Vanity and pampering

My normal “beauty regime” is pretty simple and almost non-existent really. I’m a big fan of Boots’ No.7 range and I use their face serum, eye cream and day and night moisturisers every day  after washing my face and that’s about it! If I’m going out on an evening I use some BB cream/tinted moisturiser plus mascara and eye liner for any special occasions. This routine is also super quick which makes it perfect for leaving Hudson to his own devices on his playmat in the next room for the shortest time possible. That is also the reason why I generally leave my hair to dry naturally now too as Hudson is fine in his Moses basket in the bathroom with me whilst I shower but by the time I have moisturised, brushed my teeth and got dressed he is pretty impatient for attention or a feed so I just leave my hair unless Sam or my mum are in the house keeping Hudson entertained.

However, it is nice when I’ve had time to do a little bit of pampering since Hudson was born and in the last week I’ve managed to do quite a bit! I have newly painted finger and toe nails and I also got to dye my hair on Sunday morning whilst Sam and Hudson played downstairs and I even then got to shower in peace and dry my hair properly! That definitely beat using my Hudson-free time to hoover, put a wash on, fold clothes or clean the bathroom…I save those boring tasks for evenings now.

It’s a little embarrassing how excited I am to finally be getting my hair cut in a couple of weeks’ time – it’ll be the first time since Hudson was born so I’m hoping Tracey my hairdresser won’t have to cut too much off!

The day after my mop chop we are all going up to Scotland for one of my best friend Eilidh’s wedding and I can’t wait to get all dolled up and wear my new dress and shoes for the occasion. It’ll be the first dressy occasion we have been to with Hudson and I’m looking forward to dressing him in his cute wedding outfit too.

Book club and nap time tribulations

I have been to one book club meeting at my local library and it was really nice to have a chat about the chosen novel and books in general. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to read the book for the next meeting but I wanted to give the third one a go so I picked the book up at the start of last week. It’s called Life After Life by Kate Atkinson and it is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I couldn’t put it down! All I did during each of Hudson’s naps last week was read as much of it as I could – no chores or cooking got done at all! I tried not to feel guilty about not doing too many chores as I think I stressed myself out a bit when Hudson was younger with trying to get lots done whilst he was sleeping in the carrier.

Getting Hudson to sleep is a bit of a task in itself sometimes. I’m finally spotting his tiredness cues most of the time so I try and feed him as soon as those start and hope that he’ll just go to sleep that way. I pop a muslin in between us so that when I put him down in the pram once he’s asleep that stays warm and smells of me – it seems to work pretty well plus it’s easier that using a certain snugly blanket or teddy as you have no issues when it’s in the wash or gets lost as we’ll always have more muslins! However, over the last week or so I have had to stand up to feed him to sleep (he is not happy if I try to stay sitting) whilst rocking him, rhythmically tapping his bum/back and “shushing” all at once. I know this will pass and I’m trying to see the positive side of it – it’s giving me a great arm workout each time as he is a chunky boy!

I will do anything to get him to nap in the day at the moment as he is still waking up every hour during the night, almost to the minute. He’s dropped the initial three-hour sleep when I first get him to sleep and I’m hoping it’s just because he’s going through a developmental leap and/or growth spurt. It’s just tough as that hour of sleep at a time we’re getting is actually 10-40 minutes of feeding then the remaining time is sleep for both of us before he stirs/wakes again *sigh*. I’ve been taking him upstairs earlier each night to start a bit of a bedtime routine of a short massage and a wash before reading him a book before a lying down feed in bed. It seems to have helped him go to sleep earlier so we’ll see if he starts to sleep for longer/waking less frequently soon as I’d love a few hours’ sleep in one stint…maybe that’ll stop me from reaching for the Nutella every morning for a snack!?