It's the Little Things

I've been rubbish at blogging lately, but here, in the New Year, I've finally got round to it! I've been rubbish for a few reasons:

1. Baby doesn't really do much in the way of day time napping any more which means when I do get a bit of free time, I actually have to face the chores! (Yes, husband- face them- not necessarily do them...!?)

I've been totally distracted and wrapped up in the festive season...and I've loved it!

Maternity leave over the Christmas period has been glorious. I have no shame in admitting I've spent much of December going for social cuppas; slobbing around the house; and snuggling up with baby watching Christmas movies! It's been great! And I'm a total sucker for crappy 2000s all-American festive movies. We saw one about an elf-nanny; one about Santa giving out boyfriends for Christmas; and one about a Mum caught kissing Mr Claus. It's the first time in life I've had time in the day devoted to films all about short-bearded Santas who later reveal themselves; sickly sweet male protagonists who always have side partings; and non-believer teenagers stropping around in baseball shirts.

Baby had a brilliant first Christmas, too. My husband and I were so excited we actually woke her up on Christmas morning: she greeted us with a stern look as if to say, 'What?!' As soon as baby saw how chuffed we were to give her a pillowcase full of pressies, she got involved! Stuffing the wrapping paper in her mouth seemed to be her favourite thing about the day, alongside the lovely toys and gifts received.

She definitely doesn't seem so much a baby baby now though: she weighs approximately a seventh of my own body weight at present. Combine that figure with my limp little arms it wont be long until people think I'm carrying around my friend! That and I'm going to end up with hulk arms on a 5ft frame (maybe they could make a Channel 4 documentary about it? Seriously- how do women carry 3 year olds?!)

Baby is now 20 weeks old (edging towards 5 months?) and yet again she's upped her already strong appetite. We've started giving her some flavours to try, edging towards some solid food. She's had puréed carrot and puréed peas. When I say she 'had' these things, she probably only consumed about a teaspoonful; the rest ended up elsewhere. She had a very interesting technique for eating. She kept bringing her bib up to her mouth and licking the bib where she'd dropped bits, like her own version of a giant yoghurt pot lid. Hmmm. Not sure that one's in the books.

I've read that babies can start to copy the way you eat and I don't recall the last time we ate in that manner, although my husband is the only person I know who insists on eating a fry up with his fingers, so potentially there's the culprit?!

New Year's Eve was nice and sensible for us this year: dinner and games with family so that baby could head to bed. We've played a crazy amount of Scrabble lately- it never gets old. And what else can you do when the weather drops rivers from the sky?!

My husband and I like a good game and we've started playing them in the evenings to keep my mind occupied when baby cluster feeds. It's funny how having a child does add to your relationship in funny little ways. We now always seem to speak using the third person:

“Mummy wonders whether Daddy would like to do a nappy change.”

“Daddy wonders if Mummy needs to feed Baby.”

“Mummy thinks Daddy has watched an awful lot of cricket today.”

“Daddy thinks Mummy is unsure of where her wardrobe is.”

Sometimes it gets confusing as to who's talking to who, now having three in the household.

“Are you hungry?” I will voice out loud to our little one.

At which point my husband- not realising I'm asking the baby- will reply, “Yes can I have a packet of crisps please?”

And we spend less time cuddling each other as a vast majority of time is of course spent cuddling baby. A few weeks ago we were sat on the sofa, looking at baby play on the floor. My husband suddenly put his arm around me:

“Awh! You're putting your arm around me!” I exclaimed. To which he replied:

“Oh, sorry- no- I was just reaching for the remote down beside you!”

The romance!

Seriously though, having a mini person around brings a lot of laughter. Together we find ourselves giggling at the most minor of things.

One day baby sneezed then burst into tears at herself- hilarious!

She does huge belches after most feeds- as if she's an old fella who's chugged 6 pints in the pub- hilarious!

She blows raspberries- just because she's figured out she can- and her comical timing is impeccable. We tell her we need to clean under those armpits and the response we receive is a bubble fountain from her mouth. Combined with the dribbling, we're getting through bibs every couple of hours. She's like our own indoor water feature.

If it was somebody else doing these things I'd never be that amused. Particularly as a teacher, I'd be inclined to tell them off. I'd put on my old-before-my-time-teacher-voice:

“I do beg your pardon!”

“Excuse you!”

“Would you behave like that in your own home?!” (Classic teacher line!)

But because it's our baby it becomes funny.

And so I will sign off this blog post there: as you can see we've had a low key couple of months. No doubt more madness will pop up soon (although we have stopped cutting the vests off of baby when she does explosive poops- as recorded in previous posts- so...you know...we're learning and getting to grips...)

Anyway, thank you for reading my blog thus far and thanks for your responses- it's good to know we're not the only ones who can see the funny side of simple things. And on that note I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year: a year I hope will continue the giggles- for you and for us!