Playpen....of life changing JOY!

I swore I wouldn't get one as they look a little too much like a baby prison for my liking, but today I got hold of a cheap, second hand playpen. And I have to say, its the best baby purchase EVER. The Rubester is at that stage where she wants to explore everything. She is getting in drawers, unloading bookshelves, climbing all over the toliet, and generally mischief and mess making whenever possible. Its great to watch her learning about her world, but it also means it takes me an age to get anything done, or to leave the house as I am constantly stopping all the time to prevent her from injuring herself (or my possessions!)

Put her in it tonight with lots of her toys, and she LOVED it. It sounds rather dramatic, but it really has changed my life, now I can leave her and go to the loo, or load the car, or have a cup of tea, knowing she is safe and happy, and not about to start drinking bleach or something equally as dangerous!

It also converts to a wendy house..... but for now, I think I will be spending time in it after she has gone to bed. I loved making dens as a kid, and now it is MY DEN until she is old enough to appreciate it. Sure, we will make proper dens together with clothes dryers, blankets and the like, but we also now have a proper, structurally sound one!!

Am I a little weird?

Probably.

Trains, tantrums and tamborines.

Took Ruby up to Bristol on the train today. I like train journeys, but was reminded how rubbish it can be. Late trains, surly teenages sat exactly in the spot where I would like to (and am entitled to!!) park my pram, steep steps to get on them (albiet with very helpful conductor who helped me on) and general feelings of "could do better" about the whole thing. But I learnt that baby rice cakes are a VERY GOOD THING as they kept her quiet from Weston Milton to Parson Street. But I digress...

I am sat here mulling over the day and feeling exhausted. we are entering new territory. Tantrums. (Surely at nine months she is too young for them?!!?) The ten minute walk to my friends house from the train station took more like 25 minutes and went something along the lines of this....

RUBY: Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!
ME: OK. here is your tambourine. (a new purchase yesterday which she LOVES)
RUBY: (Big smiles and much shaking of said tambourine. 5 seconds later, tambourine is dropped on the floor.)
RUBY: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
ME: (picks up tambourine and hands back to Ruby)

And this senario was then repeated for what felt like infinity. Until I could take it no more, and informed her that the tambourine was going away if she insisted on dropping it every five seconds. And then she screamed blue murder. For about five minutes. I was getting those looks from passers by, you know the ones, the "can't you DO SOMETHING about that baby?" looks from non parents, and sympathy but glad it is not MY baby kind of looks from fellow pram pushers. In the end I caved in and gave her the tambourine. And we recommenced the passing, dropping and picking up process all over again.

Honestly. This is a new thing for me, and it is like Chinese water torture. I dread to think how I will be when we have terrible two style tantrums. It gets easier, right?! (surely?????)

OH, and just a side note. She has learnt this new noise. It is a happy noise, but it the highest pitched mini scream. It even makes me wince, and I am her mummy who is meant to be able to let these things wash over me. I thought we were going to be chucked out of the classy Bedminster bistro that seemed to be entirely populated by well groomed mummies with their perfectly behaved babies for noise polution!

Its a trying time in my world of mummyhood right now. I think the rest of my evening is going to go something like this....

RUBY: (sound of gentle snoring.)
ME: (sound of bottle of red being opened)
ME: slurp

AND REPEAT.

Ch-ch-changes....

I had my first moment of looking at Ruby tonight and wondering where my little baby girl has gone. This past week has all been about moving and milestones! The tentative yoga pose which showed the potential for a crawl is now a proper crawl. You can't deny that she has finally cracked it. This became apparent today when she crawled about five foot across my living room floor to get at the wires of my laptop. And she managed it on hands and knees in about 5 seconds flat! She is flinging herself about with abandon, then pushing herself easilly into a sitting position until she flings herself back into the crawling pose to continue her travels. The 'flinging' thing has meant two badly bumped head moments in the last week alone. You know, the kind where no amount of diversion and cheering will distract from the fact that it really bloody hurt. Cue dramatic crying and screaming.

I also have made a mental note to drop her cot down to the lowest notch over the weekend. On putting her down for a nap today, all was quiet so I left her for ten minutes, then went to check she really was asleep. And found her sat up in her cot playing with her teddies. On seeing me, she smiled sweetly and pulled herslef up to a standing position on the cot side. I felt a mixture of pride at her first solo standing, and dread about the danger she will soon be getting herself in. Cue more head bumping and dramatic crying and screaming.

I can see the beginnings of my little baby girl becoming a toddler. She is on the move, babbling away to herself, developing her sense of humour and even waving in response to us waving at her. It makes me feel a little sad, but excited about seeing her grow.

Go baby go Baby GO!

And she is OFF!!

Ruby is 7 months and two weeks, and today was a bit of a momentus occasion.... Up until now, any crawling she has done has been of the backwards variety. Today round at a friends house, she lifted her bum right in the air, straightened her legs so it looked she was doing a rather complex yoga pose, and then there was a proper movement FORWARDS. Ok, so it was much more luck than judgement, but it was PROPER!!

I have very mixed feelings. It is exciting to see her meeting these big developmental milestones, but each one she hits means that my little baby girl is getting closer to not being my little baby girl anymore....

And yes. I don't think I can put off the inevitable. Its time to baby proof the house, and looking around the front room, there are SOOOOO many things that are extremely breakable.... And our nice little gatherings where all the babies go on the floor and stay in one place playing while we drink gallons of tea are going to be a thing of the past. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!

Neglecting...

.... this blog that is, rather than my baby.....

Its been nearly four months since my last post, but I can't say as i feel bad, as I have been getting out and about so much with The Rubester that I've been so knackered at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is WRITE about it all!

But I have been inspired to take up the mantle of this blog again due to my involvement with a new online community that is being set up called Weston super mums. Reading other peoples blog posts has also inpired me, and reminded me of the importance of documenting my journey into motherhood.

I'm really excited to be part of the "super mum" crowd, I think it is really going to take off and be a really great resource for local mums. Why not pop over and say hello?!

Flying Solo

Tonight is my first night looking after Ruby all on my own, as her daddy is away overnight with work.

It makes me realise how lucky I am to have a partner who is so involved with her, and with me in helping to take care of her.

I am absolutely KNACKERED....

Snapshots that keep it real...

I was thinking about the image we present to the world when it come to being a mum. I feel enormous pressure to have a perfect baby that never cries, and happily coos and gurgles through any social occasion. I kind of feel like a failure if I can't live up to this. I also think there is a bit of a conspiracy amongst some mums to try and project to the world that their little one is a perfect baby and that all is well with the world. I am not a perfect mother and this whole new role has definitely not come easily to me. I thought I would go all earth mother-y as soon as my baby entered the world, despite not being a particularly "baby" person before her arrival. What I have found is that I am DEFINATELY no earth mother and have often really really struggled, despite loving her to bits and liking her infinitely more than any other baby I have ever met!

And then I thought about photos I have collected to document Ruby's first few months in this world. It occurred to me that I only have two photos of her crying.

TWO

And one of these was taken by my Mum! And yet crying is such a huge part of her day and her way of communicating, so it occurred to me as strange that I have not documented this. I have bought into trying to project to the world that she is a perfect baby without even realising it!

So in the interests of keeping it real…… here’s the pictures the world has never seen. A normal baby….. shock horror!!




There! That wasn't so bad, was it?