31 August , 201421 December , 2017 - Sarah 1 Comment

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (August 2014)

August has been a month of big changes – two weeks ago I went back to work full time after over 13 months of maternity leave and so Toby started nursery full time. The hardest thing for me (apart from dealing with unruly teenagers!) has to be going from being with Toby all day to only seeing him for about an hour on week days. Luckily he does seem to be enjoying nursery which makes it easier but it’s still not the same as being at home with him all the time. It means as well that we really need to make the most of our family time together at the weekends.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to go for a walk along a short section of the Fife Coastal Path near to where we live. It was lovely to get out in the fresh air and have a bit of a change of scenery. At the end of the section of path we walked we came upon the ruin of St Bridget’s Kirk which is where we took this month’s Me & Mine photograph, looking out over the Firth of Forth (you can just catch a glimpse of the famous Forth Rail Bridge in the background). I’ve lived here 11 years now and never walked along this path before but we’re definitely going to try and explore a bit further when we get the chance.

27 August , 201426 August , 2014 - Sarah 5 Comments

One week down, forty-four to go!

That’s right. I’ve been back at work a week and I’m counting down the weeks until the summer holidays already! In fact, I’m actually only counting down the days until our next day off (only 13 more school days until we get a Monday holiday, then it’s only another 24 school days until we get a week off in October). I know teachers get a lot of holidays, but believe me, we need them!

My first week back at work was far from plain sailing. Actually, it was pretty bloody awful. Quite aside from the fact that I had to wake Toby up two hours earlier than normal, leave him at nursery for nine and a half hours a day and only see him for an hour before it’s bedtime, work itself has not been an enjoyable experience.

[I apologise now but the rest of this post is a bit of a rant and a moan…thanks if you decide to keep reading, I just need to get it off my chest!]

To start with, I only got the job in the middle of the summer holidays so until in-service day last Monday the only time I had been in the school was for my interview. I didn’t know my timetable or what classes I would be getting, I hadn’t seen my classroom, I didn’t know who I would be working with or any of the school policies or procedures. What I also found out on the first day was that I was replacing a teacher who had been suspended under a cloud of scandal three weeks before the end of last term. What that meant was that her classes hadn’t been taught for the last three weeks (and in Scotland that is important, in secondary school the timetable changes in June and everyone moves up a year so the last few weeks of term are the start of new classes). There was no handover about where the pupils were up to or what to expect from each class as I would expect when starting at a new school. It also meant the classroom I moved into was in a state of disarray – it seemed the teacher I replaced just shoved all her paperwork, resources, even dirty dishes and rubbish, under the desk! It was so bad I couldn’t get my feet under the desk to sit at it.

And so, on Tuesday I had to face my first classes with very little clue as to what I was doing. No-one had really had time on the in-service day to explain the school’s discipline policy so when I had to deal with poor behaviour (and unfortunately there was a lot of it) I didn’t know what options I had available to me. Every school has different ways of dealing with bad behaviour – issuing ‘punishment exercises’ (lines to you and me) is common in Scotland but this school doesn’t have them. They do use detentions but in my experience in the last week the kids aren’t really bothered if they get a detention, it’s only 10 minutes of their break time anyway.

As a new teacher I would always expect the kids to push me a bit to say what they can get away with but some of the classes I had to attempt to teach last week were horrendous – kids refusing to stop talking, constantly shouting out, not following instructions, not doing anything they’d been asked to do, ignoring warnings and punishments…. and I didn’t feel like I had any support to deal with them. On Wednesday night I came home and burst into tears because it had been so horrible.

I like being a teacher, I really do. And I know that managing the kids’ behaviour is part and parcel of that but there is a limit to just how much rude and disruptive behaviour I can cope with. After four years of teaching in some very deprived areas I am used to poor behaviour often from kids with lots of issues who get no support or structure at home, but even so I was astounded at just how bad some of the behaviour I saw last week was. And, even more so since I’ve had Toby, I just don’t want the stress of spending most of my day in a state of conflict with pupils who have no interest in learning a modern language, or even any interest in being in school at all.

