I have 2 dilemmas – now that baby W is over a year old, should I be calling him toddler W?! It doesn’t have the same ring to it…. the other dilemma, well I was wondering whether to carry on with these monthly updates after a year but he’s developed loads in the last month so yes I will carry on haha!
New developments
So I told you the day after his birthday, he took a few steps – well a month later and he is proper walking, a lot! The last week has been so much fun watching him, we all get so excited!!!
He’s tries to use his fork and spoon now – I haven’t been trying to teach him this so not sure if he’s got it from copying me, or whether it’s something he’s picked up from the childminder… either way, it’s very cute and grown-up but it does mean he’s eating less food as not much food is making it on the full journey from table to cutlery to mouth!
He brushes his own teeth now! (with a little help from mummy/daddy)
I should have stuck with baby signing – I hardly do any with him now but the one baby sign he has learnt over the last month or so is ‘all gone’ – so he loves dropping things (especially food) and then looking at me with his big eyes and opens hands to an ‘all gone’ gesture! the cheeky little monkey 😉
He knows which buttons to press on the remote control to turn the TV on!!
If I’m in the room with him and the TV isn’t on, he hands me the remote for me to switch it on (both signs that we watch way too much background TV!!)
A few days ago he pointed at me through the window and said ‘mama‘ – melted my heart!
Blows on hot food with a ‘frrrr‘ sound, again copying what I do!
He can climb up to, and get on, the sofa – eek!
Watching TV while walking!
So yeah it’s been a busy month!
Jabs, health, routine etc
Baby W had his 1 year jabs and then a week later seemed to suffer from side-effects including a rash – but it co-incided with teething with his first canine (tooth #9) trying to come through – so we all had a tough few days, poor thing!
Other than that, all good – still not had him weighed. He’s outgrowing most of his 9-12 month clothes, but everything 12-18 months seems massive on him!
He’s still on milk first thing and last thing every day, and we’ve got into a bad habit at home of giving him milk with his naps.
It’s funny, he’s dropped his afternoon naps at the childminders, and yet on the Fridays he’s at home with me, he has 2 really long naps – I think she tires him out and then Friday is his chill-out day!
Apart from the teething, still a trooper at sleeping through from about 6pm to 6am (sometimes a bit earlier, but can’t really complain!)
Making a right mess in the library!
Other news
This momma was fortunate enough to go on a fab hen weekend a few weeks ago, 18 girls in one HUGE house called New Yatt farm in Oxfordshire – check it out here, it was amazing! 2 nights in with good friends, lots of booze… and a hunk in trunks.. and we went punting and disco dancing, it was ace – just what the doctor ordered although I was absolutely drained the week before and after – really need our holiday now!
In other news we need to find a new childminder as ours is moving out of the area – gutted 😦
Thanks for calling by, see you same time next month! xx
I am very excited… we are taking baby W for his first foreign holiday soon…. and as if that wasn’t exciting enough, I went a bit mad buying a whole new wardrobe for him for the occasion… I know you love my haul posts so here we go…. starting with Tesco where the T-shirts were all £3-£4 (some of these are now in the sale!)
T-shirt and long shorts from Tesco (£8 for a 2-pack)Tesco t-shirt, pack of 3 shorts from Mothercare (£8)Tesco t-shirt and shortsTesco t-shirt and shorts (shorts were £5 for a 2-pack)Tesco swimming shorts (£8 for 2-pack)
Love these from Tesco – the hooded towel was £7, the pirate swimsuit was £10…
I found some unworn shorts that either came from hand-me-downs or an NCT sale, they’re a bit snug on him but might come in handy… his daddy has very similar combat ones so I want to see them wearing them the same day 😉
holiday shorts
As I started packing (never had to start packing so early, but needs must with a baby to pack for!!) I realised we had plenty of shorts (2 pairs per day!) but I needed some more T-shirts, so picked these up in Asda…
Asda t-shirts £3-£4
And treated him to some t-shirts from Next too…. these were £6 each but worth it 😉
£10 for 2 t-shirt pack at Next
I was back in Tesco today and they have a sale on so I couldn’t resist this bargain for £1.50…
And you’ll know from my last haul that I’m in love with the Jools Oliver Littlebird range at Mothercare so I *had* to get this T-shirt…
little bird t-shirt (shorts from mothercare)
And Little bird brings me on to my 2 favourite items… I can not wait to dress him in these!!…
Little bird towelling romper (£10)Nemo swimsuit from Tesco (£10)
I’ve also bought him new packs of vests and sleepsuits, I’m sure I’ll write a post when we’re back on what we packed vs what you actually need to take! Hope you liked seeing his holiday clothes 🙂
What did you do with your baby’s clothes once they’d grown out of them? Here’s some ideas in case you don’t know what to do with them!
