Ahh, changing bags. When I became a mum I morphed into this new person who looks at prams the same way some people look at cars. I also became so nosy as to which changing bag people have and I’m always wondering ‘what they hell do they have in that massive bag anyway?’. When Dan and I were first shopping for baby bits while I was pregnant with our daughter I was adamant on the sort of bag I wanted. I’d done my research, by which I mean I had had a good look at what all the mums my age seemed to be carrying, and I had decided that I had to have a massive tote style bag to hang from my buggy that would tell all the world that I was a ‘yummy mummy’. Oh wow, I cringe at that now. But at the time I was convinced that I wouldn’t be happy unless we splashed out close to a hundred pounds for one of these bags. You probably know the ones I mean, sorry if you have one. Dan was less convinced and thought we should go for a more practical style like a rucksack, and something a bit less ‘yummy mummy’ so that he could carry it and keep his pride intact. We argued and argued and in the end we compromised and bought a cheaper, less girly tote bag. Within a month of having Darcie, I went out and bought a rucksack. (more…)

Dear Darcie,

As you may have realised by now, there are going to be some big changes in the next month or so. We’ve been talking to you about ‘Baby Ernie’ for a while now, and telling you all about how there will be a new baby soon. We’ve told you about how amazing it will be and how you will have a friend for life. This will be the most amazing change for our family, but still, it will be a change. I’m really not too worried about how you will adapt to life with a baby brother. You have adapted to every change so far in your life and flourished with every new phase you have entered. You’ve actually been loving helping us to prepare for your brother even if you didn’t realise that’s what we were doing. You’ve been putting your teddies in his cot ‘for the baby’, pretending to paint the walls of the nursery and even ‘helping’ me pick out his tiny clothes. (more…)

At nearly 36 weeks pregnant, my nesting urges have totally taken over. All I want to do is clean, tidy and generally just make sure that my house is ready for a brand new baby boy to arrive in around a month’s time. Call me middle aged but I’m a sucker for new cleaning products and gadgets to make household chores easier. So you can only imagine my excitement when I received the Miele Blizzard CX1 Parquet Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner to review. I’d been struggling with our ancient vacuum cleaner for so long and I hadn’t realised quite how badly I needed an upgrade until I tried the Miele Blizzard CX1 out. I suddenly realised how heavy our old one vacuum was and quite how basic the settings were compared to this new machine. As a mum of a toddler I spend a lot of time dragging the vacuum around and so I’m not exaggerating when I say that the Miele Blizzard CX1 has totally changed my everyday life for the better. (more…)

Dear Darcie,

Today you turn two! (I’m posting this a week late because I’m forcing myself to stop editing it now. It will never be as perfect as I want it to be, it will never be as perfect as you or as perfect as you deserve, but I hope that one day when you read it, you’ll like it anyway).

I just read back over the letter I wrote to you a year ago today on your first birthday. At the end I wrote ‘You will grow and you will change, but please stay sweet, stay kind and stay you.’ That is exactly what you have done. You have stayed sweet, and you have stayed kind and you are still very much the you that you were last year (just with a little bit more sass!). You have changed and grown so much. I can see it happening right before my eyes and yet you are still so similar in so many ways to the person you were a year ago. (more…)

Have you ever noticed how many different ‘types’ of parent out there? The stereotypes. The labels that some people feel the need to assign to themselves or to others. I’ve read so many articles about ‘The Five Different Types Of Mum You’ll Meet At Soft Play’ or ‘Eight Types Of Mums You Want To Avoid’. I’ve never known which box to put myself into and that used to make me feel lost – where did I fit in? Where is my tribe? But then I realised that actually that doesn’t make me lost, it makes me free. It means I’m parenting on my terms and making each decision for myself not because any clique or parenting rule book is telling me to. (more…)