Thursday 18 September 2014

6 months! + Family member update!

Harper is 6 months! (tomorrow, anyway - but tomorrow's a busy day so we won't be able to do proper pictures!) I was just looking through the pictures from when she was just born and it's amazing how much she's changed in only 6 months. Then I think... 6 months has gone so, so quick! I can't believe where the time's gone, we're already halfway through her first year and that's weird to think about!
At 6 months (near enough) Harper can sit unaided for about 30 seconds, she babbles and chats, she likes to death grip everything, she is trying to pincer grip certain things now (like labels), and she goes 'mmmmmm' when you put a spoon in her mouth! She loves bolognese and she enjoys salmon too, she loves it when people talk to her and smiles at anyone who remotely pays her attention. She likes car journeys and her favourite toy at the moment is Simba, that we got from a local charity shop for £1! She sleeps well, despite her teething (we can see one of her bottom teeth trying to pop through) and she's generally a happy little thing until I try to eat anything, then whatever she is doing she'll stop and start crying instead! Harper is now on 3 meals a day, with bottles in between, some days she will have 4 7oz bottles and others she will have 3. She won't drink water, she will only drink fruit juice (heavily diluted as it may be) and she has a real little personality, she's a cheeky little moo and we love it! She's really growing into an amazing little person who does new things every day - I am constantly amazed by her!

We also have a new family member! An 8 week old Boston Terrier called Rigby - he's gorgeous, a bit crap at the whole not peeing and pooping on the floor thing, but gorgeous nonetheless! He loves Harper and she loves him (she shows us by smiling at him and then trying to grab his face, poor dog!) Wherever Harper is, he is, he will sit under her high chair at dinner times and follow me or Elliott if we have her. He's a lovely little addition to our family, and I can't wait til we can take him out with Harper for walks, it'll get us out and about and Harper will get fresh air! Win win - until it starts raining!

Friday 5 September 2014

My Photo of the week!

Set up my studio for the first time!
So this week I set up my home photo studio for the first time! I got a few backdrops so thought I'd test the pretty pink one with polkadots first for H... Gender stereotypes? Oh dear.
Well, I think they turned out really well, and this was my most favourite of the 10401239847192384 I took. She got a little fed up towards the end, but was a smiley happy girly for the most part so I was taking major advantage of the good mood she was in, (that she seems to have skipped this week!)
So here it is, my favourite photo of her from this week!

'...What can YOUR baby do?'

The question that's never asked, but always heard. In the back of our heads, the dark little space that echos loudest when it speaks - you hear a fellow mother, perfectly innocently (probably... Maybe) say 'oh, well my darling cherubic son is sitting unsupported and juggling his baby bottles and counting backwards from 10 in German! He's only 3 weeks old, don't they just grow up so fast?!' while you sit there thinking, oh my GOD, why can he do all that, while my 6 month old is showing absolutely no interest in sitting supported or not? Hell, she's not even babbling! And you're thinking that because you heard 'so what's your baby doing?' or 'is your baby as clever as mine?' when the question was never asked, nor even really implied (probably, we know what some mothers can be like am I right?)

I do the same thing, I think 'why can't my baby do that when (X) can?' and you know what? It's bollocks. Absolute bollocks. People are all different, people all do things and develop differently and babies are people too! So it makes sense that they don't wake up at 6 months to the day and sit upright, crawl and say 'Mother! I am ready for solid food now!' because that's not how life works, not for anyone, not even for tiny wee people who still need their parents to do everything for them. 
Perhaps instead of thinking 'why can't my baby do that?' think about all the things your baby has learned as they've grown, be that a little or a lot - what has your baby done that has made you proud? Because I know I'm getting prouder every day of seeing my little girl get really fascinated by a label on her clothes, or that she goes 'mmmmmmmm' when I put the spoon in her mouth - it's the little changes that are happening every day that you need to focus on. Milestones don't matter, because the more you wish for a milestone to happen, just to be like the baby who ice skate at 8 months, the less time you have to notice how your little is growing and changing in small ways every day and before you know it, your baby is a walking, talking tiny hurricane and you forgot to treasure the little things that are happened along the way.