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A Room To Relax In

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It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my bedroom as a comfortable room to relax in. For over 2 years its been strewn with toys, bottles, nappies and a cot or crib. At the moment it’s a room for us to crash into at the end of the day and pray for sleep.

I’ve decided that when Chloe is old enough (between 6-12months old) to move into her own bedroom we will redecorate our bedroom and make it a space for us. I’m sure I will miss the clutter and being able to reach out and check on Chloe in her bednest but when the time comes I think we need it to become a space for us again.

I’ve been looking at some absolutely gorgeous bedroom ideas on the Rodgers of York website and have fallen in love with this one:

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So maybe the shape of my room is different and it won’t look exactly the same I know but the colours and the light are feelings I want to reproduce.

I also quite like the idea of creating a really cool room for my toddler who will be moving out of her baby room and into a slightly bigger big girls space.. I think she would love this jungle theme:

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She is a big fan of monkeys and giraffes rather than pink and princesses at the moment so this would go down a storm.. And then I need to start working on ideas to get the baby room up to date. So much to do so little time.

Do you find your bedrooms get taken over by your children’s clutter? What do you do to avoid this and how do you make sure your bedroom stays as a room for relaxing? Am I being daft for thinking this is even possible with young children around?

*this is a PR collaboration

Ewan the Dream Sheep Review – Baby Essentials!

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I receive items quite often for review purposes which is lovely but it’s not often I think to review a product which I’ve bought myself or that we have received as a gift but sometimes they can be my very favourite products so I’ve decided to also start reviewing the things I truly love which make our lives as parents easier ..starting with Ewan.

Chloe received Ewan the dream sheep as a Christmas gift from her aunty and uncle and well it really has been a ‘dream’ sheep. From the day we started using it the soft cuddly toy has helped to both settle C to sleep and also to calm her when she’s upset. If she starts to wake in the night we push a button on Ewan’s leg to play the womb/heartbeat sounds and within a minute of so she’s back in the land of nod. During the day when she gets irritable we play the harp songs and it seems to help settle her.

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At £29.99 in most shops it’s not cheap for a cuddly toy but then its so much more than a toy and I would say its worth every penny. An absolute wonderful present for both a baby and their tired parents, I think it’s a product I will recommend to all of my pregnant friends and followers.

You can buy Ewan in lots of places but here is a link to it for sale in Kiddicare mainly as I’m a big fan of the Kiddicare shops.

Here is what Kiddicare say about Ewan:

Ewan’s actual heartbeat/womb sound combinations mimic the noise babies hear in the womb and are proven to be effective at settling and calming your baby. Combined with the comforting pink glow, Ewan helps ease the transition from womb to world.

Ewan the Dream Sheep is soft and cuddly and can be used as a hand held toy or can be attached to the Cot side. He has gentle womb, rain or musical sounds and has a gentle pink glowing light in his chest.

*Suitable from Newborn
*If Ewan is used from birth baby will recognize the sounds and associate calmness and sleep when played
*Comforting pink glow
*20 minute timer
*Volume control
*Sponge clean only
*Hangs from Cot with Velcro tail
*Helps to soothe restless babies
*Batteries not included

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There is only one fault I can find with this product and I thought long and hard about it and that is that it uses up a LOT of batteries. It takes 3 AAA batteries and we change them about every 4/5 days – but it still works out less than £1 a week which I am more than willing pay for the peace 😉 Also if we used more expensive batteries they would probably last longer but we bought a big pack cheaply a while back so working our way through them first.

Coming up shortly are reviews for the Boba wrap, Bednest and Gro Swaddle.

Cooking in the kitchen.. Having fun – Valentines treats

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Last year sometime myself and Izzy watched an episode of Zingzillas.. In each episode they create a new song which they sing at the end and in this particular episode they sung about cooking in the kitchen. The lyrics go something like “Cooking in the kitchen ..having fun” da di da and for some reason this sentence stuck and quite often when I ask Izzy what she wants to do that day she will say Cook in kitchen? Having fun? Which of course is mega cute. Anyway on the weekend we decided to do a little baking in our pyjamas ( I was still unwell) while Chloe and Dad watched the rugby and we copied an idea which I used to make a long time ago from my Be-Ro book to make stained glass Valentines hearts.

