Our little dance - Magic Moments

It was a very early Saturday morning, Harry and  I were having breakfast and watching Glee (I know, I like a spot of silly musicals sometimes). Harry would clap and smile at the end of every song.

When the song Isn't She Lovely started he was swaying from side to side then gave me his hand to hold. There we were, holding hand through a whole song, swaying and enjoying that lovely and magical moment.

Love you my little dance partner xx

For more Magic Moments and to start your week full of love, stop by the Olivers Mad House :)

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

 

 

 

 

Magic Moments - Lill guy and the balloon

Last weekend there was an End of Summer Festival at pram town, even though the weather was rubbish, with rain on and off AND both Harry and I had a nasty cold, 

we still had a nice time enjoying our Sunday out with Daddy D. 

Lill guy is certainly into exploring as much as he can manage to and when we are out we will let him run around whenever possible. We had a lovely time at the park but this little moment sure was my favourite, my gorgeous boy running around with his balloon and dancing to sitar music. 

How magical is this?

Stop by to visit The Oliver's Madhouse for more Magic Moments and share some blog love!

Silent Sunday

 

 

Saturday is Cheeky Caption Day

It seems Harry really enjoy play in his room these days, no  wonder the place is always a mess!!

Caption pleeeeaaase!

Dear Boy - 15 months young #flashbackfriday

My dearest gorgeous boy,

this week you've turned 15 months - that is 1 year and 3 months in regular people's money ;) - but both you and mum were too sick, so this letter is, in fact, a bit late. Still, you are at such a lovely age that I couldn't let it go by without writing you a few lines.

The day you turned 15 months, we had a friend visiting with her lovely boyfriend and we took them to two of our favourite places; the park and Lilly's - our local tea shop. We all had a lovely time and mummy was super proud with her friend's comments, they kept on saying how lovely, beautiful and smiley you are and I know R really wanted to be able to spend more time with you. Unfortunately that evening you came down with the same cold mum had and from there on I have tried my best to make sure you have some fun but still get some rest to get better soon.

Cold or no cold our days are always filled with loads of laughter, dancing, cuddles and tantrums as well, why not? This is what you look like when you get a bit cross - usually because you can't get your own way:

One of your favourite things to do right now, is rolling around with mum and dad, laughing and being silly. You like TV time - why wouldn't you if your parents are addicted to it? - but you also look forward to reading your books at bedtime. You will pick up whatever you want to read - at the moment the favourites are All Aboard and Letter to the Zoo - and bring it to daddy or to me so we can read it for you while you sit and watch the pictures, sometimes you will simple run around the room whilst listing to the stories.

Lately you have started to eat on your own like a big boy, however, the mess is too big so we are taking baby steps on that one. You have also turned into a big muncher, you don't eat EVERYTHING but most times you're seem willing to try most foods. This is what meal times look like:

On Sunday we went to our local park to the End of Summer Festival and you had such a lovely time, we found you a balloon and from there on, all you wanted to do was to play with it. You also seemed really excited about the bouncy castle, unfortunately even though you are a biiig boy now, you are still not big enough for this amazing bouncy experience, in fact you haven't learnt how to jump yet - you very well try but instead your feet won't leave the floor and your knees bend giving you a a springing  motion...which is really cute!

Mummy and daddy are always so proud of you for being such  a good boy and so determined to learn new things and explore the world around you. As you grow, your speech is coming along at great pace. Since you are learning two languages at the same time, it is normal that you don't say actual words yet but you do chat all day, I have notice a few "words" that you say over and over again and I'm sure one day they will make sense to us as well.

This post is part of a blog hop, click on the badge for more Flash Blacks!

Silent Sunday

Harry is a big boy now - Flash Back Friday

I took a few weeks break from certain things in life, mainly to look after myself but also because I lost the space bar on my laptop :) I will write about the ME time part soon but for now a nice little post for Flashback Friday!

So my last post here was about Harry turning 14 months, what I didn't know was that he really was growing into a big boy. The day after my boy became one year and two months young, the one thing I have been waiting for, has finally happened; my gorgeous little boy stopped breastfeeding.

