Baby clothes on a budget.

I should point out that this was written when Alfed was only about 10 weeks old or so. He has an even greater wardrobe now and sleep suits are worn mainly at night only, e've ventured into outfits, but thats for later.

Before Alfred was born u spent loads of time visiting the baby clothes section at all different shops. I felt no guilt buying beautiful sleep suits for him. I personally prefer sleep suits to 'outfits' as I think they make him look like a baby for longer. Once they're in jeans at tees it's like they're all grown up. Plus tees just end up scrunched under their chin. Sleep suits are just easy! But that's my own personal preference. I've also bought him a few rompers as he's a summer baby but you can't predict the weather here. I love a baby in dungarees but they look even cuter slightly older than newborn. Anyway I digress. Buying baby clothes new gets expensive.

Sales!!
I had my second scan on Christmas Eve and found that we were having a boy. A week later I hit the January sales to buy some clothes for Alfred. I mainly cashed in on sales at h&m and John Lewis
Pros:
•new
•choose your own preferences
•reduced cost
Cons:
•you may find an item you love but you can't find it in the size you would want.
•sales can be messy, and I have very little patience for routing through racks of clothes!

A personal favourite from the H&M January Sale!

Hand-me-downs.
I had loads of hand-me-downs, mainly from my sister.
Pros:
•they are completely free!!
Cons:
•they may not be what you would buy for your baby.
•can be very 'worn'.

New baby gifts
Pros:
•So thoughtful!
•Usually new
•Free!!
Cons:
•may not be quite what you would buy
•may feel obligated to dress your child in clothes you don't like because someone bought them for you.

Baby shower gifts
I was fortunate enough to have some friends throw us a lovely baby shower.
Pros:
•you can make a gift list, much like a wedding.
•when you dress your child in those clothes it's a reminder of how much he's cared for by others.
Cons:
•may not be quite what you would buy
•may feel obligated to dress your child in clothes you don't like because someone bought them for you.
•in my experience I ended up with a load of 0-3 month clothes and nothing else!

Car boots, charity shops and table top sales
Pros:
•usually very cheap
•some of my favourite items came from the charity shop
Cons:
•messy, and I have very little patience for routing through piles of clothes.

A pirate themed newborn vest I got from a charity shop for just 25p

eBay/gumtree/shpock
Weather buying bundles or individual items, this has been my favourite way to shop, although I didn't start to look online for clothes until Alfred was slowly growing out of his newborn clothes and I couldn't get out to buy any more.
Pros:
•you can search specifically for a type of garment
•can be very cheap
•it's a great way to get current in store items for a reduced price (especially next clothes)
Cons:
•postage costs can soon mount up so be aware and add it to the total you'd like to pay.
•it's addictive! Be careful not to splurge
•you don't hand over money, so whenever I think, 'oh it's only a few quid' it all soon mounts up.

Some of the greatest eBay purchases I ever made

'No you're not in established labour yet'

Labour does not happen like it does on television, well not in my experience.  My waters didn't suddenly break and a few our later, pop, baby.  

I first started to feel what I could only imagine were contractions on Monday evening.  I tried to ignore them, partly because I didn't want to jump to conclusions, after all when you've never been pregnant before, you have no idea what contractions will feel like. These felt like strangle dull period pains.  Another reason I ignored them was because I didn't want to believe this was it and that in a few hours my life would change forever!  Plus I really wanted to hold off until after Game of Thrones. 

Anyway after Thrones had finished I decided to tell my other half that I thought I may be having contractions.  He rang his mother to come over and he quickly went to check if the bags were packed and ticked through the list I made him for when I go into labour (sterilising the breast pump just in case, making me a sandwich etc etc).  I rang the labour ward just to ask them what I should do.  Advice (which became tiresome by the end) was stay at home until contractions are consistent a minute long and about 3 minutes  apart. So I stayed in bed, went to sleep, woke up the next morning to nothing!  Not even the memory of the type of pain I'd been experiencing. 

Tuesday we spent the day trying to follow all the advice we had been given, eat plenty, drink plenty, walk, bounce on your ball and all that.  Slowly and faintly the contractions began to return.  We played scrabble to take my mind off it and I watched episode after episode of VEEP.  By the evening the contractions were getting stronger and stronger,  I'd get a batch of contractions about 3 minutes apart, then I'd have a few minutes longer break.  My boyfriend kept telling me to ring the labour ward.  I was sure that it was too early but understandably so, he was worried and wanted reassurance that he wouldn't want to be delivering the baby himself.  I rang and we decided to go into the hospital.  I was examined and I was.... 2cm dilated!  After 24 hours of contractions.  So we were sent home because I was 'not into established labour yet'.

