Versatile Bloggers Award

 

I was REALLY surprised to find that I'd be nominated for a 'Versatile Blogger' Award! I only started blogging after LB was born and have never taken it too seriously, I just enjoy writing about my beautiful son and our little family!


 I was nominated by Jaqueline (www.smithsareus.blogspot.co.uk) who has a son of a very similar age to LB and Lystra (www.twoyearsblog.wordpress.com) who has a two year old boy. Coincidentally, I love reading both their blogs too and highly recommend them!


Here are the rules of the Versatile Blogger Award:



Rules

- Be sure to thank the blogger that has nominated you, in your post.

 

- Write 7 facts about yourself and nominate 7 other bloggers.

-You must put the Vesatile Blogger Award pic on your post.

 

Seven facts, here goes...

 





1. I am one of 14 children. I'm my mother's only child, but my dad has got 14 children. He's been married to 6 women (Like Henry VIII I say!) His oldest child is 54, his youngest 7. I'm number 13, FYI.


2.  I'm OBSESSED with yoghurt. It's literally got that bad my partner has to stop me eating them sometimes! When I go to Tesco's, its the first aisle I head towards! I probably eat 2-4 a day at the moment. I love trying new flavours and literally get excited when I see a new flavour or brand advertised! My favourite at the moment are Shape coconut mousse with dark chocolate (not strictly a yoghurt but awesome!)  


3. I don't drive. I was bought a car and lessons for my 17th birthday. After my initial 12 lessons I didn't carry on and by 19th birthday my mum was driving 'my' car. Five years on and with a son, I intend to learn to drive ASAP!


4. I've got a bit of a thing for candles, especially Yankee candles. For secret Santa at work for the past three years, I've been bought candles!


5. Our landlord and landlady are both actors, one of them starring in Emmerdale!


6. I've got an unhealthy obsession with ALL thing Batman.


7. I've swam with dolphins at a sanctuary in the Bahamas (It was a 10th birthday present, the best ever!)



Now to recommend my seven favourite blogs:


http://www.emmaandalfiesworld.blogspot.co.uk/


http://www.smithareus.blogspot.co.uk/


http:///www.mytwomums.com/


http://www.citygirlgonecoastal.blogspot.co.uk/


http://www.yetanotheryoungmum.tumblr.com


http://www.mentalparentals.com


http://www.bloomingbooboo.blogspot.co.uk/

@newmummytips

 



Things they DON'T tell you about labour, birth and your hospital stay!

 

Every new mum LOVES telling their labour and birth story! In the 1st week I must have told maybe thirty people, even male friends. Who can blame us? It is the most amazing experience ever!

 

 

I've noticed that first time mums go either one of two ways after giving birth to their baby: they now want 'millions' of babies or they are adamant that 'one is enough'!

 

 

My older sister has a son (C) who is 15 months older than LB. All through my pregnancy she told me how awful labour was and how she'd never do it again! Obviously she told me all about her labour, how it was the 'worst nine hours of her life' and 'the most painful thing ever'. So automatically from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I had a negative thoughts about labour and was dreading the worst.

 

 

However, I was one of those women who immediately after giving birth said 'I want another!'. My labour was awfully complicated (I was in labour for 55 hours, and it ended with an emergency C-Section after LB got stuck - more on that another time!) but it still didn't put me off. I enjoyed every minute, coping on paracetamol until I began pushing, then moving on to gas & air. I actually enjoyed the pain because I knew my son was on his way.

 

 

 

 

 

However there were a few things about the general experience of childbirth that I wish I would have known prior to them actually happening (the following points are not intended for the squeamish and men will definitely NOT enjoy reading, things may get a bit graphic!) here goes...

 

 

 

1. You have two lots of 'Waters'

 

My waters broke first, then the contractions started. It wasn't a massive gush but I knew they'd gone. After two days of contractions with no dilation, I was examined by a Consultant who said that my 'back waters' hadn't gone yet. This resulted in him popping them with a HUGE knitting-like needle (which he didn't even try to hide!).

