Mr. Fussy

This fussy eating this is getting old. I think dinner time is the worst - he just refuses to eat practically anything I give him, and ends up spitting it all out. It's driving me nuts. Yesterday he actually ate something, but it was what I'd call "junk" food (homemade potato wedges and chicken nuggets - I'm never buying them again, mine are SO much nicer, and healthier!). I would love it if he ate veggies more, but I can barely get them down him. I'm making roasted parsnips tonight so hopefully he'll manage to eat some of those. It's worth a shot. I've made bolognase sauce, raviolli, risotto... all from scratch, and he looks at me like I'm poisoning him. Ugh. I give up! He can just live off toast from now on :(

Bathtime!

Had a bath breakthrough today!! He finally sat down and played for a while! HOORAY!! I had to put him in his baby bath though - it's plenty big enough for him to sit and play in (much bigger than my old American ones) so it will be good for a while yet. It's nice to see him not freak out at the sight of bath water. I want my waterbaby back again!! Hopefully this summer we'll be able to go swimming without a full blown freak out. Fingers crossed!!

As I sit here typing, I'm smiling listening to my baby boy babble away to himself on the monitor (when he's supposed to be sleeping, I might add). It's been a tough afternoon, but hearing that makes the day end on a happy note. I love my prince charming :)

One of those days...

... I got yelled at today. For an hour. Why? Because I wouldn't let him pull the tv over on to himself. I'm a terrible mother. This positive discipline thing doesn't work with a one year old!! Arg!

Happier things - he's learnt to feed himself with a spoon/fork now. The look of concentration on his little face is so adorable. He can spend ages just sat at the high chair carefully putting bits of food onto his fork and negotiating how to get it into his mouth. It makes a nice change from him stuffing food in his mouth as if there's a famine. He's also really starting to get great at mimicking. He will grab my pad & pen, sit on the floor and try to write with the pen in hand. Which inevitably means my favourite outfit of his is now covered with biro marks from where he's managed to write. I finally managed to get his carseat straps looser so I have a bit more time before I'll need to get him the next seat up, which is pretty expensive and I can't afford right now. I save a little every month, so hopefully it will be ours soon. I'm so excited to get it. It will be fabulous to be able to keep him rear-facing until he's 4 or 5. If I had my way, he'd still be RFing in college :D

Testing my patience...

Another bad mama moment today - Raf fell off the sofa, backwards, head first. It was awful, I still feel sick remembering the crack his sweet little head made :( We didn't have a great day - he was shouting all day long and refused to take a nap. In the end, I had to put him in his baby jail and take a shower, it was just too much. I love him to pieces but boy does he test my sanity sometimes. I always hate Friday nights because I know in the morning I'm going to have to leave him to go to work and I hate that feeling. Especially knowing I'm going to be dealing with idiots all day long...

Better news - Sarah had her baby girl!! I'm so beyond ecstatic for her, couldn't have wished for a better start to the year for her and Scott. Welcome to the world, baby!

Gender roles

I'm tired and will probably rework this at some point - for now it remains more of an internal monologue :)

I just read a really interesting article about gender specific colours - and how the switch from pink as a boy's colour (rather than our contemporary interpretation of pink as a girl colour) came around WWII and the Nazi rule. Interesting how a fascist dictatorship can influence gender identity in such a profound way. Which makes me all the more determined to dress my boy in whatever colours I choose. Relating to that - I don't understand why gender expectations are forced upon our children before they're even born. Why does society feel the need to impress suffocating ideals of what boys or girls 'should' be? Parents often treat their sons and daughters differently - the concept that girls naturally talk earlier than boys is often because parents of girls talk to them much more than they would to their sons. Exposure to language inevitably leads to earlier language acquisition. They also respond faster to thei daughter's cries, cuddle them more, and are more likely to allow their boys to try things out like walking or climbing. In fact, boys are more fragile in infancy than girls - so why are we more likely to be comfortable with our boys exploring? It's that whole 'damsel in distress' thing, right? Gender expectations. We are constantly setting our children up for the roles they will play in their lives and it is ultimately our responsibility to allow them to grow and develop into well-rounded human beings. Allowing a boy to play with a doll doesn't mean he'll grow up to be a sissy, or gay (I constantly roll my eyes at that assumption) - it means he will be adopting the role of care-giver into his being. Colour is just that - colour. And toys? They are creating a wonderful world for children to play in. I refuse to force gender expectations on my one-year old, he will be facing a lifetime of that. So now when people comment on him wearing pink, or carrying around his doll, I will feel secure in the knowledge that he is a loving little person without the pressure of gender specificity.

It's New Year's Eve!!

