Motherhood survival & the real person behind mine

It’s been a good couple of weeks since my last blog post – sincere apologies – but it appears that I peaked too soon! I was taking for granted (and dare I say, feeling rather smug about) the fact I’d managed to find enough time to scribe a few blogs in a row and then WHAM, motherhood reality hits! Both Theo and I came down with horrid colds, which turned into tonsillitis, which turned into me waking around the house involuntarily sighing and generally feeling ‘woe is me’ – if I was a man, I’d probably have been hospitalised with man-flu, so every cloud…!

Read More...

“I miss being heavily pregnant”, said nobody, ever!

The other day while trying to find an old photo on my phone, I inadvertently scrolled back past all my pregnancy and newborn pics – something I’d not done in quite a while. It was less than a year ago, yet it feels like a lifetime! It was like looking at a stranger (a stranger that was going to a fancy dress party as a Spacehopper that is!)

I had totally forgotten what it was like to be heavily pregnant; other than remembering how desperate I was to “get this baby out” before he actually punctured my lungs with his kickboxing practice.

It got me thinking about how much has changed over the last year and how much I love & appreciate my body, as well as my husband, for having kept me (& Theo) alive through what has often felt like we were in a scene from ‘the battle of the Bastards’.

Read More...

Weaning approach 1: purees (we peaked too soon!)

As I mentioned in a previous post, Gabby and I both started out all ‘eager beaver’ and spent hours furiously steaming, blending & freezing vegetable purees.

Something I decided was a good idea (a tip I’d picked up from the “Starting Solids” talk) was to avoid fruit for the first 4 weeks, particularly mixing vegetables with fruit (e.g. Parsnip & Pear) as not only are most veggies sweet enough on their own, but babies don’t need the sugar & their fresh little taste buds will only end up getting used to everything tasting sweet; which, later down the track can mean they’re more likely to be ‘fussy eaters’ and reject veggies altogether.

Read More...

Starting Solids: earth mother’s guilt & where they can stick it!

One thing Gabby and I are definitely not, is ‘earth mothers’.

(Although, I may have secretly imagined myself skipping through fields in sepia light, like some kind of hippie pied piper; setting up my Instagram worthy picnic of home-made hummus, tofu mung bean salad & chia smoothies, with my kids begging me “please mummy, just ONE MORE kale chip”! However, I’ve turned out to be a mother more likely to play Cards Against Humanity & ‘Milk-pong’ with my baby! Oh well!)

Read More...

Weaning the milk monster!

You could probably argue that Theo started solids at around 4 months; if you count sand, leaves, tissues & the dog’s tail – all of which I’ve madly fished from his grasp on more than one occasion! This boy would attempt to eat ANYTHING he could get his grabby little hands on! It’s amazing the reach they have once able to roll around the floor.

I can’t say it was a surprise that Theo ended up being ready to start his solids journey before hitting the 6 month mark. He was, after all, the size of a rugby forward, with an ability to skull a bottle that would put any university student to shame!

Read More...

Theo’s journey; from boobs to beyond

I’m surprised Theo didn’t come out of the womb clutching my placenta between his hands and chomping down on it like a drunk guy with a burger at the end of the night…

He was a monster from the start (9lb 10oz / 4.36kg of solid baby) And to think he wasn’t even fully cooked! God only knows how big he’d have been if I had gone 2 weeks overdue! **shudders**

As a result, my poor boy earned the nickname “chunka” or “chunks” from very early on!

Read More...