by iamcrabstix | Apr 22, 2017 | general parenting, Travel
PLACES TO VISIT WITH CHILDREN IN COUNTY DURHAM
Here are my tips for places to visit with children in County Durham. Ten months into this parenting job and I’m still a little bit scared of being stuck on the A1, at the Angel of the North with the little one, so many of the great things to do I have seen online in Newcastle/Northumberland have yet to be tackled, there are lots of them on the fantastic blog Northeastfamilyfun. I’ll get over my trips-in-car-with-baby-on-my-own issue sooner or later!
So, not venturing too far from home, I have compiled a list based around the south of the region, which are a bit closer to me in County Durham. I’m not going to give you the obvious ones, like walk around Durham – we all know what an amazing sight that is. But some tips on places you may not be so familar with, which are baby friendly.
If they aren’t my own images, they belong to This is Durham, who have a fantastic social media presence as well as being a fantastic resource for everything that is amazing about Durham!
Hardwick Park
Our go-to place. Durham County Council have done a fantastic job, a great walk, a lovely lake and a Gruffalo Trail for the kids. Parking is £3 for the day and the money goes back into the park. Chavs don’t seem to like paying for parking, so is usually family friendly. Favourite of dog walkers – so be weary if you’re not a fan of dogs. Here is us by the lake in December – it’s open all year!
South Durham Gymnastics Centre
Locally known as ‘The Pink Gym’ the gymnastics centre offers open play for 0-4 years olds five times per week. It is a great place to let little ones explore on crawling and toddling friendly surfaces. They also get a taster for what the equipment is like in the world of gymnastics. They can join SD Gymnastics Club from the age of 2 – but it is advised to put names down on a waiting list as it is so popular, especially as it is the home gym of Olympic Gymnast, Amy Tinkler. It is great to have such a role model in the local area, and fantastic to see a local club so popular. Open play sessions cost £4 per session.
Spennymoor Leisure Centre Sensory Room
This is the best sensory room around – suitable for babies from a young age. The sessions are limited by numbers, so booking is required and you are free to explore the sensory equipment, everything is self-explanatory.
This was the first place I took RLT on my own! The Council website doesn’t have a great deal of info on it, but the reception staff and centre manager are very responsive to enquiries. Timetable for baby sessions correct on 30th Oct 2018 are: Monday 1 and 2pm. Thursdays 1pm, Fridays 9.15am and 10.15am. These sessions are for children aged between 0-2 years and are £4 per child. To book, call reception on 03000261161.
Beamish Museum
A wonderful place for all! A place for education and exploration. We are incredibly lucky to have this open air museum on our doorstep – just past Chester-le-Street! A bit further North than most of the other recommendations, but another great Durham County Council run tourism attraction, so it counts! Great prices on annual passes, mean that it is a great regular destination and regular changes to programme such as Christmas specials and 50s weekends make it even more fantastic. This was the place we all used to come on school trips and I’m very proud to have this in the local area. I cannot wait for the 50s village, which is due to open in Summer 2019.
Hamsterley Forest
We are also exceptionally lucky to have Hamsterley Forest on our doorstep. Great walks, stuff for bikers, different play parks to ones you’d find elsewhere and a Zog trail! It is a full day out kind of place! They also have cool events during the year, like night time safaris and you can pick your own Christmas Tree and a discovery pass system to pay for annual parking if you’re a regular visitor.
We took RLT here aged five weeks in a papoose… fun for all ages!I’d advise you to get a map and follow a route – it is a forest after all and therefore MASSIVE.
Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon
Obviously being home of the railways is a massive part of our history around here! So visiting this place is a must to understand how it all started! I must admit, I’m not the biggest fan of trains, but the museum has old carriages, so you can see how trains used to look back in the days of it being the elite way to travel and they are beautiful! Likewise seeing the Flying Scotsman in all of its glory is great. There are so many historically significant links to the area and the railways, it is really great to visit and will fill you with a sense of pride. Santas Specials here get booked up fast, too! Recently there was a really popular lego exhibition – I’ve never seen the area so busy! Great to see!
Is there anything you think should be included? Please comment below! There are days out with kids websites which compile everything, this is simply a tried and tested list from me.
by iamcrabstix | Mar 31, 2017 | general parenting, rlt
My blogging has been somewhat sporadic recently. I’m finding it hard to adjust to being back at work full time. I don’t have enough time for anything.
I don’t feel like I have enough time to give my baby the attention he needs or deserves, I left for work this morning before he was even awake. He hasn’t seen that I am there for him today, like every other day, and I don’t like it. Likewise with my partner, he has a very demanding job, I feel like we are ships that pass in the night.
RLT has slept in my bed every night since the 1st March. At first, I needed it as much as him, but we have tried to put him in his cot and the cry at the moment of realisation is horrific. I can’t do that to him, apparently, separation anxiety is evident between eight and ten months anyway, mix into this that his routine has completely changed and the clocks changing.
He has also got four of his top teeth coming through at the same time – so that is nine months and six teeth, which is pretty good going. I am off on Monday’s, so this Monday we went to baby gym, took a walk, played in the garden and on the trike – full throttle to make the most of the time.
At work I feel like the new girl. I don’t know briefs sufficiently to do anything to full effect, I feel that I am picking up the ends of projects of which I don’t know the aims and objectives. My brain isn’t firing in meetings, I’m being asked for my opinions and I just sit there looking vacant. Not having a handover hasn’t helped, but thankfully the team of people I work with are amazing.
I find I’ve changed as a person. I’m not as strong as I once thought I was. I have been spoken to in an unkind way by a colleague, whereas I would usually shrug it off, it affected me so deeply. I feel a little caught out that male colleagues can throw the fact that I took the time out to have a baby as me not being fully committed to the cause. I’m not a feminist in any way, but it sucked. I can’t help the fact that my partner couldn’t carry the baby, I had to and I wanted to, but that doesn’t give them the right to throw this at me when they don’t get their own way. I was simply doing the job I was employed for.
Life feels like it is built on sand at the moment for one reason or another. I need to find a way to get a solid routine for everyone. Time to make a plan!
by iamcrabstix | Feb 15, 2017 | general parenting, Reviews
I don’t usually post a lot about food, I feel a bit inadequate as there are so many mums out there taking great pride in following baby-led weaning and coming up with great recipes, but that’s not me. I don’t enjoy cooking, but I enjoy good food and don’t have the patience or the organisational skills to wait hours for it!
This doesn’t mean that I will let my child eat just anything. As I have mentioned in a previous post (you can read it here) I am not a massive fan of gluten, as a household we don’t eat pork and I don’t eat halal meat (this is my personal preference based on my belief that the animals suffer unnecessary pain as they are not stunned). If my baby expresses the wish when he is old enough to eat any of these things, I will not object, that is completely his choice.
RLT started weaning at five and a half months old, in that time we have experimented with lots of tastes and textures – I made all of his stage one purees as I was confident with mushing veg, even my cooking skills extend to using the steamer/blender! But stage two was a totally different matter, so we went on to pouches and jars, which I mixed with purees for the first few weeks. He’s tried many but he isn’t a massive fan of any meat except chicken (I must have tried him five times with beef, but he isn’t convinced by the taste!) This made me think his tastes may be similar to mine! I could follow a vegetarian diet without even noticing.
So when I noticed a post by Naomi at Me Becoming Mum about Babease baby plan, I was intrigued and immediately went to their website to find out more. I found that they were stocked in Boots– brilliant! Boots is one of the few shops we have where I live! Sadly the baby range was so small it didn’t have them, so I ordered a few on their website to collect in store.
