Last Week I...

For last weeks collage I really struggled to get 9 different/interesting photo's of what we did in the week. So you're not getting 9 photo's you are getting only a few.

I was working quite a lot this week, and the day's I wasn't working was spent doing all the mundane things like washing and ironing and food shopping. 2 of my day's work were spent at my mums. On both occasions Logan managed to climb from the bottom of my mums staircase to the top. Being in a flat we don't have an stairs for Logan to climb so I was quite intrigued to see if he would manage it. I really like spending the day at my mums, it feel's like I get a bit of time off from being a mummy for a little while because my mummy is there to help me with everything else. Mothers (and Mothers-in-law for that matter) can should never be undervalued! Both of mine are a godsend and I'd find life a lot harder if I didnt have them.

It's a short one this week, but I guess that's just life.. Let me know what you've been up to this week. Check out my best friends Erin's week over at www.erins-choice.blogspot.co.uk

Weaning Essentials

Now that we're quite far into our weaning journey I thought I'd give you my top 5 Weaning Essentials. There are a lot of things on the market these days to help you through the nervous and scary journey into food with your little on. Here are some of the things I found really useful.

Patience -  I know its not something you can physically buy but its something any mother who's been through weaning will tell you, you need. Wither you're trying Baby Led Weaning or Puree or a mixture of both you need to let your baby explore and learn in their own time. Its not something they'll get over night. However it can sometimes get quite frustrating when they're taking their time. Just be patient.

1. Cow and Gate Friends - Cow and Gate have really been a savior for me. Not only is there 5 Step Weaning plan really useful, a review of which you can find here, but they have also created these great

 pouches of simple vegetables to get your little one accustomed to vegetables. Start with one spoonful of a simple vegetable and let your baby learn about the different tastes.

2. Food Processor - At first I tried to puree my own foods without a food processor and it was bloody hard. Then my mum miraculously found one in her cupboard that she gave us and it made everything ten times easier. It was super easy to blend everything right down and as our journey progressed it was easy to slice, dice and grate any ingredients I needed.

3. Freezer Pots - these are essential if you're making all your food by hand and freezing them. I started out with a nifty little tray that we got from our Health Visitor, I ended up buying 4 packs of these little tubs from Tesco. They hold a great amount and are perfect for freezing and a lot cheaper than some of the weaning specific ones you get.

4. Bibs - We tried a few different bibs before we settled on these from Babi Pur. They are a similar design to the popular Tommi Tippee ones with a food catcher at the bottom, but these are much easier to work with and Logan didn't hate these round his neck. They are also really easy to keep clean.

5. High Chair - There are a million and one different makes and models of high chairs out but its essential that fits for you and you're little one. Being pretty sparse on space, we chose one that folds down pretty slim and easily cleaned.

6. Good Equipment - It's an in-joke between Gavin and I that I have good equipment (something quite a few nurses told me in the hospital when I was breastfeeding ;)) These spoons have joined my list of good equipment. It's good to have something soft tipped to help your little one to learn to pull the food off the end of the spoon without damaging their gums or teeth.

That's my list of weaning essentials, is there anything you would add to the list? What's the one item you would advise any new parent, on the start of their weaning journey, to get?

REVIEW | Cocoa Brown Tan

Cocoa Brown Tan are a relatively new and in my case unheard of, fake tan brad from Ireland. When they got in touch and asked if I would like to try their product I jumped at the chance.

Being a new mum (its been 10 months, can I still call myself a new mum?) anyway, being a mum I don't get to spend the same amount of time on myself as I did in my pre-Logan days. Tanning was something I loved doing because I love having a tan. I love the little confidence boost ot gave me. Due to the lovely Scottish weather my skin is naturally quite pale and I loved having that glow and it always had to be fake for me. Iv'e used a sunbed once in my whole life and I didn't enjoy the experience and didn't like the idea of the damage it was doing to my skin so a fake tan was the safest option for me.

The Cocoa Brown tanning range was launched in November 2012 and has had unprecedented success ever since. Marissa, founder of Cocoa Brown has developed the brand to include a ‘wardrobe of tans’ including eight sister products to suit different types of tanners and non-tanners alike!

Gentle Bronze is a gradual tanner which if applied every day will build up to a 'gentle bronze'. Iv'e used a gradual tanner before because I really like the idea of them. I like that you they dry in quick and you don't have to sit around like a naked scarecrow waiting for it to dry. I really like that it's gradual, so you don't need to go from being a snowman to an oompa-loompa over night. Something I didnt like about the gradual tanners I've used in the past is the smell. I know all Fake Tan's don't have an overly great smell (though I'll admit I quite like it) I always found the gradual tanners to be even worse smelling. I also felt that they were pretty patchy on drying. So they'd be relatively dark in patches and in others it didn't look like I had any tanner on. So I was keen to see how this one would work. 

My first thought was, it smells pretty nice for a tanner. Initially, on application it doesn't have the biscuity smell although once it starts developing the smell does return. It's super easy to apply and dry's really quickly. I'd recommend applying it with a tanning mitt because it leaves a pretty funny pinky/brown colour on your hands even if you do wash them immediately but a mitt is definitely not necessary because the colour changes into a more tan colour pretty quickly. 

The results were pretty fantastic. The tan developed really quickly and a lot quicker than I thought it would being a gradual tanner. After applying it after my shower in the morning, by the next morning I was a pretty lovely tan colour. Really pleased with the results and at a bargain £5.99 I'll definitely be repurchasing.

I'd highly recommend for mummies-on-the-go or anyone with not a lot of time but want a lovely healthy looking glow. Check out the Cocoa Brown website www.cocoabrown.ie/

x

Last Week I

Monday saw in impromptu visit to ASDA to get Logan more vests in size 12-18 months (Shock horror) Some of his 9-12 month stuff is definitely too small for him, but not all of it so I refuse to admit he's gone up another size.
We went out a lovely walk on Tuesday, even though it was pretty cold and Logan moaned for most of it, it was nice to get out the house with a mummy friend.
Logan's been enjoying pulling some hilarious faces lately, some ugly, some completely adorable. I thought this one was particularly cute!
Thursday saw a rare day off together for Gavin and I so we decided to take Logan to the soft play area. Logan had an absolute ball. I think we can safely put a cosy coupe on his birthday list. Needless to say he was knackered once we left and looked like a burst couch in his car seat on the way home.
Friday saw the launch of the much anticipated (by me and Erin especially) Fifty Shades of Grey. We are HUGE fans of the book and we had a mate date all planned round the film. We had a great dinner at Nando's even if it did involve Chicken Roulette (guess who was the unlucky Extra Hot victim!!!) I think we both expected too much from the film so felt a little let down but we're going again this week to see if we like it any better a second time round.
Lastly I thought I'd include a surprise (ha yeah right) picture of my beautiful cherub :D

Check out Erin's week! Erin's Choice

What have you been up to this week? Leave me any links to your weekly posts!

Next, H&M & Zara HAUL

I started buying Logan's next wardrobe a little early because, now I'm back at work, we aren't quite so skint as usual. So to celebrate our new found affluence (who am I kidding, were not that much better off, just a little) I'd do what I enjoy more than buying myself new clothes and buy Logan new stuff!

H&M

Chambray Shirt £5.99 | Similar Top - £4.99

Socks £3.99

I really liked this shirt and top combo. I've never bought anything like this for Logan before because I think it looks pretty grown up but I love them and now that he's up and about I think this will look super cute on him.
From the moment Logan began attempting to pull himself up on the furniture, I started looking for grippy socks. I know it's best to keep them in bare feet, which I often do but we have wooden flooring in our living room and I didn't want his little tootsies getting cold. I looked in loads of places and couldn't find any but then came across these in H&M. They are perfect and sit really well on his foot. They also come in white & navy.

 ZARA

Star Top £3.99 (Sale) | Motorbike Print T-Shirt £6.99

Cross Leggings £5.99 (Sale) | Chinos Lined £6.99 (Sale)

I was a bit disappointed with the quality of some of the Zara stuff I've had recently. I felt that the leggings didn't wash well and shrunk quite quickly in the washing (I didn't shrink them, I promise) and some of the tops looked as if they'd been worn 100 times when really they'd only been worn 4-5. Even so I still went in for a wee nosy and came away with a few items that I found in the sale (I don't mind a top that doesn't wash great if it was only £3.99) The only thing not in the sale was the Motorbike Print top, my dad has motorbikes so I thought he would appreciate it. I guess I bought it more for his enjoyment than anyone else's.

NEXT

Dip-Dye Daddy T-Shirt £5.50 | I Love My Mummy T-Shirt £5

Three Pack Navy Spaceship Sleepsuit £16

Monkey Face Crew Jumper £11

I've kind of shied away from Next recently because I felt I was getting similar stuff elsewhere for less money but it turns out Next's quality can't be beaten.
I have never really bought Logan many slogan t-shirts before, I'm not really sure why. I think, in my head, I thought I didn't like them. However recently I've seen more and more little guys on Instagram with slogan t-shirts and I think they look soooo cute so Iv'e decided Logan shall have some and  I couldn't resist these 2 in Next.
Iv'e preferred putting Logan in proper sets of pajamas now he's a little older but sometimes, especially after bath night, I like him being super cosy in a Sleepsuit and I loved this 3 pack.
And who could resist this little Cheeky monkey jumper!

10 Month Update

The scariest thing about writing a 10 month update is that in 2 months I'll have a 1 year old. That's by far the scariest thought ever!

Logan has really found his feet this month. He's been pulling himself up on everything! Our coffee table and side tables are quite low so they're at the perfect height for him to pull himself up on and then start cruising round about. For Christmas we bought Logan My First Walker and that's become his new favourite thing recently. He took his first few steps with the walker in the middle of the month and since then he just wants to walk everywhere. He would spend his whole day walking room to room if only he knew how to steer it. I was really apprehensive about his pushing the walker on all our wooden flooring but he seems to have got the hang of it quickly and there's only been one bang of the head so far!

His speech is developing well too. He's being saying 'Mum' for the past few days. I kind of think he is actually calling to me but then again I kind of think he's enjoying saying it and he has no idea what it really means.

His sleeping and eating patterns are pretty much the same. He sleeps from 7pm till usually 6-6:30am and has two naps during the day. He has his 3 meals plus a snack sometimes if he wakes up super early and 4 7OZ bottles of formula.

Now that I am back at work he seems to be enjoying spending more time alone with daddy and his Gran (my mum) is his new favourite person in the whole world. Every day she looks after him she leaves telling me how much of a joy he's been. I'm so proud that he's such a joy to look after. Looks like I got the brunt of it in the early months.

Like a naughty mummy I haven't had Logan weighed in 2 months! I don't place too much importance on getting him weighed constantly. I can see he is growing really well.

I've just bought a whole wack of stuff for his 12-18 month wardrobe because I'm pretty sure he'll be going in to the majority of it within he next 3-4 weeks. (HAUL COMING SOON :D) His legs don't seem like the longest part of him as some of his current 9-12 trousers are still a touch too long but he has a really long torso so vest are getting a bit stretched on him.

So that's our ten month update! He seems less and less like a little baby and more and more like a toddler!

Having A Baby From A Cats Point Of View

1. OMG WHAT IS THAT? Can I smell it?

2. Oh Jesus. What is that noise? Make it stop, it's interrupted my peace

3. You seem to have acquired some wonderful places for me to sleep. Thank you. Oh OK, Why are you shouting at me? I thought this was fair game?

