The One About Alissia at 6 Months . . .

I can't believe that Alissia is 6 months old now, where has the time gone?  She's come along in leaps and bounds in the last couple of weeks (apart from the gastro bug that has now completely cleared thank goodness).

We've started weaning Alissia and rather than pureeing everything, we're going down the baby led route, where we just start her on solids and she feeds herself.  We had to stop while she got over her tummy bug, so we're going to start her on lunch and dinner this week if we can, and if I can fit it in round all our outings, the milk feeds and nap times!

Alissia's first taste of toast

 Alissia is so much more stable when she's on her tummy, and she's very rarely sick either now.  She sometimes rolls over too, from her tummy onto her back, and she always giggles after rolling.

I like being on my tummy!

 Alissia is also more stable when she sits up, she can't sit by herself yet, but can with the aid of cushions or someones legs!

I'm reading about nursery rhymes!

 In the last week I've started taking Alissia on the swings.  Our children's centre has a park attached to it and one of the swings is designed especially for babies, and looks a bit like a car seat, so she went in that for the first time the other day and really loved it.  Then last weekend she came on the swing with me.

Go faster Mummy!

The One About my First Alissia Layouts . . .

Not so long ago, when Mark was out at the rugby and Little Miss was asleep in bed I managed to do two layouts for Alissia's album.  These two are of those first few days with her.  I've got a lot of catching up to do, she's now five and a half months!  Where has the time gone???

Mark is doing overtime this week, and won't be getting in till late, so I might get round to doing some more :)

The One About Arley Hall Garden Festival . . .

The garden festival is held every year on roughly the same weekend.  We've been nearly every year since Mum moved to Wincham.  We missed last year because I was suffering badly from morning sickness, so I really wanted to go this year.  Mum & I have been watching the weather forecasts all week to see what it would be like today, and made one final check this morning, where it said that it would be dry today.

I don't know if you've ever been to a garden festival or flower show, but the majority of it is just on grass.  So when we got out the car we asked one of the car park attendants whether we would be able to push the pram round the festival.  He said it would be fine, but a little muddy.  A little muddy was an understatement!  We got through the paying bit, got a couple of feet in and turned round and went back to the car to swap the pram for the baby carrier!

Anyway once that was sorted we had a lovely walk round the gardens, the show tents and the plants that were for sale.  And it was a good job we didn't have the pram because we'd never have got it down the narrow paths or up and down all the steps, which were really quite steep!  I held onto Mum going up and down them because I didn't want to slip with Alissia on me!  She quite liked being in the carrier, and she was that comfy in it she fell asleep!  We didn't take a photo though in case the camera noise woke her up.  We needn't have worried because whilst she was asleep a loud speaker announcement was made, and she twitched a little and that was it!  My little girl seems to be able to sleep through anything!  It was a lovely day out, and especially nice because it was something different, not just going round the shops!

The One About Thursday (And Last Night's Scrapping!) . . .

So I'll start with the scrapping from last night, I actually finished my Christmas Journal!  I still can't quite believe it because it's been on the go for so long.  But I've got so many unfinished projects that I was determined to finish this before starting any Alissia LO's.  So I've done Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, and the front cover.  Not all last night - over the last week, but finally completed it all last night!  Hurray!

Front Cover

Christmas Day

Boxing Day

New Year's Eve

Extra photos under the flap

So back to today ... this morning I went to my pilates class at Tyldesley Community college.  It's the one hour a week I get some time to myself, the rest of the week I'm Mummy!  It's certainly helped to tone up my muscles, and my abs, but I've not lost any weight (but that might be due to the cake that we eat!).  Alissia is looked after by her Grandad whilst I'm out, and she loves it, he always does lots of different things with her, playing with different toys, and doing flash cards and things!

Watching the fans on the ceiling before her sleep

After the class, we went for lunch with Grandad to Frankie & Bennies, which was very yummy, but I have since realised that I need to order meals that can be eaten one handed now, and spag bol is just not one of those meals!  Alissia was shattered and needed a sleep but wouldn't go off unless I kept rocking the pram, hence one handed eating!

We'd come out to a retail park, with the intention of looking at travel cots for our holiday to the Lake District at the end of July.  After quick visits to Asda and M&S, we ended up in the toy shop Smyths, because they have a baby section upstairs.  Well I couldn't make my mind up about the travel cots, but we picked a large playmat, and then I looked at the high chairs (because that's what I've been doing for the last month), and one of them was half price and was exactly what we needed.  Whilst looking at the highchairs Alissia decided to scream for a feed, and I mean proper scream, so what did I do?  I asked for a chair and fed her right in the toy shop!  We were in there for an hour!  But we did get the highchair, and it was a good job too because it was the last one in stock.

