Teodor Bodu

103

Note: The pics are taken from week six until yesterday. For the first six weeks of the potato- looking princess click here.

103 days since our lives changed… 103 days since our priority list got an overhaul… 103 days since we started a new chapter… 103 days since our lives got meaning – it feels now that before baby Leia entered our lives we were living without a purpose… 103 days since everything got better! Way better!

No we are not celebrating her anniversary every day, but we are celebrating this new and amazing new life every single day AND I have an app on my phone that lets me know how much time has passed since Leia came into our lives (thank God for smartphones!). Truth be told, I missed the 3 months mark on posting this because a) I was lazy and b) I wanted to relax for a bit… Yes, when we passed the six weeks mark, everything started to be absolutely amazing… Leia got a break from those nasty colics and our household got a break from her inconsolable cries from 7-9 p.m. Once that episode was over, she turned into this amazingly happy and eager to learn child so we needed to up our game a bit. The good thing about her passing to the next stage (non-colic era, as we call it) is the fact that she started sleeping the entire night from 10 p.m. until 9 a.m. with only a short and sleepy feeding at 6 a.m. Now this was the best change we got so far from her as we are currently getting about 6 full hour of sleep every night. Sure, there are some nights when she fusses around in bed and we do need to go to her, but usually this gets resolved in about 2 minutes thanks to the wonderful invention called a pacifier. Seriously, pacifiers are LIFE! The person that invented it deserves a statue!

So, the current situation with Leia is:

She sleeps all night long
She eats every four hours during the day
She naps twice per day in the morning and in the evening (40 minute naps)
She sleeps for 2 hours during lunch
She plays a lot
She smiles almost all day long
She started trying to turn around on her belly
She can hold her own head
She grown according to plan (height and weight)
She swims every day
She started grabbing toys on her own
She poops every day at the same time – once you become a parent, pooping becomes very important

The current situation with us is:

We sleep every night
We play every day
We are back to our habit of drinking a glass of wine every evening (YES, there is life after having a baby and this usually starts after two months)
We take long walks every day which ultimately helps our health a bit
We realistically plan for future vacations

Overall, we are back to normal living, the only things that I have to start doing more often are posting on the blog and restarting my gym membership.

What I’ve learned so far:

There is no way in hell I can be on a diet while breastfeeding (pumping) which is at times frustrating because I still have about 5 kg to shed, but that’s not too dramatic…
Dr. Google is something to avoid at all costs because a) every baby is different and b) dr. Google does not have a medical degree and virtually any retard can write shit online
The award for the most stupid advice I’ve received/read is ‘Sleep when the baby sleeps’. I mean, am I supposed to eat when the baby eats, do laundry when the baby does her laundry, walk the dog when Leia walks the dog? I am telling you, that is the shittiest advice ever! Mainly because Leia is not big enough to do the laundry! (We are planning on teaching her that asap!) Like I said, the internet is full of crap!
If you are new parents (up until one month old baby) than let me tell you something: Hold on because the best times are soon coming! Yes, the first month is very hard, but as soon as that passes, your baby will start sleeping during the night, you will be able to enjoy a two-hour movie, you will start to relax while drinking a glass of wine knowing that the little one will not wake up and overall, your life will start to get back to normal, a more beautiful and satisfying normal than ever!
You will experience new levels of love for someone every single day! Just when you thought that you can’t love your kid more, a new day comes and you discover that you can… this is one of the best feeling ever!
Always, and I mean ALWAYS listen to the one in the house that managed to get more rest! I can’t tell you how many bad decisions one can make when they are tired. Just make sure that one of you is rested at all times as your baby needs you rested – after about two and a half months, you will both be rested all the time as life gets back to normal!
There is this rumor that if you eat certain types of food your breastmilk will not give your baby colics and also it will increase the amount of milk you have… for me, that was a pile of crap as Leia was colicky while I was on this crazy diet that involved me eating everything fully coocked, with no sugar or salt and basically tasteless… both me and Leia were feeling horrible, so, for me, that advice goes under the ‘stupid advice’ column!

Obviously, I wanted to post this at ‘100 days of baby Leia’, since I missed the 3-months mark, but as it turnes out, in the past seven weeks we took more than 1000 pics of her and choosing the best ones took me two days, not to mention writing this, which took me three more days… so here you finally have it, an update on how parenthood is going for us, as well as more than 100 pics of our little princess. Notice how she turned from potato to an actually cute baby?

We are still way behind on all the reviews I have in mind for baby stuff, but what I can say right now is that Huggies diapers rule! So there you have it, an update as well as a review on baby stuff! This motherhood phase makes me so good at multitasking (NOT!).

April 26, 2017

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Rome wasn’t built in a day…

…and apparently it will take a lot longer to get rid of my post-pregnancy tummy…or ass! I am not complaining in any way as getting back in my pre-pregnancy size this fast after giving birth was a big and welcome surprise, but that doesn’t mean that I do not want my abs to get back to where they were asap! I am well aware that this will take time as it took nine months of expanding to deliver the miracle that soundly sleeps in her bed as I am writing this, but I am willing to start working hard to get back to where I was in March last year. I am also well aware that this will be a long and hard road especially since I plan to continue to feed Leia with breast milk and the moment I start dieting (not some sort of crazy diet, but rather a light one) my milk starts to decrease in quantity so I have to be careful with that. So, on that note, my tummy and ass will have to wait a bit because…priorities!

