the return of the mullet.

i’m going to admit to something pretty controversial here…

we trimmed our baby’s hair.

now i know some of you will be thinking, that’s no big deal, i did it with my baby, it’s totally normal. but the reason i say it’s controversial is because about half of the people i told nearly bit my head off. they said, you never ever ever ever touch a baby’s hair! it’s gorgeous and perfect and why should you need to cut it?!

this is why.

exhibit a

this picture doesn’t really do our baby’s mullet justice. let’s just say it was a true and proper throwback, business in the front party in the back kind of hairdo. so we trimmed the back ever so slightly a month or so ago, just to give our poor little baby a less redneck look. and i thought that would be the end of it; that s would grow luscious toddler locks so i could start putting pretty barrettes and braids in her hair.

but no.

the mullet returned. (see the bottom right photo for proof).

exhibit b

and now the question set before us is this: to trim or not to trim?!

i’d be inclined to say no, since a. i don’t want to be attacked for a second time by the baby hairstyle purists (ahem MOM) and b. i really want s’s hair to start growing out. HOWEVER we have a professional photo shoot scheduled for this saturday (with the fabulous francesca of francesca db photography) and i don’t want her to look unkempt.

so it’s time for a vote: yes or no to (another) tiiiiiiiiny haircut?

(and happy halloween from my little kitty to you and yours!)

it’s the most wonderful time of the year…for coughs and colds. also, i want to become a crafty(ier) mom.

so apparently colds last FOREVER. at least it feels that way right now. s has been nursing a very light case of the sniffles for the last few weeks and hasn’t really been that bothered about it. until this week. this week the floodgates opened and s’s whole face has been a ball of snot. poor thing. she’s still lovely and happy (most of the time…apparently colds make babies more liable to scream bloody murder when put down for a nap) but sounds like a chainsaw when she sleeps and can’t quite work out how to cough up the rattles in her chest.

she still manages to squeeze in her studies with a cold.

all of this lovely mucus in my life = tired mommy. for all of you lovely mommies out there currently thinking to yourselves, i have this parenting thing licked, easy peasy…you’re WRONG. you’re so massively wrong. i’ve finally decided to listen to all the wizened old mamas in my life who have always told me that as soon as you utter those silly words, your baby will find something else to completely mess up your sleep. i’m resigned to the fact that i will never regularly sleep through the night until my children are teenagers (if i’m not up waiting for them to come home past curfew…there might have been one or two members of my family responsible for doing that to my own mom a few times!) and so four hours in a row should be more than sufficient.

in other news, i’ve decided i need to get a hobby. preferably one that could make me money. now i’m not aspiring to be the next martha stewart, but a few wifey trades would serve me well. so i want to start sewing and doing other crafty things. the good news here is that this trade requires more shopping!!! so i officially want this for christmas (p are you listening?!) so that i can make adorable clothes, accessories, and decorations for s and our home. how freaking adorable are the baby accessories in this article?!?!? (not my baby, obviously.)

but don’t worry, i will still frequent the likes of fantastic shops like iviebaby (beware: once you click that link, you will want to buy everything in the whole entire etsy shop. also: look before you have your baby; there are some awesome ideas for kitting out baby’s room!).

guest post: baby led weaning wednesday at awayathomemom

one of my friends from uni in the states, away at home mom, blogs about her adventures with raising a baby in an alternative setting. she, her husband, their daughter, and their bernese mountain dog live in an RV and plan to travel the states instead of living the regular static american lifestyle. check out her blog for her weekly baby led weaning posts, among other things. this week i guest posted about our BLW adventures (specifically throwing food, yum). enjoy!

(even more) retail therapy

since apparently i can’t go a week without buying something for s (i have no self control when it comes to this baby) i made a little purchase on the mamas and papas website last night. ok, so it was three things, not just one. but shhhhhh it’s all in the name of free delivery.

