Erin Turns Two

When Erin was born I had all good intentions of documenting her mini milestones by writing regular updates on the blog. Her last update was 13 months so I'm not doing too well there am I ;)

Having read some lovely children updates by other bloggers (loved this one by Sabrina at Mummy Stylist), it gave me the nudge I needed to write one for Erin!

Last week Erin turned two which I quite can't believe. I know it's such a cliche but time really does whizz by and they grow out of the baby phase so quickly. Erin is a walking, talking, independant toddler now and it amazes me!

For her birthday we hired a hall and invited her little friends. Typical second child, most of her friends were Elliot's friends but recently she has made some lovely new friends of her own at her swimming class and it was nice to invite them along too.

We booked Libby from Erin's Moo Music class to entertain the children and she worked her magic for a solid two hours playing games, singing songs and generally wearing everyone out! Erin had a fantastic time :)

Growing

Erin seems to be following in her brother's footsteps and is right at the top of the chart for her age/weight. Elliot was the same but his weight/height balanced out by the time he was 4/5, I'm sure it will be the same for Erin! She is mostly in 2-3 clothes but some shops seem to be on the smaller size - the t-shirt in the photo above for example is a 3-4 from River Island and seems so small. Her feet are a 6.5H and seem to be growing fast!

Food

She is currently going through a fussy stage and will not touch anything green or remotely veggie! She loves fruit though still...phew. She loves having toast and fruit for breakfast but isn't really a fan of sandwiches for lunch. She'd much rather have a 'picky'plate with some cheese, fruit, crusty bread, crisps etc.

Dinner times can be a challenge, I try and introduce new things but she would literally eat sausage, chips and beans every night if I let her! If she doesn't like something she will say "yuck, that's disgusting" and push the plate away. I don't force her to eat things as I don't really want to make a big deal out of it and she certainly won't be starving anytime soon!

Sleep

Erin has moved from her cot and is now sharing a room with Elliot, her on the bottom bunk. This might not be ideal in a few years time but they like it for now and it means our 3rd bedroom can go back to being an office! She likes having a drink of milk before bed and she still has a dummy for comfort. (it will be going soon though!). She's a bit of a monkey and won't self settle so we can't put her straight into bed because she'll keep Elliot up. Instead we sit downstairs while she has her milk, and with the lights very low/off. She'll normally drift off with a little back rub! Sometimes she sleeps through, if she wakes up she'll just come into our room. The easiest thing is to just pop her in with us and she'll go straight back to sleep. We definitely could do with a kingsize bed though, my husband and I spend most of the night clinging onto the edge of the bed for dear life while she stretches out in the middle! 

She still has a nap most days but this is getting trickier to enforce. If we're home she will sometimes drop off to sleep if I pop her in our bed with The Highway Rat on to watch but usually she'll nap in the car. I can normally get her inside without waking her! I prefer naptimes to be earlier otherwise she can be a pain at bedtime - if she sleeps later than 2pm then we have problems! Some days she will snooze for two hours, other days 20 minutes.

Development

Erin is a proper little chatterbox and has no issues with getting her point across. Popular phrases we hear are "oi! that's my book/game/toy/biscuit", "Ok Mummy!", "Yuck, that's disgusting!", "Go play with Elliot?" and "where/what are you Mummy?". I think it definitely helps having an older sibling because Erin just copies everything Elliot says and does. In the last week she has been trying to get Alexa to play songs...but she says "Sexa! Play Baby Shark!"

Erin has learnt to count to ten and we're currently working on her colours...everything is pink at the moment though!

Last week Erin started pre-school. It's a lovely little pre-school and it's where Elliot went so we already know all the ladies. She's only doing a couple of sessions a week but she absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Life in General

Having two children certainly keeps me on my toes, life is always busy and we do have lots of fun! Fortunately Elliot and Erin get on really well and they are quite happy to play together. Elliot is so good with Erin although sometimes I have to intervene when playtime gets a bit rough before someone gets injured!!

