Eve is six months old

Our beautiful little girl is six months old today. I can't believe how fast it's gone. Honestly speaking the first 8 weeks seemed to go very slowly due to the fact that we went through tough times with feeding and sleeping. Thankfully due to the support we received from family and friends we got through it. Eve is now going from strength to strength. She weighed 15lb 1oz this week.

She's such a funny thing. Very cheerful, smiley and playful. She looks proud when she stands up (held up by one of us, she has a very good stance) or sits up (which she can now do by herself).

Eve has been enjoying purees and baby rice for breakfast and lunch for the last few weeks. Today we move onwards and have dinner too. Feeding is going well, though some days she eats lots of breakfast or lunch and other days not much at all. She definitely doesn't like parsnip that's for sure. I've tried a couple of times. On the last occasion she made rather loud sounds that she had not made before - I'm pretty sure it was her way of saying 'No'.  Daddy and I ended up eating the parsnip puree (with added adult seasoning n stuff) with a piri piri roast chicken last night - it was delicious! Now that she's six months we can start giving her finger food to play with and suck on. Sam and I are both very excited about this.

Last week on our way to meet Sam from work we stopped off at Portico soft play (just off Gloucester Road) for the first time. Eve was surrounded by squashiness - her little face was such a picture, she absolutely adored it! I'm looking forward to taking her again soon with Sam in tow.

http://www.porticoplay.co.uk/

Portico has various room sets for different ages of children up to 5 years. I was very impressed, it was clean, colourful and has a nice little cafe. It only cost £1 for Eve - you can also get your hand stamped so that you can return any time the same day free of charge.

Since going to soft play, I've made Eve her own little squashy palace at home. She loves playing with her toys or watching tv there. It means I can leave her side for a moment and if she does topple over she won't bang her head. Blewbury Granny gave us some of her mother's (Katie Thomas' - Eve's Great Grandmother) cushions that she had embroidered many years ago. They now surround our Eve Katie as she plays, something that I think Sam's Gran would have liked.

Last week it was really warm so I stopped off at Laura's house on the way back from gardening on the allotment. I was most excited about putting Eve in the paddling pool for the first time - however, the water was a bit cold and the poor girl was not as keen as I was...

The last six months has been quite a whirl-wind, but also the most incredible time. Sam and I have already learnt so much, I can't believe we have so much more to learn over the coming years - I'm sure that Eve will teach us well!

Eve's first trip to Blewbury

We've had our trip to Blewbury planned for a while, so Sam and I were both very excited as we drove out of Bristol on a very sunny Friday afternoon last week towards Oxfordshire.

Granny and Sam with Eve

Thankfully we managed to avoid most of the traffic and arrived at his mum's house on a beautiful summer's evening. Loraine cooked us a tasty dinner; stir fried rice with pulled pork. We relaxed with glasses of wine and took Eve around the garden, showing her the fish in the pond and various trees, plants and vegetables.

Daddy and Eve looking into the pond

Due to the heat Sam and I did not sleep that well on Friday night, however Eve being the trooper that she is, slept for a solid 12 hours! When she woke up she had a lovely time relaxing on Granny's bed. It's so good that she sleeps easily no matter where we are. 

Ben, Tom, Dave, Scarlett and Huxley all arrived for lunch on Saturday. It was a real scorcher so we ate in the garden - a feast of Loraine's amazing ham, various salads, coronation chicken and a lovely white bloomer, baked by her own fair hands.

Huxley, Scarlett and Ben

I fed Eve a jar of Hipp baby food for the first time (squash, carrot and chicken), as I couldn't bring my homemade frozen cubes of puree with me. Eve really enjoyed it. She's eating really well. Over the last couple of weeks we've tried baby rice, apple and cinnamon, pear and cinnamon, parsnip, sweet potato, butternut squash and banana and blueberry. We started her on purees when she was 21 weeks old. She is eating breakfast and lunch, with dinner to start at the end of next week.

When I spoke to the midwife about starting Eve on food I was told to wait until she was 6 months old as per NHS guidelines. However I was keen for Eve to have real food sooner as she's been purely formula fed for so long. I felt that starting 3 weeks early was fine. People had told me that lots of issues can arise with weaning, however I've got to say that Eve is just loving eating and sticks out her tongue and tries to eat her bib when she is getting hungry now. She enjoys sitting in her highchair with us whilst we eat dinner, it definitely makes her hungry watching us eat. I'm looking forward to some baby-led feeding soon too. I don't think that weaning is such a big deal as it's made out to be. I really enjoy preparing food for Eve and she likes eating it. Hey presto! 

