We’ve just got back from a lovely weekend with family, Freyja having charmed the socks off everyone she met, as usual! I’m in the middle of making her birthday present, so the visit to family and friends was a big help for it.

It was also my first Mother’s Day It’s weird being a mummy and having my own card, and today, I had a jigsaw of a photo of Freyja and I – I’ll enjoy doing that, amongst all the packing we have to do. We have had our completion date through – 31st March – meaning we don’t have long left to organise ourselves! It’s so exciting though, to think that next month, we’ll be in our new house. It’s an awesome thought

Right, back to packing. I’ve only done one box :/

She can stand alone for longer too, and has perfected her balancing – it helps when she’s got something in her hand, such as toast, because then, she has no choice but stand without the support of furniture. That seems to work!

Other than that, and mastering how to get out of her high chair (!) there’s nothing else new to report. Other than Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box is an awesome DS game and holds a well-deserved play-time slot during Freyja’s naps

Oh yeah, and Freyja’s birthday present has arrived. There’s a lot to be added to it, but it’s arrived

She had attempted to use her walker for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Before that, she was more interested in the buttons on the front of it. But she stopped trying to use it once she fell over with it and it landed on top of her. Today though, she plucked up the courage to use it again, and for the past half hour, has been zooming around the house with it at warp speed. She’s well and truly mastered the walking/running with it.

She just needs to master turning it now, because until she figures that out, she’ll be ramming it into walls and crying with frustration because she can’t go any further- a bit like what she has been doing so far…

Her latest fad? The Churchill dog off the telly.

“You Don’t Just Love Your Children, You’re In Love With Them”

Whoever thought of that line has got it spot on. I’m completely in love with my daughter. I can quite happily be with her every second of the day, and watching her play, learn and grow gives me butterflies.

Sounds cheesy I know, but it’s true.

I’m sure her departure isn’t the reason for Freyja’s aversion to good behaviour today though – she’s going through what I hope is going to be “brief phase” of not wanting to sleep. She has been so brilliant over the past couple of months, settling quickly, and sleeping through the night, and napping well during the day, but for the past few days, she’s been hard work. She’s taken much longer to settle at night, and is sometimes so worked up during the day she doesn’t want to sleep at all. After having a read around the t’Internet, we’ve decided that it will more than likely be down to a couple of things:

• teething – she’s always struggled with her teeth, and has forever red cheeks, and suffering lately due to the 6th tooth popping through
• her new-found ability to stand up in her cot and jump around without the risk of falling over in her sleeping bag. I guess sleeping under a quilt and having this problem is the lesser of two evils, when the alternative involves Freyja injuring herself through falling over in her Gro-Bag.

Hopefully she’ll be OK after she has got used to the new found freedom. I hope it’s not a long phase – it’s hard work!

So, although you shouldn’t “really” use cot duvets until your baby is 12 months old, I’ve gone with health visitor recommendation, and will be using one from tonight onwards. And I guarantee Freyja will love it.

The good news as well, is that her massive bump/dent of yesterday, is now just a red mark. Good, because dents in skulls aren’t very nice.

She knows exactly what to do with it – the first thing she did was put it in her mouth and move it around. I’m still giving her the toothpaste and making sure all her teeth are clean by just finger brushing them as well, but then let her use the toothbrush for a bit to get used to it.

Her 5th tooth is pushing it’s way through now – slowly but surely. She’s had a bit of a break from teething for the past few days – she hasn’t even needed any Calpol, which is unheard of of late!

Freyja already had her first experience of a park when we were in Andorra, but there weren’t any baby swings, so her fun was quite limited. She did enjoy the slide though – the little dare devil.

The park nearby to our house in Whitely does have baby swings, so our trip out on Sunday can be deemed our first official British trip to the park. She had fun there. We weren’t there for long, but she had a go on the swings, and a go on the slide. She wasn’t fussed with the see-saw though – maybe it was a little dull for her adventurous nature!

My aim is to go for a walk to the park every day. I don’t think every day will be successful in doing so, but I will definitely be going to the park with her more often now that I know she likes it. She’ll love it even more when she can move around on her own – she couldn’t take her eyes of the bigger kids that were there – she’s desperate to be able to run around and play!

Her first trip out in it was to the Persimmon market suite, to change our fridge and also to take a look at how they are coming along with our new house. It’s so fab to see it looking more and more real!

Freyja seemed to enjoy her seat, so much so that she fell asleep in it… and that was without having to recline it either!