Hello everyone & an extremely belated Happy New Year to you all!

Welcome also to the newbies since my last post (.....way back in 2007 ) It's so lovely to come back in see all the new posts! I tried checking while we were away but my Dad's old peddle-powered 'puter wasn't up to the challenge!

Well, DP & I came home on Friday after spending almost 3 weeks over the Christmas break at my parents house in Canberra. So good to be back! By my calculations, 3 weeks worked out to be about two weeks too many! By the end of the 2nd week, I just wanted to be back in Melbs with my own little fam, enjoying the 'Just Us-ness' of it all.

Ellis is going along brilliantly, growing & just being generally beautiful. Best of all, she's smiling & talking to us all the time and it's amazing to see how rapid her development is. I love it! I've never had a complaint about her sleeping habits - we're fortunate I think, having read some of your posts. She's sleeping in her cot since we came back and seems to like it. She managed to spin herself 180degrees the other night, so I went to a big, gummy grin and found her totally uncovered and unwrapped with her head where her feet should have been!

(june78 - It sounds as though Ellis & Jacob have been plotting... She has more or less decided that day sleeps are for the weak and has done away with them most days! (Having typed that, DP just announced 'She's crashed out again!'). I have mothers group on Thursday & we're covering sleeping and self-settling techniques, so hopefully I'll have some tips & tricks to share..)

She had one T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E day in Canberra, the day after we'd arrived where the poor little thing screamed from around 10am to 10pm. I think she had horrible pains in her tummy & despite being exhausted, couldn't sleep for more than an minute or two (oh yes, that's right!) before screaming again.

To make matters a little worse, DP was following us up a few days later when he finished work & I was alone with my own (s)mother who, I'm convinced, still thinks of me as the naughty 14 year old who caused her so much angst all those years ago.

We'd been taking it in turns to try to make little Ellis feel a little more comfortable so she could get just a little sleep, without success until I said to my Mum 'Give her to me & I'll take her for a walk outside. It should help her sleep, even if it's just in my arms while I'm walking'......it was met with a curious glare and so I left it until the next doze-scream-doze-scream cycle and said it again...again the glare.... I said it FOUR TIMES and she wouldn't give her back to me!!

It wasn't until I gave her a very 'meaningful' glare of my own and suggested she come too that she relinquished my child to me. Totally bizarre behaviour, like she didn't feel Ellis would be safe with me. I never really addressed it with her though because I was far more concerned about my little bubba's comfort and waaay to exhausted to bother bringing it up when it all blew over.

Ellis finally slept at about 10.30pm and spent the night in my bed. Seeing her so upset during the day was heartbreaking but the night time cuddles made it all better.

We have her 6 week check up this week (a week late), then we have immunisation the following week. I’m not looking forward to it at all.

Hope everyone is well & happy and your babies are being kind to you!

X
AJ