Month 6 Letter

 

Dear Logan,

You are really becoming your own little person. You're understanding when to laugh at us and playing a lot more. You are still a cranky little man but we're used to it by now.


You've also started moving an insane amount, your favourite thing to do is creep! But this has led to horrible nights with you waking up at least twice (and not going down until 8) because you roll over or get yourself wedged in a corner. Towards the end of the month you started doing baby yoga sticking your bum high up in the air and your head down on the ground. You also go up on all fours so crawling is imminent I'm afraid!

Sleep has gone out the window and you've been waking up lots throughout the night, a good night is only 2 times but a bad one can be as many as 6...this hasn't been helped by your poor blocked nose courtesy of Bali.

Speaking of which you went overseas for the first time ever and weren't too bad on the plane. You hated the hot weather and didn't sleep well but you started chowing down on your food. You now have at least 3 meals a day along with lots of boob!

Blowing raspberries is another favourite of yours and you do this with a mouthful of food just to annoy me. You're starting to enjoy getting reactions out of us. Another one of your favourite things is to stick your hands in our mouth and all over our faces (especially when it involves far's glasses).

You are such a chatty and happier little baby now and we can't wait to see what is next.

 

All my love,

Mummy

PS: What has happened to those daytime naps!?

 

Bali Baby

Not too long ago that post could have read Bali Belly...I highfived my Husband on our return once I realised I hadn't gotten sick, that's two in a row hurrah! But what a difference a baby makes, I think Bali Belly might have been easier to cope with.

As some of you may know I headed off to Bali as part of my Mum and new Step-dad's honeymoon (they took the whole family) which also coincided with the 'week of Jess' (my birthday on May 6th through to Mother's day - unfortunately both days were taken up with airports and flights). It was an interesting holiday to say the least and I know now that relaxing holidays by the pool are a thing of the past.

Thankfully I was surrounded by my wonderful family who helped us out way more than they should of and we managed to have a dinner & lunch date and go white water rafting. My new step-sister was an absolute gem and helped out so much with babysitting.

We stayed in two amazing places but nothing could top the first location in Ubud called Villa Sebali. The staff were amazing, the grounds like something out of a movie and the outdoor bathrooms out of this world. The next was in Seminyak and the place was gorgeous (you could step out of the kitchen into the pool) but it wasn't practical and the staff were terrible. But it was good for shopping at least - not that I did much of that.



Hot holidays are definitely hard with a baby and especially hard in a country where you can't drink the water. So if anyone is planning a trip to an Asian country with a baby here are some of my tips.

1. Make sure you have a comfortable baby carrier that you've used before and a nursing cover to hook over.
2. Take an electric fan if you plan on using your pram/stroller otherwise you never will.
3. Take a small but padded blanket (one of the Mums in my Mums Group made me one and may be making more to sell in the future if anyone is interested) - we used this for him to play on the ground on when high chairs weren't available.
4. Take light weight long sleeve shirts for Bubs, you don't really need long pants because their legs are usually covered.
5. A large/huge plastic zip lock bag and Milton (antibacterial) tablets - this was so helpful in sterilizing Logan's food and sippy cups.
6. A mosquito net for the portacot, our first place had one but the next one didn't and we had to try to fit his cot in under our bed's net and it was a pain because of course there were still gaps!
7. Take a dummy/pacifier holder! Even if you hate pinning a dummy to your baby's clothes it is well worth it to avoid losing your dummy to floor germs! Unfortunately the 5 second rule doesn't apply to dirty streets...
8. Take a light weight wrap to use as a quick cover for dirty chairs, floors etc...
9. And of course all the other things for hot weather - sippy cup with water, hat, sunglasses, safe sunscreen (if you want to go down that route).
10. Finally consider trading your nappy bag for a backpack, it's a lot easier and nicer on your shoulders!

The trip was good and I'm now feeling more prepared for our long haul flight to Toronto in October but it is sad saying goodbye to relaxing holidays.

As for the week of Jess, there's always next year and I plan on avoiding airports and planes on both of my special days next year!

 

 

Ouch!

I'm back to pre-baby weight (72kg) minus the new pudgy belly and stretchmarks...woo hoo! I put it all down to breastfeeding which is bad because, my logic is to eat crap whilst I can because it won't last forever. I said this out loud whilst jogging around the park with Mums from my Mums Group (we do a personal training session together). Some of us are like me and have lost the weight and others aren't there yet (but are way fitter than me!).

It was potentially our last class on Monday and I was completely ready to throw in the towel. I am easily the most unfit Mum in the group which can make it embarrassing some times (eg the week before wanting to faint/throw up). But I'm sticking with it and pushing/challenging myself. I realised I always have excuses for not exercising and whilst I can't run a lot (thanks pelvic floor) I am going to get my butt into gear.


