Ben's 22 month Update

So I decided to take a break from doing updates on Ben, basically me listing his new words every month can get a bit boring! Ben is now 22 months, can't believe that he'll soon be 2!

Ben love's reading, he'll pick up a book and bring it over and stand in front of us for us to pick him up, sit him on our lap and read him the book, it's so cute! I'm planning on taking him to the library soon, as we have one within walking distance. I may wait till we're on holiday from work though so Steve can come as well. Going to get Ben his own card so we can log books out.

With regards to talking, Ben knows numerous words, and actually comes out with little statements now linking 2 or 3 words together. Like 'Cracker on floor' or 'drink on floor' or 'bye daddy' or 'daddy work', and other similar one's. A couple of times he's actually said sentences. One time he copied what I said, and another time he made one up himself saying 'Oh no, mamam (raisin) on the floor'.

We've recently dealt with a cold, which lasted for about a week! He hadn't been ill for months and months before that. And he's also getting his canine teeth coming in, once again top before bottom like with the rest.

We've had a bit of a sleep regression, which I put down to the teeth! He didn't nap for 5 days straight, although at night he has done pretty good, and sleeping through apart from once. Before this he would nap 5 days out of 7, normally for around an hour and a half, and sleep 10-12 hours at night.

His favourite toys right now are his Toot Toot vehicles, Scout, stacking cups, his kitchen bits and play food.. He doesn't really play with the kitchen, he'll turn the nobs around or pretend to cook if we tell him to. He'll pretend to eat his play food too, it's so cute. He caught on to that pretty quickly, although sometimes he does bite them, haha!

Recipe - Chocolate Victoria Sponge

I was in the mood to bake last week, I really wanted to do a chocolate cake. So I googled chocolate victoria sponge and found this recipe.

Cake Ingredients

150g caster sugar

150g butter, softened

110g self-raising flour

40g cocoa powder

3 medium eggs

Icing Ingredients

165g icing sugar

35g cocoa powder

100g butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

water

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan assister/gas mark 6.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar, I always find using a wooden spoon much easier for this.

3. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder.

4. Add the eggs and mix together until combined.

I lined the bottom of my tins, with baking paper (you don't have to do this I just find it easier to get out)

5. Separate the mixture between the two tins, and bake for up to 15 minutes. I did mine for about 11, but every oven is different so keep an eye on them. You can test they're done by sticking in a knife, if it come's out clean then they're cooked.

6. Place on a cooling rack and cool completely.

7. For the icing add all the ingredients into a bowl and cream together. I also sifted the cocoa powder. Again I used a wooden spoon for this. The water is optional, I added a little at the end to make the icing a bit smoother and softer.

 8. Sandwich the two sponges together with some of the icing, and then spread the rest on the top (and sides if you have enough). I also added some mini eggs as decoration.

Review - Morphy Richards Slow Cooker

As part of my News Years Resolutions I wanted to start eating healthier and doing more meals from scratch. I'd always liked the idea of a slow cooker and seen loads of recipes online. I had some money sitting in my purse that was a birthday present from the year before last, I wanted to save it for something I really wanted for us as a family. So I used it the purchase a slow cooker and a couple of books.

After reading reviews on Amazon I went for the Morphy Richards 48715 6.5 Litre Slow Cooker. Although it says 6.5litre it is technically only 4.5litre, but that is plenty big enough for us 3. And is actually recommended to cook for 6-8 people. I chose the bigger size so I could do bigger portions and freeze them, and also be able to cook a whole chicken in it.

I've made a couple of soups and a few main meals, and they've all turned out really good! It's so much easier to use, just through everything in in the morning and forget about it. You also then have plenty of time to wash it all up through out the day. As I very rarely wash up after we've eaten, although I am trying to. I aim to do a slow cooker meal on a Tuesday, as Steve's at work till 6pm, therefore isn't home until 6:30-6:45. And Ben requires more attention in the evening than morning. So it saves him crying, because I have to leave him to cook tea. So now I may just have to pop on some pasta or rice, if anything.

The slow cooker seems well made, and the instructions are very clear even including some recipes to help get you started! It also has an on/off light, which is another reason I chose this over the crockpot. I'm so awful at forgetting to turn things off. The other night I'd left the hob on, and only discovered this hours later!

The ceramic dish is easy to clean, I tend to fill it with hot water and washing up liquid in it once we've eaten, and then drain and rinse it before I go to bed ready to wash up the following day. The instructions say not to soak the whole dish, which is why I don't leave it in the sink to soak.

So far the recipes have all cooked in the time saying (some of the reviews on amazon said it was a fast cooker, but can't understand that).

If you're debating whether to buy one or not I would say go for it!

Organisation - Our Weekly Routine

I've told you about our daily routine (which is still pretty much the same). I wanted to show you our weekly routine, how I fit in cleaning, blogging and work around looking after Ben and still getting time to myself.

Monday
On Monday's I try to clean the bottom floor of the house. This includes tidying, dusting and cleaning the lounge, cleaning the shower room and also the kitchen. I also have the bathroom and kitchen floors to mop, although I don't do this every week, although I probably should. I also do some loads of washing, towels and work shirts are done EVERY Monday, and then another load after if needed.

Tuesday
Is when I do the upstairs of the house, Which includes the bathroom, bedrooms and spare room. I also try to get some ironing done. And also any loads of washing and sorting the laundry out from the day before.

Wednesday
.I keep clear for doing little extra's around the house if I feel like it! And also for doing more washing and sorting of laundry. I do a load of washing nearly every day apart from Sundays'.

