Half Term Holidays

For half term, I decided to bring the boys away to the caravan. J and Daddy P have not been getting on recently and I hoped the time apart would do them both good.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and my mum and dad were both here. J was excited and exuberant but on the whole he was fine. He didn’t want to go to sleep on Sunday night but eventually he did, and though he was up early on Monday morning he had slept through. On Monday we had hoped to go to the beach but the weather was bad so we couldn’t. I went to the local supermarket and got a DVD for us to sit and watch after mum and dad left.

 J was bouncing off the walls by Monday afternoon despite mum taking him to the site park twice during the day to try and burn off some excess energy. He was a handful and kept doing what he knew he shouldn’t (stamping around the caravan, jumping on the sofas, being loud when he’d been asked to keep the noise down because Baby A was asleep, arguing with everyone about everything, and within 30 seconds of being told not to do something he was doing it again). Mum and dad left mid-afternoon and although he acted very nonchalant when mum said goodbye to him, he then got upset that she’d gone and upset that she’d not been able to stay longer with us.

On Tuesday my sister in law J came over for the day with my nephew and niece, A and A. J and my nephew A were very full on and kept pushing boundaries. Again, we’d hoped to go to the beach but the weather was awful. We managed to get to the park on site for the older two boys to have a run around but they insisted on taking J’s scooter which caused issues when they both wanted it at the same time and both ignored it and kept leaving it lying around in the park despite me repeatedly saying that they needed to look after it and keep close to it or someone else would walk off with it. Back at the caravan after around an hour in the park it was clear J had got tired of socialising and he just wanted to watch YouTube videos but A wanted to carry on playing which caused friction between them. After J and the kids left it was bedtime – J was exhausted and fell asleep quickly. Once again he slept through the night and I was hopeful that today would be a better day.

Today once again the weather was bad. J told me this morning he wanted to go home tomorrow, then mid afternoon he changed his mind and said he wanted to go home today. I told him it was too late – by the time I had packed everything up and sorted everything out it would be dinnertime. I said we’d go home tomorrow if he still wanted to. He agreed that he wanted to go home after lunch tomorrow. I don’t blame him – it’s hardly been the sunshine filled week at the beach I hoped for. We had a lazy day playing and watching films. We did some homework – the reading book and worksheet was easy, but J kept complaining that the answers to the questions were too long for the space provided and he wouldn’t write the answer.

Despite my best intentions I have found myself become very cross, shouting and being every inch the angry mum I don’t want to be. Its easy to say its because of J pushing and pushing and because he doesn’t do as he’s asked and because he ignores what I say so I repeat myself time and time and time again but I need to work out how to get through to him more effectively. I just wish I knew what that way is. I don’t like shouting at him, I don’t like repeating myself over and over. I don’t like angry, shouty mum and I don’t want J to remember me as constantly having a go at him.

I love that boy to the ends of the earth but he drives me so crazy. Maybe its because I love him so. Maybe this is just what normal, everyday parenting is like.

I brought the boys away to get some space between Daddy P and J because they’ve been rowing so much. Despite the fact that it’s me who spends the majority of time with J it seems to be when Daddy P is around that he is worse. Normally I find when we are away, J is much more chilled and calm than when we are at home but this time has been different.

Maybe it’s because the weather has been awful so we’ve not been able to get out and do stuff. Maybe it’s because mum and dad were here on Sunday and Monday morning. Maybe it’s because J and the kids were here on Tuesday – it was just too different, too social for him to cope with. Maybe it’s the normal pushing boundaries of a child approaching his sixth birthday. Maybe it’s the frustration of a child getting used to sharing his parents time and attention with a younger brother. Maybe it’s the frustration of not feeling like he fits in with his peers.

I don’t know. I really wish I did, but I honestly don’t know. I ask him if he can explain to me why and he says he doesn’t know either.

I guess we’ll just both have to keep on figuring it out together.

