I don't know if it's just me but since having my son there seem to be even less hours in the day than there were during my working week. Before baby, I would struggle to find time to catch up with my husband and friends while trying to get enough sleep to function at work but now that my boy is here, I'm struggling to fit all of the stimuli he needs into his day and that's with less sleep!
I'm not sure if it is just me but it seems that all of the things I need to do to make sure my son looks presentable, is clean, fed and has learning and play time cannot be squashed into one 24 hour day. I know there is a constant pressure not to judge development against other babies but at the same time you want to make sure you are stimulating your child enough that they will reach those milestones eventually. My son used to roll onto his belly but he has now mastered sitting up and no longer wants to roll at all. He is becoming more and more interested in standing which is in part awesome but on the other hand I cannot help but feel it is my fault as I encouraged sitting to standing and not tummy time.
There are also other parts of our daily routine I have tried to squeeze in but have been unable to... yoga. I keep saying to myself I must make time to do some stretches with my boy, we can bond a little more and it would benefit him physically and emotionally but in the last two weeks I can count on one hand the amount of times we have done our little yoga routine... once. I haven't taken my son to yoga classes as there are only so many classes we can afford but I was recommended this simple routine by Emma's Diary so I thought I would try it as I would have no excuse. There was however, one thing I didn't factor in about doing this routine, time. It is simple and short but yet there is that fine balance where you can't do it after he has just eaten or when he's too tired. There is such a small window in between!
Maybe I just need to manage my time better but I don't want to be too control freakish about what I do with my son all day. I'm trying to be more patient and be more go with the flow so my boy doesn't learn some of my worst traits, he already frowns a lot! Have you found the balance? What are your tips?
Thursday 25 June 2015
Tuesday 23 June 2015
Returning to work fears
Unfortunately neither my husband or I are loaded. We do the lottery (got to be in it to win it obviously) and have had little wins but nothing substantial that we could afford a stay at home parent for the first year and a bit. This makes me super sad for two reasons: (1) my son is growing so quickly and I miss him when I'm away from him for a couple of hours how I will I cope with a full day and (2) I will miss his major milestones of walking and talking the first time they happen. If my husband were to be around to see those then I wouldn't feel so upset about it but neither of us will be the first to see it, either family or his nursery will.
Every milestone my son has achieved so far has been met with so much excitement and elation but deep down I can't help but feel everything has happened so quickly. How is he 6 months and practically ready to be weaned when I only remember being in hospital yesterday? How will I cope without seeing his gorgeous smile throughout the day and his saliva being raspberried all over my face?
I have requested to return to work part time so I still have a couple of days with my boy before I blink and he leaves home and gets married but it will never be enough. Since my son's birth I have come up with such gems as, "I just love him so much I want to eat his face", "I can't sleep while he does, I'm too busy watching him sleeping" and my husband's personal favourite, "don't you look at him sometimes and feel like your heart is going to explode?". I think these lines sufficiently help to describe how I feel about my little boy just like any other parent probably feels about their baby making my impending return to work all the more difficult.
If we want to continue to keep a roof over our son's head and now that he's starting to eat, feeding him too then I will have to return to work. Apparently it gets easier with time but that's not enough for me. Till then I will keep enjoying every ounce of my son till the time comes that I have to return to work, but I will be praying for a more substantial slice of the lottery pie so I can prolong my return just that little bit longer!
I'd love to know, how did you manage to cope with returning to work? Does it really get easier? How did you feel about missing the first time milestones?
~AB~
Every milestone my son has achieved so far has been met with so much excitement and elation but deep down I can't help but feel everything has happened so quickly. How is he 6 months and practically ready to be weaned when I only remember being in hospital yesterday? How will I cope without seeing his gorgeous smile throughout the day and his saliva being raspberried all over my face?
I have requested to return to work part time so I still have a couple of days with my boy before I blink and he leaves home and gets married but it will never be enough. Since my son's birth I have come up with such gems as, "I just love him so much I want to eat his face", "I can't sleep while he does, I'm too busy watching him sleeping" and my husband's personal favourite, "don't you look at him sometimes and feel like your heart is going to explode?". I think these lines sufficiently help to describe how I feel about my little boy just like any other parent probably feels about their baby making my impending return to work all the more difficult.
