What the Kids Wore - Duns Puffins

Life with 4 is busy but I am not letting being completely and utterly outnumbered stop us from getting out.  I find myself doing head counts quite regularly and I am really appreciating the benefits of bright clothes and dressing the boys in matching.

When this Puffin print came out from one of my favourite kids clothing brands, Duns Sweden, I knew I needed something for one of the boys but the fact that the print comes in three different colours and so many different items means I couldn't resist ordering for all four of the children.

Dylan has a t-shirt in blue and Archie in yellow.  Finn has a summer romper suit in the same blue and I chose a footless sleepsuit for Cora in white and orange.  Their older child sizing is really generous and I did the super geeky thing of ordering a dress in a child's age 13 which seems to be roughly an adult size 10.

I love how unisex all these items are, the bright colours that stand out in a busy park and the wonderfully soft organic cotton.  

I ended up ordering from several retailers in order to find all the items I wanted in the right sizes - Funky Little People, Uni and Jack, Heimoose and JuicyTots. 

 It won't be long until they refuse to wear matching but for now it makes days out easier and they just look so sweet together!  There will be no questioning that they are all mine anyway.

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Nun Night Four Year Old

My baby boy, what a year this has been for you, life has changed for us all, but for you the most.  As a four year old you have started school and considering you are one of the youngest in your year, you have thrived and exceeded.  You walked in on your first day with such confidence and your love for learning has never wavered.  You have thrived  in the classroom, made friends in the playground and gone in with a smile on your face every day.  

As a four year old you have learned to ski - something I didn't do until I was in my twenties.  Considering you are naturally quite cautious, you ended up ahead in your class and on the green slopes by the end of the week.  We were so proud, not so much of how well you did, but of how well you tried, putting in so much effort every day.

It was as a four year old that you became a big brother for the third time - something not many your age can say! You have so much love for all your younger siblings and I think your little sister will soon have you wrapped around her finger.  You are protective and caring and the best biggest brother they could all ask for.  You and Archie are still so close, inseperable at times but you do fight like brothers - you both hit out but you make up in seconds.

Four was the age of superheroes, discovering real Lego, playing Christmas at least once a week, questioning everything, collecting football stickers, dropping your nap (apart from the odd occasion), learning to use Netflix, being introduced to computer games and your feet not growing (not even half a size all year). 

Tomorrow you will be 5 and you are pretty excited! You still don't really ask for anything, you are looking forward to getting presents, but you don't know what you want exactly.  You do know that you want to be bigger and you defintely want birthday cake.

It seems crazy to think it was five years ago that you made me a mama, 5 years since you came into our lives and changed everything. You started everything, your brothers and sister wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.  You turned us from a couple into a family five whole years ago.  That baby I held in my arms with long legs and round cheeks has become a wonderful child.  No longer a baby, a toddler or a preschooler but well and truly a child.  You are polite, caring and loyal.  You make us laugh and you frustrate us too.  You can hear a packet of biscuits being opened from a different room but like most males I know you have pretty selective hearing! 

My baby boy, on the eve of your fifth birthday I need you to know how much I love you, how proud I am of the boy you have become and how much I enjoy being your mama.  You challenge me every day and I am the person I am because of you.

Sleep tight my gorgeous four year old,  for tomorrow is a big day.
Love Mummy xxxxxxxx

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1 Month Baby Girl

A month of cuddles, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, siblings, teeny fingers and toes and that newborn smell.  A month of noise, sleepless nights and adapting to our new normal.  A month of our baby girl.  

How on earth has a month passed? It seems like only yesterday I was sat cuddling this perfect, tiny little thing on our sofa waiting for her brothers to get home and meet her.  Surely it was only last week that I was laying in bed awake, too busy watching this brand new life to be able to sleep.  In other ways it feels like Cora has always been a part of our life, that there has always been 6 of us.

This first month has been wonderful and it feels even more perfect after the nervous and stressful first weeks of Finn's life.  I have spent every moment with my baby girl and 95% of those we have spent cuddling.  For the first two weeks she wouldn't be put down, and in all honesty I didn't really try.  I fed her and held her in the day and we fell asleep each night, her on my chest.  After a couple of weeks she started to sleep for small periods in her crib or in a pram and now at a month she can sleep in the day when put down and she does her first long stretch at night in her Snuzpod crib before joining me.

The nights are pretty unpredictable, as life with a newborn usually is.  There are nights (well night) where she only wakes once for a super feed and there are nights that we see every hour and sometimes every half hour.  There is no routine yet with anything and Cora stays downstairs with me until I go to bed.

