She really is a toddler now

Hello again everyone...

Hello again! Sorry it has been a while. I hope you all had a glorious August, I know I did! I turned 22- yes I played 22 by Taylor Swift, many, many times- and it was lovely. I celebrated with family and friends, it was a great day. As well as my own, there were several other birthdays in my family celebrated this month (my Mum, Reece, my niece, my sister) which is why I have not had time to write but I am back now. 

My 22nd Birthday

Another reason why I have not been active on the blog is that I have been heavily focusing on other aspects of working from home (blogging is just part of it) but now it is time to get back into talking about me and my life. My personal blog is great because I am my own boss and I decide what I write which you guys seem to really enjoy and so what better way to get back into it for September than writing a post about my little girl, Ella-Grace. It's been a while since I have wrote a full blog post on Ella-Grace and wow she has changed. 

Goodbye baby, Hello Toddler...

Recently I have come to realise that my little baby, Ella-Grace, is no longer a baby... she is a full blown toddler! I know this has been a fact for a while now but it feels like this past week or two she has just grown up so much and as I know many of you reading this are fellow Mothers I thought I would share with you some things we have been going through when it comes to the toddler transition. 

I haven't managed to do an update on Ella-Grace properly since she was 6 MONTHS OLD (I am so sorry future Ella-Grace if you are reading this but keep in mind I was most likely busy with you haha) and so this will be a good chance to update everyone on what has changed and what new things are happening with my perfect little girl. Happy Reading! 

What's new...

One nap a day and big girl bed...

Since we moved to our new home in June nap time started changing, I am unsure whether it was the change of environment, change of bed, growing up or just all of that combined but her nap times were getting more difficult. She would refuse to nap until she just passed out or we were out for a walk and she was in the pram. Which was very unlike her because usually she would just go down in her cot, one nap in the morning and one nap later in the afternoon but her internal sleep clock was clearly changing and she was telling us that we needed to change with it. So we started giving her one nap a day which was fine but the timing was what we had to figure out. If she had her nap too early then she would fall asleep again by supper time and wake up when it was bed time. If we did not try to put her down for her nap early enough she would be overtired and therefore refuse to nap, finding the balance was hard. But after a few times falling asleep in her lunch or staying up late because she napped too late we managed to figure out the exact time she needs a nap; around 1/2pm. Sounds obvious because that is in the middle of the day but sometimes she just did not seem tired but then she would quickly get over tired so I guess the trick is to know they are sleepy before they do haha I don't know this just seems to work for us. Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while or knows me personally would know that I am obsessed with routine and so I am happy we have now got a set nap time for her again, figuring it out was tricky but we got there in the end. Don't get me wrong there are stil some days where she wants to nap earlier or won't go down till later but for the most part she naps at the same time every day, 1 - 2 pm.  

No more dummy...

Come to think of it, another reason nap time may of been tricky since we moved would be because we took away her dummy. Many parents give their children dummies when they are very young. It is proven to reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and can really help us soothe our babies. Ella-Grace has had her dummy since she was 5 weeks old and the thought of taking it away from her scared me because I thought it was going to be very heartbreaking and difficult but she surprised me. I was determined to have her dummy gone completely by 2 years old because I really did not like the thought of her talking with a dummy in her mouth and I was scared it would perhaps delay her speech- this is just how I feel about my child and not an opinion on the age I think dummies should be gone for every child, all children are different and it is a difficult thing to do so parents reading this just do what feels right for you and your child this is just my opinion for me and my child- so yeah I wanted it away by 2 years old. With this in mind, Reece and I thought we would try and cut down on her dummy use by taking it away at nap time first but were yet to implement this as we were scared of the struggle. Then one day I forgot the dummy when we were going out and so spent the whole day on edge without the dummy... and she was perfectly fine? Napped with no problem in her pram and so when we returned home I thought that we would try tonight with no dummy. Prepared to be up all night with her but again she surprised us. She slept the whole night the first night!!! Now I am not saying she did not have a bit of a cry in her pram before she went to sleep or that she settled instantly at bed time but I am saying that it was not traumatic like I thought the experience would be. Instead off her dummy we stroked her head, sang to her, gave her a teddy to cuddle, read an extra story, we did these things when she had her dummy but we basically changed up the bed time routine, spending a bit of extra time with her in her bedroom so she would have time to get sleepy on her own without the dummy and it worked! We are now 4 weeks no dummy and she has never asked for it once nor wanted another babies dummy. Seems like we were more reliant on it than she was in the end. Very proud of her. 

  Showing signs of potty training...

Now this is still a working progress and if I am honest we have been slacking a bit this month with it but she is still only in the very early stages of potty training but yeah this was something that we have experienced a few weeks ago. So one day I came home with Ella-Grace and she was pulling at her nappy and trying to take it off, running to the bathroom and wanting to sit on the toilet. But the problem was that she did not want me to hold her on it. Knowing that she had also been trying to tell me that her nappy needed to be changed sometimes by taking me to the changing table and also her nappies being dry a lot of the time after naps, I thought why not let her try going on the toilet. So we bought her a little toilet seat insert, some pull ups and some 'big girl pants', and decided to give it a go. That night she peed and pooped on the toilet for the first time ever! We were so proud and shocked as we never thought that she would be able to do it first time. 
The next day we decided to try just pants all day to see how aware she was of her need for the toilet and although she did manage to go on the toilet a few times, there were still plenty accidents and it was obvious that at 17 months old she was not quite ready to let us know when she needed the toilet.. a poop maybe but definitely not when she needed a pee.. she just did not have that bladder control yet. So from then we eased up on the potty training. Putting pull ups on instead of pants and encouraging her to go to the toilet but not forcing her of course and she does do it once a day probably but we are in no rush to have her potty trained, just testing the waters. At least we know she is comfortable trying and she will not have a fear of the toilet. Taking her to the toilet when I go has proven to be a big help as when Mummy goes, she wants to go next haha. Little tip there maybe for anyone who wants to try it. 

