Oh my teeth!!

There are many amazing things about watching your daughter grow up. But there are also days (weeks, going on months in fact) at a time where it's so far beyond hard that you start questioning everything. It's so far beyond hard that you find yourself in tears because nothing you try helps ease her desperate cries of pain. And this is because of one dreaded part of growing up that all parents can relate to in one form or another...teething! 

There are a few babies out there who breeze through teething with barely a whimper. Sadly, Aria is not one of them. In fact she seems to be the opposite. She is one of the few who completely and totally loose her shit and is totally inconsolable regardless of all of the tips and ticks. 

We've tried everything: frozen dummies, cold flannel, camomile frozen flannel, teething toys,  teething powder, teething spray, bonjella, paracetamol, ibuprofen, letting her chew on my fingers, wooden toys, silicon toys...and a vast number of other things that escape me right now. You name it, we've tried it! Some days some things work, other days nothing works and I simply have to try my hardest to comfort her with cuddles (if it's a particularly bad phase she doesn't eve want to be cuddled). It's so hard and utterly heartbreaking. Feeling so helpless when your baby is in that much pain is possibly the worst thing I have ever felt. 

I have my fingers crossed that the moving up and down of her teeth will soon lead to one or two breaking through. I'm not sure how much more of this either of us can take. I am trying my hardest to appreciate and savour all the smiles I get in between the phases of inconsolable crying. Eventually this will all be a distant memory and my little girl will have a toothy smile instead of a gummy one.

Bottom line is that this little girl is growing up so fast! She is the light of my life and I can't remember what I did before her. I am so grateful to have such a little cutie for a daughter- teething cries and all

xox

Fun with food

We have now entered the stage of trying real food. Gone are the days of just milk but despite giving Aria tasters the past few weeks, she hasn't been at all interested. Quite early on I decided I wanted to do Baby Led Weaning (BLW) because it made the most sense to me. But I'm still waiting on my BLW book by Gill Rapley to arrive and until it does and I've had a good read, I am too paranoid to give her anything she can choke on. So for now I've been trying different purees. 

Until today Aria has pulled some pretty unimpressed expressions when I've given her a taste. Followed by poking out her tongue (a sign she wasn't actually quite ready yet) so I waited a few more days and tried again with a different flavour. But today she dived right into an apple, pear and banana combination. She loved it! She kept opening her mouth for more and managed to eat about 2 tablespoons! She would have had more if I had let her but that seemed like plenty (possibly a bit too much actually) for her first proper meal. She was so eager in fact that she kept pulling the spoon towards her mouth and missing, leaving us with a very messy face.

Side note: When I was pregnant I had these grand ideas of making my own healthy puree for Aria, frozen in ice cube trays and stored in the freezer ready to reheat. It would taste delicious and it would be easy and quick to make. Now that I'm here at that stage I haven't given her anything home made...yet. I've been buying different flavours of baby food from the supermarket. And you know what? That's ok. There is so much pressure amongst mums these days to give organic, home made foods that you feel like a failure if you go for the jarred stuff. Let me make this clear...there is absolutely nothing wrong with jarred baby food. Nothing. And for us at this stage, it just makes sense. When we progress to BLW then she will be eating food I make at home but until then, jarred it is.

What were your babies favourite foods when they started?

Rhiannon xx

The Winter Gardens up close

If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know I've been experimenting with macro photography for a while (see previous posts here, here and here.) I have used the 'reverse your lens' trick up until now but because I have a 18-135mm lens it proved incredibly difficult (and sometimes frustrating) to focus properly. And since I'm not in a position to be able to invest in a proper macro lens at the moment, I started looking at an alternative and discovered a wide angle and macro lens adapter*.

 

There is however a big trade off for using an adapter. Because it is screwed onto the end of your lens, you will always have some degree of a black halo around the image which is the inside of the adapter. And while I think the halo can work, it limits the composition and style of the photo. If I am to crop the halo out, I end up with an odd shaped image as compared below. 

Again, this can work and I'm going to experiment editing them in Photoshop and look at different ways of presenting these odd shaped images.

The two photos below are my favourite from the day. Both work quite well with the halo and in the last photo it actually accentuates it. As I said before, it's a downside. One that you can work with but it does still create limits. 

I'm looking forward to experimenting with this adapter and cannot wait until Spring. There will be so much to photograph!

Rhiannon x

*This post is not paid and it all my own thoughts and opinions

The blog will be moving in an exciting new direction

I realised recently that part of the reason I haven't been blogging is because I was trying to keep it mainly focused on art, which I'm struggling to get done. I didn't want to be one of those blogs that suddenly goes all 'mummy' once a baby is in the picture. Truth be told, being a mum is the biggest part of my life now and I would be a fool to think that I could, or would even want to, just blog about art. There are many parts of my life as a mum that I find exciting and want to talk about but refrain from doing so. So I've made a decision to move the direction of the blog to include all of the aspects of being a mum - including my sewing attemps for Aria, Modern Cloth Nappies and thoughts on parenting in general.

If this isn't your cup of tea, I totally understand. Until I became a mum I had no interest in blogs about kids and parenting and unfollowed them frequently. But I hope you'll stick around as I will still be blogging about my art as it is still a big part of my life. If you choose to unfollow, I want to thank you for all your continued support to this point. This blog is for you as much as it is for me. But if I can't convince you to stay, maybe this gorgeous face will ;)

I know this is the right decision because as I'm writing this I'm getting excited about blogging again. I have some great idea for posts, how-to's and helpful articles. It's clear to me now that I was trying to keep this blog going as the old me. I'm not that person any more. I've changed and grown and it only makes sense that this blog changes and grows with me.

Over the next week or two I will be redesigning the look and feel of the blog to more accurately represent it's new focus so keep an eye out :)

Love Rhiannon xxx

Aria is 20 weeks old

I can't believe she is nearly 5 months old! 

She is starting to giggle, 

to roll over,

to grab anything

...and everything,

to babble (I'm sure she said mama today hehe),

to smile when she sees me,

to hold her own bottle,

to get bored easily,

to sleep the whole night,

to get excited when we go out.

I'm very aware that she won't be a little baby for much longer.

Soon she will start eating solids,

sitting on her own,

telling me stories in her own language,

crawling,

laughing,

climbing out of her cot,

getting her first tooth.

Despite all this, she will forever be my baby girl,

no matter how old she gets.

I will always be there for her,

and I will always love her,

no matter what.

<3