Tag Archives: parenting
The bane of our existence… WIND!!!!
We hate wind in this house. Not the weather kind but the newborn struggling to bring it up kind.
Actually thats a lie we think adult wind is funny unless its a evacuation of the room type of blow out (come on be honest flatulence is funny)
Its baby wind we despise.
Some people are fab at bringing up wind others mmmm not so good. Me I’m in the middle. If its during the day and I dont have to see to Max because for example his tipped his entire plate onto the floor then im a fab winder.Its all about having the time which sounds mean but with 2 kiddos you need to assess each situation on a ad hoc basis.
At night I tend to get a bit lazy.
To be fair im usually knackered and gagging to sleep by then (anyone with a newborn will be able to relate)
Tonight seems to be good so far for the wind and im thinking its time to go up to bed.
Wow I look tired. Kai on the other hand..
This is my view right now. You really cant beat snuggles with a baby whatever the age. Hes having a good giggle in his sleep,I’m glad one of us is having a good time.
Please also excuse the double chin I just had a baby.That has to be the greatest line ever thou Ive been told im not allowed to use that as a excuse anymore (the phrase “whatever” comes to mind)
How are you at bringing up the windypops (baby speak for wind)?
The transistion from cot to toddler bed
If you’ve read any of my previous posts about Max and he’s new room you’ll know that we finally finshed the room on Thursday night.
The gate went up and he had his first night in his new room.
What a bloody first night it was, in a word it was a nightmare. He didnt want to sleep he wanted to bang the door a million times (the wall now has a lovely handle shaped dent in it) he wanted to shout at the gate and run around like a nutter.
The net told me to just calmly take him back to bed when he got out,to avoid any type of communication and definitely NO EYE CONTACT. I did this 50 times before I realised this methods bullshit and wasnt working for me.
Then came the crying ,uncontrollable sobbing. I relented and soothed him (being his first night and all). Still didnt work I had barely shut the gate before he was up again.
By this time it was 10 pm and I was at my wits end.It was time to bring in the big guns(daddy). Somehow he settled him and Max decided it was time to sleep. Sleep he did all the way to 7 am for his bottle then till 8.30am.
The second night we went out, Max’s aunt offered to babysit (crazy girl) and he went down at 9. A huge improvement on the night before. This time I was told instead of door banging it was dragging his dummy across the gate. He slept thru again similar times to the night before.
Last night was night 3. We had been at a friend’s for the day so it was a late night for him we put him down at 8.30. I had 30 mins of chat then sobbing. I went in to him once. It was really quiet upstairs so I tiptoed to check on him and lo and behold he was asleep HURRAH. He woke during the night (I think a bad dream)I went in and soothed him and back off he went. Touch wood hes still asleep now.
Errrrr thats not your comfy bed.
Im hoping that the rest of the week goes well. I realky want him settled in there before new baby arrives (if he ever decides to make a bloody appearance)
Don’t sweat the big stuff
Before I had Max I had a really clear view of what kind of parent I wanted to be.
I think it’s a commen theme amongst first time parents you get it in your head that everything in baby land will be black and white. Then reality hits hard nothing is black and white EVER.
I wanted to be a fun but firm parent. I wanted every moment to be magical for my son I wanted to be encouraging him with everything we did together.
Yeah so that’s not real life. When there first born it’s easy all they do is sleep eat and poop (if you have a boy they also wee on you A LOT) then they start hitting milestones which is really exciting. You feel a great sense of a accomplishment and pride the first time they do anything. You feel like you really helped them to achieve that milestone.
Then the first birthday hits and that all goes out of the window. They become more restless and frustrated as they hit the bigger milestones like walking and talking. That’s when the tantrums arrive with a bang.
Tantrums make parenting super hard. I find them draining. I used to get so upset when Max would scream and bang his head on the floor (thankfully he seems to be growing out of this phase).I also found max was a nightmare for me but a angel for his dad,it must be me I used to think he must hate me I must be such a bad mum.
My hormones probably played a big part in how I was feeling. Now when my head is clear i see this is not the case. Max is with me all day,he sees his dad for 3o mins before bed during the week of course he’s going to act out for me.
Being pregnant (especially now at 38 weeks) I have let the boy get away with murder and I’ve prob been a bit soft with him. This is something were going to revisit once we’re all settled as a family of 4.
I guess the main gist of this post is that as parents we put the bar so high but in reality we need to just give our self’s a break. I’m always seeing memes saying the same thing… you know blah blah your doing great. Truth is most of us totally are. The way I see it now is don’t sweat the big stuff it’ll all fall into place in the end.
Max Update
Can you believe I still don’t have my phone back. This is week 3, WEEK THREE I’m on the verge of a breakdown can you tell :).
Samsung have basically given up trying to fix the screen and have instead offered me a new one, which is great but ….. they have the most longest process of getting a new phone out. Its pretty ridiculous when you think we could just walk into a store and pick one up.I think it’s a case of poor communication between one department and another.
Being phoneless is driving me nuts.My whole life is on that device, which when you think about it is pretty sad. What did we do before smartphones and I have to say I don’t know.
Don’t you feel liberated my husband asked me in week 1, no I feel lost was my honest answer. This morning I’ve decided to get on the PC and get a few posts out.I’ve worked hard on this blog over the year and I don’t want it all going to waste now.
So bare with me the posts will be a bit thin on the ground but once I get the beloved smartphone back you’ll be hearing much more from me ( yayyyy I hear you cheer).
I really want to do a post about Max. My blog started as homage to the mad one and how he has changed my life. He still is very much my main focus but what with baby number 2 on the way and a few rants sometimes his progress report slips to the wayside.
Max is 19 months now (amazes me how quickly time has flown) and a real cheeky chappy (chappy being a polite way of saying sod). He achieves so much each day. When your babies are little babies every new milestone seems so huge. The first smile, laugh,roll,crawl,walk everything is so momentous. Once they get a bit bigger the milestones are still just as a big deal but are slightly smaller if that makes sense (which i’m aware it probably doesn’t). Let’s break them down :
Walking :
As most of you know Max started walking at around 15 months. To some this is a little late but to us he walked exactly when he was supposed to. Were encouraging him to walk when we go out places (though this often takes ten times longer because he has a obsession with cars and window displays) he is the proud owner of his own set of reins. They really are the best invention although sometimes I do feel like i’m walking a dog. Recently he’s added running and jumping to the walking skill set which is always funny to watch.
Talking:
This child definitely takes after me in the respect that he is a chatterbox. He doesn’t stop talking.Easily 90% of the time we have no clue what he’s saying but we nod, smile and join in the conversation which seems to please him. When he makes noises we don’t make the noise back. The idea being we want to engage him with words not sounds. The word catalogue is getting pretty extensive the most recent being “apple” “Up and Down” “a ball” and ” goal”. Hes a prize mimicker and will try to repeat anything i ask him to.
Tantrums:
Sadly it’s not all fun and games in our house, the tantrums are still occurring. They do tend to change shape though. We’re seeing less head banging (which is nice for me) but we still have a lot of drop and roll. He is having tantrums at the drop of a hat. Mainly if you tell him now or try to take him away from something he was doing (like trying to get him to have his nappy changed when he’s playing). I try really hard not to be a mean shouty mum but sometimes its hard not to be. I try and catch his attention and lure him away from his toys. More often than not this doesn’t work and I resort to pick him up which is when all hell breaks loose. The tantrums are here to stay for a few years yet there just a part of kids growing up. Hormonal me feels a bit sad lately like the tantrums are my fault but sensible me knows in the back of my head that really they are not.
Overall Max is a good kid who has his moments.
In six weeks his life is going to change all over again and it makes me nervous that I can’t predict how he is going to adapt to that. We’re just going to have to roll with the punches on that one.
You may have noticed
That the past few days have been a bit up and down for me and Max. Especially it seems in the afternoon. I know why he’s being a sod it’s because he’s tired. I need to find a balance between Max getting the sleep he needs during the day and sleeping well at night. Let’s not kid ourselves were not at out best if we are sleep deprived.
Max is a good kid il point out, 90%of the time he is actually a well behaved toddler. He also only tends to be on the naughty side with me which I prefer. His social skills are excellant and he is so affectionate.
I don’t however want my blog to be just about the good side to parenting because in real life parenting is about the ups and downs.
I’m with my boy 24/7 7 days a week (with the odd day off when he spends the day with nanny and granddad). I’m not a drop off parent. He is my son, my responsibility nobody else’s (apart from his fathers).
Am I a good parent is something I ask myself regularly. I think the answer is time will tell. I just have to make sure I help Max in as many ways as I can.To not ever hold back his development bit to encourage and praise where needed. He leads a happy life with a mother and father who love him.
Of course were going to have days like yesterday afternoon after all were only human.
The afternoon I lost my shit
This morning got started off relatively ok. Max had his morning bottle and nappy change at about 6 ish then he slept/played in his cot till about 8.30.