As I mentioned before, I feel quite lucky that mom jeans and high waisted anything is fashionable right now as I have an extra layer to cover up and keep everything in place. These jeans I was wearing last Saturday when we took these photos are not the coveted mom cut, but rather a relaxed crop cut, but I love them nonetheless for the fact that they are crazy comfortable, a light wash (perfect for spring) and because of the cool catus embroidery that immediately got me thinking about summer. Yes, they are also a size 34, which means that I am still not wasting money on clothes that I will not wear once I’ll be back in shape and surprisingly they are from Bershka. I say ‘surprisingly’ because I can’t remember the last time I shopped from them mainly because I think that I am over their age-target (read that : ‘I feel too old for their stuff’).

On me:
Jeans – Bershka; Sweater – Bershka; Sneakers – MTNG; Bag – Atelier Lemnia; Bling – Tous (bracelet and ring); Watch – Apple

Since I worked up the courage to go into their store, I also bought this lovely spring sweater (that does absolutely nothing to keep me warm), specifically choosing this colour to match my rope sneakers that I bought in Madrid last spring. This lovely bag that I am sporting is my second addition from Atelier Lemnia (I just LOVE them!) and was a gift from close friends. It is the perfect size to fit my upmost necessities: phone, lipliner, lipstick, keys and gum and it is the perfect size to allow me to have my hands free and care for princess Leia.

On D:
Jeans – ZARA; T-shirt – Replay; Sneakers – Replay; Vest – ZARA; Bling – Fossil and Tous; Watch – Apple

D also went for the same color scheme : khaki and blue. He chose his distressed khaki pants from ZARA – yes, like I said, ZARA makes some amazing pants these days – and paired them with a Replay t-shirt. He added a little twist to his attire by adding a splash of orange with his belt and sneakers (also from Replay). Since last Saturday was a bit chilly and he still is in the healing process of his (almost) finished sleeve, he decided to keep warm with his trusted vest from ZARA. Btw, notice how cool his tattos are? I can’t wait to see the finished sleeve in about a week or so… and I also can’t wait to share it with you! Accessory-wise, beside the all-present Anex Sport stroller, we both wore our Apple Watches, D chose both his Fossil and Tous bracelet while I opted for my now-omnipresent Tous bracelet and ring set as well as my sapphire ring.

Since yet again I am on active mommy-watch (as I probably will be for the next few years) I will have to conclude this post right now, but, as a sneak-peak into our next post, I have to say that it will probably be about princess Leia if she decides to give me enough time to put together a post worthy of her (text and photos). There are also a few things that I want to share with you about what we’ve learned during these first 10 weeks of having a kid as there are some lessons that I would’ve gladly not learn the hard way. Until then, I’ll just leave you with these pics!
L.

March 23, 2017March 23, 2017

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A year ago…

A year ago, today, we started this blog with a review on one of our travel experiences in Romania. That was the first blog post and our first attempt at putting together a blog/diary of our life. This blog has become so much more than that for us in this past year, it is our go-to place when we want to look back on our experiences, on the way we (gracefully) age and it is a good reminder that life is wonderful, especially in those ‘down’ moments – everyone has those. It also motivates us to stay in shape, eat healthy and it forces us to actively review places and write down memories from our trips while also pinpointing some of our best experiences both abroad as well as in Romania.

Nowadays, looking back on our old posts, I realized that if we did not have this blog, there was no chance in hell we would’ve took so many photos throughout the pregnancy, nor would I have written down in such detail my personal feelings that I experienced during this amazing time.
Today we decided to celebrate by not putting together a slideshow of our past year, but by sharing with you (and also marking on our calendar) the first swimming experience (in our bath tub) baby-Leia had this Friday (the 17th of March). Since I am on active mommy watch, I will not spend more time writing about it but I will just let you enjoy our home-made video of Leia.

Yes, life changes a lot during one year, this blog helped us fully appreciate just how much, and we have come to the conclusion that our lives really evolved for the better and there is only going up from this point on. I truly hope that you enjoyed this past year with us and we hope that there will be many more years to come for our little blog!
Happy Birthday evenlymatched.eu!!!
L.

March 19, 2017

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#Lucky

Note: These photos are two weeks old…. Hope to post newer ones soon!

Besides the obvious reason why I’m feeling lucky these days, the particular subject of this post is why I’m feeling lucky fashion-wise this past year… throughout my pregnancy, loose dresses and over the knee boots were the norm in fashion and right now there is a new trend arising: the mom fit jeans! I can’t emphasize how much I love this cut right now! They are way more comfortable than super skinny jeans – which were my basic – and they are very forgiving with my post-pregnancy body shape! I totally love them and I think I already have 4 pairs in my closet. I seriously wear them all the time. Now these pics were taken two weeks ago – yeah, it takes me this much time to actually edit them and put together a post – so, right now I can say that they fit a whole lot better since my tummy has gotten smaller, my hips are starting to get back to their original shape (lots of walking and baby-handling, but no real workouts yet). I see the light shape-wise!

