September 2015 Archives – Mummascribbles

At the moment around our house, we have some curtains that I simply would not have chosen. They were given to us when we moved in and on the basis that we had no money to buy anything new, they have come in very handy and I of course was very thankful for them. However, I am not massively keen on them and they are upstairs and downstairs. They are so bright, so thick and so big. They are just not what I would have chosen and one day we will replace them with something that we have chosen ourselves, that matches whatever décor we decide to go with and that I look at and think, oh I love that.

Where we used to live in our little rented flat, within walking distance was a road that had some very lovely houses on them. Nothing majorly special about them, they looked beautiful on the outside and I could but only dream of having such a house (to be honest that is still the case as they are stupidly expensive being in London). When I was on maternity leave, I used to wander round to this road to get Zach to sleep and to enjoy a nice little walk myself before going home and gorging on cake! There were so many houses that had beautiful blinds in every window and I fell in love with the idea of having them myself. These houses had big bay windows, so much light going in and the beautiful, beautiful blinds. They just added so much character to the overall picture and it was the main reason I loved these houses so much.

Ever since this time, I dream of having them in my own house, and now that we have our own house, I guess that dream is a little bit nearer. So much so that I have been having a little look at VELUX venetian blinds.

Photo credit: www.roofblinds.co.uk

We have quite small windows to be honest. Upstairs in our bedroom we have two windows side by side (with a bit of wall separating them), and downstairs there are two windows, one at each end of the through lounge. I’d initially thought that these blinds would keep the light out but upon doing a little bit of research, I discovered that actually, since you can control how open or closed they are, you can control just how much light comes streaming through the windows – something that you just can’t do with curtains. Most excitingly, you can get electrically operated ones! How cool would that be to be sitting on the sofa and being able to use a remote control to move the blinds around?!

I don’t have a complete aversion to curtains but I started to think that maybe blinds would be far easier. I mean, who hasn’t spent hours overthinking the design of curtain -, whether they go with the colour scheme, whether they have too much design, or not enough and are too plain?

Then there is the cleaning element.

We used to have a cat. Said cat used to enjoy sitting on the window frame, quite often behind the curtains. Said curtains were covered in cat hair that would be a nightmare to remove.

We now have a toddler. Said toddler likes to walk around with a pen in his hand occasionally. Said toddler likes to spill drinks, sometimes at a distinctly high level. Washing curtains is a nightmare. Surely with blinds it’s just a matter of a feather duster? And there is nothing cooler right, than a bright pink feather duster and a drop of cleaner?!

Having overthought this way too much (considering we aren’t in a position to actually make this home improvement just yet), I will keep on dreaming about beautiful blinds that would transform not only the inside of our house but the outside too. Maybe someone would walk along, like I did back on maternity leave, and ogle at my VELUX blinds while they are getting their child to sleep and dreaming of cake and a hot cup of tea!

This is a collaborative post

Today was Zach’s third birthday. I wrote a little letter to him last night which mentioned how excited he was about this birthday and that it was the first time that he has been. When we woke this morning he had initially forgotten what lay ahead – that was until we wished him a happy birthday and at 6.30 am we were being dragged downstairs to open his presents. We were bleary eyed (especially after he was up twice in the night) but of course, we were just as excited as he was.

I’d already popped a bunch of balloons up along with some banners and he was very happy when he saw them. Then we walked in the front room and he was a very happy boy when he saw his presents!

We have discovered that he’s still not bothered about opening cards so it was straight in for the presents. I just love watching him open his presents but this year, rather than just go from present to present, each one had to be unwrapped, opened, looked at and figured out before he’d move onto the next one! It was a much lengthier process! We went for a little mixture this year of some train fun with an addition to his BigJigs railway that he got last year, a Thomas Take and Play that’s also an addition to what he got last year and some imaginative toys – a doctors set and a post office. He was excited about every single one of them so it was an absolute success!