 

 

2. You can NOT eat during established labour

 

After being put on an induction drip at 1am, I sent my partner to get me some 'supplies' (specifically Lucozade, Sweet Chilli Walkers Sensations & 2 Twix bars!). When he arrived back I started tucking in. After literally three crisps and one sip of Lucozade, the midwife came in the room and said: "You can't eat when you're in established labour in case we need to put you under anaesthetic". I was literally heartbroken, I'd never wanted junk food more in my life. To make matters worse, she then brought my OH a ham sandwich and a coffee, which I had to watch him eat whilst drooling.

 

 

3. They push the gas out of your stomach after a C-Section

 

As I was planning a natural delivery, I didn't do much research into Caesarean Sections. However, I had a pretty good idea of what went on. What I didn't know is that after being stitched up, the doctors then 'expelled all the extra air from inside your body'. This was pretty much a man pushing down on my stomach whilst lots of air (and vile noises!) came out of down there.

4. CRAZY BLEEDING

After having LB, I was bedbound for 24 hours. I was helped up by two healthcare assistants and told to shower, which I did. Whilst in the shower I was losing lots of blood very quickly, including clots which were nearly as big as my fist. I honestly thought I was dying! I pressed the buzzer and the midwife come in asking what the problem was. Through my tears I showed her how much I was bleeding to which I got the reply 'that's normal'. Nobody told me!



Did anyone else experience anything they weren't expecting?

 

@newmummytips

LB's new clothes (and stroller!)

Just thought I'd share...

 

 

 

I nipped to my local Tesco after spinning tonight to get some milk, cheese etc. and saw that there was a baby clothing sale, so thought I'd have a little nosey.

 

I've bought LB a few bits from F&F before, mainly vests and joggers. I got his parka from Tesco too (a complete steal at £12!)

 

This is my haul from this evenings trip:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The long sleeved tee was a steal at £3 (full price) , the five pack of bodysuits were on sale for £3 and the two pack of harem joggers were only £6! I did get a three pack of long sleeved tees for £5 too but couldn't find the image online!

 

 

I also bought LB a hat and mittens set earlier today from Mammas & Pappas which should have been £14, but had they had a 30% off event in-store so they were less than a tenner!

 

 

 

 

Finally I couldn't not mention that we are now the proud owner of a Cosatto Supa Foxtrot and it's absolutely amazing! We trialled it today at the Trafford Centre and got so many compliments. The difference in weight compared to our bulky Mothercare travel system is massive, its going to make a huge difference when me and LB are travelling by train (as we often do!) Review to follow soon...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@newmummytips

 

 

 

 

 



Three. Months. Old.

So...

 

 

Today I realised how fast time has gone in the past year. I literally hate clichés more than most but (WOW!) doesn't time fly by! Today is exactly 9 months since I found out I was pregnant, tomorrow is exactly a year since my (estimated) conception date and Friday LB is turning THREE months old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be honest although my pregnancy was much shorter than others (I only found I was pregnant at 15 weeks, see blog post 'Totally Unaware...') it still seemed like an eternity. As soon as I hit 37 weeks every day felt like a week. I spent my days becoming addicted to the CI channel and going across the road to the leisure centre to swim, hoping every morning that my son would come.

 

Now LB's here. I know everyone says it but I can't remember him as a newborn and I look at pregnant photos of myself and say "Was I really that big?!".

 

I've taken LB to the local sensory room once a month since he's been born and today was his 3rd visit. On his 1st visit (at 4 weeks) he had a bottle, cried a little and slept. On his 2nd visit (at 9 weeks) the same. Today's visit however, was awesome! Me and my OH were really surprised at how much LB enjoyed himself! He was grabbing (and trying to chew!) the fibre optic strands, fascinated by the bubble tube and even laughing at himself in the mirror.

