Lucas' 6 months update

I know I didn't do many of these with Emilia but really wish I had, as it would have been nice to compare Lucas' early days and months with hers and see if all the screaming, crying and eating was normal.
In our memory, Emilia was a happy easygoing baby, but I know that we also had trouble with over eating and terrible napping.

 
Weight:
21lbs(she was 19lbs15oz)

Health:
This is a tricky one...we've been suspecting since the early days that he could be having a mild intolerance to dairy as he's been congested since birth and has mild eczema that just won't clear. I think if things don't improve soon, I will be pushing to try dairy free formula with our doctor. (buying it out of pocket isn't possible)

Nicknames:
we don't seem to be nickname people, but he gets called grumpy pants quite a bit.

Eating:
currently attempting to get him used to solids, we started at 5.5 months as we have a big trip planned for when he's 6.5 months old and I thought it could be handy if he was used to eating.
It's going ok but he still wants just as much milk as before, which is 5-6 6oz bottles of formula in a 24 hour period.

He's been exclusively formula fed since 3 months old and I stopped beating myself up about it. It was all a bit of a struggle in the early days, I got mastitis 2 weeks after giving birth so that didn't help with our breastfeeding journey and I exclusively pumped for 2 months after that.

Sleeping:
We started putting him to bed at a normal bedtime when he was 7 weeks old and he goes to sleep between 7-8pm. He usually wakes up once at night for a feed and then sleeps until 7am.
He has his first nap at 9/10am, then another one at 1pm and a final one at 5/5:30. He's currently transitioning from 3 to 2 naps so trying to stretch his awake time a bit.

Nappies:
Size 4(which would be size 3 in the US)

Clothing: 
9-12 months

Social:
At 3 months we were doing 3 baby classes per week, but it was all a little bit too much to fit in with Emilia's preschool pick ups, so now we are only doing one 'sensory' class per week, which we both enjoy.
One of the mums I met in my classes has a 4 year old boy who will attend the same same school as Emilia in September, which will be nice.
 
Likes:
His sister, he absolutely loves her. Nobody gets the big smiles that she gets.
Looking in the mirror
MILK!

 

Dislikes:
We joke that he hates life sometimes ;-)
It's hard to please him most of the time.
The worst thing you can do is to cut his nails. Because he scratches himself a lot I have to try and keep his nails short, but he screams like I'm cutting his fingers off when I only even get close to cutting his nails.

Milestones:
He rolled over a few times at 4 months, then stopped until last week, but still not doing it often and still gets his arm stuck.
Not close at all to sitting up.


Mama:
I put on 20lbs in pregnancy and lost 28lbs by the time he was 2 weeks old, so I was happy with that. But just like with Emilia, weight slowly crept back up and I am now back to pre-pregnancy weight. Not happy with my shape now after 2 babies and really should do some toning up.

I lost a lot of blood during the birth and it took me a bit to feel normal again, though I thought it was a great idea to attend a third birthday party 6 days post partum.
I lost less hair after I stopped breastfeeding this time, but maybe that had to do with the fact that my hair didn't get as 'thick' in pregnancy like it did the first time around.

Fun things we did:
Last month I travelled to Germany with the children, on my own. Not sure that would be considered fun, maybe more challenging but it was nice for my mum and friends to see Lucas.

What we are looking forward to:
We're leaving for Florida in 2 days!

What we are not looking forward to:
a 10 hour flight with a baby on my lap

Quick life update

Hello, is anybody still reading this over 2 years after my last post?

Not sure what happened.

I think it started with me feeling unsure whether or not I was comfortable sharing Emilia’s pictures online, so I resisted posting. Then more and more time passed by and here we are...3 weeks shy of Emilia’s 4th birthday and she’s starting school this September

So what has happened since?

We went on another holiday to Florida in May 2016
Emilia started preschool twice a week in September 2016
We had our first unsuccessful IUI in September 2016
We had our second unsuccessful IUI in October 2016
We had no more money to try again
I was so down and depressed about the possibility of never being pregnant again that we decided to try one more time.
I took Clomid in January 2017 and overstimulated so we cancelled that month
We had our third IUI in February 2017
On February 17th 2017 I got a positive pregnancy test
Pregnancy was a tough journey
Lucas was born 12 days overdue on November 5th 2017
So he is now almost 6 months old!!!!

