All-in-One Mum

This is my first time taking part in Mammasaurus's   'Saturday is Caption Day' .   Leave a comment on my photo and then why not take part yourself? Ax

Having lived in the UK for going on 8 years you would honestly think I'd know better when it came to using the correct terminology for day to day items.  I'm not too worried about my daughter getting confused as I want her to know about South Africa and where mommy and daddy came from originially as it is part of her heritage.  What I am worried about though is confusing the heck out of my British friends, colleagues and other people that I speak to. A very recent example was when my husband phoned me at work to say he wanted to have a braai and was going to get meilies from the shop.   I told this to a colleague who stared back with a rather puzzled look on their face.  Was it their fault for not understanding me?  No, of course not!  It was mine for being so ridiculous and not saying in plain and simple English that we were going to have a BBQ and wanted to buy sweetcorn to put on the braai, I mean, BBQ.   Regardless, on a braai  you have real...

This year marks 8 years of me living in the UK.  As much as I moan about the weather, rhubarb and rude commuters, I do love it here.  When spring arrives and the days grow longer it becomes an entirely different world.  There is an amazing feeling of happiness and bliss as everyone soaks up the warmer weather and lives the days to their absolute fullest.  Light reflects off corners that you had forgotten about and the warm touch of sun on skin seeps right down to my soul.  I come alive again at this time of year. I inspired myself to create a Meme reflecting over my nearly 8 year stay in the United Kingdom as I was walking into work earlier this week before my brief stint of acute tonsillitis.  Even more reason to be positive now as it's now passed. I have nominated and tagged 5 wonderful individuals to take part in my Meme, listing their top 8 memories over the last 8 years and then tagging 5 other people, just like I have done.  The next 5 ...

This week Kate at Kate Takes 5 has chosen the subject of "5 reasons I know I'm a (fill in the blank). I'm making my Listography into "5 reasons I know I'm a South African (living in the UK)" .  Yes it's silly, but I'm feeling a little homesick today and this has made me feel slightly better for some odd reason. The 5 reasons I know I'm a South African (living in the UK)... 1.  I say 'now now' and 'just now'.    In every place that I have worked in the UK and every person that I have met in the UK over the past 8 years, I have had to explain to them what I mean when I say these words.  What do I say?  "Now now" means that I'll do it shortly when I can or want to and "just now" means I'll do it later.  No actual timescale given.  Simple enough. 2.   I say 'shame' way too much .  It is a word with hundreds of different uses.  Such a fabulous way of expressing emotions and reactions to diff...

I've been tagged!  Huh, say what?!  I've never taken part in a Meme before today but I've seen a number of them floating around the blosphere at the moment. Chloe at A 20 Something Mum  tagged me as well as 4 other Mums in her Meme to answer the questions below.  In turn, I will tag 5 other Mums who can then take part in the Meme if they would like to, giving their answers and tagging another 5 Mums in return. The original Meme was started by Loretta at More Than a Mum  who drew her inspiration for this Meme from an article she read this week in the Metro. I would like to add that there can be no right or wrong answers as everyone has their own views on Motherhood and how to raise their children which we are all so rightly entitled to. I've listed the questions and my answers below and hope that you enjoy reading them. Describe Motherhood in 3 Words Exciting.  Eventful.  Amazing. Does your experience differ from your Mother's and how? Wel...

I absolutely love receiving flowers especially if they are for no obvious reason.   I call these "just because" flowers. This time my flowers were from my amazing hubby  and darling daughter, Isabella, for Mother's Day.  Thank you for my gorgeous bouquet and I love you both very much.   Being a mummy to Isabella is still one of the most wonderful gifts that I have ever received so anything extra that I get on Mother's Day just adds to the indescribable joy of being a Mother to this amazing little being. Ax

" A few of my favourite things " on Babyhuddle

" Books I read from ... " on Babyhuddle

My husband is away on a boys weekend, competing in a 150km cycle race in the Hague, so after I had taken advantage of this by dominating 'his' couch last night and watching a girly movie with Snickers on my lap, I went to check on Isabella before I hopped off to bed. Armed with my heart shaped water bottle to keep my feet toasty as I had no hubby to warm them up on, I placed it under the duvet at the lower part of my bed so that I wouldn't be greeted by cold sheets.  I tip-toed to Isabella's room using my iPhone to light my way and made the fatal mistake of opening her bedroom door just as I heard her stirring yet I decided not to turn around and went in to make sure that she was snuggly tucked in.   I was met with open arms and a smiling toddler so, as it was very late, I picked Isabella up and popped her into bed with me.  This was the first time in months that she simply put her head down and went to sleep in our bed.  On most other occasions that we h...

After nearly 3 weeks of an off again/on again eye infection I think the end is nearly in sight! (ha ha ha, in sight!  I crack myself up!).  Hopefully it will all be sorted out tomorrow when I see the specialist and then I can really get back into my blogging which I feel is being very neglected.  It's one of the things that keeps me sane so for the sake of those around me, my eyes had better sort themselves out and fast! On a more positive note, I have my husband's couch all to myself this weekend and have dug out my 'chick flicks' which I am going to attempt to watch.  Well, I'm not happy that my husband isn't joining me on the couch but sometimes you need to capture these little moments as they are presented to you and use them to the fullest.   I'm thinking of watching  The Time Traveler's Wife first, followed by Twilight tomorrow and maybe the Notebook after that.  I really need to sort out my accounts too but procrastination see...

