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!