Christmas update!

So I haven't written on here since Dave left, as it's been a horrible 6 months, but I used to love documenting all of Max's achievements and what we had been up to, so decided to carry on :)

Max is now becoming a clever, cheeky, funny and so, so cute little boy. I have never been prouder of anything in my life. He began crawling and sitting up unaided before 6 months old. He has pulled himself up and walked around the furniture or holding my hands for months! At 8 months old he began standing alone, but still has little wobbles and lands on his bum when he realises no one is holding him! He has started taking the odd step alone but tends to throw himself instead of continuing to walk! He waves bye bye, shouting bye bye and tries to do the actions to incy wincy spider. He loves food, especially chicken casserole and hot pot. At his 7-9 month development check they said he was very advanced and were very pleased with him.

It's not just his developmental achievements that I'm proud of though - he's such a good little boy. He now listens and responds when I say 'no' and loves sharing. He will offer his food to anyone - including the cat - and now says ta. He gives the cheesiest grins and rarely cries. He sleeps for around 12-14 hours every night, with 2 naps in the day and is just such a pleasure to be around - warming to everyone he meets.

The build up to Christmas has been so magical and I can't wait to see his little face on Christmas morning :)

Catch up

Well I haven't managed to write a blog in three weeks!

In all honesty, I've been so busy. I'm physically and mentally exhausted. I've had trouble with my iron levels since the last part of my pregnancy and I think they're getting worse as when I'm not busy with Max I just seem to fall asleep. I'm a bit worried really as I've been sleeping through him crying at night. Luckily my husband (who's normally an incredibly deep sleeper) has been waking up and looking after Max but I'm definitely going to have to go and see the doctor.

Life with Max over the past three weeks has been a big muddle of dirty nappies, giggles and smiles, naps, baby club (mummy club), baby massage, jumperoo time and a few days out thrown in. We had a lovely Father's Day. It was obviously Dave's first Father's Day and as he's a huge fan of fish we went to the aquarium. I thought Max would still be a bit young to appreciate it but he watched the fish and lights with wide eyes, especially in the shark tunnel. It was a lovely day out.

Max has learnt to roll over!! It had been coming for a long time to be honest! He prefers sleeping on his side, I'm guessing because I used to breast feed him to sleep on his side, and although we always put him to bed on his back, we were waking up to him being on his side. Cue a tired, snappy accusation of turning him over to my other half until we realised he was doing it himself! If I ever left him on his side after feeding he would kind of wriggle and flip into his tummy, so it was only a matter of time before he rolled completely and here's the photo from the first ever roll!

Haha his face cracks me up he looks so angry - he's scared himself when he rolled I think, and his arm was stuck under him but I had to get a photo! Since then we often find him asleep on his tummy with one leg hanging out of his cot, which scares the hell out of me but he must be comfy!!!

Baby club has taken over my pre-Max drinks and meals out with friends. My friends have been great and love Max to bits but its been amazing to meet other mums who understand how difficult it is to just leave the house and who make me feel like I'm not the only one going through the roller coaster of motherhood. I've made some really nice friends there (and at baby massage) and we've bonded over cake whilst Max has play dates with other babies :) I feel much happier now I'm getting out a bit. I didn't realise I wasn't as happy until I started getting out and I realised I was isolating myself, and Max, sitting in the house all day. He's great but it's so lovely meeting other adults! I think being a mum of a young baby can be incredibly isolating and it's so easy to be intimidated by baby groups and other mums, but at the end of the day we're all going through the same thing and its a lot healthier to get out. Max is certainly enjoying his play dates and I'm enjoying the company and cake!

Another walk!

Well in an attempt to enjoy the sunshine and burn off some pregnancy weight, we went for a walk!

I imagined the hubby and I walking hand in hand as we pushed max in his pram, who would be smiling away as we walked. In reality it was incredibly hot causing me to sweat and chaff, neither of us enjoyed pushing the pram because of the heat, there was the cofuffle of having to keep swapping the pram umberella around depending on which way the sun was facing and I had hay fever so bad my eyes looked like this:

Despite this, we had a really good time and saw lots of fun things.

Boats were constantly coming in and out of the dock, so being the engineering geeks we are, we stood and watched the bridge rotate for them. (We were the only saddos taking photos!)

(Someone missed it the first time!)

Watching the train again through the bushes

A lovely picnic by the water

And a walk back... But someone was tuckered out by then! 

Overall, a lovely day :) even if I am now sat with a huge box of tissues, eye drops and a nose spray!

Another lovely weekend!

My husband is just upstairs putting max to bed (yes, the routine worked yesterday!) and I'm sat feeling blessed and slightly tipsy from one glass of Pimms and lemonade (pregnancy made me a light weight!)

We have had the loveliest weekend. I expected the weather to be a bit warmer to be honest but it was sunny nevertheless and it's been so good. Yesterday we got a bit too apprehensive, expecting the hot weather, and headed to the lakes. Unfortunately, when we got to Grange over Sands we were greeted with huge grey clouds! Instead of getting out (with our summer outfits on and no cover or blanket for max) we decided to have a nice drive instead. It wasn't the lovely sunny walk I'd anticipated but it was great seeing all the countryside and taking in the sleepy toy town scenery of Grange. 

That evening we had a little BBQ as the weather was a bit nicer back home, and set to at getting max into bed for half 7. We have allowed him to sleep and feed on demand before, under recommendation from the midwives, and I didn't want him to use a dummy as I dislike them, never had one myself and was worried he'd become reliant on them. Instead he ended up breast feeding to sleep or for comfort. He's always been happy but it got to the point where me and Dave were arguing a lot from lack of sleep and he couldn't see where I was coming from when it came to not giving him a dummy. Because of the way we have fed and allowed him to sleep as and when he pleases he hasn't got much of a routine and we are seeing the repercussions of that now as he reaches three months old. I read the book, the baby whisperer, and decided to try the EASY method where he eats, spends time doing some kind of activity, sleeps (and I get some me time) and then does it all again. It was hard at first, as he's been used to feeding to sleep, sleeping in someones arms and I felt horrible waking him during a feed and then struggled to get him to sleep later on at first, but he's adapted well and he's now sleeping from a lot earlier too, giving me and the hubby some "us" time.

Last night we watched a film together and it was really good just cuddling together and having some time alone. I haven't left Max with anyone else at night yet as I've been breast feeding and I don't feel quite up to leaving him so we literally haven't had any time together alone for three months and our relationship was suffering because of it.

Today we both got a little lie in, me getting up earlier and then going back to bed for a couple of hours at around 9. We did a quick food shop and then went swimming this afternoon to Ribby Hall. Max loved it. He loves being in the water, and we have an inflatable trainer seat for him which he really enjoys being sat in. Me and Dave got to mess around and play too and the sunny weather when we left and got an ice cream ended up giving us a lovely holiday feeling. We popped in to see my mum and dad where max enjoyed a quick play on the trampoline and the swing, before heading home for bath time and bed. 

I'm sat smiling (yes I'm still feeling tipsy) as I listen to Dave read Max a story as I know I'm one lucky girl to have the special family unit that I have. I hope you've all had such lovely weekends too - here are some photos from ours!

Granddad's birthday!

Today was my dads birthday - his first as a grandad! He absolutely loves max and was a bit miffed that we hadn't been to his at dinner to see him!

We've had a busy day today - max has finally got into a bit of a routine! He's always wanting to do something - whether it be bouncing or looking round, as long as he's getting attention! He's never just sat still in a chair or slept all day, since he was born. Everyone says its because I'm so soft with him but I enjoy singing to him and playing with him and I think he's been getting a bit overstimulated and then struggles to sleep for a long time in the day, let alone at night! So for the past couple of days I've been trying to follow a routine of feeding, playing and singing and then sleeping, roughly every three hours, and today we really saw the benefit as Max was far calmer and happier :) 

I also managed to get things done around the house and even found time to bake some cakes for my dad. 

I love baking, especially cupcakes, and my last trip to hobbycraft resulted in the purchase of a cupcake corer. It's a little device that cores and holds a section of your cupcake, so that you can fill it and then replace the cake - resulting in yummy filled cakes. I made two different types of cupcake today, an incredibly sickly chocolate cupcake, filled and topped with chocolate frosting and sprinkles and a sponge cupcake filled with jam and topped with icing and hundreds of thousands! They were lovely and went down a treat! The only trouble is, I end up eating half the ingredients as I make them! (Actually gaining weight now, instead of losing baby weight!)

I also baked a baggin cake for my dad. It's his favourite and the recipe has been passed down to me from my mum. I decided to share it, so you can all relish in the moist, fruity yumminess! 

Ingredients

8oz self raising flour

4oz caster sugar

4oz margarine 

4oz mixed fruit

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 small cup containing 1 egg and topped with water

Method

• Preheat the oven to 190*C

• Mix all the ingredients together with a hand whisk

• Grease and line a loaf tin

• Pour the mixture into the tin

• Bake for 1 hour 15 mins

And there you have it... Yummy baggin cake!

Dad was happy with it, even though he got a yummy flake cake too! 

I'm absolutely shattered now. Unfortunately, all the excitement at mum and dads meant we really struggled getting max to sleep as he was overtired and grouchy. Finally got him down though, and hubby's just offered me a back rub so I'm off!!! Night all xx

Ice creams and walks!

Well today has been a lovely day, despite waking up feeling as though someone had stomped over my head a thousand times and stabbed me in the throat with hundreds of cocktail sticks! 

My mum was off visiting family and asked if I'd like to go with her. As much as I felt like burying myself under the covers and not waking until the hubby came home, I knew max was never going to let that happen so I might as well get out and about and see some family!

We set out and it turned out my mums cousin, who we was visiting, wasn't in. As we knew she'd be back later on we had a drive round the area, where my mum grew up. My mum started pointing out places as we drove past them, like an over excited tour guide, and before we knew it we'd been driving for an hour! Me and my sister did a bit of buttering up, and managed to convince mum to buy us an ice cream. (I may have a baby, but I am still a huge child at heart!) 

After visiting family, I headed home with a sleepy maxi moo and we went visiting the vicar about Max's baptism. It's booked for the 18th August after a huge commotion over the date, and I'm really excited but desperate to lose weight before then!

After tea we went for a walk which you would think would be a good effort towards the weight loss, however, I'm not sure it'll do much after the chippy chips we had with tea! Oops!