He’s been out as long as he was in!

By which of course, I mean, my little boy is NINE months old.  Yikes.

Actually, he was 9 months old last week, but as you more experienced mummys will know, 9 months is a delightful age where suddenly NOTHING is safe, and you can’t turn your back for 5 seconds, or sit down for 3 without having to jump back up, fly across the room & run interference between your little darling & some form of impending doom.

It’s certainly keeping me on my toes.

But, you know what? I’m loving it.  I really am.  When I was pregnant, my friend (who had 2 under 2 at the time), told me ‘every stage you get to, you’ll think it’s the best yet’ – and she was so right.  The 9 month mark is the most fun we’ve had so far, for sure. The nine best bits being:

1. Kisses. Okay, his technique needs work, in that he basically opens his gob & plants it on my face, but saying ‘kiss for mummy?’, definitely gets a reaction – and it makes me super gooey 🙂

2. Cuddles.  Real, proper, clings on for dear life cuddles.  They are THE BEST.

3. Talking. Or at least trying to. He has certainly found his voice, and is having a whole lot of fun exploring what he can do with it. So far we’ve had a lot of da da da’s, a lot of DO which I’m sure is an attempt at dog, lots of gollygollygolly, and most recently, bobobobob.  I don’t know who bob is, but the little dude seems to be a fan.  The first Mummy will be any day now… right?!

4. Playing.  All of a sudden, play time is so much more fun, so much more interactive, I’m loving it.  I build him block towers, he crashes them down, then trys to rebuild.  He loves to line his stacking cups up, upside down, so he can put smaller toys inside – that can last for hours.  And of course, the old faithful – peekaboo – oh how we love a game of peekaboo – never fails to make him chuckle away in delight 🙂

5. Stories – It seems to have happened overnight, but suddenly rather than books being just another something to gum, the little dude now loves to sit & listen to a story – pointing at the pictures, turning the pages – he loves anything of the ‘touchy feely’ variety, and The Very Hungry Caterpilar is proving to be an early favourite.

6. Clapping – my little man has officially nailed clapping, and it might just be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.  He gets so excited & looks all pleased with himself. It’s brilliant.

7. Food!  We’ve been baby-led-weaning since 6 months, and it’s one of the best decisions we’ve made. (It should really have it’s own post – *adds to list*) – The Daddy & I are both total foodies, and it seems to be running in the family – there is nothing the little monster won’t eat!  I’m so proud of the variety of things he’s tried, and how much he seems to enjoy munching his way through his tasty noms 🙂

8. Early attempts at toddling. I shed a little proud mummy tear the first day he pulled himself up onto his feet – little did I know what was coming next! He never stops. Just desperate to be on his feet – exploring – getting into *everything*. he scoots around so quickly in his walker, I doubt it’ll be long before he’s walking solo. Then I’m in trouble.

9. The mischief.  Much as he is exhausting me with his new found crawling, standing & wobbling skills, I just love watching his personality developing.  He is such a monkey – absolutely understands the word NO, but chooses just to grin and carry on with his mission of mayhem.  And I can’t help grinning back.  I suppose I should work on that.

It’s hard to believe this adventure only started 9 months ago.

What’s scarier, is that in 3 months, I’ll be telling you all about his first birthday. Gulp.

Hello Twenty Ten!

(Yes, I’m one of those hip & trendy young things who think twothousandandten is a bit of a mouthful. Humour me.)

First: The Little Dude & I would like to wish you all a very happy, if a little belated new year – hope 2010 is full of good times for one & all. Second: The mummy would like to apologise for December’s distinct lack of activity – I totally underestimated the things to do : time needed to do them ratio, and ended up all over the place, making internet playtime intermittent at best. (Next year, I will be organised. You just watch me!!)

Festivities all over for another year though, normal service should hopefully be resumed as of… now.

Well, as much as possible, now that the LD is into everything having learned to pull himself up on the sofa (already?!), and gaining semi-crawling speed daily. Safe to say, he’s keeping me on my toes! This last month, he seems to have been developing so quickly – first there was the finding of his feet – literally turned round one day to find him stood up holding onto the couch – I squealed in excitement. Then the next day came his first proper da da da, I welled up a little.  Then the next, he properly stacked 3 blocks on top of eachother – more luck than judgement maybe, but clearly I’m now convinced he’s a child genius.

I’ve had a few of those emotional mummy moments over the festive period. Filling up his Christmas stocking, watching him rip open his presents (and of course pay much more attention to the paper than the gifts). Seeing him sat at the table waiting for turkey.  Looking all grown up. Sob!

