Of trains and dinosaurs

On the bank holiday Monday C-bear and I took an adventure into town to meet a friend at The Natural History Museum. I'm not sure what he enjoyed most; the train ride there or seeing the dinosaurs!

I had a dilemma over whether to buggy or not. Heading onto the underground with C alone is a buggy nightmare, whereas we're at the stage when if there's a mega tantrum a buggy would be much appreciated. In the end I opted to go buggyless and packed light so I could carry him at the busy stations. I'm so glad I took the plunge, there were no tears about getting in and out of the buggy on public transport, I didn't have to rely on stranger's to get up and down steps and C was an angel, walking when I asked him to and staying close in the crowds.

Highlights included:

- Seeing the train shed at Victoria with 'sleeping' trains just like in Thomas.
- Sitting up by the window and counting the cranes.
- Going through tunnels.
- Seeing the animatronic dinosaurs.
- Putting the toy train on an asteroid.
- Eating a raspberry muffin and strawberry milkshake at the shop.

Lowlights included:

- Queueing to get in, it was a massive queue and v hot
- General busyness of the exhibit and crowd constantly pushing to rush you round.
- The OUTRAGEOUS price of the coffee shop, everything was £2.50, so 2 cups tea, a milkshake and 2 muffins was £12.50 - when we go again I'll take a thermos.


Arriving at the museum


Baby Triceratops


Going past Battersea Power Station


He looked so small next to the museum!


Strawberry milkshake


By the leopard cub


Putting the train through the asteroid


Toy train on the train
 

A beach day at Greatstone

Our beach day was amazingly fun! We were expecting showers, but the weather was perfect, really hot with beautiful fluffy white clouds on a brilliant blue backdrop.

C-bear was SO excited about going to the beach, he was running round the house making excited toddler 'eeee' squeaks (he later told me he was being a mouse!).

The drive down to the beach took an hour and twenty and a lot of that time was taken up with a whiney boy. He got super upset when he dropped his black train and I couldn't reach to pick it up. He did like joining in our singing, he loved seeing Eurostar whizz past us on the motorway and loved seeing random sheep in the Kent fields. Most of the way was endless repeated questions to me, so we were all very happy to get to the beach!

We spent five hours on the beach. Nana and Grandad joined us with a picnic and we spent the day running down to the channels of water (the tide was way way out and C was content splashing in the channels of fresh water making their way to the sea), filling up the bucket, bringing it back to our towels and tipping it over the sand. We collected shells. We buried our feet in the sand. We had ice cream. It felt like we were on holiday. I'm so happy to have found this sandy beach close(ish) to us and can't wait to go back.

Beach day

To celebrate the Bank Holiday Weekend we're off to Greatstone, a sandy beach on the Kent coast. Here's the weather forcast:

A dry day for most with bright or sunny spells and mainly light winds, although Kent will have a few showers and a chilly breeze for a time this morning.

So, just what you'd expect for the English August bank holiday! I'm therefore packing:

- Sandals, T-shirts and shorts
AND
- Wellies, jumper and rain suit

We're meeting the in-laws for a picnic on the beach and little man can't wait!

Have a great Bank Holiday Weekend wherever you are :)

Our week by Android - week 6

Another week, another Instagram fix.

Last weekend we visited Hall Place in Kent, near the in-laws house. It's a beautiful Tudor house with lovely ground, a river and tons of geese.

- Boy, shades, mini milk
- Boy on wall
- Hall Place - boy loved (and was slightly scared of) the hedge 'monsters'
- Hall Place - main house
- Beautiful lavender - C-bear loved the smell
- Back home for a bbq and a railway bridge built from bean cans

- Eating sweetcorn
- Air con broke in the office, moomin was not happy
- Animals on the tracks
- Early morning bus stop
- Murder of crows

- Getting ready for nursery/work
- New braces - he only wore them for half the morning and kept pulling them off his shoulders - but looked soooo cute!
- Daddy caught in the rain
- Decorating gingerbread - eyes, hundreds and thousands and eating it, in a thunderstorm, sheltering under some stairs in the park!

