So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 36
Sleep: 100 hours
Feeds: 89

Leap 8 sucks! I don’t know if any Leap is a “good” Leap as Kenzie figures out how to work through her mental development changes and it had to happen right when she turns one year old. We had to make a few adjustments with her nap schedules as well as giving her more attention and cuddles as she tries to get through this Leap. We know it’s not easy for her as she tries to navigate her new developments.

We celebrated Kenzie’s first birthday at Arthur’s Cafe in Baulkham Hills where we had our own private area  to enjoy the birthday celebration with family and close friends. I’ll be writing a separate blog post about her birthday celebrations as we still have to celebrate her QLD birthday celebrations in a few weeks time. I can’t express how thankful I am for my family and friends for helping us. Unfortunately, as Kenzie was experiencing Leap 8, she was in “stranger danger” mode and she didn’t enjoy her birthday very much. She cried 60% of the time as she was overwhelmed by all the people wanting to hold her and cuddle her. By halfway through her birthday, she was so tired and slept throughout the rest of her birthday. After speaking to other moms, it’s very common and I understand why parents don’t put too much focus on a first birthday but it’s her FIRST (and we didn’t want to do dishes).

This week, we were in “party prep” mode, baking cookies, making cake pops, making loot bags picking up the cupcakes and cakes and ensuring everything would go smoothly on the day. We wanted to make sure it was stress-free and that food and dessert and decorations would be the least of our worries on her birthday and so that we can give Kenzie more attention during this clingy phase. I find baking therapeutic and I can’t wait till Kenzie is older and can help us out in the kitchen!

Kenzie’s top teeth still haven’t erupted and we know it’s bothering her as she continues to chew and gnaw on anything that will help her relieve the discomfort. It does look like it’ll be coming through soon and we’re hoping they’ll cut through any day now.

To celebrate her last few minutes of being exactly one year old, she decided to surprise us with mini heart attacks by climbing out of her crib! Yes, we are due to move her crib to the lowest setting as she outsmarted us and climbed out. We could not stop laughing! We were so sleep deprived and we were in fits of laughter as we watched her determination to get out of her cribs and back into bed with us. Sometimes, she’s too smart for her own good!

One sure fire way to get her to sleep this week is singing her to sleep. Thanks to YouTube, Ramon and I have been singing karaoke songs and Kenzie falls asleep so quickly, it’s so adorable. It always helps us introduce her to songs we love.

A part of me will miss writing these weekly entries on the blog and I don’t know if I should continue writing snippets of what we experienced as we raise Kenzie (on a weekly basis). I wanted to focus creatively on videos and I know it’ll it’ll be tough to get one out every week as we are still working out editing and capturing content. One day, we hope Kenzie will read through these entries and see how hard we tried raising her. For the next year of her life, we’ll definitely still try get a blog post published once a week of events that occurred in a more candid light as it’s so much harder to have a toddler pose when all she wants to do is run around and chase cats and dogs in the house.

I still can’t believe one whole year has passed since we’d given birth to Kenzie. She has made me feel a level of happiness I never knew existed. She has made me discover who I truly am and has challenged me and made me a stronger person. When I look at her, I know we’ve done something right. All I want to do is give her the world, I want to be the best version of myself, she makes me want to be better and do better. My heart feels so full, she makes me feel a love like no other. We’re so excited to see what the future holds.

If Kenzie ever gets the chance to read this blog later in life, remember this… WE LOVE YOU. I’ve become lost for words as I’m overcome with emotions. You complete our lives. You are our happiness.

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 38
Sleep: 98 hours
Feeds: 87

Although we were running off little sleep, mom group was meeting at 10am and I knew that Kenzie didn’t want to miss it. She enjoys her time there and is so happy walking around and playing with the kids. I did experience an older child stepping on her fingers (mom nowhere to be seen) and I couldn’t help myself and tell him it was not the right thing to do. I don’t know if boys play rough because it’s in their nature but at 3-4 years old, I’m sure he would have known not to step on peoples fingers! Kenzie didn’t seem hurt by it as she happily kept walking around and playing.

I’m so happy to announce that this week, school holidays are over! There are less kids in the play area and Kenzie is finally feeling 100%, sniffles all gone. I don’t know if it was a coincidence she just happened to get the sniffles the day after she encountered all the kids in the play area during school holidays or I’m just thinking about nonsense. We’re all getting our vaccinations done as soon as we can schedule in a time to do them as a family.