4. Excuse me but why does it have its hands in my water? 

5. Really? Blue is not my colour!

6. Why does he constantly want to touch me?

7. Stop following me!

8. SERIOUSLY STOP CHASING ME!! Leave me alone! 

9. Oh thank goodness he's went to bed. Please may I return to my rightful place on your lap now?

What If He Doesn't Like Me?

When I first became pregnant I imagined having a little girl would be easier. I had this scenario in my head that we would be best friends, and I'd teach her girly things like how to paint her nails (not that I'm overly impressive at it) and I'd buy her pretty dresses and it would be all butterflies and pretty flowers and life would be dandy. Deep down though I knew we were having a boy. Before it was even confirmed I just knew it (I'm intuitive like that) So then a different scenario began forming in my head. One where Gavin would teach him to play football and teach him how to play the guitar and the drums and all the other things that Gavin is amazingly good at. He would take him swimming and to the park and they would become this little unit. Daddy and his little mini me (because, again, I just knew he was going to be Gavin's double but in this scenario where did I fit in? What could I contribute to this little pack?

What if he didn't like me? What if I was just there to clean up after him but Daddy was there to play with him, make him laugh and take him on adventures. What if I was just there to keep him clothed and keep the house nice and tidy because that's what I'm good at. I'm not good at playing Cowboys and Indians, I'm not good at throwing him so high in the air that he gets that look of terror when he wonders 'what if you don't catch me' then he squeals with laughter when Daddy does catch him and he's desperate to do it again. I don't know how to be good at boy things. I don't like rough and tumble.

Once my little boy was born that feeling kind of went away for a while. We had a newborn and I fed him and he required me to survive. He needed me. After the first few weeks Daddy went back to work and he needed me every day. He needed me to keep him clean, he needed me to feed him but he also needed me to keep him amused, to stimulate his beautiful little brain. He would follow the sound of my voice, he would look for me when I left the room. I was important, I was needed.

Then he left the newborn stage and the doubt began again. Daddy would come home from work and Logan's little face would light up. It was Daddy that caused the first giggle. When Mummy couldn't get him to nap for love nor money it was Daddy's magic touch and big shoulders that Logan would drift off on. What use was I when I couldn't get my baby to laugh or nap (a legitimate question I asked Gavin when I was having an existential crisis one night)

Then just before Christmas Logan got the cold, and I don't just mean a little sniffle. I mean WORST COLD EVER. He was lethargic, he wouldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, he was coughing and spluttering, his nose was blocked, he was dehydrated. He was a poorly little soul for a good 2 weeks. And guess who was the person he wanted through it all? His mum. I was the one who lay on the couch with him cuddled into me while I watched what ever mind numbing nonsense he wanted to watch on the tele. It was me that he wanted to spend 80% of his day sleeping on. It was me that needed to attempt to unblock his nose with the nasal aspirator. It was me he wanted and needed to take care of him.

Then I slowly began to realise: that's why we come as a team, Gavin and I. He might be good at the games and play. But it's me he looks for when he's feeling poorly or there's something wrong. I've come to accept that as a mum that's my role. To fix things, to organise things, to take care of everything. Daddy might get the easy bit but I get the most important bit.

Last Week I...

This post is coming to you a day late due to getting 3 hours sleep on Saturday and after work on Sunday I was in no fit state to do anything other than sleep.

This week saw even more snow so Gavin and I decided to build Logan a snowman, He loved sitting in the snow and feeling it between his hands.
Logan had his first haircut! I love it, though I think it makes him look even more grown up. It wasn't styled or anything, just neatened up.
Logan is cutting more teeth so that'as been followed by a rotten cold again. Not as bad as the Christmas Time cold but its given me a pretty grumpy baby!
I was sent a Buddy Box this week. Keep your eyes peeled for a review coming this week. On first impressions, I really like it.
My book of the week was Hero by Samantha Young. A great book with two fantastic main characters. Definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something new to read.