LG is happy to be handed over and has become a mini celebrity at nursery. Everyone raves about how well behaved she is. 'Calm and content' are words often used to reference her temperament. The other children adore her and having her mums nosiness gene LG enjoys watching everything going on around her.
So baby LG started nursery in November and actually it has gone far more smoothly than I ever imagined.
LG is happy to be handed over and has become a mini celebrity at nursery. Everyone raves about how well behaved she is. 'Calm and content' are words often used to reference her temperament. The other children adore her and having her mums nosiness gene LG enjoys watching everything going on around her.
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This is a guest post written by a Tiny Tickers supporter, Aimee Foster, telling her story and what we can all do to help baby hearts. Aimee lost her daughter, Grace, hence why she has chosen to write this blog. Yesterday we had a mystery to solve.
Baby LG has 3 dummies (soothers/pacifiers or any other name they may be called) - 2 pink and 1 clear. My husband likes to line them up on the coffee table to make sure we haven't lost them so as expected, when he returned from work, he went to line them up. LG did not have any but one was clearly no where to be found. I reassured him that it was on the sofa somewhere and would turn up. When it came to that evening's breastfeed, I unbuttoned my shirt and what was hidden snuggly in my cleavage??? The missing dummy of course! Mystery solved! If you have lost anything recently, let me know, I may have it!!!! Well Baby LG turned 3 months on Friday and my maternity is slipping away before my eyes!
It is always going to be difficult to put your child into nursery but it is particularly hard at 3 months old. LG has started her settling in days this week. Yesterday I took her in at 10am and we worked through the paperwork. As it's half term nursery is very quiet and the baby room only had 5 little boys yesterday. As I sat on a cushion will LG on my lap, a gorgeous little boy came over and very carefully placed his cheek on LG's. She didn't flinch at all and then he put his arm around her and gave her a big hug. He was only just walking and not talking but clearly wanted to welcome LG to nursery and she liked her hug. I left LG there for only 30 mins but as I walked away I felt quite warm inside from the little boy's cute gesture. He clearly wanted to welcome LG but he'd done more than he knew in that tiny little act. I felt nursery was perhaps a good place for LG to be. Previously I'd been very apprehensive and scared. It is good for her social skills and I have no doubt she will quickly build friendships. Okay I would love more than anything for her to have been with me or my husband for longer but at 3 months she is very curious and alert. She likes to people watch (like her mum!) and sometimes we have felt at home she needs more stimulation which she will most certainly get from nursery. The key worker told me the younger they are the better as you tend to get less tears when the parents leave. I think part of me selfishly wanted a few tears but as I walked away she sat happily with one of the nursery staff whilst the other children in the baby room looked on. Today I left LG for 3 hours whilst I went to set up my classroom and LG was more than happy to go to the key worker. The time went slowly being away from her but it was good to have the time to get my classroom in order (it has been left in a chaotic state by my maternity cover teachers!). I arrived to collect LG at 1pm and as I walked in the nursery there were no children in the baby room - I assume they were napping in the back room. I heard the deputy manager call me and as I looked over I spotted my little LG. The deputy had her in hold and they were in the toddler room watching the little children playing. One little girl was stroking LG's cheek. The deputy said LG was fascinated by the children and had been quite content to watch them playing. As I drove LG home she gurgled to herself in her mirror having a chirpy conversation. I asked her questions and she gurgled back at me as if telling me about her day. Very cute! I hope she continues to be happy with going to nursery so I will feel less guilty (if that is possible!) about her having to go whilst I work. Now let's talk about the product I ordered. Twilight Turtle comes with batteries already in the product so it is ready to use. The Turtle is soft with a plastic shell. There are 4 buttons on the shell, one is the on/off button and the other three allow you to choose between three colours amber, green and blue. After reading the small information book I also discovered you can cycle the colours by pressing the on/off button twice. This means you also get some lovely transition colours such as a beautiful purple. The shell has little stars cut out so when it is dark the stars are projected around the room and it even has actual constellations such as the Big Dipper. Without my book my husband and I have yet to spot the others! The green light definitely has the most impact with the stars looking sharper than with the other colours. I absolutely love this product. I'm pleased baby is still in our room as it means I get to enjoy this every night too. It has a calming effect and as a massive stress-head this helps to soothe me as well as baby to sleep! It switches itself off after 45 mins so you don't have to worry about turning it off. At the moment it is on my bedside table so the projection is more over the wall and half of the ceiling. Ideally you need a central perch for it which may be easier to achieve when baby goes to her own room. I would highly recommend this product not only for babies but any child (or adult) who finds it difficult to settle to sleep. It's nice to have something that isn't musical but has the same soothing effect. With Christmas coming soon, I also advise any aunties, uncles, grandmas, granddads etc buying for children to visit Wicked Uncle. ** I received a voucher to purchase this product, all views expressed are my own.
