Accomplishment & Memes & Zombies…

Busy, but lovely weekend here in the little dude household.
It was The Daddy’s weekend off, which is always good, because we get to indulge in some ‘family time’, and I get a lie in on Sunday morning (and coffee brought to me IN BED!! how i love that man of mine :D)

Also, if you’re wondering what that fuzzy glow I’m rocking is all about, no, I haven’t been at the ready brek, that, my friends, is the smug glow of accomplishment 🙂 The little dude’s room is officially finished! The light fitting is fixed, the new shade is up, and the black out blind is fitted. I’ve also gone through all his clothes, pulled out everything that’s now too small, and organised everything else by size. Tidied up *all* the lingering clutter, AND put all the photos I’ve taken from birth – the end of August into albums. Phew.

And now, I’m even making time to blog! Check me out!! Although I am cheating a little and opting for a meme in place of actual content. It’s a start.

I’ve been given allsorts of lovely awards & memes to do lately, but haven’t had the chance to sit down & actually do them yet. I will though, honest.

This one is jumping the queue though, because a. I’ve been tagged twice now, by Kelly and Lorraine (I just realised, if I’d put that the other way round, I’d have been tagged by Lorraine Kelly – hahahahaha!! Yes, it’s the little things that amuse me :D), and b. it’s short and sweet. (and easy.)

So here are the rules…

1. Collect the book that you have most handy.

2. Turn to page 161.

3. Find the 5th complete sentence.

4. Quote the sentence on your blog.

5. Pass it on to 5 other bloggers.

Well, I’m currently reading “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies”, by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith – yes, you read the title right, it’s Elizabeth Bennet at her feistiest, kicking undead zombie butt. It’s fabulous.

I don’t get nearly as much time to read as I used to pre-baby (funy that!), but I do try to make a point of reading at least a few pages everyday – just to keep the old grey matter working if nothing else.

Anyway, the sentence I have to share is…

“Regard for my sister’s credit and feelings prevented any public exposure; but my honour demanded a duel with Mr Wickham, who left the place immediately.”

Have I convinced you to give it a whirl?!
If you love the original, and you love zombies, you can’t go wrong. So long as you can keep an open mind and embrace the madness! 😀
You can buy it on amazon here.

As for the tagging, oh I hate this bit – I’m always late to the party & end up tagging people who’ve already done it, so I’ll just say anybody who hasn’t done it, and would like to, consider yourself tagged.

Now, back to Mr Darcy…

Rebel with a baby – I mean cause.

I have come to the conclusion, that I’m a rebel mummy. Yep, I am.

When I got pregnant, I read a stupid amount – books, websites, articles, leaflets from the midwife – everything I could lay my hands on.
I was going to be the best read, best prepared, most perfect mummy EVER.

HA!

Having had a real life baby for a little more than three months (rather than the little text book version who feeds 3 hourly on the dot, naps with military precision and never ever cries for more than a few minutes {really, Gina Ford, really?!}), I know now, that pregnancy books should be viewed as a rough guide. A jumping off point to start negotiations if you will.

Here are just a few of the mummy rules I’ve already broken…

Do not mix breast & bottle in the first months. Check.

If breastfeeding, do not offer baby a dummy in the first months. Ooops. (I was not prepared for the 40 minute cry-a-thon on day 4, having slept for about 6 hours since the little dude’s birth – so the dummy that came free with our steriliser was an absolute godsend. I am glad though that the noodle only uses it for maybe 5 minutes while he’s settling down to sleep.)

Use Controlled Crying – nope. Tried it once, felt like the worst mummy ever, not doing it again.

Make a bath part of baby’s bedtime routine every night. Much as the little dude quite enjoys a splash in the bath, it’s still a bit of a large scale operation – and frankly far too time consuming for every night. Plus, he’s a baby, apart from the nappy region, he doesn’t get all that dirty. So he generally has a bath 2 or 3 times a week, and gets topped & tailed daily instead.

Mummy should sleep when the baby sleeps. Nice theory, but when am I supposed to take a shower, do laundry… eat?

Don’t let your baby fall asleep in your arms – always put them down awake. This is the one I hate the most. I love cuddling my baby boy, and when he gets sleepy, I love the way he snuggles right into me (especially now he’s learning to cuddle properly – chubby little arms grabbing you tight :D). We settle down on the couch together, I sing him a song, and he soothes himself off to sleep. It’s not all the time, but yes, it’s at least once a day, and yes, I enjoy it. So there. Sorry Ms Ford, we’re just going to have to agree to disagree.
(and he’s still quite happy to settle himself down too, so I’m not making a rod for my own back!)

So does breaking the rules break your baby?
Of course it doesn’t.

My little man is amazing (yes, I know I’m biased, but it’s true!), he hardly ever cries unless he’s hungry or in need of a new nappy, he’s almost sleeping through, learning new things crazy-fast every day, and is definitely not suffering as a result of his mummy making up her own rules!

All the books and what not are all well and good, but they really shouldn’t take over from the most important ruling of all – mummy instincts.

However, for a little light relief, these baby do’s & dont’s are well worth a look – I’m emailing the link to all my pregnant friends 😀

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? 😀

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 😀
Yes, he’s 8 weeks old. I’ll stop wishing the years away now 😛

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? 😉