First Christmas

Niamh is one lucky girl! She started off Christmas day opening her 3 prezzies from Mum and Dad. After her morning sleep we travelled to Hamilton to Nan and Grandad's for the Parsons' Christmas get together. Niamh got a clacker, beach things, widdles, books, awesome clothes and a teething ring. She let mum and dad have an uninterrupted Christmas lunch by timing her next sleep perfectly.

Niamh got to hang out with her big cousins and watch the kite flying at the park. It was a fun, yummy, happy, BIG day.

With Christmas over for the year we now see the hint of Niamh's first tooth appearing...let's hope it's a happy tooth. :)

All Niamh wants for Xmas is her two front teeth!

4 sleeps till Christmas day but we have already had a run through at Nan and Popsies place. Niamh was the Christmas fairy:

She made light work of unwrapping her presents... :) The boxes and wrapping paper were enjoyed! She was spoilt with a paddling pool, books, toys, bucket and spade and cool new togs and hat.

This month Niamh has started moving....backwards! She has a really stong upper body and can push herself up, she gets her bum up too now and before she knows it, she has crawled backwards. Not the direction she is after since she is trying to reach toys in front of her and ends up further away. Niamh is more like a slow moving caterpillar at the moment :)

We had our 9 month Plunket visit last week (Niamh was 8.5 months). She is now 64.8cm long, weighs 8.4kg and her head circumference is 44.5cm. She is quite short on the 'chart' but I'm sure a growth spurt must be round the corner...hopefully ;-/It would be nice if her height matched her weight, but whos does?? She is such an alert wee thing taking in everything all the time. Niamh has started to say 'words'. She says dada and baba really well and charms people all the time with her smiles. We think we see a cheeky personality emerging. Wonder who she gets that from? :) In the last couple of days Niamh has started to clap independently. She also now leans back to look up and behind her, especially if she is on someone's knee. But have any teeth arrived yet?...NO, not yet.

Anthony was is Aussie again last week for work and so it was just me and Niamh. I was hoping for a very uneventful 2 days on our own, and thankfully that was what happened. No drama, no bed/ sleep issues..simple.

Niamh finished her swimming lessons on Saturday for the term. She has come such a long way and has gained so much confidence in the pool. On Saturday she was doing lots of underwater dipping, got thrown in, was floating on her back (with support) and now nothing seems to phase her too much. She can open her eyes underwater, blinks her eyes when she is about to go under (which tells us she's ready) and spits any water out. Bring on next term which starts in Febrary. Can't wait to get the new paddling pool up and running too.

8 months on...

Where is the time going? It's been a busy month so far and since December has come around, it seems like it's all picked up more speed! We have been up to lots lately. It's all go!

Niamh is not yet crawling. She gets onto her tummy and has a very strong body lifting her head right up. I can tell she really REALLY wants to move by the way she has her legs and arms going for it but the body is stationary. Niamh can get frustrated by this lack of movement but seems that the crawling motion hasn't yet clicked in her brain.

We haven't been giving her any losec for about 2 weeks now and I'm thrilled to say she is having no problem. She still spills a little bit but it doesn't seem to be affecting her at all. Fantastic news there! With the intolerance to cows milk protein, the pediatrician has advised we keep Niamh off all diary until she is over 1 year of age. We are getting the soy formula subsidised which helps since it's a bit more expensive than regular formula. And Niamh has been sleeping through the night for about 3 weeks with NO dream feed. We got her up one night to dream feed her and she was NOT happy! Sooo that ended the dream feed for her and no problems as a result. No teeth yet either.

In the last couple of weeks we've taken Niamh to MOTAT (had free tickets to use) and then last Saturday was Anthony's work do at Rainbow's End. It's not so easy doing a lot of the rides with an 8 month old, but she seemed to enjoy going around the places in her stroller. We went on the merry- go- round at Rainbow's End with her. Santa even came to the Maxitrans picnic and Niamh got her first Xmas present from him- a book! She LOVES books. Apparently she's on the good list!!!

The latest with Niamh is she is now trying to blow raspberries with her lips. Unfortunately she kind of sucks her lips in instead of pushing them out though... She's just started that high pitched squeal again. Fun!! But she's getting really good at saying B..b...bb..bb.bb.bb. she's very vocal and is really good at having 'conversations'.

Not long to Xmas now. 11 sleeps until the Simons' Xmas and 18 sleeps until the Parsons' Xmas. Niamh is ready for her first ever Xmas! :)

Swim, swim, swim

Ready for the lesson

Swimming to the wall- keeping an eye out to see what the other children are up to?

Oh- where did she go? Under the water no problem at all!

Floating on her back

Swim, swim, swim

Morning Mover!

This is how I found Niamh yesterday morning...up the wrong way, diagonal with feet stuck out the cot bars! I have NO idea how she even managed it considering all was tickety boo when Anthony went to work one hour earlier. I love the grin :)

Mover and shaker

It's official! Niamh rolled for the first time all by herself today!! At 7.5 months. Should we be worried... probably :) She's been so close for ages but has always needed a helpful push to get her legs over as they always seemed to get tangled round each other, but today she has got it all working perfectly and can do it no problem now. Tummy time is going well too- no more vocal protesting... well, not immediately anyway...so something must be clicking in that brain of hers.

She's doing soooo well in the pool too. On her second lesson Niamh was going under (with me holding under her arms) and after lesson number 3 on Saturday she is starting to move her legs, stretch out her arms and feel more relaxed in the water. And we're not even half way there. As her motor skills develop more, it will really help what she can do in the pool. The swimming instructor has called Niamh a sponge, taking everything in ALL the time. We try to pop down to the pool during the week to practise the things from Saturday, plus, it tires her out for a lovely long afternoon sleep. Bliss.

Niamh is also sleeping through the night! Another huge accomplishment. I'm confident I can post this without things going backwards as she's been sleeping the whole night for 10 nights now. We dream feed her at 9:30 and she can last from 7pm to 7am. I am a very happy mummy. :)

Niamh loves the music class we go to on a Monday morning with other mums and babies/toddlers. She has been 'doing' the hokey tokey in style- arms and legs flying! A bit of a trick to hold onto at times once she gets going.

We have been out and about visiting most weekends. We went to see Lucy in Taumaranui and Aunty Jen in Tauranga recently. Niamh is a pretty good traveller. 3 hours (with stops) seems her limit at this stage...which is fair enough and she sleeps most of the way thankfully. We also went on her first over night excursion when Anthony was in Aussie for work. I think my parents are still getting over that visit :) (Just kidding!) A few things were apparent after that trip- portocots have a very low bottom to them- not ideal for short people like me; babies who are getting over temperatures can take 2 and 1/2 hours to settle at night and duty free is a wonderful thing.Yay!

Anthony is so busy at work and has been recently promoted. All his hard work is paying off which is great. I, on the other hand, popped into school today to officially hand in my resignation. :-( The right decision but difficult none the less. I have a plan to do some relieving next year but just need to get my CV up to date now. Don't they say a change is as good as a holiday?? :)

Updates...

• Niamh's test for allergies came back negative, however, we did try giving her the cow's milk formula again (twice) that weekend and again she had a reaction to it! Not quite as bad but it was like she had a real tummy ache and took ages to settle her afterwards. Soooo we are off that one until further notice and using soy based formula- which is going well. Next step= back to the doctors to get a pediatrician referral. Have to save up our pennies there though, specialists aren't cheap, especially the good ones.



• Niamh is well into having solids now and is loving feeding herself! She actually prefers holding the spoon, with our hand holding too, and we get more success (but a little bit more mess...) with her involved. She's had no problems being in the highchair either.



• Niamh is sleeping to about 5am now, from 7:30pm...so we are getting there!!



• Niamh is a compentent sitter and is now learning to roll. The dribbling has decreased amazingly (I was going through 6-8 wet, soggy bibs a day) and so I'm left wondering whether this is the 'calm before the storm', or the 'calm before the teeth'!!



• Niamh started swimming last Saturday. The tip I've learnt, is to make sure bubby is not tired and has had her sleep BEFORE the lesson. 10am is unfortunately usually her morning sleep time so the first lesson was a bit much for her, seeing she was ready to have a nap. Anthony and I went on Sunday ourselves and she just LOVED the water and pool. She'll be a swimming princess in no time. :)



• I have been getting Chinese acupuncture at Physio and am 3 sessions in and am very optimistic it's going to work! It's a slow process but things are improving all the time. Fingers crosses I'll be pain free sooner rather than later.



• We have been approached by NZ Steel and Franklin Long Run Roofing to have our house feature in their brochures/website. Our house is a style leader! Not bad for a 4 year old house. Check out http://www.franklinroofing.co.nz/

I think that's all for now. We have a busy next few weeks and am sure it's only going to get busier as we lead up to Christmas...(is it too early to put the tree up?!?). Yip, I'm excited!! :)

Move over Picasso

Niamh's first picture.

Look, no hands!

Concentrating....

Taking a closer look.

Oops, a bit closer than expected... and paint in other places than only the paper.

Success!


And...the masterpiece by Niamh age 6.5 months.

The big 6 months

Happy half a year birthday to Niamh!

