Mia is approaching 17 months old, and we're going through a stroppy phase. I do feel sorry for young toddlers, it must be so frustrating not to be able to communicate what you want, and to not understand why you can't do something or have something. It's no wonder that they get cross. I remember experiencing a huge breakthrough with Harry once he could understand the concept of "first we will do this, then we will do that". It gets much easier once you can reason with toddlers (and also once they can understand bribes!).
Mia expresses her frustration very differently to Harry. Harry would pretty much just whinge and complain constantly. Mia is a lot more content generally, but if something isn't to her liking she will scream hysterically. I was spared with Harry, but I think that she is going to be the one lying down in the aisle in the supermarket, screaming and kicking her feet.
I am finding it very difficult at the moment to get things done around the house, like housework or cooking. Mia is either screaming angrily and hanging off my legs, or disappearing off to cause mischief, often up the stairs and usually by emptying cupboards. At least I can pop Harry in front of the television for a little bit, to sit quietly while I make dinner!
I have in mind that it was around 18 months that Harry began to have a bit more understanding, and became that bit easier to deal with. Not long to go!
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Simple Halloween decorations from toilet roll tubes
We made these very simple Halloween decorations from toilet roll tubes, some paint and good old googly eyes. I like making things from toilet roll tubes, and we seem to get through so many in our house!
The ghost is a toilet roll tube painted white, with slits cut into the bottom. The bat is painted black with simple wings from coloured paper. The spider is a cut down toilet roll, with legs made by cutting slits at the bottom. Each pumpkin is half a toilet roll tube, painted orange and with a face made from black paper.
I especially like the toilet roll tube pumpkins, I think that they would look really sweet as table decorations for a Halloween party, or you could add a base and fill them with small sweets.
You might recognise the spider as one of my minibeasts, I thought that he would make a good centerpiece for Halloween too!
Do you make things with toilet roll tubes too?
The ghost is a toilet roll tube painted white, with slits cut into the bottom. The bat is painted black with simple wings from coloured paper. The spider is a cut down toilet roll, with legs made by cutting slits at the bottom. Each pumpkin is half a toilet roll tube, painted orange and with a face made from black paper.
I especially like the toilet roll tube pumpkins, I think that they would look really sweet as table decorations for a Halloween party, or you could add a base and fill them with small sweets.
You might recognise the spider as one of my minibeasts, I thought that he would make a good centerpiece for Halloween too!
Do you make things with toilet roll tubes too?
Friday, 12 October 2012
Review - Child's fancy dress costume from Jokers' Masquerade
We are extremely lucky, and in November we will be taking a family holiday to Disneyworld. So when I was offered the chance to review a fancy dress costume from Jokers' Masquerade, I couldn't help choosing something that we could take with us to wear. I chose a little outfit for Mia, and I went for the Snow White Ballerina outfit.
Mia is 16 months old, and the Infant size (age 1-2 years) was perfect. It fits her well, with enough space to pop a long sleeved t-shirt and tights underneath if it's chilly. It's a simple, all in one piece costume, and it feels good quality. Of course children grow so quickly, but I think that it will fit her for a little while yet, as the top is quite stretchy and there is plenty of room left in the length.
Naturally at this time of year it's probably Halloween costumes that most people are looking at, and Jokers' Masquerade also has a huge selection to choose from, in sizes from baby to adult.
We received Mia's costume for the purpose of the review.
Mia is 16 months old, and the Infant size (age 1-2 years) was perfect. It fits her well, with enough space to pop a long sleeved t-shirt and tights underneath if it's chilly. It's a simple, all in one piece costume, and it feels good quality. Of course children grow so quickly, but I think that it will fit her for a little while yet, as the top is quite stretchy and there is plenty of room left in the length.
Naturally at this time of year it's probably Halloween costumes that most people are looking at, and Jokers' Masquerade also has a huge selection to choose from, in sizes from baby to adult.
We received Mia's costume for the purpose of the review.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Sleep, glorious sleep
I don't think I ever really thought that I would write this post, but I have finally reached the point, in over three and a half years of being a parent, that I am actually getting enough sleep at night to not leave me feeling exhausted during the day.
