February Photo A Day

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



1. Your View Today 2. Words

3. Hands 4. A Stranger

5. 10am 6. Dinner

7. Button 8. Sun

9. Front Door 10. Self Portrait


11. Makes You Happy 12. Inside Your Closet


13. Blue 14. Heart


15. Phone 16. Something New


17. Time 18. Drink


19. Something You Hate To Do 20. Handwriting


21. A Fave Photo of You 22. Where You Work


23. Your Shoes 24. Inside Your Bathroom Cabinet


25. Green 26. Night


27. Something You Ate 28. Money


29. Something You're Listening To

With love and light xo

Dear Alice - 10 Months

Dear Alice,

This month you are 10 months old!

You have literally just started to cut your first two teeth. They are little but definitely there, and very sharp. You have been a little grizzly but mostly a trooper with it really.

You are so big! You were weighed last week and you were 20lb 6oz. You are both heavy and long for your age and have had to change into your 12-18 month clothes already.

Your sleep is getting better, both in the day and at night. You are taking a long morning nap of about 1.5 hours, and a little afternoon nap of about 45 minutes. This past few weeks you have also started sleeping through at night. This is a miracle! I am not holding my breath that this will last but it's absolutely lovely. (I started writing this last night and just to prove a point you were awake lots last night!)

We went on a holiday to Pickering with lots of family. We took you to the sea life centre and you loved looking at all the lights and trying to touch the fish through the glass. I think you're favourites were the rays and the penguins.

Your walking and pulling up is getting a lot better - you can walk aslong as you're holding on to your little cart with one hand, and you can pull yourself up with no help at all. We've had lots more tumbles because of this!

You're copying everything we do, and it's amazing to see the little cogs ticking away in your head. You'll copy someone blowing on your spoon, or putting blocks away, or banging on your drum.

You're also copying noises but you still don't quite understand what you're saying. Amelia kept saying "duck" when we were on holiday and you've now inherited the word but only because you like the sound!

You also enjoy games much more, and you can play peekaboo with a cloth on your own. You get very frustrated if I stop playing games with you and keep giving me the toy back so we can carry on!

We love you lots and lots :)

With love and light xo

Milk Weaning - The Story So Far...

The past few weeks we have been part weaning from breastfeeding. I've been trying to avoid writing about this for many reasons.

I guess the main one is the "I told you so's." There are always people who think you should have done this months ago. There are also people who think you should never do it and let babies wean when they're ready. I think every baby is different, and I think every way is hard. This has been working for us so far.

The other reason is that I don't want to sound like I know what I'm doing! I don't - simple. It's easy to come across as preachy - "this is the way to do it". This is only one way of doing it and definitely not the right way - just a way!

Anyway - with that out the way - this is what we've been doing.

I've been dreading returning to work. For all the obvious reasons related to leaving Alice, but also because she was incredibly dependent on me.

We were still feeding to sleep for all naps. Alice was still breastfeeding 5 times a day, plus once in the night (we only got that down from twice a month or so ago). However this was fine by me - I was in no rush to tackle it and we were happy. I'm pretty much happy to plod along with the whole attachment parenting train, and I loved most of it. (Bits I didn't love included no sleep!)

So I decided it was time to adapt it a little. We've been kind of loosely using the No Cry Sleep Solution, mixed with a lot of Dr. Sears, and a bit of Lizz is just making this shit up. It seems to be working for us!

I started off with the 10am nap. I know Alice didn't NEED milk then, just kinda wanted it, so I started trying to rock her down to sleep. This started off as a nightmare, then got easier. I count to keep my sanity and know that I've not been up there forever!

After about a week of this I attempted the afternoon nap. This is the least successful - Alice hates afternoon naps! Same again - trying to rock to sleep. This is still a work in progress and can be a bit hit or miss.

So at this point I'm 2 weeks in and have managed to drop all feeds between 9 and 5 - hurrah! I'm feeling better about returning to work, and everyone's happy! I could stop here and be happy. She is getting much better at getting herself to sleep - probably 50% of the time she manages it.

However - I'm all about following Alice. And the past 3 days - she's dropped her 5pm breastfeed too. Andddd has been sleeping through. This is like a pure miracle. Literally I could weep.

I'm not expecting this to continue forever, but at the moment we're down to 2 feeds a day. Both milk feeds have been replaced by snack times instead. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Breastfeeding is hard. No-one tells you how hard it is. Or time consuming. Or isolating at times. However - future Lizz remember this - it gets better!!

With love and light xo

Walking and Waving

Just a quick one to say Alice has been waving! It is quite possibly the most adorable thing in the world. She'll wave at anyone who says hi or bye on the telly, and she makes a little "aiii" noise like she's trying to say hi too. It literally melts my heart!

She's a little snotty at the moment but doesn't seem to have bothered her too much, just put her off a food a little bit.

Finally, a new video -

With love and light xo

Instagram

With love and light xo

Dear Alice - 9 Months

Dear Alice,

This month you are 9 months old. 9 months - you have been alive for as long as pregnancy!

Finally, I can write that we are all getting better sleep. I'm crossing my fingers / toes / bones that it doesn't fade too much, but we are all sleeping tons better. Currently you are waking up once a night, but you had about a week of sleeping 7 - 7 so I know you can do it. Even if you do wake up now, it's only for 5 minutes and easy enough to deal with. We definitely all needed it.

You are also having 2 naps a day - 10am and 3pm ish. These vary in length from about 30 mins to 2 hours - normally a short morning nap and long afternoon nap.

You are eating more food, and less of it is going on the floor. At breakfast you demolish a slice of toast and Philadelphia, followed by Ready Brek and half a mushed up banana. Lunch is various fruits and a sandwich. Some kind of afternoon snack, and then whatever we're having for tea! This month your favourite foods are probably banana and bread.

You are standing much stronger, and walking supported. Every day I see your strength and balance develop and it's pretty amazing.

You seem to have developed a sense of object permanence - and I can move something or hide something and you still know exactly where it is. This is generally when you want things you can't have - such as mummy's phone or the remote control!

We took you to London for the weekend, and you were such a good girl. You amazed us both by just being completely fantastic for the entire weekend!

You are so smiley, and you seem to have developed a cat giggle - sort of a mean laugh when you're chasing the poor cats around! You also make more noises and sounds now.

I'm trying to work up to leaving you more, and today I left you with daddy for the morning. It is hard to leave you, but I love seeing your beautiful face when I get back!

We love you lots Alice.

With love and light xo

Video - Alice 0-8 Months

My first proper go with iMovie... enjoy!

With love and light xo

2011

I know I've done my year in pictures, but just wanted to really remind myself of some of the highlights of this year! We've been incredibly lucky to have such a good year. Thank you to everyone who's helped make it so good :)

In January we went for our 3D scan, and got to see our little girl for the first time. I think we picked her name about this time too, which seemed to lift a massive wait off our shoulders! I started to get massive.

In February we went to watch University Challenge being filmed, as my brother was on it, which was amazing. We went to see Boyzone for free and ate an amazingly expensive indian meal, courtesy of Chloe winning a competition!

In March I finished work which felt amazing. We got the last few bits and pieces ready, and Mitch had some time off work with me to just spend time together. We tried to appreciate just being the 2 of us, but in hindsight I think I was just too impatient to meet baby! We also got engaged :)

In April I had a baby. It was a ridiculously warm April and we spent lots of time outside in the sunshine. We spent all of Mitch's paternity leave doing nice things and it was lovely to be a little family. We weren't that tired yet. We had a party for the Royal Wedding and started to get the hang of breastfeeding.

In May we were tired! We went to Newstead Abbey and practiced going out and about more. I picked out my engagement ring and we told everyone our exciting news. I don't think we got a lot else done in June. I think we may have cracked feeding a bit more.

In June it was sunny and lovely. We went to BBQs and spent lots of time outside in the sunshine. We picked the church and hall where we were getting married, and booked it for in a years time - 16th June 2012. Mitch went away with work for almost a week and I didn't like it.

In July we moved house, and rented our flat out. We managed it over the course of 1 day mainly, with the help of lots of people and their cars and hands! We sorted out the house but lived in chaos for a while.

In August we took our first holiday, to Ely near Cambridge. Alice paddled in the sea and we had lots of giggles. It was Daddys birthday when we were away, plus mama's big 50! We went punting in Cambridge, and ate too much food. Nom.

In September Alice went to her first birthday party, and started rolling around. Alice started eating food, and we started with purees etc., but ended up changing to baby led weaning quite quickly when she flat out just wanted to do it herself!

In October we went on holiday for the weekend to the seaside, and had a lovely time. Alice really got a hold of this food stuff and went for it big time. We went to a Halloween party and all got all dressed up. Mitch cut holes in a sheet and went as a coast.

In November Alice started crawling which was a terrifying moment! Mitch grew a moustache and I graduated.

And finally December has been busy! Alice had her Christening, and we got all decorated and prepared for Christmas. We had a lovely Christmas, and saw lots of lovely people and got lots of nice things. We organised the house a bit more, and put Alice into her own room (*sob!*). We bought a dishwasher.

So, we have had a busy year! This has been, without a doubt, one of the most incredibly happy and lovely years of my life. I have an amazing family, a lovely house, and fantastic friends. I can only hope 2012 is even half as brilliant. We truly are blessed.

With love and light xo

2011 A Photo Diary

So after doing one last year, I thought I'd give it another go!

With love and light xo