Long time no see.....

It is already two months since my last post about potty training. 

Well summer was here and time inside was limited to minimum. When outside, kids are much happier and calmer and they sleep better, so whenever we could we went out.

I'm not going to write long stories about what happened to us during these months.

But: Alex is great without nappies and has two new teeth and Jessie is walking, nearly running. No more dirty knees :D

We are still working on building good relationship between Alex and Jessie. Some days are great, some more challenging.

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Potty training

So it finally happened. Alex decided to try the potty.

I wanted her to try it before, but she wasn't really interested. 

And I wasn't ready for it either. I was stressed from the constant remarks from people around, that she should be without nappies already and I knew she feels the same. We both didn't like comments about it. 

In my mind I set up the right time. Summer! So she can walk around naked or in really light clothes and won't be home all the time, so there won't be much cleaning in case of accidents.

It's not summer yet, but the weather last week was great and when we stayed home alone I decided to check with her.

I asked her if she wants to wear skirt outside without nappy, so she can pee at the grass. I wasn't pushy and probably not even convincing, but she said yes. 

I took her to the kitchen where the potties are and then outside and showed her how to pee on grass.

She wanted to try to pee on the grass too, but it wasn't her time yet. While in a sand she sat on an ant and it bit her right to one cheek, so I changed the strategy and clothes and gave her underpants. Showed her again and in half an hour she went to that spot and did it. 

We washed 6 pairs of underpants that evening, but she managed to use potty twice.

To my surprise the following morning, she woke up and went to the potty right away. We changed the clothes and Alex didn't even bother to ask me or tell me that she needed to use it again. She went straight there and even cleaned it up with me. And so it continued that day with only two little accidents.

Day 3 was great as well, except a poop which went down on a floor. We even managed a car journey without nappy.

Same was day 4 but without the poop issue. 

It's a week and Alex has nappy at night only, but it's half of the mornings dry. 

I feel much better now knowing she's able to do it all by herself. She tells me most of the times, that she has to go and that's fine. 

When she'll be a pro, I'll try Jessie as well. It would be great if the nappy period will be over after this summer.

I'm one really proud mom. I was so afraid that I messed it up earlier, because Alex didn't want to cooperate, but she just needed to get there at her own pace.

We still have work to do to sort out the pooping, but now I'm positive this will be done soon.

Jessie is walking

Just a few days ago I talked with our grandma about Jessie. We agreed that he's cautious. He loves walking while somebody holds his hands, but he didn't want to let go. Not even standing alone. Just a few seconds next to a bed or chair, but no longer than 5 seconds in a row.

So on Saturday as my sister in law arrived for a visit we spent nearly whole day outside. It was finally lovely weather and when the sun was out it was really hot. Except there were some clouds, so from time to time the cold wind with the clouds created unpleasant temperature change.

My hubby took care of the growing grass in the morning, so we could sit down on a picnic blanket later that day and enjoy the family time. Alex was running up and down the garden, watering flowers and trees and Jessie was crawling around.

I took him on the blanket and asked him to stand in front of me. I just wanted him to let go and stand there for a while. He usually grasps anything around or sits down. 

He didn't do either. He was just standing there, looking around. Jessie was on a walk with granddad, so they didn't see it. I asked Jessie to walk to me and he did two steps by himself. Nobody was holding his hands. So I just tried again. Placed him in front of me and asked him to walk. He repeated two steps again and again until he managed 4 steps in a row before falling at me, I always catched him. 

So here we go....Jessie is walking. I know it's not such a big deal, because he does only a few steps and then sits down or fell, but for him it is definitely big thing. We are now practising every day and he managed even 6 steps once, but two or tree are standard now. In a few weeks he'll be maybe running :D

Alex will be in a trouble then....he will follow her everywhere. Crazy and exciting time begins!

Study study study

I just can't stop studying. 

It's so interesting. When you are in school and you are required to study, you don't like it. It's necessary evil and you want to be out of school. Well at least I was like this.

I wanted to continue to study eventually, but wasn't accepted to the school, so I went to work. I didn't even think of trying to get back to school until I was 25. I started again and was quite good, but I met my hubby and all changed. I moved countries and my school didn't support external students much, so I didn't finish.

