02-6-2011 - 5 months on...

My mood while writing this blog: happy and shattered!

Hello everyone!

So my lovely baby Sophie is now 5 months old - where on earth has the time gone? It's amazing, I still think of myself as having a newborn but I don't think I can get away with saying that anymore!

Here's a quick update on how we're all getting on:

Sophie is such a sweetheart! She is blossoming into a gorgeous little person with a lovely personality. She is happy, smily, giggly and interested in the world around here - especially her big sister Maddy! She could sit there all day and just watch her sister run, jump, sing and twirl around like a crazy thing with a big smile on her face. It is so sweet.

Sophie had a bit of a slow start with her weight gain in the beginning - breastfeeding just didn't take off this time around which was a shock to me because i breast fed maddy for 13 months. saying that, i was slow to get going with maddy too and had to express a lot in the beginning but once we took off that was it. however with sophie, i simply did not have the time or juggling capacity to express to boost my milk supply. Poor Sophie didn't gain weight and by 9 weeks old she was still the size of a newborn and was on the 1st percentile for weight. She was tiny, bless her. It was stressful for me but my that point I (with the agreement of my health visitor) decided it was time to supplement with formula and once I did that the bottles quickly took over and by 12 weeks I stopped breastfeeding. This was a very emotional thing for me - kind of felt like i had failed but once she started gaining weight that passed and now i feel that i did what i had to do given my circumstances. and that's ok. Sophie is now between the 50th and 75th percentiles for her weight so as you can imagine she is getting chubby! she is also tall and is following the same growth curve as her big sister (who at 2 is in 3-4 year clothes). I have been weaning Sophie onto solids for a couple of weeks and it is going well - not as eager as maddy but no complaints!

Maddy is 2 years and 4 months now. she is talking up a storm and is an absolute delight. she is such a beautiful little girl, inside and out. she has taken to being a big sister so well - i'm so proud of her. of course she has her tantrums like any 2 year old. she is stubborn and does not like it when she doesn't get her own way but that's her right as a 2 year old! generally she is a very good girl and she loves her sister - we haven't had any aggression towards sophie so far. Now that sophie is interacting more it is great seeing their budding relationship. maddy loves telling sophie things and showing her what she can do! She will show sophie her grazed knee, her empty dinner plate or tell sophie that she did poopoo in the potty. yes, potty training and weaning at the same time in our house - interesting!! Maddy is doing well in pants most of the time now but still isn't hugely keen on pooing in the potty. she much prefers to go away somewhere private and do it in her pants. not so nice for me!! we're getting there though so no complaints!

Sleep... well... hummmm... not much here unfortunately! I have been much stricter with myself this time around as maddy had really bad habits of feeding to sleep and didn't sleep throught the night till she was over a year old. At 12 weeks i worked on teaching sophie to self settle. this wasn't as hard as i thought and she got the hang of it very quickly. she can be put down in her crib awake, no pacifier, no feeding and will just go to sleep. however nighttime waking has continued even though she doesn't even want any milk when she does cry. now she is 5 months and dribbling everywhere and chewing on everything i am thinking she might be teething. i am exhausted and sure am hoping to get some sleep before she turns one... another 7 months of night waking doesn't sound very appealing! however, she can resettle and usually doesn't take long to get back to sleep. the hard thing is actually being woken up a few times a night - all you mums know what i mean! I am sleeping in the room we have given to sophie as it has a double bed in it. my husband is in our room but until sophie is mostly sleeping through it doesn't make sense me sleeping with him as he will get disturbed and has to go to work. he's also a terrible sleeper so it's not worth it. however i do think i would sleep better away from sophie and would probably be able to let her cry a bit longer to settle herself if she wasn't right next to me! we'll see... keep your fingers crossed!

I am well.. coping with being a mum of 2 pretty well i think. life has been stressful lately with my husband being under a lot of pressure and looking for a new job. it has taken it's toll on him immensly and on our relationship. it's hard when your partner is distracted and not able to give the attention and support he would like to. he is a great man, a loving man and a wonderful father. i know he does what he does because he loves his family and wants to provide the best life for us... but it's hard doing all the home stuff alone - oh well, i guess you can't have it all and i am certainly grateful for what i have and i remind myself that these early days go fast. i try to savour the moments and enjoy my time with my girls. one day they will be all grown up and out on their own doing their own things - maybe i'll sleep then!! lol!

thanks for checking in -

janine