Tag Archives: parenting

Parenting is a privilege… not a competition

Posted in baby, motherhood, Mummy life by
Sonny Jim, Katy Pearson, toddler, #whatkatydidUK

Up on his feet: Sonny Jim is now a toddling toddler

I think we can all agree on the fact that Einstein was a pretty clever chap.

But, did you know he was slow to talk? In fact, he reportedly didn’t start speaking until he was four. FOUR.

I bet he had his mum fretting.

Sonny Jim has just started walking. He’s one and a bit and in his little gang of baby buddies, he’s pretty much the last to get up on his feet.

He also took his sweet time in starting to crawl. Has no interest in potty training. Calls pretty much everything he sees “Bob”. And utterly refuses to wave or clap on cue.

None of this bothers me in the slightest. Continue reading →

Perfect mummy… until I actually had a child

Posted in baby, Katy Pearson, motherhood, Mummy life, Sonny, The adventures of Sonny Jim by
Sonny Jim, Katy Pearson, #whatkatydidUK

Little sleep thief: Imagine being this happy before 5am!

Honestly, I had parenting absolutely nailed… until I actually had a baby.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. I think most of us have pretty clear ideas of what we’d do as a mummy or daddy. What we would allow. What our child will and won’t do.

Which is great, until you realise that your child totally didn’t get the memo.

Here are some of my pre-Sonny Jim parenting fallacies:

* The baby won’t be sleeping in our bed.

Yep. That worked really well until he was poorly. Until he started waking up at 4am. Until he started staying awake for hours in the middle of the night. Now, at least part of the night is often spent with a tiny, wriggly third wheel in our bed. It’s  that or we just don’t sleep for nights on end. And, quite frankly, I need sleep. Continue reading →

In praise of NCT

Posted in baby, Katy Pearson, motherhood, mum, Mummy life, Sonny, The adventures of Sonny Jim, Today I'm loving by
NCT babies, Sonny Jim

Little buddies: Sonny Jim (asleep) with four of his five NCT pals (aged about 3-months)

A year ago today I was eight months pregnant and dragging the husband along to the first of four antenatal NCT (National Childbirth Trust) classes.

He was not exactly up for it. For starters, he was missing West Ham play. And he couldn’t understand why we needed to sit in a room with five other couples for SIX HOURS (we did break for lunch in the middle) on a Sunday to talk about how our baby was going to be born. And then go to another three sessions in the weeks that followed.

We’d also had to pay more than £200 for the privilege of the experience. Money which could have been spent on clothes for the baby. Or nappies. Or something else that seemed infinitely more practical than chatting.

But anyway.

Off we went to our NCT Signature Antenatal course (held in a side room at David Lloyd in Southend.) And a year on I can happily say it was one of the best pre-Sonny Jim decisions we made. Continue reading →

Top baby names of 2016 revealed!

Posted in baby, Features, motherhood, Mummy life by

popular baby namesThe most popular boys’ and girls’ baby names of 2016 in the UK have been revealed, with Oliver becoming the number one choice for boys and Olivia top for girls.

The research, conducted by global parenting site BabyCentre, showed Oliver had jumped a place to become the most popular name for boys, followed by Muhammed, Noah, Harry and Jack.

Lily (third most popular last year) was 2016’s second popular girls name, followed by Sophia, Emily, Amelia and new entry Ava.

Continue reading →

#FedisBest

Posted in baby, Katy Pearson, motherhood, mum, Mummy life, son, Sonny, The adventures of Sonny Jim by
#FedisBest, Katy Pearson, Sonny Jim

#FedisBest as far as me and Sonny Jim are concerned

When I was pregnant with Sonny Jim there was absolutely no question in my mind that I would breastfeed my baby.

I was prepared for it to be painful, for cracked nipples, for leaking boobs, to deal with any tuts in public.

I was prepared for everything…except a baby that refused to be breastfed.

My little boy was what they call a reluctant feeder. He mastered latching on, but then totally refused to do anything more than four sucks.

This was the reason that despite a trouble-free labour (16 hours long, but just gas and air, and no stitches) we spent two nights in hospital. Continue reading →