Baby Cupcakes

Somewhere along the line I recently was sent a link for Baby Cupcakes. Me, thinking they were actually cupcakes, and feeling like some cake, dashed to my iMac and googled. My tummy was disappointed (not that it should have been expecting cake, it's on a diet), but my eyes were not! Why didn't I discover this store a year ago when I had six million baby gifts to buy?

One of my sister in laws actually gave me one of these sock and singlet bouquets and I never took any attention to the store on the ribbon. I wish I had now!

Come on friends, hurry up and have another baby so I can go shopping! Who doesn't love cute little baby socks made into a bouquet of flowers? Its pretty and practical!!!
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Parents Rooms

Parent's Rooms are like the holy grail of being a parent. A good one can make a shopping trip, a bad one can cause you to wish you never bothered.

I have seen a lot of both. The bad ones are poorly designed (a microwave in between two nappy changing stations anyone?), lacking in basic resources, or worse yet, are just a disabled toilet.

The good ones are well planned, have a designated play area for older children, good feeding facilities and are clean. Above all they must be clean.

I recently went to Melbourne Central and needed a parents room. Rather than look on the map I asked someone and they pointed me to one that wasn't on their mapping system. I felt like I was part of a secret club.

As soon as I walked in the door I was pleased. It smelt clean, was very large and catered to my every need.

If you are in Melbourne and need a change facility, I suggest the Melbourne Central one. It's on the 2nd floor, past the elevators that are near Calvin Kline The same elevators that exit at GAP on the first floor.
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To Buy or Not To Buy: Highchair

The highchair was one aspect where I let the husband exercise his right to pick something for our child. To be honest it is quite possibly the only thing he picked. The highchair.

Highchairs vary a lot in price, from the $30 Ikea Antilop to the super dooper expensive ($599) Bloom Fresco. I was a fan of the Tripp Trapp due to its good looks and not screaming "we have a baby", but I let the husband make a choice, and he chose the Chicco Polly.

I hate that our highchair looks like a highchair. It's not pretty. It is better than some, but it still screams baby. I also hate the stupid locking tray thing, I can never get it to slide in properly. I do however like that the tray is removable, and the top lifts off for easy cleaning. Surprisingly, I haven't had any issues with food getting stuck in the creases, after every meal I give it a flick on the lawn and we're good to go. Once a week I wash it in the bath. Easy. The highchair my mother in law has is a lot worse though, and her seat cover isn't easy to remove.

I have to say, even though we brought ours on sale, I wish we had our time again, as I would definitely go for the Tripp Trapp. I know the Ikea version is highly recommended by everyone, but it just doesn't do it for me. I used one recently, and I can't say I am rushing to Melbourne to get one. It's easy to clean, yes, but pretty it is not. Then again, given Eliza didn't really eat her first meals in a proper highchair, rather the Bumbo, I don't know if I would bother with a full on high chair, and would consider a portable type one or just stick with the Bumbo.

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To Buy or Not To Buy: Bumbo & Tray

 For us, this was $70 well spent. Eliza has been sitting in the bumbo since she was around 3 months old, first to get used to sitting, then as a table for food, and now as a substitute high chair if we go somewhere.

It really is handy, and very easy to wash when someone smears banana into the sides of it. Highly recommend it, and am planning on buying one for a friends baby on the way.

If you are looking for one, don't pay more than $55 for the seat and $20 for the tray. They are regularly on sale for these prices at Baby Bunting. There are ebay sellers selling them for much more than this and praying on sleep deprived mums who don't have time to research prices.
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To Buy or Not To Buy: Towels

See this basket here? It is full of towels for Eliza. Hooded towels, plain towels, extra fluffy towels, and close to a million facewashers. And there is another basket in the bathroom. And a few on the clothes line.

To be honest, I wish I never brought any myself, as we got given majority as gifts, which was lovely, don't get me wrong, but we only ever use the same three towels: the pink hooded towel on top, a normal towel that my mum embroidered for Eliza to lay on whilst getting dressed/undressed, and a spare hooded when the pink one is in the wash. I tend to use the rest of them for drying my hair!

My advice? Save buying towels until after the birth, or if you must, only buy one or two beforehand. A regular bath towel is just as good too.
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Play Mats

I am in love with this play mat, it is bright but not gaudy, and best of all, it doesn't make noise! I wish I had seen it when I brought our activity mat, as the music it plays really does drive me up the wall.

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To Buy or Not To Buy: Pumps

Despite not wanting to, I seem to have brought A LOT of baby stuff. Somethings have been great, others not so great. I always found other peoples reviews interesting, so I thought I might have a crack at it too.

In the first three months, we loved our Medela Swing breast pump: I ummed and ahhed over buying or hiring a pump, and eventually decided to buy one. My chemist has a 90 day exchange policy, so I figured if I didn't use it within 2 months I would return it and get my money back. I figured that was a decent length of time to either get breastfeeding established, or to have thrown the towel in and be using formula (nothing wrong with either, just my preference was with breastfeeding).

Within three days of being home the box was open and I was pumping away thanks to an oversupply of milk. I now use it daily to express a feed just before bed, which becomes our freezer store. I like that the speed is variable, so I can increase pressure as needed, as well as the let down mode to gently get things moving. I also liked that there is a firm and soft cup in the box, as I preferred the soft cup in hospital.

