aaa-eeeeee.....

This is the noise and below is the scene which greets me each time I walk into a room, where she has been playing happily until she remembers that I might offer more scintillating entertainment than the play gym.



The right hand is usually spinning and weaving in a Bollywood movement, indicating the owner's desire to be picked up. It was very cute at first.

Future calling?

Alice has patiently schlepped about Sydney with me on various errands this week (for essentials like blood tests, hair cuts, pedicures and visits into work). She has shown great interest in the various professionals whom we have encountered along the way: chatting to the nurses, staring at the hairdresser's scissors, insisting on attending the pedicure rather than playing in the creche at the nail salon. However, I think we found her true calling at work when she assisted Amie with some important typing.

Naughtiness

I must write more often - every day brings a new event. Recently, we've seen her reach for her water when some food has gone down the wrong way; take all her toys out of her aquarium and then, oh joy, put one back; and conquer her dislike of water on her face. Minor achievements, but our little girl is growing up.

The weekend, however, saw her first act of trickery. As per the previous post, she is now a dream to put to sleep and will simply put her head on one side. The other day, after her bath, she was in that nude stage between being dried and having her nappy put on. It doesn't last long - I've been burnt before. However, we were running a bit late, so as I hurriedly bent down to get her nappy, and returned my gaze to the naked baby, it seemed that she had already gone to sleep. Completely exposed and lying on the change table. Her head was on one side and her eyes were closed. She was still.

"Look, Pater", I exclaimed, "She's only gone and nodded orf". Or words to that effect, perhaps slightly less influenced by comedy english charachers on the wartime drama we are currently watching on DVD.

On hearing my voice, Alice opened one eye, then another, waved her arms and legs about, gave me an enormous beaming smile and began to giggle and shout something I couldn't quite make out. She had tricked me and she was very pleased with herself.

As Aunty Deborah said in an e-mail yesterday, "...babies love to imitate and Alice has a head start with her genes". I read this quickly and thought that she said "...babies love to irritate and Alice has a head start with her genes". Perhaps she did mean that - I've heard the stories of Stu as a little brother and they sound bad enough from his side of the story. I'm sure I will soon have a little terror on my hands.

PS The upshot of writing more often might be that not all posts have photos. You make your choices in this life, Grannies.

Daily chitter chatter

Daring, tempting and luring the curse of print, I'm going to come out and say it. Alice has this sleeping thing down pat. She's now down to two day sleeps and, very conveniently, just puts her head onto one side to stare at her Monkey toy from Auntie Becca and drops off within minutes. She's able to be awake for 2.5 - 3 hours now between sleeps (according to the baby recommendation gurus) and not quite all of that time is spent eating or trying to get her to sleep anymore. Much of it is spent sitting on the floor waving her arms about to be picked up, but no matter. The rest of the day is spent squealing, chatting, laughing, shouting, cooing and singing.

Posing with new friend Monkey. Elmo, long since forgotten, looks on

Monkey sleeps on Alice's head after what looks like a minor scuffle

We are, however, getting woken up earlier and earlier as the seasons change. Alice's room is completely blacked out at night - we would have been model wartime citizens - but it's the blooming birds. When we first moved here, I thought they sounded very exotic, but now they just wake us all up. (I still love the sound of the crickets in the evening, but then they don't interfere with my lifestyle, so everything's conditional).

Our weeks have changed shape since we got back. We have one whole mothers group which has gone back to work (bad form on their part, I say) and a few activities which don't start up for a couple of weeks yet. However, our days still follow a remarkably similar pattern (all accompanied by a running commentary from Alice) and it's this:

6.10am (average up time at the mo): Big milk feed (Have decided I'm going to feed her until Christmas day, when she will be 11 months. After that, she's on her own, buster. Also her father can get up with her in the mornings sometimes. Hear that, darling?

7am: Breakfast (5 tbsps porridge mixed with formula and fruit)

9am: Sleep

9.45am: I wake her up. Drinks some water. Plays with playgym/jumperoo/we go out and she sings along to the radio in the car (There is one radio station which often plays "Don't leave me this way" and she gives Jimmy Somerville a run for his money in the aaaaaaa-aaaaaah) .

11.15am: Lunch - a serving of an Annabel Karmel thing - we are currently alternating the cauliflower/broccoli in cheese sauce and the one-pot chicken. Both are big hits. Also 1 baby yoghurt. Nothing baby about the size of these bad boys and Alice wolfs it down. She sucks/gums some cooked slices of apple, drinks tonnes of water and doesn't tend to make too much mess. Likes to hold cup herself which is very impressive and she will eat more if she has a swig between each mouthful for second half of main course.

12.30pm: Sleep. All going to plan, usually for 2-2.5 hours and, in the absence of Loose Women, I settle in to watch the second half of The View. I have decided from today to keep this time for myself rather than cooking up Karmels or ironing etc. I am justifying this by calling it a lunchbreak. I'd get one if I were working and my work day certainly wasn't 13 hours long with possible night calls. (Well, it was once upon a time, but when I go to see my boss later this week, it's not the terms and conditions I'll be seeking.)

2.30pm/3pm: 120 ml formula. Without a reminder from my chest area that a feed is due, I keep forgetting to make up this bottle and it's usually a bit later than this. She doesn't seem to notice or complain - this said, the other day at the playground, she did start to forage in my top in a most undignified manner - but wolfs it down when it comes and I then feel a little bad.

Afternoon: Plays/chats/we walk etc. Eats rusks/apple/plays with water cup some more. Lots of chat. When cuddled, will give big hug back and if I say "aah", she will repeat. Will also try to kiss me which is thoughtful but damp.

4.30pm-4.45pm: Tea. Chews on 2-3 rice cakes with pureed avo on them. Eats rest of avo. 3 cubes veggies although gets bored very quickly with tastes at this meal, so have been experimenting with serving 3 cubes of different veggies separately. More apple slices get sucked. Have tried her with other veggies as finger food, but is not yet interested. Big mess is usually made.

5.45-6pm: Another big milk feed

6.30pm: Bath - now sitting on her own in the bath so Mummy sits next to bath with glass of wine. We play with her bath toys, which are different farmyard animals, all of whom she calls "De"

7.00pm: 240ml formula feed

7.15pm Bed, usually passing out before I even have time to cross the room to put her down

She used to have a story before all her sleeps, but now that she is more alert, she gets too excited by books. Either revelling in their familiarity because we didn't have too many with us on our big trip and so we read them many times ("This is a Baby"; "We're going on a Bear Hunt"; "Miffy at the Gallery") or loving the novelty of a new one and squealing with excitement or trying to copy the sounds (Eg this morning's rendition of "Good night moon"- Me: 'Goodnight stars', Alice: 'Tars') It's very sweet, but stories now have to be part of playtime rather than bedtime because they are just not a calming influence.

I think that some of the talking may be a coincidence, but she's certainly got one lot of noises down pat. Quite often, if we are in a queue or have a terminally slow walker in front of us, she will give an exaggeratedly loud sigh. It would get me punched, but she just gains glances of admiration, giggles and right of passage. On waking, she has finally learned which side her rice cake is buttered on and yells, "Ma-ma".

The very hungry baby

We'd had a good innings with the food. Alice has been eating nicely for a few days and today it all went to pot. Or rather, stayed in the pot.

I've come to the conclusion that babies are like old people. They like to eat early and they have their funny little ways. Alice needs to have eaten breakfast by 8am, lunch by 11.30am and dinner by 5.15pm. Then she likes a hot bath and some warm milk.

The culmination of this schedule is that I am either preparing meals or washing up for most of the day and am just grateful that Stu is happy to take himself off to work with just a sachet of lemsip by way of sustenance.

Today I missed Alice's windows for breakfast and lunch and they were both tough going. To compensate, we started dinner early. I should also note that things have moved on, from the position we were in two weeks ago, where she would only feed herself. For the last little while, she has been refusing such mundane tasks. She may suck on a piece of apple if I hold it for her but she is far more likely to throw any finger food straight onto the floor (as opposed to all toys, fingers, baby wipes, TV remotes, mobile phones etc, which go straight into the mouth).

It started badly. She wouldn't look at her mashed potato, so I relented and gave her a Raffertys Garden sachet of carrot, pumpkin and apple. She wolfed that down. Then a sachet of banana, mango and pear. She wolfed that down. By the end of the meal, she had consumed 3 sachets (organic), 1 portion of mashed potato (organic), 3 rice cakes (organic) with avocado (organic), 5 cooked apple slices (organic) and 1 Farleys rusk (not organic [gasp] and counterfeit to boot - smuggled in by Nanna Keefe, although perhaps I should not put that in writing or else Alice and I will end up on Border Security). I think she would have kept on eating but I thought it was time to draw a stop to such matters, since avocado was actually starting to come out of her nose.


After third rice cake...and she was still hungry

I'd like to credit her little friend Charlie (as well as hunger) for the improvement between lunch and dinner. We met them for coffee (or as Charlie likes to point out when he passes any cafe, to his mother's chagrin "CharlieCinoMummyCoffeeCake") and Alice enjoyed some banana bread before the chums ate pieces of apple together. Hmm, Alice's GI levels may not have been ideal today, all things considered. Still, as you can see, she's thriving.


But, I'll forgive her anything, since she is now saying ma-ma, waving her arms to be picked up, sings alone to the radio in the car and has refused the dummy since we arrived back in Australia. Self weaning - we'll take that!

(Physiological) Matters arising

The sequential cold has moved from Alice to me and now onto her Dad. In a way it's been good that it didn't really overlap for any of us. In another way, it's time to be rid of the lemsip and move on.

Spring or even summer has burst forth in Sydney on a rota of alternate days and we are ready to stride forth leaving our snot behind. Some news on the wee one:

1. First tooth has been through for 10 days or so. It isn't much more than a millimetre high as yet, but gee it hurts when she pretends that she will be innocently sucking your finger but instead chows down.
2. The worry of the "clicky hips" has now subsided. Prior to our trip, the 6 month check revealed some 19th century sounding ailment issues with her hip joints and one could hear distinct clicks and clunks when her legs moved. She had an ultra-sound last week and it seems to have gone away. Funny. She had to wear two nappies for the duration of our trip to try to spread her legs so that they were not too compressed in the hip sockets and apart from ensuring no leakages while we were travelling, this seems to have worked. I quite miss the two nappies in fact - you always had a spare, which alleviated one thing from the suitcase of equipment that I otherwise need to carry around.
3. Alice was last week fascinated by Little Friend Lila crawling around the lounge and has been thinking about copying. She still imitates a paraglider, for the most part, while lying on her tummy, but when her arms are down, they are straight. Just need to work on her leg muscles now.
4. Sitting is perfect and has been for a while. This is very handy for plonking her down, dressing her in outfits with buttons at the back, and keeping her entertained around the shops - she will just hang over the edge of the stroller and look around and to know when she wants to be picked up, as she will just wave her arms in the air until someone comes. The physio who runs our pilates class is most distressed that she is sitting before she can crawl but we live to dribble another day.
5. Thank goodness we had a good day of eating yesterday. All three meals consumed in the fancy highchair and all three home cooked. Cauliflower cheese went down a storm. Apparently her grandmother loves it too - not sure if she would be such a fan of the version made with formula and with broccoli secreted in there for extra iron, but perhaps we shall try out that recipe come their visit in January...

The hunger striker

And so endeth a very long two weeks. Both Alice and I have had colds, jetlag and one of us has been on hunger strike. Those who know me well and in fact, those who have seen me even once, will surmise correctly that it wasn't me.

In a latter day bid for the baby suffragette movement, Alice is asserting the right for little people everywhere not necessarily to eat orange mush if it is placed in front of them. Or green mush. Or any other colour of mush into which you may pour blood, sweat, tears and the precious few minutes you have while they are sleeping when you could otherwise be watching Oprah.

