Best days of your life?

There's a famous saying about the school days being the best days of your life and I remember thinking it was absolutely rubbish while I was at school, but within months of leaving knew that people were absolutely right. 

That was until I became a mother. I was driving home from having lunch out earlier and realised that actually, these days of maternity leave, part time working and being a mummy are by far the best days of my life so far, and when I look back in the future I know that I won't remember the sleepless nights or the eczema battles, I won't remember the messy house or dairy free period. I will remember the lunches out, farm trips, afternoon snuggles and wonder as I watched my tiny baby grow before my eyes. I will be so desperately sad when these days are over because I love them so much.

We don't have huge pots of money and can't afford to do hugely exciting things every day. When I finish work we might pop to the farm where we have an annual pass or go to soft play. We might meet up with friends, go swimming or have lunch out with Marmar and Parpar. Sometimes we meet Daddy for coffee in Starbucks and other times we just come home for a nap and a snuggle. We honestly don't do anything out of the ordinary, but I adore every single second. 

Today I met Henry, Marmar and Parpar to go out for lunch and to have a wander round our local food and craft market. We stocked up on dairy free treats for me and Henry and ate our body weight in tasty food for lunch. We went outside to look at the animals, cuddled an escapee lamb that kept jumping out of the field, came home for coffee and cake and cuddled for an hour. My heart was full enough as it was when Henry brought over a framed photo of our wedding that he'd taken off the window sill. He pointed to us, said "Mama, Dada" then kissed both of us in the photo. He learns new things every day and I adore watching him grow up.

I may not have appreciated my school days, but one thing's for sure: I will never ever forgot these beautiful simple days. I appreciate every single lunch out, trip to the farm, every snuggle from my little boy, every smile, every laugh and every milestone. These blissfully simple days, full of pure love, are the very best of my life. 

I love you

When I tell you that I love you, I don't say it out of habit or to make conversation.

I say it to remind you that you're the best thing that ever happened to me 

- author unknown

The Beach House, Roker Beachfront

We decided to make the most of the gorgeous weather today and went to the beach at Roker in Sunderland. Henry absolutely hated the beach, he was absolutely terrified, but that's another story for another blog!! When we arrived we decided to try The Beach House for lunch as a friend had recently recommended it. The bistro itself is owned by Sunderland Football Club and it's been done out so beautifully. It's in a perfect position, right on the beach and next to the lovely promenade and play park which have recently been renovated. 

The food and drinks were so reasonable, all soft drinks for example were only £1 each. My mum ordered a seafood board for around £8 which was full of crab, prawns, salmon and mackerel. She said it was absolutely perfect and Henry enjoyed some of her fish too. We also ordered a hot dog for him which he really enjoyed. I had an amazing hot dog which was full of caramelised onions, sweet tomato relish, crispy onions and mustard, and Parpar had a massive burger. The whole bill, including drinks, came to £30, which is so reasonable considering the position of the restaurant and quality of the food. The menu was really lovely; we'll definitely be back for breakfast soon and ice cream sundaes when we're back on the dairy! All in all, definitely worth a visit if you're off to the beach.

Eating out with a toddler

Mr B and I have always loved eating out, we eat out at least once a week every week but it's often more like 3 or 4 times! Henry is generally so good in restaurants, he knows what's expected of him and we are starting to enjoy eating out a little bit more now that he is older, it was never particularly relaxing with a tiny baby!

We've eaten out loads in the past week since I've been off work and have a few meals planned this weekend when my Nan comes to stay. I'll definitely be dieting a week today, all this eating isn't good for the waistline at all!

Last week we went out with some good friends of ours who don't have children and they commented on how good Henry was at dinner, which is always nice to hear, but also how organised we were. I think it's really easy for childless people to assume it's so easy when they see a well behaved toddler at dinner, so it was nice that they recognised the effort involved too. We are by no means experts, we've had our fair share of disaster dinners where one of us has had to pace up and down with the miserable baby while the other one eats their dinner in record time, but I do feel like we are much better prepared than we ever were before which has made for a much happier dining experience for all of us. Here are our top tips for eating out with a toddler:

• A restaurant bag

We have a restaurant bag for Henry that only ever comes out when we eat out. It has the usuals like a bib, cup and plastic cutlery (which so few restaurants seem to have) and then some little toys that Henry really loves. Because he only gets them when we go out, he's still really excited to see them. Some of our favourites are some little wind up toys, mini Aquadraw mats and stickers. Henry also LOVES when we buy him a magazine, Peppa Pig ones are always a hit and buy us a good hour of peace while he plays with the free toy, scribbles all over the colouring in pages and plays with the stickers...definitely worth their ridiculous price tag and the toys are then added to our restaurant bag.

