The Bounce Back | Jumping on The TeaTox Bandwagon + GIVEAWAY

The Essential Tea-Tox Detox Tea is designed to naturally boost you, leaving you feeling energised, rested, less bloated and so much more.  I'm late to the party (about 5 years late), but I'm here. The infamous teatox seems to linger like a bad smell, every so often they come back around, and almost every time they do I turn my nose up at them. I'm probably supposed to start this post off with all of the positive vibes that should accompany a 'tea-tox', the benefits it can offer, the svelte figure I'll inevitably achieve, the glowing skin... but no, I'm starting it with my first introduction to magic tea. It was around 6 or so years ago now, and a friend payed £50 for two weeks worth of detoxing tea bags in an effort to lose weight before a girls holiday. Now, at 15 years old £50 was big bucks, and she essentially payed this to sit on a toilet for 4 days before deciding it was a waste of money. Since then, it's safe to say I've been put off them for life. Since having a baby though, it's just not as easy as it was before to lose weight. On top of that, I felt sluggish,  always tired, and at the point where I'd do anything for a little boost. Even if it means trying out a tea tox.

Newborn Hacks | MyHummy Snoozy Bear

I've made no secret of how much I love white noise for my newborn, so when myHummy offered to send Harrison a myHummy Snoozy, I jumped at the chance. myHummy are a The hummy bear is a sleep guard, a soft cuddly friend that has the added bonus of the soothing white noise which activates in response to babies movement. Newborns are not used to silence: they've spent nine months in the womb, encased within the muffled sounds of mummy's life and next to her heartbeat, dead silence is no comfort, in fact, for my baby especially, silence doesn't work at all. Previously we've used an app on our phones - Sound Sleeper - which by all means done the job, but at what cost? Although there's nothing proven as yet, something doesn't sit right with me about placing a radiating phone inside my babies crib.

Maternity Leave Realities: The First Month

Maternity leave was supposed to be all baby cuddles, coffee catch-ups and lunch dates. I'd fill my time with over ironing and learning to cook (given that right now  burning toast is about all I am good for) whilst my baby napped, and having couch cuddles and playtime when he woke up. I had big plans and was under the false allusion they'd be at all possible. I've been on maternity leave for five whole weeks now. In that time, I've gone for coffee once with Harrison in tow. It was through a Costa drive-thru and I forgot to ask for sweeteners. I didn't even leave the car and I still managed to fail at coffee dates. I feel like that alone sums up how well my maternity plans are panning out. My reality was skewed, that much is for sure and I blame all of you. I blame everyone else bar myself. All I had to go on was the cushy baby pictures, the snaps of the ladies lunches and the blogging success of so many mummas at home, false sense of security doesn't even begin to cover it. It turns out, my maternity leave reality hasn't been as scenic.

A Stress Free Bathtime With CuddleDry

The Original Cuddledry Bath Towel is a hands free way to get your baby out of the bath and snug as a bug stress free, or at least so they say. I got this towel when I was pregnant, and dare I say, completely forgot about it up until now. This post is not sponsored nor were we sent this product to review, the concept is just such an interesting one that I couldn't help but want to share my experience with it.

Harrison hated bath-time initially - every night without fail he'd squeal blue murder the minute he touched the water; it was a two person task, one to hold and wash the child, another to hold the dummy in place in an effort to prevent him from waking the full street. At a month old, he's now officially a water baby. No matter how unsettled he is throughout the day, within seconds of being in the tub he's relaxed and content, at peace with the rubber ducks. I can't say his love for bathtime was down to the Cuddledry Towel, but it did help us with the transition of getting him out of the bath without the squeals, that much it was responsible for.

