Tuesday 29 May 2018

Living Arrows 2018 22/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This has been another great week for the boys! Lucky for James he only had to do four days at school due to teacher training day on the Friday, So we took a walk to Tesco to get a few bits in from the free from range to take to Nana and Gaga's house!
James came bouncing out of school on Monday beaming as he had got a certificate in assembly from the head teacher for his academic achievement, although when I asked James what it was for his answer was I don't know!

Freddie has had another brilliant week at playgroup! On Tuesday he ran into the room and went to the door that leads into their little playground and waved to me!! He is doing so well and is so settled!! 

We again had our normal Thursday Sure Start group! Mummy is part of the parents group which is planning the activities for the summer holidays and we have come up with some really good ideas!! I love the fact that the summer events cover older children too as James would be totally huffy if Freddie got to go out and he didn't!

With James having a teacher training day on Friday we decided to venture to another local sure start centre to try out their 0-5 group. Both boys had a brilliant time so I think mummy and Freddie might try and go a bit more often!

We finished the week by going to stay with Nana and Gaga and having a BBQ on Sunday to celebrate Nana's birthday a day early!







Living Arrows

Friday 25 May 2018

Freddie at Two and a Half!

My last update on Freddie was done back in November when he turned two. After that milestone I decided it would be better to do updates on him every six months like I do with James.

Since he turned two he has become such a little mischief maker! He loves nothing more than ganging up on his brother and jumping on him shouting squeeze! Poor James has also been on the end of a beating or two from Freddie. The last incident was poor James getting scratched on the eyelid by his darling little brother. 

Freddie is also so clumsy! He is always walking into things and banging his head, normally on our kitchen table as he seems to forget he is now way too tall to walk under it! He also has a bad habit of smacking himself in the head with our living room door.

His speech has improved so much, especially in the last four months since he started at our local playgroup! He is saying a lot more words and we can all understand him a lot better! He can now say the name of our neighbours dog Archie and when he sees him he shouts hi Archie hi Archie you ok Archie as if he expects him to answer him back! He has also learned to say the name of one of James friends and her little brother who is a few months younger than him. 

He is still wearing a size 4 pull up and a 6+ nappy at night. His clothes are mostly age 2-3 but there are also a few tops in his wardrobe that are age 3-4! Mummy has had to start buying trousers in age 3-4 as he is already starting to outgrow his 2-3 ones in leg length! He seems to be much taller than James was at the same age and he is already catching James up in height!! 

His sleeping as still be a bit hit and miss as he kept getting ill and ending up in mummy and daddy's bed, but now we are getting him to start the night in his own bed and most nights he will stay there till at least 11pm. We have had the odd night where he has gone to bed at half six or seven then woken about eleven, been resettled in his bed and then next time he has woken up it's been around half five or six am! But most nights he will end up in with mummy and daddy from around midnight. 

We are also in the middle of eliminating anything containing dairy from his diet. We have already removed cows milk, eggs and cheese from his diet and he now drinks almond milk with a little bit of water in at bed time. We have a hospital appointment for him in July to see paediatrics to get the ball rolling as to what is upsetting his poor tummy so much and if that is also the cause of his horrendous sleeping!

He had a brilliant time when we went down to visit Nanny and Pappy in Surrey over the February half term! He absolutely adored their cats Zippy and Cecil! And even now he loves to see them on face time! He loved being out and about in London and he had a great time running around in horse guards parade!

He is absolutely loving his sessions at our local playgroup and so is mummy as it gives me some free time to get work done and also to cook meals for tea without interruption!! He has finally stopped going in crying his eyes out, he normally whines a bit but there are no tears and he always comes running out with a big smile on his face chatting his head off!

He had a brilliant time on the early May bank holiday when we had all the hot weather! We bought a paddling pool for him and James and boy was it difficult to get him out of it! He is such a water baby! He even managed to escape mummy and run back into the garden half dressed and climb in and laugh at daddy!

I cannot wait to see how he does when we go on holiday in October! I think both him and James will have a brilliant time!! I admit I am a bit nervous about flying and being sat two and two!

Our next update on Freddie will be when he turns three!! Argh how is my dinky baby almost three!!

Monday 21 May 2018

Living Arrows 2018 21/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week James and Freddie have spent a lot of time outside! We have again had some pretty good weather so we have been making the most of it after school! Mummy has definitely been making the most of it and using the washing line! So the boys have been in the garden a lot after school while I have been bringing the washing inside!!

Freddie actually managed to fall asleep at playgroup due to the heat on his Tuesday session! I had to take his pram into the classroom to see if I could transfer him from the playgroup buggy into his own armadillo, but as normal he woke up! He set a new Freddie record thought at his Sure Start group! Normally if there is water outside it takes him a good half an hour to get himself totally soaked but last week it took him a grand total of seven minutes!! One of James school friends mum is a volunteer at our group and Freddie adores her!

James has actually been wearing shorts to school and on the days its been scorching hes actually left his jumper at home!! 

Mummy has been taking it easy this last few weeks as I managed to cut my thumb open quite badly on a tin and I still have a dressing on it as it keeps reopening when I am doing things with the kids!!