A Trip To The Circus

When I saw an advertisement on a local selling page for special-priced tickets to see Russells International Circus locally, I knew I had to ask J if he wanted to go.

I know for some people it seems a bit odd, asking a five year old if he wants to go to the circus. Due to the fact that J doesn't like surprises, has issues with loud noises thanks to his hyper sensitive hearing and has trouble coping with large crowds, it was something I knew I had to ask him about - I couldn't just book tickets and spring it on him, nor could I presume he did want to go.

He was very excited about it, and kept saying yes. I asked him if he was sure, because it would be loud, and he said yes; I asked him if he was sure, because it would be very crowded and busy with lots of people, and he said yes. So I booked the tickets, and as the days went by he was counting them down til the day we went to the circus.

He asked me what kind of things they would have, and I really couldn't tell him much. Last time I went to a circus I was a child myself and I don't remember much of it to be honest. I said I wasn't sure but suggested there might be acrobats, trapeze artists and clowns.

The day finally arrived - Friday afternoon his Nana picked him up from school and brought him home. He went straight upstairs to get changed, then we ate a quick dinner of spaghetti on toast before we headed off in the car. J was as charged up as a fire cracker, firing questions at me from the back seat and asking if we were there yet. Then we pulled into the carpark and he saw the Big Top.

There was quite a crowd milling about outside and as expected we saw a few people he knew from school - it's a small town really and when the circus is in town you know you're going to see some familiar faces when you go - it's the same at the annual fireworks funfair, the Christmas night market and many other things. J was very excited and wanted to talk to and play with his friends, but he was very good and didn't go too far away from me, and made sure I knew where he was. After he had a few minutes running about outside it was quarter to six and I decided we had better go in and find some seats before it got too crowded inside. I allowed J to choose where we would sit. I was surprised when he chose the seats furthest back, but we had a good vantage point of the whole Big Top and he bounced in his chair excitedly.

From the moment it started, with smoke and lights and thundering music, I worried it would be too much for him - but he sat there staring, unblinking, totally absorbed in what he was seeing. There were acrobats, and trapeze artists, and one clown, as well as a motorbike high wire act, a magician who made his assistant disappear and reappear, a knife thrower, it really was a brilliant show. A couple of times J said to me it was too loud but I hugged him close to me and covered his ears with my hands until the music calmed down a bit and he was fine again.

Kizzy - the trapeze artist that stole his heart -

 J wanted to see trapeze artists, and she 

didn't disappoint with her amazing performance.

The motorbike on the high wire, with
his glamorous partner on the trapeze
swing underneath

The "Wheel of Death" was impressive

Alex the Clown played two of J's favourite songs
during one of his sketches - "Happy" and "Gangnam Style" -
which pleased him no end and had him standing up
clapping and singing along!

After a 2 hour circus performance, J was chatting non stop about it all for the car journey home and despite getting home at half past eight (his bedtime is normally 8pm) he was on a high and chatting away til half past nine to Daddy P telling him all about it and how brilliant it all was. When we did finally get him upstairs and into bed he crashed completely and was asleep within minutes, and on Saturday morning he said he just wanted a quiet day because he was still so worn out from the circus.

All in all, I was so pleased I took him. It was a brilliant evening of entertainment, (if you ever see Russells International Circus are in town I highly recommend you go along to the show, even if you don't have kids, it's a fantastic display) It was lovely to spend some time just me and J, without me having to tell him I was busy working / with the baby / doing something else - I could just focus on him entirely and soak up his wonder and amazement as he watched the show with shining eyes. It was brilliant. It was loud, it was packed, he did have a couple of "whirly" moments, but he handled them like a pro and instead of bolting he came to me and hugged me tightly (at one point in the show he was sitting on my lap). He was grateful for the break at the halfway point and had a run around in the fresh air (it was so hot in that big top!) but on the whole it really was a fabulous evening and we both had an absolutely great time.

