MOTHERHOOD: Is it what I expected?

As it was Isabella's first birthday yesterday I've been doing a lot of reminiscing about the past year and what a year it's been. Everyone warns you how much a having a baby will change your life and they're not wrong, everything changes. Mostly for the better, though some of the changes are for the worse - oh how I hate the constant worrying/guilty feeling! Having said that when I think about my life before Isabella it makes me sad...it makes me sad to think there was a time she wasn't in my life. Strange really as there have been a lot more years without her, than with her. I blame the incredible new level of emotion that was created within me after having Isabella.

MEMORIES: Our first night at home with Isabella

I'd read so many baby books, attended all of our antenatal classes and as a result thought I knew what that first night at home with our brand new bundle of joy would be like. Oh how wrong was I. Isabella was born on a Friday afternoon and by Saturday evening we were standing in the hospital car park trying to work out how the car seat went into the car and I very much had the post birth {painful} penguin walk. In the space of 24 hours we'd gone from a couple to a family of three, life had changed forever. At the time my husband had a three door car and due to Isabella crying I somehow clambered into the back of the car to try and comfort her. The problem was I was new to being a Mummy, she was new to the world...I didn't know what to do to comfort her and she didn't know how to tell me what was wrong. All the while my husband was making the 40 minute drive back home, trying not to let Isabella's crying distract him. I just remember staring at her the whole way home though, she was so tiny and helpless. She needed us to survive and that's quite a responsibility. 

FIRST BIRTHDAY: Isabellas Floral Party Invitations

 

As Isabella's first birthday quickly approaches we'd been thinking about what to do for it - a big party? A smaller family get together? A special family day out? etc. As her birthday is around when I properly return to work I wanted to us it as the perfect positive distraction, hence settling on having everyone who has been a part of Isabella's first year of life over to our house for a party. It's going to be a tight squeeze, but it just didn't seem right not to have everyone who cares for and loves Isabella here to celebrate. We then decided to go for a floral theme, mainly due to my love for everything floral - baby related or not! Also we already have a lot of floral 'things', such as her tipi, so it just made sense. 

ISABELLAS FAVOURITES: February 2016

Thanks to February being such a short month, even with the extra day we have this year, it's already favourites time again! Isabella turned 10 months at the beginning of February and has really come on leaps and bounds. She's constantly chattering away to herself, to us, to her soft toys and it's the cutest thing to watch. February was also the last full month of my maternity leave, so we've been making the most of every single day. Lot's of trips to the park, a holiday, playing with new toys and enjoying being able to try out new baby classes.

DIY: Personalised First Birthday Top

 

I love craft projects but rarely make enough time for them nowadays, which is such a shame. For our wedding we made so many of the little touches and I really enjoyed using/testing my creative side. Isabella's first birthday is the perfect opportunity to test my creative flair and ability again, especially as I'm still on maternity leave. One of the first projects I gave myself was to make Isabella a '1' top for her to wear on the morning of her birthday. Now sewing is not something I'm very good at, in fact I'm pretty awful but I was determined to not let that hold me back. 

ISABELLAS FAVOURITES: January 2016

Isabella is now almost 10 months and is really beginning to interact with toys that she used to just ignore (or attempt to eat!) It's incredible how much she has already learnt and how quickly she is learning new skills. We can now play with her toys during the day, one of our favourite games has been rolling different balls backwards and forwards. At the start of the month Isabella would just pick up the ball and chew on it, but now she picks the ball up and 'throws' it towards me. I can't wait to see what she'll learn throughout February!

ISABELLA: 9 Month Update

Isabella is now 9 months, which I find completely mind blowing and scary to think how quickly this time has gone. So much has changed since my last update on Isabella, developmentally it's been such a busy few months. We seem to go through quieter periods where she practises the new learnt skills and then busier times when she learns one skill after another. We've just had a very busy time, so I thought it was the perfect time to update you.

2016: So many emotions

I've seen so many posts recently with people saying that 2016 is going to be 'their year' - they have big ambitions, exciting plans and new projects. Yet I find myself sitting here with tears rolling down my cheeks just wishing I could feel more positive about 2016.

