Baby Phase Survival | Parents discuss the journey to 6 months

Getting through the first 6 months with a baby - we made it! This is the one where Emma and Elliot look back at how daily life has been in this phase of parenthood... How it is different this time around with a second child: sleep, feeding, mental health, schedules, funny stories, messy house, challenges, teething, relationships, work/life balance. And our top tips for getting through it. What are our recommended baby items in the first 6 months? Plus, probably some other stuff I forgot about! A mega-packed and super silly episode, with lots of tangents.

Previous episodes mentioned in the conversation:
Newborns | Parents discuss surviving the first week with a baby
Medical Drama | Parents share their struggles with a poorly baby (Cow's Milk Protein Allergy episode)
Postpartum | Parents discuss first weeks with a newborn and toddler
Sore Gums | Parents discuss teething babies and toddlers

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www.kairosmovement.org.uk/dontwakethebaby/

Unwind on sleepless nights to a wholesome mix of parenting stories, quirky humour, and cosy crafting. We’re not here to provide answers but to share our experiences, explore how parenting has changed, and build an online community of parents for mutual support.

A fun, honest and unscripted conversation between Emma and Elliot on non-judgemental parenting and millennial-based topics, as we relax on an evening attempting an artistic or creative activity. 

We are a project in partnership with The Kairos Movement and supported by The Methodist Church, of which The Kairos Movement is a part

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:10 Parenting Achievements
• 9:00 Main conversation
• 33:00 Mid Break
• 34:05 Main conversation part 2
• 52:35 Ending

Transcript

 So Emma dearest, what are we chatting about today? Six month update. Kind of briefly going over how the last six months have gone. How we're coping, how we're not coping, how, how to survive and top tips.

Hello. It's another sleepy time in the Crippen household. This is, don't Wait The Baby. Join us in our little encanto where you can chat with us about parenting and listen to our life updates and thoughts. Lovely. Are you make it like imagining the house? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In the Disney film is Encanto not the, oh no, I guess.

Okay. It's um, it's like a Spanish word. Yeah. No, no. I was thinking it's not the town they live in though. Is it? They call the house just. Casa mad, don't they? I'm gonna, I'm gonna Google it. Ah, yeah, yeah, you're right. Whereas Encanto isn't that like the power? That they have because like, it doesn't encanto mean like enchanted.

Yes, you're right. It, uh, it means like charm or enchantment. Well, you can welcome to our little charming abode. That's very nice. Okay. You saved it. That what you said it, I was like, don't think that's what the house is called. Oh yeah. I think you're, I think you are right. Yeah. Yeah. The house is called casita ca Short for Little house in Spanish.

Yeah. I want him to keep all of this in because I like to prove I'm right, but I'll take so, so we can't possibly have all of this in the intro. My name's Elliot. I'm Emma. There we go. That's Emma over there. We are humans who, uh, came from the nineties. Yeah. And uh, this is a podcast where we, uh, chat about parenting with babies and toddlers under fives, blah, blah, blahs.

That's the stuff. Yeah. You get the idea. I am the one. Who, oh, what was I gonna say? Uh, a little factoid for today. What particular food that you are most likely to, um, gobble down in one go? Oh, so like, are you trying to say, what's your favorite food? No, no, no, no, no. Not what Your favorite food. Oh. What is your food?

Eating that like. When it's in the fridge, it is gone instantly. 'cause you've eaten the whole thing. Oh no. He knows. He, this is, that reminded me. He set me up. He set me up because I think from, which is true, it's not my favorite food. I think for me, probably Jaffa cakes. Oh yeah. Like if I have a pack of jappa cakes, like a Jaap Jaffa cakes, a pack of Jaffa cakes, then um, I eat one and they, they're gone.

The whole pack's gone. Yeah. I dunno what happened. It just, it just, whereas mine's a lot weirder. Yeah, I think that's what Elliot's mentioned. It packs of ham. You get like wafer thin ham, like a family big pack of wafer thin ham. Yeah. It was a family pack. Okay. Go there. Uh, yeah. Uh, and I just, I just to eat them all.

Yeah. It's that. Emma will just eat the whole pack. Yeah. Came in the other day. I said what you had for lunch, Emma. And there was an empty pack of ham beside her. Yeah. She looked at me guiltily and I was like, oh, you, you've just eaten the whole pack of ham. Right. Okay. I've never met anyone else who go, that conference is a pack ham.

Let me know if you've also got a problem with eating ham. Right. Well, this must be the longest intro to the podcast ever.

Oh, oh, we need to get to parroting fail 'cause I need to show something we've done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dingdong is parenting fail story time? Is that what we do? Uh, no, I've just made it up. So what's the noise? It's like a, a Xbox unlocked noise. Oh, do, do, do, do we, we see you make up a noise. Anyway. I might as well make up a, any sort of noise.

Yeah, that's true. True. There we go. Our parenting fail segment. We've got a whole host of, uh, ones to share this week. We better rattle through them. So last, last night, Lily got herself dressed for bed. Yeah. And we both said to each other how good a job she had done. Got her und when I was getting her undressed.

Can you tell our all of viewers what's on her leg? What's on her leg? That's her leg. A bracelet. A bracelet. So she slept all night. With a bracelet on her leg. It was quite tight, high up her leg. Oh, I see. It's not on her ankle. No, it's like hidden under her T trousers halfway up like her knee. It was below her knee.

Oh, I see. Um, so I was getting a change this morning and I, I was like, what's this? And she went, oh, to my bracelet. I went, I can see that. I was like, why is it, why is it there you need? And she was going, oh, well Mya has one on her leg. Oh, that is true. And I was like, oh, yeah, she does. And I was like, is it not tight?

And she went, it's a little bit uncomfortable.

I. You brought that on before bed last night. Yes. So you've slept all night with this bracelet a little bit uncomfortable in your legs. Mm-hmm.

So from now. It was really good. She got herself ready for bed, but we maybe should do a check. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So any hidden items of jewelry underneath? It's been that sort of few days, hasn't it? This week is, oh dear, it's, it's been quite a week. Um, we had a bank holiday on Monday and then Tuesday was quite a day.

Um, one of the stories I wanted to tell was about Tuesday morning, well, nighttime really. Lola wasn't sleeping well. She decided she wanted to wake up at 3:00 AM and have a party. She just, she just thought it was morning. Yeah. Um, normally she's fairly, we'll get into this maybe a bit later, but fairly decent at sleeping.

Yeah. Normally she goes to sleep, like back to sleep. You'd fed her like with me. Pretty good. And she was awake like an hour. Ugh. Yeah. It was like so frustrating. Um, and he was so confused. 'cause normally I bring her back to him. Well, we'll talk about our arrangement of sleep in anyway, but I normally bring him back to him and then literally he's like kind of just has her in bed with him.

