Family Christmas

Something has happened to me this Christmas. I can feel myself secretly dying to morph into Martha Stewart or Delia Smith (a kind of UK equivilant).

I have always loved Christmas as it has meant parties, an excuse to buy a sparkly frock, getting presents, catching up with friends and family, eating too many chocolates in front of an old movie and so on.

This year I have found myself getting excited by the following things instead:

- a Christmas wreath for my front door. I have obsessed to my husband about this for a few weeks now. And now we have one and it is so so pretty.

- putting the tree up on the 1st of December complete with very hectic flashing lights.

- the very stylish wrapping paper I bought which is red and velvet and flocked like wallpaper.

- wrapping all my presents with curly ribbon and bows and placing them artistically under the tree.

- buying cards for that say things like “merry Christmas granny” so I can send them from the munchkin.

- insisting that my husband downloads a Christmas oldies album so I can sing along to Bing, Doris and Frank.

I even wildly considered making my own Christmas decorations from baked gingerbread!!!

My justification for all these attempts at turning myself into a domestic goddess is that it is munchkin’s first Christmas and so it should be “proper”. But he is five months old and is only interested in shoving my very expensive flocked wrapping paper into his drooly little gob.

Has this domestic homeloving side always been there and now I have a child it is ok to let it out? I guess I feel like I’m a mum now and that’s what mums do. I feel it in a good way though, no pressure to do any of it. I can’t wait till next year to do things like bake cookies with the munchkin who will understand it all a bit more.

Can someone remind me a few years down the line when I am frantically making a nativity costume at 2am and realising I forgot to buy the turkey that I once had time to wrap presents in fancy paper and curl ribbon and I thought I was the perfect mum?

thanks

Vision

Out walking today I saw something today that both really moved me and made me think.
I had munchkin in the baby bjorn carrier and was walking down our busy high street. Coming towards me was a girl of about my age (note I am still convinced I am a girl at 33) also with her baby in a bjorn. Normally mummy strangers nod and smile when we see similar mums but this girl didn’t. That’s when I noticed two differences.
First, her baby was wearing glasses and second, she was tapping the pavement with a white cane.
To my surprise I realised this girl was completely blind and the thought of it hit me with such force I stopped in my tracks. To be completely honest I watched her for a bit to see if I could give her a hand crossing the street but also just to see how she managed. The high street is super busy with rushing people on foot, other buggies, fast cars. She crossed at two places and almost seemed to have to guess if cars were coming at one point.
It made me think about so many things. How does she feel about the safety of her baby? How on earth does she manage all the day-to-day tasks like feeding and changing nappies? I thought of all the times I have looked in on munchkin to check he is ok.
On a whole different level I can’t imagine what it must be like to not see your baby’s face when he is born, his first smile, his sense of wonder at the world.
I don’t feel sorry for this girl though and I am 100% sure she wouldn’t want me to be either. I volunteer for a blind charity so I have a very little bit of experience of trying to understand what life is like without sight.
I had the priviledge of going around an exhibit called Dialogue in the Dark in hamburg a few years back where you walk round various scenarios including a shop, cross a street, order a drink in the bar, all completely in the dark. There is not even a sense of shadows or shapes. You have a cane and a blind guide and it lasts about an hour. It was one of the most terrifying, disorienting and enlightening experiences of my life.
You can not underestimate how much you rely on sight as a key sense. If you ever have the opportunity of going round an exhibit like that I’d really recommend you do it. It will open your mind.

Seeing this girl and her baby today made me feel that motherhood is a gift for everyone and we are all lucky to experience it in our own unique way.

Noise

X63uvw

I had just written the longest, most complainiest post ever about how much I hated the builders in the flat above. Then munchkin leaned over, pressed some buttons on the iPod and hey presto, deleted the entire thing and left me with X63uvw on the screen.
Which to be honest kinda sums up how I felt perfectly.

You have to laugh.

Five months today

Munchkin is five whole months today! I was going to wait until he was six months until I wrote a little update but I feel like so much has changed in the last month that it’s worth it.
Let’s see…

1) You learnt to roll not only from your front to your back but also the other way. This frequently surprises you.

