It's a west end thing......

So here we are in the West End of Glasgow. A move we never thought we would make as we have always been city folk and only ever really looked to the West End with an intention to buy. We actually looked at flats to buy on the street we are now living on as it is rather beautiful, lined with trees and potted flowers hanging from street lamps. They come out in the mornings and evenings tending lovingly to their plants.

 

So even though we are living in the ugly building at the end technically we are closer to that dream. I guess most would argue a move to the West End is a natural move when you start a family as it is a more genteel area of Glasgow. It is definitely quieter and safer...our car insurance company affirms that by giving us back a significant amount of money for changing post codes! I have to be honest when I say that I definitely do see a different 'type' of person on the West end streets. We arrived in the West End with summer and the sunshine. We were able to observe a rather interesting phenomenon of neighbours sitting on their front "porch" (ok steps, ok sometimes on the sidewalk, ok sometimes even on the road) having a chat enjoying the sun. It's a rather strange array of students, young couples, young families, children with grandma, older people. I was told by a friend that it's a "West end thing".

Not that it is idyllic as we still live in Glasgow which is always 'a little rough around edges' wherever you go. We are still close to a beautiful park but a bit of a distance from the shops...better for our pockets I guess. There are lots of great restaurants and bars but I can't tell you about those just yet as we are yet to sample them due to our lack of babysitting services (we impatiently await the next grandparents visit). We are enjoying it so far and I at least am actually savouring the change...whenever we get into the city centre though hubby is like 'don't you miss it?'...well maybe a little.

The Friday song choice

A moving story

No not a story of the sentimental type but literally a moving story. It explains my long silence as I have had to survive without the internet! I am not a fan of Packing and so the fact that I had to do it with a baby gave me the shivers before I even started. So....

1. My first piece of advice to anyone moving with a baby is to start as early as possible packing away all the non essentials that you can get by without. I was rather lazy and started the week of the move which meant that I was packing boxes while hubby was packing boxes into the van. I had no excuse either as we were renting and that meant that most of the essential items actually belonged in the flat! 
2.  We also have a lot of very non essential items as well. So another piece of advice is don't keep things you really don't need....so if you are a hoarder and hate throwing things away well all I can say is "God help you"! I just kept discovering stuff in all these little nooks and crannies...I also realised I had not even completely unpacked stuff from our initial first move...the excuse being that I will use this stuff when we eventually buy a house........
3. It does not help to discover that every time you start to use some tape or tear some paper your baby starts to cry! So I guess another piece of advice is be prepared to take any chance you can get to pack things away. This was one of the times I really wished we had a babysitter....a relative...anyone who could have helped us out! Hubby arranged so we had 3 days to move from one flat to the other...give us time not just to move but to go back and clean the old flat. I questioned it at first and then was relieved we did it later. Coordinating it around his naps and feeds was great fun...honest! I became very creative in getting my son to sleep.
4. Another piece of advice is sort out babies things first and then get to everything else later. He was a bit unsettled the first two nights. Not sure if it was being in a new room....feeling the tension from mummy and daddy...or what...but thankfully it did not last long.

But finally we are here...in the west end of Glasgow by the way.........and yes we have unpacked all our boxes...and boy have we enjoyed a few glasses of wine (and she quietly whispers...my son seems to have decided to sleep through the night).

Life's little pleasures

So summer has decided to grace us here in Scotland. Admittedly it's not blazing sunshine but short sleeve and a light cardigan gets one by most of the time. So I have been getting out and about with my son to enjoy it. I can tell he is growing up now as before when we used to go out it meant sleep time to him but now I can actually push him about and he's awake. It also means unfortunately that I can't guarantee he will take his nap now by just going out for an hour or two. 

We go to the park equipped to get out of the pram and onto the grass. We have a lovely blanket gifted to us by my sister. It's actually a zoobie called lily the ladybug and I never new she would be so useful! I also go with a handful of toys which turn out to be not so useful. You see all I need to do is find some shade underneath a tree and hope for the wind to blow and then well I can just leave my son to it. His face takes on the best expression of anticipation, he says 'hah', then the legs go and he is happy as a pig in mud.

My son reminded me of one of life's little pleasures.......watching the leaves on the trees blow in the wind.

O slavery days

So yes I have done it.....I have finally finished a book after my son arrived in February. There always seemed something else to do until now. What a great restart as well with The Long Song by Andrea Levy.

I love reading books based on my Island (yes anyone that comes from Jamaica tends to have a feeling of ownership of the island) and it's history and culture. So from the start I was biased and new that it had to be really bad for me not to enjoy it. Honestly though I think it is a fair judgement to write that it is a worthy read. 

Don't let the subject topic of slavery put you off because though it does not hide the hardship and ugliness of slavery it's actually also a humorous read. It's a perspective you forget, that people were finding a way to live their lives in slavery for what Andrea Levy reminded me was 300 years. I loved pretty much all the characters and Andrea Levy is so good at portraying them that by the end of the book I had a visual picture of them which I really enjoy. I was a bit distracted at times when the story was broken as the story teller brings us back to real time but it made the story more personal so in a way I think I understood why it was done.

 Guardian review

The Friday song choice

After a bit of sunshine today and being out and about with my son I thought it only good to share some good old Jamaican ska. My uncle posted this on facebook today and I thought it would be good to share as well.........

In hindsight

I guess everyone knows that when babies are born they don't come with an instruction manual. I really need to have a word with God about that one. Some would argue I guess that every woman has the natural capacity to be a mum and once you have a baby you develop this mother's instinct and know what to do when. HA! Everyday I think that my motherly instinct is kicking in my son decides to change things up and I have to start the learning process of what I should be doing all over again. Yes, motherhood is definitely a continuous learning process so I guess even if babies came with an instruction manual it would need continuous updating.  Of course with every learning experience you are bound to get something wrong. In hindsight you start thinking "Gosh I could have done that differently!" The problem with hindsight though is that as much as you can reflect on the past you can't very well go back and change it. No! I am in no rush to have a second either so that I can maybe get it better the second time.

As my son grows I can't help but think how fast it is all going and only 19 weeks ago he fit into the palms of my hands. As a new mum you read all the books because you want to make sure that you get it all right. You worry about silly things like spoiling your baby because you carry and console him all the time because you know even though he is happily sleeping in your arms as soon as you put him down he will start crying again. You worry about when to start a routine, when do they self-settle, when do they sleep through the night. Is he putting on enough weight, is he doing things at the right time.
 

Now at 19 weeks I look back and want to tell myself to relax. Hold your son close to you and breathe in the baby smells (except the baby poo maybe) as you take it one day at a time. Hindsight can sometimes be a cruel thing as I think of things I might have missed. He's my son and my first so I guess it was bound to happen. Now I go forward taking it one day at time so I guess even though I can't change the past I can hopefully learn from it.