I have a 10 month old. WOW!

Hi guys It's been a while. 

I've oficially got a 10 month old and soon to be 11 months in 2 weeks time... How is this happening? Can I pause time to take all of this in?!

I love being a mother, there was a point where I thought I'd never leave her and then other days I'd be so ready to go back to work, just to be around other people - sure I could've gone to baby groups, but I don't drive so have to rely on buses ect, it's hard work especially has once you've gotten ready, you've changed and fed the baby and next thing you know you've lost 2 hours of time and missed the opportunity to leave the house and I'm not alone with this, even mums who do drive, I bet they never expected to always be late somewhere. That's why I plan to do things mid morning because come lunch time we're back and home all settled for lunch and a nap! I live for the afternoon naps, we play all morning so by the afternoons I need a little bit of peace to get jobs done around the house.

I wish people had told me what to expect from having a baby at this stage, They either talk about newborn stage or toddler nightmares!
I've had to say 'No', 'come here', don't do that' & 'that's not very nice' so much starting from when Quinn turned 8 month's old.
I've experienced the tantrums and the hitting, punching, pinching, slapping and hair pulling FROM A BABY.. What am I supposed to do?! I've never been told about what to do when this happens - short answer; ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Telling them No in any kind of tone doesn't work.. And let's not forget the poop situation - it's gets MESSIER. SMELLIER and the sore rash.. Quinn never had this as a newborn, but once they start teething, crawling and trying solid foods it's inevitable they have a hard time.. Literally. I feel so bad for her sometimes but you have to introduce things at some point right?!

Quinn LOVES fruit and bread sticks. She's not keen on brocoli, She can eat most things actually, and feeding herself little tid-bits, but honestly she doesn't trust things on the 1st go if it's not been on a spoon 1st.. Go figure!?
I've refused to give her anything artifically sweet, cake or chocolate, they don't need any of this yet so yoghurt and fruit is the treat in my house!
At the beginning of the feeding stage I was soooo nervous and not ready but by the time she was 6 months she needed solids and the health visitor who came and saw her at 7 months said she was a little behind, but honestly I don't know really whether it was my fault but she didn't want to know anything other than mashed potatos and corrots, slowly but surely we got there in the end and she's completely fine with eating 3 meals a day - she stopped half way through our routine to just wanting milk all the time due to teething so once she was ready again with her new 2 teeth she was back on track with the foods. Right now it's a mixture of porridge/ baby cereal in the mornings, baby food in the afternoon with fruit and yoghurt to snack on depending what she wants and in the evening's while we're having our dinner she'll have a smaller portion all chopped up bite size. This is working for us, but soon i'll be moving her on to all solids completely throughout the day.
Although she's content with this routine, I do feel like she's getting hungrier so I'll have to figure out how to start her on different foods at lunch times.
I do think too deeply about everything and I wish I could just 'wing it', but that can be hard for them to adjust to and expensive for me if she doesn't like something. But gotta start somewhere right!?
Quinn is on SMA pro 2 follow on milk - 5 ozs, 4 times a day. As recommended by the peadiatrition, 20 ozs is the limit for her age group, prolonged use of the milk or exsess of it can rot their teeth!

She's now out grown her toys, so we're moving on to noisy toys - lots of books and we're always singing to her. She's learnt to open and close doors and drawers - much to my surprise, but also bad side effects are they don't know how to move away if they are stuck and jamming fingers in drawers is nasty! She loves bath time and is nearly out growing her baby bath completely, we've got a alphabet bath book and only 2 bath toys, She's getting a lot more confident on her feet, pulling herself up and getting around by holding on to the sofa and chairs as well as holding on to the walls as she moves from room to room...
Where has my baby gone?!

I'm back right down to my pre pregnancy weight, and have been for a while. I've got great skin and getting plenty of rest as Quinn is sleeping through the night, I do miss working, but I know as soon as I go back I'll be wanting to be home with Quinn. Vicious circle... I've still got hair loss and I've got more hang ups about my body that I didn't have before I had Quinn, but It's okay - I'm learning to love myself again and for the times that I've lacked confience it basically ruined my relationship and the more it happened the worse mine and my fiance's arguing got. But he finally understands me and Ive been pushing myself to pleasing him which in turn pleases me because he's happy.
I always read that you shouldn't give up on your partner and don't stop going on dates ect, but once one of you is home alone alot and the other working away most weeks, come the wekeend we just wanna do our own thing and just be im the same room as one another. I do realise he's got needs too but he made me feel like second best when it came to seeing each other. I've never wanted to be a "nagging wife," but it was like he'd rather play on his games than hang out with me for an hour or 2, cos without that kind of connection - to me, I can't connect sexually because it begins to feel very platonic and awkward.  Arguments aside now, and we're both working on our relationship, things are on the up.

We both cannot wait for Quinn C Noelle's 1st birthday and are planning on what toys to get and who to invite - as it's her 1st birthday we're not going for a theme, we'll wait till she's a bit older for that!

Here's some recent pics of our lil bean;

Mommy & Quinn selfie

Boy - baby ;)

Climbing!

Nom nom

Mommy,. Daddy and Quinn C Noelle

Beach bum!

Thanks for reading my exteremly late and long blog post!
~Ellie xoxox