Baby Sleep, I Sleep

This week has been hectic, to say the least, from looking after my darling baby and hubby to studying for my driver’s theory test to finishing up my course project and working. All these would have been a piece of cake if not for my dear 10month old son’s new pastime “Sleeping late”. He decided to change his bed time to 1am for the past week, which has turned me into a zombie mummy.

Tired Mum

It takes me back to the days he was 2weeks old when he woke up every 2 hours, and we practically got no sleep. Once he got older we later trained him on the controversial let them cry it out system to sleep called "The Ferber method demystified", which worked when he was 4months for some time; soothing himself to sleep. Now he is 10month old and has decided no more luxury for mummy and daddy; its punishment time for all the easy sleep night we’ve had. He still has his naps during the day easily, but when night falls he decides its baby play time, you would think he had enough of that at the baby playgroup but no he wants me to do a baby rap of itsy bitsy spider on high volume by demonstrating with his favorite hand gestures. We do our bedtime routine (Take a bath eat, brush, read and hopefully sleep). Then I tell him its bed time, but he insists on his rap so, I do a quick itsy bitsy, and take him to bed. It is when I put him in his cot that the drama starts; he would go from a low pitch cry, to a high pitch one, to squawking etc. (yeah Kamil cries as difficult as it might seem to some of my friends). I tried petting him and putting him back, but he won’t have it, so I end up putting him in our bed. It still takes him about 30minutes before falling asleep after doing his Spiderman’s impression he then ends at the edge of the bed snoring. So I decided to check out babycenter to see if other mums are experiencing the same thing, not surprising a lot of them were; especially the ones with 10 month old. (It seem like all the 10month old in the world decided not to sleep) Most parents said they used the cry it out approach and then explained that it wasn’t easy, but it’s was worth it. Although I had tried this system before and as it says you might have to try it a couple of times to see the result. So I decided to try it again on Thursday night. My beloved son cried for 50 minutes in a different tone. (I went in occasionally to calm him down, and offered him some water) In the end; he gave in and dosed off. To my surprise he slept through the night; and so did I (without having to sing hubby’s favorite hopeful sleeping song to him “you sleep, I sleep”). His cries have gotten shorter by the day now (Touchwood).After the first night,  he didn’t want to talk to me when he woke up, but when the milk lady (me) brought food he was all smiles. Although this system is controversial in my opinion, I think a little tough love wouldn’t do your baby any harm. Many child experts have proven it works so, parents consider it if your child copes well. The stressful week all seem like yesterday after I had a well deserving full spa treatment courtesy of my lovely husband with a friend at essencewellness spa. (Best spa ever) Haaaaaaaa bliss I’m still floating.

Here, is a clip of experts on both sides of the argument explaining their views. Enjoy.

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Naming for Name/Cute/Unique Sakes

The arrival of adorable baby Beckham “Harper Seven” yeah that’s really her name, made me write this post. If you were Victoria or David Beckham, you can afford to give your kid any name you want because of your celebrity status. The same goes for Kate Hudson (baby name- Bingham 'Bing' Hawn Bellamy) and Gywneth Paltrow (baby name- Apple) etc. I can only imagine the look and words out of their children’s mouth when they are old enough to understand. You named me WHAT!!!!! Thank goodness they can change it later on.

Surprised baby

As a celebrity you live a life of luxury, which includes how the kids are being raised.  This means there is little to no question of getting bullied or being laughed at because of your name and if that happens, mummy can always change or home school you. The issue is not with these celebrities, they can name their kids whatever they like for all I care; it’s the ordinary citizens jumping on the band wagon. Babycentre.com reported that the name Harper has now suddenly jumped to #48 on their most popular baby names list. Some parents think it’s cute/unique to give unusual names, of course it is to you since you’re not the one being called Bucket head, so it’s easy to give it. They are not there when the kids are being teased and bullied in school which I know might not sound like a big deal; but for a teenager it’s the end of the world. It might even end up affecting their studies, grades and maybe later in life (becoming unruly). I say this because I met a guy in America last summer and one conversation led to another when he told me about his experience in high school due to his surname “Salami”; for those who don’t know salami is also a type of dried sausage meat. He said his fellow students will come to him during lunch time waving sausages in his face laughing and saying all sorts. He said it affected him but he got through it, not everyone can though.

 High school is difficult enough for a teenager so parents please don’t make it any worse by giving your child a TEASE MAGNET NAME. As we are still on the subject of high school, I can remember attending a new secondary school and being the new comer, I recall other students making fun of my middle name “Nurat” calling me new rat but it wasn’t much of a problem as I was a feisty one who gave it back to shut them up (I still am, lol). High school nightmare has come and gone, now you’re in the real world looking for a job but you keep finding that you never get a call back after sending your Resume/CV to employers and you wonder why? I read a book called “Frekonomics” (I recommend it) by Steven D.Levitt & Stephen J.Dubner

"Freakonomics" the book

 (I know, it sounds like a dirty book right, sadly it’s not.lol ) a journalist and an economist who gathered facts and statistics of the hidden sides to everyday life that people never really knew about or just didn’t think about e.g. “Why drug dealers still live with their mom”,  “What makes a perfect parent”, “Things you don’t know about your estate agent”, “Why people cheat”, “How your name affects how well you do in life”- obviously not always but sometimes etc. They state no matter how much of a good lawyer you are, having a name like “Deshawn”or “Shanique” might cost you clients from a particular race or a callback after the employer sees your name on your resume (which I think is unfair but thankfully I have and know a lot of people with atypical beautiful names with fantastic jobs, which means you need more than just a nice name to get a job).

