When we knew we were having another child we knew that telling Hollie, who was 5 at the time, would be easier than explaining it to a toddler.

I tried to make sure that Hollie got enough attention before Amelia came but also wanted her to be independent so she wouldn't feel more isolated and excluded than she was going to feel.


Hollie loved being involved in seeing how to look after Amelia and being able to fetch things to help. She took on a lot more responsibility than we realised but luckily, at the age she was and was quite sensible for her age, it worked really well. She did kind of grow up faster than we realised.


Trying to cope with a baby and felling tired etc, we were going to get grouchy. The one thing I found we were doing more is telling Hollie off for quite trivial things and would take things more out of context and worry unnecessarily, like not tidying her toys away where she would say she was still playing with them. It would make us realise that we weren't explaining things enough to her, just taking it for granted she understood.


It wasn't until Amelia was born that the guilt set in. I didn't feel much guilt really until after giving birth.

I have found that somethings have slipped, like reading Hollie a bedtime story and reading her school book. This I felt guilty for and know she needs to keep reading but before Amelia was born we would read her school book straight after school but routines slip and can be hard sometimes to bring them back.

The one thing that Hollie and I haven't had is quality time just the two of us. We have lots of family time, her dad takes her swimming and to football and I spend a lot of time with Amelia but I feel like I don't give Hollie enough one on one time. So that's something I hope to change this, this year. We will see!


Now that Amelia is 15 months and Holllie is 7, they play really well and love spending time together. I know as they get older this will change but for now we are enjoying how the girls relationship develops.



Here are a few of my tips for a child which is going from only child to older child:

- Get your older child to help you but don't expect too much from them.

- Spend time all together playing and interacting so your older child doesn't feel isolated.

- Ask if your older child has any questions about anything so they don't bottle things up and you don't presume they know things and are fine.

- Let them know you are proud of them, you appreciate them and like how grown up they are.

- Make sure your older child get the special quality time with you, your partner and family so they feel appreciated.


Do you have any tips or tricks that can help with being the older child? Would love to hear your thought too!

   

I made sure that they were 3D and added some gems to some of them to add some bling.

These frames were so easy to make and you could decorate them any way you would like and use any font and colour you want too.

What do you think? Would they make a great gift? Would you like to receive one? Let me know.

We love to go to Drayton Manor theme park and this year we decided to go on Easter Sunday. As Amelia is at an age where she can interact and go on more of the rides it was a perfect theme park for her with Thomas Land being there too.

When the rides opened, the first one we went on was Stormforce 10 which was a log flume and we got very wet. Hollie was not amused.

Grandad decided to go on the roller-coaster where you stand up! No one else wanted to though!

We then went to Thomas Land. This part is always very popular and they are extending Thomas Land, so some of it was blocked off.

There was plenty of things to keep you amused while in the queues like the bubble blower and stilt walkers.

Amelia got to on quite a few rides in Thomas Land with her sister and she really enjoyed them.

Hollie liked the cars in the air and enjoyed having the front seat to herself and relegated her grandad to the rear!

One of the last rides we went on was the big Ferris wheel. The trouble with the Ferris wheel is it takes a long time to load and unload people but once we were on it we got a lovely view of the park. 

Normally the park closes at 5 but as it was so nice they extended it to 6 and that allowed Hollie and her dad to go on the dodgems and also go in the soft play before leaving. 

We had a lovely day and could easily have done a lot more but the day went so quickly. My mum and step dad really enjoyed themselves too. 

We will definitely be back in the future sometime and if you can get the 2 for 1 deals like we did, its a lot better value.