Poops and Giggles
Emily’s Fourth Month At Life
I’ve spent 4 months with this little munchkin! 4 months learning how to be a mummy and 4 months watching a little miracle grow. It has been the most amazing experience of my life and the most difficult all at the same time! I so wish I had started blogging about it sooner, so I can look back and remember how each day felt getting to know this amazing little girl.
For the last two weeks or so I have just been marveling at the massive changes going on in Emily’s life this month. I always imagined growing from tiny baby to active baby to be a slow process that perhaps you hardly notice, but this month it seems she is doing something new every day! In just one month she has gone from a peaceful ‘newborn’ baby to this bubbly, active, cheeky little munchkin that just astonishes me every day.
We have been doing a lot of packing away this month. Not only are we saying goodbye to all the 0–3 month clothes, but also the Moses basket, the baby bath and in the next couple of weeks I am sure the carry cot will be long gone! Our baby girl is growing up…
When I wrote about packing away Emily’s newborn clothes, I was so full of emotion. As I remembered the anticipation, the longing, the wondering and imagining before she was born, I almost felt sadness at how fast she had grown. I thought maybe it would be the same packing away her 0–3 month clothes, but surprisingly that brought on a whole new set of emotions! There was not a tear in sight, but rather smiles of joy as I remembered all the little adventures we went on in those clothes, and looking forward to all the adventures we would have in her new clothes! There was definitely a lot of “can’t believe she has grown so much!” and “She’s not a tiny baby anymore!” but instead of sadness, I think we were back to anticipation. What was in store for her in the months ahead? Now we are excited to see her roll over for the first time, to hear her laugh and utter her first ‘words’. I can already imagine her sitting up playing with her toys and trying to crawl across the room to climb up my leg, reaching her arms out for me to pick her up and give her a big fat cuddle!
The Emotional Baby
In her tiny little face, I already see a vast array of emotions. I can see her beginning to understand our little world, and her determination to be involved in it. I can see she wants to play games, she wants to chat and she wants to experience and investigate everything around her. She loves to look deeply into our eyes, and it really does seem like she just knows what we are feeling at that moment. Sometimes I wonder, when I tell her ‘I love you’, does she understand? And then I wonder when she will finally be able to say it back to me!
We have seen Emily’s little personality and character blossom over this month. She is so active and chatty :) She’s found her giggle and quite enjoys eating anything she can get her hands (or rather mouth) on! At first it was quite difficult to get Emily to laugh, but as the weeks went on she was more willing to share it with us when we made silly sounds, did silly dances or gave her tickles. The sound is so beautiful and so worth the wait — I would do absolutely anything to make her laugh!
The Wiggly Jiggly Baby
We have also found she has become quite a bit more mobile! Although she is nowhere close to crawling, she has found a way to wriggle herself quite a distance to reach her toys. One night we watched as she seemed to move herself round and round in circles making sure she has played with every bit of her play gym! She has also managed to roll herself over from her front a few times. The first two times, I managed to miss it even when sat right next to her! Believe me, it happens quickly, so don’t ever leave your baby unattended just incase they decide it’s time to give rolling over a go!!
She’s not quite made it from her back to her front yet, but maaan is she close! Just teetering on the edge of that final whoosh round to the other side. I bed she will be so excited when she finally figures it out ;)
She has always had very strong legs and was able to push against any surface and achieve a standing position whilst holding her from only a few weeks old. But these days she is quite happy having a little stand up just holding her arms for support. She also seems to be much more interested in sitting up these days. I regularly play with her sitting on my lap, or sitting opposite me holding hands (row row row the boat gently down the stream…) We even managed around 10 seconds of sitting all on her own! I am sure she will be up and about in no time!!
The Needy Teethy Baby
All these new developments can make her feel a little grumpy at times. There are days when I just want to pull my hair out. Days when I won’t be able to put her down by herself at all because she just wants to be held. Days when she will want to feed every 2 hours. And then there’s all the vaccinations which can add on to the grumpiness! Then there’s days when she will just sleep all day, wake up to feed and go back to sleep.
I am sure she has started teething this month also, as she is all dribble dribble dribble! Also everything is just in.her.mouth!
In fact she can get very frustrated if she can’t fit something in her mouth or is having trouble bringing something to her mouth (not quite perfected the art of handling things yet). Sometimes all we can do is give her a dummy to sooth her or let her chew on our hands or even go as far as to just hold a teething toy in her mouth for her to chew on.
Most of the time though her hands are in her mouth. Chewing, sucking or just playing! She is quite fond of the index finger rather than her thumb, sometimes going for the double whammy and looking like she may whistle at us at any second.
I still don’t think we are going to see teeth anytime soon though! We’ve had a look in her mouth and can’t see any evidence of teeth coming through. Although I am no expert :P
The Water Baby
Emily has always loved bath time! She seemed to relax in the warm water and feels quite at home. She has never cried in the bath, but we have in fact been able to stop her crying by putting her in the bath! So basically, she loves water.
This month we have let her experience even more of the wonders of water by ditching the baby bath and putting her in the big bath! And yes, she loves it :) I am sure she prefers the freedom of spreading her arms and legs out and letting them kick and splash! She’s even tried a little roll over to get that water in her mouth! Like I said, everything must be in.the.mouth.
If you thought the big bath was a big step, wait until you see her in the swimming pool! She’s had two swimming lessons now, and we absolutely love it (well I do — she still just enjoys sucking her hands at every possible moment). It’s so fun to bob about together, feeling weightless in the water. She’s pretty chilled out in the pool, but I am hoping she will get some splashes and squeals in there soon. Perhaps when she is over the trauma of being dunked underwater…at least there were no tears!
The Tag Along Baby
I am still breastfeeding Emily, so she has no choice but to stick around with me in everything I do! And I really like that. If I am invited anywhere, I usually have to ask — “Can Emily come too?” Which is never a problem, as everyone loves this little girl! But to be quite honest, I don’t really get out that much (you know, further than a walk to the shops/library/doctors or a bus trip to town for a coffee)!
Although I am still ‘technically’ on maternity leave, I have been slowly getting back to work. It can be hard to find the boundaries when running your own business! It has been interesting trying to find the balance in the day between working and playing.
Some days, I will strictly only work while she is napping which can be a bit frustrating if she is not in the mood for long naps! But I try to remember that I am always mummy first :) And this is not by necessity but by choice. I love being a mummy and I would happily give up everything just to be a mummy — but who says I need to ;)
Other days, days when napping isn’t an option! Emily will tag along with me and watch me work :) If she is in a good mood that is! If not, we’ll probably have to ditch the work and sing nursery rhymes or play with squeaky toys.
Most days, we will have a little workout together. In an effort to loose my ‘mum tum’ I have tried to incorporate some exercise in our days! We really enjoy this 10 min workout that we do together, as many times as we want to during the day! Sometimes a great motivation to do this is simply because Emily is restless and needs to do something interesting!
As it happens, no two days are the same! Sometimes I can feel like Superwoman and manage to work, be a mummy, be a wife and keep the dishes clean and laundry washed and dry. Other days, I call it all off and just snuggle, nap, play baby games and enjoy some quality time with Emily.
The Poopy Baby
And finally, this had to be added to make the blog title make sense! Emily sure can poop…
Seriously, nappy blowouts — disaster! But what can we do…;)
