To My 8 Month Old Baby Boy

Dear Cameron

Two thirds of the way to a year old already. How did that happen?!

I can’t help but marvel at you everyday as you show more and more of the gorgeous person that you are and continue to grow and grow. You blow me away daily with the little things you pick up and how happy you make us. Daddy is always saying how happy you make him and everytime I nod and agree. You are beautiful.

You so desperately want to be a big boy. You’re so tiny and sweet but you open drawers, open cupboards, clean things with wipes, crawl around (mostly commando still lately because you like the tiles) so fast, pull yourself up to stand and bop up and down.

You are still not that keen on food. You’re much more of a boobavarian. You enjoy feeding yourself small amounts of food but smearing it all over yourself and the high chair is much more fun! You have taken to crawling up to me, feeding and crawling away which is so funny.

You love your bath time. You like to stand up and play with the taps and you would rather play with your body wash bottle than the toys we have for you. You hate getting dry and dressed afterwards and try and crawl away the whole time!

You crawled off the mat at swimming for the first time last week! I was so proud of you! You grinned at me in the way that makes my heart smile when I said “You did it!!”. I love it when I can see your pride.

You are starting to like Phoebe and crawl up to the screen door and sit and ‘talk’ to her. You have always loved Little Man and you continue to cuddle him (and hit him over the head with your rattle, poor sweetie!) and smile when you see him. You love when we go for walks with Phoebe – you bend down and watch her the whole time.

You have taken to enjoying turning the pages of board books. You love the “That’s Not My…” book series and will find them on the shelf and pull them down. Your favourite toy is probably your wooden cars closely followed by the wooden shape sorter which you like using as a garage for your trucks and cars. You’re so adorable.

You’re more vocal this month than any other by far. You make a lot of sounds with ‘g’ and ‘b’ and love blowing raspberries saying ‘booooo’.

Your hair is certainly lighter and is a definite blond. It looks like candy floss in the mornings. You have lovely long dark lashes which look so cute when they’re wet.

You are obsessed with waving in the past week. You wave at ‘blinky’ (the sensor alarm in the corner of our room) as well as the tv, strangers and everyone we know. You also do this thing where you put your hand into pincer grip and swing it horizontally back and forth like you’re drawing with a pencil. I call you mini-maestro.

You will randomly hi 5 us now but you’re very selective as to what deserves a hi 5

You are better in the car now and are happy so long as you have your car toys (mobile phone, taggie and grip rattle). Sometimes I have to bribe you with my wallet or a plain bikkie though!

You love phones and remotes. You play with my blackberry. I have an app that locks the screen and each button shows up the corresponding colourful letter of the alphabet on a blue sky screen in kiddy voices which makes you grin all shy.

You have the best posture. It’s so freaking cute! You sit up all tall and make us feel bad. You are all proper and sweet.

You’re just such a happy darling boy! Each morning I’m greeted with a beautiful cheeky grin and your excitedly bounce on your knees. You now follow me around the house (have to keep the floors extra clean!) as I get myself breaky in the morning and you ‘help’ me with my chores.

You get very upset when I leave the room too fast. I tell you what I’m doing – I can’t wait until you understand! You’re a very clingy bubby and in some ways you’re so little. You’re certainly a skinny mini and it doesn’t matter what I do to bulk you up you burn it off!

You laugh when I say “I’mma getcha!” and you’re now very ticklish (especially your ribs and neck!). You giggle a lot at Dadda, particularly when he head bangs at you. You still love being worn as a hat and being a wittle genie. I love all our little inside jokes and nuances. You are so charismatic my boy.

I love how cuddly you are. I love how sometimes only I will do. I love how you crawl desperately towards me and cling onto me. I can feel your love. I love protecting you and how you know that “Mumma’s got you”.

You’ve almost completely grown out of your small baby beehind magic-alls. We have some mediums on order now.

You have taken more of a liking to Dadda (I mean, you’ve always loved him but you’ve always been a strongly devoted Mumma’s boy!) and will sometimes cry when he leaves in the morning for work. It’s the most gorgeous thing!

It blows me away to think that you are only going to get more and more interactive. I am just so very lucky to be able to call you mine. We are so blessed.

