Katy Hill's working mum diary

As a Blue Peter presenter Katy Hill had her fair share of adventures, but these days she faces tougher challenges - juggling full-time motherhood with a TV career. From Daybreak to day’s end, Katy and husband Trey have their hands full with a five-year-old daughter and toddler son. And there’s not a nanny in sight. This could get messy…

Sleep? Refresh my mind...

By Katy Hill on 24 Jan 2011 1 comment

My sweet man has got teeth coming through, so he’s sleeping really badly at the moment. Consequently so am I. Some days I’m SO tired I actually find it hard to focus my eyes.

When I’m this tired it’s always a joy to discover new soft play hangouts! Somewhere that will bring a) easy entertainment for Akira, b) mummy chatting for me and - most importantly - c) great coffee. Found a new one this morning and Akira spent the whole of his lunch coveting and stealing his mate Warren's Chipsticks! (loving the expression on Warren's face!)

The other massive plus side to soft play, is that it knackers them out, so they’re soundo even before you’ve left the car park. Win win baby!

The other side effect of these new teeth coming through is nuclear nappies. Wowzer! I have to say, they test even a mother's love. Yesterday one of them actually made me gag - shortly before I realised I had poo on the back of my hand. Nice!

So all in all, a well rested and classy week for this not-so-yummy-mummy.

And out on a hot date last night to watch The King's Speech, I was fighting sleep in the cinema. It was just a bit too dark and cosy cosy, and I think I nodded off for about 10 minutes, but managed to wake up before a) Trey had realised and b) my Revels fell on the floor!

Seriously, as a mum, some weeks the tiredness really hits me. I saw the sweet picture of Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr this morning with her and Orlando Bloom's new baby Flynn that she’d tweeted. Here it is - one of those perfect breastfeeding first shots with your baby...

In those first few 'babymoon' days, when you think 'ha - this isn’t so bad, my baby just sleeps all the time, and feeds!' Before you realise that life as you know it is LONG gone, and your body is going to reach a level of tired delerium you never knew possible! I remember with Kaya being SO tired one night I woke up in a panic and started searching for her under the duvet, thinking I’d just fed her. Trey woke up to the madness and wondered what the hell was going on, till he pointed out that she was sleeping soundly in her moses basket and I should sleep too and stop acting like I was losing my mind!

I guess before kids 'tired' to me would be a few big nights out in a row, and coping on a few hours' sleep. For me, the newborn phase feels A BIT like that - except that, instead of a few nights in a row, it was night after night, for MONTHS on end. With no hangover to show for it!

I read something funny this week. A comic way to find out if wannabe parents are ready for the nights with a baby...

Enjoy!... And sleep well!

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)

2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.

3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.

4. Set the alarm for 3AM.

5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch a random show on TV.

6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.

7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.

8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM when you get up. Make breakfast and then either spend the day entertaining a baby/child - whoever you have! Or get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive!)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

The things they say

Over the holidays one day Kaya announced 'You know what mummy, I love Akira so much. I think we should keep him forever and not swap him for another one!'

This week I’m loving

Count-On-It Food Labels

Whoever thought something so small could be SO useful!

As with all the best things in life ;-) the count-on-it labels were designed by mummypreneur Lyndsey Young - who’s as passionate about feeding kids good food as I am!

The labels are scratch-off and can tell you if food is still fresh enough to eat. So simple, yet so effective! Of course they HAD to be designed by a parent. And think of all the food you won’t waste? I don’t know about you, but I’m always throwing out food since I always play it on the safe side. Now I know whether I can still use it. You simply use the scratch-off number wheel to mark the date the food was prepared, the labels have sticky backs so you just pop it onto the box/bag/container and voila!

And what’s great about the labels is that I can cook the kids so much more fresh food at home, since I’m not worried about the shelf life. The box can stay in the fridge, and Kaya loves doing the scratching bit for me!

At the moment, on the website, if you buy two boxes you get a third one free!

Loving it! x

http://www.count-on-it.co.uk

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