How have I been a mum for six months already?

At 7.28am on the 23rd May 2016, weighing 6lb 5oz’s; Benjamin Robert Harris was born. I have previously written about Ben’s birth, and his week in the NICU which you can read here…

I have also been very open with my struggles with Post-Natal Depression and currently after feeling like I was making progress, I find myself on a downward spiral and not sure how to pull myself out.

So here I am writing as Ben has hit the six month mark trying to reminisce to reassure myself the past few months have not been as bad as I thought.

BEN’S ARRIVAL

Once Ben was out of the hospital, hubby was home for a couple of weeks so the initial period of adjustment wasnt too bad. We seemed to be pretty organised apart from hubby’s consistance failed attempts at putting nappy’s on. I got frustrated at him as I asked him to have a go at the antenatal class but he told me he could do it. But he couldn’t. The more he couldnt get the hang of it, the more he got stressed, then Ben picked up on his dads vibes and got stressed, pretty much crying everytime hubby went to do his nappy.

After talking to the inlaws I realised I was approaching this issue all wrong but getting stressed and taking over. So I learnt to let hubby do it in his own time and by his own way and then finally it clicked!

 BEN’S SECOND MONTH

Once the first month was over, Hubby returned to work and I became aware of my depression. I couldnt say it was baby blues anymore and the cow milking sessions became more unbearable. With horrendous broken sleep, I tried to plod on. I had Thursday morning play dates with two of my friends and their girls which was a breath fresh air as I knew they understood how I felt. They warned me about the dreaded jabs but Ben wasn’t actually fussed about them at all, it was like water off of a ducks back.

In terms of feeding, we ended up putting Ben on a combination diet of formula and expressed boob milk due to issues with mastitis and such. Eventually my milk dried up and Ben was solely on Formula.

BEN’S THIRD MONTH

The main milestone for the third month was introducing Ben to solids, well purée to be precise. Although we knew it was super early to do this, drinking over 40oz’s daily obviously meant he was ready for food!

SEPTEMBER

Ben had his first holiday in September. We went to Cornwall for a week and he loved it. We went swimming, walked ALOT. (actually me and hubby did, Ben sat in his buggy) and went to many beautiful beaches.

This is also the month the blog came to life so Ben became used to the camera more as my Instagram usage increased.

OCTOBER

Ben loves his music, always has done. But this month was the month that we realised how important it is to him. At four months we started to play music at bath times, when changing his nappy and he even likes to watch the music channels!

Halloween is mine and hubbys favourite time of year and of course we’re hoping Ben will love it too! This year unfortunately hubby was called out so we went trick or treating with Ben’s cousins; however Dr Frankenstein and his little monster costume was super cute! I also made an awesome Mummy (ahaha get it)

NOVEMBER

Last month Ben managed to finally master rolling over and sitting up all in the same month! He also learned how good Little Mix’s music is and how fun washing machines are to watch. Oh and he also learned that Leo loves to be stroked so their relationship is developing which is just so adorable to watch!

THIS WEEK

So now Ben is six months old, that’s half a year that I have been a mother! I am very much looking forward to seeing what the next six months have in store for Ben!