What I wish I knew& glad I know

What I wish I knew then is a saying we all make sometime in our lives , but for me this is what I wish I knew then and glad I know now. 

I'm glad I came to my senses not to TEXt and drive , to buckle up and lock doors. 

My handbag goes in my boot to prevent all temptation. Those texts at the robots are so tempting but just too risky. Just quickly answering this call or that message while driving is not worth it for you or your passengers  So after reading this and looking back In Your review mirror, look at that little angelic face and make sure they are buckled up 

  
You are buckled up. You have a phone free car and you never leave them in the car alone. 

I'm grateful for a pram we got given before Matthew was born and recently a 3 wheeler , lucky bums we are :) 
But for those out there starting from  Scratch. don't  fret the worry of the early days pram , you can
 get away with just the piccolo  & carry cot for the first few weeks , then
  invest in a good 3 wheeler pram and because they so big get a cheapie - shopping centre stroller ......

We were also blessed with Avent bottles. Awesome for us, except we didn't know the white ring you need with a avent bottle was needed, so his bottles kept leaking hence being slightly underfed. Thank goodness baby city could help us with that one. 

We then moved onto nuk: What I wish I'd known was  to buy 3 big good bottles and get 2 different size teats per age. Ie 0-6 months. 6-12 months.
From  12-18 months ( they start going onto a harder teat ) called an active cup teat and then  
during the day they can use a sucky-sippy- non spill cup.
 Weaning off teats between 2-3 years old. As they get older the non spill bottles, teats and cups are a must. Else it's mess everywhere x I've been through daily changes of bedding thanks to the big leaky 
teats 

                                                             
           

 

Buy one Dummy at a time. Matthew only took his dummy for 5 months and then refused, and took to a soft toy called Ellie.
As pigeon toed as Matthew was and is still slightly, he was always in good shoes ,  good ankle  supported ones, very important for their foot growth and development. 
What I wish Id known was how quickly their feet would  grow. Shoes are only really necessary
from walking days and only one size and style is needed at a tine.  It's such a waste to have more than one size, boring I know but it could be one or two size changes per season. Matthew is 24 months and is already on a size 8. 
Buy less pretty products and rather keep the vouchers. You will always be in need of Baby City. Good old baby city. So return the unneeded or the unsures,maybes and keep a good valued gift 
voucher. Matthew unfortunately has bad ecsema. So his toiletry cupboard contains 3 things. A special shampoo , a jar of episone e and a....... And that's all he needs. 


Invest in a good Braun thermometer. The best investment yet. It's quick simple accurate and so easy to use. 
What I wish I'd knows is when the little ear protector cap is off , it's not the battery that is flat it's the device that needs the cap on, 
blonde moments are sometimes needed x even though  in the granny days they just used the touch of the hand , no fancy devices. 

When spending money on books : Spend your money on toddler books. Hard cover, board books , 
colorful books, picture books and good story books, books are so loved by little ones and should 
definitely be encouraged. 
In the beginning just buy baby grows and keep your baby in a one piece for as long as you can. Have a few popper short sleeve vests. Even till 36 months. Matthew still was popper vests , for the anti draught up his back.  If you can ( which is what I wish ) get your + one year toddler -2.5 year old a full piece baby grow, especially in winter. Littlies get cold at night, socks  come off and they tend to kick the blankets away. Bigger baby grows are generally found overseas. 
Put your cot on wheels. It makes life so much easier to be able to move the cot around. Either to parents bedroom for those certain restless, sick or disturbed nights. Or even just to move it around the bedroom. 

Any vouchers you get for any kind of pampering. Keep them for those much needed days. Those tight budget months, the busy toddler years, accumulate them and go for some well needed time out. Every mom needs me time out and a treat now and again.  

Read less ask more. Ask for advice , guidance and tips : ask mommy friends, aunts, grannies or moms. Afterall it's experience that gets our wisdom growing. Xxx

And lastly look around appreciate all you have, all the help you get, take the help, ask and appreciate all we have been blessed with xxx 

Have a beautiful day 

Xxx