I simply love that I have the rest of my life to get to know the little person that you are. I love that I get to spend my days with you – teaching you things and having fun with you. I hope that you grow up feeling secure and happy within yourself and your life.

Cameron, you have the very best of me. You are my sunshine.

Love you always

Your Mumma xxxx

The Poo Incident

Yep, I’m on of those Mum bloggers. The one’s who talk about poo.

So it was like any other nappy free time (famous story starting point?! Y/Y??) until I heard Mike’s panicked voice say “Rachel! Look!!”

I turn around to see my baby boy… on all fours… with poo down his thighs and an absurd amount of poo on the blanket that he was playing on.

Until this point I was unaware of the smell. It’s a bit like when you don’t realise you have hurt yourself until you see the blood and all of a sudden there’s so much pain… Well I turned around and my brain registered the poonami in front of me and suddenly my nostrils were assulted with stink.

The following moments are a blur of laughter, frantic wiping, yelling and running around.

I didn’t take a photo so I’ve taken the liberty of drawing a diagram for you all:

The bath was running so I took a now semi-cleaned-up Cameron into the bathroom to turn off the taps and get us both clean while I left Mike with the offending mess (I’m good like that).

But before we could enter the bath I heard Mike, even more panicked, from the room “Oh God! I dropped it”. Through fits of laughter I made it back to the room to see Michael scooping up said logs of baby poo with a CD.

“I hope you don’t want this Mariah Carey CD”. I was snorting. Yes, snorting, with laughter.

We finally made it to the bathtub and settled ourselves in for the most efficient cleaning of our lives when Cam pulled that face. Fellow Mums, you know the one. The Poo Face.

Yes.

Yes, blog readers.

He pooed in the bath. I scooped poo out of the bath with my bare hands while screaming dramatically as Cam looked super satisfied with the situation.

I am fully hoping that this is the first and last poo story I tell. Thanks for reading!

If that made you laugh, vote for us! If it didn’t make you laugh… vote for us!

This little piggy ate.. tofu?

I’m by no means wanting to convert people… I figure that anyone interested can readily find information out there if needs be… but I’m just outlining some of the health related reasons why we have chosen to go vego… and why we are thinking of raising our children as vegetarian.

Did you know that studies of vegetarians show lower levels of pesticides in breastmilk? Pesticides such as DDT, chlordane, and heptachlor and industrial biproducts such as polychlorinate d biphenyls (PCBs) .

There are so many myths about vegetarianism. There was a time when nutritionists and dietitians even said that vegetarians lacked protein and calcium in their diet, but no longer.

Now, it is known that vegetarians get plenty of protein. What they don’t get is the excessive amount of protein found in the typical modern diet. If you get enough calories and eat a balanced diet with variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes, then getting enough protein is not an issue.

The calcium myth is applied, in particular, to vegans. Somehow, the notion got started that the only good source of calcium is milk and cheese. Granted, milk does have a good supply of calcium, but so do many vegetables — especially green, leafy veggies.

The truth is, vegetarians suffer less from osteoporosis because the body assimilates the calcium they eat more easily during digestion.

A vegetarian diet isn’t out of balance. It has a good proportion of complex carbohydrates, protein, and fat – the three macro nutrients that are the cornerstone of any diet. Plus, vegetarian food sources (plants) tend to be higher sources of most of micro nutrients.

Another way to look at it is this: The average meat eater consumes one or fewer servings of vegetables a day and no servings of fruit. If a meat eater does eat a vegetable, chances are it’s a fried potato. “Out of balance” depends on your perspective.

Another myth is that babies and children need meat in order to grow. This somehow makes the assumption that protein from plants isn’t as good as protein from meat. The truth is, protein is protein. It is all made from amino acids. Children need 10 essential amino acids to grow and develop properly. These amino acids are as readily available in plants as they are in meat.

People who follow a varied, well-balanced vegetarian diet are eating in line with current nutritional recommendations for healthy eating, as most vegetarian meals tend to be low in fat and high in fibre.

Medical studies have shown that vegetarians are less likely to suffer from heart disease, cancer, diet-related diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure, so a vegetarian diet is very good for your health. On average, vegetarians live 7 years longer than their meat-eating peers.

