Tooth Fairy Pillow

Just how cool are these? Auntie Lisa has made Joshua, Brandon and Holly these fantastic little personalised tooth fairy pillows. Basically they have a small pocket on one side which the children can put their teeth in and then tuck the whole thing under their pillow for the tooth fairy. Then when the tooth fairy takes the tooth the pocket can be filled with the coin. Given the way Brandon seems keen to keep knocking his teeth out then I dare say he will get the most use from this little novelty.

Holly, Joshua's and Brandon's tooth fairy pillows made by the clever Auntie Lisa.

Brandon's 5th Birthday

So 1 day after Holly's 2 month old birthday and Brandon turns 5!!!! He definitely isn't our little baby anymore. It was really nice to see just how excited he was getting about his birthday last night and talking about how early he was going to get up in order to open all his presents before school. Needless to say I made sure I went into work late and finished early so that I could do the school runs on his special day.

 

Our Little B now 5 years old.

Brandon's 5th birthday balloon.

For Xmas Brandon got the talking Tiny and Buddy dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Train which he absolutely loves. Anyway the first present he opened today was from Auntie Chris, Uncle Steve and Layla and was the huge Boris T-Rex dinosaur that goes with the set. So all through breakfast we had 3 toy dinosaurs talking to each other about being meat eaters and flying etc. I felt like I was in a Toy Story movie!!

Brandon and Boris the talking T-Rex.

Brandon takes his talking dinosaurs to the breakfast table.

A nice picture of the two brothers arm in arm.

Brandon looks afraid as Boris roars at him to eat his breakfast or no more presents.

The next present to play with was a Disney Planes race track set which Joshua gave to Brandon for his birthday. Basically you clip the track to the table and then attach the planes and watch them race down the track to trigger the chequered flag and block the opposing aeroplane. So far Brandon has Skipper, Turbo Charged Dusty, Crop Duster Dusty and El Chupacabra.

Brandon's Disney Planes race track that Joshua gave him for his birthday.

Crop Duster Dusty and Turbo Charged Dusty line up for a head to head.

Brandon getting excited as he tears into more presents. Joshua was a very good boy and took care of all the rubbish.

Finally Brandon gets to one of his main presents from Mummy and Daddy, what could it be.....

Oh yes, a huge 1/8th scale radio controlled Lamborghini, of course yellow in colour.

Brandon did well for presents with a book, some Wii infinity characters, a musical motorised car, his Disney Planes race track, radio controlled Lamborghini, Boris, some miniature Dinosaur Train characters and a Disney Planes Micro drifter wall track set. So no sooner is Xmas out of the way and I have a whole lot more toys to find homes for (and this is without the present haul he will get from his birthday party this coming weekend where he will probably get about 30 more presents from all his friends!!!!). 

 

Anyway after school we went out for dinner and as it was Brandon's choice we off course ended up back at the Quays predominantly because he wanted the cookie dough pizza for his pudding! Holly behaved very well in the restaurant. She did start to have a little cry but then we gave her a milk feed whilst we all tucked into our starter and then she was fine. During the meal me and Brandon decided Holly had a new nickname - "Shiftwell". The name comes from one of the Disney Cars 2 characters which Brandon got for the Wii Infinity game who is called "Holly Shiftwell".

Lovely piccy of the birthday boy with his little sister "Holly Shiftwell".

A happy birthday boy with his chips, carrots and chicken burger.

Unfortunately we forgot to take Brandon's birthday cake to the restaurant and therefore we asked the staff if they could put a candle in the cookie dough pizza for him so that we could all sing Happy Birthday. 

Brandon huffs and puffs the candle on his cookie dough pizza pudding.

All 5 of us at dinner - and yes that is the oldest with his thumb in his mouth again!!!!!

Luckily Brandon shared the love with Daddy as there is no way he could eat all of that pudding on his own.

Once we got home there was one more main present for Brandon. As he loves his cars, racing and Mario we took a bit of a gamble to buy him a Mario Kart slot racing game with a loop de loop in it. Boy did we ever get this present spot on as the two boys were hooked with racing each other and we pretty much had to drag them away from it to get them to bed. In no time at all Brandon had mastered the control and was slowing for the hairpin corner and using a little bit of turbo to get his kart successfully around the loop. Joshua didn't quite pick it up as easy and seemed to be spinning off the track far more regularly. Auntie Lisa and Uncle David came around to drop their present off and Brandon soundly beat Uncle David over a 50 lap race (with a little bit of assistance and cheating it has to be said!).

A very happy Brandon with his Mario Kart race track set.

Brandon concentrating hard and Joshua with his thumb in his mouth yet again.

Mario and Luigi line up on the start line.

Joshua crashes out on the loop as Brandon's Mario Kart zooms around.

Brandon just didn't want to stop playing Mario Kart and we pretty much had to drag him off of it to go to bed (1.5 hours after his normal bedtime!).

 

So his 5th Birthday is now out of the way, or at least until the weekend when he gymnastics party takes place.

Don't Drive when Tired

Holly is holding her head up very confidently lately, however when you put her on her belly she is prone to lifting her head up and dropping it down with a thud! Anyway as she gets stronger and stronger I let her have more time in her door bouncer this weekend. The pictures show her slouched over looking like her head is unsupported, but she was holding her head up most of the time. Joshua found it really amusing to try getting poor Holly dizzy by spinning the car around and and around and then letting go to let it unwind itself!!!!

 

Holly slouched over and probably feeling dizzy from Joshua's spinning!

I like driving in my car.

We actually had a nice relaxed day in doors today and just played some games, did some homework and got on top of some housework. Whilst me and Joshua were cracking on with his homework research (playing a board game which he then had to write about), Brandon was helping Tina make some rather impressive looking and rather tasty Lightning McQueen cookies.

Vanilla Lightning cookie and chocolate Mater cookie.

Impressive detail on the Mater.

....and on the number 95 Lightning.

This evening Holly was getting a little bit tired so I put her down in FAB1 whilst the boys were having a play on the Wii Monster Jam game. Despite the musical steering wheel and the various toys on the car, the tiredness set in and she was dozing off at the wheel.

WARNING : Driving whilst tired can kill. Pull over and take a nap.

That's what you call sleeping at the wheel.

Absolutely soundo!

Chelsea Stamford Shirt

Just before Christmas you might recall that Brandon completed a 10 week foundation football course with Chelsea Youth Football as part of the Forest Glade Under 5's. He got a nice certificate at the time and then at this weeks training session all the kids got one of these fab Stamford Bridge Chelsea football shirts. It is a little big for Brandon at the moment so he has folded it up and put it into his "clothes to grow into drawer!". Brandon's late Nanny would have absolutely adored this shirt and would have been so proud to see him wearing it.

 

Plenty of room to grow into this shirt.

Stamford 00

Holly's 1st Swim

So with Holly's 1st lot of jabs out of the way she has the all clear to go swimming and therefore as with Joshua and Brandon she had her first swimming pool at just over 8 weeks old. I take you two boys swimming every week and have really settled into a routine. Obviously they can both swim, they both shower themselves, dress themselves and even dry their own hair and thus swimming has actually become fairly relaxed and easy. However throw Holly into the equation and it is back to being a military operation which requires detailed planning! Firstly there are there extra bags, milk feeds, swim nappies etc to get packed. Then there is the problem of cramming all this extra stuff into the lockers and finding somewhere to put the buggy / car seat. Then you eventually get into the pool and realise you had forgotten what it is like to be holding or looking after a child for 100% of the time whilst in the water. I am so used to the boys being confident in the water and kind of letting them do their own thing and just over seeing them or chucking them around a bit.

 

Anyway as with the boys we let Holly spend the first half of her swim in a float ring which we actually purchased for her last year in Greece. She thoroughly enjoyed floating around in the pool even if the two boys wouldn't leave her alone. They were constantly pushing her around, rocking her, spinning her, diving underneath her and so on. Brandon was holding onto her star float and kicking his legs to manoeuvre her around the pool. Then when Joshua got a turn, me and him were gently pushing Holly backwards and forwards to each other.

 

Holly's first experience in a swimming pool.

Holly in her Greek floaty ring.

All 3 of our kiddies enjoying their first swim together.

Holly's little legs kicking away under the water.

Underwater tootsies.

Brandon having fun pushing his little sister around the pool.

Another nice piccy of B and Holly. Note Brandon's new smile with yet another missing tooth!

To try and keep some sort of order with the boys we insisted that only one of them pushed her around in the floaty at a time. So whilst Brandon was taking his turn Joshua was practising some underwater backward and forward flips. 

Joshua performing a dolphin style forward flip in the pool.

Nearly all the way around.

Joshua taking his turn pushing Holly around.

Holly really enjoyed the pool and after about 15-20 mins we decided to take her out of the float ring and let her get her whole body into the water. She thoroughly enjoyed being bobbed up and down in the water and laying on her back floating. Loads of people in the pool were all cooing over her as she is so small and cute and very young to be in a pool. 

All 5 off us in the pool (picture courtesy of one of the life guards).

Daddy starting to teach Holly how to float on her back.

Bobbing up and down in the water with Daddy.

How adorable and what a lovely little swim suit.

In not time at all Holly was floating on her back with just some support under her neck.

After about 25 mins Holly was starting to get a little bit cold and so Tina took her over into the little baby pool for a while which is usually warmer. Brandon actually calls the baby pool his jacuzzi and it is right next to the adult jacuzzi and so he usually jumps in here when I go in the adult one.

Mummy and Holly in the baby pool.

Ladies chill time.......

Holly was very alert during the pool time but surprisingly not that tired afterwards.

This picture is begging for a caption competition....?

 

It may have been a handful taking all 3 kids swimming at the same time, but we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The two boys are such good swimmers for their age and I am sure Holly is going to be no different. All 3 of them will be little water babies and hopefully divers once they are old enough.