The Eccentric American Mama in Cumbria

I'm not sure if you noticed by now but surfing is a pretty important part of our lives which is why I present you with some of the cutest surf finds for this little guy! Clothing by Quiksilver  |  Suntent by littletrekers   Sunglasses by RetroBanz  |  Whale by Toys R' Us We cannot wait to get Cyril on a surfboard but unfortunately we'll have to wait a bit longer since they don't make wetsuits capable of withstanding the North Sea temperatures in his size yet! His first experience sitting on Josh's board will have to wait until we're in Santa Barbara and fortunately for our family we have booked our holiday to California and look forward to soaking up the rays on the beach, in fact we might not leave the beach, unless it's to get a taco!

(Photo taken while pregnant in Paris but the background just sums up summer for me! OK so I was desperate for a photo I haven't shared yet because I'm finally finishing up this post that I started 3 weeks ago, as Cyril sleeps on me, and I can't get to my computer where all my summer pics are!) Just upon hearing the word summer my heart skips a beat and butterflies swarm my stomach in excitement. It brings me back to my childhood where I sat with friends sucking on an icy cold Popsicle as we stared at the clock counting down the seconds until that little bell rang signalling freedom for 12 glorious weeks. You see for my brothers and I summer camp, and even worse, summer school didn't exist because the farm was full of enticing activities to keep us occupied with. To my mom, camp was a waste of money and rightly so, why fork over $400 a week when there's always someone around to keep a watchful eye, if not my parents, they'd ask one of the Jamacians

1. A crib/moses basket/snuzpod/bassinet are pointless the first 2 weeks. In fact if your pram comes with a bassinet I wouldn't invest in the moses basket, snuzpod, or crib, just use the one your pram has. The reason being that babies hate to sleep apart from  you and it makes complete sense, they've just spent 9 glorious months inside your tummy where all of their needs we're met, they were cozy, warm, and confined to a cramped tiny space so it makes complete sense that when they come out to the big bad world full of lights, noise, and space that they panic. Placing them in their own space probably makes them frightened and lonely. Cyril hated our snuzpod the first month because it was massive compared to his tiny little body and most likely he hated all of that space. Which brings me onto my next point ... 2. Invest in a good quality sling or baby carrier. I loved the original bjorn when he was first born because it was so easy to put on by myself. However, I prefer

I can hardly believe my sweet baby is already two months old, it's seems like a lifetime ago that I was sleep deprived, depressed, and in excruciating pain, not to freak anyone out that is about to have a baby! I've actually been meeting up with some new mums and one of the girls had a really easy labour and didn't struggle at all to breastfeed, in fact she was out and about with her baby girl 3 days after she was born. I wish I could say the same, fortunately Cyril and I have made tremendous progress since then and I have one well behaved and content baby, well most of the time. On Sunday a group of girls and I went to a friend's house for a Baby Calm Workshop and Cyril was very content the whole 4 hours, smiling and interacting for a good portion of the time, and sleeping in my arms the rest of the time. From the books I have been reading since Cyril was born I didn't feel the workshop really benefited me, especially since Cyril is already sleeping 7