Kenchester Water Gardens

Yesterday we went to Kenchester Water Gardens. It'd been a long time since I went and James had never been so we thought it would be a nice day out. 

Sophia's really interested in her surroundings lately so seemed to enjoy looking at the fish, fountains and flowers. 

We had a lovely day and will definitely be taking her again when she's older.

Dear Sophia: 4 Months Old

Dear Sophia,

You're now 4 months old. I have a 4 month old daughter and that's just crazy to me! You are full of life and happiness and we just can't believe how lucky we are to have you as our daughter. You surprise us and amaze us everyday with your feisty personality and your beauty takes our breath away.

You are becoming so active and lively now. You love to be down on your mat kicking and rolling. You prefer to be playing than cuddling nowadays. Some nights I look over old pictures from the newborn days and long to have you curled on my chest asleep, smelling that intoxicating smell of a newborn again. Some nights after your dream feed I sit in the dark cradling you, snatching a few minutes of peacefulness with you; my beautiful baby girl. 

This month you have been...

Eating 

Nothing much to report here. You are still gaining weight well and are generally a good feeder. You have days where you have lots of milk and other days when you're not so hungry - I just follow your lead. You're now 15lb9 and doing really well according to the health visitor. Today she wrote in your notes that you were 'a very sociable and contented little girl'. You lay on your mat smiling, laughing and cooing at her, making me so proud if you! 

Sleeping

You are still an excellent sleeper! Still sleeping through the night which is so lovely. You go to bed around 6:30pm after your bath and usually wake between 5am and 8am. If you wake before 6 I usually bring you into the bed and you have another hour or two. 

You usually have around three daytime naps, mostly two catnaps and one long nap. 

You are now enjoying sleeping in your cot and having more room to stretch out. I think it was a harder change for me as I'm used to having you in your basket right next to me but your cot goes at the end of your bed. You feel further away and I find myself waking a lot in the night to lay my hand on your tummy to feel it going up and down. 

Developing

You continue to learn new things all the time. You're as bright as a button and we couldn't be prouder of you! This month you can...

~ laugh. This is by far my favourite thing that has happened this month! I was playing with you one day and tickled your neck and you burst out laughing! It made my heart burst. You don't laugh everyday but it is getting more and more frequent.

~ roll over. You can now roll from your back to your tummy very well. You will stay on your tummy for about 5 minutes now too if you have a toy to play with.

~ do 'sit ups'. I call them your sit ups. You pull your head and legs off the ground, desperately trying to sit up! You're such a strong little girl!

~ grab things. You're hand-eye coordination continues to be very good. You take toys off us and can reach to grab the toy you want. You're favourite thing to grab at is my locket!

~ take an interest in books. We go to the library every week for storytime and to get three new books for us to read. You like to look at the pictures and touch the pages. You can now sit through one or two books. 

~ get excited. Whenever your daddy or I come into the room or we dangle toys above you, you're arms and legs start shaking and your eyes grow wide. It's so sweet!

With every day that goes by I love you more and more, I don't even know how that's possible but I do. Carry on growing sweet girl, we love to watch and teach you. 

I hope one day you'll read these letters and know how very loved you are. Just five months ago you weren't here, we'd never met you before. But now you make our world go around. We love you more than words could ever say!

Happy 4 month birthday beautiful girl!

Lots of love from Mummy and Daddy.xxx

Life lately...

I know I still have Sophia's 4 month update to do but this week has been so hectic organising her christening! I'll be back on track soon! In the meantime, some things we've been doing lately!

Your Daddy

Today your Daddy is celebrating his very first Father’s Day…and what a father he is!

You’ve now been in our world for 121 days and I can tell you that never has he faltered in being anything but an amazing Daddy;  not even for a second.

Out of everything I have ever done in my life, I know that choosing James to be your Daddy has been by far the best decision I’ve made. He is such a hands on Daddy and loves to get stuck in with everything you do, especially everyday tasks like bathing you and putting you to bed.

