Category Archives: Family

Family and quality time

Confessions of a baby spammer

10 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Family, Motherhood, Opinion

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Baby spam

Mixed in with the sleepless nights, bowling ball boobs and baby brain, there’s one more thing that I’d forgotten happens to you when you have a baby: you can’t stop taking photos.

There are the sleeping photos. (Baby sleeping. Baby sleeping in new position. Baby sleeping while being cuddled. Baby sleeping in new baby-grow. Baby sleeping on grandparents. Baby sleeping in moses basket.)

Then there are the awake photos. (Baby pulling funny face. Baby pulling another funny face. Baby wind face. Baby in cute outfit while looking thoroughly unimpressed.)

Then there are the “firsts photos”. (First bath. First outing outside of the house. First trip to the supermarket. First time in car seat. First trip to the park. First time in pram.)  Continue reading »

My family holiday legacy from the 1990s

08 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Family, Travel

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French holiday

If there’s one thing I want to pass onto my children as they grow up, it’s the memory of summers spent as a family, exploring somewhere new. This is a legacy that comes from my own parents who took me and my sister on long adventures every summer, travelling to every corner of France.

Growing up with two teachers as parents meant we were lucky enough to have a full six weeks to play during the holidays. We took our first trip to France when I was around six years old, heading to a campsite in Brittany. I can still remember the excitement waking up on the back seat of our car, wrapped in a sleeping bag, looking out of the window to see a huge ferry waiting to take us away to somewhere new.

Over the years we built up traditions associated with our holidays. The family dance around the kitchen while chanting, “HOLIDAY! HOLIDAY! HOLIDAY!” on the last day of term. The sleepy 4am wake-up, when me and my sister would be scooped from our beds still in our pyjamas, before being deposited on the back seat of the car ready to wake up properly at the ferry port. And that first trip to the supermarket to stock up on our favourite French treats (Orangina out of glass bottles – bliss). Continue reading »

This post sums up the reason I blog

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Family

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Dartmouth

When I started this blog nearly four years ago, I had no idea what a huge impact it would have on my life. I started it on a whim, as an attempt to remind myself I still had a brain post-baby. It became a place to vent about my frustrations as a new mum, connect with other like-minded people and, eventually, lead to new work opportunities and some exceptionally fun experiences. But, today, I remembered the number one reason why I blog.

I have nearly four years of family adventures charted on this blog. I never intended for it to become an online scrapbook of sorts, but it has. Over the years I’ve blogged about our adventures on various holidays, mundane weekends just being at home, moving to a new place 200 miles away, Christmases, new houses and – recently – pregnancy and another new baby.

Although I have many of these memories stored away safely in my head, there are still moments that I remember with a smile when I read back on old posts. These are moments that would be lost in the midst of time had I not bothered to blog them. And so, here is another memory to add to the list – a family day out in Dartmouth. Continue reading »

10 Baby life hacks for new parents

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by in Baby and toddler products, Family, Motherhood

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Baby hacks

Ah babies. The cute, innocent, loud little things. If only they came with an instruction manual eh? So they may not come with a “How To” guide, but there are a few very simple solutions to every day problems that you’re bound to face with your newborn. Here are ten baby hacks that have helped in our first few weeks of life with a second baby.

1. Keep a change box in the living room

A box full of nappies, baby wipes, a couple of clean vests and babygrows will come in handy downstairs. You’d be surprised how exhausting walking up and down the stairs a million times a day can be.

Change box

2. Bulk buy Infacol

If you have a baby who struggles to bring up their wind then Infacol is your friend. It’s magic medicine that you drop into their mouth before each feed and can help your baby do a big burp afterwards. We used it lots with our first and a little with our second. But there’s nothing more annoying than running out of Infacol at 3am, so when you buy it – buy twice.

Infacol baby Continue reading »

Second babies and the benefit of hindsight

25 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Family, Motherhood, Sleep

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I write this with a baby strapped to me, sleeping in her baby wrap. This is something I would never have done with my first baby, now aged four. In fact, it’s just one thing in a long list of “don’ts” that I think would have made life with my first born a heck of a lot easier.

New baby

I remember as a new mum first time around constantly being told that it gets easier. “When she gets to 12 weeks old you’ll have a routine,” “She’ll sleep through the night by the time she’s six months”, “The wind issues will stop once she’s a bit bigger”. Looking back, I spent a lot of those early days looking for magic answers to situations deemed as problems – by me and others.

