Babywearing and cloth bumming abroad!

by

Babywearing and cloth bumming abroad!

We just took our first family holiday to Holland and didn’t take a pram or buggy, crazy or sensible?

I’d say sensible, the airport was a doddle with two free hands, we did have a carseat so we had somewhere secure for our girl to sit, but without a car other than the taxi to and from the airport our Manduca and Ellaroo slings saw us through travelling by tram and bus to Den Haag, to and from the airport, through naps on the go and cuddles and smiles at fellow tourists and locals, and the odd relaxing stroll by the canals.

I’ve been wearing Joss from birth, first in an old ringsling, then a Babasling and now we have a two sling stash, the cotton soft Ellaroo ringsling and Manduca soft structured carrier. If you’re thinking about travelling by public transport I could recommend checking out your local sling library and trying out a few slings, some may even let you borrow a sling to take abroad too!

In addition to two slings, a stash of 15 cloth nappies also came with us, we were staying with family so washing them was no problem and I found it no different to being at home, we used a huge Tiny Nippers wetbag as we had no nappy bucket; these nappies continue to save us money even on holiday, brilliant!

In a nutshell our slingy, cloth bum holiday was a big success!

Teething

by

As promised we reviewed some of Munchkin’s teething products and Joss chose a clear favourite, you can read more here http://www.munchkin.eu.com/munchkin-news/munchkin-mummies/what-if-she-just-doesnt-have-any-teeth

About a year ago I sadly had to stop breastfeeding my gorgeous girl, I had postnatal depression and wasn’t coping well, support to continue was few and far between and I think I might blog about my experiences soon. I decided to take something positive from my experiences and decided to get my first tattoo, empowering and out of character I wanted to mark her birth and our early experiences in a special way, and chose lily of the valley, her birth month flower, on the base of my spine. One year on my lily of the valley is flowering and I feel much more positive and certain in my role as a Mam, something that I didn’t think I’d ever feel back then, I still look at others and think “they just seem to get it and it’s clicked for them” and it didn’t click for me for a while, Motherhood is a journey, as my blog title reflects and seeing this lovely flowering plant reminded me of the new chapter we’re embarking on with a crawling giggly girl.

Image

Springtime, my favourite season…

by

image

I just love the cherry blossom at the end of our street, its so blowsy and pretty I couldn’t resist asking Mr B to snap us under it! We’ve been having lovely walks, going on the swings and even had an early picnic. Its gone back to bring grotty again but I think well have more good days soon, ever the optimist!

image

I love this pic of hat hating Joss!

I joined Slimming World this week, its like learning a new language with healthy extra a and bs, syns and optimising but I think I get it now, I’m reporting here that I have 10lb to lose, to keep me motivated, I’m interested in sharing SW recipes too if anyone has anything tasty!

Being back to work is going well, I feel a bit more well rounded having two days to do something that’s a bit of a challenge to the grey matter, Joss is showing herself to be a quietly confident little lass which is lovely to see, she has started chatting more and has a beautiful sweet singing voice! People I asked said thinking about going back is worse than doing it and that’s definitely been my experience too, its taught me to listen to other mamas more too!

In other news we’re living our new Manduca sling, cherry red and just so comfortable, I’m looking forward to my baba and boo hedgehog nappy arriving soon too! Pics to follow, bye for now! X

And then she was one!

by

image

Happy First Birthday Sweetheart, what a year! It was rounded off with three new things.

1) I baked my first cake, I always wanted to be a domesticated Mama, I’m not cut from that cloth, I live and work in organised chaos so this cake was a big thing, I’m far from being a super cakey bakey lady but I made it with so much love! Design inspiration from http://cupcakecrazygem.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/smarties-kit-kat-double-chocolate.html it was a vanilla sponge and not bad for a first attempt! I drove my tasters mad, do you like it, is it not dry, too rich?… But the little lady loved it so I’m happy :-)

2) A gorgeous pram for a gorgeous girl! I bought her a beautiful red wooden dolly pram and am crocheting a wee sparkly blanket for dolly! Daddy bought a necklace for when she’s big which made me cry, so thoughtful!

