Wriggles, parties, eating, sleeping...

My little 7 month old is now wriggling around the living room - not crawling yet - no bum-shuffles, but wriggling on his tummy and he manages to get quite far! It's changed my life to see him playing happily on his own- although I've stopped working for a bit, at least I can get on calmly with other things around the house and don't need to entertain him nonstop!

Since coming back from holiday he's still been wonderful and we've managed to have a few evenings out with him sleeping peacefully in the pram or in an upstairs bedroom. Having a baby also means getting the master bedroom at friends house parties ;) At a party in York my friends fed him, got us drinks and we danced like there was no tomorrow - I think it was easy to 'spot the parent'... Though we had to put a sign on the door telling guests to come and find us if he woke up as the hostess picked him when she heard him crying. He was a very happy chappy.

The one thing that has struck me is how much he's eating! I'm following a book I picked up at the library full of meal plans and ideas from Annabel Karmel and it's been useful - though I'm doing pretty much what I've been doing from the beginning and whizzing together loads of steamed veg, lentils, cheese etc. Leon LOVES food. There's no trouble getting the spoon in his mouth and sometimes I can't keep up. I'm looking forward to him saying "more please mummy" or "MAS!" rather than grunting at me like I'm an idiot.

I was struggling to leave him to drift off to sleep on his own... I'm determined to kick the habit this week and it's going well so far. Last night I didn't pat him to sleep - yay! I just sat in the chair next to his cot and he went off to sleep! Miracle. We even let him cry when he woke up again- and he managed to go back to sleep himself. Amazing...

Back with a bump

After two weeks of soleil Francais we're back in grey but warm UK with a thump. 3-hour Eurostar delays caused by the evacuation of the station because a guy, fond of antique war bombs, brought one on board. Why wouldn't you just declare it if you had no intention on using it? duh. I'm happy to be back and run the household again and get organised- Leon eats like a beast and I need to get into action making much larger quantities and variety of foods compared to just ice cubes of puree. Almost 7months old and in two weeks he's changed so much. He's a happy chappy and sit and move around by rolling over.
he's discovering the world. 

But mon amour has post-holiday depression and is sick and unhappy with english bread with a start. and having to work. Oh dear. he even drank the 2-week old open bottle of wine instead of the one I'd lovingly bought that day and then complained when it was gross! i feel like i'm always working but enjoy it  all the way. Leon can now sit playing on his own and rolling around for a while and when im cleaning, cooking etc he can happily sit in the high chair and babble and play or in the sling!

But I find it really hard to find time for my stuff! baby, work, chores, play, food, transporting, tired husband... when can I sit down and listen to music, catch up with friends and reply to emails... i used to  be glued to my laptop but i don't like doing it when Leon's with me as I prefer playing with him or tidying up etc. and he's happily playing on the mat. How does everyone else do it? Do you allocate a time for yourself? I find that after 7pm I do all that stuff but it's also not an ideal time....

Mixed up Baby

I loved growing up with a Mexican mother and English father and feel very Mexican- but having lived in London for all my life I can't help but feel more British! We used to go to Mexico every year and it was crazy. Two weeks of full-on family time with our hundreds of cousins made us want to stay there forever as it was such fun. Now, with my new family of my own, I want to bring up my children with British and Mexican culture - (hubby can instill the French side) and hopefully workout the challenges that a trilingual family may face!
 
My most recent freelance project has re-immersed me in my Mexican roots and personally, I've come across some wonderful blogs that I'd like to follow in more detail: from cooking Mexican food in "Abuelita's way", to finding Spanish nursery rhymes, and help to raise a multilingual family. It's made me more adamant not to lose any of my culture and it's comforting to see others in a similar situation. One such blog : Little M's Bilingual Corner asks how multilingual and multicultured families choose names for their children. Ours goes like this:


We didn't know the sex of the baby so tried to think of names for both that would work in English, Spanish and French. For a girl, I wanted something pretty, fun and preferably Mexican (even Aztec!) and for a boy, just something that would WORK! We also wanted to include names already in the family and in the French way, would have THREE first names...  in a way, it was ideal as we could include one name from my family and one from hubby's and come up with an original name for the baby. 

We'd tell our families the lists of names we thought of to gauge reactions and they would happily suggest some alternatives. It was a lot of fun - and we had a top 5 for each sex, though I didn't feel comfortable naming the baby without even seeing it! So, we waited to name it after it popped out. Names included: Cossima, Constantina, Zaza, Margarita, Zeltzin for Girls and Ernest/o, Gaston, Zoltan, Jimmy, Leon for boys. (Yeah looking back now some are a bit weird... but I still love them!)


When he was born and I saw his little face, his name wasn't the first thing I was thinking about but after half an hour or so, we decided on LEON! In French it would be Léon (LAY-on) and in Spanish León (Leh-ON). In English it's more Lee-on and in the days to follow I realised I didn't like how it sounded out of my mouth so I say León.

His middle names are Jorge, which is my Mexican grandfather's name, and Gaston, my husband's great-grandfather- feedback on the British side for this as a first name was always related to the baddie in Disney's Beauty & the Best unsurprisingly but as a middle name it's cool! I like the mix - and although there's not much Britishness going in - he was born here and has a British passport so it kind of balances out. The next two will probably be born in Latin America or France so then we can choose the names accordingly... 

World cup watching tips?

The World Cup is getting interesting now - Ghana have gone through against USA in the first knock-out game and tomorrow England V Germany AND Mexico v Argentina!! Will be a tense but brilliant day I can feel it!!!

Thanks to Js insistent watching of every game, I've got much more into the World Cup - I feel like a kid again when I used to collect those Panini stickers and paint my toenails a different World cup country flag each (with my big toes being the Mexican flag and my fingernails all ENGLAND!) -though this time I'm enjoying dressing Leonsito in football colours, and trying to find a way to celebrate without howling and making him cry - if anyone has any tips of how to get them over the celebratory yelps would be great!

However. Although it's been fun, I haven't yet watched ONE match out of my or my parents' house! I'm craving a pub and some proper atmosphere for the England games so they'd better win against our dear German friends. Next Friday we're going out for Js birthday after he finishes work and will need to watch Uruguay V Ghana quarter-final in a pub somewhere - does anyone have any ideas? Anywhere central London with a good vibe is ideal!

Found this link on timeout http://www.londontown.com/London/World-Cup-2010-Where-to-watch-in-London but is there anywhere else that's better and FREE!?

Power cut terror!

We had a power cut in Twickenham and Richmond just at the beginning of the England v Slovenia match and missed the Defoe goal!! The whole street was in a panic - people ran off to find a pub thinking it was just a cut in our street but no - the whole town was affected!

We sprung into action- dad managed to find an analogue radio somewhere upstairs and some batteries for it and little sister sorted that out - found the perfect location for the radio, I prepared some Pimms, and all was good. 4 generations huddled around the wireless and it felt good!

Fortunately power resumed with an almighty YYAAAAAAYYY resonating down the street causing Leonsito to cry - the cry usually reserved for the Goal appreciation yelps!!

We're supporting France, England and Mexico - though now France is out hubby has resorted to cheering for Argentina! Let the real games begin.....

Pampers Pampers

Oh dear Pampers

http://www.pampers.co.uk/en_GB/proddetail/baby-products/active-fit-nappies/id/2/sectionid/3

Not great comments really, in response to the new Active Fit nappies - and I agree, they seem quite stiff and not that comfortable for my baby (8kg roughly and using 4+) and they smell weird and plasticky. I can no longer sniff my baby's bottom to see if he's done a poo as there's an awful plasticky smelling nappy covering any other smell.

I was thinking how Pampers are the biggest nappy brand in the world but can't get it right. Definitely can't get it right ecologically - they've been voted the least-green major nappy brand. Would like to try out the other greener brands but not sure how good they are.

I'd eventually like to get rid of nappies altogether as mentioned in the Matt and Harriet Rudd article in the Sunday Times last week. Need to learn the 'rhythm' though if there are any tips...?


*Just found out that this is called Elimination Communication
 http://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/elimination-communication.html

 Pic from  http://www.whizkidz.biz/main/

Formula Won

It's been a week since we've introduced Formula milk to baby Leon.

I bought a big tub of SMA and a few bottles and it's going well so far. I bought the SMA Blue extra hungry tub and a couple of mini 250ml cartons again (great for when you're out for more than 2 hours and he needs a feed - or for my mum to feed him- as it's so easy, just snip and pout into a sterilsed bottle)  - but I have noticed that Leon is not eating the puréed carrots and very much else that I'm trying to give him and he loved it two weeks ago!

He's having 8flz oz + 8spoons of powder in a bottle 4 times a day and still some breastmilk in the morning and afternoon. He's sleeping well - sometimes through the night (8.30pm - 6amish) though when he wakes I'll sometimes feed him myself. 2 day-time naps and lots of play and stimulation - he seems happy, so I'm happy :D

Amazing how quickly we're going through nappies - especially with the new formula milk and carrot purée his poos are a lot more interesting! Will buy another tub of SMA but think that I'll try the yellow one this time which is more similar to breast-milk. Though perhaps I'll stick with the blue heavier milk for evening feeds....?