28 Jul 2014

Project 52 - 30/52


I discovered I actually have plenty of good pictures I took whilst we were down in Bournemouth, so I managed quite easily this week after all. 

This photo of Noah was taken the day we arrived, we had a nice wander along the sea front and an ice cream for tea instead of any proper food! He's getting pretty good at controlling the drips of ice cream in cones. The ice cream all over his face was actually courtesy of Daddy!


There were better pictured of Judah, but I just had to include this one. Other wise my project would not really document their changes! He is up on all fours all the time now, he is so close to crawling. I'm just not sure he actually knows what is supposed to come next! He tends to stay in this position for a while then collapse back to floor, or lunge forward and face plant the floor! Not long now I'm sure.


Bx

27 Jul 2014

Mum's List 2

This week has been a complete roller coaster of emotions, being super busy and really relaxed! I'm writing this at the last minute, I had planned to write it in the car this afternoon but I was so tired and feeling grotty anyway, that I didn't want to get travel sick!

Real Life


  • As I will be finishing maternity leave soon, and I struggle getting housework done as it is we decided to take on a cleaner. Monday was her first session and she and her husband did a huge deep clean on the whole house. It took them both 6.5 hours which I was so embarrassed by but they did such a good job. It's already helping us keep things a bit tidier and more ordered which is good. There is so much "stuff" everywhere that needs sorting out though!
  • Monday night Thomas went down with the tummy bug, it seems to have been doing the rounds! Noah had it over a week before him so he must have caught it elsewhere.
  • This however, put a huge spanner in the works as we were heading off to Bournemouth on Wednesday for my middle sister's wedding. Obviously we really didn't want to risk making other people sick at all. So during the day Tuesday I carried on packing with the plan to head down with the boys on my own with Thomas following later. Then my mum said we should all come later in case Judah or I got sick, so I stopped getting things ready. I was so so upset because it was our only real holiday booked this year and I hate missing out on time with my family all together. Then 9pm Tuesday my Dad phoned and said we should book into a hotel for Wednesday night so that we definitely made it down, he was worried if someone else got sick we would struggle to make it at all! So suddenly I had to get packing again with quite a different head on as we wouldn't have kitcheny bits for baby food/bottles!
  • Fortunately, we were all fine and it was actually really nice spending Wedneday and Thursday as just our family unit, we played mini golf and went to the Oceanarium. It was absolutely scorching hot so we just took things really slowly and got to relax. Thursday evening we joined the rest of my family and went out for drink with my sisters, their partners and the best man whilst my parents baby sat.
  • Friday was wedding prep day with the rehearsal and reception decorating so very busy and a tad stressful.
  • It was all worth it though as the day was ridiculously perfect (apart from a slight VW camper mishap). The sun was amazing, everyone was so relaxed. Noah and Judah kept going until 10pm, so we got to really enjoy the whole day. I think I will write a whole post about it in the week once a few more photos start emerging for me to steal! For now here is a little teaser......

  • Today we packed up and came home. Back to the grind, and I'm not looking forward to it to be honest!

Social and Blogging
  • My Instagram followers have continued to grow this week. I think in the past two weeks I have had at least one new mummy blogger follower a day. It's great to start making contact with people, even if it's just looking at each other's photos. My aim for this week is to get commenting on them as well!
  • Twitter followers are up as well I'm at 96, pushing 100 is pretty good considering I barely use it!
  • With such a busy week I have no idea whether I have some good photos for next week's Project 52. I would have loved some wedding ones, but I couldn't handle trying to take photos as well. I knew there would be plenty from other people, so abandoned my camera for the day.
  • As my cousin was at the wedding we got to have an impromptu chat about the website design she is doing for me. I'm really excited about her ideas and looking forward to working with her as she is so passionate about her work. 

I have a lot of blog organising to do this week, which I fully intend to knuckle down and do. Need to catch up on my reading of everyone else's as well!
So here's another little teaser of some wedding pics to send us out.....
Bx


Mums' Days
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25 Jul 2014

Noah says....

On Judah:

"He is beautiful, and kind, and gentle......and really grabby!"

