Toothy Tips - Fantastic Fluoride

We've already talked about brushing tips for toddlers and being careful with sugar but if you're wondering about the importance of the fluoride in your toothpaste, here's a bit more information.

Most patients I come across accept the role of fluoride as it's so widely used in toothpastes but there are those who avoid it and buy non-fluoride toothpastes.  There's also the controversy around the addition of fluoride to drinking water which is only done in certain areas so I'll talk about the benefits as well as reasons to be cautious with fluoride but I wouldn't be afraid of it and recommend using fluoride toothpaste.

Potty training twins - our tips and techniques

So, the big toilet conundrum!  I've been very nervous to toilet train K & P but started in earnest last Saturday (lord knows why I chose a day when I was on my own with them but I did and it was probably a good thing to be honest).  There will be poo chat here so if you're not interested in kids or potty training, best just scan through the cute pics or skip to a recipe or something else to entertain ;)

Sunday roast inspired afternoon tea at East Sussex National Resort - review by Bex

Last Sunday I took the kids along to East Sussex National to sample their Sunday roast inspired afternoon tea in the Pavilion restaurant.

The cake stand was loaded with lovely treats as promised in the promo email I received below and the chef explained each tier.

Eggy - My Sunday Photo

Scrambled eggs on Saturday (or as Priya calls it, Eggy).  With a tiny bit of shell!  Extra calcium 😉

Sunday Lunch at The Royal Oak, Newick - Local Roasts review

As part of my Local Roasts series, Nik, the twins and I went out for Sunday lunch at The Royal Oak in Newick last weekend.  We called on the day to book and had no problem getting a table at 1:30pm.  We were slightly late (as is often the way when wrangling two small humans) but were greeted warmly and asked to sit anywhere we liked.  We chose the corner table by the window and settled in.

My Sunday Photo - Buxted Village Barber

For My Sunday Photo this week I've chosen my favourite photo from the last week of my 365 project.

I took Kalyan for a haircut at Buxted Village Barber.  This time we had to wait for his turn and the twins were fascinated by the window decals so I nipped outside to grab a photo.  As always, Denise did a great job and Kalyan loved the experience, he really seems to like the clippers although they do sometimes tickle him.  Priya had a haircut recently so she just had her hair brushed as she wanted a turn in the chair and I wanted to avoid a tantrum.  She keeps asking for a "proper haircut" like Daddy and Kalyan, I think because she hates having hers brushed!

The first 12 days of my 365 project.

My favourite Bloody Mary cocktail recipe

When Nik and I had a night out in Brighton a couple of months ago, we went for a cocktail at Twisted Lemon and Nik had a Virgin Mary which isn't something either of us would usually order but we both loved it (I had quite a few "sips" and would have ordered one myself if we didn't have to leave for dinner)!  So when I saw a Bloody Mary recipe in the latest Waitrose Food magazine, I decided to give it a try but we've changed a couple of things so it's more to our taste and usually make it without the alcohol which actually makes them pretty healthy and they're super easy and quick to make.  (Waitrose also have this recipe on their website which is a bit different again.)

The Greatest Showman - review by Bex

On Wednesday night I had a spontaneous night out with my friend Zoe.  She had a 2 for 1 voucher for the cinema and wanted to see The Greatest Showman before it finished showing in our local cinema, Uckfield Picture House.  I hadn't been that bothered about seeing it but no-one else could go with her and I thought it would be nice to spend some time with her sans kids as we'd never managed it before.

I also had new boots and sequins I hadn't had a chance to wear on a night out yet so I figured it would be fun to get a bit dressed up ;)

Going for gold - top tips for DIY spray painting!

The guest room is coming along nicely now, I've managed to get rid of all the furniture we no longer wanted, all donated to a local furniture charity shop.  It's a brilliant way to get rid of furniture you no longer want, saved us more wasted time trying to sell it ourselves and benefits the local hospice, plus they collect it free of charge, check out the Hospice in the Weald website.

Priya waving goodbye to the truck carrying away our old furniture.

As for the fun stuff, you may have noticed on Instagram that I've been going mad with the spray paint over Christmas.  I decided some gold touches with the Hague Blue walls in the room would look nice and started with this gorgeous hexagon mirror from Oliver Bonas.  I had hoped to get both the small and large sizes to hang together but they sold out of the larger one and although I found plenty of other ones, none were much larger in size to go with the small one.  In the end I opted for a circular one to hang with it and actually think it'll look nice having the two different shapes.  While on the Oliver Bonas website, I also found this gold edged tray which is perfect in the room.

