The one with Oliver's first food

Ok so I caved in. He wanted it sooo much though! We started sitting him up at the table with us during meal times a few weeks ago because he loves to watch us eat and he's just so smily when he watches, I couldn't withhold it anymore! I think we'll just stick with the plain porridge for a bit... he loved it though!

Mmmm... I like this... is there any more?

The one with transition

With weaning fast approaching at a mere nineteen days away (yes I really am being that pedantic haha), in this month's Big Shop it was time to make the switch regarding Oliver's milk. I know strictly speaking 'Follow on' milk may not actually be necessary but it's got lots of nice extra iron and stuff in and, more importantly (!), I do not collect Boots card points on the 'From birth' milk due to the government legislation stuff (which also does not allow it to be a part of any deals or special offers). Given the amount spent on formula per month (by far enough to make me consider some serious perseverance with breastfeeding the next time around, as if I wasn't going to anyway!), I've been missing out on quite a lot of points :p

So here is our milestone photo for today - the big milk switch!!!

I can't believe it's almost time for this already!

In other news, our swimming session today was a huge success - God bless the inventor of baby wetsuits is all I can say! Oliver stayed warm, happy and smily throughout the entire half hour session and it also eliminated the problem of a slippery baby in the water which I hadn't even thought of! Oliver seemingly is really a true water baby and I will definitely be looking into some swimming lessons for him as soon as we can afford it.

However, did I manage to do any training for my Swimathon? Did I heck....... :-s

The one with (Baby swimming)

Over the Christmas break we took Oliver swimming for the first time. He was 3 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old. On the whole I'd say it was a very good first experience, my only gripe was that I thought the pool seemed a bit chilly for very young babies. It was actually 30°C (I'd read somewhere that ideally it would be about 32°C) but the poor little man started going a bit purple and shivering after about ten minutes so we whisked him out and wrapped him in one of the gorgeous little towels with hoods to have lots of snuggles. I wish I had some photos of this momentous event but sadly, in this day in age you don't stand a chance of being allowed a camera in a public swimming pool!

However, during those 10 minutes he seemed very happy in the water (as I'd expected, in the bath he's a total water baby) and, although he's too small for his armbands so we had to keep a tight hold on him, we swished him around a bit which he seemed to enjoy and there wasn't a single tear! We plan to go again as soon as possible - even though paying full price for two adults for ten minutes is pretty pricey (I can't believe they can't work out a better deal for parents of small ones but I suppose this is how they make their money). However I think that regular swimming sessions (and lessons as soon as they're old enough) are so important for children for lots of reasons - safety, fitness and learning not to be afraid of the water to name but a few! (In case you can't tell, I'm quite keen on swimming myself :p)

Anyway we're (finally!) heading out for a second go this Friday (I've even got Oliver a posh new wetsuit for the occasion that will hopefully keep him a bit warmer!) so wish us luck!

The one where we rearrange the flat

David and I both love to completely shake up the flat every once in a while and move all the furniture around into different rooms and places. I guess when you've lived somewhere for a while, especially when it's a reasonably small space, it's easy for things to become mundane. Plus rearranging things (especially bedrooms) is a great way to sort through all your junk as you're going along (unless you happen to be a freak who doesn't have any junk under her bed?) Needless to say, if you take a young couple who used to have a decent amount of disposable income between them, then throw a young baby and all of his 'accessories' into the mix - you end up with quite a lot of stuff between the lot of you, some useful and some not.

It also gives you the opportunity to clean parts of rooms that you would normally miss (ie. behind/underneath that [insert heavy furniture item here] that weighs more than you do) which, for a neat freak like me, is like somebody scratching an itch that you just can't reach by yourself! This is why I hate cleaning so much - it takes me so darn long because I can't skim through the rooms quickly, once I start it will probably take me a whole day to clean a flat with a total of 6 average sized rooms (in my defence, two of these rooms are bathrooms... whoever decided that a two bedroom flat needed an en suite was beyond lazy) and I can't do it in little bits either. A realistic 'Room a day' sort of approach just doesn't work for me, I have to finish it all. So you see why, with a 5 month old around, no cleaning ever gets done ;-)

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The one where it's working!!!

