Moving on...

The main topic of conversation at the dinner table between Mr B and myself at the moment are to do with BB's impending movement. She is not crawling yet but there is definite gearing up for it, or wanting to move. Whilst lying on her front BB confidently straightens her arms (as if she is a yoga expert) and arches her back. She straightens back down and starts to frantically kick her legs whilst trying to simultaneously lift her bottom up. It all leads to quite a height of activity but she is fantastically happy with herself with her progress and only a little bit annoyed with herself that she has only been able to shuffle around a little rather than being where she would like to be...closer to her toy of choice at that moment. However, last night it seemed that BB may go straight to walking, or at least coasting. She actually managed to balance on her own (whilst we loosely held her arms).

BB had her 9 month development check last week. She was checked for her sight, hearing, grasp (including the pincer grasp - ability to pick up small or thin objects between her thumb and forefinger), checking her weight and discussing other general health or development queries for BB and myself. The Health Visitor asked how I was coping now and I was pleased to say that it is much easier than it was at first. I discussed the difficult start that I had had and she asked whether I thought whether it would be helpful to speak to someone about it - however, I am feeling pretty good at the moment and the thought of delving back into it right now just doesn't seem right. The Health Visitor seemed OK with this and made a note that I was still dealing with my "trauma". This word worried me a bit as it seemed so exagerated, but, actually, when I do think back it was a pretty traumatic time. I mentioned the possibility of talking it through with someone to Mr B and I was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't totally averse to the idea as I think that we may both get a lot out of it. In time.

We have now had to lower BB to the bottom of her cot as she was starting to get very strong with her twists and turns and we didn't want to push our luck by waking to a thud one morning! The height of the bars don't seem to have worried her so all is well. We have also had to move on to our third baby bathing system as our bathroom was becoming a wetroom with the amount of splashing involved at bathtime. We first started out with a Tummy Tub Baby Bath and then moved on to the Mothercare Supabath, which quite honestly we could have started with and skipped the Tub. We are now using the Mothercatre Aqua Pod which has suckers on the bottom to stick to the bath. It has a seat to support BB which gives her much more room to splash and play without the water splashing over the side.

My sister-in-law's due date has now come and gone (by two days) so we keep reminding them that each day is a bonus day in terms of getting jobs done and getting things ready - although they seem pretty on top of it all. Speaking to her over the weekend obviously reminded me of BB's birth, which I am getting my head round more and more, although it still does haunt me a little I do feel as if I am 95% better in myself physically and emotionally.

This afternoon I will be taking BB to her first settling-in session at a local nursery, and as I have written previously, I have mixed feelings about this but I do think it will be good for BB (and for me). Let's see how we both cope hey!