2) you really discovered your feet and the fact that they are pretty tasty to suck on.

3) everything and I mean everything has to be grabbed and shoved in your mouth.

4) you tried your first solid food and thought it was pretty tasty.

5) you took your first day time nap in your cot. This fact alone might keep your mum sane.

6) you learnt how to switch off your mobile over your cot (not kidding!!) you just need to crack switching it back on again.

7) you laugh full on now especially at early 90s pop. Boom shake shake shake the room, tick tick tick tick BOOM!
you had your first date at the movies and held hands with a very pretty little baby girl called Isabella. She was less impressed when you tried to suck her jumper but hey, good first try.

So many things you learn and pick up every day. It is a joy and an honour to watch. Most of the time it is pretty darn hilarious too.

Love you kiddo!

Splash!

by lovingshiva on flickr

The time has come to jump right in and take the Munchkin to the swimming pool. yippeeee!

I thought about how much fun it would be to swim with the baby all through my pregnancy. I’ve always loved pictures of babies swimming underwater happily with their eyes open and as I didn’t learn to swim till I was much older I want Munchkin to be comfortable as soon as possible.  He loves being in the bath and kicks away, soaking himself and me completely so I think he’ll take to it like a baby duck to water.

There is a local pool nearby with a kiddie section so I am planning to go with another girl from my NCT class and her baby. She has already taken him swimming and he loved it and she knows the drill. I was wondering how on earth you get yourself or the baby changed afterwards but apparently there are family changing rooms where you can put the baby down safely.

This decision necessitates 2 purchases: 1 for baby and 1 for me.

For baby: a Swim nappy

It’s designed to keep certain things in that you really don’t want floating round the pool with you! Pee you have to deal with though…nice…

Isn’t this cute though?

For me: a new swimsuit

I’m not really a strong swimmer and most of my time in the water is confined to the sea or pool on holiday. I love swimming in the ocean but it’s not exactly the weather for it much in England. As a consequence my swimwear collection comprises exclusively of bikinis. I am of the opinion that a) bikinis are not great for local swimming pools and b) don’t feel that confident wearing one post pregnancy yet. Hopefully, I will at some point.

Therefore, I am going to buy a swimsuit with more coverage but can’t decide between a tankini (is this just a silly compromise?) or a proper old lady swimsuit!

What do you think of the options?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tankinis

or

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all suits from figleaves.com

Basically, I don’t want to look like the hippo in the picture at the top of the post!

Nanny interviews

This week we have started the process of recruiting a nanny to look after Munchkin when I go back to work in February. We’ll need someone 4 days a week live out who will be with him all day. Both my husband and I have interviewed many people through the course of our jobs but never for any position as important as this! I mean this person will be looking after the most important thing in our lives.
Would love to hear any tips from anyone who has experience of hiring a nanny or a childminder. What kind of questions give a good insight into the type of care they would give? Any warning signs to look out for?
Definitely appreciate any advice or comments!
Thanks in advance

Happy thanks giving

Having read lots of my American friends’ posts about reasons they are thankful today I like the idea of expressing that very much. In a twist of fate I am not American and so don’t traditionally celebrate thanksgiving but my husband is and now, so is my son (after our little trip to the US embassy, he now has 2 passports – a mini James Bond!!).
So in their honour or should I say honor, here are a tiny number of the reasons why I am thankful today:

1) for my healthy, happy little family – what more could you ask for in life?

2) for the love and support of family and friends, near and far.

3) for the opportunity being a mum has given me to make new friends on and off line. You are never too old to make a new friend.

4) for getting back into my favourite jeans.

5) for words like snickerdoodle and pop which make my son laugh like crazy.

6) for the fact I can listen to my son laugh like crazy.

7) for having a warm, comfortable roof over our heads.

8 ) for the 101 power ballad songs my husband just downloaded – final countdown anyone?

9) for having a husband who will sing the “final countdown” at the top of his voice while dancing round the kitchen with me.

