**** grr**** swaddle swaddle *****

And I continue to provide swaddle manufactures with work, by buying yet another swaddle :-(. After baby G not sleeping well I thought maybe it's because the swaddle she had was an arms up one, so maybe being able to put her hands in her mouth (through the fabric) meant she was waking herself up more. I decided to try the Halo sleepsack ($25), FAIL! Luckily I can use it as a sleep sack withbopen arms so it's not a complete waste of money. I put the swaddle on with her arms down and she HATED it, and by hated it meant she squirmed with a very angry face and a loud bellow. I immediately took it off and out the arms up one back on - she liked that one. I also hate that the halo is zipper up, which means that the head hole is closed so you have to put it on like a shirt. I refuse to buy anymore even though i would love to try the love to dream swaddle and her sleeping is still on/off, but to be honest I think a lot of it is my failure to establish day sleeping schedules which I've started to do ( I just let her sleep when she wanted). Look of the day for me is Dotti dress $59.95 - this is a button down dress, it was hard to breastfeed in, but it was doable. Look of the day for G is a Target sesame street onesie, it came in a pack of three. She just had her six week vaccinations in this photo so wasn't giving me any smiles!

Bumbo and activity centres

I bought baby a bumbo. A bumbo is a strange little chair that baby sits in. Its recommended for use four months and up, we have been using it since G was about 6 weeks as she had good head control. Now at 3 months old, I'm not sure how much longer it will last her as her chubby legs are getting stuck already! It is convenient when we are making dinner and I pop her on the table in her bumbo so she can interact with us (under strict supervision of course).

My mum had previously gave us some big toys, I had no idea what they were and was a bit worried about all this stuff she was giving us. We popped it away in storage and I kinda forgot about them. Fast forward to bubby being three months old, I saw my friends baby in an activity centre and realized I needed one of them! I started shopping around and realized they were actually quite expensive! Then I thought hang on a second I think my mum might of given us one - whoops :-), sure enough there was an activity centre. We popped her in it and she seems to like it, she is still a bit little for it though. It's such a shame that we don't live in a major city as when I checked gumtree, there are heaps that are so cheap: http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-sydney/baby+activity+centre/k0l3003435.
If your looking to buy new, deals direct have a really wide selection:http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/c/baby-1/play-gyms-activity-centres/.
We also have a jolly jumper that was lent to us, these are relatively cheap - $50 and you put it up in a door Fran, you can buy the music may as well for $30. The JJ has a stand you can purchase so you don't have to use a door frame, but it's $100 so I would rather buy another activity centre then purchase that. Little G is still to little for the JJ but we will pop her in for little bits so she can have a go of it.

Bags and look of the day

I'm still not using any of my proper nappy bags, they are just so big and I don't need to lug around that much stuff still. I bought this Tote bag from Sportsgirl to act as a dual my bag/her bag. The colors are a lot more vibrant than they have showed up in the photo. It was $59.95 which is massively overpriced for a sportsgirl bag, but it actually sold out while I was waiting for it to go on sale so I had to order it in!

My look of the day for me is a tempt skirt $9.95, bonds bf singlet and Cotton on shirt $29.95. Im loving the pencil skirt look but am not entirely sure I can pull it off. Bubba G is wearing a Best and Less dress that I'm pretty sure was on sale for $9.95.

Baby friendly wardrobe

Trying to maintain my style in breastfeeding friendly clothing is a minor challenge. Add to that challenge is that I'm tired of the casualness of my wardrobe as well, I'm used to getting dressed up for work 5 days a week! This week I added two more breastfeeding friendly dresses to my wardrobe, bought from Dotti at full price ($109 for both), this is going to be the last of my clothing purchases for awhile as I am going to go through my wardrobe to discover what I already have in there! Look of the day is an Ally skirt and a Jay Jays shirt with a bonds breastfeeding singlet underneath - this outfit highlights my frustration at wearing my weekend wardrobe everyday. I'm also wearing a turquoise necklace, at the moment baby G hasn't mastered motor skills so doesn't grab at things, me thinks that once that happens my days of wearing jewellery may be limited! Look of the day for G is a white lace dress from Target with matching bloomers. I heart Target they have cute clothes at great prices and good quality as well! As you can see from this photo - baby G is starting to flash smiles :-) :-).

Fox in Flats recently blogged about accessorizing and breastfeeding:

Www.foxinflats.com.au/2012/02/accessorise-breastfeeding/.

I thought togs were bathing suits!

So the miracle swaddle blanket from Mothercare really wasn't for me or G. Though I will be taking it with me on holidays to keep G warm. I need things that zip up to hold my little bubba in. I did some research and Grobags have awesome reviews, they are not swaddles, just sleeping bags. They are also SO expensive! Babies R Us and Mothercare tend to have occasional sales but I paid full price $80 for mine. Also turns out you need to work out what 'tog' you need. Google it! For 20-24 Degrees I needed tog 1. However I also needed a swaddle for those tough nights when G needs some more comfort. Again the ErgoCocoon got awesome reviews and I got one on sale from Babies R Us- this isn't a 'proper' swaddle, she is able to move her arms and hands quite a bit so she is able to self soothe. Bad news is at 6 months we have to move up a size in both so more $$$!
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Valentines day and Go the **** to sleep

Here is my Valentine :-). Bubba actually hadn't been as sweet as she looks in this photo as she has mild reflux and is going through a growth spurt. Being six weeks new to the world she sometimes is very upset about all the new sensations! Bloomers are from eBay $9.95 and singlet is from best and less $2.99. I am on the lookout for similar cute singlets that are better quality but still inexpensive.

