TRYING TO BE A YUMMY MUMMY – Page 9

Thank god for Coffeeshops !! 😊

I have never spend so much time in a coffeeshop as I do while on maternity leave. They bring normality in to my life! On the beginning before I meet my Mums gang I would go to one to be round people and so I cant see all of the stuff which need to be done at home. I would buy lots of magasines have a cake (we all deserve it !!!!!) and my decafe (breastfeeding) coffee (lots of it) while Chloe was sleeping (they do sleep a lot of the beginning) .

You know the time when they are still quite small (3 months or so) and you are trying to establish a routine and they don’t want to sleep … Of we went in the pram for a walk and as soon as she would fall asleep I would head to a coffeeshop, we all know that you can’t go home because as soon as you open the door baby is wide awake !!!

Now is all about socialising.Yummy mummies with our perfect prams pushing our perfect baby stroll in to a coffee shop and take it over moving all of the tables and chairs so we can park 8 prams, and fit 8 highchairs on top of all of the space that we mums need – the customers and the owners hate us !

LUNCH TIME ! Some great accesories which I love !

MY BABY EXPERIENCE

Weaning is so much fun and I love going out for lunch with Chloe; I recon Chloe enjoyed it more as she has food, lots of distraction and a lot of attention (the 3 things that she can’t live without). But you need so much stuff : wipes, antibacterial wipes, pot with main meal, pot with a dessert, pot with snacks, bib, water, spoon, lunch bag, some toys etc…..

I found lots of very good items out there which make the whole proved a bit easier or just a bum more fun.

1. MAM spoon.

What is great about this spoon is that it comes with a cover! It’s such a smal but genius idea! You know that your spoon is clean and ready for your baby to use it, and once your lunch is over you don’t need to worry about cleaning it or the spoon staining your lunch bag. It comes in few different colours.

2. MAM bowl.

What is great about this bowl is that it’s separated in two so you can have your dinner and a dessert in one container. The way is seperated is very good as it doesn’t let one food lik in to the other part of the container. Saves a lot of space !

3. Lunch bag

There is so many amazing lunch bags out ther, choice is very big. My favourite one will be the one made by SKIP HOP. They do an animal range which is the cuttest ever. We have two now: a zebra one and unicorn one. They are beautiful and so much fun for kids. Chloe loves to play with her bag!

There is a very big choice depending on what you like or what animal your baby loves😊

Do you have any great lunch gadgets or items that you cannot live without or just love ? Please share with me and others!

Work 😫😫😫

MY BABY EXPERIENCE

I had to slowly start thinking about work. Needing to organise meeting with work to talk about returning after maternity; organise some keep in touch days so I know what was happening while I was gone (fashion never sleeps as we say where I work-lots to catch up on) and the worst of all needing to start to leave my little precious girl with other people.

Unfortunately due to my work I won’t be able to go back part time … This makes it harder, especially that all of the other mums are going back back part time.

I started to make small steps by having grandparents over for few hours observing how I do things with Chloe. Then leaving Chloe for an hour, then for 3 hours (it was the longest I could do).

First of my keep in touch days Chloe’s grandad was looking after her … With my husband who I made to work from home so he can keep an eye on everything. Not that there is anything to worry about, Grandad is amazing withChloe, and he knows what he is doing but I just can’t bring myself to leave her for more than few hours with anyone other than my husband. I have done 2 keep in touch days so far and because my husband was working from home it wasn’t too bad… I just don’t know how will I be able to go back full time to work???!!!!! Right now I don’t know how I will do it… I will have to somehow… Everyone else is doing it so it can’t be that bad???? My friend just went back to work and she is loving it ???? Just thinking about it is stressing me out !!!!

BABY CHANGING BAG … WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR ONE?

BABY STUFF - DO WE NEED ALL OF IT ?

Baby changing bag … We have there everything don’t we ? They weight a tone and there is so many things which we apparently need to carry in it and lots of “must have” gadgets without which we shouldn’t leave the house. I will tell you what in my experience you need and which gadgets I found very good!

1. Portable changing mat.
I have to admit that I got one as a present on my baby shower. I opened it and started saying how nice it is and pretty etc…. then had to ask … eeehhh and what is it??? I didn’t know that you can get or need a portable changing mat with all of those pockets for nappies and wet wipes. I didn’t even thing about how will I be changing my baby when out and about.
I have to say it was one of the best product ever and I have been using it from day one. I have everything in one place and when Chloe need changing I just take my little bag with me. I recommend very highly to get one of those.

