Baby Sale

Today I went to the Big W baby sale. I am quite happy with the self restraint that I managed to exercise.

I could have brought much, much more than I did, however today is only day 1 of the sale, I can't promise that I won't be back.

Lily got

* Sippy Cup - Lily has no interest in a bottle so perhaps this may work? I am doubtful but if I am to return to uni something has to work.

* Animal musical rattle

*Teething ring with keys on it.

*Pooh pull along train, so cute!

*Little bonds slippers, also very cute.

*Lovely soft pink minky blanket,

*One sleveless Bonds wondersuit

*One long sleeve Pooh soft onesie.

*Butterfly onesie.

Kitty winkle thought the Pooh train packaging was great fun.

In other news I think Lily may be getting a toothy peg. She has been very grizzly, pulling at her ears and has very rosy red cheeks. Poor little poppet.

Baby Massage

Yesterday in the first half of mothers group we learnt some baby massage techniques. Lily loved laying there on her towel being massaged by me and looking around at all the other babies. Honestly that little girl just melts my heart more and more each day.

Lily obviously found the massage relaxing as after a quick top up she promptly dropped off into a deep sleep, she slept for the following hour soundly in her pram, which is unheard of! She even woke up and drifted back off to sleep again. That to is certainly unheard of!

I had to wake Lily up to put her in the car to leave.

We then went to Coles to do a spot of shopping, but once we were home and Lily had another quick feed she was straight back to sleep until I woke her at 8:00pm, and boy was she grumpy!

Since Lily clearly enjoys a massage and the result is a lovely deep sleep for her I will certainly be implementing massage into our evening routine. I am all about routines and structure!

We also learnt about Lymphatic (?) exercises, to teach baby co-ordination between their left and right side of the brain. Lily seems to enjoy these too. Since Lily is breastfed and Cameron doesn't play a huge role in her day to day care I thought this could be something he could do with her every day or so. He seems interested, whether this continues after a day or so we will see!

Of course since I am such a photo fanatic here is some pics of Lily with her teddies that I took this morning.

My clever girl reading the gift tag.

Salma Hayek

I must admit that I don't know a great deal about Salma Hayek.

I must say that I have a huge admiration for her from today.

Here is Salma breastfeeding a starving baby in Sierra Leonie. What better gift is there for that poor child.

I can't work out how to embed the footage so here is the link. If anyone can tell me how, please do leave a comment.

http://hollywooddame.com/2009/02/06/salma-hayek%E2%80%99s-breast-fed-a-stranger%E2%80%99s-dying-baby/

Would I do this, in a heartbeat. I would not hesitate at all. The way the baby was looking up at Salma with such awe, what a beautiful thing.

I also think this does wonders for the worldwide profile of breastfeeding. I for one just love feeding Lily and have no intention of stopping anytime soon.

This is another video, this one is a little more distressing though. This poor 7 day old baby passes away from Tetanus, a death that could have been prevented with a 7cent vaccine, how tragic. This video made me so sad, that poor 19 year old girl who's baby passed away from something so preventable. Just awful. Made me want to scoop my sleeping baby up out of her cradle and just hold her close.

http://a.abcnews.com/Entertainment/story?id=6804291&page=1

Salma Hayek launching one pack, a vaccine agreement with Unicef to vaccinate agains maternal and neo-natal tetanus. Lovely to see a celebrity using their status to raise awareness.

So today I am certainly admiring Salma Hayek.

Devestation

Any personal drama's, worries or self indulgent hangups I may be experiencing have been put into perspective against the terrible bushfires that are burning out of control in Victoria.

The fires have been described as Australia's worst ever natural disaster in modern history. The last news report I heard put the toll at 108 people dead and 750 homes lost. The devestation is just un-imaginable, people have lost their homes, friends, family, colleagues, pets. How do you move on from that? How do you rebuild entire communities?

People have been left with literally only what they are wearing. No hairbrush to brush their hair, no spoon to feed themselves with, no clean underwear to change into tomorrow. Such utter devestation and grief. I think a big dose of shock also.

To think that a lot of the fires that are still raging out of control have been deliberately lit! It really makes my blood boil. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described it perfectly, mass murder. There is no other words to describe the dispicable behaviour of those arsonists, a terrible display of human behaviour, I doubt those people are even human.

