Baby Tips - Sleep

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Last month I became an Aunty for the very first time, its so exciting. Baby A is absolutely gorgeous and I knew as soon as I saw my little nephew I would become all broody and want another baby. I love babies and I would have lots if I could but for now I am going to concentrate on being the best Aunty ever.
When you hold a new baby you can never remember your own being 'that small'. Little J looked huge compared to Baby A and it made me smile because it really wasn't that long ago that he was just a baby.
 
I started thinking back to the first few days we brought little J home. He was such a good baby and was never any trouble at all really. He was such a routined baby right from the start, he loved his sleep. Thinking back I know that made the first few months so much easier than we could ever of hoped for. 
 When we had big J almost 13 years ago now we didn't really have a clue what we were doing. He had no routine really and because we were working, trying to save for a house we used to try and squeeze in as much time as possible so we didn't miss out seeing him. 
Looking back now it was a tough time with very little sleep but we did okay and he did grow out of it eventually. 
I think being a parent for the second time you do learn from your mistakes and we made sure with little J that we were well prepared.
Here are a few things we used. Although he was a perfect little sleeper I'm sure these helped get him in to a routine and have full nights sleep .

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Big J Trys An Experience Prize Thanks To Weetabix

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Weetabix and Red Nose Day have teamed up to offer 9 amazing experience prizes in their pick a nose competition. Big J is lucky to be trialling one of the prizes that is on offer.
Big J was chosen to trial the Karate Konk training experience. The prize is 3 months Karate lessons plus a full years karate membership.
Once we had found a karate club that was close to home we were ready to join. The classes run for 1 hour and there are different sessions depending on ability. Big J is a beginner as he has never done Karate before.

 
We arrived as requested 20-30 minutes before the session started. Big J filled out his registration forms. He was shown the time table of different classes available. There was karate, kung fu and kickboxing. Big J chose kickboxing.


There was a shop on site for selling everything you might need. There was so much choice.

Once we had signed up we were shown around and big J starts next week. he is really looking forward to it. He has never shown an interest in anything like this before but after having a look round he is really keen and excited.

There are so many amazing experiences to be won on the Pick Your Nose competition, this is just one of them.

You could also win a trip to a Planetarium, The Zoo or The Aquarium plus more and there is also a mystery prize.

All you need to do to enter is buy a special pack of Weetabix and enter the unique code here for your chance to win. Also Weetabix will donate 5p from every pack to Comic Relief, helping people across the UK and Africa. 

Make sure you keep an eye out for more posts about big J's karate experience.
*we were asked to trial the above prize in return for a blog post. All thoughts and any opinions are our own*
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Early Morning Fun In The Park

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 Trying to get a soon to be teen out of bed on a Sunday morning can be nightmare so we usually have to wake big J up 30 minutes before he actually needs to be up. I usually give him a nudge and then ten minutes later another nudge and then usually on the 3rd and final nudge he will eventually get out of bed. I think theres nothing better than waking bright and early on a Sunday morning and heading out to the local park. Once big J was up and dressed, we wrapped up warm and off we went. 

Little J was very good and put on his all in one on and even his hat, which is a first. He usually takes it off within seconds of it going on his head. Also big J wore his coat. Sounds a silly thing to say but for whatever reason big J hates wearing a coat and somehow thinks that a tee and a hoody is suitable when its -2 degrees outside.

We have quite a few parks local to us but we decided to go further afield to Sherdley Park. Its not too far. We left the pram at home and brought little J's bike instead just incase he got tired.

As soon as we got there little J was desperate to get out the car. He loves being outside, we all do. The ball and the bike came along too and for the first half of our walk we kicked the ball up and down the hills. Little J was really good on his feet today. Sometimes he can be very wobbly and fall over but he was almost running down hills and his balance was perfect.

Big J however wasn't so good on his feet, he fell over a few times which I think was on purpose just so he could roll down the hills. Little J thought it was hilarious although I was panicking incase he rolled in dog poo.

Little J went on bike and we went on a walk next right round the park. We walked past the farm which was closed, but we saw some chickens, goats and donkeys. 

We came to a huge mud hill on our walk which Daddy and big J had to climb up. I think little J wanted to climb up too.

There is a play area in Sherdley Park, the boys had a go on the swings, slides and big J had a climb on the climbing frame. 


















