Chaletgirl

I wrote Emmeline a letter while we were away. I am stealing this idea from Cecily (one of my very favourite bloggers), who stole it from Dooce. I wish I had done it for Henry as there are so many things that I have forgotten. These will be kept  for her in some form (yet to be figured out).

Emmeline, you are one month old today! How quickly it has gone!

You have already had your first Christmas, your first New Year’s Eve, your first plane flight and your first holiday.

We are on holidays in Noosa at the moment, enjoying a summer break in our favourite place. We came up when you were just 3 weeks old and you were no trouble at all for your mama. You have settled in here really well and I am lucky to be able to enjoy a holiday with such a young baby.

Christmas was delightful. Santa bought you some nappies and some pretty little toys. Certainly you need the former rather than the latter. On New Year’s Eve, we went out for an early dinner and you were wonderful.

You were very unsettled on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the evenings – I suspect that it was because you knew that I had a lot to do and wanted to settle you to bed as soon as I could. Or was it the quiche/pavlova/egg breakfast that upset you? I’m not sure and I have been staying off egg for the last few weeks just in case. I am very alert to the possibility of you having a food allergy like your big brother, so we will keep an eye on your reactions to various foods that I eat.

It’s very hot up here. The other day it was 36 degrees C even before 9am. Sydney had a somewhat coolish start to the summer in December and we were just dressing you reasonably warmly and wrapping you in your Miracle Blanket to sleep. The heat here has thrown me a little. It seems just too hot to wrap you in your Miracle Blanket, but you don’t last in a muslin – those arms flail out quicker than I can blink. We have been getting you to sleep unwrapped for the time being, but that is hard work for such a young baby – your startle reflex is very strong and you wake yourself so easily. We will figure it out as we go along.

You are sleeping in your pram while we are away and it is working out well. At least it makes it easy to rock you! We try to settle you to just sleepiness, and not to actually rock you to sleep. But these are early days and sometimes we just do what we have to do! The other day you were just so hot and unsettled that I plonked you on my belly and we laid on the lounge under the air-conditioner and you slept on me for over 3 hours. Sure, I was a bit sore when I got up, but it was one of my favourite times with you so far.

You have been sleeping really well at night, almost since we brought you home from hospital. I feed you (on one side) at about 5pm or 5:30pm, bath you and then feed you on the other side before putting you down between 6pm and 7pm. By 2 weeks old, you were sleeping through to 1am or 2am.  Then you resettle fairly easily back to 6am or 7am. It’s really lovely to be getting some sleep with such a little baby.

Unfortunately you seem to suffer from wind pain a lot, even from the very first days in hospital, (although I was eating a lot of egg in hospital – I wonder?). It makes you cry out and scrunch your legs up in pain and grimace a lot. You seem to hold onto it for a long time after your feed, for a few hours, even though I wind you straight after. We have tried some Infant’s Friend and it does seem to help a bit. I have had some success using ‘bicycle legs’ with you and pushing your legs up onto your stomach.

Can you believe that you are already smiling? And I know that it is not wind – because wind makes you scrunch up your face and cry out. This is a real smile! You mostly smile at your Daddy. Which is not surprising, because he smiles at you a lot.

Your brother Henry also smiles at you a lot and loves to sing to you. You do upset him a little when you cry, but he is getting a lot better and he is very proud and possessive of you with other people. You are his baby sister and his alone.

This last week you have been alternating between good days and not-so-good days. I won’t call them bad days, because they really aren’t bad. They are just difficult. You’ll have a good day of regular naps and feeds and then then the next day you either have a very unsettled morning or afternoon where you just won’t sleep. It could be the heat. But usually you sleep very well at night after an unsettled day, which means your mama gets some rest too and can recharge. You mama loves her sleep, so thank you, my love!

Henry wanted to throw a party to celebrate your one month birthday, but we settled for walking into Hastings Street for gelato at Massimo’s this afternoon. Henry ordered strawberry sorbet and promptly swapped it for my lychee sorbet. Daddy had chocolate gelato and we did a little toast to you, my sweetheart.

Happy one month birthday, Emmeline! We’ve had a delightful month with you and I’m rapidly forgetting the time when you weren’t yet a part of our family.

We love you, dear girl.