Wow, I really can’t believe how many readers/followers I’ve gained since creating my blog just a few months ago. I started writing when I was pregnant – mostly due to boredom actually! I had been signed off sick with SPD since 18 weeks so by 30 weeks I’d really had enough. I found some pregnancy blogs online and thought “I could do this!” Eight months later – here we are. I have a 6 month old baby and a healthy looking blog!
My blog itself has had nearly 17,000 people read it. That’s insane!
I’ve been a little lazy with filming over the past few weeks so here’s our latest offering. It was a stressful one but worth it as we’re now fully stocked for Christmas!
Here’s my YouTube video – come shopping with us! 🙂
Thanks for watching
Welcome to the first ever Weekend Baby Style Linky! I’ve explained it fully here, but the long and short of it is that I’d love you all to share the favourite baby outfit from your weekend together. Join in below!
Austin’s Weekend Baby Style – Week 1
MERRY (and bright) long sleeved vest Baby Gap
Skinny jeans (girls jeggings) – Primark
Mint chevron infinity scarf – Titot Fashion
Mint chevron slippers/shoes – Titot Fashion
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All of a sudden he has fattened up overnight. I went to put some little trousers on he hadn’t worn for a while and they were definitely too small. What a little pudding! I had to sort the wardrobe out and remove all trousers of the same size. #sadface
However, this does mean he now fits in the next size up so all the piles of exciting new clothes I had waiting can now be delved into! This is what we put together this morning…
Austin clearly has no idea what he is wearing, but I must admit it is nice seeing him in new clothes. That’s the one benefit of babies growing out of their clothes so quick – you always have a legitimite reason to shop!
He’s gone all Zoolander on me…
Thanks for reading!
Austin has tried some really yummy new flavours this week – blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, roast pork and even an Organix cheese puff! I’m very fortunate with him that so far he will eat absolutely anything I feed him.
Austin is a lazy as babies come – usually sleeping in until 10am! Amazing I hear you cry? Why am I complaining? Well, it’s all good having a baby that loves to sleep but when he’s in bed from 6.30pm the night before (with no dream or night feed), you struggle to fit all meals and bottles into the time he’s awake during the day! He’s been having his first bottle around 10am, so has not been ready for breakfast until 11.30am and so on. Lunch ends up being about 3pm which would leave no time to ever introduce a third meal at the end of the day.
You can see how it’s hard to make sure he is taking the right amount of formula each day as we simply run out of hours! I’ve actually started to set my alarm for 8am (sad times) so that I can wake him up for his first bottle, otherwise it would be impossible to make sure he was getting everything he needs. Still, some of my friend’s babies are up all through the night so I understand that I am one lucky mother!
Anyway – food!
This weekend Austin had his first ever Sunday roast. We weren’t eating that ourselves so he had a really yummy one from Ella’s. It’s a 7 month/stage 2 pouch, but as I’ve said in previous posts I don’t really pay much attention to what’s on the pouches age/stage-wise. When nannying I encountered lots of children that really struggled moving onto texture after having runny stage 1 food for so long and feeding became tricky as all texture and lumps were spat out. To try and avoid that I’ve introduced texture right from the start with Austin. Most of the time I mix some stage 2 into stage 1 so it’s half and half. That way there is some texture there but I’m also giving him a chance to get used to it. Other times though he has just stage 2 and is absolutely fine. If he started to gag or choke obviously I’d know he wasn’t ready for it but for now he’s loving it!
This morning was his first ever snack – a little Organix cheese puff. I’m not going to be making a habit of giving these as he’s only on 2 meals a day, so he definitely doesn’t need to start having crisps and snacks inbetween just yet. I wanted to see how he coped with it though and he loved it! He sucked it until it was mush and a couple of confused faces later it was all gone!
Austin is really loving his food and it’s exciting to see him trying new things!
How did your little one find weaning?
Thanks for reading!
My nephew Charlie’s favourite programme is called Bing Bunny and lately he’s been enjoying reading the books and puzzles. If you’re not familiar with this show, it’s a lovely little cartoon featured on CBeebies. My son is 5 months old and it’s becoming a fast favourite of his too!
I was sent some Bing products for review so of course I gave them straight to my sister and Charlie. The timing was fab as November was Charlie’s 1st birthday – you should have seen his face when he unwrapped them all! Continue reading
Today we received a very exciting email from one of our most favourite online brands. The owner had written to say she loves Austin’s pictures on my blog’s Facebook page and Instagram feed and would like him to model for the brand’s website. This really is one of our favourite brands so we were thrilled! They are a fantastic children’s company that appear over on Not on The High Street.Com – a fantastic opportunity for Austin to represent them on that website too.
