End of the Road

That’s me finished my stint as a My Funny Bunny author, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my posts. If you do want to read more from me (shameless plug) you can find me over at Curly&Candid.

Now while I have your attention I want to ask you if you’ve ever really explored the MFB blog?
Here you have a fantastic opportunity to not only read more about Monica (the brains and beauty behind it all) but also find fantastic, interesting and useful info for you and your family. There is a wealth of reviews, useful discount codes (let’s face it, we all like to save a few pounds where we can!), and great pieces from Monica and her talent team of guest authors. The MFB Blog is a great standalone site but also links to the truly fantastic My Funny Bunny online shop, a collection of must have items for pregnancy, birth, baby and beyond! I know Monica pretty well and am positive that nothing hits MFB’s shelves that she wouldn’t use with her own brood. MFB has a fantastic range of clothing, skincare items, accessories, toys, nursery items, gifts and more. So, stop reading now and go and explore! Have a proper look around the blog and visit the shop for a chance to see some gorgeous items at very reasonable prices. Monica – thanks for having me! It’s been a blast :)

Nicki
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I would like to thank Nicki for being part of our family on MFB, she is a great writer and a pleasure to have!

If you are a talented writer and wish to show off your skills by becoming part of our Blog family, please do get in touch :)

Monica xx

First Time Mum... Again!!

When Taylor arrived I was convinced I knew what i was doing. After all, it had all been done before hadn’t it? Kieran is nearly five so we’d done all the firsts, weaning, toilet training, the lot. Second time should be a piece of cake right? 

Luckily for me it has been so far. Taylor is a very laid back and contented baby. This is fortunate, because while he is laid back, when it comes to his wellbeing, I am not! I’d forgotten, or subconsciously tucked away the apprehension that comes with introducing a new life into the world. Am I doing it right? It worked with Kieran, maybe it won’t with Taylor? Did Kieran do that? I’m sure he was rolling over by now..... Yes, guilty as charged, I’ve been being a comparer. It’s lethal, and there is absolutely no point to it either as no two children are ever the same.

So now I’ve stopped, I don’t compare progress between the two, I just worry about Taylor in his own right. I’m a fairly laid back parent in most ways, but I don’t think it matters whether you have one child or six, you are always going to worry, always be on the lookout for small signs that all is not well, and never more than you will when they are very little & unable to tell you if things are as they should be!

I’m more confident in all the stages I’ve encountered before, I do things automatically, it’s a practiced art, but to be honest – the only significant difference between myself now and myself as a mum to a new baby nearly five years ago..? I read less books about parenting now, I just get on with it!

Are we all the same? Or am I just getting soft? Have you found that you worry less with child 2+ or like me, are you still in constant watch mode?

Nicki

My 4 year old has to earn his treats

Kieran putting the eggs away

What a mean Mummy! Kieran has a star chart and he knows that he has certain things that are his responsibilities throughout the day and that if he achieves these, and is well behaved, he will get a sticker. It used to be that when he got all the stickers, he could get a treat ie a 90p car from Tesco but now he gets cash. He asked if he could have some pennies instead of a car or small toy so he could save his pennies and buy something BIG! I was overjoyed when he approached me with this, clearly we’ve done something right!

The sorts of jobs he does are simple mostly, he makes his own bed and opens his curtains, helps make his own packed lunch, puts his uniform in the washing machine after school, does some tidying etc and any little jobs that I want him to do. Nothing too strenuous, but he is taking on responsibility for looking after his own things / room and is encouraged to help others.

I’m all for letting kids be kids but I don’t see anything wrong in this. Kieran is growing into a helpful & well-mannered boy who is keen to save up for the things he would like and hasn’t got that “I want/I need / I MUST have” attitude that I see so often nowadays (in both children AND adults to be honest!). I really don’t think wanting to “work” for what you get is a bad thing at any age.

What do you think? Am I pushing him to grow / mature too quickly?

