A few days ago we visited the Anlgo-French couple Louise and Guillhem at Les Petits Filous (“The Little Rascals”) for a family photo shoot. Even though Hayden was in an uncharacteristically somber mood, Louise was very patient with us and still managed to capture some amazing pictures, and email them back to us in less than 48 hours. They have just opened up a warm and beautiful studio in Saint-Gilles, so if you’re in the neighbourhood you should think about booking a session. Their website is at lespetitsfilous.com

While Hayden was having fun in his NYPD outfit from his parrain JT, we also managed to capture an image of his two front teeth. Our baby bear is growing up.

Last year, a very special package arrived in the mail. In between recovering from two broken wrists and a broken arm, my mother had been secretly making Hayden his very first quilt. I found out that every Wednesday she had been heading down to a quilting workshop, where she had been painstakingly cutting, blocking and piecing together this amazing creation. She chose a theme of Australian sea creatures, and the humpback whales, dolphins, and sea turtles swim together in a colourful and tranquil staggered brick pattern. With sashing strips of yellow and blue, and a backing of tiny stars, it’s currently great for tummy time and will have pride of place on his bed when he gets a bit older.

Six months ago today, Hayden arrived head first into this strange world. Since then, we have been a family of three humans and two kittens, and our lives have consisted of tears and broken sleep as well as play and laughter. It’s been tough (though easier than a PhD) yet also fun, and I’m so glad that Baby Hayden is here.

Hayden continues to show more and more interest in his surroundings, and actively engages anyone who holds him. This means that he is becoming worse at drinking milk. He will now only breastfeed when really sleepy, and even when bottle-feeding he wants to stop often and look around and chat. This isn’t too bad, as pumping is going well, and I really enjoy nursing him at night, especially during the week when we’ve been apart all day. Adrian continues his marvelous job of taking care of Hayden during the week. I can see how much Hayden adores his daddy – his face lights up with joy whenever Adrian walks into the room.

Hayden has had several coughs and colds, two 24 hour fevers, and a rather persistent case of ringworm, but luckily nothing too serious yet. Though his constant colds means that Adrian had been constantly sick for about six months, which has been an additional source of exhaustion for him.

At the creche they have started trying to feed Hayden some purées. He likes potatoes and pumpkin. One day he came home completely covered in orange stains, and there was a small note in his diary – “doesn’t like carrots”. We are trying baby-led weaning at home, but at the moment he likes to just mash the vegetables into the table rather than eating them. He is showing indications of being left-handed, but his motor skills are so poor it’s hard to know for sure. My favourite part of the day is when we all sit down to dinner together, and Hayden sits in his highchair with us and tells us all about his day in enthusiastic babbles and expansive hand-waving gestures.

After dinner we have a short play together until he is tuckered out and falls asleep. He still wakes up hungry several times a night, so now that he is six months we will try some “Good Night formula” with extra cereals to see if that will fill his hungry belly overnight. Still, there is something quietly magical about that middle-of-the-night feed. Nursing him in the dark, with his little hand curled around my thumb, seeing him look so peaceful and cute, especially when his head lolls back once he has finished eating, well, I can’t help but feel anything but so lucky to be his mummy.

He can now roll over and will do so if left for a few minutes on his back. He can’t yet figure out how to get from belly-to-back, though. He still prefers standing, and entertains himself bouncing in his rainforest bounceroo – his favourite toy is the very noisy gecko spinner filled with tiny balls.

And because I am a hypocrite, here is some video snippets from his first half-year on Planet Earth.