Me and Mine - January

After being inspired by the linky 'me and mine', I decided that this was the year we make sure to capture our family, as the boys grow from baby to toddler and from toddler to preschooler.  This year the bloke will celebrate turning 30, and every month I want to capture the subtle changes, capture us right now.  

My very thoughtful sister arranged for us to have a location photoshoot for our Christmas gift and we had a lovely time in the local park with Sharina capturing some beautiful images.  We were lucky that despite it being January, the sun shone and the boys were not too grumpy.

This month Dylan is loving reading letters at every opportunity, wishing everyone a merry Christmas and going out without the pushchair a lot more.

Archie is loving climbing on the sofa to get the remote control,  mash potato and picture books with flaps.

Mummy is loving wearing her slippers, eating biscuits by the tin and when the boys nap together in the afternoon.

Daddy is loving zombie games on his pc, time alone with the boys now that I am back to work part time and cheeseburgers with waffles instead of a bun.

So here we are in January, our little family of four.

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Eight'O'Clock

I am not a morning person, and despite Dylan turning two and a half this weekend, I still have not got used to early starts.  I do not function at five am, I cannot hold a conversation at six and I do not want to watch Sarah and Duck at seven.  I have finally given in to eight though, and that is when our day starts.

Archie still needs to be convinced some days, his body clock is still a bit wobbly and we can alternate between half past seven and half past nine wake ups, despite his bedtime being a steady seven pm.  Dylan on the other hand, can read the clock - well a digital one anyway.  When he comes sleepily into our room in the morning, the first thing he does is check the digital clock on the bedside table.  If the time starts with a seven, then he either comes in for a cuddle, or sits on the end of our bed with a toy, waiting for it to tick over.

The moment a number 8 appears as the first number, he pounces ' wake up mummy, it's eight'o'clock, it's eight'o'clock'.  He demands attention, cold blue milk and the Tweenies, and after bringing me my slippers, I give in and start the day.  

It is not just eight'o'clock that the little guy looks out for, he loves to ask the time, and knows that one is nap time and seven means it is time for bed.  He seeks out numbers, and digital clocks are a favourite, but he will point out traditional clocks at every opportunity too.  It won't be long before we are teaching him to tell the time, and we have been looking at watches at The Watch Hut.  At the moment neither the bloke or I wear a watch, but I think Dylan will pick it up so much faster if we have a clock face for him to study to his hearts content.

But until that day, the important time to remember is eight'o'clock - before then is still the middle of the night as far as I am concerned!

Disclaimer:  Sponsored Post

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The Simple Things - A Cardboard Box

My children are very lucky, they have a playroom full of toys-  beatiful wooden ones, noisy and colourful plastic ones, the soft stuffed variety, books and puzzles.  Every room in the house seems to have been taken over by their toys, Duplo bricks and Hot Wheels constantly under foot.  Despite all of this, the most coveted 'toys' seem to be the remote control for the littlest (he isn't silly, only the real one will do) and my phone for Dylan.  

Recently we were sent some Little Tikes Cozy Coupes ready for our leg of the Team Honk relay and after an evening spent building one, we retired to bed leaving the newly built car and the box in the middle of the floor.  Come morning, two very excited boys discover the ultimate toy in their living room - a cardboard box big enough to fit two small children in.

We opened up the end, making it into a tunnel and for the next two hours, were entertained with only an empty box and each other.  They chased each other round and through the box, sat in there together giggling and when it all got too much, they pushed it over and sat on it to eat their snack.  

The games I remember from my childhood often involved upturned tables, garden chairs and other household items and it was lovely to see the boys playing so nicely together, so entertained  by something so simple.  I will not be throwing away a carboard box again until it is bashed, squashed and covered in snot and banana!

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York - A Beautiful City

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Invitations

With Archie's first birthday only three weeks away, I have been planning a party with a theme.  We all love the Very Hungry Caterpillar, so much so that the little guy has a nursery decorated with the classic Eric Carle illustrations, and it seemed a great idea for his party.

I am sure I will be sharing plenty of photos after the party next month, but for now, here are the invitations that I have been making.  

