Me Thee & Thine
The #FFLaceTop dress gets my vote!
Choose your favourite party dress to win in F&F Clothing’s #FFWinterWish prize draw.
(Source: blog.clothingattesco.com)
Kotex take 50 inspiring women to create ‘The World’s First Pinterest Campaign’
Whilst organising my wedding last year, I was consumed in a pinning frenzy of bouquets, dress styles and favour ideas. Long after, my addiction to Pinterest has continued with nursery and home ideas and more recently beauty images whilst I try to find myself again post baby!
It seems the social world has suddenly sat up and taken notice of this fantastic and hugely popular platform, and now brands are heading into this space to test out campaigns and find a new way to target their audiences.
Enter Kotex with what they define ‘The World’s First Pinterest Campaign’ - take a look…….
The essential products for a teething monster
The bear has always been, in his short 14 weeks in this world, advanced for his age. At 10 weeks old we could see a tooth bud in the top back right of his mouth - not even the normal pattern for emerging teeth! The week that followed saw our normally placid child who did not cry, suddenly develop lungs, a voice and a temper I recognised as a sure fire trait of mine.
The poor little man was obviously suffering so I took to Twitter & Facebook for the best rememdies after I became a broken woman with no sleep and an upset child I didn’t know how to handle! The response was great and I feel now like we may have cracked the essential products needed to endure what could be a fraught year or more whilst the bear sprouts a handsome set of teeth.
New Era Tablets and Nelson’s Teetha Granules are both homeopathic remedies which worked really well on their first go. After giving two New Era tablets before a feed, the bear had a 2 hour nap which was unheard of! The Teetha granules come in a sachet to pour into the baby’s mouth, and after an initial covering in the white powder he soon figured out to hold his mouth open for it.
He’s not a fan of me putting my fingers in his mouth and so the Tommee Tippee Stage One Teething Dummies are perfect to put a drop of Bonjela on and put in his mouth like a smile. Although he can’t hold it in for very long, he likes the feel of the teether on his gums and it gets the Bonjela to where it’s needed. They come two in a set, one for the first front 4 teeth to break through and one which goes around these to accommodate the back teeth.
Although Sophie Giraffe is a bit too advanced for his motor skills at this age, he still loves a little chew on her organic rubber head and the noise alone is enough to stop him crying! I also bought an amber teething necklace with baltic amber which was recommended to me though the jury is still out on this one.
With the teething came the dribble and with the dribble came the rash. All the bibs we had were soaked through and the bear’s poor little neck was red raw and spotty with the constant dribble. I bought a selection of bandana bibs from www.funkygiraffe.com which arrived today and they’re perfect! A fleece back protects baby’s clothing from being soaked through, and the bandana style catches everything and prevents a rash. They have two poppers which creates two sizes, perfect for my little chunky monkey and they come in some cool colours and styles.
It’s all a bit calm on the teething front this week and I feel like writing this may jinx me…..! Hoping this post helps some poor Mummy and bairn find a bit of peace and quiet.
Can you really love someone this much?
I recently read an article on the lack of mental preparation that pregnant women have before the birth of their first child.
9 months are spent mentally preparing for the hours of labour and actual birth inching ever closer, alongside a busy few last weeks preparing a nursery and material world for the immenent arrival. Weeks spent agonisingly watching ‘One Born Every Minute’ and then kicking yourself as to why! Nights lain awake with aches and pains and insomnia for no obvious reason, trying to picture the little face developing inside you. If you’re anything like me, 10 weeks of Hypnobirthing preparation to try and erase all of the horror stories family friends have been desperate to tell you, and reaffirming your body’s natural abilities to give birth.
But the thing that is lacking, which realistically I don’t think you can ever prepare for, no matter what text books are written, is the love you will have for your child and the pure strength of your emotions as a mother.
I am terrified by how much I love this little dribbling, trumping, gurgling boy who keeps me awake most of the night, who has just learnt to scream for fun and who has turned my entire world upside down. The insanely disproportionate fears you have in the first week of being a mother do definitely subside but more realistic ones take their place. My husband is no longer banned from walking with the bear across the landing for fear he may plummet to the bottom, and I can now leave him in his cot without holding a mirror over his face to check if he’s breathing! The hallucinations where I would frantically search the bed telling husband I had lost the baby in the covers, are awakened from much easier when I see the old faithful green light of the movement sensor.
Perhaps I am alone in this, or have some post-natal anxiety, but I feel wholly responsible for bringing him into this world and struggle with the concept that I can’t protect him from everything and anything that comes his way. I still have flashbacks to an A&E visit earlier in the year which resulted in a blood test for bear (which for newborns is a very painful cannula in the hand as their blood vessels collapse if pulled) and although it is long forgotten by him, the trauma of the evening is still with me.
I have created the most perfect little creature, with my eyes, the softest hands thought possible and giant feet. I love him a million times more than I ever thought possible and I am a completely different person for it. This intense feeling can never be prepared for, and so each new mother has to learn this on her own. And learn how to deal with this is an uncertain and often unfair world.
On a lighter note, I have just received a gigantic (and rather dramatic for a 3 month old!) sneeze to the face. Thanks son, love you too.
My 30week old little wriggler!
My little man throwing some shapes in my tummy! Needless to say I’m not getting much sleep with the party going on…….
