Bad Mum of the Week

This week saw me in the usual unorganised chaos of family life.

Pop Princess goes to nursery on Wednesday mornings and last night about 10pm I realise that her uniform from last week is still in the wash!!! aagh, could I get away with her wearing her polo shirt again? I rescued it from the laundry basket for an inspection, it smelled delightful but there were paint marks on it there was no other way round it I had to stick it in the washing machine on a fast wash.

Cursing myself that I had left it too late and should really be organised and thinking what a bad mum I was to contemplate sending my child to school in a rescued shirt from the laundry basket, I waited till the washing was done, and then hoped it would be dry by the morning,

This morning came and result it was largely dry but the collar was still damp! so there I was drying the collar with my hairdryer!! 10 minutes later and it was dry as a bone.


Panic over.



Can you spot Pop Princess above on her Sports Day (in a clean uniform!)

Glorious Weekend

We had a brilliant weekend as my best friend from university came to stay with her family and now we have moved into a new house we had room to move and spread everyone out.

Although Pop Princess ended up sleeping in with us as her and Ollie, my friends little boy who is 4 just wouldn't settle in the same room and every 10 minutes they were downstairs giggling saying they needed a wee or the last excuse from pop princess was that she wan't feeling very well.

The kids had great fun in the garden and we got some brilliant pictures





Happy Days!

My Absence and Moving House

I have been a little quiet of late, you may have seen me pop up on twitter now and again mostly chatting about work stuff, looking for other bloggers to review things and get involved in campaigns.

But my own blog has been neglected again, I am finding it increasingly hard to find the time to write and when I was off on maternity leave with Rock Baby it was a lifeline and I really enjoyed it.

Life has now gone back to normal, juggling work with family life stretching myself in more ways than one the usual moan. Actually I don't want to moan as life is pretty good at the moment and it is as they say what you make it.

We have just moved to a beautiful house in the country. This is Rock Baby and Pop Princess in our old house, they had just come home from nursery to find pretty much everything gone, which they found very exciting.


I now have my own office over looking fields with sheep and horses. It's very quiet....very quiet! When you are used to living in the middle of a town with the comforting sounds of boy racers whizzing up your road, the occasional drunks falling out of the pubs singing on a Friday and Saturday night and where your next door neighbours are just about the only people you know. Country life will take some getting used to but lets face it that's not a chore!






The Girls will have a much better quality of life, they now have a garden to play in instead of a postage stamp courtyard. Mummy and Daddy can work from home more and hopefully be less stressed and we can spend more quality time together. Pop Princess said again today she wanted to go home to the house with the blue door (she means our old house) but instead of crying this time when I told her there was a new family in our house she simply said 'OK Mummy that's fine'. We had had a few tearful episodes over the last two weeks but we have now turned a corner. Rock Baby couldn't care less and has taken it all in her very laid back style.




Oh and Finnie, yes the dog our other baby is in heaven she patrols the back garden ever night keeping the sheep in line in case they dare to get too close to the fence!

Who knows we may even start growing our own vegetables!

Just need to get myself a nice pair of wellys, size 6 Hunters in Aubergine. Very specific I know.

I'll check in again soon I promise.

Earth Friendly Baby Competition and TePe MiniT Review

Our bed time routine has been made a little more pleasant of recent weeks thanks to the arrival of some new bath time bubbles / hair and body wash from Earth Friendly Baby


We were sent the Earth Friendly Baby Organic Mandarin Shampoo and Body Wash. It smells gorgeous and I really liked it as it instantly lathered up when you put it on the girls hair, it also washed out easily and didn't irritate their eyes. Pop Princess has really long hair and it left her hair shining and in lovely condition. Rock Baby's is still growing but she smelt like a lovely mandarin after her bath!It promises to leave your baby smelling sweet and smiling and it certainly fulfilled these promises. The Shampoo / Body wash is priced at 3.99 for a 250ml bottle and is available at selected Waitrose Stores and good baby and health stores.







