Been a while.....

Well it has been a while since I have written a blog, "why" you ask well because things have just gone a bit manic. My role in social media mums has taken off thanks to my awesome entrepreneurial friend Chelle McCann, I have been baking for my Flour and Sprinkles business for a couple of events like the Brighton Mums website launch and another at my favourite spa Uniquely Organic Ecospa it has all been so exciting.

I have also just come back from the most lovely family holiday in Majorca Alcudia to be exact. It was the first one we have taken abroad with C and she loved it. She did not bat an eyelid at us being on a plane or taking off but tiredness soon kicked in and then she was all over the shop laying on the floor fidgeting not wanting to respond to anything we told her. When we arrived in Majorca and had boarded the coach we were told we would be the second drop off after an hours coach journey (which was one from hell thanks to C). Well how wrong they were, add another 45 mins to that journey a very overtired C two stressed parents and make us the 2nd to last drop off and hey presto that is how our holiday begins.

We had rain, thunder storms, overcast days and sun but to look at holiday pics you would never know as we made the most of the sun we had. C adored being in the sea more than the pool as it was freezing we have now all been buried in the sand, built many sand castles, made new friends from Germany who were the loveliest family with a daughter C's age who she is now pen pals with, they were like two peas in a pod and had much fun together.

My favourite moment of the holiday was when C started to ask to join in with the mini club as they did a mini disco every night most of the songs in Spanish or German, but by the end of the holiday she knew the words and all the dance moves and we are now the proud owners of the Mini disco CD and dance to it regularly. C even watched a reptile show in the hotel and was given the opportunity to hold either a snake or a tortoise and she chose the snake, it was huge but she was adamant she wanted the snake!!!.

My funniest moment of the holiday was when C was offered another ice cream and she said "no mummy I just want fruit" my hubby and I just looked at each other and laughed, she clearly takes after her Dad for good eating I would have had the ice cream!

I really loved the time the three of us got to spend together it felt like we were finally given the opportunity to really bond with our little girl since she has grown up so much and really appreciate what a smart little cookie she really is. Since we have been home she seems to just have grown up even more and gotten even smarter, nursery even said the same thing.

All in all we just had the best holiday and a family refreshed and reunited we are and appreciating each other all over again.



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PLEASE we need your advice!!

Well another week has gone by and apart from some hearty colds my family has been fantastic, we celebrated my Nephew Alex’s first birthday with an awesome sunny family BBQ with all of my Hubby’s family. I made a giant teddy bears picnic cupcake for him.

And I was thrown back to my own childhood when all four cousins ranging from 4 to 1 year were popped in the bath together to save time and water, they all enjoyed it splashing and playing. They had all been playing barefoot in garden so you can imagine how dirty the water was at the end, as all adults in the bathroom showed their shock at how dirty their kids had been, the kids just did not seem to care!

Well this week ladies and gents I really need you to post your helpful tips and advice, my hubby are desperately trying to find a way to prize C away from her much loved Babies bottles at bed time. She is not a big eater and struggles to put on weight so she still has a bed time bottle (this I have to say is in no way helping getting her dry at night!). C turns 3 in October and we really feel it is time for the bottle and milk to go BUT she has become so dependent on the bed time milk to help her get to sleep I feel it is going to be a hard battle.

We have tried a lot of things like telling that only babies have milk and she is not a baby like her cousins she is a super big girl. We have offered her the milk in a variation of cups but they are just rejected and she cries for her bottle. We have tried just not giving her the milk at all and not mentioning it at bed time, but normally after half an hour she is crying for it and we are so tired that we give in, on the rare occasion she does fall asleep without it she wakes in the night crying for it, and to me this is worse as I hate interrupted sleep when we have only just got her sleeping through the night.
I know she is only 2 and half so maybe asking a bit much of her, but we have got her toilet trained and we would love to get rid of the night time nappy to but the milk at night is stopping us doing that and we really would like to have her totally dry by the time she is 3.

So please post your comments as we really do need some help with this one, any titbit of advice would be very welcome, and I will do a follow up blog letting you all know how we got on and what advice we found useful.
Thank you in advance
H,R & C

Migraines an ambulance trip and the most tolerant child in the world

Well this week has not been the greatest! I have started to have awful migraines again it started a week ago on a trip to the park with some friends for a picnic, they had just come back from their honeymoon and we really wanted to catch up with them, to give them their wedding gift and hear all about the adventures.

While in Sainsburys I got a pinched nerve feeling in my neck and shoulder it got so really painful While at the park I started to get weird fragmented vision and then 10 mins later I had numb fingers and then my arm went numb then my teeth and face and within 20 mins I was back to normal and spent the rest of the day in the park have a fab time. But by the time we got home boom it started again but my right side went this time. By the next day I could not move my neck and shoulder and my head was killing me, the docs prescribed some drugs and sent them to me but they made me so sick my hubby ended up having to take time off to look after C and take her to and from nursery.

Then just yesterday I was rushed into hospital again by ambulance as the same thing happened, I could not speak feel my hands and my sight had totally gone, I was needless to say really freaked out, but after an hour and half at the hospital some specialist IV migraine drugs and I was back on my feet feeling a bit spaced out and groggy but a million times better.

C has been amazing through this whole week she has just got on with it and come into my room every now and then to give me a kiss on the head and say I love you mummy. she seems so grown up sometimes, it worries me that because of my poor health it is going to force her to grow up much quicker than she needs to. She really is an amazing little girl with such a mature wise little head on her two and half year old shoulders, I am so proud of her, for being so tolerant of her poorly mummy.

