Raising Olivia: 2015

My last monthly update!

Oh lord, oh sweet baby Lord. How has it already come round to Liv turning one?! Of course I have been a complete emotional wreck the past week or so with organising her birthday party and realising that she's actually a year old.

I thought I'd do the year update now (even though her birthday was on the 24th) because I've had so much to do so it was now or never!

Okay so in the last month or so Liv has changed A LOT. She is now 12 months old and reading through all of her monthly updates on here I can see how much she is growing up.

Firstly, she no longer only has 2 teeth!!! She now has her top two through as well so we have a whole 4 teeth!

Her favourite foods are grated cheese, spag bol, scrambled eggs, cous cous, white chocolate buttons, quavers, grapes, strawberries and the Ella's kitchen melty hoops.

She LOVES squash (juice/cordial what ever you prefer to call it), cups of tea and warm milk. Every morning we both have a cup (well she has a bottle) of tea together whilst Liv watches Bing.

Her favourite TV shows are In The Night Garden, Peppa Pig and Bing, and she still loves her nursery rhymes from YouTube.

She can now say so many words! I can't remember all of them but off the top of my head she can say: mama, baba, dada, daddy, gangad, keekee, lala, cakey, mamar, Peppa, yes, no, ta, one, two, minger, boo, hiya, hello, bye, Corcor, cheese, please, mwah, shhh and puppy. She also says moo, woof, quack and baa!

Liv is also now walking everywhere. Not only walking but running as well. She still falls over but can easily stand her self back up and carries on and she can climb all 3 stories of the house within about a minute!

Her favourite toys at the minute are any books, her dolls pram, her little toy oven and her iggle piggle!

She's now pretty much out of 9-12 month clothes and is in 12-18 months or 18-24 months!

She's done a good few wees on her potty although apparently peeing on my new rug is more fun.

She's now in her own bedroom and although I've slept on her floor for most of this week because Callums been working late and I didn't want Livi waking him up, she's actually slept pretty decently!

I'm still managing to squeeze her in her jumperoo as well which means I can still do all my cleaning but this is definitely that last month or so that I'm going to be able to use it.

Other things that Livi can now do is pick her nose (I find it absolutely hilarious and she actually picks it when ever I tell her too!), wave good bye (she's been doing this since about 7/8 months), blow kisses, give proper kisses, give proper hugs, climb on to pretty much any sofa and bed, push doors open, open cupboards and bins, open DVD cases, take her bib off herself and gets the post from the letter box and brings it to you!

And last but not least, Livi is now completely off breast milk! I don't really know how to feel about it but she weaned herself off a few days after I did her last update. It's quite sad but seeing how happy she is right now makes it all worth it!

And that's it! My last ever monthly update!

NEXT BLOG POSTS: Livs First Birthday and a birthday present haul! Also if you don't already then don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Living with a boy...

After living with a boy for over 2 years now I thought it was my turn to pass on the advice for new boy owners. Yes, boy, not man. Trust me, you'll understand when you live with one.

Farts - Always gunna be number one. You never learn to cope with them.

When he comes home from work, when you're trying to be romantic, when you're eating... Yup it's apparently acceptable to fart.

Towels on the bed and floor, not on the towel warmers. Just leave them on the floor and let them use wet towels, they'll soon get fed up (or they'll start using your towel).

Their idea of washing up is filling the sink with water, putting all of the pots in and leaving it all 'to soak'. By which he means he's leaving you to do it.

Their food intake is bloody ridiculous! Like similar to what you'd imagine an extremely hungry elephants intake. Those days of doing food shopping and having a full fridge are over... He'll eat the majority whilst putting the shopping away. If I were you I'd put the shopping away yourself and hide anything that you don't want him eating!

Don't look at their washing! If you're like me then you will more than likely be the one doing all the washing so my absolute best advice is don't look at his washing!!! (Especially his boxers) just chuck everything into the washing machine with a shit load of stain remover and I'm sure you'll be absolutely fine!

Turn the heating on yourself! If you ever find yourself laid in bed and think you'll just ask your wonderfully generous boyfriend to turn the heating on... Don't. His idea of 'heating' is shoving you under the duvet and farting. (Yup farting again).

Learn his bank details. For some reason men have this bizarre idea that women buy a load of crap, so if you learn his bank details and order from his card then TECNICALLY you didn't actually buy the crap. You'll thank me later.

