Yay! A Facebook page for mummies like me!

I'm a member of a couple of different mummy groups on Facebook, but they tend to focus on other issues like love lives, money problems etc and a lot of the discussions are about formula fed babies, e.g. experiences with different brands, bottles, etc, which I can't really relate to as Isabella only have one formula feed a day. Then, I stumbled across this little gem of a page called "Dispelling Breast feeding Myths" https://www.facebook.com/DispellingBfMyths
I've become a proper breast feeding advocate as it's free and doesn't need any faffing about. Unfortunately, a lot of mummies find it hard. 60% of women will give up breast feeding in the first 6 weeks, which is the toughest time. I nearly gave up everyday! My baby was feeding up to 15 times a day, my nipples got scabby, my right boob was twice the size of the left one, I couldn't bring myself to breast feed in public so I was resigned to my bedroom and the latching on REALLY frigging hurt. All in all, I completely understand how tough it is, and I've never gone through mastitis or tongue-tie or any other problems.
There are some really good support groups out there, like breast feeding cafes and La Leche League, but it's few and far between and not always suitable for all mummies, so online advice centres are absolutely invaluable to us breast feeding mummies. I hope they keep up the good work and more online support groups like this spring up.
Tomorrow, Isabella is going to try carrot for the first ever time and i'm taking her to get weighed. She's mastered the tummy shuffle and has a million and one expressions. She's growing up so quickly, she'll be going off to school before I know it!
TTFN xxx

My baby is on solids!!!

I'm back after a little break! Isabella and I have been at my mum's house near the seaside for the last week and have just come back with about 30 new items of clothing for Isabella.
After the baby rice disaster, I decided to try Isabella on solids again. She burps for Grandma, she goes to sleep for Grandma, so I figured she might take solids for Grandma. This time, however, instead of naffing about with bland, mushy baby rice, we tried sweet potato and squash baby food instead. She loooooooooved it. Seriously, I couldn't get the stuff into her mouth quick enough! Over the week, I tried her with banana, parnips and blueberry and apple and have deduced that she hates parsnips but, so far, likes everything else. She decided on her second parsnip day that she liked them for about 4 mouthfuls, then she got stroppy again.
Here's some things that I've discovered about weaning-

1. I seriously underestimated the amount of mess that they can make. Considering I was only giving her a couple of dollops at a time, when you factor in arm-waving, dribble and a fairly clumsy mummy, baby food gets pretty much everywhere. Isabella managed to get some sweet potato in her eyelashes, on her forehead and right down the side of her chair.
2. Babies are fussy. I didn't even entertain this notion and for some reason thought that they didn't become picky eaters until they were toddlers. Not my diva-baby! My mum and I's new in-joke is telling Isabella that I'll give her parsnip again if she misbehaves. I've only got a few dozen or so more foods to try her on and then try again if she doesn't like them the first time round. I don't know what I'll do if I can't get her to eat lentils or beans or tofu or quorn when the time comes as I'm planning on raising her vegetarian like me. 
3. The poo changes really quickly! I seem to constantly talk about poo now that I'm a mummy, but even on a couple of dollops twice a day, Isabella's poo has completely changed colour, consistency and smell. It didn't smell that bad before and normally smelt quite sweet. Now, it smells rank and I can't not give her solids now that we've started down this path just because it gives her a stinky bum. Or can I?......Nah, solids are kind of fun in a weird way.

We have 2 more days or the blueberry and apple baby food, then we're on to either carrot and potato or cheesy spinach. In a strange way, I'll be a bit gutted if she doesn't like spinach because in a couple of months, I'm going to start pureeing whatever I'm eating and I really love spinach. Then what if she never likes spinach or other vegetables that I really like? I can't face years of having to coax her into eating her greens or giving in and cooking 2 different dinners.
I'm going to get a bit of kip before she wakes up for her 4am feed. I miss her sleeping through the night more than words can say! At least I got 7 weeks of her sleeping through and not having to wake up at a Godforsaken hour to feed her.
TTFN x

Now the fun really starts!

