6 months today!

Woo hoo! Elizabeth is officially 'a half' today!!! Today she started WEANING!! After six months of exclusive breastfeeding the day finally came when she would taste her first food. This is what happened:

She's fallen into a routine of feeding at 7am, going to sleep for a little while at about 8.40am, then feeding again at 10am. After that feed we went out to the supermarket after she had played with her toys for a while. She fell asleep in the car on the way home, allowing me to unload the shopping, put the washing on the line, and set up the video camera for husband who wanted to see the exciting moment. Elizabeth woke up at 12.30, and I put her in her highchair, put her sleeved plastic bib on, then set about preparing the baby rice for her. I'd expressed a little breast milk this morning, so warmed that in the microwave, added it to some baby rice in her 'Mr Messy' bowl, then sat down to feed her. The consistency of the rice was very runny, almost like milk really, so lots of it slid down her face, down her neck, and all over her clothes and highchair. Nonetheless she seemed really delighted to finally be eating, and after a few splutters started opening her mouth wide for the spoon! She finished the whole bowl no problem, and after a quick wipe-down I breastfed her for a few minutes. She was happy enough to play with her toys for a while, then went to sleep at 2.30pm and is still asleep now at 3.40pm. Tomorrow we start with the purees I have prepared for her. I've got Anabel Karmel's Super Foods for Babies and Toddlers book and am following it to the letter (at least to begin with). I've got a freezer full of butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot, apple, and pear puree which should see me through a few days. I thought I'd feel really sad that my very first breastfed baby is now progressing onto solids and doesn't need me in the same way anymore, but I feel really really happy. I'm so glad she seems to have taken to it well, and I'm really pleased that I waited six months until she was really ready. Roll on carrot puree!!!

Making purees and opening savings accounts!

Yesterday I bought pears, sweet potatoes and loads of carrots, all organic, then made a start on preparing food for the big day next week when we start weaning! Steamed the carrots and cooked some apples, pureed them both with my hand blender, and plopped the results into my Annabel Karmel ice cube trays with lids. I was so impressed! It looked like really baby food, and really didn't take too much time (although I'm sure I won't be saying that when I've been doing it for weeks!).

We've got to get a highchair sorted now. I've been following ones on E-bay, ones that are pickup only, but the one that looked reasonable is being sold by a family that sound a bit mad, so I'm going to steer clear and head for Argos next week.

The other thing we did yesterday was open a savings account. I paid in all the money that she was given when she was born and for her christening, and she was given a plastic money box, the type that you post coins into and can see them stacking up. Had a big discussion with husband about what proportion of her pocket money should be saved in the future, and we made a few good decisions. We want to instil in Elizabeth the importance of savings, and want her to take responsibility for her savings rather than 'making' her do it.
Elizabeth is beginning to show affection! Twice she has given me a big, sloppy, open-mouthed kiss. She is beginning to reach her arms up when I got to pick her up. She pats my face while I am feeding her, and she seems to love being cuddled.

She has started playing with her toy 'star' and last night when I went into her room to check on her she had fallen asleep with the star on her tummy!

This weekend we are taking her away for the first time since Christmas. We're trying out the travel cot and pushchair in readiness for our holiday at the end of June, so we're off to visit friends in Surrey for the weekend. Going to be packing all day! Got to go and try to find her some cheap clothes as well - we manage fine when I can wash everything but being away from home will present a new challenge, and she could really do with some trousers that aren't pink!

I've just read on her bouncy chair that she has to stop using it when she is 18.5lbs, can support her own head or is six months old - all of those things are about to happen, so it looks like another thing to be consigned to the loft. Very sad that she's pretty much stopped using her pram now - the pushchair is brilliant, but sad not to see her asleep in her pram.

