A Daddy's girl in the making?

How times have changed -
look who had the
SMALLEST suitcase!

Hurray! We (I) survived our first holiday apart from each other! Whilst I had to be practically dragged kicking and screaming to the weekend away that my dear hubby booked for me, it seemed to do us all good... everyone has been advising (lecturing) me to get out and about without Laila, arrange time for adult conversation, treat myself, yaada, yaada, yaada. The truth is, I've not been depriving myself; I've just not wanted to! Perhaps I'm still in the honeymoon period, but I haven't wanted to miss a moment of her. Then I read that there are in fact good reasons to get away from your baby every once in a while, for their sake. Apparently short separations help them to adjust to other people, become more socialised, and possibly help to "inoculate" against full-blown separation anxiety before it hits. Damn. Hence Amsterdam.

 

Vodka
and...
MILK?!

As reluctant as I was to go, I hate to admit it but, I had a blast. Other than retreating to my room every few hours to express milk (an absolute pain in the rear might I add), I felt like I was 'normal' again. Don't get me wrong, I missed Laila like crazy, but it was quite nice to meet people as Anna rather Laila's Mum. In a strange way, I think I'd secretly hoped I'd come back home to cries of "thank God you're back!" and "we couldn't cope without you!" but, quite the contrary! I couldn't believe how well Daddy coped - he even had her sleeping straight through the night, for 12 hours, not even waking up for night feeds... whaaaat?!?!? I walked back through the front door and, much to my despair, Laila carried on playing without batting an eye lid - never mind the dramatic, slow motion, joyous, reunion I'd been imagining throughout my journey home! Although, since I've been back, my poor baby's been teething terribly; her first bottom teeth are now visible so, for the first time, we've had tears upon tears - welcome home Mummy!



Daddy gave Laila her first bath in the "big bath"

 I had some good news before setting sail in Amsterdam - Laila and I were chosen as winners for our first QuinnyCasters assignment! The next assignment is to catch your child in a happy moods whilst in their Zapp Xtra, all happy and smiley entertaining themselves... this is going to be so much fun to do, especially since Laila's developing into such a little chatterbox, trying her best to 'talk' to whoever will listen, babbling away in a lingo that only she can understand...

Ooh!

A new toy!

How do I use this
again Mummy?

I've lost count of how many times I've told her that the telephone isn't a toy or edible, or that rattles aren't for thrashing, or that my hair isn't for pulling. The text books say that, at this age, she'll begin testing my authority by refusing to follow simple directions, but she's not really being disobedient, just curious. Oh, that's ok then! Although, to be fair, they say babies simply can't remember things they're told for more than a couple of seconds at a time; I'm told that the best tactic is to use a simple "no" and then distract her... have these people met my Laila?! 

Cheers Ella!

Can't believe this was FIVE months ago!

Laila is rapidly transforming from my Baby Doll to a proper little girl. Whilst amazing, I've been unexpectedly feeling a strange sadness at my baby growing up. Before having Laila, I'd always loved babies and could barely contain the excitement at the prospect of having my own. When she arrived, my feelings surpassed even that excitement - I didn't realise it was possible to feel such an overwhelmingly immense love for one person. Whilst I write this, I'm thinking it must sound so sickeningly corny that the whiff of cheese must be unbearable, but I can honestly say that even these words don't remotely do justice to how I feel about my little girl; she is my everything.

Laila's nursery furniture was finally due to be delivered from Mamas and Papas this week but, after a number of incidents (including encountering the rudest member of staff at their Bristol branch on multiple occasions), I wasn't happy with placing such a large order with them. If you've ever tried to call their "customer care" (the irony!) phone number, you'll know that you'll be placed on hold for at least half an hour, only to be offered a call back over the next couple of days. If a call back is necessary due to "busy lines", why not avoid placing the customer in an extensive queue before receiving this message? When I was eventually able to speak to a manager, I was assured that the area manager would address this employee's attitude and was given compensation, but we decided to vote with our feet and ended up cancelling the order in it's entirety out of principle. Although this puts us back to square one with Laila's nursery, I'll feel much happier getting something from somewhere like John Lewis or Mothercare where the staff can't do enough for you. I have to admit that I did momentarily cease my boycott when I spotted a perfect nursery interior for Laila, but we'll have to overlook that!

Laila's goodies! Ssssshhhh!

I'm beginning to think about next month's Champagne Cruise to Amsterdam - a luxurious 5* boat party, a chocolate therapy shopping session in Brussels, and fun and frolics with the girls! Whilst pre-Laila I would have relished the build up for the entire month running up to the holiday, I'm anxious about leaving her. How will she sleep without Mummy's goodnight cuddles? How will she feed on anything other than Mummy's milk? How will she have her daily dancing sessions while Mummy sings silly songs to her? How will I cope waking up in the morning without seeing her beaming smile? And, I may sound like a control freak but, what is everyone going to try and feed her in my absence?! Who'd have thought I'd ever be preoccupied with all these things over and above party time!

  

In preparation, with a sense of urgency since I realised we set sail in about 3 weeks, I've invested in a plethora of nutritional delights, ranging from 'combination feed' formula milk to Ella's Kitchen organic purée pouches. I couldn't believe how many varieties of milk there were - after standing there confused for half an hour, I ended up going home and asking my mummy friends on facebook for their recommendations! Aptamil it was, as the consensus was that this brand is the closest to breast milk... I'm still reluctant to use any formula milk at all but, while I'm away, I don't want to leave Laila short as she's a hungry little thing!

She's a determined girl!

I took Laila into Cabot Circus in town to open her first account yesterday. Despite recent announcements that the government is scrapping child benefit, and the nice little £250 bonus for a child trust fund, Laila still has generous relatives so we wanted to get her saving as young as possible! We went for lunch while we were out and I had my first sip of wine in about a year and a half... as you can see, Laila wanted to join in this indulgence! I can see it now - this little girl is going to grow up fast!