One year old Update!

Rhodri's 12 Month Update

My baby boy is 12 months old. I have a one year old now! I don't know where the time went but it is crazy to me that my tiny little baby is now a little boy who gets more mobile, talkative and cheeky with each day that passes! 

As I'm typing this I am listening to my little darling using his cot as a trampoline. His name is written above his cot in wooden letters, he is currently attempting to pick them off the wall. Accompanied with lots of "Oooo", "uh-oh" and "Mamamamama ha!". I have no idea what joys await me tomorrow morning but I've become accustomed to this new phase of his development I like to call "Next stop Toddler-ville". 

Here's what happened this month -

Weight: He hasn't been officially weighed, but last check he was 9.5kg which puts Rhodri's weight back on his normal weight curve and on the 50th percentile line which I'm very happy with.

Height: He's won't be measured until his 1 year check up, which is due next week.

Clothing size: Rhodri is wearing a mixture of 9-12 and 12-18 month clothes. Most 9-12 fit him well, but some things (especially trousers) tend to look better in the next size up.

Sleep: He sleeps 6.30pm - 6.30am.

This months milestones: 

• Teeth - We are still on 6 teeth. He chews on his fingers alot. This is usually a sign more are on their way, but for the time being there are no other signs that the teeth will be making an appearance anytime soon. 
• Words - We have Mamma, Dadda, Nanna, Faff (One of his Auntys), Ta, Cat, Hiya, Yes, Go and Buhbuh (we think this is bye) from previous months. He is still working on Bottle, book and come. His newest words are Out, Ow and Uh-oh
• Walking/Crawling - About a week after he turned 11 months Rhodri started to stand on his own. I thought to myself, this is it. He's going to walk before he turns one. But no, two days later he refused to stand unaided and learnt to Crawl instead!! The day after his first birthday he took his first 2/3 steps unaided, but has now reverted to scooting around the furniture.
• Social skills - Very social child. Going through a phase where in the first few minutes of being with someone he 'plays shy'. After the first few minutes pass he reverts to his smiles, laughter and usual playful behaviour.

This months special outings:

• Rhodri has been enjoying spending time with his grandmothers while Mummy & Daddy are in work.

• We still spend every Thursday with his Aunty and cousins. Rhodri loves this family time.

• Rhodri spent a week with Mummy who took the time off work for some bonding. We thoroughly enjoyed playing, cwtching and quality time together.
• Rhodri's first birthday. He spent the day with Mummy and Daddy, had lots of gifts and cards. Had some visitors and then went out for a meal with a lot of his favourite people. There were some very special people missing but he gets to catch up with them all soon and he can't wait for that :)

Baby gear love: I bought myself a new wrap and I am totally in love!! It's the Lenny Lamb Broken Twill in Strawberry Blueberry. I had it 2nd hand so it was already broken in for me. It is so comfy and much easier to wrap with than my previous wrap. I love it and so does Rhodri.

Baby's routine: 

Rhodri wakes around 6.30am. He has porridge, toast or fruit a bottle of milk and then we brush his teeth. Change of clothes before we leave the house around 7am and drop him at his grandparents. We pick him up around 4.45pm get him home and have dinner. He has a little bit of a play and explore, before taking a bath. He normally watches 'In The Night Garden' before we head up to bed. A bed time story and then in his cot. We will normally hear him play for a good 20 minutes in his cot, but once he tires himself out he lies down and goes to sleep.

On the days he doesn't stay with his grandparents at 7 am we will play with his toys downstairs. Around 9am he will go for a nap. This will last at least an hour, sometimes 2 hours. Once he wakes up he has his second bottle and playtime resumes. around 12pm he has lunch. If we are going out we tend to head out after lunch. If not we go and play in his tent in his nursery. It has some balls and bean bags so he likes to throw them about and put different toys in his tent. Around 2.30 pm he will take another 1hour nap. When he wakes he has his third and final bottle of the day. We play some more, or go out for some fresh air before reverting to the usual night time schedule of dinner, bath, story, bed.

Highlights of the month: 

• Rhodri turned 1 this month. Bitter sweet to have my baby grow up so quickly. Of course I am happy that he is growing up and developing well, but yes I do miss my tiny little baby and those cute sleepy cuddles. These have now been replaced with "Let me go" squirming and "slap" I found your face mum!
• I love all the things he's learnt. Clapping, blowing kisses, waving, pretend coughing, standing up, crawling, walking around. Simple things for us to do, but the effort he puts in to doing and learning these things makes me appreciate it all.
• Celebrating his birthday and looking back on a year with Rhodri was the main highlight this month. 

Rhodri's monthly favourites: 

• Toy - Scout - his talking dog.
• Teddy - Goodnight bear.
• Food - Banana, toast, strawberry yoghurt, raisins.
• Music - All music, pretty much anything in the UK top 40, along with the classics such as Queen, Bon Jovi etc!! 
• Activity - Crawling, cat chasing and turning lights on & off.
• Person - Mummy & Daddy of course!
• Book - The Gruffalos Child

Rhodri's monthly dislikes:

• Being told "No". 
• Having anything dangerous or breakable taken away, or put out of reach.

Thats all for this month. As always thanks for reading!! xoxo

4 Parenting Challenges I Wasn't Expecting!

What a week it's been! If you don't follow me on twitter you might have been wondering why it's been so quiet on the blog front. If you do follow me on twitter you will know that Rhodri & I have both been poorly and it has been  a rough week! 

Thankfully we are both on the road to recovery, but it got me thinking about the aspects of parenting I didn't expect. There are plenty of challenges, hurdles and even rewards we expect when we sign up to parenting.

