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Dear Baby..Wednesday Words

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I have decided to link up the first time to Wednesday Words a linky which is run by Emma of Crazy with Twins.

This is poem of sorts written to the baby residing in my belly.

Dear Baby

You have been part of me for 20 weeks
It sounds like such a short time
But we have grown attached shall we say?
I think about you most of the time and
I already don’t know what I would do without you
It hasn’t been easy
We have already had more tough times
Than is fair

But..
You are worth every minute
I just can’t believe we are only halfway
Through this long journey
Your sister can’t wait to meet you and
I think you are going to be the best of friends

Every day your little kicks get stronger
As I feel you getting to know what your body can do
I can’t wait to see your face
To hold your hand
To stroke your soft skin

For now I wait patiently ..or not
To see who you are
Whose lips have you got
Are you just like me or do you follow your daddy?
Will you be quiet and calm or loud and funny?
Whoever you are and whatever
You may be
Know that you already you are loved
More than you will ever really know

Crazy With Twins

Babies on board at Camp Bestival

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When you think of music festivals ..do you think: LOUD NOISES, dirty toilets and drunken teenagers falling over your tents guy ropes? This could be correct in some cases and is the reason why some festivals are not really my thing. Camp Bestival is not one of those festivals.

At least once a week on Twitter someone will ask me if Camp Bestival is suitable for babies/toddlers/children? I always answer with a resounding YES. CB is all about the family. Yes if you go right next to the stage when Dub Pistols jump on there will be loud noises but there are a hundred places you can go which are a lot quieter and calmer right at the same time. I used a lot of toilets during the 5 days we were there last year in all the different fields from the posh ones in the Camping Plus field to the busy ones next to the main stage and I honestly didn’t come across a dirty one – some can get a little *fragrant* but they are toilets and it really wasn’t an issue. There are even special children’s toilets and they are always well supplied with toilet paper and anti bac gel. There aren’t many drunken teenagers.. I didn’t see any – there is the occasional tipsy mum and dad though 😉

Baby on board

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If you are taking a baby – like I did last year then you will find baby changing facilities as well as a baby chill out tent where you can relax and feed your child in peace. Last year there were lots of free Bepanthen goodies which was nice. There are babies and toddlers everywhere – it will make you broody even if you have your own children with you. I had serious pram/stroller envy as there are so many cool ones on display.If that wasn’t enough most people have carts/trolleys which are covered with fancy paint jobs and fairy lights…and it really is adorable seeing all the little ones snuggly asleep while the parents munch on burritos and sip Pimms watching their favourite bands.

Tips for festivalling (made that up) with a baby/toddler:

* Clothes and bedding for all seasons – last year we had incredible weather.. It was gorgeously sunny everyday and my main concern during the day was keeping a hat/bandana on my daughters head and topping up the sun cream but at night well it does get chilly quickly and we had a padded sleepsuit for her as well as a Grobag and snuggly blankets for when she was in her pram. This year we are going to be using a Readybed and probably a fleecy sleepsuit too.

*Food – you will be able to buy all sorts of food at Camp Bestival and some of it really is superb but it can get expensive so packing snacks/pouches for young ones is a really good idea. Be sure to take a camping kettle if you are making up feeds or needing to warm food. Last year we cooked some really lovely meals on a tiny camping stove and I’m sure food just tastes better when you are camping.

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* Toys/books – you may find your child will wake earlier when camping due to the sunshine pouring in, the general hustle and bustle outside or just being in a strange place – it’s worth taking some small toys/games to occupy them while you continue to doze or make breakfast. We actually only had one night of slightly disturbed sleep the first night and then it was all fine – miraculous!

Don’t forget comforters, favourite blankets/teddies or dummies if you use them.

* Ear defenders – if you plan on going to watch the live music and want to protect those teeny ears don’t forget these. I think we paid approx £11 for ours. ( Edz kids from amazon)

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*Sling or baby carrier – we used carriers and a hippy chick last year and they were great.

* Nappies/wet wipes – take more than you would normally use as it would be just typical for them to get an upset belly wouldn’t it?

* Calpol/teething gels etc – hopefully you won’t need this but if you do get one of THOSE nights you will be so glad you brought these.

* Trolleys/carts – you can buy/make these beforehand or hire them at CB. We only hired one for the journeys to and from the car on the first and last day. The price was very reasonable and made things so much easier. If your child is out of the pram/stroller but still likely to get tired little legs in the evening I think it’s definitely worth hiring one for the whole festival.

* Suncream/rain covers/broliies – be prepared!

I will probably think of lots more tips so this post may be ever changing 😉

I know that many of you will still be worried at the thought of taking a young baby away but I really can’t encourage you enough to go – as a family we have said it was one of the best holidays we have ever been on and we do travel quite a lot! There aren’t many places when one day could include: Kool and the Gang, Rizzle Kicks, Mr Tumble and Dick n Dom alongside incredible food.. fabulous festival activities like the wall of death and bedtimes stories from Howard Marks. Each day is an amazing experience and you just will not be able to fit it all in.

Some lovely photos here of fellow Camp Bestival friends enjoying baby time :

So jealous of Abi and Bo in this pic!

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For those of you trying to decide I hope this pushes you in the correct direction and those of you already coming please say hello if you see us. We love making CB friends.

Read about last years CB here

Ticket Info here

I will leave you with two of my favourite photos from last years festival:

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Please ask any questions you can think of and I will try my very best to answer.

* We have been given press tickets to this years CB – thank you 😀

Don’t tell me what I want

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Since I announced my pregnancy at 12 weeks the question I have been asked the most is do you know what you are having yet?

This is fine although a little early as I won’t find out until the 20wk scan.
What has annoyed me is the most popular comment that obviously I want a boy. In order of course to *complete* my family. Grrr. Just because I have a girl doesn’t automatically mean I am now desperate for a boy. I’d love a boy. I’d love a girl. I can honestly say this time around that I have no preference. Believe it or not. A girl would be fab and wahey I have all the gear.. A boy would be adorable and I do like blue but I’m telling you the truth I don’t mind. I see your face when I tell you this and you just smile and nod but I had 2 months of worrying that my baby would not make it to this point so I’m not being cliched when I tell you I just want he/she to be healthy. In fact I don’t even really want to find out. My partner does and so I will as I don’t have strong feelings against it but please don’t think I will be disappointed ( as one well meaning family member suggested ) if I have a girl again.

We do have some neutral clothes:

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My baby was planned. Not that it’s really any of your business. Yes you .. Lady in the local playgroup who asked if it was an “accident” that I got pregnant so QUICKLY after my first. Quickly being nearly 18months and actually after a really tough 6-8 months of wanting to be pregnant. Even if it wasn’t planned it would not have been a mistake or would I ever call it an accident. My first child was a shock.. Mainly as I had been told I couldn’t get pregnant naturally and so to find out I was nearly 2 months along was a very wonderful surprise but even then no mistake.

Yes my belly is showing already. It’s normal. Second pregnancies show earlier than first as your body remembers what to do and yes I’m sure there is only one in there.

6 months pregnant with my daughter:

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To my work colleagues and to many others who really don’t get it – morning sickness doesn’t just happen in the morning, ginger doesn’t always help and crackers may work once but give it time and they will surely make you heave. Morning sickness is a rather silly name for a truly horrible experience for many women – it’s not made up and really I’m not exaggerating how crappy I have felt. Sitting outside for 5 minutes to catch my breath will not automatically relieve my nausea – I’m not drunk, I’m pregnant.

First trimester sucks:

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If I say I am planning anything.. Festivals, meals out etc – I get the answer of ooh do that now as you will not be able to do that when the baby comes. Really? Will my life end when the baby comes? Yes it will be tough. This I know and harder still with two but remember when you told me I would stop travelling when I had Izzy and then we went to France, Portugal and 3 festivals in her first year.. Well that.

In France:

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At Camp Bestival:

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Chatting to twitter friends it seems we all get questions/comments we don’t like..what is it about pregnancy that makes it ok to actually be quite rude? When is it ok to comment on someone’s weight or marital status? These seem to be the common themes.