what to do with outgrown baby clothes…
1. Keep them for baby no.2 and/or sentimental reasons – I’ve kept a few bags of my favourite items for baby no.2 – and if we don’t have baby no.2 then I will probably keep most of them for sentimental purposes – will be funny to look at them in a few years time when baby W is all grown-up! I haven’t kept all of baby W’s clothes as we don’t have the space, and some were so cheap we will just top-up for baby no.2
2. Turn your favourite items into a keepsake – we haven’t done this yet but we will at some point as I love the idea- you can turn their favourite babygrows into a keepsake – like a lion or elephant! They cost £25 and the same lady also does blankets (from £60) and cushions (£35)
I’ve also seen yummy crafty mummies change babygrows into bunting – I love this idea too but I am not crafty so luckily – I’m sure you could pay someone to do it for you 🙂
3. Pass them on to family/friends – we were lucky to benefit from lots of hand-me-downs, I haven’t really had anyone to pass mine on to apart from a couple of nice items I’ve given to colleagues…. if you have anyone to pass yours on to, you’ll be saving them a potential small fortune 🙂
4. Donate them to your local maternity ward – when I was wondering what to do with the load of newborn/0-3 month babygrows and hats we had, colleague and fellow blogger Emily suggested this idea to me. As her twins had spent some time in special care, she’d unfortunately seen other babies who didn’t have anything to wear 😦 I’ve also heard that, in special care, the hospital supplies the clothes (maybe due to infection risk??), either way when I donated a couple of bags worth, they were delighted to receive them 🙂
5. Donate them to a ‘mother and baby’ hostel – another way I tried to help mummies in need in the area was by donating a load of our 3-9 month old clothes to a local hostel, along with some of my clothes and some nappies we’d grown out of. Again, they were really thankful as a lot of these women are young mums who have had really tough lives…. so maybe see if there’s one in your local area you can donate to?
6. Donate them to schemes like NCT – some NCT groups run a ‘baby bundle’ scheme where they give mums in need a pack of baby clothes made up from donations. High street store JoJo MamanLeBeBe were doing something similar with Barnado’s but I think that scheme is finished now.
7. Donate them to a charity shop – if numbers 4-6 are too much hassle but you still want to pass them on to someone who’s more in need then you, then dropping them off at a charity shop makes for an easy option! Some will even pick them up from your house (watch out for bogus charities doing that though!) Again, I’m sure charities will be very thankful for your donations, but I preferred doing 4/5/6 so I knew they were going directly to someone in need, whereas a lot of charity shop goodies are snaffled up by pro-eBay sellers and sold on. (Still great for the charity of course!)
8. Sell them! Now, I haven’t tried this – way too much effort for me as most of the stuff that could have raised a few quid I’ve saved (see #1) but obviously if you want to make some money (or recoup the money you spent!!) then there are loads of ways of doing this like selling them individually or in bundles on eBay, local Facebook buying and selling groups, NCT nearly new sales, car boot sales etc.
9. Exchange them for H&M vouchers! Apart from all the charitable donations, this has to be my favourite tip… if you take a shopping bag’s worth of clothes into H&M, they will give you a £5 voucher to spend in-store! If you read my tips for new parents, you’ll know that rain gets out stains – but for the ripped/stained/bobbly-beyond repair stuff that would be no good for tips 1-8 above, then take them to H&M!
They don’t check what’s in the bag, and even if they did I don’t think they’d care – whatever can’t be donated or re-used is recycled – read more about it here – I think it’s an excellent scheme as I hate the thought of any clothes (especially baby clothes!) ending up in landfill!
And I guess that was the aim of this post – I hate the thought of this stuff going to landfill, especially when there are probably some women in your area who would really appreciate your help! I hope this has inspired you to make a difference – if you found it useful, please share it on Facebook/Twitter, thanks!
We made it! Our beautiful baby boy turned one year old last weekend – wow!!
The big day
Months ago, we had already decided to spend his birthday up at my parents’ in Mid Wales. Unfortunately my dad passed away a few weeks ago, but we stuck with our plans and we think he was watching over us on the big day….
1st birthday cards
We woke at 6 (standard!) and opened some cards and presents, played around then about noon we headed over to Fantasy Farm – I might write a review if I get a chance but in a nutshell we had a great time – it was the first time we’d taken baby W to a farm park and he loved seeing and touching all the animals – cute little kids, lambs and rabbits. We had a ride on a trailer and we also had a sunday carvery there which baby W enjoyed!
Meeting the lambs at Fantasy farm
When we got back in the afternoon, I gave him some chocolate cake for the first time (as he got teeth so early I try and be really careful with his sugar intake – it’s the one thing I’m strict about!) and he wolfed it down – never seen anything disappear so quickly!
