Tesco Mum of the Year AwardsAbout 97% of me always enjoys the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards. I’ve been to three of the annual award ceremonies now and this year’s, which took place last Sunday, was just as inspiring as always – eight amazing women going above and beyond to make a difference to other people’s lives.

Then there is this niggling 3% of me that I’m actually slightly ashamed of, as it feels pretty selfish. It’s the 3% of me that feels bad because I haven’t set up a charity or saved a life or raised huge amounts of cash for a good cause.

You see? Pretty selfish isn’t it? Because none of it is meant to be about me. I comfort myself with the thought that it’s all part of the normal parenting guilt thing, where nothing you do is ever really quite good enough. The internet makes it worse because things like Pinterest instil in you the idea that all the proper mums are creating simple yet elegant windowsill displays at the same time as preparing wholesome bento box packed lunches for their funky yet casual looking, ruddy faced children. View Post

Follow:

This month Belle had a very exciting opportunity – the chance to ask some questions of her literary hero, none other than Jacqueline Wilson. How cool is that?

Jacqueline Wilson interview

Photo credit – Trish Beswick

We actually saw Jacqueline Wilson speak at Hay Festival last year and really loved her – she had such a warm and open presence on the stage and Belle was very taken with her. For this interview, Belle invited her friends Ella, Josie, Ewelina and Georgina to our house after school and they came up with three questions each.

Here’s what Jacqueline Wilson had to say:

Is there any link between Gina from Tracy Beaker Returns and Gina from the Dustbin Baby?! View Post

Follow:

You know how sometimes the very fact of having a phone in your hand whilst sat at a desk can be enough to convince you that you are working?

I found myself browsing the photos on my phone today when I should have been writing something fascinating about parenting apps, and I came across loads of photos that I totally forgotten about. 2014 was a busy year for me, physically and emotionally, and I think a lot of stuff happened without me always being completely conscious of it.

I’m feeling very happy with my lot at the moment, so thought it would be a good point at which to look back at some of the photos that make me smile and remind me of lovely days out, holidays or fun times at home.

You will notice that I hung out with Belle a lot last year!

IMAG3453

IMAG3485 View Post

Follow:

Can you imagine going to check on your baby and finding that they weren’t breathing? Would you know what to do or would you just panic?

It’s pretty much the very worst scenario imaginable for any parent and I’m not sure I wouldn’t just crumble. I was in enough of a state when Bee dropped a dish on her foot, resulting in what turned out to be a tiny cut, convinced as I rushed her to A&E that she would have bled to death before I could get her there.

Thankfully when Natasha Jones checked on her 11 week old daughter Ava-Mai and found her not breathing she managed to keep her alive until the ambulance arrived, an agonising 36 minutes later. Natasha admits that this was pure luck; she had no real idea of the correct procedure, a fact that prompted her to set up baby resuscitation classes for other parents. 600 successful trainees later and Natasha is still going strong.

“I’ve had two mums that have used it on their children and saved their lives as a result,” says Natasha. “It makes me feel really fantastic. I set out to do this so that other people don’t go through what we went through and so other families don’t suffer.” View Post

Follow:

Breaking up is hard to do, so the song says, and it’s especially hard when there are children involved. Everyone tells you that you shouldn’t stay in a relationship for the sake of the kids, but how do you make sure you manage the break up so that they suffer as little distress as possible?

One plus one is a fantastic resource for parents going through a separation, helping you both to think about how you communicate with each other in a way that always ensures the kids come first.

I’ve been checking out their parent planning tools, so if you’d like to find out more please check out my post on their blog here.

#putkidsfirst

Follow:

Yes, sorry, I’m going to talk about periods. All the boys are allowed to switch over to a different blog – something about football or Game of Thrones or sandwiches or whatever it is men are into nowadays.

Everyone left happy to continue?

Excellent.

First off then, why is it that we are still so squeamish about talking about periods? I’m not shy when it comes to talking about my elusive cervix, and yet I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority, online at least. I think it might actually be one of those subjects you are more likely to talk to your face to face friends about, which is a rarity for a lot of bloggers.

Is it because it’s a ‘woman’s issue’ do you think? Or is it just one of those things we’d rather pretend doesn’t happen? There was a lot of sniggering in the parent blogger world recently when a well known brand of women’s incontinence pants tried to get a group together for an event – no one seemed to want to admit that it was something that effected them. Sure, I may not be in incontinence pants (yet), but let’s face it, I have pushed two human heads out through my vagina – I don’t go on a trampoline without making sure I go to the toilet first.

Not sexy maybe, but a reality of life as a mother.

