A day out: The Harry Potter; Warner Brothers studio tour

Last Friday Jamie and I got to use our Christmas present to each other, a ticket to the Harry Potter studio tour, we were both very excited as we are huge Harry Potter fans.

Fred was less excited.

 Our tour started in the Great hall, the tables were set and costumes from the films lined the walls.

 From the great hall we entered a huge room with many of the original film sets within it. Including the Gryffindor boys dormitory, the Gryffindor common room, the potions class room, and many more.

The huge props that were made especially for the film were really impressive.

Below is the door from the chamber of secrets.

After exploring the hall full of sets and props we ventured outside to taste butter beer. It wasn't as nice as I imagined it would be. It was foamy and toffeey but it wasn't thick enough. I know this is wrong but I also always imagined it would be warm...

What wasn't a disappointment was seeing the Knight bus, it was HUGE! Cool fact- they had to add 4tons of weight to the bottom of the bus to make sure the fullsize triple decker wouldn't topple over!

The rooms with the make up and animatronics were astonishing. They had a full size moving hippogryff that actually bowed. The masks for all of the goblins were really detailed.

 All of the sets had to be made up in card before being created full size,  below is the village of Hogsmead.

  As we walked in the the room with the huge model of Hogwarts people gasped. It is almost silly that a model of a castle can have that affect on people but again it was incredibly detailed and impressive. 

It was covered in 'snow' for the winter :)

We had a good time, but I do think it is a bit over priced. It took us three and a half hours to take the tour. and we paid £30 each. We wouldn't pay that for a theme park that we would spend all day in. 

We also made the mistake of having a light lunch in the cafe we had a sandwich, yogurt and cold drink each and it cost us £18! 

It was a long day, as it was a 3hr drive each way, but it was definitely worth it.

On the way back we stopped at a service station with big mirrors so we took a family 'selfie' :)

Ordinary moments: Our daily walk

Possibly the most Ordinary Moment is our daily walk. Even when we are both ill, grumpy and unwilling to socialise we still,most days, go for a walk.

 As you know, if you have been reading my adventures for a while, Fred is not a good sleeper especially during the day. He will sleep in his pushchair and if I'm lucky he will stay asleep in there for up to 3 hours!

I enjoy our walks, we don't go far, or anywhere special, but it is really sweet to watch him drifting off.

 First he gets a stare on, then after 5- 10 minutes of staring he starts to long blink. Sometimes it takes a while, other times he blinks only twice before his eyelids become too heavy to open.

As I walk I listen to audio books. It is great to have some me time at the same time as looking after Fred. 

And it is guilt free - new mums dream.

Review: NappyKind boutique, baby legwarmers

I was asked by NappyKind Boutique to review their baby legwarmers. For this review I was given a discount code so I could order them from their website at a reduced rate.

Amazingly these leg warmers only cost £1.99 full price. I chose this cute dinosaur design, as Fred (or maybe his parents) has a thing for dinosaurs.

The  biggest benefit of these leg warmers are that we don't have to worry if they will fit over Fred's nappies! NappyKind also suggest they lead to quicker nappy changing, but I haven't tried it out because as soon as we take Fred's nappy off, he kicks around like crazy. He often gets poo on his feet as it is! So I felt leaving the leg warmers on while we change his nappy would be counter productive.

There are so many different designs of leg warmers on the NappyKind website, you could be spoilt for choice. Whilst browsing the website I had one of those rare moments where I thought, 'this would be more fun if Fred was a girl.' There are loads of cute frilly/ spotty ones that Jamie would not let me get for Fred!

Now that we have had a chance to try out our leg warmers, this is what I think:

Pro's

These leg warmers are really well priced and good quality. Often clothes 'cut for cloth' are really expensive.

There is no worrying that they won't fit over the nappies, and they will probably fit him for quite a while.

The top of the leg warmers has soft stretch elastic so it doesn't dig in to his ultra chunky thighs.

The design is really cute!

Cons

As you can see they are a little big, they come in only one size. I'm sure we will get more wear out of them as he grows.

They aren't really suitable for winter as there are bits of precious baby skin that stick out, we are looking forward to trying them in the spring summer though.

