My Wild Ones // Donut Date 🍩🍩

So the weather has been so yucky this week that our adventures have largely involved using and abusing our monthly pass at Wacky.

Saturday we headed to IKEA to check out big boy beds - I know seriously what were we thinking!? Luckily for once the toddler was plied with snacks and juice and stayed in the trolley seat.

As a special treat (and in truth since I'd been craving them all week - are post-partum cravings a thing?) we stopped in at Krispy Kremes.

The toddler always loves watching them being made on the production line and now that his vocab is growing he was able to explain some of the processes 'cooking mummy', 'hot mummy' etc

He selected his choice whilst we shared some of the free, fresh hot original ones. He chose a chocolate ring with extra chocolate sprinkles on top and I deviated from my usual choice of chocolate sprinkles for a caramel iced ring. The Belgian wanted originsl , as usual, despite the fact they were giving them out for free. The toddler took one bite of his and quickly rejected it so I guess he is going go be a vanilla kind of guy too.

And the spare donut? Well...I'll leave you to work that out for yourselves!

Saturday Snapshot // Ice-cream farm family shot

Reasons why this photo reflects us right now:

• mummy looking a bit exhausted ( newborns will do that to you) but very pleased to be indulging in a rocky road sundae
• toddler choosing the 'boo' bubblugum ice-cream and then barely eating it
• daddy winding the toddler up with his 'hipster' beard looking a bit unkempt

My Wild Ones // You cannot be cereal!

One of my goals this year is to use my big camera more and capture plenty of special and everyday moments of my two bubbies whilst they are young. So when I found this wild ones linky over at Make, Do and Push I decided I had found the perfect motivation for me.

In the constant battle against binge watching Paw Patrol on Netflix I am always looking for quick and easy activities to help to increase the Toddler's attention span and keep him occupied whilst I am busy feeding and tending to Baby Girl. I think I saw this idea on pinterest and was pleased that we had everything in the house already.

I love the look of concentration as he threads the cheerios onto the spaghetti. It also helps his fine motor skills too - win win! Please excuse the messy background - it was an impromtu exercise and so I didn't stage the backdrop and a lack of storage means lots of piles. Another goal for 2016 - get organised, Is there a linky for that?

Till next week!

Friday finds

Things I've enjoyed online this week:

1) I loved the honesty in this post by Elise about her struggle with postpartum depression. I never experienced this but I know many friends who were guilty of googling all of the symptoms and diagnosing their babies with all kinds of awful diseases.

2) I love Mandi's dolls house as it reminds me of my obsession with dolls houses when I was younger. I used to love making little fruit platters and ice-cream sundaes out of fimo and little pieces of furniture. Sadly my mom got rid of it when they moved house, but its definitely a future project now I have a baby girl. But seriously my efforts didn't compare to Mandi's attention to detail - it seriously is the most stylish dolls house around.

3) I loved reading Alison's tips on newborn photography. I always think everyone else seems to have a great eye and so it was good to get some tips on how to capture cute pics.

4) Now I'm on maternity leave and the rain won't stop I'm constantly scouring Pinterest for ideas. This article has 23 ideas for activities to do with a toddler on a rainy day. I especially love the rainbow rice - watch this space!

5) And lastly I love this man and I love Adele so what could be better than them meeting and jamming for a session of carpool karaoke? Check it out on YouTube.

Ellis' 2015 highlights and favourites...

Favourite games: hide and seek (tou ALWAYS hides behind the curtain), you  also loves nothing more than being chased and tickled and wrestling with daddy.

Favourite activities: puzzles (you are obsessed with jigsaw puzzles and are so good at them), playing with brio or cars.

Favourite songs: jingle bells (especially the HEY part!), five little monkeys jumping on the bed (we play this in the bath with your bath toys), sleeping bunnies, twinkle twinkle little star.

Favourite films: Mickey's Christmas (in December you watched this at least every other day), Cars.

Favourite cartoons: Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, Uumi zummi, Pokoyo, Mickey Mouse clubhouse and Thomas and friends on YouTube.

Favourite books: Acorn Farm lift the flap books, Cars book, Peppa pig books, Patch of Black and his Disney Encyclopaedia - recently I told you you could chose one last story before bed and so you brought this over to me. Cunning!

Favourite colour: Boo

Best buddies: Nancy, Annabel, Big Ellis and Asher.

Favourite drink: milk and juice. You are still obsessed with your bottle and used to call milk 'mil mil' now you pronounce it 'melk' like a South African.

Favourite foods: pasta and cheese, sausages, cucumber, toast, porridge, chips, garlic bread, fish fingers green beans and Yorkshire puddings.

Favourite snacks: popcorn, kinder eggs, pineapple, crisps.

Favourite days out: Harlow Carr, any kind of soft play, St.Ives park, Blackpool, Royal Armouries.

Favourite things to do on mummies day off: library, local park, Asda Cafe, Play Barn, play dates with Annabel, Nancy and Huxley.

Favourite words: kitchen, Rara (grandad), yes please, goal, football, Mia (we decided her name based on what he could pronounce), hiya, bye, mummy, daddy, you love to do all the animal noises, car, tree, no, crying, baby.

First sentence: 'where's this go?' When doing puzzles. And ' I don't know' accompanied by throwing your hands in the air.

Countries visited: Wales, Majorca, Belgium, France and Holland. 

Favourite animal: next doors cat, lions, donkeys and monkeys.

Best feature: your killer smile and big brown eyes. You are irresistible.

Favourite outfit: Star Wars vans, baseball cap in the summer and surfer style shorts, Chinos and Fair aisle sweater in winter. You wear a lot of Gap, Zara, H&M and supermarket brands.

Favourite sights: Eiffel Tower, Blackpool illuminations.

 

We feel extremely blessed to have such a charismatic, playful, lively, affectionate, perceptive and self-assured little boy. You made us parents and we've learnt so much from you. Here's to the next 16 years...