My Family Adventures In April

April has been a pretty good month, especially towards the end. We have been on a few days out as a family and it's something we all needed. March was a pretty rough month for me and having those family days out nearer the end of April has really picked me up - a lot. Something we needed as a family. The kids have absolutely loved it and enjoyed themselves so much. We've been lucky that the sun has been out and been able to let us have a good day out a few times. We've visited one of our favourite places, Llanberis a couple of times which is a stunning place to visit if you're a family, a couple or just someone who likes to walk with beautiful scenery. 

My partner and I have also started walking a lot more recently. There's a cycle track at the end of our street and I've been taking the kids for a walk there before their bedtime and it's put them in a good mood and also to tire them out for bed. I must admit I love these warm evenings. Sometimes it's a bit chilly, but it's not too bad. Here are a few of my favourite adventure photos from April;

Linking up with these lovely linkies: The Ordinary Moments, Marvellous Mondays, My Family Adventures, Sunday Best

Win £150 Custom Wallpaper Printing From Colour Graphics

We've been living in our home for three years now and we've finally got our living room the way we want it. We still need to properly decorate the dining room, our room and Freddie's room but it takes so much time. I love having photos of us all, especially the kids, around the house on the walls and shelves. I think having that personal touch to each room makes it feel a lot more like home and not just a house.

What Freddie Wore: Boys Leggings and Knitted Rompers

When I fell pregnant for the third time and found out I was having a boy, I couldn't wait going out to shop for boys clothing. My nephew, Osian, is always dressed nicely in his leggings and since I saw him wearing leggings, I knew I had to buy some for my own little boy. I've found many Instagram shops which I absolutely love and order quite often from. I do find boys leggings quite pricey but you can get some reasonably priced ones at some Insta shops and from popular shops such as Zara and H&M. NEXT do some too (not a lot, though).

Mama and Belle Teething Necklace and Bracelet Review

I've been breastfeeding Freddie for nearly nine months, and he is forever scratching my chest or grabbing my bracelets on my wrists. Even when we have cuddles. Mama + Belle is run by a Mum who wanted to design some teething jewellery that Mums would want to wear regardless of its purpose - a teething necklace/bracelet. Every single design on Mama + Belle is gorgeous. It took me a while to decide which one we wanted. I finally decided to go for the Isla Blossom Teething Necklace, and Suzy also sent me the Amelia Nude Quartz Marble Teething Bangle which I absolutely love.

Appreciating Life

When I grew up, I used to go many places. My Dad used to take my brother and me to different locations nearly every weekend. I remember most of our childhood memories and I want my kids to remember us taking them out, spending some quality family time and making memories of our own. On Saturday, Mia was in her Dad's and my partner, Elliw, Freddie and I went to Llanberis. One of my favourite places to visit but a place I don't visit often. I've got many memories there from my childhood. When we were walking, I realised everything looked different, but it was still nice making new memories with my own children. I'm finding it hard at the moment that Mia is in her Dad's every single Saturday, which means she misses out on many family times with us, which I think I may try and change it and sort something else out, so she doesn't miss out anymore.

I've found life pretty tough recently. Family life has been hard, and so has motherhood. It's days like this which brings us all closer together and appreciate each other a little more. Freddie and Elliw were well behaved, all day. Elliw is usually the hardest one out of the three, but she was amazingly well behaved. The sun was shining, blue skies and many other families were out enjoying themselves too. It was a last minute plan, and it has been one of the best days this year, so far.

Also, Freddie crawled for the first time!

Linking this post up with: The Ordinary Moments, Marvellous Mondays, Sunday Best

My Sunday Photo

The SpaceCot Review

I remember when the girls were younger and the hassle it was folding, unfolding and carrying a heavy travel cot to their grandparents to stay over if my partner and I were going out for the night. I remember getting so annoying at not being able to fold the cot back to keep it. When I was asked if I wanted to review the SpaceCot, I was really interested to see what was so different in this travel cot compared to any other travel cots. When the SpaceCot arrived, I was overly shocked by the size of the box that it came in. It wasn't that heavy, and in fact, it only weighs 6kg. I was looking forward to unboxing the cot and see what it was like unfolded and to see if it actually folded and unfolded in just a few seconds, as they advertise.

Freddie's 9 Month Update

Writing that post title made me sad. Nine whole months. How? When?! My sweet baby boy is nine months already. I didn't even go a full nine months of pregnancy, so it actually means he's officially been out longer than he was inside of me - if that makes sense? Just a little strange thought I had the other day. Anyway, back to the update. It's unreal how fast time is going. I honestly do think it's mainly because I have the two girls. We're constantly doing something every single day, which can be exhausting but it's the way of life. This time last year I was around 25 or 26 weeks pregnant, getting all excited about meeting our baby boy. It truly has been the best nine months, ever. Although it would be nice to have maybe one more baby, I know Freddie is our last, and he does make me feel as if our family is complete now. He has filled that missing piece. I couldn't imagine having another baby now.

I Was Nervous To Be A Breastfeeding Mum

When I was pregnant with Freddie, I knew that I wanted to breastfeed, but I had no idea how it all worked. I didn't know how they latched on, I had no idea about the cluster feeding, mastitis, how often they feed, I knew nothing. If I'm honest, I was scared. I regret not breastfeeding my second but then yet again, I fell into deep depression from 30 weeks pregnant, and I'm still not 100% now, but I'm nowhere near as bad I was, thankfully. I had two friends that I could ask questions to about breastfeeding, but I wanted a few more views and experiences. I decided to join a group on Facebook. It was a breastfeeding group, and I was nervous joining in because after reading some posts, I knew they were all pro-breastfeeding. Why was I nervous? I formula fed both my girls.

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

I was tagged by the lovely Katie at Mummy's Diary to write my ten things that make me happy.

What Freddie Wore: Featuring Martha and Hepsie

Since I was able to start buying clothes for Freddie I've noticed my obsession with elephant prints has gone worse. I sorted through his 6-9 months old clothes a couple of weeks back and I found a massive bundle of elephant print clothing. His 9-12 months old clothes are mostly elephants too. My favourite outfit has to be the elephant print dungarees from NEXT. They're a little pricey but the quality is brilliant. He always looks so comfortable wearing the dungarees and he just looks super adorable in them.

When Freddie teeths, he dribbles absolutely everywhere. His clothes get soaked and I'm forever changing his top/outfit and vest throughout the day. Most of the bibs I currently have velcro closings at the back which makes it super easy for Freddie pull off. We received this beautiful animal print dribble bib by Martha and Hepsie to review and I absolutely love it. I love the high quality 100% soft cotton jersey. It's designed to be stylish as well as soaking up your baby's dribbles, so it doesn't soak through to their clothes. I absolutely love the water based ink animal prints. The soft grey prints make it so pretty. This dribble bib also has a popper to close at the back which makes it more difficult for Freddie to take off. At £10 you can't go wrong with this modern and stylish, adorable bib.

Linking up to What My Kid Wore

Why I Weaned My Babies at Four Months Old

If you follow my social media, mainly Instagram and Facebook, you will have known that I started to wean Freddie just before he turned four months old. It was a hard decision as I promised myself that I wanted to keep him as my baby as long as I could, but it wasn't the case. He needed and wanted food, and so that's what we did. When you're a parent, nothing goes to plan - nothing. You have to go what your instinct is - no matter what anyone else says. For a few weeks I was thinking, should I? Shouldn't I? Luckily, I had an appointment with my Health Visitor a week before Freddie turned four months and that was mainly to chat about weaning. At first, I wasn't keen but talking more about it and reading up more information about it, I felt like it was the right thing to do for Freddie and myself. Freddie had always been a baby who constantly wanted to feed. It honestly felt like he was attached to my boob constantly throughout the day - it was exhausting. I had the girls, the daily routine and school run to do as well. It was hard, and there wasn't even a few weeks gap or a few days where he would go longer than two hours to feed. It was every single two hours, every single day and night (or every hour). It was exhausting.

Seven years ago, when I was a single Mum to Mia, I started weaning her around three and a half months. Again, it felt like the right decision, and it was. She took to food really well but other than that, I can't remember how I started her or what foods I gave. I do remember that she took to textured food pretty quickly and I had no hassle off her with food as she grew older either. She can be a bit fussy now, especially with certain veg or fruit. Our second, Elliw, she took a bit longer. I started her around 4 or 5 months, but it wasn't until she was around 6 months that she took to it well. She struggled with the chewing and adapting to new textures. She was really fussy with foods as she grew older. She loved snacks, but eating meals were a nightmare quite a few times. She isn't too bad now, and she has started trying out new foods too, which is a bonus.

Having to start all this baby stage again after a four year gap, makes me feel like I'm a first time Mum again. I've had to ask many Mum groups on Facebook, friends and the health visitor for tips. I'd actually forgotten what you can actually feed them, what you can't, how to and so on. Eventually, I got used it. I started preparing food and prepping for the next few days too, which was handy. I don't actually freeze meals, and I find I prepare four meals, one for there and then and the other three will be fine kept in the fridge.

As I said above, Freddie was constantly feeding on me and so the decision to wean him two months before the 'recommended age of six months', felt right to me. I felt sad as my baby boy was growing, but I'm glad I did it. He eventually cut feeds through the day and feeds were slowly going down to every three hours, and now at nearly nine months old, he has two feeds during the day and three meals. He absolutely loves his food, and his favourite are; pears, banana, mash potatoes, fish fingers and hash browns. It took me a while to start getting used to him eating foods, especially when he would only take finger foods but now he will let me feed him some meals, especially his yoghurt for pudding.

So, why did I wean Freddie early?

Because it was right for him and myself. It was my choice.

It's taken me until now to write this post because I had been thinking of the backlash I would have (and I could still get it now) but I fed all my babies under six months. All my babies have been 'big' babies. They've been great feeders, and I did what's best and don't regret my decision, at all.

What age did you wean your baby?

Women's Spring Style Guide

Spring is here and I find it the hardest season to dress for. You never know what the weather is going to be; warm, chilly, dry or rain. Most of the clothes I have, they're either too hot or too cold, which is quite annoying. Chums have a new SS17 range of clothing perfect for this weather. Their prints and styles are perfect for this Spring. My favourite kinds of clothing this spring are shirts and the floral embroidery patterns. I think the floral prints are so pretty and ideal for spring wear.

My First Thomas Activity Toy / Review

Freddie is eight and half months now, I still can't believe he is over 6 months already. There's not long until he's one, twelve whole months. It's crazy how fast time has flown by. He's forever grabbing anything that catches his eye now. He's trying his best to pull himself up on the sofas and bum shuffling around the room to get to where he wants. He looks so adorably funny when he just shuffles around. We've got his toybox in our living room and it's full of his favourite toys. He's at the age now where he will sit by himself and play with toys (banging them and putting them in his mouth, of course!).

We were sent this My First Thomas Activity Toy and he's loved it since I gave it to him. The Thomas shaped soft toy is perfect for little babies. It's really soft with different textures, perfect for development. There's a detachable teether, a mirror and three different sounds too. Freddie loves looking at the mirror and biting the teether than hangs from the super soft Thomas. This super soft activity will keep your little ones entertained and happy for a while! Perfect if you want to sit down with a cuppa or need to do some quick housework while baby is quiet playing.

* We were sent this item free of charge in return for an honest review. 
As always, all words and opinions are my own.
Images are taken by Me { Life as Mum }

Freddie's Sleeping Diary: A Little Update

On Wednesday we decided it was time to change Freddie's bedtime routine. I searched many ways of sleeping methods and the one that suited me the best was similar to what I did with both girls. It's kind of a controlled crying method. I know a lot of parents who are against controlled crying but I think no one should judge the way we deal with things, it's all down to how comfortable the parent feels with it, isn't it? I felt really sly and quite mean on the first night. It took three and a half hours of going back and forth every five or so minutes. Reassuring him that he wasn't alone but also teaching him that he wasn't going to get picked up each time he woke up. Previously, I would settle him by feeding him and putting him down around 7.30-8pm each night. He would wake up within the next hour and then usually he would be up either every half hour or hour. It was exhausting. I felt like I needed that 'me time' back during the evenings. He doesn't sleep that well through the day, only sometimes, so I felt as if I was on the go constantly the minute I woke up to when I go to sleep and broken sleep through the night.

First Full Night Sleep In Eight and a Half Months

It was only last night I wrote how we had started a new sleep training method the night before. I was prepared for another 3 or so hours to settle him down in his cot but I shouldn't have been so worried. Why? Because he actually slept all night. For the first time ever. I fed him and settled him to sleep as normal around 8pm. He did wake up at around 9.50pm, and my partner went up to settle him. He did the same as I did the previous night, left him to cry but kept going back every 5 or so minutes, so he is reassured that he is not alone. He finally went to sleep in about half an hour. I was downstairs working, and I could hear him cry, but I had a slight feeling it wasn't going to take long because he kept on having little breaks between his cries and sometimes falling asleep before waking himself up to cry more again. I am really hoping I'm not jinxing myself writing this and hope it's another good night tonight. He woke up at 6.40am, and it felt strange waking up for the first time with a bit of sun glaring through our curtains. He had a feed in bed with me and fell back to sleep until 8am. He was full of beans and super happy through the whole morning.

My Top Tips To Be Organised When You're a Work-at-Home Parent

Being a parent, whether you are a working parent or a stay at home parent, is hard. Trying to juggle life each day as it comes. Not knowing when the next tantrum is going to start, wondering if you're going to get some kind of decent sleep in the night and so on. You never know what's round the corner with kids. One of my biggest downfalls since becoming a Mum is being organised. I have learnt myself new things throughout the years and being a Mum to two school children and a baby, I have to have some kind of organisation in my life.

I started blogging nearly four years ago. At the beginning, it was just my hobby but for the past two or so years, it's also my income. Elliw was only part-time school before Freddie was born and I tried to do my work and house work while she was at school for 2-3 hours. I found it stressful if I had a lot to do as I have to leave the house around 20 minutes before she finished and when I was pregnant I had to make sure I left 30 minutes before because I struggled to walk. I think when you work from home and a stay at home parent too, it's so important to have some kind of organisation with work and home life. I find trying to separate the both from each other makes it a little easier.

My top tips to be organised when you're a busy work from home parent;

Set Hours;

Just because you work from home, doesn't mean you can't have set hours. Having set hours can make some things a little less stressful. You know when you're starting and finishing, this means you have a deadline time to finish your work before your next start. If you have school children, you could do the set hours in between the school hours or when the kids are in bed. If you have younger children you could set these hours during nap times or during the evening when they are in bed. 

Buy Shelves and Storage;

You've probably got a load of papers, books and all sorts with your job. Buying shelves and storage always helps make life easier. There's nothing worse than going to your workplace with everything everywhere and wasting time trying to find what you want. Having things on shelves or storage boxes will help you be organised. You could possibly label the boxes too.

Buy a Diary;

Each year I will buy myself three diaries. One for work, one for life such as appointments and the other for my personal use to write what I have done each day. If you're looking to be more organised as a work from home parent I'd recommend buying a diary for work and a day-to-day diary for appointments and things related. This really helps with sticking to things, remembering things and you could also add your payments too. 

Prepare and Plan;

I personally think preparing and planning are key to being organised. Especially when you have kids and working from home. Every evening, I try my best to have ten or so minutes to myself where I can plan my day ahead. Of course, it doesn't always go to plan because that's just parent life, but having a little plan for the day does help make you feel organised and some kind of motivation for the rest of the day. If you have school kids, preparing their lunch boxes, bags and school uniform the night before is a huge help and saves you so much time rushing around in the morning. 

Furniture at Work have created an infographic bout the organisational characteristics of the star signs in the Zodiac. I am a Leo and it's so true about me. What star sign are you?

* This is a collaborative post.

Lack of Sleep and Change of Bedtime Routine

Freddie is eight months old, nearly nine months old. The time has flown by. I wish it would slow down, just a little. I do miss my baby boy being a little baby, but I don't really miss the cluster feeding phase and the endless sleepless nights. But, still, eight months down the line and I've still not had a decent night sleep. He's finally out of his snuzpod, and even though he could have done with another few weeks again in there, I felt it was time to move him into his big cot. He's still in our room but within the next two weeks he will be in his own room, which I'm dreading but needs to be done. I thought (hoped) there would be a huge change in his sleeping once he went into his own cot. I was wrong. He's exactly the same. But he seems to have gotten worse with sleeping during the night now, this started before he moved into his big cot.

Me and Mine { March }

I'm a few days late into this which I'm gutted about but because of the lack of sleep and the lack of sleep Freddie has been having too, I've been finding it hard to actually get time to be on here. At the beginning of the month our littlest girl turned the big five! I think five years old is a huge milestone. I don't know why but I just find it's a huge number. I still see her as my baby girl but when they turn five, they're half way to being ten, which is quite scary! She had a lovely day. We took her out for a meal but because Freddie had just fallen asleep as we arrived at the restaurant, we decided to take a longer car journey - which turned out longer than we planned but it was amazing. We went along the mountains towards Blaenau Ffestiniog and there was snow on the mountains and roads. It did get quite scary at one point but we were ok. The views were breathtaking and I'm gutted I didn't film that day. By the end of the day, she was shattered and my partner and I were busy packing our bags to visit Bluestone the following day.

We spent the whole week at Bluestone, which was amazing. It was a much needed family break. It was also really nice to have my partner with us every day too. We decided to book a last minute hotel for Friday night and so we went to visit Tenby, which was amazing too. We were really lucky with the weather as the sun was shining and it was pretty warm. The following day we went home but stopped at Aberystwyth on our back.

We managed to get a few photos of us while we were in Bluestone and I absolutely love them -