A few more firsts

This is Jemima meeting a potty for the first time, we decided to let her play with it and have it around so that when potty training starts it will be an entirely familiar item - and hopefully easier to train with !
Jemima enjoyed meeting her first duck, she also met chickens and a puppy that day but I don't think she was convinced the puppy was real and was far more interested in the birds, another of her favourite words!
This is Jemima saying "ball", one of her collection of words that she freely uses. I did prompt her this time but mostly she'll point at a ball and say it of her own accord, the same with "shoes", "cat" and all her other favourite things !

This is Jemima deciding that her piece of apple simply wasn't enough and the whole of Mummy's looked rather better !

Walking !!

We're spending a lot of time at my parents' house right now and I can't upload pictures whilst here but I just have to post quickly about the amazing progress Jemima is making towards walking. She is adding more and more steps on to her toddles and seems to do better when distracted or at least not the center of attention. We can get her to walk quite well when we ask her to but she likes to set off independently and has reached one side of the sitting from the far end so all power to her !

Jemima also has her first few words for sure, not just repeating sounds but knowing what they relate to and saying them with no prompting at all. These include "shoes", "bird" and "ball" but the cutest has got to be "shoes" whispered with a little lisp !! She also says the Greek word for grandpa which is Papou....or rather, she's freely calling my dad Pooh and totally getting away with it - too cute !

We took her to the beach today and she loved looking at the sea, the seagull nursery and all the people. I'll upload photos as soon as I can.

Looking older !

I've thought about the possibility that adults might treat Jemima as if she's older and have expectations of her that aren't age appropriate because she's tall. Well, it's already happening. At the shoe shop, the assistant asked whether she was walking confidently and I replied that she was not, she's only taking steps between furniture and around things. I asked if her shoe size was normal for her age (as I think she's on the large side !) and the woman said that she was very average. I exclaimed, "Very average, are you sure ?!" and told her that Jemima is only just 11 months at which ponit the woman realised.... and said "ah yes, she is very tall for her age !"...........

Today a lady in the supermarket queue told me, after receiving several very toothy grins from Jemima, that her 10 month old was teething heavily and already had her second top tooth coming through. She asked me how old Jemima was and I said 11 months and a few days and the surprise was more than evident. Oh well, all I care about is that Jemima is thriving, healthy, bright and outgoing, I'm sure she'll take after me and her grandmother and always look younger than her age when it matters !

Just a few updates

I forgot to say that Jemima now prefers to hold her own bottle, this has steadily increased in the last week, she'll actually take it out of my hands to hold it herself ! This means we can go for a walk and she'll be merrily drinking away until she snoozes off and, at home, she likes to nearly finish the bottle then often takes the nearly empty bottle into her cot with her - believe me this hasn't been my plan but she's quite set on what she wants and when ! We don't have a strict sleep routine so Jemima falls asleep when she needs to, I'm fairly good at reading her, and she now sleeps through the night - YEYEYEYEY!!!!

We're going for professional photos with Venture tomorrow, I'm very excited as every picture I've seen of theirs, on friends' walls and online, just looks fantastic. I've now lost 50lbs in total so I'm feeling confident enough to enjoy the shoot and I know there will be some wonderful family pictures at the end of it.

Jemima grins and waves and talks to everybody, she now chatters in her stroller as if narrating our walks for me. She's so alert and I think will soon be enjoying walking and running alongside me when we go for our jaunts.

The past couple of weeks have really been amazing, Jemima is developing apace ! We've always had comments from people that she seems very alert and is physically very strong but recently we are getting comments all over the place, people can't believe she's not yet 11 months (tomorrow !!!) because she is so active, so strong, so adventurous and outgoing.... I'm biased, of course I think she is exceptional but I'm very proud that other people also think so. I get emails from Bounty and Pampers telling me how my child will be developing and 9 times out of 10 I'm reading and thinking, she was doing that months ago !

Jemima is spending more and more time balancing upright; sometimes, if she's busy examining what she's holding, she'll not realise that she's standing up completely unsupported and just stands there busy with her toy. She's taking a step or two between furniture and we don't think it will be long before she repeats her few steps and just takes off.

Today, Jemima had her first taste of organic full fat cow's milk. I'm phasing it in just like I did the formula so she'll have 180ml of formula topped up with 30ml or so of cow's milk for a week or whatever, then I'll start shifting the ratio so that she gets used to it. I cannot wait for the day when I can give her milk from the fridge, warmed obviously, rather than the powdered stuff. I'm still really disappointed with Aptamil's customer service when I had a tub of rubbishy powder but as she's used to it there was no point changing just because I was annoyed ! Not to mention just how expensive it is to replace a big tub more than once a week....phew bring on the moo !

