Get back to your roots!

Often Christmas is about spending time with your family, going back to childhood roots etc.

Speaking of roots I would love it if everyone could extend this thinking by buying a living Christmas tree. It is all too sad and indicative of our wasteful society that after a number of days after the festivities are over that dead trees start piling up outside homes, to be collected and dumped.

Many people think the option is a) an artificial tree or b) to cut down a live tree, but I say option c! Get a small live tree, keep it in a pot, keep giving it regular and small amounts of water, plant it outside when the weather is right (you may want to pre-dig a whole before xmas and then pad it a bit with straw/ old paper.) You could keep it in a well light garage or in a conservatory or greenhouse until spring. I find that giving it a few days to acclimatise in the garage, before planting out and watering regularly once planted is the best way to go.

You can re-use your live tree year after year (until it is too big to bring in any more) as long as you take reasonable care of it. I have in the past kept the root bag over the root ball when re-planting it, making a few breaks in the netting to allow some root growth, but enough coverage to restrict the amount it can grow and therefore extend the number of years you and your family can get enjoyment from it. Then when it is a good size you can decorate it outside and if you wish buy another one for inside and begin the process all over again!

Just to be aware that artificial trees often contain: Lead & other carcinogens.

Flocked trees are a good artificial option and provide the look of snowy branches. The ingredients are usually non-toxic, but these are usually more expensive.

Fiber optic lights/ 'trees' are low energy and therefore have their merits.

LED lights are also an excellent energy saving choice.

But my choice every time is a living tree, one to watch grow over the years as the family grows!

Best wishes for the season.

Tis the season!

Well, it's the last day of work before I get to enjoy two weeks off with my husband and son. I have all the Christmas to do's done (finally), all I need to do is a tidy up of the freezer and deep freeze to make space for the final batches of squash soup and squash puree and we can settle in for our first Christmas as a family!

Personally I think the key to enjoying the holidays (as almost anytime as a parent) preparation is key. The house is loaded up with food - adult and baby, all the gifts are bought, wrapped and under the tree, all the cards are sent, invites replied to.

We use cloth diapers so there is no chance of running out during the festive season and having a frantic search for an open store (yes I loaded up on eco detergent and no I have not yet experimented in making my own, but that is on my imminent to do list!)

I say I am taking two weeks off, but on that to do list are some books and products to review, but luckily all that I have planned can be done around my family and if I have to slip away and write for a bit, I can plan it around nap times.

This year I made it ... I arrived calmly at Christmas ready to enjoy catching up with friends and family. I didn't quite make my own self imposed deadline of everything bought by the end of November, but I came close! I will need to be more resolute next year. So glad tidings to all, if you are feeling the pressure, write down your to do's if it looks overwhelming - cut through the list and be ruthless, just get rid of anything that really is not important, it's the only way!

Deep breathes, relax and think of all your gratitudes! It's a wonderful season to look back over the past year, plan for the year ahead and to count your blessings - they are always there. :)

Amazing Amber

Gooooooooooooooood morning!

Now it is only day one - but so far I am happy! We picked up our baltic amber necklace from our post box and last night after bath time, my little cherub had blazing hot cheeks and a downward smile. :(

I popped on the necklace (receiving some dubious comments from my hubby), I doubled checked that it fit well enough, would not get caught on anything and of course he could not reach to get it into his mouth and then put him to bed.

When he is feeling on top of the world my angel goes to bed somewhere between 6.15 and 6.45, after 45 minutes wakes up once, after a diaper change he then sleeps through the night. Which is why when (like for the last week) he is out of sorts and wakes 3, 4 or more times through the night - both he and I are tired and occasionally cranky the next day!

All I can say, as it is only the next morning - is ta dah! He slept through from his change and woke up happy and rested as did I and it is wonderful. The heat in his cheeks has gone down and so far there is no acidic smell coming from his diaper. (Possibly as a cloth diaper user I would be aware of it more than with disposables, however it has gone away so far.)

For a fully objective review of these wonderful necklaces - I will of course give it more time, but I'm convinced so far! If you want to try it out for yourself, whether it is for teething or any one of the other benefits of these necklaces - there is a link and a 10% discount code on the right hand side of the blog!

If I could cartwheel ... I would do so right now!

OrganicallyFabulous.com

One thing I knew really early on was that I did not want to expose my son to unnecessary chemicals, where possible! I took this back to not even getting any hair colouring in the 12 months prior to his conception!

