29 Aug 2014

Noah says....

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?Why?Why?Why?

Mummy says: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHH!

28 Aug 2014

H&M Haul


I'm a huge fan of H&M, the vast majority of clothes come from there. I like their style and most of all I like the prices. I also love their children's clothes which are also much cheaper than most on the high street.

So when I saw they had a great sale online and someone gave me a code for more off (I think it was 20%) including the sale items, I went to see what I could get.

Boy did I do well!

Firstly for me;


I got a yoga top, sports cropped trousers, a sports bra, a white slug tee and another plain white tee. These cost £43.17 all together - the sports bra was the most expensive at £17.99 but I really needed another one now I'm doing more exercise. Even better was I actually ordered another pair of trousers, a top and a dress which were all too big. The dress I love though so I'm getting the smaller size of that. The others were a bit meh. 


For Thomas I got two pairs of trousers and a plain white tee all for £16.19.


I didn't get huge amounts for Judah as I kept all Noah's old clothes. His wardrobe and drawers are already busting. I just got two white long sleeved tops, a denim shirt, a grey sweater, the bat man tee and the cute badger outfit. These came to £26.34.


For Noah I got so so much. I went for trousers and shorts in the 3-4 size as he has lots of 2-3 that fit him now. The shorts are obviously for next year but they all came with a belt which makes them even more of a bargain! The above picture came to £53.52, the most expensive pair being £8.99.


Lastly for Noah I got, a checked shirt, 3 long sleeved tees, a zip up hoody, two white tees, a grey jumper and not pictured 7 pairs of 'Planes' pants. All totalling £35.5.

So all in all there is 31 items for £174.72. If that's not a bargain I don't know what is. What's even more amazing is ordering online and having so little to return.

You'll also notice the abundance of white tops, I'm about to get my tie dye on again. Suppose I should do a post about that too!
Bx

27 Aug 2014

Project 52 - 34/52


Slightly unconventional again this week. 

I wanted to post some pictures with some of my favourite people in the world. We were very lucky to spend some time with them at the weekend and show off the boys.

Robert and Marion were the founders of the church I grew up in, the church my parents still go to. Even though we have moved and go to a new church which has a great family, even though the building the used to use has been demolished and a new building in it's place, even though there is a new pastor, the Staplehurst Free Church will always feel like my home. Robert and Marion moved away a long long time ago now, we don't get to see them nearly enough, they are such special people and I miss them dearly.


Debs is Robert and Marion's daughter. I was a teeny tiny bridesmaid when her and Pete got married.Pete works at the oh so fancy Stowe school and we were very privileged to get to stay over night in the dorms so we could spend more time with them. Debs and Pete have 3 beautiful and talented and all grown up children. I still picture them as little kids which shows just how little we see them these days. 


Thank you so much for having us to stay and for being the most amazing family. 
Bx


21 Aug 2014

Project 52 - 33/52


Please excuse the state of the wall behind Noah, we're getting some work done in our kitchen/dining room soon and are trying to decide how to redecorate (second from the left is winning at the moment). Look at that cheeky grin. We are savouring those wonderful smiles at the moment as Noah's sleep is still very disturbed, therefore he is tired all the time. Grumpy Noah isn't much fun!


This one, however, remains eternally smiley. One day I upstairs and thought to myself "Noah's playing the piano very nicely, he usually bashes away on it". I went downstairs to find this.......


This was the first time Judah had pulled himself up on something. By the next day he had used the top of the piano to pull himself onto his feet, and yesterday he moved onto the little kitchen which is next to the piano. SLOW DOWN CHILD! 

Bx

17 Aug 2014

Mum's List 5



Real Life
Wow. This week has been a busy one. It has definitely been a good one though which is great.
  • We got caught in the rain a grand total of 4 time this week, including two wet picnics!
  • I did Pilates for the first time in two weeks and it hurt. Then I did Yoga the next night so consequently carried on hurting for a few more days!
  • After a day when both boys moaned and cried all day, I felt like I couldn't cope with two children at all. That evening my neighbour text me asking if I could look after her daughter the next day! I was really nervous but it was actually great and boosted my confidence.
  • We went to the Rare Breeds Centre, the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway and Noah had his first trip to the theatre to see What the Ladybird Heard. So it was a very exciting week for him. When we asked him what he thought of the theatre he said it was "wonderful".


  • I have managed to go out for drinks with friends and Thomas and I went out for dinner round our friends' house. We even got some child free time at a party we went to meaning we could join in the music 'jam' that was happening.
  • At the end of the party everyone left went out for a walk, I hand't been planning on joining in on this activity but it was a beautiful evening and I had the Mei Tai carrier in the car. I did not, however, have good footwear; I was wearing my new Toms! It was ok going in my toms for most of the walk but right near the end we had to cross a field that was really wet, sticky mud. There was no way I was going to wreck my Toms crossing it so I went barefoot. At first it was gross but I got into it and then found it totally liberating. Was much easier cleaning my feet than it is trying to get mud off walking boots as well!
  • We have also got to spend a lot of time within our new church family, getting to know people and beginning to feel really part of things. I'm so pleased we decided to make a change as I feel a lot more positive as a result. The party yesterday was with people from our old church family, which was also really special as they are some amazing people that we don't want to leave behind.
  • Judah (still) isn't crawling, he is, however, a complete liability already. He also loves food.



Social and Blogging
I really have nothing to add here. I have been so busy with everything else I have barely even been online!

Looking forward to next week being as good (although with time for blogging).
Bx

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10 Aug 2014

Mum's List 4

Thankfully I can say this week has been much better than last week! 