Well enough's enough !

I've been too remiss for too long. No more excuses, I'm back at our home rather than at my parents' so that means I've got my photos to hand and uploaded AND today Jemima stood up unaided and took 2 or 3 steps towards me !! If that's not a noteworthy first I just don't know what is so mummy blog duties really must be undertaken and seriously !

Jemima is coming on leaps and bounds, I am watching this beautiful little child turn from a baby into a toddler and it's happening at an alarming rate. I guess all parents feel like this, I always look at my parents and remember the adage that you know you're old when your children are middle aged...tee hee... I'm 35 in a few weeks and my daughter is well on her way to her first birthday - where DOES it go ?

Ok so a few fantastic moments to treasure. Jemima is such a tall baby that she is above the uppermost percentile on her growth charts. She really needed a new car seat and we looked on the Which? reports and online and decided on a German make called Kiddy. It doesn't use a harness but a large padded bar and, as you can see, Jemima found it verrrrrrrrry comfy from the start ! So easy to move between cars too, what a bonus, thanks Granddad !!

We've spent a lot of time down at my parents' beautiful house, enjoying the weather and Terence has been doing renovation works to the exterior timber and so on. Jemima has discovered a passion for gardening ! She is fascinated by birds, flowers, grass (once she got used the texture) and just being outdoors and in the fresh air. I walk her three or four times a day and I love watching her engage with the world.


Jemima and her grandparents have a mutual adoration society going on as you can see ! I think they are always surprised that she remembers them but she's one bright kid and has enjoyed being with them from very early.

Jemima has been busy bouncing and cruising around furniture like a little fledgling exercising her muscles, and she really loved watching her daddy up a ladder....how did he get there ?! She found the drilling and noises much less frightening once she saw daddy was making them, and he's a big loud builder so best get used to it early on.


This is a little picnic we had in the garden on a tartan rug. Jemima thought that her food was too dull and proceeded to stuff almost a WHOLE pork pie into her mouth much to everyone's amusement ! Looks like she has her father's appetite... (ahem)


Jemima's exercise is all working because she has recently started standing all by herself, not pulling herself up on anything ! She stands there, splay legged with her hands up in the air grinning from ear to ear and squeaking....unbelievable. And to top it off, yesterday, she stood up and took two or three steps towards me !!! I'm so glad my friend Amy was here to see it because otherwise I might have thought I was imagining it. And she's only ten and a half months ! In fact, I'm looking forward to her walking and balancing and leaving behind the constant fear of toppling over. People say it's much harder when they walk but I can't see it, she crawls like a bullet train, stands up everywhere and is generally into everything - can walking really be that different ?! I'll obviously have to report back... The difference is that we are now onto the next level of baby-safing the house.


I've got lots of beautiful photos to upload but better get this posted first !

Bad blogger

Oh dear, it's happened again ! Jemima sleeps less during the day and I have so much to do when she is asleep and by the evening I just collapse so the blog has suffered. I think I will set aside time on Sunday mornings when her father walks her to catch up on it and upload pics - she's changing so so much now that I really need to record everything.

I have the small excuse of Jemima picking up a spotty infection, not chickenpox as we originally thought, and then lots of teething again (tooth no. 7 is through with 8,9 and 10 coming very soon !) and now she has an ear infection in both ears ! Poor morsel, I gave her what painkillers I could knowing that something was quite wrong but it was only on the second trip to the doctor in two days that we found out it was an ear infection and we all know how painful and miserable that is. She doesn't much like her antibiotics but she seems better by the day, although at night it seems to come back and she has slept with us for two nights now.... she has slept, we have not !

We are staying at my parents' at the village quite a lot now because Terence's construction work is suffering due to the incredibly bad economic climate in the UK now and he has taken on a renovation project on the old house. It's great because we get to stay in the village, spend time as a family and Jemima is learning all about the garden, flowers, sheep and lambs, chickens, cows (although some loud mooing next to her made her cry on her walk bless her !) and she really is loving the outdoors. We have a picnic on the lawn every day that the temperature allows and it's wonderfully stimulating for her.

Terence, as a true blue Brit, loathes olives and to his disgust, Jemima ate her first kalamon olive yesterday !! She *loves* olives and wanted more and not even a screwed up face like with the feta, which she also now eats with gusto. So madam's first olive yesterday and we're very pleased. She couldn't look more like a Brit so we need to make sure she's got some good Greek habits !