But then something changed. I decided to work on my career and wanted to build knowledge. So I started to study in Ireland and finished my courses there. The first ones where linked to my job. Facility management, project management and auto cad. All required in my work and possibly helping me to get better position....Well it didn't happen due to company changes, after that maternity leave, then another one, etc. Life find it's own way to go and this wasn't meant for me.

I started to study other subjects like holistic healing and other interesting courses. Even when we moved out of Ireland, I continued to look for some courses and when I started to think about getting a photography course I got one for free from online academy I attended before a few times.

While on this course I got a free membership and what I didn't expect I found a few more courses I wanted to do with them. Well a few is nearly 10 at the moment :D

And what happened during one course I really wanted to finish before my membership was up????
They gave us great offer, no one like me would refuse. So that's it, I'm in lifetime education program and finishing sports nutrition now. 

It's helping me with my workout groups and page as well. It is just incredible what life will bring to you when you ask for it the right way. I feel so motivated, so empowered and excited about it all.

So lets continue with my life......I have other lessons to attend :)

Little update :)

Alex's birthday is nearly here. I picked up a recipe for her cake. I just hope it will be tasty and nice. Well, when it's ready, I'll take a picture and put it up here :)

We moved out of kid's bedroom last week. They sleep by themselves now. It's working good so far. Of course we have a baby monitor, but we could hear them through open door as well. Yesterday we rearranged the furniture there so they both sleep in new location and a little closer to each other. I just hope that they won't wake each other if they cry.

So far so good. Last night was the first night and Jessie slept much better than usual. He woke up only twice between 8pm and 5am, after that he didn't want to fall asleep, so I had to take him with me. When he was sleeping next to me for about 5 minutes he started to talk from his sleep. It was the longest babbling ever :D and so cute.

Jessie is 8th month already, but he's about the size of one year old baby. His clothes are getting smaller too fast. He absolutely loves food. Anything he gets, he eats and milk.... That's a different story. He doesn't take it during the day, only night feed(s). He takes usually one feed a night, but there is the odd night when he wants twice.

This evening it was a first time after about 4 weeks when he took milk after dinner, before he went to sleep.

Alex loves watching fairytales these days. The weather is cold and wet, so we can't go out as much. She loves horses, bunnies, dolphins etc and she's learning English from them and 90% of our movies are in English. She told me tonight Good Night in English. It was a big surprise for me. Her languages improved so much. She's constantly talking, loves reading her princess book and even playing with Jessie.

Jessie on the other hand is trying to crawl. He's moving around all right. Just not on all fours yet. He loves exploring everything especially with his mouth. I'm glad we don't have small toys yet. 

Alex didn't want to eat much lately. After we were sick, she had usually breakfast, a little one, a half of potato with something at lunch time and maybe something for dinner. I started to worry, because she didn't even ate what Jessie was able to finish within a few minutes. It was just a phase. After about 3 weeks of this picky eating she started to eat everything again. She surprised us one evening to finish whole slice of bread (usually she has a half of it), same portion of soup as I gave to her father and today two large chicken wings with rice. It was nearly the same portion I had for lunch.

We had to move her evening routine a little as she was complaining when we put her to the bed before 8pm. Most of the days she goes to sleep around 9pm which is still OK with me. If she has a bad day she would try to stay awake for ages, like yesterday but with the bell at 10pm she was in bed fast asleep. I told her to go the be when she wants, but I expect her to wake up at 8am and be fresh and ready for the day. That's what we agreed on. And even though she went to bed so late last night, she was up by herself at 8am and came to us. All happy and asking for a Litter Mermaid movie :)

Today it was 9 again, I hope tomorrow will be same.

That's about it. There is nothing special happening now, except for the snow outside, but we'll be really busy from this weekend onwards.

Christmas is coming!!!!! I'm really excited about this one, I'll tell you why next time :p

Just a few weeks until Alex's 2nd birthday

Alex's 2nd birthday is coming soon. I already checked some tasty recipes for her 2nd cake. I am really excited to bake it this year. If it will be nice and tasty, I'll share the recipe here with you. But because I didn't make it yet, I'll wait.

She will get another cake from her grandma, also home made. 

We have the gifts already sorted. Including the Santa's ones. We contacted the head elf ;) 

Alex is getting big and more communicative. She's not shy, it takes her 5 minutes to get use to somebody new. And how she talks now, it's amazing. She's making sentences with 3-4 words and they make sense 90% of time. :D

She loves reading books, playing with stuffed animals and exercising. She can recognise some letters, so there is a few presents which should help her learn even more. 

