3 month Olivia update!

 

Okay so seems as she's 3 months old I think it's time for a little Olivia update! 13 weeks old already *sob*, I can't believe how fast time is going and that 3 months ago I'd just brought my little girly home! We've had a pretty busy month this month! From visiting my numpty sister after her car accident (yes she wrote a car off 2 days after buying it on only third party insurance hahaha) to meeting her Aunty Kelly for the first time yesterday! She also met Lauren, Poppy and Steve for the first time and absolutely adored them! We've also learnt lots of new things this month. We're half way to rolling over, blowing raspberries, eating baby rice for the first time AND LAUGHING! She's started enjoying tummy time, loves playing with her Violet puppy now I've finally set it up on the laptop! And has finally started going to sleep by herself without cuddles during the day! She loves Tickedy Toc on tv and pulling my hair. She's started going off dummies and only tends to have one when she's in bed getting off to sleep. She's sat in a door bouncer for the first time (and cried while she was in it). She's had her first jabs and smiled through them! She's decided that her new bed time is half 10 and that from 7 o'clock on towards its time to exercise her lungs! We've had numerous poop explosions, her first proper runny nose, all her cradle cap seems to have disappeared and she's started sleeping pretty much every time she goes in the car! We've also got our first mummy and baby group on Thursday! She weighs well over a stone now and is completely out of 0-3 months clothes. Her head finally fits in head bands but her huge boat feet are growing out of her first little uggs! She's now started grabbing toys, labels, anything she can get her hands on really! She's also had her first cut which bled after scratching her eye! And of course, last but not least, she has grown more and more beautiful every single second. She makes my heart and life so full, being blessed doesn't even describe how wonderful it is being Olivia's mummy.

14 Things That No One Told You About Pregnancy and Parenthood

14 Things That No One Told You About Pregnancy and Parenthood

1. Sweaty boobs, seriously. What the fuck. I'm really hoping this wasn't just me when pregnant because it was completely disgusting. Yes we all know that under fat rolls you'll get sweaty but WHY LORD WHY would you give pregnant ladies something else to feel disgusting about?
2. Peeing every time you sneeze. No it doesn't just happen when you're pregnant and I'm sorry but no amount of pelvic floor exercises is going to get rid of the loss of control I now have when I sneeze. Its a good job my babys cute.
3. So yeah everyone tells you you're going to have a constant audience, but no one told you that it wasn't just your baby constantly watching you. You name them and they're probably watching you. Judging you. Eyeing up that left over bit of cold pizza stuck in your teeth and the sick stain on your shoulder. Yup they've seen it.
4. So you know about the 'only getting your dinner cold' rule but did you know about the 'only getting to do anything around the house when your baby has her nappy filled with sick down her t shirt and laid watching something completely brain numbing and innapropriate' rule. Yup apparently my baby likes being dirty and watching every re run of Jeremy Kyle. Babys eh?
5. And of course people told you that your clothes would constantly be covered in sick and poop BUT did they tell you that you wouldn't realise this until you're out of the house or with someone you're trying to impress? Nope, bastards.
6. Did they also forget to tell you that babys are sick in your hair without you realising? Yeah I thought so.
7. The 'guess what's on your hand' game. Is it poop? Is it curry sauce? Who knows.
8. Or how about the 'get to your baby before it eats the poop/curry sauce that has also ended up on their fingers' game.
9. Another thing nobody told me was that babys aren't always cute. You know these adorable photos that we're constantly posting of our little darlings on facebook and instagram? REAL BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS WENT INTO THESE. Okay so maybe not the blood bit but there are definitely tears from your bored baby whilst you're holding a camera in their face and there is even more sweat from you whilst you try and get your camera at an angle that compliments your baby and also hides the huge pile of washing, dirty dishes and take away boxes that are lurking in the background.
10. 30 second showers. I'd say by the time your partner has been back at work a week you will have pretty much perfected these.
11. No one ever told you about what happens in these 30 second showers now either. In 30 seconds you genuinely think about what you're doing for dinner, what colour washing to put on next, what you need to go and get from the shop, the fact that you've run out of toilet paper again. You discover pieces of food stuck to your body, you also discover that standing on bath toys is bloody painful and that the bath toy will be silently cussed at for the rest of its little toy life. 
12. And then of course nobody told you about 'the imaginary crying baby' that haunts you everywhere you go without your child. Whether you've snuck of  for a shower without your baby watching, gone to hang the washing out, tiptoed out of the room whilst their napping. Where ever you are and they aren't you hear baby cries until of course you quietly try and dash over to your baby who is still sound asleep or perfectly content. Darn you imaginary baby.
13. People also never warn you about how much you want to avoid old women. If they're not stopping you in a shop or the street to coo over your gorgeous new bundle of squishy baby, then they are ignorantly asking you whether your baby who is dressed from head to toe in pink fluffy cuteness is infact a boy. Yes. My child who is covered in pink is a boy.
14. And the last thing that nobody ever tells you is that no matter how much they make you cry, cover you in poop or try and eat up their own vomit your baby is the best bloody thing to of ever happened to you and god help anyone who dares to point out that while you're currently reading this your child just puked on you, rolled off of their changing mat or pooed through yet another outfit that you spent a fortune on :-)
    
