Little ducks

What a week!!

I'm just about dead on my feet at the moment, I've been working so much this week that it's just crazy.  So far this week I've worked at Shugborough on Saturday and Sunday, had Monday off, worked at Marstons on Tuesday night, Shugborough again on Wednesday and Thursday, Marstons Thursday night and then I've got another Marstons tonight!
Of course the big advantage of working tonight is that I get to have my half of Peddi, if only I wasn't driving and could have more!
I do love my two jobs though, I just wish that I had a bit more time to spend with Kai and I also want to get my cloth nappy thing going properly.  (www.teamlollipop.co.uk is who I 'work' for) I have to get some posters, flyers etc out there and drum up some trade/interest. 
I don't really have the energy for it now, so instead I'll just post a little pic of my little man...

Surprise!!

Hungry little man

I've been playing the feeding Kai game again today, I still can't seem to fill him,

Feeding myself

but never mind.  He seems to be more interested in trying to feed himself at the minute, which he doesn't quite have the coordination to manage all of the time yet.  Still the only way around it would be to pin his hands down and stop him from trying to grab the spoon.  He gets in enough mess doing this, I just wonder how much mess a child doing  baby led weaning gets into??  I would have liked to try it, but  as I was topping up with  formula, (grrrr) then it didn't seem like the best plan, maybe next time!  As it is I'm just trying to come up with different things to feed him, I'm looking forward to that time in the future when he just eats what we eat; how much easier will that be?
At least he is gaining weight well now, up to 14lb10oz at the last weigh in, and 69cm, which means that he is in the 9th centile for weight and the 91st centile for length.  No surprises there then, looks like we might have a tall one on our hands!

Love my food!

For some reason the other day he seemed to find me feeding him the funniest thing ever, and he was giggling nonstop with every spoon full that I put into his mouth.  I'm not sure what caused it, but something definitely tickled him, either that or sweetcorn and carrot is just funny?  I love these feeding photos though!

Busy Busy Busy

I've been just about run off my feet lately, what with going back to my old part time job (Marstons) starting a new one (Shugborough) and starting my nappy advisor thing.  Well I say started that, really all I've done so far is get a few posters out there and start spreading the word, I hope to start actually doing it soon though....  I really need to find some Mum's (and of course Mum's to be) in the Staffordshire area that might be interested in learning a bit more about using cloth nappies on their babies.  I'm working on it anyway!

My other new job is going really well, and I'm loving it.  So far I've done a bit of 'dressing up' in the servants quaters which was great, and then yesterday I was at the farm in the dairy.  Spent the day making cheese and chatting to the visitors.  In many ways it's a bit of a dream job for me, I've never yet visited somewhere along these lines without imagining myself as a member of the household, and now I get to play at being a dairy maid or servant.  As jobs go, I suppose it's terribly self indulgent, almost as bad as working in a brewery and talking about my favorite beer....  I'll have to try and get a photo of myself all dressed up to show you, but I may have to wait until someone comes to visit, I can hardly stay in period while having a camera on me!
I'm in again next on Saturday, but working on Essex bridge, a little ticket office for people who walk in, rather than come via the main enterance, to be honest working out there is hardly as exciting as the other work, but I suppose that a job can hardly be all fun, so I don't really mind, wouldn't want to do it all of the time though.

Marstons

I started back at Marsons on Monday, I was worried that I wouldn't remember a thing, but it all came flooding back to me.  Well almost all, I'm going to have to 'revise' my notes a little and see if I can't make a few more facts and figures stick.  There were one or two points when I was in full flow, and I realised I couldn't remember a few bits, but I bluffed my way through it, and they all said that it was very interesting. Mind you, that was after they'd had their free samples...

They quoted me in the Guardian!!

I don't buy a paper everyday, to be honest I usually only get one at the weekend, I don't really get chance to read one other than that, and the weekend paper will last me all week.  Any way I was so irritated the other day when I found that eBay had decided that used nappies couldn't be sold as they were 'adult material' that I emailed the Guardian about it.  Apart from a quick email saying that they'd had my email, I heard nothing.  I was very surprised to find out today that someone had seen me quoted in there!!

Link to article

I nearly fell of my seat with the shock of it all!  How exciting?!?! That will teach me to buy a paper everyday!

New Job

Despite wanting to be a stay at home mum (SAHM), I know that it's not very likely, so I have had to venture into the world of work, yuck!! Any way, I simply could not face going back to my old office, I enjoyed the job but not the environment or the people, so I have a new job, well two new jobs to be honest.
As of tomorrow I will be working at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, www.shugborough.org.uk which is very exciting as it will involve me dressing up in period costume.  I'm not sure which bit I'm going to be in yet, there is the mansion house, the servants quarters and the farm all of which are 'working' with people dressed up and pretending that it's 1805.  Basically I get to play all day and get paid for it, I can't wait, how exciting??  I only wish that I didn't have to leave my little man at home.  Still my other new job is a step in the direction of becoming a work at home mum (WAHM) but more about that later, once my package has arrived this morning!

Everything changes....

Well it's been a while since I've been on here, but many things have changed since then.  Kai has started weaning, which is great fun, although I cannot fill him!! How do I know when to stop feeding him, he certainly shows no signs of having had enough!! At least he's actually beginning to put some weight on now though!
I've also got a new job, well I will have two new jobs shortly, but one is definitely on the way.  Tired of my old 'life' as a concrete sales person I decided that if I HAVE to work (I want to be a stay at home Mum!!) then at least I should do something that I enjoy, so I am now going to go back to my old tour guide job at Marstons and work at Shugborough Hall, tour guiding and dressing up in period costume.  How exciting.  It's casual too, just as and when they need me, so I can spend as much time as possible with Kai.  I start properly next week.
Kai is trying his hardest to sit up and move around.  If I put him in a sitting position he will sometimes stay for a few minutes, other times I have to hold his hand, although more for balance than anything.  I'm so impatient, I want him to do it now, but I know that I will miss him being small as he gets bigger, I already can't believe how much he has changed!!

Falling Over!

Nearly there!

I can sit!!!!

Snow!!

As I'm sure you can gather from the title it's rather snowy here. I'm such a kid I love snow, not that I feel the need to go sledging or build a snowman anymore, but it just makes everything look nice.  Showed Kai it earlier, I don't think that he was too impressed though!

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It might have had something to do with the outfit I made him wear, it's a wee bit big for him at the  moment!

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I'm sure he'll grow into it soon though!
After all my worry of last week, I'm feeling much better now.  I was feeling better anyway, but after I took him to be weighed on Tuesday and he'd gone up to 13lb 5oz I felt so relieved!  To top it all, I was playing with him later that day and he rolled over from his front to his back.  I kept putting him on his front just to make sure that it wasn't a fluke, but he managed it again!  My little man! :-)

Check out my nappies!

Well I've managed to take some pictures of my home-made nappies, and I'm very proud of them I must admit.  Of course I had to get the little man to do a bit of modeling for me, but he loves to have his photo taken so I'm sure that he didn't mind!

Check out my new nappy!

Kai the super model!

Nappy open

Nappy in small size

I've made the nappy so that you can fold it down to a smaller size, so it fits him now, and open it up more to fit him later.  I've got plenty of the first sized nappies, so I thought this would be more useful.  And yes, I did cheat and copy one of my brought nappies!

I think the little man might be getting ready for a bit of food some how, I think that he wants to eat something he can really get his teeth into (even if they're not quite through yet!) as he was certainly trying to eat his bear earlier.

I'm hungry Mum

Yum yum bear for tea!

I think I'll have to find him something more nutricious than stuffed animals to eat somehow though!

Nappy Making!!

I'm feeling much better about the weight and food thing today, Kai seems happy and certainly has plenty of energy so I can't be doing that much wrong, and there's no point worrying if he looses weight one week, I'll have to see what happens next time!  He is a very long baby though, 65cm a few weeks ago and I'm sure that he's grown since then!!  Mind you, would be very surprised if he was a short baby, people would think that he was the milkmans!!

I've been making nappies over the past couple of days, and I'm feeling very proud of the results, they look just like the brought ones and are a fraction of the price, the terry fabric was only about £5 a metre including postage from somewhere in Bristol.  I had a bit of trouble getting the elastic right around the legs, but I think that I've cracked it now.  If nothing else they do the job!!  I haven't taken any photos yet, need my little man to model for me I think, but when I do I'll post the photos.

Breast feeding blues

I've just got back from taking Kai to the baby clinic and he's lost weight, he was 13lb last week, and this week he's down to 12lb 13oz.  I could cry!!

I thought that I'd done with all this weight dropping and worry after he lost loads at three weeks and had to go into hospital.  A few weeks ago I decided to try and phase out his top ups, which I was doing but hadn't managed totally yet - he's down to 2oz a feed and 4oz at night, and he has loads of time at the breast now.  I just feel really low, and despite my best efforts it really looks like the end might be in sight for the old breast milk.  I just feel so bad every time I give him formula, and now it looks like that might be all he's getting!  I know that if I go back to offering him more, then he will no longer be interested in breast milk.

The worst thing is I was convinced he was going to have put on loads, he's such a happy, lively, sociable baby and he feels very heavy to me!!  So when the weight showed on the scales I just felt terrible.  Sorry don't want to go on, should try and focus on the fact that he does seem to lively and happy and that at least I've managed to feed him for this long.