21 months update

Weight:
31lbs(99.5th percentile)

Height:
36inches/91.5cm(99.5th percentile)

 

Health:
Well, the last update was 6 months ago and since then she had a really high 5 day fever, her first ear infection at 18 months and plenty of runny noses and coughs.

Eating:
I'd say her eating is pretty good, but she can be a little picky.
On a normal day she wakes up and has 5oz of milk in a cup(though we skip this sometimes when she wakes too late), porridge for breakfast, a little snack around 10, a sandwich or houmous and pitta for lunch, followed by a yoghurt; a little snack after her nap and a cooked meal for dinner, then 5oz of milk before bed.
We successfully transitioned from bottle to cup last September/October and it couldn't have gone better.
Dinners are a rotation of spaghetti Bolognese, pasta pesto, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, sausages, meatballs or couscous fingers with the occasional toddler ready meal(she has pretty much started to refuse them)
Our issue are the veggies, I can get her to eat peas, sweetcorn, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, sometimes steamed carrots, but that's it!

Her absolute favourite food is houmous and she has this most days at lunch, either on toast, with pitta or with homemade spinach cheese waffles, it's a good way to get her to eat a lot of vegetables as she really enjoys dipping("dippedy")

Sleeping:
1.5-2.5 hours at lunchtime and 10-12 hours at night, mostly from 7:30pm-7am

She tends to roll around the cot for a little while chatting to herself, but is happy and doesn't need me to come back.

Teething:
She's almost done, all 20 have broken through but the last molars must hurt as they keep moving their way down because every few days she goes crazy, which is typical for her when teething.

Nappies:
size 5

Clothing: 
size 2-3 or 3T(98EUR), size 6.5(UK)
23(EUR) shoes

Social:
We attend 3 toddler groups a week. Tuesday classes are run by our local children's centre and aimed at families on a lower income in the area. They do messy play, rhyme time or 'active play' sessions. Thursdays we go to a 45 minute singing session at the church opposite our apartment and Fridays we attend a toddler group in a church hall a 10 minute walk away, so all very local and FREE to attend.
We still haven't made more actual friends, but Emilia has got one 'best friend'. P. also has two mummies and the girls should attend the same class in nursery and school.
 
Likes:
*When I sing to her
*Taking a bath
*Reading books
*Using the lift or escalator. She really has an eye for finding them whenever we're out.
*Pressing the button on the traffic lights to cross the road
*to close the microwave, oven, cupboards

Dislikes:
*Sitting in her pushchair/stroller for long periods of time
*When we switch her tv shows off

Milestones:
Well the biggest one being that she finally started walking early November, at almost 18 months!

She can request the following nursery rhymes:
*The wheels on the bus (by saying "round round")
*Incy Wincy Spider ("spidey")
*Wind the bobbin up ("wind")
*Row your boat ("row row")

She recognizes places we regularly go to and requests to go there when we just walk past for example the churches we attend toddler groups at or the road her grandma lives on. She can finish the pages in a few of her favourite books for example we say
"poor old fox has lost his..." and she'll say "socks"
"he was too big, I sent him..." and she'll say "back"

I'd say her speech is pretty much on target for a 21 months old, especially given that I speak some German to her.

Mama:
We are actually in a financial situation which allows us to start thinking about baby number 2, which makes me very happy :)

Fun things we did:
We flew to Germany at Christmas and again in January. My secret weapon is just letting her watch the tablet and give her snacks, makes it so much easier. In January I booked her her own seat as she's just getting too big and heavy to be on my lap.
The return flight wasn't that good because my tablet refused to work and she had a bit of a meltdown. Must have a technology backup plan next time!

 

 

 

What we are looking forward to:
A possible holiday to Florida in May/June

15 months update

Weight: 12kg/26.5lbs(96th percentile)

Height: 84cm/33inches(97th percentile)

Health:
currently recovering from 4 days of fever but other than that she has been in excellent health so far.