Being Mamma to my gorgeous little man is without doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me. I went in to parenthood with my eyes wide open, expecting pretty much what I got. One loving little man, who is very curious and in to absolutely everything. He requires endless nappy changes, constant feeding and prefers mummy to eat & drink cold/luke warm meals. 

But there are some things I didn't expect when preparing for motherhood, things that didn't even cross my mind and yet are quite possibly the most difficult parts of parenting, in my opinion, so far! Here's a few I have encountered!

1) Loneliness. I love Rhodri to the moon and back, I can't and won't imagine life without him, but it has undeniably been the loneliest experience of my life. More so when he was a new born, the older he gets the more interactive he is. Plus with his reflux sorted it's easier to get out and socialise.

I thought, rather naively, that I would be far too busy as a new Mum to experience loneliness. How wrong was I? I went from going in to work in a office every single day and chatting away to my colleagues, to sitting at home alone with a baby that couldn't communicate other than by crying. I constantly spoke to Rhodri as I felt it helped me feel a bit less mute and alone but I definitely missed adult conversation and I especially missed getting a response of any sort.

It's incredibly difficult to go from being surrounded by people all day everyday to just being you and a baby, it was even more difficult because I felt very guilty for feeling lonely. I had this gorgeous son who I adored, how dare I feel lonely!! After conversations with other mums I realised this isn't at all unusual and I just wish I'd known to expect it so I wouldn't have given myself half the guilt trip I did!

I was incredibly lucky to have a mother who arranged for weekly coffee dates and a cousin who provided a friendly face, a listening ear, weekly playdates and the added bonus of Rhodri getting to spend time with his family which is important to me. 

2) Being ill is so much more difficult. Gone are the days where I could call in sick to housework and responsibilities, instead opting to go back to bed and rest. Good bye vegging out on the sofa, watching trash TV and waiting for my immune system to remember it has a job to do. 

Hello to the days of powering through! Dose yourself up, suck it up and get on with looking after the baby! Hope its one of those 24 hour things, if it's not then we revert to the plan of powering through. Being ill is never fun, but with an 8 month old it's virtually impossible!

3) Your baby being ill. Never crossed my mind how difficult having an ill child would be. Emotionally it is gut wrenching, heart breaking and quite possibly the most over whelming sense of uselessness I've ever experienced.

On top of them not being able to tell you what is wrong they also don't understand the concept of medicine. Holding your child down to give them antibiotics, put eye drops in their eyes and make them endure many other drops, sprays & creams is traumatic. You know they need the medicine, but don't want to traumatise them. 

You worry if you are doing the right thing for them. Should you try and get them to eat more, drink more? Should you give them any more calpol? Will the Dr think I'm a paranoid mother? Is he so ill the Dr will wonder why I didn't bring him in sooner?

Seeing Rhodri so miserable and hearing him whimper in pain while sleeping on my chest was without doubt the saddest moment of being a Mum to date. Rhodri isn't a particularly cuddly child, he likes to play and explore. But while ill he wanted cuddles galore, and how bittersweet those cuddles were!

 If you are unlucky enough for 2&3 to happen at the same time, which I experienced this week, then don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't go it alone. It is awful feeling poorly, seeing your child poorly and not really having the energy to look after your child let alone yourself.

4) Criticism. I started exploring this in 5 Things You Don't Need To Tell Pregnant Women. It really is a very tough pill to swallow when people offer their opinions or criticise your parenting. No parent wants to hear their decisions or parenting skills are wrong. But since becoming Mummy I have found myself biting my tongue as all manner of my choices have been scoffed at and questioned. It doesn't bother me as much as it did, but certainly as a new mum it was ... character building shall we say?

What are some of the unexpected hurdles you faced? What has been your toughest hurdle to date? Let me know in the comments below. As always thanks for reading xoxo

The New Arrival - Book Review

**Disclosure: This is a review of a book I paid for with my own money. I am not being paid or compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own!**

It's been a long time (roughly 8 months) since I have read a book that didn't involve a small child or some sort of animal as the main character. It's been at least a year since I read anything that wasn't an instruction manual on how to be pregnant, have a baby or keep them well looked after.

Any other books have long been neglected in favour of blogging, early nights or social media websites. Particularly loving inboxing all my non-mummy friends and acting like staying up past 11pm isn't a totally irresponsible act that I will pay for tomorrow when the baby wakes at 7am and I'm wondering how his 12 hour sleep has resulted in an overly tired me.

But after a lovely twitter conversation with Sarah and Amy Beeson I followed a link to SarahBeeson.Org and after a little look around decided I wanted to read the memoirs book that Sarah and Amy had worked on together. A few nights later I ordered the book and when it arrived sank my teeth in to my first non-bedtime story book in quite some time!

Name & Author: The New Arrival - Sarah Beeson MBE

What's it about?: It's the memoirs of Sarah, a 1970's trainee nurse. The book starts as she sets off to London to begin training as a nurse. It follows her through her training, the friendships made and some of the patients that made an impact on her. Heartwarming, funny and yet at times heartbreaking real-life stories.

My Impressions: Within the first few pages I was already hooked. Rhodri was down for his morning nap and I read quicker than I've ever read taking in every word that painted a vivid picture of Sarah's surroundings and the people she met.

Within the first few pages I chuckled a few times and I felt like I was immediately transported to London in 1969. Moving quickly from chuckling, within the first few chapters I already shed a tear or two reading about one of the first patients Sarah encountered.

I kept reading, trying to swallow the book whole. I just wanted to take in as much as I could and genuinely didn't want to put the book down. I was quite disappointed when Rhodri woke from his nap, and quickly scolded myself for being so selfish.