We suffered with Harry, I really think we did. I've blogged about it before, and about all the things that we tried, but I didn't really realise how bad it was until we had Mia. She didn't sleep through until she was well over a year, but that was nothing compared to what we went through first time round. If Harry had been the second I would have taken him to the health visitor or doctor to check that nothing was wrong, but at the time we just thought it was normal and put up with it.
I've spent much of the past few years surviving on very little sleep. I remember a lovely holiday to Cornwall when Harry was an older baby, which passed in a sleep deprived haze. On two of our wonderful holidays to Center Parcs, at least six months apart, I was up and awake in the living room with Harry at 4.45am each day, waiting in desperation for CBeebies to start. Fortunately on those holiday occasions I was able to catch up on sleep later in the day!
We'd just got Harry to the stage where he was sleeping through regularly and going to bed without a fuss, when Mia came along and it all started over again! But in the last few weeks I've noticed that more often than not, both children are sleeping through. And until a reasonable hour - Harry's clock tells him that it's morning at 6.45am, and Mia is rarely awake before that. Sometimes we are awake earlier - this morning Harry needed the toilet at 6.15am and didn't go back to sleep - but I can cope with anything after 6am easily if I've not been disturbed in the night.
I'm fully aware that we're just going through a good patch, and children like to keep you on your toes with frequent changes to their routines. I'm sure that we've got many bedtime battles to go through yet. But, with fingers firmly crossed, for the first time in a good long while I'm experiencing what it feels like when you are actually getting enough sleep!
We suffered with Harry, I really think we did. I've blogged about it before, and about all the things that we tried, but I didn't really realise how bad it was until we had Mia. She didn't sleep through until she was well over a year, but that was nothing compared to what we went through first time round. If Harry had been the second I would have taken him to the health visitor or doctor to check that nothing was wrong, but at the time we just thought it was normal and put up with it.
I've spent much of the past few years surviving on very little sleep. I remember a lovely holiday to Cornwall when Harry was an older baby, which passed in a sleep deprived haze. On two of our wonderful holidays to Center Parcs, at least six months apart, I was up and awake in the living room with Harry at 4.45am each day, waiting in desperation for CBeebies to start. Fortunately on those holiday occasions I was able to catch up on sleep later in the day!
We'd just got Harry to the stage where he was sleeping through regularly and going to bed without a fuss, when Mia came along and it all started over again! But in the last few weeks I've noticed that more often than not, both children are sleeping through. And until a reasonable hour - Harry's clock tells him that it's morning at 6.45am, and Mia is rarely awake before that. Sometimes we are awake earlier - this morning Harry needed the toilet at 6.15am and didn't go back to sleep - but I can cope with anything after 6am easily if I've not been disturbed in the night.
I'm fully aware that we're just going through a good patch, and children like to keep you on your toes with frequent changes to their routines. I'm sure that we've got many bedtime battles to go through yet. But, with fingers firmly crossed, for the first time in a good long while I'm experiencing what it feels like when you are actually getting enough sleep!
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Needlework Days - October 2012
It's time for Needlework Days over at Feisty Tapas! I must admit that I've not been stitching as diligently as before for the last couple of months, but I do have some progress to show on my long-term work in progress!
I think that this is the first time that I have shown a photograph of the entire sampler, and it's coming along nicely. It makes it look so much closer to completion when the border goes all the way around, although it's deceptive because there is lots left to stitch. Of course the border didn't match when I came to join the two parts, but fortunately I only had to undo a little bit to find the mistake!
I'm working on the top left corner at the moment, just because there were lots of bits in the same colour. I like to finish off a colour of thread rather than leaving odd little bits lying around.
UPDATE - I finished the sampler in March 2014! You can see a photograph of the finished sampler here - Moira Blackburn Three Things sampler completed.
I think that this is the first time that I have shown a photograph of the entire sampler, and it's coming along nicely. It makes it look so much closer to completion when the border goes all the way around, although it's deceptive because there is lots left to stitch. Of course the border didn't match when I came to join the two parts, but fortunately I only had to undo a little bit to find the mistake!
I'm working on the top left corner at the moment, just because there were lots of bits in the same colour. I like to finish off a colour of thread rather than leaving odd little bits lying around.
UPDATE - I finished the sampler in March 2014! You can see a photograph of the finished sampler here - Moira Blackburn Three Things sampler completed.
Friday, 5 October 2012
Goring Gap, Worthing
We live very near the sea, although we probably don't go down there as often as we should. One of our closest beaches is Goring Gap, near Worthing. Goring Gap is the stretch of coast between Goring and Ferring, and it is also a protected area, meaning that there are no buildings to the north for quite some distance, with some lovely views up over the South Downs. You can also park for free all year along the coast road. There is a large green stretch before you get to the actual beach. In the summer it's full of families having barbecues, but out of the summer season during the week or early evening it can be very quiet.
This was the first time that I had attempted a proper trip out without a pushchair. Mia is a really good walker - I remember desperately trying to coax Harry along the road, but Mia will trot along happily holding my hand, and she can walk for ages. There is a small wooded area, and she loved running about, in most of the pictures that I took of her all you can see is a little blur!
One one side of the grassy area there is a little wooded part with some interesting twisty trees for climbing. Harry can't get very high yet, but he loves trying. It's also a good place for collecting twigs and leaves.
Then we went up on to the pebbles on the beach. So much easier without a pushchair! It wasn't busy at all, which I like, although there were lots of dogs running about. We walked along to have a look at some fishing boats. Then they discovered the slope leading down to the green area and went running up and down it for ages.
This was the first time that I had attempted a proper trip out without a pushchair. Mia is a really good walker - I remember desperately trying to coax Harry along the road, but Mia will trot along happily holding my hand, and she can walk for ages. There is a small wooded area, and she loved running about, in most of the pictures that I took of her all you can see is a little blur!
One one side of the grassy area there is a little wooded part with some interesting twisty trees for climbing. Harry can't get very high yet, but he loves trying. It's also a good place for collecting twigs and leaves.
Then we went up on to the pebbles on the beach. So much easier without a pushchair! It wasn't busy at all, which I like, although there were lots of dogs running about. We walked along to have a look at some fishing boats. Then they discovered the slope leading down to the green area and went running up and down it for ages.
Goring Gap is a lovely place to visit, especially at this time of year when the weather is still nice and it's not too busy. Now I'm looking forward to more pushchair free adventures!
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Pinterest cake - the one with Kit Kats and Smarties
I've been using Pinterest for quite a while, almost as long as I've been blogging. In that time I have pinned many things, and one of the very first things I pinned was this cake. I think that it will probably be familiar to most regular Pinterest users, in fact if you use Pinterest you probably have it pinned somewhere yourself! When I recently spotted a brilliant version by another blogger it reminded me that with Ram's birthday coming up it would be the perfect opportunity for me to try it out.
In the end it is probably the most impressive, and yet easiest, cake that I have ever attempted. I just made a basic Victoria sandwich cake, with plenty of icing in the middle and on the top, and blobs around the sides to hold the Kit Kats in place. It doesn't matter if the icing is lumpy or poorly spread, as it is all covered up anyway. The ribbon holds it all nice and tightly together.
For reference, I used 18 Kit Kats and four tubes of Smarties. It could ideally have done with another tube of Smarties to achieve full coverage, but as long as you have icing underneath it's fine!
In the end it is probably the most impressive, and yet easiest, cake that I have ever attempted. I just made a basic Victoria sandwich cake, with plenty of icing in the middle and on the top, and blobs around the sides to hold the Kit Kats in place. It doesn't matter if the icing is lumpy or poorly spread, as it is all covered up anyway. The ribbon holds it all nice and tightly together.
For reference, I used 18 Kit Kats and four tubes of Smarties. It could ideally have done with another tube of Smarties to achieve full coverage, but as long as you have icing underneath it's fine!
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