Tag Archives: babies

New mum: you ARE doing it “right”

27 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by in Motherhood

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Parenting - no right wayI’ve lost count of how many pieces of advice I was given when I was pregnant. Eat this, don’t eat that, do this exercise, you shouldn’t over-exert yourself, have a birth like this, definitely don’t do labour like that… the pearls of wisdom came at a constant trickle, refusing to ebb.

And then I had my baby and that stream turned into a tidal wave.

From sleep positions to breastfeeding positions, the merits of the bottle to the best babygrows, my head was left spinning from the barrage of well-meant opinions sent my way. Whether it was an old lady in the street or the person taking my cash at the supermarket, everyone seemed to have something to offer me. It was like I was walking round with a huge placard above my head saying, “I AM A NEW MUM AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING, PLEASE HELP ME”. Continue reading »

On not having a plan

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Family

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

Newborn toesJust over three years ago, when I became pregnant with my little girl, I had a plan. It was so refined that it even had capital letters: The Plan.

I became a mum at 26. We didn’t own our own home and we weren’t married. But that was all OK, because that was part of The Plan. We moved from our town centre flat to a little cottage in a village, with the intention of saving and enjoying life as new parents. We had always discussed having two or three children, about four years apart.

The Plan involved buying a house before another child came along, getting married at some point and continuing with my career as a journalist. That evolved along the way, as we realised that childcare is blooming expensive and my meagre salary would barely cover the cost of a morning at nursery. So we made some adjustments and Ta Da! The Refined Plan was born. Continue reading »

Pregnancy due dates and walking with melons

10 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Motherhood, Pregnancy

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

ImageLily Allen Cooper’s baby news this week (she’s had a second daughter, named Marnie, to join 14 month old Ethel) sparked a memory I’ve buried away about the pregnancy due date calendar. Namely, my pregnancy due date calendar. (NOTE: I am NOT pregnant. I mean the pregnancy I went through with Frog 3 years ago.)

Taken just before the angry hippo phase (credit: CP Photography).

Taken just before the angry hippo phase (credit: CP Photography).

Frog – bless her little wonky cotton socks – was born 12 days after her due date. At the time, this felt like the longest 12 days of my life. Continue reading »

The pram guru

20 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Baby and toddler products

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

 Before I became a mum, I thought a pram was a pram. It wasn’t until I was pregnant and was perusing all the different options available that I became aware of the huge plethora of wheels out there. I checked out websites and forums, salivating over all the different options at Bambino Direct prams and getting more and more carried away with dreams of a posh three wheeler or a sheepskin lined “travel system”.

It was all a bit intimidating to be honest. In the end, we went with a practical choice, opting for big clunky wheels that would easily navigate the muddy country lanes around where we live. We bought our pram when Frog was still a bump and we didn’t know if she was a girl or a boy, so we picked a genderless colour, black for the pram and bright green for the buggy attachment. Continue reading »

Keeping broodiness in check

12 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Family, Motherhood, Pregnancy

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

I was writing a blog post for a company the other day about pregnancy. As I scrawled through some suitable bump images to include in the post, the (self-proclaimed) Nothern Love Machine looked over my shoulder and laughed.

“There’s nothing attractive about pregnant women is there?” he chuckled.

My scowl made him quickly back-track, as he was actually looking at a picture of my own bump, taken just over two years ago now. But, equally, I completely disagreed with him. Continue reading »

Barbecues and labour pains

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Motherhood, Pregnancy

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

It started with a hot, hot morning. The sun beat down on my swollen belly.

The tears flowed freely when I heard my mum’s voice on the end of the phone.

“Nothing’s happening,” I sniffed. “I thought it was all kicking off yesterday, but everything’s stopped. I don’t feel like it’s safe in there anymore!” Continue reading »

The gift I'll never forget

26 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

I’m guest posting over on The Netmums blog today, as I help them launch their campaign for United Kindmums. This post is all about a random act of kindness I’ll never forget, which helped me through a difficult day of early motherhood.

***

It’s a dark, chilly October morning. I’m cold and feeling very low. My baby is crying because she’s tired and has the sniffles. I’m crying because I’m tired and have the sniffles. We both want to sleep.

The newborn bubble has well and truly burst. My beautiful daughter has reached four months and, while I love her so fiercely it makes my heart physically ache, I am exhausted. I feel spent and alone. My husband is at work all day and my friends haven’t yet got children. The hours until bedtime stretch ahead like a dark, sleepless void. I cry again.

I feel like I’ve failed my daughter somehow, because I’m not feeling bubbly and happy today. I feel like I’ve failed at motherhood somehow, because I’m not enjoying it this morning. Continue reading »

Light

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 31 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

A year ago – almost to the day – I went for a walk in the woods.

With Frog strapped firmly to my chest I donned my new wellies and went splashing in puddles with my friend and her little boy, Arthur. We chased after Boots, the beautiful black Labrador, and built piles of sticks next to a hollow log.

At the time, Arthur was two and a half. Throughout the walk he was in a world of his own. One minute he was driving a train, the next he was boarding a bus, then he was tooting the horn, then he was taking passengers’ tickets. It was the first time he had ever completely lost himself in his own imagination and, as a new mum with all this to look forward to, it was thrilling to see. Continue reading »