 

 

 

 It was a massive realisation for both me and my partner. LB is a 'proper' baby! He laughs, babbles and has started to play with his toys. I'm really enjoying being a mum now. Not to say that I wasn't before - but I'm getting a full nights sleep and it doesn't feel like I'm existing just to bathe, feed, burp and change LB.

 

So even though the time has gone by 'too quickly!' and I should 'cherish every moment' (CRINGE!) I'm loving life with LB as a 3 month old, and am excited for what's to come!

 

 

 

 

 

@newmummytips

 

 

 



My (Free!) 1st Graze Box

 

So here it is...

 

 

I've been wanting to try a Graze box for probably about a year now, and have never got round to signing up... until last week. I saw yet another advert on TV giving a code for a 1st free box (it's TASTY18, by the way!) and whilst LB was napping I thought why not give this a go?!

So I signed up and was directed to a page full of lovely photo's of yummy treats, and asked to rate them 'TRY', 'LIKE', 'LOVE' or 'BIN'. There was also a box you could tick 'SEND SOON' for stuff you really wanted to try!

I checked my account this morning, and I could find out exactly what I'd been sent.

 

The text is probably too small for you to see! I was sent A slice of carrot cake with an afternoon tea infusion, some oatbakes with caramelised onion chutney, some garlic and basil pitted olives and finally something called 'walnut and vanilla truffle' (comprising of walnuts, vanilla sunflower seeds, raisins and dark chocolate buttons).

 

 



 



I was slightly disappointed with the portion sizes, they were considerably smaller than I thought, but then again I'm quite greedy when I have control over portion size, so this could be a blessing in disguise. I was also a little bit gutted that the caramelised onion chutney did not come in a little jar as it was pictured on the website, but for £3.89 (or in my case free!) I thought that it was presented well.

Me and my partner shared all four snacks (if I was to carry on getting the boxes, the plan would be one snack a day, but for the purposes of the free trial we decided to try them all!).

The olives were average, there were around fifteen in the package. They tasted good but nothing special.

The oatbakes were also fairly mediocre, not tasting of 'cheese and chive' as they were supposed to, so again, nothing I couldn't get hold of in the supermarket (or probably my kitchen cupboards!)

The Vanilla and walnut truffle was very delicious and something truly unique. I really enjoyed this snack and felt like the epitome of health chowing down on nuts, seeds and raisins! However, when I checked the calorie content and fat content I got a nasty shock! The tiny portion contained 190kcal and 12, YES 12 grams of fat! I did a little digging and found that for the same amount of calories I could have a Cadburys Freddo (which is only 155 kcal and only has 5 grams of fat!) AND a small orange. So not as healthy as I thought!

Finally the carrot cake. This was very yummy and only 88kcal so really was guilt-free as described. However it was very small and I could have a slice of Weight Watchers for 4kcal less and its about twice the size!

So in conclusion, I DID enjoy my Graze box, although I didn't find it anything special and for £15.56 a month (whilst on SMP!) I think I could create many more healthy snacks than just four a week!

So thank you for letting me try a box Graze but unfortunately I won't be paying full whack for your boxes again and have cancelled!

P.S. I have a friend code which can be used 4 times (please leave a comment if you use it!) which entitles you to 1 free Graze box. It's:

XYVQ3T3ZB

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

@newmummytips



Totally Unaware! - My Early Pregnancy

"Congratulations, you're pregnant! I'll prescribe you some Folic Acid to take and in the meantime you'll need to book an appointment with the midwife at your GP's surgery."

 

 

 

 

Sitting in the waiting room of the walk-in centre with what I thought was a water infection, I was completely convinced that I couldn't be pregnant, even though my partner said he 'knew I was' . When my name was called, I sat down in the room and said to the nurse "This is going to sound really strange but my partner is convinced I'm pregnant, but I know I'm not because I'm on the contraceptive pill and haven't missed a day." With a puzzled look on her face the nurse replied "So why are you here then?"