They also spoke about how having an unusual/unnecessary name can coincidentally precede you in life e.g. a mother from her own ignorance naming her daughter Temptress who later became a promiscuous teenager and then when asked by a judge why she named her temptress she said she heard the name on a TV program (Bill Cosby show) and liked it but unfortunately for her it was misspelt on the birth cert; the actual name she heard was tempestt but by the time she realized, it was too late and she just didn’t bother to change it. From their findings there is a correlation between class, educational background and race of people that give their kids unusual name (which I don’t think follows any longer looking at the topmost list). Also the story of a father who named his sons “Loser” and “Winner” for reasons known to him (surname Lane). To everyone’s astonishment Loser became a winner in life and Winner became a losing low life criminal. Some can say their names played a part on how they turned out but others say they might have turned out the same way regardless, which means if Temptress was called Chastity or Winner was called Lose, which might have made the name fit in his own case will have still turned out the same way but we’ll never know.

I know some of us have names from different parts of the continents (myself included) but at least there are meanings and good reasons behind every one of them. It is pointless to name your child "Armchair"  because it was the first thing you saw in your hospital room before labour or "Loser" because you want your child to strive against the name or "Angelina Jolie".

Arm Chair

Parents to be (soon or someday) please do your research. My husband and I spent months contemplating on Kamil’s name(our son) which means the gentle and beautiful one, so please choose wisely and think how it will leave a lasting mark on your children before picking a name. As you know it WILL follow them for the rest of their lives.

Till next time

Your favourite mom

Shile

xoxo   

Just That Extra Safety Check

Last Saturday night I sat on the sofa in the living room after another grueling day. Baby and daddy upstairs in bed sleeping, so I decided to put my feet up and flick around TV programs.  I stumbled on “Caught on camera”, at first I thought it was a dirty program not that I’m interested in that kind of thing (lol) but the program ended up being an interesting view. Imagine you’re on holiday with your family and friends by the beach side. It’s a lovely day and everyone is enjoying themselves. You decided to take pictures of the kids by a fenced cliff to capture the moment; as they gathered together smiling ready for the picture, one of the children suddenly loses her balance and trips over the edge. OMG I said cringing to the edge of my seat, thankfully one of the relatives quickly grabbed her as she clung onto a bunch of grass. Hence the name of the program "caught on camera". The incident was filmed by a family member by chance.

Shocked mum

Next a mother at the train station pushing her six months old baby boy safely tucked in the pram.The train approaches suddenly and she decided to release the pram before the train stops. As she did, for some odd reason her trousers decided to sag from her bum at that moment so she tried pulling it up taking her eyes away from the pram for a second when the pram rolled hastily onto the rail track with the baby in it .  This is all being recorded by the train stations’ cctv camera by the way. As the train approaches a women noticed the pram rolling away and ran after it, the mother also noticed it, running and screaming at the driver to stop but unfortunately it was too late, the train had rolled over the pram. I almost pissed myself (I can't guarantee I didn't), screaming OMG repeatedly as if the more I said it the more money I get paid into my bank account. In tears thinking to myself that’s a helpless baby under that train, praying to GOD that he is still alive. As fate will have it the baby survived with a few scratches.

 The moral of this blog today is that parents please keep a watchful eye over your child/ren. I know how busy and difficult it can be sometimes especially being a new mum, and I for one can be a right old klutz sometimes but I keep saying to myself be careful, don’t let that drop, don’t trip over then I suddenly do lol .  But I still try my best not to.

 I remember telling a friend I don’t think I want to have a baby yet because I might just forget him/her on top of the car and drive off(silly me).It actually happened on a program I saw. I know we can only do our best as parents but if u’re on holiday or pushing the pram on a bus or train make sure you use a belt and do that extra safety check before taking pictures, pushing the pram on the train or doing anything else, that extra check might just save a life.In this mother's case thanks to the pram. I have added a short clip of one of the incidents below so we can really see how precious our lives and kids are especially when we have the opportunity to protect and guide these amazing beings called children. Take care parents and be safe till next time.

Hugs and kisses to the little ones

Shile

xoxo

Nanny share duty

Hello mums,

My name is Shile and I'm a mum to a 10 month old boy called Kamil. Nanny share duty came to my thought last week. I'm not sure if this exist amongst mums in London but this was how the thought sprung to me : My good friend Tosan had been organising a surprise 30th birthday party for her fiancé  booking the cake, sending RSVP invitation via blackberry messaging and sms texting and all the shebang. My husband and I were really looking forward to this party especially the fact that we haven't had a date night for 5 months (and  I have been on mummy duty 24/7, which I love by the way). Since I had the baby we've never really left him with anyone but family and I haven't registered with a nanny. Luckily for me my sister was coming to visit from Africa with her one year old. She was going to be our nanny on Saturday 2nd of July and we were going to party all night and let our hair down. Now I'm getting very excited, I have picked out my outfit with the bag to match (not the mummy bag but the cute ones that only takes make up and credit cards) all of a sudden I get a phone call on Thursday from my sister while she was out shopping saying she had changed her ticket to travel back on Friday. Her close friends brother was getting married, her friend couldn't make due to illness so she had to travel back to represent her, she left on Friday. To cut a long story short Saturday afternoon came and we took Kamil with us to the party. We surprised the celebrant with the usual scream "surprise" making Kamil wet himself in the process lol.  He ended up being the only baby at the party, we got a few funny stares but all in all most people loved all over him and I was on mummy duty through out the party. While I was changing his diaper I thought to myself what if I had a friend with kid(s) who could mind Kamil whenever we had date night and I could do the same for, free of charge whenever she had her date night as well. Let me hear your thoughts mums.