And then I go and she a sleep. Yeah. So he kept going to me like, what time is it? Because he, I thought it was morning or like 5:00 AM 'cause like that's when sometimes she'd like wakes up a bit early. Mm-hmm. But then when you, you were like telling me like, it's 3:00 AM I kept up in nine. It was three. And he kept going.

I was like, what? It's what? I was like, yeah, it's three. So anyway, it took me a while. Eventually at like 4:00 AM I got back to sleep. Yeah. I was like, great, let's have, let's have a bit more sleep. So I went back to sleep. What happened next? At 5:00 AM I woke up with Lily standing over me. Yeah. Uh, almost 4-year-old looking at me like.

This morning I was like, what are you doing here? I was like, this is too early. Go back to bed. Yeah. And she was telling me, she's like, where are my plasters? Yeah. So she'd gone to bed holding a pack of frozen plasters. Yeah. Not like, just clarify, the film frozen, not like the plaster were frozen. Not, not that she'd put 'em in the fridge or anything.

Yeah, that would be weird. Even weirder. Yeah. I was like, they're literally beside the bed. But then she had a bit of a meltdown 'cause she didn't want to go back and find him in your room. Yeah. So then she woke up the baby. Yeah, at 5:00 AM I was like, I've spent so long awake trying to get her to sleep.

Hour, hour awake. Now she's gonna awake and gagg. I went, I'm awake. So from 5:00 AM I was just up. She didn't get back to sleep. Yeah. I couldn't get back to sleep. That was it. Yeah. I was so annoyed with her. It was. And Lily came to like the room crying, like Daddy's told me off. It's not.

And I was just like, and I kept going, well, it might still be night. Let mommy look at her phone. And she'll go, what time is it, mommy? And I was going, I still think it's nighttime. It's almost morning. Mm. As few other little bits. I mean, Tuesday was just a mess. Like heights and lows of emotion. Yeah. Just, I mean, I'm sure there was more stories from them, but we, we probably haven't got time to go into them.

Um, yeah. Any, any other parenting fails that I've done this week? No, but there's another one I've done. I took, um, both girls to little yesterday I picked up nappies, but they were like. One size too small, and I don't know why. I don't know what in my brain thought we were in that size again. I was looking at them for ages because I thought I was wrong.

Like part of me knew that that wasn't the size she was, but I kept looking at the pictures and thinking, but that baby looks more like the size she is. I kept thinking she can't possibly be in size four. So I got size three, brought 'em home, and Elliot immediately soon saw and was like, I was like, what?

Why have you bought them? Why have you bought them home? And I was going. 'cause we need nappies. And he was like there the wrong times in that size. And I was like, I knew it. I knew like my gut was telling me it was wrong, but I just couldn't think properly. And I, it might depends. I think 'cause both kids were with me, I was just panicking.

I'm so annoyed. 'cause I, I get, I get into swing of things where I'm suddenly like very capable again of like cooking and keeping and then I get a cold or something and I'm like back to square. One of being exhausted all the time. Yeah. And then I'm like, I was just, I was just getting back to being like.

That's the whole story, isn't it? Yeah. And that, that's basically, I think all this messy, chaotic stories here. That's been a jumble and rambling long going on. Yeah. Is a good summary of what this episode's gonna be like, chatting about how the first six months have gone. Mm-hmm. It's just gonna be an insight into our lives of an overview.

Um, and yeah, this is just exactly like the daily, the daily chaos. Yeah. That is. Having two kids and having one that's under six months. Let's crack on.

Right? Strap your, uh, your baby into the high chair and throw 'em a snack, and let's get chatting about our topic today. Have a little chin wag. So, uh, we, we've made it Emma, we've made it to six months. Woohoo. Success. The baby is still alive. Baby is still alive. Yeah. We always a success. We survived. We've not had a breakdown.

We haven't. Not yet. It's a bit similar. We did an episode a a long time ago on surviving the first week with a newborn. Yeah, and this is a kind of a little similar, like surviving the first six months. How's it been? We're not experts, but this is our story. Yeah. Some of our tips. So any opening thoughts, Emma?

How uh, looking back now, we've hit six months. How's it been? I mean, I, I would say I wouldn't do it again. Well, as per usual with parenting things, some of it's been really joyous and some of it's just been really difficult. Um, so we're not gonna go into it 'cause we've done a topic on it, but lows, cows built protein allergy nearly broke me.

For the first probably four months of this child's life. Um, well actually it's been rather up and down, hasn't it, because. We did the first two months, which we have done an episode on. Yeah. Um, went really well, actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The next four months, or next two to three months. Two to two months.

Yeah. Terrible. With cow's, milk, protein allergy. And then I feel like, and this last little bit, the last few months slowed been picking up again. Yeah. So. Yeah. Real. So it's like half her life has been a struggle currently. I remember, um, looking back, you know, our first ever episode we did of this podcast, uh, I made a joke about how, uh, you are like, don't tell us what it's like if you have more than one kid out there.

Yeah. I was like, just don't tell us. I don't want to know. 'cause this is hard enough with one. And I think that is like still, like, it has been so difficult, but it's so annoying because Loda is actually quite like. Minus the food allergy. Lola's actually a very good baby in a lot of ways. Mm. Like compared to not.

No. If you're listening to this when you're older, Lily, I apologize. You weren't a bad baby by any means. It's just. Because she's a second. She has to be. Mm. But she's a bit, just a bit more chill with a lot of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I do Stand by the comment we made. I can't remember what we called it. Was it postpartum?

Um, episode we were chatting about the first few months after having Lola. Yes. Um, where I said it has been easier to adapt to second time. Oh, definitely. Even though it's harder, even though. You're compounding everything with a second child. Mm-hmm. Somehow I found this transition easier than first time. I still stand by that.

Oh, me too. And I do think it's, it doesn't feel as big a jump as going from nothing to one. Mm. Which, which is bizarre because everything I see online, all across social media, I constantly see particularly mums saying about how. The, the jump from one to two is so much more difficult than Naugh to one.

Yeah. Which I don't agree. Yeah. No. Interesting. You've been off on maternity. Hey. And when Lily isn't at preschool. Yeah. Uh, you've had two kids to look after? I have, yeah. How's that been? It's been tough. Um, I'll be honest, I feel like I'm only just getting to grasp, like to, to kind of mm-hmm. And it's sad because I feel like I'll only just fully get it under control and then I'll be back at work.

