Midweek Musings: You're So Vain
I bet you think this blog post is about you. Or, er, me. Which it is. What I mean to say is, I'm so vain. I don't know whether it's the warmer weather or the fact that Daph is sleeping better so I can no longer blame her for my daily Stig of the Dump impression, but anyway, I've decided it's time to get myself together. Appearance wise.
I mentioned teeth whitening in my last blog post - and a few of my friends IRL told me that they'd had the Zoom treatment and it was beyond painful, so that's kind of put me off that a bit. BUT. Today I had my hair done and - drum roll please - CUT for the first time in... well, so long I'm ashamed. Anyway I wanted to go back to the ombre thing I blogged about last year but get it done properly this time. And get my lob cut back in. I asked the hairdresser to match the ombre to my roots. Which were coming through looking properly BROWN. But she insisted I was still a 'dark blonde' and so we went with that colour. And voila...
Hilariously, my roots are now the exact same colour as Daphne's hair, which is quite nice really. We match! I can't believe how much lighter it looks than I imagined it would and although it's very 'ashy' (and obviously a lot darker!) I actually quite like it. Oli nodded his head in approval too, which is a bonus.
Best of all, there's no sign of any YELLOW hair - my absolute pet hate about blonde hair is when it goes yellow or gingery. Yuck.
I've also treated myself to some new skincare - the Alpha H Liquid Gold serum that everyone talks about. I've used glycolic acid masks before and really liked them - I hate any mechanical exfoliates as my skin is so sensitive. I've only used the Liquid Gold once so far and I definitely noticed a difference the next day - my skin was tauter and smoother, but not massively so. I'm going to use it two or three times a week as suggested to see how it works long term.
I also went to M&S earlier this week to get the baby something and ended up spending shedloads on Stila make up. There's a massive M&S right by my flat and I often go there when I'm bored and want to take the baby for a walk. Anyway I'd never really looked at the M&S make up section but had noticed recently they now sell Ren, which is really good as I use their clarifying toner every day. But then I spotted Stila, and I dunno - perhaps it's the brown packaging but everything suddenly looked REALLY enticing and promised amazing things. So I bought a lipstick, some BB cream (why Charlotte? You HATE BB cream) and a eyebrow kit thingy which is sadly quite crap - back to drawing mine on with pencil I think.
I don't know why but just BUYING make up always really cheers me up. Now what I really need to do is shift this extra 10 pounds I'm carrying around from being a pregnant pig. Then my transformation will be complete. Ha ha! I suspect the only way to do this is cardio - namely, running, SOB - so have resolved to get back into it after Easter and all the eggs. Ahem.
On that note, hope you all have a fab Easter. We're off to Bristol to visit my uni friend Sophy who's just had her first baby, and I'm quite excited as we're staying in the Hotel du Vin so it's almost a little mini break. Will let you know how we get on sharing a hotel room with a seven-month-old... bedtime at 7pm, that should be fun!
Seven month baby update
Last week, Daphne turned seven months old! And celebrated the occasion with a monumental growth spurt - I swear, she is TALL now. When I stand her up (she loves standing while holding my hands) she reaches the top of my head if I'm sitting on the floor with her - it's crazy. Her little neck is lengthening now and to me, she looks like a child more than a baby (I know, she still looks like a baby really - but her face is maturing).
I felt quite emotional about her turning seven months - almost really relieved somehow, as though at seven months she is somehow less vulnerable and fragile. I love the fact that now she can eat almost anything she likes, and she's happily graduated onto the more grown up Ella's Kitchen pouches. Yesterday she had macaroni cheese and loved it, and I'm trying her on spaghetti bolognese later. As for weaning, it's going really really well - she'll eat pretty much anything and also loves drinking water out of my glass too - I've tried giving her her own beaker but she much prefers drinking from my glass. Which is very cute apart from the backwash. She just wants to copy everything we eat and drink at the moment and is happily munching her way through cheese, rice cakes, cucumber and any soft fruit. The only thing that doesn't agree with her are yoghurts - we've tried a few times now and they come straight back up. Do I have the only baby in the world who doesn't like yoghurt?!