This week, I had to do a supplier run for a client and as a small business, your suppliers become a second family to you. I love bringing Kenzie with me, she plays with the equipment, walks around and bangs on the printers and they love seeing her. She’s losing her “Stranger Danger” trait while around them and is now flashing a smile when she sees them.

I have taken it upon myself to bake Kenzie’s treats for her birthday gift bags. I love baking but it’s a challenge to bake (especially new things you’ve never tried before) when you have a child. I gave in and purchased a cake and cupcakes for her birthday but I wanted to bake cookies and cake pops for our guests. I have started to prepare all the things I need and will be starting it the week of her birthday. Let’s hope it’ll turn out okay.

This week, I discovered that Thelma the Unicorn is awesome! Mom bought Kenzie the book from Aldi at a bargain price of $4.99! It has such a good message about being yourself to be happy. I’ve been reading it to Kenzie daily! I hope she’ll understand the message. The world we live in is superficial and fake, I hope she won’t fall into having to be someone she’s not just to fit in.

My mom has been helping out so much with Kenzie, I’ve been so thankful and blessed to have her! Especially at night, I’ve now been able to shower without Kenzie being in there with me or having her bath at the same time! I’ve also managed to clean up and finish a whole season of Claws (which is such an incredible series)! Kenzie loves my mom so much, it’s hard to pry her away. She refuses to come to me when my mom has her. She’s so attached to her, it’s so cute!

Kenzie is continuing to show off her walking by going everywhere. She no longer needs the walls to support her to stand from sitting position and some times even refuses to hold our hands. She’s becoming independent! Our weekly photos are so hard to take as she refuses to sit still. We’re trying our best to capture candids as she zooms right past us. She does still fall to get hands, knees and bottom quite a lot but we try not make a big deal so that she doesn’t freak out and cry every time she falls. She squirms a little but gets back up with a smile and runs off again.

Kenzie can understand words! “Head”, “Clap”, “Hi”, “Bye”, “Yay”, “No”, “Come Back”, “Yum”. She’s also started to understand “Nose” and “Ears” but forgets some days and ends up patting her head or clapping her hands. 

She has a fascination of watching herself in videos. She will laugh out loud and giggle as she watches her videos in repeat. She also cracks up when she watches the video of a piglet eating grapes. I also think she’s been watching too many puppy videos as she is starting to copy puppy crying noises.

This week, Kenzie has been very clingy at night. She’s been only wanting to go to either myself or my mom. I feel like Leap 8 is approaching and it’s getting Ramon really down as he wasn’t able to comfort or soothe her as she wouldn’t let him. We’re hoping this phase wouldn’t last very long. I’ve been preparing for Kenzie’s birthday party and I’m only able to do it when she’s sleeping but when she sees I’m not there, she freaks out and won’t settle till I put her back to sleep. This means I’m up till 2am doing business taxes or doing artwork or editing photos and videos.

Before we fell pregnant, we would find it hilarious to watch videos of parents freaking out over nappy changes and poo explosions. Once Kenzie transitioned to solids and her poop became solid, it became so much easier to clean! Not only can you smell her from afar (and no longer have to dig your nose into her nappy or take a peak), it’s super easy to clean… until she sat down before we cleaned her. Oh boy, it becomes a mission after that!

We’ve found it difficult to keep Kenzie on a balanced diet as we ourselves have not restricted ourselves in a balanced diet. We feel as though a lifestyle change is needed so that we can offer Kenzie less fast food and takeaway food and more nutritious food. I’ve read many guides and although it’s extra work, we’re determined to make sure she has a good diet. Some days we get it right and other days we take the “easy” way out and we feel so guilty. Hoping we can get into a better routine of things as she grows older as it’ll impact her health in the future.

Speaking of growing older, wow, almost a year has passed and Kenzie has grown so much, mentally and physically! We are so thankful and feel so blessed. We do understand why parents miss the “baby phase” but we’re so excited for what’s to come and can’t wait for her next set of developments.

We have learned to be light sleepers as Kenzie twists, turns, flips and kicks in her sleep. We’ve also learned how to fall back asleep within seconds after repositioning her. People say “it gets easier”… unfortunately it doesn’t and you only learn how to adapt and become more stronger to be able to get through raising your child. At 30 years old, I still think my parents have a tough time raising us! Oh, what a year it’s been!

]]> Camille Diamzon http://www.twosleeplessbirds.com/?p=2024 2024-04-05T06:16:50Z 2018-08-24T01:00:22Z

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 35
Sleep: 100 hours
Feeds: 90

We had another Mama group this week and Kenzie loves little kids. She’s still very quiet and reserved and she’s still so little but she’s enjoying herself. It’s school holidays this week and she was surrounded by even more kiddies in the playground. She’s following them up to the top of the slide (with a bit of help as she’s still too small to get up on her own) and instead of sliding down, she’s blocking pathways and exits as she tries to navigate her way at the top.

I took her swimming this week and there has been no love lost at all. She is so happy in the water! I can’t wait till she learns to float on her own. Now that she can walk, she’ll also walk back and forth from one wall to another in the shallow pool. It’s so cute but I’ve had to watch her like a hawk now that she’s more active.

After spending time and time again on hiring a car seat while in Brisbane, we decided to buy a second car seat. I scoured the internet and took advantage of the end of financial year sales and found a Britax Safe & Sound Compaq at almost half the price! As we didn’t have enough time to have it shipped, we were amazed to find that Baby Bunting price matched and was happy to keep the item in storage till Ramon’s parents picked it up. With so many baby stores closing down in Australia (most recently Babies R Us and Baby Bounce), it’s been hard to find a reputable company you can trust to deliver. So far, we’ve had no issues with Baby Bunting or Baby Toddler Town.

Her birthday invitations are in the mail and we’re so excited for her birthday! She will be ONE, can you believe it? Time has flown so quickly! I can’t stress enough how happy I am with how her invitations came out and it’s a keepsake I’d like to include in her memory box. As soon as we get back from Brisbane, a whole lot of DIY will happen! I’m expecting a few sleepless nights.

Speaking of Brisbane, we’re off to Brisbane next week! We’ve had to book later flights as usual and we’re hoping to plan her nap accordingly so that we don’t have an upset baby on a plane. Kenzie’s naps have been all over the place lately where some days she’ll have one nap, other days she’ll have two or none! We’re hoping for the best and really hope we fly with some understanding passengers. Current events have been quite confronting so we want to avoid any drama.

I made the mistake of moving Kenzie over to Nappy Pants. We do not recommend switching early and will be switching back to normal nappies as soon as we finish the box. Although Kenzie can move more freely in the nappy pants and it’s easier to put on and off, they don’t absorb as much and they smell like urine as soon as she does a pee. We’ll change her back to nappy pants when we potty train her. We always said we’d train her when she starts to walk, unfortunately, she doesn’t quite understand the concept yet.

Kenzie developed a case of the mild sniffles at the start of the week and unfortunately, it turned into a full-blown cold! She has been so good with the aspirator but her nose has been dripping so much and she’s got a dry cough. She hasn’t been feeling 100% this week and has been more quiet and less playful. We hope it’ll pass quickly so we can get her the flu shot.

This week, Kenzie is clapping on queue and patting her head! She’s also learned to headbutt to show her affection instead of kissing and hugging but we’ll take what we can get! It’s so adorable and we can’t wait to see what else she’ll be able to do. I’m looking forward to the day she’ll tell us all about her day and all the emotions it comes with.

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 45
Sleep: 103 hours
Feeds: 92

This week started with freezing cold 4 degree mornings but Kenzie didn’t mind the cold and all she wanted to do was walk, crawl, walk, crawl, walk and crawl some more. She’s always on the move and people have commented that she’s slowly losing her baby fat!

One week I’m worrying about Kenzie not babbling enough, then the next week she’s babbling non-stop with plenty of “Mama”, “Baba” and her favourite “Boowah” in amongst a high pitch scream.

Kenzie’s 2nd tooth is almost fully grown and she’s still teething away so we know her 3rd tooth isn’t far behind. Some kids her age already have 10 teeth! We’ve been cutting her food into smaller pieces so she’s able to chew through it when her two bottom teeth and gums and we can see how frustrated she gets when all she wants to do is swallow her food but it’s taking her forever to chew it into a smaller, manageable piece.

