Cambridge Baby Blog

I came across the list for what to pack in my hospital bag yesterday and it really took me back. Packing my hospital bag was probably one of the hardest things I had to do when I was pregnant (besides pushing the baby out). I must have unpacked and repacked it at least 10 times. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t forget anything, but I also didn’t want to look like I was packing for 2 week break for a family of four. I think it’s easy to think about what to pack for your new arrival but it’s important not to forget about yourself. 

Here is a snapshot of my list for both mum and baby.

Mum

• Birth plan/hospital notes - Your birth may not go exactly as you planned but it’s good to have your preferences down on paper. Just be prepared to change your mind once it starts happening. 
• Nightshirt - Some people may tell you to pack a nightshirt for while you’re in labour but I wasn’t in any position to think about changing my clothes. I gave birth naked from the waist down and wearing the t shirt that I travelled into the birth centre in. I did however wear a nightshirt for afterwards which was probably the only thing I could face wearing. I wore this Unisex Cotton Organic Nightshirt by Living Crafts. I loved it and I even wore it throughout my pregnancy. It got a little tight towards the end but it still saw me the whole way through. It was also great for breastfeeding with the buttons on the front. 

• Nursing bra - If you’re planning on breastfeeding you’ll probably want to have a nursing bra or two so you can feed your baby when they’re hungry - which is a lot
• Big knickers! - People told me I needed big knickers. I wasn’t entirely convinced so I packed some in my size and some a size up. I soon learnt that those people were right. You want the Bridget Jones kind. The bigger the better in my opinion, to keep the maternity pads in place. There will be quite a bit of blood so you may want to get them in a dark colour
• Towel - Turns out I didn’t need a towel. The birth centre provided all the towels I needed, but I’m not sure if this is commonplace in all hospitals.
• Maternity pads - I took a pack of 20 and I think this was more than enough because the hospital provided me with a couple too. I used disposable pads at this birth but I think next time I might try reusable's. I think I’d much rather have soft cotton next to my skin than synthetic materials. Same goes for the knickers above - get cotton/organic cotton. 
• Wash bag - Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, flannel, soap, shampoo, conditioner, lip balm, deodorant etc. I also packed some cooling spray, some post birth ‘down there’ spray and nipple balm. 
• Snacks - During my labour I wasn’t eating enough and I was threatened with a drip unless I ate something. The midwife then suggested Lucozade which my husband had to go and fetch from the shop. I hated him leaving so next time I’m going to make sure I have a bottle in my bag ready just in case. 
• Phone charger - For you and your partner. You don’t want them to die when you’re just about to tell everyone the baby has just been born. And I’m sure you’ll want to take lots of pictures. 
• Headphones - To listen to your birthing playlist if you have one.

Baby

• Muslins - I take these everywhere so obviously they went in my hospital bag. I have the Organic Muslin Squares by Disana. Had them for almost 8 months now, they’ve survived multiple washes (some hot ones) and they’re still going strong.

• Baby body - Obviously you’re going to need something to dress your baby in once they’re no longer in the safety of your tummy. The first ever piece of clothing my baby wore was an Organic Cotton Baby Body by Living Crafts. It felt good to know that such a soft fabric was against my newborn baby’s skin. 

• Sleepsuit - I took about 5 just in case, but I didn’t need that many. My favourite was an Organic Merino Wool Baby Grow by Engel. So soft and cosy, and super cute on a tiny baby. 

• Nappy sacks - The nappies usually just got thrown in the bin at the hospital but I took some of these just in case. I don’t think I used any though. 
• Cotton wool/reusable wipes - They say to use cotton wool on newborn baby’s soft bottoms. I did, because as a first time mum I followed the advice of the professionals. I have some organic cotton reusable wipes and now I know they would have been perfectly fine to use with water instead of cotton wool. It actually would have been a lot easier and a lot less fiddly. 

• Hat - Or 2, if you’re planning on having a water birth
• Socks - For either their feet, or their hands. 
• Scratch mittens
• Blanket - My baby was wrapped in a hospital blanket during our stay there so our blanket was only used when coming home. It was definitely needed in the middle of January. I now have the Delicate Wool Blanket by Disana and I definitely wish I’d had it from the start. It would have been so perfect for my tiny new baby. 

