#EnjoyMoreWater with Robinsons and Britmums

It can be such a challenge to get James to drink water. When he takes his water bottle to school it comes back most days barely touched. 

In January 2016 Robinsons launched the Enjoying Drinking More Water campaign and I'm thrilled that me and James are getting involved in it this summer! We both need to learn to drink more water and this campaign as given us the incentive! 

We were sent six different flavours of Squash'd to try, plus a packet of fruit stickers and a two week chart to track how much James drank! The pack arrived while he was at school, so once he got it I asked him to chose a flavour and if he wanted a glass to drink. On day one he managed two cups of lemon and lime water, which was brilliant as normally he will only drink milk or hot chocolate. 

Whenever we go out as a family, the first thing I put under the pram is a drinks bottle for James. At the moment he is using a Disney Lightning McQueen drinks bottle from poundland, which he loves. I find if the bottle has his favourite film characters on then he is definitely more likely to use it. He was given a water bottle at his pre school health check and so far has turned his nose up at it. Even though it is a bigger bottle! Compared to his Lightning McQueen bottle it's pretty boring!

The Robinsons Squash'd are brilliant! You get enough in each pack to make twenty drinks! James has tried the orange and peach in the past. The lemon and lime has to be my favourite! I'm always buying bottles of still lemon and lime water at the shop by the school. So this has saved me some money! I didn't think James would like the lemon and lime flavour but he surprised me and loved it! His favourite flavour has to be the citrus as he says it's yummy!

I love the fact I can throw a pack into the changing bag so if we are out and need to refill a bottle I can just get a cheap bottle of water and add flavour to it. This happens pretty often with James, he just cannot get by on the taste of bottled still water. 

At the end of the first week James had gone from a couple of sips of water to drinking at least two beakers a day. 

Week two has been much better and James has finally started using his bigger water bottle! 

He's gone from drinking virtually no water to two or three cups in an afternoon after nursery!

Thank you to Robinsons and Britmums for getting us involved in this challenge! 

This post is an entry for BritMums #EnjoyMoreWater Challenge, sponsored by Robinsons

Freddie at Seven Months

Freddie Bear how can you be seven months old!

You are now in size four nappies. I haven't had you weighed at baby clinic for a few weeks as I haven't been able to get an appointment, but we got the scales out at fun, play and learn last week and you were 17lbs 5oz! You are in all 6-9 clothing with the odd 9-12 top thrown in from primark! You seem to be a size ahead in their clothing! You love your food and are eating three meals a day. You are still having five bottles most days but only having 5oz instead of 7oz. 

You can sit unaided for a few minutes till you get distracted and topple over. You have also discovered rolling from your back to your tummy! Now everytime you are put on your back you flip over, it makes dressing you and changin your nappy very challenging! You can also move yourself around in a circle on your mat or a blanket. You love your baby gym and your infant to toddler rocking chair the most.

This month you have finally moved into your big boy cot in your very own room! The first night you woke at 0230am, so came in with mummy & daddy. The second night you woke up at 0430am and again came in with us. But the third night you slept from half past eight till half past six! Mummy and daddy are so proud of you! 

You experienced the swings at the park for the first time. You were not impressed with the big swings, but you loved the basket swing! You loved it even more when you got to swing on your big brothers knee! 

Your favourite person is definitely your big brother! You save all your best smiles for James! You can never take your eyes off him. 

You love going to our baby groups and are really taking an interest in playing with the other babies! 

You have been to two fairs and slept through most of both! You are not liking your stroller one bit as you can't see mummy to chat with!  So I think we will be sticking with the pram for a while longer!

Love you always my little bear

Mummy xxx

All about James

The last update I did on my big boy was his third birthday last August. He's now three years & nine months old, so we are edging towards the big fourth birthday in three months time! I can't believe in a few short weeks my first born baby is going to be four years old!

So what does James like?

He loves: 

* playing outside

* his nursery

* the park

* his kindle fire

* Man United

We got his primary school place confirmed nearly two months ago & I'm thrilled he's going to be at the school where he is currently at nursery! It's a lovely school right on our doorstep where the head teacher makes it her job to know every child in the school. It's a nursery to year six school so goes from age three to eleven. I'm so glad James won't have to change school till he's in secondary school and again the local one is a short walk from us. I have the reception class parents meeting in a couple of weeks! 

Our local park is just across from his nursery, so if the weather is nice we will sometimes go straight from nursery to the park for a little bit then go home for lunch or we will come home for lunch then go back to the park, Freddie will nap in his pram so I can play with James on the swings! 

