Time since birth: 3 months
Total weight loss: I decided I'm not going to update that every week from now on. I'll just let you know when I get back to normal

Dear Boobies,
Please refrain from leaking while I sleep. I don't particularly enjoy waking up in a puddle of milk (nor does Aaron enjoy trying to cuddle me while sleeping only to be met with sticky milk). I fed Hannah only 4 hours before waking up in said puddle. Why would you leak on me like that. I really thought we were past that, it's been so long since you previously made puddles in the bed. How about you go back to waking me up when you are full by feeling sore and engorged, instead of leaking everywhere? I promise I'll be happy when you wake me up that way. Ok, maybe not happy, but not cranky.
Thanks,
Sheri

Pllffttt. Grandma and I looked at each other and giggled. We were with Hannah in the waiting room at the cardiologists office. Hannah gave us a cheeky grin and did another big fart. We couldn't contain ourselves this time and burst out laughing. Hopefully everyone else in the waiting room knew it was the baby making such noises and not me or Grandma, but we couldn't stop laughing anyway. PPPLLFFTTT!! Hannah was trying to blow Grandma's lap off. Tears started rolling down my cheeks from so much laughing. Changing her diaper, I saw the biggest poo Hannah had ever done. It was a 4-wiper poo. I usually only need to use 1 or 2.

The Cardiologist called us in and I took Hannah's shirt off. He got out the ultrasound thingy mabobby, put it on her chest, and she giggled. Amused, the cardiologist leaned down to try to get her to laugh again. Bang! Hannah kicked him in the face. She thinks it's amusing to kick people (probably because we laugh when she kicks her little legs, and we laugh harder when she kicks us with her little legs). I couldn't help but laugh, and then explained to the cardiologist that it was a game we play.

Hannah was very well behaved during the exam, and the little hole in her heart has amazingly shrunk a little bit. It may close completely, but even if it doesn't, it's unlikely to do her any harm. We don't have to go back until she is 2 years old. As soon as the cardiologist was done, Hannah decided she was hungry and screamed the house down.

In the waiting room, I whipped out my boob. Grandma tried to shield me with the pram. Judging by the horrified expression on her face, I'd say that in Grandma's day, people didn't just whip their boobs out in public to feed their babies. I don't mind feeding Hannah in public, but there are some people who I would not feed in front of. Top of the list: all of my male relatives. Also, the ministers at church. For some reason, I just couldn't do it in front of them, it would be weird.

Playing with Hannah on the bed, Daddy sat her up. She looked pretty stable, so Aaron let go. Hannah sat up un aided for about 30 seconds. I rushed to get the video camera, but she doesn't like to perform with the camera out. I think the camera itself is far too fascinating. She loves technology too (Daddy's girl!), always grabbing at and touching keyboards, laptops, mobile phones and ipods. She's a clever girl!

It was good being heavily pregnant during winter rather than summer so I didn't get too hot, but there is one drawback. The electricity bill! At $496, the electricity bill for keeping Hannah warm was our highest ever.

Time since birth: 12 weeks
Weight loss this week: 0, nada, zip, zilch:( (well, I gained weight last week and lost it this week bringing me back to exactly what I was last time I actually wrote the weight loss in the blog. I have started lifting weights again, so I'm going to tell myself that I gained some muscle then lost some fat...).
Total weight loss: 11.1kg

I looked at the clock. 5:56am. The baby monitor next to the bed was broadcasting Hannah's "I'm waking up now" grunts/cries. Time to get up, baby's hungry. There was a red glow coming from beyond the blinds. "What's that saying? Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. We're in for a real storm today," I thought to myself. I put on my pajama pants and bathrobe and went to Hannah's room. "Mommy's here Sweetie Pie," I said, patting her belly. She gave me a huge good morning smile. I put her on her change mat to check her nappy. "What have you got in there this morning Bubba? Have you done a poo poo?" Cheeky grin. She has recently started doing a GIANT poo in the morning, and then either a couple of little poos through the day, or none at all (she used to do about 8 poos every day). I let her kick on her mat with her nappy off for about half an hour. She loves having her nappy off. "Ok Bubba, are you ready for your breakfast?"

