Making Time For Us

This post isn't about what you would think it would be about with a title like that. If I saw that title I would think it was about a couple, but this post isn't about Mr C and I, it is indeed about me and my eldest son Finley.

He will be off to school in September and however much I know he is ready and how excited he is, I still get a lump in my throat thinking about it. My first born is off to school and I'm excited with him but I am also so very sad. And as that day looms ever closer I have started to think about savoring time and making time for him. Now that is pretty hard when I'm a mum of two as I can't just hand Noah off to someone or put him in the corner while I concentrate on Finley. If anything Noah gets more of my attention and time as Finley is at preschool, and even when he's home Noah being the second child is a lot more demanding than Finley is. So I find myself trying to please Noah because the melt down that follows is just not worth the hassle sometimes and it would bring the whole day down.

But saying that I need to dedicate more of my time to Finley because come September our mornings together will be rushed, our late afternoon/evenings will be teatime & then bed which only leaves the weekend which makes me sad. And makes me question have I done enough, was I enough?

Every Friday Noah goes off to preschool and I get a day with Finley. I do try my best to do as many fun and Finley dedicated things as I can but it comes down to money. We don't have an endless supply of money and the money we do have we try to spend on family days out as a 4. But I do like to treat Finley as much as I can on a Friday and not fill those days with boring food shopping and jobs which is so much easier with a 4 year old than they are with a 2 year old or with both. 

I want to make the most of my time with Finley be it on his own or with Noah and I want to make this summer the best yet, but am I setting myself up for a fall? When we want something so amazing and with such high expectation are we inevitably ensuring it won't live up to it as daily life gets in the way and so does the British weather? 

I feel I need to get down on the floor and do more puzzles and play more games because soon he will be too tired, grumpy or just not want to because he did that at school. I need to make more time for Finley and I do my very best but housework keeps drawing me in and I need to give it the brush off as this saying is oh so true.

The ever looming reality of school runs, going to work, pick ups and homework is getting closer and I'm feeling the time slipping through my fingers. Non school days with my first born, that was that tiny precious bundle just nearly 5 years ago is slipping away and I feel like I'm grappling to stay afloat to make the most of the time we have before it's taken & replaced with weekends and school holidays. 

"Mum..." - Book Review

We love books in our house and always read one before bed, sometimes two or three. As the boys have got older their attention span to books have got longer which has meant we can read longer and more in depth story books. I was asked by Morty Sey and Scott Chegg if we would be interested in reviewing their first book "Mum...." and we jumped at the chance. I loved the idea of the book as it sounded like our lives.

The book arrived and I loved the cover, it is bright, simple and very attractive to little ones eyes. Since receiving the book we have read it a lot as the boys love it, and so do I.

I don't want to give the end of the book away but the story is about a Mum getting ready in the morning to go to school and all the obstacles that get in the way. Every scenario has happened to me at least once in my time as a Mummy and this is why I loved this book so much, it was real life.

The illustrations are great and very clear, explaining the story brilliantly. The pages are great quality and ones that mean the book can be read over and over again, like ours has, and it won't wear. Every page has different eye popping colours which kept the interest of the boys and throughout the book is the word "Mum" which is obviously a word the boys are very familiar with!

Morty and Scott have caught the essence of motherhood in the mornings brilliantly and the book ends in a brilliant fashion that has made me and the boys laugh again and again.

Every parent should read this book, Mum or Dad, as it goes to show that however dreadful our mornings can be, there is another parent out there having one too!

* We were sent this book by Morty Sey and Scott Chegg to review and all opinions are 100% my own.*

Sunny Days, Family and Fitness - What Made Me Happy This Week

This week has been a bit of a strange one as my best friend has been on her holidays so I have felt like a little lost lamb lol! But this has meant that my house is incredibly tidy and we have had some chilled out days. I am not great at being by myself for too long so while Mr C is at work I am so used to having her up the road or at the end of the phone to chat about random stuff, and to snapchat!! 

Our week has still been lovely and I have even managed to start my tan off for the summer!

1. Courgetti spaghetti. This may seem like a random one to start off on but I have been meaning to try it for ages and to get Mr C to try it too, and we did last weekend. It was yummy! I made it into a carbonara which went down a treat so will definitely be appearing on the menu again soon.

2. Water fights. With the weather being so warm there was only one thing for it and it was to get the warm guns out. We were sent a Nurf one (review coming soon) so I got Noah a little one as I knew there would be fights over just the one. They had a ball and loved it, the best way to cool down! They even got all the adults wet too which I didn't complain about while going lobster red in the sun! We even got the paddling pool out before the rain hit, fingers crossed we can have more fun in it soon.

3. A wedding reception. Mr C and I got to dress up a bit for a wedding reception on Sunday evening. The weather was glorious and we had a lovely time.

