17 September , 2016 - Sarah 1 Comment

A modern makeover for your child’s bedroom

*This is a collaborative post

I know everyone with children says it, but kids really do grow up so quickly and my two are no exception. No sooner is the nursery decorated and prepared for the arrival of a new born, than it is time to redecorate to accommodate the growing child who sees the nursery décor as just too babyish. In an ideal world, you will probably get a good few years out of the nursery decor, but as your child grows and establishes his or her own preferences (Bing bunny anyone?), it becomes apparent that the cute border and cot bed are no longer up to your child’s impeccable standards! As we have just moved house and the boys have started sharing a room it meant we left Toby’s old nursery behind and had to decorate a new room for them both. If you want to ensure you aren’t continuously redecorating it is a good idea to choose a modern theme that will also see your child into the forthcoming years. As we have just faced the same dilemma ourselves, I thought I’d share a little of my research with you – I hope it helps!

A Bed that dreams are made of

Kids change their minds on a whim and although they may have once insisted they will love their themed bed forever, you can be certain that they won’t. Instead of going for fads, invest in a durable bed which will stand the test of time and entertain their whims with themed duvet covers instead. Toby is currently in a full size single bed but I think a three quarter sized metal bed is a great idea for older kids as it will see them through until their teen years, and all you will have to do is change the mattress every few years. Small doubles (also known as three quarter size beds) are a great way to make your child feel a little more grown up and don’t take up as much room as a full-sized double. I’ve taken quite a fancy to the Bedstar range of small double beds as they are well within our price range and are really quite stylish.

Storage is a must!

The one mistake parents often make when buying furniture for their child’s bedroom is to think in miniature: small wardrobes, tiny desks, and incy wincy bookshelves. These may look great for a while, but are completely impractical for a growing child. Buy a full sized wardrobe that will fit their increasing clothes collection and install bookshelves that won’t look childish in years to come. We’ve actually just bought a new triple wardrobe (which is currently in our bedroom) for all the boys clothes. Storage will encourage your child to put things away which will make any parent happy! After all, you can’t complain about a messy room if they have nowhere to put all their stuff, can you?

Keep them involved

Giving your child a say in their newly styled bedroom will make them more willing to take care of it, so let them know early on what they can select for their room. Pictures, bedding and accessories such as bean bags and cushions are easily changed so allow them to choose items such as these which reflect their own personal tastes. Letting your child make decisions like these can also make the process a lot more enjoyable too, and not just for your child, but for you too, so be prepared to compromise – just a little! Toby isn’t really old enough to have much of an opinion yet but we did let him decide whether to stick with the space theme from our old house or choose something new. He stuck with space and I’ll be sharing a full room tour as soon as we’ve managed to get the shelves up and add the last few finishing touches.

15 September , 2016 - Sarah 5 Comments

Siblings // Toby and Gabe in September

I haven’t got much new to add in this month’s Siblings Project post. Toby is tolerating Gabe slightly more, and Gabe still wants to do everything his big brother is doing.

We are still having odd moments when they actually manage to play together but more often than not Toby just gets annoyed when Gabe crawls all over whatever he is trying to play with, or tries to eat the pieces of whatever toy he has. I know it will only get better as they both get a bit older but for now, playing referee is driving me a bit bonkers!

I haven’t managed to get many pictures of my boys together this month but here’s a few that I did capture…

Looking out over the balcony together – Gabe is getting so big now but I think it will be a while yet before he catches Toby up!

Toby ‘helping’ Gabe play with some of his birthday presents.

Toby pushing his brother on the swing – I had to intervene when he got a bit over enthusiastic though!

And that’s it for this month. I’m hoping next month I might be able to write even more about how Toby and Gabe are playing together. I really think it will help when Gabe starts walking, although then Toby will have even less chance of being left alone…

12 September , 201611 September , 2016 - Sarah 8 Comments

Living Arrows 37/52 (2016)

You can tell it hasn’t been a great week when I haven’t posted anything since last week’s Living Arrows. Gabe’s sleep has been rubbish (even more rubbish than usual) thanks to his hand, foot and mouth, and I think possibly teeth as well. He’s gone right off his milk as well, and hasn’t been eating very well either so then he’s been even more grumpy because he’s hungry. Add to that we haven’t really been able to go anywhere because of him being contagious…

Toby has been pretty good this week though, despite being stuck in the house for a few days. We think he might have a very mild case of hand, foot and mouth too – he had one spot on his tongue for a day, and a very slight temperature but otherwise seems OK. Fingers crossed that’s it for him.

This week’s photos are more living room shots – we’ve not really been anywhere to take any others. I usually only do one picture of each boy for Living Arrows but this week I just couldn’t choose so they’ve got two each.

This first one is Gabe looking very serious. He’s not always grumpy but he’s definitely not as smiley a baby as Toby was.

And this is his other new face… I’m not sure if it’s a smile or a growl but it’s cute either way!

I usually share very smiley pictures of Toby so I’m going for something slightly different this week. Our new house has a balcony but it needs replacing and at the moment isn’t really safe to go out on. We’ve moved the play pen in front of the door now though so at least we can have the door open and let a bit of air in without anyone escaping! Toby was enjoying looking out over the fields with his big bunny this week.

And this last one is another close up but I just liked his expression…

7 September , 2016 - Sarah 3 Comments

Living Arrows 36/52 (2016)

If you read last week’s post you’ll know that Gabe had been ill with a cough which ended up causing a reflux flare. We then had a couple of days where he seemed OK followed by a few rubbish nights which I put down to teething. Then I was just about to leave him at nursery yesterday when the girls noticed he had some spots on his hands…yep, he’s only gone and got hand, foot and mouth disease! Seriously, this boy cannot catch a break. He’s actually coping with it surprisingly well so I’m just hoping he gets over it quickly and that the rest of us don’t catch it too.

This photo was taken last week before the latest illness struck. We found a new park to go to with plenty of things for Toby to do, and some swings for Gabe too. Just look at his little face…

Things are much the same with Toby. He’s doing well to sleep through all Gabe’s wakings, he’s still whinging and whining a lot of the time, but he’s also a big lovely cheeky chops.

2 September , 201623 October , 2019 - Sarah Leave a comment

My top 5 weaning essentials

We’re now six months into our weaning journey with Gabe and although we’ve hit a few bumps along the way we are slowing getting there. Having now weaned two babies I thought I’d share my top five weaning essentials with you…

Highchair

Even though we waited until 6 months to start weaning with Toby and Gabe they were both still a bit unsteady when sitting so needed a highchair that would support them. We used the IKEA Antilop with them both which was fab; very cheap and very easy to clean too. My only gripe with it is that it doesn’t fold and so takes up quite a lot of room. The Babymoov Light Wood high chair that we reviewed recently and are using with Gabe is fab in that respect. I also like that it’s the perfect height for Gabe to be able to sit up at the table with the rest of the family but still use the tray of the high chair.

Messy mat

Even if you’re not going full-on baby led weaning there’s no denying that weaning is messy however you do it, and food will end up on the floor. In both our houses we’ve had carpet in the area we eat so a mat to protect the floor has been essential. I know a lot of people use a plastic shower curtain, we’ve had various bits of PVC material bought from the fabric department at Dunelm – this is what we’re using at the moment as it meant I could get one piece big enough to go under both Gabe and Toby’s chairs. You can also get lots of purpose made weaning mats like this one from Messy Me that we reviewed recently.

Spoons

You don’t need lots of fancy equipment for weaning but I would say soft baby spoons are pretty essential. Of course you could just use an ordinary teaspoon but I know both my boys have really liked to chew on their spoons and I would worry about them hurting themselves on a metal one. We like these silicone spoons from Munchkin – Gabe definitely likes giving them a good old chomp!

Bowls

Again you could just use any bowl you happen to have but I’ve found that plastic bowls are great for when they inevitably get thrown on the floor. Lidded bowls are also very handy for storing left overs in the fridge or for when you are out and about. These bowls from Babymoov are the perfect size for babies and toddlers and they’re stackable so easy to store too.

Bibs

A good bib is essential when you are weaning unless you want to spend all your time washing food covered clothes. Even Toby still wears a bib at three when he’s eating cereal or anything that might drip or splash just because it makes my life easier. For babyled weaning a complete coverall bib is fantastic and I really like the Close Parent Coverall bibs and had a couple of them we used on rotation. We also use these from Silly Bibz which are a great size, fold up small for eating out and both boys seems to find them comfortable and don’t try to pull them off which is a bonus!

I also wanted to mention one non-essential but very useful product – especially if you are going down the more traditional puree route with weaning…

Steamer/Blender

Of course you don’t actually need a steamer/blender specifically designed for babies. You can steam things in a pan or in the microwave and use any kind of blender to make your purees. However, we’ve been trying out the Nutribaby from Babymoov and it is a great little piece of kit. It is quite small so doesn’t take up tons of room on the worktop. The steamer can be used to heat and sterilise bottles or warm baby food, as well as actually cooking food. The blender is a really good size and has some great features – for example it’s impossible to turn the blender on without the lid clicked into place…great for those baby brain moments! I’ll be sharing a few ways we’ve been using the Nutribaby over the next couple of months.

So there you have it – my top five weaning essentials (and one non-essential). Is there anything else that you’ve found invaluable when weaning?

**Disclosure: We were sent some of the products featured in this post as a part of our role as Babymoov Ambassadors on the #stresslessweaning program. As always, all opinions are my own.

31 August , 201621 December , 2017 - Sarah 4 Comments

Me & Mine // A Family Portrait (August 2016)

I normally start these monthly Me & Mine posts by saying how quickly the month has gone but actually this month it seems an absolute age since I published July’s post. Since then we have actually moved into our new house and spent a month unpacking boxes and trying to find a place for everything to go. We’re still not quite finished but we’re getting there and there’s only really one room of chaos left!

In other firsts this month, it was Gabe’s first birthday a couple of weeks ago – so we’ve made it through our first full year as a family of four. And look how different we were a year ago!

Although we didn’t really do anything to celebrate Gabe’s birthday (not even a cake – bad mummy!) he seemed to enjoy opening his presents and we are hoping to have some sort of house warming/ birthday party sometime in September.

Toby and Gabe have both started going to their new nursery this month too. They go two days a week, which is supposedly to give me time to do house stuff and perhaps even a bit of blogging. I have managed to do quite a lot of organising in the house, the blogging not so much! And today I even signed up with a supply agency so hopefully I might be heading back to the classroom fairly soon. I wanted to get the boys settled in nursery before the start of the school year so that if some work does come up they are already settled in and it isn’t all a last minute rush. They are both doing really well, and the staff seem great so I’m very pleased with how it’s all gone.

Barry started his new (old) job this month too so is currently commuting to Manchester every day. It means some long days for him – he leaves the house at 6 am but is usually back not longer after 5 pm so most days we are managing to eat together and put the boys to bed. I know it’s really hard for him though, because he only really sees the boys for that couple of hours before bed when they’re tired and grumpy. He will eventually be working from home two days a week though so hopefully things will get a bit easier then.

I think that’s probably about it for this month. We’ve just been busy getting to know the local area, realising walking to the park and back is just that bit too far for Toby and I will end up having to carry him, and generally just trying to get ourselves into a new routine.

I mentioned last month that I wanted to take this month’s Me & Mine posts on the bench in our garden and my plan is that every August we will take a family picture in the same place so we can compare how things change from year to year.

We took 194 pictures while we were sat here (Toby did have control of the remote for some of the time which might explain it) and luckily, amongst them all we did get one nice one where everyone is almost smiling and looking vaguely in the direction of the camera!

