ASOS high shine leggings | Iris & Ink cashmere jumper | Saint Laurent tee (similar here) | Gucci metallic loafers | Chanel bag | Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses | Ben Amun earrings
Good morning my loves! Hope you all had a good week. Mine was HECTIC and I am so happy to roll my suitcases out of the door today and fly to Italy for our final holiday before number two comes along. We always like to be a bit crazy so we have booked a ski trip to our favourite resort St.Moritz for the end of January – even if for some reason I can’t ski I can still enjoy the scenery and that gorgeous fresh alpine air. Have no idea how I will co-ordinate breastfeeding with skiing but I’m sure I will work it out at the time! Anyways that’s a while away and right now I am very much focused on my two weeks in Puglia. I have heard so many incredible things and seen so many beautiful images so I can’t wait to go an experience it all. As many of you who follow me know we had actually booked to do a road trip from San Francisco to LA now in September. We go to LA most years and love it there but what we really wanted was to experience the wonderful national parks and do some hikes. Hiking at 7 months pregnant – I know what was I thinking? There comes a point in life where you have to be realistic and so we decided last month that going on a two week road trip, with a 14 month old baby, with jet lag (I always get THE WORST jet lag when we go to LA and fall asleep at every dinner – lucky husband of mine,) with me being 7.5 months pregnant just wouldn’t be what you call a relaxing holiday. So we changed our flights to go to Italy instead which is perfect as we actually have a friends birthday party there tomorrow and so lots of our closest friends will be around too. We have booked a villa for a week and then are moving to Borgo Ernazia – again I have heard such amazing things about the hotel so I am thrilled!
Someone asked me the other day about how we plan on preparing Mila for her sisters arrival. The absolute truth is I DONT KNOW! Its the first time that we have to prepare our child for the arrival of a sibling and so I don’t have a formula for it. We are in a way already preparing her – we tell her every day that she is going to be a big sister, we let her stroke my stomach and we teach her to be gentle and hug (she hugs all her soft toys now in the most heart-warming way) but she is only 14 months so how much of it she actually understands I am not sure. But Mila is an incredible sweet soul and I have no doubt she will be an amazing big sister. Plus I am sure on some level she does know. She often cuddles up to my stomach with her face right next to it and I always feel that somewhere there is already a sibling bond between the two of them. I’m not sure if I ever shared this story but the day before I found out that I was pregnant with number 2, my husband and I were lying on our bed with Mila just before her bedtime and she just kept staring at my stomach and smiling. I didn’t know that I was pregnant and I even said to my husband at one point why does she keep doing that! Well I truly think she knew before I did and the next day I did a pregnancy test and what a surprise it was positive.
For me what is most important is that Mila always feels included. I already touched upon it on Instagram but as excited as I am about having a second baby, Mila is my first born and there is something so special about that and there are moments when I get pangs of sadness that it will never again be just us. I think that is natural. I know that I am giving her one of the greatest gifts that life has to offer in a sibling but I can’t help but feel at times that I am taking away from her too. So its important for us that we constantly let her be part of things. Let her feel involved in taking care of her sister so that she becomes protective of her and feels that we are one big family. That she never ever feels like an outsider. Of COURSE she will feel jealous at times – how could you not? But I will always make sure that I carve out some one on one time for Mila and I (and her daddy will do the same) so that she never feels sidelined. I have no idea what it will be like to be a mother of two and some days I think OMG its going to be crazy. But I remind myself that the best thing I did when I became a mother for the first time was just to go with the flow. Our home is filled with so much love and so many people have told me that the second one sort of just slots into your routine and life (rather than it being something that totally turns your world upside down) so I have faith that it will be just as if not even more magical than the first time around. And of course I am SO excited to meet this second little human I have growing inside of me and to learn EVERYTHING about her.
And now onto a quick pregnancy update. I am almost 30 weeks and some days I wish for it to speed up so I can meet my second baby but most days I want it to slow down because it is just going too fast. When you have a baby or child to look after you will never have the same amount of time to focus on every single bit of your pregnancy like you did first time around. It doesn’t make it any less amazing. Its just different. I am still sick but it has become such a non event now – just a minor inconvenience. I know some people moan about being pregnant but for me I truly consider being pregnant one of the biggest blessings and privileges in life, so even though this time around it has been far from smooth, I would and will (if my body allows) do it countless more times and I will never sit there complaining about the less fun things because I know how lucky I am. And how could you not find it magical? This little girl is SO active just like her older sister always moving around and kicking me – mostly at night haha! She always (just like her sister) stops moving when her daddy puts his hand on my stomach (I like to think its his calming influence.) Everyday I think about what she will look like (rarely do siblings look the same) and what her personality will be like. I am still deciding whether or not i want to do a bump shoot this time around – I didn’t with Mila and I always kind of regretted it but I just don’t want the photos to be cheesy in any way so I need to find a photographer I love and take some that are a bit more edgy. Even if its just for me. And my husband. I will start doing up the nursery once we return from Italy – Mila’s room is all grey and white but because I want the girls to totally have their own identities I will do something different for the second. Maybe even throw in some pink (I know – who would have ever thought I would do that but here I am wearing pink more than I ever thought I would be!) Name is yet to be decided but we have a few ideas so I am hoping by the time she is born we will have one confirmed. Oh and I had my second hypnobirthing session with @stilletosandstrollers – now its just about finding the time to actually listen to the relaxation recordings and going through my affirmations but you know what? It would be great to have a full blown water birth totally drug free but even if the hypnobirthing helps just a little bit with the pain management and I end up getting an epidural who cares. At this stage with baby number two I don’t set myself goals. What I hope for more than anything is that my labour takes a natural course and that I don’t have to get induced again. And that the labour doesn’t happen TOO fast and I end up giving birth on the kitchen floor lol. Anyways I feel confident and calm and I am looking forward to experiencing it all over again.
Right I am off to finalise packing and then we will be heading to the airport! Will definitely be doing a big blog post once I am back updating you all on my trip to Puglia xx