Tower Poppies, Cornershop and baby friends

It's been a while since I've written a post about London so here goes.

We live walking distance from the Tower of London now (by walking distance I mean about a 40 minute walk - 2 miles).  The Tower of London has an exhibition on from August-November commemorating the 100 year anniversary of World War I called "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red."  They are planting a ceramic poppy in the moat for every British and/or Commonwealth soldier killed in WWI - 888,246 poppies in total.  The last poppy will be planted the 11th of November (Armistice Day).  It is a really impressive display, even though it's only halfway done in these photos (you can see the volunteers in the background working diligently).  And, naturally, we had to take a photo of Poppy with the poppies. 

More info here if you want it: Tower Poppies

You can also buy a poppy for £25.

Today, my friend Lauren and her baby Ada went with Poppy and I to visit an art display of sorts in east London.  The Cornershop is a shop stocked with normal things you'd find at a corner shop - but everything is made out of felt.  The artist, Lucy Sparrow, stitched almost 4000 different items to put into the shop (it took her 7 months).  The result is a really cool little shop where you can't touch anything but you can buy a felt pregnancy test!  Here are some photos:

 

Here's an article about it: Corner Shop

And finally, some candid photos of Poppy and her NCT baby friends.  We meet up every Tuesday with all these babes and their moms, usually to eat cake and drink tea (or a cheeky Tuesday afternoon glass of wine) and talk about our babies' poos!

I have about twenty of these photos and they are hilarious!  The babies are in order left to right from youngest to oldest.

Ivy, Ada, Poppy, Ivo and Max

Food and teeth and brains.

Not a lot to report in this blog.  I just thought I'd do a quick update!  

Poppy is doing well - she's moved into 9-12 month clothes (although her new wetsuit is size 12-18 months and is TOO SMALL - stop growing baby) and now has two little teeth on the bottom! She's started eating real food - her favourite combination is avocados and bananas.  The little monster is very particular though.  She doesn't like purees and she doesn't like being spoon fed (unless she's holding onto the spoon also).  So, essentially, she's forcing me into baby-led weaning.  It's really messy but she's so cute trying to feed herself. And we have nappy-only dinner now (because all of her clothes were getting stained) which only adds to the cuteness.

As much fun as I'm having staying at home with Poppy, I can't help but feel like my brain is turning to mush. I went from being a full-on academic, writing a dissertation and getting a masters degree, to obsessing about bath temperatures and room temperatures and the million constant mom worries running through my head - "Is Poppy hungry or tired? Is she getting another tooth? Is she not eating carrots because she's allergic? How do I know if she's allergic? What if she has an allergic reaction?  Why won't she eat pureed food?  Is it bad if I let her watch TV? Why does she like TV so much? Does she have enough toys?  Is she hot? Is she cold?..." I could go on and on and on.  I love being a stay at home mom (how could I not? I have the cutest baby in the world!) but I am looking forward to getting back to work in October and using my brain for other things again.

Now for some photos:

TOOTH!

Aunt Amanda sent Poppy a bow but she doesn't quite have enough hair for it yet :)

Yummy food!

Yoga baby in the stroller. She's such a lady.

Watching her favourite show, Maya the Bee. I hate how much she loves TV.

Daddy showing her the ropes! As soon as she can walk we're putting her to work ;)

Today I dressed Poppy in a blue and white striped dress with some pink and grey in it also.  THREE different people called her a he.  Three.  She was wearing a dress.  One guy said "Oh it was the stripy top, I couldn't tell..."  IT'S A DRESS!  They could just say "how old is your baby?" instead of making things awkward and calling poor Poppy a boy.

Rant over.

Duck-face Poppy

Big developments in Poppy world!

She seems to be having some sort of cognitive growth spurt (is that a thing?).  In the last two days she's learned how to roll over AND how to sit up by herself.  So now, every time I lay her on her play mat, she immediately rolls onto her tummy... and then cries because she can't figure out how to get back onto her back.  It's a hard knock life for little Popsicle.

Another big development - last night, she slept from 8:30 pm until 5 am. FIVE AM! That's amazing! 8 and a half hours of solid baby sleep.  I was shocked when I woke up and looked at the clock.  I'm not getting my hopes up that it'll happen again but it was amazing.

Poppy also got a new cousin this week!  Madelynn Lee Hehr.  She's a beaut.  Congratulations Katie and Andrew!

As I'm sure you've all seen, Poppy has been working on the perfect pout/duck face/pucker for the last few weeks.  She does it ALL the time.  I've been saving up the duck face photos for this post. 

Upside down duck face.

Duck face-ing because we went to meet Daddy and he wasn't finished with work yet.

Duck face-ing because she's stuck in the corner of the couch.

Duck face-ing because she can see herself in the phone camera.

Duck face-ing because it's really bloody hot today.

Duck face-ing because I washed her play mat so she had to lay on the quilt instead.

Duck face selfie with Mom.

And my favourite duck face photo - duck face-ing because I wouldn't take her out of her stroller on the bus.

That concludes the duck face photos.  Now some photos of Poppy being cute last weekend.

Trying to eat my face.  I can't wait for the day she gives me a hug without trying to eat me!

Waiting for the bus.  She loves weekends with Daddy!

The end.

Poppy stuff

I've just come to write in my blog and realised I have about 6 drafts of entries that I've started and not finished in the last two months. Whoops :)

I'm going to try to be better at this blog from now on.  It will be nice for Poppy to be able to go back and look at the posts and photos when she's older.  Speaking of Poppy, it's 9:24 am and the little monster is still asleep.. must be tired from her 330-430 am meltdown, which seems to be becoming a habit. 

So for all you curious people out there, the answer is no she is absolutely not sleeping through the night. Not in any way, shape or form.  If we're lucky we get her down at 10 and she'll sleep through until 3, which is not too bad.  But she's then up at 5 and 7 and 9.  Not exactly a restful night of sleep! And she still hates her cot. It's like we're laying her on a bed of gravel when we lay her in there. She immediately throws her arms out and cries.  Soon we're going to turn into those ridiculous parents who buy their baby memory foam (okay not really but so tempting).

Other news in the Poppy department:

- She can now roll over front-to-back and back-to-front (okay she only did back-to-front once but it counts!)

- I think (KNOCK ON WOOD) her vomiting has slowed down a bit

- Her favourite book at the moment is "Fox's Socks"

- She is lulled to sleep by the bus and traffic whizzing by.. she is a proper city baby (even passing sirens don't wake her up!)

- Poppy forgot to remind us to bring our keys when we went out the other night so we had to call a locksmith to drill the lock... this was obviously all Poppy's fault. She's so irresponsible...

That's about it! Mat is still working a million hours and I'm still keeping Poppy alive.  I have tentative plans to go back to work in October (which I can't even fathom at the moment, just like I can't imagine how all you American moms go back to work at 6 weeks! WHAT!? England does maternity leave so much better than the US).

I don't even think I have very many photos to post.. but here's a few!

Celebrating the 4th of July in style :)

Poppy and Daddy at Maltby Street Market, our favourite place.

"What do you mean I can't have a drink of your cocktail?"

She can read. She's advanced.

The end.

(9:43 and the baby is still asleep - I'm going to attempt a peaceful cup of tea before she wakes up.. wish me luck!)

Popsicle Update

It's been a while since my last blog because, quite frankly, it's hard to type and hold a baby at the same time.  Since I spend 90% of my time holding the little Popsicle (with intermittent 20 minute intervals where she'll nap somewhere that isn't in my arms) this makes keeping up the blog really difficult. (This is what she's doing when I'm not holding her...)

Not a lot to report here.  Mat is working 39250943 hours and I'm successfully keeping Poppy alive.  I meet my NCT group (other moms and babies) every Tuesday, which keeps me sane.  That's about it!  I think I need a hobby - preferably something that can be done while simultaneously rocking/holding/breasfeeding a baby.  Any ideas, let me know :)

As I'm sure you've all witnessed on Facebook, she's managed a smile now, which was very exciting.  She hasn't quite giggled yet - apparently Mat and I are not that entertaining!  

Some new developments in Poppy's life (besides the exciting smiling)

- she likes to chew on everything (her arm, our fingers) EXCEPT a pacifier.. she refuses it.. that's what I get for always saying I'd never give my child a pacifier...

- she's obsessed with staring at the bookshelf in the corner of the living room

- her favourite book is "Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type" (courtesy of Auntie Katie)

- she loves the stroller.. unless you have stop moving for 5 seconds or more, then it's meltdown time

- her favourite thing is kicking.. she kicks us, the diaper bag, off the side of the bathtub.. those pudgy little legs are in constant motion! 

Thats about it for the little munchkin.  Now the photos!  My iPhoto just informed me that I've taken 1000 pictures in the last 3 weeks. What can I say? The little Popsicle is just so photogenic!

Lounging on Daddy - she looks so tiny next to his giant hands!

Uncle Cameron - not so photogenic :)

Poppy got her feet printed at the Pottery Cafe in Clapham last week.  She did so well!  Shortly after this photo she did manage to poo out the back of her diaper in the stroller and vomit down the front of her top simultaneously!  Then she napped long enough for me to shovel 1/4 of my lunch into my mouth then try to eat the rest with one hand (it was not pretty). And then it poured down rain the whole walk to the station (about a 15 minute walk) and Poppy had an absolute meltdown on the train.  Was a stressful afternoon for this momma but the pottery turned out really nice! 

Chomping away..

And more chomping..

Sleeping beauty.

That rare but adorable little smile.

And some not so cute faces.. haha sorry Pops!

This is Poppy's new book! Alpha Block.  It's by far the best alphabet book I've ever seen!  The pages are cut out in the shapes of the letters and it's just good.  Poppy is just as excited as I am about it..

That's all I have today.  We're off on a walk because it's still light outside and it's 745 (whoop whoop daylight savings!)

Sunday morning blogging

I don't actually have much to write in this blog but I thought it was about time for another post.  Mat is back at work and working very long hours so Popsicle and I have had a lot of quality time together .. I've managed to keep her alive and (mostly) happy!  We got our first real smile out of her last night, which was very exciting.  

We haven't had any more catastrophic journeys in the last few weeks.  Poppy has been quite well behaved in public!  It's a different story at home but at least she puts on a happy contented face when we're out and about :)

I literally have nothing else to report so here's Poppy being cute.  I try not to bombard Facebook with pictures so I save them up for blog posts :)

Me and Pops being in love. We spend a lot of time like this.

SO TIRED.

Enjoying the sunshine in Canary Wharf!  We had about a week of beautiful sunny days in London.  It didn't last.  Yesterday I got off the bus early to walk home because I thought it was nice.. halfway home it started hailing!  British weather...

So stylish. And we're really good parents strapping her into the rocker... oops!

Me as a baby on top, Poppy on bottom.  She normally looks like Mat but when she's sleeping peacefully she looks like me :)

I think she has an overactive startle reflex because she often sleeps like this, with her hands straight up in the air. So cute.

Gazing out the window.  "Wow Mom look outside!"

CHUNK.

She's always so tired in the mornings from keeping me up all night.  It's hard work!

Smiles :)

<3

Lazy Sunday morning photos.  

Mat is so jealous of how in love me and Popsicle are :)

We're venturing into Canary Wharf today to do some shopping because Mat actually has a day off!  

The end.