10 Awesome Things About Newborns

It's been nearly 7 whole weeks since my little boy decided to venture out into the big wide world, and it feels like one of those weird time bubbles where it feels like he's been here forever but at the same time, it's gone so quickly!

I can't believe we're creeping ever closer to the 2 month mark! And he's grown so much in this tiny space of time!

He is officially too big for his Newborn baby grows now and I've had to pack them away, and in a way it feels like a bit of a turning point. He's not a newborn anymore, he's my growing baby boy!

And to celebrate this, here's 10 awesome things about newborns that I'll miss as he gets older: 

1. Everything's so tiny! The very first thing that tugged at my heart strings about him were his tiny ears, and his hands, and feet, and nose, and just about everything! 

2. They sleep a lot :) hehe, giving you plenty of time to catch up on your sleep.. Or just to stare at them in utter awe as they dose!

3. Their constant need of 'something' makes you feel very needed and like you've achieved something amazing when you finally figure out what it is that they've been crying about - even if it's just a cuddle!

4. Presents! :) hehe, on a very selfish note, you can finally use all of those adorable baby presents you've been given and all of the cute things that you bought yourself! I spent ages pottering around the baby room before Finn was born, getting all excited about using his changing mat and going through all if his baby cloths.

5. Watching them grow, even as tiny little humans, they grow at a crazy pace! I swear some mornings I look at him and think 'I'm pretty sure you're bigger than you were last night!' It's amazing to see, but at the same time a little heart wrenching... Before I know it he'll be off to school to learn about dinosaurs!

6. Kind of in line with number 5, you get a whole new perspective to life by watching it from its very beginning. Almost everyday you'll have a 'I made that nose' feeling of awe, and you marvel at how amazing their little body is and how amazing yours is to have made something so complicated and wonderful!
I have made life!

7. Having something very awesome to show off! I'm his mum, so naturally he is amazing and wonderful and the best baby ever to be born! But it is good fun taking him to see people or inviting friends round to see his awesomeness themselves!
:)

8. Planning his little future. I don't mean that I am planning for him to be a doctor or anything, but the little things that will help him through life. I like thinking about when we should take him swimming, planning his first holiday, how I'm going to teach him about trees and bugs and to save me from big, creepy spiders!

9. Holding his little hand. It might be a baby reflex, but by god it makes my heart melt when he grabs hold of my finger with all of his tiny, baby fingers. One day I'll be holding that hand to cross a road!

10. And as silly as it sounds, all of those midnight feeds are wonderful. Getting out of bed in the first place admittedly is the hardest thing in the world, but when you're staring into that little face while he eats and tickling his little belly during changing time... it's magical. And I know when he finally sleeps through the night it will be great, but I also know that I'll secretly miss all of our little midnight conversations and cuddles.
They say that they grow up so fast, so I am more ok with loosing a little sleep to spend as much time with him as possible!

There's a gazillion more things that I could blabber on about my little boy, but from my very little, personal experience, these are more 10 favourite things... for now... there will be more as he gets older... he's already starting to smile like a loony at little things that make him happy... swoon!!

god help me when he finds hid giggle!

I hope you're all having a lovely week

and are starting your new years with awesomeness!

x 

32 Weeks With Bump

I'm not even sure you can call the little Sprogling "Bump" anymore. I think a more appropriate name would be more like, "Ginormous Ball Attached to My Tummy".

We're getting close now!

All the little apps are telling me that babies born from now onward have a much higher chance of survival,

the websites are telling me to pack my hospital bag

and I can't fit into any of my clothes any more!

Eap!

It's funny how your mind changes with it all too.

I don't know if this counts for everyone, or perhaps it's just the way my brain likes to get around things, but the reality of it is definitely hitting home now.

Before, all I could think about was having a new, tiny little human to play with and teaching them all of the wonders of the world. The thought of showing them a butterfly for the first time, seeing their face when they took their first steps into snow, and just marvelling at the way the human body learns to 'live'.

But now, things seem to be a little different.

All I can think about is that everything is about to change dramatically, and will never be the same again!

