Emily tried a ballet class and loved it

Last Thursday, a few hours after nursery, Emily and I went to a dance class trial at the Star Dance Academy in Minster. It was a free trial session, as seen advertised on Facebook a few months earlier and something I had been thinking about doing with Emily for a while, but a little hesitant….

Emily loves to get into the groove

They say if you want to influence your kids music tastes, you should get in there early. Emily has loved music since my she could kick in my tummy. Sam and I have our own tastes in music, and although broad, we have always shared our passion for different music genres with Emily. Due to…

Dummy no more?

At Emily’s nursery, in her toddler group, dummies are forbidden. Plenty of times I’ve dropped Emily off with a dummy in her mouth as she refuses to give hers up and I pick her up and she’s without it. I’m fine with this. After all, a dummy limits a child’s speech and that’s the last…

How do you speak to your toddler?

I was out in town the other day and a woman said “why bother speak to your child if she can’t fully speak back?” Her remark baffled me. Emily’s 2 years old and although she’s not saying full sentences just yet, she’s a lot more confident speaking since she joined nursery and I will continue…

Emily’s having her settling in session this week

Emily is starting nursery next week and although Sam and I are excited for her and know it’s a good thing, we’re also baffled at how fast she’s growing up into this amazing independent, confident, funny and intelligent girl. It’s scary. Next Thursday the 11th October, Emily will start a short day, one day a…

My Daughter Isn’t In Dresses, So What?

Emily looks gorgeous in dresses, but no she doesn’t wear them all the time. This seems to be a problem for some people, not naming names, that I don’t dress her in dresses because I want her to just have fun. So I felt the need to write something, it shouldn’t bother me, but it…

What I’ve learnt in the year since Emily was born

Since Emily was born so many things have happened. Amazing things, wonderful things, crazy things. It’s been a brilliant journey and we’re only 15 months in. The past 15 months has flown by at a ridiculous rate. How did we make it through this time without killing each other? But although there’s been moments, it’s…

We went to Giovanni Fletcher’s book signing in Canterbury

If you don’t know much about Giovanna, she grew up in Essex with her Italian dad Mario, mum Kim, big sister Giorgina and little brother Mario (he was on TOWIE), and with family playing such a big part of her life it was only natural that she had always dreamed of having children of her…

Pregnant and feeling itchy? Speak to your doctor, it could be serious.

When I was pregnant, I never had a birth plan, I never got round to writing one. Instead I generally spent most of my pregnancy going to the doctor for blood tests or scans, that mostly resulted in nothing. Well, until about a month before I was due, I had an appointment telling me I…

Feed your child how you want, boob or bottle, mother knows best.

There’s a lot of talk in the press at the moment that women who breastfeeding are slowly dying out, becoming such a rarity that it could stop all together. I don’t breastfeed Emily, but before you pass the judgement book, I stopped because I developed thrush and fuck me it was painful. Emily wasn’t getting…

My baby refuses to burp after every feed

Since I first fed Emily at the hospital, the midwives made it very clear that burping my baby after each feed was vital. All the books tell you to do it and all healthcare professionals insist on it too. The thing is for some reason Emily just isn’t keen on it. She’ll fart to her…

Emily’s baby bouncer is the best

Baby bouncers, you know, those baby bouncing chairs that are great for babies are a Godsend. Our baby bouncer is by far the best product we have for Emily. It was a gift from a friend of mine from Mama’s & Papa’s. Emily has been on it since she was 3 weeks old, she still…

Things not to say to women who breastfeed

Believe it or not but even if you choose to breastfeed there will be someone out there who is keen to stick their oar in and stir up some crap for you doing what’s natural. I know right. Unfortunately there are too many experts out there who will be negative, disapprove and can be mean…