*Incidentally – he is currently playing with his Lego vehicles which he made with the big box of Lego wheels we ordered from Amazon after he gave me £8 that he had saved up to pay for them.

Nicki x

Use it or Lose it!

Do you use your local library? When was the last time you visited? Do you realise it’s FREE!

Recently North Yorkshire County Council announced plans to chop library services across the county, to save money basically. I was horrified. We use the library regularly and a swift email to my local MP thankfully confirmed that our library wasn’t one up for the chop. Phew! It got me to thinking though. Our local services, which many of us take for granted, are not bullet-proof and could just as easy be taken away if we don’t utilie them!

I am an avid reader, as is Roy and I regularly borrow books to enjoy in those stolen moments of peace and quiet (if you are a parent, you know what I mean!). it is important to me that Kieran, who is 4yrs also has the opportunity to enjoy books. They open so many doors, to so many world, and help him with his reading, build his experience and knowledge and indulge his imagination. If the local library was taken away we would be bereft. Do you know what one book costs – I had a quick gander in WHSmith the other day £7.99 for an adult paperback, £8.99 for a hardback kids book (with 12 pages, 12!). Bereft and skint!

Libraries are not the quiet and solemn places they once were, there is no stern librarian glaring and hissing “shhhh!” at regular intervals. Ours has a large children’s area with low tables and chairs, beanbags, and a few toys. Children are actively encouraged to visit and they run regular storytelling sessions. We have book crawl where you collect stickers and stamps for continuing to visit and take out books. Kieran LOVES visiting! The staff are friendly, more than happy to answer his 30,000 questions and he would really miss not going. We can even rent DVDs from there (think poor weather and half-term bribery) for just £2 a week.

With the exception of DVDs you can access your library account online (yes seriously!) and renew your books up to three times so there is no excuse to run up fines or anything like that, It really is an invaluable service and one I will continue to use and support.

So if you haven’t visited recently, do pop in, make sure you use the library else you might find that when you do, it’s no longer there!

 Niki x

How did THAT happen?

In November last year I had this:

Now, four and a half months later, Ihave this:

A joke clearly? How can he have gonefrom  this small to ------- THIS BIG----------- in such a smallamount of time! And he has changed so much! His personality is reallybeginning to shine through now (he is a real giggle-pot and I have nodoubt will be a real monkey). What I realised the other day is that Ihave (fortunately) hundreds of photo of Taylor which document thischange. Unfortunately they are all digital. The only place I have him“up” is as part of a collage I did with Photobox recently.

Time to get my finger out I think andget some printed up. My printer has had it and the price of ink &photographic paper frightens the life out of me so I am going downthe “someone else can do it for me route”. I’m looking now atSnapfish, Photobox and the like to help me get my son’s firstmonths printed up and properly “documented”. Did you know thatwhen you sign up for many of these free photo developing sites youget 40-50 prints for free? They are only bog standard sizes but wellworth it!!

That is my mission for the next fewweeks – getting my photos organised, which I suspect will be amammoth task, as it’s not just the ones of Taylor but also ofKieran. I am constantly snapping him with something he has made or ina costume for school etc.

How do you all manage your pics andwhere do you store them? I’m tinkering with the idea of Flickr tohouse them unless anyone knows of anything better. Any ideas will beMUCH appreciated!! I should know how fast it goes, after all, I’vedone this before, but I don’t think any of us are prepared for howquickly our babies change and grow!

Niki x

Do I HAVE to have another baby?

It seems as if every day someone looks at Taylor, pinches his cheek, coo’s and says “So, when are you having another one?”. They then address my four month old baby and say “I bet you’d love a sister wouldn’t you!”. Yes, it would appear that I have committed the cardinal parenting sin – I have had two boys, we don’t have a girl to even things up. Clearly I should throw away my contraceptives immediately and work on (for want of a better phrase!) conceiving a girl.

