I haven’t blogged about it sooner as we had a stressful start which I’ll write about soon enough but we’ve got to the 20 week point and things are looking good 🙂
All being well we’ll be having another little boy in June, a month after W turns 2 🙂
This pregnancy has been so different so far, stressful start aside, I’m not keeping track of the size/developments each week and only taken one bump photo!
Also I had morning sickness this time around which I’d not had before (so assumed it might be a girl, wrong!!)
First time around I was so scared of labour and how I’d deal/bond with my baby. This time around my fears are much more logistical… How will we cope with 2?! How can we survive on less sleep?!!
Of course we’re super-excited and even little W kisses my belly and says ‘baby’ so we think he’s a little bit excited too 🙂
Our gorgeous boy is 20 months old today! It’s been a joy spending extra time with him over the last few weeks for Christmas etc… It will be a struggle going back to work tomorrow!
Development
The main thing that’s changed since the last update is his vocabulary, not that I was ever worried that he was behind but his language has come on a long way… At the moment he seems to say a new word every day… Some of his new words are toast, cheese, please, bus, car, bath, water, shoes, up, down, all gone….
He can recognise animals in books, and he can do animal noises eg if you ask him what noise a lion makes, he roars… So cute!
He’s still going through a sorting/ordering phase. His favourite thing is lining up cats, all facing the same way… Then moving them to another spot… All in the same order, facing the same way! He literally spent all of Boxing Day doing this!
Behaviour
After the last update I wrote, possibly because of the croup, he became really clingy to his dad. He’d scream if he left the room and followed him everywhere. Thankfully he seems to have moved on from this, and generally he’s had a calm, well-behaved month… He still pulls the occasional tantrum but usually when he’s tired.
Routine, health etc
After the last update we also hit a few weeks of sleep regression where he was waking a few times a night eg midnight and 3am. Again this seems to have gone and we’re back to sleeping through from 7pm to 5-6am.
He still has a 2 hour nap, usually about noon. Sometimes earlier, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer.
A couple of weeks ago he had a bit of a dicky tummy and we had some horrible diarhea nappies, even though he seemed fine in himself. This settled and in the last week or so he hasn’t stopped eating! He loves toast, banana, cheese, pasta, pizza, ham, grapes, oranges, apples…,
And he still loves drinking water, I’ve still not given him any squash/watered down juice yet… He gets plenty of sugar from the little pieces of chocolate his dad sneaks him 😉
Oh he also loves feeding himself yoghurt.
Speaking of sugary treats, I still don’t know if all his teeth are through and still haven’t taken him to a dentist! Bad mum but he does love brushing his teeth twice a day 🙂
Other things we need to start thinking about as well as registering with a dentist are:
-potty training – not saying he’s ready yet, but he does tell us when he’s having a pee or poo, so I might get a potty soon just for him to get familiar with it
– a proper bed – he’s climbed out of his cot bed once in anger (in the sleep regression phase I mentioned)
What we’ve been up to
The weather’s been so awful lately that we haven’t had as many nice walks as we’d have liked. We’ve tried out a few more soft plays! Christmas was nice, he was spoiled with cars and car garages… And a smart trike… And so many toys!
I’m glad to see the back of 2015, it’s been the hardest year of my life due to my dad dying in April… The grief and fall-out is something I still face on a daily basis. On top of that my mum recently had an op to remove a small bit of bowel cancer… (She should be fine!) and this sounds like nothing in comparison… But we had to put our oldest cat down as she had started to suffer from dementia… Sad and stressful!
Of course I have so much to be thankful for… I have my health, my home, a new job and of course my man and my boy 🙂 The best bits of this year have been watching W transition from a baby to a toddler… Taking his first steps, saying his first words. So many lovely memories of sunny days out and about… And holidays to Menorca, Bluestone and much-needed girly time in Lisbon.
