Early morning walk

I took Isabella for a walk this morning over her nap time so she could nap in her pram and I could get some exercise. I got slightly more exercise than I planned to when she took over 20 minutes to fall asleep. She's clearly not that little baby who falls asleep as soon as we start moving anymore. She's now much more interested in looking around her and moaning at me if I let the sun shine in her eyes. Also clearly not used to sunshine yet as it's not something she's seen much of in her 4 months so far.

Nosey horse peeping over the hedge.

She gets to have a 45 minute nap in the morning but after exactly 30 minutes she decided she's had enough. I still had another 20 minutes walk home though.

It was a lovely sunny 5C and I even took the rain cover off for the last few minutes of our walk for her to get some fresh air. (The rain cover is on for the cold, not the rain. I don't generally go walking if it's raining.)

We even had a bit of sunshine yesterday too and when I noticed it was a warm 10C outside I decided to go and show Isabella the back garden. She did have to put a jumper on, a hat and I wrapped a blanket around her too. Again she was not impressed with the sun shining in her eyes, but she did admire our first daffodil. We were still looking at the flowers when I felt  a few drops. We ran inside and as I closed the door it started hailing. While the sun was still shining. And then it turned into rain. It's still very wet outside, we had rain all night last night, but hopefully the days will be getting a bit warmer. I look forward to letting Isabella lie outside on a blanket in the fresh air. Her favourite part of our little outing to the garden though was when we ran inside, she thought that was too funny!

Blowing raspberries

Isabella started blowing raspberries this month. She's not quite doing it with her tongue out, but puffs out her cheeks and blows with her lips pursed. The first section with the light green baby grow she's still 3 months old and the second bit with the pink and white baby grow she's just turned 4 months. In that section the tv was on and she was getting distracted watching tv. She was watching an interview with some of the winter olympics athletes. Isabella really enjoyed the winter olympics so I guess that's why she wanted to watch this interview!

Isabella blowing raspberries from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

I've read that blowing raspberries is part of language development for babies. You can read more about it here: "When will my baby blow raspberries?"

A Portrait a Week: 8/52

Isabella is 4 months old today! The photo above is the one I chose for her portrait of the week, but as it was her 4 month 'birthday' today I thought I'd post a couple extras. All taken by André.

She's wearing a little hat she got from her great-great aunt in South Africa which also came with a very cute matching cardigan.

A few of her 'achievements' this month:

• Discovering her feet -although she can't quite get hold of them yet, but she is trying very hard.
• Blowing raspberries
• Sitting in her high chair -without food at the moment, just pushing the plastic bowls I've given her to play with off her tray.
• Laughing out loud
• Settling herself to sleep! My favourite! She's so sweet about it too. She likes having a muslin square with her so we tuck one under her arm when she goes to sleep. It's next to her face so as soon as we put her in bed, she turns her head towards it and sucks it to soothe herself to sleep.

Getting out for a walk after the storm

After such stormy weather with continuous rain and gale force wind, it calmed down enough yesterday afternoon for us to go for a walk. Isabella was struggling to fall asleep for her nap and a long walk always gets her to sleep. We discovered a new route along farm areas which was nice and quiet and pretty scenery too. We walked for about an hour. Isabella was well rested when we got home and we were well tired!

A Portrait a Week 7/52

Reading in a tutu is just so much more fun!

This is one of Isabella's favourite books at the moment. It's called "Die Eerste Soen" (The first kiss) and it's about animals trying to work out who gave the first kiss and explaining what a kiss is. It's very cute! (Thank you Turnley-Jones family!) She really listens when I read this one and is very interested in looking at the pictures on each page. She also likes to touch the pictures. We usually have story time while she's lying in her cot ready to go to sleep. Mostly for day time naps at the moment as in the evenings she's just to exhausted to focus on anything.

My main shopping aim when we go to SA later this year is to buy her more Afrikaans books!

First daffodils spotted!

Isabella and I have been going on many walks lately, making the most of the little patches of sunshine  we get in between all this rain, but have even had a few walks in light rain too. She has her rain cover over her pushchair anyway to keep the cold out. On Monday I was adamant that she will get some good sleeps in. She's really been struggling to sleep for very long during her day time naps, usually only between 30-45 minutes at a  time and wakes up crying because she's still tired.

So anyway, on Monday we ended up going for THREE walks! My legs were a bit tired that evening! We did spot the first daffodils flowering in a garden we passed. In our own garden the snowdrops have been flowering for a while now and our own daffodils have been peeping above the ground for about 3 or 4 weeks now. The one rose which was holding onto a bud has also started opening. Mild winter weather- we've not really had much frost and no snow yet, but lots and lots of rain and strong winds.

A portait a Week: 6/52

Isabella is now starting to grow into her cardigans and jumpers/ jerseys knitted by the family and we have been trying them out this week. We've been walking just about every day this past week. It's actually now still light until after 5pm which means I can go for a walk while she has a short nap between 4-5pm without having to try and get her to nap in her cot. Napping on-the-go is just so much easier when you're a baby.

This could be a picture for a knitting pattern don't you think. Our little model!

PS She is warm enough in only the cardigan, don't worry! She has two warm blankets over her and the rain cover on the pram so she doesn't feel the cold air and is quite warm and toasty in there.

A Portrait a Week: 5/52

A portrait a week of Isabella, every week during 2014.

Watching her mobile while lying in her cot.