Everyone loves a changing bag post, I meant to write this MONTHS ago but finally found a spare 5 mins!
So, for the first 6 months of baby W’s life, we survived with the free changing bag you get with the Boots advantage card – it’s worth getting, it’s very handy and very unisex… but it’s a bit plain and I did fancy getting a ‘fancier’ changing bag but I’m not a ‘bag person’ so…
I love the Pink Lining ‘yummy mummy’ changing bags, but I thought they were a bit too girly for my other half to carry around! Everyone raves about Pacapod bags but they’re a bit too big for my liking. Everyone also raves about Nova Harley bags but I don’t really like changing bags that look like handbags… I then fell in love with Cath Kidston changing bags but thought they were a bit pricey…..
So while I was mooching in Next one day I stumbled upon this gorgeous thing…
Changing bag from Next
It’s only £30 and I think it looks a bit Cath-Kidston-esque 🙂
Next spotty changing bag
As well as the price tag and the pattern/design, I love the size – it’s nice and compact. I do think it would be too small for a lot of parents, who might prefer the larger size bags – but I always prefer travelling light! Another bonus point is that it’s wipe-clean!
So what do I carry around in it?….
Changing bag essentials
Since day 1 we’ve always used Pampers nappies (we tried Aldi’s and Boots too but Pampers always kept him the driest!) and Huggies wet wipes. We found Bepanthen to be the best nappy cream, so we always carry a tube of this around… and a muslin (this starry one is from M&S) and some nappy bags.
Spare outfits!
In the early days, we’d always carry a spare outfit in case of a poo-nami! These days it’s usually because he’s covered himself in food! Either way I also try and make sure the spare outfit is something quite easy to change him into like a romper suit rather than a full outfit that would take up more space, and more time – he’s a wriggler!
Essential changing bag toys!
We can’t go anywhere without his teddy comforter (we’ve had to buy a few spares from Matalan!) and I always chuck in a couple of other toys e.g. a Lamaze one, or this crinkly teething elephant.. or of course baby favourite Sophie le Giraffe!
Mummy’s essentials
If I’m travelling light then I’ll ditch my handbag and pop my things in to the changing bag – my phone (not in the photo as it’s taking the photo ;)), keys with my NYC keyring, my Ted Baker wallet (bought in a discount store of course!) and hand sanitiser!
The bag fits in all of the above, and of course comes with a changing mat… here’s some more pics so you can see the compactness/space….
Oh that reminds me, as well as the matching changing mat it also comes with a matching bottle holder… we usually carry a bottle with us, whether it’s for milk or water… and I’ve now started carrying some form of snacks too e.g. some Organix baby crisps.
I love it – I thought it was also relatively unisex but my other half disagreed! He’s more than happy to carry it around regardless though 🙂 So:
Pros
Design
Price
Wipe-clean
Compact
Matching changing mat and bottle holder
Has 1 big pocket and a couple of smaller pockets
Cons
The only one I can think of is that the lack of space might not suit everyone
What do you think of it? I always love nosing at other people’s changing bag posts, so feel free to leave a link to yours in the comments section 🙂
You’ll know from baby W’s early days, we kept busy going to groups and lessons – they massively helped both of us so I thought I’d share my Top 9 with you.
Swimkidz swimming lessons
I’m a bit scared of water, and I never wanted baby W to be… so he’s been having swimming lessons since he was 6 weeks old! We’re now on our 3rd term, and we’ve already seen such progress – he’s happy to be dunked underwater, he’s learning how to ‘hold on’ and he’s kicking his legs and splashing his arms around, and will happily push himself into the water! There are a few other bonuses too:
we do the classes on a Saturday morning and so this is nice daddy/baby bonding time!
baby W might be small be is quite strong – I can’t prove it but I wonder if the lessons have helped his strength?
he enjoys bathtime and I wonder if that’s to do with the lessons!?
We now pay £90 for a term of 10 lessons, quite a bit cheaper than their main competitor Waterbabies (apparently the lessons are very similar). Swimkidz operate around the UK, find your nearest class here but there are also lots of other companies that offer this in Cardiff and the area – I’ve heard of cheaper ones running at Howells school, and Hebron Hall in Dinas Powys – it’s worth asking around and choosing the one most convenient for you in terms of day and location!
