6 week milk update - CMPA

Looking back through the archives today I stumbled across my first ever blog post that I did 6 weeks ago on Luke's new milk. Things have changed so much in that time so I thought I'd do an update post on how Luke is getting on. Hopefully it'll give any fellow mummies out there a little bit of hope in a potentially dark and difficult time. 

After exactly 6 weeks exclusively on the amino acid formula, Luke's reflux has almost completely disappeared. We have gone from violent projectile vomiting every hour to a little bit of sick once or twice a day (usually after meals and as a result of bouncing or rolling around on the floor like a lunatic baby!) 

I think this is the biggest difference we have noticed on the new milk and I am so thankful - I was beginning to think I'd never catch up on washing!

The other major difference we have noticed is Luke's skin. Since he was 5 weeks old he has had terrible eczema which got no better despite the various lotions and potions we plastered on him. 

Although his skin isn't quite 100% (we still get bad face flare ups when he's teething) it is so much better and with the help of Aveeno moisturiser we are able to keep the worst at bay. 

Another big change I have noticed is Luke's weight gain. He has always been a clothing size below what he should be, however now at the grand age of 7 months old he is in the 6-9 month clothing that he should be! This is a major breakthrough for us as he was still in 0-3 month clothing at 5 months old! We have a health visitor appointment next week so I'm super excited to see what my chunky monkey weighs now! 

Smiles and giggles now just get more and more every day and Luke is turning into such a happy little boy, that the nightmare first months of motherhood that almost broke me are slowly becoming nothing more than a distant memory. 

If any of you out there have a little one who is suffering with CMPA keep going, it does get better and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Our week in pictures #1

When I decided to start doing a recap blog post of what we have been up to each week and I had no idea how much fun it would be! Looking back at the photos I took this week and remembering what did was lovely and I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this post! 

Now I am back at work the weeks just seems to whizz by in the blink of an eye and before I know it we're starting all over again. 

This week has been lovely and full of friends. We had some of my favourite people round at the beginning of the week and made my sweet potato hash recipe for brunch. The recipe is up on my blog - it is the perfect autumn/winter meal and is super tasty as well as being healthy! 

This week it was also Mr yummy mummy's birthday (his first as a daddy!) so we had presents and cards and lots and lots of cake! Unfortunately Luke got a little bit excited about the card and decided he wanted to eat the envelope - we went with it and pretended the soggy patches were kisses! I realised on the day that Luke wouldn't be able to try any of the cake because of his CMPA, so next year I'm going to find a good dairy free cake recipe and make one so he doesn't feel left out. If you have any good ones please let me know! 

We met up mid week for coffee with Granny and Grandad which is one of Luke's favourite things to do. We are very blessed to have my parents near by which means Luke gets to see a lot of them. He absolutely adores them (and they are besotted with him - they're very dotey Grandparents!)

We also got to see Auntie Anna this week - We don't get to see her a huge amount as she is a mega cool and very busy 17 year old! 

She came over on Thursday to read bedtime stories and Luke absolutely loved it. He settled like a dream so I have told my sister she has to come and do bedtime every night! 

And then we were suddenly back at Friday and Saturday which are my working mummy days. I was run off my feet both days with customers buying beautiful jewellery. However it made me realise how behind I am on my Christmas shopping - I haven't even started making lists of who I need to buy for yet! You know you're disorganised when even the men are beating you to it! 

We also had a big first this week - Luke has cut his first two teeth! (which explains why he's been such a grump recently)

You can already see his face shape changing. I got all emotional as my little baby has gone and he's starting to turn into a little boy! It's scary how fast they grow up and I am determined to make more of an effort to savour every second of it. 

That was our week - next week I am getting my first set of Christmas nails done which I am super excited about. So keep an eye on my Instagram for pictures! 

Autumn brunch - Sweet potato hash recipe

My friend and I recently started to have brunch dates at our houses as our obsession with brunch was getting to be a bit of an expensive habit! As we are both trying to eat more healthily (whilst secretly devouring giant bars of Galaxy just before bed) we decided to come up with a tasty paleo recipe for our upcoming brunch date. Together we came up with the most amazingly delicious sweet potato hash recipe ever created. It's super easy, mega tasty and as if you needed further convincing, it's really healthy! Perfect for yummy mummy brunch dates.

