Author: Sarah

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How to survive a preschool birthday party

Although Toby has been going to nursery since he was 13 months old he has only ever been to one birthday party…until the last couple of weeks. Last weekend was his first soft play party, today we went to a bouncy play centre and tomorrow it’s Princesses and Superheroes in the local community centre! Toby has been having a great time with his friends but as a parent, how do I survive a preschool birthday party??

Because the boys go to private nursery there hasn’t been any dropping of or picking up a the school gates and so I haven’t really got to know any of the other parents. I did meet a few at the induction meeting for Toby’s new primary school that I went to a few weeks ago. All three of the children who are having these parties are going to the same school as Toby in September so I thought it would be good for him to go, and also an opportunity to get to know some of the school mums and dads that I’ll be sharing the school gate with for the next seven years!

Toby enjoying a preschool birthday party buffet

Last week though was quite a struggle for me (Toby had a great time!) as all the other parents seemed to know each other and I found it difficult to try and make conversation. So in an effort to make this weekend a bit less uncomfortable I did what any mum would do in 2017 and I took to Facebook to ask some of my fellow bloggers what their top tips were for surviving a preschool birthday party, and here’s what they had to say.

There are some great suggestions to make it a bit more bearable…

Lots of coffee to nurse! (And maybe my kindle)

Stacey, Stacey in the Sticks

Chat to the other parents, you might have something in common even if it’s just hate for party bag gifts!

Jen, Just Average Jen

Use it as an excuse to chat to the other mums, it’s nice to get to know them away from the (pre)school gates! Oh and bribe your child to behave. Of course.

Fran, Whinge Whinge Wine

Ask the host if there’s anything you can do to help – dish out juice/hand out coffee/round up the kids for the cake – all good ice breakers.

Samantha, North East Family Fun

Can’t argue with you. It’s tough! Short of gluing a satanic smile on my face, I often struggle with preschool parties. Remembering that most of the other parents feel the same way provides some comfort. Good luck!

Alex, Dad F.C.

We offer to be the designated photographers usually (granted we are pros) but it usually keeps us busy and the parents all want to see the pictures afterwards. Obviously you need to check with the host that all parents are happy for their kid to be photographed but we have yet to have an issue. And it means you can get pictures of birthday kids parents with them which they might not get if they had to take photos at the party. Also if its in a play centre you’ll find me in the middle of the jungle gym or on a slide, I’m a big kid at heart!!

Chantele, Two Hearts One Roof

Wait until he starts school the parties really ramp up! It’s a great chance to see your child interacting with their friends. Plus it’s not always easy to chat to parents in the school playground. So, this is a chance to get to know them. I hate making small talk, but I really push myself and now parties are a bit easier as I can have a coffee and a chat.

Laura, Dear Bear and Beany

Fake it until you make it. Act like you are absolutely comfortable, ask the other parents questions about their kids then act like their reply (and their kid) is fascinating after a few you don’t need to act and hopefully someone will ask you something back.
Like the advice those dating gurus give but thankfully you only have to see this lot for a couple of hours every few weeks as opposed to make a life with them.

Caroline, Sprog on the Tyne

Don’t turn up late like we always do! If you’re early you can grab the best seats either in the middle of everyone so you don’t look like a lemon without a seat or if you prefer the seats on their own so you don’t have to mingle!

Heidi, Southern Mummy

A few people suggested taking something with you to do so you can look busy…

I’d just do some work on my phone if I didn’t know anyone and no one seemed interested in talking . I’ve been to a lot like this now. Now my daughter is in school there’s a party every other week!

Victoria, Lylia Rose

Take some work with you, then if it does get cliquey you can look very busy!

Victoria, Mummy Times Two

And there were quite a few people who suggested the best way to get through preschool birthday parties is just to remember they stop almost as soon as they’ve started…

Remember it doesn’t last forever! For the first couple of years at school/nursery Charlie had so many parties but they soon tail off. There is light at the end of a sweaty tunnel!

Beth, Twinderelmo

There is an age for a magic ‘drop and run’, usually at 5, when you can go home or sit in a cafe nearby. Lots of parents actually encourage it as parties with all the parents can get so stressful when they get to school and start doing bigger parties so think, ‘it’s not forever’ to help get you through.

Louise, Pink Pear Bear

Once they’re older they’re great because it’s 2 hours of free babysitting – yes I’m the mother who drops and runs! Also, if you see toys on offer stock up for presents.

Jenny, Midwife and Life

And of course there’s always the option to just not bother!