Wednesday was a very similar day.  The contractions were more painful and similarly to the day before they were about the same timings. In the afternoon I had an appointment with the community midwives for a sweep, which didn't happen because I'd already been examined a few hours earlier at hospital.  I explained the pattern of my contractions, to which she said not every woman has text book contractions and that mine may not end up being 90 seconds long and every other minute.  With this in mind and contractions getting more and more painful, we were back at the hospital on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.  I was examined and found to be between 3cm and 4cm dilated, and 'not in established labour yet'. I was given some codeine to help me sleep and sent on my way home. 

Thursday morning I woke up in quite a bit of pain, but not contraction pain.  I'd had some sciatic pain through pregnancy when walking,  this was consistent and I found it very difficult getting comfortable through the day.  I noticed that I was finding it really hard to get on and off the steep step in the garden because my right leg wounding comfortable swing forward and hold my weight.  So I spent the day kneeling over the ball and then trying to recline to reset and get comfortable.  It wasn't much fun.  Slowly, contractions built and I tried to get some rest.  I kept asking my other half to rub my lower back where the sciatic pain was.  He ran me a bath, I had a dip and then spent about 20 minutes struggling to get back out of the bath.  I then lay on my side in bed while he massaged my lower back, then woos!! My waters broke, before I could even contemplate what had happened I began screaming in pain.  Loosing the cushion between the baby and my back was absolute agony!  Particularly where my sciatic pain was.  I rang the hospital and said 'I'm coming in!  Don't ask me any questions!'

The drive over I was in so much discomfort, especially going around round-a-bouts, transferring weight from one butt cheek to the other.  We got to the hospital and I lost a lot more water.  Now my back was unbearable.  

Third time visiting the hospital, even the receptionist felt for me by this point! I got into the delivery suit to go through the same rigmarole of the timings of contractions.  I was honest and, predictably, I was told 'you're not in established labour yet'.  But she could see I was in a lot of pain with my back.  She gave me some morphine and said she would see how I get on with that and see if relieves the pain at all.  Through the night and into the early hours of the morning she kept coming back, asking me how I was and checking my contraction timings.  If I had a penny for every time she checked the contraction timer and said 'you're not in established labour', I'd have hired a nanny already. I was using an app on my phone to count the contractions.  As there is a greater risk of infection when the waters have gone, they do not like to check the progress of labour unless they are sure you are in ... established.. labour! So I started to lie and pressed the record button to fit in with what they said it should be.  The morphine began to wear off and I switched to gas and air. She came back and decided to check on my progress and see if it was worth me staying in the delivery suit. I doubt they would have sent me home given the pain I was in with my back, now migrating down my leg, but I think they wanted me out of the delivery suit. I was 8cm dilated.  I punched my fist in the air and say 'hooray, you can't send me home!' This was about 5am Friday morning.

At 7am the midwives changed shifts.  I now had the midwife and student midwife who had sent me home on Tuesday night.  My back and leg was getting worse and worse.  I kept complaining about a cramping feeling down my right leg.  After a while, it was suggested that I get onto my knees and lean over the back of the bed to try and move the baby.  I suddenly realised that I couldn't! My leg wouldn't let me.  I had three people help me to get into position, and in that position I screamed and swore more than I ever have in my life, combined.  Not because of the contractions, but because of my leg.  The midwife suggested we get into the pool to try and take some weight off my back and leg.  I got off the bed, took one step and would have hit the floor had my boyfriend not been holding me. My leg didn't hold my weight, it had lost flection and was numb! So I wasn't allowed in the pool anymore as they were concerned I wouldn't be able to get back out. Instead they got a doctor to come in to assess me, by making me walk around the delivery suite and do some leg exercises.  All I could think was, can't this wait?

My leg pain took over and I could barely notice the contractions anymore.  It wasn't until one of the midwives examined me, found that I was 10cm dilated and said I should be feeling the need to push soon, that I realised, I've felt the need to push for a while but had noticed! So i started to push, but found it hard as I couldn't really feel the contractions any more as it was completely over shadowed.  several times I came lose to asking for an epidural, but the rational part of my brain thought - if you have that, they'll blame any lasting problems with your leg on that!

After what felt like about 2 hours of pushing and 8 hours of "established labour", there was a very purple and confused looking baby on my tummy.  I had forgotten that at the end of labour there would be a baby.  The midwife said to me 'don't worry his head will go back to normal'.  I think she thought I was disappointed, when really I was exhausted, bewildered and in shock!  

I'd done it!

Little Alfred was finally here and weighed 6lb 5oz. And he couldn't have been more perfect, misshaped head and all.  (His head, which I actually didn't think was that bad was a lovely shape before the end of the day).

My leg still isn't back to normal.  I have very little flection in my ankle to raise my foot and I still have patches of numbness on my big toe, and the top of my foot and on the outside of my shin.  When I walk I sort of slap my foot on the ground.  Very elegant.

So anyone who's preparing for their first birth,  don't worry! It's not that bad, as long as you don't have sciatica.

When a stickler for time keeping is late: "Have you had that baby yet?"

Warning: This is a ranting post about being overdue and people's need to ask totally unnecessary questions or make dumb comments.

I was due last Wednesday, I'm now only 3 days (4 days by the time this is published) over due but if one more person asks me that question, I don't think I can be held responsible for my actions. 

As a first time mother, I have absolutely no idea what a contraction is going to feel like.  I hear it's like a bad period pain, but to be honest, I don't get those very much.  I always imagined contractions would feel incredible tight!  Like my insides are caught in a vice.  But thats not what my menstrual pains feel like.  So at the moment it's a bit of a guessing game. 

It's not like things aren't happening, things seem to be on the move and for a week now, I've felt like labour could begin at any moment.  On Sunday evening in fact I was so sure that I was in the very early stages of labour that I repacked my hospital bags and got myself into the bath thinking, "right the midwife said have a bath and take some paracemetamol, then try to get some rest, so bed straight after this". . . 

Then, nothing! 

Monday came and went.

Tuesday I woke up all aches and pains and thought, okay this could be it,  so I downloaded a contraction counter . . . then nothing. 

Wednesday I woke up early with bad pains, and thought this could be it! I'll start timing these, but I fell back to sleep.  I woke to find that the plug had come out too! Woohoo! Especially as this was my due date and I'd booked in for a membrane sweep.  But nothing! no more aches and pains.  So I went to my midwife appointment and told them the news about the pains and the plug.  She said this was great news and should mean the sweep could be a success.  But alas - the sweep was not possible as the baby's head was not quite low enough.  Not to worry, the midwife said we could try again in a couple of days. We booked a re-try for Friday.  I left with the knowledge that even though my cervix was soft and had shrunk, it had barely dilated at all!

Thursday morning I woke up early, horrible achey menstrual type pains all over my front and back. "this could be it, I'll start timing these in a bit" then I fell back to sleep . . . then nothing all day!

Friday morning I wake up, menstrual pains all down my legs and back.  "this probably isn't it, I should go back to sleep".  We make our way to the midwife appointment,  all geared up because I know what to expect now from a sweep (uncomfortable with a lot of pressure,  made worse by the fact that my cervix seems to be half way up my spine at these appointments, but not as bad as a cervical screen). Then the midwife, who was not the same lady as the one I saw on Wednesday explained that sweeps are more likely to be successful the longer you leave them.  I look at her with a face of 'so...?' She continues to explain that they can only legally do two sweeps (this was news to me), so if she does one today then that's my lot, and that it might be better to wait for next week when I'm 41 weeks.  I agree, after all they are the experts.   Then as I got in the car I though 'but I've not even had a sweep yet!'  When I get home I ring them back and explain that on Wednesday I didn't actually have a sweep, so surely that can't count as one.  We discussed it for a little bit, most of my arguments beginning with 'yes but...' However it seemed this midwife was adamant that the internal exam counts as a sweep.  So I decided to drop it and leave it hoping to see a more negotiable midwife next time, after all I'd just spent 5 minutes arguing her professional judgement, did I really want her carrying out the procedure now?

Late Friday night (Or Saturday morning) I wake again with the same menstrual pains.  "..." no thoughts this time.  It's just a thing that seems to happen.  

Despite all of the false alarms and the perpetual boredom of waiting, particularly when your limited to what you can actually achieve in the day with sciatica creeping down your right side after just a few steps, the worst thing about being over your due date, is people asking you if you've had the baby yet. 

Can you see a baby?  Can you see the size of my belly?  Do you think I'm crossing my legs to keep him in?  Do you really think I wouldn't let you know if I'd had the baby?  Do you not realise that despite the agony pulsating down my right side with every step I take, that I still try to walk at least 1 mile a day to get this baby out?  Do you not realise that I spend about 2 hours a day bouncing on my birthing ball while I slowly develop motion sickness?  Do you not understand how much sleep I am vetoing in order to sleep on my left side, even when my left hip feels as though it's going to crumble under the pressure, all because I'm told sleeping on the right side doesn't give baby as much room to drop?

I'm doing all I can to get this baby ready to be born.  He's just not ready yet!

I'm even trying all the old wives tales that everyone keeps recommending just  so I can say 'yeah I tried that it didn't work'.  All of which I am 100% don't ever work! If you ate a curry and went into labour, you would have probably gone into labour if you'd have had scrambled eggs on toast.

I'm trying hard to make the most of this time, knowing that life is about to change dramatically and I won't ever know peace and quiet quite like this.  But I hate waiting around! Especially for people! He should know this.  It's hard for me not being in control of a big life change like this.  Perhaps this is my first hard lesson of being a parent; my usual need to be in control and have everything organised and ready to go is now going to have to be ignored!

40 weeks 1 day

Babies and pets.

I have two beautiful cats who I love very much.  

Mops

Mops has been part of our family since he was 4 months old and has lived with us for the past 5 years.  He was a semi wild farm cat when we first got him and he was so terrified of us (people in general) at first.  But with a little time, some food and a few warm evenings in front of the wood burner, he began to trust us more and more and started to follow us all around the house. We both have a fabulous relationship with Mops, but him and my boyfriend are BFFs. Mops knows that he can go to Sam for some rough play,  he knows he won't say 'ouch!' when he play bites or grabs your hand.  He does this thing where he likes to bite Sam on the nose, never viciously, as though to hold him.  

Mops doesn't like having visitors round, he usually runs upstairs if he hears the door bell go.  But there are some exceptions of course.  Anyone who looks after him while we're away or anyone who can offer him a comfortable seat in front of the TV in the evenings.  Mops thinks our bedroom is actually his and any opportunity, he will get on the bed and sleep there, all day.  His favourite place is to take my place in bed as soon as I'm up, seeing as I did such a good job keeping the bed warm for him all night.  He doesn't mind being picked up and just generally loves to spend time with us whatever we're doing. 

Sali

Sali we've had for about 3 and a half years.  She also came to us at 4 months from a friend who couldn't keep his cats as he had to move to a new home which didn't allow pets.  I genuinely believe that Sali and I have a very special bond.  She takes turn in conversation and trusts me completely.  She doesn't get on with Sam as well as Mops does as I think she finds him a bit unpredictable and much prefers my way of play,  which is to talk to her and massage her. She often gives me a massage back too.  She is the friendliest cat I've ever met and I think sometimes she is a little confused about her identity as she spent the first 4 months of her life living with a dog.  Many of her mannerisms are dog like. Sali doesn't like to be picked up usually, but she lets you know when she wants to be picked up and hugged. She is also a little agony aunt for me.  She picks up when I feel down and will nuzzle my face and try to climb under my chin. 

Luckily both our cats get on very well.  Getting them together initially was hard work and heart breaking!  Especially as Mops always looked so betrayed.  But he soon asserted himself as the boss which Sali is fine with.  Occasionally they have the odd scuffle, usually play, sometimes its a little more serious but thankfully they know the rules and accept that they have to live together. 

Yep we love them very much.  Sometimes I worry that I won't love my baby as much as my cats! (I'm joking obviously.... kinda).

I'm so very worried that introducing a baby into the house is going to really upset Mops and Sali.  Sali has always been more interested in children than Mops, Mops seems terrified of them.  Sali is fairly laid back so I'm not as worried about her, except for when she wants a hug and I can't give her one for whatever reason.  We've tried to make sure that there are plenty of places to for the cats to go to get away from the baby if they need to.  They'll pretty much have access to the attic room through the day and will be kept down stairs at night. 

Best buds

I trust these cats completely, but until they have got used to the fact that baby is here, baby is here to stay and baby comes first I will not be leaving the cats unattended with baby.  As I said earlier Mops seems afraid of children, when Mops gets spooked he panics and I worry that he might jump in the wrong direction, or may try to play with baby the way he plays with Sam.  Sali I'm sure will be quite maternal.  She has never ever played rough with people (only Mops).  We even tried to get her to grab us with her mouth like Mops does but she just won't.  She's very careful around people.  However, Sali doesn't realise how sharp her claws are.  I mean cats claws are sharp, but Sali's really are like needles compared to Mops.  She's also very heavy on her feet.  When she walks across the bed at night you know about it.  It's like she's wearing steel boots. She loves a snug, warm cuddle so I worry she will get into the baby's basket.

