All-in-One Mum

I jinxed it.  Totally.  Completely.  Utterly. Last week my husband was in Spain for a long weekend and was only getting back on the Monday, so I thought that this would be the perfect time to do the cot to bed move.  It isn't because he is less patient, it's just that I thought I'd take the slack if the move didn't go well and avoid having him losing hours of precious shut eye.  After doing night feeds for 12 weeks I thought that losing a few days of sleep would potentially be easy to handle.  I also need to live up to my name of All-in-One Mum after all! We set the bed up on the Wednesday night before my husband left for his trip.  What an absolute disaster.  Even the new gorgeous Peppa Pig bedding couldn't convince our daughter that her new comfy bed was the best thing since sliced bread.  So night 1 was spent in her cot.  Epic fail. My husband left for his cycling weekend and so I carried on with my usual dinner, bath, bed routi...

Seeing as my husband's bike box has become resident in our lounge (way too many bike holidays for him...not me!) I thought I would try and capture...something.  I'm not sure what though!   All thoughts and captions welcome as always. Ax

Would you like to win a £20 Amazon voucher to spend at the fabulous Babyhuddle website?    Earn 5 entries to the competition by following the steps listed on the Rafflecopter below and w hen you register  with  Babyhuddle  you could win an  extra £10 Amazon Voucher on top of the main prize!  That makes a total of £30 in wonderful Amazon vouchers to spend on your little one. If the Rafflecopter doesn't show,  please click on the 'read more' link below. Started by a husband and wife team,  Babyhuddle  was designed to help parents and soon-to-be parents make informed decisions on what products to buy for their babies and children.  Members can create a wide range of lists right from their favourite  baby essentials  through to suggested  books  and reading, so you can rest assured that the products have been tried and tested for comfort, durability, ease of use to name a few; generally things that par...

Hoorah and congratulations!  You're pregnant, and in 8 months time you will be holding your little bundle of joy in your arms.  It's the moment you've been waiting for and the excitement is mounting every day at the idea of meeting your little one for the first time. So after the initial shock and excitement, what now?!  What does a newborn need?  Which way is up?  What clothes do they wear?  Where do they sleep?  What do they eat?  How do I feed the baby?  So many questions that need to be answered and you are probably being told 50 different things by 50 different people, both whom have children and those without.  People without children seem to be the ones with the most ideas and (strongest) opinions oddly enough... Well, fret no more wonderful and blooming pregnant mommy and ecstatic expectant daddy!  Head straight over to Babyhuddle   where you can ask other moms and dads those niggling questions that you ...

The fabulous Mrs Jones from Keeping up with the Joneses  has tagged me in a wonderful Meme entitled ' Ten Things I Tell Myself Every Day' .  It was started by Mum of Three Boys. I'm a list making person.  I write my thoughts down.  I talk about things and then create a written list. I compile lists in my head as I'm walking along and then I either put them into my phone or write them down (sometimes as I'm walking).  It's sad, I know.  I like to think of it as being efficient and not OCD.   Anyway, enough rambling.  Here is my wonderful list of the ten things I tell myself every day. 1.  Today is the first day of your life.   Yes, it's sad I know.  Everyday is a fresh start and a new beginning, blah blah blah.  It's something that I've grown to realise.  Each day is a new day and you really are the master of your own destiny.  After you've gagged, please continue reading. 2.  Today I am not g...

I started following  Mental Mum's Little World  about a month or so ago and while having a snoop around her blog I came across a badge which I (just had to!) click on to see where it lead. I was swept away to  Book Chick City  which is an absolutely fabulous book and movie review blog.  It was started and created back in 2009 by Carolyn and is now made up of a team of four. The original badge that I clicked on took me to the  "100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2012"  page and so I thought, well, why not give it a go?  I have my shiny new Kindle which I was given as a gift for Christmas and so far I have managed to read 3 and a bit books which is pretty darn good seeing as I have not finished a single book since my daughter was born in April 2010. When I was commuting to and from London each day, I could easily read 1 book a week, if not more.  I would devour them and get completely engrossed in the story as the characters and plot s...

Take part in  Mammasaurus's   'Saturday is Caption Day' .   Leave a comment on my photo.  You should know the drill by now! Ax

Just over 2 years ago this would have read slightly differently and been more along the lines of 'Doing the housework and listening to music while dancing around the house like a loon with no distractions and little person to mess it all up again". Something like that.  It may even have been as long as that too as I would have had the pleasure of limitless time. I never wanted to be the type of parent that plonked little one infront of the big black picture box but unfortunately,when the laundry basket lid no longer shuts and the husband's gym and training kit is about to walk downstairs on its own and the floor looks like it is actually pleading with you to mop it, a Mom has to do what she has to do! My daughter loves 'Beebies. Now other than the obvious CBeebies channel, my husband and I have yet to actually figure out what programme she is actually referring to.  We thought we had cracked it with Waybuloo but that was short lived.  We are now at the sta...

Jenna from  Stillettos on the School Run  has created a wonderful Meme that makes me, well, happy!   The task that Jenna has set everyone is to think of 5 places that you consider to be "happy places".  It can be anything really, but generally it's a place that you can call your own, where you can simply be yourself for a few moments without disruptions, food to make, noses to wipe, clothes to wash and all other things that come along with being a Mom/Wife/Partner/Other half/Woman in general! My 5 happy places... 1. Anywhere where my gown is I love wearing my white towelling gown.  I wear it all year round and have often opened the door wearing my gown and received many a strange look.  I get a look of shock when I quickly flash it open to show that I have actually been showered and dressed for a couple of hours!  It's soft, it's warm, it makes me happy. 2.  The Couch I should actually say, 'My husband's couch".  It's an incre...