- Not in a bad way exactly, just that this is it.... we're about to become a family!!!

I'm going to be a mum!!

I'm going to be responsible for another human being for the rest of my life!!

*terrifyingly looks down at the bump and wonders what kind of monster I've created*

:)

It's such a strange thing to come to terms with.

I guess it must be something that all mums realise at one point or another

- your role in life has now completely changed!

Hopefully it won't stop me from being 'me' though...

I'd rather like to stay 'me'!

:)

So, what on earth to pack in my hospital bag!?!

Me and Lewis went to an antenatal class at the weekend.
It was a proper, 5 hour crash course.
I had heard that NHS antenatal classes were a complete waste of time, so I wasn't overly confident that I was going to learn anything, but I thought that I should go anyway.
And it was brilliant!

It might be that I didn't know a lot of things that other mothers to-be know, but I learnt so much and even the things that I had researched, it was great to hear a midwife who knew what she was talking about, go into more detail and confirm those details.
I would definitely recommend going to an antenatal class. Even if you know all of the information you'll need, it's so reassuring to hear it all from someone with experience, and if you have any questions, she's right there to answer them for you.

She went through all of the different pain relief methods, with all the pros and cons for each, she talked to us about positions for giving birth and ways to relax during labour.
So much information, and reassurance that I just feel so much more confident as the time (super quickly) approaches.

She also talked to us about the biological side of things.
I didn't know if this would reassure or scare me more, but hearing how the female body develops to be able to completely take care of having a baby was possibly the most reassuring part of the whole thing for me.
The different muscles, how they change and adapt, how the baby itself responds to the shaping of the muscles and how (hopefully) a normal birth should go.
It all just made me totally marvel at my own body.
I had all these ideas that my body will want to just get the baby out one day and then it'll be all hands on deck for the midwives and doctors to manage the situation, let alone myself trying to figure out what I should and shouldn't do...
and as much of that is true, I now also know that my body really will know what it's doing when baby gives the 'Go! Go! Go!' signals!

The midwife gave us a good list of things to pack for the hospital too.
So this will be my little job tonight...
pack!

For you/labour:

~  Loose clothes/top that you won't mind getting messy 

~ Loose pj's/nightie (possibly front opening)

~ Sponge to wet your face or filled with water to bite one

~ Lucozade sweets or non fizzy energy drinks (DON'T have any fizzy drinks!)

~ Paracetamol (for the early stages of labour)

~ Lip balm (you will dehydrate and will need to drink lots, but lip balm will help too)

~ Socks

~ Massage ball

~ Music

~ Snacks (honey's good for energy)

~ Ear plugs and eye mask (to help you zone out)

~ Underwear
~ Nursing bra (if breast feeding)
~ Loads of maternity pads
~ Breast pads (if breast feeding)
~ Clothes to come home in (loose fitting, comfortable. Maternity clothes will probably still be best)
~ Toiletries
~ Towels
~ Camera
~ Phone (and charger)
~ Money (for more food/making phone calls if your phone goes caput!)


Not a lot then...

And for baby:

~ A few changes of clothes

~ Nappies

~ Muslin cloths

~ Milk formula (if not breast feeding)

~ Cotton hat

~ Mits

~ Booties

~Blanket

These are all just recommendations. There are others that I haven't listed because I won't be taking them, like a TENS machine etc. It's all about preference.

I think that I might take my own pillow though. I've heard that it really helps to relax when you have your own pillow.

If you can think of anything I've missed out, please give me a heads up, I know I'm going to forget something!

Baby room's getting there!

x

Organising... Kinda!

Sorry I don't seem to be writing so much at the moment folks.

I am still here!

- just multi-tasking poorly I'm afraid!

I've been re-organising things in our house.

I love my new -kind of functional- shelf!

~ To Lewis: "It looks really pretty and puts lots of colour into the room!"

~ Secretly to myself: "Now I won't have to tidy up my wool stash after a crochet/knitting binge! Mwahaha!"

I've been knitting away at some little bobble hats for Innocent Smoothie's Big Knit!

