Growth spurt and the wonder weeks.

I am thinking esmae is on a growth spurt. We are currently on 200 ml bottles and still on going 3hrs between them.
Todays pattern will be something like this.

• 6am
• 9am
• 12/1pm
• 4pm
• 7/8pm then this will be it till about 5/6. So she is still getting 5 bottles a day but just a lot of milk.

One my friends mentioned the wonder weeks and looking at it , it makes a lot of sense. If we go by esmaes due date she would be 16 weeks today and the chart points out a fussy week.

Afternoons are the worst at the moment. I just cant seem to be able to put her down with out her screaming . Im hoping after these few weeks we will be back to normal.

Caleb was such a different baby , so calm and didn't want all the attention. This time around its hard due to expressing to as I need to fit it around when she is asleep or playing.

Esmae is doing great I cant believe the difference since she was first born.

Baby clinic wednesday so Im hoping for a good weight x faye x

Loosing supply :-(

I have cut down to pumping only 5x a day and my supply is getting low which I need to get back up. I currently have 2 freezer drawers full maybe 60 bags between 100-200ml but I am so scared of it slowly disappearing. I used to be able to do a full days worth of milk and put some in the freezer at the end of the day but now I'm using 2 bags each days without freezing any.
Exclusively pumping is hard work and I am over the moon we have reached 4 months and plan on continuing . It just takes so much time off the day and sometimes feel like giving up.
My current schedule for pumping is,

• when I wake so 8am
• 11am
• 3pm
• 7pm
• 10 pm.

I am going to alter it to,

• 3/4am
• when I wake up.
• 10/11
• 2pm
• 5pm
• 10pm

Im hoping this will help. I know we are coming up to weaning soon I just want to make sure I have enough for when I go back to work in january. I dont mind using frozen for home but when my parent have esmae on the saturday I want to give them fresh as it lasts longer out. 

So my plan is to squeeze one more pumping session in. Even if I can just get closer to 30 oz I will be happy.

Update.
I made it to end boxing day and slowly started decreasing my sessions. I was so happy I made it to 7 months. I would definitely do it again as it was such an achievement :-)

Crotchet head band

So after many attempts at crocheting I think I'm getting somewhere . I struggle once I start a new chain and loose the plot . Just need to learn how to do flowers now and think I will be able to make esmae quite a range of headbands :-). Here's esmae modelling my first success and a photo of the end product .

Im enjoying crocheting at the moment and have just finished another band for my friend. Once I have got my new needle and sewn on the flower I will update with the finished product x

Weight watchers

I joined weight watchers 2yrs ago and managed to loose about just over a stone so I plan on starting it again.
I tried dieting a few months ago but didn't stick to and managed to get back to over my pre pregnancy weight so now I think I am 12st 7 so really need to shift 2 st if I can. 
I am still expressing so need to find out home many points I can have a day and successfully loose the weight. Im going to do it at home and not go to classes as I would rather use the £5 towards fruit and free foods, I just need to stick to it.
So these are my goals.

• trying and eat free foods when im feeling hungry so I dont use my points up quickly.
• Plan a day ahead so i have something to follow.
• Use small point value foods for breakfast and dinner so If i have a big meal at tea it wont go over my points.
• Do zumba at least twice a week to tone down.
• loose 1-2lb a week.
• Weigh in will be mondays, need to get some new scales. Payday friday so thats on my list a long with free foods for the cupboards.

I am going to use my sewing/crocheting to sway me away from eating crappy foods.

Wish me luck, lets hope by Christmas I will have lost 1st and looking slimmer . Once I feel a bit better with my shape I will start some before and after pics.

Off to find how many points I can have. Will try and post regular about it and do a monday post on how well I am doing. x faye x

My daily points is 35 lets hope I can use them all x

Selling my crafts.

I have done it before to friends and family and now I want to do it again but this time stick at it. I work part time any way but would love to be able to sell my creations. I love my bibs and there what I'm best at the moment. Im trying to crotchet head bands but need a lot more practice if they go on my list.
So what shall I put on my list that is easy to so and wont take too much night time when steve has gone to work.
This is what i think so far,

• Dribble bibs
• loose cotton trousers.
• baby legs, these are pretty simple and nice for summer months or lazy days in.
• head bands once perfected.
• travel changing mats.
• baby quilt style blankets.

I really do get a sense of achievement once I have completed something just wish I had a bit more confidence with the finished product.

Im going to make some dribble bibs for starters and get a stock pile up so I can just pop them in the post when someone wants them.

In the future I would love a shop for my creations, maybe once we have a house and money is settled I might look into it.

Thomas Land

We have been saying we would go for ages and we finally did .
We also too Steves mom so we could pop on the rides. I had been checking the weather all week and booked the tickets saturday so hoping we had no rain.
It took about 1hr to get there after 1 bus, 2 trains and 1 taxi.
As soon as we got there , steve took his mom on the buffalo which was quite funny. G force was next and poor steve looked yellow this was the last big ride for him. Steve took his mom on storm force as i didnt fancy getting wet. By this time caleb was getting fed up so we went and grabbed lunch the headed to thomas land.
Caleb loved it. we went on,

• Harold's Helicopter Tours
• Rocking Bulstrode
• Sodor Classic Cars- we ended up on this ride 5 times because he just wanted to keep on it.
• spencers Outdoor Play Area
• Lady's Carousel 

Caleb was shattered on the train back but had a fab day.

Heres some photos.

 

 

 

 

 
 

Poor caleb :-(

Ever since caleb was little he has always had problems with his ears and we have been backwards and forwards with them. We ended up in hospital last month because of an ear infection and had 10 days of antibiotics . Well now we have another weeks worth :-(
I really feel for him as barring his tantrums I do think there is something up with his ears. The dr who seen him wants us back in 4 weeks to check the fluid. I think even if it has still gone down I might ask to be referred as I just want him to get the all clear.
I hate going to the drs and always feel i am the silly mom always there but they say moms know best well lets hope so. I just cant believe in a matter of a month caleb has another ear infection.
From what I saw the dr wrote something about glue ear, the dr did mention something about hearing test. I really hope we will have a better year next year and wont have as many hospital/dr appointments. I am starting to feel bad I wasn't able to express for caleb but I cant change the past and can only do the best I can for him just hope expressing for esmae will help her against bugs and other stuff to.
Caleb may wind me up sometimes but I hate to see him holding his ears or telling me everything is too loud. Lets hope the next appointment with the dr we will get some answers xx

I love my monster :-)

Reusable breast-pad tutorial

I wanted to show you how simple these are to make.
I wanted to make these so I didnt have to keep buying disposable ones and can just pop them in the wash.
You will need ,

• Fleece fabric
• An absorbant fabric for layers.Flannelette is good. I used an old cot bed sheet and they are soft on your skin.
• a circle template. I used a spare disposable breast pad which was   5" in diameter.

Instructions-

• Cut out your fabric circles. You will need 2x fleece and 8x fabric of choice for main layers.

•  Use 4 of your flannelette fabric and place onto your fleece layer. Sew around the circle, this will place all the layers together.

•  once this is done you can cut around the sewn pads to tidy them up. Im not too good with the zig zag stitch but to neaten the outside of pads you go around the edge of pads to stop fabric fraying and make it look better.

This a pair just sewn once without the zig zag edging. These are great and so cheap to make. I tend to have 2 pairs for the day and have had no leaks so far.

new fabric.

I have just bought some new fabric and just waiting for it to come. Some come today and I am delighted with it. These will be used for bandana bibs. They are so easy to make.
I will put up a tutorial on how I do it when I cut out the next lot.
I also bought some curtains that were in the sale and planning on using it for Caleb's bed quilt cover. I don't tend to buy patterns i tend to look at something and put it together as I go along.
Will cut out my bibs later :-)

A busy day .

Today was esmaes hip scan and 2nd lot of jabs.
The hip scan was fine and we dont need to return so thats good news.No more panicking. On the afternoon was jabs and I was hoping for Caleb to fall asleep but had no luck so whilst waiting he had a tantrum and was keeping me busy. 
Esmae now weighs 12lb 12 oz and gaining nicely. I think she is following her own line. I dont really like getting her weighed as I was always feel if she hasn't put on enough the health visitors seem to have one thousand and one questions to why she is putting on the right amount of weight. As long as she is eating, sleeping and smiling I'm happy with that. It really annoys me sometimes as you are made to feel so bad at baby clinic. Jabs went as well as they could with a few tears but its to be expected.
On the way home I felt my sugars dropping so stopped my pump. lucky really as by the time I was home and fed esmae it could of been a lot worse. Im trying my damn hardest at the moment with my sugars but the hypos are coming so often.
Im still expressing and its very time consuming and there has been many times I could stop but I keep going and really think I will only pump 3 times a day after 6 months. I am proud I can still feed esmae but the hypos really take it out of me.
Really need to get some pretty pink fabric like gingham and stripes. I have 2 bibs cut out, felt name ready to be sewn on fabric and need to start on it soon as the party is on the 23rd, Im going to start doing step by step for my makings so I can add to my tutorial page.
Hoping soon I will get some followers. xx

Today's to do !

I'm really hoping the sewing machine works tonight. I had to turn it off last night as it was starting to frustrate me and I wanted to throw it up the wall. 
Once the kids are napping I am going to start some cutting out so I'm ahead of myself. I have just cut some squares of calebs old tops and making a quilt panel to sew onto a quilt.
I also want to cut some triangles for some bunting as its a friends daughters birthday. I really need to finish my friends baby box as it is no where near finished . I have some fabric due to will cut the fkeece bib backing so it's ready. I also have some squares so want to make a pram blanket to so best start cracking .
Faye x 

Dealing with diabetes

I had hospital appointment on thursday and it didn't go to bad. I wish Caleb hadn't of been with me as he was constantly on the go and the things I wanted to ask I never did.
Fingers crossed next appointment will be in jan/feb so caleb will be in morning nursery so it will just be me and esmae.
The dr was pleased with my progress and wanted to actually work with me to get it right. He didn't seem to happy with the amount of hypos and that is one of the main things that needs sorting. The dr gave me some things to do before next appointment they are,

• check blood at 3am every 3rd day to see if blood sugar is dropping in the night.
• told me I have to have toast before bed, I hate this but really must as steve works nights.
• Find out what 60g of carbs is for rice,bread, pasta and potato so I can stick to it for meal times.

Throughout my pregnancy I always had my eyes watched closely and in july I was discharged. When I told the dr and he looked at my eye photos he didn't look to pleased and is going to chase the eye infirmary up as he isn't pleased with their decision . So lets wait for the next eye appointment.

The one thing that intrigued me with the dr was he mentioned about coeliac disease with hypos. I previously was a coeliac when i was little. I mentioned this and he is getting me re-screened for it again. I don't think it will come back as a yes I just think with my constant hypos its something i have to deal with.

So after 15yrs of having diabetes I still havent got it right and still want it to go away.

Viewing a Venue.

We are off to a venue today for the meal venue. Its at our home town football grounds. Im dreading cost its going to be so much. I hope it isn't too much. I dont want to go into marriage with a big debt.
Im hoping for a family meal after the wedding but be are going to ask about the cost of the wedding to and maybe a disco with buffet after if it works out in any cheaper.
I think i have found my wedding dress just need to loose some weight now so i don't look as frumpy.

Just need to sort everything else out :-)