Happy 1st Birthday Baby Bella!!!!!!!!

What a milestone...1 year old today. I have absolutely no idea where that year has gone, but it was definitely a lot quicker than the pregnancy! As I sit here typing this blog post, I'm thinking back to this time last year when I was coming to the end of a 36 hour labour and was in the pushing stages. Unfortunately Bella was stuck in the birth canal and they'd cut off my epidural to help me push. Only half an hour away from an episiotomy and Bella being dragged out via ventouse. And then the most perfect little baby girl was delivered on to my tummy and our lives changed forever. She is my little miracle. I'm completely besotted with her and completely in love and amazed and in awe of her every day. She was the missing part of our lives.

I have some lovely photos and video of her birthday party to post and also some photos of her day today which was spent with her mommy and daddy and her english grandparents. We did manage a skype with her american grandparents too.

Here is a slide show of some of her highlights over her birthday period.

December is here...party time!!!

This is the month I've eagerly been awaiting, so I can prep the best 1st birthday party going! Tomorrow is Party Central and we have a collection of lovely friends and family coming for the big event. I've spent today decorating her cake, a real labour of love. We've collected the helium balloons, banner, have all the party table pieces ready to go, party bags made up for all Bellas little friends and a wonderful friend coming over tomorrow morning to whip up her fabulous authentic homemade falafel...a party with a difference. Our little lady is cutting her molars at the moment and a little clingy and prone to outbursts of crying so I'm just hoping she'll get through the party without incident and enjoy it. But, it's her party...and she'll cry if she wants too. I think I may too as it's a bit of a momentous occasion.

The heat is on

Bella has been poorly. At first we thought it was just teething again as she always gets horrible nappies when cutting teeth and is a little cranky pants, but last week she had a high temperature which she never gets, even with colds and flu. Thinking it must be more than just teeth we took her into Urgencias at our local hospital and got to see an on-call pediatrician. She said it was an intestinal virus and to feed a bland diet and give her a suspension medicine for a few days. We did all this and she started to get better but today it looks like we're back to square one as her nappies were pure liquid again today. We have another appointment booked for Wednesday so we'll see what the outcome of that one is, although I'm hoping we'll be back to normal before then. Bella is fine in herself now though and has loads of energy and is sleeping well so it seems like it might still be the tale end of the virus, unless it is more teeth on the way. I felt her gums this morning and she has so many new teeth! I felt 4 premolars and bumps further back, so looks like the molars are on the way through too.

In the meantime I'm busy planning for her 1st birthday party which we're holding on Sunday, 6th December. I think I'm more excited about the party than she will be! I can't wait to get cracking on the cake.

Where has my baby gone?

We most definitely have a toddler now! Since Bella got up and went, she seems to have grown up so much in the last week. She's getting so speedy and confident with her walking now and will multi task, by walking and clapping or munching on a bread stick. She appears to have had a large growth spurt too and has shot up in height. I think I have lost my baby and she's not even 1 yet. Maybe time to contemplate another.....!

Bella goes for a personal best!

She really seems to be getting the hang of this walking and today went for a personal best of walking down the hallway. It almost ended in disaster with banging her head on the wall, but luckily her swim bag was in the way for a cushioned fall! She got a little distracted at the end and headed off for a bite to eat with Lola....

I'm completely ready to do walking!

Bella just keeps getting better and better! After the first couple of wobbly steps here and there, she completely surprised us today by "properly" walking, a day before 11 months. I turned round to see a little wobbly baby in the style of Bambi making her way towards me...and now she can't stop! I've posted a video of some earlier wobbly practice steps.

First Steps!

Yes, our gorgeous little Bella decided to take her first couple of wobbly steps tonight all by herself! We'd been practicing walking with her during the day and she was really starting to gain confidence. We even had the video camera pointed at her thinking she was about to go solo....but no, she waits until we're all relaxing before her bath/bed time and then decides to let go from the sofa and take a couple of steps (so cute!) before turning round and then landing right on top of the cat. Poor Lola. For a baby with horrendous cold/cough at the moment she is certainly coming on in leaps and bounds. She was also displaying her free climbing on to the sofa tonight, along with her "proper" method of descent which thankfully has progressed to wriggling back down to land on her feet rather than free-falling head first! Tonight, like every night, I am a VERY proud mommy :)

End of another month...

...and creeping ever closer to 1 year old! Bella sailed through her 10 month check up and the pediatricians words on first seeing her were "bebe gigante!", yes, she is very tall for her age. We went to soft play last week and she towers above all the babies her age and is on par with the ones walking around at 15 months. A lot of people think she is older than she is because of her height and the fact that she's so forward and are so surprised when I say only 10 months. She's standing all by herself, can stand for over a minute at a time, dance without holding on to anything, stand and clap or eat. She fed herself yesterday with a fork for the first time. We helped her skewer the food on and she had no problem getting it in her mouth and pulling the food off between her teeth. She was so proud of herself with big grins all round. She has developed a real sense of awareness too and will interact with the tv. If something funny happens on one of her favourite programmes she will laugh and turn and look at us as much to say...wasn't that funny!

She is teething yet again. I swear we will have a full set by 1. She is now cutting the premolars which are proving to be a bit of a pain all round. When not teething she is sleeping so well still, doing 12-13 hours a night. We are down to one nap a day now, two if she's had a particularly tiring day. We are due to start baby swim classes again on Tuesday and are hoping she finds a new love of swimming this time round as we had to abandon the ones at 3 months due to constant screaming in the water. We are making an effort to go to soft play and mother and toddler group each week as Bella is at such a sociable age and loves interacting with other children, in particularly toddlers as she aspires to emulate them.

Here are a couple of recent photos of the gorgeous one.

September summary

So I've been completely rubbish at updating the blog this month but will endeavour to be better next month! We've had a lot of sickness in the house this month. I had flu, Bella caught it and was so out of sorts. She could barely breathe bless her as her nose was so plugged up so it made eating and sleeping difficult for her. She's almost back to normal but is now cutting back teeth so this has thrown her out of sorts again. One top back one has broken through and we had a day off from teething, only for the other side to be erupting now, but at least she's back eating and sleeping well so blogging is resuming!

Bella is soon to be a 10 month old and such a character. She flies about the place. Crawling is no problem, cruising the furniture is a breeze, walking with her push along walker is going fantastically well and she often stands unsupported now. Just waiting for those first steps...

My little miss independent has decided that puree food is uncool now and she's a big girl and can feed herself. The only help she'll accept from a spoon now is if a yogurt is involved! I can't say I'm going to miss pureeing and freezing all the meals, but it's sad that it's the end of another era of babyhood. She is becoming more like a toddler every day and sometimes I just want to stop time and catch a breath.

She has the cheekiest toothy smile, the most hilarious laugh and a whole repertoire of sounds and noises. Her favourite at the moment is bubba bubba. She fills every day with enjoyment, entertainment and love and I'm looking forward to what October will bring.

Stand by me

Bella has now progressed to standing completely unaided for up to 5 seconds at a time. She then realises, flaps her arms and falls on her bum! She's becoming quite the little adventurer and shows no fear in her explorations. Unfortunately this seems to mean the odd bump most days, sometimes even when crawling. She gets carried away with rushing, oversteps and topples. I guess it's all part of the big learning curve.

First steps with walker

Yesterday Bella managed to take her first few wobbly steps with her walker. If holding our hands she can "walk" and virtually run, but has never mastered doing it unaided. The walker always moved just a little too quickly for her and would result in her falling on her knees. Being the determined little lady that she is, she wasn't going to be beaten by it. Chris and I both think she'll walk very soon, especially as she let go of the sofa yesterday and stood all on her own for about 5 seconds!

Keep on cruising!

Bella has discovered the joys of walking along holding the furniture...scary times! For the last few days she's been up and down all day but has now started cruising too. We've had a few bumps recently from where she's just let go and decided to free fall and we haven't caught her in time. Finally after standing using the sofa about 50 times this morning she learned how to get herself back down safely. Hopefully this will avoid a few more bumps, but she does forget she's meant to be holding on sometimes and lets go. I guess the day will come where she lets go but stays standing!

Back from holiday

We went away for a few days break to Sierra Nevada for a bit of relaxation and a change of scenery. We stayed in a lovely little rural finca, just like a large house really, with 8 bedrooms. Idyllic settings with a couple of horses and three dogs. Bella had a blast and befriended everybody, in particular a small terrier type dog called Gordi (gordita). Gordi was an old dog, very patient, but I'm afraid our little lady did manage to test her patience by continually grabbing her fur! We show her time and time again how to pet the dog or cat with open hand and stroke, but look away for a second and she grabs a handful of fur and pulls. Gordi was very good about it though, but did start giving Bella a wide berth by the end of the holiday although she didn't mind sitting under her high chair and waiting for the good bits to drop. There were two other large dogs, a St Bernard and a German shepherd who were more guard dogs than family pets, but were also ever so friendly. So Bella had her fair share of different textured fur to ruffle.

We went off exploring the local scenery during the day and also letting Bella have crawl around time in the gardens and the house. It's so much harder when away though as everything is a potential baby hazard and we had to be right behind her at all times as the place was far from baby proofed. It was good to get back yesterday where she could let loose in our living room and not get into any trouble. It was a fantastic experience for her and she saw many different faces, heard different languages and lots of new smells and textures. She was a great baby and fell straight into her normal routine and had no problem going off to sleep for naps or bedtime. I think the fresh air increased her appetite and I wouldn't be surprised if she's another pound heavier now!

Bella gets musical

We had a very funny day with Bella today, in a good way! Since the teeth have come through she's back to her usual bubbly self and anyone who has met her will know what I mean by this. She always has a huge grin on her face and is the constant entertainer. Today she improvised and turned a cardboard tube into her very own didgeridoo, with a little help from Daddy. It had me in stitches while filming it!

8 Months old today!

So sorry there haven't been any updates sooner, but life has been pretty hectic here. Chris is on holiday at the moment and our days have just flown by. It's been a week (and month) for amazing developments. In this past week alone Bella has cut 4 more teeth - 2 front top and 2 more bottom ones. Poor little thing went through a couple of days of hell with them where she cried on and off from the time she got up to the time she went to bed. I wish I could take her pain away for her :(
We tried calpol, nurofen, teething powders, gel, soothing rings...the works...but still she was uncomfortable. Finally they have all sprung through so she is her happy little self again, until the next batch!

Developmentally she has come on in leaps and bounds. She is proper crawling, kneeling up with her hands off the floor, sitting up from laying by herself, pulling up to stand on the furniture and also standing unaided for a few seconds at a time. She loves being on her feet and is "walking" everywhere, obviously with the support of mummy or daddy! I really do believe we will have a walker before 1 year old.

She is weighing in at 20lbs and eating 3 proper meals a day. Her milk feeds have dropped quite dramatically but we ensure she has ample calcium in her diet. I'd say she only takes around 15-17 ounces of formula a day now, but plenty of cheese, yogurt, oats, cereal etc. She is certainly very strong and healthy looking so I think we are doing a good job.

This last month has seen her character really come through. She is just the cheekiest, happiest little girl and an absolute pleasure to spend every day with. She is so inquisitive and constantly exploring and learning. She finds many things hilarious and collapses into full on uncontrollable laughter...an amazing sound. She still sleeps like an absolute dream - 7am to 7pm and two one hour naps a day. We can't ask for better than that.

Time to update with a few recent photos I think and if I work out how to upload it, then a video clip too! I promise more frequent updates will happen this month and loads more photos.

7 months on

I thought it was about time I caught up with the antics of our little lady. She is doing so well and we're endlessly proud of her. The crawling is interesting. She started out "proper" crawling, then decided it was easier (?) to go back to tummy shuffling commando style. Today though she's back up on her knees with her tummy off the floor, but isn't really giving it her all. I think she will be back to that style in the next few days. Proud parent moment today...while saying good morning to daddy in bed this morning she pushed herself up to stand, then after I finished feeding her she did exactly the same on the sofa. Her little legs are so strong. My mum is convinced she'll skip crawling and go to walking early like I did, but we'll see.

She is so vocal and giggling all the time and generally is the happiest baby, full of smiles and cheeky grins for everyone. Still no sign of a "dada" though. I'm sure once she starts then "mama" won't get a look in. She is doing so well on the solid food front and her motor skills are coming on in leaps and bounds. She can pick up the smallest piece of food now and put it in her mouth but she does still like to cram. She is very experimental with her tastes and is never afraid to try something new. In fact I don't think there's anything she hasn't liked yet.

Sleep wise, well, it just keeps getting better! Since we opted for the early bedtime she goes off to sleep with minimal fuss, is sound within 5-10 minutes and is pretty much doing 12 hours straight every night. Occasionally we get a 6am awakening or a 4am cry for a stray dummy which has escaped the cot, but more often than not she sleeps soundly and so do we. Last night she woke around 11pm and we could here her chatting to her teddy bears on the monitor, after 10 minutes it all went quite and when I popped my head into her room she was sound asleep and had even put her own dummy back in. Looks like she can finally self settle. Nap times can still be a bit hit and miss and I have struggled with the timings of her first nap of the day, but the last couple of days have been good and 10am seems to be the magic number. She's taking two good naps a day and then powering through til bedtime. So, an excellent start to 7 months!

Sleeping right through

Just a week shy of 7 months, it appears Bella has got the hang of this sleep malarkey. We've had 2 nights of 12 hours completely undisturbed sleep from her. I know I shouldn't start getting too comfortable with it though as we've found things can change very quickly. Maybe all the effort of crawling is wearing her out. She's been up 2 hours and is 1 hour into a nap now too :) A refreshed baby makes for a very happy baby!

First crawl step

This evening Bella managed her first crawl step. She's been a bit out of sorts the last few days and I put it down to more teething or a sensitive tummy, but it could well have been a developmental phase. She's so desperate to crawl properly. She can get about by her commando style shuffling, dragging and rolling but she obviously wants to do it properly. This evening she got everything off the floor...head, body, bottom...took one crawl step, wasn't sure what to do next so collapsed and cried! Bless her, I think she will have the hang of it very very soon. Luckily we spent last weekend baby proofing the house!

Early to bed...

...hopefully late to rise!

We decided to change Bella's bed time as before she was going to bed at 9.30pm, which I know is quite late but is the norm here in Spain as days start and finish later. It was working well and she was waking around 8.30am so getting a good 11 hours of sleep. Recently she started waking between 6am and 7am and it was hard work to get her back to sleep until 8.30am. She'd doze for 20 minutes, wake, doze etc. I though that maybe Bella needed to go for a natural wake up time of around 7am so decided to start putting her to bed at 8pm. It was a bit of a shock for me and Chris initially as the first morning she woke at 6.15am, the second at 6.45am and we were starting to wonder whether we'd made the right choice as that kind of time is completely alien to us. Anyway, this morning we woke her at 7.45am!

I hope it will be a much better sleep schedule for her as the restlessness now comes at the beginning of the evening when she goes off to sleep, but it's much easier to get her back to sleep when she rouses at the beginning of the evening than in the morning. With the mornings it tends to be once she's awake she's awake now. This is the 4th night with the new time and I think her body clock is readjusting as tonight she went off to sleep with minimal fuss and not heard a peep out of her since.

6 month checkup and jabs

Well, today I felt thoroughly told off during our 6 month checkup. I knew there was going to be some issues raised with our chosen method of weaning but didn't realise quite the extreme between the US/UK and Spain. We're following baby led weaning (BLW) route where it's a kind of "anything goes" and encourages the baby to explore different flavours and textures. I'm also of the ilk that milk is the primary source of nutrition for a baby of this age and should be up to a year with exclusive breastfeeding being the optimum for the first 6 months, which is what we did.