2. Baby Massage
Baby W was about 2 months old when I took him to baby massage classes at Funky Little Chickens in Cardiff. He was going through a grouchy phase (similar to colic) so I thought this would help. He would never lie still for the lessons, he was like the naughty baby of the class (!) so we didn’t actually get to practise much while we were there.
So why I am I recommending it? Well Fiona is a lovely, warm, soothing teacher – and she gave us handouts of all the massages, so I started using these at home. As well as focusing on different parts of the body every week, she also gave us massages for particular needs e.g. colic, colds, teething etc – these have all come in handy as and when we’ve needed them! She also took us through some nursery rhyme exercises – these are fab and baby W loves them! I’m sure similar things can be found online, but I learn best face-to-face so for us this was worthwhile 🙂 I think we paid £50 for 6 lessons. Again, there are lots of other options around, but I can highly recommend Fiona!
3. Mother and baby yoga
I’ve practised yoga on and off for a few years, including when I was pregnant so I couldn’t wait to try mother and baby yoga! Everyone I asked recommended Emma from Pure Yoga and I would definitely agree – she was fab! I took baby W every week from around 3 months old until I had to go back to work when he was 8 months old. Classes cost £32 for 4 (she runs classes in Bridgend as well as Canton) and last 1.5 hours – each class does stretches for mum, stretches for mum including baby, the baby section with lots of nursery rhymes, time for a chat and then time for relax!
Our mother and baby yoga group (photo taken from PureYoga Facebook page)
This really helped my achy back, and baby W enjoyed the rhymes (when he was in the right mood!). It was always a really nice bunch of mums there and one of the things I loved most about the class is that ‘anything goes’ – because it was an hour and a half long there was always at least one screaming baby so you didn’t mind if it was yours! Now I’m back in work I really miss this class and I really need to get back into yoga!
4. Tinytalk baby sign classes
For 10 weeks from around 6 months to 8 months old, we did a course of TinyTalk baby sign classes (I think it cost about £50) on a friend’s recommendation who said it had come in really handy when her daughter was too young to talk but was trying to communicate. The class teaches about 5 words/signs every week, through singing and singing! Then there’s always a dance, storytime and singing which baby W loved – lots to take in! The second half of the hour is then time for babies to play with a range of toys and time for mums to have a cuppa – again, always a really nice group of mums and baby W loved all the sensory toys they had there!
Unfortunately I hardly remember any of the signs and I didn’t practise enough at home, but I might buy their book/DVD as baby W is getting into the babbling stage so it should help him communicate a bit easier 🙂 They operate around the UK and there is an alternative called Sing and Sign.
5. Totsplay – massage, yoga, baby sign and play
Confession – we didn’t do Totsplay so I can’t truly recommend it BUT I met LOTS of mums who were doing it who all recommended it and basically it sounds like a combination of classes 2- 4 above i.e. baby massage, yoga, signing and lots of play. I’m not sure how much it costs but I think you have to sign up for about 6 weeks or so. They operate around the UK – find out more here.
6. Mother and baby groups – Bambino’s and Jellybabies
From when baby W was about 3 months old, I tried to go to a mother and baby group every week – these are just informal groups where babies can play with play gyms and toys while the mums chat. I went to Jellybabies in Taff’s Well every Wednesday where a couple of friends would usually come too, this was a small, more intimate group. I’d go to Bambino’s in Danescourt every fortnight and this was much bigger – lots more toys, and lots more babies! Bambino’s has since finished but there’s another one in Danescourt on a Wednesday morning instead.
Us at Bambino’s group (photo taken from their Facebook page)
There seems to be a group running in most neighbourhoods – whether it’s through a church, or a breastfeeding support group. (I’ve heard good things about Thornhill new mums group, and BabyBeans in All Nations Church). They have a few plus points as well as the chance to meet other mums and the baby playing with new toys:
cheap (they usually ask for £1-£3 donation)
you don’t need to sign up – you just go along if you feel like it on the day
Sometimes they might have ‘taster sessions’ where people like TinyTalk would go in and do a free sample – so you get to try classes before singing up
The main drawback is that lots of mums are put off as they feel anxious, too shy to talk to other mums etc. A few times I went and didn’t speak to any other mums – but I just played with baby W – it was a nice bit of playtime with no distractions like TV and my phone!
