Yes, OK, I’ve been lax again and it’s been a month since I last posted. Grr, I’m a bit annoyed at myself but the continuing sleep deprivation due to Hudson’s very wakeful nights has made me very unwilling to sit and write when he’s asleep for two reasons: I don’t want to simply moan about how tired I am in a post due to letting the sleepiness get to me and I will admit that slobbing out infront of the TV/looking at Facebook or Insatgram (…OK OK,or the Daily Mail celebrity “sidebar of shame”!) has been my preference on my grumpy days!

Now I have my explanations/apologies out of the way, on with my latest post!

Teeth…ouch! 

Hudson has had his two bottom teeth for about two weeks now. I’m glad they popped through so quickly rather than him having horrid teething pain for weeks with no result. But I knew I was in the breastfeeding danger zone even when it was just the top edges that were through as they were razor sharp! Needless to say for the first week or so I did get chomped every day. Yes, it really does hurt! He used to bite down with his gums sometimes if he didn’t want any more milk and that was uncomfortable but not sore. I don’t even think he’s biting me that hard but I definitely know about it every time as lets just say I have to fight the urge to get him as far away from my boob as quickly as possible when it happens! I’m now more aware of the pre-bite “warning signs” so I had avoided it for a few days now until last night and, let me tell you, it feels much worse when you are just about falling back to sleep in the early hours of the morning after being woken up for the umpteenth time.

Remembering to brush his little teeth is a new thing too. Luckily he really likes it, I’m not sure if it’s because the brushing feels nice on his gums due to more teeth waiting to come through or if it’s the toothpaste he likes. At least it’s not a battle!

Food glorious food

Since we started giving Hudson “proper” food about 2-3 weeks ago we have gone from purées to doing baby led weaning. I was nervous about giving him non-puréed food but he really didn’t like the purées at all so it luckily forced me to go down the baby led route that Sam and I had wanted to do anyway. I have had a few panicky moments when he’s been gagging a bit but I’m slowly getting over it. I’m still getting used to how long to cook veg sticks for so that they’re tender enough for him to eat but not too floppy for him to hold…I’m sure I’ll get there in the end. He’s tried most of the “usual” veggies and a bit of banana and raspberries (his face was a picture when he first tasted a sharp raspberry!) along with a little bit of cheese on toast and crumpet. He’s also been pretty enthusiastic about breakfasts and so far has had porridge fingers, Weetabix and a few Shreddies. I tried him on Ready Brek but, again, he didn’t seem keen on the texture. The crunchier the better it seems!

I’ve loved looking up baby led weaning recipes and am looking forward to cooking them as being in the kitchen cooking from scratch is one of my favourite things to do. Hudson, however, seems the most enthusiastic about anything I am eating rather than veg sticks or anything just for him! I made a quinoa, lentil, feta, red pepper and chorizo salad for our tea yesterday and Hudson was desperate for some so I picked out spoonfuls of just quinoa, lentils and a little feta and it’s the most he’s ever eaten! That’s good news for us though as I’m looking forward to just cooking one meal and him being able to have what we are eating even if it is in tiny portions.

Mummy going it alone

I’ve had my first solo outing this month too. I had arranged a girly catch-up coffee with two of my friends at another friend’s cafe (the Fiddle Drill in Goodmanham – their cake is really tasty) and I thought it might be a good opportunity to leave Hudson with Sam for the first time. My friend’s fiancé and their son came over to keep the boys company – safety in numbers and all! I ended up being out for two hours. Needless to say the nerves I was worried about didn’t come and it was really nice to be able to have an uninterrupted conversation without having to move my coffee and cake away from Hudson’s very long reach. I left Sam with some expressed milk just in case and he did give Hudson some of it whilst I was out. All in all we all had a nice few hours.

Two good things came out of Sam looking after Hudson by himself. The first is Sam now being keen on having another baby – yay! I’ve never wanted an only child so that’s a fantastic development! The second was, after some persuasion, Sam taking Hudson out in the sling this Monday whilst I had my haircut. What has put him off using it before is that Hudson would sometimes get a bit upset in the carrier when Sam wore him and would push away from him. I explained that this is just because he has been tired at the time and he can get a bit restless before finally falling asleep so Sam gave it a few minutes of cuddles before putting him back in the sling when he got fussy at first and, voila, he suddenly had a sleeping baby! Hopefully this gives him the confidence to carry him more often.

Hopefully me getting little bits of time to myself will happen more regularly now. In preparation I have bought a new breast pump that I can use in bed without waking Hudson rather than using my (kindly donated) electric one. It’s a one-piece silicon pump from New Zealand called a Haakaa and it is great! After less than ten minutes and one pump with my hand to suction it on (glamourous I know!) I got 4oz of milk from one side which is more than I have pumped in half an hour from both sides using the electric one!