We are officially at twenty six weeks with Mackenzie and she’s become a babbling little milk monster. This week we are focusing on walking and as much as Kenzie loves her Jolly Jumper, we still make sure we get her to walk assisted so that she knows how to distribute her weight properly on her feet and she doesn’t tip toe when she walks. We don’t know how far away it will be before she can walk but we believe practice makes perfect!
So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 45
Sleep: 92 hours
Feeds: 92
We also scheduled a couple of play dates with our friends and their babies. She had so much fun! She got a little sunburned (on a 20 degree, overcast day) but cleared up thanks to MooGoo. Sydney UV levels are no joke and we were only outdoors for an hour. The kiddies love her! They were giving her cuddles and playing with her toys. We can’t wait till she’s a bit older so she can run around with them too and play with them properly. Kenzie loves being out of the house and loves being around other kids, people and pets. Can’t wait for more play dates!
Leap 5 feels like it’s going to last forever! This week started with Kenzie bawling her eyes out every time we leave her side but on the bright side, she has been more peaceful during her night sleeps and her day sleeps are lasting up to an hour (instead of her usual 30 minute naps) so maybe it’s a sign that the leap is about to end. My parents are currently in the Philippines tending to my sick Aunty and we know Kenzie misses them dearly.
We are still doing daily flashcard exercises with Kenzie and have set up a daily routine to do it twice a day. We still don’t know if it’s helping her in her development but research says it does, and it’s hard to argue with years and years of research by scholars.
This week, for the first time, I felt like a complete failure as a mother. The worst mother ever. It’s not easy being a parent, everything is all new to you. Sometimes you don’t know what is right, what is wrong and feel like you’ll be judged on anything and everything you do. I’ll admit I’m not perfect and make mistakes and all I want is for my happy, healthy baby to know how hard we’re trying. This week has been the most challenging so far. I’m so lucky to have such a strong relationship with Ramon to help me get through raising this beautiful child of ours. Everyday, we try to be better parents to Kenzie. And everyday we make sure she is feeling loved. We’re a team, we’re a unit.
This week we spent most of the time in Brisbane. Kenzie and I tagged along to hubby’s work trip. It was bittersweet. Kenzie saw her grandparents, aunts and uncle again. The last time she saw them was over Christmas and her Baptism and wow, babies change so quickly!
Speaking of Leap 5, I must admit, it’s been the most difficult Leap we’ve ever experienced. Everyone said Leap 4 was tough but for us, it’s been Leap 5 that has really kept us on our toes. Kenzie’s personality has changed and not only is she fussy at eating, clingy, vocal and moody, she’s also physically wanting to stand at every moment she can. She has no interest in crawling, all she wants to do is stand whether it be on the bed or on your lap or on the floor or on the couch. As long as she is standing, she’ll be happy. We thought this new found obsession with standing would make for a difficult flight but she got through the 1.5 hour flight easily and didn’t need to sleep throughout the journey.
Kenzie loves fries and every time she sees one coming towards her, her eyes open so wide with excitement, she grabs hold of it, breaks it in half, squeezes it in her hands and shoves it in her mouth. We’ve given up on Rafferty’s Garden baby food sachets. She also loves eggs, chicken, mashed potato, banana, watermelon, muffins and bread. We are still too scared to give her any dairy as she is still breaking out in red blotches around her mouth for 30 minutes and will be bringing it up with the doctor at our next appointment.
The apartment we stayed in was awful! We did not have a good experience. The toilet was blocked, tv was not working, fire alarm went off at 7am and staff had a meeting at the swimming pool area! I shouldn’t complain as it was funded by hubby’s work but for the price they paid, it was robbery! The only thing I couldn’t positively comment on was the incredibly comfortable mattress! Wow! Also, Kenzie absolutely loved swimming. She was so happy, screaming with excitement, splashing the water with her hands, floating and kicking her feet. Unfortunately, it was too deep to take her past the stairs (1.5m pool). We’ll be taking her to the pool again next week in Sydney. She’s such a water baby!
This trip was so stressful and emotional as we found out my Aunty has sadly passed of stage 4 lung cancer. She helped me raise Kenzie from when she was 8 weeks old and I am so thankful Kenzie had the opportunity to meet her. We’ll definitely make sure she will never forget my Aunty. She worked miracles on Kenzie during her unsettled periods. It’s been so sad seeing her go but we’re happy she’s no longer suffering.
We’re slowly preparing for our move to Brisbane and we’re so excited to finally have all our things in one place! We’re sick of having to go into a storage room in 40 degree heat just to grab a few items. It’s been very inconvenient and I’ve been needing a more permanent space to raise Kenzie. We thought we had all our ducks in order when we were pregnant and was thrown a massive curveball when we were 5 months pregnant. Our plan went kaput and that is why I tell everyone there is no perfect time to have a baby, if you want one, have one because no matter what happens, your baby will love you so much and it just makes you try that much harder.
Next week, Kenzie will have her 6 months vaccinations and another checkup. She feels like she is much heavier than before and I hope she takes the needles like a champ again. I always feel a rush of emotions when we go to the doctors, as if we may have done something wrong or she isn’t developing on track. We’ve been trying so hard as parents and some days we think we’re winning and other days we feel like we’re the worst parents in the world.
We’ve had a bit of technical difficulties this week as our hosting was hacked which resulted in emails being spammed to our contact list over and over and over again. We have since tried our best to clean this up and added tighter security so we don’t get compromised again. Here’s to hoping next week will be a better week for all of us! security an