Making dinner with one hand

Tonight was the first time that when I picked up Poppy from nursery she put on a sad face. The 'why have you left me here?', gonna make you feel really guilty face. She stomped over to me and put her arms up to be lifted, and practically from then on (minus the car journey) she wouldn't be put down until bathtime. As if I didn't feel bad enough all day because of the crying and clinging around my neck this morning at drop-off. It was worse than when she first started there as at least then she didn't make me feel like shit each time. Hopefully it won't last too long and is just the result of having 2 weeks off.

My baby is growing up fast

When I arrived at Poppy's nursery to drop her off this morning I was told that it was her first day in Toddlers - the next age group up from the babies section. I had to leave her at the door instead of taking her down to the room. Ahhh! I wasn't too happy as I didn't know about it beforehand. However as hubby pointed out she's quite often down with the toddlers as she's been one of the older babies, so it's not like it was all new to her...
When I picked her up the carer went through all the different areas, what the day is structured like, where she eats, how they sleep (roll out mats on the floor all together), the activity areas. Plus more. I CAN'T BELIEVE she slept with all the other children in one place and didn't just crawl about climbing all over them giggling. She apparently was a bit fidgety to start and took about 5 minutes to go to sleep. 5 minutes??! That's a miracle in my book. She also has her own coat hook with a photo of her face above it as you go in. Plus when they start off the day they all sit together in the story corner for register before the story, and get to put a Photo Bee on the board to show that they had been there that day. How cute??

Nursery drop off with no tears

Today was the first morning that I dropped Poppy off to nursery that she didn't cry when I left! Hooray! I handed her over to the manager and she didn't cry, so I quickly said bye and walked out before she had a chance to start. To make sure I listened outside and could hear the carer saying what a good girl she was, and another saying 'hello, smiler!', and no crying!! We'll see tomorrow morning if it's a one off...

Working woman again

The first week is over. Actually had some proper work to do again today and finished my checking logs. So I am officially useful again. Pretty tired tonight but yet again a pile of ironing called me to my feet as soon as Poppy was in bed. My gem of a hubby did half too though so I could sit down.

Today was Poppy's first FULL day at nursery, that is 845-500. She was so tired when I picked her up after work! I did ring to check on her twice, which was about half of what I wanted to actually do. Don't think they're fed up of me ringing yet, but give it time! At least she's got us for 2 whole days now over the weekend, and it should be a fun one too - visiting my parents in the Country Park tomorrow where they're staying in their motorhome for the weekend and a swimming lesson, then a birthday party Sunday afternoon. And a night out for hubby and I tomorrow night, my brother is babysitting. A meal and a few drinks for our friend's 30th birthday, should be a fun night except I'm Des (designated driver) as one of us will have to get up with Poppy sunday morning anyway. And apparently there is going to be wine in the childrens party sunday afternoon, for the parents, so it's my turn to have a glass and relax then ;-)

Spoon fed in nursery-what a surprise!

Yes, that's right, Poppy was fed fish pie for lunch in nursery. Little minx. Won't take anything from a spoon for us apart from yoghurt. AND when i picked her up at 1230 she was just waking up from a nap in a bouncer chair in the main baby room. At home she won't sleep in the dark in the cot sometimes! At least she's being easy for them though, it would be awful if she wouldn't eat or sleep and was really miserable.

Got some stuff for work in my shopping trip. Shopping for work clothes is no where near exciting as normal shopping, and I've been reminded just how difficult it is for me to find smart trousers in my leg length. In the end I got a pair of brown linen from Next Petite which aren't really smart but will be ok, a pair of navy smart in M&S that I'll have to shorten, and pair of slim fit black in New Look that again are casual. Hopefully with a smartish top they'll be ok. Got a few tee-shirts that I'll smarten up with a corsage and a nautical knitted top. That'll do. It's a change anyway.

To try and keep me motivated with the training I got a pair of running leggings and a top, ones with stay-dry technology (!) as I find it really hot in my old scabby jogging bottoms. Tried on a lovely Adidas running jacket but resisted, perhaps I'll have a look online to see if I can find a bargainous one.

