So for the first time last week I actually had a poorly little lady. I'm not sure if it was because of teething or something else, but our little lady had a slight temperature and some diahorrea.
I have to believe that breastfeeding has made her so resilient but this really did knock her for six! 
I am now desperate to move this little one into her own bedroom, as a full time working mummy. The lack of sleep is killing me!
Eeeeek! So it's World Breastfeeding week and I feel the need to throw a huge thank you in the direction of a specific group of ladies.
Breast Buddies Hull and East Riding - this ones for you!
I'm sure you've read my backstory by now, but I can 100% guarantee that if it wasn't for these ladies, or my friend Jo, I'd have given up breastfeeding! As it stands I am 3 weeks away from Golden Boobies, which means I have Breastfed my daughter for almost 1 whole year!
Breast Buddies is a local (to me) group of ladies who basically offer 24/7 peer support and advice as and when it's needed. You can almost always guarantee that someone will be up feeding if you're having a problem.
It's a place to vent, it's a place to share special achievements and funny stories, but the biggest thing I have taken from this group is that it's basically a sisterhood! There is no judgement, no mummy bashing and if you choose to stop breastfeeding, people will be supportive and not angry that you're stopping. They will give you all the information from all sides so that you get to make an informed decision.
I have found a true family here and I am so happy that I have!
Wow, so teething and the 7th developmental leap have been kicking our butts! My LG has been keeping us awake a lot during the night.
She doesn't like being placed in her travel cot asleep so she whines, then cries, then screams until someone (usually me, as I have the boobs) goes to her.
It's taking its toll as I am a full time working mummy!
Where is the best place to get amber teething bracelets from?
So I saw a story in a national newspaper and it really hit me like a ton of bricks - a newspaper article about the rise of the "Slummy Mummy". The mum who posts about sticking fish fingers in the oven or having a glass of Gin to wind down after a particular rough day!!!
This really bothered me. Who has the right to judge someone on how they parent their child? If I choose to parent a certain way, or choose to do something differently to another family that doesn't make what I do wrong. It makes it different. If your child is healthy, happy, clean, fed, clothed and educational needs are being met; then who is to say you are not a good enough mum? Just because you don't have the time to prepare a home cooked meal, or you forget to sort an outfit for world book day!
It really bugs me that people cast these unrealistic expectations on mothers and fathers these days. So I don't get dressed some days and hang around in lounge pants. I work full time, and then come home to look after my child. Jesus Christ I am lucky if I get a shower during the week! Never mind anything else.
The other day I had a panic about the safety of shopping trolleys designed to seat a baby with no brakes on it. So I made a post on a group I'm in and was literally torn to shreds. I was told I had no common sense, that I was endangering my child by leaving her in the car seat to get aforementioned trolley (which was in front of the car BTW it was less distance to reach the trolley than the back door). I couldn't believe it. Why hadn't I carried my child to the trolley, done my shopping and then unloaded it and then carried her back to the car.
Whoa whoa whoa! I was worried about the trolley rolling while I had my back turned (which it did as I took my daughter out of the car) I had to then chase it into oncoming traffic to stop it hitting another car. My worry was what if she'd have been in the trolley?
Regardless of what could or couldn't have happened, who gives these people to judge how I care for my child. She was never in danger, and although I struggle with everyday tasks due to constant pain, I'd have thrown myself into the path of an oncoming vehicle to avoid anything happening to her.
But I felt I had to justify myself to these people I don't know! I saw a chance to improve safety, and I was ridiculed, bullied and laughed at for not being able to juggle my daughter, shopping bags, a trolley and the straps on a car seat! Fuck you! Who sets these standards and says everyone has to be a perfect mum? I'm sure if the trolley had crashed into someone's car and scratched the paintwork it would have been a different story.
Name me a mum who has time to groom themselves every morning? I mean my work trousers today are so creased. But trying to silently iron them this morning so as not to disturb the sleeping baby in the next room because she'd scream all morning for daddy. Who cares? because I don't? Not anymore? There is something hugely more important in my life. I rarely wear make up. My hair is always scraped back and I'm about 5 stone overweight! I'm a slummy mummy! But hell I get up every morning and go to work to provide for my daughter and the love of my life.
No one is perfect, everyone has flaws and everyone is entitled to them. I will no longer look to others to see if I am doing things right. I will go with the flow and trust my instincts.
I wish women would just band together and lift each other up, rather than taking every opportunity to pull shreds of each other. The media does a good enough job of body shaming, mummy shaming, shaming people on their postcodes and so on.
Women need to stick together and be kinder to each other. I'm writing this in solidarity with "The Unmumsy Mum" an other real life mummy bloggers like myself.
We don't have access to house keepers! We don't have nannies! Personal Chefs etc. Personally I get woken around midnight to feed my baby, 4am is her new playtime - so I have to try and settle her too. 7am is when I leave the house to got to work. 5pm is usually when I get home, then I try to cook a meal for myself, feed my daughter her tea and then it's bedtime. Where over the course of that day do I get time to prepare lovingly home cooked meals, or hit the gym for an hour?
I get maybe 2 hours maximum to myself a day during the week. Some days I look at the laundry, the pots on the side. The recycling that needs putting in the bin and feel energetic enough to tackle it. Others I just grab a glass of wine or a gin and tonic and head for the sofa!
So for the first time last week I actually had a poorly little lady. I'm not sure if it was because of teething or something else, but o...