I avoid kids parties as much as humanly possible! Oh no, turns out we have plans that day…

Nyomi, nomipalony

Or if it gets really desperate…

A hip flask!

Aby, You Baby Me Mummy

Actually yesterday’s party was much better for me that last week’s – there weren’t quite as many people there so I found it a bit easier to chat to the other parents. One more to go this afternoon and then I think that might be it until the school parties start. We’re only having a party for family and close friends for Toby so at least I don’t have to endure a preschool birthday party as a host!

Do you have any other top tips for surviving a preschool birthday party? Please do leave me a comment and let me know if you have.

How to survive a preschool birthday party

 

- Sarah 1 Comment

Siblings // Toby and Gabe in June (2017)

It’s been a month since I last wrote a Siblings update and to be honest since last month things are much the same with Toby and Gabe. They still bicker and argue all the time but they are starting to play together, or at least in peace, a lot more too.

I’m just going to share a few pictures that I’ve taken over the last month. I’m still loving putting the boys in matching clothes when ever I can get away with it (it’s always just matching prints rather than completely identical outfits though) and I love this pineapple print from Maxomorra that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.

Toby and Gabe in matching pineapple print clothes

These robots are Maxomorra too and this picture was when we were at my mum and dad’s house on my birthday. I think this is one of my favourite ever pictures of Toby and Gabe Read more

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73 Questions in 7 meals

Way back in March I was tagged by Lynette at Reclusive Fox to answer Vogue’s 73 Questions. Well, I’ve finally got round to doing it! Rather than just sit in front of the camera to ask and answer the questions myself I roped Barry in to help. And to hopefully make it a bit more interesting I decided to film it over seven nights while I was eating my tea!

So if you want to hear my answers to the 73 questions, and see what I ate for a week then please do have a watch below. And yes, one of the meals was turkey dinosaurs and chips – don’t judge me!

Read more

- Sarah 75 Comments

Introducing Shake That Weight // Giveaway

Here we go again… Yes, I am once again attempting to lose some weight. Having had two babies in the last four years, and pretty much not had a full night’s sleep in all that time I am currently about two and a half stone more than I would like to be. I know I need to change my eating habits and my attitude to food if I am ever going to lose weight and keep it off but with so much to lose I would like a bit of a kick start first. And so when Shake That Weight got in touch and asked if I would like to try their products I was happy to give it a try.

Shake That Weight is a meal replacement diet, and although I am familiar with this kind of diet and have tried them before they all work a little differently. There is a tool on the Shake That Weight website which enables you to put in your height, weight and exercise levels and they will recommend which of their plans would work best for you.

Shake That Weight Products

The tool recommended the Woman Plan for me, which is a Total Food Replacement plan. This means four Shake That Weight products a day and no ‘conventional’ food. Read more

- Sarah 18 Comments

When you don’t get the job

I’m a teacher by trade but I have yet to return to teaching since having Gabe 22 months ago. I actually started my maternity leave almost two years ago because I finished work at the start of the summer holidays and Gabe wasn’t born until 6 weeks later.

Had we stayed in Scotland the chances are I would have gone back to work last August but because we moved to England last July I have yet to find another suitable teaching job.

The boys go to nursery two days a week. Initially we paid for it with a combination of Toby’s funded hours and the childcare vouchers I saved up whilst on maternity leave. Once they ran out Barry signed up to get childcare vouchers from his work and we get by with the little bit that I earn from this blog.

But at some point I need to go back to work. Toby starts school in September so that will make things easier in terms of finances (but not so much when it comes to logistics) and although we can survive just on Barry’s wage we can’t really justify Gabe going to nursery any more if I’m not working. The thing is, I think nursery is really good for him…and I think I would go a little bit insane if I had to look after him all the time! I know lots of people do, but the stay at home mum life is just not for me. Not seven days a week at least.

The ideal compromise would be a part time teaching job. Unfortunately these seem to be few and far between. A couple of weeks ago though I was contacted by one of the recruitment agencies asking if I was interested in a job at a local school. It was three days a week, only teaching up to Year 9, and at an independent school so class sizes were small too. It sounded perfect! Read more

- Sarah 7 Comments

Living Arrows 24/52 (2017)

I’m a bit late with my Living Arrows post this week – there are a couple of reasons for this. I normally write my post on a Sunday night but last night I was preparing for an interview I had today. It was for a part time teaching job starting in September – I’ll hopefully hear tomorrow if I’ve got it but it seemed to go well so fingers crossed!

