Home Sweet Home?

Today is Daddy and Eve day. They have been at home this morning, painting, playing and making Play dough sculptures. 

I am so thankful for the lovely times that we share together in our rented house in Knowle. I am thankful that we are safe, warm and happy, with food and drink at each meal time, with a roof over our heads, clothes to wear, nursery for Eve's education and jobs for Sam and I so that we can provide for our family life. 

Elsewhere in the world 60 million displaced people are suffering terrible hardship. In Europe, Syrian refugees are trying to survive in appalling conditions in camps in Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Hungary and the Greek Islands.

"There are thousands of children here and their feet are literally rotting, they can't keep dry, they have high fevers and they're standing in the pouring rain for days on end. You have one month guys, and then all these people will be dead".

Those were the final words of Dr Linda on the phone, a doctor that our volunteer organisations (Help Refugees and CalAid) had asked to fly out to Lesbos in response to an emergency cry for help from an overwhelmed volunteer on the ground."

"We wished we could pick up the phone and call someone... who? A charity? An emergency team? The government? The army? How could we sit by and watch whilst these people die, and the handfuls of volunteers struggle and suffer too. But who is there to call? The charities are acting slowly, they have protocols to follow, political considerations, red tape, hierarchy and procedures. Our government's policy is not to help in Europe, and only to send aid to places like Syria, Lebanon in Jordan. So... it's left to everyday people, untrained, unprepared, and overwhelmed, to deal with this crisis."

This excerpt is from the following article. Please take 5 minutes out of your day to read this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/lliana-bird/refugee-crisis-lesbos_b_8388988.html

I feel so angry at the UK government for pushing the buck to other countries and turning a blind eye. Last week I read posts on Facebook by Merel Graeve, a voluntary worker on the Greek island of Lesbos. I cried when I read her account of what is going on over there. Winter weather; storms and torrential rain have been hitting the area hard. Babies, children, men and women are dying of hyperthermia, there are not enough tents or supplies. I can't stop thinking of my dear little Eve when I think about those children.

None of us want to imagine what trying to survive in those kind of conditions would be like. The British media have pretty much stopped reporting and people seem to be forgetting. Please do not forget these people! Please donate money and share information across the internet. Perhaps contact your local news team or a local business organisation who you think might be able to help. We must all do our bit to help, no matter how small.

Please Donate to the 'Help Refugees' organisation who are the group in this article:

mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/helprefugees1

Three Men and a Little Lady

We've had a super chilled out, fun weekend with old friends. Walking to work yesterday morning across beautiful, autumnal Bristol I had a spring in my step. I felt very chipper as I walked up the steps next to the cathedral as golden leaves fluttered down from the trees around me.

Saying that though, the weather on Saturday was atrocious, non-stop rain, wind and general grey-ness. Thankfully we had a cheery day and drove to the other side of Bristol for Jilly's birthday.

It was great when we arrived as we were greeted by some old friends that we hadn't seen for a year or so. Eve had a great time playing with toys, and getting up to her usual antics with Agnes - they are the same age and fight over toys each time they see each other ;-)

Eve at Jilly's house 

Jilly's daughter Lamorna is ten months old and a real cutie pie. Chrissie was there with her daughter Stella (3 years), and Agnes' sister Elodie who is the eldest was there keeping a watchful eye over the shenanigans. I think us mums were quite thrilled at having our girls together.

Lamorna

Eve was delighted playing with this shape sorting toy.

She is so good at naming all the shapes.

Sam's friends Mike and Barney had arrived at our house whilst we had been out at the party, so it was really good to see them when we arrived home. Sam made the boys drinks; the Old Fashioned is the favourite of recent times. Whilst Daddy was cutting the huge oranges Eve spied them and wanted to eat some. Sam tried to give her a little slice, but no, she wanted to munch on a piece which was half the size of her face. Funny girl.

Eve was a really good girl all weekend, and for the first time ever, went to bed without a drink at all on Saturday evening. I sat with her as usual to give her a drink but she said 'bed,' and lay down in her bed playing with a toy, all snuggled in her blanket. She did the same the last couple of nights as well.

