Lamb & Bear

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What is Father Christmas Bringing for Lamb?

This is the first year Lamb really understands who Father Christmas is and what he does on Christmas Eve. He flies in the sleigh, comes down the chimney, and eats a biscuit and drinks his glass of milk. It really is so magical when kids start to understand.

This year Lamb knows exactly what he wants Father Christmas to bring him. He’s sent him his list and we are regularly reminded when he sees things that remind him of what he wants.

You don’t know how many times I’ve said “well, if you’re a good boy, Father Christmas will bring it”.

I’m not one for putting a stocking at the end of beds. My parents didn’t do it, but I know my husband and his sister had Santa presents in their room. We will be wrapping Lambs presents from Santa in a different wrapping paper and leaving them in a big bag for him so he knows Santa left them for him.

Of course it will be my duty to eat the biscuit and drink the milk… the joys of being pregnant at Christmas!

So here is what’s on Lambs Christmas list.

1. I have no idea why, but Lamb has become obsessed with The Hulk. Really, I don’t know where it has come from. The Avengers isn’t something we have really introduced him to so he must have picked up his obsessed from his cousin or something. There are 2 models of The Hulk you can buy. This one has a button which make him talk etc (this is the one we have bought him, he was adamant it had to “work”, which is his way of saying he wants it to talk or make noise.

 

2. Like every other child in the world, we have a huge Paw Patrol fan in our house. Every time we’ve been to see Father Christmas at a grotto he’s asked for Paw Patrol toys. You can read our review of intu Lakeside’s grotto here where he actually got a Paw Patrol sticker book from Santa and was beyond excited! We picked up this jigsaw from Sainsburys for £2.99 – bargain!

 

3. I managed to grab these figures from Very, luckily as everything else was out of stock! Marshall and Chase are his favourite pups so I didn’t bother trying to get any of the others. As it’s his birthday in March we can buy him the rest then.

 

 

 

4. Another obsession at the moment is Fireman Sam. Finding him a toy he doesn’t have was difficult, but we found Titan
on Very and grabbed it quick. There are a couple of the less know vehicles he needs too but one is enough! I think his Auntie has got him one too so hopefully that makes him happy 🙂

 

There are a few other things on his list, like a My First Scalextric, which other family members will be getting him. He also has lots of presents from mummy and daddy which I’ll share in a separate blog post after Christmas, mainly because I can’t remember half of them and they are all wrapped up!

Ax

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Pink or Blue – Will we find out the gender?

It’s exactly one week until our 20 week scan. I’m actually 20 weeks on Sunday so will be 20+ 3 at the scan.

Finding out the gender is increasingly more popular these days and when I was pregnant with Lamb there was no question about whether we were going to find out, it was absolutely going to happen.

As a couple we were just so excited to know if we were having a son or daughter. We were seriously struggling with names so thought if we eliminated one of the genders that would be one thing less to worry about.

A few people would say “don’t you want a surprise” and I’ll be honest, that’s one of the most irritating question you can ask someone who is finding out the gender of their baby. It really annoys me. I’m finding out because I want to find out, if I wanted a ‘surprise’ I would wait. But remember, it’s a surprise in the scan too, we don’t know until then either!

This time round I did have a change of heart and felt I could wait until birth. We don’t mind what gender we are getting as long as the baby is healthy that’s all that matters. Obviously, I would love one of each, anyone would, but if I get another son as adorable as Lamb I’d be beyond happy.

Hubby desperately wants to find out, but for a while I said no.

Things changed, however, when Lamb decided it’s a boy, and keeps telling people he’s getting a brother. He’s just not old enough to understand we can’t control what gender we get! I keep telling him he might get a sister, but he just replies “no a brother”.

For this reason we have decided to find out again. I want Lamb to understand whether he’s getting a brother or sister and we can just talk about one help him understand and be prepared for the arrival.

Like with my first pregnancy we are seriously struggling with names. I have one of each that I like, but they are not 100%. We want something that sounds nice with Jaxson. I would love another name with an X!

Lamb and his sibling will be sharing a room. At the moment Lambs room has dinosaur wallpaper, which is fine for a girl, but it would be nice to plan a little area for a girl and add a few feminine touches for her, if we are having a girl of course! If it’s a boy then we have no work to do!

I’m quite an impatient person, but was willing to be strong and wait until the birth to find out the gender, but I’ll be honest and say I’m feeling quite relieved that we are finding out the now!

Finding out the gender is a personal choice to the parents and there’s no right or wrong if you find out or not. If it’s something you are thinking about don’t ask anyone else’s opinion. This will only confuse you. Go with your heart, and remember, it’s only 9 months of waiting, or 5 months of knowing, so it’s not that big a deal!

Ax

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Christmas treats from Aldi

This month my Mamia Parent Panel hamper was all things yummy and christmassy. Lots of amazing snacks and treats to keep you going over the festive period. If you’re still looking for festive food and drink, then Aldi have exactly what you need.

christmas treatsI’m sure there are many people who like to make their own christmas pudding and fruit cake, even mince pies. Well, I’m not one of those people. It’s definitely something I would buy. Aldi have introduced amazing traditional treats to their specially selected range for the Christmas period.

