We review a few children's books on this blog, but I'm going to say that the two books that I have been sent most recently are the most gorgeous and enchanting books that the kids currently own. They are personalised books made by www.lostmy.name and I was lucky enough to get one made for Isla and Noah. They are both the perfect age for the books as Lost My Name say that they are for children between the ages of 2 and 6 years.
The premise of each story is that the little boy or girl in the story has lost his or her name and they go on a journey to find it, collecting letters along the way from all sorts of creatures, some we'd heard of, some we hadn't (the Nabarlek really appealed to Noah!) and finally the child has their name back and better than that - they see their name in a book, in actual print! Which they inevitably love. The whole concept of this book, finding the letters, has come at a very good time for Isla as she's just started in reception and in the last 3 weeks she has begun to sound out letters all the time. She loves it.
Noah loves his book too, and as I mentioned the Nabarlek is his favourite creature in his book. He asks loads of questions throughout. The other good thing about having a book for each sibling is that we've got to see more creatures through them having different letters in their name, although they both have an Aardvark in their stories. And just because the 'Isla' book is about a girl and the 'Noah' book is about a boy, it makes no difference to the kids, they like to hear each others stories as they have different creatures to read about. I wondered what would happen when one name had two of the same letter and I got to find out when I ordered a book for my friends little girl. Her name had two 'I's' and there were two different illustrations for each I. This got me thinking that there must need to be so many different illustrations for all the letters - in fact I found out that there are over 150 illustrations to cover the 14000 different children's names in the 2011 census. Wow.
Another aspect of the books that I must mention is the ease with which they are made. You go to the site, you type in the name you want, you even get to see a preview of the books online and then you order. Simple! It states on the site that the books will be with you within 10 days and they are. They are a lovely big A4 size, giving the beautiful illustrations enough room on the page to really draw you in to the magical story.
So there you have it. It's a wonderful concept, a personalised book made by an independent company who have funded everything themselves. I may well have been sent two free copies but I've since bought another copy as a birthday present as I believe the quality and the creativity of these books is unique and special enough to be a gift. I know some people will think £16.99 for a book?! But actually once you've owned one, you will see how individual these books are and the thought and care that has gone into making this whole project a reality.
We were sent 2 books free of charge in order to review them. All words and opinions are my own.
I love this photo. It was taken at the Choccy Philly Event last week. Isla was the only little one there, so she was having a bit of fun with the masks, gloves and wigs. I love it when we get some time, just us girls.
The last dedicated Noah post was at 7 weeks. I can't believe how we've got to 6 months this quickly but life is just so busy with 2 children.
I have to say that the first 4 months with Noah were actually quite easy on reflection. He slotted in so easily and I had a lot of help from our mum's and Isla goes to nursery 2.5 days so I hadn't felt too swamped with having Isla and Noah to look after all the time on my own. I'm very lucky to have such supportive family and since having Noah I really have a lot of respect for mums who do it single handed or those who don't have family on the doorstep.
Since 4 months though my darling boy has really taken to the early mornings. I think he may have been doing this pre 4 months, but it's only in the last 2 months that it's really starting to grind me down. He regularly wakes around 5am (at worst could be 4.30am or at best could be 5.15am) and unless I jump into bed on the dot of 10pm I feel terrible in the morning, especially if he's also been awake in the night. I'm not handling it all that well and I've been pretty miserable in the mornings, regularly in floods of tears as my OH heads off to work at 5.30am. Pretty much my mood improves as I get a cup of tea and then when Isla gets up at around 7 I've become more human. The more I get told that this won't go on forever the more fed up I get. I KNOW it won't go on forever, I mean when he's 15 I'll be crow barring him out of bed I'm sure but at the moment, I feel like SH1T.
I also know that things could be worse, I get told this a lot too and when that happens I feel bad for bemoaning my lot, after all I have two healthy children - what more could I want? When you feel hard done by on the sleep front it really can make you think irrationally and get easily stressed over things. Well I do anyway. The littlest things really grate and minor comments from the OH can cause me to get a bit shouty. I've also found that my periods have really affected my mood more than they ever did pre-kids. I mean I used to get a bit moody but now for days before it arrives i feel rubbish - I say all the usual things - I'm fat, I haven't got any nice clothes, my skin looks awful, this house is too messy, wish we had a bigger house, wish we had a better car, repeat to fade.... This list goes on and on and as I go into a downward spiral. My brain becomes over loaded and I feel like I have too much to think about.
So that's me. What about him? Well he's into rolling over and over and over. He's eating like he's eaten all his life, there won't be any leftovers with him around. He's a lot more whiny than Isla ever used to be (he doesn't have a dummy - not for want of trying!) and is far more into mummy than she was. If he's being held by someone else he will always want to be with me if I'm in the room and he can hear my voice. It's nice to be loved but I can see how boys are a lot clingier to mummy than girls and when I go back to work in 3 months I see him being more upset about it than Isla was. Two of his favourite things (after me of course!) are Isla and Bobcat (sorry Daddy!). He follows both of them round the room, his eyes gleaming with excitement whenever they are near. I love this. It makes me feel so happy as it feels like he has fitted in so brilliantly with Isla. He stands in his activity station and Isla pretends he is the shopkeeper and she 'buys' things from him. Of course he doesn't have the faintest idea what she's on about but smiles and really loves it.
He still continues to be a 'beefy' baby, he's only 6 months, weighs 24lb and is in some 9 - 12 month clothing already. He's been a bit of a sicky baby - regular pukes after milk and had really terrible painful wind in the early days, so I'm hoping with the weaning will come less of the puking.
We had a fabulous photo shoot recently and this was my favourite photo of Isla and Noah together. They really are beautiful children, I know I'm biased but they are and I'm so proud of them and hope that they continue to thrive and make me feel like my heart could burst.
Photo's by Sarah Jones
Oh dear, I've already failed - missed yesterday's photo! I did take a photo I just couldn't get on the blog. Anyhow, I'm going to carry on and see how many I can actually manage and not beat myself up if I can't do it. Here's today's photo. As you can see it looks a whole lot better than any of my efforts and that's because an excellent photographer took it! We had a fab hour having a family shoot today and the results are gorgeous.
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One of Isla's favourite foods is pasta and one of her favourite meals is the one I'm about to recount to you here. If she is going through a little phase where she's not eating much (which happens about every other week!), then I make this meal and I know she is guaranteed to eat it! It's adapted from Annabel Karmel's New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner and Isla gives it the thumbs up every time. The beauty of it is that it's also so quick to make:Salmon and Broccoli Pasta1 small onion1 garlic clovesmall amount of oil1 tin of wild red salmonbroccoli florets - about half of a head of broccoli that you buy in shopspasta - I tend to make about a handful - spaghetti is her current favourite142 ml carton of single creamAs much parmesan as you wantFry onion and garlic in the oil until soft. While doing this cook the broccoli and the pasta. Once they are cooked and drained pop them in the pan with the onion and garlic, along with the red salmon. Then pour in the cream and parmesan and mix well until the cheese melts. This can be frozen, so I generally keep one portion for that days dinner and then freeze the other portions. Sometimes I add other bits of veg in there that I've got knocking about in the fridge - red pepper/ mushrooms and I'd fry these along with the onion and garlic at the start. This recipe is great because it's a fishy one and sometimes these babies can be a bit funny about fish.I love Annabel Karmel's book. It's great because you can make the meals for all the family, they're not just for the little ones. Give this one a try and see if your kids like it.
