lifestyle blog posts focusing on home, lifestyle, parenting, pregnancy, family life and home and style. Home decor and working at home, working at home as a self employed freelancer and blogger. Family lifestyle blog posts including family reviews, family products and saving money as a family. Being a more eco friendly family.
If you are looking for a family holiday and have never considered going cruising before, please read on. We were lucky enough to go on a cruise to Norway in 2016 and earlier in 2015 we went to Bruges. To say we enjoyed ourselves is an understatement. The whole family had a great time, so I would say that cruising with children is a good idea. However, there are a few things you need to be aware of and consider before you book.
Be sure to do your own research
It is important to do your own research before booking. There is no harm in asking a travel agent for suggestions or looking at sites like mine to get some ideas about where to go and who to travel with.
However, before you actually book, take some time to find out as much as you can about that particular cruise. Every ship is different. So, if your kids love climbing walls you want to be sure the boat you book has one. Doing your own research ensures you pick up on the little things that you know are important for you and your children. No matter how good your travel agent is they do not know your kids like you do.
How welcome will your kids be?
When looking for a cruise it is important to book yourself onto a ship that specifically caters for children. This is the best way to ensure that you and your family will be welcome on board rather than just tolerated. You want your children to be able to relax and not to have to keep them quiet all day long when you are at sea.
It is always nice for your children to have someone their own age to play with. Choosing to travel on a ship that specifically caters for children is the best way to make sure that there will be other families onboard.
Book early
If you can, book early. Family-friendly cruises tend to sell out fast, so leaving it too late could lead to disappointment. Booking early has the added benefit of keeping the price down. Most cruise firms offer the best discounts when they first release the cabins for sale.
Get your children involved
Once you have narrowed down the options, see what the kids think. Getting them involved in the final choice is a great way of making sure they have a good time.
Try a mini-cruise first
Booking a short cruise is the ideal way to work out whether this type of holiday is really right for you and your children. It is a relatively inexpensive way for you to put your toe in the water (pun not intended).
Tips for enjoying your cruise
The above covers booking your cruise. If you want to find out more about how to get the most out of your shipboard holiday, click this link. When you do you will be taken to an article that contains 9 further tips that will ensure that you and your children can relax and have a good time once you are onboard.
A few years back now my nan replaced part of her garden with artificial grass. I wasn’t sure why at the time but now I totally get why she had it changed. I love my nans garden, it’s huge with lots of beautiful flowers and veggies but it’s a lot of maintenance. Just changing the top part of the lawn to artificial grass has cut down a bit of a job! I think it’s something my mum would do in her garden and if I’m honest something I would happily do if I had a garden of my own.
I know in my garden I would like to have a nice, soft area for Evie to play. Having a lawn of artificial grass would mean she can get out there no matter the weather and play. We would also love to have a dog and having something easy to clean is ideal. Apparently, dogs love it because it’s nice and soft on their paws. Adding flowers and colour into the garden would be simple with the use of decorative plant pots or just having a smaller, dedicated area to growing things would make it nice and easy to maintain too.
One concern I would have would be the use of an inflatable pool on top of artificial grass for my daughter to play in over the summer holidays. The good thing about it is that there would be no risk of the grass going brown and dying, you wouldn’t be left with a big old patch of dead grass in the middle of the garden. However, extra prolonged weight can flatten artificial grass. This can be rectified simply by moving the pool around and having a quick brush to have the grass upright again.
I think having artificial grass would make it easy to landscape your garden too so you could have dedicated areas for play, growing things and being decorative. Having a garden is an absolute dream for us and something we will be looking to have when we eventually move home. I’ve mentioned a few of the benefits of having artificial grass in the home but here are a few more you might want to consider:
You don’t have to mow that part of the lawn
It doesn’t need watering saving water costs
It looks nice all year round
It’s easy to clean which is a must have if you have dogs and children
No need for harmful pesticides
Easy to maintain in rented properties
There are plenty of companies which will help make your decision easier for you and there are so many options available too. Laying it is simple and artificial grass is becoming an affordable option for those that want to minimise garden maintenance. As you can see above there are quite a few benefits to having artificial grass in your garden. Have you got artificial grass? Has it made maintaining your garden a quick and easy process?
Breastfeeding or bottle feeding: It’s an ongoing debate it seems between parents, who is better for whichever choice they make. Both advocates feel pressured, judged and are still faced with feeding their newborn through the sleepless nights. Personally, I don’t really care how another person wants to feed their baby. I know the facts about breast milk and I know that formula is there as a substitute. I know my decision isn’t really anyone else’s business and likewise, it doesn’t affect me how you choose to feed your baby. Do whatever is best for your family, your situation and your circumstance.
I wanted to breastfeed but struggled.
For me, I wanted to breastfeed with Evie so badly. I remember speaking to a midwife in hospital one day about it whilst I was being monitored for, I think, the baby having a raised heartbeat and my high blood pressure (after having a cervical sweep, I might add) and she responded with ‘It doesn’t matter to me how you feed your baby, you just do what works for you.’ Part of me thought shouldn’t she be championing breastfeeding as the best way, whilst another of me felt quietly relieved. I was so worried and worked up about breastfeeding not working for me that I remember being reassured that I could always have a few bottles of those ready made formula to hand just in case I was finding it tough. Looking back now, despite saying I wanted to breastfeed that wasn’t really the right advice for me.
As it turned out I fed for two weeks exclusively, crying through growth spurts and struggling with my c-section wound, a new baby and my family being so far away. It was a really emotional time, I felt completely alone and, whilst my health visitor was actually really nice and reassuring, there were some healthcare professionals that weren’t as helpful. The trouble with my breastfeeding journey is that Evie wasn’t really putting on weight. She has having lots of wet and dirty nappies. She was hitting regular milestones and she was feeding very regularly. From two weeks on we added a couple of bottles of formula in to boost her weight gain but she was still mostly breastfeed and this continued until she was about 10 weeks old. It was then I saw a different health care provider, a nursery nurse in place of the health visitor who made me feel like I was the worst mother in the world. She made me feel inadequate and useless. She made me feel like I was consciously trying to starve my baby. She told me my breast milk wasn’t good enough and that I needed to switch to formula. Over the next few weeks I was decreasing my feeds and increasing formula feeds so that by Christmas Evie had moved on exclusively to formula milk.
So now I’m faced with making that choice again with this baby however I have a lot more in my corner to help me with my decisions. Firstly, I know that I can breastfeed. I know that my body does work the way it’s supposed to because I’ve done it before. With that knowledge I know I can try breastfeeding again with so much more faith in myself. Secondly, I am a little older and a little wiser and I hope this time around I’ll be so much more confident in my decision. I have a supportive partner and I’m closer to more family who I know will back up my decision as well as being there on the tougher days. I know if I get told something like that again, feel like I’m failing, I have so many more people to reassure me. I am also confident in my decision to not exclusively breastfeed and I fully intend to express breast milk too. I feel that by expressing breast milk I will give Adam the chance for a few feeds, it will give me a little bit of rest and it will be the best milk choice for my baby. I would love to breastfeed up through to the first year, but six months is my goal.
Despite all this knowledge and wants for the baby I still have some fears when it comes to breastfeeding. I am not confident to be able to feed in public. It really doesn’t matter whether places ‘allow’ me to do it. I honestly feel the only place I will feel comfortable feeding is in my own home. This of course puts a lot of restrictions in place doesn’t it as it’s going to stop me going out and about for long periods of time. Having massive boobs kind of means any form of discreet feeding is out the window, especially as before I was only ever able to feed in a rugby ball hold position with around eight pillows stacked up around me. I’m not exactly going to be carrying a surplus of pillows around with me, especially in those early weeks, so this again leads me to believing that expressing milk is going to be a really good move for us as a family.
How will breastfeeding work for us as a family?
Through doing some research I am going to try an electronic breast pump. I had a manual one with Evie and it was rubbish. I really struggled to express with it so I’m hoping that an electronic one will do a much better job. I can’t imagine it’s going to be a comfortable or happy experience for anyone but if it means I can still continue to give my baby breast milk for as long as possible then I am all for trying. The Lansinoh single electronic breast pump is going to be getting quite a bit of action in our home when this baby is here. I’ve never used an electronic one before and it does all sound a little technical. I imagine it will take some practise. I know that you shouldn’t really express until breastfeeding is established and your milk has come through properly but I want to make sure my supply is enough to have those extra feeds ready to the point we have a bit of a surplus in the freezer. The Lansinoh single electronic breast pump is BPA and BPS free with a silicone breast cushion. It features 2-phase technology with a ‘let-down’ and ‘expression’ mode allowing for your comfort. There are six adjustable suction settings to make sure you’re getting the right suction from the pump too. The pump can be plugged into the mains or it can take 6 AA batteries when you’re out of the home. The bottle comes with a suitable sealing disc and teat so that you can pump, store and feed at your convenience.
Available to buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Eu5f3b (Affiliate Link)
However you choose to feed your baby just know that there are plenty of options for you and your family. I’m so happy that expressing is an option that’s available to us and one I fully intend to use to my benefit. This way I know anyone can safely feed my baby at any time with milk that is specifically designed for them. Now we just have to hope this little one will take to a bottle!
What did you decide with your children? Can you offer any advice or tips?
Disclaimer: I was sent the Lansinoh single electronic breast pump for the purpose of this feature and to talk openly about my desire to express breast milk. This may not be your decision but I hope you can appreciate that it is mine and one I’m happy with.
A nursery or baby bedroom is something I would love to create before our baby is born. I’ve often spoke of how we need to move home and with a new baby on the way I know that moving really needs to move higher up in the priorities. For the first few months at least I know the baby will be in our room with us giving us a chance to save and then we can create a gorgeous new nursery. I love thinking about how I might want to furnish and design the room and wanted to share a few ideas with you. I know I want to have a bright nursery with blinds, wooden floors and fluffy rugs. We are so excited about the new addition to our family and I wish I could give them a brand new bedroom right now however, a girl can dream up her ideal design space which is what I’ve done below. Some of the links may be affiliate links.
Colour Scheme
The ideal colour scheme for me is white furnishings and rainbow touches of colour throughout the nursery. This is suitable for any baby and would make a light, bright and airy space. I thing adding rainbow themes and colours is really cute and there are so many lovely baby bits around with rainbow patterns. I’ve seen it before flicking through catalogues and think the rainbow on white look is really effective and cute. Rainbow wall stickers are a favourite of mine and something I would love to use. I think this one is really cute and has so much appeal. It can be used against any colour background too.
Rainbow Wall Stickers available to buy on Amazon (affiliate link) – https://amzn.to/2HC9tsW
Blinds
I love the day and night blinds for a nursery to help keep the right amount of sunlight in the room whilst being able to make it darker for naps and in the evening. Nursery blinds are a really nice touch, they look really stylish and there are lots of gorgeous styles available too. We already have blinds throughout our flat including a black out blind in Evie’s room which really helped her get to sleep through the summer when she was younger.
As I said I really like white or even shabby chic style furnishings for a nursery using rainbow patterns to enhance the colour around the room. I don’t know what it is about white furnishings really as I know they can get dirty really quickly but they’re just the ideal choice for me and it’s something I’ve always wanted.
Image from Mamas & Papas Three Piece White Furniture Available to Buy on Amazon (affiliate link) – https://amzn.to/2IW99V3
Floor
I would really love to have white distressed looking floorboards with fluffy coloured rugs. I think this would add a really nice touch of colour and be easy to keep clean and sweep up.
What would you love to have in your baby nursery? Any top design tips to share?
How do you sleep? Is it something you struggle with? I’ve struggled with sleep a lot in the past and it can really affect my mental wellbeing. I was recently sent a little sleep kit to help me track my sleep to improve it. I wanted to share with you a few things I think could help you get a better night sleep and create your own sleep kit.
Having a clear Bedroom – So not really something you can put in a kit but having a clear, clutter free bedroom makes it so much easier to relax. One of my pet peeves that really put me off getting in to bed and frustrate me is when the bed isn’t made. My rule is last one out makes the bed and I can assure you I am never the last one out of bed in the morning. Getting in to a made bed and a mess free room already sets me up for a better night sleep.
Lavender Oil – Lavender is an essential oil that helps to relax. You can spread a couple of drops along pillows, on the soles of your feet or in your bath or shower. The scent is relaxing and calming which supposedly help you to switch off in the evening. Alternatively, you might like to try CBD sleep supplements to help you switch off and relax. Cfah.org has a list of gummies you can read about.
Sleep Journal or Diary – Writing down my sleep patterns really help me to understand why I might not have had a great night sleep and how it has affected me emotionally. This reminds me to use my coping techniques or to read through entries where I’ve noticed my sleep is improved or I’ve woken up feeling refreshed.
An eye mask – I need darkness to sleep and an eye mask can really help with this. I also avoid screens and having the TV on in my bedroom and instead choose to listen to audiobooks. I enjoy having the noise and something to listen to but I don’t like the visual distractions that light gives me.
Try a relaxation or alternative therapy such as Reiki or Reflexology by a qualified practitioner. This can help you to relax, clear away any negative energy that might be making you feel tired or emotionally drained. I personally love reflexology and really recommend it.
If you are really struggling with sleep and feeling you are at a stage of near exhaustion then try speaking to a pharmacist in your local chemist. One thing that you may consider trying is Phenergan® Night Time – an effective tablet that induces a sedative affect to help you getting to sleep. It’s used to treat insomnia in adults and is available over the counter, however, please do consult your pharmacist or GP before taking any new medication. The active ingredient is promethazine hydrochloride which is what produces the sedative effect helping you drift off and sleep through the night. Promethazine is an antihistamine, which works in the brain by blocking the action of histamine, causing you to feel sedated and helping you drift off to sleep. Promethazine has a long heritage of use as a sedative for insomnia and has been used for over 50 years.
What would you include in a sleep kit and what are your top tips for a good night sleep?
Disclaimer: I received a mini sleep kit in exchange for this post alongside a voucher for my time. All opinions remain my own.
