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I was looking through some old photos on my laptop and came across these pictures from my childhood that I must have scanned at some point. I share so many photos of Toby and Gabe here that I thought you might be interested to see what I looked like as a baby.
This first photo is me and my brother. He is exactly two years older than me (our birthdays are the next day to each other) and I reckon in this photo I must have been about five months and he was nearly two and a half. I love my brother’s 70’s bowl cut and mushroom jumper!
The next photo was taken at playschool when I was two I think. Read more
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Although I would have loved to have kept breastfeeding both my boys until they no longer needed me to, it didn’t happen for us for a variety of reasons. I wrote about my breastfeeding story with Toby here, and the moment I realised my time breastfeeding Gabe was coming to an end here. I am very grateful for the fact that follow on formula exists and that I was able to feed Toby and Gabe in a way that worked for us.
We started weaning both boys at six months and followed a combination of spoon feeding and babyled weaning. It took Toby a month or two to really get the hang of eating solids but after that he would eat pretty much anything I put in front of him. He would eat the same foods as us and I was happy that he was getting all the nutrients and vitamins that he needed.
Gabe was a different story though – Read more
You might have read or watched the tour of our new kitchen diner recently and perhaps wondered how it fits into the rest of our house. The kitchen is at the front of the house which is a little unusual but in fact our whole house is a little unusual!
We moved here from a three bedroom new build up in Scotland last August, and although I had seen lots of pictures I hadn’t actually seen the house until we got the keys. Which was perhaps a little bit silly, and put a lot of pressure on Barry who had seen the house, but I was confident we had made the right decision. Read more
Toby and Gabe have both had reflux. Toby’s was silent, meaning he wasn’t sick, and was diagnosed at six weeks. With Gabe I recognised the signs much sooner (with him the vast amounts of vomit were also a clue!) and he was on medication by two weeks old. But how do you know when your baby has grown out of reflux?
Well, if your little one is on medication for reflux then the only way to see if they have grown out of it, as opposed to the symptoms just being well controlled by the medication, is to stop giving it to them and see what happens.
In fact dealing with reflux in babies and toddlers is all just trial and error, because they can’t tell you what’s wrong, what hurts, what helps – and as the parent of children who have suffered with reflux it is incredibly frustrating and it can make you feel as guilty as hell.
We were incredibly lucky that despite both Toby and Gabe having reflux neither of them have had any allergies. Read more
It’s that time of week when another blogger is going to be sharing their childhood memories. This week’s Remembering Childhood comes from Claire at Life, Love and Dirty Dishes.
Which decade were you born in?
The seventies. Although it was 1979 so I can’t say I really remember anything about the seventies. I’m more of an eighties child.
What is your earliest memory? How old were you?
Being in an orange paddling pool in the garden. According to my mum I was two, as our dog Barney punctured the paddling pool. I have no recollection of our dog Barney. I believe he went to live on a farm!
What was your favourite toy at 5 years old? At 10?
At 5 it would have been my doll Amy. She came everywhere with me. It was one of those dolls with hard limbs and head but a soft body. I used to think she looked just like a real baby. At 10 it was probably my Walkman! I was probably listening to Jason Donovan and Tiffany on it, or some dodgy recordings from the chart show.
Do you still have any toys from your childhood?
Read more
Choosing a baby name is possibly one of the most difficult decisions you’ll have to make. I always like to hear stories about how people chose their baby’s name so I thought I’d share with you how we found Toby’s name.
Before we had the 20 week scan and found out we were having a boy I had already thought of lots of names I liked but most of them were girls’ names. After the scan I still kept coming up with girl’s names but couldn’t really find any inspiration for boys’ names. There are so many things to think of when choosing a name for your baby and we knew there were a few things that were important to us… Read more
If you read my Siblings post last month (or any of my many Instagram updates on the subject) then you will know that the constant bickering between Toby and Gabe has been driving me insane… but I think we may be finally seeing the light.
They still fight like crazy but there seem to be a few more moments of playing together – Toby has realised that he can make Gabe laugh, and is also taking great pleasure in trying to teach him new words. The other morning over breakfast we were trying – ‘Gabe say apple’, ‘Gabe say mummy’, Gabe say ‘flamingo’ – I think that last one might have been a step slightly too far!
This month’s Siblings photos are just a random selection that I’ve taken since last month’s update. First up this one when we got the water table out for the first time this year. This one is actually pretty good because they can have a side each, although after a few minutes they were both just filling cups from a bucket and pouring them over the garden.
I took this next picture when we went to feed the ducks the other week. Read more
It’s been another uneventful week this week, although I have no idea where time is going at the moment, it’s just absolutely flying by!
Toby’s photo this week was taken when I was trying to get some pictures for my What Toby Wore post. He’s going through a phase of not really wanting to pose for photos, and if he will stand still he just pulls silly faces. So I got him to go to the far edge of the garden, put the camera in sport mode, got him to run towards me, kept pressing the shutter and hoped something would turn out at least in focus!
And I got this…
I think I’ll be trying the run at the camera and hope method again! Read more
I’m back with another What Toby Wore post today. When Toby was about 10 months old I came across a whole world of fabulous kids clothes beyond the high street and the supermarket, where most of his clothes came from up to that point. I can’t really remember how I discovered them but suddenly I fell down the rabbit hole of independent retailers and boys clothes that weren’t all blue and grey!
One of the first things I bought from an independent retailer was these Indikidual banana leggings from the lovely Jenny at KyNa Boutique. And the fab thing about buying from independent retailers is that you get a really personal service. The clothes always arrive beautifully packaged, super quickly, and postage and packing is usually free!
So anyway, it was a sad day when Toby grew out of these leggings Read more
Not far from the A6, between Garstang and Preston you will find Brock Bottom picnic site. It’s a name I remember from my childhood and I’m sure I must have been there before but I don’t remember it. We are always looking for new places to explore with the boys so armed with a picnic and the camera we set off on Sunday to see what was there.
Unfortunately the information board which should have been on this stone was missing but if had been there it would have told us that this was the site of Brock Mill, a cotton mill built in the 1790s, along with 20 workers’ cottages. We actually didn’t see the remains of the mill as we set off in the opposite direction but I’m sure we’ll find them next time.
There is quite a small (but free) car park at Brock Bottom which was full when we arrived. We didn’t have to wait long for someone to leave so we could get a space though. There are a fair few picnic tables around the edge of the car park, and they all have a metal plate on the end where you can use disposable barbecues. On the disposable note though, there are no bins in the picnic area so be prepared to take your rubbish home with you. Read more
