Merry Christmas!

We are signing off here on the blog until the new year to spend quality time as a family and catching up on some much needed sleep! I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and have made some special memories, we certainly have. See you in the new year!



Christmas Tag

The lovely Emma from Emma and Alfie's World tagged me in this festive post. I cannot believe Christmas is just one week away! I am hoping that completing this post I will feel a lot more festive!


What is your favourite thing about Christmas?
My favourite thing about Christmas has got to be the precious family time. No matter how busy your life can be you always make time for family at Christmas. 

When you were a kid, what did you leave for Santa on Christmas Eve?
A mince pie, glass of milk and a carrot for Rudolf! This is a tradition I will pass on to Noah when he is old enough to understand what we are doing. 

Do you and/or your family have any Christmas traditions?
The Christmas soaps. Turkey butties watching trash TV after of Christmas dinner. Boxing day buffet at my Nanna's. 

When decorating, do you go all out or just do a small amount of decorating?
We only do a small amount. A tree, a few ornaments and tinsel here and there. Again once Noah is older and aware of everything we will put more effort into it. I love a properly decorated house. 

What is your favourite Christmas dinner food?
Pigs in blankets! But they have to be a little burnt!

What is your favourite Christmas movie?
It has got to be Nightmare before Christmas. Love a little bit of Jack! 

What is your favourite Christmas song?
All I want for Christmas is you! 

What was your favourite gift you've ever received?
As a child anything Barbie put you in my good books. These days I am happy with a bottle of perfume and some slippers. 

What is your favourite memory?
Just spending time with family every year. It's heaven. Last year was a good Christmas. We had such a laugh trying on cheesy Christmas jumpers and posing for cheesy family portraits. This year will be the best Christmas ever as we have our baby to spend it with. Our first Christmas as a proper family. 

Does it snow where you live?
It does. We had so much snow last year.

Do you own an "ugly holiday sweater"?
I do indeed. It has a huge corny reindeer on it. I love it. I wouldn't call it ugly though. 

Hot chocolate or eggnog? 
Hot choc! Never tried eggnog but it doesn't sound appealing. 

Have you ever been kissed under a mistletoe?
I haven't actually. The sacrilege! Maybe this year, eh! 


Wishing you all a Merry Christmas! 

First Car Ride

If you have been keeping up to date with my blog then you will know that I recently gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. After the emotional roller-coaster of labour and birth you have another daunting experience on your hands shortly afterwards. That car ride home.  



Your baby has been safe and sound in your womb for the past 9 months and the thought of that car ride home is so frightening. There are so many worries that run through your mind. Is the car seat fitted securely? Is the seat belt to tight? Is my baby fastened in correctly? Am I driving slow enough? Too fast? Can I trust other drivers on the road? What if we break down? Do we have breakdown cover? 

We made sure our car had a top to tail service before the baby was born as it would of been a total nightmare if we had of broke down on the way home from hospital. To be on the safe side we also invested in breakdown cover. It is good to know we have breakdown cover in case we ever did have the misfortune of the car breaking down.  

We also worried a lot about the car seat. The safest way to travel with an infant is firstly to have a car seat that is suitable for their age, weight and size. The car seat obviously needs to be installed correctly and seatbelt fastened properly. The baby needs to be wearing suitable clothing and the straps pulled tightly. The car seat shouldn't wobble and the drivers seat should be against the back of the car seat. Then you are all set. 

As soon as your baby is in the car with you it pays to be extra vigilant on the roads. You can be fully confident in your own driving but you can never be too careful with other drivers on the road. 


The drive home from hospital wasn't half as daunting as I had expected. He slept all the way through the journey and we were home in no time. 

How did you find that first car ride home? 


This is a PR Collaboration. 

Baby Diary: 1 Month Old


Noah Nicholas you are one month old already! It feels like only yesterday when you was in my belly, only yesterday that I was in labour but also feels like a lifetime ago. I miss you being in there squirming away but not as much as I love you being here with me. I feel so lucky to be the Mother of someone so perfect and I can't wait to see you grow. You have already changed so much. 

So let's have a lowdown on the month! 

Character
You are such an individual already. I can see you are just like me, a feisty little thing. You seem to know your own mind already and make little grunts when you want or need something. I find you so comical. I can't wait to see your personality to develop!

