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Bedding

September 18th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

One of the major downsides of moving countries is the whole temporary redecoration thing. When we arrived we needed bed linen etc.. and I find it really hard to spend money on things that I know we will not be able to take home with us. Bedding is one of those things that I think you should spend as much money as you can on because you spend so much time in bed and good cotton sheets just improve with age, they get softer and more comfortable the more you wash them. However the good ones are obviously going to be expensive. So we have ended up with some really dodgey sheets because I couldn’t get my head around spending the money. And a horrible polyester filled duvet which is really really not cutting it… sigh.

I love nice modern/contemporary soft styled bedrooms. Our furniture at the moment is a lot lighter than what I would ideally choose if I had disposable income – I picked up this bed off eBay for some ridiculously cheap amount- but its really a light pine not dark like in the picture and plus I don’t have the bed curtains.

We had a beautiful real possum throw that decorated our last bed – and now it’s approaching winter I am looking to get a throw or bedspread on the cheap – time to hunt down IKEA and eBay I think.

I love neutrals for bedrooms – so relaxing and romantic and I need to get some cushions that set the bed off. Watch this space – before and after photos to come eventually (I hope).

Nursery Themes – Vertbaudet ANIMOLAND

September 14th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

If my little boys nursery wasn’t already decked out in BARNSLIG gear from IKEA I would totally go with this theme. I am completely in love… it is fairly pricey though.. well much more than the IKEA stuff I forked out for ;)

animoland set

Check it all out at Vertbaudet

Reuben Week 8

August 1st, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

What an amazing week. Reuben started to sleep through the night this week. By sleep through the night I mean I give him his last feed (supposed to be a dream feed but normally he wakes up fully) around 10.30pm and He is in bed by 11.15. He then wakes anywhere from 6-7. You may know I am following the BabyWise schedule – and it states in the book that from 8-12 weeks your baby will start sleeping through the night. I personally think this is more dependent on the weight of the child and sure enough it must have been the day he hit 12lb he slept through for the first time.

Happy Little guy on waking up

He is also having a super happy week. He loves his independent play time on his playmat, and has started to reach out and grab things. Nappy changing has even become less of a drama because he will do these super cute huge smiles half way through instead of screaming.

Feeding has also improved dramatically, I have been struggling the whole time with breastfeeding but this week it just seems to be a lot less painful and he is feeding for about 30 minutes total most times – although he will still have the occasional long feed of an hour but no more than once a day and I am confident he will speed them all up soon.

A couple of people have asked about his routine for this week so here goes:

6.30am – 8.00am Feed & Play time. This is still more than an hour off from his proper wake up time of 7.30am but I’m very happy with his progress. Have some play time with mummy and then some independent mat/gym time while I have a shower/breakfast.

8.00am – 9.30am Nap & nap time for mummy too!

9.30am – 11.00am Feed & Play time – this is his happiest time of the day. Try and do some tummy time and gym time.

11.00am – 12.30 Nap

12.30 – 2.00pm Feed & Play time

2.00pm – 3.30pm Nap

3.30pm – 5.00pm Feed & Play time

5.00pm – 7.00pm Walk/Nap time

7pm – Feed & try for bed time. He pretty much either is going to go to sleep or is not, and I can tell by how he has been so I either put him straight down or have some quiet time for an hour then put him down.

10.30pm Dream feed time – try and feed him quietly so he doesn’t wake but hubbys love for loud tv often kills this.  Straight back to bed after. I don’t change him at this time unless he has made some poop lol.

a wee bit unsure about this whole camera thing

White Chocolate & Raspberry Cheesecake

June 21st, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

Time is of the essence for me at the moment. In between feeding, changing and playing with my baby (and changing and changing and changing), there is precious little time to do anything other than get myself showered and dressed – some days I even fail to do that!

I find most cheesecakes very easy to make except for the part where you must have patience and leave it to chill down overnight. This is no exception and the combination of white chocolate and raspberries is heavenly.

Like any baked cheesecake this must be made the day before you want to eat it.

ease:  4/5
mess factor:  3.5/5 – few bowls to clean up
cooking time:  1 hour
total:  11 hours

taste: 4.5/5

Ingredients
1 x 250g packet of biscuits
100g ground almonds or hazelnuts
150g melted butter

750g cream cheese (3 x 250g packs)
140g (2/3c) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
3 eggs
200g good white chocolate chopped into chunks
200g frozen raspberries

Grease a 20cm springform pan. Place biscuits, ground nuts and butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely crushed and well combined. Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Use a straight-sided glass to spread and press mixture firmly over base and side of pan (Try to get it all the way up the sides – I was using the wrong size pan). Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 160°C. Use an electric beater or mixer to beat together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Use a spatula to gently fold in chocolate and raspberries.

Pour mixture into the biscuit base. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour until just set in the centre (Gently shake the pan, the middle should still wobble a little). Turn oven off. Leave cheesecake in the oven, with the door open a crack, for 2 hours or until cooled completely (this *should*prevent cake from cracking). Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight to chill.

Baby Reuben Week One

May 29th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

What a week! This week was a week of learning for me. Learning how to breast feed, learning how to change nappies (!!), learning that you can function on so much less sleep than you ever thought possible, learning that 0-3month old clothes are way too big, newborn clothes are too big, and tiny baby clothes are still a little too big! And of course you only bought 0-3m clothes (thank goodness for grandparents!)… learning that you still look 5 months pregnant straight after having a baby!

Baby on his birthday:

I also found that as happy as I thought I was about his birth there were so many things that bugged me about it – and writing his birth story was very therapeutic for me and helped me feel much more positive about it. All I will say on the matter is that my next birth experience will hopefully be very different. And being back home in New Zealand where you can choose your midwifes and have much more say in your healthcare will facilitate this! I also learnt that no matter who is with me, I need to stick up for what I want and stay strong, not just about the birth but also with regards to parenting etc, because I am the one that has to deal with the outcome.

Parenting is way, way harder than I could have ever imagined. Yeah everyone says its hard and maybe I was just naive but really there is no way to explain it until it happens to you. It’s not that I’m not really enjoying it as well, but I think its good to be realistic about it! I have a whole new-found respect for all Mums & Dads, and especially single parents, I just couldn’t have got through this week without the support of my wonderful husband and my parents.

All in all this week totally flew by in a mixture of tiredness, nappies, feeding, emotions and wonderful snuggly new baby-ness. Having a baby is the most awesome thing I could ever imagine.

Highlights of the week:

  • Having a tiny baby that is mine to hold and cuddle and kiss whenever I want!
  • Seeing my husband in a whole new light.
  • Having my Mum & Dad here to help with everything.
  • Seeing what Reuben will look like when he smiles! (Yeah I know it’s just gas haha)
  • Having a happy, alert baby. He really is such a chilled out little man, he seems such an old soul. I can’t wait to get to know him better.
  • His cord falling off! Such a relief that it fell off so early, just 4 days after he was born. It made me nervous cleaning around it and making sure it was safely out of his nappies etc.
  • Learning that after only 5 days Reuben had regained his birth weight. Go me, I am a feeding machine haha..

Lowlights of the week:

  • Learning that breast feeding hurts way, way more than I could ever have imagined. Reuben has a pretty bad latch on at the moment, and is really ‘nipple feeding’ instead most of the time.
  • Sleep deprivation. Enough said.
  • Crying at everything for no reason. I had to go to bed one night when my parents and husband were watching a movie it was making me so ridiculously sad.
  • Still not having a name for baby! (obviously I have changed this post to update his name ;) )

Baby day 1 (after scratching himself in the eye and having it get a bit swollen):

Newborn babies sleep so much more than I could ever imagine. He is only awake to feed and then he goes back to sleep! When he is awake though, his eyes are so big and wide. I wonder how much he can see and what he is thinking…

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