So during my pregnancy I did all I could to create a happy, healthy home and only applied organic cream to my belly which I have to say worked wonders.

I know some think that genetics etc plays a big part in who gets stretch marks and who doesn't, but all I know is that I started using the cream twice a day from 10 weeks onwards and by the end I was huge!!! HOWEVER I DO NOT HAVE A SINGLE STRETCH MARK - not a sliver!

Having seen such great results on myself, I obviously had no concerns using the baby organic products on my son! They smell great, go on well and are from ONEgroup - the makers of the world's first Certified Organic skincare, haircare, personal care, health care and cosmetic products, which are independently certified to international food grade standards.

I use everything in the range! The bottom cleansing gel is great at change time and does not require any rinsing and so we can use re-useable cloths as wipes and avoid landfill waste as well as not applying chemicals to my son's brand new skin! Both the baby lotion and the barrier balm are great on my son's face when heading out in our chilly winter weather, without them his cheeks would get rather dry!

Totally fabulous! www.organicallyfabulous.com

Cord blood banking

I have every intention of writing a more detailed article in the future on this, but feel compelled to give a response to a tweet and so will do so here:

@TheKidsDoctor - I do disagree. We weighed up our options and for approx $1,000 one off fee and then just $125 a year it seemed a very cost effective 'insurance'. As you say you do get the blood screened when they receive it and so have peace of mind at that time.

Perhaps somewhere between 5 - 8 years of age (by which time most of the 'feared diseases' that could be cured with this technology would have been discovered/ manifested), we could then decide whether or not to continue with the storage and I believe at that time we can donate to medical research or if the system allows public donation.

My choice to co-sleep

For me it was easy to make the decision to co-sleep with my son for the first four months, firstly because I wanted to, but also because all the reasons ‘for’ appealed to me.

I can totally understand why caution is advised and that this has to be a considered and personal choice. For example if you are on any medications that make you drowsy, if you are a restless or fidgety sleeper, any use of drugs or alcohol can also make co-sleeping inadvisable. (Where I say you I also mean your partner if you intend to make it a ‘family’ bed)

Also there are concerns about some of the ‘safety items’ to aid co sleeping. Basically if there is anyway a baby could get trapped by the cushions or buffers that surround them – they should not be used.

Initially I had my son in a bassinet by the side of the bed which any similar arrangement offers the best of both worlds – the closeness, but also the safety of separate sleeping spaces. Saying that when my son’s appetite picked up and was nearly constantly feeding he slept on the bed with me, by which time I was confident in my abilities to share safely.

When he was nearly five months we moved him to his own crib in the nursery and using his bedtime routine we helped to bridge the change as best we could. He took to it fine... it took me over a week to get used to the adjustment as whenever I wanted to be sure he was ok before I would just crack open an eye lid, or even just listen to him breathing. Whereas now the slightest imaginary sound in the house had me up at lightening speed and into his room to be sure he was ok!

Now he is sleeping through and mostly so am I – we have reached a healthy and happy status quo. He has had the close contact here in the ‘outside world’ that he enjoyed whilst growing inside me, but as his needs have changed, so should his sleeping environment. My concern was that if I left it too much longer when developmentally he goes through separation anxiety it would be even harder to make the transition.

Whilst I am in the minority having made this decision, I do think there are those who go against there own wish to co-sleep due to safety fears and worries about how people might perceive this. It is rare amongst mammals to have this desire/ action to separate ourselves from our newborn when we sleep. I hope if by reading this maybe at least one mother who wishes to try it is encouraged to do so, or one closed minded person reconsiders their opinion, as some of my best early memories with my baby are snuggled up in bed, or waking up and looking over and seeing his beautiful, angelic sleeping face!

Taking time to tick things off the to do list...

... is very important for mental well being and therefore good parenting!

Being relaxed rather than anxious and feeling the weight of the to do's yet done.

Ticking the jobs off one by one, it's tempting to sit down to re-charge....

Can now breathe a big sigh before pushing onward with more things on the list!

Travel items

Well I'm searching for travel items... things to make our trip to the UK, in the New Year, even easier.

Like an 'on the go' high chair, on the go potty, travel bath ... those sorts of things.

All recommendations are appreciated as I need to pack light, but still make sure I cover the necessaties!

Winter preparedness

There are so many things you need to do for winter preparations, but one I recently did for my peace of mind was to put an emergency box in my car.

This box has blankets, hat, gloves usual breakdown kit etc.

