Want a shoutout on Instagram?

Want the chance for a shoutout on Instagram? 

If you pop on over to @r.a.v.e.n_ous you’ll be in with a chance of winning a shoutout. 

This happens everyday, also people that are picked are picked at complete random 🥰 

Here are some photos that we posted on my toddlers Instagram today! 

Thanks for the support 😘 

My Toddler Has Instagram

My toddler Raven has Instagram, if you want to check it out please go and follow her page: @r.a.v.e.n_ous 

Here are some cute pictures of her from today:

 

We are back and OCD!!

We Are Back!!

SOOO we are back! 

We disappeared for a while didn't we and as we disappeared, loads of craziness happened in the world.

COVID-19 happened! Now this has been an absolutely horrible and horrific experience for everyone. It's effected us all in one way or another and still is for a lot of us. Luckily we so far, do not know anyone that's had this virus (hopefully we wont either) but its still effected the way that we live. Now we have to be extra precautious with washing our hands, social distancing, wearing masks and for such a long time, we haven't been able to see the rest of our family. 

Unfortunately for me, I've also been diagnosed with OCD, which has been soo hard. The constant fear of one of us catching the virus, or the constant worry that if I didn't wash up something for a certain amount of time or wash or clean my hands enough then my family would catch it then that would be my fault. 

I know that these thoughts sound silly but as an OCD sufferer (I've also suffered with anxiety for years) this was a horrible and consuming challenge that I had to face every moment of the day. Thankfully I sought help from my GP surgery and now I'm on medication, now my OCD is manageable. 

SO that's one of the reasons we've been away but now we are back! 

Stay Tuned 

xx

HAPPY WEDNESDAY

Hey all!

Just a quick post but I just wanted to say, HAPPY WEDNESDAY from mummy and Raven. Carry on being you and have a great day! 

Victoria and Raven x

Baby Rice Recipe

  

The first solid food that we are weaning Raven on is baby rice, I am making this myself as a lot of shop bought baby rice is full of sugar. We are giving this to Raven at about six thirty or seven in the evening after we have ate dinner, so we can focus on solely feeding her when its time for her dinner.
Below is my recipe for my homemade baby rice, its super easy and quick to make too!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 of a cup of blended white rice, organic or brown rice into powder form (this can be kept in a container in the fridge for up to a month). 
• 1 cup of water.
•  Breast Milk or Formula.

1.  Put the cup of water into a small saucepan and boil on high heat.
2.  Once the water has boiled turn down to a low heat.
3.  Measure out your rice powder into a cup.
4.  Sieve the rice powder into the hot water, a bit at a time and stir to get rid of any lumps of the rice powder which sometimes sticks together.
5.  Cook on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring the whole time; if you want the mixture to be runnier then add hot boiled water (from the kettle) into the saucepan and again stir until the mixture is even.
6.  When done, put into a bowl, let cool and stir every five minutes to prevent a sticky mixture. 
7.  Before serving add breastmilk or formula to make the mixture a little runnier. This also make the taste of the baby rice more familiar to your little one.

  So that's all, like I said its super easy!!  Make sure to have many cloths and baby wipes on hand as feeding this to your bubba will get really messy!!

V xx

Mental Health Awareness Day

   Statistically one in four people suffer with mental health problems and this can be anything from depression, social anxiety, OCD and schizophrenia. Our mental health has to be taken care of in everyday life and sometimes it's impossible for us to take care of it, one day can build up to the next day and the next and before you know it, it becomes a major problem for us. In these times of need we need support from our families, friends and even our work places but sometimes this isn't always possible. Sometimes we feel alone, even though people are there for us, we just don't see it. At this point people may call others selfish for not thinking about others being there for us, but when your extremely low and are having mental health issues, its hard to think straight and even the smallest thing as going out to see a friend or even a family member becomes a chore or even scary for some who suffer with anxiety.

   Me and my partner Luke suffer with both depression and anxiety, thankfully we aren't in a bad place anymore and feel like we can talk and write about our experiences.
So here is our story:

   For many years me and Luke had suffered with anxiety and depression, when we got together in February 2017 everything in our lives went down hill. We as a couple wasn't the problem, it was other stuff that was going on in our lives that was, everything seemed to be going wrong even to the point of me being kicked out of my mothers house as we just was not getting on, Luke at the time had moved about an hour away as his parent had stopped renting there house so he was staying somewhere else. I ended up moving in with Luke which was great, but the only issue we had was now getting in to work, it started to cost us hundreds of pounds getting into work each month, which meant Luke lost all of his savings and we started to go into our overdrafts. So money issues triggered of our depression and anxiety again. I believe that anxiety and depression never really goes, sometimes we just learn to supress it, but its always there lurking over your shoulder waiting to pounce and it just depends on if your feeling strong enough to fight it.