The boys have taken to having a baby sister so well.  Dylan is a pretty experienced big brother and he has taken it all in his stride.  Archie is that bit older than when Finn was born and he is full of questions whilst being incredibly protective.  Finn is curious and excited, wanting to stroke her and cover her in kisses.  This little girl of mine is so lucky to have these three big brothers and I am hoping they continue to stay close as they grow.

At her last weigh Cora was 8lb 13oz so I can presume she is now over 9lb.  Her 'up to 1 month' (or size 56 in Scandinavian brands) clothing is fitting perfectly and her newborn (up to 7.5lb) vests are  just about fitting still too (what she is wearing in these photos).  I am not ready to start a pile of things that don't fit, I am not ready for my newborn to be growing out of things but I have a feeling in the next week or so these vests will be sent off to a new home.  We are preparing to start on the 0-3 month clothing soon as these babies of mine don't stay small for long.

Cora is happiest on my chest still, she loves to be cuddled, carried in a sling and to sleep curled up against me.  She is happier on her tummy than on her back and she loves to poke her tongue out.  Her little face has changed so much in these past four weeks as the swelling has subsided and her delicate features are more visible.   Every day her eyes seem a little larger and she becomes a little more alert.

This first month has cemented Cora's place in the family.  She is the 'new baby', our baby girl, the final member of our team and one that we wouldn't be without.  Our days are busier, noisier and I am learning to do a lot of things one handed.

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Me and Mine July

July has been a month for juggling - working out how to do everything with a small person firmly attached to me.  It is our second me and mine as a family of 6 and we are all a little more in focus this time! July has been packed full of birthday parties and has seen Dylan and Archie break up for the summer holiday.  We have had enough sunshine that I am leaving the month with happy memories of four weeks spent outdoors.

We are finding our feet as a family of six and with a little bit of winging it and a lot of teamwork things are getting simpler.  These photos were taken in the woods where we spent a lovely afternoon eating a picnic and exploring.  We each wore a baby on our front in slings and a back pack on our back and the bigger two wandered with us.

The month Mama is loving snuggly newborn cuddles, listening to the boys singing to their sister, days out with the whole family and all the birthday cake we have eaten this month

The bloke is loving collecting Pokemon, introducting Dylan to computer games, eating at the Carvery when we can't be bothered to cook and ice cold Coca Cola.

Dylan is loving playing minecraft, counting down to his birthday, lazy mornings in his pjs and playing in the sea.

Archie is loving having his big brother home from school, singing twinkle twinkle to his baby sister, pointing out numbers everywhere we go and playing with water in the garden.

Finn is loving walking along just holding one finger, unravelling the tin foil in the kitchen, cuddling baby Cora and playing in Grandma and Grandpa's garden.

Cora is loving milk, cuddles, her first bathtime and being in the sling.

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My School Years

Apparently I cried on my first day at school - not because I wasn't excited to start, but because I had two younger siblings and one of them was turning one on that same day and I didn't want to miss the party.  I had just turned 4 and with a late August birthday I was one of the youngest and smallest in the school.  This photo is from my first day (clearly before the tears) and I remember the smart red uniform so well.

School was very different 'back then' and my experiences at a private primary school are very different to Dylan's at a small infant school.  Whilst his school is considered small with only 180 pupils, that is double the number that attended mine.  My uniform was smart and strict with a summer and winter look.  Red blazers and hats and very specific brown shoes.  We wore a shirt and tie from Kindergarten although I think for the first year or two our ties were elasticated.

Dylan's uniform is still smart, but more practical.  He wears Polo shirts under his jumper which are much easier for him to get on and off and his school shoes must be black (much simpler to find).  Velcro seems to be the most common style in smaller sizes which is perfect as I haven't taught him about shoelaces yet!  

My mother bought my school uniform from Marks and Spencers and twenty something years on, that is where I am shopping for my son.  Their stainaway technology on their shirts is necessary when you have a four year old eating lasagne with his friends and the non-scuff shoes can withstand the battering he gives them in the playground.  Marks and Spencers asked me to look back at my school days and see how things were different, and they definitely were.

My first year of school was spent in a classroom and we learnt History and Geography alongside English and Maths however Dylan learns Phonics and Numeracy without even realising it.  His days are spent doing 'challenges' and the classroom is far more than one room, with his days spent between the playground, the IT room and the traditional classroom.  