I never had a set time that I intended to breastfeed Harry for, I hoped I could do it for at least 6 months but never really planned when to stop.

When Harry was very little I used to pump milk and leave it with my mum whenever I had appointments to go to, breastfeeding was really stressful in the beginning so that was a big help. Looking back I realise that even then and even being my milk, he was never a fan of the bottle. If I left him milk on a Monday he wouldn't even try a bottle on the Tuesday. Basically he would take a bottle of my milk when needed but of course, wasn't too keen on it.

For some reason, I decided that whenever Harry turned 5 months I would start replacing his bed time feed by a bottle of formula and as you can probably guess, easier said than done. A couple of months later we found out that lill guy had an ear infection.

At that time both formula and food were no no so I had no option but carry on breastfeeding. That wasn't a problem then, I was working my KIT days from home and my gorgeous boy was sick for months so I was glad there was something I could do for him.

Once He was better from all the non stop ear infections and finally started to eat some food - not until he was 9 months old - we tried the bottle malarkey again, no success. Lill guy would scream and kick at the mere sight of that stuff. I knew then; weaning wouldn't be all that easy.

A whole lot of attempts and a bunch of months later, Harry turned 1. At 12 months of age milk is no longer a baby's main source of nutrition so we decided it was our best chance to give it another go.

It took us about a month and a half from start to finish and our little guy done so well with his new routine, he is such a good boy! I will write a post on how we've done it to share our experience and to hopefully help other parents out there, who might have the same problem - but that will be another day.

At this point I am still trying to get used to the idea of not breastfeeding my gorgeous little boy AND since we don't plan to have another baby, don't ever breastfeed - ever again. It was such an amazing experience and it thought me a lot about the kind of person I am. I had my reasons to stop  - a number of them - and am glad we've managed to do it in such a swift way but if I am 100% honest, I will miss those lovely unique moments. No nostalgia though as I don't believe in that!

Letter to Harry - 14 months

My dearest gorgeous boy,

today you turned 14 months that is 1year and 2 months young. And what a lovely day we had as well.
We visited a nursery, where you seemed really happy and had no problems playing with the other kids at the playground.

For some reason today mummy couldn't stop kissing and cuddling you, maybe because taking you to visit a nursery might remind her of how quickly you are growning and that one day my mummy cuddles won't be all that welcome OR it might be because you've been so independent since you started walking that now, since we no longer  have our day time feeds, I miss having you in my arms and that is hard to get used to.

I'm sure you will be happy at the nursery, if we take time and chose the right one. I just wish you could have nanny S's attention for longer as I'm sure that makes a difference but at least, whatever happens it will only be a couple of days a week.

After the nursery visit and an afternoon session at the Library and a lot of running around you sat on my  lap this evening and ate a whole punnet of blueberries, to think that last night you hardly touched your tea.

Your favourite toy at the moment is your Lightning McQueen, you love pushing that around the front room but will also be rather happy pushing your pram around the park, i love how you seem to enjoy the simple things.

Teeth count, 6 but I'm sure that will change soon. Milk feeds, 1 a day - or a night really - but that will also change soon as you seem happy eating your food instead of mummy's milk. Number of head bumps whilst in the bath? I lost that count, the most amazing thing is that those bumps only seem to happen when you about to go to bed so mummy spends all night watching you as she is never sure how bad you actually hit your head - the bath makes it sound very bad!

Oh yes, I almost forgot. For the past couple of weeks daddy has been  putting you to bed at night, now we are taking turns and you seem ok with it, that is a great seing that up to now mummy was the only one who ever gave the last kiss goodnight. Well done little boy, you are so so good.

