I just thought I'd pop up a quick review of Oscar's favourite little friend. We got Ewan The Dream Sheep when I was pregnant after reading lots of 5 star reviews saying that he was a brilliant sleep aid (plus, isn't he adorable?) and we have not been disappointed.

According to the site, Ewan emits soothing sounds at a low base frequency and has a calming warm pink glow which will help settle babies and toddlers to sleep. The womb and heartbeat sounds that Ewan plays are actually recorded from real life to help make them extra soothing. He also has rain, vacuum cleaner and harp options mixed in with the heartbeat sound to provide extra reassurance. 

When Oscar arrived, Ewan was put into action straight away. Even from a few days old, Oscar enjoyed the red glow that he gives and fell asleep happily listening to the heartbeat option. We have always put Oscar down awake when we can and never soothed him to sleep on us, so Ewan has been even more important in providing reassurance and a calm atmosphere for Oscar.

To change the sounds that Ewan plays, you simply hold onto the button for  2-3 seconds on one of his legs and the sound then plays for twenty minutes - usually enough time for your little one to have drifted off. If not, just pop him back on his cycle again and you should be good to go.

Ewan also has a velcro tail so that you can hook him around a Moses Basket or cot or you can even take him on your travels with you, we've attached him to Oscar's pram a number of times when we've gone out and it helps him drift off to sleep even if we're out somewhere a little noisier than he is used to.

Now that Oscar's older, he absolutely loves playing with Ewan when he goes to bed. As soon as he's zipped into his sleeping bag he turns to look for Ewan's glow and starts stroking him. He has now also figured out how to change the options so we often hear the sounds changing on the monitor as he clicks away, haha!

When my mum and I were out shopping, we spotted Ewan Snuggly and he was purchased immediately. As soon as we showed him to Oscar, he reached out for him and started squeaking happily and I don't think I've ever seen him so excited with a toy, he was playing with him the whole car journey back and then fell asleep with him under his arm. Ewan Snuggly has knotted legs for baby to play with and he's also the perfect size for tiny hands to grasp onto easily. Plus, this little guy has a velcro tail just like his friend, so we tend to fasten him onto Oscar's dummy strap so he doesn't go astray.

Overall, Ewan has definitely been one of, if not the best purchase we've made for Oscar and I couldn't recommend him highly enough. He's been loved  from Day 1 and he's still useful as he grows up through to toddler age (maybe longer!) he also won the Mother & Baby Gold Award 2014. If you want more info about Ewan, then click here.

Oscar's 8 Month Update

Hey Oscar!

Another month has gone by and we are getting closer and closer to your 1st birthday, I can't believe it's only one more month and then you will have been out in the world for as long as you were in my belly. It seems like you have been a part of our family for ever and we can't remember what it was like without you. You bring smiles to our faces every day and a little grin or laugh from you can brighten any day.

You are now able to sit up on your own unaided for short amounts of time, you like to sit on the sofa and play with your toys or sit on our bed. You still need a little support or else you might topple over but you are getting stronger every day.
You have started shaking your head from side to side and if someone shakes their head at you, you sometimes copy us and do it back! You also love to pull your socks off at every opportunity you get, I have a pile of odd socks due to them getting placed around the house. You are loving your bath time more and more and love kicking your legs like a little frog. I can see your personality developing all the time and you are getting better and better at expressing yourself and when you want something, you're not shy to let us know!

You are still on your Stage 2 weaning foods but we introduced you to mandarins a few days ago and it was love at first taste - you cried when Daddy was eating them without offering you any. You are now having them daily as a snack and we chop them up into smaller segments for you. You try and squash them a bit with your tongue so I think you might be getting accustomed to not swallowing everything whole... Raspberries and strawberries are next on the agenda!

You have had a slight change in your sleeping routine, you now tend to wake at about 8am and go down at 8pm but you just started getting tired earlier, so we changed the times and it's working much better for us all.
You don't seem to have any interest in your dummy at all these days and so they are very rarely used, you still prefer your thumb.

