Our Little Toddler – 11 mths

Posted by Caroline Elliott

So a little while ago I wrote that our baby girl had taken her first steps, and she has been wanting to walk more and more since then but she hadn’t quite had the confidence to really go for it – preferring to hold on to Mummy or Daddy. Suddenly though this week that has completely changed.

In one day she went from doing maybe 7 unaided steps at a time to literally walking around the whole house. I text hubs at work as I knew he wouldn’t believe the difference in the space of 1 day! So now she is everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I turn around and there are literally moments of “where is she?” and run off to find her in the showerroom standing banging on the glass, or in the new utility room trying to eat a receipt.

So childproofing has become uber important again as she really does want to explore every inch of the world now that she can, and at this point in time she currently wants to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. So the floor is being swept multiple times a day to prevent her eating any bits of stickers or dirt that has been walked in, stairgates and doorgates are being shut and I need eyes in the back of my head!! Letting her roam around outside is interesting as she loves it but she makes a beeline for stones and dirt and wants to put them straight in her mouth.

We say no but she is so cheeky that she just finds it funny and gives a big grin and carries on doing it anyway, grrr. So I sound like a broken record, no don’t eat that, no not in your mouth, over and over and over again!

I love seeing her toddle about though it just shows how much she is growing up and becoming less and less of a baby now. Her brother is adoring her newfound skill and is so proud of her for “walking all by herself!” For the first time ever they played together in his playhouse, playing peepo through the windows and they both loved it. Monkey enjoyed it so much that he ran up to her and shouted ” can I give you a cuddle?” and then squeezed her so tightly. Melted my heart I can tell you! They are going to be such lovely playmates for each other and I already love seeing them have fun together.

I remember feeling that walking was such a game changer when Monkey started walking properly, and it is a game changer again now but a new phase that I am so looking forward to – though it certainly brings challenges of his own!

Monkey at 3 1/3

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I have been thinking it was time to write a Monkey update for a while, and this started out being a 3 1/4 update.. but in all the chaos another month has passed and so it is now a 3 1/3 update! So here it goes.

I am going to start by being honest here, the threenager year is definitely the most challenging so far with our Monkey. We’ve actually been really lucky up to this point and we never had the terrible twos.. but he is without doubt a threenager. He can be defiant, stubborn, argumentative, attention seeking, jealous and a general pain in the wotsit a lot of the time lately. “I dont want to” and “I dont like it, I dont like anything” are probably the most frequently used phrases in our house and they drive us mad.

Mealtimes can be a real pain just trying to get him to eat food, even his favourites let alone anything new. He’s always been fussy but this is more defiance than anything and he gets so stubborn. He has regressed a bit and wants us to feed him a lot of the time (which is a bit bizarre as we don’t feed his baby sister, she feeds herself!) and often announces “I don’t like that, it’s rubbish”, or “that’s disgusting” without even trying it… then when he does eat it of course it is yummy.

We try and have tried a whole variety of different techniques. I’m all for mindful parenting and try so hard to be aware of what I say and do to see if this has any effect on his behaviour… but honestly no matter how hard I try I very often get the same response. I try and make sure we get 1 on 1 time, use positive language all of it. But no dice. He is worse when he is tired or hungry but even well fed and rested he can be very stroppy. So I keep having to remind myself (and hubs who all too easily gets drawn into an argument with him) that he is only 3 and just a phase!

Of course there are times he pushes our buttons too far and we shout and get cross. But then he turns our words back on us “just do it then” “no, you do it” shouting and pointing at us. Thank goodness the naughty step, and for the most part even just the threat of the naughty step, works as there are so many times we have to do it. Sit at the table or go on the naughty spot. Get in the bath or go on the naughty spot. Get your pyjamas on or go on the naughty spot. Not as a first threat but when the asking nicely and cajoling have got nowhere out it comes.

