Starting some Christmas traditions...

Christmas traditions are the best. We had so many when I was little; we went to the same garden centre each year to buy our tree, having our lunch in the cafe and a trip to see Santa too. We always went to the pantomime on Christmas Eve and because it was also my mum's birthday, we always saved our last advent calendar chocolate for her too. We watched the same films year after year, ate the same foods and played the same games. Christmas when we were growing up was always magical and I want Henry's Christmases to be just the same.

Unfortunately the garden centre that we always visited has since closed down, so B&Q had to do for us today. We'd had a huge lunch at Marmar's but we still managed a Christmassy coffee in Starbucks with our little hen before coming home for a nap. His advent calendar is waiting for in the morning, he may only be little but I remember being so excited to get out of bed on a morning in December knowing that I'd have a chocolate waiting for me downstairs, and I know he'll enjoy the novelty of being allowed a chocolate at 7am too.

Yesterday we took him to see Santa for the first time with his cousins. We went ice skating (while Henry napped), drank mulled wine outside, ate roasted chestnuts, fed the reindeer and enjoyed some family time all together. It was pretty perfect and I'm so looking forward to many more perfect Christmases with my beautiful little family, making traditions together that we'll remember for a lifetime. Here are a few photos from our weekend...I really wish it didn't have to end.

Some lovely 'me' time

Henry was ill for most of the weekend and then I had an awful day at work on Monday which resulted in me crying about my fajita falling apart at dinner time  (long story....Mr B did well not to laugh or call me a crazy).

Anyway, tonight I've had some very much needed 'me' time and it's definitely got me into the festive mood. 

Mr B plays football on a Wednesday and so once he'd gone out and Henry was asleep, I settled down on the sofa with a hot chocolate and the baby monitor to watch 'Let it Snow': a completely trashy, low budget christmas film I'd never heard of, but found on Sky Movies on Demand (best invention ever for Xmas films). It was an absolute treat too, just what I wanted. Romance, totally predictable story line and all things Christmas! I'm so glad Mr B wasn't in, it definitely wasn't his kind of film AT ALL but I loved every second of its cheesiness.

I apologise for the lack of blogging recently. I'm going to try to do 'Blogmas' in December which is basically blogging everyday in the run up to Christmas (check me out knowing all this blogging lingo!). Until then, I'm planning on watching as many Christmas films as possible, drinking as much mulled wine as breastfeeding allows and finishing off my Christmas shopping before we put the tree up on Sunday. Can't wait!

Henry at 14 months

I can't get over how much has changed in the last month. A month ago I had a little baby who crawled everywhere and said a handful of words here and there. That little baby has turned into a chatterbox toddler almost overnight. It's absolutely amazing how much he's learned in just over 3 weeks. I know I've said it before but this has been my favourite ever month. I love how interactive he's becoming and I love that there's a little personality starting to become very apparent.

Weight: I had Henry weighed at the hospital as part of his dietician appointment a few weeks back. He was 24 pounds exactly which is perfect for his age and height. He's definitely not the little chunky baby that he once was.

Routine: Henry only has one nap most days now. Occasionally he'll have a short morning nap and then a later afternoon nap, but ideally we like him to have a longer 2 hour nap after lunch. He's such a good little napper and now happily naps for me without boob which was a real milestone this month! A little bit of rocking and singing now does the trick. He has a bath at 7:30pm and then goes straight to bed after that. He usually wakes up around 7am.

Food: Same as always, he's an absolute star. We discovered that he doesn't care much for gherkins but he is now loving broccoli which was the only thing he'd refused to eat previously. Favourites this month include pomegranate seeds, marmite rice cakes and grapes.

Sleep: We have good nights and bad nights. He slept through the night again once this month and we've had a few really decent nights. Saying that, I've also  had two of the worst nights ever this week too. Bloody teeth! 

Sizes: Henry is in 12-18 month clothes for the most part, but has really long legs so has moved into 18-24 months for some things. Some 12-18 stuff is huge on him still though; there's a huge variation between shops. He's now in size 5 Pampers nappies.

Milestones: 

• Henry's speech has come on amazingly this month. He is constantly pointing to things and saying 'there' or 'this', he can say Mama, Dadda, Marmar, Parpar, George and Carl (for my cousin!).  Peppa (for Peppa Pig), Pat (for Postman Pat) and Balloo (for Waybuloo). Other random words include key, boo, bang, juice, up, down, star and dog. 

