As one chapter closes, another one begins…

Chapters

I love that our bear has

A natural love of books,

And her little place for reading them is

Her bookcase, her nook.

~

Since newborn we’ve read to her,

We’ve got through books galore.

As soon as she could speak she said,

“Mummy, Daddy, I want more!”

~

Then she ‘graduated’ to ‘proper’ books,

With less pictures and more words.

It’s lovely until bedtime…

“I want the whole book!”, can be heard!

~

From the beginning, “Once upon a time…”

Skip some pages, let’s pretend

We’ve read the middle,

Skim read to “The End”!

~

But I love reading with our bear,

And she loves reading too.

With the school ‘chapter’ starting very soon

I’m sure she’ll take the cue…

~

To keep reading, writing, learning,

To seize the 3 R’s with zest.

The beginning, middle, now the end of

Pre-school… ‘big’ school’s coming next!

By Mummy Bear

~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

Thank you.

Mummy Bear’s Shout Out 8

Welcome to Mummy Bear’s Shout Out 8.  Here I will share my favourite parenting blog posts of the last week or so in the form of links to the relevant blogs.  Feel free to comment, perhaps with a link to your favourite blog post of the week too!

Quite simply, I was like a nodding dog while reading this whole post on things our little ones hoard from Sonny and Luca.

A beautifully and amusingly written post about saying goodbye to toddler days from Little Pink Teacup.

And finally, here’s the perfect escuse (as if you need one!) for some R & R.  RedheadBabyled has a guest post which is a rundown of spas.  My choice would be… well all of them actually!

There  you have it then – I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I did 🙂

What was your favourite post this week?

Comment or tweet me or both!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

Chain reaction…

It’s been so lovely to see some proper sunshine this past week or so.  Or it would be, if only our little bear didn’t have a reaction to every suncream going.

Believe me, that is not an exaggeration.  Or at least it seems not to be.  We have tried several brands of ‘kids’ suncream but they all seem to bring her out in little red spots on the main areas where the suncream has been applied.

So I took to google and found several more that are supposedly organic or don’t contain certain ingredients that are apparantly (according to forums) infamous for causing these reactions.

I’m waiting on an online delivery of a bottle of the creamy stuff after I’ve read excellent reviews from others in a similar position.  Let’s hope that does the trick.  And if it doesn’t… well off to the doctor’s we go!

My Word of the Week with The Reading Residence this week?

“Reacting”…

Join in…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

 

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

 

Thank you.

‘A perfect messy place’

A perfect messy place

“Let’s make something”,

Said our bear to me,

As she ran out on

The grass with glee.

~

Her little toes,

Her little feet,

The sun was out,

And what a treat!

~

From our treasure hunt,

We had some ‘loot’

We’d had fun,

We’d had a hoot!

~

Making in the garden…

A perfect messy place;

A moment to treasure,

At a leisurely pace.

~

With paper, glue,

Sparkles, glitter,

Butterflies fluttered,

Birds went twitter.

~

What a lovely moment,

What a lovely day,

But the best bit?

Hardly any tidying away!

By Mummy Bear

~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

Thank you.

Mummy Bear’s Shout Out 7

Welcome to Mummy Bear’s Shout Out 7.  Here I will share my favourite parenting blog posts of the last week or so in the form of links to the relevant blogs.  Feel free to comment, perhaps with a link to your favourite blog post of the week too!

A great idea for upcycling for your washing line from Emma South London and a brilliant poem too!

An extremely brave post this one. Katie shares her deepest fear with us…

And I absolutely love this post from KerrysWindingRoad. The way it looks at ‘stuff’ so matter of fact and yet lets the emotions out.

There  you have it then – I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I did 🙂

What was your favourite post this week?

Comment or tweet me or both!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

The future’s bright!

Around a month ago, we found out (with much relief!) that our little bear had been allocated a place at our first choice of school for her September start.  I rang the school up just after the Easter holidays to ask about settling in sessions because hubby and I would have to think about fitting them in around work.  With much relief (again!) we were told that reception start on full days and that we would be sent all the information in around 3 weeks.

Well, true to their word, this morning the postie delivered an envelope from our little bear’s school with all the information about a Parents’ Welcome Evening.  Along with several optional settling in ‘stay and play lunchtime sessions’.

Not only are we very impressed that they sent the information out at all, without the need to chase them up, but we are uber impressed with the general attitude of the staff on the phone (and also on the school tour we took) and that they did indeed send the information out in ‘around 3 weeks’.

The future looks bright…!

I think that it’s easy to see why my word of the week with The Reading Residence is ‘bright’!

Join in…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

 

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

 

Thank you.

Childhood: making wonderful, happy memories…

Picture source: teachingheels.com

I often watch in wonder as our little bear plays with her toys.  From princesses to ponies, from prams to reading her teddies stories, from writing her name to sticking and gluing…

It’s a fascinating world.  Sometimes I feel like I’m intruding in her own private little role-playing world.  Other times I’m invited to play along:

“Which princess are you mummy?”

On an ill-informed day, I invariably choose the wrong one.

On a pre-empted day, I strike gold!

I also love to see our little bear play nicely with her friends.  One particular friend was born just 3 days after our little bear.  They seemed to ‘click’ at their first playgroup meeting, even though they were just a few months old.  As I did with her mum!

Equally, I love to hear our little bear chatting away with tales from the day spent with her little friends at pre-school and the childminder’s.  It’s so lovely to hear!

She’s a busy little bee is our little bear.  Which is why it’s nice for her to have ‘down-time’ on a weekend.  Vital in fact.

I hope she’s building some wonderful, happy memories of a wonderful, happy childhood.

I’m linking up with #TheThemeGame of  ‘childhood” at The Reading Residence and Redpeffer.

Looking for something new to do?  Join in!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

Thank you.

Mummy Bear’s Shout Out 6

Welcome to Mummy Bear’s Shout Out 6.  Here I will share my favourite parenting blog posts of the last week or so in the form of links to the relevant blogs.  Feel free to comment, perhaps with a link to your favourite blog post of the week too!

You will know from last week’s Shout Out that May is pre-eclampsia awareness month. Great North Mum raises informative awareness here.

Miss Fanny P had one of those times when you really wonder why you answered how you did and you dig yourself a great big hole!

Here’s a great idea for a fundraiser while having fun from Twice a Mummy Double the Fun…

And Brummy Mummy of 2 gets full points from me for this one on The Eurovision!

There you have it then – I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I did 🙂

What was your favourite post this week?

Comment or tweet me or both!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

It’s been a trying week!

“Where’s this water come from?!” asks hubby.

…which is never a good thing to hear, especially not when you’re just about to sit down together to watch a DVD for ‘date night’!

Given our issues with our boiler (and the leak that came through the kitchen ceiling), we both automatically looked at the ceiling and were relieved at least that no water was coming down…!

An hour or so later and we had dismantled the washing machine waste pipe, part of the kitchen sink plumbing and emptied the water pipe into a mop bucket (several times!).

Not the most relaxing night but it could have been much, much worse.  We were immensely proud of ourselves, given that we don’t have any plumbing skills.  Between us, we remedied the problem with minimal stress.

From trying to ‘keep calm and sort the washing machine’ which was very ‘trying’, to persisting and keeping on ‘trying’ to eliminate the source of the problem, it’s easy to see why my word of the week with The Reading Residence is indeed ‘trying’!

Join in…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read my emotional and inspiring true story ‘Diary of a Complicated Pregnancy’. Available now through my website at Virtually All Sorts. 50% of sales to the charity Action on Pre-Eclampsia. …and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @ComplicatedPreg

 

Also available – my indispensable guide to avoiding ‘Working Mum Guilt’. Whether you are about to return or have already started back, this book offers practical solutions and feedback from real Mums with real families in real situations. Covering topics such as Post Natal Depression, childcare options, yours and your child’s development and time management – Ditch the guilt today! … and visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter @WorkingMumGuilt

 

Thank you.

Presenting my choice of #WonderBlog

 

How do you choose your best blog read? How do you choose your #WonderBlog? How do you pick which one ticks your blogging readability boxes?

 

I started by looking at one of the most inspiring blogs that I read, The Reading Residence.  Jocelyn encourages, no inspires me to carry on blogging on those days when I’m zapped of all my writing energy, those days when my creativity is waning. Goodness only knows how she keeps up with all her wonderful linkys!…

Then there’s Emma at Life at the Little Wood. Her pretty and down to earth blogging about her kiddos and Mr M brings me back again and again.

 

And also Kiran at Mummy Says writes beautiful, heart-warming and honest posts about her family and motherhood.

 

Visit these blogs for inspiration, prettiness and beautifully written posts. Make their day and yours!