The lack of sleep this week cause by G's general crankiness inspired me to read the book 'Go the F*** to sleep, I borrowed it from the library. Its very funny and very true, a timely reminder for me that every parent in the world goes through this!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_the_Fuck_to_Sleep.

I also bought the 'Wonder Weeks' book from the Book Depository. I have the app on my phone but it only has limited info on it. The Wonder Weeks outlines when babies are expected to experience a developmental leap and the behavior that accompanies it.

Swaddle me this.

A take on the Jokers 'riddle me this'. Swaddling is kind of a joke, but they do seem to work in Baby G when she is really cranky. I bought a swaddle me from Big W which has velcro, but to be honest it hasn't been worth the $$ for me, she could get out of it as easy as a muslin wrap. At 5 and half weeks she has started being a bit more unsettled at night which is a bit poo, but I've noticed it seems to be related to her arms making more movements waking her up. So I bought a swaddle sleep bag from Mothercare, I'm yet to use it so I will report back how it goes. Note that it's only recommended that you swaddle up to 14 weeks apparently.

Look of the day - baby g is wearing the $9.95 ruffle leopard bloomers with a bow on the back. Bought from EBay they are a for up to a year old - they have an expandable elastic belt in them. Singlet from Best and Less.

Look of the day and gifts

Baby G is wearing a Bond's Pineapple onesie that I picked up from Big W. I bought it because I thought it would be cute for us to be matching when I wear my ASOS playsuit! Lol. I hope when baby G is old enough to choose her own style she has a quirky one like me.

I'm loving this money box that my friend gave us as a baby gift. It is exactly my taste and is very thoughtful. Just need to actually put together a baby room so I can take the money box outta the box!

Look of the day stalled and MORE wardrobe additions

Look of the day for me has stalled, due to us changing our spare room to a study/guest room now there is no room to take my photo in the mirror! I'm working out an alternative as well as trying to stick to a commitment to update look of the daily. At the moment I'm struggling a bit with my style. I usually dress up for work Mon to Fri then do casual wear on the weekends. I'm really starting to miss getting 'dressed up', having to wear breastfeeding friendly clothes also impacts a bit. I'm going to post on my Everyday Girl blog about getting my style groove back!

Baby Girl is wearing a cute blue flower playsuit from Best and Less and a white sequin headband also from Best and Less.

This month I'm trying to do Frugal February which I'm actually being quite successful with in terms of groceries, social activities etc. Not so much on the shopping side of things. I bought the attached cute dress, miss kitty headband, leopard uggs and pink leopard ballet shoes - including shipping $35! http://www.kidzwearonline.com.au/default.aspx?skinid=7. However, I did find more cute cheap outfits in Best and Less and I walked away :-).

Big w sale and sleep suits

Big W had a massive baby sale, the only things I was interested in though were the Bonds baby wear and Bonds maternity bras.

Baby G was given two hand me down wonder suits which are just the bomb. We have a sleep routine where we put her in her wonder suit, feed her in a dark room then pop her on the cot 'slightly' awake. This has been working amazingly well. However she has grown out of all her 0000 so there goes one wonder suit, and we can't just live with one as explosive night poos have been known to happen! So we bought a pack of two for $12. Because at 5 weeks she is nearly five and half kilos I bought them in 00 size (8kgs). I think now I have a better handle of how the sizing is fitting her, I realize she has way to many 00 and 0 clothes and in future I will just buy her actual size instead of thinking she is going to put on weight really fast and outgrow things.

Turns out bonds are about to bring out a new wonder suit that zips up which should be interesting as studs can be such a pain. I would love to enter G into the bond baby search they are doing for the launch of the new suits but I think she is still a bit little.

Look of the day and Dress Ups!

Sooo, when Baby G was born I was given tons and tons of clothes from family and friends, which I really appreciated. But the last few days I've been a bit bummed about wardrobe selections - i have tons of clothes but none of its really my taste. This ended yesterday when I received a parcel that had a heap of second hand clothes that actually looked second hand and I strongly disliked :-(. I thought you know what, I'm not rich but I'm not poor either and this is my first baby girl and baby clothes are actually not that expensive and she doesn't have to wear the gifts. So today I headed to the Best and Less sale and picked up all the cute dresses that I wanted to dress baby G in (I've been stalking $$ cute outfits on online websites but thought since it is Frugal February I would try and be somewhat budget conscious). I'll also got onto EBay and bought all the cute bloomers and tutus I had wanted as well :-). I also bought an expensive personalized bib( photo is an example) - well I think $15 is an expensive bib!

Look of the day - me: cotton on button up dress, ally belt and I got the shoes from a random surf shop. I've got to get more button down dresses this one is awesome for breastfeeding.
Look of the day - baby g: cotton on baby top and hand me down bloomers and best and less headband. Awkward photo of bubby, got to work on those posing skills ;-).