I’ve changed blog names, do come and have a look!
I know it has been a long time, which is why I have started completely over. It might be silly, but it felt right to me.
It might be messy..
My morning cup of tea is always luke warm by the time I drink it.
My breakfast is eaten spread out over 30 minutes.
My yoga session is always interrupted mid posture.
I play with cars, lego and super heroes.
I hold bugs that used to scare me and dig for worms.
I rinse poo of diapers when its more fluid or dump and flush before the wash.
My clothes are never clean, even when its freshly washed.
My house has sand or grass on the floor and my glass doors are full of prints.
The toilet seat is always up.
I write notes with crayons instead of pens.
I hum twinkle twinkle as if it was the latest hit.
But despite the morning mess that I clean each day.
The tears, the tantrums, the sick, the snot.
The poo, the mud, the grass and even the prints.
I could not be more happy then to be a mum of boys.
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Awesome vlog cookbook give away!
It’s about time I introduce you all to my good friend Steph.
She does amazing vlogs that goes from product reviews for mums/babies to great tips on how to turn breech babies and from weekly food diaries to days in their lives.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that she is vegan, the recipes are amaaaaazing and yes I speak from experience as I too only bake vegan.
This book is high up on my wanted list!
For a change of winning, subscribe, like, comment and share her video!
Stomach bugs
You evil evil little virus/bug/stomach irritation creatures!
Go and do one..
Sunday Alex was ill for over 10x
Monday he was fine but on Tuesday gosh did it struck me.
The last time I was sick was during the Olympic summer games.. Only for 12 hours and just a high temperature.
You see us mums can’t really afford to get sick.
We have to take care of our children, our house, our partners, our animals.
We are the ones that take care of the mess left behind properly.
We are the ones that make sure the first foods that are eaten after illness are good and not heavy on your stomach.
We are the ones that know which vitamins should be eaten first and what to avoid.
This is not fair..
I still full time nurse my 5 month old and can barely keep water down.
Dehydration is not something I can afford to have.
Feeling weak is not on my schedule.
So how do I take care of myself??
I sip a teaspoon of water every 10 minutes, I wish I had coconut water as it’s the most hydrating drink out there.
I try to eat toast but it feels too heavy.
All I want is to down several pints of water but I know it will work against me.
I wash everything at 60, bleach goes down the toilet each time someone is ill and detol is sprayed around the house like crazy.
I hate chemicals but I can’t defeat this bug with sugar water or a vinegar solution.
Please do hand me all your tips on how to get over an evil stomach bug.
Weaning, which route to take…?
Yikes.. I who always said I would not give food before 6 months, have started at 5 months and a week old..
I hereby apologise to those I have judged (mainly in my head)
For now we have chosen the route of baby led weaning, giving baby pieces of food and let them feed themselves.
I don’t know if we are going to stick with this route as I am fighting the urge to feed him myself.
Yes he picks up the pieces, yes he feeds himself, yes he enjoys it but who says he wouldn’t enjoy eating of a spoon fed by me?
I feed him with my body, why not help with this?
Some baby led weaning ‘experts’ claim that spoon fed babies are allot more fussy and choosy over what foods they want to eat, problem with lumps etc..
I personally never had that problem with Alex, he was a great eater, he loved his homemade purees.
Though I never blended it super smooth.
How do you choose your route?
I have stopped following all the guidelines with Logan and followed my instincts and my wishes, but I believe we are at a crossroad of what Logan might want and what I want..
Perhaps I’ll do both.
Let him have his finger foods but also offer a bowl of homemade purée.
Which route did you choose?
How did you know it was right for you and your child?
>
A morning of our lives
And though we live life day by day, time still seems to go way too fast..
I wake up by hearing cheerful gurgles coming from the crib beside me.
6.33am, it nearly feels like a lay in after only having one night feed.
‘Maaaaaam’ Alex jumps in bed beside me and gives a great morning cuddle.
It is time to get up, so I sit on the side of the bed and feed Logan before we make our way downstairs.
