Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Reflections on my First Three Months as a Mother

I can't believe S is almost 4 months old already, it honestly feels like the time since her birth has just passed in a blur. She has developed so much in 3 months its crazy, she is really starting to become her own little person which is amazing to see and be a part of.

The point of this post is so that I can remember later on the key things that have happened and to reflect on the last 3 months of her life.


Feeding

 

I plan to do a full post on my issues with breastfeeding, but I'll do a quick overview now. Due to issues such as tongue tie and low weight gain, we were unable to sustain a successful breast feeding relationship. I decided around 6 weeks that I would commit to full time expressing for as long as I could manage both physically and mentally and we've made it past the 3 month point which was a huge achievement for me. S is now approximately 90% breast milk fed and 10% formula fed.

As time goes on I am just getting more exhausted as I am still expressing every night around 4-5 am so never get a proper nights sleep as S is still waking up at least once a night as well. I plan to keep up expressing into the foreseeable future, hoping to make it to 6 months at this stage and then we'll go from there... 

Sleeping

 

We had our first sleep through the night on Sunday, but it hasn't happened again since. S generally goes down around 7pm, and I dream feed her around 10 before I go to bed. If I dream feed her, she generally sleeps to around 4am if we're lucky, during growth spurts she will be up at 12, 1.30, 3 etc... but its not normally that bad.  After being fed around 4, she will sleep to 8 or so which is a decent enough time. I'm hoping now we're past 3 months she will start sleeping longer, but it doesn't look like we'll be able to stop her night feedings any time soon.

Activities

 

We started gymbaroo and swimming at 14 weeks. She loves both, and has a bigger social life than I ever did!
We also finished our 6 week mum and bubs yoga course, but met some lovely ladies there that we catch up with still. 
S's favourite things include lying on my lap whilst I sing to her, rolling, bath time, and her lamby comforter. 
 

Milestones

 

I'm having a hard time remembering, but I believe S started properly holding her head up when on her tummy around 9 weeks. She also started social smiling around this time too, maybe a bit earlier at 8 weeks.
S stared rolling back to front at 14 weeks, she can roll half the length of the house now! She is getting frustrated when on her tummy as she can't move forward.
No signs of any teeth yet which I'm glad about, from what I've hear teething doesn't sound like much fun at all.

Mummy update

 

Health wise, I am pretty much back to normal. I have been back exercising since about 8 weeks, but still have about 4kg left until my pre-birth weight. In saying that, I'm not too worried about losing weight at the moment as feeding S is more important and I don't want my supply to decrease anymore. The only issue I have at the moment is the exhaustion, but I'm sure its all part of being a mum and will get better over time.


Its hard to believe she used to be like this, a small newborn baby who didn't do much but sleep, eat and scream:



Who is now this lively, smiley, beautiful baby:



Becoming a mother has been a huge adjustment and is definitely the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the most rewarding. There is nothing like going into her room in the morning and having her greet you with a huge smile ready to start the day. 

Riette
x

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

I've been practicing my cupcake making skills to use for S's future parties and decided to have a go at making salted caramel cupcakes. They turned out so good I made them twice in 3 weeks (the guys at P's work enjoyed them from what I heard). 



I won't post the recipe as its quite long, but I used this one: Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes
and the recipe for salted caramel is this one I posted last week. 

My beloved KitchenAid in action

 
Creaming butter and sugar


Adding eggs


Delicious batter (too good not to eat off the spoon)




Ready to bake



Ta-da!


Waiting to be dressed


Salted caramel buttercream


A better look


And the final product, triple salted caramel cupcakes.


You need to make these like yesterday!

Riette
x

Saturday, July 26, 2014

The Week of the 21st July


What a busy week we've had! S started both swimming lessons and Gymbaroo this week, plus we had mothers group on Wednesday and our last mum & bubs yoga class on Thursday. I'm looking forward to the weekend so we can just relax and hang around the home.

Sienna loved both Gymbaroo and Swimming, just as we thought. She thrives in group situations and just smiled all the way through her classes. Although I generally don't like water/swimming, I didn't mind getting in the pool with her because it was nice and heated.

This week has been quite hard on me as I'm not getting much sleep due to S going through combined growth spurt and sleep regression. Our nights normally go like this: Go to bed at 7pm, dream feed at 10pm, wakeup at 1.30am, 4am, 6.30am, 8-8.30am. I can't wait for this stage to pass so I can get 5 hours straight sleep again! As hard as it is, seeing her smile back at me in the morning makes it all worth it.

In between all of S's activities, I had to fit in time to have people over to quote up our bathroom/laundry for renovations, 2 reformer classes, and bake for both mothers group and yoga.

Phew!

S was sick over last weekend, so we had lots of snuggles on the couch near the heater to keep warm in the miserable weather.


I made these awesome chocolate chip cookies for mothers group. Tastes just like the Subway ones I swear.


We received our new bed last week, so needed to get new bed linen. I love this doona cover by Leona Edmiston. 


S and I had matching bathers (swim nappy for her, board shorts for me)


Finished reading this book, it was alright for a Stephen King book. I plan to do a review on this soon.


