Friday 27 June 2014

Luka Anya - 6 Months old!


My girl is officially 6months old!

I never though she'd make it to this stage and begin filling the clothes she wears now and outgrowing the others, it's just too surreal!

The milestones she's achieved and how much she's bloomed since my last post on her 4months (sorry I skipped 5) have been a joy to watch :-)

She really has and always will be her own little person.

I love her like nothing else in this world, even if her wilful tendencies drive me a little crazy as well as her stubbornness and temper, but shes my baby and I am so proud of her!

I could only think back 6months and think that it'll be forever until she finally gets to this stage.
I just always saw her as my little newborn, but as the months went on and she improved with her colic, mobility, feeding, sleeping, sociability and overall independence I've changed my mind about each of my favourite ages of her and I'm slowly learning to accept to just love her as much as I do every single day and that no matter how old she is, she will always be mine and Andrei's baby.

Now that the 6month mark has been reached this makes me very excited to start pulling ideas together for her first birthday!
So far I've planned a summer garden party (as her birthdays in summer here in NZ to all my overseas readers) with a BBQ and plenty of DIY celebrated with those that closest to Luka I.E family and a handful of friends.
I can't wait to get started, first off I'll be doing the invites and I have this awesome app on my phone, Rhonna Designs, that I'm using to do the invitations.
I'll do a post of my birthday ideas for Luka later.

In the mean time, here's an update of Luka from the last two months :-)



Weight: When she was last weighed for her 5month vaccines she tallied in at 6.1kg! She wont be weighed again till her 7month check up with Plunket but she has been growing so quickly from filling in 000 clothing at 4months to now almost filling in 00!
Her hair is growing, it's so cute and fuzzy and oh so blonde :-) and she's getting much more stronger.

Sleep: So sleep has been all over the place the last few weeks from her waking up once during the night to waking up, say, 3 times.
My body's more well adjusted these days, but with it being winter now it sucks having to get out of a nice warm bed -_-
Oh well first world problems, I'll keep monitoring her sleeping patterns and hope it'll change soon or it could just be to put a new routine in place.





Diet: I'm very excited about this because Luka is now having a good balance of breast milk, formula and solids!
I've had to give her 50/50 of b/milk and formula because my b/milk supply has been running low, from pumping 4-6 ounces a day to barely an ounce and not many let downs; it is very disheartening but I have been trying to remind myself that I have done the best I can and Luka is so happy and healthy and that is more than I could ask for :-)
Even as much as I wanted to keep giving her my b/milk exclusively for her first year, there's just things in this world you can't change, I've never been opposed to formula (even though I'm strong believer in breast is best) but at the end of the day it is what's best for Luka and I sure as hell won't let her starve!
But in saying all that, I purchased a breastfeeding tea from Artemis (a natural remedy company in NZ) so to increase my b/milk supply.
And so far I have noticed a change :-)
It's my 4th day drinking 3cups each day and I feel my breasts filling up more and I've been pumping 2.5-3ounces and storing it away. You have no idea how elated I am!
I'll keep you up to date on that journey.
Otherwise, she's having either S-26 Gold or Heinz Nature Gold+ Formula and has been guzzling it back like a champ!
She's started to slowly take more solid foods than pureed and has a mix of of fruit, vege and meat baby foods.
And they all taste pretty good!

Routine: I've gone through two different routines suitable for Luka's age and how long she can stay up for.
In her 4th month she would awake for 1-2 hours and have 3-4 naps during the day.
Now it's awake for 3-4hours and 2-3 naps during the day.
She goes to bed around 7-8 and wakes up around 7 but is waking up 3-4 times during the night!
I think a new routine could be in order so I'm going to start getting her to bed by 7pm then she'll most likely wake around 5-6am and from there she'll have her breakfast, play time and then have her first nap, and then do her thing as the day goes on.
I'll be starting that as of tomorrow due to me working tonight so she'll be a little unsettled with me not at home.
Let's hope it works once I get started...

Social: Luka has surprised me with how sociable she is! She's also surprised me with just how much she's changed since going to daycare (yup she's been going for a month now), she's always happy and now smiles at people when before she would just stare at people, which she still does, but going to daycare and not relying on me I have noticed a huge improvement with keeping herself entertained too.
The kids at the daycare love her and always run up to the stroller and talk and play with her when we arrive and the same with when we leave.
Also when I go to pick her up she gives me the biggest yummy baby smiles and then gives me the biggest yummiest baby kisses. It's so worth it :-)
Her caregivers are amazing and adore her, she goes Monday's, Thursday's and Friday's from 8am to 12pm.
I'm thinking of increasing the time or adding in an extra day as I'm wanting to pick up extra shifts at work, but we'll see how we go.

Likes: Luka loves interaction with people, she loves her cuddles and loves it when I play with her I.E. rough and tumble, tickling her tummy, peek a boo etc. She has a laugh that just makes my heart swell :-)
She also loves her new Jumping Joey (similar to a Jolly Jumper) and squeals with delight when she's jumping around in it.
She loves floor time too as she's becoming more active and beginning to crawl and sit up by herself.
I've been taking her to the park a lot lately and she has a play on the swing and we go on the slide, she loves it :-)
She loves grabbing things and putting them in her mouth, which has made trying to read to her quite difficult because she literally wants to devour the book!
She loves daycare, having morning sleep in's and cuddles with me, making a mess during her meal times (hehe), shower time and yeah.

Milestones: She's starting to figure out how to crawl and sit up by herself!
I'm amazed at how mobile she's becoming, I leave her on her play mat one minute and when I come back she's at the other end of her play mat and completely around the other way!
She's funny wee thing and has started making this growling noise, Andrei and I do it back to her which puts a huge smile on her face.
She's rolling around...everywhere! She's really figured it out this time and it makes it so much fun for me when attempting to dress and unclothe her as well as trying to put her nappy on!
But she's happy, what more could I want?

Postpartum: I am back to work and the gym which has been bittersweet due to my b/milk production lacking. But like I stated in food, it's something to work on.
I found out that I only have 5kg till I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight (60kg) and boy, the trainers have me on this gruelling routine!
10mins on the treadmill with running intervals, 15mins on the crosstrainer at 10-12 intensity (or kg), 30kg squat lifts, 10kg lunges the list goes on!
But, I have noticed an improvement, not with my weight yet but with how I look, my arms are more sculpted and everything else is starting to tighten back in (yipee). I have this dress that I brought during pregnancy that doesn't look too great on at the moment so by the time Summer rolls around it'll fit like a glove, can't wait :-)
Being back at work has been good too, it feels amazing to be earning my own money again, even if it is only one shift a week and for 4hours. I missed my work colleagues and having new things to talk about, next month I'll be looking at increasing my shifts as I'm trying to save towards getting my own car.

Otherwise that's all I have to say for now.
I could go on but I want to have things for more blog posts, and try and blog more...

Hope you liked reading and you'll hear from me soon :-)
In the mean time, here's an adorable video of Luka having some play time with me and her daddy.
**please excuse my shit videoing skills and also the fact you can't hear the audio. It's still pretty cute ☺️

XOXOX