• Going home outfit - Some people like to put their baby in a cute outfit for leaving the hospital. I didn’t care what she looked like, I was just so worried that she would be warm enough. I think when we left the hospital Molly was wearing a baby body, a sleep suit and then a wool cardigan. This was plenty since we were getting straight into the car and she had a blanket over her as well. 

Remember, the shops don’t close just because you’re in labour. If you forget anything, or need something you weren’t expecting to need, it can easily be bought after the baby is born.

So much has changed in the last month. Molly is becoming more like a little person now and less like that little baby that I brought home from the hospital. I started writing this blog a week ago but much of what I had written was no longer applicable. Things really are changing that quickly. I’m going to keep it simple because I fear that what I write now will also be changing again soon. 

• She’s finally in 6-9 month clothes! I know I can write this one with confidence. I’m 99% sure she will not be going to shrink back down into 3-6 month size. I’m only 99% sure because it seems I can never be 100% sure of anything that involves Molly. 
• She stays awake for longer periods now. It’s lovely now she can go a lot longer between naps without getting grumpy and tired. We can do a lot more with her now, and sometimes this means that she sleeps for longer than 30 minutes during the day too!
• She’s sitting independently now. It’s not very often she falls over, and more often than not when she does fall, its from her own doing. She thinks it’s hilarious to fling herself backwards so we always have to make sure she’s sat with a couple of cushions behind her. 
• She has little conversations with us. There are no words involved but she speaks in the gaps, just like a normal conversation goes. 
• She has 3 meals a day now. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s a lot more effort but since doing this we’ve found it easier to settle into a routine. Breakfast, nap, play, lunch, nap, bottle, play, dinner, bath, bed. Simples! (In theory). 
• She copies things now. It’s so cute. A few times she has said ‘uh oh’ after I have said it to her. She definitely waved at everybody during our last baby sensory session, butI have yet to get her to do it in front of her daddy.
• She puts her arms up now when she knows she’s going to be picked up. This one is so simple and yet it’s my favourite thing that she does now. 

It’s lovely to watch her growing up and developing and learning new things. I’m really excited for everything that's to come, especially when she starts moving around. I get sad sometimes when I think about how fast time has gone, and how I’ll never see her at those ages again, but that’s what number 2 is for, eh Sam?

1. Co-sleep - I’d read and heard a lot about how unsafe co-sleeping was and so I made the decision that it would be something that I wouldn’t even consider. Especially since I’ve been known to do some strange things in my sleep. I think I stuck to this decision for about 3 months, until we visited my mums house and Molly decided that she wasn’t too happy about sleeping in her travel cot. I probably stuck it out for about a night and a half, but sleep deprivation got the best of me and we invited Molly into our bed at about 4am. The first time I didn’t get much sleep because I was worrying so much but Molly did and so we continued to co-sleep for the rest of the trip. And we haven’t looked back since. Most mornings Molly comes into our bed at 5am so we can all get an extra hour or two of sleep. It’s a lovely thing to do. If we have another child I’ll probably co-sleep again, if needed, but I’d still probably wait until they’re a couple of months old again.
   
   
2. Buy shop bought baby food - This was complete naivety on my part. I thought that baby food would work out really expensive and I thought that they were full of rubbish. This is not actually the case. The supermarkets always have good deals on jars of baby food and the ingredients are simple and minimal. They aren’t full of salt and sugar as long as you are sensible about what you are buying. When we started to wean Molly I tried to steam and blend my own baby food but it all just got too much. Since Molly doesn’t sleep for longer than 30 minutes I don’t get time in the day to do things so I was trying to do everything I needed to do in the evenings. I couldn’t stay on top of it all and I caved and bought baby food. It is one of the better decisions I’ve made though. She has a mixture of shop bought and homemade and now we’re all happy.
   
   
3. Buy plastic tat - I hate plastic baby toys. They just seem so flimsy and cheap and tacky. I decided before Molly was born that she would only play with wooden educational toys. I’m not sure if this decision was based on image or what is best for baby. There’s also the fact that plastic isn’t a very sustainable material. And don’t get me started on what I’ve read on VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) and BPA (bisphenol A) coming from plastic toys. However, all of this went out the window when I realised that babies LOVE plastic toys. The lights, the tunes, the spinning and the buttons. So obviously we’re now the owners of many cheap plastic toys and Molly loves all of them. I still try and buy second hand etc where possible, and we still have a few wooden toys too so I don’t feel too bad.
   
