Butterfly's Birthday

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

Wednesday 22 June 2011

walking - a video







P.S
Funny how I thought she can't get into a standing position without help, thinking that maybe it's not something all babies do. Today, both on the video (didn't see it at the time..) and again later today, she did it so effortlessly..

Tuesday 21 June 2011

walking -- take 2

[was going to write this post earlier today but somehow didn't. went to bed, but felt I (damn that shift button that keeps getting stuck) needed to commemorate, so hopefully I won't be long..]

As I wrote on an earlier post, Butterfly woke up one day and started walking, and I was so glad! I mean she has been crawling for 6 (yes, 6!) months. People tell me how crawling is important and all, and I agree, but well I think she has done more than enough of crawling :-), time to move on. But, hmmm.. next few days she had a high temperature and kind of lost that walking thing.
Added to that the standing from nowhere in the middle of the room, or rather the not standing from nowhere. A friend (who has two kids, the younger being exactly two months older than Butterfly and also an early walker) told me that before they actually walk they do that, get to a standing position without any aid. And then Heather wrote how K practiced getting up from nowhere and from there continued to walking. And besides one and only time (before I announced her walking) I have not seen Butterfly do so. So I thought I thought I had an early walker and well maybe not so.
Anyway she was a few days with a fever and a few more days to recover. Coming back from that, walking did come back, but at a slow pace.
But today, Madam Butterfly woke up and decided it's walking for her! I would say she still feels more confident crawling (have I mentioned doing this for six long months..) but there's something now about walking. I really feel she woke up this morning in a walking mood, and hopefully will be walking solely very soon.
Oh, and if I'm already writing, let me tell you about her look on her face when she's trying to make the decision if to walk or crawl. Too cute that serious face of hers!

As much as I am happy my little baby is growing, I am a little sad. My little baby very soon won't be a baby anymore.. She is growing so fast!

Thursday 16 June 2011

one אחת en หนึ่ง ένα jeden واحد une एक един uno

1 Year of........... breastfeeding
We had a very hard start to breastfeeding. If I ever do get lucky (luckier that is..) and have another baby, I do know now better. I know to (attempt to) give birth in a place that won't force a seperation right after birth between mother and baby (dare I dream of a home birth?) and to not take child to child development centre until I get the breastfeeding going (seriously, the nurse there was very much on top of me about how I'm starving my child. I do know now that breastfed babies have other charts....) and to seek support like the LLL group (when I did join at 4.5 months, it really was great, one of the main contributers for bringing me back to breastfeeding almost fully. If there will be a next time, I'd like to go to this group much earlier on). etc etc etc.
But with all the difficulties I was having (breastfeeding and pumping, and oh did both hurt, but mainly the pumping, and the pills I took that gave me a back ache and a terrible nausea and a gassy feeling but unable to reasle [and oh, do I know how babies feel!] until I vomited....), I never gave up. It was (still is) very important for me that my girl gets my milk. Unfortunatly for the first few months she was mainly nurished by formula. Some would say how lucky I am to live in such an age. I think otherwise, but well... Anyway she still got some of my milk every day.
And then the nursing got better (or more, I started to believe in myself!) and we slowly dropped the bottle (yeah, solids helped but not at first. at first it was more mummy milk so less bottle milk).
Today we are in a good place [yes, she is one year old and I am still breast feeding. Can I pause and say yay!] where we do eat our solids but we also nurse a lot [and I'll add that bottle is only for water!] . And I'm loving it! And she so obviously loves the breasts too. I do often wonder what is there to like about it, I mean it is hard work getting the milk out, lol, but if at one time I wondered whether I'd ever get to the half year point, let alone the year point, I now know the sky' the limit.. I'd like to breastfeed her until she doesn't want any more, be it two, three or older [can you imagine me in an old age home nursing my middle aged daughter? ha ha ha]
And oh, what a nurser do I have! She is so not a lie in your lap and peacfully suck from the breast. Oh no, not my litttle girl! She has to move the whole time like standing up (if I'm on the mat) or getting of the sofa (if I'm on the sofa..) or climb over me (when lying in bed) all while my nipple is still in her mouth! Yes, we probably could win a gold medal in some sort of catagury in a breastfeeding olympics! And we've nursed in the baths and showers (we now take showers together, both sitting on the floor) and while I was walking (that I didn't like) and when taking her to pee in the middle of the night...


12 Months of............. bedsharing
I know it is mostly called co-sleeping, but I prefer the term 'bed-sharing' as co-sleeping could be the same bed, and could be a parent bed and a co-sleeper cot by the parent bed. We share the same bed.
Coming home from the hospital, after a traumatic birth, mother said: you're staying here (at her place), and so while I wanted to share the bed, Butterfly was mostly in a cradle and I was either on the folding bed (too dangerous to share with a newborn..) or the sofa (probably also not the safest but I would sometimes sleep with her trusting my body and my instincts). So there wasn't much bed sharing in those early days.
Then we went up to my place, first only for the nights, having day time naps at mum's and then for all sleep.
I vaguly remember those early days. I know I was a bit scared about doing the bed sharing thing, but also trusted very much my instincts. And then she was rolling. First time she fell from the bed, I shamefully admit to laughing (she was probably too stunned to cry..). Second time? That's when I decided to take my bed apart and just have the matteres. So now we both sleep on the mattress, and oh, how I love it!! It is so lovely to be able to snuggle up to your daughter at night, even if I mostly turn to the side and sleep with my back to her, I love that all I have to do when she wakes is turn around (and pick up my shirt of course.. which reminds me of those early days when once or twice she woke to nurse and before I was awake, I would feel her mouth more or less on my nipple [though.. hmmm.. I was wearing a shirt, so she wasn't getting milk..]). I also love how when I'm at the computer while she's having her daily nap [at nights she cries] and she wakes up, love how she quietly gets up and crawls over, knowing I am in the other room.
But if we are on to our sleeping arangenments, surly me must add a word or two about sleeping! Well while she is sleeping so much better, it is not always easy. We now have one nap a day, but evan so, there's a little girl here who thinks the day isn't long enough, and evan with a noon nap, would fight going to sleep.


52 Weeks of............... eliminating communicating
Elimination Communicatin is (in short) when you raise your kid without nappies. You learn your baby's signals when s/he needs to go (and baby learns your signals - when and where she can go.
Anyway the main reason for wanting to do EC was the C, communication. Alas, was/is not so easy.. I started just before she turned 2 months (didn't earlier because I first wanted to get breastfeeding right, at two months I realized that if I wait for breastfeeding to be all fine, I might never be doing EC). Taking her nappy off those first two days to seek paterns was quite scary, but it was worth it because I did learn from it. Well I had the peeing going more or less (probably 'less' but still), but had a hard time identifying poos. Till this day she is vey quite when she has a number two, I sometimes realise it is too quite, and sure enough when I turn around she is in the process (sometimes very early as in nothing came out yet so we dash to the loo. Sorry if tmi). Well the peeing, or more knowing when she needs to pee, was o.k until winter came. Somehow with the need to wear long clothes (and mostly also a nappy) I've lost it. I still haven't really yet found it, and peeing is usually a miss (or a refusal, yes, she does that a lot, and how annoying to be right but still needing to clean a puddle..). Today, many times when she needs to pee, she would go to "her corner" and stand and pee (she is so smart!), or come to me while I'm on the computer and cry (which somehow I always miss, thinking she wants me to be with her..). So maybe we're off with the cues, but she knows she needs to pee and she knows it is to be done in a special place. I am going to buy a potty or two on her birthday and try and "toilet train" her this summer.
That is as far as days are concerned. As for the nights.. Well I can proudly announce that at one year of age she has never, yes NEVER peed in her sleep. Needless to say didn't poo either. That doesn't mean we have long dry nights. No, she wakes up every so often to go. And most nights, I do have a miss or two (mainly because I'd hear her stirring but be too tired to realize..). And I embrace those nightly wakings as I am not allowing her to "learn" to loose control of her bladder in sleep. And yes, from the age of two months, she has never went to bed at night with a nappy! Even when we were having a very bad time, and I was really thinking of just letting her sleep with a nappy, I didn't.
Our new thing now at nights, as she is queen of refusals (screaming and getting herself wide awake [as opposed to being half awake] and making it much harder to be put back to sleep, and becaue I'm not always sure if she needs to pee or just wants the breast, well (too long a sentence..) our new thing is to let her nurse while I'm holding her over the bowl!


365 Days of............... personality
Oh my little girl has such a personality! From the minute she was born she was so alert and so curious anout the world. I know I mentioned before how when they took her to the nursery and how all the other babies around her were either asleep or crying loud and she just looked around, absorving it all. Till this day, she is such a curious girl, wanting to know about the world around her. And she doesn't just keep it at being curious, she investigates and learns. Many times she would turn something to look at its back, to see how it works.
She is also very very active. All the time on the go. Sometimes when going to sleep, she would want to lie on me, but then every few seconds she would change positions. She just can't lie still :-).
And she's physical (and might I add very strong!) and many things she taught herself. For examle climbing the slide (and as much as she loves climbing them, she's not too fond of the ride down..) and climbing up the sofa and down (though she didn't do that trick again..).
On the down side, I'd say that like her mother she is not a big smiler. Her face is usually with a serious (should I say curious?) look on it. But when she smiles.. :-)))Love her smiling face in the morning when we decide to indeed get up..

525 948.766 Minutes of........ moving around
They say that new born babies, when put on their mothers' abdomen, can wiggle themseleves up to her breasts. Of course I had to try that when Butterfly was just a few days old, and that is so amazing! And as young as a month or two, I would put her on a mat and she would be able to make some advancment (though with no aim or purpose, just her moving her body, so can not call that crawling..). So I had/have a very active baby, one who is on the go the whole time.
At four months (and one week :-)) she was rolling both ways (from tummy to back and from back to tummy). Then, just before she turned 6 months, she amazed me with her sitting. She simultanously tought herself both to sit and crawl, advancing somewhat on crawling, then the sitting, then again crawling, etc. Crawling, I alwyas knew she'd do early, so not really surprised but that, but the sitting.. I would like to add that we here in Israel are very firm on the no putting babies in a sitting position until they can sit (a bumbo chair, for eg. is a very big no no), which means asking all the time if the angle [and yes, on the laps babies who are not yet sitting are only held in a wide angle is o.k so as not to be sitting] and feeding in a jumper (I think that's what you call it in English. will add that by nine months if baby is still not sitting a high chair for food is o.k...) etc. I think 9 months is when about a baby can sit on their own, and what I was expecting. So how happy was I when she did so at 6 months! And sitting is great, freeing both hands.. [but if they sit before they crawl most likely they won't crawl and that's not the best thing for them. crawling is important].
At 7 months she was standing, and I thought I'll have an early walker, but.. didn't really seem to advance. I think it was 9 months when she started cruising, and then pushing a chair or whatever. On Independence Day she took her first step! (well a quarter of a step, but still a first..) and then almost nothing and then a month later she astonished me by really walking. But then she got a high temperature and she kind of lost it.. She now occasionaly does two or three steps.. Well I'm sure true walking is just around the corner! [and she is funny with those three steps, by the third one her body is so leaning forward, if I catch her she's fall..
But as you saw on the video, she loves climbing the slide (not so going down it..) and loves climbing stairs and going in the tunnel in the playground.


31 556 926 Seconds of........ beauty
My daughter, gorgeous and amazing as she is, does not look at all like me. When I'm out with my mother and her, people quite often will comment how the two of them look alike (they actually don't look too alike besides the blueness of their eyes), but not me. Funny how before giving birth I thought nothing of how she would look. But before giving birth I "knew" she would have some of my features. Well "knew" alright. In the beginning I had a slight fear, not a real fear as I knew she was indeed my baby, but still this thought kept creeping by - what if they made a mistake on transfer day? Not that I wouldn't love her as much as I do if she wasn't biologicaly mine, but.. if she's not mine then she's someone's else! And yes, most likely I've been watching (in my past, haha) too many of those kind of films.
But besides that, I am still having a hard time believing this little girl is my daughter. My daughter. I think it's hard for me to grasp also because of her looks.
And then last night**, when she was sleeping before I went to bed, coming into the dark room, I saw MiniMe lying there. Something about how she lay all spread out (not that I sleep like that, but still) and her hair, oh her hair! (as it was dark I couldn't see how fair her hair is...) What a delight!
And yes, I think Butterfly is gorgeous and amazing and very beautiful (probably a good thing she doesn't look like me, lol). I am so lucky to have her as my daughter :-).


* note - I used google translate for the title, so.. if it's not accurate (in Hebrew, for example, there are two ways of saying 'one'. Google translate had the wrong one..), I'm sorry.

** hmmm... typing this in bits and pieces, so last night was not the 15th (not that it matters)

Monday 13 June 2011

warning about turning private

Just a quick post to tell you what I've just discovered - a blogger I have just recently added to my reader (from the ICLW) has closed her blogs to invites only. O.K, I am new, didn't really comment yet so she doesn't know me, so of course I have no access to read her blog. So when I try and get into her blog I have the invites only message.
BUT, you want to know how and why I tried getting into her blog? Because I have the full posts in my reader! That is, because I added her blog to my reader before she turned private (I wonder if it's possible even after turning private), I can still read her posts!
Just thought I'd warn in case you thought about going private..

P.S
Thought of warning her too (because obviously there was a reason why she turned private), but here's another fault with blogger - they mention connecting with blogger owner for permission, but how??

EDT: As she did comment on my blog on that week, and as she does have her e-mail on her user profile, I did manage to send her an note telling her about this.

Tuesday 7 June 2011

!~WALKING~!

Butterfly took her first (quarter of) independent step on Independence Day (yeap :-) ), that was about a month ago (10th of May). But then nothing, until the day before my birthday when she took a few two-three steps. I thought that by the next day I'd have a lovely present, but, well.. we were back to nothing.

A few days ago she started again taking two, three even four steps. Then the night before last, I dreamt she was walking and counted thirteen steps. Next day, besides the two-three steps, she also had a solo performance of 9! steps. And today there was quite a lot of walking! [there were even twenty steps at one time. and yes, I'm counting.....]

OMG I have a walker!!! And yay for my little girl for doing it (just) before her first birthday!
I do hope to get (and post..) a video of it soon.

Monday 6 June 2011

Nanny Gone Nanny Come

Still trying to figure what happened that last day of ex-nanny. Yes, she no longer works here. I managed to find someone new, who will hopefully help me now in June and then in the next school year. She sounds good, even very good, just hope I won't be disappointed.
Anyway, the last day of ex-nanny and before the cross words between me and her were said. Before that, it was supposed to be a normal day, but well, it wasn't. When I asked her at the end of the day (again, we're still in the before mode), how it was I got the - oh the usual. Had to dig in and ask her to find her completely lying in regards to Butterfly's sleep - the hours changing and the story at which Butterfly just fell asleep in the pram while taken for a walk (oh, I wish it was that easy to get her to sleep!) and then nanny moved her to sleep in the house (another urg about nanny is how she puts my girl to sleep but that's not for now) and my little girl did not stir. Yes, so unlikely of Butterfly. And can I add that we are talking two or three hours (depend on what version to go) after she had a nice lengthy two hour morning nap??
But then there was no walk, no being out and about. She most likely did force a nap on Butterfly (I asked her not to put her to sleep because she really does not need that extra nap. When asked, I said that if she falls asleep, not to wake her up. Hence my daughter "falling asleep" on the way...).
There's my sister hearing her shout at my girl and the yogurt bowl only half eaten (so not typical).
So what happened?? Did she speak to some friends and decided it was her last day so she can be nasty to my daughter (and yes, I don't think she was too nice to her that last day. Up till then she was mediocre minus, after Thursday she, well you can figure..

And then the work day ended and she asked if I'm still not planning on giving her a letter of recommendation. Nope, she does not deserve one in my eyes. You can't come to work a whole year thinking only about yourself and your comforts and bending the needs/wants of the one you are supposed to care for (who was a total helpless) and then hope to get a reward on that. Anyway I said that no (I actually thought she was beyond and understood she won't get such letter from me) to which she said that she won't be coming anymore and can she have the two days wages (it was on the 2nd, and I paid her [hmm that day] for the month of May). Well no! Didn't and won't pay her for those two days, and as we say in Hebrew, she can jump me!
And you know, the stupid nanny lost all ways - she didn't get paid those two days (come on, in the same sentence she says she quits without giving me notice and then asking for money!?), she does not have a job and she does not have a letter of recommendation. As for me and Butterfly, I can only be pleased she won't be coming.


P.S
And you know, now that Butterfly does not have that extra nap, she goes to sleep at night much earlier and so much easier. It is no longer around 22:30 after about two long frustrating hours of trying to put her to sleep, but at around 20:00 and within maybe twenty minutes.