Next nap I promptly picked up the book again, dieing to know who the patients Sarah would encounter next were. What ward she would next spend time on, and what adventures her & her friends would get up to. In all it took me 6 hours to read from cover to cover.

The book itself is very well written, it's easy to read and not at all over complicated like some memoirs can be. I love reading but often find books littered with long words that seem to be there for the heck of it. Like a neon sign saying look how intelligent I am, but it's a big turn off to me. This book isn't like that at all. It's written as someone would tell you a story from their past and with vocabulary you can imagine the author using normally.

Each 'story' is written in easily manageable portions. No story was long winded and each turn of the page left me eager for more.

When I reached the end of the book I wanted to read part two of Sarah's memoirs, but have to wait until July 2016 for that pleasure! I'm not normally a real-life/memoir/auto-biography kind of girl. I have read and enjoyed some but not to the extent that I loved The New Arrival. Normally favouring fantasies and a world I can escape to I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy this book as much as I did.

Overall Opinion: 10/10 - heartwarming, sad at times, good for a giggle and an overall fantastic read. I recommend this book to you all. It was a pleasure to read. When part two is released I will definitely have to limit my self to a chapter or two a day!! You can pick up a copy of The New Arrival from Amazon, Ebay (signed 1st edition, really wish I'd noticed that before I ordered my copy and not 2 days later!), Whsmith, Waterstones and Foyles. You can also get the E-Book. Click HERE for the links to the various purchase points.


Have you read the New Arrival? What were your thoughts? Any books you'd recommend I try? Let me know in the comments below and as always, thanks for reading xoxo

Today.

I'm not happy today.

That's a hard thing to write or admit on a blog isn't it?

I am honest with you all about my life as a first time mummy, I share the fact that Baby brain sends me doolally and has me walking up and down my street like a crazy woman checking if my front door is locked. I share the fact that I sometimes spend too much time day dreaming over the crusts from a loaf of bread. I even shared the pictures of myself 9 stone heavier.

Despite that we all tend to keep a little something back don't we? Especially on the blogging front, we write comical stories about nappy changes and the constant lessons we learn as parents. We write touching and endearing posts about how much our children mean to us. Sometimes we share some artistically taken well edited photos... or if you are like me you point, shoot and "that'll do."

We share the ups and downs in a very toned down way. An approach I seem to have adapted to my everyday life too. When I've had a rubbish day and I really want to scream & shout I rarely show it. If I shout around you then you need to know I've really hit my limit because I don't do sad or angry very well any more. I have one setting 'I'm fine'.

I think the only two people who ever see the full good, bad & ugly these days are my mother and my husband. Mum gets the day time rampages over the phone, and hubby gets the left over emotions after a day of either calming down or winding up.

On the days where the post man woke the baby up from his nap with ridiculously loud knocking, even though we have a door bell. The days where you've just cleaned the entire house so naturally baby spits his food everywhere and the cat kicks litter everywhere. The days where the nappy leaks everywhere and no amount of wipes can clean this mess. The washing machine gives up, shortly after the nappy leakage. The days where you think, if one more thing goes wrong I'm going to scream. Those are the days I find myself smiling and saying "I'm fine" before I even have a chance to think about it.

For the longest time I've felt the pressure to not show how I feel. To not say it. Like it's a bad thing to admit I feel something other than happiness.

So today I'm going to take a moment to say that I'm not OK, and that's alright too.

I'm a Mummy and I love it. Honestly it's the best thing that's ever happened to me, and on the days where I don't feel happy I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. How dare I not be happy when I have everything I ever wanted and more. How dare I! Well let me tell you, I'm human and sometimes I'm unhappy because I woke up on the wrong side of bed. Sometimes I'm unhappy because we all have private battles and wounds that have barely healed. Being a Mummy, and loving it, doesn't mean we can't be sad sometimes.

So I am admitting I'm not OK, that I don't want to smile but I will for my little boy. I'm admitting that my heart aches a little today, especially today. Pre-Rhodri it would be one of those days I would have crawled back in to bed and hidden under the duvet for the rest of the day. As I watch him play my heart is filled with love & joy, but there's a piece of my heart missing and it's aching today.

Today is a battle, a very private battle, and there I go keeping a little something back again. I guess we all have those things that remain private, but today my blog won't tell cute stories, or make jokes about how forgetful I can be. Instead I just want to leave a message for you all:

It's OK to not be OK. In this world where being positive is such a virtue, where we are frowned upon for wearing our hearts on our sleeves and we too quickly find ourselves saying we are fine when we are not. We sometimes forget that we are allowed to be human, to be hurting, or to just be having a bad day. So let me say it again. Today I am not OK, and that's OK too...

Introducing Baby R

Last Friday night during #mblogchat I asked some of my fellow mummy bloggers a question on Twitter. How do they decide how much of their lives, or more specifically their children, to share with their blog readers? The overwhelming response was that of course it's personal choice and you need to do what feels right to you. They were kind enough to share with me what they had chosen. A lot of people chose to share names and photos, just as many used photos but just an initial, no name. 

For some time now I have found my self typing Baby R's name automatically before deleting it. Adding a photo to a blog post before realising Baby R can be seen. It started to feel like I was hiding him from you all. This couldn't be further from the truth. I am so incredibly in love with my son, and so proud of him. I want to show him off but of course I want to protect him.

So Hubby & I had a little chat and we decided that we will allow photos of him on my blog but any pictures we include will be taken with his face out of view or blurred. This isn't because we are ashamed of him, quite the opposite. I'm that Mum who constantly has a camera (or at least a phone that has a camera) in my childs face.  The only reason we are keeping his face from view is because he is our son, we want to protect him and we want to ensure we have control over his photos and who sees them.

