Bump aka George

Well I am almost approaching the 30 week mark in my pregnancy, I can't believe how fast it has come around and that I haven't even blogged about it yet. Living in Tom Price is making things a little different to last time, mainly for appointments with shared caring etc as I will be having bubba no 2 back in Perth due to needing a c section, after a lovely school prank left me with a shattered coccyx bone....ouch!!

Emily and I will be heading down at the 36 week mark to stay with my parents until George arrives.
Now we don't even know if we are having a boy or girl as we wanted some sort of element of surprise since we know what day he or she will be arriving. So back to "George" it was originally one of our boys names (we like old fashioned names) and on a road trip somewhere we were talking about names and decided to ask Emily her choice, well she decided on George, at first it was BIG George, but now it's just George. Everyday she says hello to George and gives my belly big kisses and cuddles and tells George she loves him. In her little world she is having a brother, I really hope for her bub turns out to be a George and not a Georgie. I have no inclination with this one, with Emily I just knew right from the start it was a little girl, as long as they are healthy and LOVE to sleep I will be happy,  Hubby's odds are on a girl. A girl would be easy as we have everything you could possibly want in Pink and more.....

9 weeks, 2 days and counting till we become 4.

Maybe I should run a competition on here sex and weight??? What do you think??

Road trip

Morning, well today we are getting ready for a little road trip to go and visit Hubby's family for New Years. Not sure if I am looking forward to the car trip I can see very swollen feet by the end of it. But can't wait to get there and spend some time with them. We will be having some relaxing times by the pool, with some yummy food and a few beverages (although non alcoholic for me) I'm thinking some yummy ice tea to bring in the new year for me.
How will you be bringing in 2012? Do you have any new years resolutions you are planning, kicking bad habits or perhaps trying something new?
I haven't really put much thought into it........ mmmm maybe something to ponder on the drive and I will get back to you.

Deb x

Presents...

Well I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas with family and friends and didn't over indulge too much!
So I promised you a peak at some of the handmade goodies that found there way under our tree for Emily this year. Also pop over and check out this website Sweet Creations where I found quite a few gorgeous things that also made there way under the tree. Emily loves her little kitchen.

Teaspoon bookmark from Me2 for my Nanna

Dress from Sweet Poppie Lane  I also purchased the cutest pink tutu for my little ballerina

This gorgeous reversable hat from Winnie & Clem  I just want one for me now....

Always need some pretty clips ZaraMadisonDesigns

and this clever little game which fits perfectly in my hand bag from the super talented mollydagmade

All images are from suppliers websites

Deb x

Merry Christmas and all the best for 2012 xx

Well you may have noticed a lack of blogging lately on my behalf. It was not a decision that I made intentionally, some how my days are filled from morning to night and I think to myself, before climbing into bed I really must blog tomorrow. My head is filled with so many thoughts and inspirations that I have wanted to share with you all. I just simply haven't put the time aside for myself to self indulge on the computer.
Instead I have been trying to settle little Miss 2 into our new town and to be honest I have been enjoying every minute of it. I love not knowing what the day will bring when I wake up in the morning and here Miss 2 yelling from her bedroom "I'm awake now mummy" or the mornings she has snuck into bed with me, after her daddy has left for work and she rolls over with a big cuddle and a kiss for both me and the baby(still in my tummy). These are some of the most precious moments, just being able to share each day with her. I feel so blessed that I don't have to go out to work each day. Instead I can stay home and listen to her chatter, sing and watch her dance like a ballerina, bake cookies with her, go to the park, teach her to swim..... the list goes on and on. It is something I definately don't take for granted.

So it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas....
Our tree has been up for well over a month and all the pressies are wrapped and waiting. There are some gorgeous handmade goodies under the tree from some very talented ladies. I promise I will share them with you in the new year. This week Miss 2 and I have been busy doing lot's of Christmas baking... fingers crossed there is still some left by Sunday. My little fridge is barely coping with the turkey and ham sat in there waiting to be cooked and eaten. We will be staying in town and it will be the three of us, I am sad we will not be with extended family but am excited about making it a special Christmas just for us. 
And as we say goodbye to 2011 my thoughts are with all those families who have had to say goodbye to a much loved one this year. Brodie and Amanda you are always in our thoughts, two beautiful little girls taken from us far too young.
On a brighter note, I am looking forward to the new year and everything it will bring. We will be having a massive new year sale so keep your eyes peeled for that. I am also working on a few new ideas to bring to you as well. I also plan on BLOGGING a lot more!!!  Plus we will be welcoming baby number 2 into the family around mid March.

