Lily Grace McDonald 1 month 19th-25th April, 2007

Doesn’t time fly! Lily is now 1 month old! She has been changing so much and growing up fast! She is still as gorgeous as ever and we love her dearly.

Lily has certainly been well traveled in her first month of life. On Friday she went all the way to Cooma to Thouraya and Andy’s wedding. A normal 5 hour trip took 7 and a half hours coz we had to feed Lily, change her and feed ourselves too. Whoever said a baby has to fit in with your routine and life…yes that’s true but it takes 10 times as long to do anything. But we are enjoying being parents and love looking after our beautiful daughter and watching her grow. At the wedding she had cuddles from many friends like Christelle, Donna, Mr and Mrs Hammami, Mrs Yee. She certainly stole some of the attention at the wedding!

I took Lily to see the Paediatrician on Tuesday. He said she is going very well. She has a little bit of reflux and needs to get an ultrasound on her hips because they are a bit clicky. But he is not worried and is very happy with her progress.

On Wednesday we went to Grandma and Da’s house and Roh helped them move their stuff to the farm in Millers Forest where they will be living. She was very well behaved and slept while all the hussle and bussle was going on.

Till next time

Mummy Amanda

Lily Grace McDonalds third week, 12th-18th April

Hello my name is Lily. My mummy said I could use the computer now coz I'm a big girl. I’m 3 weeks old! This week I can see mummy and daddy better and I have been smiling at them. Can you see how cute I look in my photo? Nana can you see the photo of me with mummy? She put those nice socks on you gave me and is giving me milk in the bottle.

On Friday Great Aunty Kerrie and Great Uncle John came to visit me. I gave my Great Aunty Kerrie and big cuddle!

Mummy keeps taking photos of me while I’m asleep. I wish she would turn the flash off! Daddy keeps kissing me with whiskers….and it’s all scratchy! But I love them! Daddy is still at home with me and mummy at the moment but he goes back to work soon. I will miss his cuddles and kisses!

On Saturday mummy and daddy put me in the car and went to Campbelltown for a bar.b.q with Daddy’s cousin Fiona and her husband James. They’re going to live in Canada. Daddy says that’s a long way away. But a good place for us to visit one day. My big cousin Carter gave me a cuddle and kiss and came to stay at our place that night. He didn’t like me being upset that day and wanted me to be quiet but that’s the only way I can tell mummy and daddy what I want.

On Sunday I was very awake at Grandma’s and Da’s place. I decided to show them how my lungs work all day! Grandma and Da didn’t seem to mind. Grandma helped me drink my bottle and Da comforted me. Aunty Katy helped me too by giving me big cuddles and kisses. Aunty Kirsty keeps telling me how beautiful I am. I agree! I would have like to give Aunty Nellie a cuddle but she was sick so next time.

I have wanted a lot more cuddles this week. It’s the only way I will go to sleep. I’ve got them all fooled! He he! Nana and Pa can you see the great teddy you gave me?! As you can see he helps me sleep too!

Aunty Katrina came to visit me on Monday and I went on my first picnic! I slept for most of it coz it was so cozy and warm in the sun.

The midwife came to see me this week. I don’t like it when she weighs me coz they take off my clothes and it’s very cold and so embarrassing! Mummy said I put on 60grams this week. I need to keep drinking lots of mummy’s milk to grow up big and strong. Sometimes I still like the bottle though to fill up my tummy a bit more. I like my milk!

Well I’m going to go to sleep now. It’s been a big day! Lots of cuddles and kisses to everyone. Especially Nana and Pa in Papua New Guinea. I miss you!

Love Lily
Xxoo

Lily Grace McDonald's second week 5th-11th April, 2007

Lily is now 2 weeks old and she is changing every day. She has been on many outings already. She had sleep overs at her Aunty Kate and Uncle Ross's house on the Easter weekend and had a lovely time with the Petterson family. Nana and Pa Petterson got to spend some time with her helping her eat, bath, changing nappies and give lots of cuddles and kisses before they flew out to Papau New Guinea for missionary service for 2 years. On Easter Monday Lily took her Nana and Pa to the airport and waved them goodbye. She was a bit upset to see them go but is very proud of them!

