All-in-One Mum

I recently discovered the Organic Babies and Organic Children range by Green People  at my local health food store and was lucky enough to be sent the mandarin and aloe vera toothpaste for my daughter to try (and taste!). Certified organic with EcoCert, the mandarin and aloe vera toothpaste is free from nasty chemicals and irritants.  As it is made with 100% natural ingredients it contains no Fluoride, SLS, Triclosan, Sorbitol, Parabens, phthalates, artificial sweeteners, petrochemicals and colourants. So what do they use to combat the most common teeth and gum related problems? Calcium carbonate to gently clean and remove plaque. Organic essential oils Vitamin C and Myrrh   to combat gum disease. Aloe Vera   to soothe tender gums and reduce swelling.  It also has very strong antiseptic properties. On first taste the mandarin and aloe vera toothpaste is quite sweet and is clearly less sharp tasting than the usual variations of mint that...

I honestly never thought that I would see the day when I would find a 25 degree Celsius day 'hot'.  Yesterday my fingers and hands were clammy with the extreme warmth of my office and I was struggling to type at my computer later on in the day.  I couldn't handle the sudden onset of this rather intense heat.  I fear that I have become weak.  Am I now becoming truly British?  How ever shall I survive when I visit my homeland of South Africa in December (that sounds like British and posh, innit?). I do get sad sometimes when I think about the endless hot days of summer I remember from my childhood growing up in South Africa.  I know we had winter but I seem to have erased that from my memory.  Long, hot gorgeous days that never seemed to end, where we had the beach and outdoors at our disposal.  The beaches that had gorgeous and frighteningly hot white sand that you had to either sprint across, wear flip flops (sandals) or channel...

People always referred to 'the terrible 2's' and I now honestly understand what they meant by that and partially empathise with parents who had gone through the toddler stage. My daughter is (of course!) actually the most pleasant, amazing, fun loving, wonderful child you will ever meet.  It's all a part of growing up and everyone goes through this but if we as adults know how to deal with it and help little one get to grips with their feelings, the journey will be a great deal happier and smoother for all. All that said, and as sure as death and taxes, when your toddler hits 2 they will inevitably have a tantrum of sorts. Some may only have one, some...well, just a few more than that.  They will also inevitably learn the word 'no' and repeat this like a broken record.  My daughter has learnt to think about what I've just said to her and then answer with a drawn out but clearly annunciated 'n-ooooooo'.  I do sometimes get a 'yes' or ...

One of the posts I really missed doing over the past few weeks was Kate's Listography (Kate Takes 5) .  It has changed slightly from a weekly event to a monthly occurrence which means that I have 3 or 4 weeks between posts to get ridiculously excited for the next topic! The theme for May is "Top 5 Things I Love About Kids" and I've listed mine below. 1.  Utter Inappropriateness Have you have thought that someone was a complete and utter dumb dumb and never had the guts to say anything about it?  Just tell a child your secret and they will do the dirty work for you.  Easy peasy!  Also, any toilet humour that happens behind closed doors will no doubt be made very public knowledge within a matter of hours of it happening.  You don't really have much choice in the matter.  Only a child can get away with doing things like this.  You, however, end up looking like the dumb dumb in the end. 2.  Seeing the Joy in Extremely Random Thin...

You know the drill... 1. Look at picture.   2. Have a think.   3. Leave a creative caption! Ax

A few of you my have noticed my absence and lack of blog posts over the past few weeks.  I sincerely hope that you have.  It would make my day!  If you haven't missed me it's probably because you've only just stumbled across my blog! A few weeks ago (29 April to be exact, so that is nearly 19 days ago!!!) I wrote a post on the (joys of) cot to bed transition .  Well, what a joy and learning experience those 19 days have been.  As I said, the bedtime sleep time went completely out the window.  In fact, I think it left the county, possibly country. By the time my husband and I got to bed we would be lucky if we had 6 hours sleep a night before getting up for work.  Time to relax and wind down before bed wasn't happening and my mind began to slowly turn to mush.  In the middle of a phone conversation I went completely blank and tried to compensate with the fact that I'd been working since 8am and it was about 6pm when I was speaking to them and s...