Since I am writing these post while actively watching baby-Leia, not much text will be found here as she is quite a handful, more active than most babies, but she still sleeps well throughout the night, from around 23:00 until 9:00 most days so we are quite happy with that as we get a lot done during the early mornings. Other than that, she is quite a happy kiddo, with episodes of colics from 19:00 until 21:00, but they have gotten a lot better these past few weeks, which actually means that we can enjoy our evenings more and more… True, she still has her wild moments from time to time, but nothing too notable or too often for us to not be able to happily handle. Right now, despite the sleep deprivation, we can’t imagine how we ever felt complete without her in our lives.
Our dog also fully-feels the effects of a small baby in the house as she seems very tired and snores all the time when she actually gets to sleep, but when baby-Leia is awake, she is always in the room with her and always watches her every move. I think that our girls will be best friends as soon as baby-Leia starts walking!

On me:

Jeans – ZARA; Sweater – Mango; Shoes – Vans; Sunglasses – Dior; Bag – Furla; Bling – Tous (ring and bracelet); Watch – Apple

Thus far I can’t say that I feel the effects of the baby-blues, nor do I feel or ever felt depressed in the past two months. I did have two or three days when I felt a bit anxious, but that passes quickly as soon as I lay my eyes on Leia’s face. As time passes, it appears that she resembles D more and more, but she definitely took my blue eyes. Naturally, we take pics of her almost every day and soon we will post them – like I said, time is a luxury we do not have right now.

On D:

Jeans – ZARA; Jacket – SuperDry; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Bling – Tous; Watch – Apple

Back to the fashion bit… obviously I love the Mom Fit jeans and I hope it stays fashionable until I am fully back in shape and beyond because these jeans are so, so comfortable! I found this particular pair at ZARA (and three other pairs as well) and for someone that loved Replay and Diesel jeans, I have to say that lately ZARA seriously upped their game in the denim department. I ventured in buying quite a few pairs mainly because my pre-pregnancy size fits and I just know that I will wear them for a long time to come. Since they are high-waisted jeans, I found the courage to actually wear a cropped sweater and proudly show you my (still) expanded belly. This lovely sweater is from Mango from last year’s winter collection, but there are quite a few options online right now. I went full-mom and wore my Vans white sneakers to complete the comfy outfit. The lovely bag I am wearing all the time right now was a gift from D for my birthday, and you can find it at Furla. I just love how versatile it is thanks to the brown-black-white combo that just goes with everything. The sunnies are my beloved Dior and the big ring you’ve been seeing lately on my finger is a push-present from my parents. My mom got one from my grandmother when she gave birth to me (or so she says) that has rubies and the one my parents gave me has sapphires and diamonds. I will keep this tradition alive and when Leia decides to give us our first granchild we’ll probably choose emeralds. The lovely bangle and ring set that I am also wearing is from Tous (just love them!) and I can’t seem to be able to part with my Apple Watch these days.

D also decided to go for casual jeans and chose a pair of ZARA ripped jeans (told you they upped their denim game a lot lately) and his leather Superdry jacket. As you will see soon (don’t really know how soon) this was probably the last time he got to wear long sleeved anything as he almost finished his full-arm tattoo sleeve and I can’t wait to show you just how amazing it looks. He wore my favorite Converse x John Vavatos sneakers and even though you can’t see it, he also opted for his Apple Watch and the Tous bracelet I gave him a while ago.

As you can see, we are surviving this new-baby period and, to be completely honest, despite it being very hard, we simply love taking care of our little bundle of joy. She really fills our hearts with happiness every single minute.
L.

March 17, 2017

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Stroll, stroll, stroll in the park – Anex Sport

Wow! Two blog posts in one week…we are really getting the hang of this baby/us balance! It is about time to start reviewing all the baby stuff we bought pre-Leia and give you some insight on what was important for both of us upon buying everything. Today I want to talk about our stroller, the Anex Sport. Naturally, since the lovely spring weather started, we have been testing this stroller every day and on Sunday we actually decided to take some photos for old times sake. Nope, this will not be a review where we show you all the ways this stroller pulls apart and all the very practical gizmos it has. For those types of reviews I suggest you do as we did and watch some YouTube videos. Nope, we did not do a video either mainly because I find video editing to be some sort of alien activity for me right now. This review covers our own personal experience with the Anex Sport stroller and why we chose it as we both had some pretty strong boxes to tick and if you’ll continue reading you’ll soon realize just how different we are when it comes to this matter. Of course, none of us wanted to compromise on quality and safety, but other than that we both went in totally different directions when it came to making a list of our ‘musts’. I have to also mention that this stroller ticked all the boxes on the below lists and that it was actually the only one that managed to do that, or at least that was the situation last autumn when we bought it.

