This day I love.......: bath

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This time last year I has just had a growth scan and the girls got to see their new sibling in 3D. I remember that cold drive to the private clinic for the scan, excited to see my baby and the realisation that this was the year baby would arrive. Now a full year later I have a 10 month old and very soon a first birthday will be upon us. It also recently dawned on me that as Little Man was born right at the very start of March his birthday is sooner that we think as February is not a full month, well not really, so I might have to start planning very soon!

This past month has been documented daily on our YouTube channel as we undertook Vlogmas. It has been great watching Little Man grow each day in these videos, and whilst they may not be directly about him he still features in them. This month has seen Little Man gain a new tooth, so we now have 5 and by the looks of it another on its way. Little Man has had all the cold and flu bugs going so it has been a very snotty month too.

I now have a climber on my hands, he can climb onto chairs and tables, climb up stairs and basically climb onto or over anything that stays still long enough. He is super speedy fast in his baby walker and loves whizzing around and opening cupboards! He does a fantastic three point turn in his walker and loves to chase the dogs and his sisters. Whilst he can crawl he prefers to walk with objects so will crawl to an item to pull himself to standing. This past month has been all about working out how to get back down again, and he has now mastered sitting back down after standing up. It has been so sweet watching him work this out.

Due to Little Man walking with furniture he now has his very own pair of shoes. This first pair in the photo we had to take back as he refused to walk in them, his current pair he prefers much more and will walk with them on!

As well as walking Little Man is a chatter box. He wakes up every morning and says 'Hiya' and then starts chatting away and a few days ago he said 'mama' and now I can't get him to stop! He also loves to blow raspberries and will often answer a question you ask him by doing so, which can be rather comical. He gains a very confused look when you roll your tongue or stick your tongue out at him, neither of which he can do yet but he is working it out.

Sleeping is not one of Little Mans strong points, but then his sisters don't sleep either. He does like a nap around 11ish and will nap for about 2 hours but then gets tired around 4/5 and if he does nap then he will not go to bed until around 11, and if he doesn't nap then he sleeps 6-8 ish and then is up until 11! Either way it makes for an interesting evening. He gets up at least twice a night and wakes up around 7.30 am every morning demanding breakfast. I am trying to get him to sleep in his cot but he simply refuses, and then wakes up his sisters who then also refuse to go back to sleep.

We do have a good routine with Little Man, which is something neither of the girls had. He eats and sleeps around the same time each day, and he adores his bed time routine refusing to sleep if he doesn't have a bath. Little Man has started with some patches of dry skin, which is how my eldest eczema started and so I have been using the new Aveeno baby range with him. I met the Aveeno team at Blogfest and they kindly gave me some samples to try. The Aveeno baby range has been specifically designed for a baby's skin. Not only does it help to moisturise the skin but it has been designed to cleanse, soothe and protect delicate baby skin too leaving it healthy and leaving Little Man comfortable. I put some in his bath and he loves making lots of bubbles with it. After his bath I massage the emollient cream into his skin before putting on his PJ. He loves this routine and it seems to help keep dry skin under control.

One of the issues I have with Little Man and his sleeping is he does not like his sleeping bag. He moves to much for a blanket and he gets himself tangled in his sleeping bag. He likes to move his legs and cannot do this so gets frustrated. Dry, itchy skin on top of this would mean a very unsettled night so I use the Aveeno cream to help combat this uncomfortable feeling.

Little Man has a huge obsession for water and can be found anywhere there is running water. He knows where the bathrooms are and will crawl/walk to them and try and open the door. He gets over excited when he pulls himself up to the bath and does lots of excited jumps, his little legs then try to climb the sides to get in. Even when the dog is in the bath he still wants to get in!

Little Man now wears size 9-12 month clothes and even some 12-18 months clothes. At our last health visitor appointment he had regained his birth line, and that is no surprise as Little Man adores his food. He is fussy that it has to be the same as what we are all eating but other than that he eats most things, including sprouts at Christmas dinner.

I still find it hard to believe that Little Man has blue eyes, they have changed slightly to a blue/green but given a family of brown eyes it is such an amazing change. He has such a happy and cheeky personality. He will spend ages focusing on one toy, rather than playing with multiple toys. He much prefers to figure out how one toy works before moving on to another. Little Man seems fascinated with screws and you often find him with his finger working out how to unscrew the screws. His other fascination is with posting things and he posts his toys down the backs of chairs on purpose. His pointer finger gets used the most, he likes to point at things, put the pointer finger into things and use the pincer grip whenever possible. I have a feeling I am going to have to watch him very carefully as he gets bigger!

I cannot wait to see how my beautiful blue eye boy develops over the next month!

To celebrate a new year and the countdown to a first birthday I am giving away a teething ring from Gumigem. The colour and style will be sent from Gumigem directly, to enter simply follow the details on the widget below.

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We are looking forward to taking our first holiday as a family and although we are not going far it will be our first holiday as a 5. Travelling with a 3 month old brings about certain challenges. We are lucky that there is laundry facilities on site so we can manage clothing, but there are a few extra things we need to pack.

First aid kit

A good first aid kit is a must when travelling. My youngest daughter is incredibly clumsy and trips over various invisible items on a regular basis, which means we always have to have a first aid kit with us.

Our first aid kit is from The little health company and contains

1 x Basic advice for first aid leaflet
2 x instant ice packs
1 x hydrogel burn dressing
2 x medium wound dressings
1 x large wound dressing
1 x Triangular Bandage
12 x Safety Pins
1 x Eye Dressing
30 x Washproof Plasters
12 x Antiseptic Wipes
1 x Roll Microporous Tape
6 x Pairs non latex Gloves
2 x Finger Dressings
1 x CPR Face Shield
1 x Foil Blanket
1 x Clothing scissors
1 x Conforming Bandage

The great thing about our health kit is that it contains instant ice packs, which if you have little ones you use quite a lot of. It also is stored in a bright orange case so it is easy to locate among any other items, either in the car or in a cupboard at home.

Swim suit

Although we are staying in the UK, there is a swimming pool on site and we are looking forward to letting Little man have his first experience of swimming. He is a big water baby already and adores his baths so this should be a great experience. The swim suit we have is made of neoprene, so will help to keep him warm. It also features an inbuilt nappy so any mess is contained and can be washed away afterwards. Although I may still use a nappy with him just to be over cautious.

Steriliser

As we are not sure if there is a microwave in our holiday home, or what kind of catering facilities if any we have decided to take our Milton Combi steriliser. The Milton Combi can be either cold water sterilisation or microwave. This means that even if there is no catering facilities in our holiday home we can still sterilise all feeding equipment.

The steriliser is easy to use in cold water mode, cold water is filled to the 5L line and 1 steriliser tablet is placed in the solution. Items are sterilised in 15 minutes and stay sterile for 24hours. During this time frame items can be removed and added as needed. There is no need to rinse as items can be used straight from the steriliser.

This method makes it perfect for travel as we will have access to a cold water tap and we will know that all feeding items can be sterilised quickly and easily. The lid has a great seal making spilling highly unlikely and the strong carry handle means it can also be transported.

Shnggle and Infacare

Little man has just got into a routine, and knows that after his bath it is bed time. We want to keep this whilst we are away and so will be taking his shnuggle bath with us. Little man has been able to sit unsupported in the shnuggle bath from 10 weeks old, which makes it really easy to bath him in. I think I would struggle bathing him over a sink, and the depth of the shnuggle also helps soothe his tummy before bed. It is a great size so easy for us to transport.

Little man loves to have lots of bubbles in his bath. He loves to curl his toes into the bubbles as if trying to grip them.

The girls never had bubble baths, as we could not bath my eldest because of her skin. As I would bath both girls together this meant my youngest daughter also missed out. We never really experimented with different bath bubbles even the gentle ones, as we did not want to risk an outbreak so bathing Little man is a whole new experience and one which we can discover new brands.

We discovered InfaCare baby bubbles and Little man loves them. InfaCare makes lots and lots of bubbles, perfect for his little toes to squeeze. A little squirt also goes a long way meaning a bottle lasts a long time. Infacare is ph balanced and Ultra mild so it is perfect for Little man and his delicate baby skin.

Some items in this post have been provided for review, all words are my own opinion

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The first month with Thing 3 is almost here and with it we have discovered some must have items. These are things we probably would not have thought about buying or things that have made our lives a little easier this past month.

Perfect Prep - Tommee Tippee

I tried to breastfeed baby at birth but for whatever reason baby could not or would not take. Instead when given a bottle they drank most of it. The decision to formula feed was therefore made by baby and we are happy and comfortable with it.

Having never bottle fed before I was worried about making up feeds and how to do it, but the perfect prep machine from Tommee Tippee has taken all this away. It is so quick and simple to use, that is has been an absolute life saver.

Simply keep the unit topped with cold water and press a button when you need a bottle making up. The water is controlled so it comes out at the right temperature and the initial hot shot kills any bacteria that could be living in the powder. It works with any bottle and any formula which is even better. We even take the Perfect Prep upstairs at night for the night feeds.

Thing 3 has learnt the beeps that the machine makes when the milk is ready and starts to root looking for their bottle. If you plan on using formula milk than you really need a Perfect Prep.

Shnuggle

The first time we bathed Thing 3 resulted in the following

I think Thing 3 felt exposed and got a little scared in the bath. I think that's part of the problem with traditional baby baths, the baby gets a little lost in them. I was struggling too, as the bath was too heavy for me to lift to empty.

The Shnuggle is amazing and a must have baby bath. It is smaller than a traditional bath and when full has 2 litres of water, take care to fill to the max line. There is a little bum bump inside to support baby and stop them slipping. The back has an ergonomic shape and non slip foam colour back.

Thing 3 is much more relaxed in this bath and feels much more secure. It makes bath time much more enjoyable and a fun experience. I can also lift the bath afterwards to empty it. I love that even at this newborn stage I only need one hand to support Thing 3 and that the Shnuggle will last them for 12 months.

We also have the stand for our shnuggle. This means I can bath baby standing up and is perfect for those times when my back really hurts. The stand also is a great place to store the shnuggle when not in use.

Ewan the dream sheep

We have written lots of post about Ewan. We bought my eldest one before she was born, and another for my youngest. Baby now has my eldest Ewan. Ewan is a cuddly sheep who plays four different sounds and pink noise. He is simply fantastic at calming babies and helping them to settle. We would not be without Ewan and you can read more here.

Snugglebundl

I am a firm believer that car seats should stay in the car and that when a journey ends baby should be taken out of the car seat. The Snugglebundl is a blanket which can be used to transport baby. Thing 3 is wrapped in the blanket and transported to the car. The harness goes over Thing 3 and the blanket over the harness. When we arrive at our destination we can use the handles on the Snugglebundl to pick up Thing 3 without disturbing them.

The Snugglebundl has proved perfect for me. As I tore my abdominal muscles during pregnancy lifting anything can be painful. The Snugglebundl had made lifting thing 3 really easy and I can see how it would help someone who is recovering from a C section.

The Snugglebundl can also be used in the pushchair. We had to attend a hospital appointment for Thing 3 and could not take the pushchair, rather than disturb thing 3 we simply lifted the Snugglebundl and carried them inside. Thing 3 stayed lovely and warm even with the snow that was falling outside.

We absolutely love the Snugglebundl it makes transporting and moving a baby so much easier.

Some items in this post we have bought and others have been sent to us, however all words are my own personal opinion

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If you have been following my blog, you’ll know my family and I have been in the long, sometimes arduous process of redesigning our home. We’ve found a lot of fantastic ideas, some of which i’ve already written about on ways to restyle it. While researching I found some great ideas on how to redo a bathroom. It might be useful to those of you who are struggling with making your bathroom a more stylish, comfortable place to be.

Follow Thisdayilove's board A dream bathroom on Pinterest.

Buy A New Bath

When you buy a new house, you’re often stuck with the white furniture in the bathroom that came with it. It’s not often that you buy a home where the previous owner has taken the bath with them! But, that doesn’t mean you have to be stuck with their old tub because you can still replace it. Their bath may not suit how you want the room to look, particularly if you are trying to save space. If you are looking to save some room, and make your suite look less cramped, buy a corner bath. These are perfect because they fit snuggly into the room and leave you plenty of space spare for other things. For instance, I always wanted to have a little chair in my bathroom. I think it’s quite a good place to sit and relax, particularly when it’s filled with steam.

Another extra tip is if you have kids, make sure you have a rubber safety mat on the bottom of your tub. This makes it less slippery and avoids accidents.

Upgrade The Shower

If you haven’t been keeping up to date with the latest styles in furniture you won’t know how luxurious showers have become. A shower used to be the poor man's wash choice but now a shower can be just as relaxing as a bath. There are many different designs to choose from including a wet room, for those who have difficulty with accessibility. You can see some of the different designs I’m talking about on http://www.bellabathrooms.co.uk/shower-enclosures.html.

Of course if you are not looking to completely renovate the room, you could just upgrade your shower pump. This will give you a stronger spray of water that will make your morning shower a far more enjoyable experience.

Add Little Accessories

By adding small accessories to the room you can really bring out it’s best features. For instance, I saw an idea online of styling each room in your house with family photos that match the room. So, if your bathroom was blue like the ocean, you could have pictures on the wall from when your family visited the beach. You could also stick shells and pebbles around the pictures.

You could add a long mirror to one of the walls of your bathroom. This makes the space seem bigger and is quite useful when you are trying to look your best in the morning.

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