Scientific research

Today Louka made her first contribution to scientific research. The National Acoustic Laboratories are conducting a study on hearing in babies, aimed at predicting how hearing loss might affect how clearly a baby can hear. For a baseline, they need data on how a baby with normal hearing hears. Since Louka was tested at the hospital and found to have normal hearing, I volunteered her for this research.

This involved sticking three sensors on her head: on her forehead, behind her ear and on top of her head; and playing sounds through an earphone. It also meant she had to sit still, quiet and alert while all this was going on, a challenge I hadn't quite anticipated. I had to interrupt a breastfeed to get there on time, so she was hungry and ready for a nap when we arrived. I gave her a feed and she fell asleep for half an hour or so, then she was in a good mood for the actual measurements. However, they went on for some time and she became harder and harder to keep happy. When the data from the right ear were collected, we decided to call it a day and come back another time for the left ear. (They also want to see Louka again when she's three years old.)

Since Louka still has a cold, which can cause blocked eardrums, they also performed a test for this by blowing a puff of air into each ear and checking that the eardrum moves freely. Both Louka's ears were fine.

Avocado everywhere

After the first couple of days Louka seemed to change her mind about solid food. She wouldn't eat any more rice cereal, and turned up her nose at mashed sweet potato. It may be simply because she's had a cold. However, I'm persevering, and today I put aside a little of my avocado for her. At first she grimaced as though it tasted foul, but then she decided it wasn't so bad after all. She finished the bit I'd mashed for her, though quite a bit ended up all over her face and bib. Her cold seems to be getting better too.

Six month birthday

Today Louka is six months old. To celebrate, we gave her "solid" food for the first time: iron-fortified rice cereal (no candles). It was good!

Sick day

Yesterday I'd intended to go to Ikea and buy their cheap Antilop high chair, and catch up with my old workmates for lunch. But the night before Louka kept waking up and refusing to feed. She was very very hot and very upset. In the morning she was still hot, 38.4°C, and still upset. Usually she's very cheerful when she first wakes up. But at least she had a feed. I made a doctors appointment and took her temperature a couple more times ― still high. The doctor checked her chest, ears and throat and they all seemed fine, so she thought it was probably a viral infection. Just in case, however, she recommended a urine sample to check for bacterial infection. How do you get a baby to give a urine sample you may wonder. Well there's a special little stick-on plastic bag! That caught the wee, though unsticking it was a bit worrying.

By the time Graham came home (a bit early) she seemed a lot better, and when she still seemed fine after dinner we took her to Ikea to get the high chair. Then we dropped in at my parents' place for a cup of tea on the way home, giving Louka the chance to try out the high chair. She sat in it again this morning while we had breakfast, and seemed contented. It's so much easier than holding her on a lap while we eat!

Shopping for Louka

On Saturday my parents had a barbecue for us and for my sister's family. We hadn't seen them since 30 June so they saw plenty of change in Louka.

On Sunday we went shopping. David Jones had a sale on Bonds baby clothes, and since some of Louka's size 0 clothes are getting too small, we thought we'd stock up on summer clothes in size 1.

Last week, Hulda had given me a ColesMyer gift card for Louka, so we went on to Myer to spend it. Graham found a walker/ride-on car, that also plays tunes and includes "academic" commentary ― recommended from 9 months ― so we put the gift card towards that.



And then today I bought her a little potty. Tried it out after her afternoon nap and she used it first time ☺.

Yum cha

A new chinese restaurant has opened in the Rhodes shopping centre, so my former work team wanted to check it out. We met there for lunch today and tried out their yum cha. Louka was charming, though she got a little grumpy at one stage so I took her to look at the fish in the tanks. They weren't very lively, compared to the ones at AQWA, but they distracted her enough to get her into a good mood. We all agreed it was worth doing again.

I then went looking for high chairs, but none of the children's shops had any, so I looked in Ikea. They had two, but neither was ideal: neither had a five-point harness, and both had fixed front bars which made it awkward to get her in and out. But I did find a cute sippy cup in the shape of a penguin.

Meet the dads

Yesterday Paula and David (Maya's parents) hosted a barbecue at their place. It was a lovely day for it, and a great opportunity to meet all the dads and see how much the babies looked like their fathers. It must be true that there's an evolutionary advantage to a small baby to look like his or her father ☺. Next time we do something like this, we should get photos of all the dads with their babies.

Friends and relations

We've just got back from two hectic weeks visiting Graham's family and friends in Perth. I have never had such a busy social life in my life ― not even when I was the new daughter-in-law/wife. But providing the family's first grand-daughter is something special.

The trip didn't start too well, as Louka slept very badly the night before. On the plane she got rather grizzly, until about halfway (2½ hours) when she finally fell asleep, and slept the rest of the way. So she was content and cheerful when Graham's mum met us at the airport.




Graham's dad is building a house in a new estate, so next day we went to visit him and Graham's sister Kim, and look at the house. It's in the limestone-coloured brick that's very popular in Perth at the moment, and looks like it will be very attractive. Also, his block of land is at the end of a street and adjoins a park, as well as being at the high point of the whole subdivision, so it's in a great location.

Graham's brother Bruce has 8-year-old identical twins Tom and Dylan, and 3-year-old Kofi. Louka found her cousins great fun; they are much more active than slow old mum.


Graham's sister Debbie is a cyclist, and one morning she cycled to the hill suburb of Kalamunda to have breakfast with us and Graham's mum at a café popular with cyclists. They had a very delicious pastry filled with pistachio paste and chocolate, and coffee served in "bowls".


We had lunch with Liz's friend Merv and his partner Irina at the old Perth boys school (converted to a restaurant); and with Graham's friend Gigi at the Hyatt hotel.


Graham's friends Leonie and Tom invited us for a middle-eastern roast dinner at their house. Bruce and Josie invited us for after-dinner drinks at their place, along with Graham's friends Tom and Danielle and Jenny and Peter. And Gigi gave us breakfast at her place with her friends Burke and Cat.

Graham's mum took us to the zoo, to Hillary's Boat Harbour (where Kofi built a sandcastle on the beach) and to AQWA (the WA aquarium, where Louka found the bright colours and movement quite exciting). She introduced us to her pottery group, where Graham made a terracotta window-box for herbs, and Liz made a set of terracotta buttons. We also walked to Lesmurdie Falls, a waterfall in a national park not far from Graham's mum's place.


As a result of all these outings, Louka got to try out a number of high chairs. She generally tried to eat them.