I already have lots to look forward to in 2016 which I’ll blog about soon. I’m not one for resolutions but I would like to get fitter and eat a bit healthier! And this sounds so cliche but my dad dying makes me want to be a better, kinder person but that’s something that will take longer to perfect 😉
On to the blog, well with going back to work I’ve blogged less and been less active with other bloggers. However, my traffic has doubled this year as blogs I wrote last year do so well on Google… So it’s an effortless hobby really! As my traffic’s grown I’ve had more brands getting in touch and more invites to events but I’ve still not managed to attend one yet… Let’s hope I find the time next year!
So in reverse order, here were the top 5 posts on the blog this year…
5 – REVIEW: Avent breast shells. An oldie but a goodie, I don’t think anyone else has blogged about these (which is why I blogged about it in the first place!) so it ranks pretty well on Google
4 – REVIEW: Clarins mum to be treatment. A blogging highlight had to be that even a friend of mine stumbled upon this post when she was looking for reviews!
3 – Bepanthen offer in Boots – so many people search for Bepanthen toys… They really should start selling them!
2 – 9 baby groups to attend in Cardiff (or anywhere really) – this went a bit viral locally when I published it in March… But since then it’s done well on Google for searches like ‘baby classes in Cardiff’ or ‘messy play tesco’
1 – Battle of the baby chairs… Bumbo vs Snug. It gives me great pleasure that every day hundreds of parents google about which baby chair to get and they find my post 🙂
As you can see, really all of these are reviews of products/services that I’ve paid for myself. It still baffles me that more bloggers don’t do the same and blog reviews of their favourite products, rather than just things sent to them by companies… Which are often unlikely to be searched for by anyone!
As 4 out of the top 5 were written in 2014, maybe I should think of retiring…. But I still have a few more things to blog about… So watch this space!
A few weeks ago I had a lovely girly weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. Here’s a little montage and then I’ll give you some tips 🙂
We actually think our weekend in Lisbon was cheaper than a lot of UK breaks! Through the fab ‘flight-checker‘ tool we found flights for £50! (Easyjet, Bristol, Thurs-sun) and then via AirBnB found a gorgeous flat in a great location for £60 each… Bargain so far! (Oh and airport parking was £40)
I’m rubbish at working out exchange rates but all you need to know is that it’s good at the mo… So your British pound goes a long way against the Euro! That, combined with low prices for great food and drink, meant we could eat like Queens… Eg a full and fresh sea bass for lunch for 9euros (£6-7!)
As if low prices wasn’t enough of a temptation… Portugal is famous for its shoe making skills and there’s a shoe shop on every corner….
With that in mind, take a big enough piece of hand luggage with you otherwise you’ll have to do what I did and buy a new suitcase for the two pairs of boots that I bought!
What we loved most about Lisbon was the miles of mooching around the city centre and surrounding areas…. Soak in the pretty buildings and trams, stop for some shopping, stop for a pastry and drink… And repeat!
So don’t bother with the double-decker bus tours, you really won’t miss much… Our few hours in Belem was nice but prob much quicker to get a train there!
The views from the Skybar in hotel Tivoli are worth seeing… But don’t take a long walk there without making sure that it’s open (only open in the summer!) doh!
The Park bar is worth a visit to catch great views of the sunset… It’s a really cool open top bar on top of a car park, too busy for us to get a drink but worth it for the views!
If you can get into your appartment, try turning the key left instead of right 🙂
If you want to pick up some tacky souvenirs be sure to get them in the city… The airport has a cute shop and a McD’s… But no tat!
Forgive me readers, I haven’t written one of these updates for a few months now but last week our big boy hit his 18 month milestone 🙂
Vital stats
The health visitor came to do a home visit to check in on him, first time we’d seen her in a year! She was very happy with his progress as he was babbling away to her and trying to share his toys with her!
He weighed 26lbs/11kg which puts him in the 75th percentile which I was quite surprised about as he seems so small to me, compared to others of his age! We wanted to measure his height but surprise surprise he wouldn’t stand still for it!
His shoe size is now 5G… And I think he has 16 teeth… Only 4 to go til teething is behind us!!
