I’m a big fan of Ruth Clemens, blogger at The Pink Whisk and runner-up of the Great British Bake Off. She has recently teamed up with Persil to celebrate the launch of a new, limited edition Persil Warm Spice Washing Up Liquid and create some festive family recipes. I was challenged to try one of her recipes at home and it was difficult to choose just one from Mini Sausage Twirls, Orange Fig Glazed Ham, Spiced Apple Chutney and Candy Cane Meringues. However eventually I chose the Christmas Biscuits as I have a bit of a sweet tooth! Take a…
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Now I’m the proud mother of two children it seems strange looking back to the time I wasn’t pregnant or a parent. I don’t think I used to be quite so addicted to my laptop(!) but I remember when I still worked and was pregnant a colleague recommended some websites to look at. These included the Bounty pregnancy tracker and sites to meet other pregnant women. I quickly signed myself up to receive emails and became inundated with information. It’s so each to feel overwhelmed and it took a while to find out what I really needed. I wish there was…
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It has been so cold the last few days. Luckily the toddler spends time playing outside whilst he’s at nursery which means I feel less guilty about not being outside for too long on the days he’s not there! I have a mental list of stuff to do on really cold days which keep us indoors. I’ve seen a great idea for a rainy day jar on Pinterest which I’m going to make in the New Year. Basically you write a different activity on a lollipop stick or piece of paper and pick one every time you need a little…
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My toddler is Thomas the Tank Engine mad. He also likes making things so I thought we could combine the two. On a recent day out we saw the Troublesome Trucks and thought it would be fun to make them ourselves. We used some mini cereral boxes, which we painted grey. You can see I was really lazy and turned the boxes inside out as the paint wouldn’t stick to the shiny side of the cardboard. You could also cover boxes in grey paper, dependant on how impatient your toddler is. We then went through old issues of Thomas the…
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The toddler is 29 months old. He has always loved toys, the noisier and more interactive the better. He’s a typical boy and despite my best intentions at introducing a variety of toys his firm favourite is his train, set since he was about 18 months old. Now I have to be honest and say I may have spoilt him a little by getting him 4 different sets. We’ve been really lucky and he was given a wooden Brio train set. This was his first set which we’ve added to and is his firm favourite. Next up was a Chuggington…
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I don’t need to tell regular readers that my son is a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan. I spotted a vintage Thomas duvet cover in a charity shop and snapped it up for a couple of pounds. When I got it home I wasn’t sure how to use it – re-size it as a toddler duvet, a bean bag cover or cushion cover. Instead I thought it would make two fun fitted sheets. The ones we’ve been using have been plain blue and these would be a little different. It was quite simple to make. I unpicked the duvet…
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BritMums challenged me to find three great looks for the toddler for £30 at TK Maxx. Part of the challenge was to pick three outfits, all tailored to different occasions. The toddler has a busy social life so I chose scooting round the park, our summer music class and back to school. We’re lucky that we have a TK Maxx in our local shopping centre so arrived nice and early to make sure the toddler was in a good mood. He’s a bit temperamental so you have to make sure he’s in the right frame of mind if you want…
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We’ve lived in Wood Green in north London for the last 6 years but have only visited the handful of charity shops a couple of times. However, last week we popped into Oxfam and were rewarded with a haul! First up were two new-to-us Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs. There was no way the toddler could not have these so we snapped them up. As I was paying I noticed a big bag of Brio by the counter. The toddler just loves his trains and already has a good Brio collection so we bought this too! You can never have…
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The other week I was asked if the toddler liked Thomas. Only the biggest Thomas fan in Paisley Road, I answered. A couple of days later this turned up. Fisher Price very kindly sent him the new R/C Thomas Steam ‘n Speed with real working steam! It wasn’t too difficult to get out of the packaging, just a couple of fancy plastic ties, which was good as the toddler was sooo excited when he saw it. He won’t say Thomas but “TT” so there was lots of shouting and I had no option but to get it out of the…