Sunday 26 April 2015

First giggles

Daddy found Ella is ticklish... this is her reaction.




Hearing her little squeals makes me laugh, it also makes my heart melt. I could listen to the sound of her giggling all day!

She is such a joy, I count myself lucky for my little family everyday.


Thursday 23 April 2015

Tag post - Life lessons in a letter... Advice for my children

Photo courtesy of Renaye Mclachlan Photography 


Everyone wants what's best for their child. No one wants their children to repeat their own mistakes, so having a child is almost like a second chance - a do over so to speak. Of course they are bound to make their own mistakes and hopefully they'll learn from them, it is merely a part of life. However, if I have the slightest chance of possibly steering Ella down a different path to what I went down then I'd like to try.

I'm not saying I'm not happy with how my life turned out, absolutely not. If I hadn't gone down the path I've chosen I wouldn't have met my amazing Husband or had my beautiful little girl but there are a few things I would have like to have done differently.

Dear Ella,

Firstly, let me say how lucky I am to be your Mum - when I held you in my arms for the first time I couldn't believe how perfect you were, from the little hairs on your head to your chubby little cheeks down to your 10 perfect little toes. I instantly fell in love with you! Having you felt and still feels so surreal, to think we created you - that's a story for another day - is an amazing feeling. 

Your Dad and I, before we had you, always talked about our hopes and dreams for our children. Now that you are finally here we want to make sure that you have a chance at not only following your own hopes and dreams, but learning from the life we have already lived.

So here goes, dream big! No dream is too big or small! If you can dream it then do it and be confident in yourself and your abilities - never doubt yourself.

Stay in school - work hard, find something you love and go to University. It's ones of my biggest regrets that I don't have a career or a qualification. Do what you love - life is too short to be unhappy!

Be kind to people and don't judge, you don't know them until you've walked a mile in their shoes. You never know what someone is going through or what their story is, be polite, be kind and smile. A smile can make someones day.

Put yourself out there and take every opportunity handed to you - you never know what it might lead to. Don't be afraid to take a chance.

Surround yourself with people who you love and who love you in return, people who care for you and want you to succeed in life and have nothing but your best interests at heart. Look after those people and keep in touch - make the effort!

Last but not least, and most importantly - fall in love with someone who treats you with respect, makes you laugh, takes care of you and will go to the ends of the earth for you. Pick and choose your battles - some things are just not worth arguing over.

You are beautiful, intelligent and perfect the way you are - don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Be proud of yourself and your achievements and don't compare yourself to others, you are unique.

If you're ever in doubt, upset, need advice or if you just need a hug we will always be there to love and support you - no matter what path you take or what decisions you make. 

Love,

Your Mum and Dad.



I've decided to turn this into a bit of a tag post and I want to nominate a few fellow kiwi bloggers but it's open to anyone who wants to do this too.

Lets see if we can pass this on.

1. Write a letter to your child or future children offering advice and encouragement.

2. Anyone can join, please use the grab button below in the post so others can link back here to the original post.

3. Tag some fellow bloggers in your post and on social media - so they know they've been tagged - adding the link to your own post.

4. Add the name of the person you were tagged by and their blog link.

5. Comment on this post with a link to your letter - so I can read it!

Go for it!

I tag...

Lydia from Always Made With Love
Karen from Mummy Do It
Jasmine from A Gathering
Charlene from Teacher by trade - Mother by nature
Claire from Girl On A Mission




grab button for A Kiwi Mumma
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Monday 20 April 2015

Jasmine's Birth Story

Today's birth story feature is from fellow kiwi Mummy blogger Jasmine, over at aGathering, her blog is a recent discovery for me and it's nice to find another fellow kiwi in the big blog world. She blogs about life as a new Mum to her gorgeous Son, Arlo and is sharing a photo a day documenting the first year of Arlo's life - such a great idea!

You can visit her blog here and if you want to you can drop by her Facebook page and say Hello!

Arlo was born on the 11th of May 2014 and this is Jasmine's story...




1. What was your due date?

9th of May 2014


2. Were you early or overdue? Any predictions on your due date and whether they were accurate or not?

I was two days ‘overdue’ but I don’t really count that as being overdue. I was finally not feeling sick and actually feeling pretty good minus random pre labour/Braxton hicks contractions.


3. Where did you plan on birthing? I.e Hospital, Birthing Centre, Home etc

I wanted to be in the hospital, I would have gone for the birthing centre option, but Rotorua doesn’t have one!


