sleep

Why I Used a Sleep Positioner for my Baby

  The news today tells me that baby sleep positioners have been declared unsafe by the FDA, and have consequently been withdrawn from sale by most trusted retailers, John Lewis being one. It’s no longer relevant to me, as a mother of two older children, but I’m going to tell you why I think it’s not a simple decision to make for so many parents. My baby was three weeks old when she nearly died. She was asleep in her rocker, one of those which lie flat – we’d taken all the advice about keeping a newborn safe, to the …

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Could you give up something you love to save money?

Being cold in bed is no fun. What could you not live without? And you can’t cheat and say your kids. Pick the one thing that you use every single day and could never give up. Then give it up for a week. Anxiety setting in yet? Could I save money on the One Week Energy Challenge? This is what MoneySuperMarket asked me to do last week, to see if I could save money, and how tough it felt to do so. I asked if I could give up Facebook – I could definitely use some motivation to take that time-sucker …

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Wot so Funee? Brownie Pack Holiday

I recently spent my first nights away from my family. There was a lot of excitement, and a bit of emotion in the days before I went. I even said I didn’t want to go, but that was more out of compassion for Mummy’s impending peace and quiet limbo than an actual desire to forfeit the freedom of my first Brownie Pack Holiday. I had my bags packed 3 days before departure, rising early each morning to double check I had everything I needed. I sniggered as Mummy attempted to paint my name on my matching plastic crockery – with nailpolish, …

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That Helen Keller was soooo lucky! A Wot so Funee? post

As many of you are aware, I’m a reader of the late-night variety. I have had my book-case surgically removed from my bedroom by my sleep-worshiping parents, and I step foot out of my bedroom during official sleeping hours at my peril. However, being less devout and more youthful in outlook than my past-it tired elders, I can go to all sorts of lengths to achieve a night-time read. Anyway, I don’t consider myself abnormal. Most of my friends are keen on the pursuit of covert reading. In fact, a good friend of mine recently took up the hobby and has myriad …

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Letters from Bedtime Bear: Wot so Funee?

We went to visit Grandma recently. Naturally our bedtime bears came with us. Every single time we pack to come home, we leave something behind. Last time it was all Mummy’s underwear, in a Florida hotel. The rest of the holiday saw her rinsing her smalls every night and hanging them under the ceiling fan to dry before tomorrow! This time we left Doudou. He was quite comfy, snuggled under the duvet, but an emergency phone call was put in to Grandma to retrieve him from his cosy hiding place. He sent a couple of emails to Mummy regarding his …

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Wot So Funee? Bug rants!

We are having a trying time with the Bug at the moment. We thought he’d outgrown his “threenager” period, and had settled back into being the thoughtful and polite boy we knew before. However it seems we were being conned into a false sense of security, as his temper is well and truly back. Whether it is down to a testosterone surge, the latest Wii game competitiveness, or the new trend for karate chopping at school, labels are not helpful, and we are somewhat bewildered by his new outlook on life. Here are some examples of his recent rants: But …

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Wot so Funee? Bad things about Mums…

Last week Wot So Funee? was brought to you by my friend C, who was missing her Mummy, and filled a whiteboard with all the good things about Mums. Meanwhile, here is what I wrote on the other side:   My Mum dances. In front of my friends. To One Direction. She thinks she appeals to my friends by doing that. She doesn’t. She just looks like a weirdo. Ditto the singing. Why she can’t see my eyeroll and hear my sigh is totally beyond me. Embarrassing – see 1 & 2 She is always telling me off for bossing …

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At Peace: The Photo Gallery

Mummy got some unexpected peace yesterday morning. When I woke up I read my books as usual. At 8am, my usual holiday hour for bursting into Mummy’s room and declaring up time, I got out of bed and tidied my room. (Mummy told me I had to the previous night, so I did). At 8.05am I got distracted and played with my Barbies. For nearly an hour. When I finally went to get Mummy up (Daddy had left at 5.30 for the office!) I collected the Bug on my way. This is what his clock said: When I asked him …

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A Series of Firsts

Well I am at it again, having been tagged by lovely newer bloggers My Rusty Halos and Mad Dog Woman of Shackleford to write up my series of firsts, or my first time at various set episodes in my life. I’m not really one for responding to tags, as I mentioned in my Blogger’s Dozen yesterday, but I couldn’t resist the cheeky answers which began to creep into my 7 year old head as I read the questions: First Boyfriend: *Jonas. He was in my Reception class at school. He can skip better than any of the girls, and he …

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Wot so Funee?

I wrote a post recently about how parent’s birthdays are so much better now that we kids are involved. It must have been so boring just waking up late and going out to dinner before we came along. Anyway, I neglected to showcase the birthday greeting I wrote for Mummy, and she found it both touching and funee, although quite what there was to laugh about was beyond me at the time. Grown-ups! Expatriating! So here it is, the finest birthday greeting any Mummy could want from her child (apart from the early start, the squeals of delight, and the …

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Reasons to be Cheerful & I am Grateful for…

There are so many this week I can hardly choose, so I’ll make it brief and list the ones that come into my mind first: 1. My Birthday: That’s just about the most cheerful I can possibly get! In fact I was so cheerful that I forgot to have a tantrum for the whole day! The same cannot be said for the Bug, who whined all day that he just wanted one more present…..! 2. Craft: To keep me busy! My friends all bought me craft for my birthday. I love this kind of thing! And the really great thing is that I am …

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Top 5 Tips for Learning to Read

I am grumpy at the moment. Mummy is calling it ‘end-of-year-itis’. You know, that point you get to when you’re comfortable with the teacher, you know it all, your brother is like, sooooo annoying you, and school are throwing parties, assemblies, trips, DVD’s and treats at you because, well, just because. Add to that my teacher’s contagious ‘hayfever’ every time she thinks of us moving on (we are the best class in the school, after all), and a little bit of hysteria is inevitable. However, it is quite likely that I am also suffering from lack of sleep; this is how …

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Trading Cards: Moshi MONSTER Meltdown!

Trading cards – what on earth are they all about? I have been begging M&D to let me get involved for some time now. I am desperate to log on to the computer game, but M&D say that whilst they are still paying for the Club Penguin membership there will be no new subscription-based online games. Finally, faced with a need to make me sleep more, Mummy invested in an incentive programme. Two weeks later I have the beginnings of a nice collection of cards. Twice so far I have had a complete temper meltdown. First I left my carefully …

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Tooth Fairy Misadventures (part 1)

In addition to this blog, I am writing a nightly journal. My first entry attempts to encapsulate the first 6 years of my life succinctly, so that I can move on to the cataloguing of  present-day events. As you will see below, a certain mythical friend has taken on a significance of epic proportions in my opening statement The Tooth Fairy (or T.F. as she is known in our household) has become something of an infatuation recently. She has made 2 visits to our house this week already, and I am currently working hard on securing another nocturnal stopover from her. …

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What a Nightmare! Top tip for dealing with bad dreams

Last night I had a nightmare. I was in the final of Strictly Come Dancing (yes, of course I’m that good). For some reason we had drawn the short straw and instead of being in a glitzy ballroom we were in the school hall. Not only that, but the head judge was a sorcerer, whose modus operandi was to throw dirt in the loser’s face. Now, 6 years of experience has taught me that the waking up of Mummy is only to be tackled after much consideration. So when I awoke, sweaty and indignant at the injustice of my subconscious ballroom failure, I …

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