    
    

    

    
    

Useful/useless baby items!

Before I start I'd just like to point out that everything on here is just my personal opinion - just because I've found things useful/useless doesn't mean others will! 

USELESS BABY ITEMS

• Cuddly toys - Although it seems like a brilliant idea to buy millions of adorable cuddly teddy bears, stuffed bunnies and fluff filled farm animals... Don't. Olivia's cot is literally full of toys that she will probably never even acknowledge. They don't do anything and small babies have no interest if it isn't chewy, flashing or noisy! I'd buy a couple for decoration but apart from that I wouldn't waste your money!
• Hats - Olivia hates hats! Obviously you need a couple for the first few days and a winter one (or two) but you certainly don't need a hat for every outfit. I've learnt the hard way. Not only does she scream when she has to wear one which is horrible, the lovely hats that we've spent quite abit of money on are now just sat collecting dust. Annoying. 
• Baby shoes - Yes they're cute but they look bloody ridiculous when you have huge shoes plonked on the end of your new born baby's little legs. We now have the bottom of Livs wardrobe full of gorgeous tiny shoes that she's nearly out grown and will probably never wear. 
• Expensive bedding - We have admittedly spent nearly £200 just on a matching cot and crib bedding with all the accessories and I'm now realising what a waste it is. Not only does my lovely little girl like projectile vomiting over it she also poops through her clothes on to it aswell. She HATES blankets so basically I've paid a shit load of money on two sheets and two cot bumpers. Absolute waste. 
• Blankets - Obviously you're going to need a few blankets but under no circumstances do you need to go out and buy 15-20 blankets plus having ones your nans knitted you plus all the ones family and friends buy you. I use maybe 3 for Olivia. 3 out of maybe 20ish. They are now folded up in a pile not doing a lot! 
• Crib/cot toys - Every baby is different but personally I just find that any sort of toy in her crib gets her giddy and excited and then she won't sleep. The cot mobile is good for keeping her entertained for 5 minutes while I make our bed but that's it. While we were trying to get Olivia into her routine we tried using baby projectors, funky night lights, toys that had lullabies on them but all they do is make her not want to sleep. They might work for some people but for us they haven't. 
• Breast pumps - I'm not saying these are completely useless as I personally do use mine from time to time BUT I personally would wait until your baby is born before buying an expensive one. Firstly it isn't guaranteed that you will successfully be able to breast feed, so going and spending £50+ would be wasting a lot of money but secondly, you may not even pump! I have found that I rarely pump. Olivia is nearly 12 weeks old and I've only left her properly once. I don't pump simply because I don't leave her and I have an excellent supply of milk going on! So all I bought was a manual pump for about £20. Easy to store, easy to travel with and cheap. 

USEFUL BABY ITEMS

• Scratch mits - and lots of them! Seriously the more the better! If you have a baby that loves chewing their hands (which I do) then having plenty of pairs is a god send! She doesn't really wear them during the day any more but at night time having lots of pairs is fantastic! Much better than having the built in scratch mits on baby grows as they just got soggy and then she had to have a whole outfit change! Plus Primark sell them for a pound for 3 pairs! Can't go wrong really! 
• Lanolin - If you're breastfeeding/planning on breastfeeding then I promise you, you will not regret buying this! A little pricey at around £11 but oh my lord. I wasted so much money on cheap nipple creams before I gave birth which didn't do a thing. Then after a week of toe curling pain and bleeding/bruised boobys God sent me a little gift... Lanolin. 
• Dribble bibs - Although I don't really use them while we're out as they ruin an outfit, at home I have literally like 40! Everyone bought them for me when I was pregnant to the point where I genuinely asked people to stop buying them. Now, I am so bloody glad they did! I go through maybe 3/4 bibs a day due to miss dribble guts. This helped so much in the first week or so when I wasn't really up for doing a load of clothes washing as well! 
• A rocking Moses basket stand - Okay so she's slightly too big for her Moses basket now *sob* but the first 6-8 weeks I found it really hard to settle her as she didn't like being held or just left to cry, so having something that I could comfort her with whilst not touching her was fab.  If you have a baby swing I wouldn't really bother but as we didn't have a swing this was brilliant. 
• Grow bags - I don't know if it's just my baby or not but she really hates blankets! If I tuck them in over her she screams until it's off and if I leave it loose then she kicks it onto her face so putting her in a grow bag was the best thing we ever did. Now she's warm and super cosy. Happy baby, happy mummy! 
• Baby monitors - I'm currently just using a Fisher Price one which was my sisters and we're definitely going to invest in one with a camera on! I love having one around as it means when she's in bed I can crack on with what I need to and not need to worry! My only reason for wanting to upgrade to one with a camera is to help me transition into putting Liv into her own bedroom as I still want to be able to see her if I need to! 
• A feeding pillow - This again is more for breastfeeding mamas! I really do recommened getting one though, the first few weeks trying to find out positioning and things can be tough so having something to rest and lean on is fantastic. For mine I just had a V shaped pillow which Olivia loves! Although we don't use it for feeding anymore we still use it daily. I've slept with it since being pregnant and now when ever we go away anywhere Olivia sleeps in it in her Moses basket! It's also brilliant to sit her up in on the sofa or when she's laid in my bed. It's also good for when she's laid on her play mat because it props her up so she can reach all of the toys and means she won't roll off of the cushion! 
• iSitter - For anyone who hasn't yet got a baby monitor, who's forgotten to bring their baby monitor with them or just if you wanna try it out then iSitter is an iPhone app! I downloaded it when I left the baby monitor at Callum's mum's house and it's actually really good for a free app! The sound has about a 5 second delay but for a 'quick fix' baby monitor you mamas really need to try it! You need two iPhones/iPads/iPods as you have to leave one with the baby, you just click on the app and leave one phone facing the baby (it has a camera so you can also see the baby) and then just take your other phone with you.  It's not really an item but it has been really useful! 
• Baby sling - Although not for everyone, I absolutely adore mine! I bought the ByKay one from Mothercare for about £40 and I'm so glad I did. It's easy to use (I just watched a YouTube video to learn how to put it on), it's comfortable and Olivia loves it. As much as I love my pram, sometimes a huge Silver Cross isn't the easiest thing to whip around with! Every time Livs in it she falls asleep as well which is a bonus! I even sometimes put her in it when I need to do the housework and she's being fussy! 

Mummy's favourite presents

As cringey as it sounds this year for Christmas I genuinely didn't want anything, how could I when I already have gotten everything I've wanted this year? But my family being as wonderful as they are still completely spoilt me rotten. I don't want to use this post to 'show off' my presents, more to show appreciation and to give amazing gift ideas! I haven't added links to where you can get them from or prices as I don't know them! 

Firstly is my wonderful camera! I've never been into photography and the only pictures I ever took before Olivia was born was off my food, cups of tea and my selfies! But looking through my phone I've now taken over 3000 pictures of Olivia! I can't help myself she's just so beautiful. So this was a brilliant present. Im not a huge technology geek so this is really good as it's quite simple to use. 

Next present is my amazing Naked 3 palette! Since being pregnant I haven't really bought myself anything extravagant because literally every penny I get I spend on Livi so actually having some decent make up for Christmas was fab! I will most definitely be adding the other Naked palettes to my make up bag! 