Once presents happened, it was all systems go to get the cake decorated! I’d baked it on Friday night knowing that it would take me a while to decorate! It was a damn good thing that I did that else it would have never been ready today! We had a dinosaur theme this year and so here is the dinosaur chocolate cake! I was so proud of it as there were a few moments where I really wondered if I could pull it off.

Owing to the stress and length of said decorating, when Zach’s grandparents turned up at half twelve, I was still in my pyjamas, not showered and covered in various shades of icing! The kitchen was absolutely filthy and there was washing up everywhere! Thankfully my mum had come to watch Zach from about 11.30 so at least the other half was showered!

I then spent even longer in my pyjamas while Zach opened his present from his nanny and grandad – another Thomas Take and Play set to add to what we had bought! It’s pretty epic!

It was at that point I managed to have a shower before anyone else turned up!

The rest of the afternoon featured food, drink, presents (some fab play-doh sets), more presents (on Sunday it’s both my sister and my nephew’s birthday!), even more presents and a lot of fun. There was so much laughter coming from the kids and lots of chatter from the adults and it was so lovely to have all the family together celebrating our little man’s birthday! He was such a lucky boy too, my mum, sister and nephew put their ideas together and he now has his very own market stall! It’s ruddy amazing!

And then of course the cake was served and unlike last year, we remembered to take a photo of the candle blowing!

After some more play, some more chatter and lots more fun, it was time for people to start heading off and leaving us to get Zach to bed for what I reckon will be some amazing dreams tonight! And tomorrow, we have no plans…except to spend all day at home playing with all his amazing new things.

He had such a fantastic birthday. I can’t believe it’s over and I still can’t believe he is three!

Dear Zachary,

At the time this post goes live, you will be upstairs with your daddy, falling into a sleep on your last night as a two year. I will be busying myself in the kitchen in the prep of making your birthday cake. That is unless Tesco’s have failed to deliver the required ingredients in which case I may be crying!

When you wake up you will be three. THREE!

You know it.

You are so aware of your birthday this year, it is truly wonderful. I can’t tell you how exciting it makes it to know that you are excited. You keep telling people that you are going to be three. You keep holding three fingers up, as if it needs to be proved visually. When I asked you this morning what day it is tomorrow, you giggled a lot (as you so do when I ask you a question like that) and answered with ‘it’s my birthday’. It’s a beautiful moment to watch you excited. It’s something a parent dreams about, that year when their child fully understands for the first time what is going on. You are so aware that you know cards have been flooding through the letterbox and when parcels have arrived, you haven’t queried any further when I have said what they are for. Usually you would be pressing me to open such packages but you simply haven’t, because you know they are for your special day.

Tomorrow you are three. I’ve been saying it a lot recently and yet it still doesn’t seem real. I can’t believe that three years ago I was sitting nervously at home knowing that the following morning I would be going in to hospital to have you. I wrote my birth story some time ago and it is still so fresh in my mind, that moment when they lifted you out and you screamed the theatre down, the moment I cried when I heard your screams and that moment I saw you for the first time. God you were beautiful. And you know what? Nothing has changed. You are quite simply the most incredible little boy and I am so proud to call you my son and even more proud to be your mum. Every moment of your little life so far has been amazing but this last year has been incredible.

It’s hard to believe that only a year ago you were really starting to try and talk. You had such a few amount of words that I was a little worried you were behind on your speech. And now? Now we can’t stop you talking and your speech is so concise that I often forget how young you are.  You very rarely get stuck on a word but when you do you say to me, ‘I don’t know that word mummy’. Just these last couple of weeks you have taken talking to a whole new level and I don’t think there is a quiet moment from you. You are suddenly demanding for our attention – repeating mummy, mummy, mum, daddy, daddy dad until we look at you. Just paying you attention isn’t enough, you have to have us looking at you with our full attention.