The night before, my partner had woken me up around 3am saying he'd had a dream in where he saw his Mum (who has sadly passed away) sat next to me in a hospital bed, holding a baby. I thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. But when I woke up the next morning, I couldn't shake the thought. I called worked and told them I'd be a couple of hours late and went straight to the walk-in centre at my local hospital. When the receptionist asked "Why are you here today?" I simply expained I had the symptoms of a water infection and took a seat. How was I to know that I was almost 4 months pregnant?

I'd just been promoted at work 8 weeks earlier and was now commuting to Liverpool by train to manage a new store (I work in women's retail, at the time for a well-known lingerie brand). I blamed my over-tiredness on the 4am starts, 12 hour days and regularly running the 30 minute walk to the train station as to not miss the last one!

My weight had also creeped up - although I never weigh myself, I could feel my size 12 work dresses I'd worn for the last 2 years getting tighter and tighter! I ALSO blamed this on eating late and the added stress of managing 20 staff, but in reality it was the cravings for McDonalds breakfast bagels and Thai Green Curry (which I was even eating for breakfast!) My size hadn't really changed in the last 3 years (until I became pregnant) so when shopping I could pick up a size 12 from almost anywhere knowing it would fit.

The week before my 21st birthday (unknowingly around 10 weeks pregnant!) I went into Oasis on my lunch break and bought a black playsuit without even trying it on. When I got back into the staffroom at work (to eat yet another Thai curry!) I told 3 of the girls about the playsuit I'd just bought and they all told me to try it on. I was expecting to slip it on, zip it up and parade up and down the staffroom with comments of approval, but that is NOT what happened! I literally had to force myself into the bottom part and yank the zip up, and eventually got it on. It looked awful! At first I point blank refused to show the girls.

After some coaxing I decided to come out of the toilet - at this point I hadnt noticed that in the process of getting the playsuit on it had ripped, one of the girls told me. I was at a massive low. I didn't know I had a tiny person inside me - so thought I'd just got fat! I ended up wearing a baggy shirt and black jeans to stay in a suite at the Malmaison (it was a suprise, I thought my partner was taking me to a burger restaurant!)

Two weeks before Christmas, we had an overnight window change at our store, and being the only manager who had worked at the company previously to the Liverpool store, I was assigned this shift (6pm until around 4am). I was around 13/14 weeks pregnant, and had no idea! I was up 15ft ladders in the shop window, lifting 5kg crates of stock and drinking lots of energy drinks to keep me awake. Also, not having a car meant my partner had to come and pick me up bless him!

It was 2 days after this that I found out I was pregnant. I felt overwhelming guilt - I'd drank half a bottle of champagne on my 21st birthday, I'd been lifting heavy deliveries and putting lots of strain on my body!

Although my pregnancy wasn't planned, myself and my partner knew we wanted this baby. When he arrived home from work that evening, we went out for dinner and discussed everything. We were ready (as any couple could be for a baby).

My booking appointment came around very fast. When the midwife asked when my LMP was, I had no idea. My pill didn't come with a 'break' every 21 days, so I'd not had a period for at least 3 months. The midwife referred us to a senographer and we were NOT prepared for what came next!

I thought I was maybe 4 or 5 weeks pregnant. I was yet to join the dots of weight gain, strange eating habits and being really tired! We walked over to the Antenatal scans department (my midwife being based at the local hospital) and waited around 5 minutes. I lay on the bed, cold jelly on my tummy and watched the screen, holding my partners hand very tightly. After seeing a baby (not a blob like I was expecting!) I went silent. "I must be at least 10 weeks" I thought.

 

 

"Would you like to know the sex?"  

 

"I thought you couldn't tell this early?"

 "You're 15 weeks 6 days pregnant."