This is by far my favourite present that I have EVER received! So thoughtful and beautiful! Incase you can't see it has Olivia's full name and date of birth on it! I haven't taken it off since putting it on. Livi seems to like it as well, I just desperately hope that chubby baby hands don't rip it off of me! 

If anyone follows me on Instagram then you may remember me posting a picture of my wonderful changing bag, which took me months to convince Callum to let us have a floral bag to carry around! So when my wonderful sister bought me this I was completely made up! This is by far my favourite Cath Kidston print and Im loving having everything matching when Im out! 

With living in Eastbourne I'm quite a distance away from any Victoria Secrets or PINK shops, so obviously I've been showered in goodies from the two over Christmas! These being my favourite! They all smell so wonderful and the smell stays on you all day. My favourite so far is the 'warm & cosy'. If you haven't got these, I really recommend that you go out and get them, like now. Seriously. If you could smell like angels then this is how you would smell! 

Also a couple of my other bits are in the picture below! How could I not show off that beautiful sparkely phone case! (Ignore the mum bun! And yes that is a pompom on my phone!)

Olivia's favourite presents

http://www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/productdisplay0_10751_-1_283973_10001

First on my list is Olivia's Fisher Price Kick and Play Piano gym. Two words: bloody brilliant! Olivia is forever kicking her arms and legs around so she finds this really fun to use! The bar is at a suitable height so she can actually reach the toys and the piano is quite sturdy so she can kick herself up her mat. If you have a sicky baby like I do then this is also very useful as I've just been wiping it down and it all comes off without needing to put it in the washing machine! Although it is one of the more expensive play mats priced between £44.99-£49.99 I've found it is definitely worth it. The colours are nice and bright, the mat is good quality and the songs on it aren't that annoying either! ;-)

http://www.tesco.com/direct/vtech-my-1st-car-key-rattle-pink/277-0592.prd

Next on the list is the Vtech My 1st Car Key Rattle. It's a pretty basic toy but Olivia loves it! Along with talking, songs and flashing lights it also has the keys. One quite squidgy (good for chewing!), a plain hard key with beads on and another which is the rattle. I've found it really useful so far in her pram and in the car as its small but entertaining. Although it's probably suited for slightly older babies as its abit heavy for an 11 week old lazy child and find myself a pressing on the music for her!

http://www.tesco.com/direct/vtech-little-singing-alfie-pink/207-6760.prd

Again probably better suited for an older baby as I have to constantly press the buttons, but she adores the songs and sounds on the Vtech Little Singing Bear! Very good for money too!

http://sophielagirafe.co.uk/sophie-la-girafe---fresh-touch-gift-box-8-p.asp

http://sophielagirafe.co.uk/so-pure-sophie-la-girafe-teething-ring-52-p.asp

Of course Olivia wouldn't be a 2014 baby if she didn't have her Sophie! The original Sophie is slightly too big for her hands at the moment but the teething ring is a god send! I find these slightly pricey and will admit I only bought them because everyone seemed to be buying them and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about! Although I don't think the original Sophie is quite worth paying £13.99 for (yet), I would quite happily buy another teething ring if Liv ever lost hers. Personally Sophie la Girafe just reminds me of an over priced dog toy but as long as she likes it right?

http://www.leapfrog.com/en-gb/store/p/my-pal-scout/_/A-prod19156

I haven't quite worked out what to do with this one yet as you can connect it to your computer so it teaches them different things and I just never have the time but just from the standard toy I'm quite impressed. Olivia has a large pram and she loves having Violet sat next to her with the two minutes of bedtime music playing. I think it makes her feel like she has a little friend. She also likes the flashing of the bone on the collar. Also as its quite big she enjoys being all squished up to it! At £22 I don't think it's overly expensive for what it can do but at the moment I've seen a lot of places doing them at half price! So I would definitely recommend getting one for only £11! Bargain! 

My other favourite presents of Olivia's include a gorgeous wooden pram with a ballerina doll, a wooden music box and a very sweet Cath Kidston toy and bag! We have one spoilt and very happy baby! 

Olivia's first Christmas.