Now baby W is 10 months old and crawling about the place, he is ready to check out all the various Softplay places in the area – I heard that Jump in Llanishen, and Coconuts in Barry are both good for W’s age group… but so far we’ve only ventured to the lovely Canton community hall – not a softplay centre as such, but twice a day, every weekday they are open with lots of soft equipment for babies and toddlers to clamber over – we’ve only managed to go once but I was very impressed considering it’s just a council-run centre – we will definitely go again soon! Details here
I knew that Cardiff central library ran these, but I didn’t go into the city centre much with baby W – so it was only a few weeks ago I took him to get his library card (and free pack of books!) from our local library in Fairwater and found that they run a storytime every Thursday morning.
We managed to twice before I had to start working on Thursdays, so gutted I didn’t know about it before – it’s within walkable distance, free and baby W loved it – a story, instrument and singing section and the chance to play with books!
Mums in the know lists most of these classes but ours wasn’t on there (it’s already so popular they don’t want to promote it!) so it’s worth checking with your local library to see if they run anything similar!
9. Messy play
This is ace – on Mondays and Thursdays there’s a class in Tesco Western Avenue where your baby (and you!) pay £4.50 to get totally messy for an hour – we got covered in baby-friendly shaving foam, paint, colourful spaghetti and flour!
It’s worth every penny if it means you don’t have to make this mess and clear it up at home!! Unfortunately we can only make it now if our swimming class isn’t running but we’ll try and go as often as we can – great sensory/exploring play! Jade Messy Play’s Facebook page is here and also we’ve found a new one since writing this – it runs every fortnight in Radyr, just outside Cardiff – the Creative little hands Facebook page is here.
Hope you found this post useful? If you did, I’d love it if you could share it with other parents on Twitter/Facebook, thanks! You can follow me on Twitter @yummyblogger
If you found any other useful classes and groups please leave a comment to help other new mums!
Now I’m changing him 2-3 times a day as mealtimes are so messy, it gave me a good excuse to go a little bit mad and get some new clothes (instead of increasing the amount of washing we do!!). Also, I’ve loved dressing him in jeans but now he’s crawling I wanted to get him some leggings to make it easier for him to move around…. So first up, some crazy leggings and matching top/hat from H&M – I think this was £3.99
H&M outfit
Also stocked up on 3 for 2 leggings at H&M (£8 for 3)…. a mix of colours so they should go with anything…. I love the green ones, he looks like a little pixie in them!
Baby leggings from H&M
So, tops to go with the leggings? Check out these bad boys….
The one on the left is from Zara and was about £8, the one on the right is from H&M (£6)… they both look great with these other zebra-print leggings I got, this time from Zara.. with some gorgeous blue ones as well (sorry, the photos don’t do them justice)
I think the leggings were about £6 each in Zara. I also picked up this cool T-shirt from Zara for about £6…
I saw this fab top in Tesco – I love the baby clothes in Tesco and they’re such good value – this one was only £2!
Baby boy top from Tesco
While in Tesco I also stocked up on some socks for him which were £4 a pack… I love the little sayings on them
Now, during this shopping spree I also discovered and fell head over heels in love with Jools Oliver’s little bird range in Mothercare so bought 3 T-shirts at £6-£8 each… I love how retro they are!
T-shirts from Little Bird, Mothercare
I can’t believe how much the stuff from this range goes for on eBay… I managed to snap up this top for £8.80 and it still had the tags on it 🙂 Here it is teamed up with the Zara leggings…
T-shirts from Little Bird, Mothercare
And finally, lucky baby W also gets to wear some of his Christmas presents now including his only outfit from Baby Boden (thank you aunty Ceri!)….
Baby Boden outfit
…and this gorgeous top and gilet from Next (thank you aunty Shell!)
Wow the last month has flown but of course, February is the shortest month! Baby W turned 10 months old nearly a week ago…
…and similar to the last update, there has been lots of developments! Most notably….
he can now crawl properly!
he pulls himself up to stand on ANYTHING he can!
he can clap (and this makes him VERY happy!)
