Friday, 28 September 2018

What I'm Packing For Freddie

So in a few weeks time we are off on our first family holiday and I am so excited! I have been buying and putting things away for this trip for months and its finally time to pack the case for the boys! 

The best way I find when packing for any trip for the boys is using Ziploc bags and putting stuff together ie day time outfit including a pull up and socks in one bag and same for evening in a separate bag. I find doing this it takes up less room in the case. I am also then going to put the boys stuff into separate packing cubes to keep their things separate. 

So for Freddie I am packing eight day time t shirts - we are away for 7 nights but will arrive at the resort around midday on the Monday and leave mid-morning the following Monday so I will be changing Freddie out of his traveling clothes once we have arrived at the hotel!

Then we have two pairs of swim shorts and his swim jacket. We have six pairs of shorts for wearing during the day and four pairs of shorts for evening. We then have seven smarter tops for wearing on an evening. 

We also have his Paw Patrol poncho and a big beach towel packed for Freddie as well!.

Shoe wise freddie will be traveling in his primark trainers, but we will also pack his sandals and also his doodles.

For his nappies we have 21 nappies that he wears over night, Two packets of swim nappies and 10 pairs of pull ups. We have ordered the rest of his pull ups and extra swim nappies from Boots and will collect them once we are air side at Newcastle airport! 

His changing bag will also be fully stocked and packed into the boys case. The bag that goes under the pushchair which contains our SnoozeShade, some carrier bags and our first aid kit will also be in here.

Wednesday, 26 September 2018

What am I Packing for James!

So we are finally off on our first long awaited family holiday very soon and I am so excited! I have been buying and putting things away for this trip since we booked it in November last year and its finally time to pack the case for the boys! 

The best way I find when packing any time the boys go anywhere is to use ziploc bags. This means putting stuff together ie day time outfit including pants and socks in one bag and same for evening in a separate bag. I find doing this it takes up less room in the case. I am then going to put the boys stuff into separate packing cubes to keep their things separate.

I am packing eight day time t shirts, even though we are away for seven nights we will arrive at the resort around midday on the Monday and leave early the following Monday morning so I will be getting James to change out of his traveling clothes once we arrive at the hotel, especially as he will have been in these clothes from around 2am!

James has two pairs of swim shorts and his swim jacket. We have two pairs of shorts for wearing during the day and four pairs of shorts for evening. We then have seven smarter tops for wearing on an evening for when we go for dinner and probably a walk around the resort. We will probably try to watch the hotel entertainment on a night as well especially as there is a mini disco every night! I'm hoping this will tire the boys out so they will sleep!

Shoe wise James has his leather trainers which he will be traveling in, a pair of cheaper trainers for wearing during the day and also a pair of sandals for around the pool. 

James also has his Spiderman poncho and a big beach towel packed. There will also be an extra set of inhalers in his case. 

I think that is everything we need for James! If we do need anything else then there are shops in Majorca!

Monday, 24 September 2018

Living Arrows 2018 39/53

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 Freddie and James have been pretty busy with school and playgroup. 
James has had his second lot of spellings to learn at school and we also collected his glasses on xxx. I'm hoping these glasses will help James to improve his reading and writing. He has been so stubborn towards his homework, reading and spellings this last couple of weeks but I think it's down to not being able to see them properly. 

He was also made up to come home with Star of the Week! He got given a sticker in assembly and then a certificate was posted home, which mummy proudly put up on the kitchen wall!

James also had a science day at school last week and they all made slime/gloop aka cornflour and water with food colouring! He was also talking about seeing a giant tortoise in school too!

On Wednesday James had a forest school session and parents were invited in to join the fun! Mummy had a brilliant time with James making a kite, a dream catcher and also a hedgehog out of a pear and sticks! 

Freddie has been quite grumpy and waking up at silly am in the morning. He has cried at playgroup drop off again but been full of smiles at pick up. He is not seeing the dietitian for his intolerances till November and mummy is finding it tricky as he keeps having reactions with a bad tummy from either hidden dairy or hidden soya. We didn't realise that most bread companies actually use soya flour, so the poor thing has been having toast most days!.







Living Arrows

Tuesday, 18 September 2018

Living Arrows 2018 38/53

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"

So we are now back in the full swing of the school and playgroup routines. James has really settled back into school and with his friends. He is loving the fact he is allowed to scoot to school on his scooter. 