Our new highchair - not that we'll be using it till the start of August once Alissia is 6months old.  We've decided to go down the Baby Led Weaning route - I'm already looking forward to the mess!

Back home, and Alissia seemed to like her new mat, now I just need to encourage her to start rolling!  Tonight dinner was cooked for me, which was nice, bangers & mash!  And now it's time to work on the invites for Alissia's Naming Ceremony, and chilling in front of the TV.

The One About Alissia at 16 weeks . . .

I thought it might be an idea to update on here because I still haven't managed to find the time to do any scrapping of Alissia photos, and I don't want to forget anything before I do get round to it!

So at 16 weeks:

Alissia went in her special baby carrier with her Daddy round the Trafford Centre, and particularly liked looking up at all the light fittings in the different home stores

Alissia is now sleeping in her cot at night in her own room, and generally is sleeping through until 6am

Alissia has grown out of the carry cot and is now going out in her big girl pram, and loves it, particularly resting her feet on the bar across her lap (which is the sort of thing her Daddy would do!)

We tried her in the Jumperoo!  She's still not sure about it, and doesn't tend to stay in longer than 10 minutes, but she's slowly learning to bounce!

Alissia is really good with her head control, and will go on her tummy more, especially if she is high up, like on our bed, just not on her playmat!

She's holding toys that we give her, and anything that she can grab is going into her mouth!  Bib included!

Oh and she's started with the teething, and so she drools all the time!  So now she just lives in her bibs!

And in other news a big thank you to Jane for my award, and I will be back another time to talk about that!

The One About Alissia's Firsts . . .

This week Alissia has done a lot of firsts:

Had a nap in her big girl cot

Lifted her head up properly while on her tummy

Sat on my knee for more than two minutes.  Up until now Alissia has preferred to go on her playmat than sit with me (although she has always liked sitting with Daddy), but now that she is holding her head up more Alissia has realised that she can see more from my lap on the sofa than on her back on the floor!

We have had our first conversation!  She has started to do proper coo's and if I repeat what she says she keeps going!  Alissia was meant to be having her milk on Thursday evening but when she'd had enough she decided to talk to me instead, and we were still talking when M got home so he got to hear too!

The One About Storytime . . .

When I was little my Mum used to read to us every night before we went to bed.  When we grew up Mum saved the books and put them away in the attic, where they've until about a month ago, when we got them all down.  In the last couple of weeks I've started reading stories to Alissia every day.  At the moment we're working through the Mr Men and Little Miss series.  They're just the right length of story at the moment, as she listens and doesn't get too bored.

Reading Mr Tickle!

The One About the Changes in Alissia . . .

We were looking at photos of Alissia last night from the week we brought her home, and we can't believe how much she has changed in just 10 weeks!

Alissia at a couple of days old

Alissia at 6 weeks

Alissia at 8 weeks holding her rattle

Alissia at 9weeks and smiling!

The One About Ten Alissia Facts . . .

So it's the tenth of the month and I thought I'd share ten facts about Alissia now that she is just over a month old:

1) she has started to smile

2) she likes to fall asleep whilst being cuddled on mine or M's chest

3) she squeaks whilst she drinks her milk

4) she would rather look at the images on TV than focus on the toys in front of her when we play on the floor mat

5) when on her tummy on the mat she can move her head from one side to the other and back again

6) again on her mat, if you hold your hand in front of her feet she can push really hard, and push herself higher up the mat - she's going to be crawling early I think!  Those little legs are very strong!

7) she makes little grunting noises in her sleep, which is cute in the day, but can be loud enough to wake you in the night!

8) she is still only sleeping for 3 hour stretches at a time, although last Thursday we got 5 hours through the night and were really impressed

9) she falls to sleep if you take her in the car or walk her in the pram

10) she will wee everywhere just after you've finished changing her, but just before you put the clean nappy on, resulting in a whole new set of clothes being put on. (Oh and we've had several instances of projectile pooing but I won't say any more than that!)

The One About Alissia's First Meetings with People . . .

This month I've decided that my 10 on the tenth (organised by the fabulous Shimelle) is going to be related to Alissia, and the first 10 people that she has met.

First up are myself and Mark...

Then came my mum, or as she will be known - Nanny Ann...