TheBigKnit

Some people have made some amazing designs! It's worth popping over to the website just to have a peek at the teddy bear bottle hat. And it all helps Age UK too, so definitely not a bad thing!

And I've heard that some people have literally knitted hundreds! Hundreds!! I feel quite guilty with my little mob of 6... hopefully they'll do some good though, I'll try do more next year. Let me know if you see one of them about, it'd be great to find out where they end up.

I've been doing some more baby organising too!

~ it feels like that's all I do now, organise this, organise that! But it feels good knowing it's all done ~

I attempted following a knitting pattern for a baby's "elf-style" hat. It's not great, and I'm half tempted to cover it in pom poms, but hopefully when there's a cute little head in there it'll look much better!
Plus with a winter baby, it'll need all the head warmth it can get.

:)

AND... are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Get some red baby wool, pop a white pom pom on the end... hey presto! Baby Santa hat!

Oh yes, there will be many an embarrassing photo for our poor little Sprog to try and hide when it's older!

We got this too:

I know it's a bit main stream, and I probably could've knocked something up myself, but I just adore this little pond-style play mat.

And the little Caterpillar plays music! Hehe, hell, if the little one isn't entertained by this, I certainly will be!

Taggies Bugs and Hugs Playmat

I think it'll be perfect when our little one starts seeing and interacting with things. The mat's really soft too, and will be a great little play area when the mosses basket and baby bouncer get boring!

And look at all those tags to attach things too!

I must be careful not to go too nuts!

But I'm thinking pom pom garlands, toys, bells, soft bunting... ok, so maybe not all at once...

I've got an idea for one of our little rugs too. It's all fluffy and a bright green, kind of like grass, so I'm thinking of sewing in some crochet daisies and other flowers and making a mini indoor garden mat.

Maybe I'll make a few worms and butterflies too!

~

So with all of these wonderful distractions, you might be able to tell that I haven't been able to felt as much as I normally would.

I still have a custom order on the go, and keeping a few ideas open for Xmas and Halloween.

But I'm also trying to plan some 'baby safe' designs to keep me going when the little one is here.

To be honest, I don't feel 100% comfortable with the idea of having my felting needles about when I have a new, teeny, tiny human to look after!

So I've been branching out with my wet felting and trying some designs to keep me going until I can organise my felting world!

 I'm loving these cake topper and garland ideas. Simple, wet felted balls and a bit of glue or thread, but they look quite effective.

And having a few bowls of warm soapy water around a little one sounds a lot safer than a foam block stuck full of sharp felting needles!

I need to work on some lovely colour schemes, but hopefully these designs will be hopping into my Emporium soon.

I hope you're all having a wonderful week,

and haven't been struck by the doom of Friday 13th!

I apologise if my next post isn't for a while, my to-do lists seem to be getting longer rather than shorter at the mo!

But still, a couple of months to go, and then the only to-do I'll have will be to feed, burp, change, hug 

and repeat!

x

Back From Scotland

 

Hello lovely people!

I sneaked away, but I'm back now.

A lovely week away in Scotland has left me with such a buzz.

If you've never been, you definitely should!

 

Me and Lewis  popped up to spend time with some friends and family, and it was just so lovely!

 

Admittedly, we did shoot ourselves in the foot a bit with travel. Travel is never easy if you're going from one end of the country to the other, but when you've left it too late to be able to afford a flight or a train fare and the only other option is to travel by coach... it's just no fun at all!

Especially when you're tummy's the size of a football!

My advice to all pregnant ladies out there thinking of travelling far, the most important things that you will want will be:

 

~ Leg room!

I've never been so frustrated with the seat in front of me before! Make sure you wriggle your little feet around whenever you can, especially if getting up for a walk on a wobbly, moving coach isn't much of a great idea. (The coach did stop once for a 20 min break, so that is the perfect time to go for a good walk and stretch those muscles).

 

~ Food and drink.