The difference in Spain is amazing. The doctor was surprised that I hadn't started weaning at 4 months, and then I thought she was going to fall off her chair when she heard our choice of foods! She couldn't believe Bella had so much milk a day and said she only needed a bottle in the morning and one before bed with the sugar laden spanish cereals in it. She said she should be drinking juice the rest of the day and eating 4 meals a day by this age. She said best fruits were apple, pear and orange which is a huge contradiction to the UK/US where they say citrus fruits should be avoided until one year as they can cause diarreah and stomach upset due to the acidity and that apples should be cooked. Also UK/US guidleines suggest that juices should be avoided due to dental decay and plain water offered instead. The doctor claimed that cucumber was an allergen, that I shouldn't be feeding her peach or melon and especially not avocado due to the hight fat content...at least it's healthy fat as opposed to the "everything dripping in oil", fried spanish variety! I think the doctor and I will have to agree to disagree on this topic and blame it on cultural differences.

On a different note, Bella was very good with her jabs...minimal fuss and tears. She now weighs 17lbs and has grown 3cms to 68cms. She is a very healthy little girl :)

Babblings

So far we've had a very clear mama and baba, but no dada yet. She still prefers to shriek more than anything though. No further progress on the crawling front apart from the same shuffling with her body off the floor but her head planted down. It's amazing how far she can travel like this...she went 3 feet yesterday! We're off to her 6 month checkup and yet more jabs tomorrow. The vaccination schedule is rather gruelling here but only one month to go until we get a break from them.

Crawler alert!

I think we may have the beginnings of a crawler! Three times today when I have put Bella down on her tummy she has lifted her whole body off the ground and shifted forwards a little. While it is by no means "proper crawling" she did manage to go about a foot on all occasions. I really don't think it will be long before she's off!

First birthday as a Mommy!

I had to put a post up today because as the title suggests, today is my very first birthday as a mommy! I've had a lovely day with my little girl, although we celebrated as a family yesterday as Chris had the day off from work. Couldn't think of anyone better to spend it with :)

Good Night Milk...

...does what it says on the tub...or at least it did last night! I bought some Aptamil Feliz Noche (good night) milk yesterday in an attempt to get little Miss to sleep through the night again. After a shaky start it was an exceptional finish. We out her down to sleep and she woke 20 minutes later crying so I picked her up and cuddled her and laid her down on her tummy and she went out like a light...until 7am! Chris then took her in to bed with him and carried on sleeping until 9.30am. Now it could all be coincidence but either way I feel refreshed and I'm sure she does too. I guess tonight will tell whether it really is "good night" milk or just lucky.

6 months on...

I can't believe we've had Bella in our lives for half a year! While in some ways I can't remember what life was like before her, it also feels like time has flown. Six months seems to bring big changes. She is going through an unsettled phase at the moment but it's hard to pinpoint exactly why. Her night time sleeps are a constant cause of wonderment in our house...wondering just how many times she'll wake, and will there be tears or just cooing? I put it down to teething initially but think it may be more to do with her developmental stage. She's at that point where she's exploring emotions and becoming worldly wise, and she's also desperate to crawl. It's like her mind knows what to do but her body lets her down; I don't think it will be long though before she's flying around and chasing the kitty cat! However I still do think it could be teeth as she's been fussy feeding the last couple of days so could be due to disturbed gums. I've made the decision to wean off breast feeding now and start to claim my body back so we're slowly introducing formula feeds. Tonight we gave her "Good Night Milk" so we're hoping that is what it will provide.

Bella is revisiting her repertoire of sounds and the baby dinosaur has been back at full screech since yesterday. She's trying to blow raspberries which are great when she has a mouthful of milk! While she could test the patience of a saint with her night time antics right now, I absolutely love this stage. Her personality is really starting to develop and she's constantly laughing and getting the joke, rolling around with sheer determination and basically being "the entertainer". Every night we talk excitedly about the new noise she made, thing she did, reactions to new foods, how she copied a sound or a facial expression...how she pulled the cat's tail! Every day is a new exploration for her and for us too. I can't wait to see what the next 6 months brings!

First night in own room - progress

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I love her nursery, it's a warm, cosy, restful room so think I felt very relaxed putting her to sleep in there. She woke around midnight and was a little unsettled for about half hour but finally went back off to sleep until 5am. I went in to her and got her back to sleep and she woke again as soon as I left the room and got back in bed so I went back in and decided to sleep in there on the spare bed I've put in for emergencies! She was sound asleep again by 5.30am and I didn't hear another peep out of her until just gone 8am. Not bad for the first night. Tonight she was a little harder to get off to sleep so hoping it won't be a bad one.

First night in own room

She's been asleep for an hour and I'm missing her already! Seriously, it was time to move her as I think she needs her independence from us. We were starting to wake her when we came to bed, with alarms going off in the morning, Chris' snoring...! In an ideal world I'd have her right next to me at all times but know that isn't practical or realistic so we made the decision this week to move her. In all fairness her room is lovely, a room fit for the princess that she is. I started by getting her to nap in there during the day over the last few days, all be it on me in the nursing chair, but it got her used to going off to sleep and waking up in there. We've also had several play sessions in there too. She's in her cot which she was using in our room anyway so at least her bed is very familiar.

She wasn't up for settling initially even though she was really tired, so I picked her up out of the cot and sat with her in the nursing chair and she was asleep within a minute or two. I transferred her to the cot and she stirred, rolled onto her side (her new favourite sleeping position) and went back off to sleep. Fingers crossed for a good nights sleep for us both, although I'm sure it will be easier for her than it is for me! It will be quite liberating having our bedroom back to ourselves after close on 6 months!

Sitting Unaided

Sorry I haven't updated in a while but it's been a busy couple of weeks with Chris having a weeks holiday and also Bella reverting back to newborn "wake every couple of hours" stage! She's been going through big changes recently and her sleep pattern went haywire for a bit but it seems as though we're back on track. She's finally taking decent naps in the day, 3-4 hours worth of good length naps, and it appears as though it's helped with her night time sleeping too. We're down to just waking once or twice and she self settles again pretty quickly. I would love to get back to the 11-12 hours straight through but am happy it's not 6 times a night again!

Anyway, Bella decided to sit all on her own yesterday! She managed to balance for about 20 seconds before toppling to one side, but today she was even better. She sat up and also realised she could suck her toes at the same time much to her amusement. She's also started a backward shuffle to move around. I'm wondering just how long until she's crawling properly!

Baby Led Weaning

We decided it was time to start Bella on solids especially as we had a spate of night wakings again. Rather than go down the puree route we decided to do Baby Led Weaning (BLW) where the baby feeds themselves with their hands or a spoon. We offer a selection of foods each day, all cut into shapes easy for a baby to pick up and get into their mouth. They then explore the textures and flavours, put the food in, have a little chew, spit it out mainly. The idea is to get them used to food in it's proper form rather than puree feeding and then having to adjust to solids later. I must admit I felt very nervous the first time we gave Bella food and she bit some off and started moving it around her mouth but she tends to cope well with it. Most of it gets pushed back out but judging by her diapers we know she's eating some of it! The theory is that the fine motor skills required for picking up food items develops around the same time as the ability to chew and move food around the mouth. So, if the baby can put food in the mouth they can control it once it's in there. The one thing you can't do is feed your baby as in put food in the mouth in case they aren't ready for it. On the whole it's a fun method but extremely messy. So far she's had rice cakes, cucumber, melon, pear, avocado (great for rubbing in the hair!), banana, lemon. Here are a few pictures of her feeding herself with a spoon.

Escapology

Bella's new way to throw herself out of her play nest! She's so active now we have to watch her so carefully.

No Cry Progress

Well, 3 days into the method and things seem to be going well. We've ditched the pacifier for all naps and only use it early hours of the morning when she's starting to become unsettled. Also I've been working with her on extending nap lengths using the cycle blender method and I'm very happy that in 3 days we've gone from 4 half hour naps a day to 3 long naps. Today she took an hour nap, an hour and 15 mins and an hour and 20 mins so she's almost doubling her nap lengths each day. It's making for a happy little Bella and she's also settling so much easier at night.

No Cry Sleep Solution

After a couple of difficult nights getting Bella off to sleep and a total write-off with naps yesterday followed by a nighttime meltdown we decided we need a new plan of action. We were considering everybodies advice about the "Let her cry it out" method, but Chris and I are just not those type of people. I can't sit and listen from another room while my baby cries and cries. I don't see how that helps teach independence, more a sense of abandonment I feel. So after a bit of research and some recommendations we're trying the "No Cry Sleep Solution" which is all about nurturing and love, but still encourages self-settling and the ability for a baby to go to sleep on their own.

The basic principle is to start off with a good wind down routine, put baby in their sleeping bag, move to a quiet dark room and gently rock the baby to sleep. Once they've dropped off you put them down in the cot. You do this each time for naps and overnight sleep and start putting them down earlier and earlier while they're still awake so you can get to the point of putting them in the sleeping bag and straight down. Whilst this is not a quick fix solution lile controlled crying, I feel it is more suited to us and Bella. We're both prepared to do the gentle rocking etc before each nap and bedtime as it only takes 5-10 minutes until she's off.

If she wakes in the middle of the night or middle of the nap and starts to cry then you do the same procedure until she drops off again. Eventually she should have the independence to put herself back to sleep. Apparently this can happen within the first 2 weeks. Also it means we no longer have to use the pacifier which I am glad to get rid of!

So far today Bella is down for her second nap of the day and whereas normally she has been a cat-napper grabbing 30 minutes each time, through this method I have already managed to get an hour and a half from her and she's still going! When she woke and cried (obviously not refreshed from her nap and ready to wake) I picked her up, rocked her and she's gone back off no problem.

I guess time will tell how successful this method will be, but if it means just cuddling your baby to sleep and giving them love rather than listen to the tears then I'm all for it!

5 months on!

Where has the time gone? I can't believe Bella is 5 months old today. I would say the 4-5 month period has been the one with the biggest developmental changes. She has learned so many new skills this month and her character is really shining through now. She laughs so much, has the most gorgeous smiles and a whole range of new sounds and facial expressions. She has learned to roll from front to back and back to front, is very strong on her legs and likes to stand most of the time and has started trying to pull herself up to sit. She's also found her feet.

With all these new developments has come some tough times too. She went through a major growth spurt the last month and combined with teething has made for some very unsettled periods. We went back to feeding through the night in the midst of the growth spurt (like having a newborn again) and also some very cranky moments when awake usually out of pure frustration on her part when she wants to do more than her body will allow. I've learned to embrace these times though as they are only short lived periods and afterwards you get to see a major developmental milestone in her.

With her new found mobility comes trouble! I've caught her trying to climb backwards out of her playnest where she gets into a "crab" type position and arches herself backwards over the edge; I've put her under her jungle gym, popped out the room for a minute and on returning she was about a foot away from it in the middle of the rug. She's also started throwing herself around when sitting on your lap. She'll be feeding and all of a sudden launch herself backwards so you need fast reactions! The only place of safety for now seems to be in the new activity centre as she can't escape from there...yet!

It just amazes me how much she has changed this last month. She is growing up so fast and is the most inquisitive little thing. She's also started giving out kisses, which while unbelievably wet, are the cutest things!

Dia de la Madre

Today is Mothers Day here in spain. Sadly I don't have the energy to celebrate it as I have flu and feel a bit lousy so it's just a quite day at home...well, as quiet as it can be with a baby! Good job I chose to celebrate the english one.

Bella is doing great although we did have a few disturbed nights again recently. I stopped the baby rice for a few days as her growth spurt seemed over and I don't want to wean her too early but she was back to night waking again, so we're back on the rice. She has started sleeping through again thankfully. I don't plan on introducing anything else food wise for another month though. Not sure if I mentioned that she had a congested chest recently. It was picked up at her 4 month check up. Anyway, she had a follow up appointment at the doctors on Thursday and the catarh and mucous has cleared from her chest and no sign of any other infection in the ears or throat so she has a clean bill of health. To be honest I think it might have been down to the teething again. It seems every time we have a growth spurt she cuts more teeth and gets a cold or similar. She doesn't have any more teeth through just yet but I don't think it will be too long for the two front top ones. I can feel them poking under the surface so reckon they'll be through within the next couple of weeks.

We bought her a Baby Einstein activity centre yesterday as she loves to be upright on her feet and I wanted to give my arms a break. We assembled it this morning and so far it's a huge success. A little expensive but I think it will be worthy investment as I can see hours of entertainment from it. If you have a small baby I would definitely say buy one!

4 month jabs/check up and catch up

I know I'm a bit behind updating again but we have been busy with visitors the last week. Bella's grandparents came over and we've just dropped them off at the airport. She had a lovely time with them and I think her grandad is her new best friend! Anyway, Bella had her jabs and health check last week and is doing so well. She now measures 65cms in length and weighs 14lb 9oz. She was great with the jabs also and fell asleep straight after. The doctor suggested we start introducing a little baby rice, pureed fruits and cereal this month so we have started on a few spoonfuls of baby rice for her tea and a little cereal in the morning. She seems to love it and her little legs start kicking in excitment when she sees the bowl and spoon and she opens her mouth ready for it. We're going to introduce some pureed apple and pear next week. She is sleeping really well at night now and is going for about 11 hours overnight. She is teething again though so is having a few problems with them.

In the last week she has perfected rolling over from her back to her tummy and is also trying to pull herself to sit up on her own. Quite a way to go yet, but she is making great progress. She has a new sound and makes an "mmmmmm" sound over and over and over again...!

I just had to share...

...my new favourite photo. Chris took this one last night when she was fresh out the bath and I think it is absolutely stunning.

Semana Santa

You've got to love Spain and its fiesta days. It's easter week so Chris has had a couple of days off and we've been blessed with great weather so have holidayed at home making the most of the gardens and pool in our new place. It's been lovely to lie out and relax. Bella had some good sleeps in her stroller and chilled out on the blanket. All this fresh air is making her sleep so well. I hope I don't regret saying that later and have just jinxed myself! Last night she slept from 10pm through to 9am without waking for one feed. Now there's progress!

4 months old today

I don't know where the time is going! Bella is doing so well and adding new skills to her repertoire each week. She can now roll from back to tummy too. Her bottom teeth are properly through and growing well. She's found a new game of squeaking her dummy on her teeth. It was cute to begin with! She's now going to bed on her own at night in her big cot and managing to last about 5 hours in there before stirring and coming into bed with us. She's managing to sleep 10 hours straight overnight too. She has a new bush pig type high pitched squeal in her vocal range now. Beware those with hangovers! I wonder what this month will bring....!

Rolling over

Bella managed her first ever proper roll today. She's gone from her back to her side before but today during tummy time she pushed herself off and went fully onto her back. Luckily Chris was here too to witness it. We were both very proud! It's great to see all these changes and witness the little mini milestones in her development. She's great with tummy time now too and holds her little head up so well. Last night she was so proud of herself she laughed away!

Bottom teeth through

Finally after about a week of grumbling, crying, screaming and restlessness Bella has her two bottom teeth through. Monday night I gave her the chilled teething ring to bite on and she really went to town on it. When I went to put the teething gel on before bed I could feel that one of her bottom teeth had cut through the surface of the gum. Tuesday morning they were both through. I can't believe she has them through so early. I'm hoping for a bit of a break now before the next ones decide to show up!

Mothers Day "Photoshoot"

Swimming

Last week we started a baby swim course following the Little Starfish UK programme. I thought Bella may like the pool as she loves a bath but you never know until you get there. Anyway, last weeks lesson went really well and she loved moving through the water with her little frogs legs going. We did basic front hold and back hold and moved her through the water on both front and back. We also did lots of bouncing in the water and swishing from side to side so she could get the feel of the water moving around her.

Yesterday we went to the second lesson and she did her first underwater swim. She made no fuss whatsoever and when she came up just carried on like nothing had happened! She was completely unphased by it. I'm very proud of her. We also did a safe entry into the pool where you give the baby a cue to enter the water for her to learn that she can only enter a pool on a certain command. This is to encourage them when they are toddlers and around water not to get into it until they've been given "permission".

Next week she'll be doing two underwater swims and building it up to three the following week. I'm hoping she continues to enjoy it as it will be great in the summer time to take her out to our pool.

