The "Fun" of Solids

My little man has been on solids for a wee while now - about two months - including a period of about two weeks where he refused to have anything. We started early because he was showing all the signs, and I have recently become a baby food connoisseur. By this, I mean that I actually cook both meat and veges, and puree it up.

THERE ARE NOT MANY THINGS THAT ARE WORSE THAN PUREED FISH.

Vomit.

However, this post is more about the so called "fun" of feeding my wee man solids.

Scenario: Plunket Solids Talk.
Plunket Lady: "This is a really fun time for you with your baby, experimenting with different tastes and textures. This tends to not be so messy, and I promise you that you will really enjoy this bonding experience.

Not messy, you say?

Lady, you lied!

Do you have any idea how expensive stain remover is?! Have you forgotten what it is like to have orange kumara (sweet potato!) spat in your face?! Or what a raspberry full of food looks like?!

Honestly, I was useless at doing washing before solids started, and now I have just given up. The majority of Finn's clothes now have at least a hint of some kind of food - a bit of mashed in banana, Cruskit that has turned to concrete, a teeny bit of mince.

Fun? I challenge you to say that again!

Outta My Control...

So last night it became very clear to me that, quite often, things are out of our control and no matter what we do, we have to sit by and watch.

At about 9.30 last night, my little man woke up with a barking cough. It also became very clear to us that he was working really hard to get his breaths in. Sweat poured off him, but it was clammy and cold. Although not distressed, he was pale and wasn't grabbing at anything or wanting to play, and he was clinging on to my other half. If you know my boy, you know this is very out of character! So we got on the phone to Plunket, who then put us through to Healthline (at this point I was panicking). As soon as the lady heard Finn's cough and noisy breathing she called an ambulance. Yes, an ambulance. At this point it was taking every part of me to hold back tears. I can tell you now, you never realise how much you love your child until you think there might be something wrong. When the sirens got closer, the horrible thought of, "Those sirens are for my baby" crept into my mind and it was too much.

Before I knew it, bubs and me were sitting in the back of the ambulance en route to hospital. In the ambulance he got hooked up to a heart rate monitor and it became clear he was definitely fighting to get those breaths in. It was definitely the worst twenty minutes of my life.

By the time we got to the hospital, bubs was looking much better. His breathing was still up, but everything else seemed to have calmed down. He wasn't coughing as much, but his coughs were still sounding like an old smokers, and his breathing was still a little raspy.

Diagnosis - a pretty hefty case of croup. Cue a dose of steroids, an observation for three hours, and a pretty miserable baby.

A very tired Finn and his mama at 12.30 am!

It is very rare that my little boy will fall asleep on me anymore, but that was how he slept for most of last night and for his naps today. So bittersweet - I miss my baby cuddles,  but I don't want them if it means he is in pain.

As I said before, a lot of things are out of our control. And it is horrific. I have never been in an ambulance in my 25 years, and my poor boy had to experience one at six months old. But that is life, and I am lucky that it wasn't any worse. Too many of the other kids in the emergency department got sent off to Starship because their situations were too extreme to be dealt with at North Shore Hospital. We didn't even have a bed last night because it was full up - apparently that is a pretty typical night.

So, when things get out of your control, cuddle your baby, kiss your baby, and hopefully everything will be okay.

Why I really am useless....

So I promised myself that I would really throw everything into this blog to help keep me sane. Alas, I completely forgot about it. BUT I AM BACK. And I intend to stay back.

So, what has been happening in the six or so weeks that I wasn't writing? Well...

1) I started back at work part time. Love the work. Hate the mornings.
2) This coincided with my darling boy starting day care. I cried. He didn't. That was how that went.
3) My boy got BIG. Like really big. See below:

4) I met a level of exhaustion that I did not know was possible. Holy heck.

So, because talking about your own baby can bore people to no end (trust me, I know!), I am instead , going to enlighten you on my current path down the road of complete and utter mind numbing exhaustion.

At first, I honestly thought I was handling the whole part time working, part time stay at home mum thing so well. I managed to straighten my hair in the morning, have the baby fed and clothed, and be out the door by 7.30. However, things started changing. Very slowly, the hair got messier. The lipstick got muckier. The eyes got redder. The baby started wearing clothes that were not okay to be out in public. Caffeine became my best friend. And I got confused.

Why was this happening all of a sudden?

Why do people look at me like I am an alien from another planet?

Why can I smell my armpits?

And then it hit me. This is what a working mother starts out as. Learning to determine how much time you need to allocate, learning to know what is actually important and what can be ditched (hint - do not ditch showering!), and continuing to be a caring mum whilst stressing about what is going on at work.

So, we learnt to time manage. I say we, because you need to have your other half involved in this. And we created a routine. It works a bit like this:

• At home days - other half comes home from work and does bath and bedtime. If I haven't already sorted dinner then I do that while this is going on.
• At work days - I do pick up and drop off. Because I tend to be running a little early to beat traffic, Finn and I have a morning date at Robert Harris. I love this so much, especially because Finn tends to be happiest in the morning so I get lots of smiles and cuddles. When we get home, I get to play with him, and then one of us does bed and bath while the other does dinner. 
• Weekends - no routine at all. Oh, and apparently no sleep ins...

Of course, when I am at home with him I make the most of the time to puree up some veges and meat (most horrendous job ever), avoid doing the housework and do little activities with Finn.