He had lots of lovely cards and presents – clothes, toys, books, money – but I think his favourite present was this scooter that my sister bought him from notonthehighstreet – I love it, so retro! And he laughs when he’s being pushed around on it 🙂 We knew he’d get lots of presents so we only bought him a little ball pool – something he loves at the childminder’s house but of course he hardly goes in his new one at home :p
Cool scooter from notonthehighstreet
Progress updates
Since the last update I wrote 2 months ago, baby W has got faster and more confident with crawling, and has been standing and pulling himself on everything – we still haven’t baby-proofed the house properly which we need to do as he’s in doors and drawers all the time!
It’s amazing watching him grow – every week he can reach something new, higher up!
And some big news… the morning after his birthday, he took a couple of steps! He’s done it once since at the childminder’s too – he’s a big boy now!
He’s getting more chatty – babbles a lot, and still says ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ a lot although I’m still not convinced he knows what they mean! He’s started copying sounds a lot – it’s great fun chatting to him 🙂
Health, eating and drinking
Still haven’t had him weighed (it’s been about 6 months now!) but he’ll be having his jabs (and I guess his 12 month update?) soon so we’ll see how much he weighs then but I’m not worried – he’s mostly in 9-12 month old clothing, and size 4 nappies.
To celebrate his birthday we switched over to whole milk and he took to it straight away – good boy! He still has quite a lot of milk which I am trying to cut down on but again, not too worried. He has a bottle when he wakes up (about 6am) and he loves having another bottle a few hours later before his morning nap (about 9am). Then he can usually get through the day without it til his bottle before bed (about 6pm) but if he’s really grouchy in the afternoon, a little bit of milk can help us all out 🙂
Something else I’m aware I need to do is get him to stop using bottles. He enjoys drinking water (hooray!) out of various sippy cups/beakers, but still has milk in a bottle which at some point I should try and change…..
He generally eats well – loves pasta, fish, chicken, yoghurt and cheese. Doesn’t really like fruit or veg so much so I sneak veg into pasta sauces, and fruit purees into yoghurt. As we went down the baby-led weaning route, he still makes quite a lot of mess and enjoys throwing half of his food but he eats the other half so I’m happy!
For some reason (I let her carry on, despite telling her numerous times she didn’t need to!) the childminder always blends/purees his food – and now she’s wondering why he won’t eat any solid food there (even pasta, which is fave at home!)- I think she’s created a rod for her own back 😉
Personality, likes and dislikes
He’s generally a happy chappy – great with people, but also quite independent – happy by himself! He’s started having mini tantrums if he doesn’t get his own way (e.g. if we take something off him that he shouldn’t be playing with) – will cry until he’s quickly distracted by something else! He’s adventurous, fearless and always on the move – does not sit still for long!
Escaping from a Messy Madness class
Likes
Trips to the park to play on slides and swings
Opening and closing cupboard doors
Playing with coasters, keys and remote controls (who needs toys?!)
Dancing to music and cartoons
Watching the washing machine and trying to press all the buttons 🙂
Pushing his walker around
Washing machines – best thing ever!
Dislikes
Not getting his own way
Being dressed/nappy changes – this can be quite hard work, I try and make it as fun as poss!
That’s everything I can think of for now, we’re hoping to have our first foreign family holiday over the next month, and of course we’ll have the dreaded 1 year jabs – wish us luck!
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 🙂
This time last year I was heavily pregnant and had a maternity photoshoot just a few days before I ended up giving birth! Apart from the tiredness and achiness, I LOVED being pregnant, and loved how I looked so I wanted to celebrate this with getting some decent photos 🙂
I chose the photographer, Leah Roberts, via a friend’s recommendation – I’d seen the amazing newborn shoot she’d done for them (she did our wonderful newborn pics too)
I arranged to meet her for the shoot in Ynysangharad park in Pontypridd and I showed her some of the bump photos I liked via Pinterest, as you can see I prefer ones that show off the bump more than the mum’s face etc…
So, here’s some of the beautiful photos I ended up with…. regular readers will know that I have one as the main image on my blog… here’s my faves….
Me and my bumpBump close-up!Me and my bumpBump photoshootbump and I!
I literally got hundreds of photos from the shoot, plus black and white versions of all of them – but I didn’t want to bombard you, and like I said – these are my faves! They bring back very happy memories and emotions from a year ago – while I loved being pregnant, I was very nervous about giving birth and becoming a mum!
What do you think? Did you have a bump photoshoot? Share your links if you did, I’d love to see them 🙂 Or maybe you disagree with the whole concept?!
A week ago today – 15th April ’15 – my dad passed away.
It was a beautiful spring day, from his hospital bed overlooking Aberystwyth we could hear birds singing and lambs bleating, and see blossoms growing everywhere – he would have loved all of that.
