Teeth for the toothless

Well what a weekend of firsts! Mr B and I took Joel on his first ever swim on Saturday morning. It was a lovely day so the pool was really quiet, perfect for a baby's first swim experience.

When we first got in he made some crying noises but not anything major and gradually he started to enjoy it more and more. We took turns holding him, bobbing along the length of the pool and he was kicking his legs around. Afterwards he even went in the shower with me, which he liked. So all in all it was a great time and he went straight to sleep as soon as he was back in his car seat, all the excitement had tired him out. The pictures are a bit blurred but you can still tell I'm proud as punch.

That night was pretty horrible with lots and lots of tears and crying. In the morning there on his bottom gum was the culprit, his very first tooth! The one next to it doesn't look far behind either so I'm sure we are in for lots more sleepless nights. Poor little man!!

We knew it would be breaking through as there had been a few days of frantic chomping on his teether, the wonderful Sophie Le Giraffe. Which really is the best teether EVER!

Oh and I had my first evening out since Joel was born. Just thought I'd squeeze that in :)

Curb your anxiety

It's true that sometimes you just have to jump in. Since Joel was little we have been co-sleeping with him. This happened quite by accident due to the fact that up until 6 weeks he was constantly screaming with hunger as he had an undiagnosed tongue tie which prevented him from sucking properly during his feeds. The only way we could get him to sleep was on Mr B's chest with the duvet pulled up over him.

The sleeping arrangements were really getting me down as Joel now required an earlier bedtime which meant I was having to go to bed with him at 6pm and Mr B and I were getting no quality time together and no quality sleep. I had started reading a book on no cry sleep solutions as the thought of him crying and crying terrified me and brought back vivid memories of those panic striken first few weeks. I didn't want to go back to that place. However the books introduction contained a graphic account of what is going through a babies mind when 'crying it out' which left me shaken and crying when I read it. At that point I decided to follow my GPs advice (and that of Mr B) to not read anymore books!

Someone recently described new experiences as being built up in your mind to stepping off a cliff when really you are just stepping off a curb, this saying could not be more true. Two weeks ago I made the bold decision to put him not only into his cot to sleep but in his own room. Joel settled into his new sleep routine almost straight away. The first night he did cry a bit, but we took turns going and sitting with him so it didn't make the crying seem as painful an experience for all of us. We had his lantern on and the radio on low and sat close by reading him stories in low tones until he drifted off to sleep.

Now he settles down under his covers and usually only wakes a couple of times for feeds, which he will gradually drop. This new found sleep independence has improved our lives and our relationships as a family immeasurably. I've learnt to trust advice given by those close to me and not to picture a cliff but instead a curb.

Walkies!

The funniest thing happened on New Years Day. Michael was visiting us so we had all gone on a walk up the lane together with the pram and Myrtle when Joey decided to follow us! It's quite a long way and he meowed the whole time and ducked into a hedge while we ran Myrtle in the field. You could tell he was outside of his comfort zone but all the same he didn't want to miss out on the walk.
Well on Monday I went for a walk up the lane with Joel and Joey followed, here he is trotting ahead of the pram stopping to look where I was every now and then. Here is a photo of my view.

It was about 4pm so as I had left it a bit late it was going dark on the way back. About a third of the way home a van came along the lane, I got into the side of the lane with the pram and encouraged Joey to do the same. However in his wisdom he decided instead to try and outrun the van down the middle of the lane which meant the van had to crawl along behind him. This went on for some time and i could see his little tailless wombat bum in the van headlights running all the way up the hill and out of site. I couldn't help but laugh, imagine how funny a view it must have been for the van driver!
As I walked up the hill Joey popped out of the hedge, clearly he'd realised he only had the edge on the van on the uphill run and decided not to tackle the downhill. He's so funny, he came trotting out of the hedge meowing loudly and then led the way home.
It was obvious that I now accompanied him on his walks not he on mine.

Festivities

We left everything really late this year and so the Wednesday before christmas I was rushing round like a maniac trying to track down a Christmas Tree. All the usual places were sold out but then I managed to find some at a petrol station. There was the choice of really short or really tall ones.........so I plumped for a really tall one, and I mean a REALLY tall one!

It barely fitted inside the car, poor Joel must have wondered what the heck was going on.

We had to chop a big bit off the top and finally got round to dressing it the night before Christmas Eve. We bought Joel some decoration as we thought it'd be nice each year if there was a box of decorations that were his which we can add to.

Christmas Eve the neighbours delivered some freshly baked scones and a home made card.

and the postman delivered us a stack of parcels from Jill wrapped in fantastic homemade paper.