Sweet potato hash recipe: Serves 4

Ingredients:

Half a large brown onion, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

4 rashers of smoked bacon

2 medium sweet potatoes

3 medium free range eggs

Method:

• First pre-heat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC (fan)/gas mark 6/7. 
• Chop the sweet potato into cubes (leaving the skin on), put in a roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil.

•  Put these in the oven and cook for 30 minutes until the skins are slightly crispy.

• While the sweet potato is cooking fry the onions, garlic and bacon in a little olive oil until the onions are soft and the bacon starts to crisp up. Once the sweet potato is ready, add these ingredients to the roasting tray and mix together.

• Lastly crack the three eggs into the sweet potato hash, spacing them out evenly and put back into the oven for a final 4 minutes. You can modify this time depending on how you like your eggs - I personally like them a little bit runny so the yolk mixes in to the rest of the ingredients when you cut it open.

• with a spatula or fish slice, divide into quarters and serve. 

Let me know what you think - If you decide to give the recipe a go please post a picture on Instagram and tag me in it @Nearlyyummymummy. I'd love to see your yummy mummy brunches!

5 things no one tells you about being a mummy

When people find out you are pregnant, they cannot wait to jump on the band wagon and give you little pieces of advice (sometimes helpful and sometimes definitely not!) But there are some things that people leave out or fail to mention. To be honest I think if everyone knew all the truths and facts about becoming a parent, there may be a few less children in the world!
I have always been a baby person and been very involved with friends children, so I thought I knew quite a bit about babies. As it turns out, I was quite wrong and motherhood has been a huge learning curve for me!
Below are a few things that no one told me about becoming a mother... and I sort of wish they had!

You no longer have time for baths.
Have you ever read The Large Family '5 minutes peace' by Jill Murphy? I used to love it as a child and I found it absolutely hilarious! Now I totally get where mummy elephant is coming from and is no where near as funny now I am mummy elephant (in every sense after the number of teacakes I have consumed in the past 3 days!)
There is no time for baths when you are a mummy. A 5 minute shower if you're lucky where you only manage to shave one leg and forget to wash the conditioner out of your hair!
The only plus side to this is on the rare occasion that you do have time for a bath, it is the most wonderful thing in the world. Make sure you savour every second and have candles and a glass (*cough* BOTTLE *cough*) of wine with you.

You will no longer have a handbag.
Now to be fair people did tell me this. I naively thought I would carry round my beautiful Mulberry bag with me as well as the baby changing bag. As it turns out, this is not really very practical. Funnily enough when you are already carrying a car seat, a changing bag that weighs 5 tons, a dummy, a blanket, your child's favourite toy and probably a snotty baby wipe, you don't have a spare hand for your beloved handbag. Instead you have to shove your purse, phone and keys in the changing bag and hope they don't come out covered in milk or strawberry puffs (spoiler alert - they probably will)

You will have to make polite conversation with every single person you meet.
Even if you don't know them. In fact more often than not they will be a total stranger. Don't get me wrong, I think its lovely that people are friendly and take an interest in babies. But when you've had a crap night and have an over tired baby who needs to get home for lunch which you are already late for, the last thing you want to do is stand in Tesco and discuss whether your baby is a good sleeper (surely you can tell from my face that they most definitely are not?!)

There will be a point where you want to kill your husband.
Even if he has done nothing wrong and everything right, you will find yourself so irrationally angry and sleep deprived that there is a high chance you will ask Siri where you can hide a body. Of course after a glass of wine you calm down and realise that if you actually killed your husband, that you would have to get the wine from the fridge yourself. So you decide to keep him around.. at least for the moment.

You will feel a different kind of love to anything you have ever experienced.
Its funny - people tell you that you'll love your baby in a way that you can't imagine. And you nod along and think you know what they are talking about. But until you hold that little person that you made and carried for the first time, there is no way on earth that you can even begin to imagine how fiercely protective you will feel of that little life. Or how close to bursting you will feel when they smile at you and put their hand on your face. Or how proud yet petrified you will be when they sit up for the first time and you realise they're no longer a helpless little baby.

What have you learnt since becoming a mummy? Do you wish you had known before you had your little one? Or are you glad you got to find out along the way?

