Well Boo and I have taken the big step and moved over to self-hosted, we are still getting to grips with everything but I am sure there is always going to be things to figure out along the way.
Please visit us at our new home!!
A New ‘Job’
Last night I wrote a very important letter, it was a scary letter to write… my resignation from my job. My husband and I have decided that the best thing for the family right now is for me to be a SAHM. I am excited but also apprehensive, I have never resigned from a job without having the next one lined up, it feels strange to be floating in the ether.
I know that I do have a ‘job’ even though I definitely don’t see being a mummy to Boo as a job but it is what I am going to spend my days (and nights) doing. I am excited because it means I get to spend lots of time with Boo and because I can have a think about what job I would like to do in the future, and possibly look into training.
My current plan is to spend the next 1-2 years at home with Boo and possibly doing some form of part time training, and then look for a part time job until Boo is older, and then go back full time when I feel Boo is old enough. I know that plans change, but this is the rough plan I feel suits my little family best.
It’s exciting and scary at the same time, Boo will be my boss and I don’t think she is going to go easy on me!
Wicked Wednesdays – 21/01/2015
It all seems so obvious when you are 1 and you get a toy xylophone you make a lot of noise and then you snap the stick in two! It took so much effort Boo was shaking with trying to bend it, and we didn’t actually think she would have the strength to bend it never mind break it! So here it is, probably the first in a long line of broken toys…
My 100th Blog Post
Wow, I can’t believe I am publishing my 100th post already. It seems like a blur, I wrote my ‘Introduction’ post back in June 2014 and then nothing until August 2014. A bit of a jittery start to the blog, but from August it seems that I got in to the swing of things and I can honestly say that I love having my blog and being able to post about my adventures with Boo and making a record I can keep of her childhood.
My only wish is that I started blogging earlier! My pregnancy was hard for various reason and I think being able to talk about it, share it and interact with other people in similar situations would have helped me immensely. And it might have prompted me to take more bump photos, as I think I have 2 or 3 and that’s it!
Blogging has not only given me a way to share my adventures with Boo, but also given me an outlet for my thoughts which I may have had not real place for without my blog. It’s also prompted me to take more photos, and to try to get better at taking photos, so that I have these memories forever and show them to Boo when they are older.
It’s feels like I have reached a milestone with my blog, and at a time when I am considering the possibility of moving to selfhosted. I can only wonder where I am going to be and what my blog is going to be like when I am posting my 200th post!!
I have ‘met’ some lovely people through blogging and by reading their amazing blogs I have gained insight, knowledge, and witnessed moments of laughter and sadness, and through the comments I have gained advice and ideas.
I have some blog related goals which I have been thinking about for a while, one of which is to move to selfhosted, and probably change the name of my blog as Boo is not going to be a baby forever, though I think she will definitely cause chaos forever! I also want to become more knowledgeable about social media, I love twitter and want to use that and instagram more, but I would also like to utilise pinterest and google+ more.
My 100th post, a great place to look back and reflect and look forward and plan!
Review – Hape Wooden Farm Animals
I recent bought these Hape Wooden Qubes Farm Animals, I saw them on sale and bought them on a whim and I am really glad I did, as Boo loves them.
I bought them with the intention of starting to teach Boo about different animals, (and of course because I am a sucker for wooden toys). We have been using them to sing Old MacDonald and learn the different animal names and noises, and Boo has also been giving them a good old chew. Boo has also started to stack them, when the blocks are laying on their side, which is unusual for Boo as she usually just likes to knock things over and take them apart!
They come in a plastic tube which can be used to store them in, and a lovely handle with a wooden heart. It’s finishing touches like this which make things seem a bit special, and I think they would make a really lovely gift.
The Wooden Farm Animals are for 12 months+ and contain 12 lovely painted farm animals, there are other packs available, such as Safari Animals, Sea Animals & Dinosaurs, all of which looked lovely and brightly coloured and I think Boo would love to play with any of the packs.
I paid £4.99 for these wooden farm animals in a sale and I think they were well worth it. I can see Boo getting a lot of use out of them. They are very versatile and can be used for learning about animals, the names and noises and are a great prop for songs like Old MacDonald.
