I meant to post an entry to mark Leila’s 2nd week birthday but, with visitors all week, it was difficult to get to the computer. So this one will mark 2 and a half weeks and I’ll do another on Tuesday or Wednesday for 3 weeks.

Leila continues to be a very ‘good’ baby. She sleeps and eats well and looks as cute as a whole barrel full of buttons. On top of this she is starting to spend more and more time awake and increasingly tuning into the world around her.

Her nose has continued to be snuffly on and off. We’ve been dealing with it by dripping a couple of drops of saline into her nostrils when it’s really bad. This loosens things up and often makes her sneeze, which clears her nose a bit. I do it sometimes immediately before feeding her. She feeds better after it and, because she has to breathe through her nose while feeding, it helps with clearing things. I did try using the Fess spray, but found that the nozzle is a bit big for her nostrils and she was quite distressed by it. She rarely notices when I drip the saline in. We’ve also raised one end of her mattress so that she’s sleeping on about a 30 degree angle, which helps too.

We visited the Maternal & Child Health nurse on Wednesday. Leila has gained heaps of weight and now weighs just over 4 kilos (8 pounds, 13 ounces). She’s also as long as Finn was when he was born, so she’s almost big enough to wear size 000 clothes. This is kind of a relief as I was expecting her to be about the same as Finn and didn’t buy much in 0000 size because he was never able to wear them. Proving that all babies are different, Leila has been a 0000 and I’ve been scrounging for things to put on her for the last couple of weeks. I’ve resisted the temptation to buy more, though, because I knew she’d be in 000s before long.

The Little Princess has a blocked nose tonight. Actually her nose doesn’t look blocked from the outside but something in that part of the world is definitely blocked. Anyway it’s all a bit alarming if not life threatening.

Oh, and now there is farting as well.

It is entirely possible that this will be a long night.

Hello everyone,

Even though I am very small, my mum says that I should say ‘thank you’ to everyone for their cards, comments and so on.

So Thank You.

She also said that I should tell Helen that Finn & I will really enjoy the Beatrix Potter book and it’s a great addition to our library … whatever that is.

Anyway, I’m very tired now so I’m going back to sleep.

Leila Rose
(aka The Little Princess)

Leila and the Rattle – "And one day I’ll be able to grab you" by Nicky P

Leila is fascinated by a rattle I’ve hung on the side of her bassinette. The other day she spent the better part of an hour gazing at it.

Today she was hitting it repeatedly with her hand. It may just be the delusion of a besotted mother, but I could have sworn that she was doing it on purpose.

Sleepy (and Slightly Grumpy) by MarkOMeara

Leila’s birth was so straightforward that there really doesn’t seem to be much to tell. But everybody’s story is important and in times to come I know I’ll forget the details and it may be that someone will want to know one day, so what there is to tell is here.

Leila was born via elective Caesarean Section at 8:27am on Tuesday, 13th March, 2007 at the Royal Women’s Hospital. Read the rest of this entry »

Sleepyhead by MarkOMeara

There is still a lot of sleeping going on which is something to be pleased about. As far as I can tell Leila only wakes twice each night which is pretty good when you are very small and only one week old.

Also, just a few minutes ago, her umbilical cord came off so now she has a proper belly button.

I should also mention she passed her preliminary hearing test in hospital with flying colours. Of course we will get her tested again when she is a bit older but for now it’s good news. Not that she wouldn’t look very cute in little pink hearing aids.

Leila and Nicky came home yesterday and this made everyone pretty happy. I think Leila might have actually been a little over-stimulated during the day and Finn too come to think of it. All of this made bedtime and sleeping a bit complicated but then you might expect that on the first day home.

Hopefully we’ll all be in a good routine any day now.

Leila is looking quite different every day and different again in her own terribly cute clothes.

Funny Kid by MarkOMeara

Nicky and Leila come home tomorrow. I think everyone is excited about this. Well perhaps everyone but Leila who is probably sleeping.

Shhhh.

Watch Over Me by MarkOMeara

A slightly better photo now that she is opening her eyes and quite active. As you can see Finn was keeping a pretty close eye on her.

Smiles and Cuddles by MarkOMeara

Finn took to Leila instantly and had a couple of really good cuddles with her.