So much of this I wasn’t aware of until recently and now I’m reading more and researching more into what I hope to become the norm to my family.

I’ll admit that we were opposed to the idea of raising our children as vegetarian at first. I was pretty naive about the health benefits and ability to get all you need from things without meat… Not to mention the mere thought of criticism put me off.

I’m still pretty spooked about the criticism side of things. Anything outside the norm is bound to be questioned and we’re used to that I suppose (what with our relactating, public breastfeeding, baby wearing, bed-sharing, cloth-diapering parenting ways…).

But I think I worry about uneducated, ignorant, narrow-minded less-researched people who will think that we are somehow malnourishing/abusing/neglecting or somehow not doing the best for our children.

Especially because we were both slight as children and no doubt (especially looking at our Cameron here) our kids will follow suit and I am anxious about people assumming that they’re skinny due to vegetarianism rather than that just being them.

I am by no means saying that a balanced diet that includes animal products is wrong or what-not – just in case people draw conclusions. I’ve never been the healthiest person (I’m very much a stick-to-what-you-know kind of gal… hence this being a process). Vegetarianism is just another way about getting your nutrients.

But, it’s all an adjustment in many ways and I’m merely sharing that with you all.

So, I’m thumbing through vegetarian cookbooks, looking at vegan recipes online, searching out vego restaurants, talking about vegetarian food pyramids with Mike and stocking our pantry full with new and wonderful grains, legumes, oils, condiments/spices/herbs as we start to broaden our diet rather than restrict it.

P.S. ZOMG to anyone who knows us – we’re eating tomato. Yes, tomato peoples. Now you know we have our serious faces on.

Cameron’s Rainbow Half Birthday!!

It was BEAUTIFUL! Click here for a slideshow!!

Mum? Or Rachel?

Losing yourself in motherhood is so easy – almost effortless. What with the majority of your time spent tending to your child’s needs or worrying about them; what can you expect? But is it a pre-requisite to parenting or can you truly keep that sense of self? I think you can… It may be a newly moulded sense of self but nonetheless.

I have been thinking about it and have realised how much I’ve kept the Rachel along with being Mum. Although, I think it is easier at this age… where you’re not running after them, talking to them and answering endless questions. Still, it has taken me a while and a lot of what makes me, me is motherhood related but I feel really lucky.

I truly love my life. It has it’s rough moments with how I feel about myself but all-in-all once I fight past my depression/anxiety I am happy. More than content.

I love that I still make time to read and write and watch my favourite TV show (it’s Neighbours… there, I admited it). I love that amongst all the breastfeeding, the nappy changing, the washing, the songs and books, the mothers group meets, etc that I still embrace the individuality.

It isn’t easy. I mean my days are full with all things ‘Mummy’ and I’m sure that will only get more true as time goes on and I have more children who make more mess and require more stimulation and fun… but I hope that I’ll still maintain that same sense of developing-self.

I love painting my toe nails bright colours and finding rainbow earrings on sale (even if I was thinking of wearing them to Cam’s Happy Half Birthday that I’m planning).

I love that Mike and I are still silly and enjoy ourselves. I love that I still maintain great, meaningful friendships and speak my mind… even if a lot of the time the topic is motherhood-related.

I am still unsure as to what else will define me in the future… Whether I’ll be able to be labelled as anything new. Not that I’m fond of labels… But I know I’ll always still be Rachel – even if the definition is ever-changing.

Blog Party Up In Here!

Welcome! I’m Rachel and I write this blog about my beautiful life as a young Mumma, wife and woman.

I met my hubby in high school when we were both merely 15 years of age. We’ve since been inseperable. We were engaged at 18 and  married at 20.

I started blogging shortly after we decided to start trying to conceive and recorded vlogs on my Youtube channel. We fell pregnant 3 months later and I shared my symptoms, thoughts and all my excitement and purchases.

I went to my 8.5 week scan and saw a gorgeous wriggly baby so I wasn’t too concerned about our 12 week scan. We had our next scan at 14 weeks and heard the dreaded words “I’m sorry, there is no heartbeat”. I had had a missed miscarriage where my placenta/amniotic fluid had continued to grow and had no signs that we had lost our baby until that point.