The clocks had changed when we woke up on Sunday morning (it confuses me every time, no matter that it happens twice a year!), Eve had slept well and woke up at 7am. Waking up to day light was great. The last few weeks getting up in darkness has felt a bit wearying. When Mike came downstairs she was thrilled being able to play with him. He popped bubble wrap with her and they had a good laugh together. I think she became quite attached to him as she gave him a hug when he left in the afternoon.

The boys and I took her to the park and then for her usual fail-safe nap in the woods - we walk down a path and she falls asleep almost immediately. It's so relaxing with light glinting through the trees, the tweeting of birds and the lovely, earthy smell of the woodland floor.

Daddy and Eve enjoying Sunday breakfast together

On Sunday afternoon our friends Duncan, Anne and Huey stopped by to see us. We hadn't seen them in almost a year. We saw them quite frequently when Eve and Huey were small. These two seemed comfortable with each other and enjoyed playing in the lounge together. It took a bit of persuasion to get Eve to share her tractor with Huey, but she did in the end, which is a step in the right direction.

Huey and Eve

It was simply heavenly being able to spend lots of quality time with Eve this weekend, and I could see the difference this made when it came to bath time on Sunday night. We had a bath together, sang songs and generally had a lovely time. She let me wash her and even said to me, 'Mummy share yes.'

Friday night bath-time was the most traumatic one we've had so far. Eve got herself so worked up and didn't want to be washed at all. After 45 minutes of crying, during each stage of the bathing process, I was close to tears as well. As much as she loves nursery and we love her going there, it makes me feel guilty. I am aware that the reasons for upsets such as this are because I am not there for the majority of the day. I can tell that she feels more confident and trusts us more when we share quality time together, which is of course, only natural. Because of the washing agenda I'm considering having Eve's hair cut to make things easier, but I love her curls and don't really want to do it. Decisions, decisions...

Ch-ch-ch- Changes

At the weekend we finally stopped using the baby bottle with a nipple for Eve's bedtime drink of water. I think we're quite behind on this compared to other kids, but I tried this about 4 months ago with her and she got very upset and I was too tired to carry on with it. After our long days spent apart I think Eve wanted the comfort of the bottle teat.









Now that she's understanding and communicating so well I figured we should get down with the change. I guess it's slightly selfish on my part, as I knew that once I took away her bottle at bedtime the realm of babyhood would be completely gone.

Eve loves her 'special bedtime cup' (I bought her exactly the same Tommee Tippee one that she uses during the day time but in a different colour, blue and pink.) She chose it herself in Asda. However she is a bit more agitated at bed time and it takes me an extra ten minutes to get her to settle down for sleep. To be fair though she is taking it in her stride, and she loves telling me about the different safari animals who are around the cup.

Bye, bye baby bottles you've been good to us! 

(These MAM bottles are brilliant, well worth the money)

My plans always go a bit awry with Eve. I thought the jewellery box was so great - until it came to bed time. At first she was so cute playing with the fairy and looking at the little tiny treasures inside. But then she got very upset at having to go to bed and wanted to play with the fairy for longer (or possibly all night). 

I tried for a couple of nights letting her see the fairy and then saying goodnight to it, but this did not work. I've now taken the jewellery box out of her bedroom and have stashed it somewhere safe. The first night that she went into her room after bath time she was slightly upset that the fairy was not there. I told her that the fairy had gone to bed. Eve looked at me and said, 'fairy in bed in the garden.' It was so sweet. Eve talks about the fairy every night and I do feel bad about it, but the alternative is a serious bedtime palaver.

The BabyBjorn Potty - we love it, such a great product.

Eve is now doing multiple wee's and number two's in the potty. The nursery staff are really pleased with her progression, and we make sure that as soon as Eve has had her breakfast we put her in pants for the rest of the day (excepting nap time). This means that our nappy consumption is rapidly declining. This is so great as I have felt awful about using disposable nappies, which we switched to at the age of 9 months when she was waking all through the night and wetting the bed too much.