This is actually the start of the last week of the half term at school! It really does not seem like five minutes since the kids went back after easter!! We are spending most of the next week with Nana and Gaga and Mummy cannot wait to have some extra pairs of hands!!!

 



Living Arrows

Tuesday 15 May 2018

Siblings in May 2018


Welcome back to another month of the siblings project.

What a month it has been! James and Freddie are growing up so fast! James is not even six yet hes started to wear some tops in a size 7-8 and Freddie has started to wear some 3-4 clothes too!
This month our photos were taken during the mini heatwave we experienced! The boys had two great afternoons playing together in the pool in our back garden!









The Siblings Project - Dear Beautiful

Monday 14 May 2018

Living Arrows 2018 20/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

Its been another busy week here for James and Freddie. Daddy was on holiday from work last week so we had lots of chilled out family before and after school!

James has been busy at school and also had his friends birthday party, which was held at our local sports center soft play! Its fantastic in there! Both boys really enjoy going! James was never still apart from when he was eating! He was so tired he was in bed and asleep by half past six! In fact he actually asked to go to bed he was that tired!



Freddie has had lots of fun while daddy was off work as he got to spend one on one time with mummy and daddy together without his big brother there to annoy him! Freddie also got a hair cut one afternoon after school done by Gaga! We have a baby gate on Freddie's door to stop him escaping!





Living Arrows

Saturday 12 May 2018

My Favorite Bloggers on Instagram

Since I started blogging nearly four years ago I have really got into using Instagram a lot more. I should use it more and obviously better than I do. I really need to start looking at what was in the background of my photos especially when I am in the house and garden!

So without further ado here we go, some of my favourite feeds to follow!

 This Mama Life - Sarah is a mama of two, Isla is 4 and Lachlan is 1 and she lives on the south coast with her husband Rob. Sarah is originally from Aberdeen and love seeing her vlogs when she goes to visit her family as my best friend is from Aberdeen. I love seeing her photos of the kids as they are simply adorable.

Sarah is gearing up for solo parenting for six months while Rob is deployed with the Navy. Last time she did this she was pregnant with her gorgeous boy Lachlan, but this time she will have Isla starting Primary school to document!

Life With Pink Princesses - Jodie is a mum of three girls who are gorgeous, her family also have two adorable kittens. She was one of the first bloggers I started following on Instagram and also on twitter, so I have been following her for nearly 4 years now! 

Her three girls known as P1, P2 and P3 on the blog and they are adorable! I love seeing photos of what they get up!




Meet the Wildes - Meet the Wildes is run by Amber one half of a same sex family and mummy to two sets of adorable twins with one more baby on the way! 

Amber has to be one of the most lovely bloggers I have met since I started blogging. Her feed is amazing as its full of adorable photographs of her boys and girls and of course their gorgeous dog! 

Amber also vlogs for her own youtube channel and also Channel Mum! She is also admin for the Channel Mum group on facebook! Oh and she holds down a crazy full time job as well!

Mummy, Daddy,Me - Katie is another blogger who I have followed since I started blogging four years ago! Mama to three adorable children 2 girls and her bonus baby boy! Her oldest little girl is a fantastic football player! Her feed is so bright and colourful and Katie has  amazing style when it comes to decorating!






So these are four of my favorite bloggers on Instagram! I do have many, many more but I think there are way too many for me to name! 

Thursday 10 May 2018

Happy Birthday Blog!

Happy Birthday 
Mummy To My Little Cheeky Monkey!

Four years ago today I set this place up to record memories of James growing up and what a four years it has been!

I have now gone self hosted and will eventually phase out the Mummy To My Little Cheeky Monkey as my boys get older.

Here's to the next four years!

Wednesday 9 May 2018

Top Five things to do in Alcudia

So we are off to Alcudia in October and I have already started to do my research into things we can do with the kids! The last time I went to Majorca I was 19, so a lot of places have changed since I was last there! 

I asked some of my fellow bloggers and also friends who I know have visited the area for some suggestions of things we can do!


Hidropark
For us this has to be number one on our list as it is actually right next door to our hotel so we get free entrance! As we are all inclusive at the hotel we apparently get a 20% discount on food and drink in the park! This will be a brilliant day out for the boys; Freddie especially will adore it as he loves playing with water! I can easily see us spending a few hours here, especially as it is right next door to our hotel complex so we won't have too far to go if the boys get tired. 

A day trip to Palma
Palma is the capital of Majorca so I don’t think any trip to the island would be complete without spending a day in Palma. Palma has some beautiful architecture and of course some brilliant shopping! I definitely want to go to the marina and see the boats! I know both of the boys would love to see the boats! This was also suggested by Catherine from Here Come The Hoopers, who has a brilliant post about Palma



The Old Town Market
Samantha from North East Family Fun suggests visiting the Market in the old town as its perfect for kids to spend their holiday money and pick up traditional souvenirs! 

I think this will be a perfect place to visit as I love visiting markets when abroad. I can vaguely remember visiting markets when I went to Majorca back when I was 19.