Tony Blair announces his resignation

It wasn't unexpected, but today Tony Blair announced he would be standing down as leader of the Labour Party and so as Prime Minister. He arrived in Downing Street on 2 May 1997, and I remember being at home as I am now to follow the media coverage. Then I had just returned from a trip to Australia, and was sitting in my parents' living room watching the triumphant scenes as Blair arrived. Today I was sitting on the edge of our bed putting my make-up on, listening to Tony Blair's speach from his Sedgfield constituency and it struck a chord when he talked about the straight choice in the 1970s between liberal and conservative values, and how he didn't believe that looking out for others should be at the cost of economic growth. His decade in power has been my 'first' decade as an adult. I graduated in 1996, and in December 1997 I accepted my first 'proper' job. Since then I have moved out of my parental home, trained to be a teacher, married and obviously now have baby Elizabeth. I should remember that in 1996 when there was no minimum wage I was working for £3 an hour at Shifnal Cottage Nursing home. Grim work. I have benefitted from the Labour Government's policies in several ways. Unfortunately I missed out (just) on the nine month paid maternity leave entitlement which came into force this April, but may benefit from it in future. Although we are definitely struggling financially I am grateful that in this challenging climate we managed to get our foot on the housing ladder in a nice area, and feel that we are making the right choices for Elizabeth and her future. I was supportive of Tony Blair's stance with regards to Iraq at the time, and don't believe he could have done anything differently, although I know this is the one thing he will be judged on. He has been a great Prime Minister. Lots of people are sceptical of him, thinking that he is arrogant, insincere and so forth, but I genuinely think he is a great man. He is a religious man, and is driven to do the 'right thing', and he is a family man and he has come from a humble background. He made an excellent speech today. I will be very sad to see him go. Elizabeth slept through his speech. It is strange to imagine her learning about Tony Blair in her history books in years to come!

Choosing a CTF

Months ago I requested information packs from Child Trust Fund providers, after the Government's voucher for £250 dropped through the letterbox. There was a flurry of initial activity, but this died down and other priorities pushed Child Trust Fund research to the back of the list. Today, however, we sat down at the computer with all the Financial Mails, Money sections from the Sunday Times etc and worked out that we are going to invest Elizabeth's voucher in a BabyBond Choice fund from The Children's Mutual. This is a non-stakeholder account - shares, high risk... We will see.

We're off to a BBQ at Mum and Dad's later so after Elizabeth wakes up we'll put her 'I love NY' t-shirt that Amy and Chris brought back from their hols, and we'll head over there. Its not as sunny as it was yesterday, but it will be nice to see everyone and to not have to cook!

Making money... or not!

I haven't posted in ages... Elizabeth is now 5 months old. She was christened on 18th March and we had everyone back to our house afterwards. We were worn out, but it was a lovely day. Elizabeth is now almost sitting. We borrowed a Bumbo sitter and she is doing really well sitting in that. We've had some ups and downs with sleeping. She was doing really well, the went through a really bad phase of waking up every two or three hours during the night and feeding. The last couple of days she has slept through though. She tends to feed in 10 minutes flat now. She can easily hold toys in her hands, and loves playing. She went in her pushchair (facing forwards) for the first time the other day - in fact, with all the nice weather we've been having she has been out in it a few times this week. Our new stroller arrived today in readiness for our holiday in Devon (well, I say new... second hand on E-bay).

One of the reasons why I haven't posted so much is that a lot of my focus has been on making money. I used Birthday money back in March to buy a sewing machine, then borrowed a 'vintage bags' book from the library and have been making small tote bags and little purses. I've sold a couple, but nothing major. We have had some success selling other stuff on E-bay though. We've made over £400 so we're nearly at our holiday target of £470. I sold a dress, hair curling tongs, Formula 1 caps, that kind of stuff. It takes ages to list things, and to enter all the fees and details into my spreadsheet, then there is the packaging and taking everything to the post office to send.

Husband had a week off around Easter (well, the week after Easter) and we did a car boot sale and made £60. That went towards the holiday fund of course. We also discovered a wasp nest in the loft, and that cost £30 to rectify!!! We went out for our first meal last Saturday (28th April) - first time since 18th November... can't do it again though, there's no way we have enough money.

I've made my application to work part-time now. I've asked to work one day a week as of September but there is no way they are going to agree to it. I had a flurry of discussions with the Union, and have now got a meeting arranged for next Wednesday. The decision is fairly clear-cut for me. If they won't allow one day a week then I'm resigning. Husband is going to apply to compress his hours into four days, and he will look after Elizabeth on the fifth. Otherwise not sure what we are going to do. These last few days I've been investigating freelance writing (can't find a way to make money out of that), childminding (£3 per hour!!!) and various other ideas...

I've just made Elizabeth a taggie comforter and feel quite pleased with myself. She's taken it into her cot and is asleep at the moment. Dad came around yesterday and planted some pots in the garden... all is well, if quiet!