4. Did you have a birth plan? If so, tell us a bit about it.

To be honest, not really. I knew that labours/births/babies are all so different and unique and it’s pretty hard to ‘plan’ something that is so out of your control. I’d spent hours thinking about the labour and the birth, I’d watched Born Every Minute, dozens of Youtube clips and Me My Bump and I episodes. I’d heard all the stories - the horror, miraculous, down right terrifying, fulfilling, natural, gory and the 'wish-I-never-knew-that'  kind of stories to somehow prepare myself for what I was about to experience. But not really a ‘birth plan’. I had vague outlines like stay at home as long as I could cope, and have the baby on me as soon as possible after he was born. I didn’t want to make my husband promise not to let me have drugs because I knew I would probably change my mind. I was pretty open to ride the wave and make the decisions as we needed to.




5. Did your birth go according to your birth plan? Give us a brief overview of your labor and birth.
After a day of bearable contractions that had been 5min apart we headed to the hospital about 9pm with contractions every 3min, I was no longer able to talk through the contractions and knew that this is what the midwife had been talking about when she kept saying - “You’ll know when it’s the real thing” – All day I’d been saying I’ll never know if it’s the real thing because I’ve never experienced it before. But as I walked through the hospital entrance and grabbed the wall I knew this was the real thing.

I’d been saying to Aaron in the car that I better not be 1cm, I better at least be 3cm, I was praying and hoping I was 5cm. After a check, which hurt like no ones business, I was told that I was in fact, 1cm. I could have cried at that point. All this pain and literally no gain! We carried on another couple of hours - vomiting, contraction, vomiting, contraction, then got checked again. To my utter disgust I was still 1cm. Out came that giant crocheting needle and pop went my waters. Gross. I felt like I was peeing my pants for minutes. Not long after I was given the gas. Thank the Lord. It does what they say - it takes the edge off. It also does what they don’t say - make you crazy. I was out of it. I had planned on getting in the water, but after a few puffs of that stuff I could barely hold my head up or control what weird things I kept hearing myself say.

We carried on laboring - eventually, after much pleading they gave my something else - you have to push the button at the right time to take the next little edge off. I could hear myself crying out to my husband, staring him straight in the face telling him to do something, to help me, to make the pain stop. There were moments during that night where I thought there was no way I could come out of this alive. I literally believed with my whole heart that I could not do it. I cried out for an epidural - sounding like a crazy person GIIIVVVVEEEE MEEE ANNN EEPPIIDURRALLLL. My Mum, husband and midwife just carried on rubbing my back, holding my gas and doing whatever else they were doing.

At the next check the midwife brought the best news. I was almost ready to push. The pushing is the worst. And they took away my gas. Oh my goodness. I felt like I had no strength to push. I was pushing my hardest. I heard comments vaguely saying - “You need to push or we will have to get the forceps”, “You need to push or we are going to have to cut” (that was one thing I really really really did not want to happen, despite what may seem as a harsh comment, my midwife knew me, she knew how to motivate me into action. I'll have her again in a heartbeat). Somewhere within I found some little bit of strength. I tried hard not to think about the pain; I tried hard not to think I was pushing the biggest watermelon sized poo out. I tried hard not to think that this was impossible. I could hear them talking about his dark hair. And did I want to feel? No I did not want to feel, I needed to concentrate on my pushing. After pushing through a few more contractions his head was out. The moment of greatest release. Then his body. Then he was on me. This little bundle of slime.



6. How do you feel after the birth and did it go according to plan?

It was bliss. Arlo was on me feeding. My mama was crying with joy, my husband who had just caught Arlo and finished cutting the cord was cleaning up. It was the greatest feeling of success and achievement and ‘overwhelmedness’ all rolled into one.


7. What are the top 5 items you packed in your hospital bag that you couldn't have done without or wish you had packed?

- big granny undies
- snacks
- camera
- stretchy pants/short (leggings)
- tops that have buttons



8. What's one piece of advice you could offer to any Mum preparing for child birth?

Try not to plan too much, a lot of people do and get disappointed that something didn’t go the way they would have liked. So much is out of your control. X


9. Is there anything you would do differently next time?

Get in the water faster, I was trying to wait as long as I could, before using pain relief, and once I had the gas I couldn’t get in the water, I would like to try the pool before gas next time!



Thanks Jasmine for you sharing your story with us! It was a great read and you did so well without pain relief and I can understand what you mean about the gas - it made me feel high!

If you would like to share your birth story on the blog you can contact me by email at akiwimumma@gmail.com.



Friday 17 April 2015

You know you're a Mum when...

1. Your washing pile is the size of Mt Vesuvius, and growing.

2. Your hands are chapped and dry from constantly washing your hands or doing the dishes.



3. Sticking your finger in baby poo whilst changing a nappy is a frequent occurrence.


4. Your shoulder is constantly saturated from a baby chewing on it.


5. You've become an expert at catching baby vomit with your bare hands.


6. If your baby vomits on your top you just shrug, rub it in and carry on as normal.


7. You will happily go out in public in sweat pants and a baggy t-shirt but your baby MUST be dressed in a co-ordinating outfit including a headband and matching shoes.


8. All your money is spent on baby clothing rather than clothing for yourself - even though the elastic in your undies is going and your jeans are saggy around the arse.


9. You live in fear of your child waking up in the night, or during a daytime nap for that matter.


10. You curse the creaky floor boards and end up tip-toeing out of the nursery trying to judge where the creaks are.


11. As soon as you decide to take a shower or eat lunch - the child is GUARANTEED to wake.


12. You begin to hear your baby squeaking or crying, even when they're not, so you check up on them numerous times and manage to wake them up when they were actually asleep the WHOLE time.


13. You don't hear any noises, so you check on them numerous times because you're imagining a million different nightmare scenarios and you end up waking them - again.


14. You stay up late at night just to have some time to yourself even though you know you're probably going to be woken up in the night and you're beyond exhausted.


15. You wash the same load of washing three times because you forget to hang it out on the line, but let's be honest - it's because you really can't be arsed.


16. Your house either looks like a daycare or like a bomb's gone off.


17. You go to leave the house and your child decides to have the biggest poonami known to man.


18. Some days you barely manage to get out of your pyjamas let alone have a shower.


Can you relate? Tell me any of your day-to-day struggles as a Mum! I'd love to hear!




Tuesday 14 April 2015

Anna's Birth Story

The next birth story to be featured is that of another close childhood friend of mine, Anna. She gave birth to her beautiful son Angus just a month and a half before I gave birth to Ella. We regularly swap stories and advice, she also serves as a morale booster for me because most of the things Ella is going through Angus has been there done that.

This is Anna's story...




1. What was your due date?

12 October 2014

2. Were you early or overdue? Any predications on your due date and were they accurate?

I was overdue by 3 days. My Hubby wanted baby to arrive late as he was due on the day of the Bathurst car race. I wanted him to arrive early but thought he would be late.

3. Where did you plan on birthing?

Dunedin Hospital was our only option other than home so we planned to birth there.

4. Did you have a birth plan?

My birth plan was simple, I wanted a water birth with gas and air and my Hubby to be first hands on to catch baby himself. We wanted vitamin k administered immediately by injection and the placenta to be delivered soon after with an injection to encourage it.

5. Did your birth go according to your plan?

It's a long story, but basically I was in labour for 18 hours with my waters breaking at 8pm. I informed my midwife, contractions started soon after and were established by 9pm. I contacted my midwife again at 1.30am when contractions were 5 minutes apart and at least 1 minute long, she came to our home and did an internal check and discovered my cervix was 4cm dilated but rushed us to hospital when she found that Angus' heart rate was dropping to 70 beats during contractions. 

When I got to the hospital they monitored me for an hour and I tried gas in air but I found it did nothing for me. I then tried the birthing pool but with no gas I was in agony as I had really bad labour pains in my back, I then requested an epidural - which is big for me as I hate needles. The epidural was administered at 6am but only worked on my right side as Angus' heart rate kept dropping when I lay on my back or on my left side, I even felt the catheter being put in when they had to push it past his head.

The hospital team started discussing the possibility of a c-section around 7am so we called my Dad and he came to the hospital as added support for Jamie and I - he didn't even know I had gone into labour.  Angus was in and out of distress so they ended up putting a clip on his head to monitor his heart rate. My midwife hit the emergency buzzer around 9am and they took cranial bloods from him, after yet another internal exam.

My Mum arrived at around 10am and after a further three more internal examinations I was fully dilated by 10.30am and started pushing at around 11.30am. I ending up pushing for 2 hours but he was stuck for over an hour so the Doctor said he was going to attempt Ventouse or C-section (which I was mentally prepared for) with a slight chance of having to use forceps. They finally took me through to the antithetic room at 1.38pm and pumped more drugs into me through my epidural, and then without any warning the Doctor pulled out the forceps (which he didn't discuss with us even though Angus wasn't in distress anymore), gave me an episiotomy and pulled Angus out. 

Angus stopped breathing when they placed him on me and they were hitting emergency buzzers straightaway, he then had to spend the next 3 hours in the NICU. I had a fourth degree tear, the whole way through, which took them over an hour to stitch. I had no idea whether Angus was alive or not for the first 45minutes after birth.

Post delivery, I ended up with a painful infection two weeks later and with a lot of complications - things still aren't right 5 and a half months later!

6. Did you have a natural birth or a c-section?

Forceps delivery, with an episiotomy without informed consent.

7. Did you have/need medical intervention?

I had an epidural and Angus had a clip attached to his head to monitor heart rate and I ended up having an episiotomy with forceps delivery.

8. How do you feel after the birth and did it go according to plan?

It was traumatic and life altering. I love my son but resented my doctors and the hospital after my delivery and it took a long time to come to terms with it. It was an emotional roller coaster which I wasn't prepared for. I have since laid a formal complaint with the hospital about the attending consultant doctor.

9. What are the top 5 items you packed in your hospital bag that you couldn't have done without or wish you had packed? 

Nursing singlets, huge but comfortable PJ pants, my own swaddles, basic toiletries and a pillow from home. 

10. What's one piece of advice you could offer to any Mum preparing for child birth? 

Anything you REALLY don't want or are scared of tell your midwife and veto it! I was terrified of a forcep delivery and tearing and I those were the two things that happened!

11. Is there anything you would do differently next time?

Be more specific on my birth plan and not sign a form basically allowing doctors to perform a forceps delivery, tell those most important that I was in labour (parents) and to sleep as soon as my waters broke.



Thanks for sharing your story Anna. It's awful that you had such a traumatic experience, labour and birth is hard enough without the added trauma.

If you would like your birth story featured on the blog you can contact me at akiwimumma@gmail.com.





Saturday 11 April 2015

Newborn vs Now

I was looking back at Ella's newborn photo's the other day and I couldn't believe the change in her. I know everyone says this but time just goes so quickly! It's really scary.

I find myself feeling a little bit emotional when I think back to her as a newborn and to know that I will never get that back. Just walking past the newborn clothing section in Farmers the other day was enough to make me feel a bit sad.

I love the age she is at now though, her personality is developing by the day and seeing her learn and do new things is really exciting. Though it's scary to think about how quickly she's growing and changing and outgrowing the title of "new baby" it's nice to see her becoming her own little person and  to think in a couple of weeks i'll be introducing her to solids!

Here's a bit of a comparison between then and now.












From a birth weight of 3.660kgs to a current weight of, roughly, 7kgs she's basically doubled her weight at 4 months old.

It feels like she's growing so quickly that if I blink I'll miss it!

Thursday 9 April 2015

How my relationship changed the day I became a parent.

You could say I'm a bit of a worrier, my husband would call me a pessimist. When I found out I was pregnant, you can just imagine how my worries would have doubled. It's funny though, as much as i worry, I was very much "go-with-the-flow" throughout my pregnancy. Anyway, I worried about all sorts of things once I became pregnant, one of these was how the relationship with my Husband would change but mostly though, I worried that our baby would consume our lives to the point where we might lose our "closeness" and the connection we had.

Basically, I didn't know what to expect and it made me nervous. I'd heard that having a baby changed your life and your relationship as a couple no matter what. I know this to be true now but I didn't quite expect our relationship to be changed in the way that it has.

In all honesty though, it's changed for the better. When your Wife becomes a Mother or your Husband becomes a Father you begin to see them in a whole different light. You see how strong and capable they are. You watch them fall in love and easily fill the role of a parent. 

I always knew my Husband would be a great Dad. He was just that type of person - kind, caring, great with kids and he always looked after me. I felt safe. So, when I gave birth to our child the traits I already adored in my Husband strengthened and became even more obvious. 

You don't always notice it when it's right in front of you but when you go through a trauma together (if you've read my birth story you would see it didn't go according to plan) you begin to appreciate just how capable and strong they are. Following my c-section I had to rely on him to pretty much do everything while I recovered. From the nappy changes, to getting her up for me to feed her in the night, to bathing and everything else in between.

When I watch them together I have an overwhelming feeling of love and happiness. To see how much he loves and cares for Ella just re-enforces how lucky I am to have someone that cares so much for both of us. Someone that is willing to do anything and everything to make sure we are taken care of.