I'll give you the moon.

My boy LOVES the moon.  We've known about his love for the moon pretty much since he could talk.  He gets so excited when he sees the moon, be it in real life or a book or on TV.  "I see the mooooon!"

So when I saw these 3D printed moon lamps, I knew I had to get him one for Christmas.  The lamp we've been using as a night light has been scratched and now looks quite tatty.  This is the perfect replacement and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought of this exact photo opportunity when I bought it ;)

Cocktail Recipes

We enjoyed quite a few home-made cocktails over the Christmas, birthday and New Year period.  Here are some of the recipes for what you may have seen us enjoying on my social media, they're all very simple short drinks and super quick to make.  Apologies for the poor photos, I was too busy enjoying the day to bother with the big camera so these are all phone snaps ;)

A good old gin martini

Our Christmas Day 2017

I was so excited about Christmas, as usual, and this year we finally had the Christmas I longed for when we were trying so hard for a family.  The excitement, the traditions, the magic and all the special food ;)

Birthday brunch at The Real Eating Company Lewes - review

On my birthday this year, Nik and the twins took me out for birthday brunch!  I chose the place as I remembered going to The Real Eating Company earlier in the year with Laura and the kids and we loved it plus they do prosecco.  There was plenty of space and the menu was fab with a special breakfast deal on weekdays. You can get a breakfast with a tea or coffee for £7.95 before 12pm.  We actually didn't arrive until 12pm after all the morning birthday fun but it was on Saturday anyway so we missed out on the deal.

The bacon & banana pancakes we had in May which are sadly no longer on the menu.

Woodlands Festival

It's that miserable time of year, Christmas is over, there are no more parties and the weather sucks.  We're all back at work/school and I need things to look forward to!  I'm trying to plan some fun weekends and looking forward to some other exciting adventures we have coming up this year.  After discovering the ultimate fun of a family festival last year, we're booked to attend no less than three this year already!  After our first (and second and third) family festival last year, we're really excited to be discovering more this year.  

A new one for us will be Woodlands Festival which is in June at Elm Wood, near Hawkhurst in Kent.  It's still not too far away so we'll be close enough if we do need to abandon camping with the kids and come home but fingers crossed it all goes as well as the Medieval Festival last year!

This festival looks like another amazing extravaganza of family activities, colourful fun and music.  This video of last year's highlights below looks amazing and I'm in love with that rainbow bunting above!

My 36th birthday

I often get upset that my birthday is in that limbo period between Christmas and New Year, being the day before New Year's Eve people don't tend to want to go out then and/or are skint.  Last year a few friends were going to be coming round for some cocktails but then the twins both got chicken pox and I had to cancel it anyway.  Nik was at work as it was a Friday and I was having a pretty rubbish day caring for two miserable 2-year-olds on my own.  But then some lovely friends each popped around with some treats for me and the kids, hugs and wise words, it ended up being pretty fab, thanks to my awesome friends!

This year was quite different, I decided not to bother with a party (and after a last minute change of heart found everyone was indeed too busy anyway) so on the day, it was just Nik, the kids and I as it was a Saturday and it was perfect!  It started off with a lie-in for me, I hadn't even noticed Nik getting up as I was so tired!  I woke around 9 and could hear them all downstairs but I lay in bed waiting to see if they'd come to find me.  They soon did.

It was lovely being woken by Kalyan all excited telling me it was my birthday tomorrow, lol.  I got kisses and then he climbed into bed with me to hide under the covers from Daddy and Priya who soon turned up with a bag of gifts and cards for me to open :)

Guest room shopping list - home interiors redesign

Probably should have finished and posted this before my other post about the spare room furniture - that's just how busy and disorganised I really am!

We finally have our guest room painted.  In the end we went for Hague Blue by Farrow & Ball and I LOVE it!  Definitely the right choice and I'm so glad I convinced Nik it should cover the whole room, it looks amazing and he has now conceded that it is awesome and wouldn't have looked as good with just one wall.

Now it's time for the other fun stuff, shopping!  I've made a little shopping list of things we'd like to replace/add to the room to complete the redesign.

New Year 2018

We spent New Year's Eve with Gemma and her family having a lovely dinner and chilled out evening at her beautiful new home (which she'll be sharing on the blog this year, yay!) in Plumstead.  On New Year's Day we headed over to the common for some fresh air with the kids.

I'm not really one for big New Year parties, perhaps because it's the day after my birthday, I never quite get into the whole party spirit again even though I rarely party on my actual birthday as everyone is usually busy with their own families in that period between Christmas and New Year.