A new phone.

I am one of the millions and trillions of people who own an iPhone. I've been reasonably happy with it for the 2 years I've had it but now it's time to change.

My needs are different now I've got my Evie.

Before she came along, I wanted my phone to have most of the usual features- E-mail, Facebook, a few games and the odd novelty app. I've disliked the keyboard from day 1. Too many mistakes get made too easily.

Now when I look at features, I'm really only interested in 2 things. Camera and Video. I don't want a useless blurry one like the iPhone. No. I'm talking sharp, crisp photos. I want mega pixels to rival an actual camera. I'd forsake all other features for the best camera possible. Well, maybe not my ebay app....but all the rest ;)

Because it seems that I've turned into one of those Mums who tries to document every single movement that the poor child makes. I can't stop myself! She's changing SO quickly and I'm scared I'll forget a tiny morsel. To be fair, I do have people requesting daily and weekly updates so the photos do get a lot of use and I do find myself scrolling through the 370+ photos that I've already taken of her up until now. I love looking at the changes, the difference in her hair from one week to the next. But now she's doing much more. She's making more noises, blowing rasberries, making funny faces. This calls for video!


I've searched and searched and I think I've decided on the Samsung Galaxy (as recommended by my Sister).

Although, if I'm honest, what I really want is this ----------->
with a tiny phone stuck onto it somewhere.

Or, a BBC cameraman to follow us everywhere. Then I'd just use his phone. Problem solved.

Lots of love

Katy x

It is true what they say...

Throughout my pregnancy, I lost count of the numerous pieces of advice and gems of wisdom I had donated to me on a daily basis.

One subject that was rife for discussion was The Labour. More specifically, the Pain of Labour. All manner of stories were told in varying levels of detail and gore. Some told of small manageable pain, others of near death like agony. However, more often than not the end of the story was always the same, that it was So Worth It.

The pain? Forgotten. Oh yes, apparently, we forget this pain quite quickly!

That part always stumped me... How can pain be erased from the mind? And I thought about this in the days after my labour, had I forgotten? Not yet.

However, fast forward 16+ weeks and it appears that I have!

I stubbed my toe yesterday. Really bloody hard. And declared, loudly
"HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS...FUUUUU***IN JEEEZ! Stubbing your toe is the most painful thing in the world ever!"

There you have it.

A slightly purple little toe overshadowed 40 hours of labour. No really.

Yours, dramatic as ever

Katy x

Hula Hoop Hoo Ha

My post pregnancy work out regime was something I'd already planned (in my mind) in the first trimester. I was quite sure it would work and I was even a little excited. Of course, at this time, I had NO IDEA a) how unbelievably tired I'd be or b) how little time I'd actually have to execute this 'regime'.

However, my idea was to hula hoop to music around the flat. In this ideal scenario, Evie would be content to sit in her bouncer on the floor, I'd put on MTV grab the hoop and dance my self into a frenzy. This would increase my heart rate and give me a little cardio workout and the hoop would work my core to whittle my waist back down to pre pregnancy glory.

In my mind, I had visions of me getting down with my bad self a la Beyonce.

The rather upsetting reality is that I can't actually keep the hoop up for more than 2 spins. I don't remember it being difficult in the school playground? What's up with that?!

I will try it again, if not it'll get put into the outdoor gym (this is actually a shed with all the unwanted exercise equipment I've bought in the past, including a ballet bar...Wtf?)

Yours, lacking in coordination and core strength,

Katy x

Dictionary Definition

If there is ever a time when you want a wet wipe to ease out of the packet gently and without any fuss it's when there is a serious poo issue.

So why is it that, just when I need a smooth wet wipe transition, it doesn't happen?

Either I can't get a purchase on the bloody edge or I grab a chunk and they all come out welded together. Both situations require me to drop Evie's feet to either prise the 200 wetwipes I've yanked out apart, or frantically pick at the edge like Sellotape at Christmas.

This is now known as Wet-Wipe Rage. Screw road rage, this is a million times worse!

I use Huggies Pure and I think these are particularly bad for inciting mouth foaming rage. Because if there is ever a time not to piss me off, it's when I'm *literally* up to my elbows in poo.