Whilst I’m having a moan – HANDS OFF THE BUMP. Unless I know you quite well or you ask then I may get a little annoyed. Sorry but if I gently stroked your stomach wouldn’t you find it a bit well..personal?

The bump as it looks right now:

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And finally yes I know I should sleep now as I won’t get ANY when the baby comes. For once nosey lady in the bank I agree.

*PS I love talking about babies/pregnancy so don’t stop chatting but from me and all pregnant women think before you speak.

The Wait – First trimester

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I’m writing this post at 8weeks and 2 days pregnant.

I won’t however be posting it until I am safely past the 12 week scan.

This is hard.

The Wait.

I thought the two week wait was difficult ( the 2 weeks wait to find out if you are pregnant) but woah this is much harder. I have known I am pregnant for exactly 4 weeks. The first two weeks were pretty great, we have been trying for baby number 2 for a little while and to be able to tell my man that I was pregnant on his birthday was pretty special and we were both on a bit of a high .. albeit a very tired high for me. The last 2 weeks have been not so great, we encountered some difficulties and well I was convinced there would not be a positive outcome. I’ve had 2 scans already and I’m only 8 wks pregnant – most people don’t even have their first scan until 12 wks which is hopefully ( if all is well in the next few weeks) when my 3rd scan will be. It’s been a very scary time and its not over yet.

The risks of miscarriage before 12 weeks are incredibly high – 1 in 5. Did you know that? Isn’t that frightening? I’m glad that my pregnancy with Izzy although full of sickness was also very straightforward.

I’ve been sick as sick can be for the past 3 weeks which is a positive sign! Yay for HCG hormones!! Don’t even get me started on the food aversions. It’s incredible how the horrors of morning sickness can be a relief to you when you are paranoid about the health of your growing baby.

I’ve tried to be a little removed but well we all know that’s just not possible right? I’ve seen his/her heart beating on a scan and felt the overwhelming relief of knowing that at that moment in time everything was ok I can’t help but feel connected.

I really hope that in 4 weeks time I will be shouting my happy news to you from the rooftop but for now I just don’t know and well all I can do is wait.

* As you will know from yesterday’s post..so far all is going well and I’m at the 12wk point (approximately) 😀

Our growing family

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Let me tell you a story about me and my family:

Once upon a time there was a girl who met a boy..

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They liked each other. A lot.

Then a few years later…BUMP

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Two became Three..baby girl arrived safely in the world

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There were lots of sleepless nights and poop explosions..but after a while baby girl blossomed into a beautiful toddler and even *whispers* slept through the night.

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Mam and Dad started to feel normal again and even left the house on nights out..

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But guess what? We don’t like odd numbers!!

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We are doing it all over again and we couldn’t be more thrilled!

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The next chapter starts right here..

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

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Sleep on the brain. Every day, will she sleep tonight? Will I sleep tonight?

When I was in my late teens/early 20’s I slept well. I loved my lie ins and I slept like a log every night. I got to around age 22 and suddenly I was a light sleeper, every noise woke me up and lie ins were an occasional indulgence. My sleeping patterns became worse while pregnant, even before I got to the big (elephant like) uncomfortable stage I struggled to sleep more than 3-4 hours per night, this meant when I eventually gave birth I was already pretty damn knackered. Add to this having a baby who took a long time to sleep through the night and I can say quite honestly the past 2 years I have spent a lot of time in a zombie like state. I think sleep deprivation isn’t really appreciated by anyone who hasn’t suffered from it. You spend your days knowing you have a lot to do but finding it hard to actually do anything at all. You have a baby who needs/demands your absolute attention and you try your hardest to give it but I slowly starting to feel like I was losing my mind!

A few months ago we started to turn a corner with Izzy and she started to occasionally sleep thought the night or almost anyway which was amazing and it really made a difference. We would wake up feeling refreshed and every morning was a pleasant surprise when we realised she hadn’t woken us up. Yay.

