Car Park Rage

Like clockwork my trip to the shops has caused the red mist of rage to descend. Why? The misuse of parent and child car parking spaces.

These spaces aren't just a nice gesture to those with children, they are a necessity which is why when they are full there is often no choice but to wait. The alternative being that I could try and park in a normal space, struggle to get my 24lb wriggle monster (when awake) or dead weight (when asleep) out of a 10 inch space. Then I'd have to hope that on my return to the car no one has parked too close to me, making getting my child into his car seat an impossible task.

This week a certain mother/woman/person hating journalist (I won't say who as I refuse to give her the publicity) wrote an article proudly declaring that she parks in both disabled and parent and child spaces. 

Her reasons? Well she is deaf so she argues that is a disability - fair poin but it's not one that requires you extra space to get out of your car though is it? 

And why does she park in parent and child? Well bizarrely she rants that parents take their children to museums and galleries - the horror! - she should invade their space. She also goes on to make more disturbing arguments but I'll leave it at that.

Shame on the paper in question for publishing this woman's crazy rant but the thing about this so called journalist is I think she is just being inflammatory to get hits and comments, I'm not so sure she does what she says - but if she does then I guess it's to be expected from a person who is always the victim. Unfortunately whether she does do it or not, I'm worried that her article will make others think it's ok.

Ever week I see people using the spaces with no children in tow. Not one for conflict, I just stare while shaking my head but every week I come closer to making a stand. The thing is, they are no closer to the supermarket, I know some can be, they just have extra space. So why do people continue to park there? What is the appeal?

A few days ago I found myself discussing the cut off point for using these spaces because let's face it, they aren't designed for parents and their 18 year old children are they? The general consensus, which I agree with, is that if your child can get in and out of the car and their car seat without your help then you don't need the extra room. 

Today I saw two people parking in the spaces with children that weren't in car seats. This annoys me because they will at one point, have struggled with car seats and babies and probably cursed those who abuse the spaces. Yet now they do the same - have they forgotten how hard it was?

Thankfully some places are starting to fine those who wrongfully park in parent and child, when asked how they know I was told that they look for child paraphanalia in the car. Will a £60 charge reduce the offenders? I certainly hope so and I also hope that this is rolled out to more car parks. At the moment I only know of two places that do this.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh - should any parent and child be able to use the spaces? Are they just a gesture, a bonus when empty? 

Our Breastfeeding Journey - An Update

A few months ago I wrote about feeling that the time had come to wean Little H and wrap up our breastfeeding journey, I even had a date in mind (26th February or failing that 22nd March).

Alas, you know what they say about best laid plans and all, I am still breastfeeding and do you know what I have no regrets and I am, for the most part, enjoying it as much as ever.

Our feeding "routine" generally consists of a feed first thing, one mid morning, one late afternoon, one before bed and, if I'm lucky, one during the night. This is a very general view though as some days I can't detach Little H from me and other times he'll go for hours on end without wanting any milk. Also, unlike the early days a "feed" can be a 2 minute suckle used as a crutch to get Little H to sleep or it can be a 15 minute refuel before the next adventure.

There have been worries on my part that H is feeding too much, often foregoing solids for milk, however restricting milk hasn't worked and I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that he just isn't a big eater - he will try and (usually) enjoy many things but in terms of quantity he can vary from a few bites to demolishing a plateful while my back is turned.

I've also had comments that he's feeding too much from various people, not something an already worry prone mum needs to hear, no matter how concerned you may or may not be FYI! A trip to the health visitor eased my angst though, she declared Little H a "snacker" and told me in no uncertain terms that you cannot breastfeed too much, no matter the age of the child. I should add that I do give Little H a dose of vitamins every day just to silence the residual worries.

My gorgeous Milk Monster!

When I was proactively trying to wean H we did come across a pretty big stumbling block, a possible allergy to cow's milk. It's hasn't been proven and strangely he can eat cheese/yoghurt/formula but a drink of milk will sometimes, not always, cause an angry red rash to spread wherever the milk has touched. This rash, it should be said, is a bugger because it appears with no rhyme or reason, broccoli, cauliflower, fish and porridge to name a few have all brought it on but not every time Little H has eaten them. A trip to the doctors left me with more questions than answers and a prescription for a big bottle of Piriton for when it happens.

I was told by the HV to keep a record of Little H's reactions to cow's milk for at least a month and they would investigate if necessary. Timing foiled my plans though as he was poorly on and off for a month and I refused to add to this by giving him something that may or may not have made him feel worse. Instead I tried him on follow on milk and (touch wood) he has taken this with no ill effects.

