Stella's Blog: June 2004

Stella was five weeks old yesterday and is currently lying beside me, cooing adorably. She's under the baby gym which was given to her by friends in London, Tim and Angela. She really likes the black and white patterns and toys which hang from it's arches. At least they're enough to occupy her for 10 minutes...

In five weeks Stella has developed a lot. Although she was really alert when she was born and already had quite a strong neck and could hold her head up a little, she now takes in much more than she did, she responds to us and is getting stronger all the time. Just a few days ago she started smiling which is wonderful to see.

For the first couple of weeks she enjoyed watching the light through the venetian blinds in our apartment. She didn't cry very much at first although she's certainly found her voice now! After about two or three weeks she started to enjoy looking in mirrors or at brightly coloured toys. She also loves it when I play melodic music like Norah Jones or Eva Cassidy, and even more so when I sing along. This is a great way to calm her down. The most well used calming trick by Tim is a little finger in the mouth. Stella will suck for hours on his finger, and it almost always stops her crying. The other favourite is the over the shoulder position. Inquisitive little Stella loves to look at the world from our shoulders. Last but by no means least is the sling. Deirdre, our friend in Belgium, sent us a gift of an amazing sling and Stella spends a lot of time in there. It's a great way to send her to sleep and it also helps me to get jobs done around the house and to work on my book. Without the sling I don't think I'd get anything done.

Another wonderful thing about Stella is that she has known the difference between night and day since day one. We have been very lucky to have a baby who sleeps between feeds during the night without any trouble at all. So far at least!