Letter To Bee

Dear Bee,

I can hardly call you Baby Bee anymore, because you are getting so big! You are now into Size 0, and are wearing things that JJ used to wear when she was turning 2 years old. Actually, some of the things you are now wearing were packed into newborn nappy boxes, your newborn nappy boxes.

And I can’t call you an infant anymore either – you are definitely in the crawler category now. You can cross a room, commando-crawling style, in seconds. One moment you are in the loungeroom happily playing with your toys, and the next moment you’ve crawled through the dining room into the laundry, where you may, or may not, be eating a few pellets of cat food. Oops. At least the stuff we get is nutritional. Well, for cats anyway….

Mr Banya and I have just finished reading “French Kids Eat Everything” by Karen Le Billon, and we’re keener then ever to help you to enjoy a variety of foods, besides cat food. Mr Banya served up an anti-pasto platter a few nights ago, and you happily munched along on prosciutto, black olives, pickled artichoke hearts and caperberries, while Mr Banya finished off the flat, left-over-from-Mother’s-Day champagne. A lovely family meal.

Vita-Weets and cream cheese may not be all that French, but they do make for cute photos!

There have been a couple of things that you’ve tried and not liked. But you don’t seem to be aware that you have the option of not eating. For instance, you tried cucumber with salad dressing the other day. You’ve eaten cucumber by itself before, but strong flavour of the salad dressing made you scrunch up your face. But you put it back in your mouth to taste it again, then scrunched up your face again, then tasted it again, then scrunched up your face again, repeat x10.

You’re also starting to talk. Not a lot mind you. But a couple of words. You’ve been crawling around chasing after our cat Charli saying “Ga” (cat), but your favourite word is “Daddy”. You’ve also started to say JJ’s name. And you’ve said “Mum” a few times when you’ve been really upset – but I’m not entirely convinced this last one is intentional yet. You also have particular sounds for when you’re tired or hungry, and you’re also babbling a lot, using a much broader range of consonants than before.

Photos by Megan Webb Photography

Moving house has been a bit unsettling for you. The first week you were waking about 7-8 times a night. Now I can cope with a few night wakings, and getting you to “sleep through” is quite low on my priority list, but 7-8 times per night (plus possibly once or twice for your sister) is turning me into a zombie.

Your father very gently suggested that my new Mirena (an IUD contraceptive) may be affecting my mood, because I’d been snapping at him and the kids a bit more than usual. So, I replied (not so gently) that “MAYBE BEFORE WE BLAME THE MIRENA WE CONSIDER THAT I AM GETTING NO SLEEP”. Which I think partially proves both our points really…

I imagine that you were sleeping poorly partly because you were missing the familiar decorations on your walls and the comforting tick tick of your clock, partly because your room is colder than your old room, partly because you seem to be teething (poor thing), and partly because of caffeine in my breastmilk. So I’ve eliminated my only joy caffeine, bought you a column heater for your room, and  started giving you Bonjela, and the results are starting to show. Your night wakings are now a much more manageable 3-4 times. We’ve still got your clock and decorations packed away somewhere – we’re slowly getting through all the unpacking…

Photo by Megan Webb Photography

I should probably also mention that this month your sister caused you to lose your fingernail and gave me a mini heart attack. Thankfully your finger is recovering well, and my heart fluttering has started to subside.

Bee, we love you so so much.

Love,
Mummy, Daddy and JJ.

Previous letters to Bee:
A letter to Bee (7 months)
A letter to Bee (6 months)
A letter to Bee (5 months)
A letter to Bee (4 months)
A letter to Bee (3 months)
A letter to Bee (2 months)
A letter to Bee (1 months)
Bee’s Birth Story

My little Bumble Bee,

Five months is such a wonderful age.

You’ve grown, not just physically, but also emotionally. You are smiling, cooing, laughing, reaching, kicking, wriggling, rolling, touching, exploring.

We’ve got you sitting up on an angle in the pram now, facing forward. You’re loving watching the world go by. You break out into the biggest, most engaging smile whenever anyone simply glances your way. And you break out into a real chuckle at the first hint of a game of peek-a-boo.

Out of the pram, we’re continuing to put you down on your tummy every time, but you are quicker to roll over onto your side now. You can sometimes manage to shuffle yourself around 180 degrees.

But you are getting frustrated by your immobility. You’d like to be able to crawl. You’d like to be able to sit up by yourself too.

