tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1151308315559792024-03-14T05:18:31.284+00:00Blogging MammaWife and mother lifestyle blogger bringing you my mummy adventures, product reviews and other information I've found useful as a new mum!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10671999040302699973noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-88643962795109416702015-05-27T18:50:00.000+01:002015-05-27T18:50:13.978+01:00One year old Update!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><u>Rhodri's 12 Month Update</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My baby boy is 12 months old. I have a one year old now! I don't know where the time went but it is crazy to me that my tiny little baby is now a little boy who gets more mobile, talkative and cheeky with each day that passes! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I'm typing this I am listening to my little darling using his cot as a trampoline. His name is written above his cot in wooden letters, he is currently attempting to pick them off the wall. Accompanied with lots of "Oooo", "uh-oh" and "Mamamamama ha!". I have no idea what joys await me tomorrow morning but I've become accustomed to this new phase of his development I like to call "Next stop Toddler-ville". </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here's what happened this month -</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Weight:</b> He hasn't been officially weighed, but last check he was 9.5kg which puts Rhodri's weight back on his normal weight curve and on the 50th percentile line which I'm very happy with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Height: </b>He's won't be measured until his 1 year check up, which is due next week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Clothing size: </b>Rhodri is wearing a mixture of 9-12 and 12-18 month clothes. Most 9-12 fit him well, but some things (especially trousers) tend to look better in the next size up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sleep: </b>He<b> </b>sleeps 6.30pm - 6.30am.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>This months milestones: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Teeth - </b>We are still on 6 teeth. He chews on his fingers alot. This is usually a sign more are on their way, but for the time being there are no other signs that the teeth will be making an appearance anytime soon. </span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Words - </b>We have Mamma, Dadda, Nanna, Faff (One of his Auntys), Ta, Cat, Hiya, Yes, Go and Buhbuh (we think this is bye) from previous months. He is still working on Bottle, book and come. His newest words are Out, Ow and Uh-oh</span></li>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Walking/Crawling - </b>About a week after he turned 11 months Rhodri started to stand on his own. I thought to myself, this is it. He's going to walk before he turns one. But no, two days later he refused to stand unaided and learnt to Crawl instead!! </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4;">The day after his first birthday he took his first 2/3 steps unaided, but has now reverted to scooting around the furniture.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Social skills - </b>Very social child. Going through a phase where in the first few minutes of being with someone he 'plays shy'. After the first few minutes pass he reverts to his smiles, laughter and usual playful behaviour.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>This months special outings:</b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri has been enjoying spending time with his grandmothers while Mummy & Daddy are in work.</span></li>
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<li style="border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We still spend every Thursday with his Aunty and cousins. Rhodri loves this family time.</span></li>
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<li style="border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri spent a week with Mummy who took the time off work for some bonding. We thoroughly enjoyed playing, cwtching and quality time together.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rhodri's first birthday. He spent the day with Mummy and Daddy, had lots of gifts and cards. Had some visitors and then went out for a meal with a lot of his favourite people. There were some very special people missing but he gets to catch up with them all soon and he can't wait for that :)</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Baby gear love: </b>I bought myself a new wrap and I am totally in love!! It's the Lenny Lamb Broken Twill in Strawberry Blueberry. I had it 2nd hand so it was already broken in for me. It is so comfy and much easier to wrap with than my previous wrap. I love it and so does Rhodri.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Baby's routine: </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri wakes around 6.30am. He has porridge, toast or fruit a bottle of milk and then we brush his teeth. Change of clothes before we leave the house around 7am and drop him at his grandparents. We pick him up around 4.45pm get him home and have dinner. He has a little bit of a play and explore, before taking a bath. He normally watches 'In The Night Garden' before we head up to bed. A bed time story and then in his cot. We will normally hear him play for a good 20 minutes in his cot, but once he tires himself out he lies down and goes to sleep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the days he doesn't stay with his grandparents at 7 am we will play with his toys downstairs. Around 9am he will go for a nap. This will last at least an hour, sometimes 2 hours. Once he wakes up he has his second bottle and playtime resumes. around 12pm he has lunch. If we are going out we tend to head out after lunch. If not we go and play in his tent in his nursery. It has some balls and bean bags so he likes to throw them about and put different toys in his tent. Around 2.30 pm he will take another 1hour nap. When he wakes he has his third and final bottle of the day. We play some more, or go out for some fresh air before reverting to the usual night time schedule of dinner, bath, story, bed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Highlights of the month: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri turned 1 this month. Bitter sweet to have my baby grow up so quickly. Of course I am happy that he is growing up and developing well, but yes I do miss my tiny little baby and those cute sleepy cuddles. These have now been replaced with "Let me go" squirming and "slap" I found your face mum!</span></li>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I love all the things he's learnt. Clapping, blowing kisses, waving, pretend coughing, standing up, crawling, walking around. Simple things for us to do, but the effort he puts in to doing and learning these things makes me appreciate it all.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Celebrating his birthday and looking back on a year with Rhodri was the main highlight this month. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly favourites: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Toy - </b>Scout - his talking dog.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Teddy - </b>Goodnight bear.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Food - </b>Banana, toast, strawberry yoghurt, raisins.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Music - </b>All music, pretty much anything in the UK top 40, along with the classics such as Queen, Bon Jovi etc!! </span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Activity - </b>Crawling, cat chasing and turning lights on & off.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4;">Person - </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4;">Mummy & Daddy of course!</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Book - </b>The Gruffalos Child</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly dislikes:</b></span></div>
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Thats all for this month. As always thanks for reading!! xoxo</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-35287507940830262662015-04-21T21:02:00.000+01:002015-04-21T21:02:02.921+01:00Rhodri's 11 Month Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><u>Rhodri's 11 Month Update</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My baby boy is now 11 months old. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He's more & more like a little boy and less like a baby every day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I seriously start to tear up every time I think about just how close we are to his 1st birthday. This time last year I was on maternity leave getting everything ready for our baby to arrive, and now we are planning his 1st birthday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri is learning and changing so much everyday. So lets dive right in and see what has changed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Weight:</b> Rhodri's weight gain has slowed down considerably. I think this is partially because he is a lot more active these days, but also because he has once again had a virus and this has affected his appetite for about 2 weeks of the past month. Now that he's feeling better his appetite has returned, so I'm sure his weight will be back on track soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Height: </b>He's won't be measured until his 1 year check up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Clothing size: </b>9-12 months. These are fitting him nicely at the moment with plenty of room to grow although shoes and hats for this same age range are too big for him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sleep: </b>He sleeps 7pm - 6.30am. We do sometimes have to wake him at 6.30am so that we can get him out the door and get ourselves to work, but more often than not once he hears us stirring he starts to wake also.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>This months milestones: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Words - </b>Mamma and Dadda have been perfected. He has now added Ta when thanking us for food, Cat (or Gat as it sometimes sounds), Yes, ooo, hiya (but only when pretending he's on the phone, he won't say it to us!). It sounds like he is starting to try saying more, bottle, book, go, come and bye sometimes. Only time will tell. </span></li>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Social skills - </b>Very interested in other people and especially other children. On the bus the other day he high fived a child sat next to us and tried to hold/shake the childs hand. He smiles and giggles whenever people talk or show an interest in him.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>This months special outings:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Baby gear love: </b>Still in love with my wrap. Also loving our <b><u>Koo-do Pack-it Seat Me Safe Seat Harness</u></b>. Normally £10 but is on offer for £5.99 at Argos if you want to try this out. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">When out and about, if a high chair isn't available, we can sit Rhodri on a normal chair in this harness. He loves being in a big boy seat and I love knowing he wont fall off!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Baby's routine: </b>You can read our bed time routine <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/bed-time-routine-of-my-7-month-old.html" style="color: #177c76; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The day time routine hasn't changed since last month...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Around 6.30am he wakes up, he has porridge and a bottle before brushing his teeth and being dressed for the day. We tend to leave the house around 7am dropping him off before heading to work. His grandparents play with him, take him out and just enjoy him of course. He naps around 9 for two hours. Has a bottle and lunch around half 11. Second nap half two ish for an hour. His last bottle after the second nap. I pick him up around 4.45pm. When we get home he has dinner and we resume the normal evening routine. Thursdays & Weekends Rhodri doesn't go to his grandparents and so I try to maintain the routine while still making memories and enjoying quality time together."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Highlights of the month: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Celebrating my first birthday as a Mummy. It was a completely different birthday with a meal and an afternoon in the park, but was by far my best birthday yet! Couldn't have asked for a better day.</span></li>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Getting home from work every day and getting smiles, kisses and cuddles is still the biggest highlight of my day/week/month.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly favourites: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Toy - </b>Soft toys. He likes to bite them.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Teddy - </b>Goodnight bear.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Food - </b>Toast, Raisins and cauliflower.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Music - </b>All music, pretty much anything in the UK top 40, along with the classics such as Queen, Bon Jovi etc!! </span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Activity - </b>Walking or dancing.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4;">Person - </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4;">Mummy & Daddy of course!</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Book - </b>Guess How Much I Love You</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly dislikes:</b></span></div>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being dressed. Particularly dislikes putting coats on - this continues to be an issue.</span></li>
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Thats all for this month. As always thanks for reading!! xoxo</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-81177377460310755812015-04-15T09:00:00.000+01:002015-04-15T09:00:01.147+01:00Letterbox Cake by Baker Days Review & COMPETITION!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When the lovely people from <a href="http://www.bakerdays.com/" target="_blank">Baker Days</a> offered me the chance to try one of their Letterbox Cakes, I thought, how lucky am I? I get to eat cake and then tell you all about it!</div>
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When they said I could offer one of you lucky readers the chance to win a letterbox Cake of your choice, well it would have been plain rude of me to say no! So basically I only ate this cake for you guys... You're welcome!</div>
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Baker Days are a UK company making and designing cakes with a variety of size options, different flavour sponge and a huge selection of designs that can be personalised by yourself. Although you can get larger celebration cakes, the type of cake I am reviewing and that is quite unique to baker days is this letterbox cake. It is packaged in a tin to avoid being damaged in the post, and the parcel it comes in is the perfect size to fit through your letterbox. Which also means no trip down to the local sorting office to pick up your parcel if you aren't in!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rHuvjwZg3j8/VSwbbD2altI/AAAAAAAAAag/8Af_a3NIYhA/s1600/DSC_0093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rHuvjwZg3j8/VSwbbD2altI/AAAAAAAAAag/8Af_a3NIYhA/s1600/DSC_0093.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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The cake I selected was the Chocolate Twirl with the Chocolate Chip Sponge. Seeing as it is my birthday very soon I chose to make it a birthday cake and asked the lovely Baker Days design team to put a "Happy Birthday" on it for me.</div>
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Its a lovely 5" cake (12cm by 2.5cm), giving you a decent 3-4 portions of cake.<br />
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Along with the cake in the cute tin you also get a little card, a pamphlet with information on their cake range and a mini party pack. In the party pack we were treated to 3 balloons, 2 candles and a birthday blow horn.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mffo9BSQgHU/VSwbbG1ZkKI/AAAAAAAAAac/H0CMBVgytns/s1600/DSC_0092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mffo9BSQgHU/VSwbbG1ZkKI/AAAAAAAAAac/H0CMBVgytns/s1600/DSC_0092.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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I was so excited when the cake arrived, the presentation of the cake was amazing. The little party pack was such a nice touch.</div>
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It was 10am when my cake hit the doormat and I hadn't had any breakfast. So as much as I didn't want to (honestly!!) I ate cake for breakfast just for you! I know, I'm so thoughtful.</div>
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So I lit my candles and we ate some cake.</div>
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The cake was still fresh and moist, the sponge was delicious and the icing was lovely. This scrumptious little postal cake was perfect. It was delicious to the very last crumb!!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qjki4gQgmuY/VSwbdewNP8I/AAAAAAAAAaw/sJEu0lhZ1dM/s1600/DSC_0095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qjki4gQgmuY/VSwbdewNP8I/AAAAAAAAAaw/sJEu0lhZ1dM/s1600/DSC_0095.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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I love the fact that there are so many different options. With vanilla, fruit and chocolate chip sponges on the smaller cakes, half and half, gluten free, dairy free etc on the larger cakes there really is something for every one. With so many designs, and the option to personalise your cakes there is bound to be a fit for you and after my sample of Baker Days I for one think these are perfect for all occasions. Cake prices start at £14.99 and all cakes come with next day delivery.</div>
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Next year is my 30th so <b>*hint hint, nudge nudge, wink wink*</b> Mr Hubby. I'll just leave this link here for your convenience :) <a href="https://www.bakerdays.com/categories/personalised/birthdaycakes">https://www.bakerdays.com/categories/personalised/birthdaycakes</a></div>
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If you're more of a cupcake person, then thats OK Baker days have you covered - <a href="https://www.bakerdays.com/categories/cup-cakes/" style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;" target="_blank">https://www.bakerdays.com/<wbr></wbr>categories/cup-cakes/</a></div>
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<b><u>COMPETITION TIME</u></b></div>
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So now one of you guys get to try one of these Letterbox cakes. <b><i>UK Entrants only!</i></b></div>
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To win use the rafflecopter widget below. You will need to visit Baker Days on Facebook and like their page. Go and follow them on twitter. Start following me on twitter and leave a comment on this blog post. In the comment let me know what Letterbox cake you want to receive if you win.</div>
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Use the widget below to ensure your entry is counted. Rafflecopter will take an email address from you and this is how I will contact the winner of the competition. The winner will be chosen at random using Rafflecopter. The competition will run from 15/04/2015 until 30/04/2015. The winner will be contacted on 01/05/2015.</div>
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As always thanks for reading and <b>Good Luck!!</b></div>
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<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="41d237c71" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/41d237c71/" id="rcwidget_smnuim0u" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-46089062821685030822015-03-24T21:52:00.001+00:002015-03-24T21:53:13.607+00:00Rhodri's 10 Month Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><u>Rhodri's 10 Month Update</u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-467Q-Z5uMyM/VRHQCNpKA1I/AAAAAAAAAZw/cIxRdXbuHAs/s1600/IMG_20150319_080450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-467Q-Z5uMyM/VRHQCNpKA1I/AAAAAAAAAZw/cIxRdXbuHAs/s1600/IMG_20150319_080450.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hello there! I know posts have been thin on the ground recently, but I am working hard at developing some sort of work/home/blog life balance. I have a few posts in the pipeline and am grateful for all of you who read my blog and who are patient as I figure out how to juggle everything</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My baby boy is now 10 months old. He is in to <b>everything.</b> Everything is a toy, and belongs to him! He seems to change almost every day, constantly growing and learning. Now that I'm back in work it seems like by the time the weekend comes around and I can spend the full day with him, he's learnt so much without me. He's more and more like a little boy, and less like a baby every day. I am loving watching the changes and development. Here's what's happened in the last month!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Weight:</b> Rhodri hasn't been weighed this month, judging by the return of his appetite I think he is probably right back on track. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Height: </b>We haven't had this checked since last month. He's not likely to be measured until his 1 year check up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Clothing size: </b>Around two weeks ago Rhodri moved up to his 9-12 month clothes. I probably could have held out a little longer as the arms and legs seem slightly too long. He was in that awkward stage where 6-9 was starting to get small and I'd rather his clothes were too big than too small.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sleep: </b>He sleeps 7pm - 6.30am. We do sometimes have to wake him at 6.30am so that we can get him out the door and get ourselves to work, but more often than not once he hears us stirring he starts to wake also.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>This months milestones: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>TEETH!! </b>Holy moly! We went two and a half months with just the two bottom two teeth, when finally one of his top front teeth came through. Then two weeks later he is teething with three more top teeth! The poor little man is teething like crazy! We have made his first dentist appointment for next month, and hopefully by then the three teeth will be through!</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri is learning more words/sounds. Mamma and Dadda he has down to an art. He's working on Yes and Bye at the moment.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the past week Rhodri has been standing unaided for a few seconds. Not for long, but we are getting there and his balance is noticeably improving.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He can walk when holding on to furniture or our hands.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Still not crawling, but he has recently moved from a sitting to almost crawling position before lying down and giving up... it's progress!</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He is showing signs of being sociable with other children. Although he can't talk to them, he mimics the sounds or crys they make to try and grab their attention.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The health visitor visited me after my first week back in work and said Rhodri showed signs of Separation Anxiety. He wasn't overly upset, and he quickly warmed to her again and showered her with smiles. But showed that he was certain who his Mummy was and who the stranger in the situation was.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>This months special outings:</b></span></div>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We continue to spend Thursdays visiting his Aunty and cousins. Sometimes when he's really lucky his girlfriend is there too. He's very fond of women. Flirt.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Baby gear love: </b>My brand new woven wrap. I'm still getting to grips with it but I am enjoying trying out different carries using my wrap. I am building up the confidence to take him out minus the pram and with just the wrap.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Baby's routine: </b>You can read our bed time routine <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/bed-time-routine-of-my-7-month-old.html" style="color: #177c76; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Around 6.30am he wakes up, he has porridge and a bottle before brushing his teeth and being dressed for the day. We tend to leave the house around 7am dropping him off before heading to work. His grandparents play with him, take him out and just enjoy him of course. He naps around 9 for two hours. Has a bottle and lunch around half 11. Second nap half two ish for an hour. His last bottle after the second nap. I pick him up around 4.45pm. When we get home he has dinner and we resume the normal evening routine. Thursdays & Weekends Rhodri doesn't go to his grandparents and so I try to maintain the routine while still making memories and enjoying quality time together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Highlights of the month: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri claps, waves and does a lot of dancing. I find it so lovely to see him enjoying movement and music. It's lovely to see him so happy.</span></li>
<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Getting home from work every day and getting smiles, kisses and cuddles is the best.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly favourites: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Teddy - G</b>oodnight bear.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Food - </b>Cauliflower, banana Pancakes and toast.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Music - </b>He just loves music. Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Sia, Meghan Trainor... pretty much anything in the top 40 are his favourites. He loves Queen and Bon Jovi too. Anything he can bop along to!! </span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Activity - </b>Standing, walking, dancing.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Person - </b>Mummy & Daddy of course!</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Book - </b>The Gruffalos Child.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly dislikes:</b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being left the first few days Mummy went back to work.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being dressed. Particularly dislikes putting coats on - this continues to be an issue.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being put in/strapped in to seats, chairs, prams. He wants to be held or walking and doesn't particularly like being restrained.</span></li>
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Thats all for this month. As always thanks for reading!! xoxo</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-58635565897939484022015-03-16T21:36:00.000+00:002015-03-16T21:49:59.359+00:00Plumbing disaster doubles as a Zoflora Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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 I've become something of a plumbing expert since Rhodri came along. For some unknown reason our plumbing has become a little unreliable. It started off with a leak under the bath. I learned to tighten loose joints. This was followed by a leaky kitchen tap. I learnt to replace taps and more than I ever needed to know about various types of pipes, connections, spanners etc.</div>
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But most recently, last but one week of my maternity leave, I sat on the sofa enjoying the smiles and babbling from Rhodri when it occurred to me that whooshing sound of the washing machine filling up had gone on a lot longer than usual.</div>
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Turns out the whooshing noise wasn't the machine but a pipe in our bathroom had burst leaving my kitchen and bathroom flooded. Yikes!!</div>
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After gracefully dancing through the water, and leaping past the water shooting everywhere, elegantly turning off the water and then gliding back to baby (translated I stumbled, tumbled, got soaked, screamed a bit, ran and slipped on to my backside) I had the task of cleaning up the mess!!</div>
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Every towel in the house was used to dry up the water, but dust and fluff from under the cupboards along with mud from the plumbers trudging back and fore was now all over my tiled kitchen and laminate flooring downstairs.</div>
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This gave me the opportunity to try out the zoflora disinfectant I was kindly sent to try. **disclosure - I didn't pay for the zoflora I was sent to review but all thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and my own**</div>
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So I diluted the linen fresh disinfectant I was sent and set about mopping the floors. It got rid of the mess, left my house smelling fresh but not at all over powering and best of all, I knew everything was clean and hygenic so Rhodri could play on the floor once again.</div>
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I love that zoflora can be used for cleaning the bathroom. Put in a spray bottle and used as a cleaning spray, to soak dishclothes in or even to clean pet toys. I liked the fresh smell and love that they have quite a few fragrances to try.</div>
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You can check out their products, stockists and even hints/tips for different usages on their website <a href="http://www.zoflora.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.zoflora.co.uk</a></div>
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I will definitely be repurchasing once I finish this sample.</div>
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So even though the pipe burst, the floors were stinking and my mood was not so good... There was a silver lining. I got to review a product in the process of cleaning up!</div>
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As always thanks for reading!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-46429389973573716742015-03-08T22:01:00.000+00:002015-03-08T22:01:28.419+00:00New Beginnings<div style="text-align: center;">
The last 11 months have been full of memories. Some not so good... like a flooded kitchen and bathroom or a poorly son. But mostly full of amazing memories. For 11 months I have been on maternity leave and it seems like just yesterday I came home from my last day and rang my Mum. It hit me like a bus that day, I wasn't just pregnant, I was actually going to have a baby! </div>
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That sounds daft I'm sure, but it sure does become 'real' and that for me was the moment it really hit home. For a month I was waiting for this baby and the next chapter of my life. Always knowing I would be returning to work and not even fazed by the idea.</div>
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A month later my gorgeous little boy was born. He rushed in to my life and every day since has been a blur of happiness, life lessons and overwhelming love. Immediately the idea of returning to work became sad. Because it meant I wasn't always going to have these long days of cuddles, playing and learning.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhodri, 12 hours old</td></tr>
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For 9 and a half, almost 10 months I have lived and breathed being a Mum. I sometimes joke that I forget what I did before Rhodri was born. But truthfully it's not really a joke. Within a short few hours with my son, I couldn't have imagined life without him and although being a Mum was so new, it seemed like I had known this little boy forever.</div>
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But now Rhodri and I approach a new chapter in our lives. Tomorrow morning Rhodri will go to his grandparents and I will return to work. Yes the 11 months is finally up and I can hardly believe it!</div>
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I know it will be hard to leave my little man behind, I know that given the opportunity I'd gladly stay home and raise my son. But I also know that a tiny part of me is a little excited. It will be strange, and yet I look forward to seeing the faces of my colleagues, having a conversation that has actual English words in it. It will be bizarre yet refreshing to be Rachel and not Rhodri's Mummy for a few hours a day.</div>
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So tonights post is a good bye to the days of being a Stay At Home Mum. A new beginning of being a Working Mum. Here's me trying to look on the bright side of not spending 24/7 with my favourite person and trying to be positive about a change that was always going to happen.</div>
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Any working mums out there, how did you manage with the transition? Any hints, tips and funny stories always welcome!!</div>
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As always, thanks for reading!!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-35608722200669550152015-02-23T09:40:00.000+00:002015-02-23T19:44:18.654+00:00Rhodri's 9 Month Update<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><b>9 Month Update</b></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I now have a 9 month old! That's a pregnancy... how crazy is that?! This month has really flown by and with only two weeks left until I return to work I've been filling our days with lots of fun activities. As much as I've loved that quality fun-filled time together, it does make time fly by even more. So lets take a look at what's been going on since Rhodri turned 8 months old, up until he hit 9 months old. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Weight: </b>Weight wise Rhodri has fallen slightly under his growth line. We know this is because he was quite poorly for almost two weeks this month. During that time he refused solids and he dropped from three bottles a day to two on a good day. Since getting better he has returned to his eating pattern so I'm sure he will be back on track soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Height: </b>The health visitor measured him at his 6-9 month check and he is now 71cm long. This puts him just shy of the 75th percentile line. So he is long/tall but not massively. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Clothing size: </b>6-9 months still.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sleep: </b>He sleeps 7pm - 7am most nights. When he was ill Rhodri woke at 10pm, 12pm & 4am every night. As soon as he was better we reverted back to his normal sleep pattern.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>This months milestones: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri has learnt to wave. He was very keen to show this talent off at the beginning of the month but as time has gone on he doesn't wave as often, usually only when the mood suits.</span></li>
<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rhodri has learnt to pull himself to a standing position using Mummy for support.</span></li>
<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While sitting on the sofa Rhodri will shuffle down on to his back, roll on to his tummy and then scoot off the sofa so he is standing up and holding on to the sofa.</span></li>
<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rhodri is recognising who people are. So if I say 'Where is Nanna?' he looks at his Nanna.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>This months special outings:</b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We took Rhodri to an indoor play centre with his cousins. He was too young for most of it, but thoroughly enjoyed the ball pit!</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Baby gear love: </b>There's nothing in particular ... calpol with a syringe I guess? Anything that makes giving medicine easy is a plus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Baby's routine: </b>You can read our bed time routine <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/bed-time-routine-of-my-7-month-old.html" style="color: #177c76; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Daytime wise he wakes at 7am, has porridge for breakfast, has a bottle, plays in his door bouncer or walker. Around 9.30am he goes for a nap. This is usually for about 2 hours. He then has a little play until 12pm when he has lunch and his second bottle. We play with his more interactive toys until about 2.30pm when he goes for a second nap. This is usually an hour nap. Once he wakes up we tend to play with his sensory tent and then he goes in the door bouncer or walker for a bit as well. This takes us up until dinner time which the bedtime routine covers :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course there are days this differs slightly, if we go out he tends to avoid naps as long as possible and playtime isn't so scheduled but you get the gist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Highlights of the month: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was really miserable when Rhodri was ill, but the highlight of the month was seeing him starting to smile and babble again when he was feeling better. They were the sweetest smiles I've ever seen.</span></li>
<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He's a lot more vocal and I love that. He's always been very babbly, but after he was over his illness this has been a lot more noticeable.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly favourites: </b></span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Toy - </b>A musical yellow starfish mirror toy</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Teddy - </b>goodnight bear and his caterpillar</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Food - </b>Banana pancakes, lamb & winter veggies, cauliflower.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Music - </b>Sam Smith 'Stay With Me' </span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Activity - </b>Standing up holding on to the coffee table and bashing the table with coasters, remotes etc.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Person - </b>Mummy & Daddy of course!</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Book - </b>The Gruffalos Child.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly dislikes:</b></span></div>
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<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being dressed. Particularly dislikes putting coats on.</span></li>
<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being strapped in to prams/car seats.</span></li>
<li style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: none; font-family: Merriweather; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Afternoon naps</span></li>
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We are still waiting for more teeth to arrive. His first two came through just before he turned 7 months and although he's been teething this entire time, no other teeth have come through yet! It looks like more are coming, but I said that last month!!</div>
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That's all for this month. As always thanks for reading! xoxo</div>
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<div align="center"><a href="http://www.thedadnetwork.co.uk" title="The Dad Network"><img src="http://www.thedadnetwork.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/image-e1423257811431.png" alt="The Dad Network" style="border:none;" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-4557240385060667112015-02-14T23:38:00.001+00:002015-02-14T23:43:31.039+00:004 Parenting Challenges I Wasn't Expecting!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;">
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What a week it's been! If you don't follow me on twitter you might have been wondering why it's been so quiet on the blog front. If you do follow me on twitter you will know that Rhodri & I have both been poorly and it has been a <i>rough </i>week!<i> </i></div>
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Thankfully we are both on the road to recovery, but it got me thinking about the aspects of parenting I didn't expect. There are plenty of challenges, hurdles and even rewards we expect when we sign up to parenting.</div>
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Being Mamma to my gorgeous little man is without doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me. I went in to parenthood with my eyes wide open, expecting pretty much what I got. One loving little man, who is very curious and in to absolutely everything. He requires endless nappy changes, constant feeding and prefers mummy to eat & drink cold/luke warm meals. </div>
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But there are some things I didn't expect when preparing for motherhood, things that didn't even cross my mind and yet are quite possibly the most difficult parts of parenting, in my opinion, so far! Here's a few I have encountered!</div>
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<i>1) <b>Loneliness. </b>I love Rhodri to the moon and back, I can't and won't imagine life without him, but it has undeniably been the loneliest experience of my life. More so when he was a new born, the older he gets the more interactive he is. Plus with his reflux sorted it's easier to get out and socialise.</i><br />
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<i>I thought, rather naively, that I would be far too busy as a new Mum to experience loneliness. How wrong was I? I went from going in to work in a office every single day and chatting away to my colleagues, to sitting at home alone with a baby that couldn't communicate other than by crying. I constantly spoke to Rhodri as I felt it helped me feel a bit less mute and alone but I definitely missed adult conversation and I especially missed getting a response of any sort.</i><br />
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<i>It's incredibly difficult to go from being surrounded by people all day everyday to just being you and a baby, it was even more difficult because I felt <b>very </b>guilty for feeling lonely. I had this gorgeous son who I adored, how dare I feel lonely!! After conversations with other mums I realised this isn't at all unusual and I just wish I'd known to expect it so I wouldn't have given myself half the guilt trip I did!</i><br />
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<i>I was incredibly lucky to have a mother who arranged for weekly coffee dates and a cousin who provided a friendly face, a listening ear, weekly playdates and the added bonus of Rhodri getting to spend time with his family which is important to me. </i></div>
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<i>2) <b>Being ill is so much more difficult. </b>Gone are the days where I could call in sick to housework and responsibilities, instead opting to go back to bed and rest. Good bye vegging out on the sofa, watching trash TV and waiting for my immune system to remember it has a job to do. </i><br />
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<i>Hello to the days of powering through! Dose yourself up, suck it up and get on with looking after the baby! Hope its one of those 24 hour things, if it's not then we revert to the plan of powering through. Being ill is never fun, but with an 8 month old it's virtually impossible!</i></div>
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<i>3) </i><b style="font-style: italic;">Your baby being ill. </b><span style="font-style: italic;">Never crossed my mind how difficult having an ill child would be. Emotionally it is gut wrenching, heart breaking and quite possibly the most over whelming sense of uselessness I've ever experienced.</span><br />
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<i>On top of them not being able to tell you what is wrong they also don't understand the concept of medicine. Holding your child down to give them antibiotics, put eye drops in their eyes and make them endure many other drops, sprays & creams is traumatic. You know they need the medicine, but don't want to traumatise them. </i><br />
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<i>You worry if you are doing the right thing for them. Should you try and get them to eat more, drink more? Should you give them any more calpol? Will the Dr think I'm a paranoid mother? Is he so ill the Dr will wonder why I didn't bring him in sooner?</i><br />
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<i>Seeing Rhodri so miserable and hearing him whimper in pain while sleeping on my chest was without doubt the saddest moment of being a Mum to date. Rhodri isn't a particularly cuddly child, he likes to play and explore. But while ill he wanted cuddles galore, and how bittersweet those cuddles were!</i><br />
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<i> If you are unlucky enough for 2&3 to happen at the same time, which I experienced this week, then don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't go it alone. It is awful feeling poorly, seeing your child poorly and not really having the energy to look after your child let alone yourself.</i><br />
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<i>4) <b>Criticism. </b>I started exploring this in <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/5-things-you-dont-need-to-tell-pregnant.html" target="_blank">5 Things You Don't Need To Tell Pregnant Women</a>. It really is a very tough pill to swallow when people offer their opinions or criticise your parenting. No parent wants to hear their decisions or parenting skills are wrong. But since becoming Mummy I have found myself biting my tongue as all manner of my choices have been scoffed at and questioned. It doesn't bother me as much as it did, but certainly as a new mum it was ... character building shall we say?</i><br />
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What are some of the unexpected hurdles you faced? What has been your toughest hurdle to date? Let me know in the comments below. As always thanks for reading xoxo<br />
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<a href="http://www.thedadnetwork.co.uk/" title="The Dad Network"><img alt="The Dad Network" src="http://www.thedadnetwork.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/image-e1423257811431.png" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-67082515013802139572015-02-02T21:20:00.001+00:002015-02-02T21:34:14.995+00:0011 Questions by UmmBabySalma, from <a href="http://ummbaby.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">UmmBaby</a>, kindly nominated me for the Liebster award.<br />
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As I've already done the Liebster post twice (You can read it <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/liebster-award-discover-new-blogs.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> and <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/liebster-award-part-2.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>) I thought I'd just answer her 11 questions rather than do the whole process again. You can click the links above if you missed my original post!<br />
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<i>1. What is the inspiration behind the name you chose for your blog?</i></div>
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<b><i>Yikes this sounds boring but basically I am a blogger and a mummy. I always call myself Mamma to Rhodri and I just liked the way it sounded!</i></b></div>
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<i>2. Which city would you love to move to and why?</i></div>
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<b><i>I actually quite like the city I'm in now - Swansea. I have the beach very close by, plenty of places to go shopping and nothing is that far away from the city centre. It works for me.</i></b><br />
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<i>3. Who is the one person that can cheer you up no matter how rubbish you feel?</i></div>
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<b><i>Rhodri. It doesn't matter how tired, fed up or annoyed I am. A cuddle, smile or giggle from him and I'm good to go.</i></b></div>
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<i>4. What is your favourite type of cuisine?</i></div>
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<b><i>Italian! I could eat Italian food all day every day. </i></b></div>
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<i>5. If you could only use one lipstick/balm/gloss for the rest of your life, what would it be?</i></div>
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<b><i>My Rimmel Lasting Finish in Nude Pink. </i></b></div>
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<i>6. If your teenage son/daughter wanted to read your blog, would you let them in?</i></div>
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<i><b>Yes absolutely. I'm not writing anything that I don't think he should know about and personally if he wanted to read it, I'd take it as a compliment!</b></i></div>
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<i>7. What is your favourite flower?</i></div>
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<b><i>Roses. In particular white but any Roses are gorgeous. </i></b></div>
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<i>8. What meals would you have dehydrated and vacuum packed if you had to travel to space?</i></div>
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<i><b>Pasta, pasta, pasta. Pizza too... anything Italian! Haha.</b></i></div>
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<i>9. Where do you do most of your blogging?</i></div>
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<i><b>On my laptop while sat on the sofa. It's comfy and works for now! We don't have a desk or computer desk at the moment, but once our DIY and decoration projects are completed I'll be doing my blogging at a desk in the corner of our living room.</b></i></div>
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<i>10. Which sport do you love to watch more than play?</i></div>
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<b><i>I don't really love watching any sport. But the one I complain least about having to watch is Rugby.</i></b></div>
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<i>11. What's one piece of advice you'd give to your teenage self?</i></div>
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<i><b>Learn to drive as soon as you can. Don't put it off. Later on in life it will make things soooo much easier.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>OR ... Stay positive. Doesn't matter what life throws at you, you will get through it stronger than ever. Stay positive!!</b></i></div>
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Thanks again for the nomination, hope you enjoyed my answers Sal :) xxx</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-61644944846825018972015-02-02T20:35:00.000+00:002015-02-02T20:35:03.254+00:00Baby Boy Clothes Haul<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once upon a time, I enjoyed spending my left over pennies on books, LUSH bath products, make-up and clothes. But then my little man came along and now I enjoy picking out cute outfits for the little man! </div>
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A few weekends ago Hubby & I took Rhodri to the park for the first time, but before that I decided Rhodri <i>needed </i> more clothes! Oh I know, he had plenty for Christmas but... No I have no excuse. I just wanted to buy him clothes.</div>
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**Disclosure these are clothes my Hubby and I bought. This is not a paid for or compensated post**</div>
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First of all we went to Mothercare. That's where all but one of the items we bought came from. I was looking to buy stripy leggings I had seen on the website. But when we got there the largest size for the leggings was 6-9 months. As Rhodri is already in that size and in the next month or so will probably be in 9-12 months I decided it was pointless to buy his current size. </div>
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So we hit the sales rack first and found the two jumpers above. A grey jersey jumper with a 'monster' face and a maroon jumper with Navy neck & cuffs saying <i style="font-weight: bold;">Happy little Chappy. </i>Both Jumpers were normally £7 each or 2 for £12 but in the sale they were £4 each. I picked up 18-24 months as I figured next winter they will come in handy.</div>
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Then I picked up these jeans. I love the look of skinny jeans on Rhodri but he never seems that comfortable in them. So these were much softer than normal stiff denim and have an elasticated waist and ankles. They were in 9-12 months and £10.</div>
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Then I picked up the red & grey, and blue & grey striped long-sleeved body suits. They were £8 for the set of 2. I liked that the poppers were down the front and not on the shoulders, it just looks smarter. I got them in 9-12 months.</div>
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Hubby went back to Mothercare a few days later and he picked up the grey jogging bottoms in 9-12 months. They were £5. They are quite thick and durable so will be perfect for him to crawl about in. </div>
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Daddy also picked up two long-sleeved t-shirts. Both in 9-12 months. One is light grey, with aqua seams and multi-coloured writing <i style="font-weight: bold;">I'm as quiet as a dinosaur. </i>The second is dark and light blue striped (the picture hasn't picked it up well as the stripes are thin) saying <i style="font-weight: bold;">Daddy = My Hero. </i>The t-shirts were £4.50 or two for £8.</div>
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Lastly we went food shopping a few days later and while in Tesco I saw their latest range of boys clothing. I would have bought a lot more, but food shopping irritates me so I settled for one thing and quickly moved along to finish my shopping. We picked up a dark grey, long sleeved t-shirt saying <i style="font-weight: bold;">"big trouble in a little t-shirt"</i> this was £3.00 and also in 9-12 months.</div>
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I'm a huge fan of the Mothercare range, the quality of their clothes is fab. But I do find F&F have some cute pieces too. At the moment I'm loving leggings & Jeans for Rhodri. I love slogan t-shirts and I really love bodysuits & tops that are 'old men' fashion... I know that sounds weird, but I love the cardies with a geography teacher elbow patch, they just look so cute on little boys!</div>
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I then went on to have a mini Next haul this weekend... I'm absolutely shameless and I'm in danger of buying more outfits than he will ever be able to wear. oops!<br />
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Hope you enjoyed a look at how I like to waste my pennies these days! What do you love dressing your little one in? </div>
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As always thanks for reading! xoxo</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-83722667645258426042015-01-31T08:36:00.001+00:002015-01-31T08:45:51.773+00:00Changes<p dir="ltr">When I started blogging about Mummy things I very quickly got drawn in by ads on my blog and the possibility of reviewing products on my blog. I got drawn in by the idea of staying home with baby!</p>
<p dir="ltr">How exciting that this little hobby of mine could be more than that! But I've decided to disable ads on my blog and although I'm still a PR friendly blogger I won't accept payment for posts. I will review products and samples but only if I deem them appropriate to this blog and my family (which is how I've always worked. I've never reviewed something I wouldn't ordinarily purchase or use.)</p>
<p dir="ltr">I think I need to earn my stripes as a blogger and not jump in the deep end quite so eagerly. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Plus I'm returning to work in 5 weeks and this blog will be added to my balancing act. I'm just a normal mum, blogging because I enjoy it. This isn't my job as such and maybe one day my dream of working from home will come true. But there's no shortcut, quite rightly so, to a successful blog. I need to work at it. </p>
<p dir="ltr">My PR page will be updated shortly to reflect this change.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Let me know in the comments what you think. Have I done the right thing returning to Blogging as a hobby?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Come say hi and leave your constructive criticism. I'm always looking for ways to improve! As alway thanks for reading <u>xoxo</u></p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-29421569888669820022015-01-29T16:08:00.000+00:002015-01-29T16:08:38.631+00:00The New Arrival - Book Review**Disclosure: This is a review of a book I paid for with my own money. I am not being paid or compensated for this review in any way. All opinions are my own!**<br />
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It's been a long time (roughly 8 months) since I have read a book that didn't involve a small child or some sort of animal as the main character. It's been at least a year since I read anything that wasn't an instruction manual on how to be pregnant, have a baby or keep them well looked after.<br />
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Any other books have long been neglected in favour of blogging, early nights or social media websites. Particularly loving inboxing all my non-mummy friends and acting like staying up past 11pm isn't a totally irresponsible act that I will pay for tomorrow when the baby wakes at 7am and I'm wondering how his 12 hour sleep has resulted in an overly tired me.<br />
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But after a lovely twitter conversation with <a href="https://twitter.com/NewArrivalBook" target="_blank">Sarah and Amy Beeson</a> I followed a link to <a href="http://sarahbeeson.org/">SarahBeeson.Org</a> and after a little look around decided I wanted to read the memoirs book that Sarah and Amy had worked on together. A few nights later I ordered the book and when it arrived sank my teeth in to my first non-bedtime story book in quite some time!<br />
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<b>Name & Author: </b>The New Arrival - Sarah Beeson MBE<br />
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<b>What's it about?: </b>It's the memoirs of Sarah, a 1970's trainee nurse. The book starts as she sets off to London to begin training as a nurse. It follows her through her training, the friendships made and some of the patients that made an impact on her. Heartwarming, funny and yet at times heartbreaking real-life stories.<br />
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<b>My Impressions: </b>Within the first few pages I was already hooked. Rhodri was down for his morning nap and I read quicker than I've ever read taking in every word that painted a vivid picture of Sarah's surroundings and the people she met.<br />
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Within the first few pages I chuckled a few times and I felt like I was immediately transported to London in 1969. Moving quickly from chuckling, within the first few chapters I already shed a tear or two reading about one of the first patients Sarah encountered.<br />
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I kept reading, trying to swallow the book whole. I just wanted to take in as much as I could and genuinely didn't want to put the book down. I was quite disappointed when Rhodri woke from his nap, and quickly scolded myself for being so selfish.<br />
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Next nap I promptly picked up the book again, dieing to know who the patients Sarah would encounter next were. What ward she would next spend time on, and what adventures her & her friends would get up to. In all it took me 6 hours to read from cover to cover.<br />
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The book itself is very well written, it's easy to read and not at all over complicated like some memoirs can be. I love reading but often find books littered with long words that seem to be there for the heck of it. Like a neon sign saying look how intelligent I am, but it's a big turn off to me. This book isn't like that at all. It's written as someone would tell you a story from their past and with vocabulary you can imagine the author using normally.<br />
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Each 'story' is written in easily manageable portions. No story was long winded and each turn of the page left me eager for more.<br />
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When I reached the end of the book I wanted to read part two of Sarah's memoirs, but have to wait until July 2016 for that pleasure! I'm not normally a real-life/memoir/auto-biography kind of girl. I have read and enjoyed some but not to the extent that I <b>loved</b> The New Arrival. Normally favouring fantasies and a world I can escape to I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy this book as much as I did.<br />
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<b>Overall Opinion: </b>10/10 - heartwarming, sad at times, good for a giggle and an overall fantastic read. I recommend this book to you all. It was a pleasure to read. When part two is released I will definitely have to limit my self to a chapter or two a day!! You can pick up a copy of The New Arrival from Amazon, Ebay (signed 1st edition, really wish I'd noticed that before I ordered my copy and not 2 days later!), Whsmith, Waterstones and Foyles. You can also get the E-Book. Click <a href="http://sarahbeeson.org/latest-deals/the-new-arrival/" target="_blank"><b>HERE</b></a> for the links to the various purchase points.<br />
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Have you read the New Arrival? What were your thoughts? Any books you'd recommend I try? Let me know in the comments below and as always, thanks for reading xoxoAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-58546171874262761902015-01-28T18:50:00.000+00:002015-01-28T18:50:21.571+00:00January 2015 - Sassy Bloom Unboxing<br />
I received my January sassy bloom box almost two weeks ago now so I am a little late on the unboxing post, but it is still January so ... I can be forgiven right? You can read<b> <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/sassy-bloom-december-unboxing.html" target="_blank">Decembers Unboxing Here</a>. </b><br />
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If you don't already know, Sassy Bloom is a subscription box that you receive monthly, with baby/children's products inside. It is suitable for pregnant mums from the 3rd trimester to baby/toddlers of two yeas old. The amount you pay is dependent on the subscription you sign up for, a monthly subscription is £29.00 per box, 3 monthly is £27.00 per box, 6 monthly is £25.00 a box and Annually is £23.00 a box. Each box is tailored and hand picked for your child.<br />
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**Disclosure: I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway to provide this review. I pay for the Sassy Bloom boxes myself. All opinions are my own.**<br />
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If you would like to try Sassybloom, using my referral code MammaTen you can earn £10 off your first box. You can also click<b> <a href="https://www.sassybloom.com/?referral_id=MammaTen" target="_blank">HERE</a> </b>to apply that discount<b>.</b><br />
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Without further Ado here is my January 2015 Sassy Bloom Box. This month the ribbon was on the parcel and it made the parcel look even more exciting!<br />
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Inside was a little envelope with a card telling me my box was handpicked for my 7 month old (who's now 8 months old... slow down little man) and some leaflets with my referral code to pass on to friends.</div>
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Once I unwrapped the tissue paper I was met with a pretty full box of goodies! I was very excited to get in there and see what we had!<br />
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<b style="font-weight: bold;"><i>What is it? </i></b>The first thing I pulled out was this Plush Rattle Caterpillar. Pretty self explanatory, a plush toy with a rattle inside.<b> </b></div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My first thoughts? </i>I was quite pleased to see this in there. Rhodri loves teddies & plush toys so I knew he would like this. We've had it two weeks now and he still loves playing with it. He likes to chew on the legs and antennae when teething, and cuddling it when he's sleepy.</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">RRP? </i>I don't know the RRP of this item. When you get a box, the items are listed on the web page with the RRP and some other information. You are able to leave feedback on your box and the items. This item wasn't on the list so I'm not sure what the RRP is. But from looking online I've seen them for around £5.99.</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression? </i>I like this product. It's stood up well against the chewing and drool. Rhodri hasn't become bored quickly (which he sometimes does with rattles).</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">What is it? </i>Gumigem Miller Pendant. Its a rubbery pendant necklace that baby can chew on. It's easily washed and as its soft it won't damage little teeth. The cord is long, so plenty of reach for babies to pull, but it also has a safety clasp incase it's pulled too hard or too far.</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My first thoughts? </i>I had actually been looking in to buying one of these. Rhodri, like most babies, is obsessed with jewellery. He grabs and plays with necklaces and bracelets. I wanted something I could let him play with, with no danger of it breaking, and he could safely teeth on if he wanted. Seeing this in my box I was excited to try it out. </div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">RRP? </i>£12.95</div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression? </i>After two weeks of use I like it. It's easy to clean and I can chuck on a necklace without worrying about it being broken or chewed on. Rhodri likes to chew on it and it seems to help with his teething so it's a win win. </div>
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">What is it? </i>Nuby Grip N' Sip. A non spill beaker, with two handles to make it easy for babies to hold and with a one touch valve built in.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My first thoughts? </i>Looked very easy for baby to hold. I'm always looking for cups and beakers to help Rhodri learn to drink out of something other than his bottle.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">RRP? </i>£2.99<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression? </i>Rhodri can use this and seems to like drinking out of this more than some of the other beakers we have tried. The mouth piece is soft but, like it says on the packaging, it is non spill. I like it!<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">What is it? </i>Baby Dan Fingersafe. These are put on doors to prevent them doors from slamming and trapping little fingers. They are also designed to fit on the door handle when not in use.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My first thoughts? </i>Rhodri is starting to become more mobile so of course little safety items for around the house are always on my mind. When I saw these in our box I was happy to have something else to keep the little man safe.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">RRP? </i>£2.99<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression? </i>After two weeks I'm satisfied with them. They do exactly what they are supposed to. Good product and nice to try something safety related.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">What is it? </i>Babycup - Blue Small plastic cups. To help babies learn to drink from cups. Small for little hands to hold on to.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My first thoughts? </i>I was a little underwhelmed when I first saw these. They look like little shot glasses. Are small and plastic. I wasn't overly excited and think that cups aren't exactly a good idea with a 7 month old.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">RRP? </i>£6.66<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression? </i>Well they are good for helping him learn to hold and drink from a cup BUT his first instinct is to turn it upside down. I think he is a little young to get the concept of cups. But it's always good to have these things in the home ready for when he is more able to try them out and it's definitely good to introduce drinking from open cups, as it's said to be better for their teeth. The product is good, but I think it will come in more useful later down the line.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">What is it? </i>Organics Multigrain Mini Cereal Puffs. Soft chewable organic cereal. A stage 2 cereal for introducing more flavour and textures.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My first thoughts? </i>I love the organix range and Rhodri certainly likes his food. It's always good to try new flavours and brands to see what they do and don't like. I was happy with this product.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">RRP? </i>£0.80<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression? </i>Rhodri liked the cereal and ate the full portion, I think I will purchase some of this cereal as he seemed to enjoy this as a change from his porridge.<br />
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<b><i>What is it?</i></b> Sock ons. Strong stretchy material, worn over socks to stop socks coming off.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My first thoughts? </i>I had heard that people had received these from Sassy Bloom and was really hoping I would also get them. Rhodri, like most babies, has quite a talent for working socks off his feet. I was excited that there may be a solution for this!<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">RRP? </i>£6.00<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression? </i>They definitely do keep socks on. They seem quite tight on his feet but then no lines or marks were left on his feet so I think I may have worried over nothing. Rhodri is trying to walk and stand a lot at the moment and the packaging says they shouldn't be worn when walking so I spent a lot of time taking these off and putting them back on. I managed to loose one already! The product itself is amazing and does what it says, but possibly better for younger less mobile babies. Loved the product though and would definitely purchase some for any future babies.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">What is it? </i>Munchkin Wonder Waterway. A series of beads, wheels and spirals that keep baby entertained during bathtime.<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">My first thoughts? </i>Whether he takes a quiet and relaxing bath or a playful splashing bath I love bathtime with Rhodri. I like buying him bath books & toys to help keep him entertained during bath time so I was looking forward to trying this out.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cSZHHKtpPk0/VMkd1pUV2pI/AAAAAAAAAWA/cVIJdI6srac/s1600/DSCF2494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cSZHHKtpPk0/VMkd1pUV2pI/AAAAAAAAAWA/cVIJdI6srac/s1600/DSCF2494.JPG" height="149" width="200" /></a><i style="font-weight: bold;">RRP? </i>£5.99<br />
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<i style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Impression? </i>Rhodri likes the water flowing through the toys individually or the tower as a whole. The product itself is great, good quality and I think it definitely keeps him entertained. I like it alot.<br />
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I liked all the products in my box this month. My favourite was probably the Plush Rattle as Rhodri likes it so much. My least favourite is probably the Babycups, but mostly because he's a little young to use them at the moment. The items themselves are good and I'm sure we will get more use out of them eventually. I was really pleased with the box overall. It was another impressive box and I'm already looking forward to Februarys box!</div>
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Did you get a Sassybloom box this month? What did you receive? What were your favourite items?</div>
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As always, thanks for reading xoxo</div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8 month update</span></u></h3>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhodri playing in Nannas</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So Rhodri is 8 months old now. It's crazy how time has flown, that the cheeky, funny and very bossy little man has been in our lives for 8 months already. Yet I also feel like he's always been a part of our lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of my biggest blogger regrets is that I didn't come back to blogging sooner, that I missed an opportunity to keep all my pregnancy milestones and memories here, and until <strike>I wrote</strike> Rhodri wrote <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/baby-rs-first-blog-post.html" target="_blank">Baby R's First Blog Post</a> I haven't done the best job at marking his milestones either. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So new year, time to turn over a new bloggers leaf and get those memories typed up. Starting with his 8 month update! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Weight/Height: </b>He's gaining weight exactly on the trend he should be. Our Health Visitor has joked that he must have had a copy of the baby book and read it before he was born!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Height wise, he's only ever been measured once when he was was about 13 weeks old and never since so I don't know. He definitely seems longer but that's not very accurate of me!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Clothing size: </b>6-9 month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Sleep: </b>He sleeps 7pm - 7am most nights. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>This months milestones: </b></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri got his first two teeth just before turning 7 months, and it's looking like some more will come through now he's 8 months. Slowly but surely!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He's been able to sit with very little assistance for a while but around the 7 month mark he got his balance and can now sit unassisted for quite some time while playing without falling.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He learnt to clap new years eve.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He has also learnt to fake a cough. He finds this highly amusing.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hand eye co-ordination is definitely improving, he can now close the pop up section of toys deliberately and has a vague idea of how to make them pop back up.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He can stand up for a short time when holding on to toys/tables.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He does walk forward if you hold his hands and point him in the direction of a toy or person he wants.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>This months special outings:</b></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We took Rhodri to visit his new baby cousin just before Christmas</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We also took Rhodri to his grandparents to spend time with his Auntie, Uncle & cousins who came to visit for Christmas. They live far away so that was quite special for him.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rhodri met his new twin besties. He was intrigued by the two small people, and very much liked their soft blankets.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rhodri went to his cousins 3rd Birthday Party. He didn't really understand what was going on, and I suspect he thought all the attention and fuss was for him. Either way he enjoyed.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Baby gear love: </b>I would say my love this month would be the Summer Nasal Aspirator. I can't quite remember how it came to be in my possession, I remember thinking how gross it was and chucking it in a draw somewhere. Cue the cold he had over Christmas... love it now don't I!?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Baby's routine: </b>You can read our bed time routine <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/bed-time-routine-of-my-7-month-old.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Daytime wise he wakes at 7am, has porridge for breakfast, has a bottle, plays in his door bouncer or walker. Around 10am he goes for a nap. This is usually for about 1 and a half hours. He then has a little play until 12pm when he has lunch and his second bottle. We play with his more interactive toys until about 2.30pm when he goes for a second nap. This is usually an hour nap. Once he wakes up we tend to play with his sensory tent and then he goes in the door bouncer or walker for a bit as well. This takes us up until dinner time which the bedtime routine covers :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course there are days this differs slightly, if we go out he tends to avoid naps as long as possible and playtime isn't so scheduled but you get the gist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Highlights of the month: </b></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rhodri has started to give proper cwtches, not just I'm being held and cwtched by you. But the proper arms around my neck, head nestled into my shoulder kind of cwtches. A cwtch is a cuddle by the way, Welsh term.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He also gives kisses. If you say "kiss please" and he's in the right mood he puts his open mouth on my check, so that counts as a kiss right? The affection is certainly one of my highlights. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was Rhodri's first Christmas shortly after he turned 7 months. That was a huge highlight. Loved seeing him with all his family.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly favourites: </b></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Toy - </b>door bouncer closely followed by his walker/activity centre</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Teddy - </b>goodnight bear closely followed by scout the talking dog</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Food - </b>Pork & Apple Casserole</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Music - </b>Sam Smith 'Stay With Me' - I can't explain he just loves it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Activity - </b>pretending to cough or sticking items like remotes in his mouth.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Person - </b>Mummy & Daddy of course!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Book - </b>One Ted falls out of bed.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Rhodri's monthly dislikes:</b></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Day time naps, especially if we aren't at home.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Being dressed. Particularly dislikes putting coats on.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Toys with pop up bits. You know where an animal pops up when you push a button? Yeah he doesn't like that. He shouts at the toys and slams the pop up bit shut! Weird but true.</span></li>
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That's all for this month. As always thanks for reading! xoxo</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-36120979184951404692015-01-21T21:37:00.000+00:002015-01-23T20:33:29.988+00:00Review of Baby's Big Box of Little Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You might have noticed in<b> <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/bed-time-routine-of-my-7-month-old.html" target="_blank">Bed Time Routine of my 7 Month Old</a></b> that Rhodri has a little collection of books slowly building on his bookshelf. Every night either me or my husband read him a bed time story before he is put in his cot and left to drift off to sleep. I've done this since he was about 8 weeks old and since he has gone to bed in his own room. </div>
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Why, you might ask, have I read to him since he was so little? Well I think it's important to encourage all children to read, it sets them in good stead for school. For babies it encourages them to learn to talk and communicate with others.<br />
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I think the earlier we introduce books in to their routine, the easier it is for them to fall in love with stories and characters. I'm a bit of a book worm myself, often escaping in to the pages of a good read. I hope that Rhodri will one day enjoy the comforting pages of a book and enjoy reading more than games consoles... I can hope!</div>
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So when Puffin Books kindly sent me <i><b>Baby's Big Box of Little Books </b></i>to review<i><b> </b></i>I couldn't wait to give them to him and see what he made of them! The books are written and illustrated by Janet & Allan Ahlberg. They wrote and illustrated one of my all time favourite childrens books - The Jolly Christmas Postman, so I had high hopes for these little books. I wasn't disappointed!</div>
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Having first received them, I was full of ooo's and aahh's at the presentation on these lovely little books in their presentation box.<br />
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I was also impressed with the box itself as it's quite sturdy and has a magnetic flap to keep the box closed. This keeps them all neat and tidy, minimising the room they take up on his relatively small book shelf.</div>
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Inside the box, there are 9 little books. Each book has a different 'topic'. There are Mornings, Toys, Baby, Inside, Pets, Outside, Games, Family & Night-Times.</div>
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Each little book is sturdy, always good with an 8 month old who has managed to rip a few paper book pages already!<br />
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The pages are thick, perfect for little hands to grab and keep hold of. Rhodri hasn't quite grasped how to turn pages yet but he held the book letting me turn pages for him, which is definitely progress!</div>
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Inside each book words relating to the 'topic' are printed, illustrated with a clear and easy to relate to picture. They are very easily recognisable for babies and young children, which seems to keep Rhodri engaged. The words, at the moment, don't mean a lot to him. But the pictures keep him engaged, which will eventually make the words mean more to him.</div>
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Each book has 5 words in, so a nice little bite sized portion of learning.</div>
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I love that these books introduce simple, everyday words. They are familiar words and concepts to him which keeps him interested in the books and pictures. Although Rhodri will sit and listen to a story every night, I feel that is partly because it is routine or habit, and because he is getting a cuddle at the same time. Normally a book in the day time would be considered a toy for chewing and throwing. These books have escaped that fate and Rhodri has enjoyed looking at the pictures with me.</div>
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I quite enjoy the fact that there are different topics that relate to every day life, so I can pull the books out at different times of the day for us to look at together. We have a cat, so if he's trying to play with the cat I will pull out the 'Pets' book and show him the animals. He definitely seems to enjoy that he recognises certain things from the books.</div>
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I really love these books and think they are perfect as a gift for a baby or to give Mum at the baby shower. It's a lovely little addition to our book collection and I think every Mum and baby should have these! The books are good quality, well illustrated and perfectly aimed at children who are learning, babbling and starting to gain a vocabulary. I would definitely recommend all my Mummy friends add this to their collection!</div>
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You can grab your self a set from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Babys-Big-Box-Little-Books/dp/0141356480/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417198422&sr=8-1&keywords=baby%27s+big+box+of+little+books"><b>Amazon</b></a> or <b><a href="http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/allan+ahlberg/baby27s+big+box+of+little+books/11160518/">Waterstones</a>. </b>RRP £9.99 but both retailers are selling this lovely set for £7.99 (prices correct as of 21/01/2015).</div>
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**Disclosure: Puffin Books kindly sent these books to myself free of charge in return for a review. All opinions are honest and in my own words.**</div>
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<a href="http://www.thegigglesfamily.com" title="The Giggles Family"><img src="http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g456/cutesyglam/e673b5e3-8dcf-4ba8-a4c9-e0ec1d7be945.png" alt="The Giggles Family" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
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If you haven't already <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/my-big-fat-weight-loss-jouney-part-1.html" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a> for part 1. You'll find a little bit of background on why I decided to lose weight and the gruesome before pictures that haunt me! They also serve well as a reminder of what the old me looked like, I won't ever go back to that!<br />
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In my first post I told you that I wasn't happy at the weight I wasand I knew I wasn't healthy but didn't care enough, until I was going to be a wife and mother, to do anything long term. This is all true, but that's not to say I've never dieted before. I've dieted since I was around 15 and I've tried everything! There was slimming world, weight watchers, slim fast, I signed up to the gym, counted calories and I've even done those 'Drop two jean size' magazine diets. Although the numbers on the scale would drop by a stone, sometimes two, I'd soon get disheartened that I'd eaten well for two weeks and wasn't a size 8 yet. I'm one of those people who want everything yesterday and I was exactly the same while dieting.<br />
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I would try, sometimes harder than others. I'd stick at it for a few weeks or even a month. But it wouldn't be long before I'd go back to my old eating habits, the diet diary would be binned and the gym membership would be cancelled.<br />
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<b><u>What was different this time?</u></b><br />
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Apart from everything in part 1, I started to really be bothered by my appearance. From the age of 16 I've hated every photo in existence of myself from the neck down. I hated ALL photos of me once I was in my 20's. I looked like Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka only not quite so blue.<br />
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<b><u>What Diet did you use?</u></b></div>
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I started out in July 2011 using the Cambridge Diet. In basic terms it's a low carbohydrate, high protein diet where you are limited to shakes, soups, meal bars and some more recently added meals that weren't available when I was on Cambridge. It works by getting your body in to Ketosis, i.e. you don't eat enough carbohydrates for energy so your body has to burn off the fat stores instead.<br />
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You work your way from Step 1 through to Step 6. Step 1 is obviously the lowest calorie diet and step 6 is the maintenance step. As you loose weight you adjust the amount of products you have, introduce more foods and eventually carbohydrates in to your diet. Essentially I was too fat to start at the beginning on Step 1. It would have been too dangerous for me to cut down to the 440 calories a day that diet required. So I had to start out on Step 2, 810 calories a day.<br />
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<b><u>What did you eat on an average day?</u></b></div>
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<i>Breakfast - The Apple & cinnamon porridge or a banana shake</i></div>
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<i>Lunch - Vanilla shake</i></div>
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<i>Dinner - Chicken, Prawns, Egg or Quorn Sausages with cauliflower & broccoli</i></div>
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<i>Desert - Chocolate Shake</i></div>
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<i>Drinks - 3 Litres of water a day. 2-3 cups of coffee.</i><br />
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<b><u>How much did you lose?</u></b><br />
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Initially I lost just over 5 stone. However by the time I quit the Cambridge diet I was at a 4 stone 3lb diet. So some of the weight lost was regained.<br />
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<b><u>What were the hurdles you faced?</u></b><br />
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<li style="text-align: left;"><i>Christmas.</i> I took a few days off and quickly gained over a stone. It became apparent to me that if you didn't work your way up the steps and off the diet that even a tomato would affect your weight loss. I lost the weight I had gained and more, but my faith in the diet had been shaken.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><i>Surgery. </i>I had surgery in February and had to come off the diet for a short while during my recuperation. Although it was only for three weeks I regained two stone. I had been off the diet long enough that I found it very difficult to return to such a strict diet.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><i>The cost. </i>It was costing me £40 a week at a time I was saving and budgeting for our wedding. I decided to call it a day on the Cambridge and find a cheaper way of loosing weight.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><i>Negativity. </i>I had a lot of people whispering in my ear that I would be carrying my excess skin down the aisle if I lost much more weight. That I was loosing too much. It got to me. Enough to eventually stop the diet.</li>
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<b><u>How did you lose the rest?</u></b><br />
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As already mentioned I'm currently at a 9 stone loss. As I lost 4st 3lb it's clear I lost the rest in some other way. I did that by downloading My Fitness Pal. It's an app that has a huge database of different foods and their nutritional information, not just calories, but protein, salt, carbohydrate content etc.<br />
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I input my height, weight, goal weight and how much weight I wanted to loose a week. It told me how many calories I could eat a day and I set about inputting my meals each day. For the last 804 days (as of 11/1/2015) I have input every single item of food, every calorie I have consumed in to the app. I've allowed myself treats and days where I have gone over my calories a little, but every day I keep track of what I've eaten. </div>
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<b><u>Why don't you take a day off?</u></b></div>
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I'm often asked why I don't take a day off from inputting all my meals in to the app. Especially when I continued to do so through pregnancy. There are two reasons I don't stop tracking my food.</div>
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<li style="text-align: left;">Even if I have a day off, or a treat I want to be honest with myself. For many years I told myself I was just unlucky, I only had to look at food and I'd gain weight. Obviously that wasn't true. I was in denial. So if I keep track of what I've eaten even on my off days I can't pretend I've "been so good this week and not lost any weight". </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">By keeping track I am learning about portion control. I am learning what a normal sized portion of virtually every meal I have ever and will ever eat looks like. It will help me when I reach my goal and hit the 'maintenence' stage of this new lifestyle. I will be able to stop using the app with full confidence I know what I can and can't eat.</li>
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<b><u>What does an average day look like now?</u></b></div>
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<i>Breakfast - Honestly I forget breakfast way too often these days. But on the days I remember I have either two pieces of toast with clover or mornflakes porridge oats made with semi skimmed milk.</i></div>
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<i>Lunch - Either scrambled egg on toast (not if I had toast for breakfast) or a tortilla wrap with chicken and a garlic salad dressing, a banana and some yoghurt. </i></div>
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<i>Dinner - Fajitas or meat filled pasta or meat of some sort with vegetables, potatoes or rice.</i></div>
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<i>Snacks - fruit, yoghurt, the occasional packet of crisps or sunbites </i></div>
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<i>Drinks - coffee, juice, coke zero</i></div>
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<i>Treats - On rare occasions I allow myself a bag of wine gums, marshmallows or a bar of chocolate. I eat the bar/bag slowly portioned out over a few days until it's all gone.</i></div>
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<b><u>Hurdles Faced</u></b></div>
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<li><i>Pregnancy #1. </i>I increased the amount I was eating but continued to log my meals. I was determined not to eat for two. However sadly the pregnancy didn't progress past 12weeks and I had a little battle with my self to keep on track. Copious amounts of Ben & Jerrys were consumed. I got back on track by continuing to log every item of food and found it gave me a sense of control at a time where I felt a total loss of control. This taught me to adopt a sensible attitude to food that I will be able to maintain for a lifetime.</li>
<li><i>Pregnancy #2. </i>The first 12 weeks were full of scans and scares. It was very stressful and although I didn't diet, I found it very difficult to find the balance of eating well. I wasn't hungry due to the stress and for the first time ever had to force my self to eat! </li>
<li><i>Breastfeeding & having a newborn. </i>I was constantly hungry and ate ALOT of food which my midwife assured me was normal for a breastfeeding mother. However sometimes I would forget to eat and drink in the foggy early days where your head is full of questions like, when was his last feed, when is the next feed due. Resulting in a bit of a binge when I did finally remember... it was difficult to find the balance but we got there in the end.</li>
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<b><u>Weight Loss?</u></b></div>
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Since using the app I have lost a further 4 stone 11lb, putting me at a total loss of 9 stone so far.<br />
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<b><u>Would you do it differently if you had your time again?</u></b><br />
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That's a tough one. I am by no means bashing The Cambridge Diet and in some ways I think it's a good diet. Especially if you don't have as much weight to loose as I did. I don't think, knowing what I know now, that I would opt for Cambridge again. For me personally it was too restrictive.<br />
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That being said Cambridge gave me my life back. Although I didn't stick to it until I reached my goal it taught me self control I'd never had before. After such a strict diet, calorie counting was easy peasy! It gave me a kick start and my consultant was amazing. She gave me confidence to believe in myself, and if it wasn't for her I think I'd be sat here probably fatter than before, crying in to a tub of ice cream.<br />
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As for Myfitnesspal. Yes I would do that time and time again. I've learnt portion control and gained an awareness of what I put in to my body. I don't know why calorie counting never worked for me before, but I'm assuming the combination of the kick start Cambridge gave me and the ease of finding any food I eat in the app was what made it work this time. </div>
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<b><u>How is dieting going at the moment?</u></b></div>
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It's not coming off as quickly these days but I'm genuinely OK with that. No I don't have the time to worry over every food choice I make, I'm busy enjoying being a mum and making the most of what's left of my maternity leave.</div>
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That being said I am determined that by the end of 2015 I will have reached my goal weight and the additional 2st 6lb will be gone, and gone for good. I think once I'm back in work this will actually be easier. In work I found it so much easier to drink large quantities of water (which I'm a firm believer definitely helps with weight loss). </div>
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<b><u>So what is the plan?</u></b></div>
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<li style="text-align: left;">Continue to use MyFitness Pal. It's worked so far and it's really teaching me portion control.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">When I get to my target weight I will use it for a while to help me adjust to maintenance but then I need to stop relying on the app and learn to trust what I'm eating without counting every calorie. </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I plan to reduce the treats. Over Christmas I didn't gain any weight, but my calories were made up of a lot of treats and not a lot of nutritious food. </li>
<li style="text-align: left;">I'm useless at eating breakfast so my immediate goal is to make sure I have breakfast every day.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Increase my water intake. I drink little to no water most days. I need to get back to my 2-3 litres a day.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Reduce my coffee and carbonated drinks intake.</li>
<li style="text-align: left;">Increase my exercise. I get out and walk with Baby R in the pram quite a bit at the moment, but want to start doing something to tone up. Also when I'm back in work I won't get to walk as often so will need to make an effort to walk around the local area in my lunch break where possible.</li>
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So I guess this is kind of a New Years Resolution. Beat the bulge once and for all! I will keep you updated on my progress and hopefully sometime soon I will be happy to announce I hit my goal weight!<br />
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As always, thanks for reading! xoxo</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-16959983152021306242015-01-14T02:00:00.002+00:002015-01-15T20:46:07.202+00:00Today.<script>
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I'm not happy today.</div>
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That's a hard thing to write or admit on a blog isn't it?</div>
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I am honest with you all about my life as a first time mummy, I share the fact that Baby brain sends me doolally and has me walking up and down my street like a crazy woman checking if my front door is locked. I share the fact that I sometimes spend too much time day dreaming over the crusts from a loaf of bread. I even shared the pictures of myself 9 stone heavier.</div>
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Despite that we all tend to keep a little something back don't we? Especially on the blogging front, we write comical stories about nappy changes and the constant lessons we learn as parents. We write touching and endearing posts about how much our children mean to us. Sometimes we share some artistically taken well edited photos... or if you are like me you point, shoot and "that'll do."</div>
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We share the ups and downs in a very toned down way. An approach I seem to have adapted to my everyday life too. When I've had a rubbish day and I really want to scream & shout I rarely show it. If I shout around you then you need to know I've really hit my limit because I don't do sad or angry very well any more. I have one setting 'I'm fine'.</div>
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I think the only two people who ever see the full good, bad & ugly these days are my mother and my husband. Mum gets the day time rampages over the phone, and hubby gets the left over emotions after a day of either calming down or winding up.</div>
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On the days where the post man woke the baby up from his nap with ridiculously loud knocking, even though we have a door bell. The days where you've just cleaned the entire house so naturally baby spits his food everywhere and the cat kicks litter everywhere. The days where the nappy leaks everywhere and no amount of wipes can clean this mess. The washing machine gives up, shortly after the nappy leakage. The days where you think, if one more thing goes wrong I'm going to scream. Those are the days I find myself smiling and saying "I'm fine" before I even have a chance to think about it.</div>
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For the longest time I've felt the pressure to not show how I feel. To not say it. Like it's a bad thing to admit I feel something other than happiness.</div>
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So today I'm going to take a moment to say that I'm not OK, and that's alright too.</div>
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I'm a Mummy and I love it. Honestly it's the best thing that's ever happened to me, and on the days where I don't feel happy I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. How dare I not be happy when I have everything I ever wanted and more. How dare I! Well let me tell you, I'm human and sometimes I'm unhappy because I woke up on the wrong side of bed. Sometimes I'm unhappy because we all have private battles and wounds that have barely healed. Being a Mummy, and loving it, doesn't mean we can't be sad sometimes.</div>
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So I am admitting I'm not OK, that I don't want to smile but I will for my little boy. I'm admitting that my heart aches a little today, especially today. Pre-Rhodri it would be one of those days I would have crawled back in to bed and hidden under the duvet for the rest of the day. As I watch him play my heart is filled with love & joy, but there's a piece of my heart missing and it's aching today.</div>
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Today is a battle, a very private battle, and there I go keeping a little something back again. I guess we all have those things that remain private, but today my blog won't tell cute stories, or make jokes about how forgetful I can be. Instead I just want to leave a message for you all:</div>
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<b><i>It's OK to not be OK. In this world where being positive is such a virtue, where we are frowned upon for wearing our hearts on our sleeves and we too quickly find ourselves saying we are fine when we are not. We sometimes forget that we are allowed to be human, to be hurting, or to just be having a bad day. So let me say it again. Today I am not OK, and that's OK too...</i></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-4604512461148332612015-01-13T22:22:00.000+00:002015-01-15T20:45:44.343+00:00Introducing Baby R<div style="text-align: center;">
Last Friday night during #mblogchat I asked some of my fellow mummy bloggers a question on Twitter. How do they decide how much of their lives, or more specifically their children, to share with their blog readers? The overwhelming response was that of course it's personal choice and you need to do what feels right to you. They were kind enough to share with me what they had chosen. A lot of people chose to share names and photos, just as many used photos but just an initial, no name. </div>
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For some time now I have found my self typing Baby R's name automatically before deleting it. Adding a photo to a blog post before realising Baby R can be seen. It started to feel like I was hiding him from you all. This couldn't be further from the truth. I am so incredibly in love with my son, and so proud of him. I want to show him off but of course I want to protect him.<br />
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So Hubby & I had a little chat and we decided that we will allow photos of him on my blog but any pictures we include will be taken with his face out of view or blurred. This isn't because we are ashamed of him, quite the opposite. I'm that Mum who constantly has a camera (or at least a phone that has a camera) in my childs face. The only reason we are keeping his face from view is because he is our son, we want to protect him and we want to ensure we have control over his photos and who sees them.</div>
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In addition to this we decided that we were OK with sharing his first name. This is mainly to make writing about him that much easier. It is after all my parenting blog, and he is my child! We want to protect him but feel there is very little damage that can be done with a picture from the back of his head and his first name. So here it goes...<br />
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My name is Rachel, I'm married to Chris and our son is called Rhodri. It's the Welsh name (we are Welsh) of a 9th century King who was a great warrior. Rhodri has always been our little fighter, the name fitted for our baby if it was a boy. Once he was born and he was definitely a boy, once I saw his face I couldn't imagine any other name for him.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rhodri, 6 months, discovering the joys of sitting unaided.</td></tr>
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As always thanks for reading xoxo</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-20098672258817987292015-01-12T12:02:00.000+00:002015-01-15T20:45:32.375+00:00Bed Time Routine of my 7 month old<script>
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Since Baby R was born, it became quite clear to me he was a child of habit. He whimpered for his first feed 3 hours after he was born and for the next few weeks, (until his reflux became an issue) he fed every 3 hours at daytime. He slept at the same times and woke at the same times every day. </div>
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So, seeing as he seemed to like routine, once he started sleeping through the night we established a bed time routine for him. </div>
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It can change slightly with times if we've had a busy day, or if we are out visiting family. I try not to be too rigid with it and if he is tired earlier than usual we don't force him to stay up. Sometimes I miss out parts of the routine deliberately, this is so he doesn't need the entire routine to help him go to bed. If he doesn't have a bath one night or if he's staying with his grandparents he still needs to be able to go to bed, and some of his routine isn't always going to be possible. So it is flexible to a degree, but our routine looks a little something like this:</div>
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<b><u>4.30 - 5pm Dinner Time</u> </b></div>
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Around this time of evening eye rubbing is Baby R's favourite thing to do. He's getting tired but won't nap even if I did attempt to put him down for one. It is also this time of day he starts making a popping noise by smacking his lips together and this is his 'I'm hungry' sign. So once the rubbing of the eyes commences or he lets me know he's hungry, I take him in to the kitchen and sit him in his highchair with his highchair toy (1st on the list in my <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2014/11/3-6-month-must-haves.html" target="_blank">3-6 month Must Haves</a>). I make his bottle and put it to cool before feeding him his solids. Sometimes he has food from a jar or a pouch, other times he has what me & hubby are eating but mashed up a bit. Either way, once food is ready I take his toy away and he eats his dinner. After he's eaten his food and <strike>chucked</strike> strategically placed what he doesn't want on the floor, highchair, his face, bib and clothes we attempt to wipe up the mess. The majority of cleaning is met with little fuss, but as soon as I wipe his face I am told in no uncertain terms that he doesn't like it. </div>
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I grab his bottle, remove him from the highchair and we go sit on the sofa together while he has his bottle. He's getting more mobile and active these days so bottle time & bed time are rare opportunities for a cuddle! This is his last bottle of the day. Baby R used to have a feed/bottle at bed time, but he eliminated this himself and started refusing any bottle offered to him at bed time.</div>
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<b><u>5-5.45pm Play Time</u></b></div>
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After dinner Baby R has his final 'Play Time' of the day. I like to let him burn off that excess energy he suddenly acquired from nowhere! Usually he goes in his door bouncer or walker/activity centre. He loves being stood up so these are his favourite things to play with, but occasionally he's not in the mood for either of these activities so we will play in his sensory tent, or with some of his other Christmas gifts. I will normally put Cbeebies on the telly, music on my phone or Baby Einstein on YouTube for him. Some days he will take great interest in the programmes or songs but usually it's just background noise to him. He doesn't like the house to be too quiet so background noise keeps the levels of happiness up.</div>
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<b><u>5.45-6.15pm Bath Time</u></b></div>
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I run Baby R a bath most nights. At the moment he is enjoying Johnsons Baby 2in1 bubble bath & wash. I use Johnsons Baby Shampoo with calming Lavender. I put his bathtime buddy (a sponge shaped like a frog, his bath book, a hippo water squirter and his rubber duck for him to play with and then sit him in the bath. For those who have read my must have posts you will notice we are no longer using the bath seat. I still love it and if he's very tired having a bath I will lie him in it, but he enjoys sitting up and playing in the bath these days.</div>
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Although Baby R is currently using and loving a lot of Johnsons products, our bathroom cupboard is filled with lots of different products/brands. I was bought a lot while I was pregnant and most of what you see in the picture is my pre-pregnancy stock. I like to try different brands to check he isn't allergic or sensitive to anything. </div>
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Once Baby R is all washed, and he's had a good 10 minutes of playing & splashing I take him out of the bath wrap him in his hooded towel and dry him off. Twice a week I put baby lotion on him to try and keep that skin lovely and smooth. If I use it any more or less often his skin suffers. Twice a week works for us. Then it's a clean nappy and fresh PJ's to end his bath time ritual. He is always calm an relaxed after his bath.</div>
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<b><u>6.15-6.25pm Bed time story & cuddles</u></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby R's book collection</td></tr>
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Baby R has quite a collection of books already. We even have a few in Welsh for him, although my pronunciation isn't the best, we are hoping it will stand him in good stead for school. We normally read him one book, but if the story is long we will split it in half. The favourites at the moment are One Ted Falls Out of Bed & Guess How Much I Love You. We have a cuddle, read the story and look at the pictures together.</div>
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<b><u>6.25-6.45 Quiet Time & Bed Time</u></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Calpol, Slumber Buddy, Light Show & Goodnight Bear</td></tr>
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Obviously calpol isn't a constant in our routine, but I'm 'featuring' it because at the moment Baby R is teething. He has two teeth and another two are trying to push their way through. I have tried every teething product I could get my hands on. Even the so called miracle teething powders but nothing really helps him much. If he is showing signs of suffering with teething at bed time, we will sometimes give him a dose of calpol to take the edge off so he can get to sleep. Then we put on his Slumber Buddy which shines stars on the ceiling and plays different lullabies or soothing sounds. Brahms Lullaby is Baby R's favourite. We have a cuddle and some quiet time in the rocking chair and wind down. At the end of our routine Baby R is placed in to his cot, while still awake. He is given his goodnight bear and tucked in. I say "It's bedtime now, night night." and then leave the room. Normally he is asleep before I get to the bottom of the stairs but sometimes his chattering can be heard over the monitor for a few minutes. After a few tired giggles & some cooing he drifts off. By 7pm he is asleep.</div>
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After that I settle down with a cup of coffee, the baby monitor & YouTube. If Hubby is home we natter and catch up, if not I enjoy the quiet time. That's it then until 7am when Baby R wakes us up with the joyful babbling and giggles over the monitor. It really is the cutest alarm clock ever!</div>
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What does your little ones bed time routine look like? Let me know down below. If you're a blogger and have already written a post about it then leave the link for me in the comments so I can have a read! As always thanks for reading! xoxo</div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-90718232333189518412015-01-11T10:55:00.000+00:002015-01-15T20:45:22.814+00:00My Big Fat Weight Loss Jouney - Part 1<script>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you read my <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/liebster-award-discover-new-blogs.html" target="_blank">Liebster Award Post</a>, or if you follow me on twitter you might well know that over the past three years (12 months of which I was pregnant) I have lost 9 stone in weight. Shockingly, despite all that weight loss I'm still not at my goal weight and still have a further 2 stone and 6 lbs to loose. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My three year journey has been quite a journey so I'm going to split this in to two parts. Part one is the lead up to weight loss, and part two (coming soon) will be about my actual journey, the diets I tried, the hurdles I faced and how I plan to reach that final goal by the end of this year!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I won't be putting my weight on here, but I'm sure you can all guess from the 11.5 stone total loss goal, that I probably weighed more than your average British woman in her 20's. My BMI started at just shy of 50. Which you probably all know is morbidly obese and incredibly unhealthy. I had eaten my feelings for many years, along with a truck load of pizzas, chocolate bars, ice cream and pretty much anything I could get my hands on. I did eat healthy meals the majority of the time, but my snacking habit was ridiculous. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I knew what I was doing to myself and to my health, but honestly I just didn't care enough to stop eating. I was in a really dark place, throwing the biggest pity party ever, due to non weight related health problems and just added to them by making myself so overweight and unfit that I was always ill. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back on NYE 2010 my hubby proposed to me after six months of dating. We had been best friends for 5 years at that point and he had spent the last 18 months seeing me through one of the most difficult times of my life. We'd gone from friends to partners and I'd fallen head over heals for him, so of course I said yes! We spent the next few months wedding planning and discussing things like starting a family. It was at that point I decided something had to be done about my weight. If I was going to be someones wife I needed to commit to them for life, I needed to live longer than 40! If I was going to be someones mum I needed to be able to take care of them, play with them and help them to be happy & healthy individuals. I couldn't do that while I was overweight, unhealthy and unhappy. So I finally decided in July 2011 that this was it. I was going to go on a 'diet' or rather I was going to change my relationship with food forever and I was going to be healthier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I used things like my wedding dress, the wedding photos and wanting to have children as my incentives and on day one I got my now husband to take a picture of me. A picture of me at the heaviest I'd ever been and at a weight I have vowed I will never ever get close to again. Here are the photos that were taken, please forgive the poor quality, they were taken on my old phone 3 years ago, and weren't intended for blog posts! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have now lost 9 stone and this is what I currently look like, taken 06/01/2015. Forgive the lack of make up. I realised I didn't have anything from Xmas or NYE that didn't have the baby in. As Hubby and I are undecided on whether or not to share pictures of Baby R on my blog we took an impromptu photo at 11.30pm and frankly you were lucky I wasn't in PJs at that time of night! :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Find out how I did it, the hurdles I faced and how I plan to drop the final bit of weight in Part 2 (coming soon). As always thanks for reading xoxo</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-69641951683555361392015-01-08T11:06:00.000+00:002015-01-08T11:06:29.625+00:005 Baby Brain Moments<div style="text-align: center;">
Curse you baby brain! There was a time when I could remember birthdays with out checking & double checking my diary. I was able to get to the end of the street without having to go back for something. But then there was pregnancy and my brain turned to mush. There is something about all those hormones and the constant stream of baby related things to think about that gives women 'baby brain'. Or maybe I just lost my marbles?</div>
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Here are five of my funniest, albeit potentially dangerous, baby brain moments:</div>
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<li style="text-align: center;"><b>Set fire to my microwave.</b> No, I'm not joking. While getting ready for work one morning I pulled some bread out of the freezer to make sandwiches for lunch. I put the bread in the microwave for 1 minute to defrost and walked away to finish getting ready. When I returned to the black cloud of smoke that was my kitchen, I had an inkling that something was wrong. The source of the black smoke was my microwave, it was billowing out of the sides. I panicked for a second before opening the microwave door and covering the now cremated bread with a wet towel. If you can guess why this happened you get 10 brain points. Go on take a guess... 'defrosted' the bread on full power. Forgot to press the defrost button didn't I?</li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><b>'Polished' living room. </b>Doing the housework one Saturday morning. Thought to myself the polish smelt like apple & cinnamon, which was odd because the polish I used at the time was beeswax, there was no added smell. Continued cleaning and moved on to the dining room, went to spray the dining room table and something on the spray can caught my eye. As you have probably already guessed it wasn't polish I'd used to dust my living room. It was air freshener.</li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><b>Cried over Multi purpose wipes. </b>This is kind of my hormones fault, but I'm blaming baby brain because in my crying fit that's what I decided was to blame. I grabbed and opened a pack of wipes. Wiped my kitchen work tops and went to put the pack of wipes away. Realised as I put them away there was already a pack of wipes opened. I blamed baby brain that I'd opened a pack when I already had a pack open and then sat on the kitchen floor and cried that there were now two open packs. Crying turned to laughter when I explained to Hubby why I was crying but for a good five minutes I was genuinely distraught!</li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><b>Had a bit of a mix up. </b>Trying to be a supermum in the earlier days and doing many things at once I made a bit of a boo boo. I was tidying the house, making me some lunch, feeding the cat, putting on laundry and making the baby a bottle. Look at me go with all the multi-tasking! Right, lets put the washing powder in the machine, and the milk powder in the bottle. Add some hot water, well that's not right is it? The milk doesn't get that frothy until you shake it. Yes, you guessed it. Milk powder in the washer and washing powder in the bottle. No babies were harmed, I noticed straight away but never do the two things at the same time any more! </li>
<li style="text-align: center;"><b>Made an error putting together our new wardrobes. </b>We moved in to our new home this time last year. In our old house all the rooms had built in wardrobes. So as well as purchasing a lot of nursery furniture we also needed a rather large wardrobe to fit all of our clothes in. Eight months pregnant, one evening in April, we finally got around to putting up our wardrobe (I was sick of pulling clothes out of black bags and laundry baskets). Hubby refused to let me help much and instead 'allowed' me to read the instructions and tell him what to do. That was his big mistake! I did read the instructions, but not very well and after about half an hour Hubby was balancing the top of the wardrobe on his head, while one side was being built. I got to an instruction that said to put the other side on and then lift wardrobe off floor and stand upright. I suddenly realised I'd missed the glaringly obvious instruction at the beginning - <b>Assemble on floor.</b></li>
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I wish I could say I'm joking but it's all true. Luckily I find it all very funny now and although I still have my moments they are definitely less dangerous! Did you have the baby brain? Did you still have it after your babies were born? Leave me a story in the comments about your 'funniest' baby brain moment. </div>
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As always thanks for reading xoxo</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-63048153329700321482015-01-06T17:23:00.000+00:002015-01-06T19:08:26.840+00:00Baby R's first blog post<script>
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Hello there,<br />
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My name is Baby R, you can also call me Chops, Monkey or Tinker. Mummy does ... alot! I thought seeing as my Mummy blogs about me ALL the time I'd come on here and tell you a bit more about me.<br />
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I was born in May 2014, which makes me 7 and a half months old. I live with my Mummy and Daddy. Mummy stays home and looks after me at the moment, but she will be returning to work in March. Daddy works, and he sometimes misses bedtime which makes us all very sad, but when he is home he plays with lots of toys with me and I love that!<br />
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Over the last 7 months I have become quite the clever little boy, even if I do say so myself. I can do loads of tricks, some of them make mummy squeal with excitement. Mummy's funny when she makes excited noises. It gives me the giggles.<br />
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Mummy was having scans from as early as 6 weeks pregnant with me, that's why she calls me Tinker, and the fact that I kept her on the toes for the entire pregnancy. At 40wks+2 I made mummy go to hospital by refusing to move for hours. She was sent home because even though the Dr wanted me to be born, they were too busy at the hospital. They told her to go back the next day to discuss induction. The next day we were told she was definitely going to be induced because I was distressed, but she'd have to wait another day because there were no beds. I didn't want to wait anymore, I wanted out! So as the nurse said 'You can go home' I started Mummy's contractions every 4.5-5minutes apart. Mummy wasn't allowed to go home, and good job too! I didn't hang around for long once I got things started. Mummy's active labour was 3 hours and 11 minutes! She was in a bit of shock when I was born, and it's been a whirlwind ever since!<br />
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From about 1 week old I've slept for 5/6 hour stints at night and since I was 7 weeks old I have slept from 7pm to 7am. This is not just because I love Mummy, it's because I love sleep! I know I could wake my parents up a bit more but I love cuddling up in my cot and sleeping the night away. I think I'll save the sleepness nights for when I'm older and Mummy isn't expecting it.<br />
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Around 5/6 weeks Mummy noticed I was being sick a lot. I tried to tell her I had reflux, but she didn't understand the arching of my back wasn't wind related. It got worse and worse, I was so sick that I was constantly hungry. That made Mummy cry and I was in so much pain! But a lovely woman at the Doctors surgery gave me Gaviscon and we've never looked back.<br />
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I learnt to roll over when I was about 4 months old. I'm NEVER doing that again! I hate being on my tummy. So now the furthest I roll is on to my side and then back again. I much prefer sitting up which I learnt around 6 months. It took me until 7 months to get the balance to stay sat up for any length of time.<br />
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I don't want to crawl. It's not fun. I'd rather sit with my toys or stand up. Standing up is great fun! I have to hold on to Mummy, a toy or a table but it's much better than crawling or rolling! Besides once I start crawling Mummy will stop fetching my toys and that's a game I enjoy way too much to give up.<br />
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I learnt to blow raspberries thanks to one of my Aunties (you know who you are!) when I was about 4 months old and since then I also developed a talent for sticking my tongue out as soon as I detect a camera in the room. Mummy paid for professional pictures of me, and all but one of them I had my tongue out!<br />
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I was 4 months when I started trying solids, I couldn't wait until 6 months. I just wanted food and once or twice tried to take food off Mummy. I used to love eating carrots or tomato and blowing raspberries. A mouth full of carrot can stain clothes, bibs and even my mouth like nothing else! Mummy wasn't very impressed with that trick, so now I only do it if I'm in a bad mood. It's my way of telling Mummy I don't want to sit in my high chair, I don't like bibs and I definitely don't like have my face wiped after dinner.<br />
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My favourite foods are pasta, tomato, banana, cheese and yoghurt. Although these tend to change dependent on whether mummy has bought a lot of my favourites. I then decide that I like something else. For example my favourite food was scrambled egg, until Mummy bought a truck load of eggs, so I promptly decided I don't like scrambled eggs and so Mummy had to eat all the eggs.<br />
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My favourite books are Guess How Much I Love You & One Ted Fell Out Of Bed. My favourite toys are my door bouncer, my activity center/walker and my mummys mobile phone. I have a favourite teddy called 'Goodnight Bear' I suck on his ears or his hands for comfort. All the white fur is now grey, and no matter how much mummy washes him he never gets white again.<br />
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I found my voice a while back, but I'm just about mastering copying certain sounds. So I can go Bababababa over and over while Mummy says 'Not Baba, Mama'. Oh yes and this Christmas my Auntie who came to visit me for Christmas taught me to clap. I'd like to thank her for that, because now every time I clap I can demand cheering and clapping from Mummy. It really lifts my mood when I'm getting bored of eating, sleeping, playing and babbling.<br />
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Well that's it for now folks, I'm really tired and probably need a nap. So I'm going to grizzle for a bit and then give my mummy a cuddle so she knows I'm ready for a sleep. If you have any questions for me let mummy know in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them all for you.<br />
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Thank You. Raspberries, slobbery kisses and giggles from me! xoxoAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-3322845612855142872015-01-05T19:23:00.000+00:002015-01-06T19:08:13.904+00:00Liebster Award Part 2<script>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bfAyvKgzGGg/VKk5SAopWLI/AAAAAAAAAFw/IJ8m9IwM-jg/s1600/Liebster%2Baward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bfAyvKgzGGg/VKk5SAopWLI/AAAAAAAAAFw/IJ8m9IwM-jg/s1600/Liebster%2Baward.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having been nominated and written my <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/2015/01/liebster-award-discover-new-blogs.html" target="_blank">Liebster Award post</a> (linked) I put it to one side. I don't know if all bloggers do this, but I like to give myself at least a few hours after initially writing a post to think about it and to re-read it. Just in case there's anything I want to change. So thinking I was all done I sat down to some twitter when a 2nd nomination came through from <a href="http://www.mummybexm.co.uk/" target="_blank">MummyBexM</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you MummyBexM for the nomination! I won't do the whole post all over again, I've already given the rules, my 11 random facts, and picked 11 nominees so in this post I'm just going to answer MummyBexM's questions and of course tell you a little bit about her blog!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A relatively new blog and a new mum to her almost 4 month old little boy. She blogs about her life as a mummy, throws in some lovely pictures of her family and also writes some really informative posts to help other mums on things like sleep routines. A really enjoyable read. Be sure to pop over and say hi!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 11 questions I've been given are:</span></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) When and why did you start blogging? </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i>This is a question I touched upon in my first Liebster Award post. I originally started my blog, which was then called 'Just Add Colour' back in October 2012 shortly before my wedding day to share some of the hints and tips I'd picked up along the way for planning a wedding. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i>Eventually the wedding posts got mixed in with beauty, recipes and a lot of other random stuff. I eventually took a break from blogging for personal reasons, the break was about 16months. In May 2014 my little boy was born and in October 2014 I decided I missed blogging, but wedding blogs weren't for me anymore so my blog was renamed Blogging Mamma and my lifestyle/parenting blog was born!</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2)What recently read blog post have you enjoyed? </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i>There's a few, especially with all the Christmas posts recently. But one that springs to mind is <a href="http://plutoniumsox.com/" target="_blank">Plutonium Sox</a> post <a href="http://plutoniumsox.com/baby-2/little-things/" target="_blank">The Little Things</a>. A lovely mix of getting to know the blogger, some lovely pictures of her two girls and a lesson I stand to learn that children aren't materialistic and Baby R doesn't need half of what I got him, because Christmas told me to!</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) If you could learn a new skill, what would you like it to be?</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i>I'd learn to drive. I wish I'd done it when I had the time and money earlier in life. Would make things much easier now with baby. Especially when I go back to work.</i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) If you could have any 5 guests over for dinner who would they be and why? </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>My Grandfather and My Nan who passed away many years ago now. But I miss them like crazy and if I could have them over for dinner and have them meet my hubby and hold my son, it would be the best thing ever.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>Michael McIntyre because I find him hilarious, and I think there is nothing better than a good laugh with good company.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>J.K. Rowling because I am a Potter fan and I'd love to spend an evening with the woman who created my favourite characters.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>Brendan Carroll in the character of Mrs Brown. I'd probably eat very little and just laugh all night, but laughter is the best medicine.</i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5) Who is your favourite fictional character? </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i>Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice or Dumbledore from Harry Potter</i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6) What question would you like to ask the Queen, if you could? </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>If you could have done anything in this world, if you weren't royal so didn't have the obligation to rule the country, then what would you have chosen to do or to be?</i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7) If you won the lottery, what would your first 3 spends/buys be? </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>I'd buy my parents, sister and my hubbys parents & siblings houses.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>I'd build my dream home.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>I'd pay for a big family holiday for when Baby R was old enough to remember. Make some memories for him.</i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8) Which is your favourite film and why?</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistlestop Cafe. It's the perfect mix of sadness, love, humour and addresses big issues like domestic abuse and racism. I just love it.</i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9) If you were a biscuit, what type would you be?</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i>I'd probably be something like a digestive. Rather plain and boring, but reliable and perfect with a cup of coffee.</i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10) Where in the world would you like to go/visit? </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><i>If I could I'd love to do a cruise and visit loads of landmarks etc. But if I had to pick one place it would be Sorrento in Italy. I'd love the food, the gorgeous weather, the beautiful town and scenery. Plus it's close enough to go visit Pompeii which is on my bucket list!</i></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11) If you could be in any film, TV or book which would it be and why? </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>This is a toughy. There's far too many to choose from. As a child I'd always imagine I was the heroine in my favourite books or films.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><i>I know it's odd but I always wanted to be the Little Princess. To be such a kind and warm hearted person in such dire times. To have an imagination that kept me going, and of course to be reunited with my very rich father. I just love the book, and if you love a book enough you tend to want to be part of it. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">OK so that's my 11 questions given by Mummybexm! As always thanks for reading xoxo</span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-17153940065146514962015-01-05T16:00:00.000+00:002015-01-06T19:08:00.232+00:00Liebster Award - Discover New Blogs<script>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bfAyvKgzGGg/VKk5SAopWLI/AAAAAAAAAFs/nDGW4uz69yU/s1600/Liebster%2Baward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bfAyvKgzGGg/VKk5SAopWLI/AAAAAAAAAFs/nDGW4uz69yU/s1600/Liebster%2Baward.jpg" /></a></div>
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I was very kindly nominated (Thank you) for the Liebster Award by <a href="http://www.yogaberry.net/" target="_blank">Yogaberry</a>, a yoga loving mum of two who not only enjoys, but teaches yoga. Her blog is a lovely mix of family life, Yoga and her thoughts on things like being honest to your children, and loads more. Go over to her blog and enjoy!<br />
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I had never heard of the Liebster award until I was nominated, but after reading Yogaberry's post and doing a bit of research I have surmised that basically it is a way of discovering new, smaller blogs and for those bloggers to get to know each other. The rules are as follows:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><strong>1. Acknowledge and thank the blog who nominated you.</strong></span><br />
<strong style="font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">2. Look for an award image that you like, and post it on your blog.</strong><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><strong>3. Answer the 11 questions asked by the person/blog who nominated you.<br />4. List 11 random facts about yourself.<br />5. Nominate 11 blogs with under 200 followers to receive the award.<br />6. Let the bloggers know that you nominated them.<br />7. Give them 11 questions to answer.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Here are the questions I was given -</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">1. What are 3 things you learned in 2014?</span></span><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I learnt to make the best of what you have. Things aren't always going to be lollipops and sunshine but that's OK. The happiest people aren't those who have everything, but those who appreciate what they have. Cliche? Maybe! But it was definitely my main lesson in 2014.</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Proxima Nova, Myriad Pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 21px;"><i>I learnt lots of practical things about being a mum. Like how to do things one handed, things that 8 months ago I would never even have attempted one handed. How to change a nappy. How to change a nappy in a rush. How to take a bodysuit off without pulling it over a babies head (envelope sleeves, brilliant invention and very useful when baby catches a stomach bug!).</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Proxima Nova, Myriad Pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 21px;"><i>Finally I learnt the beauty of patience. I've never been particularly patient, but my son has taught me to slow down a bit and enjoy the little things in life. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Proxima Nova, Myriad Pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 21px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">2. Why did you decide to start blogging?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Proxima Nova, Myriad Pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 21px;"><i>I actually decided to blog a few years ago when I was planning my wedding. I fondly called myself a budget bride and set about arranging my wedding for half the cost of your average UK wedding. I decided to share some of those tips. I enjoyed it so much I started to share other things I liked and learnt. I took a break from blogging for personal reasons but when my son was about 4 months old I decided I wanted to record my journey in to motherhood and my blog seemed like the perfect place. So 'Just Add Colour' was renamed Blogging Mamma, and wedding posts were replaced with lifestyle/mummy posts.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">3. What is your favourite blog?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Proxima Nova, Myriad Pro, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 21px;"><i>I have a few. But one of my favourite mummy/beauty/lifestyle blogs back from before I even started blogging on Just Add Colour is <a href="http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sprinkle of Glitter</a>. I found her blog, which in turn led me to her YouTube videos. I find her blogging style very relaxed, down to earth and easy to read. Even her longer posts are easy to digest. I like the mix of beauty, mum posts and arty project type posts. There are many blogs I love now, and it's hard to pick a favourite but there's a definite soft spot for the first blog I started reading regularly.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">4. What would you do tomorrow if it was your last day?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>I would spend the entire day with my family and my closest friends. We'd all spend the morning playing games with Baby R until he went for his nap. Then we'd all have a cuppa and chat/laugh until Baby R woke up. We'd go down the Mumbles (a beautiful area of South Wales) for the rest of the day, eat ice cream, walk on the beach and take far too many pictures then come home and put Baby R to bed. We'd order a takeaway, watch a film and talk until we were too tired to stay awake. I'd go to bed and cuddle my hubby until I fell asleep. Sounds like the perfect day to me!</i></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">5. Who do you admire and why?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">That's a toughy. I admire a lot of people of course but it's tough to single one out. I'm going to go with my father for this one. I've always admired his work ethic. He's always worked hard, taken opportunities others wouldn't because they involved sacrifice, worked through illness and pushed himself to work his way up the ladder. There were times this wasn't easy for him, that he had to spend a lot of time away from his family for work reasons. Yet he </span><span style="font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 21px;">traveled</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> a long way (approx 360 miles each way) to see us almost every weekend. For as long as I can remember he's been learning new things outside of his work life too. Whether it's been organised lessons or teaching himself new skills. But I really admire that. I think it's an excellent quality in a person to have a good work ethic.</span></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">6. What is your favourite cake?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>Coffee cake.</i></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">7. What are 3 things you would like to do or learn if you had all the time and money in the world?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>a) I'd learn to drive. It would make life so much easier if I could put Baby R in the car and head on out. Instead I rely on buses or Hubby when he's not in work. We can't afford for me to learn with the average hour lesson costing £18.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>b) I'd like to go on a world cruise. Stopping at places like Pompeii, going on Safari in Africa, visiting hot & cold countries. Just experiencing as much of the world as I could. Not everywhere obviously, but to swim in the bluest oceans, lie on the whitest sands, taste different foods. It's something I would love to do if I won the lottery.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>c) Build my own home. I've given this whole all the time and all the money thing some thought over the years. See if I got to design and build my own home, decorate it exactly as I want it, have all new furniture and mod cons I'd never need to move house ever again. As someone who has lived in 6 houses since 2007 the idea of never moving again is very appealing. So yes, to build my dream house.</i></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">8. What book have you really enjoyed reading in 2014?</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>There's two I want to mention. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. An inspirational woman and a story that made me weep many a time. </i></span><i style="font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302948px; line-height: 21px;">Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. Childrens books are not always the most thrilling to read but I really enjoy reading this one to Baby R.</i><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">9. What's your favourite snack?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>Yoghurt, toffee or vanilla flavoured are my faves and when I want to feel like I'm being good I'll chop up a banana and chuck it in my yoghurt.</i></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">10. What did you want to be when you were a child?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>What didn't I want to be? My answer when I was asked was - a dancer, pop singer, shop owner, book author, teacher, chef, doctor (who rides a horse to appointments) with children. I even had it scheduled so I could fit all my professions in. I decided I really could have it all! </i></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Proxima Nova', 'Myriad Pro', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 14px;">11. What is your blog post that you most enjoyed writing so far? (send me a link)</span></span><br />
<i>From my Just Add Colour Days - <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/bully-for-you.html" target="_blank">Bully For You</a> It was a very hard piece to write for me. But I really enjoyed the therapeutic nature of saying what was playing on my mind.</i><br />
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<i>From my newer Blogging Mamma Days - <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/dear-baby-r-open-letter.html" target="_blank">Dear Baby R</a> I feel proud of this post and the original paper copy that now sits in Baby R's memory box for him to re-open when he's older.</i><br />
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<i><b>11 Random Facts About Me</b></i><br />
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<i>1) I have lost 9 stone in weight in the last 3 years. I hope to loose the final 2 and a bit stone in 2015</i><br />
<i>2) The first wedding ceremony I ever attended was my own. </i><br />
<i>3) I love marshmallows. Prefer flumps, but will eat mini, or pink & whites.</i><br />
<i>4) I once wrote a poem about pink Yorkie bars. It was for A'Level English and earnt me an A.</i><br />
<i>5) I have never broken a bone (touch wood).</i><br />
<i>6) I am deaf in one ear.</i><br />
<i>7) I grew up in England but am Welsh and now live in Wales again.</i><br />
<i>8) I love Harry Potter. So much so I dressed my son up as baby Harry for Halloween! Ha!</i><br />
<i>9) Once I put baby milk in the washing machine and washing powder in the baby bottle. Don't worry didn't give the bottle to baby. Realised what I had done pretty much straight away. Got to love baby brain!</i><br />
<i>10) I love coffee. I drink more coffee than is advisable and still fall asleep easily at night. Must be immune to caffeine by now.</i><br />
<i>11) I am allergic to peanuts.</i><br />
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<b>The 11 bloggers I want to nominate are (I don't know that your blogs have less than 200 followers, turns out it's quite hard to find out how many followers a blog has. Mainly due to all the different platforms you can be followed on, so I've gone with the amount of followers on Bloglovin and if you're not on Bloglovin then goodness knows what number I used. I appreciate you may have more than 200 in total but I tag you anyway!) :-</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.mummybexm.co.uk/" target="_blank">MummyBexM</a><br />
<a href="http://plutoniumsox.com/" target="_blank">Plutonium Sox</a><br />
<a href="http://playathometeacher.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Play At Home Teacher</a><br />
<a href="http://mumtumdiaries.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Welcome To My World</a><br />
<a href="http://stuffbabiesneed.com/" target="_blank">Stuff Babies Need</a><br />
<a href="http://fuzzypeachdrops.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">FUZZYPEACH</a><br />
<a href="http://diaryofanunexpectantmother.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Diary of an Unexpectant Mother</a><br />
<a href="https://academicmummy.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Academic Mummy</a><br />
<a href="http://www.slummymummy.co.uk/" target="_blank">Slummy Mummy</a><br />
<a href="http://www.mummysretreat.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Mummy's Retreat</a><br />
<a href="http://www.dillydrops.co.uk/" target="_blank">Dillydrops</a><br />
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<b>11 Questions For My Nominees</b><br />
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<b>1) If you could only ever eat one food/meal for the rest of your life what would it be?</b><br />
<b>2) What's your favourite, non-blogging, related thing to do?</b><br />
<b>3) If you could meet any celebrity (living or not) who would you want to meet and why?</b><br />
<b>4) What is your biggest pet peeve?</b><br />
<b>5) Main goal for 2015?</b><br />
<b>6) Link your favourite blog post written by someone else.</b><br />
<b>7) Link your favourite blog post written by you.</b><br />
<b>8) Are you a planner or a spontaneous kind of person. </b><br />
<b>9) What non physical trait of yours would you change?</b><br />
<b>10) What made you begin your blog?</b><br />
<b>11) Tell me a quote or mantra you identify with.</b><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08613852248227371275noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-115130831555979.post-38039669034483230082015-01-04T15:48:00.000+00:002015-01-04T15:48:00.988+00:00Things I Wish I existed<script>
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Bit of a random post here today, but every now and then this mummy finds herself thinking about non-baby related things. Shocker I know! Have you ever thought 'I wish that was an actual thing I could get my hands on somehow?'. I regularly think this, and not one of these are baby related! Just weird little things that make me happy!</div>
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<li><b>A 'Loaf' of bread made up entirely of the crusts. </b>I love toasting the crusts. Covering them with butter or scrambled egg. I'm beginning to drool just thinking about the possibilities. There is something about the crust that is just so much nicer that the rest of the loaf! You can buy crustless loafs... so stick the crusts in a bag and sell them. I'll buy them!</li>
<li><b>All the over cooked, almost burnt crisps. </b>The really brown crisps in a crisp packet are the best bits. Once again, separate them from your 'normal' crisps, bag them and sell them... I'LL BUY THEM!</li>
<li><b>A bag of just the red/black wine gums. </b>OK so it's getting a bit food crazy over here. But if I'm going to count calories, and only have a treat here and there then when I do have a treat I want the best bits. </li>
<li><b>Bed clothes that constantly have that 'new bedding' feeling. </b>See I'm not 100 % obsessed with food! I love that fresh smell and cool, fresh almost crisp feeling of fresh bed linen. I want linen that feels like that after a few nights not just the first night you climb in! </li>
<li><b>While we are at it, a self cleaning house (especially the bathroom!). </b>In the realms of complete fantasy here now, but hey. It's one of the things I wish existed. If I didn't have housework and laundry to do I would have so much more time to waste on twitter... #justsaying!</li>
<li><b>Keys for my front door that operate like a cars central locking system. </b>So when I get half way down the hill and can't remember if I locked the door or not I can just turn around and point the keys at the house instead of having to walk back up the hill and try the door.</li>
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That's it for now, but let me know down in the comments what weird and wonderful things you wish you could get your hands on. If you happen to be able to make any of the above happen for me, well you are now my new best friend and can get in contact using any of the ways listed on my <a href="http://bloggingmamma.blogspot.com/p/contact-me.html" target="_blank">Contact Me</a> page.</div>
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As always thanks for reading! xoxo</div>
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