An insight into the army life

So this morning Husband flew off to Scotland for the week, leaving Rufus, Pippa and me all on our lonesome.  Booo! 

But have no fear, in the grand scheme of things 'tis but a mere drop in the ocean: I have endured far longer separations in the past and survived.  Also, as I write, I have wonderful friends and neighbours who are currently enduring either the horrendousness of having their husbands away in that nasty sandy place for 6 months to a year, or the almost-as-horrendous lead-up to deployment.  

When you're in such a situation, all your emotions are heightened and your tolerance levels with the mundane and every day diminish somewhat. I know that all spouses or partners of military folk will agree with me on this one.......there is nothing more annoying than having someone moan about how their darling one is away for a night, or god forbid, a whole week.  Get.  Over.  It!  

Going through months and months without your husband or wife is one of the most challenging things you'll ever have to do and I can only now imagine how awful that must be with a child or children thrown into the mix too. 

All pictures c/o Brittany Sturgeon's
'Life of a Military Wife' on Pinterest

However the heartache of an imminent departure is probably often underestimated for those who haven't experienced it.  In some ways the apprehension and build-up of dread in the weeks before they head off is just as bad as whilst they're actually away.  I am sure I wouldn't be the only one to admit that I have breathed a rather large sigh of relief in the past when Husband has finally gone - no longer can I moronically cling onto some vague hope that he won't actually have to go in the end and no longer will I fool myself into thinking I can guilt-trip or bribe him into staying.  I just have to man up, get on with life and start finding my new routine and coping mechanisms (after the obligatory hysterical wailing to yourself in the car on the way home from the hideous army airport, that is). Those first couple of weeks are crap.  No other words will do it and my heart goes out to all of you who have been there too or are going through that soon.  This one is for you.

Anyway, the reason why this was relevant was because up until about 2 weeks ago we thought that Husband was due to go off to the aforementioned sandy place too, leaving in May.  But, praise the Lord, he won't be going now.  However, we do now know that we shall be moving house at the end of May.  I knew that I was signing up to a nomadic and transient lifestyle when we married, and in many ways I find the prospect of living in lots of different places exciting.  But I can't help dreading this move, we have made such incredible friends and I do really love the area.  But, hey ho, it is what it is....I shall just have to get excited about getting to know the new area and neighbours and of course, my favourite bit, finding new homes for all our belongings! 

Although, there is one girl out there (you know who you are!) who is three days overdue with her first baby and has just found out that her and her husband are being re-posted to a new house in 6 weeks.....wahh!  Now, that's a lot of excitement in a few short weeks! 

Until May there's lots of army fun to be had....our Military Wives Choir, drinks parties, dinner parties, street parties, mess dinners, coffee mornings and new babies arriving on the street.  It all balances out in the end. 

Pippa's new love...

....is a doorway bouncer!

She seems to really like it: at the moment there's lots of pirouetting around her toes and also lifting up her knees so that she drops down a little, then standing up again. She hasn't yet worked out how to actually bounce but squeals with delight nonetheless!

Rufus thinks it is the most marvellous of inventions....now, Pippa is exactly at the ideal licking height. He is so sweet, as soon as I put her in it he lies next to her and appears not to mind getting kicked in the face every other second. Every now and then he'll stand up, wash her face and hands and then sigh and lie back down!

Admittedly, the pack of baby wipes are nearer at hand than they were pre-bouncer, but even still I am not overly paranoid about cleaning her after every 'wash' from Rufus. I figure that she'll have the best immune system out there after all her Rufus baths!

Crisis averted!

This afternoon I did a rather stupid thing......I locked myself out.  With Pippa inside.  Bum.

I had meant to just pull the door to behind me,  but then......click! And I had that sinking feeling.  I could see Pippa through the window, sitting in her cushion, sucking her fingers and looking pretty happy, but obviously was slightly panicked nonetheless.  Well, so ensued a mad rush around the garden searching for an open ground-floor window.  Nope.  I found the spare key but, naturally, I had stupidly left the key in the lock on the inside so it wouldn't turn.  

