I need to catch some Z's.

Everything seems better when you've had sleep. So today everything is terrible. Sebs feet are touching the blinds and I want to cut my eyes out, Peppa pigs voice is making me want to saw my ears off and Seb hasn't napped today.

Daisy is snoozing, thank The Lord above. Come tonight and she would've forgot how to close her eyes and shut the hell up. She is an awful night sleeper, like 98% horrible. 

For the last 3 months she has been waking up to 8 times a night. This is most nights, I can recall about 7 days out of 80 where she has woken once or twice. Four of those were after we saw a sleep consultant. She drove me to the brink of insanity that I needed help, I needed paid help. So last Friday night, an amazing woman Claire came to our home to discuss tactics to get Dais waking once a night, the gentle way. So we had a plan and the plan worked guys! For four whole nights. For those glorious four nights, I was up a total of one time per night. One morning J and I even woke on our own at 7am, no kid standing in our face asking for food and no kid yelling in her cot for boob. I thought Christmas had come early, but knowing Daisy Deane like I do, I knew it could not last, and it didn't. 

So for the last 3 nights we've been awake for hours and up multiple times. This girl is strong willed, she may have won the battle but rest assured, I will win the war. I'm sticking to this routine and the plan we have in place to get her sleeping on track and it will work. Or I'll die trying. 

I know babies (and even toddlers) aren't always great sleepers, I have a toddler who still wakes up some nights, don't judge me for needing help for I know frequent night waking is common but I'm not okay with it, I need sleep to be the best parent I can be.

little bit of mush

This popped up on my news feed today, it put a lot of my life into perspective, it feels like it was written for me. I am by no means a career woman, I am 23 and have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life, except be a wife and mother, but I am happy.

I am happy, wiping bums, and feeding little faces. Some days I want to run, some days I want to leave and not come home, I want to go out any time of the day or night without having to worry about who needs naps or a change of clothes or a clean nappy. Some days I want to go out and drink with friends and not come home until the AM and sleep all day.
I think of all the things I could be missing, then I look around at my toy ridden house, at my Daisy girl snuggled up feeding on my chest and at my seriously imaginative 3 year old playing with his cars or singing along to the radio and realise, there is no where else I want to be. 

'Our children are the warmth that we leave in the world long after our own fires are extinguished.'
In 1 year or 5 no body will remember if I missed a night out or a coffee date, but my children might remember that awesome park I took them to instead. They'll remember that I was there, that I wanted to be there. Raising my family is more important then almost anything in my life.

I cant even believe that seb is 3, that hes toilet trained, that he can have a full on conversation with me. He is my best friend. In next to no time, Dais will be walking and talking, she'll be riding bikes and fighting with Seb. I am totally looking forward to these times but I am so happy in the moment. I forget to appreciate the day as its happening but looking back, life is truly good to us.
As the saying goes 'the days are long, but the years are short.'

Daisy at 6 months

My tiny little doll is 6 months old. That's half a year! I don't even know where half a year went. I blinked and now we're here.

This girl of ours is full of so much light, she's happy 99% of the time and always wearing her crinkly eye smile. 

We've had our tough times with her, that's for sure. She's not an awesome night sleeper but generally a great day sleeper. I'm learning to take the good with the bad and just accept that this is where we're at. I've tried just about everything to get her sleeping better at night but she's just a crazy cat, she's as unpredictable as they come but I love her anyway, it's part of her charm.

So right now, she's waking in the morning around 6 and having 2 pretty decent sized sleeps in the day. Usually when Seb has one so no ones complaining about that. She's going down for the night at about 6 also but is waking anywhere from twice a night to eight times. She parties. Hard.

She's eating breakfast and dinner. Tiny girl loves her food. She's still breastfeeding like a champ and I'm loving the snuggley quiet time I get with her. Just the two of us. She's weighing in at about 6.5 kg which is almost 3 kilos less than Seb at the same age.

She's the sweetest thing in the world \+ glad I've got my girl.

 

Full of love

I'm noticing so much about Seb lately. Honestly, since turning 3 a week ago, he has changed so much. His speech has improved, his attitude, his mannerisms, he just knows more. 

He's pretty much loving life, he's so into everything he does. It makes me heart swell.

I've been sitting back and watching him lately and I can't believe that he was once my small baby. The way he lounges on the couch like a teeny adult, the way he sleeps the whole night hugging his ted  and the way he shows so much love to our family. 

This last week has been my favorite and if it's any indication how his third year of life will be, I'll gladly take it.

Turning 3

Yesterday, Seb turned 3. Sob. Where has the last 3 years gone? 

2 was a good year, it was a hard year, a year full of lessons and growth but it was so amazing watching Seb grow into the 3 year old he is now. He's one cheeky boy, he makes me laugh out loud on the daily, he also makes me want to pull my hair out but the good times outweigh the bad. 

Before he had even opened his eyes yesterday he rolled over and whispered 'it's my birthday' it pulled on my heart strings and made me realise how much my boy had grown. Then he got up this morning ran into our room and said 'wake up mummy it's my birthday!' We had to explain that he only had a birthday once a year and that was yesterday. He's probably confused the poor little thing, he had a party with all his friends on Sunday, then he spent the day with us yesterday and took cupcakes to daycare today so they could sing him happy birthday. Hopefully he doesn't think he has 3 days of birthdays every year.