Rant over...for now.

Katy x

An incredibly touching breastfeeding article

This is a link to an article written from a babies point if view on breastfeeding. I wish I'd read it at the very start of my bf journey. A teensy bit cheesy in it's style but easily forgivable.

http://theleakyboob.com/2011/08/baby-explains-normal-newborn-behavior/

Let me know what you think?

K x

The Dreamfeed Challenge

I've been hearing from a lot of my Mummy friends that they give their baby a Dreamfeed to help them to get a little bit more sleep. The theory behind it is you 'top up' baby at about 11pm to help them to sleep a little longer, as it's their little tummy being empty that wakes them. The main thing with this is that you don't wake the baby. NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY!

Now I'm exclusively breastfeeding Evie and booby dreamfeeds are a little harder than when using bottles. However, I had 3oz of expressed milk that I had to use up and I was, without wanting to sound dramatic, dying of exhaustion from the previous few nights of barely any sleep.

Now this was new to me. Evie was asleep and I kid you not, I was shaking at the thought of waking her and her not going back to sleep!
:-O

I popped my hand gently under her head and the other under her little bottom and lifted her out of her cot. Problem was, my right hand felt a little damp. Her nappy was huuuuuuuge and a change was very necessary.

So now I had to do a dream feed AND a dream change? The pressure!

Husband fetched the nappy and the wipes. We were doing this on the bed. No way I was going to risk leaving the bedroom! The temperature change along would wake her! All hands on deck.

We worked together like a well oiled machine, I undid the nappy, he wiped with the wetwipe, I slid the new nappy under whist he held her legs. Between the 2 of us she had the fastest nappy change ever. And she stayed asleep :)

So I gathered her sleepy little body up into the crook of my arm and bought the bottle to her mouth. She flinched slightly at first but stayed asleep. I let her take the milk for about a minute at a time and then stopped and let her settle back down because the more she drank, the more she seemed to stir.

It took about 10 minutes to finish the 3 ounces. I'm really conscious of how I feed her the expressed milk, I read an article on respectful bottle feeding which struck a chord with me. For a breastfed baby, a bottle is an entirely different sensation and flow. The baby has to really work for the milk on the boob and a bottle is much easier and can often end up overwhelming the baby. The bottles we use are the Dr Brown and are anti colic so I don't have the stress of winding her afterwards.

So, having made sure that I wasn't literally pouring the milk into her face, she fed and I kept her in my arms for about 10 minutes. Enough to ensure that she went back into her deep sleep, not enough that the settled only in my arms.

Next came the hardest part, I had to get her back into her cot. WITHOUT WAKING HER!

This is the part of the night time routine I struggle with after a normal feed. Evie sleeps next to me in her cot with the side totally down, however, the mattress isn't totally flush with mine, nor is the side of the cot quite low enough. So I can't do the slide across motion I'd like to do. Instead I have to lift her and then lower her down, which almost always stimulates a baby's moro, or startle reflex (when they flay their arms out like a starfish...cute but not when you're trying to be a stealth ninja mumma!).

Eventually she was lowered down, my left hand trapped under her head. I removed it finger by finger, holding my breath the whole time!

My right hand slid out from under her bottom and I gently placed her blanket back on top.

I kid you not, I was sweating. This was the Mummy Skill version of a task on the Crystal Maze!

You'll be pleased to know it was a totally futile task. She ungraciously woke an hour later as hungry as if she'd never been fed. And again 2 hours after that. Repeat for the rest of the day until mummy goes quite literally mad.

Until next time

Katy x

My daughter- The Time Stealer

I think it was my sister who coined the phrase, Time Stealer. It stems from a conversation we had in the car, my sister, aka Auntie Sally was asking when we could go shopping together. Now there's not much I like more than spending quality time with my sis. Luckily we get to hang out quite often

Evie, Stealer of Time.

However, this week, what with all activities I've got planned for Evie, I just cannot fit it in! Because Evie, and I'm sure I can speak for most mums here, actually Steals Time. She turns a ten hour day time stretch into a thoroughly unproductive 45 minutes. At most!

