Rainy Days

Well, it's pouring down today so unfortunately that meant no lovely morning walk for Emily with Daddy in tow!  And probably no lovely late afternoon walk with Mummy in tow either!  Eeek!!

But she managed a decent morning sleep in any case.  We went out for lunch with some new mummy and baby friends and it was sort of at the time of Em's second sleep, but unfortunately she didn't want to sleep, she wanted to join in!  So she was a very tired baby by the time we got home.  She managed another sleep but it wasn't as long as I thought she would sleep for!  Us mummies, always thinking our babies will do one thing, and they surprise us and do another thing!  Keeping us on our toes that is for sure.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to get Emily into this routine (a little further down the page the link goes to), which seems sensible.  So far we are going ok and she is managing well at staying awake which is great.  It's just the sleeps we need to work on a little to extend them each, then everything else will fall into place.  Magically.  I hope.  And she will retain the title of Epic Baby!  But she's already Epic in our books, no matter what she does!

So it's a quiet week at home for us, to work on our little routine project.  Oh how wonderful that sounds, and nothing at all like the weeks of my previous life used to sound!  Time for tea while The Epic One sleeps :)

First time in my sleeping bag.. cosy!

Our 'Epic' Baby!

I belong to a few forums etc on Facebook and I had the chance recently to ask what to do if your baby wakes happily chatting to themselves at 5.30am having gone down at 6.30pm??  Emily has done this a few days this past week and I have simply got up and got going with the day.  I mean, why not really.  Thursday was a most productive day because of this :)  But apparently this is still 'night time' and so what you are meant to do is to feed them and put them back to bed and not get up at that time.  Which makes sense actually!  The consultant's comment on Emily being 4 months old and waking for the first time since 6.30pm, was 'your baby is epic to be able to sleep that long with no night feed'.  So there you have it... we have somehow produced this 'epic' baby (at least a lot of the time)!!  Makes up for the unsettled week we had last week, that is for sure.  

I am a morning person so I wasn't too phased by these wake ups, but it makes for the whole day and the routine we are trying at the moment a bit long and complicated.  Funny, since I asked that question, we have had 3 complete sleep through the nights (waking at mostly the right time, 7am yay); and one with a weird 11pm snacklet call.  Epic :)

Up until very recently, I was going with the whole eat-play-sleep-eat-play-sleep etc routine which is suggested for babies.  And you kinda just go with it in terms of timings etc, just watching for your baby's tired signs.  Which, let's face it, is very relaxing, you are not watching the clock too much and are generally enjoying things.  Nice!  We had been doing that since 10 weeks; we tried a sort of routine at around 6 weeks, but I don't think I did it right/didn't really have a clue come to think of it now, and we must have drifted a bit between week 6 and 10.  However, I rang Plunket to chat to them about the routine and how to move to a more structured routine - just to get a bit of predictability in our days - and who would have thought, I was kinda doing it wrong!  They gave me such great advice, as did my lovely coffee group.

Well, not wrong exactly, but my timeframes were too long in some cases, and too short in other areas.  I was feeding Emily for 30mins each time; and if she played for around 40 mins or so and then only slept for 1 hour, it meant I was feeding her every 2 hours in the day from the start of one feed, to the start of the next.  That's a lot of feeding, and sitting on the couch... Can't blame me for not wanting to starve my child!  I did get through a LOT of DVDs though, hmmmm!  No wonder!  

But apparently she can go for quite a bit longer between feeds, like 3-3.5hours apart. And she should be able to get her quota within 15minutes, yay!  More time for us to do cool stuff!  And she can be awake a lot longer too, like up to 2hours or so.  Shame, when I was putting her back to bed after an hour sometimes!  Poor deprived child!

So we are trying to stretch things a bit so I am not feeding as often or as long, and adding in more play time when she wakes up, before feeding, to help stretch out the whole day to avoid the weird 3.30pm-itis which sometimes can happen if things up till then have been a little too short in some areas (like sleeping!) and then it's a bit of a battle as to how does the rest of the day go, and will she have a tiny nap at all before bedtime otherwise it's a long time awake for her.  But it's a work in progress and she is coping well :) Not too hungry, just sometimes a little tired.  

It's hard work being an epic baby, I tell you!

Reading with Mummy

Turning 4 months old!

M & M's ....

Mummy Moments (M & M's sounded more interesting than plain MM!)... I have definitely had a few of these lately - and many more to come I am sure!  The first was meeting my baby girl, you are just SO overwhelmed with emotion (and exhaustion), you literally don't know exactly how to feel, other than filled with love from top to bottom! 

Meeting Emily!

The second main one I remember so clearly was changing Emily for a walk when she started to smile; goo and coo at me, at around 6 weeks.  Wow, that was just incredible!  I started crying, of course!  The first of many Mummy tears I have discovered!

Smiles, goos and coos!

And more recently we have heard her precious baby giggles that she has given us.  I know I have mentioned it before, but it is the most amazing sound I have ever heard (and I am not biased in any way, shape or form!).  She just gets so hysterical, she keeps giggling as she hears her own voice more and more, it is infectious - for both her and us!  And lately she has added squealing to the mix, that really, really high pitched, almost deafening squealing... something that only a mother could love, as it really is quite deafening!

And then I had one more unexpected M & M's today... realising just how much I love my own Mom who has visited for a few days to get her baby fix!  Isn't it funny how you wish to be so independent, want to get on with things and be an adult, and yet you still need your own Mom so much?  She loves us unconditionally, would do anything for us and is just plain amazing!  So I shed a few more Mummy tears on the short journey home because I realised what a beautiful role model I have to live up to in my parenting to come, for Emily.

Here's to all mummies, everywhere... you do such an amazing job, each and everyday, and you should be very proud.   

Sleep - and everything else!

We've just had a really weird few days with Emily where she hasn't slept as well as she usually does, day or night.  Days are never amazing, but she usually has 4 little 1 hour sleeps (give or take) which at least gives me a chance to do stuff, like housework!  My husband would be so pleased that that is what I choose to do when she is asleep (most of the time)!  But some days this past week have only been tiny catnaps of 30 - 40mins max and she simply would not go back to sleep after waking.

Hmmm.... I have heard (but not read much/researched) about the dreaded 4 - 5 month sleep regression that some babies can go through because their little bods and brains are developing super fast and they wake up fully between sleep cycles rather than just stirring between them like she used to do.  I wonder if this is what it is?  And if it is, how do we stay sane?

We got a blissful 4 nights in a row of full sleep recently, like FULL nights from 6pm-7am.  Wow!  What an angel we thought and every night she goes down, it's like a million dollar guessing game of when will she wake up, or will she sleep through like this?  Sadly it lasted just those blissful 4 nights in a row and then the weird wake ups started.  Before that she managed 3 nights in a row, but in-between the 3; and 4 night stints, there were one or two nights of waking once for a snack.  One wake up a night is ok.  Any more and how on earth do you function?

I must have been running on adrenaline in the early days as Emily woke heaps at night for the first 3 weeks or so.  Those were definitely the toughest days, for sure.  You need to know everything.  Yesterday.  And that is impossible.  And I still question what her noises and cries mean now, and she is 17weeks old!  Plus you need to be awake enough when you are doing things that you don't fall asleep in your baby's nappy!  Nothing, absolutely nothing prepares you for actually having your baby with you and looking after her.  Seriously. It's definitely a learning on the job, with not a lot of training type of experience!  I am very lucky to have both my Mom and mother-in-law a phone call away for all sorts of questions and advice, plus lovely neighbours who have recently been through it themselves that I can ask questions.

So last night when she woke a little after I went to bed, exhausted, I shuffled into the dining room half asleep, like a zombie and asked my tired husband to help see if she was ok.  Surely she couldn't be hungry?  I fed her for close to 1.5hours in the evening?  Gosh.  Growth spurt I am thinking (I am not entertaining the sleep regression theory, she loves to sleep and does a pretty decent job of it!).  He was unsuccessful.  Only Mum would do.  I nearly fell asleep feeding, and then we were at it again only a few hours later.  Seriously, did I really wake up so much when she was tiny?  I must have.  And I must have coped ok.  I can kind of remember those days!

So when she went for her morning nap today, I did too.  Something I haven't done much of at all actually.  And she slept for 2 hours, wow!!  That is unlike her for sure. Then your mind races, did we do too much yesterday (possibly); did I put her down too early last night (not likely); is she just plain hungry and growing (definitely)?  And could it just have been one of those days?  Hopefully.

Well she is waking now so I better go check on her.  Lunch time for Emily!  And here's to a decent night hopefully!

 

The long and the short of it!

The long and the short if it is that I have taken the plunge and cut my hair short!!  In an attempt to be ready in the mornings in less than 5 minutes - showering included (...... nah, that is truly wishful thinking) - but maybe less than 30minutes, I have cut my hair short again!  

Before!

After yay!

I first cut my hair short (it had different variations on 'short') when I was 17.  Gosh that is a long time ago :)  But I thought rather than take ages blow drying my long lanky dull hair in the morning, and then only tying it up, why not go for something short and easy (hopefully) and that way I won't hog the bathroom and miss spending time with my little angel.  

