In My Nappy Bag

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The last time I shared a post about what's in my nappy bag, I think I had a little silver pouch full of baby supplies that easily fit into my handbag. These days things are a whole lot more different! My nappy bag is huge, so huge that it could easily double as an overnighter (if you happened to be going somewhere overnight without kids, which I don't get to do for obvious reasons!).

The picture above is the pretty version of what I carry around everyday. A change of clothes for Elliot, nappies (for Link and Elliot) & wipes in my gorgeous Bella & Moo nappy clutch, hand sanitiser, nappy rash cream, a rattle given to me by Julia, my phone and purse and a couple of burp clothes (also from Bella & Moo).

Not pictured is the epic amount of extra things that I always have with me just in case. A change of clothes for Link and Max, a muslin wrap and a heavier blanket, books for Link and an iPad for Max, dummies (as many as I can find on my way out the door), a couple of bottles for Elliot, snacks, a bottle of water, a spare pair of glasses and whatever else I need on the day.

So much stuff! All absolutely essential though of course!

Tell me. Do you still carry around a big nappy bag? Or have you managed to whittle your essentials down to a purse sized pouch?

This post is part of a Nuffnang native advertising series.

Having trouble during nappy change time with a wriggly baby? Try BabyLove Nappy Pants - with no tabs to contend with, the 360-degree stretchy waist allows you to pull them up quickly and easily, so your active toddler can get back to action in no time! Request a sample.

Lincoln's Nursery

This post has been a long time coming, but I am finally sharing all the photos and details from Lincoln's sweet blue nursery. There's nothing like a new baby to make you realise all the things you haven't done yet!

Link's room is my favourite place in our house, it's so serene and calm. I think simple blue and white will always be a winner with me.

The Boori Sleigh Cot is a much loved hand-me-down from my beautiful sister. Max used it when he was a baby, Lincoln is in it now and it will eventually be Elliot's when he's ready to move out of his bassinet. The cot is made up with a stunning quilt made by my very clever mum, a 'love' and star cushion from my shop, a gorgeous Robin and Mould cloud cushion, a diy pom pom trim cushion and Lincoln's much loved blanket (that he has called nee-nee for as long as he has been able to talk!).

The felt ball rug is a custom order from etsy, I love that you can choose any colour combination you like and have it made up into a gorgeous statement piece. The whale blanket that Link has is another favourite of mine from Goo Collection and is so perfect in this room.

The ikea expedit is another hand-me-down, I originally had it in here when this was Max's room and it stayed when Link moved in. It's filled with so many things that he loves! Link has also really fallen in love with books lately and is always pulling books out and bringing them to us to read. Most days we end up sitting on the felt ball rug and reading together at least five or six times. The baskets down the bottom hold most of his toys, they're sorted by type so that we can find things easily. One for blocks, another for cars, planes etc, another for noisy toys and the last basket holds cuddly toys.

I made this cloud mobile as the room was coming together and I absolutely love how it turned out. Some of these may end up in my shop soon, stay tuned!

This little corner of Link's room is hands down my favourite! I picked the dresser up second hand from an op shop, it was originally dark brown but I knew it would be perfect as soon as I saw it. I primed it, painted it with about a million coats of paint and switched out the brass drawer pulls for silver ones.

The mobile above the table was a diy I did years ago (again it was originally for Max's room), once we had ceiling fans installed I moved it from the centre of the room to it's current location. Lincoln adores it and loves to sing twinkle twinkle with us as we change him.

The mini gallery wall is full of special pieces of art, the whale is a custom ink original by Rhi from Hummingbird's Song and the 'shine like the stars' is from another Aussie seller Billy and Scarlet.

So there we have it, at long last Lincoln's room is up on the blog!! In a couple of months I will be transforming this room into a new 'big boy' bedroom for him but this sweet blue and white space will always be a favourite of mine.

Lincoln Loves Treasures (plus a Giveaway & Nursery photos!)

 ** This post is sponsored by Nuffnang and Treasures Nappies - All opinions belong to me, and all adorable chubby thighs belong to Lincoln**

A couple of weeks back I was asked if I would try Treasures Nappies, a thirty year old, leading New Zealand brand that has just hit the shelves here in Australia. Honestly, my first reaction was to say 'thanks, but no thanks'. I tried out a few brands of nappies when Max was little, found the ones I liked and have stuck with them ever since. I didn't even bother trying anything new when Link came along, I just stayed with what I knew. Then I got to thinking, soon I will have two babies in nappies... Which means double the cost (and double the poo...). I figured now was probably as good a time as any to give it a shot.

