Author: Sarah

- Sarah 4 Comments

Full time parents

Full time parents

Image credit

I am so excited to feature my first ever guest post today – and even more excited because it’s written by my first blog-crush; Donna from Redhead Babyled! You can also find Donna on Twitter @genuineplacebo

So without further ado I will hand you over to Donna…

For some reason everywhere I look – On TV, in newspapers, online – There is a fascination at the moment of calling stay at home parents ‘Full Time Parents’. This has grated on me from the first time I heard it and continues to grate on me every time, so much so that it has inspired me to rant about it.

Anyone that has a child is a full time parent. You don’t stop being a parent when you go to work, when you go through a separation or divorce or when you go out for the evening and get a babysitter. Being a parent is not something you can switch on and off and is definitely not something that you can do ‘part time’ – Even parents that only see their children at weekends are still full time parents they just don’t get to see their children more often.

Being a stay at home parent is sometimes a thing of choice and sometimes a thing of necessity. It’s not an easy job to do – after two lots of maternity leave I know full well how hard staying at home with children is. I also know that going out to work when you have children is hard work – Broken sleep, missing the children, long commutes, missing milestones, only being there for an hour or two a day and having to play catch up at weekends and on days off.

Whether you go to work or stay at home you’re a full time parent. Going to work does not make you any less of a parent and to suggest it does is just insulting to all the working parents out there. Most of the time being a parent and working or staying at home is not a conscious choice but something that has to happen. Most of the time the process of returning, or not, to work is stressful enough without having the added pressure of whether you are a ‘Full Time Parent’ or not.
Whether we’re with our children all the time or not we are still parents, parenting.

I have to say I totally agree with Donna. I’m pretty sure it can’t have been a parent that first came up with the term ‘full time parent’! What do you think? Are there any other parenting labels that get on your nerves?

- Sarah 3 Comments

Post-pregnancy big feet!

I was quite prepared for my feet to swell in pregnancy, especially since the last few weeks were in the middle of the hottest summer we’ve had since I don’t know when! I lived in my (smartish, leather) flip flops for the last six weeks of being pregnant because I couldn’t fit anything else on my massive feet!

In the week after Toby was born my feet swelled even more and I didn’t wear shoes at all most of the time. Then the puffiness went down…but none of my shoes fit!! My feet had grown in pregnancy and as the weeks and months have gone on they haven’t gone back to their pre-pregnancy size. They aren’t just longer they are wider too. Apparently the hormone relaxin which your body produces during pregnancy to allow your pelvis to stretch so you can give birth also affects the rest of the body and can cause the bones in your feet to spread too. In some women they shrink back after giving birth but in others, like me (and a few other people who I was talking to about this on Twitter the other night) the feet stay permanently bigger.

This makes me very, very sad. I was prepared for my pre-pregnancy clothes not to fit me but to take my shoes away just seems plain mean. I have always worn size 5 shoes since I was a teenager. It didn’t matter if I was fat or thin, it didn’t matter if I had blown my latest diet and my favourite jeans didn’t fit – I could always rely on a standard, size 5 shoe fitting perfectly!

So now I have one pair of trainers that I bought after Toby was born, my four pairs of Converse which still fit (as long as I don’t have to walk very far) and a couple of pairs of flip flops. And the bottom of my wardrobe is full of shoes that are too small. I even bought a shoe stretcher in the hope of giving my old shoes a new lease of life but, although I have managed to stretch some shoes a bit they still aren’t as comfortable as they were before. Amongst those shoes that don’t fit are about five pairs of dance shoes that I have worn in various shows, and will need again at some point so I’m either going to have to squeeze my feet into them and suffer or fork out for new ones, which won’t do my bank balance much good!

The shoes I am most upset about though are my wedding shoes. I hardly ever wear high heels and I wanted something that was a bit different, comfortable, and shoes that I would wear again. In the end I went to Shoes of Prey, an Australian company that has an online design tool where you choose everything from style, heel height, trim, decoration and colour and they make your shoes for you. You can even order different sizes for each foot if you need to! I LOVE my wedding shoes and even with stretching they are still a bit too small. I’m sure it won’t stop me wearing them on special occasions but they were so comfortable before. (And they were very expensive, by my standards for shoes at least, so I definitely won’t be stopping wearing them if I can help it!) Here they are….oh I could weep!

