The Mary Poppins Effect

Remember the scene in Mary Poppins, where she pulls all manner of wonderous things out of her oh-so-shabby-chic carpet bag?
I used to dream of having a bag like that.
Turns out, all you have to do is become a mummy, and get yourself a nappy bag.


Karin, over at Cafe Bebe, has challenged me to show you what's in my bag, so here we go...


My own bag of choice, is a Ju.Ju.Be in a stripey turquoise sort of flavour. (Which just so happens to match my turquoise Xplory beautifully.  Neurotic, moi?)
I love it - it's not too big, not too small, full of useful pockety goodness, and it's pretty. (But not so pretty that the Mr feels like too much of a girl to be seen with it.)

I also carry a handbag too, simply because they are one of the loves of my life & I feel naked without one.  It changes frequently, but is currently a little black cross body deelie, customised with a girly corsage.


So, what's in my bag?  Lots.  First up, the JuJu...
(NB: I have not edited the contents, I promise.  If it seems impossibly neat, it's because it is. I'm an OCD loony & dejunk my bags at least every other day!)

Front Pocket:

My Diary & some pens - various magical teething potions (Gel, Little homeopathic tablets that really are magical, and Bickiepegs which are a truly genius invention.) - Emergency Dummy - Mirror - Hair clips & band (For mummy hair emergencies) - Tiny pot of sudocreme - Cocoa butter lip balm - Body shop lip gloss - A Nail file.
There's also a handy keychain attached to the inside pocket, where I keep an emergency front doot key for those air headed 'crap i've locked myself out' moments.  And, theres a little secret zip pocket where I keep an emergency £10 note. (Which currently needs to be replaced.  Yes, Latte & Cake with a friend was an emergency.)

Front Section:

Emergeny clothes for the little dude - jeans, tee, vest & socks - Muslin square (never leave home without one!) - Bib (Soph4Soph, of course!) - Nappies - Wipes - Calpol - Hand Gel - Another tiny pot of Sudocreme - Body spray for mummy - John Frieda Glossing spray (For emergency frizz outbreaks) - Tissues (read napkins, aquired from many a friendly coffee house) - A book for the little dude (changes frequently, but there's always one in there - at present, we're working on numbers :D) - Mummy's mini makeup bag. (Which contains: Mascara, Lip Gloss, Powder compact, Vaseline, and another nail file.)

Phew! Still with me? We're nearly there.

Back Section:

Is all about food. A bottle - formula - sippy cup - spoon - little pots of snacks (rice cakes, organix crisps, rusks & the like) - milky bar buttons (which mummy never, ever steals) - plus whatever I pack for the little dude's lunch in the morning.

And lastly, Mummy's bag:

Contains, purse (H&M circa 1990, possibly the only purse I haven't lost within a year of buying.  I love it.) - Mobile (not fancy, not high tech, but does it's job, and it's pink.) - More lip glosses - a tiny mirror - chewing gum - sunglasses & Dylan's fuzzy caterpillar finger puppet.

My camera generally lives in there too, but couldn't get in the picture as it was too busy taking it.

And there you have it. I'm thinking that now LD's getting bigger, more mobile & generally becoming more of a monkey everyday, I should probably get some plasters to bung in there too. Any other suggestions of what I'm going to wish I had in there in the next few months?

Better still, take up the challenge - show me what's in your bag, leave me a link in the coments & I'll come steal all your good ideas :D

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You know you're a mummy when...

...you lose the ability to frivolously spend money.

Yes, it's true. I've lost my senseless spending spree gene. Where did it go? I don't know. Will it ever come back? Only time will tell.

Let me explain...
last weekend, The Daddy and I decided to take The little Dude on his first trip to Brighton. (That's code for mummy has dropped some baby weight so deserves a little Primarni-based treat.)
The Daddy had just got a little bonus at work, and since we'd been super frugal for a few months (and did I mention, dropped a little baby weight?), he offered to treat me to a wee fashion splurge. (Yes, I love that man.)
So we jumped on the train and off we went.

First stop, Primark. Always fills me with excitable giddiness. Generally, on hitting Primark, I'll spend around £50 & come away with 2 big brown bags full of loveliness. I have a specific route I always follow so as not to miss a single rail of bargainous fashion - you may call it sad, I call it efficient. It's a big store. Basket in hand, Daddy pushing pram behind, off I went.
Forty minutes later (told you, it's a big place, and I'm very thorough), in my basket was a top, a bag, a brooch, and a necklace. Total cost: £10. Pathetic.
Upstairs to bambino goodies - picked up a few bits, but still not terribly impressed.
Queued and paid, left a little disappointed, but still hopeful that H&M would yield better results. (especially as there are now TWO branches - deep joy!).

