Mummy Fail #2

I thought I should let you know about the mummy fail I briefly mentioned in my last mummy fail post ....

LG was 5 days old. It was a Saturday, my birthday in fact. Mr had to pop out, some friends were heading over and my mum had just left, so it was just me and LG for an hour or two.

I'm one of those people who likes to seize the moment, so decided this was the perfect time to test out my Papoozle -my baby carrier. So I followed the instructions and within minutes I was baby wearing!

Bert (our dog), LG and I set off for a good walk on the beach. Off we went, and happy we all were. LG loves being 'worn', she just falls asleep. So after a good 45 mins or so, we start heading home.

Dog, check.
Baby, check.
Keys to the house, FAIL.

Somewhere I had lost the house keys! I figured they must fallen out my jacket pocket while I was picking up the ball or dog poo! They could be anywhere!

I left the house with no bag, no money, no phone ... FAIL!!

Right, phonebox! Now i had no idea whatsoever where a phonebox was. I mean, who uses phoneboxes these days! 20 minutes later I find one. And thank god for those annoying 0800 Reverse adverts.

I call mum, she heads back with her set of keys for my house and we're saved! Phew!

So the actual babywearing experience was fab. We use our Papoozle nearly every day. I recommend. The fail was all about Mummy being a total tit!

So new mummy lesson: Always take phone when leaving the house, and always keep valuables in a pocket that zips up else it looks like you think it's totally acceptable to be out in all weathers with a new born baby ...

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Social Media

I have been thinking a lot about the power of social networking recently. I guess the main trigger for this has been my Thank You post.

Many of you may not know that this blog has led me to start a couple of other blogs one about maternity fashion and another which is still in the pipeline ....

Anyway, these blogging developments have made me think about how powerful social media can be and I've started doing research on how to harness 'the power' of social media for my other sites. It's not easy. There are hundreds of platforms out there .... not just twitter, facebook and our blogs.

I'm not looking to make any sort of income from any of my sites, we all know that to make a decent wage from a blog is near on impossible unless you have a cult following but if you're blogging or using social media to try and promote your brand/image, it's pretty much a full time job to do it properly.

Reading articles like this one from As Clear As (Baby PR specialists) puts it all in to perspective. Can businesses really go it alone on the social media front? I'm beginning to think not ...

Mummy Fail #1

Actually, this probably be #2 but as I didn't tell you about my adventures in baby-wearing (mis-adventures!) this counts as #1.

Today Mr had to pop back down south until Friday night - Navy stuff - so LG and I dropped him off at the airport. On the way back, I thought I'd be a little bit adventurous and stop off at Braehead so I followed the signs from the M8, got there, saw there was an Ikea and proceeded to park. LG was in her carseat, I didn't have her pram or my papoozle so thought I'd just carry her. No drama - I was only planning on popping to the kiddies section and the fabrics area.

Got LG out the car, realised she had a smelly nappy, so off we headed to the Baby Change facility. Now we all know Ikea is the family friendly store, and the Baby Change was fab. Picture the scene: LG is half naked, I'm cleaning poop off her, and she decides to have the longest wee you could ever imagine. Ever. It was a good pint I reckon ... honest. Needless to say, it ended up all over her vest and her little outfit and she was practically swimming in it. Fuck. Instead of lugging about the baby change bag I just chuck a few nappies, wipes and muslins in my bag when we're popping out and we're good to go. Big Fail.

At this point I have a screaming baby (she hates being naked... it's the only time she screams), clothes covered in piss and all I have to save the day is a couple of muslins. So I decide in all my wisdom to fashion a toga style outfit for LG out of the muslins. Genius? No. It's Glasgow. It's cold and wet. A couple of muslins aren't really up to the job. I do have a blanket though, so get her all swaddled in that too. By now, she's calm. I am calming down. It's okay. At least I haven't dropped her right ...

Realising at this point the only part of Ikea we're going to see today is the Baby Change we head back to the car. I go to put her in her car seat and realise that this makeshift outfit isn't made for carseats. Her arms are swaddled, her legs practically bandaged together. It's still raining. I get in the back of the car and start to undress her. Yep, semi nakedness = upset baby. Getting all flustered at this point I end up making her look like a mummy of the ancient Egyptian variety. She's happy again though. She's not naked after all.

So new mummy lesson of the day: Always keep a spare set of clothing in the car for incidents like this else it will look like you think it's acceptable to take your baby out dreadful weather, naked except for a couple of muslins ...