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17 months of sleep still sucking

Life lately has been fairly busy. Work has gotten a lot more manic, which I’m enjoying, and having a 17 month old toddler definitely makes life hectic. But the lack of sleep that continues for us is the killer.

I wish I could say that the sleep had gotten better, but it hasn’t. I mean there are definitely better days and worse days. Overwhelmingly though, sleep is poor. I appreciate it might not be the most exciting of topics to discuss, especially if you don’t have children, but I want to keep it real and document the realities of having a small child who apparently doesn’t like sleep.

Throughout Isaac’s life he has always slept less than he apparently “should”. As a newborn he wouldn’t sleep in a cot, only on us or in a Cuddlepod thing (which we reluctant to allow as they were said to be unsafe). But newborn life you expect sleep to be terrible and you roll with it as this is a BRAND NEW HUMAN.

16 months on though and I would have hoped sleep would be better. On a good night Isaac will wake up once, then easily go back to sleep after a quick feed (yep, still breastfeeding over here) and then wake up post 6am (6.30am is an utter dream). However these nights are few and far between.

We normally get 2+ wake ups and somewhere around 5.45am full wake up. On worse nights we get 3-4 wake ups and a 5-5.30am start to the day. On truly terrible nights, like last night, he’ll wake up at 10pm and then stay awake till 1am. I go in, I feed, I try to leave; he loses his mind.

We can’t bring him into our bed as he starts playing and crawling/walking around. I can’t stay and sleep in his room (as I attempted last night) because he then stands and peers down at me or peeps his head through the cot, like a terrifying horror movie ghost child.

I’m not as naïve to assume Isaac would be consistently sleeping through the night but I don’t think it’s wholly unreasonable to have thought waking 2+ times during the night wasn’t ideal.

Isaac has recently been popping canines out like nobody’s business and has been jumping from colds to ear infection back to colds. And of course the dreaded 18 month sleep regression everyone keeps harping on about… Who really knows what’s happening? We sure don’t.

Of course we’d love to assign reasonings behind why these disrupted nights are happening (a lifeline to desperately hang on to so we can believe it will end) but in general we always go back to the fact that we’ve never had Isaac sleep through and he generally likes to be awake.

On the truly terrible nights there is definitely an element of external factors (teething and illness), but the general consistent wakings is a mystery. Have I made a rod for my own back by always attending to his cries? Should we have sleep trained? Am I overindulging him? Spoiling him? Creating habits? Letting him learn that when he does X, Y will follow.

Perhaps. There are a lot of opinions out there (social media, books, family and friends). But when I’m lying in my bed listening to my son scream for me, I cannot ignore him. I’m not judging anyone who can go through a process of sleep training but I’m not sure it’s for me.

We have a slight hope that things might change in January when Kyle and I go on holiday for nine days without Isaac (don’t even get me started on the mum guilt I’m already experiencing about this upcoming trip). He’ll be potentially unlearning habits when he stays with the Nanas (who, by the way he tends to sleep absolutely fine for!).

Time will tell.

Do you have any experience with the above?

How many hours a night to get to sleep?

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Why Dressing, Without Obligation, Helps You Look Cooler!

I won’t lie, I’m not into fashion and I wouldn’t say I’m stylish. However I do have my own kind of style, as everyone does. The preference of certain colours and types of clothes. I’d love to be more fashionable – one day maybe!

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How do you like to dress? What do you think inspired those tastes? For some, they dress mostly practicality, in simple, subtle clothing that is both supportive and comfortable to wear. For others, a sense of style they try to follow might come with them, such as a cool surfing hippie during the summer season, or having fun with autumnal flavor in the colder months.

Outside of common decency, there are no ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ methods of dress, only what you enjoy looking like, and how you enjoy presenting yourself to the world. For this reason it can be worthwhile to see just how much obligation dictates your fashion choices, and how you might be free of that to be more creative in your approach.

Conventional wisdom can be a good guide for many, for instance, balancing the jewelry worn on each side of your body can help keep your look unified – but if you prefer to just wear a ring, bracelet and earring on one side of your body and not the other, that’s completely up to you.

