New term chores list

Today is the first day of term with children for John and we are also back off to baby college today.  I have just been doing my Monday jobs.  I didn't really see do my chores thoroughly while it was the holidays, but started them again last week while John had a week of inset days.  I realised that there were some I forgot to do as I was no longer checking the list on the blog so decided to make a list that I could have out.  I sat down to do that this morning when I remembered the blackboard with days I had.  I also added on the other jobs that I have been wanting to do which I put down to specific days last week to help me get them done.

I am still enjoying this and finding it manageable and helpful.

Malteaser Fudge

Lizzie sent me this link after she had made some for me and it was right up my street.  I made it myself once at new year and am about to try it again!

That link no longer seems to work so either try this one on twitter or I'll put the basic details here.

300g chocolate, melted in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat for 10 seconds until melted.
Mix in 375g condensed milk and 350g of malteasers.
Put in a lined baking tin.
Set in the fridge then cut into pieces.

Great Gifts - for baby!

We have been so blessed to receive so many fantastic for our lovely baby.  We are very grateful for our little girl and it's meant we haven't really had to buy anything for her ourselves.  I am hesitant to start this list, as it will imply that some some gifts we received weren't as great as these ones, but that is not my intention at all.  Everything we received was so appreciated. I love the sentimental gifts like the blankets.  I love the practical gifts like the baby wipes.  This is more a list of gifts that were perhaps a surprise, or weren't things I would have thought to give before.  Therefore I want to record those before I forget in the hope that I will then remember them to give to others in the future. And I won't be able to make and give a beautiful Fair Isle blanket so that's why wonderful gifts like that haven't made it on to the list! It's also a list of things that I don't think would matter too much if you had too many of them or they could be easily passed on - so "Bonnie" lettering hasn't made it on, or Peter Rabbit milestone cards. Hopefully that's enough disclaimers to get on with the list - but is still not enough for me to post it on the other blog!!

Clothes - we have received so many items of clothing, that we have only bought her two newborn Bambi onesies so far.  I think and hope it may be quite a while before we have to buy her any clothes as lots of people were thoughtful enough to buy bigger sizes too.

• Bundler - not sure if that's their common name, but found it on a label.  We had never heard of them before but made nappy changes so much easier at night!
• Swimsuit - would never have thought of as a gift - a bigger size was a good idea.
• Sun hat - if baby is born at that time of year.  Used daily!

Books - I am keen for Bonnie to be a reader so am pleased to be starting early!

• Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes - made me well up on first reading!
• Milo's Black and White World - first book she took an interest in and read multiple times during her third month
• Where's Mr Owl - love the felt flaps.
• Goodnight stories for rebel girls

Gifts for parents - definitely something I am going to try to remember to do!

• Cake! - yum!
• Chocolate bars/Celebrations - so appreciated!
• Flapjacks for night feeds
• The New Mum's Notebook - love this notebook and it's advice.  Think it deserves it's own blog post!
• Nursing tops - worn everyday!

Miscellaneous

•  Bamboo MuslinZ muslins - noticeably stronger, softer and pleasanter than normal ones.

Expanding weekly chores

I started my weekly chores and wrote the blog post about them not knowing how I would get on. I am proud to say that I have been doing them for three weeks now and haven't missed a day.  It has also really helped me to relax in between times knowing that I will see to it on its designated day. Sometimes I might have done something a day ahead if I know I'm going to be busy that day, which is a nice feeling.  Bins I have found hard to do when I am at home during the day with Bonnie so sometimes I have done that on a different evening, but it is a good mental check for me on a Tuesday to see if they have been done or still need doing.  I have also noticed the slight stress over areas that aren't covered on the weekly schedule feeling I ought to be seeing to them.  So I am keen to expand the list to include some additional chores that I will hopefully get done on the designated day.  So here is the new list:

Daily
wash up
laundry
prepare tea
clear work top area (as clear surfaces are good for John's mental health)

Weekly
Monday - clear out/clean fridge and freezer, clean microwave, kitchen cupboard doors
Tuesday - bins (empty and wipe out), tweezers, oven
Wednesday - bathroom (at least sink and toilet.  include these on a rotation, probably in decreasing order of frequency: end of bath, shower unit, shower screen, floor, towel rail, shelving unit
Thursday - Bonnie's room, bedding/towels wash
Friday - hoover (ready for any visitors at the weekend!), wipe room doors, tidy up lounge, patio window area.

