Sorry folks!

Mom's sorry to say that there won't be any blogging for the next two weeks. Dad's had to go away on a course and Mom doesn't know how to upload photos onto our computer (I know, I should learn, but it's too late now). Mom's a bit worried about how the next fortnight will go, but luckily Granny Up-by is around to help out!

Latest news on Michaela is that she's still really enjoying swimming - Mom dunked her twice on Thursday and she wasn't bothered either time. I think that had more to do with the little boy in the pool who she was in awe of, rather than Mom's dunking skills, but that's okay. Michaela's also really, really close to crawling and to pulling herself up to stand. Mom's a bit worried this might all happen while Dad's away, which would be a shame for him to miss out. Here's hoping she'll hold out until he's back!

And yes, the trip to Australia is all booked and sorted! We go March 26th and get back on April 19th. And Shelby arrives today for a week and a half so Mom and Michaela won't be too lonely without Dad.

Anyway, unless something spectacular happens in the next fortnight, the next blog is likely to be around the 11th of March (or sometime around then). Cheers for now!

Swimming and ................ pooping!

Here's another cute photo of Michaela in the bath. Mom just couldn't resist putting it in the blog!

Here's Michaela in one of her usual places - backed against the wall! Since Michaela is nearly crawling, but not quite, this is the usual outcome. She starts off sitting, then gets into a crawling position, maybe crawls backwards for a bit, then flops onto her belly. Sometimes she gets back into her crawling position and it all starts again.

On Monday, we went to Burra to see Auntie Laura and then later on, we went to Cunningsburgh for Grandad's birthday. Both places Michaela got to try out her new booster seat for eating. She seemed to do well in it, so Mom's glad she bought it. She seems to love taking off her socks at the moment and throwing things. Luckily she had her big cousin Eve around to play these games with her, as the games don't last very long when it's just Mom or Dad!

Last Wednesday was Michaela's second swimming lesson. I would say it went better than the first, although there was still a little bit of crying when she had to go on her back. But, horror of horrors, Michaela pooped while we were in the pool! So, we've found out that the swim nappy works - there were no messes in the pool. But, it turns out, the mess comes when you have to take the thing off! Michaela was covered in her poo from waist to feet as the water just helped it to spread. So now Mom is going to buy disposable swim nappies, so it can just be taken off easily, instead of having to get her legs out of the reuseable one.

After the success of the second swimming lesson, Mom and Michaela went with Michelle and Cerys to the Sandwick pool on Thursday afternoon. Well, the girls just loved it! So now we know the temperature of the water doesn't really bother her. And Sandwick was fantastic because it was fairly empty, so we could take our time and try out different things without bothering anyone else. But again, she pooped in the pool (and Mom still didn't have disposable swim nappies). So after that success, Mom and Dad took Michaela to Sandwick on Sunday. She wasn't as happy, but she was still pretty good in the pool - maybe it was too busy for her at the weekend? Anyway, this time Mom was armed with a disposable swim nappy. And guess what? No poops! Of course!

Swimming and sleeping

After keeping you waiting for nearly a week, here's the update on how Michaela's first swimming lesson went. There were maybe 8 babies there and all but one (Owen) cried at some point during the lesson. Michaela's points were when she had to lie on her back floating (she hates being on her back in or out of the water), when Mom had to pour water over her head (she hates that part of getting her hair washed) and when Mom dunked her under. Now, Mom knew all those were going to be points for tears, so really it wasn't too bad, especially since there were one or two babies who cried for most of the half hour lesson. In some ways it's maybe even good that she cried, so that by the end of the lessons, we should hopefully see an improvement. Fingers crossed! We were told during the lesson that it would be good if we could take Michaela swimming in between lessons too. So, yesterday Mom bought Dad a pair of swimming trunks in the hope we'll go as a family to the pool at the weekend. It was also really good going to the lesson because it was in the big pool, so the water temperature was far cooler than the Hydrotherapy Pool. Michaela was a bit cold, but she coped well, so we'll try to take her to the pool at Sandwick. And as you can see from the first photo, Michaela does like her baths, so maybe liking the pool isn't too far away?

