Links of Late

This weeks smile inducers...


* If you've ever had a burning question to ask another parent at the drop of the hat, you will appreciate Baby Hints and Tips as much as I do. This Facebook page is like a really big community of mothers all sharing their current concerns with babies, toddlers and children. Anyone can post a question asking for advice or looking for answers and any mama can comment giving her two cents worth. The pages admin staff do a wonderful job of always making sure the content is supportive and unbiased. It is well worth the 'Like'.

* How you and your child can be happier in 3 minutes? Yes please! Aha Parenting knocks it on the head again with a well written post of advice.

* With most older children having smart phones, there can be a possible benefit to the madness. The Morcombe family have recently launched an application for smart phones called 'Help Me'. If a child is in danger they just press a 'panic button', which automatically sends a text message to two nominated contacts with the users exact location. Rather than dwelling on the negatives of modern technology and it's effect on our children, we should be celebrating the immense successes like the launch of this app.

* This month Winter Love is sponsoring Oh Dear Drea again, I love the honesty and wit that Drea writes with. Her blog tells a tale of a single again mama, keeping it oh-so-real.

* I recently found this blog, and was taken aback with both heartbreak and sympathy. The woman behind this blog is a Mother to 7 children and has dealt with the sudden death of her eldest Son. She talks about her grief, depression and anxiety as well as the struggle of accepting that her and two of her children have a dangerous chromosomal abnormality. This is one strong mama, definitely a recommended read.

* Don't forget to enter the Easter Giveaway for your chance to win this sweet vintage xylophone. I have extended the end date of the giveaway until Sunday April 15th.

Easter Crafts; Part 2

Pinwheels are a cinch to make, and can dress up any table display effortlessly. You can place them on top of cakes, put them in vases with flowers or use them as a backdrop display.

Here's how I made my pinwheels (Which I added to vases of eggs)

1. You'll need a piece of paper or card that's length is three times its width, for example, I used a strip of card that was 7.5cms wide and 22.5cms long to make a small 7.5cm diameter pinwheel.

2. Fold your card in 2cm increments like a fan and secure in the middle with a piece of wire, staple or string.

3. 'Open' your pinwheel so that each side meets and glue with a hot glue gun, glue in a bamboo skewer to one of the pinwheels folds from the back.

And that is it! You could add a sweet button or embellishment to the front of your pinwheel or even layer larger sized ones on top of each other.



Being very stuck for time, this busy mama just made the simplest and quickest version of a pinwheel in one block colour. You can however, use lots of alternative colours, shapes and sizes, I especially like these ones! When time permits, I want to make millions and millions of pretty pinwheels in all beautiful colours.

Happy Pinwheel crafting!
Plenty of love,

Stitching at the seams

As mothers, we are the binding forces that hold our family together, the glue in the joints and the stitching at the seams. We watch over our children and partners with protective, nurturing eyes...always making sure that needs are being met and that desires are being fulfilled. But what happens when you start to lose your stick? When your thread becomes unstitched and you are no longer holding the seams together?

When you are a mother, having a 'bad few days' brings more than just feelings of the blue shade but also intense feelings of guilt. Guilt that you are unable to hold your own head up high, let alone help your children hold theirs. How can you encourage your toddler to laugh, when you, yourself are struggling to smile?

The past few days have been...really hard. It's not easy to open up and admit defeat to the world, let alone to yourself. But in doing so I actually feel slightly better. I imagined that caring for a toddler, whilst being pregnant would be hard, a lot harder than a first pregnancy. But I didn't imagine that it would seem very hard, so very suddenly. Everything felt manageable and in control one moment, only to feel like the worlds biggest challenge the next. The past few days, I found myself really struggling to juggle the day to day basics of my life. To get my toddler dressed and ready for an outing, as well as myself dressed and ready for an outing was becoming a physical and emotional challenge too large to tackle. To keep the house in some sort of orderly state was a challenge that although I wanted to tackle, I physically wasn't able. And when I find myself struggling to complete the daily basics of being a mother, the guilt that comes along with it fuels my overly emotional state. And overly emotional I certainly have been.

Perhaps its due to hitting that 6 monthly mark of pregnancy and the stress of knowing that very soon things will be changing very drastically. I also know my hormones are largely to blame for the unsteady emotional mama I have been. I've found myself unable to sleep at night with the fear of juggling two children playing in my mind, I've found myself in a puddly mess of tears when nothing in my wardrobe is fitting well or when catching sight of my thighs in the mirror. Shopping for baby items has become a teary, stressful venture rather than the exciting experience I want it to be.

I know that no one likes a Negative Nancy, but just as equally no one likes a Cheerful Charli so today I am posting as a Down-to-earth Darla. I may have had a bad few days, but I am hopeful that as my hormones level out a little and my pregnancy comes to an end I begin returning to the cool, calm and collected mama that I pride myself on being.