We don't really go to any baby groups but Erin has a weekly music class with Moo Music which she adores. We also do swimming lessons and are regulars at our local soft play cafes :)

I don't think Erin and Elliot look much alike these days, Elliot looks alot like my husband and Erin seems to be looking more and more like me....poor thing! What do you think?

Things Erin Likes
- Sausages
- The Highway Rat and pretty much all of Julia Donaldson's TV adaptations!
- Sticker books
- Hey Duggee and the stick song
- Andy and The Odd Socks songs
- Dancing/wiggling her bum
- Jumping in puddles
- Books
- Seeing her friends
- Playing with her kitchen
- Magazines, but only for the free gift and stickers!
- Peppa Pig
- Playing with Elliot
- Splashing in the pool
- Spending time with Nanny and Grandad
- Mr Tumble

Things she Doesn't Like
- vegetables
- Being in her buggy too long
- Kisses (only occasionally and on her terms!)
- Having to listen to my music in the car ("play tumble! want Tumble!")
- Brushing her hair
- Brushing her teeth

Erin Update - Life at 13 months!

I know I always say this but just how fast has the time gone - Erin turned one back in January and that just makes my head hurt, where did the time go! I appear to have blinked and she's changed from a newborn into a crawling, cheeky toddler. Slow down please!

It's been a few months since her last update on here so thought it would be a perfect time to do one, now she has reached her first birthday. So here we go...

Weight / Size

 I haven't had her weighed for a little while but she was 24lb the last time I went to the baby clinic. She's up there in the 90th percentile which is exactly where Elliot was and I know she has a very healthy appetite so no concerns from me. I've also noticed how tall she has gotten recently - she's definitely catching her little toddler friends up!

She's now in 12-18 months clothes bar a few sleepsuits which I always find way too long so they are always the last items of clothing to be moved up a size! She has so many lovely clothes including some lovely little dresses that my mum bought her - she mostly wears leggings and tops though as these are very practical when shes climbing everything in sight.

Food

She's a great eater and scoffs most things put in front of her. Her current favourite lunch is the little skinless sausages and spaghetti hoops - just like her brother! She will eat fruit like theres no tomorrow, epecially blueberries and strawberries. She's also started to enjoy apples although it takes her ages to eat it - but its quite handy when I need her to be occupied for a bit ;)

We found the switch from formula to cows milk really easy and she just has one bottle of blue top milk at bedtime. I haven't attempted to ditch the bottles just yet, I know the health visitors advise you to at one but it took us months to find a cup that Elliot would drink from when he was the same age so I'm not fussed if she has a bottle for a while longer.

Sleep

Erin will have her bottle around 7ish and she'll either fall asleep on me or I'll have a cuddle with her in her bedroom til she's asleep. Generally she isn't a bad sleeper although the dreaded teething did put a spanner in the works for a few weeks. If she does wake up, it usually tends to be between 2-4am and the easiest thing I find is to pop her in with us and put her back once shes asleep. Doesn't work for everyone, I know some parents are totally against letting their children sleep in their beds but I'd rather do that and we actually get some more sleep rather than me spending hours trying to get her back to sleep in her room!

Naptimes are getting easier, she sleeps for longer these days. She normally has 1 or 2 naps a day.  The only issue we have in the afternoon is the school run! I either have to get her to sleep in the buggy before we go or try when we get back. But I hate letting her sleep much past 4pm because I know she will be a little monkey at bedtime!!

Development

Well she is so so close to walking now - she has been shuffling along the sofa and pulling herself up for ages but in the last week or so she has got more confident holding onto one of our hands and walking. She loves her walkers too - she'll go up and down the lounge,  bulldozing everything out of the way! 

She's also learnt to climb in the last few weeks - I keep catching her on top of her toy box! We have three steps in our lounge that lead up to the kitchen and she can get up them so fast. Think I need to get the stair gate out of the garage!

Looking rather pleased with herself!!

She's a right little chatterbox at the moment and just in the last few days she's started to say "Mummy" rather than mumma. Which is lovely but not when shes shouting it at the top of her voice and holding out her hand for food!! 

I think we have around 10 teeth with a couple more on their way through. She's not suffered too badly with teething but has had some awful nappies!! 

What do we get up to?

I have to admit we haven't been to half as many baby classes as we did with Elliot but life is just that much busier with two - my day seems to revolve around the school run and fitting it all those other jobs I need to do. We do go to a lovely music class every Monday called Moo Music which Erin loves - we even booked the lady to entertain at Erin's 1st birthday party and all the children had such a lovely time :) 

Lovely Libby from Moo Music Poole

We still do our swimming lessons every week with Turtle Tots and Erin loves this - we swim in a really lovely little pool too and it's like getting into a hot bath. It's lovely to see how she is progressing. 

Elliot and Erin

These two get on so well - wherever Elliot goes, Erin is never far behind! I quite often wake up and hear the pair of them over the monitor - Elliot will get into her cot and play with her when she wakes up. He's not so keen on her going in his bedroom though - especially when she trashes the place!

What Erin likes at 13 Months

Hey Duggee (they can't get enough of the stick song!)

toasted teacakes and hot cross buns

Books, especially the ones that have buttons and make a noise

Cruising along with her walker

Getting every single toy out of the toy box

Escaping up the stairs into the kitchen

Bathtime, especially with Elliot (me, not so much....I usually need to change my clothes after!)

Teletubbies

Anything remotely musical

The remote controls

raisins

Looking at photos and picking out the faces she knows

chips...she's a bit of a potato fiend!

What Erin Dislikes at 13 Months

Being cooped up in her highchair for too long

Running out of food
People not sharing food
Having to lie still for nappy changes
Being told no!
Getting her face wiped
Being strapped into the buggy too long

I love these kitty jeans!

Erin at 9 Months Old

I had good intentions of blogging baby updates for Erin but the I only managed one at 5 weeks old - how slack is that! She's 9 months now so things have moved on alot since those early newborn days!

I'm never sure of the best way to do these baby updates but I've taken inspiration from The Mummy Stylist and used some of her headers to make for easier reading!

So here we go...

How is Erin....

Weight/Size - I haven't had her weighed at the clinic in a few weeks but I popped her on our scales the other day and she was just over 20lb. She certainly feels a lot heavier when I'm lugging her around in the carseat!

Clothes wise she's still in her 6-9 month outfits but she has so many lovely things in 9-12 months so I'm looking forward to putting her in those. Lots of cat and bunny prints!

Food: 
Oh my god, she certainly loves her food!! Her bottles have decreased rapidly over the last week and she now only has one at around 3pm and one at bedtime. She's on 3 meals a day, plus snacks and has taken to baby led weaning like a duck to water. She loves having a weetabix for brekkie, plus some fruit. Lunchtime is normally a dairylea sandwich or crumpet with some veggie sticks/cheese/breadsticks/fruit. For dinner she generally has the same as us but sometimes I make pizza pinwheels - I found the recipe on Pinterest and she loves them. I like the fact you can put anything in there! I usually put peppers, ham, mushroom and cheese. (The only problem is my husband loves them too so there's never any leftovers!)

Sleep
She's a great little sleeper and has been sleeping through since around 8 weeks. I cut out the night time bottles pretty quickly so if she does wake up, I can normally just sooth her back to sleep. Although I'm not opposed to having her in our bed if she's unsettled - I love the cuddles! Up until recently she was in a crib next to our bed but she got way too big for it and was bashing her head everytime she rolled over. So last week we finally finished clearing the spare room and we dug Elliot's cot out of the garage for her to have. She looks so small in it! Wake up time is usually around 630-7 but it depends if Elliot's up early - he's got an annoying habit of waking her up. Sometimes he doesn't mean to, but him yelling "I need a wee! I'm going for a wee!" and turning all the lights on generally wakes everyone up ;) I just bring her into our bed and have a cuddle before we get up for brekkie around 715am.

