Tuesday 21 April 2015

Rhodri's 11 Month Update

Rhodri's 11 Month Update

My baby boy is now 11 months old. 
He's more & more like a little boy and less like a baby every day!



I seriously start to tear up every time I think about just how close we are to his 1st birthday. This time last year I was on maternity leave getting everything ready for our baby to arrive, and now we are planning his 1st birthday.

Rhodri is learning and changing so much everyday. So lets dive right in and see what has changed. 


Weight: Rhodri's weight gain has slowed down considerably. I think this is partially because he is a lot more active these days, but also because he has once again had a virus and this has affected his appetite for about 2 weeks of the past month. Now that he's feeling better his appetite has returned, so I'm sure his weight will be back on track soon.

Height: He's won't be measured until his 1 year check up.

Clothing size: 9-12 months. These are fitting him nicely at the moment with plenty of room to grow although shoes and hats for this same age range are too big for him.

Sleep: He sleeps 7pm - 6.30am. We do sometimes have to wake him at 6.30am so that we can get him out the door and get ourselves to work, but more often than not once he hears us stirring he starts to wake also.

This months milestones: 
  • Teeth - He now has six teeth (the two bottom and four top. A further two top teeth are on their way. This past month his teeth have been coming through but he has seemed less bothered by teething than he was in the past
  • Words - Mamma and Dadda have been perfected. He has now added Ta when thanking us for food, Cat (or Gat as it sometimes sounds), Yes, ooo, hiya (but only when pretending he's on the phone, he won't say it to us!). It sounds like he is starting to try saying more, bottle, book, go, come and bye sometimes. Only time will tell. 
  • Walking/Crawling - We have started crawling backwards begrudgingly. He will move in circles using the "bum-shuffle" but he still prefers standing. He will walk holding on to your hands or furniture.
  • Social skills - Very interested in other people and especially other children. On the bus the other day he high fived a child sat next to us and tried to hold/shake the childs hand. He smiles and giggles whenever people talk or show an interest in him.
This months special outings:
  • Rhodri has been enjoying spending time with his grandmothers while Mummy & Daddy are in work.

  • Rhodri has had too many outings to the Drs surgery this month, but he's thoroughly enjoyed flirting with patients, nurses and Drs

  • We still spend every Thursday with his Aunty and cousins. Rhodri loves this family time.

  • Rhodri had his first outing to the beach! It wasn't a total success as he was poorly, but he definitely loved the sand!


Baby gear love: Still in love with my wrap. Also loving our Koo-do Pack-it Seat Me Safe Seat Harness. Normally £10 but is on offer for £5.99 at Argos if you want to try this out. When out and about, if a high chair isn't available, we can sit Rhodri on a normal chair in this harness. He loves being in a big boy seat and I love knowing he wont fall off!

Baby's routine: You can read our bed time routine HERE

The day time routine hasn't changed since last month...

"Around 6.30am he wakes up, he has porridge and a bottle before brushing his teeth and being dressed for the day. We tend to leave the house around 7am dropping him off before heading to work. His grandparents play with him, take him out and just enjoy him of course. He naps around 9 for two hours. Has a bottle and lunch around half 11. Second nap half two ish for an hour. His last bottle after the second nap. I pick him up around 4.45pm. When we get home he has dinner and we resume the normal evening routine. Thursdays & Weekends Rhodri doesn't go to his grandparents and so I try to maintain the routine while still making memories and enjoying quality time together."


Highlights of the month: 
  • Rhodri is becoming a very funny little boy and he knows it. He loves pretending to talk on his phone... which can be a remote, computer mouse or anything really. He will babble away and laugh straight after as though he's told you a joke.

  • Rhodri high fives, claps, dances and plays peek a boo using a teddy to hide his face. He's very playful and it's such a pleasure to see.

  • Celebrating my first birthday as a Mummy. It was a completely different birthday with a meal and an afternoon in the park, but was by far my best birthday yet! Couldn't have asked for a better day.

  • Getting home from work every day and getting smiles, kisses and cuddles is still the biggest highlight of my day/week/month.

