Wardrobe Wednesday

Last WW of the year for me! Welly weather is still a bit pukey - bring on the days of summer frocks and no jacket!

Floral top | Mothercare

Cardy | Max

High waisted belt | Glassons

Polka dot zipper skirt | Cotton On

So there you have it. My last threads for 2010 - bring on 2011!

You know you're a Mum when....

you know The Very Hungry Caterpillar word for word.

Beanwear - uber cool threads for uber cool kids

Sometimes I get a little sick of the enormous price tags attached to the more unique and funky clothes out there for kiddies. I'm all for supporting NZ stores (and I do when I can) but sometimes, when you're on one income, it can get a bit pricey!

That's where Beanwear comes in. George (a friend of a friend who was a tad fed up with the big prices) traveled to India recently and got a whole bunch of super cute threads made for babies and toddlers - mainly girls but there's quite a few things that could double as unisex. 

There's everything from gorgeous singlets to harem pants (think MC Hammer with an eastern feel) and all pieces are cotton/lycra in the most stunning earth colours. The best bit? They start from only $5.50!

So whether you're looking for something a little different, durable and super comfy for your wee one or as a gift, get Beanwearing now! 

Find Beanwear on Trade Me here.

Wardrobe Wednesday

So this week's WW is a bit exciting for me. Why? The uber talented Clare over at Green Valley Crafts is taking a break from her WW creation for a while and has bestowed upon me the honour of grabbing the reins over at love miss bonnie. Find the step-by-step of Clare's brainchild here and get wardrobing - awesomeness!

Check out my WW for this week below (as you can see by my threads, the weather in Wellington is rubbish AGAIN)....

Baggy tee | Glassons

Floral cardy | Cotton On

Grey blazer | Vintage

Scarf | Gift from Thailand

Skinny jeans | Lee

Flats | Country Road

And accessorizing with my fave earrings | Indeja

So there you have it - I promise better pics next week! There was no one around to take a full length photo but you get the gist, right? Make sure you pop on over to love miss bonnie and post a link to your WW in the comments.

Little Red gets a bit cute

I just had to post this photo that I took of Redford this morning - it just melts my heart!

The boy loves his toys!

You shall not woo me, Chrisco man

I searched for a picture of this man, but perhaps it's a better idea that I don't put one up and instead resort to the above because even though it's corny as heck it beats this guy.

Question: Do you have any idea who I'm talking about? If not, be glad. If you do, you'll understand that I'm talking about the "good looking" British dude that's taken over the Chrisco ads in the hopes of (I'm assuming) appealing to SAHM's appreciation of "good looking" British dudes thus forking out their husband's hard earned cash for a Chrisco hamper. Sexist, much?

Now I have to admit I am incredibly partial to a man with a smooth, sexy English accent. I am not, however, impressed by a man who was obviously a used car salesman in his last life that talks like David Beckham and looks like a real estate agent/strip club owner. Nor am I wooed in the slightest by him calling me a "gorgeous kiwi Mum". And it seems I'm not the only woman to feel this way considering the line has now changed to "smart and gorgeous kiwi Mum". Oh I feel so much better now! I'm gorgeous and smart. Yippee! I'm awesome and all yours, Chrisco man.

Is there anything that Chrisco doesn't do? Well, it certainly doesn't make me want to drop my knickers and most definitely not my moolah in this guy's pocket just for some measly biscuits. You're gonna have to work harder than that.

Yours sincerely,
(Much more than just a) smart and gorgeous kiwi Mum.

You know you're a Mum when....

you're really, really good at catching vomit.

Love the new blog!

I got creative (and less baby minded) and created another blog (but that doesn't mean I'll be skimping on Baby Bump).

Check out love miss bonnie where I find a new love of the day every 24 hours and in the process, learn to appreciate the beauty in the little things.

Follow the love! Share the love! Tell me what you love!

Miss Bonnie x  

Get the mini toothbrush ready!

Great Zeus' beard! Little Red's gone and grown himself a tooth! It's teeny tiny but it's there. Wee rosy cheeks, lots of drool and manic chewing.

Thank you to Fridge Elephant (see above) for making the poppet's gums a little less sore x

The food conosseur - solids take five million and one

Oi vey! More solids junk, you say! Well, you know I like to keep y'all updated and this time I have lovely things to report!

As of last Friday we started Little Red on three meals a day and that, along with his super baby sleeping (I'm guessing), has helped immensely with getting his head around this whole food thing. He now lets me shove a spoon in his gob - to which he actually opens his mouth for - and even swallows it down. He's been doing so well in fact, he quite often finishes the whole bowl!

The firm fave at the moment is pear, potato and baby rice. Strange combo but oddly delicious. This morning we had pear and baby muesli and he scoffed it down.

Spoonie is still a must but anything to get the food down, right?

I had a play with the idea of BLW over spoon feeding but I can now confidently claim that Little Red's foodies are a mixture of both and it works! His main meals are spoonie meals but I generally give him a slice of apple, carrot, pear or avocado to chew on during the day. Plus, he's quite partial to hand feeding himself straight from the bowl, i.e. he shoves his hand in the puree - lumpy puree, might I add - and then into (onto?) his face. I'd be a tad surprised if any was actually going in, but that's not the point, is it?

So there you have it. All rainbows and cupcakes over this way. Stay tuned for more solids updates (hopefully all good ones)....

Let's all hold hands and cry it out

Not in a schmultzy group therapy kind of way but a "my baby doesn't know how to settle himself to sleep so I'm going to let him cry it out" kind of way. And yes, there were tears. Plenty of them. From Little Red. But mostly from me ( no, not really but I don't want to sound like an ice queen - I simply managed to dissociate myself from the sound).

Baby Daddy Nick and I were pretty over the fact that a) the wee peanut's cot was literally attached to our bed and b) we were still getting up (rolling over?) every 1-2 hours to either feed him or put the dummy back in. No rest for the wicked and all that but come on!! I was turning less into a normal, functioning human being and more into a mean devil zombie with each passing day. So! I figured it was time for some evasive action. I sat down with the lappy and did some serious swotting on sleep. Why I didn't think to do this sooner is beyond me but better late than never, right?

I made the executive decision to go with the "verbal reassurance" technique - pretty much the beginner's guide to "cry it out"/Ferber method - and go with it we did! I took the reins and insisted Nick sleep in the spare room and cook dinner so I could go full bore in tackling Little Red's night-time shenanigans (why is it when babies are concerned we women always seem to be made of steel and nails whereas men turn to custard and cuddles as soon as a tear is shed? I suppose us ladies are the alpha, after all). 

When I first had Redford I swore I would never result to this technique as I thought it was beyond cruel to let your poor defenseless bundle cry themselves to sleep. But now, when I weigh up my sanity with his tears for a night or two, my sanity wins out big time. So I thought I'd document the whole thing for y'all....

First though, a bit of background:

Little Red has always been a totally crap day sleeper but from 5 weeks started sleeping 7-8 hours a night. He even settled himself! Admittedly, he spent a lot of time in bed with us but who cares? I'd rather have solid sleep than the bed to myself. Then, wham! We hit five months and he started waking at 3am. Then he started to wake at 12am and 3am. Then it turned into bed at 9pm, dummy run at 10pm, comfort feed at 12am, dummy run at 1am, real feed at 2am, comfort feed at 4am, real feed at 5.30am and so on and so forth and you get the picture. He'd gone from self-sufficient wee man to clingy comfort feeder in the space of a week. I was not a happy chappy and neither was he. So in comes Ferber, we go sans dummy (cold turkey, I tell ya, it's the only way to go) and this is how it went....

NIGHT ONE:   Little Red has his bedtime bottle at 7pm and after 5 minutes of sitting and burping we sing our bedtime song (Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen but sung in the style of Jeff Buckley) on the way to the bedroom. We turn on the white noise (a rather serene mountain lake but I reckon it's actually a stream) and bubs goes down with Denver, Patrick and Sophie around 7.30pm.

This is Denver the dinosaur. He appears to have eaten a disco ball - his

tummy is reminiscent of Studio 54 come night-time.

This is Patrick. He's the firm favourite. The BFF, even. Fire and brimstone

shall rain down should you forget Patrick. 

 This is Sophie. She's French and rather exotic and has a good ol' squeak

when chewed on.Yay for squeaky things.

Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes. So Little Red is in the cot! Awake! I left the room and the crying began. Five minutes and I went in to verbally reassure him. Again ten minutes later and then fifteen minutes. Et voila! About half an hour after going down he was fast asleep and we didn't hear a peep (a very rare happening) until 2.10am. I was a little unsure what to do so figured I'd let him cry - I thought perhaps he'd go back to sleep - but after 45 minutes it was clear that he most definitely wasn't so I got up, fed him (he guzzled!) then put him back to bed awake. He then slept through to 5.30am so I bought him into bed with me and we snoozed until 9am. Bliss!

NIGHT TWO:   It was easier on the second night as we knew what to expect. The routine went as per usual (although we were still getting into the swing of a set time for bed) and Little Red was in his cot by 8pm. This time there was only 15 minutes of crying! He woke at 1.50am so I fed him and then he went back down until 5.20am. I fed him again and then tried to put him back in the cot but he wasn't having a bucket of it so up we got - a slight shock to the system being up that early, but hey, I ain't complaining!

NIGHT THREE:   We've now moved down to a 10 minute settle time, yay for progress! Down at 7.40pm with a wake time of 12am. I have to admit I felt a bit nervous with the midnight wake, it seemed he was back to his old tricks so I thought I'd wait a bit and see what happened and you know what? He cried for 10 minutes and then sozzled himself back to sleep not to wake until 5.30am - superb!

NIGHT FOUR:   Naughty Mummy forgot about Little Red's arvo nap so he was absolutely knackered by 7pm. He gulped down his bottle, was in bed by 7.15pm and asleep in less than a minute. He woke at 2.50am for a feed and then slept through til 6.45am. I'm really liking where this is headed....