You are so interested in everything. They say a child’s brain is like a sponge and it’s so true. I can constantly see you taking everything in, remembering it and then three weeks later, talking about it. Just last week you asked me where clouds come from and how does it rain? I was a little shocked to be getting such questions from you but it turns out that it was something that you learnt with Nannie before she went on holiday and you remembered and needed it clarifying again. When I got some information up on Youtube, especially for young children, you watched it with fascinated eyes, trying to remember it all. You are such a clever, bright little boy.

You love bouncy castles. There is one at the pub round the corner and every single day you talk about it. First thing in the morning driving to the end of the road you ask if it’s going to be up, even though you know it’s too early. When I’ve told you a million times that it’s not up because of the rain, it stops raining and you say to me, ‘maybe the bouncy castle will be up now because it’s not raining’. When it is up you are desperate to go on it, asking us if we can go to the pub for lunch with the knowledge that if we are eating there, we’ll be there longer, so more bouncing can happen. And when you are on it, the absolute sheer joy on your face. You just love bouncing! We even bought you a trampoline to try and help with your love but it’s just not as good as the bouncy castle in your eyes!

You love girls. Don’t get me wrong, you love children in general but you are such a flirt that sometimes it’s a little embarrassing. Your eyes will draw to the little blonde girl, she’s normally at least a couple of years older than you and that’s it, she can’t get rid of you! She will always play with you, she will humour you and make you laugh because you are such a charmer and you just love it. You love attention but especially the attention of pretty blonde girls. I’d better watch you in years to come!

You love your family. Even those who we don’t see on a regular basis, you are always talking about. All four of your cousins are the absolute bees knees to you and as for your grandparents, well you just adore them. It is so wonderful to see the pure love that spreads across your face when you see any one of them.

You can almost count to twenty now. 1-10 came really easy to you but ten to twenty has been a bit trickier. You get a little confused in the high teens but you are getting there. Your letters knowledge is coming along too and you do recognise most letters now. I still love that when we drive past McDonalds you look at the big ‘M’ and say ‘M for mummy. You have no idea what McDonalds is yet (and I’m trying to keep it that way!) but I love that you associate that letter with me. Just like D is for Daddy and Z is for Zachary. You love spotting the letter Z because it’s the letter of your name.

You still love Thomas the Tank Engine but your absolute favourite programme is Sooty. Seriously, Sooty is on all the time and we have about 50 episodes stored on the Sky planner! You also love Mister Maker and Time for School. But nothing can beat your love of Sooty!

There are still a couple of things that haven’t changed. You still hate your hair being washed and whilst the majority of bath time is fun, you have this new scream that you do when hair washing is happening. It’s hurts my ears! You also still hugely dislike your teeth being brushed. Sorry baby, but we aren’t going to stop either of these things ever so please, if you could just learn to get used to it, it would be so helpful!

You are still obsessed with trains. Play trains, real trains, just trains. You adore them. When I was off with you last week, we went for a walk to the country park where the railway lines are and you made me stand holding you for about twenty minutes to watch all the trains pass by. It was rush hour so there were lots of them. You were waving to the passengers with a massive smile spread across your face. And when you are on one, well, you are in your element! You do also love buses and are always happy any time Daddy takes you to nursery because it means a bus day!

You don’t stop growing. Seriously, I cannot believe how much you have grown over the past couple of months. You have a height chart in your room now and love measuring yourself against it. Every single time you step in front of it, you are taller! You are just over 95cm now but are striving to reach the top, excitedly pointing to it saying ‘I want to be that tall’. One day baby boy, one day.

You are still hilarious and I am still convinced that you are going to be a comedian. You try to make us laugh all the time and succeed. You are so funny and clever at the same time, you know just what to do to have us in stitches.

You love nursery and have just moved up to the pre-school room. These next two years are going to be major in your development and getting you ready for school. You love all the children and the staff. Sometimes you pretend you don’t want to go but I know you are fibbing because you always have the best days! When I pick you up though, that smile on your face? It just makes my day! I walk into the room and you stop still, look at me, smile and say, ‘that’s my mummy, that’s my mummy’. I love it!

