Three months

At three months Alexa has discovered, with much fascination, her hands. She can now focus at much closer range and for what seems like the first time has seen two interesting appendages that are connected to her. She spends ages lying on her back staring at her hands, waving them in front of her face and clasping and unclasping them. She has yet to develop hand-eye coordination and has not grasped the idea that she can use her hands to reach out and touch things, but she is starting to get there.
During this time her language has pretty much vacated and we only occasionally hear a ‘huh’. She does however communicate very animatedly with her mouth and tongue. These seem to work overtime as she stares at us and responds to our discussions by moving her mouth round.
She is certainly more aware now and as a result is much more resistant at being left awake in her cot. For the last few weeks I have been putting her down awake and letting her put herself to sleep. This was working remarkably well until recently. Now we get grizzles that escalate to a frustrated squeal and then an outright anger as she lets us know in no uncertain terms that she REALLY wants us. When she works herself up too much we go in and soothe her, but always putting her back awake.
I had some good news recently as my brother Dougal sms’d with news of his arrival on 6 June. We are all very keen to see him – his first visit to UK & of course first time to put those Uncle skills into use. I am looking forward to having someone else during the day to spend time with – and perhaps we can do a few touristy things together.

A new crib

Here is a photo of Alexa's 'bedroom'. It is in a little alcove at the foot of our bed. If you look closely you can see a buzzy bee mobile above her crib which she loves looking at first thing in the morning - thanks Jamie & Katria. You can also see lots of toys in the shelf above her crib, including a large pig which is a money box for her savings.

A handyman at work

This Sunday David spent the day painting our back windows that look out to the garden. These had been requiring attention for some time and we had 2 Kiwi guys around Fri and Sat to prepare them. So despite the slightly damp conditions David had all windows down and primed them all. Alexa was quite happy to help – see photo. In fact she was very good and sat in her bouncy chair and gurgled at us as David and I spent the evening with the difficult task of replacing the windows that were still slightly damp & sticky.

Dad feeds Alexa

It seems that Alexa is not a fussy eater. We have recently tried her bottle feeding – first on expressed milk and then on formula. The first time she tried a bottle she seemed happy at first, then after a few minutes started grizzling. Oh no I thought she’s not going to take a bottle – but lo and behold I had neglected to remove the cap so she was not getting any milk! No wonder she was getting frustrated. After removing the cap she was very happy drinking from the bottle. On Wednesday this week we went a step further with trying formula and Dad feeding her. Again she hardly noticed the difference and gulped this down without any fuss.
So Friday I had my first night out leaving David to put Alexa to sleep and with the bottle sterilised ready for formula. I had a work dinner and dance to celebrate the completion of the project I had been working on before leaving on maternity leave. It was fabulous to catch up with work colleagues and to have a dance. Meanwhile, back at home Alexa went to sleep without too much fuss, then instead of waking for her later feed, slept on until half an hour after I got home so David didn’t need to formula feed after all.

10 Weeks

It’s week 10 and as Anne Shearer said in her card, each day I see something new from Alexa, a different look, murmur or movement. At the moment she is taking great pleasure in lifting her legs up in the air. Something I am encouraging as it helps with nappy changing. I can see that it will not take much, an over balance, and she would have moved off the play mat/changing table; so I am taking more care with her. I know that at some point she will have a fall, but I’d like to think it was not from the dining table onto the carpeted concrete floor.
She is taking more interest in her toys now. She loves Jo’s picture book – being more interested in the animals than the patterns; she also loves her two giraffes Rufus and Angelina. Rufus is red & purple with blue spots and squeaks when you squeeze him. Angelina is Alexa’s Great Granny’s gift – an effeminate pink and white giraffe. She picture for evidence.

Last weekend we hired a car and headed into the English countryside to stay with the Edwards; Ryan, Sam, Lily (4, almost 5) & Sonny (19 months) at Cranbrook. There we had two lovely lazy days of late mornings, walks thru the village, and visiting friends. The highlight was a walk through the forest at Sissinghurst. See picture. Alexa was a bit unsettled by the change and the travel, but seemed to cope surprisingly well. A good sign for a holiday later this year, not to mention the camping trip in August.

This week we had a glimpse of summer with temps of 24 degrees and two days of hot sun. I chose both days to head into the city via tube (not the smartest of moves) and as a result discovered that like mum & dad, Alexa overheats quickly. Not only that, but that the black mountain buggy becomes a sauna when hit by direct sunlight. Both days we were travelling during the middle of the day, returning with a very disgruntled infant, to quickly unlock back door and head out into the garden to sprawl underneath the shade of our apple tree. The garden is wonderful and will get much use over summer. It is a great place to lay Alexa and I can easily nip back and forth to the house to get items I have forgotten. She loved the new views and giggled contentedly as she lay gazing up at the apple tree (it could have been the passing plane she was giggling at, but I somehow doubt her vision is that good just yet).

Lisa & Tim have been kind enough to lend us their crib as Ben has grown too big for it. It is wider and taller than the pram basinet, but much smaller than the cot, and it fits into an alcove in our room perfectly. So after a Sunday of some furniture shuffling we have a new set up for Alexa. She sleeps in the crib at the end of our bed, underneath the shelf with all her toys. We have bought a picture (actually a sheet of wrapping paper) with lots of colourful elephants for her to look at, as well as hanging up the buzzy bee mobile. After two nights so far she has settled in nicely. Thanks Lisa & Tim!

Myths

Myth 1: A newborn will sleep when she needs to. No No No. We learnt from very early on that Alexa will not sleep when there is something new to look at – new people or new places. She is too inquisitive and would rather be up looking around and would fight sleep. However as she gets bigger she is becoming better at sleeping. The early weeks she survived on 8 – 10 hours every 24 (the average is around 14); but as each week progresses she seems to be improving and now gets about 12 hours in 24, with most of this being overnight.

Myth 2: You can’t overfeed a baby who is being breastfed. Yes you can! Alexa seems to have no mechanism telling her to stop drinking, either that or hollow legs, arms & body! If I let her she will continue feeding for 45 – 60 mins! I now control that insatiable appetite by taking her off and she is happy with this, but if left to her own devices would be happy to drink, drink, and drink. David and I are currently speculating whose appetite she has inherited (perhaps a combination of both?)