Our morning routine

My morning usually starts when kayden walks into our room.

I'm a pretty light sleeper so I always hear him getting out of the bed and pit n pattering into ours!

He opens the door, then crawls into our bed.

If I'm lucky he will fall back to sleep and I get the extra wink of sleep, but usually he's full of life!

He doesn't have a set time when he wakes up, it could range from half 7 to 10!

Emilee usually wakes when she hears kayden in the morning, and with that she's usually hungry so I pop her into bed with me and feed her, sometimes she will fall back to sleep, other time I've to give her the bottle.

Once I've finished feeding Emilee, she's then burped and changed and put back into her crib!

If its really early, and kayden is too awake for me, I hand him the iPad to watch Peppa pig and I lie down beside him! 

I usually wait until he's asking me for his breakfast to go downstairs!

Emilee is usually asleep by now so I leave her as she is and head downstairs with kayden.

I pop on the tv, it's between cartoons or football that's on in the morning!

Kayden then gets his breakfast, it's a pick between Cheerios or wheatabix LOL!!

When he's breakfast is finished, I then get him dressed for the day!

Emilee is still upstairs at this stage so I head up to her to see if she's still asleep, if so il get ready myself if I've plans for the day, if not il tidy, wash bottles, anything that needs to be done.

I then remember to get breakfast!
I then catch up on all my social media - Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, snapchat!

With all that happening, Emilee is up! Due to be feed, changed and burped!
She'll then be dressed and awake for about an hour!!

When Emilee is all settled, it's usually around midday and it's time for kaydens nap!!!

Finally :)

Nothing really to hectic for the morning time.

It's a whole different story if I'm going off with the kiddies!!

We all go for a nap in the afternoon until Pietro is home from work!

Thanks for reading!

Aisling xo

Breastfeeding Update - It's Just A Boob!

When I gave birth to Kayden, I tried my hardest to breastfeed. It was always something I wanted to do, but when he simply didn't want to, I was heartbroken. 

It was always on my mind that I wasn't able to breastfeed, so when we found out we were expecting Emilee, I told myself that I will try my best to breastfeed. Even if it's for the first month.

Emilee is now 6 weeks, and I'm so happy to say im still breastfeeding.

I do have to top her up sometimes, but honestly the fact I'm breastfeeding aswell makes me happy!!

It was a rough start at first, I was doubting myself constantly. I was so tired from feeding every two hours, I just wanted to sleep.

TMI.. My nipples were killing me, she had such a bad latch as she has a small mouth. The cream was helping for the most part. But I honestly wanted to cry every time she was latching.

As soon as I left the hospital, I went start to boots to get nipple shields. Which basically gives your nipples a break and let's them heal.

They saved my life. Literally.

It was relief start away and I was able to relax during feeds and experiment different positions to see what worked best for the both of us.

I probably should thank the nipple shields, I'd say if I didn't have them.. I wouldn't still be breastfeeding!

It was the hardest thing to do, I was up every two hours at night, sometimes up with kayden in the morning. I could only nap rarely.
It was something to get used to as well as becoming a mammy to two! The fact that I was the only one being able to feed emilee, i felt that my full attention was on Emilee and Kayden was being left out at times! But that has soon changed, Myself and Kayden have it worked out ;)!!

My dignity was out the window in my parents house, I would literally pop them out to feed LOL!

I did ask if was okay to do so, just in case they didn't want to stare at my breasts while feeding!!

I'm currently trying to increase my supply, I'm taking fenugreek, and eating porridge in the morning.. Im constantly trying to look up other foods/herbs to increase my supply. but its an ongoing project!

I have breastfed in public. And it was so daunting, I felt like everyone was staring (They probably wasn't) I felt stressed trying to get her to latch while not showing any bare skin basically.
It was hard for the first go, but since then I literally just go with it.

Its not common to see a woman breastfeed their baby in public in Ireland so I can only imagine peoples reaction when they come across this, women feel insecure and feel like they need to hid the fact that they are feeding their hungry baby. I knew myself if someone came up to me and told me to feed my child somewhere else, they would get a mouthful from me!!
but i suppose everyone has their opinions.
They can always turn around and not look!!

I have a few favourites for breastfeeding;
Number one - Nursing pillow; It came in handy for the first two weeks as my body was recovering, it helped Emilee get in a comfy position and My arms wasn't tired from holding her.

Number Two - Tank tops & Blouses; I didn't want to buy a ton of nursing tops as i didn't know if it would be successful or not. So i recycled my tank tops and blouses. The blouse would button open and i would pull my tank top under my breast and unhook my nursing bra. It was so simple and not costly at all!! So I'm still wearing normal clothes. apart from a nursing bra!

Number Three - Nipple shields; I have the Medela brand which cost around 11euro in boots. It comes with a yellow case and two shields. They are so easy to wash and sterile! and the case is small so handy to pop in your pocket/nappy bag and head out the door!

Number four - Breastfeeding cover; My friend gave me hers as a gift and I've not gone without it. It pops over your head and under one arm and you pop your baby onto the boob and feed away knowing your covered and decent! Cant thank her enough for the cover, as it just slipped my mind!

So that is my breastfeeding update. i really don't know how long I will breastfeed for, I'm in two minds. I'm so attached that I know it will be hard to just bottle-fed Emilee.

You really do bond with your baby when breastfeeding. I love when she looks up at me and her hand is resting on me! She just loves her breast milk and I'm loving breastfeeding!

Thanks for reading!
Aisling xo