Naptimes are a bit hit or miss - it really depends where we are and what we're doing. She usually has a short one around 930am (especially if shes awake early), then another around lunchtime (maybe 45-60mins) and then sometimes another one just before tea around 430pm. She loves falling asleep in the car but I have been known to get the buggy out of the garage to rock her to sleep if she's fighting the nap!

Development
She's almost crawling - she gets up on her knees and does a funny rocking motion! She also does a kind of commando crawl backwards. She certainly gets around though despite not crawling properly, she's super fast at spinning and rolling! Just yesterday she has started to pull herself onto her knees and has finally figured out how to get down on her belly from a sitting position.

She babbles alot and sometimes it sounds alot like dadadada or mumumumumum but it's hard to tell if this is literally just baby babble or her trying to say words! She's very vocal - especially when she's in the trolley in the supermarket, that's her favourite time to shout!!

She has 4 teeth (top and bottom front ones) but I think she has another on the way because there's alot of dribble. She won't let us see though, and I dare anyone to put their fingers near those chompers!

Her hair is growing and seems to be getting darker. Sometimes it sticks up in a little quiff and a few people have called her TinTin!

What We Have Done
I have to admit, I've not been quite as enthusiastic about getting out to baby classes this time around. Sorry Erin, second child syndrome and all that! We do swimming lessons each week though and she really enjoys that. I have also booked us onto a baby music class for the next few weeks. We went to a trial one last month and she loved it!

Aside from the structured baby activity classes, we see our friends regularly. We're off to the farm tomorrow and we have a few playdates lined up with just the younger siblings which will be nice.

How Am I?
Busy....always busy! I'd forgotten how much time a baby can take up and I do struggle to fit everything in sometimes. Blogging has taken a backseat, and I'm a bit behind on my actual work - working at the laptop with a baby is harder than I thought!
Happy in general though, I love being a Mum and we are lucky to have a brilliant close knit group of friends that we see alot :)

What about Elliot? 
 I absolutely adore seeing the bond grow between Elliot and Erin! She loves her big brother and it's so sweet when he makes her laugh. He has never shown any jealousy towards her and just loves being in her company. He can't wait for her to wake up in the mornings!

What Erin Likes at 9 months:

Food - especially those Heinz baby biscuits, she can't get enough of those...
Swimming lessons with Turtle Tots
Her big brother making her laugh
Attention from anyone and everyone - she grins and stares at everybody we see until they notice her!
Teletubbies
Clapping her hands and squealing
Elliot's plastic toolbox - especially the spirit level
Taking things out of a bowl/box...and putting them back in again
Bathtime
Being tickled

What Erin Dislikes at 9 Months:

Having her face wiped
Getting changed, especially when I try and put her arms into things!
Not getting any attention!
Being strapped into her carseat
Running out of food
Waiting for food to cool down
Waiting for bottles to be made

Stay tuned for another update....probably when she's about 15 at the rate I'm going!

Linking up with...

Baby Erin - 5 Weeks Old

It doesn't seem 5 minutes since she was born but Erin is 5 weeks old now, the last few weeks have just gone so so fast. How is it March already?! I thought it would be nice to do some updates on how Erin is doing and how we're getting on as a family of 4. Even if no-one reads them it'll be nice to look back on ;)

Feeding

Erin is formula fed and we have just increased her milk to 5oz which she has every 4 hours or so. I'm not strict on routine so if shes sleepy and it goes past 4 hours I won't wake her, she'll soon tell me if shes hungry! And likewise sometimes it can be less than 4 hours but we generally go with the flow - sometimes she'll guzzle the entire bottle in one go but sometimes she has a bit, then comes back to it 20 minutes later. 

I have to say I am finding the guidelines for formula prep a bit different to when Elliot was a baby. With him I used to pre-fill the bottles in the morning using cooled boiled water and just add the formula as and when we needed, and he always took the milk at room temperature. Apparently now the water has to be a certain temperature to kill the bacteria so I've been relying on my perfect prep machine to make bottles on demand. But I'm still wondering the best way to do bottles if I'm out and about for the day.  I've been using the Cow & Gate pre-made bottles which are really handy but expensive so I need to figure out a routine for milk prep! 