As I heard a little more about the nappies I actually started to get excited about giving them a try. My sister told me that she used (and loved them) when she was living back home in good old NZ and I found out they come in at a lower price point than my current brand. A recommendation and the chance to save money, win win!

So here's what happened when Link and I took them for a test run.

First Up - The Acid Test
The nappies arrived just before Link's naptime, so I figured that was as good a time as any to get started. I changed Link's cute little butt into one and put him down for his nap. Two hours later I heard him calling out 'Mum, Mum, Mum, Poo Poo, Poo Poo (as he does!). By the way it kills me that he's dropped the 'Mumma' and switched to 'Mum' so young. I'm sure Max was still calling me 'Mumma' when he was three! Anyway I went in to pick him up and was hit with a wave of poo so I knew it was going to be a bad one. And it was! It was one of those explosive poos that go all the way up the back, and the front of the nappy. Not great, but a perfect chance to see what Treasures could handle. I was seriously surprised (and impressed) when there was no leakage at all. Not one tiny bit. The entire mess was completely contained in the nappy. We were off to a very good start!

Round Two - The Overnighter
Feeling confident that the nappies could handle such a big poo, I decided to put them to the overnight test. Link still isn't a great sleeper and often wakes up in the night wanting a bottle. When he does I don't change him because it gets him too alert, I just feed him and get him back into bed as quickly as possible. Good for my sanity, but it does mean a really wet nappy in the morning. The two things I was hoping for would be that the nappy wouldn't leak (obviously), but also that there wouldn't be a really strong smell. Some of the other brands I tried with Max were terrible for that. When I went in and picked Link up in the morning the Treasures passed both with flying colours, they easily contained everything and there was no nasty all night wee smell. I've used them every night since and am loving them!

Last Up - The Pants Test (aka my baby has a big butt)
Link is a little chunky, in the good way that some babies are. He has deliciously chubby thighs and a big butt to match. Once you add in a bulky nappy some pants can be a bit of a tight squeeze, especially since a lot of his clothes are hand-me-downs and Max always looked best in slim fit clothes. As soon as I put the first Treasures on him I knew they were going to be a perfect fit. I actually found them to be a lot less bulky than our usual ones and I had no problems getting his pants on to his squishy little behind. Three out of three!

So even though I started out quite skeptical and very loyal to another brand I have definitely been won over. Their quality is on-par with the more expensive brands, they're cheaper and I actually like the look and feel of them more than our previous ones. Totally convinced! Plus they're stocked at IGA stores, which is super convenient for me as we have one just down the road from us.

Click the photo to visit the Treasures Page and find out more

Now here's the extra exciting part! I have a Treasures Nappies prize pack to give away valued at over $75. All you have to do is leave a comment (and your email address) sharing a personal tip on how to keep children sleeping through the night with the hashtag #sleepingtreasures. The winner will be drawn after 5pm AEST on 9 April 2014, announced on this post and contacted by email. Don't forget to share your experience with Treasures on facebook, twitter, instagram etc using #sleepingtreasures. Let's get the word out about these great little nappies!

{Click here for the full terms and conditions of the competition.}

The Sleeping Saga

Lincoln is now 7 months old and still waking to feed 3 times a night. Nine times out of ten the reaction I get when I tell people this is shock and horror.

But is it really that uncommon for babies to still wake in the night at 7 months?

I've been given lots of advice, everyone from my real life and online friends (who's advice is always appreciated), to my hairdresser, beautician, shop assistants, the ladies at the post office, childless men (always my fave!) and complete strangers.

Most of the advice we've happily ignored - like starting solids early (this has been suggested to me by at least a dozen people starting when he was only 4 weeks old), supplementing his night feeds with formula (I have no problems with formula, Max drank it from 5 months but a lack of milk is not the problem) adding a few drops of rum to a bottle for him, and ignoring him outright when he cries during the night.

Some of it we've tried - waking him up to feed at 10pm before I go to bed, giving him solids at 6 months, moving him into his own room (which we did a couple of days ago) and picking him up when he cries, hugging him and then putting him back down.

It doesn't matter what we do he still wakes up in the night and wants to be fed.

The thing is, I'm totally ok with it. Sure I complain sometimes, especially after a night where he's decided to feed five times, but generally I don't mind.

I love breastfeeding Lincoln and those night feeds are so special to me. It's just me and him. During those feeds I am the only thing in the entire world that matters to him. And there is something so amazingly wonderful about that.

So next time someone asks me if he's sleeping through yet, I'm not going to let them offer me any more advice. I'll let them know that he doesn't sleep through the night, but that I don't mind at all. I'm sure he'll do it when he's ready.

xx Tamsyn

Lincoln's Half Birthday

My sweet little baby boy isn't a newborn anymore. He's 6 months old, full of beans and into everything!

Lincoln is such a happy little guy now that I almost forget how much of a rough start we got off to.

The first two weeks after he was born were absolutely beautiful. We spent 5 nights in hospital before coming home and whilst he screamed a lot and hated sleeping right from the start I was in that delicious newborn place where everything was perfect. I fell in love with him from the very moment that I laid eyes on him, and in those first two weeks I remember loving when he would wake up to feed in the night because it meant I got to spend time with him.

During those two weeks I was also filling orders for my shop and planing and throwing Max's party and I think I was running on pure adrenalin because the next four weeks were the hardest of my life. Lincoln wouldn't sleep at night, he would feed and then scream for almost two hours, then finally fall asleep only to wake up and hour later and do it all over again. Every single night. On top of that Max started waking up crying each time he heard Link screaming and the only thing he would want was for me to come and lie in his bed with him. So some nights I would leave Sean with a screaming, inconsolable baby and go sleep in Max's bed for half an hour at a time before feeding Lincoln again. It was hard. I took it all out on Sean and would get so angry with him. I think I did just as much screaming and yelling and crying as Lincoln! To his credit Sean took it all on the chin and just keep on trying to help me settle Lincoln, night after night after night.

I was also having a really hard time feeding Link, I had so much milk and it was coming out so fast. He was gulping down so much air with each feed and seemed to have really bad tummy pains. I hadn't been able to feed Max past the four week mark and really wanting things to be different this time, so Sean and I set the goal of making it through to 6 weeks of breastfeeding and then seeing how things were then.

At the six week mark everything seemed to change. My milk started to settle down and Link was finding feeding so much easier. He started to go straight back to sleep after each feed and started to have one four hour stretch of sleep each night. I made the decision to talk to my Dr about how depressed I was feeling and noticed that my outlook changed right from the minute I decided to talk about it. I started to fall in love with Lincoln again and was finally enjoying being a Mum of two.

Since then things have just been beautiful! Link teased us by sleeping through the night a couple of times when he was around ten weeks, but it didn't stick. He generally wakes up to feed 3 or 4 times each night, but he goes straight back to sleep afterwards so it really isn't too bad.

At about four and a half months he started trying to crawl, which was crazy!! It took him about 5 weeks to work it out and now he crawls around everywhere and gets into everything! He's also worked out how to sit up and he loves it. He will often just sit in the middle of the floor smiling his adorable gummy smile at everyone and everything. He's just started to pull up on furniture this week so I don't think he's got any plans to lie around and be a little baby.

He loves Max and Sean, but I am by far his favourite person in the world and that makes me so happy. We have this beautiful bond and I am so glad that those early stressful days are behind us.

xx Tamsyn

So not ready for this!!

So this happened the other day...







I figure I've still got a few weeks before he actually starts crawling, time to baby proof the house I think!

Here's what else my littliest man is up to -

 - rolls both ways (and has been doing so for over a month)
 - smiles and laughs so much, he seriously is the happiest baby ever!
 - loves his big brother to pieces and watches him like a hawk
 - LOVES playing with toys and will reach out and grab the ones he wants to play with
 - gets distracted in the night and tries to crawl around his cot instead of sleeping
 - has recently gone back to waking up to feed four times a night, making for a very tired me...

7/52

On the weekend Sean set Lincoln's cot up in our bedroom and he slept in there for the first time on Sunday night. Seems like it was the perfect time to move him into it, because just last night he started rolling over. Neither of us has seen him do it yet, but we would find him on his tummy sound asleep. Smartie pants!!

Last week was also the week that I finally got a double pram. I've been wanting one since before Link was born, but could not convince Sean to spend over $700 on one. I got this one from a school friend for an absolute bargain, plus it's in incredible condition because they barely ever used it. Max absolutely loves it and will happily sit up the front. Makes shopping, posting off orders and going for walks so much easier!

Over the weekend I also headed down the coast to visit my Mum. She normally comes up to my place so it's been ages since I last went down there. The boys were on their best behaviour and we had such a good time. Mum and I bought some fabric and recovered her dining room chairs while I was there. I loved the fabric she chose so much that I bought some for myself in a blue/grey. My sister and I are planning on swapping dining room tables and I want to recover the chairs before I give it to her. I'm hoping I'll have enough fabric left over to cover a few boxes as well. I'll keep you posted on how that goes :)

I hope you're all having a great week!
 

6/52

"A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Max is so full of character and energy and imagination. This is him giving me his 'angry bird face'. Love him!

Lincoln is absolutely loving this play mat. We pulled it out last week and he loves to bat at the toys and kick his legs in the air. Such a joy to watch him learn and grow :).

(Linking up with Che & Fidel).