Mummy Mishaps

Rainbow Swirly Sponge Cake

2012-02-14T23:23:00.000Z

Ever since I saw a delicious and eye catching rainbow coloured cake on Mum2Four 's blog I have been wanting to try to make a version myself.

Mine isn't quite so brightly coloured as her version because I didn't have many food colourings or much of the ones I did have! Still, a rainbow cake can be whatever you want it to be I think !! I added chocolate butter cream to the middle of my sponge cake just because we like chocolate in my house, but any flavour or coloured buttercream would work.

Rainbow Swirly Sponge Cake

ingredients for the sponge:

175g unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

175g self raising flour

3 eggs

food colourings of your choice

ingredients for the buttercream:
75g unsalted butter
100g icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder

method:
pre-heat the oven to 180oC/160oC (fan) and grease 2 sandwich tins
cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy
add the flour and eggs and mix well until all combined
divide the mixture into as many bowls as you have food colourings
add the food colouring to each bowl and mix well
then put half of each different coloured cake mix into each sandwich tin
once cake mix is in each tin I took a knife and swirled the colours together to give a marbled effect

its a bit swirly whirly

bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked through

Make the butter cream by mixing all the ingredients together to form a smooth paste
once the sponges are completely cooled add the butter cream to one half and then sandwich them together

I had a little helper assist me with making the cake!

The rainbow swirly effect makes for a very pretty sponge and every slice has a different rainbow pattern

its like psychedelic maaaaan! :0

To Share-o The Solero

2012-02-13T21:04:00.000Z

It appears a new routine has started in our house.

Indeed a new little club has been established with an exclusive membership of just 3!

It begins when daddy finishes his main meal and goes and gets his 2 Walls Solero ice creams from the freezer for pudding. Suddenly he has 2 little solero eating 'helpers' who both compete to get a lick of the ice cream!

It is so funny to watch both boys 'race' to get to daddy and his ice creams. Of course they both want to sit on his lap to be nearer to the 'sacred' solero and be ready to reach for a lick of it!

Daddy lets both Burton and Jenson have a small bit of ice cream each on a stick, after he has eaten most of it himself bar the odd lick that the two boys manage to get, so they each have their own mini me version of his solero.

Jenosn looks on enviously waiting for his turn!

Daddy has never felt so popular!

This is not a sponsored post - its just that we do buy a lot of Solero ice creams and it turns out all the males in my house enjoy eating them!

A Week Of No Illnesses!!

2012-02-12T22:23:00.002Z

Last week made a nice change from the previous ones of this new year, the main reason being that for the first time in I don't know how long all 4 of us were in good health with NO illnesses. Thats right NO poorly children or parents!! Amazing! As a result, it meant that we had a productive week.

Monday

I woke up and I could see again! No, obviously a miracle hadn't occurred whereby I was formerly without my sight and then I could suddenly see again! BUT having suffered badly with conjunctivitis for the previous two weeks, which meant my eyes not only looked and felt sore but they were extremely sensitive to any light which was hard going for me to do anything really, on Monday they were back to normal! Hooray!

scary me and normal me! but which is which? lol

The other BIG thing to happen on Monday was Burton starting nursery for the first time (eeeeeek!). Like many Mum's before me I was dreading this moment and had built it all up into this big deal, when actually it went well and my boy didn't cry or scream or want to leave with me, and he had a lovely time.

Tuesday

I took the boys to a drop in playgroup this afternoon - something that I really don't do enough off (hence why we enrolled Burton into nursery once a week). it was for two hours and they both seemed to enjoy themselves and there was one person I knew so that made it a little easier to bear. Burton also had a penguin and teddy bear picnic for tea

more tea Chilly?

Wednesday

Most Wednesday's, the boys and I go to their Granma's (paternal) house to play as their cousin is there which is nice for Burton as they are very similar in age. This week Jenson got to try chocolate cake for the very first time and I think he liked it ........ a LOT!

nom nom nom :0

He also had his pre 1 year review with the Health Visitor and he is doing fine :) weighing almost 23lbs and 78cm in length I would say he is in good health.

Thursday

It was a lovely morning - blue skies and the sun was out even if it was a bit chilly. Still we wore our warm wooly hats

cheeeeeeese!

and set off to feed the ducks. I took them to a pond at Braunton which is a short drive from where we live and Burton enjoyed feeding them and insisted on doing it all himself!

lots of duck feeding fun!

However, despite my best efforts of telling Burton to make sure he threw the bread over the top of the fence and not through the gap, he did get his finger snapped by that white swan you see in my photo collage! Luckily, either Burton managed to pull his finger way quickly or the swan let go realising it was not bread and no harm was done to his finger! We also had a funny moment when Burton suddenly needed to do a wee and try as I might I could not open the carry potty so I had to pick Burton up and hold him over the fence (not near the ducks I hasten to add - goodness that could have been very dangerous with that swan nearby!!). Afterwards Burton took this rather good photo of the ducks

3 little ducks went swimming one day....

Friday

While Jenson took his morning nap, Burton and I made some red velvet cup cakes which I had never made before

"mummy me love making cakes"

My Mum came to visit us today which was lovely as she hasn't been up for a while (we usually go to her house). So we took the boys to Funderzone which is our local soft play centre as I had been promising Burton all week that we would go. Its great fun there!

Saturday

Amazingly Jenson slept through until 7am - I was in shock I can tell you! this dies not happen often (usually up at least once if not twice a night!)

The boys were being cheeky monkey's first thing in Burton's room as Jenson loves to clamber up onto his brother's bed and cuddle the cuddly toys! Burton decided to read to his little brother - so sweet.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I went and got my roots 'done' as I had left it rather too long this time. A hairdressers in town were offering a half price deal so I got there at 9am and luckily they squeezed me in! Hurrah no more natural *ahem* highlights in my parting!

Looks a bit sci-fi doesn't it?

Sunday
We haven't done a great deal today, just played with the boys and took them swimming.

finished his swim & waiting for Burton to get out

So a lovely end to a much better week - long may it continue.

I am linking this up to MummyDaddyAndMeMakesThree 's

Silent Sunday 12/2/2012

2012-02-12T07:57:00.004Z

I know you would never have thought that I might HAVE to colour my hair!!

Saturday Is Caption Day - 11th Februrary, 2012

2012-02-11T08:22:00.000Z

It's Saturday which means only 1 thing!!!

Caption time!

So I present to you this photo:

For more caption worthy photos please click here

Share:inShareShare

I Love Cake - February Romantic Edition

2012-02-10T21:14:00.000Z

Hey cake fans!

Seeing as though February is the month for Valentine's Day I thought that this months I Love Cake theme may aswell be

ROMANTIC

So as usual please link up any type of cake which has a romantic flavour, decoration, shape or maybe it is just made with love for someone special!

The linky is at the bottom of this post and will remain open until the end of the month

Romantic Red Velvet Cup Cakes

Ingredients For The Cakes:

4oz unsalted butter, softened

10oz caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 heaped tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp red food colouring (I used Dr Oetker)

10oz plain flour

1 pinch salt

240ml vanilla yogurt

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For The Topping:

3oz unsalted butter, softened
6oz icing sugar

1 tub full fat cream cheese
swivel love hearts
wafer flowers

red cake batter

Makes 16 muffins or 36 cupcakes (approx)

Pre-heat the oven to 190oC/170oC
Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy
Add the eggs and mix well
In a small separate bowl blend the cocoa powder and food colouring together to form a paste
Add the paste to the cake batter and mix until blended
Add the sifted flour, salt and yogurt to the cake mix and again mix
together thoroughly
In another separate bowl mix the bicarb and white wine vinegar together
with spoon and then add this to the cake batter and give it all a good mix again.

Spoon the batter into paper cases filling them about 2/3 full

Place in the oven and cook for about 12-15 mins for cupcakes and for 18-20 minutes for the muffin - i always insert a knife to see if they are cooked

Allow to cool thoroughly

Meanwhile make the frosting for the topping by

Mixing the butter and icing sugar until reasonably soft and then add the cream cheese and continue to mix until blended together and soft and creamy

Once the cakes are completely cool, decorate with the frosting and then top with whatever you like. I chose some Valentine inspired decorations and used some love heart sweets and wafer flowers and the end result looked like this

flowers, sweets & cake - perfect love for me!!

what will you come up with?

Please link up below - I look forward to seeing what romantic cakes you can create!

(recipe based on one by The Hummingbird Bakery with a few different ingredients used)

also linking my romantic cupcake to

Dolphin Tale - DVD Review

2012-02-09T23:14:00.001Z

Based on real life events, Dolphin Tale is the remarkable story of a dolphin called Winter who was rescued after being washed ashore and stranded, as a result of her getting her tail caught up in a crab fishing trap. In order to save her life, Winter has to lose her tail which in turn puts her life in danger as without a tail the dolphin is putting too much strain on her back which will, ultimately, kill her in time.

Winter without her tail

Winter is found on the beach by a young boy called Sawyer who is a bit of a loner and quiet at home and is struggling with school and doesn't really have any friends. That is until he befriends the marine biologist (played by Harry Connick Jnr) and his daughter who save and home Winter in their Clear Water Marine Hospital. Sawyer visits the hospital and soon forms a special bond with the tailless dolphin and her carers which brings the boy out of his shy shell and he finds a love for the marine life and the centre and it transforms him.

It is Sawyer who introduces a prosthetist doctor (played by the brilliant Morgan Freeman) to the dolphin and the marine biologists as he wonders if a prosthetic tail could be made for Winter to allow her to swim again properly which will save her life. Such an invention would be ground breaking not only for Winter but also for people who have lost limbs. But can such a tail be made and accepted by the dolphin in time?

This film is really moving and inspirational which is helped by the fact that it is based on a true story. Winter actually plays herself in the film and she still lives at the Clear Water Marine Hospital , and she has become a symbol of courage and hope for so many people - both able bodied and disabled - who have been touched by her story and her amazing recovery and rehabilitation.

Winter with her new tail

I would highly recommend watching Dolphin Tale - I really enjoyed it and Burton did watch some of the film with me but being only 2 1/2 he got distracted about half way in! If your children are a bit older I am sure they will be just as moved and inspired by Winter's tail/tale as I was. The well assembled and known cast make the film enjoyable to watch too, as they are very engaging and believable. Not only is it a story about a dolphin and her road to recovery but it is also a film about friendships and believing in something so much that you go out and make it happen!

The Dolphin Tale DVD (released by Warner Brothers) goes on UK release on 13th February, 2012 - it would be perfect to watch during half term and I guarantee you will be checking out Winter on her live web cam afterwards!

I was sent a copy of Dolphin Tale on DVD by Warner Brothers for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions about the movie are my own.

(Images borrowed from Google)

Real Nappies Vs Disposables - Cost Breakdown

2012-02-08T20:12:00.002Z

So you may recall that I took part in the REAL nappy challenge back in January.

My three main reasons for wanting to give cloth nappies a go were:

to reduce my household waste
to find out if they were as easy to use nowadays as I had been told v's the hard work they were when my mum used them on me
to see if there were big differences in costs between them and disposables

It is the latter of those, the costs, that I have been investigating over the last couple of weeks as a few readers of my blog were keen to know if they would actually save money by switching from disposable to re-usable.

During my week long nappy challenge I was amazed by how many people I tweet with and whose blogs I follow, who actually use real nappies themselves for their children and they passed on some brilliant tips and words of advice to me (thank you if it was you!). I discovered a real nappy group on twitter called #nappuvinno and thanks to them and some other helpful real nappy using mums I was able to establish how many I would need to use (and buy) for Jenson. I was also tweeted by the natural nursery who was very lovely and emailed me a load of information on the costs of real v's disposable nappies as she had carried out a similar investigation last year.

So bearing in mind that my baby is now 10 months old (if you were starting out with cloth nappies from newborn the costs would be a little higher as you would need more cloth nappies - it as suggested that 20 was a good starting point) it appeared that the average total I would need by the suggestions that I was given on twitter was 10 which would allow me about 2 days worth of wear. As it happens I have 8 as I figured that I may still use a disposable at bedtime which may change as I get used to using reusables but for now this is my plan.

Therefore, based on the Miosolo all-in-one nappies which I trialled which cost £14.95 each (and I will base this on the 10 nappies that were suggested to me that I buy), that totals £149.50

Add to this the liners which cost £4.95 (for 160)

The nappy cleanser powder which costs £4.60 (for 50 washes)

Pack of bio boosters (for extra absorbency) which cost £6.79 (for 3)

So the total so far is £165.84

I haven't bothered buying a nappy bucket and a nappy bag for days out, as if I am at home I will use a large tupperware box that I have and if I am out and about I will use a linen shopping bag or something similar.

Now lets compare this start up cost with disposable nappies. I am going to base this comparison on a well know brand of nappies - obviously if you buy supermarket own nappies you are saving more money, but for the purpose of this I need an average price. I have to be honest when I have shopped for disposables I always buy whatever are on offer with the branded nappies as usually they have an offer of some sort one.

Anyway, lets say the average size 4 branded nappy costs 20p each (bearing in mind that supermarket own brands are less again) and I would say that on an average day I get through about 6 which is £1.20 per day which equates to £8.40 per week which is £436.80 a year. At 10 months old, based on him being toilet trained at the same time as his brother who was 28 months (which isn't an accurate guide as he may be completely different and take much longer, but I need an average length of nappy wearing time) this means he still has another 18 months of nappy wearing

So the total is £655.20

(based on 20p per nappy over 18 more months from now)

I will probably continue to use disposable wipes for now at least, although I am going to try and use flannels when I am at home so I am not going to bother adding or removing wipe costs because if you wanted to work this our for yourself then again most wipes start from about £1 a pack (either supermarket own or brands when on offer).

*Did you know, you can wash disposable wipes in your washing machine? a mum on twitter does this and says you can get several uses out of them?*

So at the moment the re-usable nappies cost a LOT less than the disposables at this point in the proceedings - a difference of £489.36 in fact. Although of course the disposable costs are spread over those 18 months whereas the real nappies have to be bought and paid for in one go.

Of course with re-usable nappies comes the fact that you have to wash them at 60oC which includes electricity, washing powder and water. Thanks to the natural nursery I have some costs I can include here which are based on findings taken in 2011

I am thinking that I will be washing my re-usable nappies every 2 days so on average that is an extra 3-4 washes per week so i will say 4 to round things up. So over the next 18 months that adds up to 312 washes. Again I am basing the wishing powder costs on a well know brand of washing detergent - other asking powders will cost you less of course - but 50 washes (4kg box) costs £12.00 which averages at 24p per wash. BUT according to real nappy manufacturers you only need to use half the amount of recommended powder per wash which equates to 12p a wash.

