I thought I’d give you a little insight behind the scenes on an evie lala photoshoot.

First of all, thanks to Redfish Bluefish [creative] for your photography skills… and for your patience.

My goodness, Evie’s a mover!
Honestly, as soon as I sit her somewhere she’s up and moving. I haven’t even got my hands away from her yet and she’ll have already rolled over onto her tummy, or climbing whatever it is she’s on. It’s amazing to watch. I was tempted to take some video to show how impressive it is that we manage to get any photos with her in them! We have many photos of the back of her head, and of just a foot or hand…

She has always been an active baby. We had good warning that this would be the case during my pregnancy. Regular ultrasounds showed us a baby that was very rarely still.
So, when you see a photo of Evie on evie lala, take a second to appreciate the effort we have gone to so that you can see her model the product. Enjoy!

Little babies don’t come with labels… yet it seems to be the height of insult for a parent when strangers assume the wrong gender when commenting on them. Does the bright pink top or the blue car t-shirt not give an obvious hint???

During my pregnancy, my husband was taken with the idea of having a black jumpsuit for our baby. So, we hunted and hunted until we found the perfect black jumpsuit. No matter whether we were having a boy or girl…

As it happens, Evie’s complexion looks rather stunning in black (says the unbiased voice of a mother). The black jumpsuit was well worn by the time it was outgrown.

The problem? Gender misidentification! The natural assumption being a baby in black MUST be a boy. Poor Evie!

She was 3 months old when a lovely old lady spied an opportunity to meet a little baby. She looked deep into Evie’s then blue eyes, and commented with great enthusiasm,

“What a beautiful baby!”
“Thank you”, I said.
“He has such a lovely, handsome face”, she observed.
I refrained from correcting her – it seemed an unnecessary embarrassment for a lovely old person.
“Thank you”, I said.
“How old is he?” she asked.
“3 months”, I said, “but born a little early”.
My people pleasing ways served me ill, as she quite naturally then asked:

“And what is his name?”

What to do??? Panic struck me as how to explain myself…

“Mark”, I said.
Poor Evie…

Little baby bottoms need time to air out… seriously!

As parents we are advised to give our babies some nappy free, roodie noodie time everyday. Little baby bums need time to get some air, and the more they get the better!

Nappy free time:

• prevents & reduces nappy rash
• gives the skin a break from the chemicals present in disposable nappies
• allows the skin to breathe after time next to poo & wee
• gives greater movement for a baby, free from the restrictions of a bulky nappy. Nappy free time can assist motor development, with babies able to learn to roll and crawl more easily.

evie lala have designed a product to make nappy free time a lot easier. Having listened to a lot of Mum’s (and Dad’s…) talk about the difficulty of dealing with messes a nappy free baby bottom make, we wanted to reduce the effort involved.

With a quality plastic base, and 100% cotton upper, evie lala nappy free mats protect your floor. Once the mat is soiled, you can pop it in the washing machine. Fabulously simple!

The newborn mat is the perfect size for non-mobile little babies, while the infant mat is a bit bigger to allow for babies that are rolling and starting to crawl. Little boys might benefit from the larger mat from the start… little boy’s can do things that little girls can’t!

I’ve been using the evie lala mats for Evie since she was born – I can recommend them – I love them! After Evie’s evening bath, I dress her on the mat in the warmth of the lounge room.

A very practical, time-saving pressie for any new Mum & Dad…

evie lala nappy free time mat

I read an article in ‘The Age’ yesterday that I really enjoyed.

$38 million worth of advice, By Allison Tait

It really struck a cord with me. Basically it addresses the fact that there are so many parenting books on the market at the moment… and so many of us parents are reading them! We are attempting to become well-informed parents who are eager to make the ‘right’ choices for our children. However, there comes a point at which books offer contradictory advice, and parents are left a tad confused… and sometimes anxious.

“…we’re reading 12 books to tell us what we already know. Perhaps the sheer availability of information provokes its own anxiety – we know all this stuff is out there and worry that if we don’t read it we are not ‘good parents’ and our kids will suffer the (no doubt dire) consequences.”

This has certainly been accurate in my experiences with Evie thus far. A good example would be Evie’s sleeping. I lost a lot of my mothering confidence amidst my confusion of attempting to do the best thing for Evie. The problem was that wherever I turned the ‘best thing’ was apparently something different from the last thing I read. In fear of doing the ‘worst thing’ for Evie, I became somewhat paralysed.
Thank goodness I had a few people offer me some down to earth statements about listening to Evie and trusting my instincts. As soon as I blocked everything else out and did that, we managed to sort out Evie’s sleeping in a couple of days. I realised that I’d known what to do all along – I know Evie better than anyone else, and I know what methods suit her.

I don’t mean to say that any baby’s?Ǭ† sleeping issues can be sorted out that quickly!?Ǭ† Rather, I am in agreence that a parent’s instincts are invaluable. As parents we should value educating ourselves… but?Ǭ† we should also trust that tuning into who our children are and what they need – following our natural intuition – is what IS best for them.

“We seem to be somehow producing the most anxious parents ever, about every single thing,” Barker says. ‘If I had one message, it would be ‘lighten up’. Children thrive as long as they’re given the right food to eat and love and attention.’ “

As soon as I blog about Autumness, and it’s Winter already!
Evie’s just had a lovely winter beach experience over the weekend – she was very interested in this strange new environment.

Anyway… winter! Time to rug up warm, and bundle our little baby bundles in winter woolies, blankies and booties. Oh, and babies can loose a lot of heat through their heads, so it’s definitely hat time. A big must when leaving the pool after a babyswim session.

As cold as the cold is, I think there is nothing nicer than rugging up warm on the couch with a mug of warm soup. Lovely!