Yawn!

I haven't posted for ages, and it seems the longer I leave it the harder it becomes - so much changes every day and I struggle to catch up with it all.

I think one of the reasons I keep putting it off is our sleep issues. We've had a really bad few weeks, and I just don't want to sound like a moaner. Last week I was just fed up. I felt lonely, and I felt embarrassed - like it was completely my fault she wasn't sleeping.

I kept thinking it was because we've "spoiled" her. She's never been left to cry for a prolonged amount of time. She gets fed when she wants it. Cuddled when she wants it. But, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I think there's a lot of pressure to get your baby to be a "good" baby. And good seems to be defined by sleep. They can do whatever they want in the day time, as long as they sleep 7pm - 7am. Alice doesn't sleep, but she is an amazing baby. She giggles and laughs and plays and is just amazing to be around.

But, that doesn't mean I don't get tired! And I got myself in a bit of a downward spiral - I'm not prepared to let her cry but that doesn't mean I don't want to moan about it and vent. It doesn't mean I enjoy getting up 5/6 times a night still. But it also doesn't mean I should be guilted into doing something I don't feel comfortable with.

I'm lucky to have a lot of amazing support around me. But last week, I felt lonely. And tired.

I felt like I was failing. We were all tired, and I was completely blaming myself. Plus it was a miserable cold week, and we were stuck in the house a lot. I was just generally feeling a bit grey. And I like to act like everything's fine, so I wasn't talking about it either.

This week, I feel less tired, and happy! Alice still doesn't sleep but that is fine. Besides, who wouldn't want to wake up to a smiley baby face! It's half term so Mitch is able to help more with the mornings, and I'm getting an extra 30 mins sleep in the morning.

I also want to catch up and do some blogging, as Alice is just changing so much. What happened to my tiny baby who just lay there? I also have about ten million pictures and videos to post which I'll hopefully get round to doing soon.

Moral of the story - some babies don't sleep. Bring their mums chocolate.

With love and light xo

Baby Halloween Costumes

This blog from Pregnant Chicken is amazing! Wicked Baby Halloweed Costumes!

Will blog soon - promise. x

With love and light xo

Instagram - September 2011

My life lately according to my iPhone! Follow me on Instagram @evenstarx :)





With love and light xo

Dear Alice - 5 Months

Dear Alice,

This month I'm a little slow with writing your 5 month round up, but I've finally had chance to sit down and write it.

This month you have been full of smiles, and it's amazing going to fetch you from your nap when you have this huge grin! You think lots of things are now hilarious, and I will do anything amillion times just to see you smile. We've also had a few more giggles, which I keep trying to catch on camera and completely failing.

You are rolling over left right and centre, and you hold your head up t0 look round and see the world on your front. You keep rolling over in your sleep and you seem to end up the complete opposite way to how we put you down.

You're also now attempting to chase the cats when you're on your front, and really want to crawl! Obviously it's a little advanced for you at the moment, so you sort of bounce then give up.

The big development of the last few days has been food! You are now trying lots of different foods, and we've bought you a lovely high chair. So far your favourite food is apple, but you quite like carrot and potato. You don't think a lot to baby rice or sweet potato but so far you haven't spat anything out, and will eat whatever's put infront of you. (I'll write a proper blog about this later!)

We're finally getting there with some semblance of daytime routine now, as well as our lovely bath and cuddle nighttime routine. We have followed your natural timings and you seem to be a 3 nap a day kind of girl at the moment :).

We went on your first holiday to Cambridge, where you had a paddle in the sea and spent some time on the trampoline! You seemed to really enjoy the change of pace and it was lovely going with so many friends and family. We're going away again in a few weeks to Norfolk for the weekend, so hopefully you'll enjoy that just as much!

You also went to your first birthday party! It was your friend Phoebes first birthday, so you got dressed in your lovely party outfit and we had a lovely time. I can't wait till you can join in with the dancing and getting your face painted.

The weather's turning colder so we've been wrapping you up a lot more, and you look so adorable in your cute little hats and cardigans. Please stay tiny forever little one!

With love and light xo

Instagram - August 2011

My life lately according to my iPhone! Follow me on Instagram @evenstarx :)

With love and light xo

Holiday

We've been a little busy for posting really - Mitch has been off work for the week so we've all been spending time together as a family and it's left very little blogging time. I'm also feeling a little stale with the blog, like there's not really much to talk about? Maybe it's time for a new photo series or blogging project or something.

Anyway, we had a really lovely holiday! Alice was an angel all week really, and was fantastic with the journey both ways - sleeping and playing and keeping herself occupied for 2.5hrs both there and back.

We went to the seaside for Mitch's birthday and she had a little paddle for the first time. No tears, but she wasn't quite sure what to make of it really!

We also spent a lot of time with the lovely baby Amelia. It's incredible how much more advanced she is, despite the difference of only a few months. It's really lovely that she'll have another little baby to see and grow up with :).

A lot seems to have changed in the past few weeks. She finally seems to be settling into her own routine - in the day she wants to be awake for 1.5/2 hours, then a 30 minute nap. In an ideal world she'd be awake for longer and sleep for longer but I'm just happy she now naps upstairs.

She is now going down at 7/8 in the evenings, meaning we get a little bit of evening to ourselves now. But, is unfortunately still waking 3-6 times a night, which does get a little wearing! But I'm quite happy to keep doing it as long as she wants to - we've been following some of the No Cry Sleep Solution and Dr. Sears techniques and they seem to be making a big difference.

We've also cracked bath time and it's a much happier time for everyone involved now. And when I say we, I mean Mitch - I could literally count on one hand the amount of times I've bathed her - not my job!

Every day we get more smiles. She responds to faces and voices, and wants to talk and join in with whatever's happening. She constantly wants to play and experiment with things (normally they reach her mouth) and gets incredibly frustrated when she can't figure out how to pick something up.

I can't believe she's 4 1/2 months now. If you could just stay tiny forever Alice that would be great.

With love and light xo

Instagram

We've had a lovely holiday, and I have lots of pictures / things to write about. But for now, here's a few snaps from my phone :). My latest obsession is the Instagram iPhone app so follow me for some more photos - username evenstarx.

With love and light xo

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

With love and light xo

Video - Hello Alice!

With love and light xo

Dear Alice - 4 Months

Dear Alice,

We seem to have been incredibly busy this month, especially with moving and putting up furniture / unpacking, and it seems to take forever when we have to keep stopping to feed and entertain a baby! But you are smiling all the time now, making it perfectly acceptable to spend 45 minutes playing "Where's Alice?!"

You love playing games with us, and you make the most gorgeous little noises. When you're awake now you chat to us pretty much constantly, getting very frustrated if we don't reply straight away!

We've had a rough few weeks with sleep - you'd been getting up 7 or 8 times a night then finally waking for the day at 5am. I think it was making you grumpy, and it was definitely making me grumpy! So we did a little reading, and tried a few of the methods from Dr. Sears and the No Cry Sleep Solution. We've established a sort of routine, although I hate that word! More a sort of order we do things in when you give us the cues. The past few nights it's worked really well and we're all sleeping a lot better.

We had our first case of the worries, when you had a really sicky day and just weren't yourself. You got worse throughout the day and we ended up at the out of hours doctor, but they think it was just a late reaction to your last set of jabs. Poor little owl!

You have been using your Bumbo and getting much better at supporting yourself in it. You also spend a lot of time on your tummy, and you can hold your neck up and look around at the world. After a while you give up and face plant but you are getting stronger every day.

You still love being naked, and it's a pretty much guaranteed smile if we strip you off, no matter how grizzly you are!

You are constantly gnawing away at your hands / blanket / cloth / whatever you can get your hands on. You have a little nub of a tooth that seems to bother you on and off, and you grab my hand to try and push against your tooth! You also now dribble over everything. Yum!

You are going on your first holiday tomorrow! You are very excited to go for walks and see lots of new things in Cambridge. We're going away for your mama's big birthday, and I'm sure you will get lots of cuddles.

We had to take a quick ASDA run last night to buy you some big 6-9 month clothes, as you are bursting out of your vests and sleepsuits. This makes me very sad as you have lots of lovely 3-6 clothes you haven't had chance to wear much!

I am a bad mummy and haven't had you weighed this month so I have no idea how much you weigh - but you are definitely a lovely lump :)

We have booked your Christening for December, so we get to look for a pretty dress for you soon!

And finally, last night you said Bye Bye to Uncle Peter, who has left for America today. We will all miss him very much <3

With love and light xo