• Choose your restaurant carefully 

Let's be honest, there's nothing worse than a crying baby when you're at a romantic restaurant on a Saturday night. We tend to stick to eating nice and early in family friendly chains to avoid the glares from those lucky couples who get to eat three courses in peace! Henry is also an absolute star as long as he can eat the whole time. There's nothing worse than when a restaurant is really slow and Henry is really hungry! Choose somewhere where you know your toddler will like what you get them to eat. Anywhere that does bread and olives is a hit for us, it means Henry can eat straight away while we wait for the main courses to come out. Some cafes and restaurants have little play areas or have lots to look at, and this is also something to think about when planning to eat out. The restaurants that we've found have the best children's menus are Wagamama, Harvester (surprisingly brilliant), GBK, Nando's, Pizza Express, Frankie and Benny's (such good value) and Ask. I'm really not a fan of places that serve absolute crap on their children's menus; all of these places just do smaller versions of their adults' food, but serve it in a more child friendly way (and price).

• Stick to the one course. 

We've had so many meals where we've been out with friends and the dreaded question, "Is anyone getting starters?" is asked. In my head I'm screaming "please nooooo" thinking that I really only have an hour of a placid child remaining and if we get starters, that will probably run out just as our mains arrive. It's one of those things that only parents of toddlers will truly understand. No garlic bread, no matter how good, is worth a miserable child at the end of dinner. We tend to order quickly, have one course, and then on the off chance that Henry is still happily playing, have a pudding as an extra treat!! Don't push your luck and order the tasty looking antipasto platter....you'll live to regret it!

• Family members

Our best meals are when there's more of us than just the three of us. Henry's Marmar and Parpar are both brilliant in helping out at dinner and his Parpar is more than happy to take him for a little wander round outside if he gets bored. Make the most of going out with family or friends, even if they do insist on ordering those bloody starters! We also make the most of having family close by for when we really need a long, relaxing dinner. Date night doesn't happen often in our house, not because we don't have a babysitter, but because we love taking Henry out with us. But sometimes I really really want to order that antipasto platter and I really really don't want to have to wear Peppa Pig stickers throughout dinner. Sometimes I really don't want to have to carry a massive handbag stuffed with Henry's restaurant essentials and I would rather talk about politics and celebrity gossip than sing the wheels on the bus. And that's ok. Sometimes eating out with a toddler is an absolute nightmare and my honest advice is, on those days where your toddler is just 'in one'...get a babysitter or a takeaway! 

Peace and Quiet

I would say I'm a pretty materialistic person. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but it's the way I am. I love my Mulberry bag and my Louboutin heels, I dress my son in Mini Boden and Little White Company clothes and we spend a small fortune on days out and eating out. We have a really really lovely life, we don't have loads of money by any means, but we are comfortable, I can work part time and for that, I am beyond thankful.

Despite all these things, I can honestly say that I am never happier than when I am walking in the countryside with my family. I love the peace and quiet, being able to wear muddy clothes and not being in a hurry. We went out this morning just down the road to have a walk along the river. We took Henry a few times last year but he was really little and just sat in his pushchair, whereas today he was a proper little boy: exploring the forest, paddling in the river, eating his snack on a dirty bench with his grubby knees and filthy shoes. It was absolute perfection. He thought the dog jumping in the water and swimming was just hilarious and couldn't wait to get in there himself, it was so lovely. Here a few photos from our morning:

This last photo may look like a sad face, but it's actually Henry laughing hysterically at the dog! 

Easter Sunday Highlights

I didn't expect Easter Sunday to be as lovely as it has been, I thought it would be pretty low key and didn't think Henry would really understand any of it, but we've had such a lovely day full of gorgeous moments and memories.

