What we got up to in May 2017

I realised the other day I haven’t done a family monthly roundup on my blog for exactly one year.  The last roundup I did was May 2016.  Oops.

I don’t think I purposefully stopped them, just things perhaps got busy and I forgot and then, well, a year passed by.

Having looked back through some of them I see it’s a really good way to document what we have been up to each month and to see just how much the children have grown!  Since my last roundup a year ago they have changed considerably!

They are five and two now, so quite a difference from the four and one year old from the last pictures.  Bella had not started school then, but now she has nearly completed her first full school year with just seven weeks to go!  Reuben has also been going to nursery and playgroup for six months, yet in the last roundup he couldn’t even walk or talk!

A year in a young child’s life is a huge amount of time and so many developments happen.

A busy month

I quite often feel busy, but mainly because I’m always working or have work stuff to do around family commitments and household chores.  Looking after a five and two year old can be a full time job in itself!  But although I always feel busy, I don’t necessarily feel like we have done much together as a family. 

When someone says to me ‘what have you been up to?’ I always struggle to think what we’ve been doing!  Yet I’ve just looked back through my planner for May and we did LOADS!  May was actually a really busy month for us family and outing wise.

Here’s what we got up to:

Cheese Rolling

It was the annual cheese rolling event at Cooper’s Hill which is just behind our house.  We can usually see it from our garden, but the trees block our view in the summer. We can still view it from upstairs in Bella’s bedroom and can hear all the commotion!  We had a small family BBQ this year and in true British bank holiday style it rained!  We went ahead anyway with two gazebos and tarpaulin covering our patio! 

Weston Super Mare

I took the kids for a day to Weston Super Mare in half term.  It was the only full day I had with them for the week by myself so thought it would be good to have a day out and avoid my laptop and phone for the day giving them my full attention!  It was the first time Reuben has been to the beach in almost a year and at two years old he loved it!  It reminded me of when we first took Bella to WSM and she was so happy to see everything – ‘Wheel!’ ‘Sand!’ ‘Donkey!’ ‘Sea!’ ‘Boat!’ ‘Train!’ – Reuben was exactly the same, amazed by everything!

The only annoying thing going on my own was trying to use the public toilets!  You have to pay 20p and go through a gate which means you can’t take a pram in.  I had to carry Reuben and our two bags of stuff in every time and leave the pram outside.  Quite inconvenient!  Especially when Bella needed the toilet no less than five times!  I’m not sure how you’d manage it if you had a small sleeping baby in a pram, or even more than one baby.

The kids loved playing in the sand and I bought them a bucket and spade.  They would have stayed on the sand all day!  We went on the pier and Bella spent forever choosing 2p machines to spend her 20p we changed into 2ps on.  That was the longest lasting 20p ever.

We had some chips in the bar at the end of the pier for lunch and the children were so funny – they were sat eating their chips whilst bopping their heads to the pubs music and dancing in their seats the whole time!  The lady on a table next to us came and gave them 50p each to spend on the pier as they’d entertained her so much and made her so happy whilst she was having her lunch!

I was hoping to have a go on the huge wheel, like a mini London Eye, but Bella didn’t fancy it so maybe next time.

It was a great day out and aside from the petrol to get there and back we spent less than £20 and they had a fully entertained day!

Kid Free Camping

Ben and I enjoyed a night away to the Vale of Glamorgan and camped in a tiny tent!  Read all about it here:  A weekend in Wales with camping, castles and beaches

False Tooth

I had two orthodontist appointments in May and had a false tooth fitted, though it’s not 100% what I was expecting!  Read all about it in my blog post Check out my new Tic Tac tooth!

Bella Swimming

Bella has been swimming since the start of this year every Saturday morning.  I think she’s only missed two lessons due to being ill.  She’s in the first class for 3-4 year olds, though she’s just turned five at the start of May, and is now up to 94%.  Well done Bella!  She only has three more things to pass on which include putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles at the surface.  She really hates getting water on her face so I’m not surprised she still needs to pass these two, but I’m so proud of her and how well she is doing.

The first microwave ??!!

2x Kids Parties

Most months now involve a kid’s party, especially since Bella has started school, and we had two in May; a disco and a soft play.  The kid’s just have so much fun at birthday parties and it’s great to experience them interacting with lots of other children.

I left my employed job

I only worked at my employed job for the first two weeks of May and then officially became 100% self-employed again!  Read my plan in How I’m Going to Make £1000 a Month Working From Home

Reuben first dentist appointment

Reuben had his very first dentist check-up!  Sadly I couldn’t go as it was when I was still working my evening employed job, but Ben tells me it went well and his teeth are fine.  At this age (2) it’s more about getting them used to the dentist so they don’t develop a fear. 

Bella’s teeth were perfect and she’s been brushing them very well.  We’re very strict on sweets, well me more than Ben, and I don’t buy anything that contains refined sugar in our home so they don’t have much exposure to sugary foods in our house.  Bella also understands the importance of brushing her teeth well especially after any bad food, so we must have been drilling it into them and they’re taking it on board!

Reuben hospital check-up for heart

Reuben had a check-up for his pulmonary stenosis, which was meant to be a six month appointment in February, but for the first time we weren’t sent an appointment letter, so had to wait unti May for the next available slot.  We weren’t concerned as Reuben has been fit and well so the extra wait didn’t bother us.

Luckily the pressure in his heart has not increased since the last appointment so we are going to wait another six months for a check-up.  It is at the pressure where they would intervene, but as it’s not bothering him the consultant wants to long it out as much as possible as the chances of another intervention being successful are higher the older he is.  It’s basically a case of keeping the pressure low enough so it doesn’t cause issue until he’s an adult and can have a valve transplant.

I made a £50 donation to The Grand Appeal this month which brings my total to £420.  Thank you to all my blog readers and shop customers for your support!