31 May , 201521 December , 2017 - Sarah 8 Comments

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (May 2015)

Hurray! I actually managed to publish my Me & Mine post on the right day for once!

May saw me have two Mondays off work, an abandoned holiday, more teething, hit and miss sleep from Toby and finally my birthday. I also moved into the third trimester of my pregnancy, I can’t believe I’ve only got 11 weeks to go, and perhaps even less if this one decides to make an early appearance like his brother.

Toby is still being brilliant (most of the time), he’s learnt lots of new words this month, including ‘thank you’ which I am very happy about. He’s started counting and learning some of his colours too. He’s understanding more every day, I’m loving this stage in his development and can’t wait until we can have a proper conversation. He’s also started telling us when he has done a poo – the first step towards potty training perhaps?

This month’s Me & Mine picture was taken yesterday at the Kelpies in Falkirk, which is not far from where we live. I know you can’t see us very well on the photo but I think it’s worth it to get the horses in too!

28 May , 201527 May , 2015 - Sarah 6 Comments

37? How the hell did that happen??

Today is my 37^th birthday. Three years off 40 and I really don’t know where the last 10 years have gone!

I spent the first half of my 20s mostly living and working in France. When I was 25 I moved to Scotland but continued to live the party life, out drinking every weekend and spending most of my Saturdays and Sundays recovering from hangovers. I honestly forgot how old I was for a while and was convinced I was 26 for two years. When I turned 28 I had to sit and actually work it out to make sure I was right!

I was quite happy turning 30. I owned my own flat, had a half decent job, and plenty of friends around me. I did have a bit of a niggling feeling that my life wasn’t really going anywhere though. I had been single for 7 years. Although I quite enjoyed my job it didn’t pay especially well and there were few prospects for promotion. I took the plunge and left my job for an even lowered paid one but doing something completely different and where there seemed to be more opportunities for career progression. But after 18 months working for one of the major high street banks the crash happened and suddenly my prospects didn’t look so good.

So I decided to take an even bigger leap and do something I had thought about since I was at school. I resigned from my job at the bank and took up a place on a PGDE teacher training course. Thanks to a very generous loan from my dad I didn’t work for a year but instead completed my training to be a French teacher. And that was when everything about my life changed.

As well as doing my teacher training I lost three stone in weight and then feeling much happier in my own skin, I took a trip to London when I had finished my course where I met the man who was going to become my husband.

When we met I had just turned 32. Barry is the same age as me and we had both been single for a long time. To be honest I had resigned myself to a life on my own, where the children I had always imagined having didn’t exist.

But just 8 months after we first met Barry moved to Scotland to live with me. Three months later he proposed, another three months after that we had bought our first house together. A year after getting engaged we were married and six months after that I was pregnant.

Now, I’ve been a teacher for five years, happily married for three, Toby is going to be two in a few months and a few short weeks after that our second baby boy will join our family.

And despite all that, I don’t know where the last 10 years have gone, I still feel like I should be 27 not 37! Heading towards 40 doesn’t scare me though – in fact I think my 40s are going to be awesome. Our boys will be 5 and 3 and hopefully the real adventures of our life as a family will just be beginning.

27 May , 201520 December , 2015 - Sarah 3 Comments

Living Arrows 21/52 (2015)

I don’t have much to say with this week’s Living Arrows photo seeing as it was only a few days since I posted the last one! This photo was taken on Saturday – we’d been round to my friend’s house in the afternoon and Toby had been playing in their garden so had his hat on. When we got home he didn’t want to take it off so wore it to eat his tea in. He’s getting really good at using his fork now; I love how wide he opens his mouth though to make sure he gets everything in!

24 May , 201520 December , 2015 - Sarah 1 Comment

Living Arrows 20/52 (2015)

I’m even later than usual this week – so late in fact it’s almost time for next week’s post!

Last weekend we attempted to go on holiday to a caravan park only about 45 minutes drive from home. We went after picking Toby up from nursery on Friday night thinking by the time we got there he could have an hour playing and getting used to the caravan and then go to bed. We were attempting to get him to sleep in a bed for the first time, which perhaps was a bad idea, and he was also still in the midst of teething with all four of his back molars. The upshot of all this was that he screamed whenever we took him near the bedroom and was still up running round the living area of the caravan until 10 pm when we finally managed to get him to calm down enough to go to sleep. He did then sleep without any trouble until he woke up at 4:40 am and refused to go back to sleep! For a boy who normally gets at least 11 hours sleep a night, 6 hours was definitely not enough! We made it through the morning and he had a nap in the buggy for about an hour, but the despite going out in the car in the afternoon in the hope he would have another nap that was the only sleep he got.

We then went to the pub on site for our tea on the Saturday night where Toby refused to go in the highchair and even sat on my knee only ate about three chips and one piece of carrot. We gave him some cereal back at the caravan but when, for the second night it was after 9 pm, he was still screaming when we went near the bedroom and I was on the verge of a complete breakdown, we decided to give it all up as a bad job and come home!

Toby proceeded to fall asleep the second we put him in the car seat, slept all the way home and then until 9:30 the next morning! Although it felt like we were wasting money coming home it was definitely the right thing to do for everyone’s sanity.

We had a couple of disturbed nights during the week too, but having slept through for the last three nights I’m hoping the worst of the teething is now over. I just keep telling myself that at least these are the last baby teeth to come and it means we’ll avoid having two babies teething at the same time!

Anyway, this week’s Living Arrows photo was taken at about 6 am last Saturday when Toby had already been awake for an hour and a half and was happily colouring, whilst wearing his daddy’s hat.

15 May , 2015 - Sarah 4 Comments

From poppy seed to pumpkin: 27 weeks pregnant

I’m a bit rubbish with these pregnancy updates aren’t I? It’s been a month since my last post – I am now 27 weeks pregnant and entering the third trimester! This pregnancy still seems to be going very quickly compared to my first.

I’m still feeling OK although I seem to have the boniest, pokiest baby in my tummy at the moment. He is always poking me and it’s really painful! They aren’t kicks, more like being prodded really hard from the inside. I was just reading that apparently the level of amniotic fluid has reduced by this point meaning I can feel the baby’s movements even more. I don’t remember it being this painful with Toby though – although with him the placenta was on the front of my uterus and I think that can provide a bit of cushioning!

My bump is definitely growing, and although I don’t think Toby really understands what’s going on he does now point at my tummy and say ‘baby’ (or more like ‘babby’ actually) and he gives it kisses too. It’s adorable! Although it’s actually more burying his face in my bump and saying ‘mah!’ I just hope he’s as sweet when his little brother is actually here.

Last weekend I went to my friend’s house and we sorted through all the baby clothes that Toby and her twins had. I had given all Toby’s stuff to her when he grew out of it as her twins are three months younger so we had to sort it all out to see what I was going to get back again and what we were going to sell when we do a baby market in a few weeks. Seeing all Toby’s old clothes again was quite emotional (or maybe that’s just the hormones!) and I can’t believe how tiny his newborn stuff was!

We also bought a new pushchair which I was very excited about it! It’s an Uppababy Vista which can be used as a single or a tandem so we can start using it straight away and I’m going to sell our old one at the market too.

Other than that, I’m trying not to get too stressed at work, which isn’t always easy when dealing with uncooperative teenagers. I do find it harder to keep my cool when I’m pregnant, even though I know getting wound up and shouting isn’t very good for me or the baby. Only six weeks to go until the summer holidays (and maternity leave) at least so it’s not all bad!

I’m finding it a bit odd this time round that I don’t to see the midwife very often – apart from the two scans I have had I’ve only seen the midwife once and won’t see her again for another two weeks yet. I’m not sure when my next appointment will be after that, probably the next thing will be the scan at 32 weeks to check the position of the placenta (keep your fingers crossed that it’s moved please everyone!).

14 May , 201525 November , 2018 - Sarah 150 Comments

Review: Serenata Hamper

Serenata are perhaps more well know for their fresh flowers but did you know they also sell a large selection of hampers as well? When I was given the opportunity to try a hamper from Serenata it took ages to choose which one to get. Had I not been pregnant I might have got one of the hampers with wine and other treats but seeing as I’m not drinking at the moment I decided to treat Barry with the Trio of Ale and Cheese hamper.

The hamper contains:

Cheese Board Chutney 105g
St Peter`s Golden Ale
St Peter`s Organic Best Bitter
St Peter`s Ruby Ale
Hand Waxed Whittington Oak Smoked Cheese 170g

It’s worth mentioning that this is different cheese and chutney to that in pictures on the website, and the cheese was also different to the one listed in the details on the website. This wasn’t a problem for us but perhaps something to keep in mind.

When the hamper arrived it was well packaged with cellophane and straw, it also had a little card inside and if you order from the website you can choose your card and a personal message to put in it – great if you are sending the hamper as a gift.

Barry was very pleased with the contents of his hamper. The cheese and chutney go very well together and are a great complement to the organic beers. All the products certainly seem to be high quality.

The Trio of Ale and Cheese hamper has an RRP of £34.99. If I’m honest, I felt this was a little expensive given the actual value of the products included in the box. For this price I was expecting to receive more of an actual ‘hamper’ of some kind, or perhaps a more decorative presentation box, rather than the products just packaged inside the postage box. Having said that I still think the hampers would make a great gift and you do get free delivery – even free next day delivery for orders made up to 10pm the night before (or you can pick a delivery day that suits you) which is brilliant service!

**Disclosure: I was sent this Serenata hamper in return for this review. All opinions are my own.

11 May , 201520 December , 2015 - Sarah 2 Comments

Living Arrows 19/52 (2015)

It’s only been a few days since my last Living Arrows post but I thought I’d try (again!) to get back on track. This weekend we bought a new pushchair which was very exciting. Well, exciting for me at least…It’s an Uppababy Vista that can be used as a single or a tandem so we can start using it with Toby straight away but then we’re also all set for when the little one arrives in August. We then had a trip to the park and the farmer’s market. We took Toby’s Smart Trike to the park – we bought it for his birthday last year but if I’m honest he hasn’t really had much use of it so far. He was definitely enjoying it on Saturday too. We did have two tantrums on Saturday though – it seems if we try and get Toby to go somewhere he doesn’t want to go, or to leave somewhere before he’s ready then he’ll have a complete meltdown. The first one was when we were trying to leave the pram shop, they had a few toys on a little table by the till that Toby had been playing with so when it was time to leave he just started wailing and we had to manhandle him into the car, where he screamed all the way to the park, and then stopped as soon as we got there! It was a similar story when it came time to leave the park. I guess these toddler tantrums are just par for the course…better get used to them!

On Sunday it was chucking it down so we decided to try out one of the soft play places near us. I have a theory that if Toby doesn’t get out and burn off some energy during the day on Sunday then it can be one of the things that contributes to the multiple wake ups we often get on a Sunday night. Believe it or not we’ve only ever taken Toby to soft play once before and that was a while ago now so I was looking forward to seeing how he got on. The place we went was massive but it did have a dedicated small area for under 4s and Toby loved it! I did go in with him for a bit but mostly I just let his Dad chase round after him for an hour – I think he was more exhausted than Toby was! Anyway, he only woke up once on Sunday night so maybe it did help wear him out a bit.

I snapped this week’s Living Arrows picture on my iPhone but I really like it. You can certainly see how much fun Toby was having…

11 May , 20153 August , 2017 - Sarah 1 Comment

Review: Original Theraline Maternity and Nursing Pillow

If you’ve ever been pregnant you’ll know how difficult it can be to find a comfortable position to sleep in. When I’m not pregnant I sleep flat on my tummy so sleeping on my side isn’t a natural position for me. As your bump grows it can get even more uncomfortable as the weight of it needs supporting to avoid it becoming painful.

When I was pregnant with Toby I got quite sore hips towards the end of my pregnancy and I used a cheap bolster pillow in bed. It did the job but the stuffing soon got flattened and it wasn’t as supportive as it could have been. We now use it as a back support on the chair in Toby’s room so I knew I needed to get something new this time, and when my hips started to hurt about 3 months into my pregnancy that need became a bit more urgent! Which is where the Original Theraline Maternity and Nursing Pillow came in. I was delighted to be asked if I wanted to review this pillow as it was just what I was looking for.