Sleeping

Touchwood we aren't doing too bad with sleep! Erin will have a bottle around midnight and we're usually still up so one of us will do that before bed. And then she goes straight down until her next feeds at 4 and 8ish. Sometimes I struggle to stay awake when I'm doing the 4am feed but I catch up on Facebook or play candy Crush to keep my eyes open! 

We don't have a bedtime routine yet and to be honest I can't really remember how we got into a routine when Elliot was a baby so this will be something that sorts itself out over the coming weeks. At the moment Erin has her milk in the evening and will sleep on one of us or in her moses basket while we watch tv - I haven't got a monitor set up on her crib yet so I don't really want to put her in our bedroom whilst we are in the other room. 

Erin's favourite sleeping position - on Mummy!

Erin has plenty of naps in the daytime and really likes snoozing in her carseat, either when I'm out walking with the pram or in the car. We've just bought another buggy too and she slept for hours in that last week! 

Development

Erin is so much more alert now when she's awake and she has really started to look at things. She is fascinated by looking outside so sometimes I sit her in her bouncer when I'm getting things done and she is mesmerised by the trees. She recognises my voice now if I call her and her eyes will follow me if I put her down! 

One of my favourite milestones happened this week - smiles!! I've been looking forward to this as it's so lovely when you get something back from them and she has definitely started giving us smiles. I thought it might be wind at first but there's a real difference between windy smiles and real smiles! I now can't wait til she starts giggling :) 

We went to the baby clinic last week to get Erin weighed and she was 9lb 6oz - she still seems so dinky though compared to Elliot. When he was 5 weeks old he was already about 13lb so he was much much bigger! She is starting to fit her clothes better now and the 0-3 sleepsuits aren't as baggy. 

Out and About

I'm back behind the wheel now after a few weeks break after my c-section so it's been nice to get out and about again! We went to our first baby class this week and I had a bit of deja vu as it was the same class I attended with Elliot! It's my local under ones and the lady who runs it is absolutely lovely and so I couldn't wait to go back. As predicted, Erin slept most of the time we were there but she did wake up for the singing! 

Dressed all pretty for her first Under One's :)

We went for a little trip to our local Morrison's this week as I wanted to look at the baby clothes and Erin was cooed over by several older ladies. It did make me laugh though as two of them asked how old she was and when I said 5 weeks, they couldn't believe I was out! "Oh, 5 weeks! You should be at home!". Is this a generation thing?! Did new Mums not leave the house in the olden days?! One lady did say I looked very well and fit though so I'll take that ;) 

Big Brother Elliot

Elliot is still loving having a baby sister and is so sweet with Erin. He just wants to kiss and cuddle her all the time and the other day he said "she's got sparkles in her eyes!" - cute!! He pops her dummy back in if she's crying but there's not a chance in hell he'll go near her if she's done a poo ;)

How Many Outfits?!

Erin spends the majority of her life in sleepsuits as they are comfy and easy to put on but she also has so many nice little outfits that I try and put her in at least once. I am finding it a bit weird dressing her in girly outfits though! I'm so not girly and I've spent the last 4 years dressing a boy who loves nothing more than wearing jeans and a tshirt so it's been odd getting her in a dress! Here's just a few of her outfits she's worn recently: 

What about me?

I've been feeling really well actually and my c-section scar isn't giving me any problems. I still have to be a bit careful when I hoover but generally I'm back doing everything I did before. 

Erin has just slotted into our lives and routines so I have been out meeting friends and doing my shopping as normal, albeit with a pram in tow! I'm also back at choir which is amazing, I really really missed it in the 4 weeks I didn't go. I'm lucky that my husband is very hands on so he has no issues in dealing with two children while I swan off to choir every wednesday evening ;) 

 I've had it quite easy over the last few weeks because my husband has been working from home and has been taking Elliot to pre-school in the mornings so I've not had to rush around too much. He's back at work next week though so I'm sure it's going to be a struggle getting everyone ready to get out of the house for 830am - gulp!