   This is where support being important comes in and especially from work. We worked in the same place at the time and unfortunately even with us telling them how we felt and asking for help with a transfer to a closer store, they refused to help saying we could not transfer. Due to how we felt at the time it became very hard to function in every day life and now we where losing moving very quickly each day. We forced our self's into finding a property closer and for a while everything became better again. Until work started treated very unfairly, other couples where allowed to be seen together during their working hours but all of a sudden we weren't. That's when the bulling came in from the managers at work, yes you read that right, the managers. So that's when work started making us feel low again and in crept the anxiety and depression, a lot of other stuff was going on in our lives and now work became a big issue for us. The doctors decided to sign us both of work due to the state it was putting us in. When we returned back to work all I got was grief and comments from my managers stating that they didn't think that you should be off work with depression, that we where faking it as we where both going through it and that if they knew I had depression before they hired me then they wouldn't of hired me. This is a major company that I am talking about. If I was to say which company this was, you wouldn't believe that they would treat their staff this way. As you can imagine this made me feel worse. So I started having more time off , being signed off that is, when I returned to work again. I did not receive a wellness meeting to see how I was, to see if I was ready to go back to work, instead I was thrown back in and given disciplinary meetings even though they knew how I was feeling and how much I was suffering. So time passed, hating work trying to not have any more time off as that would of been my job gone. Our lives outside of work became better then all of a sudden I fell pregnant with our beautiful daughter raven. We where soo happy that we was pregnant, even to the point where it distracted us from problems at work, until I had to be hospitalised with bad morning sickness. My senior manager didn't believe me, she even told me she wanted me to prove that I was pregnant, even though legally I didn't need to prove it, especially as it was before I was 12 weeks pregnant. That's when work started bullying me again, they did not even care that I was pregnant and everyone knows that stress isn't good, especially in the first 12 weeks.
That same senior manager then started to pick on my partner more and suspended him for going to the toilet, as we all know, its a human right to be able to go to the toilet. It sounds completely unbelievable that a senior manager would suspend someone over this but she did.

   Because of the stress the senior manager put on my partner and me, I was signed off work as that was the best thing that I could do for my health and my unborn babies health. During this time, I started to feel better, work became the only issue now that me and Luke where having trouble with. We felt soo much better not being there, we then started to look forward to our little baby. I luckily, did not need to return back to work and was signed off all the way until the day I went into labour, So I started repairing and feeling great again. Luke however was still being treated badly by working and they where longing out his suspension, knowing that this was making his anxiety worse. It was coming down to a final meeting over email, that Luke was meant to be able to reply to. Instead out of nowhere he received a email saying he had been dismissed. We was going to go for a tribunal but it had been soo bad and they had  mucked with his emotions that much that he decided to just let it be. This truthfully is the best thing that he could of done, being out of that place has helped him repair too. He is still suffering with social anxiety due to work and his experiences, but is now in a better place.
Me.. I'm still on maternity leave and will be for a year and then I will be staying at home with our little one or finding another job.

   So there is our story, for us, money and work triggered our anxiety and depression off. But now we are doing great being away from that horrible work place. It's crazy to think how much one place can make you soo down. But now we have never been happier and we especially love our little family.

   Advice for anyone out there going through the same sort of things, it gets better, it really does. For us we just needed to be taken away from the place that made us feel horrible. Us falling pregnant became our little silver lining for better things to come. Just remember you aren't alone, Mind is absolutely amazing for support and I know you might feel alone but your not, I promise. Just hang in there. We did and now we have so much to look forward to.

   V xx

17 weeks old!!

  Today Raven is 17 weeks old!! Let the weaning commence! Regarding the weaning, the reason we started weaning at 17 weeks old is because our health visitor thinks that Raven is ready and so do we. If you would like more information on why we started weaning at 17 weeks then please refer back to my blog post that I posted not too long ago about this. With the weaning we are starting with baby rice, that is homemade by me, in the evening. I shall be posting a blog post of my recipe and how I make the baby rice up. I am soo excited to try our little one on big girl food and I will keep you posted in due course with how its going.
 