Double trouble!

You’ve been gnawing on your fists a bit lately. I think maybe you might be getting your first tooth. I thought I could feel something the other day. We gave you some Bonjela tonight, and you squished your face up into the most shocked expression. I realised it’s only your third taste – besides breast milk and the oral Rotavirus vaccine.

Somehow you’ve adopted a toy spoon from JJ’s kitchen as one of your favourite toys, and you’ve been exploring it, sucking on it, discovering where your gag reflex is. This is good practice for you, since we’re intending to try a modified version of Baby-led weaning.

You are just starting to show some of the readiness signs for solids. You are getting quite good at holding things and bringing them to your mouth. But you’re still getting the hang of sitting, and will often flop forward over the side of your Bumbo. And you’re not yet showing great interest in the foods that we eat. Maybe by next month you’ll be ready.

You went to your first Blogger Catch Up this month, and won everyone’s hearts. I’ve just bought us tickets to attend DPCON13 next month, so you’re going to become famous across the blogosphere! Hopefully for all the right reasons. I don’t want to become known as the blogger with baby vomit down her back, OK?

Your sister has been asking to hold you all the time lately. You’re not the biggest fan of this, as you prefer to be able to see her face rather than to be squished up against her chest. But you generally put up with it for a minute or so. She says things like “She’s soo cute!”, “It’s your big sister”, “I love you”, “Baby Bee, I didn’t recognise you were coming” and “I’m so glad you came”. I’m not so sure why she says the last two, but she says them with such affection in her tone that I don’t have the heart to correct her.

I must apologise for the general lack of photos of you throughout this month. I’ve just joined Instagram and promise to take way too many photos next month to make up for it.

I love you as much as you think peek-a-boo is hilarious.

xx
Mummy

Previous letters to Bee:
A letter to Bee (4 months)
A letter to Bee (3 months)
A letter to Bee (2 months)
A letter to Bee (1 months)
Bee’s Birth Story

Dear Bee,

You’re three months old, which means I can’t call you a newborn any more. Now you are a baby. And you’ve just grown out of your newborn nappies to prove it.

You are full of expressions. Smiling, cooing, laughing and blowing raspberries. It’s delightful.

If I stick out my tongue, you copy me.

If I place something in your mouth, a teether for example, your little mouth chomps up and down, you lick and chomp and really explore it. Dribble pours down your front.

You are batting only sporadically. You seem to be totally aware that you have feet and intentionally try to kick things. But of your hands however, I’m not so sure. You know to suck on your fist, but that’s as far as you’ve really gotten. Once or twice you’ve held on to your Daddy’s fingers and look like you want to bring them to your mouth, but instead end up sucking on the back of your own fist, still clenching Daddy’s fingers. Or you bring the other hand to your mouth and miss the point entirely.

We’ve been really “working” on your tummy time this month, giving you more and more tummy time each day. Initially you really sucked at it, lasting only a few seconds, but gradually, day by day, you’ve gotten better, stronger. I popped you on your tummy at my Mother’s Group, and couldn’t help but feel proud by all the praise you received. Uh oh, 3 months old and you already have a proud mummy.

You’ve *just* started rolling. So far you’ve only rolled four times, so I was super stocked to catch one of these moments in the photos above! All of your rolls so far have been from front, over your right shoulder, to your back. Initially I think they were accidental, but you are looking less startled every time, so perhaps you are starting to get the hang of things…

We’ve been going to your Mothers’ Group once a week, whilst your older sister is at gym class with Grandma. I’m the only second-time mother, as technically it’s supposed to be a first-time mothers’ group. I was only allowed to join after I begged the Early Childhood Centre. It’s been such a treat to have some time dedicated just to you! I really look forward to this time every week, where I get to talk to other mother’s with babies of the same age, find out what successes and struggles they’ve had this week, discuss any successes and struggles I’ve had that week, and feel like I am not going through this process alone. You are so different from your sister. I might be experienced in bringing up JJ, but I’m not yet experienced in bringing up you.

The Early Childhood Centre has also put me in touch with another lady who is also a second-time mums with a little baby around the same age as you. We’ve been catching up once a week. The older kids can play together whilst the mum’s talk babies.

These little babies will grow with you. Will become your friends. You’ll grow up knowing them your whole life.