First of all this pillow is huge! It’s longer than I am tall, which makes it perfect for finding a comfortable position. It also has plenty of filling, and the clever micro-beads me you can mould it to whatever shape is best for you and there’s never any sagging. The only slight negative I found was that at first I found it wasn’t always easy to get the pillow into a comfortable position – it can be a bit tricky to shift the micro-beads around to get them in the right place but I’ve now been using the pillow for a few months and I find it much easier to get it how I like it. I tend to sleep with the lower half of the pillow between my knees and ankles, the thicker middle part under my bump and then I cuddle the top part which helps me avoid a stiff neck or sore shoulders.

Original Theraline Maternity and nursing pillow

The Theraline Maternity and Nursing pillow is available in a large variety of patterns and colours, and with covers made from different fabrics. I went for the Waterdrops Purple in High Quality Twill which matches the colours of our bedroom but there are lots of other options available too. The material is lovely and soft making it very comfortable for sleeping with. Both the cover and pillow itself are machine washable which is great too. It also comes with a bag which is ideal for storage or if you are going away whilst pregnant or nursing – I know I’ll be taking my pillow with me when we go away next week!

For the moment I am only really using the Theraline pillow for sleeping but it also makes a very good back support for reading in bed or watching TV on the sofa. It is easy to bend in the middle to make a v-shaped pillow to use when sitting. As the name suggests this pillow is also very useful as a breastfeeding (or bottle feeding) support after the baby is born. I did find getting into a comfortable position to feed Toby very difficult and ended up using loads of pillows and cushions, and even then I found I quickly got back ache. I am hoping that the Theraline pillow will make things much easier this time round.

Theraline make a variety of different pregnancy and nursing pillows so if you don’t want something quite so big as the Original Maternity and Nursing pillow then I’m sure you will still find something to suit your needs.

This pillow (including the cover) has an RRP of £44.95 and can be purchased from the Theraline online shop and from Amazon. This may seem a bit expensive for a pillow but having tried a cheaper alternative (and a more expensive one) I would say that it is definitely worth the investment. Since I started using the pillow three months ago my sore hips have almost completely gone and I get a comfortable night’s sleep every night, even if it is sometimes interrupted by a crying toddler! I’m sure the pillow will get plenty of use after the baby is born too, to be honest it’s so comfy that I might still sleep with it even when I’m not pregnant!

**Disclosure: I was sent the Original Theraline Maternity and Nursing pillow in return for this review. All opinions are my own.

8 May , 201520 December , 2015 - Sarah Leave a comment

Living Arrows 18/52 (2015)

Another quiet week for us here – with us both working full time there isn’t really a lot of time to do much else. We do usually try and go somewhere at the weekends but sometimes we just need a quiet weekend at home. The weather was pretty rubbish this weekend too so we didn’t even manage to fit in a trip to the park.

Toby has been a superstar this last couple of weeks though. He has really struggled with most of his teeth, being very grumpy and with lots of disturbed nights. In the last few weeks though all four of his back molars have started to make an appearance. One is almost fully erupted and the other three have all got at least one corner through. And not only has he hardly been grumping at all, he has slept through almost every night, and he’s gone back to going to sleep by himself instead of screaming unless one of us sits with him until he is asleep. We did have a bad night on Sunday night but I swear that’s just because he knows it’s Sunday and we have to get up for work the next day! After my concerns a just few weeks ago that we were going to have to change something to get Toby to settle and sleep again, perhaps drop his nap or move him to a bed, we haven’t changed anything at all and he’s just sorted it out himself. Sometimes, there’s no fathoming toddlers!

3 May , 201521 December , 2017 - Sarah 2 Comments

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (April 2015)

Slightly late as usual…I did actually manage to take this picture in April but then after lightening almost struck our house on Wednesday night we didn’t have any phone or internet for two days, and then I was out seeing Take That (amazing by the way!) so I’m only just getting around to posting this now.

April was quite a busy month, I had two weeks off school for the Easter holidays and we had visits from my parents and Barry’s mum too. Somehow with all of that I didn’t actually manage to take a picture of the three of us when we were actually doing something interesting! So this month’s photo is of a very typical scene in the Toby Goes Bananas house. Here we are watching a bit of In The Night Garden before bed.

Toby Goes Bananas

A family lifestyle blog

Month: May 2015