I can't wait to give her those. 

She found one of them by mistake in our wardrobe. I wasn't pleased with that, but it was my fault, I didn't hide it well. She was so excited to see it and wanted to open it, but she couldn't open the plastic bag. So she looked at it for a few minutes, turned it from one side to another and when she went to bed, I put it back to the wardrobe to a higher shelf. The following morning she didn't even remembered she found something new. 

So I hope she'll be excited to get it in a few weeks, but it won't be the only present we have for her. There is one more which should make her happy too.

The time goes by so fast, that it feels like yesterday when Alex was born and now she's nearly two and Jessie is 7,5 months already.

Jessie's development

Just a few weeks ago we went to the doctor to get development check and vaccinations.

Jessie was really skinny and tall. Did what he was suppose to do. So all good.

But just two weeks later he changed so much. He's stronger, taller, bigger, more active. He's rolling so fast, that he has to be on the floor all the time, or under constant supervision if somewhere else.

He started to do push ups, planks and even rocking on all 4. It won't take long and he'll be crawling like pro. He's moving already, but most of the time to the back.

He's really trying to communicate with us. Is babbling, shouting, screaming, etc. He's not crying much, he's happy baby, only when he's really tired or hungry he can get angry and everyone knows about it. 

He loves having same lunch as we do and he enjoys the food.

Yesterday as I was reading my mails he was on the floor playing with toys around him. There was also my old wooden flute. Alex is playing with it. Suddenly I heard the sound of it. I tough it was Alex but when I lift my eyes from the screen she was next to daddy talking. I checked Jessie and he was playing with it. 

I was so surprised. When Alex played the flute first time she was 1,5 year old and everyone was amazed she could do such good job with it. Jessie is 7 months old and he can do it too. I can't say Alex wouldn't be able to do at that age, because we didn't have it home when she was that young, but I believe both of them will be musicians. At least I wish for it :D

Alex is singing and is even trying to sing alone now. Not just one word in rhyme, but whole songs.

Alex is singing

Alex is nearly 2 years old and I thought it was time to teach her some songs. Well nursery rhymes etc. She managed already a name of one song she likes and when I ask her what to sing, she's able to tell me what should be the song about. Like song about bunny, horse or something else. I was singing for her and little Jessie often, but didn't teach her any of the songs properly.

I picked a song I was sure she would know how to say most of the words in it. And I sang it a few times myself.

Then I started to sing and waited at the end of each verse for her to say the word herself. It took her only 3 repeats of the song and she was able to finish each sentence herself. 

I was so happy. So the next day we sang this song at least 5 times and I started with another one. Alex got it within a few minutes. So I thought, she might be listening to me when I sing and I started to sing all the songs for kids I knew and waited a while for her to fill out the gaps or say the words with me.

She helped me sing nearly every song I tried. It's 6 or 8 songs I sing often because these are the baby ones that are easy to remember and follow. 

I'm really proud that she remembers these.

I made a small movie how she sings and send it to my family. 

My mum wasn't able to open the video so I helped her while I was on the phone with her. I was a little bit disappointed with her reaction. She said Alex should be singing these all by herself. I'm not really sure when kids starting to sing alone but I don't care. I think Alex is very bright and she learns really really fast. She picks new words every day, not just one a day. 

She's using 2-3 words sentences sometimes and is able to ask us for anything she wants. She's even saying "please" and if she's in a good humour "thank you" as well. 

Most of the words she's using at the moment are in Czech or Slovak, but I was surprised she came to our bed one morning with her Happy Hippo (hand puppet) and asked me in English: How are you?

I replied to her and she repeated Thank you in English as well, and is using it sometimes too.

I know it's not much, but she understands 3 languages. That's great I think. 

We are practising everyday now and she's getting better, but I think it will take time to get her to sing a whole song and sing it in a correct tune. But nothing will stop us now :D

Something about me

Soooo, it's nearly 6 months since Jessie was born. The time is running too fast.

For the past months I lived in tracksuits and shorts.  I tried my jeans a few time at the beginning of the summer but I didn't like the way they fit.

I was able to put them on but the waist was too tight and my belly was looking worse than a muffin top.

When Jessie was 3 months old I did a squad challenge. And 5 weeks ago I started exercising a little bit.

