Recently, I've been pretty crap on the blogging front. I'll be honest, I love my blog, I love having a place where I can write all about our life and our adventures but recently I'm really struggling to not only find the time to actually write but also find the motivation.
I've recently received a few comments and private messages regarding a couple of posts that really weren't nice and I think that's knocked my blogging confidence ever so slightly. I can handle criticism and will definitely take any onboard, but what I won't accept is just plain bullying and rude opinions on my parenting. My most recent criticism- and probably my favourite- was a message from someone who took the time to read my blog, find my contact information and personally email me- not comment, but get my email address, open their email account and write out and send an email to me. All to tell me that I am clearly over feeding my baby if she sleeps for 11 hours at night (and that the reason I over feed my baby is because I'm selfish and didn't breast feed her) They also told me that I must be doing something very wrong and amongst other things I'm a lazy mum. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but let me tell you, I do not over feed my baby- in fact she doesn't actually eat (well drink) much but is gaining weight like a incredibly well, despite her allergies and reflux. I also not selfish for choosing to not breastfeed- my decision to not breastfeed was not taken lightly I can assure you. And finally I am not lazy- far from it. And that's not me being "I'm a top mum". I am far from that too, but I am not lazy. Needless to say I didn't reply. The mum community on all social media, be it twitter, Instagram, Facebook or a blog is somewhere that I look to for ideas, support and just the general feeling that I'm not alone on this nightmare journey that is parenting. But god, sometimes it's bloody horrible and I hate it. It's full of opinionated and quite frankly vile people (a lot of whom are mums themselves who believe that it's their opinion or no opinion and who believe that if you don't breast feed your baby you will rot In hell- actual words used in the above mentioned tirade of shame) So, this post doesn't have much of a point, other than to let everyone know I am here, I am alive and I am still very much blogging. I am however getting pretty pissed off with the cruelty that so many mums feel they are entitled to inflict on others. Maybe it's time we all remember that every parent is different and that instead of bringing each other down, we should be helping one another and supporting each other. Now I'm off to over feed my bottle fed baby and let my toddler look after herself, because I'm lazy! Jess X
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I can't believe Isabel is 4 months old already! It feels like yesterday that we got that positive test and now I'm sat typing this, a 4 month update with a bouncing babe on my lap demanding all the attention. This month has been quite settled compared to the first 3! Unlike Abi, Isabel has created a routine herself and is ready for bed by 8pm. She gets quite crabby suddenly and then as soon as you put her into her sleepyhead upstairs she settles herself to sleep and that's it till 6am. I have no idea how we've done it- In fact we haven't done anything, she's done it herself! Day time naps are more difficult. She's far more interested in watching our every move and tends to only nap for 30 minutes at a time, if that. But she's perfectly happy and doesn't tend to get to angry. Again, the complete opposite to Abi. Teething is in full swing, think dribble, hand chewing and explosive nappies with some nappy rash! Other than a few minutes of teething rage a day, she seems to take it all her stride tho and is happy with her Sophie the giraffe and fist in her mouth. Isabel had a cold and high temp when she was due for her 8 week immunisations so we are behind 4 weeks. This week we had her 12 week (at 16 week) immunisations. She took them really well and didn't even cry. They were on the hottest day of the year so I think the slight upset (by slight I mean constant crying and screaming for the entire afternoon) was due to the temperature not the jabs. I'm dreading the next lot because I've heard they are worst- I don't really remember the immunisations with Abi, I think I mentally blocked them out! All our reflux woes have really settled down and despite a lot of sick still, Isabel is no longer in pain and doesn't scream for hours at a time anymore. There are some days that she seems a bit uncomfortable but nothing like before. She's still an absolute nightmare when it comes to drinking her milk, she gets too distracted and rarely has more than 5oz at a time! But she's still gaining weight and is happy so we aren't too worried. Isabel has surprised us massively by rolling over a few times, she has yet to do it again but she is starting to get a bit frustrated at not being able to get to Abi! She's also sitting up with support and started to try and sit up when she's in her car seat or her bouncer. Again, she gets seriously frustrated tho so our days do involved a lot of angry whining. Abi is still obsessed with Izzi, she doesn't bother with us until she's given her little sis a kiss and cuddle. Isabel also notices when Abi isn't around, Tuesdays when Abi is at nursery all day are particularly hard because Isabel spends her entire day searching for Abi and getting angry that she isn't near her. Her smile is incredible when she finally sees Abi though and it definitely gives me little butterflies! It feels like time has gone to fast and I can't get my head around the fact it's been 4 months already. Yet at the same time it feels like Isabel has been here forever and I genuinely can't remember life before she joined our family. Now to see where the next month takes us! Jess
X Last summer I was in the first trimester of pregnancy and feeling all sorts of rubbish, while also being on and off bed rest. We did very little in the way of enjoying the great British Summer time and despite my pale skin and all too often avoidance of the sun, I really missed making the most of the summer.