 I think you are teething at the moment as you are sporting some cute rosy cheeks accompanied by a lot of drooling and chewing on everything you can get your little hands on. You're also fond of pulling some hilarious faces (see last picture, haha) that look like it might be your gums irritating you but you've been a good sport so far and not complained much at all.

You are such a well behaved little man, we can take you out anywhere and you always sit quietly and patiently and never complain or kick up a fuss, you have the most lovely personality.
It's your Grandad's birthday tomorrow, so we will be visiting Grandma & Grandad tomorrow for a little celebration.

We love you so much.

xxxx

Next Boys Spring Collection Picks

Now the shops are beginning to introduce the Spring range of clothes, I couldn't help but have a little browse and see what cute things I could find for Oscar. He'll be in 9-12 month clothing by the time Spring properly comes around, so this year we'll be able to be a bit more adventurous with clothes for him as he was only a newborn when it was last warm.

As usual, I had a little peek at Next's offerings and these were the few pieces that really caught my eye. Oscar hates wearing bulky clothing, so this lightweight zipped green hoody will be perfect when the weather's warmer but there's still a little breeze in the air. I thought this World Explorer t-shirt was adorable, it also has a print on the back and I love putting Oscar in brighter clothes, I think they look so cute on babies and children.
For the earlier parts of Spring, you won't go amiss with with something a little warmer - this Stone Anorak will be great for any rainy days due to being shower resistant and having a hood now that Oscar will be in a new car seat meaning he'll be carried to and from the car with no protection.
I couldn't resist these Monster jeans, I absolutely love anything with dinosaurs or monsters on for Oscar so that's how the little set of 3 t-shirts caught my eye too.
Finally, these Denim look shorts are a must, I like Oscar wearing jeans when we're going out somewhere proper but if he's just having a lazy day then it's nice for him to feel comfy in something a little softer and lighter.

Postpartum Hair Loss

I wasn't sure whether to write and publish this or not, it's not the usual type of post from me but I do feel it's important to me and it could help others who are expectant or new mums.

After having a baby, your body goes through so many changes. After being pregnant for 9 months and your body getting adjusted to all the new hormones, you give birth and suddenly everything starts changing again, just after you've finally gotten used to it!

I knew there were quite a lot of changes I was going to experience; I'd experienced them whilst being pregnant so I knew they had to go back at some point - my skin changed from it's normal/combination status to extremely dry in the early months and then glowing and healthy in the later months. Obviously your figure alters drastically and you get cravings and in the later months (if you didn't already) a huge appetite.

Although I didn't really notice it at the time, whilst pregnant my hair was falling out a lot less than normal and it was growing faster and becoming thicker too. After birth, I didn't immediately experience any hair loss, it only started for me at about 3.5 months and wow, did it come out thick and fast. I didn't really think too much of it until one day I pulled my hair back to do my makeup and spotted two bald patches at my temples. I was obviously upset and although I knew it was going to be hormone/postpartum changes I never expected it to be so drastic.

The reason it happens is that your hair normally goes through two phases; growing and resting. Most of your hair is in a growing phase whilst 10-15% is in a resting phase. When it ends the resting phase, that's when your hair falls out. The difference is when you're pregnant the hormone changes trigger many more of your hair follicles to enter the growing phase resulting in having lovely, thick and healthy locks.

After giving birth, the hormones return to normal and your hair now has a lot of catching up to do and a lot of the hair that was in the growing phase now enters the resting phase and begins to shed leading you to finding a lot more hair coming out when styling or washing.

I'm not kidding when I say that my hair now comes out in thick strands when I'm shampooing it, then when I'm towel drying it, brushing it and styling it. My hairbrush is full of hair within a couple of days rather than about a month (is it gross I only empty my brush when it's completely full?) of brushing it and I'm finding hairs shedding all over my clothes. It doesn't help having a curious 5 month old who loves to tug on mummy's hair either! He ends up with handfuls of it and more of it ends up floating around the house.