Linking up with Amy @ A Good Life

When baby's away

After a miscommunication about half day closing at nursery, T's parents stepped in and took C-bear for a sleepover at their's before a day of grandparent fun today. Which meant this morning I had something I don't think I've had in 27 months - the house to myself in the morning! Hubs left early for work so I had a glorious hour and a quarter alone and boy did I take advantage:

- I had my shower with the door closed and the radio on
- I flicked casually through my wardrobe
- I switched Cbeebies for Chris Evans
- I tidied up (grandparents staying for a movie tonight)
- I had a cup of coffee and checked emails and FB
-there was no cajoling to get dressed, fix milk or cereal or changing big wet nappies!
- I'm actually working a normal 9am - 5.30pm day
- I took the bins out (how hard is it to carry a bin bag with a toddler and get through the 3 main doors and steep steps that lead to our bins)
- I walked through the park as it wasn't too early for the gates to be open
- I saw an ex-colleague I've not seen for years on the train

So as much as I wouldn't swap being a mama for anything, it was nice to have a reminder of getting ready for work with only myself to sort!

My 27 month old

Oops meant to publish this week's ago!

This month it's all about making sure your feelings are heard! You talk non-stop mainly telling us what to do "sit on floor daddy", "read that one mummy" or asking questions. Endlessly. To everyone. "what you doin mummy?", "where's yellow crane mummy?", where's bonfire mummy?" (the neighbours had a bonfire a few days ago and it's been the no. 1 topic of conversation since). You also sing nursery rhymes and we get a whole show of them through the monitor at nap time. You learn a lot of them at nursery, I can name any rhyme and you seem to know it, your favourites are Miss Polly (which I really need to look up the words for) and dingle dangle scarecrow. You have a brilliant way with words, yesterday you called the slice of watermelon in The Very Hungry Caterpillar Triangle Cake :) and when we go outside you say "we're out the window".

Yesterday you got your first proper black eye bickering with (i think) your best friend in the book corner at nursery. The staff aren't allowed to tell us who did it, but when I asked you, you said her name and later through the monitor when you were jabbering away about your day you kept repeating "that's my book (name of friend)...." However you've gotten over it quickly, when I questioned you she's still your best friend!

Clothes are become a regular morning negotiation, you want to stick to your favourite 3 t-shirts and only the green pjs, all of which feature trains. It takes some real cajoling to get you into anything else.

The little black engine is the toy of the moment. You take it everywhere you go and when at home playing train tracks is your favourite occupation.

You're going through a growth spurt and this is helping with your fussy ways. You ate corn on the cob and homemade tuna fishcakes on Sunday and eat an apple almost daily. Which is a big step in the right direction.

We bought Tiddler by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler to read on holiday and you love it, it's read daily at the moment. You also love Chicken Licken, though I'm not sure you understand that they all get eaten by the foxes at the end!

You can count to 10 in French, just about. Though you've turned it into a song with Daddy, so now stop at 6. "un, deux, tois, quatre, cinq, six, let me know...FRENCH!"

You are incredibly loving, will happily say "love you mummy, daddy etc" you ask where people are when you haven't seen them for a while and shout "that's my mummy" when I pick you up from nursery. It makes my heart melt. On the flip side you regularly have tantrums when things don't go your way, and sometimes need to be left alone for 5 mins to calm down, when you have, we ask you to you apologise to whoever the tantrum was aimed at, which you do. On the weekend you did this because:

- I carried you inside the house when you wouldn't go through the front door.
- I shut the baby gate to the kitchen when the oven was on.
- We went right to the museum rather then left to who knows where on getting off the bus.
- On numerous occasions Daddy and I made you hold our hands when walking by a road.