If you notice that there's a large amount of milk/Coke/any thing that comes in a carton missing and there's no glasses in sight, DO NOT drink out of the carton!!!! The amount of spit back that my man child leaves in one swag is disgusting. Just choose a different drink.

A mans day off is a mans day off, a woman's day off mean cleaning apparently. So train them early, Callum now knows that his day off means doing jobs just like I do! Hanging pictures, mowing the grass, decorating bedrooms! TRAIN THEM EARLY other wise you'll be eternally stuck with a giant man boy sat in his pants playing Xbox until dinner time!

And last but not least, when you first move in together don't try and be a perfect girlfriend that is happy to pick all of his shit up, wash and iron all of his clothes, runs his bath, makes him tea etc. Cause when you get bored of doing it he will NEVER let you forget about all the nice things that you used to do for him. Save yourself the ear ache and just be a bitch from day one, at least then the poor sod knows what he's got himself into.

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Thankyou and sorry!

I'm not sure if anyone else watches Vlogs on YouTube but I am a huge lover. Partly because I'm incredibly nosey and love seeing what other people get up to but also for inspiration, parenting advice and just generally something to do when Livs napping! Anyway, since way before Liv was born I've been an absolute addict to Mrs Meldrum. Her videos calmed me before labour, give me inspiration on birthday gifts/baby buys, advice on weaning and a lot more (probably a lot more than she realised she'd help someone, especially as I don't even know her!) but recently she left a video that made me rather emotional and left me feeling quite bad about the things I take for granted so this post is basically just to say thankyou to the wonderful Mrs Meldrum and a sorry to my lovely Callum. In her video she talked about how hard it is having a husband that works off shore and how lonely she gets in the evenings and how hard it is parenting alone. Something I often moan to Callum about, the difference being I actually have him at home. It's made me realise how lucky I really am. Callum works long hours and is often out of the house before 6 and not getting home until Livs in bed. I find it so hard having to do EVERYTHING for her on a daily basis from the moment she wakes up right until she's asleep and then all through the night and I never let Callum forget it and it's sometimes super easy to forget how wonderful I have it. Not only that he works hard enough to make enough money for us to live comfortably whilst I stay at home and look after Livi but also that when he gets home he will literally listen to me moan about him being at work, give me the worlds best life advice and he cooks me dinner. I know we've probably all been there and moaned about it to the working parent but it is definitely something I won't be moaning about again! (Or at least I'll try not to anyway!). I can't even begin to imagine how hard it is having a partner work away or even not having a partner and doing all the mummy grafting yourself, absolutely baffles me how amazingly some people cope. So thankyou Mrs Meldrum on your unintended life advice and sorry Callum for being nob head of the year!

Cambridge and The Engagement!

Our weekend away was actually a birthday present from Callum's parents to us both as our birthdays are so close and they have visited similar places and knew that we'd thoroughly enjoy it.

We started our weekend on Friday morning when we shipped Liv off to Callum's parents and got ready to leave. The journey down wasn't too bad as I really don't mind driving and apart from one accident there was barely any traffic. We couldn't check in until 4 so decided to have a detour into Cambridge town to quickly pick up a new bikini and something to eat and also so we knew where we'd be going the following day.

We then (after getting completely lost) arrived at the lodge and enjoyed a lovely chilled evening of sitting in the hot tub, eating bread sticks and humus and planning our following day.

We woke up Saturday morning and enjoyed smoothies in the hot tub and lazily getting ready and then ventured into town to buy Callum birthday presents and for our lunch. I broke Callum's Nandos virginity and enjoyed strolling around the town centre for a few hours before nipping to pick up something for dinner and heading back. Callum for some reason wanted to cook a nice meal for me but I was adamant that I wanted oven pizzas, haha always the classy bird.

We came back and relaxed in the hot tub once again when Callum got out and told me to close my eyes. I sat for a couple of minutes thinking maybe keys to a new car or nice chocolates or something but instead he came back into the hot tub and asked me to marry him holding my lovely engagement ring. I'll spare you all the soppy lovey dovey details but after telling him to fuck off for not entirely believing he was doing it, of course I said yes.