In addition to this we decided that we were OK with sharing his first name. This is mainly to make writing about him that much easier. It is after all my parenting blog, and he is my child! We want to protect him but feel there is very little damage that can be done with a picture from the back of his head and his first name. So here it goes...

My name is Rachel, I'm married to Chris and our son is called Rhodri. It's the Welsh name (we are Welsh) of a 9th century King who was a great warrior. Rhodri has always been our little fighter, the name fitted for our baby if it was a boy. Once he was born and he was definitely a boy, once I saw his face I couldn't imagine any other name for him.

Rhodri, 6 months, discovering the joys of sitting unaided.

As always thanks for reading xoxo

Bed Time Routine of my 7 month old

Since Baby R was born, it became quite clear to me he was a child of habit. He whimpered for his first feed 3 hours after he was born and for the next few weeks, (until his reflux became an issue) he fed every 3 hours at daytime. He slept at the same times and woke at the same times every day. 

So, seeing as he seemed to like routine, once he started sleeping through the night we established a bed time routine for him. 

It can change slightly with times if we've had a busy day, or if we are out visiting family. I try not to be too rigid with it and if he is tired earlier than usual we don't force him to stay up. Sometimes I miss out parts of the routine deliberately, this is so he doesn't need the entire routine to help him go to bed. If he doesn't have a bath one night or if he's staying with his grandparents he still needs to be able to go to bed, and some of his routine isn't always going to be possible. So it is flexible to a degree, but our routine looks a little something like this:

4.30 - 5pm Dinner Time 

Around this time of evening eye rubbing is Baby R's favourite thing to do. He's getting tired but won't nap even if I did attempt to put him down for one. It is also this time of day he starts making a popping noise by smacking his lips together and this is his 'I'm hungry' sign. So once the rubbing of the eyes commences or he lets me know he's hungry, I take him in to the kitchen and sit him in his highchair with his highchair toy (1st on the list in my 3-6 month Must Haves). I make his bottle and put it to cool before feeding him his solids. Sometimes he has food from a jar or a pouch, other times he has what me & hubby are eating but mashed up a bit. Either way, once food is ready I take his toy away and he eats his dinner. After he's eaten his food and chucked strategically placed what he doesn't want on the floor, highchair, his face, bib and clothes we attempt to wipe up the mess. The majority of cleaning is met with little fuss, but as soon as I wipe his face I am told in no uncertain terms that he doesn't like it. 

I grab his bottle, remove him from the highchair and we go sit on the sofa together while he has his bottle. He's getting more mobile and active these days so bottle time & bed time are rare opportunities for a cuddle! This is his last bottle of the day. Baby R used to have a feed/bottle at bed time, but he eliminated this himself and started refusing any bottle offered to him at bed time.

5-5.45pm Play Time

After dinner Baby R has his final 'Play Time' of the day. I like to let him burn off that excess energy he suddenly acquired from nowhere! Usually he goes in his door bouncer or walker/activity centre. He loves being stood up so these are his favourite things to play with, but occasionally he's not in the mood for either of these activities so we will play in his sensory tent, or with some of his other Christmas gifts. I will normally put Cbeebies on the telly, music on my phone or Baby Einstein on YouTube for him. Some days he will take great interest in the programmes or songs but usually it's just background noise to him. He doesn't like the house to be too quiet so background noise keeps the levels of happiness up.

5.45-6.15pm Bath Time

Bath time!

I run Baby R a bath most nights. At the moment he is enjoying Johnsons Baby 2in1 bubble bath & wash. I use Johnsons Baby Shampoo with calming Lavender. I put his bathtime buddy (a sponge shaped like a frog, his bath book, a hippo water squirter and his rubber duck for him to play with and then sit him in the bath. For those who have read my must have posts you will notice we are no longer using the bath seat. I still love it and if he's very tired having a bath I will lie him in it, but he enjoys sitting up and playing in the bath these days.

Although Baby R is currently using and loving a lot of Johnsons products, our bathroom cupboard is filled with lots of different products/brands. I was bought a lot while I was pregnant and most of what you see in the picture is my pre-pregnancy stock. I like to try different brands to check he isn't allergic or sensitive to anything. 

Once Baby R is all washed, and he's had a good 10 minutes of playing & splashing I take him out of the bath wrap him in his hooded towel and dry him off. Twice a week I put baby lotion on him to try and keep that skin lovely and smooth. If I use it any more or less often his skin suffers. Twice a week works for us. Then it's a clean nappy and fresh PJ's to end his bath time ritual. He is always calm an relaxed after his bath.

6.15-6.25pm Bed time story & cuddles

Baby R's book collection

Baby R has quite a collection of books already. We even have a few in Welsh for him, although my pronunciation isn't the best, we are hoping it will stand him in good stead for school. We normally read him one book, but if the story is long we will split it in half. The favourites at the moment are One Ted Falls Out of Bed & Guess How Much I Love You. We have a cuddle, read the story and look at the pictures together.

6.25-6.45 Quiet Time & Bed Time

Calpol, Slumber Buddy, Light Show & Goodnight Bear

Obviously calpol isn't a constant in our routine, but I'm 'featuring' it because at the moment Baby R is teething. He has two teeth and another two are trying to push their way through. I have tried every teething product I could get my hands on. Even the so called miracle teething powders but nothing really helps him much. If he is showing signs of suffering with teething at bed time, we will sometimes give him a dose of calpol to take the edge off so he can get to sleep. Then we put on his Slumber Buddy which shines stars on the ceiling and plays different lullabies or soothing sounds. Brahms Lullaby is Baby R's favourite. We have a cuddle and some quiet time in the rocking chair and wind down. At the end of our routine Baby R is placed in to his cot, while still awake. He is given his goodnight bear and tucked in. I say "It's bedtime now, night night." and then leave the room. Normally he is asleep before I get to the bottom of the stairs but sometimes his chattering can be heard over the monitor for a few minutes. After a few tired giggles & some cooing he drifts off. By 7pm he is asleep.

Coffee and some Brahms!

After that I settle down with a cup of coffee, the baby monitor & YouTube. If Hubby is home we natter and catch up, if not I enjoy the quiet time. That's it then until 7am when Baby R wakes us up with the joyful babbling and giggles over the monitor. It really is the cutest alarm clock ever!

What does your little ones bed time routine look like? Let me know down below. If you're a blogger and have already written a post about it then leave the link for me in the comments so I can have a read! As always thanks for reading! xoxo

My Big Fat Weight Loss Jouney - Part 1

If you read my Liebster Award Post, or if you follow me on twitter you might well know that over the past three years (12 months of which I was pregnant) I have lost 9 stone in weight. Shockingly, despite all that weight loss I'm still not at my goal weight and still have a further 2 stone and 6 lbs to loose. 

My three year journey has been quite a journey so I'm going to split this in to two parts. Part one is the lead up to weight loss, and part two (coming soon) will be about my actual journey, the diets I tried, the hurdles I faced and how I plan to reach that final goal by the end of this year!

I won't be putting my weight on here, but I'm sure you can all guess from the 11.5 stone total loss goal, that I probably weighed more than your average British woman in her 20's. My BMI started at just shy of 50. Which you probably all know is morbidly obese and incredibly unhealthy. I had eaten my feelings for many years, along with a truck load of pizzas, chocolate bars, ice cream and pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I did eat healthy meals the majority of the time, but my snacking habit was ridiculous. 

I knew what I was doing to myself and to my health, but honestly I just didn't care enough to stop eating. I was in a really dark place, throwing the biggest pity party ever, due to non weight related health problems and just added to them by making myself so overweight and unfit that I was always ill. 

Back on NYE 2010 my hubby proposed to me after six months of dating. We had been best friends for 5 years at that point and he had spent the last 18 months seeing me through one of the most difficult times of my life. We'd gone from friends to partners and I'd fallen head over heals for him, so of course I said yes! We spent the next few months wedding planning and discussing things like starting a family. It was at that point I decided something had to be done about my weight. If I was going to be someones wife I needed to commit to them for life, I needed to live longer than 40! If I was going to be someones mum I needed to be able to take care of them, play with them and help them to be happy & healthy individuals. I couldn't do that while I was overweight, unhealthy and unhappy. So I finally decided in July 2011 that this was it. I was going to go on a 'diet' or rather I was going to change my relationship with food forever and I was going to be healthier.

I used things like my wedding dress, the wedding photos and wanting to have children as my incentives and on day one I got my now husband to take a picture of me. A picture of me at the heaviest I'd ever been and at a weight I have vowed I will never ever get close to again. Here are the photos that were taken, please forgive the poor quality, they were taken on my old phone 3 years ago, and weren't intended for blog posts! 

July 2011

I have now lost 9 stone and this is what I currently look like, taken 06/01/2015. Forgive the lack of make up. I realised I didn't have anything from Xmas or NYE that didn't have the baby in. As Hubby and I are undecided on whether or not to share pictures of Baby R on my blog we took an impromptu photo at 11.30pm and frankly you were lucky I wasn't in PJs at that time of night! :)

Find out how I did it, the hurdles I faced and how I plan to drop the final bit of weight in Part 2 (coming soon). As always thanks for reading xoxo

Things I Wish I existed

Bit of a random post here today, but every now and then this mummy finds herself thinking about non-baby related things. Shocker I know! Have you ever thought 'I wish that was an actual thing I could get my hands on somehow?'. I regularly think this, and not one of these are baby related! Just weird little things that make me happy!

1. A 'Loaf' of bread made up entirely of the crusts. I love toasting the crusts. Covering them with butter or scrambled egg. I'm beginning to drool just thinking about the possibilities. There is something about the crust that is just so much nicer that the rest of the loaf! You can buy crustless loafs... so stick the crusts in a bag and sell them. I'll buy them!
2. All the over cooked, almost burnt crisps. The really brown crisps in a crisp packet are the best bits. Once again, separate them from your 'normal' crisps, bag them and sell them... I'LL BUY THEM!
3. A bag of just the red/black wine gums. OK so it's getting a bit food crazy over here. But if I'm going to count calories, and only have a treat here and there then when I do have a treat I want the best bits. 
4. Bed clothes that constantly have that 'new bedding' feeling. See I'm not 100 % obsessed with food! I love that fresh smell and cool, fresh almost crisp feeling of fresh bed linen. I want linen that feels like that after a few nights not just the first night you climb in! 
5. While we are at it, a self cleaning house (especially the bathroom!). In the realms of complete fantasy here now, but hey. It's one of the things I wish existed. If I didn't have housework and laundry to do I would have so much more time to waste on twitter... #justsaying!
6. Keys for my front door that operate like a cars central locking system. So when I get half way down the hill and can't remember if I locked the door or not I can just turn around and point the keys at the house instead of having to walk back up the hill and try the door.

That's it for now, but let me know down in the comments what weird and wonderful things you wish you could get your hands on. If you happen to be able to make any of the above happen for me, well you are now my new best friend and can get in contact using any of the ways listed on my Contact Me page.