As I mentioned, Little H can have formula and seemingly enjoys it when I'm not there, if I am there though he will not be fooled - he is a stubborn one! This is a major relief for me as I don't have to express for days on end now before leaving him with anyone and in time I can start to replace feeds knowing that he does like it, just maybe not as much as booby juice!

In the meantime though I ŵill continue breastfeeding, and try not too moan too much about feeling like a dairy cow!

How To: Cookie Monster Cake!

It has been a very busy time in the B household since Little H's first birthday party and I haven't had a chance to blog, our dodgy wifi has also played a part too!

A few months ago I was browsing Pinterest when I saw a picture of a Cookie Monster cake and I thought that it would be perfect for Little H's first birthday, the only problem being that it didn't have any instructions. However, being as stubborn as I am and also being slightly overly confident with my cake decorating skills I thought I would be able to recreate it, after all Little H was only going to turn 1 once!

Cookies... Nom nom nom...!

This is the finished cake and I am still proud of it even though all that's left is photos as it was finished off at H's party, as you would expect from a birthday cake!

A few people have asked me how I made it and I regret not taking step by step pictures but I will go through what I did and as my friend has asked for an Elmo cake for her birthday (April) I will try to remember so I can do a proper post!

Firstly I made a chocolate cake using a 22cm tin, for decorating you will need...

140g butter
280g icing sugar
A couple of drops of milk
Blue food colouring
Ready to roll icing in white and black
Chocolate chip cookies
Piping bags
Icing nozzle 233

I cut out a large semi circle freehand from the ready to roll black icing, this was then placed onto the cake where the mouth would be.

To make the buttercream icing beat the butter until soft and then add the icing sugar bit by bit, when it is all mixed in add a few drops of milk to get the required consistency, you want the icing to be thick enough to hold its shape but not to firm as it will be difficult to push it through the icing nozzle. Add the food colouring slowly, for these amounts I added one and a half teaspoons - check the label on the food colouring as there tends to be a limit to how much you can use.

Once the buttercream is mixed fully and is the right shade spoon it into your piping bag with the magical 233 nozzle - if I could be in love with an icing nozzle then this would be it, with its magical fur making skills!

The brilliant, if a little blurry, 233 icing nozzle

You need to push the icing and pull away when the it reaches about 1.5-2cm, I also pulled slightly in different directions to give it a more realistic fur look. I started by outlining the black icing semi circle and then worked in sections - don't forget the sides either. Also look at the cake from different angles as I found there were a few bald spots.

After the cake was covered in fur I then cut out 2 circles from white ready roll icing and rolled 2 balls using black ready roll icing - I then assembled the eyes and flattened the black balls keeping a slight curve, these were then placed onto the cake.

I finished off the cake by adding the cookies onto the mouth and voila! Cookie Monster came to Little H's first birthday!

Little H is Turning One!

Tomorrow Little H turns one and he'll no longer be my little baby!

I still can't get my head around where the time has gone, it feels like only a few weeks have passed since bringing him home but alas a whole 12 months have gone in the blink of an eye! And what a 12 months they've been...

Just a few weeks old...

We've had sleepless nights, at least 10,000 nappy changes, the first smile, laugh, crawl, step and walk and it has been incredible, even if at the time I was pulling my hair out!

So happy birthday for tomorrow Little H, we are so proud of the little boy you are turning into - you make us laugh every day with your adventures and explorations and I can't wait to see what this year brings! Fingers crossed it includes some full nights sleep for Mummy!

...to this!

I'm now off to make a birthday cake for my amazing son!

To Wean Or Not To Wean: Our Breastfeeding Journey

From the point that I found out that I was pregnant with Little H I was determined to breastfeed, I grabbed the leaflets from the midwives at check ups, I was well versed on the benefits and I had studied all of the latching positions, planning for every eventuality.

Then Little H arrived and I was turned upside down.

His birth, a moment that I had dreamed about, was drawn out, traumatic and ended in me haemorrhaging. Because of this we missed out on the immediate skin to skin contact that I had just taken as a given, and for the first night he slept in the nursery and was fed formula while I recovered.

The next morning he was brought to me and our breastfeeding journey began. It was so much harder than I had ever thought it would be and what was meant to be the most natural thing in the world did not come naturally to me. Being on the special care ward meant that I had more one to one care (every cloud and all that...) so I was helped with most feeds, my positioning corrected and when I left hospital I felt confident.