They are incredibly simple to make, I drew round a lid on both red and green card to make the big circles and then drew round a cup to make the white paper circles.  The caterpillar's face is made from shapes cut out of card and glued on, and I used a hole punch and some treasury tags to link the circles together.  The invitation folds up and opens out to share all the information on our little guy's big bash.

If you have any ideas to make this Hungry Caterpillar first birthday party even more special then please leave me a comment! I am having great fun planning.

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11 Months

11 months have gone by in the blink of an eye.  Whilst I stopped to savour every day, week and month with Dylan, Archie's first eleven months seem to have passed by in a blur of breastfeeding, nappies and chasing a toddler round, and suddenly in place of my newborn there is a cheeky little boy, not really a baby, but not yet a toddler.  A child with his own mind, a determination and the cheekiest smile.  Archie is hurtling towards his first birthday and I honestly can't tell you how nearly a year has passed since I brought him home from the hospital that cold Sunday afternoon.

At 11 months Archie is an explorer, a climber and a little monkey at times.  He is not content sitting still and lying him down to change a nappy requires a small team.  He sees what he wants and goes for it, no matter what is in the way and would rather climb over an obstacle than go round it.  He is not afraid of heights and given half the chance he is half way up the stairs.  He has mastered climbing onto our bed and the sofa, something that took Dylan an extra 9 months!  He is happiest when standing, and although he has been pulling himself up for quite some time, it is only this past month that he has experimented with letting go, getting ready for that scary next stage and those first steps.

Archie has been happy feeding himself, but we have taken a slight step back in the last month as he seemed to be getting more and more unsettled and agitated in the afternoons.  We added in a few spoon fed meals and he is like a different child, much happier and more content.  Although he is confident feeding himself, I think he has a lot of fun spreading his food around the four corners of the room, and this way we know he is getting enough.  Despite turning his nose up at puree when we started weaning, he is perfectly happy for me to be doing the work now and still eats everything and anything on offer (including tumble dryer fluff given half the chance!)

Being a second child, Archie has had to slot into his older brother's schedule and they both nap after lunch.  Archie is still generally fed to sleep for this, unless he has fallen asleep in the sling or buggy, and sleeps anything from one to three hours.  Quite often he will wake after only half an hour,still sleepy with his eyes tight shut and a whingey cry, and he will settle straight back off if I bring him into my bed for a cuddle.  Trying to move is forbidden though and he will sleep as long as he is cuddled in my arms.  Although it may well be a bad habit, there is something so precious about curling up with him for an afternoon nap, and I don't really discourage it. 

Our nights are still eventful with at least one wake up without fail.  It is starting to get really hard, having not had a full night's sleep for so long and I am contemplating getting tough, but when it is 4am and I am sleepy and cold, feeding him back to sleep is by far the easiest and quickest option.  Archie is still breastfed on demand although I have been pushing him to 3 feeds a day (and one night), and this works most days.  when I am at work he quite happily goes all day without milk, but when I am around I find it very hard to say no when he makes it incredibly obvious what he is wanting.

He has two extra teeth joining the original four, and you have to be careful when he comes for a big slobbery kiss (as he does frequently), that he doesn't try and imprint these teeth marks on your face.  He is a very affectionate boy though, coming for cuddles and kisses throughout the day and still happiest when in his mummy's arms.

This next month will be spent planning a first birthday party and my next Archie update will be his first birthday.  I am excited about everything to come, but still wondering where on earth this year has gone!

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Me and My Shadow

A child's brain is an amazing place.  A pear can become an airplane, a stick in the park is a magic wand and you can fill yourself up on pretend coffee and cake.  Dylan has recently discovered his shadow and it makes late afternoon walks all the more fun when we have to constantly check that his shadow is following us.  

We wave at him, and we wave at Mummy and Archie's shadows too.  We walk round corners and behind trees to see if he is still there and we say goodbye when we finally make it home.  Every now and again then we look for him, with the obvious place being the least obvious place for Dylan to look.

His fascination knows no bounds and a trip to Canterbury at the weekends was all the more enjoyable as we followed our shadows down the high street, jumping, running and exploring how it moved.  

I have tried to explain the science, but at not yet two and a half, Dylan prefers the magic, his black shadow, who is always there to keep him company.

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