Wishing you and your families all a fantastic Christmas and a safe and happy holiday season and I look forward to sharing with you all in the new year.

Deb xx

Getting your pre-baby body back

A little while ago we had a guest blogger Andrew, who is a personal trainer and friend of mine who did a fantastic piece on staying fit and healthy during pregnancy, which I must add I am currently using to stay in shape for baby number 2. Andrew is based in Sydney and you can find   him at www.healthjigsaw.com - "helping you fit all the healthy lifestyle pieces together" 

Anyway Andrew is back with another great read for all us mummy's with;

Getting your pre-baby body back

I’m sure many of you have read about Miranda Kerr and other celebrities getting back to their “perfect” bodies in no time after giving birth.  There is no fixed time to begin exercising after pregnancy.  However, you should listen to your body and don’t feel pressured to exercise before you are ready.  Childbirth places considerable strain on your body, even if there were no complications throughout the pregnancy and the labour and delivery were relatively straightforward.

Once the baby is born, you’re thrown into a 24-hour cycle of feeding and caring for the baby while attempting to recover from childbirth.  Resting and bonding with your baby are more important than looking like a celebrity.  

If you were exercising regularly during your pregnancy, you may be able to return to exercise quicker.  Regular exercise after childbirth can help you return to your pre-pregnancy shape and gives you more energy to cope with the demands of new motherhood.  It is important that you check with your doctor before you start any post-natal exercise programme.  You may need more time than you think to heal especially if you had a caesarean section.  However, you should be able to start pelvic floor and gentle abdominal exercises as soon as you feel ready.

Pelvic Floor Exercises

The pelvic floor muscles support your bladder and bowel and can be weakened by childbirth.  The effect of a weakened pelvic floor is that you tend to leak urine especially when you jump, cough or sneeze.  However, for most people regular pelvic floor exercises can cure the problem.  These muscles may feel weak when you start the exercises but the more you do, the stronger the muscles will get.  It also has the added advantage of improving your love life later on.

·         To locate the pelvic floor muscles imagine you are busting to go to the loo and there is not a toilet in sight.  Or you are on a crowded train and you feel you are going to break wind.  These are the muscles you tighten to stop yourself leaking or breaking wind.

·         To practice pelvic floor exercises imagine that you need to stop yourself from going to the toilet, pull the muscles up and in.  Hold the position for between 5 and 10 seconds, then slowly release back.  Repeat 10 times and aim for 5 or 6 sets each day.

·         These exercises can be performed lying down, sitting or standing.  Try to breathe normally throughout the exercises.

Gentle Tummy Exercise

To accommodate for the growing baby, pregnancy can split or separate your abdominal muscles down the middle.  It is important to make sure your muscles have healed properly before you do any vigorous abdominal exercises, such as crunches or sit-ups.  In the meantime, you can tone and strengthen the deeper abdominal muscles (transversus abdominus). 

·         You can perform these exercises lying down, sitting, standing, or on your hands and knees.

·         Breathe out, and draw your belly button back towards your spine.  Your lower back shouldn’t flex or move.

·         Hold this position and breathe lightly.  Count to 10.

·         Relax, and repeat up to 10 times per set.

·         Do 10 sets, as many times per day as you can.

As your ligaments and joints will be loose for around three months following the birth, high impact exercises, vigorous stretching or sports that require rapid direction changes should be avoided.  Walking is probably one of the easiest and best form of exercise you can do to start with.

Unless your baby sleeps all day, you will probably find it hard to find both the time and energy for regular exercise.  Try accumulating the exercises throughout the day instead of doing an hour session straight.  So when you need to duck up to the local shops for milk or bread, walk your baby in the pram instead of using the car. 

