The next Mark Foster....?

Eden started his swimming lessons this week and his reaction to the whole affair was, at best, described as nonchalant!!

After wrestling a slightly bemused Eden into his swim nappy, containment nappy and wetsuit we were good to go.

My swimming group had all been going at least one term, so we were the only new ones to hit the water. We followed the other babies & Mum's into the pool. So far so good no tears from Eden, he just calmly surveyed his surroundings.

The lesson was 30mins long and we did various activities like 'Humpty Dumpty' off the side of the swimming pool wall, guiding him through the water following rubber ducks and holding him in front of me whilst I blew bubbles in the water (Eden spent most of this time looking around at the other babies).

A slightly bored expression was present during the whole session, apart from the when the swimming teacher came to talk to us and Eden yawned in her face!!!

On the plus side there were no tears, he didn't seem frightened by the water or bothered when he got splashed a little in the face. He didn't even cry when it took me 10 whole minutes to get him out of his wet wetsuit - those things are TIGHT!

So I'm looking forward to next week, hopefully we can muster a smile and who knows the calm, nonplussed attitude could be the makings of a future Olympic star.....I think not!

Busy Baby

Eden's reached 12 weeks old and we've been really busy with new baby classes starting, 1st vaccinations, visiting family & friends, and getting ready for Halloween.

(Mum was a bit tired when she took this one - spot the mistake!!)

We've been going to a baby massage class for 4 weeks now, the Milton Keynes branch of Mama Baby Bliss ( http://www.mamababybliss.com/ ). Lorraine the teacher is excellent and creates a very relaxed atmosphere, brilliant as Eden generally tends to have a melt down at some point during the session. He LOVES having his massages at home but tends to get distracted in the session by the other babies! 

I've really enjoyed going, not only have I met a great group of Mum's, I also feel that learning the massage techniques has made my bond with Eden even stronger. We've got a class photo shoot in a couple of weeks so hopefully I can share some of the images.

The other group we've started recently is Baby Sign with Tiny Talk ( www.tinytalk.co.uk ). I travel all the way to London for this as I know Louisa who teaches the group in Ruislip & Ickenham. I was slightly sceptical when she first mentioned it as I was worried it would delay Eden's speech. She said she had thought the same when she went with her baby boy and it actually did the opposite and encouraged his speech. She was that impressed she now teaches sign! 

Whatever the speech benefits Eden has a ball at the sessions. It's very interactive with a lot of singing, of course signing and also other visual stimuli. I have never seen him so enthralled and smiley for such a long period of time! This week was a Halloween special with themed songs and all the babies dressed up.

Keeping with the Halloween theme Eden also decided to make his own Halloween Cards to send to his friends & family, so we had a special photo shoot!! (Mum then spent hours making the cards!).

It's been a packed but fun few weeks and we're looking forward to adding Baby Swim to the activities soon.

Baby's First Holiday

We were lucky enough to be able to spend three weeks in France in September. Eden's Grandparents have a house in the South of France, so it was more of a home from home. They also have a car with a big enough boot to get all the equipment we took there (and we filled it to the brim!). Ideal with a young baby.

We had a lovely chilled out holiday, and it was great having Gran and Grandad on hand to help out with Eden during the day. Myself and Ali even managed to go out for a meal one evening!

I can't imagine going on a package type holiday with a baby that young with all the stuff you have to take and having to deal with airports, transfers etc. However that being said we did take too much clobber so I thought I'd write a few tips from my experience on taking a young baby abroad.

1st PASSPORT

Get it as early as possible!! We ended up taking a trip to the passport office in order to get it in time. In order to get the passport you need a full birth certificate. So, if like us, you are going soon after baby is born, ring for an appointment at the Registry Office asap - there can sometimes be a wait for an appointment.

A babies passport photo doesn't have the same stipulations as an adult one. Whilst no,one can be in the frame apart the baby, it doesn't matter if baby has their eyes closed or not. We used Snappy Snaps for the image, much easier than juggling a baby in a photo booth. They had a bean bag to lay Eden on and took the photo from above, we were in and out in 5 mins.

