No more formula

With Lola’s first birthday fast approaching, and a holiday planned for the week after, we decided it would be a good idea to make the change from formula to whole milk. I guess like most mums, I was kinda nervous as to how Lola would take to the change. The main reason I wanted to do it before she turned one is because we are off to Disneyland Paris in November and I wanted to make it a little easier on us with everything we have to take!

With the whole weekend off work, I though that would be a great time to start. We’d dropped the last afternoon bottle during the week and swapped for a snack so it was only the morning and bedtime bottle she was having.

Saturday morning came and a instead of making the usual 7oz bottle of formula, I made 4oz and topped up with 3oz of whole milk. She drank it all no problem! So in the evening I made 3oz formula and 2oz of whole milk – again she drained the bottle! Sunday morning I made just 2oz of formula mixed with 5oz of whole milk and she wasn’t bothered at all, drank the lot. So Sunday morning it was no formula, just whole milk – 30 seconds in the microwave to take the chill off – and she was happy as Larry! 

I dont know why I was so worried, she took it all in her stride like she has during weaning. 

No more sterilising, no more making bottles! There is a big empty space on the kitchen side now, a part of me is even a little bit sad about it. I just can’t believe that she’s growing up so fast but I’m super excited for the next chapter – I no longer have a baby, I have a toddler!

  
Natasha x

Baby Darth Vader

Lola has her first proper cold, not the little snuffles she’s had before, I’m talking the real green dripping snot kinda cold!

We’re super lucky with how chilled out Lola is about pretty much everything (apart from not being able to get hold of that remote control that we keep taking away from her!), you wouldn’t even know she was a little under the weather if it wasn’t for the giveaway red and crusty nose. 

Seeing as it’s her first cold, we’ve been learning all about it together! It feels like we’ve gone backwards in the weaning department, lola has struggled with chewing while not being able to breath through her nose which has resulted in a few big lumps being swallowed, some choking and then some puking, so we’ve gone back to some smooth purée’s for easy swallowing, equalling a happy, full tummy for baby!

Bedtime hasn’t been too bad, just a few extra cuddles and she off to sleep pretty quickly, although she’s struggling with her dummy as she likes it for comfort at bedtime but can’t breath while sucking on it. Poor bubba 😦

The snoring is quite amusing though, it sounds like a mini Darth vader is coming from the monitor!

To try and clear her blocked nose, I used the Calpol Nasal Spray last night and it seems to have worked a treat and it isn’t so blocked today, just constant green goo running out instead! In fact, while sat here having my hair done looking in the hairdressers mirror, I have noticed a smear of snot Lola has left for me to discover on my shoulder. Perfect.

Natasha x

i’m still here! Busy mamma!

Once again I haven’t had chance to write for a while, it seems having a 10 month old, a new salon and a new house keeps you rather busy! I’m still here though, and may eventually get to write a bit more regularly!

Weaning is another thing that’s keeping me super busy! Its that time again when the freezer stash of homemade purée’s are running low and some more cooking is in order!
As I don’t get to feed Lola every day as I’m working, my thinking is that putting as much love into her food as possible will take some of the guilt away of not being there. It seems that cooking and puréeing until midnight a few times a week just isn’t practical and also results in a clumsy mummy – I dropped a whole bowl of just blended apple, blackberry and plum on the floor – not fun to clean up! (Thanks hubster for helpings its that mishap!) So I have given myself a bit of slack and had a bit of help now and again from Ella’s Kitchen, which Lola has enjoyed and been no less ‘loved’ by my lack of homemade food once or twice a week. Some of them are actually pretty tasty too!
I think i may have said before about guilt, and how its a huge thing that comes along with being a working parent, something I am learning alongside this crazy world of being a mummy. Well I think guilt needs two fingers and us mums and dads need to give ourselves a break, we’re doing a bloody awesome job!! 🙂

Seems I went off on a bit of a tangent there… Sorry! What I did want to tell you all about was Lola’s new high chair (well it was new when i intended on originally posting this!)! We didn’t have one for a while as we were due to move and the old house didn’t have a lot of extra space so we made do with a bumbo until we were in the new house.
After lots of research and knowing what kind of highchair I was looking for, we eventually settled on the Brother Max Scoop. So a small fortune later (£239 from preciouslittleone.com) and worrying i’d just brought it because I liked the way it looked, I was relieved when it arrived and all the reviews were right, I love it!