So, how else can becoming obligation-free help us? In this post, we hope to discuss all of that and more!

Most Clothes Can Be Integrated

It’s important to recognize that if the clothes fit you, or if they’re oversized or undersized for a fashionable purpose, then you can pretty much wear anything within (and sometimes without), reason. For instance, you might love the idea of wearing a slim top with bold cargo pants and boots, looking excellent, both graceful and strong at the same time. Conforming different styles into one is the essential of style.

Fashion As A Celebration Of Life

Having fun with fashion can be a tremendous use of your time, because what else is it supposed to be for? We’re certainly not going to test you. So, if part of your recreational style that day is to use a little face paint to enjoy a unique design, or if you wish to make alterations to your jeans, or if you’ve been planning your outfit for a particular event so you can showcase your cultural heritage, go for it! If you’re not having fun, you might be doing it wrong.

You Don’t Have To Fit One Theme

It’s good to challenge yourself from time to time. It might be that as a young girl, you felt like you couldn’t really identify within your feminine side, and were more than happy to act just as you were – you. Now that you’re older, it might be that pushing aside that prior taste and considering if feminine clothes are for you again, even if that just means wearing a summer dress with some cool boots, could be a fun challenge and to test your biases. If you’re not happy, that’s confirmation. If you like the fun challenge, that’s exploration. Not being afraid to keep testing yourself without artificial constraints can help you grow, and will give you plenty more options to be proud of.

With this advice, you’re sure to dress without obligation and look darn cool doing so.

Do you follow fashion trends?

Do you enjoy dressing up?

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There Are 5 Surefire Ways to Up the Flavor in Any Recipe

I’m such a fan of cooking. I love the process and I love the outcome. It’s one of my favourite times of the day. Yes sometimes it can be tiring or stressful to think up every day what’s for dinner but honestly it’s worth it in my view. Here’s an article that helps you lean into this a bit more.

After such a long and exhausting day at work, one of the best ways to unwind and relax is to do some cooking. It does wondrous things for the soul to be able to just let your creative side run while also being able to prepare a delectable meal. It doesn’t matter if you’re cooking for just yourself or for a small group of people; it’s always a great feeling when you can look around the room and see empty dishes and full bellies. It’s easy to see why you’re always looking for methods to improve the flavour of the food you prepare, and the good news is that this is something that can almost always be done. Have a glance at our top five recommendations to improve the flavour of the dishes you prepare.

Presentation

No, we haven’t gone nuts. It may be hard to believe, but the way food is presented has a significant impact on how your body interprets the flavour of the food you are consuming. Imagine eating your all-time favourite dish right now… Imagine it being served carelessly. Even though you already know that you enjoy that food, the fact that the chef did not take the time to make it look nice can make the eating of it less enjoyable for you. Consider the way in which you are presenting your food in order to determine whether or not any adjustments need to be made in order to create a dish that looks and tastes even more appetising! Children love fun-looking meals, and adults do too, so try varied types of presentations.

Prepare carefully so that you may enjoy your food

If you want to cook like the world’s top chefs, you can’t speed through meal preparation. Steaks, for instance, taste better when cooked after being allowed to “breathe” for a while, and they benefit further from being seasoned after being removed from their packaging. It is imperative that you use colour-coded boards in order to prevent uncooked items from coming into contact with raw foods. If you forget to do this, you run the risk of cross-contamination. If you’re not sure which colours should be used for different types of meat and other items, you can consult this guide on colour-coded cutting boards for assistance.

Acquire some new kinds of seasonings

We are all familiar with flavours such as paprika, herbs, salt, and pepper; nevertheless, have you ever thought about how restaurants in other nations manage to make their food taste so incredibly good? Because the spices or seasonings that are used there are distinct from those that are used here, you should make an effort to get some new and unusual seasonings so that you can experiment with them on your cuisine. If you are going on vacation, you should hunt for new spices; alternatively, you may ask friends and family members who are travelling internationally to pick up something for you that you wouldn’t be able to find in your hometown (like live sustainable fresh crabs from Cornwall). A meal can undergo a full transformation with only a modest adjustment to its flavour, which may cause people (including yourself) to fall even more in love with the cuisine that you prepare.