I feel really happy about this list.  I think it has pretty much everywhere covered now and the days seem do-able.  I also really like the mentality that I don't have to do everything for the day every week.  As long as some of it gets done and I do the most noticable and pressing bits for that day, then I will feel good.  For example today, Monday, I have looked through food in fridge, cleaned one door shelf, wiped entire front of fridge and freezer, cleaned microwave, wiped one cupboard door.

I found it interesting that I haven't put anything down for the weekends.  That did make me feel rather lazy this weekend, especially as John had a big sort of some places.  But I do think I want to try and keep weekends flexible.

Hope to come back with an update at some point.  It's three weeks till the summer holidays so I would definitely like to keep it up till then, but not sure what will happen after that. 

Musical - Hairspray

Well I wasn't expecting to be writing about a trip to the theatre so soon after having Bonnie!  John very kindly bought me a ticket to see Hairspray in Oxford as a treat for looking after our little girl.  This was rather sooner than I would have left Bonnie (nearly 3 months old), but John wanted me to have a good time so I thought I would do my best not to think too much about what might be going on at home and enjoy the show.

I defrosted some milk, having no idea whether Bonnie would drink from a bottle or cup.  I fed her at 6.30 and unusually she fell asleep so I popped her in her bed and set off.  It was funny dressing and thinking that I didn't need a nursing appropriate top and I had to find a handbag to take!  I cycled to the theatre which was the first time in a long time - and sadly my tires were rather flat.

I made it and got to my seat.  The balcony was closed and the circle probably only half full which I felt was rather a disappointment for such a fun show on a Friday night. The show was really good.  I was expecting to enjoy the show as I had seen it twice before and know the music well, but it pleased me more than I expected. There were quite a few songs that I had forgotten about and found myself singing along to (in my head).  I loved the colours, clothes, dance numbers and general spectacle.  You can't stop the beat is still a definite highlight.  I find the story line and politics most interesting, and although the character motives are highly undeveloped I guess that's not the point of a musical.

And amazingly I got home at 10.30 and our little one had slept the whole time!!  What a girl!

Weekly chores

I'm enjoying blogging on my new blog, but felt this was a post more suited to here than there. I have now given the new blog address to two people and I think from the stats that one of them has looked at it, but that could just have been me!

Anyway, back to the chores.  When John first went back to work, my aim for the day was a shower and to do the washing up.  I had a list of other things I would like to get done at some point but they were non-essential and could be done at any point if the situation arrived. I was also really lucky that my mum and in-laws were very keen to help out and do jobs when they visited.  Aren't I a lucky new mummy.  So I started a list of things that I used to do, but wasn't doing anymore.  It included things like cleaning the inside of the microwave. 

Now that I was 6 weeks into this new routine, I decided I could start a daily household chore and I lay in bed coming up with ideas.  So I wrote them down, stuck it on the fridge and I have now done a week of it and am feeling very pleased to have accomplished them all.  I am not giving myself a particular time to do it during the day, the hope is that just at some point time (or Bonnie) will allow me to do it.  So here's the list:

Daily
wash up
laundry
prepare tea

Weekly
Monday - clear out/clean fridge and freezer
Tuesday - bins (empty and wipe out)
Wednesday - bathroom
Thursday - Bonnie's room
Friday - hoover (ready for any visitors at the weekend!)

Now I don't have to clean the whole bathroom every Wednesday.  I just need to do a bit of it each week. So this week I did the toilet, sink, outside of shower screen and end of the bath.  Hopefully next week I will do some of those and the shower head or inside shower screen.  And obviously I don't only empty bins on Tuesday but I want to make sure I clean some of them on a Tuesday.

Last weekend I also redid the meal planner with two weeks worth of simple meals that I felt I'd be able to prepare, more or less anything without a recipe.  I did an online order and have managed to make some of them this week. Here's that list:

Monday - Vegi haggis, vegetable biriyani
Tuesday - CCC
Wednesday - jacket potato, laksa noodles
Thursday - meatballs and linguine, pancakes
Friday - sausage and mash, pasta bake
Saturday - salmon tikka, fish finger baguette
Sunday - veg lasagne, wraps

I did slightly more complicated ones (well, the lasagne) at the weekend, thinking we might be out and so I wouldn't have to make it that much, but if so would hopefully have more time!  I am keen to keep these meals for a while, but I know John tends to get bored of the same thing after a while.

I wonder how long I will keep all of this up?!

Parental Thoughts

Parental thoughts - written back in August 2017 and read again for the first time today.

With the possibility of being pregnant, I have been surprised how much I've been enjoying thinking about the future world of parenting. I've always found it a very terrifying thought before and still do really. The thought of being responsible for a whole human and how they turn out. What if I mess up? I think of the nice parents of the troublesome children at school - what if that happens to us? I know that really, I will mess up, lots. I've just got to hope it's not in too damaging a way. I also know that parenting is going to be hard and tiring and then tiring and tough some more. A few first time parents have spilled the beans and said no one ever really says how tough it is. We will struggle but I want to remember to invest in our marriage and keep that the most important thing and not to let the tiredness take over.

But enough of the depressing thoughts for now. With all these anticipatory thoughts I've been having, I thought I'd create a list of the plans I have.

Number one on the list though is, anything can change when you are in the position so don't judge and expect this whole list to get turned upside down when reality strikes, or maybe just when I've done a bit more research! When that happens, I hope this list will be a funny reminder of how naive I was!

2. I hope I will be happy about my child eating dirt. I remember watching M.W. putting stones in her mouth and her parents watching on quite contentedly. I'd rather not have to sterilise a spoon every time it drops on the floor.  I have buyed into the thought that we overly clean things so children don't build up immunity and that's why there are so many allergies etc now.
3. Laughing whenever baby gets a bump. I would love my child to brush off any knocks and scrapes without tears. C/o family B.
4. Fit the child around our life, not life around the child. Very easy to say but very hard in practice I imagine.
5. I'd like to be a laid back parent, and generally consider myself a carefree person, but given my anxiety around houses without stair gates, I'm not sure that will be me!
6. I don't want to buy any toys except maybe for birthdays. I'm sure they will be given plenty and probably don't need anything we don't have in the house anyway. As they grow I want to try and keep toys for birthdays and Christmas so that they really are a special treat. Books from charity shops will be ok though! S.L. and family M.
7. I don't want to spend a lot on baby equipment either in a keeping up with the Jones' way. I'd rather make do without or get second hand. I think family H are a good example there of not bowing to peer pressure.
8. A long term thing, but I'd love to do the character first monthly value scheme which I read about in a homeschool blog.

I am generally pretty worried of being clueless in handling a baby. I like to feel I know what I'm doing and can't really imagine going anywhere when I'm not sure how to manage. I want to be confident in getting baby and buggy in and out of car. I want to be confident breastfeeding in public. I want to be confident changing nappies. I can't at the moment imagine going by myself to a baby group but will really want to. I hope I can be brave.

Hehe - that was fun to read and I'm quite impressed with it really.  I think we are doing pretty well on the sort of parents we want to be so far.  I'll hopefully read again each year and see how things have changed and write a little comment.

2.  Well, she hasn't eaten dirt yet, but we have been laid back with cleanliness.  No one has had to wash their hands before touching her.
3. Ask in another year...
4. Feel we are doing that one really well at the moment.  Going to formal hall, flying to Orkney.  Loving that she isn't on a schedule at the moment so we don't have to fit around her.
5. So far I've surprised myself with how chilled I have been. My most anxious times are checking she is covered up from the sun.
6. We have been pretty good at not buying things so far.  I bought a personalised plate for the wall and two bambi items of clothing, but I think that's it so far.
7.  This one is quite incredible.  We have really bought so very very little for her.  So many friends have passed on the big things she needs and we have been gifted pretty much everything else.  We bought a sleeping bag suit thing which we don't use and lots of nappies, wipes and cotton wool, but I think everything else has been given to us.  So blessed.
8. Had forgotten about that one but a useful reminder.  

The final paragraph was special to read now.
I am generally pretty worried of being clueless in handling a baby. I like to feel I know what I'm doing and can't really imagine going anywhere when I'm not sure how to manage. I want to be confident in getting baby and buggy in and out of car. Check I want to be confident breastfeeding in public. Check I want to be confident changing nappies. Check I can't at the moment imagine going by myself to a baby group but will really want to. Check I hope I can be brave. Well done Mummy - I think you are :-)