My baby is starting to approach weaning-territory! Since she stopped sleeping through the night, she's been dribbling more, constantly has her fingers in her mouth and watches me eat like a hawk. I read the Mother&Baby special on weaning and noted that Isabella ticks all the boxes, even if she is a couple of weeks early. Then, I got on Google and checked out 4-5 different baby websites (just to be on the safe side) and went out and bought organic baby rice and a weaning bowl and spoon to make sure that I was prepared.
Of course, like everything else baby-related, everybody has an opinion. Some say to start weaning when they show all the signs, others say just to give them more milk and wait until they're 6 months. But these latter people aren't the one with a baby attached to their boob 24/7.
Then Monday came around and after an hour of feeding Isabella and her STILL grizzling and chewing her fingers, I decided to go for it. I called my mum, who said "For goodness sake, she's starving, just try a bit, it won't hurt and she'll just spit it out if she doesn't like it". I got the bowl and spoon cleaned in boiling water, measured out the baby rice, made up some formula to mix it with and got ready for the big adventure that is solids to begin.

She hated it.

Seriously, for a baby who normally wants to eat constantly and has her mouth open 90% of the time, she clammed right up. She tried to escape from her bouncy chair, she dribbled it out and then she managed to put her foot in the bowl that I was holding and got it everywhere. The only bit that I got her to actually eat was a splodge from my finger.
A couple of days later, my health visitor came over and one of the first things that she suggested was to start on solids. As she's still young, I was told to try baby rice for the first couple of weeks, then move on to veg and because she's so big, to try it twice a day.

My mum sent me a food parcel for her AND an extra flannel for cleaning her with

 

(The sticker says "food parcel for my poor        starving grandaughter")

Soooo, I tried again, this time with the pre-made baby rice that my mum sent me. Still no joy! I have a couple of mummy friends who have also tried giving their babies solids recently and they say that they loved them and gobbled them right up! 

I've just got to presume that even though she's so much hungrier and showing all the "signs", Isabella just isn't ready quite yet. I've got some more stream-line spoons, so I'm going to try again Monday and see how she goes, wish me luck!

TTFN xx

Guilty as charged!

I have realised that I have a rather annoying, cringe-worthy, socially-unacceptable and downright-slapworthy habit. I am a baby bragger. I can't quite seem to help myself; something sounds OK in my head, then I say it and then realise how obnoxious it seems! I sometimes want to slap myself.
In my eyes, my baby is the most perfect thing ever. She has her moments when she drives me up the wall, but in general, she is my gorgeous princess fairy angel. I forget that not everybody needs to know that!
When Isabella was born, all of the midwives and staff in the hospital told me how beautiful she was and nowadays I have random people in the supermarket coming up to me cooing over her. Plus, she's super-strong and she's hit all her milestones so far a week or 2 early. It doesn't really help that she's the first granddaughter in my family, so my mum and nan are constantly gushing over her and my health visitor is always telling me how advanced she is for her age and how well she's doing.
All this constant praise for my baby has left me also unable to stop gushing about her myself. I'm sure there's going to be a milestone that she hits late and I know she's got some things that we need to work on, such as getting her to sleep properly. I just can't stop myself from opening my mouth and wax-lycricalling about how wonderful she is!
Part of me worries that she's going to grow up thinking that her poo doesn't smell, so I'm going to have to find the balance between making sure that she has good self-esteem, without her getting delusions of grandeur.
Another worry is that people are just going to get sick of me constantly praising my baby and bragging about her. I don't even mean to do it and I try to be less obnoxious, but mouth opens and it just comes out like Pandora's box! You're probably reading this and thinking that I'm big-headed when it comes to my baby and in a way, I am. I'm very proud of myself for how well she's doing and she's a beautiful bubba.
I suppose it can't be helped. Us mums are just wired to put our babies on pedestals because they're our little creations and we have the urge to nurture and protect them ingrained into us, part of which is building their self-esteem and encouraging them.
As far as I'm concerned, my baby is the best thing since sliced bread and the sun does well and truly shine out of her little bum, I just need to work on changing the record every now and then.
TTFN xx