Last week we had to go shopping and the weather wasn't nice so I grabbed my jeans to try them on.

When I put it on I was surprised. I felt so happy and motivated. The waistband is loose and even though I still have some belly fat it doesn't look that bad.

I'm still breastfeeding and I believe that helped a lot as I am not on any diet and I eat whatever I want. 

When I start watching the food and continue the exercises I should be back in shape by Xmas.

I am getting stronger and I wish to start running as well. I'll have a great personal trainer ;) my hubby's grandma, she's still running and she's already 80 years old. I think I already mentioned it, but I would love to have her body and energy when I'm older, it would be a victory to have that by the time I'm 40 ;)

My motivation is growing stronger when I see some results and my kids see the healthy me.

So lets continue with all that. I still need to finish some online courses, I already started, but I believe I'll do them fast when the weather will be worse and we wouldn't be able to spend whole day outside.

6 weeks here we go

Our Jessie is nearly six weeks, he's due to have Dr. check up.

All is going well. He's growing so fast. Gained 1kg in 3 weeks and grew 6 cm from the birth. He's getting strong. His routine is getting better, usually feeds every 3 hours, sometime 4. The only thing we are struggling with is my milk flow. It's too fast. We have to use only two positions for feeding. One is the rugby ball position and another of me on back, so I'm feeding against the gravitation.
It is working so far. 

Jessie had a few bad days when he was pushing me away. He was hungry, trying to get milk, but after a few seconds he stopped and pushed me and fought with me. It usually happened when he was tired or the flow was really too fast.

He is still struggling with the wind but there is not much we can do. We do baby massage, I watch what I eat and sometimes, when it's really bad we give him two teaspoons of fennel tea (not more than once in 3 days).

He's currently falling asleep in the Moses basket next to me. It's great that we got him use to falling asleep by himself so early. I know people who need to walk with baby, rock it, drive around in a car, but that's not good. 

Yeah, we are using soother now, and that helps with the sleeping as well, but what we found out is that Jessie doesn't want it during the night, only during a day, when he's sleeping.

Alex is a different story, she's still adjusting to our new family situation, it looked great a few weeks ago, but it's getting more difficult now. She's trying to help, but sometimes she's too quick. She wants to give her brother soother, even when he's asleep, which will usually wake him up, and once she manages to give it to him, she will pull it out again, so he's getting more irritated and tired as he doesn't get much sleep. Luckily past few days was better and she just ignored him while he was sleeping.

But she loves him, would love to change his clothes all the time, so I have to stop her from opening her brothers pj's or nappies if it's not necessary. She also wants to hug him, cuddle him, but he's quite heavy for her, so she needs to sit down and I can place him on her lap, but have to hold his head and make sure, she won't push him away when she get bored with him.

Alex is sometimes not sleeping that good, but she's able to tell us when she wants to go for her day time nap and that goes without crying.

To be honest, it's a lot of work at the moment, but I'm really looking forward the summer and autumn when Jessie will be stronger and more interactive, so Alex will enjoy some plays with him.

People around are telling us that we are brave to have to babies with such small age gap. I think we didn't realize it could be difficult some times when I was pregnant. But yes, I think we are brave, not stupid as other thinks. All is settling and I believe it's going to be better every day.

With me it's nearly all back to normal. I had a few moments with some baby blues, and I am more snappy at my hubby at the moment as I need more support from him, but it's not that bad. I thought the body cleaning was faster this time, but I was wrong. The first bit was faster (the heavy bleeding finished sooner), but the other part took ages. My body adjusted to the new me just last week. I hope the first post pregnancy period will come after I stop breastfeeding ;) But great news is that I lost a lot of weight just with breastfeeding. I gained nearly 20kg during this pregnancy and I have only 6 kg left to loose to be in my pre-pregnancy weight. I didn't do any exercises yet, but planning to start from Monday. With the labour I lost about 7kg, so 7 more was the breastfeeding so far, which is not bad. I still need to get my body to shape, as I can't fit to any of my jeans yet, but that doesn't matter.
Well it will matter in a few weeks time when I will go to a party, so I hope, I'll fit in some clothes :D

Maternity leave #2

So this is official, my second maternity leave is started on Monday!

Those few weeks before my maternity leave when I was home were more like recovery weeks from the stress and tiredness. Now I feel a bit better. Not weak, I'm not fainting anymore, the tiredness is getting better as well, I think the iron supplements finally kicked in. 

Unfortunately there are other issues. Pelvis/hip/lower back pain. Especially during the night. I spoke about it with one of the midwifes at the hospital on Wednesday and she said it's completely normal if we take in account that my previous pregnancy was so close to this one. My body probably didn't adjusted to the normal state and my muscles were still more relaxed than they should be. With the amount of new relaxin hormone levels they are getting even more relaxed which causes the pain.

Also our little boy (they confirmed, that it should be a boy this time) is a little bit bigger than expected. I had to go for a new blood tests to check my glucose levels. Still waiting for the results. I hope all is as it should be and the little man just took after his daddy, who's much taller than me.

Just a few more weeks and we will welcome our new addition to little growing family :)

Alex is now nearly running, she still won't walk too far, but she's getting better every day and her sleeping is great too. We had now 3 days straight without waking up! Well she didn't wake up, I did :( loo trips and last night the pain again.

Also we started to feed her the food I make for me and hubby, so half of the week she has her own food, another half she would share lunch with us. It's great, I just needed to adjust the spices and salt levels, so she can have it, but that doesn't bother us.

She's now also more aware that my tummy is getting bigger and it's moving ;) she comes for cuddles etc.

I'm really looking forward to see her reaction when my tummy will be gone and the baby will be with us.  

Last Wednesday at the check up with my doctor I had for a first time normal blood pressure. Not low as usual, such a great feeling.

Little man is kicking less, but still enough during the day. When my Dr. tried to listen to his heartbeat, he was kicking the doppler away :) She managed only 5 seconds, but his heart is strong :)

So all is good so far, tiredness is better too, weakness is gone and now just waiting time!

Even though I thought I will have more time to write, it's quite busy home with Alex. She getting really good at the walking, even outside, started to discover more things home, helping me cooking and even singing in her own way of course :) 

So have a patience with me :) I'll add some more posts soon.  

Alex is walking

Alex is walking already

We started to train her during her playtime. I usually sat down in front of her, put her up standing and told her to walk to me. She did two steps before falling to my arm. She loved that, I always made a big deal from it, when she reached me. Laughing with her, cheering her etc. Then we put her a little bit further away from us or ask her to walk between me and hubby. 

She managed 4-6 steps before we had her in our arms again. This went like that for a few days and suddenly last weekend she just turned from one sofa by herself and walked to the other one without holding a thing. It was just 3 steps away, but she did it all by herself and it was also her decision to let go. From that moment it went fast. 

While preparing dinner for her, I handed her plastic bowl where she usually has her food. She walked with that towards me. 5 steps this time.

She was very cautious, didn't want to let go if she wasn't sure she has something else to grasp on the other side, but she was trying more and more.

Yesterday she walked across her bedroom in the morning from bed to the changing table. I haven't seen it, my hubby was there alone, but I can just imagine how many steps did she have to take. 

She made it up for me. When I came to the living room, she walked from a kitchen to living room. That's even further away and she continued for the rest of the morning like that. 

So we decided to get her first outside walking shoes, so she's not limited to walk only on flat surface of our floors in her socks.

The shopping for the shoes was a little nightmare. We couldn't find the shop first, then nobody was in, so we had to call the phone number on the door. As I spoke to some lady a gentleman came back to the shop. 

Wow, so many kids shoes!

First baby shoes shouldn't have the sole too hard, they should be high, towards the ankles, so they keep the foot in a safe place. If you go to a proper shop they should be able to help you choose the right one and will not recommend anything that can hurt you baby's feet. They still need to develop.

We decided to try to get her first leather shoes as it's quite wet here. She was screaming, didn't want to try them on, not even let the man measure her foot size. I know in some shops, they won't let you buy shoes for baby if you don't show them, that they can make at least 5 steps alone. Alex didn't want to even sit alone. 

When she put the shoes one she was scared. When we put her down on the floor to try them, she became a sculpture. Didn't move an inch. Well it took a while and she tried to do some steps while holding hubby's hands.

We gave her 4 more pairs of house shoes on the floor to choose one. She did and actually wasn't that scared to put them on. We still want her to walk in the house barefoot, but we need her to get used to wearing the shoes, so we will give them to her a few times a day for a few minutes to try it.

Yesterday when we arrived home, we changed her and put them on. She tried to walk, but the rubber sole got stuck to the lino and she felt a few times. She needs to get use to lifting her legs a bit more, but so far it looks very good :)

I'm very happy with our purchase and I believe Alex will be in a few days too.

BTW her sleep improved a lot. She's waking only once a night or sleeps through, it depends probably on her excitement from the day before, but it's much better and easier now than before.

From 6 month to 11 and something baby #1

The summer was here, and we spent most of the sunny days at the back garden. All our big umbrellas open around the picknick blanket, so Alex would be in a shade. We even had a small swimming pool a few times out and she loved that there, of course there was like 5 cm water because I couldn't carry so many buckets there. It was a great time.

We bought her a pitch with small balls and tried to teach her how to sit there. The good thing was that if she fell the balls always stopped her from hitting herself. The first time we put her in she hated it, she was scared, lying on her back and she didn't moved at all, she even wanted to cry, but we took her out and tried again later. She got used to the balls in a day.

She was already eating a lot of different stuff and when she saw us eating something, she wanted to taste it. She was now able to drink from a beaker and cup if I held it for her. The life got easier this way, but she need a lot of attention and teaching.

Alex's aunt and uncle (my sister in law and my hubby's cousin) arrived for summer. Now Alex had all the attention she wanted. 

And we were still hoping for the second baby. I stopped breastfeeding when Alex was about 6.5 months old. She didn't drink that much milk from me anyway as she had her solids. She took the transition from breastmilk to formula very well, only I was crying for a few days. But on the other side I hoped that this could speed up the next pregnancy. 

As our visitors were here, we were planning holidays for me and Alex. We wanted to go to visit our families, introduce Alex to all grand-mums, grand-dads, aunts and uncles and also her cousins. As we would need to visit two families in two countries we decided to go for at least 4 weeks. Also we planned to visit some doctors over there. So I got a little bit stressed out, because my hubby would stay in work. That meant if I don't get pregnant before the holidays, we would need to wait another month before we'll have a chance to try again. We did what we could with sleeping baby next to our temporary bed in her bedroom and family members behind a thin wall.

The day before our departure I went to see my doctor. I did a test that morning. Looking at it constantly wishing for the second line to appear. I saw there something very faint. My hubby was next to me brushing his teeth so I asked him to have a look. He said, that I am imagining it :( I was sooo sad again. Still couldn't stop looking at the stick and the line got brighter. I showed it to him again and he saw it there as well. I felt suddenly rush of happiness and tears. We hugged  and kissed and both were really happy that it happened before we left. I drove him to the work as I needed the car to see our doctor. She was happy for us and sent a referral letter to our hospital. 

All bags were packed and Alex's aunt flew with us, so I wasn't that scared of the long journey with a 7.5 months old baby. Alex took it well. She cried a little in the plane, but calmed down and slept, then cried again and slept, but at the end I was very proud mum to have such a brave girl.

The time with the family flew. We were driving between two countries to see everyone and give them same chance to spent some time with us. The weather wasn't what I expected, but it was similar to our home weather, so no temperature shocks etc. 

Alex absolutely loved the people around her, was afraid of men at the beginning, but got used to every single uncle and grand-dad she saw. To our big surprise she started to crawl. It was an army-crawl. She didn't want to go on her knees, but I really didn't mind. 

One day we were lying on a blanket in a garden where a bit beetle appeared just in front of her. She wanted to touch it but it started to run away. I didn't know that she could be so fast. She tried to catch it and was crawling behind it bit by bit. It was faster and it run away, but she crawled all the length of the blanket.

By the end of our holidays she was able to sit up by herself and she stood up twice alone too. She was also drinking her milk while holding the bottle without my support so that gave me a little extra time to do other stuff.

We came back home when she was exactly 9 months. She didn't recognise daddy at first and he took it quite personally. Well she saw him only through PC, but heard him everyday. A few days after the arrival she started to crawl on her knees and was getting really fast. The funniest thing we saw was the time she tried to run away from us, usually to bathroom or our bedroom as those are most of the time closed. Now she's standing and walking by furniture or with walker, I think it won't take long and she will do her first few steps alone.

The weather got colder and we stayed home just the two of us again. We went to visit some friends and kids.

The days got shorter, nights longer and I thought it might help Alex to sleep longer, it didn't. She still woke up quite early, but sometimes slept through the night without waking up, but most of the time she woke up once or twice a night to find her soother or cuddly bunny. I wouldn't mind that at all if I wouldn't be sooo tired as well.