So far so good, it took me only 20minutes this morning to shower, throw on some make-up (such as it is!) and shoosh my hair.  That is always the greatest risk/challenge when getting a new 'do, can you do it like the salon does it, at home?  It's a question that actually keeps me awake at nights.  And gives me cold sweats.  Cos I love playing around with my hair!  Not that it ever looks that spectacular and gosh do I have almost all the tools of the trade, and now, almost all the products of the trade, but I do enjoy having a little fun now and then.  I think now, it will be more 'then' than now as having a baby dranmatically reduces any time you can take doing this sort of thing!  Hence the short hair so when I am (sadly) back at work, I can get ready quickly in the mornings and shoot out the door, angel on hip!

Here's to easy to do hair and quick morning routines!

Milestones

Emily is almost 16 weeks old now, and I cannot believe the incredible number of milestones that we have already encountered!  

She gave us her first smile at 5 weeks old.. her first smile!!  Just what is it in her tiny little bod that makes her do that?  It is truly fascinating that this little being, becoming more un-blob-like by the day, knows how to smile!  And now she has started giggling!  A teeny, tiny, real little person baby giggle... wow, it's like nothing I have ever heard before, it is a tinkle of baby laughter, mainly at Chris playing the fool :) 

Baby smiles!

We moved her from her bassinet into her cot in her own room at 11 weeks and she has slept so well in her cot since, it has worked really well.  She just looks so teeny tiny in the cot, so cute!  And at 13 weeks, 3 days and 15 hours (not that I am counting!), she slept through the night. Like the whole night.  No wake ups.  At all.  OMG!

First time sleeping in my cot

And now we are in the process of 'unwrapping' her so she can get used to sleeping with her arms out of the wrap/swaddle.  Because babies startle easily during their first 3-4months and this can cause them to wake up (think: you are falling asleep and begin to dream that you are falling down the stairs etc, and you startle), it's recommended that they are wrapped up so that they don't startle themselves awake, so we have used a Love to Dream swaddle since about 10 weeks old.  They are amazing!  I will definitely use this from day one if we have another baby!  Check them out here 

Honestly, besides choosing Emily's name, this part of the baby business has totally stressed me out!  Like literally waking at night thinking, ok how do we do this; what do we use; will she still sleep (because she is a pretty good sleeper)?!  And of course when do you start to do this?  It does need to be done before she can roll so she is free to push herself up if she gets onto her tummy and is not wrapped with her arms inside a wrap... but seriously what a thing!  

I have asked everyone from my coffee group, to the neighbours, to the staff in Baby Factory as well as my Plunket nurse on how to do it, and then what do they sleep in!  It is amazing all the different products there are out there, but you just have to go with your gut and do what's right for you.  So we bought some 50/50 Love to Dream swaddles and are slowly letting Emily get used to having her arms out, one at a time during her day sleeps.  So far, so good except for her game of 'to sleep or not sleep' yesterday!  When she chose mainly NOT... so I caved and put the little wings back onto my angel and she dozed a little.  Every day is different! 

One arm out, yay, freedom!

But the most amazing milestone we have encountered was receiving our gorgeous Features Forever baby casting we had done when Emily was 5 weeks old.  A stunning reminder of those angelic hands and feet, which were once so teeny tiny.  

Why is she growing so fast?

Maternity Leave To Do List

Gosh that sounds awfully like a work-related thing doesn't it!!  

But I do have some things I'd like to be able to say I achieved while on leave:

• My Absolute Number One Priority is to enjoy my precious time off with Emily and Chris and not to rush anything - so far so good on this front
• Embrace the Slow Cooker and also try new recipes monthly - I have had disastrous attempts with our slow cooker, and so, this year I'd like to tackle it once and for all and cook something truly yum! In fact more than one something, many yum things! My friend said she would help me with a bacon hock and spilt pea soup sometime, sounds so tasty!  I have so many amazing cookbooks, but it's true, we stick to what is tried and tested (and cheap - these days especially, being on one income) and I don't really use them as much as I should so I'd like to try one new recipe a month.  How hard can it be??
• Bake tasty treats (but not to often!!) - with Chris being a baker, I love to bake for him to give him a rest from his daily grind, but with the more is less approach we are both taking to food from now on, rather than said see-food diet, I should probably limit this goal somewhat!  I have already baked an amazing Annabel Langbein sticky date pud with wicked toffee sauce for my in laws' 40th wedding anniversary lunch which was truly to die for... I would know, as I ate about 4 pieces and loads of sauce.  Check out the recipe here, very quick and easy to make: Sticky Date Pud - delish! 
• Eat less and move more - I love my walking and usually take Emily out in the pram at the end of the day when she can snooze and I can get some fresh air, so I definitely want to keep this up, as well as adding in some Hip Hop Abs and Windsor Pilates.  Surely I can find the time??
• Meet other Mummies - well this one is very well under way, and seems to happen automatically these days!  I am currently attending a free Plunket course, Your Growing Baby to learn more about the upcoming months with Emily, where I have met more lovely mums, and I am also attending SPACE (Supporting Parents alongside Children's Education) and a few of my new mummy friends and Emily's baby friends are attending that which is great.  There is lots of singing and movement at SPACE and Emily loves to sing along, so cute!  Check out more info here if you are keen on these courses: Plunket Courses and SPACE
• Get Emily to pose for many photoshoots - I didn't think it would be quite this easy to get totally carried away with taking baby pics... but it is very easy to do so!  I now need to get cracking on her scrapbook of photos and all her lovely welcome to the world cards.
• Spring Clean (Winter Clean?) the House - I know this is a boring one - yawn - but don't you feel so much better when there isn't so much clutter lurking in your cupboards?  Especially that third drawer in the kitchen.. it's amazing what ends up in there.  Go on, you know you want to check what's in your 3rd drawer now!  I attacked the laundry today and gosh does it look good!  I really need to go through my clothes cupboard now, I am feeling like a fresh new yummy mummy start!

And on that note, time for tea while my angel is sleeping . Wonder if I should get out the duster and polish at the same time - nah, tomorrow's another day :)

Occupational Hazards!

As a SAHM (Stay At Home Mummy), I have come across a few occupational hazards which should be noted.... 

1. Staying in one's PJs until lunch time (or later) - generally not an acceptable form of dress past 9am (??), this used to happen a bit until Emily was about 6 weeks old as it was genuinely difficult to get to the shower due to feeding etc!  But now that has been rectified a bit, as she is sleeping better during the day, so usually during Nap One (pre 9am!), it's my shower time.  Item one on the daily to do list done, yay!
2. Eating the contents of the fridge/cupboard etc - Although I knew about this before going on maternity leave, I still succumbed! And those extra few kilos of baby weight have not yet left!  Not that it's a competition or a rush to get back to pre baby weight, but it would be good to fit into those coveted jeans I love!  However, I am feeling very inspired to attack my Hip Hop Abs and Pilates DVDs again (not exactly sure when though, maybe at 3am if I'm not up feeding? Or after feeding at 3am?  Imagine it!) and get back into shape.  So I am no longer on a see-food diet, but more a less is more approach, within reason as I still need to keep up my fuel for Emily!
1. Further to this, there is another sneaky little occupational hazard - one where whenever you meet another SAHM or go to a coffee group, there is food and drink involved!  Well only tea for me, but lots of yummy goodies on offer and it's hard to say no.  I think I have said no on only one occasion and there have been many such occasions so far.   Eek!  Definitely need a little more willpower there!
3. Trying hard to avoid cuddles when you have a cold - this is by far the hardest of the 3 as I have a small cold at the moment, and when that gummy little smile and crinkly nose and eyes look up at you for a cuddle, your heart melts!  I am cuddling Emily but trying my best not to smother her in kisses like usual.  She must wonder who I am!

These are the sorts of challenges that I am now faced with.  Far more pleasant than the 100's of daily emails and issues I used to have to deal with at work, that is for sure!  And now, while my angel is asleep, I need tea - but no biccie :)

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Putting away the Guess bag...

I had to indeed put away my gorgeous Guess bag and start using my Nappy bag!!  Truth be told, I haven't even thought about my Guess bag in the past few months, but it awaits further use, safely stowed away in my cupboard (which needs tidying and clearing out by the by!).  I love my Nappy bag, it is so handy and easy to take with me, containing close to everything but the kitchen sink!!  As I am discovering, you clearly need a lot of 'stuff' when you have a baby.  And you can never have too much!!

Leaving the house is one of the most challenging things I do these days - not simply leaving the house, such as for a walk - that is ok; it's when it's leaving the house to be somewhere by a certain time... what is a deadline, what is a meeting time, and why does anyone set them?!  They clearly don't think about us Mummies!!  I like to go at my own (read: The Baby's) pace/routine, so getting somewhere by some time, is actually a real challenge :)  However, most of the time, we manage pretty well. 

For the first 6 weeks I couldn't drive as Emily arrived via C-Section so we just relaxed and got used to each other at home.  It was lovely in fact, not to have to go anywhere or be anywhere!  But since then we have ventured out a little, still close to home though.  

I have joined a local coffee group - very casual - but great to meet other mums and babies, and have been invited to join another coffee group with really lovely, down to earth mums.  I am also meeting mums and babies all the time, my social circle is truly expanding!  My Mom always said this would happen when there was a baby involved!

Speaking of babies, mine is squeaking from her sleep.. till next time!

Welcome to my Blog :)

On the 20th February, 2014, my husband Chris and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl, Emily into the world... she is 15 weeks old today, where has the time gone?!  Since our lives have changed so much, so quickly, I have decided to keep a sort of journal (at least for the first year, anyway) which I can look back on one day and enjoy reading.  I hope you  will join me on this journey.