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.

31 October , 201521 December , 2017 - Sarah 4 Comments

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (October 2015)

Another month gone and we are creeping ever closer to the end of the year. Things have been getting a bit easier this week as we get used to every day life with a toddler and a baby. There have been a few tears this month as Toby started a new nursery and he is still finding his feet there. We still get crying every day when I drop him off but things are improving as the weeks go on. Gabe is getting bigger by the day and we are starting to get somewhere with his sleeping, particularly during the day. He’s much more amenable to being put down these days too which makes life easier. And just this week Toby really seems to have started to enjoy being around his brother again. After the initial novelty wore off he had been a bit put out by Gabe’s presence and the fact he was taking a lot of my attention but now Gabe is napping upstairs a bit more so I have more time for Toby again he’s decided this little baby isn’t so bad after all.

We’ve started making plans for moving back to England this month which is exciting. We had a visit from Barry’s parents last weekend – Toby loves seeing them but it can be a bit exhausting for everyone trying to fit everything in to a short weekend. Living closer to both lots of grandparents and being able to see them more will certainly take the pressure off and make it more relaxing for everyone. I’m so excited to get the wheels in motion for the move and hopefully I’ll have some more news to share with you on that front soon.

I was actually organised this month and our Me & Mine photos were taken a couple of weeks ago just before we went for our walk in the woods. I know you can’t really see much of Gabe but he’s definitely in there somewhere!

31 October , 201530 November , 2015 - Sarah 7 Comments

Relocating: where do you start?

I think I have mentioned before that Barry and I have always had the intention of moving from Scotland back to the north west of England at some point in the future. I am originally from Blackpool and my parents still live there. I’ve lived in Scotland for twelve years now but before that I was working in France for six years on and off, and away at university so I haven’t really lived in Blackpool properly in nearly twenty years, although I still refer to it as home. When I met Barry five years ago he was living in Manchester near his parents but they have since moved to Cumbria. Barry moved up to Scotland to live with me about eight months after we first met and we always said we would probably move back to England eventually. Since we’ve had the kids the urge to move back ‘home’ has got stronger, particularly for me. Having no family support locally is really tough at times and although our parents visit fairly regularly it’s nothing like having them around the corner. Toby does now know his grandparents and he recognises them between visits but he was probably about eighteen months before he really started remembering them. And of course Gabe has no idea who his grandparents are! I grew up with my grandma living round the corner and I saw her all the time…I’d like that for my boys, and of course having babysitters a bit closer to hand won’t hurt either! There’s also the fact that although all our parents are by no means old, and they are all in relatively good health at the moment (apart from my dad who currently has his leg in plaster after busting his Achilles’ tendon because he forgets he’s not 25 any more) they won’t be young and sprightly for ever so living nearby will definitely make things easier in 10, or 20 or even 30 years when they are needing our support.

The other factor to consider is that we always said if we were going to move we should do it before Toby starts school. There are lots of differences between the Scottish and English school systems, not least the cut off date for starting school which I think could mean if we stayed here Toby wouldn’t start school until he was five, whereas in England he’ll start when he’s only just turned four. As he could be starting school nursery next year when he’s three, it seems like the time we have to move is quickly running out.

So, we decided that instead of just thinking about it we should actually start doing something about moving…but where do we even begin?

We know roughly the area we would like to move to. I don’t want to go back to Blackpool but I’d like to be within an hour’s drive of my parents at the most. I’ve spent many hours online browsing houses and I’ve found a few we like the look of. But we can’t move without a mortgage and we won’t be able to get a mortgage without at least one of us having a job to go to. Of course we’ll need to sell our house up here too before we can buy a new one, but the process of selling houses is quite different in Scotland than in England so that’s another thing to consider.

I think we probably need to get the job thing sorted first because without a job to go to we can’t do any of the other things. I’m still on maternity leave at the moment but previously I was on a temporary contract so I don’t actually have a job to go back to when my maternity leave ends. Luckily being a teacher means I can get a job anywhere there is a school and there are lots of schools within commuting distance of the area we are looking to move to. I just have to hope something suitable comes up, but probably not until the start of the next school year. I know my teaching qualifications are transferable to England too (which isn’t the case if you are wanting to move from England to Scotland to teach) so that makes life a bit easier. Barry is a software engineer which also means there are lots of options when it comes to where he could work so hopefully the chances of at least one of us finding a job are fairly high.

