12/13 week pregnancy update

I was supposed to write this update on monday but life happened so I'm now writting a 12/13 week update instead. We are a few days away from Christmas and after a very good 12 week scan, I'm so ready to celebrate with family and friends. We have a lot of holiday parties coming up in the next week and a half so it will be very busy but very fun.

How far along: 12 weeks and 5 days

Total weight gain: after being sick a lot I'm now starting to gain some weight back and I'm a little over 1 kilo less than I was before I got pregnant.

Maternity clothes: Not really but my jeans are starting to get uncomfortable when I'm sitting all day. I'm at the point where maternity jeans are too loose and normal jeans are uncomfortable. So I bought a really nice Boob design nursing and maternity dress to wear during the holidays. They have a great sale on if you need some beautiful, good quality nursing or maternity clothes.

Stretch marks: None so far

Sleep: I have been sleeping well but I'm still tired a lot.

Best moment of this week: The 12 week scan. Everything is going really well.

Miss anything: Not really

Movement: Not yet

Food cravings: Nothing new this week.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Inhave to eat lots of little things all day because I feel sick as soon as I'm hungry.

Have you started to show yet: Yes, A lot more than with Luke at 12 weeks but they say that's normal with a second pregnancy.

Gender: Don't know

Labor sign: Nope

Belly button in or out: In

Happy or moody most of the time: Very happy

Looking forward to: The holidays

9 week pregnancy update

This week hasn't been the greatest week... I have been very sick. I have had a cold for about 2 weeks now and the last week I have been in so much pain. I first thought I had an infected tooth but I'm now thinking it's probably a really bad inflamation of my sinus. The complete right half of my face is in so much pain it's difficult to concentrate on anything else. I hate having to take medication while pregnant even if the doctor says it's ok but right now I have to take some pain medication and antibiotics to get this under control.

How far along: 9 weeks and 2 days

Total weight gain: Because I'm still sick and now in so much pain I'm still 2 kilo's less then when I got pregnant

Maternity clothes: Not yet but I am starting to show already

Stretch marks: None so far

Sleep: Luke has been sleeping a lot better this week and we hace a new amazing bed. The pain makes it a little harder to fall asleep but I'm so tired I do fall asleep eventually.

Best moment of this week: my friends babyshower, she is due in about 8 weeks.

Miss anything: I miss feeling good and being able to run the house properly

Movement: Not yet

Food cravings: I only kind of enjoy food that's bad for me like fries, pizza and chips...

Anything making you queasy or sick: being hungry makes me sick

Have you started to show yet: A little bit

Gender: Don't know

Labor sign: Nope

Belly button in or out: In

Happy or moody most of the time: I haven't been in a good mood this week.

Looking forward to: Luke's first birthday next week!

As I'm posting this I'm already 12 weeks along but I will do a bigger update next week after my scan

Here we go again - 8 week pregnancy update

It looks like our life is about to get very interesting... I'm pregnant again 😄! After we had Luke we knew that we wanted our children to be close in age. About a year and a half apart seems perfect for our family. It will be a busy few year but we are excited for our children to play together and hopefully become best friends.

I have just had my first scan at 8 weeks and my due date will be 01/07/2016. Luke will be about 19 months when his brother or sister arrives. I really want to document this pregnancy here so I'm going to start now with my 8 week update. This probably won't go up for a few weeks though (we still have to tell some people first).

How far along: 8 weeks and 1 day

Total weight gain: I have actually lost about 2 kilo's because I had a stomach flu and some "morning" sickness

Maternity clothes: Not yet but I feel like I will need them sooner this time around

Stretch marks: None so far

Sleep: Luke is quite a bad sleeper so I'm not getting nearly as much as I need

Best moment of this week: my first scan, seeing the heartbeat

Miss anything: I miss enjoying food and wanting to cook. Right now my stomach feels really small and I don't feel like eating much let along cook a nice meal.

