A day in the life of a 1 year old...

... our daily routine with Theo aged 1 year and 2 months.

If I had been a better blogger then this would of been maybe the 4th post about routines, but I'm not a good blogger so it isn't!! Maybe I could back track and have a think about what we were doing at 4 months, 8 months... etc but for now this is the first post about routines.

So as I've already said, Theo is 14 months old and has just recently changed his routine to just one nap a day (most days) and is becoming much better at sleeping at night. We've always had a pretty routine existence, I like it and it works for us. Remember, happy mum, happy baby. If you like routine then go for it, if you don't then don't... simple.

Do I think having a good routine has helped Theo with his night time sleeping? Maybe, I mean he's always been pretty rubbish at sleeping through but perhaps it would've been worse without a routine?! Who knows.

This blog post is a follow up to the series of stories I'm doing over on Instagram today (25th January 2019)where I'm documenting what we do at different points of the day. I'm filming those stories on a non work day for me, I have two of those a week, so this routine that I'm about to type up is for a non work day.

OUR DAY

Couple of things first...

- If Theo wakes before 6am I TRY and feed him back to sleep.

- Theo is still breastfed twice a day, in the morning, before bed and if he wakes in the night.

• 6:30-7:30 Theo wakes up. We breastfeed and then get him ready for the day with a nappy change and he gets dressed.

• 7:30-8:00 Breakfast. We eat together and it usually consists of toast and cereal or just porridge. Maybe some fruit and a yogurt. 

• 8:15-9:00 Mummy gets ready. If we're going swimming I only get dressed but if not then I'll shower and set Theo up on the bathroom floor with some toys whilst I have THE QUICKEST SHOWER KNOWN TO MAN!!! I then take my clothes/make up/hairbrush into Theo's room and he'll play whilst I get ready.

• 9:00 Out we go. Normally for swimming or a group or if we're not doing either of those then we go to the park or the shops. I love getting out first thing. Firstly because it gets him nice and tired for an afternoon nap but also because if I left it till the afternoon I probably wouldn't bother. 

• 10:00 Snack time. Theo will have a little snack at this time during groups or just after swimming. Usually a fruit bake bar or a fruit pouch, something easy to transport, and a drink of water.

• 11:00 Groups finish. Any groups we go to are done by this time so we usually head to the shop, we've usually forgotten something in the Ocado shop, and then we head home.

• 11:30 Theo's dinnertime (lunch). Usually something quick, a ready meal, a sandwich or left overs. He is so tired at this point as he has dropped his morning nap, food has to be quick and easy because if I'm not entertaining him he can get fussy at this point in the day.

• 12:00-12:30 Naptime routine starts. Depending on how long dinner has taken, we go upstairs and start getting ready for bed. A nappy change, story and songs and then I leave the room for him to go to sleep by himself (with Ewan the Sheep signing his little tune). 

• 12:30-(wakes up anytime between) 2:00-3:00. At this point I have a clean, put in washing, empty the dishwasher... any chores really before I eat my lunch and then have a bit of time to myself. 

• 2:30 - 3:15 The average time he wakes up is 2:30pm. I check his nappy when he wakes but don't always change it and get him dressed. He has a drink of water and then we play in his room. I want to start doing a specific "activity" at this time such as painting or playdough but for now we just play with his toys.

• 3:15 We come downstairs. Theo plays with his toys in the lounge/dining room and I prepare him an afternoon snack.

• 3:30 Snacktime. He is always so hungry at this point in the day and he just eats and eats!!! He will have something like malt loaf, toast, hummus and pittas, cooked carrots or some fruit and perhaps a yogurt. 

• 3:30-4:30 Fresh air. We usually try and get out again at this point to walk the dog. If the weather is too poor then we'll play again in his room. 

• 4:30-5 The witching half an hour.... I'm so tired at this point of the day and he knows it. I try and just have a cuppa and watch him play downstairs. You all know how much I love Tipping Point and the last half an hour is the best bit!🤣

• 5:00-5:30 Daddy is home. Neil gets home at some point after 5 and during this time we put in some tea to heat up (that we usually batch cooked on Sunday.)

• 5:30-6:00 Teatime. I feel very lucky that most evenings we all get to sit down together to eat tea. I really love that part of the day.

• 6:00-6:45 Bathtime and getting ready for bed. Neil looks after bathtime. He runs the bath whilst I get Theo ready and then once Theo is in the bath I usually tidy up from tea time and then wash my face and put my pjs on.

• 6:45-7:00 Last bit of In the Night Garden. We try and get down for the start but it never happens and we just see Iggle Piggle NOT being in bed. Then Theo breastfeeds and once he's done I take him up to bed.

• 7:00-7:15 Bedtime songs and stories. Theo still will not let Neil do this part, we keep trying but he's not having it and that's fine by me because I love this part of the day. We read a story together and sing a couple of songs and then I leave the room and he'll be asleep usually within 5-10 mins.

• 7:15-7:30 Last tidy up. We both run around at this point hanging out washing, putting a load in and just a general tidy up before finally sitting on the sofa by 7:30-8 o clock with a VERY large glass of wine. 

• 9:00 Bedtime. On Fridays and Saturdays we make the effort to stay awake until the dizzy heights on 10pm!!!! Lol!

So that's our usually non nursery day. They're busy days and when I type it out like that, it looks very structured, although it never feels regimented. Obviously sometimes lunch is half an hour late, same with tea. Naps will only last an hour and its a battle to get to 7.. who knows what the day will bring! But as long as I have some idea of what I would like to be doing at what ever point in the day then I feel better. 

