Maternity fashion: Date night

We tried to get as many dates in as possible when I was pregnant as we knew once baby came our chances to get out would be less and less. Even if we were just going to the movies I still like to look my best and put some effort in.

Normally I never wear tight dresses as I hate showing my belly but I loved showing off my growing bump when I was pregnant! I love this dress from New look for just €29.99 dress it up with wedges or down with converse. 

This top is comfy and very stylish. Great with your skinny jeans and a pair of converse or ankle boots! It's from New Look and it costs €19.99

This dress from New Look is a steal at just €18.99. It's perfect for date night and transitions from pregnancy to nursing as the wrap over makes easy access for feeding. 

This blouse from asos is adorable. I love the floral print worn with a pair of cropped jeans and pumps. It's €50.70 so it's a bit pricer than the other pieces but being a blouse you will be able to wear it when nursing so you will get alot of wear out of it.

So now you know what to wear it's time to decide where to go on your date!! It doesn't matter where you go really just enjoy the quality time with your partner! 

Netflix and chill

Netflix has to be one of the biggest

necessities for a new mammy. Just pick your show and watch entire series while feeding baby.
If your breastfeeding your going to spend most of your day sitting under your baby while he cluster feeds for hours at a time! And at least with Netflix you know your entertainment is sorted and you won't have to flick through channel after channel looking for somthing to watch.
My top recommendations of what I have watched so far throughout my pregnancy and the last 8 weeks with Logan would be.

Louis Theroux: if you like documentaries or even if you don't all the Louis Theroux documentaries on Netflix are amazing. I love his style and and subject content. It's funny, very interesting and entertaining. From Pornstars to neo nazi's from wrestling to the big time gamblers in Las Vegas he has every Base covered.

Grace and frankie: I watched season one of this last summer and when I saw season two was out it went straight to to top of my watch list. It's funny, quirky and heart warming. Grace and Frankie world's are turned upside down when there husbands reveal that they are much more than just business partners! The ladies move in together and hilarity follows.

Scream: if your a horror fan this one is for you. Very easy watching and not too scary. It follows a group of students being tormented and attacked by a murder who is supposedly dead. Everyones a suspect!! But who's the real killer????

Unbreakable kimmy Schmitd: this one's a no brainer! Literally you need no brain to watch it! It's simple, easy, silly and funny. I watched it in the first few days home with Logan. It's completely off the wall and over the top, full of amazing characters Titus the flamboyant room mate being my favourite! Tina Fay is a genius at comedy! It follows kimmy the surviver of a kidnapping who has been living in a bunker since 2000 rejoining the real world and moving to Newyork. 


So sit back, relax and enjoy some cuddles with baby!!

Maternity Fashion: Basics

Maternity fashion has improved so much over the years! When I first got pregnant at 20 there where no clothes out there for a young post 'emo kid' mammy to be. It was all floaty, floral printed and awful. I managed to find one pair of maternity jeans and a pair of leggins and I paired them with my boyfriends t shirts and hoodies and that was about it. This time around tho my maternity wardrobe was bursting. There are so many options out there for moms to be. From the third month of my pregnancy I was loving my maternity wardrobe. It was the first time in my life I was confident to wear form fitting clothes and not feel conscious of my tummy area because for once it was ment to be sticking out! 

You may think you will only be wearing your maternity clothes for about 5 months of your pregnancy but I got my first pair of maternity jeans at 12 weeks and 8 weeks post partum I'm still wearing them! So you will need a good sized maternity wardrobe to keep you going all that time.

I found the best shops to buy from were New Look, Asos and H&M. They all have very good quality clothing that wont break the bank. Here are a few of my favorite basics. Items you will need for everyday wear.

Jeans are a basic for everyone. Dress it up with a floaty shirt or dress it down with a vest, they are something you can wear everyday. I prefer the over the bump pants but then I was always a fan of high waisted jeans.

I got these skinny jeans from New Look in black and grey they are super stretchy and comfortable. And they are only €22.99

I know people who have lived in there leggings throughout there entire pregnancy and its no surprise. They are so comfy and stretch with you as you grow. I loved these leggings from H&M for just €9.99.

Vest tops are a must especially if you plan to breast feed. I live in these nursing vests from H&M and come in a pack of 2 for just €19.99. 

These maternity crew neck t-shirts are a maternity wardrobe staple. Wear with joggers for just lounging around or pair with your jeans, a blazer and a statement necklace when meeting friends for coffee (decaffeinated of course). This 2 pack is just €19.72 from asos.com.

Two months old

Logan is two months old today! I can't believe it it's gone so fast but I can barely remember like before him.
A few things iv learned in the past few months with Logan are 

Babies cry.....sometimes for a nappy change or because they are hungry and sometimes for unknown reasons like just to hear the sounds of there own voice! Dont let it stress you out. If they are fed and burped, have a clean nappy and aren't to hot or cold and are still crying it's nothing to do with you....your not doing somthing wrong....they don't hate you (they are babies they have no concept of hate) crying is just a part of there development.

I can survive on little sleep...I love sleep I was getting at least 12 hours a day of it while I was pregnant and even before that I could barley function on less than 10. But in the first few weeks of having Logan I have managed on very few hours some days just 3 hours broken over 24 hours and still got through the day. At the moment we are at 3 to 5 hours at night then a feed then another 3 to 5 hours then up to get Corey ready for school then another 2 to 3 hours so I'm getting at least 8 hours of broken but thoroughly enjoyed sleep.

Puke on me and I'll still find you adorable....well as long as your a baby as your puke is just milk not chunks of food. its fine I'll actually coo and say how cute......its quite deranged!!

Super long hair and babies don't mix....I was growing my hair for 5 years and it was at my waist and I loved it! But it was a pain to tie up, it was always in the way when I went to feed Logan and most of the time it had baby puke in it! So I got it cut to my shoulders cause ain't no body got time for that!!! 

And that's just 2 months in I wonder what I will learn over the next few months........

Cosleeping/breastsleeping

For the first week of Logan's life we had no idea what to do about the sleeping situation. We were trying to figure out how to get this tiny new born baby who had been apart of me for 9 months and 2 weeks (he was obviously very attached) to sleep alone in his crib for the first time. And he hated it!
Logan was cluster feeding at the time so I was waking quite alot and there was no point in Niall not sleeping as he wasn't needed for feeding. So I like a big fool slept sitting up on the sofa or lying on the sofa while Logan was in his bassinet for spurts of 30 min to an hour at a time. Now I had a bruised tail bone along with the normal post birth pains so as you can imagine sleeping on a sofa was causing alot of discomfort. Then one night in the second week I decided enough was enough! Niall was kicked out into the guest room and myself and Logan cuddled up in my bed together and we havnt looked back since!

Sleep deprivation.....what's that??? I sleep (mabey not as deeply as I used as I'm very aware of the tiny person beside me) amazingly for someone with a new born! We are now in a 'routine' (I hate that word) where Logan will sleep in his crib beside the bed for sometimes up to 5 hours!!!! Then when he wakes Niall is kicked out onto a mattress on the floor (sleeping in separate rooms started getting to us) and Logan is popped into the bed beside me with boob on demand for the rest of the night! Usually within a minute he is back asleep and only starts wanting to feed at about 7am. 
We also nap together during the day as he won't sleep for long in the daytime without me beside him. Which means I'm forced to nap in the day time so I catch up on any lost sleep! 
Now I know alot of people will tell you not to sleep with baby in the bed! It's a very personal choice! We are very careful to keep blankets and pillows to a minimum and make sure Logan isn't covered to much and he doesn't get to warm!

I see this time as the 4th trimester. Logan is learning about life outside the womb as an individual. But he is so used to being with me and close to me that I feel it's unfair to make him sleep alone! He is only 8 weeks old and who knows what will happen I don't plan on cosleeping forever but while I'm breastfeeding it just seems like the logical choice. It happened so naturally, I never doubted my choice for a second. Logan is such a happy and content child and I feel it has somthing to do with cosleeping!

Paternity leave and paternity benefit!

Finally Ireland is catching up with the times and the paternity bill is being published tomorrow! 

We were lucky Niall works for eBay and they gave him 2 weeks paternity leave so we didn't have to wait until the bill came into affect.
It's such an important time in anyone's life and no-one wants to go into work when they have a new baby. Niall even took off an extra week of his own holidays when Logan was overdue as he just couldn't concentrate at work with the anticipation!

It was a great help to me having Niall at home in those first few weeks as I was physically and mentally exhausted after the birth and having him there really lightened the load and made life so much easier. He cooked and cleaned and comforted baby when I couldn't or needed a break. He went to the shop when needed which I wouldn't have been able to manage myself in those first few weeks. He kept my company while I sat under Logan as he cluster fed all day and night. I completely believe having him there prevented me getting depressed and I never felt overwhelmed. And by the time he went back to work we were settled and relaxed into a bit if a routine and it made that transition very easy!! 

The bill means 2 weeks paternity leave for new dad's which they can take in the first 6 months of there babies lifes and €230 benefit a week which employer's can top up to make up the balance of there salary.
Hopefully this is just a start and it will grow from this as two weeks is great to begin with but in reality it should be longer!! 

Breast is best but formula is pretty damn good!!

So from day one I was breastfeeding, from the moment I found out I was pregnant that was the plan. I breast fed Corey all those years ago and Logan was going to be the same.

Logan latched on and fed straight away no problem but after a day I noticed my nipples were getting more and more painful and chapped and so of course I turned to google. But everything I looked up told me the same thing 'breastfeeding shouldn't hurt', 'if it hurts your doing it wrong' so of course I started doubting myself and Logan. I started worrying that if he wasn't latching right he wasn't getting milk and as he had a touch of Jaundice the thoughts of him not getting really milk freaked me out. I tried different positions and awkward angles to change his latch and after a few very long frustrating days I realized his latch was fine and we were doing it right it was google that was wrong!!
Breastfeeding shouldn't hurt..........after about a week or two! But for that first first week you may grimace every time you baby latches on and you may be in pain every time you feed. Remember your nipples are made of very delicate skin and they are not used to being sucked and pulled on for 12 hours out of the day (unless your into that kind of thing).They may get chapped or even bleed and if that doesn't hurt you your bloody wonder woman!! But please hold on and bare through it as it is totally worth it, the bonding experience is like nothing else in life.

So a few weeks passed and I spent most of it sitting under a very fussy very hungry baby. And on one very stressful evening Niall wasn't feeling well and I had enough so I reached for the bottle.....the formula bottle that is. Just from the look on Logan's face when he got his first taste I knew he was hooked. He settled down I was able to put him down into his rocker and gather myself together. He slept like a dream that night because his tummy was full and stayed full for longer and I was given a chance to refill for his next feed. So from then on he had a bedtime bottle. Then after a week a daytime and bedtime bottle and now we are up to 4 bottles a day and the rest breast milk. I have to say Logan is a different baby. He will sit in his rocker for up to an hour at a time and he is so much more content throughout the day, all he does is smile, where as in the first few weeks he cried and cried and fussed all day long. He sleeps for anything up to 5 hours when he goes to bed so I get a good stretch of sleep which benefits me.
Now while I know breast is best and I would always breast feed a baby and I will continue to breastfeed Logan for another month or so, formula is always there and if you have and extremely hungry baby or are feeling overly stressed out there is no shame in reaching for the bottle!! Your sanity will thank you!