Our home

So when we moved in to our previous property was when I was pregnant so designed the nursery only a year ago and bought everything new so moving in to the new property there wasn't much I needed to do - his room is very babyish but that is the way I want it until he has his say and it turns in to a too colourful cartoon themed bedroom!! I like things to match and I love neutral colours. The theme in his nursery is a farm yard theme with light greys, white, peach and navy. Please do ask if you want to know where anything is from.

And on to our bedroom. I wanted our bedroom to be about us as every other room in the house is over loaded with Noah and his bits which isn't a bad thing just lovely to have our own room. I have gone for calm golds, creams to feel cosy and warm. I love photos so wanted as many up high from little hands! 

I plan to show more as things get completed, as if you are nosy like me then I can't wait to share the rest! 

Love Mummy x

Moving House with a baby

So we have just moved in to our dream family home! It is amazing and we are already so happy here. It is funny when you go to look at a house you view it only a couple of times and spend the most money you will ever spend in your life! We had our offer accepted back in October and were hoping and we would complete after Christmas so we could have Christmas out the way. This was also our first Christmas in our first home! We lived in a duplex - so a house in an apartment block. It was perfect, light and big but unfortunately it was up two flights of stairs and only had a balcony. This was a problem from the moment I found out I was pregnant. So when we felt the time was right we put ours up for sale and very fortunately sold it in a week. We had looked at our home previous and did not think it would still be for sale come selling ours but to our delight it had fallen through and was back on the market! We only looked at a few as this one had everything we wanted - a garden, it was a town house, has driveway and garage and a bigger room for Noah.

Time went by and the talk of a completion date was looming and we had not even thought about packing!! It was just going to be impossible with Sam working such long hours and looking after Noah. We paid for a company to come and pack our house up the day before we moved. This included taking down our furniture and putting it back up the other end. Luckily our in laws live round the corner and were away on holiday so we moved in to their house with enough for us for 2 days so the packing and moving could go ahead with minimal disruption to Noah (well this was the plan anyway) A single man arrived at 9am and had packed our whole house by 4pm!! It was amazing, although the thought of someone packing our possessions did not sit well with me - there was no way it was going to happen between Sam and I.

Tips for moving with a baby:

- Take all the help you can! I hate asking for help, that’s just who I am. All those people that say 'let me know if there is anything we can do' and usually you don't - take advantage!! Even if it was taking Noah for a walk around the block or to the shop to buy milk - a lot more can be done on your own than with a baby! My brother and his girlfriend and Sam’s sister were great. Watching Noah for an hour here and there - we got a lot done!

- Get the baby's room done primarily. Babies do not like change. So the first room we got straight and unpacked was his bedroom with his cot made up with fresh bedding and all his familiar comforters and night lights.

- The kitchen second. Having three meals and three bottles, the kitchen is very important to Noah’s routine and day. So made sure we knew were everything was and was easy accessible. Before we had our house packed up I put everything of Noah's - his plates, spoons, food, formula, bottles etc. in a particular place and was asked that it was all packed together and put in the kitchen first. It was and we could access everything he needed straight away.

- Keep them out of the chaos. After their room is done, gather their toys and get them familiar with their new room. Old toys and a new room with Mummy or Daddy and they will soon feel at home.

- Make sure your current curtains/blinds fit. If not ensure you have the correct sizes. As coming to bed time and realizing you can't block out the light would not be good!! We looked at our property for a second time and measured to ensure our curtains would fit.

- Don’t rush to get it perfect in one day. You have the rest of your time to get it perfect, so those cute frames and cuddly toys can wait.

We were fortunate enough for the house to be in amazing condition and there is minimal that we want to do. We plan to decorate the living room and Noah’s bedroom in the next few weeks but leave the rest and the Garden as future projects to look forward to. I love interior design and getting things perfect so although I advise to wait to get things perfect – I can’t wait to get it how I picture. Our room and Noah’s is pretty much there. Check out my next block post for pictures!

Love my high flying Mummy and Me x

Weaning Noah

Noahs weaning journey so far

Just a little insight in to starting Noah with food and his current eating routine!Books I read and the things we use!

Like everything else with becoming a parent weaning felt extremely daunting, and I couldn't get my head round it! I couldn’t think when I would give him food and when I would give him milk! I was used to feeding on demand and didn't think I would be able to routine to three meals a day but like everything else – it just clicked! There are also so many items on the market to buy how do we know which ones are essential? Everyone was asking the question – are you doing normal weaning or baby led weaning? Baby led what? Sounds odd! How can a baby lead his food!? I needed help! I went home and ordered two books:

1.‘Baby-led Weaning’ by Gill Rapley & Tracey Murkett

2.‘Weaning’ by  Annabel Karmel

I would definitely recommend reading both of these if you are feeling a bit clueless like I was! They helped me come to the decision of doing a bit of both! Great meal planners for people who love it in black and white (like me)! I wanted him to learn to feed himself and explore with food but also wanted him to try the taste of purees and comfortably knowing he had eaten enough at a particular meal time!

Here is a little info on both:

Baby-led weaning (BLW) is a method of adding complementary foods to a baby's diet of breast milk or formula. A method of food progression, BLW facilitates the development of age appropriate oral motor control while maintain eating as a positive, interactive experience. Baby-led weaning allows babies to control their solid food consumption by "self-feeding" from the very beginning of their experiences with food.

Weaning - Accustoming a baby to food other than its usual diet of breast or formula by introducing smooth purees (stage 1) suggested 4-6m. Then gradually increasing the lumps suggested 7m+ usually starting with single vegetables, baby rice and yoghurts.

I think baby led weaning sounded great, or the idea of it, But I had huge fears of him choking or not being able to know how much he has actually eaten. So I wanted to start right at the basics of stage 1 smooth vegetable and fruit purees. We started him on baby rice at 5.5 months old to get used to the texture and to our delight he loved it and couldn’t get enough! I always wanted to make him his own food but didn’t know where to start.

I bought the Beaba ‘Baby cook’ which defrosted, steamed, pureed and heated up vegetables! (easy, right?) 

We followed the Annabel Karmel book for these and thought it was great! A few weeks in to weaning Noah, trying first tastes it was going so well we started gradually introducing more and larger portions. I also started giving him things to pick and explore with. 

By 7 months old he was on 3 meals a day. I had started doing some BLW with him as he handled it so well – and with 4 teeth he just wanted to chew! I also said I wanted to make lots of purees but was lacking imagination so have found Ellas kitchens pouches fantastic. We are also getting in to making extra at dinner time of we have and transfer into little pots some examples:

Sweet potato and potato mash, sausages (home made, just sausage meat and pepper) and peas

Pasta, bolegnese, cheese and garlic bread

Butternut squash mash, salmon and peas

This boy LOVES peas!!

A typical day for Noah food wise is:

Wake: 7oz

Breakfast: Porridge

11am: 7oz

Lunch: Ellas kitchen Pouch with a yoghurt

Dinner: Pitta bread, chicken, tomato, strawberries (whatever we have in the fridge)!

Bedtime: 7oz

Its really about understanding what your baby wants and you soon do! You know what is right for your baby and do what you feel comfortable, just because someone thinks what your giving your baby is right/wrong that is your choice. Noah is particularly hungry in comparison to other babies and naturally dropped his milk feeds and just like that all my worries were out the window! But every baby is different: some refuse spoons, some only like sweet things - they're smarter than they look! hehe!

A few examples of blw food we give him:

Pitta bread (strips), Organix snacks, cubes of cheese, rice cakes, oat cakes with Philadelphia or hummus, sliced fruit and vegetables.  These will keep him entertained for ages! Majority of it ends up on the floor and on his clothes – but that’s all part of the fun. We tend to do this at dinner time so it keeps him busy in the last hour (witching hour) and its easy to plonk him in the bath when hes covered head to toe in food!!

We use:

Vital Baby spoons and bowl - they are easy for him to hold and the bowl can be suctioned to the high chair or table, a Dr Browns Sippy cup, it has a soft teat that he drinks easily from without throwing it over himself! A long sleeved bib for saving clothes, a splash mat to catch the spills and a Joie Highchair.

I would love any tips or stories of weaning your babies as Its all so unknown!!

Love,

My high flying Mummy and Me x