Enter friendly neighbour with a ladder!  Apparently it was an ancient wooden ladder, previously belonging to his father, which had recently been flood damaged together with the rest of the contents of their garage (oh the delights of Army accommodation!) and so its reliability and safety were at best questionable.  Anyway, it served us very well as my neighbour successfully broke in through an ajar upstairs window! (Needless to say, for any would-be burglars, if we go out ALL our windows are securely locked and our spare key is now in the safe hands of our neighbour).

Well,  Pippy was obviously very distraught about the whole affair as, when I got back in,  this is how I found her.....

Stupid Mummy.  Lesson learnt!

Off for a walk!

Pippa enjoyed a little stroll in her pushchair this morning.....I swapped the pram unit over for the chair unit.  She still fits in the pram and seems happy to stay lying down for a bit yet, but she also seemed to enjoy getting to look around. 

Rufus is off having fun and games shooting with Husband so we were able to pound (slight overstatement) the pavements without battling with Rufus' waining ability to walk at heel.  I need to sort it out as it drives me bonkers....he seems determined to get mown down by the pram wheels. Either that or nearly wipe us all out by darting into a hedge or driveway after an irresistible smell.  Blooming dog!

I know, it's not the most interesting post but I really just wanted an excuse to put this picture up!

A happy moment...now feeling fat, but happy!

JUST what is required on a drizzly day!  

Contrary to the above, my fellow lovely Army-wife neighbours and I have decided to start up a  'fat club' !  Lent is fast approaching and so it is as good a time as any to try and start shifting the rest of this baby weight.  In addition to generally trying to be a bit healthier and more active, I'd also like to give something up for Lent.  I am yet to decide what I shall give up......crisps, chocolate, cake, or what about all forms of sugary and fatty food?....no, you're right, that's just one step too far!  We're going to meet up once a week and do the whole weigh-in together....like our very own episodes of "Biggest Loser".  Yup, we shall shame ourselves into dropping the pounds, but I think we may skip the hideous two-part lycra outfits.

We're yet to work out a reward/penalty scheme for our venture, our one sticking point we discovered last night was that most of the rewards we could think of unsurprisingly involved food......hmmmmm. 

I am determined I SHALL find some massive, previously untapped, well of self control and will power. I'm sure I have some somewhere?

Let the games begin!  It's gonna get competitive!  

Regardless, I shall enjoy this moment for now and slowly mentally process my impending fat-fighting mission.

The boob room!

It is most definitely a sign of the times and my stage of life when I can say that my favourite place in town is The Boob Room.

Whilst I'm sure it has a more politically correct proper name, there's no sign so I have named it thus. It's a room just off the baby changing area in a department store. You can shut yourself away with the nursing chairs and feed your baby in peace and quiet without the worry of battling with nursing scarves and disapproving glances from old men.

I'm currently sitting in Pret nursing a tub of pea and ham soup. I am very determinedly staring at my phone and avoiding the eagle-eyed glares from the queues of Saturday lunchtime customers, who're seemingly trying to will me to leave my table with their eyes. When you have a pram to contend with, a space in a coffee shop that is big enough to park the baby-mobile without completely blocking the whole thoroughfare is like gold dust. It is mine, I shall not relinquish it until I am good and ready!!

Right, another couple of hours to kill with some wandering and perusing then we'll begin the 2.5m walk home. At least the sun is shining this time!

All fingers and thumbs...

I posted a while ago about how Pippa sucks her fingers (exactly the same ones I used to, as a baby, apparently!) here,  well now she has truly mastered the art.  

Her fingers are straight in within a second of her starting to feel upset or grizzly.  And now if her fingers on her right hand are inaccessible then the thumb on her left hand goes in.  It never varies from that pattern....right hand, fingers.....left hand, thumb.  So sweet!

Doggy Day Care!

Just a quick photo....couldn't resist! 

A life saver...a must buy baby item!

My Snooze Shade.....

Pippa is getting more and more alert and so is finding it harder to sleep in the day when we are out and about.  Enter the SnoozeShade....it's brilliant! Within 10 seconds you can fix it onto the pram and voila...daytime.....nighttime!  It works like a dream, most of the time anyway.  I love it so much that I've bought a car seat version too, it certainly means we can stay portable....as much as I love how good she is at napping in her pram I am keen for her to be able to sleep elsewhere too.  This definitely helps in that mission.  Buy one!! (if you have a baby,  otherwise it would be a bit odd)

Baby social diary

Pippa's social diary is filling up!

