Teeth, walking and swimming lessons

Charlotte has started walking with the help of a box and us of course. She is often seen crawling and pulling herself up on furniture of whatever she can get her hands on. She is loving her new freedom. Charlotte's top 2 teeth are also coming through. On another note, she has started her swimming lessons last week. Today, she had her second class. Whilst the pool is heated and indoors, I think she still finds it cold, the best I can do, is to keep her in the warm water as much as I can. I will try and pu some pics up when I get the time to. Nowadays I use my iPad instead of my laptop, so, I can't put pictures in quite as easily.

Oh.. What a night it has been! Last week, Isabella came down with some mysterious rash. We took her to the doctor, and at that time, they were not sure what it was.. Perhaps an allergic reaction to some unknown source? Now a week later, and Charlotte has contracted the same rash. Last night was horrendous! This rash has been keeping her up. I have been using a gym ball for a long time to rock Charlotte to sleep, and she has gotten used to that. Problem is now and especially with this illness, she has depended on it so much, as she loves the intimacy, that, as soon as we put her in her cot, she starts screaming! I got to a point last night that, I just couldn't bounce her any more. My whole body was aching and I felt like I had no more strength to do so. I tried to let her control cry with the 'pick-up put-down' technique, but her screaming just got worse. She was probably thinking.."hmm, I'll show her for trying to dump me in my cot". Eventually, Scott came to help. By that stage, I was emotionally hanging on, trying not to burst into tears. I also felt nauseated. Wasn't sure if it was my emotions, but with my body feeling like crap, I also thought I may be coming down with something. He crying really tore at my heart string. Made me feel like a bad mum. No rash for me yet, this morning, but my body and my eyeballs are sore. And I actually threw up this morning too. And... No, I'm not pregnant!

The good thing though, is that eventually, she fell asleep. Scott and I both just could not cope physically anymore. I think she might actually be learning though. This morning, she cried. I fed her and put her back in the cot. She cried when I put her in her cot, but this time it didn't last too long. Through this all, she has also learnt to pull herself into standing position. She has been standing for a while, but not usually by pulling herself up. She has also been pulling herself into kneeling position, but was pleasantly surprised that she managed to stand up by herself.

8 months and crawling

Charlotte was 8 months yesterday. For the last week, she's been practicing her crawling. Now, after a week, she is confident in her crawling and loves her new found freedom. Though she can't walk yet, she has been able to stand for a few months now with assistance. If we stand her in her cot, she can stay standing for 5 minutes or so.

She has a lovely, happy personality. Always smiling, laughing. She is a ray of sunshine. Together, she and Isabella loves playing with each other. Often, there is that special bond between the two of them that makes them both crack up at each other, like no one else can.

Charlotte has also been enjoying a vast range of foods with her 2 well-sprouted bottom teeth. Apart from the mush vegetables, her favorite are icecream and chocolat, cakes, and chips. But most of the time, she eats really well. Sweet potatoes, pumpkin, potatoes, zucchini, avocados. She also loves weetbix! Soon, I'll try oats and see if she likes it.

I finally got my iPad!

Yet! Got my iPad 2 last friday. Been hanging to get it for the last few months, and finally managed to get one on launch day. And if you were one of those ipadaholic people, you would know that scoring one on launch day is pretty difficult. Luckily I rang my local reseller and they were taking down people's names on a list for when it came in. I was only there about 30 minutes before launch, and was second in line! In Sydney, some we lining up outside the apple stores 2 days in advance! Lucky i didn't have to do that. With 2 young kids, it would have been impossible.

Now that I have my iPad, it will make it easier and more convenient to blog.

Other than the iPad, what's been happening you say? Well, Charlotte has finally cut her 2 bottom teeth. Yey! But when you think about the teething, the waking through the night, and the biting during breastfeeding... Hmm, not so yey. I miss my gummy smiles. On a good note, she is starting to eat more solid foods, such as brownies (I know .. Not very responsible baby food, but she likes them.. And it's only a crumb), bread, rice, and icecream. She is also now sitting up all by her self. She stands really well for ages if your stabilizing her. All this, and she's only 7 months! Ok, I might be biased, but I think she's doing really well for her age.

Isabella on the other hand, is talking really well. Her vocabulary is fantastic. She no longer cries when I drop her off at the early learning centre. She actually enjoys being there. In fact, she has taken quite well to one of the little boys there called River. It's River this, River that. It really is quite cute. At her age anyways. We arevsatrting to reduce isabella's dummy use to just during sleeping hours, as she has gotten really dependent on it the last few months. So, for the last week, it has been a little tough with her playing up due to her not having her dummy. I hope it doesn't last too much longer.