So then we come to houses… what if we see a house we like and want to put in an offer? Can we do that if we haven’t sold our own house? Or what if someone offers on our house but we haven’t got anywhere to move to? Should we sell anyway? There’s always the possibility of renting temporarily but I don’t want to have to move twice if we don’t need to! And then even if we manage to co-ordinate all that don’t get me started on the logistics of actually packing up a house full of stuff and two kids and moving us all 200 miles down the road!

You know what? On second thoughts I think we might just stay here!

In all seriousness though, if any of you have moved to a different area before and have any top tips on how we even begin to go about relocating then please do let me know!

30 October , 20154 August , 2017 - Sarah Leave a comment

Review: My First JCB Farm Fun Tractor Tim

Toby has recently started to really enjoy playing with cars and trucks, and is getting much more imaginative in his play too. When I was asked if we would like to review the My First JCB Tractor Tim from Golden Bear Toys I knew he would love it!

According to the people behind My First JCB…

My First JCB is a colourful, kid tough pre-school construction vehicle range based on real life JCB vehicles, created for little hands with big imaginations!

My First JCB Farm Fun Tractor Tim (RRP £14.99,) is the newest member of the My First JCB team. Perfect forlittle hands, children will have hours of imaginative play as they use the trailer to load and transport. The trailer has a drop down tail gate for added fun and can also be detached from the tractor if Tractor Tim wants to go solo.Farm Fun Tractor Tim has big chunky wheels making him great for indoor or outdoor play. Suitable for children aged 12 months+.

Toby was excited about his new tractor as soon as he got it out of the box and was very impatient whilst I got it out, which wasn’t too difficult – always a plus in my book!

Tractor Tim is made from plastic and it certainly feels like it’s robust enough to withstand everything a toddler can throw at it. The big wheels make it perfect for using both inside and out and I’m sure Toby will enjoy using it in the garden – although perhaps we’ll wait until the weather improves a bit before putting that to the test.

Tractor Tim comes with his own detachable trailer which is a great added extra. Toby loved collecting his bits a pieces (a stone and a little figure from one of his other toys on this occasion) together and wheeling them around the living room.

He also liked lifting the bonnet and having a look at the engine…

My First JCB Tractor Tim is a fabulous toy for any tractor or digger mad little boy or girl and there are lots of other toys in the range too. I can definitely see a few more appearing in our house at some point!

**Disclosure: I was sent the featured product in return for this review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

26 October , 201530 November , 2015 - Sarah 1 Comment

Living Arrows 43/52 (2015)

The last week was fairly quiet (once again), Toby goes to nursery on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons and most of our mornings were spent at home as I continue trying to encourage Gabe to nap in his crib for longer than twenty minutes! I have found a way to get him to have a longer nap, without having to put him in the sling, and that is just to take a nap with him, so we managed a few of those this week too!

On Tuesday afternoon I walked up to our new drive through Starbucks, which does also have an actual inside bit too before you have visions of me pushing the pram through the drive through! It’s the first time Gabe has really slept in the carry cot of the pram too, so that’s progress too.

On Thursday afternoon I met up with some of the other mums from the pregnancy yoga class I went to before the summer. Our babies are all roughly the same age so it’s nice to meet up and compare notes, and just to have a bit of adult conversation! We’ve been trying to meet every week and it means we’re finding some new places for coffee and cake too, although as we discovered a few weeks ago, it’s not always easy to find somewhere that can accommodate eight buggies!

On Wednesday took both kids round to my friend Claire’s house in the morning – it was lovely to see Toby actually starting to play with her twins (they have loads of cool car toys so Toby loves playing at their house). They all go to the same nursery now and the twins are just about to move up into the toddler room where Toby is so it will be interesting to see if they start to really remember one another outside of nursery too. In the afternoon Toby and I made chocolate biscuits. Toby enjoyed himself I think but I found the whole experience very stressful! It didn’t help that Gabe woke up half way through and I had to do it with him in the sling, but I think I’m just a bit too controlling! Toby was cutting out the biscuits after I’d helped him roll out the dough but he was just putting the cutter willy nilly all over the dough so we had to keep re-rolling it – perfectly normal behaviour for a two year old but it was driving me bonkers! It was lovely to do something with him that wasn’t watching CBeebies though so we’ll definitely try again soon.