4. Mummy and Noah time. We have managed to have quite a bit of us time this week which has been lovely. We have taken a few strolls to the park, and I mean strolls as he walks at a snails pace and been to see the swans and their signets (I didn't get a picture as one started to walk towards me and I freaked!)

5. Time with my Nan. This has got to be one of the best things about our house move, being so close to my Nan. She is now a 15 minute drive down the road and on Thursday after dropping Mr C at the train station we went and spent the afternoon with her. We had a very hot and sticky walk/cycle along the common near her house and the boys picniced in her garden for tea.

6. CrossFit and running. I am loving exercise at the minute, I have caught the bug and I love it. I have been out running most days this week and I even got to a CrossFit session thanks to my Nan watching the boys for me. I am feeling so much better about myself having exercised and knowing my chocolate in the evening has been earnt.

7. A girly night. On Saturday night I headed over to a friend were she fancied my toes up for me (she's an amazing nail technician) and we drank cider while catching up and making plans for future months.

Just Another Linky #59

Welcome to week 59 of Just Another Linky with myself and Beth at Life As Mum. This is the place to link up any post, old or new, that you are really proud of and would like to share with others. We have a great selection of link up's each week so all topics and subjects are welcome.

I love the little community that we have growing with #justanotherlinky, thank you to everyone for showing the blogging love as that is what the linky is all about.

This week has been a pretty quiet one for us with lots of time at home with housework and work to be done. We have spent a lot of time in the garden with the sun shining as we have to make the most of this glorious weather. 

Now onto the linky. We have been finding some posts haven't been getting any comment love so we have added in a new rule that I hope everyone is ok with, I have highlighted it in orange. Thank you! 

Meet your hosts

Me - Kirsty - Something Crunchy Mummy - @crunchy_mummy

 

 

Beth - Life-As-Mum - @lifeasmumblog

Here are just a few linky rules:

• No more than 2 posts a week - Please please please! There have been some people linking up more than this, please stick to just the 2 so it is fair on everyone.

• Comment on the hosts posts and the post before yours, more if you can. This is just to ensure everyone gets a comment.

• New or old posts welcome.

• Grab the badge below so everyone knows where to find us.

Feel free to tweet your post, along with the hashtag #justanotherlinky, mentioning me @crunchy_mummy and Beth @lifeasmumblog and we will retweet.

By linking up to this linky you are giving Beth & Kirsty the right to copy one of your photos if you are chosen for the Favourite Post of the week.

We are open every Saturday from 12am until Monday at 11:55pm.

This weeks Favourite Post

My favourite post this week was by Kaye over at Hello Archie with her Ordinary Moments post. I loved it as family is so important to me too so I really agreed with Kaye.
 

** GRAB THE BADGE **

 

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An InLinkz Link-up

Empty Threats

The boys are both at that age that they are acting up and being a little bit naughty which means they are needing to be told off. We don't have the naughty step or the being sent to their bedroom as it hasn't worked for us so we are still trying to find what works best for us so that they learn. The one thing we do do is threaten them with things such as no pudding or that we wont go to the park. The problem with this is I am not all that good at following through with my threats.

If they are acting up at the table or not eating their tea then I will tell them that if they don't start behaving they won't have pudding. This is one of main ones that I am rubbish with as I normally give in as I would rather not deal with the huge tantrum that will come with no pudding.

The other problem is threatening them with something that benefits us as well as them, like play dates. If we have a planned play date and they are misbehaving and fighting with each other I will threaten that we won't be going to the play date. The only thing is the play date benefits me as I get to talk to another human and I get to drink HOT tea as the kids will be off playing. And also I don't like to let people down, so if we have plans I don't normally cancel them unless we are poorly.

The park threat is also one that I use quite often but again the park benefits me. It gets us out the house and away from the confided space of the house and gets us some fresh air. I also get to have a sit down while they run off some energy.

Mr C is always telling me to stop threatening things I won't go through with because they know that I won't go through with it, and he is right as they already know.

But I am getting better as the other day Finley was acting up on his scooter and riding into things and just generally being a pain so I said if he carried on I would take it away. He carried on as he usually does so I took away the scooter. We had a melt down, and we had tears but I stuck to my guns and took the scooter off him and carried it. The tantrum was almighty and people looked at me but I needed to stand my ground. When he was due to have it back I asked him not to stand on our gas box outside the house, and because his friend was there he was showing off and kept doing it. So he didn't get his scooter back to go up to tennis. This is something I stuck to and really do hope it made him realise, even if it was just for that one day, that he needs to listen or there will be consequences.

The other thing is when you start something that then turns into a tantrum and because it is then a tantrum you can't go back on your word. This happened at playgroup with Noah the other day. He is very fond of his muslin which comes everywhere with us but I don't like him to run around playing while holding onto it as it gets dragged on the floor and then he sucks it. So I took it away and he shouted and screamed, where at the point it would have been easier to give it back, but because he was tantruming I couldn't. Because if I did he would think he could throw an tantrum and get his own way. This lasted a good 10 minutes but he finally realised he was better off going to go and play.

