The double stroller problem

Ever since we found out we're expecting number two, I have been researching strollers. We have a really great stroller for Luke but he will only be 19 months when baby number two arrives so we will need a double stroller. We love going outside and Luke just won't be able to walk on his own for very long or stand on a board behind te stroller. The problem is: double strollers are expensive and I'm just not convinced about any of them. Here are the ones I have found:

The Stokke crusi with sibling seat. This would be great because we have a Stokke crusi so we wouldn't need to buy a whole new stroller. But Lucas would have to sit below the new baby which I don't like and neither will he. It seems like the sibling seat is very low to the ground and the child is just looking at peoples feet. The seat also has just one position and it's not completely upright, not great for a toddler. I'm kind of disappointed that this is the only Stokke duo stroller option.

Another option is the Icandy peach 3 blossom. Icandy is not a well known brand in Belgium yet so I can't find much about it. Some stores do sell them but most don't show them on their site. We saw one in a store but we didn't have Luke with us so I couldn't really test to see if the seat was wide and long enough to keep him comfortable for a few more years. It did seem to be quite roomy for a double though. Here are the pros and cons in my opinion:
Pros:

• Looks good (I like the black frame best)
• Can be used as a mono and duo
• Not too big and foldes quite compact
• Both children can see something even if the seats are high/low

Cons:

• Can't use our Stokke izi go in the duo
• The duo cot seems a little small

I have also been looking at the ABC Design zoom duo. I haven't seen it in any stores so I can only go by what I can find online.

Pros:

• It looks really beautiful
• It seems to be really comfortable for both children even when they get bigger
• Both seats can face both ways
• Both children are at the same height

Cons:

• Very long and very heavy
• Can't use our Stokke izi go
• might be too big to go shopping with
• Can't be used as a mono

If you are looking for a double stroller, you will come across the Bugaboo donkey everywhere. It is probably the most well known double stroller in Belgium.

Pros:

• Looks good, not that many colours but I prefer blacks or greys anyway
• Very narrow for a side by side stroller
• Can be used as a mono
• Compatible with our Stokke Izi go 
• Easy to move around

Cons:

• So expensive!
• Quite big when folded

It's a good thing we have 5 months! I think I will be visiting a lot of stores before we make our desicion. If anybody has experience with any of these or can recommend another one, do let me know!

X

14 week pregnancy update

How far along: 14 weeks and 2 days

Total weight gain: I'm still almost a kilo less than before I got pregnant.

Maternity clothes: I have gone over to maternity jeans because my normal jeans were starting to getting really uncomfortable

Stretch marks: None so far

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

Best moment of this week: Playing with Luke. He has loved having his parents home all week

Miss anything: Not really

Movement: Not yet

Food cravings: Nothing new this week.

Anything making you queasy or sick: I have to eat lots of little things all day because I feel sick as soon as I'm hungry. I also have to get up and eat something as soon as I wake up... Really annoying when you don't have to get up for work

Have you started to show yet: Yes, It's really obvious now.

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: cleaning out the messy room that we become the new nursery

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.