When I write it all down, perhaps the week wasn’t so quiet after all!

The weekend started with Claire coming round to our house for Chinese take away and a much needed catch up. We see each other most weeks but we’re usually trying to manage toddlers at the same so it was nice to have time for a proper chat. I had about half a bottle of wine, which is probably more than I’ve drunk for a year, although still not exactly a huge amount. I got a pretty decent night’s sleep as Barry got up with Gabe in the night but I spent all of Saturday feeling terrible, I don’t know if it was the wine or the Chinese but I felt sick all day. Barry’s parents were up visiting this weekend too, which was actually great because it meant on Saturday they were here to entertain Toby while I had a couple of naps with Gabe. Saturday night wasn’t great though, Gabe was up twice but unsettled for a lot of the night, Toby woke up crying (I think he was feeling a bit poorly after having his flu vaccination) so I ended up sleeping on his floor for an hour before dealing with Gabe’s second wake up… it was a long night!

On Sunday we’d planned a nice morning out at Deep Sea World – an aquarium near to where we live. I was feeling much better at least but Toby still seemed a bit under the weather and then he did something to his foot running about in the living room so was limping as well. When we got there he perked up a bit and so he went to have a look around with Barry and his grandparents while I fed Gabe in the cafe. Five minutes later Barry and Toby appeared again – Barry had put his back out and could barely walk! He’d done the same thing earlier in the year and had had a few twinges since but it had gone completely again. He spent the next hour or so sitting in the cafe trying to get comfortable while we had a look around but I think Toby just wasn’t really feeling up for it which was a bit of a shame. Barry was really suffering in the afternoon so I had to put both kids to bed and we got a relatively early night.

Gabe woke up about 2:30 and I got up to feed him. I’ve been bringing him downstairs in the night so we don’t disturb anyone and I could hear Barry moving about in bed upstairs. I then got a text from me saying his painkillers had worn off, he couldn’t get out of bed and he needed a wee! I got him some more painkillers but he could barely move and still couldn’t get out of bed. We managed something so he could relieve himself (I leave that one to your imagination!) but it wasn’t getting any better. We were just about to try and get some more sleep when his back went in to total spasm, it was really scary, he was shaking with the pain and could barely catch his breath. We didn’t really know what to do and ended up calling 999 as it seemed like an ambulance to hospital was going to be our only option. Apparently though it wasn’t enough of an emergency so we had to wait for a call back from NHS 24, and then nearly another hour for a call from one of the nurses. Thankfully the spasm did ease off after a while but it was really horrible to see him suffering so much and not being to do anything to help. Gabe had woken up as well so I was trying to keep him quiet and make sure he didn’t wake Toby too.

His back has been a little bit better today, as long has he stays dosed up on painkillers and he’s got an appointment with a physio tomorrow so hopefully they’ll be able to help too. I hope for everyone’s sake it does. Of course it’s horrible for Barry to be in pain, but also Toby doesn’t really understand why daddy can’t play with him or cuddle him like he usually does, he can’t really help with Gabe, I’ve had to do bedtime for both boys again… it really makes me realise how much I rely on his help normally.

Anyway, this has turned into a bit of an epic mind dump about what’s been going on this week when really I’m supposed to be sharing photos of the boys…. Here’s one more though – Toby has shown a bit more interest in Gabe this week and I even managed to get him to give him a cuddle. He wasn’t that convinced though and just after I took this photo he moved his arm away and said ‘I don’t like it’. I’m sure he’ll get to like it one day though!

21 October , 201521 October , 2015 - Sarah 5 Comments

A walk in the woods

First up, apologies but this is going to be a very photo heavy post, so sorry if it takes an age to load! And thanks to Barry for taking the pictures too.

On Saturday it was a lovely sunny day, just the kind of perfect autumn day that only seems to come around a few times a year (especially when you live in Scotland where the default weather seems to be rain). We’ve had quite a few weekends lately where we haven’t done much of anything, and Toby always seems to get a bit stir crazy when he’s stuck in the house all day so seeing as the sun was shining we decided to make the most of it and headed to Devilla Forest which is about 15 minutes drive from where we live. We drive past these woods all the time, but have only ever stopped and walked there once before. That was when Toby was 10 weeks old, and after a walk through the woods being carried in the sling he slept through the night for the first time, so of course I was hoping they would have a similar effect on Gabe!