Teeth brushing and another dentist appointment...

I have a fear of the dentist and my teeth are far from perfect, healthy but not the healthiest. And so I am a bit obsessed with Ella-Grace's teeth. I want to be very healthy and for her not to have to have anything done at the dentist, at least nothing severe. I also do not want her to fear the dentist so I take her regularly. Her first appointment funnily enough was at 6 months old and she did really well. She had another appointment at 1 year old. This time Daddy took her as I had to go down to Glasgow for my passport interview and once again she did really well. Not saying she liked it but according to Reece she moaned a bit but was fine, her teeth are perfectly healthy and she only has one or two left to come through before she has her full set of baby teeth! Yay!
She has always been good at letting us brush her teeth apart from when her mouth is sore from teething, luckily her teething hasn't been too bad. I am quite strict on what she drinks, only allowing water through the day and unsweetened soy milk at meal times and also try to avoid sugar where I can. Of course I will give her a treat now and again but for the most part I try to stick to low or no sugar unless in fruit. Everything dental wise seems to be going well. 

First Haircut...

So, this one may make me cry which sounds dramatic but let me get into it and you will understand. So Ella-Grace's hair had finally gotten to the length where I could tie it up, braid it a little, put big bow clips in it and I loved it! Not only because it looked adorable but because it was a special bonding time for us each morning, she would sit so nicely while I did her hair. However, her fringe was getting in her eyes and so I decided to make an appointment for her to get her first hair cut. I booked what I was told was a great place to go and paid a little extra for her to get a certificate for her first haircut. Long story short, it did not go well. The hairdresser did not listen when I said I just wanted her to have a trim and cut off pretty much all of her hair. No more ponytails, no more braids, not even the littlest clip would fit in. On top of that she grazed her ear with a trimmer (thank goodness Ella-Grace didn't notice) and it was not only a short hair cut but a bad haircut which my friend/hairdresser fixed that same day when I phoned her crying. I got a full re-fund from the place and they were very apologetic so I am not going to name the place but yeah I was very upset, not even about just the haircut but because they tainted her first haircut so I will look back on it and feel anxious. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things and now two weeks have past her hair is growing in fast and thick but it was not a nice experience and I do wish less had been cut off. Only my friend/hairdresser will be touching her hair from now on.

Understanding words and saying words...

This by far has to be what I have noticed most and love teaching her the most. How to say words and helping her understand what they mean. I think she understands a lot more words than she can say but according to every child development book I have read that's pretty normal. She has been able to day 'Mummy' and 'Daddy' and other variations of those for a while but recently a whole plethora of words and phrases have come into her vocabulary. 'Breakfast', 'trees', 'cat', 'doggie', 'what's that?', 'outside', 'shoes', 'Hi', 'Ta' or 'Ta,Ta', 'cheese' (cheese she also uses to say please haha) and more! Granted some of these maybe only those around her all the time can understand as her speech is still developing but I think for an 18 month old this is pretty good. As for understanding she knows what every room in the house is called so if we asked her to go there she would know for example if we said 'bath time' she would know to go to the bathroom. She understands some questions we ask such as 'Can you get your shoes' or 'Can you get a book', those she will be able to do as she understands the key words to those questions. She now also makes animal noises (cat, dog, monkey and tiger/anything that roars haha) and can make the noises of a car when she plays with her toy cars. What we would really like to start teaching her is counting because she can kind of count to three so I think if we started counting with her more often she would get that too. Very proud of how well she is communicating and learning. 

Baby sign...

Continuing on the communication topic, from young age we taught Ella-Grace some baby sign so that she would be able to communicate with us even before she could speak. This worked and she still uses some of the signs now, particularly eat, more and all done- all the ones that are food related. I had a few people say to me that they were worried that teaching their child baby sign would stop them from communicating and talking, this in my experience is not the case as Ella-Grace chats away and I think it has actually helped her to say the words as she has had to learn what the signs meant first and so putting the word to the sign/meaning was quite easy for her. Often she will sign food at the same time as saying 'Breakfast', it is so cute and clever. I think this has definitely helped her communicate with us and so I would recommend teaching your child at least the basic ones. 

Tantrums...

I actually despise the word 'tantrum' because it sounds so negative, wrong and bad, at least that is how it registers in my head. I try to use words like moments, breakdowns, frustration, not to say they are more positive but they do help me remember why, if Ella-Grace does have a 'tantrum', she is acting that way. If I say to myself she is having a moment or that she is frustrated then it reminds me that she is just a child, she does not understand as well as an adult and can also not communicate what she wants/needs sometimes so it is understandable when she acts out. This helps me enter the situation calmly even if it driving me crazy. If I say to myself 'she is having a tantrum' it makes me angry and I should not be angry because she is just showing emotion. Easier said than done I know but when you do manage to remember that it is not your toddler trying to be bad then it really does help you calm yourself and your toddler. 
Ella-Grace does not have many of these breakdowns at the moment but if she does you can bet 100% it will be 1. when we are travelling unless she falls asleep and 2. While I am cooking supper- this is the big one that even I am trying to deal with. 

Travelling is easier to deal with as I can try to play with her, sing songs, give her a snack or if she has not had screen time that day (I only allow her to have 2 hours a day max) then she can have some screen time, maybe watch an episode of Peppa Pig or something during our journey. Most likely however, especially if it is a long journey, she will fall asleep eventually so that is no problem. Having another child in the back with her really distracts her too and she is usually trying to chat away to them. 

When I am cooking supper I can never tell if she gets agitated because I am not giving her attention (I always cook supper for Reece coming in from work so he is not here at this point to play with her), if its because she knows I am cooking food and at this point she is getting hungry or a combination of the two. She often moans and pulls at my legs or tries to literally run into me, sometimes I pick her up or try to get her involved in cooking supper but sometimes its a bit too risky and she is a bit young to be near boiling hot pans or chopping vegetables. So at this point I may allow some TV time if she has not used up her time for the day or I will try and get something out for her to play with and sometimes this works but often it doesn't and she gets quite upset. The scary thing is now she is getting tall enough to reach the cooker and because of this we are getting a gate between the living room and our kitchen but I don't think that is going to go down well because she gets upset if I even put her in the living room. If she has a later nap then this is avoided as I cook while she naps or if Reece is off work then there is no problem because he will play with her and oh my goodness slow cooker meals that I can prepare earlier in the day- a life saver but apart from those few loop holes we are still working on this one. If any of you have a similar situation let me know how you deal with it in the comments. 

Mobility...

Since Ella-Grace turned 13 months old- in fact it was at her first day of toddler group- she has been walking. Now at almost 18 months old she is not only steadily walking but running, climbing and more. She really is a little monkey. 

She can climb on and off beds, sofas, window sills. Climb up some ladders and go down slides. Her development in this aspect is just progressing every day and I am proud of her spacial awareness and balance at this age. This is obviously a big change from 6 months old where she was not even crawling yet (crawling started at 8 months and then walking at 13 months). 

Update the basics...

Food...

Not too long ago I wrote a blog post called 'Lets Talk Veganism' and in that I did speak about our meal plans and plant-based diet so for more information on this go check that out. As a general update though, Ella-Grace is a fantastic eater. She will eat pretty much everything we put in front of her, I can't think of one thing she has denied. Her favourite foods are baked beans, pasta, rice, broccoli or carrots and she loves breakfast- toast, cereal, cooked breakfast, you name it she loves it! (as long as its vegan of course haha). I am very proud of not only how well she is eating but of myself and Reece for sticking to what we wanted for Ella-Grace (being vegan) and correcting anyone who has questioned us. We had a visit form our health visitor just last week and she even said she was a very healthy little girl and although being vegan is not her life style she can see through us as a family that it is a healthy choice and you can thrive on a plant-based diet. Again, not going to get into the vegan side of things too much because it is all in the previous post that I mentioned. 

From 6 months till now the only things that have changed food wise are the quantities, she has always been a good eater and funnily enough her favourite foods have stayed consistent. She also now uses cutlery which is the cutest thing ever! We give her a fork and a spoon at meal times (unless its finger foods like toast or if she is having cereal, soup etc something that only requires a spoon) and for the most part she will use them.

Sleeping...

I have already spoke about this really but just to re-cap. Ella-Grace now has 1 nap a day (around 1/2pm usually) and sleeps all through the night (8.30pm-6am). Comparing to when she was 6 months old she pretty much still has the same sleeping pattern at night going by what I can remember and what I wrote in her 6 month update. She no longer has music playing to get her to sleep instead we read her a story or two and then we do have to stay with her until she falls asleep otherwise she will just hop out of her bed and run through even if she is tired. This usually only takes 10/15 minutes and she's asleep, she does self soothe to a certain extent, she just likes our presence doesn't always need us cuddling her but I love the extra cuddles when she wants us and she only wants us there to help her drift off so I really don't mind, they are only little for a little while, soon enough she will be kicking me out her bedroom. So yeah sleep is going well and the transition to her toddler/single bed has gone really smoothly. 

Play and activities...

Ella-Grace's First Gymnastics Class

Play and activities/classes have changed a lot since Ella-Grace was 6 months. At 6 months a lot of the groups I was taking her to and activities we did were very sensory based and more about sociability. Now although I do take her to some of the same groups, I am trying to get her into more classes where she can start learning skills, having physical activity and of course socialising. 

At the moment I take Ella-Grace to her toddler group on a Tuesday morning followed by gymnastics in the afternoon. Wednesday we go to a nursery and rhyme time at a Waterstones book store in town. I am still looking into swimming and she starts Football next month. I have also looked into classes such as dance and nature classes but they won't start till she is 2 years old. We are also always at the park, she is a very active little girl and loves to run around. Soft plays are also a hit and I try to take her there as often as I can. As for activities at home I love to read to her as it is something I enjoy as a hobby (when I can find time) and I think you can get so much out of reading. She now sits and listens to longer story books which is something I have been looking forward to for so long. I love reading her fairy-tales and think stories with good morals to them are very important. I can't wait for the day I can read her books like 'Harry Potter' or 'Narnia', or even better when she can read them to me. We play with her toys, play in the garden, dance around to music, sing songs, sometimes do some messy play and funnily enough she really enjoys helping me around the house (wonder how long that will last haha). TV is something I do allow as I have said but I definitely limit, 2 hours absolute maximum a day and this is usually when I have to cook or clean or do something work related on my lap top. Now I am not saying every single day I manage to teach her something new or I do all of what I have said, that would be amazing if I could but that is not always possible. Just like any other parent I have lazy days. These are a list of things I try to do as often as possible at home, I am just a Mother out here trying her best like we all are. 

Bonding...

In Ella-Grace's 6 month update I wrote about bonding and how well we had bonded with her and that has not changed. Our bond as parents with our daughter is unbreakable. 

I know for me as a work at home mum, so I am with her 100% of the day, we are two peas in a pod and she is my best friend. I have mentioned this before but I will say it again, since becoming a Mum I have become a more confident person and my anxiety has gotten better, I thank Ella-Grace for that and because of this appreciation I have for her I think that has made our already strong bond even stronger. Honestly I cannot put into words how much I love her. 

As for Reece I got him to tell me how he is feeling with the bonding as at the start it was quite difficult for him because he never got leave from work and Ella-Grace was very clingy with me but now there bond has grown. In Reece's words..
' Our bond is amazing, it is an unbelievably strong bond. Even though I work all day I always make sure that the evening is our time, this gives Laura-Jane time to relax or work and I get to have Daddy-daughter time with Ella-Grace. Bath and bed time is our thing. I love playing with her and making her laugh too.'

So, yeah bonding isn't even a thing anymore. We have bonded and that bond will only grow. 

Allergies and Illnesses... 

As far as allergies go, Ella-Grace is allergic to dairy which is not an issue because we are vegan and have no desire or need for that to be a part of her diet. We know she still has the allergy and has not grown out of it as some people say because not so long ago she managed to grab a bit of her friends snack (a bit of dairy cheese) and only had a bite before I took it off of her, following that she had sickness and diarrhea. As many doctors have said that I have spoke to it is not an intolerance to lactose as we first thought she has an allergy to any dairy. Like I said however, this is not an issue. 

Ella-Grace also has hay-fever which was a struggle in the summer months- during our wedding in fact her hay-fever was really bad as that day was the highest pollen count of the year- but with the help of some Piriton we managed to deal with that fine. 

Since her last update Ella-Grace has also been given an inhaler. It has not been confirmed that she is asthmatic but she did have what seemed to be an asthma attack at the hospital when we had to take her in for a chest infection around when she was 13 months old. I told the doctor I was concerned with her breathing and that she sounded quite wheezy, when he started to check her over she got quite upset and at that moment she started to have trouble breathing (lucky we were in the hospital) they immediately got her an inhaler and gave us a prescription. It was a very scary time and she did not take well to the inhaler which was heart-breaking but now a few months on she is used to using it and we applaud her when she lets us give it to her so almost looks forward to when we give it to her because she loves the praise. We only give it to her if she is coughing a lot- mainly at night- or if she is ill because her breathing is often affected. Only time will tell if she has asthma so I am happy we are prepared with an inhaler as because Reece has asthma it is likely she will too. 

One other thing that is not an illness or an allergy but something we have very recently come to realise is that Ella-Grace gets travel sick. She had been sick while on transport before but we always put it down to something she ate or maybe her coming down with an illness but the past few times we have traveled, particularly in a car, she has been sick. We are just starting to try and tackle this, unsure if it is maybe the backwards facing in the car seat (which I know is the safest option) or just the motion of being in the car for long periods of time but hopefully we will be able to make travelling for her more comfortable and combat the sickness. Any tips please comment below. 

Let me know...

Now all this may seem kind of random and if you are reading this, wanting me to go more in depth about my experience or my advice on any of these parenting subjects PLEASE give me a message or comment below and I will be sure to write that for you. I am happy to write a post on how to limit dummy use or how to move your toddler to a big bed, I can go so much more in depth about all these parenting subjects, I just want to know what you want to read so please do let me know. 

Goodbye for now...

That's it for now but I promise it will not be another month until I post again. I have plans already underway for the next few blog posts. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and older Ella-Grace if you are reading this I love you, sorry it took so long for me to put together another update, you have kept me rather busy! 

Please remember to follow my social media (links on homepage) for cute toddler pics, vegan food and positive vibes. Thanks again for reading. 

Stay Happy Everyone :)!

Ella-Grace's 6 Month Update!

Sorry its late...

Hi there readers! I hope everyone is doing well and welcome back to LauraJane Life! Today I will be writing my baby girl, Ella-Grace's 6 month update! She actually turned 6 months last week and I had said I was going to have the update up then but life happens, I was very busy and to be honest it is hard to find time to write now with Ella-Grace being awake a lot now (will tell more about this below) and when it gets to the evening I am shattered, I can barely get in time with Reece never mind writing. But not to worry her 6 month update is finally here and I am hoping to get back on track, hopefully scheduling time so I can write a post once a week. We will see how that goes haha. Happy Reading!

Ella-Grace's bit...

"Hi everyone! It's Ella-Grace again. The past 3 months since my Mummy wrote my last update have been so much fun! I have learnt so much and tried new things like food.. proper food not just my milk! Mummy has helped me get into a good routine and we have lots of fun everyday, at home and at our groups where I get to see all my friends and sing lots of songs! Daddy still works lots but he is always home to give me a bath and do my bed time routine, his days off are the best ever! Daddy is so funny! I love having Mummy and Daddy home with me, they are great and the three of us have so much fun! I love being tickled, swimming, bath time, music, playing with my toys, watching Moana, Paw patrol or Thomas the Tank Engine, bouncing in my bouncer, rolling around and eating yummy food! I don't like afternoon naps (they are boring) and I don't like banana, it is yuck! I will let my Mummy tell you the rest!"

How has it been 6 months?!...

Our baby girl, our precious Ella-Grace is 6 months old! That's half way to 1 YEAR old! I just can't believe it. Becoming a mum is the best thing to ever happen to me and I am so proud to be the Mama to such a wonderful little girl. She has made mine and Reece's life so bright and happy, there isn't a day when she doesn't make us laugh and we are constantly mesmerized by her massive eyes! Although I am scared for the future -the world isn't always a kind place and I think for every parent that is a scary thing when bringing up children- I like to think if I do the best by my little darling, teach her right and always show her how loved and important she is, she will always see the good through the bad. As her first Halloween, first Christmas and first birthday are now in the near future I am looking forward to cherishing every moment. The past 6 months have been magical (and of course difficult but she is so worth it).

Feeding...

I am not going to go into too much detail for this one as my last blog post was all about weaning and her feeding routine so that pretty much covers it (find it on my homepage if you would like the full weaning story so far) but I am going to write a small summary and things we have tried since I wrote that post. Well we decided to start slowly weaning at 4 months (which I know isn't for everyone but it has worked wonders for our little girl so please respect our decision) and now being 6 months she has 3 small meals a day as well as her lacto-free formula. We have decided not to give Ella-Grace meat as we do not eat it and we buy plant-based milk which she will eventually be given instead of formula, which we would of been doing anyway even if we weren't a plant-based milk family as she is lactose-intolerant. Again not for everyone but we are happy with our decision and she is thriving on it. 

I make all her food at home apart from her fruit pots (Organix) and she is also enjoying her wafers (Kiddilycious). This week Ella-Grace has tried a few new things that I never got to mention in the weaning blog post, this is including strawberries, tomato, toast, peanut butter, banana (which she hated) and hummus (her favourite, which is great as it is a great form of protein!). I am so happy with the way her weaning is going she is always willing to try new things and most of the time will eat it- apart from banana, like her Daddy she does not like it haha. For her full meal plan please see my last blog post, it has changed a bit since adding hummus and toast to some of her meals but it will give you the main idea.
-Just to add she literally just tried Mushroom Soup and loved it!- 

Sleeping...

Oh how lucky we are! Ella-Grace sleeps all night! From 8pm to 6 or 7am. I am so sorry if you are a mum or dad reading this dealing with a baby who cries all night (I take my hat off to you) but I am being honest, she sleeps all night. She has been doing this for a while now, ever since we moved her into her own room at 5 months old. We wanted to wait till she was 6 months but she has grown out of her small cot in our bedroom and it was like she was telling us she wanted to be in her big crib as she started to wake up more often in our bedroom. So we tried her one night when she turned 5 months and since then she has been out the whole night (with a little help from her favourite Moana, we always play the songs to help her sleep). 

Napping during the day however is a different story. She was in a great routine with her feeding and her naps and she still is but when it gets to about 3pm, after her second solid food meal of the day. She refuses to nap! It has only been like this for a few days so I am hoping she will go back to her normal sleeping routine soon but yeah she has been refusing to nap and it will take me at least 2 hours to get her down, usually after moving her from her bed to the sofa to mine and Reece's bed and blaring Moana as loud as I can. If we are out and she is in the pram she could probably nap but this is usaully the time of day we are back home after our groups in the morning so I just have to keep going until she falls asleep- most likely in my arms. This can be hard but at least she sleeps at night that's the main thing for me and I am hoping this afternoon moodiness will blow over. 

Teething...

She has no teeth yet but oh yes teething has definitely started! We have a few things we use to help her teething (let me know if you would like a blog post on this) and they seem to work quite well but we are just waiting for the teeth to actually come through as I can see when I look at her gums that there are definitely a few teeth just waiting to pop out. Not much to say about that at the moment. 

Development...

3 months might not seem like a lot of time Adult wise but oh my goodness a lot can happen developmentally for a baby in three months! Ella-Grace can now roll over, sit up unaided, pass toys from one hand to another, bounce very actively in her bouncer, feed herself to a certain extent and the best thing of all... she says Mama! At first I think she just said it as a noise but then I noticed she started to say it when I put her down or when we were doing something she didn't want to do- getting dressed for example- so I do think she knows that I respond to Mama but not necessarily that its me. Either way it is very cute and Reece is very jealous she hasn't said 'Dada' yet. 

We are still working on the crawling, she doesn't seem to have much interest in it. Everytime I put her on her belly she just rolls over. We will keep trying though. She does seem a lot more interesting in walking however, she always wants to stand up and seems to try and walk when I am holding her up. So that one is a wait and see. She is doing so well for 6 months anyways and the health visitor and doctor is happy with how she is doing. We also took Ella-Grace swimming for the first time when we went down to Newcastle which is her new favourite thing to do! Our little water baby!

Bonding...

Amazing! Not much more to be said, the bond I have with Ella-Grace is amazing! She literally is my best friend, there is no one I would rather spend my time with and she literally makes me less anxious even if parenting is one thing I get anxious her smile makes it better. The way she says Mama and kisses me in the morning, I can really see now how much she loves me. It is just the most magical feeling when your baby shows affection to you. 

Reece's bond is just as strong. As I said in the last update it is a different bond as she gets to miss him when he goes to work and you can really see how happy she is when he walks in the door. When he is home it is like she is aware that he could go to work any minute so she really wants her Daddy and loves to play with him. Both our bonds with our daughter are great which I think shows what a great bond me and Reece have as well, the three of us are a really good unit. Love my little family.

Allergies and Illnesses...

So if you have read previous blog posts you will know Ella-Grace is lactose-intolerant and struggles with eczema. Both of which are managed and she is doing fine. The past week we have also realised, like her dad, she has an allergy to dogs. The doctor said it can't be confirmed as they would not put a baby through a blood test for that reason but judging by her reaction around my mums dogs it is likely she has an allergy to that type of dog at least. Time will tell whether it is an allergy to all animal hair or just dogs. Ella-Grace also suffers with hay-fever, which again is managed. All these things could potentially mean she has asthma as well according to the doctor especially as Reece has asthma too but again only time will tell, she currently has no symptoms of being asthmatic. 

My poor baba lots of allergies unfortunately but still a very happy and content baby. 

As for illnesses, we are lucky and Ella-Grace has not been ill apart from for about two weeks now she had a cough but we took her to the doctor and they said she was healthy just had a tickly throat and to give her cough medicine. We have been giving her that and her cough has seemed to settle. 

Hopes and Fears for the next 3 months...

For the next three months I hope that Ella-Grace will learn how to move around, what ever way that may be. Crawling, shuffling, whatever I just can see she wants to move about and I would love that for her but we will just have to wait and see. I hope weaning continues to go well and our little darling stays happy, healthy and content. I guess I am hoping for a little tooth to pop through soon, will be so cute to see her with a little tooth haha. 

I don't have much fears for the next few months apart from the constant fear I am not doing this parenting thing right but as long as she is growing and staying healthy, I know I am doing a good job! 

Till next time...

Thank you so much for reading! I will try get the next blog post up soon, not sure what that will be. I would just like to add that this is my 30th blog post (I can't believe I have wrote 30 already!) and I want to thank everyone for the amazing support! See you soon everyone, don't forget to follow my social media pages for daily baby pics, inspirational messages and blog updates. To finish off here are some of my favourite pics of the pregnancy, birth and life of our amazing Ella-Grace so far....

Be kind to each other and as always....

Stay Happy Everyone :)! 

From Bottle To Baby Food: Our Weaning Story So Far

Back to the baby…

Hello lovely readers! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend, today I am going back to the baby, my baby Ella-Grace. By this I mean the past few blog post’s although related to Ella-Grace (when you’re a mum everything in your life is to do with your baby right?) they have not been focused on her or her development entirely. She turns 6 months tomorrow (gone so quick!) so I will be doing a full blog post on everything to do with my darling daughter (feeding, sleep, development ect.) but before that this blog post will be on weaning. Something I know a lot of the mum’s that read my blog’s have been waiting for me to write. So I will just get straight into it shall I? Happy reading!

Feeding so far…

I have done previous posts on Ella-Grace’s feeding (you can find all my posts on my homepage) and if you want to read them first you can but if not here is the low down. I breastfed Ella-Grace for 8 weeks and had to stop due to her not keeping my breastmilk down, losing weight and what we later found out to be a lactose intolerance. From then we got prescribed a lacto-free formula to give her. When she turned 4 months old we started slowly weaning her onto solid food. Letting her lead us to what she was ready for (not full blown baby led weaning but we let her show us what she did and didn’t want to try and how much food she could take if that makes sense?).

Ella-Grace's Meal Plan...

Before I get into how we started Ella-Grace on solid foods and what we gave her etc. I thought it would be good to write down exactly what her meal plan is at the moment (at 6 months old) for anyone who might want to know. I know a lot of my fellow mum readers like to read my experiences as they are going through the same thing so I thought writing down her meal plan might help or interest some of you, so here it is. 

7.00am- 240ml/8 ounces Aptamil Lacto-Free Formula 

8.30am- Breakfast: Weetabix (1xbiscuit mixed with 90ml/3 ounces of formula) 

                               1 x Orangix Fruitpot

11.30am- 240ml/8 ounces Aptamil Lacto-Free Formula 

2.00pm- Lunch: 2x Organic Fruitpot 

                          2x Kiddylicious Wafers

5.00pm- Supper: Homemade Mashed Veg

                           1x Organix Fruitpot 

                           1x Kiddylicious Wafer

7.00pm- 240ml/8 ounces Aptamil Lacto-Free Formula 

-We also try to give Ella-Grace water from her sippy cup with every solid meal....this is a working progress haha- 

Why 4 months old….

Now I know this can be a touchy subject. I actually didn’t know that until I seen on Facebook people getting very angry at a mother in the media over starting her baby on baby rice at 4 months old. This being exactly what we chose to do with Ella-Grace and personally I don’t see what is wrong with it, in fact I see it as a good thing. I understand everyone has their own opinion though so if you disagree or did something different with your child I respect that, every baby is different please comment below what you did I love to discuss different parenting decisions. However if you are going to comment negative things or be disrespectful (which I know the people in my little kindness community wouldn’t do) then please just exit this blog here. Cause that is not my vibe.

Anyway, back to what I was saying, why 4 months old? Well partly due to influence of those around me who I knew started their babies at 4 months and they were all perfectly happy and healthy children. Also because I felt that if she was going to be fussy with eating solids the earlier you start (within reason) the longer you have to get them used to taking solid food meaning you wouldn’t feel like they weren’t getting what they need when they are older. Lastly I knew my style of parenting if I had tried her with the baby rice in the morning and she didn’t want to take it I would know she wasn’t ready and stop. I would never force her to be weaned early. But in Ella-Grace’s case she took to solid food like a duck to water and at literally just 6 months she is doing really well.

The start- 4 months old…

A few days after Ella-Grace turned 4 months old we decided to start her with baby rice. From what I researched it is good to start slow instead of a lot at once as in start weaning one meal a day such as breakfast then the bottles/breastfeeding the rest of the day then eventually adding lunch etc. Which was my plan already so it just reinforced what I already thought. So we bought baby rice, our hope was to get a kind of porridge we could make with her formula (for example banana or some kind of fruit porridge) but with her being lactose intolerant and Reece and I preferring to use plant-based milk anyway such as rice or soy milk (let me know if you would like to hear more about this) it was difficult to find a porridge for 4 months that did not contain cows milk. So baby rice is what we went for. I know people say ‘it has no nutritional value’ but adding the formula to it she is already on... it then has nutritional value and the main thing for us was it helps her get used to solids.

So yes we tried her with baby rice. At first she was a bit curious as to what the spoon actually was so we let her hold it and kind of explore it for a minute then put some baby rice on the spoon placed it near her mouth and as I said she took to it really well. Not quite understanding it was food I guess just something new and trying to suck it off the spoon to start with but she ate a good amount of mouthfuls, we were very proud (and it was THE cutest thing I’d ever seen). I could of cried.. well okay I did cry haha. 

About two weeks after her first experience with food she was doing well having the baby rice for breakfast in the morning and bottles the rest of the day and we felt she was ready to try something else. We decided fruit would be best. We then purchased organic fruit pots- blended apple, banana and pear. And again she took to this at breakfast (along with her baby rice-very hungry baby) very well. So that was breakfast established we also tried to give her a fruit pot at lunch but she didn't take that so well so we pulled it back to the one meal. This being what I mean when I say I am trying to let her lead us, I feel we have a good bond and although she cannot tell me with words what she does and doesn't want or is and isn't ready for I feel I can communicate with her in other ways and I just know. Any other mums or dads feel this way? Like you just know your baby and feel you can communicate with them almost? I am probably sounding crazy haha but it seems to be working so far. So yeah by this point we we had breakfast down and bottles the rest of the time, then she turned 5 months old and we tried something new. 

5 months- Introducing Veg and Establishing 3 meals...

I feel that in Ella-Grace's 6 month of life (so from when she turned 5 months old) she progressed so much with everything. Will go into everything in her 6 month review soon but as in food I will go through this now. So we tried her again with fruit at lunch she still wasn't really loving it at that time of day so we pulled that back and decided maybe a meal at the start and the end of the day (before her last bottle) would make more sense to her. We started off tryng her with a brand of baby food called 'Babease' organic and meat and dairy free, perfect for our little angel and after getting used to the new taste in the first few mouthfuls she again took to that very well. We used this brand for about a week at supper time until my dad- Ella-Grace's Granddad (or as we call him Pops)- kindly bought us the same hand blender he had which works a charm for making pureed veg for Ella-Grace (link below to the blender I use). I firstly pureed carrots and butternut-squash and from there just pureed any veg I had in the flat and stored it in the freezer in small storage pots I purchased for weaning her (again all links below). That was her then having baby rice and a fruit pot for breakfast, bottles through the day and veg puree followed by a fruit pot at night. From this she advanced in her food very quickly as she now had got the hang of being spoon fed and understood that a bowl and spoon as well as a bottle meant food. So whenever we put anything on a spoon she was eager to try. Meaning not long after establishing breakfast and supper it almost came natural to her to take food at lunch time (fruit pots) then bottles in between then followed by trying wafers. Wafers are technically 6 months plus but with her being advanced in her food and on the packet saying you can offer them to younger babies AROUND 6 months we decided to try her- this being the most recent food we have tried her on which again she took to very well we think biting something has helped her teething also. All this leading to her meal plan above. And that's you all caught up! 

The Hardest Things About Weaning So Far... 

I know I have made her weaning sound all nice and dandy, no problems but of course their has been difficulties and bumps in the road. I would like to meet the baby who doesn't have them. Although we have had an easy time as in Ella-Grace hasn't been super fussy in trying the food or spitting it out ect. we have had other hard times with her weaning. 

1. Wanting only her fruit pot. 

For a while she loved her veg and don't get me wrong if Chef Mummy gets the veg combination right she can't get enough of it but recently she has gotten her head around her routine. Meaning she knows veg is followed by sweet fruit pot, so she tends to get a bit fussy with the veg putting her face to the side after a few mouthfuls knowing I will give her fruit. But I persist as I know she can and will eat it until she does eat it. Unless she got really upset then obviously it would be for a different reason but as I have said I feel like I just know when it comes to her food habits. So yeah somedays she eats her supper as normal some days she tries to out smart me and get the fruit pot first/instead, this can be a little difficult. 

2. Refusing water 

We have almost resolved this problem not as I always add either coconut water or normal water into her food and we have not replaced her sippy cup with a free-flow one instead of the one we have that she actually has to suck to get water out of but yeah this is still a bit of a challenge. Although she has taken to solid food really well giving her water to drink with her solid food has been difficult. Even when offered in a normal bottle that she drinks milk from she seems to refuse water (maybe doesn't like the taste I am not sure), not matter at what point we offer it to her- before or after the meal for example- it doesn't matter she just refuses it unfortunately. Because of her bottles and obviously all her food having some water in it she has never become dehydrated but has had a cough due to a bit of a dry throat. This as I said now improving but yeah was a frustrating problem. 

3. Biting too much wafer 

This is a recent difficulty that has cropped up. Well I don't know if it is a difficulty or if I am just over protective/scared but when feeding herself wafers she tends to bite off too much, I then while the part she bit off is still partly out of her mouth take it out and break into a smaller part before I place it back in her mouth for her. Part of me thinks I shouldn't be doing this as I don't want her to be put off feeding herself obviously and I know Reece is a lot more chilled about this than me. I panic. But I always think I would rather her take longer to feed herself than risk her choking. Maybe this is more of my problem than Ella-Grace's haha. I guess I need to find the balance. 

4.Wanting to eat too fast

This has always been a problem but one that is getting better slowly. Obviously when a baby drink a bottle or from the breast they can just keep drinking until they want to stop but when being spoon fed you need to take the spoon away put more food on it and give it back to them to have more. Ella-Grace thought when we took the spoon away from her we were in turn taking food away from her so she would get upset. Now she understands we will give her food again but she wants us to be faster. I am actually giggling imagining her face she just sits with her mouth open until the spoon comes back with more food haha. Tiny bit impatient which can make her frustrated but she does still take the food so its not a massive problem just sad seeing her get worked up. Getting better though so that's good.   

Feeling Confident...

I know everyone weans their baby differently. At different stages, with different foods ect. Of course all babies are different the same things would never work for all babies of course. Because of this I know a lot of parents can find weaning stressful and worry whether or not they are doing it right, whether or not their baby is getting enough and you know, all the endless worries. Googling 'Weaning' 1000 times. But I personally feel quite confident in the way our daughter is being weaned and what our plan is for her future diet. I encourage other parents to be confident with what they want for their babies, remember that you know your baby best and don't let other people's comments make you doubt yourself. If you want reassurance please reach out to a medical professional they will be the best people to help you. 

I spent a lot of time recently being anxious over what we were feeding Ella-Grace and whether or not she was gaining enough weight, getting the right nutrients ect. My self-doubt being increased as a lot of people disagreed with the fact we have chose to not give Ella-Grace meat and that we choose a plant-based form of milk, butter, cheese ect. Almost leading to me changing my mind (which is extreme as that would be a massive lifestyle change for me and what I had wanted for my daughter). Thankfully I spoke to those who support me and most importantly my health visitor who reassured me what I was doing and what I wanted for Ella-Grace is perfectly healthy, full of nutrients and that she is/ will continue to thrive. Gaining a KILO over a month of solid food. I am not going to go into the ins and out's of why we don't eat meat (Me not at all, Reece occasionally)/choose plan-based milk and why we want that for Ella-Grace as I just see it as a choice we have made just as eating meat is a choice however if you would like to hear about that let me know and I would be more than happy to write about it. I will say that we see this as the best option for our daughter and the health visitor more than supported us. 

So yes even with choosing a controversial (even though it shouldn't be) choice for our daughter I am feeling confident in her weaning so far. Confidence is key especially when it comes to parenting as so many things put you down.

If anyone would like to talk about weaning or anything I am more than happy to reply to your message (when I can). Remember your doing a great job!

What next?...

Well weetabix is something we have tried recently and is now what she gets for breakfast instead of baby rice, that transition was easy and I am glad as this has increased the nutritional value of her breakfast. Today as I am writing this we have tried hummus along with some veg at lunchtime (which we are now hoping for her to have every lunch along with her fruit pot). As for the future I am hoping to begin putting more in her puree's or what are more like mashed up veg now- more texture. Would like to add rice, maybe tomato, chickpeas, butter beans and more. After being told by the health visitor that she can have everything we have as long as it is blended/mashed into smaller pieces and softer textures the world is full of possibilities. I adore to cook so Ella-Grace girl you are in for some gourmet meals haha.  

Ella-Grace's Favourites...

Our little girl has taken to all her food well but some things she can't get enough of. These are the things that seem to be her favourites at the moment. 

1. All things blueberry 

This includes wafers and fruit pots. Both of those things her favourite flavour seems to be blueberry. 

2. Sweetcorn

Whenever I make a puree that includes sweetcorn she doesn't try to avoid it for her fruit pot she loves it.

3. Breakfast time

I don't know if this is her favourite food of the day but her breakfast is definitely her favourite time to eat. Either a morning person, loves weetabix or both. 

Links...

Here all all the links I promised through out the post. All the food I have tried Ella-Grace with and more. 

Babease baby food

Organix Fruit Pots

Braun Hand Blender

Clevamama Storage Pots

Till Next Time...

So that was quite a long post! I haven't done a long in depth one about Ella-Grace or what a parent has to go though in a while and I wanted to get all the detail in for you so that's why I have made it so long. Well done and thank you if you got to the end haha. 

Till next time don't forget to follow my social media for blog notifications and cute baby pics (links on homepage), check out my other blog posts if you haven't already and if you want to give my articles on baby gaga a read (latest one linked below). 

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Thank you for reading and thank you for being part of this kindness community I am trying to build. This will always be a place that loves and supports you! What is your babies weaning story? What age did you start weaning? What's their favourite food? Please comment below. I would love to know. Till next time my lovelies. 

Stay Happy Everyone :)!