I have been enjoying some lovely time off work over the last week, and am still off until Friday when it is DEFINITELY D-Day and I will be telling work my news!
Until then, I am trying not to have too many sleepless nights worrying about things!
Since I have been off work, my bump is definitely growing – which is as i expected, due to a combination of not needing to hide it anymore and the fact that a growth spurt is normal at this stage.
Tony and I had a mini spending spree last Friday, when we went to our favourite shops of the moment, Mothercare and Babies R Us. We bought some I Love My Bear themed stuff, which was on 3 for 2 – a fleece cot blanket, a cot bumper and two flanelette sheets. We also bought a bottle steriliser kit (Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature, as they are to w
ork alongside breastfeeding for when i express) and, most exciting of all, a Fisher Price rainforest bouncer chair (see picture)! It is one that Tony has had his eye on since we first ventured into Babies R Us many months ago and we have been having fun playing with it!!!
I do think that bubs may find it a bit scary and overwhelming at first (!!) but you can remove the archway over the top and introduce it gradually. You can choose to have it “baby activated” so that when she kicks the toys that hang down the lights come on and it plays a tune (may have the potential to drive mummy and daddy insane though… we didn’t quite think about that!!)
We have also been thinking about realistic plans for after she is born. In my ideal world i would love to give up work altogether and become a full time mum, have another one in a year or so etc etc. But realistically, we just can’t afford our ultimate. So, we had a long discussion about it yesterday and have the bones of a plan. At the moment it involves me going back to work at 6 months (yikes) and doing 3 days (ideally, 3.5 days worth of hours condensed into 3 days actual work). Those days would then be covered by Tony’s mum one day (as she has offered this) and by Tony another day, presuming his work are ok with him doing 4 days per week. The other day would be nursery. Tony isn’t that mad on this idea but personally I don’t think it will be a problem, as long as we choose the place carefully (and, of course, all the good ones get booked up). I really, really would hate the idea of putting her in nursery for 3/4 days a week or more, but I actually think that one day a week will be beneficial really, as it teaches babies to be social and interact with others from a young age. I vividly remember when I went to nursery (ok, i wasn’t 6 months old) and I absolutely LOVED it. Tony is more apprehensive because he never went to nursery himself, but he admits that when it came time to go to school he found it very hard to adjust as a result. Anyway, there is an extra day that needs to be catered for, and that seems like the best (or only) way to do it. To be honest, it wouldn’t even be a full day as Tony would be able to collect her after lunch when he finishes work anyway. Hopefully, work will be accomodating to my 3 day per week request… fingers crossed!
I don’t think until now either of us realised how expensive and difficult all this was going to be… not that for one second we would change it! I think we were both using the denial technique thinking that things would sort themselves out somehow! But I was reading the other day about how a lot of nurseries are booked up until next September, which made me realise that we have to make some decisions fairly soon. There is a Sure Start nursery near us which has just opened, which has an open day on September 14… so I think we will pop along there to see what that is like – how bad the waiting list is and how much it will dent our pockets!!
