Tiny Trousers

Who knew so much washing would come hand in hand with such a small person. I’m now sure he has more clothes than me after seeing most of his wardrobe hung to dry! Just the number of bibs you can go through in one day is ridiculous.

I just love how, if he’s damp with milk or has just sicked up on himself I’ve changed him into new clothes asap to keep him comfortable. But me, I’m covered in the same sick and just rub it into the only pair of jeans that fit lol 😂

I roll all his sleep-suits and fold all his bibs, hang all his little trousers in the wardrobe for them all to end up back in the washing pile in 4 hours time.

You end up looking like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards but he’s dressed nice enough to go for dinner. You take so much pride in the tiny little clothes and the tiny little people inside them everyday. Even when you’ve caught wee with your fav jumper and haven’t slept a wink it’s all worth it when they smile at you or laugh just to make you smile at them xX

The Hard Truth

Oh last week! It’s been a tough old ride as I think we might be on the teething train 😱 crazy times. It was like being transported back to week two. Our little man was so upset, agitated and off his game. But we made it through together, tag teaming the night time disruption and during the day walking outside / anywhere just to get some peace!

However they say the sun shines brighter after a rainy day and this week we have been blessed with him mastering rolling over. He likes to do this now constantly which is wonderful. Holding himself up more steady on his arms and building those muscles 💪🏻 just a perfect end to our week.

Here is one of the sweet moments of peace from last week after a walk with his dad.

The countdown

So I have 28 days left at home with my little one. This is a scary prospect, the last 5 months have flown by quicker than I have ever experienced before. I have been thinking more and more about how I will cope not seeing my son for hours on end, 5 days a week. Really want to make the most of all the minutes we have together during the day, before he’s spending time without me.

This week I’ve been a little naughty holding him for naps instead of putting him down. I don’t want to break his routine or make a rod for my childcares back but I just want to soak him up!

It’s a difficult time for us trying to figure out how family life will change once I’m back at work full time. I’m hoping this will fall into place and we can share chores and still spend as much time as possible enjoying him with all our love.

It’s hard to believe that he will be 5 months old in a couple of weeks. He’s grown so much in all the ways, he loves standing up, he passes things from one hand to another and he giggles so much when he plays with his dad! I finally got a giggle from him at baby yoga in a pose that is so hard on your abs, but I just didn’t want to stop because I love to see him so happy 😁.

I’m making the most of February, more than I ever have before 🤗

Run Mum Run

I missed my usual slot on a Tuesday so please excuse me for posting later than usual.

We had a great start to the weekend as I ran my first parkrun of the year at Huddersfield and the first one postpartum. Oh it was harder than I imagined though, my time was 12 minutes slower than my PB! Now don’t get me wrong I didn’t expect to be up there with the first finishers, I never am but i felt so out of condition.

I did however find great joy in finishing and passing my husband and baby (now in the sit up part of his pram 😧 growing too fast) around the park then seeing them at the finish was amazing for support along with all the volunteers cheering you on even though your right at the back, one of the last ones to finish.

My journey will be a long road back to fitness I think but I’ve made a start and that’s the important thing. So Saturday mornings are get up, lace up and move up the rankings for me now. See you Saturday parkrun!

Photo from Huddersfield parkrun Facebook page

Be accountable

We have had the most lovely Christmas and New Year making the most of family time! We also invested time with friends which was fantastic too.

I’m now turning my attention to our health and wellbeing for the year ahead. I have felt very uncomfortable about my lack of exercise and my over consumption since my little man was born.

I’m not setting any New Years resolutions because it’s not about timescale it’s about changing our lives for the better. Filling our lives with the outdoors which we love and preparing our bodies through nourishing food so we can enjoy every second of the day.

Our little man is inspiring in ways I never imagined. He’s so active and loves standing, rolling and generally flailing about just for fun and I need to keep up.

So happy, healthy new year too us all!

Poor baby

So this week I’d planned to share more tips with you for hospital bag prep however, since Sunday I’ve had a poorly little one by my side.

Seeing your baby sick however old is miserable and I wish I could instantly make him better but in some ways I know he needs to get these little bugs to fight so he can be strong and fit in future.

It’s just so hard as a new mum to judge if your making the right decisions about if to take them to the doctors or if your over reacting. I would urge you to take them just for peace of mind. You will be taken seriously even if you don’t believe it and it’s worth the trip, don’t let others put you off getting your baby a checkup.

You know what’s best for your baby. You will know their behaviour and you will notice if it changes at only a few weeks old. I promise even if they have no routine at all you’ll know if something doesn’t feel right.

Here’s a pic from when he was feeling a little more himself last week xX

Make time for him

Make time for your partner after you’ve had your shared bundle of joy! They will be feeling just as overwhelmed and maybe just as drained looking after you and baby.

I am extremely lucky to be with a man who still fills my heart with joy. Two weeks after our baby was born was his birthday and although I ordered presents and a card it’s the first time in 11 years that I haven’t made his card or done something imaginative and thoughtful for his gift.

So I thought I’d better make up for it closer to Xmas. He’s a whiskey 🥃 drink kind of man who loves a dram especially around Christmas. However the whiskey calendars you can buy are lovely I’m sure but they are very expensive and my purse is only being supplied with statutory maternity pay 🙁. Which I’m sure you’ll agree will only stretch to bills. So I choose miniature whiskeys from an online store ensuring that I only picked new ones we didn’t own. 24 in total but 5cl size instead of the 3cl ones that are supplied with the easy purchase calendars. More for your coins and then I had the wooden stand made for the fraction of the cost of buying online. It’s amazing what you can do with plywood!