We had midwife at 9.45 do it was breakfast clothes and out the door by 9.30.
Breakie was intreasting I usually feed Max weetabix cos it’s so bloody messy but I’m really trying to get out of the habit. Max switched it up using both his hand and a spoon to get the cement in his mush.
The midwife went well apart from Max crying when I had to do my urine sample. When the midwife had me on the bed to measure my belly and listen to baby on the doppler I had to hold his hand to keep him calm. The nurse then took my bloods and he just lost the plot. It was all a bit to much for my poor bubba.
I would like to say we had a quick trip in the shops after to pick up some basics and get the boy a little treat but let’s be honest Max was walking (reinless I might add) there was nothing quick about it. We nearly had a catrosphoe with some eggs but I got down there in just the nick of time.
Once home baby boy went down for the nap he so needed and mummy had a hot chocolate and some chocolate digestives which she so needed.
After lunch we had a pleasant time playing in the garden, thou Max didn’t quite understand that stones aren’t food. Then we went to the park.
It all sounds lovely I hear you say . It wasn’t destined to last. I told Max no he couldn’t play with my phone. This resulted in 3 hours of meltdown. We had headbutting,crying,whinging. At one point he tore my glasses from my face. The continuous trying to hit the TV was the final straw and I’m sad to say I did shout at him (there may have been a swear word in there as well).
Come 6 I’d had enough I was ready to just put him to bed an hour early.
I decided to try a bath instead by which time his dad had come home and took over. Thank the Lord. Of course at that point max turnt back into cute angel child making me look a fool.
Bloody kids they drive you barmy!!! Please tell me I’m not the only one to have lost her shit in this way 🙂
Max in a million
Lately a lot of my posts seem to be based around Max and he’s behaviour.
Yes he is turning into a monster who will have a meltdown over the smallest thing but he is also one of the kindest ,loving funny and very affectionate kid I know, Of course I’m totally biased as he is my son.
Max has always been around other babies. I started taking him to classes when he was 5 weeks old (massage and yoga). This I beleve has helped with his development and social skills. We still go to a class for toddlers once a week but we also tend to stop in on more playgroup type of activities and as of very recently swimming.
With children you really do get back what you put in. If you just do the same thing everyday and fail to stimulate your child’s brain they will get bored and act out. If you are constantly dumping them on others they will start to disassociate themselves from you ( well that’s my opinion anyway). Not that we don’t all need a break every now and again I know I do.
Max was such a good baby,we really were very lucky. He was really chilled out and calm. I think a lot of that is down to his environment. We lead very drama free lives and our home is very calm (most of the time). This had a impact on Max growing up.
Everyday Max changes and progresses and thou it’s sad to see my baby not being a baby it really is a pleasure to watch. I never really felt I achieved much in my life but my son is defiantly my greatest achievement.
If we get so lucky with the next baby boy then that will be amazing. He sure has a lot to live up to 🙂
MAM 12 month + sports cup
Our friends at MAM recently sent us a new cup to test and review.
The cup is aimed at an age range of 12 months plus. Unlike Max’s other tommee tippee sports cup (which is a pile of rubbish) this one has a flow valve which basically means Max won’t get covered in juice every time he takes a swig.
One of the great features of all MAM cups and beakers is that they are all completely interchangeable, thou this is not a feature I would use.
I was presently surprised to find the cup was green and not blue. To be honest I get slightly sick of the pink for girls and blue for boys.
The bottle is large but Max had no problems holding it. In fact it’s been a big hit with him, he drank 2 cups full of juice as soon as we received it in the post.
I find nearly all of Max’s cups and beakers leak which is sooooo annoying. This one keeps leakage to a minimum. A word of warning thou, the cup needs to be kept upright in transit with the lid on. Otherwise when you take the lid off you will end up with a wet sleeve as I did today.
The sports cup was dropped today from approx high-chair height and the lid stayed firm.
The cup costs £5.99 which I do find slightly steep, however I always say you buy cheap you buy twice.
Screaming child
So in addition to crying, drop rolling and heat butting mainly walls and floors we now have high pitched screaming to add.
Seriously what is up with the screaming it’s so high pitched I’m sure all the dogs in the neighbourhood can hear.
I try to ignore it as I guess he’s doing it for attention. It’s so hard the noise goes right thru me.
We’ve stopped afternoon naps and he didn’t have much of a sleep this morning so this afternoon has been a testing one.
To top it off I think dans off out so there will be no end to the long day 😦
Max and Kai The Blog 