Being this poorly again has made me appreciate how much I should make of my healthy time with C, get out enjoy the sunshine and not fret about things so much

But on a much lighter note I have the loveliest weekend planned with friends and family. I am doing Bbq on the beach this evening with friends, and when we come home we are putting all of C’s dummies in a bag and leaving them out for the Easter bunny, and when she discovers they have gone tomorrow she knows that on Sunday there will be a huge surprise for her, we have arranged a huge Easter egg hunt and at the end will be her new twist and roll scooter!! she has been desperate to own and not stopped going on about it.

We have been avoiding getting her one as they scare the hell out us, we have seen one to many kids face plant off them but if it helps ease her from her dummies we are willing to give in (I really hope I don’t l ive to regret this decision). On Easter Sunday we are also going to have a BBq at My hubby’s brothers house and some of his other brothers are attending to I am so looking forward to all the yummy food and seeing C running around with her adored cousin Emma.

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Out The Mouth of Babes!

Well I missed a week of writing my blog as I was ridiculously busy baking cupcakes for a yummy mummy event at a local spa in Brighton, it took up so much time but I loved every second and felt like my new venture was really happening Flour and Sprinkles is here for good. Little C is now convinced that all cupcakes made in our house are for her and has discovered the love of having the last little bit of butter cream frosting squirted into her mouth from the piping bag, it is her little treat for being so patient with me and all the baking I have to do and it is only ever a tiny bit so really does no harm (I hope!)

My blog this week is about the comedy lines my daughter comes out with as I really want to keep a record of some of the classics my beautiful and very articulate 2.5 year little C has come out with over the last few months, her speech is astounding and she never ceases to amaze me with her comments and one liners:

• While standing on a chair in a service station waggling both her fingers at us with a really stern look on her face “listen I will not be eating a ham sandwich and that is final!!”
• Man walking past us on the street at the top of her lungs “that man belongs to the church” me “why??” C “ because he is tall and he talks!”
• While walking past a church “look mummy Jesus, he lives in a castle with a dragon”
• Briefly waking up in the car searching for her dummy she giggles her head off just says “eew bogies” pops her dummy back in her mouth and falls straight back to sleep!
• That is just ridiculous Mummy!
• My daddy is at work; he works really hard and is a dude! (this was said to a random stranger at the park)
• When asked are you beautiful C she turns round looking horrified and like you are totally dumb and says “no I am a princess”
• When she does something wrong and you point it out she turns round and says “silly me”

My how she manages to make you feel so small sometimes yet have you in stitches the next!

Whilst booking our holiday the shop assistant started to admire the picture C was drawing and said “wow isn’t that a beautiful picture is it of Mummy and Daddy?” to which C replied with a look of pure are you stupid and a little humph “nooo it is dolphin cant you see that!” the tone of her voice was one of are you totally stupid? The shop assistant laughed and said she had never been cut to the quick so fast by a 2 year old, thankfully everyone found it quite funny.

While doing something she is not comfortable with C will chant “oh God” like when she goes down the waterslide at the swimming pool. And when she hits the water “goodness me”.

Sometimes is not so much what C says but the look on her face and the tone or intonation in her voice it is of a child much older than she is. I feel that when she hits her teens I am going to have a very hard time, if she can answer me back so well now what will she be like when hormones kick in!!!

A quiet week and a bad bus journey!

Well this is a surprise we have had a very quiet week, we have had no major battles with C she is sleeping fairly well and I actually feel like I am making up for some lost sleep.

My hubby made my weekend by booking us our first family holiday abroad for early June I cannot wait BUT it means I really have to sort the beach body out!! I feel that with the state it is in I could clear the beach in 5 seconds flat and have it all to myself. It is going to take a lot of will power and hard work but i will have to do it.

Since C has been getting some sleep she is like a different child, so vibrant and cheeky, she woke up the other morning walked into the kitchen were my hubby was making the tea and said "Daddy I had a lovely sleep!" she has been so much more affectionate and her temper has calmed right down. We have had no more biting so I feel I have succeeded and made a few steps forward.

I just need to get my arthritis back under control and all will be right in our little world, on that note I would just like to say to the women that had a go at me on the bus the other day for sitting in the "Disabled or those less able to stand" seats, that just because my disability is not visible and I am young does not give you the right to shout at me on a packed bus "there is nothing wrong with you get out of those seats, the cheek of you taking up seats that some people really need" I was having an awful day with my arthritis my lower back was aching so badly I just wanted to sit and cry, my hips felt like someone was trying to pry them open with a crow bar. I had constant muscle spasms going on in my neck and shoulders I felt so low and she just made it 10 times worse.

I know my disability is not visible but I look like hell at the moment and I know I am young (well 32) but it is so unnecessary to try and humiliate someone, if she had asked kindly I would have moved and she just made such a flash judgement on me without even considering that I could have a serious problem and I don't normally sit in those seats no matter how bad I feel but the bus was really busy and everything was hurting so much I did not fancy pushing through hordes of people, I would just like people to not have a go at me, I really have had enough.

It is hard enough constantly being uncomfortable tired and feeling in general like an old lady, as well as having a 2 year old to look after and yes I know I chose to have a child so I cannot really complain about it, but I did not choose to have a child that does not sleep.

I have an auto immune disease which means my own immune system is attacking my body, I am on immune suppressing drugs to stop it happening which means I have next to no immune system, so to sum up I have pretty crappy health, and I really try not to moan about it but sometimes I just have to let it all out.

I have the most amazing family who listen when I moan and give me love when I most need it and the most amazing hubby who is always there for me, even my little C asks to give my back a kiss when I say it hurts and gives me the best cuddles that really do heal the worst of ills so I am going to stop this little rant right now chin up and best foot forward (and I really do have one of those)

Have a happy week xx