   This week, our little princess has been trying to sit up even more like the previous week and she is still super chatty and now Raven has finally started to laugh!! Hearing her cute little giggle for the first time made my heart melt and of course we had to video it, so that we can look back on it in the future.

   Ravens sleep however still has not changed, she is still waking every hour or two for a feed and a cuddle with mummy. No matter how exhausting the lack of sleep has been, I know that her sleep won't hopefully be like this forever.

   So that's pretty much all for this week, until next time!

V xx
 

Whats in my changing bag?!

 

 We go out at least four days a week down to our town to go and get shopping and to go to the library, we are out for about two hours each time and during this time our precious little girly likes to have a very loud poopie. So as you can imagine we have to have our little bag of changing essentials on us. 

   Below I have listed all of our essentials for any Mumma's that are a little unsure:

1. A pack of baby wipes and a spare pack if we are half through the first pack. We like to use unscented sensitive baby wipes, as they are extra gentle for little bottoms.
2.  Four nappies as you never know how many times your little one may poop. Also its good to have spares, just incase something happens to some of the nappies.
3. Nappy bags to bag up all of the used baby wipes and dirty nappy, to prevent less mess.
4.  A tiny tub or tube of sudocrem to prevent any sore bottoms. 
5.  Four vests, four all in one baby grows if its cold outside or if its hotter four dresses or t-shirts and trousers. Bringing extra clothes is extremely important for leaky nappies. 

   So this is what we take out with us, its pretty basic but everything is completely essential. We also just pack the essentials so we do not have to carry extra. I hope this post helped any unsure Mumma's.

   V xx

Normalising Breastfeeding

 

 I am a breastfeeding Mumma and there makes me nothing prouder than my body being able to nourish my precious daughter and to cater to her every need. I think that breastfeeding is magical and the bond that it creates between Mumma and bubba is truly amazing. I think that every mum should try to breastfeed their little one unless there is a medical reason because of the many benefits that it brings. PS, I'm not mummy shaming for the mothers that haven't tried it as every one has their own preference on how they want to feed their baby.

   Recently companies like Adidas and Aldi have advertised women breastfeeding, I must say I think this is incredible as companies seem to now be jumping on the band wagon for all of us breastfeeding Mumma's and are showing the world that its a normal and such a natural thing. Why should we have to hide us feeding our baby. Everyone has to eat, so do breastfeeding babies.
 
   A biggie for a lot of mothers is feeding in public and around even family members, Its such a shame that in this day and age a lot of us are being shamed for feeding our children out in the public eye. But why can't we, again our babies need to eat. If someone can sit in public and eat something then why can't our baby eat, its just the same isn't it.

   I personally, at first, did feel a little strange feeding my baby in front of others. I used to constantly think to myself, am I making people feel uncomfortable and I used to worry about what others thought. However, luckily for me, I got over this pretty quickly. I even feed Raven on a bench in the middle of a busy shopping centre. But I do not care anymore, I'm not going too starve my child for the sake of someone else feeling uncomfortable or on their opinion.

   I get very mixed looks from people when I feed  my bubba in public but I just look back and smile to whatever their opinion may be. I have had people smiling at me for being such a confident breastfeeding Mumma and I've also had some horrible looks but I don't care. My baby will always come first.

   I know that some of you may be thinking that, it isn't always that easy to just be carefree about this subject and feeding your little one out and about. But its okay, just think about what your little one needs. You will also never probably see these people that have looked at you in a nasty way ever again, so please don't worry Mumma's. Be strong and do it for all of us breastfeeding mummy's. I send you all of my love and support.

   PS, If you want a super inspirational breastfeeding Facebook group then I highly recommend joining: Milky Mommas (Breastfeeding / Lactation / Human Milk Feeding Support). The support here is amazing and nothing will make you feel better than knowing that there are many of us out there.

Ta Ta
V xx

16 weeks old.

   Raven is 16 weeks old today, I cant believe that she is nearly a whole 4 months old!! The time has gone soo quick and the last week has flown.

   This week Raven has become a super smiley baby and even more talkative and her cheekiness is unreal. We are still waiting for that little giggle to arise and we are hoping that its just lurking around the corner.

   She is starting to nap better throughout the day now, very two hours for about twenty minutes or so. Last week Raven was struggling to nap at all and was soo soo fussy because of it. However this week because the naps have become easier, I think this is why she is not as grouchy. She must get that from me as I do not survive well on little sleep even though that's what mummyhood is like now. Which is completely worth it for our little munchkin. On the subject of sleep, Raven still isn't sleeping very well at night however our health visitor has advised us to start weaning as she thinks that this is a sign of Raven being ready. For more about Raven weaning I have previously written a post about what our health visitor advised. Raven also starts weaning next week! Which mummy is super excited about doing. So stay tuned for my recipes for my homemade baby rice and vegetable and fruit purees. 

   Something that has taken me by surprise, but obviously in a good way, is that it appears that Raven is trying to sit up. ALREADY!! I cant believe how quick she is growing up, she also now hates laying down when being held but loves being supported slightly to stand up and to sit up to observe the world around her. She also likes watching abit of TV here and there, which gives Mumma time to do some odd jobs around the house. 

   So this is our progress this week. Its just so amazing, how so much can change in the space of seven days. We cant wait what she is going to learn in this coming week. 

PS, this is Ravens progress from the start of week 15 to today, week 16.

Ta Ta,

Vxx

Formula or Breastmilk?

  This is something that you decide when you are pregnant with your little one and for some it changes just a week after their bubba is born. Choosing to feed your baby either formula or breastmilk and sometimes a combination is a very important decision for any parent to make, however some mammas can not breast feed for medical reasons, as this is how your little one will be eating for at least 4 months.

   We made the decision to breastfeed Raven for many reasons, these are:

   1. Breastmilk is the best and nutritious food that you can feed your baby unlike formula, your body will tailor make your breast milk especially for your baby even when they get a cold or ill.

   2. Breastmilk is completely free, so from the off start you are saving money. Also formula can cost a fortune, especially over time when your baby starts having more ounces.

  3.You don't need to warm up breast milk if its straight from the breast, you don't even need to sterilise anything. However if you express then you will have to sterilise bottles still. Also if you store breastmilk in the fridge you will still need to warm it up.

   4. It wont take you ages to prepare like formula does, so if your bubba wants food now, you can give it to them without any effort or making them wait.

   5. It increases the bond between mamma and bubba. I must admit, that feeling of having your little one look in your eyes whilst they are feeding is such an intense feeling of love and a very special moment.

  However as well as all of this good there is a little bad and that is, your milk supply can be affected by many factors. Combination feeding could affect your milk supply as well as your baby having a dummy, as sometimes their feeding cues can be mistaken and a dummy gets given, which makes baby feed less. This is one of the many reasons why we didn't give Raven a dummy.

  So here is why we chose breastfeeding and with everything, nothing is easy. I hope that this has opened your eyes up to why we chose breastfeeding and has given you an insight of the many good reasons to breastfeed.

V xx

Weaning at 17 weeks.

  

For the last week Raven has been a little terror; She has been waking every hour or two during the night, when she was sleeping for four hours at a time. She has also been struggling to nap during the day which has been making her super fussy throughout the later part of the day. As we do not have a dummy for Raven, this can be even more challenging.

   We had a lovely visit from the health visitor today to talk about weaning and to check on Ravens progress, during this visit I explained what has been happening with our darling little one, the health visitor actually explained that Raven could be very well ready for weaning at 17 weeks alongside still breastfeeding her until she is two years old, so that she still gets all of the health benefits of mummy's milk. Raven has also been showing other signs of her being ready: she can sit up now with little support and hold her head steady and because she can now pick stuff up and put things in her mouth.

  Well I am super excited about starting our little one on big girl food in two weeks time as she is currently 15 weeks old, originally I thought that it was only possible to wean her from six months but there is actually research that says that weaning early has no effect on your bubba as long as you wean properly with the recommended food which is some fruit and vegetables and baby rice only, until six months old. I also know that a lot of people have very strong views on not weaning until six months of age however I think it completely depends if your baby is ready, as every baby is different and it also depends on what your health visitor recommends, as at the end of the day, they are health professionals and are trained about everything to do with our little ones. If you have any questions or are considering weaning early at 17 weeks then I would highly recommend that you speak to your health visitor about this, if you haven't so already.

