Week 11

Hi everyone, another week down! Grace has suddenly changed and grown-up…it’s so strange! You know when you see someone every day, you don’t notice their changes. Well, it is different with the little ones! They have their growth spurts, leaps, and development phase (whatever you want to call them) and they just change. Rob and I keep saying to each other "she’s a proper baby now"! She has the funniest facial expressions and she is suddenly so interested in things and focussing her eyes and attention. It’s amazing! And the most amazing part of it all, she looked at me in the eyes and SMILED this week. It was the best thing in the world….and now I’m trying to make her smile all the time, which apparently isn’t how it works. She smiles when she wants to and I LOVE IT! 

I also went for lunch with one of my best friends and I looked in the carrycot to see Grace awake and not crying. I said to Stef "something is wrong, she isn’t crying" to which Stef reassured me and said she also found it strange when her little one did this for the first time, but it was part of them growing up! Honestly, how can this make me think something is wrong….I’m telling you, the worries never end!!!! Anyway, eventually, Grace did get bored and started whining and then crying. But it has happened a few times now, where she just looks around and entertains herself for a few minutes, even in the car! It’s amazing to watch her develop and grow like this and it makes me excited for more things to come.

Now I’m into these leaps as I can see when she should be developing and what signals to look out for, and the last couple of days Grace has been very clingy, and crying more and suckling more (only on my boob 🙄….and she was on me for 4 hours the other night) so I think we are entering the second leap. She’s already showing signs such as turning her head to things she is interested in; focusing more on patterns like her black and white books and even a wall that had big patterns on it. So I’m not looking forward to her crying more and clinging more, but I am looking forward to new developments!!!

We went to a mum & baby brunch, ran by a local group in Cheltenham and although Grace wouldn’t be put down, it was really nice to get her interacting more with some sensory toys and also to have grown-up chats with other Mums. I went with my friend Robyn and her little boy who we attempted to get a cute photo with but classic, Grace was crying 🙈 (don’t worry I picked her up and she was fine, she just needed her Mummy (and her Mummy’s boob….mainly boob, could’ve been anyone's)).

I tell you what though, if I was sitting at home and Grace was crying and clinging to me like she was at this group or any other group, I’d overthink it, but when you’re out and about it doesn’t seem as worrying or concerning. I think it’s because you’re slightly more distracted and other babies are crying or whining and you know it’s normal and no one’s batting an eyelid, so you know you shouldn’t worry.  It’s like the fitness group I have joined, called Busy Lizzy, I have officially started it and there is usually a baby class and then a fitness class straight after and I had to hold Grace throughout the baby massage class and it wasn’t long until I had to pick her up in the fitness class. So I popped my carrier on and did the class with her in this and she fell asleep 😂💤. But other mums were picking their babies up, feeding them, walking around with them so I knew I didn’t have to worry….it’s actually quite liberating getting this reassurance and it gets me out of the house.

I really try and get out every day to a class or activity of some sort and I now really appreciate the ‘lazy’ days at home, like I would when I got that Friday feeling (….if that makes sense. I don’t get the Friday feeling anymore, so the no plan days are my Friday feeling).

My Mum came and stayed with us over the jubilee weekend and dog sat Friday to Saturday whilst Rob, Grace and I went to a wedding in London.

Rob was an usher. Grace did so well, firstly she basically slept the whole car journey to London and back (with a few moments of screams and tears) and she also slept through the ceremony - she was asleep in her carrycot for over 4 hours during the wedding!! Yep, you got it….me to Rob "do you think she’s okay? She’s slept a lot." I took her back to the hotel around 7 pm and she slept better than I thought, to be honest, considering it was her first night away from home. But it felt very strange being away from home, all rules went out the window! But she looked adorable in her Lullaloop clothes, which we got last week. They are SO NICE and I love picking out the outfits for Grace every day. We are officially in the nighttime/daytime clothes regime.

We got home on Saturday, after a lovely breakfast at Duck & Waffle with another one of my close friends, and Grace was very, very sleepy in the days and I think it was just this growth spurt, which I’m assuming she is in and it makes her more tired?! I hope so anyway….she’s feeding normally; has wet nappies and she doesn’t have a temperature or anything, so I can assume she is happy and healthy.

Speak next week,

Maddie x