Hiya!
Boo’s favourite word at the minute is Hiya! She says it all the time. If she sees anyone she recognises, or walks in to the room you are in, or someone new arrives, she waits baited breathe looking at the door to the hallway from the living room to shout hiya at whoever arrives or if the phone rings, or she is just in a good mood she will say (and then yell) hiya! repeatedly until you say hiya back. She always has a great big smile on her face when she is saying it. We get other words too, like hiya dadda or hiya mamma or hiya some lovely musical sounds. It’s lovely that she is wanting to interact with the world around her, and her face just lights up when you reply.
If the phone rings she will hold whatever is in her hand at the time up to her ear and shout hiya (I am wondering if I talk to loud when I am on the phone!) or if I am on the phone she will just shout hiya until someone acknowledges her, at least we know she is determined to be heard!
I can’t wait to see which new words Boo learns next and what her next favourite word will be (fingers crossed it isn’t No!) It’s so exciting to see hear learn not only the meaning of words but also how to use them herself. It truly is magical.
My Sunday Photo – 18/01/15
Project 365 – Days 11 – 17
It’s been a strange week for us this week, and I have been ill, so on day 11 I took a solitary photo, which was lucky in some ways, but I feel sad about in others as it is not a picture of Boo and I wanted to take a year of Boo photos, but it’s Boo related so I will just have to live with the blip and cut myself some slack as I was pretty much bedridden that day.
11. Having a cuddle with daddy, and seizing the change to have a quick nibble on the zip of his top! Multitasking at it finest!
12. Delivery for Boo… I love getting parcels, especially when the contain a lovely new waterproof coat for Boo! Helped to brighten up the day as I was poorly and feeling very sorry for myself!
13. Boo spent a good 20 minutes running around with two fistfuls of mini gingerbread men which she had stolen! slowly eating some of them, dropping some of them and the when only one partial gingerbread man remained, inspecting it in minute detail.
14. Finally we have some hair! Boo’s gorgeous soft lovely hair, adorable!
15. Fun at the park, even when it’s cold it can still be lots of fun (in her new coat – which kept her so warm she kept taking her gloves and hat off!)
16. The best place to store food for later… is in your hair!
17. Boo loves sitting on or messing about with this been bag, and it is the perfect place to sit and watch Daddy whilst eating a biscuit.
Why do I want another baby?
I am asking myself this question a lot at the minute, and I can’t quite seem to answer it fully. I have written a post similar to this a couple of months ago, but nothing seems to be resolved I am going round in circles so I am hoping writing this might tip the balance. My heart is telling me one thing and my brain (and my hubby) are telling me another. There are many arguments it seems…
1. I have been adamant that I never wanted to have another child after Boo after the first week of Hyperemesis – I remember getting out of the shower (my only achievement of the day) and begging my husband to promise to never let me get pregnant again. I still remember that the sheer feeling of terror at the thought of having to feel as bad as I did, for as long as I did (and little did I know at that point I would suffer with constant nausea and vomit most days until Boo arrived at 41 weeks – the out of control vomiting subsided gradually at about 19 weeks). So why do I want another baby? To put myself, and my husband and Boo through that? I was incapable of looking after myself, I couldn’t look after Boo and my husband has to work. So surely another child is out of the question.
My head … definitely agrees, another pregnancy like that would be intolerable. But my heart… it points out medication, the fact that I might not suffer as bad this time, or at all… (though the odds are not in my favour).
2. Boo’s first year hasn’t been easy in terms of sleep, at 13 months she is still not sleeping through the night, though we are making progress, we were only able to drop night feeds in the past month or so and she still wakes several times a night (and likes to get up early). I feel like a zombie most days and even with daytime naps I still feel like I am so far behind sleepwise I may never catch back up. So do I really want to go back to that? A newborn, clusterfeeding, up all hours, unable to sleep during the day because Boo will be awake?
