9 Month Check

This morning we had a lovely time at mums and toddlers.  After the play session was done, and the story was told, Ruth brought out her cd player and the toddler music!  I must find out what the tunes are as they're great for babies and children and we all got ribbons and silk scarves to wave and we danced around the hall and Joel loved it!  I trailed the scarf over his face and he giggled and waved and we waved it around and he thought it was great!  Then we did the hokey cokey and when we all went into the middle of the circle he kicked his legs as though he thought he was actually dancing like the other toddlers were!  It was very cute!  And then he clapped his hands together when we all clapped the end of the song!!  He's been banging two objects together for a little while but hasn't managed to work out clapping until this morning!!  It was a one off today but we'll practise tomorrow!

Off we went to the surgery this afternoon for the weigh in clinic.  I think we're very lucky in our Doctors to have their own health visitors who are actually really nice and very helpful compared to some of the tales we've heard about others.  Our health visitor is Alex and she came to my house for Joel's first 8 weeks and we see her every month.

Today was meant to just be a weigh in for Joel, as he had an appointment tomorrow for his 9 month check which was fine with me.  I like having things to do and the oppurtunity to walk there.  But when I saw Alex, she said she could everything today in one go as they were quite quiet and I was quite happy to let her!

So firstly, Joel was weighed, and after his measly 5oz at the last weight in taking him to 17lbs 6ozs, today he was 19lbs!  So that's over a pound and a half putting right back on the track he was on previously with a pound a month so I was really pleased!  He has been eating well this past month after he got over his sniffles!

Then he was stripped down below to have his testes checked and he wasn't too enamoured about this, but both testicles were found which Joel and I were relieved about!

Then he had his head circumference and length measured and he'd grown perfectly.

He then had his development check, and Alex handed him two little wooden cubes to hold, then took one away.  He was meant to pass them from hand to hand, which he does all the time at home, but of course he didn't today!  But she was impressed that when she took them off him, he watched carefully to see where they went and tried to get them back again!  She commented how well he remembers and acts on it!

The last test was trying to see his pincer grip, and she brought out some tiny toys and offered Joel a mini farm pig, but didn't let go, and sure enough, he was trying to very delicately take the toy!  I told her how good he was at picking up blueberries, peas and sweetcorn and popping it in his mouth, and this has been a good progression from him holding food in his closed fist and wondering how to get it to his mouth, to just doing it easily!!

After the health visitor was done, she sent us to see the baby doctor as his excema is still irritating him on his shoulders and we got some different cream to try.  The doctor also recommended not bathing Joel every night as this dries his skin out, and apparently, Stafford water, being hard is the worst for exacerbating excema as well!  We've been bathing Joel nightly since he was a tiny baby to establish his bedtime routine, but I guess 3-4 times a week will be the new routine!

Joel only had one nap today, 12-2 and he was up at 7am so went 5 hours before a nap, then went four hours till 6pm and I put him to bed early after his tea at 6pm as he was so tired, and a nap would have ruined night time!   I hope he sleeps though and is bright and breezy for bounce and rhyme tomorrow!

Baby Massage

With the summer holidays upon us, all the classes and groups we were going too (ok, Mum's and Toddlers and Bounce and Rhyme) have finished for 6 weeks! 

 But we signed up for baby massage a while ago and these classes are running over the summer so we'll have something to go to if only once a week!!

They are Thursday afternoon the first one was ok.  I'm not sure Joel likes being massaged.  He was wiggling away from me and it was hard to massage his limbs as he got further down his mat!!  But it was interesting to meet the other mums there.

One of the Mums I'd met before at the NHS antenatal classes which was nice!  Turns out her son Jacob was born the day before Joel and they lay on mats next to each giving beaming smiles which was lovely so I think they've made friends!!







We have to miss the next session due to being on holiday but will catch up the later weeks.  I'm hoping to make friends with the other mums too, as it'd be nice to know other 'first time mums' as I think it's quite different when you've already had other babies!!

Mum's and Toddlers!

There are a lot of different groups which meet in Stafford and I'm trying to work my way around those that take my fancy, and yesterday we went to our Church mums and toddlers group which we enjoyed, but Joel fell asleep for most of it!! 

This morning we went to Bounce and Rhyme which is a free session at our town library.  Having walked in for 10am, Joel was again asleep but I carried him in sleeping and he lay in my arms zonked out right until the last song which ironically was the 'goodbye' song!  There were lots of new songs I'd never heard before but anticipate going along again next week.

We've also been to a Mum's and toddlers group in town on a Friday but it was very noisy with lots of toddlers everywhere and it was a bit old for Joel at the moment.

And tomorrow the plan is to wander along to the Children's Centre for a breastfeeding group and to see what else goes on there as they do sensory sessions and baby massage classes too!

Joel is a very observant baby and seems to really enjoy watching 'busyness' and other children so to have three days to pop out for groups, I think that would be a good aim.  Then a day at my Mum's in the week, and a day at home would be good.