   
4. Let baby watch tv - ‘My baby was not going to watch TV! My toddler was not going to watch TV! I will be super mum and will play with my child for stimulation and she will never be sat with her eyes fixated on that rectangular screen.’ Yeah right. Sometimes a little distraction is needed. I don’t let her watch TV often, and she only watches baby sensory videos on youtube. It’s not like I’ve sat her down in front of 50 shades of grey every afternoon. Sometimes I need to get things done and I need her to be distracted for 5 minutes. This is when the TV can come in very handy. For example, when she’s all set up in her pram ready to leave the house and I realise I’ve not packed her changing bag. I can guarantee at this point Molly will start crying, and I don’t know what happens to me when she cries but I just cannot function, so I’ll put on a little baby sensory video. This keeps Molly happy and quiet and I can pack her bag without flustering and everybody is happy. I still feel guilty that I let my baby watch a screen but I don’t think 5 minutes here and there is going to cause any problems.
   
   
5. Be overprotective and worry too much - I think this one covers all the previous points and much more. My husband kept telling me that he didn’t want me to be one of those parents who was so overprotective over their child that they were barely able to do anything. I think they call it helicopter parenting. I assured him that this wouldn’t happen and I was going to be so laid back I’d be horizontal. Ha! Now, I don’t think I’m that bad. I am a worrier. I used to watch her when she slept, I was completely over the top with loose things around her crib etc. I absolutely hated it when she moved into her own room and considered sleeping on her bedroom floor ‘just in case’. I have no idea what that ‘just in case’ was referring to but I just didn’t want anything to happen to her. So I am just a little bit overprotective. My husband thinks I’m very overprotective but I think it’s all just part of being a new mum. I do worry less as she gets older and gets a little less fragile, but then there’s always new worries coming along. I’m pretty sure I won’t become a full blown helicopter parent when she’s older and I’ll let her venture off into the world when she’s ready. I’m also pretty sure my husband will disagree with me on that one.

We’ve been giving Molly food for over a month now. I can’t quite believe that. Can time slow down please?! We started weaning Molly onto food when she was just over 5 months old for a few different reasons. I really wanted to wait until she was 6 months as is recommended but my poor little baby wasn’t gaining weight very well. The health visitor told me to feed her more but that just ended up with a very sore and miserable mummy, and there was no changes to Molly either. I tried formula but for some reason during that time Molly decided she was on a bottle strike. So food was our last option. 

We started simple and just started mixing some formula with baby porridge. I did this for about a week while persevering with the bottle, which she eventually started to take after a couple of weeks. Once she’d started taking a bottle and she was swallowing more baby porridge than spitting out I started to give her ‘proper food’. We started Molly on pureed vegetables, following the guidelines of vegetables first. I think for the first week she ate courgette, broccoli, carrots, and beetroot. She took to it really well. I don’t think there was much that she rejected, even on the first try. After we’d introduced lots of vegetables we started to feed her fruit. The first thing we tried was banana which she absolutely hated. She even hates it now, but it seems to be the only thing she doesn’t like so I think we’re doing well.

As soon as she hit the 6 months mark I started to give Molly some finger foods alongside her purees. I’d planned to do baby led weaning from the start but, because we started early, I knew that this was something that I could no longer consider doing. If I’m honest, I’m quite disappointed by this. It seems as though most of the advice and recommendations is to do baby led weaning from the start (and wait until your baby is 6 months old) and since I didn’t do this I sometimes feel a little guilty. As usual, all I wanted was the best for my baby whilst also trying to stay in line with current guidelines and recommendations. (I can now see, after 6 months, that this isn’t always possible and that I can judge better what is best for my baby).

Overall, weaning Molly has been a really fun experience. Preparing all the food is a bit of a pain. It's an extra job that I don't really have time for, especially because of how much I have to make. I never knew something so small could eat so much. Molly is now eating 2 meals a day. She has porridge made with formula for her breakfast sometimes mixed with a fruit puree. For her lunch she’ll usually have some sort of protein (eggs, beans, meat or fish), a vegetable, and then a carbohydrate like toast or potato. She’s had fingers of avocado, fingers of banana and toast but she doesn’t have many finger foods yet. Until you’re experiencing your little one eating finger foods you have no idea how scary it is. So we’re taking it slow just to keep anxiety levels low. We haven’t introduced many high risk allergy foods yet either for the same reason. She’s had cow’s milk, wheat, gluten, egg and fish which have all been fine so far. I’ll continue to keep introducing these high risks food and then keeping them in her diet regularly to help reduce the risk of allergies. 

