Christmas and Cafe

As mentioned briefly in the last post, we have Afternoon Tease cafe up and running!! I am utterly exhausted, but it is getting there, I am proud of it, and I am also so, so proud of Miranda. She has been coming in to work with Mum every day, and she is so good in there. It is sometimes difficult because when I have a rush of customers, I have to put Miri down and give other people my attention, which she occasionally objects to; but fortunately I have the ever-lovely Auntie Jo to help me out and sing songs about Hippos to her. For the most part though, Miri seems quite happy in there. We have constructed her a play corner, with her soft mat, things to bash, a train set, cuddly toy collection, bricks, a knitted tea set, high chair, and now a proper baby change so she can have her bum cleaned in a more dignified fashion. She slurps on her babycinos in there and orders me about from the high chair, and gets fussed over by friends and strangers. I think, she is interested enough in people and new faces, that she shouldn't get too bored in the cafe. A lot of people, even total strangers, have commented that she seems such a contented baby. I do feel lucky that she is so easy to look after and happy to amuse herself at such a young age.

She is a very social baby though, as became evident over Christmas. We aimed to have a quieter Christmas than normal because it was the first one with Miri, but we still ended up covering half the length of the country visiting relatives. So weird to see family who hadn't yet met Miranda! She was spoilt rotten, unsurprisingly. Of course, the wrapping paper was much more interesting thatn the presents, but she got some lovely stuff. Carl got her a huge bag of bricks and she loves chewing them and bashing them together. Lots of books too, including the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. I remember them from when I was young, and I love reading them to her! She also ate and ate and ate, scoffing blended up Christmas dinner including sprouts, and fruit salad and trifle and even a Christmas tree shaped chocolate and bits of popadom and raita when we went for a curry on New Year's day.

She had such an exciting week that she was refusing to go to sleep at night in case she missed something. This began to get ridiculous, especially when I only managed to get her to bed at 11.50pm on 31st Dec, having allowed her to toast 2011 with pineapple juice in her new beaker beforehand. Poor baby was exhausted though because as soon as we got home (we were staying with her Granny and Grandad), she crashed out and slept for 13 hours. It was so lovely sharing in her first Christmas, I hope she enjoyed herself too!

The Musings of Miranda Dione, aged 6 months

Miranda has learnt to type!

 

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Isn't she a clever girl?! 

This does of course make doing anything on the computer - chatting on Facebook, my accounts, even my thesis, very, very difficult. Miri is not stupid. She can see that Mummy and Daddy spend a lot of time playing with computers or phones, and so they must be interesting for her as well. She wants to join in with everything I do!

In some ways, this is a useful development. We have finally got the Afternoon Tease cafe open and so Miranda accompanies me to work every day and STARES at people in the cafe. Her Granny knitted her a soft tea pot and some coffee cups and cakes and things, so she really can copy what I do, or shriek instructions at me from her high chair. She is instantly fascinated every time a new person comes into the coffee shop, and most of the time, she seems quite content in there which is fantastic. She is so good! And everyone admires her which makes me so proud.

The other major development that has taken place in her 6th month has been her sudden love affair with FOOD. Real food. Mummy-Milk is no longer enough. She is growing fast (achingly heavy to carry, nowadays!) and needs more than I can give her which unfortunately means I am constantly knackered and dehydrated - not great when starting a new business as well! We have been blending up what Carl and I have for dinner in the evenings, so Miri's tried pureed spag bol, rice n beans, roast dinner, mash and peas, lasagne and so on. I only sell sandwiches in the cafe, and I can't blend sandwiches, so I've been buying jars of baby food for there. She's on "stage 2" jars already - the stuff with lumps in and can get through 3/4 of a jar a day, plus a home made meal in the evening, and at least five milk feeds too. I am not sure if this is a growth spurt again or just what happens at six months. Still, she is easy to feed. Again, if she can see us eating, then she wants to, and so far she has eaten and enjoyed everything we've given her - with the exception of scrambled egg. I suppose it must be the texture she objects to, given that she eats boiled egg quite happily. But I can't see her ever being a fussy eater, and that can only be a good thing!

It is so hard for me to believe she is 6 months old already though. It has gone so quick. I don't want her to grow up too fast, I love her just the way she is: beautiful, bright, happy, alert, curious and adventurous. I am so, so proud of her!

Babycino

And Miranda herself enjoying her Babycino #afternoontease on Twitpic
CUTENESS.

PhD Mums

It is December, and unbelievably, my baby daughter is nearly 6 months old, and my maternity leave from my PhD is over. I am now faced with the daunting prospect of returning to Sheffield and writing up the last few chapters of my thesis before my new submission date of March 2011. It still seems a world away! Once upon a time, I naively thought that having six months away from the thesis would give me a fresh perspective on it all when I returned. As it is, I've almost decided that everything I wrote before is now rubbish and feel the need to redo it all.
One thing I am looking forward to is the 'brainwork' required for a PhD. Not that motherhood is a brainless activity, far from it; I have learned so, so much about babies, about myself, my capabilities, and also about my parents which I didn't anticipate. But PhDs require a high level of concentration, the ability to focus entirely on such a specific topic in such detail, that you seldolm get to use those skills in 'normal' life - if caring for a 5 month old, very alert, curious baby can ever be considered normal to other students.
The hard part is going to be the juggling; caring for my daughter and giving her the attention she needs and craves as well as writing something that actually has to make sense. I am very proud of my baby, but I do want to be proud of my thesis as well. My priorities have changed, perhaps inevitably, but I remain determined to finish and be Doctor Mummy, even if most of the thesis is written during "nap time"!