Tomorrow Bea will be 10 weeks old

The last few weeks have passed in a wonderful baby haze

It has not all been easy

Times have been tough

Emotions all over the place

But much of that has not been directly caused by Bea

More by Esther and William

And Matilda Mae

We are okay though

Taking it day by day

Coming together as a family of six

Each finding our place

Our way

New routines

New relationships

New room and house layouts

Everything has changed and continues to change

In a wonderful bittersweet way

Bea is a beauty

She sleeps well but is yet to use any of the many beds she has

She sleeps in my arms

On Daddy

Or in her rather awesome Fisher Price swing!

Bea has now learned to smile

And to chuckle

She is a very sociable little thing

She struggles with a windy tummy

As all our children have

But she truly is delightful

We have fallen into a gentle rhythm

Between 9 and 3

Bea and me

We get very little done

But over the last few weeks

I have decided that for this short period of time

This is how it will be

Making the most of cuddles and snuggles

Chuckles and smiles

Me and Bea

I want to share with you

Some of the products that have made these weeks so special

And one magical thing

That never fails to make our darkest days bright

With such a pretty baby

I want Bea to have pretty nappies

David and I have talked about cloth nappies many times before

But with two babies then three in nappies all at the same time

It always felt too much

But with Bea

She is the only one

We decided we have to at least try

When I started talking about cloth

While pregnant with Bea

The very lovely Eve

From Baba and Boo

Agreed to help me

She has been a wonderful support

And because of her

Our cloth nappy journey has begun

Baba and Boo reusable nappies are so pretty

And perfectly practical, easy to use

We seem to go through a lot of them at the moment

Bea is a heavy wetter and poos a lot

We are using them on and off

And hope to start using them as our main nappies

From when Bea turns 12 weeks

She will be our little fluffy bum!

Bea and I have not really been out very much

We have truly been making the very most of our fourth trimester

When I do go out I mostly use the pram

Bea adores her Ooba Kimono

She is happy in the carry cot

Staring at the floral pattern

It is great using a pram for the school run

Esther and William love showing off their baby sister

(The one we have here)

And they proudly help to push the pram home

We also use the pram for nap times

So that I can play with Esther and William outside

While Bea naps

The Kimono is also great for shopping

The basket is quite roomy for storing things

And Baby Bea is high up so I can talk to her

Recently I have, without meaning to,

Started coordinating my clothes with the pram!

I have a lovely fluffy grey cardigan

A dusky pink and cream floral top

And a very pretty pink Snoob!

I have been given two Snoobs to review

A pink and purple

Now that the cooler weather has started

I am loving wearing them

They are great for keeping out the autumn chill

They look pretty

And they enable me to feed Bea discreetly in public

The Snoob has so much material

You can feed baby in any position

I tend to wrap the Snoob around Bea

And if she falls asleep at the boob

She is almost swaddled and so keeps warm

The material is really soft

And has a cosy feel

I adore my Snoobs

And will tell you more about them

And show you more pics

As I use them more

When it is not possible to use the Ooba

When we go where no pram can go

Or when Bea wants to be close but I need to get stuff done

I wear her

Bea, as with all our children, likes to snuggle chest to chest

Heart to heart

Out and about I use the Manduca

It is sturdy and Bea feels protected and secure

Around the house we use The Babasling

It is so easy to get on and off

Comfortable to sit down in once Bea is asleep and jobs are done

It is also easy to feed in

We have a breathable Babasling Lite

In a beautiful bright pink

It is lovely to wear for a more dressy affair

I wore it recently to a christening with my Snoob

And will probably do the same again for Bea’s baptism this Saturday

David also likes to wear Bea

He has always worn all of our children

With Bea he is using the Stokke MyCarrier Cool

Which seems to be working well

And makes him look like a superhero

A full review coming soon

Another Stokke product we have just started using

Is the Stokke Steps

This is an incredibly clever and well designed highchair

It is suitable from birth and grows with your baby through childhood

The chair starts life with a newborn baby in bouncer formation

The Stokke bouncer can be used alone as a luxurious traditional bouncer

Or can be attached to the Steps highchair to bring baby to the table

Bea is just now at 9 weeks starting to enjoy sitting in the chair

And being part of our family meal times

She is beginning to have that fascination babies have

With people eating food

The Stokke Steps bouncer means Bea can be with us at the table

It also means she can sit in the kitchen while I do chores

At a height where she can see what is going on

We have not used the Stokke set loads

But I think it is about to become one of our most used baby items

As Bea becomes more and more alert

And finds her place in the family

Bea is becoming quite a little character now

Almost always smiling and chatting

She saves her best smiles and most animated chats for Daddy

But she really is a sociable little thing

She chats to walls

Loves looking at lights

And adores her black and white mobile

She squeals and gurgles and giggles

And kicks around excitedly

When hanging with her mobile friend

The mobile is a Wimmer-Ferguson Infant Stim Mobile from Manhattan Toys

You can buy it from Amazon for £20

I think it may be one of the best £20 I have ever spent

The mobile hangs over Bea’s changing mat

So keeps her busy during changes and while I get her dressed

She will also play there long enough for me to pop to the loo

And make a cup of tea

She loves the contrasting pictures and patterns

The baby friendly black and white design

A great first toy for a newborn baby

Bea is still at the stage where black and white images

Grab and hold her attention

She absolutely loves her Fisher Price Sensory Stages Bouncer

The toy arch is double sided

The first side has black, white and red toys

High contrast patterns, pictures and design

Bea loves it

And happily chats and bounces away

Gurgling and giggling to one of the ladybird characters

We have not put batteries into the bouncer yet

We have not needed to

She loves the movement of the bouncer she is able to make herself

She loves looking at the toy bar

And trying to bat the toys

She is a happy bouncer baby

When Bea has finished playing

She likes to relax a while in her Fisher Price Swing

This swing is wonderful

It is enormous and takes up a lot of floor space in our house

But it is a huge hit with Bea

It is the only place she will stay asleep for longer than five minutes

That is not on a person

She loves the gentle swinging motion

When she wakes she does not cry

She is happy to recognise her friends

Elephant and Lion

Smile and chat away

I love the design of the swing

And the bright rainbow colours

Being a rainbow baby

Bea has something of a rainbow theme going on

Including loving all things Frugi

On Saturday at Bea’s christening

Esther, William, Bea and I will all be wearing Frugi clothes

And we will all be wearing Slugs and Snails tights

It is going to be a rainbow filled day

If you love rainbows too then make sure you check out

The autumn and winter collection from Frugi

So there we have it

Weeks 6 – 9 with Baby Bea

Weeks 10 – 12 will be the last of our fourth trimester

The last before we try to work out some kind of routine

The clocks will go back

Bea will be christened

Esther and William will enjoy half term

I hope you will be continue to join us

And see how we all get on

And read about the products making our lives a little simpler

As Baby Bea grows

As we work together

Raising our Rainbow

This post features a range of products some that we have bought, some gifts and others we have been given to review. All review products will have their own review feature posted on the blog.