Ironically the nights are another matter she doesn't so much steal time as warp it. The feeds can take an hour but feel like 4. That 2 hour sleep between feeds feels like 5 minutes. It's amazing really, because I'm sure I'd been told many things about the early months of babydom, but no-one really explained this... The accumulation of hours sat on the sofa breastfeeding. Add to that the hours spent expressing milk too, that's a hefty dent left on your sofa. After the feeds there are the cuddles, the change of nappy, sometimes twice in one go. The clothes changes. The sheer prep time needed to leave the house! On top of that, laundry, cleaning the house, eating. Before you know it, the day is almost over and your starting to plan bath time.

I find myself trying to justify the small amount of housework I've done to my husband, I don't need to because he does get it. But I still feel lazy. Which is stupid because I can honestly say, I'm working harder than I ever have.

So what else wasn't I told? Shouldn't there be a true guide to new mummyhood? I think yes! Here are a few gems of information I think it's my duty to pass on.

• "You can sleep when the baby sleeps"

Um, not if she falls asleep in my arms and needs to stay there to get a good sleep. If I do manage to put her down, I need to use this short time to eat/shower/go to the loo/answer emails etc. I can't move because then she wakes. Contrary to popular belief, less sleep in the day does not equal a better sleep at night. At all.

• Babies, when in a deep sleep can stay that way through all sorts of noise. But if Evie isn't in that deep sleep, just the sound of me snapping the clasp shut on my nursing bra wakes her up.

Her loud rumbly farts however do not?!

• There are many baby slings and wraps on the market. The style that are a long strip of material that you wrap intricately around yourself are very popular. They also require a degree in Engineering and fully rotating shoulders to get on.

• Nappies- They are not as simple as they look. There is a huge difference between Dry Max and the others. Put simply, Dry Max keeps it contained, none of the others do. This ties in with the next piece of info I wish I'd known.

• Sometimes it is entirely necessary to cut of a babies vest with scissors.

•  When testing out the prams in the shop, the nice friendly sales assistant effortlessly folds and unfolds the pram all smoothly. Clipping the car seat on and off with out breaking a sweat. In real life this is a different story. Pram Usage is a module covered in the above mentioned Engineering Degree.

• If you are breastfeeding, the midwives and health visitors ensure that you are drinking enough water. Because breastfeeding is thirsty work! What they don't tell you is that, yes, you will be thirsty. But the hunger is another story all together. I think I would be less hungry with a 15 foot tape worm.

• At first, I carefully scanned though all the children's TV channels and decided on the Baby Chanel. It turns out that as it stands at 3 months, Evie will pretty much watch any old tripe. Bless her.

• The creases in a baby's neck gather all sorts of liquid grossness. It is quite impossible to ever get it 100% clean, so stop trying. Evie is never in a good mood with me after I've tried to get right in there. Same goes with armpits. Because it filters down and sits there. Icky. It also gets into ears if they're sick lying down. Then if you feed her lying on her side, her ear will fold shut and get stuck like that... Not forever but for long enough for you to weird out.

• If you're lucky enough to have a big load of clothes that have either been donated or bought for you, you'll most likely have a fair lot in the next size up. It's tempting due to lack of space to store the next size all tidily away in the loft or garage. However, that sleepsuit that fit on the Monday might very well not fit by the Thursday. All of a sudden, little toes get squished up against the end of babygros. Keep the next size up nearby and in easy reach. Alternatively, pyjamas with open toes will give you more time. 

• There are many different cries that all mean different things. Each baby has their own little noises that eventually each Mummy will learn. There's the hungry cry, the windy cry (I hate this one), the 'Jeeez I'm so tired but I can't get myself to sleep without you' cry. The last one is very nasal... There is however another cry that no books seem to warn you of- it's the cuddle cry. Plain and simple, the baby doesn't know what is wrong, there may not actually be anything wrong. Evie sometimes just wants snuggles for no other reason than she's a tiny baby who loves to be held. Why not?

I'm sure there are many more than in my sleep deprived state, I can't remember. I'd love to know some of yours?