3 months

3 months on and the Little One...

...rolled from her back to her tummy (5 January)

...happens to think that sneezing (you/her/strangers, real sneezes/the act of fake sneezing) is a hoot

...ditched her 000s for 00s

...has started to use to hands to explore

...made good friends with Sophie the Giraffe and 'Bambi'

...will stop her feed every now and then to chat or smile (heart-achingly sweet)

...receives many comments about her strength, long slender fingers, cupid's bow lips and sparkling eyes

...met and fell in love with Little Sister, visiting from overseas

...enjoys a good snooze in the morning as her Mama takes her for a walk around the lake (the rest of the day, it's catnapping)

...is revelling in the attention of her adoring Papa (home for holidays until early February)

...dipped her feet in the pool and seemed relatively unfazed by the cool water...ready for the ocean, water baby?

...makes her Mama & Papa so happy that she chose them as parents...how could it be any other way?

*She's wearing this little outfit. Oh my, I remember this arriving in the mail and wondering, who will be the little person we will button into this...

*...hello belly!

Little One's first Christmas...

...and on Christmas Eve, my first birthday as a Mama.

Met my dearest friends and little ones for tea and scones at a nursery cafe. Dappled light, babes in arms, summer dresses, young sisters on the grass immersed in their drawings, dads in sunnies, and little pink cheeks after a hot morning out.

At night we had Brazilian Christmas with K's family and opened our presents at midnight. We have only just discovered the magic of bouncers and were ever so pleased when she spent most of the night happily snoozing in a nearby room to the muted sounds of hyped up little people and happy chatter at the dinner table.

Christmas Day was special...beginning the day as a family of three for the first time, and joining the rest of the family for lunch at Mum and Dad's, including Little Sister who is back from London for a brief visit. Saskia charmed her little cousins, slept when Christmas lunch was being served, became fascinated by the twinkly lights on the tree and was very blessed to receive a thoughtful array of gifts. I kept glancing at her cousins and thinking about what it will be like next year when she's a walking (maybe), talking little being...

*Ceramic ornaments from the lovely Paper Boat Press...one for me and one for the Little One...will make this a tradition every year.

**Thanks Mum & Dad for the sweet geranium flower boxes for the balcony. Makes me feel all European villager when I'm watering them.

39 weeks

Little one still in belly.

I'm not fed up yet. In fact, I'm still very happy just pottering about, enjoying the kicks (mostly) and carrying this precious load. I think K is finding these last few weeks hard though - and is getting mighty impatient to meet our little one. We've met some teeny newborns over the past few weeks and I can see that he is aching to hold his own baby. I guess it must be hard for him, not feeling the little one's movements so intimately, to feel that same connection - and that's where the eagerness for this baby to be born comes from. But not long now....

We're still hanging things in the nursery and adding little treasures - but I'll post some peeks soon, Little Sister (and others who have been asking). K and I will go in most nights and just look around, flicking through the books on the shelves, smoothing down blankets or holding up the outfits and carrying on about little arms and feet that will soon be sticking out of the rompers. Such the dags.

But you can't blame us for being excited.

Slow

So I've skipped a bump post...and whilst that troubled me for a few days I've decided to embrace a more accepting attitude. I'm starting to realise that you can't be a perfectionist when raising a bebe.

It's been lovely to slow down over the last week or so...notice where the sun falls in corners of our house, gently rinse the wondersuits, master the art of brewing a pot of tea, pick small posies to pop in each room and send emails or letters I've been meaning to write for some time.

The sweet little bloomers (oops - I mean romper! I'm such an amatuer!) you can see in the middle pic are part of a present sent by Little Sister. She picked them up from a vintage store in Paris. Natch. Needless to say, I couldn't resist taking a photo of teeny tiny clothes drying on the clothes horse - I know it's probably done to death, but it really does melt your heart.

Beginnings

Had a most blissful first day of maternity leave. Made all the more cheerful by a beautiful warm day. A Skype catch up with my little sister in London, buttermilk pikelets with my mum and a good friend, and a potter in the garden with Meu Amor.

Mug Love

A Happy Mama's-To-Be day present from my lovely Little Sister. A tad late as the lazy local post office failed to deliver the parcel slip.

I dragged Little Sister and K to Lisa Stickley's store in Clapham when we were in London last year and I think they were both a little disgusted at how happy I was at the sight of spotty tea towels.

So you can imagine how delighted I was to unwrap a Lisa Stickley souvenir Kate and Wills wedding mug (in a spotty box). I'm not really a royalist but have become quite attached to this little bit of china, and it's now my work mug. Nothing beats crocked handwriting, scalloped detailing and duck egg blue as a combo?