What's The Story - post 1

It was Harry's first birthday, just 2 months ago. I had this lovely garden party planned for a Saturday afternoon. Lots of room for him and his little friends to run around.
I spent the whole morning in the kitchen. Instead of spending the Friday night baking his very first birthday cake as I planned, I decided to head off to Greenwich Park with him, daddy and aunt A. who was visiting. We met up with his aunt R. and uncle S,. for some lovely Pie n Mash then headed over to the park for some running around. After a whole day out I was exhausted and knew no baking would be done that evening.
We had it all thought out and my sister was over to help, only the weather forecast was inconclusive and I waited until the last minute to know if we could be outdoors. Half an hour before the guests were due to arrive the rain came down, that meant setting up the party indoors and prepare to have a small flat packed with about 7 toddlers and over 20 adults.
In the end everything worked out, unfortunately with the rush happy birthday was sang over our computer desk with a hideous looking calendar on the background so that isn't an image I will treasure. I do, however, like this shot because it gives you a big time after party feeling, also with the rush of moving our plans from been an outdoors party with plenty of room to an indoors one where everyone became rather close, the cake was the only bit of decoration I actually managed to do as planned.

This post is linked up to What's The Story Linky hosted by the lovely Charly from PODcast

Silent Sunday

Letter to Harry

My dear Harry, for a long time now I have been meaning to write you some letters, so I can keep them here and who knows, one day you might read them.

When the time comes, hopefully you will be reading in Portuguese and this is the reason why I created this .page for the Blog Sometimes life is hard and rushed, and it is easy to complain or just talk about our problems and we can forget to talk about the good things that happen in life. To stop this from happening I will write you letters about the incredible things that you bring to our lives - mine, Dad’s, and the whole family too.

If you are teenager when reading this then you will probably be a bit embarrassed about the theme but you needn’t be, breastfeeding is a beautiful thing. For a whole year mum breastfed you on demand and I do hope that by doing this I have given you the best possible start in life.

In this past month, Dad and I started to change our routine and wean you off the breast - I know I am the one who feeds you but Dad is always there helping by keep us calm or letting me take a nap in the afternoon after a sleepless night.
 

Weaning you is a slow process as both you and I have always enjoyed our little moments during the feeds so we both need to learn letting go.. Instead of your milk we give you a snack. Initially you got a little upset as you preferred  but I would pick you up and give you lots of cuddles and gradually you are getting used to.

Before, when I came home from work you would come running, asking me to pick you up and would nurse for about 15 minutes straight. It was something lovely to do, specially as we have been apart for a whole day so it gave us time to catch up. Now when I come home you come and give me a hug and kiss and then go back to playing with Dad. After that you spend the rest of the evening coming up to me with lovely hugs until bedtime.

You are only one year and two months old but you’re already so affectionate. I beg God every day that you can grow with this affection and hopefully, in return, life to be good to you.

In the last 3 nights we stopped feeding you at bedtime, you will only wake up once for your milk so I think you are ok with it.

My baby this growing up and turning into a beautiful little boy. Mummy loves you very much, and she always will... no matter what!

Day out with the boys #MagicMoments

Photo taken by Daddy D.

Today Daddy D. took us to the mall to buy me a birthday present  - he doesn't like to buy women clothes and that is what I need at the moment, so he let me choose and he paid, how nice is that?

It was a simple but lovely day out with my boys. We sat together for lunch and dinner and both times Harry enjoyed his meal and was his usual cheeky self. At dinner time i tried feeding him some mash potato but he kept on turning his nose up at the spoon then daddy suggested that I should use the fork as the lil guy seems to be going through a faze of mimicking his dad. Surprise surprise, he had mushy peas, mashed sweet potato and Cumberland  sausage for dinner, all off a fork, just like daddy. He also munched on a bit of pastry from my pie and nicked a potato wedge from daddy. After months struggling  to get him to eat, Harry seems to now have  this huge appetite.

After a whole afternoon of walking around, we done what was meant to be a quick pit stop to change Harry and get him ready for bed - in case he felt asleep on the way home. There's a little play area inside every family room at the mall and in this play are there were two brothers playing and soon that became the two brothers and our cheeky chap. They must have been 4 and 7 but Harry was chasing them around as if they were his age. This little game of tag went on for a good 20 minutes and by the end lill guy was so worn out that he didn't even complain when we put him on the pram to head home.

It was truly magical to sit and watch my little boy, my not even 14 month old little guy, my toddler, who just the other day was a little baby playing like that, a happy child with a big smile on his face.

...even getting him to bed tonight was an easy job, hooray!!

Silent Sunday

 

 

our breastfeeding story - part II / World Breastfeeding Week

always loved the sight of the milk running down his cheek

so as I told you yesterday, Harry, Dave and I had a rough start with breastfeeding but after a few weeks we were finally "in business". Harry was still relying on the breast shield for his feed though, that meant a lot of fussing, crying, pinching and stress - for the two of us. He would get really upset with the slow flow, grab the nipple shield and throw it far away from us.

One lovely day, after attending a friend's baby shower, we were stuck in the district line for a while, it was hot as hell and little guy screamed for about 7 stops. I thought he was just hot and stripped him down to his nappy. When we finally arrived at the right station to change trains, I finally realise my screaming was in fact hungry and the awful truth hit me; I would have to BF my fussy fidgety baby at the underground platform whilst trains would arrive and leave and people would come and go passed us.

For a second I thought; we can probably make it to home. That thought didn't last as the scream escalated and I realised that it wasn't fair to let my little baby boy cry in hunger just so I could keep my decency. So I set on the bench, grabbed the breast shield and tried to cover up with a large cloth. BIG MISTAKE!!!

As soon as Harry felt something over his head he started to wave his arms and scream even harder. in the blink of an eye the silicon shield was on the floor and no longer had how to feed him. Luckily my mum was still with us then, she grabbed the shield, gave it a clean with hand sanitiser and washed it off with some water we had in our bag then we were stuck at that platform for a good half an hour while Harry gladly enjoyed his milk.

After occasions like that I kept a bottle of ready made formula in Harry's bag, just for emergencies. Of course little guy had other ideas in mind and that "break the Glass" plan never really worked.

When my mum returned to Brasil, little guy was 2 1/2 months and I finally ventured out to our local breastfeeding cafe. I hoped they would be able to help me in teaching Harry how to feed without the bloody shield. The room where they gathered was so so warm, so about 2 minutes from our arrival little guy was already demonstrating the power of his lungs and very soon the ladies running the group realised things weren't as simple as they assumed it would be when I first arrived there. I was offered a home visit but my baby brain forgot to call them back and that never happened.

A couple of times I was told that unless he learnt to BF without the shield by 3 months of age he just wouldn't at all and a few weeks later I proved them wrong!

We used to attend a Sure Start group for new mums, one day I set off with Harry and had this feeling that I have left the shield behind - by now I used to walk around with 2 pairs in his bag to avoid problems. After the playgroup meeting it was feeding time, little guy started his routine and I just did not know what to do. I double checked the bag and just could not find any shields so to try my luck I picked him up and offered the breast...surprise surprise! He had a lovely long feed and I felt like I had just reached a huuuge milestone. I spoke to the other mums about it but don't think they really understood how amazing that was for us.

That day I arrived home determined to carry on BF Harry with no shield. Unfortunately things weren't that straight forward but with a lot of Patience and having learnt to read little guys cues to feed, I took my time and we finally managed it.

I then started to count the days, it was one, two, three....seven....15 days and finally I could proudly say; my little guys needs no more shields to feed :-)

Life was now a lot easier, I would feed him wherever, whenever! More! Because he got used to the slow flow from the shield he would now feed in 10 minutes - at first that got me worried as he wasn't even 4 months but after a few phones calls to health visitors we got to the conclusion that he was just good at his job of feeding and got what he needed quickly so as a bonus we no longer had to stay stuck for half an hour every feed time.

The best thing of all? His maaaassive smile - with lips and eyes - whenever he finished a lovely feed as to say; look mummy, we did it!

Our breastfeeding story - World Breastfeeding Week

from: La Leche League

For a while I have been meaning to tell our breastfeeding story - not mine, not Harry's, not Dave's but ours. So being World Breastfeeding Week I thought it was about time.

After 4 very stressful days, Harry was finally in my arms. Our first feed is a bit of a blur, I can remember offering him the breast but not been sure of what I was doing. People don't tell you but when babies are born they don't know how to drink their milk. So there we were, mum and baby taking their first few steps into theirs breastfeeding (BF) journey.

Through that day I just tried to feed him whenever he cried but really I can't remember much of it.

On the next day we got up and I tried feeding him, for a while I thought we were doing super well, of course I had no idea "well actually looked like".

I would feed him until he let go of the breast and thought he was done but, not long later, Harry would be crying and it was a while until a midwife showed me that I could just put my finger near his mouth and, if he was still hungry, he would try to feed. That was a helpful tip only I wish it came followed by some help on how to feed him and how to know if he was latching on ok.

Through that day I carried on feeding him on demand, family would come to see us and he would be hanging off me. I was perfectly comfortable with that, even though my mum wasn't. She believes you need to cover up if you are BF, I do understand where that comes from but when you are trying to learn how to feed a fidgety baby, who seems to over heat with anything, keep my decency was the last thing in my mind.

I spent 2 days in the hospital and during that time, I have to say, I did not feel I had much support with BF. With the massive campaign done by NHS and the fact that hospital won't even supply formula, I wasn't at all impressed with the lack of a trained professional dedicated to help you in such delicate a moment.

By the time I got home with little bundle, I was already in terrible pain and BF was torture. My nipples were super sore but luckily I had nipple shields at home and so started a saga that would last 3 whole months (there will be a whole post on that).

after  a few days at home my nipples were super painful and my left breast started to go really hot and hard. Harry didn't like the left side much and the milk has been building up, looking back, I think I was a step away from mastitis. One afternoon Harry was screaming but no milk would come out. It was horrible. I never felt so useless in my whole life. My little baby was hungry and there was nothing I could do for him. I burst out crying, my mum took Harry away and comforted him, my gorgeous little boy cried himself to sleep, hungry. That was so so painful.

My mother helped me massaging the breasts and putting cold compress on them. Dave then helped me calming down, we goggled ways to keep things going and later that day, when it was feeding time, I took Harry to my bedroom where it was quiet, put our lullaby CD on  - to calm the two of us down - then I took a deep breath and went for it. It worked!

Now the milks was coming out and I had a content little guy. Still needed to use the shield as he would fuss and not feed without it, I didn't know by then but he had learnt to feed with the shield and had no clue of what to do without it. It was hard to feed him if I was out and the stress almost made me quit the BF thing all together. It may sound horrible but - thankfully - the idea of stopping made me feel too guilty so I kept going.

The thought of Harry being hungry for whatever reason, however, made me pop to the super market and buy him a box of formula milk just in case. That box of formula was the ghost of the BF problems we had. Whenever things were hard - specially on those days when little guy wouldn't have a day time kip and feed every hour - daddy D. would suggest; use the formula, it's in the cupboard. I know he meant well and never ever had anything against me BF Harry but in my head, I was just too scared that the would give up his mummy's milk to actually try anything.

It was a super stressful time but I'm happy we made it through it

I will post more on our Breastfeeding story on the next few days, watch this space!!!

Silente Sunday

Nursery x Nanny

So since I went back to work we had this lovely lady - should call her a girl as sh.e is about 4 years younger than me :-) - helping us out with little cheeky guy. She is lovely and even though it took me a while, these days I'm happy to leave Harry with her when I have to go to the office. Not to mention that it is a bonus to get home to a nice, clean and tidy flat - she likes house chores  I am only very happy to let her do it, as the nice person that I am!

Harry is particularly keen Nanny S. He smiles her a biiiiig grin when she gets in and never cries
when I leave or arrive.

Our only problem with the nanny is paying her. If you have stopped by before you have probably noticed that we don't really have grandma or any other family who lives near by and can give us a hand every now and then. Different from most of the local mums we know, if we have to go to work we need to pay for childcare.

If you live in the UK then you also know that childcare can cost most of your monthly income and that is exactly our situation at the moment.

A couple of weeks ago I was about to write a post on how upset I was for not having money for holidays - we haven't had a break since June 2011 - when I heard much worse news, I no longer have any holidays to take this year. That means no breaks until Christmas. What was my point again? - oh yes, no money for holidays when you need a break can be hard but even harder is, no money to buy little guy the new shoes he needs because he is outgrowing his very quickly.

I have been looking into ways to save us some money, as much as I love where we live, we are considering moving from "pram town" next year, when our contract expires. Renting on Pram Town is expensive and our flat costs us a fortune to heat during the winter.