We've been pretty lazy on the weaning front when it comes to making her things from scratch - I do feel guilty about this but also I like the fact that she can try a huge variety of things easily with the Ella's Kitchen pouches - making that range of food at home would cost a fortune and we only have a tiny freezer compartment so it wouldn't really be practical to make huge batches and freeze them. I think life's too short to worry too much about these things when she only eats tiny portions (they are organic after all!) and she'll have plenty of homecooked food in her lifetime. Just don't tell anyone on Mumsnet.
She has three 'meals' a day now, alongside her milk (five bottles of 7oz, although she doesn't often finish the daytime ones). She has baby porridge with prunes in (to keep her regular, ahem, and to make sure she poos during the day rather than at night) for breakfast, then lunch is finger food such as bits of toast with cheese and cooked veg, then dinner is a proper 'meal' with protein in like chicken casserole. She also has water with each meal which she loves - she actually prefers water to her milk now which has been a bit worrying. I've not tried her on anything else like watered-down juice, in case she gives up milk completely.
Other than that - sleeping has been much better! She has slept through (touch wood!) most nights the past fortnight - although she always wakes up super bloody early - like 5.30am, which is quite exhausting in itself. However, I'm confident (is this wise? am I jinxing myself? probably) that now she's got the hang of not eating at night she'll eventually start sleeping later - fingers crossed. We didn't really do anything differently to get her to sleep through - except for not letting her fall asleep while having her final bottle of the day, as this means when she wakes up in the night and the bottle is gone, she doesn't freak out but can put herself back to sleep. It's all about sleep associations or something... anyway it's worked! It's been so nice to have some long uninterrupted bouts of sleep over the past two weeks. I actually can't believe I survived so long on so little sleep up till now - it's kind of crazy what you can deal with if you don't have any choice...
She's 'talking' a lot more now, making all kinds of weird and wonderful noises, including some epic laughing fits at nothing in particular. She's also cottoned on to the fact that if she coughs she gets attention so she is constantly coughing for no reason - very sneaky! We always rush to her to see what's going on but she's always totally bloody fine and stops coughing the moment she sees us and starts smiling.
I have a feeling already that she'll be a bit of a diva - she gets a lot of attention from both of us and I do worry that perhaps we're setting ourselves up for trouble in the future. Although I keep reading that you can't spoil a baby with love, so that makes me feel better about it. And I do love her - goodness me, she's just absolutely my favourite person ever, endlessly fascinating and entertaining.
She's a lazy lump though. Seven months old and although she CAN roll if she wants to, she rarely bothers, and as for sitting up - it's mostly too much of a hassle and she'd prefer to be held upright on your lap thank you very much. Obviously there's absolutely no sign of crawling from her either - but apparently I didn't crawl until I was one (! this explains why I was always last to be picked for netball) so I guess she takes after me in that regard. Let's face it, with us as parents she was never going to be a gymnast...
PS just read this back and realised it reads like it's sponsored by Ella's Kitchen. I promise it's not! Although if they want to sponsor me and send me a few pouches, it'd save us a fortune ;)
I have a new website...
Just in case you're interested, I've relaunched my professional website. You can find it at charlotteduckworth.com.
Don't have a huge amount to say about this really, but if you're interested in working with me, get in touch! I offer lots of services, from ghostwriting your company blogs (don't worry, won't be anywhere near as sweary as these ones) to copywriting website text and newsletters and helping you with your PR and online marketing. I really like working with small indie brands with passionate owners (and if you're a mumpreneur then even better) and although my background is predominantly in the interiors industry, I'm also keen to work with lifestyle brands and anything kids' related at the moment (for obvious reasons!).
Oh and I also do journalism! Ha! Forgot about that - it's only what I'm actually trained to do. But not for peanuts please, I have a mortgage to pay and a small person to clothe.
Anyway, that's enough of a sales pitch. Have a look at my site if you want to read even more marketing speak!
Midweek Musings: Foot Muffs and Teeth Whitening
Blimey O'Reilly I'm ill again. Sleep deprivation + growing a baby last year has clearly left my immune system at an all-time low. I was never ill before I had Chip - actually, before I got pregnant (I was ill quite a lot when I was pregnant which was of course worse as you can't take anything for it). I used to swerve most colds going round but now I seem to be a magnet for them - at the moment the day after I travel on the tube I wake up with a sore throat. Not fun.
Anyway in the midst of my head-cold-and-sleep-deprivation fog, I did something pretty daft. So I thought I'd share it. When we bought Daph's buggy (the Bugaboo Bee 3 - does anyone want me to do a review? if so, let me know!), it was summer and the lady in the shop said not to bother with buying the foot muff as she wouldn't need it until it got colder. So we didn't. But at six months she progressed from the carrycot to the normal pushchair seat and I realised her little toes were getting cold, no matter how many blankets she had on her lap. So I remembered the foot muff thing and went onto John Lewis's website and ordered it. Probably in the middle of a feed while I was thinking about eighty other things. It was £95 which made my eyes water but I thought it was one of those things you just had to stump up for and reasoned she'd be using the buggy for a few years to come. There were several colours to choose from, so I got bright yellow, because the sun canopy is bright yellow and I assumed they should match.
(Bear with me, I appreciate this story is already long and boring). When it arrived I opened it, raised my eyebrows slightly at just how yellow it was but shoved it on the buggy anyway. Within five minutes of our first walk avec foot muff it was already dirty from me scraping it along a wall. I suddenly realised what a terrible, terrible idea a bright yellow foot muff was. Of course it just so happened that I'd put all the packaging out for the binman that morning (who'd been and gone), so I couldn't return it even if I'd not already made it filthy.
I did a bit more research when I got home and realised that you can get foot muffs that fit ANY BUGGY for about £40 online. And they don't have to be bright yellow - they can be a far more practical grey or black. The moral of this story is: you don't need to spend £95 on a Bugaboo matching foot muff. Don't be an idiot like me.
I hope the bloody thing is washable at least. Everytime I look at it now I am going to think about what else I could have spent £95 on (like some nice clothes for me! SOB).
In other news, I went to the dentist this week, which was relatively unremarkable, although I do love the fact your treatment is free when you've just had a baby. My (NHS) dentist offered me some sort of fillings for my receded gums which sound painful but like a good idea, so I'm going to go for it while it's still free. She also mentioned teeth whitening (not free). It's not cheap but I'm seriously considering it as my teeth are so horrible and yellow (and I hardly ever drink red wine - NO FAIR). I've done those illegal Crest whitening strips (ordered from eBay) before but they really hurt my sensitive gums and the effects wore off quite quickly. If anyone's had any experience of the Zoom whitening system - please let me know! I've googled it and everyone just goes on about how painful it is, which doesn't really fill me with hope. But whiter teeth are just the sort of thing I feel would get me out of my postnatal beauty slump (along with a decent haircut, which I'm doing next week).
Finally, you might have noticed that I've redesigned my blog logo. I only just realised how bloody awful the last one was, so I've gone completely minimalist (read: unimaginative) and feel much happier with it. Also, I keep meaning to say a big thank you to everyone who's followed me on Bloglovin' since my shameful begging post - it's really cheered me up and is much appreciated!
The truth about health visitors
Only people who have children even know that health visitors are A THING.
Health visitors don't visit. At least, not after your baby is a week old.
No one knows exactly what health visitors are. Senior nurses? Junior nurses? Random people who like babies?
A health visitor's favourite question is 'Are you breastfeeding?' ARE YOU BREASTFEEDING ARE YOU BREASTFEEDING ARE YOU BREASTFEEDING I AM A ROBOT AND HAVE TO ASK YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE HOLDING A BOTTLE
(Ahem. Sorry about that.)
Health visitors have a lot of leaflets.
Health visitors believe that leaflets can solve ALL THINGS.
If they don't have a leaflet for it, health visitors will tell you to go to your GP.
Health visitors always have a trainee with them. Always.
A health visitor's favourite skill is weighing your baby. They are very comfortable doing this, and don't use leaflets when doing it.
Health visitors tell you your babies weight in kg. This will mean nothing to you. TIME FOR THE BREXIT.
Health visitors are the only ones that can navigate successfully around The Red Book. SO MANY PAGES AND FOLD OUT BITS AND CHARTS WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN
If you ask your health visitor to measure your baby, she will tell you that it's not necessary again until she is one. If you ask if they can do it anyway 'seeing as we're here' they will tell you that now the baby has her nappy back on it will skew the measurements. Uh huh.
Everyone sitting in waiting area to see the health visitor is desperately hoping their baby won't be the one that starts screaming.
Baby clinics are heated to approximately 45 degrees. (To make sure the babies don't get cold). Everyone will sweat and the whole place smells of warm baby poo.
You will queue for three hours to see the health visitor for ten minutes.
If you live in London, your health visitor clinic will have friendly posters up in the waiting area saying things like 'This clinic is really busy. Could you possibly try the other one in your district, even though it's three miles away? Kthanksbye'
There will also be posters telling you to LEAVE BUGGIES OUTSIDE. Everyone will ignore them.
Health visitors are probably very nice people. At least they like babies, unlike your GP.
(Disclaimer: this is written from a place of love. Sorry to any health visitors out there!)
Read the truth about parenting sleep deprivation >
Read the truth about life with a newborn >
Shops you should know about: Vita Copenhagen
I spent a long time searching for a pendant light for Daphne's nursery, eventually giving up and just re-covering the horrible cheap Ikea pendant we had up there. As I've said, we're hoping to move soon so it made sense to wait until we had a proper nursery for her before splashing out on something nice. But during my research, pretty much the only light I liked was the Eos, by Vita Copenhagen. Made from beautiful white feathers carefully arranged around a frame, it looks a little bit like a fluffy white cloud - in keeping with the cloud decals we already had up on the wall.
I was pretty chuffed then when the lovely PR for Vita Copenhagen got in touch and offered me an Eos - it was as though she'd read my mind (I hadn't actually mentioned that I liked it anywhere so it was really serendipitous!). When it arrived I opened it and it's even more beautiful than I thought - I've actually quickly repackaged it and stowed it away safely for use in our new home as I don't want it to get ruined when we move.
One of the best things about Vita Copenhagen, in my view, is its price points. The lights are all really really good value and have a beautiful Scandi, minimalist aesthetic - I'm a massive George Nelson bubble pendant fan but let's be honest, these cost an absolute bomb. The design-led pieces from Vita Copenhagen look incredibly expensive but are actually very reasonably priced indeed.
They also believe in reducing their environmental footprint, so all their lights come packaged in compact gift boxes to keep logistics and storage costs down. Big thumbs up.
The company is relatively new to the UK (I believe!) and as far as I can see only has prices in euros up on its site at the moment - but do have a look if you're after something supremely stylish (can't go wrong with anything from Copenhagen really can you?!). And I'll share pics of Daphne's light in situ once we've moved - fingers, toes, arms, legs... EVERYTHING crossed, we're hoping to complete at the end of this month...
Midweek Musings: Literary Salon Loveliness
So this week I headed off to what I will always call the Shoreditch House Literary Salon - except it's no longer called that. For those not in the know, it's an evening event that's been running for a long time now, organised by journalist and author Damian Barr. He gets established and up-and-coming authors to come along and give a reading from their books, then has a little chat with them and does a Q&A after. It's such a brilliant evening and I can't recommend it enough.
Back when I was writing fiction regularly (sniff sniff), I used to go quite often with my friend and fellow authoress Rebecca Connell, but stopped going a few years ago as the novel-writing side of my life gave way to the desire to earn enough money to keep myself in socks. Anyway I'm pleased to say that the event is still going strong, even if it's no longer held in Shoreditch House. Instead, the evening I went to was held in a ballroom at The Savoy - very swish. You used to get free pizza and gin and tonics at the Shoreditch House one, but this offering has been upgraded somewhat to free wine and sushi (which you have to buy alas). Probably for the best because from what I remember the pizza scrambling was always a rather uncouth affair - Becky and I used to position ourselves right by the bar to try to snatch a piece or two as it came out - there was never enough pizza to go round. Starving writers + rationed free food = not a pretty picture.
This last Salon featured four authors: Susan Calman, Garth Greenwell, Dame Joan Bakewell and my literary heroine Maggie O'Farrell, who gave a reading from her latest novel which I absolutely cannot wait to read and must now book a holiday to somewhere peaceful in order to devote proper time to devouring it. Not sure where the baby fits into that plan, alas. But I digress. If you're at all interested in writing (or reading!) then I really suggest you try to come down to the Salon - it's the kind of evening that makes you feel like you should be contributing (creatively at least) more to life, but in a good way. A motivating way. It's also funny, relaxed and very enjoyable. Keep an eye on the Facebook page to find out the details of the next event - and be quick, as tickets sell out really fast. You can also listen to this week's event on podcast - definitely worth doing, Joan Bakewell is an inspiration.
My first mother's day
Well, not my first mother's day EVER of course, but my first as a mother! It started, in true Daphne style, at 1am, when she decided to wake up ridiculously early for her middle-of-the-night feed (yes, the one we're trying to cut out, but failing). It then continued at 4am when she woke up again, this time bawling her eyes out, and I only had to go into the hallway to smell the reason why. So that was nice: a 4am poo to wish me a happy mother's day. You've got to love her style.
Anyway I'm grateful that my gentleman companion said he'd get up with her at 6am (by then she had decided that it was time for the day to start - THANK YOU VERY MUCH BUT I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THAT BLOODY COT MOBILE NOW) and I had a lie-in until 9, which was much needed. I was given some stunning flowers and a card she apparently picked herself (Oli said he was looking at them in the shop and he looked down and she'd pulled one off the shelf, which is very like her as she's grabbing everything at the moment - so of course he had to buy that one. Luckily it had a bunny on it and was suitably cute). Then we went off to my parents' for a mother's day lunch with the family.
It's very strange to think I am a mother, and it doesn't feel how I imagined it would. I'm not sure that any of the 'having a baby' thing has really sunk in just yet, but that's because my focus is so constantly and entirely on Daphne and her needs, and I haven't really bothered to think about myself in the context of 'being a mother' really. And I suppose that's what being a mother is all about - not thinking about yourself first anymore. Daphne is the only person I would willingly get out of bed at 4am for when it's -2 degrees outside and only 16 degrees inside, and the only person for whom I'll sit in the car after arriving at my destination for forty minutes in order to ensure she has a long enough nap. I worry about her far more than I ever worried about myself (I'm not really much of a worrier) - in fact, Daphne has made me completely neurotic and I am aware that I am total control freak when it comes to her. I need to loosen up a bit lot. But I'm so protective of her because of the issues I had during pregnancy, and then she was so small when she was born, with all the problems that that involved. I feel like she's a really sensitive baby, who's overstimulated easily and loves routine and I am anxious to ensure that she doesn't ever get overwhelmed. But I'm sure my anxiety rubs off and affects her too - and that means I need to chill the fuck out a bit and learn to relax.
Before I ever even got pregnant, I noticed that my friends who were a bit more highly strung about their kids seemed to have more highly strung children, and my laid-back friends had 'easy' babies. Not sure if it was just coincidence in those cases but I remember registering it and thinking that if I ever had a baby I'd have to make a conscious effort to be relaxed and laid-back - HA HA HA. Not so easy when you're in the thick of it - I'm probably the least relaxed and laid-back mother on the planet. In my defence, four months of colic will do that to you. But every day she seems a little bit calmer and a little bit happier - I hope as she grows and seems better able to cope with things I'll feel more confident on her behalf.