I want to be prepared for when I stop breastfeeding and start to pack on the kilos again...It's funny how things change and now my mentality is leaning towards working out and increasing my fitness level. I've also changed my mind about breastfeeding and whilst initially I was ready to quit so many times and 6 months was my end date I'm going to keep going. Logan will still be getting fed food but I think I'll try and keep breastfeeding until either he wants to stop or until just before a year. I swear I won't be one of those creepy women still feeding their 7 year old haha

 

One Week

This next week is going to be crazy! This time next week I will be 26, be on a plane to Bali (Logan's first flight!), relaxing after the wedding of the year and welcoming my new step-dad & step-sister to our family. We'll also have a baby girl joining our extended family very soon and I can't wait to meet her! I'm already missing the newborn stage but thankfully not getting clucky just yet...I still can't make up my mind as to how much of an age gap I want between Logan and his brother/sister but I definitely know I want another two but that's a topic up for debate as Hubby only wants one more (even though he's from a family of three).

So this week will involve lots of pampering (yippee), stress (boo) and celebrations (hurrah). Oh and Logan has decided to stop being a great sleeper and to begin creeping...wish me luck!

 

Month 5 Letter 23.04.12

Dear Logan, Time is flying, which is probably the most common statement all parents say when it comes to writing these letters! I've been looking back at newborn photos of you and reminiscing with far about how much you have changed! You haven't been rolling a lot, in fact it's a very rare occurrence and the milestones haven't been very forthcoming this past month. But a major thing to be ticked off the list...you started solids. Whilst I do want to do BLW I'm waiting for you to turn 6 months old. So for now it's rice cereal and puréed fruits and vegetables. You gobble it up mister and open your mouth wide waiting for the spoon! None of it falls on the floor unless it's our fault so I'm enjoying the lack of mess before we start giving you bits and pieces to eat. It's been a bit up and down this month with all our moving around but we've got an offer on our first real family home. You (& we) are so lucky to have your grandparents helping us out. This will be the home all your new milestones will happen and we are all looking forward to living around the corner from Grandma and Grandpa. Your sleeps have gotten A LOT shorter. You still have an almost hour sleep in the morning but your naps throughout the day are anywhere from 20-40 minutes. You have also taken to fighting sleep which isn't nice. You've been doing strange night sleeps as well going down early for about 2 hours and then awake and then waking up during the night. No more sleeping through unfortunately and far and I are exhausted. You have now learnt how to twist and turn and even roll over in your portacot which is adorable and you always make us smile when we come in to get you. We love you so much little man, whilst you make us exhausted (& still scream in the car) it is all worth it when we see your cheeky little smile! All my love, Mummy PS: I can't upload photos at the moment from my iPad, stupid apps!

Grr

I am still here just majorly annoyed because the Blogpress app I use keeps deleting my post and I've written it twice! Be prepared for a horrendous Baby Brain story ;)

Easter Long Weekend

We've had a great long weekend, I never realised how important public holidays and weekends were until we had Logan. 96 hours with Hubby...YES PLEASE! The help has been fantastic and I even got to sleep in twice (I still had to feed Logan but it was nice not to have to get up with him), I've been very spoilt and it's been lovely.

On Good Friday we made our way to Cottesloe beach. We were going to have breakfast at Beaches but when Hubby went in to order it was going to cost over $45 (wowser, then again it was a public holiday and Cottesloe!) and they only took cash. So thankfully we left and stumbled across a hole in the wall take away coffee place and I grabbed a huge muffin as well. Then we just went and sat down on the grass overlooking the beach and it was great. So relaxing and nice to be out of the house and just our little family. With all this moving around its so rare for us just to have the three of us and I've really appreciated that this weekend.
Saturday we did some final prep shopping for my Mum's birthday (Easter Sunday). We bought the ingredients for her Bill Granger chocolate and raspberry cake (has anyone else's food tastes changed, I used to hate chocolate cake and now I'll gobble it down if it's not the fluffy kind) and got her birthday cards. Then we grabbed some coffees and headed back to the inlaws.
When we got back, my MiL and I made Donna Hay coffee & salted caramel macaroons. They took for ages and were way too big so I wound up under cooking them (whoops) but they tasted great. Next time I'd add more coffee though because the taste wasn't enough for me. After baking those it was time to entertain Logan again, we've started putting him in his cousin's 'car' and he loves it.

After that I made Mum's yummy chocolate cake and then we had dinner, after feeding Logan his first taste of Peas and Zucchini (he loved it).

The next day we went out to breakfast at the Naked Fig. It was nice to be out there early because noone else was around and it was great not to be waiting so long (which we usually have to if we go for a later breakfast or lunch). Logan was perfect and slept through breakfast so I got to eat without interruption...hurrah!

After that we packed up and headed off to my Mum's where presents were handed out and lots of food was consumed. The cake worked out great and whilst Logan was fussy - I didn't get to finish this meal uninterrupted - it was nice to have some family time.

I hope everyone had a great Easter, whether it was just relaxing with family or getting away somewhere.