7am. The eerie red glow from beyond the blinds was still there. I stuck my finger in the blinds and pulled down one of the slats (or whatever you call them). Red. Everything was red. It looked like Armageddon. Maybe there was a bushfire? No, not much bush in this area. Crazy intense sunrise? No, the sun should be up already. Cylons invasion? Probably not. End of the world? Possibly. The photographer came out in me and I grabbed my camera and went outside without a second thought. Not enough light. Better get the tripod. The smell of dirt filled the air. Even though I'd never been in a dust storm before, I knew that's what it was as soon as I stepped outside.

After I took a few photos (not too many as I didn't want to be breathing in all that dirt for very long), I went inside to watch the news. Turns out the dust travelled for something ridiculous like 1600km from the outback, turning Sydney into the twilight zone. By the end of the day, it had travelled all the way to far North Queensland. They said it is the worst dust storm in Sydney's history. Aaron didn't want to walk from the bus stop to work inhaling all that dust, so he was allowed to work from home that day.

After being cooped up inside all day, I decided I would get out and about the next day. I messaged the girls, and some of us met up for our very first Mum's and Bub's movie session. The cinema only charges $9 instead of $16 (or whatever ridiculous price movies are these days) for you to take your baby in a movie and disturb all the other patrons. No, the babies were all really good for the first 2 hours of the movie, they just got a bit restless for the last half hour.

I am happy to report that I have succeeded in my quest to get Hannah to drink a bottle. Well, I haven't tried again since that fateful day, but I'm hoping it wasn't just a one off. My boobs were so sore they woke me up at 6am, and Hannah had been asleep for nearly 11 hours. I pumped some milk, and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to get her to drink the bottle. She woke up after an 11 hour sleep (no, she doesn't usually sleep for 11 hours straight. It's usually 7-7.75, feed, then another 2-3) so ravenous, I don't think she would have minded drinking milk out of toilet bowl.

Time since birth: 11 weeks
Weight loss this week: can't remember and since there is a baby on my boob I can't go look....

"Ouch!" What the.... I looked down to see why my my boob was suddenly in pain. First in my line of sight: nipple. Below my nipple was Hannah, sucking away hungrily. Hannah is a self latching, all i do is put her near the nipple and bang, she does the rest. Sometimes though, she does it sleepily with her eyes closed, resulting in the hickey below my nipple.

Aaron and i would really like to go out for the evening and let The Jess babysit Hannah, but Hannah absolutely refuses to take a bottle. We're not even trying to give her formula, but expressed mommy milk. I tried expressing then giving it to her straight away. Fail. I got a special teat that acts and feels like a nipple. Fail. She screams if the bottle even comes near her. I guess she likes my boobies too much.

It's the best feeling when your baby smiles at you. Sometimes she smiles so big she has to shut her eyes to accommodate her rising chubby cheeks. Hannah has also started giggling. Grandma was in Hannah's room chatting with her (she answers back with her cooing) and i heard a very loud excited giggle even though i was in the living room. Yesterday i read her a very colourful baby book called "The magic bus" (not to be confused with the magic school bus. "The magic bus" is way better as it's bus is bright purple) which she absolutely loved. She giggled at every page.

I was walking to the bus stop from the shopping centre when i spotted something odd in the window of the discount beauty products shop. Placenta cream. I really should have read the back of the container, there are just so many questions! Is it made from placentas? If so, human, or animal? Is it a foreign product that was simply lost in translation? What is the cream used for? Oh, how I should have checked....

If you have a baby, I highly recommend the book "What to expect in the first year." It has a month by month guide, with FAQ's, and also what your baby should be doing, what it is probably doing, and what it may be doing at that age. I'm happy to report that Hannah a clever little girl. not only has she done most of the things for her age, but also some of the stuff that older babies do as well (i.e. holding her head in place while I pull her up by her hands from laying down to standing up. Sometimes she even engages her little tummy muscles as well and helps me help her stand up in addition to holding her head straight). She can hold up all of her weight if I help her stand (all I do is balance her, she takes all her own weight). She is a very clever girl. She has also discovered her that her hands are indeed her hands. She loves to intertwine her fingers and hold her hands together, and then stuck on the intertwined fingers. She may not grasp toys yet (unless I put them in her hands, then she will hold them for a short period of time), but she grabs my clothes, fingers, hair, etc. She's such a good little girl!

Time since birth: 10 weeks
Weight loss this week: forgot to weigh myself before eating this morning....