This week, I finally took her back to the pool and as it’s school holidays, she got to splash about with new friends! I was so worried she would hate the pool as she was petrified of the bath last week. As soon as we got her into the tub, she was screaming till we got her out and back into her baby bathtub. She absolutely loved it and now that she’s more mobile, was crawling and splashing and walking about. We’ll definitely make our weekly trips back to the pool from now on. Her smile is so wide and she is so happy to be in the water, I love taking her (no matter how tired I am). Seeing how much fun she has, makes it worth it!

Kenzie reminded us to never take anything away from the palm of her hands, especially if it’s food. Over the weekend, we experienced our first ever public display of a full-blown tantrum as we took away a hash brown from the palm of her hand so we can clean her hands and take away the paper wrapping around the hash brown. It took us a while to calm her down as she was announcing to everyone how upset she was. Since then, we’ve decided she’s no longer allowed hash browns for at least a month. We know we’re going to experience many more tantrums in the future but she took this to a whole different level this week. She’s definitely testing us and we are fighting our emotions to not give in and coddle her.

After 11 months of wearing headbands and hair clips, she’s been pulling them out! I don’t know why now so we’ve upgraded to hair ties so she’s unable to take them off. Her hair is almost long enough to put behind her ears!

We caught up with a few friends this week. The last time they saw Kenzie was when she was 3 months old! “Stranger Danger” took the fun out of the catch up. Unfortunately, Kenzie’s not very friendly to unfamiliar faces and is a “you can look but just don’t touch” kind of baby. After an hour, she did butter up to them on her own terms where she would use their limbs to climb and hold their hand to walk but she needs to initiate it. We’re worried how she’ll hold up on her birthday surrounded by so many adults! We have one month to expose her to more and more unfamiliar faces so she’ll have a good time.

This week, Kenzie has been practicing her walking on her own and can go from sitting position and stand on her own, balance and take a few steps forward. She’s so determined to walk for longer than 10 steps at a time and her balance and confidence on carpet and padded floors is so high, she keeps on trying and trying and trying some more. As soon as she gets onto floorboards and tiles, she’s a bit more hesitant and walks a few steps before sitting on her bottom and crawling the rest of the way. When she walks from one place to another, she’s so proud of herself, smiles, claps her little hands and tries again. Her will and determination is amazing to watch! I wish she’ll never lose that kind of motivation as she grows older.

]]> Camille Diamzon http://www.twosleeplessbirds.com/?p=2021 2018-08-17T02:21:23Z 2018-07-21T01:00:59Z

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 44
Sleep: 93 hours
Feeds: 92

This week started with Kenzie having the sniffles again. Luckily, Ramon’s become a bit of an expert on using an aspirator. We don’t know if she caught it off someone at the playground or it’s because of the chilly weather we’ve been having but we’re hoping it won’t turn into a full blown cold or flu.

While we nurse Kenzie to full health again this week, we decided against taking her swimming. I feel for her because she absolutely loves swimming and she hasn’t been for a swim for a month now. Hopefully we’ll be able to go next week!

This week, we witnessed Kenzie poop a solid poop in her sleep and not flinch when we changed her nappy. We changed her diet up this week in the hope to help keep her sleep pattern consistent. We added more antioxidants and eliminated mangoes. After making this small change, she finally started to sleep through the night! We also tried to avoid (as much as possible) making her upset at night so that she wouldn’t get night terrors. So far, so good and we finally had a week of uninterrupted sleep again. I may be wrong, maybe Leap 7 is finally over and all these trials and changes we made didn’t actually do squat!

I swear, Kenzie gained a kilo this week because she feels heavier than ever! My arms and legs feel like they’ve been working out and we’re constantly chasing her around now that she is crawling and walking everywhere. It’s such a work out! Moms always get asked what our secret is to losing some of the baby weight (I haven’t entirely lost all the weight yet) and for me, it’s definitely due to breastfeeding, carrying your baby and chasing after your baby. I commend those parents who also get to squeeze a proper work out in between! I’ve been telling myself to wake up 1-2 hours before Kenzie does just so I can fit in some work or exercise but I enjoy sleep too much.

The final touches of Kenzie’s birthday are finally sorted and now we’re getting ourselves organised for our trip to QLD for an expo. We’re hoping the launch of our business in QLD will be a success! Fingers and toes crossed!