It's true. The little one needs a 3ft empty space around him otherwise he will grab everything! 

Thomas bought me some beautiful flowers this week and put them in a vase on the table. They had to be moved sharpish as I feed Judah in the bumbo on the table!

23 Jul 2014

Cheeky Wipes - A review


When I was pregnant with Noah I decided to buy a changing table. Lots of people say they are unnecessary and dangerous, although you still see pictures of them in every gorgeous "nursery' picture. My main reason for buying one was because we were planning to use cloth nappies and there's an awful lot of stuff that goes with that.  A changing table seemed the most logical place to store it. Noah also seemed to have some sixth sense about the changing table and always lay still, Judah is another matter!

We managed to buy a second hand changing table for £20 which we were very pleased with, and as we are still using it we have definitely got our money's worth.  As we didn't spend a lot, we had no problem altering it a bit possibly making it unsellable. However, I happen to think my husband did the most awesome furniture hack.......


He made that awesome self to sit above it, and it hold my most useful bit go baby kit. On this shelf goes, a basket to chuck the dirty nappy out the way so I can sort it out once a clean nappy is in situ, the nappy liners and my Cheeky Wipes boxes.

If you are going down the cloth nappy route then I think Cheeky Wipes are a no brainer. If you are using disposable nappies, I would still consider using them. I never liked the idea of putting the poopy wipes in with the rest of my washing, which of course is silly as it all gets washed but that's just me. You could still just use them for hands and faces though and save loads of money. Cheeky Wipes have calculated they will save you over £250 on buying disposable wipes, and I'm sure that is done easily!


I bought this kit when I purchased mine. It includes two boxes; one for clean wipes and one for 'mucky' wipes, two out and about bags for the same, 25 wipes and essential oils to make them smell pretty. For the mucky box and bag there are mesh bags which sit inside so you just pull the drawstring and stick them in the wash with your nappies. No need to touch dirty wipes. 

So, I have my two boxes sitting on my shelf above the table and it is all just so handy. They are really easy to use and it's great that you know there are no nasty chemicals going on that scrumptious skin. Cheeky Wipes say there is no need to dry the wipes before using them again just pop them straight back in the box. I like to make extra work for myself though and don't do this. I have two reasons for this; firstly by hanging them out on the washing line it helps bleach out any stains, and secondly I will have put another load of wipes straight in the box so won't need them until it's empty.

My washing machine has a ginormous load size of 9kg, so I can get through a lot of wipes before I have a full load. As a result I bought a few extra pack of wipes, I probably have about 75 in total. This may seem a tad excessive but part of the reason is because of the one big problem I had with Cheeky Wipes. They are not good friends with nappies with velcro on. With Noah I had a set of Bum Genius nappies with velcro and they just stuck to the terry towelling wipes, leaving a lot of them quite thread bare. I didn't buy the terry ones again and the micro fibre ones are much prettier colours and nicer to use I think. I also do not use those nappies any more and would not recommend them to anyone. 

The out and about bags are a good idea, I did use them with Noah but I have to admit we take disposable ones out with us now. I have to draw the line somewhere and it's just one more thing to remember to sort out in the nappy bag, leaving a pack of disposable ones in there is much easier. 

One small disclaimer I have to make is about the boxes. Since I bought my boxes over 3 years ago, Cheeky Wipes have redesigned the box. The box style I had you pushed the lid and it popped open. Sadly the clasp bit didn't last very well, they did replace the lids quite happily though as they knew it was a design flaw. The new boxes have a clip lid which looks much sturdier. Here is a picture of the different types of boxes so you have a slight idea of the improvements they made. 



Unfortunately thought, my mucky wipes box is on it's last days. The hinge has worn away to the lids completely pops off every time I use it. I think it would have been better if Cheeky Wipes had sent out their new boxes to customers who complained about the old ones, as the whole thing looks designed better. It isn't the end of the world though as I can just put the wipes straight in the bucket with the nappies. It will be a disaster if the clean wipes goes too though!

