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!)

It’s been a pretty good, if quiet, week again this week. Toby’s sleep hasn’t been too bad – apart from Tuesday night when we ended up bringing him in bed with us but he seemed to think it was time for a party at 3am! On Saturday night though he actually slept the entire night without us having to go into him. A good night usually still involves at least one wake up so to have none at all really is a treat.

I did have a bit of a meltdown at work on Thursday. I have a few classes where no matter what I do, and what tactics I try, behaviour is a real issue. After weeks and weeks of battling with one class I had finally had enough. It was at the end of a very busy two days, my colleague had been off meaning I had to sort out all the work for her classes as well as my own. I had a parents’ evening coming up that night so I knew I wasn’t going to get home to see Toby before he went to bed, and so, when 15 minutes into the lesson the kids were still shouting and interrupting and not listening to a single word I said, I walked out and called for support. I have been saying for weeks that I need help with this class so hopefully something will happen now. Having a pregnant teacher walking out of a class in tears isn’t really what the senior management team are aiming for!

That incident aside though it has been a pretty good week. Toby has been hilarious at times this week. He is learning more words every day – ‘oh dear’ is a new favourite as well as ‘gone’, usually when he has thrown something else behind the telly and he wants us to get it back! And then yesterday when he was throwing a ball around the living room he started staying ‘ready, steady, go’! It’s too cute!

Yesterday we took his SmarTrike to the big park in town. We bought the trike for Toby’s first birthday but unfortunately he’s not had much use out of it yet. Because all the pavements round our house slope down towards the pavement it makes it almost impossible to steer and stop it tipping over so we can only really use it if we take it somewhere flat in the car. The big park is perfect so hopefully we’ll take it up there a bit more as the weather gets better and he’ll get to use it a bit more. Toby also enjoyed a run around – I think having so much space was a bit of a novelty. My boy is definitely an adventurer though, it had no problems just running off and wasn’t bothered about where we were at all. Although I’m always saying how big he is (and he is!) I think he looks tiny off in the distance with the big trees in this picture.

He had lots of fun splashing in the puddles in his new wellies too!

It’s been another quiet week here – Toby has finally started sleeping a bit better on most nights so I’m starting to feel a bit more human. Work is still very busy and stressful though, I’m definitely counting down to the Easter holidays; only 4 weeks and a day to go as I type this!

This week’s Living Arrows picture was taken at the weekend. I was trying to take some product pictures for the blog (hence the blanket backdrop) but Toby had other ideas and decided he would just plonk himself in the middle and have a good suck on his thumb instead.

Another week of hit and miss sleep, work and another cold for Toby! We did manage to get out for a walk in some woods near where we live at the weekend though. We’ve never been there before so weren’t sure what to expect. The paths looked like they would be OK for the buggy but in hindsight we needed something a bit more suited to rugged terrain. Still we walked a bit and then got Toby out of the buggy so he could explore on foot and he seemed to have fun walking in the mud and finding pine cones to pick up.