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Our son is now 3 weeks old and has brought so much joy into our lives in the short time he has been in this world. It is scary how much he has changed over the past three weeks though and it has made me realise that children really do grow up too fast and so it is important to cherish every moment.
Here is a picture of him from this morning:
Earlier this week we attended a baby settling class run by our local, private Hospital and it was fantastic. It armed us with some more tools to assist in settling our baby and also confirmed that we were doing some things correctly (like putting him in his cot while he is still awake so that he can learn to settle himself). We are very fortunate to have a very content little baby who only cries when he is hungry or has a pain in his belly.
Anyway, the things I have learned from my experience as a mother this week are as follows:
I need to toughen up - I need to learn how to either say "no" to visitors coming or be tough enough to tell them to leave. Don't get me wrong, I do like visitors... but it seems that everyone wants to come on the same day! To make it worse, we don't see anyone all week and then everyone wants to come and visit us on the weekend and it is exhausting!
Breastfeeding is hard... so very, very hard - Anyone that has issues with breastfeeding and perseveres deserves a medal. I have been very close to throwing in the towel this week due to under supply issues and I have to say that breastfeeding has been the most stressful thing I have EVER had to deal with. When you're holding your baby who is screaming because you can't supply him with enough milk, you can't help but feel like you're failing. But, we are persevering and we are getting there... slowly. Which brings me to my next point.
Don't underestimate the importance of having a supportive husband - If I wasn't married to the most beautiful, supportive person in the world then I would have given up breastfeeding this week for sure. But Matty has sat by my side for hours, holding my hand and telling me that it will all be ok. Together we have brainstormed different techniques to try to increase my supply and I am beginning to think that we might be ok. I honestly couldn't have gotten through this feeding issue without him.
This coming week I am trying to build up my confidence with going out alone with the baby and also with breastfeeding in public. I am not sure that I'll ever whip out the boobs at the local McDonalds, but I am hoping to be able to breastfeed at places we frequent a lot - like my parents house.
Anyway, I am going to go and have some cuddles with my little man before tucking him into bed for the night.
I am pretty sure I have declared my love of bunting flags to you all at some point since starting my blog. If you were not aware that I love, love, love bunting flags let me tell you that I do... I really, really do.
Anyway, imagine my delight when I came across a tutorial at How About Orange for making mini bunting flag cards. As my niece's birthday is coming up, I thought I would make her one.
The tutorial was easy enough to follow, however putting those flags on the way the tutorial said to was incredibly fiddly. I got glue all over my fingers which meant that everything I touched got stuck to my fingers and in the end I decided there must be an easier (and less frustrating) way.
Sure enough there was. I suggest firstly gluing the little flags together by putting glue on just the tips of the flag and then sealing them shut. Once you have done this to all of your flags, load a needle up with your desired thread and poke your needle through the top edge of the flag. The result is pretty much the same:
I hope she loves the card as much as I do! I made a start on her birthday present today too, so I will be sure to post about that once it's done (if it works!) lol.
The most favourite thing I have made for our baby so far would have to be this breastfeeding pillow:
For months prior to our son being born I hunted for the ultimate breastfeeding pillow, but was unable to find one that was exactly what I wanted.
Some I didn't like the shape of, some I didn't like the feel of and, of course, some I didn't like the price of (although I would have paid the money if I had found one I liked!).
I figured if I made one, then I could tailor it to suit my exact needs. See, the problem I had with most of the breastfeeding pillows available in the stores is that they were flat, so they didn't tilt the baby in towards you and that made me feel just a little uneasy. The other problem I had was that some seemed to wrap around the body too much for my liking.
Based on the above requirements, I made a 'trial' pillow using a calico remnant that cost me .98 cents. The pillow contoured nicely to sit against my body, but not wrap around it, and the back of the pillow measured 15cms high while the front was 12cms high.
It was a bit hard to test the pillow without a baby, but I was pretty confident that the design was good so I made a pillowcase to tie in with the rest of the nursery.
While I suspected that the pillow would work well, I didn't expect it to be used for anything other than breastfeeding in the nursery. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I have used it for many other purposes than just feeding. These purposes include:
- Wedging it under my elbow while sitting on the couch watching TV. The pillow stops my arm from going numb from the weight of the baby while giving him cuddles;
- Laying the baby on the pillow to have his clothes changed. I sit the pillow on my knee and because it is not flat, there is no fear that the baby will fall off; and
- Feeding at my computer desk. I sit the pillow on my knee and slide myself right into my computer desk. The baby fits on there perfectly and on days when he is feeding well, I can actually have the use of both hands without the fear that he'll fall off.
I have a friend who is having a baby, so I was thinking maybe I would make her a pillow too and see whether she finds it as useful. All up (including the pillowcase) I estimate I would have spent under $10 to make it and most of that cost would have been for the hobbyfill I used to stuff it with.
As most other breastfeeding pillows we looked at were between $50 and $80, making it definitely saved us a fair amount of money!
I have a dilemma..... I am really loving being at home with our son, but I need just a little more stimulation. I realise that things might change over the coming months as he grows up and becomes more playful, but until then I need something to fill in the hours that he sleeps and to make me feel like I am more than just a mum.
So at this point I am reluctant to start up any kind of business, but I am thinking that maybe I could open up an Etsy store and sell some things through there. This would have a couple of benefits:
- I could make money to buy pretty fabrics to make more pretty stuff to sell
- It would give me something other than the baby to talk about with others
- It may give me the confidence to think about an online business at some point in the future
My main problem is working out what to sell. I could purchase the license to make buttercup bags or I could make bibs and burp cloths to sell as a pack or maybe even breastfeeding covers. I suspect that I may get sick of making the same things over and over again, so perhaps it might be best for me to just sell 'one-of-a-kind' items.
At the moment it is all up in the air and I really need to give it some thought. I just know that I need to do something to avoid going insane lol!I would love to hear your thoughts as to what you think I should do!
I am often asked how I make the labels I put on the baby stuff I make, so I thought I would make a tutorial. You won't believe how easy it is!
You will need:
T-shirt transfer paper
An inkjet printer
An iron and a hard surface to iron on (I use an old wooden chopping board)
Cotton tape
A piece of cotton material (I use an old hanky)
- First you need to decide what you want to put on you labels. I make a number of different types, but my favourite is the 'boehm baby' label which I put on my baby bibs and burp cloths. To create your labels, open up MS Word and design away.
- Once done, print the page onto a piece of transfer paper making sure that you print the image in reverse (most printers have an option in the 'advanced settings' to do this for you). Note: This will only work on an ink jet printer and will not work if done on a laser printer.
- Once you have printed off your labels, you will end up with something that looks like this (the picture below is of a 1/2 sheet of labels):
- Iron your cotton tape flat as sometimes it has kinks in it which will hinder your ability to adhere the labels to the cotton tape easily. There are many different widths of cotton tape, so you will need to ensure that the one you get is wide enough for your design to fit on to:
I always cut my labels up, to make it easier to put them onto the cotton tape. Once cut up, position the label right side down onto the cotton tape as shown below (the label is a little hard to see, but it is right at the very end of the cotton tape). Make sure you place your cotton tape on a hard surface as an ironing board is too soft to enable the label to adhere to the tape:
- Next, take a damp piece of cloth and carefully place it over the label and cotton tape. Follow the directions on the back of your transfer paper pack to find out how long the iron needs to be applied before the design will set and also to determine the settings your iron needs to be on (ie. you need to ensure the 'steam' function is off):
- Once done, carefully peel the backing off the label. You will then have successfully completed your first label:
Once you have mastered how to do this, you might like to try making a roll of labels if you plan on using a lot of them:
When sewing the labels on, I simply use the machine to do a straight stitch along all four sides, making sure that I turn the short ends of the label under to avoid fraying.
Then I drew a line where I wanted to cut:
Next I cut off the bottom of the onesie:
Then I used the serger stitch on my sewing machine to sew around the bottom edge of the onesie
Finally, I hemmed the bottom edge:
Ta-da! Done... it's as easy as that! The pyjama pants will also be a refashion, using an old t-shirt of either mine or Matty's. I can't wait to finish them off!