The button on the base raises and lowers the seat to the desired height, although you have to use a bit of muscle to push the seat down.

The catch above the foot rest removes the tray when needed, it’s stiff to pull it out – I almost broke a nail doing it! Since having the high chair though, we haven’t ever needed to remove the tray.

The pull out catch on the back of the seat allows you to twist the seat around to the desired position.
The seat comes with straps but you really don’t need to use them, which saves lots of time and fiddling with a wriggly baby! The tray alone holds baby safely in place, and the straps can be removed.
Cleaning is super easy as the booster insert comes right out and there aren’t any little crevices for half eaten rusks to hide.
Its pretty heavy which is good to keep it from moving around the room with a bouncing and dancing baby, but makes it a little hard to move around – not hard enough to have caused any problems though.
Lola seems to enjoy being in it too, and happily sits in it once she’s finished eating – which is always helpful if it’s mummy/daddy lunch time too!

Busy busy busy…!

It’s been a little while since I last wrote, we’ve had a very busy couple of months!

All of my posts so far have been about being a mummy and life with a newborn, this is of course my favourite job in the world but I had a job before Lola, and it’s a huge part of my life.

when I was 17 I went on my first nail enhancement course with CND (Creative Nail Design) and I was instantly hooked! I then continued to attend more and more courses over the years to build up my skills and experience, finally becoming an Education Ambassador for CND in 2012.
I set up a little treatment room in my parents house and alongside a full time job I worked most evenings and saturdays. Over the next 5 years, I built up a good customer base and in 2009 the opportunity came for me to quit my day job and become self employed full time. I began renting space within a brand new hairdressing salon and over the 6 1/2 years I was there, the business grew, allowing me to take on staff and expand.

I had always wanted my own salon, I even remember talking about it at school! So almost 3 years ago the search for my own premises began. I had a few places fall through and it looked like it wasn’t going to happen any time soon but the day Lola was born I had a phone call, a shop I had previously offered on had now become available and was mine if I wanted it! A good day all round!
On March 13th 2015 I picked up the keys and the work began! I’m lucky to have very supportive (and handy!) friends and family, so with lots of hard work, dedication and copious deliveries of Dominos Pizza, Niche Nail & Beauty Boutique was ready to open its doors!
May 2nd was our first day and it felt like home straight away. Whenever I’m there I never want to leave! My first ‘baby’ is now all grown up!

To add to the craziness of opening the salon, we moved house on the 13th of May to our first family home – but that’s another story!

It certainly has been a busy few months! 🙂

Natasha x

http://www.nichenailboutique.co.uk

http://www.sweetsquared.com/Education

Firsts – Weaning

For the last couple of weeks, Lola has been grabbing for my plate & cup and watching every sip and bite I take. Add to that waking up numerous times in the night, and all the signs were there that she was ready to start weaning! She is 5 and a half months and has been thriving on her milk up until now.

I’ve been reading Annabel Karmel’s book on weaning which has been very informative and has a great first tastes meal planner. 

Using the book as reference, off I went shopping!

I bought a Beaba freezing tray and also a Nuby tray. After using both, although the Nuby is handy as it has 9 cubes to the Beaba’s 7, it’s quite tough to push the frozen purée out, and get the lid off when it’s been in the freezer. The Beaba tray was a a lot easier and I will certainly be purchasing another!

http://www.johnlewis.com/beaba-multi-portion-silicone-freezing-tray/p174064?colour=Green

I got some cute little pink pots with lids by Vital baby, which are the perfect size while Lola is having small portions, but will also come in handy for snacks later on.

http://www.johnlewis.com/vital-baby-food-pots-set-of-4-various-colours/p151558

The spoons I bought were a Boots own brand set of 4, and for £1.99 you can’t go wrong. They are easy for Lola to hold and also nice and shallow for her little mouth.

http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Baby-Stage-1-Weaning-Spoons-Pink-4-Pack_1482941/

I didn’t buy a baby steamer and blender as I thought they were a waste of money, how wrong was I!

After steaming some carrots, then realising I couldn’t find our hand blender anywhere, I resorted to my Kenwood Kmix smoothie maker (for anyone else thinking this will work, believe me it doesn’t!!). Out came the masher – that was rubbish, so turned to a good old fork mashing! Needless to say, my kitchen looked like I had cooked a meal for 4, not just a couple of carrots for one little lady!

The next day I went straight out and brought the Beaba Babycook Original 4-in-1 baby food maker and It is worth its weight in gold!! I think Beaba have a couple of newer models but the original is only £71.99 and ultimately does the same job and its under £100! 

  

Since I’ve had the Beaba Babycook (it’s only been 4 days!) I have gone steaming and puréeing crazy! I’ve frozen copious amounts of Carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash, Apple and pear. Once frozen, I’ve popped them out of the trays and into resealable freezer bags which I can label with the contents and the date frozen. Takes up much less space in the freezer and easy to grab when needed.

I’ve really enjoyed watching Lola grasp the concept of food over the last couple of days. Even in just 5 days, she is realising what she’s meant to be doing, and is actually looking forward to her lunchtime now – unlike the first day when is was more ‘mummy, what are you doing to me!’ Than ‘ummm, this is yummy!’

It really is fascinating to watch, she still amazes me every single day.

   

     

All in all, so far so good! It’s safe to say, I might even be enjoying weaning more than Lola!

Natasha x

Firsts – Easter

It’s now Tuesday and everything is back to normal after the long weekend! I was lucky enough to have Friday to Monday off work but Nick only had Sunday and Monday, so we made the time count!

Lola woke up nice and early on Easter Sunday, I think she knew she had presents to open! We are getting her a jumparoo for Easter but as we’re about move we thought we’d hold off until we actually had the room to store it! She had some lovely gifts, some fluffy bunnies, toys, books and some new clothes, no chocolate just yet but I’m sure she’ll make up for that next year!

  

Once all her pressies were open and we were set for the day, Nick left us for a few hours to do some painting (there will be a separate post all about this soon!), and then we all went to the parents-in-law for a lovely roast. Was such a chilled out day, almost felt like a mini christmas just minus the tree!

After getting up to Lola just after 5am, I thought I’d check my phone as some close friends of ours were at the hospital awaiting the arrival of their baby, and I’m glad I did! Very happy for our lovely friends on the safe arrival of a little 6lb 7oz girl, Ella Rose Corne. Well done and Congratulations guys! ❤️

Monday was our first family day in a while and we were so lucky with the weather! We decided to take Lola for her first trip to the wildlife park! We are lucky to live just 15 minutes away from the Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford, although being bank holiday it took us over an hour to get in and parked. 

   

 

I think we enjoyed the animals a little more than Lola but she had a great time seeing new sights and hearing new sounds and even having a little snooze while being pushed around the reptile house!

So all in all, Lola’s first Easter was great! Although I’m very excited about having egg hunts in the years to come! Not sure if that’s for Lola or me 😉

Natasha x

Firsts – Swimming!

This will be the first in a series of posts recording Lola’s ‘firsts’, starting with Lola’s first trip to the swimming pool! (Be ready for lots of use of the word ‘first’!!)

