Baby Groups

There are so many baby groups in my local area that there are almost too many to choose from! There are some free sessions at the local Children’s Centre and a plethora of paid for classes like baby sensory and music groups. As I’m part of quite a few mum groups on Facebook, including local ones about home birth, breast feeding and baby carrying, I have found other people’s group recommendations really helpful. Otherwise it’d be so hard to choose which ones to go to!

As Hudson is still so young I’m just going to go along to free sessions for now as, realistically, it’s more about me getting out and about and meeting other parents rather than him having lots of involvement! But I know it’s also good for him to be in new environments and hearing different noises etc. We went along to our first thing with my mum last Friday which was a Children’s Stay and Play for 0-5 year olds. It was pretty busy and I was pleased to see a mum there who had contacted me on Facebook about local groups which was nice. Hudson fed for nearly the whole time we were there but it was good to be out of the house for something more than a walk to the shops after last week. There is also a Babies Playin group every Wednesday that I think might be more appropriate (as we’ll avoid the toddlers running around whilst Hudson lies down on the play mats) so I’ve booked us on for next week’s session. Let’s just hope we can get there for 10am…

I’m also excited about starting our Music with Mummy sessions in June. It is a seven-week course of classes and I thought joining the later term apwould be a bit better for Hudson so I’m hoping it’s as good as all the other mums have been saying it is.

Baby Carrying

I’ve been using my Tula buckles carrier lots both in and out the house and Hudson seems to really like being in it – he falls asleep each time we use it! But as I’m having to use the infant insert with it too, the material of the carrier is fairly thick already, I have been finding he’s been getting quite hot in it if I’m using it for a while in the house.

To try and combat the heat issue I decided to try and use the stretchy wrap my sister gave me again. The first time I tried it was when Hudson was two weeks old and neither of us got on very well with it as I was so nervous! I watched a “how to” video a couple of times then gave it another go and was much more successful this time given that within two minutes he was sound asleep! I think I got him a little lower than I could have had him so my younger sister Sabra helped me the next day so that I had him at a better height. That day we headed to the park with my sister and nephew and he happily slept in it for nearly three hours. It is so nice having him cuddled up against me sleeping so I can see us using the sling around the house far more often.

We braved the car again

As well as giving the stretchy wrap another go this week I got Hudson out in the car by myself again. I was really nervous about it as I worried he’d cry the whole way to my friend’s house. He wasn’t happy about being put in the car seat initially, it’s not a position he is often in, but once I got him strapped in and started driving he stopped and went to sleep! My dad always took me out in the car to get me to sleep so maybe that’s where Hudson has got it from! I’m so pleased he was OK I’m the back by himself today as it has made me feel more confident about going a bit further afield to Hull-based groups and to meet-up with friends.

The highlight of my week…

…has been discovering that I can in fact shower without Sam being in the house! That has been a complete pain as some nights I have not found a good time to take a 10-minute shower so I’ve been having washes and using dry shampoo – nice(!). So on Sunday I went in the shower whilst Sam was outside working on his car. I made sure Hudson was well-fed then put him in his Moses basket on the floor of the bathroom and opened the shower curtain enough so he could see me. I proceeded to talk to him non-stop whilst showering and he was perfectly happy! He stayed content without being held or fed long enough for me to get dressed but not quite long enough to dry my hair. I’m sure we’ll get to that point in good time!

And, yes, the fact that I can now shower without the help of my husband looking after our child is the highlight of my week so far does nicely highlight my “new mum problems”!