Time Away

It isn't very often I have time away from my boys, and this month we left the children overnight for the first time with my parents when we went to a gig in London.  This week, I seem to be spending more time away than I am with my family and after being a stay at home mum for so long, there for every moment, every early morning and every kiss goodnight, it seems a bit strange.

For the first time I have missed two bedtimes in a row, two bedtime stories, four sleepy cuddles.  A meeting up in Glasgow meant flying up the night before and not seeing my babies for nearly 48 hours.  This weekend I will be joining the blogger crowds at Britmums Live for another two nights without my favourite people.

It isn't all bad, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to some time away.  Being something else than 'Mummy', having a bed to myself with an alarm that isn't quite so unpredictable (and that sounds a lot less like a child) and having the chance to miss them and appreciate them all the more on my return.

My two days away during the week made me value our day together so much more and I know the cuddles on Sunday when I return will be priceless.  I know I will miss my beautiful boys and that they will miss me, but sometimes time away is needed.

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You make me Smile - Week 2

Firstly I would like to thank the wonderful bloggers who joined in last week.  There were some fantastic posts and pictures and I can't wait to see what you come up with this week!

So here are the things that made me smile;

After what can only be described as miserable weather, the summer weather seems to have arrived.  Let's just hope it stays now!

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My Britmums Live Diary

After months of planning and excitement Britmums Live weekend finally arrived.  Armed with my phone, my notebook and my galaxy tab, I set about to record my experience of the parenting blogging community in all their glory


Friday 11.30am
 I am sat on the train wondering whether this was really a good idea.  Only twenty minutes into the journey and I am already missing the little dude, his geeky smile and those four little teeth.  I wish I could explain to him that I will be back soon and that I love him and miss him.  Guilt about leaving him has taken over the excitement and nerves.  The man sitting opposite started eagerly chatting but as soon as I mentioned that I was going to a conference for parent bloggers he went very quiet!


Friday 12.40
 The nerves have arrived in full force.  It isn't like I have not been to events before but I usually have Dylan alongside me to hide behind -an icebreaker.  Suddenly I am all on my own!

Checked into the hotel and it is very basic but completely adequate as somewhere to rest my head after a long day. They do have some strange ideas about what people like to put in their coffee though as the tray came complete with a tin of petit pois! Waiting for laura aka thelifeandtimesoftheworkingmum to arrive so we can be nervous together




Friday 3.10pm

We are here!  Mummyadventure is in the building and the nerves have become adrenaline.

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A Rat in my Hotel Room

After a lovely weekend at Britmums Live laura (lifeandtimesoftheworkingmum) and I arrived back at our hotel ready for a quiet night and a chat. Little did we expect a third room guest.  A long tailed brown haired furry kind of room mate. Laura had naively booked a hotel room on late rooms without reading too many reviews and the Kings Cross Hotel seemed a reasonable price, a nice distance from train station and venue and adequate for resting our tired heads after a long day.  Communal bathrooms and showers could be overlooked if it meant more money to spend on wine.


On arrival I was a little confused to find a tin of peas included in our coffee tray and a dirty plate on the floor but ignored these as the bed had clean sheets and I was eager to get to the conference.  Fast forward to the second night, we are sitting on the beds, chatting away when we notice the rat crawl out from behind the sink.

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Britmums Live is here

So the day has finally arrived when I pack my bags and head off to London leaving my gorgeous little boy behind.  I am both excited and terrified and nowhere near ready. 

None of this would be possible without my wonderful sponsors.  The lovely Social Sparkles and the brilliant Baba and Boo.   Thanks to them I will be able to meet bloggers from all over the country to discuss how to improve our writing and take our blogs to the next level.  I will get to put a face to all the names I regularly tweet with as well as meeting again those a little more familiar.  The event I am attending is Britmums Live.

I will get to sit on a train ( On a normal seat not suitable for buggies) and read my book in peace.  I will

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You make me smile Week 1

I have decided to start a new linky with the intention of improving my photography and helping me to appreciate the great things in my life.  I will post it up every tuesday and you can join in anytime during the week.  The idea is you post three photos of things that are making you smile this week, whether they are a lie in, a piece of delicious cake or your babies first steps. You can add as much or as little explanation as you like.

Here are mine for the week:





Getting a new sling for Dylan.  He has sadly outgrown his stretchy wrap and I love baby wearing so I am really emjoyimg having a nice woven wrap to carry him in.










The upcoming  britmums live is getting me really excited and fulfilling my desire to write lists (insert picture of list of lists to write)
















The warm weather on Sunday really made me smile as we had a lovely afternoon down the beach.













If you want to join in then write your post and please back to this one so your readers can check out some more great bloggers.  here is a badge you can add to your post just copy and paste the html code.  When you add your link please leave a comment and try and visit some of the other blogs. I hope to see some fabulous entries!

 insert code</<a href="http://themummyadventure.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p482/mummyadventure/th_smilelinky.jpg" border="0" alt="You make me smile" /></a>>

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Competition - Baba and Boo

With Britmums live only a few days away, I have a fantastic competition from my sponsor.  If you have read my review of the Baba and Boo cloth nappy you will know how impressed we were.  I'm hoping that some of you went over to their website and had a look?  Maybe some of you are interested in cloth nappies but haven't taken the plunge yet.  Whatever your little one is wearing, this competition is for you.  I have a wonderful prize of a £20 voucher for the winner.  

If it were me, I would buy:

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Baba and Boo - Review

In less than two weeks, I will be joining hundreds of other parent bloggers at Britmums Live.  I am lucky enough to be sponsored by a fantastic British company -  Baba and Boo is a reusable nappy company selling beautiful yet affordable pocket nappies.  They sent me one to review, and I am pleased to say I am converted.

After an initial disappointment with cheap pocket nappies, I swore never to trust them and have since been using Tots Bots easyfits boosted and prefolds with covers.  We have found what works for us and have been happy like this.  Nevertheless I was excited to try the Baba and Boo nappy which comes with two inserts, one for a light wetter, or if you change the baby's nappy very often and two to last longer. 

My first impression was that the sizing was perfect for him.  The nappies are one size fits most, and I am pleased to say Dylan fitted well with plenty of growing space.  We have found some osfm nappies come up quite small and I do not see them fitting him past a year but these definitely feel like they will last the stretch.  They also popper down lovely and small and should fit a newborn from 8lb.

I stuffed the nappies with both of the inserts as soon as we received it and popped it straight on.  3 hours later when I came to change it, there were no leaks.  Cloth nappies build up absorbency the more they are washed so I was rather impressed that it did so well already.  

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I am going to Britmums Live!

Everything happened rather quickly.  A chat with a friend about whether we should attend Britmums Live! - the largest conference for UK parent bloggers led to us making the decision together that we would go.  Next came the choice as to whether I wanted a sponsor.  I had just decided that maternity pay was not getting me far, and that there are some fantastic companies out there with whom I would be privileged to work with, when the call came through.  Ok, so it wasn't exactly a call, but in 2012 a tweet is the next best thing.

I had an offer to be sponsored from two companies who I could not have picked better myself.

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