30 November , 201521 December , 2017 - Sarah 1 Comment

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (November 2015)

This month has been a bit of a mixed bag, but as ever time is absolutely flying by! I can’t believe Gabe is now three and a half months old and that we’re heading into December and Christmas will be upon us before we know it!

We had quite a lot of quiet days in November; Gabe is doing really well with his sleep at night now, sleeping from 6:30 pm to 5 am most days, but his naps are still a bit hit and miss. We’ve not been going out in the mornings very much as I’m trying to get him used to napping at home in his crib. On the odd day he might have a two hour nap but usually it doesn’t last much past 40 minutes at the moment. Toby has been brilliant really – he’s definitely used to his brother being around now, and although he doesn’t always seem too happy about it he’s really good at behaving when I take Gabe upstairs with his nap.

We’ve all had colds this month which has been a bit miserable and it has been disturbing Toby’s sleep more than anyone – in fact I think I’ve been up with him more than I have with Gabe this month! This weekend though we took the plunge with something that we have been putting off for months; we took the cot down and moved Toby into his big boy bed! We went to stay with my mum and dad last week and he slept in a bed there without any issues so we decided it was about time we made the move at home too.

Two nights in and it’s going well so far. He woke up the first night but that’s fairly normal at the moment and last night he slept right through without any problems. He didn’t even get out of bed when he woke up this morning – just lay there waiting for me to go and get him. Having a bed now at least means if he does wake up I can just get in bed with him and go back to sleep (we went straight for a full size single rather than a toddler bed) rather than having to sit next to the cot for ages waiting for him to settle back to sleep, or sleep on the uncomfortable floor!

As I mentioned we went to visit my parents in Blackpool last week – this was partly because we haven’t seen them for ages but also so we could do a few things to progress our relocation plans. We looked at a few houses and even saw one we think we would like to buy which is very exciting – more news on that soon hopefully!

And lastly I had my first night out in forever this weekend. I went out for a lovely meal with some of the mums I met through pregnancy yoga classes. I had a fab time, and even managed to stay out for a cocktail. I’m glad I didn’t drink too much though because having only got home at 1 am, Toby woke up at 2 am so I ended up sleeping on his floor for two hours (Toby is totally anti-dad if he wakes in the night so I have to deal with him). Gabe then woke up at 4 am and although Barry got up to feed him and he tried his best he just couldn’t get him to settle so I had to get up to him at 5 am. I did manage a bit more sleep snoozing on the sofa in the morning while Barry watched the kids but I was still exhausted!

So, to this month’s Me & Mine picture – despite spending a few days in Blackpool all together we didn’t manage to get a family picture there so this one was another last minute job, so last minute that I didn’t even use the big camera. This one was an iPhone selfie taken at the garden centre yesterday. I actually quite like it though – it captures a normal Sunday for us…we often enjoy a garden centre coffee and cake at the weekends!

25 November , 201524 November , 2015 - Sarah 5 Comments

Looking forward to forty

Yes you read that right. I’m looking forward to being forty. It’s still a few years off yet (2018 to be exact) but there are several reasons I’m looking forward to forty. It’s not the age as such that I’m looking forward too, more where my life will (hopefully) be in three years time…

We’re currently in the process of trying to relocate from Scotland down to England to be nearer both mine and Barry’s parents. Hopefully within the next six months or so we’ll have moved so in three years time my boys probably won’t remember a time when they didn’t see their grandparents every week or two, rather than only a few times a year like they get at the moment.

We viewed some houses just last week and we think we’ve found one we’d like to buy. It needs quite a lot doing to it in terms of decoration, plus it has potential to extend or remodel in the future but all that will take time, so it’s another thing that hopefully in three years we’ll be living in a house (even if it’s not that one) that is decorated to our taste and works well for our family.

Of course moving nearer to my parents has the added benefit of providing us with babysitters much closer to home. So in three years time I’ll be able to enjoy the odd night out, or even away, with my husband. We’ve only had one night away from Toby since he was born – that was back at Easter this year, and in fact that was the last time we went out as a couple at all!

The other thing I’m looking forward to is that the boys will be 5 and 3 by the time I’m 40 and hopefully a bit easier to manage. I know there will be different challenges as they get older but just things like being able to go on holiday, or even out for the day without having to take seemingly the entire contents of our house with us will be amazing. At the moment, with buggies, travel cots, nappies and everything else there’s barely room for us in the car! There’s also the fact that we’ll be able to go on holiday to places where the kids are old enough to join in with activities (and go to kids’ clubs giving us a bit of a break too!) and hopefully they’ll find it exciting going away and sleeping somewhere different rather than freaking out. The last holiday we attempted we abandoned after one night because Toby screamed his head off every time we tried to get him anywhere near the bed he was supposed to be sleeping in. (To be fair that’s better already – he slept in a double bed at my parents’ house last week and was been absolute fine).

Work-wise I don’t really know where I’ll be in three years time, or where I want to be. I can’t really see myself going back to full time teaching but you never know. I’d love to set up my own business teaching French and Spanish to pre-schoolers, and maybe doing some tutoring as well but I need to look into it in more detail and see if there’s actually a demand for it in the area we’re planning on moving to. If I do go back to teaching in a school, even part time, then Toby will be at school and Gabe at pre-school so we won’t have anywhere near the childcare costs we’ll have if I go back to work at the end of my maternity leave.

So although I don’t want to wish my life away, and I know I should make the most of these baby days with Gabe, especially because we’re not planning on having any more babies, I’m still very much looking forward to forty. Are you looking forward to being a particular age, or time in the future? Or are you happy with where you are now?

24 November , 201530 November , 2015 - Sarah 1 Comment

Living Arrows 47/52 (2015)

Last week, and over the weekend, we have been visiting my parents down in Blackpool. This was mostly in order to try and further our relocation plans and hopefully there might be some exciting news to share with you on that front soon.

It was lovely to see Toby with his Grandma and Granddad though – as I’ve mentioned before he doesn’t see any of his grandparents very often but at least now he remember them and we don’t have to go through the ‘settling in’ period every time we do see them. Toby doesn’t always cope well with being out of his routine but he was great while we were away (and so was Gabe actually) – he even slept in a ‘big boy’ bed for the first time without any issues which has made us realise we really should get round to moving him out of his cot at home soon too.

We’ve all had horrible colds and coughs over the last few weeks too, apart from Gabe who miraculously seems to have escaped with little more than a slightly snotty nose. Barry and I are still struggling with coughs but it’s Toby who seems to be suffering the most; he’s still coughing and hasn’t been eating very well either, which isn’t like him at all. In fact, it has just occurred to me that the cold might be causing a reflux flare which could explain why he hasn’t been eating very much.

Anyway, here’s hoping we are all fully recovered by next week. With Christmas not very far away now the last thing we need is everyone being ill!

With being away I didn’t have much chance to get the big camera out so this week’s photo of Toby is a slight cheat in that it was actually taken the weekend before when we were baking. I love how serious he looks here; baking obviously takes a lot of concentration!

This photo of Gabe I just took today – Toby was at nursery so I actually got a chance to just spend a bit of time playing with Gabe, and taking photos! This one just made me smile because even at three months he looks like he’s already perfected his ‘enough with the camera in my face mum’ expression.

And lastly just a quick thank you to Donna at What the Redhead Said for hosting Living Arrows this week, and for featuring one of my pictures too.

17 November , 201516 November , 2015 - Sarah 4 Comments

Gabriel is three months old

I swear it was only two minutes since I was writing Gabe’s two month update – time really does fly with a baby in the house! So what has Gabe been getting up to now he’s three months old?

He continues to grow, although he’s not quite as big as Toby was at the same age. I had him weighed nearly two weeks ago and he was 12lb 1oz so I’m sure he’s more than that now. He’s also moving into all 3-6 month clothes, after growing out of the last of the bigger 0-3 month sleepsuits. We just got a bag of Toby’s old clothes down out of the loft so I’m going to swap everything over tomorrow…and then see if I can justify any more shopping, but I think probably not!

Although I said in Gabe’s two month update that I had finished breastfeeding altogether I actually carried on giving the odd comfort feed for a few more weeks and I think he was close to 11 weeks when he had his last breastfeed. He is now usually having five bottles a day, and amazingly for the last three nights he hasn’t had a night feed at all! Yep, he has slept from 7 pm to around 6 am for the last three nights! I am under no illusion that this is likely to be a permanent situation, after all Toby slept for a solid 13 hours every night from being 10 weeks old… until he was 18 weeks old and then he never slept consistently again until he was two! However, it’s a promising sign that he can do and I can only live in hope that it carries on. I’m certainly enjoying not having to get up in the night for the moment.

Day time naps are going quite as well but we are making some progress there. Gabe does usually have at least one nap a day in his crib, sometimes more, and his other naps are either in the car or on my lap while I watch TV when Toby is at nursery in the afternoons. Some naps in his crib he manages two hours but more often it’s between 45 minutes and an hour. There is a sure fire way to get him to have a long nap and that is for me to have a nap with him in bed…which is lovely, but not always practical! Anyway, I’m just going to keep persevering and hopefully he’ll get into more of a nap routine soon. It’s hard to know how much of a role Gabe’s reflux his having on his ability (or inability) to nap. It’s difficult to get the timings of his feeds right – if I put him down too soon after a feed then he’s just sick, but if I wait too long then he gets over tired or starts to get hungry again. His reflux does seem to be mostly under control now – he’s still on Gaviscon and ranitidine. He still struggles after feeds sometimes, crying with pain, and it seems some days he’s much more sick than others, but on the whole he doesn’t seem too bothered by it.

We’re still not getting loads of smiles but it is lovely when he does. He’s definitely a lot more aware of what is going on around him now and will watch as we move around the room. He’s starting to grab at the toys on his bouncy chair now, and even manages to get them sometimes too. He’s making moves towards trying to roll over from his back to his front too, although I think he’s quite a way off actually doing it yet.

I think that’s about it for this month. I still can’t believe how fast time is going. We already don’t have a tiny newborn, and I bet it’ll seem like no time at all until he’s rolling over, sitting up, and then we’ll be weaning before we know it! I think I said last month that I don’t want to wish the time away but I’m very excited for what is soon to come.

16 November , 201530 November , 2015 - Sarah 2 Comments

Living Arrows 46/52 (2015)

Another quiet week here. We’ve been recovering from our colds, the weather has been pretty miserable so we haven’t been out much, and generally it’s just been another uneventful week.

Gabe is now 13 weeks old and has slept through the night for the last few nights. I don’t want to jinx things but I’m hoping this is the start of things to come! I’ll be doing a full update for him as he reaches three months old tomorrow! I can’t believe how fast he’s growing…

Toby is still just our wonderful, slightly bonkers toddler. His speech continues to develop every day and he’s turned into a real parrot – he copies everything we say so we really have to be careful these days! I attempted baking with him again on Saturday – we made some fairy cakes and it was a lot less stressful than when we made biscuits a few weeks ago. Toby really seemed to enjoy it (and we all enjoyed eating them!) so I’m going to try and keep it up and bake or cook with him every week. His imagination is really developing now too – you can see it in his play, it’s so fun watching him come up with his own little worlds.

11 November , 201530 November , 2015 - Sarah Leave a comment

Living Arrows 45/52 (2015)

It’s been a bit of a wet and miserable week since my last post. We’ve all got colds and everyone is generally feeling a bit grotty. Gabe in particular is suffering with the snot and isn’t sleeping very well as a result, so neither am I….basically we’re all just feeling a bit sorry for ourselves. I just hope we all recover in time for our trip to England next week.

On Sunday we decided we just needed to get out of the house and took advantage of a brief break in the rain to head to our local loch. Toby was in a grump about going but when we got there and he had his wellies and his ‘pompom hat’ on he was loving running off and exploring. I always think he’s so big (and he is for a two year old) but when he’s off in the distance like that he still looks so tiny…

And as for Gabe, he turned 12 weeks old this week and is starting to show a bit more personality now. He has also found his hand and is starting to favour sucking it over a dummy. I’m quite happy about it to be honest – I’m not the biggest fan of dummies but they definitely serve a purpose. Toby did the same thing at about the same age – he’d had a dummy but then found his thumb and that was that. He still sucks his thumb now and arguably it will be harder to stop him that it would be a dummy – you can’t take a thumb away after all, but I’m still glad we don’t have to go through the process of trying to take a dummy off him. It looks like Gabe might be heading the same way…

9 November , 2015 - Sarah Leave a comment

Nairn’s healthy eating for healthy kids

When I was heavily pregnant with Gabe I was invited to go to Edinburgh to find out about Nairn’s new booklet ‘healthy eating for healthy kids’ which has been put together by nutritionist Christine Bailey. Unfortunately I decided taking Toby and my massive baby bump on the train would be a bit much so we didn’t go to the event but the nice people at Nairn’s sent us a copy of the booklet and some of their products to try. We were sent both rough and fine milled oatcakes, some oat crackers and their new Astro Bites oat biscuits.

If you haven’t heard of Nairn’s before, they’re most well known for making oatcakes. I hadn’t come across an oatcake until I moved to Scotland – they’re kind of cross between a cracker and a biscuit. There are other kinds of oatcakes too – if you ask my husband what an oatcake is he’ll tell you it’s a pancake-y kind of thing best served with cheese and bacon but that’s the Staffordshire oatcake and not what we’re talking about here.

Anyway, I was keen to take a look at the ‘healthy eating for healthy kids’ booklet when it came. Now Toby only goes to nursery four afternoons a week I’m always looking for different things to give him for his lunch, especially as he refuses to eat sandwiches! I knew he’d had oatcakes at nursery but I’d never actually given him them at home before. There are lots of ideas in the Nairn’s booklet – it is separated into sections for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. They all look really quick and easy to prepare which is essential when you’ve got a hungry toddler pulling at your trousers! This hummus, tomatoes and turkey sounds delicious!

I decided to try the chicken mayo and cucumber on oat crackers with Toby as I’m always trying to find new ways of getting protein into him – he doesn’t really like cheese and isn’t a big meat eater but he does have a new found love of mayonnaise so I thought mixing chicken with mayo might convince him to eat it. I also gave Toby some apple, grapes and red pepper. Now in the interests of full disclosure, Toby didn’t actually eat it – but he’s going through a bit of a funny phase where he doesn’t like trying new things. However, I ate it for him and can confirm it was delicious! I’ve never had the oat crackers before but they were lovely. Toby does usually like oatcakes though – he often has them with Philadelphia on for lunch or a snack.

The Astro Bites oat biscuits have become a firm favourite in our house though – so much so that I had to buy more after Toby had eaten all the ones that Nairn’s had sent! They come in individual packets and because they are made with healthy oats and berries, and low in sugar I can indulge Toby’s love of ‘bigits’ without feeling guilty.

If you’ve never tried Nairn’s oatcakes before, for your kids or yourself, then I would thoroughly recommend them. You can use them in so many different ways and they’re so handy to have in the cupboard for a quick lunch or snack. There are loads more recipe ideas on the Nairn’s website if you’re in need of more inspiration.

**Disclosure: I was sent the featured products in return for this post but all opinions are my own.

4 November , 201518 December , 2020 - Sarah 4 Comments

Eight photos of happiness

I was tagged an age ago to do this ‘Eight photos of happiness’ post by my lovely friend Donna at What the Redhead said and as with most things these days it’s taken forever for me to get around to doing it. It is exactly as it sounds; eight photos that make me happy.

3 November , 201530 November , 2015 - Sarah 1 Comment

Living Arrows 44/52 (2015)

The last week has been a hard one for me. If you read last week’s post you’ll know Barry did his back in last weekend. He was in a lot of pain with it all week and so couldn’t go to work. He couldn’t bend down or lift anything which meant I had to do everything with the boys. I know I’m always at home with them on my own during the day but it was tough having to do all the bedtimes and night get ups by myself too. At least having him at home meant he could keep an eye on Toby while I was trying to get Gabe to nap upstairs (still a work in progress but we’re getting there), and he did a lot of washing up and making bottles but I’m glad to say he’s on the mend and almost back to fully functioning dad duties.

Last week saw Gabe turn 10 weeks old (although as I write this he’s now 11 weeks) and I managed to get some pictures with his milestone card. I can’t believe how quickly the time is going. He’s getting so big already, he doesn’t feel like that tiny, fragile baby any more.

As I mentioned in our October Me & Mine post Toby is definitely starting to like having his brother around a bit more now. The kisses and head stroking are back and I managed to get this lovely snap of them together.

Apparently Toby has been playing in the home corner at nursery quite a lot, including looking after the ‘baby’. The other day he told me he wanted to get the house out, it took me a while to realise he was walking about the pop-up travel cot/ tent that we have. So we got it down, put some cushions and a blanket inside…and then he wanted to read a book to his baby. So cute.

He’s been loving his books a lot this week actually which I’m delighted about. I’ve always loved reading, although I don’t get much chance to do it these days, and I really hope both the boys will too. Toby hasn’t shown a huge amount of interest in books up to now though so I’m really pleased he is starting to. In fact he’s loving them so much that he had a bit of a tantrum about not being allowed to take his ‘story book’ to nursery with him yesterday! We’ll make a bookworm of him yet.

Toby Goes Bananas

A family lifestyle blog

Month: November 2015