And now for the sleeping part of this blog. What has happened to Michaela's sleeping?! She keeps waking in the night, but then going for a long nap in the morning. And now she's even taking to falling asleep in her high chair while Mom and Dad clear up! We just don't get it. And today she actually had a nearly two hour nap in the middle of the day, when usually we can't get much more than half an hour out of her. Maybe we'll get some sort of normality back soon. If not, she'll just have grumpy parents for a while.

Back in the UK

Posting again in relatively quick time. This time it's to update on what's been happening since we've been back home as Mom was too lazy to do another post a few days ago.

Well, not an awful lot has been on though. Michaela's been a bit ill. Last Sunday she was spewing, then on Monday she started with runny nappies (and by that, I mean the kind that explode and end up out the sides and up the back!), Tuesday was spewing and runny nappies, Wednesday until Saturday was just runny nappies. So, was it a bug or was it teething? That is the big question! She's been quite grumpy since Tuesday, so maybe teething? But there are still no teeth, so maybe not. Oh well, she's getting better, so that's the main thing.

We've been swimming again, but this time, it was Auntie Laura, Elise and Eve who came along. Eve was fantastic because she'd go and get different toys for the little ones to play with and generally entertain. We'll need to think about taking her along again!

Mom went over to Owen's house and saw him standing up holding on to his new activity station, so thought she'd try Michaela standing holding on. And, as you can see, she can do it too! Silly Mommy for never trying that one before.

Yvette was home for a week, so it was really nice to see her and meet her pal too. But a week just isn't long enough! Take note everyone else, when you come to visit, we'd love you to stay longer!

Not much else on really. Just getting back into our normal routine. But, this Wednesday will be Michaela's first swimming lesson! I don't think they'll know what's hit them, as the course can have 12 babies (I think), and 4 of them are from Bigton - Michaela, Owen, Cerys and Tabitha. This'll be her first time in the big pool. Here's hoping it's not too cold for her, then we can just go to Sandwick from now on, instead of travelling into town to go to the hydrotherapy pool.

The trip to Australia is getting finalised. Hopefully by the time the next blog comes, we'll have actually booked our tickets!?!

Finally!

Okay, finally we're getting around to discussing the trip to the USA! Here's a few photos of Michaela in California, apart from the first one, which is her in Edinburgh airport being cute for all the travellers.

Michaela tried her hardest to be a good girl for the trip, but the 11 hour flight from Heathrow to LA was a bit too much for her. It was cramped, hot, cold, boring, noisy - just not particularly pleasant. She ended up being very clingy to her Mom, so poor Granny felt a bit useless (but she wasn't!). Anyway, we eventually get to America and Michaela was a bit out of sorts for the first few days - going to bed super early, waking at 3am, being clingy and a bit confused I think. But, after the first 2/3 days, she was pretty good. In fact, she seemed to sleep a bit better than at home - longer naps in the day and less night wakings.

The third photo is Michaela in her Baby Einstein toy that Auntie Ivanna bought for her. Oh was Mom getting mad shopping in America. Everything is so cheap compared to the UK. That Baby Einsten thing cost about $70, which is less than £40 and it costs £80 here. Arg! Mom just wanted to buy as much as possible to take home. If only there weren't size/weight restrictions on the plane, I think the stair guards and next car seat would have been bought there, and the Baby Einsten toy would have come home with us! Oh well, I guess Auntie Ivanna will have to try to get as much home for us as she can on her next visit!

The weird thing Mom noticed when we were in America was the sun! We had to buy Michaela a sun hat (see fourth photo) but that didn't really help much. So when we went for walks, we had to have the buggy cover right down so Michaela couldn't see anything, which was a shame. It was just too bright for a little girl. What a problem to have! Mom did notice that most people going around with babies had blankets over the car seat to protect them from the sun - something that is not seen in Shetland!

The other weird thing Mom noticed was how bored Michaela got just being around Mom and Granny. Mom didn't realise just how much we actually do in the day when we're at home - visiting other babies, going to toddlers, going swimming, etc. Michaela just missed seeing other babies/kids. Mom's friends came over with their two children (Brianna who is 8 and Brenton who is 9 months) on the second last day and Michaela was so happy to see them that she was the best behaved little girl ever, with lots of smiles and playing for them!

Not much else to say about the trip. Michaela seemed very happy to get home again - to be surrounded by all her toys (she seemed to especially miss her books) and to see her Daddy again. Daddy maybe missed her a bit more than she missed him, but she did miss him too. Now we've got to plan for Australia at the end of March........