Cheeky Monkeys!

Up and out bright and early today for a train at 10:20! Misjudged the trip time a little and the train was at the station when I arrived, so I ran and got on. Fortunately the ticket inspector was nice, and presumuably my pram and hot sweaty face showed I wasn't trying to fare dodge and I bought one on it.

A friend then collected us from the station and we went off to the Cheeky Monkeys thing. On the tombola I won some spoons (yay!), and I did a plate with Orn's hand and foot prints (I then lost the reciept, so need to email the lady and ask where to collect it from). I then had some photos taken, and a man from the paper took photos of the photographer taking photos of Orn (ooh, meta). 

Afterwards I popped in to town to ask if they had any Anbesol in Superdrug, they didn't, but phoned the warehouse and ordered some in. Yay!

*sniff* Bye bye clothes

Today I posted off the first two batches of Orna's clothes that I've ebayed. There are quite a few I am currently refusing to part with, but I have to be realistic, with no plans for number 2 and limited storage space we just don't need them. As much as I would like it, she's never going to shrink to fit back into them...

The white stuff was all the "newborn" things we got to take to the hospital that were so huge on her, the right hand side was trousers and dungarees we got before she was born (bye bye fluffy penguin), and some vests that were a present afterwards (amusingly, once we knew she was a girl).

We went to the NCT group in the afternoon, where Orn showed off with her rolling over, threw a big hissy fit then finally settled to sleep, then was in a good mood all evening! She did refuse an evening nap, but finally dropped off at 10:30, leaving Mummy and Daddy to have a nice glass of wine.

Thundery Thursday

We woke up to bright sunshine, then the clouds rolled in. It looked like the world was about to end, but as it didn't, we decided to get on the bus and go to a group. The minute I set foot out of the door the rain came pelting down, there was thunder, there was lightning. A river ran down the street - good job Orn was in her "boat". We changed buses in town and it was still very stormy, got to the library and it sounded like the roof was going to come down! It all cleared up towards the end, and I thought about walking back to town but decided not to risk it. We got two books out of the library, a board book edition of Peepo! and a baby's picture book about Hannukah (we thought this would amuse Daddy).

In town, we went into M&S and came out again to find a confusing amount of icy slush on the ground, we'd managed to miss a hailstorm with stones the size of golfballs!

Friday schmiday

Did our normal Friday jaunt to the NCT group. On the way to the train station I passed the 585, which happened to be being driven by one of the drivers who normally does the bus I got to work. He waved and smiled and pointed excitely at the pram, which was nice.

Orn and her "boyfriend" had a fist-chew off staring at each other (yay, she's finally noticing other babies!). Decided to nip around the shops afterwards and get the bus home, we must have missed one, then one turned up 10 mins late and announced he wasn't going all the way. Grrrr. Poor Orna was pretty hungry by the time we got home, and I thought my boobs were going to burst!

Fuzzy Friday!

I'd just managed to get back to sleep this morning when the door went (7:52), and a postman brought me one of my first batch of jubilee orders. Some lovely smelly bum butter and washing stuff, a couple of funky badges for nappies and (shhhh) a second Albert and Lovelace. 

 This afternoon we were off to the NCT group, and as it was really cold, rainy and generally grotty I decided to crack out a snowsuit for Orn and see if it fitted. She didn't seem entirely thrilled with being tucked up all cosy, but eventually cracked a (toasty!) smile. Today's discussion was cloth nappies, only 4 other mums and babies turned up but it ended up being quite a nice little chat. Orn spent a little while desperately trying to roll onto her front (something she has continued to do at home this evening) but she's not quite managed yet. 

She's been a bit of a grump this afternoon, again I'm wondering if it's teeth. I can feel something a little bit sharp under her top gum so she can probably be forgiven for being out of sorts. Must buy some teething powder or liquid in town tomorrow.

Wing Wah!

Orna's first chinese meal (well, first time to watching Mummy and Daddy eat Chinese). I started off slightly on the wrong footing with one person who told me it's a shame I'm not breastfeeding. This was after I explained the issues we'd had, and that I was managing to express all her feeds so I was less than impressed to be told that. Yes, it is a shame FOR ME but not for anyone else, and it's not actually the end of the world (and I can see that now!). I do find it rather patronising for others to present the view that it is. Even if I had switched to formula feeding it's rather unlikely she'd have burst into flames or dropped dead (I hear it's not poison). Still, I managed to stuff my face, as did Daddy (who when I had said I was thinking of going to a baby thing meeting for lunch had pulled a rather sad "how can you eat that without me?" face so he came along too).

I got the bus there, and Orn decided she wanted to stand on my lap and stare out of the window rather than stay in her carrycot. It might be worth moving her to the pushchair proper a bit sooner than I had planned.

She's getting big...

The day started at 6ish when I woke up and realised it was long past time to express, shortly after Orn woke up and decided that it was time for some food. After she'd eaten she was feelig particualrly chatty and didn't seem impressed with being put back into her basket, yet was out (almost) like a light when I put her in my side of the bed. It's obviously much nicer than her basket! The post arrived, bringing the rest of the dyes for Project Rainbow. Yay!

Doesn't look thrilled, does she? I wonder when she'll start to smile at the camera, at the moment it takes ages to capture a smile as her face goes blank as soon as mine vanishes behind the lens. She's getting so big though.

This morning I booked her 12 week jabs (poor baby), and somehow time got away from me. This afternoon we decided to go to the NCT group in Rugby, today's topic was something along the lines of "The River of Becoming a Mother" (it was a bit airy-fairy metaphorical for me to properly absorb). Our task was to figure out where we were on it, and how we felt about it. H's Mum and I decided we were between rocky bits, having gone up a bunch of dead ends and, feeling fine about it. There certainly have been rocks, and I'm sure there'll be many more. I did mention that it feels weird that I am a Mum, and I sort of forget sometimes, but I seem to be alone there, ah well!
 On the train back she got a bit fed up again, but she seems to settle when held up to look out of the window and some old ladies called her a he, despite her purple t-shirt!

In movement progress, her normal slide up and down the changing mat and crashing at the top "bumper" was surpassed - she leaped halfway off!

Joining the library!

The nice weather is well and truly over. Today we went back to the attachment parenting group, and I was given this fabulous sticker to adorn one of the bottles. It's not quite a giant banner, but it's a good start! Orn had her little greenhouse raincover on and stayed lovely and toasty, while my ankles froze (I'd gone out in 3/4 length trousers - I'm not ready to give up summer yet!).

We braved the terrifying Hobbycraft lift to get some yellow dye for stage 2 of "project rainbow", then went to the library for Orn to join! We've now got a couple of bookmarks (not sure we need those when her books tend to only have 6 pages), and a nice big certificate. I took two books out, so we'll have fun reading those. With the books only having a few pages they don't hold my interest for many reads...

One finger, one thumb, one arm, one leg, one nod of the head keep moving

The song is lodged in my head! This morning we went to Rhyme Time. Orn is a bit young still really, but I needed to brush up on my kid's songs. At the moment she still looks thrilled when I sing "Orny-orn-orn, Orny-orny-orn-orn" to the tune of Alouette, but I'm sure she'll want a bit of variety soon. I wasn't convinced by their version of "The Wheels on the Bus", I think we'll stick with "my" version.

I missed a parcel while we were out, it was the disposable Flip inserts I've bought for our summer holiday. It had been delivered next door, when I knocked to ask for it there was no answer but I could hear people in there. I did wonder what a bunch of students would want with disposable nappy bits, it's best not to ask. When I went back later, the guy swore no one had taken in a parcel. Luckily when Daddy was in the garden later the girl passed it over the wall to him!

"Things I wish I'd known before having a baby"

Today I went to the NCT group in Rugby, and the topic for discussion was as above. At first I thought there wasn't a lot, but after a few minutes realised there were loads of things.

I wish I had known:

• Breastfeeding is hard. For the vast majority of people it isn't as easy as shove a baby on your boob and it's fed.
• All those things you say there's no way you'll do (co-sleep - too dangerous! Sniff their bum to see if they've pooed - too gross!) you will. 
• You realise when you give birth you will have to show off your nether regions. You will show them to lots of people who don't seem to realise it might be a bit embarassing for you.

Things I did "know" but hadn't really thought through.

• I had illusions of my lovely, relaxed birth where I'd be wandering around, employing various massage techniques and it'd all go OK. In reality it was flipping painful, my "wandering around" was limited to walking back and forth to the toilet repeatedly, then having to have a little lie down on the floor, or being stuck on the walk back. I couldn't stand being touched, so massage was out!
• Everything is a contest.

There are more for both lists - I'll get back to you.

Orn had her first run-in with a bully. She was lying next to one of her little boyfriends, and I turned my back to get a mini brownie when all of a sudden there was an almighty Orn cry. A big baby had crawled up and smacked her in the head. Poor little Orn, at least it didn't bruise. I bought her a play gym on the way home which she absoutely loves (though this "surprised eyes" photo might say different!). She spent quite a while staring at the star thingy and cooing. Her favourite bit of music that it does seems to be "Eine Kleine Nachtmusic", it gets the most smiles. Later, in un-cute news she did whine and whinge for an hour while Daddy retreated to the bath. Maybe she was remembering the bully.

Wednesday: Lunch with the Boys!

Yesterday was a busy day, and if I thought Tuesday was hot I'd seen nothing yet. We had an "early" start to the day - out at 9:40 to get the bus to the Bell Green Breastfeeding Support Group. I've not been since the tongue tie cut, firstly because it was the day after she had it done and she was a bit grumpy, then last week she was fast asleep when we needed to leave, and as it was only 2 days after her jabs I let her sleep. We waited 25 minutes for a bus (one must've been early, the next late), so it was a very flying visit. The very helpful BFing support lady had a look at her try and feed, and said she's still not really opening her mouth enough and suggested sticking my tongue out a lot to get her to copy. I'm forever blowing raspberries at her, but she won't copy me. A fortnight a go she did copy one of my antenatal course friends doing it though, so she can!

Flying visit over, we got the bus back to town for Ikea trip of the week number 2, this time to meet the ladies from the Antenatal course. It was the first time we've all got together in a month, and also the first time since one moved to NZ so that was a little weird. They're all growing so fast, and little D who was only a fortnight old last time we saw him has got enormous! Orn was a bit fed up by the time we left, so I didn't manage to get to the shops and buy pins like I had meant to, and I had to have her on my knee on the bus home as she'd only be quiet looking out of the window. Got her home and stripped her down to her nappy and she was much happier. Poor toasty baby.

Lazy Friday

This morning, I'd planned for us to go to the Coventry NCT Bumps and Babies group, but it turned out we were far too lazy. It's in the arse end of the city, and starts at 9:30 - an ungodly hour (considering we'd need to set off at 8:30 to get there in time. Every other week we go to the on in Rugby, which has about the same amount of travelling time, but sensibly starts at 1pm, much better.

As it turned out, we had a lie in and it was awesome. Orn got in to bed with me when Daddy left for work, had half a bottle and zonked out until 9:30. I woke up about 8:30 and thought I really should move and express, but in the end I was too tired to sit up until later, and didn't manage until 10. Oops. Orn has had quite a sleepy day today (until now!), she had a couple of nice long naps and I got two loads of laundry done. I did mean to change the bed, but didn't find time for that.

I've also been nappy shopping today...I bought the pink owls and a second purple turtles, and a couple of Bum Genius v4 (but shhh, I've only told Daddy about the pink owls). I really like the Freestyles I have, and some people swear by the pocket ones so I thought I'd ive them a go, and finally I traded in some Tesco vouchers and bought a funky Totsbots one. I did think we had enough nappies; current stash is 10 Little Lambs bamboo size 1 (and 10 size 2 for the future), 2 Totsbots easyfit V2, 2 next generation close parent pop-ins (purple turtles and blue turtles), a dream-dri close parent pop-in, an original close parent pop-in, 3 itti bitti tuttos and 3 cheap ebay pockets. Now I'm doing full time I'm finding at the end of 2 days we start to get a bit short, without a drier the little lambs can take 2 days to be fully dry.

Now, with Orna dozing and a fridge full of milk in waiting we're having a sneaky bottle of wine. A nice end to the week!

Crazy Hippy Club

Or not, as it turned out. A couple of days ago (Monday, I think) I was having a search online for a local nappy library. I don't really know why, I think I have enough nappies and I know what I like, but when she's bigger and sleeps through I will need to try out some other options for night nappies. But I digress; I happened upon Coventry & Warwickshire Attached Parents, who meet weekly in a library in one of the posher bits of town. Attachment parenting is something I've had a bit of a read up on, and although in its full form it seems a bit OTT, I think it's far more the style of parent that I want to be than something like Gina Ford.

Dr Sears appears to have been the person that coined the term (thought might not be, I'll admit I've not read that much), and there's something about the principals of it on Wikipedia. I didn't prepare for pregnancy, it's a bit hard to do that when you didn't really get to the trying stage, but we certainly prepared for birth and, as much as you can when you have no idea what is coming, for parenting. I'd like to think we're doing all the nurtring, respond with love and so on. I'll fully admit to being frustrated when there's a session of crying for no apparant reason (dry, right temp, fed, cuddled) but we still plod on trying to comfort and sort her out - she's a baby, it's not her fault. Luckily, we've ended up with a little person who is almost always happy, in some ways though that makes inconsolable crying harder - we're still learning how to deal with it at 9 weeks, and because it's out of character the need to stop it is enormous and the stress when you can't is a bit much.

I've gone off the point again, anyway, I decided I'd go along to the group. As I explained to one of the Mums later, I'd been worried they were going to be breastfeeding teenagers and wearing hemp dresses hand dyed with woad. They weren't, it was all OK, they were normal. They listened to the nightmare I'm having with breastfeeding, joined in with horror when I recounted our hospital experience and the NG tube threat - something others seem to have seen as "normal", and didn't think I was nuts with my insistance to make sure I could express milk for every feed and stay away from formula. They think co-sleeping is normal (we don't do it full time, but if she's upset and won't settle I don't hesitate in popping her in the big bed (if it were a proper big bed there'd be no reason not to do it full time!)), and best of all, none of their babies had pierced ears - a big improvement on the last local baby group I went to!