As parent's I think that we are put in awkward positions by our governments. We know that disposable nappies are bad for the environment - 8 million go to landfill daily in the UK, that's 3 billion per year. But we are pushed back to work earlier and earlier. As full time working parents there is no way that we could have gone back to using cloth nappies when Eve started nursery. Before Eve's birth I bought all the stuff in preparation for doing just so (positive wishful thinking), but when you've had sleepless nights for a year, and you race to and from work every day, the last thing you want to do when you get home at night is to be washing nappies that have been soiled 10 hours previously. Once Eve started sleeping well at 14 months if I had been a stay at home mum I most definitely would have gone back to cloth nappies as we absolutely loved our Bum Genius ones. 

Bumgenius Cloth Nappies - can't fault them - brilliant things.

I'm so pleased that Eve is doing well with potty training and cannot wait until the day comes when we no longer need to use disposable nappies.

http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/get_involved/volunteer/register_your_interest.aspx

Looking to the future, and it may seem way too early but I've just received an email from the Girl Guides confirming Eve's place on a waiting list for 2nd Knowle Holy Nativity Rainbow Guides. I saw a post thread on Facebook with people discussing the waiting list and one of the leaders told me that they have babies on their waiting lists and that it's never too early. So, this is an exciting thing for Eve to start in a few years time.

Eve loves pasta but has started getting a bit picky and won't eat the vegetables; she just scoops up the pasta shapes. So, yesterday Sam quickly blended up a smooth vegetable sauce in our Nutribullet, gently heated it with the pasta, and bingo! It looks like a basic tomato sauce but it has lots of vegetables in it. Plus, this sauce has more nutrition as the Nutribullet blends the raw vegetables so that you don't have to cook the food and zap away the nutrients.

You just cannot go wrong with the Nutribullet. We use it everyday. It's such an easy way of making sauce for children and they don't know what is in it. You can chuck in whatever vegetables and fruit you have - the recipe is always different :-)

We're going to attempt making houmous in it soon. Previous houmous attempts have always ended in disaster, so fingers crossed this bad boy will do the job. 

Hello Moon

Today I thought I would share a cool new website with you. One of my dear old friends has created a company called hellomoon.co.uk designing original and unique personalised prints and posters. 

Hello Moon consists of four brothers. Their father established a print company in 1982. All four sons work for the family business in Devon. The brothers have now taken over from their father and are branching out into other areas of print. They have a wealth of experience between them, as well as great ideas for the future. To start with they have launched Hello Moon with a children's range, however they will also be offering different styles of prints and posters soon.

These prints are so beautiful and would make wonderful gifts. Whether it's for your own child's bedroom, a present for a friend expecting a new baby, a Christmas present for your niece or nephew; anyone receiving one of these prints would be thrilled.

Each print can be personalised. Every child loves having something with their name on it, don't they?!



My sister is called Claire. I remember that she always had things with her name on them when we were small. I would search through racks in gift-shops for an item with my name, but I never had any luck. My mum could see my disappointment and thoughtfully had a plate made for me. It is something that I still cherish. It lives in my kitchen and is used on a daily basis. A Hello Moon print would look amazing on any wall, and would also be treasured by the happy little owner.

I really enjoyed working through the ordering process on this site. It's easy to use the drop down boxes to input name details, and you can see the finished look before you go ahead and pay. Eve is doing so well with the alphabet and she adores animals, so I thought that one of the 'Alpha Animal' prints is just the ticket. I've selected a white frame with Tru-glass perspex and am planning on hanging it on the wall next to her bed.

You lot are lucky little things because hellomoon.co.uk are giving you a promo code to use between now and 14 December 2015. This code give you a 30% discount, and what's more, you can use it up to three times if you wish to order more than once between now and December. Make sure you set up an account to enable you to use this code.

Promo Code: BABYF30
hellomoon.co.uk

You can buy them framed or unframed, in black or white. A4 and A3 sizes are available. Each print comes with a 20mm white border for a quality finish. If you decide to buy a frame you have a choice of 2mm thick glass or Tru-glass perspex which is child friendly, making it perfect for children's bedrooms.

Delivery in the UK is free on all orders, which is second class mail with a sign for service. It can be so disappointing when you get to the check out on an online site only to find that the delivery cost is too high for your budget. Free of charge delivery is definitely a bonus.

Next day service is £5.50

European delivery is £20, shipping takes 4 - 6 days.

International delivery is £40, shipping takes 5-10 days.

Hello Moon offer a gift voucher service, as well as a Monthly Competition. All you have to do to enter their competition is to Like them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LoveHelloMoon

Have a look on their website today to see the variety of designs that they offer: hellomoon.co.uk

Fun on the Farm

 Daddy and Eve, with Ocky and Arthur

Ocky's husband Dan has been away this past week filming in America, so whilst he was having a good ol' time in the States, we met up with Ocky and Arthur down at Windmill Hill City Farm.

We haven't seen the Higginson's for a while, so I was a huge fan of Ocky and Arthur's matching wax jackets and chunky knit winter hats when I saw them on Saturday. We started off with the kids having fun on the wooden animals by the cafe. Arthur loves the tractor and Eve loves the ducks.

Eve has now progressed from sitting on the little ducks to the big duck

Arthur and Ocky visit the city farm quite often and Arthur has a route that he likes to follow, so whilst they were heading off round the fields we took Eve to see the geese. She is a big fan of ducks and chickens so we thought she would love to check them out. They put on quite a show for her and started squawking rather loudly. When they looked ready to attack we made a fast get-away!

Daddy and Eve watching the geese 

From there we wandered round to see the sheep. Eve enjoyed feeding them some hay and gently stroked their fur.

Feeding time at the farm

It's such a lovely, creative place. I really felt rejuvenated breathing in the fresh air as we walked around the allotments, looked at plants in the greenhouse and visited the animals with Eve.

I particularly liked the huge bug house that has been made near the greenhouse. It was the perfect weather for walking around the city farm, it was cool and crisp without wind or rain and was such a pleasurable experience. Wholesome family time is such a treat.

Huge cool bug house

After a good run about we headed to the cafe. Arthur got stuck into his banana milk and Eve ate her raisins. We shared some cake with the kids, before a final run about near the pond. Happy kids, happy days.

Eve and Arthur

Eve standing on the bridge next to the pond. She loved going over this time and time again.

Eve and Arthur on the run!

On Sunday we pottered about at home and made sure that Eve was in her pants most of the day. I took her to Lidl in the morning so she didn't have her usual morning nap at home. By the time I took her upstairs to have a nap at 1pm she was quite over tired. She is not very used to having naps at home in her bed, she is usually in the pram at those times, or she is napping at nursery. I think this upset her and it took me some time to calm her down for an afternoon sleep. Not something I've had to do for ages. It was quite nice as I hugged her and then stroked her head as she fell asleep in the cot. It made me think back to the days when she was a baby.

Later in the afternoon I took Eve to the park whilst Daddy was at basketball. I was pushing her in the swings when Daddy unexpectedly arrived. It was a shame that his basketball game wasn't on, but lovely for us to share a bit of park life with him.

Daddy and Eve in the sandpit

Whilst I was prepping dinner early that evening, Daddy and Eve got down to some serious work with sampling and beat making. Eve loves hitting the buttons, but especially she loves playtime with her Dad.

Daddy and Eve making some beats on Maschine

Mattel Little Mommy Sweet As Me Dolls

Sweet As Me Girly Girl Hispanic

Ok I'm literally about to lose my mind at how incredibly cute these Little Mommy Dolls are. Eve adores her dolls and is often wandering about, clutching one or more to her chest. She takes dolls from nursery each evening and I've given up trying to persuade her to leave them in the classroom.

I've been looking through the shops for a doll on the run up to Christmas, but hadn't seen anything exciting - until now. It took me a while to find these little beauties online. I'm glad that I kept searching because these dolls look amazing.

I'm a total sucker for toys of all sorts and am a real big kid at heart. I've kept a couple of my treasured dolls and a teddy bear from my youth. The dolls are both in great condition, though Eve has started playing with them over the past few months. I voiced my concern to my mum, Granny T, that I was worried that Eve might ruin them. Her wise words were, 'well, you kept them for her, didn't you?' I suddenly realised that I must take on board things that I say to Eve about learning to share. There are always lessons to re-learn through life it seems, and I am constantly learning things about myself through my daughter.

Sweet As Me Girly Sport Doll

There are so many different dolls to choose from in the Little Mommy range. The newest ones can be seen on the Little Mommy website. But if you keep trawling about online you'll find loads of different ones from seasons past.

http://www.littlemommy.com/

There are Bathtime Bubbly Dolls which can be washed in the bath and have dirty marks that disappear when the child has cleaned them. There are Little Mommy Potty Training Dolls, Little Mommy Dancing Baby Dolls, Little Mommy Talk With Me Dolls, Dress Up Cutie Dolls; the list goes on and on. They all come with accessories and you can change their clothes and shoes. 

They offer dolls of different races, with various styled outfits which I think is great. I remember my mum telling me how difficult it was in 1970's England finding toys that my brother could relate to, as toys then were almost certainly caucasian. Eve's array of dolls and bears so far cover many cultures.

Sweet As Me African American Doll

Sweet As Me Asian Uptown Prep Doll

These dolls are fun and cute. But not only that, your child can nurture and look after their needs, love them, cuddle them, style their hair and change their clothes. There are so many things for your child to learn about when they are playing with their doll.

Sweet As Me Boho Chic Doll Caucasian

The pricing is reasonable; a Sweet As Me Doll costs about £16 online, getting more expensive if you want an interactive doll that uses the potty, goes in the bath, talks, sings or dances. Amazon offer free delivery on quite a lot of these dolls too.

I'm hoping that if I ask my husband which doll I should choose as Eve's Christmas present he will be able to offer some advice. But I am so stuck; I don't know which one to choose as they are all so gorgeous. I particularly love the funky Boho Chic Doll above, and the Panda - dorable Doll, below. I guess I'm just going to have to ponder upon this for a while - such a nice thing to think about...

Sweet As Me Panda - dorable Doll

Sweet As Me Boho Chic Doll African American

It's funny I'm not particularly a very girly-girl and I don't think Eve is either - but this post most certainly is. I bought Eve a jewellery box when she was a baby as I was excited at the prospect of her looking through it when she was older. That time has now come, and how happy it has made me.

The Flower Fairy musical jewellery box is on the shelf in her room. On Sunday when Daddy was out playing basketball she noticed it and wanted to play with it. We took it downstairs. She loves playing with the fairy that turns around inside the box. She said to me 'Shining Fairy!'

Inside the box I put a few items that I have kept safe in my jewellery box that I thought I would pass down to her. It was lovely to see that the main thing she loves touching and playing with is a Greek talisman, that a relation gave my Mother when we were in Greece in 1980. The talisman is a small beaded charm in red and blue which you can see in the video below.

Meeting Marianne and My Carry Potty

James and Michelle with their daughter Marianne

We were at home most of this weekend, mainly playing with Eve and continuing with potty training, which she is doing brilliantly with now. We don't have many accidents these days. She tells us when she needs to go by saying 'Wee wee out.' The process is getting much easier which is great.

I'm just about to buy My Carry Potty. One of my friends has used this with her two children and fully recommends it. 

I'm really hoping that it will hook over one of the arms on our pram, as we don't drive in Bristol much and I'm thinking that it will be useful to take out with us if we're going to the park or walking to the shops. Eve has been going to and from nursery in pants for the past couple of weeks and we haven't had any accidents en route thankfully. But I'm going to buy one of these anyway as I think it will be really useful.

http://www.mycarrypotty.com/

Eve and Daddy in Victoria Park

On Saturday afternoon we met James and Michelle with their baby Marianne. I met James 20 years ago when were studying Art and Photography at St. Austell College in Cornwall. It was lovely to see their baby Marianne for the first time, she is a real cutie pie.

From our meeting in the pub we then wandered across the road to the park. Eve had a good time, though she managed to pull off a rather slow-motion manoeuver face first into the ground at the bottom of the slide. She was a good girl and didn't cry, and even 'got back on the horse' so to speak and carried on enjoying herself.

The look of excitement and apprehension on Eve's face

It was a wonderful autumnal day in the park, lots of beautiful colours surrounded us. Last week Eve was taken to the park on a nursery outing to collect leaves for their wall display, so she loved squatting down on the way home examining grass and leaves. Over the last couple of weeks Eve has started calling her muslin cloth that she takes to bed, 'Minnie.' Quite amusing!

Daddy and Eve in the pram