Dylan's New Playroom

It has taken four months, but we have finally finished unpacking and Dylan and Archie have their very own space.  Our living room is nice and long so we have decided to have half as an adult end with the sofas and TV, and the other half for the boys.  The idea is that it is their playroom, without being in a separate room and the bloke and I can have nice relaxed evenings without toys covering every surface.

We have a lovely bookcase from Tidy Books in blue wood, so I bought some blue wooden toy storage too to contain the multitude of toys that we have accumulated over the past twenty months.

We have been sent a gorgeous blue wooden table and chairs too and  Dylan loves to sit up at his table and do some drawing or puzzles.

The set was a little tricky to put together, but the bloke managed it by himself and the table and chairs seem nice and sturdy now.  I think they will last Dylan quite some time as he has plenty of growing space but he can climb onto the chair by himself too.  They are the perfect addition to our playroom!

Disclaimer:  We were sent the table and chairs free of charge but all thoughts, opinions and photos are completely my own.

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The Start of Spring

After rain, snow, wind and more snow, we finally appear to be getting some of the spring sunshine we have been waiting for.  Saturday was the first time I wasn't worried about packing extra blankets in the pushchair and we took a short journey on the train to a local town, Whitstable to explore.

Whitstable is a beautiful town with lots of quirky little stores selling all sorts of beautiful things, from vintage clothing to tea sets and gorgeous baby bits that I really wanted to buy. Luckily as they are all old buildings my double pushchair was a challenge to get inside, so my pennies remained (mostly) safe. 

 After a lovely lunch, we took the boys for a stroll and enjoyed our first dose of sunshine this year. Whitstable has a lovely pebble beach which we are not used to as our closest beaches are sand but Dylan loved looking at all the rocks and stones as he explored. He ran around in his new Superman top (complete with cape!) and made friends with every parent, child and dog in sight.

Superman!

It certainly wasn't warm but with no breeze and bright sunshine it wasn't too cold and we took a stroll along the sea front, admiring the boats and little cafes selling fresh oysters and seafood.  Archie was unusually settled in the Bugaboo, and Dylan was his usual excitable self, running around with squeals of excitement at everything he saw.

Anyone for Oysters?

A lovely coffee with friends and we got home just in time to put two rather exhausted little boys to bed! I am really hoping this weather sticks around as it is lovely being able to spend more time outside without worrying about frozen fingers and hundreds of layers!

Welcome Spring!

 

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Two Little Boys

One of the great delights of having two little boys is getting to be the cruel mummy who dresses them in matching outfits and takes loads of photos! As Dylan is in 2-3 year clothing, they are generally in different departments now, but we have been sent a jumper for Dylan and matching romper for Archie from Cashmirino and I couldn't resist matching them up this week.

Both items are 100% Cashmere and beautifully soft.  The romper has buttons down the back which is perfect for my tummy sleeper.  Dylan's jumper is in age 4 (he is 20 months), and seems to be a good fit on him, although I think he will be wearing it for quite some time!  Archie's romper is sized 3 months.

I love the boys in their matching outfits and they were even better for cuddling being so soft!

Disclaimer:  We were sent the jumper and romper free of charge, but all thoughts, opinions and photos are completely my own.

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Happy

           My life is certainly not perfect.  Sometimes Dylan can play up so badly that all I want to do is walk away and pretend that I don't know him.  Sometimes Archie wants feeding every single hour and I am completely and utterly exhausted.  Sometimes the bloke leaves chocolate wrappers all over the floor and I have to explain to an excited toddler in the morning that yes they are chocolate, but no he cannot have any.

There will always be things that I want to change, I mean who doesn't want to be a little richer, a tad slimmer, or have roots that dye themselves.  There will always be things that I could have done differently and one little decision somewhere along the way could have changed the course of things completely.

I have made the choices that got me to this place in my life though.  Rightly or wrongly I have made every single one, and I like to think I have no regrets.  I found myself pregnant three months into a new relationship but if I hadn't have put everything into that relationship then I wouldn't have my beautiful family.

Dylan may have his moments, but do you know what?  He is a toddler and he is discovering his boundaries.  With every tantrum he is learning where he stands and I am learning right along side him.  Archie may be a bit of a milk monster, but this part of his life will be gone in a flash and when I look back, I will be able to say I was there for every single second of it!  When he smiled at me for the first time this week, his face lit up and every difficult moment was worthwhile.

Every now and again I like to just take a step back and take in the fact that I am happy.  I have a partner that loves and supports me and two beautiful children who challenge me and force me to become a better person.  Even when I feel far from perfect, they are a constant reminder that I did something perfectly right.  I have a close family, enough money to enjoy the occasional meal out and a blog which not only satisfies my need to write but gives me a journal of our lives to look back on.  I have opportunities, an education and a future to look forward to- wherever it may lead.

I am happy with where I am and where I am going and in a world with so much negativity, I am even happier to be able to say that.  I think sometimes we need to be able to float above ourselves and look down to see quite how lucky we are.  I refuse to judge my life compared to someone else's as we are all individuals.  

I may need reminding when I am up at 3am for the eleventy billionth night feed that the cuddles are completely worth it but quite honestly, I wouldn't change a thing right now.