Well today has been a good day.
Baby LG and I got up early to drive the hubby to a job interview. It isn't more money but it will allow him to spread his wings and challenge himself. Something he has wanted to do for a while after 9 years of the same job. I had no doubt he would do great in his interview. This guy can talk for England and always knows what to say. He's very quick thinking. This afternoon we got the great news that he'd got it. Whoop! Even if he'd had to describe himself as a cake!!!???? Just as well he has a clever answer for everything. Baby LG and I visited a friend and her soon-to-be 1 year old. LG just sat back and took it all in. She's so well behaved in public and around other people. She may have cried when we got home as she fought back against sleepiness though. My friend is also a teacher and she has returned to work part time. She find this hard. I will be full time so I too will feel the same. I would eventually like to work more locally then I wouldn't have to take LG so far to and from work/nursery but we will ride out this year and see how we get on. I called nursery about changing LG's days and they told me about settling in days. This would be the week before she starts so she'll go for short spurts and build up her time over a few days to get her used to it. On the positive side I can go to school and get things ready for my class but on a negative note LG will be at nursery sooner than I'd anticipated! Maybe the settling in days are more for me to get used to not having her around. 😢 As my anxieties about going back to work increase, it's good to have a bit of positive news and I can't wait for my husband to start and settle in to his new job! Congratulations D! So proud of you! ...That is the question. My husband and I have been having the debate about whether or not Baby LG will need a coat. It is approaching winter and the weather is getting colder. There is no doubt that she will need more layers but a coat? Now there are 2 options as I see it. A winter coat or a snowsuit. Now I appreciate that when she is travelling in the car a snowsuit may be too hot and possibly uncomfortable. If we are in the pram a snowsuit may keep her a nice toasty temperature. A winter coat is probably more versatile and can be used in the pram and in the car. My husbands argument is that LG will always be in the car or in her pram and therefore will have blankets and can have extra layers. Therefore, why do we need to pay extra money to buy her a coat that she doesn't necessarily need. So bearing in mind she is almost 3 months now, should we invest in a winter coat, snowsuit or just bulk up on layers and blankets? This week I took Baby LG for her latest weigh in. I was apprehensive as I've been solely breastfeeding with the exception of a feed around 10pm which is of expressed milk (so I know LG has had a sufficient amount of milk). After the week in hospital following her birth and being told she'd lost over 10% of her birth weight as she wasn't getting a sufficient amount of milk, I feared that again I may find the same. I could clearly see from her chubby cheeks and tubby little legs (so cute!) that she wasn't starving but the pressure of breastfeeding puts a million doubts in your head. At the end of the day, if she isn't eating well, it does fall on you as the breastfeeding mother. I cried a lot in hospital as I felt like a complete failure. At the weigh in I got LG to the scales (all the way across the room) without any peeing or pooping after I'd stripped her down! Woohoo! (First achievement of the day! ) Baby LG was weighed and had put on over 2 pounds since her last weigh-in 4 weeks ago and now is 13lbs exactly! This puts her in 75th percentile!!! (2nd achievement of the day!) Well done me for finally getting to grips with breastfeeding!
I am unfortunately having to return to work soon as a teacher so I spoke to the health worker about the transition to formula to which she looked at me mouth wide open. Then came the barrage of questions...
Aaarggghhhh! Now baby LG is going to a nursery fairly close by my work but anyone who is a teacher knows that you don't get a break! All through my pregnancy I worked 6.30am until 5.30pm without a break. If I intend to shorten my hours and leave early to collect LG I will definitely need my lunch break for marking and staying on top of things. I do hope to continue some breastfeeding and I've been told that just swapping some feeds from breast to formula will reduce my supply. I've been told if I do this gradually I shouldn't have any breast pain (we shall see!). As baby has had expressed milk she is used to the bottle and therefore for her the transition won't be too bad. The health worker really tried to convince me not to make the move to formula and made me feel like a bad mother. We all have different circumstances and have to do what is right for our baby and ourselves. I wish I could stay home and breastfeed my child until they were at least 1 year old but this can't be the case (unless I am lucky enough to win the lottery!). I would love to have the time - and the flow - to express the milk that she requires throughout her nursery day but again this wouldn't work. For once I'd like someone to understand my situation and be positive so I can feel like I am doing a good job. My husband and I were very excited last year when we heard about the Shared Parental Leave scheme that was being put in place by the government. What an amazing idea!!!