It is hard when you realise you are not the "perfect" mother. My boy is hardly breastfed anymore (his choice) except for in the middle of the night when he refuses to get off, I have given him far too many fingers foods that probably aren't the best, my new dinner choices involve ones that I can blend up, and I have definitely shoved us both in front of the TV so I can catch up on shows. But it is important to realise that no mother is perfect. Yes, even the exclusively breastfeeding, organic giving, co-sleeping earth mothers that have committed all of their time to their little babes. They manage to screw it up as well sometimes.

It is the small things that count. Like cuddling your baby, even when they are attempting to squirm away from you and then scream in your face. Sitting outside every now and then to have lunch. Going down to the park and letting your six month old in the swing, even when a group of judgey mums are whispering about it.

All that matters is you love your child, even if they are the cause of your legs going unshaven for one week. In the middle of summer.

So now I add to my list:

5) I realised there is no way to be the perfect mum. And I am totally okay with that.

Why co-sleeping really does mean no sleeping!

So there is this hilarious video going around called "Why Co-Sleeping is No-Sleeping." Have a look below and it will definitely make you giggle!

Before Finn was born I was one of those pregnant ladies who said, "I'm never letting my baby sleep in our bed!" I was adamant. I had heard all the stories from parents who could never get their child out of their bed and I flat out refused to become one,

And then my baby was born.

As I have said previously, Finn refused to sleep in his bassinet for a very long time. This made me feel like I was failing as mother because everything said that my baby should go straight to sleep when being put down. Cue a baby who fell fast asleep on me, then as soon as he was in his crib woke up and screamed. Pick up, fast asleep. Put down, scream. So I accidentally became a co-sleeping mum at times. And I really enjoyed it. Waking up to him is one of the fondest memories I will have of Finn as a newborn.

Eventually, Finn became a lot better at sleeping in his bassinet, and was moved to a cot when he was three months old because with every movement he made his crib rock and woke himself up. Since moving to the cot he has rarely come into our bed because he falls asleep again after his night feed, and normally snoozes until 6.30 - 7ish. Except for the other night. He decided, after waking up at 4.15 for a feed, that he did not want to go to sleep. Cue crying baby, exhausted mother. So I grabbed him and put him in our bed.

BIG MISTAKE.

In the few minutes it took him to fall asleep, he managed to:

• pull my hair
• eat the blanket
• kick me
• pull my partners nose
• stick his finger up my partners nose
• scratch me
• roll over
• hold my hand and eventually close his eyes

Cute little newborn making gorgeous noises no more!

His new thing is to wake from his morning nap after 45 minutes, then be put into bed with me and have a cuddle and sleep for another 90 or so minutes. It looks like this:

And these are the moments that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Everyone is having babies!

So, when I started this blog I wanted to try and write everyday to make sure I kept on top of it. However, my super popular social life has taken off! Okay, not really, but I have been out TWICE this without my child. Once with the boyf, and the other with my lovely girlfriends that I went to university with.

It is the latter outing that made me think of the amount of pregnancies I have been encountering. On this occasion, two of five were pregnant (one due any day now), and two of us already have a kid (including the one who is pregnant). I know of at least one work colleague who is currently pregnant, my stepson's mum is having number three on Monday, and tonight I was super excited to find out that a person I am very close to is pregnant. All of a sudden, ovaries are exploding and producing beautiful babies! It is insane!

I'm not going to lie - I like to think that I started this all! I read an article the other day that was about the likelihood of getting pregnant if you're friends are, and apparently you are more likely to! How cool is that? And, on reflection, this was what happened to me. My cousin has a son four months older than mine, and I have a lot of Facebook friends with children a few months either side of Finn. The water gets contaminated, and obviously makes all ovulating women super fertile, and creates super strong sperm!

And the point of this blog? Wrap it up boys and girls, because if you know me then the likelihood of being fertilised has been turned up from impossible to highly likely!

My boy is eating food!

Excitement central in this household today. My boy had his first solids! Yes, he is only four months old which is a little early by standards these day, but I went to a talk around solids yesterday and he is showing all the signs that he is ready.
He:

• creepily watches me eat (seriously, he follows the fork from my plate to my mouth, normally salivating at the same time...)
• tries to pull food out of our hands - this resulted in Finn accidentally eating a small amount of combination fried rice when my partner wasn't paying attention. It makes me very proud!
• he is always wanting more after having a feed
• his head is that of a strong man, always up and looking around

So, I steamed up some kumara (sweet potato) and pureed it into oblivion. And this was the result:

He loved it! The third photo shows the shock that we actually allowed to keep it in his mouth! He made such a mess, smooshing it everywhere - I found kumara all over him! Oh, and how 21st century are we - his Dad was on Skype watching him the whole time, so he didn't miss out on any of it! We are so lucky to live in a time where this is possible.

I totally recommend the Phil and Teds Poppy Highchair as well! It is so easy to strap them in, and super easy to clean. It wasn't expensive either, I got it for just over $100 on special. An awesome part of is that, when bubs is no longer in a highchair, you can convert it into a chair!

Not related to my boy eating, but I am so excited for tonight! Alex and I are going out for dinner BY OURSELVES for the first time since Finn was born! And we are actually going somewhere nice, so I can get dressed up and drink some fancy wine! There will be more about this later!