Ingrid has been unwell and unhappy all day, even crying while we walk with her in a sling. I’m not sure what is wrong, but I feel really sorry for her.

I cooked dinner for the first time in yonks, and it came out very nice. A mushroom / aubergine / spinach thingy with coconut cream, served with thai noodles.

Back home from Sweden. All went well, all had fun, and Ingrid charmed everyone. Plus, we managed to spread the word about babywearing to at least two mums.

We’re now suspecting that Ingrid’s fever, diarrhea, fussiness and lack of appetite may be due to a new tooth. I am pretty sure I saw a teensy strip of white where the next tooth should come. But she doesn’t like us poking around in her mouth so this is still just a guess.

Myself: the intractable bug is beginning to yield; I think I’ve narrowed down the conditions where it occurs. Unfortunately those conditions would occur in 99% of all cases if this was rolled out to users. And I still have no idea how to fix it.

Ingrid still sick-ish. Any food passes through her in about 4-5 hours and comes out as good as undigested. Apple for breakfast – apple pieces in the nappy by lunchtime. I suspect today she had a slight fever as well, but with today’s heat (28°C at home a few hours ago) it’s hard to tell.

On the plus side she’s generally in a good mood and not too distressed, so we took advantage of the warm and sunny day and went to Kew Gardens.

Ended the day with Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Diarrhoea, no appetite, tired and sleepy and wants to be with mummy more than usual. She perked up a bit during our afternoon walk but was tired again when we got home. Luckily she’s been happy to nurse so I don’t need to worry about dehydration yet.

Myself: battling with a mysterious memory access error that our software somehow causes in Excel. I know which part of code causes it, but not how or why, or what to do about it. Frustrating.

Ingrid slept until 7 this morning again! Not without waking a few times during the night, but I’d rather wake a few times during the night than get up at 5.30 in the morning.

Today was a very very hot day so we went out looking for fresh air. We cycled to Victoria Park, had ice cream, played in the grass, then walked along Regent’s Canal with Ingrid sleeping on my back, and then cycled home again. Very relaxing, with the wind whispering in the trees, a jazz band playing in one of the green spots along the canal, and a sleeping baby on my back.

(The picture is from two weeks ago when we cycled to Tate Modern and saw a Dali exhibition – Ingrid was NOT wearing all of that in today’s heat.)

We slept past 7 o’clock, which was a total novelty for me. First Ingrid half-woke just before 5, but just as I was steeling myself for what looked like the earliest-ever wake-up, she grunted a bit, turned around and went back to sleep. Then she woke again shortly after 6. (This time I was quite pleased when I saw what time it was.) She was starting to crawl around so I lifted her over to our bed to see if I could coax her to lie still and cuddle for a few minutes, giving me time to wake up slowly. And we both went right back to sleep again. The next time I opened my eyes I jumped out of bed because I was about to be late for work!

But I made up the time and wasn’t too late after all. I aim to be there by 8. At 8 today I was just passing St. Paul’s cathedral, so I was just a few minutes behind schedule. But this meant that I got to hear the bells of St. Paul’s, with absolutely perfect timing. The first of the four lighter chimes started just as I reached the easternmost end of the cathedral, and I was right beside the bell towers for the eight deep ones. There was hardly any traffic noise, either. A really nice start for the day.

Discovered that Ingrid prefers gravel to grass. No surprise there.

Went to the London Summer Sling Show. Showed off Ingrid in a Connecta during the “fashion show”, lustingly touched other people’s nice slings and carriers, met one or two sling sellers from whom I’ve bought things online but hadn’t seen in real life before, and started to think about maybe buying one more baby carrier. (Just one! Really, I can stop any time I want!)

Ingrid had an EEG done (as a follow-up after her fainting episode – to rule out epilepsy I guess). Somehow the reception forgot we were there (even though we were right in front of the reception desk, playing not very quietly) so we had to wait for an hour before we were seen. I didn’t even think of complaining sooner than that because I’m so used to hospital delays – and the people who were seen before us had actually arrived before us, too, so I didn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary.

Anyway, the poor girl was kept awake an hour past her normal nap time – using annoying, bleeping, vibrating toys – and was then totally messed up for the rest of the day. She couldn’t even shut her eyes during the bus ride home, and ended up staying awake for 6 hours instead of the normal 2.5. Then a short nap from which she woke crying, add some residual tiredness from yesterday’s fever and you can imagine the state she was in by the evening. So tired she had no appetite, but at the same time so overstimulated that she was unable to go to sleep, oscillating between crying and energetic playing. Even breastfeeding didn’t calm her. She didn’t fall asleep until 20:30.

Oh, and we have no results from the EEG – apparently the person there was just some sort of technician and the recording will be sent to someone else to be interpreted.