This year I'm no longer pregnant and Abigail also has the whole summer off, no nursery or anything as she's starting school in September and she finishes nursery in July. Now that Isabel is also getting bigger and more aware and excitable I'm also desperate to get her out and about enjoying the sun- although she seems to have my pale skin problems and she cries a lot as soon as it hits 20 degrees so I dont think she will be a sun worshipper like her big sis. I have a giant bucket list of things I would like to do with our summer! All too often summer holidays and day trips break the bank and I'm going to use this summer as a trial run before next year, where I'll have a school child who is eager to go somewhere every single day. Hopefully I'll learn some mum hacks for a fun summer along the way over the next couple of months! So here it is, the first 10 things on the Bolton's summer time fun bucket list... 1 An old fashioned beach day. One where we get up first thing and we are enjoying the sand between our toes by 9am. Complete with wind breaks, ice creams, sand stuck to our suncream and splashing in the waves. 2 Crabbing at Mudeford. An afternoon of chips on the quay and catching crabs is my idea of heaven- notice how so far it's all sea/beach related! 3 Fresh fruit picking. When I was younger, going to Sopley farm and picking fresh strawberries and raspberries was my favourite summer activity and it's passed down to Abi. She loves nothing more than running through the fields and picking her favourites before devouring them all on the journey home! 4 Weymouth day trip. Is there anything better than a stone beach, fish and chips, donkey rides and 2p machines, topped off with a Rossi's ice cream? My mum grew up in Weymouth so a lot of my childhood summers were spent revisiting her favourite places- Rossi's ice cream being her ultimate fave! There is also thing better than the Malborough Fish and Chips. Crinkle cut chips and breaded mushrooms- the most amazing lunch you could ever ask for during a seaside trip! 5 Marwell Zoo. Having an animal obsessed daughter means Zoo's are often a must for our day trip plans. Specially one's that include picnics and a little trip to the gift shop! It's not a cheap trip but it's a great day out and 100% worth every penny you spend. 6 Isle of Wight day trip. Again, this isn't a cheap excursion, but I love a visit to the island. It's like you've gone abroad and Abi will no doubt LOVE the ferry. It's full of walks, the donkey sanctuary and the good old needles! 7 Late night beach walk. Obviously with children, a late night beach walk isn't as late as pre children days! But a walk along the beach as a family when the air is a little cooler will be the perfect end to a hot day. One of my favourites things is watching a sunset and there is no better place to watch than on a beach. 8 Ashclyst Forest. I've heard some amazing things about this National trust forest so I've been eager to visit since we got our membership. Apparently it's a haven for butterflies, bluebirds and birds so it will definitely be a hit for Abigail! 9 Brownsea Island day trip. Again, it's another national trust must see for us! An entire day on a little island with red squirrels and the beautiful lagoon. The boat ride will also be a fun added bonus! 10 Prior park. Over looking Bath, this spot has amazing landscapes and some beautiful trails. We've been told it's quite similar to Stourhead and we all know how much we loved it there! Having our national trust membership has really inspired a lot of our bucketlist ideas- could you tell? This year is the first year we aren't heading abroad and we've decided to make the most of what the U.K has to offer. I am really looking forward to enjoying all the things that England has to offer! What's on your summer wish list? Are you staying in the U.K. Or heading abroad? Jess X During my pregnancy with Abi I somehow managed to only gain a couple of lb. For the first time in my life I was able to eat double what I ever had before and I barely gained any weight which made post partum weight loss the first time around pretty easy. Over the course of 3 years my weight went up and down but as soon as I fell pregnant with Isabel the complete opposite to my pregnancy with Abi happened. I put on a lot of weight- Over 3 stone to be exact. I didn't particularly eat much (well I did towards the end through