I suppose I should just take this as a great opportunity to go shoe shopping…and I’ve already started by buying these beauties from Livie & Luca!

Livie & Luca

Did your feet grow during pregnancy? Did they ever go back to their pre-pregnancy size or are you stuck with big feet after pregnancy?!

- Sarah 3 Comments

Living Arrows 22/52

All being well we should be on a ferry to France when this week’s Living Arrows post is published (I know, the wonder of the internet!). The last week has been one of last minute organising and packing (and yes, Toby’s passport did turn up in the end) and trying to remember that it really doesn’t matter if we forget something – they do have shops in France after all.

So anyway, I’m just going to give you this week’s picture without further delay – here he is, mon petit singe!

22_52

 

living arrows
- Sarah 5 Comments

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (May 2014)

I can’t believe another month has gone by! Since last month I have finished (and passed!) my Spanish course and turned 36! We’ve been going to all our usual groups and classes – Toby is still doing well with his swimming, he’s enjoying plenty of space for crawling at Parent and Toddler group, and he’s now the biggest baby at Baby Sensory and I spend every week just chasing after him! This month for Toby though has been all about crawling and kneeling. He’s just started pulling himself up to standing too – my little boy is really on the move!

And today we are setting off on our first overseas family holiday, although today we’re only going as far as Blackpool! We sail to France on Monday morning (Toby’s passport finally turned up on Thursday so we can go after all!) and we have 10 nights on a camp site in south Brittany. I’m really looking forward to it…I’m just not really looking forward to the journey! Fingers crossed Toby doesn’t have a screaming fit in the car like he has done on our last few long trips.

So anyway, here we are, our May family portrait – all packed up and ready to go…

May

- Sarah 8 Comments

Review: Konfidence baby swimming kit

Konfidencebaby swimming kit

You may have read my post a few weeks ago about how we have been chosen to be Konfidence Swimologists. As part of our role as ambassadors Toby was sent some Konfidence baby swimming kit to try out and now we’ve been using it for a few weeks I thought it was time I shared my thoughts with you.

The Details

We received the Konfidence AquaNappy (£9.99) – a one-size-fits-all reusable swim nappy, the NeoNappy (£9.99 or £7.99 when purchased with an AquaNappy) – a neoprene nappy cover which can be used over the AquaNappy or a disposable swim nappy, as is required by many baby swim schools. Lastly we were sent the Konfidence Babywarma (£18.99) – a baby wetsuit designed to keep your little one warm in the pool. All the Konfidence baby swimming products are available in a variety of colours and prints – we went for the Clownfish print on the Babywarma and AquaNappy as it’s just so cute!

Konfidence Babywarma

The Pros

AquaNappy
  • If you go swimming with your baby regularly then a reusable swim nappy will save you plenty of pennies when compared to using disposable swim nappies, and as the AquaNappy is adjustable (with poppers and velcro) it should fit your baby for as long as they need it.
  • The AquaNappy has elastic at the legs and waist and should contain any thing your baby throws at it (and Toby successfully put this feature to the test on his first wearing of the AquaNappy!)
  • The AquaNappy seemed comfortable for Toby to wear – I was a little worried that the thick elastic might dig in a bit but there were no red marks when I took it off.
  • It was very easy to clean the AquaNappy, even after a poopy incident! I just rinsed the nappy by holding it under the flush in the loo then hand-washed with a tiny bit of hand wash detergent. It can also be machine washed at 30°.
NeoNappy
  • Most baby swim schools insist on a double layer nappy system to prevent any leaks in the pool – the Konfidence NeoNappy is suitable to be worn over a disposable or reusable swim nappy.
  • The NeoNappy is sized by age – Toby has a large (9-12 months) which fits well. The lycra round the legs and waist is snug (as it should be) but not so tight it cuts off his circulation!
Babywarma
  • The Konfidence Babywarma does a great job at doing what it is designed for – keeping your baby warm in the pool! Even though we have our swimming lessons in a warm water pool Toby seems to be very sensitive to the cold (I think because he is so skinny!) so the Babywarma is essential for us.
  • I love how the Babywarma folds put completely flat making it easy to put on and adjust with the velcro fastenings.
  • The Babywarma comes in three sizes – Toby has the biggest size (12-24 months). There is still plenty of growing room in it but we had to go for the bigger size because he is so long!
  • The neoprene is very soft and flexible with lycra edging so it’s very comfortable and there are no rough edges to rub anywhere.