I hope you have found this review useful. Give me a shout if you have any questions about this, or anything I have mentioned in the post.
Bx


21 Jul 2014

Project 52- 29/52


This photo of Noah is the cutest. Probably me for me than for you though. He got the giggle whilst we were eating lunch, Thomas kept saying silly "rude" phrases at him and he just couldn't stop. It melts me the way he puts his hand over his mouth when he gets the proper giggles.


I just can't keep up with Judah anymore, he is so strong and determined. I took this photo just after the first crawling attempt. He didn't do it again, but he was so interested in the camera he got to me faster than I could move away!


I think you can see his determination right there in his eyebrows!
This week we are off to Bournemouth for 5 days for my sister's wedding. We are staying in the most fabulous apartment with my family, it's set over four floors and from the pictures I've seen online it looks like there are lots of stairs. So that will be where Judah learns to crawl, right?!
Bx


20 Jul 2014

Mum's List 1


I have decided to take part in a link up with Hannah from Mums' Days. Every week she gets bloggers to post about their week as a little summary. I thought this would be beneficial on two counts; firstly it lets you the reader know how I pass my time and makes sure I fill you in on all the developments in our lives when they happen, but also to make contact with other bloggers and build my readers.

So a Mum's list will include:


  • What we have been up to this week as a family
  • Things that are occurring on the blog and in other social media
  • Articles I have enjoyed reading this week
  • Sounding out any ideas I have had


My aim will be to have this go up every Sunday evening. That will make 3 schedules posts every week - Mum's list, Noah says and Project 52. Along with this there will be monthly Right Now I'm Loving and the odd review chucked in here and there. How does that sound to keep me busy writing and you busy reading?!


So lets begin:

Real Life


  • The week started  a bit wrong as Noah went down with a tummy bug on Sunday night, so Monday he was feeling quite sorry for himself. He hasn't been properly back on form all week, has been in our room at night quite a lot (as you can see in the picture at the top) and so he is tired. He's also really clingy with me at the moment.
  • We have finally got a quote we like for having some alterations done on our kitchen/dining room. I'm looking forward to it becoming a more functional space and getting to redecorate. It feels like we are starting to make our home our own a bit more. There's a lot that needs doing around the house but Thomas is somewhat reluctant to do it when there are small people still around, I would rather have it look nice now and redo it when they're bigger! I guess I am in the house more which is why it bothers me more.
  • Judah is commando crawling all over now, he got up on elbows and knees on Friday and had a go at crawling. Just one little lunge forward. I'm fairly certain he would have the hang of it though if I let him practice more. I'm not practiced at spotting baby dangers again so I've just been putting him in a travel cot so I know he's safe! 
  • Thomas did a special shift with another team as some extra training and they were really keen on him applying for a job that is coming up soon. He's not 100% if he wants to go for it, but I think a change would do him good. He's definitely not very happy in his current job, but the NHS doesn't seem the happiest place to work at the moment anywhere!
  • I've had a fairly negative week with regards to the little project I keep alluding to. This means it will be even longer before I can actually talk about it! Also means I am a little more nervous about my fast approaching end of maternity leave!

Social

  • This week has been the week for Instagram, I've got quite a few new fellow mummy blog followers on there so hello to you all. 
  • When I first joined Bloglovin I got a few new followers a week, this has pretty much tapered off now. So please follow me there if you enjoy reading.
  • Twitter is usually one or two new followers a week, not often real people to talk to though. That being said I'm not very good at using it!

Blog

  • I've been slowly working on giving my blog a makeover - this week I saw some mock ups of a new logo to give me a little branding. All very exciting.
  • Currently the my posts get about 70 views counted through blogger. I think a lot of those are my Facebook friends. Thank you everyone for all your support so far.

  • I enjoyed reading this post Redefining Motherhood on Evidence Based Tits and Teeth. I have a lot of difficulty believing I'm a good mum and as much as I love reading about parenting on the internet, it can definitely be detrimental when you know you don't manage to do everything that is 'right' for your children. I'm still a long way from believing I'm a good mum, but reading that article definitely made a little breakthrough! 



Mums' Days
- See more at: http://mumsdays.com/mums-list-week-1/#sthash.bb1A6Oxg.dpuf

14 Jul 2014

Project 52 - 28/52


This week just shows what a pair of goofballs I am raising already. I don't think this picture of Noah needs any comment really......!


Judah is soooooo into food! As well as porridge for breakfast then puree mixed with baby rice for lunch and dinner, he has something to chomp on whilst we are eating other wise he gets such bad food envy! This picture is the result of a ginormous strawberry which he devoured! So far the only thing he has turned his nose up is half a grape.


Also, can I just say.....that quiff! It makes me die. Hopefully it is the start of some curls.
Bx

9 Jul 2014

Project 52 - 27/52


Wow. The weather lately has been amazing! I say that, but it has completely recked my skin. I am so torn between enjoying being out in the sunshine with happy boys and my face, neck and arms being covered in rashy dry skin. 

One day last week, I heard it was due to be the hottest day of the year, so Noah and I decided to head somewhere a bit cooler. We had a really lovely walk in the woods, Noah actually walked the whole way which is very rare. Despite not wanting to go out at all he had a good time once we were there. We took his new camera and a pot with a magnifying lid from his bug hunting kit to try and have a mini beast adventure (we love Jess on cbeebies). 


Judah still remains the happiest little chap. He wants to eat ALL THE TIME which is starting to wear me down. I'm going full on with purees now and am trying out formula in the evenings to get him to sleep a bit longer (I actually got a bit of evening to myself last night so it's working a little). I don't remember knowing about the '4 month growth spurt' last time with Noah, although we weened him at the same age so it must have happened. It is most definitely what is happening with Judah though. I just pray it only lasts a month! He has also graduated from the carry cot to the seat in the pushchair, he just wants to see what is going on!


This week is already running away from me. I have so much to do, but the weather is nowhere near as nice so hopefully that will keep me indoors and doing it.
Bx

Noah's New Bedroom

Recently, we finally got round to finishing Noah's bedroom. We had painted it and got the furniture in, but no matter how much we called it a 'space bedroom' there was absolutely nothing space themed about it! I bought some wall vinyls from Etsy. There were not cheap, but they were exactly what I had in mind and you could pick the colours for it. This really appealed to me as I could make sure they completely matched my 'scheme'! 


When they arrived, I realised just how big a job it was going to be. All of these pieces were arranged on the sheets in colours, so the things that were made up of lots colours had to assembled on the wall. So we arranged for Noah to be elsewhere so we had four free hands to do it. In the picture above you can see Thomas finishing the rocket. 


My aim for the day was to get the rocket done, but once we got going we found that they were really easy to do. This bit above has a girl standing on a boys shoulders, and every element was separate. It was quite tricky getting the bits in exactly the right place, but the design is really forgiving. Where the wall shows it looks like it's meant to be there. 


In the end we managed to get almost all of it done before Noah came home, and he was asleep so we could put all the furniture back ready for his big surprise. At the moment he is still in his toddler bed, but I plan to put some white bunk beds in the same place for the boys to share in the future.


This is my favourite part, I think it's just so cute with the little bucket full of the stars they have caught. 


We decided to put the height chart on the wardrobe, so if we ever moved house or changed the wardrobe, we could take the door off and keep it. We plan to mark their heights on it periodically and now Noah is 3 I really need to get a permanent marker to make his first mark. The basket of nappies has gone now, hooray!


This photo does not show how pleased Noah was! He came in slowly, with his hand over his mouth and just said "WOW!" He then spent the rest of the day, make that week, telling me is was "amazing", "beautiful", "wonderful"and what all his favourite bits are! Right now they are the aliens.

I love him being in the big bedroom because I can keep moving around the furniture. Right now it looks nothing like this anymore! We plan to replace his toddler bed with bunk beds eventually so the boys can share the room.

Please comment if you have enjoyed seeing inside our house. Is there anything else you would like me to write about?
Bx


4 Jul 2014

Noah says


"Mummy! I've got rubber gloves on for rubbing things with!"