5 Weeks

For 5 weeks you nestled all tiny and snug in my womb. 4 and a half of those weeks we didn't know you were there. Those 2 pink lines that popped up on the test, the joy the tears, the happiness, the morning sickness and the queasiness, 7 months of wanting you to be there. 7 months of waiting so patiently. I couldn't wait to start feeling those little flutters, those tiny kicks and flips and rolls. Was is a fist or was it foot poking my ribs, I was so excited and couldn't wait, Sadly that wasn't meant to be what felt like moments the bleeding the cramping, the pain it all started so suddenly so soon. I knew. I knew you had gone. The scans, the urine samples and blood tests that followed didn't put me at ease I knew you were no longer nestled in my womb all snug and warm, but instead I felt you pass from me into the toilet just like that it was over. To the hospital you were just "a mass of tissue" a number a statistic. Although you were a just a tiny dot you were still our baby. I've had many comments like at least you were further along or it wasn't really a baby or be grateful that you've already had one baby. 
I've often wondered what you'd have been like would you of been like, would you of been a boy or a girl? Would you of had a fiery personality like your Brother or would you of been the mellow one? Would you of had my eyes or Daddy's? Would you look like Daddy just like you big brother? 
I'll be the first to admit that I've wept more than I'd like to admit at others pregnancy and birth announcements. That I've felt such awful awful jealousy towards pregnant strangers. I know that I shouldn't be this was but I can't help it!  

I don't want this to feel like I'm just ending this part in my life but I feel like I needed some closure. I know that its probably not going to get any easier or that it probably will never go away, but I need to start looking to the future and not let what has happened hold me back. Today Ben told me that It's devastated him how he's seen me go from being such a happy person to not being myself anymore which broke my heart. 
I'm not closing this chapter I'm just moving forward in what I hope will be a happier more positive way. 

Bunny and Bluebird; Review

Hi guys! Welcome back! 
Today I'm going to be doing a review for you all on the company Bunny and Bluebird! 
Bunny and Bluebird are a small independant company that creates crochet creations, Sophie makes them by herself from home. Her products take around around 3 days depending on the project to make. Sophie charges what I and all of her customers would agree is a resonable and fair price for such incredible work! 

This sheer hard work, creative eye and talent makes for some beautiful pieces. When choosing what you would like Sophie gives you creative control over tailoring exactly what you would like for an amazing tailor made and personal piece. She offers a range of sizes, colours and patterns! When looking at photographs they really do not do them justice! Upon seeing them in person how ever you will be completely wowed by how lovely they are! Whether as a keep sake or for play these creations are loved by children and adults a like! Children love to cuddle them and I as an adult love to look at them and I always look forward to see what Sophie has come up with next!

You can find Sophie and all her fantastic creations here; 

https://www.facebook.com/BunnyandBluebird/

Disclaimer: Although Sophie is a close friend of mine all the opinions and thoughts expressed in this post are all honest and my own.

Family Time is My Favourite Time!

Summer has finally arrived and me and Ben have made it our bid to start getting out way more with Oliver on Ben's days off! Ben doesn't get to spend as much time with Oliver as I do as he works full time providing for us and to give me the opportunity to be a stay at home mumma to our boy which I am truly grateful for. 
Today we kicked out off our new plans with a trip to our local park, fields and woods! Not the most exciting for some people but Oliver loves it! Oliver was even a daring little explorer and went down the biggest slide in the park with Daddy which he completely loved! squealing with excitement and joy! Grinning his little face off! These are the exact moments that I live for and enjoy so much! 

After the wake of recent events both personally and globally it has really made me realise the importance of family and togetherness and how I think we need to spend more doing things that we love together and with our friends and family,.

I hope you've all enjoyed my quick little post about our little adventure today! 

Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens

Hello everybody! Welcome back! I think that I should start off saying that It has been a little while since our visit here but I ended up planning to write this but ended up getting caught up in doing things for our holiday and other projects! So here it is better late then never and I mean the pictures are just to lovely not to share! 

We ended up going with my dad, his girlfriend Sam, her son Greg and 2 of her Grandchildren Ted and Jasmine. We had the loveliest day Oliver literally didn't stop all day, he was running around the park shouting whats this and pointing at everything. He was completely in his element even having a quite big tantrum over us trying to put him back in the buggy.

As well as obviously having all the animals, the train and lots of things to do for the children they also have the most beautiful gardens. We were lucky enough that when we went everything was in full bloom! 

We also took a picnic as there are plenty of open spaces and picnic benches and it was lovely, hot and sunny to just sit down whilst the children ran around in all the space playing and having just such a lovely time together. 

All in all we had the most lovely day filled with fun and giggles. It was just so lovely to see Oliver so intrigued and interested in everything and just loving life! 

Hope you've enjoyed this quick little post! Thank you so much for reading! 

Amy 

x

Butlins! Minehead Just for Tots Review!

Butlins Minehead Just For Tots Review; Our Experience

So as some of you may know or remember me writing that we off to Butlins! on a just for tots holiday from the 1st to the 5th of May. This was our first proper holiday as a family this year so we were extremely excited to take Oliver on his first holiday! Just for tots are 4 night 5 day breaks designed for children under the age of five and we though that this would be a brilliant holiday for us to try and enjoy with Ollie it meant that we wouldn't be away for home too long and there would hopefully be plenty to do! 

Accommodation 5/5

During our stay we stayed in the Standard Apartment during our stay but unfortunately I completely forgot to take some pictures of the apartment for this post ooops|! When we booked the holiday we thought that we had only booked a standard room for the week but were pleasantly surprised to realised that we had a whole apartment for the week. As you can tell by the accommadation title it was quite basic in areas. We had 3 bedrooms which all had a built in wardrobe and a set of draws in each and the master bedroom had a added extra of a big mirror. The kitchen was pretty standard which included a cooker, microwave and plates, cutlery, cups, and tea making facilities, we were also given a little roll up of cleaning cloths and a tea towel. We also had a utilty cupboard in the hallway with a broom, dustpan and brush and ironing board and iron! We also had a living type area which had two sofas, a dining table and a tv with built in freeview. 

Food 3.5/5
I've only given the dinind the review that I have because of Oliver's allergies. We chose to add the Premium Dining package to our stay, which was breakfast in the morning and an evening meal at night, you can choose to dine at either The Deck or The Yacht Club. Breakfast I couldn't fault there was plenty of variety for both us and Oliver to have and they were also very accommodating by providing soya milk for any cereal Oliver had. Tea time however was a bit more difficult with a lot of the options for little ones containing milk so therefore Oliver was unable to have them, so for pretty much the whole week Oliver ended up eating either chips, plain pasta, sausages and salad. We also chose to dine out at one of Butlins onsite restaurants The Diner; The food and milkshakes Ben and I ordered for ourselves we could not fault! Oliver's food however was awful, we ordered him a pasta dish which was rubbery and scalding hot when it came out. We gave it the benefit of the doubt a left if for a few minutes to cool down and entertained him with some colouring whilst we waited. We then let him have some of his food which he spat back out in disgust and started screaming and grabbed his drink. So I checked his pasta again and it was still scalding hot. We tried to complain to the staff but they didn't seem to very helpful or very interested in what we had to say so we begrudgingly paid the bill and left. Although we've booked to return next year we have decided that the food packages aren't really worth the money for us due to Oliver's allergies and it feeling like he or anyone else with similar allergies to him isn't really catered for so we've decided to go with Self Catering next time.

Activities 5/5
There are so many activities and things to do on a Just for Tots break! It's just knowing what to do first! I think though I'll start off by saying that although we weren't short of anything to do or see there were a few things that Oliver couldn't do because of age restrictions. I don't think that we got around to doing everything we wanted because there is such a lot available. We ended up seeing a fair few of the skyline gang shows and the Teletubbies live show as well as attending some Art and Crafts slots, Swimming at Splash Water World and the Tots fairground although Ollie was still a bit too little to go on a few of the rides but was aloud on the little train they run and in the soft play area just to name a few. No wonder he was asleep as soon as we put him in the travel cot! 

I hope you've enjoyed my little review of our Just for Tots break! Thank you for reading! 

Oliver's 18 Month Update!

Hello Everybody! So it's time for Oliver's 18 month update! How is he 18 months already?! Literally where has that time gone! 
Well firstly we'll start with his height and weight, I have been a slightly naughty mummy and he's not been weigh since Christmas (Ooops!) or has he been measured height wise for a while! I really must put that on my to do list! But he is definitely growing well, he's never really been a chubby boy but he is definitely lanky just like his daddy! 
Routine is getting better day by day, if we're lucky we manage to get him to have a nap after lunch which at the moment has been ranging from anywhere from an hour to two! He has a bath near enough everyday as part of his bedtime routine to help him relax he'll then go down to bed at about 7 - 7.30 and we're managing anywhere between a 5 - 7.30 wake up which has been a huge improvement, I do think that Ollie starting to walk properly has been tiring him out more. 
Eating and Drinking we're quite lucky that Ollie isn't really a fussy eater he does get a bit fussy when he's teething and doesn't tend to eat much when he's cutting teeth, drinks wise we've managed to cut down to one bottle of milk for bedtime and he no longer has the dummy he's not had a dummy for about 10 months now if I'm honest. 
Teething! Where do I start?! Its all that seems to be going on at the minute! We've finally cut those pesky molars on the plus side though! We don't really give him anything when he's teething aside from calpol because of him being  lactose intolerant a lot of the teething products contain lactose.
Walking he doesn't stop when we're at home he tears about the house like roadrunner! He's not quite confident enough for walking outside at the moment, we've brought him one of those little life dinosaur backpacks with the detachable reins. We have tried taking him out around our road and up to the playing field up by our house but we only seem to get a few steps before he sits down and he tries to crawl haha! 

Oliver's speaking is coming along great as well, he seems to be coming out with new words more and more and often amazes me with what he comes out with. He's getting really good at communicating with us when he wants some things he'll pick up what he wants whether its a toy he wants us to play with him with, a DVD he wants us to put on for him or a book he wants to read and says "This" and waves it at us! 
I hope you've enjoyed Oliver's 18 month update and I'l be back soon guys!

Love Amy 

x

A Lovely Spring Day!

It's definitely been feeling a lot like spring lately! So what better time to get out and blow the cobwebs away! So we took Ben, Nanny and I took Oliver out on his trike to our local garden centre webbs! The sell just about anything you could want they also have a massive hobby craft and a lovely big park made out of logs! The sun was out and Oliver had a lovely time! I'd say he was walking about but he's not quite confident enough on his feet yet although he has been tearing around the house without even thinking! He really is absolutely full of energy and squealing with delight as daddy pushed him down the slide and I caught him at the bottom and he enjoyed it so much that he decided that It was an amazing idea to try and crawl back up to daddy! 

I really do cherish days like this especially with Ben working the long hours that he does to provide for us and its just so lovely for him to spend time with Ollie and to see them so happy together and I don't think that I could ask or wish for anything better! 

(got to love those cheeky grins and that belly flash!)

I hope you've enjoyed this little short but sweet post! 
Love Amy x