Friday 29 July 2016

Bing Magazine Review!

It was a hot and sunny day in Cambridgeshire......oh wait, this is Britain so it was hot and sunny but then the heavens opened (cue a mad dash to get the washing in, rescue teddy and various battery powered toys that were in the garden). Little one was having a nap, biggest one was starting to be a bit of a pain and wandering the house trying to disturb Daddy.....who was supposed be working! I then remembered that we had the newly launched Bing magazine to read and review and knew this would alleviate some boredom. As the weather was absolutely shocking I took the opportunity to spend some time with Alfie reading the Bing magazine. 

For those who are not sure who Bing is.....Bing is a pre-school bunny who is finding his way in the world with the help of some friends. Bing continues to be a very successful children's program in Cbeebies. 


Bing is a magazine in conjunction with Cbeebies and is aimed at pre-school children aged 2 - 5 years. It features a wonderful amount of colourful images, stories, activities and colouring. We are a big fan of magazines in the Beautiful Things household, as long as there is someone sitting with Alfie and keeping him engaged it's a decent time filler.

Alfie loved the free gift included in this months edition. The garden set consisted of a watering can, spade, fork, shears and a rather cute squishy frog soaker. Elarna also loved playing with them and they are a fairly reasonable sized even for her.



We loved reading the stories, especially the frog story where we could use the squishy frog as the character of the story. Most of all, and in any magazine Alfie loves the stickers. These are probably the part that keeps him occupied for quite a while. He loves to  start off with his favourite stickers and then identify the page numbers that they go on. He is pretty good with his numbers but sometimes gets a little sticker happy and I have to guide him back to the correct pages but it's alot of fun 'stickering', in Alfie's words. 


I really enjoy reading magazines with Alfie, there is a fab range of things in them from reading, colouring and things to make and not only do I feel it's good for bonding with him but they are a decent educational resource too. Despite the first picture (which I just had to include as it's totes hilarious) he was very much excited to be reading and helping to review it. 




Since the garden and greenhouse is in full bloom at the moment, when it hasn't been raining Alfie had a great time helping Daddy using the gardening set and pretending to water the flowers and veggies. Sometimes free gifts in magazines can be a bit naff or repetitive but this one got a thumbs up all round. 







For this review we were asked to produce a little video. Now I apologise in advance for the shocking quality but it's all I could deliver as I was on a limited time frame with Alfie! As you can hear on the video he was more than happy with the magazine and liked it alot. You can but Bing magazine on a monthly basis for £3.99 from most reputable retailers. 



* Please note we were very kindly sent a cope of the magazine for review purposes, all thoughts and opions are my own.

Wednesday 27 July 2016

Best and Worst Linky #58

Beautiful Things


Run, Jump, Scrap!

Hi everyone and a huge welcome to the best and worst linky run by my lovely friend Sarah who blogs over at Run Jump Scrap and co-hosted by myself. If you're new to the linky we're delighted for you to join in, please do have a read of the rules. If you're a regular then thanks as always for the support. Sarah and I split the commenting now, it is working well doing it like that. You should have received a comment from one of us so if you are missing one please do drop us a tweet or email. We've had some great posts over the last few weeks!

This is the linky where you can tell us about the best or worst things that have happened in the last week or even the last year, this could in the form of a blog post, a photo or even a video. It can be an old post or a new post, we don't mind we just want you to share it with us. We want you to share your babies firsts, the crappy day at work you've had or a makeup disaster basically the good, the bad or the downright ugly! We want to share your excitement and tears, highs and lows no matter what it is.

Each week we will both choose our favourite posts from the week before and feature you on the next weeks Best and Worst, we will also feature you on our Twitter feed. 

So as always, on with the linky........please have a little read of the rules and we look forward to reading this weeks posts.

DIY Daddy

So my featured post is from one of the blogs I love to read. Nigel over at DIY Daddy always writes fab and engaging posts and this one is no different. I dread the day I have to talk candidly about sex, relattionships and everything in between, even as a Nurse I find it a tricky subject to make less taboo but I'm going to take a leaf out of Nigels book and be as open about the subject as possible. Go and have a read! 

Sarah's featured post this week is from Busy Working Mummy she is asking what is happiness? Lovely post and it would be fab if you go and have a read if you haven't already.



Rules
  • The linky will open at 6.30am on a Wednesday and close at 23.55pm on a Friday
  • You can link up one or two posts each week
  • Please comment on the 2 posts before yours and have a nosey at the host's too. We've noticed that some people have just been link dropping and not commenting on the 2 in front, please do return the favour so everyone gets some comments and linky love, thankyou.
  • ***Please add the badge to the bottom of your page so everyone knows where you have linked up***
  • Tweet your hosts @helsy_1983 and @RunJumpScrap once linked up so we can retweet you. When tweeting and commenting use the hashtag #bestandworst so everyone knows where you have come from
Best of Worst





Tuesday 26 July 2016

Elarna at 15 Months

What has Elarna been up to since her last update I hear you ask! Well this little button has been busy growing, finding her feet and her voice! 

