*

Josephine's Monthly Portrait. Taken in her nursery on the 18th of every month. In theory, at least. This month it was a week late. Whoops.

What a difference a month makes! Looking back at last month's portrait, I can't believe it. Day to day the changes in Josephine are tiny, but when you compare these shots to pictures taken just a matter of weeks ago, I realise how different she looks. The hair is thinning in places and growing uncontrollably in others, those cheeks are getting rounder and she's getting longer all the time.

I'd been told by many people that things seem to click around week 8; you hit your stride and suddenly things make more sense. As Josephine turned 9 weeks old, and Ben and I emerged from the haze of horrible illnesses, we found our rhythm. We've had 7 nights with only one night feed, I've managed to do actual housework (and not just the washing up) and I've begun noticing naptime and playtime patterns. Being ill (and I mean really ill) with a baby is the toughest thing. I barely had enough energy to lift Josephine and the nights were beyond exhausting, but we made it through. And, in the midst of a banging headache, swollen throat and fever, I'm sure Phiney gave me a hug; a little squeeze that spurred me on to kick the flu. Beautiful, sweet, lovely girl.

So, this month Phiney's realised just how cool her hands are and we often catch her intensely staring at them. Most of the time though they're being waved here and there and everywhere (often grabbing handfuls of Mama's hair in the process!), hence the blur in some of these pictures. She's also discovered her tongue and loves poking it out at us and those fleeting smiles of last month have become full on grins that are easily induced with plenty of kisses and some noisy raspberry blowing. Those dimples are hard to resist.

Of course, if you're trying to catch that divine smile on camera it can be a tricky business. For about 10 minutes Ben and I stood behind the camera making silly noises, pulling silly faces and talking in ridiculously exciteable and high-pitched voices. It wasn't until Ben got in close and started chatting to her that the grin appeared and I managed to capture it. Cheeky monkey. And then she got fed up with the whole thing and decided that some cuddles would be far more entertaining.