The other hard thing with once I have gone through with whatever threat it was and the tantrum has ensued is the looks and comments from a few. Just the other day Finley was throwing the strop of all strops and a man turned to me and said 'Oh hes's a bit loud!', had I not been dealing with the tantrum he would have got a few choice words from me.

It's the silly threats that I say while with friends that I have to then go along with because we are in company. Which cause tears and tantrum over something so silly. I don't want to seem weak which sounds utterly silly as they are 2 & 4!!

I really do need to start following through with all of my threats so that the boys know that if they do something wrong or don't listen to me that there will be consequences. This is just terribly hard when they are in the midst of a toddler tantrum! 

Butter wouldn't melt hey?!

Roarsome Dressing Up Capes From Tickled Pink Fancy Dress

My two like most children love to dress up. They have brilliant imaginations and can make any situation a game, and every time they dress up they have a new imaginary scenario going on. I think the boys can never have too much dressing up outfits so when I was contacted my Tickled Pink Fancy Dress and asked if we would be interested in trying out their new animal capes I just knew the boys would love them.

The parcel turned up just the next day and I couldn't wait to open it with them so they could get dressing up. The capes that they sent us were green dinosaur ones which were brilliant for the boys as they spend most their days running around the house roaring at each other, these capes would just make it more life like to them!

They are brilliant and not your average capes. They have a hood for the dinosaurs face and it has a tail, not just an ordinary tail a full on filled tail and silver spikes from the head to the tail. We were sent two sizes, one 18 - 36 months and one 4 - 8 years. The sizes were just right for the boys and even with Noah turning 3 in less than 2 months this is going to fit him for some time yet. There are holes in the sides of the capes so the boys can put their arms so they can really get into the role of dinosaur without having the keep moving their arms out from under the cape, brilliant idea. The only thing I would say is the holes are a little on the small size. At the moment they are ok but it the boys want to wear them with a jumper I think they will struggle to get their arms through.

On the hood there is eyes, spikes as I said above and teeth. The hoods fit perfectly on the boys heads and aren't too big that they fall over their eyes or small that they don't stay up. They are washable on a 40 degree wash which is a must with children.

The capes have been worn every day since they arrived and I think this will continue for some time. I believe dress up and make believe in children is so important for their development and play.

The dinosaur capes retail on Tickled Pink Fancy Dress's website for £22.99 and I think this is great value as they are a fantastic product and very durable.

The boys think they are 'Roarsome'!!

* We were sent two dinosaur capes from Tickled Pink Fancy Dress. All opinions are 100% my own. *

A Girly Day, Seaside Fun & Family Time - What Made Me Happy This Week

The past week has flown by but it in all honesty has been an awesome week. We have all had so much fun and a bit of time to recoupe which has been much needed.

- Sorting out our garden. We finally got around to sorting the corner of our garden that was a little neglected. We went to a local nursery with my Nan and chose some plants that were low maintenance but that would also make the garden look pretty. After a tea and cake break we even planted them so that they weren't just hanging around.

- Completing another 10k with a PB. On Sunday I ran a 10k race with my running club and competed it with a new personal best time of 55 minutes and 31 seconds, I was pretty proud but also pretty knackered. 

- Having my Dad over for the day. After my race on Sunday we had my Dad and his partner over for the afternoon, after a cuppa we headed on out to show them the area as they haven't been here properly since we moved it. We had a lovely walk finished with an ice cream and then pizza at home - perfect!

- The Duck Race. On Monday as it was Bank Holiday we headed to a Duck Race which we have never been to before and I don't know why, it was great. So much for the boys to see and do and they loved watching all the ducks for down the river and tried to spot ours.

- Mummy time. With the boys at Nana and Dandan's I went out for a shopping day with my best friend on Wednesday. Her little girl was having the day with her Grandad so it was literally just us and the shops - pure bliss. The conversation flowed and we shopped until we dropped, we even had a cheeky drink with our lunch as we were child free.

- The boys having a holiday.My Mother-in-law picked the boys up on Tuesday lunchtime and took them to her house by the seaside for a few days. From the moment they left I felt lost but they had the most awesome time, they went to the park and swam in the sea. Everything two little boys dreams are made of, and lots of ice cream and lots of love!

- Fun at the seaside. I went to pick the boys up on Thursday and I got down there about lunchtime. As the sun was shining we decided to spend the day there and head home after bath time to make the most of the weather.

- Garden fun. The boys are at an age now that they love playing games so on Saturday we go Twister out and played it in the garden. We were very lucky and on Friday the sun shone for us so we spent most of the day in the garden jumping on the trampoline and playing all the new garden games Mr C had sources on Amazon.

- Movie night. We hadn't yet had a movie night in the new house so we did on Monday, we had popcorn and sweets while watching The Peanut Movie.