I’ve decided to DIY party favours for her birthday by attempting cakesicles. I had a midnight YouTube binge-fest and will pair them with sugar cookies. I don’t know where I’m going to find the time but I’m determined! I may have to wait till after Kenzie’s asleep which means I’ll be baking  around midnight. Yes, this is my experience of #momlife and it’s exhausting, satisfying, scary and exciting all bundled up.

Towards the end of the week, it was “National Dog Day” and Ramon’s workplace celebrated by allowing all employees to bring their dogs into the office. We decided to take Kenzie as she adores animals. Her dad’s workplace absolutely love Kenzie and so did the dogs! She did not mind all the slurpy kisses the dogs were giving her and although she was showing some “stranger danger” and “get away from me” attitude to the adults, she loved being surrounded by the two dogs in the office. Although we live with both a cat and dog, we didn’t know how she would react to someone else’s pets. We took the chance and she enjoyed herself! As much as we loved seeing her reaction to the dogs, we won’t be getting her a dog any time soon. Having to care for an elderly dog has emotionally and physically drained us.

This week was not as stressful as last week and things were finally looking up for us. We know that not all weeks would be like this and because of this, we are more appreciative and living in the moment. Some days we forget to capture the moment and although people live by “photo/video or it didn’t happen”, we’re happy to live IN the moment.

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 45
Sleep: 96 hours
Feeds: 93

Kenzie’s godparents, Myra and Paul came to Sydney. We haven’t seen them since Christmas! It was so good seeing them again. They gifted her with the cutest toy mobile phone!

The week begun again with horrible night terrors but luckily we’ve learned to hold her tight, play some nursery rhymes and hum to her and make her feel safe and she settles down after a few minutes. We are making sure not to wake her or get angry at her or make it worse in any way. It’s very tough, especially when we’ve just gone into a deep sleep and then all of a sudden woken up to cries but it’s a new learning curve and adjustment we had to make. However, this week, it wasn’t the only adjustment we had to make. Unfortunately, Leap 7 sleep regression reared it’s ugly head and our little night owl on two occasions decided to be awake between 1-3am, just cause. We’ve been so spoiled by such a good sleeper, we were bound for a few sleepless nights eventually. We’re very lucky it only happens every leap or on very rare occasions but we’ve been so accustomed to uninterrupted sleep, it’s difficult to not get cranky. I’m definitely not on my best behaviour when I’m tired. It’s a trait I hope doesn’t pass onto Kenzie. Not only is our patience tested but so is our relationship and thank goodness, we’re working as a team! I completely understand how it can go in the other direction. It’s not easy! We just have to make it through this Leap and we know we’ll be back to normal.

Kenzie is taking steps and standing on her own more frequently. We’ve found that when she’s scared and wants to get over to either myself or Ramon as quick as she can, she forgets all about holding onto anything for balance and gets up and walks over on her own. We know she can do it and we’ve been focused at working on building up get confidence and balance. Her books have taken a bit of a beating now that she’s turning the pages on her own but she still loves her reading time but instead of sitting still, she’ll crawl or stand while her eyes are still locked onto the book.

Kenzie’s now on 50/50 solids to breastmilk and I’m again pumping for another momma in need of breastmilk. I’ve been counting my blessings time and time again because every time I post an ad for a donation, I’m bombarded with messages for breastmilk donations. Recently, we’ve had a family from Bathurst drive up for some and I only wish I was able to give them more. My milk has somewhat settled down but I am still in excess and as much as I’d love to tap into the black market and make money selling my breastmilk, I feel good donating the milk to families in need. As for solids, Kenzie and her one tooth is enjoying it so much. She skipped the purée phase and went straight to solids and we have no idea what to do with all the bibs we’ve accumulated. Her favourite fruits are mandarins, star fruits and most recently, mangoes. She absolutely loves all things chicken and beef and fortunately doesn’t mind vegetables! While pregnant, I took on the advice of eating different kinds of foods so that Kenzie wouldn’t be a fussy eater. I don’t know if this has contributed or if it’s too early to tell.

It’s official, Kenzie is scared of Fisher Price toys. We think it’s the voice and how the words are pronounced. She will cry and want to get away from the toy as fast as possible. Her walker and toy mobile phone are Fisher Price and as soon as we push a button and the toys start making sounds, she will cry her terrified cry and get away from it.

Her favourite activity this week has been opening ziplock bags and ripping pages out of a notebook. She’s also started to copy what we do, if we cough, she tries to cough, if we open a book, she tries to open a book. It’s so cute but we’re definitely more careful with what we do and say. She’s a sponge and I am such a potty mouth, I’m trying so hard to stop swearing.

We took Kenzie to a couple of local playgrounds and although she is able to climb stairs and walk along walls, she’s still too little to play on any equipment. Also, she’s started to stand in the netted swing (she’s a daredevil).

As for our big QLD move, it’s still in limbo. We are still definitely moving but we have no set date. We will be flying back in July, August/September and December/January but at this stage, we have no clue on a date for our move. We have the option of playing it safe and waiting for a job opportunity and leave our fate in the hands of an employer or take the bull by it’s horns and take the leap, pack up and go and hope for the best.

On a separate note, I’m super pissed off at the retail prices of children’s clothes! eBay has become my best friend and I’ve seen time and time again where an item is being sold for $150+ in store and $20 on eBay for the same no-brand item! I understand why so many moms are starting their own online baby stores because in-store prices are ridiculous! Not all families are double income households and I truly feel those businesses are out of touch with real Australian families. I commend those momtrepreneurs who are looking to fill this void in the market.

Were already looking forward to next week as we count down the days to Kenzie turning one! It’s an accomplishment for us as parents and a huge milestone for Kenzie herself. It’ll be so good to have our friends and family together again for such a special occasion.

Till next week.

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 43
Sleep: 99 hours
Feeds: 91

It’s official, I hate Leap 7! It’s been a long time since Kenzie’s had a broken night sleep and this week, it started with the worst we’d experienced since she had reflux. I am so exhausted and after thinking that I had recovered from mental exhaustion, this week reset everything I worked towards, threw us a massive curve ball and made me feel like a complete zombie. My parents are finally back from overseas and I don’t know what made me think things were going to get easier when they got back but it hasn’t. I’m starting to think we’re going to need daycare for a day or two (for our mental health). At the cost of $150 per day, I’m willing to bite the bullet and sign up right now. It seems like the best solution so we finally get the help we so badly need. Blogging while tired and frustrated and reading what you wrote when you wake up sucks, but it’s the reality of being a parent and it’s not always sunshine and roses. I feel absolutely terrible and upset and a failure for expecting my child to sleep through the night uninterrupted. Who has ever had such an easy time as a parent? No one! And if they say they had it easy, there is no doubt in my mind they are lying. As soon as I woke up, I made a conscious effort to be a better parent. We can only live and learn. Seeing Kenzie’s face smile in the morning makes all my frustration go away. She released adrenaline in me to push through the days and forget about any frustrations and tiredness. She makes me want to be a better person, a better parent. I live for her. I’ve been so fortunate that Ramon’s been able to work from home more often to help me.

This week we went without the walker. It’s been difficult as you need to watch her every move that much more closely as she walks along walls and crawls/wriggles in the floor to get to places. We now understand why people frown on having a walker. They rely on it too much and walk forward knowing they have something supporting their balance all the way. We’ve noticed Kenzie leans forward when she walks and that’s why when she is able to take a few steps on her own, she falls flat onto her tummy. Throughout the week, we’ve noticed Kenzie work more on her balance and standing on her own. I should have really listened to my instincts when I had my reservations about introducing her to the walker but it was life changing! I felt a small piece of freedom.

By the end of the week, with Ramon’s help, I was able to finalise Kenzie’s first birthday venues, invitations, decorations and cake. On top of this, we finalised all our marketing material for our expo next month, started shooting product photos and videos, scheduled client meetings and got to work on a couple of websites. After a terrible start to the week and feeling like I’ve been terrible at juggling work and family, I finally feel accomplished. Teamwork as a couple and as parents has been essential in making everything work and really being patient and understanding with each other has helped tremendously.

We celebrated Dad’s birthday this week. Mum organised a semi-surprise birthday dinner where he thought it would be a family dinner and as he arrived not only did he see us sitting in the restaurant but we were also surrounded by his friends. He was so happy and Kenzie loved the Chinese food, especially the prawn crackers.

The week ended with Kenzie suffering from night terrors. Luckily for me, Ramon has read all about them and educated himself on how to deal with these situations. We’ve let her cry it out, made sure we didn’t wake her so that she isn’t disoriented or shocked and tried to comfort her by holding her and playing her nursery rhymes. When I started this blog at the beginning of the week, I felt defeated and ill-informed. What made it so difficult was the night terrors she suffered at the start of the week and Ramon and I not knowing what to do. Every day we are learning as parents, and hopefully to whoever is reading this blog, we’ve helped you learn a little along our journey. Although it’s been difficult at times, we’d never ever change it for anything. Our baby means the world to us and no amount of night terrors and sleepless nights will ever change that.

LOVE IS POWERFUL.

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 44
Sleep: 96 hours
Feeds: 92

Finally, after 2.5 weeks of nursing a sick baby and our sick selves, we’re all feeling better. Just when we thought it will get easier, Leap 7 reared it’s ugly head! Kenzie almost always sleeps through the night and when we found that she would wake up and cry in her sleep, we knew a leap was on it’s way and we were right, the following day we receive a notification that we’ve entered into Leap 7! Oh the joys to look forward to during Leap 7!

Kenzie’s first tooth has finally come through her bottom gum and she’s finally at ease. I wish I had bought her banana toothbrush/teether earlier as she has been munching down on it every day since she got her hands on it. It’s truly helped relieve some discomfort she’s been feeling as the tooth was growing out. I’m just hoping she won’t bite down while breastfeeding because it’s something I am not looking forward to. Lately, her tooth was giving her grief and she was refusing breakfast for a few days but as soon as the tooth poked through her gums, she was back to her old self again.

Her favourite saying this week has been “Dada” and “Daddy”. We try to make sure we respond to her every time she talks and babbles so she learns how to make conversation. She’s also flips the pages in her books and starts babbling like she is reading. It looks like Leap 7 is the start of the “copycat” phase. We push a button, Kenzie pushes a button, we shake a rattle, she shakes a rattle, we sing, she sings, we dance, she dances. We’ve started to be very careful of what we do, what we say and how we say it. Kenzie has also learned the meaning of “No” and when she is in trouble. However, when we say certain words like “Shaggy” in a certain way, she will think she is in trouble and cry in an instant. She’s definitely understanding some words and understanding when she is in trouble but she is still trying to differentiate between reacting to the meaning of the word or how it’s said. For example, when I was angry at Bella, our cat, Kenzie thought she was in trouble and cried.

Just when we getting a few minutes of “me” times thanks to our iDevices, Kenzie has decided she no longer wants to watch her videos for longer than 10 minutes a day. Her attention span for videos has decreased and instead she wants to stand, crawl, put everything in her mouth and discover new things. This leap has definitely thrown us a curve ball. I’ve looked to The Wonder Weeks Book for advice on how we can overcome this leap.

We struggled to get through this week caring for a baby, a cat and a dog (who is blind, deaf, diabetic and has cancer). Ramon worked from home to help me with housework. A note to anyone planning on renovating or building or designing a home, do not get white glossy tiled floors, a mirrored splash back and mirrored stovetop as it’s extremely difficult to clean! Now, to prepare ourselves for the next week of Leap 7.

Wish us luck!

So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 45
Sleep: 98 hours
Feeds: 95

Kenzie’s sniffles have decided to stay this week. Her nose is so runny, she’s accepted the aspirator to a certain extent. It’s not as bad as last week and we see she’s getting better, slowly, but surely. It’s so hard seeing her like this and I feel terrible because I’m 100% sure she got it from me.

For some reason, she has developed a rash with small bumps on her cheeks, back and arms. It doesn’t look like eczema and we think it may be keratosis pilaris. We have been using a combination of Moogoo and Milk & Co to help combat the flare ups but it doesn’t seem to be working. Hopefully it just takes time and consistency. We have read that it may be due to the weather change, it’s been getting quite chilly in the mornings and night.