Eve with her cousin Scarlett

Daddy and Eve chilling out in the garden

Aunty Katie-Jane turned up later that afternoon and had a lovely time hugging Eve. We are so thankful for all our wonderful family members who are so fun to be around and are always supportive and helpful.

It was so nice to see Eve sitting in the little highchair (really cool one that attaches to the top of the table) that Scarlett and Huxley both used to sit in. She loved seeing the dogs chasing each other around - the first domestic animals that she has come into contact with so far!

Eve slept in her pram in the garden on and off throughout the day but got a bit grizzly in the afternoon as her teeth were hurting (she was also tired from all the fun that she was having). Soon after this picture was taken she fell asleep after a good old spoonful of Calpol (sometimes those granules just don't suffice...)

Unfortunately we didn't get out for a walk with Eve up Blewburton Hill - so that's something to do for next time. Sam is looking forward to showing her around the area that he grew up in.

After a wonderful weekend with the Truby, Fergusson, Whitlock family we arrived back in Bristol bright and early on Sunday morning. We stopped off in Cabot Circus, wandered about and then had some lunch in Giraffe. This was our first real family lunch out together where Eve ate the rest of her Hipp meal and Sam and I had salads. Previous to this she had always been on milk of course! Giraffe is a real family-friendly restaurant, one that we've enjoyed going to prior to Eve's arrival, but now it's even more fun going with her. 

Upon our return home we changed the baby monitor set up so that she could start sleeping in her big cot bed in our studio/spare room - so far so good, two nights of blissful sleep for us plus we can now read books in bed, hurrah!

Hipp's partner company is Kinderhotel - a family hotel chain (Austria, Bavaria, South Tyrol and Croatia) that specialis in the wellbeing of children during holidays. I received some vouchers for free jars of Hipp baby food in the post, otherwise I'm not sure that I would have given them a go. The information that they included in the packet about weaning was very useful and I think the idea of the Kinderhotel is just great. 

http://www.kinderhotels.co.uk/hipp-partner-hotel.html

Eve's first trip to Cornwall

Eve playing with her toys at my mums house

Since before Eve was born I have been planning this trip. I had initially wanted to take her to Padstow Obby Oss (May 1st), but after realising that Sam would not be able to come with us due to work commitments, I decided to leave that for another time when she is older and when Sam can share the experience with us. My sister and I used to love going to see the Oss with our mum when we were younger and I just cannot wait to be able to show Eve in the future.

As my mum has recently moved house we enjoyed staying in her cottage in Dobwalls near Liskeard. After a rather hectic drive down to Cornwall through heavy rain we finally arrived on Thursday afternoon. We had a quick walk at Golitha Falls with mum and then went home to have Chinese food with Bev.

Golitha Falls

My Step-dad Bev with Eve

On Friday we visited my Godfather Brian and his wife Shirley, along with Pat who lives across the road. They all live in a village called St Stephens where I grew up from the age of 2 to 17. I have so many happy memories of my time spent there and feel so lucky to have grown up in the countryside. I loved driving through China Clay country en-route to see them, thinking about the fun times I had there. Brian and Shirley were integral to our childhood and I thought it important to take Eve down to meet them. Brian has just turned 80 this year. They all seemed well and in good spirits.

Due to the bank holiday weekend I thought it sensible to drive back to Bristol early on Sunday morning before the traffic, so on Saturday we went over to Looe on the South Coast. 

It was quite grey and breezy when we arrived but by the time we wandered across the beach and over through the town it became bright and warm. 

We had a lovely time, meandering through the tiny streets and out towards the sea. However, I've been away from Cornwall for so long that I forgot quite how terrifying the seagulls are. We sat outside a cafe on the waterfront, the waitress came to bring us some sandwiches when the birds swooped down and grabbed the sandwiches straight off the plate - poor Eve ended up with tuna fish all over her - I even found some in her nappy when I got home! Massive Doh!! 

Granny T with Eve, moments before the seagull attack

It was so good to spend time with my mum, feeling the suns rays shining down on us whilst we looked out to sea...

Eve's weight this week - 20 weeks = 14lb 3oz