Brand Partnerships

Should I Worry About My Child’s Height?

How to monitor your child's growth

When I was pregnant with my son all his scans showed him to be an average sized baby. When he was born he was placed on the 50th percentile. By his 6-week check-up he was down to 2.5%. That’s when I started to panic – was I failing to nurture my baby properly? In this blog post I’m going to look at child growth and development from the experts’ point of view, and help parents figure out what is normal growth rate for your child. As new parents we all focus hard on every tiny development in our children. The …

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Why it’s Worth Getting an Outdoor Pizza Oven

The Gozney Roccbox outdoor pizza oven

Are outdoor portable pizza ovens any good? Read our review of the Gozney Roccbox to see how we got on with it. (Spoiler – I’m never buying supermarket pizza again).

Gifts For Teenage Girls For Special Occasions

I’ve never found choosing gifts for teenage girls tricky; even if they’re not hankering after the latest tech, it’s usually easy to find inspiration in clothes, makeup, or their latest music passion. But when it comes to special days – 18th birthdays, 21sts, or even a graduation gift – I feel like I want to push the boat out with a more memorable gift. Advertorial content: this post contains affiliate links to Newbridge, who have paid me for my time in writing this post. Words are my own. Irish lifestyle brand Newbridge Silverware got in touch with me recently to …

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How To Sleep Through Night Sweats

A cooling duvet for when you can't sleep because of night sweats

Sleeping in the heat, or through the night sweats of menopause can be difficult but there are things you can do to improve your chances of getting a restful night without resorting to air conditioning. I struggle with heat regulation at night, so when hot weather hits the I take action. Here’s how I sleep in the heat.

Father’s Day Gift Ideas for 2021 from Boots

Every year me and the kids have the same debate – what should we get Dad for Father’s Day? When you’ve been married 21 years and your kids are teens like ours, you’ve done your fair share of home made cards and funny photo mugs (lovely as they are!) and you really want to get your Dad something special that you know he’ll love and make use of! What to get the Dad who has everything? This year the UK’s favourite pharmacy Boots asked us to take a look at their Father’s Day gift section to see if we could find …

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How do you stay COVID safe when something needs fixing in your home?

  Have you had to have repairs done in your home during the coronavirus pandemic? Or are you like me – do you keep putting them off until lockdown ends?  Unfortunately, things seem to go wrong at the worst possible times, don’t they? And you never can count on the weather – I’ve lost count of the number of people I know whose boilers broke down during the recent cold spell. I’ve been there and let me tell you, virus or not, nothing would have stopped me calling a plumber while everyone else huddled next to the fan heater!  Luckily …

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Adding Extra Seating in the Teen Chillout Room With a Beanbag Armchair

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED When we moved into this house our priority was getting the kids bedrooms sorted, followed by the kitchen. We didn’t give a thought to the ‘dining room’ other than to gratefully claim it as a space to store the kids’ toys where we wouldn’t have to look at them as we tried to relax in the evenings. It gradually became the playroom, and we totally forgot about the ugly wallpaper and lack of curtains, closing the door on it every night so we didn’t have to tidy up Buzz Lightyear and 22,000 Lego bricks before dinner. The …

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