Toddlerhood Is Looming

Today Layla turned 18 months old, she is stuck inbetween the realm of baby and toddler, perhaps a boddler?? Growing way too fast, I have those terrible two's to look foward to in the not so distant future.

The past few months seem to have flown by in a massive whirlwind. Layla has definitely been the most "difficult" shall we say, leaving a mess of toys as she passes by you. She is one cheeky little monkey that can do no wrong her sisters eyes, I end up being the one told off if I try and tell her not to do something. She bit Gracie the other day, extremely naughty but Freya and Elise could be heard saying it wasn't her fault, she doesn't know any better, mmmmm.

Her favourite words of recent days have been no and when she is naughty she will come up to you and say aaawwww, her little way of saying sorry. Oh and everyone is called Freya, doesn't matter who you are or whether you are a girl or a boy, your name will be Freya.

She may be little but she has the biggest smile and she manages to entertain us at all times with her unique personality. A little dare devil who fears nothing.

I've been looking back through all of the photos on my phone and I can't get over just how much she has changed in such a small space of time. The only thing that hasn't really changed is the amount of hair on her head

Jar of Words

One of my goals for this year is to spend more time with my children and if you read my post last week about my word of the week, you will know that I am keen to create more lasting memories with my children.

I took on the challenge at the begininning of the year to join in with project 365, taking a picture every day of the year, well actually I am taking atleast one as I am trying to get images of all my children each day. The trouble is that a photo can only capture so much and I think sometimes words can mean more.

Just before new year, an image popped up on Facebook, it basically said to write down something that happens each day, whether it be something funny said, an achievement made, whatver you like. Once you have written it down, fold it up and pop it in a jar.

So I decided to take on this challenge too. I mean with photos to look and words to read surely my poor not working brain will be able to remember atleast some of what we have done by the time the year ends.

I have a pad of paper and a pen in my bedroom and at the end of the day I sit and think about what has gone on and what stood out in the day for me. I write the date on each one so I can remember exactly when the moment occurred.

Disney's Frozen Made Me Cry

On Saturday Layla got a rare afternoon with Daddy Hazelden and I treated my eldest three daughter's to a trip to the cinema to watch Disney's latest film Frozen, ok I admit it was a treat for me too because I love love love Disney films.

Good old Dover cinema is always a bargain day out, it cost me a tiny £13 for all us to watch the film, the nice man was kind enough to let Gracie go for free, it was that butter wouldn't melt look that did it!! I mean just look at these faces :

I had heard so many good things about this film and being made by the same people that produced Tangled (which is also amazing), I was eager to see if it lived up to the hype.

Baby Clothing, How Big?

My cousin and I were having a discussion the other day about baby clothing and just how silly the sizings are, just a bad as the adult clothes really. 0-3 months clothes can sometimes be virtually the same size as some 3-6 month clothes, no wonder it takes our little ones so long to move on to the next size up!!

This doesn't just apply to shop bought baby clothing though. Oh no, I have quite a few knitted items made by my lovely Nannie that are definitely bigger than what the patterns say they should be.

I was looking back through some of Layla's baby photos and had a little chuckle when I kept noticing the same little pink knitted cardigan, you wouldn't know that it was one of my favourite items of baby clothing ;)

Here are two photos. The first one below is of Layla when she wass around 9 months old wearing the ever so lovely pink cardigan.

The second photo is of a not so little Layla from last weekend when she was just shy of 16 months old, still wearing that pink cardigan. The difference now is that she no longer needs to have the sleeves rolled up and it is the right length for her body.

I really love the fact that we have mananged to get so much wear out of this cardigan because I feel a lot of time I spend a lot of money on baby clothing for it to be grown out of in next to no time, I know I have had items in the past that still have the tags on because my girls grown before they have had the chance to wear it!!

 Are there items of baby clothing that your children have managed to wear for a substantial amount of time?

xxxx

Mummy Cuddles

Ok to a lot of people this won't seem like anything special however I think one of those great moments as a parent is when you get a nice big cuddle off your child, you just can't beat the feeling it gives you. If you are feeling a little down, a cuddle is just the pick me up you need.

As my kids keep getting older (how do we stop that?), there seems to be a distinct lack of cuddles, even from my youngest daughter.

Since Layla learnt to move, she is not content unless she is roaming around doing something, so sitting on mummy's lap for more than a few seconds is not top of her agenda.

So yesterday when I was sat on the sofa and Layla came over and said "up", I won't lie, I was more than a little happy.

That cheeky monkey below made my day, I think we have to make the most of these little moments because soon enough it will be way too embarassing to be cuddling mummy.

Do your children still enjoy a good cuddle with you??

xxxx

Letter to Santa

Have you noticed all the Christmas adverts appearing on the TV and the numerous amount of toy adverts? Queue the start of a lot of "I wants" from the kids!!!

So I thought it was about time that the girls wrote their letters to Santa. Elise and Freya wrote their own letters whilst Nannie helped Gracie write hers and I has a good guess at what Layla might like for Christmas.

The lists weren't too long and I think they may even get some of the things they've asked for if Santa thinks they've been good enough.

The question is will they get a reply from Santa?? Have your children written their letters to Santa yet?

xxxx

Sliding The Time Away

Whenever you ask the kids what they want to do, their first response is always, "go to the park", not just any park though the park with the silver slide!!!

Both myself and Daddy Hazelden have fond memories of this park from our own child hood, so I think it is nice that we have been able to share this with the kids.

As you can see from the picture to the left, this isn't a small slide.

It takes the girls a while just to climb the stairs and reach the top.

However, coming back down takes next to no time, especially if you don't hold on and bring your feet in the air.

It has become a competition recently as to who can go down it the fastest and whether you can reach the end of the slide.

Infact my kids have turned into daredevils, sliding on just their bums is boring, no they no go on their tummies, their backs, head first.

Elise only yesterday came sliding down on her feet instead of her bum, my heart was in my mouth!!!

What I love is that it is something that we can all join in with, Gracie has gained a lot of confidence on this slide because we first started bringing them, she would only go down on Daddy's lap and now she goes down all by herself just as fast as her sister's.

First we have Freya

Then Elise

Bring up the rear is Gracie

Oh and even Layla gets in on the action, on Daddy's lap of course

I think the park is one of the original and best ways to spend a day together as a family, it is free and fun, what more could you want?

Do any of you have fond memories of certain parks you went to as a child, have you taken your kids there??

xxxx

When did she get so clever?

It suddenly dawned on me today that in a couple of days my lovely five year old Freya would have completed her first year in primary school. It seems to have flown by and she really took to the whole learning thing like a duck to water!!

She came up to me this morning after having a play on her megasketcher and showed me what she had been writing.

I helped her to spell the word once when she asked but the rest of the words were all written and spelt by her. Now a sentence may not seem the most exciting thing to most of you but it definitely makes me one proud mummy. It also reminds me just how fast our children seem to grow up!!!