Every now and then it throws a hissy fit and won't suction properly for no reason, but I find that turning it on and off again fixes that problem. It was expensive, however it is money I don't regret spending, as it has saved my behind more than once in the last few months, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. That said, if I wasn't sure I wanted to breastfeed, or knew I could breastfeed, I would hire one. It was the long refund period that had me sold.


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Hats

I love children's hats, they are just so cute! I wish Eliza would tolerate them.

All hats from Little Bird Lucy

I love the reindeer hat, it would make an awesome prop for a christmas card!
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Shopping for others

So, whilst pregnant I loved shopping for clothes for our unborn child, but I didn't know what gender to shop for, so I brought both. In order to not put my husband into an early grave, I was rather conservative on buying both genders, despite loving so many little girl things.

As luck would have it, now that I have a little girl, I am not loving the clothes out there for her! How typical! I am however loving the latest gymbo line for little boys (ahem, Amy)

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Pretty Blankies

Eliza is very lucky, and was thoroughly spoilt when she made her slow entrance into the world. She received so many beautiful things, but one think that gets many comments is her cream pram blanket that my mum brought her.

It is amazing, and really does look like it was handmade. I love it so much. Am so tempted to buy one for a friend who is having a baby soon.
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Things I love

Or rather this post should be titled "Things in Eliza's room that keep April from going mental at 3am".

Eliza's iPod with Sounds of Silence playing. The track 'White Noise' stops her crying instantly.

(I now have it loaded on my phone and in the car, and often find myself humming the tunes of the classical lullabies)

Also in the above photo is the GroEgg. I quite like the egg, as I can tell if it is too hot or cold in Eliza's room from bed based on if it is blue (cold), yellow (just right), orange (bit toasty) or red (turn off the heater). If we had brought a monitor I probably wouldn't have bothered with it, but I quite like it.

Finally, Nursing textbooks. So terribly handy to raise the height of the cot at one end to help with reflux. And honestly, what else does one do with Mosby's Medical Dictionary?

(Clearly $200 well spent given I am not a nurse. Least it is being used though)

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My Blankies

As I have mentioned in the past, I have been making some baby blankets for friends who are having babies.

My original plan was to make a blanket similar to this one that I found on Etsy

however I decided the applique giraffe was out of my skill level, so I went with just a basic design of fabric with minky fabric on the back.

Having never sewn minky I was a bit shocked by how hard it actually was. It is stretchy and moves really easily, and was just a general pain in the toosh. A quick google search revealed that I am not the only one who complained about this, and apparently the trick is to use pins. LOTS OF PINS. Once I got the hang of it, it was rather easy to do.

So I made another one. And another.

(Note I didn't make the bottom two blankets, I brought those on Etsy and used them as a template for size)

I did manage to make a blanket for myself though, in orange dots to match my burp cloths. All in all I am quite happy with how they turned out.
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Welcome

After debating birth announcements for a long time, I ended up going for a picture version from Ellieoh Designs. Lisa was lovely and changed the design to suit what we wanted, and I couldn't be happier. I am having them printed onto postcards so that we can write our thank you messages on the back.
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Artwork Gifts

I have quite a number of pregnant friends, all of whom I am most excited for, as we are becoming mummies are the same time. And because it means that I have more people to buy baby things for :D

I am currently eyeing off these prints from Galerie Anais. I just need a certain friend to let me know if she is expecting a baby girl or boy.
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Noticeboards

Shugbee Lane

I spotted this cute little noticeboard a little while back and saved it to my favourites as an easy task I could one day do something similar with.

So with that in mind, I kept my eye open for a bit of sheet metal that was magnetic and the right size. After several months I gave up and it got lost in my favourites folder.

Until now. I am thinking a nice noticeboard above the changetable might be a cute idea for the baby, where I can display photos, cards and eventually artwork? I have some spare material that matches our cot fabrics, so it would tie in nicely.

What do you think?
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More Nursery Artwork

(excuse the wonky photos, I was trying to get as little glare as possible)

I was browsing etsy for orange prints, and came across the orange balloon print by Trafalgars Square. I quickly fell in love and purchased a series of four.

I originally planned to mount them in a row down the wall, but it would have been much too tall for the area, so it became a 2 by 2 arrangement that involved being home alone one Sunday afternoon, a level, a ladder and a lot of cursing when I stuffed up measurements. Pregnancy seems to have killed my brain lately. Luckily I was using a pencil that was easy to erase, and decided to use 3M hooks rather than putting holes in the wall.

Not entirely sure if the husband has noticed them or not - he hasn't commented as of yet!
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Spot the Difference

Something changed on my blog in the last few days, can you see what it was?

I will give you a hint, it is up the top of the page.














Thats right, I finally gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Eliza. After 36 hours of labour, in which I was sent home from hospital to have a nap and wait a little longer, she entered the world without a care in the world weighing 8lb5oz and measuring 52cm (20.4") long.

I never knew I could love such a little bundle so much. The husband and I are totally smitten with her, and can't imagine life without her now, sleepless nights and all.

One day, when I can put more than two coherent sentences together I will tell you about how she made her entrance into our lives and hearts, but for now, try and forgive me if posting goes missing, it will be because I am trying to work out this parenting gig and get some sleep.

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