Ben's 7 and 8 month update

As Ben is now actually 9 months old, but a lot has changed in the past month so his 9 month update will soon be up. A bit different to the past couple of months where not much did change.

Ben is loving his solids, each time I make a new puree I try and do it a bit lumpier than the last one, he is definitely getting better with lumps, and eats smooth foods super fast now, like sweet potato and fromage frais, along with his Ready Brek. He's learning the concept of chewing well, I must start giving him more finger foods though, like toast. He tends to put too much in his mouth though, so I'm so scared about him chocking.

Movement wise, he' scooching around so fast, on his tummy, and getting into the crawling position, but not crawling. I really wish he would start crawling soon, but atleast he is on the move. Sitting up wise he now topples over a lot less, he still does it.

He loves going for things he's not allowed to, like wires,  Christmas tree decorations, tinsel, or he'll find some kind of rubbish and put it in his mouth, so I have to watch him all the while. He is quite independent and will play on his own if he's in the ride mood to.

Aswel as saying mama, he now says baba, rara, and papa. He hasn't said dada yet. I do wonder if that's because of his tongue tie, because most babies say dada as their first word.

Happy New Year 2014

Happy new year everyone, hope you all had a great year, and have an evnen better 2014.

I have been reading a lot of yearly reviews on other peoples blogs, I got the need to write one myself.

January and February were spent house hunting, around working. We found a houe we like, but had 2 offers turned down, so continued looking, which turned out to be a blessing,  as we found a much nicer house, and had a bid excepted below what they were asking. I also started my maternity leave at the end of February. March was spent sorting and waiting for our house to go through and for our baby to arrive. April arrived, with no signs of labour or house buying completion date. Then on the Tuesday after my due date I had my nesting session, and on Wednesday starting having signs thst labour was imminent. Finally went into established labour on late Saturday night, and gave birth to my beautiful baby boy on Sunday 14th April at 17:40. So the next few weeks were spent getting sleepless nights and looking after my son. The house sale finally went through as well. And we moved in, in July. In September we went on our first family holiday to France with Steve's parents, his nan and her friend. The weather wasn't the best, but sometimes it's just nice to get away. October I spent relaxing and Christmas shopping, as in November I returned to work after my maternity leave. December was spent finishing the Christmas shopping, for Ben's first Christmas. He won't remember it but mummy and daddy will.

A massive year with the birth of our first baby and buying our first house. Hoping 2014 will be s good year too.

To look back on my aims for the year, some I accomplished,  buying our first house, being a good mum, losing my baby weight (I never put that much on in the end). The being more organised I feel like I half accomplished.

So my aims for this coming year:

1. Continue being a good parent to Ben.

2. Organise a good 1st birthday party for him.

3. Help Ben to continue to learn.

4. Organise my life and the house better.

5. Expand my blog, write more posts

Ben's 6 month update

Long time no post, I'm sorry about that. Ben has kept me very busy! Plus we've been on holiday. So I thought my first post back would be Ben's 6 month update - I'm hoping to do these regularly from now on, every month. Well we'll see if I do.

Ben is actually 7 and a half months old now - his 7 month post is in the works.. I don't know how much he weighs or how long he is. As haven't had any need to take him to the doctors, but you can tell he's growing. And isn't a chubby baby, perfectly proportioned I would say.

I'm still breast feeding which is going well, the next mission in that department is being able to pump enough for when I go back to work - which shouldn't be that hard, as I should need 4 bottles a week, 5 if there's a football game. I have started him on solids, a bit earlier than the 6 month mark because every time we would sit down to eat, he would be all whiney and grouchy, because he wasn't getting any (even though I'd just fed him). He was constantly biting things & watching us eat. I started of with just baby rice. He got all excited of the first aspect of food, kicking his legs & smiling. I kept him on one meal a day for 2 weeks - which I gave him at lunchtime. He is now on 3 meals a day, having porridge for breakfast, then normally fruit or veg for lunch and dinner. He has had all fresh puree's made by me. I don't want to give him jar food as it's not meant to taste good & I wouldn't want to eat them myself so don't want Ben to. I purchased Annabel Karmel's New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, I'm just using it for the recipe's and information not for the planners. He likes everything he has tried so far.

He currently has one tooth, slowly creeping up out of his gums (it seems to be taking ages - don't know if this is normal). It took ages to actually poke out of his gums too, he has been teething since he was about 3 months! The week before it appeared he was super grouchy & really clingy. Every time I put him down he would cry.

He rolls over like crazy! All over the lounge. He's not crawling yet, but will kick his legs when lying down and then get annoyed because he doesn't move. So I can't see it being that long till he is. He can sit up by himself for a few seconds at a time, he is definitely doing it for longer periods than to begin with though. And now knows where his balance point is, and will stop himself from going too far backwards sometimes.

He loves to stand & bounce, which can get tiring on the arms, as we didn't buy a bouncer or anything similar. He also loves being thrown up in the air (obviously not literally but you know what I mean). I can drop him from a small height on to the bed & he'll giggle away. Think he's going to love rollercoasters when he's older, just like his daddy (I hate them!).

1 month old

Hello everyone,

As you probably gathered I have given birth to my beautiful baby boy, called Benjamin David. He was born on April 14th at 5:40pm weighing 7lb 8.6oz. Exactly one week overdue. I will be doing a labour and delivery post, so I won't go into details.

