by iamcrabstix | Feb 17, 2017 | Misc
Our cat, Orla Kitty, is a very important member of our family. When we were planning to have a baby, one thing we agreed on was that we would make lots of effort to get the cat ready for having a baby in the house. We felt as though we knew our cat very well and that she is very chilled, so didn’t anticipate any problems – but we were moving house whilst I was pregnant, the cat and I moved twice in fact, as we had to stay with my mum for five weeks. So the cat was put through a lot of changes in a short space of time.
Here is how we tried to get Orla ready for the baby:
1.Feliway defuser plugins
These defusers omit pheromones which are similar to those that a cat would secrete when they mark their territory – like if you’ve ever seen your cat rubbing their cheeks on something to mark it with their own scent. I guess it is tricking the cat in a way, to think that it is a safe environment that smells of them until they get used to it. If the cat gets stressed by the new baby, but the place still smells of them, they are less likely to be stressed. We used these for two months in a row, because we had to get her used to being at my mum’s house, then the new house, then three weeks later; having a baby in the new house.
2.Allowing her to explore the nursery
Rightly or wrongly, we kept the door of the nursery open for Orla to explore ahead of the baby being born. Once she found there was nothing of interest in there for her, she stopped going in. As she was getting used to the new house, she liked doing a nightly check of her territory, almost like a security guard, so a closed door was more interesting to her than an open one. The mattress was obviously still in the wrapper and all of the changing surfaces were antibacterial-ised ahead of using them.
3.Bringing home baby’s blanket from hospital for her to smell
I had to stay in hospital for one night, which allowed us time to bring a blanket home, which the baby had used for Orla to smell to give her time to recognise the baby’s smell. He must smell like me or an extension of me, because we have never had a problem, she’s accepted him from the start/not been that bothered about him. All through my pregnancy she was fantastic – I have read somewhere that she could probably hear the heartbeat and detected the hormones, not sure how true that is.
4.Giving her a place of safety at a height
Orla has two cosy mats on either side of our living room windowsill, which were great as she liked to know who was visiting, but she was out of the way so people couldn’t get to her. She also has a cat tree in the living room and another in the conservatory, as well as a bed upstairs in the study, so she always has somewhere to go that is just for her.
5.Giving her an escape route
If the baby cries in temper – the cat leaves the room. It remains important that she doesn’t feel trapped, therefore we have fitted catflaps; one to our back door to allow her to get outside when she wants and one between our kitchen and utility room. This also means that we can close off the utility room and keep her food in there – which provides a quiet, safe place for her to eat and also stops the baby getting to the food in future.
We are very fortunate to not have had any problems using these methods to help our cat adjust, obviously we are only eight months into our journey and this may change when the little one can pull her tail etc. The information above worked for us based on our cat’s nature and personality (and also me watching a lot of ‘My cat from hell‘ on Animal Planet), all cat’s are different, so please don’t use the information above as gospel!
by iamcrabstix | Dec 22, 2016 | general parenting
At six months old, RLT has done three terms of baby yoga! Not bad, ey? Not your every day baby activity, so here is our review!
Firstly, baby yoga classes in the UK, are nothing like the extreme videos that you may have been of a woman in Egypt throwing babies around! OMG, I couldn’t believe it when I watched the video – how on earth can parents let this woman do this to their children? The poor babies are crying their eyes out too! The video is below, but watch with your hands over your eyes if you are a parent!
https://youtu.be/T7ihdsjIqhI
So the baby yoga we attended was (thankfully) nothing like the above! Baby yoga in the UK, according to Mamababybliss ‘builds on your baby’s physical and mental developmental milestones and will aid your baby’s brain development and your baby’s sense of co-ordination, balance and sensory and motor skills.’
I didn’t particularly fancy the baby massage course, as I had already had some experience of this from the health visitor and RLT didn’t seem to be a fan, so we opted for the next class, which was baby yoga – ran by the Mamababybliss practitioner in our area, Angela.
The sessions consist of gentle stretches and breathing exercises for mum to ease you into the sessions and then baby’s turn! The five week programmes are geared around babies from newborn stages to crawling, as there are three different stages. Newborn stage is mostly matt based, with some jumping! The songs that accompany the moves are relatively well known such as ‘Daisy, Daisy’ and ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ as well as some others I’d never heard of such as Jumping Bean and Mr Sun (which my niece reliably informed me is on Barney the Dinosaur’ durrr).
RLT at the end of his second term of baby yoga
Angela was extremely knowledgeable, welcoming and great with the babies. If your baby was upset, needed feeding etc nothing was a problem. Most of the mums in the class were an already formed friendship group, who had already studied it once before, so my stupid thoughts of making new friends were soon out of the window. When the exercises are complete there is playtime where drinks and snacks for mums are on offer, to give everyone time to talk and the babies to play. As my class had an already formed friendship group, I felt a little bit out of place at the end, so just chatted to Angela or the one other lady who didn’t know the rest of the group. I don’t think the other lady minded the lack of chat as much as I did, I just felt very much like an outsider.
When the term ended and it was time to move up a class, I opted to do the first class again – for two reasons really, one being I knew some mums who would be doing the class so it would be more of an enjoyable experience for me and two, the next session would require the babies to be sitting up a bit more and as RLT bypassed massage he started early, so wasn’t ready for this! He started baby yoga when he was about 12 weeks old, when I think they’re usually a bit older, so at 17 weeks, he wasn’t strong enough to be sitting all of the time in the next class.
We did another five weeks, which I felt a lot more comfortable with as there were two other mums I knew. As RLT had five weeks experience on the babies, it was easy to see how much stronger he was as a consequence – as many of the babies were older than him too, this was interesting to see the difference the yoga had made to his movement. As soon as we put the babies on their feet, he knew it was time for jumping bean (you gently bounce your babies on their feet while singing a song about them being a jumping bean). It was very funny, but also great that he had such a good recollection – but by god my arms hurt by the end of it if there was a full class.
RLT at the end of term three of baby yoga
One of the mums I knew didn’t join us at the advanced class as she was going back to work, but the next stage taught great new movements based on the babies being stronger and being able to sit up a little bit more. Some of the songs and moves were the same but there were developments on how the babies moved and responded – they werent laid on the yoga mats this time, they were sat up, moving around on us, being upside down and still being jumping beans of course! It is lovely to see the babies recognise the songs and know what is coming next. There was a lot of ball and mirror work too in this stage.
I don’t think the PHD stage is available in our area yet, but I think I will definitely do the advanced course again rather than not do it at all. I would definitely recommend baby yoga to anyone with a baby. I was so glad to have found it as there is very little in my area other than what they offer at the Children’s Centres and I don’t find them suitable to my needs most of the time.
by iamcrabstix | Dec 14, 2016 | Misc
What do you buy a six month old for Christmas? If someone asked them what you actually wanted for Christmas, it would probably be to FINALLY get that dummy in your own mouth, or your foot!
Having a June baby is great as you can split the wants and needs in six monthly intervals! So Christmas 2016, RLT will be six months and one week old, therefore we’re looking at what he needs/would like aged 6-12 months, until his birthday!
Here are a few things that we’ve put on his list!
- Fisher Price Dance and Move Beatbo – Ok this one may be for me as much as RLT. I think it is the greatest toy on the market! We love the Beatbo boogie, as do my two year old nephew and five year old niece!
- Fisher Price Laugh and Learn smart stages chair – this one probably could have waited until his birthday, as it is 12 months plus, but it was on the 3 for 2 offer at Argos, so couldn’t resist!
- Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Smart Stages Car – This should keep him going for a while as it is suitable from 6 months until 18th months with the various stages. My two year old nephew has already had a go and he is a big fan too! So it even keeps the visitors happy!
- Fisher Price Rockin’ Tunes Giraffe – this just looked cute and most of RLT’s toys are the Fisher Price rainforest animals, so decided to keep it going!
- SmartTrike – As he will be 10 months old as the better weather as here, a smart trike was the ideal choice!
Extra things I’ve managed to get him that weren’t even on the list!
