I’m even later than usual this week – so late in fact it’s almost time for next week’s post!

Last weekend we attempted to go on holiday to a caravan park only about 45 minutes drive from home. We went after picking Toby up from nursery on Friday night thinking by the time we got there he could have an hour playing and getting used to the caravan and then go to bed. We were attempting to get him to sleep in a bed for the first time, which perhaps was a bad idea, and he was also still in the midst of teething with all four of his back molars. The upshot of all this was that he screamed whenever we took him near the bedroom and was still up running round the living area of the caravan until 10 pm when we finally managed to get him to calm down enough to go to sleep. He did then sleep without any trouble until he woke up at 4:40 am and refused to go back to sleep! For a boy who normally gets at least 11 hours sleep a night, 6 hours was definitely not enough! We made it through the morning and he had a nap in the buggy for about an hour, but the despite going out in the car in the afternoon in the hope he would have another nap that was the only sleep he got.

We then went to the pub on site for our tea on the Saturday night where Toby refused to go in the highchair and even sat on my knee only ate about three chips and one piece of carrot. We gave him some cereal back at the caravan but when, for the second night it was after 9 pm, he was still screaming when we went near the bedroom and I was on the verge of a complete breakdown, we decided to give it all up as a bad job and come home!

Toby proceeded to fall asleep the second we put him in the car seat, slept all the way home and then until 9:30 the next morning! Although it felt like we were wasting money coming home it was definitely the right thing to do for everyone’s sanity.

We had a couple of disturbed nights during the week too, but having slept through for the last three nights I’m hoping the worst of the teething is now over. I just keep telling myself that at least these are the last baby teeth to come and it means we’ll avoid having two babies teething at the same time!

Anyway, this week’s Living Arrows photo was taken at about 6 am last Saturday when Toby had already been awake for an hour and a half and was happily colouring, whilst wearing his daddy’s hat.

It’s only been a few days since my last Living Arrows post but I thought I’d try (again!) to get back on track. This weekend we bought a new pushchair which was very exciting. Well, exciting for me at least…It’s an Uppababy Vista that can be used as a single or a tandem so we can start using it with Toby straight away but then we’re also all set for when the little one arrives in August. We then had a trip to the park and the farmer’s market. We took Toby’s Smart Trike to the park – we bought it for his birthday last year but if I’m honest he hasn’t really had much use of it so far. He was definitely enjoying it on Saturday too. We did have two tantrums on Saturday though – it seems if we try and get Toby to go somewhere he doesn’t want to go, or to leave somewhere before he’s ready then he’ll have a complete meltdown. The first one was when we were trying to leave the pram shop, they had a few toys on a little table by the till that Toby had been playing with so when it was time to leave he just started wailing and we had to manhandle him into the car, where he screamed all the way to the park, and then stopped as soon as we got there! It was a similar story when it came time to leave the park. I guess these toddler tantrums are just par for the course…better get used to them!

On Sunday it was chucking it down so we decided to try out one of the soft play places near us. I have a theory that if Toby doesn’t get out and burn off some energy during the day on Sunday then it can be one of the things that contributes to the multiple wake ups we often get on a Sunday night. Believe it or not we’ve only ever taken Toby to soft play once before and that was a while ago now so I was looking forward to seeing how he got on. The place we went was massive but it did have a dedicated small area for under 4s and Toby loved it! I did go in with him for a bit but mostly I just let his Dad chase round after him for an hour – I think he was more exhausted than Toby was! Anyway, he only woke up once on Sunday night so maybe it did help wear him out a bit.

I snapped this week’s Living Arrows picture on my iPhone but I really like it. You can certainly see how much fun Toby was having…

Another quiet week for us here – with us both working full time there isn’t really a lot of time to do much else. We do usually try and go somewhere at the weekends but sometimes we just need a quiet weekend at home. The weather was pretty rubbish this weekend too so we didn’t even manage to fit in a trip to the park.

Toby has been a superstar this last couple of weeks though. He has really struggled with most of his teeth, being very grumpy and with lots of disturbed nights. In the last few weeks though all four of his back molars have started to make an appearance. One is almost fully erupted and the other three have all got at least one corner through. And not only has he hardly been grumping at all, he has slept through almost every night, and he’s gone back to going to sleep by himself instead of screaming unless one of us sits with him until he is asleep. We did have a bad night on Sunday night but I swear that’s just because he knows it’s Sunday and we have to get up for work the next day! After my concerns a just few weeks ago that we were going to have to change something to get Toby to settle and sleep again, perhaps drop his nap or move him to a bed, we haven’t changed anything at all and he’s just sorted it out himself. Sometimes, there’s no fathoming toddlers!

I’m even later than usual with this week’s Living Arrows post, but I do have an excuse…sort of. It was always going to be a few days late but on Wednesday evening when we were having our tea there was suddenly a massive thunder clap and the brightest flash of lightening I have ever seen. We don’t know if it actually hit our house but it was pretty close – when we went outside we could smell it! Anyway, it also took out our phone line so we have had no phone or internet at home since. I’m writing this at work (not during a lesson I promise!) when really I should be marking and writing reports.

And so, this isn’t going to be a very long post. We’ve had an uneventful week really, Toby has slept through on quite a few nights, despite the fact he’s got a back molar coming, and we’ll just call Sunday night, when we were up with him every hour, a blip!

At the weekend we went to the Almond Valley Heritage Centre which isn’t very far from where we live. There were lots of animals to see – we saw a baby goat called Toby being bottle fed. I’m not sure our Toby was that impressed though! There were lots of things to play on too. I’ll do a full post all about it when I get chance but this week’s photo is Toby on one of the little tractors – he didn’t quite have the hang of steering, or peddling but I think he enjoyed it anyway.

And he had fun on a trampoline too until he decided to run off it, trip over the padding at the edge and fall flat on his face in the dirt. He was fine but had a few lovely grazes on his nose to show for it, I’m sure they won’t be the last grazes he gets though…he seems to have little concern for his own safety at the moment (as he proved when he decided to stand up on his rocking horse this weekend too. I think we’re raising a future stuntman!

Things settled down again last week after all our visitors had gone and now I’m back at work so we’re easing back into our routine. Toby doesn’t seem to phased by having to get up at 6:30 am again and he even slept through for three nights in a row. I’m hoping last night’s 3 am wake up was just a blip and we’re back to a full night’s sleep again tonight!

The weather has been lovely recently, and although I’m stuck in a classroom all day and not getting chance to enjoy it Toby seems to be loving spending his days in the garden and nursery. We even managed to get in our garden one evening too and he had lots of fun moving stones around and digging in the as yet empty vegetable beds.

We’ve had a bit of an unsettled week here. I think it’s mostly been because we’ve had visits from three of Toby’s grandparents in the last two weeks, I’ve been off work and there’s just been quite a lot going on and changed to Toby’s usual routine. Despite a few difficult nights, and a few grumpy days, we’ve also had a lot of fun and eaten a lot of cake which is never a bad thing!

On Saturday Barry wanted to go to the garden centre with his mum, and although we all enjoy a good trip to the garden centre Toby doesn’t have a huge tolerance for looking at plants! So we decided Barry would take his mum in the car and I would walk there with Toby in the buggy. It’s about a 45 minute walk so that would give them plenty of time to look at the plants before we got there to enjoy the cake. On the way though something very unexpected happened…Toby fell asleep in the buggy. I can’t remember the last time that happened. I think it must have been last summer some time. I couldn’t believe it. And not only did he fall asleep, he stayed asleep the whole time we were in the (very noisy) garden centre and only woke up when it was time to go home.

So this week’s Living Arrows photo is one capturing this very unusual moment. I have tons of pictures like this from when Toby was little but there hasn’t been one for a very long time, and who knows when we might get another!

Last week was the last week of term and I was definitely ready for breaking up on Thursday afternoon. My parents then came up to visit for the weekend and we had a busy few days including an IKEA trip, a visit to the farm and a walk in the woods. After an initial bit of shyness Toby really enjoyed spending time with his Grandma and Grandad, and I think my Dad enjoyed it a lot more this visit, now that Toby can play and interact a lot more. It was nice for Toby to have a few days off nursery too and we all enjoyed some time together as a family.

On Saturday we went to a local fruit farm. There were some animals too so we got to see some lambs, piglets and chicks but I think Toby’s favourite part was sitting on the tractor in the play area!

Not much to report this week, and I’m late again! We’re all still just plodding on here. Hopefully the next couple of weeks, with the Easter holidays and family visits things might get a bit more interesting!

When Toby was smaller it was almost impossible to get him to wear a hat, as soon as he’d worked out how to take them off he would. But one of his first words was ‘at and now almost anything can be ‘ats! As is clearly demonstrated in this week’s Living Arrows picture. (Also, I know his haircut makes him look like a bit of a ragamuffin but that’s because last time I tried to cut it he really wasn’t enjoying it and refused to keep his head still so I just had to do the best I could!)

A little bit late again this week. We have mostly recovered from last week’s illnesses – I’m still coughing but I’ve got my voice back at least and Toby is just snotty (as always!) and has also got a bit of a cough. Just as I was starting to feel a bit better though I went to the dentist and ended up getting a wisdom tooth taken out so now I’m having to put up with that pain too, and it’s rubbish not being able to take anything except paracetamol! On top of all that I’ve also got a sore, pregnancy related, hip although that just seems bad in the morning and eases off when I’ve been up an hour or two. At least we break up for the Easter holidays next week and I can hopefully get a bit of rest!

Toby has been very funny again lately. He’s answering yes or no very emphatically whenever he is asked a question, although still sometimes means the opposite of what he says! He loves running up and down our living room and this week we took the room divider out again so he’s got a free run of the place again. Yesterday he decided he was going to start collecting all the phones and remote controls from around the living room and put them in the washing basket which was waiting to go back upstairs. (Apologies for the washing on the radiator!)

He kept going for ages, adding all the car keys and house keys, and pretty much anything else he could find. He had himself quite a collection in the end…

I’m late again this week. The weekend was a bit of a write off with me being sick on Saturday and then Barry succumbing on Sunday, although whatever bug we had it seems Toby has somehow managed to avoid it. I’ve now got a cold as well and have had hardly any voice for the last few days…it just never ends does it?

Anyway we did manage a trip to one of the parks near our house on Sunday morning and Toby was absolutely loving the slide. When we first started taking him to the park he used to hate the slide but now it seems to be his favourite thing, he was just going round and round, off the bottom and back up the steps again. It was very cute!

(I also realise that a lot of my Living Arrows pictures lately show Toby in the same hat and coat, he does have other clothes I promise!)