You can find out more information about Russells International Circus by clicking here and check them out on YouTube too.

Missing Tiger

Anyone who knows J will know he has a "thing" about tigers. It started when he was a baby - Grandma P brought him a tiger soft toy, because Daddy P had one when he was a child that went everywhere with him, and it became his constant companion and travelled everywhere with us. Sadly he lost it, and despite me buying an identical replacement he never took to that replacement as well as he took to the replacement tiger that Grandma P brought, which was a bit different but apparently preferable!

Well, due to his "thing" with tigers, he has amassed quite a few of them (the soft, cuddly kind, not the wild animal, roaring kind!) Grandma P brought him a special one on his first day of school, a small one to go in his book bag and keep him company during the day, and as he's got older "school tiger" (as he is affectionately known) has become a very calming influence on J. When he feels he is becoming overwhelmed ("whirly" as he calls it) he will go to his locker and fuss "school tiger" and it helps calm him down and ground him again, and he finds he can concentrate better again.

On Thursday, J decided that "school tiger" needed to guard the lockers. So instead of being safely inside his book bag, inside his locker, the tiger was left on top of the lockers. All the kids in his year and the year above troop through this room, all the lockers are in there, so needless to say it was only a matter of time before it went missing. At some point after lunch (when his teacher noticed it on top of the lockers and put it back into his locker) J put the tiger on top of the lockers again and it disappeared. After school Thursday he went looking for it and couldn't find it. I spoke with the SENCO on Friday morning and explained about the tiger disappearing, she said she'd let J's teacher know and they'd have a look about. On Friday afternoon his teacher called to say she'd pulled apart the locker room and the classroom and couldn't find it anywhere.

Needless to say this caused panic for me. How would he react. What would he do? How would he cope without being able to go to "school tiger" for reassurance during the day? He has countless others that he *could* take to school with him, but none of them are official "school tiger" that Grandma P had got him specially to take to school, so knowing J none of them would be quite the same as having "school tiger" there. As we were going to the circus on Friday evening, J was distracted enough that he didn't mention it when he got home from school. On Saturday I panicked quietly wondering what I could do to ensure the safe return of the tiger as quickly as possible. Eventually I put messages on local Facebook selling pages and my own page asking for help from any other parents of children at the school. People were understanding, helpful, asked their kids, but every response I got back was "no, sorry, no news" and I was Googling like crazy looking for images that showed the same type of tiger that "school tiger" is so I could post it to show people what we were looking for. I couldn't find anything.

Then, this morning, I got a message from my friend R. Her daughter, K, has been good friends with J since they started nursery school. The message soothed me immediately. "Tell him not to panic" it read "K found tiger and he's at home with us. I'll bring him into school tomorrow morning." Well, thank heavens for that. Thank heavens that, although a hard lesson to learn, maybe J now understands a bit better that he can't leave his property out in the open where anyone can see it and it can go missing. We've explained it a million times but it doesn't sink in. He's so innocent in that way - because he wouldn't move something that belonged to someone else, he doesn't understand why anyone else would. It doesn't occur to him that someone else might take a shine to it and take it home themselves; that someone else might find it funny to hide it or that someone else might just dump it in the bin because they could. Thank heavens that, despite the fact we didn't know until this morning, K had seen it and knew it belonged to J and had the sense to pick it up and take it home to keep it safe. We didn't see her on Thursday after school and I didn't see her on Friday at drop-off, then my mum went to pick-up.

Thank heavens that, due to the circus distraction and afterwards the exhaustion on Friday night, J didn't worry about it a lot. I was prepared for hysteria, tears, meltdowns - fortunately we avoided that. Now that we are getting "school tiger" back tomorrow, there won't be any hysteria, tears or meltdowns about his whereabouts in the future. I have made it abundantly clear to J that under no circumstances is "school tiger" allowed to sit on top of the lockers on guard duty.