- Fisher Price Musical Lion Baby Walker – I managed to get this for £17.50, so it is a nice little extra present!
- Amazon pampers monthly subscription – cheers mum!
Something that we wanted to get #rlt, which we can’t find anywhere is an Elmo toy! He loves watching Elmo, as do his cousins and I bought them rock n roll elmo’s etc when they were young, but unfortunately I can’t find anything on sale! So he’s going to have to make do with the Elmo he already has from H&M.
RLT and his beloved Elmo from h&m
by iamcrabstix | Dec 7, 2016 | Misc
My 2016 alphabetical year in review!
Big thanks to the lovely Maria over at Mummy to Logan for posting the original Alphabetical year in review, and bringing it to my attention. I should be doing housework, but RLT has decided he can’t sleep in his cot today, only in my bed, so I have to sit here and supervise. Feel free to take part also and don’t forget to shout out the previous person for giving you the inspiration the write the post. I’m not tagging anyone, there are too many of these flying around at the moment.
A: Anxiety – I have always suffered from anxiety – whether it is worrying about something just because I feel like the world may end if I don’t worry about something, thinking everyone hates me or worrying about work and losing my job constantly – I just have to be anxious about something all of the time. Pregnancy made this sooo much worse and unfortunately this has continued on in the form of social anxiety when going to mother and baby groups. I have really struggled with these groups and making new friends, I’ve moved back to a town where I haven’t lived since I was 18, so it is like starting all over again. There is one nice girl who I knew from College who has a baby 11 days younger than RLT, so that has made things slightly easier as she is lovely.
B: Brexit – I hate that word and I hate that we don’t know what the outcome of this will be. But I also hate that this happened 7 days after RLT was born when my partner was already sleep deprived, he talked like the world was going to end, for days.
C: Chocolate Creme – As in Fry’s. At one point in my pregnancy I was eating 4 of these a day…..
D: Dads – 2016 was the year of Mark becoming one, my dad being an absolute ledge whenever I’ve needed help – he came to my first RLT scan as it was an emergency one and Mark was in London, he cracked on with sorting our house out because I couldn’t paint and Mark was working in London on launching inews.co.uk.
2016 the year Mark became a daddy to Reuben. This is the first pic of them together
E: Elephants – Is the theme of RLT’s room. His Orla Kiely cot bedding started this trend and it has continued through the framed pictures and stuffed animals. Mark even kindly bought me an Elephant ring by Orla Kiely so that I always have an RLT reminder with me.
Elephants in RLT’s nursery by mandascat
F: Friends – I’ve certainly learned who my friends are this year and those who aren’t. Very interesting who makes the effort when you have a baby.
G: Grapes – Mark inhales this, whenever I bought them throughout my pregnancy, they had gone before I’d had the chance to eat any.
H: Home – We managed to sell our house, which had been on the market for over two years, and buy a new one just before RLT arrived. It was a lot of hard work for Mark, my mum, my dad and I but we managed to get done what we wanted to do before he arrived. You can read more about that here
Our new home
I: IPaper – Mark went to work in London during my third trimester to launch the iPaper’s website. It was an incredibly stressful time as we were also living with my mum, waiting for our house purchase to go through and then bracing ourselves for the redecorating madness. It was an opportunity too good to miss though, being one of four people who set up a national newspaper website is not something you get to put on your CV everyday, is it?
J: Jules – my mum is a ledge. She will be looking after RLT 3 days a week when I go back to work. She’s done a great job with my niece and nephew, so I know he’s in good hands.
K: Kynren – Mark and I took a night off from parenting duties to go see this, it was absolutely amazing! I’m very proud to be from County Durham as I think it’s beautiful (you have your usual small minded twonks, but it’s very green!) so this choked me up!
