Our beautiful Baby Bea will soon be 8 months old

I have not written much about her on the blog

It has felt like a betrayal

Matilda Mae was my blog baby

So Bea could never be

Instead her beautiful smile

Has lit up my Instagram feed

And sparkled on my social media pages

Today though I want to tell you about Bea

Our rainbow baby

Our bringer of joy and hope

Bea burst into the world back in August

And she has been keen to make her mark ever since that

Swift induced arrival

Bea was induced as a scan showed she was failing to thrive

I think my 98th centile baby demonstrates

Sometimes sonographers and obstetricians do get it wrong!

9lb 1oz and no facial hair

Bea looked like Moon Face when she was born

The weeks and months zoomed past

Sped by at what seemed

Still seems

An unnatural speed

And now we are almost 8 months along

Our journey with Baby Bea

On New Years Day 2015 Bea sat up

Aged 5 months and 25 days

She sat up

She was crawling very soon after that

A little after 6 months

And now at nearly 8 months

She can crawl at speed around the house

She has lots and lots of sounds

And chatters all the time

To anyone or anything who will listen

From before 7 months she has been pulling herself up to standing

And she can now cruise the room

She is absolutely always on the move

And more often than not she is smiling

She has the most amazing smile

Rather like her little big sister in the sky

Baby Bea is very much like Matilda Mae

Not exactly the same

But definitely similar in many ways

She is more vocal

More mobile

But they do share that magical smile

The ability to hold court in any room

And an obvious thirst for life

Bea has beautiful dark eyes

Framed with thickest eyelashes

She loves being talked to

She loves listening to singing

She adores Big Bug Band on Baby TV

And we have just introduced Twinkle Twinkle

To our bedtime routine

She is enjoying snippets of In The Night Garden

And loves loves loves to leaf through books

We started weaning bang on six months

Slow and steady is our pace

Bea loves cucumber and rice cakes

Ella’s Kitchen pouches

Crumpets, melon and hot cross buns

Bea loves sitting with us at the table

And finds her twin siblings very funny

Bea is actually very funny herself

Her strong, cheeky personality

Definitely shines through

She is a very loving baby

She likes to keep me close

But shakes with excitement whenever her Daddy enters a room

Esther and William adore her

I love watching the three of them play

But the gap is always clear to me

Where Baby Tilda

Toddler Tilda

Should be

Bea and I have had some lovely time together

With Esther and William being at school

We have fallen into a gentle routine

Bea wakes up around 6.30am

7.30 now, thank you clocks!

She has an hour with Daddy

Until the rest of us get up

We all have breakfast together

Then by 9.30, now 10.30

Bea is ready to sleep

She naps for around an hour

Before waking for a play

And lunch around 12

She then sleeps again around 1.30

Now 2.30

For about another hour

She is then awake until bath time

Which now falls at 6pm

After bath she feeds to sleep

And will often sleep right through the night

But sometimes wakes for an hour or so mid evening

It is a very relaxed routine

Bea has all her sleep in my arms

Because of that she sleeps well

And she always wakes with a smile

Bea has a few party tricks

She is very good at clapping and waving

She likes to put her hands on her head

She has amazing fine motor skills!

She can pick up specks of dirt from the floor

I think this also indicates that she has incredibly good eye sight

Bea is incredibly cute

She tips her head to one side when she meets people

She loves cuddles and snuggling up

I love the way she searches for me to feed when she is sleeping

How she strokes me as she feeds

She is a great big cuddly baby

With rolls and rolls of glorious fat

She still does not have much hair

And when wearing a dress can look like a boy

She suits bright colours

And bold patterns

I try not to dress her always

In pink and purple and stars

These past almost 8 months have been wonderful

They have been emotional and exhausting

I am riddled with guilt every day

For my baby who did not get to live

And crippled with fear

That this baby may still die

Nothing is ever easy

No day straightforward

But Bea is living up to her name

She brings us joy

She is a beautiful blessing

And in her

Her love for us and ours for her

There is hope

She is hope

She is beautiful Beatrice Hope