The Night You Were Born

One of Julia's Christmas presents is a beautiful book called 'On the Night You Were Born'. I found it on amazon and it was available in a board book, so it's going to be able to stand the test of time (and baby dribble). As soon as I read the description, I knew I had to have it. Basically, the book tells the child about the special night they were born and how special they are in the world.

"You are the only You" - I love that phrase and I will be raising Julia to know it well.

I decided to use this book as inspiration and write about the night Julia was born (as I sit and listen to my husband read our daughter stories and Julia responding with the cutest coos!)

On the night you were born, Julia:

It was a warm September. We didn't have the heat on yet and we had just finished setting up your crib in our room. I had jokingly mentioned that I needed to pack my hospital bag, as time was running out. Only 3 weeks left to go, so I had better get prepared.

On the night you were born, I didn't have my hospital bag packed.

We went to bed dreaming of your birth, wondering when you would enter into our lives and bless us forever. I said you would be late, probably an October baby. Your daddy said you would be early.

On the night you were born, your daddy was right.

At around 3am, I got up needing the bathroom (a situation pregnant ladies know all too well). I couldn't get back to sleep because I had to keep getting up. Little did I know, this was my water breaking. At 4am, I woke up Andrew. We called the hospital to describe what had happened and they confirmed my water had broke. Then the contractions started. The whole next day was spent at home with contractions and getting as much sleep as possible between contractions. At 9.30pm we decided to go to the hospital as things seemed to be happening.

On the night you were born, there was a warm breeze and clear skies.

At the hospital, the midwife said I was no further along than I was that morning and to go home and come back for 'formal induction' the next morning. I decided to stay on the ward and have diamorphine to help me get some sleep.

On the night you were born, your daddy went home for some sleep.

A little while later contractions came fast and heavy. I walked my ward room for what seemed like hours. All of a sudden, it was time.

On the night you were born, your daddy had to race back to the hospital.

On the night you were born, I was scared.

On the night you were born, I was so excited that I didn't feel pain after getting to the delivery room.

On the night you were born, we were blessed with life's greatest gift and our lives were forever changed.

On the night you were born, we became a family.

Paleo with a baby

Welcome back, Everyone! I've had a few things on my mind lately, and I've had to start writing down my ideas for a blog post because in usual mother fashion, I forget what I am going to post about as soon as I open the laptop.

What's happening right this moment? Hubby is home until 2pm so he is currently cuddling Julia on the couch while she naps. It's the cutest! I think he enjoys his Daddy cuddles when she sleeps. We've discovered that Julia only has sweet eyes for her Daddy as whenever he is in the room her eyes dart to him and she gives the biggest smiles. Hence, the reason that Andrew always gets the best pictures of her smiling! Here's an example. This picture is after nap time.

Anyways, back to the goal of this post. Something I've really been struggling with since our sweet Julia was welcomed into the world: Eating Paleo.

At the moment, I'm eating about 60% Paleo. Breakfasts and dinners are no problem. Lunch is where I struggle. I'm finding, especially on days when Hubby is out all day (sometimes from 9am-11pm!) I really struggle to eat Paleo. You see, my Paleo choices taken preparation and as anyone with a baby knows, food preparation can be difficult when you have a baby wanting your attention. My Paleo lunch of choice is usually sausages with eggs and veg. Enter first problem, can't cook sausages whilst holding baby. If Julia is particularly fussy then there is no way I'm going to get those cooked. I realise that I can cook these things while she is napping, but our sweet girl usually naps in 30 minute intervals so my time is usually limited.

Eggs don't take long to cook, I realise. But there are only so many times a week I can eat just eggs for lunch.

I love raw vegetables and carrots/cucumber are my usual go-to. They take little time to prepare and I can always go back to them after seeing to Julia.

We always have fruit in the house (I know, not true to Paleo but I love fruit and have never had a problem with it), so that's a nice easy grab too.

My goal now is to always have fresh veg cut and ready to go in the fridge. I'm also aiming to work a 'meal prep' into my schedule so that I can have pricked sausages, slices of bacon, hard boiled eggs, etc in the fridge for those days that I find difficult to get a minute to cook. I'm hoping that this will really help me get back into the Paleo swing of things.

Did you find it difficult to eat healthily with a newborn/infant? What are your quick-fix go-to's?

Julia's first road trip!

I never realised how little you can travel with before having a baby. Throw a couple of outfits into a suitcase, grab the make up bag and shower essentials and you're good to go.

Then comes baby.

We were heading up to Aberdeen on Thursday so we could introduce Julia to some family and friends. I was trying to think/remember all the things we would need to bring for our two day trip and ended up making a list (who would've guessed?). I was unsure of how many bodysuits/sleepers/outfits to pack for my sweet girl and decided that since we were going for 2 days, I had better bring 3 of EVERYTHING. (Guess Julia gets her own bag then!) Julia is also in cloth diapers, so thus sparked another debate of how much to bring (I brought 12, just so you know).

I wish now that I had taken a picture of all our stuff before Andrew loaded it into the car. I'm going to have to get better at adding pictures! For now, a list will have to do. For Julia, for our two day trip, we brought:

- 3 short sleeve bodysuits
- 2 long sleeve bodysuits
- 3 sleepers
- 2 thick 'loungers' in case it was chilly
- 3 outfits
- 2 Christmas dresses (we may or may not have had Julia involved in a secret Christmas project)
- 12 cloth diapers
- 4 disposable diapers (she wears disposables at night
- her diaper bag
- 2 blankets
- books/toys
- 1 muslin
- 1 wash cloth
- 1 travel cot

Our car was PACKED. Needless to say, I'm fearful of the luggage that our February trip to Canada will bring!

