Breastfeeding or formula feeding dilema

It never occurred to me that here in UK people make such a big fuss about breastfeeding. In Czech you just breastfeed and if it doesn't work for you, you have option to choose formula. Nobody will get you bad looks if you feed your baby with bottle in public. Maybe some other mum will start discussion with you as how much it cost for bottle feed and that she is sad that breastfeeding didn't work for her. End of discussion.

Breastfeeding is the standard and as a new mum on maternity leave you try to save money where you can. Formula feeding is expensive. Even more than here in UK.

Weaning with Sami

We started with weaning when our baby boy was just over 5 months. H was born on 42 weeks +2 days so he was more than ready to start with solids. First we tried cooked & liquidised apples and he loved it. He couldn't get enough of them. Then we introduced baby rice and he wasn't very impressed by it. We mixed it with different fruits and it was the winner.

Sami's first taste of solid food

Review: Aldi Mamia nappies

When pregnant I have received a sample pack of  newborn Pampers nappies (from my mother-in-law) and also we bought some Aldi Mamia nappies. I read some really good reviews about them so we gave it a try.

Sami is very happy in Aldi Mamia nappy

The lies new mum tells

When becoming a new mum I had to tell a few lies. I am not proud of myself, but there was no option to act differently. When our friends and family asked how are you, the only answer is: we are good. Anything else will seams as A: you are incompetent as new parent and B: you are d**k. I didn't want to be either of them so I lied. Once you start then there is no going back. It is as big snow ball and you have to roll it as you go.

Unfortunately I was actually making everything even worst. As a new mum you are tired, overwhelmed and simply in too much pain. So when I lied and said that everything is great and pink and then I was invited to party or to visit I had no way out.

On 2 hours of broken sleep without any food as crying baby will not let you to put him down you drag yourself to bathroom and in 3 minutes flat shower, brush your teeth, slap some make up on and put one of three outfits on (which still thankfully fit you) and show yourself in mentioned party. How can be legal to drive a car (not to think to care for newborn baby) on no sleep is beyond me.

I did all of that and with put on smile was lying through my teeth about how becoming a new mum is great and how proud we are to have such a beautiful little boy. Nobody would guess that I was on the bring of collapse (deprivation of sleep is a form of torture) and I was in lots of pain just standing. For goodness sake I had stitches, infection, being on 2 sets of antibiotics, our baby had severe reflux and will not sleep. No sleep for baby means no sleep for mummy.

We visited all family and friends those first 4 weeks. I did get some visitors and a few offered some help (Thank you Jackie for your company!),but mostly I was on my own. I will say, that it was taught and I cried, but we pulled through. Now after 6 months our baby boy doesn't have any reflux and he sleeps all night. He is happy child and all that cry is forgotten. I just wish I could forget about our first weeks as new parents. I also wish that we were not pushed to show our little bundle. It would be much easier if we just stayed at home and only got visits from friends or family who want to help.  I am a little bit sad that we couldn't really enjoy our time with newborn baby, but there is always the second time! :-)

7 most useless baby purchases

After a lots of consideration and hours of looking through Internet we still ended up buying some baby stuff which proved completely useless. So this is our list of no needed stuff.

10 things I though about babies (before having one)

1. Maternity will be really nice break from work. Imagine all the time! Baby sleeping and house cleaned. I could just take the baby and go for shopping and for walks. Maybe could buy one of those running pushchairs and do some running. Hmm, that was before baby. At the moment I work 24 hours a day on No sleep and covered in all baby fluids.

7 most usefull DIY baby stuff

I went a little bit crazy when pregnant with all that DIY baby stuff. Some was really helpful some stuff didn't work out.

The most useful was:

10 most helpful baby stuff

To have the baby bath or not to have? How many clothes? Do we need baby travel system?
Yes, we all went through a lot of decisions about baby stuff. It is in the end all quite pricey.

In our experience the most helpful  baby stuff for us was:

What I wish I have known before having baby

Looking back on my before baby time & months of pregnancy I wish I have known number of things.
Especially with a first pregnancy, you are in big unknown territory. Midwifes are giving advices which are contradicting with pregnancy books! Your friends with children are telling you their stories about baby sleeping by week 8 and how they enjoyed their time with their newborn. Unfortunately nothing prepared us for very unhappy baby boy who did not sleep more than 5 minutes in one go, refused to be put down (anywhere), hated his cot and was basically screaming the whole first 3 months. It got better - the screaming, but not the sleeping. I am still very upset, that we really did not enjoy the newborn baby and I am worried that my husband is scared for life. He didn't even want to hold our Sami as he taught that he hates him!

I wish

7 months update

I can't believe that my last post was in March. So much happened in Home in Surrey! We have this little monkey boy. Born on 29/03/15. Only 16 days overdue!

Sami (Samuel) wasn't easy baby. He had really bad silent reflux and poor boy couldn't sleep properly. Luckily he grow up from it and now for first time in 6 months we all got good sleep. He can go now from 18:30 to 6:30.
It was long journey with sleepless nights, but all good now and hopefully I will have more time for Home in Surrey blog.

Handmade taggy & car seat toys

We are doing the baby shopping on the budget. So far we have managed to get everything what we wanted on e-bay, in sales or just I have handmade it. Last thing what we didn't want to buy were toys. For newborn - very unnecessary, but they will be needed when our baby boy will be older. For a start I have handmade a few simple taggy toys + some hanging toys for our car seat.

