Baby bottom butter for your face anyone?

Is anyone a convert to this pot of baby cream? The other week I came across an article in the Daily Mail comparing this cream to Creme de la Mer, not that I have ever had the luxury of trying this.  I didn't realise there was a big fuss about it back in 2008, with pots flying off the shelves leaving lots of Mums disgruntled when stocks ran low, hoping to bag the bargain miracle cream along with their grocery in Waitrose. Of course I wouldn't have known back then as anything with 'baby' in the title would have been disregarded in favour of some celebrity gossip and wedding planning. I might add I fell pregnant that year, then of course things changed dramatically...

Anyhow nearly 3 years later the miracle cream is being talked about again so I just had to get some for myself. Not being someone that frequents Waitrose or has one nearby I had to get some help so I asked my sister in law if she could grab a pot when she was next in there. Thinking it was for Beastie's bottom, (and had been told they were selling like hot cakes) she drove to her local store as soon as they had their next delivery and bought two pots! I was thrilled thinking that the two pots would see me through for a while, rather than splurging on expensive night creams when they are on offer.

I was surprised by the texture of this cream, don't get me wrong I wasn't expecting it to be luxurious, but I wasn't expecting it to be claggy and greasy (yes the olive oil ingredient is a major giveaway). I felt like I had to lie down for it to dry out for half an hour like a face mask, I certainly couldn't slap it on and go straight to sleep.  Well after the second night of using the cream I stood at the bathroom mirror hoping to be aghast with my glowy reflection, only to be greeted with a couple of lovely spots. Now I do occasionally succumb to the odd spot, as we all do but I knew that the blasted cream was to blame. So I think we can safely say my 'combination' skin is quite clearly the wrong combination here! For anyone out there though that suffers from dry or dare I say more mature skin, then maybe this cream is the answer you have been looking for. It's cheap as chips at £2.54 so give it a go! and let me know...I won't be peeved at all.

Silent Sunday...

Bare faced

I woke up this morning thinking my left eye felt a bit strange, knowing in the back of my mind that it could be something and hoping that my suspicions weren't correct. I even lent down and my eye throbbed just like last time. Well I can confirm my inklings were indeed correct and I have a gammy eye to contend with for the next week.

Doesn't something always happen when you have time off? it never goes to plan. Now I know it's nothing major so I shouldn't moan but I am going to anyway. The first time I had conjunctivitis was last August, I had managed to never have a bout for all these years, until Beastie came along and hopped along to nursery.

The first time coincided with a wedding and on the day of the wedding my eye (the left!) was possibly the worst it could be, watering like crazy, puffy and noticeably smaller than the right. I remember looking in the mirror thinking how attractive I look and remembering the advice friends had given me 'Don't wear any makeup and throw away the mascara and eye liner you have been using'. All this to avoid aggravating my eye, but what about the cost of my makeup! it's certainly not high end expensive but not exactly disposable either.

So what do you do when you have a noticeable flaw? you try and compensate in other areas, so I tried my best to look glam and accessorised my hair with a pretty flower to avert eyes from my not so pretty eye. I also ignored all advice and wore makeup on that eye, whatever happened I would deal with it later. It was both sunny and windy that day so the sunglasses were out in force (as they always are), perfect for shielding eyes from the sun and squinty eye from others and gale force winds! So I sat in the car whilst people were congregating outside the church after the ceremony as my eye was streaming...I don't think I could have looked more rude if I tried! not to mention the groom asking me if I was ok in the church as I was dabbing my eye constantly (I certainly didn't know them well enough to warrant crying). The plus side was that my husband let me drink that day, obviously out of pity, it was his friends wedding so usually the designated driver would have been me.

So do I hole myself up this week in case I frighten any small children (excluding my own) or brave the world bare faced? I wish I could be one of those women who looks fresh faced when au naturel, I can go without foundation but I can't never go without eye makeup, I just don't have those sort of eyes! This is just another reason why the sun needs to shine....

Reasons to be Cheerful

1. Today is the first day of 11 days off in a row! Woohoo, let's hope the sun puts his hat on again soon! You can't beat that feeling of knowing you don't have to return to work for a while...
2. I am booked for a swedish massage next week, something I have never had done and also have the entire day to myself :-)
3. Have a feeling that this year will be a much better year than last year, not forgetting that everytime I look at my little boy I should remember how lucky I am. 

The Nursery versus me

So yesterday was another usual day at work for me until my colleague pointed out that she had seen some kiddies in various buggies being pushed into the hospital lift. Immediately my heckles rose, it was not so long ago that I had told the nursery that I didn't want my son being taken into the hospital and certainly not one where I am walking around all day and likely to bump into them. It would be awful to not even be able to properly greet my son whilst with a patient, and even more awful that my son may become upset at seeing me leave.

After discussing this with colleagues and other Mums with kids in said nursery, I have found that I am the one that by far that feels strongest about it not being right. I personally think that you should not take children into hospitals, (unless you need to of course) it conjures up visions of people coughing and spluttering away (and they do!) and in a lift? it doesn't bear thinking about...

Over protective Mum I may be but purely this is common sense? Anyhow yet again I have spoken to the nursery and told them what I think (they have been rumbled again!) and they have assured me it won't happen again, surprised at why the girls used the hospital as a short cut. I pay good money for them to look after my child and I find it so disconcerting to find out they are not obeying my wishes. Luckily for me he only attends two days a week and my son loves his time there, so for that I can't fault them but I do often feel they are simply not listening to me, grrrr.

The move to the big boy bed

So recently Beastie was promoted from cot to cot bed (big boy bed) after a period of intensely hating his cot. Unsure of what was the best way forward I eventually decided that the cot bed sides were clearly the issue, so with a little persuasion I managed to convince my husband to take off the sides. I was excited to see Beastie's face light up, thrilled to find that he too had a proper bed.  I couldn't wait for bed time (routine all planned out and idylic scenario in my head), only to find out that the last few weeks until the present have been anything but idylic. The first night went smoothly, so smoothly in fact that I smugly boasted on Facebook about the transition, knowing other friends would read and be secretly envious of Beastie's progress.

Now as we all know gloating usually comes back and bites us on the backside, and in this instance it certainly did. We are now dealing with a Beastie in our bed. I have heard much advice about how to remedy this situation but nothing so far is having any effect. Having always thought how lenient some parents are by having their kids sleep in with them, I now see it is not so black and white. It is all very well being told to do the 'bath and bed' routine and hey presto your child will jump into bed and nod off during their bed time story but what happens when your child will not respond to that?

When I am getting onto story number four and hearing 'again again', I am thinking who on earth are these children that get sleepy after story time?! and where can I find one? After a few nights of sticking to this routine, and spending the most part my evenings in Beastie's room while he puts his feet up on the wall, lying there thinking 'what am I supposed to be doing now Mummy?', I introduced the baby gate.

Now I thought this was fool proof and guaranteed to combat all the issues, once asleep he would not be able to wander out of his room should he wake up in the night. Wrong again, I think we are beginning to see a pattern here with bars (with the cot sides). He has hours of fun opening and shutting it but will not be locked in. This is where I have had all the advice about 'controlled crying', I am not against it at all but when your child is practically vomiting from hysteria and you live in a block of flats, you think again...

So for now, until I have some time off where I can afford to be tired trying to get him to sleep in his own room, Beastie rules the roost! The only saving grace is that when he does get into our bed it's not my back that gets little toes needling into!

So there I have admitted my poor Mummy skills on this front, bad Mummy!

What I wouldn't give for a nice shiny iPad...

Now I have made the step to start all this blogging malarky, I have also decided it would be fantastic to have an iPad. Let's face it I 'need' an iPad to become an accomplished blogger, well that's what I tell myself. I can see myself perched on the sofa, iPad sitting comfortably on my lap or even lounging in bed, peace and quiet, (this really is wishful thinking) whilst I tap away, ideas aplenty! an iPad and I would be so happy together....

In reality it's just another gadget that I can ill afford (sniff) and simply can't justify! My husband is just the same as me, ideal match you might say but an absolute nightmare when it comes to reining in the spending. Someone has to be the grown up and decide when something is needed or not, that is usually me and I do a pretty job rubbish with that role!

So to keep us occupied and dreaming that one day one of us will win something (other than an Andrex puppy from an empty toilet roll), we have been eagerly entering The Times online competition to win an iPad every hour. As they say you have to be in it to win it, something which I really should apply to the lottery! I shall let you know if our luck should change, oh how happy I would be...

When will the Beastie give in?!

It is now nine thirty and I still have a little ball of energy running around the lounge, showing absolutely no signs of retiring to bed anytime soon! After resisting 'a nap' until as late as possible and sleeping until gone 6, I suppose I only have myself to blame (and my husband as he is home too). But hey it's Sunday and I have tomorrow off and the Beastie thankfully is too young for school yet, so it will just be me who has to deal with a very grumpy child tomorrow who is clearly sleep deprived. This however will not hamper his desire to run riot and swivel my chair whilst sat at the computer, in his bid to have my exclusive attention, usually gained by hitting me in the face and grabbing the keyboard.

After reading an article about how much time Mums spend online now at the expense of their children, this demonstrative act from him does stop and make me think 'am I being neglectful?'. Will he always remember Mummy as brushing him aside when she was busy? I think about how much more time my own Mum must have had because the internet didn't exist back then! What on earth did she do with herself? she taught me to read by the age of 3, that's what she did. Of course I have that ingrained in me to do the same, something which I wholeheartedly aim to do. What I have learnt so far as a Mum is that it takes a while to learn how to juggle everything and no one ever gets it right...it's about finding a happy medium.