Tuesday 28 February 2017

February in Photos

Another month over, just like that. February offered us our first trip to the caravan in Wales and became the month we started little Willow on some grub other than breast milk. I'd say a four month Willow has been the hardest. I've spent a lot of time hoping she'd nap just so I could get some housework done. I told myself to stop being so hard on myself. Relax and enjoy my little baby falling asleep on me halfway through a feed, because she's not going to want cuddles forever. I'll go more into our weaning story when I do her five month update next week but I will say that any new parent should follow their instincts. Health visitors encourage you to wait until six months but even just the tiniest bit of food everyday has worked wonders for her sleeping pattern. They say 'food is fun before one' and that's exactly how we're treating it. 

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Thursday 23 February 2017

Maybe I want to do the pink thing...

Being pregnant and not knowing the gender of our baby meant I had to buy neutral colours. Grey swing, cream play mat, white moses baskets. I guess some things are a given, I wouldn't have bought a pink moses basket even if we had found out we were having a girl. 

Now she's here things are a bit different, which did surprise me a bit. I thought I would be a lot more gender neutral than I am. She got a pink Mamas and Papas Baby Snug for Christmas and someone asked if the pink bit comes out so you can just buy a different colour rather than a whole new Snug. I don't know for certain but I'm pretty sure you have to buy a whole new Snug to which she said if I had a boy he'd just have to sit in a pink seat. 

It got me thinking. Maybe I want to do the pink thing. I mean, why should I buy things and constantly have in the back of my mind "But what if I have a boy next time?" because right now I have a little girl and I want to buy pink. For ages I wanted the Stokke Tripp Trapp highchair in white but I just can't justify the £150 + accessories. Instead I've settled for a cool swivel one that looks like she belongs in an American diner, and god forbid it's pink. It was either pink, blue or a horrible snot green.

Don't get me wrong, I by no means feel I have to dress her in pink everyday, in fact she's just grown out of some blue baby grows that I bought very early in my pregnancy (they had clouds on and I got matching pyjamas, how could I not?!) If by chance I do have a boy in the future he will more than likely wear them too, he will also have a blue high chair.
p.s. They do actually sell the Mamas and Papas Baby Snug in grey now which given the option I probably would have got, but then I am a sucker for anything grey!

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Sunday 19 February 2017

The Pink Sweater

H&M scarf
Primark shoes

I was complaining to Em when we were taking these photos that my shoes were hurting my feet, particularly my right foot. I pretty much crawled home only to find the cardboard inside. My poor foot is somewhat feeling sorry for itself now. 

Anyway, this combination is pretty much all I wear these days: sweater (which is a large may I add, I wanted it quite big), jeans and a messy ponytail or bun. I'm currently in the process of having a major wardrobe clear out, I just don't feel like half the clothes are very 'me' anymore. My style has definitely changed since having Willow and I'm a much lazier dresser than I used to be so I'm trying that whole thing where if I see something I like I'll wait and if I'm still thinking about it a few days later I'll go back for it. So far so good. 

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Monday 6 February 2017

Four months Little Willow Update

I thought we'd wear a bit of red since it's Valentines day next week. We had to ditch the tights though, she's not fond of them. She forgets how to wiggle her legs if she has them on, and I'm just a sucker for those tiny feet! Excuse the dribble around her chin, she's been like a tap the last few weeks and whilst I was taking these photos she's mastered the art of blowing raspberries.

Weight
We took her to the clinic on 24th January and she weighed 13lb 2oz. The health visitor said she has dropped slightly below the centile line but she wasn't worried as breastfed babies tend to be more up and down on the chart. She also said because she's having a lot more floor time she's burning more calories. I said I'm going to get down on the floor and kick my legs all day if it burns calories!

Routine
The only sort of routine we have is that in the morning she normally has a feed between 10 and 11 and will normally then fall asleep. The other day I fed her in our bedroom and put her in her moses basket and she slept for 50 minutes in there. That my friends is a record!

Sleeping
Bedtime has gotten earlier this last month. I've taken her up to bed as early as 6.30pm some days and she'll be asleep by 7, which is great, it means we don't end up eating our dinner at 10 o'clock at night! She is really good at letting us know when she's tired, she'll cry but as soon as she gets the boobie she's fine again. 

She has regressed somewhat when it comes to sleeping through the night, gone are the days of 7pm until 7am. I was half expecting it though and fingers crossed it's just that four month blip that won't last forever. The one night last week she was up four times, it's safe to say I wasn't feeling too fresh the next day. We do tend to have a nap around 3 o'clock in the afternoon though. She ends up dream feeding for about an hour and somewhere in there I normally nod off too. I know they recommend not to, but hell, sometimes you just gotta catch up on some Z's where you can!

Feeding
We're still exclusively breastfeeding. When I sit and think about it properly I really am proud of myself for single handedly sustaining this little life for the last four months. I'm glad I was able to give her the best possible start in life. They say the best medicine for under 6 months is breastmilk. I think that's probably why we've only been hit with a couple of colds that have only lasted a few days.

Sizes
She's in a mixture of 0-3 months and 3-6 months. We're back to having flappy feet in her 3-6 month babygrows, I've had to pack a few of her 0-3 outfits away but there's still a few on her clothes rails. I've been having a good browse on the H&M website recently and there's so many things I want! I think I'll be starting to build her 6-9 month wardrobe soon.

Milestones
She started rolling over last week! She can roll from back to belly so now we just need to master belly onto her back because once she's rolled over she gets angry that she's stuck there. She can also get a really good grip on things now. Then pretty much everything heads straight for her mouth, her new favourite was she sponge in the bath, yum!
I love watching her discover new things, I purposely don't read about what age they should be doing certain things because I know every baby is different. Kyle will ask me what age she'll be crawling or walking and I just throw out a random guess.

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Wednesday 1 February 2017

January in Photos



January was quiet for us, almost too quiet, but with the craziness of the last few months of 2016 it was nice. I'm ready to get stuck into 2017 now though and make the most of my maternity leave.  

I can't believe how much Willow has changed this last month. I spend all day everyday with her and even I think wow, you've changed. It's true what Peter Pan said: "Little ones should never be sent to bed, they always wake up a day older." The days fly by these days and it really is the most bittersweet feeling. 

Here's a few photos from January, mostly of Willow obvs, but a silly kitty's paws thrown in for good measures. We didn't really venture far from home, I think the furthest we went was IKEA. I'm looking forward to a trip to see Nanna Nia the sea during February half term, I've missed being by the beach so much.

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