• Gingerbread house finds - Orla Kiely - vintage

    Gingerbread house finds

    For my 4th birthday my grandparents made me a beautiful dollshouse, partly from a piano they no longer wanted. It was decorated with swatches of wallpaper and carpet from their own home and reminded me of them long after both of them had died. It had a real mis-match of furniture which I had collected over time and I treasured the dollshouse until I just couldn’t keep it due to lack of room in my twenties. Ever since then I’ve been on the lookout for a replacement dollshouse. I would love to get my hands on a vintage Triang model…

  • reviews

    Giant Connect 4!

    We were asked if we would like to try an outdoor version of Connect 4 – Giant Connect 4. We love our garden and spend a lot of time outdoors so thought this would be a great addition to our collection of toys and games. Giant Connect 4! The game is the official HASBRO Giant Connect 4 so is instantly recognisable from my childhood with it’s red and yellow counters. First introduced in 1974 it is a firm favourite with families and the outdoor version is a great edition. It’s made from very hard wearing plastic for a long gaming…

  • gingerbread - reviews

    spicy ginger crunchy cookies

    We were recently offered some spicy ginger crunchy cookies from the award-winning bakers Kent & Fraser to try.We’re huge fans of anything with ginger in and I have to admit these cookies didn’t last long. Each pack contains deliciously crunchy biscuits made with decent chunks of stem ginger. The taste is lovely and spicy but the cookies were a bit too crunchy for me – perfect for dunking in a steaming cup of tea. Ingredients include light muscovado sugar, crystalised stem ginger and ground ginger but no eggs, dairy, soya, wheat or gluten (so suitable for a gluten free diet).…

  • pregnancy - third trimester

    Bumpwatch – 37 weeks

    37 weeks, third trimester = almost over. I’ve come to realise that although my body is designed for pregnancy my mental state is not. As my husband frequently lets me know, I’ve been grumpy for the whole 9 months! I found the first trimester hard due to nausea and tiredness. My second trimester passed in an equally tired blur as the bloom I expected never happened. My third trimester seems to have been spent with my feet up watching Edward play. We have been getting out every day but it’s been hard work in this colder weather – if I…

  • playing - toddler

    Glitter balls and a toddler

    We were recently offered the opportunity to be in Mother & Baby magazine who were running a feature on the importance of music and looking for an 18 month old. Edward has been featured in the magazine before (about c sections) but this one called for a photo shoot and telephone interview which I thought sounded like a lot of fun. A couple of weeks ago we headed over to a beautiful house over looking the Thames in West London. Several shoots were happening for the magazine so we were given a new set of clothes for Edward and waited…

  • reviews

    Christmas Presents For Men

    I’m sure I can’t be the only woman with a husband who is difficult to buy presents for. Birthday or Christmas, it really doesn’t matter. He’s a complete geek and difficult to buy for. There’s lots of inspiration for gifts in this handy Christmas Gift Guide and I recently found something which I thought he would love (and Edward too!) – the lightspeed ihelicopter from paramountzone. The lightspeed ihelicopter is controlled via your phone (iPhone, iPod, iPad and some Android phones). Simply download the free App (Copter Controller) from the apple App store or Android market, plug the (included) IR…

  • Christmas - gingerbread - gingerbread house

    Top 5 gingerbread advent calendars

    I can’t resist anything gingerbread but I’ve never had a gingerbread advent calendar so thought I would have a look for one. With a little help from Pinterest my top 5 favourite gingerbread house advent calendars are: Source: johnlewis.com via Jenny on Pinterest   Source: amazon.co.uk via Jenny on Pinterest   Source: blog.paper-source.com via Jenny on Pinterest   Source: gingerbreadsnowflakes.com via Jenny on Pinterest Source: sewandso.co.uk via Jenny on Pinterest I’ve treated myself to the first one – how could I resist 24 iced gingerbread biscuits to get me through advent (and a new baby!). I shall be keeping a…

  • nursery - pregnancy - third trimester - toddler

    His time vs my time

    Edward has now had five sessions at nursery. The first two were reduced hours to help him settle in but he’s now completed three full sessions. Our main goal was to help him socialise with other children. I didn’t realise how hard this would be and despite lots of activities he seemed to pick up bad habits rather than good from other children. Without making it sound like I wanted to let someone else take responsibility for his behaviour we decided it would be of major benefit if he had regular time with other children in a secure environment. I’m…

  • baby products - beauty - competition - pregnancy

    Earth Friendly Baby Massage Oil giveaway

    Earth Friendly Baby produce eco-friendly baby treats. We love using their products and Edward enjoys lovely bath times with a little help from their pure and natural range of everyday toiletries. We recently tried the Earth Friendly Baby Natural Unscented Massage Oil. It’s perfect for mums to be and babies and is crammed with nourishing ingredients including light and mild Sunflower Oil, healing Sesame Oil, Shea Butter and added Vitamin E.  It is fragrance free and gentle enough to be used on stretching and expanding tummies or new babies from the age of just 7 days.   Giveaway! I have three…