Half a year old already!

Hello all, 

Hope you're well!  

 

I can't believe Arjun has turned six months already! Boxing Day marked his six month birthday. Time is just flying and he's grown so much right before my eyes. It almost feels surreal. My tiny little baby has now grown in to a mini man ... Ok not quite but he's not far off!! 

 

We celebrated his six month birthday with a "banana cake"! He loved it and didn't hold back in demolishing it - proving to us that his baby led part of weaning is working! 

 

The last six months have gone by so quick but we've done lots and Arjun has developed so much. Every day he amazes me in different ways. I find his development fascinating. His personality is also shining through clear as day - he gets his hands on type attitude from his daddy and his perseverance from his mummy ;) 

 

I thought it would be nice to share a quick summary of things he's achieved in his little life x

 

Things we've done:

• Attended his first (two) weddings
• Had his first fun filled Christmas - amazing 
• Celebrated Guru Nanak Dev Jis birthday - we went to Snakes and Ladders with Arjun's friends 
• Met Santa and absolutely loved him! 
• Started swimming lessons at 11 weeks with Water Babies
• Had his first virus :( 
• Visited the Gurdwara (Sikh temple) several times - he finds it very peaceful  
• First trip to Brighton - he enjoyed people watching at the restaurant!
• First time visiting an aquarium - The Lost Chambers at The Atlantis in Dubai - he was mesmerised!
• Had his first Diwali
• Moved Arjun in to his own nursery (at four and a half months) 
• Had his first Halloween and celebrated with his baby friends 
• Experienced his first flight - he was an angel 
• Formed a routine
• Had his first holiday - we went to Dubai when he was five months old - it was amazing 
• Seen the beach for the first time  





Arjun meets Santa

Arjun with daddy at the Gurdwara on Diwali lighting a candle



Family holiday selfie x



Arjun admiring the view in Dubai
 

Arjun at Brighton Pier
 

Arjun enjoying the swimming pool in Dubai



Things he's learnt to do:

• Pick and shake toys
• Hold his own milk bottle (five months)
• Sit up (five months) 
• Kick his legs in the water 
• Eat his whole hand
• Swallow - started weaning at four and a half months. We went for a combination approach. His favourite food at the moment is porridge or toast!
• Poo/pee on the potty/toilet (obviously too little to tell us when he needs to go yet) - he prefers to be on the toilet when pooing as finds a dirty nappy uncomfortable plus it's much easier to clean after!

Arjun holding his own bottle x

Things he loves: 

• Choosing which toys to play with - I let him grab a few toys from his toy box each morning
• Animal Pants book by Brian Moses - he loves this book as it has full picture pages
• Bath time 
• Ball pit
• Watching anyone and everyone do the hoover!
• Charlie and the Numbers on Baby TV (and mummy singing along!)
• To scream when having fun 
• To laugh especially when spoken to 
• Dogs - he finds a barking dog the most hysterical thing!
• Children
• His nursery and his jungle friends 
• To dismantle his toys - he finds it more fun to break things than to actually play with them - definitely his daddy's boy. So inquisitive!  
• Music and movement baby group - a combination of nursery rhymes and baby sensory 
• To pose for the camera! I wonder where he gets that from! ;)  
• His turtle bath toy 

Arjun picking his toys

Arjun and our dog Bruno x

Arjun in his nursery

Arjun with Preetam's parents dog, Junior

Arjun enjoying bath time x

Arjun with my parents dog, Chico x

Arjun in the ball pit at Snakes & Ladders

Arjun "reading" his favourite book x

 

To do list: 

• Learn to roll - no real sign of this as yet!
• Learn to crawl! - again no sign of this happening anytime soon!
• Becoming more comfortable with being under water at swimming - I have a real phobia of going underwater and I hope he hasn't inherited that! :( He's pretty fearless otherwise. 
• Sleep training!

Overall, we've had a super exciting six months and I'm looking forward to watching Arjun grow and develop over the next six!

I'd love to hear about your baby's developments too :)

Finally, my sister in law sent me this article and I spent ages laughing! It's hilarious so thought I'd share: http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahjewell/problems-youll-only-understand-if-youre-six-months-old?s=mobile

Thanks for reading x

Our Festive Baby Announcement Ideas (Christmas 2013)

We decided to share the news with our parents and siblings straight away despite the GPs advice to not until three months had passed. We made the call to share the news with our families as we wanted them to be a part of our journey and if something were to go wrong, we would need their support anyway.

We shared the news with our immediate family by preparing a personalised save the date card with a message from their unborn grandchild/niece/nephew.  It was a cute idea and they were thrilled when they read the message.  They were extremely emotional that they were about to embark on a new journey of grandparenthood! Not only a new chapter in our lives but also in theirs - their babies were going to have a baby!  

 

 

We told the extended family once we'd had our three month scan and everything appeared to be ok. It coincided well with Christmas and we were able to share the news in a festive way.  

We told my side of the family via a picture message of Bruno with a sign on standing infront of the Christmas tree.  The reactions were hilarious - I did receive a few phone calls to ask whether Bruno was pregnant! Haha! (Bruno is a boy!).

We shared the news with Preetam’s side of the family on Boxing Day as we have an annual family gathering so thought it would be nicer to share the news face to face. I prepared home made crackers with a picture of baby's scan and a message to all plus random bits such as a dummy rock, a baby foot eraser and a baby bottle filled with jelly babies! We got the family to sit in a large circle and crack the crackers at the same time. It probably took about 60 seconds for the first person to figure it out! They too were super excited as this was going to be the first grandchild on that side of the family. 

I bought all the cracker fillers from amazon/eBay.  12 crackers cost me approximately £20 in total and I was super happy with how effective they were!

 

Our family and friends were over joyed for us and it all started to feel a lot more real!

Thanks for reading! I hope you are able to find some baby announcement inspiration from this post! :)