Christmas is coming

Just a few more days and the Christmas is here. 

I'm already in the happy mood as I'm off from Wednesday till next week.
Alex's grandma and aunt are coming over so it will be fun.

We were trying to decide what type of Christmas celebration should we follow.
As I and my hubby are from different countries but with similar traditions and living in a country with completely different Christmas celebration we had to choose which way to go.

Alex is still very small and doesn't understand it much so we'll go with our traditions. We don't have a TV so no commercials with Santa are to be seen in our house. 

For us the main day is December 24th. We have a family dinner usually with some soup, either sauerkraut or chicken, and the main course is breaded fish, carp if possible, with traditional potato salad. As my hubby doesn't like fish that much we are having breaded pork chops instead and granny has a salmon. I usually get the carp for myself but this year I'm not the one who's cooking. It's my hubby's mum. 

We also get presents that evening after the dinner. They are brought by little Jesus to us not the Santa.

I'm so used to this way of Xmas that it's very difficult to imagine change it, but if Alex was bigger and all her friends would get presents from Santa we might change at least this part. 

She will have a sock with a little gift there and so will have her brother, even though he's still in my bump. But they both will have these socks for next years...

I'm glad that all the presents are ready to be put under the Christmas tree. It's true that the main ones for my hubby are only envelops as they are either online based or will be delivered later, but Alex's are all to be brought in on Christmas eve.

So here we go!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Mouse in the house

It was Sunday morning and my hubby was still asleep. Me and Alex we were already up, had our breakfasts and played a little. I had to use the bathroom and couldn't leave Alex in the living room alone as she would scream her heart out. There is no privacy in our house anymore. 

 
So that's why I usually try to explain to her what is going on and even put her on her potty to get her use to the routine. 

On Sunday though I went to the toilet alone just kept the door open.
As Alex was crawling to the bathroom when something caught my attention. 

A brown mouse was running towards her in the hallway. As it saw her in the door to the living room it decided to run to the bathroom instead. 

I'm not afraid of mouse, we had hamsters and now we have a gerbil and I love it, but this was such an unexpected event that I started to scream.

Alex sat down, looked at me with question mark in her eyes and was about to cry when the mouse run directly under my feet. 

I was still sitting at the toilet, my legs stretched up in front of me and I was trying to make Alex smile as I known what could this experience do to her. I didn't want to just stand up and walk away as I wasn't sure where the mouse was.

Well the mouse is gone now. I set up a trap and found it there this morning. 

I just need to work with Alex a little bit so she forgets this thing and won't be afraid of mouse in the future.

When I think about it now it's really funny, but at that moment it wasn't.

I'm not sure if I was afraid of the mouse or the possibility I will run to Alex and could scratch or bite her. It doesn't matter now, I just need to use the EFT technique to remove the fear from my mind and possibly from Alex's too. It worked for me before and helped me with my fear of beetles, so I'll try it again.

We need to set some more traps around the house because the cold weather outside makes the little brown intruders to come in uninvited.

New page published

Hi All,

I published a new separate page, Our kiddies illnesses

I will be updating this when something comes up. 

Currently there is a few information about ear infection, cold, fever and teething.

I hope you might find some information helpful.

Pregnancy update up to week 24+

It is already 24+ weeks since I got pregnant second time. 

My energy levels are low and I would love to sleep when I come home from work, but Alex won't let me relax. She's so happy when I'm home and wants to play with me all the time. I should probably start taking the iron supplements again. Will keep you posted if that helps.

The little one in my bump is as active or even more than Alex was at this stage of my previous pregnancy.

I think it could be because of a placenta that I feel it more. 

I had a 3D/4D scan at 22 weeks with Alex and was told that my placenta is low and at the front. We just had one with this baby and it's at the back, so what I thought was right :)

My hips and a tail bone hurt a lot. Also getting mild headaches. I didn't have them the first time.  And my breasts are very tender. Have to sleep in a sports bra to give them a little support while in bed. 

Night time trips to bathroom are not limited to one or two per night and sometimes I manage without waking up. I'm glad my hubby's waking to Alex if it's necessary. 

Luckily no stretch marks yet even though I'm not using the cream or oil as much.

I'm also having a heartburn at the beginning of this week it was very mild and not so often. I was really hoping it will last for a few more months like this. I suffered very badly the last time and nothing helped me when I got it. Not sure if there is any truth in the old wife's tale that if you have heartburn the baby has a lot of hair. Alex had a lot of black hair. So we'll see about this one. Past few days I have it nearly every afternoon and evening is the worst. Sometimes I feel like dragon. :(

They are saying get your teeth check as they can go bad during pregnancy. They are more sensitive and my gums are sometimes bleeding after brushing the teeth but it's same as before and my dentist said that everything is normal. I know it will get better when the hormones get to normal.

And BTW my hair is growing so fast, had to cut it very short and my skin got much better in past few weeks. These are the best things during the pregnancy, I had a lovely hair before Alex as well, but after giving birth and the change of hormone levels, I cut it short.

And I think I'm not that grumpy this time. Maybe it's the positive energy I get everyday from my daughter.

I would love to talk to my bump more but there's not that much time. But since yesterday we know who's inside. It should be a little boy :D So we will have one of each.

