All-in-One Mum

Today I gave away half of Bella's 0-3 month clothes and I must admit, I was a little teary eyed when I sorted them out. My little baby is no longer teeny tiny and will soon be in 6-9 months! I wish she could stay this way forever but in the same breath I can't wait to see her life unfold :)

I have always loved to read. There is something magical about going into a bookstore. I think it's the calm and quiet that I love, coupled with the smell of the freshly bound pages of 1000's upon 1000's of stories just waiting to come to life. I could simply spend hours looking at the various titles and reading the blurbs. My husband thinks I'm a bit crazy of course! I am about to finish (after four months) The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and have bought three books (3 for the price of 2!!) for my holiday. I know that this is rather ambitious with having baby to look after but one of the three is for my hubby (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). The other two are, Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Travellers Wife) and The Water Horse by Julia Gregson, who wrote East of the Sun. The latter is set in 1920's/30's England and India. It revolves around the lives of three young woman who are all trying to escape various situations. The imagery...

Who would have thought that one day I would find a trip to Mothercare to be exciting?! It's a magical place, full of gorgeous, adorable baby clothes, toys, gadgets and gizmos and things that I just (not really) have to have! That said, I ended up buying two new dummies, two new bottles with size two teats, a ridiculously expensive umbrella which almost cost the same as my second hand buggy, a sippy cup for the hot holiday in a few weeks and three books. The books were on 3 for 2 which is one thing that I LOVE about the UK. I am a complete sucker for these so called bargains and they get me everyone time. The taggie book, other crinkly one and Baby Einstein one are wonderful though and I'm sure that Bella will love them one day. In the meanwhile I have seen a few activity centres which I now must have so think I shall be doing a bit of eBay surfing later on this eve.

We are off on a family holiday shortly and I am hoping that I know what to pack for baby. I'll just chuck in a few bits for myself when I get a chance but I feel like I am taking an entire case just for Bella! What are your top five bits that you would take with to a foreign country where the temperature will be in the high 20's?

Thanks to Charlie Gilson for the donation of the two girl and boy sock monkeys for the Toy Run in Cape Town on 27 November 2010 . For more information, please click on the link. If you would like to donate toys contact Melany Fischer via that page or email me.

My husband is a triathlete in his spare time, which basically means that every spare minute that isn't spent with myself and baby is spent swimming, cycling or running. What do your partners do to keep fit and how do you fit it all in ?

Okay, so now that I can sing The Grand Old Duke of York and Old MacDonald upside, backwards, in my sleep, etc. what songs do you sing to your babies? I have also started to sing the colours of the rainbow and the abc song. Never to young to learn! I've got a book of nursery rhymes and have gone through all of those but these two seem to be her favourite. I do have the ELC Old MacDonald hand puppet which probably adds to the appeal of that song and I clap for the Grand Old Duke and do marching actions. I must look a bit odd...well, more odd than usual. I do enjoy every minute though!!

I decided to be reckless last night and skip the 10.30 p.m. feed and what happened? Almost like clockwork at 3.05 a.m. she needed a feed! I've learned my lesson, that's for sure!

As our summer holiday, and first family holiday, fast approaches I am starting to get in a small panic. I'm not so worried about what I need to pack for myself but what am I going to pack for baby?? We have had a few weekends away and I am learning how to pack for her...well, sort of, but this is what I think I will need for some fun in the sun! sunscreen

Bella is an absolute angel. She is now nearly 20 weeks old and has slept through the night since about 10 weeks, with the odd occasional stir in the night. She started to wake around 3.00 a.m. recently for a feed so I've had to introduce her dream feed again at 10.30 p.m. which seems to do the trick. I don't want to start weaning her just yet. What are your thoughts? Has anyone experienced anything similar?