And there you have it!

Individually wrapped each whiskey, added a tiny luggage label with hand written numbers and popped them in the stand!

He’s a wonderful dad and really deserves to be spoilt sometimes.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to keep the spark alive xX

Postpartum what to expect when your not expecting anymore 😕

I’ve wanted to write these posts since having my baby but only so i could remember everything clearly. The birth for me was such a blur and my husband had to tell me what had happened after the event when we were back home.

You are so prepared for pregnancy because your reading all the books and taking all the advice in your stride. If like me you’d practiced your hypnobirthing, had your music and the meditations ready to go, you felt prepared if not a little anxious about the birth of your baby but because your bags where packed and car seat installed weeks ahead no panic.

However for me nobody gives you the forewarning you need to handle what your body and mind will go through after birth! So next week I’d like to take you through my essentials to get you through plus some of it may be a little TMI so you can pick and choose to read, you’ve been warned.

This week however I’ve made a massive step towards my recovery and am back on the roads again in my own car I can’t tell you how much this has helped me mentally!

Now I’m not saying you have to drive to enjoy maternity leave or anything silly like that because we have done just fine walking for the past 9 weeks. For me though it was a fantastic leap forward as I feel like I was missing the freedom of not having a vehicle just in case.

A great leap for someone else may be getting back in their jeans or been able to go on a night out.

I’m looking forward to using my rediscovered freedom to live the #maternity leave life I dreamed of lol.

So please stay tuned because of the coming weeks I’ll be trying to give tips and advice about how to make the most of a crazy postpartum experience. Ps. It all worth it when they smile ☺️

New mum alone with baby

Being alone with your baby that first night in hospital is a scary prospect. I said bye to hubby at 8pm after only having our baby at 1:45pm that afternoon. The moment you are left alone with your baby you feel as though you are in a bubble. It’s mostly overwhelming love but don’t worry if you feel something different. You have just been through a massive ordeal even if it was the most perfect birth, your body will not feel the same and your life will have changed forever.

Everyone will tell you when you get home and settle in with your new family unit that it will be easier. On that first night in hospital I was exhausted, I was emotional, I was breastfeeding but mainly just staring into these new eyes that I had imagined for longer than I want to admit.

You dream of the moment with your baby in your arms and expect that to be exactly what had filled those dreams, love and for me that first night I experienced love and hope. I believed I could be the mother I wanted to be I’d conquered the initial fear and overcome the worry. What would you do alone with your baby for the very first time? Well instincts take over your sleep deprived, exhausted body. Even struggling to feed at 3am didn’t dampen my spirits. I rang my bell, handed him to a midwife, gave her some pre mixed formula and asked her to feed him. He was fine this will not affect his life after this moment, I felt no guilt in doing this.

The thing is when you get home and your partner or your family are supporting you it’s like a little bubble again protecting your mind from wondering, all your concentration is on your new human.

It’s weeks later when it hit me that every morning when I take him out of his Moses basket and go into our kitchen, I’m just making tea for one. I’ve got a person whom I’m solely responsible for in my arms. These eyes look up at you and you are staying, not leaving and coming back after work, your here. For all the nappy changes, for the feeds, the tears and the smiles.

Being a mother is rewarding in so many ways and is a miracle when you think about what your body has done.

But sometimes it feels lonely and that’s ok too, after you’ve made baby noises for hours. Been out for a walk not wanted to put your headphones in just in case they make a noise. Sitting up in the dark nursing in the middle of the night, trying not to wake your better half because he has to work.

Know that it’s ok to have feelings other than love while caring for your little one but make sure you share how your feeling, arrange to meet friends and speak to your loved ones. Give yourself space and time to remember who you were but embrace your new self, embark on a new journey with a positive outlook along with baby. Enjoy getting to know yourself in your new role because although you may not want to, you have been changed!

Making Memories

The first weeks of having a newborn are gone in a blink of an eye. Being present and in the moment is so important but it’s so hard. Before his birth I was so organised and imagined all the things I was going to do as soon as he was born, what pictures I would take and all the details I would remember. 

This project was something I imagined I would do in the first couple of days so I could savour just how tiny his hands and feet had been but as life goes with a newborn nothing is what you expect. I didn’t actually get round to this until he was 6 weeks old but it was so important for me to do this, as it was a gift from my baby shower and I didn’t want to waste the opportunity of preserving our memory of just how little he had been once upon a time. 

This was fairly difficult as he always has his little fists tightly wrapped around anything close enough or in his chops! 

  

Below is how my prints turned out as per instructions included, I was pretty impressed as I was alone with baby when I decided to embark on this.

  
I wanted to tint the prints just for my own personal project. I decided to use chalk this was probably a strange choice but I only wanted a very light effect and wanted to fade out the colour due to the hand print being only partial.  

   
This dovecraft chalk set to be honest I hardly ever get to use so I was very happy to have a little dabble with it. The photos don’t show very well but it is a little shimmery which looks great against the mat plaster. 

   
 
Lovely gift and so excited to add it to our memory box. 

So to all, treasure those moments and don’t put off the things you want to do as your baby will grow so quickly. You won’t realise until it’s too late to capture those little tiny features. 

Hope you’ve enjoyed this post and look forward to the next one.