Wednesday 27 August 2014

Luka Anya - 8 months old!

Wow I would've blinked and missed this one!

Luka and I have been sick as of late and all my time has been focused on getting ourselves better.
We both have a bad cold, runny noses, chesty coughs and poor Luka hasn't been eating much (or nil) solids and has been vomiting up mucus (which is kinda good, gets more of that bug out of her system).
Nights have been hard because Luka goes into bad coughing fits, then I use that time to comfort her, give her fluids, wipe her nose (and mine! I actually fell asleep with a tissue in my hand the other night) and give her pain relief. She's still getting up and down temps poor thing, I really hope this is over soon!

Downside to being sick is that we may be missing Luka's first concert at her daycare this Friday and quite possibly our friends baby boys first birthday if there is no sign of improvement (sharing's not caring) :-(
Also she hasn't been eating much or at all. Happy to say though she had a small bowl of food this morning and managed to hold it down. I'm hoping this is the start of her healing.
On the plus side, it's the first time I've been sick all year, I think this is also Luka's 4th or 5th cold this year too so that'll be good for her developing immune system!
Also Spring is literally around the corner, I am over Winter and ready for Summer. This year we are definitely hitting the beach, last Summer we didn't get a chance because I was so close to giving birth and Luka was too small.

Anyway, apart from sicknesses this has been quite the month!
A huge milestone has been met, you can keep scrolling down for that one :D




Starting to get more hair!


We made a trip into town last weekend and got some ice cream, Luka had a small taste and loved it!
Like mother like daughter :D

Dream car! Luka crawling towards a Merc that was on display for New Zealand Fashion Week

Weight: Luka had a trip to the doctors the other day for her cold and I think weighed in at 7.11kgs?
I can't quite remember, but her last weigh in was at around 7months and she was 7.1kg. She's filling in 00 clothing comfortably and I think we'll be moving her to 0 soon enough.

Sleep: Since she's been so sick lately, and teething, she hasn't slept a whole night. Since she was born she's only had 2-3 nights of uninterrupted sleep.
I really hope this improves, I know it's something that were not doing because she has a good routine down and gets plenty of food and stimulation during the day.
I guess it'll just be something she'll grow out of. Eventually.

Diet: Luka is now on Stage 3 solid baby foods which are less pureed and more chunky etc consistencies. We like her try different foods and have her even eating from our plates sometimes so that her taste buds develop. It's still very healthy, wholesome foods, she only has a small to nil amount of processed food once a week to try I.E. a small taste of ice cream but other than that it's all natural :-)
At dinner time I like to cut up kumara, carrot and potato into cubes, boil them and then serve them to her dipped in some sauce from her baby food jars. She loves it and it teaches her some kind of self sufficiency.

Routine: I've changed Luka's old routine from every 2.5hour wake cycle then a nap to every 3hour wake cycle then a nap so she's getting the most out of her day. It does change while were out cause she does tire more quickly and with her being sick she only stays awake 1.5hours and sleeps for maybe 2hours which doesn't bother me as she's healing.

Social: Luka is very sociable! She still tends to give people the 'I'm still sussing you out' stare, but once she's been around you long enough she lets her personality shine :-)

Likes:

  • avocados, bananas and sliced up apples for breakfast
  • putting pretty much anything she can grab into her mouth
  • her bottle
  • my water bottle
  • going outside
  • crawling into the kitchen to see what I'm up to
  • looking at herself in the mirror (uh oh!)
  • Baths!
  • Having rides on mine or Andrei's shoulders

Milestones: The day that I posted her 7months update, later that night she started sitting up all by herself!
Then the other week she started crawling :D It was after I finished vacuuming the house and she crawled right up to it, it was amazing. She started off doing the whole grasshopper crawling movements and now just goes for it.
Plus, she's been pulling herself up on objects such as her cot, on us, the coffee table etc. She's had a few slips and bumps to the head but she's so determined and I've noticed her feet starting to flatten towards the ground from her usual tippy toe stand.
I think she'll be walking or just starting to by her first birthday :-)
She now visible two bottom teeth, they're so cute especially when she smiles cause she kinda scrunches up her face aww! But man are they sharp! She's always chewing on my shoulders and neck and has given me a few hickeys LOL!
I think her top teeth are starting to come through too which has been adding to the stress of her current sickness, she's been handling it well. I can't wait to see them pop out :-)




She's so curious of everything.

