Moving house to another province with a new born baby...

By around about 6 weeks we were into a better routine and I was very comfortable with baby and started to feel ready again to take him out.

It is a huge adjustment to take a newborn from the comfort of your home and expose him to the outside world, especially after him being so unwell.

You are super paranoid and you become like a sneeze/ cold detector and are suddenly more aware about your hygiene as well as others around you.

We had to prepare ourselves and have his bag ready for going out. I also carried my feeding pillow. My son cried alot to go in the car seat at first, he only liked it when the car was moving fast. You have to be super aware of who is around you and also make sure your own personal belongings are safe.

If you are going shopping you have to decide how much you are going to buy and how will you carry it all and a newborn. So, I had to plan the time of going out. Usually we would go out just after a feed so that he was comfortable and I would try to keep the going out to a maximum of 2 hours so that we could be back in time for the next feed.

Being at home the whole day alone with a new baby can become a bit much so it really does help to go out and to take baby with you too.

We were also preparing for our big move to another province so I had begun the packing process. I started with a list of what we needed to take and what had to be packed urgently and last. I used to box things when he was asleep and tried to do it mostly during the day to avoid excessive dust and dirt at night. He was very good and actually slept through all the noise and that is how I wanted him to be- not to be startled by every sound he hears. You actually have to label items as you pack away so that you know the contents of each box. It is also a good time to evaluate what you need and what you don't need.

I started packing all the items that we use less often first and then the essentials towards the end.

Many of the larger items we had to leave for the moving company to come and box when we were not there. We were very blessed to have my mum in law to over see this for us while we were away.

By the 2nd week of April around about 9 weeks old we took our first flight to Cape Town. I didn't really even get a chance to say goodbye to our place as we were so rushed when we left and it was our first time travelling with a baby.

You learn a lot about yourself by packing up and moving the life that you once had and starting a new one with a new life in a whole new place. Emotional, exciting, scary and yet uncertain all at the same time...