CHRISTMAS: What Isabella got for Christmas 2015

We decided not to go too over the top on the gift front for Isabella because she really doesn't have any concept about Christmas or presents. We picked up some musical instruments and wooden toys as stocking fillers from Wilkinsons, which were very affordable and lovely quality. I'm so glad we didn't get her too much as she was well and truly spoilt by our friends and family! Trying to find space for everything has been the mission over the past few days, but before putting away everything I thought I'd share a few of her gifts from Christmas this year...

VTech Musical Rhymes Book

ISABELLAS FAVOURITES: December 2015

Over the past month or two Isabella has reached many milestones and her interest in the world around us has increased massively. Now that she's crawling she loves nothing more than testing her boundaries and exploring wherever she can get to! However when she's done exploring and fancies a change these have been her favourites over the past month. 

1) Wooden blocks - We picked up a box of wooden blocks from a local NCT sale and they've been one of the best toy purchases we've made so far. They've been perfect for chewing while Isabella's been teething, she loves tapping them together, passing them to me and they're small enough to pop a few into the changing bag for when we're out.

ISABELLA: 6 month update

How have I been a mummy for half a year? How has it been 6 months since I was in labour? How is Isabella already 6 months old?! I honestly cannot express how quickly this past half a year has gone, it's crazy. So much has changed, in fact I can barely remember life before having a child. Some things that have changed are incredible and others not so much (what is it like to have a full nights sleep? It's been a while). Watching Isabella grow, change and develop over this past 28 weeks has been an honour and I feel incredibly lucky to have the life I now have. 

ISABELLA: One Month Update

Where has the time gone? 

I know that everyone says time flies and that babies grow up so quickly, but they really do! I honestly can't believe that this time a month ago we were about to meet our daughter for the first time - little did I know how much would change in our lives. Not only do we now have a little person to look after but the love we feel for her and the hours spent just staring at her have been so perfect. This past month has been exciting, tiring, overwhelming, emotional and so many other things. Being new parents isn't all smiles and cuddles, it's been hard at times. There have been nights when Isabella wouldn't stop crying and we just didn't know what to do to help her, it was heart breaking and tears were shed. It ended up just being a growth spurt and she was hungry, despite having been fed almost constantly throughout the day. We have already done things we said we wouldn't as parents - but those newborn cuddles are too precious to always put her down to sleep. I'm often questioning whether we are doing the right thing for our daughter, however I'm doing this a lot less than I thought I would. A positive I guess. But most of all we have had to get to know our daughter, just as much as she has had to get used to the world outside of my womb. 

We've loved getting to know her - the faces she pulls, her milky breath, the way she curls herself up into a ball just as she would have been inside me, her little feet and hands, the way she blows bubbles through her lips, after every yawn she cries for a second as if she isn't sure what it is, the way her little face goes so red when she cries that horrible angry cry, the way her hair goes so fluffy after being washed, that little tongue appearing when she's hungry and there are so many other cute quirks she has. 

When Isabella was first born she would spend her days sleeping, feeding or crying - typical newborn. After about 2 weeks we noticed that she was starting spending more time with her eyes open, taking time to look at us and around her. She liked looking at different levels of light, walking past a window was sure to stop her crying. Also around 2 weeks she had her first growth spurt, which lasts about a week! It was an exhausting time with almost constant feeding, a lot of tears (hers and mine) and very little sleep. This is also when she started out growing her newborn vests. When Isabella was born she fit into 'up to 1 month' baby grows but could just about fit into a couple of newborn vests we had (we didn't have any newborn baby grows). At the end of her first month she is still just about fitting into her 'up to 1 month' baby grows, but the 0-3 month baby grows are a bit big still. She's in that awkward in between stage. 

At around 3 weeks old Isabella was spending a lot more time looking around her, taking in the world. She started to enjoy just sitting watching the world, in fact she would do this for most of the day resulting in a lot less sleep. This was lovely but it did mean she'd get over tired sometimes and become teary. She also enjoys being carried around in the Baby Bjorn baby carrier, which was nice for going on walks around the village or just having two hands to get some jobs done around the house.

Feel free to leave me a comment :) 

Helen x