I am thankful for wine.

I was talking to a friend recently and we realised that we are not thankful enough for the things we have and how lucky we are to have them. It is so easy to focus on the things that aren't right and the things you don't have in your life and while doing that, we forget all the wonderful things that we have in our lives. Big or small, I think it will do me the world of good to focus on the positive things, be more grateful and realise actually how lucky I am. So here goes... What am I thankful for?

My husband. Yes sometimes he does my head in. Yes he doesn't always do what I'd like or help as much I want. And sometimes I swear I'm going to commit murder. But then I actually think about it and realise how lucky I am. 

He is always on my side. He hugs me when I'm sad and buys me chocolate when I'm really sad. He dances around the kitchen like a lunatic to make me laugh. He works his butt off to give us a good life. He de-ices my car on frosty mornings so I don't get cold hands. And he buys me my favourite wine when I've had a stressful day. He's not always perfect but I think I need to appreciate more often that he's actually pretty bloody good. 

Wine. Ok it sounds cliche and maybe a bit desperate. But seriously can you think if anything that beats sitting on the sofa after a long day which started at 5am full of nappies and sick and crying, and taking that first sip of delicious, tummy warming wine. Mmmmm I can't...

My dog. She steals nappies and tries to eat the contents. She wees on the floor when she gets excited and she barks at anyone who comes within a mile radius of our house. She steals my pants and takes them to bed with her. But she is the most loving dog I've ever met. She gives me cuddles on the sofa at the end of a hard, tiring day. She is always excited to see me, no matter how much of a grumpy cow I'm being that day. She sits with Luke and doesn't bat an eyelid when he grabs her fur. And she has a mega cute wrinkly face which makes the world a better place. 

My mummy friends. My mummy friends have helped me through one of the toughest and most challenging times in my life. They've seen the hysterical tears (sometimes of joy, but mainly of desperation!). They've seen me looking exhausted, disgusting, un-showered and covered in sick. We have talked about poop, labour, sex, useless husbands and lady parts. There are no boundaries and yet they continue to love me and be there for me no matter what. And I think that's amazing. I honestly couldn't live without them. 

My parents. I am lucky enough to have my parents close by. That doesn't mean they have to help. But they do. Whenever they can and without question. Yes sometimes they interfere when I wish they wouldn't and I find myself wishing they lived in Australia. But they've enabled date nights to happen, sleep to be caught up on and most recently for me to be able to return to work. And I can't thank them enough.

Mascara. Because let's be honest - it doesn't even bare thinking about what I'd look like without it. All I can say is Lancôme, I love you. 

My little boy. My beautiful, healthy smiley little boy. It's sometimes hard to be thankful for babies. Of course we are, but when it's 3 am and they've been screaming for the past 2 hours it's hard to be thankful. And when you give everything you've got and it still doesn't seem to be enough for them it's hard to be thankful. 

But then I think, and realised how blessed I am to have a baby who is healthy and happy. 

He smiles when he sees my face first thing in the morning. He gives me kisses (well he kind of licks/eats my face - that counts right?!). He snuggles in to me when he's sleepy and gives me amazing cuddles. He coos at me and has the most amazing giggle. And he makes me feel so full of love that sometimes I feel like I actually might pop.

It is so easy to forget the wonderful  in life, no matter how big or small they seem. This next week I want you to do something for me. Every day write down 3 things you are thankful for. It can be as important as your husband or as trivial as your favourite lipstick. But give it a go and I think when the week is up, you will be amazed at how many wonderful things you have in your life that maybe you didn't realise or appreciate until now. Let me know below what you are thankful for. 

Back to work after maternity leave

Well that went quickly... In two days time I officially go back to work and have to be a proper grownup that doesn't wear pyjamas all day and talks about something other than jumperoos or the contents of my sons nappy. 

I have mixed feelings about my return to work. As I'm only going back 2 days a week, I am still going to have plenty of time with my cheeky little pickle. But when I decided to go back I did naively think he would be sleeping better (obviously this was before I actually had the baby!)

On the one hand I can't wait to be back. I work in a jewellery shop and I LOVE my job. Helping people choose their engagement and wedding rings is one of the most amazing, exciting things and rewarding things to do. (Not to mention sitting in the window trying on all the enormous diamonds -- don't tell my boss!) 