I love Annabel Karmel

As I write this, I'm cuddling Isabella back to sleep and then will have to wait about 10-15 minutes, or until she passes the flop test (lifting a baby's arm and softly dropping it to feel the resistance, it shows how asleep they are) so I can put her down. She's the world's lightest sleeper and putting her down half-asleep doesn't work AT ALL because she fully wakes up then won't settle down.
I'm sure that if and when I have another baby, I'll be an expert at getting a baby to settle.
Whenever I'm feeding or have a few minutes to myself, I get on the internet and do baby research, mainly because I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I use Babycentre, Bounty, Netmums, Yahoo answers and a million and one other sites. I constantly fret about what Isabella should be able to do, what stuff should look like, how often things should happen, you name it, I'll look it up, often on several different sites to be 100% sure. It's a good job that I have internet access 24/7, otherwise I'd be constantly calling my mum. Like when Isabella had hiccups at 3 days old and we had to Google whatto do because Tony decided that 1am was too late at night for me to call my mum. i'm still sure she wouldn't have minded.....
One of the websites that I have started frequenting is http://www.annabelkarmel.com/
For those of you who haven't heard of her, Annabel Karmel is an award-winning cook book author and child nutrition specialist. She's described as a "mumprenuer"and juggles being a mother of 3 children with her product ranges, cook books and her own children's cooking show. That is a superwoman and a half!
What I really love about her site is the information on pregnancy and breast feeding, including recipes for breast feeding mums and positive information about bottle-feeding. It also has information about raising your child as a vegetarian like I'm intending to do. If you're a first-time mum like me, or even a second or third, go check out her website.
I'm going to give it a couple more minutes then try to put Isabella down. We're going to see one of my work friends and her baby tomorrow in Kingston, so I've made a "packed lunch" of expressed milk for Isabella as there is never anywhere to breast feed! All we need is a reasonably comfy chair or sofa in a corner of a cafe or restaurant. It's not really asking for much. Maybe I should run for prime minister and make that one of my policies...
TTFN xx

Pregnant in Heels

A lot of people find this weird, but I only watch TV on the internet because the TV in our bedroom doesn't work and I want to watch what I want, when I want, not whatever TV execs decide I can watch. Yesterday, on one of the sites I use, I came along a little gem of an American reality TV show called "Pregnant in Heels". It's 45 minutes which is perfect, because that's enough time for a feed and a change without having to faff around with my laptop. Basically, this British woman, Rosie Pope, moved to America a few years ago and she's a "maternity concierge", which is a bit like a wedding planner, but for your birth. She does EVERYTHING that these crazy, rich ladies need in the run-up to having a baby. And when I say rich, these are the kind of women who spend thousands and thousands on a baby shower, no Schloer and "guess what's in the nappy" for them! She designs maternity wear, teaches baby CPR, organises showers, decorates nurseries, the whole shebang.

One couple had her arrange a focus group to decide their baby name, because they were all about creating a "personal brand". That's right. A focus group. The kind of thing that companies spend a pretty penny on  as part of market research. Why aren't these people content with baby name books and searching the internet like us regular folk?!

I think my pregnancy would only be marginally easier if I had a maternity concierge. For me, the hardest bits were the waiting, being humungous and getting aches and pains. Those aren't the kind of things you can get somebody else to do for you. 

But, it got me thinking. If these people are so busy 24/7 with their 6-7 figure salary jobs that they're still doing right up to their waters breaking to decorate their nurseries and buy baby stuff, what do they do after the baby's born? The show doesn't really touch on that much. They must have to then hire nannies to look after their babies, which would mean losing a big chunk of the precious first moments. I feel a bit sad  for them, but I don't feel sad for their big, fat bank accounts! Money won't be able to buy back that time with their babies. I think I'd rather be broke after all!

TTFN x

I need to invent this

Another thing that I have learnt from being a first-time mum is that it's about time that human cloning was perfected. I swear, most days I need 2 of me! Especially as Isabella barely naps and spends most of her awake time attached to my boob. Luckily, I have perfected the one-handed breast feed, which is how I'm managing to type this. What I really need is some kind of utility belt so I can carry around all the junk that I need and pick up stuff as I go. Here's a rough sketch of what I mean....

