Xander's First Swim!

As mentioned in my last post a couple of weeks ago we took Xander swimming for the first time!

We are off on holiday in a few days time (to visit relatives in Spain) and whilst there we hope to go swimming several times and so wanted to get Xander a bit familiar with the concept of swimming so it wasn't a completely new experience.

We opted to take Xander to a swimming pool called Coral Reef in Bracknell. It is not our nearest pool but we had been informed by other parents it was a good place to take little ones. If you live anywhere near we wholeheartedly recommend it as a place to take kids swimming! It was a fantastic experience from start to finish!

Xander absolutely loved swimming! He was a complete dare devil! Loving the water cannons and splashing mummy and daddy! We was amazed by the way the kicking in the water came natural to him! He adored the experience completely and was clearly disappointed to get out!

Below is a little review of all the features Coral Reef in Bracknell had to offer. Please note I was not paid in anyway for these comments. They are simply observations of a family day out that I felt were worthy of a share:

- you have to pay for parking but if you use the swimming facilities you get this refunded back at the desk.
- the prices were very reasonable. There is a parent and baby/toddler loyalty scheme where if you visit 5 times you get the 6th time free! You just pick up a card and get it stamped.
- there were several family changing rooms. In them was a changing unit and also a seat that you can strap your little one too whilst you are changing. (a couple of them also had playpens)
- swimming aids (rings and armbands) are provided free of charge to use and there are plenty of them)
- during the week in term time the pool is for young children only.
- the temperature of the pool is lovely! Pretty much bath temperature! Which meant we stayed much longer than anticipated!
- there is a lot of areas specifically for babies and toddlers! Shallow areas with toys and slides for them to play with!
- a lovely feature was they have their own photographer there. Like most public pools you are not able to take your own photographs but if you're anything like me I love photographing everything Xander does and definitely wanted his first swim documented! The professional photographer took some great photos which we viewed and purchased on the way out!

So to finish off this post I leave you with a family pic of Xander's first swimming experience!

Bank Holiday Fun!

My hubby works in retail, so unfortunately bank holidays are pretty much like any other working day to him. Which means that often I/we miss out on usual bank holiday fun.

However my step-sister visited from Milton Keynes yesterday and so we decided to make the most of the beautiful sunshine and take the boys out for the day!

We stayed reasonably local and visited Alice Holt Forest. A woodland area owned and ran by the Forestry Commission. It's a fantastic place with several walks (including a trail called the habitat trail designed especially for little ones with large play structures throughout the walk!), bike riding facilities, a Go Ape tree ropes activity centre, cafe and huge play area!

Our first major challenge was parking! We completely underestimated the amount of people who had the same idea as us! The parking was manic. The result was one of us parking in the carpark and another parking out on the road. We eventually solved it and found a picnic spot!

This was Xander's first picnic and I think he enjoyed it! I packed lots of finger food (pitta strips with houmous dip, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, banana) which was a good move as we was without a Highchair. Although Xander still managed to get completely messy! Although no where near as messy as when he tried mummy's icecream!

After lunch we headed to the play park. In all honesty my nephew probably had the most fun here. There was less available for under ones and I had to queue for the baby swings. (several of the children that went in them before hand were far top big to be going in them which annoyed me quite a bit!)

After tiring out the boys we headed to the trail for our walk! It was lovely with the sunshine to take a leisurely stroll around although by this point Xander was exhausted and slept most of it!!

All in all we had a really lovely day out! I hope you managed to make the most of the beautiful weather!

A week of firsts!

Last week was such an exciting week! With a flick of a switch Xander all of a sudden started doing some fantastic tricks! He's become a right little show off!

I have to admit there was certain things I was becoming a little anxious about. Concerned that maybe he was a little bit behind developmentally. You can't help when going to different baby groups compare where your little one is with other babies of a similar age.

Then all of a sudden: bam! It all comes along at once! In the space of a week or so Xander now:
- says 'baba' and 'mama'
- shakes his head 'no' when you're talking to him! (when hubby tries to encourage him to say 'dada' he shakes his head which is particularly amusing!)
- he waves.
- he claps! (all you have to say is the word clap and he claps, any songs that mention clapping he joins along with! 'if you're happy and you know it' is now his new favourite song and has been dubbed 'Xander's song' at our regular baby group because of how excited and animated he gets when we all start singing it!)
- he has began to get himself into crawling position and has (admittedly only once) crawled a small distance.
- he has began to pull himself up on furniture and walks around it.
- he can stand on his own unaided for a few minutes.
- he has began walking (with the aid of what I call his baby zimmer frame!)

Additionally to all of this:
- he got his first tooth! And then his second! His bottom ones! He looks so cute with them!! And fortunately for us he hasn't made a fuss about it!
- we also went swimming for the first time! Which he absolutely loved!!! (I plan to write a seperate blog post on this!)

So all in all a pretty eventful week! And I have learnt a pretty valuable lesson. There's no point stressing over the small stuff! It will all happen when they're good and ready!

It's all about routine!!

I'm a stickler for routine! I haven't always been that way with Xander but have been for at least the last three/four months. We have a routine because it works!

It works because it brings structure and calm to our lives. It works because we both know where we stand with a routine. It works because there's no second guessing. Xander has learnt what to expect from me and I've become to learn what to expect from Xander.

Our routine is not set in stone BUT it is written on our fridge! It isn't fixed rigidly but we pretty much stick to it (give or take the odd half hour).

7am: wake up
7.15am: breakfast bottle
7.45am: breakfast
8am: bath and dress
9am: nap (I get shower and dress)
10am (ish) We get out of the house and do something - baby group, walk, go to shops, visit family members, playdates (If we don't go out I organise an activity for us - toy play/ sensory play)
12pm: bottle
12.30: lunch
1pm: play/ activity
3pm: nap
4.30pm: Xander usual gives himself a bottle whilst I prepare dinner/ tidy up.
5pm: Xander has tea.
5.30pm: quiet play (hubby usually comes home around this time if working an early shift and plays with Xander whilst I cook, tidy etc)
6.30pm: PJ's on.
7pm: Xander has final milk bottle then gets put to bed.
7.30pm onwards: adult time: we eat, gym, hobbies etc
USUALLY: Xander has a full nights sleep!

I think I may have underestimated the power of a good routine. It's not until a little one goes without one for even a day and everything is disrupted.

Today I went into work for a KIT day and hubby (aka superdad) thought it would be a great idea seeing he was home caring after Xander anyway to get our new carpet fitted! Seriously deluded that this was a fantastic idea he would not accept from
me that this would not be an easy task to undertake. Dada knew best! So the carpet fitters came. Daddy and Xander were restricted to the garden and then our bedroom. I returned home at two to discover Xander had still not had a decent nap or lunch!

Feeding him at just gone two, then squeezing in a nap and his weekly baby sensory session meant just a couple of hours later he was eating again. The afternoon was a complete chaotic rush.

The result = yes, we have a lovely nice carpet fitted. BUT we also have a very grumpy 9 month old who is awake at 2.45 this morning. And YES it is ME up sorting him out!

I suppose I should be grateful... At least the top step (my usual sleep training perch) is more comfy than usual with the new carpet and thick underlay!

REVIEW: Memories Made Christening Invitations, Banner and FavourStickers

Friends and family and those who follow me on twitter will know I recently organised a christening for Xander!

I booked the church and the local cricket club and quite quickly I opted for a mad hatter tea party theme for the reception! I was completely overwhelmed with ideas and some of them quite ambitious! I knew I wouldn't be able to do it all myself so contacted Jess at Memories Made.

Memories Made offer fantastic party packages including invitations, a banner and favour stickers all designed to your specifications! (Prices differ depending on design intricacies and quantities required. Contact Memories Made for quotes)

I shared with Jess my ideas and with enthusiasm she began designing. Throughout the design process I was involved choosing colours and tweaking the wording. Here's the final invitation design:

Aren't they fabulous!! The print finish was fantastic quality and Memories Made also provided the envelopes.

Continuing with the Mad Hatter theme Memories Made also designed a fantastic welcome banner to put in the banner. I love how the elements of the invitation carry on through!

Additionally I received these wonderful favour stickers. Originally I planned to use these on sweet bags but then changed my kind and used them on bottles of bubbles for the children!
The rest of the stickers I used on the envelopes of the thank you cards!

We received lots of compliments about the invitations, banner and favours! I love the way all these elements tied the Mad Hatter theme together! I recommend wholeheartedly the fantastic service Memories Made provide! They will create products completely unique to you and fit your theme perfectly!

Memories Made can be found on Facebook. Why not give them a follow and view all the fantastic items on offer. Including new baby frames, wedding and christening gifts, mothers day and fathers day gifts and also letters from Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy! Alternatively email Jess at Memories Made: memoriesmade@hotmail.co.uk

(I received the party package at a reduced rate in exchange for this blog review. All views expressed are my own)

Controlled crying update:

So, it's been just over a week since we started the whole controlled crying routine. Up until now it's been going really well. After just two nights of midnight wake up's Xander began sleeping through!

To say we was relieved was an understatement! The luxury of him sleeping 12/13 hours a night meant we have begun to get our evenings back! It's been lovely to sit and eat a meal with hubby and just talk! To catch up on all those programmes I have series linked but just never got around to watching! I've even managed to get some crafting done over the last few nights! It's been lovely and such a change to the five times a night wake up calls we was experiencing before!

Tonight however is the first night in about a week Xander has woken. We have been to a wedding today. (it was utterly beautiful!) but I think quite mentally exhausting for Xander. He was so fantastically behaved. He stayed quiet throughout the whole service and was very sociable with all the other guests (there were very few other children there so he received a lot of attention) but the day did affect his routine. He had to eat lunch earlier than normal (as the service clashed with his usual lunchtime) as a result he didn't eat much lunch. He then grazed until the serving of the wedding breakfast and then again ate at a time not usual to him. He lost his afternoon nap. He did sleep a little in the car on route from the church to the reception venue but it wasn't a lengthy nap. Finally we left at 7pm (after the wedding breakfast and speeches) and was home by 7.30pm but it did mean that by the time I prepared his bottle and changed him into his pjs he still went to bed later than usual. All of this I think has affected his sleep tonight.

He's been awake about 40 minutes now. I'm religiously sticking to the routine I have put in place, but he's being stubborn! I'm tired... I know he's tired. I'm determined not to give in. I know he can fall asleep on his own. I know he can do it! It would be so easy to give him a milk feed and cuddle him
In until he drops off but I know that's just a momentary fix. I'd just have the same fight on my hands tomorrow night.

I'm putting this night down as a blip! I really hope it is. It's been going so well but I guess everyone has a bad nights sleep every once in a while!

Anyone else had experience of this after a busy day? I'm guessing it's normal?!

REVIEW: Baker Days Gift Cakes

I was bumbling around on twitter and came across the wonderful team at Baker Days. I started following them and shortly after they contacted me and asked if I'd like to review one of their cakes! Well, that's an offer you can't refuse. I instantly accepted

The offer to review a cake couldn't come at a better time as I was in the midst of planning my son Xander's christening. I had already ordered the main christening cake but had the complication of three guests as well as myself requiring a gluten free diet. Not a problem for Baker Days - they offer gluten free sponge occasion cakes in two different sizes! They also offer a whole range of other types of cake, in a range of sizes which all sound yum!

I was sent a letterbox cake (which. serves 3-4 people) As the name suggests it is sent via post and comes packaged in a tin to protect the cake straight through yours (of gift recipient) letterbox!

The ordering process is really quite simple. There's a whole range of designs and styles of cake to choose from. You can upload photos and your own wording to personalise cakes or simply choose a standard design. There's also another service on offer. A service which I think is simply fantastic - the opportunity to have a cake designed completely from scratch to ensure a perfect fit to your party theme!! This design service is FREE if the design can be done within an hour or theres a small charge if additional times required. I opted to have a cake designed. As Xander's christening reception was a mad hatter tea party theme I requested a cake along these lines. I sent the christening invite for additional inspiration and was delighted with the final result!

The cake fitted in perfectly with the rest of the reception buffet and my celiac guests were delighted that they could have a piece of gluten free cake! The cake provided us with four reasonable sized portions, was deliciously moist and really very tasty!

I wholeheartedly recommend Bakers Days. I love the idea that you can send the gift of cake! That the cake can be personalised to suit the occasion and the cake looks so beautifully presented in the gift tin, with gift card, balloons and party blower that anyone that receives a Baker Days cake as a gift will definitely feel special and loved!

I received this item for free for the purpose of this review. All views expressed are my own.