We also got these lovely ones of Toby pulling faces…

And this one of me tickling the boys, which I actually love…

Until next month then…

31 August , 201631 August , 2016 - Sarah Leave a comment

What is colic in babies?

*This is a collaborative post

According to the NHS website ‘colic is the name for excessive, frequent crying in a baby who appears to be otherwise healthy. It’s a common problem that affects up to one in five babies.’ This crying usually happens in the evening and can go on for several hours at a time. There are some other indicators that your baby may be suffering from colic; baby draws knees up to his chest, baby has a swollen stomach, baby passes wind more than usual. If your baby has some or all of these symptoms then it is likely that they are suffering with colic.

It isn’t really know what causes colic – it may be trapped wind, indigestion or some other discomfort but the truth is that no one really knows. As long as your baby is gaining weight, feeding normally and seems otherwise well then colic is usually nothing to worry about. Most babies will grow out of colic when they are between four and six months old.

However, there may be other causes for excessive crying in babies. I have had two babies with reflux and I know that in the past reflux was often dismissed as colic when in fact it is something which can be treated with medication if necessary. Things like allergies and intolerance can also present with similar symptoms. If you are at all worried you should always speak to your GP or health visitor.

So having said that colic isn’t usually something to worry about it doesn’t make it any easier to live with. I know how heart breaking, and exhausting it can be to deal with a baby that won’t stop crying for hours on end. I have been there so many times…rocking, pacing, singing, pushing, shushing…doing everything I can think of to try and get my babies to stop crying.

There are a few things you can try though to try and ease the symptoms of colic;

try to make sure you are winding your baby thoroughly after every feed.
an over the counter remedy such as Infacol may help to release trapped wind.
carrying your baby in a sling can really help to calm them – being upright against the warmth of your body can be very comforting. I can remember spending hours with Toby in a stretchy wrap walking up and down the living room to get him to settle.
a walk in the pram or a drive in the car can sometimes help.
white noise works brilliantly for some babies – you can get apps for your phone, or why not try the vacuum cleaner, a hairdryer or the washing machine. I have sat both my boys in their bouncy chairs in front of the washing machine before now!
baby massage can be very comforting for a baby, and also help to release trapped wind. I went to a baby massage course run by my local health visitors but there are lots of videos available online too.

Colic can be awful to live with, both for you and your baby, especially if you don’t have a lot of support. If you can then do speak to your partner, family and friends and take whatever help you can get. Even getting someone to take the baby out for a walk for half an hour while you have a shower, or a nap, or even just sit and stare into space with a hot cup of tea, can make the world of difference!

29 August , 201628 August , 2016 - Sarah 3 Comments

Gabriel is one year old

One year old already! Well actually it was Gabe’s birthday a week and a half ago but you know, life. Seriously though, I don’t know where the time goes. It doesn’t seem two minutes since I was high on gas and air, laughing because the midwife could see my bum, while Barry fed me jelly babies…and then Gabriel was born on our living room floor looking the absolute image of Toby when he was born.

And yet here we are, one year later. In a different house, a long way from the living room where that home birth happened.

I’m not going to pretend it’s been an easy year. With reflux, endless coughs and colds, chicken pox and the inevitable teething, Gabe has not had the easiest first year. There hasn’t been a huge amount of sleep for any one and I reckon I must have spent at least 50% of the last year rocking, pacing, pushing, driving, singing… doing anything I could to get Gabe to go to sleep and stay asleep. Things are slowly improving but he has still only ever slept through the night twice, and one of those was when he was about four months old. I know things will get better eventually – Toby didn’t really sleep well until he was two and a half and now he sleeps from 8 pm until 8 am nearly every night with the odd wake up every couple of weeks for a bad dream.

Apart from the sleep thing though (oh, and the not eating, but we’ll get to that later) Gabe is doing great. He’s developing a proper little personality now, he loves playing peekaboo and has just discovered the hilarious game of hiding under one of Toby’s muslins. He’s not walking or standing unaided yet, but he can crawl super fast, pulls himself up on everything and is cruising like a demon. He’s just like Toby though and won’t walk, or even stay standing if you hold his hands. He wants to do it by himself, his way.

He’s started being much more independent with his play too, and will happily go and get a toy (or all the toys!) out of one of the boxes and sit and play by himself. We’ve even started to get a few moments of Toby and Gabe actually playing together, or at least playing side by side without trying to grab things off each other so that’s a start!

Gabe loves babbling away to himself too, and anyone who is listening – favourite words are still hiya and dada but just this week he has started saying mama too which is very cute. He still has a dummy for sleeping but he’s not that fussed for it the rest of the time and will usually take it out himself if we forget.

Weaning though, is slow going and we seem to have really regressed in the last few weeks. Gabe has always been quite fussy about food, which I think is probably related to his reflux. After seeing the consultant before we left Scotland though his reflux seems to be pretty much under control but still Gabe hardly eats any solid food. He was doing really well with eating for a while – I’ll admit he was mostly eating shop bought pouches, but he would eat some finger foods too. In the last month or so though he has decided he doesn’t really like being spoon fed so I have been giving him bits of what we are eating but he hardly touches that either. He still likes fruit pouches and he sucks it straight from the pouch himself. He’ll usually eat banana, and rice cakes, and bizarrely Linda McCartney sausages, but that’s about the only things he’s guaranteed to eat. He still has three bottles during the day and usually one in the night. I did try reducing his milk a bit but all that seemed to do was make him constipated and grumpy. He’s still growing and putting on weight fine so I guess I just need to keep offering him different things and hope that one day he gets an appetite. He’s just so different to Toby who has always had a massive appetite and when he was one he ate almost anything you put in front of him. I know I shouldn’t really compare them anyway. Gabe is nowhere near as big as Toby was at this age so maybe he just doesn’t need as much food as he did.

We didn’t really have any celebrations for Gabe’s birthday – in fact he went to nursery on his birthday so we just did some present opening when Barry got home from work. My mum and dad are on holiday at the moment and Barry’s mum has just had an operation on her back so we’re planning on having a bit of a house warming/ birthday party for both boys when everybody will be able to come.

Of course Gabe thought the wrapping paper was way more interesting than the presents, and Toby did plenty of helping with the unwrapping too!

So there we are – my baby boy is one. We definitely aren’t planning on any more babies so this will be the last time I write a one year update. I know lots of people feel sad when they realise there aren’t going to be any more babies but I can only be happy we’ve got through the last year and look forward to all the adventures that are still to come. And sleep. I’m looking forward to one day, hopefully one day soon, actually getting a full night’s sleep again.

29 August , 201628 August , 2016 - Sarah 7 Comments

Living Arrows 35/52 (2016)

It’s not been the best week since my last Living Arrows post. Gabe has been ill again (of course he has, he went to nursery) – it started with a cough and a runny nose but we had two nights when his temperature dropped to 34° which was a bit worrying.

We ended up calling 111 on Wednesday night but they didn’t seem to think there was anything to be concerned about, and neither did the GP when we saw him the next day. On Thursday night though Gabe coughed himself sick which I think triggered a reflux flare and he couldn’t keep anything down for about 24 hours. He was awake from 11:30 pm until 3 am and it was only when I took him out in the car that he finally fell asleep.

He’s been quite grumpy the last few days but has had some mega-naps and seems to be keeping his milk down again. He’s hardly eating any solid food though and it will probably be a while before he properly gets any appetite back.

He did start saying mama this week though which is very cute, although I’m under no illusions that he is actually referring to me when he says it.

On top of Gabe being poorly Toby’s behaviour has become quite challenging in the last few weeks – we have definitely entered the threenager stage! I think we’ve had it easy with him up until now, the terrible twos never really materialised for us but Toby is just constantly pushing boundaries these days; refusing to do as he’s asked, ignoring us when we tell him not to do things, running off, crying about everything…the list goes on. I know this is just par for the course but it’s so frustrating when he just blatantly ignores things, or does the exact opposite of what he’s been asked.