As you can see from my awful, awful illustration, it would have various pockets, a clippy chain thing to attach your keys to and a basket round the back to flings bits and pieces into. I think wearing clothes with pockets would help me a LOT, but I absolutely live in leggings at the moment.
I really think that I should make and sell this product, it could be a million pound idea. But if anybody reads my blog and steals my brain-child, I will hunt you down and sue yo' ass! (Only joking, nobody would be foolhardy enough to make such a contraption).
I'm off now to play with Isabella then bath her.
TTFN x

Cottaging ;-)

No, not in that sense, but I made ya look! A lot of new mums become entrepreneurs whilst on maternity leave and start up cottage industries so that they can work from home. When I was pregnant, I thought that I'd be gagging to get back to work asap, but then when I actually had bubba, my thoughts did a complete U-turn. I probably will end up having to go back to work so that I can continue to live the lifestyle that I'm accustomed to, but in the mean time, I'm toying with the idea of making my own little business on the side.
My latest idea for a business venture is a natural bath and body product range for mums-to-be and babies, I kind of figured I can buy stock and do research online whilst Isabella's asleep and, being a mummy, what I use on my baby is now a key interest of mine. I was going to start my own range about 18 months back, but then I got pregnant and had to put it on the back burner.
Now comes the tricky parts. I need to do market research, costings, all the nitty gritty things, whilst raising a baby. This should be fun.........
I need time, which means that baby needs to sleep a bit more. I've been trying desperately to get her into a proper sleep pattern, it's still nearly impossible to get her asleep for the night before 10 and the only way I can get her to have a proper nap is to take her for a walk.  So, I need to look into sleep techniques on top of everything else. A mummy's work is never done. I swear that I didn't spend so much time googling things before I got pregnant. Here goes nothing!

5 Things I thought that I'd miss that I actually don't

Like any unplanned pregnancy, after "OMG, I'm having a baby" and "OMG, I'm having a baby that I can't afford", my thoughts after seeing that little blue cross were all the things I would need to give up due to being pregnant then due to being a mum. Some elements of my pre-baby life, I do miss, but I look at Isabella and it's all worth it. Some, I thought I would miss but I really don't. Here they are....

1. Smoking. In my 7 years of being a smoker, I must have "quit" at least 50 (I kid you not) times, only to start again after a day, week or even month of being smoke-free because of a bad day or one too many drinks. When I found out that I was pregnant, I'd been smoke-free for a whole month and after getting over the 3-month hurdle of quitting smoking, I can't imagine going back to it. Plus, I can't afford it or the potential wrinkles.
2. Kerazy nights out. Don't get me wrong, I still love socialising with my friends and the occasional drink and I've been out 3 times since having Isabella. What I don't miss are the nights out that end up with somebody crying (usually me), somebody flashing (usually me) or somebody trying to start a fight (again, usually me). I don't know whether turning 25 has mellowed me out or knowing that I can't get super-drunk because I need to snap back into mummy-mode has changed me, but I don't really miss it. I probably will go out for 1 last epic, crazy night out once Isabella is old enough to stay somewhere without me for a whole night, but that won't be for a good few months.
3. Shopping for myself. I've always been a culprit of buying things without trying them on, especially after putting on a bit of weight and not wanting to admit to myself how big I actually was and how stuff really looked on me. That would always end up in shopping remorse and more often than not, unworn items that I couldn't face the shame of returning for a bigger size or different shape. Since having a baby, wanting stuff just for the sake of wanting something new has taking a massive backseat. I will need to buy new clothes soon (hopefully, if the weight keeps coming off) but I seem to be blinkered into only looking for stuff for Isabella. It's also another case of not really being able to afford shopping any more. Boo!
4. Crash diets. As you may have gathered if you've read some of my previous entries, I have major issues with my weight and appearance. I struggled for years with anorexia, bulimia and disordered eating. The funny thing about eating disorders is, no matter how well you're "cured" and "normal", it always sits in the back of your head. Be it totting up calories in your brain or purposefully eating what you "should eat" instead of what you actually want, you're never really shot of it. I know I'm not and my eating problems are why I have an awful metabolism now, but because I'm breast feeding and have to keep my strength up to look after baby, I've managed to silence the little voice in my head that tells me that I'd be happier if I tried this diet, that diet or went a few days without food.
5. Being a workaholic. I'm a classic stress-thriver, in that the more I have to do and the more I take on, the harder I push myself. If I have less to do, I get a bit complacent and lazy. For the past year and a bit up until going on maternity leave, I worked crazy hours. Most mornings, I was in the office at 7 in the morning and didn't leave until 6 or 7 in the evening and used my lunch break to do extra work. Most people have their workload reduced when they get pregnant so they're less stressed. Not me! I ended up with more and more tasks to do. When I was about to go on maternity leave, my manager said to me that they were surprised I lasted as long as I did and rarely took a day off sick. To be honest, so was I! The first couple of weeks of maternity leave, I was stir-crazy, but then the tiredness set in and I was too huge to do most things and had to learn to relax. Now, I'm really not in a hurry to go back to work. I'm sure they're surviving without me just fine.

