FESTIVAL PLANNING WITH A KID AND A BABY

Another post for fellow list-lovers.. when I was pregnant last year we accepted that Glastonbury this year was probably going to be too much of a push with everything else going on. In hindsight we probably could have managed to go.. but never mind, we'll just have to be at the next one to make up for it.. Instead we booked tickets to Deershed festival, designed for families and only 25 minutes down the road. Two nights camping, family facilities for babies and easy to nip out if we'd forgotten anything.  

I love a list, and we used pretty much everything on here for the two nights and three days we were camping. The MAM baby bottles really are amazing for travelling as they self-sterilise in a microwave, and the cheap as chips baby camping travel cot with insect netting was perfect and Sylvie slept in it brilliantly.  

We'd been planning on buying a 'proper' tent (i.e. Not just a festival throw-away one and not one from China that doesn't stay up à la Glasto 2015..) for a while now and we ended up choosing a tunnel tent with a bedroom at each end. 

We also decided not to take a stove this time and just be a bit lazy - we thought camping for the first time with the baby would be enough to think about - we took wrapped breakfast food like brioches, croissants and fruit.  

The whole weekend went really well, it chucked it down a few times but Viv wasn't fazed and Sylvie was well covered in the buggy; our washing machine broke on our return which was perfect timing with four loads of muddy washing ready to go in but I guess you can't have it all, can you? 

So! Here's my list for camping with a child and a baby..  

- Tent
- Inflatable beds (we found some double air beds for £10 each in Aldi.. I only went in for some milk..) and a foot pump
- Sleeping bags and a good few extra blankets.  
- Camping travel cot. I'll put a picture of what I bought at the end of the post, it was less than £15 and was 'pop up', and comes flat packed in its own bag.  
- Baby sleeping bag. We have a great GroBag one which opens in the middle to allow for buggy straps so Sylvie could wear it when we were out on the evening. 
- Clothes, waterproofs and wellies for everyone. We allowed a few extra outfits for mud and lots of layers for day to evening. We also took trainers and flip flops as well as wellies.
- Sun cream, hats and sunglasses
- Warm PJs and socks and jumpers for bed too. 
- The buggy and the rain cover. We also took two small umbrellas which we used a lot walking between areas. 
- Picnic blanket with waterproof back. 
- Camping chairs
- A doormat for taking wellies and shoes off at the tent entrance. 
- Towels
- Washing up bowl, soap and scrubbers
- Hand sanitiser and surface wipes  
- Bin bags and carrier bags
- Food. We took a crate of water, individually wrapped brioches and croissants, crisps, sweets, fruit, we made up some sandwiches for the first day, some drinks for me and David and baby food and milk.  
- A full baby bag with nappies, sacks, feeding spoons, bibs and muslins, bottles, Milton sterilising wipes, extra clothes, a few toys, calpol, sun hat and extra socks and blankets for Sylvie. 
- Toiletries including toothbrushes, deoderant, make up, hair spray and dry shampoo, hair gel, hair brush, make up wipes. 
- Lanterns and extra batteries. Again, a lucky Aldi purchase. 
- Glitter and coloured hairspray for Viv (she had som very specific festival hair ideas..) 
- Pillows (we gave Vivienne a dark pillow case because of the aforementioned coloured hairspray..) 
- Extra tissues and loo roll
- A few activities like books and pens for Vivienne  
- Cash
- Some basic medicine and first aid kit  
- Camera and spare cards and batteries
- ID wrist tag for Vivienne which we filled out with our numbers and names
- Ear protectors for Sylvie
- Phone chargers and power banks

WEANING (AKA PASTA SAUCE ON OUR WHITE KITCHEN WALLS)

I actually really like the weaning stage - I find it so much fun watching Sylvie try different foods and making things for her. Seeing her play with food and her face scrunch and how eager she is when she's hungry is amazing.  

We've been doing a bit of 'anything goes' with her solid food feeds depending on whether we're out and about or at home during feed times. If I'm home and we have the time to plonk her in the high chair and give her different foods then I do, every time. Often when we're out and about we'll feed her an Ella's Kitchen pouch or something or other and have some rice cakes or baby crisps for her to have in the buggy. 

It's a messy, messy business (which explains the picture above - she was so pitted that it was easiest to rinse her down in the kitchen sink). The first time I gave her some tomato fusilli she threw it across the white kitchen walls - she demolished what was left so I'm taking it as a good sign. 