Isabella turns 2!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my darling Isabella!

Wow... Tuesday already! How time flies. Saturday, was taken up with a trip to the local shopping mall. Sunday, we enjoy a bbq with friends from 2 families. One of them was a very long time friend of mine whom I've known since I was about 6 or 7. It was great catching up with her and her family. I always jump at the opportunity to meet up, as we live almost an hour away from them, and we both have 2 little ones to look after as well. Except she has two boys, and I have 2 girls. It is nice to have such a long spanning friendship, that has taken us from when we were a little older than our kids to us having our own kids. Next, we'll be having grandchildren together. Hahaha... Hopefully that will take a while yet...At least for my girls. No dating till 21! Just kidding. Maybe no sex till then! Eww.. just the thought of that.

Anyway, like I mentioned in my previous post, Isabella is not going to school on Mondays as well. When I dropped her off yesterday morning, I didn't stay quite as long. I am hoping to make the drop offs shorter and shorter, until, one day when she doesn't cry anymore, and I can just drop and go. She did of course cry again, but apparently she started feeling better at morning tea as opposed to lunch time the week before. She didn't sleep this time, but just rested with the dummy. By the time she slept at night, she was a little naughty as you would imagine with an almost 2 year old who hasn't had any sleep.

This morning, I will take Isabella to her swimming lesson. She has moved up to her new class. Looking forward to seeing what new things she will learn in this level.

Ok.. 2 posts on Wednesday, does that allow me to have Thursday off then? Oh well.. too late. We went to Movieworld yesterday. It was really hot and humid. Not very pleasant, but all in all, we had a pretty good day. Managed to get there and back without much screaming from the kids! Thank God! The trip was really for Isabella and just having a day out with the family. We have VIP card that entitles us unlimited entry to 3 of the theme parks till June 2011, so just making the most of it. Next time we'll go to Seaworld... again. Lol.

Also, today, we were told that there was an extra day at school, if we wanted it for Isabella. The extra spot is currently a Monday, but for now, I have accepted it, and will try and see if I can swap it for a tuesday or thursday if one comes up. I feel a little bad that now there will be 2 days of feeling guilty, but at least Charlotte will have more time with me, and I can get a few more things done.

Wow.. 2 posts in one day? Incredible for me. Just wanted to update. I was told Isabella felt much better after lunch today at school. She seems to like the arts and craft, and reading and listening about animals. She was very happy to see me when I picked her up this afternoon. She was doing some drawing at that time, and continued to draw after giving me a big smile. Guess she is feeling better about being at school.

Tomorrow, we have a big day. We are off to Movieworld. I have packed the drinks and snacks for tomorrow to take with us. Hopefully we won't need to purchase too much junkfood or drinks. And hopefully the weather is dry tomorrow.

God bless and protect all those people in North Queensland who will be encountering Cyclone Yasi tonight. May the cyclone die down or move away. Good nite!

Dropped off Isabella at 'school' this morning, stayed for a few minutes. When I left, she was crying again. Hopefully, she will have a better day this week. My heart still hurts to hear her cry, but it is getting a little easier to manage. Though, it must really be affecting me, because I had a dream the other day that I had to leave her somewhere, and she was crying and I remembered feeling really bad in my dream.

So, now that Isabella is at school, I have the whole day with just Charlotte. The house sounds soooo quiet. I have hubby at the other end of the house in the study room working, and I am at the other end of the house in the bedroom with Charlotte. We will just have a lovely laid back day today. I will do some cooking later on before I fetch Isabella from school.

Tomorrow or Friday, we may go to Movieworld with the whole family. Isabella turns 2 next Thursday, and grandma and grandpa will be coming down the day before that.

Congratulations to Isabella! Today she has been promoted to the next level in swimming. She is now at level 3. The first level was 'Squirts', the second was 'Splashers'. From next week, she will be in the 'Squids' class. I will still have to swim with her in the pool, but after this level, she will no longer be part of the babies group, and will be swimming with only the instructor and 1 or 2 other kids. Charlotte on the other hand will probably start swimming at the beginning of March.

Another day of 'school' tomorrow. Will have get up bright and early. I have already prepared all her food and drinks and her bags for tomorrow. So, we will only have to have our breakfast and get changed.