One of the bonuses of breastfeeding is that you don't get your period. I went to the bathroom one morning and to my horror, found that i had started my period. WTF?!?! Of course i immediately googled the matter and found that some women get their monthly when their baby starts sleeping 6 or more hours per night consistently (because you then don't breastfed during that time and have less of the period suppressing hormones). It can be lighter then normal, and shorter, and not every month. Bubba didn't like it either. the hormones can affect the taste of your milk. She would take a couple sips, scream, try again, scream, and so on, until after about 20 minutes she decided that was as good as it was going to get and just ate it anyway. This happened every feed for three days. On the plus side, she has been sleeping 8 hours straight at night time. Last night she slept for 9.5 hours straight. She has been refusing to sleep during the day though (unless I take her for a walk, then she sleeps in the pram for the duration of the walk, but wakes up as soon as we set foot in the house. How does she know???).

I forgot to write about our guinea pig last week (or maybe I was just blocking it out). I went to feed them the week before last and found Speedy dead in the corner of the cage. I think motherhood has made me a bit soft as I did shed a few tears. We wanted to bury her, but we have no garden tools, so Aaron wrapped her up in newspaper and threw her in the bin. At least she had a good long life. She was about 4 and a half years old (guinea pigs usually have a life span of 3-5 years). She was our first little baby and will be missed. We still have Stinky and Smarty, both are doing well despite the loss of their friend.

Maybe it's because I'm American, but I think toilet humour is quite funny. Hannah does too. I make farting noises to her and she smiles. Once she even giggled. She also finds it quite funny while she's sitting on you to lift her little bubba butt, fart, put it back down, and then giving you a cheeky little grin. Of course the funniest thing in the world of Bubba is when she projectile poops on Mommy (which happens when her nappy is off and she coughs).

We went to one of the antenatal girls houses this week for our catch up. We were able to line up all the babies (in birth order) and take a some photos. I look forward to our catch up each week. Some times you just need to get out of the house and talk to people who are going through the same thing as you, and compare notes ("is your baby sleeping more then 30 minutes at a time during the day, because mine isn't. How often does your baby poo?" stuff like that. You probably wouldn't want to hear our conversations right after the births!). Hannah seems to have a little boyfriend too. She and another baby always look at eachother every time they meet. Sometimes the even smile at eachother. All of our babies are within 6 weeks of eachother, with Hannah the second oldest.

Aaron went to visit some friends in the Penrith area on Saturday night, and didn't get home until 11pm or so. He still woke up at his usual 6pm, so he was quite tired on Sunday. We were sitting on the couch, and I could see him drifting off to sleep out of the corner of my eye. It was that eyes close, head goes down, wake suddenly to pick up head kind of sleep. He got past the head falling down stage and nearly face planted from the couch to the floor! He only just startled awake in time to catch himself before possibly needing a trip to the emergency room for a broken nose.

Time since birth: 9 weeks
Weight loss this week: 500g (1.1lbs)
Total weight loss: 11.1kgs (24.5lbs)

Anyone could see the muffin spilling over the top, the scent of chocolate filled the air. Hold on, I'm not talking about muffins, I'm talking about the unsightly muffin top I sport when I put on my pre pregnancy jeans (or any jeans really) (and the scent of chocolate is the new lynx men's spray deodorant that was lingering in the bathroom, long after Aaron went to work. mmmm...chocolate). At least they fit now, and well enough to put on, and then actually wear out somewhere without feeling like my legs/butt are in a straight jacket. Thank you butt, for finally deciding to shrink.

Poor Hannah had to get her immunisations on Wednesday. I took off her pink pants (yes, pretty much all of her clothes are pink, and yes, I like it that way. I would like to find some purple stuff, but that has proven difficult), and the doctor had me hold her on her side. The doc then wiped her tiny defenceless leg with a cotton bud and whatever solution they put on there to clean the area, and then jabbed Hannah with the needle. Poor Bubba never saw it coming. The room filled with a high pitched "oh my goodness, I'm going to die" loud, loud scream from Hannah. I think my heart broke a little right at that moment. I've never heard her cry like that. Unfortunately, the 8 week immunisations require 2 shots. We repeated the process on her other thigh, and I nearly cried myself. I think I would have lost it if she had to have 3 shots. To hear your baby in such pain and distress really does break your heart. The doctor put a little band aid on both legs, but one of them fell off as it was full of blood. Poor little bubba!! I put her in her pram after and then wheeled her off to the bus stop. She fell asleep and then slept for 2 hours. Luckily she doesn't need any more immunisations until about 6 months (I think anyways).