If we want to continue to keep a roof over our son's head and now that he's starting to eat, feeding him too then I will have to return to work. Apparently it gets easier with time but that's not enough for me. Till then I will keep enjoying every ounce of my son till the time comes that I have to return to work, but I will be praying for a more substantial slice of the lottery pie so I can prolong my return just that little bit longer!
I'd love to know, how did you manage to cope with returning to work? Does it really get easier? How did you feel about missing the first time milestones?
~AB~
Thursday 18 June 2015
"Dating" other mummies
Since my last post about making mummy friends, I seem to have become more sociable all of a sudden! I enrolled my son and I on a yoga course 8 weeks ago and from the first class all of the mums in it seemed to be the only ones I have really bonded with or felt I could make a bond with.
I have been on a "date" with two of the four mums now and we will all be meeting up for a picnic (weather permitting) in a couple of days. I have to say I am actually looking forward to it and don't feel panicked about having to make small talk as I feel like our personalities are quite similar.
I think I have formed a particular connection with a mum who, in a strange twist of fate, was in the cubicle next to me in the post-natal ward and asked me to watch her daughter while she popped to the toilet! We're very similar in personality and our parenting styles are very similar, better still our husbands got along and our babies had a good old natter at each other and my son even remembered her daughter!
I know, I can't believe it seems to have happened so quickly either but one thing is for sure... there were no converse trainers in sight :)
I have been on a "date" with two of the four mums now and we will all be meeting up for a picnic (weather permitting) in a couple of days. I have to say I am actually looking forward to it and don't feel panicked about having to make small talk as I feel like our personalities are quite similar.
I think I have formed a particular connection with a mum who, in a strange twist of fate, was in the cubicle next to me in the post-natal ward and asked me to watch her daughter while she popped to the toilet! We're very similar in personality and our parenting styles are very similar, better still our husbands got along and our babies had a good old natter at each other and my son even remembered her daughter!
I know, I can't believe it seems to have happened so quickly either but one thing is for sure... there were no converse trainers in sight :)
Tuesday 16 June 2015
Nailing art of the amateur kind
I like to consider myself creative and I do try hard to be a perfectionist but I am definitely not an artist by any means. I have never been great at drawing, but what I am good at is watching other people do things and then copying it and adapting it so it's easy for me to do. I have always learnt best by being shown everything first and then getting a chance to go through it. Talking me through anything makes me glaze over, especially now I am sleep-deprived.
I have loved nail art for a long time and even pregnant I made sure my toenails were always painted albeit by someone else in my last couple of months. I have also always made sure my nails are done for special events because I don't see the point in nail varnish for everyday wear, it upsets me when it gets chipped after day 2.
Past designs have been mostly floral or geometric with the odd beach here and there, sported by my sister whose toenails I also paint with nail art for holidays and special occasions. I have never attended formal training so I am in no way a professional but I find it relaxing, especially when the art comes out the way I intended. I am also the proud owner of a nail kit now so I can be a little bit more accurate on the art but I will keep you updated if I try anything new!
Please excuse mine and my sister's feet...
I have loved nail art for a long time and even pregnant I made sure my toenails were always painted albeit by someone else in my last couple of months. I have also always made sure my nails are done for special events because I don't see the point in nail varnish for everyday wear, it upsets me when it gets chipped after day 2.
Past designs have been mostly floral or geometric with the odd beach here and there, sported by my sister whose toenails I also paint with nail art for holidays and special occasions. I have never attended formal training so I am in no way a professional but I find it relaxing, especially when the art comes out the way I intended. I am also the proud owner of a nail kit now so I can be a little bit more accurate on the art but I will keep you updated if I try anything new!
Please excuse mine and my sister's feet...
Thursday 11 June 2015
Making mummy friends
I have always appreciated quality over quantity and the same can be said of my friends and friendships. I adore all of my friends and despite only having me in common, when they all get together, they get along well and some of them have even struck up friendships with each other too.
