Happy baby

A happy Hannah is incredibly entertaining! I wish there were more times like this, but with the amount of spit she produces when happy she'd probably dehydrate herself too much to do it regularly!

Nursery

Hannah has been moved into her own room. This is far more traumatic for me than her apparently, as she sleeps normally while I'm up and down all night checking to make sure she's ok. Hopefully I'll get used to it soon before I go mad with even less sleep than normal!!

Anyway, here's some photos of our transformed spare room...

Lovely cot

Beautiful jungle curtains - courtesy of Grandma Armstrong!

Close up

Hannah's bedtime friends

Animal art for the walls!

What do you think of your new room Hannah?

"Plenty of room to practice walking around in... so I love it!!"

First family holiday

Last week the three of us went on our first holiday away together on our own! Mum very kindly gave us a two night trip to Crieff Hydro as a joint birthday present and we had a fab time!!

Our room was lovely and spacious with room for a cot for Hannah, and a lovely view out over the hills (and a car park).

Hannah had never seen such a large bed, and spent several minutes enjoying herself sitting amongst the many cushions and pillows, enough time for daddy to get some lovely photos of her...

We also had a lovely chez lounge to sit on by the window, a perfect place for Hannah to enjoy a conversation and cup of tea with us.

We had beautiful weather the first day and took a lovely stroll around the estate. We made the mistake of taking the pram with us, which became extremely difficult to handle over the rocky tracks, so eventually we took Hannah out so Colin could carry her and make the pram a bit lighter. She enjoyed her new vantage point for about 2 minutes before falling fast asleep for the majority of the walk... She then woke and spent the rest of the walk scratching the back of Colin's neck with her tiny sharp nails. (Not as pleasant as you may think!)

The rest of the mini break was lovely - we had babysitters both nights, which meant we could have really lovely dinners together without the worry of entertaining Hannah. It was very nice indeed! Apart from the price tag of £12 an hour for the babysitter - I'm sure I didn't charge this much when I was a teenager! Think how much I could have made!!)

We also popped Hannah into the creche on Wednesday afternoon and took advantage of the adults only Victorian Spa at the hotel - a beautiful pool with steam room, sauna and jacuzzi. We truly felt much more relaxed when we had spent only 1 hour in there!

We don't really have any photos documenting the rest of the trip away, apart from a handful of arty Hannah pics. Check out these ones Colin managed to capture - Mummy about to get a face full of Hannah drool....!

Here it comes...

Well aimed Hannah!

Hannah not bouncing

Hannah was kindly given a door bouncer by her Grandma, which up to now she hasn't really enjoyed being placed in. But after a few grumbling noises as we tried to get her in to it last night, she actually seemed to be enjoying herself!

Not a lot of bouncing is done (without help from onlookers) but I think it gives her the impression that she's standing on her own. (This is Hannah's ambition!)

Clever baby

Hannah has never been the kind of girl who likes to do things by the book! She would rather stand holding onto things than lie down or sit on the ground. She can't roll over, and yet she can walk around holding onto someone's hands. The health visitor saw her on Wednesday and said she has "advanced motor skills". Watch this video and see if you agree!

Learning to eat

Yesterday it was my Grandad's 90th birthday party. Many relatives and friends all turned up at their house in Glasgow to wish him a happy birthday, and loads of fun was had by all.

Lots of plates of sandwiches and cakes were being passed around, and a few of us were very entertained watching little second cousin Colin (who is one this week!) eating his sandwich by stuffing as much of it into his mouth as he could with a whole hand. We found it so entertaining, because of course none of us stuff so much food into our mouths when we're eating...

However photos have been found on my dad's camera which suggest otherwise...

Jeni devours an entire sandwich in one

Catherine stores some in her cheeks for later

A lovely picture of Rachel and Hannah. But check out Colin in the background!

Better put in a sensible one, including the birthday boy himself. Here he is with the great grandchildren!

Happy birthday Grandad!!

Air time

If you are a faint-hearted grandparent of Hannah - look away now.

Because daddy and Hannah have found a new game to play together...

Despite the nervous look on her face in this photo, the laughter and smiles she gives after each throw suggests she seems to enjoy this game!

Hannah at 4 months

Hannah is 20 weeks old now - (or four and a half months for those who aren't counting the weeks anymore!)

Everyone may be happy to hear that over the last couple of weeks she has become a fairly contended, happy little baby! She does of course have her grizzly bear moments, but I assume most babies do at some point every couple of days?

These days, Hannah mostly enjoys hanging out with daddy as he goes about his business...

She spends hours practicing her standing, so that she can run off as soon as the balance and coordination centres kick in...

But her new favourite thing to do is to sit in her shiny new Bumbo seat whilst mummy and daddy get on with day to day tasks - something they've not been allowed to do before! The house has never looked tidier, the food has never been more freshly prepared...

Hannah's favourite spot to observe us is from the top of the cooker as we go about preparing things in the kitchen, she watches and listens very intently! Perhaps she'll be a master chef someday. Until then, we're quite happy with the smiles and laughter which come from a happy baby!