Phew! This is a bit of a stream of consciousness. Not quite what I had in mind for today's post but there you go. Sometimes it's good to get these thoughts down on... a computer screen.
What I really meant to say was... happy mother's day mums! I'm SO happy to be in your club and I think you're all bloomin' amazing. Including my own mum - who's also proving herself to be the most stellar grandmother too. We're lucky to have you.
Midweek Musings: Baby Apps and Annoying Restaurants
I'm SO pleased it's March! Even though today the weather is disgusting, I've surrounded myself with daffodils at home and am hibernating today with the baby and lots of tea, and thinking about the warmer months ahead. The best thing about having a baby in August was that it was still lovely and warm (or warm enough) for a good few months after she was born and I got to go for long walks every day. But these fell by the wayside in January and February thanks to the cold weather (warmest winter on record my arse!). And I really do think my mental health suffered for it - not to mention my fat thighs.
We've all finally recovered from our super fun bout of flu (spending an entire day lying on my bed shivering and sweating with the baby next to me and chucking toys at her every now and then was an interesting experience, hopefully not to be repeated) and so we took Daphne to be weighed again on Monday. She is now an impressive 17 pounds, or 7.75kg, at 28 weeks. Still on the 50th percentile which is good! I definitely think she's grown longer in the last few weeks, and is looking more like an actual child, too - they say you only have a baby for a year and that year is really disappearing now!
On that note, I've just seen that Glow, the fertility app that I used before I got pregnant and then while I was pregnant, has launched a new baby app, called Glow Baby. It's very serendipitous as I was just thinking what a shame it was that there was no good app for logging things like the times Daphne napped, amounts she ate etc etc, as well as tracking her weight over the weeks. And now there is! I'm not being paid to say this either. I really love the Glow interfaces and I've downloaded the app today - will let you know how I get on with it but from initial glance it looks really useful! Check it out if you have a littlun.
Anyway for today's post I really wanted to write about my experience last night at Flat Iron in Soho. I'd heard good things about it (STEAK!) and so suggested dinner there with my friends Vicky and Susie. However, it's one of those 'no reservations' places. We turned up at 7pm to be told that there was an hour and fifteen minutes' wait. By someone with an iPad and just a hint of attitude. So we went over the road to Byron instead.
I'm really really really really really SO fed up and bored of non-booking restaurants. PLEASE can someone make them un-trendy? I'm actually thinking of starting a blog that only features restaurants that allow you to book because honestly, does anyone like queueing for hours in the cold for a restaurant table? Or being squished in the doorway, flapping a menu in hand for forty minutes, while people squeeze past you on the way to the loo/to meet their smug friends already seated at tables?
The longest I've ever queued for was nearly TWO HOURS at Dishoom - and much as I ruddy love that place, it did make me hate myself inside for buying into the bollocks. So what if they did hand out peppermint tea to the people getting rained on - we were still getting rained on WHILE QUEUEING TO SPEND MONEY ON OUR DINNER. How did this start, why did this start and why do we put up with it? Are we all such stupid lemmings that we think somehow queueing for our dinner makes it more special? I propose we all boycott these places until they agree to let us book tables again - who's with me?!
Daphne's wardrobe - tips on buying baby clothes
I'm not going to lie, when I found out I was having a girl, I was immensely excited by the dress-her-up-in-teeny-dresses possibilities. I literally couldn't wait to get out to the shops and start buying stuff (but I was really superstitious I'd have a miscarriage so I held off for as long as I could bear). Anyway, before she was even born, Miss Daph had a whole load of lovely little outfits, most of which she either wore once or... never at all.
I know that everyone knows this, but you sort of don't REALLY realise it until it's in front of you - babies grow ridiculously quickly. Like, overnight. Even though Daph was a teeny tiny 5lb baby, some of the first bits we bought her lasted only two weeks. They're now tucked away in her baby keepsake box and every now and then I get them out and stare at how small they are and sniff at the memory.