And obviously some of this conversation is gonna be, you know, different if you, I. With the first child. If you have an only child, yeah. Going through the first six months to how we are going through it, talking about it with two children. Yes. Yeah. You don't have a little person. You have to kind of check if they're doing okay.

Yeah. But that is, has been one of the interesting things is that both. Children are quite different. Yes. In some ways. In some ways they're very similar, but particularly we have an older child, a 3-year-old who just likes to stay at home. Yeah. Doesn't like going out a lot. Yeah. Like it's a real struggle to leave the house.

Yeah. And we have a, she's very, she's very settled. Yeah. She's like, I like my drawing. I like watching where princess is. I like sitting in the garden. But one of the things during the first. Six months is that Lola has begun to become a more of a routine baby. Yeah. Where she loves going out. She loves going out.

She really wants every morning to go out in the pram or the carrier. Like if, if I put the carrier on at the minute she's, I'm finally got the thing where she started to understand things. Oh yeah. So when I put the carrier on, she gives me a huge grin that I'm putting on because she knows that means we're going somewhere.

So she's like, oh, great. Mommy's gonna take me somewhere. How exciting. Whereas Lily's like, I don't wanna go out. I'm like, well. Lola wants to, and I can't leave you by yourself. Mm. So it means we're all going out. And this has been the tricky thing in the first six months is that we've got one kid who's desperate to go out and one kid who doesn't want to go out and it works okay.

On the days Lily goes to preschool. Yeah. 'cause uh, you tend to take both of them and drop Lily off. And that means at eight o'clock in the morning you've got a trip out and Lola's happy. Yeah. Lola's happy 'cause she's been out, um, on the days, on like Tuesdays and Fridays when she doesn't go. Yeah. Uh, it's a nightmare.

It is. Because Lola starts screaming. Yeah. I think there's highlights as well that, you know, as you'd expect, and if you're going through this as, you know, like just the chaotic nature of the first six months, just trying to get through it. It's certainly been. Like, as we said, ups and downs, but also just like stuff's, it's so difficult to get stuff done.

Oh yeah. Like the house has been a tip. Yeah. For six months. Yeah. Like as much as like I try and do a lot of cleaning every night. It's still, like I said yesterday, I said to earlier, I said, if people came in and I'm like, you know, what do you call it? Like to visit? To look? No, no. We had some thieves come.

Oh right. And ransack the house. If someone came to try and burglar us, it wouldn't look any different like the other day, the house was such a mess. I was like, I think they're come in and leave. They'd be like, can't do this. Someone's, someone's already ran this place.

Um. And I said, it's so annoying because Elliot, every night the house is clean and then I come down for breakfast already. It's starting to become a mess. And I know, like I was there, like, it's not like Elliot makes it up. I've been there in the night because I make a bottle and take it back up for Lola and I'm like, it's been clean.

How? How possibly in those few, like maybe if they've been up an hour. How do become such a mess? It's just, it's just how you, how you live for a little bit, isn't it? Before we get back on top of things and it's like we've got so many priorities that have just gone out the window. Like of course we're trying to move at the minute.

Yeah. Have we viewed any houses? No. No. 'cause we're just exhausted. You've got, you've gotta put life on pause, haven't you? Indeed. You've gotta always refer back. I think sometimes once you get past the first couple of weeks, you're like. Well, I can get my life back on track. You know, we can try and make progress with things and you've gotta keep reminding yourself, no, we still have a baby.

I think the main difference between, you know, surviving the first week with a newborn, it's not that you're running on adrenaline anymore, it's now much more, you know, a marathon. It's the, you're in it for the long haul now. And that's particularly the challenge with getting through, you know, month after month.

Is that it just. It keeps going, things are still gonna be really difficult. Yeah. Um, I think for us, you know, for me the big thing is that we have been through this before. Mm. So like, some of that strain and pressure and, and challenge isn't as bad. 'cause I, I know there is light at the end. The time. Yeah.

Yeah. We know it gets better. I know you can get through it and I know what that looks like, you know? First time around. I think it is a challenge 'cause sometimes it just feels, it feels relentless. It feels like it's never gonna end with the first time round. You don't expect things to go better and worse again.

Mm. Like the first time around you think it'll just be linear and you're like, oh, it's getting better. Great. It'll just get better and better. Yeah. Whereas, you know, when you've been through it like, oh yeah, get better for a little bit and we might have something else that hits us. You can repress and then it'll go better again.

That leads us quite nicely into um, I think one of the topics that does do that a lot, which is sleep. Yeah. How to survive. The sleep for us. The sleep deprivation, but also your baby sleeping. Emma's having a yawn right now. That was very right on schedule. I, she was a mention of sleep. I was like, oh yeah, I like sleep.

Yeah, I mean it's been like, I, what I was gonna say how long? I was like literally six months after title of the episode. Oh, whatcha doing? My brain can't think. Um, it's been six months of like, I dunno, averagely, I dunno. I get like four hours of sleep a night. Like is crazy how we are still functioning.

Yeah, you get slightly more, but you are up and down in at night than up and down. Yeah. Whereas I tend to get four hours conductively, I, I never know if it's better to have more sleep awake in asleep or sleep in one chunk. I'm sure somebody, somebody scientific will know which is better for you. Mm-hmm. Um.

Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Because I know can try and explain what goes on then. Oh yeah. Let's explain our night. Um, so first time around with Lily, we obviously, we slept in our bed and we diligently tried to keep her in the cot. We did. We actually were really good. Um, yeah, I mean, I did put a lot, a lot of effort into keeping her in the cot and refused to have her in the bed, except like in emergencies.

People tell while this is going. I've been a lot lax this time. Yeah, a lot. A lot more lax that I was like, first time we bed, we didn't ever do co sleeping. This time we basically just do co sleeping. I know I started off putting her in the cot. You did? When it was my turn in the night, she would always sleep in the cot.

When it was Emma's shift in the night, the baby would end up in bed. In the bed. Yeah. We then switched to a thing where basically because. You know, we, we hit that mi that milestone where we stopped counting like how much sleep we got and started counting like how many times you're up in the night. Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like that's often a big transition. Yeah. Yeah. Where it's like, well nowadays it's quite reliable that, you know, we're up three times in, in the night. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's what you deal with at that point. We switch to, you do basically the whole nighttime now. Yeah. Um, with feeding and I then do the mornings.

Um, and you have a bit of a lion, but that does mean that you are in charge of the whole nighttime. So baby doesn't, baby's just doesn't go in the cot at all. Yes, that's true. That is, that is when it turned, because I will say my depends, she just won't go in the cot with me. But that's also 'cause she knows I give in.