There are lots of paths through the woods but from where we parked there is one that is waymarked – The Red Squirrel Trail. It’s only just over a mile so we thought it would be pretty doable with Toby. He had been in a bit of a grump about coming out, not wanting to get his jacket on and moaning that I’d made him wear his tights, but when we arrived and he saw all the trees he let out an ‘oh wow’. Once he was suitably attired in waterproof trousers and wellies we headed off towards the woods. From the car park there was a big wooden entrance and a wooden bridge over a small ditch which Toby had great fun stomping back and forwards over.

Once we were away from the cars and safely onto the path off he went. I think he must have walked twice as far as us as he kept running backwards and forwards.

Toby was absolutely loving being in the woods and was delighted by every tree he came to, running up to it, marvelling at how big they were and once he’d finished looking at one tree he’d run along to the next one and exclaim ‘a tree’ again. Oh to be a toddler and to find the simplest of things so exciting.

As Toby continued to explore we followed along at a leisurely pace. Gabe was soon snoring away in the baby carrier…

As we continued along the path there were lots of tree stumps along its edges. And of course Toby had to sit on every one.

As well as trees, and stumps to sit on, there were lots of interesting things to discover on the ground. There were hundreds of tiny pine cones (which Toby decided were eggs). He kept picking them up, then moving along and finding a better one. He was particularly pleased when he found three or four all still attached to a twig.

There were some handy logs to practice balancing on, with a little help from mummy.

And then suddenly the tiredness hit. Toby stopped in the middle of the path and declared ‘my home’…and he set off walking back the way we had come.

We tried to revive him with some raisins but decided we were better off just heading back to the car rather than continuing with a tired toddler.

Even after his raisins it was all just too much and so a carry from Daddy was needed to make it back to the car park.

It was so lovely to see Toby enjoying himself outside rather than glued to the TV or even in the organised fun of soft play. He was exhausted afterwards and fell asleep in the car on the way home and stayed snoozing on the sofa for another hour when we got in. We definitely need to make an effort to get out more over this winter, whenever the weather allows. There are loads of parks and woods we can go and explore near where we live and everyone always feels better for a bit of fresh air.

19 October , 201530 November , 2015 - Sarah 3 Comments

Living Arrows 42/52 (2015)

We’ve not been up to much the last week…I’m trying not to do anything to out of the ordinary so that Toby has a chance to get used to his new routine with his new nursery and his new little brother. We try to get out most mornings, even if it’s only to the shop, and then he has nursery four afternoons a week. We’re still having lots of tears on drop off but he does seem to be having fun while he’s there so hopefully things will keep improving.

This week has also seen Gabe turn two months old and we’ve had the joy of his first proper smiles too. I know I am very biased but I reckon we do make very pretty children! He still looks like Toby did as a baby but he’s really starting to get his own personality now too.

On Saturday it was such a lovely sunny day that we decided to head to some woods near where we live for a walk, and to give Toby a chance to have a run about. I’m going to share some more of the photos in a separate post but I love this one of Toby having a rest and concentrating on his raisins. I can’t take credit for this picture though – Barry was in charge of the camera for this one…

19 October , 2015 - Sarah 1 Comment

Gabriel is two months old

Two months old already. As life continues at breakneck pace it seems like Gabe has been a part of our family for much longer than two months now. He certainly doesn’t look like the tiny baby who arrived onto our living room floor back in August! As I’ve mentioned in some of my weekly Living Arrows posts we are slowly figuring things out and settling into some sort of routine. I’m still finding some days a struggle looking after Gabe and Toby – there’s still quite a lot of CBeebies getting watched but everyone is surviving and I’m just telling myself that Toby is learning some really important life lessons from Bing and Mr Tumble.

If you read my post a few weeks ago about the beginning of the end for breastfeeding you’ll already know that we were slowly heading towards completely bottle feeding. Well, I last breastfed Gabe on Friday, and it worked wonders on Thursday night when he was really unsettled after having his first immunisations, but these have only been comfort feeds and he is getting all his nutrition now from formula. I’m pleased we made to eight weeks with him getting at least some breast milk but I’m also happy that we have made the right decision for all of us as a family. Gabe is still suffering from reflux and giving him bottles means he can have Gaviscon much more easily. He’s also taking ranitidine which helps to control the acid. We seem to have things under control with the reflux, and although I’m sad he has to suffer from it at all, at least we’re managing it. And he’s gaining weight well – he was up to 10 lb 4.5 oz on Thursday, which means he’s put on 2 lb in as many weeks! He’s almost growing out of some of his 0-3 sleepsuits now too – his feet are right in the bottom, especially when he’s got a big cloth nappy on at night. Speaking of cloth nappies Gabe still hasn’t worn a disposable since he was three days old and he’s now too big for some of the newborn nappies so he’s graduated to the birth to potty ones and so both he and Toby are wearing the same nappies and I’m having to wash them nearly every day – time for some nappy shopping I think!