Another of the joys of parenting is guiding your children through the difficult teenage years and if you’re lucky enough to be the parent of daughters, this essentially means one thing – periods.

Oh the joy! Hormones coursing through their bloodstream, turning your normally sweet-hearted darling into a snarling beast of a girl. It’s fun isn’t it? View Post

Follow:

Who’d have thought I would ever stick at this blogging lark so long that I would write a thousand posts?

More importantly, who’d have thought I’d use an exclamation mark in a headline like that? It’s like working at a very cheap newspaper. This is a very special occasion though, so if ever a post warranted an exclamation of any kind then this is it.

One thousand posts.

*heavy sigh as though I have literally just written them all right then and now need a jolly good rest*

How many words do you reckon I write in average in a post? (Definitely something I should know rather than you, unless you count, which is weird.)

400 maybe? 500 if I’m being generous? That would be half a million words, which is officially A LOT OF WORDS. Just to put that into some sort of perspective, that’s enough words to fill 17 Olympic sized swimming pools or two and a half football stadiums. If you laid all of those words out next to each other they would cover an area roughly the size of Wales.*

Also, the average mystery novel is around 80,000 words, so I written the equivalent of five or six books**. I am basically Agatha Christie.*** View Post

Follow:

Belle went out for lunch yesterday for a friend’s birthday and afterwards they went into town to browse Poundland for hours and laugh at pigeons or whatever it is young people do nowadays. When I picked her up she was a little over-excited; a mix I suspect of the coke she had with her pizza and the thrill of being in town with someone other than her mother.

She immediately started to tell me about this toy she had seen in Wilko.

“It’s amazing!” she trilled. “It’s a tiny basketball hoop inside a ball and every time you get the ball in it cheers. I really loved it!”

“Well that sounds lovely,” I lied.

“Can we go back and buy it?” she asked. “I didn’t want to get it without asking you as I didn’t know if you would think it was a waste of money.”

This made me a teeny bit sad. Am I really that controlling that she won’t spend £3 without my approval? And if so, why won’t she do the dishes without me practically having to twist her arm up behind her back?* View Post

Follow:

Belle and I have enjoyed many a UK mini break together over the last few years. Some we enjoy more than others, Belle being less keen on places with previous food on the cutlery or disorderly bacon queues. One thing we do both enjoy though if we are staying at a holiday park is a trip to the amusement arcade.

(Classy and sophisticated as I am.)

I’m not saying we dump our suitcases and rush out to immediately spend all of our holiday money on the tacky grab machines or anything, but there is something sweet and nostalgic about half an hour spent slowly feeding a handful of two pence pieces into one of those games where they gradually nudge their way towards the edge of the shelf, rewarding you sporadically with the clatter of coins into the tray below.

I’ve never given it a lot of thought from a moral point of view, but with the emergence of more and more online gambling style games aimed at children, it has got me thinking. I don’t imagine for a minute that the 2p slot machines are laying the foundations for a gambling addiction, but are we being too relaxed about introducing children to gambling? Could we be setting our kids up for a fall?

gambling

Photo credit – Free Bingo Land View Post

Follow:

We had dinner last night with my auntie and cousin. They are going to be hosting Christmas for the first time this year and last night’s roast chicken was a bit of a trial run; we tested out the elbow room on the dining table, ate some pigs in blankets and talked about the schedule for the day.

It got me thinking about the Christmas traditions that we have created for ourselves as a family over the years and made me wonder how many of them are shared by other people.

Here are 12 of my Christmas rules, but what are yours?

12 rules of Christmas

1. At some point in the week before Christmas we have a festive trip to Marks & Spencer, where I let the children put (pretty much) whatever they want in the trolley. (No spirits for Belle.) We spend at least £100, and come away with absolutely nothing that can be turned into a meal. It’s all about the cheese savouries and mini ovenable treats. View Post

Follow:

Even though we’ve moved away from Bristol now I still love a shopping trip to The Mall at Cribbs Causeway. The Christmas decorations are always beautiful and it has a Marks & Spencer AND a John Lewis. Two of my best things.

A couple of weeks ago we actually went to a special event at M&S to take a look at all their lovely Christmas things, and they are lovely.

Mars and Spencer Christmas range

Mars and Spencer Christmas range

View Post

Follow:

Would you eat a poo for a million poundsI love having children. As a parent you are forced to face those great philosophical questions that only children can pose.

“Mummy,” Belle asked me last week, “would you eat a poo for a million pounds?”

“My own poo or someone else’s?” I asked, as clearly there is an important difference morally.

“You own poo,” she reassured me.

“Yes,” I said.

She looked horrified. View Post

Follow: