Author: Sarah

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Living Arrows 47/52 (2015)

Last week, and over the weekend, we have been visiting my parents down in Blackpool. This was mostly in order to try and further our relocation plans and hopefully there might be some exciting news to share with you on that front soon.

It was lovely to see Toby with his Grandma and Granddad though – as I’ve mentioned before he doesn’t see any of his grandparents very often but at least now he remember them and we don’t have to go through the ‘settling in’ period every time we do see them. Toby doesn’t always cope well with being out of his routine but he was great while we were away (and so was Gabe actually) – he even slept in a ‘big boy’ bed for the first time without any issues which has made us realise we really should get round to moving him out of his cot at home soon too.

We’ve all had horrible colds and coughs over the last few weeks too, apart from Gabe who miraculously seems to have escaped with little more than a slightly snotty nose. Barry and I are still struggling with coughs but it’s Toby who seems to be suffering the most; he’s still coughing and hasn’t been eating very well either, which isn’t like him at all. In fact, it has just occurred to me that the cold might be causing a reflux flare which could explain why he hasn’t been eating very much.

Anyway, here’s hoping we are all fully recovered by next week. With Christmas not very far away now the last thing we need is everyone being ill!

With being away I didn’t have much chance to get the big camera out so this week’s photo of Toby is a slight cheat in that it was actually taken the weekend before when we were baking. I love how serious he looks here; baking obviously takes a lot of concentration!

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This photo of Gabe I just took today – Toby was at nursery so I actually got a chance to just spend a bit of time playing with Gabe, and taking photos! This one just made me smile because even at three months he looks like he’s already perfected his ‘enough with the camera in my face mum’ expression.

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And lastly just a quick thank you to Donna at What the Redhead Said for hosting Living Arrows this week, and for featuring one of my pictures too.

Living Arrows
- Sarah 4 Comments

Gabriel is three months old

I swear it was only two minutes since I was writing Gabe’s two month update – time really does fly with a baby in the house! So what has Gabe been getting up to now he’s three months old?

three months old

He continues to grow, although he’s not quite as big as Toby was at the same age. I had him weighed nearly two weeks ago and he was 12lb 1oz so I’m sure he’s more than that now. He’s also moving into all 3-6 month clothes, after growing out of the last of the bigger 0-3 month sleepsuits. We just got a bag of Toby’s old clothes down out of the loft so I’m going to swap everything over tomorrow…and then see if I can justify any more shopping, but I think probably not!

Although I said in Gabe’s two month update that I had finished breastfeeding altogether I actually carried on giving the odd comfort feed for a few more weeks and I think he was close to 11 weeks when he had his last breastfeed. He is now usually having five bottles a day, and amazingly for the last three nights he hasn’t had a night feed at all! Yep, he has slept from 7 pm to around 6 am for the last three nights! I am under no illusion that this is likely to be a permanent situation, after all Toby slept for a solid 13 hours every night from being 10 weeks old… until he was 18 weeks old and then he never slept consistently again until he was two! However, it’s a promising sign that he can do and I can only live in hope that it carries on. I’m certainly enjoying not having to get up in the night for the moment.

slept through the night

Day time naps are going quite as well but we are making some progress there. Gabe does usually have at least one nap a day in his crib, sometimes more, and his other naps are either in the car or on my lap while I watch TV when Toby is at nursery in the afternoons. Some naps in his crib he manages two hours but more often it’s between 45 minutes and an hour. There is a sure fire way to get him to have a long nap and that is for me to have a nap with him in bed…which is lovely, but not always practical! Anyway, I’m just going to keep persevering and hopefully he’ll get into more of a nap routine soon. It’s hard to know how much of a role Gabe’s reflux his having on his ability (or inability) to nap. It’s difficult to get the timings of his feeds right – if I put him down too soon after a feed then he’s just sick, but if I wait too long then he gets over tired or starts to get hungry again. His reflux does seem to be mostly under control now – he’s still on Gaviscon and ranitidine. He still struggles after feeds sometimes, crying with pain, and it seems some days he’s much more sick than others, but on the whole he doesn’t seem too bothered by it.

We’re still not getting loads of smiles but it is lovely when he does. He’s definitely a lot more aware of what is going on around him now and will watch as we move around the room. He’s starting to grab at the toys on his bouncy chair now, and even manages to get them sometimes too. He’s making moves towards trying to roll over from his back to his front too, although I think he’s quite a way off actually doing it yet.

grabbing toys

I think that’s about it for this month. I still can’t believe how fast time is going. We already don’t have a tiny newborn, and I bet it’ll seem like no time at all until he’s rolling over, sitting up, and then we’ll be weaning before we know it! I think I said last month that I don’t want to wish the time away but I’m very excited for what is soon to come.

0-3 months

- Sarah 2 Comments

Living Arrows 46/52 (2015)

Another quiet week here. We’ve been recovering from our colds, the weather has been pretty miserable so we haven’t been out much, and generally it’s just been another uneventful week.

Gabe is now 13 weeks old and has slept through the night for the last few nights. I don’t want to jinx things but I’m hoping this is the start of things to come! I’ll be doing a full update for him as he reaches three months old tomorrow! I can’t believe how fast he’s growing…

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Toby is still just our wonderful, slightly bonkers toddler. His speech continues to develop every day and he’s turned into a real parrot – he copies everything we say so we really have to be careful these days! I attempted baking with him again on Saturday – we made some fairy cakes and it was a lot less stressful than when we made biscuits a few weeks ago. Toby really seemed to enjoy it (and we all enjoyed eating them!) so I’m going to try and keep it up and bake or cook with him every week. His imagination is really developing now too – you can see it in his play, it’s so fun watching him come up with his own little worlds.

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Living Arrows 45/52 (2015)

It’s been a bit of a wet and miserable week since my last post. We’ve all got colds and everyone is generally feeling a bit grotty. Gabe in particular is suffering with the snot and isn’t sleeping very well as a result, so neither am I….basically we’re all just feeling a bit sorry for ourselves. I just hope we all recover in time for our trip to England next week.

On Sunday we decided we just needed to get out of the house and took advantage of a brief break in the rain to head to our local loch. Toby was in a grump about going but when we got there and he had his wellies and his ‘pompom hat’ on he was loving running off and exploring. I always think he’s so big (and he is for a two year old) but when he’s off in the distance like that he still looks so tiny…

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And as for Gabe, he turned 12 weeks old this week and is starting to show a bit more personality now. He has also found his hand and is starting to favour sucking it over a dummy. I’m quite happy about it to be honest – I’m not the biggest fan of dummies but they definitely serve a purpose. Toby did the same thing at about the same age – he’d had a dummy but then found his thumb and that was that. He still sucks his thumb now and arguably it will be harder to stop him that it would be a dummy – you can’t take a thumb away after all, but I’m still glad we don’t have to go through the process of trying to take a dummy off him. It looks like Gabe might be heading the same way…

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Nairn’s healthy eating for healthy kids

When I was heavily pregnant with Gabe I was invited to go to Edinburgh to find out about Nairn’s new booklet ‘healthy eating for healthy kids’ which has been put together by nutritionist Christine Bailey. Unfortunately I decided taking Toby and my massive baby bump on the train would be a bit much so we didn’t go to the event but the nice people at Nairn’s sent us a copy of the booklet and some of their products to try. We were sent both rough and fine milled oatcakes, some oat crackers and their new Astro Bites oat biscuits.

Nairn's oatcakes

If you haven’t heard of Nairn’s before, they’re most well known for making oatcakes. I hadn’t come across an oatcake until I moved to Scotland – they’re kind of cross between a cracker and a biscuit. There are other kinds of oatcakes too – if you ask my husband what an oatcake is he’ll tell you it’s a pancake-y kind of thing best served with cheese and bacon but that’s the Staffordshire oatcake and not what we’re talking about here.

Anyway, I was keen to take a look at the ‘healthy eating for healthy kids’ booklet when it came. Now Toby only goes to nursery four afternoons a week I’m always looking for different things to give him for his lunch, especially as he refuses to eat sandwiches! I knew he’d had oatcakes at nursery but I’d never actually given him them at home before. There are lots of ideas in the Nairn’s booklet – it is separated into sections for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. They all look really quick and easy to prepare which is essential when you’ve got a hungry toddler pulling at your trousers! This hummus, tomatoes and turkey sounds delicious!

healthy eating for healthy kids

I decided to try the chicken mayo and cucumber on oat crackers with Toby as I’m always trying to find new ways of getting protein into him – he doesn’t really like cheese and isn’t a big meat eater but he does have a new found love of mayonnaise so I thought mixing chicken with mayo might convince him to eat it. I also gave Toby some apple, grapes and red pepper. Now in the interests of full disclosure, Toby didn’t actually eat it – but he’s going through a bit of a funny phase where he doesn’t like trying new things. However, I ate it for him and can confirm it was delicious! I’ve never had the oat crackers before but they were lovely. Toby does usually like oatcakes though – he often has them with Philadelphia on for lunch or a snack.

Oatcakes with chicken & mayo

The Astro Bites oat biscuits have become a firm favourite in our house though – so much so that I had to buy more after Toby had eaten all the ones that Nairn’s had sent! They come in individual packets and because they are made with healthy oats and berries, and low in sugar I can indulge Toby’s love of ‘bigits’ without feeling guilty.

Astro Bites

If you’ve never tried Nairn’s oatcakes before, for your kids or yourself, then I would thoroughly recommend them. You can use them in so many different ways and they’re so handy to have in the cupboard for a quick lunch or snack. There are loads more recipe ideas on the Nairn’s website if you’re in need of more inspiration.

 

**Disclosure: I was sent the featured products in return for this post but all opinions are my own.

- Sarah 1 Comment

Living Arrows 44/52 (2015)

The last week has been a hard one for me. If you read last week’s post you’ll know Barry did his back in last weekend. He was in a lot of pain with it all week and so couldn’t go to work. He couldn’t bend down or lift anything which meant I had to do everything with the boys. I know I’m always at home with them on my own during the day but it was tough having to do all the bedtimes and night get ups by myself too. At least having him at home meant he could keep an eye on Toby while I was trying to get Gabe to nap upstairs (still a work in progress but we’re getting there), and he did a lot of washing up and making bottles but I’m glad to say he’s on the mend and almost back to fully functioning dad duties.

Last week saw Gabe turn 10 weeks old (although as I write this he’s now 11 weeks) and I managed to get some pictures with his milestone card. I can’t believe how quickly the time is going. He’s getting so big already, he doesn’t feel like that tiny, fragile baby any more.

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As I mentioned in our October Me & Mine post Toby is definitely starting to like having his brother around a bit more now. The kisses and head stroking are back and I managed to get this lovely snap of them together.

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Apparently Toby has been playing in the home corner at nursery quite a lot, including looking after the ‘baby’. The other day he told me he wanted to get the house out, it took me a while to realise he was walking about the pop-up travel cot/ tent that we have. So we got it down, put some cushions and a blanket inside…and then he wanted to read a book to his baby. So cute.

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He’s been loving his books a lot this week actually which I’m delighted about. I’ve always loved reading, although I don’t get much chance to do it these days, and I really hope both the boys will too. Toby hasn’t shown a huge amount of interest in books up to now though so I’m really pleased he is starting to. In fact he’s loving them so much that he had a bit of a tantrum about not being allowed to take his ‘story book’ to nursery with him yesterday! We’ll make a bookworm of him yet.

Living Arrows
- Sarah 4 Comments

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (October 2015)

Me & Mine October 2015

Another month gone and we are creeping ever closer to the end of the year. Things have been getting a bit easier this week as we get used to every day life with a toddler and a baby. There have been a few tears this month as Toby started a new nursery and he is still finding his feet there. We still get crying every day when I drop him off but things are improving as the weeks go on. Gabe is getting bigger by the day and we are starting to get somewhere with his sleeping, particularly during the day. He’s much more amenable to being put down these days too which makes life easier. And just this week Toby really seems to have started to enjoy being around his brother again. After the initial novelty wore off he had been a bit put out by Gabe’s presence and the fact he was taking a lot of my attention but now Gabe is napping upstairs a bit more so I have more time for Toby again he’s decided this little baby isn’t so bad after all.

We’ve started making plans for moving back to England this month which is exciting. We had a visit from Barry’s parents last weekend – Toby loves seeing them but it can be a bit exhausting for everyone trying to fit everything in to a short weekend. Living closer to both lots of grandparents and being able to see them more  will certainly take the pressure off and make it more relaxing for everyone. I’m so excited to get the wheels in motion for the move and hopefully I’ll have some more news to share with you on that front soon.

I was actually organised this month and our Me & Mine photos were taken a couple of weeks ago just before we went for our walk in the woods. I know you can’t really see much of Gabe but he’s definitely in there somewhere!

October 2015

- Sarah 7 Comments

Relocating: where do you start?

AddR hReading

I think I have mentioned before that Barry and I have always had the intention of moving from Scotland back to the north west of England at some point in the future. I am originally from Blackpool and my parents still live there. I’ve lived in Scotland for twelve years now but before that I was working in France for six years on and off, and away at university so I haven’t really lived in Blackpool properly in nearly twenty years, although I still refer to it as home. When I met Barry five years ago he was living in Manchester near his parents but they have since moved to Cumbria. Barry moved up to Scotland to live with me about eight months after we first met and we always said we would probably move back to England eventually. Since we’ve had the kids the urge to move back ‘home’ has got stronger, particularly for me. Having no family support locally is really tough at times and although our parents visit fairly regularly it’s nothing like having them around the corner. Toby does now know his grandparents and he recognises them between visits but he was probably about eighteen months before he really started remembering them. And of course Gabe has no idea who his grandparents are! I grew up with my grandma living round the corner and I saw her all the time…I’d like that for my boys, and of course having babysitters a bit closer to hand won’t hurt either! There’s also the fact that although all our parents are by no means old, and they are all in relatively good health at the moment (apart from my dad who currently has his leg in plaster after busting his Achilles’ tendon because he forgets he’s not 25 any more) they won’t be young and sprightly for ever so living nearby will definitely make things easier in 10, or 20 or even 30 years when they are needing our support.

The other factor to consider is that we always said if we were going to move we should do it before Toby starts school. There are lots of differences between the Scottish and English school systems, not least the cut off date for starting school which I think could mean if we stayed here Toby wouldn’t start school until he was five, whereas in England he’ll start when he’s only just turned four. As he could be starting school nursery next year when he’s three, it seems like the time we have to move is quickly running out.

So, we decided that instead of just thinking about it we should actually start doing something about moving…but where do we even begin?

We know roughly the area we would like to move to. I don’t want to go back to Blackpool but I’d like to be within an hour’s drive of my parents at the most. I’ve spent many hours online browsing houses and I’ve found a few we like the look of. But we can’t move without a mortgage and we won’t be able to get a mortgage without at least one of us having a job to go to. Of course we’ll need to sell our house up here too before we can buy a new one, but the process of selling houses is quite different in Scotland than in England so that’s another thing to consider.

I think we probably need to get the job thing sorted first because without a job to go to we can’t do any of the other things. I’m still on maternity leave at the moment but previously I was on a temporary contract so I don’t actually have a job to go back to when my maternity leave ends. Luckily being a teacher means I can get a job anywhere there is a school and there are lots of schools within commuting distance of the area we are looking to move to. I just have to hope something suitable comes up, but probably not until the start of the next school year. I know my teaching qualifications are transferable to England too (which isn’t the case if you are wanting to move from England to Scotland to teach) so that makes life a bit easier. Barry is a software engineer which also means there are lots of options when it comes to where he could work so hopefully the chances of at least one of us finding a job are fairly high.

So then we come to houses… what if we see a house we like and want to put in an offer? Can we do that if we haven’t sold our own house? Or what if someone offers on our house but we haven’t got anywhere to move to? Should we sell anyway? There’s always the possibility of renting temporarily but I don’t want to have to move twice if we don’t need to! And then even if we manage to co-ordinate all that don’t get me started on the logistics of actually packing up a house full of stuff and two kids and moving us all 200 miles down the road!

You know what? On second thoughts I think we might just stay here!

In all seriousness though, if any of you have moved to a different area before and have any top tips on how we even begin to go about relocating then please do let me know!

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Review: My First JCB Farm Fun Tractor Tim

Toby has recently started to really enjoy playing with cars and trucks, and is getting much more imaginative in his play too. When I was asked if we would like to review the My First JCB Tractor Tim from Golden Bear Toys I knew he would love it!

JCB Tractor Tim

According to the people behind My First JCB…

My First JCB is a colourful, kid tough pre-school construction vehicle range based on real life JCB vehicles, created for little hands with big imaginations!

My First JCB Farm Fun Tractor Tim (RRP £14.99,) is the newest member of the My First JCB team. Perfect forlittle hands, children will have hours of imaginative play as they use the trailer to load and transport. The trailer has a drop down tail gate for added fun and can also be detached from the tractor if Tractor Tim wants to go solo.Farm Fun Tractor Tim has big chunky wheels making him great for indoor or outdoor play. Suitable for children aged 12 months+.

Toby was excited about his new tractor as soon as he got it out of the box and was very impatient whilst I got it out, which wasn’t too difficult – always a plus in my book!

My First JCB

Tractor Tim is made from plastic and it certainly feels like it’s robust enough to withstand everything a toddler can throw at it. The big wheels make it perfect for using both inside and out and I’m sure Toby will enjoy using it in the garden – although perhaps we’ll wait until the weather improves a bit before putting that to the test.

Tractor Tim

Tractor Tim comes with his own detachable trailer which is a great added extra. Toby loved collecting his bits a pieces (a stone and a little figure from one of his other toys on this occasion) together and wheeling them around the living room.

He also liked lifting the bonnet and having a look at the engine…

My First JCB Tractor Tim

My First JCB Tractor Tim is a fabulous toy for any tractor or digger mad little boy or girl and there are lots of other toys in the range too. I can definitely see a few more appearing in our house at some point!

**Disclosure: I was sent the featured product in return for this review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

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