I tried the Chickpea, pumpkin, tomato & coconut cream with herbs and mild masala before I gave it to him – it tasted absolutely amazing. His dad agreed – I made him try it the next time I gave RLT a pouch! RLT is a fan of big flavours, thankfully for us, and you can see he is enjoying every mouthful of the Babease pouches – it’s a notable difference from when I’ve tried him with some of the jarred products, he’s just not interested – especially with anything with beef, potato or peas in!
RLT’s dad is very keen to ensure that he doesn’t become one of these kids who will only eat chicken nuggets and beans – so I showed him the pouches we had and he thought Babease baby plan was a very good way of getting the little one used to amazing tastes at a young age, with the added bonus that RLT would be used to herbs and spices early, so we wouldn’t need to worry about taking him on holiday with us anytime soon (he is keen to revisit Vietnam as soon as possible!).
The other flavours Butternut Squash, Quinoa & Beetroot with Onion & Sage, Broccoli, Parsnip, Green & Puy Lentils with Onion, Fennel, Tomato & Herbs, Brown Rice, Swede, Courgette & Kale with Onion, Garlic & Thyme are equally as lovely too. I don’t think I’d really had much food with fennel in, so I admit to having a few spoons full when I first gave him it rather than the little sample I usually have!
I’ve previously mentioned that I found getting Ella’s Kitchen products easier as they were easier to access, but the Boots which is close to my work stocks three of the Babease baby plan stage two pouches (sadly not the Sweet Potato, Tomato, Carrot & Quinoa with Chickpeas & Cumin, which we haven’t managed to try yet or the Chickpea, Pumpkin, Tomato & Coconut Cream with Herbs & Mild Masala) so this makes it quite easy to stock up. They were on 5 for 4 this week and I also had £28 worth of advantage card points thanks to buying a pushchair in Boots, so it makes sense all round to keep on buying – mum’s happy, dad’s happy and more importantly RLT is a massive, massive fan of the flavours!
On a totally unrelated note – as someone who appreciates good graphic design, these are the nicest packaging designs for baby food ever! Also with a lovely uncoated sleeve around the food!
by iamcrabstix | Feb 12, 2017 | general parenting
So you’re just about to have a baby! Everyone in the world will have hints and tips for you on what to do with the baby. But here are some practical survival tips, especially for the first-time mum!
1.Bulk buy chocolate, crisps, diet coke(whatever it is you drink) and biscuits before the birth. The likely hood is that you are going to be in the house for a few days after the birth. If you want to binge eat chocolate buttons, you deserve to without justification of this to anyone else. So have supplies ready.
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2. Buy Badedas Bubble Bath for yourself and get in the bath! I always thought this was cheap crap given by Granny’s at Christmas, but it is actually pretty good for helping your body recover from the joys of childbirth! Horse Chestnut Power!
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3. Cut out the arguments before they start about where the baby is going to sleep by buying a Next to Me crib in advance. You’ll get sleep and also retain some of your own bed. BONUS!
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4. Buy frozen food or ask people to bring food for you when they visit. There is not a chance you will want to cook!
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5. Tell yourself that you would like to breastfeed, but don’t beat yourself up if you find it too hard and simply can’t do it. As cliche as it sounds, fed is best!
via GIPHY
by iamcrabstix | Feb 10, 2017 | general parenting, rlt
Thank you to Devon (LOLZ) at Devon Mama for the tag on this #thelittleone. It’s taken me a while to sort it out with his baby agent, but finally, I have managed to get a sit-down meeting with the baby himself, Master RLT….
WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING 7 MONTHS OLD?
Laughing at people when they go past in the supermarket. My mummy and daddy don’t do it, so I don’t think you can get away with it when you’re a big person!
… AND WHAT’S THE WORST THING?
Pooing your pants [nappy] during the night. Room smells stttttinkkkkkkyyyyyyy by the time I wake up and shout at mummy to come change me!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE TOY?
This is a toughie! I do like me some jumparoo time, but then I am also fond of this Little Tykes Octopus I have, he’s called Octy and my Beat Bo because I lurrrrrveeeeeee doing the Beat Bo Boogie!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING TO DO?
