Anxiety

So miss s has separation anxiety. This means that my babe who used to wake once a night and transitioned beautifully from our room to her cot about 3 weeks ago is now waking every two hours for a cuddle or feed. She is becomingly increasingly upset if I leave the room or even put her down. Speaking with our local provider of early parenting services, I have been reassured that this is a normal occurrence with miss s hitting some milestones recently - two teeth popping through and beginning to crawl.  I was starting to freak out thinking all my good work teaching her to self settle had completely disappeared but the lovely lady on the phone said, no, my dear, no, your baby will remember how to get herself back once she gets through this phase. Please God, let her be right cos this phase sucks.

Any advice peoples?

Changes again

when i was pregnant I had the nose of a bloodhound, I would get beautiful gifts of clothing and wraps and it always struck me how clearly I would get a whiff of chemicals when unwrapping them prior to putting them in the washing machine
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miss s is quite a chilled little lady (although there are signs this is changing). One of the things that she and I both love and have done since birth is lots of skin to skin time. It is noticeable how calm yet still alert she becomes when having a cuddle with lots of direct skin contact.
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these experiences and many others plus the absolute gorgeous "newness" of miss s' baby skin has made me more aware of my daily routines. I've decided to make a few changes, just a few at a time but with the idea that they are lasting decisions.

Firstly I've changed deodorant to using one that is more baby/ breastfeeding friendly and not full of nasty chemicals. I've been using nutter's  which is produced by a local lady who started her own range after her six year old daughter was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. It is great and actually seems even more effective than the supermarket brand I was using before (smells nicer too). 

Number 2 - I've always loved salad but I was doing a lot of cooking on the weekend and freezing it to have during the week. I was getting pretty tired so although we were having healthy meals, we weren't having a lot of fresh vegetables as it was easier to just pull something out of the freezer and nuke it.  If I had a busy day with Sienna and it took a while to settle her to sleep, we were often snacking on cheese and biscuits before sitting down to dinner. So one of the priorities in my day is to make up a platter of cut up vegetables to put on the kitchen bench that we snack on from the time mr k comes home from work until we sit down for dinner. Sometimes I even get fancy and make this hummus with a dollop of organic yoghurt and cayenne pepper. This was a tip from my mum but I just saw a similar post on Tabletonic (who has also inspired my family's health overhaul)

Number 3 - Coconut oil. Seeing a segment on this wondrous product on one of the tv shows this morning I thought this was timely. I've been using it for 2 weeks both in my cooking and on my skin. OMG!!! First time ever I can actually see a difference from using a product on my skin. It is a little greasier than my normal moisturiser but I just put it on earlier and it soaks in beautifully. I love the smell and the fact that I am not inadvertently rubbing off any nasty chemicals on my baby's skin.  I swear my skin seems to have improved. For cooking, I just use it in place of olive oil from everything to salads to frying.  I just bought some from the organic part of my local supermarket. It was expensive, about $11 for a jar but a little goes a long way so it seems to be a little cheaper.  I am using the Melrose brand but from my reading the key is to buy organic, virgin press from the pacific islands. A blurb from the Melrose Health site -

"coconut oil does not raise cholesterol levels but is quickly metabolized into energy. It is high in Lauric acid. Once mistakenly believed to be unhealthy because of its high saturated fat content, it is now known that the fat in coconut oil is short chain. It has no cholesterol and no dangerous trans-fats as found in other oils. Coconut fats are processed directly in the liver without putting strain on the digestive system and are highly recommended for those who have difficulty digesting fats." 

Lauric acid is the good stuff you find in breast milk.  What I like about using the coconut oil is that it is cheaper than my usual moisturiser but is more effective, cooks beautifully and it makes me feel good that I'm making good choices for my little family.

Next change...finding a good water source and getting the husband off his plastic bottles of water addiction....this local source looks good.

Congratulations!!!

To Sammi of Marriage, Motherhood and...  on the birth of a beautiful baby girl.

 She's beautiful.

via

Changing direction

This weekend we went out to a beautiful local winery and had a gorgeous lunch. It was a different experience. Instead of our peacefully sleeping or serenely gazing babe we had a little person who needed to be a part of things, wanted to know what we were doing at all times and madly kicked their feet the entire time. We took turns walking her around outside and showing her different things and rotated her on laps. Quite a revelation for her parents considering that this mama used to worry a little that maybe her babe was a little too chilled. Although we had lunch together, we certainly didn't eat our meals together. One thing motherhood hasn't changed is my perspective on how to manage your children when out and about. I used to hate it if you went out to a restaurant and someone's baby would be crying throughout your meal. I certainly don't think children should be out of sight but I do think you need to respect other people and  acknowledge that they have come out and are spending their hard earned money on having a nice relaxing meal. Bringing your baby to a restaurant at night where other people are trying to enjoy a relaxing night out is fine if your baby can manage it but it is not really fair if your baby is not comfortable and cries a lot and then makes everyone uncomfortable. We are lucky here in Perth because the weather is usually so mild so if your babe is fussing a bit, you can simply go outside and reduce the stimulation for them and not worry about making other patrons uncomfortable. I'm not sure how I would go in a place where going outside was not an option. Along with this new milestone, miss s has gained two bottom teeth in one day, is starting to crawl and has become intensely curious. I have a little bag filled with a few toys to go in my handbag but I can see that I am going to have to improve my repertoire. In my search for making hand made toys, I came across "busy bags". I LOVE THIS!!  They even have busy bag swaps...got to get in one of these or start one myself.  Check out all the smart mama goodness below. Clicking on the pics should take you directly to the website (if my mad blogging skills have worked).

Father's Day

mr k made a big fuss of my first mother's day so I want to make him feel just as special on his first father's day.  A friend and I are thinking of sending our boys to a bbq cooking class (there might be a slight sneakiness in this, hopefully it will inspire them to cook once a week once summer comes around:)

Another thing I thought I might do is print and frame some of his favourite quotes. mr k makes me laugh all the time by being silly. He does stupid voices and quotes 80s movies. This is what I am playing with at the moment.

Are you doing anything special for father's day this year?

Is it too early ...

to think about first birthdays? I think not because judging how much I now have to pre-plan my week, I'm already going to be pushed for time for Sienna's first birthday next February. 

I love lots of colour so have been pinning away madly to get some inspiration. Sienna's room is white with lots of bursts of rainbow colour (thinking I might post some photos of her room but don't want to completely bore people) and I love it. Of paramount importance is good food and some yummy wine. We are thinking of doing an afternoon by the river. Normally I would cook but I want to really enjoy the day and celebrate with my family and friends. If I'm catering that won't happen, despite my best intentions. So we may splash out and order some delicious food.

OR

it may all be too hard and we might just end up the four of us (including the dog of course!) in a park drinking some champagne and reflecting on what a wondrous year it has been.










  

1sugar biscuits glorioustreats.blogspot.com
2 rainbow pinata glorioustreats.blogspot.com
3 backdrop idea ohhappyday.com
4 balloon garland  designmom.com