Onwards and Upwards

That's me! Onwards and upwards I mean.

Upwards-wise, I'm now 58cm long and 5.3kg.

Onwards-wise, I can now sleep from 6pm-4:30am without needing a feed.  I only, however, do this occasionally, otherwise Mum and Dad will have it a bit too easy. Besides, I like their company in the night, albeit sort of half-company due to sleep fog. I also require them to turn me over from time to time, keep me ultra-comfy, you know? I mean, they can't honestly expect me to turn MYSELF over once they've wrapped me up in those clever swaddling wraps.  Sigh.  Still, I have to admit that it is nice and comfy and cosy once they have wrapped me . . .

Life is good, folks, life is good.  I'm discovering that Mum and Dad and Fin love me to smile at them, so I treat them to a couple of stunners now and again:

And there's lots to smile about - Mum puts me in the carrier most days and I just tag along in there, watching what's going on, and I see heaps of stuff that makes me smile!  Like:

• Fin putting yoghurt in his hair or on Mum (must take note of his table manners for future reference).
  
• The trees and the flowers in the park when we take Fin there (I've observed that little boys are like dogs and need to have a good run every day).
  
• Mum's very decent cups of tea (and nice accompanying biscuits), I look forward to having those when I'm old enough.
  
• Bouncing on my bouncy chair thingy whilst I try to grab the toy tortoise that Mum hangs above me. I try sooo hard . . . 
  
• My favourite books, which are The Gruffalo, Hairy McLary and Zachary Quack, and also The Owl and the Pussycat
  
• Trying to grab that tortoise . . . 
  
• My favourite songs, which are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, some of Mum's renditions of Rabbie Burns and - and this is sooooooooo cool - some of Dad's beatboxing attempts.
  
• Getting a kiss from my brother (though not so cool when he "pats" me on the head too enthusiastically.  Sigh.).
  
• Tortoise . . . it's still there . . . I'm not smiling so much now . . . can't . . . quite . . . reach . . .
  
• Being tickled.
  

See? Lots to smile about.  Now, I just need to learn how on earth to grab a hold of that blasted tortoise and my happiness will be complete . . .

Check out my vids and pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/finlaygeorgesmith/LexieWeek1011

Arrival in style!

Hello, public. I'm Lexie. (Well, Alexandra if you check my birth certificate, but that's my extremely-posh-will-only-ever-use-it-if-really-necessary name. To you guys, I'm just Lexie.)

I got here quite dramatically, exiting directly from Mum's tummy rather than down the long narrow tunnel bit first. Impatient, that's me!  Did I mention I was 2 weeks early too?  See previous comment! I started the whole thing off early, but to be honest when it got the hard work bit of squeezing down the tunnel and out, I couldn't be bothered so I just hung around in Mum's tummy and waited for someone to come and lift me out.  Much more ladylike that way, and it meant I didn't get unbecomingly squashed, which would have spoilt my first moments on camera. A girl's gotta preserve her prettiness, you know.

I've been here just over 10 weeks now, and I have to say it's a pretty cool place to be. Now that I can see it a little better, that is.  It was quite blurry up until a few weeks ago.  My favourite thing to stare at in the house is all the flowers Mum's put up on the wall by my change table.  All sorts of pinks (yes, I'm girly!) and different sizes, and very entertaining to look at, I must say. Dad's beard is also quite amusing, and the little rhythm-tunes he sings me do make me smile.  I think he likes the whole exercise more than I do, judging by his huge grins back at me!

My favourite activity is sleeping.  I sleep from 6 at night til 6 in the morning, with a couple of half-asleep feeds during the night at about midnight and 4 or 5ish (hungry work, sleeping!). I then sleep for a couple of hours on and off in the morning, and then have another long sleep of 3-4 hours at lunchtime.  Then it's up and a wee play before another doze, then bath at 5:30ish then bed again.  Ah yes, sleeping rocks. Definitely.  Mum worries I sleep too much, but Lynden (that's the nice lady who helped Mum get me out of her tummy) says just to enjoy it.  I know I do, so Mum should too.

My least favourite activity is avoiding being beaten up by Finlay, my brother.  That's probably why I'm so knackered!  Actually, I think he's cool, and to be fair he is gentle with me most of the time, he gives me nice kisses and awesome cuddles on the sofa. It's just he likes pointing out all the bits on my face in a rather enthusiastic manner, and for some reason he likes knocking on my head. Go figure . . .

Things I've achieved so far are:

* smiling

* having a nightly bath without crying

* lifting up my head and keeping it up there!

* enduring tummy-time for more than 30 seconds

* perfecting my different calls to command each parent (whinging, want company, hungry, tired, etc)

* going longer between feeds; 

* telling my brother to get off me (see above)

* becoming a master escaper from swaddling.

Not bad for a 10 week old! 

See you next time, I hear Fin coming . . .