I am the local registrar so it is my duty to register the birth of my son and issue him a birth certificate. However, this is my first ever registration so I was a little nervous! Gifts: Dragon hoodie Admin: Birth registered Parenting: Hair dryer hack Thursday 11th OctoberThe day began with James walking to the shop to get some supplies. The shop is only 1.5 miles away and it was a nice day so James was happy to walk (and also we don't currently have a car, so it's kinda the only way to get around at the moment!). A neighbour gave him a lift back though and came in to meet the baby. She has young children of her own, so we had a lovely chat about the perks of growing up on the island. I have to say that Eday trully is a wonderful place for Ronnie - there is so much space for him to explore and play in, and James is really keen to go camping, fishing, hiking and go building sand castles with little Ronnie. Gifts: Dragon hoodie When our friend left, James revealed that whilst he was in the shop another neighbour had given him a gift for Ronnie - it was a lovely dragon hoodie! I keep thinking that these amazing little clothes are too good to knock around the home and want to save them for "special occasions" - then I remember that the baby is growing like a lettuce (lettuces grow quickly, right?) and if he doesn't wear these clothes now, he may not get a chance to wear them at all! He has already outgrown his newborn clothes, it will not be long until the 0-3 month clothes no longer fit too! James agreed that next time (we keep saying next time!) we will not bother with the newborn outfits and go straight into the 0-3 month ones. Yes, Ron still looks a little swamped in his clothes, but he will soon grow into (and out of) them. And, although his clothes may still be a little big for now, he starts to look so grown up to me - his face is no longer the squished little baby face, but a face of a young boy. . Admin: Birth registered I am the local registrar of births, deaths and marriages on our small island and it is my job and duty to register all such life events with the county and issue certificates. I have taken this role with my local council two years ago and attended a day's training course with the county's chief registrar, but this is the first birth on the island in years, so I haven't had any practice. . . Until now! My son's birth was the first birth for me to register- my first job ever! This was making me really nervous. . . Excited - yes, not many people can say that they registered their own child and I really wanted to do it, but I was really afraid to make a mistake or mess up the official paperwork. However, I couldn't put it off for much longer - my neighbour had a baby too and was going to come register her child with me, and I wanted Ronnie to be the first (as he was born first. . . and just so I could practice before doing my neighbour's paperwork!). So. . . My fountain pen was out and, in between many feeds of my ravenous baby, I braved completing the official certificates. I looked at the questions and it turned out that it wasn't as difficult as I had dreaded it to be. Surprisingly, I remembered quite a lot of my training and the information required was very rudimentary - names, birth dates, address. . . Ron was eating a lot, so it took me a while to complete the registration (in hand writing no less - very old fashioned!) but before I knew it, it was all done! James was the official informant of the birth - which makes me laugh: he had to officially inform me of the birth of my child (as if hadn't noticed!). My signature made the birth certificate official and the baby was now a registered citizen! Parenting: Hair dryer hack Later that day, as I was changing the baby I realised that the nappy rash irritation was probably caused by excess moisture - I was washing the baby with water and towel drying him at every nappy change (and now adding some nappy rash cream and coconut oil, as suggested by a midwife), but I realised that the house can be pretty cold so I don't leave the baby undressed for very long and try to "put him back together" as quickly as possible. This was probably a mistake as I didn't allow the skin to fully dry before being covered up by layers of nappies, wraps and clothes, thus trapping a lot of moisture in. . . Then I had an idea. . .
I grabbed my hair dryer! I plugged it in close to the baby's changing station and, using a cool setting and a bit of distance, dried my baby. It was perfect, I could get into all the little creases and folds of the skin and make sure it was properly dry - without using any questionable substances like the talc powder. Best of all, Ronnie seemed to really enjoy the experience - I blew the air onto his face, hands and his little feet, as a way of entertaining the baby and it worked! He loved it. I loved it. He was dry. It was a first parenting hack that I discovered all by myself and I was proud! I also decided to top & tail him ever night before bed, to get into a good routine and prevent any further skin irritations. Having a bath was an elaborate task, but cloth washing the baby was an easy way of keeping clean and hygienic.
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