L: Leeds – Mark now commutes 90 minutes each way to work in Leeds City Centre. He is the Head of Audience Engagement at a few newspapers including Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post and Sheffield Star. It is going to be tough for him, but I hope he gets used to the travel. I’ve lived in Leeds before when I was at university, so it’s a place I know pretty well. I hope to make use of the occasional ride down there to visit the shops! We knew a long commute was a possibility when we bought this house, we decided it was best we were close to childcare so RLT wasn’t spending large amounts of time in cars rather than us being closer to our jobs and having to ferry him around. After having a car accident when he was 10 weeks old, the less time he can spend in the car the better. There are so many idiots on the road.
M: Maternity leave – Maternity leave has been the best time of my life. I’ve never felt so happy and stress free. I don’t recommend having a baby for maternity leave of course, but if you are feeling stressed out by work have a sabbatical. It’s given me time to regroup from somethings that happened at work and in my personal life that I hadn’t had chance to deal with due to being so busy with work. Everyday I wake up, I have a reason to smile and he’s smiling right back at me. It is going to break my heart when I have to go back to work, but I simply can’t do my job on reduced hours nor can I afford the adventures I want to take RLT on without being full-time. Thankfully work have been awesome and have agreed to let me condence my hours in to 4 days and some home working, I am exceptionally grateful to them for this!
Mandascat is another one. My awesome friend, who I work with kindly made me unique illustrations for RLT’s bedroom and a portrait of my cat for my new house, which hangs pride of place in the kitchen/diner! She’s so lovely to have taken the time to do that for me. Great and talented lady.
Orla by Mandascat
N: New beginnings – This year has been an absolute rollercoaster with baby, moving house and Mark moving jobs but now our live is on our terms and it feels great. Our previous home Mark owned with his ex, which was far from ideal – we certainly didnt want RLT growing up with that complexity! So it is just a relief that it was all sorted before he was born.
O: Orla Kiely – The obsession continued in 2016. RLT’S change bag(s) are OK, as are his cot bedding and grobags. I haven’t done too badly on the OK front either, living room and kitchen are OK wallpaper, I’ve got a ring, watch and various bits for the kitchen.
P: Pinterest – Without it, RLT wouldn’t have stripes on his bedroom wall!
Q: Quiet – Our house backs on to a nature reserve, so it is soooo quiet compared to our old house which was near a main road! It is lovely to sit in the garden and not hear cars just sheep and cows!
R: Reuben – Obviously this has been a big one this year! We selected his name before he was born (we told my mum, bro and sis-in-law 6 months before he was here and they weren’t fans) but we went to see New York Giants play in NYC on 20th Dec and the guy who scored the first touchdown was called Ruben (spelt differently obvs) but we thought it was fate. Mark also liked the Reuben sandwich he had at Katz deli, but I’m discounting that from the decision-making process!
Hello world!
S: Sleep – The broken variety, possibly worse than getting no sleep at all. We thought we’d cracked the sleeping through thing at about 10 weeks, but he did it for about a fortnight and never again!
T: Thompson – Mark, Reuben and Orla Kitty’s surname.
U: Uniqlo – Still the best for collaborations. Bought several of the Liberty of London collabs for when I was pregnant. Strange thing is, now i’m not pregnant, I wouldn’t dare wear them as they’re so clingy! Must have gotten a new found body confidence with the bump!
V: Vertigo – I’ve suffered from this on and off for the past year, every time I get congested. I’ve passed out on the landing a few times when going to see RLT on a night!
W: Weaning – We started this on 29th Nov due to RLT trying to grab peoples food and watching everything you ate. Little bit early, just shy of five and a half months. I’ll be honest, I’ve no clue what I’m doing. The baby led weaning stuff looks insane, we’re during purees and when he’s done he has cucumber, carrot or pepper sticks to mess around with. I’m going to look at this properly in a few weeks, I feel he’s too little at the moment.
X: Xylophone – I played on a wooden one on the Stick Man trail at Kielder Castle last week.
Y: Yorkshire Post – I like to follow my other half’s work and give my (unasked for) opinions on things. I’m looking forward to reading the features and magazines that come with the Yorkshire Post on a weekend.
Z: Zebra – RLT has a zebra toy and I can’t for the life of me think of the noise a zebra makes, so poor thing will think it sounds exactly like a horse, just a stripey one.