Uh-oh
Similar to last month, he’s very happy but very busy… so easy to look after but exhausting chasing after him all the time! He seems to want to be wherever he’s not allowed… climbing up the glass TV stand etc!
He’s still sleeping through 🙂 (we start his bedtime routine at 6pm, and he wakes up between 6-6.30am)
He still loves his food… cheesy pasta and cottage pie remain firm favourites, and he now loves banana too
Still hasn’t dropped any milk feeds yet – he still has 4 bottles a day
Still have no idea how much he weighs! He’s mostly in 9-12 month clothes, but still in some 6-9 month clothes, in size 4 nappies
Still has 8 teeth – hasn’t had any new ones for a while now, I’m sure #9 won’t be long!
What we’ve been up to
His 10month old birthday co-incided with me going up to 4 days a week in work – it’s SO much more exhausting than 3 days! He didn’t seem to notice though, he’s settled in so well at the childminder’s!
While we’re on about work, I spoke at a big digital conference which was nerve-racking but went well – I was away for 2 nights and had a lovely upgraded suite – was nice to get some rest!
However, that came just after a girly weekend in London which was awesome but it meant in total I was away from baby W 5 nights out of 7 which was really weird and I won’t be doing that again in a hurry!
One week his swimming lesson was cancelled so we took him to a ‘messy play’ class instead… much fun with pasta, not so much fun with shaving foam… he didn’t know what to do with himself!
I signed him up at the local library, which got him 2 free books 🙂 we went to storytime twice, but they run it on Thursdays and now I’m back in work on Thursdays – shame as he loves clambering over the crates of books!
We were glad to have better weather this month – we had some nice walks around Cosmeston lakes, and our local museum at St Fagans
That’s it for now folks, stay tuned for the next update!
When I was on maternity leave and wanted to pop some slap on to leave the house, or now that I’m back in work, I’ve found some great products for time-poor new mums…
my favourite beauty products
#1 – I have a bathroom cabinet full of skincare products but I’m quite bad at a daily skincare routine. One product that you can just use when you need a perk-me-up is Origins Ginzing eye cream. (£23) I like it for a few reasons – it smells lovely, it reduces puffiness and it might just be me but I’m sure I can feel it working it’s magic when you apply it… I think it has a very soothing effect! It also says it helps to cover dark circles and I definitely think it does this – it has a bit of illuminating effect to reflect light away from those nasty bags under your new mum eyes!
#2 – Once that has settled in after a couple of minutes, I apply my old favourite concealer – YSL Touche Éclat (£20). I’m assuming this is the most popular concealer ever, it’s no secret – it’s good at covering those dark circles again – so a double-whammy approach! Unlike Ginzing which I only bought a few months ago, I’ve been using Touche éclat for years! I don’t think I could live without it but having read first time mummy’s blog about beauty products last week, I was reminded of the Body Shop’s lightening touch which I will try next time I run out!
So that’s the eyes sorted (at this stage you’d probably slap some mascara on but I have sensitive eyelids so I only wear mascara for special occasions, and when I do it’s Benefit’s They’re Real!) and now on the face…
As a base, I’ve been using Estee Lauder’s Double Wear foundation for about 8 years! It offer great coverage which you can keep quite light (e.g. for work) or layer (trowel!) on for a night out. As a new mum, I found it became a bit too faffy – I didn’t want to worry about putting moisturiser on, or blending in.. I needed something easy!
#3 – I stumbled upon Liparazzi’s review and I was sold…. my favourite foundation but in a lighter version… Estee Lauder’s Double Wear BB cream (£29) and I love it! It’s moisturising, offers nice, natural-looking coverage and is easy to apply (no need to worry about blending in). This product was perfect over the summer and I wondered how it would cope in the winter, as part of my work routine… but it’s been great. It is light coverage so might not suit you if you like something heavier, but this is all about easy, quick wins for mums and so I think it’s a winner!
#4 – Finally, a bit of colour on the cheeks… again, another product I’ve been using for years.. Benefit’s Hoola. (£23.50) I think I’ve been using it for about 10 years and I find that one box literally lasts a couple of years! As I have the tendency to have oily skin, I love the matt finish. I love the colour, I think it really suits my colouring and again because it’s so natural it doesn’t need a lot of blending in – I can just whack it on and go!