I wouldn't dress Fred in these if we were going out and about. I think they would work loads better on a girl under a dress maybe.

If you are struggling to find trousers to fit over your babies cloth bum and you don't want to splash the cash these are a great option. 

NappyKind also do a great range of leggings with designs on the bum. I'm thinking of getting Fred a couple of pairs. :)

As a side note, I found taking Fred's photo for this post really difficult! 
I think up until now I've never purposely taken a picture with his legs in it.

Ordinary Moments; tummy time

Tummy time is not something Fred has enjoyed, it has been endured.

Why mummy insisted on putting him on his front so he was left licking the floor was beyond him.

Until recently. Suddenly he has the strength to hold up his head. To look around and to wiggle his butt!

There is definitely no rolling yet but it will come, for now we are happy to look around at what is going on until his neck gets tired.

Lifting his head for a few minutes without face planting or crying has been a long time coming. We practice a little every day. This extraordinary feat is my ordinary moment this week.

I have linked up again with Mummy Daddy Me. I hope you like my ordinary moments posts. My aim is to join in every week : )

 

http://www.mummydaddyandmemakesthree.co.uk/index.php/item/the-ordinary-moments-14-3-a-week-of-bugs

If you like my ordinary moments post you should have a look at all of the others!

Snood Knitting Pattern / Recipe

I can hardly call this snood pattern a pattern, it is a really simple recipe that can be changed in many ways and it would still work.

So far I have made two, one for my Mum and one for my friend Charlotte who blogs over at the fatty crafter and is very appreciative of hand made presents.

Next I am making one for myself!

This snood is a great project for a new knitter or for an advanced knitter to knit when watching TV or on a journey.

 To make this snood you will need chunky weight wool and size 10 needles:

Cast on 19 stitches
Knit 1 purl 1, repeat until the end of the row
turn and do the same.
this makes a moss stitch.
repeat the same knit 1 purl 1 for the whole snood.
knit until the scarf measures 60 inches. 
Cast off and twist the scarf once before sewing the two ends together.

You can make many variations of this snood:

 * Use thinner wool and smaller needles - just cast on more stitches. 

 * Make it really colourful with lots,of different coloured wool just make sure the wool you use is all the same type and weight. 

* Knit it longer and thinner so that it will wrap around your neck more times.

* If you find purling too difficult can just knit, it still looks effective. 

 There are many more ways you can make this pattern your own. 

I hope you are keeping warm this winter. 

If you are cold you could make your self a snood!

Help my hair is falling out!

While pregnant my hair was lovely, shiny and full of volume. It grew long and I loved it!

This photo was taken in July, I was 6 months pregnant

Then I gave birth and over night my hair changed, it became dry, fluffy, brittle. I thought it could be fixed with a good haircut, it could not. 

The below photo is was taken 6 weeks postpartum. 

It's So Fluffy!!! (and not in a good way)

A month ago my hair started falling out. I knew it was going to happen, (it is one of the things they do remember to tell you) but I didn't expect this volume of hair loss! Clumps of hair fall out every time I wash, brush or tie it up. some areas of the house look like scenes from a wild west movie with hair balls blowing along in the wind! I exagerate, I hoovered yesterday. 

 It is quite horrible and hard to deal with, not only do I have less time to 'do' my hair, I have horrible hair to work with. I have just taken to tying it up in a low bun, but that doesn't solve the problem of my wayward fringe...

 I have two questions that I have yet found the answer to; When will it stop? And will my hair ever do what I want it to again? 

 Yours sincerely Baldy (previously known as Emily)

Ordinary moments- Difficult nights

This is the first blog link up I have done. I don't know why I haven't linked up before but I do know that this is a great place to start. I have enjoyed reading all of the ordinary moments linked up on Mummy Daddy Me for a while now and it is about time I joined in. So here is my first go...

My first Ordinary Moment was taken on my phone late at night. 

Fred had his second lot of injections on Thursday, they have ruined our bedtime! On Friday night Fred had a temperature which was really sad. :( 

It is taking a lot longer to settle him at night and he is more irritable in the day. 

But he will get better soon and we will work on his night time routine soon, but until then. Jamie is very good at soothing Fred to sleep. 

I love my boys!!!