How to meal plan when your baby naps

 

How to

Hi everyone,

If you’re one of the lucky ones with one baby who naps during the day (like me!), you have the time to do some chores and go to the toilet by yourself sometimes. Today, after doing all my chores and while Alaska has her morning nap, I chose to meal plan for the week to save some money on our groceries. It’s very easily done and doesn’t take long at all but saves so much money and reduces food spoilage. What could be better?

1. Inventory.

The first step is to take an inventory of everything in your fridge, pantry and anywhere else you keep food. Write it on a piece of paper (or on your phone, tablet, laptop; whatever you prefer). Star the things that will be going off soon to make sure to use them first.

2. Plan out the week.

Grab another piece of paper and write each day of the week along the top and under each one write what meals you need to plan ie. Breakfast, Lunch at home, Lunch to-go, Dinner, Supper, Snack etc. If you lead a busy life like us, it’s likely that the meals you need to make will change each day.

3. Find recipes.

This is the (somewhat) difficult part. Find meals that you could make out of the things in you already have and little or no added ingredients. Whatever you need to buy as an extra, jot down on your shopping list. The difficult part is finding recipes your family will love and ones that won’t break the bank and still taste amazing. For me, they can’t be very time consuming either.

4. Match days of the week and recipes.

After finding recipes, match them up to the days you will make them on, remember to bare in mind the ingredients that are running out of date soon as well as cooking times each day. For example, on Tuesdays I’m not home most of the day so I pick recipes that are extremely quick to make or make them on Monday and reheat.

5. You’re done!

Those 4 steps weren’t so hard, were they? Well done!

 

My meal plan for week one:

 

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Porridge/cereal Fry up/porridge Porridge/cereal Crumpets with butter Crumpets with butter Paninis
Pesto pasta with courgette Cream cheese bagel with spinach&tomato Pierogi ruskie with onions  Pizza Knedle Sunday dinner
Veggie tortillas/Casserole Spinach and ricotta canneloni Prociutto wrapped chicken drumsticks with potato croquetes Spaghetti meatballs Leak and potato soup with garlic bread Chicken korma

We do our shopping on Tuesdays and that’s why my meal plan starts on Tuesday. These dishes are mostly made of ingredients we already have and so my shopping list for the meals comes down to:

– Bagels

– Naan bread

– Mushrooms

– Ricotta cheese

Those four things came down to £5.44 which is great for such a variety of healthy dinners for a week for the two of us. I also usually make an extra portion and freeze it to have a healthy ready-meal when there’s no time to make a dinner and we’re hungry.

Of course, after adding Alaska’s nappies, Infacol, my Coke, Liam’s energy drinks and some frozen pizzas for emergency dinners, our groceries bill came down to around £40 but we will still have more than enough food for the week!

I hope my tutorial works for you guys and I’d love to hear what meals you’ve planned for your families this week!

 

Take care,

Klaudia

xo


5 month update

STEPS

Hi everyone,

Alaska turned 5 months two days ago and omg she’s so big now! And our life is changing so much every day.

But first, about Alaska, she’s in mostly 6-9 month clothes, some 9-12 months (she’s a tall baby) and in size 2 nappies, still but we’re changing to size 3 nappies as soon as we run out of size 2 as I think she’ll fit the size 3 better. She also rolls over (constantly), is trying to crawl, bum shuffles, is trying to sit up and can sit with support. She also loves standing (with someone holding her up) and tickling her belly makes her laugh, her laugh is actually the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard in my life. Seriously, if I could just make her laugh all the time without stopping, I would. A few days ago she’s learnt how to scream with the highest pitch of her voice and enjoys it so much, it’s our new alarm in the morning. AND TODAY SHE STARTED CRAWLING OMG IT’S SO CUTE. Sorry about the capitals I’m just so excited!

This is Alaska today on her 5 month birthday:

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Thanks for reading,

Klaudia

xo

Alaska’s 4 month update!

month four

Hi everyone,

We’re so so so busy at the minute I don’t have the time to write on here so I’m just quickly updating now because I got up earlier than Alaska who’s still asleep. Alaska turned 4 month old 2 days ago and she’s so big now! She wears 3-6 month clothes and we have started weaning her because she was showing signs that she wants it and she loves eating! She’s just so perfect and adorable :’)

Alaska at 4 months old!

