The Harry Potter TAG

Ok, I saw this and I just couldn't not.

1. WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK?

Probably Prisoner of Azkaban. I love Sirius and everything Sirius is to Harry. Though possibly Deathly Hallows too.

2. WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE FILM?

Now that is a hard one. Possibly Prisoner of Azkaban, possibly Deathly Hallows 1&2 or quite possibly Order of the Pheonix. Can I just say them all?

3. WHICH IS YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE BOOK?

Chamber of Secrets. The least happens, it's just not as interesting as the rest.

4. WHICH IS YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE FILM?

Chamber of Secrets again. For the same reason.

5. WHAT PARTS OF THE BOOKS/FILMS MADE YOU CRY?

Films - when Sirius dies, when Albus dies, when Fred dies... Pretty much when anyone does really.

Books - I think pretty much the WHOLE of Deathly Hallows I was in years at. I got the book at midnight on the day of it's release and 40 hours later I had finished it. I remember coming out from hibernating in my bedroom and went down to my mum in the kitchen in FLOODS of years and whispered 'it's over' 

6. IF YOU COULD HOOK UP WITH ANY CHARACTER, WHO WOULD IT BE? 

Harry! Or Oliver Wood. 

7. WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER?

Sirius.

8. WHO IS YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE CHARACTER?

Ginny. Only in the films though. I just felt like she didn't really have that much to say or do in the films.

9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LINE?

'Two Pumpkin Pasties please' 

But you've got to say it in a reay bad accent. 

Or 

Harry: Stay close to me.

Lily: Always.

10. WHAT WOULD YOUR PATRONUS BE?

Probably a cat. Nothing exciting.

11. IF YOU COULD HAVE THE RESURRECTION STONE, INVISIBILITY CLOACK OR ELDER WAND, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Technically I already have the Elder Wand. And Harry's wand, Sirius', Snape's and McGonagall's. So probably the Invisibilty cloak. You could have the most fun with that.

12. WHICH HOUSE WOULD YOU BE IN?

Gryffindor. I hope.

13. IF YOU COULD MEET ANY MEMBER OF THE CAST, WHO WOULD IT BE?

Emma Watson. She seems like such a beautiful person. Or Dan Radcliffe because even in real life I think he seems hilarious!

14. IF YOU WERE ON THE QUIDDITCH TEAM, WHICH POSITION WOULD YOU PLAY?

I would never be on the quidditch team. The one bit about Harry Potter that I don't really find that interesting.

15. WERE YOU HAPPY WITH THE ENDING?

Yes. I couldn't think of any better ending.

16. HOW MUCH DOES HARRY POTTER MEAN TO YOU?

All you need to do is ask my friends and family! 

1 step forward...

... and two steps back.

Why does it always seem, when you make some progress, it's all undone in the blink of an eye and you start off at square one again. 

The one thing I'm most annoyed by is that Logan still feeds every 2 hours. After 4 months he still feeds as a newborn does. Maybe annoyed is the wrong word to use, frustrated? Bothered? Miffed? Discouraged? Maybe none of these words. Maybe all. It's hard to explain. It's not his fault obviously, I just thought by this point he would have spread his feeds out a bit and it might be every 3 or 4 hours. 

It's very hard to acheive anything when your baby feeds every 2 hours for up to an hour at a time. It's not that I resent feeding him. Of course I don't. If he needs fed every 2 hours then that's what I'll do, that's my job. However when you see other women talking about all the places they go with their wee one, and the day trips and shopping trips and days out with the family and it's kind of disappointing. I'm not saying it's impossible. We can do these things. It just feels 100x more difficult. It's feels like the minute I leave the house Logan needs fed again. I can't just nip out to the shops, it's got to be timed to perfection. 

Anyway that wasn't the point of the post, though writing it down does give me a bit of perspective and realise I'm moaning about nothing. 

So the point is I thought we were gettig passed it. I thought we were starting to get somewhere. I had a nice shopping trip out with my mum and he didn't completely lose the plot the second he wanted fed, I changed him and fed him successfully and then he went to sleep in his pram and was generally happy and contented. For a few days he was going an extra half hour between some feeds and it felt like we were making progress. I started to gain a bit of confidence. I stopped worrying that after being out the house for 2 minutes he would start crying because he was starting to get hungry. He even went a few days where he napped during the day! I thought it was a miracle. And then it all stopped.

He started teething and we had one day where he pretty much cried every second he wasn't being fed and this carried us back to square one. 

So the point of this rant: why, when you feel like you're finally making progress, does something always obstruct that progress?