You are quite simply the most charming, caring, loving, funny, intelligent little man and every day is just the best with you in it. Even when I’m having a bad day, or week as this one has been, you brighten up my day with your cuddles and your ‘I love you mummy’s’. Of course, there are times when you are infuriating. When you won’t listen or want your own way. When you are in one of ‘those moods’ that could only be comparable to that of your thirteen year old cousin’s! But they are so infrequent and on such a small scale, that every day is just a wonder. I always long for the weekends when I get to spend time with you and see what you love doing for myself. When we go to the park, for a walk, out on an adventure, to the bouncy castle or simply staying at home painting rainbows, I just love the weekends. Quite often the house is a mess, the floor may need cleaning, the washing may need to be hung up, but it all gets forgotten because the weekends are all about you. All about us. The three of us together.

Zachary, tomorrow you are three. You are such a big boy and I am so proud of you. Your Daddy and I love you so much. We adore you. You are our precious boy and I cannot remember a life without you. Ok maybe I can remember a bit more sleep than we are getting now but none of that matters. You are my life, my world. Happy birthday baby boy.

Happy birthday Zachary.

I keep weeping every time I leave Zach at nursery at the moment. I genuinely seem to be struggling with the fact that he is being settled into pre-school and it’s such a silly thing considering that all that is happening really is that he’s moving rooms. I mean, it’s not like he hasn’t done it before. But this time just feels so different.

I wrote just last week about how emotional I feel about him growing up so quickly but it seems to be a constant emotion at the moment.

When I dropped him off at nursery on Tuesday, the general manager was in Zach’s current toddler room and he mentioned to me that they were now starting the official settle into pre-school. I knew this time was coming but hearing it and being told about it felt so very different. And so when I left, I shed a few tears.

As I’d been told that the settle in would sometimes involve going down to pre-school after breakfast (which is what happened on tuesday), and sometimes going straight into pre-school for breakfast, this morning I checked where he’d be and I had to take him straight into what will be his new room. Seeing him in there, sitting round the table with a few older children and immediately being comfortable in his new surroundings was wonderful. He was happy, he was confident and he wasn’t crying for me although he had a brief whimpering moment but that’s because I’d hung around for too long! I stayed outside for a moment spying on him and he looked so big and so grown up.  And then I left and there appeared more tears!

It seems that my little boy is growing up and for the first time I’m really struggling with it. I remember him turning one and feeling emotional.  I remember him turning two and feeling less emotional. I remember him moving up from baby class to teenies, and from teenies to toddlers without feeling like his years were passing me by too fast. And yet here I am feeling incredibly down about what is such a big stage in his life.

Such an important stage in his life.

Because pre-school is a massive step.  It’s not all about play. It’s not all about having lots of fun.  Of course it’s featured heavily within the day but it’s also about learning. It’s about preparing my little boy for his leap to school in two years time.  It’s about teaching him how to learn in a more structured environment,  about teaching him to listen so that he doesn’t get in trouble when he’s in school. It’s about so much more than what the last two years at nursery have been about.

And then as I was walking to the car and driving home to make my journey into work, something else hit me.  Something else that has been brewing away in my little head over the last couple of weeks that may explain why I’m finding this new stage so difficult. I feel like I have missed so much of him. Our first nine months together were an almost constant.  We were together for 98% of the time.

Then I went back to work three days a week but I still had those special days at home with him and I spent more time with him than I did at work.  Then it upped to four days at work but it still didn’t feel as bad because there was one precious day that was just the two of us. And then I moved to full time work and suddenly there was no day for just us. Suddenly,  out of those 84 hours per week that he is awake for, I was seeing him for maybe 36. An hour in the morning and and an hour in the evening.  And then at weekends. And for me, it is just not enough.

Yesterday I spent the whole day with him. It was wonderful. We didn’t even do anything majorly exciting because it was lashing down for the whole afternoon but it didn’t matter because we were together.  When he had his nap, he didn’t want to fall asleep on his bed and instead he fell asleep on me, on the sofa.  And I treasured every one of those sleep snuggles (along with a cup of tea!).