Even though you sign on behalf of the child, you still need to get the form and pictures countersigned so make sure you have sorted out someone suitable for that too.

USEFUL THINGS TO TAKE

SNOOZESHADE - they fit over car seats, are fully UV protective and also have blackout qualities. We used ours loads and, due to the way it fits and stretches over things, had it over the pram when Eden was in that too. It also helped him sleep during the day as even in the shade it was brighter than he was used to.

GRO-EGG - really helped check the temperature of the bedroom at night. I couldn't do much about the heat but helped in regards to whether he should sleep in a vest or just a nappy etc. at night.

BABY CARRIER/SLING - useful if you're out and about in places like markets that are busy and not really designed for pushchairs. Only thing to watch is that baby doesn't get too hot in them in high temperatures and that they're not directly exposed to the sun. We put a hat on Eden and then tucked a light weight muslin around exposed legs and arms. We got the Morph Baby Carrier from Mamas & Papas, it was comfy to wear and Eden seemed happy in it too.

CLOTHES - bear with me on this one I not stating the bleeding obvious! We took far too many clothes. I reckon Eden wore about a third of them even with poo explosions!

Check what temperature it's going to be and plan for that, we took long sleeved full body sleepsuits that he never wore, perhaps pack one just in case. On a similar vein I also took four different jumpers/cardigans when one would have done. I was also tempted into buying cute little shorts etc, he wore them for about 10mins for a photo and then was back in a vest bodysuit as it was too hot for layers!

Also look at how much room they have in their clothes, I took several outfits of the next size up 'just in case'. Realistically even if Eden had the mother of all growth spurts while we were out there he would have been fine with the suits he had especially as they didn't have legs in them. If baby is close to growing out of them I would just take the next size up.

PLAYMAT - great for putting Eden down on as well as entertaining him, especially as homes/villas abroad often have hard tiled floors.

OTHER ESSENTIALS -

• Sunhat
• Baby Sun Cream (remember they shouldn't be in direct sunlight until over 6 months)
• Baby Thermometer
• Formula if using (I'd also recommend taking the ready mixed stuff as you can't use tap water even when it's boiled abroad so saves you buying bottled water too)

GO WITH THE FLOW!

This was my biggest learning, and made for a much happier baby and holiday. Normally on holiday I'd be out and about exploring etc. This holiday not so much, some days it was just to hot to be fair on Eden, some days he simply wasn't in the mood. There were days we'd planned to do stuff and abandoned it at last min as Eden was a bit whiney, we only ate out a handful of times and then at lunch time and we didn't go near the beach.

Also be prepared for a change at nights. Even though babies aren't really in a routine at this young age, it took a noticeably longer time to get Eden down and he woke more. Probably the change in heat, light and environment in general and it did settle down in the later stages of the holiday.

Some days we didn't leave the house, but with a young baby it was far more relaxing for all involved.

Daddy Knows Best

Eden hit 7 weeks old this week and also decided he would test the boundaries a bit. After weeks of marvelling about what a wonderful baby I had, feeding regularly through the day, settling down for the evening sleep at around 9pm and only waking twice during the night for a feed - all that changed....

Come 5pm tantrum hour ensues, although this lengthened to become tantrum 3 hours then tantrum 5 hours till we hit a point where he screamed until midnight. Everything had been done, he was well fed, had a clean bum and was certainly not too hot nor cold. 

Every time we got him settled and tried to put him down for the night the rage would return. I began to wonder if this was colic or if my routine wasn't right in the day. Then Dad said 'No, he's just trying it on to see how much control he has. He just doesn't want to be on his own, wants attention and is fighting sleep'.

My reply 'No, no, no. Not at this age. He can't be, all the books say they don't get into a routine like that at this age etc etc etc'.

So the next evening arrives and chaos again ensues. Dad convinced me to put him in his cot (once we checked all his needs had been met) and leave him in there. We stayed in the room and occasionally giving his face a little stroke and reassuring him we were there. Within twenty minutes he was fast asleep, a lot faster than the previous nightly marathon sessions of walking him round the house, swaying him in my arms and taking him for walks in the pram all to no avail.

A fluke, nope same again the next evening. Once Eden realised he wouldn't be coming out of his cot once he was in it, he settled much quicker! Turns out (in this instance) Daddy did know best!!!

Welcome Eden Frank

Eden Frank was born at 6.13am on 29th July 2014 weighing just under 9lbs. Needless to say he's been keeping me pretty busy ever since.

I'm beginning to settle in mummyhood now and I think on the whole Eden has made it pretty easy for me. He took to feeding straight away and only lost 5% of his birth weight. By his 10 day check he was a lb heavier than when he was born and has been steadily gaining weight since.

I've also been lucky with nights, from early on he has only woken twice for feeds during the night and last night woke just the once! (I have to admit I haven't prescribed to the waking him every three hours for a feed during the night and it hasn't seemed to do him any harm). I'm just keeping my fingers crossed his sleeping patterns last for a while as I know it could change any moment.

He's 4 weeks old today and we got our first true smiles - definitely not wind! Grandpa got the first smiles and got quite a few to, then I was lucky enough to get some smiles myself this afternoon.

I had meant to write about a few things before the little man's arrival, but will have to do them post-baby now. They might actually be more useful now as I know from experience what I did or didn't find beneficial for the birth and first few weeks.....

Introducing the family

Although I'm about to become a first time Mum, I am lucky to have two wonderful step-children the beautiful Ellie and Dylan the dude. They are both great and so much fun to be around.

However this will be my first 'grow your own' so to speak and as when I first met Ellie and Dylan they were 12 and 5 respectively I've never done the whole baby/toddler thing - so I think that qualifies me as a first time Mum at least for the purposes of this blog.

My other half is Ali, he's brilliant both as a partner and as a Dad. 

So that's us.

Oh also we have a random selection of pets Woody a Chameleon (Ali's), Angie a Goldfish (Ellie's) and Goldie also surprisingly a Goldfish (Dylan's). Not what I'd choose I'm more of a cat/dog person, but hey whatever floats your boat.

The waiting game...

So here it is my first week of Maternity Leave and the waiting game really begins....

Due date is the 27th July 2014 and I for one can't wait for this little man to put in an appearance. 

I have to say I've found the first few days of true maternity leave a little dull, I'm so used to busy work days filled with meetings. That being said I'm not missing my actual job at all even though I loved it!
I think my main mistake was the first Monday I was home alone I had it in my head that it would be great to sit around, relax and watch trashy TV. Half way through the day with a headache from TLC overload (there is only so much 'Say Yes To The Dress' & 'World's Greatest Baker' one can watch!) I was ready to start climbing the walls.
I decided that afternoon that I needed to re-think my pre-baby maternity leave plans and make sure my days were filled with things to do but that I could still have some down time in prep for the adventure that is about to begin.
So I planned little things for each day; go get a food shop in so there's stuff in the fridge/freezer in case I go into labour, get my car cleaned inside and out so when baby goes for his first journey he won't catch some rare tropical viral disease...!
It seems to  be working, I'm filling my days with little excursions to get the things that need getting, cleaning a bit of the house each day and yes still fitting a bit of trash TV and box sets in between.
I still felt I needed something to keep my brain active and fill the void left from not having the day to day office conversations I used to. So that's when I hit upon the idea to start this blog. 
I've never blogged before and even setting it up was a slight challenge, an hour and a half just to work out the basics! However here it is and it is like having a conversation, all be it one without a direct response!
Hopefully some people will find what I have to say interesting and, as I go on the massive learning curve that is Mummyhood, some of it useful.
If not, never mind, it's keeping me entertained and stopping me scaling the walls!!


Waiting for the little man, crib made by my Grandad Frank that both myself and my brother slept in when newborn. Crib bumper made by my amazing Mum!

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