Nursery - done

It went fine. She cried when I walked away and left her but then played the whole time until I picked her up at 1100. Phew. Being braver tomorrow and leaving her until 1230 so she can eat lunch there. They won't know what's hit them ;-)

Have a morning of shopping planned, dragged out my workwear collection and decided that it really needs updating. Big style. I need some colour in there! It's pretty much all black and white as had to get rid of some stuff that is seriously old and worn out. Have a 20% off voucher for New Look and a store card, so that's my best bet me thinks.

STILL waiting for my nappy accessories. Emailed her again and she's sending out a part order of what they have in stock. Also one of the main things I was waiting for was the liners and she pointed out that I hadn't ordered any. Oops! Hope she can add them to the order and send out asap.

Nursery worries

Poppy starts on monday, and although I'm only planning on leaving her there for a couple of hours I'm still shitting myself. There are so many "What if?" that keep going around in my head! What if:
- she won't eat
- she won't sleep there
- she cries and they can't settle her
- she hurts herself and wants me or her Daddy
- she signs to them and they don't know
- they change her nappy and get the cloth nappy thing wrong, she only has 1 change of clothes
- another child is nasty/mean to her and i'm not there to look after her

etc etc

And also i realised last night that as it's Easter she'll be off on the friday and monday, so after settling her in for 3 days she'll be away from there for 5 days. I'm glad that hubby's got the following week off, when I start back to work, so we have the option of continuing the part time for another day or two before she's there for a whole day.

First day in a cloth nappy

Well the waterproof cover finally arrived today that I'd been waiting for, so tried out the cloth nappies. So far so good - no leaks in the two that I've tried and she doesn't seem any different or uncomfortable by feeling wet. Don't think hubby was too impressed when he changed her for swimming, he said that it was all wet...that's kinda the point tho as disposables absorb the wee and store it in the sludge stuff, whereas cloth nappies are just that. That's why a waterproof cover is required. Men.

SO I had been watching an ebay bid for a set of 14 nappies with some boosters and covers and decided to go for it. Had them for a bargainous price of £82 plus postage, seeing as they've not been used and would retail for over £200 all in. Now got to get sell on the millions of size 5 huggies disposables i'd bought ages ago! probably keep some as we'll use them at night, don't want to leave her in a cloth for 12 hours.

Can't believe Poppy will be 1 in two weeks. She has an hour in the nursery on monday morning as a trial, will have to go for a quick coffee or something to pass the hour rather than sitting in the car outside!

Sleep training started

Decided to bite the bullet today as the cold has pretty much gone, and she was up at 530am needing a bottle and cuddle. Which is all very well when I'm off work but seeing as my return is coming around with ever increasing speed, I don't want to be any more exhausted than I have to be considering I could cause someone harm at work by getting something wrong. Had to go to her nursery to pay fees and do paperwork at 930am so her morning nap was out anyway, so tried a late afternoon nap as she wasn't tired until then. Everything I read said that most babies can't keep it up for an hour, the screaming that is, but once again Poppy defied all logic and persisted until I gave up after an hour. Thankfully this made her very tired by bedtime so that she only stood up twice and cried for about half an hour all in. Who knew that leaving your child to cry pitifully, hanging over the cot with snot and tears running down their face, could make you feel so helpless, upset, sicky, annoyed!(just sleep dammit), depressed and determined all in one big jumbled emotional mess.

On the amusing side to the day, the nursery haven't had a baby who follows BLW principles before. Oh what a mess they'll get themselves into I'm sure! Did warn them about putting down a splash mat under the highchair, but it'll be nice to only have to clean up after her evening meal once i start working. Not sure if the mention of baby signing tipped her into thinking 'what the hell have i taken on here?' but whatever, they seem willing to give anything a try and didn't laugh in my face.

Early start

Poppy was awake at 530am this morning, its now only 7am and I'm exhausted. Surely by 11 months old sleep should be established? She was so good for the first 6 months, now it seems to be going backwards in so many ways - early waking, night time waking, no self-settling anymore, not being able to start my evening until 8pm.
Got to go into her nursery today to pay for the first lot of fees in advance to secure her place. Will probably be near £500, yikes. Need to ask all about napping and feeding times and routines, the questions we asked when we booked her in were vastly different as she was only 8 weeks old then! Didn't even know then what we'd want to be asking when it was almost time for her to go there.