On Tuesday we headed straight across to Tesco so James could get his eyes tested. At this appointment we found out that James is long sighted and now needs to wear glasses in school and also at home when doing his reading, homework and on his tablet. The appointment took forever as they were running slightly late and then they ended up needing to put drops in James eyes. So by the time we got home it was time for tea and bed for both the boys! His class are also doing forest school at the moment so Wednesday it was an extra bag to remember his wellie boots! James also had his second Beaver's meeting on Thursday night so mummy took him and then came home and then went back to pick him up! He is really starting to enjoy Beaver's, and mummy is thinking about going back into scouting.  

Freddie is loving being back at Playgroup. He went bouncing in on Tuesday but on Wednesday the poor thing was crying his eyes out as he had seen James coming in from forest school and he wanted to go and see him.  We haven't started going across to our new group yet on a Thursday as Freddie had a dairy reaction so was a little poorly and slept most of the day. Then last week mummy had to go to the dentist so we had to go to nana and gaga's house plus it was also daddy's birthday and it was Beaver's for James!

Not the best photos of the boys this week! Since they have been back to school and playgroup its been so hard to get nice photos!









Living Arrows

Siblings in September


September already! This year is going so fast! and out holiday is getting so close!!!
This month the boys have been driving each other crazy! They have been winding each other up something rotten and fighting so much! I'm hoping that our upcoming holiday will help them to enjoy spending time with each other!
This is the only photo I have managed to get this month and it was taken on the first day back at school and playgroup!



The Siblings Project - Dear Beautiful

Friday, 14 September 2018

What is in my Plane Bag!

Welcome back to my series of posts on our plane bags for our up coming holiday! You can read about Freddie's bag here and James bag here!

So first off I am taking my Babymule backpack as my hand luggage as it has three compartments, which means I can separate the changing kit from my own stuff. I will also have my handbag with me which will have my wallet, phone, power bank and USB cable plus all our travel documents. 

So in the very back big pocket of the bag I will have a spare top for me just in case of any accidents, all the changing kit for Freddie will be in the essentials pouch. In here I will have two pull ups and two nappies, a packet of travel baby wipes, some nappy bags, some nappy cream and antibacterial hand cleanser. I will also have a zip lock bag with some extra pull ups and another two nappies along with some spare nappy bags in case I need something to put clothes in. 

In the middle pocket I will have my headphones and iPad, not that I am expecting to be able to use my iPad but I will have some books on the Kindle app and probably download some films on Netflix and BBC iplayer. I will also have some extra snacks for Freddie in here. As Freddie is dairy and soya intolerant I will make sure I have plenty of little bits in here that he can eat if he can't have his children's meal that we have ordered. We have changed mummy's meal to vegan as they do not actually do a vegan children's meal so hopefully Freddie will be able to eat something between his own meal and my meal! I will also have my hat in this pocket, But my sunglasses clip on's will be in my handbag. 

The veryfront pocket will have a spare travel packet of baby wipes and some antibacterial wipes for wiping down surfaces such as the plane arm rests and tray. Freddie hasn't had a reaction by touch, so this will just be a precaution as you can never be too sure. We will also have some antihistamine just in case as well! I tend to carry a first aid kit with paracetamol, ibuprofen, a blue inhaler plus spacer and antihistamine under the pushchair but this will be in our suitcase to get out once we arrive in the resort. 

In the small pocket where the messenger bag strap is I will have a headphone splitter just in case I need to watch something on the iPad with Freddie. 

The most important thing in the front pocket will be a spacer and an inhaler for Freddie. He doesn't normally need it as much as James does, but since he has been diagnosed as dairy and soya intolerant, one of his reaction symptoms is wheezing.  We are sat separate and across the aisle from each other, so it makes sense for me to have one in my bag

Wednesday, 12 September 2018

What snacks are we taking abroad

Packing for a holiday with two children under six one who is asthmatic and one who is intolerant to dairy and soya means its tricky!

Freddie first started having issues with dairy when he was six months old, but it took till he was two for us to finally be referred to hospital to seeing dietitians

Our holiday is all inclusive so we get all our food and drinks included, but we will be taking a selection of Freddie's favorite dairy free snacks in both our case and hand luggage.

On our flights we have changed mummy's meals to vegan just to make sure there is something Freddie can eat, as they do not do vegan children's meals. 

The first thing we will be taking is two cartons of almond milk. This is what Freddie drinks first thing in the morning and also at bed time. We normally add a little bit of water to it as well. These will be packed inside our Duc cool bag in one of our cases. We will also take a carton in our hand luggage along with a letter from GP to say he is dairy and soya intolerant and we need to take it through security.

Both boys love crackers so we will take a big packet of them in both our case and hand luggage. These will be ideal for putting into a sandwich bag and into our cool bag for when we are around the pool or out and about in the resort.

Freddie absolutely loves these dairy free flapjacks from Tesco. These come in packs of 5 so we will have one in hand luggage and at least two in our case. These are individually wrapped as well which is brilliant.

Another thing Freddie loves are these raspberry oat bars from Kiddylicious. These are from the baby and toddler aisle in supermarkets and are fantastic for him. Again these are individually wrapped so are the ideal snack for both boys.

So these are the snacks we will be taking away with us. If anyone can suggest anything else that is dairy free please let us know in the comments below!

Monday, 10 September 2018

Living Arrows 2018 37/53

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"

James has been back at school now for a week and he is loving it! He was only back in school for one day before he was on a school trip to Bamburgh Beach and The Grace Darling Museum. Then on Thursday James had to be collected early as he had a hospital appointment at 3pm to collect the equipment for his sleep study. James has very big tonsils and snores quite badly so the doctors decided we needed to do a sleep study to see if he needs them removing. Then on Thursday night James had his first Beavers group! 

Freddie also had his first days back at playgroup for this term. He had an absolutely brilliant couple of days being back with all his friends and making some new ones. He did cry a little bit on the Tuesday at drop off but he soon stopped. It was also the first time he has been in playgroup since he was diagnosed with being intolerant to dairy and soya, so mummy had to go through it all with the staff and go through his inhaler and when he would need it. It's a whole new routine for Freddie as the Sure Start group we went to from him being 7 weeks old has stopped running so I have decided to start taking him to the toddler group I used to take James to over in another part of town. 






Living Arrows

What is in James Plane Bag

As you already know we are going on holiday in a months time and this mummy is getting organised as to what the boys are taking in their hand luggage. 

I've already posted about what is in Freddie's plane bag which you can find here, now it's James turn!

For James we are taking his Avengers backpack that he got for his birthday from mummy's aunt and uncle. In the bottom of this bag I have put a carrier bag containing a pair of tracksuit trousers, a t-shirt, long sleeved top, pants and socks. There is also a unopened packet of travel size baby wipes just in case as Andy and James are across the aisle from mummy and Freddie so it makes sense to have a packet of wipes with them. There will also be a water bottle which will be filled up once we are through security.  We also have his sun hat and his sunglasses in here for when we get off the plane. The most important thing in James bag though will be his asthma inhalers and his spacer. I will have extra in our checked luggage but he will have his in his bag for the flight just in case he needs it!

Now for activities! First off there is the Paw Patrol sticker book like Freddie has. Again this was bought in the Aldi Special Buys back in March for £1.99. We then have a Room on the broom activity book and a Gruffalo colouring book. These came from Aldi in the August baby event special buys priced at £1.79 each.

Then there is a couple of Paw Patrol blind bags in the small front pocket, These were £1 at Poundland. James absolutely loves blind bags and I can see these keeping him amused for a while on the flight!

Then we have a colouring book, which was £1 at Tesco and a pencil case containing some colouring pencils. There is also a pencil sharpener with a lid and some normal writing pencils in here too as James has brought some work from school with him to do while we are away.

We also have a Gruffalo colouring book and a Room on the Broom activity book that we picked up in the last Aldi Baby and Toddler event. Then there is his Usborn Dino book he got from his aunt and uncle for his birthday 

Then we have his tablet and headphones. We bought this last Christmas for James as his old one was starting to come to the end of its use. His headphones are JVC and we bought these when he was about three and they still have a lot of life in them! We will buy him a couple of magazines at Tesco before we go as well so they will be in here too!

As for snacks we have two lollies one for take off and one for landing to help with popping ears. There are also a couple of Bear Yoyo's, some Bear Paws, 2 of the dairy free flapjacks and 2 of the Kiddylicious Oaty Bars.

The final thing that will be in James plane bag will be CB! This Bear has gone everywhere with James since he was about 18 months old, so going on holiday and not taking CB was out of the question,.

