Baby's First Christmas | Gift Guide

This will be Henry's first Christmas and boy am I excited! I adore Christmas, but when you have children it's so much more fun! Having said that, I have been struggling for ideas for gifts - what do you get a three month old?!

Today we're venturing out in a bid to get some bits ticked off our Christmas shopping list and with the Black Friday sales this is the perfect time to get your Christmas shopping done. So many places have absoluty fantastic sales at the moment, including Debenhams whom have some great Black Friday promotions on toys. 

In fact I have been so surprised by the amount of fantastic items Debenhams have for little ones in particular. Such as sensory balls, teethers and the rather cute Hungry Caterpillar soft activity toy. All of which are on offer at the moment with up to 50% off! 

As well as having great deals on toys, they also have some great deals on baby clothing too. I love the John Rocher range, these cute woodland themed bibs currently have 20% off! 

Have you/are you planning on doing any Christmas Black Friday shopping?

Mummy B xoxox 

*PR Collaboration 

Handmade Christmas Gift Ideas

As much as well all love the sparkling Christmas lights that begin to fill our home with a warm winters glow, and the excuse to eat more chocolate than necessary, the fact of the matter is, when you’ve got little ones Christmas can begin to get expensive. 

We all love to gift our family and friends something special at Christmas, especially to thank them for the unwavering love and support they have shown throughout the year, but rather than make the credit card go in the red, these crafty Christmas ideas will help to cut down the pennies and create something truly personalised that will truly encompass the Christmas spirit. 

Plus with these easy ideas, even the little ones can get involved with putting their stamp on it! 

Unusual Gifts For Children This Christmas

Struggling to come up with gift idea's for children this year? Well I decided to put together a few gift ideas that are a little more unusual. Hopefully there is something that would suit children of all ages and either a boy or girl. So let's get started!

YouTube Take Two

Yes I am taking the plunge once more with my YouTube channel! For so long I wanted to start vlogging and I have now got to that stage where I'm of the mindset of "why the hell not?!". So here is my first video in well over a year...

Mummy B xoxo

Why I love my stretch marks

When I had my daughter, Darcie, I counted my lucky stars and rejoiced in the fact that I didn't get one single stretch mark whilst I carried her. I gave myself a little high five when my stomach was left unscathed from those dreaded and ghastly looking marks. So when I had my son and I got my first stretch mark at 30 weeks, the  fear that my unmarked belly was now starting to get covered in those unsightly marks set in.

And so the regime began. Darcie, every night, would slather my pregnant belly in stretch mark lotion in the hope that this stretch mark wouldn't multiply  or at least minimise the risk of my belly resembling something we're all told is an absolutely hideous sight.

As my due date grew closer those marks multiplied and grew with the growth of my bump. I tried to put it to the back of my mind and hoped that once my boy was here they wouldn't look quite so awful.

When my son was placed into my arms my stretch marks were the last thing on my mind. When I managed to successfully breastfeed from my stretch marked boobs, the marks were the last thing on my mind and when he smiled at me for the first time, again, those "awful" marks were the last thing on my mind. 

In actual fact at that point I had actually grown to love my stretch marks. Yes, I had grown fond of these little reminders that adorned my body. I remember when I first had a bath after having Henry, I noticed how most of my stretch marks were on one side of my stomach. It was the side that Henry liked to lay on the most.

One of the reasons I most likely got stretch marks this time round was probably down to his size, he was two whole pounds heavier than my daughter and I had no issues this time with fluid levels - I had a very healthy pregnancy and these marks were all signs of this. 

Henry is my last baby and I'm proud of my body that it was able to grow such a beautiful little being. Who cares that I now have a few reminders of this? I should be oh so thankful that these marks adorn my body because I know there are so, so, so many women out there who would want these marks who unfortunately are unable to have children. 

I will never look in the mirror and wish that they were not there. I'm proud of my "baby marks". 

Mummy B xoxox

How to add another family room into your home

A kids playroom should be a place of imagination and creativity and for us currently, the only playroom they have is their rooms and our living room.  Which is not particularly inspiring for them! We are desperate to re-claim our living room to create it into more of an adult space, a place where we can relax and unwind without having to stare at a mountain of toys.  I’m sure many of you can relate. But because we don’t have another room spare that we could convert into a play space, we are considering our options to make more space for another family area within our home. 

Benefits of Baby Massage

I originally wrote about this topic when I had just attended a baby massage course with Darcie when she was a baby. Baby massage is something I am now enjoying with Henry so I thought I would go over why should you give baby massage a go too.

Henry at Two Months old

Henry is two months old, in actual fact he is ten weeks old today! These last 10 weeks have been some of my happiest, I definitely feel that our little family is now complete after his arrival. My heart feels whole. 

