We All Doubt Ourselves Sometimes

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Today I took Darcie to a Halloween themed session of a baby and toddler group that we go to every so often. The class is a structured one with singing, puppets and musical instruments which I first started taking her to when she was around four months old. Sometimes she loves it and wants to go off and get involved, and other times (most times) she just wants to cling to me and will even cry and seem scared when she is shown the puppets or encouraged to get involved. Today was one of those days. She clung to me and got upset if I tried to put her down with the other children, She cried at the ladies fancy dress costume, and she was only really happy again when the class was over. You could say she gets ‘shy’, but I hate that word, because she isn’t a ‘shy’ kid. She is loud and outgoing and will happily play with other children, it is just in these structured classes that she seems out of her comfort zone and for some reason it is difficult for her to get involved. I don’t know why she is like this. The rational side of my brain says that clearly these classes just aren’t her cup of tea. She prefers the freedom of a playgroup where she can do her own thing and interact with other children as and when she wants to. But the doubting, mum guilt ridden side of my brain tells me that I’ve done something wrong. It’s my fault. It questions whether I’ve done enough to socialise her. Would she be more confident in these situations if I’d sent her to nursery?  (more…)

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Parenting Rites of Passage, How Many Can You Tick Off?

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A couple of months ago Darcie and I were playing in the lounge, she was bringing me books and toys and we were throwing her ball around. Then she just randomly came over to me and gave me a cuddle, for just a couple of seconds before toddling off again. That was the first time she had ever done that of her own accord, with no prompting or encouragement. She had done it because she wanted to. In that moment I thought to myself ‘this is what being a parent is all about’, ‘this is what makes it all worth it’. There are so many experiences that we all go through as parents that make us stop and think ‘wow, I really am a parent now’. These rites of passage, as I have decided to call them, come in all shapes and sizes, the good, the bad and the downright embarrassing. I thought it would be fun to list some of them on here and we can all see how many we can tick off. How many levels of parenting have you completed according to this list? Tally up your number and leave it in the comments below. (more…)

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How to Parent the Lorelai Gilmore Way

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I’ve loved Gilmore Girls from the very first episode I ever watched many, many years ago and even now I can watch the whole series through and not get bored of it. I’ve always loved the relationship between Lorelai and Rory and watching the show now as a mum, I find myself aspiring to be a Lorelai Gilmore kind of mum. For anyone who has never seen Gilmore Girls this post could be totally lost on you and for anyone who isn’t a fan of the show, well, I’m not even sure we can be friends anymore. If you are still with me, however, here is my top list of parenting lessons we can learn from Lorelai Gilmore. (more…)

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Pumpkin Picking at Pickwell Farm


Ever since our lovely day out Strawberry picking in the summer I have been looking forward to going back to Pickwell Farm in the Autumn to pick some pumpkins. We headed off bright and early this morning, the sun was shining and as it is a weekday we hoped it wouldn’t be too busy. It wasn’t busy at all although I think that was partly due to the fact that we had actually missed peak pumpkin picking season. There wasn’t a great selection of pumpkins left but that didn’t really matter as I think main fun of going pumpkin picking is the experience not necessarily the pumpkin you come home with anyway. We had a great time and I got some photos that I am in love with so that’s the main thing anyway, right? (more…)

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Toddler’s Bedtime Routine // Seventeen Months Old

I’m always really intrigued to know other peoples bedtimes routines with their babies and toddlers. It’s good to get tips from each other and hear about what works and what definitely doesn’t. We’ve had basically the same bedtime routine with Darcie for what feels like her whole life but it has of course developed and changed as she has. At nearly eighteen months she is still not a fantastic sleeper, but when you’re that cute already, why would you need any more beauty sleep? However I am really happy with our bedtime routine and she does generally fall asleep easily, even if she does then wake in the night, although this is improving in leaps and bounds these days. I do use the term ‘routine’ loosely as I take a very baby led approach and so our days do vary depending on her and also on what we might have done that day or be doing that evening. (more…)

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The Autumn Tag

IMG_9517.JPGI was tagged to do the Autumn Tag a few weeks ago by my lovely friends Maisie from Love, Maisie, Caitylis from Caitylis and Zoe from  Mummy & Liss and as I sit here at 9pm with nothing published for Blogtober today I thought this would be as good an opportunity as any. I like joining in with these tags occasionally as they are totally different from my usual style of post. I’ve tagged some other bloggers at the end too so be sure to go over and have a look at their pages too.

1. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTUMNAL LIP COLOUR?
I’m terrible with lipsticks but I do try to switch it up in the Autumn and wear some darker colours. I’m so pale that I can’t go too dark though!

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