Time for an Angel Update!

Right, it is time for an Angel update isn’t it. It has been a while. That’s because I’m absolutely exhausted.. sleep deprivation is one tough torture! Angel is having a lot of sleep problems right now, and I think it is a few factors combined – the biggest being that she’s probably still not gotten her ‘rhythm’ (as her doctor has said) ever since we’d returned from Toronto. (ie she’s still jetlagged!). Add to that the fact that she’s been ill, really ill. First, it was the gastro flu (so, bad diarrhea, vomit etc), and now, it’s turned into a ‘real’ flu, with stuffed up nose, green running nose, hacking and chesty cough. Poor girly girl! Then to top it off, she’s probably still teething, given that she’s constantly constantly chewing on things, anything that she can get her hands on – toys, chew toys, her bottle’s nipple, her finger (ok, not really chewing on her finger with her new teeth, but she’ll stick her fingers into her mouth and ‘chew’ on it with her gums), and worst of all… my nipples. Yes, my nipples. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! I’ve got really sore nipples right now. I’m guessing (HOPING!) that she’s not doing it on purpose (as in, gee, let’s all hear Mummy scream in pain by biting her nipple), but she’s doing it out of pure frustration / pain / in search of relief, as she’s doing this with her bottle too. She’s chewing on the rubber teat with her gums, I’m guessing in search of relief! She’s already got 4 teeth that have appeared, all in quick succession one after the other. We’re having a little breather as we’ve not seen any appear yet, but I guess it’s ‘coming’ and that must hurt too. Still, we have to be grateful that she doesn’t have too much other symptoms, such as fever, blotchy face and bottom (no idea where that connection came from, but it is one of the symptoms) etc.

Besides her milk (she’s still breastfed as you’d probably concurred from above!! But also has a bottle of formula at night), Angels starting to eat a lot of solids… that is of course pureed. I try, though not very successful, to make homemade purees for her. Today, I made peas and carrots. Yum yum. Other times, when I don’t have a lot of time, Angel gets freshly frozen vegetables from Picard. (another great tip from MESSAGE moms!). Have to say that she’s not as adventurous not as ‘good’ an eater than Bibou was at that age (I remember Bibou just devouring everything that was put in front of her, even sucking on a lemon (she still went for more!)) She’s more tentative, not as adventurous and in the beginning, was really difficult to get her going. Now, she seems to like it and will finish her meal (but only if we’d mixed a little bit of my milk into it – and I’ve now taken to squeezing some milk into a bowl prior to feeding her – a funny sight sometimes, but it’s quicker than having to deal with the pump etc). So far, she seems to really like carrots and peas. Oh and last night, I mashed up some really ripe bananas, and she goggled it down too.

Physical development wise, Angel’s progressed a lot in the last few weeks. She’s certainly sitting up a lot now and doing it very well (though she tends to topple over after a while). She likes reaching out in front of her (while sitting) and grabbing everything in sight. She’s doing so well that we’ve decided to take away her transat for her bath and let her sit upright in it. Oh gosh, she’s REALLY loving that. But the biggest advancement is that she wants to walk! She wants to be on her feet all the time! So her nanny has taken to put her in a walker and boy is she a happy camper! You can tell from the video below (well, maybe not… it is VERY dark), she’s grinning from ear-to-ear – and she just rolls so very quickly! Yippeeee. Anyway, here are some latest photos of her and also of the two of them.

A great video of Angel 'cruising' in the walker.

Another video of Angel having carrots for lunch :