I feel like since turning one she has developed from baby into proper toddler......although in my eyes she's still my baby. She is into EVERYTHING. Mostly the cupboards and anything that she can destroy mainly. She is a speedy little thing and loves to march around with purpose but does have to be careful at times as her feet run away with her and she ends up toppling over......we've had several bumpy incidents and a couple of bloody noses due to her faceplanting, poor love. She's quite excitable and can't control her feet!



She continues to absolutely idolise Alfie (most of the time), anything that Alfie is doing she is interested in and wants to watch him or join in. While we were on holiday and most recently at Alfie's pre-school leaving party she just wanted to join in with the big boys and girls and threw some amazing diva strops when I wouldn't let her (I'm not mean but I just couldn't let her get in a bouncy castle with 10 kids bouncing about, ha!). Alfie still finds her difficult to deal with at times, he's much more caring towards her now but at times is still so rough with her.....she's going to be very robust when at school. Bear hugging her is one of his favourite things to do, I just don't think he realises that she's much littler than him so sometimes we do have to tell him off but most of the time he is great with her. 




She is fiercely independent, this has taken me by surprise! She wants to feed herself with a spoon, and is actually pretty good, she likes to walk by herself, shakes her head vigorously when she doesn't want something or isn't happy, wants to drink out of a beaker and generally once shown how to do something will try and do it herself. When Alfie was her age he was relatively independent but not to this degree, he was a bit more reliant on us doing things for him and giving him confidence so seeing her this independent is both fascinating to see and sad for me as she growing up too fast.



She is the happiest and smiliest little girl but I tell people not to be deceived by this as beyond the cute and sweet exterior lies a very defiant little diva. This girl can strop. Her little princess moments are hilarious, if she isn't happy about something we certainly know about it. Her strops are like no other! She is loud and very dramatic, sometimes it's hilarious, other times it's just hard work! Although as quick as she starts stropping she can get herself out of them pretty sharpish. 




She continues to thrive and enjoy nursery, she goes twice a week and is usually shattered when home. I think she loves that the room she is in now offers alot of free flow so she can head into the garden if she wants or stay in the room and play. At home she still has 2 decent naps a day, usually around 10am for an hour or so and then perhaps about 2pm for 90 mins, again, very different to Alfie who dropped his naps quite young, he was about 18 months. At nursery she tends to just have the one nap lasting over 90 minutes but for the moment I try and keep the 2 a day when we're at home. I'm not too precious about it however and if she doesn't have one until lunchtime then it's not a huge issue. 




She's at that age where she is really enjoying her food, we are exposing her to loads of flavours and textures and she loves trying new things. She eats brilliantly. She continues to fit into to some 6-9/9-12 clothes and 12-18 do fit well other than dresses being a little long. She was never going to be blessed in the height department, same as Alfie because myself and Adi are not very tall. She's got the cutest little short legs, they may be short but they take her far.




Sleep at the moment is a little bit odd. She sleeps well when settled but recently when we put her in her cot at bedtime she's really unsettled. Now this might be because it's been super hot and stuffy but I wonder if it might be a bit of a developmental leap as it seems to have started quite quickly. Adi thinks that she has become a little wise to the fact that if she starts screaming we will head into her room and give her attention. After a couple of nights of this we realised we were basically giving her what she wanted and opted for a little bit of controlled crying which was always the best method with Alfie. It's not something I hugely like to do but if it works then I am more than happy to do it. 




I just adore these 2 pictures of her in the swings - it completely captures her cheeky, happy persona. She was giggling her head off at this time too, it was utterly cute. Those cheeks and that smile, ohhhhh I always just want to squish her. 





She is a complete loon at times, she loves to charge about the house and laughs her head off, especially when Alfie joins in, this photo below captures her running towards me, hence the blurry feet! Full of happiness and laughter, it's just something that I want to bottle up and keep forever. She looks sooo grown up now! Thanks for the dress Sarah Run Jump Scrap by the way it's gorgeous.




She is babbling so much at the moment, I probably sound like a right weirdo but I almost have conversations with her on a daily basis, we communicate through babble and I can almost get what she is trying to get at or want. There is some definite words starting to form, we definitely have cracked 'hiya' and nearly 'hello' and mama and dada are already well defined in her vocabulary. We are also fairly sure she refers to Alfie as 'bro' as when she says what we think is bro she either points to him or goes to find him, it's very cute. 





I never thought it possible to have so much love for these 2 little monkeys in my life. I l really like this age, yes she's all over the place and I rarely sit down (other than when they are in bed) but oh she's alot of fun to be around and seeing her little personality really shine through is fantastic. I'm wondering what we have in store over the next couple of months. 


Best of Worst

Sunday 24 July 2016

Camp Like a Champ!

Heading to a festival this Summer? Glamping or camping? If so check out this cool infographic. Camping doesn't need to break the bank and can be a whole lot of fun! Whether you are staying in a tent or glamping in a yurt, heading off with some family or friends would be a fab option should you be looking for an outdoorsy holiday.



Friday 22 July 2016

Our Week!