Looking back I’m glad we started weaning Molly when we did. It was obviously the best thing for her at the time and now she’s eating like a pro (almost). At some point we’ll move onto complete baby led weaning but for now I’ll continue to cover her face with puree (aiming for her mouth of course) and let her gum on a piece of toast or avocado afterwards.

I cannot believe my tiny newborn is 6 months old already. Where has the time gone? It only feels like yesterday that I was counting my contractions and wondering how long it would be until I met my daughter. And yet, it all seems to have gone by in such a blur that I can barely remember any of it. 

I was at a baby sensory session last week when a mum walked in with her 3 week old baby and I couldn’t help but stare. This baby was so fresh and tiny. It made me  look at Molly and got me thinking about when she was that age. It was hard. My god, it was so hard during those early days. But thinking about it and then looking down at my smiley happy 6 month old I was filled with a great feeling of accomplishment. I realised I had survived every one of those days. Those days where I spent the whole day in tears, or in my pyjamas, with a sink full of dishes and laundry all over the house. I was a mess, constantly wondering why on Earth I wanted this life for myself. I can see now that it really does get better. At 6 months old it really starts to feel worth it.

Those tears have not gone just yet thought. (Will they ever?) Just yesterday I shed a few because I just could not get her to sleep. Eventually I had to call it a day and ask Sam to have a go, who managed it in about 10 minutes. I felt like such an utter failure. But these days are not the majority anymore. In fact, these ‘days’ are now just moments. Most of the time now I feel like I’m actually getting the hang of this parenting thing. The house is no longer a complete mess (just a normal mess), the laundry gets done, I have lunch at lunch time. Molly naps!! (For 30 minutes at a time but who cares?? She actually naps now!)

I do miss the newborn stage. Mostly just the way she used to fall asleep on me. She doesn’t do that anymore, which makes me a little sad. But she does so much more now. She smiles when she sees us which is the most heartwarming thing ever. She actually plays with things properly now. She’s into everything and it’s so cute! (I’m pretty sure I won’t be saying that when she can crawl.) She rolls around on the floor and lays on her front with her head and can play like that. She can sit! (Almost). I could make a list as long as my arm of the things she can now do and she’s only 6 months old. I had no idea that babies progressed so quickly. It’s incredible. I think if I blinked for a second I’d miss so much. I'm really enjoying this stage of her life but I’m also so excited for all that comes next.

I’m not really a fan of hot, sunny weather but I’m determined to not let that get in the way of making some great summer memories while she’s a baby. We’ll never get this time again. 

The hottest day we’ve experienced together so far was just over 30 degrees Celsius. We made it through though despite all my worrying. The night was the worst. I think it was 27 degrees in Molly's bedroom when we put her to bed so she went to bed in a nappy and a 1 tog sleeping bag. It probably would have been a 0.5 tog if we’d had one but we didn’t so we made do with what we had. She was absolutely fine, as she always is. I do think I worry too much but I always think it’s better to worry a little too much than not enough.

Here’s how we stayed cool in the heat. 

• Water - this one is actually in 3 parts. I’ll start with the most boring. Molly is partly breastfed and partly formula-fed (due to very painful nipples) so I make sure to offer Molly water in her sippy cup to make sure she’s staying well hydrated. For babies who are exclusively breastfed, extra feedings from the breast is recommended.

Part 2 is a wet towel. My husband decided to purchase a magic towel which claims to be 0 degrees when wet. Spoiler alert: it does not even get close to 0 degrees when wet. However, it does stay cool for a long time in the heat though and feels lovely on the skin. I’m sure any old wet towel or even a muslin would do the same job. This helped to keep all 3 of us cool when the mercury rises. 

Part 3 is the most exciting and most definitely my favourite. PADDLING POOL. She loved it, once the water had warmed up a bit! A bit of advice, don’t try and put your baby in the water straight from the hosepipe. I’m speaking from experience here. Straight from the tap, the water is very cold and baby will probably hate it and cry (oops). Lots of splashing and plenty of toys, in the shade of course, and you’re probably set for at least a half an hour of fun with your little ones. 

• Shade -   Recommendations say that babies less than 6 months old should not wear sun cream and should stay out of direct sunlight. Hmmm, easier said than done when it’s the height of summer, the sun is directly above and there are no clouds whatsoever. We put up a gazebo in the garden so we had a place to put the paddling pool that was out of direct sunlight. That means we have somewhere to sit at all times of the day and be out of the sun's rays! 