So I'm looking for advice. What have you done to ease the shock of a new baby on your pets? How have you shown them that you still care for them, but baby comes first?

When space is an issue; Part 2 "So are you getting a new car?"

I drive a Fiat 500. My beautiful blue Fiat. I've had it for about 4 years and we've been through a lot! Within only a couple of months of getting the car, we had the most horrendous storm which brought with it hail the size of golf balls. My poor beautiful car was covered in what can only be described as car cellulite.

It was a long process going through insurance, but thankfully, they agreed to pay for the repair to the body. It was eventually taken in and repaired 6 months later (there was such a bottle neck if cars that needed repairing it took that long).

But anyway, back to the point at hand. As you may know the fiat 500 is smaller that the Mini. It's boot space is pretty shocking really, but it's always been fine for me. I spent days and days looking into how I can fit my new life into my fiat 500. Reading parent blog after forum after pram review, it seemed as though no pram would fit into my boot (or trunk) without removing and reattaching a wheel or two each time I use it. I was watching bugaboos and icandys on eBay, (personally they were too expensive for me to buy new, but the ones that seemed to promise to fit best were a particular, or new model and I was finding it hard to find the ones I needed.

I can't remember exactly how I found it, but I came across the Babyzen yoyo. I took the measurements and could not believe the space it would need (or rather wouldn't need). This pushchair folds small enough to be taken on as hand luggage onto a plane and be stored in the overhead compartment. It can even fit behind my car seat and the back seat. It really is a space saving dream. As mentioned before I need to save space at home too, this fits amazingly into the under-stair cupboard and can even been hung up.

The Babyzen comes with a seat from newborn to 6 months, then 6 months plus. It can be folded and opened up with one hand (while you hold baby in the other). It pushes like a dream with one hand. I understand it's wheels aren't designed for a range of terrains, but I plan on wearing baby should we go walking up hills on beaches etc.

Now it's very early days yet. I have no baby to test the Babyzen but I have faith that I've made the right choice, and, given its size and sleekness (and the fact that I don't need to change my car) I found the cost to be quite reasonable, especially as I was able to buy it while there was a promotion on at John Lewis.

Do you have a Babyzen? How have you found it? Or have you discovered another brilliant push chair? Especially if it fits your tiny car.

When space is an issue; Part 1 "Have you finished setting up your nursery?"

Erm, nursery? Not quite! 

I'm asked this question a lot, by lots of different people, and I feel a bit like an unorganised mess saying, "no we're not really having a nursery." Which k then have to follow with a whole explanation about the awkward layout of my house. We live in a 2 up 2 down Victorian semi detached. There's no hall way or landing. I think the kitchen and bathrooms may have been built later than the rest of the house. Access to the bathroom is through the back bedroom.

So we're a bit short of space in this house hold. But I love my house, I enjoy the challenge and it stops us from filling the house with clutter. It also means I get to spend hours trawling through pinterest. For the first 6 months we're advised that baby should sleep in our room anyway, so does he really need his own room just yet? I seriously doubt it. In the back bedroom (which was often used as a bit of a nothing room, it's been my studio/sewing room/office/music room) we have baby's wardrobe, my boyfriends chest of drawers, which also acts as the changing table, and a nursing chair.

Last year we cleared out the attic which is now the office/studio/music room come spare bedroom for visitors. Access to this room is also through the back bedroom. So putting a baby in there at this point would be a bit unfair and we'd hate to think we could be disturbing him every time someone went to the toilet.

We've considered a range of options for the future, I love this house so will try and stay as long as I can, but for now I'm pleased with the set up.

Some space saving measures we've taken comes from things we've bought. When you're tight on space it's no secret that ikea is your best friend. I bought this portable trolley to store baby's changing equipment, which looks like it's going to work brilliantly considering we're using reusable nappies. Apologies but I'm not too great at remembering what my ikea furniture is called.

I also found these small bowls at ikea which hang off the side of your changing table, perfect for topping and tailing the baby.

This wardrobe organiser also came from ikea and work perfectly well with the drawer organisers.

Have you had any problems with creating space for your new arrival? What space saving tips do you have, baby related or not?

Real nappies

We decided a long time ago, probably before we'd even thought about having a child, that having "real" or reusable nappies was the way to go. We've always been good at recycling and composting (although not so much since we realised we were filling the compost bin quicker than it could actually break it all down) but with two cats who mainly use the litter tray it felt like any way to avoid over filling the bin is worth investigating. We once missed the bin collection on a week where I'd bought lots of new things for the baby which came with non recyclable plastics, a week when we were deep cleaning and clearing the house too. It was difficult to manage making sure we could fit all of our non recyclable waste into the bin.

I was at a bit of a loss to begin with trying to figure out what was what with reusable nappies. The only ones I knew where the terry towels that I grew up on. But I had no idea where to look or what was needed. Is heard about a government funded site that (supposedly) told you all about reusable nappies, but to be honest it all felt a bit like jargon to me and j was still no clearer on where to begin. If anything it confused m even more as suddenly I learnt there were all sorts of different types of nappies you could get.

I decided one day just to see what existed in my immediate physical world. I took a trip to boots to see what they had. I discovered the brand TotsBots. Boots sold something called easy fit and some disposable liners. I still wasn't sure what I was looking at, but at least now I had a starting point. A local boots stocks some real nappy products, this was a decision maker for me as it meant if ever I needed anything in an emergency, there's always boots.

I went home and looked on the tots bots website. Things started to make more sense and to make it even easier for a novice like me they do trial kits and birth to potty kits. After lots and lots of reading descriptions and FAQs I decided that the two piece nappy set would be most suitable and financially viable for us. So I bit the bullet and bought the Peenut birth to potty kit. These two part system consist of a wrap, which (fingers crossed) can usually be reused with a clean pad at changing time. The pads pop in and out, you can change use more than one pad to maximise absorbency and use washable or flushable liners to catch the main offences.

The Peenut wraps are designed to grow with the child through the use of cleverly places poppers. According to the website they can be used on babies from 9lb onwards. So this left us to consider those newborn days. For the first few days we intend to use disposable (I hear those first few poos are like Tarmac). Tots bots make an all in one teeny fit to fit tiny babies in those early days, so we asked for people to buy us a nappy each for our baby shower (at the time they were half price). Unfortunately the excitement of a new baby means people want to buy you the things they like, which is lovely and we appreciate everything we've received! Although it does mean we've ended up with only four teeny fit nappies. But I guess that's 4 less nappies in the bin a day. (UPDATE!! I've just ordered 3 more teeny fit nappies as they currently have another discount offer, enter Gift50 at the checkout for 50% off. Plus there was free delivery on orders overs over £25 - before the savings!)

Humpty Dumpty design. Shows how the nappy grows with your child.

Anyway, back to the Peenut; I'm still a little confused about the washing process, I've had a sheet with a teeny fit nappy (bought as a baby shower gift) that says there's no real need to soak the nappies, but surely this would be best for your washing machine?

So I'm looking to you to share your experiences and any tips about using reusable nappies. What have you found works well? Do you soak your nappies? Have you used the Peenut system or something similar? How did you find it?

Making a playmat

Play mats can be pretty expensive, and I could not find one that I liked. Then one day I was walking through the market and stopped by the fabric stall. There I spotted some beautiful woodland themed fabric. There were so many patterns coming in a variety of muted colours. I found a delightful fox pattern, foxes wearing blue bows. Perfect! I wanted it, then I thought about what I could use it for. The play mat!! I hurried home an got onto eBay, found some wadding, some blue bias binding to match the foxes bows and some 'latte' fabric which I imagined would match the background pretty well. It didn't, but I'm not much of a perfectionist, I wanted it done and to say 'I made that'.

I didn't have a pattern for this quilt, basically I made it up as I went along and sought advice from the oracle (my boyfriends mother who taught me how to sew). What seemed like a lovely and straight forward thing to make turned out to actually be quite difficult and cost me two sewing machine needles and a lot of patience. Seemingly the issues I had were that quite simply, I needed a walking foot but didn't have one, the tread on my sewing machine could not be adjusted, my sewing machine was probably never designed to make a quilt, and I had no idea what I was doing!

Weeks later and I finally finished it. As with anything difficult, the fact that it's not going to plan really puts me off picking it up. But I really wanted it! It wasn't going to do itself. Several failed attempts to not catch the under fabric on the sewing machine when it didn't quite make a straight enough line (thanks to poor tread, no special foot) meant I had to finish quite a bit of it by hand. It's not my best hand sewing work. To make it even more difficult my cats LOVED IT! Whenever it came out they'd be all over me trying to sit on it. What felt like hours trying to get them off it was slowing me down, so I gave in and just let them sit on it while I sewed around them.

But anyway, it's now complete and lint roller. It doesn't look to bad from a fair distance away. Besides baby won't mind, it's somewhere comfortable for him to be sick on. Most importantly, this play mat come with one important rule: Don't look at the back!!

Now to convince my boyfriend to make one of these baby gyms.

I love the idea of this simple wooden structure. Not only does it look fantastic, it seems as though storing it will be simple and i like the idea of being able to change what stimulus could be hanging, maybe some black and white pictures and shapes first, the perhaps bold colours, moving onto natural materials, noisy things, photos of family. The possibilities are endless and will hopefully mean he won't outgrow it too quickly.

Instructions for the baby gym can be found here http://atilio.metromode.se/2016/02/20/monthly-makers-tra/

I can't read what i think is Swedish either but the photos look pretty self explanatory.

Instructions for the blanket (not that I have much faith in my own instructions)
2 pieces of fabric 1m x 76cm
1 piece of wadding 1m x 76cm
4 meters of bias binding (I overlapped a little)

Sandwich wadding between the wrong sides of the two fabric pieces, pin all around the edges to hold it all in place.

Pin and tack diagonal lines from the centre on the fabric (there was no way I could do this without tacking first as the fabric kept moving).

Sew beginning at the centre and working your way out.

Repeat to make a horizontal and vertical line.

Pin bias binding to the side you'd like as the front of your play mat and sew.

Fold and pin bias binding onto the back of the mat, then slip stitch to finish.

Being pregnant: part 2

Secrets, Sickness and Tiredness.

When it comes to discussing morning sickness, I'm afraid I have only bad news. My sickness started about week 6-7 ish (I can't be sure now, be prepared to lose parts of your memory).  I woke up and was instantly sick.  Most of my sickness occurred just after getting out of bed, sometimes after breakfast, sometimes at about 10am (while your at school and about to start your phonics lesson) and on occasion, not very often, in the evenings.  This made it quite hard to keep my pregnancy a secret.  Doctors will tell you not to tell anyone until after your first scan.  I had to tell my bosses and the other teacher in the base at work as I felt I needed the support (as well as the time off for appointments).  Family were told instantly, as was my best friend, who I wouldn't have been able to hide it from as we usually shared a bottle of wine at meal times.

Look away now if you don't want to read about what morning sickness is really like.

Morning sickness is quite different to other vomiting experiences I've had.  It's defiantly more draining and so very painful.  

If you are lucky/unlucky enough to be sick after getting up, you actually don't have anything to bring up, so it's fairly easy to clean and not get any in your hair.  However as there isn't anything in your stomach I found that I'd be heaving for ages before I was able to get anything up.  Each time getting more and more uncomfortable as I could feel my stomach almost turning itself inside out to get whatever the offence was out.  Then I'd get this awful luminous bile that I'm pretty sure, is the worst taste in the world.

If you are lucky/unlucky enough to be sick after breakfast, throwing up was much easier and less painful, but I found I had seconds to get to the toilet before it was forced out of my gut, and on occasion all over the toilet seat, down my clothes and in my hair.  When your in a rush to get to work, this is not very helpful.

Lots of people would ask if I was having sickness,  I'd say yes but to be honest, I was so happy to be pregnant that I didn't consider it a sick pregnancy. I wish I could say that after week 12, the sickness went away, as was many people's experiences, but it didn't.  It lasted until about week 30. Some weeks were worse than others. I seem to remember week 10 being the worst. Unfortunately, drinking water was one of my biggest triggers for being sick!  I got to a point in week 10 when I was in tears because I was so thirsty.  I survived by drinking Coca Cola, milk and eating Fabs.

All advice will tell you, and rightly so that you should follow a super healthy diet while your pregnant, drink plenty of water and always take your vitamins.  If only it was really that easy.  I had to eat and drink what I could, which unfortunately consisted of high levels of sugar and take aways.  I seemed to develop a love for beige food and went off my old favourites spinach, broccoli and salmon. I could not touch them for months.  I also went of tea, I remember before I knew I was pregnant, that I had a cup of tea and I thought to myself 'that was the worst cup of tea I've ever had'.  So I just didn't touch it until I got to my third trimester, I was offered one and forgot that I now hated tea so said yes.  Turns out I got over that eversion. 

