Insular Mummy

It can be lonely at home with Will sometimes, particularly when I don’t have an ‘outing’ planned for a specific day where I’m going to see people. I get so caught up in feeding, sterilising, trying to stop Will from scratching himself to smithereens, planning our next activity etc etc, that when Eddie comes home I find it hard to resurface and try to be a ‘normal’ grown-up again.

Sometimes I feel like I’m a bit of a robot, my life is divided into two hourly segments. Will is fantastic, he makes me laugh and we have such fun together, but every now and again I realise the enormity of the responsibility of having a child and it almost overwhelms me.

Tums, Bums and Thighs


Why are they not getting any smaller? Probably because of the post-exercise lunches we girls sit down to immediately afterwards 🙂

This week Will is working on trying to feel happier on his tum rather than immediately rolling onto his back giggling at his genius at having avoided the horror of being the ‘wrong’ way up. I’m also going to try to get him more used to sitting up and have bought this incredible sort of rubber ring for him to sit in. Alas being Will he just wriggles until he’s almost flat with just his head and feet sticking out.

I’m resigning myself to the fact that he’s not going to be the most physical of babies. Then again, judging by the amount he witters (a skill he could only have inherited from me), he might well be the first to talk instead!

The Houghtons go on holiday!

Back from a wonderful break down by the stunning Pembrokeshire coast on our first holiday as a family. Will had a terrific time, he went on a speedboat (fell asleep), paddled in the sea (screamed), and spent much of the trip strapped to Eddie’s front gurgling away happily as we tootled along the coast paths and climbed the mountains nearby.
Fortunately we had good weather, but I cannot believe the amount of paraphenalia we have to take with us now we have Will. In days of yore all we needed were a couple of beach towels and some Factor 2, but now we’ve got bags of kit + the all essential SPF 50+ tent. Not great for the tan, but better that than a burned boy. Eventually we got pretty expert and packing everything we needed, most importantly Will’s feeds. He had lunch in some pretty spectacular places.
I seriously underestimated how knackering going on holiday with a small baby was going to be. It’s actually quite nice to be at home – we can finally get some much needed R&R.



Solids

We’ve started William on his first ‘proper’ food. After starting off with Baby Rice, which had a relatively positive reception, we’ve moved on to ‘Carrot’ (I have been pureeing frantically all week) which he was less sure about. Must try to take a picture of the expression of disgust as the fluorescent orange mush passed his lips. He didn’t know what to make of it at all. Tonight – ‘Sweet Potato’….

So far on the nappy front all remains relatively calm, but I’m waiting for things to get MUCH worse.

Will becomes himself


Will becomes more himself everyday. He’s great fun, a really happy, smiley boy. Definitely a morning person when he’s full of energy and beams at all and sundry. His ezcema must drive him mad, but he never lets it get him down which I find amazing – I’d be so irritable if I felt that itchy all the time. He loves people and if we have friends round, or go out, he is riveted to the conversation. The downside is that he gets very annoyed if he’s left to his own devices for too long – about 10 minutes is the limit (on a good day) after which time he starts to complain very loudly until you turn up and then he switches on a Hollywood smile.

He’s a thoughtful boy, he takes everything in and thinks about how he wants to respond before coming out with either a smile or a comment. As for laughing, he is really tough to make laugh, although I try all the time. I think I’ve succeeded about 4 or 5 times only. Ah well, perseverance will get me results, it’s my mission in life to try to get Will to laugh because it’s such a wonderful sound, it cracks me up too.

Will is also a man who knows his own mind – if he doesn’t want to do something, he won’t do it. And God help you if you try to make him.

The Social Event of the Year


I’m talking, of course, about the legendary East End village fete – a not-to-be-missed social gathering of Hampshire’s Great and Good (amongst which we obviously count ourselves). Cate and Jim held their annual Welly Wanging event, but added a new string to their bow this year with the Count The Balloons in the P4 contest. This meant that Eddie, Will and I plus various other volunteers spent the better part of our morning blowing up balloons. Bring on the thread veins is all I can say.

Fortunately the weather, although still FREEZING and very changeable, stayed sunny for the most part so we walked down with the pram before transferring His Lordship into the Baby Bjorn so that he could help Eddie lob various types of ball at various types of target. As ever we returned home triumphant – one coconut the richer.