Homemade baby cloud quilt - the simple way

I really do not like to be bored, but after a week on my maternity leave (39 week pregnant) I am slowly running out of things to be cleaned! I am used to do 2 jobs and over 60 hours a week so no surprise that being "stuck" at home is not very exciting. Also the no GYM state is not helping. So I went through my stash of fabrics and decided that it is the time to have a go at baby quilt. No better time than heavily pregnant and bored!
As this is my first attempt at anything like this it wasn't without mistakes. Look what I ended up with!

BumGenius nappy - velcro to snap converting

I have bought some used BumGenius nappies from the E-bay. You can get a real bargains this way. They were about £3 per nappy with 2 boosters compared to about £16 per nappy when new!
I really like the look of these nappies. They also have very good reviews. Only thing is the Velcro. The usage will show on it first. I don't like the Velcro anyway so I did some Internet research and decided that the cheapest and the best way for us will be just convert it to snaps.
I am using KAM snaps anyway on number of homemade baby staff.

Homemade pushchair pocket - recycled bag

I really like all little gadgets and helpers in everyday life. I am guilty as charged to want to have it all. So when I spotted this cute little bag for a pushchair handle in T.K.Maxx I was seriously tempted to buy it. Only two things were against. Firstly the cost of £14.99 and secondary the fact that for the next 6 months I will be getting only the maternity pay of £138.18!
The pocket was really nice, but also small. Hmm.... my husband as he knows me had a one look at the pocket then second at me... " I am sure that you can make this with your sewing machine"!!!

Homemade washable baby wipes - recycled fabric

We will be using a washable "cloth" nappies for our baby boy. I think it is much nicer to "wear" cloth than paper, also the cost is the big positive too. I am sensitive to "chemicals" and cosmetics so we can't really use normal baby wipes. I have been looking at water wipes, but in the end we will try to use the cloth wipes first.

Homemade baby hat - recycled fabric

One of my maternity tops didn't survive my fruit snack. :-( The stains are all over the front and they do not want to shift even after a triple washing. So goodbye top. 

Then I had a little bright idea moment! I have seen somewhere on the web homemade baby hats made of recycled jersey fabric. This top is a jersey (t-shirt material). 

Look what I have made!

 

Baby stash - Nuk glass bottles

I just received my order from Nuk! I have bought 4 glass bottles and some silicone + latex teats and a cleaning brush.

They look really good and are very sturdy. I have a little obsession about plastics so for me it makes sense to use the glass. It is easier to clean it and hopefully it will last. As glass they are naturally BPA free so no any nastiness in them. As for teats I went for both silicone & latex in two sizes to try them out.The baby will be the judge.

The third trimester - what you didn't expect

The third trimester is really funny time. Suddenly the scary word "labour" is here. I am excited to meet my baby boy and in the same time absolutely terrified of how that will happened. Especially as new mothers around me (2 sisters in law + colleague) had emergency c-section.
I am one of the lucky pregnant ones. No morning sickness, no any problems what so ever (if I am not counting a little bit tiredness in the beginning) No SPD, all scans (2) good, low blood pressure, no protein, no sugar and measurements & weight perfect. So you can see I am low risk as low risk can get. It still don't stop me to be scared that something will go wrong.

Homemade cot storage pockets

We will have the cot in our bedroom for at least first 6 months. It will be easier and quicker to do the night feeds & nappy changes. Our bedroom is good size double, but with the cot next to me it will be a tight squeeze. Also I will need some nappies, muslin, cotton, nappy bags... very near. I don't plan to actually get up :-).
So where to put them?
I thought about it and then I spotted very handy cot storage pockets in the shop. Problem was that it cost £45!!! It didn't look very complicated so I tried to make it myself.

Sheep skin for our Armadillo pushchair

Finally I got a time to finish the second sheep skin. First one went into the "cloud rug" for nursery. This nicer one went into the liner for our Armadillo. It is lamb sheep skin and it is very soft. Just perfect for a pushchair!

 

Handmade baby changing mats

I had a little burst of energy this weekend! I have used it and made 2 handmade baby changing mats.
I will leave one in the living room so we do not need to go upstairs. Other will live in the car for changing on the go. :-)

Handmade baby changing travel mats

Big family meeting - childcare

I am 34 weeks now and getting big. So not a lots of DIY projects. I still clean our house and do my second job and then I am pretty much done. Yesterday we had a big family meeting about childcare. Me & husband, Roberts mum & dad and his sister & husband & ...

post under maintenance ......

1 year of Home in Surrey!

Just realised that my blog had 1st birthday on 07/01/15! So many things have changed in last 12 months!

I am still fighting with too many clothes! I had to buy more because of pregnancy :-))) and I can't use my old ones because I don't fit in them anymore. Hopefully in 3 months I can start my no clothes buy challenge again. :-)
Also I am stopping to buy more clothes for our baby boy. We already have all clothes needed until he is 18 months old! Of course all bought for fraction of price on E-bay or in charity shops. In the end they were worn only for about 3 months because babies grow so quickly.

Also I would like to start my baking again. I do some but mostly the old traditional receipts. Nothing new in long time!

In March I will add some pages about our baby boy. It will be nice to have some sort of diary. The due date is nearing! Only 9 weeks to go. I am actually 8 months today, but luckily I don't feel that bad! Still running up the stairs!

Back from Christmas holiday!

Ahh, Christmas is over and back to work. Such a hard thing to do after days of doing nothing but lazying on the sofa and eating chocolate! :-) I had a little help with the doing nothing!