How to captivate your reluctant reader: Story School at Chessington World of Adventures

Monday, February 25, 2019 Permalink
How to engage your reluctant reader

Last week we were thrilled to be invited to Chessington World of Adventures to take part in a Room on the Broom themed Story School, ahead of the opening of the new Room on the Broom attraction on March 10th 2019. The storytelling workshop was hosted by Master Storyteller, Kevin Graal, along with Binky Felstead and her daughter India, and aimed to help parents bring books to life for their children and guide parents on the most effective story time tips and techniques. Chessington recently conducted a survey, which revealed that 36% of UK parents feel nervous about reading stories to their children at bedtime. I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I would absolutely include myself in that 36%. ...

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How I’ve Changed As A Parent | AD

Monday, December 10, 2018 Permalink
How I've changed as a parent

This is paid collaboration as part of my Ambassador role with Johnson’s Baby Perfectionism is an impossible thing when it comes to parenting. I’ve always been a perfectionist. I was the child in school who always got 10/10, and I’ve gone through life always aiming to do my absolute best. But more than anything else, being a mum is the thing that I’ve wanted to be perfect at. I’m sure it’s something that all new parents feel - that overwhelming sense of responsibility as you realise that you are the person that needs to look after this tiny, helpless little being, and everything in you wants to be the very best parent you can for them. In that first year with Max, ...

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Why A Bedtime Routine Really Can Improve Your Baby’s Sleep | AD

Monday, October 15, 2018 Permalink
Why A Bedtime Routine Really Can Improve Your Baby’s Sleep

This is a paid collaboration as part of my Ambassador role with Johnson’s Baby   It’s fair to say that we’ve had an up and down relationship with bathtime in our house. Both of our boys have had phases where they’ve hated the bath, and although we’re in a good phase now, the thought of doing a bath and then the ensuing crying when you get them out is often too much to face at the end of a long day. Our boys tend to get 2-3 baths a week, rather than the bath forming a key part of our bedtime routine. But what if a stricter bathtime routine could help them to sleep better? The Johnson’s Baby 3-step bedtime routine consists of ...

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Cows Milk Protein Allergy: It’s Not As Rare As You Think!

Monday, May 14, 2018 Permalink
3 milk bottles lined up with straws in each one, with a donut sat on the straw

I hesitated to write this post, as I actually feel that a lot has been written about Cows Milk Protein Allergy elsewhere and there is a lot of information out there which is really helpful for anyone whose baby suffers with CMPA. But it took us a very long time to diagnose Ben with CMPA, and the primary reason for that is that most of what I read said that it was very rare for breastfed babies to react adversely to cows milk when it was ingested through breastmilk - I would read stats that said something like 1%. But in my experience it's far more common than that would lead you to believe - I think the current diagnosis ...

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Ben at 9 Months

Tuesday, April 3, 2018 Permalink

Ben, you're 9 months old! It's hard to believe that you were growing in my tummy for the same length of time you've been with us on the outside world - it seems crazy to imagine a time when you weren't part of our lives now. 9 months has been a real turning point for you Ben. After confirming your Cows Milk Protein Allergy last month, you've become almost a different baby this month - back to the laid back and chilled little baby we brought home from the hospital all those months ago. You really are such a little smiler, and you're so easy to keep amused. I just need to pop you down with a toy in front of ...

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From One To Two Is Easy, They Said…

Tuesday, February 6, 2018 Permalink
Max and Ben lying on fluffy rug, with Max touching Ben's nose

I have to admit that I was nervous about the jump from one to two children. If you're familiar with my blog, you'll know that Max, my first son, is quite a demanding child who does need a lot of attention, so I worried a lot about having to split my attention in two. But not to worry, everyone said - the jump from one to two is the easiest! From none to one is hard - your life is completely turned upside down and you're learning everything from scratch. From 2 to 3 is hard - suddenly the parent to child ratio is tipped in favour of the kids and chaos ensues. But 1 to 2? You'll be fine! 7 ...

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Your Own Room - The Ordinary Moments

Sunday, January 7, 2018 Permalink
7 month old baby sitting up in cot, dressed in white and grey striped bear suit, cuddling Maileg soft toy deer

That moment when you walk out of the hospital, carrying your newborn baby, is such a hugely emotional one in every parent's life. The realisation that this precious little squirmy bundle is yours to take home. Your heart is swelling with pride, and love, and also fear. Fear, because this little creature is so tiny, so vulnerable, and is dependent on you for everything. They need you to feed them, to coax them to sleep, to dress them, to bathe them. You feel that weight of responsibility so strongly, and it's overwhelming in those early days. And then, little by little, they start to become more independent. At first it's just rolling over, then sitting up on their own, starting to ...

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The Emotion of The School Application

Tuesday, December 5, 2017 Permalink
Little boy stood on pathway with backpack on his back, looking pensive

After much deliberation, we've finally decided on our school application list for Max, and it's finally hit me - we have less than a year before he starts school. Whenever I heard parents saying "I can't believe how quickly it's gone" when the time arrived for their child to start school I always felt a bit baffled. It's 3 and a half years, that's a reasonable length of time in anyone's book. But now I completely understand! It feels like only a month or so ago that I can remember Max as a toddler, staggering around, unsteady on his feet. How can he be ready to start school, he still can't put his own shoes on! But I know that by ...

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My Life is a Series of Unfinished Projects…

Tuesday, November 7, 2017 Permalink
Close up of child's bookshelf with navy painted wooden bookend and green dinosaur figure on it

Last weekend I achieved a major milestone. It may not seem much to you, but this little bookend DIY has been looming over me for months. We've been redoing Max's room to make it more of a little boy's room and this is one of the finishing touches. I've had all the parts ready and waiting - I bought the bookends from eBay, they just needed assembling, painting, and the little dinosaur figures put onto them. As DIYs go, it's not exactly the most demanding or time consuming. But it's taken until last weekend for me to have a spare minute to get around to painting them. And that's just one of the numerous unfinished projects that I have going on ...

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From a toddler to a little boy…

Friday, October 13, 2017 Permalink
Max holding up buttercup to Grandma's chin, with a smile on his face

Do you ever feel like life has just shifted up a gear and suddenly everything is just whizzing by? Since Ben has come along, I swear Max has changed into a little boy right before my eyes. I've missed all those little changes and all of a sudden he's all little boy and there's nothing remotely toddler-like about him. It hit me full in the face this week when we visited a local soft play that I've been meaning to take him to for ages. Like most sane people, I'm not normally a fan of soft play. It's just something that you sometimes have to endure on a rainy day, when the memory of the previous awfulness has faded and you ...

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