Reuben Vs The Holiday Season.

A small selection of the my favorite pictures of Reuben over the holiday season.

I know we are a bit late because we are into January now but we've ended up having quite a few different Christmases over the past while and I didn't want to have loads of different posts to upload.

Changes to Life By ZXSquecktrum.

There is not much to be honest so I am not sure why I decided this needed it's own post but here we are.
I basically want to just make this about parenting and household and health. I've posted about make up and clothing hauls and what not and I just don't feel like it's something I want to do with the blog just now. I want it to be on family life and what that means to me.

Just two more posting in my '31 Day Blog Challenge' to find out more about me than that's out the way.

So keep your eyes peeled for more posts on Reuben, tonnes of pictures, Eco Friendly household things and fun kids activities.
Which I hope will be more frequent as I plan on making a little schedule to make sure I am posting regularly.

love from

ZXSquecktrum

New Years Resolutions.

Why do 'modified parent' and 'metal head parent' pages, posts and blogs annoy me?

Most always say along the lines of how we are amazing parents. Their whole premise is based on how I am a better parent because I like metal and ink.
Yes, a lot of modified and 'metal head' parents strive to be the best parents we can possibly be but there is so much more to me that tattoos, piercings and  music taste. The girls involved in that Ian Watkins case, I bet they have tattoos and listen to 'alternative' music, are they brilliant parents just for the fact they do? No.
Nothing about appearance makes a parent. I do not, in away way shape or form want to be judged on mine with even positive light, when it comes to my parenting.

I want you to judge me on the things that matter when it comes to raising a child.

I want you to see that my son is incredibly smart and is functioning two years ahead of himself and see how I try to keep up with his intellect and encourage him without pushing him to far.
I want that to be something I am judged on with my parenting, not my music taste.

I want you to see how happy my child is and see how we play and laugh and hug and read. I want you to see how healthy my child is and look in my cupboard and fridge and see I am trying to give him the best and healthiest starts to life I possibly can.
I want that to be something I am judged on with my parenting, not my hair colour.

I want you to see how I am trying to raise my child to use his words to communicate. I want you to see how I try to keep a liberal mind and plan to teach him about every aspect of everything I possibly can, be it different races and religions and sexualities and Marvel VS DC.
I want that to be something I am judged on with my parenting, not my tattoos.

love from

ZXSquecktrum

Two weeks to go...

So most people who know me know I am not a Christmas person. I don't like the music, I don't like the movies and I am allergic to half the decorations and the other half are far too tacky to even think about buying(coming for the women who bought a foot tall magenta stag covered in glitter last year).
I am no longer a Christian so that takes a bit of excitement away from the whole holiday season too.

But, this year seems different and I think it's down to having a toddler.

The Ian Watkins case is stuck in my mind.

I read an article yesterday about the case and it's breaking my heart. I think it's the fact the article was so graphic, and maybe one of the worst cases I have read in a while, combined with the fact the man was quite prominent through my teen years. I personally was never a fan of The Lostprophets but a few people I knew did, so they were just always there.

I wish I could un-read it.

'Did you enjoy pregnancy?' 'Was being pregnant the best feeling ever?' 'Do you ever miss being pregnant?'

NOPE!

NOPE!
 
NOPE!

love from

ZXSquecktrum

Mini Make Up Madness: Bruise Edition.

So, Hello, remember me?

I'm Jen and I ran this blog before I was distracted with such things in life as college, video games, books, Christmas shopping and dog sitting. I believe I have not posted on this blog since late September which is terrible and I want to jump back into the swing of things with a fun little blog post.

Two years and six months.

So today, Reuben is officially two and a half years old and I don't know where the time as went. All of a sudden I have this really intelligent and independent child walking about my house. I look forward to our next six months until he is three and I can really start getting emotional about it.

How did we get from this little eleven day old...

to this two and a half year old...

in what feels like a blink of the eye?

I cherish every day with my son and know that every new day is a new chance to learn and grow but I do miss my 'tiny little sausage' I once had and got to hug for more than 0.3 of a second.

Why can't you be a little baby forever?

love from

ZXSquecktrum

Colzium Estate, Kilsyth: Museum and Walled Garden.

There seems to be a lot of open door days this month so I've took advantage by going to a local Estate not from from where I live. I used to go walking up in the estate and the surrounding paths and woodlands and loch before I had Reuben but I haven't really been up in a while. I found out a few weeks ago that the museum was free today and they had free tours of the Walled Garden so I invited my best friend up for a free day out!

I sometimes forget there is so much about my area and kind of take it for granted. You forget the beauty that's around you, if you just venture out of the street and walk any more than five minutes!

MCM Glasgow Comic Con 2013.

I don't think I need to say much about Comic Con, do I? I'm assuming if you are reading this, you are my friend and are fully aware of what Comic Con is!!

It was such a good day and I'm so glad we got to take Reuben. A little bit more planning will be involved on our part for next year as we did not anticipate the amount of people that would go. With 20,000 people going, the queues at the SECC were immense. Luckily, and I mean so, so, so, so lucky, We got in without having to wait in the queue any longer than the 2 hours we were there. It started to rain very badly and security rounded up anyone with buggies and small children and get them inside really quickly while the rest of section we were in were told that they'd be there another two hours! Totally worth it though, we all loved it!!

So, without further ado, here is some pictures and a run down of the day. I do wish I had gotten more pictures than we did but next year I will have enough confidence to ask cosplayers to pose for me!!

Life got in the way again.

Not really blogged this week because I've been super busy. Between college, days out, shopping, getting my first smart phone and trying to figure out how the blinkin' heck I work the damn thing and starting to watch Game of Thrones(better late than never) I haven't really had much time!

Got a jam packed weekend ahead of us, which I'm sure you'll hear about. So I am planning a boring day of finishing the housework, ordering Tesco and homework so I can try and get a stress free weekend. Good luck to me.

love from

ZXSquecktrum

My fiancée thinks it would be witty to call this post 'Whee In The Park' but I do not agree.

So I was supposed to have interviews and a tonne of form filling to do today but turns out I was given the wrong date and blah blah blaah, boring stuff! But as we didn't find out until late morning we didn't actually have anything to do! As I have mentioned before there is a lovely coffee morning every Wednesday run my one of my local churches but we missed it.
So an impromptu walk to the park was in order...

25th August - Sunny Day Walkies.

Took the camera out to get some picture for my last blog post 'Aunt Julia Come Bearing Gifts' and ended up with some really nice ones(as well as a tonne of unflattering ones of me) I want to share so I gave them their own blog post! It's just nice getting out in the sun and getting nice picture of my boys.
He played hide and seek and was just a cutiepatootie in genneral.

Riverside Museum.

So, a few days ago, my mother arranged a little day out with Reuben and I but also my sister Charlotte. Or they arranged a day together, invited Reuben but I've tagged along? Either way, I got a little day out and some nice pictures of Reuben with family members.
We went to the Riverside Museum in Glasgow. it's basically just a transport museum and, it's FREE!

Bus stop picnic and new toys.

Today was lovely, regardless of running two hours later than I had originally planned to do things! I had to go up to college to hand something in so I asked Michael and Reuben to come along. I admit not the best of my days out but a day out never the less.

Learning Primary and Secondary colours with Ice Cubes.

So Reuben has known all his colours for a while now so a few weeks ago(yes, yes, I've not got around to typing this post up until now) I decided it was time to show him how to mix colours.
Simply using ice cubes dyed into primary colours with food colouring and left to melt until they combine and make an exciting new colour! (I'm sure it's a lot more exciting than it sounds when you're a toddler compared to an adult.)

This was really simple to so and was good being able to prep for a game the night before. There is always the hyper moment between telling your child your going to play a game and finally getting around to getting the game ready!

Shopping List Game.

Last week I got a little garden set for Reuben and it included a little basket and it hit me, it looks like a cute wee shopping basket so from that day on, I knew my child would be encouraged to help with the food shop.
I came up with a little shopping list that would fit inside his basket without being too heavy and also things he liked. I also wanted him to pick something up that was a little bit boring to him hence the chopped tomatoes.

Not only did we have a fun shopping trip, I got some cute pictures of Reuben, so everybody wins!

Portion Sizes: Fruit and Veg.

We're always bombarded with the fact we should be eating at least five portions of fruit or veg everyday but not everyone is clear on how big a portion really is. So I decided to put together a post with some portion sizes to give you the gist of how much you should eat.

Too me it's a really good thing to know how much you should be eating and what not so I hope you find this new knowledge as handy as I do.

Separated into fresh and dried and canned and also alphabetised for easiness.

How to get crayon off a laptop screen!

Unfortunately, I had to figure out how to do this today. Had to make some important phone call and left Reuben unattended with the £1,000+ laptop and a bag of crayons so I will take some of the blame for this fiasco. But how was I going to get this out without damaging the fragile screen fearing I would have to scrub, I tried a few things but figured out this works...

All you need is a few balls of cotton wool and some baby oil, water and distilled white vinegar. Oh and some kitchen..