We can sit, so we play: Messy Play

The kid has mastered sitting. That's ish, and finally! Most of the other babies her age are practically packing their bags to university but Amelie is just about managing to support herself to sit up! This means heaps of fun as she can now properly join in with playing.

Amongst the zillion pounds worth of baby crap we have bought her is the bumbo, and much like the other trillion things, she hates it! Luckily I nabbed this second hand (thanks gumtree) so didn't cost an arm and a leg... but she finally began tolerating sitting in it. Which is a lifesaver because it means I don't constantly have a baby wedged between my legs.

Said bumbo has meant we can start properly playing! I'm not gunna lie, I've been really enjoying it. We've so far discovered paints and have painted a few masterpieces. Amelie really took her anger/excitement out on one piece in particular. I love how she conveyed the- I'm totally kidding, she doesn't have a clue what she's supposed to be doing or even looking at, but I'm sure she's enjoyed smooshing colours around the paper.

We have attempted shaving foam mixed with food colouring. This was a real hit, until she decided she had an itchy eye half way through and caked her eye in some. To be fair she took it like a boss and didn't even react. Poor kid just sat back and watched her dad and I manoeuvre her out of the bumbo - one of us holding her while the other held her hands down to prevent any further eye incidents. We carried her upstairs to the shower like it, and hosed her down... All the while soaking our (clothed) selves and the bathroom floor too. All common sense goes out the window when it comes to your babies welfare. I was stood fully clothed in the bath, holding the shower head and hosing all over the place in a desperate attempt to get rid of all the shaving foam [thanks Pinterest you bitch, I didn't see any photos of the aftermath of shaving foam exploratory play...). Before long I've soaked all three of us, the floors, the walls and probably the ceiling too but all peace was restored because my kid was eventually foam free! I'm not gunna lie I did cover her unaffected eye and check that she looked at me and smiled because I was my usual paranoid self thinking she'd been blinded! I don't think she's blind. Thank god!

So yeah, I'm really enjoying this phase too. Although nothing with a baby is ever fully enjoyable (and if it is I'm yet to experience it) because for about the 8th week now I'm functioning on anywhere around 3 to 4 hours sleep, with the odd exception of a good nights sleep. The most recent phase. The dummy! Not even going to attempt to write about it in any great detail because it really is torture. I'm awake from 1am or 3am until 6/6:30 without fail - putting her dummy back in because she falls asleep and it falls out. I'd be totally ok with this if she did it all the time, but for some reason it's ok when the dummy falls out at 6pm for her bedtime, it's ok when it happens at every naptime in the day but come 1am and if the dummy falls out she just wakes up. Why, I have no idea!! So I hold it in with my hand, my cheek, my forehead however I can basically and hope she stays asleep. If I'm lucky I catch a few sessions of 20 minute sleeps in between her huffing and puffing for a dummy... If not, I just don't sleep. And drink loads of coffee.

But I shouldn't moan. She's becoming so enjoyable and is hands down my little best bud. Sounds weird and a little odd but we spend every minute of every day together pretty much, how could she be anything but my number 1?

Any other fun games or activities  for babies 6months+ I'd love to hear !!