Although being heavily pregnant through out the summer sucked ass, getting to have your new baby before Christmas is wonderful. It's sad that growing up means that Christmas just becomes stressful from having to spend money you don't have and having a cluttered house but even at 8 weeks old just having a baby around at Christmas made everything feel so much more magical. Obviously she didn't understand anything that was going on and unfortunately I've had a terrible few weeks with tonsillitis so she had a slightly moody mummy as well but the day itself was fab. We decided to do Christmas morning in our own home this year as it was Olivia's first we wanted her to wake up in our own room with her stockings and the presents under our tree, so at half 5 on Christmas morning before Callum and Liv woke up I added the last touches and then decided to wake the pair of them. We started by opening all of our stockings. Liv's was filled with a collection of small cuddly toys from Primark which I think we're about £1 each. She also got a couple of pairs of socks and scratch mits and of course every dummy obsessed babys dream - new dummy's. 

Up until now we hadn't really bought any toys yet because of how young she was but also decided not to get her too many for Christmas as we knew that a lot of family members had already got her a lot of toys and we didn't want her ending up with more then one toy of the same so we set a budget for £150ish of presents for her. These included her Fisher Price Kick and Play Piano gym,

Two Sophie La Girafe teething toys, an outfit from Ted Baker and her first ever Build a Bear complete with two outfits! (I'm going to do another post with all of her main presents with links on them!)

     After opening our presents we got ourselves ready and headed round to Callum's parents house and opened all of our presents there and went for a walk down the sea front (major perks of living by the sea!). We then sat down to wonderful meal and tried sitting Olivia in her high chair for the first time along with putting a cracker hat on her. Needless to say she was not impressed so after about 15 minutes we set her in her Moses basket next to me filled with cushions and she then slept all the way through dinner! 

The rest of the afternoon was spent having lots of cuddles and playing with all of her new toys before her bath and bed and me shamelessly following her up at half 7! 

On New Years eve we then went to my mums house and had our 'second Christmas' once again Olivia was completely spoilt rotten! And received some beautiful gifts off of my family including a beautiful wooden pram, some ballerina dollies, and a gorgeous music box. Being at my mums also meant getting to spend time with my beautiful nephew as well who is completely in love with her. He spent the whole time with her kissing and stroking her, putting her dummy in for her, helping with getting her changed, playing with her toys with her and just generally being bloody lovely and although with Callum being back at work and I am completely knackered, it is so worth with how much of a brilliant Christmas we've all had. Im feeling extremely blessed :-)

Olivia's bedtime routine.

If you're already a parent then obviously you'll know that the first few weeks of your baby's life is not a routine just more of a lucky dip. So with that I was incredibly lucky that Olivia decided early that sleep is fantastic! The first few nights with her were awful and she woke up every couple of hours wanting feeding, which is awful before your milk comes in because they literally feed for hours! Then she got milk greedy and decided to be sick every time she laid down on her 3rd night. On her 4th night Olivia started her new 'routine' where she would wake every 4 hours to have her bum changed and to be fed . We would stay awake until 11 when she would get fed and then take her from her Moses basket and into her crib for the rest of the night. 