BOUNCE! Not like Tigger, because he’s a doyle but like RLT – the OG!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING TO WEAR?
There are sooooo many choices for this… my mummy recently did a 30 weeks of microfashion post, I think you should check this out.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE SONG?
Hotline Bling by Drake or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…. it is hard to choose between them. I’m a gangster, straight outta mummy!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD?
Chickpea, Pumpkin, Tomato and Coconut Cream with Herbs and Mild Masala from Babease. My mummy and daddy love me eating the food from Babease because they said it gets me used to tasty, good food so that it won’t be long until I can go somewhere cool on holiday like Vietnam.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING TO WATCH ON TV?
I love In the Night Garden and Hey Duggee! AWWWOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFF.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK?
Funnybones. It makes me laugh. My cousin Ted has borrowed my copy though, so my mummy reads it off the top of her head. This makes me laugh as she doesn’t remember the words she just makes it up but adds the words dark, dark in, so she thinks I don’t know!
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Everything! Pretend to laugh and I’ll laugh right back.
WHO DO YOU LOVE, AND WHY?
I love my daddy the best and O (she’s the cat, her name is Orla, but who has time to say Orla? So I just call her O).
If you’d like to learn more about where this little one series came from you can visit The Secret Life Of Baby. In the meantime, I’m tagging:
Charlotte at Cups of Charlotte
Sarah at Flump has Two Mummies
Lianne at Mrs Mummy Harris
I hope your littles ones are feeling as chatty as mine was!
by iamcrabstix | Jan 29, 2017 | general parenting, rlt
We were lucky enough to get bags and bags full of trendy little gent outfits from my two-year-old nephew to mix with the items we were bought or have bought for RLT. Here are a few of his key microfashion pieces in the 30 weeks so far!
- Joules Milford Jacket
I adore how our little mini-gent looks in this jacket. It instantly smartens him up whatever he is wearing. I can see me buying this in the next size up, too (a habit of mine when I like something, as you will see). This is the item of clothing that has had the most compliments.
RLT in Joules coat
RLT in coat from Joules and hat from Florence & Fred
2. Next Sleepsuits
Next have been our go-to supplier for sleepsuits which are good quality and good design. I’ve never actually shopped in Next for myself, so I was surprised at how much I liked the children’s section. RLT’s coming home outfit was from Next, as you can see below 
We have had Next sleepsuits for every size so far (he even went down to tiny baby at one point due to our struggles with breastfeeding)
RLT in Next sleepsuit and Mothercare hat
We will definitely continue to buy these until he is too big! They usually retail at around £16 for three.
3. Little Bird Multi-striped bodysuits
I absolutely adored these when I saw them in Mothercare shortly after my 20-week scan. So bought them in three different colour variations for 0-3 months, then he got too big, so I bought two more 3-6 months. Sadly I couldn’t find anymore 6-9 but he does have the t-shirt version waiting in his wardrobe for 12-18 months! Beautiful, bold colours and really great quality. I wish they did a different colour variation every season, sadly I can’t find one in the current collection.
4. J by Jasper Conran bonded fleece all in one
This is another example of a product that we have loved so much it has been bought in several sizes. A great quality, warm all-in-one which has been a trusty pramsuit and great for when the little one is in his Ergobaby carrier. Not a bad price either at £22.
RLT in his Junior J Jasper Conran pramsuit, which he has had in two sizes
5. Navy hat from Mothercare
The navy hat I bought RLT from Mothercare matches the colour of his eyes, it really suits him! This had was so much of a hit in our family, that my two-year-old nephew asked for the same one. So we actually purchased four at the same time, in different sizes. So RLT will be wearing this for a long time to come!
I’m sure you will agree he is into his microfashion. A microfashionista in the making. There have been so many great outfits in RLT’s wardrobe so far, here are a few more:
