Open Letter to Florrie #1

Dear Florrie, 

You have been in our lives for just 3 months now and we already can't remember our lives without you. You have slotted into our family just perfectly.

You are such an easy baby; you are now sleeping through the night, which I don't mention too much otherwise I might have angry mothers at my door, ha ha!! As many family's second babies are, you have been thrown into the crazy world of a toddler, going to all of the loud classes and experiencing the madness of toddler groups, but you just go along with it, watching the world go by (that is when you are not sleeping!!).

We have been getting so many more 'alert' times with you recently, with you noticing your brother's crazy antics at the same time and I love watching you grow more and more each day. You always have a smile for him and you watch him play, giggling away. But you save your best giggles and smiles for your Dada, I can already see you becoming a 'daddy's girl'.

I can't wait to see your personality grow and wonder what you will do when you are grown up. Dada and I joke that you'll live in a nudest camp and be on one of those channel 4 documentaries! As soon as we undress you, you instantly start smiling and giggling!!! What ever you do, we will be proud of you!!

We have our special days together on a Friday, when your brother goes to Yaya's house. This is a day which I split between jobs and tons of one-on-one play time. Sometimes I just give you big cuddles while you sleep, which I could happily do all day!!!!

We are just about to head on your first holiday and I can't wait to spend time with you and your brother. Dada and I wont have any jobs to do so will have our 100% attention on you both and I just cant wait. 

Love you so much my little Florrie Lu!!

Love 
Mama xxx

Centre Parcs

We had another amazing trip to Centre Parcs, this time we went to the Woburn Forest one. It was a lot smaller than Longleat but for Jackson it was just so much easier because he was able to walk everywhere. 

Apparently, it also has an amazing spa, although we didn't have time/had the kids so we didn't get a chance to go this time around (maybe next time I'll be able to sneak off to have a look/a cheeky massage!). 

While we were there, we did a few activities: 

Baby Owls
I booked this one on a recommendation from a friend. Personally, I thought he might be a bit scared and not really get into it. How wrong was I! Jackson absolutely loved it!!! He held all of the owls and let them fly onto his hand with no fear. Chris and I enjoyed it as well. 

Electric Boats
We actually booked this on the day - last time we got a 'Pedalo' but this time we thought it would be easier with the kids to hire an electric one. It was so much fun and we even let Jackson drive it, which he loved (and then got annoyed when he was driving into the verge and Chris had to take over.) We even had to put Florrie in a life jacket, which made it hard to hold her with my jacket on as well, but she looked uber-cute! 

Soccer Play
This was a class for Chris and Jackson to do together, with me going along to watch. It was good but it was very much like the manic toddler groups I go to each week at home. Jackson's attention sometimes drifted off at parts. The instructor was very good but it wouldn't be one I would book again, although Jackson was very proud of his certificate.

Bowling
Jackson loved this! He lasted about 30mins before he was bored and it was something nice to do before dinner. Unfortunatly, I had a bad neck so it wasn't too much fun for me.

As well as the activities, of course we went swimming too. It was so much fun and Jackson had a whale of a time. He must have gone up and down the slides 100 times (he slept so well afterwards!). We didn't get to do the adult slides, much to Chris' disappointment but they looked like so much fun too. The rapids were fun though, which we did get to go down. 

I have also filmed our trip so watch out for that post coming soon. 

Love Sophia xxx

Florence's 3 Month Update

This month, Florrie went to her big cousin's Birthday Party. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to make it as I was really ill, so this was the first time that Chris ventured out with both kids on his own (it was only around the corner from us so wasn't too bad)! 

She had her first Easter, pretty sure she slept through the whole event though, ha!! 

She also met some more of our friends. 

Next week we are heading on our first holiday as a family of 4 and I can't wait!!!!

Milestones

She is incredible at night, such a good sleeper. Although, she's normally up with us and needs a lot of attention in the evening, finally going to sleep at about 11pm. But she then quite often goes through to anywhere between 6:30 - 8:00am. She sometimes stirs a few times in the night but just wants her dummy or a cuddle. 

She's still exclusively breastfed but I have expressed and given her a bottle a few times in the evening, maybe twice a week. I want to make sure that she will take a bottle, as Chris and I are planning a date night this month so she will need to get used to it by then or will just be a nightmare otherwise!!!

She still sleeps a load during the day but there are a lot more times when she's awake and really alert. She loves watching Jackson and also the TV! She also loves it when I shake her toys for her so that she can follow them with her eyes. 

Bath time is probably her favourite time - she kicks her legs and giggles the entire time. We bath both kids together and she finds Jackson really funny and you can tell that he likes getting a reaction from her! 

She had her 12 week jabs and she was so much better than the last ones. She also managed to keep down the oral vaccination, as she chucked it all back up the first time! 

Routine

Again, I am still not following any specific routine and feed on demand but this is roughly what she does on a day-to-day basis: 

6:00-8:00am - She wakes up and has a feed, before falling asleep again.

9:30am - I wake her to get her dressed before we head out. I also give her a top up of milk. 

2:00pm - She has another feed.

4:00pm - Another feed.

6:00pm - Bath Time. 

7:30pm - Another feed. 

After that, she may have another big feed and fall asleep or sometimes she cluster feeds for some of the evening. 

Weight

She now weighs 11lbs 8oz, meaning she has dropped to the 9th percentile. The Health Visitors are getting a little worried and have mentioned going to the doctors if it continues. She's hitting all the baby milestones and is gaining weight, which makes me happier, but it is still playing on my mind. I thought the 2nd time around was supposed to be easier with all the feeding etc.! 

She is still in 0-3 month clothes, although some of her babygrows are starting to get a bit small for her. I have put her in 3-6 month clothes on the odd occasion (I have so many cute outfits and couldn't wait to try them) and they are fitting alright but are definitely a bit big still.

