All-in-One Mum

I recently went to my first blog camp  which turned out to be a fantastic experience, giving me the opportunity to meet a group of wonderful and inspirational foodie and mommy bloggers and other individuals that I would not normal get the chance to be in the same room with. The guest speakers passed over information and inspiration on how to make various social networks work for you as well as ways of dealing with those nasty trolls who seem to make it their life's work to belittle others and leave nasty comments on posts that you've spent time labouring over. "Keep Calm and Carry On" would be the stance I think I'd have to adopt.  I've only had one possibly nasty comment from some anonymous creature.  I've deleted it, due to the sheer stupidity of it, but I should have kept it for a memory box.  I felt embarrassed for them and for the fact that my readers might have to have the unfortunate chance of reading it too.  There was a bit of racism thrown in...

That crazy time of year has already begun.  The shops are slowly beginning to stock Christmas wrapping paper, cards, candles and all things red, green, gold, glittery and shimmery for the Festive season.  We've barely finished the Easter eggs (I can never eat them in one sitting) and now we are onto the next celebration! My daughter was 8 months old when she had her 1st Christmas.  At the time it was very important to me that she had a special and memorable 1st Christmas but in all honesty, she wouldn't remember it even if I showed her photos and videos to jog her memory.  If she claimed that she could remember then I would very quickly get her signed up to Mensa.  Those retailers that sell the cute baby Christmas outfits are laughing all the way to the bank... We are heading off to South Africa for Christmas this year and as she will be 2 1/2 I think she will appreciate Christmas far more and actually be excited to see wha...

Living roughly 11,210 miles away from close family and friends in Cape Town (give or take a few inches), I use social media to share photos and videos of my daughter.  The only hitch is that a large number of these sites are not incredibly private and so I am slightly apprehensive to share more intimate family moments which is a real shame.   23snaps is a fairly new App on the market and a wonderful discovery too at that.  Basically, clever mommy's and daddy's use this extremely user friendly App to share photos of their wonderful offspring with loving family members and friends both locally and around the globe.  Comments can be left on the media you have chosen to share and if they really want to express themselves they can 'heart' the photo or add a smiley or sad face to show deeper virtual emotions. To get started, download the App , register with 23Snaps (none of your information is shared with 3rd parties) and then create a profile for ...

This is a fabulous Guest Post from Joel Dowling who writes for the Sainsbury’s Bank Money Matters blog on a wide range of subjects including family life and motoring. He has two young children but no longer dreads long journeys. I hope you find this as informative and helpful as I did! Making your Car Child-friendly One of the many daunting aspects of parenting is working out what you need and what you don’t. The marketplace seems to teem with products that you simply must have. But for travelling with your kids, there are only really a few essentials that you need to help you get by. Here are a few handy tips to consider: Safety – is the first consideration: Make sure you have a car seat that’s the right size and shape for your child and that it definitely works with your make and model of vehicle. Any serious vendor will have staff trained to know exactly what you need. Make sure your vehicle is safe and roadworthy. Get your tyres, brakes, air bags and fluid levels ch...

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My daughter jumped into bed with me after both of us had woken from gorgeous afternoon naps.   Normal hugs, kisses, tickles and cuddles were followed by my little one wanting to play the 'name that body part' game.  This is what went down... LO:  "Look. Freckle!" (on her arm). Me:   " Yes, and mommy has freckles on her arm too!" I have way too many in fact, all from growing up in the South African sun.  Don't think I've added that many in the past 8 years while living and spending most of my time in the UK. LO: (After brief inspection of mommy's freckles).  "What's that?" (pointing to my rather wrinkly elbow flesh) My elbow has a tiny scar on it from where one of the family dog's we had whilst growing up accidentally bit me when I was about 10. Me:   " It's my elbow, sweetie." At this point I straightened my arm to look at it, so the skin was no longer tight. LO: " Ewww!!" (Looks of utte...