I’m back!

I haven't updated my blog in so long! I think when Sophia turned 1 I took a bit of a step back and a breather. As much as I love blogging sometimes it can be an additional pressure but I'm glad to be back to it!

Life Update

Not much has changed in the last few weeks, we're still doing the same things and trying to get our house and garden the way we want it. My Ofsted application is still going through so I'm spending lots of time with Sophia in-between working on my childminding website, writing policies and getting the house set up. I just can't wait to get started now! Sophia is walking lots at the moment and has began the transition to her new bedroom (I will cover that in another post soon). James is enjoying his new job and getting on really well.

Something New

Following on from my Baby Led Weaning recipes I'm going to be starting a new series of recipes. Sophia is fully weaned now (well, she has been for a long time really) and is no longer drinking formula and is fully off bottles. She has a warm drink of milk in the morning and the evening. The day after her first birthday we just stopped giving her bottles and she hasn't so much as grumbled so we were pleased.

My new recipes will be budget-friendly family meals. Whilst living on one wage our budget is tighter than ever and I'm having to think creatively to make sure we're eating healthy, tasty yet thrifty meals. Luckily I started meal planning and budgeting when we first moved into our flat so I'm quite used to making food stretch and getting the most from our budget. I hope you enjoy the recipes!

Well, that's it for now! I'm hoping to be doing many more posts from now on after my unexpected break. Upcoming posts I have planned are:

• A new recipe
• Sophia's bedroom tour
• An update on Sophia's development at 13 months

See you all soon!

Changes

I have seriously been neglecting this blog lately. Since finishing work at Christmas I thought I’d have lots more time but it seems to be the opposite, I feel so busy!

We’ve been spending lots of time trying to get the house a little more homely – putting up pictures, changing things around and adding little touches here and there. We’ve also been busy planting up some seeds and bulbs ready for the spring, some of them are starting to grow already which is exciting to see! Though it doesn’t feel much like Spring today – it’s currently snowing outside and is pretty chilly! Our next plan is to get the garden a bit neater and to start digging some vegetable patches – lots to do!

As well as applying to Ofsted to become a childminder, I’ve also been working on an exciting project the last few weeks and am nearly ready to unveil it. If you have been an avid reader of my blog, you’ll know I am very interested in the Montessori theory of educating children and that I love traditional, wooden toys. This has inspired me to create my own wooden and Montessori-inspired toys for babies and children. Previous to this I would trawl the internet for a long time looking for the kind of toys I wanted only to find that the toys I loved the most were in America and would cost a huge amount in postage making them too far out of our budget. So that’s what prompted me to set up my little craft business, The Little Bird’s Nest. So far I only have three products but I have lots of ideas for more. It feels nice to find something that I’m actually fairly good at and be able to make items to sell on too!

Now that Sophia is approaching one – how on earth did that happen?! – I’m starting to think about what I’m going to do with this blog and have decided to make a few changes. James and I are currently working on my website for The Little Bird’s Nest and I’ve decided that I’m going to link this blog with my website. I will still have all the usual kind of posts I normally do – snippets, occasional updates on Sophia’s development and of course family days out/occasions but I’ll also be including more educational ideas – the toys/games I use with Sophia, messy play ideas, more recipes and lots more. Nothing will change as far as accessing the blog, just come to the usual web address and we’ll be here.

I hope nobody will mind these changes. I first of all wanted to have a separate blog for the business but knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with two blogs and knew this one would probably get neglected which I don’t want to happen!

If you have any thoughts on this please feel free to comment below.

 

**If you want to ‘like’ my new business on Facebook please search ‘The Little Bird’s Nest’ and keep a lookout on www.thelittlebirdsnest.co.uk it isn’t launched yet but hopefully will be soon!**

So…I’ve resigned!

I’ve been back at work for half a term now and have the scary news that before I broke up for half term I handed my notice in. It was a combination of things that made me do this.
The travelling is SO stressful! I feel like I’m racing to and from work everyday and as the roads are always so busy to get to and from Birmingham I’m filled with panic about getting there on time everyday and then getting back at a decent time to collect Sophia.
Secondly, because I work so far I am leaving Sophia at 7am and collecting her some days at 5:30pm – that’s 10.5 hours of her being out of the house, it’s such a long day for her and she is still a baby at the end of the day. My baby.
Another thing that has pushed me to resign is the fact that I am really unhappy at work now. Since I’ve been back I’ve had a new role of teaching six different classes over three days. Some days I’ll have around 150 books to mark, meaning it’s a choice between having lunch and even going to the loo or being late for Sophia. It is meant to be an easier role as I don’t have many of the usual ‘teacher responsibilities’ like planning, assessments and reports but I find it much harder than being responsible for my own class.
So…I handed my notice in! I’ve started training to become a childminder and should be up and running early next year. I’m still at work until the end of December which means we will have a month or two without my salary which is quite scary but we’ve looked at our finances and will be able to get by in the short term. We will have to give little luxuries and treats a miss for a while (not that we have many of those!) but as long as we can pay the mortgage and the bills we will be just fine. Not to mention the amount we’ll be saving on childcare and petrol.
Being a childminder means I’ll be at home with Sophia, I’ll be my own boss and also I can still do the thing I love which is working with Early Years children.
Though it was a brave, and some might say silly, decision my philosophy is that we only have one life and it shouldn’t be spent doing things that make us unhappy. I want to look back on my life and know that I’ve squeezed every bit of happiness I can from it. The most important thing in my life is and always will be my family. I’m never going to have the chance to be with my baby again so I need to take this opportunity to do so.
I think it’ll be hard and tiring work but lots of fun along the way and what a blessing to see my sweet girl everyday!