Try to do as much slow cooking as you can

You know that cooking food too rapidly won’t produce the right outcomes. Purchasing a good slow cooker is a smart investment because it enables you to make tasty meals with minimal to no work at all. Cooking with a slow cooker is as easy as throwing in the ingredients in the morning and coming home to the wonderful aromas and flavours that have developed over the day. Why not give slow cookers a try, as it’s virtually difficult to make a mistake?

Never hurry

Last but not least, among the most essential pieces of advice to keep in mind whether you are working on developing a new recipe or a variation on an existing dish is to take your time. As was stated earlier, dishes that are prepared in a hurry won’t turn out nearly as well as those that are given the time. It is important to keep in mind that the very first time you sample a meal will never compare in quality to the following time you prepare it on your own. Each time you make a dish, it will taste better than the last. Those who are patient are rewarded with delicious meals, so spend some time creating culinary wonders.

Do you enjoy cooking?

Do you follow recipes or just go with the flow?

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Alton Towers Half Marathon

Ages ago Kyle and I had signed up to the Alton Towers Half Marathon. Sadly when the time came around for it, Kyle was only just coming back from injury from his London Marathon. So he dropped down to the 5k instead, which was also on the Sunday. But to be honest, he was far happier with that distance anyway!

The great thing about these races are that after you’ve finished the race you can then go round the park and do all the rides. We both love theme parks and rollercoasters so this was perfect. And handily my grandad lives about 30 mins from Alton Towers so we could kill two birds with one stone and visit him as well. I don’t get to see him enough so this was really lovely.

After lots of thought, we decided to leave Isaac at home with the Nanas. The drive from Portsmouth is a long one (3.5 hours) which would be hard going for him and then be stuck in the running buggy for most of Sunday. Anyway the Nanas couldn’t wait to look after him so it worked nicely. Of course I missed him and it was hard leaving him… the longest time I’ve been away yet. He had a great time tho in the end.

We arrived at my grandad’s on the Saturday and had a lovely dinner catching up with him properly and then headed to bed early. We were shattered from an early wake up (Isaac doesn’t understand lie ins yet!) and a long drive.

The next morning, after breakfast, we drove up to Alton Towers. The race felt so well organised. We parked and walked to the race village. It was very misty and a bit chilly, but a lot warmer than you’d expect for mid-November.

As my race started first I said goodbye to Kyle and headed off to the start. We did a minute silence for Remembrance Sunday, which was a nice touch, and then the race began.

Having been to Alton Towers many many times in my youth (due to my grandparents living so close) I was well aware that it would be hilly. I mean, straight away, as we began the first 200m, it’s literally uphill. But it was such a cool race in that you were literally running through the park and past all the rollercoasters that I didn’t mind.

We ran past Oblivion and the Smiley, then headed off to other parts of the park. I was behind the 1:40 pacer, tho I didn’t think I’d go that fast. I was keeping to just under 8 min miles and felt comfortable there.

We whizzed through CBeebies Land where there were Telly Tubbies to high five. Then headed round past the gardens (thankfully not down into the gardens because that would be a very steep uphill!), past the Wicker Man and the rapids. There were lots of themed people wearing costumes cheering us on which was cool.

Eventually after going through the park, past all the rides and through the different themed areas and the castle, you head out to the less exciting part which goes round the car parks. To be honest it was fine. There was loads of support from spectators and volunteers so it didn’t feel boring. And you can’t expect the whole race to be exciting all the time. It’s a two lapper, which I quite like. It means you know what’s coming for the rest of the race.

The car park was quite hilly but there were also good downhills to get some speed back. Towards the second lap I put on some music to keep me entertained and I felt myself get far more into the race. I always find the further into a race the better I feel as I warm up. I naturally sped up and felt like I had more energy so this was encouraging.

