Amelia's sleep training

If you’re an avid reader of my blog, then you’ll already know about Amelia’s sleep problems! So far, we’ve enjoyed the waking-up-every-30-minutes phase, the taking-two-hours-to-get-back-to-sleep-after-each-feed phase, the sleeping-for-an-hour-crying-for-an-hour phase and, worst of all, the no-sleep phase. We’ve tried countless things to try to help her sleep, but each only seemed to work for a week. As a last resort, Mark and I decided we’d leave her to cry for a few minutes in her cot before comforting her. It was awful. I couldn't bear to leave her for more than 15 minutes in total and I was starting to dread every nap time and always got tearful before bed time! However, now that Amelia’s six months, we’ve started the ‘Gradual Retreat’ sleep training method. This means we sit with Amelia every nap time, bed time and whenever she wakes in the night until she falls asleep. It might sound a bit smothering, but it’s been working so well and she hardly cries at all when I put her down to sleep now. She still wakes up two or three times to feed, but she now only takes about 20 minutes to go back to sleep, which is a big improvement on two hours! We’re relieved we don’t have to resort to having her in our bed in order to get 40 winks either; Mark and I were both starting to get sore backs. Hooray!

In other news, Amelia’s getting stronger every day:

but, surprisingly, less interested in food every day!

She’s only having a few spoonfuls of puréed fruit or vegetables a day, but she doesn’t seem too bothered at the moment. I’m sure she’ll get used to it though.

We’ve been keeping very busy with various baby groups and we’ve caught up with lots of people too:

Amelia's first Easter and Southampton nostalgia

Despite a bit of teething pain last week, I think Amelia enjoyed her first Easter! I hid some eggs for her and my two smallest cousins, but sadly, I had to eat the chocolate for her. Amelia will be on solids this time next week (hooray!), but Grandad couldn’t resist feeding her some of his chocolate fudge cake:

Naughty, naughty!

It’s been hard to not wean Amelia early as she’s been waking up so much in the night, but I’m pleased we’ve managed to stick it out. I think she’s more than ready for food now though! I do feel sorry for her when she has to watch everyone else eat and starts chewing her lips and drooling…

Also this Easter weekend, Amelia sat up by herself for the first time:

It was all very exciting! She’s still very wobbly and tumbles a lot, but she can hold herself up for longer and longer each time.

She can also put her feet in her mouth now:

and play the piano:

I’ve discovered that she likes playing Peekaboo with her nappies too:

Here’s Amelia enjoying her long weekend and having Daddy home:

As you can see, Granny Jan has added to Amelia's 'phallic friends' collection. Richard's new friend is Baaabara the sheep!

I’m still making the most of having a car. Last week, I visited Berry (from work) in Epsom, and this week, I visited Hannah (from school) in Southampton. Here’s Hannah entertaining Amelia:

On the way home from Southampton (where I went to university for those who didn’t know), I took Amelia on a little tour of my favourite places. I talked her around the town centre, Portswood (the student hub) and the campus, but she soon fell asleep! I was very nostalgic and emotional by the time we got to the M3, so I thought I’d write down my fondest memories as soon as I got home and share them on this blog later. If you didn’t go to the University of Southampton, then this next bit may be a bit boring!

All things musical are obviously at the top of my list (and all the friends that came with them!):

SUSO and all the awesome tours (LADS and SLAGS)

Baby SUSO (I played the violin and was rubbish)

Sinfonietta and the intimate flute section (thanks Butler)

SUJO (thanks Statham)

SWO (thanks Jen, my desk partner, and Nick, my first love!)

Concert Band (I played the clarinet and was rubbish)

SUStrings (I played the violin and was rubbish)

Jazzmanix

Showstoppers and teaching everyone silly rhymes and songs. Have you ever seen a penguin come to tea? I even miss the technical rehearsals!

Flautissimo

Saxy time

All the Eastleigh shows (Linden, please remind me of some of the red-haired lady’s quotes and… Tony’s?! I’m having a mind blank; something to do with a train journey and barbershop quartet?)

All the SOS and DYT shows

All the geriatric karaoke!

Pre-term, where I met some of my best friends and, of course, Mark

On my journey through town and Portswood, I also remembered lots of good times at these places:

The Hobbit, where I spent too many evenings having too many hot chocolates ‘pennied’!

Sobar and all the dancing

The Mitre and the J2O boat races upstairs

Jesters (not really)

Manzils (I only went there once, but I remember that it was 3am and I was with Dom, Akers and Nath – do you three remember this?! – and I had two curries because I was so hungry)

Kitchener Road

Charcoal Grill, where Mark asked me out (I said no!)

Glen Eyre (thanks Bacon, Dave, Tom and Rachel)

Soul Cellar

The House of Love (thanks for all the parties and, more recently, that sing-song around the piano. Phili, where can I find the video of this?! I seem to have lost it...)

The Stag’s Head and all that karaoke

DON

The computer room (yes, I do actually miss this)

I can only hope Amelia has this much fun! She's already a very contented little girl:

Isaac the dinosaur is her new favourite toy!