2. Wipes Case.
If you use wet wipes with a standard re-sealable top what you notice is that after having them in your changing bag the top stops sticking (there is just so much a packet of wipes can withstand :-)). Also trying to look for the packet of wipes 100 times a day in a changing bag which has everything is very challenging and frustrating.
Wipes case is so good. It takes wipes inside and keeps in a light fresh inside a plastic case. It has sliding top so you can easily get to your wipes and it attaches in to your pram/changing bag etc. I have the Skip Hop Swipes Wipes Case.

3. Change of clothes.
Always!!! Baby vomit A LOT, explosive poos leak very often ! Make sure you have it at all the time !! I always had a change of clothes on the beginning and then as the time was passing and Chloe was outgrowing her clothes I just stoped putting a spare one in… then while being on a lovely day out in a British Museum with my 8 months old sweetheart her nappy leaked … leaked a lot!

4. Antibacterial wipes.
I go through so many of them ! From the very beginning I was possessed with bacterial and Chloe not getting any of the gems ! So far with my antibacterial wipes and breastfeeding at 9 Months Chloe still hasn’t been sick .

5. Muslin cloth.
Do not leave the house without one. Its handy when it comes to everything and anything.

6. Antibacterial spray.
The is this baby friendly spray. Its all natural so you can spray toys, dummy or anything with it and it will kill all of the bacteria without any chemical fast to it. Its 100% natural so its safe for babies. I bought all of the different wipes which were leaving chemical aftertaste, dummy steriliser which was so much hassle to use I have used it only once.

7. Stain Removing Wipes
I discovered those very recently and I must say they are brilliant. Have you got use to being covered in vomit or fingers food stains? or having to throw away brand new cute baby top just because you can’t get this stain off ? With those wipes you can wipe the stain away or make is less offensive.

8. Calpol / Teething medications.
Those are handy to have especially from around 4 months when lots of babies start testing.

9. Toys
Whatever keeps you baby entertained , whatever your baby likes. Something to distract your baby when it gets bored. I always end up with so many toys !!!!

10. Food
Spare milk if you bottle feed and once your baby starts weaning food is necessary to have. You never know how long you can end up being out, or if your baby for some reason gets hungry though it shouldn’t (it happens quite often :-)).
Girls anything else you have and cannot live without ?? Anything you don’t agree with ?? How big/heavy is your changing bag ?😂

NURSING CHAIR good buy or waist of money????

BABY STUFF - DO WE NEED ALL OF IT ?

When you look at photos of nurseries, or set up rooms in the baby shops they always have nursing chair/ feeding chair.

This automatically makes you think that you need one … But they aren’t the pretties things and they are very expensive.

My werdict is that it’s a waste of money. Why? If you fallow the NHS guidance on how to look after your new born it will mean that you will have your baby sleeping next to you in your bedroom. When you get up 10 times in the middle of the night to feed, trust me you don’t pick up your baby then move to sit on the chair, you just do it on your bed (I am breastfeeding so not sure if this same applies to bottle feeding).

Also at 6 months when you move your baby to its room you don’t feed them that often, and if you are lucky enough your baby will be sleeping through the night all together!

But when you are a first time mum to be you think that it makes sense so you buy one, so did I. Difference is that I bought a lovely armchair which I will be using for much longer than feeding baby. So my advice is use an armchair/chair which you already have or buy one which you love and can use after in your house!

What is your experience ? What is your opinion? Please share.

YES I AM MRS PERFECT and it bothers you because?

MY BABY EXPERIENCE

I am one of the people who keeps my house very tidy at all the time (only exception is when 8 babies with their mums invade my house for a “baby party”) who has a make up on when I leave the house, who never leaves house in tracksuit bottoms, whos baby pram is clean, who goes out a lot with her baby, who cooks, cleans ect.

I am not saying it to show off … I am saying it it because for some reason it pisses off lots of people. Why would it bother you? It doesn’t bother me if you don’t do any of those things !

What you need to realise is that it is a hard work to do all of it when you have a little babie ! When you sit and watch your TV while drinking coffee I am already making breakfast, having shower and getting dress. When your baby is napping and you are resting or trying to catch up on your sleep, I most of the time are cooking, cleaning, washing, having shower ect. And yes I do have a bad days as all of us do but I make sure that they happen very rarely.

