Chunky Monkey is 4 months

So its been 4 months since the birth of my daughter Leah Ashleigh-Louise Baylis. I cannot believe how fast time has gone by and how much of a little person she is becoming. Its so incredible how they develop.. eyes starting to track objects, hands opening more, first smile, first laugh, first time rolling over... Its just amazing! I read the books and they say, at this age they should be doing this... and right on Que she starts doing it... and it makes me so proud.

Id say the first 3 months are defiantly the hardest! The constant crying and the panic of not knowing why they are crying. Its takes you a good few months to figure out the different cries and their wants and needs. You are just getting to know one another and getting use to having a child relying on you for everything... its really quite overwhelming!

My little monkey... or should I say big monkey (shes quite large for her age), is progressing really well. Her first to wellness visits at the clinic she was above her age group for weight and length, but now she is back on the bar which makes me feel better. Even though they say breastfed babies cannot over feed, and because I breastfeed exclusively its not my fault shes so big, it has made me feel sad when people go on about how fat she is:( She has HUGE rolls all over... my little Rolly Polly girl... oh well once she starts crawling I'm hoping she will shrink a little:P

She has started singing... it is just the cutest thing as its very out of tune! hehe... We have a little ritual for bed and nap times... left thumb in mouth, right hand clutching blankey, in the papoose(which is far to Small for her now) and then I sing a lullaby my Granny and Mom use to sing for us. And recently she sings along... and I cnt help but chuckle to myself because its just so adorably cute! Leah loves to smile... at everything and anything! She laughs more when shes tired, but gets into little fits of hysteria when I blow air onto her tummy or kiss her neck:)

I am so overwhelmed with love for my child and cannot imagine my life without her! Shes a blessing, a joy, a pleasure and Im treasuring every moment I get to spend with her!

Oh my goodness.... time flies

I cannot believe Ive let this blog get so out of date!!! My babies arrived and nearing 4 months this Saturday:) Well, I would now say it definitely takes about 4 months to settle into motherhood. This month seems to be the first time literally I have had time to sit and take a breather and write... or do anything for that matter!

So, Leah's journey into this world wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I was in early labour for 18 hours. It started 13hoo on November 18th, and by 6am the next morning I decided it was time to go to the hospital. My contractions never really got closer together or started a nice pattern... they were very sporadic and so we even stopped off at Ihop for pancakes and bacon (which you aren't suppose to do)!!! I was admitted at 11hoo Friday the 19th November at Citizens Medical Center. I remember being super excited and super scared... not sure I was actually ready to meet my little girl after all that waiting!

I has my water broken and started some patocin! I started to push around 17hoo, and after 30mins they decided to vacuum my baba out as she was kinda stuck - can you say Painful? ARGH... they had turned my epidural off so I could feel everything on my rhs!!! Anyways... the next contraction came and literally out popped Leah! To my utter shock and to everyone elses this child was 9.6 pounds!!! Thats 4.3 kgs! I remember looking at her in the Doctors arms... this giant, purple squishy thing... and not quite grasping the reality of the whole situation. This was in fact my baby, the child I had grown and nurtured for the last 9 months of my life.. this was my creation... a part of me, my mother and her mother:) This was my Leah... I had waited my whole life for that moment... I was breathless.

I will never forget the feeling I felt when holding her for the first time and having her curl her little fingers around my finger. I was utterly petrified leaving the hospital!!! Taking my precious baby out into the world and back home to the farm. Life for the first few weeks was hectic.. the sleepless nights (max 3 hours), the excessive crying, the constant attention she needed... boy, was I unprepared for parenthood. It doesn't matter how much they try to prepare you, or how many books you read... until you have lived it... you'll never fully understand or be ready! My Uncle Ray came down for a week and was a huge help and support. Then my sister Rachel came over for 2 weeks... my goodness... I honestly don't know what I would have done without her. She was my slave for those 2 weeks... getting me water, making me food, cleaning my room, watching Leah while I bathed and did simple things like brush my teeth and did washing... lol.

Then 12 Jan I left for Cape Town... 10 hour flight to Germany, 12 hour layover, another 10 hours flight to Joberg and then finally 2 hours to Cape Town! What a trip... and what a journey to get to where I am now... motherhood here I come!!

I will def do a special on the first 4 months and how she is doing really soon... and of coarse post updated pics. This is all I can afford to do for now xxx