So it's almost 2009. Raf's in dreamland and I am one tired mama! Our neighbours kept us up all night with their very bad karaoke. I really wish if they were going to get twatted that they would at least have the decency to sing something other than very old Oasis. Raf slept blissfully on while I silently seethed :D

Will 2009 be a better year than 2008? Only one way to find out... FIGHT!! (ten points for whoever gets the reference!)

- Mama

Quote of the day: "Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are" - Marianne Williamson

Melodramatic mummy moment...

This morning Raf fell while running and his top teeth split his bottom lip open. It didn't look too bad at the time but now it looks really painful and worse than I thought at the time. Not sure if he needs to be seen by a dr/nurse or just see how it heals. The health visitor was there at the time and she didn't seem too concerned, it just looks worse than it is I think. It's twice the size and the split is across over half his lip but didn't go through. He just woke from a nap and there's blood all over his face and lovey now :(

CRASH

Ever had those days when you're trying to be soooooooo quiet so the baby sleeps and end up bashing into every. little. thing? I hate that!!

Bathtime woes

Recently, Raf has started to HATE bathtime. As in seriously freaking out, flinging himself backwards, won't even put a toe in the water hatred. And I have NO IDEA why. I've tried bathing with him, not washing his hair in case it's the water-over-face that he doesn't like, putting on calm lights/music... what else could I do? I don't get it!! He used to be such a water baby too :(

Picasso

These are the Xmas gifts for grandparents/grandparents this year - if you're reading, look away now!! It's supposed to be a SURPRISE!!

What mama wanted them to look like (the top one)

What Raf wanted them to look like (the bottom one!)

Who needs to be neat when you're creating ART??

It's birthday time!!

It's Raf's first birthday!! I'm happy but sad too. I don't want him to grow up so fast!! How did we celebrate this morning? By being terrified of the wrapped presents and throwing a 1kg bag of sultanas all over the floor.

We went to grandma's for lunch and more presents, but he had a meltdown and was SO tired by 3pm that we had to leave early to get some sleep. So much happened today, I think we were both pretty exhausted. But we love all the birthday presents, thank you very much!!

We won!!

An Onbag!!!! I'm sooooooo excited :D We did a raffle on my BWing board in exchange for a donation to a children's charity as these are early samples/seconds that can't be sold. It's a specially made babywearing bag and they're amazing. Sarah, the woman that makes them, has the pattern online for other people to make and is super sweet. I'm so excited, I never win anything!! And, everyone that participated donated to their favourite charity, so tons of kids will now be better off. YAY!

Eeek!

Here's the backstory before I start on the "Eeek!". Since April this year, my next-door neighbours have been complete a-holes. Playing music until 5 or 6 in the morning, extremely loudly, so my and Raf were woken up and kept up all night. Not great. I put up with it until July (I know, wth was I thinking?) when I called out environmental health and filed a complaint. It's taken four months to catch their antics on the recording equipment they put in my house as they always managed to conveniently go out on the weekends the mic was there. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, on bonfire night they started up again, and I caught them!! Now, the environmental health guy has finished analysing the recording and is coming to talk to me about it this afternoon! Which must mean that there's something on the tape as all the other times he's just called to say there was nothing there (which I knew anyway). I'm nervous! I hope they catch the guy because I seriously can't deal with getting woken up like that again. It always happens right after I've been working 9 or 10 hour days too. ARGH! Wish me luck and hope they caught something!!!!

Raf needs your help!

We went to a baby show this weekend and a photographer took a pic of Raf and had it entered into the beautiful baby competition!! If you have a spare minute, could you vote for him? Obviously he's the cutest baby there ;)

Here he is: http://stourvalleyphotography.co.uk/svp_comp/v/BBC439.jpg.html

Future UN peacekeeper?

Raf's new favouritest word in the world ever is...






"Peace". He says it alllll the time. I love it!!

He LOVES that Ringo Starr video where he keeps saying "I am warning you, with PEACE and LOVE, PEACE and LOOOOOVE!". It was on the news for days, he'd keep kissing the screen and trying to mimic him, it was hilarious

I'm MAD! (And not in a good way!)

Tonight is bonfire night. Joy. Several hours of loud bangs as craploads of fireworks go off, waking up my baby every five minutes. So not funny!!!

Poo update!

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath to hear the latest in poogate... well I am pleased to report all is well this morning! No more nearly-white poo. Hooray!!

And since when did I discover just how fascinating poo is??

Ughhh clocks!!!

Ever since the clocks changed here, Raf's sleep has gone to hell. Usually he wakes up between 7:30 and 8:30 but every single night since the change he's been waking up at 5-6am. WTF? This morning he tried to get up for the day at 4:45! Surely this can't be just coincidence? I'm not happy!

Weird poo

Not mine, I hasten to add. Raf's poo was really really pale today, like almost white. Is that weird? He hadn't eaten any differently, so I've no idea what caused it or if it's normal?