Now, I know that these 4 add up to about £100 but I promise you they last for ages! Also, what I tend to do is clock up enough Boots advantage points (using their vouchers, double points etc) to treat myself once I a while – feels much better than handing over my debit card! What do you think? I’d love to hear from you – if you’re a new mum what are your essentials for those days when you actually leave the house!?
PS If you enjoyed this you might also enjoy another mummy blogger’s beauty section – I love Betty and the Bumps’ blog!
So I’ve done 4 weeks back in work and so far, so good!!
I blogged about how I felt before going back to work, and it’s gone pretty much as I’d hoped it to…. I settled back in fine albeit being a bit dazed for the first few days. I’m enjoying work. Baby W is doing great at the childminders and if I’m honest I don’t miss him when I’m work as I don’t give myself a chance to…. I do get excited when I’m on my way to pick him up though!
When I was at home with him alone all day, he’d tend to get grouchy by mid-afternoon but then as soon as daddy walked in he’d be happy and all smiles…. well now, I get that treatment when I pick him up from the childminders! 🙂
It’s been a new level of tiring being back at work. On a good day, we’re up at 6, we all leave the house at 7 (daddy drops him off), I work from 7.30-4, pick him up at 4.30 then it’s play, food, play… then at 6 we (daddy usually does this bit) start bath, bottle, bed.
The hardest thing has probably been getting into such a strict regime. It’s a bit groundhog day… I see the same people in the car park when I park up, the same people arrive at the office when I do etc etc. I definitely took for granted the freedom I had on maternity leave – being able to do anything we wanted and go wherever we fancied every day!
The other hard part has also been that I notice less of his gradual developments – I notice his new tricks so much more now that I’m not with him every day. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but I can imagine it will get harder to leave him the more fun stuff he does!
I also think it will get harder as time goes on – novelty will wear off, and I go up to 4 days in March which I think will be a shock to the system! Luckily I carry over lots of leave which I need to start using up!
Some tips I’ve learned from going back to work:
Using my ‘keeping in touch’ days really helped – it didn’t feel like such a shock to the system going back!
Ditto ‘settling in sessions’ with the childminder – building up from an hour to a full day in the months leading up to my return really helped me and baby W!
I know not everyone has this option – but if you can, choose the hours that suit you. By doing an early shift, I miss the worst of the traffic and I get to spend a couple of hours with baby W before he goes to bed (and nearly an hour first thing in the morning!)
Be strong, think positive and get on with it! Around the 6 month mark I started having the wobbles about going back to work but through chatting to other working mums I realised I needed to ‘man up’ and just get on with it! It would be easy to dwell on being away from baby but I think it could drive you crazy if you let it!
Be realistic. I recently blogged about the skills you pick up on maternity leave – one of them being ‘multitasking’ – but none of us working mums are superwoman! I’m now stricter than ever with my hours – and in doing so it means I can’t attend every meeting or get involved in everything I’d like to. I can’t waste time on too much chit-chat or long lunches. It’s not a bad thing – I think I’m now at my most efficient!
I hope this is useful, I’d love you to share if it is! If you’ve already made the return to work, how did your experience compare with mine? I’d love to hear from you! Thanks x
I’ve recently gone back to work after 8 months maternity leave and it got me thinking about life skills you learn on maternity, whether you go back to work or not!
Patience – most people would tell you that I’m quite relaxed and laid-back, so you wouldn’t really see me getting impatient – but nothing prepares you for needing to be patient until you have a baby….. my patience skills were mostly tested when trying everything to soothe a screaming baby or trying to get baby W back to sleep in the middle of the night when he really didn’t want to go back to sleep!
Perseverance – similarly to #1, I seemed to find a new level of perseverance when I became a mum. No unsettled baby was going to defeat me. No amount of times singing ‘twinkle, twinkle…’ at 3am was too much for me. This life skill will be tested a lot more as baby W grows into a toddler, child then teenager but I always hope I’ll have the sense that I will never, ever give up on him.
Putting someone else first – there were so many times in the early days where I didn’t eat all day, or didn’t find time to wash myself (!) or do the things I wanted to do. As caring as you might think you are, I don’t think you can every truly say you’ve always put other people first… until you’ve had a baby!