Kirsty x

REVIEW - Baby Bjorn Carrier Original

There are so many different types of carriers on the market these days so it took us a couple of days of research to decide what one we really wanted. I wanted one that was safe and secure but one that my partner could wear without it looking feminine or girly. I didn't really fancy one of the slings cause, honestly I think they look a bit silly and wouldn't really suit me or our needs. So in the end I plumped for the one I liked first. The baby bjorn carrier.

It's suitable from 3.5kg - 11kg, allowing the baby to face forwards and inwards. It was developed with paediatricians for proper support for baby's head, back and hips. It's machine washable which is really useful when baby decides to sook the life out of the edges... And has padded and adjustable shoulder straps so it's really easy to get it at a comfy position once it's on.

The carrier is really easy to use. It slips over your shoulders like a backpack and you do all the fastening up at the front. I worried at first that it was going to be really difficult to get Logan into the carrier if I was on my own, but after a few practices it was pretty easy. Although when he doesn't comply and keep his leg straight I need to practice the one handed baby jiggle to get him in.

It's relatively comfortable. Or as comfortable as I think it can be with a 13lb baby hanging from your front. If I have Logan in it for longer than 30 minutes my shoulders start to get a bit tight but that could be down to my weak frame more than anything else.

One thing we've found the carrier perfect for is getting Logan to sleep. He's not one for napping during the day, even when he's tired so sometimes if we know he really needs a sleep, we pop him in the harness and have a wee walk round the living room and within 10 minutes he's usually asleep.

We've only just started facing him outwards which he really seems to love. He loves being able to see where he's going and watch the world go buy.

We've not used it outside as much as I thought we might, we use it more round the house. However it's really useful when Logan doesn't want to sit on his own and I've got things to do. Pop him in and I've still got the use of my hands again. Though bending down is a bit precarious it's easy enough to have a run found with the Hoover or fold some laundry while he's strapped in. 

Overall a great product for our needs, one I'd definitely recommend. 

Kirsty x

Is breastfeeding aimed at the wealthy?

While in the shower this morning (it's where I do all my best thinking) a thought came to me: Is breastfeeding aimed at the wealthy?

As the nicer summer weather comes I've become bored of my wardrobe (as I do every year) More so this summer because last summers clothes don't really fit as my body's totally changed after having a baby and all my winter basics, like tshirts and tops don't fit as I was pregnant all through winter. So I find my self with very little to wear. 

Being a breast feeding mum it's not as easy as a little shopping spree to sort out my wardrobe. My needs are very specific, all my tops need to be booby accessible and this is wear my problem lies. The range and availability of breastfeeding tops/t-shirts/dresses is appalling. If I discard H&M from the mix all the clothing stores I usually shop in don't do a nursing range. I can kind of understand this as it's a very specific market. Not every woman needs quick but discreet access to her boobs at any given moment. So I begin to search further afield. I search online for nursing tops and I am greeted with a slightly better choice. I say slightly because even though there are is a better selection most of it is terribly old fashioned and doesn't resemble anything that I would willingly/normally wear.

However the one thing that strikes me is the price. Again taking my faithfull H&M out the equation because their range, although not very extensive, is quite reasonably priced. I think everything else is extortionate. Because it has an extra flap of fabric and a slit in the side that warrants a plain white t-shirts to cost £25. I wouldn't mind paying that if it was a top or a blouse that was great quality and a bit more interesting than a plain white t-shirt. I could pick up something similar in Primark for £2.50! More than anything it's the dresses that I find ridiculous. Most nursing dresses range from £50 - £100! I saw one online yesterday for £96!!! A relatively plain, red dress for £96! 

Now I completely understand that quality and brands come into it and that's fine. I wouldn't complain about a plain red dress costing £96 if I could find anything else. But it doesn't exist! As a breastfeeding woman I am really struggling to find fashionable, affordable nursing wear. I can't afford to spend £75 on one dress and most mums I know can't afford that either. 

Am I the only one? Is there a hidden secret club of women who know of fashionable affordable nursing wear that I'm not a member of? If so please may I join so I can get out of these vests and I to some sexy new clothes! 

Kirsty x

REVIEW - Palmers Tummy Butter

I think some women can be really lucky through pregnancy and not get a lot of stretch marks. I was not one of these lucky women.

Stretch marks occur when the skin is stretched over a short period of time. The stretching causes the middle layer of skin to break in places, allowing the deeper skin layers to show through. Before I became pregnant I was lucky and never had a problem with stretch marks but I developed a big bump in quite a short space of time so my skin stretched a lot, so I developed quite a lot of stretch marks over my tummy. I developed the usual ones over my boobs but probably the ones I hate the most (because they are the hardest to hide) are the ones that appeared on my upper arms. Visibly the worst ones are the ones on my tummy. They cover nearly all of the upper half of my tummy. I know I didn't take good enough care of my skin during my pregnancy which is why they have developed so bad so now I am left with the battle on my hands to try and get rid of them. 