Mm, I think so. She's like, mm, well, you don't try particularly hard, are you? You put her in, you look at her and she goes, oh, she's waking up now. I'll take her out and put her in the bed. And with Lily, I used to like sit there for like an hour, like stroking her nose, put my arm next to her. Yeah. Or my, my problem is I'm just not willing to spend that time.

I'm just like, often I, we're gonna have to get back to it at some point. We are. Yeah. We do need to work on it. Um, so we're just delaying that problem for a little bit. Yeah. We're kicking, we're kicking that problem down the road. So well in the bed though. She's so well in the bed, she sleeps. Basically through, other than to wake up for feed.

Exactly. And then goes back to sleep. So it works so well the, like what I was saying, do should we try and put her in the car? And I was like, I've broken him. 'cause he looked at me and he went, nah, yeah, let's just put her in the bed. Yeah. I was like, he's changed. Yeah. He's come to the dark side of going, oh, let's put her in bed with us.

Um, and what this does mean though is that there's not enough space in our bed for. All four of us. Yeah. So I get relegated to Lily's bed, so in the night there's like a switcheroo that happens. Lily goes to bed, Lily, it's really good. She starts off in her own bed. Yeah, we put her to sleep. Then about midnight, one o'clock.

Yeah. Wanders in, wanders over. Or just shouts? Or just shouts. Mom, dad, whoever's put her to bed, sometimes you can lie with her for a bit and she'll go back to sleep in her own bed. Yeah. Recently we've been more success lying with Go bed. I would say. Let's see, I think. May I, you know, uh, until very recently, I would've say less than a handful of times.

So less than I could count on one hand the number of times that I've slept a full night in my own bed since Lola was born. Yeah, that's true. I think now I've probably maybe got to six times. Yeah. So, like, you know. Yeah. I've got off one hand. I'm counting on two hands now. Yeah, true. Um, but that has meant those nights I've normally been sat in Lily's bed with her.

Well, I did a couple of times. That's true. And then we slowly make our way back to whole bed. But typically me and Lilly do a swap. Yeah. So she comes in. Once she gets into our bed, I go in Lily's bed. But of course. Lily comes in about somewhere between 11 and one. Yeah. Um, I haven't yet gone to bed. No. Or, or he's just gone to bed because like, like he's just laid down.

Lola goes to sleep about nine o'clock. Yeah. Um, I then go and do the cleaning and washing and tidying. That takes me till about like 10 o'clock. Yeah. Then I sit down and do some work. Yeah. For about two hours. Nobody been dying. Yeah. Like. Until then I come and bring you a bottle Yeah. Of milk so you can do the next feed.

Um, I used to help you put it back down in the cot, but that's gone out the window. That's gone. That's no longer a thing. So I go to, I go to bed about 2:00 AM and at that point, Lily's already in my bed. So for most of the last six months I've been sleeping in a toddler bed. Yeah. On the floor. On a floor bed.

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it's just what my life's like. And then Lola often goes with him. Yeah. Because it's a floor bed and I feel like it's, yeah. So I, I take, I take Lola with me. Yeah. And then, then we get woken up about half, five, six in the morning. Yeah. That's been our lives. I wanna draw the conversation into actually, like, I.

The question we posed, how do, how do we like survive? How do you cope with this lack of sleep? How do we cope with this nighttime routine? Any thoughts? Uh, we eat a lot of sugar at the minute, which I think helps with lack of sleep because often I know when I'm craving something sweet in my head I'm like, this is because I'm tired.

Yeah. But. I've not accepted. My body's still working. Like it's not tired. Mm. It's just, I think part of my brain's like, we need more energy, so we want something sweet. And I'm still up at like midnight and I find at that point I'm like, well, I want another snack. I want like a midnight snack. Yeah. Like another meal.

So I, I make myself like another little like thing. I sometimes I have like a bagel. I sometimes like come down like. In the morning I could see like an empty packet of something. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like somebody of a little snacker rule last night. Yeah. I didn't say we had good tips for surviving. Might probably don't follow our example, but you know, this is how we've survived.

Other top tip from me. Uh, uh, caffeine, uh, run on a lot of coffee. Uh, yeah, my coffee intake has definitely gone up since having two kids, and that's how I cope with the sleepless nights.

Well, one bit I want to touch on, um, a little bit is just like balance of, particularly for me, like work life balance. Mm-hmm. You know, I've mentioned I'm often up late working. I work very flexibly, so I do, I work from home, uh, yeah. A lot of my computer and stuff. And part of it is that. I can be around in the day and it means I can help with you on, on days nearly not a preschool and all that sort of stuff.

I can work flexibly, which has been a huge benefit. Yeah. That I do not know how we'd survive if I had a standard office job, nine to five. Especially when, when Lola wouldn't drink. It was really difficult. Yeah. So like it's got easier now, but near the start, the downside is that I'm often up till 2:00 AM Yeah.

Doing work, trying to make sure that things are happening. I mean, I have a very, you know, understanding and flexible, lenient work and boss and things that are super supportive. So I'm, I don't feel. Pressure. But like I, I would like, I enjoy my work. I would like stuff to get done. Yes. In a timely manner.

Yeah. Like this is when it sounds a bit doom and gloom, but like recently I've been able to take both girls out to the cinema by myself and like it, we're getting there slowly. Mm-hmm. Um, but a lot of the first six months is. Like dealing with that reality. Sure. There are bright spots in it that are like, oh, this is amazing.

This is lovely. Especially now with two kids, like sometimes it can be so joyful, but there is a lot of challenges. You know? There is, yeah. It is. In that period where things can seem really grim, like, you know. For us, this first six months has been during winter. Yeah. Makes it particularly difficult. That was tough, you know?

Um, it's been a lot nicer now. Um, now I can take Lola for a walk to the woods. Mm. Which is nice when it's sunny because it gets you out the house and you feel a bit better. And Lola loves it because she loves being out the house. Mm. And I'd say that's how you know, you've been looking after yourself, like with trying to do stuff.

Yeah. Do stuff. You enjoy friendships and things. That's quite important. Yeah. I mean, I'm terrible at all of this, but. I rely heavily on our friend called Vicky. Um, we normally see each every Friday. Mm-hmm. Friend of the pod. She's been a guest on the podcast before. She has, and she has two children who are not dissimilar ages, but that's great because me and her can chat along and the two girls play together, and then we've got the two babies and it's just mm-hmm.

Like. I think this is when people have like a little village. It's just nice having people where you're like, oh, they can come round. You need that support. It doesn't matter if the house is a mess. Yeah. They know what it's like. Yeah. B, the kids get along. So it means the two older kids entertained means you both just sat with the babies.

Yeah. So it's not bad at all and you get a good chit chat. So that's been nice. Yeah. Um, it is amazing, isn't it? You know, first time round. You know, we struggled as well looking after the first born. Mm. Uh, in, in that first period. And then this time round, it's like when Lily's occupied and you're just left with the baby, like, oh, it seems easy.

Oh, this is so much easier. I've just got one kid to look after, like the days by myself at home, just with Lola now once again when she wasn't drinking horrendous, but now she's drinking and eating and quite happy. Mm-hmm. Just very nice little days. Like it's quite simple. I don't know how I. Struggled so much.

Yeah. Like the first time around with Lily, when I was by myself one day. I know, but it's just, I'm like, why? Why did I come play? It was all new. It was all a challenge. Whereas I'm like looking after one kid by myself. Easy. Like the same if I've just got Lily by myself, I'm like, easy. Yeah. Like why do people str?

But we were the people who struggled. But I'm like, how do people struggle with one? We should mention your other support network, your sisters. Oh yes. Who you are in constant contact with. Because I feel like a common thing is that. Particularly moms, but you know, any stay at home parent, it can be quite lonely and isolating.

Yes, true. Especially in the first six months. It can. Yeah. Where you're doing a lot, you're kind of almost housebound for a lot of the time. Yeah, true. And just, yeah, it can be quite difficult because you have a lack of contact and support, but you have a close relationship with your sisters. Yep. And it's really handy.

Normally, one of them at any point is normally pregnant. Because there's so many of us. Mm-hmm. Normally every, do you, do you have some sisters, Emma? I didn't know, are they, do they happen to be identical to you? They do. For people don't know. Quick thing, I'm a quadruplet, so I have three sisters who are the same age as me, and it means we're all at the similar stage of life.

Yeah. All have kids. Um, we've all got kids. You talk every day? We talk every day. Um, my sister in France, for those who are, do you have a sister in France? Really? This is how I always identify it. So I think people, they're playing bingo on the podcast. I've said it. I feel like we should get t-shirts made.

That's, although it would be a bit odd for other people to be like, my sister in France. It's in France, yeah. It's like your catchphrase now. Yes, it is. Becky. She's also on maternity, so basically we can just have our phone on. All day. Mm-hmm. And it sounds weird, but kind of we just literally have it on as we're doing tasks around the house and playing with the babies.

Yeah. Because it sounds odd, but it's company without being intrusive. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So now on, again, you can have a little chat with each other, but most of the time it's just hearing the other person in the background doing stuff as you are doing stuff. On the flip side, I'm more like the, the. I suppose more typical woman mum in the relationship.

Yeah. Who's like, I often lament that I'm sat inside and that I never leave the house. He did, because he works from home. So I work from home one day he was like, haven't been outside today. I don't, I often don't get dressed. I do all the, the cleaning and I'm like, sat there, like I, I haven't been outside today.

And then, you know, just. That takes a toll. I don't have many friends. I don't stay in contact with people. I'm not saying I don't talk to people. I feel quite lonely. Whose fault is that? Let's be honest. I'm too busy. I'm just too busy ever. You're too busy. Yeah. Yeah. Look at his face. If anyone knows Elliot, he's not the best at being sociable.

Hey, if you're listening to this podcast, this is the most you will ever hear me talk. It's true. Literally. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you know me in person, you'll never hear me talk this much. No, never. Yeah. It's true. It's true. It's the most he ever talks is on the well, and you know, to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But other than that, yeah, I think I'm a, I'm a quite little soul.

I'm quite happy, typically in my own company. Yeah, he is. Yeah. But yeah. The, the long days with a baby. Um, it is, yeah. Yeah. It, it does push a lot of it to the limit. This does lead us quite nicely into like talking about some of our relationship as well. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like that's something that comes under strain in these early days.

Oh, it does. Yeah. We've done very well actually in the, um, touch wood, I'm sure we had loads more fights with Lily at this point. Yeah, yeah. We actually haven't really had any fights. Um, I feel like, again, we're kind of. We're a bit more adapted to the parenting lifestyle. We also, I think I've learned. Like, like kind of older and wiser.

Like I often now phrase things in a lot better way. Mm-hmm. Um, so I think like when we had Lily, I'd often say something but not realize that it was coming across like a criticism. Mm-hmm. So I'd be like, oh, so baby I'd not had, not had a nappy done, but I'd actually generally asking. Right. Yeah. But I'd have said in such a way that would be almost aggressive.

Yeah. And then obviously that would start a fight because he'd be like, well, I'm so sorry I didn't look like Yeah. Whereas now I'm like, oh honey. Have we done her nappy recently? Yeah. Like I think a lot of it's you kind of learn, not like, oh, he a delicate little flower. But I'm saying like, you learn how to like phrase things to each other to be like, oh, this isn't, this isn't an attacky thing.

Yeah. This is a. And generally checking in. See this, this is what I mean by like, we often inhabit the other roles because I feel like this is a great example of something that normally goes the other way. Yes, that's true. Between a husband and wife. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, men are that you just have to learn to phrase things in a, in a nice way.

Um, so I think I've learned when they've been with the baby all day, and I haven't been with the baby all day. No. But I do, like, I'm so involved. They're like, and often like say I've taken Lily out. So we went to the ballet. Yeah, me and Lily and then I come back. Yeah. And he's had a baby. Um, so for me, I'm like, I've taken several hours off work to like look after the baby.

To accommodate you going out to do something you would like. Yeah, exactly. Lily, I'll have to stay up later tonight to catch up. Um, and I think you have to be like. A lot of it's phrasing, a lot of it's appreciation saying thank you a lot time and I'm just trying to like keep you from being too negative about yourself.

'cause I know you get frustrated that you're not doing as much as you'd like to be or not true. Yeah. Striving as much as you know with, and I'm always like, think it's hard because you see a lot of people on social media being like, we've been to all these places with my child and baby, and I'm like, well, I've just managed to leave the house.

Mm-hmm. We're probably as, um, guilty as that, as anyone. We do post a lot of, like some of our trips and things online that Yeah. I think, 'cause for me they're like successes. Yeah. Yeah. But obviously people don't know that's a success. They just see that as daily life and it, you know, it is a challenge in these early days.

The, you know, it is almost like we're just cohabiting, like Yeah. We don't, there's not much time for romance. We don't have much of a relationship in, in any other sort of way. Like sometimes we barely talk to each other during the day. Yeah. Or like barely see each other. Like with our different bedtime schedules.

Like we don't see different bed sleep in the same bed. Like we go to bed at different times. Yeah. You know, it's just, yeah, like that kind of, that part of the relationships definitely is on pause. Yeah. Until later down the line. Kick it down the road. I suppose this time going into it, we were more aware that like so much of this stuff is gonna have to be on pause.