Friday, 7 September 2018

What is in Freddie's Plane Bag

Now we don't actually fly for another four weeks or so but this mummy is getting organised!

When we went away to visit the in laws earlier in the year I had packed little bits for the train and to keep them amused while at their grandparents house. These were just cheap little cars for both boys to play with and some blind bags for James.But these kept both boys amused for the five days we were visiting their grandparents and the two long train trips! 

So I decided as we we are going on our first flight to write a post about what is in each boys plane bag separate starting with Freddie!

So for his hand luggage we are taking his mini Mr Tumble wheeled case with his Mr Tumble backpack inside. In the bottom of the wheeled case I have an unopened packet of travel size baby wipes, 2 pull ups 2 nappies and some nappy bags in a zip lock bag. There is also another zip lock bag containing a short sleeved vest, socks, trousers and a long sleeved top. We will also have his hat and sunglasses in the wheeled bag for when we get off the plane in Palma. There is also an empty water bottle that we will fill up for him once we are through security and that will then go into the seat pocket in front of him for the flight! This bag will stay in the overhead locker the majority of the flight while his little backpack will be at his feet.

As it is an early morning flight Freddie will want to have some milk. As Freddie is dairy and soya intolerant he drinks almond milk. We will have a carton of this and a letter from our GP to bring it though security unopened so we can fill his beaker up once we are in the departure lounge.

So what is in Freddie's little bag? For his snacks in his bag he will have a couple of Bear Yoyo's and some Bear Paws. A couple of his flapjacks and a couple of his oat bars. The rest of his snacks will be in my bag. Im hoping since we changed my meal to vegan there will be something Freddie can eat from either his or my meal.

This first thing in the bag is a Paw Patrol sticker book. I actually bought this back in March in the Aldi special buys for £1.99 This is a bit big for Freddie's backpack so it will just slide into the wheeled case then go into the seat pocket for take off and landing!

The next thing is a small colouring book from Tesco that cost £1, there is also a couple of blind bags. Now that Freddie is nearly three he has started to take an interest in James blind bags, so to save arguments we bought him some of his own!

Then we have a Tangle toy! James fell in love with these months ago when he saw them advertised on television, so when I saw them on sale in our local Primark for £3 I grabbed a couple. James has been obsessed with his, but we saved Freddie's for his plane bag as he didn't really understand it when we first got them!

We will also have our family Kindle Fire 7, we bought the official Amazon bumper case for the Kindle Fire 7 as it gives the screen extra protection in case it it gets dropped,  and also his JVC headphones. We bought his headphones last year when we went to Alton Towers so he could watch things on my iPad and also listen to Cbeebies stories! On here we will download some of his favorite shows from Cbeebies and Netflix. Hopefully Blaze and the Monster Machines, Peppa Pig and In The Night Garden will keep him amused on the flight if everything else fails!

We also have a funny faces sticker book that mummy bought on Amazon. I am hoping all this will work as it is a flight of 2 hours 50 minutes plus of course the two hours or so in the airport before we fly! And for us this will be between 3 am and 5 am! We will also have Moo - his cuddly cow that is from Doc McStuffins that he won on a hook a duck at the local fair and he has really become attached to it! Moo goes everywhere with him and goes to bed every night tucked under his arm.

Wish us luck I think we are going to need it!!

Thursday, 6 September 2018

Weekend Box Club Review

James is one of those boys who loves being busy! Over the summer he has really got into helping out in the gardens whether at our house or at his Nana and Gaga's house.

When Weekend Box Club got in touch and asked if James would like to try out one of their boxes he was over the moon!!

The box arrived around mid day on the Saturday by Royal Mail post. Since we were going to be at Nana and Gaga's house for a few days James decided he would wait till he was at their house and do the activities once we got there!

When we opened the box we were greated with four paper bags each containing things for each activity. There was also a booklet with all the instructions and also a few extra bits for the activities that would not fit in the paper packaging!

The Weekend Box Club website says "No more looking for things to do this weekend! Everything you need for a weekend of fun kids activities is delivered directly to your door (suitable for 3-8 year olds). The hard part’s done - all you need to do is enjoy time with your children!"

The activities are something to make, something to bake, something to explore and more! There are four mascots: Hattie, Wooster, Sammy and Oswald, then each mascot is associated with each activity! Each box is priced at £8.95 including free delivery.  Each box comes with a different theme. The theme of our box was summer holidays.


