Routine | Story of my Life

Babies LOVE routine !

Before I had Paige , I also used to like and even crave some sort of structure in my life and more specifically, in my daily routine !

Somehow , now having a baby , I struggle to get into a day routine with her , I try my best , but life , or my life , is just not always as predictable as we would like it to be !

I would time her first nap for the day and have the whole day planned out , and then boom , its noon and she hasn’t slept yet and I don’t know what happened to half of my day .

See , we live and work in a set up that allows for so many distractions and people in and out our house and running to the lodge quickly or answering a phone because someone else is busy , it seems like small deeds , but when you look at your watch again you missed the “nap window” and have now entered a very dangerous area known as over tiredness and over stimulation 🙈👀 It’s CHAOS !

And even though I know this , somehow it always still creeps up on me !

So , as I am writing this , I am sitting in my baby’s room waiting for her to fall asleep in her cot , and right on time too ! (Yay me)

So heres to having more of a routine !

Angelique

Slippers | Mom Brain

Everyone always talks about pregnancy brain , but mom brain is definitely also a thing !

Motherly instinct for me runs so so deep , it even kind off overtakes all the other parts of my brain too , this type of love is just not normal compared to anything else , it’s overwhelming to say the least .

Take me for example , its winter here in South Africa , and I have literally been wearing my slippers for 4 months because my feet are still fat (yes that is a thing) and I just haven’t though of buying myself some shoes that actually fit , I have been to a mall in this time , but somehow I just end up buying thousands of onesies that Paige will grow out of in a weeks time 🤣

Not to mention the worrying , this is INTENSE ! I worry constantly ; is she warm enough , is she too warm , does she have enough blankets , is the monitor working , is the thermometer working, is she sick , what is that spot, that mark wasn’t there yesterday, why isn’t her hair growing, has she eaten enough, is she eating too much, maybe she is too chubby, is she sleeping enough, why has she been sleeping for so long ?

And the list just goes on and on and on …..

I sometimes find myself wondering ; how the hell am I going to survive the next 18 years ? And the next 18 after that ? I don’t think the worrying will ever end , it is a type of love that moves in into every part of your brain , your heart , your soul , your everything !

💜💜

Angelique

Alone Time | Some Self Reflection

I am someone who loves my alone time , I love to think , to reflect , to pray on things.

I lived alone for 7 years before I moved in with my husband , and even though I thought then that I miss my alone time , nothing prepared me for when I had my baby girl .

Now however, I am pretty sure she KNOWS when I sit down with a cup of tea , she just does ! Haha between her , work and my husband , there is just NO time for me … we don’t live near a town , so day care or nanny is out of the question until she goes to school or we move !

Although I love her to bits , I wish I could see other adults , or go for a coffee ! (For those of you who don’t know my situation , please read the first blog – babysmoo)

I don’t know how I will cope having two … 🙈😂

Angelique

Feb is Best | My Journey as First Time Mom

Breastfeeding sounded so easy to me , “It comes naturally” everyone told me , boy were they wrong !

After my baby girl was born , one of the nurses tried to show me how to do it , she told me to use nipple shields and we still didn’t come right , the next day , no one helped again , and I attempted it by myself a few times , no luck . They ended up gibing her formula the night.

They day after I was discharged , she started screaming , I knew she was hungry and I couldn’t get her to latch , luckily I had a tin of formula at home that I could use and she ate ! Thank the heavens ! 🙏🏻

After this I decided to pump, this was a nightmare !! My milk cane in luckily , but she fed every two hours, I would feed her , put her to bed , then pump for half an hour , then sleep for an hour , the repeat the whole process over again ! 🙈

After my doctor prescribed a anti anxiety medication my milk supply increased and I could at least freeze some of it , this made it a bit easier on me but still took up a lot of my time and caused so much stress.

When she was about 5 weeks old , I watched a youtube video on latching , and it was like a light that came on ! Aha ! And guess what ? I got her to latch ! Yay !

It went well for about 2 weeks , then I had to leave my medication , and overnight my milk was dried up , poof , just gone ! Luckily I had some frozen milk still left and I could put her on formula slowly .

It all worked out and she is healthy and so happy !!

I get jealous of I hear of other moms that came right so easily , and breastfeed until 2 years , my breastfeeding journey ended way too quickly.

I am sharing this experience with you guys because I know there is a lot of moms out there that feel the same way, and maybe ashamed of it as I was at first .

Do You ! As long as you and your baby are happy and healthy , what more can you ask for ? We put waaay too much pressure on ourselves to do things a certain way .

Angelique