Bringing Up Baby

It has come far too quickly! Everybody told me it would fly by and it has done.  I cannot believe that I am fst neqring the end of my maternity leave and as the SMP runs out I have to go bck to work!  Yes I would rather stay at home with my baby boy, but sadly for me that is just not a viable option. I could weep and break my heart over this but instead I am trying to focus on the positive that I only have to go back part time.  What this has led to is the trauma of deciding which nursery to send my most prized treasure too!  Something I was not anticipating to be quite as difficult as it was. For me geographical poximty was kind of irrelevant as I live in a rural village in a rural area so the local town is really the only option; any nursery would require a car journey so this factored quite low on the priority list. Which opened up about 6 possibilities. People told me I would have a gut feeling abour a nursery and it didn't matter what anyone else told you, you ...

I have bipolar, I have suffered with it since I was a teenager.  Like many I wasn't diagnosed until I was in my twenties.  By the time I was diagnosed my life had effectively stopped.  I couldn't leave the house, I was frightened of everyone and everything.  It started out with a bit of paranoia, that the person across the street was looking at me, that everyone was judging me, that people were talking about me.  It grew and grew into something that was out of control.  I started to think people were bugging my house; listening to me, recording my conversations, that there were people following me, watching my every move, they wanted to hurt me.  Looking at it now with the knowledge about mental health that I know have I can see that my anxiety was causing my mind to have these glitches, moments of irrational fear,  But at the time it was so overpowering and I was so alone that it just kept growing until I could hear and see things other people co...

As a new mum amongst all the cooing and admiration you will be asked 'Is he/she a good Baby?'. In order to help you determine, if indeed your baby is good, I have put together a list that may help! Was your baby less than 2ft tall (approx 70cm) at birth? If yes then you very likely have a good baby. Babies are generally small humans and so this is a good indicator. Incidently the longest baby recorded in the Guinness world records was 71cm and born in America. Can your newborn baby speak in full sentences? No - then you have a good Baby! Who wants a newborn shouting 'Mummy give me your boob immediately!' in the middle of a crowded supermarket. Most good babies do this in a code form which consists of crying noises - in time mummy will know what baby is asking for while the wider public will not! Does your baby produce plenty of wet and dirty nappies? Yes - then your baby is nailing this newborn malarkey! And if the occasional nappy explosion occurs all up th...