Mum Mum Mummy - Yeah Yeah Yeah

Today Miss Isabella finally said Mum for the first time and then to top if off she then said Nan as well.

The conversation went something like this...

Isabella - "Mum mum mummmy..... nan nan nan."

I was so excited. She has been talking for so long now and still hadn't said it. Last week she even said the names of the cat - Ella when she saw her and made an attempt at Zakie our dog with 'ackie' when Jochen was with her one morning. I was starting to wonder if she was ever going to say it.

When I rang Mum to tell her the news Miss Isabella added another trick to her list.... I always put Mum on speaker phone so that she and Isabella can talk. Isabella seems to recognise her voice and always reaches for the phone and natters away back to Mum. Anyway this time Mum said to her 'bub, bub bub' and Isabella said 'bub' back. When I asked mum if she had heard it she said she hadn't so she said "sorry I didn't hear you Isabella. Bub bub bub" and very clearly Isabella said "Bub bub bub" back. It was if they were having a "bub bub bub" conversation.

Isabella is definitely getting the idea that words are associated with actions like "up" which I use all the time and she attempts to say with a sound that resembles "pppp", "no more" which I say and she confirms by shaking her head, and knowing that the animals have names. If you say to her "look there is Ella", Isabella looks for the cat and then her face lights up with delight as she seems to love all the animals. Isabella really wants to communicate with us and is experimenting with the range of sounds that she can make. At the rate she is going I think we will be having some interesting conversations by the time she is 2.

Head Down - Bum Up

Today Miss Isabella is 8 months old. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone in some ways. Our little baby is growing up so fast, it feels like only yesterday that we were bringing this little tiny thing home from hospital. About a week ago I started putting Isabella into the '0' sized clothes which are for 6-9 months olds. They are so big on her though that I have to roll up the sleeves and the length of the pants means that her legs are more than covered, but this is actually a good thing with winter really starting to set in, I can be sure that her legs aren't exposed and cold.

Although it is a little bit hard to see in this photo Isabella has started sleeping with her face planted into the mattress and her bum up in the air in the last few days. Apparently, according to her Oma, Isabella's Uncle Frank use to sleep exactly the same way.

It is funny that Isabella can now get her legs up under herself in bed but hasn't managed to do it outside of the cot in preparation for her crawling. The only way that she can get around on the floor is by rolling where she wants to go, she hasn't even attempted to do a commando crawl which a lot of the babies in our mother's group did. I wonder how long it will be before she starts to crawl - or even if she will crawl at all. I know that she really should crawl as it is important for her development but neither Jochen nor his brother or sister ever crawled and she might be the same way. We will just have to wait and see.

Beer Girl

Today Jochen was watching the V8 Supercars on TV and having a beer, relaxing after a round of shifts. Isabella was sitting with him and all of a sudden she was reaching for his beer and trying to get her mouth around the top like she could see Jochen do as he had a drink. She was so interested in it that we were able to get lots of cute photos. I think these photos will be bought out when Isabella turns 21, probably showing when her interest in alcohol began, at age 4 months. Now in case anyone thinks we actually gave her a drink, I'll just set the record straight, we didn't but it wasn't for want of trying on her part.

Today Raspberries - Tomorrow the World

Today Isabella realised that she could blow raspberries at will, whenever the mood struck, whenever she felt like it. So today has been full of me blowing raspberries and her doing them back to me. I got some really great video footage as well that we will be able to torture her with at her 21st Birthday. I'm sure it will be one of the many things she will eventually hate us for. Anyway, she looked gorgeous doing it so I'm glad I got the video out and caught some of it.

On Monday we had our Mother's group at Sandra's house and Bella got to try Sandra's daughter Brielle's jolly jumper. I didn't think that Bella would be old enough to use one yet but because she has complete control of her head now and has for a couple of weeks, she was able to use it. We put her in it and she had a good jump around. So yesterday I went to Mid Valley Shopping Centre and got one for Bella to use for herself. She still isn't completely sure of it but we are giving her lots of little goes in it and taking her out when she starts to look a bit unhappy about being in it.

Oh and I spoke to early about the sleep, we haven't had an eight hour sleep in quite a few days now so I don't know what is happening. Think I must have spoken too soon. Fingers crossed we will go back to those eight hour sleeps again shortly because this is really hard.

Baby Humour

Isabella demonstrated her sense of humour today. I didn't realise that babies could have such a subtle sense of humour but obviously they can.

Today whilst sitting outside with Jochen, Isabella and Ben (the dog) whom Bella was watching very intently, I was throwing dry dog food on to the deck and Ben was chasing it and pouncing on it once he got to each piece. For some reason this seemed to amuse Bella greatly and she would give out these great big laughs every time that Ben did it. It wasn't just a little chuckle either - it was great big belly laughs and was well and truly related to and in response to what Ben was doing. I don't think I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I tried to get it on video but by that time Ben wasn't as hungry or as pouncy and Isabella would only crack a few little smiles. It would have to have been though one of the funniest things that Jochen and I have seen in a long time.

Sleeping, Sleeping

Not last night but the night before Bella slept for a whole 8 1/2 hours straight. Wow. I told her what a wonderful girl she was when she woke up at 5.30am and she gave me the most beautiful smile like she knew what she had done. I almost felt human after a decent uninterrupted sleep.

Sleep is such a precious commodity at the moment... I just don't seem to ever feel like I have had enough and I'm not managing to get in an afternoon nap either because I just can't sleep or someone else won't go to sleep to give me an opportunity. So sometimes I just feel like I am on autopilot. Oh and the autopilot never received the correct training to carry out the flying properly. Anyway I have to go and express now so that I can go to bed nice and early and get some more of that precious sleep.

Baby Babble

Yesterday, Bella found her voice.

We had lots of baby babble all day... lots of aahhh, ahhh, ooohhh, ah.... etc. I think you get the idea. It is not just random, one off noises anymore like it had been, it is actually in response to things. I talk to her, she talks back. Something amuses her, she talks. She has started to get the idea of conversation and that she can talk too. Unfortunately for her I can't understand what she is saying yet, in fact I don't know if she knows what she is saying yet, but it is the first step towards driving her father crazy.

We are still waiting for lots of laughter but we are getting lots of smiles and are really close now. Things like having her nappy changed, laying under her play set and seeing us in the morning really seem to make her happy and we get lots of smiles.

Anyway, I can't write anything else at the moment as all I'm hearing from the other room is the sound of a very unhappy little girl.... Daddy just doesn't seem to have the knack that I do at calming her at times.... Best I go and save him.