My Body Resolves

I love it when Isabella has a nice long nap. I've had time to recoup, do a few sets of squats and bicep curls, have a coffee and surf the net.
I've still got 11 lbs of pregnancy weight left to lose, then I want to lose a stone on top of that. I was aiming for 9 stone, but then I saw some old pics of myself at that weight (I was 21) and I, quite frankly, look like a puppet! I've naturally got big shoulders and a big booty, so being that weight doesn't really suit my body type.
As I can't lose weight too rapidly (breast feeding and need to keep my strength up to look after bubba), I've decided to take a more mindful approach to losing 25 lbs, which in theory could take half a year to do. Hopefully, I can push myself just the right amount to do it in 3-4 months. So, as I am a list writing fiend (it helps me pretend I'm being organised), I got a piece of paper, 2 metallic pens and have written down my mini-goals.
I have decided that I will-

• Think about what I eat.
• Eat my 5-a-day.
• Walk at least 45 minutes at least 3 times a week.
• Do 20 reps of something every time that Isabella has a nap.
• Not got overboard with treats.
• Look after myself.
• Have 3 cups of green tea a day.
• Stick to my portion sizes ESPECIALLY CHEESE!!!
• Avoid white food and go for colours. (I'm gonna be eating rainbows, baby!)
• Not compare my body to others.
• Cook dinner more often (So I know how much oil and things are in there and can make a super healthy low-fat meal for everyone)
• Work towards being a healthy role model for my daughter.
• Not rely on food or drink for happiness.
• Remember that I am a human being and give myself a break.

Well, let's see how well I can keep it up. I, personally give myself 3 days before I'm comparing myself to skinny minnies and having a little cry whilst eating a family-size bar of Dairy Milk to myself.
TTFN xxx

First (sort of) holiday with baby

OK, time for a quick one whilst Isabella is asleep and I eat lunch. Tony and I are taking Isabella to Bournemouth for the weekend tonight. We've been together 20 months tomorrow and haven't actually had a break or holiday together before (unless you count going to my mum's house, she lives near Eastbourne and staying the night in her spare room, of course). I've only got Isabella's clothes and Tony's clothes packed so far, oops! Most of my wearable clothes are still damp and I still have to sort out the million and one things that I need for baby. Then, we need to head off as soon as hubby is home as it'll probably take about 3 hours to get to Bournemouth. Unfortunately, the sun isn't going to be out this weekend, but we can still go down to the beach for a picnic or something.

After 7 blissful weeks of Isabella sleeping through the night, she's decided to become nocturnal again and is waking up 2-4 times during the night again. Joyous! On Tuesday, she decided not to go to sleep until 6am the following morning, so I ended up so exhausted that I could barely walk. Luckily, my sister-in-law took Isabella for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then Tony and his mum looked after her in the evening. I can't believe how much I took sleeping for a whole 6-7 hours for granted! It could be a growth spurt, it could be the weather, it could be my baby just throwing me a curve ball, who knows?! I'm so exhausted at the moment, I can barely function, I have a permanent headache and I really don't feel like I'm producing as much milk as I normally do. The only solution in the foreseeable future is persuading the OH to do a night feed with expressed milk or formula, but that just feels so unlikely. He'll probably sleep through her crying or if he does get up, bitch and moan the next day about being tired.

Still, I have some reasons left to be cheerful-

1. I've lost half a stone in the last month without even trying (most of it is probably down to not being able to stomach anything on Wednesday).
2. My e-petition for more breast feeding support has been approved. Only 99,998 more signatures until it's discussed in the House of Commons.
3. I've received my backdated child benefit. Yay, money!

TTFN xxx