Bottle feeding Gabe has helped us get into a routine of feeds roughly every three hours through the day with naps in between (in theory). I’m trying my best to get Gabe to nap in his crib at home but a lot of the time I just end up putting him in our Lillebaby carrier which seems to have magical properties that send him straight to sleep. I actually think I could get him to nap in his crib more if I could spend ten or fifteen minutes settling him but I can’t leave Toby roaming the house for that long on his own so if Gabe doesn’t fall asleep within five minutes then into the carrier he goes! He’s sleeping very well at night though which is brilliant. We’ve now got our bedtime routine pretty much down and both boys are usually in bed asleep by 7:30 pm. Gabe will then generally sleep until somewhere between midnight and 3 am. His wake ups have been getting a bit earlier lately but I can sometimes put him off for another hour with a dummy and a rub on the back – that’s when having the co-sleeper crib really comes into its own. I’m usually up with him for an hour – he tends to drink his milk with a break in the middle for a burp and a nappy change. I had a few nights a week or so ago when I was up with him for two hours but thankfully we seem to back to an hour again now. After that he then sleeps until about 6 am and I’m not sure whether he might sleep a bit longer but Barry has to get up for work then and I think that maybe disturbs him. Whilst Gabe is sharing a room with us (and he will be for a while yet because we don’t really have any other options) there’s not a lot we can do about it anyway.

We starting to get a lot more smiles now which is so lovely. He doesn’t smile that often but when he does treat you to one it lights up his whole face. I still can’t tell if he’s got dimples like Toby though! He’s very alert now and always looking around to see what’s going on. He’s also a lot happier just to sit in his bouncy chair for a while which makes a world of difference to me – I can usually manage to eat my breakfast without a baby strapped to my front at least!

I’m trying not to wish away these newborn days but I can’t help but look forward to the next few months as Gabe continues to develop and starts to interact a bit more. I’m hoping that as that happens Toby might start to find him a bit more interesting too and they can amuse each other rather than constantly demanding my attention (although I am well aware that that is going to carry on for years yet!)

So, at two months old Gabe is well and truly a part of the family now. I’m proud of myself that I’m coping with two kids and despite some tough days we are all getting along just fine!

14 October , 20152 July , 2016 - Sarah 1 Comment

Toby is 27 months old

OK, so I know 27 months seems an odd age to do an update post but that’s when the health visitors round here do a development check so yesterday we had a visit to see if Toby is doing everything he ‘should’ be at 27 months old. We were sent a questionnaire to complete before the health visitor came – most of it was pretty straight forward; things like can he run, walk upstairs, eat with a fork, identify body parts, stack seven bricks, put three or four words together, but some of the other questions seemed a bit odd; does he copy you if you open and close your mouth or pull your earlobe? No, he doesn’t. I mean why would he? He might do if I asked him to but he’s more likely to just look at me like I’ve gone a bit mental! Or another one was if something is out of his reach will he get a chair or box and climb on it to get whatever it is. Also no. Mostly because he’s really tall so most things are within his reach. And if they aren’t then that’s probably because we’ve purposely put them out of his reach and would tell him not to if he started trying to climb on a chair to reach them. Stupid questionnaire!

Anyway, the health visitor didn’t have any concerns with Toby and neither do we. Physically he can do everything other two year olds are doing. He’s very active and loves running and climbing and jumping off things. Mostly he likes jumping on his daddy! He’s still very tall for his age, although at 2 st 2lbs he hasn’t put on much weight at all this year. At two years and three months he’s starting to wear age 3-4 clothes from some shops and is wearing size 8 shoes.