He also insists on repeating the same phrase over and over until he has gotten the response so he wants and honestly it drives me completely potty. That is often what leads me to shouting as I just can’t cope with hearing him say “but I neeeeeeed it” (about some toy or chocolate or whatever he wants at that moment) for the umpteenth time in quick succession.

So that is my little moan out of the way, at times when he is not driving me completely crazy or having a major meltdown he is actually very lovely and such a cute little boy. He seems so grown up sometimes that I have to remind myself he is only 3 so does need a bit of leniency.

He is so very loveable and frequently loves telling us how much he loves us. He likes doing things “as a family” and often talks about all of us and gives his baby sister lovely cuddles too. He adores his extended family and whenever we say we are going to see one of his aunts or uncles or to her relatives he announces “Oh I love…. and … and …” and then starts reeling off all his family members. Very sweet. He loves playing with his friends too and frequnrtly gives them cuddles and kisses, and he is getting much more confident at speaking to approaching children he hasn’t met before and sparking up conversation.

He loves jumping, and considering how long it took him to learn to jump he is certainly making up for lost time. He jumps over just about every crack in the pavement and I’ve never seen him so happy as on our friends trampoline a few weeks back!

He is turning into a right little performer, sometimes whipping out from behind the curtains saying “welcome to the show” and then singing a song or telling us about something. I haven’t managed to catch it on camera as he is always very impromptu with it and if I ty and get him to repeat it he is having none of it. Apparently though he got up and sang a song with one of the key workers at playgroup the other week which melted my heart. He also loves performing to his family and saying things that make everyone laugh, and then repeating it over and over and over!

Speaking of playgroup, playgroup/pre-school is going very well. He is getting much better at going without getting upset. We had been working on him running in with a big smile on his face, which he did a couple of weeks ago and then turned back to me so proud of himself shouting “I did it Mummy!” Love him.

Having had so many builders in our house for so long he is so desperate to be a builder with them and wants to help them with all of their jobs. He is also getting amazing at building his duplo and lego and is actually building houses and things now which I love. He has such an imagination, often having little conversations with his toys, or finding a belt and saying it is his superhero belt. He loves dressng up and lots of things are turned into hats, be it a builders hat, postmans hat, or something else!

Buzz lightyear often comes to the rescue of trains and cars falling off the side of some furniture, most cars are Lightning McQueen or other “Cars” cars, and most planes are Dusty Crophopper or Skipper from Planes. Because he is now of an age where he LOVES disney films. Not all, but most. He tends to get an obsession where he wants to watch one over and over and over and then I eventually persuade him to try another one and the obsession to that. Recently it was Aladdin, then Wall-E and then for a changewe started watching some dreamworks films, Madagascar and Madagascar 2. So the current obsession is Madagascar 2 and it does make me chuckle hearing him sing “I like to move it move it” hehe.

So our little man is stubborn, defiant and completely adorable, even while he is irritating. He goes off for a little sulk with his arms folded and then when we laugh he turns and laughs too. He doesn’t generally hold a grudge for long thankfully… though having said that some of his meltdowns have been epic lately! I just have to grit my teeth and bear it when it comes to his tantrums and focus on all the lovely times instead!

Little Miss at 11 months

Posted by Caroline Elliott

As I write this in many ways I can’t believe that it has nearly been a year and that our little lady is not far off being 1… but in other ways, I just look at her and is she really not 1 yet? She’s almost a fully fledged toddler now and it is hard to equate her with the teeny baby we brought home 11 months ago.

So anyway, what has she been up to?

Well, since her first steps a couple of weeks ago she has been walking. A lot! She can now get herself up to standing without having to pull up on anything (or anyone) which means she can just randomly start toddling about. She wants to walk constantly but she is not confident to walk unaided for more than about 10 steps as I write this… but that is increasing daily so it may well be more by the time I publish. The rest of the time we are walking loosely holding on to one hand – so it gives her the confidence but helps save her from too many nasty falls.

