She teeths...

I just knew it! After daring to post that Sienna has started to sleep through the night...she woke up 5 times last night with what I think (and hope) is teething pain. And so it is a dazed mum that sits at this computer to post. Sienna is a bubbly little soul today unaware of her impact on mummy and daddy last night. Gotta love her...

As an aside, Sienna is getting increasingly difficult to take pictures of. Most of the ones I took today feature a grizzly face with a hand outstretched for the camera. She wants to play with it, not have it shoved in her face and then taken away. As you will can see in this pic.

She Sleeps!

Since we have enjoyed the 6th night straight of Sienna sleeping through, I now feel able to post about it with some confidence. She sleeps through the night!!!!! Previous to this miracle we endured 6 nights of waking at 4am and crying until 6am...where I was nearly losing my mind. Sienna has now cottoned on that I am not feeding her at night and she must wait until morning...and she sleeps!

I am so happy with this that Sienna is now treated to a whole new mummy during the day. I'm back to reading books and singing and playing on the floor. The sleep deprived mummy is nowhere near as fun or happy. Even Mick who has been doing our bathroom renovations for the past 5 weeks has noticed the difference in me. Now I just need to retrain myself to sleep through the night. After 5 hours I wake up ready to start the day and it's still dark outside. Hopefully I'll be up to 8 hours sleep a night very soon...mmm 8 hours sleep.

Rockin' and a Rollin'

Today was the first day I have seen Sienna rock back and fourth on all fours and then proceed to make movements forward (like a new caterpillar learning to wriggle along). She has been pushing herself backwards around the floor for about 2 weeks, but today was real progress. She can move forward!

Now I'd better see about baby proofing the house...my beautiful stationary baby has given me quite a repreve until now.

Thank God for the Teletubbies

I'm not particularly proud of this but I have recently discovered the bliss of a quiet baby mesmorised by the television. Usually around 6pmish if Sienna is tired and grizzly and it's been a long day for me I'll put on the Teletubbies for her viewing pleasure.

Granted I only have one episode taped so we have seen the same one several times now. I can recite it verbatim but Sienna is still delighted by the footage of the spectacular peacock showing off it's vibrant feathers and LaLa & Po (yes I now know their names!) marching around the place.

I for one am grateful for the 20mins of silence in a day of constant chatter whilst meeting the ever changing needs of a 9 month old baby. Call it a cop out, call it what you will. I call it bliss...and so does Sienna.

Waving

After several weeks of greeting Sienna in the morning and after every sleep with "Hello" and a wave we were rewarded today with a baby version of hello and an arm that waved...and waved...and waved all day.

Its amazing how they can watch you for weeks and then just one day begin copying you. Luckily for us it's Sunday and AJ was there to enjoy her latest trick. Sienna has also taken to saying "heyo dadde" which we think is clearly "Hello Daddy". Our child is a genius!

9 months today!

Our little girl is growing up so fast. Nine months already. By this stage I would have expected Sienna to be crawling and sleeping through the night...but she's just not there yet. I'm totally fine with her not crawling yet (makes my life a little easier!) but I am keenly anticipating the day my beautiful girl sleeps through the night. As much as I enjoy spending time with her, the 3am catch-ups are wearing a bit thin for this sleep deprived mum.

At nine months AJ and I are getting to enjoy lots of smiles, giggles, blowing rasperries, talking away ("mum", "dada", "Goi, goi, goi" is a favourite but we're at a loss to know what she means) and occasionally surprising me with clapping hands (once) and waving hello (once). She also eats everything I put in front of her and the thing that makes my heart the happiest (only a mum could understand this) she poohs daily now!!!

We can't wait to see her develop over the next few months...when we'll be celebrating a 1st birthday.

Daisy's party

Today we went to Daisy's first birthday party. I dressed Sienna in her little denim dress and off we went to enjoy party food (for me) and be entertained by various kids. Daisy was dressed in a beautiful pink party dress and spent most of her party playing with the Cabbage Patch doll and pram she got as a gift.

Sienna found a friend in Sarah (Daisy's cousin) who is the same age and they sat on a quilt on the lawn and played with shared toys until Sienna realised she could pull harder than Sarah and take the toys off her. That's when Sarah's tears flowed...Sienna was unperturbed by Sarah's protests and continued playing. It was interesting to watch my baby assert herself with another...I hope she's not going to be the bully of play group!

Another first for today: Sienna got her first front tooth. So that's 3 teeth now - she's getting to be such a big girl.

Family Holiday

From 11th - 21st September we enjoyed our very first family holiday in Palm Cove. There were several highlights of our trip:

- Sienna travels beautifully on aeroplanes and was fuss-free the whole way there and back.

- Our accommodation was beautiful...and family friendly.
- We were staying in sunny, tropical, warm Palm Cove amongst the sand, sea and palm trees.

- We spent quality family time together.

- Sienna slept through the night for the first time EVER on the 2nd night of our holiday. I was awake from 3.30am praying that she'll wake up and relieve my full, sore milk providers.

- We enjoyed witnessing Sienna explore her tropical world by going in the pool and spa, dipping into the ocean with me, and eating copious amounts of sand.

If I'm being totally honest, I must admit however that this holiday was one of the first to have lowlights...something I'm thinking has something to do with holidaying with an 8 month old (as much as we love her little soul):

- Sienna starting teething on night 3 of our 10 night holiday...and continued to wake throughout the night and scream for an hour before falling to sleep. She did this for the rest of our holiday. Yay for all of us!

- We sat in the shade with Sienna by the pool, on the beach etc. Therefore I didn't lie out in the sun once the whole time...and no tan to speak of. A first!

- Our holiday was relaxing...but not restful. It's the first time AJ and I have returned from a holiday in the sun with bags under our eyes feeling worse than when we left home (we don't take too well to sleep deprivation)

All in all we had a wonderful time together and now that the first family holiday is over AJ and I will be prepared for a different type of holiday next time. We were unprepared as to just how different it would be for us...given that we've been used to reading 2-3 books and spending 3-4 hours in the sun every day for 2 weeks until they have to pour us onto the aeroplane because we a so relaxed. But with our bub...not a chance! :)

Dinner...with a little help from my cousin

Sienna's cousin Justina took on the brave task of helping to feed her this evening. Justina was so excited to tell me all the cute things Sienna was doing that she was a bit slow in spooning the food in...as noted by Sienna's strained body languange...leaning forward as far as she can, opening her mouth and moving from side to side (like a carnival clown game) trying to get the hovering spoon into her mouth.

After asking Justina to keep her mind on the job at hand, she went great guns and fed Sienna her whole dinner. I think Sienna enjoyed the novelty of someone else feeding her instead of plain old mummy.

Shenanigans

Even though I'm now a mum I am often caught letting my hair down and being a child myself. There is no more perfect opportunity when I'm with my mum and sister. Poor mum looked on as Alisa and I discovered some flashing plastic gold tiara's hanging around her house. We wasted no time in putting them on and clowning around in them. Pictured here trying to imitate eachother's signature photograph faces (Alisa never does an open mouthed smile and I am apparently all teeth and eyes). Then we just got silly...also pictured.

Bath time bliss

One of Sienna's favourite time of the day is bath time. She kicks her legs in anticipation of her body being immersed in the warm water and delights in splashing around making me very wet. I've taken to putting a bath mat on top of me as I sit bath side and observe the show.

After 15 minutes of fun I take her out and treat Sienna to an oil massage...she loves it all. If only I could enjoy the same indulgence night after night. Actually it's quite relaxing giving the gift of relaxation and pampering to someone else. Especially my beautiful baby girl.

It's my party & I'll cry if I want to

Today is my birthday and it would appear that Sienna is either one of two things... A) So excited that it's my birthday that she wanted to celebrate immediately and so woke at 1am, 3.30am, 5am and 7.30am OR B) No one told her it's my birthday and that I deserve at least a good nights sleep!

So it was a tired and grumpy start to my 31st birthday with a happy and exited Sienna greeting me in her cot this morning. However because of the lack of sleep she got last night she dissolved into a grumpy bub this afternoon and as I tried in vain to tidy my house and prepare "nibbles" for the family and few friends that came to celebrate with me, Sienna decided that the happiest she could be was grizzling in my arms.

By the time my guests arrived I was ready to call the whole thing off and fall into bed in a teary heap, but Sienna was all smiles and sunshine for everyone and went off to sleep like a dream at 8pm. I then enjoyed 2 sparkling shiraz in quick succession and before I knew it I was actually having a good time. Happy birthday to me!

Extremes

My little girl isn't 100% at the moment. From the mum's that I've discussed her current state with, Sienna is apparently going to be fine...but it's weighing heavy on my heart. We have swung from constipation to having the runs and not wanting to eat anything but breast milk. She is still happy within herself and seems ok other than the not wanting to eat and having the runs part. See for yourself - does she look bothered? From the look in those cheeky eyes - that would be no.

Sitting Up

Yesterday I tried sitting Sienna up to see if she would stay...and she did but only for about 20 seconds. Today I tried again and she took to it like a duck to water and sat up enjoying her new perspective of the world for a few minutes before tumbling onto her back. She looks too small to be sitting up so straight, but she is and she loves it.

Grandma's booties

Grandma knitted Sienna a beautiful pair of booties but I don't put them on her as often as I'd like because she has such a facination with them that they don't last on her feet for long. In a Melbourne winter you need to keep her feet warm and I find with socks she doesn't notice them -but pretty booties - let me get my hands on them!

So I've decided to put them on under her body suits where they do the job of keeping her warm and it's just our little secret that she has these pretty items on under her clothes (kind of like nice undies and bra for ladies, if you will).

In an attempt to capture her in them (since it's virtually impossible to do so for long) I took a few pics of them for our viewing pleasure. Thanks Grandma!

Trolley debut

Our local IGA has relatively clean trolley's which admittedly is something I would never have noticed before I planned to place my baby in one. They also have a sturdy strap, so Sienna was treated to her trolley debut today...and didn't she love it! She can see everything from this position and reach out for things too. That was perhaps the scariest part.

Although dodging the security man checking to see what the lady in aisle 2 was doing taking pictures was the a close second in the scary department. It seems I've turned into a crazy lady with a camera since having Sienna. I have no boundaries for appropriateness in taking pics. Don't they know it was her first time in a trolley? Definitely something that needs to be captured...

On her best behaviour...sort of!

I introduced Sienna to my old work friends Liz & Yve today ("old" as in I used to work with them...they're not old!). We had lunch out and Sienna was the perfect picture of a happy bouncing baby girl (as all mum's want their child to be) until she decided that she'd been sitting there long enough. And so we began the passing from person to person to keep her interested...I think Yve copped the worst end of her interest. All in good fun though.

Making new friends

We ventured out to a child friendly cafe called Urban Life today. We met up with Mandy and Kate and their bubs Aleisha & Sam. The three of them had a play on the floor getting to know eachother while us mum's caught up over a coffee. Easy!

Yoghurt to be joking!

Continuing her exploration of food, Sienna was introduced to yoghurt today...she didn't take too kindly to it.

7 months today!

Growing up so quickly Sienna is 7 months today. She is so much more interactive and expressive these days and it's a joy to watch her explore her world.

We enjoyed a play date with Belinda and her two girls Darcie & Lilie (and a little one on the way...). As good as their company was I must admit it was almost trumped by the delicious lemon shortcake that Belinda bought with her and left behind...yum! Actually that's not true - Belinda's easy going approach and advice on motherhood always leaves me feeling like I may actually be doing a good job. Gotta love that more.