Life with Alex:

Coping with life away from home!

Alex at 5 months

• TV tristesse
• L'exercise
• L'amour
• Brit bébé

Alex at 5 months

I miss Fame Academy. I really do. Alex and I watched the entire thing together and both had a secret crush on Malachi. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings just aren't the same now.

That's the thing about living in the French countryside - we're thrown back on our own resources for entertainment, and in winter, and with a young baby, having access to British TV is a lifeline. We had French satellite TV before, but the content was terrible, even if my French had been good enough to understand it. The comedy, in particular, was dire (French humour tends to be slapstick, and they have little concept of irony - oh how we miss the hard edge of British sarcasm.)

So it was a bit of a blow when the TV decided to go on the blink a week before Christmas! Fortunately my parents were on their way, so we knew a solution was in sight, as my Dad is a brilliant handyman and can fix anything with an electrical pulse. (When we haven't seen them for several months, poor Dad comes over to a list of jobs we've been saving up for him.)

I need the TV so I can start my exercise video in earnest now that the Christmas festivities are out of the way. I ordered this from Amazon.co.uk while I was pregnant, knowing how keen I'd be to get back in shape after the birth. So keen, in fact, that the video is still gathering dust on the shelf and hasn't been played yet. Well, I did watch the intro, went upstairs to change into something more conducive to thrashing about on our hard tiled floor, went to check on Alex, found she was awake, and then got distracted.

Ah yes, exercise. Back in my London days, I gained this from commuting like a crazy person across London, and going ballroom/latin dancing three or four nights a week. Since being cocooned in our French country retreat, my only regular exercise takes the form of climbing up two flights of stairs if I'm ever cleaning out the guests rooms, and the occasional gentle ramble along country lanes with Alex and the dog. This is not the way to shift pregnancy weight.

I'm down to about 10.5 stone now, which isn't nearly good enough. I'd like to lose a further 1-1.5 stone really. But, as Vicki Iovine says in every new mother's bible, 'Best Friends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood' (the new mum's Bridget Jones), it's the last 10-15 pounds which are the hardest to shift, and I know deep down that my stomach won't go back to how it was without some serious work, hence this New Year's resolution.

As for Alex, she's now five months old, munching her way through solid food, and enjoying her new baby bouncer - a gift from Santa. Personally, I'm relieved that she got one of these for Christmas, and that she's now a bit more independent in her ability to amuse herself, as I was running out of ideas of how to keep her entertained during her wakeful periods.

Hopefully this way she will also burn off some calories, as she was declared 'a bit heavier than she should be' at her last doctor's check-up (I'm now doing these locally, with a GP, as we'd got tired of waiting over an hour for the paediatrician in Fougeres, who was always running behind).

PDr Gilles is very nice, and good with children. I thought it was a good sign when she gave Alex her latest jab in her bottom, instead of her thigh, resulting in far fewer tears than usual. She also took time to talk me through a sensible feeding regime, now that we're serious about Alex being on solids. She looked aghast when I told her Alex was still feeding every three hours, and told me she should now be having no more than three meals a day, plus a 'goute' (snack) at around 4pm. At all other times I should try juice or water.

Try telling that to a screaming, teething baby at 3am! Needless to say, I haven't successfully transitioned to this new regime yet… At the same time, though, I'm worried about making Alex prone to obesity. (It seems her 18lb weight at the start of her fifth month is about 6lbs heavier than an average baby of that age!)

What we love most about Alex at the moment, apart from her chubby cheeks and cheeky smile, is her growing repertoire of noises. Everyone comments about how alert she is, and she certainly seems to want to be part of every conversation. She starts by babbling thoughtfully, and then rises to a series of loud squeals if we don't pay attention to what she's saying. I can tell she's going to be very demanding…

Indeed, she had her first sulk the other week, which was actually quite upsetting. I'd been trying to withhold my breast to prepare a bottle for her (which would contain a soup-like concoction, the idea being to fill her up before bedtime). She had obviously decided that she was excruciatingly hungry at that very moment, and needed my breast right then and there. Eventually I gave in, to pacify her, but afterwards she refused to look at me, despite having a full stomach and being calm again. I tried to coax and jiggle her, but nothing. What confirmed this as a 'sulk' was when I then took her through into the kitchen to Nicholas and watched her face break out into a beam on seeing her Daddy. But still no smile for me - she wouldn't even meet my gaze. I was heartbroken!

This was the month we were due to head back to England for the first time with Alex, for my Grandad's 80th birthday celebrations, but sadly we are not going now, as our financial situation is getting worse due to the ongoing economic crisis and my resulting lack of work. It's a shame, too, because we've now got Alex her very own British passport. This is hilarious, as it shows a very faint photo of her, taken in a photo booth at Super 'U', our local supermarket. My shoulder makes it into the shot too, as I had to hold her up to get her in front of the camera lens. That she'll be identified from this photo (taken at around one month old), until she is five seems very odd. But it's nice that she's now officially registered as Brit. (You don't get to be French unless one of your parents was born here.) So until things pick up it seems we'll be relying on visitors coming here if they want to see Alex before she's walking. Hopefully once spring dawns, friends and family will look on this as the chance to get away for a cheap weekend. We're certainly counting the days until warmer weather returns and we can shut off the central heating again!

Sue Tabbitt, 33, is a freelance IT journalist, who moved to the outskirts of Normandy more than 12 months ago to start a new chapter in her life with her Canadian husband, Nicholas, a ballroom dancing teacher.

Tune in soon to find out how Sue, Nicholas and baby Alex are getting on in Normandy ...

Thanks to Kodak for the digital camera lent to Sue and Nicholas for the duration of this diary column.

Where to next?

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