Celebrating small achievements – we’re generally good at beating ourselves up for not doing stuff, or for not being perfect. On maternity leave, I think you should high five yourself for your achievements of the day whether that be getting your baby to nap, doing the dishes or having enough time in the shower to wash your hair!
Multi-tasking – while some days you feel like you’ve achieved nothing, on other days you can feel like super-woman…. breastfeeding your baby, while preparing your own food, while scrolling through Twitter and watching TV…. Seriously though, my multi-tasking skills have improved no end since having baby W!
Eating one-handed – I’m not sure when this skill would come in handy, but if there’s a one-handed eating competition anywhere in the world, I’m sure a mother would win it! After so many months of wolfing food down using a fork in one hand while seeing to baby with the other, I actually find it difficult to use a knife and fork now!
So there we have it, did I miss any other life skills?!
Thankfully, baby W is too young for me to have to worry about what he gets up to online. But I know all these fears are ahead of me and it’s already something I worry about. From what I understand, kids from a very young age know how to use the internet including how to bypass rules and settings put in place to protect them!
So when the NSPCC got in touch about their new campaign called ‘Share aware’ I thought I would share the info with you in case your children are of the age where you’re worrying about them using the internet.
Basically, Share Aware is an online guide that parents can use, to help them:
understand the risks of different social networking sites
start conversations with their children about these risks
The website is full of stats (e.g. which social networks are most popular with children, how many children have social media accounts even though they’re not supposed to!), tips and advice. Even though it’s full of information, it’s not overwhelming at all – the website is very easy on the eye and clear.
Check it out yourselves here and help to spread the word on Twitter etc using the hashtag #ShareAware
Small print: I wasn’t incentivised to promote this campaign – it’s a good cause that I’m happy to support
Baby W turned 8 months old last Saturday and what a busy month it’s been including his first Christmas and mummy going back to work!
What we’ve been up to
December started off busy – my other half finally had the work exam that he’d been studying for all year. As soon as that was out of the way, he took a week off and we spent a few nights of that at my parents’ in Mid Wales.
We also had our first night away from baby W and we spoiled ourselves with a stay at the lovely Bath Spa hotel – although we missed baby W, we had a lovely night and it was amazing to get a proper nights’ sleep! He’s since spent another couple of nights with his grandparents and settles pretty well over there which is great!
I had another spa day in December – this time at Holland House in Cardiff, very nice and I will miss the ability to have random spa days when I’m back in work!
I caught a cold and 24 hour sickness bug in early/mid December which meant I missed my work’s Christmas party and it also set me back with Christmas shopping etc! The best presents I bought were creating calendars for family members using baby W’s newborn shoot – looks fab and they went down very well!
Suddenly Christmas was upon us… we spent the day with my in-laws, my sister joined us too. Nice, relaxed day with lots of food! Baby W was in a great mood all day, we dressed him up in his reindeer outfit, he tried turkey and sprouts for the first time and enjoyed some of his new presents.
Christmas presents 🙂
We didn’t go mad with presents – we bought him a ‘lost my name’ book which is something to keep forever, I bought him a couple of other books but the best thing we bought by far was a £7 set of stacking cups etc from Mothercare – it’s provided us with hours of entertainment!
best present ever – stacking set from Mothercare
With Christmas and New Year out of the way it was time for this mamma to go back to work – I’ve just done my first 3 days back and I must admit I’ve actually really enjoyed it! The toughest thing has been another level of exhaustion which I’ll have to get used to!
Over the last month baby W also went to a christening and 1st birthday party, and went on a train for the first time!
Milestones and personality
Nothing new from last month other than he’s just got busier and busier – he doesn’t sit still and he’s getting a lot more vocal!
Although he can’t crawl, he can move around pretty well by shuffling around. He grabs everything, all the time now… he doesn’t stop!
He’s generally a happy chappy and we get smiles and giggles every day. Because he’s a busy little baby though, he does get bored easily so needs entertaining a fair bit… anything from a remote control to scrunchy paper tends to work 🙂
Weight, health etc
No idea what his weight is
His 6th tooth came through in the last month
His lingering cold/cough finally went
Overall seems really healthy 🙂
Routine
In December, our weekly and daily routine was all over the place. As I’ve just gone back to work this week I’m sure we’ll settle into a routine again but at the moment it looks like this:
6-6.30 get up and have 1st milk feed of the day
8-ish breakfast
9-ish nap (ideally an hour)
10.30-11ish 2nd milk feed
12-ish lunch
1-ish nap (ideally another hour)
3-ish 3rd milk feed
4-ish he might have another nap
5-ish tea/supper/dinner (whatever you call it!)