We have started going to Baby Sensory classes, where there's lots of singing, crazy arm waving actions (commonly known as baby signing, but my attempts are definitely confused at best), baby massage and play.

There are rattles, bells, feathers, scarves, mirrors, glowing balls, finger puppets and cuddly toys......so much to do and see (and try to eat in Pippa's case!).  Oh dear, that sounded a bit like an excerpt from 50 Shades of Grey.......wrong, so wrong.

Anyway!.....at one of her classes during this cold weather I spied a couple of the mothers using star wraps for their babies. They looked so cosy and so much easier to get the baby in and out of than a snow-suit (Pippa violently objects to her arms being yanked in), so when I got home I decided I would be frightfully creative and try to make one.

Ta dahhhh....! The prototype needs a bit of adjusting and is a bit big as I made it to fit up to 6 months.  But it's quite sweet all the same.

Today we had Pippa's second swimming lesson.  It is so fun!  The first one was last Friday and involved a 40 minute journey through deep snow (a journey which is normally only 10 minutes). But I was so determined to get there that I dragged my neighbour and her baby out for moral support and off we set!  As a result of the white-out conditions there were only 5 of us in the class so it was nice and quiet.  Pippa seemed to love it, despite the pool being a good 10 degrees colder than her normal bath water, she also got 'dunked'!  I had to say one, two, three and then do an exaggerated big breath in, then dunk her.  She was brilliant and hardly spluttered at all.  Apparently we work towards them being able to swim for a meter or two underwater, ready for a photo opp...daunting but exciting!

This week there were more like 20 of us.  With all of our 20-ish car seats, nappy bags and snow-suits combined with another 20 sets already in the changing room from the previous class, who were yet to get out of the pool, it was a wee bit MANIC!

Public swimming pools put the fear into me, mainly due to the prospect of a swimming costume and the unavoidably awkward hippo impression whilst climbing up and down the ladder into the pool.  Also, why is it that I feel I am in a mad rush when getting changed before and afterwards....it's like I'm racing someone and everyone.  Your towel is damp from the hasty covering up over your cozzy as you got out of the pool and therefore is not doing a very effective job at drying you; you whack your elbows and knees whilst trying to get changed and dried in the loo cubicle (seriously, just be brave and do it in the changing room like everyone else); yanking on skinny jeans or tights over damp skin, unsuccessfully; bra strap rolled up and stuck over your shoulder blades for the same reason, which you just can't reach to straighten out and wet socks despite your best efforts to hop around one-legged avoiding wet patches on the floor.

WELL......regardless of all the above I still love her swimming classes, it's one of the highlights of my week! (Photos to come)

One thing I do know is that Pippa is soooooo sleepy afterwards.....out for the count!

Military wives' choir

One of my lovely neighbours has set up a military wives' choir for our area.  We have had two meetings so far and I think it's going to be amazing fun! 

It's really nice to get a chance to meet some of the other wives and girlfriends from other patches in the town,  I think there's going to be a really good selection of songs suggested......everything from Oklahoma to Emeli Sande it seems..! 

The only negative point so far is that the hall where we have our gatherings is abso-blooming-lutely freeeeezing!  We shall have to work on that one.  I did try fiddling with the thermostat last time but I am slightly concerned I may have inadvertently turned the hall into a furnace for the cleaners the next morning.  Whoops.   

Our choir master is a really lovely old lady (if you ever read this choir lady, I am sorry about the "old" bit!),  but if I am honest I am a little frightened of her! She somewhat resembles Mrs Doubtfire but with a hint of The Trunchable thrown in.  She certainly knows her mind and is pretty wilful with it.  My suggestion to include a glass or two of wine at our meetings (just to help get the vocal chords warmed up,  you know!) was shot down in flames in nanoseconds,  and despite my persistent efforts to rephrase my rationale behind the proposal she stood firm.  It seems this singing malarky is a serious business.  No frivolity allowed.  Pahhh I'll soften her up!! 

Well, we have all been tasked with learning 'On My Own' from Les Miserables for next week.  A perfect excuse to go and see the film I reckon.......

.........and who can go to the cinema without pick 'n mix or popcorn.....bonus!

So sad to say goodbye to the snow....

So, we have been loving the snow! I can appreciate it must have been pretty inconvenient for a lot of people, but for those of us with nowhere to be (in any rush at least) it is pretty fun.  In fact I am a bit like an overexcited child about snow....waking up and rushing to the curtains to see if it has snowed in the night still proves to be soooo exciting! 

Rufus loves it too......

We had lots of snowball fights during Pippa's lunchtime naps.  He's pretty good at catching them but obviously got a cold mouth as he kept gnashing his teeth after he spat each one out! One downside of the snow....the big patch of grass at the end of our road where we let Rufus run about and do his morning 'business' (as do all the other resident doggies) certainly took on a new, colourful hue......don't eat the yellow (or brown) snow!!!

We decided to use our snowy walks as the first outings for Pippa to go forward-facing in the Baby Bjorn.  Hardly news-worthy stuff, I know, but it still made for some really sweet pictures.  It was odd not being able to see her face but I kept taking photos and using the camera on my phone to see if she was still awake and not frostbitten! 

And the snow also meant I could dress Pippa up in a sheepskin gilet I wore when I was little. Admittedly I think it is meant for a 2 year old but she looked sooooo adorable I couldn't resist.  Together with her oh-so-smart cashmere hat she looked quite the fashionista!

More posts on the way.....

Four months old today!

Happy four month birthday Philippa!! Our darling girl is growing up so very quickly and naughty, naughty mummy has been utterly useless at blogging recently. I'm going to get down to some re-capping of our latest exploits!!

A few hours of baby clothes ironing to keep me busy....!!

An amazing Christmas present for Mummy and Daddy!

So Pippa has been sleeping through from about 10.15pm after her late sleepy feed until 7am, when I wake her, for the last 6 and half weeks.  Her 10pm feed has slowly been getting shorter and shorter as she falls asleep more and more quickly, yet she still lasts until 7am.  I think part of the reason behind this is because after her full feed at 6pm she has then been taking about another 6oz of milk from a bottle!!  Happy little piglet!!  So with this extra-full tummy we decided to try and drop her 10pm feed last night and see what happens.  

Well........after a nice bubble bath and 1 page of Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin (after which I was told in no uncertain terms that it was time to sleep and she'd had enough story-time thankyou Mummy!) she fell fast asleep half an hour early at 6.30pm.  Husband and I went to bed around 11pm and apart from lots of snuffling and finger-sucking noises (we're sharing a room with her at Grandma and Grumps') we weren't disturbed until 6.45am! 

We're all so excited and proud!!  I am, however, also feeling guilty that she might have been hungry in the night and also guilty about her routine being a little out of kilter today as a result.  But I suppose if she was hungry overnight she would have let us know, and she still seems happy enough today, if just a little bit hungrier than usual.  They tell you that as a parent you always feel guilty, in some capacity or other, from your child's birth, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised!

Wahoo for a full nights' sleep Pip!! Let's hope it wasn't a one-off, else I'll be back on here soon eating all my words!!

UPDATE! 4th Feb 2013 - We resumed the 10pm feeds a couple of days later!  But to Pip's credit she had continued to sleep through, only waking 10 or 15 minutes earlier than normal.  But I decided that she was just too small and probably needed the extra feed until she's weaned.  I'm still proud all the same!

Latest developments

It has now been nearly a whole month since I last posted (shocking I know, but I had a good reason) and so Pippa has been coming on leaps and bounds!

She is growing so fast that during this last month she has whizzed from Newborn sized clothes to now being in 3-6 months, with only a 2 week stay in the 0-3month range!

Other developments we've noticed are the development of a little bald spot on the back of her head from where she lies. I know nearly all babies get it these days, mainly due to the advice of keeping them on their backs at night / nap times, but it still makes me sad. Poor little baldy!! But her hair is now growing back pretty quickly on the front of her head so she no longer looks as if she has a receding hairline, bonus! I'm trying to get her to sleep on her side occassionally to see if that'll help.  It works for about 5 minutes, then she's back on her back, all frog-legged!

After weeks and weeks of fist and hand-sucking (which she used to do out of hunger but it quickly progressed to just a normal state of affairs) Pippa has now well and truly mastered finger sucking! The middle and ring fingers on her right hand seem to be the fingers of choice and sometimes she is so enthusiastic that they come out pretty red and swollen...I hope they don't fall off or explode! Haha!

The odd little squeal Pippa used to make amongst the wider cacophony of gurgles have now been replaced with full-blown cooing.  I remember reading the relevant chapter in my baby book a few weeks ago which told me that "your baby will probably now be exhibiting the very early signs of language, with a wide repertoire of coo's, oo's and ow's".....well, on looking down at my darling Pippa I saw no sign of any cooing, only a slightly dribbly bubble blowing game in progress and a much perfected grin.  However I am now very proud to be able to say that we can hear her coo'ing and oww'ing from downstairs and you can actually have some sort of conversation with her, she really seems to wait until you've finished talking before making her next ooo or ahhh.  Hours and hours are now wasted 'talking' to her.  It's bliss!  All nonsense from both parties, naturally, but bliss all the same!

Similarly we think she is making her first attempts at laughing. Occasionally her little smiles are accompanied by a squawk or a wheeze....only when she's very, very happy though......normally when looking at her mobile or having raspberries blown on her feet or tummy.  Oh.....and she has discovered her tongue......it is out alllll the time!!!

Finally I am so flattered and proud to be able to say that I think Pippa has started to notice when I'm not there. I know it sounds strange but until last week whilst she'd always have a big smile for us when we walked into the room etc, but she didn't seem overly concerned when we weren't within eyesight. However now she sometimes complains when we walk out. It's not loud or happening every time but it certainly shows she's getting more and more aware. Thankfully it isn't affecting her sleep, we are still incredibly lucky in that she hardly makes a peep when we leave her in her cot for naps or at bedtime! I'm not bragging and we do remind ourselves regularly just how lucky we are!!

To reconfirm my theory of her increasing awareness: I am currently trying to breastfeed her in a cafe in town (for some reason I've stupidly chosen to sit next to a full glass window running the entire length of one wall, which overlooks the main shopping street!  Hello boob!).  It turns out she is rather distracted by my brightly coloured nursing scarf, which is supposed to be preserving my modesty, and instead of feeding she is just lying there wide eyed and smiling, dribbling milk.  Worst of all, apparently the bright colours are so enthralling that they need to be vigorously swatted and yanked about, so my modesty keeps failing, much to an old man's disgust at the next door table. Whoops!!

My first EVER exhibition!

So this is the reason I started to get behind on my blogging!

A fellow military-wife friend had organised a fair for other military wives to attend and also to exhibit / have a stall at (she is also heavily pregnant...wonderwoman!).  She asked me to exhibit, which I was thrilled about,  and because I had been wanting to do something like this for ages and because it generally sounded like an awesome way to raise some money for charity, I said yes.........only to swiftly realise that I had absolutely nothing to exhibit, let alone sell!

And so began 2 weeks of rather panicked and pressured rushing about trying to get something together.  I luckily had 3 or 4 pieces I had done in the last couple of years,  so I decided to find a good printing company I could use to get some cards and prints made up.

Eton Graphics well and truly delivered!  I managed to get 4 different card designs made up (2 of which I already had and 2 which I drew in the odd snatched 10 minutes here and there amongst Pippa's routine).  I decided to try and keep these on a countryside / wintry theme which I can easily add to and which seem to prove pretty popular.  Conversely the two large pieces I had drawn were on an African wildlife theme, but as these were all I had to offer and I had no time to do anything new,  I had to accept that my stall might be rather diverse in its subject content!

Anyway, the fair went really well and it was a very good introduction into the world of exhibiting and selling.  It really got my butt into gear and forced me to sit down and order a frightening amount of envelopes, cellophane sleeves, mount cards and backing boards.  Rather to Husband's dismay (although I know he is very pleased I have eventually done something about my dream to sell my art) our dining room is now very much my studio instead!  Pip likes to help too!

The manic Christmas rush on cards is now over (not that I'm complaining!), including having to find the time to write about 80 of our own, so I can go back to concentrating on getting some more commissions and originals done.  But first,  I shall reeeeeelax and enjoy our first Christmas as a family! Whoop whoop!!