How our playroom is organised to stay as tidy as possible

I know that we're pretty lucky to even have a playroom.
And to be honest it wasn't in the initial plan for our home until Henry arrived. In fact our playroom started life upstairs in what is now Henry's bedroom (you can read my first playroom post here, and how it's been transformed into Henry's room here) and moved to our conservatory late last year.

Being able to have a playroom means we can keep some of the toddler mess in one manageable space, and create more adult space in other rooms. Our living room does still get completely trashed with toys, but in stages, and in the evenings, we can tidy everything away into the playroom and our space is child-free. It's a nice feeling.

Opening birthday presents:A toddler gift guide

Post contains review items*

My little man turned two!!
That's still pretty crazy to even think about, let alone say out loud.

However turning two was a whole lot of fun, and involved a very early morning (he really does not believe in lie ins) with presents and cinnamon buns!

I have to admit, shopping for kids is actually really hard work. There's literally so much available to buy kids, so it's working out what they will actually enjoy. And it's so easy to fall in to the trap of buying and buying, because you see just another gift that would be perfect.

Building our own mud kitchen: The Ordinary Moments

We finally had a bit of summer guys... in April!!
After snow and storms, I really wasn't expecting a weekend of beautiful sunshine, and we certainly made the most of it.

We've been working on our garden periodically for months, with little updates here and here, and we've been able to do it on a budget which I'm pretty proud of. Recently we added wood chippings to the "kids area" of the garden to cover the concrete base, and make it a bit more child friendly. The last addition to this mini-section to the garden was our planned mud kitchen.

Christmas Gifts for your geek friend

I always always find Dann incredibly difficult to shop for, in fact, guys in general are pretty hard to shop for. So my fail-safe is always geek inspiration.

Of course I know that not all geeks are guys, but I will admit this guide was inspired by the guys in my life, and a little something, something for the geeky girls.

So I've pulled together some of my absolute favourite geeky gifts, perfect for any lovable nerd.

Christmas Gifts for a toddler

Christmas shopping for kids, particularly babies and toddlers, can be a bit of a mine field. What do kids really want? And possibly more importantly, what does mum and dad want the kid to have?

To kick off my gift guide season, I've put together a few of my favourite finds, perfect for toddlers - including a mix of keepsake items, as well as role playing toys and educational and fun play room additions.

What's in my changing bag - Edition 2 - 9 months+

I always knew babies came with a lot of stuff, but I was never really prepared properly until Henry arrived. Our hospital bags were filled to bursting just to see us through the delivery and bringing him home. Our newborn changing bag was also filled with odds and ends from the start.

Now some 8ish months on, we're a little more clued up on what we do and do not need on an outing, and Henry's needs have definitely changed, so I thought I'd write the "what's in my changing bag, edition 2". I've put this as 9 months plus, but really I think we've had this set up from about six months when we started Baby Led Weaning.

Make a splash at bathtime with your little one

Bathtime might just be one of my favourite times of the day. Henry has loved baths from his second bath (his first was all screams, broken hearts, and probably slightly too cold bath water) so much so that we've enrolled him in swimming lessons (which I will be blogging about too)!

We've been a little unorthodox in that we do not have a baby bath, or a baby bath seat - we started Henry out in the kitchen sink (which you can see in my bedtime routine post), which as it is a huge porcelain sink was super convenient for us. As he got bigger and hit the six month mark, we switched to either myself or Dann having a bath with him. Now at seven months, he is in our bath on his own, thanks to a couple of bits we've bought to help us out.

Now that we've been doing bath time for a good few months now, I thought I'd share some of my personal essential products for bathtime!

Wild friends for little dreamers - Kippins Baby Comforter

Who knew babies would need so many toys?

But all those toys are a huge part of babies development, from teaching them different textures and colours, to comforting them. 

I'm a big believer in multi-tasking, especially when it comes to children's toys.

So when I was sent the Kippins Baby Comforter* by Crab and the Fox, I knew it would be a hit with me and Henry.