9 Fool Proof Ways to Spot A New Mum

The irony of this post is the naïve ideal I came into motherhood with; when I imagined the first few weeks of parenthood, sure, I imagined sleepless nights, but I also imagined the relaxing coffee dates, mindless chit-chat over lunch with a sound sleeping baby, scenic walks in the park with the pram.. the reality though has been very different, who would have thought. If you happened to see me out and about right now, I swear you could pin-point my newly acquired motherhood a mile off, I practically scream new mum after all.. On the off chance you didn't quite catch my new mum role by my tiny human in tow, here's 9 sure fire ways to tell:

The Bounce Back | Week 1 Update

Today marks 7 days into my Bounce Back from pregnancy plan - I was determined to get back to feeling fit and healthy as quickly as possible, but this week alone has been enough to show me that it's not going to be anywhere near as easy to get back to peak fitness as it was to get there. How did it go you ask? Shit. It just went shit. I lost 3lbs, but that's not really a plus right now, given that I achieved that from eating all but nothing during the day and stuffing my face with Haribos at night time when I can relieve my arms from the baby I've cradled for the best part of 13 hours. The whole point of my bounce back from pregnancy plan was to regain health - getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight is great and all, but ultimately, not worth an ounce of effort if I still feel as unfit as ever.

Christmas Gift Guide | The Memorable Presents for Baby's First Christmas

I made no secret of the fact that I didn't want to go crazy on Christmas presents for Harrison; at 2 months old he's not exactly going to remember the gifts he receives, no matter how extravagant. I talked about it in depth in a recent post, but essentially, I don't think wasting money on toys, or clothes, or anything else along those lines would be worth doing. I won't lie, the thought of it didn't quite sit right with me - christmas is christmas after all, no matter how little, I didn't want Harrisons' first Christmas not to be a special one. I don't believe gifts are the be all and end all of Christmas, but there is no denying that nowadays - because of that, and because of the twinges of guilt I was feeling at the thought of Harrison being presentless on Christmas morning (not that he'd notice, he will no doubt be in a milk-coma...), I decided to find gifts that could be used for the rest of his early years. The things that make you know it's Christmas.

I've found a good few that I've added to my list for Harrison, some of which if I buy this year I'll use for the rest of his childhood, others that I may have to repurchase in years to come. Either way, everything in this gift guide has more sentimental value than a passing trend.  Somehow though in my bid to save money I've managed to amass a list that would probably cost more than I'd spend on the latest range of Fisher Price goodies, but at least with these I know we'll be using them for years to come, and not just for the three weeks following.

H is 1 Month Old

 

Harrison is one month old today. I've started every single one of these updates off saying how terrifying it is that we're another week down, and this week is no different.  It is terrifying. It's terrifying that I no longer have a baby that I can describe as weeks old; from here on out we're into the months, and I can only imagine how fast time will fly from here. I keep on wishing away the days - I can't wait for him to smile, to laugh, to roll over and to crawl, but I can't bear the thought of losing the newborn days. Everyone said it would go quickly, but I didn't quite imagine it would go this quickly. He's doing well, I can't say that enough. Sleeps not great, but it never was going to be, he's a newborn, he doesn't know the difference between night and day. I've gotten used to being tired, if that's the only struggle we have to face in these first few weeks then I'll be forever grateful. Babies aren't easy, I expected it to be difficult, not easy, but worth it in the end. He definitely is worth it.

Finding What Works For Us | NUBY UK

It's taken us a month, but we've finally settled on Nuby bottles. Harrison is a Nuby brand rep', but that didn't stop us testing a few other brands until we found what worked for him.  I'll be honest, I'm completely clueless as to what brands are good for a baby. Whilst pregnant, I decided I'd use Avent bottles, Pampers nappies, Johnsons Skincare, SMA milk... The list goes on. Harrison is now one month old, and with the exception of the Johnsons' skincare stuff, we've changed them all. With Harrison's dry skin I'm ready to fling Johnsons' out the window also. Everyone told me to wait and see what suited my baby when he arrived, and I now understand why.

The Bounce Back #1 | 6 Steps for Losing The Baby Weight?

I'm under no false allusions here - being healthy and fit as a new mum is going to be a lot harder than it ever has been before. I've had a pretty healthy lifestyle for the past few years - I love the gym, I like plain food and was happy to live off of egg whites, chicken, rice (and chocolate), and I probably got a little bit too much joy out of making diet and exercise plans. It's just the way I've always been. I have plenty of training plans from before I fell pregnant still on my computer, printed in a folder, lying around my room. I have my diet plans, my macronutrient aims, my calories, an almost daily weight for the past  2 years at least. It would be easy enough for me to go ahead and try and fall back into any one of these - but it would not work. I have a baby now, it's not realistic for me to food prep three times a week at this stage, I can't make it to the gym six times a week, and I won't be getting up at 5am, so I'm setting a few goals for myself that I'll actually be able to stick to, and that will still get me the results I'm looking for.