Auntie C and Uncle T...

Her Grandma...

Her Grandaddy...

Her Auntie C and Uncle P... sadly no photos yet, but I'm sure this will be rectified soon

And finally my friends Cath and Allison

Ooops so there might be 11 people there but I couldn't really miss any of them off now could I?!!!

The One About Sleeping Like Daddy. . .

When Alissia sleeps she does a lot of wriggling, particularly with her hands, and makes all sorts of gestures with them, including playing the violin, and the flute and being a Ninja!  The other day she put her arm around her in the exact way that her Daddy does, and I had to be quick to catch her photo before she moved!

Well in the night M was in the same position whilst I was feeding Alissia, and I took his photo without him knowing!  Just look how similar they are...

The One About Our New Little Daughter . . .

So after many months of waiting, I would like to introduce our new daughter Alissia Rose.  She was born at 11:40pm Monday 30th January and weighed in at 6lb 8oz.

For anyone not interested, I'm about to describe her journey into this world.  I completely understand people not anting to read this bit, but I want to keep a record for me while it is still fresh ish in my mind.  Please feel completely free to look over the photos only, I won't mind at all!

Her arrival was not quite as how we had imagined as we went in on Saturday night as I was worried about not feeling as much movement as usual, and was kept in over night with high blood pressure instead, as baby was actually fine.  I was put in a ward with four other ladies, three that were expecting and one that had already delivered her little one.  Well 7:20 am on the Sunday morning after not much sleep as I was up and down to the loo like normal, the bed was uncomfortable and the newborn was crying, my waters went!  I think this is due to hearing the baby crying through the night!  I know it's an old wives tale but I don't think my waters would have gone if I'd been at home.  What they don't tell you about your waters is that they don't gush like you see on the movies, they trickle out, and continue to do so!

So then we went from being kept in with high blood pressure, to being kept in as my waters had gone.  So Sunday was spent waiting, and waiting some more.  If nothing had started by Monday morningI was told they would induce me, as there is only so long you can go with no waters before there is a risk of infection.   Then at quarter to midnight on the Sunday I got really bad backache, I asked for some painkillers and was given co-codamol, and thought nothing of it but just tried to get some sleep.  The backache was really quite bad and so I didn't get much sleep and was up and down to the loo a lot which seemed to help, think it must have been the moving about that did it!

Anyway next morning I asked for some more pain relief and was told I couldn't have any!  Just before 10am I was seen by a consultant who told me I was actually 5cm dilated, and I'd got there all by myself through the night, without actually realising I was having labour pains!  So about 45mins later after M arrived we were taken round to the delivery room.  First thing I asked was if I'm in labour please could I now have some proper pain relief?  Luckily I was provided with gas and air and it helped immensely.  It also made me feel quite drunk and I had some very strange conversations with M and the midwife!  I seemed to nod off in between the pains and I think part of the conversations were part carried on from dreams!  At 4pm I was only 6-7am dilated so we had to keep going.  Anyway by quarter past 6 that evening I'd had enough as the pain was so much more intense, and so I asked for an epidural.  As soon as it went in I felt so much calmer, and quite hungry too!  (Especially as I'd not eaten anything all day).  At 7pm another check showed that I was fully dilated, but as baby was still quite high inside me, it was decided we would wait some more to see of she would drop naturally.  At roughly 9pm I started to push.  We had some really mellow music on in the background and the lights were quite dim and because of the epidural I was feeling quite relaxed.  Despite my best efforts at pushing baby was not dropping and the decision was taken to have an emergency c-section.

Up till that point, through the day I had felt quite calm and relaxed (well as calm as you can be with all that pain).  But this was when I got quite scared, and imagined all sorts of things, like being able to feel what was going on while they were delivering her.  And needing an emergency hysterectomy or anything being wrong with Baby.  But Mark was there with me reassuring me, and he saw her being born and was telling me that evertyhing was ok.  I haven't mentioned much about M in this post, but he was calm and so patient and supportive right from the minute I went into hospital, and I couldn't have done any of it without him.  Baby didn't cry straight away when she came out which frightened me, but as soon as she did I felt so reassured.

M went through to the recovery room with Alissia while they finished sorting me out.  Then came the best bit, having those first cuddles with Alissia.  We were in the recovery room for nearly two hours but the time went really quickly.

We got home very late last night, and so I've got three more days worth of news to share, but that can wait!  We've got lots of visitors coming in shifts this afternoon to meet our little lady!