When out and about we use a muslin to shade her in her pram. You should never cover a baby’s pram with a blanket or a muslin as the temperature will rise putting your baby at risk. However, we use some buggy clips to clip one end of the muslin to the top of her buggy hood and the other to the handle so she’s shaded from the sun but still has good airflow inside her pram. Alternatively, you could just use a parasol. I like to make do with what I already have though to save a bit of money!

• Clothes - I think for most of the day Molly just wore a nappy which was great. We use cloth nappies which are a little more sturdy and stay in place better than a disposable in my opinion so she was quite happy. I think a light cotton summer dress or romper is needed to cover up their bare skin from the sun's rays if you’re going to be out and about. 

And don’t forget your sun hats! Molly wears a fireman’s hat which is perfect for keeping the sun out of her eyes and off her face and neck. 

• Fans- These are an absolute godsend. Obviously, I’d never want molly directly in front of a fan, especially all night.  We placed a fan outside of her bedroom door just before we put her to bed and it worked brilliantly at creating an airflow around her room without putting her in a draft, she loved the constant white noise too!

I’ll never be a fan of the really hot weather that comes in the summer but having a baby to spend it with definitely makes it more fun (and more stressful. Maybe that’s just me.). These are the ways we tried to stay cool during the hot weather we’ve been having recently. I am in no way qualified to be giving out advice, I just wanted to share my tricks for keeping cool and enjoying the sunshine.

I haven’t written a blog recently because In all honesty I just haven’t felt like writing. It’s not that I have nothing to write about. Plenty has happened, believe me. But I just haven’t had the motivation or the enthusiasm to put it into words. I haven’t had the motivation or enthusiasm to do much actually.

I feel like over the past couple of weeks I’ve been surviving instead of living. I’ve been doing what needs to be done and not much beyond that. It’s been tough. Everything has gotten on top of me. The housework, the laundry, this blog, even Molly. I thought I was doing okay at this parenting thing but the last 2 weeks have had me feeling like a complete failure.

It seems as though the dreaded 4 month sleep regression finally hit. We made it to 4 months and Molly was still sleeping really well so I thought we’d avoided it but boy was I wrong. It hit when she was 4 and a half months and we haven’t slept properly since. That’s probably the reason I’ve been feeling so rubbish. Sleep deprivation isn’t good for anyone. We’ve also had some feeding problems which have been causing major stress for me. I won’t go into details but luckily that seems to have started to resolve itself now so that’s one less thing to stress about. For now at least.

She looks like butter wouldn't melt, doesn't she?

I realise my ability to parent is not based on how often I manage to wash my hair or how clean the floors are, but it doesn’t stop me feeling like I’m failing. I feel like I should be able to do it all. Like I should have a baby who sleeps through the night and has 3 good naps a day. I should have a spotless house and the tea on the table when my husband gets home. (I just want to clarify that he’s never expected this, nor would he ever. He actually does most of the cooking.) I'm lucky. My baby is incredibly happy and meeting her milestones. She’s rolling around non-stop and is forever laughing at her mummy and daddy. I should be grateful and yet I find myself too immersed in the negatives that it's hard to enjoy the positives sometimes.

I came across a quote on the internet recently. It said ‘just because you are struggling doesn’t mean you are failing’ and I think this is something that we should all remember. Being a parent is hard. Not everyone is experiencing it the same and so it’s unfair to compare yourself to others. Those people who look like they have it all together are bound to have their own worries and struggles. You’re not a failure if you’re finding it hard. I for one definitely need to keep reminding myself of that.

So… it turns out that baby’s first trip was great. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And yes, things were stressful at times, but, the whole thing was worth it. And now we’ve done it once, we know we can do it again easy. Maybe. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past 5 months it’s that babies are constantly changing, which means changing their minds and their reactions to things all the time. Like, last night was the first bath she’s ever had a bath and not cried at the end of it. We did nothing different, so that great experience was all Molly. Anyway, I’m off topic. I’m supposed to be writing about our trip.

The car ride there was fine. I don’t know if you’ve ever travelled from Cambridge to Chesterfield but the majority of it is on the A1. Molly slept for the first 45 minutes and then woke up and played for a little while. About 15 minutes until we were to leave the A1 she started whingeing and so we were planning to stop just after our exit. We decided it didn’t make sense to stop a few junctions up from our exit. Little Molly decided she was going to fall back to sleep in that time though meaning we made it to our destination relatively stress free. Win!

