The cousins brought gifts for Tabitha - including a cute pink corduroy cat - and some beautiful yellow tulips for me. They are sitting, in their pot, on my windowsil, adding cheer to the kitchen:
Look at all of Tabitha's lovely birthday cards! She is such a lucky girl, and loves her cards - in fact, I am having to work to stop her climbing up the bookshelf to pluck down some cards to play with.
When Tabitha was born, we recieved more cards than you can imagine - well over 100. I bundled them up with some ribbon, and they sit on her shelves. I hope that one day she will enjoy looking at them. I have done the same with her Christening cards, her first Christmas cards, and will also with her birthday cards. I can't bear to throw them out - people have written such nice, kind things.
Here are her birthday cards, and behind them in a frame, a gorgeous postcard of a young ballerina sent from Paris from her honorary great-aunt Penelope (who I used to call Pelepone, and the name has stuck):
For her birthday, Tabitha recieved lots of beautiful, special gifts, including some of her very own jewellery - a pearl bracelet from The Daddy and I, a silver 'Little Lamb' fawn bangle from my parents, and a divine little ladybird charm for her Pandora bracelet, given to her by her Godmother Sophie. She also received beautiful soft toys, fun games and puzzles, lovely books, pretty dresses and shoes and even a song, written - music and lyrics - and recorded for her by her talented 14 year old Godfather Noah!
Here are some of her new toys - at the back, a gorgeous wooden cart with the nicest little handmade animal 'bowling pins' and a wooden bowling ball, as well as several handmade felt and wooden farm animals for playing with:
She received two pairs of shoes for her birthday - some stunning metallic pink ballet shoes (in the box) and some super-cute Marc Jacobs 'mousie' shoes, back right, with pale pink leather 'ears' and little spiky whiskers. With over ten pairs of shoes, Tabby has more nice pairs than her mummy!
My favorite shoe brand for baby shoes is Bobux. They are designed in New Zealand, and the quality is superb.
You are not supposed to put MCNs (modern cloth nappies) such as our Itti Bitti nappies in the dryer - the heat degrades the waterproof fabric and the elastic. You are allowed to dry them on 'low heat' however I generally line-dry them to save power. But since our cats destroyed our indoor clothes airer (naughty cats!) I put her nappies into the dryer (on low). WOW! They are so, so soft! I don't know if I can go back to line drying... I will, I know I will, but I will be sure to give them a turn in the dryer every now and again to soften them up.
In Tabitha's nursery, she has a large wall unit of shelves - the top shelves house books, the middle shelves house delicate things (such as porcelain money box, jewellery, small toys, photos and the like), and the bottom shelves house basket storage, and also toys she enjoys playing with. Often, I hear her go into her bedroom on her own, and start playing her little xylophones! I snuck in a took a couple of photos - here she is enjoying making some music:
In feel-good news, I received a package in the mail today. A woman who I had donated breastmilk to had posted back my containers, and had so generously included brilliant Peter Rabbit 'buggy book' and a kind card. What a lovely surprise! But - why oh why does the postman always press the buzzer (for about a minute!) when Tabitha is asleep?!
Well, it seems that Tabitha has officially transitioned to one nap per day. She hasn't yet decided exactly what time she would like to sleep - she has been going down between 10:30am and 3pm, depending on the day - but overall, we are trending towards a nap from roughly 12pm - 1:30pm or 2pm.
She has also really stepped up a level with her monkey climbing skills - not only can she now climb up onto the sofa, bookshelf and our bed (dragging something like a tissue box or a boot to stand on, if required), she can now climb up her high chair and onto the dining table! Goodness! Dangerous and alarming. I cannot take my eyes off her anymore! Apparently at the same age, my mother caught me half way up a ladder against the side of the house. I cannot imagine what a fright that must have given her.
Today is a lovely day. Sun is shining, house is clean, baby is giggly. I have been laying on the sofa reflecting on how much I adore being a full time mother - I can honestly say that I am completely fulfilled by our days together. At so many moments through the day, I find myself getting almost teary with the complete love and adoration I feel for my sweet, funny girl. The overwhelming 'motherly love' is almost like a drug, rushing through my entire body. I know that things will get harder, no doubt, when more children come along, but being a mother is simply the most wonderful thing I could have imagined. Not a day passes when I don't feel this way, even when I am tired. I cannot tell you how lucky I feel.
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2 comments:
What a lovely last paragraph! You are right, it is much harder with more than one child but with the experience you really do learn to chill out much quicker when things go pear shaped.
My eldest transitioned to one nap at 14 months and went down anytime from 11.30. Life became so much less stressful on one nap. I must admit, no nap is even better! Until number two comes along, so my advice is hold onto the nap as long as you can!
That is awesome that you donate breast milk. Makes me wonder if it is possible to do here in Adelaide.
Hi Rachel,
If you look up 'Human milk 4 Human Babies' on facebook, there are HM4HB groups all over the world, which facilitate the donation of breastmilk for families in need. Every time I have a bit in the freezer, I post, and someone in need always comes and picks it up. It's a wonderful use of the WWW!
I am hoping that you are right, that with more little ones around, you simply go with the flow even more. I know there will be extra stress BUT there will also be extra gorgeousness and baby kisses, so I think it all evens out ;)
X TM
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