I will admit that my week did improve slightly on Thursday and Friday and it turns out I do actually have a few nice classes. I’ve found out a bit more about the school discipline policy and so feel slightly better equipped to deal with poor behaviour. The other two languages teachers are nice and have been doing their best to help me. And I’ve managed to clear up the desk (to a degree) and can now at least get my legs underneath it!

So, things are already looking a bit better than they were last week. There’s still a long way to go before I’m really settled in but I’m not despairing quite as much as I was. And at the very worst, it’s only 44 weeks (and counting) until the summer holidays!

25 August , 201427 March , 2015 - Sarah 4 Comments

Living Arrows 34/52

Last week was my first week back at work and if I’m honest it was pretty awful! I’m going to try and find time to write another post about that though, seeing as this Living Arrows post is supposed to be all about Toby! He has been an absolute star this week; his first full week at nursery. He has coped with being woken up two hours before he normally gets up – he’s going to bed earlier too but has still missed out on a lot of sleep this week. At home he usually still has two naps a day, usually at least an hour each and often over two hours. At nursery the most he has managed is two one hour naps, and there have been a couple of days when he’s only had about half an hour all day! I’m hoping as he gets more used to it he’ll manage to stay asleep a bit longer.

Apart from the sleep thing though he’s doing great. He’s eating really well, doing lots of good playing and despite the fact he’s still teething there have been very few tears all week. He has managed to catch his first nursery cold though so he’s been pretty miserable all weekend with that.

Anyway, what with work and nursery there’s not been much time for photo taking this week so this one is just one Barry took on his phone. Even though he is coming home knackered and is still suffering with his teeth our little bear nearly always manages to find a smile…

18 August , 201427 March , 2015 - Sarah 2 Comments

Living Arrows 33/52

I feel like this is all I ever say, but it’s been another week of teething here. Toby now has his two first molars half through on the top, a corner of one of the bottom ones and the other bottom one on its way so he’s been pretty miserable. And he’s been waking up in the night a lot too which is no fun for anyone.

Toby turned 13 months old last week as well but I’ve decided not to do monthly updates any more. Although I did get him weighed and measured when he got his vaccinations last week – he’s 24lb 10oz which puts him above the 75th centile (a massive jump considering he was in the 9th when he was born), and at 84cm he is still off the top of the height charts! Other than that there haven’t been many changes since I wrote his one year update – still no walking but I’m sure that will come when he’s ready.

So, to this week’s Living Arrows photo. This one when we were out for a walk on Saturday to a local gala/fun day thing (although it wasn’t that much fun!). As you can see, Toby wasn’t too impressed either….

17 August , 201416 August , 2014 - Sarah 3 Comments

The Last Day: Returning to work after maternity leave

This is it. After over 13 months of maternity leave I return to my job as a Modern Languages teacher tomorrow (we go back to school crazy early here in Scotland!). Although I’ve been off work for over a year it feels like the time to go back has come round so quickly. It wasn’t helped by the fact that a month ago I still didn’t have a job to go back to – it was only two weeks ago that I interviewed for and was offered a new job in a new school and with a different council, so the end of maternity leave hasn’t been entirely stress-free!

I have such mixed emotions about going back to work – on the one hand I’m looking forward to going back to work. I enjoy my job (most of the time!) and I’m looking forward to doing something that involves using a bit more brain power for a change. And I got to buy some new clothes too. But on the other hand, I’m going to miss Toby so much. It makes me so sad to think someone other than me will be looking after him. And because he’s going to nursery full-time he’s actually going to be spending more time with the people at nursery than he is with me and Barry. I know though, that he’s going to get so much out of being there and playing with all the other babies. He’s had three settling in sessions this week; we went for an hour last week and I stayed with him and then he was there on his own for two hours on Monday, three hours on Tuesday and then a full day (7am-4:30pm) on Wednesday as a proper practice for what we’ll be doing next week.