I don't really know how over the years I have managed to amass such a wonderful group of people. They're all so different, some introverted, some extroverted, some are spiritual, some are massive foodies but they're all good friends and in some cases, best friends of mine. I myself am introverted, loyal, a romantic, a control freak and a believer in gut instinct and intuition. I am opinionated but will only show the passionate side of that with people I am comfortable with. I was never in the popular group at school but always got along with every social group at school and always had a friend in each group. I was right in the middle and I guess you could say I was just one of the crowd but I have never been a sheep. I have never given in to peer pressure and by choice do not and have never smoked or taken drugs and although I do occasionally drink, it's no longer to the excess of my late teenage years. I have always thought I was polite and sufficiently nice on a first meeting but despite the fact I have always been shy I have never had problems greeting people.
More recently though, I have become more and more shy and awkward around people. I was a little forgetful when I was pregnant but since having my little boy maybe it's my tiredness but all ability to form a proper conversation has gone out of the window. I have trouble articulating what I need to say (I actually just had to ask my husband to help me articulate what I needed to say in this sentence) and saying the right thing at the right time. More than once I have said something awkward and inappropriate and have immediately regretted it as the words came out completely different to my much slower thought process. I have never struggled to write down how I feel and because I have so much more time to write than think on the spot this is so much more natural to me. I am very aware though, I write as I would speak and sometimes my writing doesn't make any sense to anyone but me so no matter how much I read it back, nothing seems wrong in my proofreading. Maybe the natural progression would be to online chat to other mums, something which I have never really considered but now more than ever I am afraid of unintentionally offending people.
My son is almost 6 months old and to date I have spoken to other mums but I don't have any mummy friends. I have some existing friends who have children but they all live quite far from me so we don't see them often. It's not that I don't get out there as since his birth we have been to a breastfeeding cafe (twice, against my better judgement), baby massage classes, sensory classes, swimming and yoga classes yet I still can't seem to click with anyone who can see past my awkwardness.
More recently, my husband and I attended a weaning class together as I like to try and include him in developmental classes wherever I can and if he can get the time off. He is "our" child after all and I believe our son should spend as much quality time with his daddy as he can so they can nurture a bond early. On arriving at the class I recognised a mum I had spoken to and met a couple of times before who at our last meeting had taken my number... and then never made contact. A risky move considering we live in the same area and we were likely to meet again. It was clear that she had made loads of mummy friends since our last meeting, the majority of the class being just that and they had even planned to go for coffee and walk after the class. Although I was hurt, one thing made me realise that maybe I would never have fit in with them anyway, their footwear. Upon leaving, my husband sensed I was a little upset but trying not to make it worse he made a joke out of it and I then shared my observation with him. All of the mothers bar me and one other (who was wearing birkenstocks) were wearing converse. I have nothing against converse trainers and in fact I have been toying with getting a pair but they would in no way be my every day shoe of choice, it's just not me. What was I wearing? Ballerina pumps. I have them in many different colours, they never age, they're universal and they're feminine. I'm not a massive girly girl I don't think but I love me some ballerina pumps.
So what does that say about my personality? No idea but it's clear to me I'm not like those other mums. I know you can't base a friendship around taste in shoes but I felt I could gauge whether I would fit in from that alone which brings me back full circle. I have never believed in having friends for the sake of it and the same can be said for this situation. Maybe I have been too hard on myself blaming my awkwardness but there is a lot of pressure to find other new mums to share your experience with and the only thing you have in common with this other person is that you have a baby. Like millions of other women/men in the whole world. Call me naive but why should that form the basis of a friendship? Shouldn't you strive for more in someone you are spending a lot of time with and sharing advice with in bringing up a baby? I have always seemed to look for someone I have a connection with, you know when you meet someone and there is always something to say even if you're shy, someone who just gets you like all of my current friends. I have made a date with another mum in a week who I'm hoping I have that with but if not, I will still keep searching. I will also definitely look into online chatrooms for and to give advice but I won't be expecting lifelong friendship from there.
I remain hopeful I will find other mums I do have an affinity with and if not, my son will be at nursery soon and will form his own friendships, not ones I have forced on him. He has enough interaction with other babies at our classes and other adults in our friends and family that I'm not concerned for his social development. This may make me antisocial and very occasionally I do feel lonely but my existing friends have set a high bar for friendship, one which I am reluctant to lower to be able to supposedly "cope" as a new mum.
