February sunshine

We've just had a lovely weekend. On Saturday I decided it was high time Daisy experienced one of the joys of being a girl - shoe shopping. We duly headed to Covent Garden but Daisy seemed distinctly underwhelmed. Not even a great pair of strappy black heels waved in her face at Nine West roused her from her sleep. We then met Ragani and Glen for lunch which went very well until a leaky nappy brought things to an end. Yuck! We had a visit from Ruth on Saturday night and with Daisy happily asleep on her I was able to have more than one glass of wine. Hurrah!

On Sunday we met Carlene, Dave, Tom and Bridget at our local pub and as you can see from the photo above, the sun even came out. My mum arrived in the evening and has been staying with us for the past few days. She's been the doting Grandma plus has been cooking and cleaning which has been great. I even got a two hour uninterupted sleep yesterday afternoon whilst she looked after Daisy.

Bx

Scotland 18 England 12

Daisy coped with a double defeat of England and Harlequins by finding a new sleeping spot. Luckily, Crusaders and Chelsea didn't let her down.

The Times is tough at 3 1/2 weeks old!

I'm very pleased to say that we had a brilliant night last night. Daisy slept from 11.15pm until 3.30am then from 4.30am until 8am when I woke her up for breakfast. The extra sleep seems to have helped my cold no end. Hurrah!

Today we went shopping and got a few pink girly things for Daisy's room then walked to Southfields and went to Starbucks for a chai latte. We've been going out everyday between 12pm-2pm as that is snooze time and Daisy sleeps really well when out in the pram. It's tough going when it's cold and raining with a wind chill factor of about -50 like it has been the last few days but worth it to get her in a routine. Yesterday we were out in a hailstorm. Me and the Bugaboo were both white with hail but Daisy slept on oblivious. Lucky for some! I'm also trying to walk between 4pm and 5pm but if the weather is bad it's too cold that late. Bring on summer and long walks in the sunshine.

Bx

Check out my big puku!

Things have been much improved this week although I have no expectations that it will last. As I've discovered in the past, hopes and expectations generally get cruelly dashed! Daisy seems to be slipping in to a very loose routine during the day although the nights are still a bit all over the place. She is also getting much better at sleeping in her moses basket at night although I have to confess that there have been a couple of times when I've purposely kept her in our bed as she is so nice and snuggly. Very bad of me but it's so sweet when she is zonked out on top of me like a little starfish.

She is generally in a 3-4 hour eating cycle at night which means she is asleep for 2-3 hours at a time. I never thought I'd get excited about getting 3 hours unbroken sleep. She tends to eat a bit more during the day and 7pm-11pm seems to be her most active time. It's really nice for Andy as it means he gets to spend time with her in the evening and very nice for me as it means he can take over and give me a break. However, it often means she is feeding every 1-2 hours during that time which can be a bit exhausting. I'm keeping up with her by eating every 1-2 hours myself, oh dear.

We are very thankful that Daisy is having such a good week as we have both been laid low with awful colds. Andy is a lot better now but I'm still feeling pretty awful and I had to miss the NCT coffee afternoon today as I didn't want to make the other babies sick. Very disappointing as it's lovely to catch up with everyone and share the highs and lows.

I've been terrible at replying to emails for which I apologise. I really enjoy getting them so please don't stop emailing if you haven't heard back from me. They are being read and appreciated and I'm hoping that I'll soon be able to find the time to start replying. It seems that everytime I try to do something Daisy realises that she doesn't have 100% of my attention and does whatever it takes to distract me. It's taken me about 20 attempts and the best part of the day to get this blog updated...

For the non kiwis reading this, puku means tummy!

Bx

No worries

Chelsea 3 Colchester 1 - Daisy wasn't worried!

Karaoke Queen

Apart from a brilliant Friday night our foray deep in to the realm of sleep deprivation continues. My first week sans Andy wasn't the best week I've ever had! At one point I even told Andy that I wanted to go back to work right now. Daisy is still a bit snuffly so I decided to stay at home in the warm on Thursday and Friday. However, by Friday afternoon I was climbing the walls so headed out to Cafe Nero where luckily I came across Annette and Thomas and Annette's friend Ruth and her baby Louis. The memory of looking after a newborn is recent for both of them so they were very sympathetic and assured me that things do get better and we are halfway to the magic six week mark when things start to fall in to place. Roll on six weeks!

On Friday night Daisy only woke once and she was the perfect textbook baby all Saturday. We took a lunchtime walk to Southside and Fen visited in the afternoon. Unfortunately she returned to normal form for Saturday night but it was very nice while it lasted! Today it's rainy and horrible but after a morning visit from Lydia and Neil we went for a very wet walk to Northcote Road. I got some shopping done while Andy and Daisy parked up at Starbucks with the Sunday Times. She happily slept the whole time but we are now back home to wailing. Argh! Chelsea are currently losing 1-0 to first division Colchester so she might not be the only crybaby in the house if they don't turn it around.

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What's sleep?

It's been a very tiring couple of days for all of us. Sleep is definitely something we need more of! However, I managed a trip down to Northcote Road yesterday and tested the Bugaboo's off road capabilites on Wandsworth Common. It was a little muddier than I anticipated (the recent rain failed to tip me off) hence was a bit of a bumpy ride but it coped very well - as did Daisy who only spewed once.

Today the NCT girls and their babies (minus the new mum, Emma) came around for coffee. Not knowing a thing about babies, it was really good to talk about everything and find that the problems we are having are shared by the others and are quite normal. Daisy isn't the only eating machine, phew.

It's just me and Daisy home tonight as Andy is at the Brit Awards. I'm a little miffed I can't be there so am thinking I might console myself with a large glass of wine whilst I watch Masterchef Goes Large. Ooo, the excitement never stops!

Bx

Monday

Daisy's feeding frenzy is showing little signs of waning with her wailing for food every 1-2 hours although she has managed a little longer at night. It's reduced me to a bit of a gibbering wreck although mecifully she has been alseep for 3 hours this afternoon which has given me the opportunity to compose myself somewhat and get some things done. Yay! Hopefully I'll soon catch up with how much she needs to eat and things will get a little easier. She continues to be very sweet when not furiously launching herself at me for food.

We had a lovely afternoon yesterday, spending it having lunch at Chris and Annette's. Thomas made several appearances between naps, smiling winningly the whole time. Daisy did quite well, not too much crying and plenty of drinking although possibly not as much as Andy.

Bx

England 31 Italy 16

Like countless sports fans before her, Daisy spent most of today's England six nations match drinking then passed out. Above is her shortly after the final whistle. She seems to be hitting a bit of a growth spurt at the moment as it's all about the eating. Very tiring!

We didn't get up to much today as it was a bit of a rough night plus I've come down with a cold and Daisy is a bit snuffly. We had a midwife visit and she (Daisy, not the midwife) is putting on weight and all is looking well. I suspect she isn't the only one putting on weight as I've never been so ravenously hungry in my life and have turned in to a food hoover. Eeek!

Mirror mirror

Yesterday I put a mirror in the side of Daisy's Moses basket and as you can see from the photo above, she liked what she saw. Although given her gun hand maybe she was just enjoying the opportunity to practice her quick draw.

We had another low key day, our only trip out was to Cafe Nero where we bumped in to Kinga, Adam and George. In the evening I went out with the girls for Laura's leaving dinner at Mildred's in Soho. It was very nice to be out and I managed to resist the urge to call home every 2 minutes. Andy and Daisy had a nice night in. Andy gave her a bottle and she did ok with it although she needs a bit more practice. Gulping it then spewing is not the aim!

Andy is back at work today so it's our first day just the two of us. It's pretty daunting but she has been great so far. We spent the morning dancing to Madonna (Daisy enjoyed it and it will have to do until I can get out running) and doing a bit of online shopping. We've just been out for coffee with Laura and I'm about to read the papers to Daisy. I'm not sure whether she is going to prefer The Times or The Sun although I suspect Page 3 of The Sun probably holds the most interest for her at the moment.

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Lots of babies

We had another chilled day yesterday. A walk on Wimbledon Common was followed by lunch at the Fox and Grapes pub. Daisy waited until I was really enjoying my glass of wine before deciding to wail, requiring a swift exit, argh!

Today we decided to join Daisy in her morning sleep. A great decision as this afternoon was the first time in ages that I haven't felt tired. Lovely! We had a visit from the health visitor who gave us a little red book which will record Daisy's progress until she is five. There seems to be a very good support network in place for any problems we may have which is reassuring.

This afternoon we had afternoon tea at Nic and Simon's and met Eleanor who was born 3 days after Daisy. Kinga and Adam were there with George who was born the same day as Daisy and Emma was also there, bump still intact! Eleanor and George are both gorgeous and doing really well.

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Waitangi Day

We had a quiet day yesterday with our only excursion being to get the papers. We had visits from Emma in the morning and Ruth in the evening which was lovely. Apart from that we just hung out at home. I practiced my housewifery by bottling beetroot. Rock on.

Daisy is very well. We are slowly starting to try to get her in to some sort of routine which seems to be working ok. She's still a bit wary of bath time but I reckon she's almost starting to like it.

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A very busy day

It's been a big day for Daisy. She got herself primed for it by sleeping for a solid five and a half hours between 1.30am and 7am. Bliss! We were able to catch up on some much needed sleep too. Chris, Annette and Thomas came round in the morning. Thomas is looking super cute with his huge blue eyes and chubby cheeks. He was born in September and I couldn't believe the difference in size between him and Daisy. She looked like a little doll next to him.

Daisy's next visitors were Ness and Bob then we all headed up to The Grand Union Pub in Westbourne Park for Tom's birthday drinks. We were only planning on popping in with Daisy for a few minutes then Andy was going to go for a walk with her but everyone was sitting by a non-smoking section so after ascertaining that it was indeed smoke free we happily parked her up in her pram and enjoyed a drink and catch up. She was in fine form again and slept the entire hour and a half we were there. What a little star!

As you can see from the photo at the top, she is now all tired out and enjoying a snooze, I think it might be time for me to join her.

Bx

England 47 Wales 13

After a busy day shopping, Daisy watched England hammer the Welsh at rugby for the first time. It is tiring work beating the Welsh, but if she is going to support the All Blacks and England she will need to get used to it, as it is going to happen a lot, hehehe!

We are having a fairly chilled evening so far, not much crying, not much pooing. However, if the last few nights are anything to go by, that is in store for us in the early hours.

We might even take Daisy to the pub for Tom's birthday drinks tomorrow. Although we'll probably only stay for 15 mins.

Andy

One week old

One week on and Daisy is doing great. She is feeding and sleeping much better and crying a whole lot less. We had a midwife visit this morning and she is back up to her birth weight so all is looking well. She had to go sans nappy to be weighed and she took the opportunity to poo all over Andy's lap. She was in a towel so it could have been worse but Andy still got mucky. Gross!

Today was her official due date. We've only had her one week but it feels like so much has happened. She now has more hair than Andy and we've had to cut her nails already. And she now has a proper tummy button. So do I again, result. And I'm back in my pre-pregnancy jeans. Double result.

Bx

Shopping!

We had a bit of a rough night and I was feeling housebound and neurotic, so we decided that a shopping trip to Harrods was in order. Hurrah! Daisy slept the entire two hours making it very stress free and nice for us. I don't understand why she cannot sleep in her nice moses basket in her nice calm quiet room, yet can snooze for a car trip through central London and a visit to Harrods where there was music playing in every department. Babies are very confusing!

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Phew!

It's been a busy few days! It's quite bizarre how one tiny person can be a 24 hour job for two people but we are fast finding out that they can. Things got a bit rough on Monday night with Daisy deciding that she didn't want to feed on the right side and she didn't want to sleep in her Moses basket. In fact, all she wanted to do was scream. Waaaa! I think Andy walked a groove in the floor taking her round the house in the early hours. I called the midwives in the morning and they were with us within a couple of hours which was fantastic.

Daisy is a bit jaundiced and compounded with the feeding problems she was continually hungry. She still won't feed the normal way on the right but she will go on in 'the rugby ball' position. What a good little kiwi! We are making her eat more which will hopefully get rid of the jaundice and it also means the screaming has stopped (for now, anyway) and we managed to get some sleep last night. When we were in the hospital a few staff used the word 'fiesty' when checking Daisy out and yesterday the midwife upgraded that to 'obstinate'. It would seem that she has more of me in her than her appearance suggests....

Today has been a much better day. She is still being a bit tricksy about feeding but I feel like we have a few options in dealing with it which is a big relief. It's certainly hard work and I didn't quite realise the extent to which she would take up our every minute but she is so adorable that we don't mind at all. Although I might change my tune if we have another bad night tonight!

Andy has just been down to the town hall and registered her birth so she is now officially Daisy Clementine Ellis. How exciting!

Bx