Happy Easter to everyone! The Easter Bunny visited Lily but she was quite happy to have milk so I helped her eat her Easter eggs.

Lily had her first bath at home with daddy and she loved it! She is like a little frog in the water the way she kicks her legs. It's very cute!

The community midwives have visited us at home and when they weighed her after being at home for 2 days she weighed 3.36kg. Since then she has put on 440 grams in 6 days! Now weighing 3.8kg and is doing very well. We are still feeding her by breast and with formula top ups. I have started on tablets called Motillian which are to increase my milk supply and seems to be slowly working. When the midwife was here Lily put on a good performance and showed off by showing how clever she is and started sucking her thumb. The midwife said she has never seen a newborn do that before and that she must have been doing it in utero. Doesn't she look cute in the photo?!

We have received lots of cards, presents, flowers and meals from people since being at home. Thank you so much to everyone for their lovely thoughts and gifts. We appreciate them and Lily loves them all!

Lily is a great sleeper and has given us the opportunity to have some nights of 4-5hours sleep. She of course has her unsettled times but we are really blessed as she is generally a very placid, content baby. We are learning more about her everyday and how to read her body language and her cries. It's great having Rohan at home still. He has another couple of weeks left off work and he has been a brilliant help! Thanks Roh!

As you can see from the photos Lily is a bit of a socialite and has visited many people or had them over to her place. She had a visit from Anfo, Melody and Jenna. She went to visit Aunty Katrina at St George hospital and the staff on 3North who i used to work with. Then she visited the staff at Nepean Hospital Operating Theatres staff where I work currently. She also went and thanked the lovely midwives in the delivery suite who so wonderfully welcomed her into the world. Lily went to visit Major and Mrs Banks too on the Thurs and then went on a big shopping outing where we registered her with medicare and sent off for her birth certificate. What a big week!

Till next time!
:) Love from Mummy Amanda

Lily Grace McDonalds first week 29th March - 4th April, 2007

Dear all!

Most of you would have heard by now that on Thursday, 29th March we had a little girl named Lily Grace McDonald at 3:48pm,weighing 8 pounds / 3.63kg, 51 cm long and very beautiful! She was born at Nepean Public Hospital and spent her first 5 days at Nepean Private Hospital. She is a very placid little girl and has been such a blessing to us.

I was induced because she was 6 days overdue. The labour was under 4 hours and I only used some gas. Both Rohan (of course) and my mum were there when Lily was born. They were a brilliant support to me. Thank you so much Roh and Mum! The midwives, Sharon and Jo were also amazing and were a great encouragement and helped me reach my goal of having a natural delivery. When Lily was born it was very surreal seeing her for the first time but we fell in love instantly. As you can see from the photos...she is gorgeous! :) She was introduced to the immediate family straight away and they all fell in love with her too.

As you can see from the photos...she loves having a bath...she was falling asleep in there! But as soon as you take her out of the water....well that's a different story. She is like her Mum and doesn't like the cold! Her first bath was by a midwife and she was used for a bath demonstration for an antenatal class. It was nice to see mum and dads to be ooh and aah over her.

While in the hospital she lost more than 10% of her body weight, weighing 3.18kg. So we have had to both breast feed and top her up with some bottle formula feeds. She put on 200grams in 2 days! She is doing very well and feeding well.

Lily came home on 3/4/07, our 3rd year wedding anniversary. It was a nice present to each other to bring her home. we didn't get home until 10pm at night because i had to have tests during the day because i had some chest tightness and they wanted to make sure i didn't have a clot in my lungs. All the tests were fine and so we came home when we had clearance from the doctor. That night we had the best nights sleep since she was born. She slept for 5 hours straight and so did we! What a little angel!

well that's week one. stay tuned for more updates

Love From Mummy Amanda ;)