We've also had a few weeks of being told to go away. You've picked that up from another child at nursery. We've explained how rude this is and each time you say it we stop what we're doing until you apologise but that just makes you say it followed immediately with a sorry. We're being consistant with this one and you're definitely saying it less so maybe a win is in sight!

Liebster Blog Award

I've been awarded a Liebster Blog Award by Beth at MommaB&BabyBoy! It's a great award that let's you find out a bit more about other bloggers you follow. Sorry it's taken me sooooo long to respond and actually answer the questions!

The rules are simple:
- post 5 random facts about yourself
- choose 5 other deserving blogs with less than 200 subscribers to nominate and link their blogs in your post.
- tell your nominees you have chosen them for this award by leaving a comment on their blogs
- answer the 5 questions the tagger has asked you and ask your own 5 questions to the people you nominate.
- no tag backs.

So, 5 random facts about me:

01. I always paint my toe nails dark red, I have for years and years, can't remember when I first started doing it, maybe 2002?
02. Although I live in London now I was brought up on a small farm in Wiltshire.
03. I'm addicted to tea and coffee (I think I've said this before), I literally have to have a cup every hour at work and I've also converted the rest of my team.
04. I'm really rubbish at going to the doctors. I just never seem to find the time. I was told by doctor in December to come and have an asthma check and have only just got round to booking that appointment now...
05. I sleep on the right-hand-side, hubs sleeps on the left, we've always done this since we first got together.

Beth's Questions:
01. What's the most-worn/favourite item of clothing you own?
My FatFace jeans - they are slightly flared, blue denim, I would wear them everyday if I could. I love their big smartphone friendly pockets.

02. When & why did you start blogging?
July 2009, we got a new cat and I started a lighthearted blog called The Ginger Prince to track his kittenhood, here's my first post, it was pretty poor! I got bored with it after a few months and started my current blog under the name 'The Battersea Booklover', it was all about my life and the books I revolved around, when we had Charlie it grew with me and turned into the blog as you see it today. I still feel really sad about The Ginger Prince blog, I grew tired of it and stopped and then our little kitten died at just over one year old on the 7th April 2010, exactly one month before Charlie was born and one day before I started maternity leave.

03. What's your favourite snack?
Healthy - salt and vinegar snack a jacks - they're really moreish
Less healthy - Cadbury's caramel - yum

04. Do people 'IRL' know that you blog?
A few. My husband does, and reads it quite regularly. A few relatives know about the link from when I started ages ago, but I don't think they read it now??? And I passed on the url to a few old school/uni/work friends, who I'm in touch with through FB and who fell pregnant after me. Blogging and reading Mummy blogs is such a big part of my life I wanted to share it with those others. I don't know whether they continue to read, I suspect not!!! Friends and colleagues know that I 'blog' but I've not actually given them the url, so unless they are particularly stalkerish, I don't think they're reading it :)

05. If your kiddo was a girl, what would you have called her?
We had the girl's name decided before the boy's! Evie, full name Evelyn Kate. You never know, we may use it when we have baby number two, but that won't be for a little while yet!

My Questions for You!
01. Of all your posts, which was your favourite to write?
02. Have you ever met a blogger you follow in real life?
03. What's your favourite book - one for you and one for reading with your little one?
04. What's your favourite blog, the one you read every post for and will skip reading others before you read this one?
05. Did you blog before you became a mother? and if so what was it about?

The blogs I'm tagging:

01. Mummy Plum
02. Mum Down South
03. WeAreWildThings
04. Grace and Me
05. A Yummy Mummy's Baby Adventures

Have fun writing your replies ladies!

Hello darkness my old friend

For the first time this summer getting up at 5am meant I was up before the sun. Not relishing dark mornings for another 6 months, where did summer go?

To be a better blogger

I want to make a few changes to be a better blogger. Currently my blog is little more than a stream of consciousness, something happens, I write it down,  I join in with weekly linkys sporadically (week in iPhone photos and fill in the blank Friday) and I throw in the occasional book review. Firstly I want to start planning posts, I'm a Marketing Planner (the clue is in the title, I plan, a. lot.) and survive through a master spreadsheet that includes everything to go live on the site and in emails. I'm not going to go as extreme for this little blog but at least having a list of posts planned will help me keep it interesting.