I am a Primary School teacher and I absolutely love my job. Last year I got a promotion and I became the leader of the new Computer Studies Curriculum. My husband is an administrator at a local university and he hates his job. The new scheme seemed like it was designed for us! I could continue to work (as hard as it may be to leave my little bundle at home) and my husband could find joy taking care of the baby and having a break from his tedious job. We read up a little on the new scheme and it looked quite hopeful. All the articles were praising it for finally giving equal rights and allowing women to go back to work and continue to climb ladders. Half way through my pregnancy we discovered this was not all it seemed to be. It was equal in terms of rights to stay home but not equal in terms of pay. Not if you were entitled to occupational pay as I was. It seemed unfair that although my husbands company offered their females occupational pay this was not now offered to the males. It may have been complete wishful thinking on our parts but we thought equal rights meant equal rights. As the mother you are legally required to take 2 weeks leave after giving birth but if then you choose to return to work, you lose all rights to occupational pay and only the statutory pay transfers to the male (even if his company offer the woman occupational pay). How anyone can live on statutory maternity pay alone is beyond me! I really admire companies that have gone the extra mile and offered their employees the full equal rights like Richard Branson's company Virgin. He announced that employees who took the shared parental leave would receive up to a year's full pay. http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1350445/richard-branson-giving-virgin-staff-full-pay-parental-leave/ We worked around the fact that we could only afford for myself to stay on maternity until baby was 3 months old. Then it actually works out cheaper for me to return to work and baby to go to nursery. This is not what I'd hoped for as no one wants their baby to be with someone else for 4 days a week. I was fortunate in that my husband managed to get 6 weeks off work initially so we were able to work together to care for baby and establish a routine at what is essentially a massive learning curve in our lives. He has also taken on extra hours during the week to allow for him to baby on the fifth day which means less time at nursery. https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/overview Two months ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have this amazing creation in my life and I would not change it for the world.
If people asked me if there was anything I didn't like about pregnancy or motherhood, it wouldn't be the labour or the dirty nappies but it would most definitely be my tiger stripes. I've read a lot of blog posts from mothers saying they love their tiger stripes and their post pregnancy body and I wish I felt the same but I can't lie. I hate it. I feel huge and no amounts of lotions and potions used throughout my pregnancy could stop these purple/red stretch marks across my stomach and hips. Now I've never particularly felt good about my body but I have always been a curvy size 10/12. 8 weeks on from pregnancy and I'm still wearing my maternity clothes and trying to hide all my bulges. In fact I've just ordered some size 16 clothes in hope they will hide my lumps and bumps. My breasts are huge like giant pumpkins. I knew they'd grow when I breastfed but wowsers! This is crazy. My daughter will be going to nursery at 3 months old unfortunately as I will need to return to work so we will be switching to formula. I hope to still maintain some breastfeeds if my supply allows me. I'm also hoping my breast size may reduce slightly so that my work clothes may fit. If not, it is a small sacrifice to ensure that my child gets the best. The tops of my arms are covered in tiny little spots that apparently show no signs of leaving so I'm in constant cover up mode. I also had lots of little skin tags grow all over (gross) like little moles everywhere. A couple have since fallen off but I still have a lot. The ones on my back sting when they get caught by the shower streams... nice. Plus when does the brown line down your tummy disappear??? Surely my pregnancy hormones have left my body now? I'm not even going to start talking about pelvic floor muscles and haemorrhoids.. What I am thankful for is the fact I have (this week) turned 38 years old and therefore I'm not under peer pressure to dress fashionably and due to a malignant melanoma in my past I won't be seeking sun in a bikini anytime in the future. I hope to write a post in a couple of months that's a bit more accepting and excited about my post pregnancy body. I loved being pregnant and I'm so in love and in awe at my precious little bundle of joy so I have no regrets at all. I just was not prepared for my own low self esteem... but then again maybe it's just post pregnancy hormones playing their part and given time I'll love my body again. |
AuthorI'm a first time mum having had my baby at 37 years old. Also a full time teacher and wife. Archives
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