But also I have a vital set of supplies for my son: spare diapers - cloth (so one size fits all, therefore no worries about keeping current sizes), food, dry clothes etc.

Whilst I am not planning to take a drive in adverse conditions - weather can well ... sneak up on you! As a mom I do worry about worse case scenario's - possibly too much, that's up for debate. I do find that I can put those worries to good use. I think through all the supplies I would need if my son and I were stuck somewhere in the car and now having planned and packed for such an eventuality, I can at least rest my concerns about not being able to manage.

Also when coming home from a trip I fill up with fuel to ensure we always have a nearly full tank wherever we go.

In my house in the freezer - I have enough baby meals frozen to last til spring and some supplies to keep mum and dad going too! (Perhaps I was a squirrel in a past life?)

Quiet time

My son has never been a good napper – he’d rather be up and about and seeing the world than close his eyes. Something we did early on and have continued to get benefit from is quiet time!

We do all the normal quietening bedtime things story books etc and we place him in his crib, often it takes a lot of complaining and soothing and then he settles down and just looks around the room, taking it all in and having that down time that babies so badly need to process all the days activities.

Reading this you may think we are missing his sleeping cues and putting him down at the wrong time, we’re not he just loves to fight sleep – if the sun is up, so am I! :)

Bedtime routine advice coming soon.

Breast is best

When even the formula manufacturers are putting this in their marketing and packing etc, you know that it has to have a lot of truth to it!

But what if you can't or don't want to?

Why did I have such a fear/ inkling that all would not go to my breastfeeding plan. Was it because my pregnancy and labour were not they way I wanted them to be? Whatever it was I was one of the unlucky ones for whom something that nature designed was just out of my reach!

However all was not lost - I was so very determined and whilst my doctor could not fathom why I was so willing to persist, she did at least offer me some medication 'domperidone' which along with the natural supplement fenugreek I popped regularly, racking up to 26 tablets a day. We were also unfortunately, also having to supplement feed with some formula.

This did mean we had all the work of making bottles on top of the time spent breastfeeding, but at least this way my son and I were getting the magical close time together & he was getting the immune boost, whilst getting the calories and the fullness from the bottle.

I think with all my experiences rich and diverse so far - I would say to anyone that what works for you and your baby is what works. If you can breastfeed and it goes well for you - you are lucky. If you can and choose not to - don't beat yourself up about it, don't feel you have to justify it to complete strangers who have the odd habit of asking you directly if you are breastfeeding!

Happy mum and happy baby go hand in hand. Breast may be best, but happy, fed and content is the true goal!

Setting a routine

Routine has different connotations to different people. Use this advice as you see fit.

Some books do require you to have a rigid routine from the word go, often suggesting you may miss a window and it's all down hill from now!

Luckily enough our babies - firstly haven't read 'the books', secondly are all different. It is however true that if at least at bedtime you do not get some structure in place in the early months that it then can become a lot harder when teething and everything else brings nightime challenges up a notch!

Whilst in the hospital we were asked to log all 'activities' and when we got home (due to slow weight gain) we continued to do this for a while. With a baby sometimes getting through three diapers in 15 minutes, writing each change down at the time seemed ridiculous. However one day a few weeks in I studied the general pattern of our boy's day and then tried to set a schedule based on that. We tweaked it as per his needs and it was ever evolving and he developed and thankfully got better at feeding!

Having watched my son and followed his activities so closely - I had a good idea before he needed something, what that would be. These skills my husband and I honed over time and were very quickly rewarded with a content little boy who had to cry a whole lot less to be understood.

We were a lot more confident at reading his cues and recognising individual sounds or patterns which reduced the anxiety level in the house immeasurably. To this day he is still 95% of the time a very content little boy - for which we feel very lucky and grateful, I would definitely put in those hard yards at the beginning, if I had to do it all over again!

Visitors - welcome or otherwise...

Depending on your own personality will depend on how you feel about this: after your little bundle arrives back home all your family, friends and neighbours will want to visit and meet your new addition.

For some this can be an overwhelming whirlwind of guest after guest and feeling an unnecessary need to keep you, baby and the house in visitor friendly status. Whilst you may wish instead to just cuddle up and absorb yourself in your baby's needs and work together to form some kind of 'routine' - I use this phrase lightly!

With this relaxed approach you can at least feed when your baby wants, sleep when/ if possible and not have to entertain.