As I hit the second lap I was really enjoying myself. During the week proceeding I’d felt very tired and demotivated running but now I felt back to normal and was loving it.

I saw Kyle a few times as he’d finished his race and had headed back to the car to get changed and pick up our stuff. He waved and cheered me along.

The crowds as you got back into the park after the car park section were really strong and the cheering was fantastic. It helps that none of the rides are open yet so all the spectators are just watching the race. I high fived loads of kids which is always good fun. Honestly, I had such a good time during this race!

I was so pleased to finish strong with 1:37:30. Far faster than I’d expected.

I met up with Kyle shortly after. He’d had a good race and finished with a time of 21:30. Coming back from injury without much training, he was really chuffed.

And then I popped to the loo, got changed and we headed to the rides that were now slowly opening up. We had such a good rest of the day enjoying all the rides and being like kids again. Kyle got a doughnut chicken burger. And I got a sausage baguette. It was a great day.

Then eventually after doing as many rides as we could be bothered – the queues were so short because there weren’t as many people in the park – we decided to head back home. That evening we had a lovely carvery with my grandad to coelenterate.

All in all it was such a good weekend. Seeing my grandad, doing a great race and enjoying Alton Towers. We’re definitely signing up for next year!

Do you enjoy roller coasters?

Would you do a race around a theme park?

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How Exercise Can Support Your Healthy Lifestyle

I have to say, despite having quite bad sleep right now compared to pre-Isaac, the one thing I know that massively helps is exercising. It gives me energy (weirdly) and improves my mood no end. While beforehand I might not really fancy doing it, I know afterwards I’ll feel a lot better! The below article is great on how exercise can really help keep you healthy 🙂

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We all know that leading a healthy lifestyle is important for our overall well-being. Eating healthy foods and getting regular exercise are both key components of a healthy lifestyle. But did you know that exercise can actually help support your healthy lifestyle in general? In this blog post, we’re going to take a look at some of the key benefits of exercise and why you need to make it a consistent habit in your daily life.

Why is Exercise a Key Component to a Healthy Lifestyle

Most people know that exercise is important for maintaining a healthy weight, but it does so much more than that. Exercise has been shown to improve mental health, increase lifespan and protect against conditions like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. It also helps to reduce stress levels, improve sleep quality and increase energy levels. In short, there are few things that exercise can’t do for the human body. And yet, despite all of the evidence, nearly 80% of adults don’t get the recommended amount of exercise each week. If you’re looking to make a change in your life, there’s no better place to start than joining a gym like Fitness 19 and creating a regular exercise routine. It may seem like a lot of work at first, but the benefits are more than worth it.

1. Exercise Boosts Metabolism

One of the main benefits of exercise is that it helps boost your metabolism. A higher metabolism means that your body is better able to burn calories, which can help you maintain a healthy weight. Exercise also helps build muscle, and muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, even when you’re at rest. So, if you’re looking to boost your metabolism and support your healthy diet, regular exercise is key.

2. Exercise Helps Control Appetite

Another way that exercise can support your healthy diet is by helping to control your appetite. When you exercise regularly, your body releases endorphins, which have been shown to suppress appetite. So, if you find yourself struggling with cravings or overeating, regular exercise may be just what you need to get back on track.

3. Exercise Reduces Stress Levels

We all know that stress can lead to unhealthy habits like overeating or eating junk food. But did you know that exercise can actually help reduce stress levels? Regular exercise has been shown to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body. So, if you’re looking to reduce stress and support your healthy diet, exercise is a great option.

4. Exercise Helps You to Sleep Better

Studies have shown that people who are physically active tend to sleep more soundly and for longer periods of time than those who are sedentary. Furthermore, exercise can help to alleviate some of the common causes of insomnia, such as stress and anxiety. And while it’s important to get some exercise during the day, moderate activity in the evening can also be beneficial. So if you’re struggling to sleep well, try going for a brisk walk or taking a yoga class before bedtime. You just might find that you sleep like a baby.