Me and Mine | October 2018

The photo above was taken as we strolled through our home town. The gorilla was promoting a local costume and character hire company and he was making quite an impression! There were lots of children (and adults!) that were afraid of this very lifelike beast but Iris astounded me with how keen she was to get near the gorilla, squealing and laughing and reaching out for a high 5! She amazes me with her bravery, she is absolutely fearless.

Most Used Items | 0-12 Month

As first time parents we were easily convinced that we needed so many different things for our little bundle. Despite doing my research there were things that worked and things that didn't. It's largely to do with trial and error. Some babies will take to certain things and not others but these are the things that we found most useful in our first 12 months with Iris.

Living Arrows | Finger (and face, arms, body and toe) Painting!

'You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth' Khalil Gibran. 

In my mind this was going to be a lovely Pinterest worthy parenting moment. In reality the photo above shows Iris gagging from the paint she just ate. It's made a good photo but ultimately this wasn't the calm, methodical painting session I imagined, partly due to Iris being a little young and partly due to my completely unrealistic expectation!  

Travel | 72 Hours in Amsterdam (Child Free!)

We visited Amsterdam for a very specific reason and that was to see Ed Sheeran. We'd tried for hours to get tickets to any UK venue but it just wasn't happening so when we found tickets for Amsterdam that were cheaper and readily available we dived right in and decided to make a weekend of it. We flew from our local airport that is just 20 minutes away and we stayed at NH Museum Quarter. The hotel was in the perfect location, just a five minute walk from the beautiful Museum quarter and we were lucky enough to have a room with a canal view. The rooms were light and spacious and thankfully offered guest controlled air conditioning as we stayed during the summer heatwave.

Review | Lily and The Polar Bears by Jion Sheibani*

Lily and Grandpa are having a lovely day at the beach but who's that floating on the ocean? 

Lily and the Polar Bears tells the tale of how Lily brings home a whole bunch of polar bears and how after some fish fingers and a bedtime story those sometimes scary and often misunderstood polar bears become part of everyday life.

Living Arrows | All The Fun of The Fair

'You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth' Khalil Gibran. 

The fair's in town! When I was a teenager the fair was the place to be, we spent hours stood around the waltzer making eyes at boys. I have such fond (and rather cringey) memories of the fair and now I get to add a new set of memories as a parent!

Living Arrows | Welcome To The Fun Palace

 'You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth' Khalil Gibran.

This week's post is yet another one featuring our local library. I've always loved the library but since having Iris I've discovered so much more that it has to offer and i'm astounded that it's mainly free or amazingly affordable. These photos were taken at the annual Fun Palace that tours hundreds of places across the UK.

Living Arrows | We are all so tired.

'You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth' Khalil Gibran. 

This week's Living Arrows is sponsored by caffeine! I am not exaggerating when I say that these last few weeks have been hellish. Iris has always been a fantastic sleeper, even in the newborn days we would get 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep at a time so it's been quite a shock to the system for her to turn one and suddenly stop sleeping!

Living Arrows | Another Day...Another Dog Photo....

'You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth' Khalil Gibran. 

Puppy + Child + Wash Basket = Too Much Cute.

Me and Mine | September 2018

I've seen the 'Me and Mine' link up appear on quite a few of the blogs I follow and decided to have a go myself. I love the idea that it's about sharing a photograph of the whole family as more often than not it's one of us taking a picture of the other two so it's good to be making a conscious effort to get us all in front of the camera.