Baby Fred at 5 months

Our cheeky little monkey is growing fast! I can't quite believe he is 5 months old already.

The last month has been a bit of a blur - thanks to the lack of sleep. 

Since sleeping more Fred now giggles a lot more and his balance has improved considerably! It may just be a coincidence but I think it's related.

Fred now sleeps loads better. He generally has two naps a day one much longer than the other. Over night for 4 of the last 7 nights he has gone to bed just after 7, woken once for food and slept until the morning. It is amazing! I feel like a whole new person. Although now that some of the fog of tiredness has lifted I am noticing how much I HATE my hair. (something I am going to be sorting out today!)

Currently Fred's favourite toy is Terry the Triceratops. Terry is bright, jingly, crackly, squeaky and even has a chewy ring. 

Last week we started swimming lessons. He hated it. He sucked my shoulder the whole time. I have been told we will like it better this week. We shall see!

He is nearly rolling over, but he would prefer to be able to sit himself up. He spends most of the time that he is on his back doing a baby version of crunches.

We have started letting Fred play with food, currently he just gums bits of cucumber and sucks out the juice, he is really enjoying it though. As we are going to do baby led weaning I feel it is OK to let him explore food now so that he will start eating when he is ready. 

I'm afraid that once again I have no idea how much he weighs, just more. He has nearly grown out of his 3- 6 month sleep suits. 

I am hoping that this month his sleeping continues to improve, we avoid illness and he learns to like swimming.

AWOL - Struggling

 Sorry I have been missing from this blog for a couple of weeks. We have been having a difficult time and suffering from a severe of sleep. We are now doing a lot better, but it is always hard to find my blogging mojo again after a couple of weeks off. I have many blog posts planned - I am nearly a week late with Fred's 5 month update! 

As I said we are now doing loads better. We have even managed to catch up on some sleep! I wrote the following post at the height of my sleep deprivation. I think it is important for me to publish it as it is part of my story and it is only right that I blog about some of the hard things of motherhood as well as the good things.

Struggling

So this is what sleep deprivation looks like. 

What it feels like is drowning in tiredness, exhaustion and emotion.

For 5 nights now Fred has been waking too many times for me to cope. He has never been a great sleeper. I have become used to a mild amount of sleep deprivation and a manageable amount of tiredness.

 Waking 4 times a night now seems a luxury compared to this week. Last night has so far been the worst nights sleep since Fred was born. He slept for less than an hour at a time. A few times his slept for less than 10 minutes before he needed settling again. It is soul destroying.

I honestly feel that if I don't get more sleep soon my body will stop working. How can an exhausted body feed a ravenous baby? 
How can an exhausted body rock him to sleep yet one more time? 
How can an emotionally drained Mum love him as much as he deserves?
How can an exhausted Dad help over night and still manage to go to work?
How can you help a baby to learn how to sleep when you aren't even sure you remember how?
How many times do I have to say if he slept life would be perfect for it to happen? 
How many times can I be expected to pray for sleep before giving up?
How can we make this better?

Top Ten Tips for shopping at Charity shops

My challenge to myself this year is to only buy second hand or fair trade clothes. This is already difficult as all of my clothes are too big! My bum has disappeared so even my smallest pair of jeans are baggy. I never used to like my big bum but now it has gone I miss it!  So I need some more jeans and trousers. Unfortunately I have only bought one successful pair of jeans from a charity shop but I have bought many tops, cardigans and dresses that are now well incorporated in to my wardrobe.

For our day out at the Harry Potter studio tour I wore two of my favourite charity shop finds.

My red jeans I bought from a charity shop in Manchester for £5.99. I was pregnant so it was a bit of a gamble as to whether they would fit me or not. The gamble paid off I LOVE them. They are one of the two pairs of trousers that still look OK on my small butt. My top is my most recent charity shop buy. My friend Jen found it and made me try it on. I wasn't convinced when I saw it on the hanger but it really suits me, it is good for breast feeding and makes me feel a little fancy. It cost £4.99.

I have been shopping in Charity shops for clothes for 8 years now so I have gathered some top tips:

1. Go with an open mind - Every time I shop knowing I need a certain item I come home disappointed, but if I go just to see what I can find I find some lovely things.

2. Try before you buy - too many times I have decided that an item of clothing will fit me without trying it on. Second hand clothes may have been stretched or misshapen and you wont necessarily notice unless you try them on.

3. Set yourself a budget - Just because your spending money in a charity shop doesn't mean you are saving money. I have spent too much before and didn't notice because I was only spending a few pounds in my favourite charity shop every couple of days.

4. Take Cash - Most Charity shops now take cards but it is easier to keep an eye on what you are spending when you use cash.

5. Only buy things you love - It is not worth even a pound if you aren't going to love and wear it regularly.

6. Take a friend - It is good to have a level headed friend who knows your style and size as he / she may spot something that you wouldn't have noticed and they can keep you under control if you get the urge to splurge.