So what's new this month?

#PetHates

"Hello readers,

It's Lady here, my human writes Mummy B and she asked me to have a word with you all about what it's like to be a member of Mummy B HQ. Firstly, she think's she is the one who looks after everyone, but I'll let you into a little secret - it's actually me. It can be quite hard being the family dog so let me tell you about a typical day....

One Proud Blogger

This week could easily have been one of the worst I've had in a long time. Struck down with a serious case of d&v (sorry if that's a little TMI!) to the point where I have had to have anti-sickness tablets to ensure I don't lost too much fluids due to also breastfeeding Henry. It's been a hard slog, but I have had three lots of amazing news which I'm so happy to share with you! 

Firstly, last week I was tagged on Instagram on a #WIDN, Emily who had tagged me, tagged a picture of some magazines she was about to read. An hour later she tagged me in another picture...

I actually couldn't believe my eyes, little old me in Essential's magazine as "Top Blog". It was a very bizarre moment. I immediately rang my hubby who then went and got a copy, along with my mum too who went and did the same. To be recognised for my work in a published magazine on a national level is pretty incredible.

On Tuesday I got a lovely email from the guys at Next, they had awarded me with Next Blogger of the month for November. From a huge brand like Next, whom I absolutely LOVE, it's another amazing achievement of recognition. When I told my hubby the new's he was like "that's huge!". I think it was a proud hubby moment for him haha.

Lastly, a personal goal was finally achieved this week. I managed to crack the Tots100 top 500 at 399. Now to some of you that may appear to be not that big of an achievement, but the Tots100 is out of 1000's of bloggers and I have been hovering around the 700 mark for a couple of years. Since having Henry I have been working on my engagement with followers across social media and I really think this has helped boast my score. It's so nice to see hard work paying off.

Right that's enough of my boasting.

Do you have anything you have achieved recently? I would love to hear as it's nice to see lots of positivity in the blogging world.

Mummy B xoxox

The Perfect Bedtime | The Bedtime Book Campaign

Bedtime is either a time that parents love or dread. There is just no in between! It can be hard work if your child dislikes bedtime or finds it hard to drift off, there was a period of time when Darcie was a lot younger, where she would only fall asleep if we laid next to her and sometimes it would take hours! However, bedtime is now something we look forward to, even Darcie never whinges when it's time to go to bed and it's all because she knows it's time for a bedtime story or two.

ASPACE in partnership with The Great British Book Shop have teamed up to find the top 10 books for bedtime. I was so pleased when we were asked to take part as Darcie is such a big lover of books. So in order to find these top 10 books for bedtime, I, along with other bloggers, have been sent 10 books to review. 

We have loved being a part of the project and have discovered so many brilliant reads, including now firm favourites of Darcie's, The Jolly Postman and I Wish I'd Been Born a Unicorn. The Jolly Postman is a book I remembered from my childhood so I was really pleased we now had a copy we could enjoy together. Darcie loves how interactive the book is, she get's so excited to open up the envelopes to see what's inside, it brought back memories for me too.

She also loved 'I Wish I'd Been Born a Unicorn' is a lovely and heartwarming story about learning to love yourself and true friendship. Something that both children and adults can benefit from reading about! She has asked for this book to be read time and time again.

We received other books including;

The Jolly Postman

I Wish I'd Been Born a Unicorn

The Gruffalo

Pip and Posy: The Little Puddle

Charlie and Lola: I will not Ever Eat a Tomato

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

No Matter What

Where the Wild Things Are

The Tiger Who Came for Tea

Would you Rather?

All of the books have been a big hit in our house and I'm looking forward to sharing each book with you in more detail in the coming weeks.

Now I have two books I'm going to giveaway to my lovely readers, Charlie & Lola's 'I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato' and 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. This is open to UK residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are your children a fan of any of the books listed? What's your child's favourite bedtime story?

Mummy B xoxox

*Books were sent to participate in this campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Baby Boy Winter Wish List

My baby boy is growing just too quickly and so I have been looking to add a few more pieces to his 3-6 and 6-9 months wardrobe. It's a good excuse to warrant some online window shopping and a wish list post!

Flying with Babies, Toddlers and Children

Flying with children whether they're weeks old or five years old may seem like a daunting task. Will  the baby settle or will he scream down the plane? Will my toddler throw a temper tantrum? Will me and the hubby make it to our destination with hair still on our heads?! I know these are all things I have worried about in the past and the truth is it is a risk that you take, BUT there are so many things that you can do to prepare yourself to ensure minimal stress.

Autumn Favourites 2015

With Autumn well and truly here and Winter creeping in, I thought I would share with you a few of my Autumn favourites I have been loving this year. A few of you have been asking where a few things are from over on Instagram so thought this would be the perfect post!