Author: Sarah

- Sarah 3 Comments

Living Arrows 44/52

I know it seems to be the refrain of bloggers all over, but I really can’t believe how quickly time passes. I’m sure it was only a day or two ago that I was writing last week’s Living Arrows post! It’s been another fairly normal week, nothing much to report. I’m back at school after half term, which means Toby is back at nursery. I think he’s teeth are still bothering him – his canines are so close to coming through but still haven’t cut his gums yet. It has meant a few disturbed nights for us and on Wednesday I had to leave him crying when I dropped him off at nursery, for the first time since just after he started. He also had a complete meltdown on Saturday evening (which I think was a combination of teeth and no afternoon nap), which led to him refusing to eat his tea or have any milk before bed and then waking up several times in the night. He woke up for I think the third time at 4am and refused to go back to sleep. Luckily for me my wonderful husband sat in his room for two hours before getting him up for breakfast at 6am. Thankfully he went back to bed at 7:30am and we all slept until 11am – I’m so glad it wasn’t a weekday otherwise we would all have been very tired!

This week’s big news of course is that Toby is now properly walking – I posted a video the other day of him looking very pleased with himself about it. He’s so big now too – he’s wearing all 18-24 month clothes now and is nearly growing out of some of those, and he’s not even 16 months yet! It means we barely have any surfaces high enough to put things out of his reach, he can reach all the door handles…and he loves having a nosy out of the front window.

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living arrows
- Sarah 2 Comments

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (October 2014)

October started with a busy few weeks at work and then what was supposed to be a fun and relaxing week off. Unfortunately we decided to go to Butlins in Skegness which, despite not looking too far on the map, took hours and hours to get to. And then Toby decided that he wasn’t really going to eat and wasn’t going to sleep unless he was in bed with me. Which meant not much sleep for anyone. The weather wasn’t great either and we didn’t really get chance to take advantage of everything Butlins had to offer, I’m going to write another post all about our holiday soon but suffice to say no one came home particularly rested!

And now we’re back to work and Toby’s back at nursery and we’re counting down the days until the Christmas holidays (only eight more Mondays at work to go!).

We did manage to get a family photo at Butlins. This was just after breakfast on our last day and we were all ready to go home. You can probably see the tiredness on our faces. But this picture, just like all our Me & Mine family portraits reminds us that although we had a pretty rubbish holiday we got to spend a week together as our little family. And even when things don’t turn out how we hoped we should always make the most of the time do get to spend together.

October 2014

- Sarah 2 Comments

He’s walking!

Toby took his first couple of steps a week or two ago. But it was only a few steps before he would sit down and crawl off. He was still so much faster crawling that I think he wasn’t that motivated to walk. While we were on holiday he was happy to walk holding our hands (something he’s never been interested in doing before). And then last night, at fifteen and a half months, it was like something had clicked – he came home from nursery and hardly sat down! He was toddling around, and if he fell down he just stood right up again and started walking.

I even managed to get a video of him walking this time too. And you have to watch it with the sound on – I love the noise he makes as he disappears out of the frame at the end…

I’m so excited to have a toddler! I think life is going to get so much more fun now Toby can walk, it opens up so many possibilities of things we can do that we couldn’t do before. There’s a whole new world waiting for us out there…

- Sarah 2 Comments

Glasgow Blogger Bake Off

A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to be invited to go to Glasgow for a blogger bake off in association with Currys and Kenwood. There were around 30 bloggers of all different kinds from parent bloggers, to lifestyle, fashion and beauty, and even a few food bloggers for good measure! The event was held at The Cookery School in central Glasgow who run all sorts of different cookery courses, when they aren’t playing host to a gaggle (what is the collective noun?) of bloggers on a Sunday.

Blogger bake off

After a coffee and a chat with some of my fellow bloggers we headed through to the kitchen for the first of the day’s demonstrations from chef Danny McArdle. Now I have to admit I was hoping to stretch my baking skills a bit but the event was definitely aimed more towards the non-bakers amongst us. We were shown how to make scones, victoria sponge and cupcakes and chocolate chip muffins, none of which are particularly challenging for someone who bakes regularly. It was also a bit tricky to see the demonstrations given the number of bloggers squeezed into the main kitchen (and everyone trying to get decent blog-worthy photographs didn’t help!).

Demonstration

Having said that I did learn a few new tricks; for example using 00 flour (it’s milled twice don’t you know?) for scones makes them much lighter, and you can flavour sponge cakes by adding some well-beaten jam or marmalade. I definitely enjoyed eating one of the scones we had made and I had fun decorating my cupcakes too – I was particularly pleased with my chocolate piping skills.

Cupcakes

Due to the number of bloggers we were working in groups of three. Although this meant I didn’t get chance to do all the baking myself I did make sure I got a go on one of the beautiful Kenwood Patisser mixers! (Both the mixers were given away to two of the bloggers at the end of the day – unfortunately I didn’t win one but the lovely people at Currys and Kenwood did provide us all with an equally lovely kMix hand mixer to take home with us, along with lots of other goodies too, including my very own #currysinthekitchen apron).

currysinthekitchen

We used the mixer to make the batter for the cupcakes and you could totally tell the difference between that and the one we made by hand for the Victoria sponge. The one made in the mixer was so much lighter! I would absolutely love one of these big stand mixers but we’ve got a lot of saving up to do first…not for the mixer but so we can buy a new house with a big enough kitchen to fit one in! I would definitely recommend using a mixer or hand mixer when making cake batter though – especially for the creaming together butter and sugar stage. Unless you’ve got guns like Stallone then I just don’t think you can get it light and fluffy when you’re doing it by hand, and that’s what you need if you want a light and fluffy sponge cake.

Kenwood Patissier

It was lovely to meet so many other Scottish bloggers and I have to say a big thanks to Joe Blogs blogger network for organising the event and inviting me along. It was fantastic to have an event like this in Scotland as so many of the things I’m invited to are in London and not always very easy to get to! And even though Barry had to look after Toby for the day while I went off gallivanting again, I more than made up for it with the amount of cake I brought home!

Baked goodies

 

- Sarah 3 Comments

Review: Bioskin Junior

Toby started suffering from eczema when he was a few months old. It’s always been relatively mild and he hasn’t had a flair up for a while now. I still have to be careful what I use on his skin though and make sure I moisturise his legs every day to avoid them getting dry and sore. We have mostly been using Doublebase from the doctor to moisturise but when the people at Salcura Natural Skin Therapy got in touch to ask if we’d like to try any of their new Bioskin Junior range which are designed specifically for babies and children with eczema and severe dryness I was happy to give them a try.

The Details

Bioskin Junior

We were sent the Bioskin Junior Daily Nourishing Spray and Bath Milk to try. The Daily Nourishing Spray is 92% natural origin and retails at £19.99 for a 250ml bottle. The Bath Milk is 98% natural origin and retails at £9.99 for 300ml. All Bioskin Junior products (there is also an Outbreak Rescue Cream, Shampoo and Face & Body wash) are suitable for babies from 3 months up.

The Pros

  • The Daily Nourishing Spray is very easy to apply, especially to a very wriggly baby! All it takes is a couple of sprays and it is absorbed very easily without the need for a lot of rubbing in.
  • The spray smells pleasant and I really like its light, non-greasy consistency.
  • For the last couple of weeks I have been using the spray on Toby’s legs twice a day and they have stayed soft and smooth without the flair ups or dry, rough skin that he sometimes gets.
  • I have also tried the spray on the eczema inside my elbow and I was pleased that it doesn’t sting at all, even on broken and damaged skin.
  • The Bath Milk also smells very nice (it contains lavender and chamomile) and it isn’t greasy like some of the emollients we have used in the bath previously.
  • Toby hasn’t had any reaction or complaints about the Bath Milk and it seems to be helping to keep his skin hydrated.
  • The Bioskin Junior products natural ingredients mean I have no worries about what I am putting on Toby’s skin.

Bioskin Junior Bath Milk

The Cons

  • The only downside for me with Bioskin Junior is the price. I don’t think these products are overly expensive, especially given how well they work, but I was also happy with the cream and bath additive that we get on prescription for free from the doctor.

The Verdict

I do like the Bioskin Junior products and have found the Daily Nourishing Spray very easy to apply. It does a great job at keeping Toby’s skin moisturised and I am always happy when I can use natural products on his skin. I would also be interested in trying the Outbreak Rescue Cream – if it is as effective as the other products it could be a great alternative to using steroid creams as we have had to in the past. I would definitely recommend Bioskin Junior products to anyone whose baby or child suffers from dry skin or eczema.

**Disclosure: I was sent these Bioskin Junior products in return for this review. All opinions are my own.

We're going on an adventure
- Sarah 2 Comments

Living Arrows 43/52

I love how much Toby is learning and changing every day – he’s such a little adventurer! I bought him this play tunnel from IKEA a couple of months ago but when we first got it he had no interest in crawling through it all. I got it out again last week though and he absolutely loved it! Crawling backwards and forwards, chasing his ball through it, crawling through one way then round the outside and back through the same way – he was just having so much fun and that’s what I have hopefully captured in this week’s Living Arrows pictures.

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living arrows
- Sarah 1 Comment

One year on – a Halloween reunion

When I was pregnant I signed us up for an NCT antenatal class. The classes were really useful, and enjoyable but the best thing about them has to have been meeting five other couples who were all having babies around the same time as us. We’ve all kept in touch since the babies were born although recently, with us all back at work, we haven’t managed to get together as often as we’d like. This weekend though one of the couples invited us all to their house for a bit of a Halloween themed reunion. We did the same thing this time last year so it was great to see the babies one year on! It was a shame that a two of the babies (and their parents) couldn’t make it this year but it was lovely to catch up with everyone else.

I couldn’t resist Toby up as a pumpkin again – how cute does he look one year on from his first Halloween?!

Little pumpkin

The other babies looked awesome too – we had a mini Dracula, a pirate and Superman! They all had lots of fun playing in a ball pool and with lots of the generous host’s toys while us mums and dads had a chance for a chat. I was actually amazed at how long Toby kept his costume on, and the hood up, without complaining. He must have realised how cute he looked!

Halloween ball pit

All that playing did mean Toby got a bit hot so we went for a quick change of outfit. This Ghostbusters t-shirt is so cool! And teamed with his Slugs & Snails ghost tights I reckon he looks a proper little dude. I think he might be wearing this outfit again on Friday when he can dress up for nursery (I don’t think he’d be too pleased with dressing up as a pumpkin all day!).

Ghostbusters

We all had a really lovely afternoon, even if we did have to keep chasing Toby to try and stop him wrecking the house! It was certainly noticeable how tall he is compared to the other babies – there were loads of things on tables and sideboards that Toby could reach that the others couldn’t. Luckily, if you turn him upside down, he quite likes being caught…

Upside down

We don’t tend to go in for Halloween much (in fact until we had Toby I pretty much ignored it all together) but it was fun to dress him up to see our friends. And I enjoyed making some pumpkin biscuits to take along too. Maybe when Toby gets a bit older we might even take him trick or treating one year.

Halloween biscuits

**Disclosure: Toby’s pumpkin outfit and Ghostbusters t-shirt, and my top were kindly provided by George at Asda

- Sarah 6 Comments

Happy Blogiversary to me!

 

Blogiversary

OK, so I’m three days late but Toby Goes Bananas is now one year old! I wrote my first post on 22nd October 2013 when Toby was just over three months old, mostly as a kind of online journal and photo album of his life. I had actually been blogging since 2009 but on my other blog I mostly wrote reviews of stand-up comedy, about my various travels around the world and latterly about training to be and becoming a teacher. I had a fairly decent number of regular readers and a very active Twitter account. But when Toby was born I knew that the people who read my other blog wouldn’t really be interested in reading all about the ins and outs of life with a newborn. I had start reading more and more parenting blogs (especially during those hours spent feeding Toby in the night) and decided I would give it a go myself!

I started thinking about a name and one day Toby Goes Bananas just popped into my head as I was driving up our street. At that time we were still struggling to get Toby’s reflux under control and he did regularly go bananas. And I just thought it had a nice ring to it… I promise it’s not because I’m some massive fan of the Herbie films! I did think I might be limiting myself a bit for the future – if we have another baby then I don’t want them to be left out, but it’s OK I already have a plan for my blog should that happen.

Once I had a name I set up my blog on free WordPress and also set up a new email address, Twitter account and Facebook page. I knew it would be easier down the line if everything had the same name (and that would be one of my top tips for anyone starting with blogging). Within a month or so I knew I was really enjoying my new blog and so I registered my own domain name, although I still stuck with free WordPress for a while. Another month or so down the line and I decided to go self-hosted (I wrote a few posts about why and how at the time – you can read the first one here if you’re interested). I also redesigned my blog when I went self-hosted and made myself a new header to go with my new home.