boredom) but I was on and off bed rest from 5 weeks up until 12 weeks, before eventually being put on rest until the end the pregnancy from 20 weeks. Obviously eating more and more as my appetite grew and doing minimal excersise- from 33 weeks I wasn't even aloud to hoover- didn't bode well for weight gain of any kind. I didn't weigh myself after Isabel was born because I don't have the greatest relationship with the scales but the pressure of a new born, a toddler and general life meant that food was the last thing on my mind. That of course meant I lost some weight and even if I didn't fit into my pre pregnancy jeans, I didn't feel too awful. My jeans were loose, my stomach slimmed down a lot quicker than it did with Abi and it was heading in the right direction. But eventually I settled into family of 4 life which meant I suddenly had time for food and of course weight crept on again. A couple of years I ago I joined slimming world and lost just over a stone in 5 weeks, so I knew that slimming world was the route I wanted to take for my post partum weightloss. Because of the hectic lifestyle that comes with having a young family I was reluctant to join a group though and tried to do it from home, failing every day at precisely 5pm when all I wanted was fast food and chocolate. I'm one of those people who need the emotional torture of a group to keep my on track. Knowing that if I gain instead of losing anything, and that I will have to explain why I think that happened is enough to keep me away from any binges. So at 13 weeks post partum I rejoined my local slimming world group. The feeling of getting back into cooking fresh food, meal planning and being in control was the definite push I needed and I'll be honest it's been amazing. I spent my first week completely in control, never going over my syns and sticking to all my meal plans. I was so ready for my weigh in, then Abi was rushed to hospital and I couldn't make it. Monday I didn't eat anything all day until everything calmed down and at about 5pm I realised I was starving. The only food that the cafe had to offer was a cheese and onion sandwich, cake and crisps. Not that it was a problem- it was the end of the day and I was just greatful for food! Getting back into the swing of things hasn't been easy- after a couple of days of the least slimming world friendly food ever that's required no effort, the idea of cooking isn't great! But after a couple of days of rubbish eating, I also felt really eugh and sluggish so that's enough to kick me back into shape too. I've been experimenting and making new meals, unlike last time where I stuck to the same ones I knew Chris and Abi liked and touch wood, so far Chris has loved every single meal so far. He's not a fan of quark though so meals that involve that are sometimes questioned, but he's coming around to it. Salad is my least favourite food, I can't bare it and if I do eat it I cover it in dressing and completely make it unhealthy. But we made a slimming world, New York style steak salad and for the first time in my life, I ate a salad without even a pinch of dressing and it's definitely my new favourite meal! It was completely syn free and was made up with Romaine lettuce, beetroot, apple, runner beans, spring onions and gherkin. We seasoned sirloin steak with some Aldi Season all (seriously the greatest seasoning I've ever tasted!) and fried in fry light, 2 minutes on each side for a perfect medium steak. There was enough flavour from the steak to mean absolutely so seasoning was neccessary and it was amazing. I was a little upset when I took my last mouth full and I'm seriously considering making this a weekly meal (Chris will super happy about the most expensive salad ever...) My go to breakfast is always porridge with berries and Nutella! I love porridge and Nutella and it's the perfect start to my day. To bulk it up a little I've been adding some grated carrot and cinnamon and it tastes amazing! Getting back into any sort of healthy eating, weightloss, or lifestyle change after a new addition is pretty tough. Sleep deprivation definitely sends me straight to the chocolate! I also really struggle to find time to excersise, not that I need much of an excuse not to excersise, I hate it. Which is why I prefar to go on walks as a family as im having so much fun I don't feel like in excersising or missing out while i do a work out etc.
