Signing Esme up to the library is something I’ve wanted to do for ages but everyone kept telling me she’s too young so I left it.

This week I decided she was old enough as the weather was crap and we were both bored.

Esme got a lovely little book for free for signing up, she has her own library card and we can take out four books for four weeks. She then continued to be amazed at all the book handing them to me one by one (all the Welsh ones that I can’t read 😂) we looked through a few books and then settled on taking out one about colours and the difference in having a new book every few weeks is amazing!

Esmes showing more interest in certain topics or objects along with learning more sounds, words, animals and textures (she loves touchy feely books at the moment) overall the library has been a big hit and good decision, something I wish I hard started a routine in ages ago!

This week I have taken esme to town twice just her and me and I love it!

To me it’s quality bonding time we do shopping and go to the library or park. Sometimes we just go for a walk just to have a moment to calm down when life gets busy

Today we decided to go to the park, it’s really nice because I talk to her alot more when it’s just her I find that if we go out with friends or family I don’t pay as much attention to her as I end up talking to friends or family instead.

It’s days like today where it was just her and me, we had fun and did some Christmas shopping, it’s precious bonding time that I may not get the chance to do as much when she no longer wants to hang out with her mum because its “not cool”.

I am making the most of days out and matching pyjamas while she still wants to.

It also helps break the day up I hate staying tlin the house all day I end up feeling groggy and bored and esme gets bored so we go for little trips out.

Every week I take Esme to two baby / toddler groups , it is part of our weekly routine and I try to make sure we always get to go .

There are many benefits of taking your baby/toddler to play groups from my point of view the main benefit is social interaction if it wasn’t for play groups Esme wouldn’t have any interaction with other children as their are no other children in the family so to us baby groups are a big part of esmes social development and learning things like sharing and interactive playing.

social interaction isn’t the only benefit of playgroups they also allow for different types of physical activity such as signing , dancing or creating shapes with play dough .

Baby groups allow for different types of imaginative play by allowing them to play with a multitude of different toys that you may not have at home and they can also take part in play scenarios that other children are partaking in (e.g. playing house in a play house )

There are also many benefits for yourself in taking your baby to playgroups , you get to talk to other mums and realise that no matter what you and your baby is going wether its restless nights or teething there will always be another mother going through the exact same thing and many other mothers that will give you the best advice (actually tried and tested!! not some old wives tale ) . You will get a chance to sit down with a cup of tea and have a chat with other parents that want just the same ( a cup of tea and a chat ) which can be very beneficial in keeping you mentally sane in the whirlwind rollercoaster that is motherhood and newborns .

It will give you chance to make lifelong friends, your baby will make friends and something that we all find important is one on one dedicated playing time with your children where your not expected to make cups of tea or clean up just time dedicated to getting to know your children and there is nothing more important than that.

I once had a mum say to me “aww I wish my two took to comforters they both weren’t bothered with them” and at the time esme was newly attached to tigger (her tigger comforter) so I didn’t think much of it but thinking back sometimes I wish I’d told her the truth of what happens when your child gets attached to a comforter/blanket /Teddy.

Number one is that it will never be washed again or you have to buy duplicates in order to wash it, everytime tigger goes in the washing machine I am filled with fear and hoping that it will be clean and dry before nap or bedtime!

It constantly looks filthy because we never get the chance to wash it and trying to explain to people that if you “just take it and wash it” you will enevitably cause your toddler to think the world is ending and causing the world war three of tantrums and its not a simple case of your child just forgetting they want it.

You will constantly live in fear of loosing it, as much as esme loves tigger she likes to throw him out the pushchair and I have lost count the amount people that have chased me down the street or in a shop because she has thrown tigger out when I haven’t noticed and I am so grateful to every single one of you!

My night of trying to put esme to bed without tigger would be a living nightmare, the other night I tried to put her to bed without tigger because I couldn’t find him anywhere but I knew he was in the house but just didn’t know where and she wouldn’t even SIT in the bed let alone go to sleep! Eventually I found him (behind the kitchen door) and the SECOND I gave him to her she practically jumped into bed and within minutes was asleep.

Bottom line is there are days when you will love this comforter /blanket / Teddy and there are days when you will LOATHE it and evantually you will loose it and have to raid the Internet to find it because sods law the shops will suddenly stop selling it!

It is a strong connection between one thing and your child that manages to comfort them more than any normal teddy.

Heres a link to seems beloved teddy comforter on amazon (this is an affiliate link , it will not cost your more ) .

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As I am writing this me, my partner and my 15 month old are on the train to Shrewsbury so though I would write a blog post on tips with travelling with a one year old.

First thing we find easier to do is to wake her up just before we are about to leave and keep her in her pyjamas and take some clothes with us to get her changed into when she’s more awake so we are not faffing around Tring to get her ready to get into the car on time and also take something for her to have for breakfast while on the train, it’s just something that makes the morning run alot more smoothly.

Next is take activities, plan things to occupy your toddler while they are travelling so they don’t get bored, we packed a colouring book and some films downloaded with Disney life also on the way back we brought a Peppa pig magazine that came with stickers and figures.

SNACKS! snacks and more snacks! There is nothing worse than having a HANGRY toddler stuck on a train otherwise you’ll end up spending a small fortune buying smacks from the food trolley everytime it goes past and it goes past ALOT.

The most important thing I would say when travelling with any child is to stay calm and patient children especially toddlers feed off your stress if your stressed than they will be stressed just stay calm and be patient they don’t know that they can’t just run around on the train. The calmer we were the more we sat and thought about what esme will want to do or eat and the calmer we all were the smoother the journey went.

Anyway thank you for reading my blog we had a fab day out if you wanna see more go check out my YouTube channel (mummy.megz) where I vlogged our day out (day in the life video) and my Instagram @mummy.megz where I posted plenty of photos and see you next time!

Hello and welcome to reasons why I love living by the sea!

The first and probably best reason is that it’s FREE!

It’s a lovely cheap day out where you can scoff all the fish, chips and ice cream completely guilt free because your at THE BEACH!

over the summer it was so easy to have a lovely and cheap day out that we would all enjoy (even though esme was unsure about the sand).

One of the best things we used practically every day in the summer was a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="http:////ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=megz-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B004NROV7O&asins=B004NROV7O&linkId=dca917d4280a142f537e1721026592b3&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066C0&bg_color=FFFFFF“>amazon beach tent it was fab for keeping esme in the shade and keeping things like food mostly sand free!

Other reasons why I love living by the sea is the endless amounts of photo opportunities and let’s not forget the endless amounts of buckets and spades ready to build sandcastles!

Overall we spent all of last summer building sandcastles, playing in the sand, walking along the seafront, going for fish and chips (obviously ice cream aswell😍).

We also showed esme the donkeys but she really didn’t know what to think if them 😂 but most importantly we were making memories!

Thank you for reading and see you next time!