Then about 10 weeks I had a traumatic nighttime experience. This will sound silly now but even thinking about it still makes me upset. At about 1am Andrew shook me awake, I had been screaming and was still screaming while awake, absolutely petrified. I was clinging to him and couldn’t calm myself. I wasn’t sure if I’d had a bad dream or if I’d thought there was someone there but I felt as if something terrible had happened – in fact I still do. Isn’t that so weird? Thinking about it in a sensible way I know nothing happened or if it did it was a dream. I spent the rest of the night sobbing with the tv and light on in our room and I was frightened all of the next day..and we’ll for quite some time afterwards. I had a few similar episodes after this in the following weeks, twice I was awake (kind of) and imagining there were obscenely large spiders falling onto me. I woke Andrew up so many times and needed him to reassure me. It was hard and he was amazing. I saw my doctor as I found this so scary, my heart rate was too fast and it was put down (mostly) to anxiety/stress. My nightmarish episode was called a night terror.Now 10 weeks on I’m finally starting to feel more relaxed about going to bed and best of all I’m getting some sleep. This has coincided quite nicely with Izzys new routine of putting herself to sleep each night in her own bed ( isn’t she a good girl? ) and I feel like I’m catching up on 2 years of sleep. I’m having lie ins ( thanks again to my oh) and naps when needed.

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Sleep is so important, I often feel we don’t rate it highly enough.

I know this isn’t my typical blog post but I was thinking about it in bed last night and felt it important to write about it and share with others as apparently night terrors are very common. Feel free to ask me any questions or tell me if you have had similar experiences x

How much,how often and what?

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The last few weeks I have eavesdropped on a few twitter/playgroup conversations about what people are feeding their babies/toddlers. There seems to be a major feeling of guilt amongst a lot of us parents over just what we feed our children. It’s a bit of a battle for me. I constantly wonder if she’s hungry or if I’m feeding her too little or not enough or just not the right food. I definitely think more advice on this is needed. I don’t mean recipe books although they are great I mean how do we know just what to do? I know when I am hungry and I know what I like to eat but with Izzy it’s a whole new big scary world for me (and for her of course)

Izzy with sweet potato chips when she was unwell

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I decided to keep a diary of what she eats. I then promptly forgot. I blame the old baby brain if I’m allowed I still blame that now that she is 14 months. So I didn’t keep a diary but this is more or less a typical day:

Between 6-7am : 6oz of milk – she’s not yet on cows milk which is something I kick myself daily about. Hoping this changes soon?

Between 8-9.30am : a fruit pot/piece of fruit and a slice of toast (sometimes with peanut butter which she loves..marmite not so much) as a special treat she occasionally has a croissant.

Mid morning: some snacks perhaps including raisins, cubed cheese, toddler crisps/biscuits or similar

Lunch 12-2pm : this differs more than most meals depending on where we are, if we are out and about I will mostly take a pouch but at home she loves pasta dishes, a mini chicken dinner, spag Bol or cottage pie. A lot of the times it’s what we (me and OH) eat the night before and I save her a serving. She normally has a little biscuit or bit of fruit afterwards. It used to be yogurts but they don’t seem to agree with her anymore.

Around this time she will also have a 4oz bottle and some snacks of carrot sticks etc in the afternoon

Tea 4-5pm: on most days this will be something like scrambled eggs/omelette with some baked beans. She also like carrot and potato waffles from asda or perhaps some fish or chicken. I do find that when she has more protein in this meal she sleeps better.

Scrambled eggs with tomatoes and spinach

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Supper 6.30-7pm : porridge every night. She loves her nightly porridge and its a big part of her bedtime routine as she has it watching in the night garden and getting sleepy.

Bedtime 7.30pm : 6oz of milk which she feeds herself in bed then puts herself to sleep. This is a new but miraculous development and we normally go in her room a little later and put the bottle away.

That’s just a standard day for us. What do you do? Is it rude to ask for your daily diary? I’d love to compare.

What foods do your children enjoy? I seem to have (at the moment) an adventurous eater and she will eat pretty much everything we try. Gnocchi and polenta are just two new dishes to add to her favourites list. She also has a very cute new habit of pointing at food that she likes and saying mmmmm unfortunately this means that my dad who is a sucker for a cute baba always wants to give her cake! I figure I am pretty strict with her sugar intake normally so I let him spoil her occasionally.

I hope to hear from you all soon!

Gnocchi and sweet potato bake- a herby one for Izzy and a spicy one for us

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