What have you done today to make you feel proud?

A light of hope for a night of hope

Join me and World vision in lifting the lid off your love this Halloween by carving a heart in a pumpkin, and creating a light of hope. 

Why? Because our children actually get to enjoy the frights of Halloween one night a year, but for many children around the world there are real things to be afraid of.

World Vision is fighting to make the world a safer place for young people vulnerable to child marriage, malnutrition, dirty water and more.

So please help raise awareness with your pumpkin carving. Help World Vision. And let the love shine out of your heart, and out of your window, this Halloween.

#Anightofhope

TODDLER ANTICS

Sofia Faith (mischievous 2YO) strikes again...

#NIAWUK

This week is Britain’s first National Infertility Awareness Week (#NIAWUK, Oct 28 - Nov 3). Therefore, it's the perfect time to highlight a feature I wrote for Baby London magazine on Secondary Infertility, that recently went live on fertility guru Zita West's website

What's stopping you this half term?

GET OUT AND ABOUT!

Here we are playing in the gorgeous 
Cannizaro House grounds, Wimbledon, London. 

Spectacular colours to behold and lots of free fun to be had! 

Silent Sunday (7)

Musings of a 2YO

Sofia (with both vigour and volume): "NNNAUGHTY Mummy."
Mummy: "I'm not naughty Sofia."
Sofia: "Yes you are." (This comes out as 'yes oo ah').

And so it ends, with me cracking up laughing, which is just as well for I cannot argue with Fia. She is one of those kids that will always be right as far as she is concerned. God help me in the teen years!

FRAMED

LET SLEEPING PIGS LIE

If your baby was choking, would you know what to do?

I'd finally stopped shaking but still felt the need to vomit. We were in the ambulance and Sofia Faith was peacefully sleeping in my arms. There was no sign of the trauma she had just come through.

I held her tightly and let the tears finally go.

The paramedic smiled at me kindly. I'm sure she sensed I felt so bloody guilty.

Just a note

to say, if you are popping  over from PoCoLo, WELCOME!
x

Currently my 1Grace1Faith

A little more detail (9) An irritable child in pain is a challenging one

So by now, my LIFE AS IT WAS, featured a ten-month-old and an almost four-year-old. And, it has to be said, a few more grey hairs. 

It was about this time, that Simon and I returned from camping in Dorset from our first ever Summer holiday to Lyme Regis. And it was about this time, that Sofia began screaming in earnest again.

I think mainly, we put it down to teething. We gave her so much Calpol - I look back now knowing that probably just made things worse. For Fia's silent reflux issue was plaguing her again. But I was blindsided to that.

Bad night's sleep and it's not the kids? Turn OFF your mobile!

Computers, laptops, tablets and mobiles are all culprable. They give off a blue light, thought to interfere with the natural hormones such as melatonin, which help us to sleep.

Leave your mobile out of your room. Or turn it to airplane mode. Better still, turn the whole lot off when you go to bed. Especially the wireless connection. Try it. We did, and were amazed at the result.

Basically, the sleep that we then had, was a far deeper, more restorative sleep. And we woke feeling more refreshed than we had in a long time. 

LIFE AS IT IS gets a mention...

Poetry and prose round up

A Carefree life, AZ, USA

With its soft colours and calming desert influence, it’s fair to say that Arizona is a carefree state to be in.

However, Carefree, Arizona, 45 miles north of Phoenix, in Maricopa County, is the wild-west town that took on the word and won.

TODDLER ANTICS