The resources his school have are amazing compared to mine and the topic based learning means that part of the classroom is transformed into a pirate ship or a new planet in a way that encourages his imagination as well as learning.

My breaktimes were spent doing cartwheels and handstands up against the wall.  We played Bulldog and kiss chase and entertained ourselves with just our minds.  We made daisy chains and on sports day we competed in races, cheering when we won and being upset at coming last. Parents took photos and videos that we can still look back on now.  Dylan's 'sports morning' involved no competition, they just took part in sporting activities whilst the parents watched on aware that sharing on social media was prohibited.  His playground is painted with hopscotch, letters and numbers to encourage games and health and safety rules.

Both Dylan and I started school so young and the photos above - my first school photo at the end of the school year and him this week trying on his new uniform show us both at nearly 5 having learnt to read and write and count and learn alongside our peers.    We both love school and are keen readers and we both walked in every day of our first year in M&S Schoolwear.  

 Marks and Spencers are celebrating their back to school range by looking at how things have changed and evolved over the years.  If you want to share photos of your schooldays with them then use #MySchoolYears

Disclosure : This post is in collaboration with Marks and Spencers

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The Start of School Holidays

This time last year I was planning how we would spend the final summer of freedom.  My biggest boy had finished preschool and I knew it was the final six weeks before the start of something new and huge.  The year has flown by and my baby has finished his first year of school.  Reception is done and when he returns to school in six weeks time it will be as a year one student - no longer new but a proper school boy.  

He has grown and thrived at his school and I am so happy that we ended up with such a wonderful one.  He has been so busy and tired that we were all desperate for summer to arrive and so far it has been a fantastic one.  Dylan broke up on Wednesday and ever since the sun has shone and we have been outdoors enjoying it.

The first day was spent in my parents' garden, naked boys running in and out of the paddling pool, picnic lunch outside and a day that reminded me of being their age and playing with my brother and sister.  

Friday we headed to the beach, threw shells into the sea, built sandcastles and stayed out late because we could.  We ate ice creams, kicked a ball around and stopped for burgers and chips on the way home.

Today we went to the local woods to celebrate a friend's birthday.  We had a picnic and then explored, the babies in slings and the boys on foot.  They painted their faces with charred wood for some strange reason and they picked up every log to look at the wildlife underneath.  They snapped twigs to see how strong they were and searched for the perfect sticks.  They came home with mud under their fingernails and dirt on their knees and the bath has never been more needed.

We are only three days in to this six weeks of freedom and it feels perfect to be spending every day outdoors enjoying the weather.  The perfect antidote to a year in a classroom, a perfect way to enjoy all four of these beautiful children we created.

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Pure Love

This is a paid advertorial for WaterWipes

Every morning since Cora was born, we have done the first feed of the day in the same way. After a long night of feeds and nappy changes and restless sleep, I take off my pyjama top and her sleepsuit and we snuggle up together, her skin against mine. On the chillier mornings we pull the duvet around us, on the warmer ones we just lie there together, enjoying the slow pace, the quiet of just us two and the feeling of skin to skin. It is one of my favourite parts of the day, a way of connecting before the madness of the school runs and a noisy house.

There is no better way to wind down after a busy weekend than with those same special skin to skin cuddles and Sunday night is hairwash night for the boys and bath night for my baby girl and I. Her first baths are always with me, so that we can have skin to skin, relax and unwind together. We cuddle and feed and enjoy the calm of her brothers being in bed. She would probably fall asleep on my chest in the water if we stayed in any longer.

I read about the wonders of it during pregnancy and all of my birth plans have stipulated immediate skin to skin. I can only imagine how cold and scary the world is after nine months in the womb and the familiar sound of my heart beating, the reassurance of my warmth and smell and the closeness to milk has offered them comfort, and continues to for weeks and months. With Cora we stayed together for hours having our first skin to skin cuddle, there was no rush as we were at home for either of us to get dressed and it felt natural and perfect.


Skin to skin can regulate baby's biology and is evidence of how our bodies continue to care for and nurture our children long past the nine months we spend growing them. In this wonderful video 'Pure Love' from WaterWipes  they show how being on their mama's chest can regulate baby's heart rate, body temperature and oxygen levels as well as keeping them Calm.




Us mama's have super powers and alongside the fact we give birth, can sustain a baby for months with milk our bodies make and of course those magic kisses that heal any wound, we can also regulate our baby's biology purely through the power of skin to skin contact.


Our mornings will continue to start with skin to skin cuddles and our weeks will continue to end with them.

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