Now the problem with this is... I’m not sure I want any more babies! Don’t get me wrong, I love my boys and I know full well how blooming lucky I am to have them! I have fertility “issues” and struggle to get pregnant, it took three and a half years of “trying” to conceive both of them. We were told we might not ever manage to have kids naturally (I have PCOS and ovulate approximately once every six months or so – needle in a haystack trying to pin those lucky three days down), so to be honest I think we’ve done pretty well all things considered!

And I love boys! That isn’t to say I wouldn’t have been just as thrilled if either or both had been a girl, but boys are great! You get what is on the tin- mischief, mud, mess but also a lot of affection! I really don’t think I NEED a girl to complete me or my family, I wonder why other people think that?

Do people who have all girls get the same? Are they almost urged to go out and have a boy?

I think your family is complete when it’s complete. Right now we are perfectly content. We have two happy and healthy *touch wood*, little men, who absolutely adore each other, and I imagine will be the best of friends, when not killing each other over stolen toys / computers / girlfriends as they grow. I can’t see me having another child, and that doesn’t really bother me, although I’m sure I’ll get twinges when Taylor goes off to pre-school, but regardless – we would never try for another child on the chance it “may be a girl this time”.

I would love to say to someone, just once “Well we got pregnant again, after your insistence that we needed a girl, and we’ve just found out it’s another BOY! Gee thanks!”. Wicked aren’t I!?

Just a random mini-rant. I have to wonder if subconsciously some of us are still programmed into the “perfect picture” of Mum, Dad, Boy & Girl. That is not a “normal” family in my opinion, each to their own – I’m one of SIX siblings (three boys, three girls lol), but that is a post for another day.

Is it just something people say then, or is there more meaning to “you need to have a *insert sex* now”? Hmm, curious!

Nicki

Meet our newest author - Nicki

I was recently given a copy of Time Management For Dummies, and so far haven’t had time to read it. In fact, it is in my bathroom, as the only spare minutes I seem to have at the moment is when on the loo. Taking on anything else might seem crazy but when the lovely Monica casually mentioned she was looking for regular guest-posters I jumped at the chance, rescued the book from the loo, and got myself sorted, as this is a fantastic place for me to blog. Fresh, modern, quirky, a little mad – I will fit in here nicely I think.

So here I am, your newest “resident” guest poster. Monica thought it might be nice for you to know a little more about me so I’ll start at the top.

THE BOYS

I am the very lucky Mum to two fabulous boys, Kieran who is 4yrs old and Taylor who is 16 weeks old (ok he is 4 months to the day very soon but for now, I am sticking to 16 weeks!).

Kieran is possibly the funniest, cutest and most fearless 4yr old known to man (especially the fearless part) and I adore him! He has been at school since September ’10 and loves it! Taylor’s personality is already starting to shine through and if I had to use one word to describe it... mischievous. Oh joy! This one will keep me on my toes. A complete giggle-pot. Best of all, they are smitten with each other. Yes one very lucky and proud Mummy here!

The LSH

The Long-Suffering Husband (Roy) is a gem, he is a hands on Dad, knows how to use the washing machine, makes egg fried rice from scratch that would make our local Chinese takeaway sob in frustration and is a great support. I work from home full-time, writing, blogging and other miscellaneous things, AND am a full-time Mum, housewife, cook, accountant, personal shopper.... (basically the same as every other Mum really) and Roy is great because he recognises this and appreciates what I do, as I do with him. We’ve been married 8 years and we fit perfectly. One very lucky and happy wife here!

Oh yeah, ME!

Well, with me you pretty much get what’s written on the packet; 2 scoops of children, one of husband, a smidge of sarcasm, a pinch of wit, a handful of humour, a portion of craziness, a touch of wannabe-interior-designer , a slice of freelance writer and blogger... and I love to cook too!

You’ll get to know lot’s more about me, my kids and the hubby over the next few months, and I’m looking forward to finding out more about the My Funny Bunny Blog readers!

Nicki x