Our family life is so busy now because I’m a fashion journalist intern at Champion Up North and my first article can be read here. I also had my first A-level exam yesterday which went surprisingly well and I still have two exams left so I’m revising as much as Alaska naps. We are also working hard on decorating our flat and after long hours of work, the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen are now painted and look beautiful but I’m not posting pictures until we’ve done the whole flat up. Liam’s also at college now to get a qualification which will help him get a new job.

 

Thanks for reading and I’ll try my best to write more soon!

Klaudia

x

3 months already!

month three

Hi everyone,

I can’t believe that Alaska is three months old already! *she’s 4 now but I forgot to post this and so so busy right now* She’s grown so much and I can’t believe she’s been in our lives for a year already!!! It’s been amazing to watch her grow every day and learn new things, I love her so much more than I ever thought possible. (I’ll stop this before I start crying lol).

So I’ve not been on here for two weeks I think but they’ve been absolutely hectic, scary, busy, fun (and everything else) weeks.

First off, I decided to stop writing play-by-play posts of the whole week each week. My life is so exciting (not) that even I don’t want to read my posts again. So I’m just going to outline the whole week each week because  I think that everyone knows now that I do A LOT of laundry and cleaning and washing and scrubbing and cooking…

Now for the exciting things:

On one of the Tuesdays, instead of going to my baby group I had a lie in because Alaska slept until 11am!!! If you don’t have kids this might not seem exciting, but if you do, you’re probably jealous.

Another exciting thing on that note, Alaska started sleeping through the night, I mean sleeping 8-9 hours at a time without waking up for bottles, nappy changes or anything else. She just sleeps. It’s amazing, okay?

sleepy little bunny in her rocking chair :)

sleepy little bunny in her rocking chair 🙂

I totally forgot to post here at Easter but I’m not a fan of Easter and as we’re trying to raise Alaska without religion so she can choose whatever she wants to believe when she’s ready for it, all we did for Easter is dress her up in bunny-related outfits (I couldn’t resist!). We also had a BBQ with my dad and sister (Liam and my mum were working) and the rest of it, Alaska spent with my sister and dad while I did my business coursework and Liam worked.

Bambi fan on auntie's lap :)

Bambi fan on auntie’s lap 🙂

Thumper outfit :)

Thumper outfit 🙂

We put sunglasses on Alaska because she was getting sun in her eyes (not because I think babies in adult sunglasses look hilarious ha ha).

I also had a day away from Alaska when I went to meet my friend Brooke, she got a piercing and we walked around town and went to Weatherspoons for a bit while Alaska was with her Babcia (my mum) and then Brooke came home with me to finally meet Alaska and fell in love with her straight away! Later on, me and Liam managed to get my mum to babysit for an hour while we spent some time together out of the house for an hour which was lovely.

I also went to Sixth Form that week for the first day back, got my Leavers hoodie (my nickname at the back is MILF ha ha) and planned to do coursework all day but ended up spending about an hour socialising and then doing coursework. Then met up with Liam in town for a bit, went shopping after and went to pick up my little girl from her NanNan’s. (Okay, I also stayed for dinner because Liam’s mum asked if  I want some lasagne and I’m so glad I said yes!). We got back home at 8pm and Alaska was pretty tired so slept through the night.

mummy and little bunny looking around :)

mummy and little bunny looking around 🙂

Then, on Thursday the scariest thing happened. Alaska wriggled in my arms when I was trying to put her in her rocking chair and she bumped her head on the battery pack on it. She didn’t fall out of my arms but she hit her head pretty hard and started screaming and crying and I’ve never heard her cry like that so me and Liam just panicked and I rang the ambulance. By the time the ambulance came, she was perfectly fine and smiling at us and her reflection in the mirror and laughed at the ambulance guy. Of course, I was still crying my eyes out and panicking. We had to go to A&E with her because that’s regulation if a child under 2 hits their head. At the hospital, she loved everything and of course, every doctor confirmed that she’s perfectly fine. She recovered in about 2 minutes, I still cry when I think about it.

On Friday, I went to school for an hour to do some business coursework and find my business teacher who wasn’t there again so  I did some work in the library and then my parents dropped Alaska off at 11am so I could show my perfect girl off to everyone at school. We then went to baby massage which was lovely and hilarious: when we were introducing our babies I went: “This is Alaska and she is 11 weeks old” and then she let out a massive burp, it was so funny. Later on, when all the babies were going to sleep and relaxing, she thought we were playing so she kept smiling, cooing and laughing at me and everyone else in the room, it was adorable.

On Sunday, Babcia stayed with Alaska while mummy got a drink with my friend Aleks and we spent a couple of hours gossiping and just relaxing, it was lovely to have some time to relax.

On Thursday, I went to school for the morning while Alaska was at her NanNan’s but I was having a crappy day and just wanted to spend some time with the family so I went to Liam’s mum’s and saw Liam’s sister and spent some time with her and then I watched Frozen with the kids, spent time with Alaska, Liam’s mum and the kids and it was lovely. I also bought some stuff for the house because I found a fiver in the rain woo!

Today, Alaska spent the morning with me and then with her Auntie Nat who came down to visit while I went for an internship interview. It’s for an online magazine and I GOT THE JOB!!! I’m officially a fashion journalist!!! So happy!!! So tomorrow I have a busy day ahead and one of the things I’m doing is a meeting with the fashion team, so excited! I’ll link my first article here woo I can’t wait!

 

Hope you all had a lovely Easter and May Bank Holiday,

Klaudia

xo

When I forget I’m a mum…

So sometimes I just don’t think of myself as a parent. I don’t forget about Alaska, I just forget that ‘parent’ or ‘mum’ is my new label. But then:

I go out to see my friends or even to go shopping alone and I find baby wipes and little mittens in my bag,

Somebody talks about painting nails and I look at mine and realise I have a bit of baby poo stuck under one of them,

I’m filling out a form to do with me and under ‘Date of Birth’ I automatically put Alaska’s date of birth and have to cross it out and put mine instead,

Someone asks me how my daughter is out of kindness and half an hour later we’re still sat there looking through the 1598965 photos of Alaska on my phone – me – with an excited, dreamy look; the other person – half-asleep and deeply regretting they ever asked how she is,

I consider painting my nails (more like fingers) on a bumpy bus ride ‘quality me time’

And last one, sitting there with my baby in my arms or next to me and staring at her while simultaneously looking through pictures of her on my phone.

I’m sure some mummies relate,

Klaudia
xo

Alaska’s 10 week update!

Alaska is 10 weeks old today and apparently now is finally the time the time when I can find the time of day to write weekly updates, woo!

an adorable picture of baby feet (I'm obsessed!) they're just too cute!!

an adorable picture of baby feet (I’m obsessed!) they’re just too cute!!

So this week, on Monday, we started our morning like we usually do with a load of cleaning in the morning. After a set of laundry and washing up mummy finally got to have some breakfast while Alaska had her morning nap. Later on (after two nappy explosions), my friend Alex came to see Alaska. We spent a nice day gossiping and catching up while Alaska made little ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ sounds to join in the conversation. All of this while Liam was at work. After Alex left, by 6pm I was ready to march up to Liam’s work to get a hug. Alaska was cranky and would not sleep but at 7pm, Liam surprised us by finishing 3 hours early and coming home for family cuddles. Alaska settled down after a cuddle from daddy and I calmed down too. We were a complete family. We spent the evening hanging out but when Alaska was still up at midnight, I was ready to break down and cry. Liam told me to go to sleep and by 1am she was fast asleep in her cot while I was catching up on my sleep.

daddy and Alaska in their cool hats:)

daddy and Alaska in their cool hats:)

Tuesday started for me at 7am when Alaska woke up smiling at mummy for breakfast. After settling down, Alaska sat in her swing while mummy got our bags ready (I will make a post about how to best pack a changing bag, promise!). At 9:35, I was still running around grabbing things and throwing them into my bag and by 9:40, we set off for our 9:40 doctor’s appointment. Alaska had her 8 week rotavirus vaccination which had to be done a week late because at our last week’s vaccinations, Alaska threw up her vaccination along with about 10 pints of milk and covered the doctor (she looked ecstatic after hahaha) so we had to come in for another try a week later and she loved the taste of it this time. After, I dressed Alaska in her snowsuit and put her in her pram. By the time we got out of the doctor’s, she was fast asleep. We took a lovely walk in the sun (which she slept through as usual) and went to our baby group. The last baby group we were going to ended because it was only on for 6 weeks and this time, due to my post natal depression and other problems, I was advised to go to a group called MINOS (Mums In Need Of Support) and as sceptical I was about going, I still went to see what it’s like. I thought it would be a really depressing and awkward group but I was pleasantly surprised. As it’s the half term, only 4 mums who don’t have older kids to look after came so we all got to know each other better. They weren’t as old as the mums who usually came to baby groups and I actually got on with a girl called Alice so well that we walked home together. I always think that having similar lives to other people helps when trying to make friends and she has a similar life situation to me except from she’s a single mum. When I got home, I made dinner (roast chicken, mash and two salad choices) of course, after Alaska had her dinner, then I got Alaska to sleep and my friend Magda and her mum (who’s my mum’s friend) came over to finally meet Alaska. They haven’t met her yet because they live far away. Alaska got a lovely dress from them.

the dress Alaska got from Magda and her mum

the dress Alaska got from Magda and her mum

And we sat and gossiped for hours while Liam was with his friends. When they left, I did three loads of laundry because I bought Alaska a load of 3-6 (adorable) clothes at a Nearly New Baby Table Top Sale on Saturday. I then watched Hell’s Kitchen with my parents while Alaska slept and then it was Alaska’s bath time with mummy and daddy.

On Wednesday, after a lovely family morning of cuddles and lying in until 11am, Liam went off to appointments and Alaska and mummy did some housework. After two sets of laundry, cleaning our bedroom, taking bins out and an overall tidy-up; daddy came home and we spent some time together. He then went to see his friends while mummy and Alaska cuddled and watched The Help. Halfway through, my friends Magda and Ksymena came to see me and Alaska and we gossiped over some sherry while Alaska tried to join our conversation with coos and a lot of heart-warming smiles. Then, she got to sleep and mummy finally got to have some time on Pinterest and to write on this blog. Then mummy started to sort out the loads of clean clothes she bought at the weekend but gave up with a big pile in the middle of the room.

On Thursday, after I made Liam some eggy bread for breakfast and when he went to work, I had morning cuddles with Alaska and played with her and then when my mum got home at midday, I got ready, tidied up our room and went to town to sort out some things. My mum was staying with Alaska so I got to shop without having to worry about getting the pram into shops and thinking about feeding times… I relaxed but after about an hour my legs were killing from power walking and I was frustrated because, of course, when I had money to spend there was nothing decent to buy. So finally I ended up getting some (yummy) pastry from the farmer’s market and enjoying that in the sun. I also bought Let Me In DVD for me, Liam and Alaska to watch on family movie night and I bought two notebooks to use for budgeting when we move out. I’m currently reading about 50 articles about budgeting and trying to find a way which will work best for us. Anyway, our night ended up with trying to get Alaska to sleep while watching Lord Of The Rings: Return of the King (which we didn’t finish because we were too tired from getting Alaska to sleep to actually pay attention to what’s going on.

the beautiful notebooks I bought to keep track of our finances:)

the beautiful notebooks I bought to keep track of our finances:)

Friday was a lovely sunny day and as Liam got ready for work and I made him breakfast, Alaska napped. Then she got up for a bottle and started looking around so mummy had a shower with Alaska in her rocking chair in the bathroom, smiling at the sound of water splashing. I then got us ready and by 12, we were out of the house and on the bus to see Alaska’s Nana, Auntie Lexi, Auntie India, Auntie Storm and Uncle Zane. Alaska stayed awake for most of the bus trip and fell asleep when we were walking to Liam’s mum’s house. She woke up pretty much as soon as we got there. Auntie Storm had a cuddle with Alaska and as soon as I made myself a coffee, Alaska’s Nana , Auntie India, Auntie Lexi and Uncle Zane came home from the shop. Liam’s mum and me spent the day talking while she cuddled Alaska (pretty much didn’t let her out of her hands because she only sees her every other week or so 😦 ). This meant that I had a little rest from taking care of a baby that can’t tell me what she wants just yet and got to play with toddlers who can actually tell me what they want. Lexi must have missed me because she was wrapped around me like a little monkey for most of the day, even while I made us both sandwiches. I figured it’s good to get used to taking care of a two-year-old since I’m gonna have to do it sooner rather than later (and she’s so cute!). We also watched Frozen but I was talking over it too much to actually watch it but a catch-up with Liam’s mum had to happen. At around 5pm, we all got ready and got on the bus back to our town but Liam’s mum took the kids for a McDonalds and got off early while me and Alaska went home. I got home and while my mum (who seemed weirdly jealous of us spending the whole day with Alaska’s other grandma) cuddled and fed Alaska, I made tea (roast pork, leek, pepper and mushroom pie!) for Liam and me. It was surprisingly tasty, woo-hoo and officially the first pie I made all by myself from scratch! After tea, we moved our sleepy grumpet to her cot and she fell asleep as soon as her head touched her comfy bed. We settled down to spend some ‘apart’ time together which means Liam played his (crappy) game and I sat down to reply to Facebook messages and write this up, all while Alaska slept.

smiley girl :D

smiley girl 😀

On Friday, Alaska decided that it’s playtime at 3am so while I was half-conscious on the sofa, she played on her playmat (we sneaked out of our room so that daddy could get sleep before work). She played until 6am and then had a half an hour nap. Completely sleep deprived, I drank a bottle of Coke throughout the day. Alaska spent the morning playing and eating and had a little nap so mummy could have a shower. Around midday, Liam got up and I made him breakfast and then he played with Alaska and cuddled her while I cleaned our room, took out our rubbish, did a set of laundry and then spent some time on my laptop, sorting things out while Alaska had quality daddy time. She is such a daddy’s girl that she wouldn’t stop talking and smiling at her daddy for about an hour. Liam went to work at 4pm and mummy got to have some (about fifteen minutes) time to wee and make some crepes for my tea. Of course, as soon as they were ready to eat Alaska woke up and wanted her food so I ended up feeding her while eating. She then had a nap so I filled out some forms to sort out Child Tax Credits and then my mum came home with our hairdresser and her 4-year-old daughter. Mummy got to have some ‘me’ time and got a haircut while Babcia looked after her. I got about 4 inches cut off of my hair so I now feel bald lol. My hair was in such terrible condition though my ends were just breaking all by themselves. After my haircut, my hairdresser, my mum and my hairdresser’s little girl all adored our little princess as they were only just meeting her. After they left, I tried to get Alaska to sleep starting at 8pm, by midnight, we were both asleep. Liam came home at 3am from work and we spent some time together but I was so sleepy that after Alaska’s 3am feed, I went to sleep at 4am when she did while Liam stayed up for a bit to relax after work.

Alaska and mummy with her new haircut (looking crappy)

Alaska and mummy with her new haircut (looking crappy)

On Sunday, at 8am, Alaska woke up again and so I made her milk and went to my parents room and because they were out, I put the tv on and fed Alaska and then napped while she watched Rio and napped. At 10, we got up and Alaska settled down for playtime, mummy washed her face and had breakfast. Then Alaska had to be picked up because that’s just the sort of day she’s having so we had cuddles. She spent the day wanting to be fed a little bit, falling asleep for 10 minutes then waking up as soon as I let her out of my arms so I couldn’t really do anything except from cuddles with our little Grumpet. Then, Liam got up at 3pm and spent some time with us (of course Alaska was smiling and laughing with him) and then he left for work at 4:30. My mum came home and spent some time with her granddaughter while I wrote this up. We’re planning on spending tonight watching Project Runway and relaxing (which for me is a lot of time spent on Pinterest and picking out paint colours etc for our flat).

I hope you enjoyed and here’s my little kitten today:

in her cute Diney kitten outfit:') (she hates hats so it had to come off as soon as I got a picture

in her cute Diney kitten outfit:’) (she hates hats so it had to come off as soon as I got a picture

 

Klaudia
xo

Alaska’s second month! (in pictures)

month two

Hi everyone,

I know the post about Alaska’s first month was extremely delayed and this one is quite delayed too (Alaska is over 9 weeks old!) so it’s going to be short and sweet, here are some pictures from Alaska’s second month:

sleepy Alaska waving her fists in the air:)

sleepy Alaska waving her fists in the air:)

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with her nana in Costa:)

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daddy ‘babysitting’ 😉

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little marshmallow didn’t wake up even when mummy got her out of the sling after a walk:’)

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sleepy time on mummy:)

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peering at the camera while eating her fist:)

 

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Alaska having daddy cuddles<3

Hope you enjoyed,

Klaudia

Xo

Alaska’s first month!

Hi everyone, I started writing this when Alaska was eight days old. She’s a month and day old today and I’ve finally managed to write this! It’s so hectic being a mum! So, the last thing I posted about Alaska was the birth story. Well, I’l going to write about her first month and what I can remember from it.

Alaska being fed by daddy for the first time <3

Alaska being fed by daddy for the first time ❤

She was born at 4:09 and met her daddy about 4:25 (he wasn’t with me in the last part of labour as I didn’t want him to see me like that). They had lots of cuddles and he fed her for the first time. He also dressed her into her first clothes as I couldn’t get up for the first 6 hours because of having an epidural (even though it didn’t work). We then enjoyed alone time with Alaska, just starring at how perfect she is and cuddling and kissing her. We were so amazed that she was finally there and she was such a tiny little cutie. We actually sat there going ‘Look, she has little hands’, ‘Look, she has little feet’ etc. Liam also pointed out that she has exactly the same ears as him ha ha. I pointed out that she looks exactly like him.

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in her warm little bed:)

Her first visitors except from daddy, were my mum and dad – her Babcia and Dziadek (they’re Polish) who came at around 6am. They enjoyed meeting our little precious baby and cuddling her. They had to go at 7am as my mum had to go to work but she ended up visiting us later on in the day to see us and get more cuddles with Alaska. While at the hospital, Alaska met her Godmum Gemma, our friend Joe, Auntie Nat and Uncle Tom, family friend Gosia and my mum’s friend Ola. On the first night, Alaska wouldn’t sleep anywhere but on her mummy so I got no sleep of course but I didn’t mind. I was finally a mum! And my daughter was perfect – healthy and beautiful and curled up right on my chest, breathing deeply and smelling amazing like babies do. The next day, she was sleeping for 4 hours at a time and only waking up for feeds. At night however, all hell broke loose. I didn’t know what to do, she was crying and I was all alone. After a breakdown and finally caving in and asking a midwife for help, it turned out she was just hungry and I wasn’t putting the bottle in her mouth properly and she was also picking up my frustration and stress and crying about that. I also hadn’t slept since labour at that point so tiredness was kicking in. After finally getting the hang of things, I felt ready to go home with my baby after a two-day hospital stay. We got all our stuff together (and after staying at the hospital for a week it felt like I was moving out), wrapped Alaska up and put her in the car seat. The snow suit that we brought was waaaaay too big for her which made her look even tinier. At home, we had ‘Welcome home’ banners and family waiting for us. Alaska finally got to meet her Nan Nan, Auntie India, Auntie Storm, Auntie Lexi, Uncle Zane. They were all absolutely amazed by her and loved cuddles, except from Lexi who is only 2 and was a bit poorly and Zane who was too scared to hold her just yet.

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cuddles with auntie Storm

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cuddles with auntie India and uncle Zane

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cuddles with uncle Sam

 

So I’ve been trying to write this post for weeks now, Alaska is 9 weeks old now and I’m going to do her weekly updates because trying to write up a few weeks out of her life will take me a few weeks! So here’s photos from her first month as a picture means a thousand words, sorry about this and hope you enjoy!

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lively girl<3

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One month old!!

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cuddles with auntie Lexi and her new toy<3

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first cuddles with uncle Zane:)

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daddy and his marshmallow in her carseat<3

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pout<3

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little bear in her snowsuit<3

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short walk in the sun with mummy ❤

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cuddles with Nath

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hungry girl<3

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sleepy little princess<3

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sharing a bed with daddy ❤

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cuddles with mama<3

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tired girl<3

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flowers for mama from mother-in-law!

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baby girl socks from Nana:)

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one of her lovely congratulations cards!

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sleepy yellow princess ❤

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it’s a girl baloon from auntie Nat!:)

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flowers for mama for her hard work in labour from Hazel:)

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lovely baby and mama present from auntie Nat’s in-laws!

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tiny baby in her huge cot ❤

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cuddles with auntie Beth!

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first walk in the pram with mama and dada!

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sleepy mama cuddles!

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yawning in her pretty dress, on the way to the registry office!

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little legs in adorable tights!

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first time inside her pram and she smiles:’)

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Alaska in her superbaby babygrow (right before she pooed all over it!)

Hope you enjoyed the begging of the story and the rest in pictures, I will try my hardest to update more often!

All the best,
Klaudia
xo

Quick update (I’m coming back)!

Hi everyone, I know that I haven’t been posting on here in ages, so sorry!
I’ve had so much going on, Alaska takes up most of my time of course but the rest was taken up by redecorating the house, cleaning, organising my time, baby groups, cooking, driving lessons, attempting to do school work, having some alone time with Liam (which is hard to do with a new baby), spending time with friends and family. Now I’m getting the hang of doing a lot in a small amount of time.

The update on Alaska’s first two months will be up next Sunday when she is two months old. She’s having a nap now which is why I decided to let the housework wait and write on here. Alaska smiles and coos and has grown so much since she’s been born! It’s true when people say that kids grow up so fast! But much, much more in the two month update about Alaska.

Now, as to why I haven’t been on much I think it’s easiest that I go through my daily ‘routine’.
Alaska wakes up at around 7am for her milk, I feed her and play with her until she falls asleep. In this time, I make breakfast for Liam, get him everything he needs for work and see him off. I also eat my breakfast and have my morning cigarette. Then, I clean the kitchen, wash Alaska’s bottles, put one load of laundry in, do the washing up, clean our room and pick up and put everything away. Then Alaska wakes up and has another bottle at around 10am and she goes back to sleep for an hour or two. I finish my morning cleaning and have a shower and do my hair and make up. She then wakes up at around midday and is fed and then plays with me and on her playmat until about 6pm. If the weather is nice, we go out for walks. She then has an hour-long nap during which I make dinner and eat it. When Liam gets home from work, we have some time to talk and spend together until her 7pm bath. After her bath, we have family time when we watch movies and cuddle or play with her or whatever. She falls asleep at about midnight and wakes up at around 3-4am for a bottle. And it starts again.

This is if we’re staying at home all day. If we have somewhere to go, I clean and get ready during her 7am-10am nap so that we can leave the house at about 11am-12am (if we manage that). It’s so hard to get ready to go anywhere with a newborn but we have our baby group to go to, Health Visitor meetings, doctor’s appointments, meeting up with family, visiting family, meeting up with friends, shopping to do etc so we pretty much have something on every day. Today is the first day in about two weeks we have nothing on so I’m taking full advantage of the fact that I can stay in my bath robe all day. 

Except from that busy routine, we’re also looking for a flat so we can move out of our parents’; I have driving lessons; I have to do school work; I have to sort out all my benefits; I need to tidy our room as my things are all over the house after redecorating. 

Alaska is starting to wake up, so I gotta go,
take care everyone,
Klaudia
xo

Birth (well, labour) story!

I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write this but there’s so little time to do stuff like this with a newborn baby in the house. (I’ve been trying to write this since she was a week old and she’s two weeks old today ha ha, but here it goes:

last bump shot<3

On Thursday the 30th, I went to a growth scan as I have had to get them throughout my pregnancy due to my BMI being too low
when I got pregnant and there being worries about Alaska’s growth. At the scan Alaska looked perfectly fine but the amount of fluid around her was too low so I got told I’m going to have to be induced asap. I was 37+2 then and even though I knew she was ready to come out, I was terrified! I had lunch plans with my friend Gemma after, I had plans for the week after to go baby shopping and I found out I was having my baby so soon! I felt like I was so unprepared even though I had nine months to prepare myself. I also found out that I probably won’t be allowed to have a C-section out of choice . I rang Liam and told him that we’re having our baby on that day or the day after! He was shocked, I left the hospital to go home and pack my hospital bag. On the way home, I went to see Liam, we talked and sorted out that he will get ready and meet me at the hospital at 3pm (2 hours later) and me and Gemma rushed home to pack my hospital bag.

amazing hospital food<3

amazing hospital food<3

At 3pm, me and Gemma were at the hospital reception, waiting for Liam to come. He turned up with our friend Joe and we all walked in and started looking for the Labour Ward. We found it, I got a bed given to me and got told to wait for a midwife to come. We sat around talking and drinking coffee until 6pm when they admitted me into the hospital and I was put on a heart monitor thingy. She was happy as they come and I was having contractions about 5-10 minutes apart just like have done for the week before. They were irregular and weren’t actually speeding up my labour. The delivery ward was very busy that night so they decided to induce me in the morning, after my first hospital dinner (which was amazing), me and Liam cuddled up in my hospital bed until about 2am (with a break when Liam went to get me chips and gravy from a fish&chip shop which was my last pregnancy craving). He then went home to sleep a bit before the baby arrives. I fell asleep at about 6am because I could hear a lot of women screaming while in labour and I realised that’s going to be me so soon!

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Liam reading a baby book while waiting for Alaska

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me on the heart rate monitor thingy (looking like a whale)

On Friday 31st, at 10am, after a yummy hospital breakfast and half an hour on the heart monitor thingy, I went in to get checked and got the pessary put in (fucking painful), this also meant I had my first bit of gas and air and loved it! They told me my cervix was already quite soft so it shouldn’t take long for me to have my daughter. They’re so wrong sometimes! I was on the heart rate monitor thingy and my contractions were almost constant but not strong or regular.

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10am

My memory is a bit fuzzy as to order of things for the rest of my labour (sorry) but I spent that day with Liam and Gemma and my mum paid me a short visit too. I also had a lot (around 10) bubbly baths and had amazing hospital food, even if I did have to eat some of it while bouncing on the birthing ball. I was also taking the biggest amount of Codeine and Paracetamol they would give me for the pain. My contractions were getting stronger and stronger.

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8pm

On Saturday 1st, at 10am they did another check and my cervix softened up and I was dilated to 2cm which meant that my labour was progressing but I had to have another pessary put in. Immediately after, I was in a lot of pain so I was doing everything I could to help me cope: bouncing on the birthing ball, walking, eating hospital food for energy, trying to sleep, taking the biggest amount of Codeine and Paracetamol available, having lots of hot baths and everything else. I was in so much pain I asked my midwife for help and she got me TENS machine which helped me for a few hours but then the pain was so unbearable I couldn’t even feel the TENS machine. I was then put on the heart monitor thingy and even though my contractions were 1-2 mins apart, they refused to check me so early.

well, technically this is the last bump shot and me looking fed up of labour

well, technically this is the last bump shot and me looking fed up of labour

At 4pm, I was bouncing on my birthing ball with the TENS machine and trying to eat dinner (managed to eat a bowl of soup) but I was in so much pain I asked the midwife if I could have the injection painkiller that she said I can ask for when the pain is really unbearable. When my mum and Liam who were there with me, left the room so that I could have the injection, I felt an urge to push and I told the midwifes who were there and they wheeled me into a delivery room straight away, before they gave me the injection. After realising it was a false alarm, my mucus plug broke and I got checked. I was 5-6cm and had contractions one minute apart. Liam and mum got called back into the room and I spoke to them for a bit and then told them to go home and rest and wait by the phone. I had gas and air for contractions and was getting more and more tired. The next time I got checked was at midnight and I was 9cm. I got so excited even though I was in so much pain, I texted Liam and our families to let them know they’ll be a new addition to our family. The midwife said I have a bulging bag of waters and that she can break them for me, I agreed and when she was getting the equipment ready, I coughed (still had my chest infection) and my waters broke. I had an epidural at some point around then (can’t remember) and when I started to feel it, at around 1am, I started pushing. I was so exhausted I was falling asleep in between contractions (as much as you can fall asleep in like 30 seconds anyway). My epidural didn’t work even after being topped up 5 times and it being in the right place, I could still feel the stronger contractions and I could feel Alaska being born.

Alaska's first photo ever (about 5 mins old) <3

Alaska’s first photo ever (about 5 mins old) ❤

She arrived at 4:09am and when they passed her onto my chest, wrigling and still curled up like she was in my belly, I forgot about feeling the pain. The first thing I said was ‘I just gave birth.’ and then I started talking to my perfect daughter. It took two pushes to get the placenta out and I can’t remember much about what happened after because my little girl was finally in my arms!

the first picture of Alaska and her daddy <3

the first picture of Alaska and her daddy ❤

Her Apgar scores were 9/1min and 10/5mins. She was beautiful from the start and daddy got rung in and came to meet her about 1 mins after she was born. Labour was tough but every single minute was worth it to have our little girl here!

Lots of love,
Klaudia
xo