  • Rhodri discovered balloons this month and they are great fun. Until they pop!


Rhodri's monthly favourites: 
  • Toy - Soft toys. He likes to bite them.
  • Teddy - Goodnight bear.
  • Food - Toast, Raisins and cauliflower.
  • Music - All music, pretty much anything in the UK top 40, along with the classics such as Queen, Bon Jovi etc!! 
  • Activity - Walking or dancing.
  • Person - Mummy & Daddy of course!
  • Book - Guess How Much I Love You
Rhodri's monthly dislikes:
  • Being ill. Coughing is his least favourite activity and he is not impressed with being given medicine.
  • Being dressed. Particularly dislikes putting coats on - this continues to be an issue.
  • Being in a car seat or pram if we are still. He wants cars, prams, mums & dads to constantly be on the move!

Thats all for this month. As always thanks for reading!! xoxo







Wednesday 15 April 2015

Letterbox Cake by Baker Days Review & COMPETITION!!


When the lovely people from Baker Days offered me the chance to try one of their Letterbox Cakes, I thought, how lucky am I? I get to eat cake and then tell you all about it!

 When they said I could offer one of you lucky readers the chance to win a letterbox Cake of your choice, well it would have been plain rude of me to say no! So basically I only ate this cake for you guys... You're welcome!

Baker Days are a UK company making and designing cakes with a variety of size options, different flavour sponge and a huge selection of designs that can be personalised by yourself. Although you can get larger celebration cakes, the type of cake I am reviewing and that is quite unique to baker days is this letterbox cake. It is packaged in a tin to avoid being damaged in the post, and the parcel it comes in is the perfect size to fit through your letterbox. Which also means no trip down to the local sorting office to pick up your parcel if you aren't in!


The cake I selected was the Chocolate Twirl with the Chocolate Chip Sponge. Seeing as it is my birthday very soon I chose to make it a birthday cake and asked the lovely Baker Days design team to put a "Happy Birthday" on it for me.

Its a lovely 5" cake (12cm by 2.5cm), giving you a decent 3-4 portions of cake.

Along with the cake in the cute tin you also get a little card, a pamphlet with information on their cake range and a mini party pack. In the party pack we were treated to 3 balloons, 2 candles and a birthday blow horn.



I was so excited when the cake arrived, the presentation of the cake was amazing. The little party pack was such a nice touch.

It was 10am when my cake hit the doormat and I hadn't had any breakfast. So as much as I didn't want to (honestly!!) I ate cake for breakfast just for you! I know, I'm so thoughtful.

So I lit my candles and we ate some cake.


The cake was still fresh and moist, the sponge was delicious and the icing was lovely. This scrumptious little postal cake was perfect. It was delicious to the very last crumb!!


I love the fact that there are so many different options. With vanilla, fruit and chocolate chip sponges on the smaller cakes, half and half, gluten free, dairy free etc on the larger cakes there really is something for every one. With so many designs, and the option to personalise your cakes there is bound to be a fit for you and after my sample of Baker Days I for one think these are perfect for all occasions. Cake prices start at £14.99 and all cakes come with next day delivery.

Next year is my 30th so *hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink* Mr Hubby. I'll just leave this link here for your convenience :) https://www.bakerdays.com/categories/personalised/birthdaycakes

If you're more of a cupcake person, then thats OK Baker days have you covered - https://www.bakerdays.com/categories/cup-cakes/


COMPETITION TIME

So now one of you guys get to try one of these Letterbox cakes. UK Entrants only!

To win use the rafflecopter widget below. You will need to visit Baker Days on Facebook and like their page. Go and follow them on twitter. Start following me on twitter and leave a comment on this blog post. In the comment let me know what Letterbox cake you want to receive if you win.

Use the widget below to ensure your entry is counted. Rafflecopter will take an email address from you and this is how I will contact the winner of the competition. The winner will be chosen at random using Rafflecopter. The competition will run from 15/04/2015 until 30/04/2015. The winner will be contacted on 01/05/2015.

As always thanks for reading and Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway