Ben's 2nd Birthday presents from Friends and Family

I believe we now have all of Ben's presents from friends and family, well apart from the one that is apparently staying round Steve's parents house, that is from Uncle Matt, and apparently a wooden train with stacking blocks - that I believe he got him for Christmas, so probably good it's staying there! Haha! Ben's Great Nan also got him a play BBQ which is staying there as well. I hardly ever go over there by the way, as Steve and Ben go round on Sundays whilst I'm at work.

These were from our friends and work, the Busy Book is from Emily - Ben loves the little figurines that come with it, though he did start biting them, so he doesn't have them right now. And the little activity box is from Sharleen, CJ and Alissa.

The dumper truck and blocks were from my cousin Tom and his Wife Becky and their son Jacob. And the puzzle is from my Aunty Susan and Uncle John. What would they be the Ben? 2nd cousin and Great Aunty and Uncle? So confusing!

These are from Grandma and Grandad (my parents), as well as some money. A game that is for when he's a bit older as it says it's for aged 3. An Alfie book, and a Pillow Pet that is from QVC (it says on the label).

These are from Aunty Weeza (my sister). A little doctors set.

A few books from relatives in Steve's family.

His first football boots and proper football, from Uncle Ian (Steve's other brother) and Aunty Lucy. He obviously won't be in these boots for a while, but they were the smallest size.

Lastly this little selection came from Aunty Julia and Dave (my sister and her boyfriend). Some more Duplo, a book and a cute t-shirt and shirt set from Tu at Sainsburys. I always find Tu runs super big, so he probably won't be in this just yet.

He also got loads of money/ We will be using some of it to buy some new shoes. Going to take him to Clarks at the beginning of May to buy some. The rest will be going in his bank account.

Baby essentials #1

There aren't that many things that you really need at the beginning for your baby. There's the basics like nappies, cotton wool and clothes.

The first major purchase would be a travel system. We purchased the Zoom from Mamas and Papas along with the Cybex Aton carseat. So far it has been brilliant. It's a 3 wheeler with the front wheel being able to be set straight (good for going over stones, cobbles etc.) as well as being able to move round. It has a big underneath compartment for your shopping. It also comes with a carrycot. And you can pay extra for a foot muff and adaptors so the car seat can fit on the chassis.

Next I would say is some kind of seat. We decided on the Fisher Price Discover and Grow Newborn to Toddler Rocker (links not to exact model - but current version of the product), but there are many different one's available. This is great for him to sit in whilst I need to do something, like shower (I sit him in the bathroom with me) or eat my lunch. When he was younger he would look at and then later on grab hold of the lion and penguin. He also learnt to kick his legs to rock it himself. Also great to put him in for naps, when you want your baby with you. You can also turn it on to make it vibrate, which younger babies love. We chose this option because it is suitable for use up until the toddler age. He doesn't sit in it so much any more, mostly just when I shower or for the odd nap.

A playgym is brilliant for baby to play with toys & also to do their tummy time. This is suitable from birth, but I'd say 4 weeks old is probably more realistic. As they don't pay much attention to the colours as their eyes aren't developed enough for the first few weeks. In the beginning we just used it for his tummy time as we didn't want to put him straight down on the floor. We chose the Fisher Price Rainforest Gym. It has many different animals that he could grab hold of & is bright and colourful. This one also plays music and rainforest noises and has flashing lights.

Now, some people may not think you need a changing table. But this one has a bath underneath the changing mat & really helps with not hurting your back. We didn't have this right at the beginning (we didn't have space in our flat), and I really could have done without bending over or sitting on the floor to change Ben after just giving birth. Plus the bath underneath saves you from buying a separate one, and the storage compartments underneath are handy as well. We kept this in the bathroom whilst Ben was using this as his bath. and then moved it into his bedroom once he was able to sit up by himself and use the proper bath.

I found my breast pump very important. Sometimes I found it a chore to pump, as you can't do much else whilst doing so. But if you can pump and breast feed at the same time, not only will you hopefully get more milk pumped, but then you save time. Doing this also helps train your breast to the pump. I needed the pump as I still wanted Ben to have my breast milk whilst I wasn't with him - I'm very proud of the fact that he has NEVER had any formula. I attend football games every week or every other week, I also attended a couple of weddings and also went back to work. I chose the Avent breast pump, mainly because there was a great package deal in Mothercare one day, and this was actually the first baby product we bought.