We can’t believe it has now been two years since our epic Euro adventure.
This day in 2014 saw us tick a massive item off our bucket list – seeing the Eiffel Tour. We also ate snails, visited the Sacre Coeur and the iconic Moulin Rouge. It was the first real opportunity to sight see on the trip as the first few days were taken up mostly with being on planes, trains or automobiles.
We are edging closer and closer to Jesse’s first birthday. Eek!
His tenth month saw the end of breastfeeding, more teeth and a weird love of peas.
Our bub turning 9 months feels like a milestone in itself. He’s been out in the world for the same amount of time he was in my belly.
Two more little white teeth poked through pink gums this month. But not without some tantrums and sleepless nights.
One of Jesse’s new favourite games is to crawl around the house while being ‘chased’ by someone.
Every few seconds he turns back to check he’s still being followed and giggles loudly with glee upon seeing his chaser hot on his heels.
Happy Friday!
So last week, Jesse had his first swimming lesson… And he absolutely loved it!
My sister-in-law Tamika, is no stranger to the pool. She is a dual Olympian for synchronised swimming, so when we started talking about when would be a good time to start some swimming lessons and who we could go to for lessons, Tamika was the perfect choice!
Saves us getting into the pool to teach him. Especially considering Kaine isn’t a keen swimmer.
Jesse really started to enjoy it toward the end of his lesson, and he started to get the hang of being dunked under water. As you can see in the video, he starts to realise that at the count of three comes the dunking… And he makes the cutest little face in preparation.
I bet were going to end up with one of those kids that loves the water!
Last month saw our little man go from ‘baby’ to crawler within a matter of days.
He is now exploring, climbing and getting into mischief at every opportunity. Don’t turn away for a minute because when you turn back he’ll be gone (or climbing up your leg).
His toys don’t seem quite so fun any more now that he can reach things he’s not allowed to play with (blinds, cords, draws, playstation, the cat, the bin….you get the idea).
God help us….we now have a mobile child.
Yup, Jesse has started to crawl. Well it’s more like a break dance move than a crawl but never the less he can move, fast.
And it is the cat that he has set his sights on. Needless to say she is not too impressed about it.
Okay, so it’s Saturday but better late than never right?
Jesse’s seventh month was quite eventful with two of the most adorable little teeth you’ve ever seen making an appearance as well as mastering how to sit up on his own.
We had a few hiccups whilst recording the video but hey, they do say never work with babies or animals!
Enjoy.
Before we got sucked into the void that was Christmas and New Year’s we recorded Jesse’s six month milestones video.
We reckon it was our hardest month yet that we’ve experienced as parents. There were tears and tantrums a plenty and that was just from us!
There was a leap, teething, bottle refusal, cluster feeds, night waking (more so than usual) and a screaming match before bed almost every night.
But, we made it through. Check out the video below.
What kept you sane during the tough months?
So we have been filming and uploading daily vlogs to our YouTube channel now for nearly a week. And wow… what a week it has been. I mean, who would have thought that daily vlogging could be so exciting but at the same time so tiring…
To give you some background, we decided to take part in what has become to be known as “Vlogmas” around the YouTube traps, after seeing some of our favourite YouTubers decide to take part in it. So what is it? Well essentially, it’s committing to upload a vlog (video blog for those who are uninitiated) style video to YouTube every day, for a nominated period over Christmas.
Awesome! That sounds like a great idea! That’s definitely something we should get on board with. Let’s call ours… ‘The 12 Days of Vlogmas’. Surely 12 days of videos won’t be too hard to accomplish.
Well apparently, as we ourselves have found out, it can be a lot harder than it seems!
I can safely say that I now have new found respect and admiration for the daily vloggers that we watch on YouTube. Especially those who haven’t missed a single day of uploading in years. I don’t know how they manage it.
Uploading daily videos to YouTube brings with it a lot of work… as we have since found out.
There’s remembering to charge the camera batteries each night and then making sure you take the cameras with you each day. There’s trying to keep your videos interesting for people to watch. There’s filming the footage you want to use (which can come with some public embarrassment) and then there’s the editing and upload process.
It can be exhausting. Especially due to the fact that we also have the responsibility of caring for a 6 month old that demands so much of our attention at the moment.
But in saying all that, we were well aware heading into ‘The 12 Days of Vlogmas’, of the work that goes into creating daily vlogs for YouTube. By that, I mean that we are no strangers to daily vlogging. We did daily vlogs whilst on our Euro Trip (watch our Euro Trip playlist here). The difference however, is that we were on holidays… we were relaxed… we were baby-less… and we had a lot of time to do whatever we wanted.
But that said, after the initial shock to the system of having to edit and upload a vlog everyday, I now find myself getting more and more excited during the editing process. I find that our editing skills are getting better and better as we do more and more videos. And I am getting more and more excited about what adventures we will get to film the next day.
I find that as we get deeper into our Vlogmas journey, I am finding pleasure in the fact that we are challenging ourselves to come up with new and more interesting things to do and film each day. And I love that it’s getting us out and about doing things we normally wouldn’t do.
I love the fact that we are filming, even if it’s just for archival purposes, our days in the lead up to Jesse’s first Christmas. How good is it going to be for Jesse to watch these videos back when he’s a first time dad going through the same thing with his first born!
I love that we are constantly improving our filming style and our vision for better shots. And that we are constantly improving our video editing skills. I love the fact that I am enjoying the editing process more and more as I continue to experiment and evolve and create better content that I am really proud of.
Despite the fact that ‘The 12 Days of Vlogmas’ has been overwhelming at times… I absolutely love doing it.
And I cannot wait to see what tomorrow video will be!!!
not so secret life of us 