So total washing powder cost is approx £37.44

(for 18 months)

Meaning I would also need 312 washes worth of nappy cleanser so extra cost for 6 more tubs = £27.60

The average 'B' rated washing machine uses 1.15 kw of electricity per load at 60oC** , at an average cost of 12p kw/h which is 13.8p per load

So total cost of electricity is £43.01

(for 18 months)

* So in conclusion *

Disposable nappies (not including wipes or nappy bags) for 18 months =
£655.20

Re-usable nappies + washing powder + nappy cleanser + electricity + liners + boosters for 18 months = £375.24

Which makes using re-usable nappies quite appealing from a money saving point of view doesn't it?

I have decided to use real nappies although I will still keep disposables to hand for emergencies!

If you are contemplating using real nappies would these savings help you to think more seriously about using them instead of disposables? I would be interested in reading what you have to say.

SOURCES

Prices for consumer products based on online prices at supermarkets and BambinoMio January 2012

The prices for the energy providers, January 2011

**http://www.appliancesonline.co.uk/blog/post/2010/08/06/How-to-calculate-your-washing-machine-running-costs.aspx

Thank you also to the natural nursery for their help and cost information

this is not a sponsored post and I was not asked to write this post by anyone, it was something I wanted to find out for myself . Other brands of real nappies are of course available.

First Day At Nursery - Done!

2012-02-06T16:21:00.000Z

So as I mentioned on the blog last night, Burton started nursery this morning at Ladybirds. I was a little apprehensive about taking him because I worried that he might not want to stay without me. Thank you to everyone who sent me such lovely tweets and left comments on my post - all so caring and reassuring remarks.

Anyway, we set off at 9.45 am on the 5 mile trip and Burton had his new backpack and he took his Shadow (a little toy dog which he named after my Mum's dog) to keep him company. To be honest, I could have cried as we walked to the car - he just looked so big suddenly!

So we arrived at Ladybirds a few minutes early and he took his coat off and was shown where his peg is in the cloakroom, and he then proceeded to turn out the entire contents of his rucksack to show one of the nursery staff what he had brought with him! He took his Shadow and went back into the playroom while I re-packed his bag. When I joined him he was being asked which activity he wanted to join in with and I decided that this should be my time to say goodbye. I kissed him and told him I would be back after lunch and for him to be a good boy and I said goodbye and walked out.

I looked back but he wasn't watching as he was already looking at the other children playing. I peered back in through the window,when I was outside just to make sure he wasn't crying out for me but he wasn't *sighs with relief* . Of course Mummy was struggling to contain her tears, and as soon as I got back in to the car I let a few escape which I had been holding in! Silly Mummy!!

The four hours soon passed and then it was time to return to Ladybirds and collect my boy. When I entered he had just come in from outside from playing in the sandpit, and I could see he had a different pair of trousers on - apparently, he rushed in from outside and couldn't get his coat off fast enough and didn't quite make it in time! Bless him!

His first day's report reads like this:

Burton has done so well on his first day at nursery !

We went outside to go on 'a bear hunt' and Burton loved riding on the bikes!

Burton joined in with some dancing this morning and listened to the stories 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and 'Duck In A Truck'.

Burton had a few tears a couple of times over the morning but was soon distracted (the bikes quickly cheered him up!)

He also loved pushing the pram around the playground, whizzing round and round.

My heart sinks whenever I re- read the 'Burton had a few tears a couple of times' part but I guess it was inevitable and it just makes me even more proud of him.

Apparently the lunch was chicken pasta bake with peas and sweetcorn followed by pineapple and peach crumble with custard. And he ate some - not all but some which is fantastic :) he never eats crumble at home or pineapple!! Or custard actually! I had hoped that by allowing him to stay for lunch it might encourage him to try foods he may not normally eat at home. On the way home he talked about a girl called Lilly and a boy called Jordan so I assume these may be two friends he made today. He also says he had a good time and wants to go again! *phew*

Since we have been home he has done nothing but eat so I don't know if he didn't eat very much lunch after all, or he is just hungry from all the fresh air he had!

So we survived our first day of a new routine - he was definitely the braver one and I am so proud of him and love him even more (if that is even possible!)

Having To Let Him Go

2012-02-05T21:43:00.000Z

Burton is starting nursery on Monday (tomorrow).
There is a statement I didn't think I would hear myself say for at least another 6 months!

His daddy and I (me more reluctantly, I hasten to add) have decided that attending a nursery for 4 hours a week will give him some extra stimulation; some more social interaction with his peers and a chance to do things that we havent yet done like messy play with paints. These reasons are good and positive ones for him to attend, but I cant help but feel a little guilty as his mummy that I have somehow failed him because surely he should be gaining these skills whilst in my care? I never wanted him to start going out to nursery until he was at least three, and now it is happening tomorrow.

I am fully aware that since Jenson came along I havent been able to dedicate the same kind of time and attention on Burton that I once did. It's just not possible. That sounds like a cop out but it really isn't. He is bright and learns things very quickly, and he is also demanding of my attention because he wants to do activities with me and he is keen - very keen - to learn new things. I try my best to ensure that when Jenson goes down for a nap that I spend that time actively playing with Burton and showing him new things. However, once his brother is awake I can't dedicate my time to him as much because then Jenson wants my attention too, and somehow amidst all of this I still need to organise meals and all the other usual Mummy duties.

I actually feel guilty towards both my children.

Burton - because he wants to learn so much more the I am able to teach him due to the time we have together on our own. Before Jenson we did so much more together, obviously, but I did know that by having a smaller age gaps between my children this would be one of the downsides.
Jenson - because he doesnt get the one on one time that I gave Burton for the first 19 months of his life, but then he does benefit from observing his big brother and playing with him. He is learning skills by copying - something which Burton didn't do because he was an only child at the time.
I also feel bad because we have never attended a regular playgroup so Burton (or Jenson now) has never had the opportunity to make new little friends or have that regular playtime at a dedicated place which caters for little people in terms of activities and toys.
Also since last December owing to Jenson being ill on and off we haven't gone out and about as I would like to. Then with me also being poorly last week I wasn't able to leave the house because of my eye sight being too bad! I try to make up for this when we are all back to full health, but it doesnt make me feel any better that we have been stuck indoors so much.

So it is with a heavy heart that I agreed that Burton should attend nursery. I know it is a great opportunity for him and he will learn lots and thrive and it is all good practise for when he starts nursery more regularly at some point in the not-so-distant-future. It will also be nice for Jenson and I to have a few hours where we can play and read stores together without big brother taking over!

Of course I am dreading tomorrow - the dropping him off at Ladybirds (the name of the nursery). We went to visit it last week to look around and he was quite taken with it, and actually wanted to stay and play once it was time for us to leave. All his family have been asking him where he will be going Monday and he has replied "Ladybirds". I have talked to him about asking to use the potty when he needs to go. I have bought him a rucksack to take and some new wells - all with his name on which he thought was funny. When he has asked if (baby) Jenson and I will be there too I have told him we can't because Mummy is too big and Jenson is too small. He seems ok with this but I am not sure how he will react when I do have to leave him tomorrow. I could stay with him and watch him settle in from afar on his first day, but I said I wouldn't because I don't want him to think I will stay each time he visits, and it is important that he realises that Ladybirds is for HIM and not Mummy and his brother.

*Sighs* but I worry that he might get upset which will make me upset and I know I must stay strong.

I know that many children attend nursery or daycare of some type from a much younger age than what Burton is now, and that Mums (and dads) go through what I am feeling all the time, but that doesn't make it easier for me to handle.

My little boy is growing up and there is nothing I can to to prevent him doing so, and I know I have to let him go little by little - but I wish I didn't have to just yet.

how does this happen so fast?

Wish me (and him) luck - I think I am going to need it at 10am tomorrow.

Silent Sunday

2012-02-05T09:36:00.003Z

I went on a rare night out last night (yay!)

you can see that my (formerly full of conjunctivitis) eyes did not like the flash!

Saturday Caption 4th February, 2012

2012-02-04T06:24:00.003Z

Saturday again I hear you exclaim!!

Yes which means that its time to put your witty side to good use and create a caption for this weeks photo which is:

Then see what else has been submitted for captioning here

Falling Off His Bike!

2012-02-03T08:58:00.001Z

We bought Burton a balance bike for his second birthday last July but he was a bit too small for it back then.

However, since the end of last year Daddy has been taking him out on it fairly often as he has become really confident on it and has achieved good balance whilst sitting on it.

He is a bit of a daredevil on it though, as he insists on riding down steep slopes at the park - its probably aswell that Mummy is not there when he is doing this as she may not like what she sees!!

However, as with everything in life that you learn how to do, there are moments when it all goes wrong and falling off his bike does occur quite often. Daddy has put together a little compilation of some recent 'you've been framed moments' - aww bless him, but it is funny. Look out for the one near the end - its a

classic!!

Am linking this up to

Whats On My MP3 Player?

2012-02-02T21:00:00.004Z

I was tagged by the gorgeous From Fun To Mum to put my MP3 player on shuffle and then list the first 5 songs that are played in succession.

Ok firstly, as with From Fun To Mum I don't own an actual MP3 Player but I do have music on my iPad and iPhone so essentially its the same device.....isnt it? The sad thing is I don't listen to my music collection as much as I once did or indeed probably should. Therefore, I also don't update my music as much as I ought to either.

Anyway, without any further waffling here are the 5 songs that popped up

Madonna Fever taken from Erotica

Rascal Flats Life is a Highway taken from Disney Cars soundtrack (for Burton of course!)

Lionel Ritchie & The Commodores Machine Gunn taken from The Definitive Collection

Robbie Williams Better Man taken from Live at Knebworth

Mark Ronson Apply Some Pressure taken from Version

not tooooo bad me thinks!!??

Right so as is customary in these situations, I now need to tag some people so I choose the following:

Mummy, Daddy & Me Makes Three

thank you :)

Love Rug Sleeved Blanket

2012-02-02T08:05:00.001Z

My OH finds it highly amusing and frustrating that in our well insulated and under floor heated house I often complain that I am cold. As he often tells me 'how can you be cold, this house is warm!'. Hmmm I beg to differ. I think he is just blessed with a much hotter overall body temperature than me as he will go to bed in just his undies and still feel warm, whereas I am in my pj's and even then I can still feel a little cold sometimes! He is like a radiator and never wears a jumper (well sometimes a fleece but not vert often) whereas I am often found wrapped up in layers unless I have been cooking.

Therefore when I was asked to review the Love Rug Sleeved Blanket I was delighted because it is a way of me keeping snug and warm in the evenings on the sofa without having to mention that I am feeing a bit cold :)

I think long sleeved blankets are a bit like marmite - you either love them or you hate them. Like marmite, I am on the 'love it' side as I think they are a great invention. they keep you warm but unlike a blanket your arms are free so you can drink your cup of tea or blog away and not have to worry about making sure your body is still under wraps.

The Love Rug Sleeved Blanket is made from finest quality polar fleece and comes in red with white hearts and is very pretty. As you can see I am able to carry on with my usual nightime activities while keeping as snug as a bug in a love rug!!

Stay warm and keep blogging in the Love Rug!

After about 35 minutes of wearing it I was so toasty that I had to remove it to cool down!

Priced at just £24.99 this romantic themed sleeved blanket is a great gift idea and I am sure many mummies, wives, girlfriends or grandmas would be happy to receive one to keep them cosy during the cold winter nights. Just imagine being sat on your sofa with a mug of hot chocolate or some actual chocolates, all cosy in your love rug sleeved blanket while watching a chick flick? Sounds like a lovely way to pass the time if like me you spend most evenings at home on the settee!

The Love Rug Sleeved Blanket is available from FindMeAGift.co.uk
why not spread a little LOVE RUG to your love on this Valentines Day :)

I was sent a Love Rug Sleeved Blanket for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.

Room 101 (Reality TV)

2012-02-01T20:27:00.004Z

This weeks Room 10-1 theme set by the lovely Lauren is REALITY TV.

I enjoy some reality TV shows like XFactor but thats probably only because on a Saturday night between September-December there isn't a lot else on so I end up watching and then I end up getting hooked. Every every year I tell myself I wont watch it, I still do.

However, I do feel that programmes like Big Brother (sorry Lauren) are a complete waste of space especially seeing as thought it ended on channel 4 and then last year got resurrected over on Channel 5! When it was on channel 4 it just took over sooooo much TV time and then there were the spinoff shows aswell not just one but two! PLus there are the celebrity versions *yawns* I just don't even start watching them and then I cannot get hooked and waste so much time wanting to know what happens next.

Anyway, despite my attack on BB I am going to put I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here into Room 101.

My reasons? Well again I don't watch it although I have seen the odd clip now and then and because of the huge coverage programmes like this get on morning TV shows and magazines, together with twitter and Facebook, you cannot help but know what is going on even if you are not watching it yourself!

I just think that even if I were on my last showbiz shoes and I was a bit hard up or wanted some TV exposure to reignite my flagging career or help promote an album etc... there is NO way on earth that I could live in a jungle and participate in those awful bush tucker trials! Just grosses me out. I hate creepy crawlies and to have some poured over me or me have to stick my hand into a box which may contain snakes - I just couldn't do it.

Nor could I attempt to eat some animal private body parts - its just horrid. Yes I know that these sections of the show are the main attraction of this programme - but I just couldn't watch it happening or get stuck in myself, as it would give me the eeebie jeebies too much!! I would rather get another job then enter the jungle and do all those nasty things!

Its just hideous and I just won't watch it and I wish it could be banished from our screens to Room 101

Which reality TV show would you send to Room 101?
Link yours up too

(images found on google)

Back To Basics

2012-01-31T22:48:00.001Z

So it had been 75 weeks and 6 days since I had last had sex. Yes you heard that right - 18 months pretty much had passed since I was last intimate with my boyfriend. I was starting to wonder if I would ever do 'it' again.

I wrote a post back in July where I discussed how I felt after my OH had suggested that maybe I would like to get back in the 'saddle' again. But back then nothing was further from my mind. As I explained, in my no holds barred post, I was just not ready back then to do anything more than try and get a good nights sleep. I was knackered! Shattered in fact! I had a 4 month old baby and a two year old. I was still breast feeding around the clock; my body was still a bit alien to me and I just didn't feel confident in myself to be naked in front of my OH in 'that' way again.