The Cons

  • The only downside I found with any of the products is that I don’t think the AquaNappy could realistically be worn from 3 to 30 months as suggested by Konfidence. I know Toby is skinny but he is still wearing it on the smallest setting at 10 and a half months. There is no way it would have been small enough when he was much younger.

Konfidence AquaNappy and NeoNappy

The Verdict

We love our new Konfidence baby swimming kit. With the AquaNappy, NeoNappy and Babywarma Toby has everything he needs to enjoy his swimming lessons. We were also sent a Roll & Go Baby Changer which is a fantastic neoprene changing mat – great for those cold, wet changing room floors, or even at the poolside on holiday. As well as Toby’s swimwear Konfidence were also kind enough to give him a Quikfinz Dolphin Float and a set of Floating Flashing Blinkies! So far these have only made an appearance in the bath but they are very popular with Toby.

Konfidence make all sorts of swimming and UV protection products, not just for babies but for kids and adults too. Some of the other Konfidence Swimologists have been trying out the Konfidence Jacket and Floatsuits – you can find their blogs and read more here.

**Disclosure: I was sent a selection of Konfidence baby swimming kit in return for this review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

 

We're going on an adventure
- Sarah 6 Comments

Sarah is 36 years old!

Sarahs 30th Birthday

It’s my birthday, it’s my birthday and I’m going to party like it’s my birthday! Well, I’m not exactly going to party seeing as I have a ten and a half month old baby, but I did go to a Harvester for my tea last night so I could claim my free birthday ice-cream sundae, and tonight Barry’s going to get me a Krispy Creme donut on his way home from work. Oh and I had a glass of wine last night too, so you know I’m living the high life right here!

In all honesty I’m really not that bothered about birthdays these days. I still can’t believe that I’m nearer to 40 than I am to 30. I still forget how old I am quite regularly and have been doing since I was about 25. In fact I honest to goodness thought I was 26 for two years and got a massive shock when I realised I was turning 28 not 27 (again!). I don’t feel old (I know I’m not actually old!) and most of my friends are around the same age as me. I really don’t think age is important, as long as you can do what you want to do, who cares how old you are? Although since I started rehearsals for Aida (the musical I’m going to be in in October) I have been feeling my age somewhat, as half the other dancers are girls literally 20 years younger than me!

The only other time recently that I have considered my age was after I first met Barry and we talked about getting married and having kids. I was 32 when we met (and he was 31 – he’s just over 3 months younger than me). We knew quite early in our relationship that it was serious and that we wanted children. And that was the time I was aware that we should probably get on with if we did, especially if we wanted more than one child. The thing with trying for a baby is that no-one knows how long it might take, so we didn’t want to leave it too long before we started trying.  And so we got engaged just under a year after we met, got married a year after that, and four months later started trying. As it happened I got pregnant in two months but we didn’t know that was going to happen, it could have taken years for all we knew! My mum was almost 36 when she had me and she’s never seemed ‘old’ to me even though she was older than a lot of my friends’ mums. I always said I wanted to have kids before I got to 36 too, and I did it! (Although if you’d have asked me four years ago if I thought it would happen I never would have believed you).

