Love a Lazy Sunday!

After a busy day out shopping on Saturday, we spent the day at home lazing around on Sunday. Mark made yummy pancakes for breakfast, then we sat out on our back deck with a cuppa while Hannah was having her morning sleep.

At some stage during the day, while Hannah was upstairs asleep, Macey took full advantage of Mark's empty lap and climbed aboard, quite uninvited... cheeky monkey!!! (But so cute!)

Mark also laid out the alphabet mats that we bought to go over the floorboards, and spelt Hannah Louise across the top! We've got a great "void" area behind the couch in the lounge which will eventually be a fantastic play area... when Hannah can do a bit more than just lay flat on her back looking up at toys!!

 

Happy Australia Day!

We're all having a very lazy relaxing day today... at over 40 degrees, it's far too hot to be going out and doing anything, so even the dogs are being spoilt and hanging out inside in the air-con!

Good little woofas on their mat!

Norman... snoozing

Macey... snoozing

Hannah... Snoozing

We've had a yummy platter of nibblies for lunch, and now it's a bit like sleepy hollow... so nice and peaceful! A fine way to spend a hot Australia Day public holiday if you ask me!!

Happy Two Months Old!

Our gorgeous girl is two months old today!

Growing and changing so fast... becoming more beautiful by the day I think :-D

She does smile... I'm yet to capture it on camera though!!

Out for Saturday Lunch

It was such a gorgeous day today, blue sky and about 28 degrees. Too nice to stay at home, so we headed out for lunch!

We ate at The Armory Wharfe Cafe on the riverbank of the Parramatta River. Mark knew of this place after having lunch there with a work colleague and he knew I'd love it. What a fantastic little spot! I "borrowed" this photo from their website...

Very yummy fish & chips to be had here!!

Hannah slept in the pram while we ate lunch, then I fed her while we had a coffee (hot chocolate for me!)

I just wish Hannah was more settled in the car - so far she hasn't been much of a fan! She ends up crying herself to sleep, only to wake up half an hour or so later to repeat the process!!!! *sigh* hopefully this is something she will eventually grow out of?!

I took this photo of her when we arrived at the cafe - peacefully sleeping like butter wouldn't melt!!!

Sleepy Hannah, better than screaming Hannah!

When Baby "Wakes Up"!

I haven't made a post in a little while, as I don't have as much free time in big chunks as I once had! This is due to my gorgeous little poppet taking to cat-napping during the day, rather than doing lovely long sleeps! 

After initially getting myself in a bit of a tizzy about this slight malfunction, I've settled (pardon the pun) down to dealing with it, by re-settling her until it's time to get up again for the next feed. I think we are actually making progress!

As I stood by the cot during one such re-settle session, patting and shushing for about half an hour, I thought to myself, "If I was doing Weight Watchers right now, I'd get extra points for ticking the 'mostly standing' option for my daily activity"!!!!

After each feed, and before we embark on the next "sleep for 30 minutes then wake up as though I've slept for 6 hours" session, we enjoy some lovely awake time together. During one particularly pleasant awake period I took this photo of Hannah having some "tummy time". Not her favourite thing to do, and it lasted all of a few minutes, but she's doing well!

Miss Muscles! Getting so strong!

We're getting some lovely eye contact and big smiles, and I love our conversations. 

Me: "Say... 'I love you Mummy'

Hannah: *smiles* "Cooo"

OK well, that'll do for now :-D

Ahhh-CHOO! Hannah @ 7 weeks

Just a bit of an update post today - nothing too specific! Hannah and I are having a quiet day at home, and very nice it is too! I took some photos during her lovely awake time this afternoon, and captured her sneezing... too cute!!

Ahhhhh

Choo!

Ohhhh. Bless me!

 Little cutie... she's in serious danger of being gobbled up by Mummy!!

Six Weeks Old - Hannah's Perspective!

Tuesday AM - 6 weeks 1 day old

A horrible nurse jabbed me in my thigh with a very sharp thing and I screamed blue murder. I'd only just recovered when, to my astonishment, she did it to me again in the other thigh! My eyes bulged and I screamed even louder. What sort of torture was my Mummy inflicting on me?! She was sssshhh'ing me and saying "it's OK". It was NOT OK! Then there was something to suck on, but my relief was short lived because it wasn't what I was expecting at all. It was putrid stuff so I attempted to spit it out, but what with my big wracking sobs, some of it did end up being swallowed. 

Tuesday PM

I was so so sleepy. We went to the shops after the torture session and I just slept, drank milk, pooped, slept, drank milk, pooped... for the rest of the day. I went straight to sleep after my night time feed and in the middle of the night too. I think Mummy was very happy with my reaction to the torture session.

Wednesday - 6 weeks 2 days old

I had a normal day and night and Mum thought we had survived the torture session very well and that maybe we had escaped the six week growth spurt...

Thursday AM - 6 weeks 3 days old

I started the day in my fairly normal way, but to tell you the truth I was starting to feel a bit ordinary as the day wore on. I had to grizzle after my feeds to let Mum know that I was feeling a bit miserable. 

Thursday PM

I was VERY miserable and screamed a lot for several hours. I didn't even feed very well and Mum seemed a bit sad too when I was screaming and pulling off all the time. Mum thought I felt hot so she put me in cooler clothes, but I was still hot so she gave me some medicine that was meant to taste like cherry vanilla. Not that I would know, hello, I'm 6 weeks old! I don't eat vanilla cherries, I drink MILK! Why don't they make baby Panadol in MILK flavour? Anyway, by nearly 11.30pm I was pretty tired and decided to fall asleep. Then I woke up an hour later and Mum kept giving me my dummy, so I gave up and went to sleep again. I was hungry at my "usual" time of 3.30am and after some yummy milk I went back to sleep again until nearly 8am. All that crying had just worn me out!

Friday - 6 weeks 4 days old

I was feeling good and quite happy. We had a busy day out at the doctors for Dad's blood test and Mum's check-up with the nice doctor who used to look at me on a TV screen while I was still in Mum's tummy. I was such a good girl, drinking my milk and going to sleep and I hardly whinged or cried at all.

Saturday AM - 6 weeks 5 days old
Mummy says I must be "growth-spurting"...

• 7.30am - I was STARVING! Mummy fed me.
• 8.30am - I was TIRED and CRANKY! Mummy settled me and I went to sleep.
• 9.15am - I was NOT tired anymore.
• 9.20am - I did NOT want my dummy, OR cuddles.
• 9.30am - I got what I wanted - booby!
• 10am-noon - I didn't want to sit with Mum or Dad after my milk. I wanted to lay on my playmat! Then I dozed in the car on the way to the big shop with all the prams and stuff in it. I did a massive poo and checked out the change station in the shop. I grizzled a bit. I dozed a bit. I cried a bit. I dozed a bit more.
• 12.15pm - I absolutely lost the plot in the car on the way to the big fancy shopping centre. It was nearly 3 hours since I'd had any milk! Now in fairness to Mum I usually last 3 hours easily, but NOT TODAY!
• 12.30pm - BOOBY! Booby booby booby.
• 1pm ish - I dozed in my pram while Mum & Dad ate their lunch, and in the car on the way home.
• 3.00pm - BOOBY! Booby booby booby.
• 4.00pm - I was tired after a very good play and kick on my playmat. I even got to lay there without my nappy on! I had some time with Daddy before Mummy settled me for a nap.

• 5.00pm - BOOBY! Booby booby booby.
• 6.15pm - TIRED again. 
• 7.15pm - Ahhh lovely warm bath and clean clothes.
• 7.30pm - BOOBY! Booby booby booby.
• 7.45pm - I dozed. Mummy tried to put me in my bed but I didn't want to go to sleep yet.
• 8.30pm - I gave up and fell asleep on the couch. Mum left me there.
• 9.46pm - I don't recall any of this BUT, Mum tells me that she took me upstairs for my last feed for the night, but I didn't wake up! She even unwrapped me and changed my nappy but I was "dead to the world" she said! So she put me in my bed and went to sleep too. I slept til 2.30am when I woke up hungry and then went back to sleep again til 7am. 

Sunday - 6 weeks 6 days old


Today we've been at home allllll day. It was nice. I've been a good girl, feeding every 2.5 hours and napping after some play time. I haven't decided what I'll do tonight yet, I think Mum is hoping for a repeat of last night. To oblige or not to oblige, this is the question!

Thanks for reading!

Hannah

xxx

Our new toy!

Mark and I have spoilt ourselves with a new camera - the Sony Nex-3, thanks to Harvey Norman 40 months interest free! It's been years since we bought our first little digital camera, so long in fact that the software isn't even compatible with the newer versions of Windows! 

Neither of us are budding photographers, but it is nice to have a "point and shoot" with some fancy features to take really lovely photos of Hannah and the furkids. We're still playing around with it and working it out, but here are a couple of photos that show some potential!

Hannah's little feet

Macey

Doctors and Vets Galore!

What a busy week we've had... and are still having! 

On Tuesday little Hannah went to the doctor for her 6-8 week vaccinations. When I rang to make the appointment, I wasn't expecting them to tell me I could take her that day, in only two hours time! This was probably a good thing; no time to think about it! 

I needn't have worried anyway, Hannah was VERY good. She did scream, as any baby does when needles are jabbed into their little thighs, but she settled quickly and the only side affect we had for the next 36 hours was a very sleepy baby!

In the meantime, Norman has been very unwell with bad vomiting and diarrhea. He was extremely out of sorts, the poor little fella. A visit to the vet today was inconclusive, but as his temperature was a bit high he's on antibiotics and had a needle to stop the vomiting. He seems 99% back to his normal self, thank goodness. Not only do I prefer him to be well, I can also do without bedding covered in poop and vomit - URGH!

Tomorrow it's my turn! Off to my Obstetrician, Dr Ganesh, for my 6 week postnatal check-up. Hopefully all is good - I'm sure it will be!

Time to bath and feed the little one... 

Our first babies... the "furkids"!

Macey and Norman have been SO good in adjusting to a baby in the house. It broke my heart, though, when I first came home from hospital. I came out of the garage to see them without Hannah, but they knew something had changed dramatically and were so wary of me, and cowered away. Considering they normally go totally berserk when they see me after time away, this was devastating! My dogs have NEVER cowered from me, but they did every time I went near them for the first week :-( Thank god it didn't last!

Thankfully for everyone, we'd been "cruel to be kind" for many months before Hannah was born, in fact the changes were implemented from the first day in our new home in NSW. No dogs on the couch, no begging for food every time we ate, etc etc! They know their place is on their mat or in their crates if they aren't outside. This meant no drastic changes the day the baby came home - life for them went on as normal in that regard!

They are still as happy go-lucky as ever, even if they are getting slightly less attention from Mum these days who is a little preoccupied with the new little person in the family!

Awaiting their treat on Christmas morning!

Cuddles with my fur-baby girl ;-)

I'm a Mummy!

Who would have thunk it?! Claire "I'm never having kids" Caplin. I'm the poster girl for "never say never"!

Hannah Louise Caplin came into the world at 3.30am on 22 November 2010, our wedding anniversary! She weighed 3045 grams (or 6lb 11oz), was 48 cm long and just perfect. Giving birth, and the moment she came out and straight up onto my chest, was without doubt the most amazing, mind-blowing experience of my entire life.

Sparing you the gory photos (yes the whole thing was captured!!) - this one is lovely though :-)

Today, Hannah is 6 weeks old and as the cliche goes... I now can't imagine life without her! She is a little ray of sunshine and the love I feel for her is amazing, like no other love I've ever felt. I know now what everyone meant when they told me "it's indescribable - until you're a Mummy you just can't imagine how it feels". How very true!
There will be lots more about Hannah in future posts!

Inspired by some lovely ladies to Blog!

To blog or not to blog... this was the question! I'm a follower of two blogs which I very much enjoy reading, and the ladies who created and maintain them are my inspiration behind creating my own blog.

I'm not exactly sure what this blog will evolve into, but I can fairly safely say that my gorgeous baby girl Hannah, hubby Mark and our Jack Russell Terriers Macey and Norman will feature heavily, along with life in general!

I hope that blogging is going to bring me a bit closer to long distance family and friends who prefer to avoid Facebook; in fact a blog will be far more detailed and personal than brief Facebook status updates!

Now I shall go and ponder what my first (well, second) post will be about!