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?