He had been in the intensive care ward for over a month, he went in with severe double pneumonia but suffered a collapsed lung and sepsis infections along the way. For most of the month he’d been sedated and on a ventilator. We’d had real highs – we had several days where he was awake and was able to hear and see us, and hold our hands. We’d had real lows – I think 4 times we were called into the relatives room to be told that he was unlikely to make it through that night. But he kept on fighting.
The day he died, they told us that the sepsis (blood-poisoning infection) had gone too far – they was nothing more they could do, they would have to ‘withdraw treatment’. We didn’t argue – we knew they had tried every possible treatment during the last month to try and help him, including amputating his sepsis-ridden right foot. He had put up a good fight but now it was his time to go.
We spent many hours waiting to find out if his organs could be donated, they couldn’t but at least we tried – we knew he wanted that. Once we knew that, the doctor came in at 3pm and very business-like just confirmed what was about to happen and started to unplug everything that he was on. The only thing they left on was morphine, so he wouldn’t feel any pain.
We sat with him until he took his last breath at 4.30. We had a funny moment when we thought he’d gone and I was bawling and said ‘I don’t want to let him go!’ and he took another breath! We all laughed and what a lovely thought to think he might have heard us, even though he was essentially in a coma. I stroked his hair, and held his hand, and cried, for most of that hour and a half.
I never would have imagined wanting to be with someone when they died, but it was very peaceful and soothing, not scary at all and I think he would have liked to have been surrounded by his family.
After spending most of the day crying, the few hours after he passed I felt strangely calm and at peace. I managed to eat a chinese take-away despite not hardly eating the last few days and weeks! When we went to pick up the take-away, I saw my first sign from him – I passed a house window full of toys, and there were 2 little toys in there that we’d bought him when he was in hospital – that was lovely and spooky!
It’s been a heck of a week since then. My dad was a huge part of the community here in mid Wales so we’ve had endless visitors – including many grown men arriving in tears! Some of the visitors have been good therapy as they’ve come with funny stories/memories/anecdotes – many of which I’d not heard.
Other visitors have turned up and maybe stayed a bit too long – too many awkward silences! We’ve had about 300 cards, 30 cakes and so many flowers that we’ve had to buy more vases and have now started giving flowers away to friends!
I went to a local concert 2 nights after he died, with my auntie as they were giving my dad a tribute – it was lovely but maybe a bit too soon in hindsight- I cried through most of it!
I went back to Cardiff for the weekend to see my baby! I’ve only seen him for a few days here and there over the last month or so, I miss him but right now I feel more like a little girl wanting her dad, than a mum. I cried most of the way to Cardiff as it felt like I was leaving my dad. If his house, village and area were all-consuming about him, going home to Cardiff was the opposite- it felt surreal to not be surrounded by his death.
The day after he died, the local funeral director came to arrange the funeral – something I never thought I’d have to do. We’re holding it on Saturday, 10 days after he died, to give people enough time to make travel arrangements etc- the funeral director who knew him, says he expects 600-700 people will attend, thus showing the impact and reach of my dad is various communities from golf to Welsh literature to bee-keeping to male voice choir singing.
The upcoming funeral is daunting, but I am looking forward to the ‘celebration’ part of the day – I want to consume myself in stories and memories about him.
Over the last week I’ve strongly come to believe that he chose his time to go – he’d had a very full life with no regrets. He’d seen his daughters grow up. He’d become a tadcu (grand-dad) and as I know (and everyone keeps telling me!) he was so happy and proud to be a tadcu! He was young at heart, and never wanted to be old. He was so full of life that it would have been awful for him, and everyone to see him, limited in anyway. So I think he chose his time to go – on a high.
Despite that, it still feels like he went too soon – I am gutted that he won’t see baby W grow up and/or meet any other potential grand-children. But I have to keep remembering the happiness and joy he had from the 10 months that he had with him. We were lucky enough to be with him, on St David’s day weekend, just a day before he fell ill.
So I have tried to rationalise everything – it was his time to go, it was the right time, he’s in a better place and in no pain, he had a wonderful life and touched so many people with his warmth, kindness, patience and cheeky smile which will be a comfort.
But I still cry several times a day – I miss him so much and can’t believe I won’t see him again (on this planet!) Some people have told me that I will always feel like this. Other people have said that time will heal. Someone said ‘it doesn’t get easier, but you get better at dealing with it’.
I will always love you dad, I’m so proud of you – of everything you achieved and the exceptional person you were – truly one in a million. I know you were so proud of me (and my mum/sis/baby W), I will miss your sunday evening phone calls, I will miss you sending me press cuttings about my line of work, or baby stuff, or anything! I will miss you so much, thanks for being the best dad and tadcu ever, caru ti dad x x x x x x x x
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!
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