We were also lucky enough to be sent some new toothbrushes from TePe MiniT by Molar Ltd all of which are British Dental Health Foundation approved. Rock Baby has not long started having her teeth brushed and Pop Princess is pretty good at brushing her own, obviously supervised and with a little extra help scrubbing them from me!



We had a yellow and pink toothbrush, they have long handles a bit like weaning spoons, which I found brilliant as it is a lot easier to clean Rock Baby's teeth with them, the bristles are also soft and as a first toothbrush I think its probably one of the best I have tried. Pop Princess wanted the yellow one, which had a little teddy design on it, she has a tendency to chew on hers so its looking a little worst for wear now but she is 3 and so it probably isn't as suitable for her as it is Rock Baby. I would thoroughly recommend them as a first tooth brush though. They are good value to at only £1.99 and available from all leading pharmacies.



Competition Time!

If you would like to win some Earth Friendly Baby products, we have 3 chances to win the shampoo and Body Wash:

Go to the Earth Friendly Facebook Page and Like it
Follow me on Twitter @rockbabyworld
Follow my blog
Cut and Paste 'I want to win the Earth Friendly Goodies' in the comments box below

Competition to open to UK entrants Only
Winners will be drawn using random selector
Competition closes on 27th March

A Woofing Fantastic Time at DFS Crufts

Last Sunday I was invited to attend DFS Crufts as a VIP Mum along with my hubby, the girls and my dad and step mum.




We had a brilliant time, a big thank you to the lovely Maria and Holly who organised a stress free and very enjoyable family day out.

We arrived about 11am and had time to walk around the many different stalls, and various dog displays that were happening, Pop Princess had her face painted at the Samsung Stand, whilst Rock Baby was happy to take it all in from the comfort of the buggy! She was also thrilled when a very friendly golden retreiver came and said hello!



I was in my element looking at literally every breed of dog you could think of, many of which I had never heard of before. The breeders were very friendly and willing to answer any questions, we made a bee line for the Griffon Bruxellois Stand as 'Finnie', our 'other' baby is the same breed. It turns out the lady running the stand knew the breeder who we got Finnie from and was actually her mentor.

We knew it may happen and it did and we all fell in love with one little dog, the smooth red haired Griffon which was just like Finnie. She was amazing and she is going to have a litter this summer, so we took details and plan to stay in touch as we would love another addition to the family!




Just before lunch we headed over to the press room, where we met the other lovely bloggers and their families which included Roz from Kin Hodgkins, Fi from Childcare is Fun, Liz from Me and My Shadow and Maria from Mummy's Busy World.


It was so nice to meet some other bloggers in person as you tweet and email all the time and so its great to put a name to a face. We met Holly the head of marketing for The Kennel Club who was so lovely and then we were all taken for lunch which was scrummy and by the time that was finished it was starting to get a bit late.

The queue was already starting to grow for Best In Show and the girls were starting to get grouchy but we wanted to see the arena so we tried to entertain them whilst waiting (thank god for child friendly Apps on the iPhone!). When we got in we had brilliant seats and Pop Princess loved the agility show and the music she was so excited and even Rock Baby joined in for a bit of clapping!




by 6.30 we had to leave as it had been a long but brilliant day for them. DFS Crufts is a great show if you are dog mad like me, it does get very busy though and you need to keep eyes everywhere in case your toddler goes wandering, thankfully we had grandparents on hand to help us with the girls! It was a shame the main shows were in the evening so we couldn't stay so not really great timing for those with really young children like ours. It didn't matter though as we all had a really enjoyable day out and we would definitely go again.




We also recieved a free goody bag crammed with dog treats and toys which Finnie was very grateful for!, key rings, pens, books and leaflets. Thanks so much to The Kennel Club for inviting us!

The Guilt of a Working Mum

Poor little Pop Princess has come down with the sickness bug now, bless her she looks so poorly. Rock Baby on the other hand has bounced back and is happy as Larry now!




My dad who looks after the girls for two days per week has also been struck down, he has been very ill and I feel so bad for him, he is no spring chicken and he recently gave up smoking which I have been so proud of him for, but it has seemed to have had the opposite effect in which he seems to pick up all manner of bugs and his immune system seems so low. You think after kicking a 40 year smoking habit he would be so much healthier. We think it's the years of tar being cleaned out of his system.

One of Rock Baby's little friends who we saw on Thursday has also been sick today, this was after we saw them 48 hours after her last bout and when I believed she was on the mend, but actually she was still infectious obviously.

So it's a waiting game to see if me or my hubby get it! Not something I am looking forward to.

We had to come up with a solution to Pop Princess's distress when it came to Rock Baby screaming when she was ill. PP hated it and would scream at RB to be quiet and was getting herself in a right state as she couldn't handle the noise, she was really sensitive to it. Thankfully one of our friends works in Formula 1 racing and he had got some ear protectors for his little girl for when she went to the races and suggested we borrow them. As you can see from the pictures below they worked a treat and PP was a much happier little girl!





With illness comes all the juggling with trying to get alternative child care sorted out, having to leave work earlier to attend to sick children and some days not being able to go in at all as they are simply too poorly and only want their mummy.

I was supposed to go the The Baby Show last week and also had a big meeting in London, thankfully they understood when I had to rearrange which was great and I have a very understanding boss. Hubby had to take the day off work today to look after the girls as my week was quite disrupted last week so we are trying to share the load, whilst the girls get better and my dad recovers. Nursery is also out for Wednesday but luckily my in laws are helping out.

It's been a usual mix of emotions like it is for many working mums with Guilt being the biggest.

Guilty for leaving them when they are poorly to go to work and feeling that was wrong

Guilty for letting work down and having to rearrange meetings and for not being able to make it into the office

Guilty for my dad getting poorly and Rock Baby's little friend

There is always something to worry about but when they are ill it makes everything that little more stressful!

Win a Family Ticket to DFS Crufts 2011

It's Competition time!

As you know I was very lucky to be selected to attend DFS Crufts 2011 as a VIP MUM by The Kennel Club. The whole family are really excited to be attending and we will be going on Sunday 13th March as its the best in show day! Its also the toy dog day so we are hoping to see lots of other Griffon Bruxellois like our dog Finnie.

Crufts promises to be a great family day out and I will be reporting back with how our Crufts experience goes.

I am very pleased to be in a position to run a competition on my blog and one lucky winner will win:

A family ticket to DFS Crufts and personalised children's shirts. Like the ones below:



The winner can choose the style that they like the most. They have some great limited edition merchandise available this year including this rather lovely hoody which has the 120 years logo on it (can you believe the show has been going for that long!)



To enter this competition all you have to do is answer the following question:

What day and year was the very first Crufts event held on (quick tip go to the DFS Crufts home page for help!). Just put your answer below in the comments box and tweet the following:

I would like to go to #DFSCrufts2011 I've entered with @rockbabyworld

The Competition closes on the 26th February and the winner will be randomly selected.

If you would like to find out more about the event go along to their facebook page here and follow them on twitter @KCLovesDogs

It would also be lovely if you could follow this blog!


Good Luck everybody!!!

Silent Sunday - Poorly Rock Baby

Silent Sunday - Poorly Rock Baby

Thursday my day off!

Thursday today which means my only day off with the girls, this morning we went to the hospital so Rock Baby could have her check up for her birthmark and they are really pleased with her, its almost gone and they think she will only have to be on the medication for a few more months!



RB has been really grizzly today and she was up from 12 to 3 last night teething, and we are so not use to it so I was walking around like a zombie this morning. We have been extremely lucky with both the girls, who have always slept from a very early age from 7 to 7! Its more likely to be pop princess waking me up than RB, she us up at least once a night either needing a wee or wanting to be tucked back in or she has lost mickey mouse. Its almost like automatic pilot now and 9 times out of 10 I will be the one to get up whilst my hubby snores away, I do give him the obligatory dig in the ribs when I collapse back in bed though!