The week was brilliant. Having my side of the family around and spending time with Molly was amazing and I really enjoyed myself. We went everywhere. I love horses so we went to Chatsworth horse trials and had a picnic which she loved! And while we were in the Peak District we bought her a new wool mattress (half price!). I don’t know if her wool crib mattress is a contributing factor in her great sleeping but I’m not prepared to take chances so wool was the only option for her cotbed mattress. I digress again, I’ll save that for another time.

Her sleeping changed while we were away, which I kind of expected. She’s never slept in anything but her crib at home so I knew it would be some sort of miracle if she slept just as good in her travel cot in a new place. She wasn’t bad, she just didn’t want to go back to sleep after waking at around 2am. And that resulted in my first experience of co sleeping. I swore I’d never do it, but, it’s amazing how all of that seems to go out of the window after baby arrives. Maybe I’ll save that for another blog.

Overall, the whole trip was great and I wonder now why I was so worried about it. She was great. And even if she wasn’t we would have dealt with it and we still would have enjoyed ourselves. I think I’ve learned a lesson here. Even if things don’t work out as we planned, they still work out.

We’re going on holiday!!!

Okay, so it’s not really a proper holiday. We’re going to visit my mum in Chesterfield for a week, but, that’s about as close to a holiday as we’re going to get right now. I’m excited. It’s going to be good to get away for a little bit, have Sam around (I almost wrote Daddy there. I feel like I’ve got to a point where I may never call my husband by his name again! Anyone else? Anyway, I digress) and spend some time with my side of the family.

I’ve now realised how stressful it is going away with a small baby. I have no idea what to pack so naturally, as a new first time mum, I’m going to take everything. The same as when I packed my hospital bag. Better to have too much than not enough, isn’t that right? I just hope it all fits in the car.

It takes just over 2 hours to get there in the car. I have no idea how that’s going to go, if we’re planning stops or if we can drive straight there. It’s all very new and we’re just going to have to go with the flow which is something I hate to do. I love a plan. Unfortunately, as much as one tries to plan with a baby, that plan never tends to be what happens. I think I'm getting used to that. Slowly.

After speaking to another mum at our baby group, who is going on holiday the same week, I think I’m going to sit in the back of the car with Molly while Sam drives. I think this makes a lot of sense but it didn’t even cross my mind before speaking to somebody else about it. Hopefully that will make the journey a lot less stressful. I'll be armed with toys, her dummy and Ewan the dream sheep. 

Will it even be stressful? I have no idea, but I’m stressed just thinking about it. I just can’t wait to get there and relax and have a nice week together as a family.

My, oh, my, don’t babies grow fast?

She’s such a person now. I know she’s always been a person, obviously, but she has a little personality now. She has proper facial expressions and she interacts. I’m astounded by how much she can do at such a young age. I thought babies just ate, slept and pooped until they could crawl. How wrong I was. (Do I say that a lot? Clearly all my preconceptions about babies and motherhood were amazingly accurate.)

It all seemed to happen in a week, the week she turned 3 months old actually. She suddenly just became able to do things. She actually plays with toys now and it’s so lovely to just sit and watch her while she’s ‘busy’. She’s fascinated by her hands and her feet. Her hands must be the tastiest things because they’re never out of her mouth. As I write this she’s sat holding my finger and just staring at it. She’s so cute.

Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not all lovely. She’s also crying more than she used to, harder to settle and incredibly clingy towards me (and only me), but, her cute little smiles and noises, and getting to watch her sleep on the monitor while I eat my dinner (with two hands!) makes it all worth it.

I honestly can’t believe how quickly it’s gone. She’s 15 weeks old now. I’ll be honest, I lost count. Does that make me a bad mum? I don’t know, but, when somebody asked me how old she was yesterday I really had to work it out and was genuinely surprised by the answer. 15 weeks since she was the tiny baby in the hospital. That’s insane. I can’t even remember her as a tiny newborn which is so sad. Maybe because it all passes by in such a blur, and I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep, the memories just don’t seem as vivid as the pictures we have. Thank god for cameras.

We haven’t fully decided if we would like to have another child yet, but, if we did I will definitely be savouring every moment because it’s not until you experience it that you realise they’re really not small for very long. The phrase ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ has never been more fitting.