Week 23-26 - UK

Mary Ann has turned 6 months. I can’t believe that time has gone so quickly. I remember when she still was hospitalized I was thinking about those big kids on visit at the ward with their parents as if it was yesterday. Now we have just been there ourselves last week. Mary Ann is official now one of the big kids. You can also see how quickly times fly for me now in the blog. I don’t write as often any more. I think I will stick to pictures and occasionally few words about her development.

Mary Ann is getting bigger and bigger; clothes are getting too small and she getting heavier. She is now measured 4600g and 62 cm long. Next time the Health Visitor comes it will be for talking spoon food. Oh no is my little baby really ready for that? I try to think for her as a small girl now not a baby anymore. She is in the age where she no longer can be called a baby. I have now put a side all her smallest clothes. She does still fit few pieces in size 44. But I structured size 50-56 for her now in her drawers. We will bend the sleeves and then she wears her “bigger girl” clothes just fine. I’m eager to use some of all the beautiful English clothes we got for her. It would be a shame if we didn’t had the opportunities to use them. Consequently she will be wearing pretty dresses every day for some time now. There’s a huge difference between the Danish and English clothes which we have the benefit of in these days. I have also sorted all the Kurdish clothes from our close friends. That will mainly be what she is going to wear in the future. We got it all from their daughter so we don’t need to buy anything really except shoes or maybe few body stockings.
All this sorting out is because I expect to start work very soon now. Today we are pretending I’m at work and then Neil is having a chance to see how he take care of Mary Ann the hole day while doing different household tasks.

It was in last weekend Mary Ann made her first real laughter. She chuckled – the sweetest sound I have ever heard!!! First she did it while her Godmother and I stood round her. And the next day she did it again while my mum and I stood round her. That was on her Christening day. The fun part was that both times it was when I made some of the sounds I have done so many times before. Until now she hasn’t done it again since. I hope I didn’t scare her when I stared crying my eyes out when I heard the sugary sound of her laughter.

The Christening went so well. We had the pleasure of having Granny and Granddad here a week a head or almost here the whole week. In the weekend both Neil’s brothers joined us. They didn’t sleep over but at the local Inn. That worked out well. I think that it also was nice for them to have a quiet place in the evening. They were here throughout the day and working in the garden off curse. It was a great help for Neil for once having some help. Neil being in the garden made my days very busy with Mary Ann, feeding people, making room for Mary Ann’s Godmother and preparing the upcoming Christening. Godmother Nips was sleeping over from Friday to Monday. It was an unbelievable joy for me finally introducing her to Mary Ann. As she lives in Copenhagen we enjoy the few times we are together more. She took care of Mary Ann with such a love that it made it so easy for me to concentrate on the groundwork for Sunday. We couldn’t have chosen a better Godmother for Mary Ann.
Nips had some competition at the Christening brunch here after church. A lot for friends had offered their help with taking care of Mary Ann for us on the day, so we could relax with the guests. She was dressed in the Campbell dress, behaved as always nicely and took all the commotion spectacularly with smiles and giggling for all. Danish Christening site
When I woke out Monday it was with an extraordinarily affectionate and peaceful feeling inside. Life is simply (all most) too good. The all most because I think we deserve it also with her tough start in life.

Don’t worry if it’s long time since I wrote the blog. I’m sure everything will keeping on being greater then great. It is just me being busy organizing things, go to work and being a mum J

Enjoy the continuous slideshows and don’t hesitate to call or e-mail us.

Week 23 - UK

The Easter was here and all the days were spent in the house. So we had some undisturbed days. Mary Ann had her five months DTaP-IPV-Hib vaccination, the same as when she was 3 months. The strange thing is that this time she got a little temperature the next day after the vaccination. I gather that was why. So she eats a little less and we sat by her and tried to comfort her. The doctor appointment was a little different this time. The doctor made some examination of Mary Ann. Everything was fine. She asked us a couple of times if we had any questions. But is hard to think of any when everything goes so well. Luckily for us. Now Mary Ann was weighted to 4065g and is 59 cm long. That means that she soon will be able to go to the local swimming pool with us. Premature babies have to be 5kg heavy before they have enough fat on their body for the swimming pool. I look very much forward because that gives me the chance to do all sorts of things with her which is not possible on land.
Mary Ann is fine again after the vaccination it was just this little temperature and a swollen thigh where it was injected. She has a little cold. I hope she didn’t get my bad immune defence. As soon as she got sick I got sick my self as well. That is not practical. It worries me a bit to think about. I normally get sick as soon as someone else around me is sick. These days I fell as if Mary Ann and I just keep on infecting each other. For the third time since she was born I’m sick with bad throat, cough, and headache and so on.
I’m trying to prepare myself to go to work soon again. I have a doctor appointment next week. I gather he can tell me more about when I will be ready. I feel less pain now both in movement and in rest. The biggest issue is that I’m awful tired and my functions still fail in the middle of lifting, walking or something like that. Sometimes I wake up with for example a wrist that hurts so much that I have to have my hand on a pillow and sit still for some hours. And then I have days with only a couple of steps I can’t take for few moments. It is odd and frustrating. But it still works out fine when Neil is around. Then he can take over where I feel insufficiently. I think the biggest issue for me is that it is dangerous for me to lift Mary Ann in some situations. It is difficult for me to let Neil lift her when I’m able. But it needs to be like that because what if that is in that moment where my joints don’t want to work. Then I would drop her! Then I’m an even worse mum then when I let someone else lift her up. I really have to work with this feeling. The other day someone wanted to start Mary Ann’s mobile to entertain her. I snap at the poor women because I don’t want some stranger to do anything with my child. I’m not in doubt; that is because I have some issue I have to work with. Sometimes I’m very aware of my disabilities towards taking care of Mary Ann. That irritates me. I look forward for when I can do even more with her and for her. Until then I exercise my back for it to get stronger. And I enjoy the things I AM able to do with and for her.