We then just spent the evening relaxing, eating copious amounts of shitty food and enjoy each other's company watching tv (which we rarely get to do together these days without being interrupted every 20 minutes!) and just lounging around.

We'd planned to quickly pop back to town to get my ring changed to a smaller one and then venture out somewhere else but ended up spending the day searching for a rag doll and just generally exploring the more scenic side of Cambridge followed by of course more hot tub and shitty food. That night we also stayed up to watch the super moon eclipse.

Monday was the day to come home and also Callum's birthday. We didn't have to check out until 10 but decided to leave as soon as we were ready as we couldn't wait to get home and see Liv. Traffic was horrendous, we left the lodge at half 8 and didn't arrive home until almost 2 and we'd only stopped once to sort my indicator bulb out (if anyone would like to get me a new car as an engagement present then I'd be eternally grateful). We came home to a very snotty baby who spent the afternoon snotting and laughing all over daddy before heading out for a lovely meal with Callum's family. It's currently now Tuesday afternoon and my house is a bomb site, I have a sleeping baby laid on my chest and rather than doing anymore housework I'm sat catching up on Eastenders. A bloody lovely weekend if you ask me.

What to put in your hospital bag!

Seems as like a million of my friends and family are pregnant I thought that I would do a list of everything that I put in my hospital bag to help anyone out there thats struggling.

I may have forgotten some stuff on here but hey, it's been a year I'll try my best!

MY BAG

- tooth brush/tooth paste

- shampoo/conditioner/shower gel/deodrant

- a night shirt to wear in delivery (completely pointless as my hospital didn't allow them)

- a pair of pyjamas for afterwards

- 2 changes of loose clothing

- lots of granny pants!

- 3 nursing bras (or if you're not breastfeeding just any non wired bras)

- maternity pads

- breast pads

- disposable knickers

- nipple cream (lanolin is definitely recommened)

- a dark towel

- slippers

- phone/camera

-phone/camera chargers

- my coming home outfit (leggings and a super baggy jumper)

- hair bobbles/grips/brush

- ipad

- make up bag

- hot water bottle

- pregnancy pillow

- snacks

- change for parking

BABY'S BAG

- 4x onesies

- 4x vests

- coming home outfit

- a large bunch of nappys

- some sterilised dummys if you're planning on using them

- sudacrem

- muslins

- 2x hats

- 2x scratch mits

- 2x blankets

- a baby towel

- cotton wool

- socks

- a soft toy

- 5x bibs

Pros and Cons of Breastfeeding

As a mum to be one of the questions that seem to pop up is 'are you going to breast or bottle feed?'. Personally for me, I knew as soon as I fell pregnant that I was going to try and breastfeed but for others they know that it isn't right for them from day one. I've never judged anyone when it comes to feeding their child as I think as long as the baby is happy and healthy then that is all that matters. I often see bottle mummys complaining about people shoving breastfeeding and facts down their throats whilst pregnant and how much it upsets them but for me it was the opposite. Most of the people that I spoke to about breastfeeding had a very negative tone about the situation. I often got comments like 'you do realise that just because you want to breastfeed it doesn't mean you'll be able to' or when I said I was going to breastfeed until 12 months a common comment I got was 'you do realise they'll be walking then' or 'do you not think thats a bit old?'.

Personally I just ignored most of the comments and just got on with what I felt comfortable doing but I know that there's a lot of people that would easily get put off by things being said, so I've listed all of my honest pros and cons that I've found from my experience in breastfeeding.

PROS

- good for baby, lots of nutrition and anti bodies

- good for losing baby weight

- good for the environment

- incredible for bonding

- good for comfort

- babies tend not to poop as much as botte fed babies, so good for mummy's nose

- very convinient

- don't have to make bottes in the middle of the night

- don't have to buy formula

- don't have to wash bottles

- don't have to take bottles and formula with you when you go out

- don't have to count how many ounces baby is drinking

- no periods! (11 months on and still not really had one!)

CONS

- dirty looks for feeding in public

- people staring at you the whole time you feed in public

- leaky boobs for the whole time

- have to buy and wear breastpads

- have to wear a bra at all times incase boobs explode

- no one else can do the night feeds

- your child often only wants you (your boobs) for comfort

- giant boobs

- sore, hard boobs if you haven't fed your child in hours

- can't go out for the day without baby without having to express

- expressing milk for half an hour and only getting a few ounces at a time

Soooo... I'm back!

