Happiness & Sadness - let's hold hands

Woops! It's been a while between updates. Life has become even busier, and blog time has been somewhat limited!

We're off on our big journey to Canada this weekend, and Art has developed the ability to squeal really loudly just in time for the flight and has decided the world is way more interesting than milk - so mealtimes have become a wee bit of a battle. He would rather chat away and smile at me instead... or scream. He thinks feeding at night time is a much better plan because there's not much else happening.

We've had several family Christmas celebrations as we're not here for Christmas this year. Art has been passed back and forth between too many people to count and the little guy lapped up the attention.
He got in a few rounds of Monopoly deal with his uncle Zac too.

This week has sadness and happiness side by side, so my emotions are in overdrive. I say goodbye to my closest friend and my little girl which brings tears to my eyes even just thinking about it for a second. It's hard to even comprehend what life will be without her nearby and I'll miss her little sidekick more than words can describe.

I'm gonna miss those curls...

and that little cheeky face

And 'Arfa' will miss his kisses

Let's change the subject, because I can't see what I'm typing through blurry eyes.

My sister returns home this week all ready for our family holiday... which brings a lot of happiness. I need a lot more sister time in my life. It's not fair that a massive ocean separates us.

And when we return to New Zealand we get to see our friends get married up North, and then MOVE INTO OUR OWN HOME!!!! That's right - we bought a house a few days before heading overseas for a month. It's a great way to create stress for yourself, but will be worth it in the long run to be back at the beach. Our first proper family home where we can do whatever we fancy, and watch little Art grow up near the ocean.

That's what's happening over here! A fair bit of stuff...So I guess the blog next year will have a little bit of poor man's DIY thrown into the mix as we put our own stamp on our family home. I'm sure it will make a nice change from baby baby baby posts for some of your 'not interested in babies' readers that may still be looming.

The little bear sleeps

A beautiful sight... the sleeping baby. x

Look into my eyes

There is something magnificent about an innocent child's ability to stare blatantly and unashamedly into your eyes. I'm not just talking about making eye contact. For the first time in my life, someone actually looks me not only in the eyes, but through my eyes. It's the deepest eye contact I've ever experienced. It's like he is searching for something, and when he finds it, that little face erupts in the world's softest, most loving smile.

Sometimes, out of habit, and due to my own insecurities, I break his gaze... and he moves his little head around to catch me ... and when he locks eyes again, that little smile comes creeping back.

I melt. Every time.

I love you Arthur Bear. 

Art goes to the beach!

The sun came out to play last weekend... FINALLY! our first beautiful bluebird day in a long time, so to celebrate we packed up the car (a serious job with a baby in tow) and took off up North to the beautiful Te Arai Beach on the East Coast. I've been there many times before, but this was our first as a new family - and Art's first ever time touching the sand and ocean.

I feel compelled to capture all of these 'firsts'. I'm a nutty first time mum with a camera addiction and I can't stop snapping! I just feel I need to capture these moments forever and tuck them away to cry over when he's a big boy.

His Dad insisted that he touch the ocean with his little baby toes. I stood in the water to take the picture and it was so cold it hurt... so I wasn't surprised his bottom lip turned upside down moments later. Mean Daddy!

The tears didn't last long as I whisked him away back to the safety of the beach umbrella and mumma's arms...His little toes digging away in soft, warm sand was insanely cute and precious, and he just lay down and chilled under the umbrella cooing and smiling at whoever came over for a chat. He couldn't have been happier!

A perfect family day with friends at the beach... bring on summer!

Quarter of a Year!

Where are we at now that this guy has reached his three month mark. Let's see..

Well he certainly isn't hungry... 

This guy has found his hands and feet. Those little hands then find a little mouth and the result is a lot of dribble. He has started to grasp things on his play gym. He has had his first swim in a big pool, had his first walk in the big boy pram (front facing, sitting up... rather than his carry cot). He has napped in his cot several times and has discovered that he can rotate whilst doing tummy time and ends up parallel to his play gym. Clever boy.

What else... ?

He is officially outgrowing clothes faster than I can buy them (that's saying something!) so ends up in pants that are too small and body suits with necklines stretched down to his chest which looks great.

 Hello hand... do you belong to me?

Oh and Captain Calamari arrived... I ordered him from Amazon and he is an absolute hit around here! Is it wrong to buy your baby toys just because of the name?  Because that's what I did.

Time to provide him with some entertainment... "the wheels on the bus go round and round..."

My Water Baby

This little guy has always loved the water and we've always wanted to nurture that trait in him and throw him into the big boy pool as soon as possible.

We thought 3 months was long enough to wait, and he has really good head control now, so we finally did it. I'm fortunate to have a really good friend with an indoor pool who takes lessons for kids, so we had a very sweet Saturday morning swim. I say 'we' but I just stood on the side snapping photos... as I do.

He LOVED it! When I was drying him afterwards he was all smiles... so proud of himself.

Getting in for the first time...

Getting a feel for it... check out those delicious back rolls! 

Look at me mum! 

Coming up for air after his first dunking! those pursed lips kill me.

I can't wait to get him into more regular lessons. I might just wait a wee bit more until we throw him into public pools, as they're quite heavily doused in chlorine which can't be too friendly for his beautiful baby skin.

Vest is Best

The weather is warming up and Art's winter knits are slowly retiring and being replaced by short sleeved onesies, singlets and.... knitted vests! Just as he thought he was free from the world of wool...

Here's his latest collection of knits for the colder mornings and outings leading up to summer. I think he has enough now?

 My nana made the bear one. It is so stretchy and soft! I call him Arthur Bear, so I wanted an old school classic knitted bear vest for him. Nana thought the bears were ugly... I'd classify them in that ugly but cute category... and I love it, and this poor kid has me in charge of dressing him!

Mum made this nice darker blue one - fancy shmancy... 

This was the first one Mum made the other day... it JUST covers his little round tum. Seriously - this boy is getting some serious chub going on.

And that's it - time to put on a vest and take him into the garden for some fresh air. He is 12 weeks today! Happy 12 weeks Arthur Bear and thank you for being such a happy and content little baby. He does actually smile a lot! - but as soon as he sees the camera he gets all blue steel on me.

Hello Sunshine

It actually felt like Summer was arriving this weekend. We can finally enjoy our big back yard and Art can lie under the fruit trees, watching the leaves blowing in the wind, smelling the sweet smells of grass and sunshine.

I love watching his senses go into overdrive. His little nose twitching, eyes darting all over the place struggling to take everything in, and then looking over at me every so often and smiling as if to say "This place is GREAT mum!".

He strangely spreads each of his really long monkey toes apart in anticipation of touching the ground, gently bouncing his feet up and down on the blades of grass, and then kicking his chubby little legs with excitement.

Imagine what's going through his brand new little brain when he experiences all of these new sights, sounds and smells. It's the strangest thing to think about and the most amazing thing to witness. When you stop each day and imagine life from their perspective, it makes you slow right down and look at things in a totally new way.

Before Art, I never would think of going and sitting on a blanket in the garden on a Sunday afternoon - I'd be cleaning the house, or browsing the net, or doing washing or something equally as boring.This kid has opened my eyes again.

He is by far his happiest when wearing no clothes or in the water - so to be only in a singlet and nappy made him pretty happy. Wait until it's warm enough to be nude in a paddling pool! That will just blow his little mind.

10 weeks

We're nearly at 11 weeks... which is nearly 12 weeks...which is 3 months! That came about pretty quickly! I'm already forgetting those early days and finding myself going "that's right... remember how we rocked that basinette for two hours that night to get him to sleep?"

Where are we at 10 weeks and a bit?... I still stare at this little bundle in awe. I just want to eat him he is so scrummy. I have those "my kid is the most beautiful baby in the world" eyes going on.

He has discovered an ability to blow spit bubbles and actually squeals with delight now which is pretty cute to watch and is really starting to look at things, like his books and react to what is happening around him. Incy wincy spider is a big hit around here and I may have sung it 20 times on repeat this morning to get him to nap, but I don't mind, because watching him nod off into sleepy land is pretty sweet (when he isn't screaming). Seriously though, when a baby FINALLY closes their eyes you want to do a victory dance.