The other reason I didn’t do my post last night though was that I just didn’t have any photographs of the boys to use! We didn’t do much last week or over the weekend and I didn’t get the camera out and I didn’t even have any usable pictures on my phone.

So anyway, when I got home from the interview today I got the camera out and snapped a few pictures – we’ve not had any close ups for a while and I really like the ones I managed to get today.

‘Toby being cheeky and hiding behind the curtain

Toby’s behaviour has been a bit all over the place the last week. Read more

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Remembering Childhood // Pondering Parenthood

It’s that time of week when another blogger is going to be sharing their childhood memories. This week’s Remembering Childhood comes from Jules at Pondering Parenthood.

Which decade were you born in?

The 1980s. Decade of Margaret Thatcher, the walkman and Ford Escorts.

What is your earliest memory? How old were you?

I think my earliest memory was when I was around four years old. It was my uncle’s wedding and I was a bridesmaid. Strangely, I have no recollection of the bride or the wedding itself, but I do vividly remember my grandmother being helped down a set of steps to a wedding car. It’s funny the things that stick in the mind! I think I must have been worrying that she might fall (she didn’t, thankfully!).

What was your favourite toy at 5 years old? At 10?

At age five, I definitely remember having a red plastic Snoopy lunchbox, in which I kept my prized collection of Neigbours cards! I remember my friend’s mum picking me up from school and she would always take me and my friend to the shop on the way home, to choose some sweets. I always politely declined the sweets but asked for a packet of Neighbours cards instead! I’m still a Neighbours fan now, nearly thirty years on!

Pondering Parenthood

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- Sarah 1 Comment

Potty training // 8 months on

Like most things parenting related potty training was something I had no idea about. I’d heard of kids being out of nappies before their second birthdays and others being closer to four before they potty trained. As with most other things we took a fairly relaxed approach to getting Toby out of nappies, and let him take the lead.

He had no interest in the potty for a long time. We had one in the house from him being about two I think and he would occasionally sit on it fully clothed but wouldn’t entertain the idea of sitting on it with a bare bottom. I wrote back in October about our reluctant potty trainer – at that point he was three and three months and although we had finally got him weeing on the potty at home he was still insisting on wearing nappies.

I realised I have never written an update about what happened next…so here it is. A week or two after I wrote the last post Toby decided he would wear pants instead of his nappy and once he had made the decision that was that really.

Toby in the early days of potty training

For the first five months or so we hardly had any accidents. He was still wearing a nappy at night at first, and it was often wet when I took it off in the morning. But I realised if I took it off as soon as he woke up it was actually dry, and he was doing a wee in it once he was already up. Read more

- Sarah 6 Comments

Living Arrows 23/52 (2017)

Seriously, where is the time going? I can’t believe we’re in June already and almost half way through the year. It’s seems like I write another Livings Arrows post every three days!

This week’s picture of Toby was taken at home on Thursday while Gabe was having a nap. Can you believe he’s four next month and I have never let him paint at home! I’m really not a big fan of mess and I knew it wouldn’t be fun for either of us with me hovering over him trying to avoid any spills.

But he’s nearly four though, and he doesn’t really like getting messy either, so we gave it a go. And it was great. He spent some time mixing colours to see what happened, then we made a butterfly picture by putting paint on one side of the paper and folding it in half. Finally we made some art for our kitchen wall by putting red and yellow paint on some canvases, covering them in clingfilm then splodging it all together. And I’m actually pretty impressed with them! Anyway, it was a great success – I’m not sure how long it will be before I let Gabe get in on the painting action though!

Toby painting at home

Gabe’s picture was taken on Friday Read more

- Sarah 2 Comments

What Toby & Gabe Wore // The Bunting Tree

This week’s What Toby & Gabe wore features two awesome tees from The Bunting Tree. The boys have had these since Christmas but I’ve only just got round to taking some pictures of them both in them. In fact they did appear in a Siblings post back in January but only in one picture (and how much have the boys grown in the last six months?!)

Toby playing DJ with my phone

The Bunting Tree is owned and run by Emma, a mum of two who started making organic clothing to help her son’s eczema. When she first started Emma made the clothes herself, Toby actually had some of her leggings a few years ago (which Gabe is now wearing). She has now moved on to designing fabric and out sourcing the manufacturing but the clothes are still made from organic fabric and ethically produced in India.

We had a quiet day at home yesterday but after Gabe woke up from his nap I decided we could probably do with burning off some energy. So we put some music on my phone Read more