The first activity James chose to do was to make a beach scene with crabs made out of cupcake cases, tissue paper and card! He absolutely loved making it and it has pride of place on his nana and gaga's fridge! Since we didn't have any safety scissors at Nana and Gaga's house, mummy had to do a lot of the cutting and trimming down of the cases to make the crabs the right size. James wanted one crab to be a lot bigger than the other. 

The second activity was to make a beach scene using a paper plate, a wax crayon, some sand and a glue stick! James had a brilliant time with this one! I think his favourite part was pouring the sand all over the glue! This I think was the easiest activity for James to actually complete by himself as it literally only just needed him to colour half the paper plate in dark blue and then add the glue to the other side and pour on the sand. We did this on a piece of kitchen roll and kept pouring the excess sand back onto the plate to make sure all the glue was covered!

The third activity was making a passport. James loved making this and kept saying he wanted to use it! Little did he know when he was making this he actually has a real passport at home ready for going on holiday! He made a big thing about using one of the stickers as a "Stamp" like you would get at an airport. Now he is very excited to use his real passport when we go on holiday in a few weeks time!

The final activity was making two little crispy cakes! James found this a little tricky as the microwave is quite high in Gaga's kitchen so mummy had to do a lot of this one! James did enjoy eating it though!


Over all we were really impressed with The Weekend Box Club that we received. As the age range is from 3, I was a little disappointed that there was nothing in this box that our almost three year old could do with his big brother, But it did give me some one on one time with James that I rarely get due to Freddie.

**Disclaimer: We were sent the Weekend Box Club Summer Holiday themed box free of charge in exchange for this review. However all words and oppinions are our own!**

Tuesday, 4 September 2018

Back to school and into Year Two!

Its the 4th of September 2018 and James is back to school! Unlike most children though James and his classmates are not getting a new classroom or a new teacher as their year one teacher is moving with them to become their year two teacher.

This year we have decided not ordered any new school branded jumpers as the ones we bought last year still fit. The sizes from our uniform shop go from 5-6 to 7-8 so we won't be buying new jumpers till he actually needs them which will probably be between Christmas and Easter!

We have also decided not to buy the branded polo tops as last year James had three and only one has survived! In fact the one that survived was the one we bought at the start of reception that he didnt start wearing till near the end of the school year! The other two have been covered in paint and marker pen. So we have bought him eight plain white polo tops from Tesco. I have found over the last three years he has been wearing them for school that the Tesco ones have washed much better than any of the others and have actually lasted longer!

We have also bought him 4 pairs of trousers this year as last year there was times I was having to wash them overnight and dry so he had a clean pair for the following day as he was always dropping food on them or getting them muddy!

We have bought a new school bag, new shoes and a new water bottle. 

Its hard to believe that six weeks holiday have passed by so fast! I think for us they go quite quick as we are on the count down to James birthday which is the second last weekend of the holidays then he has his party the last weekend right before they go back to school!

I hope everyone else who has children going back to school this week are as prepared as we are!!

Monday, 3 September 2018

Living Arrows 2018 36/53

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 brilliant as daddy has been off work on holiday and we did so many fun things!! 

We came home from Nana and Gaga's house on Monday and stopped off at Aldi to pick up a few bits. We then came home and chilled out for the rest of the day!

On Tuesday we started cleaning and tidying up the house as it was time for a mass clear out! Mummy dropped a bag of clothes off at the charity shop and returned the boys library books as well!


The boys were also treated to some new shoes on Wednesday! James needed school shoes, PE shoes and new wellie boots. Plus Freddie needed some new shoes for the autumn. Nana and Gaga came over for a while as well as they were bringing back James Birthday presents that we couldn't bring back on the bus, they also helped us to do a few bits in the garden and Gaga cut Freddie's hair! 

James got his back to school hair cut at the barbers on Thursday morning while mummy and Freddie were at home! Freddie was strapped into his high chair with the kindle fire and Peppa Pig while mummy did the mass label of new school uniform for James ready for next week. Mummy also made sure the boys bags were packed ready for their first days back at school and playgroup complete with spacers and inhalers!

Friday we headed up to Tesco to do some shopping and to get in the bits we needed for James party on Sunday like pizzas, drinks and popcorn!!

We ended the week with James birthday party on Sunday afternoon at our house! He had four of his friends over to have pizza and watch The BFG Movie!! 








Living Arrows