Over the last year I have written about all sorts of things from cloth nappies to the time I was worried for my mental health. I posted monthly updates about Toby from four to twelve months, and I’ve taken part in some fabulous linkies (my favourites have to be The Ordinary Moments, which I haven’t done for ages but will get back to one of these days, and Living Arrows which I’m proud to say I have managed to do every week of 2014 so far). I’ve posted recipes and craft posts, I’ve written about weight-loss and weaning and I’ve had so many fantastic opportunities to review products and attend events which I never would have imagined a year ago. I was delighted to be a Munchkin Lindam blogger this year, as well as a Konfidence Swimologist. It’s been brilliant working with such lovely brands and getting to try so many of their great products!

The blogging highlight of my year has to have been going to Britmums Live back in June. Not only did I get to attend lots of really useful sessions I also got to meet lots of my favourite bloggers in real life too. I’ve made some great friends through blogging and for me it has to be one of the best things to come from starting Toby Goes Bananas.

I haven’t been as active on the blog since the summer but I’m settling into being back at work now and starting to feel like I’m getting my blog-spiration back so hopefully you’ll be seeing a lot more from me in the next few months and hopefully for years to come – I may have times when I don’t post much but I’m not planning on stopping blogging altogether for a long time to come!

Lastly, I just want to thank all of you have read and commented on Toby Goes Bananas over the last year. I really do appreciate it so please keep coming back!

- Sarah Leave a comment

Living Arrows 42/52

I’m a bit late with this week’s Living Arrows post as we’re on holiday – we left home on Saturday and spent two nights in a wooden lodge in Yorkshire before driving down to Butlins in Skegness. Typically for us, just as we’re about to go on holiday Toby has been teething again – canines this time. And teething makes for a grumpy Toby who doesn’t sleep very well and who turns into a right fusspot over his food. It doesn’t always make him the most pleasant of travelling companions! Added to which he is just starting to walk and so wants to explore everywhere, especially if it’s somewhere you don’t want him to be or something he shouldn’t be playing with.

On top of that he’s really not been sleeping well at all. He sleeps OK until about 1am but then wakes up and screams every time we try and put him back in his cot. The only thing that has worked has been him sleeping with me, which means Barry has been kicked out of the big bed to go and sleep in one of the singles. I don’t really mind too much but I just hope Toby realises this is a special holiday arrangement not to be continued once we get home!

Anyway, it sounds like we’re having a terrible time but there have been some lovely moments too. When Toby is in a good mood he’s hilarious and we’re enjoying spending some time together as a family. This week’s Living Arrows photo was taken while we had our tea tonight in one of the Butlins restaurants. Toby loves to point at the moment and there’s nothing he likes more than pointing at the camera while he has his photo taken…

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- Sarah 3 Comments

A life update

A life update

I’ve been saying this for the last few months but I really do feel like I’ve been neglecting my little blog lately. Anyway, now my show is finished I’m hoping I can claim back a bit of the time I’ve been spending rehearsing to focus on the blog a bit more. I was at an exciting blogging (and baking) related event last weekend (more on that soon) which has helped to kick start my blog love again.

I wrote about my first week back at work seven weeks ago – after my second week at work I actually got another two weeks off due to a mix up with paperwork but I’ve been back for a five weeks…and unfortunately it hasn’t really got any better! So many of the kids are really badly behaved and to be honest I’m at a point where I have no idea what to do with them any more. It doesn’t help that I haven’t even been paid yet either – a whole term of working for free doesn’t really fill me full of enthusiasm when it comes to facing a classroom full of unruly kids! (I should be getting paid all my back pay this month though, as well as getting redundancy money from my previous job so it’s going to be a bumper October for us!).

I’m so glad it’s the holidays next week though – I am totally ready for a week off! We’re going on holiday for the week too – we’ve got a couple of nights in a wooden lodge/cabin thing in Yorkshire and then four nights at Butlins in Skegness. We paid for Butlins with our Tesco Clubcard vouchers so it only cost us £20! Such a bargain. The only slight downside is that if I go away for the whole of a school holiday I always feel like I haven’t had much of a break somehow. I’m really looking forward to spending some time with my boys though and hopefully a week off nursery with some proper naps will help Toby to recover from the cold he seems to have had permanently for the last two months.

So that’s about it really. Life is plodding on. It’s hard being back at work full time and not seeing Toby for much more than an hour a day. But we’re trying to make the most of our weekends and I just keep telling myself that if our master plan goes to plan it’ll only be for a year. I just need to get on with it, save as much money as we can and try and make it to the summer holidays with my sanity in tact!