15-22 October

This is Tasha posting. (Actually, from now on, why don't we all assume it's me posting and, if Chris does post, he can say so?)

So Rosemary's having a snooze in her crib at the moment. She may wake any moment, as she doesn't much like sleeping in there unless it's night-time. That said, it is almost dark, so maybe she thinks it's night-time. She's not in her night clothes or anything yet, though, and it's not really her bedtime, so... we'll see.... The point is that I'll grabe the opportunity, and Chris' laptop, to try to do a little update of this blog.

For myself, I'm finding everything slotting into place much better, now. Rosemary seems to have a definite pattern, though it does still vary a fair bit. But I think I'm also getting better at sensing when she's going to sleep for a while, when she's going to need a good long play, when she's only going to be able to fall asleep if walking round and round and round and round the town centre. And I'm getting better at taking advantage of naps or moments of contentedness to do something like put a load of washing in, empty the dishwasher, sort out the pile of junk mail... and so on... And using the longer periods of sleep for working.

I'm also getting good at doing bits and bobs with Rosemary in one arm. I get to interact with her (e.g. talk to her, jiggle her about, sing to her, count, etc. etc.) while getting a bit of tidying done. Yes, it might mean walking up and down the stairs five times in as many minutes to put washing away, but that's fine. Multi-tasking - I'm finally starting to understand what this whole women-as-multi-taskers thing is.

I think the reason it's taken so long for me to get to grips with what most women seem to fall into within a few minutes of leaving the delivery suite is that I have Chris here all the time. I'm not left at home, the one person responsible for baby, house, shopping, cooking, etc. etc. I have a husband who is generally pretty happy to do many of these things and did pretty much all of them for a good few months toward the end of my pregnancy and the first few weeks after Rosemary's birth. So, when you don't actually need to learn how to do everything one-handed it takes a while to get to grips with it. [Hopefully I won't get so good at it that Chris will stop doing anything! Can't see that happening, really, though.]

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about my small steps up the rope ladder of motherhood. You came to hear all about the cuteness that is Rosemary. What did we do this week?

Rosemary decided to have her Thursday on Tuesday this week. She didn't sleep pretty much at all on Tuesday, until the night-time. We went to Post-Natal Class in the morning and were on time for the first time ever. This week the topic was Baby Massage. We just watched, as Rosemary had had a feed when we got there, and it's best not to massage on a full stomach. I'd also forgotten to take olive oil with us, but we could have borrowed it from someone else. We got a handout with the massage strokes on it to take home - a very badly photocopied handout, though - but I haven't tried it yet. Mostly because of the whole not doing it until an hour after a feed. Rosemary tends to fall asleep after a feed and, when she doesn't, it's usually because she's in a bingy period (usually the evening) and is feeding every 45 minutes or so. Next week I'm going to try to make a concerted effort to fit in at least one go at baby massage.

Despite turning up early, I didn't really talk to any of the other mums, apart from saying hello to the woman I was sat next to and to someone I met at MOBS ages ago (whose name I can't remember - aaargh!). So turning up early doesn't make any difference. I'm just not cut out for making new friends.

Rosemary napped a bit (maybe 10 minutes in total) at the class, then we went into town to pick up bits and bobs from the shop. She was awake most of that time, napped a bit on the way home, woke up when we got home and didn't properly go to sleep until 11pm. Just a few catnaps here and there. But she slept well and in her crib. Went back to sleep after waking at 4am, as I recall. Then slept in her bouncy chair in the morning after a change and feed. Allowing me to get a lot of work done. Chris and I then went into town and had coffee in Costa Coffee, where Rosemary slept. She slept most of the way round town, but woke up in Somerfield and cried lots and lots until we stopped at the Vic, so I could feed her (outside under the canvas - not inside the smoky pub, of course). So she did lots of sleeping on Wednesday.