Because of course the downside of all this walking is the number of face plants she has done and the quantity of bumps and bruises. She can be absolutely fine and sturdy then suddenly she goes and while I like to think I have the reflexes of a cat, sometimes I just can’t quite catch her in time. Cue Mummy guilt as she has a mouthful of dirt and a grazed nose when I only looked up for a second to make sure her big brother was stopping at the road. Of course that was the second she got distracted by something and went face forwards. Silly Mummy.

Her little personality is coming through more and more now. I call her a diva a lot as she certainly likes to make sure we know when she isn’t happy about something, and I swear she is the loudest baby on the planet! But for the most part she is a happy little thing really. She is a bit of a Mummy’s girl at the moment though and can definitely be a little shy of strangers or people she doesn’t see quite so often but that’s just the age really isn’t it? Don’t believe this little lady can be a diva, what do these faces tell you??

Speaking of age, so far so good on the food front. By this age her big brother had suddenly turned fussy but so far she is still pretty good and eats practically everything we put in front of her – especially fruit, she adores all fruit so far, except watermelon bizarrely. It’s funny as in comparing her to her big brother, he will happily eat whenever you offer him food, and would probably eat all day… certain types of food at the very least. Whereas she will eat just about anything but only if she is hungry enough, turning her nose up to everything if she isn’t hungry enough. She also has to feed herself 99% of the time!

She had a bit of a funny stage where she was terrifed of the bath, and I literally mean terrified screaming her head off as soon as it was time to go in. It came from nowhere but honestly she was so unhappy. I tried getting in with her, tried different temps but nothing worked. So I decided to try and remind her water is fun with a play session in the garden which, as you can see, she absolutely adored. She crawled herself in and had a whale of a time.

She was still scared though until one day I was in the bathy with Monkey and she was so desperate to come in with us after standing outside watching us. It still took a few goes but eventually she sat on my lap while we had a bathy the 3 of us (I will spare you any photos of that) and since then she has been enjoying bathy time again, having so much fun splashing and playing. So who knows where it came from but at least she is happy in there again now.

Some of her favourite things (Other than walking). She loves books and being read to – her favourites at the moment include “Rainbow Rob” (a firm family fave) and “Whose nose?” She particularly loves it when I roar to her during this one, really gives her the giggles.

She loves dancing. For some time it has been Daddys go-to method for cheering her up when she is whining or being a diva and they have had so many happy times dancing around the living room to the tune of “I know you, I’ve walked with you once upon a dream…” from sleeping beauty. No idea why Daddy chooses that one everytime but maybe they will have a daddy-daughter dance to it at her wedding or something one day :). She also adores dancing by herself now she is on her feet more and I love her little bottom bouncing up and down. here’s a little clip, which isn’t amazing but you get the idea. It’s even better for us as we have a very similar clip of her big brother doing the exact same dance to that music table!!

She also loves being thrown in the air, and, random child that she is, loves being tipped upside down and sometimes it is a job getting her to stay right side up and she tips her head so far back! Funny but gorgeous child that she is 🙂

Sleepwise she is so good through the night and varies in the day sometimes she will have one nap, sometimes two. I keep thinking she is dropping the second nap then she will have a day when she sleeps for ages in the morning and afternoon. So again I need to take deep breaths and just go with it. Who needs a routine anyway? (me me me!) She sleeps in the oddest positions too. for example, I have no idea how she is comfy enough to sleep like this?

I could probably keep banging on and remembering more little details but will leave it there for now!

LM’s first steps at 10 mths

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Yep our little lady is walking! She has been walking holding on to our hands for a while and has clearly been desperate to walk… and now she has started. She took a couple of steps a few days ago to a bed upstairs but it was sort of a “did she?” moment between Daddy and I. Then this weekend she has really been going for it.

She walked to me first and then spent ages getting way too excited about her achievement and throwing herself forwards instead, lol! Then she took a couple of steps to Daddy, then to her Uncle Simon and then she was on a roll. If we try and stand her up she doesn’t get her balance right and she just flies as she tries to run rather than walk. But if she stand herself up and gets her balance she can do it. Here is a little clip of her (you may have seen some of it on social media) during her first attempts.

The most she has managed so far is 6 steps but I know that this will soon be expanding. I have just been reading back to when Monkey really took off walking at 11 months. It was April 27th, 2013 when I wrote that he was starting to walk, then on May 14th 2013 that I said he was walking pretty independently (I love having this record of the kiddies!) So I know this really is the start of toddlerdom.

It is qute a bitter sweet moment really. I am so proud of her and am looking forward to all of the fun that toddlerhood brings… but I am a tiny bit sad too. We have decided to not to have any more babies… for many, many reasons and I am 100% happy with that. But this means she is our last baby, and walking means she’s not really a baby anymore… she is becoming a toddler.

So I am drinking in her gorgeous, perfect, chubby baby thighs, and loving watching her little botty wobble as she crawls across the floor and trying to enjoy and memorise every moment.

Little Miss at 10 months

Posted by Caroline Elliott

LM 10 mths old Our little lady is 10 months old and boy is her development just whizzing now. She seems to master a new skill every couple of days at the most and is growing up in front of our eyes with her little personality blossoming too.

As always I just think she is so gorge!

So, what is she up to? Well in my last post about her I said how she was starting to crawl, and well now she is seriously crawling! Although she would still prefer to try and walk she will crawl to get where she wants to go. Monkey wasn’t a crawler at all so I do love having a crawly baby – though I do feel like I need to have eyes in the back of my head as she can really go some distance.

I also need to have eyes in the back of my head as she has now well and truly mastered the pulling herself up on, oh, just about anything she can grab.

Combined with the crawling and we find her in some interesting positions. Including trying desperately to grab my laptop (which she adores bashing)…

I have actually just moved my laptop out of reach here as she was already grabbing the side of the screen when I found her and legged it over. I have previously found her fallen forward onto the toy box having half pulled the laptop off the table. I really should find a new home for it I think!!

Another day, after playing with banging some bowls and tins I nipped off and came back to find her climbing on one of the bowls… cheeky madam.

Then Daddy sent me this shot when I was having some time “off” with a friend. He was helping Monkey use the loo and came back to find the madam in the kitchen playing with hoover and brush… start them cleaning young eh? 🙂

So she is everywhere getting into everything now, aaargh! Though I do love it when I find she has pottered off somewhere and is investigating a toy box or examining a book or something. We do have to be very careful about what is within reach though!

She is so controlled now at not only getting up but also gently lowering herself back down to the floor…. that is unless she wants to practice her latest skill which is standing unaided. She only started that this week but she is getting so so stable now and honestly she is so proud of herself! She can spend ages pulling herself up, standing with no hands, falling on her bottom and repeating, all with a huge grin on her face. So cute 🙂

There has been some nasty face-plants though so she had a teeny cut on her lip and a bruise on her forehead poor thing. Feels horrible to not quite catch her in time but I guess she has to learn and she is definitely getting better at falling backwards rather than forwards now!

She now has 7 teeth (love her toothy grin) so we have started the teeth cleaning routine. She hated it at first but after a couple of days she got used to it and is now really good at having her teeth cleaned. We made up a little teeth clean song when Monkey was little which we now sing to both of them which I think does help.

We need to clean her teeth though now as she eats basically what we eat all of the time and I am so pleased to say that at the moment there is very little she doesn’t like, and she adores fruit, unlike her fussy big brother. Her breakfast every morning is strawberries and blueberries and maybe some mini shredded wheats or something similar and she tucks in like mad. Mealtimes are such a messy affair though so I am constantly washing all in one bibs and scrubbing the highchair and floor to get all of the crumbs, rice, bits of fruit, etc. Let me tell you standing barefoot on a half eaten blueberry is not a nice feeling!!

I think her reflux is improving (touch wood, fingers crossed, etc, etc.) We have been giving her ranitidine religously since her last flare up and she has been fine… but as we were running out we thought before getting more from the drs that it was worth seeing how she got on without it for a few days. It has been a few days and so far so good so we will see how she gets on over the next week or so. We do have a little left still if we need it but it would be nice if we don’t need to medicate her really!

Her sleep has been all over the place lately and I think it may just be because of all the development and the fact she just wants to crawl and climb and stand constantly. She is such a fidget pants that I think she really struggles to calm down at nap time. I had about a week of her only napping once a day and was convinced she was dropping a nap… but then we had a terrible terrible night on Thursday with her screaming constantly, which is very unlike her as she has always slept well at bedtime. It took hubs well over an hour of singing and rocking her to sleep before she would stop fidgeting and waking herself up. Since then she has been a bit more normal with naps, still a bit fussy but she is napping better. So we shall see what happens this week I think!

What else is she up to? She now waves a little and it is so cute though she seems a bit surprised by what her hand is doing! Another little development is that she is really aware of people now. She very much wants Mummy all the time and if someone else is walking her round then she will make a beeline for me. But she also gets upset when other people leave. She balls if we stand and watch Daddy leave in the morning, and when Nanny & Pops took monkey out she did the same! So cute bless her she just wants to be involved with whats going on and clearly doesn’t want to be left behind!

Other firsts this month have been her first ride in the supermarket trolley – which she adores and it does make life easier in the supermarket not having to hold a basket and push a buggy – and her first proper shoes! Now she is standing and walking so much whenever we go anywhere I thought it was time for some proper supportive cruiser shoes rather than just pretty flimsy ones. She has been barefoot most of the summer as she hates wearing shoes and tends to kick them off (we have lots of single shoes now as she manages to kick them off without me noticing and I can never find them again!!) but she is going to have to get used to it and her new ones are at least a little harder to kick off.

She is such a smily, happy little lady in general and is a joy to be around. She adores playing peepo, going on the swing, being tickled and loves watching her brother laugh – just seeing him chuckle is enough to give her the giggles. She melts our hearts every day with her gorgeous smile and the way she beams at us when she is happy. She can of course be hard work but she really is so lovely and I love watching her grow into a little person.

This year is going very very fast all of a sudden!

Crawly Baby (9 months old)

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Yup, it’s official, we have a crawler! Our little lady, at just over 9mths old is now well and truly on the move.

When she wants to she can really go at a pace but actually for the most part she doesn’t want to crawl and much prefers to stand. So she will only crawl until she can find something (usually Mummy who she knows is a soft touch) to pull herself up on. She is so determined to stand and walk that even if there is nothing (or no Mummy) to grab onto then she will try and stand. As a result, much of the time she ends up like this, with bum in the air.

She has even done a couple of steps like this but I think she hopes to push herself to standing and just can’t quite get herself there yet!

It’s a whole new world for us as Monkey never crawled properly and just did a sort of commando style drag across the floor. The speed that LM can go and the distance she can cover is a whole new thing so we are having to be extra careful about what is on the floor – especially some of Monkey’s smaller toys. It terrifies me even thinking about it to be honest!

It’s so lovely seeing her so proud of herself for accomplishing it, even though there is still just as much frustrtaion as she would rather stand and walk. I have a feeling that won’t be too far in the future though!

Love watching her grow into a little person 🙂

Little Miss at 9 Months

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Wow so our little lady turns 9 months old this week! Which means she has been in the world for as long as she was growing in my tummy! Her development seems to be coming on leaps and bounds all the time now and for the most part she is a joy to be around. She just beams with happiness when she smiles and melts our heart on a daily basis.

She is keeping us on our toes though. For a while we have been convinced she was going to be a crawler.. And she can do it… Or could if she wanted to. But she doesn’t want to. Nope, like her big brother she would prefer to walk, thank you very much!