Tomorrow when "school tiger" gets home from school, I am taking a photo of him ... Just in case he ever decides he fancies a weekend away again in the future!

Birthday Bling

A few years ago, my in-laws brought me a silver charm bracelet. It had two charms on it – a wizard who waved his wand, and a spiderweb complete with a spider that jiggled. I rarely wore it, because I found the wizards wand got caught on my clothes, as did the spider legs, and I was worried I’d break them.

A while ago, Daddy P removed the wizard and the spider from the web, and I started wearing the bracelet all the time. Unfortunately one morning a few weeks ago I woke up to find I’d snapped the spiderweb off the hoop that held it onto the bracelet – there was no way of fixing it. I was disappointed, but continued wearing the bracelet and thought to myself one day I’ll get some new charms for it.

It was my birthday at the end of March, and Daddy P asked what I wanted. I had no idea, so I started randomly looking at all kinds of shopping pages online to see if inspiration would strike. I saw a charm bracelet on a page and decided that I’d like to try and find some charms for my existing bracelet.

I went to trusty Google, and typed in simply ‘silver charms’ and the top page that showed up was The Charm Works. I opened the page, and was faced with so many options I didn’t know where to start! If you’re looking for charms, definitely visit this page – there is such a huge amount of variety, you’re bound to find something!

I decided upon two charms – an initial for each of the boys. Daddy P decided he wanted to choose a charm from him – he chose a peridot heart, as his birthday is August so peridot is his birthstone. It so happens both the boys are August babies too, so the heart is relevant for all three of them!

I placed the order with The Charm works late in the evening on Wednesday. Within a few minutes I got a confirmation e-mail. I was pleasantly surprised when my order arrived in the post on Friday morning! What fantastic, quick service!

Unfortunately I had seriously underestimated the thickness of the bracelet I had, so the small size clips on the charms didn’t fit. As this was my error I was really worried that the company wouldn’t be very helpful, but I e-mailed them late on Friday afternoon and received a reply from the customer care team within a few minutes saying it was no problem, and advising me that I needed to send them back with a cover note explaining the clips needed changing to a larger size, and a contact telephone number so they could reach me for the additional payment (the larger clips are slightly more expensive than the small size ones).

I was worried that the medium clips wouldn’t be big enough and didn’t want to change them from small to medium and then find they still didn’t fit, so I took a photo of one of the charms with the small size clip next to the bracelet for comparison and sent it to the customer care lady I was in contact with and asked for her advice on what size clips I would need. As I suspected, she agreed medium wouldn’t be big enough, but that large would fit.

On Tuesday afternoon I posted the charms and cover note back to The Charm Works, and didn’t think I’d hear back from them until the following week. I was amazed when Gemma from the customer care team (the lady I’d been e mailing) called me on Thursday to speak to me about the additional payment for the larger size clips. She told me the charms had been received, she’d processed the order for large size clips, and I would receive the charms back either Friday or most likely Saturday.

For some reason they didn’t arrive on Saturday, but turned up on Sunday (I honestly didn’t think the postal service worked on a Sunday but we got another parcel we’d been expecting as well as letters arrive on the Sunday, which was very odd!) Again, the charms arrived in a padded Jiffy envelope, each charm in its own little grey drawstring bag. The larger size clips had been added to them and I fixed them onto the bracelet immediately.

It’s safe to say I’m thrilled with the charms – they’re beautiful and exactly what I wanted. I’m also thrilled that I chose The Charm Works to make my order with – the speed of delivery was excellent, their customer service (Gemma) was helpful & prompt to respond to my e-mails and I keep admiring my bracelet and the pretty charms and the way the light catches them and makes them sparkle!

If you’re looking for a charm bracelet, charms or both, I highly recommend The Charm Works. I will definitely be getting more charms to add to my bracelet, and I won’t be going anywhere else to get them.

