6 Week Checkup

It was a bit early, but because my Doctor is going on holidays, Mayana and I had our 6 week checkup yesterday. Everything is going really well.

Mayana has put weight on brilliantly. She's now 6lbs, 10oz (just over 3kg). She's still below the 3rd percentile for her age, but percentage-wise is putting on weight at the right rate. She's 50cm, and head circumference is 36cm. Everything that the doc checked was perfect, and she was particularly impressed with Mayana's strength. She even scored a smile or two!

I'm also going well.. less than a kg till I'm at my pre-preg weight, though still need to work on my tummy as I had a nearly 4cm abdominal separation when pregnant, so the tummy muscles are going to take some time. My blood pressure was amazing... 112/75!!! That's unheard of for me, and my doctor nearly fell over. She took it a couple of times to make sure. I'm really glad, because if it had still been up, she was going to put me on medication for it.

Other than that...
We had a week away last week, starting in Brisbane on Valentines day for Pete's brother's wedding. Then on Sunday we had Mayana dedicated at the Cooroy church, it was very lovely, except that she got a bit upset up on the stage with the lights because it was so hot up there! We were in Noosa for a couple of days, and Mayana got to meet both of Pete's grandmas, as well as quite a few of our friends.
On Wednesday, we went out to Mundubbera to stay with Nanna and Pop. Mayana also got to meet Great Aunt Nelly, and a few of her second cousins. Home on Sunday afternoon!

We had a great little getaway, and now ready to get back to real life. Uni starts back next week. Pete only has 3 mornings a week, and I'm doing my courses web-bassed, so it will be interesting to see what kind of routine we can get ourselves into.

While we were in Mundubbera, Mayana nearly slept through the night! She went from 8.30pm to 5am, at which point I woke up with a mini-panic attack and jumped out of bed to make sure she was still breathing! Then I had to wake her up and feed her, or I was afraid I might explode! Wish I could have waited it out though to see how far through she would have gone. After her feed she went back to sleep until nearly 9am!!! Hasn't happened again though.

Since we've been home, she's also been putting herself to sleep at night. We used to nurse her to sleep, but we've started wrapping her, and putting her in her bassinette at 8pm, fed, with a clean nappy, and her Celtic Lullabye CD playing. Tonight is the 4th night she has self-settled! She hardly makes a peep. We have to go in once, maybe twice to pop her dummy back in, but every night she has been asleep within 15-20 minutes! We're very proud of our little girl.

We have been so blessed with such a good baby. She has her days of course, but at least 90% of the time she is a little gem. She really only cries when she's got a good reason, hasn't had any problems with colic, and we haven't been puked on once!

I'm really excited at the moment, because I have ordered my cloth nappies! I'm going to use 'prefolds' which are along the lines of terry flats, but smaller and will actually fit my girl's little bottom! You use them with nappy covers, and later, when she's bigger I'll buy pocket nappies, and use the pre-folds to stuff them as the absorbing part of the nappy.
I went to Bunnings today and bought 2 big red nappy buckets, and now I'm just awaiting my parcel to arrive! I've also bought a stack of second hand baby clothes, pretty dresses and Pumpkin Patch stuff, for $1 a piece from a girl who uses a forum that I also use. So I will be hanging out for the post in the next few weeks that's for sure!!!

That's all of my news for now... sorry for being so slack lately!

Packing for a newborn...

Mayana is 5lbs, 12 0z, less than half a meter long, and yet, we need to take a car full of baby paraphernalia to accommodate her for a mere 7 days away... I'm not even sure that Pete and I will be able to fit anything for ourselves besides underwear.

Let's see...

* baby clothes. Stuff for if it's warm, stuff for if it's cool. *note to self* pack twice more than we think we'll need because she'll probably cover at least half of them in poo. Ooh, and don't forget socks!
* 1 box of nappies
* pack of baby wipes
* bum cream
* cotton wool
* bathing stuff (shampoo, bath drops, lotion for massage, powder etc, baby towel)
* Muslin wraps, flannel wraps, cotton jersey wraps (to cater for all the 'what-ifs')
* Portable crib
* safety rolls
* lambskin
* breast pads
* Nappy bag
* pram
* breast pump & bottles (sterilizer???)
* dummy sterilizer

I *think* that's about it... can you think of anything else??

Thank the Lord we got a bigger car!!!

Victoria Bushfires

I cannot even comprehend how huge this is. It all seems so foreign when you see it on TV and it's hard to assimilate the fact that it is happening in your own country. I cannot think of a more terrifying thing to go through - I can't even imagine the terror and fear you would feel. The absolute desolation of looking at what used to be your home, your street, your community - and is now nothing but char.

I can't believe some sick person/people started these things on PURPOSE! I hope that they feel guilty enough to turn themselves in. How could you live with knowing what you caused!

It is one of the most tragic things I've ever seen, absolutely heartbreaking.

New look blog

What do you think???

Fried Green Tomatoes (at whistlestop cafe)

Aside from sounding like something I wouldn't particularly want to eat, Fried Green Tomatoes is a fabulous movie! I've been told that the book is even better. I've just read "Standing in the Rainbow" by the same Author (Fannie Flagg), and was suitably impressed. It was the kind of book where I was disappointed when it finished.. not because the ending sucked, but because I wanted it to keep on going!

So - note to self: Put "Fried Green Tomatoes" on reserve at the library!!

(Yes I'm still managing to get a bit of reading in, even with a new baby at home!)