Once down Logan gets entertained by Alex on the changing mat and I fix Alex’s breakfast and daddy’s lunch with a cup of tea for all of us before he has to leave for work.
Time to change the little man!
Funny enough, I love doing this as it usually contains blowing loads of raspberries and saying the silliest things, just to make him giggle.
There isn’t a sound in the world that sounds better then your own children’s laughter.
Time to feed Logan again before I lay him down for some morning play.
As of lately he is really trying his best to crawl, but thankfully just looks like someone swimming without water!
I am sooo not ready for this development, can he not stay my tiny baby for a little while longer?
Alex is busy playing starwars pirates next to us, the start of our mornings are usually fairly laid back.
Nap time happens here on the sofa, not because he won’t sleep upstairs, I just prefer him down with us when I’m doing household chores.
He gets another feed and falls asleep, time to get cracking.
I do the dishes, stick on a new load of washing, stend to the litterbox of the cats, brush them, clean the rabbit’s inside cage, put the rabbit out, prepare the nappies and hang up the washing outside.
Who says being a housemum is relaxing? Oh right.. The working partner..
As my shopping arrives, a few things happen.
Logan wakes up, so I put him in his swing to keep him happy for a while and in the mean time my bags get raided by the grocery bandit.
Every single week he will go through the bags for a nice little snack for him.
He went through a stage where he went crazy over seeing fresh brocoli and would just eat it raw, now spring has started it is the fruit that is often the victim of this story.
Whilst Logan is still happily playing in his swing Alex and I get dressed upstairs.
No way do I have time for a shower today so I quickly wash my fringe underneath the bathroom sink and put some dry shampoo in the rest of my hair. That should do for now..
Coming down Alex has a little play in the garden whilst I play peekaboo followed by preparing lunch, I cant believe how fast this morning is going!
Toast it is, as in halve an hour we have to walk to Alex’s nursery, where he plays from 1 until 3.45
I quickly feed Logan again before I strap him in the carrier ready to go.
It is a good 20 minute walk next to a busy road, but thankfully Alex listens great and usually runs on the grass on the side.
Logan busy chitchats away in his own language but is annoyed with the sun that suddenly shines through the clouds.
As I drop him off I get a big kiss and cuddle ‘I’ll see you soon mum! Be careful!’
Towards home we walk..
Coming just around the corner Logan falls asleep, thankfully I can easily lay him down for his next nap, all that watching around him was of course very exhausting…
And now.. Now I can blog..
Product review; Little lambs pocket nappies
I am in love with these lovely coloured nappies!
For someone who has never used cloth, this could not be easier.
Each pocket nappy comes with two bamboo boosters and the nappy itself has complete fleece lining from the inside.
The bamboo boosters are great soakers, though not as quick as microfiber, they tend to hold allot more wee.
The fleece makes sure babies bum stays nice and dry after a wee and thankfully poo is easily removed from it.
You do have (flushable) liners you can lay in the nappy so you can flush it down the toilet after a poo but as Logan is busy teething and still fully breastfed it is very unlikely to be held in a liner.
I fold one of the boosters over the top of the other, as Logan is a boy, most of his wee comes at the front of the nappy, leaving me with a triple booster at the front! I don’t need anything additional when it comes to holding the contents in the nappy and he easily goes 3 to 4 hours comfortably.
This is what I love most about these nappies, they all come with pockets! yay! I can just put the liners in there and because of the waterproof layer they do not move around in the nappy itself.
As you can see I’ve already put the boosters in the nappy but you could also easily add a thicker soaker for when you have a heavy wetter.
The nappies are birth to potty, meaning they are adjustable to size by these poppers.
The 3 in the middle is the length of the nappy you can adjust and the top ones for leg and waist size.
The only downside is that they will look very big on newborns, but hee lets admit it, it will still look 10x better then a disposable!
Now you might wonder what I do with my nappies once they have been used..
Some people keep them in a pail or in a wet bag and to keep the smell at bay they might use a drop of tea tree oil or lavender at the bottom of the pail.
I had an old nappy bag laying around that is waterproof and now using for this.