I'm not entirely sure why the loss is so noticeable at the temples; perhaps because the hair there can be quite fine and wispy anyway because I haven't been able to notice any other bald patches on my head.

Unfortunately, there's very little that can be done to avoid the hair loss, it will happen whether or not you breastfeed and as it's hormonal you pretty much have to go through it. I have really thick hair anyway and so I'm not sure if you lose more/less hair depending on how thick it is or if it makes it more noticeable depending on your hair type.

You can help manage it in a couple of ways though and fortunately, it won't last forever. By the time your baby is celebrating their first birthday you should be back to normal. If you have hair that can be styled easily, you could always try going for a fringe to hide the bald spots at the temples and then you can wear your hair back without worrying people will notice. This isn't an option for me due to having curly hair so I find that as long as I wear it down, you can't tell. I also got a couple of inches lopped off to help make my hair a bit lighter and it seems to have reduced the strain on my hair too.

I hope that this is helpful to anyone going through the same thing as me, you are not alone! And also if you're an expectant mum or haven't yet reached the 3/4 month mark then to give you an idea of what to expect and not feel too shocked or worried - it's completely normal and it will stop and is just one more thing for your body to adapt to and let's face it, that cute little face looking at you is totally worth it.

UPDATE: I posted this 4/5 months PP - Now we're 7 months along and at about 6 months PP, I noticed my hair had started coming back in little tufts. My hair has now returned to it's normal rate of shedding and the bald patches are a lot less noticeable. 

The Dummy Debate

This is a question that comes up time and time again and people tend to be quite divided on it, they're a bit like marmite in the parenting world.

At the start of my pregnancy, N and I were quite against dummies and just said that we weren't going to bother with them. Our main reason for this was because we didn't want Oscar getting into a bad habit with it and refusing to go to sleep/settle without one or waking up all the time in the night for us to put it back in.

However, when we were out shopping for baby things, I thought I might as well pick a pack up and use them if we felt that they'd be beneficial to Oscar in helping soothe him. - N wasn't too pleased about this but I just said we didn't have to use them if we didn't want to but at least the option was there.

I decided to pick up the Tommee Tippee dummies as we had the bottles (we switched to Avent a couple of weeks after he was born as the teats kept collapsing on themselves) and according to their website/packaging they help support the natural shape of baby’s growing palate and have a special teat that expands gently across the roof of the mouth which to support healthy teeth and gum development.
Dummies by other brands such as Avent and Mothercare's own range also offer the same thing though so there's quite a large selection to choose from and it's pretty much from an aesthetic point of view which ones you go for.

Once Oscar arrived it's needless to say that we did indeed go down the dummy route. For the first few days we were sans dummy and then in a moment of desperation when he was really upset, we decided to pop one in and see if it would help calm him down.

It did.

From that point on, if Oscar was upset for no main reason such as a feed/change/sleep etc, we would try him with his dummy and see if that was what he wanted. He would go down with it at every sleep time but we did encounter the issue we had feared where when it came out when he was sleeping, he would wake and cry for it until we popped it back in.

It was when we went away for a week and he was sleeping in his travel cot in a different room that we really had a problem, he was waking numerous times in the night rather than just occasionally and sometimes we were no sooner back in bed than it had fallen out again. This made for a couple of very tired parents and an unsettled night for Ozzy.

However, this all soon came to a stop as he seemed to find his thumb at about 12 weeks old and that solved all of our dummy related issues. He now only really ever wants his thumb and of course it's easy for him to find in the night as all he has to do is pop his thumb in rather than be unable to find his dummy. He sucks his thumb as his main way of soothing himself and also when he's tired. We do still have a dummy in his cot as sometimes he'll like to have it in at first and if it comes out during the night, he'll pop his thumb in.

At first we were a bit worried that the thumb sucking might become a serious habit that he could find hard to stop when he's older or that it could cause issues with his teeth developing but we'll just have to see how it goes. It makes him happy for now and I have read that quite a lot of babies stop sucking their thumb when they are ready, but we are prepared that it could be a difficult habit for him to break out of!