Some days we'll be out all day and he'll just grab half and hour in his pushchair or car seat when he can and I like those days too!

Some people don't like routine but as I said at the beginning I do and I think Theo does. 

If you have any questions please ask or pop over to my Instagram @amysheartyhome and ask over there. 

See you soon,

Amy x

A year of being mum...

... the most wonder, special, difficult, challenging year of my life.

I've been wanting to write about and sum up, the first year of motherhood for a little while now. Theo is now 13 months old and a joy but in the past 6 months this honestly feels like the first time I've started to get a little more mind space to actually put fingers to keys. 

He isn't "difficult" or "challenging" but I've found being a mum is. I'm not sure what I expected, of course it was going to be hard work, since when has being a mum been easy? But for me adapting to this new way has been a bit of a shock to the system.

I've blogged in the past about being "A Motherless Mother" I think this has had a lot to do with it but of course even if we would've had all of the support it would've been tough. This is just me writing about my experiences. 

I'm going to try and give you a brief (ha! when have I ever been brief??) update in all the stages of the first year and how they felt for me.

So 0-4 months... 

A blur to be honest. A worrying, self doubt blur! A wonderful new born bubble blur. That's the thing with being a mum/a parent, it's that you have those days that only emojis can describe (😩😢😧) and then this gorgeous being, that you created does something for the first time or pulls that face that you adore and all the 😩😢😧 disappears. That's what 0-4months felt like. I found those early months probably the toughest. Everyone around me was talking about new born baby bliss and I didn't get it!!! I wasn't down or depressed. Baby blues? Of course! But blissfullness is not how I would describe those days. Theo wanted to feed all the time, i was sore, tired, teary. I'd forgotten who I was. It all sounds very selfish now but it was how I felt, I found it really really tough. 

Then came 4-7 months...

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that Theo is pretty pants at sleeping but at around this time I expected different. The 4 month sleep regression had supposedly passed, that's what the books said anyway. Everyone else's baby was sleeping 7-7 why wasn't Theo? Maybe he's hungry, breastmilk isn't filling him, I must be doing something wrong. 

So we weaned, not until 6 months but we weaned. BLW is what you must do! I panicked, so worried about choking. We slowed down, took it at a pace that I was happy with. The saying "happy mum, happy baby" could not have been more true for me at this time. 

7-12 months... 

All weaned, breastfeeding slowing down and an amazing eater, who STILL doesn't sleep well. I think by 7/8 months I'd just succumbed to the fact that Theo wasn't a great sleeper. And you know what, that acceptance changed things for me. I remember reading something about sleep being a development thing and that we don't rush babies to walk before they're ready, so why do we try and force them to sleep through when sometimes they're just not ready for that either? Some would say you're kidding yourself, but actually trying to enjoy that 2am cuddle made a huge difference. It was the cuddles at 4am and 5am after the 2am cuddle that drove me to distraction!!! 

The hardest thing for me at this point was returning to work. Sending him to nursery was so difficult but he was a star and actually, looking back, I think sending him to nursery before 12 months was actually easier then it would've been after 12 months. He was pretty clueless when he started nursery at almost 10 months (bless him) and he just accepted the nursery staff as his family. I think now he is more in tune with the world, it would've been more difficult. So no trouble there. It was me. I found going back to work so difficult for lots of reasons, perhaps I could write more about that in a separate post in the future. 

In brief my plans didn't work out and the doctor suggested I took some time to reevaluate before things went too far. So that's what I did.

I've returned to work again this week, after almost 2 months out of it and it's felt daunting but I also feel so different this time round. I'm now a supply teacher and I'm hoping it will help me to rebuild my confidence again. I guess we shall see. 

So where are we now at 12 months +... 

Well I don't want to jinx it but i think Theo might actually like sleep now!!! We're now down to one long nap (most days) and that is working out well for us and for the past week he has slept pretty much 7-6/7am over night. I'm enjoying it for now, who knows what next week will bring. 

I talk A LOT about sleep but it's really defined a lot of the 12 months for me, I guess with so little of it it's hard to think about much else because I'm tired ALL OF THE TIME! I don't think its a coincidence that I'm enjoying being a mum more than ever and we're getting full nights sleep. But then I must say this age is just a dream!


It may sound like a bit of a moany blog post, you signed up to having a baby so you should expect all this. Well yer, we did sign up to having a baby but that doesn't mean that I can't express how I felt in it all. Each stage had it's own difficulties but of course each stage had all the gorgeousness of having your baby with you. I almost feel like the special stuff goes without saying, it's the harder parts you hear less about. But for balance here's a quick list of the things that made my heart burst this year...

- Breastfeeding (all the feeds, even the painful ones). I'm so happy I did this. It will forever be something I'm proud of myself for. breastfeeding cuddles are like nothing i have ever experienced.

- Watching him change and develop each day. Each new little thing he does is just fascinating, I just love seeing how pleased he is with himself.

- Weaning. I absolutely loved this stage, once we found what worked for us. Seeing how much he loved food from the beginning was just great!

- All the physical stuff. Learning to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand up, walk. Each of those milestones have been truly glorious.

- Watching his relationship with his dad. I think his dad must be his most favourite person. He just adores him and I love seeing that in his eyes. 

So that's our update. 12 months of having the hardest and most rewarding job and I wouldn't change a second of it. 

I opened the floor to you guys last week, over on my Instagram and you made loads of suggestions for future blog posts, but if there is anything you would like to know more about (sleep, going back to work, weaning) then please get in touch and I'll see what I can do. 

Amy x