10) for cats. I love cats. They rock. One day soon I hope to get one.

11) for crisp, bright autumn days, perfect for long walks with munchkin.

12) for whoever invented the cot mobile which keeps munchkin amused long enough for me to have a shower.

13) for chocolate chip cookies, fresh pineapple, basil leaves, almonds, mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil and dare I say it, coca cola. Not altogether though..

14) for being able to go home to my parents this Christmas.

15) for the gift of a son to my brother and his wife. Can’t wait to meet my nephew!

16) for the comfy and ridiculously expensive nursing chair I am sitting on right now. Clever store layout people who put these in the middle of the baby section for tired pregnant ladies to rest on.

17) for love

A small section of the first few things which come to mind at 01.07am while I am feeding my son.

I have so much to be thankful for so I wish you all a happy happy thanksgiving wherever you are.

Melt

Just finished giving Munchkin his bedtime feed. His tummy is a little upset these days so he was having a little cry to himself.
Then he did something so beautiful, so wonderous, so special. He put his little baby arms around my neck for a cuddle. He snuggled right in, stopped crying and fell asleep.

My heart has just melted like a scoop of mint sorbet on a hot august afternoon but oh, twice as sweet.

Fundamental questions at two in the morning

The things I ponder in the middle of the night when I am sat feeding the munchkin are many and diverse. I’d love to say they focus on topics such as a potential solution to climate change and what on earth the Hadron collider does but my brain doesn’t really work that well at 2am. My more mundane thoughts tend towards the baby related and here are a couple of tonights:

Why is it that no matter how much you try to cover up whilst feeding a baby they will always find a patch of bare skin to scratch?

I swear I could be wearing a full suit of medieval armour and Munchkin would find that one slightly defective chink over my chest to get his little fingers in and slice away. There are times when my cleavage looks like Edward Scissorhands has done a nice little number on it, he is that good. I have even resorted to holding the top of my tshirt in my teeth so he can’t find a way to grab it and pull it down!

Which leads me to my next topic:

How is it possible that after you cut a baby’s nails they appear equally long and sharp the next day?

Man, luckily I have got the hang of cutting Munchkin’s nails because otherwise he’d resemble one of those freaky ladies on the Guinness book of Records who have grown their nails three feet long (eww eww eww why would you do that? Don’t get me started on all the things these people can’t do with their freakish nails. I might ponder that one another night).
Anyway, no matter how often I cut Munchkin’s nails the next day they appear to actually have grown overnight. I’ll go in to get him in the morning to find a new cut on his nose or in his ear and feel all sorry for him. We tried mittens but they come off and he’d just gum them to a soggy mess anyway. It doesn’t seem to bother him though.

Which leads me to my next thought:

How on earth does babies’ skin grow so fast?

It’s amazing! Munchkin can have a scratch on his nose in the morning and by evening it has virtually disappeared. Their growing process never ceases to astound me.

Now if only my own skin still worked like that…

I might now ponder a new wonder cream for curing scratched breastfeeding mothers. Hadron schmadron, Nobel prize here I come.

Extra pair of hands

Two things have happened this month which have made my life much easier: Jer has had a few weeks off before starting his new job and his dad and sister have come to visit for a couple of weeks.
This has meant that pretty much for the first time since Munchkin was born I have been able to take naps and sleep in. Even though we’ve had some rough nights (up at 2,3,4,5.30,6 etc mmmm immunisations are great), I’ve been able to hand him over in the morning to someone else and go back to bed. His grandpa has been dying to spend time with him and munchkin loves hanging out with someone prepared to make faces at him all the time. He even took him out for a walk in the baby bjorn.
Just having someone else there to look after him while I take a shower means I don’t have to turn the water off every 30 seconds to listen for crying. I can take time to breathe!
More excitedly he is going to babysit on Saturday night when jer and I have a date night, our first! We are going to a very fancypants restaurant in London and I can’t wait.
Now if I could just figure out what to wear..
P.s. I am secretly terrified of when grandpa leaves and jer goes back to work. Whatdya mean I have to look after this baby All By Myself again???