Real Life
  • Monday started the week off quite well,  the cleaner was sick, which I was kind of glad about. It meant we didn't have to get out the house for a couple of hours and could just stay in. Noah had fallen asleep at 4.30 on Sunday afternoon and slept through until about 6 Monday morning. It was so nice to spend a day at home with him in a much happier mood! 
  • Tuesday my sister came and had the boys in the afternoon and I had a nap. Bliss! In the evening I took my sister up to Bluewater and had a really good shop and a burger. It was really nice to have some time out the house and I love girly time with my littlest sis as it's kind of new for us.
  • The rest of the week days were full of seeing friends and trips to fun parks with my mum. Lots of adult company and getting out the house compared to the week before.
  • I started a beginner's yoga course on Wednesday which I really enjoyed. I haven't been to Pilates in 2 weeks and I've really missed it. I have been scoffing my face quite a lot lately and I am pretty certain I've put some weight back on. My body confidence has dropped right down as a result. I daren't weigh myself to see the real damage, I just plan to get running again. When it stops raining!
  • Judah still isn't crawling, he is so close though! He wants to practice at every opportunity and never sits still!
  • Noah is so smart it surprises me as I'm sure I never teach him anything! This week we made a card for my friend who has had a baby called Quinn. He figured out that the sound at the beginning was "Qu" and found the right letter to stick on the card. He can also identify the numbers 1-10 and understands counting items up to 10 as well.
  • The photos below were from Sunday morning and chocolate croissants for breakfast. Thomas said: "Having a baby makes your toddler seem so much more civilised"!




Blog Life

  • I have over 100 followers on Twitter. Pretty good for someone who doesn't use it! 
  • My cousin sent me some digital mock ups for the new blog page. Getting excited about her designs!
  • I had no photos at all to do Project 52. Next week isn't looking much better.
Inspiration
This week I've read two great articles I just had to mention
  • Firstly this article as it was International Breast Feeding Week - 30 Ways Breast Feeding And Formula Feeding Are Exactly The Same. I breastfeed and strongly believe everyone should at least give it a go, because duh it's free! However, I don't give a monkey's how you ultimately feed your baby.
  • Secondly -  Forget the cot, sleep with your baby. I'm sure the article is right, most people sleep with their babies in their bed more than they let on. We've never hidden the fact our bed ends up full of babies and other people always know exactly what we are talking about. It definitely makes me feel good being that close to the tiny ones and I'm sure it must be good for them too.
So here's to another good week next week. 
Bx



Mums' Days
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3 Aug 2014

Mum's List 3


I have to admit I have had a horrible week this week. There have been pockets of goodness, but an over-riding feeling of exhaustion and misery!

Real Life

  • Since coming back from Bournemouth, neither boy has slept well. The first few days we had them both awake until 9/10pm. Then Judah is waking up at least 3 times a night for a feed, Noah has been waking up in the night and also waking up before 7am most mornings. We are both extremely tired, the thought that we are not going to get a good night's sleep any time soon is exhausting just to think about!
  • On Wednesday my sister came over and looked after both boys, so I had some freedom. It was amazing, I unpacked, got loads of washing done, got all our paperwork filed, did some studying, the list goes on! It felt good to get some things organised, but in hindsight I wish I'd had a nap!
  • Thursday was a really hard day. For some reason we had complete toilet regression from Noah. He wet himself 5 times, which previous to this I think had happened once in the last couple of months. The first time we were out and I had nothing for him to wear, cue half naked dash home! He then just kept doing it and I had no idea if he was doing it on purpose. Thomas was out in the evening and neither boy wanted to stay asleep. I think I managed to get them both off and went to sleep myself by about 9.30!
  • The positives of Thursday were accidentally matching Judah as pictured above, seeing our darling friend Patrick as pictured below, and briefly seeing my friend Rachel who brought over Noah's very belated birthday present. He was so so polite to Rachel and said thank you so nicely, unprompted, that I was a very proud Mummy.
  • Friday I couldn't cope anymore, so made an emergency visit to my very wonderful in-law's for lunch and some extra hands. 
  • Lack of sleep has made everyone very grumpy all week, even the happiest baby ever has had a grizzle on. I am inclined to think that he is teething though, so there have been the odd doses of calpol which have helped settle him off to sleep in the evenings. We also gave him frozen mango in a Nuby Nibbler, which he LOVED.
  • Let's end on some positives though; Judah still isn't crawling but he is so very close, he's pretty much mastered sitting though. I genuinely saw Noah spell the word 'tap' on an Alphablocks game, I watched him sit and say the word over and over to work out the sounds in it and get it right first time. I was completely dumbfounded, ran to get my camera and video him doing the next words. They weren't as good but still impressive for a 3 year old. Also, I had a little session with Thomas remembering how to skate which was lots of fun!


Social and Blogging

Very little change here. 
  • I got all my blog pages up to date and my views have gone past the 7000 mark which is exciting.
  • Instagram followers continue to grow rapidly, which is great because it is the best social media platform in my opinion.
  • Pretty stagnant on all other social media, but I haven't done anything to try and grow my followers.



1 Aug 2014

Noah says...

Until recently Noah did not get the concept of 'why?' at all. If we asked him why he did something he couldn't answer it and he never said it himself.

I was dreading the day he figured it out.

He's so full of questions as it is, I wasn't looking forward to him adding in 'why' and of course everyone talks about kids going on and on......"why, why, why, WHY?"

Then one day, he said it. He asked why we did something. Time froze for just a second whilst I took a big breath and prepared for the onslaught....... which never came. He just added it to his repertoire of words and moved on.

However, he's decided to go for a much more philosophical question; "what does that mean?" It's easy for some things:

Noah Hears a siren: "What does that mean?"

Mummy: "That means there is an emergency somewhere and the ambulance needs to get to it really      quickly. The siren makes people get out of the way."

Other questions are not.

I've got to grips with it now though:

Mummy: "What do you think it means?"

Bx