It started just before we left the US and the situation deteriorated on the plane when the stewardess luke-warmed a tin of something or other and Alice refused to have anything to do with it. Since then, mealtimes have been battlegrounds and I have had to resort to ever more desperate measures to get her to eat. Tantrums, food and money (at a new bells and whistles high chair) have been thrown but to little avail.

Some of the things which have worked have been:
1. Eating out at Clodeli while watching Little Friend Charlie throw banana cake about the place
2. Sitting in new high chair
3. Sitting in bumbo in front of Baby Beethoven DVD
4. Sitting on my lap
5. Me singing and dancing around the kitchen in between her mouthfuls
6. Sitting in front of open window watching the birdies and hoping the neighbours don't mistake me for Michael Jackson
7. Sitting on my hip while I sing "Hey, hey it's Baby Alice" to the tune of "Hey, hey it's the Monkeys"

Some of the tings which have not worked when tried for a second time have been:
1. Sitting in new high chair
2. Sitting in bumbo in front of Baby Beethoven DVD
3. Sitting on my lap
4. Me singing and dancing around the kitchen in between her mouthfuls
5. Sitting in front of open window etc etc
6. Sitting on my hip while I sing "Hey, hey it's Baby Alice" to the tune of "Hey, hey it's the Monkeys"

So the only reliable method has been a lunchtime trip to Clodeli - a local poncy caff where Lote Tuqiri takes his morning latte (extra froth with sprinkles). Lots to see there, to keep her entertained, whether Little Friend Charlie is there or not. Followed by a sprint down the hill to get home before she falls asleep.

Funnily enough, her father was apparently a very fussy eater as a child (to the extent that Grannie Al recently asked me if he now ate pasta and was surprised at an affirmative). However, I don't think that Alice is being picky - she will screw up her face at the sight of a spoon without even trying it. Last week she seemed to want to feed herself. This week not. How one of my many friend Kates must now laugh (as Little Friend Charlie throws his risotto at her) - I remember telling her that Alice was going to be a great eater. I had decided as much. Breakfasts seem to go well - we eat our porridge together at the table and very little singing is needed. However, like all these baby phases, this too will pass (I remember the fortnight where she wouldn't sit in her pram was a very long two weeks too). Nanna Keefe's smuggled Farleys rusks are going down a storm, so at least I know that she is getting some sustenance.

*****************************************************

Next week, we ask..is Annabel Karmel sponsored by the leek industry?
And if not, why am I single handed propping up the Welsh economy in following her recipes...

We are a cousin

Such much news. Alice has a cousin, Emilia Kitty Grace Partington (Milly), who was born on Sunday 7th September. Milly weighed just the same as Alice (7lb 6oz/3.34 kg) but seems already to have more hair, so that will be adding a couple of grams to her body weight. Alice is very excited to meet her beautiful cousin - though goodness knows when that will be.

Milly shared her birthday with Alice's first Fathers Day. Unfortunately Alice's father was to be found dancing on the shoulders of some beefy men in Vietnam, to the tune of "I love you baby", (recreating the scene from "The Deerhunter" ) rather than celebrating with Alice. He also took the camera with him so I couldn't capture Alice's little face, alone on the day of paternal celebration, nor her joy at waking on Monday morning to hear the news of Milly.

Fortunately Father Stu made it back from 'Nam relatively unscathed and was a big help for the 60 minutes he spent in the house while Alice was awake before he jetted off to deepest WA to inspect a pipeline. Because he knows so much about them. Roll on the end to single parent family-dom at the weekend. It's been a tough couple of weeks (of which more later).

So Alice is on her way to catching up with my cousin tally of 20+. Auntie Deborah and Uncle Andrew, not to mention the Leigh-on-Sea Aunties will need to get busy if she wants to overtake me.

In other news, Alice's fairy god-sister Megan started school this week. It's been a momentous time indeed.