Make sure you have enough water to keep you going throughout the whole journey. It can get quite warm, and keeping hydrated is so important. Especially when you know you can't stop as and when you please. A good picnic stash is great too. We had sandwiches, dried fruit, sausage rolls and a few sneaky chocolate bars. Well you've got to cover all your craving needs ;)

 

 

~ Temperature.

I found that I went from hot to cold quite easily, so wearing layers that you can easily take off and put on is definitely a plus! They do have those little air vents above the seats too - take advantage of these!

 

and of course

 

~Toilets!

A must, and they do have them. They're not great, take a little bottle of antibacterial gel with you, but they are there.

 

 

Just incase any of you out there are as nuts as us, and think that travelling on a coach for 9-12 hours is going to be ok!

:)

 

And then of course, when you get to your lovely destination, make sure you've got somewhere to crash out

 

Bless!

 

(Can you spot the oober cute baby, tartan booties?)

 

 

We had such a lovely time.

Our friend showed us an AMAZING coffee shop.

I would move to Edinburgh just so that I could go to this shop every day!

 

 LOVECRUMBS

 

Their cakes were wonderful.

I chose a Bramble and Lime cake, and I practically melted into the squidgy sofa as I ate it!
Check out their delicious cake menu.

 



Yum!

 

 

And the coffee was delicious, let alone the mugs they came in!

 

I even fell in love with the ceiling

 

The whole café had a wonderful 'mish-mash' feel about it. Odd furniture and cups and saucers that didn't match. They even had an old piano which they used as a table!

So, I admit, I'm a little in love with this place and will be back!

 

Even Jemima loved it!

(Our friend's traveling companion! She comes to all of our little meet ups!)



 

 







We didn't spend the whole week eating cake and drinking coffee though... however much I would've liked to!

 

We took Jemima for a swim.

 

 

 

Found a pub that had Battle Ship and Scrabble!

 



 

 

And got stalked by a squirrel!

 

Evil Squirrel!

 

 

What an adventure!

But far too quickly, it was all over and we had to come home again.

 

 

 

...on the coach!

(We sneakily found some seats with loads of leg room this time! Handy tip for any of you coach travellers out there - find the seats by the emergency exit near the back!)

 

*sigh*

Can we go back please?

 

 

I hope you've all had a lovely week too. And if you're ever stuck for a little holiday somewhere, I would definitely recommend Edinburgh! It's a wonderful combination of city-crafty/artyness.
And it's on our list as the first mini holiday we'll take little bump on!

 

x





Post Bump Bodies

 

 

Pottering away through my pregnancy, I'm learning lots. I think it's impossible not to, but I do think it's important to take note and pay attention to all of the little things happening.

My body is changing.

It's lovely and terrifying.

Sometimes I wonder if some things are normal and if all other pregnant ladies are going through the same things.

But as they say:

'All pregnancies are different'

The changes that my body is making and going through is its own little way of dealing with the growth of a little life inside me.

 

I trust my body to do what it needs to, to get this little life safely into my arms.

 

 

 

 

 

But there is something that I wanted to mention that I have only recently become aware of myself

 

~ The Post Bump Body ~

 

It might turn out that you all know about it, and I've just been skipping along with my head in the sand... but I came across an article on the BBC website about the body after pregnancy.

I know that you would have to do a bit of exercise to get your 'normal' body shape back, but reading this article really opened up all of the changes that will stay after you've had a baby.

 

'Are women's bodies still beautiful after pregnancy?'

 

 

I'm not the most body conscious person in the world.

I've never been slim, I like chocolate biscuits way too much, I haven't found a sport that I enjoy doing except walking, and I have all those random bumps and moles that I secretly hope every other lady has.

:)

But still, this inevitable body scaring was at first, very scary.

I didn't realise that excess skin that you wouldn't be able to shift would become a permanent part of my body. I didn't realise that the stretch marks could be so dark and large (I have small ones on my thighs from growing hips, but they've turned a beautiful silver/white colour now).

 

So, it appears that after I get my little bundle of joy, I will have a new body to get used to as well.