It started with an Easter egg hunt which Henry absolutely adored! He kept saying 'more' and was thrilled every time he found an egg. Hidden inside each plastic egg we'd put a mini Oreo or a foam banana or shrimp and it would be fair to say they went down a storm for breakfast.

Whenever Henry goes to playgroup or to the garden centre, he's makes straight for the cars. We've been meaning to get him a Cozy Coupe for ages but they're over £55, which isn't the sort of money you just spend on a toy. On Friday I was in Tesco and they were reduced to £35 and I just couldn't resist. I'm really NOT a fan of families that spend hundreds on presents at Easter and won't ever be the type of mum to buy my children presents at this time of year, so I'd like to stress now...this is absolutely not an Easter present hahah. Anyway, Henry was so happy when he found this waiting for him downstairs this morning, he played with it for hours and even sat in it to watch TV. His little face made it worth every penny.

Last Easter Henry was only 6 months old and had just been diagnosed with a dairy allergy, so this was his first ever Easter egg...a Hotel Chocolat one nonetheless!! He loved it and ate plenty more chocolate throughout the day; thank goodness for good dairy-free chocolate and very generous and thoughtful relatives!!

In the next village down from us there were hundreds of these beautiful knitted daffodils hanging all around the village for people to take home. They were knitted by members of the church there to spread the Easter message and just to wish people a happy Easter. The village looked so beautiful and it was such a lovely thing to do, I wish more villages had such a brilliant community spirit.

All the daddies went to the football after lunch, so the girls and children all went to the farm. Henry is such a farm boy, very unlike me and his daddy!! He had a brilliant afternoon feeding the lambs, stroking the donkeys, holding the chicks and feeding the goats with his big cousins. He was trying to make an eeyore noise like the donkey and must have said 'baaa' at least a hundred times. A really lovely afternoon in the sunshine.

After tea at Marmar's and a bath with his cousins, we finally got Henry home and to bed and we are now sitting in the peace and quiet and I'm about to tuck in to this bad boy Easter egg!! What an absolute treat after a busy day.

Heart bursting love

If you've had a really crap day full of toddler tantrums or you're battling to get your child to bed, I would read no further. I'm afraid this is going to be a gushy, irritating post; but I need to write it to look back on, and for Henry to read in years to come. I want him to know how good he was as a baby, how loved he was. So I'm sorry if this post is going to be a bit smug, but I've blogged about the sleepless nights and the rubbish days, and with that comes this type of day where my heart feels as though it could just burst from too much love.

You're probably wondering what we did today that's made me feel this way, but the honest answer is nothing particularly exciting. We took some carrots down the road to feed the horses, went for coffee and cake at the farm and saw the animals while we were there. We had a nap snuggled up together and ate Peppa pig shaped pasta for lunch. We went shopping at the Metrocente for a couple of hours and had a snack in M&S cafe before coming home, made dinner and then made some Easter nest cakes to enjoy this weekend. I bathed Henry and dressed him like usual, I fed him and put him to bed, and I could have sat and sobbed by his cot out of pure happiness. I don't know what I ever did to deserve such a sweet little boy and I thank God every day that I am able to be his mummy.

The truth is, he's just SO easy. Apparently he's the polar opposite to what I was like as a child; my first word was 'no' and I quickly learnt to stamp my feet, Henry says 'uh huh' and nods his head whenever we ask him a question. I keep waiting for it to get hard, I'm waiting for him to become a fussy eater or throw massive tantrums in public. Today he sat in his pram for two hours while I shopped, he ate everything that I gave him and chatted and laughed through the day. He was a little pleasure to sit with in M&S and I was so proud of him as he grinned at the old grannies that stopped to chat to him. 

A couple of years ago, I would have thought that I'd find it difficult not having time to myself or having to put someone else's needs before my own. But I love it more than I ever believed I would. I love having his company all day and I love watching him grow and learn new things every day. I love having a little friend to go out for coffee with and love seeing his joy when we feed the horses or splash in the swimming pool. I never knew that being a mummy could be as wonderful as it is. 

I hope that one day Henry will become a Daddy and I hope that he will have a baby as easy as he is now. Being your mummy is such a pleasure, little one. I love you so much.

* Just to counteract the gushing....this child still sleeps like a newborn...you can't have it all, can you?!