Here is Isabella with her swimming certificate

Charlotte is getting really quite strong on her legs. She can stand up quite well whilst you are holding her. She will put all her weight down, and doesn't get wobbly on her legs when you stand her. At this stage, she seems much better at standing than sitting. Whilst she's good at her head and neck strength, she still gets quite wobbly when she is sitting. Not far to go though, she is learning at such a lightning speed!

Also, yesterday, I assembled Charlotte's new bed. As she is outgrowing the bassinet she was sleeping in, and Isabella still needs the cot for a little longer, we put Charlotte in the toddler bed. She has these baby bolsters on each side of her to stop her from rolling around. These bolsters are connected by flat fabric and velcro - this is the bit she sleeps on. The width is adjustable as the baby grows. I have used this for some months now, and Charlotte sleeps on her sides.

Here is a picture of Isabella using the bolster in her cot when she was 39 weeks old.

Did I forget to mention that Charlotte had her 1st attempt in the pool yesterday? Well she did and she was extremely good. It must be that this time round, I've introduced Charlotte to water on her face and also the shower much sooner than with Isabella. At 5 months, Charlotte is already almost too big for the baby bath and therefore we either shower her now or bath her in the big bath when I have a bath. We will probably be starting her swimming lessons in the near future - perhaps when she turns 6 months.

Also, Isabella has been really good at learning her 'please' and 'thank-yous'. She is also so good at picking up words that she is almost having decent conversations with us. She astounds us everyday with all the learning she is showing us. My little girl is growing up! Here is a cute picture of Isabella.

Happy New Year!

Wow another new year. Already a month has almost gone by. Isabella will be 2 years old in just under 2 weeks. Charlotte is now 5 months old.

The terrible twos are here and I expect it will stay for a while. Some days are better than others. I just try my best to try and occupy Isabella as best I can so she stays in a better mood. Apart from her development, there are a few things that she is probably going through that tends to upset Isabella nowadays. It is unavoidable that I have to spend extra time with Charlotte, with feeding and putting her to sleep and carrying her at times. Isabella has also started attending an early learning centre once a week. So far, she has gone 3 times.

The first day, she didn't know what to expect. Eventually, when I left on that day, she was a little shocked. Then she realised that I had actually left, and started to cry. I did peep through the windows for quite a while. By the time I left and went home, I felt my hurt being torned. I felt bad that she was feeling bad.. that I had actually caused her to cry. However, separation is inevitable, and she has to learn this at some stage in her life. I suppose better earlier than later.

Second time round, Scott actually took her to school (the early learning centre). But unlike me, he just said goodbye, told her he'd be back later and then left. This time, she did not have her afternoon sleep.

Third time, it was my turn again to take Isabella to school. I stayed for a while and then told her I was going and that i was going to pick her up later. She cried immediately. But I don't think it lasted as long as the first 2 times. By the time i had gotten to my car, I couldn't hear her crying anymore (usually i can hear her as they have outside time during that period). She didn't have a nap that day either. I was told that she just sat there and held on to her bag waiting for me to come. Poor thing! Hopefully 4th time round will be better. I have tried to take her in a few extra times for an hour or two with me staying with her so she gets a little more used to it.

Swimming wise, Isabella is doing great. She is getting more confident every time. Hopefully it won't be too long before she moves up to the third level.

Charlotte is now starting to crawl.. slowly. Wow! I think she'll be an early crawler and walker. She has also started solids. It has been much easier to feed Charlotte than Isabella. Even now, Charlotte is a better eater than Isabella is. Isabella is quite a picky eater, where as Charlotte just seems to eat mostly anything and she eats faster.

And not that you needed to know, but I am so glad that her bowel motions are now more solid. No more runny poos! Yey!

Charlotte is also developing really fast. Already she is using her hands lots. This week she has started grabbing things with her hands.. especially my hair! She loves to laugh a lot and talks like there is no end! She is so loud at times, it sounds like a cat meowing, and Scott can hear her from the other side of the house with the doors closed! Her reflux has also vastly improved. She still spills at times, but mostly she is safe without a bib nowadays. Now I can take more pictures of her without those ugly bibs.

Ok.. getting late.. but I thought I'd better do an update before I leave it again for a while. So hard to find time, but I must do it. Looking back at my posts, it is like a diary. Now I have Charlotte, I find it nice to look back and see what has happened with Isabella as well. Good nite! And Happy New Year to you all!