Sleep Is For the Weak

Well it finally happened – the babe didn’t cry when I dropped her at the childminder! Its only been 8 long weeks in the making but it’s happened eventually.

To say that my child has an expressive face is putting it kindly. She has a scowl like nobody else I know and she doesn’t need to be able to talk yet as her eyes tell it all. When I left her this morning she sat quickly down on the floor with her little mates, looked back at me, scowled, turned back and carried on playing. Well its better than the screamy ab dabs I suppose. Bless her, i’m so glad she’s adjusting but I guess its all part of her ongoing independence.

The main focus of this week has actually been more to do with sleep than play. The more mobile the babe has got, the more reluctant she is to lie down in her cot. The sleep bag does not stop her from doing laps and trying to grab things that are in striking distance through the bars. (Last week she had managed to reach:- her toothbrush, a snotty muslin, an additional blanket and a mole cuddly toy…). All this has meant that she is taking a lot longer to settle herself and she is occasionally waking early to start her laps again. This has coincided with my concern that her sleep bag is getting a bit on the small side. Its officially up to 18months but at 13 she is filling it up. I personally hate sleeping in a sleeping bag as I am a self confessed wriggler and get all tangled up. As the babe has wriggled since the womb I thought the same might apply to her and made the switch to a baby duvet.

I anticipated trouble but after a night of kicking the duvet off and me getting up every half an hour to make sure her covers were on, she has decided she likes it. When I went through this morning I was greeted by a very cheeky baby grin from under one corner of a big white duvet. Very cute. I also figure that when she does move to a bed I may have a little bit less of a transition to cope with. One can but hope.

I also wanted to post some baby fashion ideas today as there has been a significant drop in purchases since the middle of April. This is partly due to a lack of available cash and part due to being caught up in trying to buy a new house. (For those who follow my blog, I have today been informed that the vendor has accepted another offer on my dream home as she can’t be bothered to do any more negotiating! Gutted).

One of my favourite online retailers La Redoute are in sale and I managed to pick up a few things for the babe. A lot of this stuff comes in baby and girls sizes so worth a look if you have an under 13.

First a gorgeous jumper. I’ve bought a few for her over the winter and they are lovely quality and wash well.

Girls Pink Jumper

Next a gorgeous little leggings and jersey dress set which will be an ideal transition from spring to summer. Plus I am a big fan of love hearts!

Love Heart Jersey Set

Finally I have added, perhaps predictably, some little summer pumps down to £7 in the sale. They come in loads of different colour ways and sizes and might be nice in the summer with shorts and socks.

Canvas Pumps with Bow

4am baby blues

I am writing this from my office work station whilst desperately trying to stay awake. I am fully aware that I am not the first mother in history to be up in the night with her child but the combination of events yesterday, overnight and this morning has left me a little underpar.

Thanks to organisational incompetence I had no laptop provided on my return from maternity leave which means that I now have to wait about two weeks to log on from home and complete anything that overlaps the 5pm hometime neccessitated by nursery pick up. I didn’t really anticipate this causing an issue but having taken a 4.30pm call that needed action in time for 8am this morning I ended up having to email notes to my ipad to complete overnight and email back for this AM. I went to bed early in an attempt to get a bit of sleep in before the hubby returned from London at 10.30pm. I then slept on and off from 11pm whilst the monitor amplified the babe’s coughs until 4am when she gave up attempting to settle herself and just started to cry.

I can only guess that her recent transition to the childminder three days a week has left her feeling a little clingy but since she is feeling rubbish (and I am missing my cuddles) I was happy to give her a snuggle and put her back down to sleep. This would not suffice and each time I transferred her from my arms back to the cot she went back to high pitched screeching “Mama, Mama”. At 5am I gave up and let her sleep on me in the rocking chair whilst I snoozed and my feet turned to ice. Assured she was out for the count I put her in her cot just as the hubby’s 5.45am alarm went off for his trip to Leeds. As I was getting up at 6.30am anyway, it seemed pointless to go back to sleep.

The babe who usually sleeps till 7am ish was still flat out at 7.30am thanks to her 4am antics so I had to wake her from peaceful slumber to get to the childminder for 8am and the last of my challenges for 8.30am:- A four hour sales training session. Thankfully the babe seemed a little happier to be left this morning and only started to screech after 5mins smiling…we’ll get there.

In all fairness to the trainer, he ran a good session that seemed to engage even the most world weary of consultants but I fear my bubbly, “always there with a question”, alter ego didn’t make it.

I will however stop complaining. I realise I am very lucky to have a 3 day working week, a lovely childminder who the babe really likes and a hubby who provides the means to let me only work three days. A lucky girl really.

Top Tip 5

Maternity Skinnies

One for the pregnant fashionistas out there today. When I was pregnant I was hugely frustrated by the lack of normal looking clothes available for the soon to be Mum. I am a skinnies, flats and long line tee kind of a girl off duty and found only wide leg or bootcut jeans available with lovely under the bump stretchyness. Thank goodness for Topshop! I have their Moto Leigh supersoft stretch skinny jeans in all colours from their non-maternity range. They are more substantial than leggings but not as restrictive as proper jeans and go with everthing in my wardrobe. And they do exactly the same ones in their maternity range just with a big elasticated under bump band. Very comfy and no fashion compromise.

http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&productId=4622765&langId=-1&sort_field=Relevance&categoryId=208537&parent_categoryId=203984&pageSize=200

I bought two pairs of the black ones in the late stages of my pregnancy and wore them in my corporate office with French Sole ballet flats and a decent blouse and nobody passed comment.