- Sarah 2 Comments

Remembering Childhood // Babi a Fi

It’s that time of week when another blogger is going to be sharing their childhood memories. This week it’s Jess from Babi a Fi.

Which decade were you born in?

1980s. (The best decade, of course!)

What is your earliest memory? How old were you?

Watching a spider crawl across the wall and willing it not to come anywhere near me. I would have been about 2 or 3, proving that my spider phobia goes back a long way.

What was your favourite toy at 5 years old? At 10?

At age 5 I loved my garden swing. Seriously, I could play on that swing for hours singing songs to myself and daydreaming about all the places in the world I could be swinging away in.

Baba a Fi - Jess on the swing

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- Sarah 8 Comments

5 things I wish I’d known before having a baby

Before Toby was born I read loads of pregnancy and baby books. I went to antenatal classes with my husband. I signed up for all the ‘your baby this week’ emails…basically I did my research. That’s just the kind of person I am; I liked to be informed and therefore hopefully be prepared. But it turns out no amount of research can actually prepare you for that first night at home with a newborn. I’ve now had two babies and I thought I’d share some things I wish I’d known before having a baby.

5 things I wish I'd known before having a baby Read more

- Sarah 16 Comments

Living Arrows 4/52 (2017)

I don’t know about you but it feels like time is absolutely flying at the moment, I’m sure it was only a few days ago I was writing last week’s Living Arrows post!

We’ve not been up to much again this week, the weather hasn’t been great and if I’m honest I’ve just not had much motivation to get us out of the house. This weekend though it brightened up a bit and we made it out to the park for a bit of fresh air.

Gabe was loving having a bit of freedom and was quite happy just toddling about…

Gabe enjoying the park

Toby is a funny one – sometimes he can be brave and pretty fearless and other times he can be very nervous of things. Read more

- Sarah 4 Comments

2017 // Hopes, plans and goals

I know I’m a bit late to the party with this one, what with us being three weeks into 2017 already, but I’ve been thinking a lot this last few weeks about what I want to achieve over the next year.

If I had to pick a word to describe 2016 it would be survival. Getting through the days on very little sleep, surviving a house move with two little kids, managing on one wage after my maternity pay ended in May. It’s not been the easiest of years but it’s done now and I am determined to make 2017 more about actually living than merely surviving.

Hopes plans goals 2017

I’m not one for new year’s resolutions, and often I don’t have much of a plan for life at all but I’ve been thinking about where I want to be this time next year and I thought I would share some of my hopes, plans and goals for 2017. Some of these are personal and some are blogging related, and I suppose some are a mixture of both… Read more

- Sarah 1 Comment

Remembering Childhood // Pondering Parenthood

It’s that time of week when another blogger is going to be sharing their childhood memories. This week it’s Jules from Pondering Parenthood.

Which decade were you born in?

1980s

What is your earliest memory? How old were you?

I think my earliest memory is my aunt and uncle’s wedding. I was five, and wore a peach dress with puffy sleeves and loose ribbons, borrowed from a friend. My only memory of the day is my gran being helped down some steps to a car; I think I was worried she would fall. I vaguely remember a conga line from the reception too! 

What was your favourite toy at 5 years old? At 10?

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- Sarah 5 Comments

Living Arrows 3/52 (2017)

I’ve been very envious of all the snow pictures I’ve been seeing all over social media last week – it was just cold, wet and a bit miserable here so we’ve had a quiet week at home. We did make it up to Cumbria on Saturday to visit my in-laws but that’s about as far as we went.

The rubbish weather, combined with the fact that at the moment the best time for Gabe to nap is right in the middle of the day, means we’ve spent a lot of time at home. Gabe really is into everything now and always wants to be doing whatever his brother is doing. Toby is getting better but he does get frustrated when Gabe destroys his latest Duplo creation, or knocks over another tower. I don’t know about the rest of you who have more than one child but I feel more like a referee in a wrestling match than a mum half the time! Read more

- Sarah 9 Comments

Siblings // Toby and Gabe in January (2017)

Welcome back to another Siblings update – this is only going to be a short one as it’s not that long since I wrote the last one. I wanted to get back on track with linking up in the middle of the month though so here it is.

Things are much the same with Toby and Gabe they still annoy each other all the time but we are seeing a more and more moments of them actually being affectionate towards each other and getting along. It’s so funny though – Toby has realised that if he gives Gabe a spontaneous cuddle then he will usually get some praise or acknowledgement. We’ll often say something like ‘that’s kind’ or ‘what a lovely cuddle’ – so now if we don’t say something straight away Toby will say ‘look at us mummy’ or ‘I’m cuddling Gabe’ just to make sure we realise he’s being cute! He’s too clever for his own good sometimes.

Toby and Gabe in their Bunting Tree tops

The best moments for me though are the ones that I catch that aren’t just being done for my benefit. Read more

- Sarah 2 Comments

Remembering Childhood // Mummy To My Cheeky Little Monkey

We’ve had a bit of a break over Christmas but I’m back with another Remembering Childhood post.This week it’s the turn of Vicki from Mummy to My Cheeky Little Monkey

Which decade were you born in?

I was born in the mid eighties – 1985 to be exact!

What is your earliest memory? How old were you?

I can remember looking out of my great aunt’s bedroom window at the crane ‘Big Geordie’ on the opencast mining.

What was your favourite toy at 5 years old? At 10?

Read more

- Sarah 3 Comments

Learning to scoot with the SmarTrike T1 Scooter

Just a boy and his SmarTrike Scooter

At three and a half Toby has had his fair share of wheeled transport. We got him a SmarTrike 4 in 1 trike for his first birthday, a sit on scooter for his second birthday, a balance bike for his third birthday… If I’m honest the second two haven’t seen much use – although Toby was full of enthusiasm he never really lasted more than ten minutes before he got fed up. I’ve seen lots of other kids his age who seem to be pros on a scooter so when we were given the chance to try the T1 scooter from SmarTrike I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to give it a try.

Just a boy and his SmarTrike Scooter

The added bonus of the T1 scooter is that is actually suitable from 15 months. With the addition of seat and adjustable handlebars it can be used as a ride on for younger children before removing the seat for scooting when your child is bigger. The scooter has two front wheels making it very stable for beginners too. Read more

- Sarah 10 Comments

Living Arrows 2/52 (2017)

I’m back again for another week of Living Arrows (I will post something else one of these days I promise!)

It’s been a quiet week of getting back into our normal routine. The boys went back to nursery without any complaints and I spent the whole of Tuesday cleaning our house from top to bottom, which literally takes all day in a three storey house!

Of course, as I predicted, two days back at nursery has seen Gabe with another cold. I don’t know if his teeth are bothering him too (although second molars at 16 months, surely not?) but he’s been dribbling like crazy for the last few nights. He actually slept all night on Tuesday night, for only the third time in his life but then the nights since then have all been pretty rubbish. I should know better by now than to get excited when he has a good night, it’s almost inevitably followed by even worse sleep than we’re used to. He’ll get there one of these days though and surprise us all.

I usually share happy (or sometimes serious) pictures of the boys but I think sometimes it’s important to share the reality of life with a 16 month old. Read more