And I’m relieved to say he seems to have taken to it remarkably well. I was quite worried about it as no-one has ever looked after Toby except me and Barry (apart from a couple of times when we’ve been out in the evening but that’s always been after he’s been in bed). He’s been fine at nursery though – we did pick up a very tired and slightly grumpy boy on Tuesday when they couldn’t get him to have a nap but he managed two naps on Wednesday (albeit much shorter ones than he would have at home) so I’m hopeful that he’ll settle into a routine soon enough. He’s been eating well at least and they managed OK with his cloth nappies too, although I might have to give them a few more fitting lessons yet!

So, it seems Toby is going to be all right at nursery so that just leaves me. For the fourth time in five years I will be starting the new year at a new school. I really wish I was going back to the school I was at before my maternity leave. It was a small school and I knew most of the kids and had fitted in well with all the teachers and other staff too. It’s always hard to start a new job but as a teacher you don’t get any time to settle in and find your feet. Fortunately the first day is in-service day so at least I’ll have chance to see what classes I’m teaching and find my way about a bit but from Tuesday I have to be on it. I need to at least pretend I know what I’m doing from the very beginning or it’ll take months to get the kids to accept me. There are so many things to learn going to a new school. Every school seems to have a different way of doing things, from where the pencils are kept, to what you need to do to get a brew at break time! I know it’ll all be fine in a couple of weeks but for now, I’m really not looking forward to that aspect of starting my new job.

The only other thing then, that I’m trying not to worry about, is that my new job means that both me and Barry will be working on the other side of the Forth Road Bridge to where we live, and more importantly on the other side to Toby’s nursery. In severe weather the bridge can be closed, or if there is an accident or breakdown this can cause massive delays so I’m really worried in case we both get stuck on the wrong side of the bridge and we can’t collect Toby. Not having any family near by means there isn’t anyone we can call on in an emergency. At a push my friend Claire could probably get him but she has her own twins to look after too. Hopefully it will never come to that, but it doesn’t stop it being something that is going to sit at the back of my mind. Before having Toby I never would have thought that going to work could involve so much stress and worry.

So anyway, it’s going to be a big change for us all over the next few weeks, and I have a feeling that blogging is going to have to take a bit of a back seat for a while. Don’t worry though, I’ll still be around and I’ll try to post a few updates when I can. If anyone has any tips for combining a full-time job with being a mum then please do let me know, I think I’m going to need all the help I can get!

13 August , 201430 July , 2017 - Sarah 2 Comments

Review: Konfidence sun protection suit

It seems I might be a bit late with this review, seeing as the lovely sunny weather seems to have deserted us in favour of a hurricane at the moment but you never know, we might get some more sun before the summer’s out, or maybe you’re lucky enough to still have a summer holiday abroad to look forward to! As part of our role as Konfidence Swimologists we were asked if Toby would like to try some of the Konfidence range of sun protection clothing and even though we had already been on our summer holiday I knew it would come in useful for those sunny days in the garden and we recently put it to the test when Toby had his first ever experience of a paddling pool!

The Details

We were sent the Konfidence sun protection suit and hat to try out. The suits are available in sizes to fit from 6 months to 7 years – we chose the 1-2 years size for Toby. The hat has sizes from 0 to 6 years. I chose 0-1 year, as although Toby is very tall he has a tiny head! The suit is £17.50 and the hat £8 but currently you can buy both together for £22.95. The sun protection clothing (separate shorts and vest are also available) comes in Blue Palm or Pink Hibiscus.

The Pros

UV protection clothing is such a good idea – I remember wearing a normal t-shirt in the pool on holiday when I was a kid and it just got heavy and in the way. There are no such problems with this suit, and as a parent I am happy knowing Toby is protected from the sun, and I only have to get sun cream on the exposed bits rather than all over a wriggly baby. The sun protection suit has full length sleeves and 3/4 length legs so there isn’t too much skin left exposed.
The material of the suit and hat is soft and stretchy, meaning Toby looked very comfortable.
The 6-12 month and 1-2 years sizes have poppers along the legs making for easy nappy changes (along with the zip on the back the poppers also make it much easier to get the suit on and off).
The suit and hat both have clever UV colour-changing technology – the logo on the front and stars on the sleeve (and on the back of the hat) change colour to blue or pink when the suit is protecting your little one from UV rays.
The hat has a large peak and flap to keep the neck covered. The stretchy lycra means the hat is less likely to fall off and it must have been comfortable because Toby actually left it on, whereas he normally whips hats off within seconds!
The 1-2 years size fit Toby well with some room left for him to grow, and the stretchy fabric means it should last a while longer yet.

The Cons

None! I actually can’t think of any negatives to this sun protection clothing.

The Verdict

We loved the Konfidence sun protection clothing. Toby was very comfortable wearing it and as a parent I was happy knowing he was protected from those harmful UV rays. Everyone knows how painful (and potentially dangerous) sun burn can be and I will do everything I can to make sure Toby doesn’t have to suffer it. And with Konfidence my job just got a lot easier!

**Disclaimer: I was sent a Konfidence Sun Protection Suit and Hat as a part of our role as Konfidence Swimologists. All opinions are my own.

11 August , 201427 March , 2015 - Sarah 3 Comments

Living Arrows 32/52

We’ve had quite a busy week this week. On Monday we went to our swimming lesson – I swam nearly a whole length (of admittedly a very small pool) with Toby holding on to my back all by himself! It was awesome. He’s ridden on my back before but I’ve never let go, and I didn’t expect him to keep holding on while I kept swimming. He’s been quite clingy at swimming lately though so perhaps it actually helped him for this one!

On Wednesday we had Toby’s first settling in session at nursery – it was only for an hour and I stayed with him but he seemed to enjoy it. He just spent the whole hour crawling round the room and picking up all the different toys! He didn’t really seem to notice whether I was there or not and only came back to me a couple of times so hopefully he’ll be OK when it comes to staying there on his own. He’s going again today for two hours and then three hours tomorrow and I’ll leave him there (I’m planning on going shopping for some new work clothes while I have a chance!) and then on Wednesday he is going to do a full day. I don’t start work until next Monday but we wanted to do a proper practice run (for us as much as for Toby) to make sure we all know what we’re doing and can get up and out of the house on time. Getting up and being dropped at nursery at 7am is going to be a massive shock to the system of my wee boy who normally sleeps until 8 or 9!

We also saw a couple of friends from our NCT class on Wednesday who we’ve not seen for a while – Toby is definitely massive compared to them! It was lovely to see them though – I can’t believe our babies are all one now.

Wednesday’s busy-ness finished with Toby getting his one year immunisations – he doesn’t seem to be having any ill effects so far but I know a reaction to the MMR can come later so we’re still keeping an eye out.

Thursday and Friday were fairly quiet. On Saturday we went for a walk along part of the Fife Coastal Path near where we live which was very pleasant. It’s not somewhere we’d been before but I’m sure we’ll be going again.

This weekend also brought more teething with it though – I am so fed up of these teeth now (and I’m sure Toby is too!). Both the top first molars are half through now and I’m fairly sure it’s one of the bottom first molars that is really bothering him too. Teething just makes Toby really grumpy and whiney. He’s not been eating very much either – he keeps putting food in his mouth, chewing it a bit then spitting it out again, which is very frustrating (and messy!). It’s really hard though, because although he’s clearly miserable he rarely wants to be comforted with a cuddle. He moans if you put him down but just wriggles like mad to get away if you try to pick him up. Anyway, it hasn’t been affecting his sleep too much this time so fingers crossed that continues at least.

This week’s Living Arrows picture does capture Toby in a rare moment of peace (and it’s actually a bit of a cheat because it was taken last Saturday). He does like cuddles sometimes, and when he does they really are lovely!

5 August , 201427 July , 2017 - Sarah 6 Comments

Review: Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy

It was Toby’s first birthday recently and we had a (sort of) party just for his grandparents and a couple of our friends. If you are planning a first birthday party though, Fisher-Price have a whole section of their website dedicated to helping you plan the party and find the perfect gifts. There are loads of tips as well as printables; from invitations, to gift cards, place cards and even bunting and goody bags. There’s also a handy check-list so you can make sure you haven’t forgotten anything!

Even though we weren’t really having a party for Toby the lovely people at Fisher-Price sent him a fantastic birthday present: the Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy.