Sleeping Through Yet?

A mum of two still trying to get the balance right


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Where did the summer holidays go?

Wow, this seems like a looooong time ago. We’re well into the school year and nursery but I thought I’d post this anyway to remind me of that summer before school started!

This summer I wrote a great big long list of all the outdoor places we could visit for when the weather was good and a not so long list of things to do if the weather was bad. 7 to 8 weeks of no nursery seemed like such a long time at the start of the holidays but it has flown by and my eldest shall shortly be starting reception at school and my littlest starts nursery.

IMG_0783

I was looking forward to all the places we would go thinking I would be broke by the end of the holidays, but apart from the expense of a lovely holiday in Italy (actually that was my husbands treat) and a few other random nights away our days out have mostly consisted of going to local parks (with a picnic). Bargain. It seems every time I asked Charley what she wanted to do, she said go to the playground, so that’s what we mostly did. Sometimes taking her bike to try and get her using that, sometimes with balls or a frisbee, and more often just going on the swings.

I’m not sure what happened to all those planned days out, days seemed to get taken over with visits to hospitals, small little chores to do in towns, friends to catch up with and parks and playgrounds seemed to fill the gaps nicely.

It’s seemed like a special summer holiday, a last one before Charley starts school and we’re then stuck in the mundane routines for years (apart from the school holidays). I hope the children have enjoyed their simple days out in our amazingly sunny summer, I haven’t heard too many shouts of ‘I’m bored!’

We’re hoping to have one last special day out at a Theme type place when the majority of children are back at school as Charley starts school the week after most. Hoping we get some lovely last sunny weather to enjoy our last days of freedom!

5 pushchairs


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The 5 pushchairs in our parenthood journey

When I was pregnant with Charley I couldn’t wait to go pushchair shopping. After a few years of trying to conceive and watching the new mums push their shiny new prams around towns and parks I couldn’t wait to choose my own. Little did I know how much of a minefield it would be. Did I want one for going around towns, the countryside, forward facing, rear facing? Did I need a cot, one that would fit a car seat?

5 pushchairs

Fast forward 4 years and we’ve had 5 pushchairs, and most have been much loved at various stages of our parenthood journey.

It feels like we are coming to the end of our pushchair journey and our very first pram/pushchair that Charley was gently pushed around in has now been sold on to new parents.

So I thought I’d put together my list of pushchairs we’ve owned over the last few years, many special memories accompany each one!

Mamas and papas Mpx travel system

First pushchair

The first pushchair I fell in love with. After a few visits to various baby shops and looking at pushchairs/prams we finally decided that this would be the one. I loved the colour, the way it manoeuvred, the size. It was a tad expensive but we both really took to it.

My pre- baby dreams of going for long walks with Charley in our lovely new pushchair didn’t materialise. I thought I’d be walking into our local town daily, but the truth was it was too bulky to lift up and down the stairs to our front door and as Charley fed for such long periods of time (and it took me 6 months to feel comfortable breastfeeding in public) it was a quick dash out in the car into town rather than the long, leisurely walk!

Out n About nipper (single)

Second pushchair

This was the pushchair that I thought was quite ugly to look at and had no desire for a three-wheeler when I was pregnant. However, only 3 or so months after Charleys birth we decided that an off-roader was required for walks around woods and getting down/up the steps to our front door.

Although, definitely not my first choice, this pushchair has been my absolute favourite. It has been so easy to manoeuvre, lightweight, the children have always been happy in it and it works well in towns and off-road.

McLaren techno

Third pushchair

When Charley was 6 months old we had our first holiday abroad to Spain. Our research on travelling with a little one made us think we needed a pushchair that did the umbrella fold. I’m not sure this is correct now but we ended up going for a McLaren as it seemed like a good travel pushchair. It reclined all the way back so the children have always been able to have naps in it and have always seemed comfortable in it. It’s had a lot of use as it’s so quick and easy to get in and out of the car.

Phil and Teds double

Fourth pushchair

After more pushchair shopping when I was pregnant with Bodhi we finally decided on a Phil and Teds double. Although looking lovely and compact I never really got on with this one. I found it too heavy to push, especially when they were both in it and heavy to lift in and out of the car. I really wanted to like it but it just wasn’t for me, maybe I’m a weakling!

Out n About (double)

Fifth pushchair

With Charleys diagnosis of Juvenile Arthritis not long after the birth of Bodhi we needed a double pushchair so we sold the Phil and Teds and went for a double Out ‘n’ About. This was just fab and it has also been well used due to it’s lightness and easy manoeuvring.

I’ve loved my times with our various pushchairs, such great carriers for shopping too. I’m not quite sure how my arms will cope when I no longer have an excuse to use one!

How many pushchairs have you had?

Keep Calm and Carry On Linking Sunday
Broken toys and odd bits


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Broken toys and odd bits

Is it just our house or does everyone with children have a house brimming with broken bits of toys and odd bits that have come from random toy sets, magazines and party bags?

Broken toys and odd bits

I have only just realised that our house does. Or maybe I’ve known for a while but have only just realised that I really need to chuck some of these useless bits away!

This morning Bodhi had managed to get one of Charleys new little toy characters but he’d broken the head off (sorry Aunty J!). My initial thought was to put it on the kitchen table for my husband to glue back together later (which he’d obligingly do by the way!). Then I suddenly thought “What’s the point?”. It was only going to happen again. Why not just put it in the bin. If Charley doesn’t see it for a while she probably won’t even remember it and then I can just say it must be in one of the boxes in the playroom somewhere and she’d forget about it again. So that is what I’ve done, put it in the bin. I do feel a little bit guilty for doing this and I should really tell Charley that it got broken so it went in the bin, but this morning I didn’t want the drama so went for the easy option.

Broken toy

There are a few other small broken bits of toys, just sitting round the house, that should probably just be binned too. The children aren’t asking to use them, so really they should just go?

A few of the boxes in the playrooms have random odd small things in that have come from magazine covers or little toys sets. I don’t often buy magazines for the children but when I do there are usually small little toys stuck on the cover. Sometimes they will get played with for a while over a few days and then they get set aside so these too should be scooped up and put in the bin. It would definitely save time on the tidying up when the children just decide to empty the boxes to see whats in them!

Other random items seem to be from party bags. I must admit I find party bags a pain in the bum. I know the children like them (for 5 minutes generally at the end of the party) and the adults have had to spend money on them, but most of the things feel like a waste. More things to get rid of, though I don’t. They get put in a little basket with other random little pieces of toy sets, just in case the children want to play with them.

I really need to have a major sort out of these things!! When the children are asleep would be best.

Do you have boxes of random bits of toys? Do you like party bags? What do you do with the toys in them? Am I just a scrooge?!

Blogging break


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Blogging break again

I love blogging. I love writing, editing photos, reading other blogs. Blogging has made me think about things to try with the children, trips to go on, food to make, crafts to attempt, how to parent my children. It’s really made me change the way I photograph things and I’d love to get better at this, Instagram is now one of my favourite social media platforms.

Blogging break

I just can’t get the balance right!

After a blogging break at Christmas I didn’t want to fall back into blogging during all my spare time which amounts to Bodhi’s nap times (when Charley is at nursery twice a week) and the evenings. During January I was blogging most evenings which left little time for anything else including writing for myself or commenting on other blogs. I felt like everything was being done for the sake of blogging and that wasn’t what I really wanted. I couldn’t keep up with all the linkies that I wanted to join or comment on them.

I was also addicted to looking at my stats, I hate to say. It did make me smile everytime my views increased and it was a challenge to see if I could increase them month on month. I’ve only ever had a small amount of views on my posts, and mostly due to joining lots of linkies but to see the stats increasing and moving up the TOTS100 each month made me feel like I was achieving something.

So, with half term around the corner I thought it would be a good opportunity to have another break from blogging as its quite hard to get much done with two pre-schoolers around anyway and we had a busy week planned.

However, at the end of half term I decided to stop doing my weekly post of what we’d been up to as although we go out and about every week, it seems to be to mostly the same places and it began to feel like more of a chore to be doing it every Sunday evening. I’d really enjoyed writing them when I first started them back in June/July 2015 and I wasn’t getting the same pleasure from doing them now. I planned on doing a monthly round up instead, but I haven’t got around to this yet!

I know I don’t want to stop blogging completely. I still think it is a great way of recording our family life and Charleys progress with her arthritis.

The trouble with having a blogging break is that the longer you leave it the more difficult it becomes to post something, hopefully this one will ease me back in.

After having children and being a stay at home mum, I’ve really enjoyed having something to do for me and I don’t want to give this up. I’d really like to find a balance with blogging and home life. I’m sure there has to be a way!