Giggling!

The last few days Bella has started experimenting with laughing. It's so funny and she sounds a bit like a crazy person at the moment! I think she scares herself as she does it sometimes. Her range of "conversation" is really improving with different sounds and squeaks and it's like she's getting some kind of emotion into it now. When she's tired or frustrated we have more grunts and when she's happy and relaxed more babbling and high pitched squeaks. She gets very cross with her animals on her activity arch sometimes and starts shouting at them, particularly when she can't get their feet in her mouth!

First Mothers and Fathers Days

Although we're in Spain I decided I wanted to celebrate the English Mothers Day which happens to be today. Chris chose to celebrate the Spanish Fathers Day which was last Thursday. So far today I have been looked after with Chris making me an omelet for breakfast and we're having a bbq later on with lots of steak and champagne. We're also going to do a photo shoot as a good memory for me. Chris is going to get my favourite picture blown up and printed as a gift. I just have the hard task of choosing my favourite as there are so many! I'd decided to get one done for him for Fathers Day too so we should have some lovely reminders of our first year as parents. I'll let you know later how my day went....!

It's now evening time and I've had a wonderful first Mothers Day. Bella and Chris had made me a lovely card and written a beautiful poem. The photoshoot went really well and the pictures are amazing. I've chosen my favourite and will upload a few of them when Chris has finished processing them. The steak was amazing, as was the champagne. I couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

Second lot of jabs

Yesterday Bella went for her second lot of jabs. It wasn't so bad this time around as it was just the one needle and an oral dose. She screamed for a short while, maybe 2-3 minutes and then calmed right down again. After the bad reaction she had to the first lot I'd decided to give her the Calpol straight away this time and I think it did the trick. She was great all day and evening and even went to bed earlier. This did mean she was awake at 5am for feeding though. I haven't had to do one of those early hours feeds for a long time and had forgotten what it felt like! We have a reprieve for a month now until the next horrible lot which will be the 3 needles again.

A few more photos...

...in the Bumbo seat. I just love these ones, she looks so happy and beautiful!

3 Months old today...and a tooth!

Bella has been constantly sticking her hand in her mouth today and chewing way more than normal so I decided to have a little investigation. I was aware that her lower bottom gum was a little white and thought it wouldn't be long before we saw the first tooth there. But, I discovered that one of the prongs on her upper right back teeth is through! There is a proper piece of tooth poking through the gum. I thought these were the last ones to make an appearance usually and I totally didn't expect to see the start of a tooth so soon. I can't believe the changes in her in such a short space of time, but also can't believe she's three months already!

A pattern is emerging

Over the course of the last week Bella seems to have settled into a daily pattern and finally it includes sleeping through the night! She takes a last feed at 11pm and sleeps through until 8am, very civilized of her, wakes for a feed and goes back off to sleep until 11am when I get her up to start the day. She's then feeding every 3 hours up until 11pm feed. Finally we all get some decent sleep and are feeling great. She's also able to stay awake plenty during the day. It's also good to be able to plan a day in advance knowing when she needs to feed, bathe etc. I don't know if this is a result of the daily massage we do after the bath or if she's just that much older now that she can go 9 hours between feeds - either way I'm not complaining!

The Bumbo Seat

I'd heard a lot about Bumbos and how they can encourage babies to strengthen their back and necks to sit up straight. Apparently they help baby adopt the right posture for sitting and they use their own weight through gravity to sit on their own. We saw them in a baby store today so decided to get one to try Bella in. She loves it! I think she was loving the fact that she was sitting independently. As soon as we put her in it she was grinning away. We only left her in for about 7 minutes and then she looked a little wobbly so took her out for a rest. We also bought the activity tray which attaches to it so you can put a toy on it or use it for feeding if doing the baby led weaning route.

Here are a couple of pictures of her in her new chair.

Baby Massage

Despite feeling the worse for wear with flu, I managed to complete a course in baby massage last week. Bella and I had a great time and it really was the most invaluable course. I have learned how to give her a full body and head massage which reaps endless health benefits. Alongside the obvious relaxation, bonding and feelgood factor, it stimulates and aids digestion, helps relieve colic and eliminate waste, improves blood circulation and skin condition, balances respiration, boosts the immune system, stimulates the senses, helps to develop body awareness, can provide relief for teething pains and finally promotes better sleep.

She absolutely loves the massage and was so chilled out in the class. I've found that since we completed the course she has fed and slept a lot better. I massage her every evening after her bath for as long as she is content and interested, and also massage parts of her such as her hands and feet during the course of the day. The course was run by Amanda Parker of IOH (Inside Out Health) Magazine who is a qualified instructor of baby massage and reflexology. If anybody reading this has a baby and lives on the Costa Del Sol then I would encourage you to contact her for the next available course. The skills you learn are amazing and ones that you and your child can use for life.

I don't think it's any coincidence that since doing the course Bella has been sleeping through the night. She has gone anything from 6 hours to her record of 8 hours last night. We have a very content baby and a very happy mommy!

A quick catch up

Sorry I haven't updated for a while but I had horrible flu last week. It was enough of an effort for me to get through each day without posting on here. Anyway, I'm back to normal this week so posting will resume....

Finally she slept through the night...

