Month 6

wow 6 months can fly by when you're having fun can't it? this month bought my official return to full time work, Declan's first round of gastro and the worst nappy rash ever, more teeth, 6 mth needles and a whole lot of love and fun in between!

my return to work went better than expected, but it was just a whole new level of tired and exhausted to get used to! Declan was settling well at day care, and after catching a bit of everything (the flu, a cough, gastro, conjunctivitis) we managed to settle into a pretty good routine. the gastro was horrible. but it wasnt anywhere near as bad as the nappy rash that followed. my poor baby. he was hating everything at that point, even sitting up for too long hurt his little bottom, and after several trips to the doctors, plus asking multiple chemists for advice, we finally found a cream that worked and cleared everything up pretty quickly! he grew another 2 teeth pretty quickly and with not much fuss, and even handled his 6 mth needles better than I'd been told he would. just a quick cry and then all better after cuddles. and no reactions or side effects, so happy with that.

best part about this month though? he said his first word! and it was "MUMMA" yay! honestly, it wouldnt have mattered if he'd said mumma or dadda first, we were just so excited to hear him say an actual word! of course "Dadda" quickly followed and now we can't get him to shut up about it! hahaha. its the sweetest noise in the world listenning to him call out to me through the monitor in the mornings. or, on the mornings when hes woken up in our bed with me, his little eyes blink open, he looks straight at me with a tiny smile and whispers "mum" at me. its just the best feeling ever.

he's finally in his own cot most nights (he always starts in there, but on the odd occasion, specially when sick, he still ends up in our bed) and surprisingly, hes even sleeping through, probably 4 nights out of 7, so not bad baby boy! keep it up! he still isnt a fan of tummy time, but is happier to play alone, and is loving his walk-around table so much! I'm always so torn between being so excited about how big he is and all the new things hes learning, to being sad that its all going so quickly and hes changing so much every day. luckily, we've been taking a million pictures constantly, so we'll have a pretty good record to look back on!

Everyone loves new pjs! and Elmo!

Declan was shocked when we discovered his secret identity! hehe

Thanks for the new toy dad! when my feet touch the ground, I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more! (never mind the mess in the background :/)

With new teeth comes a new love of rusks!

Still not keen on any sort of pureed food though!

Our beautiful baby boy on his 6 month birthday. We'd thought we'd celebrate by taking him on the swing at the park for the first time. He loved it!

Declan scored some hand me down toys from his cousin Jasper. He loved them both! They remain at my parents house so he has different things to play with when we're there. Saves having to bring everything every time!

My sweet cousin N came round to do a 6mth photo shoot for us, these are a couple of my test shots (taken on my iphone) he looks so sweet and grown up in his sneakers!

Not every photo was a success though, and most of the day was a disaster. Declan was in no mood to have his picture taken! we were lucky N managed to get a few really great ones in between all the tears!

She did such a great job with such a grumpy baby! Hoping he behaves better for pics around his 1st birthday!

Month 5!

Ok, so I never did get around to writing about our family tragedy back in May. And I'm still not sure how to go about it, so for now, even though I said I wouldn't, I am going to continue on with Declan's monthly updates instead, because, well its DECEMBER already (what what?!) and hes about to be ONE!

So Month 5, in terms of Declan-ness was pretty good. Thank goodness we have an easy baby that's so adaptable and cooperative (I may eat those words one day!) that no matter what we were all going through, or expecting him to deal with (any sort of routine had gone straight out the window this month!) he dealt with it all like a champ. And is still constantly smiling. He makes everyone smile, such a blessing to have in our lives.

This month though, was particularly hard for me, as it marked my return to work. And full time work at that! I always knew I'd be returning to work, at some point, but it wasnt supposed to be this quickly. But we need the money, and there wasn't a way I could swing being part time at the job I already had, so after a few half weeks (thank goodness my replacement agreed to my part time arrangement for as long as she could) I returned to full time. 8-4, 5 days a week. That meant finding a day care for Declan. Which felt like such a daunting task. There are plenty around our area, and near my work place, and I hadn't heard a bad word about any of them, and that somehow made the decision harder. I checked out a couple I had had good recommendations to, but they just didnt feel "right". The last place I looked at, thank fully, was the best. I just had such a good feeling about it. As soon as Declan and I walked in there, we knew it was the place for us! It was such a big decision, and despite all my good feelings about the place, I still didnt sleep very well before and after making the final decision, I'm always such a nervous wreck about big life decisions. We worked out that Declan would go to day care full time 4 days a week, and my sister would have him on Tuesday mornings (Dan only works til 12pm on Tuesdays). Ami was just so danged excited to start her new weekly babysitting duties, and Declan still to this day just adores her and their special time together. I'm so grateful that she was able to do this, and its so special that theyre so close.

Declan took to daycare like a champ. Apparently only cried a little bit when I left the first 2 days, then he was fine. All the girls that look after him in his baby room are so sweet and attentive to him, I felt really comfortable leaving him in their care. Of course, I still got quite teary every morning when I drove away, but that soon faded once I saw how much fun he was having. We get a write down of everything hes done/eaten/drank/slept every day, and hes always in such a good mood in the afternoon, he must really being enjoying it.

Of course, with full time work, comes so much busy-ness that some days I felt really stressed and exhausted, I wasnt sure how I was going to be able to do this long term! And occasionally, I do still feel like I have no time to do anything, and nothing in the house will ever be completely done, but I am getting more used to it, and Declan has sorted himself out a great routine, he's even started sleeping through the night! Hallelujah!!

He's so good at rolling now, except he really doesnt enjoy being on his stomach much! Cant see him crawling anytime soon thats for sure! He's grown himself some teeth, and managed to handle teething really well, and even started to make more and more noises (I hear him say "mumma" every day in my head, though he hasnt quite got it out just yet! haha). He's an amazing baby, and we are so so lucky to have him. He certainly came at the right time for my whole family, and they all needed him this month to help lift their spirits and make them smile. He's definitely good at that!!

Photo time!

The one photo of him not screaming on his stomach! he really does look close to crawling, but it seriously isnt going to happen any time soon!

Apparently mummy's glasses are hilarious! Oh baby boy, you do look hilarious in them!

Such a little baby in a big bed! I put him in there straight, but somehow he always ends up diagonal!

First encounter with a rubber duckie! Haha his face!

Gotta rug up in these cold months! This set was the best thing I've bought for him, he wears his mittens in bed to stop him pulling out his dummy and waking himself up, and the hat is great coz his little ears are always cold! Plus, LOOK AT THE CUTE!

"Helping" poppy with the puzzles!

Fun times in the daycare swing. Apparently hes a big swing hog and has a bit of a cry every time they take him out. This was his first day, man did I feel better when I saw how happy he looks!

We also tried to start giving him some food. Rice cereal at first, as he hasn't had anything else but breastmilk or formula. He wasnt a fan. But we'll keep trying!

xx