Father's Day is on June the 18th this year, and it's the day we appreciate that special man in our life. I always find it quite hard to find the right gift for my partner from the kids. He's not really the one for sentimental gifts and prefers gifts that he can use day-to-day. There ar…

Freddie has never been a good sleeper. In fact, he's one of the worst sleepers out all three kids. I have struggled a lot with the lack of sleep. I hate evenings, which I shouldn't but because I know he will take a while to settle, wake up during the evenings and then wake up every hour, two or three hours during the night, I dread the evening. It is probably my own fault as he's never really self-settled. He's always settled in my arms, and through the months he's been sleeping in my arms, been rocked and falling asleep while feeding. He's used to me being around him while he sleeps all the time. It's a habit I do need to break. I have started to do some sleep training. If he wakes up during the evenings, then I won't pick him up. I'll just go back and forth every 10-20 minutes, give him his dummy and lie him back down until he falls asleep. It can be really stressful, especially if I'm tired. I want to give in, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

One of the things I love to do is go shopping for baby and kids clothes. Before I had Freddie, I really missed baby clothes shopping and having to go up an aisle in shops to the 3-6 years or 6-12 years clothing. So having found out that I was having a baby boy, I was super excited to start shopping in the baby section again and in the boy section too. My favorite bits to put on Freddie has to be rompers and sleepsuits. It's only just recently that I've stopped putting sleepsuits on him during the day unless we're having a lazy day then I'll leave him in a sleepsuit, but otherwise he's in his leggings, joggers and other day clothing. It is different dressing a boy after having two girls, but it's nice. 

The weather has been absolutely beautiful recently. Our girls spend most their time after school in the back garden. I like to think that the sun and fresh air will tire them out when they're playing outside. It's also a chance where I can have a cuppa or catch up with something if Freddie lets me of course. Now that they're old enough to play out in the back on their own without my constant supervision, we've been thinking that it may be best to start thinking about making the garden more child-friendly and safer for them. Especially that in the next couple of months Freddie will be joining them (with me too) once he can start walking.

If you follow my blog, then you will know that I've had broken sleep since Freddie was born. Actually, I had broken sleep for the last month or two of my pregnancy too. So roughly one whole year of crappy broken sleep. In the beginning, it didn't bother me. I didn't mind the hourly or two hourly wakes up calls through the night, every night. I was just happy that I had my little baby boy. You could say that I was in that 'newborn baby stage', but as the months were coming by, I started to realise that he just hated his sleep. Whether it was during the day or the night. He was terrible. I was (still am) sleep deprived, and it's horrible, especially having two other kids to look after as well as everything else. As he's not bottle fed and always been breastfed, it was always me getting up during the night, and I can put my hands up, I was jealous of my partner being able to sleep. But since we moved him out of the snuzpod (which is amazing) to the big cot, I decided to tell my partner that he was to wake up during the night sometimes and pass Freddie to me if he was to wake up during the night.

When I met my partner six years ago, I was a nursery assistant at a local nursery and after school club daycare. It was the job I'd dreamed of, but in reality, I hated it. I loved working with the kids, and I have some of the parents on my personal Facebook, and it's lovely seeing updated photos of the kids and how much they have grown. Most of them are roughly the same as Mia too. It's a little scary how fast time goes. When I fell pregnant with my second, Elliw, my partner and I decided it would be a good idea to move in together before the baby arrived. It all happened so quickly. We moved in together October 2011, and I gave birth in March 2012. In April 2012 we moved to our second private rented house. During my second pregnancy, I was still going to work, but I had to travel on bus 2-3 times a week. It was a 25-30 minutes journey on the bus, as I couldn't drive. I suffered from nausea, really bad. I also had a severe back ache. I decided to go on maternity leave at 30 weeks. It seemed the right thing to do as I knew I'd be in and out of hospital each week once my liver disorder, Obstetric Cholestasis started and it did, not long after. I was due to go back to work around September but decided to quit my job instead. It was the right thing to do as Mia was starting pre-school and I wouldn't have had enough money to put her in a nursery while I worked, as well as travel costs.

I started weaning Freddie at around four months old, and it was one of the best things I did for him. He absolutely loves his food. He went through a stage where he was quite fussy, but after those weeks had passed I realised he started to try out newer foods and textures. One thing I thought I…

The weather has been absolutely stunning the past few weeks, except for a couple of miserable days, but we can't complain. I've absolutely loved the sun shining most days recently. It's the perfect excuse to go for late afternoon walks with the kids after school and before their bedtime. During the week I can't do much with Freddie as I need to be in the area for the school run, so I tend to just stick around in the house or go for a small walk nearby. When it gets to Wednesday, I start counting the days for the weekend, and I start planning our weekend days. Another day I plan ahead is the bank holiday. My partner is lucky to have bank holidays off work, and so on those days, we tend to go out for the day as a family.

When I found out I was pregnant for the third time, I was super excited but a part of me was terrified too. I was scared having to go through Obstetric Cholestasis again, I was scared because of my weight, how was I going to cope with three and most of all incase my depression came back again and …

It feels so strange that he's now in the double figures and only two months to until I write his one year update. It's quite scary how time has flown by. I remember feeling absolutely miserable this time last year, but I was looking forward to our 4D baby scan. So many changes in such litt…

Freddie is 10 months old now and he's at the stage where he's constantly being nosy. Whether he is in the pram or in the smarTrike. We go out for a walk down our local cycle track, that's only two minutes away from our home most evenings before bedtime. I find the fresh air helps the F…

I had actually written last month's 'Siblings' post but by the time I finished it, it was too late into the month, so I've decided to just mix it up into this month. I can't believe we are in May already, only two months to go until Freddie's first birthday. I'm excited…

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted that two parent and kids 'dream' type family. I never had it as I grew up, I was brought up by my amazing Dad, who did absolutely everything for my brother and I. I am so grateful for everything he did for us. He showed me what it was like to be a proper parent. As I was growing up to be my own person, I did wish I'd have my Mother around properly. Do Mother and daughter things. Something I'll never get to experience because still to this day she isn't a proper Mother to me. I was always jealous of my school friends having both parents around. Although I could talk to my Dad about absolutely anything, there were certain things I couldn't talk to him about. I'm sure most girls could agree.

Pregnancy changes your whole body, but something you may not think about is the changes it does to your skin. I was only sixteen years old when I fell pregnant with my first, and the last thing I thought about was how it would change me, appearance-wise. I knew I gained weight - a lot but the next thing that bothered me quite a bit was having dry skin on my face, especially my forehead and cheeks. It was awful. I went searching for creams, and the cream I first found was E45, and it improved. I carried on using it for a good few years, even when it was clear. I didn't suffer much with dry skin after my second, but my skin changed back to dry skin after my third child. It's quite annoying when it's on your face as you can't hide it.

When HelloSkin got in contact to see if I'd be interested in reviewing any of their products I instantly said yes because I wanted to see if I could find something to help my skin again. I decided to go for the Aveeno moisturising cream aimed for dry and sensitive skin. It comes in a 500ml bottle and is suitable for adults and babies from three months onwards who may be prone to eczema. Since using the Aveeno cream, it's definitely improved my skin and made it much smoother too. I'd definitely recommend this product to anyone who suffers from dry skin. It's really handy that it has a squeeze top instead of a lid, quicker and less mess.

Just a few years ago, I used to just throw frozen foods into the oven. I was brought up by my Dad who worked full-time and was never really the one into cooking from scratch, plus he never had the time. When my partner and I moved into our own home back in October 2011, most of our foods were frozen foods thrown into the oven too. We did have a fryer for chips too, which were delicious. I remembered looking up at how to make my own bolognese and decided to try it for the first time, and it was delicious. I didn't really stick to cooking from scratch until I decided to join Slimming World for the first time in 2013. I've been back and forth to Slimming World, and I'm on the journey again because I know it works, it's just got to be in my head. Slimming World was the main reason I started cooking meals from scratch. I stopped buying frozen foods and just bought some treats for the girls now and then. Since 2013 our meals have always been made by us. I'm lucky that my partner enjoys cooking (a bit more than me!).