As a second timer I have the benefit of hindsight. If my baby is struggling to nap then that’s OK – I just put her in the sling. In fact, napping hasn’t been a “problem” because I’ve not put a ban on the baby sleeping anywhere other than her moses basket. First time around I was so concerned about setting up bad habits that I agonised over letting my baby fall asleep on me, or in the pram, or anywhere else for that matter.  Continue reading »

The recipe for happiness

16 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Family, Motherhood, Opinion

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Happiness

Happiness. At this time of year, more than ever, we seem to be bombarded with ideas of happiness and told where we need to go and what we need to buy to be happy. As we strive for that elusive happy there are lots of people ready to tell us what’s missing in our lives – the things that will provide that extra bit of happiness we’ve been missing.

The Christmas ads roll out, full of smiling families all laughing merrily over their glasses of champagne and beautifully lit Christmas dinners. Is this what we need to do to be happy? Add some posh candles to the table and – hey presto! – the happiness factor is ramped up by at least ten points, supposedly.

And then there are the adverts for kids’ toys. Every one promises to make that child’s day “extra special”. Our children are told they need all this stuff to be happy. The latest Frozen toy will complete their life. All kids need an iPad or an Elsa costume to be properly fulfilled. You’re a bad parent if you can’t provide this for your kids. Shame on you – don’t you want your child to be happy? Continue reading »

A week in the life of a family of four

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by in Family, Motherhood

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So after the weird time-warped first two weeks when the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine was on paternity leave, and then a strange middle week before half term and then half term itself… it now feels like we’re settling into a new kind of normal.

I’ve survived one whole week of doing the school run at both ends of the day. I’ve even done my first solo bath time with two children. And I’m starting to forget what more than two consecutive hours of deep sleep actually feels like.

Bub is one month old and as gorgeous as ever. So far she’s proving to be a very different baby to her sister. Perhaps it’s because we’re already a family with our own routines or perhaps it’s because Frog is a diva with a capital D (no bad thing), but our new baby girl has just kind of slotted in. She occasionally grumbles a bit and she is a milk fiend but apart from that it’s…. (and I know I may completely eat my words after writing this)… easy. Continue reading »

Sisters

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Family

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SistersJust a few short weeks ago people were looking at my bump and taking bets on whether the baby inside was a boy or a girl. Whenever anyone asked me if I had a preference I was honest: I just wanted a healthy baby. My four year old regularly changed her mind when asked, which was the reason we decided not to find out the sex at the 20 week scan.

Even so, the moment when I held my baby up from the water and saw that she was a girl was a shock. Although we’d decided to wait for a surprise, I’d become pretty convinced I was carrying a boy. So many people (including my mum and husband) were sure the baby would be a boy and Frog often referred to the baby as a “he” when talking about becoming a big sister.

Mum, bump and daughter

Continue reading »

Things I’d forgotten about life with a newborn

13 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by in Family, Motherhood

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Me and babyThis time last week I’d just had a baby. It’s been seven days of life with a newborn – a life full of things that have slipped my memory since last time. I’ve been shocked at how much I’ve forgotten about these first few days of new motherhood.

Time takes on a new quality

While the night hours can stretch on into an interminable length until you crave the daylight, the daylight hours can pass in a blink of the eye. The effect is that time kind of blurs into one until you forget what day it is and have no idea if it’s morning, afternoon or evening. It’s disconcerting, especially when you realise your baby is already a week old and has changed so much already. It probably answers why I can’t stop taking photos of her, I want to freeze every image before it speeds on by and she’s at school already.  Continue reading »

Should new dads get gifts too?

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Family, pampering

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Photo credit: CP Photography

Photo credit: CP Photography

When Frog was born four years ago, I was inundated with gifts. Along with all the cute tiny baby clothes, cuddly toys and snuggly blankets there were huge bunches of flowers for me, beautifully smelling pamper goodies and a couple of bottles of champagne. The (self proclaimed) Northern Love Machine, however, didn’t get anything.

At the time we joked that I was the one who’d done all the work, so it was only fair that I got all the presents. But, looking back, I think this tiny aspect of new parenthood was just another contributing factor to making him feel a bit overlooked and like a spare part at the time.

It’s no secret that the NLM didn’t find fatherhood easy at the beginning. Unused to newborn babies, overwhelmed by responsibility and still reeling from the birth (despite it being a straight forward labour he found the whole thing pretty traumatic), he withdrew into himself and we had a few weeks where I questioned if he was really happy.  Continue reading »