Size
You have grown so much since you came into the world. You piled on the weight straight away as you love your bottles so much. You never really lost weight and shocked the midwives every time they weighed you! You are filling out a bit more and I am loving your little pot belly!

When you were born you fit into newborn but now you are venturing into 0-3 months. 0-3 varies so much in size, some fit and some are still too big. We had mainly bought 0-3 before you were born as we were expecting a big baby but when you arrived at just 7lb 2oz we had to go out and buy newborn sizes so I am glad you get to wear all the bigger ones now! 


Health
We are very lucky to have a healthy baby in general. You have had a little reflux and do sick up a bit of bottle every now and again but I think that could be due to you drinking too fast sometimes. You also have had a bit of constipation early on in the month, nothing a little boiled water hasn't cured. Trapped wind also likes to make an appearance every now and again. I think that is what you struggle with the most, bless you. You do have very loud and frequent trumps though. Daddy and I have been in bed in fits of laughter at times when you have been beside us in the moses basket trumping like a trooper! 

Feeding

Well well well. You are a little greedy guzzler! Unfortunately breastfeeding didn't work out for us and I don't want to dwell on it because the pressure and stress from failing at it still upsets me. We are formula feeding and currently using first stage Cow and Gate. 

At the beginning of the month you would only take 2oz every two hours. Now you are having 4oz every 2/3 hours and sometimes that isn't enough! If we try to give you more you sick it up so we are going to be trying out hungry baby milk, we are really hoping it agree's with you and you will benefit from it. You sometimes feed for comfort too and love to have the bottle in your mouth when you drift off. I find it funny how much you enjoy your milk as milk was my main craving throughout pregnancy. You even loved it when you was in my womb! 



Sleep
We don't have much of a routine at the moment and what little routine we have isn't the best. You are just like your Dad when he was a baby and awake a lot of the time. You tend to stay awake until 1am in the morning without sleeping much at all throughout the day. You have even been known to stay awake, exhausted and worn out until 4am! You then will sleep through until lunch, waking for feeds and changes. Our clock is back to front! When you are awake you like to have our full attention and get bored very easily. You still don't like sleeping in your moses basket and most nights we co sleep until you are in a deep sleep and I then try to transfer you into it. In the morning's when your Dad has gone to work I bring you in bed with me. This is the area I really want to work on.




Milestones

- Lifting your head. You can lift your head for short periods of time. You have been able to do this for a while now but you haven't got full control though yet. 

- Becoming alert. It's incredible how alert you are. When we talk to you, you look into our eyes and take everything we say in. When someone walks into a room you not only follow them with your eyes but move your head too. It astounds me, you clever little boy. 

- Rolling over. I didn't think you would do this yet but you are able to roll over off your back to onto your front sometimes. You are really strong. 

- Smiling. I know it's wind but your smiles are the cutest. When we speak to you you do smirk though so I don't think it will be long until we have a proper responsive smile and I cannot wait. 

- More vocal. You are making a whole vocabulary of different noises. You make clicking noises with your tongue, grunts, squeaks and have just begun cooing. Even your screams are adorable. 

- Touch. You have begun pulling at my hair, grasping covers and comforters and touch people's faces. Not just a touch but you really have a feel and have even pulled my lip a few times. 



Things you like

- Milk, milk and more milk! You cannot get enough of the white stuff!

- Lights and Shadows. I love watching you gaze in fascination.

- The car, car seat and your pram. You like to be on the move.

- Being held and cuddled. You prefer to be close to us, little love.

- Sleeping in bed with Mummy!

- Snuggles on chests.

- Sitting up like a big boy. We have to hold you and your head of course but you love it and it actually settles you sometimes.

- Shouting! It's sounds like an oi! We always oi you back when you make the sound, it's a funny noise. The oi normally means you want yet more milk! 


Things you don't like

- Being put down. You like a lot of attention!

- Moses baskets. You are not a fan. 

- Getting dressed. You don't mind nappy changes or baths. It's just getting changed that you don't like. 

- Becoming overtired. You like to be awake and alert which leads to you becoming very overtired. 

- Being winded. You fight it so much and push back really strong. 


This whole month has been a total blur of exhausted bliss. My heart melts when I look at you and I still cannot believe I am your Mummy. I can't wait to see you bloom before my eyes. 

Noah Nicholas you are the love of my life.