Awards!

Just wanted to say a very big thank you to the lovelies who have left me awards & things lately - i'm very flattered!!

I haven't had a chance yet to put together the posts you're supposed to do & then forward & what not - but I'll get to it soon, promise! :D

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Relatives, Restaurants & Reminders

So I've been a little quiet on the blog front, because we had visitors - my auntie & uncle came down from Glasgow to meet the little dude :)

It was lovely actually - I hadn't seen my auntie in *ages*, so it was good to catch up, and she was more than a little taken with her great-nephew (despite the fact that the 'great' bit makes her feel everso old!!) - hence the big chunk of spoiling & me not getting a look in at pushing the pram for the last few days!!
(Have noticed a trend there - whenever a relative visits, they insist on pushing, don't they? Which is all well & good, and it's nice to have a rest - but I get so used to being attached to the wheels, I don't know what to do with my hands when someone takes over!)

She also insisted on taking us out for dinner - Little Dude's first restaurant experience! Having asked google for baby-friendly-eateries, we decided on 'Ask' for a spot of Italian. I got the little man all dressed up, packed everything but the kitchen sink into the nappy bag (bottle, bib, burp cloth, toys to keep him amused, dummy just incase, cuddly toy and so on...) and... he promptly slept through the whole 3 courses! absolutely good as gold, didn't make a peep!
Ah well, perhaps he's a little young to care about fine dining ;)
We had a lovely meal though - and I managed a new PB of *three* glasses of wine - hic!!

And now we've sen them off, it's back to what's curently passing for normal!
Which brings me to reminders - my new best friend, is a pad of post-it notes. Since becoming a mummy, my multi-tasking skills are better than ever. My memory, is not. I can't tell you how many times I've got to the shops with absolutely no idea what I wanted. Our tax credit form has been on the to-do list for about a month because I keep forgetting about it. I have called the daddy 3 times today to ask what time we're meeting friends at the weekend. My head is like a sieve, and unless I write things down, they just don't happen. And sometimes not even then :P

Any more experienced mummies want to tell me that the memory loss gets better? Or have any top reminder tips to share?!

Oh, and lastly, just wanted to say a very big thank you to the lovelies who have left me blog awards & things lately - i'm very flattered!!
I haven't had a chance yet to put together the posts you're supposed to do & then forward & what not - but I'll get to it soon, promise! :D

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Daddy's day preparation...

...is it incredibly geekish that I'm really excited about fathers day on Sunday?

I'm sure I looked like a complete loony in the card shop earlier - holding an array of options over the pram for the little dude's perusal.
'do you think daddy will like this one? or what about this one?'
yes, probably looked like a bit of a crazy lady.
and I admit, I did spend a small fortune on pointless silliness (photograph to follow - daddy is in the room just now - don't want to spoil the surprise!!), but a. it's his first fathers day, so I want it to be special, and b. he did set the bar pretty high on mothers day - I got beautiful flowers and chocolates, and the noodle was still only a bump!
so yes, I think it's only fair he does a little better than the traditional pair of socks :)

oh, and I may have picked up an 'I ♥ my daddy' tee in the George sale, for the little dude to wear on Sunday.

oooh, and I did just order this lovely book from play.com too, because it looks super sweet, and it was only a fiver. and it's good to encourage babies to like books, right? :D

but that's it, honest. no more spending.

other than to buy *MY* dad a card - evidence of mushy mummy brain exhibit A: go to card shop, buy card for the daddy, card for my daddy from the little dude (cheeky that - since when do grandads get cards too?!), card for my daddy from my dog (because he's been walking her for me since the noodle came along, and I thought it was funny :P), yet completely forgot to get my daddy a card from me. his daughter. oops. back to town tomorow then.

what's probably even geekier though, is that I was daydreaming earlier about when the noodle's old enough to be giving daddy home made cards and presents - can't wait for all that :D
Yes, he's 8 weeks old. I'll stop wishing the years away now :P

what's everyone else got planned for Sunday I wonder? I'm intrigued as to whether people still make a big deal of it as the children get older?
Or whether the children just pretend to humour their crazy-lady mummy? ;)

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Eight weeks of baby bliss...

