Autumn Walks

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During the week I try to get out at least once with Flixster in the pram whilst the boy is in nursery for a nice long walk. It’s find it hard when I have the boy as he’s at the age where he just wants to walk everywhere but doesn’t get very far without getting tired legs but also refusing to sit in the buggy without a bribe! So whilst he’s at nursery I charge the iPod get all our essentials bundled onto the pram and get off on our way. I usually time it so that Flixster is due his morning nap so that he can gently drift off to sleep while we are out and I can get some exercise. We’ve not been for a few weeks due to being busy so it was nice to be out and about again today together. I’m lucky enough to have a few choices of prams as I’m a bit of a pram lover, today I decided to take the phil & teds navigator out. It’s a version 2 so with the sibling seat I can position Flixster so that he’s facing me. I loved having the children facing me so I can interact with them and keep a close eye on them, especially while he’s so little. The weather this morning was looking a lot colder and greyer than it has been recently so I made sure we had the rain cover. I popped the cosytoes from the baby jogger on the pram as I don’t own any phil and teds ones. It was a little big but just about fit ok. I didn’t want to let Flixster get cold which I thought he might have with just a blanket. I also put a hat on him which I should have done for me, lesson learned! My ears were freezing in the wind! No more going out without hats from now on!

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I pulled my boots on set up my walking app on the phone and off we set. I’ve recently started using the ‘Map my Walk’ app on my iPhone to keep a track of how far we are walking. I’m a sucker for fitness gadgets and apps, I enjoy using nike+ when I go out running (ha ha yes when, what I mean is when I used to! Those days will come again I hope!) and love looking at my fitbit status regularly on my phone so when I looked for a walking tracker the ‘Map my Walk’ app seemed to fit the bill perfectly. When I head out for walks with Flixster without a mission or any jobs to do I never really set a route we just go out and see where we end up. Since having the boys I have definitely got very friendly with pounding the pavements.
Flixster stayed awake for a little while happily looking at me but soon drifted off to the land of nod. This is the point I usually pop my headphones in and start listening to some music. I don’t do it when he’s awake so that we can have a baby babble chat, but once he’s asleep I like to have something to walk along and sing too. Today’s tunes were inspired by something I’d watched on television the day before with Wayne Sleep in, his appearance reminded me of the musical he has stated in, Cats. I love most musicals and own a lot of the sound tracks so I searched for it on my iPod and sure enough there the album was ready and waiting. I’ve not listened to it in ages so it made a refreshing change. The area I live in has a varied landscape, within a few minutes walk form my house I can be walking past fields full of horses and cows which is lovely to see. The clouds looked moody this morning so I was glad I’d popped the rain cover under the pram just in case of a downpour. The views across the fields though were stunning for such a beautiful autumn day.

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I then walked past a farm building that I walk past all the time and noticed the date on the side of one of the buildings.

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1863 – that building is 151 years old and still standing strong. Imagine all the people that have passed by this point in their lives, imagine all the stories it could tell. Its lived through the two world wars, its seen all sorts of changes in its life. I wonder how many mums have pushed prams past there over the years, trying to get their babies to sleep. I’d love to see the styles of prams that have gone past over the years. I bet there have been some beautiful old coach style prams walking past there in their time. If  only buildings could talk. As I carried on walking I walk through a small street that I keep meaning to look up the history of, it is lined with terrace cottages set back form the road up high. The railings have some beautiful flower boxes on and I took time to have a look at them today, considering its early October they still look absolutely stunning! Quite a few of them contain fuchsias which I love, they are such an ornate flower and they come in such varied colours.  thought they looked fab in the flower boxes.

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Thankfully the rain was still holding off and so I carried on walking whilst Flixster slept.

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He’s been getting up for the day at around 5am most mornings and rather than getting annoyed and upset about it I just go with it he’s then been having a small nap around 7am and then by 10 to 10:30am he’s tired again which is why he had a good rest in his buggy whilst I walked. I headed towards home but he was still asleep and I didn’t really want him to wake up too soon (and he always wakes when I stop walking) as we had a baby class to go to in the afternoon and I wanted him to be well rested for it. So instead of going home I walked once again past the end of our road and decided to do another loop locally to keep him asleep. Not long afterwards he started to stir so we headed home so that I could feed him and myself! Good timing on his part as the Cats album had just finished and I didn’t fancy perching on a wall to feed him in the cold. As we got back to the house I checked the walking app we’d done 10.4km in 2hrs 2 minutes with an average pace of 11 minutes 47 seconds per km. I have no idea if this is good or not but it said I had burnt 867 calories so by the time we got to Starbucks after the baby class I treated myself to this little beauty…..IMG_3799

I am in love with the chocolate chunk shortbread from Starbucks, always have done and pretty sure I always will do but they are an occasional treat!

Not sure I’ll be able to better this weeks walk next week but at least I’ll be able to keep an eye on the changing seasons. I love autumn and all it brings with it. Its a truly beautiful season and makes for a lovely walk, but next week I will remember a hat or at least something to protect my ears!

 

 

 

Happy Baby Class

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This week I attended a new baby class with Flixster called Happy Babies and it’s being run by a lovely lady called Angela who runs a series of sessions and classes under her umbrella company Alltogether Kids she also offers one to one sessions for parents. The Happy baby course is a follow on from her Tranquil Baby class and runs for 8 weeks and is a mix of lots of different baby activities including yoga, sensory as well as making memory books. I first met Angela at the antenatal relaxation sessions she runs locally to me when I was pregnant with Flixster. Those sessions are a mixture of antenatal education, covering many topics followed by a period of guided relaxation. I really enjoyed attending them as Angela’s voice is so calming and her relaxation sessions set to music almost always made me sleepy and I always left feeling far less stressed than when I arrived, my only regret is not being able to attend more of them throughout my pregnancy. Unfortunately the day they were on each week I was working and although I would have been allowed to attend as part of my antenatal time off I didn’t feel that I could have done this due to working in a small team, I would have been making more work for others within my team and that wouldn’t have been fair. I was however able to attend during the last few weeks of my pregnancy after my maternity leave had started. Angela’s voice is very soothing and just being around her makes me feel calm.
The first session of happy baby that I attended this week was so popular that future sessions are being held in a bigger venue so consequently there was no room for baby yoga this week, instead we did some sensory which included songs, movement and interaction with objects. Angela had laid out some mats for the babies to lie or sit on depending on what stage there were at.

 

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Flixster is not sitting unaided yet but I don’t think it’ll be long before he is. He’s 6 calendar months next week and I’d like to start some baby-led weaning but we won’t be starting any finger foods until he can sit unaided.  He really enjoys the singing and songs that contain actions and signing, he also really enjoys watching other babies. I am blessed to have such a happy smiley baby. After signing for a while Angela got out the bubbles. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but two of my favourite things are bubbles and rainbows becuase they are such magical things, they are around for such a short time and when they are gone they leave no trace behind that they ever exisisted. I’m especially fond of bubbles when there are loads and loads of them at the same time, I love nothing more than putting the boys bubble machine on in the back garden on a sunny day and watching thousands of tiny bubbles dancing in the air. It seems Flixster too is a fan of bubbles, he watched them fall to the ground with unfailing concentration.

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After bubbles we did some sensory with various types of material including a piece of voile and some silver foil blanket. Flixster loved the crunchy foil but I didn’t manage to get any pictures as he was flapping it up and down so quickly and facing away from me. I think we will have to buy our own piece to play with at home.  IMG_3601

As well as the materials to play with Angela put out some light up objects which seemed well timed as they had a halloween themes, skulls and ghosts. Flixster was once again fascinated by the new things I was showing him.

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The class finished with a little relaxed time under a large piece of shimmery material that was held above the babies, and Flixster was ready for a nap on the way home in the car. I love going to classes like this because as a busy mum of two its hard to find the time at home away from the distractions of housework to sit down and actually have sensory play with your child. I do try to take time out each day to play with Flixster one on one, and he gets a lot of time with me around the house watching everyday tasks as he spends a lot of his day in a sling on my front. I particularly like going to classes run by Angela as she is such a calming influence and I think this is also reflected by how popular her classes are. I can’t wait to see what we get up to next week and I hope that Flixster continues to enjoy it as much as he did last week.

Angela can be contacted through her website at www.alltogehterkids.co.uk

 

 

Mummy Mondays – Childrens Television Exhibition

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I can’t believe Monday has rolled around again already, the weeks are simply flying by at the moment! This week it was my mums turn to travel down to us. When we woke this morning the wind was howling and the rain was pouring from the sky, a total contrast to last Monday when we were bathed in glorious sunshine. There would be no trips to the local park today thats for sure, we needed something indoors to do. I had recently heard about an exhibition at the Lowry Gallery at Salford Quays called ‘Here’s One I Made Earlier – The Story of BBC Childrens Broadcasting’. I was clearly very late in finding out about it as it ends next Sunday, so I was grateful to find out about it before it finished. The boys and I waited for Grandma to arrive safely. She didn’t leave her house to early as the weather was pretty rough and most of the journey is motorway so she waited for things to clear up a bit. Once mum arrived we had coffee and a snack (as is tradition on Mummy Mondays!) then got ready to leave the house. This part for those without young children or experience of them sounds like a two minute task. With a baby and toddler though you’re talking about anything up to half an hour usually in our house. Once we’ve decided which buggy we’re taking and packed the relevant bag with nappies, wipes, drinks, snacks, my things and all the other paraphernalia I need to carry around, theres toilet time for the boy, final nappy change, putting buggy in the car, putting children in the car etc etc the list goes on! So by the time we actually arrived it was time for lunch. We wanted something quick and relatively healthy so we chose subway. I’m lucky that the boy will eat pretty much anything so he was very happy with his ham sandwich.

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After lunch we headed over to The Lowry and went up to the exhibition. The boy spent most of the time wanting to rush to the next room,  he’s a toddler full of beautiful energy for life and running around everywhere. I spent most of the time listening to him say or shout ‘Mummy lets go in here!’ while trying to gently encourage him to stay in the same room we were in so that I could at least look at the items they had on display.

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There was lots to read too but I got to read none of it and had to piece together the history of children’s television form the pictures while keeping an eye on the boy, I wouldn’t have it any other way! I’m hoping that we may be able to go back again at the weekend before it closes so that I can try and learn a little more.

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There was a good mix of old and new exhibits that kept the boys attention just long enough that I could look at the things form my childhood and likewise my mums era. Some of the items were legendary like Humpty from Playschool or Blue Peters home made Tracy Island!

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The boy was excited to see the Teletubbies amongst other things. He’s like an elephant for remembering things (}he never forgets) so he’ll probably be talking about them and Mr.Blooms veggies for quite a while now!

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I loved seeing Bagpuss and the legend that was Gordon the Gopher!

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I used to love the broom cupboard, and loved watching Philip Schofield in-between the programmes with Gordon. I’m sure if we hadn’t had a toddler with us we would have spent a lot more time there reading but the boy was done and so we headed out and back over to the shopping mall for coffee and cake, before heading home as it was already getting late in the day. Time really does fly when you’re having fun together.

 

The exhibition was fab and I really hope we can make it back next weekend so that Daddy can come too, hopefully having been already the boy won’t want to hurry through so much, but whatever happens I’m sure we’ll have a lovely day out again. I highly recommend it for all ages  as there is something for everyone although there aren’t many days left to enjoy it now so get there soon if you can!

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Dear Boys….

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The main thing I wanted to do with a blog ahead of all other things was to create an online diary for our children so that they can look back in years to come and remember all the little things. Time is so short and life passes us by so quickly that its hard to remember everything that happens. Making and creating memories is what I try to do all the time so I’d like to start a regular post as a letter to our boys, I hope to write one each week, so here goes the first one.

Dear Boys,

Since the day I became mummy I have wanted to write a journal of your life and achievements so that you can look back and realise how far you’ve come and how many achievements you have under your belt. I started a little book not long after you were born but didn’t get very far, life got in the way and all of a sudden time seemed to speed up. I barely got time to make dinner each day let alone try to write a diary for you. Especially in the evenings as I sat by your cot willing you to go to sleep, trying to write with a pen and paper in the dark would have been impossible. Thank goodness though for technology, I can now start your letters on the mac and pick up exactly where I left off on the phone or ipad. I can even write in the dark with the back lit keyboard, or phone screen.
Boy you are 3 now and your brother has just turned 5 months. It really does seem like yesterday that you were as small as he is now. I’m sat here on our bed typing away as you are playing cbeebies games on the iPad and daddy has taken the Flixster for a walk to get him to nap. I love listening to you joining in, counting along or shouting at the games. You’re a whizz with technology and have known how to use the iPad since you were very small. You have a good memory for numbers and have known our passcode locks for a long time. Your current favourite number is 2278, which was your race number in Ironkids this year, except you tell everyone it’s your phone number then we have to pretend to ring you at work. Talking of IronKids, I was so proud of you that day, raising money for Reubens Retreat with all your friends despite the awful weather!

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This week has been hectic again. On Monday we went to see Grandma (on my side) and had fun all day as we usually do, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for you were spent in nursery as you usually do. We decided to continue with nursery once I went on maternity leave so that you had continuity and I am able to spend some time with Flixster. I still get to enjoy your company on Mondays and Fridays and of course weekends are spent with Daddy too. Your speech is really coming along now but you do come out with some cracking expressions and sayings. You really made me chuckle when we playing on the trampoline together today..

Boy – Can I sit on your tummy, theres no baby in there now…shall we have another baby
Me – Would you like to have another baby come and live with us?
Boy – Yes a boy, not a girl, I don’t like girls
Me – Ok what would we call him?
Boy – (After much thought..) …..Costco…..Bin…….Door……

Flixster what can I say, you make my heart burst with love every time I look at your beautiful face but you don’t half make me yawn! You’re not a keen fan of sleep, in bed for 7pm each night, back up by 8 crying, then up and down all night. I’m usually up with you 4 or 5 times a night, I’m one tired mummy. I keep telling myself its not forever and its only a short time but right now we could all do with a bit more shut eye! Poor daddy is still sleeping in the spare room so that he can get rest for work and we can share the bed safely. I love co-sleeping with you and have done since the day you were born but these get ups are hard work! I’d really appreciate it if you could cut the feeding down to maybe once or twice a night, it’d do us the world of good to get some more sleep…please?! You’re growing so fast though, 5 month already, soon be trying your first foods. Holding out to 6 months so that we can do baby-led weaning like we did with your brother. You’ve discovered your voice a lot more this week and have started making beautiful squeaky chatting noises. You still won’t nap in your cot so I carry you in the wrap for all your naps. We should work on that soon. I just can’t bare to let you cry though so it’ll be a gentle transition, once I work out where to start. Please bear with me I’m still a learner mummy!
Please always remember I love you both unconditionally….forever.
Love Mummy xx

My First Blog Post

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I’ve sat here with the heading “My First Blog Post” staring back at me for some time now. I’ve made a cup of tea and sat down again. I then checked my emails and looked again, over to Facebook and back. All the things you do when you’re trying to avoid actually doing something. Its a good job when I was at school studying for my exams the internet was just getting popular at home, or I’d have never got anything actually done.

I’ve just googled “My first blog post” and there are a million articles out there telling you how to write the perfect post and results showing other peoples first posts. I could of course just use a standard template, but thats not me. Thats not at all personal. How will you ever know if you want to continue reading if I don’t use my own personality. Every blogger started somewhere so he is my beginning.
I may as well start by telling you a little about myself. I’m a married mum of two boys. (Well thats the weirdest sentence that I’ve ever written, inside I still feel like a teenager!) But the truth is that yes I’m married and have been since 2008 to my best friend. He is my rock in life and keeps me sane and grounded, yet he also encourages my hopes and dreams and walks beside me to help me achieve them. We have two beautiful boys the first nicknamed The Boy who is 3 and the youngest we call Flixster, he’s just 5 months at the moment. They are our world and we have both changed for the better since becoming parents. My nickname on the internet is Lyric, its a word I’ve always really liked (Is that weird? Do other people have words they are fond of?) I don’t really know where it came from but it’s been my word since I was in my teens, which explains why my blog is called “A Little Lyrical”. When I was trying to think of blog names I knew I wanted to incorporate the word ‘lyric’ somewhere so it seemed appropriate that the dictionary definition of lyrical is….

Lyrical (Adjective) – (of literature, art, or music) expressing the writer’s emotions in an imaginative and beautiful way.

I hope I can live up to the definition, do the people at the Oxford english dictionary police these words as well as define them?!
There are two reasons I wanted to start a blog. I read a lot of blogs myself and really enjoy the diary aspect of them. I would love my boys to look back in years to come and see all the wonderful things we get up to as a family, all the things that they will forget about or won’t remember. The daft funny little things that make us who we are as a family. The forgotten things they say and do can be preserved forever for them to enjoy. The other reason I’ve started a blog has come from a friend. I have a close friend who has a very successful blog (www.letstalkmommy.com) and a chat one day over coffee has inspired me. Her blog drops into my inbox almost everyday and I love catching up with what she’s doing and most of all I love the diary element of her work. Recording memories for years to come.

I love crafting myself and over the years my paper scrapbooking has evolved into digital scrapbooking, each week I complete a Project Life style page (https://beckyhiggins.com) so that we can remember what we’ve been up to week by week. Digital scrapbooking suits me as I am a tidy person, so although I enjoy making a paper page I hate the tidying up of the mess it leaves behind. Closing a laptop lid is much easier! Plus having children I lack the space anymore to have the luxury of a craft room in the house. I love that I can pick up where I left off with digital scrapbooking in a few seconds I’m set up and ready to go. So I guess I’m hoping a blog will work well alongside my scrapbooking and other memory making.
Whats my blog going to be about? I’ve thought long and hard about what I would like to write about, but I don’t think I can fit myself into any boxes, I don’t want to just limit myself to one subject. Life itself is colourful and varied and so my blog will be too. I guess given where I am currently in my journey through life I’d probably fit into the parenting blog category most of all but not all my posts will be about children!
I guess it’s time to conclude my first post and I think this is probably harder than starting it, do I just shout BYE and leave? I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about me and if my life sounds like something you’d like to read about then you’re very welcome to read my blog and hopefully you’ll find something thats interesting, relevant and inspiring to you. If it’s not you’re kinda thing then all I can say is thanks for reading this and hopefully you’ll find something more suitable elsewhere in the universe! Feel free to leave any comments on my page whenever you like, I’d love to get to know others out there.

Lyric x

Me and the boys