Jemima is now walking around furniture with ease, she's standing up unaided for a few seconds, crawls like a sprinter, grins and burbles, has a cracking sense of humour and a very vocal response to things she likes or dislikes. She's so incredibly strong physically too - unbelievable for a 9 month old baby ! She warbles and waves at people and is very sociable, we're very proud of her. Not an easy baby but a fantastically interested and interesting child and I can see the little girl emerging daily; I do feel a little sentimental about my baby growing up as I have loved every minute (well, almost) of her being a tiny, squeezable baby but I believe every stage is going to be very special.

As soon as we're home, I'll upload all the photos of the last few weeks and do a catch up properly, that's it for now xxx

Massive blogging catch up !!

Oh dear oh dear. As Jemima is sleeping less in the day, the amount of stuff I have to get done while she is asleep remains the same and she is very very active so I'm one slightly frazzled mother who simply collapses given the chance rather than blogs... Anyway, I made a commitment to keep this up and I really do want to so it may be that I can only do this when someone else is around rather than every day or so.

So where to start ? Jemima is now cruising around the furniture, more than capable of pulling herself up on any object and now able to get down, one knee at a time, when she's had enough or wants to pick something up. She loves waving at her reflection and is very vocal when greeting the other little baby ! In fact, she's very sociable and vocal and yesterday we took her into town, she had a whole coffee shop enchanted, speaking to everyone, greeting everyone who came in with a wave and shout ! Everyone went a bit silly over this incredibly sociable and outgoing and waving infant, we were very proud ! People now talk to her in her buggy as she faces out and she can see the world. I'm glad she does now face the front, she knows where I am, talks to me when she needs reassurance but mainly looks at the world and takes it all in. I think we're going to have big trouble when she's toddling, reins aren't going to be optional.

Jemima's maternal grandparents splashed out on a fantastic stroller, it's so smart, a new Mamas & Papas style and it's light, folds down easily to a size I can easily.
heft into the car boot, and best of all, Jemima falls asleep in it soooo easily. However, she has decided that she only wants to fall asleep in her stroller now so I do 2-3 walks a day for her and that's no bad thing I guess


In the meantime, Jemima has learnt that when we teach her what something is, we point at it. She points at anything and everything that she finds of interest. Which is more or less everything. She points at the pictures in her book and is associating words with objects. She copied me and said "duck", "dog" and a few other sounds (which I'm not silly enough to think she "knows" but it's a fun game) and there are other words that she most definitely knows, "dada", "walk" and brilliantly, "palamakia" which Granny Greek taught her to clap her hands with. Any time you want Jemima to giggle and clap, just sing "palamakia" to her and she'll immediately start to clap her little hands !

Jemima now not only listens to the voice on the phone but answers it, she and Granny Greek have had many warbles and witters and chatterings and songs to each other, so sweet !

Mama and I took Jemima on a walk by the river to see all the birds, ducks, geese, swans, moorhens, gulls, pigeons........... She was absolutely entranced !


Her father dotes on her, throws her in the air.....and even sat her on his bike ! Very cute, she really liked this big machine and doesn't really mind when he pulls up to the house engine growling. (I've associated the vacuum cleaning with fun and songs so that the noise of it doesn't frighten her so she's pretty tolerant).

We took Jemima to a tapas restaurant this weekend and she enjoyed her first tastes of garlic bread - big thumbsup ! - salsa, different cheese, patatas bravas and a few other things... she loved it and in the end wouldn't accept anything put direct into her mouth at all, it all had to be handed to her for her big grown up self to place in her mouth !

Really slack blogging...

Bad mother that I am, I have been so tired recently that I haven't been able to write every day or anywhere near. So many things have happened that I need to sit down with the pictures and record all the new developments which include ululating, clapping, conversations on the phone and all sorts of things ! Now that I've come and blogged a little (having somewhat built it up into a "homework" situation) I'll come back and do the rest shortly..... Sorry Jemima, it's all coming !

Some more firsts

We shopped for Jemima's first pair of properly fitted shoes today, we went to Clarks of course and she had both of her feet properly measured and we picked out the "cruiser" shoes which are firmer and more robust for those first little steps around furniture and in her walker. Her toes curl ever so slightly so we want her feet to flatten out nicely as she learns to walk. Clarks even do a journal for you with pictures and measurements, so sweet ! Of course, her father is horrified that his daughter will inherit her mother's fixation with footwear "kerching!!" go the cash tills....

