Santa Comes to Town

Stella was given some lovely presents yesterday, here she is enjoying her first Chrismas Day ... We had a wonderful day, Stella woke us at around 6.30am so up we got for breakfast and some present opening with Nana who had stayed the night. After a nap, we moved on to Aunties Kath and Claire's house for coffee and more presents. Then it was off to Stella's Great Uncle Bob and Great Aunty Marilyn's house for a delicious Christmas lunch where she was given a beautiful Owl and Pussycat themed music box. Stella surprised me and Mark by settling down quietly in the portacot for over an hour while we ate and relaxed. After a good roll around and a play we headed home with a very tired but hyped up baby. She managed to get through dinner and her bath and settled down well but was up and ready for another party at 10pm, obviously a little confused! She did go back to sleep eventually, we're now looking forward to a quiet few days of relaxation and preparation for our journey to Opito Bay for New Years.

Paper Was The Winner

True to form, the wrapping paper appeared to be a favourite with Stella on Christmas Day...

Happy Birthday Aunty Katherine

Yesterday it was Katherine's birthday, we had a lovely lunch with her, Claire and Nana. Stella had a wee nap in the portacot after lunch (her current fave seems to be a mix of courgette, apple and pear), we've found it is best (and easier) to have her in the same room as us otherwise she doesn't settle.

On Monday night, we had an early Christmas dinner with the other side of the family. Stella wore her 'My First Christmas' outfit that Mark and Nana chose for her in the sales after last Christmas, it is a perfect fit. One of Stella's presents was an old fashioned Mary Lou doll from her Granny and Grandpa. Mary Lou's legs must taste nice as Stella spends a lot of time sucking on them! No luck settling in the portacot that night so she was swaddled up and put in the buggy next to us while we ate dinner. She was much happier and had a great nap.

On the Go

I finally got a good picture of Stella's bottom teeth (hopefully you've figured out that if you click on a picture, you get a bigger version, you'll need to do this with the first pic to see the teeth), we think the top ones are moving too as the teething signs are back - mega drool, pink cheeks and more wakeful than usual! This past weekend we spent a night at Whangamata, Stella had a bath in the laundry sink which she quite enjoyed, contrary to the grimace on her face in the picture. She also got to try out her new 'On the Go' highchair which proved really handy, we even sat her in it for our picnic lunch on the way home. While she was great both days, the night was probably one of our worst. She took a disliking to her portacot and ended up in bed with us, Mark singing camping songs to her at 1am was the only thing that soothed her.

The other shots are from the past couple of days, she is really moving around the floor now, mainly by picking a target and rolling towards it, sometimes she ends up under different bits of furniture and quite often nowhere near the toy or object she was interested in. A constant source of entertainment!

Aqua Babies Reunite

Stella's friend Leo came back from Aussie for a week with his family. We spent a lovely morning with him, his mum and his brother on Monday having coffee in Mt Eden and playing on the swings. Click here to see the babies at their last meeting three months ago. Marcus is now crawling, which sometimes freaks Stella out a bit as he can move pretty fast and pinch her toys while she is beached on her back!

7 Months Old

Stella is seven months old today, it is amazing how much she has changed over this past month. She is rolling back and forth now, Mark turned around to find that she had disappeared and had somehow gotten rolled up in her baby gym this morning! She also seems to know her own mind a lot more now and won't do something she isn't keen on. Once you move her onto a new activity she is all sweetness and light again so I think she is learning about how to control her environment. I can see that the word 'no' may start to work its way into our vocabulary very soon (in the most positive of ways of course!) Her newest trick is sitting in the laundry basket, we are always looking for new things to add to our repertoire of activities, the boredom threshold currently sits at around 10 minutes per activity so those awake times just get busier and busier!

We visited the Aunties on Saturday night and Stella had great fun playing peekaboo with them. She happily hung out in the portacot in the lounge, watching Peanut the dog and Nixon the cat with great interest. We wrapped her up and she chilled out in the cot until about 8.30pm when we decided it might be in everyone's best interests to get her home to her own bed.

First Ever Christmas Present

We had a picnic under the pohutukawas with our antenatal group at Long Bay on Saturday, Secret Santa gave Stella a cool bucket and spade set. She was very interested in tearing into the package, Christmas Day should be great fun!

We lined up the babies with their Mums and Dads, babies from left to right: Jacob, Isobel, Stella, James, Marcus, Greta, Benjamin and Lucas. Samuel turned up later on, while Oliver, Sophie and Millie couldn't make it.

The antihistamine Stella is on has made a world of difference already, for the first time in ages last night she didn't wriggle out of her wrap so I'm hoping its because she is much less itchy.

Boo for the Dust Mites

Yes, Stella's results came back with a strong indication that dust mites are the key cause of her eczema. Our specialist has recommended that we replace the carpet in her room with cork tiles and get a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. She's also going to be on an antihistamine for a few weeks while we get this sorted. So, we are very relieved that she doesn't have any apparent food allergies and can now vary her diet from the carrot/apple/kumara/pumpkin combos she has been putting up with over the past month. Here she is looking chipper after our outing this morning.

The other exciting thing is that Stella is finally moving! She did her usual back to front roll this morning, I popped into the kitchen and when I got back, she had turned around 180 degrees! Facing away from her toys, probably not her objective but nevermind. Not much back/forth movement yet, just seems to be around in a circle at the moment. She was looking VERY proud of herself. She is also raising her body up with her arms when on her tummy and rocking from side to side so it seems like she is starting to realise that she has some control over where she is and learning how to move. We have the stair gates at the ready.