PP had her swimming lesson this afternoon, its only her third lesson and she is already swimming all on her own with a tummy band and arm bands, so proud of her as I am a bit rubbish when it comes to taking the girls swimming so she hasn't really been that much. I just find it so stressful, its always boiling and the whole getting undressed, dried and dressed again is like an assault course. Now PP is 3 she can have classes on her own whilst RB and I watch her progress from the nice dry and stress free viewing corridor.



PP also started her new nursery this week, she is in kindergarten and has a uniform to wear, she looked so cute and so grown up it was like the first day at school! She had shiny new black shoes to wear to and was so excited, she bounded into her new class and was so confident and happy saying 'hello everybody!' and then sitting herself down and helping herself to toast with all the other children and hardly a second glance back at me!

Finally I'll be putting my competition up on Monday for one lucky person to win a family pass to DFS Crufts so watch out for that...

I'm Going to DFS Crufts 2011!

I had some very exciting news this week I have been selected to be a Crufts Mum and have been invited by The Kennel Club to attend the DFS Crufts show 2011, on Sunday 13th March. I am so excited! Its going to be a great fun family day out and the girls will love it especially Pop Princess. The show is in its 120th year and will take place 10 – 13 March at the NEC Birmingham

I've always been a big dog lover, I've had a dog in my life ever since I was born. They have always been treated as a family member and Finnie our little dog was our baby before the girls were born.



Finnie above when Pop Princess was a baby!

We searched high and low for Finnie, she is a Griffon Bruxellois and we knew they were great little dogs, with an infectious personality and highly intelligent. We had a dog of the same breed called Cora when I was younger and she was bought for my mum as an anniversary gift, she was an amazing dog and soon attached herself to me. Shortly after we had Cora, we got Bess a German Shepherd a much bigger dog but completely soft as anything and great with young children. At the time my mum used to look after my two little cousins whilst my Auntie went to work and we have pictures of them when they were babies sitting in Bess's basket when she was a puppy all curled up together.

When we lost Bess and Cora to old age my dad was devastated as was I. Those two dogs were the stability and loving presence my dad needed when my mum passed away. They would not leave his side and seemed to understand what we were all going through.

We have been invited to DFS Crufts as a family and my dad and his wife will be coming with us and it will be fantastic as its also my dads birthday the same day too. We are going on the Sunday which is the Best in Show day.

For anyone that is thinking of going to DFS Crufts this year more details can be found at their website www.crufts.org.uk but if you would like the chance to win a family ticket to the show, please keep checking back as I will be running a competition very soon!!

As well as the competition I'll be running a guest post by Louise Glazebrook of The Darling Dog Company, who is a well respected dog trainer and dog behavioural therapist and she will be writing a post with advice on introducing children to dogs.

Silent Sunday - We meet Ben and Holly at the Toy Fair

My little ballerina

I just wanted to share some adorable pictures with you of Pop Princess taken before her ballet lesson this week, she is the cutest thing ever.





Unfortunately they didn't have the ballet shoes in her size so she is looking super trendy in her little ugg style boots which are made by Babies in Sheeps Clothing, who I look after in my consultancy role. They have a 50% sale on at the moment and as I know how good their stuff is I bought these boots for Pop Princess and even some little ones for Rock Baby! I would never normally mention any clients within my personal blog, but I am friends with Lysette who runs the company and she is a fellow mum too trying to juggle everything so we have a lot in common.





Today I have been to the Toy Fair in London, but in my usual working mum role trying tying to juggle everything, I was racing around like a headless chicken. This morning Pop Princess had her induction at her new nursery. The visit went really well and she loved it there, all the kids seemed happy and really relaxed and the staff were brilliant with her. She starts the week after next and even has a cute uniform to wear!

So after the visit finished I dropped her home and dashed to London on the train, eventually got to the Toy Fair, zoomed round it, had a quick meeting with some lovely ladies who I hope to be working with soon and then hot footed it over to Tottenham Court Road for a music project and then had to zoom back to Kings Cross to get the train home.

I arrived just in time to relieve my dad who had been looking after the girls this afternoon and it was a quick wash, brush teeth, milk and story time for them both and then in bed.