I owe such heartfelt thanks to my fiance Nick, he has forced me to stop and put my feet up and given me a shoulder to rest my head on. And that sneaky little post he wrote for me after a particularly bad day; so beautiful. 


Plenty of love,

A Sneaky Thankyou - by Mr K

It's not often that I get to sit down on the couch by myself and have a quiet minute and sip on a cup of tea. However, tonight is one of those nights!

It's also not often, that as Nat's partner I get the opportunity to sneakily gain access to her blog to write a post that is long past its due date, unbeknown to the sleeping beauty she is in the warmth of our bed. 

There are many words and many hours I could countlessly spend sharing the experience of our pregnancy from my perspective.

This post however, is all about my beautiful partner, Nat, and the amazing person I have been blessed to share a life, a relationship, and most luckily, a pregnancy with over the last 25 weeks. 

To my dear Nat,

From the beginning you have constantly proven me of the amazing person you are, and given me the confidence that you are most certainly the person who I could ever wish to create and raise a child, or children with.

I have watched in utmost admiration at your strength, commitment, maturity and determination as you have continued to maintain a flawless balance between being a mother to Stella, a partner, the perfect housewife as I go to work or play, and most importantly, the carrier of our unborn daughter. 

I am extremely proud and inspired by the way you conduct yourself in every aspect each and every day, and feel privileged to call you my partner and share life by your side. 

For all of us, I have found that physically and emotionally being pregnant isn't easy. I have learnt that although one of the most rewarding things a person can ever do, is also the most difficult. 

I admit at times, that I struggle to keep up and be the partner you need or desire, and regret the smallest mistakes when I don't fulfil my duties as a paternal Dad to be!

I wish sometimes that I was able to carry our daughter for a while and give you the much needed rest and recuperation, however will continue to learn so I can love and nurture you. You deserve only the best.

I will be forever grateful for these 9 months of our lives, and will continue to admire you and respect and appreciate what you have, and are continuing to endure.

I can't wait to meet the daughter you are taking such care and patience with, and know that she is going to be just as beautiful as you are.

Natalie, you are my inspiration and the love of my life.

Forever yours,

                      Mr K xxx

Easter crafts; Part 1

Easter decorating doesn't have to be all about pastels, fluff and brights. You can create a beautiful table display for Easter lunch, handmade gifts for family or props for children without even picking up a pink marker.

This Easter I chose a colour palette of chocolate, latte and cream to adorn our house with, and I thought I'd share with you all over the next few days the little DIY projects I nesting-ly lost myself in.

Firstly, Sugar Cookie Wands!

I used this easy recipe for Kiss Biscuits and inserted a bamboo skewer before baking for 10-15 minutes. Once cooled, I piped on frosting and refrigerated to set. I have found the best recipe for frosting to be a combination of a few floating around the Internet and my fail-proof method (after plenty of practice) is:

Soften 250 grams of butter, Sift in 3 cups of icing sugar and beat on high with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add 1/4 a cup of milk, and beat for a further minute.




Once the icing has set, you can either display the cookie wands in jars on your Easter lunch table or hand them out to the kiddies for a chocolate alternative gift. Perhaps even tie together the 'wands' with a ribbon or some twine and pop into a small vase for gift giving; an Easter cookie bouquet!

Sugar cookie wands can be adapted for any celebration really, just add colour suiting your theme or even get creative with frosting and pipe some bunny ears, Christmas trees or birthday numbers. You certainly don't have to be a baker to make a pretty yet easy treat!






Stay tuned for more Easter decorating DIY projects over the next few days! I can't wait to show you more goodies!
Plenty of love,

Easter goodness for you!

Happy Easter to all my lovely readers and your families! To celebrate, I am playing at being the bunny and have a special Easter gift for you! An Easter giveaway? Yes please!

To win this sweet vintage childrens xylophone with darling illustrations from Recycled Relix just comment below stating your favourite Easter memory as a child.

I can just imagine this xylophone on a sweet little dresser display in someones nursery!

You have until Wednesday April 11th at 7:00pm EST to enter and the winner will be chosen with a random number generator. {This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere!}
*edit* This giveaway has now been extended until Sunday April 15th 



Hop to it everybody! And I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Easter with your family, Happy egg hunting!

Plenty of love, 

A touch of handmade

I love giving gifts, but love giving handmade even more. With one of Stellas handsome little friends turning 1 recently, it was the perfect opportunity for me to unleash some creativity on a handmade card and sweet wrapping. I'm quite happy with how it turned out and have pledged ever since to give only handmade cards and wrapping decorations.






Happy Birthday little Kingston!