I love you as much as mother’s need mothers’ groups.

xxx
Mummy

Happy 2nd month birthday Bee!

Dear Bee,

You have become so much more aware this month. You’re smiling, cooing, responding.

You have a playmat that has a map of the world suspended from above, which responds to vibrations by flashing and playing a variety of tunes. You love it! You’ve learnt that you can set it off by kicking the bars. Whenever the music stops, you kick like crazy to get it started again. Sometimes if you are not lying in the right position, you just kick aimlessly at the air, so we pop over and give the playmat a little shake for you.

Another favourite spot is the change table. You love it when we sing to you while we change your nappy. We’ve noticed that when we stop singing, you start kicking madly. Apparently you think you can start us singing again this way too! And it works – whenever we see your feet going, we start singing again.

You also love the mobile that I made. The high contrast colours have you transfixed.

I’ve starting to introduce tummy time, using a prop under your chest to make it easier. We’ve been having some successes in the last few days, with me lying on the floor next to you, using a mirror to show you the “other baby”. You’re not overly fond of it, but you are happy enough for a minute or two here and there.

We’re also starting to play the “rolling game”, where we roll you from your back to your tummy and vice versa, singing “rolling this way, and rolling back” over and over again.

Reality of being a second child is that I don’t always have time to play with you as much as I’d like to. Sometimes I’ll be in the middle of playing with you, and I’ll hear “Mummy I have that wee feeling” and I have to stash you somewhere safe (usually on the floor – you can’t fall if you are already down there) and bolt off to attend to your sister.

But at the same time, you get the added stimulus that your sister brings. You love sitting and watching whatever she is doing, just as much as she loves showing you.

You also, apparently, enjoy watching Playschool. You will turn your head and actively watch it. Not that I intended to introduce television to you at this early age!

Your increased awareness has also brought with it the increased over-stimulation that the early months are renowned for. There are times when you want to lie in your bassinet, swaddled and with your dummy, and left alone to just stare out the window. Other times you need to be swaddled, gently shaken and shushed.

We’ve found that the 5 S’s settling technique works really well whenever you’ve gotten a bit hysterical. The hardest times are dinner time (you must be able to smell the food, as it starts exactly whenever dinner is served), and also when we turn out the lights at JJ’s bedtime.

The biggest improvement came when you finally took the dummy at about 7 weeks old. Your suck reflex is quite strong (no offence!). For the first few weeks, you loved to suck on our little finger, which of course was not a long term solution… It took three different brands /shapes before we found a type that you liked. You like the green cherry-shaped ones.

Last month’s small trip to the hospital turned out to be nothing that you couldn’t handle on your own, thank goodness. Since then you’ve had a couple of minor colds followed by mild conjunctivitis, which we are treating with some antibiotic eye drops.

You also had your first bout of vaccinations when you were 6 weeks old – Rotavirus, Tetanus, Hib, Polio, Diphtheria, Whooping cough, Hepatitus B and Pneumococcal disease. You screamed, especially when the doctor gave you the second shot. Poor little thing. But it does make me feel a lot better about letting other people hold you. Especially whooping cough, as there is quite an epidemic going around Australia these last few years.

You are still sleeping about 15 hours a day, with about 9.5 hours of this being “overnight”. Not in one go of course – you wake several times a night to nurse, as would be expected at this age. But you nurse quickly and go back to sleep easily. You usually take 10 minutes to nurse, and another 10 minutes to fall into a deep sleep, before I put you back in your cot. If I need to change your nappy, add another half an hour. I don’t mind being up though, as this is my blogging time! I’ve mastered typing one-handed while nursing with the other. It’s quite peaceful really…

Love you as much as butterflies love flowers.

xx
Mummy

PS: Click here for last month’s letter

Happy one month birthday Bee! Wow, didn’t that month just fly by….

Happy 1 month birthday to me!

I’ve resisted blogging too much about you up until now, as I wanted some time to get to know you. And I think we are there now. I know you. Obviously you’ll change as you grow, but that’s no matter, because I know who you are, right now. And I like you! Oh, I love you too of course, but liking is a different thing. So yes, Mummy loves you and likes you too. We’re going to have some fun together, on this journey called life…

So anyway, what have you been up to?

