Monthly Archives: January 2016

Double Trouble

Posted in Parenting by

2 children! I now have 2 children! It is a wonderful thing and yet a huge shock to the system. I feel blessed and yet strangely it still doesn’t feel real sometimes.

So what is it like?

Well at times I could probably say it’s bliss. Like when they are both calm and content and I get to play trains with Baby Boy or have cuddles with Baby Girl. When I get time in the day to tidy up and prepare tea and feel like a real suburban housewife. When I get to the end of the day and feel that I actually spent quality time with my family. I love those days! I really love those days!

Now at other times I could tear my hair out! Like when both children are crying and I have no idea who to sooth first. When all Baby Boy wants to do is try to hit his sister over the head. When I struggle to even get dressed let alone be a domestic goddess. When at the end of the day I am proud that the only thing I managed to do was keep everyone alive.

It might seem that I am ungrateful for what I have. I can assure you that I’m not. Going from being a family of 3 to a family of 4 is a big change. There are ups and downs of course but I just have to look at the two perfect beings that I created to know that despite the bad days, I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Image credit – http://www.amotherfarfromhome.com

Sleep – who needs it?!

Posted in Sleep by

 

My life is currently sponsored by extra strong coffee and anything containing sugar. Being the parent of a newborn was obviously going to mean less sleep but believe it or not Baby Girl actually sleeps well (fingers crossed, touch wood, stroke the rabbit foot!). It is in fact the almost 2 year old Baby Boy who is having nocturnal issues. He has never been a great sleeper I have to admit. I can probably count on one hand the number of times he has slept through the night and at some point, every night, without fail he ends up in bed with myself and Mr K. ‘Any chance of a lie in?’ I hear you ask. The answer to that would be no! At around 6am every morning, my warm, snuggly alarm clock goes off – usually involving jumping up and down or hitting me on the head. The day begins!

Now he is obviously an early bird, which is fine, but the fact that he doesn’t sleep well at night means that by roughly 10am he needs a nap. Morning activities are therefore limited. Pushing this nap back to the afternoon causes more problems though as then we have a nightmare bedtime. 

I appreciate that walking around in a state of permanant exhaustion is just part of the parenting experience. It’s what I signed up for and I have it far easier than some people but what I worry about is the long term effects of poor sleep. When do these sleep habits become a problem for his future?

I have been pondering this for a while and it just so happens that a few weeks ago I was sent this interesting infographic about sleep.

Does the Early Bird Get the Worm?
Source: AffordableSchools.net

Can anyone relate? I am certainly a night owl out of the two (although to be honest I like to go to bed early and wake up late). I want my children to have a healthy sleep pattern and Baby Girl certainly seems to be heading that way but will Baby Boy’s current sleep pattern start to affect his daily life if we don’t sort it out soon? It is something that I am certainly going to discuss with the Health Visitor at his next review.
Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Image Credit – http://www.pinterest.com; http://affordableschools.net/sleep-early-bird

Disaster!

Posted in Feeding by

 

Last night one of my worst nightmares became a reality … my perfect prep machine died! I am in shock and mourning at the loss of this indispensable piece of equipment.  I just don’t know what happened. One feed it was fine, the next it was gone. I feel so lost!

The Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep machine was probably the most useful piece of baby equipment that we owned. After struggling with breastfeeding with baby boy and moving onto bottles, I found it difficult as he fed on demand still. Bottles are recommended to be made fresh each time and not in advance so baby boy would wake hungry but then have to wait roughly 30 minutes for a bottle to be made and cooled to the correct temperature. This was a nightmare, especially at night. In a sleep deprived state I was searching google for alternative ways and came across the perfect prep machine. We bought it the next day and haven’t looked back since! It was a lifesaver, making bottles to the perfect temperature in under 2 minutes. We used it everyday until baby boy moved onto cows milk.

When baby girl was born I was determined to breastfeed successfully however once again that didn’t work out (details to follow in another post). The trusty perfect prep machine came out again and has been used since – until last night!

It was the worst possible time for it to break. Mr K had gone to the football leaving me to do the bedtime routine on my own. I was completely prepared. I had recorded ‘In the Night Garden’ the previous evening so that I could time it perfectly with baby girl’s feed. She would then go to sleep and I could put baby boy to bed. However, disaster struck! I ended up with a screaming baby on my hands who wanted a feed, a toddler who after his programme had finished couldn’t understand why he wasn’t going upstairs to bed (Mummy now had to feed baby 30 minutes late) and a mummy who was crying and desperately wishing she was on a cruise around the Bahamas! It was not a pleasant scene!

Once I had finally settled baby girl and baby boy was asleep I took a look at the machine in the hope that I could revive it. Sadly though my perfect prep machine has left us for electrical heaven. I will miss you old boy, you served us well! 

Now, anyone know of any good offers on a new perfect prep machine?!