Welcome back in the blog series “A Day in a Parenting Blogger’s Life”. Today is the last entry of the year 2016. Don’t worry the series will continue as normal in the new yer and you can still sign up if you want to be part of it.
Today I have Emma on the front who blogs at Our Fairytale Adventure. Say a warm welcome and check out the cute kids she has.
First of all, tell me a bit about yourself.
I’m Emma, I write the parenting and lifestyle blog ‘Our Fairytale Adventure’, which is about life with my partner Mr. C and our two boys Oliver and Elijah.
How many times were you woken last night?
I think I lost count, my youngest Elijah is teething and the rest of the house has been infected with colds and bugs, so it’s been a bit up in air in regards to sleep. I think I managed to get about 4 hours sleep though, so that was a vast improvement to the night before.
Do you co-sleep?
My eldest Oliver has always been one for sleeping in his own bed, but we do co – sleep with Elijah sometimes. More so lately because he hasn’t been feeling that well because he is full of cold and teething.
What time do you normally wake up?
I’m normally woken up at about 4:30 am by Elijah, but we are managing to get him back to sleep until 7ish. Mr. C is a morning person and is always up at the crack of dawn, so he brings me a cup of tea in bed about then.
How much average sleep do you get a night?
I’m currently studying a course and the assessment is coming up soon, so I’m up late most nights doing the background reading for that and then with everyone being ill at the moment as well, I’m up during the night a lot, so I’m probably averaging on about 4 – 6 hours if I’m lucky.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
I tend check my phone first thing in the morning, but I’m trying to get out of that habit and replace it with a morning yoga session instead.
Tell me about your typical morning routine.
Mr. C gets the boys breakfast while I get ready for the day. I then get the boys ready as he sets off for work. Once everyone is ready we do some household chores, like making the beds and putting on loads of washing. I make all the chores a bit like a game, it takes twice as long to do them all but I think it’s nice to have quality family time while doing the mundane, day to day tasks.
When and how often do you prepare the family dinners? Give us a few examples what you would cook.
We normally eat really healthy meals, I love Joe Wick’s ‘Lean in 15 book’ at the moment and we make nearly all of our meals from that. We take it in turns to cook the dinner, but I think I end up cooking more often than Mr. C. Sometimes I make a special family dinner, this weekend for example we had a themed medieval feast with homemade bread, BBQ ribs, toffee apples, homemade beef pie, roast vegetables and cake. The boys had helped me bake the bread and cakes in the day though, so I can’t take all the credit.
What’s on the menu for lunch?
As everyone is a bit poorly at the moment, I’m just putting together a buffet with different fruit such as blueberries, raspberries and bananas. I’m also adding cucumber slices, cheese slices, buttered bread and yogurt. I find doing a little of lots of different foods, gives the children more options and control over what they eat, which means they eat more.
What activities have you got planned for the day for the kids?
We tend to do activities based on themes (at the moment we are learning about castles and everything that goes with them), so I’m setting up a small world scene for the boys to play with if they feel up to it. I doubt we will do too much as they feel a bit under the weather, but I’ll take them for a short walk as well to get them some fresh air.
Do you generally eat dinner together as a family or get the kids fed first?
I think dinner time is one of the only times of day, we have kept strong traditional values, so we always eat as a family at the dinner table. I think it is such a great time to spend as a family and catch up on everyone’s’ day. It was quite difficult to keep the children occupied at first, but as they get older it is becoming easier and it has helped the children learn about table manners as well. Our eldest always asks so politely to leave the table when he is finished.
What do you do after dinner?
Generally we will play with trains or building blocks for ten / fifteen minutes, then we will all tidy up together. We make it a bit of a game so the boys don’t find it a boring, monotonous task. Once everything is cleared away, we all head upstairs and start the bedtime routine.
What is your bedtime routine?
Our bedtime routine starts with a bath. On the days where we wash their hair, we do it straight away as it can be a bit of a battle, my children just do not like being clean! We don’t really have many bath toys, but they have a rubber duck and some little boats, so we sing the ‘3 little ducks’ nursery rhyme and count the boats. When we have bath crayons, we take it in turns to draw pictures and make shapes, which is a good way to incorporate numbers, shapes, colours and words into play. Once the boys are bathed, we get them ready for bed and then read some stories as a family before we put Elijah in his cot for the night. Because of the small age gap it is hard to find time with just Oliver, so we make sure we have some time with just him reading stories before he goes to bed.
Most importantly, when and where do you normally blog in those 24 hours? Do you have a schedule?
The boys are in nursery for two mornings a week, so I tend to catch up with a lot of blog stuff then and schedule it for the week, but if I get five minutes I sit down and check in on my social media a couple of times a day.
Thank you Emma for giving us a day into your busy life as a mum of two. That cook book sounds amazing. Unfortunately I am not the biggest cook and I never followed any cook book before. We don’t have the healthiest meals but I am trying. I might give that cook book a go. The meal you made in that photo definitely looks amazing.
Blog URL: www.ourfairytaleadventure.com
Everyone loves a follower more. What social media platforms can we find you on?
You can find me on:
Facebook: facebook.com/ourfairytaleadventure
Twitter: @fairytale_blog
Instagram: @ourfairytaleadventure
Pinterest: @Fairytaleblog8