   So I will be making my own baby rice and baby purees, alongside some baby led weaning. I've decided to make my own baby food as its a lot cheaper and friendlier on your purses, you know exactly what's going into the food and quite a lot of store brought baby jars have high sugar contents. Also you can freeze any purees that you make so it doesn't take too long to make every time you feed bubba, for any working mammas especially.

  I will be updating you all on how the weaning goes, and I will also be posting all recipes that I use.  Until next time.


  V xx

She's 15 weeks old already!!

  Raven, our baby daughter has reached 15 weeks old already, how time has flown since we gave birth to this little bundle of joy. Here I have decided to update you all on how she is doing. THIS IS FROM HER 14TH WEEK UNTIL THE START OF THE 15TH.

   This week Raven has accomplished rolling over from her front to her back during tummy time, which she absolutely hates with a passion. People will tell you that this will come out of nowhere and that's exactly what it did. It took me and Luke with complete surprise. Seeing your little one flourish and hit their milestones is soo rewarding as a parent and it makes you even more excited for the many other milestones that are to come. We make sure that she plays on her play mat to do tummy time at least twice a day.

   Sticking her fists in her mouth and everything that she can get her hands on has also become a little obsession of hers. As well starting to suck her thumb, as we have decided to not give Raven a dummy. I'll explain why we chose to not give her one in a separate post to go more in depth about it for all of you mummies out there who are umm'ing and arr'ing about whether to use a dummy or not. Just be prepared also mummies, that you'll need loads of different t-shirts of your bubbas, to hand, as the dribble this week is unreal (for our little one anyway).

   Raven has been able to talk in her own little baby language for a few months now but this week she has become a right little chatterbox. There's nothing more enjoyable than chatting with your little one  and getting those cheeky smiles. We just can't wait until she says her first word, hopefully it will be mumma or dadda, which we keep saying to her, hoping that she will pick it up, instead of a different random word like poo poo. Which would be rather surprising and quite comical.

   Then there's the 4 month sleep regression, where your little bubba will change their sleeping habits and everything will go up in the air for abit. This normally occurs between three and a half months to four months old. Day naps become a struggle, bubba will wake up every hour or two in the night for a feed and by morning you will be struggling to open your eyes and dragging yourself out of bed. Luckily for me Raven's daddy Luke takes raven from seven am in the morning and I get a couple of sneaky hours of rest in bed. I also have chosen to breastfeed, so bubba has mummy to herself every night. Also Raven started to reject bottles of expressed milk, which would mean we could share the night feeds if she would take them, but instead she just wants mummas boobie; Which I don't mind as I get lots of cuddles.

   With this 4 month sleep regression, we have decided to stick to a schedule for nap times, to try to help her get her naps back in. I am also sleep training, using the fading method, which means either me or Luke put Raven down in her cot at nap times, when she's tired and stay in eye distance so she can see that we are there. If she starts to cry we stroke her belly or shhh her gently, until she falls asleep. Eventually once she falls asleep straight away using this method, we gradually move further and further away from her until she can sleep straight away without us soothing her to sleep. As we haven't given Raven a dummy, this means it can be extra challenging as she doesn't have that extra soothing there for her. However all it takes is patience and a lot of love and attention. I will also be posting a blog about this method, our progress on it over time for us and what schedule that we are following.

   So that pretty much sums it up for us this week, It's been a busy week for all of us and especially for our fast growing little girl. I'll be keeping you all updated on her progress every week, so look out for these posts and watch this space!

   V xx

 

 

 


 

Becoming a Mummy

I must say, I've always wanted to be a mummy, I was just waiting for the right man to come along, to start a family with. 

Along came Luke, my amazing and supportive partner, who I met at work. We ended up starting our relationship on 16th February 2017 and it is honestly one of the best things thats ever happened to me, along with starting our own family and having our little girl, who we called Raven, of course. 

We fell pregnant in September 2018 and gave birth to our amazing 8lb 8oz daughter on 12th June 2019. 

Becoming a mum has made me the happiest woman alive, I have never been filled with such an intense maternal love and words can not describe just how amazing holding your little creation in your arms, for the first time is and then helping your beautiful child grow into a precious person who you will love for the rest of your life.

So there it is, the first post and insight into alittle bit of my past and when I became a mummy. I've decided to share our journey and for myself to become a mummy blogger as to be honest, who doesn't like talking about their amazing family!

   V xx