• Home
  • About
  • Travel
  • Fitness
  • Photography
    • Birth
    • The Story of You
  • Disclosure and Privacy
facebook twitter instagram pinterest bloglovin Email

This day I love.......

Mummy Diaries is a lovely book written by Louise Hamilton as a way to record her first pregnancy.
What I love most about this book, is how it is a real account of a real women's pregnancy.  There is no part which is made 'fluffy' and as a result those, like myself, who have had children can relate on many levels to Louise's pregnancy.  As I was reading I kept going 'oh that happened to me too'.

The book is not just for those who have had children but for those expecting or thinking about having children.  I wish this book had been available when I was pregnant as it would have given me so much reassurance and confidence that another lady was experiencing exactly the same thing at the same time as I was.

I feel as if I not only know Louise but her friends and family too.  I could feel her frustrations with her partner and his family and at times wanted to just give her a huge hug especially the part with the letter at Christmas, I don't want to give too much away.

This book is beautifully written and very easy to read.  It is exactly as the title states a mummy diary of a pregnancy.  This book is perfect for all those wanting to be a mummy, soon to be a mummy or a mummy of any number of years.  I really enjoyed this book and will be letting my Mum have a read too.


Mummy Diaries

Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
13 comments
I do not like it when my girls are poorly.  So far 2013 has brought us several colds, flus, infections and Chicken pox.  It goes without saying that I am hoping at some time this year no one in this house is ill, would be nice!  My youngest is poorly at the moment and having failed to get her to eat or take milk for the past 48 hrs today saw a trip to the Dr.

Why is it the second you step foot in the surgery that children are almost instantaneously better?  My youngest found the baby walker in the toy box and ran off down the corridor

baby walker

Luckily its just a viral infection and another one of those bugs we can add to the list.  When I picked my eldest up from nursery, she had not come to the Dr with us.  She saw the prescription on the seat and said 'Oh no whats a matter with baby?'  I asked her what she meant and she said ' Baby poorly, baby go Dr get better, Dr give baby medicine' she then hands me the prescription.  

I find it rather amazing that my 2 year old understands the concept of what a Dr is for and more to the point recognises the prescription from any other piece of paper.

This day I love the Doctors.
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
No comments
My 1st years are kindly giving away one I love Mummy Balloon Bouquet.  The Bouquet features two  plain silver helium filed balloons and a heart shaped helium filled balloon with the words I love Mummy printed on both sides.  This would not only make a wonderful gift for Mothers Day but also a really lovely gift for a New Mum or Mum to be from the bump.

Mummy Bouquet

To be in with a chance of winning this wonderful I love Mummy Balloon Bouquet that really is sure to make any Mum smile, follow the instructions on the Raffle copter below and Good luck



a Rafflecopter giveaway


ThePrizeFinder - UK Competitions 

Uk competitions and Prize draws






Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
107 comments
My youngest is a little better today.  I am pretty certain she is teething as that is the only time she goes off her food, except for wanting to eat really hard things like toast.  The girls and I spent the morning reading books as we were waiting in for a parcel.  It arrived just after lunch and so we then went to play outside.

The girls started to get a little cold so we came indoors and made Easter themed sweets.  We followed the recipe and method from when we made Mint stars and angels.  I was going to add strawberry flavour instead of the peppermint but I was unable to find any.  Having a preference for mint over lemon I went for mint flavour.


After we had mixed all the ingredients together, we cut out circle shapes

cutting out circles

The circle shapes were then placed onto a baking tray lined with cling film, and squished to make an egg white shape

egg whitessquish circles

After the egg whites, I mixed some yellow food colouring into some of the mixture to make the egg yellow.  We rolled this yellow into several small balls and stuck them onto the white

finishing eggsmaking yolk

Once we had made some eggs, we then made chickens.  For the chickens we cut out circles from the yellow icing, and then made a chicken face using chocolate sprinkles.

Easter sweetseggs and chicken






Whilst I cleaned up from making our Easter sweets, I gave the girls some coloured rice to play with.  I added a drop of pink food colouring to a cup of rice, and green food colouring to another.  

green rice

I then gave the girls the rice and several items from the kitchen, like spoons, plastic medicine cup etc to play with with the rice.  The girls thought it was great fun.  The noise it made when you poured it.  The texture and all the different colours.  They drew in it and tried to eat it.  Really enjoying themselves and it kept them entertained for quiet some time

playing with ricesift rice


trying to eat itfeeling rice






A very low cost and easy to do play activity.

