Not so Silent Sunday

We had a busy few days this week, which isn't unusual on this time of the year. With me working Thursday to Sunday there isn't much time left to enjoy family life together but that is only for a few weeks and come Christmas I'll finally be able to take some much needed time off work.

Of course having a ultra active toddler at home is "holidays mummy but not as you know it". still, not having to commute or rush around to get chores done is already a good break.

Until then I'll try to enjoy myself, family and friends the best I can.

Today I meet a very dear friend for some child-free catch up accompanied by cheese and wine, not a bad end to a work week is it?

Tomorrow we start the week networking with other bloggers at the Christmas Networking event put together by BritMums. I have been looking forward to what will be my first blog related event in two year.

It seemed hard at first, the thought of taking Harry with me but then BritMums started nice buzz on Twitter and helped me realized I wont be the only one trying to look after a toddler between a chat and a canape.

So here is to the start of a lovely week and the count down to Christmas - 1 month to go!!!!!

A whole 9 months

Loves the jumperoo

breadsticks and apples, favorites when teething

So at 8 months Harry wasn't sleeping, I was working and we were all ill so I ended up never writing a post to celebrate that month which was a shame since he had become a proper little character.
Today Harry is 9 months young and not only the day but the whole week was full of news.
It seems we are out of the clingy stage - at least a little - and there is hope on the sleep matter.
I'm still not sleeping brilliantly but last night I had the most sleep on the past few months - probably had about 6 hours in total so not bad at all.
This week I started working from home and we had a babysitter coming in to allow me time for work. She is lovely and lill guy clearly enjoy her company although I find sweet how it can't seem to go much longer than a couple of hours without one of mummy's cuddles.
Watching my little baby lifting his arms up to someone other than mummy or daddy was reassuring and odd at the same time. After having hardly any sleep on Monday night, I was thinking of sending the nanny out with Harry for Tuesday's Library Sing Song session. The plan was for me to get some sleep. we were all set, only I couldn't get myself to put baby in the pram and send him out with a stranger Don't get me wrong she is lovely and experienced but in my mind she was going to take my little boy away and I would never see him again.

Becoming a very mobile boy

Oh well so turns out I am over protective, nothing new then.
Not too bad now, when I was just sending them out so I could go for a kip but what about when June comes and I have to go back to the office? Who knows?!
Last night not only we had a good one but at 3am when Harry couldn't go back to sleep after his feed I was able to just leave him in the cot watching his stars light show and he actually got himself back to sleep, until 6am. No rocking him for hours only for him to wake up as son as I put him down. so that was a plus.
This little guy is turning into a chatter box. He is so inquisitive, will even move mummy out of the way so he can catch a glimpse of whatever has grabbed his attention. He is still breastfeeding and won't take a bottle. No teeth on sight and finally seems to be taking to solid foods, it only took us 3 months lol.
He has been trying to craw, he gets to the right position but flops after a little while, we are almost there. This evening we were laying in the front room, daddy, Harry and I. Watching In the Night Garden - our new pre-betime routine. He actually pull himself up from sitting position. That was a first. What an amazing achievement for your 9 months celebration.
I still need to weight and measure him so we can do a milestones post but I really wanted to share some of what's going on at the moment as he seems to change a little everyday

poorly baby playing on the sofa bed, I know that little look,
he was curious about something.

my top model 

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Motivational Monday - looking after myself

jumping up and down

A quick one this week as part of my whole ME time thing is to try and go to bed early once in a while and since we had an early dinner, tonight seems like the perfect opportunity.
So January is gone and I have tried a few things, loads of ups and downs but in general I think things are improving.
This weekend we got Harry a jumperoo and it was just the ticket! While lill guy bounces up and down mummy can get on with doing her work - I'm working my Keep In Touch days from home and end up  stuck on the laptop every time he goes for a kip or in the evenings after dinner - do stuff around the house, get lunch done for the two of us or just lazy around enjoying a few minutes to herself. My aim s to work around that so I can organize my days a bit better to do some yoga and play with my Just Dance. I looove dancing and don't care for gym work outs so the Wii was my favorite work out tool until I got pregnant. It will also be really good if i can keep on working during his awake, I think I'll probably get a lot more done that way and may eventually have a kip myself on those hard mornings after sleepless nights.
Well this is all speculation but the one thing I done for myself this past week that got me really happy was to pop into the hairdressers with my other half Friday afternoon and get my long overdue haircut. Such a simple thing but with a baby seems to require a lot of logistics. I never got the fringe I wanted instead went for something simple and easy to look after. Once life is a bit more manageable I'll go back to stylish haircuts me thinks.
That's it, short and sweet but full of good achievements and plans.
What about you? How well are you doing on your New year's resolutions? Take part of this bloghop to share your thoughts and get/give some support!!

Money matters

Went to the office today to talk about going back to work, I know, very early after all Harry is only 14 weeks but it turns out I might be able to work from home so I decided to jump in as soon as possible before someone else did.

We are still discussing the details but if I do manage to work part time from home that will be amazing.
The company I used to work for - where I was really happy, used to love my team and was building a lovely career withing the events industry - went under last year, when I was in the end of my 2 month of pregnancy.

Luckily I have left my previous job in really good terms and once I emailed one of the company's owner soon I received a lovely reply and a job offer. Even though changing jobs at that stage meant I was no longer entitled to statutory maternity leave (up to 1 year) It was such a relief to know I would have a job during pregnancy. When I heard of administration I was already starting to imagine how our little boy's life was going to be, with me out of work we wouldn't be able to rent a bigger place and he would have to share a tight space with mum and dad.

I was even more fortunate when - on my last week of work, about a month before Harry was born - I was offered a permanent contract by the current company which meant I had a job to go back to.

The only problem? maternity allowance only lasts for 39 weeks and my little boy will be only 8 months by the time I am running out of money. Even worse, because the income cut off for Tax Credit Benefit is now £26k we are not entitled to any help at all so from February I'll no longer have an income.

I really don't like the idea of leaving my boy on childcare on a full time basis, let alone at this young age. I do find socializing is important from very early but i don't want my baby to be raised by nursery assistants or a childminder.

Money won't be amazing and doing some work whilst looking after a baby on my own will be hard work - I could do my work in the evenings but lets face it, until he starts sleeping through the night that isn't really an option as by the time he goes down I'm on my last legs.

All in all it's been good news and after very anxious week looking at prices for nurseries I can't afford and where I don't want to send my boy to any time soon, i can finally calm down and enjoy my little bundle knowing we still have some time to enjoy each other before i actually need to go back to the office.