I don’t judge anyone for having messy house, not doing make up or not having perfect hair. I don’t pass any sarcastic or nasty comments, so you keep yours to yourself !

FINGER FOOD

BABY ADVICE

In my opinion you should start introducing finger foods few weeks after starting to wean your baby.

On the very beginning whatever you give should be very soft :

– cooked carrot sticks

– toast

– very small baby corn crisps (one from 6months)

– Cooked Apple cut in to sticks or Banana

– cooked sweet potato cut in to stripes

– rice cakes (one from 6months)

Once you established good feeding routine at 7months you should be introducing texture to your baby food and so much more finger food.

I introduced texture to Chloes food by adding very small baby pasta or couscous to all of her meals. I would cook her normal meal, make it in to a poore and then add the texture. Also adding meat makes the food more textured when blended. For a desert I would start chopping fruits in to a very small squares and give it to Chloe instead of blended fruits. Good ideas when starting is to add some cooked apple cut in to a tiny squares in to a yogurt, or add some cut fruits in to a poored ones – banana is ideal.

From 7 months you can start giving so much more finger foods (I started earlier as Chloe was a perfect eater and we started weaning much earlier)

– Corn snacks (very big selection)

– Biscuits (baby ones, remember that they are high in sugar)

– Cooked vegetables – pretty much all of them- perfect one being broccoli, carrot, cauliflower.

– pancakes with banana or cooked apple are a perfect snack.

– sliced soft fruits : Bannana, Peach, Kiwi, Strawberry

– cucumber

From 8 months I became brave enough to introduce smaller vegetables and fruits like

– sweetcorn

– peas

– blueberries

And letting Chloe feed herself, which also helps with developing motor skills of picking small objects and putting them in to a mouth.

I also started giving her a bigger variety of fruits and vegetables :

– Pineapples

– Mango

– Melon

– Pepper

– courgette (cooked)

– breadsticks

BABY PUSH ALONG WALKER

BABY STUFF - DO WE NEED ALL OF IT ?

I have been debating long and hard over the walker. I definitely didn’t want the big walker. Not that there is anything wrong with them but: 1. I don’t like how they look, 2. I reed articles suggesting that they aren’t good for kids 3. I don’t have a space for it.

I knew that I wanted a push along walker, for it to support Chloes learning on how to walk. The choice is huge (as with everything when it comes to babies) wooden/plastic, prams/cars, big/small, with activities/without, expensive/cheap.

For once I think that I took sensible decision and chosen something not too expensive, small, wooden which means that quality is better, and something that she can play with once she walks by herself, but we are not stuck with it for ages. I have chosen to buy the wooden pram walker. It wasn’t too expensive with a price tag of £35. Chloe can play with it after she learns how to walk but if she does not want to, it doesn’t matter as it wasn’t expensive and we can just get rid of it.

What is important is that it supports her in learning (which a standard walker doesn’t do as it has too much support) . She learns how to balance, how to push, and makes her so much more confident in her walking.

She loves it ! She keeps walking up and down, and she could do it all day long. The only problem is she doesn’t know how to turn around 😂😂😂.

KEEP IN TOUCH DAY … More like the worst day of my life !!!

MY BABY EXPERIENCE

Keep in touch day at work … We all need to do it in a build up to the maternity leave finishing (can’t even think about it!!!!!!!). So today is the day that I need to leave my baby and go for few hours to work !!!! Leaving the house and saying my goodbye was one of the hardest things in my life ! I have left Chloe with her dad and grandfather which is making it much easier …. Right? So why was I in tears leaving the house ?????? It’s so so so hard … I can’t even think about how will I be able to go back to work full time ???? Leave Chloe in the nursery or only with grandparents without my husband checking that Chloe is ok ???

On one hand I just want to shout : I QUIT, I DONT WANT TO WORK ! I want to be at home withy baby …. On the other hand I know that it’s good for her to be surrounded by other people, and that I go back to work so she can have everything that she needs and wants… There is also this small part of me thinking that I nee to think about my future and my carrier ….

BEING A MUM JUST GOT WHOLE LOT MORE DIFFICULT

Bigger bigger bigger each day !

MY BABY EXPERIENCE

We are 9 months old today !!! That means that she is older than the time she spent in my belly! For some reason 9 months feels as important as 6 months. Quite emotional! Where did this time go? Didn’t I just gave birth to her ????

What did I get as a present from her ? 3 sleepless nights in the row while 2nd tooth is coming through !