An amazing Christmas present for Mummy and Daddy!

So Pippa has been sleeping through from about 10.15pm after her late sleepy feed until 7am, when I wake her, for the last 6 and half weeks.  Her 10pm feed has slowly been getting shorter and shorter as she falls asleep more and more quickly, yet she still lasts until 7am.  I think part of the reason behind this is because after her full feed at 6pm she has then been taking about another 6oz of milk from a bottle!!  Happy little piglet!!  So with this extra-full tummy we decided to try and drop her 10pm feed last night and see what happens.  

Well........after a nice bubble bath and 1 page of Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin (after which I was told in no uncertain terms that it was time to sleep and she'd had enough story-time thankyou Mummy!) she fell fast asleep half an hour early at 6.30pm.  Husband and I went to bed around 11pm and apart from lots of snuffling and finger-sucking noises (we're sharing a room with her at Grandma and Grumps') we weren't disturbed until 6.45am! 

We're all so excited and proud!!  I am, however, also feeling guilty that she might have been hungry in the night and also guilty about her routine being a little out of kilter today as a result.  But I suppose if she was hungry overnight she would have let us know, and she still seems happy enough today, if just a little bit hungrier than usual.  They tell you that as a parent you always feel guilty, in some capacity or other, from your child's birth, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised!

Wahoo for a full nights' sleep Pip!! Let's hope it wasn't a one-off, else I'll be back on here soon eating all my words!!

UPDATE! 4th Feb 2013 - We resumed the 10pm feeds a couple of days later!  But to Pip's credit she had continued to sleep through, only waking 10 or 15 minutes earlier than normal.  But I decided that she was just too small and probably needed the extra feed until she's weaned.  I'm still proud all the same!

Latest developments

It has now been nearly a whole month since I last posted (shocking I know, but I had a good reason) and so Pippa has been coming on leaps and bounds!

She is growing so fast that during this last month she has whizzed from Newborn sized clothes to now being in 3-6 months, with only a 2 week stay in the 0-3month range!

Other developments we've noticed are the development of a little bald spot on the back of her head from where she lies. I know nearly all babies get it these days, mainly due to the advice of keeping them on their backs at night / nap times, but it still makes me sad. Poor little baldy!! But her hair is now growing back pretty quickly on the front of her head so she no longer looks as if she has a receding hairline, bonus! I'm trying to get her to sleep on her side occassionally to see if that'll help.  It works for about 5 minutes, then she's back on her back, all frog-legged!

After weeks and weeks of fist and hand-sucking (which she used to do out of hunger but it quickly progressed to just a normal state of affairs) Pippa has now well and truly mastered finger sucking! The middle and ring fingers on her right hand seem to be the fingers of choice and sometimes she is so enthusiastic that they come out pretty red and swollen...I hope they don't fall off or explode! Haha!

The odd little squeal Pippa used to make amongst the wider cacophony of gurgles have now been replaced with full-blown cooing.  I remember reading the relevant chapter in my baby book a few weeks ago which told me that "your baby will probably now be exhibiting the very early signs of language, with a wide repertoire of coo's, oo's and ow's".....well, on looking down at my darling Pippa I saw no sign of any cooing, only a slightly dribbly bubble blowing game in progress and a much perfected grin.  However I am now very proud to be able to say that we can hear her coo'ing and oww'ing from downstairs and you can actually have some sort of conversation with her, she really seems to wait until you've finished talking before making her next ooo or ahhh.  Hours and hours are now wasted 'talking' to her.  It's bliss!  All nonsense from both parties, naturally, but bliss all the same!

Similarly we think she is making her first attempts at laughing. Occasionally her little smiles are accompanied by a squawk or a wheeze....only when she's very, very happy though......normally when looking at her mobile or having raspberries blown on her feet or tummy.  Oh.....and she has discovered her tongue......it is out alllll the time!!!

Finally I am so flattered and proud to be able to say that I think Pippa has started to notice when I'm not there. I know it sounds strange but until last week whilst she'd always have a big smile for us when we walked into the room etc, but she didn't seem overly concerned when we weren't within eyesight. However now she sometimes complains when we walk out. It's not loud or happening every time but it certainly shows she's getting more and more aware. Thankfully it isn't affecting her sleep, we are still incredibly lucky in that she hardly makes a peep when we leave her in her cot for naps or at bedtime! I'm not bragging and we do remind ourselves regularly just how lucky we are!!

To reconfirm my theory of her increasing awareness: I am currently trying to breastfeed her in a cafe in town (for some reason I've stupidly chosen to sit next to a full glass window running the entire length of one wall, which overlooks the main shopping street!  Hello boob!).  It turns out she is rather distracted by my brightly coloured nursing scarf, which is supposed to be preserving my modesty, and instead of feeding she is just lying there wide eyed and smiling, dribbling milk.  Worst of all, apparently the bright colours are so enthralling that they need to be vigorously swatted and yanked about, so my modesty keeps failing, much to an old man's disgust at the next door table. Whoops!!

My first EVER exhibition!

So this is the reason I started to get behind on my blogging!

A fellow military-wife friend had organised a fair for other military wives to attend and also to exhibit / have a stall at (she is also heavily pregnant...wonderwoman!).  She asked me to exhibit, which I was thrilled about,  and because I had been wanting to do something like this for ages and because it generally sounded like an awesome way to raise some money for charity, I said yes.........only to swiftly realise that I had absolutely nothing to exhibit, let alone sell!

And so began 2 weeks of rather panicked and pressured rushing about trying to get something together.  I luckily had 3 or 4 pieces I had done in the last couple of years,  so I decided to find a good printing company I could use to get some cards and prints made up.

Eton Graphics well and truly delivered!  I managed to get 4 different card designs made up (2 of which I already had and 2 which I drew in the odd snatched 10 minutes here and there amongst Pippa's routine).  I decided to try and keep these on a countryside / wintry theme which I can easily add to and which seem to prove pretty popular.  Conversely the two large pieces I had drawn were on an African wildlife theme, but as these were all I had to offer and I had no time to do anything new,  I had to accept that my stall might be rather diverse in its subject content!

Anyway, the fair went really well and it was a very good introduction into the world of exhibiting and selling.  It really got my butt into gear and forced me to sit down and order a frightening amount of envelopes, cellophane sleeves, mount cards and backing boards.  Rather to Husband's dismay (although I know he is very pleased I have eventually done something about my dream to sell my art) our dining room is now very much my studio instead!  Pip likes to help too!

The manic Christmas rush on cards is now over (not that I'm complaining!), including having to find the time to write about 80 of our own, so I can go back to concentrating on getting some more commissions and originals done.  But first,  I shall reeeeeelax and enjoy our first Christmas as a family! Whoop whoop!!