I was lucky enough that the day we came home from the hospital it was a lovely warm spring day and we went straight to the garden and soaked up some fresh air (most welcome after being in the hospital) and our neighbours all got the chance to meet our little guy in one go, in the relaxed surroundings of the garden.

I'm not suggesting you have to have people over before you have even set foot in the door yourself, but it was a great (unplanned) way to introduce our bundle in one fell swoop. So perhaps post a note on your door when you are back inviting any neighbouring well wishes to a coffee on a set day and time that suits, doing something similar for family and friends (obviously not with a note on the door.)

Now when it comes to living overseas from your own immediate family, it poses another challenge .. fending off their eagerness to jump on a plane & meet your little one! In my case I had hoped for 2 or 3 months to get into the swing of things first, but I only managed to get just under 3 weeks to do so. I do understand the flip side that my parents were now grandparents to my gorgeous bundle and it was exciting, but I have decided if we are to be blessed with baby number two that I will have to insist on my way - perhaps the threat of moving into a hotel at an unknown location should an earlier than requested appearance take place, would possibly do the trick!

Take my advice if you want the help on hand - ask for it, if you don't insist that this be respected.

The cloth vs disposable debate

I'd like to say it's an age old debate which to use, but with disposable diapers (nappies to the Brits) evolving from the 1940's into something similar to the product we know today, being launched by Pampers in 1961 - it's a relatively new debate.

There are those who would just not consider using cloth diapers and I totally get that - I mean these wonderful convenient products have been invented, it may seem totally crazy to consider 'going back to the old days'!

However cloth diapers now are so different from the huge bulky bits of material they used to be (just like the disposable diaper has changed from it's original forms) I do challenge anyone to just at least try it - even part time at home before making a final decision. Many cloth diaper companies offer 'trial size' packs to get you started. You could even consider these as an investment ... a safety net should you (as can easily happen) get to the last few diapers in a pack and think you need to make a fast dash to the store to get more, you can always have these on hand.

Depending on your mind set will depend on which of the arguments 'pro cloth' may appeal to you. I am a thrifty tree hugger so the economical and environmental arguments are closest to my heart. I have heard people argue with the cost of laundering them yourself tips the scale against - but it is just not true. Also in my experience I found I was doing a laundry load every day anyway, it wasn't too much trouble to have soaked the diapers then run them thro a rinse cycle before putting on a full load.

Even if you are very fashionable in your diaper choices and your baby is decked out in leopard print and other cute designs possible, you would be hard pressed to spend more than your counterparts using disposables.

My baby was possibly an exception to the average rule, as being wet for even a second was intolerable - which I always saw as good as he would not be sat around in his own bodily waste for long and therefore helping greatly to prevent diaper rash. Not only this, his skin was not being exposed to bleach, fragrances and the myriad of chemicals put into diapers for any number of reasons including a wetness indicator! Babies young skin absorbs these harsh chemicals far too quickly for me to personally consider even as a choice.

I realised a few months in that some of my non cloth friends were doing 4 - 6 diaper changes a day, whilst I was doing 18 or more (thankfully now it is a lot less) but it's a two minute job and enjoyable bonding time with my baby on the change table! So I didn't mind much.

For those who like the idea of cloth, but not the work - there are diaper services out there and they are very reasonable, often costing less than using disposables! Just check the green credentials of the laundering process and be prepared to be storing used diapers for up to a week.

Other planetary considerations not often discussed about disposables - the solid waste is supposed to be disposed of in the toilet, sadly however it is all too often thrown out with the diaper and therefore goes to landfill, adding to the workload the poor earth has in absorbing our general waste. Not only that they now get individually wrapped inside a scented plastic bag!

There are those who use toilet training as a key decision maker and it is one that appealed to my husband. Especially with our son not liking being wet at all - we knew that toilet training would come a lot sooner and be a lot easier as a result of using cloth. (On this note please watch for forthcoming coverage of elimination communication and it's benefits.)

Baby hydration - in the hospital we were advised to keep a record of how many wet diapers a day our baby had to ensure he was getting enough milk. I am unsure how mums using disposables can tell whether a wet diaper had been wetted once or more..?

Some numbers for you - most cloth diaper companies recommend considering purchasing 36 diapers and approx 6 covers. This is an upfront investment and therefore always seems more expensive, but when you consider the total cost of disposables you can see it stacks up. (I will be adding an article later about different types and styles of cloth that I have used and my thoughts.) But to give you an idea as to how much of an investment each of them could be I found Diaper Decisions to have a good rule of thumb guide here
http://www.diaperdecisions.com/pages/cost_of_cloth_diapers.php

The average baby going through in excess of 7,000 disposable diapers, costing over $2,500. Depending on the individual child and when they are toilet trained, will depend on the final total. The investment of cloth diapers can pay for themselves within as little as six months! (That factors in laundering too.)

