Mikayla Rose

Born at 10:55 pm on the 10/12/2010,

weighing 7lb 5oz

Sorry I haven't posted sooner, but as you can imagine things have been very hectic around here with the healthy arrival of our beautiful daughter. I just wanted to pop on and let everyone know that we are doing well. I will be writing my birth story soon to share with you, but just for now I have some pics of our precious angel.

She is perfect

At hospital with our new little family

Heading home from Hospital

Daddy walking his baby girl through our front door for the first time

Mummy and Mikayla at feeding time

Oh how I love her

My Waters Broke!!!

Yep, they broke at about 12:15am this morning. Still no contractions though :( If they don't start soon I will have to be induced which I really don't want. I want to go as natural as possible.

I have been walking all day, bouncing on my ball and having warm baths to try and bring on the contractions, but there has been no change. It is driving me crazy! I just want to get things underway. I am so close to meeting my little girl, but now it seems like we have taken a step back and everything is going so slow. I have been getting light little pains and tightening but nothing major yet.

I had to go to the Hospital last night for them to check me and bubs out and make sure it was definitely my waters that broke (which it was). Bubs is doing well and still moving lots which is really good. Now I am back at home just playing the waiting game and praying that the contractions start really soon.

Baby Shower Fun!

This Saturday just gone we finally had our baby shower. It was a great day and we had such a good time catching up with family and friends. I think we had about 30 guests in total at the end of the day who all seemed to fit into Mum's house nicely. I was a bit worried there wouldn't be enough room. The weather was wonderful although a little hot.

We had a delicious barbecue lunch cooked by my wonderful Husband

This is me and my friend Cassie comparing belly sizes. Cassie is actually due right about now.

A quick pic of the parents to be :)

My Mum and Grandma preparing food in the kitchen.

People outside

People inside. We used the magenta pink and lime green colour scheme for decorations around the house to match the colours I am using in bubby's bedroom.

Alex and I opening presents. We felt very spoilt!

Alex was keen to try out this little ride on fire engine. I think he is going to have a lot of fun pushing his daughter around on this

This is a pic of all the wonderful presents we received on the day. Were we spoiled of what!

A big thank you to everyone who came to the baby shower and made it such a great day! We had such a great time and can't wait for you all to meet our little princess Mikayla xxoo

And also a big shout out to my Mum for allowing us to use her home for the day, and staying up till midnight the night before baking and organising. We couldn't have had such a great day without you xxoo

Baby Shower Invites and Building a Nursery

We are having our baby shower this Saturday coming so we have been busy preparing all week. My Mum has kindly offered to host it at her house, which I was thrilled about because our little townhouse just isn't big enough to entertain 35 people. Alex and I are doing a joint shower where females and males are welcome. We didn't think it was fare that the Dad miss out on all the excitement over his baby too. We will be having a laid back BBQ for lunch with drinks and games. It's more of a family and friends get together really then your traditional baby shower. I hope everyone will have a good time. I am pretty excited about it!

This is the invitation I made and sent out about a month ago. I was really happy with how it turned out, and it was so easy to make.

----------

Now, for the past couple of months since our wedding, Alex and I have been busy getting all our baby stuff ready in the nursery. Alex has been lovingly building all the stuff for his little daughters nursery as they come in. I think we have all the major furniture stuff that she needs now, YAY!

Here is Alex building the cot. He looks so exhausted here. We had spent the whole day baby shopping at multiple stores, but we were so excited to see what it all looked like in her room, he pushed through his exhaustion and set it up.

This is the cot finished and all made up. We decided to go with white furniture for everything as it is gender neutral and goes with anything.

Alex also put together this bookshelf that we bought at Ikea

and this chair from Ikea as well

These photos where taken about a month ago when we were just starting to set everything up. It looks a bit different now as I have started to decorate and get a lot more stuff. I will post more pics of the nursery in progress another time though, when I am a little more happy with how it looks. I am such a perfectionist that it even drives me nuts!

35 weeks and 3D scan!

Less then 5 weeks to go now, whoop! I can't believe it. Sometimes it feels like time is going so slowly and it feels like I've been waiting an eternity to meet my beautiful daughter, but other times it feels like everything has gone so fast and I am running out of time to prepare.