Well done people, keep it up :-)

The one where I am a snob

Today Oliver and I have our second session of baby massage. Due to Oliver's prematurity, we were referred for the course by my health visitor (ie. it's free - yippee!) as apparently baby massage can be beneficial for early babies. I wasn't about to ask too many questions... after all, it's a free course!

The class doesn't take place at our usual children's centre (the one we go to for baby group on Mondays and where Oliver's HV appointments usually take place), it takes place at the children's centre that actually belongs to the town I live in. I do have a legitimate reason for choosing to mainly use the centre in the next town over - I live at the opposite side of town to my own centre so it's a 40 minute walk with a buggy but I live right next to the train station and the next town is only 4 minutes away by train (and their centre is only about 5 minutes from that station) giving me a total journey time of roughly 10 minutes. That's my official story and I'm sticking to it. However, the reality of the situation is that there's a bit of a stigma attached to the children's centre in my town - while the place itself is perfectly lovely and no less nice than any other, it is in a pretty dodgy area of town. In fact, it's smack bang in the middle of the dodgy area in town. The snob in me can't help feeling extremely awkward, quite vulnerable and (secretly) a tad smug walking to this place. Anyway, I try to avoid it whenever I can.

In fact, I think the first thing that was said to me as I walked into the centre last week pretty much sums it up...

"Would you like a bike lock for your pushchair??"

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The one with the cheesecake disappointment

No, it wasn't a horrible cheesecake. Even worse.... It didn't show up!! My lovely *ahem* Oliver's lovely Valentines Day surprise, never even arrived!

Needless to say that as soon as the clock hit 5:30pm (the time I was told it should definitely arrive by on the two calls I made to check on its progress, only to be told I would be called back... and never was!) I was already firing off a rather stroppy complaint email (à la kiphakes.com lol) pointing out the now complete irrelevance of them bothering to complete my order and demanding a refund.

If they should decide to still send the cheesecake as well, well that's up to them ;-)

** Update - Well the cheesecake just arrived and I've yet to receive a reply to my email. Hmmmmm.... **

The one with a 5 month birthday

As much as it pains me to take away the picture of the amazing cheesecake as the opening entry in this blog, it had to go sometime and what better occasion to do that than with another 'strange to celebrate' occasion... Oliver's 5 month birthday!! Today my baby boy is 5 months. He is a cheeky little monkey whose favourite things in the world include snuggles, watching people eat and trying to copy with his spoon, a multi coloured giraffe called 'GG', kicking and making huge splashes in the bath, being naked as often as possible and watching the BabyTV channel.

Happy 5 months Oliver!

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The one with the pretend anniversary

Yesterday was our 'one year six month' wedding anniversary. I know that may seem like a strange thing to celebrate (well ok, it is!) but as our 'half year' mark falls right near Valentines Day, we tend to sort of celebrate the two things together. Previous years have seen us go to posh London restaurants, nice days out and of course last years unforgettable pregnancy test - obviously this year will be a little more low key (certainly nothing so romantic as peeing on a stick!) but hopefully no less enjoyable! David is going to cook for us, we will break open a bottle of sparkly stuff and as we decided not to do presents due to lack of funds, unbeknownst to David, 'Oliver' has sorted out some dessert for us. It is amazing too, I (sorry, Oliver!) have had this bookmarked for months, just waiting for a suitable occasion!

6" His 'n Hers cheesecake

Doesn't it look amazing?? Now we just have to hope Oliver doesn't break the habit of a lifetime and decide not go to bed at 6pm tomorrow evening...

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The one with my TMB listing

Look, there I am! I don't know why I'm doing this really, it's not like I'll win anything but I'm sad and I do like seeing my blog in the Top Mommy Blogs listing so please vote for me when you read a post by clicking the banner at the end to keep me happy! It's literally just one click!

Also there's lots of other fab blogs over there, I've even stuck a fancy widget in my sidebar (well ok, it's not that fancy!) which randomly displays some of them - you might find a new great read, I've found several already!

Please click once daily to vote! xx

The one with One Born Every Minute

Time for one of those pointless bloggy posts I think. Although they do usually end up with a topic of sorts.... let's see where this one ends up!

I just watched this weeks 'traumatic' episode of One Born Every Minute. For those that don't know, OBEM (as it has come to be abbreviated) is an English show documenting lots of different women's labour experiences in a UK hospital (I believe there's been an American series as well.) This week there was a woman whose labour wasn't progressing well, in the end they took her into theatre to use forceps - long story short, the baby got stuck and when they eventually got her out, it was several minutes before she cried (they had to help her along with her breathing) and she had broken her arm or collar bone or something. I really felt sorry for that poor woman, it must have been so scary.

I always refused to watch this programme before Oliver was born and I'm so glad I didn't now as I know I would have just gotten myself into a panic, expecting the worst! But now I've had my own (very fast and trouble free) labour experience, I find it really interesting to watch how all the different women experience and cope with things differently. It's surprising how many of them are calling for their mums as well... I can't say that was my first thought! The only downside to watching this programme is that it makes us really broody and want to have another one right now but we always manage to talk ourselves out of it. I reckon at least a year before we think about that again ;-)

The one with weaning excitement

The time is almost here!! In six days Oliver will be exactly 5 months which means.... only one month to go!!! I know, I know I shouldn't wish his 'babyness' away but boy am I excited to feed him anything that isn't in a bottle!!!

(By the way, I'm not advertising Cow & Gate, they just happened to be on special offer in Sainsburys!)

Strawberry and banana porridge.... is it just me, or does that sound pretty good??

The one with happy things

Forget all the moaning in my last post because although I am still un-showered, wearing my pyjamas, my house is still a mess and the shopping remains un-bought.... Oliver has been trying to roll over this morning and although he hasn't managed it yet, his attempts were so cute! He also (accidentally I think) started playing peekaboo with me. So here for your amusement (and the general "Awwww!!! factor") are photo collages of both of these momentous (well, almost!) events.

"Peekaboo... I see you mummy!"

Can't..... quite..... make.. it.... urrgghhhh

The one with tired ramblings

I've been away from internet land for a while. Not because I had to be, it just sort of happened by accident. I haven't really got anything to write now either, I was just sick of looking at my last depressing post every time I looked at my lovely happy blog and it's pretty template!

I should be doing all manner of things today (in fact they should have been done yesterday but instead me and a couple of girls from baby group mooched around all afternoon, putting off going home and doing all the stuff we *should* be doing) like cleaning the flat and getting the shopping, not to mention being a lovely, fun mummy for my son... never mind that he seems quite happy on his gym by himself for most of the time.... but I'm feeling horribly unmotivated (to do with my last post perhaps) and like I can't even be bothered to get showered and dressed, despite knowing that the motivation would probably come to me if I did. I just want to sleep. I'm tired. Oliver taken to 'waking' several times in the night, not for any particular reason it seems (in fact he hardly even seems awake) except to cry for a bit and then go back to sleep again. However I (of course) wake every single time this happens because I'm his mummy and I notice if so much as the rhythm of his breathing changes (despite only hearing him through the monitor as he's in the next room) and then I have to go and check him to make sure he is just crying in his sleep and doesn't actually need anything. At it's worst, this was happening pretty much every hour throughout the whole night although thankfully it seems to have gone back down to just once or twice a night now (fingers crossed!)

My only two theories are teething or growth spurt (however, an attempt to up his feeds by an ounce during the day have failed and I don't think he'd self settle during the night if he was hungry anyway?). We've long suspected teething with him but have yet to see any physical signs (and at only almost 5 months, we could be waiting a while!) and I know that, depending on the health visitor I get if I ask for advice, phrases such as 'early weaning' will surely be thrown my way and to be honest, with only 4.5 weeks to go until the recommended weaning age, I'd really rather hold out if we can, especially with him being a preemie baby and everything. If I can refuse to start early weaning even through severe reflux (some ridiculous person suggested I wean him at ten weeks as they thought it would help - I know solids will help but not at ten weeks thank you!) then I'm sure I can ride this out too.

Wow I replaced a depressing post with.... another one ;-) never mind... here is a photo to cheer it up!

(PS - apologies if my weaning ideas offend anyone who might be reading, if you choose to wean your baby at an early age and are sure this is the right thing for your baby then I'm sure you know that better than I do!)

The one where I have some kind of identity crisis.... or something

Wow, two entries in one day. To what do you owe the honour?

Well the bottle of wine I just drank, in part.

But also an issue that has been on my mind for a while. I've debated whether or not to bring it up here as it's kind of a controversial subject - and by that I don't mean controversial as such, rather I mean that I'm worried about how shallow it will make me look. But I've now decided that, I am me and this is an issue that concerns me so into the blog it goes.

Long time readers (well one!) will know the continual issues with appearance and specifically weight that I have. The stupid teenage eating disorders, the difficulties I faced during pregnancy caused by the idea of weight gain (for someone whose entire issue with weight is mostly based on being able to control it, the complete lack of control you have during pregnancy is nothing short of terrifying) and now, the (as yet) unmentioned issues I have with my 'post pregnancy' figure. To the untrained eye, my figure these days (bearing in mind that I only carried to 34 weeks, which in itself seems to be cause for some kind of underlying 'guilt issue' with me) is probably not all that different to my pre pregnancy one. Certainly I wear most of the same clothes as I did before. I would apologise in advance to anyone who thinks I am complaining about things that are trivial... I am not overweight, nor do I claim to be. There are deeper issues involved here.

However, for someone who has scrutinised every inch of their body since they were not much more than a child (yes, sadly this is the culture we live in) like I have, the hardships of pregnancy, however small and unnoticeable to anyone else, are a huge deal to people like me. The minutest hint of a stretch mark, any weight gain not specifically restricted to the 'bump' area or anything less than a 'Hollywood' approach to pregnancy is, embarrassingly, a cause of major stress for me (and probably many others). It's not that my appearance is everything to me (although it is important), or even that I regret having my baby (which I one million percent don't), it's just that it can be... hard. The idea that the sexy girl you once were (or thought that you were!) has been replaced with someone who might have chunky thighs, stretch marks, saddlebags or even a wobbly belly. All these things are proof that you've been through the most amazing journey a woman can ever go through... but that doesn't stop you perhaps *wishing* you could have your pre-baby body back. Although... I've started to think it might not even be as simple as having your body back. It's more a kind of wistfulness for the person you were and the life you led, before you were a mother. The way you imagine that people (especially partners) saw you before you were a mother. But like it or not, you're not the same person and no amount of dieting, work outs and clothes shopping will change you back to the way you were.

But then... would you really want to be anyway?

The one with an Oliver update

You may have noticed my header has altered slightly. I found this picture and I couldn't resist, I did originally want one with 'David' in but I couldn't find one that I liked. Thanks One Upon a Blog!!

So, aside from continually faffing around with my blog and changing things, what else have we been up to? Oliver turned 20 weeks last Wednesday (I know I should really stop counting in weeks now but 20 weeks seemed like such a big age!) so only 6 weeks until we plan to start trying weaning but only if he wants to, of course. Oh, how I hope he wants to :-) I'm getting so excited about trying him out on different things, watching him pull funny faces (we once gave my niece a tiny bit of lemon to suck on because we're horrible - her face was priceless!) and seeing him get ever more grown up before my eyes as he starts all these new things. I can't believe how fast it's all going.

He is really changing every minute at the moment, every day he seems to do something new... no matter how small! His grasping skills and aim have improved so much, he bats the toys on his gym with amazing accuracy (and such a cute look of concentration on his face) and has started to grab them and pull them towards his mouth. Yes, I think the days of everything going into the mouth are almost upon us! He also reaches for toys that I offer him (and immediately throws them to the ground if he doesn't want them!)... see, such a little prince already!

See what I mean??

I keep catching photos of him looking so grown up these days. This one in particular provides us with endless amusement... there's something about it which is just hilarious! Love my big boy <3.

The one with Oliver's 'First year' gallery