The Pirates Show! Laura from Mum on a Mission says even though it is in Magaluf, The show would blow our minds! She used to be a holiday rep in Majorca so saw the show every week and loved it! This is something I have heard a lot about from friends but we never actually got to see it when I last went! This is something I think James would adore as he is pirate daft thanks to Swashbuckle and he is always pretending to walk the plank off our sofa!

Puerto de Alcudia 
Amy from All About a Mummy suggested going down to the port for local seafood and other cuisines. I think this would be lovely to do one evening maybe after dinner at the hotel. Both my boys love boats and I think the marina would be the idea place to get some lovely photographs of the boys and of course hopefully some lovely family photographs! 

These are just a few of the suggestions I got given! I will be sure to make a list before we go as we are only there a week so have to plan our time!

Monday 7 May 2018

Living Arrows 2018 19/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week has been quite busy for James and Freddie with school and playgroup and of course our Sure Start group for Freddie. Freddie absolutely adores his sure start group! Hes been going to this group since he was 7 weeks old so he loves it! The centre has a lovely little garden which is a real sun trap! So if its nice weather Freddie generally spends the full session outside!

How nice has the weather been this last few days! On Saturday we took a walk to our local retail park to buy food for a bbq that we were having later that day with nana and gaga. We also bought the boys a new paddling pool! They spent virtually all Saturday afternoon and then the majority of Sunday afternoon splashing around!!

It's also been a busy one for mummy with a trip to Ikea with Nana while Gaga stayed back at our house to do playgroup pick up for Freddie and the school pick up for James. Mummy also had an unplanned trip to local minor injuries unit after slicing my thumb open on a tin badly and needing it cleaned and dressed!!

James also had a session of forest school last week! When we had all the snow back in February/March his class lost a planned session in the school secret garden due to the weather so it was rearranged for 1st of May! James was so excited to get to school that he actually forgot to pick up his wellies!! So once the door was opened mummy ran home with Freddie and picked them up and got them back to the school before his TA locked the door! 

 








Living Arrows

Wednesday 2 May 2018

Holiday Shopping Online!

This year is our first family holiday, even though we are not away till October we are doing the bulk of our shopping now! And having a two year old and a five year old means the majority of my shopping is done online! 

My go to shop for toiletries, especially when I know I am going to be traveling, has to be Boots especially as they have great offers! I'm already looking online and writing lists of what we will need. They are very reasonably priced with some items being available for under £2!

What I didn't realise was all the fantastic deals for Boots you could get on Groupon! I'm definitely going to be using Groupon to do our holiday shopping as I absolutely hate going into the shops especially if I have the boys with me! 

I don't know if its just my boys but they are both an absolute nightmare when we go shopping! They whinge and whine the whole time and normally we end up going home without buying anything that we actually need to get! It's got to the stage now where I plan to do any shopping trips when they are in school and playgroup!

It's not just toiletries I will be going to Boots for for our holiday. I will be buying swim nappies, suntan lotion, plus all our first aid kit necessities! Then you have the Mini Club clothing! I will definitely be wanting to pick up some bits for the two boys such as swim jackets and swim hats! Both my boys have very blonde hair so I will be wanting to keep their heads covered at all times especially when they are in the pool!

So Boots has definitely got my vote for holiday shopping online! Anything that keeps me happy and helps me to avoid taking my two monkeys out is definitely a winner!

**This is a sponsored post with Groupon**

Doddle Bags Review

As a mum of two, the amount of things you need to carry around seems to multiply as they get older. So when Doddle Bags got in touch with us and asked if we would like to review their pouches we jumped at the chance! 



The main reason was simple as these reusable washable pouches are 100ml, which means they are perfect for travelling!! As we are going on holiday to Majorca later in the year I knew they would be perfect for carrying liquid medications through security at Newcastle Airport.

When Freddie was a few months old we discovered he has some sort of allergy to the colouring that is used in liquid paracetamol. At first mummy thought it was Sorbitol but seeing as that is also in none coloured liquid paracetamol, we realised it had to be the colouring especially as the smallest amount would make him violently sick. 

It also means I would have to either carry a plastic bottle or a glass bottle in the changing bag, something I didn't need to worry about with James as he could have the sachets of liquid paracetamol but they don't actually make them with colour free paracetamol!


The Doddle Bags will make this easier on me as it means I could just decant the bottle into the pouch and it would be so much easier and also much lighter than the bottle! So what do you get in the kit? There are Ten reusable pouches, Ten anti choke caps and Ten coloured labels! 

So what makes the Doddle Bags different? Well these can be used for things other than food or in my case medication! There are spoon attachments for weaning, You can buy brush attachments so they can be used for painting, You can get a nozzle kit for cake decorating and there is also a flip top set coming out soon!

Since we have been using these my first aid kit has felt much lighter and I don't have to worry about leaking bottles in my bag! These are definitely going to be well used with my boys especially with out up and coming holiday!



**We were sent the Original set of 10 Doddle Bags with an RRP of £10.99 free of charge in exchange for this review. All words and photos are our own!**