I was over whelmed by the positive response that post received, and all the lovely comments. I was comforted by them, and felt relieved that actually I wasn't alone in feeling this way and I was amazed by how many other couples - well parents- were also preferring sleep to sex. Maybe it is something that affects us older mums and dads more than younger ones as we know that not everything revolves around sex in a relationship. Or maybe being older we can't cope with feeling so tired and finding the energy to be sexually active again.

So the months passed and my OH and I continued to live together more like lodgers who shared a bed really rather than a couple. We barely even kissed each other goodnight let alone cuddle or be romantic with one another as we don't have 'date' nights or anything. Every now and then I did wonder to myself if my OH was missing his non existent sex life but he never spoke about it and neither did I. Truth be told, I had my suspicions that he had read that post, and I really wanted him to because I had hoped that it might encourage him to talk to me about 'us' and how he felt so that I could tell him how I felt by us speaking to one another. Yes, that old fashioned way of communicating with one another - having a conversation that wasn't in cyber space! Yet he never once mentioned it, or my post, and I never brought the subject up either.

I was really starting to think that he no longer saw me as anything more than the mother to his two children and someone who cooked and cleaned for him! I know, I know that I said (back in July) that I was against any kind of physical contact, but that was months ago and time is a healer. Very slowly I was starting to accept my new body shape a bit more. I suppose I started to think that maybe I would like to have sex again.

Basically, my OH and I were stuck in a rut and it seemed like nothing was going to free us from it. Neither of us were making the effort to end it either. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had gone off me sexually, or even from a fancying point of view. I mean I was still wearing nursing bras up until a couple of weeks ago, which are hardly alluring especially with the added pads! Also I was still mostly wearing my maternity and post baby black comfy pants which again, were not at all sexy - but I didn't feel sexy, so why would I bother to make an effort with my underwear? (something my Pre-baby self would never allow to have happened!). I covered myself up with loose fitting clothes in bed aswell so hardly surprising that my OH felt no desire to go near me.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I was discussing relationships with another blogger who identified with my situation, and I was explaining that I didn't even think my OH loved me anymore let alone find me desirable. I was actually on the verge of penning another post about my relationship, sex life, or lack of it, in the hopes that he might read it and then he would discover how I was feeling now 6 months later and it might encourage him to bring the subject up. But something my blogger friend said to me made me realise that I needed to address the situation face to face and not hide behind my blog. I had to talk to him regardless of what he might have to say and I was very nervous because, of course, I feared the worse and wasn't sure that I would want to hear what he would say in answer to my questions.

The next day, a Saturday, I waited for my chance to speak to him, which, with two children around, is never easy is it? I won't go into too much detail, for obvious reasons, but I basically asked him if he still wanted me in 'that way' and found me attractive after going through two pregnancies. He said that he hadn't thought about it!! Hmmm....I don't know if I believe that but ok, because as he said, after reading my post and reading how I felt about sex back then he decided not to bother mentioning it again. Fair enough, I guess. I deserved that.

I tried to explain how I had been feeling all this time; how post pregnancy made me feel, how he made me feel and how it had taken me a long time to get to this point and I hoped he understood that. I explained my reasons for writing it all down on my blog and told him that it was in no way intended as a direct criticism of him, but a way for me to express how I felt at the time. I wanted to see if anyone else felt the same as me (I don't think he really 'gets the whole blogging thing anyway), and how I was so relieved to know I wasn't alone, that others were in the same situation. I also told him that I had hoped he might have reacted to it by discussing it with me, but of course he didn't. I think men don't find it as easy to talk about such things as women do.

So I took a deep breath and decided to ask him. I asked him if he wanted to have sex with me again. I think he was a little taken a back - he hadn't been expecting this conversation and I hadn't myself up until a few hours before. I guess I just realised that one of us had to make the first move in moving us forward and out of the rut we had become stuck in, and as I was the one who wrote about how I felt for all the world to read, I may aswell be the one to do it.

So as I said at the start of this post, it had been 75 weeks and 6 days since I had last had sex - yes 'had' been. I used the past tense - did you see what I did there!!??

Seriously though, these last few months taught me some important things:

I needed to make my relationship work again as a girlfriend and not just as a mummy.
We needed to discover 'us' again and move ourselves forward and become a proper couple again.
I found the courage to speak up and have the conversation that I had been dreading, and it wasn't as bad as I had imagined.

I think having children definitely changes your relationship with your partner; sometime for the better and sometimes for the worse. It isn't easy working through it but it can be done.

Malteaser Cake

2012-01-31T20:25:00.000Z

My best friend Kimberly celebrated her birthday yesterday but came round to mine for tea tonight. In her honour I made her a birthday cake and thought I would share the recipe

Malteaser Cake

Ingredients:

200g self raising flour

200g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

150g butter

190g icing sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 heaped tbsp cocoa powder

1 grab bag of malteasers

Method:

heat the oven to 180oC/160oC Fan

cream together the butter and sugar until smooth, pale and creamy

add the flour and eggs and mix well together

grease and line 2 sandwich tins

add the cake mixture and cook for 25 mins approx (or until knife comes out clean)

allow to cool completely then add your buttercream (which you make by beating all the ingredients, except the malteasers, well together): half for the middle of your cake and the other half for the top

then add decorate the top of your cake with the malteasers

then enjoy!

Silent Sunday

2012-01-29T08:36:00.001Z

Saturday Caption 28/1/2012

2012-01-28T06:06:00.001Z

Hello Saturday Caption fans!

Another week, another Saturday, another caption

What do you think is going on here then?

If you know, leave a comment below and then pop over here to see what other photos need captioning!

Bomb Cosmetics - Love In Vegas

2012-01-26T20:30:00.001Z

When I have the time, indeed when I make the time, to have a soak in my bath, I like to use pampering products because it helps me to relax and unwind and cheer me up. I also like these bath time products to smell lovely and feel nice on my skin to help make the whole experience that much nicer and worthwhile.

So when I was asked to test the Bomb Cosmetics Love In Vegas gift set I agreed as I know it would give me the perfect excuse to make the time to enjoy a long hot soak in my bath after a busy, long and tiring day with my children. Not only that, but I always enjoy receiving fun bath products like bath bombs because not only do they look great but they add a bit of fun to the proceedings!

The Love In Vegas set comes in a gorgeously wrapped and packaged box with a tag which shows you the contents inside - even though this wasn't actually a present to me I still felt excited as a tore open the gift wrap to see what wonders lay inside ready for me to try out!

The bath bombs, blasters and soap do not disappoint and not only do they look fab but they each contain essential oils designed to soothe your skin and make it soft and supple and make you feel sexy and loved! Each one is individually hand made so no two soaps, bombs, blasters or creamers are the same.

my heart melted from the heat off my bath!

This is quite a large bath bomb and as soon as it hits the water it starts to bubble and fizz and evaporate its pink fizziness into the running bath water. It also releases two tiny rose buds which is a really lovely (romantic) touch, Containing ylang ylang and vetiver, not only did the water smell lovely as I waited to get in but my skin felt really soft afterwards which was lovely as I suffer with dry skin.

As soon as I picked this out of the box I did get some of the stars come off in my hand so I kind of had an inkling that this would be a bit messy in my bath by the time I pulled the plug!

a night in my bath with some stars!

Again, as soon as it comes in to contact with hot water the bath creamer bubbles away in to nothing releasing lots of teeny tiny gold stars into the water aswell as a luxurious creamy mix containing shea and cocoa butters, together with ylang ylang (which supposedly contains aphrodisiac properties!) and pure rose essential oils.
This bath bomb really did leave my skin feeling nourished and silky smooth and the smell was really lovely. I guess my only slight complaint would be the gold stars - its not that I mind having to wash them off my bath afterwards, its just that the next day I am still finding them on my person (indeed I think they may have gone where the sun don't shine! *ahem!) and on the floor from where I stepped out of the bath last night! BUT if I had been going out afterwards or having a 'romantic' night in with my partner then I think the way my skin smelt, felt and glowed would have made for a very sexy evening!!

No dirty Vegas in my hands!

I do like a nice smelling handmade soap and glycerin ones always look so pretty, and the ruby vegas soap is no exception. It smells quite sophisticated and is a 2-1 soap really as the centre is filled with pure essential oils to make you feel glitzy and ready for anything, just like the city of Vegas itself.

This bath blaster is similar to the rose bud bath bomb in how it quickly turns the bath water a pale shade of pink. Yet this bedazzled beauty contains lots of pink glitter which look very pretty in the bath I must admit, although as with my comments on the night with the starts creamer, it is the kind of bath bomb where the glittery bits keep on giving well into the next day! But this asides, it has a yummy scent using the aphrodisiac properties of ylang ylang and sweet orange oils and again my skin, although a tad glittery and pink, did feel very sexy and smooth again.

This is the smallest of all the love in vegas goodies but that doesn't stop it from packing a romantic punch as the smell and the creaminess of the bath water makes you feel very pampered indeed. The creamer also releases Morrocan rose petals into the bath water and pure frankincense oil bringing a touch of the eastern delight to your skin. Very pretty indeed and again super soft skin for me!

*Please note that you do not need to use all of each bath products in one go, as you can break chunks off to make the pampering experience each bath time last longer*

At just £9.99 a set I think this bath bomb set is excellent value for money and I would be very pleased to receive one myself for Valentines Day, or indeed a birthday or mothers day.

Its a perfect pampering gift and is available to buy from FindMeAGift.com

I was sent a Bomb Cosmetics Love In Vegas gift set for the purpose of this review. All opinions and thoughts (and cheesey captions!) are my own.

The Gallery - My Photography Resolution For 2012

2012-01-24T23:12:00.000Z

This week for The Gallery Tara has asked us to state our photographic resolutions for this (new) year.

If I am honest, I want to make sure that I appear in more of the photos this year as I tend to feature mostly behind the lens than in front of it. I think this is a common scenario for many mums.

I know that as much as I wanted to be in the photographs taken by my OH showing me holding my newborn baby, and in the ones that followed in the weeks ahead, at the time I looked and felt knackered and I mostly shyed away and asked to not be included, or to have them taken from the neck down!

I regret that now because when I look back at the photos taken with both of my boys, I am not in very many of them after the initial photos taken after they are first born has passed. Stupid really, because yes I was tired, my eyes do look heavy, my hair was a bit unkempt, my body was still out of sorts, and out of shape and my clothes were not the most flattering - BUT I had just had a baby and then I had another baby 19 months later ! That's what happens - c'est la vie!

So this year I am going to try and be in more photos with my boys - even silly ones taken on my phone by me if need be. Burton takes photos of me too and I usually delete them but I am trying not to at the moment because even though some of them are taken first thing when I have been up a lot in the night with Jenson, and I could look a LOT better, it doesn't matter to him. He just sees 'me', his mummy and he doesn't care that I look knackered or a bit fat, and that is what I keep telling myself when I hear him say "cheese mummy" and I am still in my baggy pyjamas with bed hair and no make up!

So here are some photos taken mostly by Burton and I in which I am in front of the camera

January 2012

It just shows us being silly, being together and having fun - a good start to the year already!

(oh and I have included one showing me around 6.30am after about 3-4 hours sleep which Burton took - I think you will know which one! At the end of the day that is how I have looked - indeed do look that time each morning- quite a lot recently. Its honest and its real!)

Now pop over to Sticky Fingers and see what other photography resolutions have been made today

Room 101 (Television Adverts)

2012-01-23T21:51:00.000Z

The lovely Lauren from Real Housewife Of Suffolk County has started a new feature based on the TV series of the same name :Room 101. Just like the TV series, each Friday Lauren will give us a theme to think about and then the following Monday we can link our room 101's up to her blog.This weeks theme is television adverts (current ones)

OK in no particular order I find the following adverts really annoying

go away more like!

Go Compare
Every time i see this fat 'opera' singing, moustache twiddling, pretend Italian speaking, silly curly wurly hair wearing idiot I want to ram that moustache where the sun don't shine! Go compare? Go away already I say. Nuff said I think!

Jackpotjoy (bingo)

Babs, what would Peggy say?

Asides from the fact that its an annoying advert encouraging on line debt and gambling (yes I know its only bingo but one thing leads to another), what I find harder to comprehend is why an actress like Barabra Windsor is starring in them! I know she appeared in all those cheesy tongue- in -cheek Carry On films, but honestly has she no shame? She must have been offered a LOT of money is all I can say. To go from her brilliant role in Eastenders to this awful advertising campaign is beyond me.

I also hate the 'jumping on a bandwagon' type adverts eg. Cash My Gold, when suddenly there are 50 adverts (ok i have exaggerated but you get the idea) all saying the same thing but for different company! Grrrr hate that!

I know there are more I could list but I wouldn't want to bore you and besides Room 101 is really meant to be just the 1 offering!If you have an advert you would like to go into Room 101 never to be seen again then why not post about it and link it up to

(photos taken from google images)

Elevenses O'Clock

2012-01-23T08:12:00.001Z

As many regular visitors to my blog will know I love cake and any excuse to make one or have some I will think of one! I think cake can be eaten at any time of the day really, although obviously for the sake of my waist it is better to only stick to be slice per day at the very least!

So when I heard that Anchor Butter were busy attempting to bring back elevenses and make it part of of the British public's daily routine once again, I thought what a great excuse to eat more cake! Anchor want to encourage people to make the time to sit down and enjoy a few minutes rest bite at 11o'clock each day and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with a tasty little snack.

According to the english dictionary, elevenses means

a drink and a small amount to eat between breakfast and lunch

I know that whenever I used to stay with my grandparents as a child we would almost always be allowed a little elevenses mid morning and it would be a few biscuits, a cake or maybe a warm sausage roll from the bakery in the village where they lived.

So do you make time for a little elevenses each day? I don't make a conscious decision to have a snack at 11 o'clock everyday but as I usually feel a bit peckish around that time, usually from having been up since the crack of dawn (oh the joys of motherhood!), so I will have a nibble of something sweet to keep me going until lunchtime.My favourite elevenses snack would be a slice of (homemade) cake - I don't really mind which flavour but for the purpose of this feature I made a chocolate sponge and this is how I did it

You will need:

200g caster sugar

200g anchor butter (other butters are available of course!)