I don't have any short term goals that I need to reach asap, which works better for me as I don't feel so pressured. I'm frustrated when I have bad days but I know that it's not going to impact anything or how I feel. One bad day isn't the end of the world and I'm only human- a human who really loves Nutella. My main goal that I'm determined to be at my ideal and dream weight for is our wedding which is in May 2019 which is obviously a really long time. But the way I look at it, it gives me plenty of cheat days and plenty of weekends where I can forget our syns and devour an entire bargain bucket and jar of Nutella to myself (not that I would do that...) One day I do hope I can be one of those people who isn't bothered by how they look as much as I am and doesn't feel defined by a number on the scales or the size of her jeans. But at the moment I am and unfortunately it's only me who can help myself when it comes to accepting my child bearing hips and chocolate loving bum! Im going to be sharing my favourite and most successful slimming world recipes so keep your eyes peeled if you're a fellow slimming world fan! Jess X As I start to write this, I'm sat watching Abi run around a hospital room full of beans, dancing, laughing and being a happy little girl. Rewind less than 24 hours ago and it was a different story.
Being a mum is challenging for a million reasons. But the biggest challenge for me is how much I love our girls. I know how that sounds, but let me explain. When you're a parent you love your child so fiercely the thought of them in pain or unwell hurts you the same, if not more than it does them. Sleepless nights, embarrassing public displays and bad behaviour are things I can deal with, seeing the girls unwell or in pain is something I can't. I hate not being able to help them, make them better and soothe them. This last year has seen us depend on the NHS more than either myself or Chris have in our entire lives. It's coming up to a year to the day that we found out that we were expecting Isabel and the start of a pretty horrific 8 months. 8 months that saw us up at the hospital nearly every week and one of the most scary weeks of our lives when Isabel stopped moving at 38 weeks. And as if the universe knew, yesterday we experienced the scariest few hours of our lives to date (it better not be a pattern!) Long story short Abi had a fast acting infection in the right side of her chest, when I say fast acting, I mean that she went from singing to Moana to not even being able to stand within minutes and her face was grey. You need to of experienced this to know that seeing your child limp, grey and pretty much unresponsive is something that will haunt a parent forever. If you've read my blog for a while you will know that I'm crazy neurotic when it comes to the girls and Chris and their health. Abi had spent Sunday night coughing and being sick a couple of times and ironically it's the first time in our 4 years of parenthood that I didn't run around the house screaming "Chris wake up, we need an ambulance". Yes, I'm that crazy. Like I said above, seeing the girls sick or in pain I instantly go to the ambulance extreme (I'll point out here I have never actually called an ambulance, Chris always talks me down) Anyway, she was a bit sick but fine in herself. She woke up Monday morning happy, albeit still a bit sicky but her normal, won't stop talking self. Then out of nowhere it changed. She couldn't breathe. She went limp. She went grey. Fast forward a few hours we were in Salisbury hospital on the Sarum ward being told that we had a very poorly little girl and it was going to take a while for her to get better. I'm not going to explain everything that happened while we were there and during those hours that were definitely some of the worst of our lives. To be honest it's scared me and I'll probably really struggle with any anxiety I have about it for a while. But because of the amazing nurses, doctors, paramedics and even the receptionists at our surgery, somehow Abi made a pretty miraculous and incredible recovery. Apart from a couple of times during the night that her monitor went crazy because her heart rate went too low or her oxygen crashed ( there was no concern as it was purely because she was in such a deep sleep. Of course I didn't calm down and spent the whole night staring at her) she recovered much quicker than they had even considered. I'll be honest, she really perked up around 5pm and when Chris left af 8pm, it was just Abi and me (and our lovely nurse) for the night. She didn't even entertain the idea of sleep until around 10.30pm which meant for the first time in god knows how long, it was just Abi and me. We cuddled, talked and she had my full, undivided attention for the entire day and evening. The circumstances were the worst but the silver lining was that we were back to how it had been for over 3 and a half years, even if only for a few hours and through her discomfort and fear, she loved it. She also spent the whole evening asking if Daddy could come back and begging to face time to Isabel but that's besides the point. We are home now, but with a pretty hefty list of things to look out for and what feels like a million instructions as to what we need to do to help Abi fully recover. Being 4 years old, Abi has very little understanding of just how sick she was and a few times since we have been home we have had to really double check with her how she is feeling because her breathing has begun to resemble what it did on Monday morning before it went so wrong. But she's reassured us she's fine and continued to try and run around like Usain Bolt and act like a normal crazy 4 year old. Of course she's out of breath and shattered after 2 minutes but she's 4 and despite us constantly telling to calm down and relax, she ignores us and carries on. There was a moment in the doctors surgery just before we rushed off in an ambulance that I think has stuck with me more than anything else. Just after her 3rd go on the nebuliser and the 1st paramedic had arrived, she grabbed my hand, kissed it and said I'll be ok mummy and smiled at me. I wasn't crying, i wasn't showing emotion, well so I thought. But I guess she could see my watery eyes and sense my sheer panic that I was struggle so hard to contain. That little squeeze of my hand was just what I needed to keep me together until Chris arrived and I could let go a little that's for sure. A lot of people are often very quick to criticise the NHS and all the NHS staff who save lives every day. After being a terrified parent I can understand why all to often tempers flare and the nurses and doctors receive the brunt of a scared parents anger (neither myself or Chris did this by the way...) But after seeing just how much pressure is on a single nurse during her shift, my respect for both nurses and doctors sky rocketed. It doesn't take a genius to understand how demanding and important a nurses job is. They literally have lives that depend on them, sometimes several different patients at a time and on a pediactrics ward where they also have scared parents as well as their patients, it's a pretty tense job to say the least. The nurse that helped Abi when we first arrived told us that she had started work at 7am and at 9pm she was still working. Despite her very long and stressful day she still made the time to come and find Abi and give her a book and some bubbles. This small gesture made Abi beyond happy. The nurse we had through out the night was also incredible, she spent an hour talking to me at 2am while she insisted on holding the nebuliser to Abis face while she slept so I could 'relax'. We spoke about how poorly Abi was and she really made me feel at ease because she explained it in what I would I call ''mum terms". She was a mum to a 4 year old little girl and so she knew exactly how I was feeling. She didn't any medical terms and she was honest but in a weirdly reassuringly way. In the last year the NHS have helped us more times than I dare to count. Salisbury hospital in particular. The gratitude I have for each and every member of staff at that hospital, receptionist, midwives, nurses, doctors and the lovely lady's who bring food around- post Labour toast to be more specific... Is more than I have for anyone else. Salisbury hospital will always have the most special place in my heart, not only because it's where our babies were born, but because most importantly it's where our babies were saved. So for once, instead of a negative NHS moan like so many jump straight in to, I'm shouting from the rooftops just how much I love the NHS and why it's so important we do everything can to protect it and all the amazing people who work for NHS. Jess X After days of constant rain and wind, we woke up this morning to some pretty glorious sunshine, of course still a little windy but we decided to take what we were given by the weather gods and head off on a little adventure to Corfe Castle. It's part of the national trust and if you've read any of my previous posts about our days out, you will know how much we love our national trust membership! Despite living here all our lives, like with Kingston Lacy, neither myself or Chris have ever visited Corfe Castle before so it was something new for us all. We parked at the visitor centre car park (free with our membership) Put Isabel in her carrier (she is about as fond of it as I am of child birth) and off the 4 of us went. I'll add here that we found the parking a nightmare and compared to the other national trust locations we have visited, there was very little parking. They do offer a park and ride I believe though so during peak times I imagine that's definitely something we would look into. There are quite a few beautiful walks Surrounding the castle but because it was so windy and we hadn't packed a picnic we just went for a quick walk around the castle. Because we parked at the visitor centre, there is a short walk from the car park to the entrance but it's beautiful and to be honest, it's made us want to head back to try some of the walks that surround the castle. Abi did a classic feral toddler thing and declared she needed a wee just as we were entering (luckily right by the toilets which is a first) but while weeing, she decided to very loudly declare that she needed to poo and proceeded to give myself and 3 older ladies a running commentary of her bowel movement. Then topped off the whole incident by walking out the cubicle, parting her butt cheeks and asking "is it clean?" Thankfully the lovely ladies who were washing their hands seem to find the whole episode quite funny and we managed to avoid an extremely uncomfortable situation... Thought I'd just throw that in so you can all see just how grand my experience of motherhood is! On several tourist websites, it says corfe castle is pram friendly... It is most certainly not. Luckily we had packed our mother care baby carrier and chose to take that instead of the pram. They do offer carriers at the entrance though so if you do have littles ones who can't walk but if you don't have a carrier they have some to offer on site. Even though the weather was bright and sunny, the wind was borderline hurricane at the top of the castle. Isabel was pretty angry and after switching her from front facing back to her facing me she could snuggle in and be protected from the worst of the wind. Thankfully, with some heavy rocking and constant moving she fell back asleep and stayed that way for the rest of our visit so didn't get too wind swept! Abi loved wondering around the ruins and exploring. She's starting to become quite the story teller and enjoyed telling me all about the unicorns and dragons that she thinks used to live at the castle all those years ago. There are some amazing views from the Castle and I really was in awe of how beautiful they were. I had one of those "I really love where we live" moments where you feel humble and at peace! The great thing about Corfe castle is that it's a lot smaller than the national trust locations we've visited previously, so it's perfect for a day where the weather is slightly iffy. We did the entire castle within about 1.5 hours and it was the perfect amount of time for a bit more of a taxing walk with a toddler and a baby. Like I said above, it's not pram friendly at all so a carrier is a must, either your own or hire one from the national trust at the entrance. It's also pretty steep in places, with the original rocky and uneven paths. It also has some sudden drops so sensible shoes are something I would definitely reccomend. We loved corfe castle and so did Abi. It's the first time we've done a national trust without having to entice her into walking with the promise of Pokemon hunting, her own imagination was enough to keep her interested and engaged in what we were doing the entire time. We will definitely be back again in the near future, hopefully on a day that isn't so windy you genuinely lose your footing a little. I say it everytime but I really would reccomend a national trust membership to anyone with a young family, it is such great value for money and there are always things to see and do whatever the weather. I'll leave you with some of the fab pictures that Chris took of our day! Jess
X You wouldn't think it by looking at her, but Abi is a bit of a thrill seeker. She may not be able to jump off a step or bounce on a trampoline but she love's a rollercoaster. So it's no surprise that if we ask her where she would like to go for a day out she always say's 'Somewhere with ride's'
As a family we love visiting Chessington. It has everything you want in a day out, especially a day out with little ones. It has rides- for all ages, animals, a sealife centre and a massive choice of food as well as plenty of seating and picnic spots! During our last visit, I was surprised by how many messages I received from fellow parents of thrill seekers asking about how we plan our day and how we make it work with a toddler and a baby! So I thought I would share our top tips for a Chessington day out. So... 1 We live in Verwood, which is just outside of Bournemouth, so it takes us about 1.5-2 hours to get to Chessington. The park is open 10-5 during off peak dates and 10-6 during the peak summer dates. We aim to leave around 8-8.30am and touchwood, we have always managed to avoid any really heavy traffic. Travelling during rush hour with a toddler and a baby is pretty stressful, specially when the fear of a stereotypical rush hour gridlock is playing in the back of your mind the entire journey. SO, pack snacks for the journey! Plenty of them. We also try to entice Abi into a nap- not that it ever works because she cant possibly sleep through the excitement! 2 Like most theme parks, the parking can stretch pretty far with plenty of different car parks with different sections depending on how busy the park is that day. Each car park has really easy access to the different park entrances and they aren't too much of a walk. That being said, I wouldn't leave picnics or things you may need but don't want to carry around for the day in the car. You can get your hand stamped so you can leave and walk back in but there are several different entrances to the park that go with all the different car parks so you could be facing a pretty hefty walk if you leave via the wrong entrance. Which leads me to REMEMBER WHICH CAR PARK YOU'RE IN! Also which entrance you first entered the park through. There is no worse feeling than realising you've left through the wrong entrance with an over tired toddler in one arm and a hungry baby in the other! There are plenty of lockers throughout the park that you can hire for the day for a small fee and leave any belongings you don't fancy carrying around. 3 I mentioned before about food and they have an amazing selection. We have eaten at chessington once and for theme park food, its all pretty tasty. There are several restaurants and what feels like hundreds of food stands so plenty of food to choose from. Having a toddler who seems to be hungry all the time but too distracted to actually eat we often take a picnic. It means we can stop and have a snack when ever we need and that we also don't waste any money on a meal that Abi probably wont finish. There are so many places to stop, eat and feed a baby so you never feel under any pressure at all either which really helps ease any stress that comes with a day out with a baby. 4 Think about what time people are most likely to have lunch. Not only will this save you from queuing for a stupidly long time for some chips, but at the peak lunch times we found that the queue times drop massively- especially on the rides for smaller children. We either have lunch at around 11am before the rush or have a quick snack on the go and enjoy the shorter queue times before sitting down around 2pm for a later lunch. 5 If you want to attend any shows, find out the times before you even start the day. During peak seasons, the shows fill up pretty fast so it's always best to get there in plenty of time to ensure some decent seats so that your littles can see the show. Also, like the lunch times, if a show is on, we have found the rides surrounding the show tend to be a lot quieter when it's on. So if you're not to bothered by watching it, it's definitely worth heading in that direction so you can enjoy some quick queue times. 6 This will sound silly, but pick up a map. It may sound obvious but if you already have your tickets you don't actually get offered a map so you have to seek out somewhere that has them. On our first visit we never managed to get one and as you can imagine, that was quite the experience. Chessington is HUGE so you really do need one. 7 Because Chessington is so big its best to plan your day and get an idea of what rides you and your little ones can go on and what you want to see the most. There is a massive selection of animals as well as rides and it is a lot to fit into one day. You can actually stay in one the hotels that are part of the chessington resort and have two days to do the whole park. We haven't done this yet but we are currently planning on doing so for our next visit. 8 We look at our day as 3 different parks. You have the rides, the animals and the sealife centre. When we first visited we were so surprised at just how many animals there were. To make the most of our day, we personally do most of the animals first. Not only does this mean that you can the focus on the rides but it means that usually the queue times are quite a bit shorter in the afternoon! A massive bonus to do it that way is that it also gives you something to bribe the tired toddler with- the promise of a ride always gets Abi moving! 9 When it comes to leaving the park, be prepared for a bit of a rough ride unless you decide to leave a little earlier than closing. As you can imagine thousands of people all leaving at once does cause some chaos, especially during peak times like school holidays. During our last visit it was half term and it took us roughly 20 minutes to leave the park and over an hour to leave the car park. So, with that taken into account, we either leave about half hour before closing or we hang around for a while- which is always a good idea when you have little ones. It's the perfect time to give a baby their pre drive home bottle and fill a toddler up with some snacks because after a busy day, no one wants to hear a whinging hungry toddler for the drive home! 10 And finally, pay for your car park ticket at the beginning of the day! It's £3 to pay to park which is seperate to the cost of your park tickets. If you wait until the end of your visit when you're trying to leave you're bound to forget (like we did) so if you get done and out the way at the beginning of your day it's over with and you can forget about it until it's time to leave. So there you have it. Top tips for a chessington day out! Jess X A couple of weeks ago I was invited to attend the screening party of Universals new show, Ransom. I'll admit now that I was pretty apprehensive and nervous to attend. I had absolutely no idea what to expect as this was the first time I had ever been invited to something like it. After several email exchanges with Sarah from way to blue PR though, I felt much more confident and I really couldn't wait. I decided to force Chris to come with me which was really great as it was the first day, just us, since way before Isabel was born. Actually probably since before I fell pregnant! We dropped Isabel with my mum (see previous post about how I felt about that!) and caught the train at midday. We arrived in London just before 3pm which gave us 2 and a half hours before the start of the screening. Me being the shopping loving Mumma that I am, made chris walk around several shops on Oxford street - much to his delight - before we headed to the Soho Hotel where the screening was being held. Before we arrived we did stop off for a quick bite to eat at an amazing chicken restaurant- Billy and The Chicks in Soho. Think KFC but 1000% nicer (and I love KFC so for me to admit that it must of been good!) As well as amazing food, it is great value for money and the actual restaurant itself was super quirky and had an amazing atmosphere. You order your main and sides separate. I went for 2 pieces of fried chicken and Chris went for a Classic chicken Burger and we got 1 side of chips. The chicken pieces were huge and so tasty and Chris's burger was also huge and from the look on his face, pretty tasty too. It was also a good job we only went for 1 side because the portion of fries was huge and there were plenty for us both. One of my favourite things about London are all the quirky little restaurants that are hidden down back streets. I love finding new and different places to eat when we visit. We will definitely be returning to Billy and the Chicks in the future! Once we had eaten we made our way to the Hotel. I got pretty. Nervous and the amount of people stood outside (we think there were quite a few celebs in the actual hotel) waiting around for autographs made me