...well, pretty damn close! Bella had her last feed at 11.30pm last night and didn't wake until 6.45am. I know it's not technically the whole night but good enough for me! I managed a 6 hour stretch myself which is unheard of. She did stir at about 5am and I was about to feed her but she drifted back off to sleep. She woke and had a full feed and went back off to sleep until 9.45am. The last block of sleep was a bit of a restless one but it looks like we're making some progress. I guess we'll see what tonight brings. As long as it's not back to the 3 hourly feeds I'll be happy.

We're off to baby massage class tomorrow morning so hoping I'll get some good tips for helping her sleep better.

Loving her baby nest

I don't have too much to update on at the moment so thought I'd just post a couple of photos of Bella in her inflatable baby nest. She loves chilling out in there and it's a great way to pull her up to sitting position and back down again. She is getting really good with her head control now and loves sitting upright. She's obviously wobbly still but gradually she's sitting with minimal support and loves the change of perspective on things as she's sitting. She's also grasping her toys in the nest but doesn't do much with them yet.

2 month check up and jabs

Yesterday Isabella went for her 2 month check up and vaccinations. She passed the check up with flying colours! She is very healthy with no problems whatsoever. She now weighs 11lb 9oz and has grown 1 and a half centimeters. The doctor was very happy with her progress and said she is doing exceptionally well. She was full of smiles for the doctor and more than happy to be checked over.

The vaccinations were a different matter though. She had to have 3, two in one leg and one in the other and an oral dose. The oral dose was no problem as she'll eat anything, but she cried her little heart out with the needles. It was a very distressed cry and I had tears in my eyes myself as I hate seeing her like that. She recovered quickly though and fed straight after. We waited around for half an hour afterwards just in case she had a reaction to the jabs, but all was well. Later in the afternoon she started to get distressed again and it was because she'd had a small reaction at the site of one of the vaccinations. We had to apply a cold compress to take the inflammation and swelling down and give her a dose of baby paracetemol to ease the discomfort and pain. She calmed down about half an hour later but was very teary on and off throughout the day and night. Her temperature was normal so no signs of fever. She did have a touch of a tummy upset though but continued to eat well. So yesterday was a day of lots of comfort and cuddles. We finally got her to go off to sleep at 11pm but she was unsettled still. She did get 4 hours quality sleep between 2.30 and 6.30am and some more restless sleep after a feed until 9.30am. She seems much happier in herself today and her temperature is still normal so I'm hoping that today she feels more like herself again. I've had lots of smiles and giggles from her this morning so trust that's a good sign!

Wind....

....the baby not me! It seems as though Isabella is suffering with trapped wind at the moment. I think this is why she is splitting her feeds into two parts. She's been kicking her legs out quite vigorously during feeds and grunting a lot. Sometimes after a feed she cries until the wind is passed. I've tried tummy massages and warm compresses on her abdomen but they've not really helped. So, we bought Spains equivalent to gripe water yesterday to try and help her out. It's a herbal type infusion to calm down and relax the digestive system so the wind can pass out. It smells a bit like aniseed and I was expecting her to spit it back out, but she downed it and then refused her milk as I think the taste didn't quite compare! We ended up bathing her and waiting an hour and then trying again with the milk which she eventually took. Not wanting to have a repeat performance today, I gave her the infusion after her feed. She downed her milk and then pulled a face at the infusion, like I was giving her something terrible. I guess she doesn't like a change of flavour although I did manage to get her to drink it. Anyway, it seems as though it's helping as she tooted a lot this morning so I think it must have shifted the gas a bit overnight. I'm giving her another dose midday so we split them 12 hours apart and see how she gets on with that. She seems more content today and not kicking her legs out quite so much so hopefully it will work. I wish I could get hold of products here like gripe water or colief like in the UK. We're seeing the paedetrician on Monday for her 2 month check up so will see if she has any other suggestions if she still seems to be suffering.

Broken sleep again :(

Just when I thought Isabella was getting the hang of night time sleeping we seem to be going backwards. Rather than the usual 5-6 hours overnight she has only been managing 4 for the last few nights. Last night was particularly disturbed. She fed at midnight, 4am, 6am and again at 9am. I'm wondering if it's another growth spurt coming on? She also seems to be splitting her day time feeds up again. Rather than going the usual 3 hours between feeds she's back to doing every hour and a half. While I don't mind the regular feeding during normal waking hours, I'm not so thrilled by the night time ones! While she manages to drop straight back to sleep after her feed, it will take me up to half and hour or more to sleep again, only to be woken an hour later for more food. I'm hoping it's just a phase and we'll be back to longer sleeps again soon...please! I'm still toying with the idea of giving her a bottle of formula food before bed to see if that helps her sleep longer, but I'm still a bit loathed to do it.

Two months old today

I don't know where the time has gone and find it hard to believe that Isabella is already two months old. I felt a little sad the other day when I was folding up and putting away all her 0-3 month vests, that she's growing so fast. She actually fills out the 3-6 month ones pretty well, especially in the body length. She's off to have her jabs next Monday and 2 month checkup so it will be interesting to see how much weight she's gained and how long she is now.

Sunshine!

At last the weather has cleared up and we have beautiful sunshine. We've just been down to a local restaurant for Sunday lunch and sat on the terrace soaking up the rays. Long may the good weather continue! Isabella has been a total angel all afternoon, waking once for a feed and going straight back to sleep so mummy and daddy could eat lunch. She doesn't fail to get attention wherever we go. Everybody comments on how beautiful she is, but hey, we already knew that!

Here are a couple of pictures just to show how truly beautiful she is......

Look at the length of her eyelashes now!

I love this one of her chilling in her bouncy chair.