Overall, I'd have to say that I am in favour of the dummy.  One of the main positives that I was happy about was that research has shown that it can give protection and help minimise the risk of SIDS if you give them one as they go down to sleep as it can help regulate their breathing. It's also obviously good for baby to soothe themselves with and can help with babies who have a strong suck reflex that exceeds the time they would spend on bottle or breast.

The negatives are that they could potentially cause nipple confusion if you're breastfeeding, so it's recommended to keep them off a dummy if you are until they're about one month old. They can also cause the same issue as thumb sucking with teeth development and possibly causing a speech impediment. Of course, some people just don't like the look of dummies in a babies mouth and you could worry that you might be encouraging a lack of communication as they get older.

In my opinion, the positives and the negatives can balance each other out and if you use it sparingly, such as only at sleep times or at times of real distress, the chances are that your baby is unlikely to develop a bad habit with it and will be able to soothe themselves. You can also get glow in the dark dummies which are great for when little ones are a bit older and can spot them dummy and put it back in if it comes out! Or to be honest, handy for parents when you can't spot the darn thing in the cot when they're crying out for it at 3am...

What's your opinion on dummies? Could you never be without them or do you loathe them with a passion?

Oscar's Sleep Routine

Asleep on your playmat - not a usual napping place!

Oscar has always been really great (to this point, don't want to jinx anything!) with his sleeping. The first night he was at home he slept 5 hours straight and has only ever woken once during the night for a feed and a change in the first 3 months and after that point, he started to sleep through. He now currently sleeps 12 hours straight throughout the night.

We have never nursed Oscar to sleep, from the very beginning he has always been put down awake in his cot or if he was falling asleep on us, we gently moved him into his Moses Basket. I think this was hugely beneficial to us having him being a good sleeper has he has never grown attached to sleeping on anyone. We use Ewan the Dream Sheep who I cannot praise enough, Ozzy absolutely loves him and he has been another key element in him going down to sleep.

Once we started trying to get him into a routine at around the 6 week mark, we did have to go into our room and soothe him a little and pick him up for hugs and reassurance and then put him back down again and walk out. This really only lasted a week or two and Ewan was his main comforter in helping him sleep.

Again, around the 6 week mark, when we started to implement the routine we ended up feeding him at around midnight and then he would sleep through until about 6.30/7 am. That was the starting point for us eliminating the night feed as we started to gradually bring back his midnight feed earlier and earlier (usually around 15 minutes earlier each night) and then he ended up having his last feed at around 8pm and waking somewhere between 7 and 8am.

Also, we have always had him sleeping separately from us, for the first 10 weeks he slept in his Moses Basket in our bedroom but he got too big for it so he moved into his cot in his nursery and has stayed in there ever since. I know a lot of people tend to have their baby in with them for the first 6 months but we didn't really want to do that - he is quite a noisy sleeper crying out in the night and kicking his legs despite being asleep and also his cot is really too large to fit in our room.
He has been really happy in his nursery and sometimes he even cries until you go and put him in his cot and then he settles down and goes off to sleep.

His current routine involves him waking up at around 9am, having his breakfast and then he has a nap at about 11.30 for anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour and then he has his lunch. Usually he is ready for his afternoon nap an hour after lunch which he has in his cot which usually lasts for 2 hours although he does go through phases of waking up after an hour or sleeping for up to 3 hours which we just let him do. He then has his tea and then another short nap for about 45 minutes and then he is awake until he goes down to bed at 9pm after having his final meal.

I'm not sure how much of it is down to good luck and how much of it is down to us getting him into a routine but we are extremely happy that he is such a great sleeper (obviously!) and I do think that Oscar has really benefit from having a routine as he knows when he's going to be getting fed, when his nap times are and when his bedtime is.