So there we are, I’m 36 years old. Happy Birthday to me! And Happy Birthday to my brother for tomorrow too – he’s exactly two years older than me, my mum and dad planned to have their kids two years apart but I don’t think they thought they would get it that close – and actually we were supposed to be about three weeks apart but he was early and I was late and we ended up with birthdays right next to each other. When we were little he used to open his presents on my birthday because he couldn’t understand how my birthday could be first if he was older than me (and he got away with that one until he was about 13 and I started arguing that if he was opening his presents a day early then I would too!). Happy Birthday our kid!

(The photo is from my 30th birthday in case you were wondering – I couldn’t find one from a more recent birthday!)

- Sarah 5 Comments

Top 10 Tips // Taking an overseas camping holiday with a baby

In less than a weeks time we should be setting off on the long drive from Scotland to our first family camping holiday in France. Well, we will be if Toby’s passport turns up in time but I’ll get to that in a minute! I say camping, but only in that we’ll be staying on a camp site. We’re staying in a mobile home so it’s not really camping in the strictest sense. It is a kind of camping that I am very familiar with though. From 1998 until 2003 I spent every summer (and then some – our season was March to October) working in France for several different camping companies. Most of those years I was working for Canvas Holidays, I spent a few years as a campsite courier then made my way through the ranks as Site Supervisor and then Area Manager before eventually moving to Scotland to work in head office recruiting and training new staff to work overseas.

Anyway, suffice to say I know what to expect from this kind of holiday. We’re actually going back to the same campsite that I worked on my first season, which I can’t believe was actually 16 years ago (gulp!). I’m really looking forward to going back but I have a feeling that going back with my husband and baby isn’t going to be quite the same as when I spent 10 weeks there as a carefree 20 year old, spending my days cleaning tents and mobile homes, and my nights getting drunk on Desperados!

Top 10 camping tips

So with less than a week to go I thought I’d share a few of my top tips for planning an overseas camping holiday with a baby.

  1. Apply for your baby’s passport in plenty of time. I would say at least two months before you’re due leave unless you want to spend the last week before you go massively stressed about whether it’s going to turn up in time! As I mentioned at the top of this post we are still waiting for Toby’s passport. It is supposed to take three weeks and has currently been nearly four weeks since I sent the application. I am so annoyed with myself that I didn’t apply for it earlier, I am usually so organised about these things but somehow time just crept up on me. I had to send my passport off to be changed to my married name before I could apply for Toby’s but then after two weeks realised there wasn’t enough time to wait for mine to come back before applying for his…so had to apply for Toby’s anyway but because I didn’t have my passport I had to send my birth certificate, which was in Blackpool at my parents’ house…and blah blah blah. Basically, what I’m trying to say is apply for those passports early!!
  2. Make sure you have travel insurance, and an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) if you are going to Europe. We get travel insurance through our bank account but I had to add Toby on to it and I had to apply for an EHIC for him too which you can do online.
  3. Pre-book as much as you can so you don’t have to pack as much. We have booked a cot and highchair so we don’t have to take our own. We have also booked linen hire so we don’t have to take bedding with us either. we will be taking Toby’s sleeping bag and cot sheet so things are as familiar as possible for him. You can book a buggy with Canvas (and most other camping companies) but seeing as we have quite a small stroller, which will be useful on the journey, we’re taking our own.
  4. Plan to do washing while you’re away. With the best will in the world I cannot pack enough clothes for me, Barry and Toby to last the two weeks we will be away. I know there are washing machines on the campsite and I plan on using them! I’ll try and pack one week’s worth of clothes and then to one or two loads of washing while we’re away. I might even do washing a day or two before we come home – it’s not that much effort and it’s so much nicer to come home and unpack clean clothes than have to wash everything when you get back. (Of course for us there will be a bit more washing as I’m planning on taking our cloth nappies, but it won’t be any more than when we’re at home).
  5. Try and plan your journey to make it as stress-free as possible. For us this means having two overnight stops in the UK before we even get on the ferry. We have got a long way to go and Toby isn’t that keen on being in the car for a long time at the moment so we are breaking our journey down into manageable chunks. We always try and drive so at least part of our journey is during nap time. We also have to plan for plenty of stops. Toby isn’t really old enough that we can entertain him with games or DVDs in the car so if he gets really grumpy the only thing we can do is stop and get him out for a bit. If you are going to France then you could try an overnight ferry but I decided we’d be better to stay in a hotel in Portsmouth the night before getting a morning crossing to France. Hopefully that means we will all get at least some sleep!
  6. If you have overnight stops then pack a small separate bag with your essentials so you don’t have to unpack the whole car to get to your tooth brush and pyjamas!
  7. Make sure you have everything you need for driving in Europe. You will need to let your car insurance company know and check you have appropriate cover. European breakdown cover is also pretty essential. Check the regulations for anything else you need for the country you are going to – in France we need headlight deflectors, a warning triangle, hi-vis vests (one for every passenger and they have to be in the car with you, not in the boot) and breathalyser kits. If you are planning on using satnav to find your way then it sounds obvious, but make sure yours covers Europe!
  8. You might want to take baby food/formula/nappies with you. There are of course supermarkets overseas but they might not stock your favourite brands so it’s worth taking them with you. We’ll be taking formula and some fruit pouches and snacks for Toby. Other than that I’m fairly confident he’ll be able to eat the same as us, just like he does at home.
  9. Take some food and drink basics – if you like tea then definitely take tea bags as they are one thing you really can’t find in France (not decent ones anyway!). Also remember, you might arrive late on the campsite so it’s worth having some supplies for the first night and following morning with you.
  10. If you can, take baby sitters with you! My parents are coming on holiday with us. They are staying in a separate mobile home and we aren’t travelling together, but hopefully having them there will mean Barry and I will get to have a little bit of time to ourselves and feel like we’ve had a holiday too. Of course it will also be lovely for Toby to spend some extended time with his Grandparents – with them living so far away he only gets to see them for a few days at a time usually.