Yeah. I think this is, this is just. A older and wiser B, we've done it before. Yeah. So we're like, hey, it will get back to normal. Mm-hmm. Once the kids are a little bit older. Mm-hmm. Um, and that's just the sacrifice you make at this point.

Hey, this is editing Elliot's. Quick little plug from me. If you could, um, you know, like follow, subscribe, do all the clicky things with this episode. That will be fab. Share it with a friend. Um, and thank you to everyone who's already done those things. If you're following along, turn on notifications and if you've shared this with someone or if you've shared the podcast with someone, thank you so much.

That's great. That's how we grow. It's how we can support this project and keep it going. Um, how you can keep. Us doing this thing. Um, and that would be fab. If you've not done that, please do. Please, please, pretty please, pretty, pretty, pretty. Please do get involved with the community. Follow us on social media at Don't Wake The Baby Podcast.

Just a quick little one from me this week. Uh, not long, you know, just 'cause it is a conversation starter. And hopefully not just us speaking into the void, all that stuff. Um, the web links are down below for our website and other information. But yeah, let's get back into the episode, back into the good stuff.

We've been rambling around all sorts of different topics here. Um, but the, you know, all sorts of stuff that happens that kind of, you have to navigate. Um, I wonder if you want to touch on feeding and breastfeeding. We have done an episode on this, but we have, this is something that kind of continues through for us.

With both kids. Yeah. It's a particularly defining feature of the first six months. Yeah. Because you have stopped at six months in both times. Yes. Both. Both times. Both times. Clearly that is what I do this time around. It was mainly because of the cow's milk, protein allergy, and I was sick of eating like, so basically when I was giving her breast milk, I couldn't eat.

Nice things like cheese and milk. Yeah. And I, I'd gotta to the point where I was like, I want to eat nice things and I feel guilty. And it would slip into your diet so regularly, like it's so difficult to keep on that diet because there was no soyer, no, yeah, yeah. Milk, no. You know, lactose, no. And then I'd feel so guilty because if she was.

Poorly. I got, oh, it must be something I've eaten. Yeah. And I'd overanalyze everything I'd eaten and it might not have been, she might have been having a bad teething day, but it'd make me really paranoid about what I was eating. It's just adding extra stress. Yeah. And it's so stressful, and I think this is a key takeaway in these early days.

Mm-hmm. First six months is to like, know when to compromise. Yeah. Yeah. It's okay to like deviate from your plan. Yeah. Like, yeah. And, and for us that both times has been about actually. Yeah, maybe you could have gone on breastfeeding. Yeah. Could've gone longer breastfeeding and, you know, yeah. Longer. Um, in both cases it was mixed feeding and you were pumping milk to give her Yeah.

But. You made the decision that actually yeah. Is gonna be better for all our lives. Like it's a big drain on you. It is, yeah. Timewise, energy wise. Yeah. And it, and what my main thing was near the end is I felt like Lily was getting kind of neglected sometimes, because I'd be like, oh yeah, I have spent all this time with the baby, now I'm gonna spend some time pumping milk.

Mm-hmm. Like, and even though it's 10 minutes, it was like four times a day. So that's 40 minutes where I could be sat doing something with Lily. Yeah. And I'm sat pumping milk. Yeah. And once again, she's been really good, but I felt like it was just another thing. You know, training. So we have fully transitioned onto, uh, being a formula Fed baby now.

Yeah, we have, we have. Um, and that has actually made our lives a bit easier. It has made it easier. It is made going out and about easier. Yeah. It's, it means like we don't have to, we don't have to take breast points anymore. Accommodate some of that stuff for you. It's kind of, it takes a pressure off you.

I think it does. Yeah. Yeah. And it's been nicer in that. You don't have to get up in the night to pump. Also, I don't have to wear a bra to bed, which I know TTMI, but it's so uncomfortable wearing a bra to bed. Like I finally gotta to the point now where like my milk's dried up enough enough that I can just, I can just put a pajama top on and I'd have to wear a bra and I'm like, oh, so much nicer.

See, I would've never have known about this problem. There you go. There's a un a benefit that we're, I'd not. Realized, oh, Lola. Waking up. Somebody's waking up. Oh no. Hi Lola. Have you come to join the conversation? How have you found the first six months? Lola? I would say Lola is a very happy, smiley baby. A lot of the times she is.

Yeah. But as with our eldest, we, the teething is just a nightmare. I'm trying to, she's trying to grab the microphone again, please. Lola, please don't grab the microphone. You always love the microphone though. Dad. That is for Mama and Baba to talk. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hi Lola. How are your teethies doing today?

Lola? Are they a bit better? Lola gonna have a lot of rustling now. Oh, that it get back to her. I don't know that we really have any tips for teething either. It's just, it's just a faff it like them being ill constantly. We, we talked about it a lot. We did do an episode all about teething. We chatted about, mm-hmm.

How it was with, uh, Lily when she was going through it. And it's much the same with Lola. We haven't really got anything to add. It's a challenge. I said I thought we were making more progress with our teeth, but like, yeah. Basically the bottom two are almost Drew. They've been almost through for ages. Yeah.

Like I kept going, oh, it's gonna be so much quicker than Lillian. I'm like, oh, it turns out, hasn't really. Mm-hmm. And some days it just means she's in a bad mood. She's just like screaming all day. And it's like, why? Like you go through the checklist and it's just like that her teeth are causing her pain and at this age she doesn't understand it.

You can't distract her very well. Just, yeah. Yeah. Particularly, I think going forward from here, it becomes slowly easier, even though teething It does. Yeah. Continues to be. A baby. And I do find with Lola, 'cause she loves the outside so much, even on a bad teething day, taking her out does help and mm-hmm.

She's a big water baby, isn't she? Yeah. So, um, turns out, oh, El Elliot loves the water. Like, yep. He loves boating, he loves. Um, I say boating like we're posh kayaking. Um, and he loves swimming. I'm not like, I like kayaking. I'm not huge into swimming. Can't really swim very well. Um, but both are girls super into water.

Mm-hmm. So if Lola's having a bad day, Elliot will know, because I'm like right. He has his meeting in the next room and I'm like, I'm just gonna run a bath. Do you have a meeting soon or not? And he doesn't. I'm like, great, because it means, I hope they're back in the bath. Yeah. Lola teeth must be bad. We're gonna spend probably about an hour in the bath because Lola loves it.

Yeah. Um, and she's in a much better s Yeah. It's bath. Interesting, isn't it? There you go. There's a little tip. I, I dunno if it only works for our kid. Yeah. If, if you have a water baby like Lola. Got a little segment for you to, uh, a question to engage. Oh, did, did my voice scare you there, Lola? I thought we could, um, have a quick little chat list some things that we've bought or have, you know, or already had that have been particularly useful in, uh, the first six months we did this with our newborn.

Episode where we talked about the first week, what things were particularly good or not good. Yeah. So, uh, let's chat about some of the stuff, you know, all the, all the stuff you have. I'm trying to think of what's been really useful. Um. Number one on my list. Top, top thing that we didn't have last time bought off Facebook Marketplace, the bouncer thing.

Oh, what is that? What you call it? What do you call it? Oh yeah. Bouncer. You know, like those, those, uh, things that stand on the floor and you put them in in the, the baby. In, in the middle. Yeah. In a little circle and they sit in it and, uh, yeah, it's like a bounce. Right. Well, they don't really bounce. Do they?

They just play with the stuff that's, uh, then around the edge. Yeah. Oh, okay. Some people, they call it a something console, don't they? Do they and hear the click clack and Elliot's Googling it? No, like a bouncer is like one of those chair things, which, um, we used a lot with Lily, but actually with Lola we found the, the bouncer chairs.

She wasn't big on it. Yeah, not much use. Uh, we, we, we wouldn't recommend that. Uh, some they work sometimes, but. Do, I dunno. Lola doesn't like sitting. No. Um, she loves to stand. Loves to stand, which I just dislike and loves to try and crawl at minute. She's like, what's going on with you? Why are you standing?

Like, yeah, you just wanna stand all the time, don't you? Yeah. Don't wanna sit down. No, she doesn't. I'm none the wiser. 'cause they just, they give them like weird. Mmm. Uh, like activity center. Yes. You see what I mean? I've heard it called like an activity console or something. Musical toy activity entertainer, skip hop, explore and more Stage activity center.

Um, yeah, a bit of, I just say like a jumperoo, but not, I, I think people get what we, we, yeah. What we mean. Yeah. That's a long explanation for, you all know what it is, the thing where they stand in it and there's bitch around them. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. That's been really good. Yeah, we got that from marketplace.

Because we kept saying to each other, well, she loves standing. Mm, what could we get it? And it is plastic, you know, it, it's not very Montessori. Yeah. We do like the whole, you know, Montessori style stuff and, and first time round we tried to avoid a lot of plastic toys. This one's good though 'cause it doesn't have too many flashing lights.

No, it doesn't actually. Loud noises. It is just stuff that she can rattle and, and play with. But it is plastic. But it means, you know, like when you're cooking you can stick her in. I was gonna say, or I'm like putting the washing away sometimes. Yeah. That's handy. Because she'll happily sit in it for a little bit.

Yeah. I'm trying to think what else has been really good. Tell you what, um, hasn't been useful this time. That SNOO thing, is it Sno? The little s the pod sleepy pod thing. Sleepy pod thing. Do you know the thing that the thing on the floor, the Yes. That Lily. It's like a, what was it called? Oh goodness. Today we're not doing well with names.

Ah, forgot to know. It's like it's a mat that goes on the floor, but it has like a, a b bumper buffer. Uh, thing they were called like sleep Easys or something, but they had to change the name. 'cause you're not actually meant let 'em sleep in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but Lily used to love laying in there. Mm.

Lola hated it. 'cause she's not like lying down on her back. Yep. Well, she didn't, now she's okay. So that was a complete waste of us keeping that. Really? Yeah. There's a lot of stuff where we haven't necessarily bought new things. No, but we, but we kept a load of stuff. Yeah. From when we had Lily and, uh, it's not been useful.

Still sat in storage or whatever, but, or it's been out and just not used. Yeah. Should we talk about carriers? Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we did try something different this time. We tried a sling carrier. Yeah. That is kind of a fail. It's on me though. It's because I really struggle to just, I'm, I'm not, this is, I'm just not one of those women who's good at that stuff.

Like, I really struggle. It's really hard to explain. Is it because people go, people can't understand how, you can't how like uncoordinated I am, I think. Yeah. 'cause they, 'cause ev you know, you look them, we even bought one that's not just, it's meant to be easy. It wasn't just a piece of fabric. Yeah. It was one that was meant to be like.

Easy to use. Easy to put on. And my sister in France. Oh, do you have a sister in France? Fab it. Oh, she's the one. We bought the same one as hers. So she could teach me. Yeah. See, I'm blaming you, Becky, if you're listening to this. Yeah. It's your fault. It's your fault. That's why we have that. Because you were saying how good it was and I thought, oh look, look how easy it is.

Could I do it? Not really. Like I maybe managed it twice. On the plus side, we have a different carrier. Yes. That we, that we, 'cause we actually, we rebought the same carrier we used for Lilly. Yes. Thinking we'd use that. And we didn't end up using it very much because we ended up with a different carrier, which we got gifted by another of your sisters?

Yes. The one in, um, the local one. Kirsty and Barnard Castle. Yeah. And that's been super useful. Super useful. We've got a lot of comments on it. It's particularly good. It's got this weird little, uh, base. Yes. That's like got a polystyrene, like solid bit in it that they sit on. So rather than just like being fabric that supports them, there's actually like a thing they sit on.

Yeah. Which means it's, it really helps your back. It's designed to not put as much weight and pressure on your back, which, 'cause Lola's quite a big baby. Um, it's really helpful when you're carrying up aren't you just don't tire as easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And 'cause she's not. She's getting back into the pram, but she hasn't been a huge fan of the pram.

So it meant you were Yeah. That's been her very similar to that. Hasn't never a big fan of the pram, but it means it's just, it's a lot more viable to carry her around for longer. Mm. Mm-hmm. I was looking at it downstairs because I was thinking we should shout out what it is to try and explain to people if they want a recommendation, but.

I've already forgotten what it want. It's like, like be be amor. Yeah. Be amor. Something like that. Is that like the brand Think it's like a weird, I think so. Is that French? Yeah, it is. Yeah. Oh, there you go. Yeah. And I would say it's not the best to like get into by yourself. 'cause the way you gotta clip the straps up.

Yes. I, I mean, I'm getting used to it now. Mm-hmm. It's also a bit bulky 'cause it has this. This base thing, it is a bit so for carrying around you can't like stuff it in a bag very easily. No. No. So that's a downside. But otherwise, uh, I mean for normally though, I'm wearing 'em most of the time, so it doesn't really matter.

Yeah. Yeah. We may do another episode on it, I don't know. But like towards, you know, getting towards six months, um, a lot of people start weaning at six months. Yeah. Both our kids started early 'cause they're just big into food and like Yeah, we're ready at that stage. And lowly eats a lot. Mm-hmm. So we started again very similarly to Lily about Yeah.

Four and a bit towards five months. Yeah. We started almost five months. Yeah. Doing baby led weaning. Um, so yeah. So that's good. So that's another one where like you can now stick her in a highchair. Yeah. And that's, and it's good for feed, like when we're eating it means you can just. Chuck her in a high chow, some food in front of her.

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, it, it's, it's, this is always our favorite bit is once the babies can interact and play, it's just, well, yeah. I think it makes it feel a lot more worthwhile. Mm-hmm. Like, I know you love your kid when they're tiny and can't do anything but. It's more rewarding for me when I feel like, oh, she's really happy.

Oh, she really liked that. Oh, she's laughing. That's nice. Yeah. Well it, it is hard though 'cause you are, you are much more of a toddler person. Yeah. You like them when they're older. Whereas I do really like babies and he does like, it's just a shame. 'cause obviously like in this phase you are off on maternity and I'm working that actually.

Yeah. You don't get, you are spending more time with the baby than I am. That's true. I would say, you know, obviously there are mechanisms where we could have split. Split it, uh, with us all. I, I could have taken some time off instead of you, but just, it didn't, it didn't make much sense for, you know, just what we're up to it, just for us.

Yeah. Let me put you down here for a second. This is the other challenge we're having as, uh, we're getting towards, you know, five, six months and onwards. Um, recording the podcast is becoming an increasingly challenging thing. When they were a baby, she would just sleep. You could just hold her. Um. Huh, when they're a bit older.

Then, you know, Lily's off at nursery and preschool. Yeah, yeah. We're in this like, you know, weird phase where I I, it's gonna be a real challenge recording podcast. She's gonna be awake. I think we get her down in a routine though. It should be okay because she's starting to do longer naps, but only like two big naps.

Any final top tips? Any takeaways? From all our rambling, general mess of our lives. Look. Look how good she's at. Trying to crawl. Yeah, she's trying to crawl. Sorry. I'm just very impressed. She's really almost, she's so close to crawling right now. It's very impressed. I would say. I'm impressed that, um. I am as excited, I think this time seeing some of the development.

Yeah. I was worried that second time round. Me too. I would be like, less, less. I've seen all this before, you know, we're not as excited as the first born, but you know, I'm, I'm pretty, you know, into it all. Yeah, maybe not quite as, I think it's exciting. Um, it's also really exciting 'cause as I said before, Lily's like Lola's top supporter, so she gets really excited, which then makes it exciting as well.

Look, here you go. We're getting distracted. Tangents again from, oh, what was my thing? Top tips. Yeah. Get the grandparents involved if you can. Yeah, it's hard, isn't it? Like, you know, with, with our first ones, we talked about this before, but first time round, our parents are slightly older, so they're not quite as involved.

They live further away. This time round, it is like four years later. Yeah. So they are all now that bit older. Mm-hmm. And everything, like not all of them drive as much as they used to. Yeah, true. Um, my dad's now in his eighties. Yeah. Like the others aren't quite as old as that, but you know, it is difficult getting the support we need.

And it's not their fault, like they are actually really supportive. It's just Yeah. Capability of running round and doing stuff and having, um, they're great at, you know, looking after Lily and taking Lily out Yeah. And doing that sort of thing. But you know, we find looking after two difficult, the best of times, it's very difficult to drop both of them with grandparents and expect them to handle that.

Like at the minute she's really good at throwing herself off your knee. Yeah. She's very strong. Very strong. Surprisingly so. So. With anybody we pass it to. I'm always sat just ready for her to throw herself off because people don't expect it. My top tip, which you might, I dunno, expect from me as someone who works in the online space, um, we, we are a bit biased.

We run our own podcasts. True. But I would say if you can't find like local community, find stuff online that helps support you, I listen to like podcasts 24 7. Oh, he does? Yeah. I constantly have a headphone in. Just like sometimes you just need a distraction. You need an escape Life's challenge. Well, it do.

And sometimes you just need to listen to other people. I do struggle, like if Lola's screaming Mm, if I don't have my phone with me, because normally when she's screaming, and you have to be the person who stays calm and gives a comfort, but it's helpful if you then have a little headphone in your ear that just takes you away from the script.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's like a little bit of escapism, a little distraction. Mm. And like, I can't always even hear what they're saying, but it helps just keep me calm. Mm-hmm. Um, keeps me sane and also tastes like TikTok are actually really useful for just, and not, I'm not gonna say everybody knows everything.

There's some idiots out there. Yeah, of course. But Internet's full of idiots there. Some, there's some good pages too. There's people as idiots like us out there, there's idiots like us done their know stuff. Um, but there's like some good tips of like putting the, the pram in the bassinet thing and letting them have tummy time.

Mm-hmm. Because Lola loved that yesterday weren't on, but see, I don't think you said that right. Putting the pram in the bassinet. No. You know, like the bassinet bit on the pram. You know, like our pram goes from upright to like, kind of bassetti form. Right. Okay. I see what you mean. Um, so putting it flat like that.

'cause we don't really do that anymore. Yeah. You, she loved Yeah, she loved that yesterday. Mm-hmm. Um, going around little and like people couldn't stop smiling at because she was so smiling and everyone, such a happy baby. And I wanted to be like, it's 'cause I've done this. Yeah. Yeah. And she thinks this is great, that she's kind of like.

Almost flying. I think I've completely ignored your tip thing. Yeah. Yeah. As usual, I try and direct the conversation. It's just we go off chat about stuff. Emma's a wild card. I can't, you never know. You can't stop me tangents everywhere as much as. Um, what I'm like on the podcast is not a tour. What you'll experience in real life, Emery is exactly like she's in real life.

If you talk to Emma in real life, this is how you will find her happy. Drop into any conversation at any point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I would say I'm quite an organized person in life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. It's just, just not, uh, we have a good little relationship. I sit quietly and you just chat at me for, for hours on end, telling me about things.

Well, we better, we better wrap things up. We do. I don't even know what we've talked about. I feel like I'm a date. Yeah, me too. I've no idea how long this episode episodes gonna be. Well, for a lot of it, I feel like you've been just hinting at that you haven't had any sex recently, like whenever in bed together.

Thank you for joining us today in the Cozy, imaginary room. In the Casita, in the Encanto. In the, the, the thing, the podcast that you're listening to. This has been, don't Wake the baby. You've been with Emma and Elliot. Rambling away. Oh, and yes, Lola's been here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And Lola. And Lola. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Well, she's not part of the conversation. No. Hey, I'm getting distracted in the outro and as we go, join us next time for a new topic. See you later. S Scally. Wags be gone. Sleep well. God bless. Don't.