I have tried Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion before and as it's specifically for the tummy area I thought this one would be worth a go.

The first thing I noticed when I opened it was the consistency, I'm used to butter's being more runny, but this is much more solid, even more harder than Vaseline which makes getting it out pretty difficult. You've got to work at it quite hard to soften it to get much out. When it's specifically designed for the tummy I need a fair amount to cover my large expanse of tummy I find it quite annoying that it's so difficult to get a decent amount out. 

However once I got enough on I found it's quite a decent product. The cocoa smell, as with a lot of the Palmers products, is delicious. It's nice and strong but not over powering so leaves you smelling great once it's on. 

It works relatively well. My stretch marks haven't magically vanished unfortunately but they are definitely lighter and less visible than they were 4 weeks ago. I don't use the product religiously. Being a new mum there is always something that comes before taking care of my skin. Usually sleep or a crying baby. It's worked best on the ones on my arms probably because they are the lightest and the less severe ones. I think if I continue to use it regularly on my tummy I will see a great improvement.

Do you have any stretch mark secrets? I'd love to hear from you if you've had any other products that have worked really well for you.

Kirsty x

My breastfeeding story

I had always thought breastfeeding was something I wanted to try. From a very early stage I had read and heard how difficult it would be. I had read the horror stories of babies not latching on, sore and cracked nipples, engorgement and mastitis (some people love to tell a good horror story) so I had fully prepared myself for a hard time. However I had convinced myself that I would try. Even if it was only for the first 6 weeks, I would give it a go and if it worked for us: great! And if it didn't then at least we had tried.

The NHS, as every mother-to-be will find out, is very big on breastfeeding. Even as someone who chose to breastfeed I found them very pressuring. I had admitted to my midwife that I wanted to try breastfeeding, and I stress the word try because I was fully prepared for it not to work. However she clearly heard what she wanted to hear and never gave me any advice or even once spoke about what I would do if I couldn't breastfeed. The amount of books, leaflets and DVD's you receive on breastfeeding is overwhelming. I often wonder what I would have recieved had I decided to bottle feed. Probably nothing.

Anyway I had done my research and was fully prepared for a treacherous time with breastfeeding and from the moment Logan was born... It never came. An hour after Logan was born, as we lay in the recovery ward, the midwife asked if I wanted to try feeding him. Thankfully we were the only ones in the ward at the time because reading about it and watching DVD's about it are very different from doing it. After a lot of shuffling about (as much shuffling as you can do when you have no feeling from the waist down) and a lot of help from my partner I managed to get into a semi-comfy position and got Logan latched on.

And from then we have never looked back. I've even breastfeeding now for 15 weeks and I've yet to have any horror symptoms that come along with breastfeeding. Don't get me wrong I believe that we've been very lucky that it's happened so naturally for us. I had some slightly painful times in the beginning but it was mild pain that lasted less than 30 seconds when he would first latch on which is perfectly normal. I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture and pretend that it's all plain sailing and problem free for everyone, when I know that's not the case. However when I first looked into it I thought EVERYONE had problems with breastfeeding and I've realised it doesn't always have to be that way. So far it's coming naturally to us, and for as long as it does I will continue breastfeeding. 

Kirsty x

Sometimes it's okay...

... Not to be okay.

I've never had many problems keeping my hormones in check (though Gavin might say otherwise) All through my pregnancy I'd say I kept quite a level head. Well as much as usual. Of course I had my good days and bad days, happy days and not so happy days but there weren't many more sad days than usual. Even once Logan was born I'd say it's been a pretty happy experience. Pre/Post-Natal depression hasn't been a problem for me. Depression never has. However yesterday I found myself in a bad mood. A very bad mood. For no apparent reason. I was picking fights with Gavin for no reason. I was getting angry at everything he was doing, even though it wasn't any more irritating than usual. Then he began the 'why are you so angry? What's wrong?' thing. All the while I kept telling him there was nothing wrong. Then I began thinking to myself am I not allowed to be angry. Just be angry for the sake of it. Just be angry cause that's the emotion I feel today. And today I have woken up and decided yes. I was allowed to be angry for no reason. Having a baby is a pretty big deal, we can all agree. It's a pretty stressful, life-changing ordeal, that comes with a lot of emotions. One of which for me yesterday was anger. Today that emotion, surprisingly at 5am, is gratitude. Tomorrow it may be empowered, it might be proud, it might be anxious, it might just be contented. Whatever it is, I've realised it's okay to be angry once in a while. It's okay to have a down day, a sad day. Motherhood isn't all  about 'rainbows and butterflies, it's compromise that moves us along'

Kirsty x