Our journey to be a mummy is like a jigsaw puzzle - lots of experiences, physical and emotional marks, but the big picture at the end is our beautiful little being who makes our family a whole...

For me, my puzzle pieces included waiting for the "right" man to come along, getting married/waiting for our relationship to be established and rock-solid, agreeing it was time to go off the pill and start trying. I was 'very lucky' not to get stretch marks on my abdomen, but I have deeper stretch marks on my hips and thighs. I continue to get nose bleeds months after bub's birth (normal during pregnancy - but need to ask doc about continual!). I have stretch marks on my breasts. I broke my coccyx during birth, and got a big bad tear that needed stitching in theatre (and I won't be able to have another vaginal birth). I had pain issues for months post-birth. I suffered from morning sickness (all-day sickness!), fatigue, and back pain.  I'm sure there are many more things I could list that would form part of my puzzle!

I love my husband. I love my dog. I love my son. I LOVE MY FAMILY. They are my everything, my whole being.

- BM

Watching my little boy feed, I am reminded how lucky I am to be a mum.  To be able to fall pregnant.  To grow a little life inside of me, near to my heart.  To able to give birth to a healthy little baby.  To be able to hold him in my arms as soon as he was born.  To be able to breastfeed with minimal problems.  To breathe in his little baby scent.  To watch his little expressions of satisfaction as he drinks his mummy milk. To turn his tears into smiles and giggles.  To know that he loves me unconditionally and will always need his mummy.  To just look at him and know he is mine for life.  

Wow, how the ideal of sleep has changed since having a baby!

I used to be the kind of person that needed a good solid 9hrs sleep a night, and be grumpy if I got woken up in the middle of the night or earlier than needed...

Now, I'm extremely happy if I get 4 hours straight in the night!  Sure, I'm tired when I first get up - bub is awake between 6-630am for the day... But when he goes back to bed for sleeptime at 8am I get to have breakfast and a cuppa and I'm awake for the day too!

Bub has settled himself into somewhat of a routine at 4 1/2 months:
6-630am - awake, feed, nappy change, play, 'breakfast'
8am - sleeptime - can sleep til anywhere between 9am and 12md!
When he wakes, it's feed, play, sleep.  And only awake for 1 1/2hrs at a time, or he gets grumpy and harder to get to go to sleep.
5pm - feed, 'dinner'
530pm - bath/shower
6pm - feed
615-630pm - bed
8pm - feed
9-10pm - dreamfeed
1230-1am - feed
3-4am - feed

and then our day starts all over again!

- BM

I've found it so hard to make a decent dinner every night as bub does his going to bed routine from 5 til 6 or 630... I just don't have the energy to think of what to do each night... I do have a slowcooker, that I think would be good to use more often, but with bub only sleeping long enough for me to eat a bowl of porridge and have half a cup of tea for his first sleep and then about half an hour for second sleep before lunchtime... I need to learn to use time a bit more effectively!  It might get easier as he is able to amuse himself for short periods of time too - I can do a short job, then play with him, then do another little job... Maybe then the house will stop looking like a shambles and more like a home! LOL!