~AB~
I don't really know how over the years I have managed to amass such a wonderful group of people. They're all so different, some introverted, some extroverted, some are spiritual, some are massive foodies but they're all good friends and in some cases, best friends of mine. I myself am introverted, loyal, a romantic, a control freak and a believer in gut instinct and intuition. I am opinionated but will only show the passionate side of that with people I am comfortable with. I was never in the popular group at school but always got along with every social group at school and always had a friend in each group. I was right in the middle and I guess you could say I was just one of the crowd but I have never been a sheep. I have never given in to peer pressure and by choice do not and have never smoked or taken drugs and although I do occasionally drink, it's no longer to the excess of my late teenage years. I have always thought I was polite and sufficiently nice on a first meeting but despite the fact I have always been shy I have never had problems greeting people.
More recently though, I have become more and more shy and awkward around people. I was a little forgetful when I was pregnant but since having my little boy maybe it's my tiredness but all ability to form a proper conversation has gone out of the window. I have trouble articulating what I need to say (I actually just had to ask my husband to help me articulate what I needed to say in this sentence) and saying the right thing at the right time. More than once I have said something awkward and inappropriate and have immediately regretted it as the words came out completely different to my much slower thought process. I have never struggled to write down how I feel and because I have so much more time to write than think on the spot this is so much more natural to me. I am very aware though, I write as I would speak and sometimes my writing doesn't make any sense to anyone but me so no matter how much I read it back, nothing seems wrong in my proofreading. Maybe the natural progression would be to online chat to other mums, something which I have never really considered but now more than ever I am afraid of unintentionally offending people.
My son is almost 6 months old and to date I have spoken to other mums but I don't have any mummy friends. I have some existing friends who have children but they all live quite far from me so we don't see them often. It's not that I don't get out there as since his birth we have been to a breastfeeding cafe (twice, against my better judgement), baby massage classes, sensory classes, swimming and yoga classes yet I still can't seem to click with anyone who can see past my awkwardness.
More recently, my husband and I attended a weaning class together as I like to try and include him in developmental classes wherever I can and if he can get the time off. He is "our" child after all and I believe our son should spend as much quality time with his daddy as he can so they can nurture a bond early. On arriving at the class I recognised a mum I had spoken to and met a couple of times before who at our last meeting had taken my number... and then never made contact. A risky move considering we live in the same area and we were likely to meet again. It was clear that she had made loads of mummy friends since our last meeting, the majority of the class being just that and they had even planned to go for coffee and walk after the class. Although I was hurt, one thing made me realise that maybe I would never have fit in with them anyway, their footwear. Upon leaving, my husband sensed I was a little upset but trying not to make it worse he made a joke out of it and I then shared my observation with him. All of the mothers bar me and one other (who was wearing birkenstocks) were wearing converse. I have nothing against converse trainers and in fact I have been toying with getting a pair but they would in no way be my every day shoe of choice, it's just not me. What was I wearing? Ballerina pumps. I have them in many different colours, they never age, they're universal and they're feminine. I'm not a massive girly girl I don't think but I love me some ballerina pumps.
So what does that say about my personality? No idea but it's clear to me I'm not like those other mums. I know you can't base a friendship around taste in shoes but I felt I could gauge whether I would fit in from that alone which brings me back full circle. I have never believed in having friends for the sake of it and the same can be said for this situation. Maybe I have been too hard on myself blaming my awkwardness but there is a lot of pressure to find other new mums to share your experience with and the only thing you have in common with this other person is that you have a baby. Like millions of other women/men in the whole world. Call me naive but why should that form the basis of a friendship? Shouldn't you strive for more in someone you are spending a lot of time with and sharing advice with in bringing up a baby? I have always seemed to look for someone I have a connection with, you know when you meet someone and there is always something to say even if you're shy, someone who just gets you like all of my current friends. I have made a date with another mum in a week who I'm hoping I have that with but if not, I will still keep searching. I will also definitely look into online chatrooms for and to give advice but I won't be expecting lifelong friendship from there.