One of the best things about those early months was the taste of milk.  Nothing could compare! Suddenly it was all I wanted and I would drink over a pint a day.  Something happened to me, the taste of milk become a delicious elixir!  I still frequently drink it now, but the magical pregnancy effect seems to have worn off somewhat. 

The tiredness!  I could not have expected the tiredness in pregnancy to be as bad as it was.  Throughout my first trimester, as soon as I got home from work I'd need a nap.  I haven't felt full of energy since August last year! I can't even remember if feeling full of energy is a real thing (and from the horror stories people like to tell you in the 3rd trimester, I probably never will again). I was promised that in the 2nd trimester sickness would subside (pah!) and the tiredness would go, I'd feel like I'd got a second wind - 3 weeks left until my due date and I'm still waiting for this to kick in.  I have felt tired since the beginning, 1st and 3rd trimester were definitely the worst but 2nd trimester was no walk in the park.

My advice: If you can follow a healthy diet, then do.  If you find this almost impossible as I did, don't worry about it, make sure you are eating and keeping fluids down, whatever they are. Stock up on iced lollies!  I don't know how they do it but they can make your sickness feelings disappear for the day, plus if your finding drinking difficult, it's a good way to get some more fluid into your body.  Buy sweets and keep them in your bag.  I found the fizzier the sweet the better.  I'd pop one in my mouth at work before phonics just to try and hold off the sick feeling for as long as I could. Take naps whenever you can.  

Being pregnant: Part 1

It's clear from talking to other mothers and mums-to-be, and ended google searches to find out if something is 'normal', that everyone's pregnancies are different.  Even pregnancies experiences by the same mums are very different, so all I can do is share my own journey through pregnancy.  

Early signs.

I We had been trying for a baby for some time, so I was very aware of any changes that occurred in my body as being potential early indicators of pregnancy.  Imagine my disappointment when once again, I could feel those horrible dull pre menstrual back aches. These lasted for a few days but nothing else materialised, but the aches were very real so I just kept assuming my period would start soon. Then one day, I had a slight bleed...but that was it,  there was no more. Confused by this I took to google before deciding whether or not I should see a real doctor (Dr. Google always has AN answer - not always the right one).  The more I read, the more I started to believe what I'd experienced was an implant bleed - caused by the egg embedding into the wall of the uterus.  

General advice was to leave it about 10 days before trying a pregnancy test so that the correct hormones were being produced and there was a sufficient amount to show up on your test.  I mangaged to leave it about 5 days.  It was a Sunday morning and I peed on a stick once again, trying not to get my hopes up.  I watched the windows carefully, and kept having to look away to make sure I wasn't just imagining the second thin purple line developing in the window. 

I sat there for a while, I can't really remember what I thought or did.  I just remember staying in the bathroom for a few moments.  I went down stairs and began a weird trembling sort of cry as I told my boyfriend the news.  I think I felt a mixture of joy and 'what the hell do I do now?' - my words exactly. (I'd just started a new job - I was about 8 days into the academic term).  My boyfriend's reaction, was much more composed than mine.  I remember him telling me to 'simmer down'  - a phrase he is sure will be used throughout the raising of a child as a full proof way of calming a person down. I carried out another test a few days later, just to be sure, even though I was told that a positive test is a positive as it gets. 

I used Boots own pregnancy test

Following this second positive test, I booked an appointment to see a doctor.  I was referred to the midwives service and was given a form to complete for an exemption certificate (this allows you to get your prescriptions for free throughout your pregnancy).

Waiting for an arrival.

Almost 2 weeks into my maternity leave and I'm getting very bored. So I thought it would be a good time to start keeping a blog of the things I like to talk about, but those who are usually available to listen aren't always all that interested.  

I'm an early years teacher in my 37th week of pregnancy.  Thankfully I've began my maternity leave (with the added bonus of the easter holidays).  Tiredness and those tiny chairs were beginning to get the better of me and many mornings as the children came into class I wondered to myself how on earth i managed to get myself into work that day.  Then realising I had a full on day of sharing a room 60 (yes 60!) 4-5 year old children.

I always find that I'm looking for information on blog sites, whether that be other's opinions and ideas regarding learning and development (more so for babies than young children now), as well as sewing, and general making ideas.  Why not have a go at starting my own?