Doesn’t the christmas pudding look delicious?

christmas treatsEveryone loves to snack at Christmas. Aldi have on offer snacks perfect for your family and friends. Delicious beef and red wine crisps (trust me they are delicious). Sea salted mixed nuts and plenty of chocolate goodness. I was particularly excited to review this box of chocolate and sea salt fudge.

christmas snacksFor the little ones of course you need candy canes at christmas time. Aldi’s candy canes are amazing value and super yummy. Their chocolate reindeer has gone down a treat in our house!

christmas treatsAs you can see there is plenty on offer at Aldi for Christmas. Their food is amazing quality and excellent value. They have everything you need to keep your friends and family happy and full this Christmas!

Are you a fan of Aldi’s specially selected foods?

Ax

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Adapting the Nursery or Bedroom for 2

We would absolutely love to be able to give baby nmber 2 his/her own bedroom, but moving house just isn’t possible for us right now, and won’t be possible for a couple of years.

This means looking at kids bedroom ideas of how we can adapt Lambs bedroom to cater for 2 little ones.

Our house isn’t huge so the addition of a fourth member is going to be a squeeze. The kids bedroom needs to have great space saving ideas to make sure they both have everything they need in there, without it spilling into the rest of the house.

      1. 71IJ1gOxHAL._SL1500_Firstly we will be keeping our Cosatto Cot Bed for baby number 2. This is an amazing cot. Excellent quality and ideal for a small bedroom. The cot has a changing table that sits over the top, which means I won’t need our current changing table and can put that in the loft out of the way. Plus storage underneath.
      2. Mediterranean style nursery/kids room by ZIZI STUDIO Magdalena LatosLamb will be upgrading to a bunk bed. We’ve spotted one in Ikea that can be flipped so it’s a normal bed or a bunk. When baby number 2 is big enough, they can have the bottom bunk and we will save space by getting rid of the cot bed.
      3. We will keep toys to a minimum. I know this may sound crazy, kids have toys and lots of them, but we will need to be strict. We have a few toys left from when Lamb was a baby that we can give to baby number 2, and as he/she grows up they will be able to play with more of Lambs toys. Any extra toys can be kept in the cellar and brought out every now and then.
      4. We will need extra storage for clothes, toiletries and nappies etc. Luckily Lamb only wears nappies at night now so we don’t need many for him anymore. Toiletries can be used for both children, Lamb still uses lots of stuff suitable for newborns. Things like towels can be shared, we don’t need extra ones for baby number 2. I think one of the Kallax storage units from Ikea will be ideal. I can buy baskets for each section to hold clothes, toys and toiletries.
      5. Baby number 2 will be in our room as long as possible! When Lamb was a baby we moved him not his own room at 3 months. You may think this is quite early, but we had to live with my in laws while we had our kitchen refitted and he ended up sleeping in a travel cot because he hated the moses basket. We lived there for a month, so he got used to the extra space in the cot, there was no way he would go back to a moses when we moved back home. This time round I’d love a Snuzpod for Modern nursery/kids room by Carolina Burin Arquitetura Ltdababy number 2 and have them next to me until at least 6 months. This way Lamb can have his room to himself a little longer and we can take our time reorganising the space.
      6. More shelves! We don’t have any shelves on the walls at the moment, but I think once there’s 2 of them sharing we may need to look into having some shelves on the walls for extra storage. I really like these shelves and would love something similar to this.

 

Those are just a few things I’ve been thinking about on ways to adapt Lambs bedroom to fit two kiddies! Do your children share a room? I’d love to see photos of how you’ve designed the room, or any tips you have on space saving etc.

Ax

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Top 5 Reasons Why We Should Have a Home Phone

We haven’t had a home phone for years. Why? Because the connection broke and we never bothered fixing it. We both have mobiles (as do most people these days) so we didn’t ever have the urgency to fix the house phone.

Recently I’ve been thinking about the importance of home phones, one reason being my husband always has his mobile on silent and if he doesn’t have it in his pocket at home he doesn’t always pick up, and that really bugs me!

Here are 5 reasons why I think it’s important to have a house phone.

  1. Mobiles run out of battery. If you’re like me, you’ll run your battery into the ground before you bother to charge it again. So I’m always without a phone for an hour or so most evenings.
  2. Mobile phone numbers are long. When Lamb is older I want to know he can remember a number to call me on. If he is out locally and we have a house phone, he only needs to remember 6 digits to get in touch with me, rather than the 11 digits of my mobile number.
  3. Home phones are cheap. You can get great deals locally and even internationally. If you have a family member living abroad you will both save money if you call each other from home phones.
  4. If you have a power cut your home phone will still work! Mobiles won’t charge, but at least you can make calls if you need to in emergencies.
  5. Most of us pay for line rental for our broadband service, so we might as well have a home phone!

So there’s my top 5 reasons why we should all have a home phone.

For a bit of fun here’s a list of the greatest ‘Hello’ songs form the last few decades.

Do you still have a home phone? We are hoping to get ours fixed soon and get it back up and running in the new year.

Click here to take a look at the other posts on my top 5 series.

Ax

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