Breastfeeding and Exercising

If you are breastfeeding, feeding your baby just before exercise is usually encouraged for a number of reasons:

·         Your breasts are full and heavy before a feed.

·         There are various anecdotal stories of babies refusing milk immediately after a workout.

·         It allows sufficient time for the quality of the breast milk to recover following the exercise.

·         Following the feed, the breasts may be more engorged and can be uncomfortable (or even painful) during a workout.

Be guided by your doctor as to what you can do and can’t do.  Start any exercise programme gradually, allowing yourself time to build up over a number of weeks.  Remember to wear an appropriate bra that offers good support and slow down or stop exercising if you feel breathless or light-headed.  Don’t expect too much too soon – give yourself a reasonable length of time, such as 9-12 months, to get back into pre-pregnancy shape.

Many thanks Andrew and I love how you have explained everything it is so easy to understand. If any of our lovely readers would like to read more from Andrew why not pop over to his Blog at www.healthjigsaw.com/blog

Deb x

Pure Naughtiness

As I am sitting down to eat one of my super scrummy Chocolate chip cookies, that Miss EJ and I made yesterday afternoon. I can't help but share the naughtiness with you. These are no ordinary choc chip cookies and they definately don't last long in this house.

WARNING: just one is never enough !!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

115g butter softened
115g brown sugar
1 egg
100g porridge oats
1tbsp milk
1tsp vanilla essence
125g plain flour
1tbsp cocoa powder
1/2tsp baking powder
175g milk chocolate broken into pieces (I use cadbury family block)
175g white chocolate broken into pieces (also the white cadbury family block)

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Line 2 trays with baking paper. Place the butter and sugar together in a bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy. (now because I am lazy and like to make things easier when I have an almost 2 year old helping, we do the whole thing in my electric mixer)

Beat in the egg, then add the oats, milk and vanilla essence. Beat together until well blended. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into the mixture and stir. Stir in the chocolate pieces.

Place dessert spoonfuls of the mixture on the prepared trays and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until slightly risen and firm. Remove from the oven, cool on the trays for 2 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Be sure to let me know how you go and I bet you won't be able to wait until they have cooled completely before you have to take a bight. xx

I'm BACK

Well it has been a couple of months since I have sat down and said hello, the first month after moving was kind of crazy and I had no connection to the outside world. We were stuck in transit, which had it's ups and downs. Then we finally moved into our new home and after a few days Miss EJ and I were back off to Perth and then our stay was extended.... Anyway we are finally back and settling in nicely so I thought (actually my husband thought) it was about time I put some love back into my blog. At least I know I have one loyal reader!

I also have some exciting news to share with you, I am currently 15 weeks pregnant - mental note to self, never pack up your house (on your own) and then move to a new town, get stuck in transit and then unpack while you are in early stages of pregnancy with morning sickness!!! Apart from that I am feeling fantastic and feel so lucky to be blessed with having another little person growing inside of me.

We are loving Tom Price, I think it was the best decision we could have made in regards to our family. Just to see how Miss EJ has changed since we moved here and to see her making new friends is fantastic. PS She loves the PARK..

Anyway just a quick update to let you know I am BACK. Now I had better get back to organising our facebook sale for this week. Which will be on Friday 7th October. Plus don't forget this week, we should be receiving a new consignment of maternity wear which will be added to our e boutique. In fact why not pop over now and take a look at our latest additions. http://www.from1mum2another.com/

2 weeks and counting.....

The BIG move is getting closer, they even very kindly brought it forward a week for us!!!! So this last week has been busy fixing things around the house, to make it ready to rent. Why is it that you just make do with things around the house but then fix everything that is ok for you to live with, for other people?? Like my curtains for example they have been annoying me forever as they always fall of the curtain rings and I have been meaning to fix them for I don't know how long.... did I ever do it for me? NO but it is at the top of my list to fix now! I have also been busy selling furniture that will not fit into our new tiny little house or things that haven't been used in awhile. We had a very unpractical white leather lounge a reminder of our before children days, which had to go. It sold on Monday and since then Miss E has turned our front room into her play room! TOYS everywhere.
I think she must know something is happening as we had our first proper tantrum the other day and she has been a bit funny all week, as well as not sleeping again. I am beginning to become sleep deprived.... It's either the move or maybe the terrible two's have come early!!
If anyone has any tips on things you can do to help a toddler handle a big move to a new town, I would love to hear them. PLEASE help, all advice is greatly appreciated.

Newborn Cuddles

I have just had a cuddle with my friends little newborn boy. I can't believe how fast our kiddies grow and how quickly you forget, how small they were. Miss E was in fact smaller by a pound when born, she was just over 7 pound. I know that's not small, but holding him I couldn't imagine how anyone could be any smaller. I love that newborn smell and that milk drunk look when they have a nice full tummy. I remember just spending hours watching her when she was born, sometimes with eyes propped open with match sticks... as a sleep deprived new mother. I was just in awe that we had made this little baby and couldn't take my eyes off her as I didn't want to miss a thing.

So now I am super clucky and can't wait to be able to add another addition to our family, but for now I thought I would share one of my favourite photos of Miss E. She was only a couple of months old here..... her mumma had good milk!!!  

Don't be shy at leaving comments, I love to hear from you, in fact it makes my day when I see someone has left me one... Deb xx

Update from behind the scenes.

I just thought I would give you a quick update, as I haven't been around much of late. We have had a few things happening around here lately.

Firstly a very special little girl in our family recently gained her angel wings and joined her big sister. She will be forever in our thoughts and I will especially remember her wicked little laugh and big cheeky smile.
Eskimo Proverb - "Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy"

Secondly we have made a big decision in regards to our family life, some of you may know hubby does FIFO and has been doing it for some time. It is starting to affect our little lady and she is becoming quite distressed every time he has to go back to work. One of the cute sides of it, every time she sees or hears a plane.....we live on a flight path!! She waves to the planes and yells out "Daddy work". Maybe she thinks he's a pilot.??

So we have decided to relocate to Tom Price!! We will be moving shortly from our beautiful home out here in the Swan Valley, to a mining town. Which is 15 hours north of Perth, has an average temperature in the summer of around 40 degrees. I have heard it can get up to about 45, it is over 4 hours from the nearest BEACH. Oh and who can forget the most beautiful red pindan dirt that gets into everything! NO cute little white shoes or clothes for Miss EJ for the next couple of years.

I should add this is all happening in just over 3 weeks, I have not organised a thing as we still don't have an exact start date, as we are waiting for a home to be allocated to us. Please can everyone cross everything you have available.... in the hope that we receive a refurbished home.

On the plus side we will be a full time family. Here's to hoping hubby and I don't drive each other mad as we adjust to being a full time husband and wife again... and hopefully we will finally be successful in making a little sister/brother for Miss EJ. I am feeling very positive about the move and very excited about what awaits us.

I will definately be sharing our adventure with you all as I'm sure it will be full of laughs and the odd tear or two as this city girl ups and moves her family to the bush all in the name of LOVE!!

Staying fit and healthy during pregnancy

I recently asked a good friend of mine who is a personal trainer if he would like to write a guest blog for me to offer some advice on staying fit and healthy during and after pregnancy. Unfortunately for me Andrew is based in Sydney (although perfect for anyone based in Sydney that may be looking for a personal trainer) so is a little to far for me, for a one on one session. I met Andrew on Hayman Island when we were both working there. When life was just one big holiday, one of my favourite memories I take from there is doing a boxing session with him on the front beach, below is a pic of the front beach......

image from hayman

Back to reality. Well if you are like me and unable to see Andrew on a one on one basis why not follow his blog for some fantastic reads and great tips on exercise and eating healthy.(links below) But firstly check out his guest blog below on ' Staying fit and healthy during pregnancy' and keep a look out for part two.

So, you've found out you're having a baby...CONGRATULATIONS!!
If you’re looking for ways to keep fit and healthy during pregnancy, exercise can be a key factor to keeping weight in check. But you shouldn't be too worried about gaining weight as it is healthy and necessary.

Benefits of Being Active During Pregnancy

·         More energy.

·         Stronger back muscles, which can help manage back pain and strain as your belly grows.

·         Improved posture.

·         Weight control.

·         Stress relief.

·         Improved sleep.

·         Preparation for the physical demands of labour.

·         Faster recuperation after labour.

Here are a few guidelines to help you maintain your fitness level during pregnancy:

1.     Talk to your doctor/obstetrician first to ensure there are no medical issues (such as previous miscarriages, placenta praevia, multiple pregnancies, anaemia, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure) that can dictate what you can and can't do.

2.     Even if you are healthy and cleared by your doctor/obstetrician to exercise, you should avoid activities that could increase the risk of falls or injuries, such as contact sports, skiing, rock climbing or horse riding.

3.     Be aware that your balance (due to changes in your centre of gravity), strength and agility will be affected by your pregnancy. What was possible before pregnancy may be more challenging now. Relaxin is a hormone which loosens your joints and connective tissues during pregnancy to allow your ribs and pelvis to expand to cater for a growing baby. So, don't extend your joints past their normal range of movement.

4.     If you have been fairly active prior to your pregnancy, now is not the time to improve your fitness. Never exercise to the point of exhaustion or breathlessness as you're reprieving both yourself and your baby of oxygen. With cardiovascular exercises, keep your heart rate below 70% of your maximum heart rate. Your maximum heart rate is roughly 220 minus your age.

5.     If you have been training with a fitness professional, it is important let him/her know that you are pregnant so your program can be modified.

6.     If you are not exercising regularly, start slowly. Walking is one of the best activities you can take up. You should also practice relaxation techniques and do breathing and pelvic floor exercises.

7.     You should incorporate some light to moderate weight training (free weights, machines or use your own body weight) in your program to strengthen your muscles, which will help you carry around an extra bump for nine months.

8.     After 16 weeks, avoid lying on your back as this position decreases the blood flow to your heart and to the baby.

9.     Drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise and take frequent breaks. Instead of training continuously for 40 minutes, split it into a 20-minute session in the morning and a 20-session in the afternoon/evening.

10.   Avoid exercising in the hottest part of the day, or alternatively take up swimming. Swimming and water-based exercises allow your weight to be supported and there is no jarring your joints. Take extra precaution if you live in a hot and humid environment as it is harder for to keep your body temperature down.

11.   Wear comfortable clothing and a supportive bra.

Most importantly, use common sense and listen to your body. If you feel tired, unwell or not in the mood for exercising, your body is telling you to take it easy. Nine months is a relatively short period in your life and the health of your baby is your number one priority.

Andrew's website is www.healthjigsaw.com and his blog is www.healthjigsaw.com/blog

Handmade with love

With so many birthdays fast approaching and trying to keep within my family budget. I have decided to hand make my gifts, I'm not really sure if a handmade present can compete with a store-bought present and am extremely nervous in giving a handmade present in today's society. So I decided that I would only give something that I would be happy to receive. Now I haven't sewn since school and to be honest the thought scared me as I am a bit of a perfectionist and tend to procrastinate about things if I don't think I will be able to do it. I eventually gave it a go and am actually quite excited at the results. So I thought I would share with you my latest creations.

Lamb Shanks Recipe

With this change in weather it has got me thinking about all the yummy winter dishes that I love to cook. So I thought I would share with you, one of my all time favourites. This dish has been tried and tested with many glasses of red wine by family and friends over the years. So if you are looking for something hearty to warm you up why not try this 'Lamb Shanks with tomato and rosemary' recipe by Donna Hay.

First things first though, may I suggest a good glass of red to go with this. Have you tried 'Two Hands - Gnarly Dudes' Shiraz from the Barossa Valley? be careful it can become addictive!

lamb shanks with tomato and rosemary

8 lamb shanks trimmed (ask your butcher to cut the ends for you so they fit better in your pan)
plain flour for coating
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup red wine
2 1/2 cups beef stock
400g can tomatoes, lightly crushed
1 tablespoon rosemary leaves
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
sea salt and cracked black pepper

Toss the lamb shanks in flour, shaking of any excess. Place half of the oil in a large, deep frying pan over high heat. Add the shanks and brown well. Remove and set aside. Add the remaining oil to the pan and cook the onions and garlic until golden. Return the shanks to the pan. Add the wine, stock, tomatoes and rosemary and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
Remove the shanks and continue to simmer the sauce, uncovered for 10 minutes or until reduced and thickened. Return the shanks to the pan with the parsley, salt and pepper. Mix through and serve with mashed potatoes. Serves 4

I find sometimes I need to cook the shanks for longer than an hour. I have also cooked this recipe in my slow cooker which I found that if you add a little cornflour when you are simmering the sauce it helps. I have even cooked this recipe in my pressure cooker in just 45 minutes, but again I needed to add cornflour to the sauce.