What a beaut of a week! Absolutely scorchio. Let's rewind back to last weekend, it was little mans graduation from pre-school. Officially he is still attending until starting school but last Saturday and the coming weekend are a couple of events for the leaving kids. I felt quite emotional about the whole thing, I just can't quite believe that come September he will be starting school. The current nursery/pre-school him and Elarna go to really is ace and it was a lovely couple of hours spent in the garden with other parents and kids with a disco, face painting and a magic man. On Sunday Adi took Alfie to the cinema (again) this time to see Ice Age, he loves the films and we've been waiting an age to see this but instead of trying to get a sitter so I could go I decided to stay with Elarna and get some jobs done. After a couple of hours they returned and Alfie was full of beans to tell me all about the film. In the afternoon we decided to pop out to look at some new cars, we've managed with just one car now for a good few years after selling our 2nd car but the time has come that we need to get a 2nd again. In our heads taking the kids to car garages on a hot day seemed like a good idea.......it wasn't. We will now be looking this weekend when the grandparents have kindly offered to watch them for a couple of hours! With our disaster of car shopping soon over we though the best option was instead to head over to the pub for a little beverage and snack before heading home for some food. Then, just like that the weekend was nearly over.

I was actually fortunate enough to have my days off slightly changed this week so was working Monday but then was off on Tuesday and Wednesday so managed to enjoy the 2 very hot days, and hot it was! We didn't do much, especially on Tuesday other than fill the paddling pool and spend alot of time splashing about it it. There were iced drinks aplenty, ice lollies and putting the gazebo up in the hope to shade us from some of the heat. On Wednesday it was just myself and Elarna, Adi's Dad and his wife took Alfie to the seaside for the day and he was out for hours having a whale of a time. I managed to be quite productive and although didn't do too much did manage to get Elarna fitted for some new shoes and put a ton of washing away (again!). Alfie then returned from the seaside, absolutely knackered and with a dead jellyfish in tow, proudly showing me it in his bucket (see pic below, ha). It was already dead before he brought it home I'd like to add!



Thursday arrived and I was back to work for the morning. I was lulled into a false sense of security being off on Wednesday and woke up thinking it was Friday, when actually it was not! So I spent the morning at work and then spent a few hours at Peterborough City Hospital with a couple of colleagues at the cytology lab (where they process and examine all the cervical smear samples), it was really quite interesting to see what they do and view some samples slides of what we are screening for. I had the rest of the afternoon off and spent it sitting in the garden enjoying some more warmth! 

Our kettle also started giving up the ghost recently but thankfully House of Fraser stepped in and sent us a rather lovely Delonghi replacement, RRP £74.99 but currently on sale for £59.99). This kettle is gorgeous, not only does it look super pretty in a pearly matt white colour, it's ever so quiet and boils very quickly. It also features a concealed element, 360 degree rotating base and a generous capacity so it is a fab kettle to have in a family home.


So this is my hot and sticky week, how has yours been?

* Please note I was kindly sent the kettle free of charge. 

Wednesday 20 July 2016

Best and Worst Linky #57

Beautiful Things


Run, Jump, Scrap!

Hi everyone and a huge welcome to the best and worst linky run by my lovely friend Sarah who blogs over at Run Jump Scrap and co-hosted by myself. If you're new to the linky we're delighted for you to join in, please do have a read of the rules. If you're a regular then thanks as always for the support. Sarah and I split the commenting now, it is working well doing it like that. You should have received a comment from one of us so if you are missing one please do drop us a tweet or email. We've had some great posts over the last few weeks!

This is the linky where you can tell us about the best or worst things that have happened in the last week or even the last year, this could in the form of a blog post, a photo or even a video. It can be an old post or a new post, we don't mind we just want you to share it with us. We want you to share your babies firsts, the crappy day at work you've had or a makeup disaster basically the good, the bad or the downright ugly! We want to share your excitement and tears, highs and lows no matter what it is.

Each week we will both choose our favourite posts from the week before and feature you on the next weeks Best and Worst, we will also feature you on our Twitter feed. 

So as always, on with the linky........please have a little read of the rules and we look forward to reading this weeks posts.

Sarah's featured post this week was from the brilliant Mummy Muck Ups - this is fab, you MUST go and watch this vlog! 

IMG_3278

My featured post this week is the lovely Emily from My Petit Canard. Oh this post.....I remember it so well, adapting to being a family of 4. Lovely post. Sorry lovey I couldn't grab your image to feature it on here.



Displaying My Petit Canard Blog Header.jpg
Displaying My Petit Canard Blog Header.jpg
Displaying My Petit Canard Blog Header.jpg
Rules
  • The linky will open at 6.30am on a Wednesday and close at 23.55pm on a Friday
  • You can link up one or two posts each week
  • Please comment on the 2 posts before yours and have a nosey at the host's too. We've noticed that some people have just been link dropping and not commenting on the 2 in front, please do return the favour so everyone gets some comments and linky love, thankyou.
  • ***Please add the badge to the bottom of your page so everyone knows where you have linked up***
  • Tweet your hosts @helsy_1983 and @RunJumpScrap once linked up so we can retweet you. When tweeting and commenting use the hashtag #bestandworst so everyone knows where you have come from
Best of Worst