What A Difference A Haircut Makes

Burton had his first big boy haircut at the weekend. I have attempted to trim it a couple of times when it has gone a bit wild or too long for him to see, but not without him wriggling away from me and protesting loudly! I have been telling his Daddy for ages to take him with him when he goes to get his hair cut, so that Burton would get used to the hairdressers but he never took him.

However, last Saturday, he went with his Daddy to the barbers and apparently, apart from the fact that he refused to wear a gown, he sat on Daddy's lap and was very good and didn't move the whole time his hair was being cut! I am amazed by this as he is such a fidget. There again chocolate buttons were promised if he was a good boy (thank goodness for those little bags of chocolately yumminess).

Here is Burton before he had his hair cut




And here he is after





He looks *sobs* so much more grown up and his curls have gone. What a difference a hair cut can make!

The Gallery - Monkeying Around

This weeks Gallery theme set by Tara is ANIMALS.

I have already used my favourite animal photos on a Gallery post last year when the theme was Creatures, so I was struggling to know which photo/s to use for Animals. Instead I am choosing some cheeky subjects to use

When I visited Gibraltar in 2008 and went to the top of it's rock, there were loads of monkeys playing and trying to eat the food that visitors left. They are quite tame - not that I would try and stroke one but you could get quite close to them for photo opportunities.

Here is me standing close (ish!) to one - talking of animals I look a bit wild with my hair being so wind swept!




Ha ha , no that's not me I am coming up!























Anyway, that's enough of me Monkeying around!

For more animal magic check out The Gallery

Silent Sunday

This Was The Week That Was

This week on the whole Burton has been a different boy! We have had a couple of stroppy toddler moments but mostly he has been really good and a pleasure to take out. Here is what we got up to this week.

Following my post recently regarding Burton and his meal time dramas, I was not looking forward to the idea of going out for lunch last Sunday, because I had visions of him refusing to eat what was put in front of him. I did some research and we went to a restaurant that I know had a good varied kids menu where pasta was included! I ordered him and I spaghetti bolognese and do you know what? Amazingly, he ate a fair bit of it without even having to bribe him with stickers!! I was literally gob smacked!!

Then on Wednesday while we were at his grandma's with his cousins he tried some new food! He tried a chip, some baked beans, the yolk from a fried egg and some warm sausage! Mind you he did have to have some ketchup too as his older cousins had some on their plates too, as it's not something eats at home. But even though he only ate a few mouthfuls, it didn't matter as the important thing was that he tried it.






Monday we went to see my Mum and meet her new puppy called Shadow, who is a 9 week old collie/Labrador mix. On the way there I taught Burton to say 'Shadow' so when we arrived at Mum's Burton was able to tell her what the puppy was called. Burton enjoyed playing with the puppy in the garden and it was funny hear him copy grandma when she told Shadow 'no' for doing something he shouldn't!




























Tuesday we made cakes together which Burton thought was great fun! Especially the part when he was able to eat some of the chocolate before we used it in the cake mix!






The cakes were made from odds and sods I had in my cupboard and if you would like to have a go a making them then here is what we did.

Banoffee Cupcakes (makes 18 cakes approx)

3 ripe bananas
2 beaten eggs
1 pot of toffee mullerlight yogurt
1 Easter egg
100g brown sugar
225g self raising flour
100ml oil ( I used olive)
1tsp baking soda

Very gently melt the yogurt and chocolate together and leave to cool slightly
Mash the bananas (I used my fingers) and add the beaten egg, oil and sugar and mix well. Then add the chocolate mixture and the dry ingredients and fold until just combined. Then divide between the cake cases






Cook at 180oC fan oven /200oC for about 15 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Allow to cool and then enjoy - yum!! (please note that they can be eaten with trousers on too!)






We also ventured out to a coffee shop for a drink and to share some cake, which we haven't done since before Jenson was born. I bought Burton a sticker book to take with us to keep him occupied and he was really good and didn't get out of his seat once! I think the distraction of the stickers helped so it was a good purchase!






All this week I have been slowly weaning Jenson into trying some new flavours which I wrote about here. He is increasing his in take each day and the last two nights he has had me up twice for feeds so it might be time to offer him another meal soon!








So all in all we had a lovely week :)

Flashback Friday

Ok so especially for Karin who enjoys my flashbacks of drunken nights, here is another one to share with you all.

It was a Friday night in January 2006, and it was my step sisters 30th birthday party which she had at a bar in Bristol. It was a mix of her family and friends and the she had hired the top floor of the bar which was on the river front and it was a great venue. Most of the guests were staying at the City Inn aswell so we had all met for dinner before the birthday bash, and consumed some wine!!

I arrived at the party with my Mum and Step Dad as Jon was on his way back from Norway, and was hoping to meet me at there at about 9pm. We had only been seeing each other since the November, so I had really missed him while he had been way and couldn't wait to see him and introduce him to my extended family. I had also had my hair coloured and restyled that morning and I couldn't wait to show it off as I loved it so much - to this day it is the best hair cut I have ever had and been when I tried to have it done again it never quite looked the same!

Yes this was me slightly squiffy on white wine which had kept me company while I waited for Jon to arrive, which he did eventually at well past 10pm. Well that's my excuse anyway!

I am still looking tanned from the trip to Kenya that I went on at Christmas, to see one of my best friends get married. I had lost weight on that holiday too so with my fab new hair do, to be honest, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Yes well i was a bit drunk and wine makes you feel good doesn't it??! Ha ha!

Anyway, that's not what this flashback is really about. You may recall me mentioning that we were staying at a City Inn? Well Jon and I were staying in the room next door to my Mum and Step Dad. Now please bear with me because the events I am going to recount to you are very hazy and some of it was relayed to me the next morning! Uh oh indeed!

So I know that Jon and I had some *ahem* 'romantic' time and I remember taking a shower afterwards before going to sleep. The next thing I remember I am sitting on the toilet and after washing my hands something made me grab a towel to cover myself up in as I was naked - I NEVER sleep naked but typically I did this night! As I peered around the bathroom door, I saw my Step Dad walking towards me in his pj's (thank goodness he didn't sleep naked that night!!) and I thought why is Mike in my room - what's happened? As it turns out I was in his room!! I think he told me this so I just walked out of the room and back into the hotel hallway. I started banging on the door to mine and Jon's room, as I was locked out! Well Jon is a very deep sleep and slightly deaf in one ear so I was knocking on that door for ages - so much so that a guest from the room opposite - a man! - opened his door to see what was going on and to ask if I was ok!! In the end my Mum or Mike got hold of Jon by phoning the telephone in his room and he had no idea that I wasn't lying in bed next to him! Well once I got back into bed I told him that I must have slept walk into Mum's room, and thank goodness Mike had appeared outside the bathroom door else I may have tried to get in to bed with both of them! It was soooo funny!

Of course at breakfast news had got around to the other family members what I had got up to during the night, so I was greeted with lots of laughs and wise cracks! The thing is, to this day I don't understand how I gained entry into Mum and a Mike's room because it would have been locked and I didn't have a key! Mum told me that she had woken up and heard someone in their bathroom, woken up my Step Dad and told him to go and investigate! I don't think they were expecting me to come out! I was sooooooo confused and embarrassed when I saw him standing there, especially because if I hadn't grabbed a towel I would have been starkers!

So it's all a bit of a mystery really but to this day whenever it gets mentioned, it always makes us all laugh. I didn't live that down for some time I can tell you!

For other possibly less embarrassing Flashbacks check this link out

Weaning - First Tastes

I took Jenson to baby clinic last Thursday and he weighed 17lbs 12 oz which I was very pleased with. I was wondering if it was time to start introducing him to food; it isn't that he seems really hungry all the time, but he has almost doubled his birth weight now and I just want be more prepared this time around.

With Burton I breast fed him exclusively until he was about 22 weeks old. I was adamant that I would only feed him my breast milk until he reached 6 months old as per the recommended government guidelines. However, by the time he turned just over 5 months old, he started reverting back to two hourly feeds - even during the night! It was totally exhausting and I just assumed it was a growth spurt to begin with. However, after a few days of not being able to keep up with his demands I realised my milk alone was no longer enough for him. I spoke to the Health Visitor at the time and she told me to offer Burton just couple of spoonfuls of baby porridge or rice to start with, and then gradually build it up over the following days.



Well, that first food I offered him he ate the entire bowl and was onto two meals the next day, and we never looked back! Almost immediately he dropped his milk feeds to two a day and by the time he reached 9 months he weaned himself off my milk completely. I didn't do baby led weaning with Burton , well only to the point where he kind of let me know he was ready to eat more than my milk!




What I mean is, I introduced him to weaning via purees rather than actual solid pieces of soft foods. I was scared that he might choke and having seen a friend of mine use this method of weaning, I thought at least by me feeding him I would know how much he was eating.




So with Jenson ( who is now 21 weeks ) I don't want it to get to the two hourly feeds again (it might not of course, being a different baby but his weight is the same now as Burton's was at the same age), as it was just so draining for me. Instead I thought it best to be more prepared and get weaning food in the house ready. So after speaking with a health visitor last week, I started to introduce Jenson to some new tastes.

On Saturday I tried him with some plain baby porridge, I think you can see from his face what he thought of it!









I only gave him about 4 spoonfuls but the bits he did keep in his mouth he swallowed.







Since then I have added fruit or vegetables to his porridge and he seems to enjoy this more and likes to help me hold the spoon. So far he has tried, and seems to like the taste of, banana, apple and carrot. Yesterday and today he has eaten quite a lot of his lunch too and got upset when I put the spoon down assuming he had eaten enough!



Of course nothing beats the taste of his highchair straps or his bib! nom nom nom :0

You Know You're A Mummy When.........

Inspired by a post with the same title by the very lovely Lauren from Real Housewife Of Suffolk County, where I could sooooo relate to what Lauren wrote, I decided to write my own post as hers really made me smile.

See if any of these are familiar with you

You know you're a mummy when:

*You refer to yourself and you partner as Mummy and Daddy all the time, even when the children are not in the same room!

*You would prefer a good nights sleep to a night of passion

*The ends of your hair are matted from baby sick

*There is always a new stain on your clothes either baby drool, sick, food or snot

*You find yourself glad (maybe even a teeny bit excited!)when a new series of Show Me Show Me or some other Cbeebies programme starts so you don't have to watch a repeat yet again



*Instead of a handbag you carry round a shoulder bag filled with all manner of baby and/or toddler essentials, and there is only just enough room for your purse and mobile phone. No room for hairbrush, make up etc... The things you used to carry around with you during your pre-mummy days

*You wonder how you ever survived without baby wipes

*You don't remember the last time you enjoyed a long soak in the bath either by yourself or for longer than 3 minutes

*Your idea of going to a show to see a live act is now seeing In The Night Garden Live several times


*You don't remember a day passing when you didn't have a load of washing to do

*You tweet about poo

*When your OH complains about his dinner, you tell him he had better eat it all else he won't get a sticker

*You find yourself thinking "oh that was a nice poo" and being grateful when changing a nappy, - since when was any poo 'nice' ?

*You find yourself clapping, dancing or singing along to CBeebies programmes while your child just looks at you

*You don't read books that don't contain illustrations

What else would you add to the list? Why not write your own - can't wait to hear yours x

The Gallery - My Special Treasures, To Treasure Always

This weeks Gallery is themed around the fact that last Friday was World Photography Day, and Tara asked us to go forth with our cameras and take a photo from last weekend which would be special and one to treasure for years to come.

I took quite a few photos last weekend of my boys, as I was able to use a proper camera rather than the one on my iPhone for a change. I could have found a still life object to photograph to make a stunning entry for this week, but taking photos of my children are amazing to me. They are what memories are made of - moments of their life captured on film (digitally of course!).

I decided to use this photograph as my Gallery entry this week, as it shows both my little treasures together :)




Bless him, Burton loves to kiss and cuddle Jenson to the point of almost smothering him with his mouth and his body! He was just going in for a kiss here and is talking to Jenson in his muffled mumbles first! It is sweet as Jenson's hand is touching his big brother's arm, and he looks quite content with the fact that he is about to be 'Burton-ed' once again!

It is photos like this that melt my heart and make me so proud and feel so lucky to have two healthy and beautiful children. It isn't even the best photo I took of them but they are pictured together without wriggling! I just know that when they are older and they argue and fight; or when they are all grown up and have families of their own, I will look back at photos like this and remember how perfect my life was (is) with these two in it. To me, that is what photography is all about. (I am almost crying now - what a silly woman I am!)

For other wonderful photographs please take a look at the other Gallery entries

The Fragrance Shop Golden Ticket Give Away

The leading fragrance store, The Fragrance Shop, is giving it's customers a Willy Wonka style incentive to visit their stores on line or in the high street from 30th August until 29th September, 2011. The fragrance store offers celebrity, designer and all the latest fragrances from the finest fragrance houses from all over the world. Their Golden Ticket Giveaway gives customers the opportunity to won 1 of 5 amazing prizes.

These exclusive 'money can't buy' prizes include:

A trip for 2 to see Beyonce live in concert in the USA, to celebrate the release of her exciting new fragrance Beyonce Pulse, including flights, accommodation and spending money

Trip to Berlin to celebrate the launch of HUGO Just Different (again all expenses paid for)




An all expenses trip to Nice including a helicopter ride to Monte Carlo and £500 spending money, to herald the launch of Paco Rabanne's Lady Million and 1Million for him









A trip to Milan (again all expenses paid for) to co- incide with the launch of Giorgio Armani Code Pour Homme Sport

A chance to to visit the ATP World Tennis Tour in London - to welcome the arrival of the new Lacoste Challenge fragrance for men, accommodation and travel costs included

Plus runner up prizes available for £5 off vouchers to spend with The Fragrance Shop, against certain fragrances.

Thousands of Golden Ticket scratch cards are available to anyone who spends £10 or more between 30th August - 29th September, and everyone who obtains one of these special tickets will win something just for making a small purchase!

So what are you waiting for? Don't forget to visit your nearest The Fragrance Shop or check out their online store from the 30th August until 29th September, you might just win the chance to jet off on an amazing city break!

KinderApp - A Great New App For Toddlers

As some of you might know, my two year old has been able to navigate his way around an iPhone since he was very young and has been using my iPad since he was 10 months old. I have several learning games and apps for him to play with on both of these gadgets, and I sometimes think that he knows his way round them better than I do!




So when I was approached by KinderApp to review their new childrens app, (well when I say me I mean Burton of course! ) I jumped at the chance to have another educational but fun app to entertain Burton with.

As I am sure is the same in your house, whenever Burton and I read a story together, he will point to things on the page signalling me to tell him what certain objects are. Or I may ask him to point things out to me and I now will ask him to repeat back to me the word I have told him. KinderApp has been designed to address these exact key developmental moments in an app.

Created by Kora, a parent herself, KinderApp allows children to answer questions as to where certain objects are on the screen and to encourage them to say what the objects are aswell. The app is basically a series of rooms found in a house, like a kitchen, a bathroom, bedrooms etc.. and each room contain everyday items which your child should be able to recognise.




The home page allows you to select from one of two levels: level one being to point objects out when asked eg. "where is the hairbrush?" to level two being asked "can you find the hairbrush". If your child is hesitant or not sure where an item is, the item moves so as to prompt your little one into correctly identifying it.




Each room page can also be flipped around so that just the items are shown giving your child another way of answering the questions and recognising the objects.




Once all of the items have been correctly identified, music and balloons appear on the screen as a reward for being clever and selecting the correct objects.

It's also nice that on the homepage you can select from several different languages (including a British accent!) so that your child learns the correct prennounciation of the objects he/she is discovering and identifying. There is also a choice of music to accompany the app, either a classical Mozart piece or some boppy fun tune.

The app interface is very toddler friendly





and I only had to show Burton once how to start the app,and he was off navigating his way round the screens and selecting the items he was being asked to find. He even found out himself how to slide the screen across to discover the different rooms!




KinderApp is an app designed for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.




Aimed at toddlers aged from one year upwards, KinderApp enables them recognise and become familiar with objects from their everyday home environment, in a playful and interactive way. Burton loves this app and he has played it every day since I downloaded it. He mastered it pretty much straight away - I didn't even realise he knew what shelves were! I have even heard him repeating the words back out loud which for a child who prefers to communicate through non verbal methods ie. his own made up sign language!, is brilliant! I praised him everytime he attempted to speak the words which made him (and me) very pleased with himself





This alone has made me very impressed with the KinderApp :)

At only £1.49 the KinderApp is excellent value for money and we highly recommend it. It is available to download from iTunes now.

Silent Sunday

Dear So and So - The First Time I Have Participated Edition

I have always wondered where these Dear Do and So posts originated, and having just found out via Dreaming Of Beer that they are the creation of Three Bedroom Bungalow, and a new one is available to join in with, well I couldn't resist!


Dear Jenson,

When you are feeding, please stop wriggling and trying to have a nose at what is going on around you. Mummy's milk ends up shooting off in various directions leaving you and I with wet patches, and you end up choking because it has gone down you the wrong way! And don't grumble at me when it has gone down the wrong way, or you have milk in your eye or you wonder where my nipple has gone when you decide to return to it after I have put it away - you are the fidget!!

Thank you
Lots of love
Mummy xx

Dear Burton,

When I have gone to the trouble of cooking you a delicious, healthy and nutritious homemade meal, please have the good manners to eat it - at least try it. And don't throw a toddler tantrum when I won't get you a snack instead - it's for your own good. Besides, if anyone should throw a strop it should be me!

Thank you
Lots of love
Mummy xx

Dear hair,

Please stop falling out everywhere its very annoying to have to go around with the hand held Hoover, constantly trying to pick you up out of the boys way! You end up blocking the shower, you are on the floors, on my bed and on my arms! Not to mention how you end up in Jenson's cot and on his and Burton's clothes! I Lways worry one of them might choke on you. Please just stay put!

Yours annoyingly,
Me

Dear Weather,

What is your problem? It's meant to be summer and all you want to do is rain! I don't expect or want heatwave conditions, but just some pleasant dry weather would be appreciated, so I can take my children out in the fresh (dry) air. Come on, sort yourself out Purlease!

Yours miserable like you are,

Jenny Paulin

For more letters of of discontent please go HERE