Cloth diapering was an easy decision for us, now my son is six months old - I look forward to all his future changes affectively being free!

The soother saga!

Soothers/ pacifiers/ dummies!

They bring out such strong reactions in parents and non parents alike. I know I had an opinion on them and like many woman before me - had to change my opinion fast!

I thought it was a parental option ... one you took if you wanted to silence your baby. I think it is an easy mistake for many people BEFORE they have a baby to think this way.

Once my little guy reached two weeks I just knew the one thing missing from his ability to attain happiness/ contentedness - was a soother. Babies suck to soothe, it's biological fact.

Throwing all my ideals of my baby not needing/ wanting a soother, I researched the best one for him - to then be advised by my dentist that up until age one a soother cannot affect his mouth or teeth negatively. That a good diet and oral health were the key factors that as a parent I could influence.

With a soother he instantly settled down and it was not long before he only 'needed' it at night. My next incorrect assumption was that I would throw out the soother by 6 months! Knock Knock - hello teething!

The trick is to have your ideals - but be ready to forget them if your baby needs you to!

Clean machine!

If you are anything like me - you were happy before that you home was 'clean', but when a baby arrives in the house you feel the need for it to be more than just clean! So for me the homemade sanitiser came to the rescue!

I'm not saying that my house is now totally germ free, but I have piece of mind that I have sanitised all key surfaces and I keep them that way.

Using an empty household cleaner bottle - I mix a tablespoon of bleach with a quart of water (2 Pints/ 32 oz/ 4 cups), then make sure it is labelled and keept on hand in the kitchen. I use this up fairly quickly and then just make some more fresh, if you want to make larger quantities you can use a quarter cup of bleach to a gallon of water.

If you are worried you have put in too much bleach - you always have the sniff test! The bleach smell should not be too strong.

Also a word of caution - if you are a fan of homemade cleaners, be careful not to mix with cider vinegar or acid, as it gives off a toxic gas.

Baby on a budget!

Now I am from frugal stock, but I have taken my fruggality to new highs (or new lows) whichever way you want to look at it.

Starting out setting up for a baby can be a vey expensive business, or not - it depends on you and those around you. Having just emmigrated with the bare basics, buying a fixer upper house, two cars and having a baby whilst transitioning employment meant we were not going to be the parents with the perfectly co-ordinated nursery nor was our baby going to be in clothes so new they had the labels still on.

We were lucky enough to have family, friends and neighbours with children - all of whom were pleased to clear out there closets and back up their trucks to our door with beautiful, gently used clothes and accessories.

Looking in the local paper we were able to get a very nice solid wood dresser for $20 (approx £12) which we sanded and painted white and turned into a dresser/changetable. We had a bassinet as a loaner and anything we didn't have we scoured online ads and charity / pre-owned stores.

One day whilst driving along - I swiftly pulled into a side road, my husband was out of the car and opening the back door ready to check our son in a flash, before I even had time to point out an item I had yet been able to procure - a laundry hamper, it has one foot shorter than the others, but other than that is perfectly useful and also handily painted white!

Costs (not corners) can be cut everywhere in a baby budget - food when old enough can be home made and I will cover that at a later date, cloth (re-useable) diapers/ nappies can save a fortune - yes even with laundry costs. Anyone against using diapers always cites the cost of laundry as a reason not to go cloth. But anyone with a baby knows you are already put the machine on once a day when you have a baby!

We used soft face cloths in small squares with a squirty water bottle on the change table, for all but the worst diaper changes and we have a tub of wipes ready for those.

There will be more budget tips throughout relevant posts. Watch this space

Rest now, before the baby arrives!

This in my personal opinion could not be more rubbish!

For one - you cannot bank sleep! You will be tired from labour no matter what rest you had before, they call it labour, not spa for a reason!

I will now tone down the exclamation marks. I decided to not listen to the rest now advice, for one I'd had to sleep upright on the couch for the last three months of my pregnancy - otherwise my son would do a hiccupping tango all night long in my belly. Plus with the 'morning' sickness, which for me was morning noon and night and almost the entire pregnancy lying down made me nauseous.

