Jabs

My little boy Logan had his first set of ejections today. I’m not sure who was more shaken up by it, him or me. He gave out a little cry but was very good, and me? Well I had to close my eyes. I couldn’t bare the idea that my little boy was going to be hurt. He was a bit grumbly for the rest of the day but other that the occasional need for a cuddle he was as good as gold. I still managed to get my Christmas cards written though, off in the post tomorrow.

Being A Mother

Just another ordinary, average day. After dropping Charlie off at work I came home and tidied up the havoc that one eight week old baby and one lazy husband can cause. The fridge is looking decidedly bare already but that will have to wait till Friday when I am going food shopping with my mum. Logan has once again been a complete angel sleeping six hours allowing me to get all my little jobs done and have a little me time.
One of my best friends sent me a text to day. It read like this

A mum has strengths that no one will ever know.
She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens.
She holds happiness, love and opinions.
She smiles when she feels like screaming.
She sings when she feels like crying.
Cries when she is happy and laughs when she is afraid.
Her love is unconditional.
There is only one thing wrong with her.
She sometimes forgets what she is worth.
Pass this on to every beautiful mum you know.
I just did x.

When I read this I nearly started crying. I think it sums up everything my mother is. That was when it hit me, I am now a mother. I loved my son from the minute I saw him as a little blob on a ultra sound but it wasn’t until that very moment that I realised that I was a mother. Logan will be looking to me that same way that I look to my mother and it’s a massive task. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother. We may have clashed on occasion but from the moment I found I was pregnant we have been very close. I hope that I can love and support Logan as much as my mother does me. One thing I do know is that I love my son with my whole being and I will stop at nothing to make him happy. I may not be the best mother but I will try damn hard.

Tips For Future Parents

Top tips for parents to be

1. Buy twice as many vests and baby grows than the books tell you. Logan has about 25 of each and I can tell you at times it is a life savour. That way you don’t have to do washing everyday and your baby will always have something to change in to when they decide to spit up on them selves.

2. Buy a pack of Muslin cloths. They come in large packs and are usually found with the reusable nappies. I use these to wipe up spit up or milk spillages. They can go in the washing machine and are a lot cheaper than using a wet wipe every time Logan dribbles.

3. Don’t buy too many nappies before your little one is born. There are great offers out there and it can be tempting to stock up but your little one may be the wrong shape for that brand of nappy. Logan used Pampers when we were in hospital but he kept leaking, I changed him to huggies and not a problem since.

4. Buy twice as many thick maternity pads than you think you will need. The guide books, or at least the ones I read told me to get two packs which I did. These lasted roughly three days and you should have seen the look on my husbands face when I asked him to get me some more. Even if you don’t have stitches you will be brused and sore and I found, especially at night that if I doubled them up I could actually get comfortable and there were no little accidents. All in all I went through six packs of the thick pads and two packs of the thin ones.

5. Pack three bags for your hospital stay. You will be surprised how much you need and lugging it all around with you can be a hassle. I packed one bag for labour, one for my hospital stay and one for coming home. When my mum came to visit she took the labour bag home along with anything I didn’t need and bought my going home bag in.

6. Pack lots of drinks and snack bars in your labour and hospital stay bags. Most hospitals will let you eat in early onset labour and I found it reassuring to do something normal. Once you have had your baby and are feeling battered and brused the one thing you are not going to want to do is wander around in the middle of the night trying to find a vending machine because your starving after having fed your baby. Don’t pack anything fizzy though, just water. You fill feel the benefits when you go to the loo.

7. If your baby is due in the winter, while you are pregnant the shops will be filled with irresistible summer clothes that you know will not be practical for the season your baby is born in. I found it hard to prepare in advance as Logan was due in the October until I discovered long sleeved baby vests. A pack of these meant that he could still wear the cute short sleeved outfits that were in the shops and still be warm enough. The added bonus is that his clothes last him that little bit longer, instead of having to put them away as impractical he can now just grow out of them instead.

8. Try and buy babygrows with attached scratch mitts. Logan throws his off with regular inevitability and I lost more than I could count. If they are attached to the babygrow he can’t lose them and if he gets a little warm they just fold back.

9. Take full advantage of your nesting instinct. When your little one arrives time becomes very precious and you don’t want to miss his first smile because you are dusting. Try and get your washing up straight and do all those little jobs that have been bugging you. It will be easier to maintain a tidy house and you won’t cringe when people come over to see you. Enlist the help of friends and family, they won’t mind a bit.

10. Buy a changing box and keep a set of changing gear in the most used areas of the house. Logan sleeps in a moses basket next to our bed so there is a small basket next to our bed for night changes with nappies, wet wipe, nappy bags, nappy cream and a change of clothes in it. As my husband goes to bed early for work I keep a box downstairs with the same in so that we don’t disturb him in the evening. I keep all the bulk of Logans stuff in his nursery and go round and re stock every morning so that I don’t have to run around looking for something.

11. If you are breastfeeding, put a fresh breast pad in on the side you are not feeding from. The stimulation of one breast may trigger the other to leak. Not pleasant and can be uncomfortable.

12. If you are bottle feeding buy a bottle warmer. I take mine upstairs with me when we go to bed so that I don’t have to go downstairs to warm Logan’s feed in the night. That way I can change his nappy and comfit him while I wait for it to warm.

The Reindeer Suit

I ventured out with my mum today, to try and get the last of my Christmas shopping done. I know my son is only 7 weeks old but I really wanted to get him a little Christmas present. He won’t appreciate it, play with it or even know what it is for at least another two months but as it is his first Christmas I wanted to give him something. So off to mothercare I troop, his doting grandmother in tow. One of the benefits of being a mother is parent and child parking spaces. I still get a little thrill from parking in one. I love mothercare, its full of temptation for a new mum. With Logan being my first its very hard to resist the temptation not to dress him very silly outfits and mothercare have their fair share of them. As it is Christmas you can now dress your child as a reindeer, a snowman, a penguin or even a Christmas pudding. Everything in me tells me that they are just awful, tacky and hideous and that I should never consider dressing my little boy in such a demeaning outfit but somewhere along the lines, probably during my stay in hospital these outfits became impossibly cute. I think they must have given me too many drugs. It seems that by becoming a mother somewhere along the way I have lost all sense of style. You will be pleased to here that I didn’t buy my son a novelty outfit as you see there is no need. His auntie Emma has beaten me to it. She bought him a reindeer outfit last week and as much as I hate to admit it, it is unbearably cute and he will look adorable on Christmas day.
After picking Charlie up from work and fighting my way through the traffic at Aztec west, we come home to a very cold house because once again we have run out of gas. I can’t get on with having a card meter, we keep running out because I forget to check if there is money left on it. Because I have been out all day there is a very bored and hungry cat waiting for me along with a mountain of housework. I gave Fincher our cat double food before I went out but, the little pig that he is, he had eaten it all in one go and was meowing like mad when I got in for his next lot. So I feed him then ran around for the next two hours doing all the little jobs that it takes to keep a three bed house tidy when you have a new born and a very messy husband. I swear I have never done so much washing in my entire life than I have done since Logan was born. He seems to spit up on everything regardless of how much I wind him. So he has about three changes a day, that along with the sheets and blankets he inevitably spits up on as well means I’m washing at least one load every other day. Add in all the washing that two adults create, usually with spit up down the shoulder, I always have washing to do. All that said I love seeing Logan’s baby clothes drying on the radiators or on the line. It just feels so mumsy knowing that im looking after my little man. Oddly enough my husband’s boxers on the radiator do not instil such warm feelings, go figure.
In between the bottle warmings, the washing and the nappies I managed to squeeze a little time to work on one of my projects. I have been working on many craft projects for months and tonight I finally managed to get some time to work on a crochet afghan that I have been adding to for months. Worked in light cherry shades it comprises of ten different pattern blocks. I’m making ten of each of these to make up one hundred. So far I have about fifty so half way there. Pictures to follow soon, hopefully when I have it completed. I am hoping to have it finished by Christmas but as the festive season gets closer I must start work on my Christmas cards. Just another job for tomorrow.