4 eggs

180g self raising flour

20g cocoa powder

1 tbsp milk

to decorate

150g butter

190g icing sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 heaped tbsp cocoa powder

chocolate buttons

Method:

pre-heat oven to 180oC/160oC fan

cream together the sugar and butter until pale and creamy

add the flour and eggs mix well

add the cocoa powder and milk and blend well

grease and line 2 sandwich tins

add the cake mixture and cook for 25 mins approx (or until knife comes out clean)

allow to cool completely then add your buttercream (which you make by beating all the ingredients, except the buttons, well together): half for the middle of your cake and the other half for the top

then add your chocolate buttons to the top of your cake and then you have your cake ready for slicing

perfect washed down with a lovely cup of tea :)

So now I have told you my perfect elevenses heaven why not tell me yours? In doing so you could win yourself a full set of Anchor Memorabillia!GIVE AWAY

The set contains everything you need to embrace some elevenses yourself and inspire you to get creative in your kitchen and maybe even make your favourite mid morning treat yourself ! It includes an apron, a cake stand, egg cups, a butter dish and tea towels - ideal!

I have 3 sets of Anchor Memorabillia to give away and all you need to do is:

leave your name and twitter name in the comments box below telling me your favourite elevenses snack

and tweet the following

I want to bring #anchorelevenses back with Mummy Mishaps and win some memorabilia @JennyPaulin http://mummymishaps.blogspot.com/2012/01/elevenses-oclock.html

for an extra chance to enter please like Anchor's Facebook page (and tell me you have done so)

(you can also follow Anchor on twitter @Anchor_dairy)

Closing Date is Monday 30th January 2012

good luck & thanks for entering x

I was sent a set of memorabilia myself for the purpose of this post. all thoughts on elevenses are my own.

*COMPETITION I NOW CLOSED!*

HiPP Organic & Weaning

2012-01-22T11:05:00.000Z

At almost 10 months of age, Jenson's eating is coming along quite nicely now. He can feed himself finger food well and although sometimes a piece of rice cake or toast can go down the wrong way and cause him to gag, and make him sick occasionally, on the whole he is doing really well.

I think, personally, that the way I have weaned Jenson compared to Burton is different. I am different. I am no longer that overly cautious first time mummy who was constantly finding her feet and worried to death that my baby might choke on everything he ate and so was not too keen on giving him anything too finger food like until he was at least 9 months. I followed the advice Health Visitors and baby to toddler recipe and information books that I had been given, and went along with what stages certain food types should be introduced based on Burton's age at the time. I also looked on the internet for help and advice on weaning too. Many of the baby food brands such as HiPP Organic have very useful guides on weaning from stage 1 onwards, and have an on line baby club which can provide mums (first time ones in particular) with some expert tips and information on weaning.

As I have mentioned before I introduced Burton to weaning when he was about 5 1/2 months old when my breast milk alone was no longer enough as he was reverting back to 2 hourly feeds and I couldn't keep up with his hunger pangs. I didn't even bother with giving him the 'couple of spoonfuls' of introductory weaning food as he wolfed down a bowlful and by the second day was on 2 meals! I was lucky as he had a good appetite and took to weaning really well.

BUT the fear of him choking and me not being able to dislodge the hazard from his throat did worry the life out of me and I was VERY cautious about introducing him to foods like rice cakes and pieces of toast and butter.

However, my second time of weaning has been very different. Following advice form my HV, I started weaning Jenson at 5 1/2 months also. He didn't take to it aswell as Burton to begin with, and was still very much enjoying his breast milk feeds for the first couple of weeks. Then suddenly he acquired an appetite and taste for non milk food and there was no stopping him! He loved to get stuck in and of course it became a messy affair.

I soon noticed that he wanted to put things in his mouth more so I gave him some buttered toast and he liked holding his food. So I soon let him have other finger foods like rice cakes and small pieces of fruit, and there were gagging incidents and food being brought back up but I wasn't afraid to let him try actual non pureed food so young, unlike when I was weaning Burton. I have more confidence in my skills as a mummy the second time around, and I know that a baby has a good gag reflex and that some babies are straight onto finger food at the outset of weaning and they are ok. I still give Jenson pureed (although its textured now) food because for me I can see how much he is eating this way. Plus he has a big appetite so he needs bulky mummy made meals! But I do let him have finger foods for snacks and at tea time.

eating rice cakes - mmmmm :0

As I am sure any Mummy would agree, I care about the food I give my children and it is important to me that the food I offer them is wholesome and nutritious (which is harder now with Burton being at the toddler stage of his eating cycle!). To me HiPP Organic offers quality food and use carefully selected ingredients that I am happy to offer my two. If I am ever out and about during meal times with Jenson I will take a baby 'ready meal' with me in my bag for the convenience and the HiPP Organic meal pots do look tasty and he enjoys eating them. I also find that snacks such as these

(which his big brother has suddenly found a renewed taste for too!), are a handy accessory to have either at home or away!

Hipp Organic meals offer a great range of little taste bud experiences in a box, pot, pouch or jar

examples from their stage 1 range

Something to suit every little mouth that is trying foods for the first time. Their organically grown ingredients provide meals from stage 1, the start of weaning, right through to toddler hood.

GIVE-AWAY

1 lucky Mummy Mishaps reader can win the above pictured goodies which include:

x1 banana & peach breakfast cereal

x4 apple & pear fruit and yogurt pots

x1 banana, pear & mango 100% fruit pouch

x1 peach, apple, blueberry & raspberry 100% fruit pouch

x1 apple & pear pudding

x1 penne with tomato & courgette

x1 red fruit & apple compote

x1 banana custard

all you need to do is:

leave your name and twitter name in the comments box below and tweet the following

I want to win some HiPP Organic stage 1 weaning food with Mummy Mishaps @JennyPaulin http://mummymishaps.blogspot.com/2012/01/hipp-organic-weaning.html

Thats it!
Closing date is this Friday 27th January 2012
Good Luck and thank you for entering xx

I was sent some HiPP Organic food for Jenson to try which he enjoyed and I would only ever test products on my children which I felt were appropriate. I would like to point out that there are other brands available who produce baby food and have their own websites, its just that they didn't approach me! Thank you

*THIS GIVE AWAY IS NOW CLOSED*

and the winner is.........

who is Leigh Larkin @fairyprincess31
congratulations!!

thank you to everyone who entered

Silent Sunday 22/01/2012

2012-01-22T08:49:00.002Z

Saturday Is Caption Day 21/01/2012

2012-01-21T07:11:00.000Z

So it's Saturday which means its time for another bit of caption fun. You know what to do. Take a look, write a caption in the comments box and make me smile.

Simples!?

the go see what other captions you can create for the other entries
by clicking here

Re-usable Nappy Challenge - Day 4

2012-01-19T21:30:00.000Z

So last for the last 2 nights I have carried out challenge 4 which is

I was a little nervous about letting Jenson wear the Miosolo all night if I am honest, as I know that it is recommended that the nappy be changed every 2-4 hours during the day.

BUT to ensure a more absorbant nappy during the night you can add a MioBoost which is an extra cloth 'pad' which can be tucked inside the super absorbent core which should prevent any leakages during the night.

I didn't add the mioboost Tuesday night, because Jenson's disosable nappies never get very wet during the night since he stopped breast feeding, so I hoped that the Miosolo would not leak as a result of my decision!

Make sure that nappy is securely on - it could be on for a few hours!

As I have mentioned previously, Jenson has been ill this week and has not been sleeping through the night. The night before last, my first night of trialling the reusable nappy at night, he woke up at some unearthly hour and was not happy at all!!! Try as I might, I wasn't able to soothe or settle him, so I ended up checking his nappy to see if maybe it was wet and was proving to be uncomfortable for him. I need not have worried, although a little wet, the Miosolo had not leaked and had performed well. However, having removed the nappy I replaced it with a disposable (sorry!) because the other real ones were not completely dry from having been washed last thing before I went to bed.

BUT last night I did add the mioboost in the hopes that

1). Jenson might sleep through the night
2). If he achieved the above I didn't want the nappy to be wet and maybe leak ( he had swallowed a fair bit of bath water as he insisted in trying to crawl in the bath, and in doing so took in some water!)

Believe it or not ( I myself am still in shock after more than a week of getting up in the middle of the night for quite some time) Jenson slept until 5am!! So I changed his nappy and it hadn't leaked at all and to be fair it wasn't that wet either.

Phew!! Success and challenge 4 completed :)

Is there no stopping this Miosolo nappy? We will see.............one more challenge to undertake !

WOW!

In conjunction with the miosolo challenge week Bambino Mio are offering 25% off all miosolo purchases from their online shop with free p&p!

They are even throwing in a free 100g of miofresh (nappy sanitiser) too! http://www.bambinomioshop.co.uk/miosolo-new-32-c.asp

All you need to do to take advantage of this brilliant offer is enter discount code challenge at the checkout.

Bambino Mio sent me re-usable nappy products for the purpose of this week long challenge. all opinions are my own as is the gorgeous baby modelling the items. I will only test products on my children which i feel are suitable and appropriate

Fish Finger Pizza (My Way!)

2012-01-19T09:46:00.000Z

A while ago I saw a tweet from @MyDaddyCooks talking about a fish finger pizza he had helped to create for chain of restaurants kids menu.

A fish finger pizza !!! At first I thought it was a rather unusual creations BUT then I gave it some thought and realised that as a lover of fish finger sandwiches why wouldn't I like a fish finger pizza and actually what a genius idea!

I have no idea what Nick from MyDaddyCooks has used ingredients wise for his gourmet style fish finger pizza - it is a closely guarded secret I would image. So I have come up with my own version which is basically a glorified open fish finger sandwich.

You will need

for the dough:

1 cup (8oz) self raising flour

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp oil

for the topping:

tomato ketchup

cooked fish fingers (I used 8)

grated cheese

It is a very easy pizza dough recipe as all you need to do is :

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the milk and oil.

Mix well until a dough forms.

Flour your worktop/chopping board and rolling pin and roll into a circle

Top with your choice of topping - see below

I am linking this up to

Re-usable Nappy Challenge - Day 3

2012-01-18T21:36:00.003Z

So its Day 3 and today's challenge is

Now as you will know from my introductory post, I have never used anything but disposable nappies so some of the questions presented to me onto days challenge card were a bit redundant. So I can only give you my opinion as a first time user as I have nothing to compare these all in one nappies against.

Here are the washing facts:

Available from Bambino Mio

It is recommended that the nappies are given a pre wash before first wear
The Miosolo nappy must be machine washed at 60oC .
You could choose to soak the used nappies instead I hasten to add, but as I have a washing machine its just as easy to add a load at the end of the day for me personally.
You do need to add a scoop of miofresh sanitiser to your washing powder draw and then you wash as normal with your washing detergent.
It is important not to use fabric softener as this will lessen the nappy's absorbency.
Oh and don't forget to pull out the liner before washing as this will help ensure that all soiled areas and any stray poo is removed! (see diagram below)

Drying the Miosolo is VERY easy and quick - obviously if you had a washing line, which I don't, you would line dry them in the right weather conditions. However, this time of year a washing line is not a reliable method for drying nappies. I placed mine on my heated towel rail and they dry within 1-2 hours

The Miosolo can be tumble dried on cold too.

Washing and drying the Miosolo is actually very easy and the turn around time is pretty fast, especially the drying time. One of the nappies I washed had a 'stain' on it and after washing it had completely gone. So I would see the maintaining the re-usable nappy as a positive experience and one that could sway me towards going more real and less disposable nappy in the future.

It is worth noting that it has been calculated by Go Real that the total cost of washing nappies (including electricity, washing powder and water at 60°C) over a 2.5 year period is just £102.19.

Finally, I was given some tips on looking after re-useable nappies by some lovely bloggers who commented on my introductory post and I thought I would share them with you, because I think any advice is good advice from people who have experience when I don't!

"wash at 60, with half the amount of washing powder, no softener and if you can let them dry with some sunlight hitting them (even through a window) this will help get stains out.

I put the inserts from my stuffable nappies on the radiators directly, and then lay the nappy shells on top of them, they don't get stuff and the PUL lining isn't damaged by the direct heat! Don't use a tumble dryer for the shells unless you really have to for the same reason, and it's not good for the elastic" Steph

"I usually recommend 3 prewashes and avoid putting on towel rail directly as will reduce their life and make them hard to the touch. By or above the rail on a hanger would be good" Rose

WOW!

In conjunction with the miosolo challenge week Bambino Mio are offering 25% off all miosolo purchases from their online shop with free p&p!

They are even throwing in a free 100g of miofresh (nappy sanitiser) too! http://www.bambinomioshop.co.uk/miosolo-new-32-c.asp

All you need to do to take advantage of this brilliant offer is enter discount code challenge at the checkout.

The Gallery - Eyes

2012-01-18T00:03:00.001Z

This week Tara has set a relatively easy theme for The Gallery - EYES.

It makes me think of this phrase

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

and when I see the eyes of my two boys, I see two beautiful faces and I am filled with love for them.

now go and see what other posts have been linked to this weeks

Re-usable Nappy Challenge - Day 2

2012-01-17T21:30:00.003Z

So with Jenson being too ill to take out today (which was meant to be the actual day 2 challenge!) I am going to do a challenge originally planed for later in the week instead.

But before I move on to the ins and outs of today's challenge, I wanted to clear something up.

Yesterday I wrote about how the Miosolo had leaked a little during one of Jenson's (extra) long naps, and although it didn't put me off too much, after all even disposables leak from time to time, it did make me wary of having to monitor re-usable nappes more for 'water' content than I may have done with disposable for the same period of time (2-4 hours). However, it turns out that the 'wee-gate' incident may actually have been user error on MY part and not a problem caused by the Miosolo! I had forgotten that in order to make the nappy fit Jenson better and to be a more snug and less likely to leak fit, I needed to adjust the poppers on the front of the nappy! Doh!

Practice makes perfect!!

Let me show you. Here is

yesterday's nappy attempt

Jenson wearing the Miosolo yesterday

Notice how the nappy is quite long and you can see two exposed poppers?

Ok, well let me show you what I learnt today which enables a much better fitting nappy and so far NO leakage!
Note the shorter length and the neater finish? Yes, me too!

Anyway, back to today's challenge, which is:

I asked Jensons daddy to take up the challenge, and he has never handled a re-usable nappy either. He has changed disposable ones (not soften as me of course!), so he does at least have an idea of how to change a nappy! I briefly talked him through it and away he went.

He completed the challenge and had no problems whatsoever in using the Miosolo. Even big brother Burton tried to get in on the act!

So if my son's daddy took to the challenge and passed then I think any daddy could do the same :)

WOW!

In conjunction with the miosolo challenge week Bambino Mio are offering 25% off all miosolo purchases from their online shop with free p&p!