Toby’s very affectionate (when he wants to be) and loves having cuddles on the sofa and giving out kisses when he’s in the mood. He is so polite, and it makes me very proud – he says please and thank you without being prompted. He’s very well behaved most of the time, and usually does what he’s asked, even if sometimes it takes a few times of asking! He’s good at tidying up after himself too – sometimes he seems to enjoy tidying toys away more than he does playing with them. He’s got a set of wooden blocks that he likes nothing more than just to take out of the box and put back in again. Although, he’s quite a fan of the tower too – remember that questionnaire asking can he stack seven bricks? I decided to actually see what he could manage today….16 bricks! Nailed that one. He’s so clever too – he can count to 13 (because that’s how many stairs there are in our house), he knows most of his colours, he can identify all 50 of the flash cards in the set we have…he surprises us every day with just how much he knows and can do.

Toby has recently become really friendly too, saying hello and goodbye to people in shops, or the postman when he comes to the door. He also likes to say hello and goodbye to lots of other things too – it can take five minutes to leave the park as he says ‘bye bye slide, bye bye swing…’ today we even had ‘bye bye shop’ after we’d been to the post office! He likes to be helpful whenever he can too. He likes to bring things for Gabe when I’m feeding him. Admittedly they aren’t always things he needs, or wants but it’s still adorable when he presents me with a teddy or a muslin with a ‘there you go Gabe’. Yesterday he was determined to give Gabe his dummy, even when it was quite clear that he really didn’t want it.

I know I’m sounding like Toby is some sort of angel child here – of course he has his fair share of tantrums and whining. He’s going through a bit of a phase of just crying whenever he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, when he wants it, or quite often it will because he wants to do something for himself when he either can’t, or just it would be much easier to do it myself. One of his favourite phrases at the moment is ‘my do it!’ I have to admit I sometimes take the easy road and just let him have his own way if it will avoid a meltdown. At the moment I just feel like he’s coping with so many changes – a new brother and a new nursery, and he’s adjusting so well really that if I can let him have his own way about things sometimes (and I’m not talking about anything major, just things like which shoes he wears, or what to have for lunch) then I can make his life a bit easier and less stressful…which in turn of course makes life easier and less stressful for me too.

I’m sure there’ll be lots more changes for Toby over the next few months – we really need to get him in his big boy bed soon, there’s toilet training to think about at some point (although I don’t think he’s anywhere near ready yet) and the biggest change of all will, hopefully, be a move down to England (and there’ll be much more on that from me in future blog posts!). I have no doubt though that our adorable boy will continue to grow and thrive and amaze us every day.

This last photo was taken one day after nursery a few weeks ago – Toby had been playing in the garden and this picture just captures him in all his snot-covered, grime-coated, adorable two-ness!

12 October , 201530 November , 2015 - Sarah 5 Comments

Living Arrows 41/52 (2015)

Not much to report this week… Toby is settling in well to his new nursery, apart from rather dramatic wailing on being dropped off. He’s always had a good day by the time he comes home though so I’m hoping the drop offs get a bit easier this week. He’s got a cold as well at the moment and has generally being a bit clingy. I know he’s just a bit put out because he’s not getting all of my attention any more. I try and give him as much attention as I can but juggling the two boys isn’t easy. I have no idea how people manage with three or even more kids! Toby is getting so big, and he’s so clever that I think sometimes we forget that he’s still just a baby himself really and he’s struggling to make sense of all the changes that have been going on in his life lately. Everyone always thinks he’s older than he is and you can see why in this week’s photo…he’s wearing age 3 trousers and an age 3-4 t-shirt and he was only two three months ago!

Gabe has been doing OK this week. He’s still sleeping reasonably well – he’s going to bed at the same time as Toby (about 7pm) and usually only waking up once in the night. We’ve had a few nights this week though when that one wake up has lasted two hours which isn’t the most fun! He seems to be struggling with trapped wind a lot at the moment, every feed seems to end in screaming while we fight to get a burp up. I feel so sorry for him. We are getting into something of a routine during the day now at least. He’s usually going about three hours between feeds. If we’re lucky he has a morning nap in his crib and then his other sleeps in the baby carrier on me. Having to wear him all the time isn’t ideal but at least it means I can get things done, I have both my hands free, and the carrier is honestly like magic – Gabe nearly always falls asleep within five minutes of being put in it! The other Gabe news this week is that we have finally been treated to some gorgeous smiles! I’ve not managed to catch one on camera yet though so this week’s picture is this lovely contented sleepy face instead.

Toby Goes Bananas

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