Authorities had been warning people on Saturday that the conditions were the worst ever experienced, worse conditions than Ash Wednesday, and still people dared to light fires. One young boy was on the news describing how somebody threw a cigarette butt out of a window, and from that a huge fire sparked, I mean HOW STUPID!!!

It makes me so angry and I don't even know anyone personally who has been affected, I can only imagine the feelings of grief, anger, despair, shock, and I am sure many more people that have been affected are experiencing.

I feel so much for the men, women and children that don't yet even know if their loved ones have survived the fires. There are tales of people being found huddled together that have perished in the fire, it is just heart wrenching. I wish there was something I could do to help apart from donating to the various causes. You just feel so damn useless watching the reports on the TV.

The scenes these hereos, our fire fighters have come across, they will never forget. God Bless Them.

I feel numb today, I just want to hold my loved one's even closer, it really puts things into perspective.

Bright Mornings

Lately I have been falling into the lazy trap of going back to bed when Lily goes down after her 5:00 -6:00am feed. As a result I have been feeling lazy and un-motivated as I then don't get up until about 8:00am when Lily does. So by the time I am dressed, hair done etc ready to start the day it is about 10:00am.

However this morning when Lily went down for another sleep at 6:00am, I stayed up. It was so nice to be able to take the time having a shower, doing my hair, having breakfast etc, and when Lily woke at 8:00am I was feeling alive, awake and ready to start the day.

Perhaps it is because I have always worked fulltime and am used to being in the office at 8:00am that now not starting the day until 10:00am leaves me feeling very flat and un-energetic.

Today though I am feeling great and ready to attack the day, I have already ticked a number of things off of my to do list.

Or maybe it is just that I am an organisation, time management nazi?!

Anyhow I am researching options for re-doing our gardens at the moment, I am so in love with this garden. However with water restrictions the way they are, and will remain for some time, I can't see this garden coming to fruition anytime soon!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, mine certainly has started that way, Lily is laying happily chatting and smiling away on the study floor as I type away, does life get any better? I think not.

Baby Giggles

Baby giggles are the most up-lifting sound that feels feels my heart with love each and every time a giggle passes Lily's lips.

It is a sound that I just cannot get enough of, however I try not to make Lily giggle too much as it does tire her somewhat.

I am not having to work very hard to be rewarded with a giggle now, and they are becoming much more frequent which I am totally loving.

Each and every day with Lily is better than the previous, she is just so much fun and all the troubles we had with wind and settling seem to be a thing of the past. For the majority of the time now Lily is the happiest, most content baby one could wish for.

She always greets me with gorgeous big smiles upon waking, and it is so nice to wake in the morning to Lily in her cradle next to me talking and smiling away to herself.

I am supposed to be returning to uni exactly a month from today, albeit only one morning a week. However for this to happen Lily has to take a bottle of EBM and that is proving more difficult than anticipated. Lily much prefers the real thing and is not interested in a bottle in the slightest.

If she will not accept the bottle, it is not that big a drama. It just means I will study externally. However I was looking forward to the one morning a week to go into uni, attend my lecture and tutorial and mix with other people. Mum is also really looking forward to having Lily. So if anybody is reading that can share any tips on getting Lily to accept the bottle, please do share.

We are still suffering through a record heat wave here in SA, tomorrow is set to be 43degrees. Thankfully though it is supposed to cool to 25 degrees, gosh I better dig out my trackie pants!

Tomorrow I am going to a jewellery party which I am looking forward to, and Lily just loves being out and about socialising!

How gorgeous is this garden! It almost looks fake, however it isn't. This garden can be found in Luxembourg.

Cradle To Cot

I am struggling quite a bit with the concept of Lily having to move into her cot.

I am just not ready for her not to be within 5 cms of our bed each night. That hallway to Lily's room has never seemed so long. I don't know how I am going to cope.

With quite a bit of shuffling we could accomodate the cot in our bedroom. However I know that is not healthy, I have to let go and allow Lily to sleep in her room that we have lovingly decorated for her.

The day is going to come where Lily simply has to have her own room, I can't put it off forever.

I thought perhaps I am scared of her growing up, I don't think it is that though as I am loving all of these exciting stages we are encountering with her.

I just cannot get my head around the thought of her not being next to me at night.

The time is rapidly approaching though, Lily is not going to fit in her cradle forever...

On a lighter note, how cute is this little girl! Such a sweet dimuitve dress, however you can't stop little girls from being little girls!