even more anxious. It turned out there were several pretty famous people In the hotel while we were there which explained the large group of people waiting for autographs. We were shown the direction we needed to head in and made our way down stairs to the screening rooms. The Soho hotel is huge and absolutely beautiful. We were shown to a room for canapés and champagne and we got to meet other guests at the screening too. I'm really greatful I took Chris because I am not ashamed to admit that I probably would of scarpered pretty soon. Being in a room full of people who seem to know what they are doing is incredibly daunting. It wasn't long before we were tucking into our 4th round of delightful canapés and 3rd glass of champagne and I finally mustered up the courage to talk to someone who wasn't Chris. I got talking to a lovely lady Called Laura and it was really interesting talking to someone in the industry. She attends screenings all the time so the whole evening was a bit mundane for her, where as for me it was the complete opposite. The dress code was smart casual so I went for black jeans, some dolly shoes and a white shirt. But for everyone who attended these events often, they were pretty casual. I guess once you've attended one you get to know the protocol for events such as these. Laura did a great job of explaining how they work etc which helped calm my nerves a little- although the champagne could of helped that as well... The canapés that were on offer were incredible. Our favourites though we're definitely the mini cones of cod and Chips and the most amazing little brownie bites. They had tempura chicken, bean frittas, smoked salmon and cream cheese and chorizo sausage rolls too amongst some other incredible treats. After an hour, we were taken through to the screening room. Unfortunately I was unable to get any pictures but the entire room, like the hotel, was incredible. The seats were actually sofas and somehow, Chris and me ended up with some great seats right in the middle and in the 2nd row. We were given a goody bag which contained a bottle of prossecco, some universal tv chocolates, some posh popcorn and some lovely hand and body lotion. It all came in a cute universal tote which, if you didn't know, would of been enough for me alone as I love a reusable tote bag! I don't want to say too much about the show because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who is planning on watching it. But what I will say is that I personally really enjoyed it. We only watched the pilot episode but if you liked Lie to me and the mentalist then you are going to be on to a winner with Ransom. The story line of the first episode had me gripped and I was actually a little disappointed that I will have to wait a couple of weeks for the second episode. The Q&A with Luke Roberts was really interesting. Listening to a lead actor discuss the different aspects of both becoming the character and filming the series made me see the entire show from a different light. Luke actually only had 4 weeks from accepting the role to the start of filming, which blew my mind a little as I imagine jumping from one role to another so quick must be quite difficult. A massive bonus is that Luke Roberts is pretty attractive, which lets be honest, for us ladies (or men, he is that good looking) is always an added extra to a tv show if we have someone pretty to admire! Before we went to the screening I did a little research before and unfortunately the series has actually been cancelled in America, so we arrived not having high hopes for it. But after watching it and liking it so much, I had a little stalk of the actors social media accounts and there is some chatter about them being in negotians with another Channel for series 2. While doing all my stalking It became quite apparent that it has quite a following in America, which surprised me a little because it's been cancelled, but we will have to hope and see if the negotians bring another series. I personally can't wait to see the rest of series 1 and to see how it progresses. The screening and Q&A finished at about 7.45, which I'll be honest I was a little relived at. I was shattered and was definitely missing our littles! Leaving the hotel we caught a climpse of a few celebrities which was pretty cool. But our favourite was Kunal Nayyer who plays Raj in Big Bang Theory, or as we now know him in our Trolls loving house hold, Guy Diamond! Chris couldn't resist a quick picture and he was super happy. Kunal was really friendly and happily obliged to Chris's Fan boy ways. Being the party animals that we are, we were home by 10.30pm and tucked up in bed by 11pm.
It was such an amazing experience and it was so nice to have a day with just Chris. When you have children you definitely forget what it's like to have time to together where you can be something else other than mummy and daddy. That being said we spent the entire day saying "We should bring Abi to London" or "Abi would love that" or "I miss the girls". But after finally having just us time for the first time in months, I will be shouting from the rooftops that all us parents need to enjoy couple time without the littles when we can! If you're into tv shows that make you think a little and have some action I would definitely reccomend giving Ransom a watch. I would also really recommend trying out Billy and the Chicks for a tasty free range fried chicken dinner! The whole day was amazing and I can't wait for another experience like it again- hopefully! Jess X |