Throughout the day he wanted to cuddle my tummy.  This is his favourite thing at the moment, to pull my top up and snuggle his cheek into my bare skinned tummy. It’s adorable, except when I’m trying to choose new socks for him in Marks and Spencer and he does it!

We spent the afternoon indoors,  playing with the rabbits who we rescued from the rainy garden, we watched TV,  we did a bit of craft, I cooked him his dinner and we waited for daddy to come home. It was just wonderful and reminded me of all the times we used to get to do this stuff – just the two of us.

And I think this is a huge part of why I’m feeling so emotional at the moment.  Over the past two years of working, I have missed out on so much of his life. And suddenly he is turning three, moving up to pre-school and I am never ever going to get that time back with him.

I wish there was a magic wand that could solve the situation that often makes me feel so crap. I wish that I could be more of a frequent mummy to him. I know that I am always his mummy whether I am at work or not but I wish I could be more present in his little life. So that when it’s me taking him to music class on a Wednesday morning instead of his nannie, he enjoys it and doesn’t get upset that nannie isn’t the one there with him. So that I could sit at home with him on a one to one basis and teach him how to write his letters and numbers.  So that it’s always me that is there to catch him when he falls or cuddle him when he has a bump.

I feel better knowing what is causing all these emotions right now.  Why I feel a constant longing for knowing what he’s doing and why I keep crying at the drop of a hat. I knew it couldn’t be just because he’s getting older, that there had to be something else going on.  And it simply boils down to that one thing that has been there for two years. The need that I have of seeing my son for longer than I do now and of the want of being able to watch him grow first hand rather than hearing it all second hand.

I know I have to just deal with it like I have been doing for the last couple of years. I know there is no quick fix to the situation. But that doesn’t make it any easier when I see my son’s life flashing away before me. It doesn’t make me feel any less sad than I am right now, knowing I can’t be the mother that I so badly want to be.

Having been only living in our house for a year and a bit, we haven’t really got round to doing much decorating. One of the first things we popped onto our list of things to do was our bedroom. Low and behold, it hasn’t happened and we are a fair way off of being able to do it. The walls are magnolia (eww), there is still no lightshade and the wardrobe has moved so many times it’s a bit wobbly. Add to that the mismatched furniture and the curtains that were given to us as a make do and are still hanging, it’s not the most relaxing idea of a bedroom that I have!

So when Yorkshire Linen got in touch to ask if I’d like to have a little bedroom makeover, to add a spruce of colour to our room through their gorgeous bedding, my goodness I said yes!

The one thing we did buy when we moved in was a new bed and as there is nothing quite like pretty bedding, freshly washed, to sink into at bedtime; I headed straight over to their site to have a little look at what my ideal bedding would be. I already have the décor of our bedroom in mind. I have a test sheet of wallpaper for the feature wall that I have planned, and so it wasn’t difficult to find the styles that I was looking for.

1. Birdsong Mint – Duvet Cover Set – King Size – £19.99

2. Polycotton Percale – Housewife Pillowcase (pair) – Pink – £3.99 and Polycotton Percale – Fitted Sheet – Pink – King Size – £10.99

3. Pretty As A Picture – Green – Duvet Cover Set – King Size – £21.99

4. Pretty As A Picture (Striped) – Green – Housewife Pillowcase (Pair) – £4.99

5. Polycotton Percale – Fitted Sheet – Thyme – King Size – £4.99

I just adore both of these styles and they would work so perfectly with what I am planning overall for the room. I can’t wait to post an after photo to show a bit of colour and prettiness in our current boring bedroom. Keep your eyes peeled for the future after post!

If like me you were watching Educating Cardiff tonight, you may have seen the first airing of the new NSPCC advert. If you didn’t, don’t despair…just make it to the end of this post and you can see it

The NSPCC’s latest TV and digital campaign isn’t the usual hard hitting imagery that we often see from not only these but many other charities. At the heart of the campaign is a boy called Alfie who dreams about becoming an astronaut. We watch Alfie training at space camp as he tells us how the NSPCC helped him and his mum recover from domestic violence. At the end of the film we see Alfie back in the real world, safe and happy, protected from future abuse.

NSPCC Chief Executive Peter Wanless said: “Every child is born with hopes for the future but if a child’s head is full of fear, anxiety or loneliness there’s no space for dreams. Childhood should be a time when we’re free to dream. Abuse can destroy that – but it never should.”

I wrote this post at the beginning of the year whilst I was wondering what Zach would be when he grows up, and it turned into me talking about what I wanted to be when I was younger. It’s fair to say that whilst I haven’t been unsuccessful in my career, I didn’t achieve my dreams.

An NSPCC survey has revealed that one in seven adults in the UK has managed to achieve the job they dreamed about when they were children, including one who said they became an astronaut. How cool is that?!

The survey which was conducted by YouGov, found that the most popular childhood dream job – for one in ten adults in the UK – was to be a doctor or nurse, followed by footballer (9%), and teacher (7%).[1]

And nearly, a third of adults who wanted to be a medic achieved their childhood ambition. Others who got their dream job included teachers (27%), writers or journalists (9%), police officers (6%), and actors (5%).

There were some unusual childhood dream jobs, including eleven archaeologists, ten farmers, seven artists, six chefs, and four jockeys. And despite being barely out of the starting blocks of life two people said they had dreamed of becoming funeral directors when they were children.

Among the one-off dream jobs were antique dealer, bus conductor, chip shop owner, dog trainer, hovercraft captain, gamekeeper, magician, opera singer, spy, and shepherdess.

It’s funny because I have thought before about whether jobs such as funeral directors would diminish over time because it just doesn’t seem to be the kind of career you’d dream of having, but for some people out there, it simply is.

Of course it’s not all bells and whistles and like me, not everyone is lucky enough to have paved out their dream career. Sadly, most adults surveyed (86%) didn’t ever achieve their childhood dream and more than one in four (28%) said it was because they thought their ambition was unrealistic. A lack of encouragement or approval from parents were also reasons given for why people gave up on their dreams.

The future however, does appear to be bright for many of today’s young people with two thirds of under-18s surveyed by ChildLine saying that they are confident about getting their dream job.[2]. Most children said achieving their goal would be down to their own hard work and good grades, but support from family and friends came a close second.

So, what do we think the dream jobs of children are now? I bet you can guess a few before you even read the list! Of course a pop star and footballer are in there but there are some highly important jobs that are still highly regarded by our children. It’s so important as parents that we get behind our children and support them in whatever they want to do and it’s so important that charities like the NSPCC are there to give support to the children who are less fortunate to have that support at home.

So here we go, the top ten childhood dream jobs were:

1. Doctor, nurse or other health professional (10%) 2. Footballer (9%) 3. Teacher (7%) 4. Writer/journalist (5%) 5. Police officer (4%) 6. Train driver (4%) 7. Actor (3%) 8. Zoo keeper (3%) 9. Pop star (3%)

10. Astronaut (2%)

Why don’t you ask your children what they want to be when they grow up? And do share their answers with me

And now for the finale. The brand new campaign from the NSPCC. It made me a little weepy and a little smiley all at the same time. And of course, if you’d like to donate just £3, you can text ALFIE to 70030 or click here to make an online donation.

[1] All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,029 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 31st July- 4th August 2015. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

[2] A survey ran on the ChildLine website from 13-30th of August 2015 and received 2,089 responses. The full results are available here.

This post was written in collaboration with the NSPCC, a charity that I have always supported over the years. I have not been remunerated in any way for writing this post.