My head… I need myself, I deserve a rest, I need a good nights sleep ( or 10),
My heart… points out that not all babies sleep as little as Boo (who has always slept well below the ‘average’ hours sleep out of 24 for her age at every stage), why not tough it out as it won’t last forever, better now than to start sleeping through and have to go back to broken sleep again if we decide later to have another (maybe when the memories have faded a bit more and the sleep deprivation doesn’t seem that bad)
3. Boo’s medical issues – colic and silent reflux, not a great combination (well alone either is enough to drive anyone to tears) the made for long newborn nights, and long newborn days of carrying Boo around upright for the reflux, and weeks of trying different medication to find one that works, then there was the guilt of my tiny perfect baby is getting medication, worry over the side effects, guilt that maybe it was my breastmilk (irrational? maybe a little) Could we really go through that again, how would Boo sleep with a baby making all the heartbreaking noise she use to make, when mummy and daddy were trying everything they could to help her feel even a little better, just for a little while
My head … questions if we could cope with something like that again, it was heartbreaking, even the memories make me tear up.
My heart… chances are we wouldn’t have to go through that again, colic and silent reflux bad combination and even if we were unlucky we have dealt with it before and we can deal with it again. We have the little tips and tricks that helped (a little) last time we can use them again.
4. Would a sibling be best for Boo – My husband thinks that Boo would be better off as an ‘only’ child (not strictly true as she has two half brothers but they live in another country and they do see each other on skype it’s not the same as having a sibling in the house) Boo’s personality does seem to be quiet high maintenance, try as I might I cannot leave her to play for long, and she likes to have interaction from adults more than other children (but I am not quite how much we can take from all this as she is only 13 months old) I am not sure, I think a sibling would be amazing, I have visions of them playing together and being best friends – they could of course dislike each other and fight all the time, who knows?
My head … there is no way to know what would be best for Boo, we can’t live both decisions out and then make the decision with hindsight, you just have to make a decision and go with the flow, not amount of reading about siblings vs only children is going to definitively tell us what is best for us as a family.
My heart… I love my brother (though I do remember once telling him that his breathing annoyed me) and how sad would it be for Boo to miss out on a relationship like that? My husband and I aren’t going to be here forever and a sibling would be someone who would always (hopefully) be there for Boo, and Boo could be there for them.
5. Could I even cope? I don’t know some days how I cope with Boo, newborn days are a haze of lost sleep, sore nipples and crying, I can honestly say that as Boo has grown and learned to crawl and then things have felt easier for me, I couldn’t even leave the house for six weeks after Boo was born. How am I going to cope with breastfeeding a newborn and having an energetic Boo, how could I do all the things I did with Boo and then have the energy to look after another? Can I sign up for another year plus of breastfeeding (and no caffeine)?
My head… rationally you cope because you have to, noone can prepare you for having a baby, it’s a massive change, at least you are in some way prepared now for a baby and what it actually entails, coping with a toddler and baby? Noone knows until you are in that situation… sink or swim.
My heart … you cope because you have to, there are two tiny people who depend on you, you have help, your husband, your mum, your stepdad, your brother, your sister in law, your friends… and Boo. You are strong, you can cope with anything and you will.
6. Finally random thoughts… I have this image in my mind of Boo standing with her back to me, walking down a lovely path, green and trees and the sun shining, holding the hand of a smaller child, chattering away, and every time I think that not having another child would be best for the family, the smaller child fades and disappears and Boo is left standing there alone, no-one to chatter too and I can’t help by get upset. I know it’s irrational because Boo is never going to be alone, she has mummy and daddy, and lots of other family, it seems silly but I just can’t seem to shake this vision from my head.
My head… rationally asks if this is just natures way of making sure we all have lots of babies, this inexplicable need to have more children when the first reaches a certain age… the tick tock of our body clocks?
My heart… tells me that I can’t get this image out of my mind because deep down, all rational thoughts aside I do want another child, a sibling for Boo, and that some part of me is always going to regret it if we don’t, haunted by the image of a child that never was?
So there it is, my thoughts, running around in my head this past couple of months, crazy thoughts driving me crazy. I always feel better once I have made a decision, but this seems to be one decision I just can’t seem to make!
Any thoughts would be most appreciated because I am just going round in circle.
Baby Chaos 