When 9 months pregnant I was out in the garden planting seeds (stupidly in blazing 3pm heat, but anyway) I had to get all the things done once having a baby would be difficult and that would if left undone would bug me. But here is also what else I did and have shared with any pregnant woman who cares to listen - cook!

I'm not some old fashioned thinking person, with the whole preggers baking in the kitchen, I'm being practical... fill the freezer with lasagne, pasta sauce, soups... whatever suits your taste, time of year and well: your freezer space! Even some frozen bread and milk etc will, at some point in those early weeks with a new baby in your house, save the day! On some days when we didn't even care what we ate - frozen waffles did the trick.

You will need to snatch all the sleeping opportunities you can, a f t e r the baby is born* - so why waste time trying to cook food when you can stockpile a wholesome feast, or at least the bare bones that you can build on.

So just do what I learnt to do during pregnancy, nod, smile at the unwelcome advice, filter it out and go home and take out your frustration on some dough and then freeze it. :)

* I wish to note - sleep opportunities after the baby is born, may possibly be rare and well, like me, you may choose to attack the pile of cloth diapers instead of sleeping.. & that's ok too!

Plan 'C'

When Plan A is no longer an option!

After three attempts at an external version to turn my beautiful breech boy didn't succeed, my doctor advised against anything other than a C-Section. Which was so far down my list of preferences, I already had a birth doula and scented candles at the ready, so this did not fit with my image of bringing my baby into the world!

There was one extra twist in my pregnancy tale, being new to Candian shores and submitting my visa application once I got here, my medical coverage was not yet in place and whilst it's a long story it would not start until three days after my due date and no one seemed able to help with that.

So at 41 weeks, four days after my due date, holding my brand new medical card, at 5.15am my husband and I left the house, we dropped off some books in the library drop off box, my husband got a coffee at the drive through. My stomach growled having not been allowed to eat from 12pm the night before. (I do want to give a hats off to my wonderful husband who at 11.30pm cooked me a pancake feast!)

We arrived at the hospital, without any of that movie drama / comedic dash full of high jinx and funny moments to recant in later days. I was admitted and hooked up to machines and was advised I was having six & a half minute long contractions (so that's what they were, been having them for 3 weeks!) and could I please hold on the appointed two hours until my doctor was on duty as the current doctor is not a fan of breech births!

Trying not to feel too panicked by this, I settled into my calm happy place and just hoped that it would all go to the 'new plan'.

I wasn't warned that I would have to walk myself into the operating room, through intimidating double doors, that my husband and I would be apart for 20 mins plus for the prep part and nothing prepared me for the chilly environs of the operating room! Well without going into too much detail here, they hooked me up to the blood pressure monitor, but unfortunately with the cold and my reaction to the medication I was shaking so much that the monitor could not read my pressure and would alarm, unless a nurse came and knelt on my arm to hold it still!

Once 'in there' my doctor (my hero) advised me that she had been right to recommend just going straight to a section and that I had a heart shaped uterus and that was why he was breech and also why my painful versions had not worked. Well good to know and thank heavens for my doctors great instincts!

(Prior to my section I had had a hard time dealing with the news that I should not try a 'natural' labour. However I had done my best to keep a positive outlook on it all and just focus on the outcome - becoming a family. My concern was to not pass on my worries to my baby and thereby continuing to give him the best fetal origins possible.. to be discussed further, later.)

It's a boy!

Well it's been a whirlwind - packing up and leaving my home country of England to move to Canada with my husband, giving away so many possessions (& unbeknown to me at the time - losing some more in transit!)

Our new life is very fortunately going to be starting off under my in-laws roof, whilst we house hunt and find a car etc. We are very lucky to have this welcoming home to come into, little did we (or they) know that two weeks later I would be holding a positive pregnancy test and life was never going to be the same again!

Statistically some mums will suffer morning sickness, most of those who do - it passes by manageably and usually around the 12 week mark. Less than 10% of sufferers go beyond the 16 week stage, sadly I can count myself amongst their number!

I cannot imagine what was going through the minds of my husband's family having this woman move in and less than three weeks later she confines herself to the 'smallest room in the house'!

This is the reason why I waited until my son was 6 months old to recount the wonderful joys of my journey into motherhood and beyond!

I look back fondly at the day we had the scan and got the news that we were expecting a boy, my heart was overjoyed. We both know that it wouldn't have matter either way: pink or blue, but now my growing bump had an identity... our son!