There is a group here in Turkey that is delighted that I’ve landed. That would be the entire insect population of the holiday resort we are at.

After days of scratching and being covered in bumps I paid a visit to the Doctor who informed me I am allergic to the insects here.

Lovely.

Little Z and OH have escaped completely as they seem to prefer feasting on just me. They don’t even seem to mind my scary hair that now resembles an unravelled birds nest. (As Monica from Friends would say “It’s the humidity!!”). I look more sun dried than sun kissed.

I don’t mind though. I still look (sort of) glamorous sat on my sun lounger mentally making my most important decision of the day; would it bad if I had 3 desserts?

Little Z is absolutely loving it and I think he would like us to live here permanently. His most favourite thing ever is the evening entertainment that he refers to as “Dancing”. We get asked a few times a day, “We going dancing??”. You can see the disappointed on his face every time we promise “Later”. Once he even had a full blown tantrum because, to him” the concept of “Later” means about 30 seconds after he’s been told. The dance troupe that performs here wave to him each night and toss him playfully in the air. I think they have taken as he insists on dancing on the floor directly in front of them each night. He then has his own dance on the stage as people are leaving for the night whilst OH and I wait patiently, flagging, and try to coax him off. Little Z is never to tired though and simply points to other parties we pass on the way back to our room. We think we have a party animal on our hands.

Of course, the restaurant staff are amazing too but the best thing ever is the continuous tantrums and the cries of, other, annoyed children in the restaurants. This fills me with genuine relief and ease. I don’t stress about Little Z acting up, not that he does too often, and being in the company of others that don’t bat an eyelid at a small child having a Defcon 1 level meltdown is pure bliss.

So life has slowed down for a week and whilst I scratch myself away to nothing and try to make my hair look presentable. I’m pretty sure there is a hair pin up there that’s trying to escape.

Wish You Were Here…

If you read my blog last week you will know about the OHs excitement at discovering that there was a Trunki in the universe that resembled the Lotus F1 race car (well, as much as a Trunki can!). Personally I wasn’t quite sure we needed one just yet and Little Z couldn’t have cared less. He’d never heard of a Trunki and was much more interested in removing all his clothes and blowing bubbles outside.

After much “Shall we? Shall We? Shall we?” (from the OH), we decided that it would be fun for Little Z and the OH attempted to reserve it. He even paid Argos a visit and that’s when we (or rather, he) got the bad news. They are not available to buy till the end of June. He was gutted. I was sad for him. Little Z was perplexed at Trunki-gate. We had a mini-dilemma on our hands. We go away on on holiday on Tuesday and it meant either going without or choosing one of the other models. I wasn’t actually too fussed either way but it was evident it had taken a strong hold on the OH.

He eventually smiled again when he picked Bernard the Bee. A very bright, very smiley, yellow number.

Bernard arrived home this week and Little Z has taken an instant shine to him. He carried and pushed him around at first not realising he could ride it. The OH seems happy too albeit occasionally looks a bit wistful. I think maybe the Lotus will join us one day. Just not on this holiday.

It’s hard to believe that Little Z will soon be hitting “Two and a Half”.

He is still very much my baby, to the point where we still call him “baby”. He always defiantly tells us his name is “Little Z”. He doesn’t like pet names or his name shortened.

He is fiercely independent and wants to do everything by himself. Yet at the same time, when we are out somewhere, he will come running to check that his mummy is still there waiting for him to finish playing.

He is ultra mischievous and charming all at once making you try very hard to keep that straight face whilst telling him off.

We know we have a little ball of energy on our hands, one who we know will love sports. And climbing. And throwing himself off things.

It is amazing to see he is already his own person and sometimes we catch glimpses of him trying to leave the toddler stage and become a little grown up all too quickly, walking with his hands stuffed in his pockets pondering something important.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

There’s no denying it: life can be stressful and hectic. We’re all constantly juggling a number of tasks, whether it’s in personal lives, at work or looking after children. Sometimes it can feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to keep up with all our daily tasks and chores.

Fortunately for us, technology is making it easier to keep on top of everything by automating errands and speeding things up. This article has been written on behalf of LG to list some of the devices which can help to save time and so give us more time to spend doing the things we love:

When you have limited time, or even after a busy day, you sometimes just don’t feel up to cooking a meal in the evening, no matter how easy Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals makes it seem. A slow cooker will be your best friend. The great thing about them is you can spend 20 minutes chucking ingredients into it first thing in the morning, it will cook it slowly over the course of the day and when you get home in the evening, your food is ready and waiting for you. The Morphy Richards partitioned slow cooker even allows you to cook two meals at once. Perfect if you have fussy mouths to feed! Slow cookers are best for hot pots, casseroles, stews and curries, and this book is a great place to start to find inspiration for meals.

We don’t know how lucky we are to have the Modern washing machine. Unlike our grandparents, we don’t need to spend hours and hours scrubbing clothes by hand in the bathtub, fiddling about with soap and starch. We can pop our clothes and detergent in the washing machine, press a few buttons and hey presto. There are even more functions now that save us further time: for example, the delay function means that, like the pressure cooker, we can tell the machine to wash our clothes while we’re out and come home as it finishes. Some LG models of washing machine now have a steaming function which means you can clean your clothes in 20 minutes (and gets rid of creases so you don’t need to spend time ironing afterwards, bonus!).

Sticking with the kitchen appliances (as let’s face it, we spend lots of time in the kitchen), a Coffee maker with a timer means you can prepare the night before and wake up to freshly brewed coffee in the morning. You’ll never be late for work again! If you have a baby, a blender is an essential kitchen tool as it allows you to quickly and easily puree food meals. It’s also healthier and cheaper than buying pre-made canned or jars of baby food.

Some gadgets are getting more and more futuristic and responsive to our needs. For example, the Oasis smart kitchen countertop recognises the ingredients you put on it and will give you nutritional information and recipes to try. With a small camera and projector, your counter is turned into a touchscreen surface, providing helpful images and videos of foods, timers and guidance on a step in a recipe. This will soon negate the need for cookbooks or recipe apps at all!

See it for yourself here…

To organise our day-to-day lives, a synced mobile phone is vital for people who live by their Outlook calendars. A phone that syncs multiple calendars and diaries will allow you to stay up to date (and get alerts for) family, personal and work events and appointments without having to carry around multiple diaries or devices. Likewise, apps on smartphones are great time-savers. For example, with the Tesco app you can do your grocery shopping on your phone and get it delivered without moving from the sofa. A recipe app on your phone means you can refer to it while cooking rather than scrambling around in cookbooks. The Trainline app means you can get up-to-date information on train arrivals and departures without firing up your laptop or phoning the station. The possibilities are literally endless and many of us would be lost without our smartphones, as they provide so many efficiencies through the day.
Finally, when we are on the move, a Sat Nav is an indispensable gadget. Don’t waste any more time getting lost when driving along country lanes – a Sat Nav will show you exactly where you are and the quickest or shortest route to your destination. No more pulling over at the side of the road and trying to use the streetlights to read your ripped map from the boot of your car – your Sat Nav will make you feel safe, in control, and will tell you exactly when you’re due to arrive. You can even make your journey a little more fun by receiving your directions from Mr T.