We’ve been planning to make a trip to the car showroom that we bought our current car from, for a couple of weeks. When we bought our car, the finance deal was one with three options. At the end of our term we could either settle up and buy the car, return the car or part exchange it for a new car. We were also told that if we wanted to exchange it early, for example at three years so that we could avoid having to have its first mot, we could also do that. And that’s why we’ve been planning a trip because we are approaching three years.

So yesterday seemed like the only day we could go over the next few weeks and we therefore headed off there in the afternoon.  We could have just phoned them and discussed our options but I had a feeling that a) they’d need to see our car and b) it would be way easier to do it all in person.

We arrived at about one o clock and were there for over three hours! First up they valued our car and then gave us an offer of having a Seat Ibiza Toca – the current Ibiza that is actually being discontinued. The monthly repayments would have been less but the car would have been exactly the same as what we have now but it will no longer be available and as soon as they said that I immediately didn’t want it. Who wants to spend thousands of pounds on a car that is no longer going to be made?!

We were obviously aware (because they’ve sent me tons of emails recently), that there is a brand new Ibiza being released next week. So we brought it up and asked the guy to look into how much we’d be paying. After pumping lots of figures in, after a lot of negotiation between us and the salesman and the salesman and the big boss who really was a hard man to push down, we came up with a figure using a few of their numbers they’d been pumping in and said if they can do that figure, we would do the deal there and then. Guess what?? They wouldn’t but their offer was only  £3 per month different and having already spent two hours negotiating with them with a toddler making full use of testing out all the showroom cars, we agreed the deal!

So we went there to make an enquiry and have a few questions answered and we came out having signed up for a new car (after another hour of me dealing with paperwork!). Not only a new car but the brand new model that isn’t even out yet!

It all felt a bit weird last night. We hadn’t gone out to buy a car and I kept having to remind myself that we had! I’m really excited though, especially after they let me have a little test drive of the one that was being prepared for a car show today! I absolutely adore my car now and to know that I’m getting the same again but with far more modernised features makes me very happy.

They reckon it’ll be about a month before we get it but did say they’ll try as quick as they can! I can’t wait to have it now, it’s always fab to get a new car and I just love that smell of them!

Well, I’ve done it again! After a very late submission in last month’s vlog stars, I am here for the very start of this month. It’s a weeny bit longer than the previous (ok it’s about ten minutes longer than the last one!), as I get a little bit more comfortable and discover that I really can talk for Britain! It obviously helps that Aby and Amy set some fab questions!

So, here goes. The mummascribbles vlog number two! Maybe one day soon I’ll do a vlog without having the question prompts there!

Having moved into our house in April last year, we haven’t done a huge amount to the house get. In fact as mentioned in this previous post, we have done barely anything! When you move into a new house, especially your first house, you don’t tend to have much money at the end of it! Luckily we bought a house that didn’t need anything major doing to it inside but there are obviously things we want/need to do. The most important thing that is on that list has been a new front and back door.

Upon moving in and talking to the neighbours, we found out that the previous owner was ‘a bit dodgy’ to say the least and both doors had been kicked in by the police! Just recently the lock on the front door has got really bad and it’s taken me a good couple of minutes to even get it open! There was one occasion just a few weeks ago that I actually couldn’t get my key to work! Luckily the other half was waking down the road at the time! As for the back door, that warps so much as soon as it starts raining regularly that it gets completely stuck and from the months of November to May we struggle to get the damn thing open and literally have to kick it closed. Not ideal as you can imagine and it’s why new doors have been top of our list since we moved in.

Of course, new doors are damn expensive so we had to make sure we were in the financial position to buy them. That time is now (yay to pay-rises!), and so we spent a fair bit of time researching what we wanted and where to get them from. I say ‘we’, the other half actually did all the research and I waded in on the final design haha! We always knew we wanted composite doors so it was just a matter of choosing colours and glass.

We decided to order from Yale Doors and once we’d put our order in, they sent round a surveyor to measure up. Then the order was completed and the doors were ready to be made. We were told that took 14 days and we’d then get a phone call to book a fitting and that might take a further 14 days. They called last Tuesday and booked us in a week later…yay!!