Product Review - Joie Mimzy Snacker

It’s been about a month since our Joie Mimzy Snacker highchair was delivered. I figured it’s about time I got on with writing about it!

For J, we had one of those wooden highchairs that becomes a chair and table as the child gets older. It was difficult to get him in and out of it until Daddy P modified it by cutting the bar across the chair (it didn’t move out of place before) and added extra straps to hold it in place again when needed. It was a bit of a faff to do and I was quite disappointed with it.

I had been looking around at various web pages for a while leading up to purchasing the Mimzy Snacker. Baby A started weaning at 6 months old, but to begin with I’d sit him on my lap, in the Bumbo or even in his bouncy chair to feed him as it was only small amounts of plain food such as baby rice and porridge to begin with. I knew I had to get a highchair for him but didn’t want to make a rushed decision and regret it again.

The Happy Owls pattern

It sounds silly but the first thing that attracted me to the Mimzy Snacker was the pattern I found it available in from Mothercare. It’s called Happy Owls and immediately I liked it. I checked out the features of the highchair and decided it sounded perfect for my needs.

The Joie Mimzy Snacker has 3 recline positions – since Baby A wasn’t sitting independently yet, I felt it was important that he wasn’t harnessed into an upright sitting position. With an upright position, a slightly reclined position and a very reclined position I felt this fit the bill. It has arm rests, and a five point harness which can be completely adjusted as necessary and removed completely for easy cleaning (this point became especially good when Baby A exploded after eating lunch one day and covered the harness in parsnip and carrot vomit!).

The Joie Mimzy Snacker has a large storage basket underneath – our old highchair had no storage – and I felt this basket would be very beneficial for storage of wipes, bibs, and highchair toys. It has a one handed fold which is done by simply grabbing the handle on the seat and lifting; it really is so simple and you can do it with one hand, with a squirming baby in your other arm. When folded, it stands independently – these points sold it to me, totally; I have limited space in my house with two children, two dogs and a dragon, plus the assortment of junk accumulated after nine years of living here (Daddy P is a hoarder which doesn’t help!) Being able to fold the highchair so easily and store it was a huge bonus for me.

The tray is removable, and has a dip in it for the cup to go into; On the underside there are hand grips, so with a hand on either end of the tray you pull the grips and slide the tray onto the chair itself. It has three slots to fit into, depending on how much space your baby needs, making it ideal from a young baby first weaning right through to a toddler about to stop using a highchair altogether. On the underside of the tray is a thick plastic bar to go between the child’s legs, adding extra stability for those like Baby A who aren’t strong sitters and who just slide forwards if there’s nothing there to stop them.

The Joie Mimzy Snacker arrived in a relatively compact box, and when I opened it I was expecting it to be a complicated build process and for it to take me between half an hour to an hour to do. Instead I was admiring the finished product within 10 minutes of opening the box. It was so easy. You just unfold the chair, add the legs on for the height and attach the basket to the hooks on the legs. Then all you have to do is adjust the harness for the size of your baby and you’re done. Baby A was in it as soon as it was built so I could see how big it looked and how comfortable he seemed; he was laughing and smiling, banging his hands on the tray and loving playing with the highchair toys I put on it.

I worried that because it was so lightweight (6.1kg) it would feel flimsy and unstable, but it doesn’t at all – its sturdy and strong and I feel confident that its safe and secure. The weight means it’s easy for me to fold it and take it between the front room and the kitchen as needed, which again is what I need from it.

The other day I put Baby A in the highchair with some toys while I went to the kitchen to put dinner in the oven and sort him out something to drink. When I walked back into the room he was fast asleep and snoring. I used the recline function and laid him back and he stayed fast asleep for another half hour. I think I can say with confidence that he finds it comfortable!

I really like this highchair and rate it highly. If you’re looking for a highchair, this one should definitely be one you look at.