I was recently tagged in a Meme by Rachel of  Three years, one stone then home .  Dolly Daydream over at Sex, drugs, rocker...and stroller, baby  is the creator of this interesting Meme. Essentially it is a bit of sneak peak into the daily lives of other bloggers and is fabulous because it's a great excuse to ask those questions that you always wanted to know but never dared ask.  Well, sometimes I do ask people this kind of questions but I think that my quirky character gives me a bit of leeway and people humour me and answer as honestly as they can! So, let's cut to the chase shall we! Here are the rules: 1.  Please post the rules (Visions of Fight Club are popping into my mind...) 2.  When answering the questions, give as much information as possible.  It's all about the finer details people!! 3.  Leave a comment on  Sex, drugs, rocker...and stroller, baby .  This is so we can keep track of the Meme and take a polite nose int...

Yes, I said it, well, technically typed it but regardless, it's now out there. I started blogging over 2 years ago but only got into it in earnest at the beginning of 2012. I was overrun with ideas and 'newbie' enthusiasm and spent a large amount of time dreaming about what to write and wether it was actually worth reading. I joined networks, I joined groups, I researched, I linked, I linkey'd, you name it, I probably did it, thought about it or planned to do it. It turned into an obsession. In the middle of February I contracted conjunctivitis in both my eyes which meant that even looking at my phone screen was ridiculously painful so I stop blogging.  It also meant that I looked like I'd been smoking something dodgy and had crusty eyes in the morning.  Sexy!  I could feel the cobwebs growing (in my blog!) and I was itching to compose my latest post, dreading the idea that my hit rate would go down or even worse, that people would loose interest. ...

Wow!  Isabella and Kylie had a wonderful weekend!  On Saturday Isabella's parents took them to breakfast at one of her favourites restaurants.  They had babyccino's and blueberry pancakes covered in bacon and syrup.  Kylie didn't eat the bacon of course because she is vegetarian! Next they went to the outdoor shop because Isabella's daddy wanted to buy a new backpack and her mommy was looking for a present for Isabella's baby cousin who was turning one years old in June.  They had a very exciting time running around the store while mommy and daddy were shopping, hiding behind sleeping bags and pretending they were camping. It was very tiring work so they eventually decided that it would be a good idea to save some energy for the afternoon and for Easter Sunday, so they sat down on the special children sized chairs and watched the grown ups shop.  The grown ups all looked very bored anyway and had confused looks on their faces while they picked u...

Kylie and Isabella had a fabulous day today which started with a very relaxing morning catching up on CBeebies.  After that Mommy took the two girls for a walk to the shops to buy goodies for Isabella's party packs for her birthday party next Sunday.  The party games are all organised and all mommy has to do now is decide on what she is making for the adults and kiddies to eat.  Braai if it doesn't rain.  Braai if it does rain!  South African's can even braai in winter (nothing much stops us). Isabella and Kylie then had a wonderful lunch time nap and when Mommy brought them downstairs she sat them at the kitchen table where she had set up rubber stamps, ink and paper.  They played happily together with the stamps, making beautiful pictures.  All this creativeness made them extremely hungry so they had a small afternoon snack before carrying on with the rest of the activities.  Kylie loved her sugar snap peas and said that they were now her seco...

The first thing my husband said to me when I jumped in the car on Friday after work, with a rather mischevious look on his face I might add, was "You didn't tell me that we had to look after the Koala for the weekend". Now, any sane adult would immediately look for the stuffed toy but after a long day at work and in a complete state of shock at what he had just relayed to me I asked him where it was?  It's amazing how my mind automatically jumped to visions of having some small rodent or other creature roaming in my house for the weekend.  I had guinea pigs and hamsters growing up and cleaning up after them was definitely the least fun bit.  Also, it was predominately my mom's job which means that it is now MY job to do. This in itself is a very scary job.  We have a cat.  Cat's need feeding and occasional grooming but otherwise, they do their business outside of the house which has nothing to do with me cleaning up after her, thankfully! After I quickly ...

This week Kate at Kate Takes 5 has chosen  April Goals  as her Listography topic.  We are now in the 4th month of the year and I'm sure that many of us have let our New Year's resolutions fall by the wayside. I'm going to use this listography as a chance to make my New Year's resolutions V1.2.  Listed below are my goals for April which hopefully will flow out into the rest of 2012 too! 1.  Computer Free Thursday I look after my daughter on a Thursday and when she naps I usually take this time to blog.  However, this is also the one day in the week that I have off from work so I am going to use the time that she is napping to watch catch up TV instead, do the housework and possibly just relax on the couch doing absolutely nothing!  I will not blog on a Thursday and will only check the occasional work email on my iPhone if I need to.  Lucky for me I have a fantastic business partner who shares the work load when I am off and vice versa....

My daughter has a 'thing' for crayons and from what I can gather, the chunkier they are, the better.  I first noticed her taking a nibble of one when she was quite small and managed to get all the bits out of her mouth.   A few tiny pieces may not have been fortunate enough to ever see the light of day again... Now that she is a good year older and about to turn 2 you would think that she would have outgrown this phase.  Her crayon collection is slowly but surely getting smaller by the week and I am losing the will to keep on saying 'please don't eat the crayon, please take it out of your mouth'.  I'll give her her dues though as when I say this she does lean forward and carefully, pushing out her lips, a stream of gob and crayon begins to dribble out of her mouth into my outreached hand.  Before I was a Mum I would have found the thought of this quite disgusting but now, not much bothers me, luckily!   Hopefully in the next few months the idea ...