As she's grown, I've tried to hold back a bit more on buying ALL the cute outfits, because really, it's a waste of money. It's lovely to see her looking sweet and dressed up, but it's also horribly painful packing away tiny velvet dresses and beautifully embroidered cardigans that I know she only wore once. I've been putting all the stuff she's grown out of in one of those laundry-bag things from JoJo Maman and it's already full - and those bags aren't small! I don't really know what to do with all her clothes - I'm saving them in case we have a number 2 (the jury's still out on whether we'll try to do that - how do people deal with sleepless nights, a baby AND a toddler?!) but there's still far too many, and I'm considering donating a lot of them to charity and only keeping my favourites.
Anyway, in the six and a bit months since we've had her, I've learnt a few lessons when it comes to buying baby clothes. Here's my tuppence worth, to help save some of your tuppences...
- You will mostly want to dress your baby in babygrows (sleepsuits) and vests. Honestly. Trousers, skirts, tights, dungarees - all the rest of it - they're just a bit of a faff. Lovely to look at but you'll save them for 'occasion' days when you're having lunch with the family or feel you can be bothered to wrestle with baby tights after changing a nappy. The rest of the time your baby will be wearing, pooing and throwing up on babygrows. So buy more of them and less of everything else.
- My friend Emma was right about baby socks. They are a waste of time. They fall off, they get lost, they are a bit pointless (even with those sock-on things).
- All the clothes you buy should have at least three months' growth in them, or you will hate yourself. This is my new technique - buying everything slightly too big. As Daph was small when she was born, most of the clothes she had were too big and it actually didn't matter - sleeves and trouser legs can be rolled up and it makes putting things on easier as they have plenty of 'stretch' room.
- Always buy coats in the next size up. Babies hate putting on coats and the bigger they are, the easier it is for you. I stupidly bought an adorable Joules jacket for Daph in size 3-6months and it was snug even when I got it - suffice to say she grew out of it in about a week and now it just hangs on the back of her door taunting me (£30!!!)
- On the subject of coats, we've found that cardigans with hoods are WAY easier to get on and off and make good substitutes.
- Petit Bateau do the most beautiful baby clothes known to mankind but they cost an absolute fortune. Unless you have parents who regularly do booze cruises to France. In which case, tell them to pop into an hypermarché on the way home, where they can buy all the PB you desire but at half the price. ;)
- Marks & Spencer's children's clothes are absolutely bloody phenomenal. I am obsessed. The cotton is amazing quality, the designs are fun and contemporary, they are really good value (£13 for five vests!!) and they have loads of cute outfits too (if you don't have the willpower to stay away from those rails). And their babygrows have a DIFFERENT COLOUR POPPER for the confusing popper at the crotch. Genius (this will only make sense to you if you regularly popper up a baby in a sleepsuit). They also do much cheaper sleeping bags than the market-leading Grobag, with a much better way of fastening the zip too (IMO).
- JoJo Maman Bebe rule the babygrows. Yes, everyone else's baby has the pink elephants one too, but they are such lovely thick cotton and the designs are really interesting. They're not cheap at all but they do quite often do sales online, so look out for them, and if you get a loyalty card you get stamps every time you spend a certain amount that turn into £15 off once you've collected enough.
- Babies look boring in neutral tones like grey and white. Well, my baby does anyway. Bold colours and patterns are SO much cuter.
- Small babies don't need pyjamas. They sleep in sleepsuits. Clue's in the name. You'll worry about their feet getting cold otherwise.
- TK Maxx has loads of lovely baby clothes from the likes of Ralph Lauren. DEFINITELY worth a visit if you're looking for something special.
- Baby Gap stuff is as lovely as you thought it was, but eye-wateringly pricey.
So yes, that's what I've learnt about dressing babies since having my own little pudding. Anyone got any tips they'd like to share? Leave a comment below!