Maxi-Cosi Mura Plus 3 - Update

Since Baby A was born last August, I've been mostly using the Maxi-Cosi Mura Plus 3 chassis with the Folding Carrycot accessory - personal choice, the Mura Plus 3 is approved for use from birth, if you use the parent facing & most reclined seat position or if you use a Maxi-Cosi carseat on the chassis.

I love the carrycot, I must say. It looks smart and the fabric is good quality, the build feels solid. The Folding Carrycot has a lovely thick mattress and Baby A has always slept really well in it. The sun canopy provides great cover even from low winter sun, the apron and the poppers at the top to hold the fabric well up and in place even on the windiest of days, and the raincover which just slid over the whole carrycot with elasticated ease. My favourite feature has been the ability to fold it flat with such ease. Its meant that at times when we've been going out in the car, but we'll be out a while so I want Baby A to be extra comfortable, I have been able to put the chassis and carrycot in the boot of my car. Its then quick and easy when you get to your destination and unfold the carrycot again and its ready to go. I loved this feature and its good news now the carrycot is being stored away now its not going to be used anymore.

I feel a bit sad because its another part of Baby A not being quite such a little baby anymore. Sorting out his clothes has been difficult too - when he went from Tiny Baby to Newborn, then slowly onto 0-3 months ... We're on the 6-9 month size now, and he fills the Folding Carrycot when he's wearing his snowsuit for the school run so we've changed over to the seat unit.

In the box with the Mura Plus 3 chassis you get the seat unit, sun canopy, t bar, parasol clip, raincover and instructions. The Maxi-Cosi footmuff fits the Mura Plus 3 and is purchased as an additional accessory. 

All you need to do is fit the sun canopy to the seat unit, which is very simple - the black clips either side of the sun canopy slide into the black slots on either side of the seat unit, with an elasticated back section on it then attaches to it with a loop of elastic which goes around the seat adjustment handle to hold it in place regardless of which recline position the seat unit is in. Once this is done the seat can be clicked into the chassis - parent or world facing.

The Footmuff is a good size, very thickly padded and has a zip down one side and around the bottom as well as the buttons to provide extra decoration and adjust the fit of the footmuff. The outer fabric of this colour has a distinct denim type feel of thickness and durability while the inner grey fabric is a soft jersey material. It feels cosy and comfortable and I am looking forward to using it.

February 2016

Its been so long since I did a post! I  never used to think life could be so busy but speaking now as a mum of two I don't know where the time goes. Somehow we are already in February. Hopefully though you've been seeing my Facebook and Twitter updates, so you know that things around here have been pretty hectic. It hasn't been a deliberate break as such but with so much going on something had to give.

Currently we are just starting Baby A on food other than milk ... He has grown out of his Moses basket and has been in a crib for the past few weeks ... We are today swapping the carrycot to the pushchair seat and I feel a bit sad that my baby boy is no longer a tiny dinky dot. J is excelling at school with reading and problem solving - we have just had a brilliant weekend at my parents house where he was on top form and really enjoyed himself.

We had a busy but enjoyable Christmas with lots of gifts from our very generous family & friends for the boys (and a shiny new exhaust for me - or rather, for my car - but thats another story!) We'll be exploring and writing about lots of brilliant babies and kids products, including My Puppy Scout from Leapfrog and Follow Me Fiona from TinyLove. As Baby A moves into the seat unit from the carrycot of his Mura Plus 3 travel system I'll be telling you all about that, too.

As Baby A moves onto solids we're in the market for a highchair, so send me your recommendations! I need something wipe clean and that folds easy for storage - it will be used in my already squashed front room so being able to put it out of the way easily after use is essential.

We've had an uppy-downy time recently but we're focusing on the positive for 2016 and starting from 1st Feb I'll be doing #threegoodthings where I select a photo of the day and write three good things that happened that day. It helps to focus on the positives in life and I'm all for that.

"Every day may not be special,
But there is something special in every day"

Peace & Love

Mummy P