Love your work, Pers...

So today, we went to the 'Mothers Group'. It was good because I got to talk to a couple of other Mums who had their babies at the same hospital as I did and who were equally as unimpressed as I was, experiencing similar issues such as: Not answering buzzers, crabby staff, slow to get pain relief, being left alone in my room unless I buzzed for stuff (I could've been haemorrhaging and no-one would have noticed!)...that kind of stuff. And I realise that there is a staffing issue and that it was busy there, but I honestly thought it was substandard and at least now I don't feel so bad. I honestly went away from there thinking maybe they thought I was weird or something and were minimising their contact with me. But no, they were just slack. One of the mums said she heard the manager telling them to answer bells and another mum saying they would all go into the nursery and hide in there, not answering bells...

I know what nurses get up to, I mean, I am one. But when you're a patient, it's different, you expect a bit better and you don't want to believe that the people who are being paid to look after you and your tiny, defenseless little one, are infact, going to do just that. Not the case here. Infact, when the second day blues hit (and bloody hell they hit me hard!) the basically just closed the door on me and left me on my own. I hardly saw them except for when they came in to patronise me with "Do you think maybe you need to talk to someone?" I mean, you tell me, you're the professionals here!

So yeah, I was less than impressed, but at least now I know it wasn't just me...
Anyway...
Pers, yeah, you gotta love her work. I turned up and they gave me a mat for her to play on so I put her on her tummy and she promptly rolled over! And everyone was like "Wow!" and I was like "You saw it here first, ladies!" Persephone just kind of looked a bit surprised, but I was impressed! She's been trying to do that for ages and well, there you go! I had her weighed and measured. She is now 7kgs and 63cms tall (exactly 100cms shorter than I am!).

She was doing her best to sit up and grab everything and the community nurse seemed so surprised that she is so alert. I wasn't, she's been pretty alert since day 1! Anyway, the community nurse said Persi is doing very well and is probably going to develop pretty fast, which is great, but I am just as happy for her to do what she wants when she is good and ready. Because just as I am as proud as punch of her, and I will brag about her all day if I am challenged to (I'm her biggest fan!) I also realise that all the development can happen under the sun, but lets be realistic and not place unreasonable expectations on the 4 month old!!! Heaven forbid the poor little thing grow up with self confidence issues!

So that all out of the way, I took Persi to Westfields to get our passport photos done. They tried to charge me an extra $5 for Persi's (because babies don't often co-operate). I said "If my baby co-operates, I am not paying the extra $5...

...of course I didn't pay! She looked straight at the camera, they took one shot, I paid $15 for me and $15 for her, they didn't try to push the issue and I walked away.

Love your work, Pers!

Num num num...

Solids, a whole new world...

It's interesting what you take for granted really, solids actually being solid for a start, as opposed to mushy goop. So far, young Pers has been introduced to such taste sensations as Honey Buzz yoghurt (and boy, did that get a reaction!), pureed apple/strawberry combo (even bigger reaction, she closed her eyes, curled her hands up and shook with delight!), pear and apricot puree, plain old banana/pear farex (which she gobbles up), a little bit of custard and the odd bit of chocolate mousse on the end of a finger or (gasp!) dummy (that was her father's fault! Not mine!). So far, so good.

The reactions are fantastic. It reminds me that there is a first time for absolutely everything and while we can't remember the first time we tried ice-cream, strawberry or watermelon, those firsts will be continuously amazing to watch, not just the reaction, but discovery, sheer enjoyment or YUCKO! For me, I'm finding that I am more and more curious each time I venture to try out something else and it's pretty hard to resist the temptation to offer everything and anything, just to see what happens...

It is pretty cool though and she seems to really like her food, but that's no surprise really...

Sesame St is turning 37!

And to mark the auspicious occasion, the Lovely Mrs davis has this to offer: The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think: Come and Play, Everything's A-Okay.

I will think on this a bit...

My mum came up last week and over the weekend to help me out while I had my wisdom teeth removed and to spend some time with Persi. Last time they met, Persi had been a bit out of sorts and so they hadn't really bonded very well. This time was different however and there were lots of laughs and smiles all round.



Next month, we fly to Melbourne and Persi gets to meet Grandad for the first time. We're all pretty excited about this (and not to mention slightly nervous...) as this will be one of those special times. This photo was taken by my Uncle Michael. Mum and Garry took her to visit him while I was in Canberra at an SCA event. True to her form, Persi turned on the charm. You gotta love her work!

Getting some religion

So we took Persi to church the other Sunday so that we could meet the priest and talk baptism with him. Which would have been fine if the sermon had've preached some tolerance and acceptance instead of 'this religion's got it wrong, so has that one, and how deep does a bughist monk meditate? 1 cm? 2?' and 'the jews, well they definately have it wrong, we need to convince them to do what we're doing' type stuff. Bugger that, I thought. Mr C was outside because Pers was loudly stating her objection to the whole thing as well. So when he came back and had missed all the other bits, we hadn't had a chance to discuss things before I found him giving our details over to the priest...

Who, for a small minded, bug-eyed git with a beige taste in clothing and bad hair, he was educated enough at least to know where the name 'Persephone' had come from. Good for him. But, I'm pretty sure I saw the fire and brimstone flash ever so briefly in his eyes as we introduced ourselves as Paul & Sara (good Jewish names) and Persephone (obviously a greek, heathen, mythology type name). And for the briefest of moments, I think we were judged! "We will have someone call you back within the week" he said (nothing yet).

Now personally, I don't want to bring young Persi into a church that dosen't preach tolerance and acceptance (for a start), nor do I want my child (at the tender age of 4 months) to be judged by someone who obviously doesn't practice what he should be preaching in times such as these. And I thought the good ol' C of E was a bit bette than this. At least, it was when I used to be a regular church goer. So I think we're going to need to find a different congregation or have her baptised something neutral and less conservative (if infact religion can be less conservative).

It's all well and good for Mr C to say "Oh look, we just want to get her baptised and we never have to go back", but really? In my heart of hearts I just can't come at that and I would much rather go somewhere I would at least not have a problem returning to for her religious education...hmmm...what to do...

I'll have raspberries with that...

We have been saying all along that the day Pers learns how to blow raspberries, there would be celebrations all round. We were right! It's pretty funny how she sticks out her chest with pride, having acheived the wonder that is blowing raspberries, and cracks up laughing...