 

 

 

 

I was so shocked! I'd been pregnant for almost 4 months and didn't even know! "We'd love to know!" we said in unison. "There's the first leg, that's the second... and there's... well you can see you're having a boy." I couldn't believe it! We got a photo and went straight to see family. Within a week of finding out I was pregnant, I knew I was having a little boy.

I find it crazy now that I didn't suspect a thing, but LB was the best surprise ever!

@newmummytips

Utter Bliss: Our 1st night introducing a bedtime routine

Our 1st full nights sleep as a family!

 

Having cuddles with his daddy at 5 days old!

 

As our son is reaching his 11th week and sleeping for around 8-9 hours at night, we have decided that it is probably about time to introduce a bedtime routine.

I know that I myself  have been putting this off for a while (primarily because my son HATES having a bath, a key part of the 'routine') and decided we were going to have to introduce a routine soon. I will be returning back to work (part-time) in the next few weeks and we would love to have couple of hours every evening for 'Mummy and Daddy Time'.

Baby LB has been sleeping well since I had increased his feeds to 6oz around 2 weeks ago. He has been sleeping between 7 and 9 hours a night, with 2 or 3 small naps in the day. The issue is that he has no set bedtime, no set time for his last feed and is only having 3 baths a week (partly due to me dreading them!) We are also bathing, feeding, getting his PJ's on and settling him downstairs before putting him down upstairs in his cot. Some nights he will not go to bed until 11pm with us and wake up at around 7am, yet other nights he goes to sleep around 8pm and can be WIDE AWAKE by 4!

Baby LB snoozing whilst being burped!

Me and my partner had a lengthy discussion about exactly what we were going to include in our routine and what time we would like to begin the winding down process. We needed to be able to be slightly flexible with times as my partner often works long hours, and can be home late.  We needed to be a able to do the whole routine alone, as my partner is usually away for a couple of days during the week and also go to classes at the gym in the evenings.

We decided that we would start the routine between 8 and 9pm (slightly later than most, but convenient for our family) and that would include: a bath (or shower as you will discover later on!), a relaxing bedtime massage, getting dressed into PJs, a bedtime story with a cuddle and finally a feed.

When the time came...

 

 

 

 

My partner arrived home around 6:30, was sat down for dinner around 7:30 and after doing the washing up, I went up to the bedroom to prepare everything we needed for LB's routine.

 

 

I have done a lot of research online about what to do with babies that do not enjoy a bath. I'd found that this was quite common, and read that showering with a parent can relax baby, as they feel safe in your arms. Also skin-to-skin contact, as we all know, soothes baby. After much convincing, my partner agreed to take a shower with LB. I was so unsure of how my son would react in the shower. As I got LB undressed and passed him to him to his daddy in the shower. I was so nervous - hoping that we'd get a more positive reaction than in the bath!

LB Snuggling in his towel!

 

TOTAL SUCCESS! LB adored his shower, even laughing as daddy put his head under the water. It was such a relief to know that we could now wash our son without him getting all worked up!

I snuggled him up in his hooded towel, dried him and put his nappy on with not as much as a whimper. I then switched off the light and turned on the Chicco Goodnight Stars projector whilst I gently massaged LB's legs and tummy with Grapeseed Oil.

I dressed him in his PJ's, (by this time he was very sleepy!) cuddled him in tight and began to read him Peepo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (an awesome book for babies!). When I'd got to the last page, LB was snoring and ready for bed.

I dream-fed him a bottle he only managed 3oz before he'd take no more! I placed him in his cot, switched on his Gro Egg and his monitor and waited for ten minutes in the hallway before finally going downstairs.

LB did not stir until 3am, and this was only for his soother! He then slept until 8am, making daddy late for work as he was in such a deep sleep. Having an evening to ourselves was such a nice experience although we must have gone upstairs 5 times each to check on him!


The highlight of our 1st night of 'Mummy and Daddy time' was catching up on The Great British Bake-off and Corrie (much to my partners delight... NOT!) and having coffee and biscuits.



... fingers crossed this carries on!



@newmummytips