My parents wrote this to me so I thought I'd just cut and paste it straight in: "Something for Jemima's journal. As we talk a lot about the baby with baba of course.. we both discovered the following. When she sees the panda she picks it up with both hands and then she brings it to her face and kisses it!!! When it happened with me I thought nothing of it but baba told me that he saw her kissing the panda (in her own way of kissing of course) then I realised what was happening when she did the same when I was holding her. It is very endearing to see how fond she is of this black and white soft toy and how happy she is to see it. Of course she talks to it and smiles to it but kissing it?...." - so of course we will have a picture of this shortly.

Terence and I took Jemima to a pizza restaurant today and Jemima was her normal well behaved self (albeit a little grumpy while waiting for her food!!) and she had her first little piece of baked pizza dough (not from a pizza, they serve this with salad) and she loved it, very grown up. Unfortunately this is one of those videos I just can't turn around due to it being inaccessible via blooming Picassa !

Here's the picture of Jemima reading with her Granddad, very sweet...

And here she is sticking her tongue out in concentration just like her father !!

Jemima undertook a terrible and exacting exploration of my head in the bath which included poking her fingers extremely hard into my eyes and ears, pulling my hair as hard as she could - she seems to know it comes away if she does this !! - and trying to pull my eyelashes and eyebrows. She also made herself laugh as she nipped my nose again. I'm not sure what I had done to deserve this, perhaps dinner wasn't up to scratch...

Great day today

Jemima and I went swimming this morning and, because she hasn't been for two weeks, she was a little anxious. I'm pretty sure that because we've been ill and not socialising very much, she's a little clingy when we're out but I'm sure she'll get back to normal very soon as our routine kicks in. We had coffee with the other mums and babies after and Jemima is notably sociable and mobile, there was one 16 month old who wasn't yet standing or crawling ! I'd be a little worried if I were that parent but I guess everyone develops as different rates. Jemima adores the little boys (5 months both of them) who swim with us, she crawled after Arthur and they all shared a smile at each other, so touching.

After that we went into town and I sat with her asleep by my side and ran into a friend, we've agreed to hook up soon and that's another neighbour and friend with kids for us both to socialise with - I'm really warming to the neighbourhood now.

When we got home, we had a great afternoon (I was very buoyed up by having lost another 2lbs this week !!) and had our carrot and apple and a dance to the sound track of Footloose...nothing like introducing a baby to cheeserama !!

Blog catch up

Mama has been staying with us for a few days and, even though we've all been coughing and spluttering, it's been fun. I've been stressed with job hunting so I haven't been great company but I hardly think that matters when Mama has a gorgeous little baby to play with !! We took her to town for lunch and Jemima sat in a high chair again and Mama couldn't believe how well behaved she was. Jemima chattered and played and ate a serving of spinach, basil and parsnip very well...she's an old hand at this socialising malarkey dontcha know ?!

Jemima's waving has really come on, she now initiates the waving and not only does she open handed Brit-style wave but also the moving Greek wave (fingers open and shut towards palm repeatedly) so she's already bilingual !! Mama just can't believe this, Jemima just seems so advanced in her desire to socialise, it's just adorable...we all wave like mad fools when she starts.

Today Jemima read a book about farms with her grandfather, pictures to come, and she really slaps the book and peers closely at the pictures, mesmerised by two dimensional images that are somehow very different to everything else that surrounds her. We are actually using the same books my parents kept from S. Africa when I was a wee babby and it's very touching to know that once, yes yes maaaany years ago, I too was slapping the pictures and learning about my world.

Jemima is crawling a-pace which also seems reasonable advanced. I received a Bounty email for 8 month babies (which she is not yet) who might decide in the next month or two to become mobile - way too late !! Jemima has now decided that standing is far more interesting than crawling and is repeatedly bringing one foot forward underneath her and flattening in it in what I can only think is a precursor to standing up unaided. She easily climbs the two steps in the sitting room, no pause in between crawling over to them, climbing up and crawling forwards again. I really have no rest now so I must build up my stamina !! Standing up using anything as an aid is now no problem at all, my only (rather large) concern is that our floor is wooden and slippery...

Actually, it really gives one a sense of legacy and deep desire to do right by my daughter, and the hope that I will live up to my own expectations as a mother. Will I set the right examples ? Will I be able to explain the world to her truthfully, without cynicism, in a balanced way ? Well, I'm going to try my best.

First toothbrushing !

I have been putting off the whole toothbrush thing as I think I was anxious about it going badly. Jemima's two bottom teeth are fully emerged and her four top teeth are coming up to halfway emerged so I couldn't out it off any longer... I bought a little toothbrush that looks more like a finger puppet than a toothbrush and some teething toothpaste and decided to incorporate it into our bathtime routine. On advice from a friend, I held Jemima in front of a mirror and pretended to brush my teeth with her brush so that she could see what was going on and that it was ok because mummy was doing it.

Deep breath and into Jemima's mouth...and... she loved it ! She really liked the minty taste and completely accepted having her teeth brushed ! In fact, I let her play with the brush whilst undressing her for her bath and it stopped her trying to climb off the changing unit. So, all in all, SUCCESS !!

First telephone conversation

Today I held the phone up to Jemima and put Granny Greek on loudspeaker. We've done this before and Jemima hasn't really cottoned on to the voice, she just wanted to bite the phone, but today she heard her name and it made her smile and giggle ! It was so sweet, and Mama could hear her giggling back to her, quite a change from the previous times I've allowed her to hear someone on the phone.

Jemima's really struggling with teething and being bunged up. I'm told that teething can cause a runny nose so it could be that or the bl**dy cold virus... I feel helpless when she's really miserable, there's not much I can do, but I'm sure she'll be better soon.

My friends came round last night and couldn't believe how mobile Jemima is and what a character she has already. The word "handful" seems to be cropping up again and again...

Some firsts

Jemima's first carrot - an absolute winner ! I gave her a whole half to make sure there weren't any little bits that could snap off and she tucked into it, gnawing away like a widdle wabbit !! Love her xxx

Also today she started some new sounds "ge-"and "de-" and very much enjoyed it when I repeated this back to her, in fact we had several prolonged conversations that consisted only of "ge-" and "de-" !!

All strapped in, just one problem...

Terence came home early today so we all went into town and I got my hair cut - yey !! Terence was planning to wear the baby in her carrier and she was more than happy with the arrangement, facing daddy, lots of eye contact and talking, and all seemed well with the plan. However, there was just one flaw that proved a little painful for Terence and might have put paid to any plans for siblings had he persevered. Can you guess ?

Needless to say, we took the pram.

Jemima going for a drive

Jemima is really picking up speed in her walker, she can now run - literally run !! It's hilarious, she leans into it, picks up a bit of momentum and whizzes around, no rest for us now ! One of our dear friends gave her a steering wheel with ignition and engine sounds so here's Jemima going for an afternoon drive...

Hooray hurrah huzzah and hooray again !

Tonight I finally persuaded Jemima's daddy to do the dream feed !! It's taken me a long while to get him to do it, with his excuses that he's just "fun" for her and would wake her up too much...well it all sounded pretty quiet on the Western front to me and..yes... still quiet so it looks like I can go out with my girlfriends next weekend and leave him to it !!

Today we went for lunch with a girlfriend who actually started crying when she saw Jemima, she hasn't seen her for some time and she was overwhelmed. I know how that feels, it's amazing to see your friends' children, the offspring of people you know and love, and she brought along a present of tiny children's cutlery with Jemima's name engraved. Here's a picture of Emma feeding Jemima.

Also this weekend we have Charlie staying. Charlie is Jemima's half brother and he's just turned 9 years old. Jemima can really tell he's younger than her ancient parents and very much enjoys his antics and silly voices and all the things he knows make her laugh so it's great to have him around - it means I can scoot off and do some terribly mundane things around the house...


Here's just one more example of Jemima pulling herself up. This one is dodgy as the walker can roll away so someone has to dive in and clamp it to the floor before it can slide away from beneath her but hey, it's all good exercise ! Loving her new shoes...

Table mountaineering

There's no stopping this little lady now ! We're all feeling better by the day but I'm feeling tired out... I guess this is just the way of things from now on. This was just before we went upstairs to retire so Jemima needed a little propping up and I'm certainly not going to object to the opportunity to grab her bubba chubba legs ! We spent about 2 hours last night moving everything up and out of her way, anti-babying a room seems to be a work in progress so fingers crossed we're safe for the time being...anyway, here's my favourite pic of the day...

Just. Must. Stand.

Jemima seems happiest when pulling herself up to standing, whether it's using our hands, a sturdy bit of furniture or the steps in our sitting room... She doesn't yet sit up but then why bother sitting still when you can crawl around and stand up, she says ?!

Here's a little storyboard showing Jemima's climbing adventures - I could only take pictures very quickly and only probably not at the best moments but I will do it again when her father is next to her...
Her appetite is almost back to normal and she's doing fabulously well with milk again so fingers crossed we'll be back to swimming on Friday. We're seeing a friend in the morning, then we might brave the unfriendlies at the library for Rhyme Time and then on Friday it's swimming and catching up with Jemima's boyfriend Jack, who will be enormous by now !

Finally turning a corner...

Jemima has been completely off food for a few days and dropped her milk feeds too which hasn't been great but she started off with a little satsuma appetiser...



...and had a whole portion of her favourite dish, spaghetti carbonara, great ! She's picked up on her milk too so I'm hopeful we'll be back to normal in the next day or two.

Mama and Baba came to visit us today and were greeted by Jemima waving properly ! She's been moving her little arm up and down in response to manic "hello-ing" and "bye-bye-ing" for a few weeks now but, having spotted herself in the mirror yesterday, she's been waving properly with a little open hand recently. The very first time she's used the gesture to anyone else was today with Granny Greek and Granddad ! Unfortunately I didn't get it on film as it's very cute but I'm sure I will.

Well, important news, whilst battling the cold, Jemima's sprung two teeth in two days !! She's now got two little lower teeth and a row of FOUR along the top !!! She's been in discomfort and grinds them horribly at times but I can't wait to see her toothy little grin...aawww

And...Babyzilla - as we now call this tremendously physically able child - is now able to climb up the two steps in the sitting room. Shouldn't someone tell her she's only 7 months and 1 week old ? I've told her and she just ignores me and pulls herself to standing all over the place. My days of laying her on her playmat and popping to the kitchen are well and truly over.

To think, I used to wake up with a huge sense of anticlimax and sometimes dread going into the office and now I wake up with an urgent sense of joy, unable to wait for my baby to wake and show me what amazing things she's going to do and learn today xxxxxxxx

Horrible cold still with us

Jemima's cold has got worse, she now has a chesty cough, is really streaming from her nose and is generally miserable and on top of all that, she's teething ! There is only so much that we can do for her, from a vapouriser in her room, sparing painkillers, as much warm milk as she wants, but this will just have to run its course. She's gone off her solids for now but is drinking well so I'm hoping that she'll pick up in the next few days. It's horrible to see one's child having difficulties like this but it makes me appreciate how lucky we are with her good health generally - touch wood forever.

Jemima started crawling today !! 7mths 4 days

Jemima took a few tiny steps whilst being held by the hands at a friend's house and, as if that were not momentous enough, she suddenly started crawling at my parents' house !! I was at the computer and Mama was looking after her during floor play and suddenly I heard an excited cry "Vanessa !! She's crawling !!"... well, there really is something magical about this house, just so many firsts here...

Stinky cold continued !

I feel like I'm underwater today, my ears keep popping and I'm quite bored of this ! Poor little Jemima is teething, with two teeth threatening to cut shortly, and she is streaming with snot and generally unwell. She is coughing a little and I'm concerned that she has caught a cough from one of her baby friends...it kept him up hacking at night so fingers crossed it's not that. We've missed baby group and Rhyme Time because, apart from both of us being unwell, it's not fair to take this infection out with us. We won't be swimming tomorrow either.

But onto happier tidings !!! Jemima now says "dada" and her father is convinced she is at least partially referring to him ! She can be encouraged to say it pretty easily so her vocab now consists of "bap" "bababa" "mamama" and "dada".

Also, this morning, I found her kneeling up against the front railings of her cot... uh oh... she can pull herself up to standing and now that she's discovered the handy rails, I think we better lower the base of her cot.

Stinky cold...

All three of us have a horrible cold and we're streaming, sneezing, headaches (well I assume Jemima has a headache too) and miserable but Jemima only really gets a little grumpy first thing in the morning. She's teething too so I think she's more than entitled to get a bit grumpy ! Her appetite has really picked up though and she's much better with her new lumpier food. Hopefully we'll all be better enough for swimming on Friday.

Here's Jemima's professional raspberry blowing...

Amazing !! Whistling baby !

I've recently begun whistling to Jemima when I need her to concentrate on finishing her food or if she's feeling a little grumpy with her teeth, it always catches her attention and cheers her up. Since yesterday I've noticed her making a very pronounced "O" shape with her little mouth and blowing. I thought she was copying her father who takes delight in blowing gently in her ear or on her cheek as it causes her to giggle and coo. Nothing so out of the ordinary there. Well, no, I was wrong. She was copying me and the whistling. Today I heard her produce a little whistle and was completely gobsmacked but thought it was just a coincidence, copying her dad and blowing and by coincidence producing a whistle. I thought that until her father told me he saw her sblowing through a tight little "O" shape and making a whistle !!

My nearly 7 month old baby decided she wanted to whistle, practised and did it !!! I'm so impressed. I know babies learn by copying and this baby not only copies but works at it (and she's always concentrated and worked at it, hence crawling early etc). Bless my baby !

Special moment

Although Jemima and I spend most of our waking time together and are completely bonded, there are moments when I can see that she is a person and not just a baby. I mean... she's everything she's ever going to be packaged up in a little bundle of baby and her potential is just unfolding. Last night in the bath she was lying on my front (she has a habit of righting herself wherever she happens to be including the bath) and had concluded her nightly investigations of the side and edge of the bath. As she looked at me from a few inches away, she came even closer and very very gently nipped my nose. She pulled back to look me in the eye for a response and I grinned at her. She came back in and nipped my nose again, very gently (and believe me, I know how hard she can bite) and pulled back for a response. This time I chuckled as I knew she was making a joke. She came back in once more to nip my nose and I laughed out loud and grinned at her.

She held very very still as she looked me in the eye and I had a profound moment of looking into the eyes of a humorous, intelligent person. It was quite amazing and I was very moved.

Beaker of independence

I am trying to introduce the baby to a drink other than milk. She's onto food so I could theoretically drop a milk feed but I don't want her to miss out on fluids. Well, Mama bought a lovely little beaker with a soft spout with a valve so the fluid must be sucked rather than tipping out. Nope, Jemima just wasn't keen on a beaker of water. So next I tried diluting some pure fruit juice in case that did the trick - Jemima is an afficionado of sucking dry a satsuma and loves fruit - but again, not really interested.

So....yesterday I thought I'd just leave her with the beaker to play with and become comfortable with it. Well lo and behold, madam decided that she would put it to her mouth and drink for herself thank you very much, no assistance required !



She is also very good at standing on her feet with hands on the floor and is moving into this position several times a day. She can do it from the lower step in our sitting room too. Oh dear.

Mama and I took Jemima shopping today and she had her first ride ever in a trolley ! She was a little wobbly and needed propping up but looked so sweet...

A lovely first today was taking Jemima to "Rhyme Time" at our local library where parents and babies go to sit in a circle, babies on laps, singing traditional rhymes and nursery songs - adorable ! Jemima was given a rattle with a bell inside which she relentlessly rattled and she actually started bumping up and down and singing. She obviously gathered that the big people were producing sounds of some sort and she decided that she could play at that game too. One or two familiar mums but sadly most seemed openly unfriendly, perhaps I wasn't looking haggard enough but then I don't turn up anywhere not looking as good as I can. And neither does Jemima. We will be going next week anyway because the most important thing is that Jemima experiences as many different enjoyable things as possible.

Jemima loves her new piano - I rate Vtech oh yes I do !




Tonight Jemima conducted a serious and thorough investigation of the edge of the bath and the outside of the bath. She smacked, tasted, scratched and felt all possible surfaces within reach and seemed very interested in te concept of *outside* and *inside* the bath. One was cool, smooth, shiny and reasonably dry. The other was warm, splashy and full of mum. Interesting, she said.

First banana

I thought I'd give Jemima a little of my banana as she was staring at it very intently and looked like she might make a dive for it ! She did not of course eat the whole bit that I gave her but enjoyed the new taste and holding something.

Little Lady Standing

Jemima's favourite position in the world now is standing ! She tries to stand from being on all fours, pulls herself up off steps and absolutely loves being helped up. She takes tiny little steps and bounces around and is very very sweet.

Second swimming class

I'm so pleased I booked Jemima into swimming lessons... she did two submerssions today and is happily righting herself in the water ! There are younger babies and older babies but we try to keep to roughly the same age groups and have coffee after. Wow there is so much to talk about, laughing about husbands and sleeplessness and breastfeeding and having one child or more - I love it ! Jemima is such a happy and relaxed little lady that she makes outings a complete pleasure and I'm looking forward to baby group and swimming again next week.

I've also been working on my website this week, I have finalised the content, now to make it really punchy with the help of a friend with a copyright background then off to my Dad for uploading. I am determined to build a business whilst being at home with Jemima so fingers crossed we can do this !

Oh and before I sign off, I found out today that we will be taking underwater photos of the babies before the end of the course so they'll definitely be on this blog !

Lots of firsts

Today we went to our first baby & toddler group and after thinking we were going to be the only ones in the baby section, a few more turned up. Even better, a girl from my antenatal class arrived and we had a chat. All the young babies' mothers decided that the place wasn't well controlled enough, for instance when Jemima fell asleep on my lap a toddler threw a toy at her head !!! He shouldn't even have been in the baby section but their mums weren't really paying attention. So we're finding an alternative and all going together. Also today, Jemima's walker turned up. She's practising and getting and better at moving around. She loves it ! She's so determined to move this gives her some freedom.

And most surprising of all... Jemima discovered the step at the mezzanine level of our sitting room and pulled herself in a standing position. Well, as close to standing as she could given how low the step is. I am soooo going to be in trouble soon ! (Sorry - so annoying I can't turn this around in editing !!)

More teeth !

Jemima has her two middle bottom teeth and one upper tooth, not her middle tooth but just to the side, just to be different. I can now see at least three if not four teeth pushing at her gums to pop through, her two lower canines and an upper tooth or two........ this girl can't wait can she ?! Pictures as soon as they're through.

Granny Greek's magic works again !!

We've been trying to teach Jemima to wave hello and goodbye for weeks, familiarising her with the hand movement every time we greet her and say bye-bye. Today, my parents came up to see their treasure - sadly that just isn't me any more !! - and as they were leaving, doing the obligatory crazy voice/manic waving routine, Jemima decided to waggle her hand in return !! I managed to catch the 2nd or 3rd go... how sweet !

Jemima telling mummy... something !

Today Jemima started burbling "bababababa mamamamama" - her very first continuous syllables !!



It's so exciting seeing a baby develop, all that potential slowly unlocking, bless my little flower xxx and I'm sorry I got frustrated today, I was ill, she forgives me I'm sure xxx

Feeling better but overcome by cleaning frenzy !

I'm starting to feel better, still not much appetite but able to play with Jemima and I prepared her fresh food for the next few days. Mama always makes lovely soups with her roast meats for us and I blend them with fresh sweet potato or organic white potatoes and ta da !! We usually make 4-6 portions this way.



I am wary of relying on one food source or another so I mix it up, lunch is usually a prepared organic jar like Hipp and dinner will be homemade, I kinda think I'm covering all bases that way. BUT madam has recently made the entertaining discovery of blowing raspberries while her mouth is truly full. *sigh* I've tried saying "no" firmly to absolutely no avail so now I find myself making very very odd noises and expressions to try to distract her from spraying me liberally with her food. Hasn't been fab whilst feeling ill I can tell you !

Anyway, I'm now triple cleaning everything and found myself caught in a vortex of cleaning my hands then cleaning something else then cleaning my hands again....... fingers crossed it's just me eh ?

Ill and guilty

I've caught a bug, apparently this bug is on the news as it's closing down hospital wings (norovirus), and I can only have caught it on food containers etc that hubby brought back from the supermarket as I've been snowed in and haven't gone anywhere myself !! How annoying ! Anyway, I've been incapacitated for nearly two days. Yesterday was like purgatory, throwing up and looking after the baby although - luckily - not ever at quite the same time... I was no fun for her though. I have been a boring mother because of it and even though I know it's not my fault, somehow I'm feeling guilty for not interracting with her as much as normal.

Great. Vomiting and self-flagellation. Rock and roll !

Mummy's ill but that doesn't stop Jemima !

This girl's in a real hurry to move ! I've spread out a quilt as you can see, so she has her own play area and can move from one side to the other in seconds... it's not always clear how as she's not crawling properly. Or is she....

11 January 2010 Snow baby

My beautiful baby always looks lovely in her woolly hats and now seems to associate the camera with smiling !!  I have a feeling about this girl...

She wasn't sure about the snow itself, I think she's probably a little young to appreciate that there is something quite different about the world outside but we will take her out again this afternoon, after her nap, and see if she wants some fun with it.

Snow angel !!

10 January 2010 bath bucket

This is the first successful bath Jemima has enjoyed in the baby bucket, she's more than capable of keeping her head up and seemed to quite like it....but she's now almost too long for it !  She was folded up like a little preying mantis, knees and feet everywhere, so I don't know how long she'll be able to take her baths in it.  Oh well, who's complaining, nothing wrong with a leggy daughter !

10 January 2010 - Preparing to crawl !

I will post the other videos of Jemima moving but for now we have noticed that she is bouncing around on her knees, sometimes launching herself towards the toy she wants rather than making the caterpillar towards it. It also looks like she's going backwards at times but I don't think that's on purpose....yet. I think we will shortly be in rather a lot of trouble !

9 January 2010 - First Winter and we're snowed in !

I wanted to record our first winter with Jemima, not only did we have snow before Christmas but also for weeks after. In fact, the country has had so much snow that the councils have run out of salt to grit our roads, London shoppers are coming to Kent to buy supplies as supermarkets have run out of essentials in some of theirs and only the Impreza can make it out so we were able to stock up on some of our own including nappies !