Surry Hills Walkabout

Today we went discovering Surry Hills. It had been awhile since I traipsed about the area and I was on a task to find a present. Meandering through the busy areas of Darling Harbour, Chinatown, Hillsong conference at Entertainment Centre, I’d forgotten that it was school holidays so it was an obstacle course of people, prams and the mini train.

Once finally free of the crowded streets, we made our way up along Devonshire Street along Crown Street and popped into Vividshop which is a great little store with funky babywear, jewellery, homewares and fashion from India and the South east and Mushu which is another great bag , accessories and on Crown Street. Managed to pick up some great greeting cards from Vividshop.

Then onto

Bourke Street

where we stopped for lunch. There was already a line up at Bourke Street Bakery but the café opposite ‘The Book kitchen’ is where we stopped in. Roomy enough for prams I went for the breakfast special of haloumi, asparagus and poached eggs on toasted bread with lemon oil. Yum Yum. Jaeminkins had managed to sleep for half an hour and without fail as soon as the food came, he awoke.

Luckily I was prepared with an assortment of snacks. I had a tub of grapes, fruit salad, peanut butter sandwich, broccoli +apple+ tuna+ sweet potato mix. At the moment Jaeminkins loses interest in eating just one type of food so I’ve had to mix it up. So it may be the peanut sandwich and then the grapes, and then back to the peanut butter sandwich and just switching it around til he’s eaten enough.

We then went to the park and the bubs play around whilst enjoying the sweet tarts from Bourke Street Bakery. We tried the Ginger crème brulee, chocolate with marshmallow and raspberry and the rhubarb almond tart. Yum Yum.

 Oh I nearly forgot to mention, Jaeminkins discovered eating dirt and seemed to enjoy it quite thoroughly.

We had another wonder along

Crown Street

and popped into Paper2, a store with fine stationary, designer pens. This is where I found a great gift for my friend’s baby naming ceremony.

As we made our downhill descent on

Albion Street

with the prams, we giggled as we saw a guy pushing a pram uphill and he knew we laughing at him.

To end the day we stopped into Cloth and admired the screen printed textiles and then walked over to Shelf/Life. I loved this store it just had gorgeous pieces for the home, it reminded me of the funky stores in Fitzroy Melbourne.

It brought back a lot of memories walking around Surry Hills and I was amazed at how much has changed. Definitely coming back to check out the rest of the shops=)

Ergo carrier, what a lifesaver

After being told how fantastic the Ergro carrier was and being outbid a million times on ebay for an Ergro carrier. We recently purchased a performance Ergro carrier. The difference between the original carrier was the material. The performance is much lighter in weight with more breathable meshwork which was ideal for us. It was a good idea to try it on at the store and find out for ourselves how easy it was to put on and how light Jaemkins was to carry afterwards.

Pros: Comfortable and ergonomically correct for baby. Most of the weight goes onto your hips rather than your shoulders, so its very easy on the back and shoulders (unlike most other carriers). Found that there's 3 different carrying positions (front, back and hip). Lightweight, easy to wash and dry. Cool for summer.

Cons: Only available in lime green and grey. Baby can't face outward. Difficult to get baby into the carrier in the back carry position (we have mastered it with 2 people but not by myself).

Overall: This is a wonderful baby carrier. I bought it because I find the Baby Bjorn so uncomfortable after Jaeminkins was 6 months since he was so long and much heavier and the weight used to hurt my back.  But I have had no back/shoulder pain at all with the Ergo. Somehow it feels as if almost all of baby's weight is on my hips, with hardly any weight pulling down on my shoulders, very strange sensation the first time I put it on with Jaeminkins, kept wondering where he was at times.

I think after having used the Baby bjorn from birth to 6months that the Ergo is much better from 6 months as you don't have the problem of the baby's feet dangling in front so you can bend down and pick up things without too much fuss.

I think when travelling. I would carry my baby in the Ergo all the time and not use the pram at all! I hope Pepe and I can master the back carry position as this will make the carrier really useful for hiking. We recently went away to Port Stephens and used the Ergro on our walk and it was fantastic and Jaeminkins slept most of the time in it.

Jaeminkins has taken to the Ergo pretty quickly after being in the Baby Bjorn.. He seems happy enough to turn his head to see things so its not really a problem that he can't face outwards in the Ergo.

I also managed to make matching sucking pads to put on the Ergo carrier which has been great as Jaeminkins is teething so everything is being gnawed at or slobbered on.

I definitely recommend Ergro to all mums with bubs older than 6  months, certainly saved my back and it also means extra boot space as you don't need the pram when your away travelling. Yay.

Stokke chair arrival!

Yay the stokke chair finally arrived from Austria after 4 weeks of wondering where it was and what had happened to it. Whilst Pepe was putting it together, I put together my favourite summer drink of ruby grapefruit and compari. I used the juice of 3 ruby grapefruit, a swig of compari with lots of ice. Yum and sooo refreshing.

We had decided to take advantage of online sales overseas whilst the Australian dollar was strong and Pepe really wanted a Stokke chair for Jaeminkins. I must say I was impressed, it has a small footprint so its not too cramped at the dining table and one advantage is that the child grows with the chair. Happy with our buy online. Now just have to wait for the accessories to come through.

Yay for baby promotions!

Pottering away as usual at home I received a call to say that I had a large package arrive for me. Intrigued by the rather large box I thought it was the latest thing I had bought on ebay. I've become a rather big fan of ebay however, that's another story altogether.

Instead it was a gift from a baby promotion that I had entered in before Christmas which I completely forgotten about.

As my original preference was unavailable they sent me the alternative which was more expensive, the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Farm. It's currently retailing at the stores for $199.99 so it was nice surprise. Pepe commented that it was the first toy we've actually gotten for Jaeminkins besides the  teddybear from Hamleys.

Jaeminkin's eyes lit up once it had been set up amd his animal friends were ready to play. He is too young to open the gate and crawl through but basically this action triggers the sing-along songs, dancing lights, music, sounds and fun phrases. I was impressed that so much is going on with the veggie shapes to sort, chicken eggs to count plus lots of items to take out and place, flipping, spinning, pressing, sliding and turning discoveries on both sides of the gate.

Actually, I was having too much fun with it that Pepe decided that it needed to be packed away til Jaeminkins was ready to play with it when he's 6 months old, such a party pooper.

We noticed that our living room is starting to look like a Fisher-Price display room as we already have the baby rocker and playgym by the same brand.

We received the Fisher-Price Precious Planet Deluxe Musical Activity playgym as a Christmas present for Jaeminkins from Auntie Chris.

It has an extra-large round mat which offers lots of room for baby to explore with movable toys and a musical teddy that plays an assortment of tunes, giggles and phrases. You can choose up to 20 minutes of continuous music or let the baby activate short musical segments. The three arches make it easy to place baby in just the right spot to enjoy overhead discoveries, tummy time, or sit-up play. It's very easy to pack away as everything folds up inside the mat for portability and storage.

Currently, Jaeminkins either kicks the teddy or kicks the arch which sets the music off. It's amazing to see that he's beginning to figure out 'cause and effect', which is also the case when I step out of sight, he begins to cry but then as soon as I appear he quietens down again. It too hard not to give in once you see a big smile from Jaeminkins.

We also have the Fisher-Price newborn to toddler rocker. Its been great for us as it starts as an newborn seat as you can pull the backing down to make it into a low profile frame to support the baby's head. As Jaeminkins has grown, it has been easy to convert it to an infant seat and add toys for interactive play and also remove the stablising pads to make it a toddler rocker.
The rocker is nifty as it folds down easily, has a built-in handle and is machine washable for those little accidents which there has been a few.

It also has the option of calming vibrations which is suppose to help comfort and soothe the baby, I'm not too sure if it worked for Jaeminkins as it just reminded me of those fat blaster vibrating machines, strange thought, I know.

A recent development has been that Jaeminkins has figured out how to pull on the toy ring which activates the music. I'm still not used to hearing the music all of a sudden that I keep asking Pepe if he's pulled the toy ring and he always replies it wasn't him but Jaeminkins.

Another milestone to note, is that we've stopped swaddling him which has been an easy transition so far. He is too cute as you'll see one of my favourite pictures of him with his arms up sleeping amongst the clouds. I was a little afraid about the transition as we were used to putting him in his Miracle Wrap or rather a strait jacket that secures his hands down his side and ensures Jaeminkins a good night's sleep. I really can't complain as Jaeminkins is pretty good, he's happy to fall asleep in the pram, baby bjorn, car seat but I'm yet to see him fall asleep at his playgym.

At 18 weeks, Jaeminkin's has also discovered the use of his hands and feet and mastered the feat of grabbing his feet with his hands. He's also enjoys sitting up alot more and with all this activity it's enough to tire him out to sleep. Yay!