Thanks to my Baby ESP smartphone app, I can tell you that in the last 30 days you’ve:
* slept for a total of 17 days and 18 hours
* slept for an average of 14 hours per day, with 8.5 hours being “overnight”
* your longest sleep is 6 hours
* you’ve nursed 484 times so far
* total time nursing is 3 days and 20 hours (about 3 hours a day)
* average nursing session is 11 minutes
* average time between nursing is 1 hour & 40 minutes
* 204 dirty nappies so far (about 7 a day)
* you’ve had 9 baths
* you’ve projectile vomited 11 times

You are really good at breastfeeding. You can latch on, and stay on. Quite a few times I’ve had to pick you up mid-feed and go running after your sister, and you just keep on feeding regardless. We “demand feed”, so I let you feed as often as you want to. As you can see above, this is about every 1.5 hours. But you often cluster some feeds close together. We’ve had quite a few 4 hour marathon feeding sessions where you’ve basically swapped from boob to boob the whole time. Great way for building up my supply.

You’re a bit refluxy. We have you sleeping on a 30 degree angle, which you seem to prefer. Luckily our pram & car seat allow for this angle too. You’ve had a few (11 actually) major projectile vomits that look like the chuckie doll. It’s amazing to watch. You don’t really retch, just open your mouth and a stream of vomit comes out like a fountain. It doesn’t seem to bother you, but it sure makes a mess of whatever I’m wearing at the time!

You seem to have a good temperament. Sometimes, after you’ve napped, we’ll find you awake, and not crying. Just gazing up at the world. And then sometimes, you just go back to sleep on your own. Mind you, “sometimes” doesn’t mean “often”, but I marvel that you’ll do it at all. Often when you wake at night for a feed, you grunt more than cry. I love that I can respond to your grunts before you get worked up enough to actually cry. It makes me feel like a good mum.

But having said that, you are getting a bit over-stimulated lately and needing a lot of soothing over the evening “arsenic hour” from around 4pm onwards. Lots of shushing, covering your eyes, letting you  suck on one of our fingers, or cluster feeding. But we expected this. Your father is very good at settling you at these times, maybe because he doesn’t smell of milk like I do, maybe because he is uber-patient with you, and maybe because he is an awesome dad.

A couple of times when we have been out visiting friends over this arsenic hour period, you’ve been fine whilst we were out, but wouldn’t settle overnight unless you were being held. Just too much going on in your little brain I guess. Nathan and I tag-teamed holding you all night, which makes for very sleepy parents the next day.

We’ve tried to introduce a dummy as you really enjoy sucking, but you’re not taking to it so far. You much prefer one of Mummy, Daddy or JJ’s fingers. Sometimes your sister can be a little overzealous in her concern for you and tries to stick her fingers a little too far in your mouth. She means well. But you are quick to tell her that you don’t like it, and she is learning.

JJ’ll also coo to you “It’s OK Baby Bee” over and over again if you are unsettled – it’s lovely to watch how much she loves you. You also seem to love her! You turn your head to her voice and will smile and bat at her face. You’ve been hearing her voice from within the womb.

We’ve not put you on any schedule, but you’ve decided to make one for yourself anyway! It’s quite remarkable how predictable you have been. You sleep, cluster feed & become unsettled at roughly the same times each day.

You love movement. If you start crying as we put you in your car seat, you’ll stop within 100 metres of driving off. I’ve been “wearing” you in the Hugabub a lot lately, and you sleep so soundly in there. Head to my breast, hearing my heartbeat. This makes me feel like a good mum too.

I can see quite a bit of myself in you – in the shape of your eyes and the shape of your mouth. Your hair is still quite long and thick. I don’t think it is going to fall out. You were born with very dark brown hair, but the roots seem to be growing through fairer. Dare I say it, but you might be blonde? (Don’t be fooled by my current dark hair, I was a blondie as a bub).

Your skin is a bit dry, so we’ve only bathed you every couple of days. (Um, yes, that’s a good excuse!). We’ve been putting olive oil in the bath which has been great for your skin. It also makes your hair look like it has product in it.

Over the last couple of days, your poos have gone a really pale yellow colour, your wees are quite dark, and your skin has gone all orange. So we popped up to the hospital tonight to have you checked out. The doctor has ruled out jaundice based on your skin colour, but your wee is showing positive for infection. We’re still waiting on most test results to find out more, but the doctor wasn’t overly alarmed. Hopefully whatever you have will be minor and you’ll be better again soon.

Mummy and Daddy love you as much as bees love honey!

xxxx