Main Bathroom Ideas

We have been in our house for about two and a half years now, and even though I am getting itchy feet we are not in a position to move right now. So I really want to make more improvements around the home in the new year, starting with our bathroom. 

Our main bathroom is small but perfectly formed. We have never decorated in there but the tiles we chose when we bought the house still look great and go with the theme that I'm liking.

The following items are from NEXT apart from the Mirror. You know me, I love a bit of Next!

Bath sign, Next, £30

Soap dispenser and tooth brush holder, Next, £12

Light pull, Next, £4

Southwood Midboy with laundry basket, Next, £180

Storage Crates, Next, £50

I really like this look, chilled out seaside vibe without the tack! For the walls I'm thinking of a grey blue colour, but if have yet to fin one that I really like. I am also wanting to have a rethink of our bedroom and en-suite so look out for a future post with my ideas for that project too!

Hope your all enjoying the weekend.

Mummy B xoxox

KiddiMoto

At the weekend me, Jamie, Darcie and my Dad took a trip to the NEC in Birmingham to the Motor Cycle Live Show. Jamie has grown very fond of motorbikes and bought his first big boy bike last year. Darcie, like her Daddy, likes these beasts, she loves to sit on her daddies bike and gets excited whenever she see's one. So naturally, we had to go to the event.

Darcie on a speedway bike at the NEC 

(not sure she liked this one!)

First off Darcie was amazing, it took us just over three hours to get there and was very chilled during the journey, so good start to the trip! Whilst we were there, we came across a stall with toddler and children's bikes, all by KiddieMoto. I had herd of the company before and we wanted to find out some more information. 

These little bikes are balance bikes, but are also known as Ride On or Pedal-less bikes and are designed to be used by very young children. The child sits on the bike and moves by pushing along the ground with their feet. A balance bike does not have pedals or stabilisers, so children learn to balance and steer very quickly. At first, they ride with at least one foot firmly on the floor. As they become more confident, they'll start to lift both feet off the ground, scooting forward and balancing and occasionally dabbing a foot to the floor when the bike leans over. Soon they'll be balancing, learning and playing all at once. All the time, they are developing their motor skills and coordination, while having terrific fun.

These were also featured on Dragons Den, and when we were speaking to their representative these bikes were appealing more and more. I love the whole idea of learning to balance and ride a bike without the need for stabilisers, it seems to just make more sense!

They have a fantastic range, from a really beautifully designed wooden bike know as the Kurve range, through to a strong aluminium frame bike known as the KM Pro. As much as I love the beautiful wooden designs of the Kurve range, I feel the better option is the KM Pro which looks more hard wearing!

KM Pro

Kurve

I was really impressed with the company, great idea, great designs, helpful staff and just wanted to share with my lovely readers especially now we are nearing Christmas!! 

Check out their lovely products HERE.

What are you wanting/got your little ones for Christmas this year?

Mummy B xoxox

Dude where's my car?

Yesterday was a rather traumatic day. Our car, along with Darcie's car seat and Quinny pushchair got stolen.

I woke up at 6am on Friday, rolled out of bed and peeped out of our bedroom blinds. Our car had gone. I quickly alerted Jamie that our car had been stolen, he didn't believe me. In his sleepy state he also rolled out of bed and peered out of the blinds, but unfortunately I was right, the car had gone. Jamie quickly ran down stairs, our first fear was that we had been broken into, or stupidly gone to bed without locking our doors. Luckily we hadn't left the doors unlocked, and everywhere was in tack. No brake in. Jamie quickly called the police and notified our insurance company of our missing car. I was in a state. Who on earth would steal a bright yellow car, that is quite clearly a family car. Soon my tears turned to anger, I wanted who ever had taken our car to get caught out and brought to justice. I rang work, telling them that I was unsure when the police would arrive, and that I would not be in until around lunchtime. Sorted. Now it was time to wait for the police. 

Whilst we were waiting I posted on my personal Facebook page what had happened, everyone was in shock. Shock because we wondered how on earth they had manage to steal the car, we had both sets of keys, the car had an immobiliser, alarm and steering lock and there was no sign of a smashed window. This looked like someone clearly knew what they were doing. 