We tried to go swimming for the first time last month but I hadn’t realised it had been half term so the pool was full and we were sent away. Today I thought I’d give it another go!

Our local pool has a village changing area which includes family and baby changing rooms which are really handy, they have a changing mat on the wall and also a seat with straps for when they are a little bigger. Lola wasn’t too keen on getting her swimming costume on (they really aren’t made for babies are they!!) but once we’d tugged her into it she was happy!



Luckily the pool was quiet, only two other mums and their children so not too much noise or splashing which meant it wasn’t too intimidating for Lola. Well I didn’t need to worry, she absolutely loved it! No tears at all, may have been a little bit of baby puke though, oops! We stayed in for about half an hour then decided we were wrinkly enough!

I can’t wait for the next trip to the pool now I know she enjoyed it!

Would love to hear how your first swimming trip went and also if you took anything with you that made it easier or fun with baby.

Natasha x

Tommee Tippee wipes

I presume Lola is like every other baby and loves throwing toys, teething rings and numerous dummies on the floor! It’s fine when at home as you can grab another dummy or rinse the toy but what if you’re out and about!? There are only so many spare dummies you can carry!

I came across these fab wipes by Tommee tippee while in asda, and In my opinion they are a must have when out of the house with the little one! 



The cheapest place I can find them online at the moment is mothercare, they are only 99p! 

http://www.mothercare.com/Tommee-Tippee-Closer-to-Nature-Soother,-Teat-and-Teether-Wipes/411935,default,pd.html

Natasha x

The big bed!

The time for Lola to enter her big bed came, luckily I’d got over the fact that she wasn’t in our room any more but seeing her look so dinky in her big cot bed still made me a little emotional! I know everyone tells you this, but they really do grow up fast!!



Loosing a dummy could result in major baby panic, so using a clip to make it easy to find is a definite must!

She slept like a log in her grobag and is loving all that extra space to wiggle about!

Baby’s own room

We are advised by the NHS that your new baby should sleep in your bedroom until they are 6 months old, I’m pretty sure I’d keep my little one next to me till she was 18 but that’s just not practical 🙂

When is the right time to move your baby into their own room? Is 6 months too long to have them with you? Is 3 months too soon? I think the NHS guidelines are fab but they are just that, guidelines. A bit like motherhood, there are no set rules, just a few guides out there to help us make the right decisions for our family.
Lola is now 4 months old and we’ve decided that now is right for us. We currently have her sleeping in a Moses basket which she is about and inch from filing and I’d like to place that in the cot bed for a week or two just to get her used to the new room before she’s in the big bed!

That first night has been and gone (tonight is the 3rd night), and I was definitely more bothered than Lola!! She slept like an angel, I only had to get up once at 3.30am – which I was glad of as I was desperate to see her! It felt very strange having a big empty space next to my side of the bed after 4 months of my little baby next to me. It was hard to not keep checking the monitor every 5 minutes!!

We are using the BT baby monitor 7000. It has a camera to place in the nursery and the parent unit has a screen which you can control everything from. You can connect 4 cameras to one parent unit if you want to have them in different rooms, if you have other young children, or in a playroom perhaps. It’s great as the camera has a night light and plays lullaby’s which you can set on a timer. Both the camera and parent unit take the same plug which can come in handy if you are travelling, as you could manage with just the one.

All in all a great monitor, I was just a little disappointed with the screen when it’s on night vision as it’s not as clear as I was expecting, but last night i put it closer to baby and it was much better.

http://www.shop.bt.com/products/bt-video-baby-monitor-7000-9V8D.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc%20product%20search&gclid=CJHc_ab0i8QCFdPMtAod7zEAFg&forcedesktop=true

Now I am over the emotions that come with Lola getting bigger and leaving my bedside, I have realised that I am actually sleeping better without her grunts and squeaks (although I love those little grunts!), and I’m pretty sure she’s sleeping more soundly without the sound of daddy’s snoring! 😉