He has changed so much already, and the past month has gone so fast. But both Steve and I love him so much. Steve looks forward to finishing work and coming home to us so much. I would say he's rather a good baby, although does have his grouchy moments. He doesn't really cry just moans, when he has wind or is hungry. He'll quite happily lay there with a dirty nappy (can't understand why!).

It's quite hard to find time to do things, but it has got easier since he got older. He likes his rocker chair to sit/lay in, he love that it vibrates! The past few days he's started looking up at the window, and he'll look at lights as well, which must be because he's eyes are developing. Still can't figure out what colour eyes he'll end up with though. Mine are blue and Steve's are brown, at the moment they look like a mixture of the two.

We're still living in the flat, completion date for the house buying is next Thursday, so we'll be moving sometime in June and I can't wait. The only thing that is annoying me right now is having no space and the flat being a mess! I know when we move the house will never be totally tidy, but it will be a lot better than our flat now!

Haul #2

I've recently bought a few new items for my Spring wardrobe, that's if it ever does warm up a bit.

Starting with a couple of light weight shirts, both from Primark around the £10-£12 mark. I purchased these mostly because they'll make breast feeding easier, as I can just undo the buttons. Plus I haven't actually got any light weight shirts/blouses. I'm thinking these will look really nice with a pair of skinny jeans once I can fit in them again.

Next I bought this dress, for £10 (which you can so obviously see from the sticker on the dress). Again I wanted something button up to make life easier. and it's really cute, and can just chuck on a cardigan with if it's chilly.

These were just £5, I have quite a few pairs of ballet flats but they're all darker colours apart from one pair. So I picked up these to add a bit of colour to any outfit.

I've been wanting a faux leather jacket for a while now. I picked this up from Miss Selfridge for £52. I've only worn it a couple of times so far because it's been so cold. But am thinking I may just embrace the cold and wear it anyway with one of my lightweight scarves.

40 weeks & 3 days Pregnancy Update

Hello all,

So my due date has been and gone, it is frustrating to say the least. He'll come when he wants to come I suppose. I did however have back ache (like period pains) all last night, although that has eased off this morning. I woke up so many times last night, and was laying in bed this morning & just had to get up, I was fed up with lying in bed! I also think I may have had my show, but you can have this a month before or a few days before, or during labour itself.

I did buy a couple of sheets, and a blanket on Monday after my midwife appointment. Along with a little dog soft toy, that I'll be taking to the hospital with us. It said suitable from birth on the tag, so it's safe to be near him when he's first born.

I am super tired now though, must be the lack of sleep. I was going to do a bit of housework today, like yesterday. But I'm just going to relax, watch youtube videos and do some cross stitching. Although I will have to do the washing up before Steve gets home from work.

One thing I do hope is that we get released from hospital quite soon after birth. I know they can release you from 6 hours after. So in some ways I'm hoping I labour overnight, give birth in the morning, so we're home by the evening. Not that things work the way you want it.

I am so looking forward to holding him and the skin on skin, with just the 3 of us for about an hour after birth.

So on Monday, I was still 3/5th's engaged, same as two weeks previous, I didn't have a sweep done, as wasn't experiencing any tightenings (and still am not) and my midwife says it was a good decision, as she wouldn't either. I am booked in for another appointment on Tuesday, this is just another check-up (the last few appointments are pretty repetitive) and to book my induction if needed - although I'd much rather go into labour naturally. We'll see what happens. Hopefully my next little update will be after he's born.

Haul #1

I thought I'd do a haul post on some beauty bits that I have picked up recently.

Starting with some nail products. I've been using OPI Nail Envy, on my nails forever. I use it as a base coat before I apply my chosen colour of nail varnish. It did improve the quality of my nails. But with the job that I do I can't wear nail varnish at work, so it's limited to when I can use it. Ever since I got pregnant though my nails have just got super strong & grow really quickly. I still however use it under my nail varnish, now I'm on maternity leave. I needed a top coat and had heard good things about this Sally Hansen Insta-Dri so decided to pick it up whilst in Boots, as I always smudge my nails and will have even less time to paint them once I'm looking after my son.

Next I picked up some back-ups. These are products I have now repurchased at least 3/4 times now. Firstly I use the Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder in translucent. I love this powder and it's only £3.99. My go to foundation is L'Oreal Paris True Match Foundation, I use the shade N1 Ivory which is my Winter shade. I've actually started using this already as my other one ran out. Lastly the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in the shade 2 Light, again this is my Winter colour. Although I normally stick with the same shade throughout the whole year & just blend it out more when I'm tanned.

I also wanted to try out this Aveeno Positively Radiant Serum as it's meant to help even out your skin tone and get rid of scarring. I have a lot of acne scarring and hoping this will help with it. So I'll have to see how it goes. Also looking to invest in the eye cream in the same line as well.

Lastly I picked up the Batiste Dry Shampoo, I got the bigger can so it lasts me longer. I use this when my hair is looking oily and I haven't got time to wash it. Again I will have less time when my little boy is here.

So that's all the beauty products I've been buying recently. What have you been buying, and would you recommend them? I'm always looking to try new products.