He got his first mozzie bites this weekend when we stayed at the beach. 5 of them on his head. Naughty mozzies! They look so angry and red, but don't seem to be bothering him.

Last week he worked out how to fall asleep on his own! Hallelujah! Three sleeps in a row he just lay there babbling, then staring at the wall, then closing his eyes and nodding off peacefully. I think I nearly high-fived myself I was so excited. Then he forgot again... and needed SHHHHHHHHHing, and lots of it. Now some naps are self settled, and some are very very very labour intensive (hence 20 repeats of incy wincy). The naps where he goes down super overtired are always the hardest. He's awesome at going straight back to sleep after night time feeds, and to be honest that's more important to me than self settling for day sleeps. To be able to feed for 10-20 mins and then crawl back into bed with a sleeping, contented baby is awesome.

OK enough about sleep because I'm fast becoming one of those mums who just talks about sleep... and her baby... and sleep.... and it REALLY bores people. Sorry! I said I wouldn't become that person...but look at me go!

Tommy the turtle has been with him since the day he was born. Mum said this shot isn't so flattering and his face looks chub. Hah. Mean Grandma! His chub is delicious. 

My little dude... 

Tummy time attitude. Yeah... I got this mum. 

This little guy is about to get his first ever ski suit and goggles all ready to take on Canada. CUTE! Baby ski suits are ridiculously cute. I'll be taking LOTS of pictures, don't worry. 

My baby must haves...

Amongst the mountain of baby stuff we have received and purchased, there have been a few things that have come in very handy since Art was born, and I thought I'd create  a little list of those things for other expectant mums to maybe consider adding to their shopping carts...

I guess they could be considered my must haves?

Aden & Anais Wraps

These are extra large muslin wraps and worth the money! I got the above print 'Liam the Brave' as they are unisex and will last for my future babies, be them boys or girls. I used these to swaddle before moving to the swaddle bag. They make good spill cloths, sheets in his basinette, a light cover in the pram or a nice ground cover for some tummy time. They have so many uses. They wash up beautifully and dry in no time at all. Love them! I was lucky to receive two more A&A wraps from a friend at my baby shower... note to other readers - a REALLY nice gift for mums to be! 

Love To Swaddle Bags

Art has always been a hand sucker since birth, so swaddling him was hard. He spent more time wriggling out of the wrap than sleeping in those early days! I tried one arm swaddling techniques and everything. Then one night I zipped him into the 'Love to Swaddle' bag that my friend Hanna lent me. He slept... like a baby? I got about a 3 hour nap on the first go! 

He outgrew the small, so we invested in two medium bags. He knows when he's getting zipped in that it's sleeping time! These were about $35 each but WORTH IT! He loves being able to still suck his hands (the bags get pretty worn in the hand area!) and he stays a nice temperature. 

Toshi Muslins

My sister gave me a Toshi wrap in the print below. This follows us everywhere, it is practical and cute and the perfect weight for so many things, as well as a nice big size. My cousin's wife sent me another one in the mail the other day. They appear to be widely available in Australia, but not so much here. She gave us a cute one with grey and red bikes on it. Love it. 

Plain White Onesies

Art pretty much has a uniform - plain long sleeved onesie and pants. Easy for nappy changing, and easy to match with all of his clothes. I buy the Teeny-Weeny ones from Farmers for about $8 each. Whenever they have a sale I stock up on various sizes. Their all in ones are also simple and sweet for bedtime, and not too fussy for nappy changing. Some of those all in ones are a nightmare! 

The Nappy Bag 

I purchased this bag from Glassons for about $40 and it's done well so far as a nappy bag. I decided to just start with a small bag as I know, the bigger the bag, the more crap I'd throw into it. Being smaller I need to repack it often, so I sort through and reorganise what's in there, so I'm always properly stocked before leaving the house. It fits in several swaddles, blankets, spare clothes and my other bits and pieces. The front pockets are the perfect size for nappies and wipes so they are easy to access. 

The Carry Cot

I was fortunate to have a friend who was willing to part with their mountain buggy. She organised to have it cleaned and serviced, and when it was delivered to my place it was like brand new! well worth looking into a second hand pram and just paying the $50 to have it serviced and steam cleaned. 

