Adventure, baby!

Family

Babes get Arty

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My friend Alexis and I decided to start taking the babies to galleries to see how they enjoyed it – plus we wanted to start seeing exhibitions again. We started yesterday with the Whitney Biennial.

The babies were fantastic. Really entertained by everything around them. The fellow gallery goers were great, one even asking to take photos of the babies in front of the art.

We met up with friends Annie and Coco later for a drink before braving the peak hour trains home.

A great success for us all! Can’t wait to take the little ones to many more galleries.

Coco and Eloise get rowdy.
With Eloise at the Whitney.

Alexis, Julien, me and Eloise getting cultural.
Braving the subway at peak hour.

Remembering to be thankful

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A lot of the time I focus on how hard everything feels. Moving country. Pregnancy. A crazy newborn! It’s  too easy to fall into the trap of feeling like everything is just way. too. hard, and that I just. can’t. cope.

Then I have a day where my eyes become clear and I realise how lucky I am. Many years ago, I dreamed of living in New York. I wanted true love in my life. I wanted a beautiful daughter. All of my dreams have come a reality.

Here’s to focusing on the big picture. All the little annoying things will pass, and my life is truly totally amazing.

Spring in Central Park

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Spring in New York is my favourite season. The cherry blossoms bloom in the parks and sidewalks, and the gardens are full of daffodils, tulips and crocuses.

We took a trip uptown to see an exhibition at the Jewish Museum. It was Eloise’s first gallery experience, as well as her first cherry blossom in nearby Central Park.

Riding the subway like a big girl.
Gorgeous.
Asleep with Dad.
Hey hey, looks who’s back!

Eloise – Month 6 – 7

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Developmental

  • A lot more chatty this month, making new sounds like “dada” and “baba”.
  • Finer motor control. Able to touch things more gently rather than bashing things, like our faces!
  • Banging objects together.
  • Loves picking up objects and examining them, particularly pulling them out of her toy box.
  • Reaching to be picked up.
  • Showing a preference for Alec or myself, but generally really social and loves meeting new people.
  • Staying awake for longer periods during the day – up to 3 hours, sometimes longer.
  • Putting more weight on her legs.
  • Eloise is just so happy all the time! She’s just such a delight to be around all day now. She enjoys being outside and looking at people, and is pretty much a smiling, laughing little lady all day. 

Milestones/firsts

  • Eloise’s two bottom teeth came in this month. We had a super rough few weeks where she screamed and wouldn’t sleep, refused solids and didn’t want to nurse. One night she finally slept, and in the morning, there they were!
  • First swing this month! The weather warmed up and we started spending time in the parks.

Food
Eloise moved onto a feeding schedule – nursing 4 times a day (6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm) with 3 meals of solids in between. She loves yoghurt and fruit the most, but will also eat things like lentils and brown rice with vegetables, and with a bit of curry powder mixed in.

Sleep

  • Comes and goes. Bad nights of screaming, followed by nights where she will wake, feed and go back to sleep. A few nights with only one wake up.
  • We finally were able to move Eloise into her crib. We put in a wedge to prop up the end, and put in a vibrating unit under the mattress to simulate the bouncer. A few weeks of this and we took out the wedge and vibrating unit and she finally sleeps in a flat, normal crib. 
  • Major breakthrough with sleep during the day – Eloise now puts herself to sleep. When she shows tired signs, we put her in the crib and she goes to sleep by herself. So great.
  • Likes to sleep on her side!

Meme

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My lovely friend Cat over at Letters to Georgia asked me to answer the following questions. I’m not a big tagger of other people to do the same, but I’m happy to play along.

1. What is your strongest belief – something you are so passionate about you can argue your point with anyone? 
Kindness to animals. I’m a vegetarian and have been an animal lover all my life. Nothing makes me more sad or angry than seeing cruelty to animals.

2. What qualities do you hold that makes you a good friend? 
Loyalty, generosity, kindness.

3. If you could live in a television show, which show & which character would you play?
Gossip Girl. I’d love to be Serena and have her wardrobe and amazing hair.

4. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
I’d like to have more empathy towards people. While I am fiercely devoted to my friends, I’m not the most humanitarian person towards strangers.

5. What is your current personal life goal?
It’s cliched, but travel, experience and photograph the world with Alec and Eloise.

5. Where would you like to go on your next holiday?
The Caribbean. We’re going next winter, maybe Barbados or St Maartin’s.

6. The old faithful – dead or alive – four people that you will invite to your fantasy dinner party?
Joss Whedon, Jane Austin, Emily Blunt, Heath Ledger.

7. A song that always reminds you of something, and what or who and why? 
“Bubby”, Colbie Caillat. My cousin-in-law sang this song at our wedding and whenever I hear it it makes me cry and remember marrying my love.

8. Tell me your typical Sunday 
This has changed so much post-Eloise. After the baby wakes, I feed her, hand her over to Alec and get a few more hours sleep. We then head out to brunch in our neighbourhood in Brooklyn. If it’s nice weather we’ll take a walk down to the waterfront parks under Brooklyn Bridge or take the subway to Central Park. On the way home, we stop by my favourite bakery, One Girl Cookie for a whoopie pie for Alec, and a spiky cupcake for me. We then play at home with Eloise, put her to bed, I make dinner and Alec and I collapse in bed not long after. Babies are tiring!

9. What was the last movie you watched? 
I hardly ever get time to watch movies anymore. I watched Gosford Park on Netflix recently over a few nights while Alec was working late.

10. What is your idea of a dream date?
My standards have lowered somewhat now that Alec and I have virtually no time alone anymore. Just a few hours to ourselves to have a quiet dinner with good wine is perfect.

11. Post the 11th photo on your phone.

This is a pic from the hospital not long after Eloise was born. I look so exhausted – I’d just had a C-section after 24 hours of labour.

Eloise – Month 5 – 6

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Week 23 – Jan 21 – 27

Eloise’s first winter snow! We had a great snow fall and went for a walk in our winter wonderland.

First winter snow. 22 wks old.

After several more days of having a lot of trouble with Eloise and sleeping, I decided to try and increase her awake time, since it was taking over 30 minutes, up to an hour, to rock her, screaming, to sleep. Amazingly this seemed to work! Keeping her up around 2 hours at a time then putting her down not only resulted in her going down easier, but also her staying asleep for longer. And, wonder of all wonders, she also started to sleep better … An almost 5 hour stretch followed by two more good nights. No more waking up with gas. We also tried her in the Merlin’s Magic Sleep Suit that my mother’s group rave about.   Again, amazingly, she had a great night, only waking up twice to feed on the last night of this week – almost 6 hours after being fed for the first feed, then a four hour stretch, then awake at 6 with a poop. Damn the 6am poos.

We tried her second solid this week – mango puree. She liked it a lot better than the cereal.

Eloise keeps getting easier and easier, and so much more fun. She can entertain herself now for periods of play on her back or in the exersaucer. She is starting to like more interactive toys so we are starting to look at the 6mth and up toys to get her soon.

She also loves her feet and spends a lot of time holding them and shoving them into her mouth. Now she has discovered her fingers, she loves to stick either her thumb or first finger in her mouth and suck on them.

Eloise’s personality is really starting to show now. She is happy and smiling the majority of the time, only crying when there is something wrong – like if she’s hungry or has a shock or something hurts. If she’s bored or doesn’t like something, she squeals and tries to talk to us.

She really loves best when we play with her. I do a few exercises most days using Eloise as a weight and she just loves them. She smiles and laughs her head off.

Week 24 – Jan 28 – Feb 3

Had a nice weekend out, to the Brooklyn Flea market and Le Petit Cafe on Saturday and skating in Central Park on Sunday.

Family day out in Central Park. 23 wks old.

Solids: avocado, carrot, butternut squash. Eloise didn’t like the avocado, loved the carrot, and tolerated the butternut squash.

Her sleep is FINALLY improving, with some almost 5 hour stretches and less waking up with gas. She even napped in her crib.

Eloise is outgrowing her toys. She is now interested in investigating things. She loves the exersaucer, blocks, toys that spin, rattles.

After doing really well for about 5 nights in a row, Eloise seemed to regress a bit. I think she had a bit of a stomach bug, as she was obviously feeling off, and started waking up multiple times a night again …

Week 25 – Feb 4 – 10

Solids: Peas! Loved them. Increased her solids intake to twice a day. and stretched out the breast feeding to every 4 hours.

Solids. Butternut squash. 24 wks old.

We had a great lunch at the Plaza food court. Eloise’s second visit to the Plaza since she was born.

Eloise is sitting really well on her own now. She is also putting more weight on her legs when held up.

Eloise gets bored of things fast, so we are rotating through her toys and activities frequently to keep her entertained. The exersaucer definitely entertains her the longest.

Week 26 – Feb 11 – 17

We started crib training this week. We rigged a vibrating unit to he crib that vibrates for 20 mins then switches off. The first day, we had good success for her naps, but then at night time she woke, screamed inconsolably for 2 hours, and we put her back in the bouncer. Day two was much more positive. She slept the night really well, only waking from 12:30 – 1:15 am with gas and to feed, then sleeping till 6:30. Amazing.

We are trying a bit of controlled crying as she screams when being put in her crib (she also screamed when being put in the bouncer, so this is nothing new). First attempt – 10 mins of crying and she fell asleep. Victory! After a few days, it’s working well. We gave Eloise a little lovie toy and she uses it to comfort herself and send herself to sleep. It seems like she wants to put herself to sleep now, as she pushes our hands away if we try to rock her like we used to.

Solids this week: Peaches! Really enjoyed them.

Eloise is so close to rolling over from back to front. Any day now. She is also pushing things away that she doesn’t like and interacting with other babies more and more. She’s also sitting really well and taking more weight on her legs. She loves kicking her legs, and tries to sit up in the BabyBjorn bouncer.

First Valentine’s Day. 25 wks.

First Valentine’s Day this week. Alec worked from home and we went out for lunch to Le Petite Cafe. 

Week 27 – Feb 18 – 19


Solids: Fresh banana – not really a fan. Yoghurt: LOVED it.

Loving yoghurt. 26 wks.

First trip to Alice’s Tea Cup for high tea on the UWS. Can’t wait to take her back when she’s a little older.

The past few days Eloise has started making a new whiney noise when she’s bored or tired. She also makes high pitched squeals around the same times.

Feeding wise – I now only feed Eloise four times a day (roughly 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm), and twice at night (10pm dream feed and during her night waking which can be anywhere from 12:30, 2:30 or 4:40am) . I’m trying to cut out the night feeds but so far it’s been proving challenging.  We feed her solids in between the mid morning and mid afternoon breastfeeding.

Eloise – Month 4 – 5

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Week 18 – Dec 20 – Dec 23 

We had a baby nurse visit us to give us help with Eloise’s terrible sleep habits. Amazingly, we were able to get her to sleep in the crib for two naps during the day – something she had been unable to do up until now. So fantastic. I was also told that I was feeding her too frequently, so have to cut back to during the day, no oftener than every 3 hours, and at night, no oftener than every 4 hours. This means some pain for us as we will have to settle her back to sleep at night when she wakes instead of the easy path of me feeding her back to sleep …

The rest of the week we tried to keep up with the advice, but it was hard when we were going out so much and couldn’t keep on a schedule.

Development-wise, this week Eloise spent a lot of time on her back on the floor happily watching us or amusing herself. Her grip improved dramatically. She now reaches for objects and examines them, usually shoving them in her mouth.

Christmas in Sydney Hyde Park.
Hyde Park 17 wks.

 Week 19 – Dec 24 – Dec 31 

Eloise’s first Christmas! She was spoiled by her family. It was so lovely to celebrate with her – looking forward to the next Christmases as she gets older and can open presents and understand what it all means.

 Santa! 18 wks.

Christmas Day.

Developmental changes this week: Trying to roll from front to back. She lifts her legs and can roll to her side, but can’t quite get over. First finger and thumb constantly in the mouth.

Eloise has also started to develop a pincer grip with these fingers, using them to grab her ear, her nappy, and more. She reaches for us all the time now, particularly our faces. She has also started blowing raspberries! She blows them non stop 🙂

First swim in a pool this week. Eloise really loved the water and was in for over an hour. We also took her to Balmoral Beach and put her feet in the sand and in the water. She didn’t know what to think of it all!

First swim! 18 wks.

At Balmoral Beach.

Week 20 – Jan 1 – Jan 7 2012

Our last week in Sydney. After doing way too much and going out too much, Eloise was finding it hard to sleep, frequently waking up after we put her down to sleep.

The big event for this week was Eloise’s naming day. She was a bit overwhelmed by all the people, but was really good natured and managed to put her toes in her mouth for the first time. It was such a fantastic day, with our friends and relatives coming down from Newcastle, over from Perth and all over Sydney.

Cutting the Eloise cake at Eloise’s naming day.

Developmentally, Eloise is changing so much. She rolled over for the first time from front to back (3/1/12). She is really interested in everything we are doing, especially when we are eating or drinking. She also loves touching our faces and following out voices. She is chatting a lot now – even during the night when I feed her, she happily chats away.

Eloise is suddenly so interested in everything. She reaches for our faces frequently, as well as anything we are eating or drinking.

Last big event for the week was the trip back to New York. A huge 24 hours – 12.5 hour flight from Sydney to LA, a four hour layover, then a 4.5 hour flight from LA to New York. Eloise was pretty fussy and didn’t sleep much on the first flight, but was in a fabulous mood and slept for most of the second flight.

On the Virgin flight from LA to NY.

Week 21 – Jan 8 – 13
JETLAG. This week is all about jetlag. Eloise was hit really badly by it on the return leg and hardly slept for nights.

Eloise is really enjoying putting her feet in her mouth. She is also loving our water bottles and reaches for them frequently. She is constantly reaching for things now, so curious about everything in the world. Her co-ordination is improving as well. She really loves Sophie the giraffe now. The toy is the perfect size for her to grab and put in her mouth.

Eloise and Sophie.

Eloise is trying to roll from back to front. She’s slowly getting there … a great improvement is that we can now put her down on the floor and she happily plays there for a while on her own.

Trying to roll.

Week 22 – Jan 14 – 20
First solid! Organic whole grain rice cereal, mixed with formula. I think she enjoyed it – at least, she was very curious about it, and didn’t spit it back out. (16/1/12).

Towards the end of the week, the jetlag seemed to finally wear off, and her sleeping returned to normal – waking at around 9:39, then 12:30-1am, 4:40, then 6am. Blergh. So tired.

A great first this week was Eloise falling asleep in her stroller, not once, but twice! Uh-mazing.

She is really loving exploring our faces and mouths, particularly our teeth. She is so fascinated with everything we are wearing and doing.

Loving my teeth.
This week was our first outing in the cold.

First outing with Daddy. Minus 2 degrees C.


Eloise’s Naming Day

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We decided to hold a naming day for Eloise. The main reason for this was to give all of our family and friends the opportunity to meet Eloise and for us to catch up with them. We’re also not religious, hence the naming day rather than a christening. The day was just lovely – so many wonderful family and friends coming to see us and the little lady.

Her amazing Eloise cake

The lady of the hour! Eloise, 19 wks.

I’ve included our speech below for posterity.

Welcome everyone and thank you for coming. It’s with great pleasure and pride that we introduce you all to our daughter, Eloise Elizabeth Thomas. We are so happy that you were all able to attend today to welcome her into our family and community. We’d like to especially thank our relatives who travelled to be here today – Noelene and Kay from Perth, and Allan and Lisa from the Hunter Valley, and Bob, and cousins Debbie, Glen, Karen, Darryl and Sara, from Muswellbrook and Maitland. 


 We chose the name Eloise after seeing some books about a little girl called Eloise set at the Plaza hotel in New York. The little girl in the books is charismatic, outgoing and a touch feisty – all qualities we hope our little girl may one day have. We chose Elizabeth as a middle name as it is a traditional name that many of the women in the Knight family have been given – it’s also the name of my favourite literary character, Elizabeth Bennet – another strong female role model we would like for Eloise to relate to. 


 As you all know, we made the hard decision to move to New York after we found out we were expecting Eloise. As neither of us had spent a great deal of time around babies previously, so we had no idea what to expect, or how truly hard it would be. Your messages of love, support and advice during the pregnancy, after the birth and through the first few tough months were so very appreciated. 


Anyone who has had kids know how much they change your world the minute they arrive. Our lives have never been so challenging, as interesting and as filled with love. Even through the haze of extreme sleep deprivation and what seemed like non-stop screaming fits, it was impossible not to look at Eloise and coo “awww she’s so goddam cute!”. Thankfully, our little lady has already developed into an alert, beautiful, happy person, even though she still doesn’t think it’s necessary to sleep. 


 Today we would also like to introduce Eloise’s god parents. Our good friends, Rosalie, Daniel and Shelley have kindly agreed to be her god parents. We know that they will be there for Eloise as she grows up – as aunts and uncle when she’s little, mentors as a teen, and as friends when she’s an adult. 


 Eloise may have been born in New York, but she is still a little Aussie through and through. We fly back to New York on Friday, but will be back to visit and eventually again to live. We hope that you will all play a part in her life in the years to come as she grows into the amazing little person she has already shown promise to become. 


 One final thank you to our parents for their constant love and support, and thank you all again for coming.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

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2011 was a mammoth year. It really shook things up not just in the obvious ways – new country, new baby – but it also challenged me mentally and emotionally, shaking me to the core. I hope I’ve emerged a stronger person out of it. I’m not good at doing things outside of my comfort zone, so I’m surprised that I was able to push myself to do four things this year that terrified me.

Terrifying thing one: Moving to New York. While pregnant. On my own. It was so hard. Alec had moved over 6 weeks before me, so I was left to tidy up loose ends and fly over on my own, all during the first trimester. The flight was awful. For some reason, I didn’t tell the crew I was pregnant and suffered in silence sitting next to the kitchen on the flight while the smell of food and coffee made me queasy. On the LA – NY leg I threw up. And again in the can from the airport. Everything from there on in was hard for the first few months. Finding a place to live. Finding doctors. Making new friends. All while pregnant. It was the hardest thing I had ever done up until that point.

Terrifying thing two: Quitting my job. After trying to transfer to the NY office for a few weeks, I was unable to find a suitable position and so quit my job. I was scared that without a job I would be bored and lonely and lack purpose. Thankfully this was not the case. I made new friends, took up yoga and attended a great photography course.

Terrifying thing three: Childbirth. The birth was horrific. No more needs to be said.

Terrifying thing four: What to do with a baby?! Having no experience with babies prior to having Eloise, I had no idea what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect this tiny person who screamed non stop and wouldn’t sleep. Ever, it seemed. Thankfully things slowly improved as the months went by, and now, even though Eloise still doesn’t sleep well, she is a delight to have.

What will 2012 hold? The focus will be on Eloise – getting her to sleep better for a start, then helping her develop as she grows. We also hope to travel more, to the Caribbean and somewhere in Europe. I also hope to focus again on photography – taking more courses and improving my skills, as well as making more local friends in Brooklyn. I want to experience everything New York has to offer while we’re living there.

Christmas Day 2011

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This year was special as it was Eloise’s first! There is something magical about Christmas and kids. EVen though Eloise is too young to enjoy it yet, it’s already more fun because she’s with us.