Movement: Not yet

Food cravings: I only kind of enjoy food that's bad for me like fries, pizza and chips...

Anything making you queasy or sick: this week has been better. Last week everything made me sick.

Have you started to show yet: A little bit

Gender: Don't know

Labor sign: Nope

Belly button in or out: In

Happy or moody most of the time: That changes a lot 😊

Looking forward to: Luke's first birthday!

Baking a basic cake - recipe

I really love to bake but these days it's hard to find the time. So when I do find myself with a bit of extra time, I want to bake something that I know will get eaten and that will last us a while. The one thing I think most people love and everybody could make is a basic cake. When your cake is moist and delicious, your family and friends will love it just as much, if not more, than any complex baked good you can find on pinterest. Don't get me wrong I love those but sometimes you just have to get back to or start with the basics.

What you need:
5 eggs
250 grams of selfrising flour
250 grams of plain white sugar
40 grams of vanilla sugar
250 grams of butter

Start with melting your butter. Some recipes may tell you to do this in a bowl over a saucepan or something like that. I just put in the microwave. To the melted butter, add your sugar and 30 grams of the vanilla sugar and mix well. You don't need to use an electric wisk for this, just by hand is fine. Then you need to seperate your eggs. Put the yolks in with the butter and sugar and the whites in a bowl. This is a really important step to make your cake light and fluffy. Wisk the yorks with the butter and sugar by hand and then gradually add the flour. You can use normal flour and baking powder but I just use selfrising flour to make it easier. Then put the remaining 10 grams of vanillasugar in with the eggwhites and mix this with an electric wisk, or by hand if you are really strong, until it forms stiff white peaks. Add this to the batter and mix well.



I find this recipe to be a perfect fit for a bundt cake tin. To prepare your tin, smear the inside completely with butter and then dust it with flour so the bottom and walls are completely covered. Then you can pour in your batter and your cake is ready to be baked.

Put it in a preheaded oven at 175° celcius for about 35 minutes or until a scewer in the middle comes out clean. Be carefull not to put it in too long because you will have a dry cake.

Enjoy your cake.

Getting baby to sleep

I really wanted to talk about sleep and more importantly getting your baby to sleep. Luke has always been a great baby. You can take him anywhere, he is so sweet and mellow. At home obviously he plays like the wild child he is, but he doesn't get upset when he has to wait in line somewhere or when we go out to eat. The only thing that has kind of been a little bit of a problem is sleeping.

When he was a newborn he would not sleep in his crib. He would only sleep lying on my chest. After a few days of this (on top of having just given birth to him), I was exhausted. I have already talked about this in my baby must-haves so I won't go into it too much but a co-sleeper and a white noise bear helped with getting him to sleep. We still had our sleepness nights now and again but they weren't the rule anymore.

When we moved Luke to his room and he had to start taking naps in his room and go to bed before we would go to bed, and he started to sleep badly again. Once he was asleep he was kind of ok but getting him to sleep was a whole other story. He would scream and cry for up to an hour and eventually just fall asleep exhausted. During the day this was a really big problem, it made me feel so helpless. In the evenings, he would either fall asleep while I fed him or he would scream for hours. We would try everything, rocking him to sleep, sitting with him and quietly sing to him, letting him scream,...

I knew that rocking him to sleep or letting him fall asleep while feeding was not the answer but I did this for a while because it made me feel so much better than hearing him scream for an hour. It took until he was over six months for me to find the problem and it was so simple. For weeks I thought that it was my job to make sure he fell asleep. When he talked in his bed for too long I would go in and give him his pacifier. When his pacifier would fall, i would go in and give it back,... And he would cry as soon as I left the room. And then I started doing some research and found that babies talk away everything they did and saw before they fall asleep as a way to relax after all those stimuli. And I started thinking about it and applying it to myself. If I'm trying to fall asleep and someone would come in and check up on me every 5 minutes, I wouldn't be able to fall asleep either.

Once I realized that I didn't need to help him fall asleep and relaxed a bit more, things got so much easier. Of course I had to work on it a bit because Luke wasn't used to falling asleep on his own. The first few days I put him down and let him talk and cry a little until he started really crying. Then I would walk in, put him back under his sheets, give him his pacifier and leave. I never said a word and I tried not to look him in the eye. Sometimes I had to do this a few times and other times, he would fall asleep after the first time. Gradually he stopped crying so hard and I wouldn't have to go back so much. And now he just talks for a few minutes or 15 minutes depending on the day and then he falls asleep. At times I might have to go in once just to put him back under his sheets and give him his pacifier but then he will fall asleep within minutes.

The most important thing that changed everything has been my feelings about him sleeping. I was so focused on how much he should sleep and it stressed me out. Now I just think, " he'll fall asleep eventually and if he doesn't than he will sleep a little more later" and I really think Luke feels better about going to sleep now that I feel less stressed.

Things I regret buying for my baby

In this post I wanted to talk about a few things that I regret buying either because they didn't perform the way I expected or because I really just didn't need them.

The first things I regret is the Childwood Evolu high chair. I really love the look of this high chair. It's just a very simple chair with kind of a modern design look to it. The only problem is that I can't use it anymore (kind of a big problem huh). The first problem is the harnas. The Evolu we have does not have a bar between the legs so you have to use the harnas. It is a 5 point harnas that can also be used as a 3 point harnas ( meaning that it still clicks if you only use the straps at the waist and between the legs). The straps over the shoulders I can't use because they cut into Lukes neck really hard even when he sits still. But being able to just use the harnas as a 3 point kind of helps with this problem. The big problem however is that I don't feel the chair is safe. Luke is a very active boy so he is not one to sit still. He will rock back and forth and wiggle and when he does this, the legs come of the ground and so I'm afraid he will tip over. I contacted the manufacturer but they just told me the chair is up to code so it's safe. I'm now just using a cheap Ikea chair because it is so much safer and it's more comfortable for Luke to sit in.

Another thing I probably shouldn't have bought was the baby carrier. This has nothing to do with the carrier itself but just with the fact that I never remembered using it. It is the Stokke carrier and I did try it and it is very safe and comfortable so if you really want one I do recommend it. I do think I will get a lot of use out of it when we have another baby because I will have Luke to run after and it will be easy to carry a baby around and have my hands free. But with Luke it only got used twice so I probably shouldn't have spend the money.

Another thing I never used and shouldn't have bought was the belly bandit. I loved the idea of it but it was just so uncomfortable. I'm quite a short person with a short torso and it just hurt and I couldn't nurse with it on because it pushed at my boobs. I do know a lot of women like it but maybe try to borrow one and test it before you spend the money.

I don't regret buying many things because I did do a lot of research. The best way to make sure you get the best gear for your baby, just read the reviews and the blogs.

Baby must-haves 3-7 months

Before I start my post about baby things I regret buying, I thought I would first tell you about my must-have item for months 3 through 7.

I founds that at 3 months the baby toys really started to become interesting for Luke. He started to really enjoy his mobile. That was the first toy he got excited about. He would wiggle and kick or just stare at the soft animals going around and around with his big interested eyes. As the weeks went on, he got into more and more toys like soft books, a rattle,... Then when he was a little over 4 months I found that he needed more. He wasn't happy with just playing on his back anymore. I did a lot of research and finally bought him a Fisher Price jumperoo (the rainforest one). The first time I put him in it, he cried but after about a day of sitting in front of it with him and showing him the toys and colors he got used to it. We never put him in it for very long but he loved it. The jumping was fun of course but I really liked to see him working his little hands to grab the toys. It's not cheap but for him it was absolutely worth it.

Fisher Price jumperoo

Another thing I'm so happy to have is the Beaba babycook. If you don't know what a babycook is, it's a steamer and mixer in one. You put the vegtables in the basket and steam them and when they are done, you can use the same device to mix them into a nice puree for your baby. You don't have to keep an eye on it as you do when you cook them in a pot and steaming the vegetables will keep a lot more nutrients than cooking will.

Beaba babycook

I started reading to Luke when I was still pregnant with him but in the last few months, he seems to really like a story before bed. His favorite is "the wizard and the hopping pot" by JK Rowling. This is a story in the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Do keep in mind that some of the stories in this book might not be appropriate for really small children. Another favorite is "the gruffalo" by Julie Donaldson and Alex Scheffler.



Nestlé dessert...this is Lukes must-have!. He is a really good eater, fruit and vegetables more than milk but he'll pretty much eat everything. The Nestlé desserts however he won't just eat, he will devour them. The baby vanilla pudding is his favorite. This is obviously a treat and not for every day but he enjoys them so much I can't help but give in sometimes.

Those are the main things I can think of but, as everything does with babies, these can change really quickly.

Baby must haves 0-3 months

I thought I would write my first post about baby must haves. When I was pregnant these were my favorite things to read and they helped a lot. Of course I still bought some things I didn't need but I do think it helped me make some good choices.

This post will be focused on the things I used most from birth until 3 months.

1. The first thing was a co-sleeper. I hadn't expected to use a co-sleeper. I had a crib set up in our bedroom but after a few days it became clear that I would't get any sleep like that. My son would only sleep well on or next to me. I borrowed a co-sleeper from my cousin and it was a lifesaver. My son felt like he was close to me but I could still sleep without him being in danger of falling or getting hurt. It was a borrowed co-sleeper so I'm not sure about the brand but there are loads out there. I quite like the look of the Chicco Next to me sleeper. The one we used was a wooden one and it worked fine but as Luke got older he would hit his hands on it quite hard because co-sleepers are narrow and this Chicco one would be softer.

Chicco Next to me

2. The other thing that helped him sleep was a white noise (womb sounds) Doodoo bear. The sound really soothed him. We had to change the batteries several times because we used it so much. I also prefered this to a musical bear because this noise didn't bother me while I was trying to fall asleep.

Doodoo bear

                                       
3. His stroller. We have the Stokke crusi stroller. It is not a cheap stroller by any means and it is quite large but I love it. The bassinet is big enough for your baby to sleep in comfortably when you are out and about. My son was a few weeks old during the holidays and he could comfortably sleep in his stroller while we visited family. And when Luke was two months we went to London for a few days. The cribs they give you in most hotels have a matras as thin as paper and so Luke just slept in his stroller. It was quite cold outside while we walked through the city but he never even noticed because he was so cosy in his bassinet.

Stokke Crusi

                                             


4. The Fisher Price woodsy friends bouncer. I bought this on amazon during their black friday sales and it is one of the best impulse buys I have ever made. We started using this when he was a few weeks old. He would just lie in this while we had dinner and as he got bigger, we used it more and more. He loved the musical owl and he practiced his grabbing on the apples. He would happily sit in it while I did some laundry or cleaned a bit and he got so excited when he was able to pull the owl and make music himself.

Fisher Price bouncer
 

5. I used the small Doomoo breastfeeding pillow from day one. The size is perfect. The first few months, I put it around my waist and now I just put it next to me under my arm for support. I have been using it for almost 8 months all day every day and the shape is still perfect. I couldn't recommend this one more. Perfect for breastfeeding and bottle feeding your baby.

Honorable mention: Aden and Anais swaddles. I probably would have been fine without these or with cheaper versions but I love them anyway. I'm not going to lie, these are pricey but they are also really soft, durable and so so beautiful. I didn't actually use them as swaddles, I used them as a towel to dry Luke off, as a sheet in his crib and stroller, to shield him from the sun while walking outside,...
They get softer every time you wash them and the designs are adorable. Definitely a treat but if you can afford them, they are lovely.



Aden+Anais swaddles