I remain hopeful I will find other mums I do have an affinity with and if not, my son will be at nursery soon and will form his own friendships, not ones I have forced on him. He has enough interaction with other babies at our classes and other adults in our friends and family that I'm not concerned for his social development. This may make me antisocial and very occasionally I do feel lonely but my existing friends have set a high bar for friendship, one which I am reluctant to lower to be able to supposedly "cope" as a new mum.
~AB~
Monday 8 June 2015
Handmade-en
I have always loved the thought of handmade presents for children. Items made with so much love they would be cherished forever and my babies would literally be wrapped in love. I strongly encouraged all of my friends and family to make things for my son and he now has a couple of really beautiful blankets, a cardigan, a hat and some booties which are all now too small and another cardigan in the process of being finished!
As you may or may not have seen, I made his mobile myself as I wanted his room to incorporate clouds and knew what I wanted to see in it to achieve that. I am not a knitter (yet) and I don't remember how to crochet so I need to refresh my memory. The the only way I could contribute to the handmade-ness was to decorate and create accessories. I painted the room myself and made sure all of the decorations and furniture were just so. I know babies don't care what paint you're using or whether there should be stars and polkadots instead of stripes but I knew I wanted the room to be a grown up nursery to grow with my son rather than against him so I omitted the excessive use of teddy bear print. I also didn't want to enforce the boys must have blue and girls must have pink, I'm all for him to be able to make his own choices and not become the person I think he should be; although I will be forcing manners, good morals and cleanliness on him whether he likes it or not. The nursery is beige and cream with a striped ceiling, white cloud shelves dotted around the walls and I have used orange as an accent colour (changing mat, bedding, storage boxes) as I thought it was a sufficiently unisex but not a visually offensive colour.
My son like all other babies, loves bright colours and although he has shelves which display some of the colourful books and toys he has been given, there is no real stimulation on the walls so I wanted to do something a little different. Instead of buying an alphabet poster... I cross-stitched one. Not only can he touch the characters and letters but he can also enjoy the colours and my husband and I can teach him about superheroes! It took me just over a week to do in the end as it's not massively difficult (although I have made a couple of visible mistakes) but it is time consuming. When you have a baby who didn't like to sleep during the day it can take a little longer than you'd like.
I bought the pattern from talented Canadians weelittlestitches through Etsy. They also have a larger version which is touted as slightly more difficult but I liked that on the mini one you could see the full letters properly. It was so nice to be able to sit down and work on this while I watched my little boy sleeping and I felt a massive sense of achievement when I finished as I haven't really sewed let alone cross-stitched for years! So here is the finished product which I really need to frame soon!
~AB~
As you may or may not have seen, I made his mobile myself as I wanted his room to incorporate clouds and knew what I wanted to see in it to achieve that. I am not a knitter (yet) and I don't remember how to crochet so I need to refresh my memory. The the only way I could contribute to the handmade-ness was to decorate and create accessories. I painted the room myself and made sure all of the decorations and furniture were just so. I know babies don't care what paint you're using or whether there should be stars and polkadots instead of stripes but I knew I wanted the room to be a grown up nursery to grow with my son rather than against him so I omitted the excessive use of teddy bear print. I also didn't want to enforce the boys must have blue and girls must have pink, I'm all for him to be able to make his own choices and not become the person I think he should be; although I will be forcing manners, good morals and cleanliness on him whether he likes it or not. The nursery is beige and cream with a striped ceiling, white cloud shelves dotted around the walls and I have used orange as an accent colour (changing mat, bedding, storage boxes) as I thought it was a sufficiently unisex but not a visually offensive colour.
My son like all other babies, loves bright colours and although he has shelves which display some of the colourful books and toys he has been given, there is no real stimulation on the walls so I wanted to do something a little different. Instead of buying an alphabet poster... I cross-stitched one. Not only can he touch the characters and letters but he can also enjoy the colours and my husband and I can teach him about superheroes! It took me just over a week to do in the end as it's not massively difficult (although I have made a couple of visible mistakes) but it is time consuming. When you have a baby who didn't like to sleep during the day it can take a little longer than you'd like.
I bought the pattern from talented Canadians weelittlestitches through Etsy. They also have a larger version which is touted as slightly more difficult but I liked that on the mini one you could see the full letters properly. It was so nice to be able to sit down and work on this while I watched my little boy sleeping and I felt a massive sense of achievement when I finished as I haven't really sewed let alone cross-stitched for years! So here is the finished product which I really need to frame soon!
~AB~
Friday 5 June 2015
Cake-a-saurus Rex
For anyone who knows me, they will tell you how much I love cake. Really really really love it. Not as much as my baby boy obviously but I LOVE it.
I also used to love baking but now find it more of a chore unless I'm feeling particularly inspired. Cakes produced in the past include: two wedding cakes, numerous birthday cakes/cupcakes for my sister and husband and occasional cheesecakes (I know not really baking but still). Some were great successes, others (like the sushi cake) not so great but the effort and love were there... somewhere.
Being on maternity leave means I have to enforce austerity on myself and therefore present giving is minimal if even at all so I have looked at other ways to ensure I don't turn up to a party empty-handed. One of those ways was to bake Biscuiteers inspired biscuits for my friend, a chemistry teacher. I have never been able to get a biscuit recipe just right, it has always required adjustment on my part to make it close to what I would consider perfect, either that or I am reading the recipes wrong but I finally managed to find this recipe on Baking Mad's website and both batches turned out perfectly! I am in no way sponsored by or working for any of the companies affiliated with this website but I wholeheartedly recommend this recipe which made the biscuits almost like shortbread. I can confirm they went down a treat with everyone particularly me who ate almost an entire batch alone! So here are my finished biscuits (sorry about the debris around it), the flasks etc were cut out by hand as I left it too late to order cutters!
If you're going to try the recipe, please let me know how you got on and once they turn out perfectly... you're welcome!
~AB~
I also used to love baking but now find it more of a chore unless I'm feeling particularly inspired. Cakes produced in the past include: two wedding cakes, numerous birthday cakes/cupcakes for my sister and husband and occasional cheesecakes (I know not really baking but still). Some were great successes, others (like the sushi cake) not so great but the effort and love were there... somewhere.
Being on maternity leave means I have to enforce austerity on myself and therefore present giving is minimal if even at all so I have looked at other ways to ensure I don't turn up to a party empty-handed. One of those ways was to bake Biscuiteers inspired biscuits for my friend, a chemistry teacher. I have never been able to get a biscuit recipe just right, it has always required adjustment on my part to make it close to what I would consider perfect, either that or I am reading the recipes wrong but I finally managed to find this recipe on Baking Mad's website and both batches turned out perfectly! I am in no way sponsored by or working for any of the companies affiliated with this website but I wholeheartedly recommend this recipe which made the biscuits almost like shortbread. I can confirm they went down a treat with everyone particularly me who ate almost an entire batch alone! So here are my finished biscuits (sorry about the debris around it), the flasks etc were cut out by hand as I left it too late to order cutters!
If you're going to try the recipe, please let me know how you got on and once they turn out perfectly... you're welcome!
~AB~
Wednesday 3 June 2015
The build/craft up to baby!
This time last year, I was preparing for my penultimate city break, knowing the next next one wouldn't be for a very very long time and eagerly wishing my maternity leave would start soon.
I, unlike many other women I know, loved everything about being pregnant. I loved feeling my little boy kicking and wriggling around and seeing my ever increasing bump. No matter how much bigger I got and how many jokes I annoyingly had to smile at about being sure I wasn't carrying twins, I couldn't have been happier. I should mention though, my journey to meet my son was a relatively smooth one, no morning sickness, no aversions, no cravings and aside from one episode of back spasms, I thankfully had no pain till the very last month. I am not bragging by any means this was simply my experience. I know for some women pregnancy can be draining the whole way though but particularly in the first trimester as we all know from hearing about the sufferings of Kate Middleton. I feel for any of you who have had to endure it and I can only surmise how awful it can be.
My baby boy is a December baby and there was a lot of wishing (definitely not on my part), that he would be a Christmas baby but he had other ideas. My last month and a bit was filled with swelling, much anticipation and to my relief, the end of my working/commuting days for at least 6 months. My pre-baby maternity leave days were filled with lie ins, eating, yoga, eating, TV, eating, occasional preening, housework... and eating. In between all of this, I nurtured my new love of crafting. I had had enough of DIY having done up our new house throughout most of the year with the help of my husband and Dad to prepare for the baby. Crafting was so relaxing, much more rewarding and something in which I thought I could finally excel (with practice of course). I started with a mobile for my son's room and had an idea in my mind of what I wanted but no plan of action as usual with me. It took a week or so but it finally came together and shortly after he was born, I installed it in the nursery attached to his light fixture.