I am now awaiting a bundle full of lovely secret clothing to arrive at First Time Mummy HQ next week – yay! We can’t wait to get snapping some beautiful photos. Austin really loves having his picture taken – he’s started to grin whenever I hold my phone up! Not even 6 months old but he’s definitely a blogger’s baby…
All will be revealed within a couple of weeks with regards to who this brand is….. stay tuned!
Thanks for reading
This is a super, super important blog. I have recently found out that by saving up my baby food pouches (Ella’s Kitchen etc), I can send them along to a charity called Count The Kicks for them to recycle. They are able to raise money from this recycling which goes straight back in to their hard work spreading awareness. If you are pregnant I urge you to look at their website – Awareness saves lives!
Count The Kicks aims to empower mums-to-be with knowledge throughout their pregnancy. This charity was set up by Sophia Wyatt in 2009 following the devastating stillbirth of her daughter Chloe. Sophia had experienced reduced movement during her pregnancy. This is a cause that is very important to me – I had recurrent reduced movement with Austin which eventually led to me being induced early at 36 weeks. I’m so thankful that he arrived 5 days later alive and well, but for some other mums this isn’t the case.
A baby’s movement indicates it’s wellbeing and by understanding their baby, mums can be empowered to trust their instincts and ensure the healthy delivery of their baby.
The UK has the second worst stillbirth rate in the developed world and currently more babies die in the womb or first week of life than they do from Cot death, road deaths and meningitis combined. While there isn’t one solution to reducing stillbirth, a decrease in fetal movement is a key warning sign that the baby is struggling in the womb and early delivery could save nearly a third of stillborn babies. The Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy found that lack of prompt management to reduced fetal movement was a contributing factor to stillbirth.
A similar campaign in Norway saw the rates of stillbirth drop by 33% and in the UK a similar awareness campaign in the 1980’s around cot death saw rates of sudden infant deaths fall by a massive 70%.
It is so important to support this cause – most of us recycle anyway, so how much harder is it to pop it in the post instead?!
Click HERE to find out exactly how simple it is to recycle for CTK. There are also other items you can recycle, such as used printer ink cartridges, biscuit wrappers etc. It’s so easy and you really can save lives.
I have been saving up my baby food pouches for the last 3 weeks and it’s amazing to see how many I’ve collected in that time. I’ve kept a large padded envelope in the utility room next to my normal recycling box. I pop all items for Count The Kicks in the envelope and each month I shall send it off to the correct place. I am able to post it – or even better I can drop it off to my local regional collector. This is a volunteer that accepts your items and recycles them on behalf of CTK. I used the map on the website and found out my closest one is a few roads away – it couldn’t be easier!
I’m looking forward to knowing that Austin’s rubbish could quite literally save the life of another baby.
Thanks for reading!
I have always said that once Austin starts eating a reasonable amount at each meal time, I would start to make my own food for him. Pouches can be so expensive to use full time, plus your baby will be stuck with your home cooking all their life so it’s nice to get them used to the taste of your own personal style early on. Nearly a month after we started weaning, that time has come! Austin was busy this morning in his Jumperoo so I got cooking. Today’s choice for the freezer was a tomato and cheese pasta bake with onions, garlic, sweetcorn, peas, leeks and green beans. I made enough to feed around 5 adults and spooned it into lots of baby sized tupperware before cooling and popping into the freezer.
The texture of my puree is very rustic – we don’t do food that looks as though you should be drinking it in this house! I’m also not interested in full on baby led weaning either – Continue reading
It’s time to find some real favourite utensils I’ve decided. Austin will be eating from plastic bowls and spoons for at least another year so I’d like to have some decent all rounders – ones that last, ones that fit in his lunchbox, ones that are easy to use and so on.
Oxo have always been a brand I’ve bought into – our household has many of their spatulas for example. I was asked if I’d like to try some products from the Oxo Tot baby range and I was very happy to say yes! I’ve been trying them out this week and I am really pleased to say that they are now a firm favourite when feeding Austin.
I spent nearly a decade as a professional nanny weaning baby after baby so I feel like I know almost every bowl, spoon and cup ever invented. There are certain types you want, and certain ones you don’t. Continue reading
First Time Mummy 