Food she's been enjoying so far that I've been making her is scrambled egg, eggy bread, petit filou yoghurts, tomato pasta with cheese, some chicken and white fish, rice cakes, avocado, banana, broccoli, carrot, dairylea on toast.. and she had a sneaky taste of chocolate cake today from her big sister..  

She's still only on two meals a day and formula after food feeds and formula only feeds between. I guess the food routine is one that constantly evolves as they grow too.  She's such a big happy bundle of rolls that we must be doing something right - or maybe she just loves her food as much as we do...

TRAVELLING WITH A BABY - WHAT TO PACK

In April the four of us survived our first family holiday. I was working in Majorca so we decided to turn it into an excuse for our first proper trip away as our larger gang. I LOVE a good list, especially when it's an old-school list that I can strike things off with a pen as I go. After trawling through forums and articles online in the weeks before I came up with a list that I felt really covered everything; and, you know what, I think I did pretty well (if I do say so myself..)

Sylvie was three and a half months when we travelled, and she's exclusively bottle fed which meant extra planning had to go into formula, equipment, sterilisation and working out in advance exactly how we'd have the 'baby station' set up in our hotel room while we were away. We also had to consider what travel system we wanted to take, and how she'd sleep while away from home. Her being in a little routine for the first few months did help so we went away feeling like it was possible to get there in one piece and be able to set up a similar environment for her over there too.

Firstly, be prepared that getting you plus 'the stuff' over there is a full body work out in itself, and there was *a lot* to take (I genuinely thought we'd be able to get over there lighter than this, but we used 95% of what we took, the only things we didn't use were a few outfits). 

We decided to take the pram top instead of just the buggy top as Sylvie is still little enough that it's recommended that she lies completely flat when she sleeps during the day and we felt more comfortable with her in the pram for this. It also provided her with more shade and we just angled her throughout the day so that she was never in direct sunlight.

We also packed the Sleepyhead baby bed, which we put inside a travel cot while we were there. It also comes in its own travel bag which is handy. I think we could have gotten away without it (she doesn't sleep with it any more) but we wanted her bed to feel the same for her so hopefully she'd carry on sleeping - which she did. I also packed extra elasticated covers for it so they were easier to change and keep it clean and she often dribbles where her head goes.

One of the best purchases I made ahead of holiday was for the self-sterilising MAM bottles. We took our Tommee Tippee bottles and Milton tablets too but these MAM bottles were amazing and Sylvie took to them really well. We sterilised them at mealtimes in a microwave in the restaurant and it was so, so easy.

Another amazing tip I found in a forum is to pre-order baby formula and have it delivered to Boots at the airport, through security in the lounge. This was a total game changer and meant we didn't need to worry about space and weight in our cases with 10 days worth of milk. We also took 8 bottles of the ready made 200ml bottles in the baby bag which they just scanned through without any problems.

So, here's the boring bit. The actual list. Obviously some of it is personal to Sylvie but it was generally quite comprehensive for a bottle fed baby too; we used everything here over the ten days, so, for us, everything on this list was worth it! 

• Sleepyhead in its travel bag, with spare cot covers
• Comforter and a small toy (spot piggy above!)
• Baby 'GroBag' sleeping bag
• 7 x sleepsuits
• 5 x vests
• 6 x outfits
• Cardigan x 2
• Hooded sleepsuit for travel
• Summer hat x 2
• Nappies (we packed enough for the entire trip)
• Wipes and nappy sacks
• Bottle brush (we bought washing up liquid there)
• Milton sterilising tablets (we borrowed a basin from reception)
• Swim ring
• Milk powder (we packed one in case there were problems collecting formula from the airport)
• Buggy with buggy top and pram top
• Lightweight blanket
• Muslin cloths x 10
• Travel wash
• EHIC card for the baby
• Sun cream
• MAM self-sterilising bottles
• Sudocreme
• Socks x 4
• Swimming wetsuit and swim nappies
• Hooded towel
• Baby sling/carrier (this was a life-saver. When the buggy goes in the hold under the plane and you're out at the other end carrying your own bag and the baby bag, carrying the baby *on* you frees you up and makes everything so much easier. Also when we were getting through the airport on the way home, we loaded up the pram with smaller bags so they were easier to push and I carried the baby)
• Formula (collected at airport)
• In the baby changing bag we packed - 5 x Tommee Tippee bottles, 6 dummies with caps, 4 x muslin cloths, wipes, nappies, 3 x sleepsuits, 2 x vests, Baby Calpol, disposible changing mats and 8 x 200ml ready made formula bottles.

