Thirteen weeks

At thirteen weeks Eve is:

- On the move, after watching the older babies last week she rolled from her back to her side.

- So alert, she's always watching everything that's going on.

- Too big for the moses basket, she almost fills it and with night time kicking it was beginning to rock v. dangerously. So the basket is out and the travel cot is in. She'll sleep next to our bed in the travel cot until she's big enough for her own room.

- Wearing lots of new clothes, we're having fun putting on the new 3-6 month outfits we've been given for her as well as the hand me downs from cousin I and C's old clothes.

- Being a naughty sleeper at the moment! She keeps waking up once put into the cot and really only wants to sleep on me. Last night she wouldn't go back down after waking up at 3am, so we spent the rest of the night in a cycle of feeding, burping, sleeping on me, placed in the cot, crying, feeding etc. - grr.

A day in the life - Monday 3rd November 2014

An example of our routine with Charlie at four and a half and Eve at three months. I'm on maternity leave and Tom's office has moved to London Bridge.

4.30am - Eve wakes for a feed, this is good, she's slept for over six hours. I burp her and she falls asleep I put her back in the moses basket, not so good she won't settle. I burp her again, feed her again, burp her again and she's asleep in her basket at 5.20am.

5.45am - Charlie wakes up and comes into our room. I shush him so he doesn't wake Eve, give him a hug and take him back to his room with the Kindle. He's been wetting the bed recently but is dry today which is good. Charlie plays on the tablet and I go back to bed. Tom gets up at 6am and gets ready, then gets Charlie dressed at 6.45am.

7am - Eve is still asleep, so I get washed and dressed whilst Tom gets Charlie's breakfast. T then leaves for work and as the baby is still asleep I'm able to put the washing on, continue unpacking our bags from last week's holiday and polish Charlie's school shoes.  I also eat a banana and make a coffee.

7.50am - Baby still asleep so I wake her to give us enough time before the school run. I change and dress Eve then bring her downstairs for a feed. Charlie is playing Rayman on the PlayStation.

8.20am - We pack Charlie's reading bag with his reading book, contact book, completed homework sheets and toy dragon. We put on coats and shoes and I put Evie in the sling.

8.30am - We walk through the drizzle to school. On the way we see a missing cat poster and I chat to the mum who put it up and promise to look out for the cat, she got spooked by fireworks and not come home. At school we wait for the gate to be unlocked and I talk to another mum about the half term holiday. When Miss K unlocks the gate C rushes through and waits to say goodbye at the classroom door.

9.00 - Back at home I grab an orange juice and oat bar and feed E whilst watching the new David Attenborough wildlife documentary on iPlayer. We have 2 hours before we need to be at E's music class. Baby is grumpy before epically filling her nappy, so I change her then put her back in her cosy cow suit and into the sling. It's raining outside so I put my parka on around both of us and get out the brolly. We have a walk through the park and although soggy, it's nice.

11am - We arrive at the nice pub in the park for our Boppin' Babies music session. I meet my friend K with baby C and she introduces me to some of the other Mums. The session is brilliant, lots of songs, instruments and props including a parachute, bells, rubber frogs and scarves. Eve is the youngest there but likes taking it all in and is tired out by the end. We stay for a coffee and a chat, E falls fast asleep.

1.30pm - We walk home through pretty torrential rain, E is snug in the carrier under my umbrella. At home lunch is a mishmash of canapes and salad leftover from my brother in law's photography exhibition launch. I feed and change E whilst watching TV, then it's time to collect her brother.

3.15pm - Charlie bursts out of school brimming with excitement from the day. It was  little Miss R's birthday and she picked him to help her make cupcakes for the class. He also got his very first reading book with words in which he is v proud about. At home he eats his cupcake and has some juice. He has an hour and a half before tea to choose what he wants to do. Whilst I feed Eve he watches a little of The Busy Town Mysteries on Netflix and then plays Rayman.

5pm - C's tea is ham sandwiches, a babybel, cucumber and a couple of mini sausage rolls. After tea we go upstairs and C helps with E's bath. He selects a sleepsuit for her and washes her tummy with the sponge. I dry her in the cot whilst C plays with his 6 plastic Halloween rats in her bath water. We then tip the baby bath into the main bath and run more hot water and bubbles for C. He can undress himself but needs help getting in and out of the bath. Once in I leave him to play and rescue a screaming Evie, I take her through to watch her big brother and she calms down enough to go back in the cot with the mobile on. I wash Charlie's hair and he begs for 10 more minutes, we settle at 5 and I entertain E whilst sorting through her baby clothes, she's into 3-6 months now so the things she's grown out of need to be packed away. I help C get dried whilst holding a crying baby, then we all head downstairs. E has another feed and reads his books to me.

6.30pm - Daddy's home and he chats with C and gets a smile from the baby. It's bin day tomorrow so Tom sorts the recycling and cleans the cat's litter tray whilst I finish reading with C. At 7pm T takes C to bed where they clean teeth and read a story. I continue to feed E.

7.15pm - T takes E whilst I get my tea, she starts grumping so I have to eat fast then take her back for a feed. She feeds and snoozes on me until we go to bed at 9pm.

9pm - Bedtime, I'm exhausted, E's woken up as T took her upstairs whilst I got changed. I feed her in bed and get her fast asleep in her moses basket at 9.45pm. I fall asleep pretty much immediately ready to do it all again tomorrow.

Three months old

Some big changes this week, maybe it was the Wiltshire air from spending half term with Granny and Grandad.

Eve at twelve weeks:

- Has suddenly grown out of her 0-3 clothes. Vests, sleep suits and leggings are a no go, some dresses can now be worn as jumpers, dungarees and socks are still ok.

- Weighs 12lbs 10.5oz so still tracking a tiny bit above the 50th percentile.