And so at just after 8am this morning, a man turned up with our lovely new doors to fit them. I’ve been working from home, listening to all the drilling, hammering and fitting of our doors.

And here they are!

Don’t they look beautiful and so much more safe and secure than the previous ones? I am so happy with them and am so pleased that we have ticked off something on our list of home improvements. It’s a slow process but it’s a massive start!

Being a working mum, can be hard work and what makes it all the more tough is when we aren’t getting enough sleep to survive on. With looking after the little ones, managing the daily household tasks (ahem), and going to work, we can often feel more than a little overstretched and just a tad exhausted.

But it’s incredibly important to set aside some time for yourself. And that’s why getting a little bit of balance in your life and prioritising sleep is essential.

Healing sleep 

I don’t know about you but I don’t get enough sleep. By the time we have got home, got Zach to bed, had our dinner, spent an hour letting the food go down and then got everything ready for the following morning, it is at least 11pm. And then my alarm goes off at 5.45. Every night we pray that he will sleep through the night, which in most cases he does, but when he wakes up even just once, it’s an absolute killer getting up for work in the morning.

Sleep is such an obvious thing in our lives that it’s easy to overlook how essential it is. We all know how rough we can feel (and look!) after a couple of bad nights’ sleep. But merely feeling grumpy and looking a little off-colour can be just the tip of the iceberg.

The NHS states how a regular lack of decent sleep can have long-term health consequences such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease. And the bed retailer Bedstar’s blog about healthy sleep patterns have listed many other effects of sleep deficiency including bad skin, physical pain, memory loss and irregular appetite.

And unfortunately, whilst we can be aware of these facts, it can only add to the stresses that are in our minds when we finally manage to get to bed. I have definitely had nights where I’ve been willing myself to fall asleep!

Sleep routine 

One of the best ways to overcome bad sleeping patterns is to try and implement a firm sleeping routine in your family’s life.

The biggest challenge to face can often be getting our little ones to bed. That’s why it’s important to ensure that they have a fixed bedtime with a decent amount of ‘wind-down’ time before in the form of a bedtime story or a relaxing bath. We don’t bath Zach every night because it tends to flare his eczema up if we do. We do however read to him every night and I have been trying to wean him off of his necessity of playing an exciting game of hide-and seek before he gets into bed because it makes him waaaay too hyped at what should be his quiet time.

If you have a baby of course, they can have the most irregular waking hours, which is why checking Netmum’s tips for setting your baby’s bedtime routine is especially helpful. We had a baby that didn’t like sleeping very much. Well, that’s a bit of a lie, he did like sleeping but only on us and I truly have no idea how we still functioned with such a small amount of sleep in those early days.

Once your child has stopped rolling around, stopped talking to keep themselves awake and is finally safely tucked up in bed and fast asleep, try and focus on the things that enable you to achieve a good night’s sleep. Heavy, fatty meals before bed should be avoided, as should caffeinated drinks as they will cause the body to work overtime when it should be winding down for the day. And similarly, the use of electronic devices before bedtime can have negative effects upon our ability to sleep too. And yes, I am guilty of all of these (maybe not the caffeinated drinks), especially being a blogger as I am attached to my phone in the evenings!

So for ways around these issues, try and treat yourself to a relaxing and pleasurable evening where you get to escape the stresses of the day with a good old-fashioned book, or even a little evening walk to clear the head and enjoy that well-deserved rest. Or even still, you could run yourself a big bubble bath and read a magazine. Because that for me is the ultimate relaxation. Except for when I do it on a rainy Sunday evening thinking I have some peaceful time ahead while the other half is upstairs doing bedtime and I suddenly get disturbed by the toilet training toddler who needs a wee just as he is falling asleep! Well, I guess we can’t expect perfection can we?!

What are your top tips for getting a good night sleep? I’d love you to share them with me

This post was written in collaboration with Katrina Smith