{Keeping Toddler Entertained}

A few of my friends, well quite a number of them actually, are about to have baby #2. They've been saying that they'll come to me for advice seeing as I was the first to become a mummy of two, so I thought I would start some hopefully useful posts / discussions that will help them but also give me some new tips & suggestions.

My first post is on keeping the toddler entertained whilst feeding your newborn.

My son was 20 months when his baby sister arrived. He was at the stage where he was into everything, so safety was my first concern. When I was busy feeding the baby, I had to make sure that he was in a safe environment because he rarely listens or follows instructions at the moment! So I got a load of stair gates from Baby Security and I got some other safety accessories for kitchen drawers etc from Ikea. I either feed the baby in the living room or in our bedroom and my toddler is contained safely in both of those areas.

Next step was to keep him amused... a good friend suggested a special box or bag with toys that he's only allowed to play with during feeding times. A great idea, and I bought a couple of bits & pieces for him. However, I chose badly and the toys I picked needed my input. One was a book with buttons to press for different animal noises - but he was always desperate to sit on my knee to read with me which wasn't an option whilst feeding! For those of you at Gymboree classes, my son is obsessed with the 'magic bag' and whenever he finds an unopened box or bag he sings 'what's in the magic bag...'. I think if I'd chosen more wisely this would have been fantastic.

Another trick that I've used is to play a game. My son can recognise a few letters, shapes and he's very good with his colours. I bundle a pile of foam letters on the floor and ask him to pick out the letter 'm for mummy' or 'd for daddy' or 'g for grandpa' (he also knows a, b, c, d, e and k) or ask him to choose a blue coloured letter etc. This can keep him amused for some time and I can still interact with him whilst I feed the baby.

Rotating toys has also been a lifesaver. We have toys in the bedrooms (some laid out on the little play table and some in the wardrobe) and the living room (some tucked away in boxes and some in the playpen). I try and rotate these every so often and this prevents boredom. I was amazed that my son was occupied for a good hour or so the morning I rotated the toys and even just replacing batteries in toys that had stopped working gave him another hour or so of fun.

My son could play for ages with his cars. I tend to feed my daughter in my bedroom because my son loves to run his cars up and down the window sill.

Other tricks I use are CBeebies (his favourite show at the moment is Raa Raa the Noisy Lion) and snacks. My daughter's feeds do tend to coincide nicely with snack time for the little fella so he usually gets a bowl of breadsticks, raisins, fruit or crisps and a cup of water for him to enjoy whilst the baby is fed. I try to keep TV watching to a minimum but it has been very helpful for feeding situations.

I've only fed my daughter out in public once with my son in tow and it was a bit of a disaster. He's at the age where he's too difficult to keep occupied trapped in a highchair. The cake I bought for him only kept amused for 5 minutes and after he had inhaled it he was bored! Best option for me has been to visit friends with little ones a similar age, visit the in-laws or stay at home.

If any other mums have any other suggestions or advice, please do share!

{The Photo Gallery: Home}

I've been following the Sticky Fingers blog and decided to join in with The Gallery this week.  The theme is Home.

As a child my sister and I loved nothing more than playing outdoors in the evenings after school with our friends Emma and Graham that lived round the corner from us. We used to come in from the cold into our cosy kitchen and sit at benches at our wooden kitchen table and drink cups of hot Earl Grey tea that my mum made us and eat almond biscuits. I thought we were so grown up (we must have been about 9 or 10 at the time!). I've got so many great memories of this that I thought I would share this photograph of a teapot that I took a wee while ago. 

{Getting Your Groove Back Tuesday}

Kate on Thin Ice has started a new Blog Hop/Linky/Meme called "Getting Your Groove Back"...

I've been working on getting my groove back for about 3 months now. I decided enough was enough and it was time to make some changes. Out with the slummy mummy (no energy, lack of confidence, negative thinking...) and in with the yummy mummy (or at least somewhere in-between)!

Two questions have been set this week...

1. What song would be best to play a lot whilst attempting to get your groove back?

Kate's song choice is Revival by Annie Lennox. Funnily enough, my song choice is also Annie Lennox! I've got a jogging playlist on my phone and the one song that gets me to up the pace a bit is Annie Lennox 'Little Bird'. Think the image of Demi Moore's amazing body in Striptease when she dances about to this song must give me a boost of motivation!!

2. What can you do to make your body feel better this week?

Here's what I've been doing to get my groove back...

Diet & Exercise...

I have hired a personal trainer and lost a considerable amount of the post-baby flab. I was 13 stone 10lbs after my daughter was born 5 months ago, and I now weigh a trim 11 stone 1lb. My trainer Maria would like me to get to the 11 stone mark, so I have 2lbs left to lose. We've also been keeping track of my body fat % which has dropped dramatically from 39% to 29% (target is 25%). I feel great, have a lot more energy and it hasn't felt like hard work. My advice - ditch the diet, eat regularly, choose the healthy option, drink plenty of water and do a bit of exercise. It's been an expensive way for me to get in shape but I'm very glad I did it as Maria has given me the motivation that I so badly needed. The key now is to get a bit more toned. I'll get some better before and after photos soon (Maria wants to feature me on her website) but here are a quick few:

3rd July 2011

23 Aug 2011

My Wardrobe (or lack of!)...

I've booked myself in for a session with a Personal Shopper for November. It's a complimentary service at House of Fraser and I'm very much looking forward to it. At the moment I have one pair of jeans that fit me well and I also bought an amazing dress from M&S (in a size 10... a first for me!), which I am yet to have an occasion to wear it to, but I couldn't resist it!! The majority of my wardrobe is ill-fitting, shabby & worn out. One item that I am very happy with is my new glasses which I purchased fairly recently - I love them.

On Saturday I did a 1 hour power shop in my local shopping centre and bought some new boots, a new belt (size small!!), a new little black dress, a grey tunic/dress and some new underwear... What a difference it's made having some clothes that actually fit properly.

Socialising & Me-Time...

Last week I had my hair coloured & cut all ready for the weekend as I had a big Saturday night out planned with my girlies! My first in a long, long time! We had a lovely dinner out (I chose the healthy options for started and main, but did indulge in some sticky toffee pudding - yum!). I also had a lovely Sunday morning with the girls at Blysthwood Square Hotel for a cupcake masterclass with Naked Bakes.

This evening I have booked myself in for a lovely relaxing facial... heaven! I've also got a night out on Friday planned with hubby... a chance to wear one of my new dresses!

Good luck to the other mummies that are also working on getting their groove back...

{Cupcakes}

Yesterday I went on a Cupcake Masterclass hosted by Naked Bakes and held at Glasgow's Blythswood Square Hotel. I stumbled across the course whilst browsing online for Naked Bakes as I was looking to get a quote for cupcakes for my son's birthday party. I ended up making the cupcakes myself, but was keen to go on the course to perfect my icing techniques. It also seemed like a very good deal so I asked a few friends if they wanted to join me... we had a glass of bubbly on arrival then a 90min cupcake class followed by lunch of sandwiches, tea/coffee & one of the Naked Bakes cakes. We also took away with us a box of 4 cupcakes that we decorated and a goody bag from Lakeland. All for £35 per person.

My decorated cakes

Our teacher, Pauline, shared some tips for the perfect cake and she also shared her Naked Bakes recipe. I have compared this to the recipe that I currently use (from the Magimix recipe book) - and the ingredients are identical! Here it is:

175g Lurpak butter
175g caster sugar
175g Be-Ro self raising flour, sifted
(I also add a teaspoon of baking powder - thanks to my friend Claire for that tip!)
3 medium eggs
5ml vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175 deg C.
Mix butter & sugar until well combined.
Add eggs one at a time.
Add flour gradually.
Spoon into cupcake cases half full (no more than 3/4 full).
Place in centre of oven for 17min.

I use a Magimix and put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour & vanilla extract into the mixing bowl together. Process for 7 seconds and then scrap down the sides before mixing for another 3 seconds.

Here are the tips I have taken away from the class:

• Buy the best quality ingredients you can.
• Cream the butter first before starting to add other ingredients - you want as much air in the mixture as possible.
• Sieve the caster sugar.
• Use cupcake cases that are made of greaseproof paper.
• Don't open the oven door when cupcakes are cooking.
• Take the cupcakes out of the tray asap and allow to cool on a wire rack.

For the frosting, I normally use equal quantities of butter & icing sugar (big thanks to my friend Kath for sharing her recipe with me) and I add some vanilla extract and a touch of water. The Naked Bakes recipe is slightly different and has more icing sugar compared to butter. The frosting was a lot stiffer than the frosting I have used for cake decorating and I think depending on which technique you choose a slightly stiffer icing might be preferable (for example the more intricate rose petals).

We were taught how to decorate 4 cupcakes using different techniques and I really learnt a lot. Just need to practice now (and try not to eat all the cakes I make!).

It's my plan to make cupcakes for the neighbours as Christmas gifts. I made some cakes for our friends recently and bought some cute red polka dot boxes from The Cake Decorating Company and I plan to use these for my Christmas cakes. From the same shop I also bought matching red baking cups and some red sugar pearls for decorating.

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting, red sugar pearls & edible glitter

I think I might get some Santa toppers for my Christmas cupcakes or make my own fondant Christmas trees using a cutter that I bought at the cupcake course.

The next course is Sunday 30th October if anyone local is interested in going along and you will find the details on the Blythswood Square Hotel website.

{Tips for New Mums, Part 2}

Following on from my initial post on tips for new mums, I wanted to continue with some more suggestions of what to buy and what not to buy.

Mammasaver has recently written a blog post on what you need for a new baby. It's a comprehensive list and has all the basics that you may need such as muslin cloths (I've been using combination of bibs & muslins), cotton wool (useful for bathing & changing baby's bum in the early days before you start using wipes), cot bedding, changing mat, vests & sleepsuits... The all important item that was missing that I added was nappies. Nappies are essential, whether that be re-useable or disposable ones!!

It's very true that a lot of companies market baby items for the mum-to-be and I think a lot of expectant mothers feel they have to have everything purchased and ready before the baby arrives. When my son arrived, 7 weeks early, all we had done was order a travel system (Concord Neo if you are interested) and a cot bed from Next. Neither had arrived and the nursery was bare as the plasterer hadn't even started working on the room yet!

As a result, we did only buy what we needed, or what I thought we needed, and I don't think we made too many bad decisions.

One bad purchase on my part was a Gro Egg Thermometer for in the nursery and after a while I removed it and haven't used it since. We didn't really need it as the baby monitor I chose also monitors the temperature of the nursery. If you don't have a temperature output on your baby monitor, then possibly this might be a worthwhile investment. However, you can get paper thermometers that can be stuck to the wall. I'm sure I got one free with a baby magazine. One benefit of the Gro Egg however is that you can check the temperature of the room in a quick glance... red for too hot, amber for just right and blue for too cold. With a wall thermometer it's possible you might disturb a sleeping baby trying to check the temperature.

Gro Egg Thermometer

Depending on the size of your flat or house, you might want a baby monitor. We are in a house and the nursery is on a different level from the living space. A baby monitor has been essential for us. We initially were given an Angelcare movement and sound monitor to borrow:

Angelcare baby monitor

We didn't use the sensor pad under the mattress though as we felt it was a bit extreme to monitor every movement our baby made. The voice activation was a great feature as was the adjustable sensitivity as it allowed us to set the level at which we could then hear our son. He was such a noisy sleeper that we didn't want continuous sound reception! After speaking to all my new mum friends, the monitor that the majority of them had was the BT 150 digital baby monitor. This is what we purchased and it's been fantastic. I recommend it to all mums-to-be.

BT 150 digital baby monitor

My son has loved the polyphonic lullabies and the room temperature monitor meant that we didn't need the Gro Egg. There is also a talk-back option - useful to help sooth a cranky baby without actually going into the room. Similar to the Angelcare, the sensitivity is adjustable. 

With the addition of our daughter to the family we've purchased another baby monitor. The 150 monitor is now in my daughter's room and I chose a BT 250 monitor for in my son's room. I wrongly assumed that this was a newer model of the 150 monitor, and unfortunately it doesn't have an adjustable sensitivity. It is possible to 'Mute Low' where sounds below a certain pre-determined level are ignored or 'Mute All' where an alarm (beep, vibrate or lights only) is used when baby makes a noise. I just wish it was possible to change the sensitivity... I'm going to have to swap the monitors between the bedrooms I think but my son absolutely loves the songs on his new monitor and he gets so excited when I tell him that it's time to brush teeth & get snuggly in bed with some music... you would think that I had told him there was a present or a cake waiting for him!

One purchase that I would definitely recommend is a Swaddle Pod. My daughter is still in her Woombie at 5 months old and she is now sleeping from 7pm through until 7.30am. I firmly believe that swaddling has helped establish her sleep patterns.

Another recommendation is a footmuff or cosy toes for your car seat if your going to be out and about lots, especially now that the Winter has arrived. We had blankets and a fluffy all-in-one suit for my son, but the blankets would blow off in the wind and he would get too hot in the all-in-one when he was in the car. This time round I bought a Wallaboo footmuff that I had seen a review for on the Bambino Goodies site. They are breathable which is great and the fleecy lining is nice and soft. The great part about it is that the top can be unzipped and the bottom used as a liner if the weather is warm. I tuck my daughter up in hers when outside, but unzip the top when she's in the car so she doesn't get too hot. It's ideal.

My daughter in her car seat

{No Child Born to Die}

8 million children under five years old die every year of preventable and treatable illnesses.

I have just signed the Save the Children petition... please do the same.  No child should die because they can't see a health worker.

@HelloItsGemma and @michelletwinmum set a challenge to write 100 words about a great health professional you have encountered in your life.  Here are my 100 words:

My son was 7 weeks premature - I was whisked to hospital in an ambulance at the initial stages of labour following a phone call with my GP. My son was delivered safely and spent a few weeks on the neonatal ward where the nurses looked after his every need. They were amazing and I can't thank them enough for the attention and care they gave to my precious little bundle. From my GP, to the paramedics, the paediatricians and the midwifes and nurses.... My family and I are so grateful for the level and quality of care we received.

{Seven things...}

So, I've been tagged by @SAHDandproud to write a meme.  I didn't have a clue what this was... and had to google 'meme' just to be sure!! (I'm very new to blogging, Twitter etc). I've checked back with @motherventing and here are the rules:

• Thank the blogger that tagged you and link back to them
• Share SEVEN things about yourself. 
• Pass the award along to 15 other blogs.

I've just recently started using Twitter (feel rather clueless still...) and started following @SAHDandproud. Really been enjoying his blog posts, in particular a recent one on 'The A-Z of Me' which I might do myself at some point... So thank you for following me in return & for tagging me for this meme.

Right, onto the seven things... I'm not sure that I'm that interesting to be honest, but here are a few things that you won't know about me, in no particular order.  I'll let you be the judge if it's interesting or not!!

1. I'm a scientist (currently on maternity leave with baby #2) and have a PhD.

2. When I was a child my family moved abroad & I went to an international primary school for P5 and P6.

3. I wish I told my mother how much I loved her. Now it's too late & I didn't even say goodbye, even when I knew she was dying. I regret this so much.

4. I'm not a natural blonde.

5. I love spreadsheets. I created the most amazing spreadsheet for my wedding planning & love nothing more than creating address labels using mail merge. One of my best Christmas presents as a child was a box of stationery - notepads, pens, hole punch, stapler.. I'm a stationery geek.

I bought this mug for myself... sad, I know!

6. I like to learn new things.  I've completed a number of night classes since moving to Glasgow... Interior Design, Reflexology, Indian Head Massage, Cooking with Style & Presentation, Digital Photography 1 & 2 and also a Studio Photography class. I'm going on a Cupcake Masterclass this weekend too!!

7. I have Crohn's Disease.

Finally, I need to tag a few more people to complete the same meme... Not sure I have fifteen that I could tag, but here are a couple:

@Melaina25

@JMBTompson

@mammasaver

Looking forward to reading some more Seven Things...

{Christmas}

I can't believe it's September already and that Christmas is nearly upon us again! I love the festive season...I think even more so now that I have my own family. Anyway, me being me, I'm overly organised as usual and have already bought most of my Christmas gifts! I also plan to make cupcakes for the neighbours but that will obviously have to wait until December!

For the past couple of years we've had friends & family over for mulled wine and mince pies mid-December and I'm hoping that it becomes an annual tradition - I love being the hostess! Last year I found some classy reindeer notecards from Phoenix Trading that I used as invites, but this year I think I will design my own postcards. I found this on Pinterest, and I'm thinking of recreating something similar:

Lewis Family Santa's Breakfast invites

Here are some of the other fun ideas I've found for Christmas on Pinterest so far...

Snowman Kisses Tic Tac Holders

Neighbour gift idea from 'Crap I've Made'

Santa's Beard Advent from Oopsey Daisy

Kiddy art project

Christmas cupcake idea for the neighbours

I do hope I've been linking photographs correctly - new to blogging & not totally sure of the etiquette.

Has anyone else started their Christmas preparations?

P.S. If you would like to follow me, you can find me on Pinterest here and on Twitter @glasgow_mummy.

{Music}

My 2 year old son loves music.  He has enjoyed listening to children's music from a very early age and when he was tiny if I switched on a CD of nursery rhymes it would calm him down... regular music doesn't seem to have the same effect though.  He's now able to sing along to some of the tunes and knows the words (well, most of them!) for a number of the popular nursery rhymes... I too know all the words!! Not just nursery rhymes, but the Jo Jingles songs and the Gymboree songs too!

For his birthday he was given a personalised music CD from a close family friend.  It is fantastic! There are 8 songs on the CD and his name is mentioned over 40 times throughout the songs.  I've had a quick search on google, and personalised music CDs tend to cost in the region of £10-£15... well this CD is just £4.99 (inc P&P)! It's such a great gift that I thought I would share the details with you.  The CD is from a company called Tree Frog Limited, and they have a catalogue of 800 plus names which you can view online.  Contact details are on their website.

'Singing' at 10 months old!

{Chuffed!}

I have taken inspiration from Katrina over at The Organised Housewife and decided to declutter my hall wardrobe. It has taken me longer than planned because I had to construct some new shelving and drawer units (which I did mainly by myself with just a teeny bit of help from hubby) and parts weren't in stock at Ikea or B&Q when I needed them... but I'm now finished and very pleased with myself.

My hall wardrobe is massive and it wasn't utilised to it's full potential. We chucked jackets, shoes, the hoover, car stuff, toolbox, yoga mat etc in there and it was a mess.

Here are some before photos:

First I had a declutter... I put some of my jackets and shoes to the charity shop and moved certain items to more suitable homes (hoover into the utility space, cushions into the attic, suitcases & overnight bags into a separate cupboard where the larger suitcases were stored already). 

I then removed one of the hanging rails to allow space for shelving and I installed a drawer unit from Ikea. The shelving uprights and brackets I bought from B&Q and I bought shelves from Ikea. I also attached some additional hooks onto the doors to hold handbags and some scarves.

Here are the after photos:

Shelves for shoes and toolbox

The Ikea drawer unit - 2 drawers for kiddie stuff, 2 drawers for my scarves & accessories and 2 drawers for the hubby (car stuff, accessories etc).

Shoes that I wear less often are stored in boxes.

Hooks for handbags & scarves.

I have left space under the bottom shelf for a stool to enable me to reach up to the top of the wardrobe easily - much more practical and means I can use this space.

The photos aren't fantastic, but you get the idea.  

So a big thank you to Katrina for the tips & advice... Now to tackle the next area!

{2nd birthday}

Here are some of the photos from my son's Teddy Bear Picnic party...

All photographs were taken by my sister, Ali Stewart. Thanks Ali :-)

{Lunch-time}

Miraculously, both my son and daughter have an afternoon snooze at the same time, 12 noon - 2pm. I'm so chuffed that I was able to get them into this routine as it means I have 2 hours to myself to get housework done, sort through the mounds and mounds of laundry (where does it all come from!??!), make a start on dinner or fanny about on the internet with a nice hot cup of tea (Pinterest, online shopping, blogging...) or even have a sleep myself if I'm feeling particularly lazy! Another favourite activity during these 2 hours is to catch up on my TV... the joys of Sky+. I've been recording ER on Sky Atlantic - I was never really into ER before and didn't really get the whole Dr Ross, Dr Carter & Dr Greene thing - but I'm loving it now! I'm also looking forward to catching Grey's Anatomy which is being shown from the beginning on Really from Monday. Again, another show that I missed first time round.

I'm not sure how I managed to get the kiddies into such a good routine... With my son I was quite strict about his sleep times and I rarely drove or walked anywhere when he was supposed to be awake as the movement sent him to snoozeville rapidly. He had three naps daily to start with - one around 9am, another longer sleep from 12-2pm and then another shorter nap at 4pm. So if I was going anywhere I tended to travel between 9-10am, 12-2pm or 4-5pm. He also settled really easily in his cot and I put him in his cot for daytime sleeps as soon as it arrived (he was 7 weeks early so we weren't organised at all for his arrival!). I also introduced a bedtime ritual (bath, baby massage, milk, story, bed) as soon as we got him home from the neonatal ward and he always settled well in the evening.  

Sometimes he was so exhausted he'd be asleep before I even got him into his cot!

I've heard numerous stories of parents who have to drive about in the middle of the night to get their children back to sleep, or have to pound the streets during the day to get their babies to take their daytime naps. One trick I did use with my son, that I've not had to do with my daughter, is use white noise. I used to have my iPod dock near to his cot and I had downloaded some womb music, wave noises, hairdryer sounds and the hum of an untuned radio. I played these on repeat (his favourite was the untuned radio!?) until he settled at which point I would turn it off. Eventually we didn't use it at all. Swaddling also helped and we have been using a swaddle pod with my daughter. 

Staying asleep was another matter and my son did wake frequently until he was about 14 months. For a while it was because he would roll onto his front and we'd have to go in and turn him over, then as he was older it was because he had lost his dummy (I was advised by health visitor to try a dummy strap and it was a great help). Now he only wakes up if he's ill or teething. 

My daughter has been an angel. She has slotted into her brother's routine so easily. She similarly has a morning snooze around 9am, then a longer lunchtime sleep at 12-2pm and another shorter nap in the afternoon about 4/4.30pm. I've not been out and about as much with my daughter and so her one downfall is that she doesn't seem to settle well in the car seat - she much prefers her cot. It's also a bit tricky on the days when my son is in nursery and I have to collect him, normally about 4pm, which coincides with her nap and so she tends to be a bit cranky on these days. She crys herself to sleep and we leave her for 5-10min until she settles. We've made the decision not to use a dummy and she sleeps through from 6.30/6.45pm until 7am without a peep (we do wake her at 10.30pm for a feed and she settles again in minutes. We did the same with our son and didn't drop this feed until he was established on 3 solid meals a day). A lot of people have commented that 2nd babies tend to be easier because you're more relaxed, but from a few mums I've spoken to that's not been the case with their 2nd babies so I think I'm very lucky.