As always thanks for reading! xoxo

The New Year Tag!

I've been tagged by the lovely Mummybexm to do the New Year Tag so here goes :)

Image courtesy of noppasinw at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What was your highlight of 2014?
Most definitely the arrival of Baby R. 2014 was the year of preparing for Baby R, him arriving and then 7months of creating memories. He was the highlight of my year!

What are you most excited about for 2015? 
Watching the little man learn and grow. He's changed so much in the last 7 months. It's hard to imagine how different he will be this time next year. I'm also looking forward to my sisters wedding, it's going to be an amazing day! The little dudes 1st Birthday. Just so much to look forward to and memories to make! 

Any New Years Resolutions?
Two at the moment.
1) Especially once I return to work, I want to make a conscious effort to enjoy quality time with my husband and son. It's easy to sit together, watch TV together etc. But I want to make sure we spend quality time enjoying each other and making memories we can look back on together.
2) 2015 I will get to my goal weight! Over the last few years I have been on various diets and have lost 9 stone in total so far. This year I want to loose the final 2.5 stone to reach my goal. This year I will do it. Ending the diets and embarking on a lifetime of healthier eating.

Blogging High?
I just enjoy blogging. I find it very therapeutic and I'm just enjoying putting my thoughts in to posts. So my blogging high is that I'm doing something I enjoy so much!

Picture Of The Year?

A picture of me hugging my little man while he slept. He was only just over a month old in this picture. I have loads of pictures I love of my little boy (of course) and nearly all of them are my 'fave'. This Christmas I got quite a few to add to the bunch, but my Hubby & I are wary of sharing pictures of him on my blog. He is referred to as Baby R, and his pictures don't reveal his face. New to blogging and parenting we are trying to find the balance of how much to share with you. As he's snuggled in to my neck we figured this was a nice picture to share with you while maintaining the privacy we are trying to preserve for him.

Who do you tag?

I tag anyone who wants to do this tag! Leave me a comment or tweet me if you've done this tag so I can read your answers!

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas. Have a Happy New Year and see you all in 2015! xoxo

Dear Baby R - Open letter

Dear Baby R,

This year is your first Christmas and it's time to start some family traditions that hopefully one day you'll excitedly look forward to and love sharing with me, your mummy. One of the traditions I want to begin for you, is to write you a letter every Christmas and save them for when you are older. We can read your letter together on Christmas eve and look back on the past year together, how loved you are and what I look forward to in the next year. This year as you are too young to understand, I will read your letter for you and put it away safe in your baby box for when you are able to read them yourself.

One year ago Mummy was 19 weeks pregnant with you and was waiting for her 20 week scan. I couldn't wait to see your tiny heart beating again, your arms & legs waving and I was even hoping to find out if you were a boy or a girl. You had other ideas for us though and decided we would have to wait, making sure the ultrasound technician couldn't tell. Stubborn from day one!

We had no tree up for Christmas last year as we were in the middle of moving to our new family home. There was no tree, no lights and no mantle piece full of 'babys 1st Christmas' cards! I was already looking forward to this Christmas and imagining what it would be like with a 7 month old, but what I imagined wasn't even close to how magical this Christmas has seemed with you here.

In January 2014 we moved in to our new family home, and through January, February & March we settled in and started preparing everything ready for you. In April we decorated your nursery (which was and still is my favourite room in our home) and Mummy went on maternity leave. The first four months of 2014 were me excitedly waiting to meet you. You weren't my little boy then, you were the unknown, but I couldn't wait to meet you and I was already head over heals in love with you.

In May you made your appearance and what an entrance it was. Once you decided to shift you weren't waiting around. You had mummy, daddy, the midwives & the Dr's all in a tizz! Yet despite the commotion once you were born and eventually placed in my arms you were calm and quiet. You slept peacefully that night in the hospital and I lay wide awake counting my lucky stars that you were mine. My precious little baby boy. I was thankful and so proud to be your mummy.

Since then you've met your family, shared countless kisses & cuddles. You've made me laugh and you've made me cry tears of joy.  You've grown so very quickly from my newborn to my 7 month old and just as quickly I went from a 'new' mum to mummy who couldn't imagine or remember life without you. Every little thing you do, things I can do & take for granted, suddenly brought me so much joy. Your first smile, the first time you grabbed and held on to something, the first time you rolled over or sat up on your own and the first little babbles of conversation.

Every day you amaze me, you make me smile and you bring so much joy to my life. I want you to know that you were loved before you were born, before you were held in my arms. Each day you and your loving, cheeky personality make me love you more than I ever thought possible. I love watching you learn and grow. Your willingness to try new things and adventurous nature inspires me. Over the next 12 months I can't wait to see you learn more and that personality of yours grow and blossom even further. I look forward to your first birthday, although it also scares me how quickly it's approaching. My newborn is a baby now, and before long will be a toddler. I'm trying to treasure and savour every moment with you, while encouraging you to learn and grow the way I know you must.

I also look forward to seeing you enjoy time with your family, and watching you build friendships with the new babies that have been and will soon be born. I look forward to being mummy. I'm proud, blessed and over the moon that I'm your Mummy.

This year, although the christmas tree lights, the decorations and the cards seem to peak your interest you are too young to understand Christmas. You don't understand about Santa, or even why Mummy & Daddy are so overjoyed that this Christmas will be better than any Christmas we've ever had. Santa, the gifts and the countless festivities mean little to you today. While you nap and dream away, I write this letter for an older boy who hopefully will know how loved and treasured he is.

Baby boy, you are mummy's miracle in more ways than one. You have enriched my life beyond belief. I am blessed to have you. I am rich beyond measure to be loved by you. Have the best 1st Christmas ever, and I look forward to all the Christmas's and all the letters we will get to share together.

I love you to the moon and back Baby R.

Lots of Love, Kisses & Cuddles
Mummy xxx

Sassy Bloom December Unboxing

When I'm not being a mummy, writing my blog or working my way through one of my many to do lists (I like lists) then I'm usually watching YouTube videos. It is on YouTube that I discovered the subscription box, and I wanted one! However I could never quite justify spending money on a box full of beauty, health or food related objects. Especially with a new baby in the house who needed so many things and needed them more than I needed a box full of stuff.

So I was really excited to hear about Sassy Bloom. A baby product subscription box full of items for your little man, or little miss! The website states that it's perfect for pregnant mums, from the 3rd trimester, right up until your child is 2 years of age. Each box is tailored to the subscriber and their child. So my box is designed with a 7 month old little boy in mind. You can have a monthly subscription for £29 a month, a 3 monthly subscription which works out at £26 per box,  6 monthly is £24.65 per box and annual is £22.92 per box.  I opted for a monthly subscription initially while I suss it all out.

It's worth mentioning that if you sign up for their newsletter you get a code for your first box to be half price. I did this and so I paid £14.50 for my box. **disclosure -  I have signed up and paid for Sassy Bloom myself. This is not an advertisement or paid for review. All opinions are my own!** 
Sassy Bloom state that the minimum value of any singular box will be £40 RRP.  They also operate a referral service, where every customer is given a unique code to pass on to their friends and family. When someone signs up to Sassy bloom using your code you will both earn £10 off a Sassy Bloom box. If you want any further information on Sassy Bloom you can check out their web page Here. If you want to use my referral code to earn you (and me) £10 off a box then Click Here. 

My first Sassy Bloom Box

The first thing I noticed when I opened my parcel was that I had two boxes. My Sassy Bloom Box, and an additional box which was too large to fit in the first box. 

What is it? My first product/item was Bamba's First Comforts Baby Signing Kit. Its a plush monkey (Bamba) that comes with a plush bottle, spoon, blanket, wash mitten & mirror. Using Bamba and the other plush toys you are able to play with your child while teaching them to communicate through sign language and simple words. 

My Impression? I was really excited to get this item. I am partially deaf and so have been trying to use some simple sign language around Baby R. I had looked in to getting this kit but as it's RRP is £30 I decided it was a bit much to spend on a singular item. To see it included in my Sassy Bloom parcel was a very pleasant surprise. I love that the entire kit comes with little compartments for each part of the kit, and the lid to the box has a quick reference guide to the signs.


Baby R's First Impression? He already loves Bamba who is soft, and a rattle, plus his long limbs are perfect for chewing. The other pieces of the kit have been curiously examined. Time will tell!

RRP? £30

Overall Impression?  10/10, good quality item that I was interested in previously. Baby sign appears to be quite a trendy thing at the moment and so I imagine this would go down well with a lot of parents.

Next up I opened the actual Sassy Bloom Box. I will say I was a teensy bit disappointed to find that the decorative ribbon was lying untied underneath the boxes. It was no major issue, but it would have looked prettier wrapped around the box.

What is it? MAM Dipper Set - Green. This is a spoon and fork set perfectly sized for little hands to attempt cutlery. They have a safety shield to avoid baby pushing them too far in to their mouth.

My Impression? First of all my reaction was how cute they look (lots of ooo's & aaahhh's). Impressed with the safety shield as Baby R has a habit of ramming things too far back. They are quite light and perfectly sized and shaped for little hands to pick them up. Good to introduce cutlery but at the moment Baby R tends to use his hands when feeding himself. If he can't use his hands he sits back and waits to be spoonfed.

Baby R's First Impression? He seemed mildly interested, which given it's cutlery and not a toy seems to be a good thing? Think this will be good for him to encourage use of cutlery but think patience and practice will certainly be required.

RRP? £5.25

Overall Impression? Good quality, solid product. Very practical. Seems like they will come in handy as Baby R learns to feed himself using cutlery. Probably wouldn't have purchased these myself but looking forward to trying them!

What is it? 4 Munchkin White Hot Safety spoons. Long handled, soft tipped, easy grip spoons. The coloured tips turn white when the food is too hot for baby, stay coloured when food is the correct temperature.

My Impression? I really like the munchkin brand of products so I was happy with this product straight away. I also really like their white hot safety range. I have their rubber duck with the white hot bottom. Baby R tends to use it as just a toy duck now, but in the early days of bathing a baby it provided some reassurance that baths weren't too hot and that is what these spoons do. Simple, effective and spoons always come in handy.

Baby R's First Impression? Pretty much the same as the MAM dipper set. He showed mild interest before discovering Mummys camera. Then her keys. Pretty much everything I didn't want him to touch. It's not really a toy so his lack of interest doesn't concern me. He'll show plenty of interest when they have porridge on in the morning :)

RRP? £4.99

Overall Impression? I love the munchkin products and this safety feature. Good quality. Spoons are always useful. Another practical item that is welcomed.




What is it? Fisher Price - Jungle Colours book. Its a solid chunky book for children. Brightly coloured to stimulate learning.

My Impression? I love books and I really enjoy introducing books, stories & reading to Baby R. This book is great as its solid, I would wager quite difficult to break (unlike some of the torn books Baby R owns). It's colourful & educational. BUT as much as I love this book and will use it with Baby R eventually I was a little bit disappointed to see very clearly written on the back of the book "This book is for sharing with children over one year old." The book will get used and it's still a nice product, but as the boxes are tailored for you/your child I felt it was wrong of them to send a 1yr old item to a seven month old baby.

Baby R's First Impression? Prior to discovering the aforementioned warning on the book Baby R had a play and promptly tried to eat the book. His eyes lit up at the animals and bright colours. This is definitely a hit with him.

RRP? £3.99

Overall Impression? It's a lovely item. A bright colourful, good quality, sturdy, educational book. What is there not to like? I really do like the item, but I think this should have been kept for the box of an older child.

What is it? Blue personalised dribble bib. It's a soft cotton bandana style dribble bib with velcro fastening and it's been personalised with babys name.

My Impression? First of all let me just say I've covered the name in my picture. But under the leaflet is Baby R's full name and it's been stitched really well. The bib is very soft, seems to be good quality and is a lovely powder blue colour. Baby R has been teething since he was two months (bless him!) but has only recently had his first two teeth push through. The stream of dribble has been worse than usual, and of course this means soaking wet tops and lovely rashes! Bibs always come in handy so I like this product and I love anything personalised so this was a really lovely touch.

Baby R's First Impression? It went in his mouth almost immediately. If it's soft he's going to chew on it. Put it around his neck and he didn't pull it off so I'd say that was a success!!

RRP? £7.00

Overall Impression? It's a nice bib, love that it's personalised. Wouldn't have paid £7.00 for it if I'm honest. It's a dribble bib at the end of the day, I would want a pack of bibs for that price not just one. But as part of a box it's a really nice item.

Also in my box was a £25 voucher for Hello Fresh. I don't think this was an 'item' as such, when giving feedback on the box, this wasn't one of the items listed so I think this was just a little bonus voucher/coupon. Hello Fresh is another subscription service. They deliver ingredients and recipe cards for you to cook meals. It's a lovely idea, but it's not something I will be trying as I think it's over priced for what it is. You don't get the actual meal you get ingredients and a recipe. Yet 3 meals for 2 people is £40+. With a baby in the house I want more than 3 meals for £40.

There was also a little card telling me more about the referral side of Sassy Bloom. It also gave me information on other ways to earn Sassy Rewards and/or a free box. For example providing feedback on your box, posting a photo of your little one using the items etc.

So that was my first Sassy Bloom box and I was really impressed and quite pleased with the items I received. I paid £14.50 and the Bamba set alone was worth more than that, so everything else was a freebie in my eyes. I liked the range of items and the brands I was given. There were items I wouldn't have bought/known about so it's really nice to be made aware and given things to try that otherwise you wouldn't have. For the most part it was all very relevant to Baby R and his age group. Everything except the book was for the 6 month mark and he is not quite seven months. The total RRP of the box was £51.23 so it was definitely worth what I paid.

Thank you for reading my first Sassy Bloom Unboxing, I will be continuing my subscription for now and so towards the end of January you can expect my next unboxing post! Did you get a Sassy Bloom box this month? What were your thoughts and what was your favourite item from your box? Mine was the Bamba signing kit! 

As always thanks for reading! xoxo

Snappy Sunday - drip

Today has been a wet kind of day. Not just because of the rain, which I can't really complain about seeing as it's winter. But also because I managed to have a 'minor' plumbing malfunction and soak myself this evening.

I recently noticed our kitchen tap was a bit leaky. Pools of water were gathering on the draining board and it became apparent my tap was loose, wobbly and leaking water. So it was decided a new tap was required. This morning, before we set out to visit family we called in to B&Q and found something suitable for the kitchen. My Hubby turned off the water and then I climbed in to the cupboard under the sink and tried every which way to remove the old tap. It eventually came apart and it was time to install the new tap. However the new pipes included didn't fit with our plumbing set up. Being the absolute genius that I am I decided to attempt to use the old pipes with the new tap. Not the best idea I've ever had.

I put the new tap & old pipes together. Hubby turned the water back on. There was water absolutely everywhere! I put the baby to bed while hubby dried up the kitchen and then returned to refit the old tap until we can get some new tap connectors. I swiftly ran my self a hot bath and decided to indulge in the nice warm bubbly kind of water after my encounter with the cold variety.

Tomorrow we will attempt to get a new tap fitted and hopefully it won't result in a soaking cold mummy! Given that my day has been wet, rainy and damp I thought I'd share this picture of the leaky tap that caused my trauma.

Enjoy! As always thanks for reading! Xoxo

Snappy Sunday - Christmas is coming!

Happy Sunday all! Hope you've all had a fantastic weekend doing whatever makes you happy. This week has been crazy busy in our house. As Christmas approaches I am trying to fit in seeing as many people as possible, wrapping all the gifts and also planning ahead for some home improvements in the new year. It's all very exciting... well for me it is! 

Last year as we were in the final stages of buying our house, packing up and moving so we didn't have our Christmas tree up at all. This year with the little one, and us being settled in our home I decided 1st December the tree was going up!

It's a little mish mash and not exactly art work, but I love it anyway! Full of colour, flashing lights and my little boys face lit up when he saw the tree all decorated. It got me so excited to see how much he will enjoy Christmas this year. He will be 7 months old by then so still too little to fully understand, but i'm sure all the wrapping paper to scrumple up and boxes to play in will be a little adventure for him.

I've really enjoyed gathering some special ornaments that when he's older will be the ornaments from his first Christmas. A wooden train, a '1st christmas' bauble, a rocking horse and some other bits. I think I've enjoyed finding his little contributions to the tree as much as our cat has enjoyed taking baubles off the tree and hiding them in random places in the house... All fun and games when you have pets and babies!

Share below what you've been up to this week. When do you normally put your tree up? Is December 1st too early?

As always thanks for reading xoxo