Niamh celebrated it by having an allergy test on Friday which tested for wheat, egg, cow's milk, soy and peanut allergies.....and it came back NEGATIVE. Fantastic news!! We will wait and see what our doctor says but it seems we can try cow's milk formula again to check. I'm trilled with the result, (especially as tins of Neocate cost $100), but am quite surprised considering the reaction to the formula last time which happened more than just one time. We will see how we go.

Niamh is getting really good at sitting up all by herself. She can still have face plants which give her a big frights so I make sure I'm not too far away at the moment. She's not interested in rolling yet instead uses a more of a 'scoop and gather' approach to retrieving toys. :) She's a mover with her arms and legs,....her body not so much ...yet. She will do a bendy banana shape so am hoping we are still a little way off the full on moving stage as we still haven't started baby proofing our house. Anthony has taught Niamh to bang two blocks together. Trust Dad to teach noisy tricks :)

We gave Niamh her first taste of solids yesterday with baby rice. She's didn't do too bad either and the funny thing was Anthony ended up having more food on him than Niamh!! Might not be the case the more we get into though!

Other than that, Anthony is in full on study mode for an exam coming up and I am seeing a physio twice weekly to sort my sciatic nerve problem which is making my left leg hurt. It seems I've hurt it after being pregnant with Niamh and am just hoping to get it all fixed for summer.

New developments

We had our latest Plunket visit at 5 months and 1 week. Niamh is now 6.47kg, 60.2cm long with a head circumference of 42cm. She's probably going to be a short wee thing like her mum! We also got through the 5 month jabs. Niamh was SO brave and only really gave a cry when she got pricked and thankfully the cuddles after made her feel better. It's great that's all over for a long while.

I am starting to wean Niamh from breastfeeding now. My goal was to make it to 4-6 months, so 5 months in I think I've done really well. There has been a few unexpected hiccups. One, Niamh deciding she didn't like bottles anymore, and two, Niamh appears to be allergic to cow's milk formula. (We got past the bottle phobia with a bit of parent trickery). With the normal formula she came out in an ugly red rash all over her month and chest immediately after feeding. I took photos then went to the doctors with my trusty camera and sure enough- allergic reaction! So we are using special doctors prescribed formula called Neocate now. She has had no problems with this one, even though it smells sooooo bad!!! (It's base is amino acids) Thankfully she is happy to drink it. So far I have taken out 2 of her feeds per day, one at 7pm and one at lunchtime. It's all going so well thankfully!!

Niamh is just about able to sit by herself with no support (5.5 mths old). In the last few days her balance has really improved, along with a few topples over when testing out just how far she can go. She's also becoming quite particular about what toys she wants to play with or which ones she is not interested in. Picky or just selective? :) She's getting good at playing peek-a-boo now and loves to try and put her feet into her mouth when lying on her back.

We got Niamh a blow up duck bath in the weekend, that goes into the real bath. It's perfect for Niamh cause she can sit up supported on all sides, and she just LOVES it! it's also great cause it saves us on water to fill. The beak makes a quack noise...so cute!!

Happy times ;)

We are staring down the barrel of 5 months now with our sweet pea (Aug 26th). I really did speak too soon a few months ago when I though Niamh was starting to sleep through the night..... and since that week I've been getting up every night at approx 3:30pm. It's not too bad because the feeds are pretty quick now and it's back to bed for her and me within about 15 minutes. Could be worse... :) Having said that she does sleep on average 7 and half hours straight as we put her into bed after a feed and bath at 7:30pm so she's doing pretty good I think!

Niamh is also soooo much happier too. She has had the all clear with the kidney and bladder scans from hospital a couple of weeks ago; finished up with cranial osteopath appointments after 6 sessions and is still on losec which is a blessing because it works for her. Her 3 month injections went well (having them at nearly 4 months!) and I went solo for them- no moral support this time for me...I must be getting use to this mum thing. Baths are happy too! For quite a few months bath time was NOT fun. Lots of tears were shed...and that was probably mostly from Niamh's parents! Soooo having happy bath time is a nice change and is starting to be a regular thing, yay!

She is doing so well with tummy time and 10 days out from 5 months, Niamh started to roll to one side when on her back. EVERYTHING is going into her mouth now and I've lost count of how many bibs I go through a day with dribble. She seems to have soooo much saliva!! Could be the teeth-e-pegs coming...??...She is really good at sitting, with support of cause and still just loves being on her feet, again with support.