So though she can crawl she more often is trying to stand and falls flat bless her… Unless there is something or someone to grab onto. We still had her on the highest cot level until this week but had to lower her after I came in to see her after her nap and found her on her knees, holding the side and about to stand. If she had stood up she basically would have gone head first out of the cot! Eek!

As she wants to walk around that also means we are walking around with her a lot. Not great for our backs unfortunately but I know it will only be in the short term as we did the same with Monkey and he walked pretty early.

Her sleep regression troubles have eased off a little thankfully. My Mum’s tip of rubbing her back helps if she is struggling to settle herself but for the most part she does get herself off to sleep quite quickly again. Phew! Less screaming does make the house feel a lot calmer.

She seems to have settled into a little bit of a routine for the time being… Where she sleeps from 10-1130/12 in the morning,3-4 in the afternoon and then 730pm-6am overnight. It is nice knowing a little bit what to expect but I doubt this routine will last long and, well, I know she can change at any given moment! She does so like keeping me on my toes!!

She is a chatty little thing and been saying dada or jaja indiscriminately for a while and it has been lovely to hear mama or maba come out recently too. I know she doesn’t know what it means but it is still lovely. She is getting more giggly as well and loves being tickled, which is obviously great fun.

She loves people, adores her daddy and still worships her big brother, smiling the second she sees him. She also likes grabbing him, which he takes in good spirits for the most part bless him.

This week we have had a some waving at people which has been lovely and is just another example of how we are entering what I see as the fun stage. Yes it is still hard work, but a little less so and with all of the learning and developments comes a lot of fun for all of us.

Monkey says at age 3

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Monkey is at such a cute age at the moment… I think I say that about every age but he really is and is coming out with the cutest phrases! Here are some of our favourite little comments I would like to record for posterity.

Walking around our local area he likes to comment on just about everything we see, which thankfully brings smiles from passers by in general. Some examples:

Oh look he’s running
That was a very friendly doggy
I don’t think that doggy will eat me
That was a very friendly man

He also likes to say hello to everyone too which is very sweet, and then tells me “I said hello.”

“I said” is one of my biggest bugbears at the moment actually. I ask him a question or tell him not to do something and am met with “ok, I said OK!” in response, which make sme very cross. I heard you the first time and please do not shout at me! I am not sure where he picks that up from but he is such a sponge at the moment and have to be so careful.

My parents accidentally shouted “oh Bugger” when they went the wrong way in the car recently and of course he repeated it – but I very impressed as they have managed to convince him that they said “bother” and he recently announced “Pops says bother!” so phew to that!

He has also picked up a few things from films that I am not such a fan of. He points and tells us what to do and when we have challenged him on it he says “Woody points” as in Toy Story… hmmm. He also pretends to spit and makes a “ting” noise!! Which we are not exactly keen on and I think that came from Toy Story too….. funny how he manages to pick up bad habits from a seemingly innocent film!

It’s not all bad though, he is a big fan of the Disney Cars film and loves Lightning McQueen & Mater, and comes out with the funniest things, including “I am Focus” which is what Lightning McQueen says. In London a few weeks ago we were trying to get him to go quickly down the stairs to the tube and he shouted “I am focus” making us chuckle a lot bless him!

Our cheeky Monkey would be great at the Yes, No game at the moment as he rarely says yes. We ask him questions and he answers with I did, I have, I don’t, I were, I haven’t etc. Its so funny bless him!

He is getting more and more correct in his pronunciations lately and sounding less and les toddler… But there are still a few which we hope hang around.
“Nockynurs” (Binoculars) and “Serbatry” (Conservatory) for example!

We also adore his version of The Grand Old Duke of York. He is always singing something or other and love hearing his own versions of things!

Oh the grand old dukey north
He had some thousand men
He march them up the top of the hill
And march them down again
And when they up eh up
And when they down they down
And when they up they up they up
And when they down they down

He’s a very loving little boy and always tells us how much he loves us. He has also started saying “I love you soo much” when he is a bit sad or when he wants something. Learning emotional blackmail young! And if he gets told off he does the same. Yes I love you too darling but you must be more careful not to kick your sister in the head!!

I’m probably forgetting a few lovely phrases but that’s enough for now and in the words of Monkey “Goodbye Darlings”

Stealth Shuffling & Sleep Regression at 8mths

Posted by Caroline Elliott

We have been having a bit of an interesting time with our Little Miss of late. In many ways she has settled down, her teething and reflux aren’t bothering her quite so much and on the whole she is a very happy, sunny, smily baby and she can be a joy to be around. But she has reached a point where she very much wants to be on the move and that is making things interesting.

For quite a while now she has been really content to sit and play with toys. Honestly it has been amazing as Monkey never really did this. She focuses so intently on toys and can sit for ages and entertain herself while I play or craft something with Monkey or potter about with some jobs.

Now though, she so wants to explore wider surroundings. She is desperate to crawl and making slow progress towards being able to, with lots of rolling onto her tummy and pushing up. She also has quite an amazing skill, the stealth shuffle.

I mentioned a while ago that she liked to bum shuffle in the bath and she now does that in front of her eyes. But the interesting thing is that it is very difficult to detect her movement. She leans forward and sits back up and twists and turns around but seems to be in the same spot… but then all of a sudden she is on the over side of the room and we weren’t really aware of the move happening!

Nanny & Pops looked after her today and even they remarked on it. Our little stealth shuffler!

It won’t be long until she crawls either so we need to be even more vigilant about what is on the floor or within reach of little arms. A whole new world 🙂

Blurry shot… but you get the idea!

She is also moving around in bed a lot too and as a result we are struggling a little at nap times and bedtime which, to be honest, is driving us potty. We sleep trained quite young and she has been a fantastic sleeper, as long as she is tired and nothing else is bothering her. But lately even when she is tired and we can find nothing else to be the matter she is miserable about going to sleep and gets very very unhappy.

She also moves herself all over the cot and we come to check on her and find her rolled over, turned sideways, back to front, legs stuck through bars and all over the place. I won’t go into details but it has been stressful and there has been lots of rocking to sleep at a loss of what else to do sometimes.

I’ve read that 8 month sleep regression is common, though again it wasn’t something we experienced with Monkey,and are hoping it is just a phase! Anyone else been through this?

Once she is asleep she still sleeps well and wakes up very happy… we are just at a bit of a loss as to how we can help her remember how to fall asleep in her bed again!

LM’s hairstyles at 8 mths

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Our Little Miss’s hair is growing thick and fast these days but it is still wispy baby hair and is at that real in-between length where it is something and nothing. Hubs and I have slight disagreements over how we should “style” her hair (I use that term in the loosest possible sense – i.e. brush it or not!) so just for a bit of fun I thought I would share some of my hair styling experiments.

Hubs says some of them are plain mean (ahem the centre parting one) but I think she looks gorgeous in all of them 🙂

Rough towel dried & unbrushed/Messy vs Cute side parting (the way it naturally goes)

Brushed centre parting/ Brushed forwards (though it doesn’t stay that way and ends up messy)

What do you think?

I’ve also had a try with a girly bow – I am not girly at all so wasn’t sure about this. Of course, she looks gorgeous, but I am not sure exactly where it is meant to go or how to keep it on! What a cutie though eh?

Becoming a Stay at Home Mum

Can I really do this?

Mini Milestones

Our Little Toddler – 11 mths

Monkey at 3 1/3

Little Miss at 11 months

LM’s first steps at 10 mths

Little Miss at 10 months

Crawly Baby (9 months old)

Little Miss at 9 Months

Monkey says at age 3

Stealth Shuffling & Sleep Regression at 8mths

LM’s hairstyles at 8 mths