I spent a lot of time whilst I was pregnant reading all about the different ways to do things with your baby and for me, having a routine and not using any co-sleeping or attachment parenting was something that I thought would really work well for all of us. Oscar has always been fully supported by us and whenever he has been upset or needed a reassuring hug we have been there for him, but I do feel that he is a much more settled baby because he knows how to self soothe.

Baby Christmas Picks

Daddy's Little Helper All in One - £8.00

My First Christmas Bauble - £3.00 

Reindeer 3-piece set - £12.00

Stocking (can be personalised) - £5.00

Santa's Little Helper hat - £2.00

Santa Booties - £3.00

I can never resist an opportunity to dress Oscar for the occasion - I was looking forward to picking his
Halloween costume before he was even born! So I thought I'd put together my pick of Christmas cuteness to share. I spotted the All In One in store and thought it was so adorable! I want something comfy for him to wear on the day rather than being too dressed up as we're only going to be relaxing at home or at his grandparents. I already have a santa hat for Oscar that seems to be glued to his head, he looks so sweet! This elf one is just as adorable.

What are your favourite Christmas baby items?

Winter Clothes

I was just browsing around looking at more baby clothes (as you do) for Ozzy. He already has quite a lot of clothes but some of it is still quite summery and he needs a few warmer items. I decided to have a look on Next as I have a few bits and pieces from there for him already and found these adorable little items. He has a coat that's 0-3 months at the moment and being 18 weeks, I'm not sure if that's going to fit him anymore... Not likely. 

I'm obsessed with dinosaurs for his nursery and all of his clothes so I couldn't not love the dinosaur jumper, so adorable. He looks great in jeans and the braces just add that extra touch. However, for those days when he's not going out and just needs some super comfy clothes, the plum coloured joggers add a bit more of an autumnal feel compared to his usual grey/navy ones and he can relax in them too.
Finally, this little snowman jumper is lovely, I already have Halloween clothes prepared for him, so I've obviously got to plan for Christmas (yes, I said it!) too.

Week 18

I wish that I had written about the previous 17 weeks but sadly I didn't :-( I have written a couple of entries in my paper journal though. This is taking a little bit (ok, quite a lot) of inspiration from one of my favourite bloggers, Charlotte from Write Like No One's Watching.

Ozzy,

This week, you have still been doing really well (touch wood) sleeping through the night. We put you down at about 8.30pm and you don't get up until 8am, which is just amazing, we feel very lucky! I think it's partially down to the fact that you love to suck on your thumb now and you often spit your dummy out to have that instead!

We have spent quite a bit of time round at your Grandma & Grandad's and they love spending time with you. Grandad always has his camera out snapping pictures of you and Grandma is constantly cooing over you and singing you songs. Not to mention your Auntie, she can't keep her hands off you and steals you from your car seat as soon as you arrive.

You have definitely started teething, my poor little bean. You have adorable chubby cheeks that are bright red at times and you are always trying to chew on something, be it your hand, dummy, bib, bottle, one of our fingers or even a nose...

You have just started having one small portion of baby rice in the evenings and you are really enjoying it, opening your mouth waiting for the spoon to arrive and guzzling it all down. I'm not sure when we'll move you onto anything a little more adventurous, you seem happy with the rice for now.

You love watching TV after your morning milk and then having a little snooze before getting to roll around and kick on your playmat. You can roll on to your side now but you can't roll back and you get a little bit frustrated about this, I don't think it'll be too long before you manage it!

You have pretty much doubled in size from when you were born, and you were last weighed 3 weeks ago now, so you are probably over that now, I'm going to take you to get weighed next week.

Love you lots, little bean.

Mummy xx

A New Mum's Guide To Still Feeling Glam

Having a baby to keep you on your toes and work your day around, sometimes you can end up feeling a little frazzled. I thought I'd compile a little guide on how I try and keep myself feeling like, well, me.

I'm not going to lie, the first two weeks after having Oscar, I felt and looked like poop. I managed to step in the shower every day but that was pretty much where my efforts ceased. I lived in some comfy tracksuit bottoms and my maternity tops to hide my still inflated belly. No straighteners touched my hair nor a slick of makeup on my face. 