Nappies: size 5
Clothes: 12-18 months, some things are getting a bit tight so will start getting the next size up now
Routine: wakes 6am ish, breakfast an hour or so later, snacks/meals every couple of hours… Still naps for 2 hours (bliss!!) from 12-2….. Dinner at 5, bath at 6, in bed by 7….. The only bottle of milk he has is before bed…. 9 times out of 10 he sleeps through 🙂
Health
Well after a run of very good health apart from teething and the odd cold, we were hit hard last week by a bout of croup… When a cough had turned into a bark and he was struggling to breathe at 2am we phoned NHS direct and they phoned an ambulance so we had our first trip to A&E!
They gave him steroids which started working pretty quickly, we were home a couple of hours later and he was fully back to normal within a few days… Phew!
Development
As you know, he’s been running around for many months so the most recent developments have been his language… He babbles a lot, enjoys conversations, understands a lot of instructions (eg if you ask him to fetch something, or put something away) and knows about 10 words… Mama, dada, puss, banana, go, car, yeah, ummm, no, bye… And his favourite word… More! (Need to teach him some Welsh words now :))
He’s showing signs of knowing when he’s peeing, I mentioned it to the health visitor who said we could potty training but if you start this early it can take longer…. So I think we’ll wait a while!
Personality
He’s still very much the fearless, independent, confident little boy he’s always been. Not much phases him, fine with big crowds, goes straight up to dogs (aaargghh!) and jumps off anything (aaargghh!)!
He’s always on the go, very rarely sits still. I’m always in amazement when parents with similar aged toddlers post photos on their Facebook of them snuggled on the sofa watching a movie… Never happens in this house!!
He’s usually happy and loves life but my God has he also started having tantrums, which can include head butting walls/floors etc! Managing those is our current parenting challenge 🙂
Loves
Stories at bedtime… Julia Donaldson books among others
fave TV show: Bananas in Pyjamas
fave food: still cheesy pasta, also loves fish fingers and beans
fave snack: banana
fave cuddly toy: tigger
He loves being outdoors and we were blessed with beautiful autumnal weather over the last few months… So lots of trips to the park etc… Shame winter is now here 😦
We recently spent 7 nights at the lovely Bluestone resort with our 17 month old. If you’re heading there with your toddler here’s some of the things you can get up to…
1 – Swim/paddle in the Blue Lagoon
Staying at Bluestone gives you free entry to their swimming pool complex, the blue lagoon. Most mornings we tried to head there for the 9am opening, and W loved it. He would wander as far into the main pool as he could, and then keep running back to the toddler pool where he could steer his ship and explore the ‘rock pools’ – brilliant place, and nice spacious family changing areas too!
2 – Circus soft play
W loved this too, a big playroom in the Adventure centre. Plenty to keep them occupied from a push along train/roller coaster thing, to bubbles, to little teepees, really great and again free to use!
3 – the rest of the Adventure centre
We didn’t really use this as much as it’s better for slightly older kids, but your toddler could use the softplay on the ground floor too, ball pools and a bouncy castle!
4 – throw stones into the stream down at Camp Smokey
This is an outdoor eating place in a little valley, but we actually wondered down there for a walk when it was closed so eerily had the place to ourselves… And precious memories were made with dad showing W how to throw stones into the stream… So cute!
5 – a dinner show at the Wild wood cafe
We loved this, we paid about £20? £25? for the ‘shelby snail’ dinner which involved a lovely fairy telling stories, a platter of food and a chance to meet, and have photos with, the character of the show which in our case was Shelby snail! And we loved that it was an early dinner… Running from 4.30-6pm with food brought out about 5.15 – perfect for us!
6 – eat out at the Farmhouse Grill or Knight’s tavern
We had a meal at the pub, the Knights tavern, which was ok but we much preferred the Farmhouse grill. We had the Sunday carvery there and a mid-week dinner, the food and service was great both times with 2 added bonuses for toddlers.. A fab little indoor play area, and they start serving dinner at 4.30pm!
Tenby half lobster at the farmhouse grill
7 – Book them into the crèche
We used the creche a couple of times and found it great, good staff and facilities, when we went to pick W up he was having a whale of a time! It cost £24 for 3 hours and seems to be on every few days.
