Welcome back. I hope you all had a good week. It’s nearly the weekend. We have no plans but hubby is going to a gaming event on Saturday so me and the kids might bake. It is Chloe’s second birthday next week so a trial would be good.
Today I have Nicola joining me on the blog. She blogs at Mummy to Dex and she is mum to adorable little boy Dex who recently turned eight months old.
First of all, tell me a bit about yourself.
I’m Nicola, I’m 30 and live in Liverpool with my husband and seven month old baby boy, Dexter. I’m currently on maternity leave but will be returning to work in 2017 as a Post Office branch manager. I blog over at http://mummytodex.com and have been blogging for around three months now. I love cooking, watching box sets and spending time with my family.
How many times were you woken last night?
Last night was a good night, I was only woken up at 5.30am to replace Dexter’s dummy. Dex recently moved into his own room which also coincided with his first common cold. I’m not sure if the numerous wakes during the night are down to him feeling rough or feeling lonely! I’m hoping it’s the former but we shall see as the days go on.
Do you co-sleep?
We used to co-sleep but, as I said, we recently stopped. We used to have the cot bed pushed against our bed with one side down. Invariably, Dex would end up in bed with us because he started rolling at 12 weeks. I worried that he was being unnecessarily woken up every morning by my husband’s alarm so we made the switch to him being in his own room at the beginning of December. He has started sleeping in a lot later which has been nice during the school holidays.
What time do you normally wake up?
I wake at 7.30am, just before my husband leaves for work. He is notorious for not being able to move around a room without making a racket, especially during these dark mornings. During the holidays, we all sleep in until gone 9am!
How much average sleep do you get a night?
According to my Fitbit I average around four hours a night. I don’t go to sleep until at least midnight as Dex usually has a feed around then. It’s useless trying to get an early night and have my husband do the feed, as he just makes too much noise. I wake at least once to go to Dex and then get up at around 7.30am. I’m hoping to improve on this in the new year.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
If I hear that he’s awake, the first thing is getting up to make Dex a bottle and make myself a cup of tea. I then feed Dex in bed and pop him in his activity centre while I drink my tea. I need that cup of tea before I can function in anyway. If Dex is still asleep, I creep into the kitchen, do a few chores; make a cup of tea and return to bed to read my phone. This is the moment that Dex will decide to wake up!
Tell me about your typical morning routine.
After Dex has had a little play in his activity centre, he usually needs changing. I don’t know if it’s just my child, but the activity centre and jumperoo make him poo! I strip him down and plonk him in his high chair while I make some breakfast for us. We spend about 45 minutes eating and then depending on how tired he is, he either has a bath then a nap, or goes straight down for a nap. The nap lasts 30-90 minutes, giving me time to do more chores and/or get ready for the day. By the time he wakes up, it’s the afternoon. No wonder my days seem to just pass me by!
When and how often do you prepare the family dinners? Give us a few examples what you would cook.
I cook a family dinner six nights a week. We have Friday nights off for a takeaway. I cook everything from scratch. Mostly, I make dinners at around 4/5pm when Dex is having a last minute nap or playing in his jumperoo. The majority of things I make (curries, stir fries, pasta based dishes) take less than half an hour to make. We got a slow cooker for Christmas so I’m looking forward to preparing a few meals of an evening and letting them cook overnight or during the day. Our favourite meals are chilli chicken gnocchi, cheesy chicken and chorizo pasta, chicken fajitas, courgette and prawn pasta, chicken curry and spaghetti bolognese.
What’s on the menu for lunch?
I make things like pinwheels, sandwiches, pasta and omelettes. Lunch is one of the hit and miss meals because Dex is really only on two meals a day at the moment. (Very occasionally I manage to squeeze in three meals.) If he does have lunch, I usually skip a meal at tea time instead.
What activities have you got planned for the day for the kids?
Dex is still really little so we either go to a baby class at our locals children’s centre or do little activities at home. We play with his toys, read books, sing songs, listen to the radio, practise tummy time/crawling or go for long walks up and down the waterfront next to our house.
Do you generally eat dinner together as a family or get the kids fed first?
It entirely depends on what we have to eat. Mostly Dex will eat with us as he is baby led weaned so he just has a little of whatever we are having, however some nights it’s nice for my husband and I to be naughty and have our dinner in bed watching a film! On these nights, we wait for Dex to go to sleep at around 7pm and then either order something in or make a quick meal in the kitchen before retreating to the boudoir. This is one of the benefits of Dex being in his own room. We can slob about in bed and not worry about waking him.
What do you do after dinner?
After dinner, Neil does bike training four nights a week so he gets on with that while I watch some TV or listen to the radio. It’s my opportunity to do some blog work on my phone: pinning on Pinterest, interacting on Twitter, writing drafts on my WordPress app and Stumbling on StumbleUpon. The nights that he doesn’t train, we watch TV together. We love a good box set-we’ve just finished Scandal.
What is your bedtime routine?
After Dex has had his tea, we put him in his jumperoo for half an hour or so to wear him out. Then we all go into his bedroom and turn the lights out. We were given a singing night light for Christmas, so we put that on and give him his bottle. By the end of the bottle, he is rubbing his eyes, so we quickly change his nappy, put on his sleepsuit and Grobag and put him in his cot. He is very good and goes to sleep by himself with minimal fuss. Very rarely, I have to go in and replace the dummy a few times, but he is getting better since I bought him a Sleepy Tot just before Christmas. He now finds it easier to reach out and find a dummy.
Most importantly, when and where do you normally blog in those 24 hours? Do you have a schedule?
I blog as and when I can. It’s usually when Dex naps during the day, I can get about an hour’s worth of blogging in then. Most of it is done on a Saturday when my husband gives me a few hours to myself. During the week, my husband uses the laptop for his bike training so I do what I can on my phone, but all the tweaks and fine touches have to be done on a Saturday when I can have the laptop to myself. It would be nice to set up some sort of schedule in the new year, especially for when I return to work in May.
Blog URL: http://mummytodex.com
Twitter – http://twitter.com/mummytodex
Facebook – http://facebook.com/mummytodex
Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/mummytodex
Instagram – http://instagram.com/mummytodex
If this is something you might be interested in, why not drop me a quick email to be featured as well and I will get back to you. admin@janineslittleworld.com
4 hours a night. Id be intrigued to see what my sleep is actually like. The pinwheels sound tasty x
Great read, always interesting to find our more about other people’s lives with kids! 🙂
I actually winced at the amount of sleep you get! I’d forgotten those blurry days of newborns. I’m not sure what got me through, as with Twins I’d often do 4-5 feeds a night! It does improve and you do get more sleep 🙂
haven’t heard of this blog – will go and check it out. Love the name Dexter!