Back to earth with a bump

No not a pregnancy bump!!!

Tomorrow is my first proper day back at work after just over a year off. I have tried to come up with every possible excuse under the sun to get out of it, but short of divine intervention, tomorrow I will be back to school.

Immie is in bed, her nursery bag is packed ready to go. My school bag is packed and my lessons prepared. Immie has been going to nursery for a few months now and the last 2 weeks she has done full time with no probs. I know she will be totally fine. But somehow tonight feels so much more depressing :(

So I'm going to sit down, order a takeaway and try and refrain from eating an entire box of ferrero rocher, I need to fit in to my work trousers tomorrow!

Mama x

Capture a moment

My good friend Ally at Cancer and baby equals chaos has laid down a challenge, each week on a Tuesday I am going to post a photo from the previous 7 days where I have captured a moment. I will explain about the photo and why I have picked it. So who wants to join in?

So here is my first photo

This weekend we built Immie's trike and trailer. She recieved this as a gift for Christmas from her great grandma and grandad Scott. She is just about big enough to sit on it now, although she is a little too short to "ride" it, she loves sitting on it and being pushed up and down the hallway. The trailer is brilliant as she can put her sheep, Freebie (because he was free!), in the back and take him with her. We added the Imogen number plate, which was a present from a friend. It cracks me up seeing the little trailer disappearing off up the hall!

Mama x

I won't be one of those parents...

...who does their child's homework for them!

Last week we received a note from nursery. There were two things that stood out

1) On Thursday 21st April, they will be celebrating St George's day (early because of the bank hols) and will be having a traditional English meal -what on earth will that be I wonder? Pie and peas? Roast beef and yorkshire pud? Tikka Masala?? ;) And children are invited to wear red and white. Paaaaannniiiccccc Immie only seems to wear pink! Thank god for Amazon!

2) Children are invited to decorate a hard boiled egg at home and the best one wins a choccy egg! Sorry, did someone say choccy egg?? Im there!!!!

So last week I bought card, wobbly eyes, paint, fluffy pom poms and PVA glue. I swear I haven't used PVA glue since I was 12! Sunday we set about decorating our egg. Sorry I mean Immie set about decorating her egg!

Immie was given the task of finger painting the card and a cup from an egg box. A simple enough task for an 11 month old... wrong! 10 minutes later she had produced what I consider to be a work of art but she also had blue and green teeth from trying to eat the paint!!!! I hard boiled the egg. I wasn't sure how long to boil it for, so I boiled it to oblivion for about 45 mins!!! Must be rock hard Im sure.

OH was given the task of cutting out rabbit ears and feet

We then assembled it all together. The result I think is pretty good. But it got me wondering, would Immie be disqualified for having way too much help!?

I must remember not to be so enthusiastic when she is doing her maths homework when she is older!!

Mama x

Anyone know how to get tomato soup out of baby clothes?

This week at nursery, Immie has decided she doesn't want the staff to feed her, she wants to feed herself. Great, heading towards another milestone.

All sounds fab, except this week they decided to feed her tomato soup. She came home in her emergency change of clothes and with soup in her hair. Apparently the soup went everywhere during her bid for independence.

I've tried washing at 50 instead of 40 and using a stain remover in the wash but I'm admitting defeat, her vest is still covered in orange stains. Anyone know how to get tomato soup out of baby clothes?

Mama x

Ssshhh, Shhhhh, Bo, Goh, ba ba

Translated: Fish, Shoe, Book, Gone, Baby

Today when I went to pick Immie up the nursery worker asked me "Does she say 'words' for certain things?"

Apparently today Immie has been saying "Uh oh" quite a bit and this surprised the staff, at first they though it was a fluke but then she did it several times (bang goes my theory about her getting that from nursery then LOL). Later on they took her and the other babies to look at the fish tank and Immie said "ssshhh", everytime we go near a pet shop OH takes her to look at the fish, so she must have started to pick the word up. She can also say 'Bo' for book and 'Goh' for gone (this is usually accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders!)

So the nursery staff told me her "speech" is pretty advanced for her age as she is linking sounds to objects/things/actions. Also apparently the shhhh sound doesn't come till later and normally for shoes a baby would say "oohs" first. So they were quite surprised.

I always thought Immie would be a talker, apparently OH was good at talking as a child and I dont think I was too shabby either.

No matter how much a parent says they're not bothered if their child is bright/clever/advanced/gifted, they just want a happy child etc, nothing makes you feel more smug than a "professional" saying your baby is advanced at something!

I wonder what her first fully formed word will be? Oxbridge maybe?? hehe

Mama x

And so it comes to an end

Today has officially been the last day of my maternity leave. As of tomorrow I am a paid employee once again. Technically I am not in work tomorrow though as it is the Easter holidays but I have so much planning and prep to do that I will be working.

Tomorrow Immie starts nursery full time. 7.15am - 5.15 pm. She normally has her tea at 5ish, so by the time we get home (5.30ish) she'll be wanting tea, bath, bed. This makes me sad. For 5 days a week I will hardly see her. Life is about to become very different. I am used to seeing her all day most days. Sure she has been going to nursery 2 days a week for about 2 months now but she always finished at 3.15, giving us a good hour and a half to play together before tea.

I knew this day would come eventually, my return to work date was set down by my employers about a year ago. I just didn't anticipate it would come this quick. There were times in the first 5 months I felt it couldn't come soon enough, but I have settled in to being a mummy. I certainly don't feel ready to return to the daily grind.

A lot of mummys worry about sending their child to nursery/childminder, I'm not worried about Immie going to nursery. She loves going and the staff are fab. But I do worry if I'm doing the right thing by going back full time for myself. Work used to be my priority and now it very much isn't and Im not sure how I feel about that. Will I be able to cope and stay on top of everything I need to do, to be the teacher I want to be?

