Father's Day Gift Guide

With Father's Day just around the corner I thought I would do a little guide for the most important men in your and you little peoples lives. I'm going to be showcasing a range of gifts for Dad's, Step-Dad's and Granddad's with all range of interests. 

Experience Days

Not sure what to get for Dad or Grandad? Do they own literally everything possible? What better than an experience day! It's a great way to make some memories that'll last for ever! You can buy experience day from several different including Argos and WHSmiths. There are so many to choose from such as sporting, food and drink, rally experiences, theatre experiences ect..depending on the person's interests. 

Personalised Gifts

Another gift you can't really go wrong with are personalised gifts! So many places do so many awesome personalised gifts! I've actually brought Ben something personalised off the kids again this year but I won't pop a picture of that because I know he reads my blog! I've also ordered a personalised photoframe for my dad from the children too. I had that from Littlewoods and paid £15 for it. I've popped an image below and the link here the image is just a stock image I grabbed from the website and I'm still waiting for mine to come! 

Handmade Gifts 
The next one you can't go wrong with either is handmade gifts! These are great if you don't have a lot of money and are on a budget or if you just want to give something extra special! You can find so many amazing ideas on Pinterest if you need some inspiration I found a couple of ideas that I've tried with Oliver that have turned out to look pretty awesome. I'll pop a link to some of the ideas that I've found on Pinterest because as I said before Ben reads my blog so I don't want to really give anything away for him before Father's Day in a couple of weeks. There are so many things you could do like photo collages as you can pick up frames relitvely cheap from places such as Poundland and home bargains ect and many websites do free prints just pay postage offers, hand and footprints on canvases can also be a cute but on a budget idea if you've got little babies and for bigger children you can pick up a cheap mug, plate or glass and some ceramic or glass paint and get them to design their own mug ect for Daddy/Granddad something that will always be used and always filled with love. 

Poundland also have some really awesome bits in for some novelty purposes too! I picked up one of these mugs that I've popped a picture of down below for my Dad that says "Worlds Best Farter I Mean Father!" which I thought was ace and right on the type of humour that my dad has! I also picked up a couple of photo-frames as gifts too.  I also picked up a hanging sign for my dad that you hang tools on which I think he'll love and will be so useful to pop some bits and bobs on! 

I also picked up Ben his favourite chocolate as a little treat and this spider-man egg cup and toast cutter gift set as I thought it would be cute to make him breakfast on Father's Day morning. 

There are absolutely loads of things you could get for those special men in your life and your children's lives! I hope this post has been helpful for those looking for ideas! 

Learning to Love Me

This one is a bit of a difficult post if I'm honest so it probably going to be a quite raw and emotional post. I am trying to learn to love myself and love my body which is incredibly when you've been pregnant 3 times and have given birth twice. I know I am no supermodel! I am absolutely far from it but why shouldn't I love my body even if I'm on the bigger size. I wrote a post recently over on my Instagram after a picture from my last few days of school popped up my news feed on Facebook - I'll pop the link to that post here and it honestly really stuck a nerve with me! For lots of people Mum's especially their body issues seem to start after they've had kids but mine I think have gone much farther back than that pretty much back to school, I've never been skinny and I never used to be massively fat according to that picture but I always seemed to be a target for bullies, I was made to feel dreadful and worthless and not like a person who has feelings. I got to some pretty low points in my life and I even self harmed and at one point I tried to take my life by overdosing on pills. I never took into account the effect that it could have on those around me, those who actually loved me but I was too hung up on nasty people to think straight I guess now as a Mum I honestly don't know how I could of done that to my parents, how they'd of felt if their daughter had successfully taken her own life and it breaks my heart. I know that I need to change how I not just feel about myself but how I talk about myself, I don't want my kids to hear mummy looking in the mirror telling herself how fat, gross and ugly she is and think that's okay to do and say. I want my kids to hear mummy tell herself actually my hair doesn't look to bad and what I'm wearing looks nice today. I'm just glad that Ben compliments me and says thing to make me feel better everyday and that they both get to hear that and that Ben sets an example of how you should treat people. 

This is me as I am right now. I know I'm not the worst but then I'm not the best and I could sit here a circle everything I hate but I'm know going to. There are things that I need to change and I'm going to be working on that and documenting my progress as I go. I don't want this to be just about me losing weight but also about learning to love myself regardless of how I look. 

Tips For Finding The Right Nursery/Pre-School

So this week Oliver started pre-school and he's absolutely loving it. So I thought I'd do a little post on my top tips on choosing the right place for you and most importantly your child. 

Allergy Policy 
I'm going to start with a big one for us as Oliver is Lactose Intolerant and this was one of our biggest fears was that he was going to end up eating something that he wasn't meant to. One our first questions we asked was how they dealt with Children with allergies. The particular pre-school we've chosen for him will make sure that he's supervised during lunch and snack times so as not to have anything that is not appropriate for him to have which ticked all the boxes from us. When I actually picked him up from one of his settling in sessions it was during snack time and they actually had a member of staff sat with him and he was sat eating his snack with them. 

How Does Your Child React? 
When we went to look around where Ollie goes to pre-school he actually ran off straight away to play and start interacting with people which I was completely taken aback by as Oliver can be very clingy and not sure of situations where he doesn't know anyone so I thought being in a room full of adults and children he doesn't know would make him very clingy and closely guarded but he was the exact opposite. In fact he actually tantrum-ed because we tried to get him to leave to come home that didn't go down very well with him at all. Knowing that Oliver was comfortable and enjoying himself made me happy and comfortable with our choice. 

Routine 
Does the nursery you want to send your child to have any kind of routine in place? Where we have chosen to send Oliver has a routine in place for throughout the day as well as the opportunity to for the children to engage in free flow play as periods throughout the day. Which was another big tick for us as we want Oliver to play, have fun and make friends but we also want him to know the importance of a routine and doing other things beside play like picking up and tidying up after himself which they teach them as a part of their routine. 

Facilities/Activities  
What are their facilities like? Again Oliver's pre-school also ticked all the boxes on this one! They have both indoor and outdoor facilities that are available to the children all throughout the day weather permitting. Their outdoor part has things like the little tikes cars, playhouses, sand and water play and a mud kitchen which I know Oliver will love as he enjoys playing outside and getting messy. Indoors they have the facilities for all-sorts of art and crafts which are set up so your child can choose whether they want to do them or not. They have a quite area filled with books and music for nursery rhymes all of this ticked major boxes for us as it gives Oliver a variety of things to do. They also have all the things that will help aid Oliver with his potty training when we get back into starting it. 

Staff
How do the staff come across? Are they interacting with the children? Are they playing with the children and helping them if they need help? Again this ticked all the boxes for us! When we went for our visit all the staff were so lovely and actually got down to Oliver's level and spoke to him. All the children seemed happy interacting with all the members of staff and asking for help if they needed it. The pre-school also has members of staff trained in several areas such as SENCO, behaviour specialist and a speech and language specialist ect. 

Safeguarding 
How safe does it feel? Before you even get into nursery you have to get through two locked doors that both have pass-codes only members of staff know. They have also have a system in place for when other members of family pick your child up which is a password that only you and who you choose to tell it too will know. They also like to know who is picking up you child in advance and also like to meet them beforehand so they have a face to a name. They also have a closed Facebook group so they can share pictures of your children with from activities and sessions they've done without risking your children's safety so you can stay updated at all times. 

A few other key things that ticked the boxes for us were; 

• They do regular parents evenings and send reports home everyday with things that you child has done and achieved. 
• They do things such a themed days throughout the year (when Oliver went for his settling in session it was national sandwich day so all the children were making sandwiches), they do bonnet competitions at Easter and do a nativity a Christmas. 
• They start work with things such as letters, number and colour with the younger children Oliver's age so they get a head start in those areas.  

I hope you've enjoyed this post of my key points to look out for when choosing a nursery/preschool and that you find it helpful if you're going through the same process we've just gone through. 

Siblings-the definition that comprises love, strife, competition and forever friends.

My  2 beautiful babies I don't even know where to start whatsoever So I'll just go with what's in my heart and I'll start by saying how proud I am when I look at you 2 I think damn I've created 2 absolutely beautiful children. 

Oliver; When Daddy and I first decided we wanted to add a sibling to our family for you, we weren't sure you were only 1 and I don't know I felt guilty and I didn't want you to think we were replacing you and that we didn't want, we wanted you to still feel just as loved and wanted. When I found out I was pregnant you weren't quite 2 yet but you loved the idea of mummy has a baby and loved showing my belly to people, you were stunned to silence when you first saw the baby on the screen you didn't understand that was going to be your baby brother or sister, you didn't understand how someone could see into mummy's belly and you couldn't. When you sister came along you we so besotted and all you did was kiss her and want to just grab her, you asked why she cried and if she was okay and you'd tell her I love and in that moment you just grew up! You weren't a baby anymore you'd suddenly grown up in a little boy and that you are you are a proper little boy! You run, you climb you laugh, you tumble and sometimes you fall but when you fall I will always pick you back up. I'm proud of who you are becoming I'm proud how you've taken to having a little sister, just the other day I lay her on our bed whilst I went to fetch something for her and you cuddled up to her, placed your hands on her and some how made her fall back to sleep amongst all her crying and there you both lay sound asleep.

Luna; I honestly can't believe you've been in this world for 5 weeks and what an amazing 5 weeks those have been. You have been our rainbow after the storm. Your lucky to have just know love and joy to know those who are the most important in your life! You have some incredible people in your life that I know will always be there if I am ever not. I want you to know how much your brother loves you even thought when your both older you will probably end up fighting like cat and dog and when you're even older you'll understand the importance of siblings. I hope that one day Oliver will be there to wipe your tears as much as I am and to get mad at that boy that broke your heart as much as daddy is. I can't wait to watch you grown into a strong independent woman who know no bounds and that you will always stand up for what you believe in! 

I hope that both of you will express yourselves and not be afraid to be who you want to be me and daddy certainly didn't stay to the confines of normal!. I hope that your not defined by what other people think is right and that you have the right to love who you want, dress how you want, live and be who you want to be with no boundaries. 

Love you always to the moon and back 

x