Calling Brummy Bakers!

Help! I am really struggling to find someone to bake a birthday cake for next month. I don't want to risk booking someone who's cakes look great on Instagram, but don't actually taste very nice. So I'm enlisting the help of my social media friends and fellow bloggers. 

Wanted: a fantastic Birmingham based baker with great reviews. I require two cakes for Baby A's birthday in just over a month. 

Can you please share/tag/forward to any recommended bakers so that I can discuss further details with them. 

Thanking you in advance. H x 

Life Changes: Returning To Work

Some of you may know that I am due to return to work shortly. This means that like most working  parents, we now face the difficult decision of who will look after our little gremlin while we are at work. 

We've explored most avenues and hit many brick walls. There's the busy grandparents who are adamant that they will be having bubba, but at 10 months old he is everywhere, and therefore can be quite a handful. Ask me, I spend my days chasing around after him and taking a breather when he finally goes down for a nap. 

We've spent weeks going round in circles. Yes he's definitely going to nursery, but then again maybe he'll be happier with the grandparents...but it will restrict them from going out and doing their things. My head has been a total mess these past few weeks. I knew we'd be taking out a second mortgage by sending him to nursery, and that's only part-time. So we bit the bullet and started settling him in at nursery two weeks before he would start, and what an emotional roller coaster that has been. For myself and my poor little boy! Five sessions later and there's still tantrums and years, from mother and baby. 

How can we justify paying a fortune for childcare when the little gremlin doesn't even settle. He's the happiest little boy who can entertain himself very easily at home. Always exploring, climbing things, going for all the things he shouldn't be going for, but never screaming and crying the way he does when he goes to nursery. Apparently this will happen for a good few weeks, or even months before he finally adapts to life at nursery. How cruel is that. As a mother I can't sit there and listen to my baby crying, I can't drive to work without worrying about how upset he is, let alone completing a full day's work and then getting back to collect him. 

I know that all mums go through this when the returning to work transition begins, I just don't know how they do it. I'm very weak when it comes to my son, I've even thought about packing in nursery altogether and relying on family members to pull together and look after him for a few days a week. That's fine as a temporary arrangement, but after a few weeks or months temporary arrangements just won't cut it. 

Nursery offers me the stability and guaranteed childcare, that's why I refer to it as a second mortgage. I just wish it didn't have to upset my little bubba so much in the process. 

I hope he can forgive me for abandoning him while he's still so young. 

H x 

Shake it like a polaroid picture

I signed up to Printl last month, I read about them on Miss Mulberry's blog and thought it was a great idea. Thanks for the recommendation!

I love pictures, despite the odd upload on Facebook, Instagram etc I don't actually have as many printed pictures as I would like. Printl link to your Instagram account and will post your top photos direct to your door every month. Also, delivery is free of charge. How great is that! These are my snaps from my first month, a random selection of a snapchat screenshot of the lovely Jose, photo collage from my lovely friend Katie's wedding last month, and a rare appearance from Baby A on my Instagram account. You may have noticed that I don't share pictures of my son in my blog, well I've also limited the pictures I share on my personal Facebook and Instagram profiles. I have my concerns about the privacy policy on social media. 

Anyway, enough about me and my concerns. Sign up to Printl today to receive your top Instagram pictures direct to your door. 

Happy snapping! 

H x 

Beauty product of the month

Brace yourselves ladies, I'm about to introduce you to a product that has the ability to transform your skin like no other toner can. If you haven't already heard of pixi glow tonic, then here it is. Avid beauty fanatics/ bloggers are more than familiar with this toner. 

An exfoliating toner which leaves you with glowing skin with regular use, need I say anymore. I've even had makeup-free days since I've been using the toner regularly, thanks to my sis for treating me to yet another pixi product.

I know the title of this post suggests that it is my product of the month, the results suggest that I will be using this more often as I am very impressed to say the least. 

At £18.00 it's slightly more expensive than other toners on the market but definitely worth it. Once you see the improvement in your skin you'll wish you had discovered it sooner.

Get yourself some pixi glowing skin online (pixibeauty.co.uk) or visit their lovely boutique on Carnaby Street. 

Happy beautifying bloggers!

H x

I'm The Mum Who....

Thank you to firstooth for nominating me to write a post titled 'I am the Mum who...'

So here it is, dedicated to my little boy who in the space of 10 months has turned the least maternal person into the most devoting mum.

I am the mum who:

• Said I wouldn't spoil you, and then I took you to Toni and Guy for your haircut when you were just a few months old.

• Wasn't prepared for motherhood in the slightest, and now I can't imagine my life before I became a mum. 

• Cooks all your meals from scratch because I don't want to feed your jars 

• Cried with you when you had colic and were teething 

• Speaks to you when we are out, and people think I'm talking to myself, oops. 

• Is battling this separation anxiety so that we are both ok when I go back to work

• Has become a rubbish wife/sister/daughter/Aunty because I want to be the best mother

• Misses having a spotless house 

• Wondered what I did with all my time before you came along...?

• Forget to eat because I have 101 things to do that are more important 

• Is still baffled as to how a tiny being can impact our lives so much. You can't even speak yet, how do you influence my daily activities you little gremlin! 

• Hope you fulfill your wildest dreams, and even some of mine that I probably won't get around to fulfilling! (No pressure) 

• Finally understands what unconditional love is.

Most importantly, I'm the mum who now appreciates what my parents went through whilst bringing up me and my siblings. I now understand that when my rents say that parents only want what's best for their children, they actually mean it! 

Dear Mummy-to-be

I wish I had realised how much my life would change after I became a mum. I like to think that I made the most of the time that I had to myself, although there's a few things I probably would have done while I had the time (sorting out the spare room is just one of the jobs I will probably never get round to doing now)

It's taken me a while to actually think back to this time last year and recall what I did with my time. 

I never really took much notice of people when they told me that I wouldn't get as much time to myself after I have a baby. I thought they were exaggerating, that's how gullible I was. 

So here's a list of things that I enjoyed doing before I was running around after my little gremlin. 

If you're a mummy-to-be please take note. Enjoy! 

• Indulge in long soaks in the bath. If you're struggling to sleep then this bath soak from Mum and Me will work wonders for you, it has camomile in it and really relaxes you if you have a bath before bedtime.

• Have as many lie-ins as you can. I've always been an early bird, one of those annoying people who's body clock wakes them up super early even at the weekends. Boy do I miss my rare lie-ins now. I won't scare any sleep lovers by revealing my daily wake-up time....

• Catch up with your girls. Have movie nights, dinner, or just a good ol' chinwag. It's nice to see your friends, even nicer without a cheeky gremlin in tow who steals all the attention. 

• Date nights! What's that again? Oh yeah I remember now. Squeeze in a date night as often as you can. Cook together, eat together, go to the movies, go out for a meal. I don't mean to sound so bossy but surely you can feel my frustration. If not for yourself then do it for me! Hubby's long working hours + bubba's early bedtime = no date nights for us. So enjoy them while you can, it's easier to arrange a date night when you're not worrying about babysitters etc. 

• Pamper yourself. Get your hair done, treat yourself to a facial, paint your nails. Indulge in some beauty therapy, if that's your thing. You'll look and feel fabulous, more importantly you'll look every inch the yummy mummy once your bundle of joy comes along. 

• Retail therapy! This is probably the last thing on your mind, but if you like to get dressed up and look nice (which most of us do) then buying a few outfits for your post baby wardrobe is a sensible idea. No need to spend a fortune, just a few pieces that you can slip into when you are out with bubba. Take it from someone who has had just a few wardrobe related meltdowns since becoming a mum. It's nice to have something new, and clean to wear when you're out and about showing off your baby (who happens to have reflux, but that's another story for a different day) 

• Finally, devote time to your hobbies. Whether that's reading, painting, cooking, baking, sunbathing. Whatever you like doing in your spare time, do it  while you have some spare time. Newborn babies require a lot of your attention and if you are anything like me then you will probably forget what you enjoyed doing before you became a mum. Luckily it doesn't last forever, once babies get into a routine then you will have time to do the things you love.

Hope this has helped, and not scared any mumy's-to-be too much!

H x 

They Grow So Fast

I saw this post on Facebook a while ago and it makes me feel quite emotional. 

I'm glad I held my boy more than people thought I should. Rocked him, sang to him, cuddled him some more. 

Now at ten months, he doesn't need to be held as much- he's far too independent for that. It's all about crawling about, climbing things and discovering everything in his stride now. You know they are no longer a little baby wen they can hold their bottle, feed themselves and crawl away when it's nappy changing time. 

Forget what everyone says. Make the most of every second with your baby while they are still a baby. As the quote says: he is only a baby for just a while. 

H x