At 8.30am the police arrived, a friend of Jamie's (he works in the police) so it was a friendly face for him. He then began to ask us about last nights events, when we had last seen the car. Jamie told him how we went to Tesco's, got a food shop and then came back and that was the last time we saw it, about 6ish. I then started to think 6ish? No that's not right. We had gone to Tesco straight after I finished work so would of got back home at 4.30pm. Then Jamie looked at me and he started to go red.

"I went back to Tesco's, remember? I got cash then came back..... And went to the hairdressers". Said Jamie. "So could the car be at the hairdressers?" The police officer asked. "No, the hairdressers is only over the road, you wouldn't of parked there and then walked across the road home, would you?" I asked Jamie. "Urrrr..... Maybe....".

A red faced Jamie and the officer walked the 30 second walk to the hairdressers. And indeed that is where our car was safely parked.

Lesson learnt. Always retrace your steps (coming from a couple who both have a policing degree.....!).

Safe to say we won't be living this down for a very, very, very long time.

(Picture at the top of the page is curtsy of my dear friend Jo, who took it upon herself to decorate the staff room with missing car posters...!) 

Mummy B xoxox

Thorntons Christmas Hero

I was recently contacted by Thorntons and asked if I would like the opportunity to get involved with Thorntons Christmas Hero. It is a bit like playing secret Santa, where you have the chance to gift a box of Thorntons chocolates to someone you think really deserves them. I spoke with Jamie about this and we thought who would really appreciate this and someone who often does not get much true thanks. We decided upon Darcie's key worker at her nursery, Becky. 

Ickle Darcie the day before her trial run

As a mum, it was incredibly hard when the time came to go back to work. I needed to go back earlier than planed due to finances, and simply wasn't ready for this transition. Many people may think it's ridiculous to stress over this, especially when you know you were going to go back to work, but it's a reality of being a working mum. I sobbed, even got my dad round when I was on my own and had spent the afternoon trying to come to terms with this reality and he tried to make me feel at ease. But the only person that really did make me feel at ease was Becky. The whole processes of Darcie starting nursery was actually not stressful at all. She had a trail run where Jamie was allowed to go with her (I felt that I couldn't go) to make the transition easier, and she loved it! She then had another trial run where she spent the morning there and again she loved it!! That first day she spent the whole day there was a breeze, she was not fazed at all by nursery, we have never had any tears when leaving her and she has always been happy when we picked her up. 

If that transition and friendly and caring nature hadn't been there I think the whole processes would of been awful. It's lovely to know that your child is going to a place she feels safe and happy. She now kisses Becky goodbye too!!! 

So to us Becky (and all the staff) is our hero, she made a difficult situation so so much easier and has constantly been there for Darcie, and us as a family. Becky, I hope you enjoy the goodies!! And thank you again for all the work you do.

Who would you nominate?? Thorntons do some really lovely hampers which would be perfect presents for Christmas and are very reasonably priced. 

Mummy B xoxox

£200 for breast feeding your baby till six months

When I saw this on the news, my mouth dropped to the floor. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I'm all for the promotion of encouraging mothers to breast feed, but to encourage people for monetary reasons is so wrong and completely unethical. Everyone knows that 'breast is best', it is natures way of feeding your baby and has so many health benefits. That being said, if breast feeding is not working for you, it's not the end of the world. 

I breast fed Darcie for six weeks. I had a very difficult and quite traumatic birth but I knew I wanted to give my girl the best start in life. An hour after I came round and finally met my little girl she latched on straight away, and all my midwives said how well she was doing, I of course was thrilled. However in the morning I knew that something wasn't quite right when she was trying to latch on, so got a midwife to check how we were feeding. She then realised that she wasn't latching on right like we first thought. We tried everything like different positions but nothing seemed to be working. Eventually I had to syringe the very little milk I had. I felt like a cow milking myself! But she was getting all that goodness. After three nights in hospital I was desperate to get home, but with Darcie not feeding, that needed to be sorted before I could get home. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed about this. Why couldn't I feed my own baby?! Eventually one midwife suggested a nipple shield. This was like a revelation, she latched on straight away and hey presto we were doing it!!! So with my nipple shield in hand they sent us home on the fourth evening.

Once home we carried on with the nipple shield, every feed I tried to get her to latch on without it but she just couldn't do it. The midwife encouraged me to not use the shield. At her first weigh in my 6lb 11oz little girl had dropped to 6lb. Normal, I was told but still a concern. They continued to monitor how I was feeding, trying everything to get her to latch on without the shield. But alas it didn't work. Eventually she had made it up to her birth weight again and by week five her weight stayed the same. Using a nipple shield enabled me to give my girl six weeks of breast milk, but without the natural closeness and contact my milk supply began to suffer. I tried to express, but I didn't even managed to get 1/2 an oz with an hour of expressing. A 2am phone call to my midwife was the tipping point for me. Darcie was uncontrollable, clearly hungry and nothing was happening even when using the shield. I sobbed and sobbed and said why was this so impossible that I couldn't feed my own baby. The midwife was amazing, as was all the support that I was provided, and she asked me in the morning to go and speak to someone face to face. So we did, I decided to move on to the bottle and almost wanted permission from my midwife, I know,sounds crazy now! But I so desperately wanted to do the right thing. 

She was so lovely, she was the one who had sent me up to triage the day before Darcie was born. She didn't judge, she listened to everything that I had been through and our challenges (she had witnessed me feed before) and just smiled and said I had given her the best start to life and that it was completely fine to move onto the bottle because it clearly wasn't working and I was very distressed. 

I felt a weight had been lifted. I wasn't the failure that I believed, and I knew that I had done the best I could do with "what god gave me", so to say. 

Would I have been any different if £200 had been offered? No. Because let's face it formula costs around £8-10 per tin, which ruffly lasts around a week, so surely there is already a monetary incentive? Plus I would of been mortified if someone had given me £200 for doing something that is so natural. 

More money needs to go into providing education to expectant mums about the benefits of breast feeding and also support for those struggling. What's more how about using the money to provide us with more midwives that we are apparently in short supply according to this weeks newspapers. 

I do not normally post anything like this and give my opinions but this really did puzzle me as to why it would be a good idea. I feel it could be more damaging than helpful, I almost feel like it's discriminating against women who simply can not breast feed and make them out to be 'failures'. 

What do my readers think? I have yet to find someone with anything positive to say about this...

Mummy B xoxox

My Top Five Posts

Over the weekend I went through and read lots of my old posts. The reason I set up this blog was to try and capture special moments with Little d and I think I have managed to record some lovely things. Though sometimes, these posts get lost in my feed and not all of my lovely readers perhaps see. So I thought about linking my favourite 5 posts in a new blog post - so here we go...

1) Darcie's Birth Story - This was obviously a very special post for me. I think it captured the experience pretty well, it was very very traumatic and it was the birth that I never wanted. BUT almost 18 months on, I would do it all again in a heartbeat, and I'm sure one day I may! This post was written in one go, I didn't re-read, I just hit 'publish'. There is loads of mistakes, but I just wanted to pour my heart out. It was very therapeutic!

2) 'Things they don't tell you about birth and the first few days with your baby' - This post makes me giggle. I share with you my experiences and also the experience from some other mummy's I had met during my pregnancy. Worth a read!

3) 'Darcie at Two weeks' - Though this post is just a mini update, the picture of me walking Darcie is a special one. I was so cut up about having an emergency c-section, the first few weeks were incredibly hard, and that picture of me walking with Darcie felt like I was on the up! Doing something I love, walking our dog Lady in our favourite place. It was such a mini achievement at the time. I remember my best friend Chloe messaging me saying how pleased she was, as she knew this was something I had been looking forward to.

4) 'Our Little Lady' - This post tells the story of our other little girl, Lady, our wonderful Labrador. Lady plays a big part in our lives and is Little d's best friend.

5) Darcie's First Birthday - Again, obviously another special post. I put a lot of time and effort into her special day and I was very pleased with how it turned out! Can't believe that was nearly six months ago!

I hope you liked this post, and gives you a chance to find out a bit more about us! I'm thinking of doing this kind of post every now and then!

I would also love to hear what is your favourite post you have written, pop your links below!

Mummy B xoxox

Lord of Misrule Bath Ballistic - A Lush Favorite

As a busy working mummy having some chill time is essential. Not only for you, but for the good of all those around you - no one wants a grumpy Mummy! With that in mind Jamie treated me to a couple of Lush goodies, one of which is my ultimate favorite, Lord of Misrule Bath Ballistic. 

This bath ballistic, named after the ruler of the Pagan Feast of Fools, is a limited edition Halloween edition (which I believe is sticking around until the spring thank god!). This bomb is a lovely green colour with a star embossed onto the front.

Once this bomb has dissolved it reveals a wine coloured centre. Now I'm not very good with scents but it contains Fair Trade vanilla, with earth scents of black pepper and patcholi oil. Now that doesn't sound that good, but it is a heavenly and quite sophisticated scent which sends me off instantly in a relaxed state of calm. Plus this scent lingers on my skin for a very long time and is also quite moisterisng! 

This treat sets me back £3.50, which I think is worth it every now and then for a bit of pampering!

Whats your favorite Lush Bath Ballistic?

Mummy B xoxox

Design Your Own Christmas Card

It's that time of year again, its time to start getting (slowly) into the Christmas spirit. I have been trying to get organised this year and also trying to be good money wise, due to our main focus being our wedding financially. With that in mind, when I was asked to take a look the website Free Photo Printing, I couldn't resist having a good look around. The site started out as a comprehensive deal site of all the places you can get photographs printed for free by taking advantage of numerous free samples/trials, something which (especially when you are capturing little ones special moments) is essential. They have since branched out to include the best customised photo gift deals that update weekly, as well as their personal picks for special occasions. As you can tell from this blog, I love taking photos, and getting the best prices (or even free prints) is really important when you're trying to watch the pennies. 

I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and get organised, I created a Christmas card! I used their website to navigate through the best deals for personalised cards and Photobox looked ideal. Using the website was really simple and straight forward, perfect for looking for the best deals around. Making the card was very simple too, I think it took me 10 mins tops! Perfect for a busy mum! 

So here is the final product...

My Little d and Lady. This will be a card for the family! I am thinking of doing another, especially now I know how easy they are to do. Oh, another thing, the delivery on these we're AMAZING! Super quick!!! These cost £1.50 each or £9.99 for 10.

Make sure you check this website out, they also have a gift guide if you're hunting for that something special, with a personalised touch. 

Mummy B xoxox

*These products were sent for the purpose of this review.

I Have A Facebook Page!!!

So I bit the bullet and got a Facebook page, I umm'd and ahhh'd about this for a long time but decided to give it a whirl. So if you would like to, and it would mean the world to me if you do, could you 'like' my page??

Hope you have had a fantastic weekend.

Mummy B xoxox

October Round Up

October has been a busy one. Work wise I have been swamped both in terms of my real life job and blogging, so much so I fell down with a horrid cold/flu/virus which I'm still not really over, but as a mum when do you have time to rest?! 

I also had a fantastic opportunity to attend the Next blogger Network Workshop in London, which was amazing and has been a blogging highlight for me! I'm hoping to attend a few more events now I have built up my confidence a bit.

Family life has been lovely too, other than the fact we have all had colds we have managed to have some great days out. We even started our Christmas shopping getting Darcie a few little bits, I mean it's November now so I think it's ok to start building the hype (expect to see lots of Christmas posts from me in the coming weeks!!). 

For Darcie she has been a busy beaver too, spending time with her friends and learning lots of new words. She is even identifying colours correctly, she can say yellow, green, purple, pink and red and if I ask her, she can pick out those colours too, clever monkey! At nursery she also did a sponsored bounce where she had to take it in turns on the trampolin, sounds fun to me!! 

October has been a good month and I'm looking forward to what November holds - currently its looking like a good'n! 

What's your highlight for October?

Mummy B xoxox