I also want to write more varied posts, starting with more in depth, critical book reviews and then taking it from there. Being influenced by the issues affecting the other blogs I read and generally stopping being so predictable.

I need to be a better blog reader, to feel like part of the blogging community I need to pull my weight. I'm terrible at reading someone's blog for months and months and never leaving a comment. At agreeing (or disagreeing) with her point of view but not stepping forward to say anything.

So enough of the whiny posts, it's time to move onto something much more interesting!

Our week by Android - Week 5

Linking up with Amy at A Good Life, good luck with the coming week Amy, my thoughts are with you and I look forward to seeing some pics of baby number two!!!

I didn't get a chance to post when we were on holiday so I'll start this week's with my favourite three photos from last week's hol, then go from there!

- We spent the week at Sandown on the Isle of Wight, we played with a new killer whale toy in the paddling pool
- We ran on the beach and collected shells and sea glass in the green bucket
- Charlie finally fits the zippy top we brought back for him from Rome in March

- Listening to iTunes with Daddy
- Making plasticine railway tracks
- Brilliant Olympic themed Metro covers all week, plus I remembered to make coffee everyday
- Cuppa tea at work with 'lucky' eagle teaspoon
- Hellish week at work meant a nice cold vino was called for
- Noodles Ala fridge - surprisingly tasty

- Giggling and showing off his tummy
- Bouncing on the bed
- Ice cream in the park
- Wearing hats with Mama
- Ducklings!
- Running with Daddy

- A busy morning at The Horniman Museum - pointing at the vegetable signs
- A squirrel - he'd just stolen a corn cob from the garden and was gnawing on it
- Beanstalks - just like Jack's!
- Mama meet up - my friend R looking at the marigold pool with little T
- 3 boys together, on our way to see the 'feeshes'
- Meeting up with BFF little C after our aquarium visit

Post holiday blues

Having a week away and spending time with my boys was brilliant, really cleared away the cobwebs and gave me time to relax. But now I'm back to what's turning into a rather hellish week at work and it's putting things into context, I know it's usual to get a case of the post holiday blues but I'm really struggling at the moment.

The answer to everything seems to be time or my lack of it. Being a full time working Mum is tough and I find it even tougher because I spend 3 hours a day commuting. My boss points out that I chose to live so far away but that's not a solution. I chose to move when I was 7 months pregnant because we needed a bigger flat and couldn't afford to stay in Battersea. We chose to move south eastwards to be closer to my in-laws which in terms of family life works well. I also thought my commute would be quicker then it is because a lot if the time is clocked up waiting for the trains. However hope is on the horizon as in the autumn we're moving offices to Piccadilly and I should save about an hour a day! But right now autumn seems a long way away and it's hard to get up at 5am after a week away.

On the Sunday after we came home T took C-bear to the park for a couple of hours and I got tons done. I sorted out my wardrobe, something I haven't done for a couple of years - I still had maternity clothes mixed in with the rest! I tackled the shelves of hell in our bedroom - these house hubs' aftershaves (he has a lot) and cufflinks, my 2nd (never used) jewellery box and spare toiletries plus a load of other bits and pieces which don't have homes elsewhere. Without too much detail they were horrendous, covered in mould, dust and cobwebs. That corner of our bedroom hardly gets touched as I never have the time to clean it and it's least priority as no-one sees it apart from us. I also charged the power drill and made Thai chicken noodles for lunch. Whilst C was tucking in I tackled the coat hooks. These fell off the wall at least a year ago. I polyfilled the old holes, drilled new ones and even used rawl plugs, it was a job that only took 10 minutes but the sense of achievement was immense. Which is so frustrating, why was it that I needed a holiday to tackle a 10 min job which has been bugging me for over a year? It's the same answer as cleaning the shelves of hell, I manage as a working mama but only keeping on top of the important things like laundry, meals and spending time with my son, after that, when I have an odd hour here and there I'm so exhauated I use it to relax, watch tv or blog.