Nicknames: Cheeky Chops

Eating: She's a good eater, but still wanting 'babyish' foods in sauce like the toddler meal trays or home cooked spaghetti Bolognese so I can't just put pieces of chicken and veg on her plate as she won't touch it.
For breakfast she has porridge, lunch either a sandwich or couscous fingers, fruit pieces or a fruit pouch for snack and then a warm dinner. 4oz milk on waking and before bed.

 

Teething: All 4 canines are currently popping through, which brings us to 16 teeth in total.

Sleeping: Emilia has successfully transitioned to one nap per day, which is lovely but slightly restrictive when wanting to go out.
She usually sleeps for 2-2.5 hours at 12:30pm
Nighttime sleep is 7:15pm-6:30am, generally not needing any 'attention' in the night but now that she's poorly, I have had to go in a couple of times to hold her.

Nappies:
size 4 or 4+

Clothing: 
18-24 months

Social:
She no longer has stranger anxiety as far as we can tell.
Soon school starts again, meaning the baby classes are starting up again.
We don't have the money(or a car) to get to most of them, but we're going to make more of an effort to enjoy the free classes in the local library and children's centre.
Another Mum and I have been going to our soft play centre, which the girls enjoyed

Words:
All gone, 'yeah', Mama and she can say my partner's name, but doesn't call her mummy(or me Mama)
She definitely understands a lot more though, we can give her some basic instructions during playtime like 'bring me the ball' or 'go get the cups' and she will.
 
Likes:
*She LOVES dogs, whenever we see one on our walks she get's very excited and the entire stroller shakes
*she loves traffic lights and gets almost as excited seeing them as she does when seeing dogs
*She likes to sing nursery rhymes and says 'row row' for 'row your boat' and once I finish the first verse, she requests the second one by roaring like a lion :)
*She LOVES to 'eat' fruit or yogurt in pouches

 

Dislikes:
*being told no
*cuddling(much to Mama's dismay)
*having her nappy changed

Milestones:
*she has been cruising since April, but is not in any hurry to actually walk.
*She started climbing on the sofa
*She's a pro at stacking cups and getting a lot better with her shape sorter.
*She's been playing ball for months and likes to read books by herself.
*She can point to her tummy, nose, hair and head when asked in English and German
*she will grab our phones and have 'conversations'
*she's still mainly being spoonfed by me and uses her fingers to feed herself but has started to show an interest in feeding herself with pre-loaded spoons

Mama:
I'm sad about my 'baby' growing up so quickly. She's a big girl and people always think she's older than she is expecting her to be able to do things she is too young for.
She's outgrowing 18-24 months clothing meaning I have been shopping in the 'big girl' section, which feels just wrong considering she's only 15 months!
I'm sorting out all of her outgrown clothes and toys she no longer plays with and since we don't know if we can afford another baby, we are getting rid of them, which is super sad.

Fun things we did:
We flew to Germany when she was 14 months old and boy was it hard to keep her happy on the flight. It's the 4th time that Emilia and I flew on our own and it definitely made me think that for our flight at Christmas she will be having her own seat on the airplane!
But it was nice to catch up with some family members I haven't seen in 10 years as well as visiting my grandmother again, she might not live much longer and I want to make sure that Emilia has some memories of/with her.

What we are looking forward to:
Socialising more

What we are not looking forward to:
Money struggles as I am still not working

Naples, Florida May/June 2015

A couple of months ago we spontaneously decided to join my partner's parent's, sister, brother in law and nephews for their upcoming holiday to Florida. We managed to get really cheap flights and cheap accommodation due to having a family friend in Florida who rents out holiday apartments.
My partner was nervous about travelling such a long distance with a 12 months old but I assured her, everything would be fine, when on the inside, I was dreading the journey just as much, if not more...

I did some research about how to survive the long 9/10 hour flight with a squirmy toddler travelling as a lap infant as we didn't have the funds to book her her own seat.