Love Sophia xxx

What My Kids Wore #5

I love this week's outfits and photos! It was from Sunday. Jackson went to soft play with Grandma and Florrie came food shopping with me (sorry Florrie!!!).

Jackson is loving picking dandelions at the moment, I don't mind too much as it helps me do the weeding!! 

I managed to get the jacket from the Next online sale and anyone that has a boy knows that's incredibly difficult.

The trousers were a gift from his Uncle and Aunty and I love them! Jackson's bedroom is grey star themed too so they match perfectly. 

Denim Jacket: Next 

Top: Next

Trouser: M&S

Shoes: Clarks 

Florrie's outfit is so cute this week, she's starting to wear her 3-6 month clothes even though they are still quite big! When Florrie was born, we were given a gift card for Jojo Maman Bebe and this is what I bought with it.

I paired it with this cardigan as it's still a bit on the chilly side. 

Top: Jojo Maman Bebe

Trousers: Jojo Maman Bebe

This week, we are teaming up with thismamalife's linky, 'What My Kids Wore Wednesday'.

Love Sophia xxx

Coping with 2 under 2

When I was pregnant with Florrie, one of my worries was 'how would I cope with two under two'?! There is 22 months between them so, as I type, Jackson is actually 2 and Florrie is 11 weeks now. 

I found it so much easier than I thought it would be, even during late pregnancy, which I thought would be near impossible. I actually gave up work as a childminder just before Christmas and Florrie arrived on the 7th February, so I had planned on having a bit of time to relax. However, it wasn't very relaxing after all, when all of the Christmas fun was out of the way it did get increasingly difficult. Having the large bump and being really tired is the polar opposite to what an active toddler needs! 

Here are a few tips that I found helped me: 

• Batch cook meals - I googled 'freezer friendly meals' and pretty much made all of the recipes I found! This is a really good relief, even when having your first. After giving birth you need to feed you body good healthy meals in order to keep your energy up and this isn't easy to do when you have a newborn, so having pre-made meals makes it so much easier. 
• Accept all help you are offered! - My mum was amazing and cooked us tons of meals, which, on top of the freezer meals, meant I didn't cook a single dinner until Florrie was about 8 weeks old! It made it so much easier!! She would also come round to the house if Chris was working late or if I just needed a bit of help during the day. It's not that I wouldn't have been able to cope but it's just nice to have the extra support if it's available. 
• I find that the days we spend at home indoors are normally more difficult than the days we head out to the playgroups or classes that we usually have booked, so try and keep a few things in the diary. 
• Friends are amazing - Heading out and seeing my friends definitely helped me feel happy when the 'baby blues' was trying to take over. 
• In the early days, Chris would take care of Jackson while we established feeding, which leads on to my next tip, Breastfeeding. I know that not everyone is able to breastfeed and this isn't me saying 'breast is best' (fed is best in my opinion) but not having to wash and sort out bottles constantly gives you the gift of time. I can feed Florrie quickly and easily wherever I am.  
• Another thing which really helped was including Jackson in everything. I would ask him to bring me wipes or nappies and even to open the back door when the dogs needed to go out to the toilet! Anything that he could do, I would ask him to help and he loved it.
• Whenever Florrie was asleep, I would focus all my attention on Jackson and vice-versa when Jackson was asleep, which I think stopped some jealousy coming in to play. 
• Something that not everyone will be able to do but I was lucky enough to; get a cleaner. She would come once a week and it meant that my time was not taken up by cleaning and I could focus more time on the children. Again, just to stress this, I know many mums do it all while still being brilliant mums and I am not saying I wouldn't be able to cope if I hadn't got one, but it's just a little something to make life a bit easier. 
• Finally, sometimes when it all goes shits up, drink lots of wine (making sure you aren't breastfeeding straight afterwards of course)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sure it's all going to get a lot more difficult as soon as Florrie is on the move, but I'll update you on that when the time comes. It may be a very different blog!! 

Anyone else got any tips? 

Love Sophia xxx

Slimming world update

I am 4 weeks in to Slimming World now and I have lost a total of 11lbs. Thats pretty amazing if I do say so myself!

I haven't found it too hard to stick to, although you do have to plan, plan and plan. I have even started planning my breakfast and lunch, as well as dinner, although I have always been good at meal planning for dinner anyway. I have mini goals of what weight I want to achieve at certain times, one being my holiday to Centre Parcs on the 8th May, for which I want to lose a stone (that means I have 3lbs to lose this week). It's quite a bit to loose in just one week but I am going to give it a really good go!!!

Some of my favourite recipes so far have been:

Sweet Chilli Chicken - for this, I use skinless chicken thighs, sweet chilli sauce, chilli, soya sauce, garlic and ginger. I serve it with egg fried rice, which is just rice, egg, peas and soya sauce. It's just an easy and quick recipe which is so scummy. I think I could eat this every day. 

Another favourite is good old Spag Bol - This is a good one to get tons of vegetables in (speed foods) and also one of Jackson's favourite's too, so it's a good family recipe. 

If I had to give some top tips on keeping to the program, they would include:

• The app - If you're out and about or you are unsure on what syns an item of food has, it's really easy to check.
• Muller Light Yogurt, especially the chocolate sprinkle ones, are such a good sugar fix for when you are craving dessert!
• I get the 'Hi-Fi Light Bars' from the meetings and they are brilliant. Plus, you can use them as your 'Healthy Extra B'. 
• My most recent find (another sugary one) is Mcvitie's Thins. They are only 1.5 syns each and really satisfy your cravings.   
• The last one is my 'Hydrate m8' bottle, which is brilliant for making sure that you are drinking enough water. 

Are any of you doing Slimming World? Any more tips? 

Love Sophia xxx