 

we’ve had our eye on this activity centre for quite awhile now but since i’m just as indecisive as i was at nine months pregnant i couldn’t commit to this being the ADD maker we bought for our baby. i have mixed feelings about this sort of product anyway, but i’ve recently come to the conclusion that sometimes mommy needs to be able to be more than a foot away from baby, for both of our sanity. also, i really want to get back into baking, which is just not possible with a rolling and almost crawling seven month old. we really liked this particular activity centre because it is NOT a walker…i can’t get my head around the idea of s cruising around the room in a giant plastic car, and it would probably defeat the purpose of putting her in it in the first place. we also like that it has some toys that aren’t plastic…i know that bright, plastic toys can’t really be avoided with babies, but it’s nice to have a little variety. also, fabric toys are less likely to cause goose eggs and fat lips (s is currently suffering from her first fat lip from falling onto a stacking cup…cue the bad mommy music). most importantly, the price is right. most of the activity centres/jumperoos/walkers out there cost £2938562 and we cannot afford another ridiculously priced piece of kit right now. seriously though, £110 for a piece of plastic? no thank you.

so last night i bit the bullet. fingers crossed it comes before s is too big to use it (it was one of those ‘order now for delivery in late october’ things, so if it’s not here by the end of the month i’m opening a can on mamas and papas). thank the baby gods for online shopping!

also, i bought this buggy book (s’s favorite story at the moment) and these shoes (if she will ever fit into them…i had her feet measured yesterday and she’s only a 1.5!!!). seriously, no restraint.

ps. sorry for the lame links earlier…think it’s an issue with the mamas and papas site being uk based and generally silly with links. hope these show up better!

 

new ways to follow my blog!

i’ve decided to reaffirm my commitment to my blog by posting more often about life (as blah as it may seem some days) so here’s a way for you to follow me, particularly if you don’t have a wordpress account yourself. 

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4112490/?claim=hjzgzdknqw4″>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

also, a shoutout to Michelle at The American Resident for her inclusion of my post r.i.p. frank on the BritMums Expat Roundup this week! thanks so much!

love! ❤ 

seven months

dear sophia,

this past month has been CRAZY! on friday you turned seven months old. i think it’s about time i stop counting the weeks, but i take a picture every monday just to see how you’re developing.

this month i finally took you swimming for the first time, and you LOVED it! well, apart from when i dunked you under the water, but you got over it and get better every time we do it. you love kicking around the pool in an inner tube and splashing away for almost half an hour. you don’t love changing in and out of your bathing suit, but who does?!

you’re becoming a little pro at eating these days. you’ve progressed from eating sticks of food to eating pretty much whatever we give you. you still drop lots and spit bits out some of the time, but you can eat out of the palm of your hand and you’re definitely digesting most of your food (if you know what i mean, in the diaper department). you use all THREE (yes, three!) of your teeth to gnaw on things for quite a long time. meals usually take at least 30 minutes these days. favorites at the moment include any bread product, yogurt, tomatoes, and fruit. you eat three meals a day most days and sit nicely in any high chair. you love meal times but hate being cleaned up. in fact, your bloody murder scream is even louder this month (i didn’t think it was possible).

my little baby zoolander has finally learned how to turn left! you roll both ways around the room and you’re THIS close to crawling. when you’re playing on your tummy you can rotate your body around to get the toys you want. we think we saw you creep a little bit today, and we hope that next month we can report that you’re moving all around the place. even though that means lots more bumps on the head (something that has just started recently and stresses me out big time!). i think life is about to get a lot more interesting very very soon.

your sleeping is much much better lately, mostly because we (okay, i) finally plucked up the courage to sleep train you a little bit. last week we were at the end of our rope with trying to get you back to sleep in the middle of the night, so we let you cry in your travel cot for five minutes. the first time we tried this you cried for a total of eight minutes, and have never cried longer than that. you really can get yourself back to sleep if you try! you still rely on your dummy and frank 2.0 (yes, we lost frank this month, but mommy still doesn’t talk about it) to get yourself to sleep but whatever works is okay with us! you have two naps a day most days, unless you wake up particularly early and need an extra one to get you through the day. you don’t really need to eat at night anymore, but sometimes you like a feed and a cuddle after six to eight hours of sleep. we WILL be moving you into your own room this week (okay, i said it so it has to happen, right?) and you will officially be a big girl.

this month you’ve asserted your independence in lots of new ways and your lovely personality is starting to shine. you play nicely and happily by yourself and with other people. you know what you like and you’ll be damned if someone isn’t going to give it to you. you have a pair of LUNGS on you, girl! you love kissing and laughing and playing rough. you’re our lovely little baby girl now, growing up too quickly!

love you lots!

my lovely little girl ❤