He still loves his trains and vehicles, but has developed a love of space and dinosaurs since starting nursery! He forever telling me that we live on the planet earth!

He's still very much a daddy's boy, so mummy does not get a look in when daddy is home. But he still loves a mummy cuddle but only on his terms! 

He has taken am interest in cooking, so he likes to help mummy to bake cakes and biscuits and make jelly! 

He has a habit of getting out of bed on a night and falling asleep in silly places! In the last few weeks he's been on his chair a couple of times, but the oddest has to have been in his wardrobe!

His favourite tv shows are Bob the builder, Thomas and friends, Noddy toyland detective, Ben and Holly the list goes on, but his big favourite is Paw Patrol! His favourite character is Marshal the fire pup! He can sit for hours and watch Paw Patrol over and over on Netflix! 

Like most kids his age he still likes the videos on YouTube of people opening kinder eggs. He also is always finding new shows on YouTube to watch like Tayo the little bus or Robo Car Poli.

This year was the first year James has shown a real interest in the FA Cup I'm guessing because our team, Man Utd, were in the final! He got so excited when we won! He was waving his arms around shouting nited won! 

I can't believe in a few weeks time my big boy will be a four year old and getting ready to start on his educational life at full time school! Where has the time gone! 

Freddie's Firsts with #PetitsFilousFirsts

We are experiencing so many "Firsts" with Freddie at the moment. He's now six months old and well into his weaning journey. Some of his first foods have been mango, apple, sweet potato and courgette. 

My First Petits Filous have come about at just the right time as we are starting to introduce a pudding to Freddie after his evening meal. We always have some sort of fromage frais in the fridge with having a three year old, but these are perfect for introducing to Freddie, plus James is the type of boy who does not like sharing his food! 

Where we live, we have some brilliant groups to go to & this is where Freddie has been experiencing most of his "firsts". In the last few weeks he has experienced gloop (cornflour and water), he's had his hands and feet in jelly, he's had his feet painted, he's sat in cornflakes, the list goes on! Being in a sure start centre I was sadly not allowed to photograph him in the jelly but I will be recreating at home so his daddy can see his reaction! 

The consistency of the My First Petits Filous is brilliant for a baby if Freddie's age! It's not as thin as some fromage frais, which means it does not fall off the spoon! Even when I mixed fruit purée into it, the consistency did not thin down! This has been one of the things Freddie has eaten the most of lately as he's finding it so hard to suck on his bottle with his tooth coming in.

Not only has Freddie experienced his first Petits Filous, but he also had his first Yorkshire Pudding! He sucked on it and loved it! We went for a meal out for his nana's birthday and he had his first broccoli and even more Yorkshire pudding! 

Now he's tried the My First Petits Filous on its own, we have experimented and mixed it with one of his favourite fruits, mango! This went down brilliantly! Freddie gobbled it down! The cool temperature was really soothing on his sore gums.

Freddie has had two really big "Firsts" this last week. He's had his first trip away from home to stay at his nana and gaga's house, which was also first time not in his crib. But the biggest has to be his first tooth starting to cut through his gums. And for Freddie it's one of his top front teeth coming first! 

I love celebrating all the "Firsts" for both my boys, James has a big one come September - his first day of big boy school in reception class! 

This post is an entry for BritMums #PetitsFilousFirsts Linky Challenge, sponsored by Petits Filous 

Freddie at Six Months Old!

Happy half birthday my gorgeous little man.

Your six month birthday has come at a sad time for mummy and nana as we have the second anniversary of losing your great nannie tomorrow (26/5). I so wish you could have met her. She absolutely adored your big brother and I know she would have adored you too.

You got weighed at 24 weeks and you were 16lbs 9oz. You are still in size 3 nappies and virtually all your clothes bar a few bits are 6-9 months. You have between four and five 7oz bottles a day plus your solids! You are a very hungry little boy! 

You normally start the day with a bottle between five and six am. You sometimes have a little sleep after but often don't! You have your breakfast around half seven you will have baby porridge or fruit mixed with baby rice. You then have a bottle between half nine and half ten. If we are at a group you will have a snack of fruit between ten and eleven am. You will normally have a sleep and then lunch around one/half one. Normally some vegetable purées mixed with baby rice. You then have another bottle and more sleep. Tea is normally between five and half five depending on when you nap. After tea is normally another bottle. You are normally asleep by eight then sleep right through. We have had the odd occasion where you have woken for extra feed at midnight, but I think that's been a growth spurt.

You are still sleeping in your crib in mine and daddy's room, but will be going into your cot in your own room soon. I will miss waking up to you giggling every morning.

