12 Month (One Year!) Postpartum / Baby Update!

Woohoo!! I survived my first year being a mum!! It's been so amazing to watch James grow from a teeny tiny baby into a little boy. I couldn't be prouder of my little side-kick. 

Body

With every week that passes, I'm feeling more and more like my old self. I don't think my body will ever look the way it did pre-baby but I'm okay with that - I've embraced it :) 

Height/Weight

I haven't had a chance to weigh James lately but he seems to be stretching out so I doubt he's put on much weight since last month (was 10.8kg). His height is roughly 79cms. 

Routine

We're still in the process of weaning James from his bottle and onto cow's milk. I'm back at work now (8am-2pm - 4 days) so his routine is a little different everyday depending on care but in general our day looks like this.. 

6.30am
Wakeup, Feed James Breakfast (Weetbix with Cow's Milk), 

Clean his Teeth

7am

Moisturise and Dress James, Head to Work (Rob drops James off at Care)

9am
 James Naps

10am

Playtime

11.15am

Lunch for James

12.15pm

James Naps

2.45pm

Pick James Up, Feed him when we get home (Cow's Milk in a Fruit Smoothie), 

3pm

Playtime 

4pm

Walk to the Park and Play

5pm
Tidy Up, Prepare Dinner

5.30pm
Have Dinner as a Family

6pm
Rob Baths, Moisturises and Dresses James

6.30pm

Rob Reads to James, Feeds him (Warm Cow's Milk from Bottle), Cleans his Teeth

7pm

James Sleeps, Pack his Bag for Care tomorrow, Chill Time

Sleeping

We've had a few rough nights as James' has been sick with a middle ear infection :( He was waking up every few hours in pain, even cuddles didn't help him settle - it was horrible. Luckily he's on antibiotics now and is starting to feel a lot better. No more screaming at night - thank god! 

Eating/Feeding

He's a great little eater! He pretty much eats everything you put in front of him. He's also starting using a spoon lately - I'm so proud!!

Sizes

No change here. He's still wearing Size 1 and is in cloth & toddler size disposable nappies. 

Milestones

He's not quite walking yet but I don't think it will be long! He's gaining more and more confidence and tests himself by pushing off things and standing on his own for short stints. His sense of humour is coming out more now too, he does things to make us laugh like scrunching his face up, and screeching as loud as he can with a huge grin on his face. He's totally obsessed with opening and closing drawers, doors and cupboards. He's learnt to say duck and cat this month too. He's become such a cuddler lately, I LOVE it! I think that's about it for this month. This might be James' last update for a while.. I'll probably do one at 18 months as I'm sure there will be lots to update you on by then!

xx

DIY Cake Smash

I couldn't resist doing a cake smash for James' first birthday! I think they are so adorable. I considered getting a professional shoot done but thought it would be more fun (and a lot cheaper) to do it myself. I did it the morning after his birthday party so that we could use his cake for the lolly buffet and "happy birthday" candle blow-out. The morning was a great time to do it as he was happy and full of beans (as opposed to tired and cranky which is what he was like at the end of his party).

I was originally planning to do it outside on the grass but it was raining and miserable so I decided to do it in the corner of the living room. Luckily we've got wooden floorboards so I didn't have to worry about hanging a drop sheet. I kept the props pretty simple with left over balloons from the party, a mulicoloured banner and giant letters. Cute, easy and inexpensive. You could also use other props like streamers, pom poms, chairs, chalkboards etc. Just don't go too overboard!

As I'm not the best baker in the world, I asked my friend to help make this gorgeous butter-cream beehive smash cake for James. I then added a few sugar bees (purchased from eBay) as a finishing touch. Photo-wise, I think it turned out really well. It also tasted amazing! James kept breaking pieces off and trying to give them to me - so I gobbled them up (it would have been rude to say no) and as you can see, James loved it too!




I kept him in the same outfit as his party to keep it consistent, plus I think it's adorable. I thought about making him a little crown - but knowing him, he'd rip it off straight away. I also think overalls would have been cute. A lot of bubs go topless for these shoots but I prefer it when they wear fun outfits (for girls I think tutu's are a must!).




This is definitely a two person job! One to take photos and the other to keep them from crawling off. Having two people also makes it easier to clean up! After the shoot, I cleaned James up (jumped in the shower with me) while Rob put the left over cake away and cleaned the floor.



I'm so happy with how the photos turned out and I think James had a great time digging into that cake. I definitely recommend doing your own cake smash if you've got the time (and a good camera) as they are so much fun!

xx

James' First Birthday

James is officially one today! I still can't believe it - my baby has grown into a little boy!

We had his party on Sunday (mother's day here in Australia) and as you can probably guess we went with a Winnie the Pooh theme. I started planning his birthday months ago haha. It was fun to organise although the day before and the day of were pretty exhausting! I think it was worth it though, as it was a fun afternoon for my little guy and everyone had a great time.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable. We originally planned to have the party inside and outside (as our place is tiny) but squeezing us all inside and away from the rain, didn't end up being as bad as I thought it would be.

I set up my first ever lolly buffet and I'm really happy with how it turned out. As I mentioned earlier I'd love to start a small lolly buffet business, so this was my first step towards doing so. My gorgeous and talented friend Carol made the beehive cookies and smash cake - they looked amazing and tasted even better! We did a smash cake shoot the next day with James which was soo cute! I'll do a separate post on that soon.

I definitely think that James' 1st birthday party was a success. I have to be honest though, it was a lot more stressful than I had imagined a 1 year old's party to be.. but that's probably just my personality! I tend to get stressed about having everything perfect which, let's face it, it never is.. especially when there are babies involved!

xx