High Quality Leather from Clarks

Since having the kids spending on me has dwindled considerably and if ever I run into trouble on a shopping trip with finding myself something to wear then my default shopping habit is to buy something for the children instead. I've also recently discovered through a shopping trip for kids footwear that not only do Clarks sell well made shoes for children, the high quality leather from Clarks also extends to the adult ranges. A few months back I went to the sales to see if there was anything that would be suitable for Isla and wonder of wonders I didn't actually buy anything for her, I bought these fabulous Clarks shoes. FOR ME!

I ummed and ahhed over them. Firstly, I don't buy shoes very often, my feet are ginormous at size 8 and generally anything I like isn't available in my size. I am almost a giantess at 5 foot 11 inches, so anything with a heel is out too, so I tend to stick to the old faithful choice of trainers most of the time. On this day however everything I liked was available in my size and the only thing I had to get over was the fact that I felt a bit weird wearing shoes. In the end I realised that I couldn't leave the shop without them. But then what followed was that it dawned on me  that I had absolutely nothing to wear with these fabulous shiny new shoes, so I then *HAD* to buy 3 new dresses to go with them (I don't usually do dresses either!). In effect during that one small shopping trip I had initiated a complete overhaul (yes 3 new dresses constitutes use of the word overhaul - I don't own masses of clothing!) of my wardrobe and usual style.

I wore these shoes and one of my new dresses to work and for once I felt 'grown up'. I'm very casual at work usually but for at a week solid I was rocking my new shoes paired up with dresses and Isla also loved this change in her Mummy - she loves dresses and is most pleased when I'm donning one in the morning. This pair of shoes was the jog I needed to get my act together and try and make more of an effort with my appearance. Shoes like these insist on wearing something smarter and it had an effect on my mental attitude as well. I felt altogether more productive. Money well spent for so many different reasons!

Funny how I didn't set out to buy anything for myself that day, I only thought that Clarks shoes were good for kids. How wrong could I have been?

This is a commissioned post

Two Today!

Turning two. It's quite a milestone 2 years old. It's the cut off point of being a baby. He's well and truly a toddler now and don't we know it. The mood swings. Oh he can be the cutest, funniest little bloke around but other times he is the most frustrated, angry monster. He is a total Mummy's boy and he's never satisfied unless he is hanging off my leg. This behaviour has alerted the Daddy's girl in our house to my existence and so I now have them both competing for my undivided attention. I am flattered but it is exhausting too. He talks non stop. Giving his little orders and instructions and coming out with some really funny remarks. He's stringing 6 or 7 words together and tries so hard to be understood. He even knows we take the mickey out of him for his ridiculous use of the phrase "never, ever, ANYMORE"! 

He's currently in the grip of a LighteningMcQueen  obsession. He has two Cars T-shirts that he would live in 24/7! He also loves the Dustbin lorry, and watches it out the window every Monday morning and waves to all the bin men. 

There is so much more to find out about this boy and I look forward to watching him grow and hopefully the tantrums lessoning as the year goes on. Love you Noah. Happy birthday! 

We Pay a Visit to Mayfield Lavender

At the weekend we paid a visit to Mayfield Lavender, which is a wonderful Lavender Field near to us in Surrey. It’s an amazing sight as you drive along the road and suddenly your eyes are accosted by pure purpleness! It’s beautiful.

There was a weekend ‘Lavender Festival’ where the shop was full to bursting with gorgeous Lavender products, there were lavender massages, face painting and a delicious BBQ on the go. We last went to the field just over 3 years ago when Isla was 1 years old and we have this photo of the three of us that I love. 

Us in 2010

So this time we went as a family of 4 and got a few shots. The field is really popular with Chinese people it seems, and they were very keen to have a photo with Noah! They seemed really taken with him and he loved their attentions – such a little flirt.

We had a little wander around the lavender, which smelt gorgeous, then we took advantage of the BBQ and had a few sausages and burgers between us. The kids both wanted a bundle of lavender each, they were £3.50, so we have some to dry out now. We also bumped into Maria and her family from Tiger Tales and I'm gutted that we didn't get a photo together! As is the way with Isla we couldn’t get away without a bit of face-painting. All in all it was a lovely way to spend a sunny couple of hours.

Entry to the field is free but I dare you to come away without buying something lovely from the little shop there.

My #Britmums Live Round Up

This year’s Britmums Live was IMMENSE. I’m not going to go on about the brands that were there, I just want to focus on the togetherness that I felt over Friday and Saturday. It was a get together of people who may rarely meet in everyday life, but were there 'as one' with blogging in common. What I love about us all as bloggers is the diversity. We can all learn from eachother and in many of the sessions that was very much the case. There were sessions where bloggers I love gave some very straight forward and insightful information (Mummy Barrow, Mammasaurus, Actually Mummy and Tired Mummy of Two I’m talking about you) on Social Media and Working with Brands.

The key moments for me over the conference were:

Katie Piper’s keynote: What a woman. She has been through so much yet she exudes positivity. I feel like her parents must be so proud of her and the way that she has turned her life around. She could have wallowed in the misfortune that befell her the day she was attacked but instead she has used it for the good of others. And what a sense of humour the girl has too! 

The BiB’s: This was a very emotional part of Friday, the one winner that really stuck out for me was Tamsyn who blogs at Anecdotes of a Manic Mum. She is also a truly inspirational woman. After her husband Alex had a truly horrible rugby accident in France she has worked hard to campaign to get him home with the family (they have 4 children) to aid his rehabilitation. She's a real survivor and one of the strongest women I know in the blogging world. 

The session I enjoyed most I think was a photography session with Julia Boggio. Such an engaging lady (wearing a dress that my daughter would love me to wear!) who gave brilliant tips on things like taking evening photographs, where you have no natural light – can’t wait to get that tin foil out and start trying to make my photos look a bit more professional.

On the Saturday at the end of a great day of workshops and hanging out with fabulous people there were the blogger keynotes. Bloggers read out some really great posts but the most moving was a tribute that was originally read at the funeral of a baby called Matilda Mae who sadly died from SID's earlier this year. I can't possibly imagine how it feels to lose a young child but I do know that her passing away has touched a lot of people's lives. Her Mummy, Jennie is another example of a woman who has used the situation she has found herself in for the good of others by fundraising for the Lullaby Trust.

After the blogger keynotes on Saturday there was a tribute to Kerry (Multiple Mummy), who passed away at the end of last year. I only met Kerry once but she was a fun loving person and devoted Mummy. Marking her absence was so emotional and I really felt overcome thinking of my own family and how lucky I am. As everyone came together at the end to sing Firework my overwhelming feeling was that I had had a totally amazing two days but that I wanted to get back home to see my gorgeous children, who were part of the reason I started blogging in the first place. 

Thanks to Look Again for sponsoring me to go to Britmums this year, I have them to thank for my ticket and a bed for the night. I had a blast!

MoneySupermarket's Big Night In

Yesterday was a special day for me and OH, it was our 6 year wedding anniversary and we went out to celebrate. We went out in the daytime though for lunch as this was easier to organise babysitting for and that point very much illustrates how nowadays we struggle to get out as a couple and so instead we try to have a good night in, rather than a good night out! We wanted to carry on the wedding anniversary vibe and so we used £50 that MoneySupermarket recently gave us to have “A Big Night In” to do something very different to the last time and instead of getting dolled up to stay in and have cocktails we decided to have a leisurely, relaxing night in. This was much deserved after a bad night with Noah, a trip to London for lunch, back to run around with the kids for a couple of hours in the garden whilst keeping an eye on the Wimbledon tennis final and then a crazy bedtime where the kids were too hot and wouldn’t settle to sleep for over an hour. Just as the hysterical laughter from upstairs started to wain we visibly unwound.

We slobbed out in in new pyjamas!

ACTUAL Fresh pizza making! (it was hot, by way of explanation of topless OH!)

Made homemade fresh pizzas (the kids helped with making the dough for these!), which we'd never done before and was fun, messy, took longer to make than we thought they would (we were waiting on the yeast to prove) but were totally delicious.

Pepperoni and Mushroom Pizza

And watched a chick-flick - just proving what a wonderful husband he is by letting me watch my choice of film! We had homemade popcorn and a cheeky rum and Coke.

It was a tech free zone, there were no social media interruptions, OH wasn’t watching the golf on the iPad whilst also watching TV. We were absorbed in the film and in each other. It was a really relaxed, chilled evening, one that we deserved after a fun, hot and tiring weekend.

Thanks MoneySupermarket for giving us the £50 budget to blow on whatever we wanted!

Little Us Dolls Review and Giveaway

LAUNCHING IN THE UK, Little Us is a brand new range of enchanting dolls for pre-school girls, each one with her own unique personality. These adorable soft dolls will soon become the must have under arm toy with girls choosing the doll that is ‘most like me’.

Let your child begin the delightful Little Us story by identifying with one the girls – maybe it will be Chloe who likes everything pink, or Amelia who loves animals and reading, or perhaps it will be Ruby who’s just a little bit cheeky, or finally Millie, the tomboy of the group! 

Measuring approximately 12” high and made from the softest plush material, the dolls are so huggable they are perfect for young children as their first doll. The dolls are ideal as a snug companion for play or sleep time and will encourage creative imaginative role play.

Isla was sent a Little Us doll to give her opinion on it. I chose Chloe for her as Isla is very much into pink like a lot of girls her age. It's a really well made doll and perfect size for carrying around (my children both carry a toy ALL the time) and as soon as she got Chloe she was fastened in her toy buggy and was pushed around the house. Chloe has become a regular part of Isla's toy entourage now and has been elevated to sleeping companion. I asked her why she liked Chloe and she said "because she wears pink!", with a tone of disdain, it's obvious Mum!

I'm giving you a chance to win a Little Us Doll. All you have to do is follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below. Good Luck!

Read the Little Us stories and follow their adventures on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/LittleUsdollsDolls will be available to purchase from Harrods, Hamleys, Asda.com and Debenhams.com RRP £9.99.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How To Stop a 2 Year Old Night Feeding and Other Tales.....

So lately we’ve had quite a few little funny conversations and incidents, Noah has picked up OH's habit of saying "for pete's sake", which sounds rather too cute and is always in context! And Isla is full of lots of cheekiness at the moment, with her favourite insult being "Boo-Boo Chicken Face"......The one incident that sticks topmost in my mind is this one:

We’re on the bus to ballet, Isla is sitting next to me and an elderly man and woman get on. I don’t notice their faces but Isla does and asks me, “why’s that man so sad?” (obviously loud enough for most of the bus to hear – except for the man in question, thank god!). I didn’t see him, but after a minute or two I turned round to look and admittedly he does seem to have one of those naturally sad looking faces, very down turned mouth and sad eyes. He doesn’t seem sad at all (he’s talking very animatedly with the lady) but it’s just his expression that Isla has taken to mean he is sad. Just to make sure that I understand what she means she then goes on to pull lots of sad looking faces to demonstrate a sad face…..at this point I had to take a photo.

As the man got off the bus he was talking to the lady he got on with and he no longer looks as sad, Isla seemed really relieved by it and told me “That man’s not sad anymore”…….

We’ve also been battling with Noah over his nightly milk consumption and we decided a fortnight ago that it needed to stop. An almost 2 year old does not need milk during the night! It has stopped you’ll be pleased to hear but we had a hellish 3 or 4 days where it was literally cold turkey for him and a full 90 minutes at about 1am with a battle of our will against his. The second night that we were doing this, I dealt with his screaming and crying very calmly and just tried to talk him down and get him back to sleep. He could try the patience of a saint though, bear in mind that it’s 1am, this is a small excerpt of his random requests, starting off with the obvious one:

“I WANT MILK”

“I WANT MILK”

Me: You can’t have milk, here’s some water if you’re thirsty

“I WANT MILK IN BOTTLE” (we cut out bottles at the same time as cutting the milk)

“I NOT WANT BEAKER”

“I NOT WANT WATER, NOT LIKE WATER”

“I NOT WANT WATER, NEVER, EVER, ANYMORE!”

Me: Well that’s all you can have I’m afraid (gritting my teeth at this point)

Then things went crazy and even though I was tired, I did want to giggle at these requests:

“I WANT GO IN GARDEN” (It’s 1am, I don’t think so)

“I WANT GO DOWNSTAIRS” (not a chance)

“I WANT BISCUIT” (most definitely not)

Intermittently there was a return to the milk request. Met with a firm no.

“I WANT RABBIT” – give him his rabbit, it’s thrown on the floor “I DON’T WANT RABBIT”

“I WANT TEDDY” – give him his teddy, it joins rabbit on the floor “I DON’T WANT TEDDY!”

Then we have a conversation about the dustbin men, as he loves watching them out the window on Monday mornings. I explain calmly (although finding it hard to stay calm by this point) that it’s actually Wednesday and it’s around 1.30am by now and I don’t think they come at this time. Then we chatted about going to the park. Then we go back to the milk thing.

“I WANT MILK, I NOT WANT WATER”  This repeats for about 20 minutes

“NOT WANT WATER”

“WANT WATER” – I nearly fall over at the shock that perhaps he’s serious and he wants water, give him water, he conks out and I go back to sleep.

It was a hard week. I’m not going to lie but it has led to him sleeping through the night now and after a full 6 nights of sleeping through I feel confident that it’s dealt with. Thank the Lord!