As we love being
outdoors our garden is somewhere we spend lots of time when we are
not out and about having adventures in the woods, beaches, castles
and beautiful countryside which are a stones throw away from our
home.
Being a family who
spends most of their time outside in the garden especially during the
spring and summer months I have plans to make the garden more fun and
appealing for the kids than it already is.
Mud kitchen
Inspired by memories of
my childhood I am building the kids a mud kitchen in the corner of
the garden where they can have fun getting muddy and creating me
tasty mud-filled pies and cakes which if anything like I was as a
child will be decorated with leaves and flowers.
Garden toys
Taking inspiration from
Bug's recent drawing and wish list of his perfect Easter birthday garden party that was filled with outdoor toys I hope to get a few
more outdoor toys for the garden. I would love a garden with outdoor
that are perfect for both the boys with toys that they can play with
together and toys they can play with individually with the toys being
suited to their ages and interests.
Bug is mad about Lego. It is guaranteed to make any birthday or Christmas wish lists, and he always wants to buy more Lego with any money he has saved or been given. As he loves Lego so much and always wants more over the years his collection has grown considerably.
Whilst it is great that he has a large collection of Lego for creative and imaginative Lego play the downside is that we have lots of Lego to store which can be a nightmare!
We have tried to store his Lego in different ways, with small partitioned boxes used to try to store his figures, accessories and small Lego pieces.
Renowned and multi-award winning outdoor toy brand smarTrike have launched a new range called toTs. The new range which consists of changing bags, towels, bedding, muslins, comforters and other baby essentials was officially launched last week.
As we were lucky enough to have a sneak peek at the beautiful new toTs by smarTrike range with Jelly Bean being sent some lovely muslins and a super soft comforter toy, I thought I would take a little look at the range.
At 8 months old it has been a few months since we started weaning Jelly Bean, having started the journey into the world of food with him a little before the recommended 6 months following advice from our health visitor;.
The journey into the wonderful world of weaning and food has been a fun and memorable one.
Jelly Bean has taken to food brilliantly and embraces the wide range of foods that we introduce him to. We believe that it is very important that we introduce him to an expansive range of foods early in his weaning journey and provide a varied, healthy diet as it affects dietary intake when older. We also hope that by giving him a varied diet he will enjoy a world of varied foods from a young age and not be a fussy eater when older.
Whilst all children are different I believe introducing Bug to a varied diet and a wide range of foods at a young age when we weaned him about 4 and a half years ago is partly responsible for the fact that he is not a fussy eater, eats a varied and healthy diet, is an adventurous eater who happily tries new foods and has a experienced palate. We hope by introducing Jelly Bean to a similar weaning experience that he will follow his brother's love of all foods.
To give Jelly Bean a varied diet and taste of a range of foods we have been mindful not to just stick to foods we know he loves but also continue to offer new tastes and textures. Thankfully Jelly Bean is still more than happy to try new foods and has yet to reject any new tastes, but as I know there may come a time when he is wary of or declines new food I plan on offering such foods to him as many as 10 times as it can take that many times before little ones accept new foods. Hopefully a mixture of persevering with new foods and providing him with a varied and adventurous diet will mean he grows up with a love of all foods.
After he mastered purees and reached 6 months we started to mix using HiPP Organic jars and pouches with finger foods which is working very well for us. He loves feeding himself and I love seeing the glee in his eyes as he does so, but equally he also still loves devouring yummy purees and lumpy foods from the range of HiPP Organic jars and pouches. As well as giving him a broad range of textures from the beginning of Jelly Bean's weaning journey we have also made sure to provide him with both sweet and savoury foods equally.
As well as trying to make sure he loves savoury tastes as much as - if not more than – sweet foods, we are also mindful not to give him foods that are processed or have extra sugars included. Thankfully we are reassured that the HiPP Organic pouches and jars we fed him are as healthy as possible as the organic fruits & vegetables used in them are grown on dedicated organic farms, where they are left to ripen naturally and harvested at their plumpest & sweetest before being gently steam cooked to preserve the nutrients and flavours without the need for extra sugars or processing. They also carefully control the amount of sugar in all their baby foods especially as it is important that savoury foods do not contain hidden sugars from fruit.
During Jelly Bean's weaning journey he has tried lots of different foods and along with lots of fun mess (love that part of weaning) we have seen lots of different faces and reactions to new tastes.
So far I cannot say that he has a preference to sweet or savoury, being equally fond of both. However he does love certain foods more than others with his favourites so far being HiPP Organic Banana & Rice Pudding, HiPP Organic Cheesy Spinach & Potato Bake, Cucumber, Ham sandwiches, and Apples.
What I have found interesting to watch is see Jelly Bean try finger foods of tastes he has enjoyed as pureed food. He loves bananas in the HiPP Organic jars but his reaction when he tasted a slice of fresh banana was amusing.
The moment we tried.....fresh banana.
Likewise he found it weird the first time he tried fresh blueberries after having enjoyed the taste previously in HiPP Organic purees, but has warmed to eating them fresh with lots of other fresh fruit.
The moment we tried.....fresh blueberries.
A new flavour Jelly Bean has recently tried is HiPP Organic Cocoa & Vanilla Dessert, and whilst I think his face says it all about what he thought of it I can say he loves it and it has now become a firm favourite.
The moment we tried......HiPP Organic Cocoa & Vanilla Dessert.
Another new taste that has been a hit with Jelly Bean is the HiPP Organic Cherry, Apple and Banana Breakfast pouch with cherry being a new taste sensation for him.
The moment we tried.....HiPP Organic Cherry, Apple and Banana Breakfast.
What I love most about weaning, especially the stage we are at where he loves all foods and is enjoying feeding himself is the joy in his face at self feeding and the fun mess he makes when doing so.
The moment we tried......mashed potato.
The moment we tried....bolognese and pasta shapes - what a proud boy feeding himself!
Take a look at the video below to see a few of the moments he first tried new foods in action -
We are loving weaning Jelly Bean and look forward to the rest of his weaning journey with excitement.
WIN
Are you weaning or about to wean your little one? Why not enter the giveaway below for the chance to win a HiPP Organic Sweet & Savoury bundle to help your little one through their weaning journey.
For extra points we would love it if you shared with us a picture capturing the moment your little one tried a new flavour to celebrate HiPP's 'The moment we tried....' campaign celebrating little ones trying new foods. To get the bonus points share the picture on twitter, tagging myself @rootsandwings1 and HiPP Organic @HiPPorganic using the hashtag #themomentwetried
For
a while now Jelly Bean has not been settling to sleep that well,
waking a few times before finding a content, deep sleep which has had
a knock on effect on the bedtime routine and one-to-one time with
Bug.
In
the hope of making bedtimes blissful once again I jumped at the
chance of taking part in the JOHNSON’S® Tonight We Sleep™
Challenge where we would follow the clinically proven JOHNSON’S®
3-step bedtime routine*.
With Bug's birthday fast
approaching in only a matter of weeks my thoughts have turned to what
gifts to get him to celebrate the big day he turns 5.
Thankfully he has not
reached the age where he is demanding one particular extra special
thing that if he did not get his birthday would be ruined. He is
quite an easy going child with a lot of different interests and a few
predictable loves. To help us decide what to treat our boy to he has
marked out a few toys and products in the catalogue which he would
love.
As I have been delayed
on present buying thanks to the sickness bug from school hitting the
whole household hard, with poor Bug getting it a second time a week
later thanks to the bug still circulating in school, I thought I
would create a gift wish list for Bug's 5th birthday to help me
decide what to get him.
On Friday the 25th March London Zoo will be opening to the public its brand new Lion enclosure Land of the Lions which was unveiled by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on Thursday the 17th March.
Perfect for little ones who want to celebrate Land of the Lions, Rockin' Baby have a roar-some new lion-themed collection of kids clothing.
The award-winning kids clothing company's fun and fabulous range 'Out of Africa' features bright and bold lion-print t-shirts and onesies.
Thanks to an innovative
design Snackeez is a drink cup with a container inside ideal for
storing small snacks. The brightly coloured snack and drink cup by
Character Options features a non-slip grip to make holding it easy
and perfect for helping little hands hold the cup which is rather
large for little ones.
Whilst I have and would
never judge anyone for smoking and have many friends and family who
do smoke, having never personally smoked I find the smell and cost of
smoking rather unappealing. As a non-smoker who hates the smell I
always thought that I would never date a smoker, as the smell would
give any potential partner an air of unattractiveness to me.
So when I met Lee and
found out that he was a smoker – one who had smoked for many years
and the habit of smoking was strong – I was surprised to see myself
overlooking his smoking and not being as bothered by or put off him
because of it as I always thought I would be. As I had an instant
connection to him and then fell in love with him I didn’t care that
he smoked – my love for him blinded me to his habit.
As a person who has
never smoked in her whole life I cannot really understand or pass
judgement on how easy or hard it is to quit smoking. Whilst I loved
Lee regardless of his smoking and accepted him habit and all, and
would never dream of giving him an ultimatum to quit or not be with
me as it’s up to the person to decide if they want to give up
smoking or not; deep down I always hoped one day he would want to
kick the habit.
When we started a family
Lee's thoughts on smoking changed and he started to consider quitting
for the sake of our children and to improve his own health in the
hope of being fit and healthy for his family for years to come.
There is something about
this time of year as we welcome spring that I feel inspired to spring
clean and improve the home and garden with some much needed DIY and
TLC.
With upcoming Easter
bank holiday providing us with a long weekend at home as well as
enjoying some family time and Easter egg hunt and activities with the
kids, we have plans to tick off some of the household jobs that have
been on our DIY to-do-list for too long now!
Whilst neither of us can
boast good skills to do with home improvements we do like to turn our
hand to DIY projects and have managed a number of projects and home
improvement jobs without any major disastrous or huge arguments that
has ended up with us breaking up over wallpapering the walls or
assembling furniture.
With Bug’s
5th birthday landing a couple of days after Easter this year we have been
thinking about throwing him a Easter themed garden birthday party. As he loves
playing outdoors and getting wild with his friends we thought it would be a funtastic
birthday party that he is sure to enjoy and remember.
As we have
been talking about him having a garden party for his birthday where hopefully
the Easter bunny will visit with lots of Easter eggs for the kids to hunt for
and find, Bug took it upon himself to give his a few hints about what outdoor
toys should be at his party for it to be a totally awesome Easter party for his
birthday.
As I watched
Jelly Bean excitedly devour fresh fruit and veg finger foods today my thoughts
turned to growing our own fruit and veg this year.
Whilst I
am far from being an expert at gardening, I would call myself green fingered
and enjoy being out in the garden and find gardening to be rather therapeutic.
Over the years my love of being in the garden and getting my hands dirty
sprucing up the garden, tending to plants and planting flowers, and growing
fruit, veg and salad has influenced Bug who loves to help me garden and sow
seeds.
Bug has
never been much of a sleeper and whilst he has improved on how long he sleeps
at times we still find it difficult getting him to relax and calm down enough
to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Having read
a number of enthusiastic reviews about the book, with many parents declaring
that it miraculously gets their child to fall asleep I was intrigued to see
whether it would work on Bug.
We have
been weaning Jelly Bean for nearly 3 months now and it has been going really
well. After being advised by our health visitor to wean early a little before
WHO’s recommended age of 6 months, we started off using HiPP Organic purees
suitable for babies 4+ months.
Jelly Bean
took to food brilliantly, enjoying new tastes.
As I’ve
previously mentioned we love Snüz and their truly amazing, high quality 3-in-1
bedside crib, the SnüzPod. Adding to the reasons why we love the SnüzPod and
its creators Snüz, is a brand new and very fabulous range of bedding.
The
recently launched Designz bedding collection by Snüz is currently available in
3 equally lovely different ‘Designz’ – Rootin’ Tootin’, Little Tweets, and
Cloud Nine.
For a while
now Bug has been mad about Minecraft. His love of Minecraft was sparked by
watching Daddy mine and craft in the World of Minecraft, with his passion for
the game being truly intensified when he started watching Stampy playing
Minecraft in his Lovely World on YouTube (parental lock well and truly on).
Whilst as
his mum I am a touch biased, his skill at Minecraft for such a young age is amazing
to me. He has quickly learnt all about Minecraft, mastering skills and learning
the ins and outs of the game. His imagination and creativity comes alive in the
game where as well as mining and surviving he also crafts buildings, statues,
and games.