Baby Style: Mama Et Moi

Mama Et Moi is a mother, baby and child boutique with a range of brands that are original, unique and affordable. By the time Harrison was a week old, he had every single item in the Next Autumn/Winter collection, pretty much for up until he is 9 months old. I always knew he would, so when I was pregnant I started looking for less popular baby clothing companies - not less popular, that's not the right word, just less well known.

The Bounce Back

During my pregnancy, I struggled majorly with body image throughout. I posted about it various times, but could never quite explain the effect it had on me. I hated my pregnancy, but had none of the symptoms that would normally make a pregnancy difficult, I just hated the changes my body went through. It wasn’t just the way my body looked - I knew that part was necessary, weight gain and adaptation is a large part of pregnancy, but I’ve never felt so unfit or unhealthy as I was during the last trimester. I've always been very active, and I've always been on some sort of diet, and I suppose as a result, I'd always been pretty small. At the time,  I'd never have thought so, but I look back now and can't help but wonder how I thought I was fat, or big, or chunky, or any of the other words I'd use constantly to describe my body. Following my pregnancy, I gained exactly 3 stone/42lbs/19kg depending on how you work it. I'd say that's probably a normal amount for pregnancy, but it definitely wasn't a normal amount for me, and it's not an amount I was comfortable with. I guess it's just my selfishness coming out, which is obviously a trait that does not go hand in hand with motherhood, but I resented gaining it, and the sooner I lose it, the better I'll feel.

7 Things They Don't Tell You About The First Two Weeks

When Harrison was born, everyone took pride in putting in their there two cents. It's a right of passage for a new mum, everyone imparts wisdom from their own cushy newborn days, and I'm under no false allusions that I'll probably do the same. I was warned of the meconium poos, the lack of sleep, the endless torrent of visitors and told my mothers instinct would be come naturally. In a way, yes, this was all true, but there was a lot I didn't know about the first fortnight with a newborn, and a lot that probably would have been good to know.

H is Three Weeks Old

I swear I only wrote Harrisons' two week update a few days ago - these weeks are absolutely flying by, and I have no idea how to slow them down. I know I say it every single update, but I truly cannot fathom the fact that next week little chunk will be a month old already. I think it's about time we get over the month mark so I can move onto monthly updates rather than weekly, as doing weekly updates just highlights how quickly these weeks are actually going.

Harrison has had a great week this week, as have I. We finally made a little bit of a breakthrough with sleep, and he's been managing to keep his milk down, which he hadn't been doing up until now. It's baby steps, but we're slowly but surely adjusting, and he's coming on leaps and bounds with every week, and is already becoming a little character.

Newborn Hacks: Whisbear Humming Bear | GIVEAWAY

 Harrison is only three weeks old - he was never going to be sleeping through the night at this point, that much I was always aware of. What I didn't realise though, was how difficult it would be in the beginning to get him to sleep in the first place. Newborns only supposed to sleep and feed after all? How could it be so difficult to get him to sleep at night... In the first few nights, I honestly felt like the walking dead, he wouldn't go down for more than an hour or two at a time, and even when he would go down, he'd be stirring. Because of this, I was eager to try anything I could to help him sleep even just that little bit longer. We tried hot water battles in his bed before putting him down, dream feeds, swaddling, towels around his moses, sleep nests (which have also worked an absolute treat - see our Purflo Nest review here), and came across the Whisbear Humming Bear.

H is Two Weeks Old

This update is now 4 days late, which kind of defeats the purpose of having weekly updates... but we're playing catch up here. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can get back into a routine that means I can actually get posts out on time, doubtful though!

Newborn Hacks: The Purflo Breathable Nest

From the minute I found out I was pregnant - I was already dreading the sleepless nights, I had the typical first mum expectation that I'd be up from 9pm to 9am, and by the end of Week 2 I'd have eye-bags down to my chin. We've made it to Week 2, and sure, I may looking my best, but I'd say I'm still fighting off the chin level eye-bags. I think I can safely say this is in part down to our Purflo Breathable Nest.