The time flew and now it's time for me to switch places with her daddy. He's going to stay home with her for a while. In the meantime I go back to work until another maternity leave will start. I can't believe how the time runs away between my fingers since we have Alex. During the past few days I cried a lot. It's difficult for me to go away. Well, we have to wait and see how it goes. 

Today my new phase starts. I hoped I would get a good night sleep, unfortunately was too nervous to fall asleep and woke up very early. We'll see how it goes. ;)

2nd 3 months with baby #1

When Alex was 3 months old we started to go for the baby swimming lessons.

What a great time! Every Saturday morning we sat into our car and drove to the nearby hotel for her lesson. One week went daddy to the pool with her, another week with myself. At first she was a little bit scared. We trained her a little in her baby bath, splashing water over her etc, but because she couldn't feel the sides of the bath in the big swimming pool she was holding onto us like a tick.

It was great for her muscle strength and her movements. By lesson 3 she wasn't afraid of going under the water. Well under the instruction from the trainer, we first had to splash the water over her face, with a signal we agreed on. The second time we dipped the babies little bit under the water and brought them straight back up. By the last lesson she was able to swim under the water if we pushed her between us for 1 meter. She was able to lie on her back and kick her feet for a few seconds without support. She got well use to the water temperature, it was colder than in her bath, but she had her neoprene swimming west. She wasn't sick at all even if the changing rooms were quite cold and some babies got sniffles after every visit.

Then the summer was coming and we were planning our holidays, so we didn't sign up for second course. We should probably do it now so she gets use to it again.

Well around 3 months our Alex started teething for the first time. It took nearly half a year before her 1st tooth came out, but all the signs where there very early.

She started to babble, laugh and was much more communicative. Talking to me with her own language.

We started her on solids at 18 weeks. She got a little bit of baby rise in the evening, to help her sleep better, but that didn't work as fast I we would love to. After a few weeks we tried some single pureed vegetables and fruit. She loved that. When she started to eat more solids we started to mix the vegetables together. She was great. She was eating almost everything, except for cauliflower and broccoli. She didn't like them at first, but she's eating it now. To be honest, sometimes after her lunch she didn't looks like that she ate her food, she had it everywhere else. Sometimes even behind her ears, I'm really not sure how it got there.

She also rolled over from tummy to back and to tummy again by 6 months. I was very proud, but she didn't want to crawl. We really thought she would skip this milestone as her daddy did, because she managed to get where ever she wanted by rolling around. It was so funny. She preferred to roll to left side more so if she got stuck somewhere like next to the wall or chair, she started to get really frustrated. She didn't cried, but she was very noisy :) Sometimes she was able to roll to the right side as well, but when she moved a little bit from the chair or wall she started to roll to the left again and was stuck again.

I tried to teach her how to crawl. I supported her legs, so she can try to push away, but she usually started to kick around and nothing happened. I was crawling in front of her, even did the army crawl and changed that a little, so she starts to get interested in it too, but no help. Even one afternoon, me, daddy and Alex were lying on a floor and she was watching us to crawl around the kitchen. We looked like a giant caterpillars, but she still didn't move.

She got really good at her tummy time, she even pushed herself up on her arms and while lying on her back she managed to suck her toes. Her legs were by her mouth as many times as her hands. I was amazed how flexible she was.

Her lovely baby hair all fell down and by six months it finally started to grow again. It wasn't dark anymore. Her eyes changed colour as well and we knew that the final one will be brownish. We still wait what shade it will be, but it's not changing much anymore.

She finished her first 6 months with the greatest thing ever. She laughed out laud. It was sooo funny, but I managed to repeat that only after a few weeks.

My official maternity leave finished when she was 5.5 months. The worst time ever, I was still breastfeeding and didn't plan to stop yet, and I couldn't even imagine putting her in a creche or some strange childminder, so I took the maximum of unpaid maternity leave I could and added my saved holidays on top of that.

Alex is 11 months old now and tomorrow will be my first day back to work. Am I looking forward to it? From one point of view yes, I'll get back to contact with other adults, but on the other side, I'm afraid of leaving my daughter. Well a good thing is that she will stay with her daddy home as he's finishing in the work, when I come back there. I really hope I'll survive the separation. I know babies develop the separation anxiety, but I think I developed a very bad one :)