Pram & Nappy Bag

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the great tips on my last post, I have been working on my nappy bag (aka diaper bag) and pram (aka stroller) organisation. And my new system is working! A HUGE thanks to Marcia for doing a fantastic post on her nappy bag organisation, Here is the link.

So, here is our new pram!

It's fantastic, I absolutely love it! And, after getting over the initial shock of the price, Shane now loves it too! He agrees with me that it is worth every cent. The first pram we'd bought 2nd hand, and it was fine in the beginning, but then we could no longer fold it down to put in the car. Also the wheels would get stuck on the tiniest of bumps. I had a couple of scary moments where I would be crossing a road, and the wheels would get stuck getting back up on the footpath, and we have some very impatient and crazy drivers here on the Gold coast! New pram's wheels are GREAT and easily glide over big bumps, grass, dirt, even sand!!

I'm not getting paid for product endorcement by the way Haha :-) But for those interested, its a Baby Jogger. Some of the features I love are ALOT of storage, including a pouch with 6 pockets on the handle bar. This is where I keep my purse, sunglasses, phone, Ipod, keys.

On the other side of the pouch are water, bib, face washer, my hat, sunscreen, hair clips, lip balm, tissues, chewing gum, notebook and pen (yes, ALL of that fits here!)

There's a large storage pocket here on the back of the seat, with a smaller zip pocket there too, and the long strap you can see hanging down is how you adjust the seat up and down (easy as!)

Large storage bag underneath but not too big that it drags along the ground

Plenty of room here for a cardigan, umbrella, sling, baby blanket, and a bag of grocery shopping.

And I have a large hanging hook on the handle for another shopping bag.

Another feature I love is the hand brake. Also the side windows for air flow, and the window flaps are held open or closed with magnets, not velcro.

Ok, enough of the pram! (I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging about it, I just really love it! :-D ).

Next the nappy bag. Here is a view of it packed with essentials, with extra room on top for any extra things I need.

Inside are cloth nappies, a spare onesie suit, hat, extra sunscreen, nappy rash cream (still using the free sample!), socks, hand sanitizer, thermometer (I need to monitor Alex's temp because of his ureta reflux- if he gets a high temp it could be very serious); a few wipes in a zip lock bag (GREAT idea Robyn and Marcia), plastic bags, toy and face washers.

I also have another bag packed with essentials that I keep in the back of the car. I have started to work re-stocking the 2 nappy bags into my afternoon routine, while Alex has one of his naps. Its important I do this daily especially since I am now using cloth nappies full time, things get ugly if I forget to take the dirty nappy out :-)

We go for at least one walk every day, along the water. There is a lovely path that goes for a few kms, and along the way are playparks for kids, BBQ areas and tables, and a fantastic water park for little kids, called the Rockpools. They even have a lifeguard there watching over the little ones! It's right near a cafe and also a large grassy area where they have live music from time to time. I love living here :-)

I have also started going to a mother's group exercise class on Thursday mornings, and its held here by the water. Exercising is alot more fun with a great view and friends to share it with. There's also a music class for mums and babies too on Tuesdays, and occasionally we will go to the yoga for mums and bubs as well. Also we start swimming lessons next month, with Sunny and Jamie. When those start I will drop one of the other outings. It's nice to have a few social outings spread out over the week, but I always make sure we have a restful day at home the day after a social outing so its not too much for Alex.

Along the path

I don't have a pic of Alex in the new pram yet but here's a recent one of the little cutie in a beautiful tracksuit knitted by the mother of a close family friend

He is doing MUCH better lately since I have taken sugar completely out of my diet. This hasn't been an easy feat for me, as I am a sweet tooth but it is very much worth of it for we have seen results already. Alex is so much happier and doesn't vomit nearly as much. Also the diarhea stopped immediately.

Speaking of my diet, I sorted out my kitchen pantry and took out everything that contained sugar, and take a look at this! 4 bags full!

We are planning to give some of this to Kerry and Sunny if they want it. I don't like to get rid of food but its better in this case to not have all this in the house, partly as we just don't have the room and partly to minimise cooking time (so I dont have to keep checking labels!) and temptation. I must admit, I am a sugar addict and this new diet is definitely benefitting me as well as Alex. There is diabetes in my blood line so its a good thing for me to do. I have found some great natural substitutes,- Agave syrup, Rapadura and Stavia. I can use these for baking and sweetening tea etc.

