Month: August 2014

Addicted to my iPhone

My name’s Heledd and I’m addicted to my smartphone…

I think it all started when baby W was a wee newborn and we’d have some epic feeds… 1 or 2 hours glued to the sofa or bed and as much as I love staring at his gorgeous face , I needed something else… Something to keep me awake…

Scroll, scroll, scroll, swipe, swipe, swipe……

He’s now nearly 4 months old and I feel addicted…. I am constantly checking Facebook and twitter! Facebook used to be where I kept in touch and up-to-date with friends. It still is but now I’m also a member of about 10 mummy groups where there’s always dramas, people to help, people to ask for advice…

Ditto twitter, i set up a new account to go with this blog, and so my feed is 99% parenting-related, obviously v useful to a new mum like me! I can check both a gazillion times in a few minutes, and I can guarantee that not much will have it happened since I last checked!

But like I said, I guess it’s habit… A habit that’s just gotten worse (like most habits I guess?)

This all sounds petty… Why does it matter?

Before W came along I’d always said I wouldn’t want my children addicted to iPads and phones like so many kids seem to be. So with me being addicted to my phone, I’m not giving him the best start am I ?! When I mentioned my addiction in baby group last week, a mum to a 6month old said her baby was already wanting to/asking to play with her phone. This mum, and another, both admitted to sneaking a look at their phone while feeding/ playing with their babies, like I do!

Each to their own, but for me, it’s laziness… I might have messages that I haven’t replied to for weeks, but scrolling and swiping are so easy… So lazy! I don’t want baby W to inherit a lazy habit… and I don’t want to miss a thing while he’s awake! Don’t get me wrong – I’m  sure he will end up playing with iPads and iPhones – but in moderation, not all the time like his mummy!

Today it stops. My challenge for the week ahead is to leave my phone in another room to the one I’m in. I will only check my phone when baby is napping (so about 3 times a day) I will check it when daddy comes home and takes over for an hour. I will then check it again before bed. This will be similar to my blogging rules – I only blog when baby W is napping in the day… Evening time is time for me and my other half and weekends are family time.

I don’t really check it when I’m out and about – it’s more of a sofa habit.

Find out in a week how I get on… Will my right hand hurt any less? Will I miss out on anything? Will I feel like I’m missing a limb?!

Weeks 15-16 of being a mummy – baby’s first night in a hotel…. and first tooth!!!

Well the last 2 weeks has been a game of two halves… the first week my OH was off work, the second week we had baby’s first tooth cut through and with it all the fun of teething… way earlier than planned! Read on…

Week off

So yes my other half had a week off last week, and it was lovely. His job is busy, and he’s studying for a professional qualification on the side… so we both managed to catch up with some much-needed rest (I finally got rid of that lingering cold!!), he caught up with some of his studies…. and most importantly he got to spend some quality time with baby W especially when he’s at his cutest, full of smiles and chats in the mornings!

The week flew by, my parents were also holidaying nearby so we saw them a few times… we went down to Cardiff Bay one day, quaint Cowbridge another day… and we also took W for his first night in a hotel!

First night in a hotel

We didn’t go far, we’d got a living social deal for us and my OH’s parents to stay at the Court Colman manor.

Gorgeous place, little bit shabby on the sides but for the £50 a night we paid I couldn’t complain! So we did our usual bath and bottle routine with W, and once he was asleep in his basket we carried him down the restaurant and he slept through our dinner – phew!

While that bit was great, he still woke up twice for his nightfeeds and we realised then that we probably wouldn’t go abroad on holiday til he’s sleeping through all night – the 3 of us confined in a hotel room for a week could be pretty stressful! We might go to Center Parcs or somewhere where we get a bit of space!

These were the views from our room in the morning – gorgeous 🙂

View from our room in Court Colman manor

Mummy’s second big night out

I first went out on a big night out when W was just 7 weeks old, on a work party! Last weekend I went out with some of my best friends and had a great time – I took W over to see them for brunch, then we regrouped for afternoon tea in Park Plaza later in the afternoon although it was afternoon tea with a twist…. Gentleman’s afternoon tea…. so miniature burgers, Yorkshire pud, scotch egg etc  – it was delicious! Food, chats, champagne, cocktails and lager – great mix and I stayed relatively sensible so I avoided a hangover the next day 🙂

Gentleman's afternoon tea, Park Plaza, Cardiff
Gentleman’s afternoon tea, Park Plaza, Cardiff
Ladies enjoying afternoon tea :)
Ladies enjoying afternoon tea :0

Baby’s first tooth – Teething at 15 weeks!

After that lovely week, it was back to a reality with a bang: last Sunday we were with both sets of grandparents and W was proper grouchy. Either that night or the following night, for the first time he wouldn’t settle for bed, took an hour longer than normal.

Tuesday morning he was over at his nan’s and she text us to say his thirst tooth had come through! Haven’t managed to take a photo yet but it’s a tiny little white lump, with the one next to it peeping through too now!

He’s been chomping on his hands, toys and anything else he can get his gums on for a few weeks now but expected his first tooth on a few months time….

He’s been up and down with the pain all week. It’s been really tough so many times this week where he’s been in inconsolable pain and there’s not much I can do! He wants to be picked up a lot more than usual, and calpol and bonjela both seem to help a little bit, as does rubbing his gums…. poor thing 😦  

Some of our teething kit!Some of our teething kit!

Other developments – jabs and weigh-in

He had his second jabs this week, screamed for a second but was fine after and a lot sleepier than normal. While we were there we got him weighed for the first time since he was 8 weeks old… He’s now 13lb 8, and back to the lower 25% percentile which is where he was as a newborn., so the health visitor was happy with that (we won’t mention the things she was unhappy with… That’s a whole other blog post! Health visitors tsk!)

He’s still comfy in his 0-3 month old clothes. More presents this update include a knitted hoody, and slipper socks  from his mamgu (my mum); books from his grandparents, family friend and my bestie, and a White Company sleepsuit from his Nanna’s friend, oh and some Mothercare vouchers from a friend. We have so many vouchers to spend – perfect for some nice Christmassy outfits I reckon as we have 3-6 already sorted!

The only things we bought were the teething things – exciting! No other news – yoga and swimming both on a summer break, we finished baby massage this week which I will blog about… and we went to our usual Wednesday baby group where he loved playing with the playgyms!

 

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Weeks 13-14 of being a mummy.. first laugh and formula milk

Just a quick update – I’m still fighting off a cold/chest infection that I’ve now had for 3 weeks… Leaves no energy for a luxury like blogging!

Baby W

After hitting a big milestone in the last update (rolling over, which he hasn’t done since!) he hit another one this week… He laughed for the first time! 

I didn’t even see it as I was bouncing him, facing forward in the relaxation part of our yoga class. Our teacher was bouncing another baby and was pulling faces… And he just couldn’t stop giggling! It was the cutest sound 🙂

Things he loves

Faces– he’s well into people’s faces at the moment and smiles a lot especially when funny faces are pulled!

playgym mirror – likewise, he likes checking out his own face 🙂 

owl on his bouncer – loves chatting to the owl that lives on his fisherprice bouncer!

comforter – he’s still obsessed with his comforter and munches on it… A lot!

Keeping busy – I’ve learnt through the baby massage classes that he gets bored pretty easily of being in the same place/position for too long! 

Routine

In my last update we were just starting our bath, bottle, bed routine. Our aim was to calm him down as he was quite often grouchy in the evenings/nights; and also we were hoping to get him to sleep through a bit longer.

It’s worked well so far, he’s asleep by 7, we dreamfeed him about 11, then he still wakes up for at least 2 nightfeeds but most of the time he’s chilled about it and goes back down easily.

It’s lovely having our evenings back, being able to watch TV in peace or have a bath, all in the knowledge that he’s more chilled because of it! 

It is tough for daddy though who sees him a lot less during the week now. Oh, and it’s also very tough at times trying to keep him awake from 4 to 6 so that our routine works! 

Next week will be interesting as daddy has the week off and we’re hoping to go away for a few nights, I think routine will be out the window while we’re having dinner etc… We’ll see what happens then!

He has roughly 3 daytime naps, about half hour each time – mad to think that a few weeks ago most of his days were spent sleeping! It’s absolutely lovely spending all day with him awake, chatting to him, playing with him, pulling funny faces at him but it means a lot less ‘me’ time in the day and I’ve learnt to do everything so much quicker – no faffing about! A half hour nap means a choice between a shower, laundry, dishes, catching up with messages, blogging etc etc…

Feeding

You’ll know that I’ve been lucky enough to breastfeed without problem…. Until now…

My milk supply has slowed down a lot, I think due to this ongoing cold. It’s not too bad when he’s on the breast, but we’re trying to express for the evening feeds so that his dad can feed him, and I had a work keeping in touch day this week where supplies were perilously low. I’ve been trying to keep hydrated and eating plenty of oats (good for milk production apparently) but in the end we got some Aptamil to help us out and to make sure we always have some milk here for him.

He’s had it a couple of times now and took to it fine. I had mixed feelings… After breastfeeding exclusively for 3 months I was keen to try and hit 6 months… But ultimately it was about him, not me, I feel like this will keep him happy while my body fights this infection and gets back to normal! 

Purchases and presents

No time for pics but I have bought Sophie the giraffe and baby nail scissors for W. (have not been very successful in cutting his fingernails with my nail scissors!) 

He was given a HUGE bag of 3-6 month clothes from my friend Carys so we won’t need to buy anything else in that size which is fab and has probably saved us a fortune – so grateful!

For me, I treated myself to a scarf covered in cats from a local gift shop, and coral shoes from Dune – expensive but I HAD to have them! (to be fair I don’t think I’ve bought new shoes for at least a year now!!)

 

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