Okay soooo.... I'm back!

You probably thought I'd given up, I did too for a while but when your child literally refuses to go to bed until you do and wakes up before you in the morning it's quite hard to find time to human let alone blog.

Liv is now 10 months old - soon to be 11 and has changed so much! Probably too much for my liking. So on my last update Liv was 7 months (oops) and she was pulling her self to stand, walking along furniture, saying a couple of words, breastfeeding.

Liv is now starting to walk by herself and when I say that I mean she can take about 4-5 steps and then throws herself on the floor laughing. She can say mama, dada, gangad (grandad), mam mar (grandma), cakey (kaitlin), keekee (keena), poopoo, booby, willy (before you ask it wasn't me who's taught her these ridiculous words!), Corcor (much to my dislike I am no longer mama), minger - if you follow me on Instagram I'm sure you'll have seen the video! She can also say beepbeep, baa, woof, moo and quack! Her personality has come out so much these past few months and I am loving it!

Liv is still in our room, partly because we've been decorating the rest of the house and just haven't got round to decorating her room, partly because of how much she was still waking up loads in the night and partly because I still don't think I'm fully able to admit that she's not a tiny baby any more.

She is still being partly breastfed but only one feed maybe every 2-3 days if she wakes up groggy and clingy but is now on cows milk for breakfast, nap time and before bed.

It was an extremely hard decision for me to stop feeding Liv as I was adamant I'd get to 12 months but unfortunately it was taking its toll on my life. She was waking up hourly for it through the night and during the day as soon as she got even slightly tired she'd be clinging to me until she could have it. She also once tried pulling my t shirt down in tesco trying to get to it so I woke up one morning and decided it was for the best. I have done it so gradually that luckily I haven't had any problems, not even full or sore boobs.

She is now so much happier and more independent which just proves to me that it was fair on her as well to stop feeding. She is pretty much sleeping through the night for the last week and has been going off to sleep so beautifully, a few tears every now and then but hey she is a baby and I am pretty fun to be around so I wouldn't want to go to sleep and leave me either.

Liv has gone on her first weekend away this week to my mums in Kent and next weekend is going to Worksop for a few days with her other grandparents as Callum and I are going away for our joint birthday present.

Our house is coming along lovely and has hanging hearts, flowers and Yankee candles everywhere (much to Callum's dislike) and I can't wait to finally get the last room done so Liv can have a proper big girls room.

She's still loving her jumperoo (admittedly she's slightly too big for it) and goes in it for an hour each day whilst I clean the whole house. She also likes anything Minnie Mouse, her music table, climbing up to the tv and hitting it with a remote, pulling all the DVDs off of the shelf and climbing the stairs. She's realised that buttons do something and every button she sees she has to press, to the point where I have to stand in Argos for what feels like years just so she can press all the buttons on the washing machines!

We've ditched her big buggy and is now in a stroller full time. We've bought that Mama and Papas swirl which a lot of people told me not to buy from bad reviews but I love it! We've had it a couple of months and has no problems what so ever. Although Liv likes it she also wants to walk everywhere so someone is forever having to hold her hand to walk her around. Even when we took she to Drusillas and she decided she had to walk the whole way round!

I've started introducing her to squash (or juice/cordial what ever you prefer to call it) but isn't having any in the afternoon as I don't want her to be hyper before bed. Her favourite foods are grated cheese, quavers, spag bol, vegetable fingers and yogurts and will eat pretty much anything.

She's now in 9-12 month clothes pretty much full time and we've started stocking up on 12-18 months. She's got her first Clarks shoes and is currently a size 3 and a half. Her hair is going super light and even looks slightly auburn in the sunlight. She has 2 teeth but just as I dropped her at my mums she had her third poking through so hopefully my mum will have had the tooth cut through by the time she gets back! Hahaha.

Hopefully now she's sleeping better I can get back to this properly and won't leave it another 4 months before getting time to write anything!

Wine please!

Although I don't enjoy writing posts like this because I like to think I'm super mum, I think it's important to write this so other mums don't think they're alone in taking a day (or a couple of days!!!) off!

At this exact moment it is 4pm, I am sat in the pyjamas that I slept in last night whilst watching Desperate Housewives and crying inside about the bomb site that was once my house.