We both wanted the following things from the stroller:
– Coconut mattress
– Height adjusting mattress as we noticed baby-Leia likes her head a bit higher than the rest of her body-though we did not know that at the time, but we thought that it was a great feature.
– UV resistant materials.
– Waterproof bag in the lower part of the stroller – this allows us to safely store stuff without having to carry an extra bag everywhere. It is unbelievable how few strollers have this amazing feature as most of them just have a basket and in my opinion everything you store down there gets covered with a thick layer of dust – MAJOR NO-NO!
– Antibacterial and non-allergic materials all over.
– Light and easy folding system.
– Waterproofing all over.
What I wanted in a stroller:
– No velcro anywhere – I think that velcro is the worst for hands and nails as it just scratches everything. Again, you have no idea how many companies use this type of material for their stroller. On top of it all, I dread the thought of baby-Leia’s skin coming into contact with velcro.
– A comfortable breaking system – for most strollers, in order to unbreak the damn thing, you have to put your foot underneath the break which usually means that your shoes get dirty and scratched and I love my shoes too much to put them through that.
– Big, easy to push buttons for all the pieces that come apart – I have to think about my manicure because with a small baby there is virtually no time to fix chipped nails!
– Light and small frame as it has to be able to fit into my Mini – this was actually the only one we found that matched this criteria, but this was not mandatory as I have a lot of space to walk around our apartment complex without having to actually drive anywhere with the stroller, but it is nice to know that it fits.
– Detachable bedding for obvious sanitary reasons.

On me:

Jeans – Replay (yup, pre-pregnancy); Sweater – ZARA; Boots – Ugg; Jacket – Mango; Scarf – Hermes; Bag – Furla; Hat – Mango; Sunglasses – Dior; Watch – Apple

What D wanted:
– Big, rubber wheels because a) they look cool and b) for those moments when we want to go off-road.
– Great suspension because his little princess can’t be disturbed while we walk on the horrible pavements of Bucharest
– Easy access to the front wheels blocking system – with most strolles you have a button in the middle of the wheel which means that your hands get really dirty when you need to block the wheels while this stroller has this button on top of the wheels and far away from the growd or the dirty parts.
– Light aluminum frame.

On D:

Jeans – ZARA; Sweater – O’Neill; Vest – ZARA; Shoes – ZARA; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Bling – Fossil; Watch – Apple

The Anex Sport stroller was the only one that ticked all the boxes, but there was no way of saying that we will love it or that baby-Leia was going to love it until we tried it-though I did try to convince D that we can test it with our dog inside but he just thought that I was under the influence of pregnancy hormones and ignored me. Come warmer weather, we couldn’t wait to actually get the little pincess and go out to test it! After a few weeks of testing it, we decided to take some photos and post this review here. This stroller is just great!!!! It is very easy to fold and unfold, easy to assemble and great for long walks thanks to those suspensions and the big wheels. I find the bag underneath it especially great since, being spring, there is no actual way of knowing how warm or cold it will be in 15 minutes and I can just toss a blanket there knowing that it will not get dirty and nor do I need an extra bag to protect it. It ‘drives’ wonderfully both in a straight line as well as on a curvy alley. All the usual bumps and kerbs are virtually non-existent for the sleeping baby-Leia so those suspensions really serve their purpose. She seems to enjoy her walks quite a lot and we have actually used the stroller inside our apartment to help her ease those horrible colic episodes. We both love the zip closing system as well as the way all the exterior materials feel. We are beyond happy with our choice and we sincerely recommend this stroller! As a price point, this is not the cheapest, nor is it the most expensive option out there, but it does feel and look like those really expensive strollers that you can find, but as we have discovered, it is more practical that most of them!

Stroller – Anex Sport

When it came to buying baby stuff we approached things with a ‘divide and conquer’ state of mind meaning that D took it upon himself to buy most of the tech-y stuff (stroller included) while I chose everything else (feeding stuff, matress, furniture, carpet etc). This does not in any way mean that we did not talk about each option and we always took the other ones wishes very serious. Since he was the one that had to watch/read 1000 reviews on strolles he got to choose the colour and he decided on this lovely elegant brown and black combo. Obviously for this photoshoot we had to match with it. With the new 2017 collection, Anex offers a very wide variety of new and exciting colours, so if you are in the stroller-buying stage check them out!

That about covers the princess’s means of transport and our first baby stuff review. We will try and post as many reviews as possible, but time is something we don’t really have so bear with us until we really get into a routine with baby-Leia.
L.

March 3, 2017

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The first six weeks…

Note : I tried to post the photos in chronological order so that you can notice Leia’s transformation over time…

We made it! We survived the first six weeks on our own! But boy, were they hard… Nobody really prepares you for this first few weeks with a newborn and no matter what everyone tells you, you can not imagine the amount of work, sleep deprivation and worrying you will experience. I honestly have a feeling that we will not sleep soundly again for the next 18 years at least… Baby Leia is the most important being in the house right now, this meaning that we are both very tired, because a baby needs constant attention and care and for the first part, we both wanted to be 100% involved in all the duper changes, feedings and everything else, but this is NOT the way to go!