I recorded a very raw video after finding out about my loss and have been trying to create awareness and help women going through a similar thing ever since via videos, blogs, emails and comments.

7 cycles later and we fell pregnant again with our son Cameron. I had a beautiful pregnancy which I shared throughout this blog.

After giving birth to Cam I suffered from severe anxiety attacks and post-natal depression (from fear of losing him). It’s an ongoing process but I’m doing much better now and do not have anxiety attacks anymore. I also relactated after having to switch to formula feeding for a short period of time due to sedative medication. I shared that as well on a blog called The Relactater.  

Since then things have been beautiful. Truly beautiful. So I’m sharing that with you, as well as the downright difficult.

We live in a lovely home in Australia. I enjoy spending time with my hubby, family and friends, helping my baby boy discover the world, creating videos and taking photos, digital scrapbooking, reading, watching movies, going to mothers groups and writing.

Thank you SO much for stopping by!

What Has Changed?

So I’ve been asked how things have changed since Cameron was born. That’s a pretty complex question. But in short – what has changed? EVERYTHING!

My Marriage:

Mine and Michael’s relationship has only got stronger and more lovely. I mean that in the most real way I can portray. Our marriage is more beautiful than ever. We still do and say stupid things and have fun. We’re still learning how to juggle it all. We still have arguments.

But now there are more texts that say “how are my two favourite people”, more phone calls with “guess what he did”‘s, more “far out I missed you”‘s and more photo messages featuring a grinning bubba.

My Sense of Self:

Before Cameron I didn’t really know who I was. I felt disjointed and like I needed to explain myself and behave a certain way. Even in the early weeks of his life this continued but now I have a clarity that he has taught me.

More recently I feel that I know who I am in a work-in-progress kind of way and I like who I am. I like my quirks and even my flaws and I think it comes from realising what I am capable of through my journey to becoming a Mumma.

I’m still learning what that means and where I am heading but for now I have a simplistic contentment and feel like I fit in my skin well and that I am someone who can be proud of who/what/where I am today.

My Body:

I like to call it Rachel 2.0… It is a medly of large thick red/purple stretch marks and extra flab. But it is also a creator of life, maker of milk and provider of comfort.

My Home:

My house now feels like a home. I really love this house. I’ve began to appreciate the notion of Organised Chaos… Like messily folded clothing (but folded none-the-less) and neatly organised boxes that are filled with unorganised bits and pieces.

We now have a perfectly functional bed frame stored in our spare room because I prefer the mattress on the floor with Cameron sharing the bed with us (if he rolls out… there isn’t so far to fall – oh that sounds awful!)

My Day-to-Day Life:

My life is now filled with nappy changes, drool, puke, much more washing, stress, concern, crying (his and mine), tiredness, and generally more chaos and questions.

Before he blessed my life I feel like I didn’t have a purpose. I love that my life is also filled with kosses, giggles, smiles, singing silly songs, splishy splashy bath times, bubba massage, boobah, cuddles, book time, new friends, swimming lessons, dancing, and watching him blossom into the beautiful boy that he is.

Cammy – Update!

I really haven’t updated about Cameron specifically… so here I go. It’s just going to be in point form!

Cameron is now 18.5 weeks (4 months) old and:

- Loves rolling from his back to his belly
- Won’t take a dummy or bottle
- Is 66 cm long and 6.4 kilograms
- Did great at his 4 month immunisations
- Is wearing 000 clothing except for his feetie-pajamas which are 00 because of his length
- Is a fully modern cloth nappy (I use Baby Beehinds Magic-Alls BTW – amazing) and cloth wipes bub
- Is exclusively breastfed
- Loves books and his flower toy
- Giggles occassionally… mainly when you kiss his neck and nom nom nom his chest
- Shares our bed but will sleep in his cradle swing, in a wrap sling and in the car (occassionally)
- Has far too much clothing 
- Is a very sensitive boy – the tiniest of things can change his emotions instantly
- Has found his feet
- Smiles at EVERYONE… he’s so social and beautiful
- Loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Loves bathtime
- Is starting swimming lessons in a couple of days
- Has got better with the car
- Does not stop moving
- Always gets the hiccups still
- Raises his eyebrows like his Mumma
- Is a huge fan of tummy time
- Still has a newborn-esque cry
- Is balding
- Has nails that grow pratically overnight
- Puts everything in his mouth
- Is not a fan of the pram
- Is beginning to recognise how things relate (i.e. smiles when he sees us get the wrap sling because he knows it means “I won!”)
- Is always drooling
- Already has lots of little ‘friends’
- Does not generally sleep well throughout the day
- Sleeps great at night with only a few wake-ups purely for a feed
- Is doing brilliantly… he’s such a delightful, clever cutie patootie.