On Thursday, we went to Bumps and Babes up at Parliament Street Family Centre. Right at the top of Bisley Old Road (a good way past our old house). Rosemary had a feed at about 6am, then went back to sleep in her bouncy chair, while I got a bit of work done. My plan was to leave at 8.15 as I figured it would probably take about 45 minutes to get up there. So I woke her at about 7.45 to change her nappy and put day clothes on her. But she then got quite upset (she has a tendency to scream the house down - well, not quite - when she's being changed when she's not properly awake yet) so I had to give her a little feed to settle her, but then she decided to poop while I did this, so I had to change her again, only the poop had leaked out, so I had to put a complete change of clothes on her. We finally left the house at 8.50 - 10 minutes before the group was due to start. Ah well. I was right, it took exactly 45 minutes. But it didn't seem to matter that we were late. It was more of a drop-in thing, rather than a class. (Oh, incidentally, I was very impressed that I managed to walk up the hill without getting out of breath, or having much trouble at all - am getting fitter with all this walking and buggy pushing.)

When I got there, there were a bunch of mums outside - though they were mums of toddlers (there was a toddler group going on next door). One of the mums was someone I used to know years ago when still at school (she wasn't at our school, but went to a lot of the same parties). So I had a quick chat with her, but it was raining so I went inside quite quickly. There were 4 mums and 4 babies in the Bumps and Babies room. Two pairs essentially. Two of the babies were about 6 months, one was 4 weeks and one was 7 weeks. They were perfectly polite and one of them made me a cup of tea, which was nice, but I didn't really get any major conversation going. But then Sandy and Joseph turned up. I know them (ish) from Tuesdays and it was their first time, too. And Sandy's a lot better at making conversation than me, so there was actually a fair bit of chatting that went on. I did find them friendlier than the Tuesday lot, generally, and I think that's because most of them lived on the estate at the top of town and people tend to be better at being friendly when they live on estates (from my experience living on an estate as a child, anyway!). (Rather than middle-class cliqueyness, which seems to be the order of business on Tuesdays.)

Sandy mentioned that she goes to an NCT class on a Friday morning and she said she'd bring a leaflet in next Tuesday for me. She said it's nice because the classes are always small, which means you get close to the other mums and get quite friendly. So that could be good.

Rosemary came close to rolling over while she was lying on the mat up at Parliament Street. And she's come close a couple of times since, at home. I think it's probably going to happen quite soon. She's holding her head up really well, now, too. It still lolls a bit when she's sleepy, but other than that she's pretty much holding it up all the time. She's laughing and giggling loads, too. And chattering away.

On Thursday evening, Mama came round to visit Rosemary. She had worked out that Rosemary tends to have one of her alert babbly times in the evening, so came round with some more books and had a nice time chatting away to Rosemary and singing some nursery rhymes to her. Rosemary and I then went round to Papa's flat, to take back his rucksack and so that I could weigh myself. Rosemary had a nice little visit with her Granddad, smiling and giggling away. She had to have her nappy changed twice while we were there and also had a little feed.

She didn't get to sleep until midnight Thursday night, but she slept reasonably well and, again, slept for a good while in her chair in the morning. She's tending to have a half hour or so of awake time chattering away with her mum first thing after her morning feed and change then a good long sleep (varying from two hours to five (!) depending on how tired she is, perhaps) in the morning, then another awake period around lunchtime. Then, sometimes she'll sleep for a couple of hours in the afternoon and sometimes she won't. We tend to go out then, unless we've already been out in the morning (i.e. to a Mum and Baby group of some kind - why do they all seem to be in the morning?!), as that often helps her get to sleep. We always go outside for a walk in the pram at least once a day.

Friday morning, at about 8.20am, the phone rang. I was quite surprised that someone would be phoning that early, because everyone seems to assume that we'll be fast asleep until midday because we have a new baby. It was Chris' cousin Grahame (not absolutely certain I spelt that right - sorry!) calling from New Zealand to congratulate us on Rosemary's arrival. It's not often we get a call from the other side of the world (well, I think that was probably the first), so that was exciting. Chris had a good chat with Grahame and spoke to his two children as well (there is a third one on the way, due on Christmas Day - how one earth do people manage with three?!).

Rosemary slept a decent amount on Friday. A few hours in the morning, a few hours in the afternoon, and asleep by 11pm, after a nice evening downstairs. On Saturday, we all went into town in the afternoon. The plan was to go to the Farmer's Market and meet up with Eva for lunch. It started to tip it down with rain as we walked in, so we went to the Angel Cafe (Organic Tapas Bar, though it doesn't really have a full range of tapas) and I had tortilla and salad and Chris had a Croque Monsieur (which, hello, is French, not Spanish!) and Eva just had a lemonade. Rosemary, unsurprisingly, had lots of milk from her mum. I read the paper and ate my lunch one-handed. I did have to ask Chris to turn the pages for me, but other than that I managed!

When we'd finished, we went off to the market, only to find it was all being packed away and we'd missed it. Oh well, we'll try again next week. Rosemary was needing to sleep but not really settling, so Chris went off to Somerfield, while I did a circuit of town with Eva and her friend, Jasmine, to try to get Rosemary off to sleep. She did go off to sleep, but woke up as soon as we walked into WH Smith. Chris and I had given ourselves permission to treat ourselves (maximum about £10 each), so I bought a couple of books. The Rise and Fall of a Yummy Mummy and Starter for 10. Unfortunately, Chris couldn't find anything for himself, so I could a treat, and he didn't. He did get some things out of the library, though. Rosemary and I already had library books, so I spent the time in the library walking round and round the shelves in circles to keep Rosemary asleep. I do seem to do a lot of walking round and round in circles pushing a buggy. I quite enjoy it, though. Even when it's outside in the pouring rain. It's certainly an improvement on sitting at my desk for the vast majority of the day and night.

Rosemary went to sleep at 10pm last night, slept until 2am, had a fairly quick feed (15 minutes on each side) and went straight back to sleep until 6am, when we got up and went down to the living room. After a longish feed (about 45 minutes) interrupted by a change, she then slept until 1pm, with a 15-minute feed about half way through that time. (During that time I did lots of washing, put the dishwasher on, and sorted through a bunch of washing and a bunch of post.) She then had a good long alert time, downstairs with her mum and dad and a visit from her aunty Eva. We (Rosemary and I) then walked to the shop with Eva (who was walking to the bus stop to get the last bus home) in the pouring rain, to buy tea and a few other bits and bobs. Rosemary was quite interested (as she usually is) in the trees and plants going past that she could see (probably very warped) through her rain cover. She really loves going under trees. We're going to take her to Stratford Park when the weather is clement enough, because we think she'll love it there. At the shop, though, she got upset while waiting in the queue. She really doesn't like being stationary in her buggy. The second we got outside (back into the pouring rain) she fell asleep. She slept all the way home and then for about 15 minutes at home.

Then we came upstairs and she had a bit of a chatter with me and then a feed and fell asleep. She went down in her crib and stayed down until about 7.30pm (so a couple of hours), when she had a feed a top and tail and nappy change and got changed into her bed clothes. She then had a cuddle with me for a bit and another, slightly longer, feed and feel asleep again. She's back in her crib now and looking like she might well stay asleep for a while. Neurotic mother that I am, I took her temperature to check she wasn't ill, because it seems she's sleeping a lot. But, adding it up, she's slept a perfectly reasonable amount. Just at slightly different times. Hopefully, she's not going to wake up at midnight and want to get up for the day!

I'm going to try to update this more than once a week if I can. I tend to forget a lot of things apart from the more eventful stuff (e.g. going to mums and babies group, seeing friends or relatives, etc.) and what's happened recently. I'm thinking people reading this are probably wanting to know things like how she's sleeping and eating and, of course, any momentous milestones (like when she rolls over). Oh... Chris is convinced that she said her first word to him yesterday morning. He said 'Hi' to her and she said 'Hi' back. She didn't repeat it, though. I'm convinced she's been saying 'Hello' to me lots. Pretty sure neither of us is right and we're just hearing words in her random sounds. But, anyway, should mention that!

So, yes, I'll try to update more often, if I can. Or at least keep a note of things like sleep and feeding and what she did each day. If there's anything in particular you want me to keep a note about or update about, you should be able to leave a comment to this post (I think I've set it up so you can) - if you can't, email or phone instead to let me know.