Fun things to do with babies - Part 3:Playdough

I have been waiting sooooo long to get the play dough out and have some fun with my little man, I actually made this dough months ago but immediately my boy tried to eat it which was a bad move, (cue lots of retching), I thought I would try it again today and...result!  No dough was ingested.
So although he is technically still a baby (becomes a toddler when he starts walking right?) he is a bit older so this sort of project really isn't suitable for babies under 12 months.  I don't need to tell you a recipe for making play dough, there are plenty here, I used the cooked play dough recipe and added yellow, blue and red food colouring.  We stamped shapes, stuck in feathers, rolled balls and made shapes, so here are just a few pics of the fun we (I) had with dough this afternoon, and hopefully some ideas for you to make it even more exciting.

He wasn't into it for that long to be honest, and seemed a bit scared of it, but I am hoping he might get into it a bit more once he is more familiar with the feel, it's cheap to make so I don't mind if it gets wreaked or dries up (though I don't think it will because this has already kept for months).  There are loads of other fun, dough related activities that I want to do with him when he is a bit older.  Are you a fan of the dough?  What sort of fun games do you and your babies play?

My boy turns 1!

Yesterday my little man turned one!  I can hardly believe it has been a whole year since he came bursting into the world; but when I look back it also seems hard to believe that it was just a year ago that we were a household of only two. It seems like he has been around forever, he is so much a part of our lives.
We had a really great weekend with both our families.  On Sunday we had a retro tea party at home with sausage rolls, party rings and jelly!  Then we went to Beale Park which only recently re-opened for the season, it was lovely strolling around in the sun looking at all the animals, my favourite were marmosets, Orren liked the chipmunks. Later we all went our for dinner.  Unfortunately Orren wasn't very well for the whole day so spent much of it asleep or wrapped up in a blanket.  He was much better on Monday so the hubby and I took him to an aquarium and he enjoyed looking at the fish.  He still isn't 100%, had a bad cold that knocked him for 6, and made me think that actually he hasn't ever really been ill, this was definitely the first time he has ever had a high temperature and he had a terrible nights sleep, (which meant we had a terrible nights sleep), but at least now I know what to look for is he seems poorly and it is reassuring that my boobie milk is doing him some good in the immunity department! 
I am trying to not dwell too much on the giving birth bit of him arriving because I still feel pretty traumatised by it, and trying to focus on how lovely he is and how much I am enjoying life with him in it.  It is hard not to think about it though and I am reminded of how much I have changed in the past year, not always in good ways, I have definitely lost a bit of my self confidence amongst other things.  Hopefully time will help heal the emotional scars. 
Anyhoo, here are some photos of our special birthday weekend:

Opening presents from family and friends, he got A LOT of presents, think we might have to have them on rotation!

Everyone listened carefully and bought him some beautiful wooden toys sans batteries.

The fam in our living room, with Orren at the centre of everyone's attention, just where he likes to be!

His birthday cake that I made and iced, he loves balloons and the icing colours I used are those I chose for his bedroom before he was born.

Looking at the Emus, Orren is fascinated by birds.

Pidgy Goat!

Fast asleep.

Enjoying a delicious evening meal.

Scallops with cauliflower puree and pork scratching's, yes please!

All in all and lovely weekend, I felt very happy afterwards, not least because my sister came back from 3 and a half months of travelling, I missed her.

Holiday 2012

Last week we finally went on a holiday!  My first for nearly 3 years, and let me tell you, it was a looong time coming, and it was soooooo good!  I just RELAXED the whole time, wonderful!  And I am afraid I didn't really want to come back home to the hum drum of every day life, doing laundry and endless dished, tidying and stressing about getting to places on time. It was so nice to spend hours reading, and putting my feet up, not worrying about cleaning and tidying, playing with Orren, spending time talking to my husband, doing cross words, visiting lovely old houses and romantic ruins, walking on the beaches, not having to be anywhere in particular.  It was bliss.  

We didn't travel far, just to the North Norfolk coast to a little fisherman's cottage in a village called Blakeney.    Thankfully we had some wonderful sunny, if a little blowy days, and only one day of drizzle.  

On our holiday we:

• Walked along the Quay at Blakeney,
• Visited three National Trust properties; Felbrigg Hall, Blicking Estate and Oxburgh Hall,
• Visited two lots of ruins; Binham priory and Baconsfield Castle,
• Visited three seaside towns and walked on their beaches; Wells-Next-the-Sea, Cromer and Sheringham,
• Ate lunch at the Blakeney Hotel,
• Had lots of picnics,
• Laughed a lot,
• Took lots of photos:

Fun things to do with your baby - Part 2: Fabric play

It can be difficult with a small baby to find fun things to do with them to fill the many hours of the day that you now suddenly have to occupy, My baby is now just over 6 month old and I feel I am well versed with providing entertaining activities for him and think you might be interested to find out what they are if you are ever stuck for ideas. This is the second in a series of posts like this with different ideas for fun things to do with your baby, often each activity could only last a few minutes, or sometimes they might be much longer activities.

This time I am looking at fabric play.  Exploring the qualities of fabric can be both a stimulating and a learning experience for young babies, they can learn about the different textures and weights of fabric as well as it's flexibility or stiffness and a number of other qualities.  I bought a selection of different fabrics with a variety of textures for Orren to play with, he likes to scratch on them as well as put them in his mouth and run his tongue (which is super sensitive right now) over in order to have a really good exploration of it's qualities. I also made some into little comforter cloths which are a more manageable size for taking out with us or for playing with in locations where letting the fabric drag on the floor is not appropriate, like in the garden.  (I will do a tutorial on how to make on at some point!)

I also play with the fabrics with Orren to make the play experience more interactive.  I gently stroke different textures across his face, (he especially likes the net), and I wave the silky fabric over him so he can experience the way it changes in the light, as well as the feel against his skin.  The fabric also gives an opportunity or playing peek-a-boo games.

Here is Orren enjoying the comforter I made for him (is that what they are called?)

And here is Orren with his friends enjoying the net: 

Fabrics that are fun and interesting for babies to explore include:

Net, satin, corduroy, velvet, leatherette, hessian, chenniel and faux fur.

Be sure to hem and fabric you give to babies and make sure any of the pile won't come lose because it could be a chocking hazard. 

Can you think of any other fabrics to add to this list?   What other games could you play with fabrics?

Exciting happenings in London

Well who knew that not only would today be the day of the Queen's Birthday (Happy Birthday Mam) but it was also the day of the Naked London Bike Ride! What a day!

Birthday photos

Sorry I haven't been around lately, had things on my mind , which I will probably share with you at some point.  I have noticed that talking about things that are going on help me to understand how I feel about them.  Just last night I was talking to a very old friend on Facebook and told him all about my life at the moment, it was nice to talk to someone who is out of my immediate loop, gives me a different perspective.
Anyway, I thought you would like to see some photos from my birthday weekend because I have a lovely lovely time.
I went to stay with my friend Hannah and two of her lovely sisters (all of whom I have known since they were born!) in London.  On Friday night we went to a fabulous cafe called Drink, Shop, Do.  I had been wanting to go there for ages after seeing a fellow blogger had been there.
Basically it is a cafe, which contains all vintage and mid-century-modern furniture.  We had an afternoon tea which arrived on a cake stand made from all different vintage plates, the tea was served in all different vintage tea pots and with all mis-matched cups and saucers, it was sooo cool.  The decor inside was absolutely my taste, I kept gasping every time I turned my head and saw another fabulous thing.  The melamine tables alone were enough to give me palpitations.
I had Earl Grey and cornflower tea which was delicious and all the sandwiches were so cute with their crusts cut off, by the time we got to the delicious selections of cakes we were stuffed!  (Mostly with tea of which I consumed 7 cups!)
The to top it all off we finished the lunch with a wonderful glass of cava.  Oh yes it really was wonderful.

For some reason if feels necessary to put on a silly face when pouring the tea!

Then we went for dinner and decided to go to a bar or cocktails, on the way we stopped at Platform 9 3/4 and adopted another silly pose:

Next morning we had a lovely fry up courtesy of Hannah and her kitchen:

All in all a really great weekend.

I love my friends!