Niamh and I have joined a local walking group. At this stage we just go on Tuesday's but they also go on Thursdays and it fits perfectly with her morning sleep time. The coffee at McDonalds after is the highlight. :)

In other news, I have resigned from my Assistant Principal position. The totally right decision, but still difficult for me none the less. Teaching at a very supportive school with great colleagues made the decision tricky. I haven't altogether resigned from the school, just the management role for now. So watch this space for updates for next year. :)

Anthony had his birthday on the 19th. He wanted forks for MY bike, yep, my bike has been altered a few months ago into Anth's single speed project....Not sure if it will ever be the same again...

Coming up we have plunket, the 5mth jabs, Anth's work trip to Aussie, coffee group at our place and Anthony's first Fathers Day. Yay!!

4 months

Niamh is 4 months old. She has started this new month with a new sound....a high pitched squeal! It's pretty exciting stuff...... but her mum and dad are hoping it's just a phase.... :/
She is really good at holding onto things now by herself. She's our little clever girl!

This is how Niamh and I are aiming to achieve National Standards in reading!!! I'll have her at 'Red 3' in no time. :-)

Smiles :)

We are seeing more of Niamh's personality the older she gets and the better she gets in regards to her health. She is such a delight when she is in a 'talkative' mood which is happening more and more often. I am even getting greeted with smiles when I see her in the morning from her cot.

Niamh is still seeing the cranial osteopath and we are up to the 5th visit next week! I do think the treatment is working...but slowly...She also got an infection which explained the very high temperature last weekend and is on antibiotics to clear that up. I'm hoping that things will come right soon. I haven't been back for Niamh's 3 month jabs yet but will wait until she is better. Fingers crossed for next week!

Milestones

We hit the 3 month mark with new developments- (can't believe we have left the 'weeks' behind and now are up to referring to Niamh's age in months!) It amazes me how all of a sudden things can change. Nimah has discovered her hands and her thumb! Now everything possible gets the mouth test, ie a chance to see if it will fit in her mouth. She has found her thumb and somewhere in her sleep cycles it ends up in her moosh. Niamh is also holding on and grabbing onto things rather than just batting them. We are slowly trying to increase tummy time but Niamh has her own ideas about that and if she's not in the mood, it won't happen! She has always had very strong neck and shoulder muscles and from very early on, like day 10, could hold her head up- that hasn't changed.

We had the 3 month Plunket check yesterday and Niamh is growing beautifully. She now weighs 5.64kg which is at about the 25th percentile, is 57.5cm long again at about the 25th percentile and head circumference of 41cm.

No real updates on the reflux issue. We have been using Losec for the past 2 weeks which has really made a HUGE improvement for our wee poppet. It has cut down on her amount of spilling hugely which incidentally has cut down on my amount of washing- not so many bibs and cloths getting used! Going back to Mr Osteo for the second time, Niamh's sweating has just about been eliminated when feeding. The front of her head is a lot looser which he confirmed. Still need to work on the tightness around the back of her head and her diaphragm, so at least 2 more sessions to go.

And the BIG news is Niamh is starting to sleep through the night!!!!!!! I just hope I'm not jinxing it by posting this! On Monday she sleep for 10 hours, Tuesday-11 , Wednesday- 8 and Thursday- 10 and a half! It's lucky if I have had to get up at all for her this week. I'm not sure how this miricle has occured, but think it's possibly a combination of the Losec, osteopathy treatment, getting older in weeks and her new merino go go bag (Thanks Mel and Andrew for the lend). Whatever it may be, it's great. :)

Anthony's new job is going well. He is extremely busy but says it keeps him out of trouble! He's just fine now after the last 'trouble' he got himself into (heart palpitations resulting in a night at hotel Middlemore Hospital).

And as for myself, it's been a busy 3 months with bubby. I think I have survived it ok and feel like I am slowly coming out of the 'fog'. :) So far I have learnt that...carpet cleaner is a must; 4 hours of continuous sleep is amazing and yes can be survived on; lint rollers are worth there weight in gold; baby and mum yoga is a bit ambitious for a tiny tot; not all entrances into buildings are pram friendly (after getting stuck a few times!); too much coffee can result in heart palpitations; babies produce a LOT of washing and that all mum's are AMAZING!

And what has Anthony learnt... to agree with everything above :)

We made it to 12 weeks!

WOOHOO!