I love Christmas and it pained me not to be able to have decorations or celebrate in the way we usually would just in case the baby turned up. We figured we would be too busy being new parents to put the decorations away and would hate to have superstition supply us with bad luck because we didn't have the time to take down our decorations before it was unlucky! During the process of our house refurbishment I signed up to many newsletters about DIY and one in particular had a link to wreaths. None of mine or my husband's family like them but I was determined ours would be different so I set about combining the best of a couple of the ideas. Here is the finished product which I thought looked very wintery and the family loved it! I really enjoyed making both and my son thankfully loves the mobile which was all I wanted really!
I, unlike many other women I know, loved everything about being pregnant. I loved feeling my little boy kicking and wriggling around and seeing my ever increasing bump. No matter how much bigger I got and how many jokes I annoyingly had to smile at about being sure I wasn't carrying twins, I couldn't have been happier. I should mention though, my journey to meet my son was a relatively smooth one, no morning sickness, no aversions, no cravings and aside from one episode of back spasms, I thankfully had no pain till the very last month. I am not bragging by any means this was simply my experience. I know for some women pregnancy can be draining the whole way though but particularly in the first trimester as we all know from hearing about the sufferings of Kate Middleton. I feel for any of you who have had to endure it and I can only surmise how awful it can be.
My baby boy is a December baby and there was a lot of wishing (definitely not on my part), that he would be a Christmas baby but he had other ideas. My last month and a bit was filled with swelling, much anticipation and to my relief, the end of my working/commuting days for at least 6 months. My pre-baby maternity leave days were filled with lie ins, eating, yoga, eating, TV, eating, occasional preening, housework... and eating. In between all of this, I nurtured my new love of crafting. I had had enough of DIY having done up our new house throughout most of the year with the help of my husband and Dad to prepare for the baby. Crafting was so relaxing, much more rewarding and something in which I thought I could finally excel (with practice of course). I started with a mobile for my son's room and had an idea in my mind of what I wanted but no plan of action as usual with me. It took a week or so but it finally came together and shortly after he was born, I installed it in the nursery attached to his light fixture.
I love Christmas and it pained me not to be able to have decorations or celebrate in the way we usually would just in case the baby turned up. We figured we would be too busy being new parents to put the decorations away and would hate to have superstition supply us with bad luck because we didn't have the time to take down our decorations before it was unlucky! During the process of our house refurbishment I signed up to many newsletters about DIY and one in particular had a link to wreaths. None of mine or my husband's family like them but I was determined ours would be different so I set about combining the best of a couple of the ideas. Here is the finished product which I thought looked very wintery and the family loved it! I really enjoyed making both and my son thankfully loves the mobile which was all I wanted really!
Tuesday 2 June 2015
A warm welcome
Blogging is extremely new to me like many other things I have experienced recently:
- becoming a mum
- finding a new but practical hobby
- not having to queue for so long for everything
- life outside the central London rat race
I have always loved writing and in particular poetry but have always struggled to put these outpourings into an actual conversation with new people. Please don't get me wrong, I am surrounded by a supportive family and some amazing and hopefully life long friends but I have no idea how I got so lucky!
So a little about me. I am mummy to a gorgeous (obviously not biased) little boy, wife to a wonderful, caring husband and sister to the world's greatest (but tries to keep it a secret) massage therapist. I adore all of my friends, I have an unbreakable love for sugary goods and more recently have been trying my hand something I feel I have an affinity for, crafting. I enjoy a good pair of ballerina pumps, nail art on my toenails (as they wouldn't last 5 minutes on my fingernails), DIY TV programmes and baby giggles.
Through my blog I'm hoping to detail my crafting projects but also my journey being a new mum and finally making proper mummy friends. Thank you for stopping by and helping me come out of the cocoon to be that little bit more sociable!
~ AB ~
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