You will need:

225g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
100g butter
1/2 lemon – grated zest and juice
1 medium egg -beaten
Boiled sweets
Heart shaped cutters

Preheat oven to gas mark 4. Grease and line your baking trays with baking paper.

Mix flour and sugar and rub in the butter, add lemon zest and juice and most of your egg.

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You may not need all the egg just use enough to make a stiff dough.

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Roll out your dough and using a heart shaped cutter cut out as many large hearts as you can.

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Then using a smaller heart cutter cut out a segment from each heart. Place your large hearts and small hearts on a baking tray and cook for approx 5 minutes.

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Remove from oven and place a boiled sweet in the middle of each large heart and bake for a further 5-7 minutes until the sweet has melted. Remove from oven and leave to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.

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For the smaller hearts simply dust with icing sugar and munch away.

You could also use a skewer to place a small hole at top of the large hearts so you can hang with a ribbon. Do this prior to baking.

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Would make a cute gift from your children to their Dads to say Happy Valentines and they taste pretty good too!

COOKING WITH KIDS

Parents don’t get sick days…

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I remember a time not so long ago when I had a nasty throat/ear infection, it was about a year before I got pregnant with Izzy and I called in sick to work and spent the entire day in bed.. Then the following day I still felt awful so I spent another day in bed. Nothing too strange about that really. I was ill so I helped myself to recuperate by resting.

As a parent you can’t phone in sick or take time off from parental duties. You can get help from your partner and family but you are still a mum or a dad. I bet not many of you have spent an entire day in bed since having children. This week was the first time when I have really felt ill to the point where I needed that but I’m breastfeeding and as such my daughters needs come first. I didn’t quite anticipate how hard that would be when I was unwell. The hardest time being when I had to go in for a lumbar puncture and leave Chloe on the ward with my mum. I fed her like crazy before I went in and just hoped she would be ok while I was gone (she feeds on demand) the lumbar puncture took 4 attempts meaning it was a while before I got back to the ward to my thankfully sleeping baby. I then had to lie flat on my back for at least several hours without getting up for bathroom breaks or to feed. My daughter who would normally have fed at least twice during that period instead chose to take an extra long nap. Isn’t it strange how that works? It was as if she knew. That night I was dreading being alone in my hospital room with Chloe as I had an extremely sore back and head but again she was wonderful, she fed a lot but settled quickly after each feed and every Doctor and nurse that I saw commented on my contented baby. Since coming home I’ve had lots of support luckily as my headache only eases right now while I’m lying down.

I should be feeling better in a week or so but I do wonder how parents with long term health issues cope as its so very hard to be a parent when unwell. I salute all of you.

Salted Caramel Luxury Hot Chocolate

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Oh my. This stuff is good. If you liked all the flavoured hot chocolates and coffees on offer during the festive season you will love this.

You will need:

1 cup of milk ( I used skimmed but you could use whole for extra indulgence)
1 small handful of chocolate buttons
1 tbsp of salted caramel sauce – recip ehere
2tsps of good quality hot chocolate or cocoa powder
Squirty Cream to top and a drizzle of sauce

If you are using a Vitamix place all ingredients apart from the squirty cream in the blender and starting at variable 1 increase to variable 2 and speed 10 and blend for around 4 minutes until hot. If you don’t have a Vitamix place ingredients in a saucepan and whisk well over a moderate heat.

Top with squirty cream and a drizzle of salted caramel.

This is utterly gorgeous and you may burn your tongue if you don’t exercise a little restraint 😉

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Enjoy 😀

No more tears.. Dentinox eye wipe review

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Keeping your baby clean can be a full time job – between changing nappies, mopping up baby sick, cutting nails and cleaning eyes and noses it never stops so anything which can make life a little easier is a bonus.