There is food on the laminate flooring from Livis lunch, a sink full of pots, a basket full of washing, stairs and bedrooms that need hoovering and a living room floor full of toys being played with by a scruffy haired monster child. I was kept awake pretty much all night and woken up early this morning. The lunch I made for Liv was chucked across my kitchen within minutes of me placing it in front of her. I've not peed alone today, my child has refused to nap, I think my deodorant is about to send out a missing person party to look for me and I think my make up bag may actually think I've died.

I need to shower and brush my hair.

BUT all of that's okay because I'm human. I may be counting down the hours until I can drown in wine and change into some clean pyjamas and I may be slightly hoping that the diet will be off just for tonight (and the last 3 days) but that's okay, I can always try and get my life together again tomorrow. So keep faith human keeper alivers, pet keeper alivers and even just alivers! If I can get through this day without being murdered by my boyfriend then you certainly can!

I'm lucky for...

I'm lucky for....

I'm lucky for you waking me up at 7am pulling my hair and slapping my face because it means you want me to wake up so you can spend time with me.

I'm lucky for the huge smile on your face when I do wake up because it means you're happy to see me.

I'm lucky for the time I help you eat your breakfast as it means I am able to provide you with the food you need to grow.

I'm lucky for needing to change your nappys because it means your tummy is working properly.

I'm lucky for when you squeal at me to play with you because it means you have toys that you're able to play with.

I'm lucky for having to change your outfits numerous times throughout the day because it means I can afford to put clothes on your back.

I'm lucky for you crying when I wash your hair because it means we have running water and are able to keep clean.

I'm lucky for the hours it takes me to get you to sleep because it means I get to cuddle you for a little bit longer.

I'm lucky for the wake up calls every hour in the night because I know you're still alive, healthy and missing me.

But most of all, I'm lucky that I'm your mummy.

7 Month Update

Erm excuse me whilst I go and cry!!! Yesterday marked the day that Olivia turned 7 months old and oh my Lord what an AMAZING month we've had. As well as moving into our new home last month, this month we've finally bought another car after not having one for nearly 6 months! This has meant lots of days out, lots of grandma cuddles and lots of screaming as apparently the car is just another wonderful place for temper tantrums!

I feel like Olivia has developed so much in the last month and I can't get over what a clever, funny little girl she is turning in to. This month Liv has completely mastered crawling. She is like a little spider child, I can't take my eyes off of her for more than 5 seconds without her zooming across the room. She can now also sit herself up, pull herself up onto her knees, pull herself to stand up, walk holding onto the sofa (and her toy pram!) (we haven't bought her a walker yet!), dance, wave and give proper kisses! I think I may just be feeding my child brain cells! She's an absolute daredevil and isn't scared to do anything!

She eats pretty much everything too. She still loves her Organix finger food bits and her favourite food is cheese sandwiches. She also eats toast, fish fingers, meat, cucumber, grated cheese, yogurts and bananas whole! She's such a gannet and literally cries every time that I'm eating and she isn't. She's also tried cous cous a few times and loved it and had her first potato waffle and chip.

She's still booby feeding like a champ but now she likes to stand while she feeds during the day time and still wants feeding every hour at night time. I am completely exhausted every hour of every day due to lack of sleep but at least I'm burning calories with my eyes closed!

Liv also has sprouted her first two teeth this month so we have purchased her first tooth brush and milkteeth tooth paste ready for when her teeth have come through properly!

Her hair is as wild as ever and is now planted in a pony tail most days as I literally cannot tame it!

She has also learnt to tell things off this month and will spend ages laying and shouting at labels on her toys (don't ask, she's weird and talks to labels).

Her personality has also come out a lot more this month and I'm starting to see how determined she really is! If she wants something she will not stop until she has it!

She still won't take a dummy, won't say mama and hates being left in a room by herself but all in all what another wonderful month we've had!

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6-9 Month Clothes Haul

I've been asked to do a 6-9 month clothes haul to see what clothes Olivia's been bought for over the next few months so far so here it is! Even if it is very rushed as Liv decided to scream the place down as I got her clothes out! Please bare in mind that this is not all of her clothes but she has far too many to take pictures of. Also luckily for me most of her clothes for this age range were bought as gifts so although I know what shop they were bought from I don't know the prices... Enjoy!