Our time away was great. As you know, we've been transitioning our girl to a sleeping bag instead of a swaddle. We couldn't have gone away at a better time. We were staying at some friends' house and we decided that it was best/easiest to have Julia in our bed with us for the two nights.

That was just what I needed and I think it's what Julia needed too. We relaxed completely and slept beautifully. Julia was fabulous for the whole time away. She met/was held by so many new faces and she didn't grimace or fuss once! That's my girl!

Now that we are back at home, it's back to business. I delayed Julia's bedtime by an hour as she has been staying up later the last few days. I nursed her, gave her a snuggle and her soother and set her in her crib. I had to return to put her dummy back in a few times since she does still startle awake a few times, but she is now sleeping peacefully in her crib. I think the time away helped us both to relax.

So, do you think I brought too much for Julia's 2 day trip? I'm thinking...possibly.

Transition Update and Julia's 3 month birthday!

So we've kept at Julia's sleeping bag transition. She is taking her soother nicely at night and it promptly falls out of her mouth when she enters into a deep sleep. She is still taking a while to settle at night, but she is starting to sleep for longer stretches. Last night I began to question if I should just put her back in her Woombie so she would settle straight away, but there are so many reasons to keep at the transition...

Reason 1: We've been doing this a week now, so putting her back in her Woombie would result in her having to readjust to that.

Reason 2: She's really starting to move from side to side, making rolling over inevitable. With her arms restricted to the Woombie, if she rolled over in her crib, I worry she wouldn't be able to roll back. Not to mention, in her last weeks in the woombie every time I went to get her from her crib, she was in a different position, showing me that she is on the move!

Reason 3: She is slowly adjusting to her sleep sack and has begun to settle herself in her crib without me needing to rock her. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE rocking my baby to sleep, but I'm glad to see that she is developing coping skills leading to independence.

Last night she slept in her crib from 10-1.30 very soundly. At 1.30 she woke and I fed her and brought her into our bed. I think her sleeping in our bed with her sleep sack still on is helping with the transition as it is showing her that we are still there for her through the night. She slept soundly for the rest of the night with us.

I'm hoping that she is going to settle into her night's sleep more easily now as we have been at this for a week. When I think about it she took about 2 weeks to adjust from a tight swaddle to her woombie, so time will tell!

On a much happier note, yesterday was her 3 month birthday! I can't believe it's been 3 months since our sweet girl made her early arrival into the world. It's been the most wonderful, exhilarating, emotional 3 months of my life. Here's a sneak peak into our world with Julia:

She likes...
- hitting her toys in her rocking chair
- talking to momma and daddy
- kicking her legs
- the Christmas tree lights!
- having help to stand up (she LOVES being able to look around!)
- going out so she can watch the world go by :)
- bath time!

She dislikes...
- her carseat, unless she's on the move!
- tummy time, when she has nothing to motivate her to push up.
- getting out of the bath

Things she's learning...
- how to grasp something with her hand.
- how to roll over

Things WE are learning...
- to let her be grumpy - sometimes she just needs to be grumpy and we don't always have to try to cheer her up.

I'm so in love with our sweet girl - I can't wait for what her 3rd month brings, especially her first Christmas!

Transitions

From day 1, Julia has loved a good swaddle. She's a super cuddly baby, so being wrapped up all snug and warm is right up her street. Eventually, swaddling with a blanket wasn't cutting it anymore as the only blanket she liked being swaddled in was fleece. She would wake up sweaty and that would frustrate her even more.

Along comes this wonderful invention called The Woombie. We had my mom send us one from Canada (as, being American, I would pay import charges on any woombies bought in stores here). It took a few nights, but Julia grew to love it! She slept for 7-9 hours at night and always settled straight away.

Then she hit her 3-month growth spurt and the woombie is quickly getting smaller and smaller. There are bigger woombies available, and ones that have zips on the arms so that you can transition baby to sleeping with arms free. I was planning on purchasing this one in February when we went to Canada, but since Julia outgrew her first Woombie so quickly, I decided to try going straight to a baby sleeping bag.

The first night was great! Julia settled quickly and slept relatively well throughout the night. What's better, she started sleeping better during the day as she was more used to her arms out.

The second night was a nightmare. It took at least 10 times to get her to settle and eventually, at midnight, she was asleep for the night. There were other factors contributing to her unsettled nature, such as a party next door, but I was glad to crawl into bed when she was finally asleep.

The third night was okay. She went down after 2 attempts and slept reasonably well. I thought we were making progress.

The fourth night was awful. One step forward, two steps back right? She wouldn't settle at all as every time we put her down, she would wake herself up my trying to suck her hands. Eventually I put her in our bed for the night and she settled straight away.

After I thought about it, I figure that she wants to suck her hands to soothe herself. She doesn't do it in our bed, but then again, she knows that we are right there so she doesn't have the need to self soothe. This has led me to think about methods to soothe her as she transitions into her sleep sack. We have a soother that she has never really taken to, but today at nap time I slipped it in her mouth just before she fell asleep. She doesn't suck it, but it seems that just having it there is helping (as she is still sleeping as this post is being written!)

Tonight is night 5. What will it bring? Who knows?

What transitions have you had with your baby? Any easy ones? Tough ones?

Sewing Machine Workout

I was cruising Pinterest one night after getting Julia to sleep and saw the cutest baby dress! It was a peasant dress and looked pretty easy to make. I decided to make one for Julia's Santa picture. Luckily, hubby had the day off the next day, so he watched Julia while I made the dress. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish. I was surprised at how easy it was to make, so I decided to check out my fabric stash to make Julia another Christmas themed dress! This time I decided to take pictures along the way to show you just how easy it was!

Ta dah!