Oh and before anyone asks which came first the chicken or the egg, the answer is the egg.  Well we did not want to get yellow food colouring on our lovely white eggs.

This day I love Chicken, Egg and Coloured rice.


Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
17 comments
There are just some days when my daughters will do something that I always want to remember.  It is usually something that makes me smile or laugh out loud.  My eldest made me laugh and I had to ring my husband at work to tell him what she had done.

She was playing with a soft ball shouting football yay, football yay as she kicked it around the playroom.  She them kicked it hard and it went into the gap between table and wall and hit the back wall.  She promptly then shouted at the top of her voice, 'Yay!' and then took of her PJ top and ran around the house screaming 'Yay!'  It made me laugh ever so much

football yay

This day I love running around saying Yay!
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
No comments
Having spent most of the night up with my eldest who was having some bad dreams, neither of us felt up to doing very much at all.  The weather kept hailing so outdoor play was out.  Which meant some indoor fun.

Whilst I was getting dressed my girls decided to create their own fun using all the toilet paper they could find in the house

toilet roll fun

I had to laugh because there was paper everywhere and the girls seemed so pleased with themselves.  All this fun tired out my youngest

sleepy

My eldest helped me unpack a couple of boxes as  I still have not unpacked from our house move last year. It felt good to finally unpack a few, it has been very slow progress.

We spent the rest of the day sticking with various materials, my eldest wanted to make sheep and dinosaurs

sheepdinosaur

Although we were not able to get outside and play, we have had quite a productive and busy day.  My eldest loved using different materials to make pictures with and I love watching her use her imagination.

This day I love toilet rolls, egg cartons and cotton wool.
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
No comments
I recently reviewed twinkl an amazing company who provide such lovely hand drawn resources for Children.  I found out about an app they have for iPad and iPhone and was eager to take a look, as all their other items are fantastic.

I downloaded the free version of the app, and gave it to my 2 year old to have a look at.

twinkl colouring app

There are 4 categories to choose from and each has 5 images to colour:

Animals
Fantasy
Under the Sea
Pirates

Well she is a little Pirate obsessed at the moment so she went straight for that.  She found the app so easy to use, I did not have to show her what to do she was straight on with it.  She tapped the paint at the bottom of the screen and selected the areas to colour.  She added elements, such as a bow tie and fishes, to the drawing by pressing the smiley face icon.  She even used the pencil icon to draw freehand, which she loved.  It was even great that you could change the background from a wide selection.

You are able to connect to other Ipads to share drawings or email, twitter, add to camera roll or copy them to share with family and friends.  I think the only option missing is perhaps Pinterest, as it would be nice to create an album of my daughters art work.  

You can add to the images already in the library and a further pack of 5 images is £0.69 except for the Christmas pack where you get 10 images.    Though to be honest I haven't needed to buy any more as there is such a great selection in the free version that it has kept my daughter entertained for some time.  If I did though I would not hesitate to purchase as they are good value for money in my opinion.

I found this app everything I would expect coming from Twinkl, fun, easy to use and beautifully illustrated.  My daughter loves it and keeps asking for the iPad to do colouring

Twinkl colour app



Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
2 comments
We are all a little tired today after the trip to London.  The girls have not really wanted to do much and everything I have tried to do with them was met with protest.  

I decided to try and cook a chicken pie for dinner.  Whilst I was cooking my eldest thought it would be funny to empty the cupboard where I keep spare bottles.  Whilst emtpying she knocked over some flour

spilt flour

Whilst I was tidying this up her and her sister deiceded to sprinke the turmeric around.

turmeric
/
My kitchen now has an orange patch on the floor. 

This day I love Turmeric and flour
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
4 comments
I was very kindly invited to the big reveal by tommee tippee.  For weeks I had wondered what they would be launching and it was a really lovely surprise to find out and be one of the firsts to see the new product in action.  The big reveal took place at the Baby show in London Excel arena.  This meant a very early start for us and a long journey to London.

The girls were not keen on me waking them up to get ready to leave the house.  My youngest was ever so confused by what was happening and really did not like the fact she had not had any breakfast before we put her in the car.  My eldest soon became very excited when I told her we would be going on a train.

We managed to get on the train and find our seat just as the train pulled out of the station.  We took our seats in first class, as it was cheaper to book first class than standard so I thought why not, and both girls got very excited.

train journey

The girls were incredible on the train and I was ever so proud of them.  We had our breakfast on the train which my eldest thought was amazing and my youngest was just glad to have some food.  My eldest loved the fact that there are toilets on a train and when she discovered this I then spent every 5 minutes getting up to take her.  

I did struggle a little with the tube.  Kings cross station was fine as there was a lift straight to the platform, when we got off the tube at tower hill, no lift and no assistance, just a huge flight of concrete steps.  Luckily for me a lovely passenger helped me carry the stroller up the stairs.  My eldest loved it, two trains in one day and she got to see, in her words, Mike the Knights castle.  I was not too sure Mike the Knight lived in the Tower of London but just agreed.

tower of London

We then boarded the DLR, this to a two year old who loves trains is like heaven.  We sat at the back and she looked out the window watching the train lines and other trains go passed.  She got so fascinated by it that we almost missed our stop.

train line

Next up the baby show.  

The baby show is a great experience for all those who are expecting children or who have young children or babies.  I think this is either my third or forth show, I enjoy going to see all the new products or to catch up with all those wonderful companies I talk to on line or have used their products for what is almost 3 years.  I wanted to try and talk to as many as possible but unfortunately in the time I had available I was only able to speak to some and not all.  You can read my highlights here.

After a wonderful day at the baby show it was time to make our way back home.  My eldest could not believe her luck that she once again got to ride on more trains.  Every time we got in a lift she would say 'doors closing' and out the lift 'doors opening', and on the tube she kept saying 'This is a big tunnel Mummy' which made the other passengers smile. My youngest was happy as she had a biscuit whilst riding the underground


biscuit

It was a really long day for the girls and I was surprised that only one of them fell asleep on the way home


asleep on train

This day I love Mike the Knights castle, trains and the baby show.
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
3 comments
I really enjoyed the baby show and there are some amazing companies who exhibit there.  I really wish I could have got round them all and for those I did get to see stay longer to chat more.  Unfortunately there just was not enough time for me as I only had 2 hours and could have done with at least double that.  I have included some of my highlights and companies I loved from the show in the post below, please check them out.

I had to stop by to see Snugglebundl, they made the first baby lifting blanket.  It is perfect for lifting babies especially after a C section.  I would go so far to say if you have had a C section than this product really should be a must have item.  I have followed this company since they started on Facebook and wanted to see the product first hand.  It is so much better than in its photos and I could not believe how soft it was and easy to use, my daughter loved it.

Snugglebundl

We went to say hello to three wonderful companies who I am in the process of writing reviews for at the moment, Vital Baby, Mabyland and My 1st Years.  It was great to final meet My 1st years and to see Vital Baby and Mabyland again.  They all have some amazing baby products and well worth taking a look at.

I tend to use washable nappies especially if we are staying at home but do occasionally use disposables.  Mainly when we are out or when my youngest has nappy rash, because then I can cover her in cream and not worry about the nappy.  I came across Nappies2go which I think is a really fantastic idea.  I would have loved to have spoke to them more but I had to catch a train.  They collect all your used nappies, wipes, cotton wool, sanitary products and breast pads and recycle them.  What a great idea, much better than landfill and they can even provide clean nappies and wipes too.

Staying on an environmental theme, I love Cheeky wipes.  We have used them for over 2 years now.  I have a set for doing the house work, I dyed these yellow.  A set for the girls bottoms and a set for hands and faces.  They are simply put washable wipes.  They smell fantastic thanks to the lovely oils you can use with them.  Easy to store and easy to clean and dry.  I am currently testing out their new Micro-fibre cloths and will post a review in the next few weeks.

The first time I went to the baby show I was 28 weeks pregnant with my eldest and my husband and I managed to not only pick up all our nursery furniture but we bought our travel system from there.  I had very strict criteria for what I wanted:

To fold small enough to fit in the boot of my car [at the time this was a new shape mini copper]
Group 0+ car seat compatible
Lie flat pushchair
Rear and forward facing seat
Easy to steer, can be turned in a circle with one hand
Light weight
Did not look plastic and cheap
Did not cost an absolute fortune
Easy to fold 
Shopping basket

When I saw Bebecar I was smitten.  It ticked every single box which I thought nothing every would.  What's better is the ip-op, which is the model I have, came with a carry cot that could also double up as a car seat.  I still use this travel system, and its sad that my youngest has outgrown not only the carry cot but the car seat.  My eldest still can fit in the pushchair so I know we have a good few years left.

When I went a stroller, instead of using my Bebecar I use my Cosatto.  Cosatto company motto is Baby stuff with Personality, and I think that describes the company perfectly.  I have never come across such fun, bright and well designed products.  What is more is there after care team are amazing and they offer a 4 year guarantee on their products.  

I had to say hello to Trunki and the Gro company as we own quite a lot of their products.  The girls both have a Trunki to represent their Chinese  new year animal, as well as the Trunki toy box which are such fun to play with.  I also should probably set up shares in the Gro Company as I would not be without my gro egg, gro clock or gro bags.

I have followed Cheeky Rascals for quite some time on facebook and ordered a few products from them so I wanted to go and say hello.  I also had to stop by and say hello to Happy Hopperz   We have two Happy hopperz at home and they are ever so much fun, for  both adults and children.  We also came across them over Christmas at Nostell Priory.

The baby show is great for discovering new companies and products too.  I really love a product called Twist from Chicco.  I maybe purchasing these shortly for the girls as I think they are fantastic. I came across some gorgeous shoes from dotty fish for my youngest, as she has outgrown her Bobux shoes.  They are lovely and soft great for little feet.

giraffe shoes

This stand really caught my attention and was one of the most colourful at the show

me & i

I had to buy my eldest a t-shirt from me&i because they are just so colourful and a little bit different.  It is really nice to see some unique, bright and colourful children's clothes.  Not wanting my youngest to feel left out, when I saw the wonderful all in one baby rompers from Dijjie I had to get her one

Dijjie boxbaby romper


That really is an all in one baby romper and it comes beautiful boxed up too.

There where lots of companies whose products caught my eye but four in particular stood out and I will be having a look at them on line in the next few days as I wish I would have had time to talk to them.  Cheeky Chompers make bibs but with an incorporated teething triangle and they looked really stylish.  Chillipeeps teats and Fill and squeeze look like two inventions/gadgets that could save me a lot of time and hassle and I do love my gadgets!  Finally the Bunkcot Company, I loved this idea the first time I went to the baby show and every time I go I want to go and talk to the company but they are always really busy.  I enter every competition to win one, but no luck yet.  I think its such an amazing item.

Whenever anyone asks me what are my must have items for babies I have two products always on my list.  One is Ewan the dream sheep, you can enter to win one here and the other is Yoomi.  Ewan is my little miracle sheep for helping my girls to sleep and without him I would be at a loss.  I absolutely love my gadgets and items that make my life easier and Yoomi does that.  

yoomi


My eldest struggled to latch to any other bottle but her Yoomi.  A yoomi bottle self heats the milk to the same temperature as breast milk in one button push in 60 seconds.  It is an absolute dream for night feeds, and when out and about as there is no second guessing the temperature.  I found both my daughters could breast feed and switch to yoomi and back again without any issues.  Whats more is that because yoomi milk was the temperature they were used to, they took to formula much easier and I was a lot happier knowing that their milk was at the right temperature.

It really was a brilliant day out and it was ever so nice to meet the people I follow on line and talk to over the Internet.  It is always lovely to see those again who you consider friends and don't get to see as often as you like.  I love making new discovery's and cannot wait to read up more on the new companies I found.  The high light of the show for me, well it was seeing Professor Robert Winston 


Robert Winston


Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
4 comments
silent Sunday

Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
33 comments
project 365 week 8

The week started off so nice and sunny that the girls and I spent most of the day playing in the garden.  Towards the end of the week the snow has returned although, touch wood, it is not yet settling.  My eldest loves playing games and red dog blue dog is one of her favourites. 

The week was a busy one for meeting up.  I met a friend from school, who I have not seen for 14 years. Our children are similar ages and it was lovely to watch them play.  We attended a blogs up north meet up in Manchester and met some very lovely blogging mummies. Friday saw the girls travel first class to London and both girls loved the train.  We had a fantastic time at the baby show.

The girls have also enjoyed lots of cuddles this week, I think all the travelling and excitement has tired them out.  They have had their cheeky moments too when they discovered turmeric and sprinkled it round the kitchen.

A fun and busy week, I think next week should be quieter!
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
12 comments
The girls and I headed to the London Excel Arena for the Baby Show.  We were invited by Tommee tippee who launched for their new product which had been kept a secret up until today.  We arrived for the big reveal, tommee tippee  closer to nature have created the perfect prep machine, a perfect bottle in under 2 minutes.

The perfect prep machine is designed to make preparing bottles that little bit easier, great for night time feeding.  The perfect prep machine, filters tap water, delivers a 'hot shot' to kill bacteria in the feed and ensures formula dissolves quickly and easily and it dispenses the correct amount of water to make up a feed.

perfect prep machinedemonstrating perfect prep machine

 I was surprised by the size of the Perfect prep machine.  It would sit neatly on a work top without taking up too much space, I was expecting something a lot bigger.  The machine looks great and is looks very straightforward to use, with various beeps to alert you.   The temperature of the milk afterwards is body temperature.  The perfect prep only dispenses the water and so you  still need to add the powder yourself.  The nice thing about this is that you can use any formula you wish and are not limited to a particular brand.

The Perfect prep is available to pre order from amazon  and will be available from toys R us/Babies R us It retails at £99.99, I am able to offer followers of this blog a 33% discount on pre orders of the perfect prep, please send me a tweet on twitter if you would like a code



   

Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
8 comments
I had to pop out today to pick up a few things.  With it half term at the moment everywhere is pretty busy.  The nice thing though is that there tends to be more entertainment on for the children.  Whilst in the local shopping centre I came across a lady making balloon models.  My eldest daughter was fascinated by her and wanted to stay and watch.  She was given a balloon dog with a lead.

Well that was it.  For the rest of the day my eldest walked this balloon dog everywhere.  She wanted to be careful with him so he spent most of his time flying than walking

Balloon dog

She took him to the vets, as our dog needed a check up.  The balloon dog came to the dry cleaners and my eldest told everyone he was having a walk in the sky, as she kindly pointed out that dogs cannot fly.  She took him to the train station and to the supermarket.  He even came with us to pick up my youngest from nursery.  She then put balloon dog in his own bed, but told me not to take a picture in case he woke up.

My youngest later woke him up

woke up balloon dog

This day I love Balloon dog.
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
17 comments
Top that Publishing have released the Jumblies app.  The Jumblies by Edward Lear is a beautiful interactive story.  My 2 year old has enjoyed following the story and looking at the colourful animation.  

Jumblies

What I like about the app is that the narrator tells the story when you are ready by clicking on the text.  What this means is that you can choose to hear the story and explore the app at your pace.  You are not waiting for the story to either start of finish before you interact with the app.

Another beautiful publication from Top That Publishing.  It is a humorous, interactive storybook app perfect for children and is full of fantastical nonsense.  The app is available to download from the app store and costs £1.49.

reading the jumbliesgetting to grips with the jumblies
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
2 comments
The girls and I visited the People's History Museum in Manchester today.  It was an event organised by blogs up north, a group of very lovely blogging Mums.  

The girls where very well behaved in the car.  What should have taken 45 mins ended up taking 2 hours, but I was very proud of my girls.  My youngest slept the whole way and my eldest and I played 'I spy' and sang lots of songs.  Even when we entered Manchester and got very badly lost, mainly down to road closures, the girls behaved.  So we arrived a little bit late, something I always hate doing, especially when I left with plenty of time.

The People's History Museum is a very interactive hands on museum, the kind of museum I like as I believe children learn best though play.  My eldest was given a bee back pack which contained some 'I spy' cards.  These were great for spotting different things as we walked around.  We pretended to be like 'Mr.Tumble' as he always has a picture of an item he has to find.  My youngest took a shine to the magnifying glass in there and my eldest loved the binoculars

there you areI spy

Scattered around the museum are various boxes which contain items relating to a person in history.  This gives you the chance to dress up and have a bit of fun learning about people history.

hat

The girls had a lot of fun exploring the museum and I enjoyed meeting in person some lovely blogging mums.

The journey home took an impressive 3 and half hours due to several accidents and traffic works but the girls had had so much fun they slept the whole time

sleep

This day I love a meetup. 
Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
14 comments
Newer Posts
Older Posts

About me

About Me

Welcome to This Day I love.

My name is Leyla, also known as Mum to my 3 humans and dog Mum to J. I have a passion for the outdoors and love to run. I can often be found off road exploring the trails and fells and covering distances all the way up to 50 miles. As a family we love travelling and discovering new adventures, as I try and run around the world!

Follow Us

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • Google+
  • pinterest
  • youtube

Popular

  • Review : Ugg Boots Children
    Review : Ugg Boots Children
  • Win the ultimate potty training kit with HUGGIES® Pull- Ups®
  • Lamaze toy bundle
    Lamaze toy bundle
  • Sodastream giveaway
    Sodastream giveaway
  • Scuttle Bug :  review and give away
    Scuttle Bug : review and give away
(c) thisdayilove . Powered by Blogger.

Brands



Ambassador Badge Tonka Orchard toys Hotter shoes Forests Nuby BritMums - Blogging with Integrity

Created with by ThemeXpose