Starting from the beginning…when we first got home with baby Leia we had our first shock – she just would not stop crying and we even thought that we got the wrong baby from the maternity as she seemed quite the little angel in her first four days of life, but now she was slowly changing into a small devil. We had no idea if she was hungry (but she had just eaten right before we left the hospital), if she needed her diaper changed (no) or what was bordering her. After desperate calls to our friends with kids (it is extremely important to have a support system consisting of friends that had recently gone through what you are going through now) we concluded that her fussiness was due to the fact that she changed the scenery once again in only a few days. Needless to say that we were clueless when it came to using the steriliser for the bottles and to actually making a bottle of formula milk – there was no way of nursing her in the amount of distress she was in. Quite frankly, for the first time in our lives we were both completely clueless and desperate which did not help baby Leia at all, as a matter of fact it made her more and more fussy as time went by. At some point, when we were at the edge of our patience, she just fell asleep on a big pillow and apparently that was the only thing that calmed her. Because I was just released from the hospital and needed to heal, D sent me to bed while he decided to sleep on the floor fearing that the little princess will suffocate on the big pillow, but not really wanting to take our chances and move her. This in short was the first day and night at home with the little one.

From that point on, things only got better, we got better at doing stuff for her, we did get a visit form a maternity consultant in the next few days that eased our worries and helped us learn how to care for her needs – this was included in the birth plan – that helped us tremendously, but things weren’t just right yet as our schedule was chaotic both when it came to feeding as well as sleeping. As I said earlier, we both wanted to be 100% involved in everything which meant that a week later we were both so sleep deprived that we couldn’t walk straight. Things had to change at that point otherwise we both would’ve grown extremely frustrated extremely quick. D decided that we should take turns, especially at night so that we both got at least 4 hours of sleep straight. This was a very hard and frustrating decision to make as the meant that each night one of us would sleep on the couch so that the other could get a sound sleep without any worries or baby monitors in the bedroom. This lasted for about two weeks and for me that was very hard as I was so used to sleeping next to him and I honestly missed him and at some point I was thinking that this is exactly how couples grow apart after having a baby. There was no way I was letting that happen!

This got resolved during the third week, when our paediatrician suggested we get her on a schedule of feeding her every three hours, no sooner nor later. Did I mention that baby Leia suffers from a condition called tongue-tie which prevents her from latching to my breast thus making it impossible for me to nurse her. At first I was affected by this, but later on I realised that this was a blessing in disguise, because it meant that I knew exactly how much milk she was getting and this allowed us to really put her on a feeding schedule and most importantly, it allowed D to feed her and really connect with her while I got some time to myself. So yes, I am pumping and I am loving it (I am using the Philips Avent pump and thus far I had no problems and as a matter of fact I love it but that is to be discussed in another post) and no, I do not think that I am missing out on anything!
There have been some adjustments needed because apparently baby Leia needs to be fed at four hours instead of three and with a larger quantity of milk, but that only means that we have more time between feeding and that our nights are much more manageable – she has a meal at 1 a.m and another one at 6 a.m. and thus far it worked wonderfully, but I have to say that I can’t wait for that moment when she will not need to be fed at night. Other than that, another issue that I can’t wait for her to outgrow it are colics. It is heartbreaking when we see her little face in so much pain and there is literally not much we can do about it. We were lucky enough thus far to not have such episodes during the night, apparently she prefers to have them between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. and that is ok-ish or at least as ok-ish as colics can be.

D stayed at home for most of the first five weeks and that helped a lot and right now we have found the most amazing nanny, which allowed us to go about our lives (hence this blog post) and really focus on the important things about having a baby – education, learning through play, talking to her, taking care of ourselves etc. I am telling you – help is extremely important with a newborn it’s like we actually have a life again since we found her. She was recommended to us by the nanny agency called Synchronize Family. They are amazing as the managed to find her for us from the first try – she was our first interview!
Other than that, things have really been going perfectly and we couldn’t be happier despite the sleep deprivation (our nanny is not here 24 hours per day thus we still have to get up at night) and the fact that we still haven’t gone out with our friends yet, but I have a feeling that soon we will get there as well, it is just a matter of time. Being a parent is the hardest and the most beautiful job in the world and I think that we have never been happier in our lives. Baby Leia simply completes our little family and I have to be honest, I didn’t really understand the energy that children give us until I had one. She just fills our heart with joy and love every single second of every single day, despite the non-stop hard work we have to do.
L.

P.S: Even our dog gets involved as often as she can (she even woke me up one night because baby Leia was having a tantrum and we both were soundly sleeping) and yes, she is also sleep deprived and snores every time she gets the chance to take a nap!

February 28, 2017

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Friday the 13th…

Note: Sorry for the long break, but being parents feels like running a never-ending marathon at a sprint-speed, and it took me quite a while to put this post together… Also, all the pics are from the 13th, the 14th, the 15th and the 16th of January from those amazing days spent in the hospital.

This was the day that everything changed for us! I woke up that day more scared and anxious than I have ever been in my entire life! This was the day we were going to meet the little princess. There were loads of questions all popping up in my head at once: will we like her? Will she like us? Will it all go smoothly in the operating room? Will she be ok? Mainly the one question that kept popping up was whether she will be ok during the operation. That morning a switch popped inside me and all of a sudden I did not care much if I was going to be ok, if the scar will be big or even if the recuperating period will be long…no, all I cared about was her, the little human being that kept growing inside me for the past nine months. This was one of the most awkward feelings I have ever felt considering the fact that I am one of the most selfish people I know, but on that day, it was all about her!

This little bundle of joy along with D were waiting for me when I got out of the operation.

Going back to that morning… I woke up a bit confused and constantly feeling that the storks should get their business back on track as I was extremely scared of the c-section I was about to undergo. I mean, really, why can’t babies be delivered by storks (or dhl)? I am mentioning again that we opted for a c-section because the bundle of joy managed o get the cord around her neck and, as we found out a few days before the operation, my hips weren’t wide enough for her to be able to pass through. Once we got to the hospital, some of my fears were eased thanks to the wonderful team of doctors. I was very lucky to have a calm, collected and experienced doctor throughout my pregnancy that on top of his amazing skills had a good sense of humour. Another important and very easing person was my anaesthesiologist which is a good friend so I was blessed with not only one, but two familiar and friendly faces during the op. As it turns out, that was very important going in as it eased my nerves a bit (just a tiny bit, but it helped). After all the medical procedures were done it was time for the biggest challenge of my life, the actual operation. I admit that once the anaesthesia settled in, I did experience a minor anxiety attack, but the skilled anaesthesiologist managed to get me out of it. What I clearly remember from the whole thing is that I waited to hear and see the little princess before I thought to myself ‘well, my job here is done’ and immediately dozed off into a quick snooze. Before I knew it, it was all over and I was moved to the post-op room where the amazing nurses took such good care of me that I actually felt spoiled and not as if I had just went through the biggest test of my life. About 20 minutes later D and the little princess were there to see me and the moment I held her tears of joy invaded both my eyes as well as D‘s. That was the highest form of joy I had experienced in my life and I knew right there that life will only get better from that moment onward. And it did!

We spent three blissful nights in the hospital where we were cared for impeccably. The second day after the operation I was able to get on my own two feet and move a bit and from that point on, there was nothing stopping me. We spent amazing moments with our girl in the hospital with nurses coming every few hours to teach us how to take care of our baby and making sure that when we left the hospital we felt confident enough to be the best version of new parents we could be. We got the special-food-treatment, well at least D got it while I was still on a post-op diet. That was a bit hard as I was hungry, but for the first two days I mostly ate toast, cottage cheese and soup while he ate prawn soup, grilled beef, fruit salads and other seafood and meat specialities with gourmet desserts, but, all in all everything was ok. The best part about the whole special post-op care that I received was the fact that I was never in any pain at all and by the time I left the hospital, my uterus was back to its initial pre-pregnancy size thanks to some great massages I received from the nurses. To top the experience, right before we left the hospital I received a full body medical massage that left me feeling like I was on cloud number nine.

Of course D got her tiny Tous diamond earrings…

A bit about the princess… she was born on the 13th of January at 11:03 a.m. and we decided to name her Leia. Yup, as in the Rebel Princess Leia from Star Wars. We chose that name for a numerous number of reasons, for one, we are both huge Star Wars fans – that is the first movie I ever remember seeing as a child, another reason being that even when she was still in my tummy she was a rebel child moving all the time and making sure we both felt her presence while not really making me feel any discomfort or sickness and another reason for choosing this name was the fact that we both decided early on that if we have a girl her name will start with the letter L while if we had a boy, his name will start with the letter T. Apart from that, medically speaking she received a grade 9 out of 10 on the APGAR scale because she was born via a c-section as opposed to a natural birth. She weighted 3120 gr and had quite a full head of hair at birth (I suspect from all the heartburn I got in the last month). While she obviously looked like a potato at birth, in the next few days she actually started looking like the most beautiful baby either of us has ever seen, but I guess that is what all parents say. We bonded immensely with her while in the hospital and I am so glad that D got to stay with us all the time as he spent a lot of quality time with her during those very important first days.

Going home…

I feel very emotional writing this (in the best way possible) and I confess that it took me three days to write this post as I have to say, parenting in the hospital versus parenting at home is totally different. Just to give you a small hint of posts to come, when we got home with Leia we were under the impression that the trial-version we got in the hospital was of a different kid as for the past three weeks we have both been struggling with sleep deprivation (now we kinda found a solution to that, but this is something that happened in the last few days), colic and at the same time we have never had a more satisfying time ever in our lives. That said, we still can’t wait for these first few weeks to be over, for her to be a bit stronger and to be able to actually go out with her and play and take pics. A few more posts will slowly come based on our experience as first-time parents and how we managed to survive, but right now the rebel princess is waking up and we need to go on diaper and feeding duty.

P.S. : Three weeks post delivery I managed to fit into my pre-pregnancy size 23 jeans. True, they are Hyperflex from Replay (quite elastic, see them here), but hey, that was a major morale boost. More on what waist trainers I used post pregnancy in an upcoming post!

February 8, 2017

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The last month – 24 hours still to go!

This is the last pregnancy post as, by this time tomorrow I will be in the operating room meeting the little princess while D will be pacing in the waiting room. This is also the last day of the cute baby bump meaning that from tomorrow on I will just be fat and trying to get back into shape. This is a bitter-sweet post for me as I am well aware of the fact that our household will never be as quiet as it is today, but I am also aware of the fact that there is no happier stage than the one that will shortly start. I am also extremely afraid of what is about to happen tomorrow as this is my first surgery and I have no idea what exactly to expect. That being said, it is too late to call in the ‘Stork-service’ and I have a feeling that it is too late to ask DHL to deliver our baby as well, so I am going to have to suck it up and just plunge in without much thought in advance.