They are even throwing in a free 100g of miofresh (nappy sanitiser) too! http://www.bambinomioshop.co.uk/miosolo-new-32-c.asp

All you need to do to take advantage of this brilliant offer is enter discount code challenge at the checkout.

Re-usable Nappy Challenge - Day 1

2012-01-16T21:23:00.000Z

So as explained yesterday, today was my first day of using re-usable nappies and my challenge was:

Well staying at home was not a problem today as Jenson is poorly, so I was really able to test out the Miosolo nappy with out any external distractions.

My first nappy change this morning occurred without any problems and actually it wasn't really any different to using the disposable ones. Obviously I needed to add a liner to the inside of the Miosolo, which is something you don't need to do with a disposable, but that was the only noticeable difference; a difference which is hardly a problem. The front cross over velcro style tabs are easy to seal the nappy shut around Jenson and as he is a wriggler during nappy changes, it wasn't any harder to do up compared to a disposable. These innovative velcro tabs have plenty of room for a wider baby and could easily be wrapped over more to accommodate a smaller one - indeed the Miosolo is designed to be a one size fits all nappy.

When it comes to changing the Miosolo nappy the only waste you get are the wipes you have used (which you could replace with a flannel, baby bathwash/soap and warm water) and the liners (which are flushable) which is really good from an environmental and household waste view point. The nappy is then ready to be put into a hot (60oC) wash and you go on to the next clean one.

Due to being ill Jenson has slept a lot more than usual, and this did mean that on his second change of the day, I did notice a little wet patch on the bottom right hand side of his vest. However, I do not see this as too much of a negative issue with the Miosolo for two reasons:

it does state on the nappy packaging that the nappies should be changed every 2-4 hours and by the time Jenson awoke from his (extra!) long nap we had gone past the 4 hour mark
disposable nappies do also leak

Day 1 Challenge - My Thoughts

I have found my first day of using real nappies relatively easy and straight forward and Jenson hasn't complained about wearing them either!
I guess you need to be more away of how wet the nappy might get with the 2-4 hour longevity in between changes. Its not that I ever let a child of mine wear a sipping wet nappy but certainly at Jenson's age I wouldn't have worried going up to 4 hours without a change and would have been confident that a disposable would stay leak free for that amount of time.
Re-usable nappies are a lot less bulky than I would have imagined and I don't think you can really tell the difference looking at Jenson's bottom as to whether he was wearing a real or disposable nappy
Washing and drying the Miosolo is easy enough and certainly they are quick to dry (more about this later in the week)

So far I have been pleasantly surprised and I wonder how I will feel as the week progresses

Bring on the next challenge!

WOW!

In conjunction with the miosolo challenge week Bambino Mio are offering 25% off all miosolo purchases from their online shop with free p&p!

They are even throwing in a free 100g of miofresh (nappy sanitiser) too! http://www.bambinomioshop.co.uk/miosolo-new-32-c.asp

All you need to do to take advantage of this brilliant offer is enter discount code challenge at the checkout.

Re-usable Nappy Challenge

2012-01-15T14:49:00.002Z

Last September I wrote a ranty type post about my rubbish and the lack of weekly refuse collections. Asides from all the smelly general household waste that gathers over two weeks, one of my main complaints is all the used nappies I have to store each fortnight which back then was for my baby and my toddler (the latter of which is now potty trained so thats one lot of used nappies I no longer need to worry about). Its staggering to discover that on average one baby will use 5,000 disposable nappies during their nappy wearing time! This actually adds up to a bottom boggling 8 million nappies per day, which equates to 3 billion disposable nappies in the UK alone!

As a result of the above mentioned post, a few people commented and asked if I had ever considered using REAL nappies as this might help to eliminate some of my household rubbish, as on average only 48 re-usable nappies are used during a baby's nappy wearing years. Indeed 4% of ALL household waste within the UK is disposable nappies which can be as much as 50% for a 1 baby family!

I have to be honest that I had never really contemplated using real nappies. While I was pregnant with Burton it did cross my mind once about whether I was going to use real or disposable nappies, and because the latter are so easy to use and well disposable, I didn't give real nappies another thought. I guess I just weighed up all the washing I would have to do, which would include costs of

washing powder

washing machine and tumble dryer use

the nappy inserts

AND the time all that takes on top of the time a new baby takes up anyway V's the cost of a nappy which after use you throw away! So that was my last thought on the matter................

..........That is until the comments I received on that post, which actually got me thinking and I had a look on the internet and realised that real nappies had come along way since the days when I was a baby and my mum had to use safety pins to keep them on me and they had to be boiled washed or something like that (from what my has Mum told me!). So I took the plunge and sent a tweet out asking if any real nappy companies would like to let me review any of their products on my blog, and the lovely people from Bambino Mio replied and here I am about to start my journey as a first time user of real nappies!

my welcome nappy pack

Starting tomorrow, Monday 16th January, I along with 9 other bloggers will be taking part in a 5 day challenge to test and review the new Miosolo nappy. To be able to participate in this nappy trial I was sent a welcome pack which was beautifully presented and has already opened my eyes to how much more different real nappies are than what I had imagined!

The Bambino Miosolo nappy bonbon collection is available in 6 delectable colours

and has some great features including

1 size fits all
can be used from birth
contains a stay dry inner layer which prevents moisture escaping back onto baby
contains a super absorbent core, which draws moisture away from baby and into the nappy

Obviously, apart from the fact that these nappies look great, parents who use real nappies do so because they are re-usable and are a 'greener' and possibly a more cost effective nappy choice. I must admit that I was fairly naive to the facts about these verses disposable ones.

According to the information I was sent from Bambino Mio, did you know that:

Re-usable nappies could save you up to £700 for your first child
Some UK councils offer cash back incentives of up to £70 to encourage people to use real nappies - in fact if just 10% more parents adopted re-usabe nappies for their children, a whopping £10 million would be saved by councils
Re-usable nappies can be 40% more suitable for the environment than disposable ones according to the 2008 Environment Agency's revision of their Lifecycle Analysis Report on nappies

BUT

All the facts in the world added with some gorgeous looking products are not really going to determine how good re-usable nappies are until I actually trial them on my son. So as of tomorrow morning (probably around 6am!) I will be using re-usable nappies for the 1st time ever and I am curious to see not only how Jenson gets on with them but how I will cope having used disposable ones for the last 2 1/2 years!

Jenson 9 1/2 months old and raring to go!

I will be posting each day until Friday with my daily challenges and please feel free to come back each day to see how we are managing.

Wish me luck :)

WOW!

In conjunction with the miosolo challenge week Bambino Mio are offering 25% off all miosolo purchases from their online shop with free p&p!

They are even throwing in a free 100g of miofresh (nappy sanitiser) too! http://www.bambinomioshop.co.uk/miosolo-new-32-c.asp

All you need to do to take advantage of this brilliant offer is enter discount code challenge at the checkout.

Silent Sunday

2012-01-15T07:59:00.001Z

Saturday Caption Day 14/1/12

2012-01-14T08:18:00.002Z

It's Saturday

It's the weekend

It's cold

It's time for another

Saturday Caption

So warm yer cockles and think up a witty caption for this photo

Then head on over to

For more merriment to keep you warm on this chilly day

How To Make A Pirate Ship - My Way

2012-01-13T09:26:00.001Z

As I have explained in a previous post, the original Christmas present that we ordered for Burton wasn't going to arrive in time for Christmas so we had to quickly order something different which would get here (a train track which he loves). However, earlier this week the original present (a ride on battery operated car) turned up and we have hidden it at the OH's parents until Burton's birthday in July.

Anyway, the cardboard box it arrived in was HUGE and on Wednesday afternoon I suggested to Burton that we make it into a pirate ship (even though I don't actually think he even know what one looks like!). This was of course met with excited smiles and a lot of 'me do it mummy' when I set about creating my galleon masterpiece *ahem*.

So to make a pirate ship - Mummy Mishaps style - you will need the following

1 large cardboard box (the ship itself)
1 xmas wrapping paper tube (flagpole)
1 square piece of gold wrapping paper (flag)
2 kitchen roll tubes (telescopes)
2 triangular cardboard shapes that came with said large cardboard box (canons)
rolled up newspaper balls (canon balls)
1 shoe box (treasure chest)
lots of pretty sparkly things eg. quality street sweets, gold bows, pot pouri decorative balls (treasure)
crayons (for decorating your pirate ship)
1 cowboy hat (captain pirate hat)
1 stripey baby sleep suit (pirate shipmate headwear)

put that all together and you get this - just look at our marvellous galleon - ta daaaaah!!

Burton was amazed by Mummy's excellent skills and handy craft work

Bet you never thought something so fantastic would be made from such simple items did you??

Then you just need lots of pirate key phrases such as "ahoy there shipmates", "shiver me timbers" and "aye aye cap'in" and a BIG imagination (helps when you are playing with a 2 1/2 year old as they haven't seen Pirates Of The Caribbean yet, so cannot fault your pirate ship!) and away you go me hearties!

I am linking this up to a fab new feature called Family Frolics, which the lovely Kerry from Multiple Mummy has started - check it out and see what other wonderful crafty creations or ideas to have fun with the family had been entered

(proper pirate ship image found on google)

Choc-A-Lot Cake Pops : I Love Cake January 2012

2012-01-12T22:04:00.001Z

Happy New Year !!!

I received some lovely new cake creating gifts for Christmas

and have had some fun using these gorgeous items to create some new cake creations.

So with this in mind, this months I Love Cake theme is

NEW

It could be a new gadget you had that has inspired a recipe; a new cookbook (I had the Hummingbird Bakery one mmmmm!), a new healthy regime that means you need to make adjustments to your cake ingredients or just a recipe you have always fancied trying but haven't done so yet.

New Year, New You, New Cake

*linky is at the bottom of this post*

Here is my NEW cake recipe using both of my new kitchen gadgets and trying out cake pops for the first time - a new cake adventure for me

Choc -A-Lot Cake Pops

you will need:

a cake pop maker (see above but other brands are available)

125g butter

125g sugar

2 eggs

100g self raising flour

25g cocoa powder

2 tbsp milk

Decoration:

some pop sticks

cake decorations

good quality chocolate for melting (i used white and milk)

Methodar

cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy

add the eggs, flour, cocoa powder and milk and mix together to make a creamy, smooth chocolately mixture

Heat up cake pop machine (takes minutes) and grease each hole with a little olive oil

add a heaped tsp of cake mix to each hole

close lid and cook for 4 minutes (you will need a timer for this)

lift up lid after 4 minutes and allow cake 'balls' to cool for about a minute

remove carefully (they are hot) and place onto cooling wire rack

melt some chocolate as you would normally (i place it in a bowl in microwave and heat at 30 sec intervals)

get your cake pop sticks and dip one end into the melted chocolate and then insert into centre of your cake 'ball'

once all cak pops have their sticks inserted, allow to cool completely

Decorating

anything goes really. I rolled each cake pop into some melted chocolate and then rolled in a mixture of popping candy, mini marshmallows and chocolate shapes

then chill in the fridge for about an hour until the chocolate is set

its a really fun way of making little cake mouthfuls!

even my OH who never helps me in the kitchen enjoyed helping and has even decorated an entire batch of cake pops himself (and they looked great but we ate them all before I had a chance to photograph them!)

Yum Yum!!

What NEW Cake recipes will you share?
linky is open until the end of the month

The Gallery - Mobile Photos

2012-01-11T08:04:00.001Z

For this weeks The Gallery, Tara has asked us to share photos that we take on our mobile phones.

I have to admit that almost all of the photos I use for The Gallery and my blog have been taken on my mobile. As a matter of fact I expect 95% of the photographs I have of my boys are mobile phone photos! I do own a camera and I enjoy taking photographs with it, but I don't have it to hand as easily as my mobile and nowadays the quality of images captured on a mobile is much better than it used to be.

I think mobile phones allow us to capture our daily lives - whatever we are doing we can photograph it. I am always snapping Burton and Jenson playing, eating, bathing, out and about etc...and as a result I have a brilliant record of their lives. The quality of each photo may not be as good as with a proper camera but I wouldn't have my proper camera with me at the supermarket, at the hairdressers, on the bus, or at the park for example. Plus the photos can be uploaded so easily! In a instant you have an image to share with your family and the world - for example, as soon as you give birth you can be sharing a photo of your new baby with people within minutes of it being born!

Jenson when he was about 30 minutes old
the first photo taken of him

A mobile phone is ideal for taking photos when you are on the go and leading a busy mummy life. To me its not about the quality of the photo, but the quantity of memories I capture everytime I use my mobile camera :)

Here are just a few snapshots taken on my mobile - I have thousands infact!

Great (Christmas) Customer Service

2012-01-09T21:34:00.001Z

Due to the problems I experienced in December with our living arrangements and then Jenson being ill, I didn't really have chance to get out to the shops to get my Christmas shopping done. I usually enjoy browsing the shops and getting ideas for presents, and making the odd purchase here and there. Oh and maybe a nice yummy Christmas hot drink special in a coffee shop just to add to the festiveness! I have always made some on line Christmas gift purchases as well as visiting and purchasing from high street stores in person, but its is usually a mix of the two.

However, Christmas 2011, I ended up getting just about all of my gifts on line and I have to say that on the whole all of my orders were received on time despite some of them being ordered very last minute. What I have realised is that I actually bought a lot of my Christmas shopping from independent shops on the internet rather than large retail stores which I am so happy about. Ok, so I may not have helped out my immediate local economy BUT I did help out small independent business and they actually offered me some brilliant customer service in return. In fact all of my orders from these companies were on time and not late, despite ordering up until 20th December!

I thought I would share the top shops I visited online, in case you are looking for something a little bit different to whats on offer on the high street, and would like to support some independent businesses.

Orchard Toys

I actually heard about this great shop via TheBoyandMe as ~~she~~ her boy has reviewed several of their great products. I ordered the following products

and they are fab - and they are all made in the UK! The feel and quality of each item is superb. Burton LOVES the shopping list game at the moment - we are playing it several times a day and the giant road puzzle really sparks his imaginative play (and daddy likes helping out with this jigsaw too!)

Delivery was fast and on time and is free when you spend over £15. I will definitely be visiting this website again - I have already promised Burton that we will get the add ons for the Shopping List game!

Toy Genius

Again it was from visiting TheBoyandMe that I discovered this on line shop too. They sell some beautiful wooden toys and again the quality is just fantastic. Some of the lovely toys I bought included

Again, I have already seen some ideas for Jenson's birthday so I will be popping back here again too and their delivery service was exactly as they stated too.