You simply pull out the boosters and put them and the nappy in the bag.
I wash them every other day, poo nappies get rinsed so they don’t stain (or smell)
Once washed I hang them outside for a few hours and with the sun out they are dry in no time.
If your new to cloth nappies (or diapers for our American friends)
I would most highly recommend these bad boys!
Drastic changes are taking place
Do I need to say more?
I am so excited!! >
Becoming a mum for the second time
The biggest transition made is becoming a mum.
The biggest transition made is becoming a mum of two..
The biggest transition made is becoming a mum of three…
The biggest transition……… You get my point!
Becoming a second time mum for me was scary.
‘What will Alex thing, how will this affect our family life, how will this all work out’
Giving birth was amaaazing, honestly, I kid you not, it was actually good (read more about that journey here)
Taking home baby was longed for, breastfeeding was pretty easy and Alex loved giving Logan cuddles.
So how did my life change? What actually changed?
Well for starters I stopped listening to all the magazines and ‘experts’ that tell you how to raise your child.
I have tuned in to my intuition allot more and ask for advice in a small group of friends who have similar ideas in upbringing.
I carry Logan around in the awesome Beco Soleil (product review coming soon!) each day and rarely have him in a buggy.
I can’t tell you how disconnected I feel from him when I put him in there.
We’ve also proudly breastfed in public.
Something I never did with Alex, I was scared of people staring, having an opinion and the need to express it (we’ve all read the horror stories)
But as Logan flat-out refuses expressed bottles we have no other choice then to feed, whenever, wherever.
First time was pretty awkward, in a small waiting room of the Dutch embassy filled with people (talking about taking the plunge!)
Second time, the natural history museum, they do have pretty awesome feeding rooms with comfortable chairs.
And the third time in a kids café (café with separated area for toddlers and babies to play) that was pretty interesting as quite a few kids were curious as to what I was doing.
All these times I can honestly say, I have never felt judged, I might not have always felt comfortable but I did it with confident!
Last but not least, I enjoy it as much as I can this time.
Of course I enjoyed Alex being little too, don’t get me wrong, but this time its different.
There is no rush, or excitement towards seeing the next step of development, there is just now.
Being here in the present together, enjoying each other, having those cuddles when he wants it.
Laying next to each other and just babbling over nothing and just looking at his reactions.
I think every child being born into a family makes a big change.
You learn something new every time around, you change the things you’ve done the first time on the second time.
You set your mistakes straight and make new ones along the road.
Our battle with the famous guidelines
Baby should do….. Baby should follow….
But above all, all babies are different.
These are just guidelines they say.
Take it with a grain of salt they say.
Then why on earth do I have someone coming out to me every single month to weigh my baby?
When my baby is doing just fine.
He is happy, he is moving and rolling back to front and babbles to join whenever he can.
You see, Logan has stopped gaining weight as fast as he did when he was smaller.
You know, when he didn’t move as much? When he was happy just laying there or being held in my arms.
Does it make sense to you? That he isn’t gaining as much now as he did then?
Because it does to me.
‘I think if by next month he still isn’t gaining as rapid as before we should consider weaning’
NO! My baby will be 5 months by then, I will not wean at 5 months so he can follow your guideline that is only a guideline!
In all honesty, if I did not know better I would doubt myself and I would wonder if me breastfeeding my baby is the best option.
I would start to doubt if it was filling him enough, I would consider to combine feed.
That is what winds me up the most, if I did put full trust in these so called ‘healthvisitors’ I would not be confident to breastfeed anymore, and that is something that should never happen!
He is still gaining weight which is most important and after talking to loads of other mums that fully breastfeed e-ve-ry single baby has a drop of centile between the 3rd and 4th month but yet they still try to tell me how to raise my child?!
I will not wean because you think he should be weaned, I will wean when my son gives me the indication that he is ready.
I will not wean because your guideline says he isn’t following it to the dot and I will not wean the way you think I should.
And still despite me showing you the evidence of breastfed babies, you still give counter advice.
Life of V 