7. Make a day of it - If you have time it is worth taking an afternoon or a day every now and then to properly explore all of the charity shops in your town. 

8. Make friends with the volunteers in your favourite charity shop - Since having Fred it has been so much easier to start conversations with some of the older ladies in one of my favourite charity shops. They are happy to keep an eye on Fred for me while I try things on and they will give me their opinion if I don't have friend with me.

9. If you have the chance it is always worth travelling to a posh town or village and finding their charity shops. They often have better quality, less worn clothes.

10. Donate your own clothes - if people don't keep donating good quality clothes charity shops will not have good things for you to find. I like to think I have some friends that I have never met who are my size and share my style. We are effectively swapping clothes whilst donating money to charity. 

Ordinary Moments; Playing With Daddy

One of the best things about being a mum is getting to watch Jamie being a dad. 

Fred adores him. Jamie gets more smiles and giggles then everyone else. 

Hearing and watching the fun they have together makes all of the sleepless nights worth it. 
I also know it is going to get more fun. I can hardly wait!

I am linking up with Katie at MummyDaddyMe again this week.

 Don't forget to have a look at the other lovely posts.

Easy and cheap three bean chilli recipe

As promised this is my recipe for three bean chili.

It makes roughly 6 portions of chili.

You will need:

Three tins of various beans
Two tins of chopped tomatoes
Two chillies
Two cloves of garlic
Two onions
Two peppers
Two carrots
A corgette
Table spoon of tomato puree
Table spoon of sugar
Table spoon of Worcester sauce
A chicken or vegetable stock cube (depending on whether your vegetarian or not)
And any other veg you fancy throwing in. Sometimes I use leek instead as onion, I would put mushrooms in but Jamie doesn't like them. You could also add a splash of red wine.

Start by cooking you're chopped onions, garlic and chilli in a little oil until soft. Add the drained beans, the tinned tomatoes and chopped carrot, stir and bring to the boil. Add all of your other veg, the sugar, worcester sauce, tomato puree stir and then put a lid of your frying pan, turn the hob down and simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes or until the carrot is soft. Season to taste. Boil your rice or cook some jacket potatoes and its ready. :)

I have worked out that it costs about 80 pence per portion. A very cheap and yummy meal!

Save money on Valentines day

 If like me you are taking part in the Great British Budget challenge this February, you probably haven't got much spare cash to be spending this valentines day. Here are a few ways I have come up with to help you celebrate valentines day on a budget:

✳Buy flowers that aren't red roses. Roses are expensive at the best of times, but during the valentines period the price sky rockets! Other flowers are just as nice and are a lot cheaper. (Just don't buy carnations)

✳Stay in and cook. Pull out all the stops and make something challenging. Your other half is bound to be impressed.

✳If you can't cook, go out for lunch or dinner next week. Restaurants are ultra busy over valentines weekend, miss the crowds by celebrating a week later.

✳Make something. A special photo album of you time together will always go down well.

I may now come across as a bit of a Scrooge, but if you are really serious about saving money this Valentines day. 

Don't celebrate it.

There I said it.

If you love someone and want to show them you care why wait for Valentines day? Buy them flowers and go on lovely (inexpensive) dates all through the year.

If you are a fan of Valentines day then please ignore the above suggestion. The essence of Valentines day is to spend time with the person you love. It doesn't have to be big or fancy. Put some thought and time in to it and I'm sure your significant other will appreciate it.

How to save money on your weekly shop

Currently we spend under £40 per week on our food shop. £40 comfortably feeds two pretty hungry adults. 

One is breastfeeding the other just eats a lot!

Spending this little takes some planning, a little compromise and a willingness to cook.

Below is an average weeks shopping list.

I plan our evening meals in advance but I am open to change if I spot a really good offer. I never buy portions of chicken, I always buy a whole one and portion it up myself, this way I can make 4 meals for two from one £4.99 free range chicken. I don't enjoy cutting up the chicken but it is worth it. To buy an equivalent amount of breast meat would cost nearly the same price as the whole chicken.

At least two of our evening meals a week are meat free. I learnt how to make 3 bean chili from scratch and veggie curry. Jamie is not really a fan of vegetarian meals but he loves curry and chili so the vegetarian versions are bearable.

For breakfast we eat porridge, because we like it. But it also happens to be much cheaper than cereal- it is also lower in sugar and salt. Win win.

We shop primarily in Aldi, partly because I can walk there. Saving a tiny bit more money on petrol. It is a good super market but only if you are willing to be flexible as they don't always have everything in- this week they had run out of free range chickens so I bought a pack of bacon and a pack of mince instead. Since changing our main super market shop to Aldi it has been much easier to stick to our £40 budget.

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you my recipe for 3 bean chili and some ways to make the most of a whole chicken.

Lisa from the blog TheLifeOfWife suggests having two simple meals a week such as beans on toast.

What tricks do you have for reducing your food bill?