I have taken a cheaper mobile plan - saving us £23 a month - and as from last week, I have decided to try the Saisnbury's Basics Range and shop around for good quality nappies on a reasonable price.
All that is well and good as every little bit helps but my main bill really is childcare. I considered working more hours but that will mean paying the nanny for extra days.

We are not entitled to work tax credit and our nanny isn't Ofstead registered so I'm not using the Childcare Vouchers the company I work for offers.

Last week while sipping Ginger Grouse and watching Harry and his little friend have fun in the paddling pool, I had a chat with a local mum and she actually reminded me that if Harry went to a nursery I would be able to use my childcare vouchers AND if I was to hop on a 5 minutes bus to the next borough I wouldn't pay the extortion that the nurseries in "pram town" charge you a day.

I have been researching since. The difference isn't massive but there is a difference and I would probably save about £80 a month just by using my Kiddcare Vouchers.

I found this one particular Nursery with a very good location for me to get to work after dropping Harry AND easy for daddy to pick him up on his way home - sorry hun, I forgot to speak to you about this little detail :-). This one nursery also supplies everything our little guy will need through the day; food, nappies, milk, cream and so on.

The good thing of having a nanny is that if the little one is unwell but able to stay away from mummy, I can actually leave him with S. and go to work - at nursery that wouldn't be possible.
In the other hand the nursery is never ill, needs holiday or last minute parental leave, the nanny does.

I know we will have to loose the nanny one day but that will be hard as we really like her. We have a hard decision to make very soon.

What do you prefer? nannies, childminders or nurseries? How do you save money on your childcare?

Silent Sunday

Saturday is Summertime Caption Day #SatCap

 

pretend play

 

Yesterday I arrived home after a real hard day. I was feeling tired, frustrated and rather irritated as well. The thought of bedtime routine seamed daunting and I wasn't looking forward to it at all.
As if Harry realised mummy was rather tense, he set in the bath, cup in hand, dipping his little fingers into it then taking his imaginary food to his mouth. He then shared with daddy and after some persuading he share a bit with me as well. It was such an amazing thing to see my little boy, who was still a baby just a few days ago, sitting there, playing pretend.
With a big smile on my face I finished bath time and got him to bed feeling a lot lighter and calmer. The night wasn't the best as he is teething but I still find hard to process how was it that he managed to change my mood in such a simple and sweet way.

This post is linked to the Magic Moments blog hop, click on the badge and find out more about it.




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Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Sent from Samsung Mobile

dead tired...but happy

Harry having fun at the Penguin aquarium 

on the last few days I felt as though I had a hangover, without having had the pleasure of enjoying a nice drink.I think that's what happen when hay fever meets tiredness from going sightseeing day in day out for two weeks. As exhausted as I am the past few weeks were great as I had my brother and sister around but also because the other half took a little break from work so we had the chance for some family time.

What has made me happy - #R2BC

Father's day @ Sea Life London

I find is always good to stop and reflect on good things life bring your way, it's only very easy to get caught up on the wave of bad and inconvenient things that happen everyday, it can be hard to keep things in perspective.

At the moment I feel extremely grateful for having the opportunity to meet up with my brother and sister after 3 years away. We used to go to Brasil (sorry I can't write that with the Z) every two years and between pregnancy, redundancy and a new job we end up never travelling passed September 2011. My mum came over for Harry's birthday and stayed with us for a couple of months- great help - but apart from that I haven't seen anyone from my family since July 2013.

With Harry's birthday arriving we have been lucky enough to receive two visitors who, as the rest of the family, were crazy to meet Harry in person and give him loads of cuddles. My sister spent two weeks with us and my brother arrived on the day of Harry's birthday party and stayed with us for a week. I loved having them around PLUS it was just brilliant to have some free baby sitters. Our lill guy of course had the best time with lots of people to give him all the attention in the world, just the ticket.

It was sad to see them leaving, specially my brother who I have always felt very close, even when I moved to London and it wasn't long before he moved to Canada and became the one person in my family who actually understand what it meant to me when I left it all being to live in the UK. Hopefully it won't be long until we meet again, 3 year was far too much time to spend away from those that I love.