Productive Days

Ahhh, these are the days. The productive days.

Today my day has gone a little something like this:

7 AM – Wake up to Cammy snuffling at me, boobah, big grins followed by changing Cam while singing “this is the way we change our Cammy”. Time to make more wipes (I use cloth), round up all dishes/rubbish/washing, empty the dishwasher, fill it back up, boil the jug (all while wearing Cam and telling him about our day… and lots of yawns), put on washing and stare at the ever-growing-pile of clean clothes to put away.

7:30 AM – Have breakfast and a cuppa, check the net, read Cammy “Dear Zoo”, make a to-do-list while Cammy has tummy time and I play music.

9:30 AM – Snooze time. I snuggle up to Cam and give him boobah and end up falling asleep too! I read a book with a snuggly sleeping Cam-burger from 11 to 12 I have to turn the pages reeeeaaaally quietly.

12 PM – Boobah, bum change, another book for Cam then I call my sister and talk to her while I eat lunch. Then Cammy goes in the bumbo while I shower & finally shave my legs after a couple of weeks neglect. Eyebrows are plucked and hair is straightened. I clip Cammy’s nails and give him a quick bath. Then I clip my toe nails and paint them bright pink just for fun.

2 PM – Off to the shops after fumbling around chanting “bra, wallet, son” creating a list of things to remember as the car cools down with the air con on full blast. I realise the car is empty so it’s off to the petrol station first. I juggle wallet, keys and Cammy in to pay and stare longingly at the v drinks.

2:30 PM – I wear Cameron and we get D batteries for his cradle swing so that it doesn’t sound demonic when the music is on, teething supplies (rings to chill, sm33 gel, nurofen – all on special… feeling swish), washing powder and I buy Avatar DVD for Mike (and secretly me… one of my fav movies)

3 PM – Cameron falls asleep in the car… I drive around our suburb aimlessly for half an hour.

3:30 PM – I juggle bags, nappy bag and Cameron inside and he wakes up. I replace batteries in the swing and he gets some more sleep while I tidy up, clean the kitchen including cupboards, put all teething supplies in the fridge, note the empty fridge and remember that I forgot cat food. Then I sweep the floors and sort the mail. Oh, and I swap the hand soaps in the ensuite and main bathroom because one isn’t working properly… and I fill them all up including the kitchen one. Exciting stuff.

4:30 PM – Mike comes home and I surprise him with the cleaner-than-normal home, a civilised looking wife, a smiley munchkin, Avatar (which is locked because I went through the stupid self-service aisle at Big W) and we have hot drinks and hug and chat. I change Cameron again.

6 PM – Cam goes down for another sleep after boobah while I’m facebooking and Mike gets Avatar unlocked and buys catfood and extra milk.

6:30 PM – Cameron wakes up crying… so I better go!

& that’s our day thus far. In a nut shell.

P.S. I have all of my new posts categorized now (i.e. Tell-All Thursdays)

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! This blog is going to have daily themes whereby I can share my lovely life with you.

Magic Mondays:
Where I share the magic moments of being a SAHM/wife/woman.

Trying Tuesdays:
Where I share the trying moments of being a SAHM/wife/woman

Wordless Wednesdays:
Where I share a photo collage of a my week.

Tell All Thursdays:
Where I share what I’m up to with my hobbies.

Fun Fridays:
Where I share the fun moments with my family and friends.

If you do not know much about me or my past feel free to view my previous blogs or my Youtube channel!