The long anticipated day finally arrived May 31st and we were on the way to the airport with two massive suitcases, a stroller, a car seat and 2 pieces of hand luggage.
Emilia and I have flown to Germany 4 times already, so we know the drill at security and I pack my bag sensibly and also buy most of her milk/food at the airport as we have well stocked drugstores after security!
We settled into our seats on the plane when we noticed a lot of empty seats in the back of the plane. The pilot made his welcome announcement and asked us to remain in our seats for now and then, once seatbelt signs went off we were free to take any of the empty seats.
I kindly asked the flight attendant if there was any chance we could have a row of three seats as it would be lovely for us to have that extra space with a baby and she came back a minute later telling us to move seats before take off as otherwise all seats would be gone.
We really appreciated having the spare seat.
Take off went smoothly and I was smug when Emilia fell asleep quickly after her bottle and slept for two hours...but that would be all the sleep she was having for the remainder of the day. But to be honest it really wasn't bad. She sat in the middle seat just enjoying life, snacks, our attention and the flight map on the screen in front of her.

That 9 hour flight flight really went quickly and soon we landed in Miami.
The crew and other passengers complimented her on her excellent behaviour and her mummies were proud!
By the time we cleared immigrations and customs, got our cases and the shuttle to the hotel it was 5:30pm so I decided to just try and keep her up until as close to 7pm, which is her bedtime at home, though obviously this would be almost midnight at home.
She had been awake for 10 hours by the time she went to sleep and only napped for 2 hours all day.
The first night went ok but Emilia and I got up pretty early trying not to wake up my partner.
We took a walk around the hotel and then went to have breakfast.
The staff were awesome and paid Emilia so much attention, she loved it!

After breakfast Emilia had a quick nap and then we drove from Miami to Naples, where we would stay for the next 12 nights.

We had the most amazing time, Emilia did so well considering we were pushing her to her limits every day and she was still getting over the 5 hour time difference and temperature change.
Every day we went to the beach or pool in the morning, then home for lunch and naptime. Afternoons we did some exploring before going out for meals in the evening. Often we'd meet my partner's family for dinner.

Afterwards we quickly stopped by the shops to pick up supplies and Emilia was never in bed before 8:30pm.

Wherever we went, people were asking us if Emilia was always this happy, she just smiled so much. People said she had made their day by smiling and waving at them.
Oftentimes she'd wave at people who weren't even looking at her(for example people at the table across the room in the restaurant) but once they caught sight of her, they waved and smiled back, then Emilia would engage them in a game of peek-a-boo. She really was a lot of fun!
In supermarkets she was offered free cookies and bananas and one afternoon at a bakery, she was given a yogurt tube for free :)



We had a bit of an issue with food, she wasn't a fan of the baby food available in the shops and we weren't prepared to buy her the kids meals in restaurants, so we reverted back to feeding puree pouches or 7 months jars(instead of the toddler meals she would eat at home) and lots of bread and bananas...
Then in the second week she seemed to have got a tummy bug, so we tried to give her a simple diet of bread, bananas and apple sauce but by that point she was fed up of bread and bananas...
If we are travelling again while she's still on some baby jars, I would definitely bring more of the ones she is used to.

We spent our final night in Miami and once again decided the city just isn't 'us', so we will remember this and fly into Orlando next time!

The return flight didn't go quite as well as the outbound flight. Emilia had napped only 45 minutes all day and to top it all off, our flight left 2.5 hours late, 9:30pm instead of 7pm. Emilia was really starting to lose it at that point. I had tried my best to get her to sleep in the airport, carried her in the sling and sang endless nursery rhymes to her, but she just couldn't settle.
The crew was slow to get the drinks and meal services out and by the time the cabin light was finally dimmed, it was well past midnight.
Emilia slept 3 hours, in my arms, waking up crying every 15 minutes.
The crew was lovely though, giving up their own seats(in the last rows) to give us a third seat again plus always offering extra meals for Emilia.
Then to top the 'not so good'(but definitely not terrible) flight off, Emilia decided to throw up her yogurt all over ME just after the 'fasten seatbelt' sign had come on in time for landing. Perfect :)

We are so, so glad we decided to go on this holiday, it was an amazing time as a family of 3!!

Emilia's Birthday Cake Smash

I just knew that I wanted to do a cake smash for Emilia's birthday, my partner wasn't a big fan of it and rolled her eyes when the pink fluffy tutu arrived in the post, but in the end she helped me and we got some lovely pictures

As I have been a stay at home mum for the past year, the budget didn't allow for a professional photographer, but I think our little DIY session worked out well and was perfect for what we wanted and didn't break the bank. The tutu was £8, the cake £3(plus whatever ingredients we already had at home) and the bunting cost me £3 for tissue paper.

Emilia wasn't too sure what to think of the whole thing and didn't get as dirty as I expected considering she normally gets super messy when feeding herself pasta bolognaise

10 months update

Weight:
22lbs11oz or 10.3kg(98%) at 9.5 months

Length:
30 inches/76cm! She's between the 98th and 99.9th percentile on the UK chart. (measured at 9.5 months)

 

Health:
nothing to complain about this month

Nicknames:
stinky pants

Eating:
OMG Emilia loves to eat, it's her favourite thing!
She still has a bottle first thing, which can be anytime between 4am and 7am, followed by some porridge with fruit for breakfast, a fairly big lunch(200g/7oz of  vegetable puree) plus some fingerfoods and fruit, a small 4oz in the afternoon(this should be phased out in the next few weeks), another big portion of dinner, this time including fish or meat and another 4oz of formula before bed.
So far she's eating anything I put in front of her, but she loves grapes, banana, bread, mandarin oranges
She is a bit lazy when it comes to feeding herself and the only fingerfoods she will have are fruit and carbs.
 

Sleeping:
Bedtime is at 7 and she's asleep within just a few minutes, I even stopped putting the classical music on for her to make sure she's not too dependant on it.
Some nights she wakes up at 4am or 5am, I give her a bottle and she goes back to sleep. If she has her bottle after 5:30, she's unlikely to go back to sleep :(

2 naps a day, 60-120minutes in the morning and another 45-60 minutes around 2/3pm. I think we need to work on transitioning her to a shorter morning nap and a slightly earlier afternoon sleep with the idea of her having only one nap around her birthday.

Nappies:
Size 4/4+

Clothing: 
12-18 months

Social:
We've been attending a few classes at our local Children's centre, luckily for me these are free to attend and Emilia really enjoys spending time with the other babies.
We still haven't made 'friends', so sadly she will not be having a birthday party this year :(
 
Likes:
*playing with Mama's and Mummy's hair
*when you blow your nose
*brushing her teeth, one night she even left 1oz of milk in her bedtime bottle because she spotted the toothbrush next to the bed
*reading books before bed
*Watching Baby Einstein(Mama feels guilty about that one)
*Looking at pictures or videos of herself on our phones

 

Dislikes:
*having to lie down to have her nappy changed
*being strapped into her pushchair or highchair, she arches her back, something I have never experienced this young with any of the children I have looked after
*being told 'no' when repeatedly switching the tv receiver box off



Milestones:
She's mobile! She's not crawling but she is definitely getting around simply by pulling herself along.
Also, whenever I ask her a question(in a question tone) she will reply with ja/yeah...grandma asked the other day if she wanted a Gin&Tonic with her dinner and Emilia said 'yeah' :)

Mama:
Still super broody, to the point where just like 2 years ago I cannot stop thinking about it. I had always said that (especially if I had a girl) I would be happy with just the one. But now I want a little playmate for Emilia, I want to be pregnant again and have another good labour.

Fun things we did:
We went to London, as a family, and I had not one, but two nights out!
The first evening Mummy C. looked after Emilia while I went to a gig of our favourite band, I stayed out until after midnight! It was very strange leaving Emilia, even if it was with someone who knows her just as much as me, but Emilia was totally fine of course!
The second night, one of my best friends(a professional, qualified nanny) looked after Emilia. I put her to bed and then joined my partner and all of our friends at the concert venue for a second night of great music. Again, Emilia did totally fine, she only woke up when we got home due to being too hot as we had trouble keeping the flat cool(in February!)