The worst though, was Christmas night, after our guests had left, and the baby was sleeping (exhausted after a non-stop day!), the Daddy & I were cuddled up on the sofa, chilling wth a glass of vino, and I suddenly thought, ‘This time last year, I was still a preggopot. That gorgeous little monster who’d been in at everything all day, was only half cooked!‘  And I admit, I shed a little tear, sappy moo that I am.  It was a happy tear though. We had a fabulous time, and I can honestly say, I’ve never enjoyed a Christmas so much.

And it happened again on New Years – we stayed in, for the first time I can remember, and it was actually lovely!  The daddy & I have a geekish tradition of taking an at-arms-length-self-portrait at midnight (you know the ones, 2x half heads where you’re grinning like loonies, eyes half shut because of the flash :P), and 2010 was no different, except this time, there were three faces filling the frame – all ready for a new year and all the goodies it has to offer.  Yep, there was another little happy mummy tear then.

It is scary how fast it’s all going though. Eight and a half months, gone in the blink of an eye. If I hadn’t taken so many photos, I’d wonder what we did with it.

My ‘baby’ is ONE in a few months. (Oh you know tears will be shed that day!)  Goodness only know what new skills & tricks he’ll learn between now and then, or what He’ll get into to make me fly across the room to run interference.  All I do know, is that I am loving this crazy ride, and can’t wait to see what happens next.

Children’s Birthday Parties are *hard!*

And it wasn’t even my little monster’s birthday!

Today we’ve been to a friend’s little boy’s 3rd birthday party – the LD’s fourth proper party, first of the fancy dress variety, and also the first one that Mummy has done solo as Daddy was at work.

It was lovely, and my chum had put in SO much effort – there were tables for colouring, sticking & play doh-ing, (all a bit advanced for the LD, but the older kids were having a ball!), plus music, loads of toys and books, and some great baby-friendly party food.  The little dude (dressed as an alien from toy story – he has been chosen – the claw is his master, oh yes!), had lots of fun, being admired and cooed over by all the grown ups, chasing balloons, commando-crawling under chairs & tables, munching tasty noms – and he was good as gold, didn’t cry once!

The mummy on the other hand, spent the whole 2 hours getting increasingly frazzled – making small talk with other mummys (who all have older children, and all want to have the ‘oh, when {insert their child’s name here} was that age…’ conversation, which is nice the first couple of times, but the novelty soon wears off whn you’re distractd by trying to make sure your own little monster isn’t getting into something he shouldn’t be!), running interference between balloons and newly aquired teeth for fear of LD being left with a crippling fear of loud bangs, untangling him from chair legs and other people’s legs, and trying to teach him it’s not polite to grab mini sausage rolls off other people’s plates.  Phew. 

Plus, solo party-going means no Daddy to take a turn at baby-entertaining while mummy scoffs a plate of party food & some pop- so not only was I exhausted when we left, I was starving too!

Other than that though, it really was a lovely party.  I love watching the LD learn to interact with other little people – he & the birthday boy’s little sister are good chums, so they enjoyed a bit of quality time too 🙂

Shattered now though – and the LD is crashed out next to me too. Dread to think how tired we’ll be when it’s his turn for a birthday. Less than 5 months till we find out. Eek!

Enough of the Gloom!!

So, this week has been, how to put it eloquently – lacking in joy – devoid of merit – snap & crackle without the pop… oh you know, what I’m saying – a bit shit.

But tomorrow, sees the start of a brand new week – a fresh start, bursting with potential. See that positive mental attitude at work? Glowing like the readybrek man – grrrrreat! like Tony the Tiger.  Apparently sleep deprivation sends me into a spiral of breakfast cereal slogan-ing.  Who knew.

The point I was trying to make, is that tomorrow is a new day, a new week, and it’s going to be good.

And in that spirit, and as my little boy is now SEVEN months old (meep!), I’m going to start as I mean to go on, by sharing with you 7 of my favourite things about my little 7 month old man…

1. The big gummy grin he gives me when I pick him up in the morning or after a nap.

2. The funny little noises & cute little half smiles he makes when he’s sleeping.  Wonder if I’ll ever get bored of watching him sleep? Doubt it.

3. His throaty little chuckle when me or his daddy make silly faces or blow raspberries on his tummy.

4. His already excellent music taste, which I fully take credit for.  He lights up at the sound of The Monkeys (as in Arctic, not Hey Hey we’re the), ELO, Maximo Park, allsorts of good stuff – I love & look forward to our daily rock-out sessions.

5. Watching him ‘play’ with the dog. By which I mean, grabbing her & hanging on for dear life (he hasn’t quite got ‘petting’ yet), and his little giggles when she snuggles up & tickles his nose.  I reckon they’re going to be best chums as he gets older.

6. The way he holds on so tight when I cuddle him when he’s upset. I hate seeing him cry, but love that burying his face into me & clinging his arms round my neck makes him feel better.  Magic mummy cuddles 🙂

7. Watching him learn something new everyday. He truly amazes me. I love to watch him playing – methodically bashing and squishing and gumming and thinking.  I’d love to know exactly what’s going on in that gorgeous little head.  I’m sure he’s planning something.

Here’s to a fabulous week for mummys (and their little monsters) everywhere xx

Teething Traumas

Yes, the teething gremlins have arrived chez Little Dude.

Technically, they arrived about a month ago, bringing with them great excitement at the first sighting of a tiny white sliver of tooth (bottom middle right if you’re interested).  It was quickly followed by its neighbour – and a tear or two was shed about my baby boy growing up.  I was also super impressed that his first two toothypegs had made an appearance with little more than a hefty portion of drool.  Oh how naive I was.

At the risk of sounding smug & making you all hate me – I’ve been blessed with a really chilled out, happy little baby, who rarely cries, certainly not for more than 5 minutes.  He grumbles if he’s hungry, has a full nappy, or gets overtired.  That’s about it.  Or at least it was.

Yesterday, he cried for Three. Hours. Solid.  And I don’t mean grumbled.  I mean properly, really cried.  Horrible painful screaming, utterly inconsolable. 

Calpol, Bickipegs, gel, teething ring, frozen carrot stick. 

Fail Fail Fail Fail Fail. 

I felt like the worst mummy in the world, there was absolutely nothing I could do but cuddle him, pace around, and cuddle him some more.  I was so not prepared for so much crying!

He finally gave into sleep just after 10pm, and then was up & grouchy on and off during the night.  I chalked up about 2 hours of sleep made out of 20 minute bursts here and there.  I’m sure I did better than that when he was a newborn!

Thankfully, today has been a breath of fresh air by comparison.  My smiley little boy is back.  For now at least.

And oh I have heeded the warning!

Some of my lovely twitter chums were on hand last night with lots of good advice, so now we are fully prepared for the next onslaught.  There’s a flannel in the freezer (thank you @violetposy), we have powders & homeopathic deelies at the ready (muchos gracias @suzypink & @Wendymal), a little pot of carrot & cucumber sticks in the fridge (which if nothing else, will make a good snack for mummy when she’s tearing her hair out at 2am), and as a last resort (because I prefer not to medicate if I can possibly help it) there’s Calpol & Chidren’s Ibuprofen (ta muchly @cafebebe & @ilovemonty).  So, hopefully, we can avoid another three hour scream-fest any time soon.  And if not, I shall try to remember the kind words of @porridgebrain & @kellyfairy & @InsomniacMummy – I’m not a rubbish mummy, teething just sucks.  Or words to that effect.

Still, I can’t wait till that gummy little mouth is filled with pearly whites & we can move on to whatever’s next.

The Six Month Milestone

Okay, actually, it was 6 months last Tuesday, but what can I say, being a mummy is a busy job, and it’s been a week filled with plumbers, and coffee dates, and a mummy & daddy date, and distractions. And a stupid cold. So, y’know…

Anyway.

The Little Dude, is six months old. One hundred and ninety days today to be exact.

It’s an odd feeling – on one hand, I absolutely understand what everyone means now when they say ‘enjoy it- it goes too quickly!’ – and on the other, I can hardly remember what life was like before being a mummy. (in a good way I mean, not just because of the perpetual exhaustion!)

It’s amazing how much has happened in such a relatively short space of time.

My little boy has gone from a tiny little wrinkly pink bundle, just short of 7lb, who didn’t care for much else than sleeping, pooping and mummy’s boobies, to a wrinkle free 17lb of inquisitive little baby boy, complete with a tooth, who grins, and giggles, and is interested in just about anything and everything he can get his chubby little hands on. (particuarly my mobile, the tv remote, the dog…)

In the early days, we used to spend hours just snuggled up together – in bed, or on the sofa – the little dude feeding or snoozing – gently snoring and blowing tiny bubbles in his sleep – me, gazing in complete awe at the beautiful little person I’d made. (with a little help from the daddy, obviously ;D) From day one I was so thankful to the baby gods for blessing me with such a happy, chilled out little boy – and he was a sleeper too! I kept expecting the bubble to burst, but touch wood, it hasn’t! Yay!

Now, our days are spent rocking to mummy’s favourite tunes (he particuarly enjoys the work of Maximo Park, The Guillemotts, and ELO – good boy!), dancing, chattering about nothing, going for walks, play dates, and mummy indulging in all manner of silliness to encourage those delicious little giggle-fits.

He’s gone from not being able to hold his own head up to rolling around the floor at will, pushing himself up, grabbing anything that looks interesting, just about sitting up unaided, and looking likely to start crawling at any minute.

And then there’s the weaning! I love watching his little face each time he tries something new – and the look of sheer joy when he has a fist (and face!) full of rusk, is priceless.

In short, it’s been an eventful half a year.
And it’s been wonderful. Everyday brings something new, and I’m loving every minute of it.

I can’t wait to see what the next six months have in store.

You know you’re a mummy when…

…you lose the ability to frivolously spend money.

Yes, it’s true. I’ve lost my senseless spending spree gene. Where did it go? I don’t know. Will it ever come back? Only time will tell.

Let me explain…
last weekend, The Daddy and I decided to take The little Dude on his first trip to Brighton. (That’s code for mummy has dropped some baby weight so deserves a little Primarni-based treat.)
The Daddy had just got a little bonus at work, and since we’d been super frugal for a few months (and did I mention, dropped a little baby weight?), he offered to treat me to a wee fashion splurge. (Yes, I love that man.)
So we jumped on the train and off we went.

First stop, Primark. Always fills me with excitable giddiness. Generally, on hitting Primark, I’ll spend around £50 & come away with 2 big brown bags full of loveliness. I have a specific route I always follow so as not to miss a single rail of bargainous fashion – you may call it sad, I call it efficient. It’s a big store. Basket in hand, Daddy pushing pram behind, off I went.
Forty minutes later (told you, it’s a big place, and I’m very thorough), in my basket was a top, a bag, a brooch, and a necklace. Total cost: £10. Pathetic.
Upstairs to bambino goodies – picked up a few bits, but still not terribly impressed.
Queued and paid, left a little disappointed, but still hopeful that H&M would yield better results. (especially as there are now TWO branches – deep joy!).

After a Starbucks vanilla latte to energise & regroup, we hit store number one.
Come on Hennes & Mauritz, lay your couture goodness on me.
Or just three pretty dresses in the whole place, all in stupid little tiny size sixes.
FAIL.
We’re down, but not out. There’s still the original H&M in Churchill Square. Where an emo-punk-princess bomb appears to have gone off.
DOUBLE FAIL.
Okay then, H&M Kids.
NOW we’re talking.
Pretty much my whole splurge budget goes bye-bye on tiny clothes covered in robots and monsters and such.
And that’s when it hits me.
I actually don’t mind.
Sure, I’m gutted to not be strutting home clutching bags of new pretties, but I can’t wait to see my little man in all his new goodies 🙂
It’s official, I’m a mummy.

My ‘haul’ for the day looked like this:

The Little Dude’s, looked like this:

That’s the way to do it!

Of course I’m not saying that I’m done with my wayward shopping spree ways altogether, but it seems that without me even noticing, my priorities have really changed. Which is probably a good thing, if a little disconcerting at first.
I even find myself reconsidering SALE bargains – ‘sure, it’s only a fiver, but that fiver would buy a week’s worth of nappies’ – that is scary stuff.

Got me thinking though, I’m only 4 and a bit months in – what other madness is going to creep up on me out of nowhere? So, my lovely friends, do tell- what have been your defining ‘OMG I’m a mummy’ moments so far?
(And somebody, please, tell me I’m not likely to suddenly stop loving loud noisy guitar based music & discover a penchant for Ronan Keating. Please?!)

We’ll be weaning in style now…

In case you missed me jumping round in excitement last week, The Little Dude & I got a little lucky… we won a shiney new Stokke Tripp Trappin the competition over at Yummy Mummy Tips– hooray!

And today as the nice delivery man dropped it off, I got all over excited again!

I ripped open the packaging and laid all the gorgeous chunky pieces out on the carpet – like a beautiful Scandinavian jigsaw. With screws.
I had a brief ‘boo hiss, going to have to wait for the Mr to get home to put it together – super pout’ moment, before finding my determination & convincing myself it couldn’t be that hard.

I was right.
Do not let flat pack connotations of doom put you off getting a Tripp Trapp. Yes, it does come as a box of bits, but this is not your ordinary flat pack where you end up with too many ‘e’ screws and not enough ‘g’, and the pre-drilled holes never match up, and there’s always a chipped piece, and the instructions make as much sense as your favourite drunk uncle at a family wedding… oh no.

This is as simple as it is chic. Ten screws, (complete with magical alun key so no need to stress about tracking down the right kind of screwdriver) and nine pieces, which clunk together beautifully and effortlessly.

About 25 minutes later, I was looking lovingly at my little man’s super chic new dining experience.
(Having only sworn once, which was my own fault for tightening all the screws before sliding in the flat pieces – silly mummy. Don’t do that.)

So it looked great, but would it pass The Little Dude quality control test?

Yes. With flying colours 🙂
He was a little bemused at first – sort of looked at me like ‘hmm, I’m at the table, but you’re not holding me… interesting.’ then he spotted ‘Where’s that monkey?’ (favourite book of the moment) and his happy safari cube and grabbed at both. He looked at me with a great big gummy grin of delight, then returned his attention to his book.
Safe to say, he approves.

And I certainly do, because I have a chic new (almost matching) chair at the table rather than a big plastic affair that doesn’t match anything – everybody’s happy!

Muchos gracias again to Yummy Mummy Tips, and to Stokke.

Now I just need to win an Explory… ;D

The one where I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself…

Snuffle. Sniff. Sneeze.
Yeah, I have a cold 😦 As does the little dude 😦 Fun, it is not.
(disclaimer: don’t worry, it is just a cold – no oinking or sprouting curly tails!)

I feel like this is one of those ‘mummy rights of passage’ I have to conquer to earn my stripes. Back in the time BLD (before little dude), getting a cold meant bundling up on the sofa for a day or two with tea, biscuits & rubbish daytime telly, feeling a bit feeble until the sneezing subsided.

Now, not so much.

Because despite having his own bout of sniffles (which I am trying to help him with, aided by what I have dubbed the ‘snotinator’ – essentially, a mini turkey baster designed to suck the snot out of your beautiful child’s nose. They don’t tell you about THOSE in the pregnancy books!!), the little dude still wants to play non stop, and be entertained, and of course there’s the feeding, burping, washing, dressing et al – doesn’t leave much sofa time 😛

I feel like such a wuss, and I hate it! I’m really not *that* poorly, but because I’ve not been able to just curl up in a big sneezey ball for a while, I’m exhausted! And I really should stop complaining – the Mr came home, bearing dinner *and* chocolate, made me tea with honey & lemon in, and has offered to take care of feeding duties tonight so I can get some sleep – but then I feel all guilty because he’s up at the crack of dawn for work!!

ARG! The joys of motherhood eh?

On a brighter note, even while battling with his first cold, the little dude has now well and truly mastered the art of the rollover. I’m very very proud 🙂
He’s been trying it for weeks, but couldn’t quite manage to flip his over-sized baby head, now, it’s not a problem. And now he knows how, he wants to do it *all* the time. Don’t think crawling is a million miles away – mummy really needs to get in shape!

And now, I must go blow my nose. I’ve totally lost count of whose nose I’ve wiped more often today. And incidentally – baby wipes make great tissues – no scratchy sore red nose is one advantage of having a baby when you have a cold!

Like Mother Like Son…

The Little Dude may only be just short of four months old, but nonetheless, it seems I am raising a shameless flirt.

He’s starting to pay attention & interact with the other babies at baby club, (rather than just looking at them with the same bemused expression as when he first discovered the dog), and with the boy babies, he’s very sociable – quite happy to lay on the play mat for a chill out and a chat and a stretch… all good.

But as soon as he’s anywhere near a girl baby, he turns on the charm!
Making all his best noises, flipping over to say hello, stretching out & holding hands, and occasionally grabbing onto the hem of a pretty frock for rolling over leverage. (He’s resourceful, gotta give him that!) AND, one little lady in particular was even given the honour of having squeaky giraffe thrown in her general direction – that, my friends, is high praise indeed!

Is it wrong that I’m a tiny bit proud of him? 🙂

In other news, The daddy & I had the gift of babysitting last night, so we headed out for a couple of hours of karaoke & drinkies – very lovely, and I’m getting much better at being able to enjoy myself & be decent company again, rather than compulsively checking my phone & wondering whether The Noodle is okay every 5 minutes.
I’ve got it down to maybe every 20 minutes now… okay, 15 max – but baby steps, right? 😛

And today was day one of daddy’s three day weekend – yay!
We had a stroll into town, litle bit of retail therapy, spot of lunch… thoroughly pleasant day with my two favourite men – can’t ask for much more than that.

And I’ve still got 2 more to go!
I’m a very lucky mummy.