Not On The High Street.Com

This website contains so many fabulous gifts and many of them can be personalised which I think always adds a nice touch for someone special. This on line store brings together several small businesses and again the customer service was top notch and if something couldn't be delivered in time for Christmas, this was stated very clearly by the product description.
Among the gifts I bought, including personalised candles and chocolate bars and a shopper bag I bought this for Burton which he loved and wanted to try on as soon as he opened it

Wooden ToyShop

Having been let down by one of Groupon's deals and one of their suppliers, we had to think of a last minute main Christmas present for Burton. We decided on a wooden train track and although I could have ordered it from Amazon I chose the Wooden Toyshop instead as they sell some beautiful wooden toys (take a look) and I just managed to get my order in before they closed their guaranteed Christmas delivery deadline! Burton loves his Brio train set :)

*I also had a fab service from the following companies*
When I Was A Kid - bought a name train and it arrived the next day as promised
Photobox - I know this is not a small independent business but they delivered on time and my photo gifts were excellent quality

this is not a sponsored post and none of the above mentioned companies asked me to include them. this is just a post written by a mum who had to buy lots of last minute Christmas presents!

Silent Sunday 8/1/2012

2012-01-08T07:07:00.001Z

Cheeky Saturday Caption

2012-01-07T07:39:00.001Z

Hello caption capturers :)

Its Saturday and time to think of something witty to write and here is my photo - its a bit cheeky ;)

Now go forth and see what other photos need a caption by clicking here:

Blogging For me Again

2012-01-06T22:24:00.003Z

As many of my regular visitors will know I committed myself to the NaBloPoMo during November, and I actually enjoyed the whole experience and kind of enjoyed my daily deadline of having to post every day for 30 days. There were only a couple of occasions when I struggled to find a topic to write about, and although every night was spent writing which meant late nights, I found the whole NaBloPoMo experience a positive and a good one, and I was glad I took part.

Then on the 1st December, I ~~stupidly~~ decided to take on the the same challenge for another 31 days because I found that I was missing the buzz of creating a post every night. I had bored fingers and decided to sign up and give it a go.

I had already decided that the content of my posts would not be as good as the ones I had devised during November, because I figured I would not have the time to dedicate to writing some deep and meaningful posts for the following reasons:

Christmas was on the way
Presents needed to be purchased
Cards needed to be designed and written and sent out
Christmas food prep need to be done
Tots 100 Xmas Party weekend at Butlins

Therefore, I figured that as long as posted every day whether it be a recipe or a review or a linky submissions I was doing ok and not to get bogged own by my post content.

To begin with all was going so well and then the following things happened:

Our heating and hot water system packed in , resulting in no heating and then no hot wanter either for a couple of weeks
The boys, my OH and I stayed at my mums and then his mums while we waited for our heating and hot water problem to be resolved
Due to the above living arrangements, my Christmas cookery prep, Christmas card making and Christmas shopping trips were limited or non existent.
As much as I really enjoyed my Butlins Winter Wonderland weekend away with my family and meeting all those lovely bloggers, as a result I caught a tummy bug and Jenson became ill with a really nasty cough
Owing to Jenson being so poorly, even when we were back in our own home (with heating and hot water again - yay!) and wanting to be cuddled so much meant I didn't get much done during the day or night blog wise or Christmas planning wise

However, despite all of this I blogged everyday bar the Monday after Butlins (because I was suffering with a tummy upset), and so fulfilled my NaBloPoMo commitment. Even Christmas Day I posted a Silent Sunday photo, and I was all set to post on Boxing Day too when it suddenly dawned on me - what on earth was I doing? It was Christmas (just!) and I was visiting and being with my family, and here I was spending my time first thing in the morning (very early!) trying to write a post. Trying to pen a post while entertaining and playing with my boys and talking to members of my family, and after having crap sleep and feeling shattered due to Jenson playing up during the night!!!

So there and then I decided to stop my NaBloPoMo commitment and I put away my blogger dashboard and took a couple of days off. Why was I pushing myself to get a post out every day, when it really didn't matter ? I wasn't going to get into trouble or get told off by anyone was I ? Or have the blogging police track me down and arrest me!

I posted again last Friday (30th) because I wanted to and not because I felt I had to. And do you now what? It was great only having to write a post when I felt the need to, and not feel pressured about having to do so. I really enjoyed having a few days off aswell, and even now writing this I feel happy knowing that it is up to ME when I blog next.

I did enjoy my writing everyday during November, and I honestly thought December would be manageable. However, as it turns out real life is more important and I don't want to have to bust a gut to get a post up on my blog, I want to have a more relaxed attitude which I have again now.

Mind you committing to the project 366 is also time consuming - not the actual taking and posting a photo part (or two in my case, as I am show-casing Burton's daily photos too), as that is relatively easy. However, as with any shared project or link-up you not only commit your blog but you also commit to sharing an experience, and in doing so commit to visiting other blogs and seeing their photos and commenting. Therefore, I am still spending a fair amount of time each evening on blog 'stuff'.

BUT I am not complaining as I enjoy seeing what everyone else is up to, and it is nice to view other blogs again and catch up with whats been going on while I took my few a days off. Infact this was something which I didn't do as much of as I would have liked during November and December - visiting other blogs that is, because I was so busy blogging and doing real life Christmassy things and dealing with a poorly baby. I just didn't have the time to do it all! My tweeting time definitely took a nose dive too! (see my Klout score!)

So what was the point in this post? Nothing really, just to share how wonderful it feels to be blogging for me again and not for blogging sake. I think sometimes you need to get some blogging perspective and step back and relaaaaax and breathe and then start again.

Don't Worry About Blogging: Be Happy & Play Butthead Instead :)

Oh and also to thank you for bearing with me during those weeks of hectic posting and maybe for not giving as much blog love out as I would normally.

xx

Jenson at 9 Months

2012-01-05T14:08:00.000Z

Last Friday, 30th December, Jenson turned 9 months - 9 months already! I really cannot believe where the time has gone.

He is a cheeky little boy and on the whole is such a smiley, happy and fidgety baby - doesn't stay in one place for very long!

He has started sliding along the floor now - not proper crawling yet but he can still get around very quickly. When he does so in his sleep suits and I see the state of them when I pick him up it reminds me that I must start washing my floors more often now as he is in such close contact with it!! It makes me smile that if I pop to the kitchen to do something I soon here him swishing along the floor to find me!

He loves his big brother and now that Burton has started playing with him a bit more the brotherly bond between them is really beginning to show.

When Burton is making silly noises or being a bit cheeky to me or Daddy, Jenson finds this very funny. I think Burton makes him laugh more than anyone else.

He loves sharing a bath with his big brother and when they both get splashing me, daddy and the floor get a soaking!

I think he enjoyed his first Christmas - not that he really knew what was going on of course. He liked ripping the paper off his presents and trying to eat the wrapping paper - I was constantly wrestling him for the bit he manage to sneak into his mouth!

He certainly liked eating his Christmas dinner, unlike his brother, and was fascinated by the Christmas tree

He loves his food and is a pleasure to feed, but then so was Burton at this age so I guess I shouldn't count my chickens just yet. Breast feeding seems to have stopped now. When he was ill before Christmas I stopped giving him his bedtime feed because he kept being sick while I was feeding it to him as he was coughing and then choking and then bringing up milk and phlegm! So we kept the morning one going but that seems to have all but stopped as he is only on my breasts for about 5 minutes and then gets cross so we move onto breakfast. The only problem is that he appears to wake up hungry at stupid hours during the night. Anytime from 3.30-6am, he is waking up and crying and not going back to sleep. So I have been getting him up and feeding him weetabix! I need to address this because he should be going through the night now and he was just before he got ill. He certainly eats enough while he is awake!

As with all 9 month olds he is into anything and everything he can get his hands on or take the walker to! He loves opening the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen, getting toys out of the toy cupboard and trying to grab my phone, iPad, remote control etc...

He is still VERY much a mummy's boy and although daddy looked after him for a few hours while I took Burton to a birthday party last week, I am the one who gets him to sleep and puts him to bed, feeds him etc... so not surprising really. It's funny how if I am not in the room he is fine being left with Daddy or another relative but as soon as he spies me he cries and wants me to take him!

Before I know it his 1st birthday will be here and then he will soon no longer be a baby but a toddler. *sighs*

Where does the time go?

My Boobs

2012-01-03T21:05:00.000Z

So I went and got my boobs measured yesterday. I hadn't had this done since I was a few months pregnant with Jenson so over a year ago I guess. I thought my bra size must have changed for a couple of reasons: one I have lost some weight so I hoped my chest measurement would have decreased; and due to Jenson's milk feeds depleting, he usually has one when he first wakes up and very occasionally a comfort suck at bedtime if he doesn't drop off by himself easily, my boobs have felt and looked a lot smaller as their content is pretty much empty I would think!

Before I fell pregnant with Burton I was a 36B and wore bras with underwiring in and on occasions if I went out I might push the 'boob' out and wear a push up/ plunge bra to enhance my assets depending on the top I was wearing. Mind you, I was never comfortable with revealing too much cleavage so I don't really know why I bought push up bras actually.

Prior to my late 20's I was a 36A cup and I probably only increased a cup size due to my weight doing the same as I got nearer to 30! Back then although I would have loved slightly bigger boobs, it was great that in the summer or if I went on holiday I could go bra-less and the same applied on nights out with my friends when I wore dresses, e.g., strapless or halter neck styles, I could get away with not wearing a bra.

less fun more functional

Oh how times have changed - I will never be able to go bra-less again! After breast feeding two babies for the first 9 months of their lives during my mid 30's, has meant that my former fun bags now look more like granny handbags,

and lets face it a lot of them pull shopping bags (on wheels) along behind them lol. I am not complaining it was my choice to breast feed and I am glad I did and certainly would not have contemplated not breast feeding my babies for vanity, and pert breast sake. However, I must accept that unless I wear a bra with good support I am never going to have boobs whose nipples face northwards again.

Anyway, I digressed.

When I was measured for my nursing bra's with both pregnancies I ended up with 38D ones. So yesterday when I visited a well know high street food and clothing store to be measured, I was genuinely shocked when the woman told me I was now a 36 D !! I asked her if she was sure and she said yes! So I purchased myself a couple of tee shirt bras and one lacy balcony style which was in the sale and today I am wearing a bra which fits me- yay!

However, when I look at my boobs in my bathroom mirror I cannot help but feel my breasts do not look like 36D ones. I mean when I think of D cup boobs I think of those glamour models and celebrities that have them and how their boobs look nothing like mine! I know certain bras can enhance your assets to make them look bigger but page 3 girls aren't wearing these in their photos. Having googled 'celebrities with 36D breast' I have discovered that I share the same boobage as these boobilicious ladies

Now for the purpose of this post I will spare you a photo of my boobs, but I can assure you that mine look nothing like these even if it was freezing cold and I was covered in spray tan!

So I am confused about my size really, but the important thing is, I am now wearing non maternity/ nursing bras again and one that is my correct size - even if I still have my suspicions!

What Are Your Highs & Lows From 2011 - Meme

2012-01-02T23:01:00.002Z

I have been tagged by Maeve a new blogging friend from How To Be A Happy Housewife who was tagged by Kate over at KateOnThinIce , and the amazing and lover of all things purple, Ella from
Purple Mum to share our highs and lows of 2011 through a serious of questions.

So here goes..........

1). What was your happiest event?

The birth of my second child, Jenson on 30th March, 11 days earlier than my due date.

2). What was the saddest thing to happen?

Being told that my Na (Grandad) could have cancer. I say could because he is still awaiting tests to know for sure.

3). What was the most unlikely thing to happen that actually went ahead and did?

Probably me losing my bay weight so fast. I put over 4 stone on while pregnant with Jenson but managed to shift it all by October by joining Slimming World. I still want to lose another stone but that was on hold with Christmas approaching and me starting a cake making linky! I plan to start that again once the last of my biscuits have been eaten!

4). Who let you down?

Sometimes I feel I let myself down, like when I am tired and my patience is less and is being tested by Burton and his tantrums

Other times I feel let down by my OH who I believe could be more considerate.

5). Who supported you?

My mum and my OH's Mum when Jenson was first born in helping out with Burton.

Kimberly for being there during Jenson's labour

My OH during my labour with Jenson and in those first few weeks after Jenson was born

My twitter and blogging friends in their comments on my blog

6). Tell us one thing you learned?

You can look after a newborn and a toddler with only 2 hours sleep for several weeks! In fact you can do many things (maybe not as well) on very little sleep!

7). Tell us one thing that made you laugh

Burton - he can be sooooo funny

8). Tell us one thing that made you cry

Comic Relief the footage of the ill or dying children in Africa - heartbreaking.

9). Tell us 3 things that your child/children did to make you proud

*Burton swam with armbands on his own and picked up diving sticks off the bottom of the pool

*While out on his bike on the pavement near our house, a woman stepped off onto the road to let him (and me) past and without being prompted Burton said "thank you''

*Becoming potty trained so quickly - he was brilliant

*On the whole, being a loving and wonderful big brother to Jenson

Sorry I put 4!!

10). Tell us one thing that made you proud of yourself

Giving birth without using hardly any pain relief and just gong through labour again - its not exactly a walk in the park on a nice day is it?

11). Tell us one challenge you overcame

Becoming a mummy to two I guess, before Jenson was born I was excited about my new baby but also worried about how I would cope with a newborn and a 19 month old. I was also concerned what impact the baby would have on Burton.

Still I survived - am surviving - and it was probably as good and bad as I was expecting.

12). Tell us 3 things you would like to change about your life in 2012

My weight, a new house with a little garden and to get more sleep (please boys!)

The End!

Now I need to tag some more people so I choose the following:

thank you :)

My Projects 366

2012-01-01T21:40:00.001Z

So its the first day of a new year and among my new year challenges (more of these to follow) is to join in with Project 365, which is Project 366 with it being a leap year.

And in typical Mummy Mishaps style I am not doing things by halves, as not only have I set up a new blog exclusively for my 366 photos, but I have decided to set up one for Burton as he is always taking photos on my iPhone.

Mummy Mishaps 366
Having seen the beautiful photos taken by TheBoyAndMe everyday (well I saw most of them) showing her boy change over 2011, it has motivated and inspired me to do a photographic record of Burton and Jenson during 2012 because I think it will be a lovely thing to look back on to see how much they change as the days, weeks and months go by. I appreciate that many of the photographs I take will not be of interest to anyone else but thats ok, because I will enjoy having them and seeing them as a record of their lives during 2012.

My first photo is this one

taken today when we were out for lunch.

The quality of my photos will not be superb as they will be taken on my iPhone as that is what I have to hand and its easy for me to upload photos from. Plus this project will be a snapshot of my boys and their day to day lives so they may aswell be captured on a day to day gadget.

iAmBurton
I thought it would be nice to record the photos that Burton takes as he is always snapping away and sometimes he takes some really good photos (todays is a bit blurred but its the taking part that counts!). It will be interesting to see as the year progresses if his images and their content change much and to see how much the standard and quality improves as the days go by.

His first photo is the meal he ate (expect he didn't really - fuss pot that he can be!) of yummy roast beef

There is a tab underneath my header which will take you to each site to see our daily offerings and you can sign up if you wish to see them land in your in box everyday :)

So here is to project 366 and I wonder how long I can keep up 3 blogs???
Hmmm - mummy mishaps multi-tasking could prove to be my downfall lol

Silent Sunday 1/01/12

2012-01-01T07:43:00.001Z

Inspired by an idea started by Mocha Beanie Mummy

Farewell 2011

2011-12-31T15:23:00.003Z

So 2011 is almost over and is tradition for this time of every year, I have been reflecting on the last 12 months and looking back with the help of my blog as to what I got up to.

January to March
was a struggle being pregnant and so huge with it. I struggled to get comfy in bed and it was tiring during the day when spending time entertaining and playing with Burton.

I was excited but very anxious about introducing a new baby into our home and was worried how Burton would handle having a new brother or sister. Still he knew where the baby was going once it arrived!

March
Arriving 10 days early, on the 30th March Jenson was born and I had another beautiful baby boy and a little brother to Burton. We went from a family of three to four and all of a sudden my almost two year old seemed so much more grown up and bigger - almost over night Burton seemed to change into a boy.

April
my blog celebrated it's first blogaversary. I had my first Mothers Day as a mummy to two and Burton got on with life as a big brother.

May
I was still surviving on very little sleep and I was noticing that Burton was showing more signs of those terrible two's and I was feeling the stress and guilt of being a tired mummy to two under 2! We decorated Burton's bedroom with a Toy Story theme and to this day this is my highest viewed blog post (I get hits on it every day!).

June
I turned another year older and I held my first ever blogging carnival with Emma from A Matter Of Choice with the theme of potty training. There was also my breast feeding post which I wrote for breast feeding awareness week, where I was pleased to share my experiences of as it not an easy subject to tackle as it spurs very strong emotive responses. I also wrote about Burton and his assertive toddler behaviour.

July
marked Burton turning two

and I also wrote about his birth story at last. At this time with him celebrating his second birthday I also wondered if his lack of talking was something to be concerned about. I also had a tweet up and my first blogging event at the Luminarium where I met 'the Boy' and 'me' from TheBoyAndMe and Karen and her girls from WouldLikeToBeAYummyMummy.
I also wrote about a subject which as it turned out seemed to strike a chord with a number of people about my lack of sex life following my second baby and how I had lost my 'sex mojo'.

August

Burton stayed at his grandparents and grandad kept a photo diary of his weekend away. I blogged about his fussy eating and reasons why you know you are a mummy and Burton had his first big boy haircut

September

Jenson hosted his first ever post about his first 6 months in the world. Burton (and Jenson) had his first trip to the beach and I shared some sneaky swimming pool photos on the blog. My I Love Cake linky started.

October
Burton started his potty training and it was a success (yay!). I went to my first blogcamp at Bristol (where I met some lovely SW Mums - see my blogroll) and met up with Helen and her family from The Crazy Kitchen.

November
I signed up for NaBloPoMo and I have to say that this month was my best month for blog post writing and I feel I wrote some of my best posts to date. Posts ranging from rants about housework to my boys and their age gap and how I don't want to try for a girl, to discovering I was pregnant for the first time to my struggles with parenthood to toddler olympics and a toddlers take on potty training.

December
I started the month by signing up to another month of posting everyday but it was a struggle with Christmas looming, illnesses, a trip to Butlins and all the other christmas preparations! In the end I stopped on Boxing Day and enjoyed a few days without blogging at all!

So here I am after a good year with lots of changes in my life and on my blog and all for the better, I am pleased to say. I have discovered that I can write about topics close to my heart and ones that other people can relate to. I have made new friends and met some of them through twitter and blogging and read some wonderful blogs and posts.

Thank you for stopping by and commenting and supporting Mummy Mishaps, and thank you also to my boys who inspire me to be the Mum I am and the kind I want to be and who give me ideas for posts!!

Happy New Year and here's to 2012 I hope it brings you happiness, success and whatever you wish for.

Saturday Caption

2011-12-31T07:30:00.001Z

So its the night before the new year otherwise known as new years eve. It is also Saturday which is also known as Sat Cap Day and here is my entry

Dont forget to check out the other entries here

Oh and Happy New Year :)
Xx

A Spoonful Of Sugar Doesn't Help All The Time!

2011-12-30T23:57:00.000Z

So today I experienced my first encounter with trying to give foul tasting medicine to a toddler. Following a visit to our GP yesterday, Burton was prescribed a course of anti-biotics in liquid form - 5 ml to be taken 4 times a day until the contents of the bottle have been emptied. Having been warned by the pharmacist that this medicine did not taste nice and my best bet was to mix it with a little calpol or some chocolate mousse to try and soften the bitterness, I knew that Burton was probably not going to enjoy taking it as much as he likes having calpol. However,before I attempted to get him to take a spoonful, I was feeling pretty confident that it wouldn't be too much of a problem if i told him it was calpol! Hmmm oh dear! How wrong I was!

To be fair yesterday we did get the first spoonful in no problem because I told him it was calpol and he did pull a face afterwards but a drink of squash took away the after taste. After his bath it was time for another dose of the evil meds and he refused point blank and didn't fall for my "but it's calpol Burton, and you like calpol" routine at all. However, Daddy came to the rescue and bribed him with a chocolate biscuit and an episode of Peppa Pig on You Tube, which actually got increased to two episodes by Burton! He is a good negotiator , unlike mummy and daddy it would seem!

This morning, however, despite telling Daddy and I that he would take his medicine as long as he could have a jaffa cake and five episodes of Peppa Pig, when it came to trying to put the spoon into his mouth he changed his mind and no amount of persuading him or bribing him would make him open his mouth. Daddy and I reasoned with him and explained why he had to take the medicine but he wouldn't let us give it to him. Eventually after about 40 minutes of negotiations, Daddy filled the syringe and I tried to administer it to him while he was held down but Burton just spat it out! Nightmare!

So I asked on twitter to see if anyone could suggest anything that might help

Twitter how do you get a toddler to take a foul tasting medicine? Burton isnt budging despite all sorts of bribes!!

As always I was blown away by all of the replies I received and a BIG thank you to all of you who took the time to reply. From reading the tweets in my timeline I have learnt the following tip with regards to getting your child to take ~~devil juice~~ medicine:

disguise the flavour

ice cream, jam, orange juice, milkshake, yogurt and chocolate were suggested

make threats

these included; having to have an injection, take them to hospital, and take them to the doctors

bribery

anything that will get them to take them although chocolate of some description seemed to be the most popular

force

if all else fails, pin your child down and force it inside their mouths via a spoon or a syringe. Not the nicest method it was agreed but sometimes has to be done to get the meds inside them

We had tried, unsuccessfully, all of these techniques (except the threats one as he doesn't understand about hospitals and injections. although I did tell him that the area in question that he is taking the meds for could drop off if he didn't take his medicine!!! *hangs head in shame*)

So the only thing I could think to do was phone my GP back and explain the situation and see if there were any different antibiotics Burton could be prescribed instead. He did and the new meds were tried out at tea time and they are better because they can be taken with meals this time too. So to begin with Burton wasn't going to try this new yellow medicine, the previous one was neon pink, and although it doesn't taste lovely it is not as bad as the other one.

Anyway, in the end I worked out a plan of attack and made the following ~~bribe~~ proposal to him:

if he takes his medicine which mummy will mix in with one of his fromage frais, and he can wash it down with a jaffa cake and some of mummy's squash, in return he will get a sticker and if he gets all of his stickers on his reward chart, then mummy will take him to buy a Peppa Pig (his new fav at the moment) DVD

Once I persuaded him to try a little of the 'fromage frais', he realised that he couldn't taste the medicine and he ate it all!!! I was so chuffed and wanted to dance a little victory dance around the downstairs rooms, but I restrained myself.

I just hope he keeps up the momentum tomorrow and the next day and possibly the day after that!

Are there any methods you emily that haven't already been mentioned here? Please say if this is so as it is always useful to know!

*I would like to add that since I wrote this post, Burton decided he wouldn't swallow the second medicine he was prescribed and Daddy had to use the 'force' method each time by holding him down and forcing the syringe into his mouth which was not nice or enjoyable for all involved. *

I am linking this up as the one that should have done better to

Christmas Recap

2011-12-29T22:14:00.000Z

So thats another Christmas over and done with.

I always feel sad one Christmas Day turns to night and then Boxing Day comes to an end, because that means my favourite time of the year is over for another 12 months *sighs*

However, it was a fantastic festive fun filled couple of days and despite the fact that I was hoping to share more photographs of the two days with you, which I am unable to due to not being able to find the device which connects my iPad to the camera (!), here are some highlights.

Christmas Eve

We arrived at the OH's (Jon) parents at 5pm, with the car boot filled to the brim with presents which I had secretly packed without Burton seeing! I actually didn't think i was going to get everything we needed for our 2 night stay in the car but I did - just! Jon's brother and his wife and two children were also staying the night so you can imagine how excited Burton and his two cousins were about Father Christmas coming.

So they decided they would all like to sleep in the same bedroom so we got on and bathed them and got them ready for bed just after 7pm and once I had got Jenson down we met in the lounge for the three children to get their santa sacks ready and to leave out a mince pie, two carrots and a cup of chocolate milkshake for Father Christmas and Rudolph. In their excitement, Burton and his cousins decided they would like to get inside their santa sacks!

Then the three of them set off to bed for a story and to go to sleep. Yes to sleep! do you think that happened? Oh no not at all! There was giggling, talking, running about and generally everything but going to sleep really! In the end it was Burton who couldn't get off to sleep and eventually after a few tears and relocating him into mine and daddy's room he went to asleep just before 10pm!! Talk about being over tired!

Once the coast was clear and all children were off in the land of nod we brought all the presents in from the car as did Jon's brother, and his mum gathered all of her gifts and we piled them around the Christmas tree

After much discussion between Jon and I about where to leave the santa sacks for Burton and Jenson (and me putting a tweet out about it asking where people hang theirs in their homes - at the end of beds or downstairs), we finally decided to put them in the lounge by the chimney

Christmas Day

Started very early!!! 5.30am I was woken up by Jenson and then the other three children were up and about giggling at 6am! My photos of Burton's little face when he saw his sack full of presents were just gorgeous and he was very excited. However, he didn't really get the whole unwrapping of his gifts bit - he opened a couple and liked what he received but he was far more interested in seeing what everyone else had, playing with Jenson's presents and playing with the things he had as he opened them. He was the last one to open all his presents and even that took a lot of persuading!

Me: Burton, why don't you open another one of your presents?

Burton: No thank you, Mummy

They each received some wonderful presents and Burton loves his wooden train set that we bought him

I also had some lovely presents and my cake making will be going to a whole new level next year with these two little beauties, which I cannot wait to use.

It was a great Christmas made the more special by my two boys and especially Burton when he saw that Father Christmas had visited us in the night. It was magical and I wish it was happening again this weekend!

Silent Sunday

2011-12-25T06:04:00.001Z

Merry Christmas Everyone
I hope you were all good and got a visit from Father Christmas xxxx

Saturday Caption Day

2011-12-24T08:39:00.001Z

ho ho hooooo!! Its Christmas Eve and Father Christmas is checking his list to see who has bern naughty and nice!!

Here is todays photo ready to be captioned

Dont forget to check out the other entries :)

Merry Christmas!!DAY 24

Christmas Card Tradition

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000Z

A couple of week's ago I took part in an Ultimate Christmas Meme, one of the questions asked me what my Christmas traditions were. I answered that I was yet to establish any but it was something I really wanted to rectify and it got me thinking about what I would like to do going forward.

In doing so, it made me realise that we do have one tradition that we have done every year since Burton's first Christmas and that is we make our own Christmas cards. Being the skilled amateur photographers that he is, my OH has a lot of photography equipment and when he sets it all up in our downstairs living area, it looks like we are living in a photography studio! Anyway, together with his computer skills he has produced some wonderful card creations for our family and close friends over the last three years.

Our first card back in 2009 was when Burton was a little over 5 months and of course we dressed him as a little Santa baby :)

We sat him in our fireplace (I would like to point out that it is not a working fire just an alcove!) and he was such a good baby and sat and smiled and hardly moved at all. Here is the finished creation

Last year was a bit more tricky as Burton was toddling and he was poorly and had a bad cold which resulted in very rosy red dry cheeks. Luckily, I chose an elf outfit for him so at least the red cheeks complimented his costume! Daddy got a little fraught at times because we couldn't get Burton to smile for the camera despite bribes of chocolate buttons and watching In The Night Garden on my iPad! It took a couple of sessions and in the end Daddy had to crop two photos to paste a smiley face on to Burton's body! Anyway, ths was our 2010 card

This year of course we have a baby and a toddler to contend with so we knew it may not be the easiest of tasks to get both boys looking and , hopefully, smiling in the same direction and at the camera! Having asked Burton what he would like to dress up as, he said a snowman so that was our theme sorted!

Well, our fist attempt was a disaster! By the time it took to be get all of the photo shoot equipment ready, Burton decided that he had enough and refused to smile and then wouldn't sit next to Jenson and then started to strip off!! He would not pose for the camera and in the end after me pleading with Burton to sit with his brother to no avail, we gave up. Luckily, two weeks later for our second attempt we explained to Burton who the card would be for and how much his grandparents would be happy to see his smile, and he did smile lots! However, Jenson wasn't quite as happy the second time but he wasn't crying so result!

So I present to you our 2011 card and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas
(as we didn't have enough cards printed to send out to you all individually!)

DAY 23

Christmas Pudding Muffins

2011-12-22T00:02:00.000Z

I LOVE cake and I LOVE Christmas so I may aswell combine the two and create a I LOVE CHRISTMAS CAKE linky :)

Christmas Pudding Muffins

Ingredients:

200g demerara sugar
175g butter, chopped
700g luxury mixed dried fruits
50g glacé cherries
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp orange marmalade
100ml brandy or orange
3 large eggs , beaten
85g ground almonds
200g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon

Method:

Heat oven to 150C/130C fan

Place the butter, sugar, dried fruits, marmalade, ginger and brandy/orange juice into a large pan and put on the heat and slowly bring to the boil, stirring frequently to melt the butter.