As it was our last yoga class this week, we arranged to have a morning tea afterwards. I made these strawberry cupcakes which were delicious. I used this recipe but made a strawberry buttercream instead of the whipped cream topping. The buttercream was made with all natural colours as well!


The weather has been pretty miserable this week, and really random. Poor Jessie hasn't been able to have too many walks because of the rain.


We went to check out the show room of one of the bathroom renovators to select tiles. As we won't be in this house long term, we're not too worried about making it our dream bathroom, so just going to go with something neutral, most likely grey and white.

Thinking about this:


Or this:


Next week is going to be just as busy with gymbaroo, swimming, and 2 mothers groups, but at least its keeping S entertained.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Riette
x

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Baby Clothes Shopping

Since becoming a mum, I find it really hard to shop for myself as I always think the money would be better spend on S. I have no problem, however, spending money on things for her. Baby clothes are the cutest things ever, and its hard not to get carried away with buying too much. 

I tend to favour a few brands when buying baby clothes, including bonds and target, but my favourite brand of kids clothing is Sprout which is sold at Myer. S's wardrobe is probably 60% Sprout, as all their clothes are cute, unique and well made. I also love Seed Heritage baby clothes, but considering how long they are able to wear them for, the pricing is a bit steep so only splurge on special occasions or if on sale.

June/July always marks the big sale season of the year, so I stocked up on a few things in bigger sizes for the months to come. S is now all set with her 00 and 0 sized clothing (although I'm sure I will find more things I can resist later on). I will be waiting for Seeds next big sale to try and snap up some of the things I've been eying there but are too pricey to buy at the moment.

I saw these Sprout dresses and had to get them. The back two have little pockets, and I got these big enough for S to wear in summer.



Of course I had to stock up on Bonds Wondersuits. These suits with the zips are the best for bedtime as they are much easier to get into when changing nappies.


Love this print so much, I got it in 2 sizes!


This was a pretty and warm dress that I paired with some polka dot leggings.


This set is really sweet, with the little deer on the smock, and matching leggings. 



I didn't buy this one, but had to mention it specially as its really neat. It was a gift from some lovely friends of ours, and includes a coordinating jumper, top, skirt and leggings from target.


I can't wait till S goes through her next growth spurt so she can start wearing some of her awesome new outfits. Dressing babies is so much fun :)

What did you buy this sale season?

Riette
x

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

How to Make Salted Caramel

Salted Caramel became all the rage last year (or was it the year before?), probably due to something they made on Masterchef. Since having S I decided I wanted to improve my cupcake making skills so that I can bake awesome birthday cakes for her. A few weeks ago I came across a recipe for Salted Caramel Cupcakes and knew I had to make them as a trial run for future events requiring cupcakes. 

Of course the most important part of making the cupcakes is the Salted Caramel. I found the recipe so easy and delicious, that I had to share. And it only requires 3 ingredients!

 

Ingredients:

1 cup caster sugar
120ml water
3/4 cup thickened cream
2 tsp sea salt (I used pink Himalayan sea salt)


Add the sugar and water to a saucepan.  


Turn on to a medium heat and let it bubble. DO NOT stir the mixture.


Eventually the mixture will turn golden brown (some point after at least 5 minutes, may take up to 10). You can turn it off the heat once it gets to your desired colour as you may want a lighter or darker caramel. 


Add in the cream and salt and stir vigorously so the sugar doesn't harden.


Pour into a bowl and place in the fridge to cool down. Once it is cool, it will be nice and thick.

This caramel tastes amazing, and is perfect to be used in baking (like the cupcakes below) or dolloped on fresh fruit or ice-cream, or even eaten with a spoon (I'm not admitting to doing this...)


Cupcake recipe coming soon :)

Let me know if you try it.

Riette
x

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Beef Osso Buco Recipe

I've been loving my slow cooker this winter, especially since having a baby because I can just whack a bunch of things in there in the morning, and by dinner time we have a delicious meal ready to go. 

Instead of doing my usual beef stew, I thought I'd try making Osso Buco, a dish made traditionally with veal shanks. I don't like to eat veal, so made it with beef shanks instead and it still turned out great. Its such an easy meal with only a small amount of prep required, but tastes like you've spent all day cooking!


Ingredients

1 kilo veal or beef shanks (cross cut)
2 tablespoons plain flour 
1 tablespoon olive oil 
2 medium red onions, coarsely chopped 
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 medium carrots, thickly sliced 
2 sticks celery, thickly sliced 
410g can crushed tomatoes 
2/3 cup (165ml) dry white wine 
1 cup (250ml) beef stock
2 teaspoons dried Italian herbs 
2 tablespoons tomato paste 
Cooked polenta, to serve


Coat the veal or beef in the flour, and brown in a deep pan with olive oil.



Remove the browned meat, and add the prepared onions, garlic, carrots and celery to the same pan. Cook for around 5 minutes until starting to brown and soften.


Add the cooked vegetables to the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the browned meat on top, and then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, beef stock and herbs on top. Turn on the slow cooker to low and cook for at least 6 hours or until the meat is tender and falls off the bone. 


The result:


I served this with creamy polenta, the perfect winter meal!


Give it a go, you'll love it.

Riette
x