The 3D/4D scan was great, the lady there was very helpful and measured what she could and showed us everything. All is looking well so far, so I feel much calmer after getting all these information. 

Well, so far my hubby thinks this pregnancy is completely different, I'm not as sure as he is, but can see some small differences. And of course I'm getting bigger a lot faster as my muscles are still loose from the last year.

Alex is a big girl.

I'm sorry for such a long delay in writing another post. It was crazy busy time. I'm back to work, was getting ready for Alex's birthday and Christmas is just behind a corner.

Soooo, that's it. Alex is already one year old. 

 
The time is running so fast. It feels like yesterday when we brought her home and now she's one, has 6 teeth, is nearly walking and a babbling a lot.
She changed so much and grew so fast. I'm afraid she will be taller than me when she's 6 years old ;-) 

The parties were great. There was supposed to be only one but our great friends wouldn't make it so I made a small cake for their visit. It turned out to be the bigger party at the end as some other friends had either sick kids or work.
Alex absolutely loved her cakes. At the beginning she didn't want to touch it. But then she tasted a bit of cream and there was nothing to stop her anymore. We cut the cake and I wanted to keep the slice she touched for myself to finish it off. But there was nothing to finish. Our Alex ate it all. That night she couldn't sleep. Probably the sugar rush. So at the other party she got just a little piece. She was happy again and this time it didn't have such a big side effects.

She got some lovely presents and we already see what she prefers.
Interactive book with songs, a touch phone, of course a baby one, which tells her the numbers or colours etc and a wooden animal puzzle. She's not able to fit the animals back to their places but loves to play with them.
It couldn't turn out better. It's a pity that our families are so far, but our friends were enough for her to get out of her routine and use to new people.
I though she would love to tear the wrapping paper of her gifts, but she was shy. Maybe Christmas time....

Alex is probably realising that there is something in my tummy. As my bump is growing bigger, now nearly 24 weeks pregnant, she's sometimes lying on it like she is listening what's going on in there.
Then she starts jumping and climbing on me. We read her a book There's a house inside my mummy. It's brilliant. I absolutely love it. Great short rhymes that cover most of the pregnancy issues in a funny way.
I'm so happy that I bought it. 

We bought her another book about a being a big sister, but read this only once.

It's not in rhymes, but should explain to her what is coming.

I still can't believe how quick the year went by. 

The best feeling ever is to come home from work to my LO and see her smiling at me. 

I hope to write another post soon, so see you later.

Happy mummy ;)

Getting ready for Alex's 1st birthday

Alex's birthday is getting closer. 

I didn't think the time will fly so fast. I remember it like yesterday, the day when Alex was born. Even before I thought the time goes fast, especially after 25th birthday, but after having a baby or kids, it's even faster. You just turn around and the year is gone.

There were so many days, moments and unexpected things, that you try to remember. You want to remember every single one of them. It's difficult because nearly everyday your baby surprise you with something, even if that thing would be a wink, or smile or that your little one will actually pet a dog without pulling its ears or she might pee right at the moment when you took the nappy off. I wish I could keep all of these precious moments somewhere, where I could access them whenever I need a little bit of extra positive energy.

To be honest, I think having a baby was the best decision we ever made. I wouldn't change anything. I absolutely love being a mother and have somebody so precious to look after. Of course I look after my hubby as well, but he would survive if I wouldn't be around, but you mean the world to a little baby, you are the safe boat, you are their sun and they love you for that.

So as the time of Alex's special day is getting rapidly closer, we need to get ready. We already have a few presents a little ones, a lovely dress for her party, but nothing else.

We invited a few friends, mostly with kids, so we hope she will have somebody to play with that day. And I hope she won't be scared of them, or the amount of people around. Otherwise we have to think about plan B :)

I tried to bake a princess cake for her. My hubby said, it was nice even if that was only the first trial I made. Unfortunately the icing or topping or how to call it was too sweet and as we are used to more healthy eating, the amount of butter and sugar there made me sick.

I have to find another way how to do the frosting. It has to be like for cupcakes and when cold, it should hold the shape. Any ideas anyone? I searched a lot of pages here on Internet and still can't decide.

I love baking, but usually do everything without icing/frosting. It's easier and less time consuming, but for my little one I do exception ;)
The following week is Alex going to have a smash cake photo shoot and I am planning to bake a giant cupcake for this as well. A friend of mine is going to borrow me a mould, so I will probably make one on her birthday too, just to try how it goes and how it will looks like.

That day we should find out if the other one is going to be Alex's a little brother or sister. And that will be a lovely surprise present for my hubby's birthday, as he doesn't want to celebrate it. We will have a special family day with a lot of fun. At least that's the plan ;)

We need to get the house ready too. Buy some banners, maybe make a poster, get balloons etc.

I can't wait to get everything ready. 

Alex loves tearing paper and cardboard apart, so she might actually enjoy getting into the presents. We'll see if she likes the wrapping or presents more.

But I still can't believe that it's nearly a year now. And I really don't know why did we wait for so long to start our little growing family.

Hypnobirthing page published

So I published today another separate page. This one is for Hypnobirthing.

It has more details about it, so I hope you will like it. And of course any questions are welcome :)

To get to the page, you can click on the list of pages on the left hand side or most of the hypnobirthing words on any of my posts.