The Beesley Buzz

On a day like this

On a day like this, his younger brother says “I wish I wasn’t in this family” and it breaks my heart.

On a day like this, I think to myself “I never realised that I’d signed up for this when I became a mum”.

On a day like this I want to tell those staring faces that I’d like to see how they’d cope with him 24/7.

On a day like this, I want to tell them that I need a break…everyone needs a break from this.

On a day like this, I want him to wear a sign …

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39 and Counting

You Know You’re Old When You Make Your Gift List

I’d like a new tooth for my birthday please. I’d like a watch and some jewellery to replace the stuff the burglars took 18 months ago, I’d like a kindle, a party, a child free night, I’d like the ring I coveted from my boss 10 years ago.

I want never gets but I would like sometimes does, so I must have a chance….

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The Fashion Meteorologist

Dressing for the Weather 101: 10°c and under

Wednesday was visibly a beautiful day. Sun shining, not a cloud in the sky but with temperatures just about reaching 10°c. As a paranoid weather dresser, I was prepared for this and dressed for the temperature over anything else, which definitely did the trick! Below are a few of my hints and tips for outsmarting the somewhat deceptive current climate…
- Do not be deceived by the sun! With the evenings drawing in earlier, any heat generated by the sun (which in all honesty is not much!) during winter will ultimately disappear once it starts to go down…

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A great deal of honesty and a pinch of humour

My mummy mysteries – the things I will never know

 

There is an endless list of things about being a mum which I will never know nor understand … mostly they amuse me, occasionally they frustrate me. The last couple of weeks have been a particularly busy period in finding things that sit neatly in this category of what I shall here forward refer to as …mummy mysteries

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The Oliver’s Madhouse

I Am No Victim …. I Am a Survivor

Over recent months I have had such an overwhelming sense of wholeness and have spent some time reflecting on parts of my past that have made me who I am and made me the person i am today.

This story starts after the breakdown of my 1st marriage in 2007. It was a scary time for me and Bethany. Although my husband and I had been together 5 years we only managed 9 months married. Now don’t get me wrong we didn’t hate each other or have affairs, we simply were unhappy and decided to call it a day.

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Mummy and the Monsters

What would you give up for your kids?

What would you give up for your kids?
I recently read an article asking just that…….what would you give up for your kids? One mum was more than happy to sacrifice her time and money, taking her two girls to various after school activities, never saying no, while the other mum had made it clear to her three children that they had to earn their money, she wasn’t going to hand out it like sweets.

It made me think about what I had given up since having my monsters……

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Domestic Disgrace

Welcome to Domestic Disgrace!

This blog is more about a journey. I really am a domestic disgrace. I can’t cook, I use wonder web to stick on Brownie badges and I only clear out my car when we can’t fit in it any longer…

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Verily, Victoria Vocalises

Motorbiking

Seventeen years ago, I fell off the back of a motorcycle. It was a Suzuki GSXR1100 belonging to my ex. We had gone out for a ‘Sunday hack’ as they called them, with a group of other bikers, and I was riding pillion. One of the guys decided they needed fuel, so everyone started to pull into the garage.

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MiniBookWorms

Sir Charlie Stinky Socks and the Tale of Two Treasures – Kristina Stephenson

The story itself sees the King of the castle finding a treasure map in his bookcase so  our brave hero and his slightly less brave friends, Envelope the Cat and the ‘good grey mare’ head off on a quest to find the treasure for their king. Travelling through the Mine of Much Despair, the Tomb of Doom and River of Riddles, they use the map along the way to help with riddles and puzzles which readers have the chance to join in with.

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This day I love

Baby sign

Today we bought her the magazine and it was a special Christmas edition, with some Christmas style flash cards. She loved these and began copying the Christmas signs. She signed

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Story of a mum of 4, my lovely biggest boy has Asperger Syndrome

Grey days and waiting for the sun to shine

I find myself on a bit of a rollercoaster at the moment. I seem to have days where I am ready to take on the world and his mum, and days where I lack motivation for anything and would in all honesty rather stay in bed. And not much in between.

I find that the days I have something important to achieve, such as a meeting about J to go to or an important letter that needs writing, are my taking on the world days. Maybe it’s the adrenalin and then the dip in it after, but the day

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Vintage Mummy

Grab your Christmas Jumpers! #whereswoolly ?

Save the Children launches a social media campaign today called #whereswoolly to run until December 14th when it will be Christmas Jumper Day . Save the Children are looking for people to take photos of themselves wearing jumpers and tweet the photo with the hashtag #whereswoolly  - it can be somewhere as unusual or fun as you like!

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Just Photos by Me

Silent Sunday

Ricky the Rockhopper Penguin at ZSL London Zoo

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policemanslot

Settling into police life

A few days into my new job as a police officer, I have realised that accidents don’t happen every five minutes. Armed robberies are non-existent and people don’t fall dead in the street very often either.

As for giving directions to places I don’t know, I pretend I quite clearly do and send them on their way with a number of left turns and right turns. Then I keep out of the way for ten minutes in case the come back looking for me.

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run of the windmill

Home for Christmas

I am making a trip to England on my own with the kids. P is at home doing up the attic. We have grand plans. One day (after we finally get the plasterboards up) it will become an all-new, sleek and stylish boudoir….so we’ll see what 5 days without the interuption of screams, bum wipes, tears and mayhem brings.

The only slight hiccup to preceedings though could be that ambition outweighs common sense.

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Blogging Mummy

Homemade Pizza

You cant beat homemade pizza and homemade chips. Better than any shop pizza. 10th November we decided to make this for our dinner.

Looked amazing and tasted even better. So easy to make and takes about an hour in total. Our topping was, chicken, pepperoni, spinach, pepper and mushrooms.

10 out of 10 and much better than buying one from the shop

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Story of a mum of 4, my lovely biggest boy has Asperger Syndrome

My son and his Asperger Syndrome

My son and his Asperger Syndrome
I have blogged in the past about how we explained to J that he has Asperger Syndrome. The diagnosis is still very new – only 6 months, and we only told J 3 months ago, when his anxiety had reduced to a level where he could cope with hearing it and be able to understand it.

We have always portrayed it as a positive thing. When he mentions what he had for dinner one Wednesday when he was 4, I remind him that he has got such a great memory because he has

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Helpful Mum

What is happiness?

Have you ever stopped for a minute and thought about happiness. What it means to you. What is it? What does it mean to you? Where do you find it? How do you use it?

Thomas Hobbes, the political philosopher said that happiness is gaining power and that we are driven by “a perpetual and restless desire of power after power’. Now, whilst Hobbes is indeed an incredibly intelligent man, I cannot agree with this statement.

In my mind, happiness can be derived from a plethora of sources, the vast majority of them absolutely nothing to do with…

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Vintage Mummy

Carnations

A new blog deserves a new meme, and this one comes in the form of ‘Vintage Love’, a chance to link up any vintage inspired posts, new or old, each week. Working to no particular theme I chose for my own Vintage Love post this week - Carnations.  You can find the linky at the bottom of this post if you’d like to join in.

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littleeandbean

Snot and guilt

Little E and I are ill. I write this with stingy eyes and a sore throat and a body that is shouting “get yourself to bed, woman!”. Woe is me. In the meantime a teething, peaky, Little E is making piggy noises to Peppa Pig. I think he’s exceeded his annual quota of screen time this week alone. I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed that the tv overload doesn’t make him delinquent or reverse his fine motor skills. Argh, the guilt!

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This day I love

Bubbles

Trying to entertain two young children can sometimes be tricky but when you add a Jack Russell into the mix things get rather interesting. I want my children to grow up with J, our dog, as their companion and a friend. He is already protective of them and he is part of our family

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F.A.B at Forty

Getting Crafty

I don’t usually get in Christmas mode until mid November, but I’ve realised that this year with the girls as active as they are, I need to start doing things a bit early. It’s difficult enough at times trying to get organised without Christmas thrown into the mix.
I normally give my sisters hampers with my homemade chutney, Sloe Gin, jams, candles and a few Christmas baubles that I’ve made from Fimo. They love this kind of gift and I love doing it.

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Verily, Victoria Vocalises

Silver Dream Machine

My first car was an old ‘V’ registration Datsun 180b Estate.

I had passed my test in May 1989 and at the same time my brother’s friend’s parents were selling the vehicle. My Mum and Dad paid £250 for it.

It was a mighty big first car to have – especially as I had been learning in a Volkswagen Polo (the old new shape, which was squared off at the back!). Cosmetically, the Datsun was a complete mess. It was silver and looked like someone had gone over it with a hammer and chisel.

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All At Sea

This Pretty Face

Yet a happier place to be. Stretched and blemished and perfect not. Loved and strong with a place in the world. I should not turn back the clock. My daughter grins a toothy smile, chubby cheeks and the brightest eyes. My darling girl. I’ll trade my years of youth to smile upon you. Spring eternal in the face of a child. Welcome compensation for the compulsory price of age.

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Just Photos by Me

Windows on Wildlife – Wolverine

A very, very long time ago there were wild Wolverines living here in England. There are none in the wild here now but this pair a the zoo have become firm favourites with my son – although he insists on calling them “Wolbereens” or “Wolbies” for short. The male is called Puff and the female Pige (said Pie-ah) but as yet there are no little Wolbies for us to coo over.

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Damson Lane

Why isn’t being a mother enough?

Why isn’t being a mother enough? When my son was born I decided to stay at home and not to return to work. Since then there is this niggling feeling that I have failed.

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pinsey

Clinging onto my shiney sticker

Well the last didn’t go so well, I had a number of naughty things that I really shouldn’t have had but then I also walked 32 miles with the crazy dog so was a little bit peeved to put half a pound back on.

I know I hadn’t been perfect but hoped the walking would have made up for it. At least I clung on to my shiney sticker as I have still lost half a stone.

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The Puffin Diaries

Twisted Fabric Earrings – Tutorial

A kind friend recently donated two beautiful African print swatch books to the cause which is “Freda and Me”. How I oohed and aaghed at the beautiful prints that touch my heart due to my African birthplace. Of course I tingled throughout with the creative possibilities before me, the countless ideas for making. In the end I decided to start with something I had already worked a little on and develop it further, so the twisted brooches I’d already devised (see here) have inspired the twisted fabric earring

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Minisaurus

Scamp has been referred to an ENT specialist for hearing loss

Yesterday Steph from I’m Counting UFOs came over with her children and talked me about her daughters past hearing problems and how she had grommets fitted and it’s changed her as a child. Last night Scamp woke at 2am and 5am crying with earache so this  morning, filled with a new sense of motherly I’m-not-going-to-take-no-for-an-answer we went to see our GP again (5th time this month with hearing issues).

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Grandad came to tea

Schindler’s Lift

The phrase ‘built-in wardrobes’ sends a frisson down my spine and it has the same effect on Dad too. That is posh. The lounge is bright and white with a small balcony and if you crane your neck to the left, there is the sea. Today, it’s hard to see where the sea ends and the sky begins.

The bathroom is fresh, with a low bath – great for those with crap knees – and emergency cords a plenty – ditto. What more do you need?

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Grandad came to tea

Enchanted woods

Today I had my nephew with me for the day.  I have been looking forward to this for sometime as my daughter really loves spending time with her cousins and it’s always nice for me to listen to her laugh and giggle and to have someone for her to play with closer to her age.

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Recommended by This day I love

Helpful Mummy

Midweek Money

 

Ooh, so now I have a name for my posts which contain money saving vouchers and codes for you.

I will make sure that this is a weekly feature, aimed at saving you money in places I think you might like. There is nothing wrong with finding savings where you can.

Here are my picks of the best offers which will save you money in your daily, weekly or even Christmas shopping!

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Blogging Mummy

Pumpkin Carving

Little man helped Mummy and Grandad do the pumpkin carving This is His first year of having a pumpkin. Little man was not to sure about touching the pumpkin seeds and the inside to start with. He did however soon get into it.
You can read our full story about the carving on my blog www.blogginmummy.wordpress.com.

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Story of a mum of 4, my lovely biggest boy has Asperger Syndrome

Things that make me smile

When O sits in his pushchair, waving to anyone we pass (not unlike the Queen) and shouting in his best Cockney accent ‘Ello!’ (FYI, he’s 2, and we live in Northamptonshire)

When J says to me, as I’m singing along to the radio, “You’re a good singer Mummy, but not as good as me – I’ve got better projection” Got to love the Aspergers honesty.

When I get to spend some time with my Mum.

When I sit on a bench and watch G ride her bike all the way around the park, because she is

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A great deal of honesty and a pinch of humour

Half term reflections – my lessons learned

 

After a mammoth 8 week first term at school and Ellie’s imminent start at her new school, I’ve been reflecting about how it’s all gone and I realise that I’ve learned some important things about me, about Ellie and about school.

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MiniBookWorms

Review: Goose by Laura Wall

Scamp and Ozzy loved the bright colours and the bold drawings of the Goose books and related to the scenarios from the books. Scamp recently started school and the Goose goes to School book provoked some discussion from Scamp afterwards where she talked to me about how she had been worried about starting school but now loves it. It’s great when a book can lead to such a reaction with a child even after the book is finished.

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The Fashion Meteorologist

Welcome to The Fashion Meteorologist!

By keeping up to date with current weather conditions as well as the climate on the catwalks (and highstreet, as a struggling ex-student!) I will attempt to make your day a little less stressful when it comes to dressing for the weather…There are a hundred ways to wear an item of clothing and another hundred ways to make it work for almost any weather. So I will try (and I mean try as I am new to this) to team fashion and meteorology (a.k.a. weather forecasting) together in a loving, stress-free relationship…

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Anonymummy

Anonymummy

After a remarkable amount of umming, ahhing and ‘I want to start a blog-ing’ I have finally ventured into the Blogosphere! Its not as frightening and hostile an environment as I had worked it up to be with a little help from my friendly imagination. What’s more, in a fairly dramatic turn of events and owing to the evening on which I decided to join the blogging world, my little working mum blog isn’t exactly going to start off on the theme I had orgially pictured all that umming, ahhing and ‘I want to start a blog-ing’ ago.

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Mob Rule Blog

The worst words your children utter at 8.26am

I don’t know about you, but in our house 08.26 has to be one of the most knife-edge times of the term-time day.

When the boys were tiny, and I had three under five, it was inevitably the moment my youngest chose to – urgently and obviously – need a nappy change. When the boys were slightly bigger, it turned into the time when the older two, scrabbling to be first out of the back door and thus get their feet on a football, would trample the smallest underfoot leading to screams, chaos and carnage.

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run of the windmill

Steaming Over the Creases

Bad news……I have done something I swore I never would.

I have bought an iron.

Does this mean that at the age of 37 I have finally admitted that I’m a grown up, boring adult? I hate laundry and I have always believed that the best way to avoid prolonging the agonising cycle of picking it up off the floor, washing, hanging, folding and putting away was not to own an iron. That way I would never be tempted to add another arduous step into the cycle.

Do not have iron – will not iron.

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Pressies by Pebbles

Steaming Over the Creases

Basically Manic Mum met Super Amazing Mum 2 years ago online. They both started blogging at the same time and they bonded. They weren’t friends in real life however have become so. MM has gone through the most horrendous personal nightmare and SAM jumped in without being asked and from what I have read was there when she was really needed and they now are real life best buddies. Their families are friends, their kids are mates, and they stay at each others houses and call each other up to laugh, cry or just for a chin wag.

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Blogging Myself Slim

Back At Fat Club (again)

But first of all, how did I end up like this, we’ll that’s easy, though I’ve never been skinny, until I left school I was fit, sporty and muscly, and while the boys at school were envious of my rugby player thighs, I certainly wasn’t fat. But I left school and discovered the demon of alcohol, then I left home at 18 and discovered I could eat what the hell I liked and I did. So there you have it, easy, I drank too much, I ate too much, of all the wrong things, and I didn’t exercise anymore. And the weight piled on so very very quickly.

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Freda and Me

Inspire Me

I do that thing, when my husband can’t stand the towering pile of magazines pushing up my side of the bed or threatening to topple and wipe out one corner of the lounge, I go through the magazines and tear out all the things I like and recycle what’s left. Every kitchen I want, holiday I desire, all the food I need in my life, those dresses I covet, they become a stack of ripped edge paper that creates a new but smaller pile on my side of the bed or in a corner of the lounge.

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Recommended by The Puffin Diaries

This day I love

Cheese Sandwiches

We had a very busy morning and so I thought I would treat my girls to lunch out. I asked my daughter what she would like and she said cheese sandwich and juice please mummy. A fair request only they were out of cheese sandwiches.

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New Mummy Review

An app for everything?

At the click of a button I could record when he fed, for how long, which side, even expressing was covered. It kindly produced little graphs for me, showing how many hours a day he fed or slept, intervals and durations.

Somehow this made me feel in control of things, even though bubba was sleeping and feeding on demand. I could see little patterns, and trends, and I could see that there was some semblance of order to our chaotic life.

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Story of a mum of 4, my lovely biggest boy has Asperger Syndrome

Me, and why I write this

Me, and why I write this
I’ve never been much of a writer. As a student doing a history degree I loved learning but was never so keen on the writing part. 5000 word essays? No thanks ever so much.

I have always worked, and I have always enjoyed working. As a self employed person I was back to work 6 weeks after E was born, and 9 weeks after O was born. But a few months ago it got to the point where it was obvious that I needed to be at home, that James needed

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Mums to do List

The Christmas Stash

Yesterday Santa made a visit to Toys R Us to fill her sack (cue me, my mum and two toddlers rampaging the shop).

Mission number 1: The Shop
Obviously its easy to shop while Samuel is at school, but this is the last time I will be able to take Olly and Issy with me. They were taking far too much interest in what was going into the trolley!

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F.A.B at Forty

Cinderella Syndrome!

I love living in the countryside, I love the peace and quiet, I love being surrounded by nature and an abundance of wildlife. I love that our daughters can play securely outside, with complete privacy and safety. I know that they can’t be snatched from the doorstep by some random weirdo, the location of our house makes it virtually impossible for anyone to get near us without being seen or heard.

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Just Photo’s By Me

The Iron Maiden Drum Kit

My See It Snap It Love It post seems to have brought out the closet Iron Maiden fans in my readership. To indulge those who have ooo’d ahhhh’d and worshipped the first picture, here are the rest that I took whilst I was in Frankfurt:

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Mummy Glitzer

Spooky Goings On

The husband and I are usually both sceptics when it comes to ghosts/spirits/whatever you want to call them. However, there have been a few spooky goings on at home recently which have left us wondering that perhaps there may be something after all.

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A great deal of honesty and a pinch of humour

Bribery and corruption – an ode to reward charts

 

I absolutely love Ellie’s reward chart and luckily for me, so does Ellie! Ellie loves it because she loves stickers and being told well done. I love it simply because it works.

Oh sticker chart, oh sticker chart, you’re my favourite mummy tool.
Ellie loves you too and thinks you’re really cool.

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Baby-A

My Carry Potty Review- A day out at the national railway museum

We felt that our son Sydney was ready for potty training as he was very conscious of “wee wee’s” and “poo poo’s”. When having a house day we had been leaving him nappy free and when he needed the toilet he took himself off to get a nappy for mummy or daddy to put on him. With this in mind we thought that being able to review the My Carry Potty was perfect timing as using the potty would (we thought)be the next step.

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Just Look and You Will See

The Gallery 120 ~ Books

The theme for The Gallery this week is Books.

Another hard one for me, I read many books, I love books, my taste is very broad from Dean Koontz,  Brian Jacques to Biographies.

How can I use books as a theme?

I went looking through the bookcase and came across my childhood version of 101 Dalmatians.

I had an idea **relieved sigh** I would hate to miss a week.

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Recommended by Me, Myself and I

Blogging Mummy

Little mans first trip on a plane

In May 2012 we had a holiday booked to go to Egypt.Finally the time came for us to get up and leave for the airport.We walked to our gate.The airhostess advised that they would being us a seat belt. We sat down and I was praying someone nice would come and sit next to us. After 6 hours of flying we landed. When we were coming down he did not cry once with his ears. The lady next to us and a few people around us said to my partner and I how amazingly well-behaved he had been.

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Helpful Mum

Should we ditch social media?

Is it time to ditch social media? I have recently been thinking a lot about social networking. It is a huge part of our daily lives, especially to bloggers. But how does social networking impact on our real life friendships? You know, the friends you meet up with regularly. I have no doubt that social networking is good for the friends I meet inside my computer – there are so many people I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of encountering without, for example, Twitter.

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mummyneversleeps.com

Twenty Five Candles

*sings* I don’t like biiiiiiirthdays…. Tell me why! I don’t like biiiiiiiiiirthdays….

Mm-hmmm. That day full of anticipation and people on Facebook, who you have no idea how you came about being “friends” with, cos you sure as hell don’t bloody know ‘em, wishing you many happy returns because they got a reminder notification it’s your birthday.

I think I have too much stuff in the past that is connected with my birthday, bad stuff, I can’t forget about as much as I’d like it all to just fuck off.

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Minisaurus

Tips to help kids get a good nights sleep

Socks! Studies have shown that wearing socks in bed helps promote a good nights sleep.

Consider investing in a wool duvet – Although pricier than traditional feather and down or hollow-fiber duvets, wool duvets keep you warm in winter and cooler in summer – meaning your child will only need one duvet all year round.

Take 5 minutes to lie down in your kids bed in the evening and first thing in the morning – you may find that shadows appear to be scary and that that it leading to your child waking up frightened. What could be a slatted blind may appear to young eyes to be the shadow of a crocodile!
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Yumbeemum

Yumbeemum!

First of all, I have to make it clear that I am a bit of a technophobe (hence grrrrr… and why the picture is the wrong way around), especially considering my youthful (?) age. I must also add that I am typing this on a seven-year-old laptop- many things can go wrong! I’m also a new mother, and as I type this I have a teethy, cross baby yelping atm. She’s almost in bed so now we can all breathe sigh of relief. And pour a large glass of vino. Aaaaaahhhhhhhh. *Slurp*.

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Verily, Victoria Vocalises

Too Young to Die

Like any Mum, one of my biggest worries is anyone hurting my daughter. But there is also the fear of her hurting someone else, and there is nothing more likely in that respect than when she starts to drive. Thankfully, I am in the position of being a DSA Approved Driving Instructor and am armed with first-hand knowledge which I share with Grace at the tender age of 5.

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Damson Lane

Halloween Monster eyeballs

We recently played with pom poms in plastic jars and it gave me the idea to give the activity a Halloween theme adding googly eyes to the pom poms to make ‘monster eyeballs’.

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Theatre,Book and Movies

Book Review:The Time Traveler’s Wife

love reading. It is my chance to disappear into another world and switch off from my busy life. I will ready anything and everything. I used to always try and finish everything I started, but now I give a book to about half way through and if it is taking me longer than a month to read, set it aside and start something. I wanted to be entertained, grabbed and sucked in. But I ramble, this is supposed to be a Book Review for The Time Traveler’s Wife.

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12 Feasts

12 Feasts

12 Feasts has the aim of being a new Craft and Networking Blog that will talk about all things craft and will host online craft fairs.

There is every chance that I will go off on a tangent though and the blog may therefore include any number of other things. Hopefully you will still find this blog fun and useful though.

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All At Sea

Many Happy Returns

Plump, rosy cheeks and a side-swept lock of hair, cotton rompered with no need yet for shoes of her own. On a day when newspaper headlines leave us sick with fear for a family we do not know, I wish not to see my daughter crawl. I tell her ‘stay around, stay small, stay safe – when you roll from this room and out to our hall, know your mother loves you – and that out of sight is not – is never – out of mind…’ x

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Team Lloyd

what not to say or do

So incase you ever find yourself in this situation where you are not sure what to say to a friend, a colleague, a patient, a client, a sister, a brother, a daughter, a son, a mother, or a father then please try your upmost not to say these because the recipient may not be as nice as I have been up to now.

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Musings of a new wife and mummy.

Autumn days when the grass is jewelled…

Autumn is my favourite season!!!
I love the beautiful colours of the leaves, the cosy evenings by the roaring log fire…The promise of Santa coming down the chimney soon, Chestnuts roasting…Okay, i’ve gone off in my dreams again…But the first line is true!

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mummyneversleeps.com

Hurt

It’s a massive shock to fall back down to earth from discovering this outlet, this complete and utter release, this passion project to realise that it can cause so much pain and anguish. That it can bite you on the arse so to speak, but worst of all it’s using words you have written yourself as a club to beat you around the head with.

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Don’t tell the kids

Austin? Toddler? Food?

Today I cooked a curry, which normally she likes but today she wouldn’t even touch it. My question that I ask every day is “is it the autism or is it her age?” Bella is approaching two and a half and it’s so difficult to know what is due to the ASD and what is just plain stubbornness. I always said I’d never be one of those parents who barter and bribe their children over the dinner table. Now however I long for the day where I can say “just a couple more spoonfuls and you can have pudding.”

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F.A.B at Forty

The Curse of Thursday

Thursday used to be a really good day for me. I was able to get all my housework and laundry done, batch cook any meals I wanted to and have everything sorted for the weekend.
The afternoon would then be spent playing, baking, painting or going out to do things with the girls. I used to love our Thursdays. However, for about a month or more, some strange metamorphosis takes place on a Wednesday night and by Thursday morning, my normally fun, mischievous, happy little girls are both transformed into screaming, fighting, destructful, disobedient nightmares.

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Grandad came to tea

The Joys of supecesharzee

Our poor darling. Arnie’s L’s and W’s are troubled and his Ks sound like Ts and his Ds sound like Fs. Which makes him yelling “kitty duck” in the playground particularly excruciating.

It is our third group session. Arnie and I take our cushions and sit expectantly in the circle. At least I do. Arnie twirls around and picks at the floor. I get the picture of his words from his folder. We are supposed to have practiced our words every day. What can I say? It’s been a busy week.

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A great deal of honesty and a pinch of humour

A lesson from Ellie

 

This week’s news is that Ellie is moving school – more specifically, we are moving house and moving area which obviously means a new school and a new child minder. This is clearly big news and a big change.

Ellie is considerably more resilient than I. This weekend my daughter taught me a lesson.

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Nothing But Words & Wine

I Am Not Kat Moon.

We’re meant to have moved forward, become more civilised in the way we treat one another, certain language and behaviour where we work- or anywhere for that matter- is no longer considered acceptable.
Sure.
In that case, I would invite you to go and work a busy Saturday night in your local pub as a young woman in her twenties. For I can tell you from experience that in that particular environment, the attitude that people being arrogant, sexist, rude, derogatory and condescending is still not only alive and well, but considered entirely acceptable.

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Mistakes Of The First Time Mummy

Am I Over-Reacting?

I do like to think that I’m a calm, patient person. My job reflects this, I think that is why people feel the need to push me; just to see how far I will go. I have to admit, once I’ve lost my temper I do go over the top. This very nearly happened today.

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Things I hope you know

Those first few weeks…

Yesterday I saw a friend’s new baby. Just a few days old, all wrapped up and beautiful. Tiny and perfect. It was so strange holding such a tiny little person again now I have big old tromping children rather than babies. Where did the time go!!!!! It took me back 6 years to our first few weeks as a family of three rather than a couple….

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Blogging Mummy

Ups and downs of my pregnancy and birth

I had weekly check ups with my midwife now though so she could keep her eye on me and baby. She measured me at 26 weeks and said I was the size of a full term mum. I was sent for another scan at 28 weeks and I was told that I had excessive fluid which is the reason for me being so big. This is called Polyhydramnios.
To read our full story click the link …

http://blogginmummy.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/the-ups-and-downs-on-my-pregnancy-and-the-birth/

Thanks

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My first photo blog

Love, love me do

Autumn time makes me feel romantic, always has done – always will do.

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LearnLoveGrow.com

Autumn thoughts

The view from my window has changed so much in the past two weeks, the life fuelled olive coloured leaves I had become accustomed too, now altered irrevocably, indeed fatally. However, even in death, they retain their beauty and dignity, continuing to contribute to the relentless life-cycle of nature, despite their demise.

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You’re not from round here.

Saving you money

Who doesn’t like to save money? I will be giving readers the chance to save some money every week with a blog post which includes money saving voucher codes.

With Halloween fast approaching, this offer is great for purchasing any items you may need.
You can get 10% off when you buy Halloween items from I want one of those IWOT. You just need to click here and make sure you use the code SAVBOO at checkout.

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Grandad came to tea

This Little Piggy

When we were young, my sister said our family was like the five little Piggys: This little Piggy, Dad, went to market and this little Piggy, Mum, stayed at home. My sister really did ‘love roast beef’. Even when I was about seven, it gave me great pleasure to think my brother, the next little piggy, ‘had none’.

The main memory I have of my brother as a child is of him running into the garden and telling me that nuclear war was about to break out. It was going to be awful. “Kill yourself now,” he suggested.

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Twaddle and Tonic

Sewing Class Chronicles

Here was me thinking I’d rock up, mainly injure myself a lot but learn the basics of a new skill and be pretty nonchalant about the whole thing but approximately 3.4 seconds into the first lesson….HOOKED! Hooked in a deep, unidentifiable, random way that only really happens when you find true love. Well…..there’s a turn up for the books (as the Mothership would say). Who knew that what my life was missing was textile crafts? I BLOODY LOVE IT!

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Nothing But Words & Wine

Privacy

The whole thing made me think a lot about what I write when I blog. I maintain that this blog is my space where I am able to be absolutely honest about what I’m thinking or feeling and therefore I should be able to do just that. However, once I’ve published it, there’s no going back. I’ve deleted my old blog, hidden it from search engines but you can still find it. So of course, no matter how free I may want to be with what I write I still have to censor myself somewhat.

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A great deal of honesty and a pinch of humour

Pants, patience and the low down from school!

At just over one month into Ellie’s first year at school I thought it was about time for an update on how we were getting on and what’s happened over the month. So here are our headlines from the first month.

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Finding My Inner Girl

Finding My Inner Girl… — She’s in here somewhere!

A Brand new blog for hopefully a brand new me. This is going to be my journey of discovering my ‘inner girl’ – Inside I’m pretty girlie, I love pink and adore nice things, yet if you saw me in my hoody, jeans and trainers you’d never guess! I’m going to learn to feel good about myself, figure out what looks good on me and generally feel better about myself, I’m going to take better care of my hair, nails, skin, diet, fitness – the whole lot! I’m going to try and lose the hoody & jeans for good!

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Damson Lane

Remembering moments from childhood

I didn’t think that I remembered anything much from my childhood but recently some of the things Blue has done have triggered memories I had completely forgotten.

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Three for a girl

Toddling off Down Under

In just over two months’ time I will be doing something utterly bonkers – an act so crazy that I’m sure I must have been drunk when agreeing to it.

Yes, I am flying to Australia with a two year old.

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Crazy with Twins

There’s nothing to be afraid of…

That moment has come…

The moment that a lot of mothers dread, when their husbands are at work, and this happens. Your daughter comes down the stairs at bedtime crying. She tells you something that makes your blood run cold. Bile rises in your throat. Terror makes every hair on your body stand on end.

You know you have to be mature about this. You are the grown up. You mustn’t let your fear show…

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Blogging Mummy

Just Like Daddy

Little monkeys daddy has always said he would love himself and Monkey to have matching hats when he is older. Daddy always wears this hat when he can not be bothered to do his hair.One day I decided to put the hat on little monkey and take a picture and send it to the other half at work to make him smile. He absolutely loved the picture and said it made him smile. Now our little monkey is 17 moths old hes always getting this hat and putting it on. He wants to be just like his daddy.

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littleeandbean

why blog?

I wrote this post after being tagged in a meme by a very lovely lady. Her timing was perfect because it’s given me an opportunity to reflect on a recent post in which I got all hot and bothered about whether I should be here, declaring my all and sundries to the blogosphere. Now I’ve had the chance to think about that post and read over the lovely, kind, supportive comments that people left, I think I know why I’m here. This is why I blog…

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You’re not from round here.

Family Budgeting

 

This is a guest post from Laura who blogs at Yummy Mummy Flabby Tummy.

I have 2 children and didn’t realise how much raising children would cost. The baby part was (mostly) OK, especially when my first was born, as everyone bought lots of presents and gave us lots of money for their banks. It’s as they’ve gotten older and need more stuff: shoes, clothes, hobbies, activities, and days out, toys, games and food!

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The Puffin Diaries

An Embroidered Heirloom

My mum asked me to find a piece of embroidery I had from my grandma, Freda. It is a piece she had been working on but not finished before she died. I took up the challenge to continue the work but have to confess that I lost interest, then forgot about, then adopted two children. So it has sat in a draw for some years until the other week when my mum mentioned it.

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Mums to do List

My Silent Grieving

At 9 weeks I started bleeding, not heavy, just spotting. I was mortified and visited my doctor straight away. I was sent to hospital where I had a scan. At 9 weeks they have to carry out a scan internally, so it was quite an uncomfortable experience. I remember praying that everything was ok and desperately looking at the sonographers screen for my baby.

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Mummy Glitzer

MummyGlitzer – Mummy Blogger & Domestic Genius

A muddled brain. Random thoughts that are nonsense. Some thoughts that make sense. At times it is difficult to differentiate between them. What is real? What isn’t real?

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Pressies by Pebbles

Hello everyone…

I feel a little nervous and dare I say a little silly too!!!!

Nervous because I’ve spent many years reading other blogs and thinking “wow they write so well” or “wow they are pretty cool” and unfortunately I don’t think I write well and I know I’m not cool!!!!! Silly because writing this down is like thinking at night while you’re awake. You’re talking to absolutely nobody so things just go round and round in your head and there’s never a solution so…… the question is why am I writing?

I’m an insomniac.

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Story of a mum of 4, my lovely biggest boy has Asperger Syndrome

Other people’s opinions

There’s only one thing that really bothers me about James’ diagnosis – other peoples opinions on it. And let me just explain, I’m not talking about people who have spent 6+ years in medical school, or people who actually know much or anything about autism.

I’m talking about the person who, when I tell them James has Asperger Syndrome, say ‘Really I wouldn’t have thought that he did?’ Or the person who, when I’m telling them James has also been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder thinks that it’s a good idea to say

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F.A.B at Forty

Keeping A Breast of Things!

My husband was working from home today and I needed to go into town. So he said the girls could stay with him and I got to escape on my own!
He was having a couple of reps call to see him but I expected to be home by the time they arrived. One of the reps is a very curvaceous woman in her mid fifties. When I say curvaceous, she really is. She has enormous breasts. I’m talking chesty Morgan enormous.

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littleeandbean

why blog?

I wrote this post after being tagged in a meme by a very lovely lady. Her timing was perfect because it’s given me an opportunity to reflect on a recent post in which I got all hot and bothered about whether I should be here, declaring my all and sundries to the blogosphere. Now I’ve had the chance to think about that post and read over the lovely, kind, supportive comments that people left, I think I know why I’m here. This is why I blog…

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MiniBookWorms

The Great Granny Gang by Judith Kerr

Everyone loves a Granny – especially when she’s part of a daredevil, vigilantly gang keeping the World free of cake thieving hoodies!

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Nothing But Words and Wine

Help

Tomorrow I have my first session with the counsellor my GP referred me to a few months ago. I’m very, very nervous. I was diagnosed with depression last October and started on medication. I didn’t accept my GP’s suggestion of counselling for a while after that, I’m still not sure how I feel about it now.

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F.A.B at Forty

50 Shades of Grey HAIR!

I was born blonde (no smart ass jokes now you lot!) it’s a mid – dark blonde, in summer it goes very light. I’m talking Scandinavian proportions, then begins to darken again as summer fades.
It has been darkening for a few weeks now and what have I found? Only about a million Grey hairs! Boo hoo, that’s it age has caught up with me. I finally have to admit I’m aging. How bloody depressing is that

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Motherhood or Madness

Instant Boob Chat

In my defence I had just been and done something that I have not done in over three years, so before babies and before current reduction in clothes size, I got the ladies measured, the boobies looked at, the twins sorted out.

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Minisaurus

RAWR! Let’s Bury the Bag Monster!

Bury the Bag Monster is a  drawing  challenge  where you can win Lush products and condemn plastic bags to the art history books -just take a photo and use #burythebagmonster on Instagram or Twitter to share.

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Ma Puce

Larousse French English Dictionary App – Ma Puce

If you are teaching your child French as a second language, but aren’t fluent in French yourself, you will know just how frustrating it can be to stumble over a word that you aren’t sure of. The best way to deal with these situations is to get yourself a French English dictionary app on your phone.

There are quite a few apps available on iTunes and Android, ranging in cost from free up to more than £20! We’ve started trying out a few of them at Ma Puce and will let you know our thoughts on which are the best.

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Mummy Glitzer

Perfect Parent

I am the first to admit I am far from a perfect parent.  I make mistakes.  I mentally chastise myself when I make mistakes anyway but when it comes to a slip of concentration or error of judgement with H I can beat myself up for days at a time.  However, I do try and learn from those errors.

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SuperTomBlog

Have you missed me?

It has been ages since I did a blog post! I am in Year 2 at school now and it is really busy because I have bigger homework and more reading to do. I have been learning about famous people like Florence Nightingale and Stevie Wonder and Vincent Van Gogh at school – it is very fun because I didn’t know anything about them before and now I know loads of things. Like today I found out that not only is Stevie Wonder blind, but also he lost his sense of smell in a car crash!

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DOMesstique

Flash back Friday- No princess allowed

My life as a little girl wasn’t a fairy tale, it was full of embarrassing moments instead.

…Dance like a princess…

At seven … I was a princess in my own avatar world…

I need to look pretty as I am going to climb on that stage to dance. The princess dance? Yes, of course! That’s what my teacher promised me…I am going to dance like a princess and many people will watch me and many little girls will wish that they could dance like the little Hi-Mess.

…..

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The Foodie Blog

Grilled Halloumi and Vegetable Cous Cous – a healthy supper in 10 minutes

This recipe can be made super spicy or non-spicy. Adjust the quantities depending on how many you wish to feed.

Ingredients:

Pack of Halloumi Cheese (Tesco do a pack of Halloumi Cheese with chilli which is rather tasty)

Cous Cous

Vegetable stock cube

Veggies – what ever you fancy or have lying about. I used sugar snap peas, mini sweetcorn, mini broccoli and a yellow pepper.

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

3 large red chillis (don’t add these if you don’t like a kick to your food).

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Just Photos by Me

Autumn berries

I mentioned in my comments on Silent Sunday this week that I’d been inspired to get out with my camera by having an absolutely “argh” morning and needing to clear my head. I was the strange woman wandering round the neighbourhood with a camera and getting funny looks from the people sitting at the bus stop.

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LearnLoveGrow.com

Here comes…me?

Apparently I’m getting married…..I have heard it on the jungle village drums, twice in one week …..so therefore it must be idle gossip a fact. To a big ( Ya beauty) policeman no less, the BF better enlist tout suite….or clearly he won’t be remaining the BF. I will need to start feeding him steak too…to “beef him out a bit”, bit difficult with a vegetarian

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Blog4Charity

Molly’s World World Food Day

I’ll be posting more about Molly and why there’s such a need for school meals in the next few days but for now I’d like to tell you about how the World Food Programme has put together a short informative video and quiz to engage and educate people. For every person who does the quiz, an anonymous WFP partner will pay for a school meal.

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F.A.B at Forty

The F Word

My friend has a 5-year-old daughter. A beautifully charming little girl, who tries so hard to please everybody. She is loving being at school and is determined to learn everything and know everything.

Yesterday when her mum met her at the school gates, Chloe seemed a bit subdued, not her usual, bouncing enthusiasm for the day she’d just had

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Five’s A Fellowship

On Needles and Weightlessness

Having had my unborn son, diagnosed with a serious birth defect, I was naturally, distraught. The dreams I’d had of taking my little bundle of joy home with me, nurturing and caring for him from birth, within a few hours, had been shattered. What could I do though? Should I sit for hours and cry over something that hadn’t happened yet? Should I scream at the world for the injustice it did, in taking my dream away from me? I could have. But I didn’t. I took a deep breath and waddled on.

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StorySimplicity

Story ideas (The ultimate guide to generating and cultivating story ideas)

 

Do you want to know how to generate loads of story ideas AND be able to know which idea to run with and turn into a full blown story?

Then you’re in the right place because this ultimate guide to generating and cultivating story ideas introduces you to the best tips on how to do this out there on the web (in my humble opinion!).

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twins tiaras and tantrums

Pre-eclampsia; The John Radcliffe Silver Star Unit

I know our NHS is not fantastic compared to private health care. I know they can make mistakes! I also know that mistakes in the health system can result in disabilities, serious injury or at worst death… But I owe mine and my girl’s life to the NHS. If it was 100 years ago I wouldn’t be here right now, and nor would my beautiful little girls!

Identical twins are considered “high risk” at the best of times, and I was lucky enough to be put under the Silver Star unit at the John Radcliff Oxford!

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Ojo’s world

Respite

Thursday is respite day for me, for 3 hours every Thursday eve, 2 lovely people come around. They are from a service supplied by social services.

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Two of Everything

Roll up, roll up, it’s the Potty Training Carnival!

A little while ago I started to realise that my little girl (and almost by little boy, too) might be just about ready for potty training. With mild consternation, I put out a cavalry call to my fellow bloggers for some help. Where do I start? What do I do?!
I was sent some brilliant posts to share, posts which I have really enjoyed reading and I am sure you will too!

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Stickers, Stars and Smiles

Proud Parents: It’s the funniest things sometimes…

There are lots of things that make me one of the many proud parents out there. Things like:
- How well they have taken to reading
- How Stuntboy always helps people who are upset
- How I usually only have to say “what’s the magic word” 20 times a day, and not the typical 30….

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Badger Boos Daft Adventures

Bath Time and Parcels ~ Pet Blogger Hop

Oh dear, this week I have had to have three baths, the reason being, I have been testing out the local “Eau de Fox Poop” much to mummys annoyance, I find the whole process quite boring as you can see.

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mummyglitzer

Vicious Circle

I have spent much of the last week just at home, with H. Whilst part of that is because I haven’t been sure if his upset tummy is a bug or teething (he has his molars to still come through) and part of it was me being sick for a few days, a lot of it has been I just haven’t felt like going out. Yet as my husband said last night (I am paraphasing here) “Staying in isn’t doing you any good”.

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LearnLoveGrow.com

Slugs…slugs…everywhere

Someone suggested that it must be due to the heavy rain…whatever the reason…the fact is that there seem to be slugs everywhere. The garden path resembles a slug cemetery, some squashed into the ground, having fallen victim to the girls quick steps, running into the house under cover of darkness, not looking where they are stepping. Due to this I have stopped nipping out with the dog, or to the bin, barefoot…the thought of squelching down on to a slimy slug…quite disgusts me.

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BakeYummy

Easy Fruit Cake

This fruit cake has got to be one of the easiest there is. I use it for our Christmas Cakes (yes, I make more than 1, more like 7) and it’s the recipe I used for both children’s Christening Cakes. It’s moist, easy, tasty and you can add to it (or indeed take stuff out if it’s not to your taste) if you so wish.

It is a cake that works on a ratio so you scale it up or down as necessary. This is the basic formula

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Piccy.co

New Fonts added to PicMonkey

Heads up! There are some new fonts that have been added to PicMonkey – some – but not all are shown above. Go off and take a peek at PicMonkey!

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Geekalicious

Your Header Image On Social Media Platforms

It seems that the main three social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus – are using similar layouts which give you the opportunity to display a small avatar (sometimes used for a good quality head and shoulders shot) and a larger landscape display area.

Below are some screengrabs of what my social media profile pages look like at the moment.

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Twaddle and Tonic

Tales of Dating

There is something about finding yourself the only single, thirty something amongst married or nearly married pals who are all in the midst of having or have had whippersnappers that leads you to believe you’re entering the ‘Wilderness Years’ and this draws you into thinking ‘maybe I should give internet dating another go?’

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Seriously, Though

How To Upgrade To iOS 6″ Articles Are Nerdly Condescension

I’ve noticed a recent rash of articles that patiently explain how to install the new iOS.

At CNET, we have “How To Install iOs 6″.

Another identically titled article over at Macworld.

At GottaBeMobile, we have “Five Things To Do Before You Upgrade To iOS6″.

They’re long articles, with many steps in them.

They’re ridiculous.

Aren’t you guys working a little too hard to justify your existence?

Updating to iOS 6 is easier than breathing. No condescending handholding from nerds is required.

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the fallopian tales

It’s a blue day.

I lay in bed this morning, cuddling my two (almost three) year old baby and I cried. For weeks now he’s been taking about getting a baby sister. What he will do when she’s here. Sometimes he kisses my tummy. Sometimes he tells me his baby is in his tummy. He’s always telling me he will share his toys and his clothes and his bed. My heart breaks for this little boy, who, for a few days thought mummy had a baby growing in her tummy.

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run of the windmill

Feeling Small

We are a small family, small in height, small framed, small feet, we even own a very small cat, but I am trying not to let that stop me standing proud in this nation of giants. I have just Googled it and the Dutch are statistically the tallest nation of people.

I am 1.6m (5ft3) and when I moved here I jokingly said I would never be able to find a boyfriend. I am more or less armpit level to the average Dutch man. Not a tremendous point of attraction.

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Little Magic Beans

Where’s Wally and his missus?

The other day on entering a trendy north London office, I came across a life-size cardboard cut-out of (Where’s) Wally in the entrance. As Wally and I curiously checked each other out, someone in the very open-plan office chirpily called out (loudly, so everyone else could hear). ‘Oh, look. Which one’s Wally?!’ Then she pointed. At me. It was at this stage that I realised I was dressed in a nautical red-striped top, with my glasses on and there wasn’t much to tell me and the cardboard guy apart.

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twins tiaras and tantrums

Twin Separation Anxiety

When the girls started preschool in January I hated being the new mum on the block and the whole playground mum experience! I like to think I’m a pretty confident outgoing person, but there was something scary about standing waiting in a playground with a bunch of women I didn’t know! Back then I thought I was witnessing the dreaded playground mum click that I had been warned about…

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Yawn of the Dad

Nolan and The Batman – Part 1: Batman Begins

A lot has been made of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, with most critics singing its praises and rating it as the prime example for all future comic book films to follow. I’m a big fan of all 3 films myself, albeit being left with a slight sense of disappointment with the third film ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

Before watching the trilogy my Batman knowledge was relatively basic, I probably knew more than the average fan regarding origins, villains and locales, but I’d have been put to shame by anyone declaring themselves a ‘fanboy’ or diehard fan, obviously…

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Five’s A Fellowship

Overcoming Anxiety

Not long ago, Catherine, a fellow blogger, declared that she will be doing her very own Happiness Project. It’s an idea taken from a book of the same title by Gretchen Rubin, who every month, embarked on something new, that would aid in enriching her life and ultimately, make her a much happier person. Over at For Bell and Will, Catherine will be sharing her journey to happiness with her readers, and has invited other bloggers to link up and join in with their own posts, on how they will be trying to make their lives that little bit better.

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3 Children and It

The see-saw world of parenting

It’s Friday and we’ve reached the end of one of those weeks – you know the ones – so busy that your feet don’t seem to have touched the ground, your kids have been less than perfect and to top it off, you have made more than one huge fat parenting fail

Some of you reading this may well have been on the receiving end of my topsy-turvy ponderings and ramblings this week (I thank you all *bows graciously*) but now we have reached Friday, I am beginning to make sense of it all.

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Piccy.co

Adding labels to images using PicMonkey

Here’s a really simple way to give an extra dollop of lovely to an image that you want to add to your blog using PicMonkey.com. By adding a label to an image you can create a pretty little caption area. In this example I show you how to attach a couple of labels to an image. One for the title and another smaller and semi-transparent one.

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F.A.B at Forty

Just Absurdly Wrong

Warning – This post has images you may find disturbing
Catching up on this weeks news stories, I stumbled across a story that I must say I did find rather disturbing.
No, not the over exposure of Kate Middleton’s breasts, or the debate about the invasion of her privacy. Because quite frankly, I don’t understand the amount of media attention this has created. So she has breasts, great, is she the first ”Royal” women to have breasts? (it was actually Harry who took the pictures, to try to deflect attention from his naked rear end!)

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Kids Days Out Reviews

Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

A review of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford by a rather brilliant parent blogger.

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Catch A Single Thought

Warning…this could happen to your toddler

So, we’re home after three nights camping near to the New Forest in Hampshire.

I’ll post a round up of what we got up to once I’ve waded through the mountain of washing and post-holiday chaos but I thought I’d share with you my personal highlight of the holiday.

When visiting Peppa Pig World Meg spontaneously started dancing…I assume, due to an excitement overload!

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Recommended by Catch A Single Thought

Mummy’s Little Stars

Mummy, Where do babies come from?

My little boy asked me something the other day, that I just knew was going to happen one day – he’s five and it was inevitable:

“Where do babies come from?”

I did my motherly duty, of course. And bullshitted a bit.

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Gertie & Ginger

Silent Sunday

My first Silent Sunday:

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LearnLoveGrow.com

Proclaiming my Love…

It is often said that it’s not till we loose something that we realise what we had.. that the fact is…. we take our nearest and dearest for granted, failing to acknowledge their importance to us, our deepest feelings left unsaid.

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Minisaurus

Counting our #PenniesForPiggies

I’ve got something out of collecting the pennies too – a real sense of pride in my children embracing fundraising. From a fluffy 2p piece from the back of the sofa to a shiny £2 coin (pinched from my purse!) Scamp and Ozzy have posted every single penny into the collecting jars we made. They’ve loved it, and so have I.

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