I know he’s having to process a lot of changes at the moment too; new house, new nursery, new routine and I do try and think about that when he’s running off in the supermarket, or knocking Gabe over for the tenth time that day but it’s just so hard not to be cross and shout at him. Hopefully things will settle down a bit when he gets more settled and used to the new way of things.

He’s still his same sweet, funny, cheeky, happy boy a lot of the time though. I mean just look at him…it’s hard to stay cross with that face.

28 August , 2016 - Sarah 1 Comment

A morning with Dyson and Currys PC World

Last weekend Toby and I were lucky enough to be invited by Dyson and Currys PC World to spend a few hours at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester learning all about some of the products in the Dyson range and taking part in the #DysonChallenge.

Toby was hugely excited because it was his first time on a train. To add to the excitement we even got to see a steam train waiting at Preston station! I’ll admit I was slightly worried about taking Toby to Manchester on my own but he was really well behaved all day and even managed most of the walk from the station and back with only a little bit of ‘carry me’!

When we arrived at MOSI we received a warm welcome and saw some of the other kids were already getting into a bit of vacuuming. There were two Dyson engineers there to tell us all about some of the unique features of their products that Dyson is renowned for.

First up was the Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal Cylinder Bagless Vacuum Cleaner – the Cinetic Big Ball cleaner uses cyclone technology to pick up even the tiniest of particles, and because there are no filters there is no loss of suction and no messy cleaning. After feedback from their customers Dyson have also improved the way in which the cylinder is emptied – at the press of a single button the cylinder opens and also a silicone ring is pushed down over the central mesh filter to remove any stuck on fluff or hair. This, along with the lack of filters to clean, really sold me on the Big Ball Animal cleaner. We currently have a bagless vacuum from another manufacturer which has a HEPA filter and I bought it because I have all sorts of allergies and it is supposed to suck them all up. It actually works really well but when I empty it and have to clean the filter I always get covered in a cloud of all the stuff it has vacuumed up and end up sneezing for hours after, which kind of defeats the object of having the fancy filter in the first place!

The other unique feature of the Dyson Big Ball Cinetic Cylinder cleaner is its self-righting technology. No matter what you do to push the ball over (and plenty of the kids tried) it always tips back to be the right way up. Our first #DysonChallenge was to make an egg that demonstrated this self righting technology. Toby had great fun decorating his egg (with a little help from me) and then sticking blu- tac and ball bearings in the bottom to make his own little weeble.

The other product that the engineers talked to us about was the Dyson Pure Cool Link Tower Air Purifier. This air purifier can remove 99.5% of allergens and pollutants from the air. It uses Dyson’s bladeless technology and has 10 different settings, including a night mode. The Pure Cool Link Tower Air Purifier has a remote control also has its own app which allows you to monitor the air in your home. You can even check the air quality while you’re out and turn the purifier on before you get home!

Our second #DysonChallenge was to make a pinwheel so we could see just how well the fan works. Toby enjoyed decorating his pinwheel and then holding it up to the fan and watching it spin. It looked like all the kids (and adults) really enjoyed the challenges and it was great to see them engaging with the science behind the Dyson products.

Everyone definitely had a lot of fun making flour, coffee and glitter stencils and then vacuuming them up too. There were some of Dyson’s handheld cordless cleaners there for them to try too and it was amazing to see how easy they were to use for even the littlest kids – even Toby had a go!

We had a great time with Dyson and Currys PC World, and after a tasty lunch we even got a chance to have a look round some of the museum before it was time for another train ride home.

If I’m honest I was never really sure whether Dyson products were worth the money but having seen them in action I have definitely been converted! Toby had a fantastic time too and couldn’t wait to show his egg to his daddy when he got home.

**Disclosure: We were invited to attend this event by Dyson and Currys PC World and received a goody bag and gift for our time. As always, all opinions are my own.

Toby Goes Bananas

A family lifestyle blog

Author: Sarah