Florence’s Life Lately

I thought I would start writing blog posts with reguarly updates on life with little Flo, as a family archive firstly, for to look back on but also as a resource that might help those reading with babies of a similar age. Florence was born in November 2021.

So what has my daughter been up to lately?

At 14 weeks, she started to sleep for 6 hour stints in the night (thanks to the revolutionary Snoo cot we were kindly gifted which has helped me to establish a successful sleep routine with her comprising of bath, massage, story time, feed then sleep.

It’s such a relief to get longer periods of sleep and the extra energy has meant I can walk for longer periods, often smashing 15,000 steps as a daily average, something I find so helpful for my mental as much as my physical health.

…Like everyone in this family, Florence loves books and being read to (I still try and read to the boys now to help them nod off even after they’ve independently read before bedtime) and been a joy to see Florence captivated with her picture books. It’s never too early to start reading to your babies, folks. It’s become a beautiful bonding time for both of us and something I look forward to each day.

She’s also rather taken with Timmy Time and watches an episode with Daddy most evenings.

…Florence has been an alert baby since birth and over the past month, she’s revealed her personality more, transforming into a lively, excitable little girl.  She’s desperate to grow up and join her big brothers, Oliver and Alexander on their adventures, particularly their culinary ones as it’s clear she’ll love food as much as the rest of us as she spends most of her days staring at us eating, poor thing!

Florence is also anxious to get moving and tries to sit herself up whenever she’s on her playmat, pulling herself off with gusto before inevitably failing and she loves nothing more than to kick her legs around wildly for long periods when she’s flat on her back so perhaps that’s an indication she might walk early.

Let’s see. I’m a laid back mama and three kids deep, I know children will reach their milestones when they’re ready be it early or late. That said, I started speaking at 6 months old with my first word being ‘look’ so I’m intrigued to see if she’ll follow me as a chatterbox! No pressure, Florence :)!

This time round I’ve been speaking Greek and English to Florence since birth (as my parents did with me) in the hope that she’ll become billingual, something I regret not doing with my sons despite my husband encouraging me to do so.

I think I lacked confidence when the boys were young as while I’m pretty much fluent in Greek, at that point I didn’t speak it daily.

Over the past few years, the pandemic and a long stint using Duo Lingo reignited my linguist prowess so speaking Greek to Flo came more naturally to me.  Hopefully my sons will pick it up as they’re more exposed to it now and and my guilt will dissipate.

So that’s it for now. Next month we start Baby Sensory, classes my sons adored with their flashing lights and sing alongs, and we’ll continue to pound the streets of Windsor and Eton, watching the season of spring unfold before us with its blooming blossom. Dreamy.

(Photo: thank you to Aden + Anais for the gifted babygrow).

 

I’ll be updating these Life Lately posts with more of our adventures soon!