I guess the positives are I get lots of holidays (yes I'll need to work some days but I can work shorter hours, part time if you like.) Also I can in theory finish at 3pm most days, I could be at nursery by about 3.20pm. However, I am conscious that I want weekends to be work free, Immie days. So in order to do that I will probably work till 5, pick her up then work some more when she is in bed so that I am able to do that. Before Immie, I would have worked most evenings and at least 1 day at weekends, this now has to change. It is going to be a different way of working.

So it has been a long year, exhausting, at times frustrating and upsetting. But it has mainly been enjoyable, fun and lovely. I'm still holding out for a lotto win in the next two weeks though!!!!

Mama x

Milk

So this week I busted Immie out of nursery early on Thursday and took her to see the health visitor (felt so naughty for picking her up early, like she was skiving or something haha).

When we got to the Grimethorpe baby clinic the room was heaving! Mainly full of mums with babies younger than Immie, judging by the babies Id say most were only a month old. Me and Immie sat quietly and waited our turn. I didn't dare speak to any of the other mums as being a southerner in a room full of locals (who all seem to know each other) often gets you funny looks! When it was our turn we went in and sat down. It wasn't our usual health visitor but I have seen this one before. Immie wasn't due to go but after all the lurge she's had I wanted to get her checked. So we weighed her (around 19lb, bang on the 50th centile!). Then we got to why I was really there, milk!

Immie is fast approaching 1 and I know that from 1 you switch them to cows milk. So I asked the HV if you just woke up on her birthday and gave her cows milk or if you introduce it gradually. The HV said I was right and that gradually is probably the best approach. She asked me a few questions about how much and what type of milk Immie has, when I said we gave her pre-made formula she raised her eyebrows and said we might struggle to move to cows milk as its very different (BAD MUMMY ALERT!). We only used pre-made because powder only lasts a month and we were binning loads because Immie doesn't drink much milk.

So this week we have begun the transition. Immie is having cows milk in her porridge/cereal and then as her elevenses. So far she hasn't batted an eyelid to the different milk. She has never been much of a milk drinker, even as a tiny baby so god knows if she is getting enough! I might try and give her red meat twice a week to up her iron intake just to make sure.

The other thing we are beginning to try is giving her milk in a sippy cup rather than a bottle. She didn't seem to mind for her elevenses this morning and she is used to drinking water from a sippy cup. With a bit of luck soon we can ditch the bottles and free up some space on the top of the microwave!

Mama x

Proud mummy alert 2!

So today we went swimming and it was a good lesson. Immie loved it. I feel like she is back to her normal happy self now the lurge is just about gone. I've already blogged before about our swimming lessons with Puddle Ducks. Today we did jumping, bouncing, "swimming" and submersions etc

Whilst we were getting changed, the poolside assistant gave me 2 little sheets to say that Immie had achieved her STA Starfish level 1 & 2 badges! I am very excited about this. Immie has only ever had one certificate before and that is her birth certificate, so not really a huge achievement. But she has gained her starfish awards for things she can do at swimming (like submersions etc). So I am pretty chuffed, I'll do anything for a certificate me!

So the badges will be sewn on to her swimming towel (if Grandma wouldn't mind!?) and the certificate will go in her keepsake box probably (I've managed to restrain myself from the idea of framing them for the wall!)

So tonight I am one proud mummy!

Mama x

Uh-oh!

So Immie's latest party piece is to say "uh-oh". She appears to know to use "uh-oh" when she drops something. I have no idea where she has picked this up from, I tend to say "oops" if I drop things, so I suspect she has learnt it from nursery, I must ask them today!

The only problem is, she seems to think by saying "uh-oh" this gives her the right to throw things on the floor. The other day she threw a cheesy puff ring on the floor and said "uh-oh", when I said "No Immie!" she then carried on, throwing them on the floor and saying "uh-oh", whilst looking at me to see if I was watching! Ten cheesy puff rings later, mummy ended the game! Little madam clearly knows she shouldn't throw them but was waiting for me to react!

A few days later I was preparing lunch in the kitchen while she played with the OH in the lounge, I dropped a saucepan on the tiled floor, after the almighty crash I just heard a little "Uh-oh!"

But yesterday she took this new phrase to a whole new level. We are currently having new wardrobes, bedside units etc fitted. The bloke fitting them accidentally drilled through our ensuite wall and straight through 2 tiles! When I took Immie upstairs to survey the damage and the poor bloke explained what had happened, Immie sat in my arms and just said "Uh-oh!"

This little phase creases me up, I wonder what the next phase will be!?

Mama x

Mother's day

So today is my first mother's day. My day has consisted of some lovely pressies and a card but more importantly some big kisses and cuddles from my beautiful baby girl. Lots of my friends are also experiencing their first mothers day too. So I hope you all have a lovely day with your nearest and dearest.

I am one of the lucky ones though. I have my baby girl with me and whilst my own mum is 240 miles away she is still here. But I know for others today is extremely painful, whether they are trying for their own baby and finding that journey tough, or if their own baby isn't with them in their arms or if their own mother isn't with them. Today should be about celebrating ALL mummies, past, present (including those with beautiful angel babies!) and future.

So today I am sending lots of love to all those people who are finding today a difficult one.

Happy mothers day.

Mama x

Playing the lotto

So with just over 3 weeks to go until the dreaded back to work, I've begun to buy lottery tickets. This is my only hope of not having to work.

£250k would pay off the mortgage, our debts etc and allow me to give up work. Not too much to ask is it?

£250k would allow me to stay at home with Immie and not spend my day teaching other people's kids.

Fingers crossed everyone!

Mama x