- Is interacting with the world more. She turns her head to see who's speaking, is fascinated by the TV screen and will happily watch Charlie and the cat as they play or sit near her. She'll also grasp my hair and is just beginning to hold onto toys.

- Continues to be vocal, more coos are being added to her repertoire. We can have v long chats with her replying to me at the end of each sentence!

- Mostly sleeping well at night, usually 6 hours with a 10 min feed and back to sleep for a couple more, though if she wakes earlier she's likely to wake 2 or 3 times more and will stay awake for longer periods.

- Was worn out by our music lesson on Monday, stayed awake throughout and kept looking round at the other babies.

- Fed for the first time on a train when we went to Woking to see a friend and her 4 month old. It was fine, no one in the carriage really noticed.

- Still grumpy in the evenings the HV has recommended we start putting her to bed earlier, so we'll begin tonight.

Eleven weeks old

At eleven weeks Eve:

- Is on her first holiday, we're in Wiltshire with Granny and Grandad.

- Was an angel on the long car journey, sleeping for most of the time, even though it took SIX hours due to traffic jams.
- Continues to grasp and bat at things.
- Still feeds a lot of the time.
- Takes her longest naps in the sling or car seat or someone's lap, is now tricky to get to sleep in the moses basket during the day.
- Growing more aware, she'll hold eye contact for longer and will chat back (when she's in a happy mood).

- Loves looking at trees blowing in the wind or the clouds in the sky.

- Super loves her Daddy playing 'Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter' with her.

And here's Charlie at 233 weeks old!!!!

Ten weeks old

At ten weeks Eve:

- Weighs 12lbs, still just a little bit above the 50th percentile.
- Moving more, she can now roll onto her side from her back and pushes herself to the side of the Moses basket at night.
- Very chatty, she loves cooing at her mobile which broke yesterday so we need to get a replacement.
- Starting to hold onto small things, the muslin, my hair, the toggle on my hoodie.
- Still fully breastfeeding, roughly for 5 hours a day spread across 8 or 9 feeds. A short feed around 5am, a long feed around 7am, a short feed around 9.30am, a long feed around midday, a middling feed around 2.15pm, a long feed around 4pm, then on and off  short feeding and snoozing from 6pm onwards until a final middling feed before bedtime at 9pm. Occasionally a super short feed at 3am.
- Her naps are getting into a pattern too with a short one in the baby carrier when I take Charlie to school, a long one around 10am, a middling one around 1pm and another long one from 3pm which starts off in the carrier when we collect Charlie, she then snoozes on and off in the evening before 9pm bedtime, when usually she'll sleep at least until 3am and quite often through till 5am.
- Has a super sad looking pout, I've yet to photo this because when she does my immediate reaction is to comfort that sad sad face! Usually when there's a sudden loud noise or if she wakes suddenly.
- Is a member of the library, we signed her up last week.
- Had her first visit into central London to Mummy and Daddy's offices in Piccadilly and London Bridge.

Nine weeks old

Eve at nine weeks is:

- Continuing to put on 1lb each fortnight, on Wednesday 8th October she weighed 11lbs 2oz.
- Has slept through the night for the first time and will generally sleep for 6 - 8 hours.
- Very grumpy in the evenings. Wanting to feed and snooze on Mummy from 7pm onwards and shouts and cries if passed to Daddy or put in the moses basket.
- Smiley and vocal, will often chat back if you talk to her.
- Trying out some baby classes, we had Bouncing Bunnies on Monday, a music class for babies and toddlers using real instruments and we have a baby sensory taster today.
- Seeing baby friends, the four girls met at Helena's house for lunch on Monday.
- We had Christine and Sam visit yesterday, then went for dinner at Bluewater with Daddy.

A full night's sleep

Eve slept through for the first time last night. At eight and a half weeks old sleeping eight hours straight is amazing and a surprise boon for me! Yesterday she was really agitated, she had signs of teething, dribbling and chewing on her fists, so spent a lot of the evening feeding. She also missed out on her usual afternoon sleep, napping later and for less time than normal, so I think this helped! Fingers crossed she'll do it again tonight...

Two months old

Eve at eight weeks is:

- Growing so big, it's hard to believe my sweet newborn is already two months old!
- Chatty and smiley, the doctor commented on her social skills at the check up last week.
- Feeding a little less, we now have more time to play as she's not constantly hungry.
- Generally wakes to feed twice a night, but we had one night where she fed at 9.30pm then only woke up once at 2am, then slept until 6.30am.
- Lifting her head during tummy time for short periods.
- Still taking long naps throughout the day.
- Getting over her first cold, saline spray has been much in use so she can breathe whilst feeding.

Getting washed

I used to have a shower daily and I knew that would stop once the baby arrived but the number of showers I've had in the last 7 weeks can be counted on one hand. 

Our shower is downstairs and our bath (sadly without shower attachment) is upstairs next to the nursery. Tom leaves early for work most days so finding time to shower or bathe in the morning is a skill I've yet to master. Ideally I'm looking to wash my hair every other day.Things that stop me are:

- Baby waking up early, this is a game killer once up I have to feed her and then usually she refuses to go back to sleep on her own, either she sleeps on me, or will be wide awake.

- Wide awake baby should be fine, she'll settle on her play mat happily, but 2 mins into my bath she'll be howling.

- Or I'll put her in the cot with her mobile and soft toys, which is fine for 5 minutes but after that she's howling.

- The boy waking up early and waking up the baby.

- The boy waking up early and so I help him get ready in the time I'd normally get ready and baby waking just after he's ready and I'm not.

- Baby awake most of the night, so I opt to lie in rather than shower.

I am so looking forward to Eve getting a little bigger so we can get a routine in place!