Buying shoes scares me. I’ve never enjoyed shoe shopping and I’m terrified of buying shoes for Edward in case I damage his feet. Fortunately Clarks asked me if we would like to experience their shoe fitting service and we were very happy to oblige. After the rain cleared yesterday we made our way to our local Clarks in Muswell Hill where we were met by a very friendly fitter. Edward was very shy but was given a copy of the Clarks magazine which he looked through whilst I chatted to the shoe fitter about Edward’s feet. He measured Edward’s feet…
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When Edward saw a large cardboard box in the living room one morning he clearly thought it was Christmas. He was very excited and tried to rip the box open and was a bit put out when I said we had to wait for daddy to come downstairs. (Note to self – make sure any Christmas presents are already assembled before he gets to them!) When daddy was finally ready we opened the box which contained a beautiful wooden baby walker, the tray containing different shapes and sizes of wooden blocks. The walker was really simple to put together and…
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I’ve had a long standing relationship with patchwork. I made my first patchwork quilt when I was 16 using the traditional method known as English paper piecing. There’s something really satisfying about cutting out paper templates, choosing fabrics and watching it all come together. I’ve started lots of patchwork projects since then but I haven’t finished many! These medium sized hexagons look great when sewn together. I love making these smaller hexagons but they are so time consuming! They look good made into pincushions too. I was thinking of sewing my patchwork pieces into some kind of crawling blanket for…
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Edward’s going through a phase where nothing makes him happier than munching his way through a bag of crisps. To some people, this is probably akin to giving him a fruit shoot or biscuit but he has a balanced diet so this is his treat. The last couple of times he’s had a bag we’ve been on a bus and the bag has ripped, sending crisps everywhere! This is obviously a huge social faux pas and has resulted in lots of looks from fellow travellers. A couple of times I’ve tried to take the bag from him as it’s started…
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I’m not a girly girl but I do enjoy a look around the shops so was very excited when I was invited to visit The Bentall Shopping Centre in south London. Edward and I regularly go to our local shopping centre where we are experts in navigating the shops with aisles wide enough to accommodate the buggy, clean baby changing facilities and great coffee shops with helpful staff. How would The Bentall Centre compare? Shop ’til you drop It’s a bit of a journey from our patch of London so Edward and I set off on our epic journey early…
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I was so excited to find a vintage card game recently as I’ve been on the look out for some vintage letter cards. This version of Kan-U-Go is stamped 41 Nov 1958 (that’s not a typo – it does say the 41st!). I think the game was a kind of precursor to scrabble, with cards instead of tiles. I had to struggle with my inner curator as this is the first time I’ve ever bought something with the idea of re-using a part of it for something else. I haven’t tried playing the game but the letters are perfect for…
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I wouldn’t say Edward has a naughty streak and I certainly don’t want to start giving his behaviour a label at the ripe old age of 17 months. However, I’ll be the first to admit he has his moments as he makes the transition into toddlerhood. I thought I’d make a top ten of his most challenging activities and boy was it a hard job limiting it to ten… constantly playing with the tv cabinet, switching the xbox on and off and pulling cables out taking advantage of my forgetting to put all the stair gates up and climbing…
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Edward loves playing with his sand pit and water table. I have hundreds of photographs of him enjoying playing in our garden. Quite often he will go through several changes of clothes a day at my insistence (he couldn’t care less about being sandy or wet!). The lovely people at Bigjigs sent Edward a bucket and pump set which made his day. The set contains everything needed to build fantastic castles, including a bucket, spade and sand mould, as well as a water pump and wheel. Perfect for use in the garden, on the beach or at the local sandpit.…
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What was I thinking?! When I saw a picture of a Union Jack battenburg cake I was thinking “I can make that”. So I did. Ok, so it doesn’t quite look like the one in the photograph but at least I tried. The sponge cake turned out rather greener than the blue I hoped for and it was quite tricky to slice the cake diagonally! It’s a time consuming project as you need to leave the cake to chill in the fridge through various stages of construction. It’s sandwiched together with layers of buttercream and strawberry jam and wrapped in…