When we were offered some eye wipes to review from Dentinox to review it couldn’t have come at a better time. Both my newborn and my folder were full of cold and suffering with sticky, gungy eyes. Not pleasant.

These wipes which are individually wrapped therefore sterile and easy to use were a great help when out and about with no access to boiled water/cotton wool etc. We even ended up using them at home as they were so convenient.

For once my toddler didn’t complain about me cleaning her eyes. Possibly because it was dealt with so quickly and it worked well on my youngest too who at just 8 weeks old gets sticky eyes quite often.

Clean, bright eyes..

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Would definitely recommend having a pack on hand at home and some stashed in your changing bag.

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*We received this product for free for review purposes and were compensated for our involvement in this campaign.

Happy Families – Does size matter?

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Last night I became involved in a discussion on Twitter about large families. It was a fun conversation and reminded me of how lucky I am.

Lucky because I am from a large family ..abnormally large in this day and age. I’m one of ten children. I think I don’t chat about it too much as people find it weird – and why not? It is weird. If I wasn’t me I would find it strange. Sometimes people tell me they have 4 or 5 children and I think wow that’s a lot. Then I remember hmm yes I’m one of 10. There are 5 boys and 5 girls ( although not many of us are young enough to be called boys and girls anymore) and the age range is roughly from 17-40.

To me it’s a normal life. I have 5 older siblings so I have always been part of a large family. Another 4 followed after me just to put the icing on the cake.

People tend to think that parents with lots of children are either weirdos or sucking money from the government. It’s not always the case. Some people just love having children or they don’t really plan it and it just happens. Luckily for me that happened with my parents. They had 5 happy healthy children and chose to have more.. Then I arrived and for some crazy reason they decided to continue 🙂 Ok so maybe we are a little weird.

It’s not just the amount of us that makes us unusual it’s that we all get on pretty well. In fact growing up and even now at times we can sometimes exclude friends as our social circle is pretty large just with family alone. As a child I was never alone and as an adult I have incredible support. I’m well aware of just how lucky I am. Chloe is the 13th grandchild and there are still 4 of my siblings who are yet to have children. My extended family is enormous. Izzy and Chloe will always have playmates and babysitters 😉 Most months there are at least two birthdays and Christmas..well Christmas is expensive chaos. In a good way. We have a fake Christmas earlier in the year ( normally November) so we can all have the day together and again it’s chaos but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Growing up my friends were always envious of my family life and even though we didn’t have the latest computer games or the coolest clothes I think there was something about our home that made people want to be a part of it. My mum always made comforting food and everyone was welcome to stay for dinner even though really she was counting the pennies but they made it work (my parents that is) we may not have had holidays abroad or designer trainers but we were always warm and fed well and happy. Some of the best memories of my life are of holidays in a tiny caravan with children sprawled sleeping on every available surface. Of my mums pea and ham soup and corned beef pie. Of walking to the video rental shop with my Dad on the days when it was 50p rental and arguing over whose turn it was to pick. Of long days in the park with picnics including cucumber sandwiches. Of sharing a bedroom with three of my sisters. Of family weddings and parties. Of always having someone to turn to.

So why when I am so lucky and blessed with this family do I worry about the negative side. Because there is a negative side to having such a large family, there are more illnesses and worries and eventually ( sorry for being morbid) there will be more bereavements, more grief, more tears.

When these thoughts strike me – I think they have popped up in my head more this year as I have generally been more anxious and stressed but when they do I think of something my mum said a little while ago “I may get 10 times the worry but I get a hundred times the joy” it’s true. The happiness and love that my family share is a one in a million thing. We won’t always agree on everything and of course occasionally they annoy me but more often that not they make me happy and feel very loved.

Most people have a million questions for me when they find out I am one of ten so if you have any just ask and I will try to answer.. Just please don’t ask me if my parents had a TV – I may have heard that one a few times growing up 😉