I finally did it. This week, I took a shower while no one else was here except for bubba. She was still sleeping when Aaron left for work, so I figured I'd take the plunge and try for a shower. I was always scared of her waking up screaming while my hair was full of shampoo. Seriously, then what do you do? You're in the middle of your shower, and you're baby is screaming. Do you finish your shower, and let your baby scream herself sweaty in the cot, or shove a towel around yourself and pick up baby while you drip shampoo all over her and your entire house?? I didn't have to live out either scenario. She slept the whole time. I kept my eye on the baby monitor the whole time though.

As soon as I got out of the shower, I heard a strange noise coming from the monitor. "What was that?" I thought. The noise came again, longer, louder, and clearer. Hannah was doing a giant series of farts. I laughed out loud, naked and dripping, in the bathroom. I quickly got dressed, brushed my hair and teeth, and put moisturiser on as I knew it was only a matter of minutes until she woke up, her britches filled with a giant poo. Sure enough, I was right.

We've discovered that Bubba likes to give kisses. If we put our cheeks to her lips, she will give a little lick. Okay, so I'm not sure if she is just trying to see if we have a flavour, thinks the cheek is a nipple, or is actually trying to cute, but it doesn't matter, it's very cute.

Aaron got to celebrate his first Father's Day yesterday. Hannah made him a nice card (with mommy's help...), and some coupons (good for a hug, kiss, etc.), and ordered him a mouse pad with her photo on it. Aaron said it was his best Father's Day ever. Haha.

This morning I was showing Grandma the beached as video on you tube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA. Hannah LOVED it! She couldn't tear her eyes off the screen and kept smiling at it. I showed Grandma some videos before that, and Hannah didn't have any interest what so ever, but I guess she likes the cheeky cartoon whale.

Time since birth: 8 weeks
Weight loss this week: 200g (.44lbs)
Total Weight loss: 11.6kg (25.57lbs)

Grabbing a little pink jumpsuit, i checked the tag. i was checking the sizes of all Hannah's clothes as she grew out of 0000 and into 000. Low fire danger 000. Low fire danger? What, as opposed to all of those spontaneous combustion baby jump suits? Seriously, why do all baby clothes say that on the tag? Are the babies all going to use their pink jumpsuits as protection to go fight fires? Is it like those aussie bushfire danger signs (they let you know what the probability is for a bush fire, low, all the way to extreme), telling me there probably won't be a fire today?

We learned about settling techniques at mothers group on Tuesday. I have been doing it wrong the whole time. You are not supposed to rock and pat them all the way to sleep on you, then put them down as they will immediately wake up, no longer in the warmth and comfort of your arms. That is why Hannah has had all of her naps on mommy and daddy. Instead, you are supposed to put them in their cots when they get sleepy and then rock and pat them while they are in the cot. We've been doing the new way since Tuesday and Hannah likes sleeping on me much better then in her cot. It's been working for the most part, but her naps are not as long (she used to sleep 2-3 hours on me, and now she sleeps for 1 hour in the cot. Except at night, she has always been a good sleeper at night). It does take up to an hour and a half to get her to sleep sometimes.

Another $400 was spent on my boob. I had a fine needle biopsy which was much better then the core biopsy i had last year. For a core biopsy, they give you some anesthetic, then make an incision (in my case, i could still fell it so more anesthetic had to be given through the incision which was really really painful). A thing that looks identical to a piercing gun is then used to take the sample. The doctor pulls the trigger, and bang, a very loud noise scares the life out of you. The poor boob is then bruised for a couple of days, and your all done. This time, a very thin needle was inserted, jiggled around, repeated, then all is done. When they inserted the needle, they said "yep, that's milk." So, pretty much nothing to worry about, it's just a fibrous benign lump that is now filled with milk (and gave me stretch marks). Of course I have to go to the boob specialist and pay $200 to get the official results next week.

