KAITLYN'S FIRST ILLNESS

I started this week feeling quite good about my abilities as a new Mum – kind of in a groove with little Kaitlyn and looking forward to the week’s worth of activities I had planned.

That was until Sunday night, when my little one had a lot of difficulty settling down for her big sleep – not being her usual easy going self, I started to worry a little, especially considering the nasty patch of dry skin on both ears turning an unpleasant looking (and smelling) yellow colour.



For the last few weeks, Kaitlyn’s skin has been less than perfect (unlike the rest of her) with blotches of little pimples and dry skin all over her face and body (which, according to the Baby Love book, and my informed diagnosis is hormone rash). However the skin on her ears was different altogether, and it was when she awoke on Monday morning that I realised there was a clear liquid in her ear drum. After questioning myself for another 24 hours, I went in to see the doc, who quickly pronounced Kaitlyn’s ears as infected, and with it being highly unusual for someone so young to be so sick, we were to head off to the Children’s Hospital immediately.

Was I terrified? Absolutely. But at the same time, Kaitlyn was in remarkably good spirits for someone so sick, so I felt positive everything was going to be ok. After a five hour wait, we got in to see a doctor who took a good look over our little baby, and prescribed some ear drops and cream until the cause of the infection could be identified.

Now while the Doctor told us we were very unlucky that Kaitlyn caught a serious infection so early in her little life, you can’t help but feel exactly the opposite when you see some of the kids walking in and out of hospital. If this is the worst we ever go through, we are very lucky parents indeed.

It turned out Kaitlyn had contracted Golden Staph – highly unusual for an 8 week old to have had exposure to, as it is a bacteria that is resistant to some antibiotics and is mainly found in hospitals. While we remain in the dark as to its origin, Kaitlyn is well on the mend, and coincidently the rest of her skin in beginning to clear up too.

Of course she doesn’t seem too affected by all the drama – there’s too much sleeping to do!

WHEN YOU'RE SMILING...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so this is going to be a HUGE entry.

This week our beautiful daughter has been giving us plenty of smiles. She seems to have the most on offer when waking up from a nap or sleep – no matter what time of day. (Her grandma will tell you though that she brings out the biggest smiles of all).

I managed to capture a few on film… (ok I took hundreds, consider yourself lucky it takes so long to upload these photos, otherwise I could fill 10 blogs!)

All this smiling can make a little person very sleepy…

PARTY GIRL

Last weekend marked a special set of events for our family and friends, and therefore a busy time for our little family.

Dylan celebrated his first birthday and naming ceremony on Saturday the 8th of November. We kicked off the day by putting Kaitlyn in her first ever dress – just gorgeous! (Which she proceeded to be sick on, and I couldn’t bring myself to take it off – luckily milk is difficult to see on white.) Having a girl is honestly the best thing that could ever happen to anyone even remotely interested in fashion – it’s a dream come true, and to think I haven’t even shopped for her yet! (By the way, nothing but the best for our little one – both dresses are from the UK).



Back to the centre of attention – our nephew Dylan… Who was very well behaved on the day considering the line of people wanting to hold on to him all afternoon, while all he wanted to do was run around and discover things. He had a ball with the bubble making machine his Mum couldn’t resist buying for the event, as well as the jumping castle which the grown ups managed to steer clear of, thankfully . Ash and I were honoured to be chosen as one of Dylan’s set of godparents, although no photos of that on this blog, as at the moment, the body hasn’t quite bounced back as well as I had hoped. I feel as though it’s quite a special thing to be a godparent – I already have one godson, the very gorgeous and clever, Sam McAndrew.

Then on Sunday, we attended the christening of Enrique Caraballo, along with 40 of his closest friends! This event called for a white dress with matching cardigan, and a set of frilly knickers – I just have to keep these outfits to show her when she is older!

The day was filled with lot’s of divine Italian food – too much to consume in one sitting, and plenty of cuddles for little Enrique. The day was also attended by Daniela’s cousin who has just given birth to twin girls, sisters to a three year old boy. I have to admit, I sat in wonder of the woman.