Then about 3 weeks in, I finally started to feel like putting a bit of effort back in. I got my boyfriend to be on baby watching duty whilst I took  hair dryer and some straighteners to my hair and applied some make up. I was only sitting about the house but I felt more like myself again. 

I'm fortunate enough to be a stay at home mum whilst my boyfriend goes out to work and even more fortunate enough to have my mum on hand whenever I need her. That's not the case for everyone though, so I'll try and make sure these tips can work for everyone whether you're surrounded by friends and family or doing it all on your own.

Tips

• Take advantage of the time when your baby is sleeping. You can fit in virtually anything you want to during their nap time, especially as newborns sleep most of the day.Whether or not that's getting some sleep, (I find that I can't sleep during the day no matter how tired I am, it's always early evening when I find myself wanting a rest and that usually isn't an option!) getting some cleaning and tidying done around the house, having a shower or keeping up your beauty regime. 

• Skater dresses have been the best thing for me. They skim straight over the top of your belly leaving you feeling slim and feeling feminine. Another bonus was that I managed to fit into quite a few of my pre-pregnancy skater dresses although a couple did become a little shorter due to my hips being wider.

• Floaty blouses have also been brilliant for everyday wear. I initially wore them over a pair of leggings but after wearing leggings for 7 months straight, I really wanted to find an alternative option.

• If you don't fancy floaty all the time, try a peplum top, they also skim nicely over your lower half. 

• Don't feel too bad if you can't fit into your pre pregnancy clothes as quick as you'd hoped. I had purchased a few items whilst pregnant that I thought would be nice to wear once I'd had Oscar but found that they didn't fit me quite as I'd imagined. I was disappointed at first, but then I decided to pick myself up as friends and family reminded me that it takes 9 month for your body to change and at least 9 months for it to go back (unless you're super lucky!)

• Accessories are your friend. If you don't want to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe to accommodate any extra pounds, make the most of what you've got in the clothes department and buy a few floaty scarves and some nice statement jewellery to perk up your outfits and hide any mum-tum you might have. 

• Keep it simple with your makeup. If my boyfriend's at home or my mum's round, I can afford to spend a bit more time on my makeup whilst they keep an eye on him but if I'm on my own or need to be out somewhere and making sure I'm fitting in around Oscar's feeding schedule then I switch up the products I'm using...

• You can simplify your makeup by swapping powder eye shadows for something like Maybelline's Color Tattoo's or my current favourite - Collection's Work The Colour Eyeshadow Pencil's. A quick slick across your eyelids and your good to go. 

• Instead of applying a full face of foundation, apply concealer to any blemishes and under eye circles to keep your face looking fresh.

• So you don't have to spend ages making sure you've applied your lipstick perfectly, grab a tinted balm like Revlon's Lip Butters to apply on the go and mirror free whilst still keeping your pout pretty. 

• I found that I struggled to find a pair of jeans that fit me how I wanted to or flattered my new figure. They all seemed to fit low around my hips and just made my belly pop out over the top. Not a good look. I went for jeggings instead, so I didn't quite manage to fully escape the leggings I now at least look like I've got jeans on, no one else needs to know it's an elasticated waist, right?

• Primark have some good jeggings in at the moment for less than £10 but I got mine from Sainsbury's TU range for £12.50. They do a range of colours and fit exactly how I wanted them to, high on the waist keeping my belly under control and still skinny on the leg without any bunching around the ankle.

• Get a quick drying top coat for your nails so that if your baby needs you suddenly, you can have your nails dried in a fraction of the time. 

• If your hair could do with a wash but you don't have the time, spray in some dry shampoo and try braiding it or tying it up in a cute bun. 

I think that about sums up everything I've managed to do to still find some 'me' time to fit around the hectic life of being a new mum! Let me know if you find any of these tips helpful or if you have any extra ones!