When we got to the play area I started to feel the cold so we didn't stay too long. I'm really looking forward to warmer days. I love being out and about. Most of our adventures don't cost anything. We always take a packed lunch and plenty of drinks. In the summer we will buy ice creams and little treats but for days like today we didn't spend a penny. I always find these days the best. All we needed was a ball and a play area and we had lots of fun, lots of laughs and quality family time together.



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Project 365 Days 54-60

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I hope everyone had a nice week last week. We did and as usual it went by so fast so I'm glad I was able to take a few photos to remind us of the week we just had.
54/365 - Little J really wanted to go in the garden so we wrapped up warm and headed out. Theres not a lot to do out there yet but he seemed to have lots of fun pulling bits out of our garden box. 

55/365 - Big J is starting kick boxing so we visited tonight to sign up and prepare for next week.

 
56/365 - My blog has had a makeover and I absolutely love it. Thanks to Jade Marshall Design

57/365 - Daddy and big J went to see Everton play tonight. They won 3-1 so it was smiles all round.

58/365 - Little J looks forward to his big brother coming home from school.

59/365 - Little J has started to enjoy playing with water in his kettle making cups of tea for Mummy

60/365 - We headed out bright and early to Sherdley Park today. Lots of football an running up and down hills.

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Our February Monthly Review Round Up

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I know February is only a short month but I just feel like its flew by so quickly. It doesn't seem like a month ago since I was writing my January Review Round Up. This month we have been trying out some products that I hope you will like as much as we do.
Top of our review roundup this month is something we were all very excited about. We had the chance to have a listen to Justin Fletcher - Just Party before it is released. We are huge fans of Justin and have been since big J was little. I can't believe just how great he is with the kids and he has so many shows on cbeebies - little J loves him.
So last week we popped Justins album on in the car and all four of us couldn't help but sing along. The first track Just Party is a new track and it is really fun and little J loves it. He spins around the room dancing to it. Its a real get up and dance party track.
I wasn't too sure whether Justin would be any good singing Let It Go but he does a pretty good job. 
The highlight was The Macarena were Justin has changed the words to sing about getting ready for a party. Its catchy and its lots of fun. 
Overall the album is really good. There are 19 tracks in total and we didn't skip one. Its had us all singing along and little J has been dancing all week.
The album is definitely one for Justin fans, the kids will love it.
Just Party is available to buy from March 2nd or you can preorder now HERE
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I'm not a big fan of giving little J a bath, I do it if I absolutely have to otherwise its Daddy's job. I panic if little J starts to stand up incase he slips and although he's having fun splashing around and pretending to swim I am having a panic attack incase he goes under the water for too long. Also I have the worst judgement on how hot/cold the bath should be. I am more than happy sitting in a cool bath myself but sometimes I make it just that little bit too cold for little J. 
This month we have being trying out the very cute Brother Max Ray Bath and Room Thermometer. It does exactly what it says in the title. Ray displays the temperature of both the bath or room on its LCD screen display. 
The ideal temperature for a bath is 37 degrees and if Ray reaches a temperature of 39 degrees the display blinks HOT
As a room thermometer the ideal temp is 19 degrees. Ray displays both ideal temperatures on his display for your information.
Little J loves Ray in the water and will swish him about so he doubles a bath toy too, well he does for us anyway.
For more information on Ray and the other products available from Brother Max you can click here to visit their website.
I have teamed up with Brother Max to offer my readers the chance to win a Ray Bath and Room Digital Thermometer so make sure you check out my competitions page HERE.
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We were sent a My Buddy Box to try out this month and I can honestly say I love it. More and more shops are now charging for carrier bags and whilst I don't mind paying the odd few pence for a bag, it just annoys me that I always forget to bring one of the hundreds I have at home. I do try and recycle the carrier bags and use them again but I am rubbish at remembering to keep a few in the car.
On a recent shopping trip I brought the My Buddy Box and popped it in the car. It folds up to the size of a folder or small laptop case but when you open it, its a huge big box. Perfect for popping in your shopping.
It can be used for loads of things really but for me its going to stay in the car and stop me from bringing home more carrier bags that I don't need.
To find out more about My Buddy Box you can visit the website here.
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With Mother's Day approaching I thought I would include this beautiful heart shaped photo frame as a gift idea. 
The frame can hold 7 photographs, 3 hold size 3x3ins photographs and 4 hold 3x2.5ins photographs.
The heart design just makes it extra special and it would be perfect to fill the frame with special memories, maybe photos of the children or grandchildren.
This would make a perfect present for any Mummy out there. 
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*we were sent the above items to try, all thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own*
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