Reduce the heat and bubble gently, uncovered for 10 mins, stirring every now and again to make sure the mixture doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. Set aside for 30 mins to cool.

Stir the nuts, eggs and ground almonds into the fruit, then sift in the flour, baking powder and spices. Stir everything together gently but thoroughly.

Spoon the cake mix into 12 deep muffin cases

Bake for 35-45 mins until golden and just firm to touch/ an inserted knife should come out clean.

Cool on a wire rack.

Once cooled top with buttercream. I added some gold shimmer spray for the festive touch and then because all I had in my cupboard were shimmer balls and chocolate stars and moons, I added these for decoration too!

They taste just like Christmas pudding!

Do you have a Christmas Cake Recipe to share? Be it muffins, celebration cakes, chocolate logs etc...?
if you have please add it to the link below for others to see and share
thank you

DAY 22

The Gallery - Christmas Past

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000Z

So let me take you back to Christmas 1983.

The Christmas number one was The Flying Pickets with Only You

The top selling toy of that year was My Little Pony

The number one film was Return Of The Jedi

And I was 9 and here I am at my (maternal) grandparents in the afternoon after the present unwrapping had taken place.

I am sat on a sledge that my brother was given, which looking back seems an unusual gift to have been given seeing as though I don't remember many times it snowed during my childhood and I especially don't recall my brother using that sledge very much over the years. I do, however, remember the snow we had in the spring of 1991 when myself and a friend borrowed that sledge and broke it going down a field!

Anyway, back to 1983. This was the Christmas that my brother and I were given a Kodak disc camera each which were the 'in' camera around this time. My Dad had one already (see it around his neck in this photo)

And I think my Nanny was given one that Christmas also. My brother and I were very pleased with our new cameras and the photos I am using here are ones that he took as for some reason I have his photo album but cannot find mine (we were each given a little photo album with our cameras, mine was green and his blue). In the above photo you can just make out a Cluedo set which was mine and I still had that board until about 4 years ago when I finally got rid of it.

I also recall that my brother and I were also given Paul Daniels magic sets - and I can remember now us mastering a couple of tricks which we then demonstrated in front of our family in the evening in our own little magic show! I used to love putting on my little magic shows!

This is what my Mum looked like then -

how young my parents look and they were as Mum would have been 27 and my Dad 29!!

I expect we had stayed Christmas Eve at my grandparents house and we stayed Christmas night for sure, as here I am in a camp bed in my new sleeping bag with my brothers new sleeping bag in the camp bed next to mine waiting for him to get in it.

I remember my childhood Christmases fondly and I do remember this one in particular obviously helped by the photos I expect. I can remember how excited my brother and I were when we awoke and found our Santa sacks full of presents! I also remember how it seemed to take forever until we could open our main presents, which we weren't allowed to do until after Christmas dinner. I remember my Na (grandad) always took ages to open his presents and once my brother and I had ripped open ours in such a rush, he would always have lots still to open and I always wished I had made opening mine take longer! I think he still does take ages actually!!

Remembering back to this Christmas makes me a little sad because that 'magic' I felt is how I still feel now but I am no longer that 9 year old girl with her teenage and adult life ahead of her, even if I feel the same on the inside I certainly don't look like that on the outside.

However, I will live my love of Christmas through my children, and I aim to give them the BEST Christmases I am able so they can look back at their childhood ones with fond memories when they're grown up .

Now go and see what other Christmas nostalgia posts have been written for (photos found on google images)

DAY 21

Project Christmas iPad App

2011-12-20T08:26:00.000Z

Since the start of December I have been looking on the app store for any cheap little Christmas apps to download for Burton to play with. I have found a couple which have kept him amused which have either been puzzles, or just making Father Christmas talk and being run over by a giant snowball!!

However, I was asked to review an educational Christmas app which sounded like a great idea - to combine festive fun with learning for Burton, so I was all too pleased to download the Stagecoach Education: Project Christmas iPad App.

The concept behind this app has been based on the original books by Dr.Lin Day (the creator of an award winning baby programme) and Stagecoach was the first ever educational course for the under 5's and it helps teach a world wide audience for more than 20 years. The Stagecoach principle is that a firm and solid foundation established in early years for our children, will allow more complex structures to be developed in later years . Therefore, learning to write and read should be done so in a fun way and be seen in the same way as toys and games in that no pressure should be used and instead be considered a happy and fun experience. In making learning a source of pleasure and enjoyment, children will naturally learn new things more easily, in the same way that the spoken word is easily absorbed and and lodged in the memory.

The Project Christmas App contains 30 pages of material for your child ranging from dot the dot, learning to count and learning letters of the alphabet which are all based around Christmas scenes with accompanying music to help gain your child's attention.

I downloaded this app on Saturday and the fact that it shows as the face of Father Christmas on my iPad made Burton very keen to try it out for himself. Being the forceful know it all almost 2 1/2 year of that he is, it didn't take long for the "me do it mummy" words to be said so I left him playing with the app while I attended to some mummy jobs in the kitchen. It wasn't long before I heard a "watch this mummy" which was my cue to return and see what he had done.

Do you know what? I was VERY pleasantly surprised by what I discovered he had been up to. Without any help he worked on the following two pages from the app work book

As you should just be able to make out he has added 'B' 's for Burton where it asks for a name and one the snowman page he has tried to copy the numbers and written them on each snowman!

numbers on the snowmen are 3 2 1 (bottom to top)

'B' for 'Burton' written in his grandma's 3 favourite colours!

I did tell him before I left him that one page required him to write his name and the other to count to 3 (he can't read yet.....well unless he can but I don't know!) but he did it all himself! I was gobsmacked!

The app is 30 pages of this type of educational material and priced at just £1.49 I think it is very good value for money. Each worksheet/ page can be saved with the work that has been done on it or you can erase the work your child has done and start again.

The Stagecoach Education Project Christmas can be downloaded HERE

I was sent a voucher to download this app for the purpose of this review.all opinions are my own and based on my experiences of using this app as a mum to a toddler who is learning new things all the time! I only let my children try things that I feel are appropriate to them

DAY 20

Sorry Excuse For A Post Really

2011-12-19T23:15:00.001Z

I feel I haven't been around much the last week from a blogging and tweeting point of view. Since our return from Butlins it feels like our house has been plagued by illness!

I caught a tummy bug on our last night at Butlins which thankfully went by Tuesday, and since then Jenson has had a really nasty cold which I expect he picked up from the soft play unit while we were away for the weekend. Well there is always a bug of some description to be caught from soft play centres!! His poor nose has been like a tap running with snot and due to all he phlegm he has been sick at least once every day - not just a little bit of sick you understand but a LOT! I seem to have had a week of constant changing bedding, cleaning carpets and changing mine and his clothes! Plus he has had a really horrible cough and the reddest little cheeks - like a little elf but one that is suffering with ill 'elf *ahem*.

Most nights I have been up late trying to get him to sleep before he goes down in his cot so he doesn't cry, because otherwise he has been making himself sick as the phlegm moves around in his chest as he gets more and more upset at being made to go to sleep without a feed. I have been trying not to feed him before bedtime because he ends up coughing during the feed and then this makes him throw up all over me, the bed and himself aswell!

As I write this at just before 11pm,I have in fact only just got him in his cot and to sleep! I tried to put him to bed at 7pm but we had a sick incident and then I couldn't settle him back down and I am surprised I am able to write this as my arms have been aching from trying to rock him to sleep for the last 3 1/2 hours! What a relief for him and me when he eventually fell asleep - look at him he has such a sore nose and those dry red cheeks and heavy eyes :(

So seeing as though I am committed to writing a post every day this month I have just managed to squeeze this sorry excuse for a post on my blog just in time for today. Blogging and tweeting have, understandably, taken a back step this last week but I am still here dipping in and out and I hope to be back to my normal blogging service very soon. I am already racking my brain for a post idea for tomorrow.........hmmm that is what I will be doing once I publish this one!

I think I am going to link this post up to a wonderful little linky over at Here Comes The Girls , because a bit of tea and sympathy is just what I need!

DAY 19

Silent Sunday

2011-12-18T10:12:00.001Z

From Butlins a week ago todayDAY 18

I Believe - The Polar Express DVD Re-release 2011

2011-12-17T23:05:00.000Z

Right, as I have said before on this blog, I do LOVE Christmas and one thing I like to do, asides from listening to Christmas music, to get me feeling even more festive, is watching a good yuletide film.

For the last couple of years, my film of choice has been The Polar Express .

Have you seen it?

It is a beautiful family film about a young boy who is starting to doubt that Father Christmas actually exists, and even his sister and parents fear he is not believing in the magic of Christmas anymore. So when he is woken up Christmas Eve to find a steam train pulling up outside of his house to take him on an adventure to the North Pole to see the great man himself, he decides to jump aboard even though he is very sceptical.

By embarking on The Polar Express steam engine he is also starting his own journey of self discovery to find out for himself what the magic of Christmas really is and to discover what happens to those who do truly believe.

I really love this film and the meaning behind the story. Towards the end of the narration when Father Christmas says to the boy in the film

" Remember the true spirit of christmas lays in your heart "

I think that line sums up the entire film for me. I feel that if I jangled that sleigh bell I would hear it jingle because of the way I feel about this time of year, I find it magical and very special and I still get as excited about it now as I did when I was a child when I believed in Father Christmas. I hope that my boys will share my love of Christmas too and won't stop believing for a long time yet, especially as kids nowadays seem to grow up too fast.

Burton watched The Polar Express with me this morning for the first time and he really enjoyed it

So much so that he asked to watch it again in the afternoon!! I was really pleased that he enjoyed watching it with me and he got quite excited when Father Christmas appears and I had to rewind it a couple of times for him to watch him talking again!

Visually the film is a pleasure to watch; a real feast for the eyes and almost breath taking at times. The animation is amazing and so clever, and the characters so life like. For me, however, it is the story that makes this film for me and it is timeless one - one that has been told again and again in many guises and in many different stories and films, and one which will continue to enthral and entertain children (and adults in my case!). That if you believe in something enough, you can make anything possible.

To me, The Polar Express appeals to anyone, young or old, who loves Christmas; whether they still do believe, like Burton, or they just really want to even though they are in their 30's now *ahem*!

If you haven't seen The Polar Express before, then I would recommend you doing so.

Although The Polar Express was originally released in the cinemas back in 2004 (was it really that long ago? Yikes!), Warner Brothers have just re-released it on DVD in glorious 3D. The version I watched was in Blue Ray.

I was sent a copy of The Polar Express to watch and comment on if I wished, which I have done because it is film I genuinely enjoy watching. All views are my own as is my LOVE of this movie.

(the photos are taken from google images)

DAY 17

Saturday Is MadCap Day

2011-12-17T08:00:00.000Z

Hello there sat cap lovers!!
Today there is something of a bit of mischief afoot by some cheeky elves :)
You know what to do by now.........take a peek, write a fitting caption and ta daaaaa tis done!!

Now lookie here and see what other Christmas magic has been captioned!

Festive Biscotti

2011-12-16T09:57:00.000Z

So I thought I would have a go at making some home made biscotti with Burton to give away with my home made cranberry & apple chutney to my friends, and it seemed an easy biscuit to make so here is how we went about it.

Festive Biscotti

Ingredients:
350g self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice

250g light demera sugar
3 eggs, beaten
grated zest of 1 orange
50g ground almonds (you could use flaked or blanched)
50g white choc chips

50g sultanas
50g dried cranberries
50g sour cherries

Method
* have a Santas little helper to assist you

*heat oven to 180oC / 160oC fan and line 2 large baking trays
with grease proof paper

*place the flour, sugar, baking powder, mixed spice and zest in a
large bowl and stir to mix well

*stir in the eggs until the mixture starts to form clumps. this does take a while and seems like it will never happen but after about 5 minutes it does

*then bring the dough together with your hands and knead until no floury patches remain

*add the fruit, nuts and chocolate chips

* and knead until all mixed in

*put the dough onto a floured surface and divide the mixture into 4 pieces and roll each one out (carefully) with light floured hands/fingers, to make a sausage shape as long as the mixture will allow really.

* then place each 'sausage' onto the baking trays

* bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes so the dough rises but still looks pale

*remove and transfer to cooling racks until cool enough to touch

*lower oven temp to 140oC/120oC fan

*once cooled, cut each 'sausage' into 1cm thick slices on the diagonal and lay the flatter sides back on the baking trays

*return to the oven for about 15 minutes then remove, turn over and repeat for another 15 minutes until dry and golden

* tip onto a wire rack and cool completely

*once cooled store in airtight tin for up up a month or place in to cello wrap bags to give as gifts

DAY 16

Spook Hoppo & Moomba Wrist Rattles - Review

2011-12-16T09:51:00.000Z

With Christmas fast approaching there is still time to get some little stocking fillers for your little ones and

FindMeAGift.Com has a great selection of ideas for you and your budget.

I was recently sent these Spook Hoppo and Moomba Wrist Rattles for Jenson to play with

This cute little pair of rattles are called Moomba Lion and Hoppo Hippo and they can be worn on either your baby's wrist or on the side of a buggy or crib/cot using their soft velcro straps.

Jenson wasn't sure about wearing them to begin with as he kept removing them and putting them in his mouth! (Well he is teething at the moment) He did enjoy waving them around which made the little jangling sounds each rattle makes hold his attention, and it even made his older brother wander over to see what was going on! He then decided to keep one which did not make Jenson very happy!

So then I ended up giving Moomba to Jenson and Hoppo to Burton to keep the peace! As you will see these little baby rattles even entertain and fit the wrists of a toddler!

These rattle toys would make a lovely gift for a baby, because not only do they have cute little animal faces but they also feel soft to the touch and have added fun textures and a rattle which isn't too loud for mummy! They will stimulate babies by encouraging them to develop their co-ordination and help strengthen their little limbs.

This toy is probably better suited to a younger baby than my Jenson, and certainly my oldest child (!), but
if you need a present for a young baby I would recommend these because for only £7.50 for a pair, from

FindMeAGift.Com they are excellent value.

I was sent these products for the purpose of this post. All words and opinions used are my own as are the photographs and the children in them. I only allow my children to trial products which I feel are suitable for them.