• He now has 12 teeth, so just his canines and another set of molars to go. I'm hoping we may have a break from teething for a little while now, this last lot have been horrendous.

• Henry now only really has a milk feed (boob) at night and occasionally on a morning. I don't feed him at all during the day and I was surprised at how easily he dropped those feeds. He'll drink a cup of coconut milk instead throughout the day and I'm making sure he's getting enough calcium in other ways too...it's become a little obsession recently after our trip to the dietician! 

• Henry now gives kisses and blows kisses complete with a 'mwah' noise. I love this so much, especially when I'm leaving for work on a morning. 

• He can now give a 'high five'. One of Daddy's favourites!

• His songs of the month are 'Wind the bobbin up' (he does the winding, pulling, clapping and pointing), The Hokey Kokey (he just walks around raising his arms when we sing it!) and Incy Wincy Spider (he particularly enjoys the 'down came the rain' actions!). I must say he loves singing and doing the actions and I think it's mainly because of the lovely music class he goes to with my mum on a Friday morning.

• Henry now says 'baa baa' when we ask what the sheep says and opens and closes his mouth for the fish. Super cute. 

That's it for another fun filled month. Once again I've loved every minute of it. Unfortunately my little man has a raging temperature tonight so is feeling under the weather. I'm not envisioning a good night ahead!

I love being his Mummy

I just popped to Tesco to buy a couple of bits and as it was Henry's snack time, decided to pop into Starbucks for a drink and snack. I was sat drinking my lovely Christmassy coffee (in a red cup of course!) and Henry was eating his fruit and drinking his juice, and I was just thinking how much I love being his Mummy. I would never have thought that a one year old could be good company, but he is. 

A simple trip to the supermarket is so much nicer with a little one. We marvelled at the enormous Christmas tree in Tesco, stroked the penguins on the Christmas jumpers, looked at the pretty lights outside. Having a little one in tow makes you slow down, it makes you appreciate how beautiful the world is as you point out the twinkling stars at night, as your little one points and shouts to the birds sitting in the trees. You chat more, sing more, smile more, love so much more.

The little mundane things in life are the best. The sleepy snuggles, the nursery rhymes, bath time giggles, new words and tricks. I adore being Henry's mummy more than anything in the world.

A pretty perfect weekend

It's weekends like this one where I appreciate my little family most. We've had such a lovely couple of days doing nothing hugely exciting, but having the best time nevertheless. I've had two amazing lie-ins, we met friends for dinner yesterday and different friends for lunch today, we had fun at the soft play centre, a huge farmshop food shop to stock up the fridge, lots of tv time, story time and play time. Henry has been super snuggly, really well behaved and I've loved being with him all day and night for the past 48 hours. We currently have our PJs on, there is a beef casserole cooking for tea tomorrow, we have a gorgeous boy asleep upstairs, a very tired doggy sprawled out in front of us and we are feeling pretty damn lucky.

This is what Mummy's bathtime now looks like

Big boy on the bouncy castle

A little trip to the sweetie shop

Mummy snuggles

Story time

Fun with George 

Learning to talk - Updated

I had never realised how amazing language acquisition was until I had my own baby. I'm honestly in absolute awe of how amazing the human body is, and the fact that my son is now chit chatting away astounds me every single day. Henry is coming out with new words most days at the moment and I'm loving this stage in his development. He's also trying to copy everything we say, so Mr B has been warned to watch his language around Henry!

Henry's favourite words at the moment are Peppa (whenever he seems Peppa Pig!), Mama, Dadda, Marmar, Parpar, George, look, there, star, juice, dog, bang, boo and key. He is also saying "baa baa" when we ask him what the sheep says and opens and closes his mouth whenever he sees a fish. I have the sweetest video of him saying Peppa, but have no idea how to embed videos into my blog posts...that's my task for this weekend I think. Be prepared for some serious cuteness! 

Just having a little chat on the phone! 

UPDATE

So here is the little cutie performing some of his newest tricks...

Learning to talk

I had never realised how amazing language acquisition was until I had my own baby. I'm honestly in absolute awe of how amazing the human body is, and the fact that my son is now chit chatting away astounds me every single day. Henry is coming out with new words most days at the moment and I'm loving this stage in his development. He's also trying to copy everything we say, so Mr B has been warned to watch his language around Henry!

Henry's favourite words at the moment are Peppa (whenever he seems Peppa Pig!), Mama, Dadda, Marmar, Parpar, George, look, there, star, juice, dog, bang, boo and key. He is also saying "baa baa" when we ask him what the sheep says and opens and closes his mouth whenever he sees a fish. I have the sweetest video of him saying Peppa, but have no idea how to embed videos into my blog posts...that's my task for this weekend I think. Be prepared for some serious cuteness! 

Just having a little chat on the phone! 

UPDATE

So here is the little cutie performing some of his newest tricks...

A very special nap...

I currently have a gorgeous little one snuggled up on my lap having a little sleep. You may be wondering why this is particularly special...the reason is he fell asleep without the help of the boob, or the car or pram.These are the only ways Henry has ever napped for me since he's been born (he'll nap for other people, it's just me he demands milk from!). I've never bothered to worry about it or fight it, it's what's worked for us and he's always been so good with his naps that I haven't wanted to rock the boat really. Since dropping all day feeds last week, Henry's fallen asleep in the car while we've been out and about and I've just transferred him into bed when we've got home. Today was the first day that we weren't out at nap time and I was determined not to give him a breastfeed to get him to sleep as he's been doing amazingly without his afternoon feeds this week. 

Instead I made him a warm cup of coconut milk, which he guzzled, and snuggled him on my knee and then I rocked him and sang to him for no more than 10 minutes before he was fast asleep. I was about to transfer him into his cot but I soon changed my mind.  I can't believe how quickly he's growing up. He seems to have become a little boy over the last couple of weeks and so I'm making the most of these precious afternoons together and cuddling my baby boy while he sleeps. I can't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday afternoon.

Dropping boob feeds

So I decided yesterday to wean Henry from the boob during the day. I'm still going to feed him in bed first thing on a morning, last thing at night and then during the night if he wakes up. If it was up to Henry, he'd feed all day, everyday. He LOVES his boob feeds and I'm definitely not ready to stop altogether just yet, particularly with him not being able to eat any dairy yet. 

Yesterday went well, he went from 7:30am-8pm without a boob feed, and he even had his first cup of coconut milk quite happily at tea time. Today he last fed at 5am and is now finally having his night time feed. He did cry for a feed earlier today at nap time, but a smoothie and a little Chelsea bun definitely helped take his mind of it! So we're definitely off to a good start. 

 I know that dropping day feeds will help us and he's definitely old enough, but I am feeling ridiculously sad about the whole weaning process.

It's just about accepting that he's growing up. I've had 13 months (and 9 before that) of having a son that needs me, and only me, for every single thing in his life. I keep him warm and protected, I clothe him and feed him, I cuddle him and comfort him. Ultimately that's what growing up is about I suppose; becoming independent. I never thought I'd find him growing up so difficult though and if I could freeze time, I absolutely would. I adore this little one so much, more than I ever imagined it was possible to love someone. He lights up my life and makes my world the happiest place to live in. The last 13 months have been our happiest ever and leaving them behind is so very bittersweet. I'm excited for our next chapter: the toddler years, but will always look back on our first chapter with such happy memories. Many memories of snuggling up to my boy at all hours of the day and night, feeding him, watching  his little contented face, hearing his faint sleepy noises and feeling the luckiest mummy in the whole world.

On a calcium mission

After seeing the dietician at the hospital the other day, I feel reassured that Henry definitely gets enough calcium despite not being able to eat dairy. He still breastfeeds at least 3 times a day and eats a really varied diet, so I'm happy that he's easily getting his recommended allowance of 350mg of calcium a day and at least I don't have to worry about that from now on.

What I didn't realise (partly due to my own ignorance and partly down to the laid back nature of my GP about the matter) was that I need a LOT of calcium (1250mg to be precise). Obviously I can't have dairy either which makes getting that calcium extra difficult. So I'm on a calcium mission this weekend. I know all the foods that are calcium-rich, but there's only so many dried figs one girl can eat and curly kale isn't exactly the most versatile food in the world, so I've been looking at other things that I can incorporate into my daily diet. 