The journey begins...

Arriving home my short lived confidence disappeared, Little H would not settle and I couldn't seem to feed him properly. My breastfeeding battle coupled with coming to terms with his birth soon came to a head when we were told to return to hospital and take Little H to the paediatric ward because he had lost more than 10% of his birth weight. After everything that had happened I felt like a failure.

Then something amazing happened, on my final try before I gave in and started topping up with formula (something I have since learnt can be detrimental to breastfeeding, so beware) everything fell into place. Little H latched on, stayed latched on and fell into his first settled sleep since bringing him home. We were finally on our way.

After our very rocky start me and Little H settled into breastfeeding, he started to gain weight quickly and consistently and every weigh in was a pat on the back for both of us. I only expressed if we were going somewhere as I wasn't confident feeding in public. However due to a longer than planned shopping trip I had to feed Little H in an M&S cafe, trying to get him latched on while an elderly couple cooed over him. At the time I (wrongly) felt horribly uncomfortable, hiding Little H under my, thankfully, oversized cardigan. The experience gave me the courage to feed him in public and I have done ever since, only expressing if I have left him for any length of time. If Little H is hungry I will now feed him regardless of where we are and I'm unapologetic for it.

My little milk monster

We have had our moments though, before Little H got his first tooth there was some biting that very nearly had me reaching for the formula but yet again we persevered and as soon as the tooth broke through the biting stopped and never returned.

We're now at a point where I'm thinking of bringing our journey to an end. I'm struggling with the decision as I love breastfeeding , I love the closeness, I love how far we've come and the experience has been incredible, helping me regain confidence in myself and showing me that if I set my mind to something I can achieve it.

I know that a lot of mothers continue breastfeeding well after the first year and I don't have to stop but I think that for me it is time, although my level of certainty in that statement does change depending on my mood. I want my freedom back, well as much freedom as you can have with a, very soon to be, one year old, I want to give Little H some independence away from me and it would be nice to be able to wear dresses again.

However, every time I think about weaning a million and one reasons why I shouldn't come flooding to mind. The current reason/excuse is that Little H is under the weather and all that he want and all that will comfort him is for me to nurse him. How can I deny him the one thing that is guaranteed to make him feel better?

So, I would be very grateful for any advice on how to wean both myself and Little H off breastfeeding because it is definitely going to be emotional!

The First Weigh In

My weight loss this week is... Drum roll please... 2 pounds!

I'm really happy with that as I have been upping my exercise but haven't been starving myself, or even come close to be honest! I'm sure as I get further along I might have to tweak my diet if I want to continue losing weight but for now I'm just concentrating on the exercise.

I've stuck to my outlined plan and managed to fit in 4 walks and 4 lots of cardio as well. There have been a few occasions where I've had to split the cardio and do 10 minutes here and there rather than all at once due to a certain grumpy teething baby!  I have really enjoyed my walks as Little H will nod off and it gives me a chance to organise my thoughts and make plans.

This week I read that if you do an action 18 times it will become a habit so I'm hoping that I'll get to the point where I don't have to force myself off the sofa and instead just do the exercise without really having to think about it.

I should point out that this picture is not of me, I would LOVE to be this weight!

The weather this week may hamper my walks so I'll be upping my cardio and adding some weight bearing exercises instead, here's hoping I can lose the same again!

Teething

There is little else that will guarantee the groans of sympathy you get when you mention teething. It is an inevitable milestone but one that goes on and on like no other. My personal theory on wisdom teeth is that we get them later in life so the memories of pain are fresh allowing us empathy in those small hours when we've been woken up for the fifth/sixth/seventh time.

Little H is teething at the moment, number 7, 8, 9 and 10 are all coming through at the same time and suffice to say it's taking it's toll on all of us. He is not a great sleeper at the best of times but add teething to the mix and night time has now turned into a combination of feeding, crying, napping and sometimes all three at the same time.

This morning I had to force myself to go on a walk especially when the sofa looked so much more inviting. Little H had a nice long nap but the second we walked through the door he began howling, timing seems to be a special skill of his! He's also had a few naps on the sofa and even the dog seems to be feeling his pain!

Little H doesn't like the teething toys you can buy so the best tips I've been given (so far) are -

Freezing the yogurts you buy in tubes
Keep apple/cucumber/melon slices in the fridge
Use calpol and ibuprofen in tandem with each other (I only do this if it's really necessary)

Above all though I think cuddles and TLC are the best medicine, Little H is more clingy than usual but hey, I just enjoy the extra cuddles!