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The Quest for Sleep

'Sleep is for the weak' seems to be the motto in my house! The littlest member of the household is still settling into a routine and I am up throughout the night feeding him and settling him back into the land of slumber.  Compared to his big brother, Archie is already doing well and has gone as long as five hours on the odd occasion, which Dylan was not even close to at 6 weeks old!  Unfortunately it is when I am still awake and downstairs, and as soon as my head hits the pillow he seems to be on a mission to get me up as much as possible.

Because it is not looking likely that I will be getting a long period of unbroken sleep any time soon, it is all the more important that the sleep I do get is as good quality as possible as having two under two isn't the easiest thing, especially when you are searching for the matchsticks to wedge your eyes open! Silent Night carried out a survey that revealed 75% of adults are not getting a good night's sleep and I am certainly one of those!

After filling in a short survey, Silent Night sent me a pillow spray that is designed to encourage rest and relaxation and although I was dubious that anything could get me out of bed in the morning feeling refreshed and ready for the day, I am willing to try anything to get even a few more minutes of sleep!

It is hard to say whether the spray is working, as Archie still wakes frequently between 12 and 6am, but I have been finding that rather than feeling alert and sitting up in bed playing candy crush as he feeds, I have been feeling very drowsy, and barely waking during the night feeds this last week, and I am wondering whether this may be the pillow spray working it's magic and keeping me relaxed.

I still wake up every morning wishing I could turn the clocks back and have an extra hour in bed, but I am finding drifting in and out of sleep during the night a much smoother process! Hopefully once the little one starts sleeping for longer periods at a time, the spray will help me relax enough to wake up with the energy to match my toddlers!

Disclimaer:  I was sent a pillow spray for the purpose of this post and provided with a voucher for my time.

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Quality Time #CBias

Having two children close together means I have very little time to spend with either one.  As I am breastfeeding Archie he is almost permanently attached to me, and Dylan is so full of energy that I get little time to sit and enjoy my newborn baby.  Over the Easter weekend, the bloke has been off work and it has been nice to enjoy some quality time with both boys separately.

 On Saturday, Archie and I went out for a lovely walk, with him all tucked up in the sling.  It was lovely to have my hands free as I walked and lovely to enjoy the cuddles.  We popped down to Asda (see my Google+ album) to get the final preparations ready for the Easter egg hunt I was planning for Dylan on Monday.  I chatted to Archie about everything we saw and it was great to do the things with him that I did the first time around.

We bought the last bits for the Easter egg goody bags, and were disappointed that they had already run out of every kind of Easter egg! (although they did have plenty of hot cross buns left!)  Luckily I had the chocolate already and was just looking for some bubbles to hand out.

I knew that the Easter weekend was going to be tiring for the little man as we had lots of plans with family and outdoors so I needed plenty of energy boosting and healthy foods for him.  I bought something that I was hoping we could make together for when the bloke was free to look after the littlest one.

After an exhausting morning on Monday hunting eggs, Dylan fell asleep on the 30 second walk home from the park so his lunch was put on hold.  He had been nibbling sweet stuff like chocolate and raisins all morning so I wanted him to get at least one of his 5 a day with his lunch.  Archie fell asleep just as the little dude was waking up from his nap, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with Dylan.

I had all the ingredients to make fresh pizza, but as I knew his little tummy wouldn't hold out that long, we decided to cheat and use a frozen pizza base  We topped it with tomato puree and I grated cheese for him to sprinkle on top.  We topped the pizza with some Heinz cheddar cheese baked beans (I never even knew these existed until Friday!) which he carefully  spooned onto the pizza and we added the rest of the cheese.  Dylan seemed very excited to be doing some cooking and it was great to know my little bean lover would definitely wolf down his dinner!

Dylan loved sticking his fingers in the beans and giggled away as we made his dinner.  I must admit to being dubious about the idea of baked bean pizza, but it was a big hit with the boys!  As it was the last day of the long weekend, we all sat down together oin the living room with the Gruffalo on TV and enjoyed our cheesy bean pizza, with Dylan stopping between every bite to say pizza! cheese! beans!  It was such a simple idea and perfect for cooking with a toddler.

It was lovely having time alone with both boys knowing that the other one was in safe hands, but there is nothing like cuddling up together as a family with a yummy meal.

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric.

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Easter Egg Hunting

After reading an amazing blog post on Lucy's blog Capture by Lucy, I was inspired to set up an Easter egg hunt for Dylan.  The little dude is too young for too much chocolate, but old enough to join in the fun so I thought that this hunt was perfect for him.   As our garden doesn't have too many hiding spots, I thought it would be great to pop down to the local park with it being at the end of our road, and as I was doing it in the  park, I decided to invite some of Dylan's friends.

I spent Good Friday evening cutting egg shapes out of Dulux paint charts, and armed with some pound shop pegs, I set about hiding them around the park this morning.  15 of Dylan's friends turned up at half past ten and spent the morning hunting out the paper eggs in the little bags I had decorated.  

Once they had finished hunting, I swapped the paper eggs in their bags for a small chocolate egg, small plastic egg full of raisins and some bubbles and it was time to play on the swings and slides.  It was lovely to see them all together playing outside, and luckily the sun was shining for us!  Dylan managed to fall asleep on the walk back from the park and with it taking all of 60 seconds I was very impressed - I think there were lots of tired toddlers by the end of the morning!

We had a lovely morning, and I have all my paint chart eggs ready for another little hunt next year!  

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