Sometimes I'm up at 4 or 5am to feed Hannah. I could hear this strange noise coming from outside. On closer listening (it wasn't that close to here), i realised it was a rooster. now correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't roosters supposed to shout (what is the word for the noise a rooster makes??) at dawn? It certainly isn't dawn that early. Last night, i was up at 2 and heard the rooster. I think he is one confused bird.

Time since birth: 7 weeks
Weight loss this week: 1kg (2.2lbs)
Total weight loss: 11.4kgs (25.13lbs)

Monday I went for our 6 week check up. We had just gone out the door when Hannah did the biggest chuck ever. It was all over my clothes, her clothes, the baby carrier, and herself. By the time I changed both of our clothes, gave Hannah a bit of a sponge bath, and got lost on the way there, we were quite late.

At the check up, they checked my stitches (first time since I got them), which were "healed quite nicely." They checked my blood pressure and felt my tummy to make sure my uterus has gone back down. Everything was fine. They also gave Hannah a check up, and weighed and measured her. Finally, she is over 4kg. Only just, she is 4.1kg. She has also grown 7cm since birth.

After our appointment, Hannah was hungry, so i decided to try out the parents room at the shopping centre. There was a nice couch, TV, microwave, change tables, etc. It was quite nice and i didn't even have to worry about Hannah crying as no shoppers would be able to hear it.

I don't know if any of you have watched wipeout before, but it seems every time i watch it, i laugh so hard that tears come out. Aaron and i watched the other day and there was this large woman who was a bit scared to jump onto the big balls. Lucky for us, the "motivator" was employed. A big squishy block hit her in the bum, knocking her off the platform and onto the big balls. She was already covered in mud. As she hit the big ball, watery mud flew out of her top and hit her in the face (pretty sure her boobs hit her in the face too), she bounced off the big ball and tumbled into the muddy water below. Aaron and i both had tears from laughing so hard.

Hannah held a rattle for the first time this week. Sure, i may have put it in her hand, but she still kept a hold on it, and shook it a bit before dropping it. We've been practising every day since then, it's good for developing her coordination and such.

I walked to my first mothers group on Tuesday. Even though it's in a different town, it only took me 20 minutes. Apart from one other girl, I'm pretty sure I'm about 10 years younger then every one else. i guess people are having them late these days. It was good though, there was a baby nurse there and we got to ask any questions we wanted. Everyone seemed to want to know all the same things, which is reassuring. I just thought that maybe Hannah was a bit strange, but when i asked about her rubbing her face on our shoulders and chest, i found out that is normal (although i still don't know why they do it).

One morning, i had Hannah on her change mat, with a diaper under her, but not on. She likes to lay there and kick her legs and coo. She did a giant vomit and i had to sit her up as she was doing it so she wouldn't choke on it. It was like 3 big vomits in quick succession and got everywhere. Immediately after that, she did a big poo all over, and as soon as i took the nappy away, she peed everywhere. Interesting morning alright.

Grandma went wit me to the boob specialist to mind Hannah while I was in there. I don't think Hannah likes doctors offices, she always screams when she is there. Poor Grandma. If i wasn't breast feeding, they would take my lump out, but since I am, I have to have another biopsy (not fun, but i will get into that next week) on it just to be safe. He said he's quite sure it's harmless, but because of it's size, wants to be sure. If the lump is still there when Hannah is a year old, then they will remove it. Hopefully my boob won't resemble a deflated balloon after that. Since the lump is now filled with liquid, doesn't that men that when they take the biopsy, it could all leak out?? Turns out, that is possible. Ewww. Guess I'll find out on Thursday.

We have private health insurance, but does it cover Hannah's heart appointment, my ultrasound, biopsy, boob specialist, or the gap in doctors fees when they don't bulk bill? Not at all. So what exactly is the point of paying $200 a month for private health insurance?

Hannah has been a fantastic night sleeper recently. She slept for 8 hours straight 2 nights in a row. Unfortunately, i haven't been so lucky. It seems a neighbor has taken to clarinet playing at 10pm. I mean really, who plays the clarinet at 10pm? Everything seems amplified when you are laying in bed trying to sleep, so to me, it sounded like there was a dying moose right outside my window.

Friday I had my first post natal pilates class, where i found out that due to pregnancy, i have 2cms of separation in my ab muscles. Basically that means that there is 2cms in between my abs down the centre of my belly. I'll have to work out to fix it. The class was really good though, i used muscles i forgot i had.