Seven Months...

Wow. On the downward slope to a year already! And Grace is today exactly 71 years and 5 months younger than my Dad. Hehe...

It has been a really really long week. Rupes has been in Australia for a week (back tomorrow), Grace has been unwell, up often during the nights, not sleeping much during the day, not eating much no matter what array of tempting goodies I lay out before her. The weather has either been cold...or if not cold then raining. New carpet was laid in the lounge on Tuesday - I have only just finished getting everything back into place. I couldn't go to the office so have been snatching time at home to get some work done - often at night when I am most tired.

What a whiner! I look at what I have just written and although it's all true, I want to slap myself. How dare I whine about being tired and Grace being sick and keeping me up? It's funny how quickly you can forget the years of infertility and the absolute joy of holding your baby for the first time and start to focus on the hard aspects. Let's face it - infertile or not, any new mother is going to be tired. Add in a sick baby, an absent husband, and you have a recipe for a worn out Mum!

So. Enough whining already - let me tell you about what a wonderful wee girl Grace is turning out to be! First off, she sits up easily now and has even figured out how to belly flop forward when she has had enough - or when the dog walks past and Grace wants to chase. She loves to stand up too - holding onto your hands, or standing on your lap laughing as you "pretend" to let go of her. Rolling everywhere. Getting stuck against couches, walls and trying to figure out how to reverse. She's absolutely fascinated with Katie (the dog) and if Katie walks past when Grace is feeding it's all over Rover - pun intended. Katie lets her have the odd pat and stroke but only when I am there - otherwise she stays out of reach.

Grace is pretty much all better now, over her virus, appetite is building, and it's back to full throttle. I treasure the first cuddles after she wakes up but they don't last too long before she is pushing at me to let me GET DOWN AND PLAY MUM! I literally have to strap her into her reclining seat for her to have any quiet time at all - otherwise, she is in full on play mode. Dad and I noticed yesterday that she is starting to use her knees and feet more to push off, so crawling might not be too far away. She laughs often, loves her jolly jumper still - and quite likes using the jolly jumper as a swing - her wee legs come up and she just kind of hangs in mid air. Very cute. She's taking a real interest in books - looking at the pictures, touching them - she was looking at a cookbook yesterday and I think she was a bit disappointed the pictures weren't for real. Sleeping wise, she is on the improve after a few unsettled nights - back into her sleeping sack and being strapped into bed which doesn't always work - I found her on her tummy this morning!

Motherhood. It's wonderful. And sometimes I just need to remind myself that despite the tough days, the poo explosions, the lack of sleep...it's the thing that I wanted for so long. And I'm still ever so grateful for her :-)

In a rash move I am hosting our coffee group (which I don't really attend) this week. Hopefully I'll have a bit of time to do some cooking and baking. The girls are nice - they really are - but most are way younger than me, and I really don't have time to do coffee mornings every week. So I shall host once, to be polite, then quietly ease myself out of the picture.

And that's it for me for this week - Grace has just woken up and is making the most delightful cooing noises - she has a toy stuffed dog she sleeps with and he gets cuddled and sucked and talked to! Very cute!