On Christmas day Joel got a nice new hat, though it's a little on the large size!

And a really cool finger puppet version of The Hungry Caterpillar

Not to mention lots and lots of other nice things. I don't think Joel knew how special a day it was but we did.

Winter

I'd set out with every intention of telling you all about Joels adventures and firsts. Time seems to slip by though and before I knew it it's over a month since I've blogged. So I'll bring you up to speed.

He can now roll onto his tummy and in his own funny way crawl. He uses his face as his arms aren't strong enough yet but he is so determined to be on the move he keeps going anyway and manages to travel across his play mat.

He had his first go in his door bouncer. Didn't do much bouncing but instead pirouetted round and round on his toes. It was so funny and lovely to watch.

Today he had his first try of his highchair. I had to put a cushion under him as he is still quite small for it. I gave him some baby rice and he played with some toys with Myrtle sat by his side. No doubt the position she will assume from now on.

And every time he goes out he wears this fleecy pram suit which I customised with a nice bright orange J. I thought I'd have loads of time for crafts whilst at home with a baby but there's no time for anything much!

Men in tights

I had no idea that a practical fashion solution for chilly legs, wooly tights, would cause such a stir. I've received praise ('Good for you' or 'I wish I'd done that when he was little') and ponderings ('Tights?') in equal measures from other mums on this. For some reason over the last 20 years this seems to have become something exclusive to girl babies. Why is that? After all they are babies, not little boys or little girls.....yet.

There used to be a far more unisex approach to baby clothes, so when did we get so uptight about gender?? Babies used to wear long nighties, with matinee jackets over the top (like this one above) and were only dressed up for visitors, imagine how practical that would have been, no need to undo and do up poppers on grows five or six times a day. Here's a contemporary version of this combo.

When they went out baby tights were common use for boys and girls, perfect for warm wriggly legs of all sizes. Yet in my quest for tights I found any multipack of super bright colours was plighted by a pink pair, or a pair with daisies on them.Clearly these products are not stocked with boy babies in mind.

Anyway I have managed to get my mitts on some plain brights and some stripey brights so thought I'd share some of the fashion combos Joel and I have put together, they made us smile and hope they make you smile too. We don't go for all the miniature adult outfits that are in the shops. You can have so much fun with babies, so why should their fashion be so serious?

Great Expectations

On Sunday we went to visit my Grandma Amy, Joels Great Grandma. She was thrilled to see us and as she gave Joel his first great cuddle she said 'Hello Joel I'm your Great Grandma' and as usual Joel looked like he knew exactly what was being said, carefully studying her face lined with 95years worth of wrinkles.

We ate cake and chatted about her garden, her helpers, her memories of the blitz when she was living in Luton and her recent day out as the local Girl Guides guest of honor at there centenary party.
Amy is the oldest living Girl Guide in the village and she spoke to the guides about her years as a Guide in particular her attendance at an International Guiding event when she was 15, back in 1930, where she met some Guides from New Zealand! She aslo told us about the time she looked after a small group of scouts when there was temporarily no leader for their group. She arranged a local barn for their meetings and set up a mock camp fire in the middle of it using torches under red cellophane paper and sticks. They begged her to tell them scary ghost stories at the end of each meeting, so she did but one night they got so scared they wouldn't walk home alone, there would have been no street lights in the village then, so she had to walk them all round their houses. How funny.
The local paper featured an article on the event and published Amys picture. She has also written a piece for an article a local journalist is writing about the Girl Guides.

I wonder what it's like to be able to reflect back so clearly on 95years of life, with such alot of very happy memories to share. I'm glad that Joel and her have met and in some small way shared their wisdom on life.

Baby it's cold outside.

Well actually it's warm and sunny at the moment, in fact you'd be hard pushed to believe it's October! Despite the warm days the temperature surely falls at night, when there is a real bite in the air and an exciting whiff of Haloween, Bonfire Night and beyond.

Joel has a quite a collection of fantastic blankets to keep the chill off.

Here he is pictured on his special one by Sharon, which I've already featured along with the lovely patchwork by Jill.

These thinner ones are what we have used during summer, they were both mine when I was a baby, the one on the left is what I was brought home from hospital in on the day of our streets 1977 Queens Jubilee party, infact the taxi could only get my mum so far and then she had to walk the rest, imagine that, little teeny me amidst all those rows of tables of waving union jacks and bowls of jelly. 

This fantastic white one was made by my Aunty Judy, look at the amazing detail. I love the ribbon.

This is another one that was mine as a baby, a kitten eiderdown with a distinctly vintage look about it. This goes on top of a blanket to weight it down when it's really cold.

This check blanket it mainly used in his pram as it's fairly small. It too was mine as a baby, I love the satin edging, to stop any tickling of sensitive skin, and the lovely old label.

We thought a good way to put Joel down once he is asleep is to warm his cot with a hot water bottle so the cold contrast to a warm cuddle doesn't wake him. I found this lovely one in town. How sweet!

All in all he should be snug as a little bald, blue eyed bug as the weather gets colder.

Progress

Ever felt like you are going nowhere fast? That's how I feel quite often of late.
I've been really concerned about my breastfeeding, convinced that my milk supply was dwindling, having nightmares about it infact. We'd had to supplement Joels feeds with formula from five weeks and whilst that helped him gain weight and conform with health visitors growth charts (which it turns out aren't based solely on breastfed babies) it has over the last few weeks meant a diminished supply of breastmilk.

We've been going to a local breastfeeding support group which has really helped us, boosted my confidence with feeding in public, introduced us to other mums and babies but most of all got some really great advice with regards to breastfeeding.

Last week one of the midwife assistants was there from Helme Chase (the midwife led unit where Joel was born), she was great to chat to, I just wanted to take her home with me. All the midwives and assistants were so supportive with the feeding as they can see the long term benefits to mum, baby and in turn the NHS.

Anyway just when I thought Joel and I were getting into the swing of things he's got a cold and decided he won't take a bottle at all! What a stressful situation, a baby that won't feed. Reading on forums over the weekend it seems we aren't the only parents to experience this in a ten week old. I don't know if it's because of his cold or something else. All we can do is keep trying and trying.

So it was nice on Saturday when Mr B took Joel to visit Grandma and Grandad B. That day I found smiles  in the unlikeliest of places, in the sunflowers watching me through the nursery window while I expressed milk. Quite a lonely thing to do with Joel away from me.

Walking Myrtle, something I never get to do these days, in the woods and seeing the river in full force. Wow! She didn't dare go in.

In the yellow pepper I chopped for our tea, a proper little smiley face! It was nice to have time to prepare a meal for us. I used to love cooking our tea.

All it had taken to feel positive again was a little space to breath and remember who I was again.

Aside from the feeding Joel is making fantsatic progress, he is a very alert (that means awake all the time) and inquisitive baby who smiles regularly. Here he is smiling in his special cardigan.

He now says 'goo goo' 'boo' and 'poo', he makes an effort to hold your finger (before it just happened by accident), he can perform 'the worm', a breakdance move which involves wriggling in an upward direction on his back and enjoys playing with his cot activity centre, smiling at the kitchen lights and snuggling up at bedtime with his mum and dad.
We have quite by accident ended up with a  family bed but it's actually really nice so we are in no hurry to change the sleeping arangements. There's something very nice about all being together.

On sunday afternoon Joel took his nap with his dad. Look at how his little finger is sticking out, it's like that all the time.

Park Life

You can tell winter is on it's way when shadows are long in the afternoon, so I'm glad we ventured out with Joel to visit Michael in my hometown of Blackpool whilst we still have some fairly warm days. I don't really get out during the week so it's nice to do stuff as a family at the weekend.
We went for a good old wander around Stanley Park, possibly the best park I've ever been in. It made me realise what a treasure it is, a hidden one too as most people who visit Blackpool probably don't venture there, so it's really more for the residents.
There is allsorts to do putting, crazy golf, boating, slides and swings and trampolenes (which we were shocked at now costing £1 for 5 minutes!) It always makes me think of my childhood when I go there, I spent many an afternoon playing there, not wanting play time to end.
I always used to make extra effort to get a go on the crazy golf, mainly as it took a long time thus extending my 'park time' but also because it was a bit like miniatures. Oh I forgot to mention there is a separate model village there too, but that costs quite a bit so we didn't go in.

Each course has a lovely stencilled number next to it, you can see how different colours have been tried out over the years.

So some of the crazy courses resemble miniature landscapes.

Whilst some are more abstract! Not sure what this one is??

My favourite are still the miniatures. As a child I strode over them like a giant, for one afternoon a week I felt big.

I always tried to hit the toadstools, I don't think that was the idea but it took up more time and made this one a bit like a pinball machine too

This one was always solid

They have always been painted in the same five colours, each Spring it will be someones job to spruce the courses up and re stencil the numbers. I imagine them on the phone ordering ''toadstool red'' or ''castle yellow''.
I remembered how the highlight of the game wouldn't be winning but just spending as much time as possible with my dad with the added bonus of a squirrel lolloping across the course with an acorn in it's mouth, blissfully unaware of how big canons really are.