Sadly the thing I think I am looking forward to most is wearing proper grown up clothes that aren't covered in sick/wee/whatever Luke has had for lunch that day - I can't wait to put on a pencil skirt and heels! (I know that sounds so lame but it's the little things in life right?!) 

I am also looking forward to getting part of myself back that has sort of felt like it's been missing while I've been on maternity leave. I put a lot into my job, and although I love spending time with my baby I have really missed feeling as useful and appreciated as I do at work. 

However I am also nervous. Will I still be able to function at work if I've had a grand total of 3 hours sleep the night before? Will I still enjoy my job as much as I did before? And most importantly how will I cope with not seeing my little boy for 2 whole days? The hours I work mean I will often leave before he wakes and come back after bedtime. I have never been more than a few hours without Luke - how am I going to cope with working 2 consecutive days where I don't see him at all? 

Putting my mixture of excitement and doubt aside, I am very blessed with the capacity in which I am able to go back to work. I am lucky enough to only be going back 2 days a week which means I am still able to have plenty of time with Luke. And not only that, thanks to my husband and my darling mother I am able to go to work knowing he is being looked after by people who truly care for him. And for that I am eternally grateful.

So now to get back to the very important tasks at hand - choosing an outfit, picking out a handbag and looking out my much needed travel coffee cup! 

Roll on Friday... Let's do this. 

    New clothes is the reason you go back right?! 

Our first family holiday

Life is just starting to get back to normal after returning from our first ever holiday as a family to Cyprus last week. 

    By the pool on our first family holiday

Our flight left at 7:30 from Gatwick which meant a rather early start (leaving our house at 2am) however this timing worked really well for Luke as it meant he slept for the 2 1/2 hour car journey to the airport. 

I was honestly hugely impressed with both the airport and the airline when it came to being family friendly. 

Gatwick had a special separate family section for going through security, meaning we didn't have to queue and were through and out the other side within about 10 minutes (one of the perks of travelling with a baby - you rarely have to queue!)

We purchased a fold down pram especially for the holiday as we didn't want our iCandy getting ruined in the hold of the aeroplane. We ended up going for the Mamas and papas chevron buggy. I have to say I was hugely impressed with this considering what we paid. It folded down really quickly and easily making things a lot simpler at the airport. It also reclined all the way back which was fab for when Luke was asleep and it was very easy to steer. The only slight criticism I had was the storage underneath - it was baggy and things kept falling out of it. But all in all I was very impressed. 

Luke was an absolute angel on the flight out and I was so proud of him. 4 1/2 hours is a long time to be in one place and he was good as gold. The Easyjet staff were lovely with Luke and the plane itself was really comfy - I was pleasantly surprised! 

Obviously going to Cyprus we were hoping for beautiful sunshine and toasty warm temperatures. The first few days were a bit rubbish weather wise, although the lack of sunshine was made up for my the amazing thunderstorms we had at night. They were unlike anything I've seen in England! 

Thankfully for my pasty pale legs, the sun showed its face a couple of days in and it was divine. We found it that Luke has his daddy's skin, he just has to look at the sun and he gets a gorgeous tan (unlike me who can spend weeks frying myself in the sun and get no more than a slight golden glow) 

    Indulging in a little bit of baby tanning!

I tried to get Luke to have a dip in the pool (which was gorgeous by the way!) but it was a little bit on the chilly side and after tears when his feet were dipped in, I decided it probably wasn't best to go any further! 

The food was amazing and I ate my weight in seafood, had plenty of gin and tonics by the pool and was generally a little over indulgent! We went out for cocktails one night and I had the best Cosmopolitan I think I've ever tried. 

   Seafood feast on the balcony 

We also hit some developmental milestones while we were out there (it's amazing the changes that happen in a mere week!)

Luke rolled over for the first time and... Wait for it... HE SLEPT THROUGH! 

Unfortunately the second victory was short lived and hasn't happened since we got home. Which if you think about it logically, means we really should move to hot, sunny, gin filled Cyprus. For the baby's sake of course...

    Beautiful sunset by the sea

    Bravely holding a nappiless baby! 

    The view from our gorgeous room