Are any of you sugar free and if so, do you have some recipes ideas??  Please share :-) I am also off milk, cheese and most dairy products but can have butter and cream in small amounts (weird, I know; but it is to do with the lactose and fat content).
Hope u are well, 'til next time!
Xxo

3 months old already!

Our gorgeous boy is 3 months old, I cant believe how quickly the time goes! He is a beautiful, happy baby, growing very well, he has already doubled his birth weight :) He is in 100 percentile for height, so he is a big boy. How cute he was today as we watched the sun set together :)

We are in a great little routine at the moment. He is feeding every 3 - 4 hours over the night (Hooray!) and my darling Shane still gets up for the 5am feed to let me sleep. It works so well for us both. He crawls back into bed and sleeps til late morning. Then he gets to play with Alex for a couple of hours while I duck out to the shops for some "me time" or do stuff around the house. Alex naps every couple of hours during the day, sometimes for only half an hour and sometimes for a couple of hours. I walk him every day along the water in the pram or the sling. Its such a relief that he goes in the pram now as some days I just dont have enough energy to carry him in the sling. (For weeks he wouldnt go in the pram, but now suddenly he likes it!). I've managed to scrape enough time together to whip up a few pairs of pants such as these star and apple pants.

I'm quite proud of our night time routine. I've made it flexible but always manage to get him asleep by 7pm. We walk between 4 and 5, then its bath time. This is usually a struggle unfortunately. Some days I take him in the shower, other days in the baby bath. Either way, he cries (sometimes screams-) when I take him out. I don't understand it, I wrap him in a super soft baby towel straight away, make sure the room is warm but not too warm, and whatever I do he cries! (Only for a coupple of minutes luckily). Does anyone else have this problem? Most babies I've heard of love bath time. Hopefully he will grow out of this one :-/  After bath time we read a book, listen to one of our nursery rhymes cds ($5 from Kmart!) and then wind down with lots of cuddles before dinner. Some nights I have to feed him to sleep but other nights I can pat or rock him to sleep and I always sing "twinkle, twinkle little star" to him. Its very cute, he watches me closely and "coo" s as I sing, like he's singing too :) The he falls alseep by 7, I carry him to the cot and his eyes open a tiny bit, but I tuck him in tightly. I turn on the nightlight and the "rain" white noise, then kiss him saying "Mummy and Daddy love you very much and we will be there when you wake up". It's my little routine. He waits for me to say it before he'll go fast asleep :)

I am finding it a little challenging to be organised with "going out" bags. I have tried to keep a bag of things in the car, and one under the pram so in theory I could just walk out the door and have everything I need. The problem is, when I use something from the bag while I'm out, I don't always have time to re-stock it later. So the next time I am going out I'm not sure what I need to put back in the bag. Any suggestions? It takes me SO long to leave the house sometimes, and I always go WAY over prepared (umbrella in case it rains, 5 or more nappies in case of accidents, warm suit if its cool, cool suit if its hot, sunscreen, hat, a billion bibs, cloths, wipes, etc etc...) If I am going for a brisk walk along the water i dont take all this of course :) But if I am going shopping with Alex or if I know I will be out for a couple of hours, I really might need all those things!

I know some of you will be experts at this, how do you keep organised with your nappy bag??

Grandma, Grandad, Uncle Kerry, Aunty Sunny and cousin Jamie came to visit a couple of weeks ago
:-) We had such a nice day and loved having them here.

I have had to go off dairy and ALL sugar, including fruit and simple carbs, in an attempt to minimse Alex's vomiting (so far, it seems to have lessoned it! Yay!). Its challenging but of course its for a good cause, and an added bonus is that I've lost weight :) Most days I eat salad and fish, and whole grain breads etc. Breakfast was a challenge, not being able to have milk, cereal, spreads such as strawberry jam etc. But kind Shane has made me almond milk (soy milk and rice milk were also no-no's) and today we managed to make a sugar and fruit free cereal for me with bran flakes and puffed wheat with LSA and phsyllum husk. Shane is SO wonderful, he is such a fantastic father and so helpful. Its so good to have such a hands-on partner. I couldnt imagine what it would be like without him! He works SO hard at the restaurant but always helps me around the house too and always has time for Alex.

And one last one of Bubby and Mummy :-) Sadly wish I 'd had time to tidy up a little here before this pic was taken :)

Hope you have a lovely week!
Xx Sarndra