At 5 weeks old I took Olivia to my mums house for her first sleep over there with me and to my surprise she slept from 11 right through until 5! Going home was awful because I desperately wanted to get some proper sleep again! So me being a nasty mummy decided enough was enough that we were having no more night time feeds! The first few nights were horrific with crying from both me and Olivia but every time she cried I simply went into our room and put her dummy back into her mouth and walked back out again. The first night I was up and down for over two hours before she finally fell asleep and again the second night and then all of a sudden it just clicked for her that I wasn't doing it any more! The 11-5 routine went on for maybe 2-3 weeks before I then decided that I couldn't stay awake until 11 every night and going to sleep then waking back up at 11 just made me even more tired so after reading online we decided to get her into the 'bath, booby, bed' routine. We eat our meals quite late so we decided to give her a bath between 6 and 7. With bathing her we use Johnsons bed time bath in her small baby bath and we do that in the living room at the moment. One because she enjoys watching the tv but two I don't really like the thought of having to carry a wet slippery baby on tiled floors in our bathroom. I don't know if the bedtime bath has anything different in it to the normal Johnsons baby bath but Olivia likes it so we just use it anyway! We're quite chilled with her bath as well, it's never a rushed thing, we always take our time and make sure the she is completely relaxed! After taking her out I then rub her down with the Tescos brand of night time baby powder. There's no particular reason for using it other than it was bought for us so I'm using the bottle of it first! I find that if I  massage it into her it really calms her down.  Especially when I rub it over her legs as I think she's having a growth spurt and getting growing pains! Olivia then gets put into her pyjamas and grow bag (so much easier than blankets, plus they can't pull them over their heads which Livi has a habit of doing with blankets!) has a cuddle and kiss with Callum and then I'll take her through to our bedroom where I sit with the light off and feed her before putting her down in her crib to go to sleep. I refuse to put any music/lights/cot mobiles on when I lay her down when she's still awake as I think that this just gets her excited and she'll just think it's play time. So even if she's awake I just lay her down and leave the room. We use baby monitors to listen out for her as I keep the bedroom door shut so that other noise won't wake her up and we find that really works for us. At first Olivia wasn't keen on being left to get herself to sleep but after a week she cracked it. All we do when she whinges is go in quietly and put her dummy back in her mouth. I know not everyone agrees with dummy's but we find that it really comforts her and I honesly don't think she would sleep through the night without it. We don't talk to her when we go in, we don't pick her up (unless she's crying properly of course), and we don't really touch her as I like her to just be left to 'self sooth'. Again not everyone agrees with that either but I have never ever left her for more than about a minute crying. I just don't agree with running to a baby every time they make a noise (unless I know she's dropped her dummy and then we go in to her and pop it back in!). Personally with having her crib right next to me at night time I have found it a lot easier as sometimes she has tried waking up between 3 and 5 but all I do is put her dummy back in again. So now, at 10 weeks old my baby sleeps for at least 10 hours a night! Not only do Callum and I get to spend some time together but it also gives me a chance to catch up on housework and all my soaps! 😉 This routine might not work for everyone but it definitely works for us. The key to routine is not messing it up! Stick to it and eventually they will start to settle! 

Olivia - 2 months

Now that Olivia is two months old I'm starting to realise how much has changed in her life so far. When people say 'it goes so fast' they genuinely mean it! I feel like I've blinked and she's already 10 weeks!  Olivia's first few weeks are kind of a blur to me. When you have a new baby there is so much going on and in between feeding and trying to get as much sleep as you can on top of all the pooey nappys, first temper tantrums and just generally staring at your gorgeous new baby your brain doesn't tend to really get time to function. 

I must say though, even though being a new mum is the most tiring job in the world it is the best reward getting to watch all the new things your baby learns each day. It's amazing that 10 weeks ago all my tiny baby (well if you can class 8lb 11oz as tiny!) knew to do was poop, cry and eat! She already recognises faces and voices, follows people around the room, plays with her toys, smiles, giggles, gurgles and so much more! It's amazing and I feel so lucky getting to be her mummy! She's also already in 3-6 months clothing! Everyone told me that babys don't gain as much weight being breastfed but seems as Olivia was in newborn clothes for the first few weeks id say people are wrong. All babys are different! 

Also its crazy how much a routine can change your baby! Since having Olivia in a routine her attitude during the day has changed dramatically! Everything has to be done when she wants it! Although it makes it harder during the day, night times are a blessing! It is so lovely getting to spend all day being a mummy and still have time in the evening to be a proper human! I was told when I was pregnant by multiple people that small babys don't have a routine and that its just luck when your baby sleeps... I completely disagree and will post another blog about sleep training Olivia! 

With being 2 months we are now also finding things that Olivia likes and dislikes, loves and hates! On the list of likes and loves we currently have: 

Bath time 

Her Leapfrog My Pal Violet

http://www.leapfrog.com/en-gb/store/p/my-pal-scout/_/A-prod19156

Pulling hair

Dummy's

Having her hair played with

Watching tv 

Her Fisher-Price Kick and Play Piano Gym

http://www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/productdisplay0_10751_-1_283973_10001

Her Vtech My First Car Key Rattle

http://www.tesco.com/direct/vtech-my-1st-car-key-rattle-pink/277-0592.prd