 

He took to fatherhood like a duck to water and seems so natural and laid back with it all. You and him are like two peas in a pod, both so chilled out and calm. Both with a special daddy, daughter bond.

Sometimes I catch glimpses of him holding you and you staring into each others eyes and I can see the absolute adoration he has for you. And you for him…

Your eyes light up when you see him and you squeal with delight when he picks you up.

I knew your Daddy for a long time before you blessed our life and I can say that he is the happiest he has ever been and his world is perfect just with you being in it.

Your Daddy is a wonderful man; dependable, kind, strong, funny, caring and so much more. I know he would do absolutely anything for you and for our family and that makes me so proud of him.

Happy Father’s Day James…you are the best Daddy in the world.

Life Lately...

I've not done proper post in a while as we've not done anything that interesting lately. Sophia and I just potter around during the week and then we have lovely family time at the weekends. 

I thought I'd use some of my Instagram pictures to show some things we've been doing.

 

Something special about seeing a wedding ring and a little hand clutching it.

Cousins meeting for the first time. A sweet little moment!

Playing on the mat is a hoot!

 Goodnight kisses and cuddles with mummy.

Morning smiles!

More playtime!

Choosing books at the library!

Maybe I'll start doing on of these posts weekly as I'm always posting pictures on Instagram that I never put on the blog :)

Goodbye Moses basket. Well, almost!

Sophia spent her first night in her cot last night as she's become too tall for her Moses basket now. She'd had little 'tasters' of it through the day and seemed excited by it.

When night came I did her usual bottle-bath-bed routine and settled her into the cot. She fell asleep quite quickly and I was pleased. However she kept waking every 10 minutes or so. I thought she might've been startling herself awake as she has so much extra room in the cot.

After lots of trips up and down the stairs and with an upset an tired baby I decided to put her back into her basket but put the basket in the cot. She settled right to sleep and slept until morning.

I'm planning to put her in her cot to get used to it while I tidy the bedroom and get her bath ready today and may even try a nap in it but I think the Moses basket might have to stay a little longer.

1 Year Ago

It was Saturday 2nd June 2012 and very early in the morning. Little did we know that this was the day that our lives would change forever…

I woke up and went to the bathroom, leaving James sleeping. I took a pregnancy test and left it on the side. I flushed the loo and washed my hands and turned back to check the test. I was expecting it to be negative, just as all of the others had been in the past. I saw just one line and my heart started to sink…another month gone.

I carried on pottering and looked back at the test. There was a tiny, faint second line! I squinted and held it up to the light. The line was hardly visible but it was there and that’s all that mattered to me!

I went back to bed, clutching the test and smiling to myself. James stirred and asked if I was ok, I said “I just took a pregnancy test.” He just said ok and went to go back to sleep, he was just as used to negatives as I was.

After a few seconds I asked him, “don’t you want to know what it says?” He made a noise meaning ‘go on then’ and I said to him, “I think I might be pregnant!”

We both poured over the test in bed talking about ‘what ifs’…we couldn’t believe it!

We had a long drive to Ludlow that morning and all I could think about was whether I really was pregnant. The line had just been so tiny and it could’ve been a mistake. I’d read about evaporation lines before and thought it could be that. I was trying not to get my hopes up but deep down I think I knew that I was pregnant.

We saw family that day and carried on as normal. Later that afternoon we decided to go to Tesco and get a digital test to give us an answer one way or another. The suspense was killing us!

I couldn’t wait to even get out of Tesco to take the test. Looking back there were, better, more romantic ways to find out but I just couldn’t wait. Standing in the toilet staring at the little timer on the test were the longest minutes of my life. But eventually the word ‘Pregnant’ flashed up.

I met James outside the toilets and nodded ‘yes’ to him. We walked back to the car hand in hand, beaming from ear to ear that the baby we had longed for was now growing inside me and would be with us in 9 months time.

What a difference a year makes!

This day last year I saw this…

{I said the second line was teeny!}

And now we have this beautiful little girl…