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Everything I Wasn’t Going To Do (Before I Had Kids)
Do you remember before kids, when you had all these ideas about what kind of parent you would be? How you would silently judge parents, and think to yourself ‘I would never do that“. I was a wonderful hypothetical parent… now that I have two actual children, here’s how I am getting on in the real world with all the rules I set myself pre-kids… I would exclusively breastfeed until they were at least one year old After all, it’s the most natural thing in the world. So it must be easy… right? It turned out that my daughter wouldn’t latch so we struggled through five months of using nipple…
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Lauren is 3!
Lauren has just turned three, and I wanted to blog a little bit about my special girl. I know it’s the done thing to ask “where has the last year gone?” whenever your child has a birthday. But if you’ll allow me to be honest, I have found the terrible twos very challenging, so I can’t say the year has flown by. I am looking forward to the next year with a threenager – it may not be easier, but at least it will be different. Don’t get me wrong… she is an amazingly bright, funny, cheeky little girl but she/we have been dealing with some big emotions over the…
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Where to find the Gruffalo in Scotland
We were lucky enough to head back to the Haven Craig Tara resort last weekend (see my review of our last trip) to celebrate Lauren’s 3rd birthday. Whilst we were there, we once again travelled down the coast to the amazing Culzean Castle – twice, actually. We decided to explore the wildlife garden, which we have never ventured into before… and we were surprised and delighted to encounter the Gruffalo! Lauren was even brave enough to tickle him with a feather. The National Trust for Scotland don’t seem to advertise the fact that there is a Gruffalo, which is strange as it’s such a draw for young children. It got…
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Two-Under-Two Essentials
My kids were born 20 months apart, meaning I had to deal with the dreaded ‘two under two’ for the first few months of my second child’s life. Boy, it was tough, but now with my toddler about to turn 3 and my baby at 14 months old, we are hitting our stride and things are so. Much. Easier. If you are expecting baby #2 not too long after baby #1’s arrival, the great thing is you can benefit from hand me downs for a lot of items (without too much dusting down of things that have been stored in the attic), so you don’t need to shell out too…
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Tuff Tray Alternative – Inflatable Play Tray
Here’s the story of how I found a perfect tuff tray alternative: As a parent, I follow a few ‘kids play’ accounts on Instagram which help to give me ideas and inspiration about ways to play with the children. Through these accounts, I have become aware of the ‘tuff spot, also known as a tuff tray. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s what they look like: They have a bit of a cult following, and for good reason. Here’s a description I found of what exactly they are used for: The tuff tray has so many uses! Will you set up a jungle with real plant cuttings…
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My Simple Trick to Make Tidy Up Time Easier
As hard as I try to tidy up as the day goes on, on days where I have been indoors all day with the kids (aged 1 and almost 3), the floor always looks like there has been some kind of explosion in a toy shop. Building blocks, toy animals, balls EVERYWHERE. It is exhausting even thinking about putting everything back in its home, let alone actually doing it. I used to wait until the kids were in bed before wearily tidying up as I always assumed that tidying up with kids around, trying to help would be more stress than it was worth. However, I had a sudden brainwave…
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Is it worth signing up to Amazon Prime just to save money on nappies?
This post has been updated for March 2020 I will start by stating that I have been an Amazon Prime member for years. I couldn’t be without it. Being able to take advantage of next day delivery (and sometimes same day delivery) on countless items is invaluable to me, and I take advantage of it often (although much less often than I used to… I was a little bit too trigger-happy on the ‘1-click order’ button) . We also stream things on Prime Video most days too – I reckon I could navigate to the five seasons of Peppa Pig with my eyes closed. One of the things I buy…