Visitor from Boston

My cousin Arun was in London for the weekend from Boston (where he studies for an MBA at MIT - comes from a whole family of over-achievers) and he came over to see us. Judith was in North London too, and popped in, so we all had a very chilled day sitting around the kitchen table and catching up. It was great to see Arun - he's an all round lovely guy, and proves that not all yanks are evil.

Jasmine's definitely off vegetables now, and feeding time has stretched from about 15 minutes to about an hour as we try giving her different things before succumbing to porridge. She's a lot more demanding these days too - and if she's hungry and has to wait a little while we make her food, she throws a hissy fit and can try to lurch out of her chair quite violently. It's not so bad at the moment, but definitely more painful on the ears and she's moved up a gear in testing our patience.

Her sleeping is not so great. In the last week we've had one night of respite when she slept through, but the rest of the time she's woken up in the middle of the night and cried for anything from 45 mins to 3 hours. Last night it was 90 mins. We're tired today. Am dreading a repeat performance tonight as I hate working when I'm knackered.

She's started soiling her nappies in the middle of the night so we have to go and check, and that does make things worse. I really succumbed last night - I simply had to pick her up and give her a cuddle, then I tried some Bonjela, which she wouldn't take, so she was even more upset, which led me into bringing her into the bed with us. Boyfie was obviously tired and trying to get some kip, but the minute I lay Jazzie down she would let out a piercing scream. Eventually he gave in and went outside to do something else. I felt v. guilty so eventually put Jam-beans back in her cot so we could both go back to bed. At least I didn't feed her.

Plan tonight is - give her Calpol straight away. We're working on the assumption that something is causing her discomfort (teething?) and preventing her from getting back to sleep. If that doesn't work, we're back to letting her cry it out from tomorrow.

Despite the lack fo sleep we've had a great weekend and I feel very relaxed. We went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition at the Natural History Museum yesterday, preceded by a very chilled lunch in the Poynter Room of the V&A. It's one of those congregation points for the middle classes - there was a distinct lack of trainers, make-up, hair gel and, sadly, style. Dp called it a chav-free zone.

Developmentally, Jam-beans is rolling over both ways with increasing confidence, and still banging things together as if her life depended on it. She's definitely got the hang of eating rice cakes too, which is a relief as it's instant and pretty much the only thing between contentment and a hissy fit if she's decided she's hungry and has to eat NOOOOOWW.