I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as my family and I do.

Deb x

Broome Time

We have returned from Broome and I must say our little lady was the perfect flyer, even with a four and a half hour delay! We had a fantastic time and it was the perfect little getaway. We went for a friends wedding and everything about the day was just perfect. Stunning bride, handsome groom, a beautiful ceremony, the yummiest food, and great friends to celebrate with.

Congratulations Bel and Scotty.  To love, laughter and happily ever after xxx

Travelling with a toddler

We are currently planning a family holiday to sunny Broome, which got me thinking of the last time we flew with Emily and if there was anything we could do differently to make it a little easier on all of us. You see we were one of those families!! the ones with the screaming child that starts just after take off and seems to go on forever. The family that when coming down the aisle to find there seat people see you have a child and and they think to themselves, please don't let them be sat next to me. Then when you find yourself next to them, you get that funny little smile, that says hi lovely to meet you just don't let that kid cry. The reason I know they are thinking that is because I have been one of them plenty of times.

Well last time we got an evening flight around her usual bedtime thinking she could have her bottle on take off to help with her ears and then she would fall blissfully asleep and stay that way until the next morning when she would wake up well rested in the hotel room. Well as you can imagine it didnt go to plan, in fact it went a little something like this, have bottle on take off, all good so far. Then it begun, Emily had no intentions what so ever of going to sleep, so for the next two hours we had to entertain one over tired child with an attention span of a fish!. There were tears and tantrums and escape attempts. Hubby and I were trying so hard to become invisible. which is a little bit difficult when you have a 13 month old that has legs and arms going everywhere. In fact if someone had of told me there was a parachute in the back I think I would of considered using it, just to clarify, the parachute was for me, not Emily, I'm not that mean a mother! Eventually hubby almost had her asleep and then the food trolley came and she was off again. I found myself not looking at anyone, as every time you would look up, someone would be staring at you and it made me feel like I was failing miserably as a parent. It wasn't supposed to be this way I kept telling myself she was supposed to be fast asleep cuddled up in my arms, the perfect child. We were so relieved when she did succumb to sleep, but I believe the mention of driving home from Adelaide instead of flying was on the cards at this point!
That was only the beginning for some crazy reason we decided to stay in four different places in the span of five nights and our return flight was at 8pm, what were we thinking??

So for Broome we have booked our flight for in the morning well before nap time, and her take on bag will have a couple of her favourite books, puzzles, crayons, stickers, flash cards and for back up in case of emergency we will have a couple of new episodes of 'Dora' and 'Charli and Lola' on the iPhone. She still has her dummy for sleeping, so we will have that packed as well for take off and landing to help with her ears and we will be staying in just one place this time.
Have you travelled with your toddler or baby, car or plane? do you have any tips you would like to share as I would definitely love to hear them.

Can cleaning be fun?

For those of you who know me and know me well, before becoming a mum I was a bit of a clean freak! My house was always spotless, everything had it's place and it was always in order. Then Cyclone Emily came along and that changed everything. I still love having my house clean and tidy, but I find these days it's not as important anymore, I would rather be cuddled up to my little girl reading stories, making a mess with playdough, painting or playing outside with her. I figure she is only little for such a short period of time, plus it will still be there tomorrow. Unless of course the cleaning fairies pay me a visit, but I think they must have my address wrong as I am yet to see them.

Although I do find it much easier to keep on top of things, so I just spend a quick half hour doing one or two jobs each day. plus I make sure I do at least one load of washing, as I have a very small laundry and if I leave it for a few days it can be like climbing mount Everest just to get to the washing machine. Then before Emily goes up for her bath, we have pack away time and we put all of her toys from the day away together and sing a little song. She loves packing her toys away!