I think I am going through a nesting stage at the moment. Not only am I getting buby's room ready but I am going over the house with a fine tooth come getting everything just how I want it. Redecorating and organising everything. I think I am running Alex raggard with all my job delegating these past few weeks.

I do have pics of how everything is coming along I have just been so slack at blogging about it. By the end of the day my feet are so swollen and sore I just want to lie down with them propped up on a pillow. My belly is getting so big and awkward as well. Sleep is becoming an uncomfortable struggle every night which is driving me insane! I am definitely looking forward to my bubs being cuddled up in my arms rather then sticking out of my belly at all angles. Awwwww, My heart gets so giddy when I think about her being here.

-----------

However I do have some other pics to share. Alex and I had a 3D scan session a couple of weeks ago where we got to actually see our beautiful girl on the inside. I originally wasn't wanting one done, but I just couldn't resist having a sneak peak, and I thought it would be a wonderful keepsake as well.

Seeing our daughter in such detail was the most wonderful, magical experience we have ever had. Alex and I couldn't believe the detail you could see.

She was so peaceful and content the whole time. We could even see her open her eyes quite a bit which the scan lady was impressed at and said was very good.

She liked sucking on the back of her hand a lot. Hopefully that's a good sign that she will be a good breast feeder.

Look as those chubby little cherub cheeks! The scan even showed she has her daddy's dimples which I was so happy about!!!

We got to take home a DVD of the whole scan which was really great! I have watched it a few times since and may have cried a little. I have the photos we got up around the house so I can always see her, and Alex and I even have key chains that the scan place made for us. The place we got it done at was wonderful. I loved the whole experience!

Getting Ready

After months and months of researching different types of nappies, cots, hammocks, prams, car seats, slings and much more, I am finally starting to gather everything we will need for our little baby. Lists have been made, orders have been put in and I think research is finally complete, YAY!

There are so many options for everything baby related these days. It can become quite overwhelming for a new Mother-to-be. I can't tell you how many times I have gone back and forth on different products, especially when it came to nappies.

I have always known that I wanted to use cloth nappies, but there aren't just the old fashioned terry toweling flat nappies anymore. I found out quickly that there is a HUUUUUUGE range of different cloth nappies to choose from.

I decided to start with researching the best types of material and quickly decided that bamboo was for me.

Benefits of using Bamboo Nappies -

1. Bamboo is much softer and silkier to touch and is lovely against babies skin,

2. It is naturally deodorising, antibacterial and super absorbent. It can hold up to 3 times its weight in water.

Benefits of Bamboo to the environment -

1. It requires no pesticides or fertilizers to grow, therefore is much healthier for our environment.

2. It is the fastest growing wood production plant in the world, sustainable, naturally regenerative and its root systems prevent erosion.

3. The bamboo nappies are made from is not the kind pandas eat!

As soon as I read all the benefits, environmentally and for baby, of using bamboo over cotton I was sold!

I ended up buying Pea Pods for our going out and about nappies, and bought some regular flat bamboo nappies for around the home. I also came across some really cute normal terry towel fitted nappies in cute colours that I just couldn't refuse. I think I have about 30 nappies all up which should be enough if I plan on washing every 1-2 days.

My Pea Pods, with a non leak outer layer, a bamboo soaker insert and soft fleece inside to wick away any moisture from baby's skin.

Fitted Terry Toweling Nappies.

I guess I will find out very quickly whether or not I have made the right choices or not with my nappies. Fingers crossed they work wonderfully for me :)


--------------------

I also just quickly wanted to share this gorgeous little pram buddy we bought at the new local baby markets Alex and I popped into on the weekend. Here is the link for the markets we went to, I thought they were pretty good and everything sold there is handmade.

It is sooo cute and soft and fully handmade by a local lady.

I can just see little Mikayla snuggling up to this in her pram. My heart just melts.

Anyway, I hope every one has a fantastic week, take care :)

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

Yep! That is what Alex and I have been. We are busy preparing for the arrival of our precious bundle. We decided to leave everything baby related until after the wedding was over, and now after realising we have less then 8 weeks to go till my due date, we have been spending every free moment preparing. I have had a pretty good idea of what I wanted for bubs for a while and have been doing a lot (and I mean a lot) of research into the best products for the best prices. We are slowly getting there and have all the major furniture and equipment bought (photos coming in another post). It is now down to the decorating and preparing all the small stuff.

