It's oh so quiet!

and all things nice...

Having recently discovered etsy and folsky - I know, where have I been right? I thought I would start a weekly post sharing my favourite finds. So here goes, and the winners for this week are...

Favourite store:

Now I might be a teeny bit biased here, as I recently won a giveaway from this fab designer, however I have fallen in love with Gillian Kyle's retro designs. The teacake wrapper is my personal favourite, and with items for adults, children, and babies you're sure to find something to fall in love with too.

Favourite find

I have a window above our downstairs cloakroom door, slightly odd I know, but I've been looking for something pretty to hang in it for ages. I literally stumbled across What. No mints? on etsy and found the Pleasure Molecule Heart Felt. A gorgeous item of sheer gorgeousness - and ships to the UK too :)

Happy shopping :)

Guilty mama

After three months of being back at work I've been asked to consider upping my hours (already!). Whilst the extra money is undeniably needed, I swore that I didn't want Pickle spending more time at nursery than at home with his mummy and daddy.

Increasing my hours would mean going from three to four days a week, although I would be able to keep Friday as my non-working day (thank goodness for long weekends!). I knew that being a working mum would be difficult, but I totally wasn't prepared for the feelings of guilt.

I'm sure most families could always do with a bit of extra money, I suppose my decision is really how much time away from the pickle I can face. On the plus side, we've got a fabulous nursery which Pickle adores, and I only have to commit to doing it for six months.

I could also be a bit savvy and use up some of my accrued leave to take holiday over the summer, meaning I could effectively carry on working three days, whilst being paid for four. That's not too naughty is it?

Would love to hear from any other mummies or daddies facing similiar decisions.

Please don't go!

I've read a bit about separation anxiety but thought, rather smugly I'll admit, that it was something Pickle didn't have an issue with it.

However, in the last few weeks he's been increasingly clingy, and has started crying every time I drop him off at nursery. It's heartbreaking leaving him sobbing, but I've been assured he soon perks up when he gets his breakfast!

While I've been told its probably just a phase its still really upsetting. I can totally see why my friend started taking her LO to the toilet with her - anything to avoid the dreaded sobs!

Would love to hear from anyone else who is going through similiar (pickle has just turned one). Lets weather this together!

Wordless Wednesday

Soft Play Review (Jumppin Jacks - Mildenhall)

Was torn between walking Devil's Dyke today or trying out a new soft play centre, but as you can probably guess from the title, the soft play won. We all had a great time, especially as our soon to be one year old currently gets in free (bonus!). Jumppin Jacks Funhouse is a purpose built unit on an industrial estate in Mildenhall. You can see a lot of thought has been put into the layout and design and on first entering we both remarked how much it looked like 'Fun House'. The under 3's section was small with just a ball pit and some large soft shapes. There didn't seem to be any staff supervising, and consequently lots of older children kept coming it, and a clever-clogs type dad thought it would be fun to empty his daughter out of the ball pit and then not replace the balls - hmmmmmm.

Despite this, the pickle loved exploring the under 3's area and especially enjoyed being carried around the older children's section. He even had a couple of trips down the slide with both mummy and daddy - so wish I had remembered my camera. I'm sure that Pickle will adore coming here when he's older, but I would say that for 1-2 year olds there isn't an awful lot to do, and new walkers would struggle to dodge the older children running around. We did however go at a weekend when its bound to be at is busiest.

For mums and dads, there's a cafe where you could get drinks and lights snacks (jacket spuds, toasted sandwiches, hotdogs) and a large selection of magazines. You can also purchase lunch boxes for children too. Overall a great experience, but I would be reluctant to bring the pickle here again at a weekend until he was a confident walker.

Eastenders Cot Death Storyline

I've been tweeting about this, so thought I would just add my thoughts to the mix! I totally understand that the soaps like to run 'real' storylines and undoubtedly Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is an important issue that most certainly should be addressed. My argument with Eastenders is not the actual decison to run a SIDS storyline, but to run it so sensationally. The baby swap plot was simply a step too far, and if anything detracts from the tragedy of infant death. The decision to cut this farcical storyline short is welcome relief and I hope will act as some comfort to the families that have the tragic misfortune to have dealt with infant death.

Although a 'teen' show, this issue was dealt with much more sensitively in Hollyoaks a few years ago, and if anything highlights how far Eastenders have gone wrong with this storyline.

ELC - Emergency Vehicle Trio Review

Just thought I would post a quick review of this fab toy from the Early Learning Centre. As one of the MANY presents given to the pickle for Christmas, I can honestly say that this is without doubt his fave. The three vehicles are super cute, and can be played with on their own or as a trio.They link together with little magnetic connectors which are incidentally also great to chew on! They're the perfect size for pickle's hands (who is just about 1) and he loves pushing them around the floor. Hours of fun and all for the bargain price of £5 (they're on offer at the moment).

The rules of 'soft play'

Having just experienced my second bout of 'soft play' with the pickle, it seems that not everyone follows the rules...

#1 - No eating or drinking. My friend Clare was highly miffed that children were running around dropping food, which her son was promptly picking up and eating. To be honest I don't blame her, and probably would have felt the same if pickle had scoffed a soggy half-eaten rice cake.

#2 - Share and share alike - the number of older children that were allowed to wrestle toys of the younger babies was unbelievable. Not that I'm saying you can always stop them, but one little girl was just running from one toy to the next, prising them away from the smaller babas. Definitely not fair play!

#3. Children should be accompanied at all times. Again, I'm not claiming to be perfect, but accompanying children should really mean watching them a little bit, right? Half of the people at this place were just there for a natter and didn't have a clue what their children were doing, hence breach of rules 1 and 2.

So, while pickle had a great time, it definitely could have been better if everyone had been playing ball. Lol, see what I did there?

I will survive

Well, survived receiving the redundancy phone call today, but my friend Eileen wasn't so lucky. While I was hugely relieved that it wasn't me, I felt so so bad for her. Eileen was really dignified though, and I was really impressed about how she handled herself. I doubtt I would have coped half as well. I'm not totally out of the woods yet as it looks like my team is in for restructuring but at this difficult time, I'm just grateful to have a job. The Government's spending cuts do officially suck.

Judgement Day

Just when I thought everything was ticking along nicely I find out that there's a good chance I might be made redundant. I've actually known for a little while that it could be happening, but I find out for sure on Thursday - eek! It will be a complete nightmare if it does happen as a new baby and new house have really stretched us financially. I'll definitely have to look for a new job, and I'll be gutted if I have to take the bebe out of nursery as he's settled in so well there. Financially though it works out much cheaper to get a childminder and nursery might just be a luxury we can't afford. Hubby keeps telling me to look on the bright side but I've just got 'that' feeling that its going to be me. Apologies for being so depressing, definitely not what you need post Christmas and New Year cheer.

Christmas 2010

Had a fab first Christmas with baby H but found it pretty hard work hosting both sets of grandparents. Still, H had a great time, and especially enjoyed his first meeting with a spookily familiar looking santa ;p