I think about the fact it takes me half the morning to get ready to go out for a short shopping trip, or how quickly the time flies between feeds – I can’t imagine jugging twins and a toddler. Give that woman a big fat trophy I say, surely there isn’t a harder job in the world than that?

So Kaitlyn has now attended two parties, and was adored wherever she went. She is continuing to grow, now up to 4.55kg, and 54cms, and is starting to get into a routine on most days. While feeding continues to be a challenge, she is a great little sleeper, particularly at night when she gives me very little trouble at all (am I cursed now for saying that?).

She is starting to make sounds other than crying – little coos and aahs, and I just can’t wait for her to give us a little giggle. Her other big achievement is developing her neck strength which seems to get better every day. I think it’s because she simply can’t bear to not be involved in what’s going on around her – I call it “nosy”, the nicer description is probably “alert”.

That’s about all for now – more photos to get taking….

WEEK 1 SURVIVED FLYING SOLO

Just in case you had your doubts, I got through my first week flying solo with our wonderful little girl.

And I can honestly say it was bloody tough without Grandma, but we did get there… And here are the smiles to prove it.

Ok, so we did have a helping hand from Grandad, who did a great job of taking her for a walk, and getting her to sleep.

And then proceeded to talk about his little princess all night when getting home to Grandma.

So, how many more days of this ahead of me? About 6500 or so, according to my calculations. I think we will just take it a day at a time.

KAITLYN TURNS ONE MONTH OLD...

Where does the time go? Somehow in the last week, Kaitlyn turned a month old – and Ash and I continued to fall even more in love with her. Everyone talks about how quickly the time goes once your baby arrives, and it’s not until you live it for yourself, that you realise just how true that is. And considering Kaitlyn spends so much of her time asleep at the moment, I wonder just what I have done with all that time…

Taking photos probably! (She is just so beautiful, I cannot help myself!)

This week also marked the last week Kaitlyn and I enjoyed Mum’s company. We made sure we enjoyed every last minute, with Nan getting in plenty of cuddles and feeds before the week was out. (And a few nappy changes too – one was so scary we had to give Kaitlyn a bath afterward – the less said about that one the better).

If I had to pick the most difficult time of the day with our little girl, it would have to be the time between five and seven. She can’t seem to settle herself to sleep, preferring instead to be held, or having a suck on Dad’s finger. Perhaps I am being an evil Mum by not giving in to the dummy, and it’s not to say I won’t be pushed to breaking point in the future, but at the moment, she has a good old time sucking on anything she can get her hands on.

One of her best times is early in the morning; she has a feed at about 7am, and then enjoys a play with Mum before going down for her next sleep. It’s at this time that she is most alert, and gives us plenty of smiles. (It might be earlier than the books suggest, but I am convinced Kaitlyn has been smiling since she was three weeks old).

While I have yet to capture a genuine smile on camera yet, there has been plenty of opportunities to catch a her crying up a storm, Is it wrong that I even find Kaitlyn adorable when she is throwing a whopping tantrum?

I usually put her down on her play mat in the mornings so she can have a good look around (she seems to be such a nosy baby), and surprisingly, she has already discovered the toys hanging from the mat and reaches out to have a hold.

This week was a very special one for the Parmenter family, as our little Dylan celebrated his first birthday. While the big celebration is planned for next week, the family got together for some dinner and cake on Friday night. Dylan is growing into such a little boy, so energetic and boisterous – and best of all, so much fun! We took the opportunity to get a shot of the cousins together, while Kaitlyn was awake, (and not screaming the house down).

Dylan tucked in and enjoyed his first birthday cake (as did the rest of us), and spent the night dismantling his birthday gift from Nan and Pop. While the rest of us sat back and couldn’t quite believe it wasn’t so long ago he was swaddled up in a wrap being rocked to sleep.

The rest of our weekend was pretty low key (most of them are these days), with the highlight Kaitlyn trying out her Baby Bjorn for the first time. She found herself so comfortable she had nodded off to sleep almost immediately. Ash and I enjoyed some much needed time together (with Foxtel) and I snuck in a couple of naps here and there – in preparation for week one flying solo.

Next week, we will enjoy two big celebrations, Dylan’s birthday party, and the christening for Enrique Caraballo…