And now here I am checking emails, writing proposals and sneaking a little blog out.

I am a Glee Mama!

Its been a really busy week this week, work has been crazy. I was in London on Tuesday for meetings and I also went to a trade show called Top Drawer and I met some really lovely people and companies most of which were children's and Baby brands just starting out, so I'm hoping that in the next few weeks I will get to work with some of them.

Today is my only day off so we try and make the most of it and the girls and I have had really lovely fun packed day. It started at 9 30 with Frog's Chorus run by a fab lady called Duvessa who sings and plays the guitar and the kids think she is brilliant. Rock Baby was shaking her little hips, clapping and grooving away and pop princess was on fire running around the room and singing along.

Straight after we darted to the dentist for a check up and I have to admit I am a total wuss when it comes to dentists but obviously can't show any sign of that in front of pop princess who went first and promptly received her sticker for being a good girl. Me on the other hand has to have two fillings, I quickly told the dentist that I would have it done next time, if only they knocked you out like the dentist in Glee this week.

Talking of Glee I am an official Glee Mama! thanks to the great idea of Little M's Mummy over at Mummy's Busy World.Yes it may seem sad but I love the show and it seems I'm not alone there seems to be a little Glee Mama recruitment frenzy going on so if you want to join the gang hop over here and you can be the proud owner of a badge like this:



This afternoon Pop Princess had her first swimming lesson on her own! I was nervous for her but she loved it, and the teacher gave her loads of confidence and I'm sure in no time at all she will be brave enough to let go and have have a swim on her own.

Tomorrow I am off to London again to a video shoot, with a lovely client who has an album on in March, so the girls will be dropped off to nursery and then I'm driving down to the city.

Nip + Fab Review

NIP + FAB CELLULITE FIX REVIEW



Shortly before Christmas I was lucky enough to trial a new Gel with the aim of banishing cellulite! Hey I’ll try anything that promises me that. I have never been over weight and eat fairly sensible but I think down to genetics more than anything else I have always suffered with the dreaded orange peel look on my thighs and bum.

Its been a year now since I had Rock Baby and Its finally dawning on me that I actually have to get my butt in gear and get down to some serious exercise to shift the last few pounds and to really tone up and I will take any help I can along the way!

So I trialled NIP + FAB Cellulite Fix Body Sculpting Gel, it comes in a 150ml tube and is a fresh smelling gel that melts into your skin for targeted and fast action on your cellulite.

My skin felt lovely and smooth after using it and wasn’t sticky and did actually melt straight on, which when you have to get ready in super quick time in the mornings with two little ones hanging around your legs you need something that is going to dry very quickly.

It said on the tube to use twice daily, I managed it at least once a day first thing in the morning but found I had to use quite a lot, maybe because I have a huge bum?! So actually the tube only lasted for about 3 weeks but I did notice my skin felt smoother and tighter.

However as we all know you need to eat healthily, exercise, dry body bush and drink tons of water and when you combine these things whilst using the gel I’m sure that after time you would see the results. As Dulwich Mum put it so well on twitter this week when we were tweeting about tummy fix’s ‘if they had a gel to cure it then it would be on prescription!’

I would definitely buy the gel again and if you want to find out more you can visit www.nipandfab.com or buy it at Boots. It retails at £17.95 for a 150ml tube.

Silent Sunday - A dog's Life

My first Silent Sunday Post....



It's a hard life...zzzzzzz!

Rock Baby's Birth Mark Has Almost Disappeared!

Rock Baby will be one tomorrow, unbelievable that the year has gone so fast in a blink of an eye. Its also been 5 months since she started treatment on her birthmark which as some of you may have read on previous posts it was a worrying decision for us to make, whether to go ahead and let her be part of a new drugs trial using the drug propronal.

However now we are very pleased we made the decision to go ahead and I wanted to post a picture of Rock Baby below when her mark was at its biggest and a picture taken just last week. The change is amazing.



The above picture was taken about 6 months ago



This Picture was taken on Christmas Day! We are all so happy it was definitely worth the worry :)