I picked up some cartons of Ribena Plus Calcium today and I'm going to have one of those every day (120mg). I also discovered Tropicana with added calcium (244mg) which I've never even noticed before so I'm going to have that for breakfast each morning and will probably start giving Henry some too. Cheerios are fortified with calcium (242mg) so they're going to be my breakfast of choice for now and I'm going to be adding coconut milk to them (240mg) as well. I'm going to make a hot chocolate each evening as a little treat and it means I'll be getting another whole mug of milk with means another 240mg. So with those few daily changes that I can rely on having every single day, I'll be getting almost all of my suggested intake of calcium, and obviously I'll still be trying to have as many dark leafy greens as I can, as well as eating my body weight in houmous and adding sesame seeds to everything on my plate. 

I feel much happier knowing that I should be getting a decent amount of calcium, and Henry will be too. The dietician was actually really helpful and I'm glad we saw her. We have to see her again in 3 months and hopefully we'll get Henry's allergy testing done with the consultant soon. If the waiting list is ridiculous, we've made the decision to just pay privately, as we've waited for 7 months already and it's getting a bit ridiculous to say the least! Anyway we should find out on Monday and we will go from there. Until then, I'm off to drink my Ribena! Oh the excitement of my Friday night.

Bloody immune system!

When I was pregnant with Henry I was healthier than I'd ever been. Aside from the morning sickness, which apparently is a sign of a healthy pregnancy (NEVER say this to a woman who's thrown her guts up for weeks on end...it's really not helpful), I wasn't ill at all. I didn't have a cold, sore throat, cough, anything. I felt better than I'd ever felt.

Since having him I've been ill A LOT. I'm not sure if it's the lack of sleep or the fact that I'm breastfeeding or the fact that I'm not eating properly or having enough 'me' time. I'm not sure if it's just all the germs from school that my body isn't used to anymore or what. All I know is, being ill and having a little one to look after isn't easy. When I was ill pre-baby I'd have a large wine and take myself off to bed for a mammoth 12 hour sleep to sort myself out. I'd dose up on Lemsip and multivitamins and spend my evenings tucked up on the sofa with a blanket watching trashy tv. This is directly in contrast to today where I've felt like crap but had to get up at the crack of dawn to be out of the house by 7am, I've had to battle with a screaming toddler to get him to keep his gloves on, get him to stop drinking juice and eat his dinner instead (resulting in a tantrum), deal with said tantrum, get him to keep his hat on his head, to feed quietly at bedtime rather than sing to me. I've had to teach a class of children, put a load of washing in, get a baby to bed and pretend to be thrilled by the garden fireworks for the benefit of the baby when all I wanted to do was crawl into bed on my own for a whole nights sleep.

I'm currently onto my third cold in the last 12 weeks. In that time I've also had a sickness bug. That's not really very good going. I can't drink more than a glass of wine or have a strong hot toddy before bed. I can't take any Lemsip without it impacting on my milk supply and I definitely can't have a full nights sleep. And to top it all off, I cant eat anything tasty because anything seriously good or naughty contains milk or eggs. All of this is leading to me feeling pretty fed up to say the least.

I do seriously apologise for the pity party tonight, my blog is usually full of all the loveliness of mummyhood, how much I adore being a mummy, breastfeeding and being a little family of three. But I also want you to know the reality of being a working, breastfeeding mummy. Sometimes it's really bloody hard. Anyway as ever I'm trying to focus on the positives. Ive had a lovely long bath, a lot of half-decent dairy free chocolate, my first glass of mulled wine of the year and as always, some lush snuggles with my little one at bedtime. Here's hoping for a decent nights sleep...

Had to do with a bath, some dairy free chocolate and a small glass of mulled wine! 

It's 3am, they're all asleep

It's 3am, they're all asleep

And no one's here to see 

As we rock slowly back and forth

My baby boy and me

His little hand is feather light

Tucked up against my chin 

I hold his tiny hand in mine

And stroke his baby skin

The house about us creeks and groans

The clock hands creep around 

He snuggles closer to me still

And makes his baby sounds

I love these quiet hours so much

And cherish every one

Store memories up inside my heart

For lonely nights to come

All too soon he'll be grown up

His need for his mama gone

But until then I still have time 

For kisses and for song

Time for quiet hours like this

With him cuddled in my arms

Where I'd always wish he'd stay

Protected, safe and warm

And yet I know the day will come

When his tiny little hand

Will be bigger than my own

He'll grow to be a man

But until then he's mine to love

With no one here to see

As we rock slowly back and forth

My baby boy and me

Author Unknown