After a Starbucks vanilla latte to energise & regroup, we hit store number one.
Come on Hennes & Mauritz, lay your couture goodness on me.
Or just three pretty dresses in the whole place, all in stupid little tiny size sixes.
FAIL.
We're down, but not out. There's still the original H&M in Churchill Square. Where an emo-punk-princess bomb appears to have gone off.
DOUBLE FAIL.
Okay then, H&M Kids.
NOW we're talking.
Pretty much my whole splurge budget goes bye-bye on tiny clothes covered in robots and monsters and such.
And that's when it hits me.
I actually don't mind.
Sure, I'm gutted to not be strutting home clutching bags of new pretties, but I can't wait to see my little man in all his new goodies :)
It's official, I'm a mummy.

My 'haul' for the day looked like this:


The Little Dude's, looked like this:


That's the way to do it!

Of course I'm not saying that I'm done with my wayward shopping spree ways altogether, but it seems that without me even noticing, my priorities have really changed. Which is probably a good thing, if a little disconcerting at first.
I even find myself reconsidering SALE bargains - 'sure, it's only a fiver, but that fiver would buy a week's worth of nappies' - that is scary stuff.

Got me thinking though, I'm only 4 and a bit months in - what other madness is going to creep up on me out of nowhere? So, my lovely friends, do tell- what have been your defining 'OMG I'm a mummy' moments so far?
(And somebody, please, tell me I'm not likely to suddenly stop loving loud noisy guitar based music & discover a penchant for Ronan Keating. Please?!)

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We'll be weaning in style now...

{30th March: Edited to add: Since seeing how much The LD loves his Tripp Trapp, four of my mummy friends have purchased them for their own children - that's how great they are!}

In case you missed me jumping round in excitement last week, The Little Dude & I got a little lucky... we won a shiney new Stokke Tripp Trapp in the competition over at Mummy Tips - hooray!


And today as the nice delivery man dropped it off, I got all over excited again!


I ripped open the packaging and laid all the gorgeous chunky pieces out on the carpet - like a beautiful Scandinavian jigsaw. With screws.
I had a brief 'boo hiss, going to have to wait for the Mr to get home to put it together - super pout' moment, before finding my determination & convincing myself it couldn't be that hard.


I was right.
Do not let ideas of flat pack doom put you off getting a Tripp Trapp. Yes, it does come as a box of bits, but this is not your ordinary flat pack where you end up with too many 'e' screws and not enough 'g', and the pre-drilled holes don't match up, and there's always a chipped piece, and the instructions make as much sense as your favourite drunk uncle at a family wedding... oh no.


This is as simple as it is chic. Ten screws, (complete with magical alun key so no need to stress about tracking down the right kind of screwdriver) and nine pieces, which clunk together beautifully and effortlessly.


About 25 minutes later, I was looking lovingly at my little man's super chic new dining experience.
(Having only sworn once, which was my own fault for tightening all the screws before sliding in the flat pieces - silly mummy. Don't do that.)


So it looked great, but would it pass The Little Dude quality control test?





Yes. With flying colours :)
He was a little bemused at first - sort of looked at me like 'hmm, I'm at the table, but you're not holding me... interesting.' then he spotted 'Where's that monkey?' (favourite book of the moment) and his happy safari cube and grabbed at both. He looked at me with a great big gummy grin of delight, then returned his attention to his book.

The real test of course, came at dinner time. We're babyled weaning, so generally, whatever's on mine or The Daddy's plate, is fair game. Sat up at the table with us Tripp Trapp style, the possibilities were endless. The Little Dude loved it. He really semed to enjoy having dinner with us, rather than being relagated to his playmat, on perched on my knee.  He was comfortable, supported, and involved.  Safe to say, he approves.


And I certainly do, because I have a well made, great looking new (almost matching) chair at the table rather than a big plastic affair that doesn't go with anything - everybody's happy!

And of course, the best part of the tripp trapp, is that it will grow with him, as they're equally comfortable for adults. (Yes, I checked!)  I am sorely tempted to save up and replace all my dining chairs with Tripp Trapps.


Muchos gracias again to Sian, and to Stokke.

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I weally weally wanna wean!

So the little dude is now 15 weeks old - still two weeks away from what 'they' (the all knowing, all powerful, super health professionals!), say is the absolute earliest a baby should start having solid food. (not that baby rice strikes me as all that solid, but whatever.)

The signs 'they' tell you to watch for, include:

~Attempting to put things in his or her mouth - has been attempting to get his whole fist in his mouth since day one - is now also trying my fingers, any and all available toys, muslin squares, his feet, and occasionally, the dog.
~Making chewing motions - again, since birth!
~Doubling their birth weight - check.
~Holding his or her head up and controlling head movements ~Sitting well when supported - yep & yep.
~Displaying curiosity about what you are eating. - And then some! I was having lunch with a friend yesterday, LD was sat on my lap, dropped his squeaky giraffe, as I leaned over to retrieve it, he launched himself at my sandwich!! Don't try & tell me that wasn't planned - the little monster is smarter than he lets on!!

So my question, is this:
Am I being an irresponsible mummy if I go for it at 17 weeks, rather than waiting for the more widely recommended 6 months?
Mummies whose monsters are already munching (loving the alliteration today aren't I?), when did you start?
And also, what do I need?

I'm very aware of not wanting to feed the little dude jars of processed mush - I'd much rather he had home cooked mush. So is it as simple as just blending tiny portions of whatever we're having? Or do I need to make separate cuisine for mushing up?

I know, I am the picture of cluelessness!!
All I am good at so far, is gazing lovingly at all the tommee tippy spoons, and bowls, and dinky little pots for putting stuffs in (I don't know what stuffs though), and some more cute little bowls... and maybe a sippy cup... oh, and those bibs that are like overalls! God I love baby shopping :D

Need help please!

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my little baby bowling ball :)

So Wednesday, is baby clinic day , or as I keep calling it, weigh-in day.
(curse you daytime tv - too much biggest loser!! :P)

I think it's a bit of an odd practice really - for a couple of hours a week, a local church hall gets turned into a little baby cattle market - bring 'em in, strip 'em off, plop 'em on the scales! It's lucky we can't remember it all as adults - can you imagine how many of us would be in therapy for the shame & embarassment?!

Anyway!
It was our second visit (because of the little 'un's weight loss problems early on, we had more home visits than usual), and completely different to the first. Last week, the pile of red books was huge & we waited quite a while, today - in & out in 10 minutes!
And, I'm pleased to say, the little dude is now weighing in at 9lb 2oz - making him officially slightly heavier than the girlie 10 pin bowling ball I use when we visit the local lane :D (you wondered where I was going with the post title, didn't you?!)

That said though, he's currently snoozing next to me, rocking a rather funky stripey tee that's allegedly for babies up to 7.5lb. go figure.
baby clothes sizing properly baffles me. and i can't even blame one particular company - I have 'tiny baby' clothes from boots, mothercare, next & h&m kids - all for up to 7.5lbs, all of which my 9lb 2oz bowling ball baby still fits very comfortably into.

definitely going to have his daddy's build. which is all well & good, but by the time he fits into all the gorgeous 0-3 month summer stuff i bought when he was still a bump, it'll be nearly Christmas! :P

anyone else had this problem? or any reccomendations of where to buy for beanpole babies?!

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it'a a hard life being a baby.

So hard infact, that mummy's can learn the art of baby massage to help their little bundle of joy unwind after a stressful day of milky goodness, napping, and generally looking all cute.

which is exactly what i've done today - the massage learning that is - not the napping & cuteness ;)
I really like the whole concept, so was quite looking forward to the class, but wasn't convinced that the noodle was going to take to the idea - he's a bit of a wriggler at the best of times, not a huge fan of staying still, so I was a tiny bit dubious to say the least.

BUT, he actually really enjoyed it! Or he humoured me at least :)
The lady doing the teaching was very good (although her 'baby' {stuffed version!} wasn't terribly likely to put up much of a fight ;) - she warned everyone in advance that not all babies are into massage, and that if that's the case, then any skin-to-skin contact will do - even if it's just a snuggly cuddle after a bath :)

She reccomended using sunflower oil - yes, as in the stuff you cook with - as it's au naturel, no fragrances or the like to irritate sensitive baby skin, and indeed, gave all the mums a tiny little bottle to oil up their hands.
And off we went - one eye on her & her stuffed baby, one one the little dude to make sure he wasn't about to explode in a fit of no-thankyou-very-much-mummy!

He was one of the smallest babies there, so a lot of the 'moves' were a little lost on him, (his tummy is about half the size of my hand, so whole-palm-clockwise-stroking was tricky!), but he didn't cry once, he gurgled away pretty happily for the full 20 minutes, and i even got a smile or two when i was wiggling his toes! (not sure that's the correct technical term, but evidently it's good for all the little pressure points! :D)
So on the whole, I'd say it was a success :)
Will certainly have a go at making it part of his post-bath routine, and would definitely reccomend going to a class if you get the chance.

the other thing I'm chuffed with today, is I found these:

- how cute? never need to worry about odd socks again - they're SUPPOSED to be that way :D
i actually first saw them while putting my pre-baby maternity leave to good use surfing every baby site under the sun, but they were £15, which seemed like a lot - hence i'm so chuffed to have found them for the bargain price of £7.99 over at baby etc. :D
i'm sure my credit card can handle another tiny little debt for the sake of cuteness in sock form :D
wonder if there are any plans to introduce a daddy size version? that would be useful!

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