8 – go to the Spa while they’re in the creche!
The spa is fab… A big outdoor jacuzzi, 2 saunas, 2 steam rooms, a salt room, and an ice room. Very relaxing 🙂
9 – try one of the toddler classes
We went to a toddler sensory class, which was £7 for an hour. Half an hour of that is ‘free play’ in the free-to-use circus room which I thought was a bit cheeky… The second half was fun though, singing and dancing (the adults… While all the toddlers were running off in all directions!)
They run a few messy play sessions that we missed, would like to check them out next time!
10 – Carew inn
Just a few miles away from Bluestone, we stumbled upon a lovely pub called the Carew inn. Good food, good value, and lovely, helpful staff… Oh and it has this fab outdoor play area….
11 – Carew castle
Just across the road from the pub is a beautiful, derelict castle. Entry was £5 each per adult and W loved running around these magical, eerie grounds with lovely views across an estuary.
Carew castle
12 – a day trip to Tenby
We went to Tenby a couple of times during our week there, I hadn’t been for a few years and had forgotten how lovely it is (especially off-peak!)
We found a cute little park overlooking South Beach (the park with best views ever!) and had a nice cuppa tea in the lovely cafe/bar/restaurant on South beach… after a run around on the sand!
Hope you find this useful if you’re heading to Bluestone… If you’ve already been, what did you and your toddler get up to?!
Small print: unlike most bloggers, I paid for our trip to Bluestone and opinions are my own 🙂
I mentioned in my last post that at the age of 16 months, we finally got W’s hair cut.
Why ‘finally’?!
Well ‘people’ have been suggesting I get it cut since he was about 6 months old! His hair grew quickly so by the time he was 1 he was already looking much like a little surfer dude…
Long-haired boy
I was loving this look, rats tails and all but in a heated moment of madness while he was in the bath, I decided to trim those mullet rat tails but the leave the rest.
Of course, when we got up the next day I realised that I’d totally messed up the back of his head and decided I’d prefer to cut it all off than look at my failed barber attempt every day. An emergency appointment followed, he did really well sitting down for his cut and only cried when the hair around his ears was being trimmed! Weeks later I have grown to love his new cut. He does look more grown-up, he looks totally different. I do miss his long locks though and hope they grow back soon.
He got mistaken for a girl quite a few times pre-haircut, but that didn’t bother me at all! I don’t dress him in the most masculine of clothes (follows his mum with Breton stripe tops, mustard leggings and the like) and he still plays with pink toys, but post-haircut he hadn’t been mistaken for a girl once.
I’m kinda bittersweet about it. Proud of my gorgeous boy looking all grown-up. But sad that society thinks he should have short hair, and that longer hair is a girly thing. Isn’t it a bit sad that we’re already judging them and defining them at such a young age?! Isn’t it a bit boring conforming to norms? Surely this is EXACTLY the age where it shouldn’t matter what he looks like? He has a lifetime of school, work and life’s norms and rules to conform to… So for now, could we let him be? And let his hair be wild and free?!
I’ll write a whole other post about it, but I had to get W’s haircut for the first time. There was nowhere else I would think of going other than Funky little chickens… I’d gone there for our baby massage classes and been well impressed with the cars to sit in and dvd’s to watch, to keep the little ones distracted while they get their chopped off!
Since then they’ve set up shop in Cafe junior, Roath so I thought we’d kill two birds and try both!
Firstly I was mega impressed than when I phoned on a Friday afternoon they could fit W in at 0920 the next morning… A perfect time for us as we’ve already been up a couple of hours… And the traffic/parking is dead quiet at that time!!
I can’t remember the hairdresser’s name but she was lovely… She got straight to the task in a no-nonsense kind of way but she was very caring and great with W too.
He LOVED the car and it made him so happy that it took him several minutes to realise that something was happening to his hair!
The haircut was all done in about 10-15 mins. I think it normally costs £8 but of course I got carried away and spent the £4 for a certificate and lock of hair in a box! As well as a great product and service, I do love their branding and little touches!