Today, being the last pregnancy post, I would like to touch-up on a few things: the last month – its ups and downs; why I opted for a C-section and my fears for the following period. Like I mentioned in the last post, we will take a break from actually publishing real-posts on the blog, but we will try and post as many short updates as we can on how things are going, how a C-section feels like, what our bundle of joy is like, how parenthood is for us as well as some short reviews on products that we bought for the baby and wether or not they are any good. We decided to leave the product reviews for after the baby is here as truth be told, no matter how much thinking we put into selecting them, if the baby doesn’t like them, they are not good, so we’ll keep you updated on that too.

Let’s get on to the last month of pregnancy and how I felt. Overall, it was ok meaning that I can’t complain although this was by far the toughest month of the entire pregnancy. As opposed to the eighth month, this one was harder on all aspects. The first thing that really bugged me about it was the fact that I went from having mild shortness of breath from walking up one storey to actually having real shortness of breath just from walking for five minutes through the house. This did not make me give up on the evening walks with our dog, it only meant that the walks were slower and a bit shorter but that was ok especially since it has been really cold and it snowed a lot in Bucharest. Another issue that progressed in this last month was the fact that I went from having reflux and heartburn once a week in the previous month, to having it daily in this last months. I swear to God that last night I was this close to actually spitting fire – yes it was that bad, especially since I did not experience these symptoms during the first seven months of pregnancy. Another thing that annoys me is the backaches. True, I only have something to complain about if I spend a lot of time standing throughout the day so that is rather manageable. That is due to that fact that the bump has grown quite a lot in these last few weeks and it is getting harder and harder to actually be independent. D has to help lift me up from bed constantly, he has to always put on my socks and shoes and so on, but luckily for me he did not complain once. I did experience a mild swelling of my hands and feet, but it is so mild, that I can’t really complain about it – I can still wear my wedding band but it only comes off easily with soap and water. Now for the more touch-y subject of weight gain… Throughout the entire pregnancy I have gained a total of 18 kgs, with the last 5 kgs being gained in these last four-five weeks. That might be due to the baby growing at a rapid pace, water retention as well as the fact that I did not take such good care of my diet lately because I promised myself that I will indulge in the last month of pregnancy. For some reason, I thought that this weight gain will get me in a more depressed state than I am in right now, but to be honest I feel really confident that once we will get a grip on the parenting stuff, I will be able to get back into shape, but there is no pressure on that right now. Another annoying symptom that I have developed during this last month is an everyday growing tiredness, especially in the evening. Like seriously, if it is passed 4 p.m. I am DONE! I literally can’t concentrate on much passed that hour.

A bit about the baby during these passed four weeks… She is more and more active every day, not for such extended periods of time as last month but more feisty when she is up. She still doesn’t hurt me, but I have to stop what I am doing when she has her active minutes because I feel like she can put me to the ground with her stomping. Again, this does not hurt, but it is hard to concentrate on anything else. We can’t complain, as from the beginning we were well aware of the fact that she is one active baby. She is also down enough now to let me breath normally, but her actual position does give me some pelvic discomfort from time to time, again when I spend a lot of time standing throughout the day. Still, at this stage, I have not experienced any contractions – I either do not know how they feel or I am literally senseless. In the recent non-stress test there have been some contractions recorded that I yet again failed to feel and my doctor tells me that everything is ok, so I do not worry about that at all. Because of how big she has gotten, I have lately spent most of the day in bed as that is the most comfortable place to be and I suspect that is the reality for most pregnant mamas-to-be.

A bit on why I opted to have a C-section… First of all, I do not feel any less of a woman because I opted for this method, as from what I have heard it still hurts like hell, especially afterwards. At the last scan, the little bundle of joy managed to have the umbilical cord half-wrapped around her neck. While this did not threaten or stress her in any way, that might have posed some problems with natural birth. Another reason for my choice was the fact that the due-date is in January and January is very unpredictable weather-wise in Bucharest meaning that you might not be able to use the roads for a day or two. Having a C-section means that usually the baby is born on week 39 instead of actually waiting for natural labor to start which gave us a week of actually getting to the hospital before it became too late. Being at peace with this decision gave us the time to actually select the birth date and the hour. We opted for Friday the 13th because I feel that is a very lucky day and a good family friend informed me that from an astrological point of view this is a very good choice. Also, I opted to have the surgery in the morning because that way, I do not have to starve myself for 8 hours as I will be sleeping. Also having a planned C-section helps me stay calm and feel good as I am the type of person that plans everything, even brushing my teeth.

As for the fears we both have for the following period, I have to tell you that as time passes and we come closer and closer to holding our baby, those seem to fade. I am very lucky as D is very calm, claiming that this can’t be such hard work as most people we know have had a baby and both them and the baby survived, so having him be so calm really helps me ease my fears. On top of all that we do have a good support system, with both sets of parents being eager to help us in any way possible, we have not found a nanny yet, but the search continues and therefore I am hoping that by the end of February to have that sorted out as well and, most importantly, we have lots of friends that have babies or toddlers around us that can help ease our fears, so we are very lucky in that department. Right now, most of my fears revolve around the surgery, the baby being healthy and happy and our dog befriending her quickly after we arrive home. But all that is out of our hands and therefore worrying about it does not help or resolve the issues.

That is about it! This is the last pregnancy post, but more on being parents will come soon, in the meantime I will try and update you from the hospital bed as frequent as possible. I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything will be ok tomorrow and we will be able to introduce to you our princess as well as reveal the name we have chosen for her.

January 12, 2017

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…Hello 2017 – 1 week to go!

Well, hello 2017! Yes, I know it’s been a week since we started 2017, but I have been a)tired and b)busy because we have some big plans for 2017 and only a week until our baby comes. This is basically our (short) list of resolutions for 2017:

All we really want is a healthy, happy baby and an easy delivery!

That’s it! That is our one and only wish for 2017 because I think that the rest is just background music and hopefully it will be some calm and not-too-loud background music – new parents will know where I am going with this one. Naturally we want to be able to tick lots more things in 2017, but truth be told, by comparison to having a kid, everything else tends to fade. Obviously we did not go out much in the last week and therefore we have no new photos, but that is mainly due to that fact that lately I have been feeling very pregnant and lazy, but that is something that I will discuss in one last pregnancy-post next week as I really want to get as close to the finish line as possible to give you the best insight on the ninth month of pregnancy.

Yes, this time next week we will be holding our baby, if everything goes according to plan – and it has to! Well, actually, this time next week I will probably be in post-op while D will probably fall in love with another girl (aside from me) throughout a big window in the maternity. Yes, I have opted for a c-section because of some complications that might occur as well as because of the weather. Speaking of the weather, remember when I said that I really wanted to do a snow photoshoot this winter? Well it has only started to snow last night and now everything is white and perfect, but I do not have the energy in me to actually go out and take pics, so, unless this snow-y heaven lasts until February, we will probably have to tick that wish off our list in 2018.

A bit about the featured pic… That is exactly how we spent the night between 2016 and 2017 – Kids champagne and Netflix! And I have to tell you that it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, in fact it was actually lovely taking into consideration the fact that this was our first last New Year’s Eve spent in two – three if you take into consideration our dog. We also have big and quiet plans for this last weekend in two as we are well aware that for the next 18 years we will not have one single peaceful moment, so no posting throughout the weekend. I will, however post a list of things to-do before going to the hospital, as well as a detailed description of what the last month of pregnancy felt like before we will go on a bit of a vacation from writing as I have a feeling that between smelly diapers and puke we will have little to no time to actually put together blog materials. I do plan to keep you updated on everything but that literally means very short posts with little to none photos – just short updates to keep you interested.

January 6, 2017

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Goodbye 2016…

This was a full year for us… A very good one, but a very full one. I know that most people view 2016 as a bad year because of all the atrocities that happened all around the world and all the amazing people we lost, but I honestly think that it is more a matter of how we view everything surrounding us. Bad things happen all the time, people kill other people for the most ridiculous reasons all the time and this is happening ever since we have decided that we are the supreme species on this planet. The only difference right now is that fact that it is way easier to come into contact with news, information on what is happening in the world than it was before. Also, unfortunately, death is a natural thing and people should understand that is part of the cycle of life. We all lost loved ones throughout the years, and yes, a lot of great people passed this year, but maybe that is only due to the fact that we all knew those great people tanks to the fact that information started circulating easier from one point in history onward, and, honestly, we should be grateful that we all got to know and admire those great people that passed in 2016. People, famous people, died in 2015 as well, but maybe they were not as famous as the ones that passed in 2016. Do not get me wrong, I was saddened by each and every obituary that I read this year, but I was just as saddened by the innocent unknown people that died this year due to politics or religion just as I was also heartbroken about the close people that I lost this year. Again, death is a natural part of life and we should all accept it and stop blaming 2016 for all the people that we lost. I just needed to get this out there as I am so sick and tired of everyone just whining about 2016.

Moving along… 2016 was a good year for us. Most of last years resolutions were achieved and the ones that we did not achieve will probably be on the 2017 list and there is nothing wrong with that. At the beginning of every year, there is one thing that I always wish for just as the clock strikes midnight: that no matter what, everything will be ok in the end! This is my one constant wish for the new year ever since I can remember and by the time the year finishes it always is because you know what, this is what evolving is all about: learning from every experience and making sure that we do not make the same mistakes again! Eventually everything turns out to be ok in the end.

That said, I am not going to be a hypocrite and not acknowledge that this year was a very good one for the two of us despite what happened throughout the world. We got to safely travel (London, Madrid, Milano, Paris) quite a lot, we got to finally start this blog and most important of it all we managed to have a bundle of joy on the way. All of these things were on our list last year and we managed to tick all of them thus making us very happy. We also managed to evolve as a couple and right now I feel closer to D than ever and happier and I finally understood what evolving in a relationship means. This, on the long term means the most to me as I feel that we will be a very good team in raising our daughter which gives me a sense of peace and calm inside that I so need right now, this close to the delivery date.

Like I said, this was an amazing year for us and I am sure that 2017 will be a great one as well. The featured image of this post is a collage of the best 9 pics (most liked) on my Instagram, but it does not depict my favourite moments of 2016 therefore I felt the need to show a few of my favourite moments from this year at the end of the post. As you have probably guessed it, the next post will be about our 2017 resolutions!