Happy slapping

We have a happy little cat called Mia. She likes sleeping and eating and chasing birds, but none of this compares to the happiness she feels when we slap her haunches repeatedly.

Just in case you think we're being cruel, just wait to the end to listen to the purring and you'll see how happy she is. I'm sure she'd run away if she was upset, instead of coming back for more each evening!

Pink or blue?

Society dictates that baby girls wear pink and little boys wear blue. I always thought "Pah - girls look like girls, it doesn't matter what they wear." But today I proved myself wrong.

Here is Hannah in her lovely pink baby grow (about to be trampled on by her mean uncle and daddy in this photo). She definitely looks like a little girl.

Pretty in pink

Now here is Hannah in a navy striped t-shirt. I have been looking at her all day and thinking she looks just like a boy! Poor thing. And she's been mistaken for a boy twice today by strangers who have said "Ahh what a lovely baby! What's his name?"

"I'm so confused!"

It's so strange what a huge impact societies' rules have imprinted on our minds! My dad has told me recently that boys used to wear pink in years gone by, as it was much more expensive to produce than regular clothes dyes. So of course the less favoured girls would not have been graced with such beautiful clothes! An interesting fact!

Hannah herself thinks she looks smashing in blue.

Wow. I look super cool.

Smelly cat

Neko has a new favourite spot to sit in on these sunny days - the communal garden compost bin. It's certainly warm and comfy because of all the rotting garden/kitchen waste, but it's also stinking! She's really weird.

Bliss

A very kind person who had a colicky baby has donated us a new piece of furniture for Hannah - a battery operated swinging seat. It is fantastic! As well as swinging back and forth at varying speeds, it has the option of silence, birdsong, soothing waves or a really terrible version of "Rock a bye baby". I like the waves personally, and Hannah appears to as well!!

Perfect peace

The seat has meant that I've been able to get breakfast or lunch without having to carry Hannah with me and do everything one-handed. It even soothes her off to sleep, meaning I can watch awesome films like New Moon (pictured!) while Colin is out the house. He doesn't want to watch it for some reason...

Hannah changes...

I have seen a massive difference in Hannah in the past couple of weeks - She is far more alert and interested in the world, and has been slightly calmer too! I don't want to get too excited about this, as she still has days when is SO upset at nothing, but on the whole she is much more pleasant to have around!

We have been out and about visiting lots of people, and have been up and down to Hartlepool to see Grannie and Grandad Robertson a couple of times. It has been lovely to get a bit of help with her while Colin is on call at the weekends.

Hannah gets to congratulate Uncle Andrew on passing his exam

She joins Grannie in some sunbathing

Discussing gaming strategies with Uncle David

In order to try and get Hannah's attention, I found a couple of toys off Amazon which are meant to be stimulating for young babies - and I think they are brilliant! They are so brightly coloured and noisy to touch, it's no wonder the babies love them.

The two toys are called Captain Calamari and Jacques the Peacock - Captain Calamari is massive (he's an pirate octopus in case you were wondering!), but Jacques is handbag sized, and perfect for entertaining Hannah when we're out and about.

Meet Jacques

Conversing with Jacques while we have a coffee on daddy's birthday

And the best thing about Hannah's new found love of the world, is the smiles and squeals she's now producing! It's great!

Cheeese!

Vroom

We have finally bought a car! We've done well up to now to remain reliant on bikes and public transport (and the kindness of parents who lend us cars!) but now Hannah is here we've been finding travelling slightly more challenging. I have felt there was also the potential for me to feel slightly isolated and trapped as it's not so easy to get out and about if you have to have a pram in tow!

Anyway, check out our beautiful new baby!

It's a Seat Leon 2.0 TDS. I think. I can definitely tell you that it's black, shiny and when you turn on the windscreen wipers, they come down from the side rather than up from the bottom! It's rather cool!

So if you live within driving distance of us - expect a visit soon!!

Scary

I opened a kitchen cupboard the other night to search for dinner ingredients, and got a terrible fright, as I thought a beastie had moved into it. After I had picked myself off the floor, and looked a little closer I realised it was just expired food products. I suspect the product had been there since before Hannah was born, so perhaps I can be forgiven for not looking in that cupboard for a while.

I think they used to be potatoes, but on first glance they resembled some kind of giant crustacean I saw on the news recently... Scary!

Potatoes?

Crabzilla in my cupboard?

To take our minds off such horrors, let us look at some photos of cute babies!

Catherine, Rachel and Colin came to visit on Tuesday bringing with them some delicious muffins. Hannah very kindly refrained from screaming for the entire visit, and even posed nicely for some pictures with Colin and Rachel. Colin is so sweet with little babies! Just look at the protective hand on her head. Ahhhh!

Flip fun

I bought Colin a present. It's a Flip HD video camera, a pocket sized digital camcorder which makes capturing events extremely easy.