As I have talked about before, I really want to try and do a lot of home made things myself for bub. I plan to make the cot bumpers and sheets, room cushions, wall decorations, toys, burp cloths, home change mat covers, travel change mats, bibs, cotton nappy covers, shoes, clothes, hats and reusable wipes.

Today I have been busy getting started on crossing off some of that sewing list. I haven't sewn in over a year so it took a bit of practice to remember what to do and what settings to have the machine on, but I got there in the end, and am quite happy with my progress.

I decided to start small by tackling the reusable wipes and getting them out of the way. I have done a small tutorial of my wipe making process down below if you are interested in taking a look. They are pretty easy to make and without all those harsh chemicals found in the disposable wipes your delicate babies bum will appreciate it.


Reusable Cloth Baby Wipes Tutorial -

What you will need -

*fabric of your choice (I used flannel as it is soft and absorbent)
*sewing scissors
*sewing machine
*thread
*dress making pins

Cut out squares of material to the size you want. I did 7x7 inch squares.

Pin two bits of the fabric together with right sides facing each other

Sew around the edges of the fabric leaving a 2 inch hole to be able to pull the fabric back through

Pull the fabric through the hole you left so the fabric is now right side out

Flatten out material so seems are aligned. You could iron these flat if you wanted but as these ones are just for personal use I didn't. Now sew around the entire edge of the square.

This is what it looks like close up with the edge sewn.

This is the finished product. All you need to do is wet it under warm water to wipe baby's bottom or have a small water spray bottle close by to the change area and give it or bub's bum a few squirts then wipe away!

I'm Married!!

After almost six years of being together Alex and I finally did it! It was the best day of my life. I still look back trying to relive the day over in my head, though it seems to be a little fuzzy round the edges. It feels like it was a dream, the best dream I have ever had. We both had sooo much fun and thought the day went really well, even with it's stresses and problems due to last minute changes and unforeseen circumstances. Looking back now I don't think I would change a thing :)

My Wedding Day Story -

I stayed over at my Mums house the night before the wedding to follow the tradition of the groom not seeing his bride before the big moment. I had a really nice night just sitting around the table talking with my Mum and brothers about the next days festivities and doing a few last minute things. I still didn't feel like I was actually getting married the next day, I don't think it had hit me yet. We tried to all go to bed at a descent time so we could all get as much rest as possible. I think it was about 10.30pm or so when we all turned in. I spent the night drifting in and out of sleep. I think I eventually got about 5 hours of sleep in total which wasn't too bad considering.

I woke up at 5am so excited that it was finally the day! My Mum gave me a big hug and I think I danced around the house for a bit singing "I'm getting married!". We were a little worried as it was drizzling outside at the time and there was a fair bit of grey cloud cover in the sky. The worst possible thing that could happened on the day would be for it to rain as the ceremony was outdoors and we had everything planned perfectly for a sunny day. Trying not to let it worry me I said "it will clear" and went about getting ready.

I had some toast and tea for breakfast, even though I wasn't really hungry, I knew I had to keep my strength up and also think about the little baby in my belly that needed the food too. After that I showered and got dressed then waited for my Matron of Honour Melissa to arrive to start my hair (Melissa is a hairdresser). Mel arrived at about 7.

Melissa working on my hair

The back of my hair

Melissa got most of my hair done then we headed down to the plaza for our makeup to be done at 9am. It felt so weird being out in public with no makeup, casual clothes and a beautiful hairstyle. I had a few people staring probably wondering what I was up to. The make up went really well and we were really impressed with the job they had done. I couldn't have asked for better. The makeup artist used 'Young Blood' mineral makeup and I can say even through all the tears and stress it didn't move or smudge all night. I was worried because I had never tried mineral makeup before, but thankfully it was really good and the coverage was perfect.

At this stage the rain looked like it was going to clear as there were a few rays of sun breaking through the clouds. I kept a positive attitude that everything was going to be perfect and just the way I had planned it, but by the time we got back home it had started raining again and the clouds had closed up again. The weather went on like this for the rest of the time we were getting ready giving us a ray of hope then quickly dashing it with more rain. It was only lightly drizzling and I still wanted to proceed with the wedding outside. I was also hoping that over at the park it was perfect and sunny.

Once Melissa and I got back home we ate a quick lunch and then Melissa started working on my Mum's and her own hair. I was worried because it looked like we didn't have much more time left to get everything we needed done. Time just seems to speed up on wedding days. The ceremony was to be starting at 1.30pm and the limo was picking us all up at the house at 1.15pm. It was close to 12 when Melissa started again on my hairs finishing touches and we still weren't dressed yet. I was starting to really stress and panic. I think it was about 12.30 when I stepped into my dress and put on my veil, shoes and jewelery. I was happy to see that bubs hadn't decided to grow more since the last dress fitting. My Mum and I were worried about my belly lifting the hem anymore, because during the dress making process that's what was happening!

I think we all just managed to get ready before the limo driver was knocking at the door. The house looked like a crazy mess with stuff thrown everywhere. We quickly ran around locking up the house, making sure everything was off and that we had everything we needed with us before we finally got outside, took a few pics and then jumped into the limo. It wasn't raining at all and I was happy that I was so close to marrying the man of my dreams.

Me in the limo, ready to get the show on the road

We only got a few meters down the road when the phone rang! It was Alex telling us that the park was absolutely flooded and the rain was bucketing down over there :(

PANIC STATIONS EVERYONE!!!!!

I called the reception venue, as they were our "just in case of" venue if it did rain. They said they could have an area set up for us in 45 mins. I called a few people to let them know the venue had changed and to head straight to the reception. I was pretty upset at this stage, but seemed to be keeping it together as we drove to our new destination. My Mum was keeping in contact with my Grandparents who were already at the park. They told us that Alex and his brother/best man Josh were soaked to the bone from trying to pack everything away. That's when it all hit me and I began to cry. I was so upset to think of them out there in the rain, and I knew Alex would have been worrying about me. I felt so stuck not being able to see or talk to him. I tried to just think of our baby and keep calm for her.

We drove around in the limo for a little while, killing time so that everyone could get to the new venue. Then we got the message that it was time to begin! I can not describe the emotions I was feeling at this point. I was so excited and happy yet nervous and scared.

Emotions were running high in the limo as we approached the venue. Everyone was so excited and letting out little squeals as all the guests came into view. All my sadness disappeared and I knew what truly mattered. All our friends and family were there for us to celebrate our Marriage. I felt truly blessed.

As I stepped out of the Limo, I could feel the tears welling in my eyes already and start trickling down my face. I could see Alex and he could see me. I couldn't wait to be beside him. My Mum walked me down the aisle past all of our guest's smiling faces, towards this wonderful man that would soon be my husband.

I was so honoured to have my Mum walk me down the aisle

Alex whispered to me how beautiful I looked, I wiped away a few tears, then the ceremony began.

Wiping away my tears

Me, Alex, our best man Josh and our ring bearer Aaron

The whole bridal party



Alex saying his vows

I was a blubbering mess through my vows. I even had the celebrant in tears, lol.

We included the ancient Celtic tradition of hand fasting in our ceremony.

You may now kiss the Bride!

We're Married!!

Me singing our marriage papers

Alex signing the papers. I think bubs must have been moving in this pic, lol

It was a beautiful ceremony and despite all the troubles I am so happy with how it turned out. There are many more photos yet to come so I will post pics from the reception once we have them.

I just want to thank everyone who was apart of our special day and for making it so wonderful. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

Love to all xoxo

28 Weeks Pregnant Today!!!!

That means I am into my third and final trimester, YAY!!! It has gone by so fast and I am sure bubs will be here before we know it. I seriously could not have asked for a better pregnancy so far. It has really been a breeze *knocking on wood*. I have another antenatal appointment tomorrow which I am excited about. I love getting to hear our baby girls heart beat and seeing where she is lying. It is getting so exciting! Alex and I often talk about the day she will actually be here with us. We haven't done too much on the nursery side of things as we have been pretty busy with organising the wedding. I can't believe I will be a wife this Saturday!! I thought I would be a nervous wreck on the week leading up to the big day, but I am actually pretty excited about it. Everything is starting to fall into place and I think we are ready to get this wedding done, lol. I will post pics from the big day when we get back from our honeymoon.

Any who, I just wanted to share with you a couple of pics of my changing belly. The first one is from when I was 15 weeks and the last one was taken today.

Look at that tiny little belly bump

She has still got a ways to grow yet which is a scary thought.

I hope everyone has a great week and a great weekend. Please pray for a beautiful sunny day on Saturday for me ;)