Postpartum: Nothing new for me I'm afraid apart from starting to go for jogs with Luka (it's on hold at the mo because of being sick) as I've noticed my belly starting to sag so I've started working on my abdomen muscles to stop that. I can't wait to start taking Luka swimming so I can start to tone that area back up.
But as I mentioned in her 7month update I wont really start focusing on getting my body back till the new year once I start getting more shifts in at work and from there I can increase Luka's time at daycare.
Work has been amazing, I'm getting back into my old mojo before I fell pregnant and I'm meeting all my selling stats plus have picked up a few extra shifts, I'm really looking forward to my next bonus at this rate which I'll put towards Luka's birthday and maybe some pampering for myself and of course storing some away for savings :-)
Breastfeeding is starting to become less and less. After I had my pump fixed I never really got back into having the breastfeeding teas and getting into a routine so Luka only has about 2 beastfeeds a  day now and is mostly taking the bottle. I hardly have any let downs anymore so I'm coming to terms with the fact that my breastfeeding journey will be over soon (sigh).

Until next time!

XOXOX

Monday 25 August 2014

Maternity Photo's


This is way waaay late but Andrei finally found a photo converting app so we could see our shots taken by my dad just weeks before Luka was due in December.

Here are my faves :-)




Feeling impatient with my dad, it was extremely hot in my room too. Take note pregnant women + heat = not good

But I managed to keep face!

 
 
It was  a gorgeous hot summer day!
Although getting photos in our room with the empty bassinet was quite frustrating due to it being so hot inside, we did capture some nice pics, but I was very relieved to get outside!
 

Andrei and I in a nutshell!



He's too cute!





My dad used his Sony NEX5 to take our photos as well.
He's a pro/hobby photographer so I knew he'd get some swell pics of us and my burgeoning bump


I know Andrei is kinda cut out of this pic but I like this one of me!!!


Yes, we are ridiculous!
Dress // ASOS Maternity
Gold earrings // gift
Middle finger ring // sisters (woops!)
Ring finger ring // Pandora
I'm so rapt with our pics and it was so good that my dad got to them, it gives them that sentimental value that family were so close to getting them as well as saving us some money!

Looking back on these I can remember the anxiety and exhaustion of waiting to pop but loving every minute of my last few weeks with my baby in my tummy.
I remember being told that it goes so quickly and never believing it because it felt sooo long!

But it did go very quickly and I'm looking forward to giving Luka a sibling in another few years.

It's honestly the best feeling and I would fully recommend getting pregnant, obviously for those that want to do it!

Hope you enjoyed my latest!
I swear I'll post things up that aren't baby related, as soon as I have an individual life again haha!

XOXOX

<3

Thursday 14 August 2014

Luka's First Birthday Ideas

Planning on purchasing some block numbers and having them as some of her party decor

Ah! I'm so glad I'm finally getting around to writing this and getting things rolling round for Luka's First Birthday in 4months time!

Seriously 4months!!! This year is going way too fast.

So I'd thought I'd share some of my ideas for her birthday celebration that I got off my Pinterest account which you can check out here

I'm very keen on having a shot like this taken!
At the moment we have sorted a spot and a theme. The theme is just a casual Summer Garden Party with a BBQ, so happy that her birthday is in summer, which Andrei and I will be hosting at a top secret location for now.

Below are some of the cake ideas I like.
The first cake is a raw coconut strawberry layer cake, the second cake is something that I'd like to have for guests . I'm big on Luka having a healthy lifestyle with not much processed foods in her diet so I'm very much considering getting her a cake made with all natural ingredients if I can help it, especially with the plan of her doing a cake smash.
I'm wanting to get her cake from this cool little wholefoods store called Mondays that pride themselves on good organic foods.
Plus, their cakes aren't too big just incase Luka would rather have a small bite of the cake rather than fully dig into it. But I think at this stage with her eating she'll dive right in :-)



I'm planning on ordering a book from Printstagram, a cool website which takes the photos on you're Instagram account and makes them into magnets, albums etc and I'm really keen on taking the photos of Luka and making it into a book for guests to sign and leave a note for her on each page.



I'll be making a Pinata for the older guests to have a whack at!
It'll have party favours on the inside :-)

Planning on making some DIY paper flowers too.
I've made pom poms before so this should be a breeze

I'd like to have a chalk board displaying what Luka has achieved in her First Year.

 
Below are some shots that I would love taken of Andrei, Luka and myself.
I have a friend that is a hobby photographer as well as my dad so I'll get them to take some shots of us, our guests and have some non-choreographed ones throughout the day.
 

 
 
 
So that's it so far.
It's nothing too strenuous. I have planned, for party favours, to make up little candy bags and put them into the piƱata. I've also collected Luka's baby food jars and will be putting cake mix into them and baking a cake in the jars to hand to guests after the party.
I'm wanting to also either hire or buy a bubble machine for the kiddies to have fun with :-)
I've done her invites which I'll post after her birthday as it has all the info of the party and that is really just for guests at this point in time.
 
Until next time!
 
XOXOX