Working mums and stay at home mums!

This topic comes up time and time again amongst all the mummies I know.  In fact, someone brought it up to me today.  So I felt I just had to write about it!  I think the comment today was:

 "Stay at home mums that say it is a full time job make me sick, I have to work a REAL job and look after my kids when I get home!  I have to work to pay their benefits for them to be able to stay at home!"

Holly's Hauls!

On this blog I plan to show all Holly's Hauls.  These might include anything from clothes, toys and books, to nursery decoration. I am a bit of a bargain hunter, and while some of the items will be new and full price, I have no issue with buying good quality second hand items for my girl and I love a sale bargain too!  When buying second hand items I tend to favour buying from Ebay, websites specialising in the sale of pre-loved baby goods (for links click here), or dedicated baby sales as there are a few of these in my area every month. The items are always good quality and the prices are so reasonable.  My philosophy is that babies grow out of clothes so quickly, that it makes sense not to waste money on something your baby might only wear a couple of times. Also, this means that a lot of the second hand items you buy look brand new, as they may only have been worn once or twice, if at all!

Nappy Happy!

One of the big considerations for me before Holly was born was which type of nappies we would use. Disposable or cloth?  There are lots of pros and cons for both.  One of the big considerations for us was the question of expense.  Do you know how much it will cost to keep your baby in disposable nappies up until the age of 2?  Well here is a little example to give you an idea...

Coping with crying...

So lets face facts....If you have a baby, your baby will cry.  That is what babies do after all!

However, if you are very lucky you might have a baby who cries very little.  Lucky you!  Yet this simply isn't the case for all of us.

You may have a baby who is colicky, or simply goes through stages of crying.

Terrible, inconsolable crying, for hours on end.  Crying that no amount of  nursing, swaddling, rocking, singing, shushing or soothing will help.

Now if you have a baby like this, seeing their little face twisted in what looks like agony, purple, lips quivering and letting out the most unearthly scream you have ever heard, it is heart wrenching.  It is soul destroying and exhausting and probably feels like the worst moment of your entire life.

I've taken my daughter to the GP, the Health Visitor and even to A & E. We've tried gaviscon and multiple prescriptions but NOTHING has worked. In fact, I've been told by more than one doctor;

"Some babies are just like that. You just have to wait it out."

So I've held my own  daughter as she cried, after hours of trying to soothe her without success with tears of anguish rolling down my face.  I don't pretend to be an expert on this type of crying (my own daughter is only 7 weeks old), and I can't tell you any miracle solution to it either.  There is one thing I do know though, if you have tried everything you possibly can, sometimes your only option is to ride it out...Now if this is your only option, you need to find a way to make it more bearable for you.  So here it is, my way of coping with crying.  The things I tell myself to make it alright.  My coping with crying mantra.