So, haircut done and this gave us free access to Cafe junior, a cafe/softplay that also opens as a family-friendly bistro in the evenings. I’d wanted to try this place out a lot when I was on maternity leave but the parking in Roath put me off every time!
But here we were, we finally made it! We were the first ones in that morning so W loved having the run off the place while me and the other half were able to have coffee/brekkie on a comfy sofa… Very relaxing atmosphere with even relaxing music being played!
I loved it… Totally different to the bigger softplay places that can feel a bit claustrophobic and loud. Cafe junior has high ceilings and a very, light airy feel.
Cafe junior
I’d take a punt and say it was the most middle-class place of its kind in Cardiff. While we were there, some dads met for breakfast/toddler play dates (never seen that before!) a well-to-do French lady and smart Italian man (not together!) enjoyed a coffee while watching over their kids.
It makes a refreshing change that you can sit comfily and even if your little one is ever so slightly out of sight, you know they’re fine… No hoards of big kids trampling over them, no ‘big kid’ equipment that they’re trying to clamber over… Just lots of excellent toddler toys… Wendy houses and the like.
I wonder how busy this place gets on a Saturday afternoon? We’ll definitely be back on a Saturday morning again, hopefully before his next haircut which could be another 16 months away 😉
small print: I wasn’t asked, or paid, to write this.. Just wanted to share our experience with you!
Last weekend I had a few free hours while W and daddy went to watch some local rugby… So I thought I’d go for some retail therapy at McArthur glen which is just about 20 mins away.
It’s actually quite toddler-friendly… They have little tykes cars that they can drive round in, and there’s a play area.. I’m sure I will take W with me at some point but for this occasion is was nice to have some mummy time… And I ended up topping up his autumn/winter wardrobe with these beauties…. First off Gap where I got 2 long-sleeved vests, a long-sleeve top, lovely warm joggers and fleece-lined jeans for £40… A bargain for Gap 🙂
Then off to Next where I picked up this lovely waterproof, fleece-lined coat for £17
I bought a couple of other bits including my usual Yankee candle (lemon lavender mmmm) and treated myself to a couple of mummy pieces from Fat face… The skirt (£15) will have to wait till next summer but the jumper (£20) will be perfect for the next few months 🙂
So a successful albeit slightly more expensive than planned afternoon! So lucky to have a discount outlet on our doorstep!
I used to live within walking distance from Cardiff bay…. If we wanted to nip to the local, the local was essentially the range of pubs/bars/restaurants in Cardiff bay. So I have LOTS of drunken memories there, from sunny all-dayers to Christmas parties in the comedy club.
Fast forward a few years and I popped down there a few weeks ago with W for our usual Friday trip! It was the last day of the summer long Cardiff Bay beach which I thought was ok, better for older kids. W is at that stage of running off everywhere so I would have enjoyed it more if the area was enclosed and he didn’t keep running off towards the deep water of the bay!
After a runaround the ‘beach’ i popped him back in buggy and headed to the Wales millennium centre. Should have taken a photo but it’s a lovely armadillo-type building which hosts shows etc. it has a large indoor lobby and I knew they had a kids area. This seemed to be having a bit of a refurb but they did have 2 tables of Lego out so W was in his element just playing with these new toys!
Again, he eventually kept trying to escape (I really need to sort this out haha!) so it was time to leave (would Defo take him back there on a rainy day!!) and I thought I’d push him across the beautiful barrage where I knew there was a play area….
On the way there I stumbled upon a little park that I’d never noticed before, nestled between a pub I used to frequent and the Norwegian church. It was perfect for W… Not too big but enough space to run around, totally enclosed and we had the place to ourselves!
As I sat there watching him running round like a loon while I chilled out for 5, I guess it just struck me how places take on a different life when you’re a parent! I must have walked past this park a hundred times and never noticed it before, and over time I’ll probably know where all the soft plays are in Cardiff but not have a clue where the best pubs are (actually I think that’s already happened!)
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