SP reads to F

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.

Sorry about the low audio levels. I didn't want to get too close and be noticed.

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2 months old

F was 2 months old last week, and becoming less a newborn and more a baby every day. It's probably about time we told you a little bit about her. 

Her eyes are getting much better, and she often focuses on us clearly now. Her ideal focal length seems to be a bit longer than expected, but that's probably not a big deal.

F has given 2 big grins that we know of, one aimed at her bright pink mozzie net and the other at soon-to-be-Uncle Chris. She often appears to be just on the edge of a smile, so we pray that they'll come more frequently soon. 

She's just discovering her calm & social side: happy to sit and chat to people, happy to sit in her bouncer and watch the world go by. But if we're all at the table, the bouncer on the floor is not acceptable - she wants to be up with the action!

She loves bath time, both by herself and with SP. She had a couple of baths in the proper baby bath when she was very little but mostly goes in the little clam shell in the bottom of the shower that SP uses. She's usually awake for his bath time, so typically she'll get some time by herself first, SP will join her for a couple of minutes, then she'll come out so he can splash. It's working quite nicely for us. 

She loves SP, and he loves her. I love the inbuilt entertainment ;)

Sleep and settling is getting pretty good, which makes us all happy. She often needs 1-2 little visits to help settle before falling asleep by herself in the day, but is getting better all the time. And she only wakes for one feed most nights, around 1:45. My nightly West Wing viewing has slowed considerably since the early days. But I'm still getting plenty in the evenings - last night she was feeding from 5:45-7:30... whew! But I'm happy with that if it means nice long night sleeps. 

Now that we're starting to get more sleep and she's starting to get less cranky, we're enjoying having F around. And we look forward to finding out more and more about this precious little person we're blessed to have in our lives. 

A big photo post is coming soon. 

Island of calm

Steady rain outside. 

SP chatting peacefully to himself in rest time. 

F sleeping peacefully in the pram (after refusing my efforts to get her to sleep in her cot, but let's not think about that right now)

A few yucky tasks crossed off my to do list. 

A few short hours before the weekend. 

Family news

Soon we'll have a new brother-in-law and uncle.

Hooray!

A great Bible Study

F slept the whole way through - great for my concentration levels. 

SP and his friends played beautifully for the vast majority of the time, including 3 of them doing a very cute 'Hokey Pokey'. Although that proved to be just as distracting as troublesome behaviour can be :)

We studied John 4 together, and I felt like I actually gained some understanding. My take-home points: 

- The Samaritan woman was so so excited about finding Jesus as the source of life that she couldn't wait to tell her whole village. Am I that excited to share Jesus with people I know?

- if Jesus is the one and only source of life, then it's so important for me to drink deeply. I'm praying that this will lead me to be less cursory in my relationship with Jesus, particularly in prayer.

At the beginning of the term, we all shared some over-arching prayer points/goals, and when we did an update today, I can see God working in every one of us. So encouraging. 

Gender differences

SP has a drawer full of t-shirts and pants, all worn pretty much interchangably. 

F has outfits. 

The Australian Voices - Tra$h Ma$h

Many of the guys I've played soccer with over the years are of the uber-talented type: good at sport, good at arts, good academically.  One of them in particular is involved with a choral group called The Australian Voices, and he sent me a link to the video of their latest work.


It's a choral arrangement of about 30 pop songs in one big mash-up.  I only recognised one song (an 80s throwback included near the end for giggles) but it's still very good choral work and pretty funny too.

Have a look at it here: http://www.theaustralianvoices.com/trash-mash

Ultrasound Normal

This is not only good news for F's eyes but also for her development in general. We now know that all the craziness in her body in utero didn't cause any visible brain damage. Pretty amazing really.

Eye Update

We went to the paediatrician this morning. It turned out to be uneventful. 

He's not too worried about F's eyes at this point. He usually gives babies until 9 weeks after their due date (ie end of Feb) to get their eyes coordinated and start smiling before he does anything. 

He did note that F's divergent squint is quite uncommon though, so given her history, we'll get a head ultrasound on Monday. We've also made an opthalmologist appointment for a couple of months time if needed. 

We also asked about the possibility of propranolol treatment for the strawberry birthmark on her forehead. He doesn't think it's big enough to warrant it at this stage, but we can revisit this in the future. 

Keep praying for focus and smiling. And patience. And sleep - it's been a long and tiring week.

Eye troubles

We're a bit concerned about F's eyes at the moment. One eye seems to look outwards, so she doesn't appear to be focusing on things.  

She can definitely see, she's been tracking objects for weeks, but being able to focus is important. Her eye contact is fleeting at best and she's not smiling yet. 

We've got a paediatrician appointment on Friday. Pray for wisdom for him, peace in God's plan for us, and that I wouldn't do too much googling in the meantime. It tends to make me nervous...

Eat Your Crusts

I've had enough of piles of crusts not being eaten. On hungry days, SP will eat the middle bread bit out of three sandwiches, which, when cut into little triangles, leaves us with 32 little crust bits! On more than one occasion, those little bits have formed the bulk of my lunch. Not what I call appetising, but I can't bear to throw them all out. 

A couple of weeks ago we started telling SP that when he's 2 1/2 he can eat all his crusts. Note the use of 'can' rather than 'has to.' I'm a big believer in the power of semantics. 

Yesterday he was very happy to have reached the milestone and ate his crusts quite eagerly. To head off any trouble, I gave him his triangles one at a time, but he ate each one completely before asking for the next. 

Today he ate the middle bit then gave me his coy look and said, 'I'm not 2 1/2 yet...' I told him that he was and he ate the crusts quite happily. After a few triangles he was starting to get sick of them and wanted the next triangle before he'd finished it all, but only needed a gentle reminder and didn't get crabby about it.

We'll see how things go from here. I suspect we may have a showdown or two, but we're off to a good start at least. I'll keep giving him one triangle at a time until he's well and truly into the crust-eating habit. 

Is it too much to hope that F will see his example and eat all her crusts from the start?

*Not an original idea. A friend of mine mentioned that her friend's daughter's kindy doesn't give the next sandwich until the first has been totally eaten, and they produce a class of crust eaters. 

Weighing In

At 6 weeks of age, F has now passed her brother's birth weight. 

It feels like a milestone. 

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