We made it to 12 weeks with about 5 trips to the doctors, about 120 loads of washing, one night with Niamh sleeping right through the night, only one MAJOR poo explosion and one night in Middlemore hospital for her dad! Not bad :)

Niamh has had a few issues with reflux and it's still an ongoing issue I am trying to sort. She has always been a spilly baby, however, about 3-4 weeks ago Niamh started spilling up much more than usual with it really affecting her significantly. She would bring her legs up, get very rigid, scream when laid flat or in cradle position, become inconsolable and generally was in pain especially after feeding. I took her to the doctor and for a week we gave Gaviscon a try....but no luck there. It DID help with the spilling, reducing the amount by about 80% but Niamh still experienced pain (not to mention the drama of trying to give it to her after every feed- TIP for young players..use a syringe! Much easier than a spoon!!). I took Niamh back to the doctors last Friday and we are now trying Losec, an acid neutraliser. This seems to be working a lot better AND is only given once a day before a feed. It's still early days with this medication but it might be the one. Fingers crossed.

After recommendations I also took Niamh this week to see a cranial osteopath in Ellerslie; Christopher Burnett. He is brilliant with kids! Considering her tricky birth it was something I thought needed to be looked into..and I'm glad I did. Niamh has a slightly constricted diaphragm and very tight area at the back of her skull causing tension and pain. Poor wee poppet!!! No wonder she has been having issues. The osteopath started treating her on Monday and we go back again next week to continue. I really hope it makes a difference to loosen up those areas, for Niamh's sake.

She really is our big girl now and has just started sleeping in a cot, with no problems. Yay! She has taken to it very well and it's just me that has to get my head around the fact that she's not my little newborn. It had to happen though, especially as Niamh is nearly as long as the bassinet when relaxed and stretched out.

Niamh in the bassinet.

A tiny little Niamh in her cot.

We went for our first big outing as a family on Saturday to see Andrew and Mels fantastic new house (brother and sister-in-law) and for Ella's 2nd birthday dinner. I think it was a successful outing for us, except that Niamh didn't sleep in the car on the way down...crazy cause she normally does. Anyway she did have a bit of a sleep there thankfully and we managed to even get some dinner, which we didn't know if we would be able to stay for. Thanks Andrew and Mel for dinner, the quiet room for Niamh, the tour of your fab house, the car boot fill of things we took away with us and for your hospitality. :) All I can say is thankfully we have a station wagon!

And finally some photos from the other week at coffee group. Thanks Alana for taking them.

Next thing on the agenda this week is Niamh's 3 month jabs. Again Niamh's Nan is coming up for moral support...my moral support :) (Hey, it's 3 injections this time....). Then Plunket the following week for the next weigh in.

Onwards and upwards

Our little girl is growing up and on 28 May Niamh was 9 weeks old. She now weighs 4.94kg, is 56cm long and her head circumference is 39.5cm. Wow!


I took her into school on Monday (Pakuranga Heights) and introduced her to everyone. Niamh wasn't shy and immediately made her arrival known in the foyer! Lucky she is so cute!! It didn't take her long to be sociable again though and we had a great time seeing everyone. We stayed for morning tea and even got to pop into a couple of rooms to see my old students who were so excited to see us. Thanks to everyone for making us feel very welcome. xx


One thing we recently got for Niamh is an activity mat. Niamh had a great time using one at a friends place. She bonded immediately to the hanging octopus :). We don't have an octopus but many other 'friends' for which Niamh is trying to grab hold of or at least wack with some accuracy with her hands. She also is starting to have great chats to her 'friends' on the mat. Niamh is starting to have really good eye contact and the coo-ing sounds and noises she makes is amazing to hear. She is also becoming a real smiler....it makes my heart melt :)



We are going to have a photo shoot on Thursday with a friend of a friend from coffee group taking the photos. Let's hope we get some good shots out of it :)

Back at the start...

Well..maybe not at the very start....

Niamh Rose Simons arrived on Friday 26 March at 6:29pm at Middlemore Hospital weighing 3.530kg (7 pound 12.5 ounces) delivered by c-section. I was very happy to be having her after 3 days of labour and even then bubby was in no hurry to be arriving...she was already 5 days over and seemed to be on her own time frame. Bless her!!! :)

A few minutes old!

Niamh has been a busy girl since then, sleeping and feeding and growing. At the last plunket check she weighed 4.5kg, was 53 cm long (49cm at birth) and head circumference of 38cm (35cm at birth) all this at 7 weeks old. She is doing really well. At this stage Niamh is waking once in the night at around 2am for a feed. Sometimes she even gets to 3am (up to 6 hours !!!) making me a very happy mummy! However, that does come with me waking early wondering if she is ok when I haven't heard her in a while....I suppose I have another 20 or so years of that to go... :)

Better late than never!

I have been meaning to set up a family blog for a while, but what is prompting me now is how fast our beautiful little girl is growing up. This is where I will be able to record what our family is up to...before Niamh's mum forgets. (she doesn't have the best long term memory!)

So welcome to our blog: The Simons' Story.