3) We had a first birthday photoshoot, so here’s a sneaky peek!

image

I feel so lucky to have this sweet girl in my life!

This time last year…in numbers

by

…my waters broke in the kitchen floor, in the 48 hours following I went to one wedding, two hospital check ups, had three hours sleep and four back rubs, five meals eaten from a birthing ball, six showers to ease the back pain, repacked the hospital bag seven or eight times, went to hospital at nine in the morning on the second day arriving at ten cms dilated!

Then this shining star arrived! I vow to post her birth story in the next day or two as I’ve been meaning to for ages, it has been the fastest moving year of my life, can’t wait to give her the sweet little red dolly pram I’ve waited so long to buy!

image

One year old next week

by

How is she nearly one?! I have no idea, fastest year of my life, ever! I’ve eventually returned to work, pay packet good, missing my girl bad, but needs must and if we want to save to move from a flat to a house then I have to loosen the apron strings a teensy bit!

I’m delighted to have an adventurous little eater, so we’re forgoing the trad kids party for yummy Sardinian food at our favourite restaurant, three days away but I can already taste the olives and fregula gambareda! J is a seasoned professional and already has her ‘usual’ from the lunch menu, I’m so proud of my involtini eating girl :-)

image

In other news I got myself a new tattoo for my return to work, strength and love will get me through, so this is a wee reminder to keep on going and remember why I’m working, its in clear view on my right wrist

image

My dad will go bat sh*t crazy when he sees it but I love it, was the hardest one yet for healing though so I think I may need to book in a retouch soon.

Back tomorrow with our latest Munchkin Mummy post – teethers! J is one year old next week with NO teeth but is dribbling and chewing like mad!

Real Nappy Week #RNW 2013

by

Gosh this time last year I was enormous and used my time on mat leave wisely, looking into cloth nappies. Thanks to Go Real I was sent a free Pop In to try, baby came along, two weeks later I had a whole fluffy stash! I’ve blogged before about fluff love, this year I’ve been getting involved in Clothopoly and The Great British Nappy Hunt and have so far won a Bambino Mio in associated competitions. My big loves are Totsbots Easifits and Fuzzibunz Elites, as seen here in a washing action shot!

image

So here’s my five reasons we cloth bum:

1) No car = risk of last minute emergency nappy low stock, now we always have nappies at hand
2) Environmental friendliness – Brits throw away 3bn sposies a year, which would take 500 years to decompose, a legacy I don’t want to pass on
3) Good old money saving – we broke even by ten months, no more paying out for nappies, I try not to have more than I need selling the smaller size to fund the next
4) More breathable for wee bums
5) Supporting UK manufacturing through Totsbots, and wahm with the odd pretty :-)

PS the cloth bum community at large is amazing, we’ve made a LOT of good friends through it!

If in doubt try a trial pack from your local nappy library, or check out a real nappy week event near you, you won’t regret it!

Equating Mother with Cakes

by

image

I feel like a fraud sometimes, mothers should be domestic goddesses right?! I’m not great at housework or baking, I dare say I was made for more academic pursuits, but I’d like to be more rounded so I decided to learn a few basics! Now I have a basic bun mix cracked I decided to move onto more complex things, like savoury buns, scary! These worked so well, a basic bun mix minus the sugar with the addition of cheese and courgette, Joss is happy, I feel like less of a fraud and my home smells, well, homely, if only for an hour or two! Now to try something more complex….

The countdown to back to work begins

by

image

I’m making the most of kissing this cheeky face and playing together before I return to work. It gets me all worked up when people suggest I have a choice in this, I don’t, most of us don’t and for J and I it’s not good timing, we’re moving into a different napping routine, weaning isn’t yet fully established and frankly I don’t feel ready to leave her, but I have to, and we’ll both have to be brave together! On a positive note I believe we’ve found a good childminder, J is an adaptable little thing, and I’m sure a hot cuppa and adult conversation will do me good, I just don’t want to know about it if I miss her first steps, word or tantrum!