He has been having lots of fun following us all around the house filming everything we do, much to my annoyance. But it does mean that we're able to easily document the things Hannah does as she grows and changes!

Here's a clip of his first Hannah related masterpiece, of which I'm sure there'll be many more.

Presenting - Hannah doing nothing. With a twist.

1 month down...

There hasn't been a lot of activity on our blog recently, the main reason being that Hannah spends a LOT of her time like this.

"Waaaa."

The health visitor thinks she has a bad case of colic, meaning she cries more often than not. When she does settle and fall asleep on us, if we transfer her to the cot, she tends to wake up fairly soon afterwards and the crying begins again! Fortunately at night this cycle seems to stop and she only wakes up once or twice for a feed, but it's quite difficult to cope with during the day! I was so wrong when I thought that looking after a baby couldn't be all that difficult.

The cats aren't overly impressed with the new arrival into the house. Mia likes to watch proceedings from the highest possible vantage point she can get to.

"I'm not sure I approve of this."

As the post title suggests, Hannah is now just over a month old, and she IS showing signs that the colic is improving, she does have spells when she seems almost contented - Colin even got a smile the other day! (Or perhaps it was wind...)

Just to prove it, here's a little video!

Warning - It is a 1 minute 20 second video showing a baby doing very little (because she really doesn't do that much at the moment!) So if you're not a doting grandparent then you may not find it overly entertaining! If you watch carefully though, you might spot her doing a little chin quiver half way through, it's quite funny :-)

New addition!

It's been a few weeks since I've updated the blog, but that doesn't mean we've got nothing to report!

Introducing our lovely new daughter, Hannah Grace Armstrong!

She was born on the 8th April at 8.06am by an emergency C-Section, after her heart rate became a little bit erratic during the labour. Thankfully she screamed the minute she was pulled out, and all the blood tests confirmed that no harm was done to her following the drop in her heart rate. And at 9 lbs 4 oz she was a healthy size and has had no problem feeding since then!

Cuddles from daddy

We got home from the hospital on the 10th and have been learning how to be parents since then. She has been fairly well behaved so far, although like all newborns she has her moments! Hopefully these will get fewer and further between as time goes by.

This photo was taken two weeks after her birth date, she is looking so different every single day! She has so far met most of the family, except for her Uncle David who she'll hopefully meet next weekend when we visit Hartlepool for the first time.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of posts documenting all the significant points in her life!

Snazzy curtains

After 9 months of living in this house, we have finally got around to getting some curtains up in our bedroom. Jaqi very kindly taught Lee and I how to make curtains, and with Dunk and Colin's help we managed to get them up this weekend.

Quite a boring blog update for most probably, but I'm so pleased with them I just had to share! Check them out!

It's now a bit scary at night, because it's totally pitch black in the room. Perhaps this will make baby feel the room is more womb-like when he/she finally arrives.

And here's a close up - beautiful!

Practice baby

Our baby's new pram arrived in store this week, and has now been set up ready for the new arrival. We ended up going for a very beautiful pram from Mamas and Papas, called Cityscape combination switch.

It arrived in pieces, so Colin has managed to put (most of it) together - there are some bits that we're a little confused about where to put them! It comes with a car seat, car seat installation unit, nappy bag, parasol and foot muff. It's very exciting! I might need some practice with it, as the first time I tried to fold it up, I failed miserably and one of the wheels fell off.

After putting it together, then leaving it unsupervised for all of 2 minutes, the pram had it's first occupant make herself at home...

She was of course chased from her new cosy spot soon after the photo was taken, much to her dismay, as she was obviously VERY comfortable. So the pram will remain folded up in the corridor until we have a little human to make use of it... That's a scary thought!

New kitchen

Since moving into our house, we've been furiously saving our money in order to get a new kitchen. The old one wasn't TOTALLY offensive, it was a nice enough colour I suppose - but in reality it was so impractical. The layout of it was terribly designed, making it difficult to store all our kitchen accessories and food. The fridge which came with the house had a tiny freezer compartment and also the seal on the door was a little dodgy. Having been used to a dishwasher in our old house, we really resented having to wash up our dishes by hand in this one! And I won't even get started on how much we dislike electric hobs.

Just so you can remember the old one, here's a picture to remind you! Note the beautiful Venetian scene depicted in the tiles above the cooker...

Work started in the kitchen on the 8th, and the first day involved ripping out the old one, and putting up some of the cabinets around the walls. The age of the house made this slightly difficult apparently, as the room doesn't have straight walls, or a right angle at the corner. The plaster under the tiles was also pretty crumbly.

Luckily, we had some resident kitchen inspectors to make sure the work was up to standard...

A VERY thorough inspection...

So after only 5 days of building work in the house, here is the beautiful result! (Minus a couple of cupboard doors, which are still due to arrive from the supplier at some point this week).

We are totally delighted with it! Especially the sparkly granite work-tops...

It seems SO much bigger than the last kitchen, it just shows how good designing and efficient use of space makes all the difference. And it is LOVELY to have a dishwasher back again!!!