30 May 2016

When Life Takes Over

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I really take my hat off to all the Mummy and Daddy bloggers out there who manage to post on their blog almost every day or at least once a week. They must be super organised and I have to say I envy you folks. For the love of me I can't seem to nail down a blogging rhythm, I've tried but nothing sticks. I do enjoy blogging but I like doing it for me and not because I've got someone breathing down my neck about their review piece (although I of course take on reviews that interest myself and my family). Also the inevitable happens, life! It takes over as it always does, you think you're sailing along then BAM!! Out of no where you're back to square one juggling life and whatever is thrown at you and my poor blog, well it has to take a back seat for a while.

I'd say I'm quite an organised person and love a good routine but cracking the blogging routine has not happened yet and I've been blogging for over 5 years now. Will it ever come? Who knows really. Maybe if I put more of an effort in and actually took the time out to organise myself then yeah I could see it happening. However that means time I have to take from somewhere else. Where exactly would I get that time from? I can't do anything with Harlow around as she's a complete whirlwind and hardly ever naps. I try to do some blog work during my work lunch breaks however something else always crops up. When the kids are in bed I drag myself to the computer but I'm so knackered the motivation just isn't there and I waste my night staring at god awful news stories on questionable newspaper sites (you know the ones). 

Surely I'm not alone when it comes to feeling like this? I can't be the only one who struggles with the juggle of family life and trying to manage their hobby of blog writing. Time is my biggest enemy, there's just never enough and you can't exactly buy more (if only). To all the professional bloggers out there who've turned their hobby into a business and who still manage to post regularly and juggle family life - what's your secret? Is your house a tip? Do you live like a nudist because you've skipped the clothes washing in favour of a blog post? Do you have a nanny who does the domestic stuff? Or are you simply so organised and have amazing sheer determination and will power that you some how pull it all of and look fecking amazing even though you're secretly frazzled when the camera's not pointing your way?

Please tell me your secrets...

Toys, toys everywhere!! FML!



9 May 2016

Harlow's 16 Month Update

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Harlow is now 16 months old and she’s desperately trying to talk. She’s not quite there yet but sometimes the odd word pops out. For example it sounds like she’s trying to say shoes a lot which would make sense as she has a major fascination for shoes! Typical girl. As with last months update she does say Hi now and again and is definitely learning Mummy and Daddy although they come out of her little mouth as “Mummm mummmm mummm” and “Dadada dadada dadada”. It’s accurate when she’s trying to get my attention or her Daddy’s attention which is cute. Logan and I were playing with her the other night and it sounded like she was singing E-I-E-I-O from Old MacDonald had a farm. Logan of course found this hysterical, what else are big brother’s for than to laugh at you!


Miss madam chops is still an independent diva and to prove it she’s now started throwing her dinner around the room if she doesn’t fancy it and constantly demands sweeties from the kids cupboard. I think I’ll need to start hiding the sweeties soon or she won’t eat anything else. She’s also started wanting to feed herself more and more now to the point she’ll have a full on tantrum if she doesn’t get to pick up her own spoon and feed herself her yogurt. I’m not looking forward to the terrible twos if she’s like this already!


Her favourite foods at the moment seem to be pears, raspberries, noodles, baked beans, chips, fish, rice, cous cous and crackers. She does eat a variety of other foods (thankfully) but these seem to be her favs right now. Some days she can be a fussy pots though and won’t eat much at all, I’m not sure if her teeth are bothering her at the moment or not but her gums do look a bit red.



I had booked her up for some swimming lessons at a local pool as she loves the water however did she want to go in the pool and take part? Of course not. Why swim in the pool with all the other babies when you can run round it several times and play with the toys instead. Needless to say after two lessons I had to cancel as she wasn’t listening, was disrupting everyone else with her screaming and frankly I was freezing walking round the pool in my swimming costume haha. I think I’ll wait till she’s a bit older before I try again, no cute under water swimming photos for us!


Harlow’s been on her usual play dates, lunches and soft play outings this past month although now it’s getting harder to keep her in a high chair for longer than 10 minutes. I’m going to have to be a bit more savvy with timings on when we go out so I can avoid grumpy meltdowns. Since some nice weather (not all the time as there was snow a couple of weeks ago) has arrived I’ve been able to get the kids outside to play more which Harlow has loved. The back garden needs a good scrub but if I put a little puddle suit on her she’s fine tottering around with the dogs and playing in the kiddies play house.


Her sleeping is pretty much still the same with her waking once now during the night for a feed then straight back down until 8am if I’m lucky. With the light mornings she’s been getting up a bit earlier especially if she hears her big brother bouncing around as he’s awake for 6am. She still doesn’t nap much during the day however if we’re kicking around the house then I’ve been trying to put her in her cot for a sleep after lunch and thankfully she does get a rest. Sometimes it’s not for long but it’s better than no nap as she just becomes grumpy before dinner time.


I’ve recently booked a little summer holiday for the family and I, so the hunt is on to look out some nice warm weather clothes for us flying away soon. Harlow has ample clothing stocks in her wardrobe the problem is will they fit her in time for her holidays or will I have to do a dash to the shops to find something suitable for her to wear!? Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll be able to get her a few bits and pieces in the sales?



Mummascribbles

3 May 2016

Bargains of The Week - w/c 02.05.16

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I haven’t managed to purchase a lot of bargains recently as I’ve changed my shopping habits to try and cut the cost of our food bill. Like most families we probably spend far too much on food, more than what we really need to anyway so cutting it back has become a priority. I can feel a separate blog post coming on for that topic however right now please have a nosey at some of the bargains I’ve managed to snaffle up recently.

Sainsbury’s Online Shop
Most of you will know that shopping online for your food can be really handy, it saves the hassle and you get it delivered to your door. There’s usually the odd money off coupon as well when you spend over a certain amount but did you know that Sainsbury’s have a Try Me Free section on their website? No, well I didn’t either until recently. At first I thought maybe it’s the odd stuff that no one really buys however it’s new products to the market and some of them are really good. For example when I did my online shopping I received; a bunch of tulips, 4 yeo valley yogurts, blue cheese, houmous and kingsmill thins all for free! Can’t beat that now can you. Check it out for yourself here. Scroll down until you see the Freebies section.


Learning Through Books
You’ll probably know by now that we love a book in our house so when Amazon had the Usborne Children’s Picture Atlas on special offer I quickly ordered for Logan. He’s been asking about the world a lot recently especially where different countries are and where the UK is in relation to everyone else. Hopefully this will be a good one for teaching him all he needs to know. I’ll keep it aside as a treat for when he’s been extra good or I may even keep it for his birthday later in the year. It was down to £4.99 but normally retails at around £9.99.


Board Games
You can’t go wrong with a good old board game and I recently spotted University Games UFO Alarm on Amazon down to a brilliant £3.93! It’ll be perfect to keep aside as a gift for when the school party season hits or even as an extra birthday or Christmas present when the time comes. It has a retail price of £24.99 however I think that’s been slightly inflated but who knows, for £3.93 anyway you can’t go wrong.

Have you managed to grab any bargains this week?


 

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