So it's Night Seven tonight and goodness me have we come a long way from those disturbed nights. We've been doing a breast feed at 4.30pm, dinner at 5pm and then Redford's ready for his bottle by 7pm. He's still crying when we put him down but it's usually only for 5 or so minutes. Midnight feeds usually happen between 2am and 3am (after which I make sure he's still awake when I put him back down) and he's now sleeping til 6.30/7am.

It's utterly amazing how well this has worked. I was terrified upon starting that it just wouldn't stick, that I'd end up with a baby that never slept and a body and brain that was slowly idling down a path of insanity. All three of us are happier and healthier - Nick is refreshed when he leaves for work as he's not suffering broken sleep - even if he does manage to snooze on through most of it, I'm getting two solid blocks of dream time thus having so much energy during the day I resemble the Energizer bunny and Little Red is chilled out and just.... awesome! 

I'm pretty chuffed. We're all pretty chuffed. Long live happy, sleeping family times! 

PS. This technique isn't for every baby, but if you think you and your little tot can handle it - I highly recommend it. A few nights of yucky crying is well worth the results!

Wardrobe Wednesday

Today we're off to the airport to meet my sister and my newest nephew (he's just 2 months old and this is our first meet and greet!) - they've flown the seas from the UK - kudos to big sis for traveling all that way with a wee one, eek! As you can see by my get up, it's FREEZING in Wellington. Hmpf.

Beret | Portmans

Baggy singlet | Moochi

Boyfriend cardy | Asos

Blazer | Minkpink

Scarf | Vintage (my Ma's from the 80s!)

Jeans | Workshop

Shoes | I Heart Billy

And accessories (blurry pic, I know, in desperate need of a better camera!):

Hand-made rose gold cameo ring from the 40s | Trade Me (on a chain I got from Diva)
Hand-knit heart brooch | gift from my sister 

Little Red got in on the Wardrobe Wednesday vibe today too....

Undershirt | Seed Baby

Tee | Country Road

Jeggings | Tiny Little Wonders

Sneaks | Bobux

And accessorizing with.... Patrick

Looks a bit like a stunned mullet really, doesn't he?

Right! That's all folks! Yippee and keep snug!

You know you're a Mum when....

you have fed your baby, clothed your baby, had a shower, dried your hair, put a load of washing on, put the dishwasher on, cleaned the kitchen, wiped down the dining table, tidied the spare room, tidied the lounge, tidied baby's bedroom, made your bed, had two cups of tea, gotten the jolly jumper out, put the jolly jumper away, changed two nappies, waved hubby off to work, watered the basil plant, caught up on any major news, checked your emails and changed baby (again) out of puke covered clothes.

All by 7.30am.

The food conosseur - solids take.... 3?

Admittedly, I'm beginning to lose count! An update on my last rant.... the solids are ever so slowly going down a little easier with each meal. The sleeping? Yeesh, don't even get me started.

But! I want to keep this post upbeat and positive so I'll stick to the foodies side of things. Now we haven't done a 180 and Little Red hasn't turned into a ravenous devourer of all things solid but we're getting there. I'm sticking to Farex baby rice (pear and apple) because, well, it pretty much tastes of mushy breast milk to which I add a little apple and (if I dare!) some mashed banana. We also gave Only Organics fruit muesli another try and this time - hooray! - no sore tummy's which is a hand clap moment as the wee bunny rather likes it. I also throw some baby muesli with apple and avocado in there sometimes to spice things up a little. 

This is all good and well as long as Little Red has a) his spoon, b) his sippy cup (from which he has no interest in drinking but does thoroughly enjoy throwing it on the floor) or c) a bowl to hold - preferably the one with the food in it. As long as he's happily distracted by either of these three things I can sneak the yums in and he even opens his mouth for the spoon, yippee!  

He's now steadily on the lunch and dinner bandwagon so, fingers crossed, it's all smooth sailing from here and at some point soon Sir Redford will be eating something more than anything with apple in it....

Wardrobe Wednesday!!

So I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon now that I've finally figured out what Wardrobe Wednesday is! We Mums all like some good threads right? And we most definitely deserve to look awesome and feel great about ourselves. 

My first one's a bit of a cheat.... it's not a Wednesday (it is, in fact, a Saturday) outfit and it's definitely not what I'd wear out on your average day-to-day basis. It was the Weta Christmas party on Saturday night so Baby Daddy Nick and I dolled up and shimmied on down to the Overseas Terminal for a night of.... dancing? Mayhem? Meh, you had me at free booze!!

Top | Good ol' House of G!

Skirt | LoveLove from Spacesuit

Belt | 70s vintage from my Ma's collection

Shoes | Overland

As you can see, I'm not overly enthusiastic about having my picture taken (and now that I look at it, I'm not so keen on those bingo wings that seem to be popping out the side....)

Anywho, first Wardrobe Wednesday down, many more to go!