6-7 bedtime – bath, books, bottle, bed!
10.45 we wake him up to give him his 5th and final milk feed of the day
Most nights he sleeps through now, every few nights he wakes between 1 and 3 but settles back easily after some water, a cwtch and switching Ewan the dream sheep back on.
So now the days I’m in work he goes to a childminder, I spend an hour with him in the morning before daddy drops him off and I head straight to work. I work from 7.30 to 4, pick him up at 4.30 and so I have a couple of hours with him before he goes to sleep. He’s settled in fine with the childminder and he has all sorts of fun there that I haven’t done with him like jelly play and a play in a ball pool!
Weaning
Baby W’s enjoyed his food over the last month and is currently in a bit of a ‘eat everything’ phase although as you can see we haven’t dropped any milk feeds yet.
He LOVES my homemade macaroni cheese – he can eat about 15-20 pieces of pasta in one go.
He LOVES fruit – especially satsumas and apple slices (I still take the skin off)
We tend to give him Weetabix (spoon-fed) or toast for breakfast. Lunch and dinner we’re still going the baby-led weaning way in terms of him just eating a bit of whatever we eat.
My sister bought him an IKEA highchair for Christmas and now he sits in that instead of the snug on the table, there’s definitely a lot more mess on the floor but he loves sitting in the highchair. Mealtimes are probably the favourite part of the day for me – playing with food keeps him interested and entertained and it’s fun watching all of his facial expressions!
1 sleep til I’m back in work… I can’t believe it! I pretty much picked Jan 5th as my return to work day before baby W had even arrived, I figured ‘new year, new start’ and also knew that most people would feel blue about being back in work on that day after just a few weeks off so I’d be in good company!
What I hadn’t thought of is that the last few weeks have felt like a bit of a holiday, with my other half being off work since Christmas Eve. So it does feel like it will go from a high to low on Monday!
Having said that, I am looking forward to it. I’m fortunate to be in a job I love, surrounded by a great team and colleagues. Before I had baby W, work was a huge part of my life and I’m looking forward to getting a bit of that feeling back even though I know it won’t be the same as before.
Maternity leave can be bloody hard work. Baby W is generally good as gold but he has plenty of grouchy moments, and as I’m the person he spends the most time with I’m also the one he gets most bored with, sometimes nothing I do can make him happy and those days can be tough.
I know I did well keeping busy, taking him out and about, taking him to classes and groups. Both of us really enjoyed them but even then, maternity leave felt lonely at times and those days where we didn’t leave the house meant no adult conversation!
That’s one of the things I’m worried about… Interacting with people again… My social skills have taken a nosedive!! I’m worried about how long it will take me to get back into the swing of things and get up to speed. My team has changed while I’ve been off… Another challenge in proving to newbies that I am a worthy leader! (And proving to peers that I still have it!)
I’m not worried about leaving baby W. We did lots of settling in with the childminder so I know I’ll be ok with that and no tears, one less thing to worry about. Of course I will miss him like mad, and it feels like the end of an era, but if all goes well I will get home early enough to have a quality couple of hours with him everyday! And I’ll be working 4 days a week instead of 5 🙂
When daddy gets home from work, he gets lots of excited smiles and giggles. I’m hoping I get the same when I pick him up from the childminder everyday… In some weird way I’m hoping that me going back to work makes the time I have with him more special and quality.
It will be nice to dress up a bit every day and put make-up on…. and brush my hair! I will miss my companions Jeremy Vine and The Wright stuff. I’m not looking forward to the daily commute, that feeling of routine and having to get on with it as soon as I wake up – no lounging around!
I worry about the tiredness. W still wakes up at least once a night and our cats usually wake us once a night too! One of the most significant things I learnt on maternity leave though is that new mums can survive anything…. including extreme sleep deprivation!
yummyblogger.com 