Lianne Clare

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

50 Things That Make Me Happy

Many thanks to One of Each Kind for the nomination! Here are my...

1. My little family <3

2. Smiles

3. Baby giggles

4. Sleep

5. My boys reaching milestones and achievements

6. Having a fantastic job

7. Being lucky enough to work from home

8. Saturday nights in with my Mr

9. Trashy reality TV

10. Sunshine

11. Catching up with my friends

12. Loosing weight on weigh in days

13. Cheat days ;)

14. Seeing the Backstreet Boys

15. Concerts

16. Visiting new places

17. Holidays

18. My blog

19. My fave films

20. Music

21. Pay day

22. The seaside

23. Getting my hair done

24. New make up

25. Painting my nails

26. Pamper days

27. Lie ins

28. New clothes

29. Summer

30. BBQs

31. A tidy house

32. Candles

33. Hearing 'I Love You' <3

34. Parcels arriving at the door

35. Gravy dinners

36. Good news

37. Chocolate

38. Photos

39. Freshly washed bed sheets

40. Pizza

41. Good hair days

42. Cake

43. Taylor sleeping well

44. 90's music

45. Slipper socks

46. MAC Creme d'Nude

47. MAC Studio Tech

48. Good response to blog posts

49. Chinese food

50. Seeing my boys happy

I now nominate the following to post their 50 Happy Things, if they haven't already...

Beauty Queen UK

Dungarees and Donuts

Newcastle Family Life

What makes you happy?

Link up your lists below!

xxx

Linked up to: My Favourite Post // All About You // Share With Me Mad Midweek Bloghop // Brilliant Blogposts // The List

I'm very excited to introduce to you French-based company; Babymoov. Created and run by 3 Dad's who decided to bring design and innovation to the baby equipment market. Their mission is simple: 'reinventing the everyday life of parents by providing reliable, highly designed and technologically advanced products driven by parents input' and I think they've got it spot on.
I've been lucky enough to be chosen to become an blog ambassador for Babymoov for 2015, which I'm very excited about, as the products are amazing and I'm super passionate about the brand.

Babymoov offer everything you need in terms of equipment for your baby; from highchairs to changing bags, monitors to bathtubs. And everything is designed with parents input, so rest assured the products have been created and tested by real Mums, to simplify and enhance your life as a parent.
They hold meetings with 'Mums' to discuss new designs and concepts, entrust them with new products before release, for honest reviews and testing, AND [get this!!] they have a Nursery, based near to their head office in the North of France, full of their products, which provides fantastic opportunities to observe their products in action.
They have very recently launched the very first video baby monitor with ZERO radio waves. 'The 0% emission baby camera is made with a revolutionary technology that ensures the total absence of electromenagnetic wave in the child's environment. The baby camera is connected to an intuitive apps to watch baby sleeping, capture photo and set up multiple functions such as temperature, night light, music by remote control.'

babymoov.co.uk

I think OH's obsession with gadgets has rubbed off on me here, I think it's a fantastic product!! :)
What an amazing company!
I cannot wait to share with you some of the products I've been sent for my honest review and opinion. Until then, check out their website Babymoov.co.uk .

Have you used any Babymoov products? What did you think?

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xxx

Linked up to: Binky Linky // Post Comment Love

Baby Led Weaning: Beginners Guide Part 1

My weaning story with Bradley is completely different to the route I've taken with Taylor. 10 years ago, I weaned Bradley at the very, very young age of 3.5 months old, on the advice of in-laws, on traditional spoon fed pureed foods. He took to food well, and ate everything I gave him, until he got to the finger foods stage, when he then became fussy with food and he's never been the same since. Now, at 10 years old, he's the fussiest child I've come across. So I vowed to do things differently this time around.
Quite early on after having Taylor, I asked the ladies in my baby group how and when they planned to wean their babies. A lot of them mentioned 'Baby Led Weaning', which I'd never heard of before, but was really interested in finding out more about it, so I spent the next few months researching and reading the books until I became really passionate about it and decided this was definitely the way I wanted to wean Taylor.
What is Baby Led Weaning?
'Baby Led Weaning, quite simply, means letting your child feed themselves from the very start of weaning. The term was originally coined by Gill Rapley, a former health visitor and midwife.

According to the most recent research most babies reach for food at around six months, which is also the time that mothers are being encouraged to wean by their Health Visitors, in accordance with the WHO guidelines.

The distinct advantage of weaning at around six months is that by then, our children are developmentally capable of feeding themselves proper food, in other words – no more mush!

You just hand them the food in a suitably-sized piece and if they like it they eat it and if they don’t they won’t.

That’s the essence of Baby Led Weaning. No purees, no ice cube trays, no food processor, no potato masher, no baby rice, no weird fruit and veg combos… just you and your child, eating food that you enjoy with you and your family.' - babyledweaning.com

Basically it means forgetting the mushed up food, feeding what you decide, when you decide. Baby led weaning is all about the child exploring by themselves, making their own choices and joining in with meal times with the rest of the family.
It saves all the time making up purees and allows more time to enjoy meal times together.
It gives them the chance to learn to deal with all textures of foods from the very beginning, rather than introducing in stages. Studies show that babies that are introduced lumpy foods later on are less likely to reject the food and become fussier with new textures. This is definitely true of my eldest.

Our BLW story

At 5 months I started sitting Taylor at the table with us, in his high chair, to get him used to social meal times. He quickly started showing lots of interest in food, reaching out for it and getting quite frustrated watching us eat and not being able to have any. I introduced a mesh feeder [more information in my Top Tips for BLW Beginners post] with some fresh fruit inside, and he sat for ages munching and sucking away, he was definitely ready for food. I wasn't ready to let him loose on actual food just yet, so I continued with the mesh feeder once a day, or frozen puree in an ice lolly maker. At 5.5 months I felt confident enough to introduce him to some bread, [Disclaimer: Guidelines state food shouldn't be given before 6 months] which he loved, and so his BLW journey began! I was nervous at first, there was a lot of gagging and I was tempted to intervene, but I didn't, and his gag reflex came quickly and he began dealing with it himself very early on.

Taylor's first solids - bread (5.5 months old)

Taylor's first Sunday Dinner (5.5 months old)

I started slowly, with just one food each meal, then gradually added more.
Now, at 7 months, he is on 3 meals a day, eats the same meals as us, with us. Never has he been spoon fed, he has spoon fed himself with a pre loaded spoon from the very beginning.
He is very much into his food, and he pretty much eats everything I put in front of him, although he has started to make choices between different textures and favours some food over others. But he rarely turns anything down.

Taylor exploring scrambled egg and toast (6 months)

Spoon feeding himself Weetabix (6 months)

He hasn't quite worked out that he must finish what is in his mouth before putting more in and this often leads to a bit of choking, I've learnt to just put 2 things on his tray to minimise this but so he can still make choices.
A typical breakfast is Weetabix or Organix Cereal, and fruit. Lunch is something like sandwiches, toast, crumpet, pancakes or breadsticks etc, cucumber, fruit, Organix snacks. Dinner is usually the same as us; meat, potatoes, veg or a pasta dish typically.

Demolishing Spaghetti Bolognese (6 months)

I'm so glad we went with the BLW route!! Big thumbs up from Taylor and Mummy!

This is a typical day's menu for Taylor -

Breakfast - Organix Multigrain Mini Cereal Puffs with milk, and banana.

Lunch - Warburtons Half & Half Easy Roll Wraps with cheese spread and cooked turkey meat, kiwi fruit, melon slices, Organix Goodies Carrot Sticks, and Petit Filous yoghurt.

Dinner - Chicken breast, steamed carrots, baby corn, green beans and sugar snaps.

Look out for the following BLW posts coming up soon:
- Pro's & Con's of BLW
- Top Tips for BLW Beginners
- Q&A with BLW Parents

Are you Baby Led Weaning?

I'd love for you to share your experiences!

Do you have a question for the BLW Parents?

Ask in the comments below...

xxx

Linked up to: Share With Me // Mad Midweek Bloghop // Wednesday Bloghop Brilliant Blogposts // Maternity Mondays

Me & Mine - Family Portrait Project - March

Me & Mine The Family Portrait Project
March 2015

This month:
I am loving: Finally getting somewhere with the building work in our new house! Making the decision not to return to my job after maternity leave.
James is loving: Having some time off work The house almost being finished
Bradley is loving: Almost completing Minecraft Spending time with his friends and family
Taylor is loving: Being able to explore and move around more. Having his first taste of chocolate ;)

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xxx

Taylor's 7 Month Update

Taylor James' 7 month Update

I skipped his 6 month update as I didn't have the time to post, but here we are with the 7 month update, which just amazes me! 7 months!! Where has the time gone?? Scary! He has changed so so much, my Newborn has well and truly gone! He's on the move now so needing eyes in the back of my head!! :) He's almost crawling, but not quite. He's desperate to though and you can see him trying so hard and getting frustrated as he can't quite work out what to do with his legs! Bless him. And he's becoming very vocal, lots of mam-mam and ba-ba's.

Height/Weight... He was weighing 20 lbs exactly at last weigh in, and following his centile beautifully.
Sizes... We're in a mixture of 6-9 and 9-12 at the mo. Most of his clothes are 9-12 now though.
Feeding... He took to Baby Led Weaning so well! We started at 5 1/2 months [although its not recommended to start until at least 6 months] as he was showing so much interest in food. There was a lot of gagging at first, but his gag reflex progressed quickly and he's now on 3 meals a day and eating everything put in front of him. I'm so glad we did BLW, he sits and eats the food we do at the table with us and he loves mealtimes. Alongside his meals he has 6oz formula when he wakes, during the afternoon, then 8oz at bedtime and 4oz during the night.
Sleeping... Hmm his sleep varies. Sometimes he sleeps really well and others he really doesn't. The last few nights he's slept well. He goes off to sleep at 630-7pm and sleeps though until about 3-4am when he wakes for a feed and goes straight back off to sleep until 7-730am. If he wakes during the night though he's a nightmare to settle, no amount of rocking, shushing, music or anything will get him back off, he won't sleep until I take him out and bring him in with me, which I really don't want to get him into the habit of doing. Day time naps, he has quite a good routine with, but he won't settle himself in cot he'll mess around and roll onto his front and I have to take him and rock him off and put him back down. Monkey!! I think we may have to think about lowering the cot too as today I found him pulling himself up on the side!
Bedtime Routine... He still has a good bedtime routine, we're pretty strict with it and he knows it well. Bath time between 6-630, dried and in sleep suit, feed and in bed and he settles himself.
Milestones... This month I think the main milestones are him moving around more. he can pull himself up on furniture and shuffle himself around on the floor.
What he's loving this month... Food. He gets very excited when he sees me bring in his plate!! Blowing raspberries! He loves moving around, and not happy in one place. And Baby TV!! He's obsessed with Baby TV, and no other channel will do it. When Tulli or Hungry Henry come on the telly he gets super excited!!
Mummy's post partum body... I'm still loosing slowly, if only 1-2 lbs a week, I could do a lot better but I tend to have days when I just want to eat what I want! I joined Slimming World and the food optimising is fab, but I go off plan a little some weeks. My willpower is just awful! :( I think I just expect it to fall off without any work! :( I've lost 10lbs since the beginning of the year, which isn't great, but I kept putting weight back on. BUT, it's coming off, slowly but surely.
Mummy's Best Bits... His cheeky little face just melts my heart, he makes me so so happy. Seeing him grow and change so much is amazing.
Daddy's Best Bits... 'When he tries to crawl, it's getting exciting!'
Bradley's Best Bits... 'Everything about him I love. I love when he climbed up the side of his cot, that was funny! I love that he smiles when I come in the room.'

Until next month...
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xxx

EYFS Resources | Resources for Under 5's

Let me introduce you to a fantastic company called EYFS Resources, who create fantastic resources and paperwork essentials for early years settings, parents and home schoolers. They're currently working towards an exciting website launch, but for now they offer their fantastic products from their Facebook page.
EYFS Resources Ltd was set up by 'Outstanding' Childminder, and Early Years Professional, Maria Marraffa. After years of running a busy Early Years setting, Maria witnessed just how busy practitioners are and how time consuming putting professional paperwork and fun resources together was. The company was born following this and is now run by Early Years Professionals, with years of experience in many different child care settings, as well as being parents of young children themselves, to provide paperwork and resources to busy early years practitioners, childminders, teachers and parents.

From professional paperwork to story sacks and resource packs inc. worksheets, learning aids, display resources and games (and lots of exciting things on the horizon too!), EYFS Resources design and create resources to make your life easier!
Let me show you just some of the things they offer...