Violet’s Two Month Update

Two months old? What happened to my tiny newborn! Violet is growing SO QUICKLY. I know everyone tells you that babies grow quickly and to ‘cherish every moment‘ but honestly it’s going so much quicker than I could have ever expected. Some days I get her out of her cot and it’s like she’s grown in the night, both mentally and physically, Violet is developing at the speed of light and if I blink, I could honestly miss it.

This month, Violet changed from a little newborn to a sweet little person, her little personality started to shine, we went through a giant developmental leap and we survived our first round of injections…. just about! We also got so much more confident leaving the house. Here is our second month of life together:

 Between 4-6 weeks, Violet suddenly changed into a little girl. She started to gain weight rapidly and her face became rounded and full of expression. She is so fascinated by the world, always looking around, studying faces, patterns and lights. She finished her round of cranial sacral therapy and it was like we had a new baby, she was suddenly so calm. Suddenly, she started enjoying little things like journeys in the pram and bath time – kicking the warm water around her feet. Although she seemed unsure, it was better than the screaming fits of the previous month!

She started watching your expressions, like sticking your tongue out or smiling, she will copy and repeat. She is also starting to babble away, constantly mumbling little sounds then suddenly finding her voice and shouting short abrupt noises like ‘aaah!’ or ‘eee!’ which always takes me by surprise!

We were signed off at our 6 week check as fully healthy and booked in for our jabs at the end of the month. Around week 7, Violet entered into her second developmental leap (Patterns according to the Wonder Weeks book). This completely explained her change in behaviour (thank goodness for that book/app!) She went from being sweet and smiley to grizzly and clingy practically overnight and I started to see some of the new skills she would learn during the leap starting to emerge. I used some sensory toys at this time to try and help her develop and practice them – the first thing I noticed was that she started to bat at her toys. No longer were her arms just flying around willy-nilly, she was aiming them at her toys and although she didn’t always hit them, she was giving it a damn good try!

She also started to hold her head up so much better! She hasn’t mastered holding it up during tummy time, but when we hold her upright she can hold it and will look around the room in response to sound and people.

Violet also became quite fussy over her food. She decided she would no longer accept our Dr Browns Bottles (which are quite expensive and we’d bought loads!) and in sheer desperation to find something she could eat from I found a MAM bottle at the back of the cupboard that I’d been given as a sample at The Baby Show. She took to that in seconds and gobbled down her food almost without taking a breath. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime as I quickly ordered a full set of MAM bottles and she hasn’t looked back since. Bizarre how she could completely refuse a type of bottle, but she did!

In weeks 6-8 I found my feet with getting out and about with Violet. During her first few weeks I felt so nervous to leave the house ‘What if she cries and everyone turns around’  would go round and round in my mind, I felt totally stuck at home and began to get cabin fever. By week 6 I just decided to grin and bear it. It turns out, it wasn’t that scary after all. Violet loves the movement of the bus and was so calm – walking around the shops and meeting a friend felt like I’d conquered the world, I actually welled up on the bus home as I was so proud of myself. I know that sounds silly and it’s such a small thing, but for me at that moment it felt monumental.

Since then, we’ve been into town quite a few times, we even took our first car journey. I only had to stop and check she was breathing once – that’s not bad for a 45 minute drive, right?

We also did our first family photoshoot. The amazing Kitty Wheeler Shaw took came to our favourite spot on Rottingdean beach and got some beautiful photos of us all! We were nervous at first at the thought of a photoshoot, but I’m so glad we did it as we’ll treasure the photos forever, they are beautiful. (I’ll be sharing the rest and a bit about our experience in a blog post soon, so watch out for that!)

[Credit: Kitty Wheeler Shaw]

In other news, Robbie has finally settled into our new family set up and accepted me again. I was heartbroken when he would just walk away from me after we’d been so close before Violet’s arrival. We honestly thought he was getting depression and looked up a dog psychologist to come and help us with him. Luckily it never got to that and he’s come round, finally. Sometimes I find it hard to manage both Violet and Robbie at home on my own (Robbie is like a needy toddler) but I try to include him more and give him some attention and he seems so much more settled.

We ended month two on a bit of a low. The day Violet came out of her Wonder Weeks leap, she greeted me with a beaming smile as she woke up and was so bright and fun all day. By the afternoon, it was time for her first set of injections so we took her to the Dr’s surgery and I’m not sure which of us found the experience more distressing! When she had her jabs she screamed and cried real, proper, wet tears with the saddest little sniffles. I told myself I wasn’t going to cry but it was so awful I just burst into tears in front of the nurses too. How embarrassing. Afterwards, she was the off-colour for a couple of days but Calpol saved the day (it’s magical!). I felt a bit sad her bright, sunny time after her grizzly developmental leap had collided with her injections at the same time, but never mind. It had to be done and she’s all recovered now. Phew.

MONTH TWO: 

Feeding: 50/50 Combination fed – expressed milk and formula. She seems to love formula more though!

Weight: Not sure, but from my constant aching arms she’s a little chunk! She’s now in 0-3 clothes, with all her newborn and one month clothes bagged up as they no longer fit!

Sleeping: At 8 weeks she slept through, although she hasn’t again since her jabs. Her sleeping is getting so much better, usually 5-6 hour blocks, although we do have the odd bad night.

Skills: Lots of smiling, batting toys, turning towards a sound or watching you walk through a room, playing with her hands/feet intentionally and exploring what they do, holding her head up much more often, cooing and making sounds like she’s trying to speak

Favourite things: Close cuddles into my chest, dangly colourful sensory toys, MAM bottles, her bouncy chair,  playing on the change table, smiling at Mummies

Hated things: Still waiting for food, being cold, frothy milk, injections, Dr Browns Bottles

 

I’ll leave you with this gem, snapped on my phone – excuse the quality and the silly Mummy noises!

 

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  • I’m so pretty leased she’s coming on so well! She’s a real beauty and you and Vee are doing such an amazing job of raising your beautiful little girl 💖 Such lovely photos through this post and her little smile oh my goodness she’s a dream!!
    I can’t wait to meet you all! xx

  • She is just too cute! Your right it goes far too quick, my youngest has just turned 8 months and I really can’t believe it! It’s amazing though isn’t it , she now has a little personality xx