Weekend Vlog

Chris normally works Saturdays but had a rare weekend off. See what we got up too...

Love Sophia xxx

Open letter- Oct 16

Dear Jackson,

You are nearly 19 months old now and you just seem to be growing into a little boy more and more every day. You are saying new words everyday too - last night's was 'night night', which you said to Dadda on the phone.

I love watching you grow and learn new things, even if it does cause a few tantrums at times. Recently, whenever we park the car, you refuse to walk to our house, screaming and throwing yourself on the floor, all because you have learnt that the park is in the other direction.

Another of your new words is 'no', but you say it more like the guy from 'The Vicar of Dibley' - 'nononononono', apart from the fact that you don't end it in a yes! You really know what you want now and don't like it when I tell you something you don't want to hear. We visited our neighbours house a few days ago and it took 20 mins to walk between our two houses as you wanted to play in the trees outside instead, which I didn't mind as it was really sweet watching you play.

Today, I made sure that all my jobs were done so that we could have a Mama and Jackson day. This is something that I want to ensure that I make time to do as much as I can before your baby brother or sister is born. You are yet to understand that a baby will be joining our family but I know that you are going to be a brilliant big brother because, with all the other babies that you know, you shower them with kisses and cuddles. Sometimes you are a bit rough by pulling their arm or poking them in the eye, but I think that you are just trying to work them out. So we might not leave you to babysit just yet (hehe)!

Back to today, we went swimming in a new pool which neither of us had been to before. You loved it, splashing around and jumping into the pool. You seemed to know so many people and toddlers there, as you were waving at everyone - you have more friends than anyone I know!!! Your gorgeous grin always gets people's attention and they stop in the street to have a talk when they see you. The other day, you had the lady in the local jewellers waving to you as she was putting new stock in the window (a good place to have friends as Mama has a birthday coming up!).

Keep being your happy little self, your Mama loves you more than you know.

Love Mama xxx

25 Week Pregnacy Update

Here is my 25 week pregnancy update...

Symptoms: This week, I have started to feel a bit more pregnant - putting on shoes is not as easy as it once was! I also find that if I lift jackson too much, I really feel it by the evening. I can still do pretty much everything I would normally do but it is just all a bit restricting. The scary thing is, it's only going to get worse in the next 15 weeks!!!! I also have been suffering from a lot of heartburn this week. 

Food Cravings: Avocados and sugar (not together though, it's not a weird pregnancy craving!).

Movement: There has been lots of movement, I also had 'Braxton Hicks' a couple of times this week, which made the baby start doing flips!!!!!!! 

Sleep: I have been really tired this week but I think it's because I have been going to bed later than I should be. I have also been getting up to go to the loo again in the night.

Things I am missing: Having as much energy as I normally have. 

Best Moment: Seeing all of Jackson's buddies and my Mama friends. It has been 2 weeks since we last saw them all - the first week, Jackson was sick and then we were away on holiday. 

Worst Moment: Same thing that I mentioned above which I am missing; having lots of energy. I just don't want Jackson to miss out on anything and I think that this often leads me to do more in the day than I would normally, which means by the evening I am knackered. 

Love Sophia xxx

Pumpkin Patch Picking

Something I have seen all over Instagram lately is lots of gorgeous photos of toddlers and children pumpkin picking - so I just had to get on the band wagon! I searched the internet and couldn't find any nearby, so it was a bit of a drive to our closest one - we went to Garsons in Esher and it was amazing!!!! There were so many different areas for 'pick your own' and they were so big you had to drive to each one! They also had areas that can be used for picnics, which we said we would definitely come back in the summer to use, as you could spend a good few hours there walking around the beautiful area. We bought 2 big pumpkins for our annual carving competition (look out for the photos which will be coming soon!). Here are some snaps of the day...

Afterwards, we went to the cafe for a slice of cake and a coffee. I brought Jackson some healthy melon from home which he ate like this...

Not sure where he gets that from?!

Love Sophia xxx

Jackson's Toddler Room Wish List

When we designed Jackson's nursery, we put him in the smallest room with the idea that when number two came along, we would move Jackson into our second, bigger bedroom. That means that now we get to design a big boy room for him!!! We want to do it this side of Christmas, so that he has time to settle into his new bedroom and not feel pushed out with the new baby arriving. 

We are moving some of the furnishing from his current baby room into his new one - I have done a blog post in the past about his baby room which you can see here. We are also changing his curtains into a cordless blind for his big boy room, seen as he is a lot more mobile now and explores everything! There are a few extra bits that we want to buy too, which I have listed below. I have also linked each item to where they are each from... 

I think Jackson is still too little to go into a toddler bed, so we are going to buy a Cotbed, with the idea that within the next year, we can change it into the next size bed. I love this one with the added storage underneath.  

We are also going to get him a pillow and duvet to start getting him ready for the transition into the toddler bed. This means that we get to buy some fun duvet sets; I like this one from John lewis.

And this one from Asda.

It's still not a big room that he's moving into, so I like these wardrobes from Ikea, as they are so tall. I want one with double rails and the other with just shelves in. 

I want to keep quite a few toys upstairs so that he can play in his room when he wants to. I also have a comfy chair upstairs that I will hopefully use for breast feeding the baby, so having lots of toys there will be easier to keep Jackson occupied while I am doing so. I love this one from the Great Little Trading Company. You can also buy a cushion for the top. 

I want to have some of his books on show so that he can easily see them. I love these shelves from Ikea. 

Let me know if you have seen any other interesting accessories for a toddler's bedroom!

Love Sophia xxx 

Center Parcs - Part Two

Here is Part Two of our holiday, I want to go back already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy...

Love Sophia xxx

'What Jackson ate' - Holiday Addition

I thought that I would share Jackson's day of food for one of the days we were at Center Parcs. I took quite a few bits with us so that we didn't have to keep buying bits for him on the go, which seemed to work quite well.

For Breakfast, he had 1 and 1/2 Weetabix with raspberries, mixed in with milk. On the side, he had his morning milk and a cut-up pear. 

Chris and I were yet to eat breakfast so at around 9:30am, we headed to the Pancake House and Jackson shared a bit of a taster of our breakfast! He had pancake, beans, mushrooms, bacon and some ketchup for dipping.

For lunch, he had a crumpet, cheese, grapes and pepper sticks (he didn't eat the pepper sticks unfortunately!).

After a nap and before swimming, he had one of these squeezie yogurts from Lidl as a little snack. 

I forgot to take a picture of this but he had some 'Organix Goodies Sweet Cinnamon Puffcorn' as a post-swimming snack and to hide the fact that dinner was going to be late! 

I think that this meal is shown or mentioned loads on my blogs but it is one of my favourites! For dinner, he had Sausage and Lentil Casserole with peppers and courgettes. 

He ended the day with beaker of milk. 

Love Sophia xxx