So what have I learnt? That holidays for me are even more special as I take a break from juggling full time work, marriage and motherhood to become a full time wife and mother, and it's the energy I get from this which keeps me buoyant for the rest of the year. With hubs having no holiday days left for a mini break all I can say is roll on Christmas, there's a whole list of DIY things to do!

Isle of Wight - castles and stately homes toddler style

On our first day on the island we joined Nana and Grandad to visit Carrisbroke Castle and Osbourne House. What do I mean by toddler style? Well very fast through the inside bits, long times waiting in gardens and help climbing lots of stairs.

Charlie really enjoyed the castle, he liked climbing the stairs (holding Mama's hand tightly) and was curious about the canon.

We saw a couple of the 'famous' donkeys (they draw water from the well) but surprisingly he wasn't too fussed, preferring to run around on the grass. I carried him up all the steps in the pic below - it felt like they were never ending at the time, but he loved going into the keep and climbing further to see the flag. Though he promptly complained about the wind and so we started the long descent down again!

As with most two year olds his attention span wasn't too long so whilst Nana and Grandad finished looking around the museum, we sat out on the grass and looked at the Thomas sticker book!

At Osborne House C-bear was a little grumpy and really we shouldn't have tried to do two historical buildings in one day, but apart from a meltdown halfway round the house which meant I never did get to see the upstairs (and I would have loved to have seen the nursery), he was actually on best behaviour.

I fell in love with Osborne House as soon as we arrived and definitely recommend you take a visit! It was built by Victoria and Albert as a private retreat from court life and after Victoria's death was given to the country (and at some point English Heritage) so this is truly Victoria's house as no-one else has used it as a family home. I thought we'd take the boy in the buggy to zip round the house (and maybe he'd take a sneaky nap) but that was not to be as buggy's were banned inside, we did have a nice walk in the grounds which was made better by having the buggy rather then me carrying a grumpy two year old, so definitely worth taking it along. Charlie liked this pig statue:

And I liked the fact that these two aren't a matching pair, a pig and a dog guarding a side door - weird huh!

After his meltdown, C and I spent a long time sitting on this step, excuse the bad photo but I wanted to show off his trainers, I got them in the sale at John lewis and love them - plus they're his first shoes with proper laces rather then Velcro.

And finally a couple of photos from the gardens, they were beautiful, behind the wall there was a gorgeous view to the sea.

Isle of Wight - a toddler paradise

My plan to write a daily holiday diary blog was scuppered by lack of Wi-Fi or 3G where we were staying on the island. That said, it was quite nice not to check my email for a week!

The IoW brings back memories of childhood day trips, so it was nice to spend a whole week and treat Charlie to multiple days out and ice cream. Here's a little of what we did, first up the beach:

Beach play was really great. Sandown seafront was two mins from our holiday house and perfect for a toddler who loves to run and run.

He was scared of the waves, but the beach was full of rivulets and streams for him to paddle in.
We made three epic sandcastles including a tower and a harbour/pool. He loved hunting for pebbles to put in his bucket.

We hunted for pebbles and shells for Nana, C became really good at finding green treasure - sea smoothed glass - we now have a little glass jar of our finds on the shelf.

The bucket, spade and cat sand shaper set was in constant use - a great bargain found at the ELC. We got a set for little cousin M, but they didn't make it to the beach!

One afternoon Nana and Grandad came too, we hired a couple of sun loungers and spent some wonderful hours letting C run between the water and the sand, playing with all 4 of us. Hubs and I had an epic splashing match in the shallows which ended in him taking a fall into the surf! We had ice cream, took advantage of two rivulets to make a pool and hunted for large pebbles to fill it.