and covered in snails, but once it was cleaned and dried it was an instant hit. Then I was fortuante enough to find another one exactly like it for £1.50. They retail for about £60 new, so I was very very pleased to have one to put at Nanny and Grandad's house and one for here.

No More Silent Laughs



You are a very smiley baby - everyone says so.

And now you are a giggler, it's official!

You laugh a lot, a tickling, jumping, smiling and it's frickin' adorable!

Afternoons with Nanny, Grandad, Gran and Gramps



It used to be Georgie who was sent out to the loving and indulgent arms of the fabulous grandparents - that was before, when you were a sleepy, compliant baby. These days you are far more alert and a great deal less tolerant! You are no lover of busy environments, and your need for very warm milk, regular medicines and general calm made the switch a simple and obvious choice. It means that I can take Georgie on playdates, give the grandparents a break from the relentless demands of a toddler and let them get to know you. You seem cool with it. And the grandparents look a bit less harried these days....

A Walking Wonder



Not walking under your own power or anything (yet!) but Kerry and Tim kindly leant us Amy's walker (which Amy herself hated with a fiery passion, to the point that she would cry a river when she just glimpsed it), and you seem to love it. First you seemed to think it was jumping aparatus, like a door bouncer. You learned how to move it by jumping, and you still seem to think that leaping around is the key to movement. You go faster in the kitchen than on carpet, and Georgie loves nothing better than to roll you over to one end, stand at the other, call you over, as though you are an excitable puppy, and then send your rolling back and bouncing off the kitchen cabinets. We have very firmly prevented this, as whip lash is not something I want for my baby, now or in the future. So a modified, safer version of this game now persists in the kitchen, and so we are all back to wearing some kind of footwear at all times, lest you roll onto our feet and make us cry. It was the same when Georgie was in her walker too...

From Sleepwear to Daywear



I'm not really a believer in anything but vest and sleepsuits for little babies - it's hard to find clothes that are comfy for lying around, and for the first four to six months that's all babies can do. But now I feel perfectly within my rights, and yours, to pop you into regular clothes often, if not every single day. You soak through four or five outfits a day with all that drool (still no teeth and yet all these teething signs!) but hey....So check you out wearing actual clothes now you're six months old...!



So my dumpling, darling baby, another couple of months has passed us by, and we love you more than ever. Even Georgie still adores you, and despite her clumsy affections, or maybe even because of them, you clearly love her too.

Sleep tight O bobbled one, love from your Mummy xxx

And if you'd like to see what Georgie was like at these ages:

Month 5

Month 6

Months 3, 4 (and a bit of 5) 2010

Well little bobble-head,

Looking after you is something of a long-distance, endurance-type sport, hence the creation of your latest nickname, 'The Lexathon'. You are a very busy little girl, kicking, grabbing your knees or feet and rolling onto your side, pulling your playmat down over your head and generally throwing your little pudgy body around like nobody's business.



You chew on whatever you can lay your little baby mouth on - toys, carpet, shoes, bags but ideally, if you can get it, human bodyparts, particularly my thumb (it must be very tasty indeed).

Teething

You appear to have been teething since January - you drool, your little cheeks go bright red and you grind your toothless little gums together as if all your teeth are set to spring forth in a scary, shiny, miniature set (God,wouldn't that be creepy? Especially if they were all gleaming and pointy....shudder...)

Discovering your hands

You spent the majority of February engrossed in an exhaustive study of your hands - up close, far away, from the front, from the back, fingers, nails and skin. All were poked, squinted at and generally admired from all angles.

Toys



You are also more and more interested in play mat dangley toys and toys in general. You took rather a shine to Georgie's Spencer Bears (1 - 3) - I'm surprised she lets you anywhere near them but she actually gives one to you on a regular basis, even though you chew his paw.



You have a favourite toy that you sleep with, a rabbit called Kalloo (thanks Emma), and you stroke and/or hold his ears as you fall asleep. Aaah.



There's also a rattle that Claire gave you, which looks like a King and has therefore been named Elvis. Will try to find a pic of him too...

And lets not forget Doggie, whom you kindly share with Georgie from time to time...



Lexi's NCT Babies

We meet up with the other NCT refresher ladies and babies whenever we can, and we even managed to get a shot of all the babies together at Jo's house:



I'm going to try to name them all left to right (sorry if I get any wrong!)

Gabriella, Lexi, Lily, Lucas, Annabelle and Eleanor. Lovely little people they are too x

Gained Weight

Your scary weight loss appears to be of the past, although your acid reflux did keep getting worse for short periods, because as your weight goes up, your doses need to go up too, but that was fairly obvious and caused little or no confusion (to us anyway).

Grandad's 70th Birthday



Grandad's 70th birthday came and went and probably passed you by but just so you know, it did happen :-D

Packing to move



We moved out of our house in March and in with Nanny and Grandad. No one was happy about that but it was necessary in order to allow the central heating of the new house to be entirely replaced. You certainly bonded with Nanny during that period, in fact I think at one point you started to think SHE was your Mummy - your sister did not take to the upheaval and managed to soak up quite a lot of my time...



I'm sure you'll be just as challenging when you reach her age, so don't go thinking you're the 'good' one just because you're currently a generally agreeable baby - although if you fancy staying agreeable, that would be great :-D

Immunisations



You've had all the usual immunisations, which you don't like and you had no problem letting everyone in a fifty mile radius know it. Good for you! Where does being stalwart get you these days anyway!

'Talking'

You are pretty easy going for the most part (except when hungry) but despite this you feel it necessary to shout and squawk as though you are the most discontented soul ever born. One look at your baby face, all screwed up with mirth, leaves me to conclude that you are not cross, just fond of the sound of your own voice (where did she get that from, I hear you all wonder...)

Laughing

Your silent laugh has been cracking me up for some time - most babies do it, but of coures when your own babies do it, it's so much cuter (sorry, other babies.) We have had a few giggles out of you but more recently you have been attempting proper belly laughs when tickled under the arms and on the thighs, although you laugh most when this tickling is administered with high pitched 'tickle tickle' noises and so I am beginning to suspect its the noise that makes you laugh. You also laugh if some jumps out at you and exclaims: "Boo!"

Holding your head up



Your bobble-headedness is pretty much a thing of the past and you hold your head up like a champ. You have been sitting in your bumbo since you were just shy of 4 months and when held up, you take some weight on your legs - it's all good practice I guess.

You rarely lie back on your bouncy chair but rather struggle upright, hold it as long as you can and then flop in which ever direction seems best to you.



Your big sister



You love your Georgie and I frequently despatch her to distract and delight you, which she does with aplomb, but not always as willingly as I would like.





She likes to try to pick you up, which is a bit of a worry, and she likes to try to feed you - yes, as soon as you were four months I decided to ignore contemporary advice (like almost everyone else I know) and start weaning you.



Weaning

You took to food in such a way as to confirm (as if I ever had any doubts) that you are indeed the child of Steve and Ali Harris. Well done.



Now you yell for food like an angry Millwall fan, and once it hits your tongue you smile and flirt like a young coquette, bless you.



Sleep



Yes, you do that - we've gone from a three hour routine to a four hour routine, which wont mean much to anyone who either has no children or who has blocked out the painful routines of babyhood, but you have, so there. So yes, not going through the night yet but Steve and I take it in turns to be on kid duty and so far so good.







You are a small, soft, adorable little person whose irrepressible gaiety and curiosity rarely fail to cheer me up, even when I feel like I'm at the end of my tether! You complete our family, to the point that it's hard to remember that you are a pretty recent addition. I love you, cuddlesome naughty pants.

Sleep well, love from your Mummy xxx

If you'd like to know what your sister was like at this age - 3 months, 4 months