When pregnant with Little Miss C Mothercare was my first port of call to look at baby things. I'm guessing the simple reason why was because I remember going there with my mum as a small child to buy things either for myself or for my younger sister. Nowadays there are also other stores selling things for babies and toddlers, and supermarkets also have a wide range for this market, but Mothercare is still there and they're making some changes to their stores to make sure that they meet the needs of modern parents and their offspring. I was delighted to be invited along to see the new-style ... read more
Nearly there
The end might finally be in sight. The major building work is complete. The majority of the decorating is done. The bathroom is installed. The new tiles are up. OK, so there are still a load of little jobs to complete and the small matter of changing goalposts with the building inspecting people meaning that today there are electricians all over the place installing extra smoke detectors, but, if all goes according to plan this time next week we might have just spent the first night in our new bedroom. Little Miss C has already moved into her new bigger bedroom and is taking great delight in ... read more
Please don’t apologise Team GB
Just in case you haven't noticed I should probably point out that there's a bit of a sporting event going on in London at the moment. Although technically it's not just in London as there are Olympic football matches all over the country and sailing down on the coast and probably a few other events in other places that technically don't fall within the London postcode district. As long as you're aware of Lord Coe's "sports day" then you must also be aware of how amazingly well Team GB are doing at the moment. Gold medals have been coming in thick and ... read more
Olympics with a large bump
Back in April last year (16 months ago) I joined in the frenzy of applying for as many Olympic tickets as I could through the ballot. At the time I obviously had no idea that by the time the games came to London I would be nearly eight months pregnant with a rather large bump. I went for the cheapest tickets in all the obvious events - opening and closing ceremony, 100m final, swimming etc and also added on the canoe sessions that are local to us in Hertfordshire and a few odd-ball ones - mainly the tennis as I figured it might be the cheapest way to see some WImbledon Centre Court ... read more
BigJigs Rail – Record Breakers!
When I wrote about the planned BigJigs World Record attempt I was looking forward to going along with Little Miss C, but I have to admit that I had absolutely no idea what a fantastic day we were going to have, or just how much I was about to completely fall even more in love with the BigJigs brand. LMC and I have already seen two Guinness World Records broken this year thanks to this blog and as soon as we arrived and met the BigJigs team I was pretty sure that this was going to make it three. Having taken over one of the slips at Chatham Dockyard the BigJigs team started laying ... read more
Nice things
This latter half of July has been a funny old time. It started with me becoming a year older, not something that I usually get all that fussed about, but despite a bad start to the day itself I also had a lovely spread out series of celebrations and treats. Things certainly started to look up with the postman appeared at the door with a large box of treats from Bettys - with strict instructions on the outside that it should be opened straight away as it contained edible delights the postman looked disappointed when I signed for it! Both Mr C and Little Miss C must have been busy ... read more
Time for a puzzle
It's funny, but it was a while before I thought of trying to do jigsaw puzzles with Little Miss C. We had the typical baby/toddler puzzles where you get wooden shapes with little peg handles to fit into the appropriate cut out holes, but it was only when someone gave me a promotional jigsaw that she showed an interest in that I thought of looking for appropriate ones for her to do. Since then we've picked up several in charity shops as well as being bought a few as gifts and they have to be one of her favourite things to do. They are great for encouraging the fine motor skills required ... read more
Making the most of the sunshine
If you're in the UK then it won't have escaped your notice that this summer has been WET - very wet. Wet enough that going out to splash in puddles has been a common activity with Little Miss C. Wet enough that when I told her I was taking her to the local Splash Park one day her first response was to go and get her wellies and rain coat and put them on! The outdoor toys that we bought her for her birthday have been used, but we've not had the long lazy days in the garden making the most of them in the way that I imagined. This last weekend though all that changed. The sun came out ... read more
Featured Post: Sorting out the household finances
I'm not sure what's prompted it, but my twitter stream has recently been full of people asking for advice on how to sort out their household finances. People looking for tips on how to reduce their car insurance, contents insurance and utility bills and also how to keep track of what they're actually spending each month. I can't pretend to be a complete expert here, but several years of balancing our household books (and a previous paid job running project budgets) means that I have picked up some ways of doing things that others seem to find useful so I'm happy to share ... read more
Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Gratin
Pulling meals together from what's in the fridge isn't my speciality. It shouldn't be difficult, but somehow I always struggle and sadly end up throwing away far more food than we should. I'm making a real effort at the moment to change that and reduce what goes into the council compost bin and I'm delighted to say that this last week I've succeeded and come up with a great new simple meal as a result. Based on the Waitrose Baked Pumpkin Gratin recipe that I picked up on one of their cards a while back I managed to concoct a delicious sweet potato and ... read more