Have I really had him for 56 whole days already?
Apparently so.
Everyone tells you how fast time flies when these gorgeous little people finally join the world, but you don't appreciate how true that is until you're living it.
Or how brilliant every minute of it is :D

So other than the fact that my delicious little boy is the world's biggest time thief, here are 8 more lessons I've learned in my first 8 weeks of being a mummy:

1. new parents can survive on surprisingly little sleep.
(by survive, I do of course mean 'maintain basic body functions & do everything baby demands, when baby demands it.)
2. leaving the house is now a military operation. and no matter how many times you check the nappy bag, you'll ALWAYS forget something.
3. old people LOVE babies. admittedly, I live in Worthing, affectionately known as 'God's waiting room' on account of it's high percentage of pensioner-plus-aged residents, so maybe it's more noticeable, but they DO! not once have Dylan & I been out & about without at least one member of the older generation stopping to coo. which is nice really, but a little strange the first few times!
4. always , always, always, take a baby's socks off before his nappy. it's far easier to clean poo off his feet than his socks!!
5. and while we're in the nappy area - in the case of little boys - always make sure he is pointing DOWN! (they don't tell you THAT at ante-natal classes - took me several wet sleepsuits to work it out!!
6. it's amazing the amount of things you can learn to do one handed.
7. it's a tad embarassing when you forget to switch out of baby-talk mode before answering the phone. helllooooooo!! (luckily, it was only telesales!!)
8. a nappy full of what seems like more than baby's weight in poo, followed by an hour of inconsoleable crying, is forgotten in a flash when your baby grabs your finger and looks at you like you're his favourite thing in the world.

and when they start finding their smiles, as the little dude has done in the last few days, well there's absolutely nothing that can't fix.
it's the best thing in the world :)

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my little baby bowling ball :)

So Wednesday, is baby clinic day , or as I keep calling it, weigh-in day.
(curse you daytime tv - too much biggest loser!! :P)

I think it's a bit of an odd practice really - for a couple of hours a week, a local church hall gets turned into a little baby cattle market - bring 'em in, strip 'em off, plop 'em on the scales! It's lucky we can't remember it all as adults - can you imagine how many of us would be in therapy for the shame & embarassment?!

Anyway!
It was our second visit (because of the little 'un's weight loss problems early on, we had more home visits than usual), and completely different to the first. Last week, the pile of red books was huge & we waited quite a while, today - in & out in 10 minutes!
And, I'm pleased to say, the little dude is now weighing in at 9lb 2oz - making him officially slightly heavier than the girlie 10 pin bowling ball I use when we visit the local lane :D (you wondered where I was going with the post title, didn't you?!)

That said though, he's currently snoozing next to me, rocking a rather funky stripey tee that's allegedly for babies up to 7.5lb. go figure.
baby clothes sizing properly baffles me. and i can't even blame one particular company - I have 'tiny baby' clothes from boots, mothercare, next & h&m kids - all for up to 7.5lbs, all of which my 9lb 2oz bowling ball baby still fits very comfortably into.

definitely going to have his daddy's build. which is all well & good, but by the time he fits into all the gorgeous 0-3 month summer stuff i bought when he was still a bump, it'll be nearly Christmas! :P

anyone else had this problem? or any reccomendations of where to buy for beanpole babies?!

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it'a a hard life being a baby.

So hard infact, that mummy's can learn the art of baby massage to help their little bundle of joy unwind after a stressful day of milky goodness, napping, and generally looking all cute.

which is exactly what i've done today - the massage learning that is - not the napping & cuteness ;)
I really like the whole concept, so was quite looking forward to the class, but wasn't convinced that the noodle was going to take to the idea - he's a bit of a wriggler at the best of times, not a huge fan of staying still, so I was a tiny bit dubious to say the least.

BUT, he actually really enjoyed it! Or he humoured me at least :)
The lady doing the teaching was very good (although her 'baby' {stuffed version!} wasn't terribly likely to put up much of a fight ;) - she warned everyone in advance that not all babies are into massage, and that if that's the case, then any skin-to-skin contact will do - even if it's just a snuggly cuddle after a bath :)

She reccomended using sunflower oil - yes, as in the stuff you cook with - as it's au naturel, no fragrances or the like to irritate sensitive baby skin, and indeed, gave all the mums a tiny little bottle to oil up their hands.
And off we went - one eye on her & her stuffed baby, one one the little dude to make sure he wasn't about to explode in a fit of no-thankyou-very-much-mummy!

He was one of the smallest babies there, so a lot of the 'moves' were a little lost on him, (his tummy is about half the size of my hand, so whole-palm-clockwise-stroking was tricky!), but he didn't cry once, he gurgled away pretty happily for the full 20 minutes, and i even got a smile or two when i was wiggling his toes! (not sure that's the correct technical term, but evidently it's good for all the little pressure points! :D)
So on the whole, I'd say it was a success :)
Will certainly have a go at making it part of his post-bath routine, and would definitely reccomend going to a class if you get the chance.

the other thing I'm chuffed with today, is I found these:

- how cute? never need to worry about odd socks again - they're SUPPOSED to be that way :D
i actually first saw them while putting my pre-baby maternity leave to good use surfing every baby site under the sun, but they were £15, which seemed like a lot - hence i'm so chuffed to have found them for the bargain price of £7.99 over at baby etc. :D
i'm sure my credit card can handle another tiny little debt for the sake of cuteness in sock form :D
wonder if there are any plans to introduce a daddy size version? that would be useful!

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milestones a go-go!

Wow. That was a busy week. And full of little dude milestones!

We had our 6 week check at the doctors – all fine & dandy (and mummy took advantage of the free prescriptions perk to wage war on the evil forces of hayfever, yay!).

We went to our first weigh-in clinic (for LD to get weighed, not me – perish the thought!!), and he’s now up to an almost chubby 8lb 9oz – woohoo! He’s still really not looking all that chunky though – I think his weight’s all in his length – going to be tall & skinny like his daddy. (and probably able to eat what he wants when he wants without gaining a pound – like his daddy – jammy so’n’so’s!!! :P)

Also went to our first mother & baby group – exciting! I was a tiny bit scared to be honest – had NO idea what to expect – and was dreading a situation where everyone already knew eachother & I’d be left feeling like a lemon!!
Needn’t have worried though – I wasn’t the only newbie, everyone was lovely, and it was nice to chat to grown ups for a couple of hours :D Think the noodle was a bit overwhelmed though – he’s never really met another baby, then suddenly he was faced with a dozen of them! They were mostly quite a bit older though, and many were quite mobile, so I was a little wary of putting the noodle down to play for too long – just incase he got squished! I think he enjoyed it though – no screaming anyway!
They’ve got someone coming to teach baby massage next week, so I think we’ll go give that a whirl too.

And the biggest milestone, for me anyway, not sure the little dude even noticed!, was that the daddy & I went out!
Just the two of us!!
No baby!!!
The daddy's mum came down for a visit & practically threw us out the house when we suggested maybe going to the pub for an hour or two! (yeah, chuffed to pieces to have him to herself for a while :D) so, off we went to our local pub’s karaoke night.

So. Weird.
We used to go once a week like clockwork.
Then it lessened a little as I became more and more of a preggopotamous, then stopped altogether when LD was born.
So yes, it was strange to be out anyway, then throw in the feeling of having lost a limb because my little boy who has been no further than a couple of metres away for the last 6 weeks is suddenly nowhere to be seen, and it just gets ODD!

But after the initial shock, I chilled out and had fun. (I even had a pear cider – woo! – just the one though, not going to risk a drunken baby!! :P) It was nice to catch up with people, and most importantly, to spend some time with the Mr that didn’t involve nappies or baby sick :P
Still, I was SO happy to see my little man when we got back. Felt like I hadn’t cuddled him for weeks!!!

Wonder if that bit ever gets any easier?

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