You are still very much a mummy's boy. You often pretend to sleep for daddy then wake up when mummy comes up just so you can get cuddles. I love nothing more than being snuggled up with you either in the big bed or on the sofa! You saw you first FA Cup Final and mummy, daddy and James were very excited that Man Utd won! You also watched the FA Vase with us cheering on Morpeth Town AFC! They are the local team to where we lived when James was your age! 

Your brother is starting to play a bit with you. There have been times you are sat in your highchair while I am sorting your lunch or tea out and he's been sat next to you showing you his toys! We have learned some great songs at our groups which I sing to you in the kitchen and James often joins in. 

I can't believe next month we will be even closer to you turning a year old! Time is going so fast my little bear. You are also going to be experiencing your first trip to Morpeth Fair Day, where Morpeth Town are parading the trophy, and also your first trip to the hoppings fun fair! 

All my love

Mummy xxx

SnoozeShade a review!

Living in the north east of England, lately we have had four seasons in one day! You can never be sure what the weather is going to be like!

Freddie is a winter baby, so in the first few months of his life, the sun has been extremely low, meaning when Freddie is in the pram the sun has been in his eyes.

When Cara from SnoozeShade got in touch and asked if we would like to review a SnoozeShade original, we jumped at the chance. I was hoping this would solve the problems of the sun upsetting Freddie when we are on the school run with James.

Fitting the SnoozeShade to our pram, which is a Mamas and Papas Sola, could not have been any easier. You simply slide over the top of the hood, as the whole product is elasticated, slide over the footrest and secure to the frame with the velcro straps.

There are three elasticated velcro straps on each side of the SnoozeShade. You don't need to use all the straps, I only needed one on each side to secure the SnoozeShade onto the Sola frame.

The first time I used the SnoozeShade it was a very sunny, but windy morning. As soon as I stepped out of the house,Freddie was squinting and shaking his head to try and get his coat hood over his eyes. It literally took me all of five minutes to attach the SnoozeShade to the pram and off we went to drop James at nursery.

The SnoozeShade comes in a drawstring bag, which when empty can go into the changing bag. Even when it contains the SnoozeShade it literally take up no room under the pram or in the changing bag.

Over all it's am 100% over the moon with the SnoozeShade and will definitely be recommending it to all my mummy friends. My favourite thing about the SnoozeShade is the zip opening so I can check on Freddie without taking the whole shade off the pram! James loves unzipping the zip to say hello to Freddie! 

Thank you so much for sending us the SnoozeShade Cara! It has certainly made Freddie a happy boy and has certainly made my life easier on the school run! 

Using the Yoomi Bottle a Review!

So this post is all about how to use the Yoomi Bottle.

To be honest it is so simple. All you do is charge the warmer, Pour in your feed and put the cap on, press the orange button, wait till the button turns blue, put on the cap, tip upside down for 30 seconds and then feed!

Our Review

On first impressions I was thrilled with the bottle, We have had some abnormally cold weather for April, so even having the feed in the bottle bag on my changing bag on the way to our weekly groups, the feed has still had time to chill especially as we normally have half an hour to wait for most groups between dropping James off at nursery and the group starting.

I found charging the warmer pretty easy. I charged it for the first time once both the boys were in bed, as I knew trying to do it with James around he would distract me and I would probably muck up the charging times. 

When I came to use the bottle for the first time I made sure I took the instructions with me so I didn't have a chance to muck it up! at first Freddie was pretty confused when he suddenly got a different bottle in his mouth to what he was used to. 

The feed I put into the bottle for him had got chilled in the bag while we were on the school run and he wouldn't take it as it was too cold for him as he normally has all his feeds at room temperature. Using the bottled warmed it up to a nice temperature for him. 

The warmer stays warm for an hour, which is great for Freddie has he likes to take half his feed then have a rest then finish the rest about half an hour to an hour later. 

I found it brilliant that I could heat up the feed there and then, so I didn't have to leave Freddie either unattended or with one of my mummy friends while I warmed his feed up!

I have since taken the bottle to our three weekly groups meaning Freddie has always had a warm feed especially on these abnormally cold April days we have had this year. 

Over all I am 100% thrilled with this bottle and will continue to use it at our groups and in the house when I need to!

Sadly I don't have any photographs of Freddie using the bottle when we are at our groups as we are not allowed to take our own photographs in the Sure Start centres. 


Disclaimer: We were sent the Yoomi bottle kit free of charge in exchange for our honest review. All words are my own.

Top Image courtesy of www.yoomi.com