I have developed an irrational fear of the dentist to the point that I have postponed appointments in an attempt to delay the inevitable.  Ironically I had no fear of giving birth.  Giving birth is meant to be one of the most painful experiences that a woman can go through and as it was my first child I had absolutely no idea of what to expect pain wise. Here are my ramblings and reasonings that I sorted out in my head (possibly talking aloud to myself) while walking home from the dentist today as to why I can happily give birth to child without batting an eyelid and why I break out in a sweat at the thought of a visit to the dentist. 1.    If you go to the dentist and are on the NHS you inevitably have to wait for a week or two until you can get an appointment.  You are then left waiting all that time with the pain until you can be slotted in somewhere.  When you go into labour and have pains and then contractions it should hopefully be over in a matte...

With Mother's Day only 5 days away I thought I'd throw a spanner in the works by introducing you to the latest creations from  Mile House Events .  From cupcake bouquets to beautiful hampers for Mum the creativeness of the team at Mile House Events is clearly limitless. Baby hampers are also a fairly new addition to their repertoire and are the perfect gift to welcome a new arrival to the world. "Cupcake Bouquet" Cupcake bouquets  are made to order and are available at £30 each.  Each bouquet contains 6 cupcakes, 6 fresh roses and 6 sweet peas in oasis floral foam.  They are presented in a coloured tin, available in green, dark pink, light pink and blue and loving wrapped in cellophane and a beautiful ribbon.   "Mum Hamper" The Mum Hamper  is £45 and is presented in a gorgeous basket with a ceramic potted calandiva, Langdon trowel and fork, 10oz lavender candle and wrapped in cellophane with a decorative ribbon. "Pot...

Whilst reading through Chloe's blog at A 20 Something Mum I noticed a new badge on her profile saying 'Babyhuddle Elite Blogger' .  What I found was list maker heaven!  Babyhuddle is a fabulous website that was started by a husband and wife team to help parents and soon-to-be parents make informed decisions on what to by for their babies and children.  The lists are created by other parents so you can find comfort in the fact that the products have been tried and tested for comfort, durability, ease of use; generally things that parents look for in a product.  Just one example of the fabulous lists that the members have created is  'baby travel essentials' .  Join the site and you can make lists of your own as well as ask questions and have them answered by the other very helpful and friendly members of the Babyhuddle family.  The other joy of the site is that you can also buy the items that you see.  Hoorah! I'll be blogging for...

Oh my goodness!  I have been waiting all day to get the chance to start this post! Kate from Kate Takes 5  has made ' My Top 5 Cookbooks ' her listography for the week which is by far my most favourite one to date.  Even though I am a qualified chef (which doesn't really mean much unless I actually use the skills) and worked in restaurants for a number of years, I love lost a bit of my inspiration for cooking.  It is a very, very sad state of affairs indeed.  However with that said, the books I've listed below help me find and channel that deeply longed for cooking mojo that I've been lacking.  So, without further ado, her is my list of my top 5 cookbooks. 1.  Cake Days by The Hummingbird Bakery It's like going to cupcake and baking heaven!  My daughter will carefully page through, examing each page and picture as she slowly turns to the next one, stopping when she finds an image that she loves and points to it, which means that I need to bake!...

The first time I heard of cradle cap was roughly 3 years ago whilst doing a quick late afternoon shop at Boots.  I'm not sure why I was anywhere near the baby section but as I was standing there I overhead two mom's talking about yellow and brown scales on their children's scalp and how they would ‘flake’ and come off in large bits, taking out strands of hair in the process.  They were looking at various products as both desperately wanted to treat it and quickly! Thank goodness I hadn't eaten my dinner as I think I probably would have lost it after hearing all of that.  It sounded absolutely horrific, like a dreaded disease that this poor child had been inflicted with.  I was determined that my child would never suffer the same fate yet little did I know that my daughter, Isabella, would also develop cradle cap. What is cradle cap Also known as infantile or neonatal  seborrhoeic dermatitis , cradle cap usually appears in babies in the first two t...

I usually dream about waking up to a sunny and warm morning or day dream about what it would like to win the Euro Millions and how I'd spend and donate the money to worthy causes.  Lately all I've been dreaming of is seeing Doug at 1Life Health for my Mommy MOT !  Yes, this is indeed the highlight of my month.  It's a very simple life that I lead these days indeed. I finally saw Doug today who treated my lower back which has become increasingly painful over the past few weeks.  This is a recurring complaint and it will take time for it to go away but having regular treatments really does help and I could feel the difference almost immediately.  It was almost like walking on air afterwards.  Some might call it sheer bliss?!  I couldn't wait to book in my April treatment which I did as soon as we were finished, and I'm already counting down the days. If you are in the Hertfordshire area and in need of a deep tissue or s...

Based in St Albans, Hertfordshire,  Mile House Events   are  offering all of my readers a fabulous 15% discount on all bouquets  ordered for Mother's Day.   Mother's Day is on  Sunday 18 March 2012 for those of you who had accidentally skipped over the date in the diary!  And no, I highly doubt that the new Jamie's Italian in town has a single table left! A fabulous range of colours is available and Mile House Events will lovingly put together your perfect bouquet for your Mom or special Mother figure in your life. Show below are just three of the beautiful arrangements that they have created.  Such amazing talent, which I'm sure you will agree with!  Show from left to right, prices are  £59, £36.50, £43.50 (prices quoted before 15% discount) How do I take advantage of this fabulous offer? Quote All-in-One Mum blog  when placing your order(s). How do I order? Phone 01727 834 617  Email   en...