Because we didn't spend too much on the pram, I decided to buy the carry cot attachment for $200. It's been so handy! He sleeps for hours in that bed, and when we go away for the night it serves as a portable cot. I will be so sad when he doesn't fit in here anymore! 

The Flexi Bath 

We don't have a bath in our house at the moment, so we got this one which folds up nice and flat for easy storage when not in use. When you're lacking in storage space, it's great! It's easy to throw into the car if we are going away for the night. Art LOVES his bath. 

There are so many more things  - but they're the stand outs. His moses basket and rocking stand were a great buy as well. He has nearly outgrown his basket...nearly time for the big boy cot. 

Half a decade

As of today we've been married for 5 years... How did it go by so quickly? I'll tell you how... by having FUN! In the past 5 years we've circled the globe, had selfish, relaxing getaways, had many memorable social outings with friends, numerous dinner dates, saved our house deposit, house hunted unsuccessfully (work in progress)... and grew our family by one more member!

This is our first wedding anniversary with our newest member... baby Arthur. What a better way to start the day than to have your little boy look at his Daddy in bed and just lose himself in smiles and coos... it melts my heart completely to see these two guys that I love so much developing this unbreakable bond.

I felt a LOT of love today.

We celebrated by putting my little red tulips in a vase on the windowsill, popping up the road for a drink at a local pub together as a family... and came home to bathe our little boy, tuck him into bed and order Thai takeaways... perfect I reckon.

Time for an update...

Where is the time going? This little guy is 8 weeks, going on 9... and he is changing so quickly. Some days when he wakes up in the morning I swear he looks different, literally changing in his sleep.

So at 8 weeks, what's happening?...

He decided he wasn't quite ready to sleep through the night (he teased us with a few nights of only needing one feed..) and now wants two again. I offered him a dream feed again seeing if that would carry him through a bit longer, but it made no difference.. to him that was just a bonus feed.
He is getting better at the napping game, and I'm getting better at reading his signals. This guy is super social and loves getting out and about. Most of the time he is the best baby... when he has melt downs and sleep issues I think it's more to do with us carting him about and letting him get waaaaaaaaay overtired.

Ok enough about sleep - I talk about it way too much.

He LOVES his tummy time, gets right up there, lifting up his chest and chatting away like "look at me, look at me" it is the cutest thing EVER! Yesterday he also finally worked out how to flip from his tummy to his back. We saw him trying the other day... and it's like he had a rethink over night and woke up the next morning going... I got this! and he got it... 6 times in a row... {proud parent}

He has found his voice... In the mornings we prop him up on our knees in bed and he chats away in his husky little man voice... giggling to himself. We don't know WHAT goes on during the night, but come morning he has a lot to say about it.

He has discovered Mack the Moose on the wall in his room. When I'm changing him he turns towards Mack on the wall and chats away to him. I went over and patted Mack on the nose the other day and Art just lit up with ear to ear smiles and started squealing, apparently it was the most exciting thing. He talks to him sometimes when I go in and get him out of bed. Like he's saying "I've finished sleeping now Mack, but I'll see you soon"

I think things are going pretty well to be honest. I feel absolutely in love and fulfilled. I love my little family and just adore watching every little thing this guy does. I had no idea I'd feel this way. I actually miss him while he sleeps. {can you tell we're had a good week?}

He wakes! Time for smiles and cuddles.

About time...

I realised I never shared my baby shower on here... those last few weeks of pregnancy obviously took over...

My amazing friend Hanna put on the most awesome winter baby shower for me. She set the stage for a cosy and fun afternoon with friends and family. She created this masculine, rustic, winterland theme in my parents home which was just amazing to walk into. I don't know how she found time with a busy toddler to sew all of the cushions and bunting and make not one, but TWO cakes! She truly went above and beyond to put this all together and was helped on the day by another really good friend of mine who filled the room with gorgeous fresh flowers. I'm so lucky to have great friends...

What a perfect day - it seems SO long ago now...

Stickygrams

I'm one of those people who never gets around to printing off photos - purely because I take SO many! I like to put my photos in photobooks using www.blurb.com, but it takes me a long time to get around to completing one and printing it off... our world trip in 2009 is still a work in progress... as is my maternity book, as is my albums for 2010 and 2011 and our holidays.

I find it impossible to keep up! It's a shame though because it's so nice to revisit memories by flicking through an actual book. I would very rarely have friends around and say "hey do you want to look at our holiday snaps?... hang on I'll just load up the hard drive" .Not likely.

Instead, the books I HAVE managed to do, which would usually reside in the lounge or on our book shelf, get flicked through constantly by friends and family, which is so nice... and this is how photos should be enjoyed.

Anyway - I have moved away from the point of this post, again...

The other day I came across this site www.stickygram.com. Given that a lot of our life now is documented on the iPhone using instagram, a lot of our memories end up stored on there and could easily be lost if we were to lose our phone or forget to back up (who remembers to back up??)

I ordered two sheets to start with to see what they were like. Result. Awesome! Within a week I had my own little instagram magnets in my mailbox. I can't wait to print more throughout the year and covering my fridge with moments of life. I took some normal photos from our other cameras and just instagrammed them on my phone to add them to the collection. I think I'm addicted...

Reality Check

I'm aware photos only show so much, I've said this before and will say it again.

My mum made a comment the other day during her visit about the very different picture painted on this blog versus the day to day reality of adjusting to life with a newborn. Ha! How dare she be honest.... We had a good laugh about it. 

It's true... here you see glimpses. You see a healthy, happy and beautiful baby boy smiling and cooing for the camera with his big blue eyes. What you don't see is those big blue eyes NOT closing for nap times... or the piles of washing covered in baby spew and poo. You don't see the old milk spew in my hair or the bags under my eyes or my tears of exhaustion at 2am trying to console a crying baby. Who wants to see photos of that?? No thanks. 

I won't lie, I don't feel motherhood comes totally naturally to me and I find this newborn baby stuff challenging, I think all first time mothers do though.  There are good days, great days, OK days and bad days. It's like two steps forward, one step back.  It's taking me a while to adjust to this new reality of ssshhhhing until my teeth go dry, rocking until my arms ache, walking until my feet hurt... and it's a full FULL time job. 

BUT - The best thing on this blog is I'm able to look at him in the photos, like you all do, and be reminded of just how god damn perfect my little man is and be reminded in my sleep deprived state that this is all worth it, that I'm a very lucky girl. I have an amazing husband who I watch being a hands on, fantastic dad to our son. Watching him bath Art always makes me smile, even though I stand there saying "babe watch his ears, babe his face went under"... Go away mum! We're having fun. 

This time is going to pass so quickly, so I don't have time to dwell on the negative. This blog celebrates the highlights of being a new mum and watching a newborn grow. Occasionally there will be moments or lessons learned that I'll share in the hope it may help others, but all babies are so different that what worked for one, probably won't work for another... 

At the end of the day, spew can be washed out of my hair, concealer can hide the bags (or hemorrhoid cream can fix them! haha), and the tears stop as soon as that baby smiles at me and I've had one more hour of sleep. 

My friend is fantastic for telling me to stop complaining about shit. She says " OK I'm sick of you whinging (mother of a toddler) about your baby not napping long enough or doing what you think he should be doing... no more complaining! I don't want to hear it... he is a baby!!! he does baby things! Get over it" 

They aren't her exact words, but close to it... and she's totally right (and awesome) for saying it. Shut-up and enjoy the journey. 

Less of this... 

More of this...

Ahhh that's better. 

He thinks I'm pretty funny

I should have known... farting noises would make him laugh. Now I find myself making farting noises at my baby in an attempt to coax those beautiful smiles... The things we do..

Thank you Grandma

My mum is seriously a knitting machine. I mentioned we wanted some chunky knit proper boy beanies for the little man. We like to go outside a lot for walks, so he needed some warm head gear. 

Two days later, Grandma turns up with a beautiful soft grey beanie... too small! So two days later Grandma turns up with a bigger grey beanie - perfect! 

We suggest blue might look nice on him too. 

Two days later Grandma turns up with a blue one. 

Grandma gets cuddles. 

xx