We’ve locked in a QLD venue for Kenzie’s birthday at Bumbles Cafe! We are so excited to finally lock in our venues so we can get our invites made. I adore all things stationery and creating new keepsakes (hence why we started a stationery business) and as much as some people don’t believe in sentimental value, I hold sentimental value in so many things. Our memory boxes are so full. I love going through them and retelling the story of that day. Every time we pack to move or are doing a “clean up”, I can spend hours just reminiscing over things we have. Minimalist guides say you should throw out items that don’t make you happy, yet a piece of used wrapping paper can sometimes give me a happy memory.

Kenzie’s teeth have cut through! She has been teething for months and month and months and now her bottom tooth is finally popping through the gum. It’s the cutest thing ever!

She has started to crawl! We don’t have carpeted floors so it’s been very hard to leave Kenzie on the floor without her hurting herself. We do however, have a rug! She’s finally learning how to coordinate her arms and legs to hoist herself forward instead of face planting into the floor. It’s been such a joy to watch.

After 10 months, I’m still so scared of cutting her nails. They aren’t as soft as they were before but I keep getting scared I will get her skin. I don’t think this fear will ever go away and I’m glad she lets me cut her nails while she’s asleep.

We have been so fortunate with the amount of people wanting to babysit for us so that Ramon and I can watch Deadpool 2. Unfortunately, Kenzie is a nightmare when she detects “Stranger Danger” and as much as I want to just drop her off and have some “me” and “us” time, we can’t do that to someone. We know exactly how it feels when your ear drums are ringing and your stress levels are tested when a baby is in distress and we would never want that on an innocent baby sitter. It looks like we may have to wait for my Mum to come back from her holiday before we can go out.

Lately, we’ve been kicking ourselves that we weren’t prepared enough for having a child. I envy those who have got it “figured out” and have had a lot of help and support throughout every part of their lives. Ramon and I fought to be together, fought to continue staying together and in the process were shunned. Because of our past (and certain questionable decisions), we met Kenzie’s amazing godparents who are our family through thick and thin and it’s helped us access our lives moving forward. A “home” is supposed to be the place you go to relax, a place to escape from stress, a place that is your safe-zone. I’m saddened that we haven’t been able to provide this for Kenzie so far. Some days we feel like we needs to just escape our “home”. Ramon and I have decided this is something we’re going to work towards, it’s a goal and it’s not going to be easy but it’ll be the best for Kenzie and our own sanity.

Each and every week we try to become better parents, whether we succeed or we fail that week, Ramon and I always have a little chat to see if we’re parenting the right way and see how we can improve. It’s a learning curve and no matter how many books and articles and guides you read, it’s never enough. We’re excited and scared to see what’s to come for us next week.

Ramon spoiled me by first reading a heart-felt written paragraph. It’s so precious and beautiful as he’s not one to express his feelings very often. It was so nice to read his thoughts in his words without assuming or jumping to conclusions. He tricked me and told me it was my gift and to be completely honest, I loved it. I was so happy that Ramon opened up to me as knowing exactly how he feels is very important to me, not only for our relationship but for our future. However, he also surprised me with my dream shoes; a pair of Valentino Rockstud Ballet Flats. It has been on my wishlist ever since I tried them on over a year ago. I don’t know how I got so lucky! I braved the potential criticism and ignored all the demons in my head about my body image and finally uploaded my pregnancy progression video. First on my personal Facebook page and soon onto Youtube to share on our blog. Pregnancy is beautiful and it’s taken me 9 months since the birth of Kenzie and Mother’s Day appreciation posts to accept all the changes that has come my way since becoming a mother.

To all mothers, I am so honoured to be a mother. IT’S NOT EASY! I look back at how I treated my own mom while growing up and I really challenged her. I have a long way to go to make amends for what I had put her and my dad through as a child. I wasn’t perfect, no one is. I have so much appreciation and understanding of why they did what they did and why they said what they said growing up. It’s true, sometimes you will only understand when you put yourself into someone else’s shoes. I have learned from them and I am continuing to learn from them. They are helping me raise my beautiful little girl and their involvement has been invaluable. Sure, we don’t always see eye to eye but you can’t choose your family. We can only move forward from what has already happened and as I have mentioned in a previous post, we are trying to change our mindset so that we can be the best role models for Kenzie. Her actions will reflect ours.

I don’t say it enough…
I LOVE YOU, MOM.
THANK YOU, MOM.
I’M HERE FOR YOU, MOM.
I am a better person because of you. I am a good mom because of you.