 

At first - scary

 

It's out of my control

 

But then, after reading through this article a couple of times, dipping in and out to re-read some things, visiting Jade Beall's website jadebeall.com/a-beautiful-body-project, and talking to a friend who has recently had a baby, I've started to feel my opinion towards it changing.

 

'Tiger Stripes' is what she calls her stretch marks now.

It makes me smile and hope that mine remind me of a shape or animal to nick name them by.

They're like a natural tattoo.

A souvenir of a whole 9 months creating life, and bringing life into the world.

 

After all, a human body having to deal with a whole new way of growing and ballooning so much to fit a baby inside it, and then giving birth to that baby and releasing it into the world, all within the space of 9 months, less than a year!

I don't blame it for having a few scars afterwards.

 

 

I've got 3 months(ish) to go and my body's already feeling quite huge.

3 more months of growing, how much bigger can I get?!

 

I wouldn't be surprised if my body did have a couple of scars after the big day! I think I could owe it a few marks and scars for bringing a little life into the world.

You're doing good body, you keep going!

 

 

 

 

I would be so honoured if any of you out there have any advice on a post bump body. I have a feeling it must be one of those things that you can only really understand through experience.

I'm glad that I now know about it at least and it won't be a surprise afterwards, but I think that I won't truly understand it until it's reality.

I'll keep you posted!

 

 

I will certainly look into buying Jade Beall's book when I can. Not just for me, but for my other half, and for my future child. It's important to not cover these things up I think.

 

'Normal' shouldn't be secret.

 

 

 

 

Please visit Jade's website

 

JadeBeall.com

 

Her work is stunning!

And I would like to write a great big thank you for making accessible something that I didn't even truly think existed!

Thank you!

 

 

x

 



 

24 Weeks With Bump!

 

I can't believe it's been so long!

24 weeks old today and little bump is getting bigger!

 

(Please excuse the workplace background!)

 

I don't know if this is the same for most pregnant ladies, but I feel like I've been pregnant forever. It's weird to think of myself without having someone else to constantly think and worry about, growing away inside my tummy!

The little wriggler has started properly poking away at my insides now too, which is a lovely feeling.

It kind of makes me feel like I haven't been making it up the whole time!

hehe

 

 

And the due date is creeping up now

19th November

I've started to see a few leaves on trees go golden already, and I even saw a ripe blackberry on my way to work today...

The inevitability of Autumn has never felt so scary!!

 

 

But with the terrifying thought that November is really only months away, comes a rather fun bit...

buying baby stuff!

 

Planning a little room, and little clothes, and little toys is so much more fun than I ever thought it would be!

Play time!

:)

 

www.mothercare.com

Cow print baby is a must have!

:)

 



 

 

Mooching around some lovely websites, I've got a good idea of the kind of environment I would like to make for my little baby.

 

 

 

 

www.kiddley.com 10 basic tips for designing a nursery

 

Bunting is a lovely idea. It brings colour into the room and if you get a gentle breeze through an open window, the gentle rustle and sway can add something exciting for baby to watch.

 

 

 

 

www.mothercare.com

 

We bought this adorable mosses basket from Mothercare and it's just perfect. Bright colours, but not too vibrant. A sturdy basket, removable covers to wash and a great size. We love it!

 

 

 

www.etsy.com/uk/shop/pomtastic

 

I love paper pom poms! I think they're so much fun, but are light and easy to hang without adding weight. And they can come in any colour you like. So if you have a colour theme, want something very neutral or really want to go bright, I think they're just perfect!

 

 

 

 

 

Admittedly, not for teeny tiny babies, but when they get bigger and grab and play, these are such a great idea!

I saw this DIY tutorial for making your own drums over on

A Beautiful Mess 

Such an inspiring page!

I'm definitely going to be having a go at making these for my little one,

and aren't they just gorgeous even as room decorations while baby is growing! 

 

 

 

Just a few ideas, but there's so much more!

I'll keep you posted with how our little baby space is coming along.

We've got another delivery of baby stuff coming today - it really is a bit like Xmas!

 

I hope you're all having a lovely week folks!

 

x