Back to Work

Today is my first day back at work in a year. I have really mixed feelings about returning and am so nervous about how the day might go. I am heading back to a different situation that I left from (not a bad thing), for one thing I am only returning 2.5 days a week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings). Also although I am returning to the same job I’ll be in a different team which means different colleagues, different managers and a completely different way of doing things. Fingers crossed that all goes well!

Update: well that’s the first day done and dusted. It was really strange, my new team is vastly different from the old one. The people are nice and friendly but so disorganised! It’s really going to take some getting used to. On my way now to pick up my princess, I can’t wait to see her!

New

Lots of new stuff here for us:

Izzy finally has her first tooth! It poked through at the beginning of the month then disappeared a day or so later but now it’s well and truly back. Yay!

Her crawling is well and truly taking off (as I am writing this she is chasing the cat very determinedly!) and she is pulling up and cruising like a pro.

We are entering a new phase of life as I am returning to work 2.5 days per week starting next Monday. Izzy has started nursery and has attended 3 days this week. She has settled in really well although she still won’t take any milk at all from a bottle. At the moment she’s getting by on a bit of juice during the day then feeding a soon as she gets home. She’s already less clingy with me and playing more independently. It is so hard dropping her off and leaving her there though, especially when she was crying this morning.

I am tempting fate by saying this but she has been sleeping very well, 10 or so hours with one quick feed (or if she goes to bed earlier 2 feeds). She is now going to bed around 7.30 and waking at about 7. I think nursery tires her out!

Crawling

Izzy finally started crawling yesterday. Properly crawling forwards on hands and knees. It’s so cute to watch, every movement to precise and methodical. Bless her, she’s so proud of herself for being able to get to where she wants to go. I’d better get those stair gates ordered pretty sharpish!

Taking the monthly photos is so much harder now…

9 months old!

9 months have passed since my beautiful princess was born and she has now been an outside baby for longer than she grew inside me. At 9 months old, Izzy weighs 16lb 14oz (25th centile) and is 69.4cm long (50th centile). She has just moved up into 6-9 month clothing, although they are still a little big on her and as soon as the current pack is finished will be moving up to size 4 nappies. She is a petite little girl, delicate and beautiful.

She is becoming more and more active by the day. Rolling front to back and back to front with ease, pulling up to standing when she has good leverage (eg. in her cot or on my legs/clothes). She is working hard on crawling and I am sure it won’t be long before she gets there.

Verbally we have 2 clear words – mama and baba. Despite our best efforts dada is still escaping her! (I can’t say that I’m not a bit proud of that!).

She eats 2-3 meals a day (she often refuses breakfast), happily taking both finger foods and purées. She is easily bored with foods though so you cannot give her the same things over and over. Her favourite foods are blueberries, toast and spaghetti bolognaise. She dislikes eggs (both boiled and scrambled) and is not all that keen on cheese or potato). I think that her eating will improve quite rapidly once she gets teeth as her inability to bite and chew things properly really does seem to be hindering her now.

The biggest change this month for her will be starting nursery – she has a 2 hour trial with me present on Monday 13th February, followed by a 2 hour trial on her own on Wednesday 15th February, then she starts properly on Monday 20th February. I am sure she will be fine. She is a happy, sociable baby who I think will benefit considerably from the constant activity and attention at nursery, not to mention the company.

Now for photos:

Sleep, nursery and other things

Oh dear, my resolution to keep blogging regularly is already falling by the wayside.  Sorry!  So whats been happening?

The main reason that I haven’t blogged much is that since around about the beginning of December is that I have been living in a plague house.  Izzy has picked up one bug after another and this has meant that I have a) not been out all that much and b) not had all that much sleep.  Thankfully she seems to be OK at the moment, although she is teething which means that her sleep is still pretty disturbed, albeit a lot better than it has been!

One thing that we have managed to sort out is her day sleep.  Izzy now has two regular naps, around 11 am and around 3 pm for anything up to 2 hours at a time IN HER COT!  She is a lot better rested and a lot happier.  The only problem is that breaking her habit of falling asleep on me means that she doesn’t nap so well when we are out, although this could be because she is so distracted by everything going on around her.  Of course all of this is likely to change when she starts nursery in a couple of weeks (more on this in a moment).

I am still attending Weightwatchers each week and have managed to get back to almost where I was before, less half a pound.  I am now exactly 14 stone (196 lbs) which is 4 stone (56 lbs) lighter than I weighed at my absolute heaviest, and 4 stone heavier than I would ideally like to be.  I will be seeing my doctor shortly about going back on Metformin which should hopefully help.

I mentioned Izzy starting nursery.  My maternity leave has now come to an end and on 27th February my annual leave will also be used up meaning that I have to return to work.  I am going back on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings and Izzy will be attending nursery for 3 full days from 8 am to 6pm.  Most of me is really really dreading it, but a small part of me is kind of excited, I get to be me again, not ‘Izzy’s Mummy’.  Not only that but on Wednesday afternoons I will get to have me time, no work, no Izzy, nothing, I can just relax.  I am trying to make the most of my last 2.5 weeks left until Izzy starts nursery, but it is already flying by and there are so many things that I need to fit in during that time!  (Izzy is starting nursery the week before I return to work giving her time to settle in before I go back so I hopefully won’t be such a wreck on my first day back!)

So thats it really, I’ll try not to leave it so long between updates next time!