I have tried to make cleaning fun and always let Emily help, so it doesn't become so much of a chore. I took some photos this morning that I thought I would share with you. I would love to see or hear how you make cleaning fun.  

I hope you all have a lovely Tuesday, we are going to sit and have some play time now before I get around to loading all the new goodies that arrived for our shop. http://www.from1mum2another.com/category/new.htm

 

Celebrating Mothers Day

Rarely does a day go by that I don't see or speak to my mum, she is not only my mother but also my best friend and now a wonderful Grandma to my little girl. I don't know what I would do with out her. She is my inspiration as a mother and I hope that I can be as good a mum as her. Below is one of my favourite photos of my beautiful mum on my wedding day. Love you mum xxx

A very big Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful mums out there, I hope you all get spoilt on Sunday with lots of hugs and kisses and breakfast's in bed and all those gorgeous hand made pressies. I would love to hear how you all celebrated your special day.

When to move to a big bed?

Well it has been almost a month since I have found time to sit down and add to my ramblings on here. My apologies this past month has been crazy in our house with little Miss and I both being sick, we have been down south in between, lots of family things going on and just the usual madness that I'm sure you can all relate to.
Well our little lady is well and truly mobile now and has become a bit of a climber! In fact hubby found her trying to climb out of her cot after her nap the other day. So we have a dilemma when do we move her into a bed? She sleeps in a sleeping bag during the night so I'm not concerned with her escaping then. She still just seems so little, she is just over 18 months old and is a massive wriggler when sleeping, some of the positions I find her in have me in stitches laughing.
With being new parents we really are unsure as to when is the right time to move her to a big bed, I understand that all children develop differently, so its hard to put an age on when you should do it.
So my question is, "What made you decide to move your little one from a cot to a big bed?"
I would love for you to share with us your thoughts or stories, as I'm sure we aren't the only new parents with this dilemma.

Happy Birthday to From 1 Mum 2 Another

As you may have noticed from our website From 1 Mum 2 Another is having there 1st birthday this month and to celebrate we are offering special offers all month long. To start with we have 10% off everything in store, we are adding new items everyday and this week we have introduced our birthday LUCKY DIPS! Where for a small fee we will choose something for you to compliment your purchases and include it in your parcel as a surprise. The lucky dips are great value as they work out to be more than 50% off. To find out more information and to start shopping today pop over and take a look at our online store. http://www.from1mum2another.com/

Don't forget to watch our face book page to keep up to date with all our birthday specials. http://www.facebook.com/pages/From-1-Mum-2-Another-Childrens-Clothing-Exchange/129991457038995 

Which hat will I wear today.... cake decorator!

For those of you who don't know me, I love baking! I find it relaxing, it's my little escape from what's going on at the time as I focus on my creation, crossing my fingers that it turns out, hoping that it resembles something of a master chef creation (a winning creation of course) and above all else that it tastes delicious. Well becoming a mum has opened my eyes to 'ready to roll icing' and all the amazing things you can create with it. Let's face it birthday cakes can be expensive if you pay for someone to do it for you. So for Miss EJ's first birthday at the end of last year I decided to give it a go, let's put it this way it took me three evenings till after midnight to create it. When I had finished I was devastated that hubby had gone to bed as I was so excited to show it off... what to do, I couldn't drag him downstairs to take a peek and the thought of a sleep deprived mother carrying my new creation up the stairs... I had visions of face planting it down the stairs and having to buy a shop bought cake for her party the next day. So I took photos on my phone raced upstairs and climbed into bed very noisily trying to wake up hubby without actually poking him, "oh your awake, sorry didn't mean to wake you, but since you are, look at my cake!"

Anyway since then I haven't really had an opportunity to make another one, this week though it happened to be my sister's birthday. So I decided to tackle decorating cupcakes instead, thinking it would be easier to stop and start on them as I swapped between my mummy and cake decorator hats! Of course Miss EJ was in the kitchen to help with the cake making and chief taste tester as always. For my first time I was more than happy with the results, and the cupcakes were yummy. Watch out family and friends.... guess what your getting for your birthdays?