Brave Girl

Stella had her first blood test on Friday after our visit to the specialist re her eczema. The Medlab ladies were great but couldn't find a vein in her arm so had to do the finger prick and eke the blood out that way. Stella had a wee cry at the beginning but after that sucked on her dummy while watching what was going on very intently. Luckily they got what they needed from only one finger prick. Stella even got a Bravery Award, here she is with her certificate. We go back next week to the specialist to see what the results are, he seemed positive that he would be able to help so fingers crossed the need to scratch will lessen over time.

Fun Times with Granny

I took Stella to her Granny and Grandpa's for lunch yesterday and we had a lovely visit. She impressed them by eating all her pear and baby rice and was full of smiles. She loves having a bash at the piano although this morning she was more interested in trying to get the music stand on our piano into her mouth than anything else!

The other pics are from the weekend, we went to Benjamin's christening. Here is Stella with a couple of her mates Millie and Lucas with the Dads. Stella impressed us by settling down for a nap at Benjamin's place afterward which meant we could relax and eat instead of rushing home to put her to bed - very liberating!

We are still a little sleep deprived, one of Stella's bottom teeth has come through and we think the other is on its way up.

Itchy Scratchy

Everyone is suffering the fallout of Stella's eczema at the moment. Last night she seemed to be really itchy and restless even though she had had a lovely oatmeal bath and been lathered with cream before going to bed. She was wakeful between midnight and four only to be lulled to sleep by Mark playing the guitar then singing excerpts of Handel's Messiah! Things have been less stressful since the arrival of her arm socks as modelled in one of the pics, fortunately she is still quite happy to be swaddled and her arms have stayed secure.












For those dedicated Stella followers, there is another short video, this time of her first composition on her crocodile xylophone, click here to view. She blinks a lot when there is a loud or unfamiliar noise, it didn't stop her from having a good bash though!

First Ponytail

Stella's hair has been begging to be put up for a wee while so I finally succumbed to playing hairdresser on Sunday. Her face has healed really well and she hasn't escaped from her wrap again (probably due to my re-wrapping most mornings at around 4am!)

This morning I took Stella to the beach for morning tea, she had a lovely time looking around at the sea, birds and people. It was a beautiful morning, a lovely fresh summer breeze, great to be out before it got too hot.

6 Months Old and in the Wars

Well, we have reached the six month mark, unfortunately marred by Stella pulling a Houdini two nights in a row and wriggling her right hand out of her mitten, her wrap and her Safe-T-Sleep and having a hardcore scratch at her cheek (night 1) and ear (night 2). A trip to the doctor yesterday secured some ghastly tasting (but apparently least troublesome for her stomach) antibiotics to clear up the infection that had set in within a matter of hours in spite of our efforts to clean her up and keep her hand away from her face. Things were starting to heal up nicely until I heard a peep at 3am this morning and found her scratching away again, not a pretty sight. It took us a couple of hours to get things under control as she threw up her antibiotics, requiring a bath to clean things up. She enjoyed having Mum and Dad's full attention in the middle of the night while we tried to remain chirpy despite blaming ourselves for this all happening in the first place.

I guess you live and learn... we have reassessed our swaddling technique thanks to The Sleep Store, this has worked so far, I think one of us will be bunking in with Stella until we are convinced her arms are staying in. We are also investing in some arm socks from Kumfy Cotton. A lot of their stock is sold out after exposure on the TV show Dragon's Den and now that I'm a parent of an eczema sufferer I can understand why, their stuff is a godsend. The Nature Baby footed pants are doing the trick and stopping her from scratching the backs of her knees with the opposite toenail while lying in the cot - she really is very clever.

In spite of all of this (plus a runny nose), she has been in good form today, full of smiles and not too scratchy as long as we keep her hands busy while she is awake. Her right hand is now permanently covered until the scratches heal up a bit, as you can see, the sock on her hand didn't stop her from getting stuck into her rusk - she makes quite a dent with her bottom gum but no teeth have popped out yet, hopefully we'll see them soon.

Peekaboo

Finally captured Stella having a giggle while playing Peekaboo today. Have uploaded a short video to youtube.com, check it out by clicking here... there is a slight time delay with the sound and picture but she's still pretty cute!

For those of you who have trouble accessing the video clip, here are a couple of pics I took yesterday - she's not wearing pink!!

Hands On

Stella is very 'hands on' when it comes to feeding time, both her and I usually end up covered in the puree of the day (currently a wee bit of apple in the morning and a good dollop of pumpkin in the evening). Once the food goes into her mouth, a hand usually follows which then comes out covered in goo and gets spread on the highchair (a great purchase via trademe), her clothes and her face, with a large collection ending up in her eyebrows. She has a surprisingly strong grip and once she gets hold of her spoon, it can be a bit of a wrestling match to get it back. At the end of a feed, she really gets into having a drink of water from her cup although sometimes most of the water gets spat out again. I still can't believe my baby can do that part all by herself! Nana K found this great bib which wipes clean after a feed - fantastic!

Fresh Air

After a busy week at work for Mark, it was nice to relax and do family stuff close to home over the weekend. Stella's eczema can be very tiring for everyone as we try to allow her to explore the world while not sneakily scratching at her face and legs, something she is quite skilled at. Sometimes the best thing to do is get out of the house and enjoy the fresh air. A cool breeze seems to do wonders for Stella's skin particularly when I use my special wrapping technique to keep her hands away from her face while in the buggy. Mark came with us to the park for the first time and we were very adventurous on the see saw and slide - no pic of her on the slide as it took two of us to make sure she didn't slide off the end!

Guy Fawkes Night didn't seem to be Stella's favourite time given that fireworks were being let off by the neighbours very close to her bedroom, so to make things easier for us all we put her in the portacot in our room.