So yes, becoming a parent has changed our relationship but it's changed it for the better. We are much stronger because of what we've gone through and closer than ever. I'm not saying our relationship is perfect, of course we still have the occasional disagreement and there are times when he drives me nuts just as I'm sure I drive him nuts. However, i've learnt to appreciate him and our relationship even more than i already did and i have become so thankful that he chose me.

A piece of advice, pick and choose your battles and learn to appreciate the little things.















Tuesday 7 April 2015

Lisa's Birth Story

I always love reading a good birth story, I think it's because each birth is different and each person has a different outcome. I think as women we have a special bond because we all have something in common - we birthed a human being!

It's an amazing achievement to give birth and it's something that should be shared and celebrated!

So, with that being said I decided to start a new feature on my blog . A place for Mother's to share their birth stories and offer advice to any Mother preparing for birth!

My first feature is from Lisa, a very good childhood friend of mine who gave birth to her adorable son Lachlan just over a year ago. 

This is her story...

Lisa and Lachlan.


1. When was your due date?

23 March 2014

2. Were you early or overdue?

Overdue by four days.

3. Where did you plan on birthing?

Papakura Maternity Hospital

4. Did you have a birth plan?

Yes, my plan was to have a water birth. I wanted so bad to have a natural, drug free labour and birth. Also, I only wanted my partner to be present at the birth as it is a special time just for us.

5. Did your birth go according to plan?

Definitely not, before being in established labour I had been having contractions off and on for 4 days. So, finally when my contractions were between 3 or so minutes apart I contacted my midwife where we agreed to meet at the maternity hospital. When we got to the birthing unit she checked baby's heartbeat and found that he was in distress, because of the length of time I had been having contractions for, she wasn't comfortable with me birthing there so it was decided I would be transported to Middlemore Hospital by ambulance.

Once at the hospital they decided to induce me because my contractions had stopped again. My midwife recommended I had the epidural as I was exhausted not having any sleep and after four long days of contractions - my body was shattered!  I agreed as I couldn't cope with the pain much longer. At 7am they broke my waters and saw traces of meconium, meaning my baby was in definite distress, however, they were fine with me carrying on to have a natural birth. Once the epidural was administered, after the fifth attempt, it was such a huge relief I even managed to have an hour long nap.

Throughout the day, baby's heartbeat continued to drop and increase which they thought could be due to the cord being wrapped around his neck or arm. By this point I was getting really worried and unable to hold back the tears but my midwife assured me though that everything was fine. By 3pm I was fully dilated and it was finally time to push and with the help of vontouse Lachlan was born at 3.39pm weighing a healthy 8lbs1oz he was covered in Meconium but absolutely perfect in everyway!

6. Did you have/need any medical intervention?

Yes, Epidural and Vontouse.

7. How did you feel after the birth and did it go according to plan?

I was not disappointed at all as my main priority was to ensure my baby was delivered safely. I always knew in the back of my mind that my birth may not go according to my plan so I was prepared if this didn't happen.

8. What are the time 5 items you packed in your hospital bag or wish you had packed?

- Maternity Pads (Lots of them!)
- Comfy clothing
- A nice body wash etc
- Snacks
- Phone Charger! 

9. What is one piece advice you could offer to any Mum preparing for child birth?

Don't put too much pressure on yourself as no two births are the same. Ask for help when you need it and enjoy your baby - they grow so fast!

10. Is there anything you would do differently next time? That is if there is a next time.

Birth wise, I don't think so as this is something you can't control. You just have to go with the flow and not have big expectations of yourself. There will definitely be a next time for me - fingers crossed!



A big thank you to Lisa for being my first feature, I loved reading your story!

If you would like your story to be featured on the blog you can contact me at akiwimumma@gmail.com.

Sunday 5 April 2015

Mummy shaming

Something I'd never heard of until I became a Mother is that of Mummy shaming. I'm seeing more and more examples of it everywhere and it's annoying the crap out of me.

For those of you who don't know what 'Mummy shaming' is, it's when one Mummy openly criticises or dismisses another Mummy for her parenting choices.

I'm involved in numerous baby related pages on Facebook and I keep hearing stories or reading posts of one Mum slating another for the choices she has made for her baby. I just don't get it. Why is it that we feel the need to criticise a Mother for doing what she thinks is best for her child? Why is it our business anyway?

Being a Mother is hard enough as it is and more often than not we are the worst for second guessing ourselves and our instincts. Having another Mother being smug or making snide remarks on how we parent our child adds to the ever present stress of parenting.

As I have said time and time again, we are ALL different and our babies are ALL different. What works for one may not work for another and just because I prefer one way over another does not make it wrong!

More often than not, I feel like the people that make these snap judgements have their own issues that they need to deal with but in order to make themselves feel better they cast judgments on other parents and parenting styles.




We have no right to judge a parent on their choices. What we see is only a small snapshot of a bigger picture. We don't know what that Mother is going through at the time and therefore have no right to judge her actions. For example, the Mother whose kids are running riot - she could be a single Mother struggling to get through each day on her own. The Mother who is formula feeding her child, she may have had serious complications after birth and therefore can't breastfeed. These are all just examples of a bigger picture however the point i'm making here is that, until you've walked a mile in someone else's shoes, you have no right to make a snap judgement.

Next time you see something you don't agree with, stop and think before you you decide to judge. We all have our shit days so we should be supporting and encouraging each other, not passing judgement.

It's time we stopped Mummy shaming. Parenting is not a competition, it's simply making the choices we feel are best for the welfare our children.

Friday 3 April 2015

Baby Haul #2

Yes, I've been at it again. I can't help myself! I have this thing where I refuse to buy anything full price, so when I see or hear of a sale I must take advantage of it. I placed, yet another, order from Cotton on and indulged in a bit of retail therapy at Baby City and The Baby Factory.

There is just so much cute stuff around and my most favourite thing to do is dress Ella up in adorable little outfits! All the things I purchased were all on some sort of sale and they are all in bigger sizes to prepare for even more rapid growth.

I'll start with Cotton on Kids. This first item is one of the first things I saw and is perfect for the rapidly approaching winter. A warm, wooly knit with little toggles and a hood with bobble ears. In size 6 - 12 Months. See here.


Next are these ruffle bum leggings, I have a big thing for ruffles and I just love these little leggings. Ella has three pairs that she is wearing currently. These Ria ruffle leggings in a size 6 - 9 Months are always in such cute prints just like these in True Navy/Confetti Wave and Vanilla/Foiled Stripes




I've had my eye on  these next few bits for awhile now, they are so adorable! Long sleeved printed tees size 6 - 9 months in Grey/Gold Bunny, Purple/Windchime/Scandi Pot and White/ Party Cat. Only the purple one is still available.




The last item was a purchase from the Cotton on outlet store in Dressmart Onehunga, an outlet mall, for a bargain price of $5! Not really appropriate winter attire but in a size 12 - 18 months it will be perfect Ella next summer! I couldn't pass it up for only $5.



Next, was a trip to Baby City, I have had my eye on these online for quite sometime and when I happened to stroll into the store they just happened to be having a a big sale! I will take that as a sign that it was mean't to be.

The first item is a gorgeous, neon pink romper suit, which again is not really Winter appropriate but it is a really thick Terry cloth material so I figure she can just wear a cardigan over it and she's good to go! See here.



The next is a set is technically meant to be pyjamas but I figure she can get away with wearing her PJ's during the day and you wouldn't even notice! See here.



Same goes for this gorgeous pyjama set! I love the deer print leggings, size 0 (6 - 9 months) which is mainly what drew me to it! See here.



and in the same Deer print are these long sleeved bodysuits! A friend of mine had her little girl in these and I'm sorry but I had to copy, size 0 (6 - 9months). So if your reading this our little girls will just have to be twins! xx See here.



Lastly, was a little trip to the Baby Factory who were also having a big sale on all their fashion clothing. I'm a sucker for stripes and anything Nautical which just so happens to be "in" at the moment. The first items are separates which I will most definitely be pairing together. See here. Navy and White Zebra peplum tunic dress with Navy and White striped leggings - so adorable - sized 6 - 9 months! 


and these Navy and White - again - chevron printed leggings size 6 - 9 months. 


Lastly, from Baby Factory is this adorable red and white striped tunic size 6 - 9 Months - again with the nautical theme! 


One more item and it's a a gift from my Mum a.k.a Ella's Nana. Both my Mum and my little sister have a habit of spending huge amounts of money on their Grand daughter/ Niece. Ella is a very spoilt little girl! Mum knows I love the Carter's brand, from Farmers and she also knows that I love polka-dots, stripes and neon pink - even better when you combine all three! Hence this gorgeous little set. Thanks Mum xx



So, there you have it another spending spree! I hope you all benefit from my shopping habit! No doubt there will be another baby haul in the not so distant future!