So that’s my Top 10 Tips for taking an overseas camping holiday with a baby. I’m sure there’s lots of other things that I’ve forgotten and I’ll do another post when we get back home of any other things that come up during our holiday (assuming Toby’s passport turns up and we actually get to go of course!). Have you ever taken your kids overseas on a camping holiday? Or did you brave flying and staying in a hotel? (which I wouldn’t contemplate at this point!) If you did I’d love to hear how you got on and if you’ve got any tips to make our holiday go smoothly.

- Sarah 8 Comments

Living Arrows 21/52

It’s been a fairly quiet week this week. Toby is STILL teething although one of the new teeth has cut through now and he doesn’t seem to be struggling quite as much. We should be getting excited about going on holiday next week but I can’t get excited until Toby’s passport turns up – it’s so stressful waiting to see if we get it in time! We’re ringing every day for updates and fingers crossed it will all work out OK. As long as it does then this time next week we’ll be on a ferry to France!

And so to this week’s photo in the I Heart Snapping Living Arrows project. Another close up this week – I just can’t resist his little face! Over the next few months I really want to try and take the camera out and about with me more – from looking at these Living Arrows photos you’d think we never went anywhere as they always seem to be taken in the house!

21_52

living arrows
- Sarah 4 Comments

Dada dada (The Ordinary Moments #23)

This week’s Ordinary Moment is one that has only become ordinary in the last week or two. After a few weeks of persistent training (mostly from Barry!) Toby has now learnt how to say Dada. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have any idea what it means yet but he says it all the time! Although I’m a bit sad that he’s saying Dada but not Mama (I know that will come and it’s something to do with it being easier for babies to say Dada) it is still so cute to hear. It’s so obvious that Toby loves his daddy to bits. And I love watching them together – my two favourite boys!

Dada

In fact Toby is babbling a lot more of everything these days – it’s so sweet to listen to him when he’s playing by himself and just chatting away to his toys. Or when he wakes up and we just hear baby babble over the monitor. I’d love to know what’s going through his mind – I’m sure it all makes perfect sense to him!

I’m very excited for Toby to start learning more words, although I know I’ve got a while to wait before he really starts talking. And once he does I bet I’ll be wishing for some peace and quiet!

mummy daddy me