Taking our leave at Lake Arrowhead

As I type, the rain buckets down on Sydney and I can't believe that just 1 week ago we were sweating it out in California.

Our trip culminated in a weekend chez the Wagners senior, in the mountains above Lake Arrowhead. We stopped "for gas" at the foot of the mountain and it was a whopping 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees C). By the time we had got to the top (I, somewhat shamefully, forget Bruce's statistics as to the height of the mountain and the lake) the temperature at 5.30pm was "just" 31 degrees centigrade. Phew. We set to work throwing open windows, switching on ceiling fans and prepared to sweat it out. Alice as ever took it all in her stride and napped happily in another strange room. Here, she relaxes in front of her view before the blackout blind is racheted up in front of it


Happily the Wagner family boat was on hand and we enjoyed a spin around the lake. Alice certainly has her sea legs and coped beautifully. We were asked a few times if it was her first boat trip (as well as if we needed a sweater/food for the ducks or Baby James's shoes), but of course I was able to point to her previous excursion on her friend Luella's cruiser - we have schooled Alice well by attending very well connected mothers groups.

It was a wonderful conclusion to our trip and the intrepid world travellers enjoyed some R&R - I even managed to finish a book. Not bad for a 6 week period. What an epic adventure young Alice has had and how many new friends and family members she has met. Not to mention gaining her own body weight in new outfits, which I had to post back separately.

Here we are, relaxing on our last night away, looking forward to our own beds, our own car and, although we weren't to know it yet, the prospect of sharing a bassinette on the plane home due to another Qant-arse screw up. Ho hum. These things are sent to try us.

Whe-ere-ere-ere did my heart go?

"Down in Mexico" would definitely be the answer. Given the three youngsters' gruelling habit of waking each other up in the early hours, the fact that I didn't have a tan to come back with, as well as the proximity of the border, we set off to Rosarito, around ninety minutes away, for a couple of days.



We had a really lovely time. Stu and I took shifts in sunbathing and eagerly awaited the lunchtime naptime when we could guarantee a good couple of hours in the sun and the pool. It was only interrupted by popping back to the room every 10 minutes to see if she had woken up. If that all sounds a bit Kate and Gerry McCann, fear not - the room (ahem, suite) opened out onto the pool and one of us was always taking a shift on the veranda, blocking the entrance. So not that relaxing, really, but such is parenthood.

About to go for a sundowner with Dad


Getting ready to go out for the day

Reading by the pool

Swimming with Mum


It was great to have a resort holiday - it has been and will be a while, I think. Stu had also booked me in for massages at the spa, plus we had a dinner at the restaurant. The Tapas Two enjoyed fajitas overlooking the sunset. Ah - good times.

Chez WC Varones

Alice adjusted beautifully to the relaxed pace of life in San Diego. She acquired quite a penchant for glassed, cups and bottles, but they were kept at a distance from her, lest she inherited her father's childhood habit of biting into them. Hmm, responsible parents? She does seem pretty keen on this margarita and in joining in the wine tasting going on below.



We had a such great time, visiting the zoo, the Wild Animal Park, shopping, hanging out with the O'Connor-Wagners and generally relaxing. Stu managed to run every day, Alice enjoyed having little people to entertain and read to her, as well as sucking on their fingers and binkies and I sometimes managed to lie in until 8am. Stu and I had a night out alone and also with Sheila and Ed. I have learned that babysitters are OK and can put a baby back to sleep without either of them having a meltdown so I am planning my social calendar as we speak.

A quiet moment reading with Caroline - get started already or I'll kick you

Settling into a good story


Fun with Baby James - the finger incident

As Sheila pointed out, I will need to hire some two year olds on return to keep Alice entertained.

And finally, some before and after shots. How life has changed in less than 4 years.
New Year 2004

August 2008 (I think we got more sleep that New Years Eve than an average night on holiday with Alice)

Stu and Ed with James

Stu and Ed with another James - this one with an eye for the ladies

Lucky number 5

While enjoying the Bolton precipitation, a new pram arrived. I think that I mentioned that Qantas wrecked my old one (a big thank you for the travel voucher that they sent to cover the cost, however). Nanna Keefe purchased a beautiful Silver Cross to replace it, but there was no chance that would make it around the world or fit in the boot of our 4x4. Yes, it was big. So, in a moment of weakness, Alice's father agreed to another pram purchase to take us across the US, to Bondi Junction and beyond.

The Bugaboo Bee turned up, we were suckered into buying more accessories and we were ready to go. It managed one or two trial walks around Ladybridge between thunderstorms (much to Grannie Al's consternation) and just about held up to the pavements. We'll need to keep the three wheeler in order to stride the streets of Clovelly. The most important factor in this choice of pram was a travel case to keep it safe. It even has "fragile" printed on it, which was a real winner for this easily persuaded young(-ish) mother.

Alice is very comfortable in my (sorry, her) new pram. We arrived in Washington after the flight from hell and she screamed until she was placed in it, whereupon she calmed down completely. Poor little jetlagged baby. We weren't helped by British Airways supplying only one bassinette to the whole plane, leaving us with a rocking chair. When placed on the bassinette shelf, this meant that Alice could see the whole plane and had no interest in sleeping. She didn't have much interest in being quiet or smiling either, however; her usual charm deserting her. On top of all that, we had a turbulent flight and each time she fell asleep, there would be a couple of bumps, the seatbelt sign would go on and she would need to be picked up. This culminated in her sleeping 1.5 hours out of 8.5, hence the extremely grumpy baby on arrival. She did cheer up when her father arrived, seeming blissfully unaware of his hangover and slight aroma of Damian's personal bottle of Grand Marnier from his Baltimore "club".

The next morning we were all up early - jet lag/ babies/ hunger/ a prod in the ribs to take Alice to the nearest Starbucks pronto will do that for you. Once Mummy had had her mocha, we were ready to see the sights. Mingling with the commuters, we strode forth to the White House, Alice napping in the Bee and missing the action.

She woke up to rehydrate at the Lincoln Memorial (temperature was in the high 30s) ...

...and then napped again at the Capitol later on

We felt bad that she was missing all the sights, so took her on a boat ride so that she could appreciate them more. Although she spent most of this playing with two children from Tennessee, she seemed to like it.

After a busy couple of days, filled with naps and West Wing quotes, and with the threat of rain from the end of Hurricane Fay heading up the East Coast, we packed up the Bugaboo and jetted off to San Diego. This flight was better. A baby behind us screamed the whole way so Alice looked angelic by comparison. The mother was too busy quietening her dog so by the end of the flight we looked more like the Waltons than the Simpsons and were delighted to come off unscathed into the welcoming sun of San Diego.

The only cloud on the horizon was the need to deal with the great unwashed of eBay on return to sell my misguided pram 3 purchase, still hidden behind the sideboard at home. Intended for travel, despite folding up to the size of a laptop, it wasn't going to facilitate any napping, which is an essential part of any mother's holiday. So here's to pram 5. Long may she sleep in her.

A weekend in the country

Having left the bright lights of Bolton, Alice and I stopped in to see some new little pals - Megan and Griff. These two small people lead an idyllic country life and happily included Alice and I in their endeavours for a couple of days. In fact, Megan was so hospitable, she gave up her bed.

The gang had lunch in the garden...

...played in their tent...

...fed the ducks...

...and a good natured Alice wore various costumes for their/our amusement


She looks a bit pensive here - I have a photo a bit like this in my own bridal veil...

But our visit was all too short and although we were excited to see Stu, it was sad to leave the Pretsells. Alice was so excited that she started to say "Da-da" the day before we left. Ungrateful little whatsit - everyone knows that Ma-ma is supposed to be the first word. The fact that everything is addressed as Da-da (including Jamie, our host) is besides the point. Da-da was, at that time, out drinking until 8am in Baltimore while I was facing another long flight with a very vocal baby. Where is the love?!