19 WEEKS | MONSTER BABY

It's official.. she's HUGE. I've been a bit 'meh' about bothering to get this little chunk weighed. She eats well, sleeps well and seems happy enough so I didn't really see the point. But one Tuesday I realised I had a chance to pop down to the local baby session, stripped her off and popped her on the health visitor's scales. 17lbs 3oz. At four and a half months old. She's on the 91st percentile. HUGE. No wonder she's already in 6-9 month clothes. The health visitor mentioned that they might need to put her on a diet (sod off) but she's doing well. 

We started her on a little bit of food here and there. She devours porridge with apple or strawberry puree, and loves carrot, parsnip and sweet potato. We've also moved her into Vivienne's room which we never thought we'd do. We moved her cot in as a trial but Vivienne was so happy to discover it there that she cried and said it was the best thing ever. It obviously won't be forever but for now we get to keep the spare room and Vivienne has a little buddy in her room with her so it's perfect. She sleeps through every night now from 8.30pm-7.20am so why not?

In other news we've been trying to sort the house out and finish decorating (we have been living here for nearly two years now, after all) but that'll be another post. Work, for me, is getting busy again so I'm savouring the last few slower days and trying to balance work and down time with the baby. It's fab to be getting back into everything but I sense it won't be long before I'm teetering on the edge of chaos like I am every Summer very soon. We're also a week away from Sylvie's 'Welcome to the World' party that we're throwing instead of a christening. We've asked my sister and her partner and our friends to be 'godparents' and it's basically going to be a chill out day with good food and lots of prosecco and gin. Fingers crossed for sunshine!

HOLIDAY SHOP

I may have got a little carried away when shopping for the girls (and especially Sylvie..) this year.. Here are some of my favourite things I've snapped up for them (/things I wish came in my size!)

1. LOVED a newborn size of this hooded onesie for Sylvie, and thought it would be really handy to grab another in a bigger size for travelling. I've got it a size above so she can wear a sleepsuit underneath it, and imagine it'll be perfect for being on a plane next month as it's not too bulky but still warm enough when the air con is on in the cabin. (H&M)

2. Bloomers. What can I say.. just so sweet and comfy. These are jersey and I bought them in ages 6 months and also for when she's 18 months for Summer next year. They were in the sale at La Redoute, so why the hell not. (La Redoute)

3. Not quite as exciting but seemingly a brilliant little purchase - these MAM bottles can self-sterilise and are anti-colic. The bottles unscrew and can be assembled in such a way that they can be sterilised with tap water in the microwave. I bought a set of three for holiday and also to keep one in the bottle of the baby bag for emergencies. (MAM from Amazon)

4. Super soft and bright mustard yellow joggers/trousers. I\m a bit against putting little ones in denim or anything too stiff, especially when they are as young as Sylvie is, so I thought these little joggers were perfect. (La Redoute)

5. Confession - this retro seaside print is my absolute favourite. It's also on the little two piece set (7) and I also bought some t-shirts in the same print too. I love this lightweight cotton jumpsuit too. Perfect for Summer. (La Redoute)

6. A very sweet little Boden swimsuit. I do have another wetsuit swimming costume for the baby, but loved this little one too. Depending on how hot it is on holiday and next Summer, this one might be more for indoor swimming at the gym. (Boden)

7. I keep WISHING this came in my size. Have you ever seen anything so sweet? It also has a criss-cross back and buttons, and the print is absolutely beautiful. Again, I bought one for Sylvie for this Summer and one for next.. Zero regrets. (La Redoute)

8. As much as it's lovely dressing babies up in 'proper' little outfits, I thought a few soft t shirts for holiday and the Summer would be handy. I love this yellow leaf print. (La Redoute)

9. Vivienne, who is still only 7, has been begging for a bikini for over a year now. We've told her there's no chance until she's older. She then started asking for a tankini, which seemed like a good compromise, but I told her it would be one that didn't make her look too much older than her years. There were a good few on the high street that had bra tops built into them and the cut felt very grown up and it was all seeming a bit like a bad idea.. then I found this lovely nautical one from M&S and everyone was happy. (M&S)

10. Another basic t shirt, this time for Vivienne. A very sweet cactus print with yellow edging. Love this. (La Redoute)

11. It was reasonably difficult to find baby sun hats on the high street - I think I was shopping for Summer too early but we go away pretty soon.. There was this one and another set of two from H&M that would fit Sylvie's little head (most shops stocked hats from age 6 months up). It was bargainous too. (H&M)