Thursday
Bed changing day as this is the day Steve starts work earliest so I can get it done the earliest and in to wash earliest! I also work on Thursdays, so like to relax more whilst Ben naps

Friday
I prefer not to do anything! Well apart from the daily washing up and laundry. I also plan the meals for the week ahead and write the shopping list.

Saturday
We do our weekly food shop every Saturday morning. Before we go I always put on a load of washing of our work trousers and aprons. Then once we're back Steve hoovers and I put the food shopping away and then hang up the washing and maybe put another load in. Before tidying up the lounge ready for hoovering (Steve starts upstairs). Then I like to go upstairs and tidy up both bedrooms and put more laundry away!

Sunday
Sundays I work a full shift at work so I don't do any cleaning after work, I like to relax and spend some time as a family before putting Ben to bed.

Every day I like to make the bed, and we also do a couple of loads of washing up between us every day. Also if we're going out on a certain day I'll have to arrange the housework around it or complete it the day before or after.

Regards as to my blogging I fit that in where possible, if Ben's being a good boy and is happy playing by himself I'll sometimes pop on my computer and write a post of two whilst he's up. I mostly have to take photos when he's napping, and try to get them taken when it's a nice clear day, as photos taken in natural light are so much better.

Time to myself mostly comes in the evenings when Ben is in bed, this is when I cross-stitch, catch up on reading blogs and watch youtube videos. If Ben's still asleep once the house work is done then I do get some time to relax then.

I'm thinking about doing a post on how I use my diary and also my monthly calendar printable to keep track of my days and also money etc. As this is part of my new years resolution to be more organised, and I'm always looking for organisation inspiration.

Ben's OOTD #1

Just a little outfit of the day of Ben's for you. I love making sure his clothes match and he looks super cute, some days we have trackies and a plain top on for comfort. this is what I dressed Ben in one day last week.

Ben is wearing a long sleeved top and purple cords from Matalan, and shoes from Next. His vest and socks, which you can't really see are both from Mothercare.

My Hobbies - Cross Stitching

I thought it would be nice to show you what I do in my spare time (not that I have that much!) I mostly cross stitch, i've been doing it for probably around 15 years now, ever since my mum bought me my first kit, a little children's one.

I buy most of my kits off eBay, I never used to though! My mum started purchasing them off eBay, and as long as you read the description and check the sellers feedback you should get a good deal. As I prefer to use the auctions than the buy it now prices, as you get better deals. The little mini kit you may recognise from my What I got for Christmas post.

I'm currently working on a few different pieces, as I tend to get bored easily (haha!), this one is a Winnie the Pooh one, that is no longer available (another great thing about shopping on eBay). I have a few of these, and they're meant to be for Ben's bedroom, but I don't think they'll be up until he's 5!

I like to store my kits in these plastic popper folders, or I use plastic bags, although some are still in their original packaging, which I need to sort out as it's not great for storage.

This is a Christmas Dimensions kit that I'm also working on. I love Dimensions, as their kits are always so detailed and look fantastic when finished. I do have other kits I'm working on as well, but thought I'd just show a couple in this post.

I will do follow up posts on my progress of my projects, to add something a little different to my blog.

I hope you liked this post, and what does everyone else do in their spare time? I'd love to know.

Our Sleep Training Experience

When it came to wanting to get Ben to sleep in his cot, we hit a bit of a hurdle. When he was a baby he never slept on his own, apart from during the day in his rocker, at night he would never settle in his little crib or he would wake up when I put him down after nursing. So I just got fed up of no sleep, or sleeping with him in my arms. So I would nurse him whilst laying on my side, and him laying directly on the bed, with my arm around him.

Once we'd reached a year of breast feeding and co-sleeping I wanted to stop both gradually. With the sleeping we would try to rock him to sleep, and then wait until he was in a deep sleep before placing him in his cot, but time and time again he would wake up, either as soon as we put him down or a little later, he would go no longer than 2 hours without waking, and he would then end up coming into our bed, as we could never get him to settle again.

In the end I researched sleep training - as we were getting rather frustrated and really wanted Ben to be able to settle himself to sleep, that way if he woke up at night he would be able to settle himself back to sleep without one of us having to go into him.

I just searched sleep training on google, and loads of sites came up.

In the end I chose the controlled crying method, after researching I decided that this method would be the best for us, and most likely to work. As Ben would cry when in his cot, but I didn't want to let him cry it out.

Controlled crying is when you do your bedtime routine, put your baby down in the cot, and leave. Return after 1 minutes, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, 8 minutes. Which is what I did on the first night. Second night I left him for  2 minutes, 4 minutes, 8 minutes, 16 minutes. The third night I started at 3 minutes. One the fifth night I started at 5 minutes, and would then go in after 10 minutes, 20 minutes. By this time he was crying less, getting used to the time alone. I then jumped up to 10 minutes on the sixth night before I went into see him, and kept doing it 5 minutes later the following nights. Until we go to the stage where we just stopped going in and waited for him to fall asleep by himself before going and checking on him.

It was amazing and how quickly he took to it, and didn't cry too much after the first few days. He then also started sleeping through the night as well. Which he hadn't done since the day he was born. So we got a full nights sleep, and also time in the evening together, just us two which we hadn't gotten as one of us was generally trying to settle Ben to sleep.

I didn't try it earlier because he would fall asleep nursing. If there is another baby in our future then I will try it earlier than around 13/14 months, if we are in the same situation.