CyberMummy Needs You!

The CyberMummy11 site is just about to go live - but before it does we need your help. We would love to feature some real comments and feedback from last years conference and each comment that we use will link back to your blog.

Want to help?

Just leave your feedback / comment on this post - with your blog link and we'll do the rest.

Parent bloggers wanted!

I'm on the hunt for some fab parent bloggers with babies or toddlers for an exciting project that I'm working on. If you'd like to be considered please add your blog URL to the linky and we'll take a look.

Brand looking for London based blogger

CyberMummy - Sponsor a blogger call out!!!

I have a brand looking to be paired with a London blogger who has a child or children aged between 2 and 4 years.

If this sounds like you, please leave me a comment with your Twitter id or email and I will be in touch to get some more info from you.

Blogladesh... Behind the scenes at the BMB web chat

We were a bit rowdy due to the fact that we'd been able to take our first semi normal shower in three days but this is us  - as we were talking to you all courtesy of my CyberMummy partners Susanna and Jen of British Mummy Bloggers.
Don't know about you but I think their web chats are a million times better than mumsnet.

CyberMummy 2010 - tickets go on sale....

Thank you to everyone for bearing with us whilst we got our registrations up and running. You will be very pleased to know that you can now purchase your ticket to  CyberMummy 2010 our very first conference for the early bird rate of £85.

This is a limited offer - so what are you waiting for? Get over to www.CyberMummy.com now!

How often do you lie to your kids?

Some of this mornings papers reported that us naughty mummy's (and daddy's) tell our children on average 100 lies a year. Am I missing something here? Because I would say 100 a week would be on the low side. Maybe I'm an exception but I have a feeling that I'm not.

I'm not talking big massive untruth's here, just the little white ones.

For example..

Today I woke at 6.05am, thanks to FunnyGirl bursting into our bedroom and stating that she needed to pee. She has her own toilet but prefers to pee in ours.

Lie 1. You go and get your breakfast and I will be down in a minute. (Yan got up and I went back to sleep but I was tortured by my lie as I had a bad dream about my Mini getting squashed between two mobile homes and it had all of the dance costume inside... random!).

Lie 2. If you don't make your bed I am going to eat your Panda's.

To FunnyGirl again. She knows I don't eat pandas.

Lie 3. I will have written your name in all of your dance costumes by the time you get home from school.

Erm, I know that I still technically have a couple of hours but no chance.

Lie 4. I will look for ToTo.

Again, bare faced with that one.... ModelGirl will come home from school and expect ToTo to be waiting for her - so that she can lend him to her friend along with her Dorothy costume for tomorrow's World Book Day.

Lie 5. I am going to ban TV for a week if you don't turn it down.

Something I am sure you have all said.

Lie 6. "What are you eating mum?"..... me... "nothing"
When I clearly have a whole jaffa cake in my mouth.

Do you see my point. I'm already at five on day one and they have been at school all day.

But I do stand firm in the fact that I have never told them any big bad lies - well apart from the one about it taking the tooth fairy three or four days to find our house because we live in the countryside - but that's not too bad is it?

What about you? Big black ones or little white ones?

Memory Monday Meme...

I know that lots of you read and commented on my post about my battle with Post Natal Depression and the amazing support that I received for speaking out made me take my story to print. 

I had a few offers but I decided to offer the story to Mother & Baby magazine. It made me a bit jumpy as that's my industry but I knew that if it went anywhere than that was where it should go.

In all honesty - I thought that was that. I didnt expect any comeback at all but I have had emails (sent through to the magazine), I have had emails sent to me personally, I have been sidelined in the queue in Sainsburys and WH Smiths and today I had a call from someone that I know to tell me that reading the article in Mother & Baby has made her face her many years of depression and finally ask for help.

People keep telling me that I'm amazing and inspirational but let me tell you right now that I'm not. I'm just a regular person who chose not to be defeated - and simply took one day at a time for, well a long, long time.

My Memory Monday is two fold really. I wanted to share this picture of me, aged 19 and just a baby myself to show that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. It's also directed the brave lady that called me today. You know who you are. You are taking fairy steps in the right direction and that is all you have to do. xx

Ten months after this picture was taken I nearly died.

Wordless Wednesday....

Feel the love.....

Help my domain name's been stolen

All my regular readers are aware that I have been having more than my fair share of computing issues recently. 
First I wiped my blog, then I found out that my custom url wasn't attached properly to my blogspot creating probs with my stats, then I lost all of my email when the cats decided to re inact a battle on my keyboard......

Then on Friday I had what was quite possibly the worst problem to date.

My work domain had expired. Usually you get an email or a letter from the people that you registered it with asking if you would like to renew. I didn't get a letter or an email and my domain relapsed and I stopped receiving email.

You would think that this isn't such a major problem, that you simply get in touch, pay your money and away you go. But things are never that straightforward are they?

After many calls it transpired that my domain - the one with the great natural Google listings (search for baby PR and that's me right at the top) had been bought up by someone else.

This kind of thing goes on all the time. These companies wait for active urls to lapse and they snatch them up and there isnt really anything you can do about it.

I tracked the company down to an address in Mumbai. I tried to go onto their website but my mac threw up one of those scary malaware warnings..'visiting this site may damage your computer, asre you sure that you want to proceed?'

Erm.... no actually, things are bad enough without causing more damage.

I contemplated the reality of having to change my web address. No one would be able to find me - as my old details would still be traveling around in cyber space and at that point I realised that your domain should be one of your most treasured possessions. 

I got onto the Indian site using my iphone, found the contact details and gave them a call knowing full well that they could potentially ask for £££ or simply refuse to give my url back at all.

I got away very lightly with paying just $100 and within five minutes my site was back and my email service resumed.

It was an awful experience though and one that I wouldn't wish on anyone else.

Before I go and stick my head in the oven can I ask if you have ever linked to my blog that you check your link?

I am having real problems linking my yummymummytips url to my blogspot address and I'm now fed up of trying!

So it's goodbye to YummyMummyTips.com as I will now be happily residing right here on blogger at http://www.mummy-tips.blogspot.com

If you could amend any links it will make a sad blogger a bit happier!

...... was only kidding about the oven.... it's electric.

Memory Monday part 2

Thank you to everyone who has already joined in with my Memory Monday meme. I 've seen some fab posts.

I'm sticking with the 70's again today and I'm taking you back to my childhood.

Picture the scene.....

This is me aged 5 or 6. I am on a beach in Wales though you would never have guessed that due to the fact that the sun is shining. I'm clearly having fun - or pulling faces because I don't like the sand in my pants... (still don't in case you wondered), but on the whole this is a happy scene.

A little later and the sun is still shining and I am making a right old mess with an ice cream but happily sitting on a towel to keep the sand out of you know where...

Now this is where things turn dark.

I was a thumb sucker and I had the manky of mankiest ribbons that had many years ceased to be the blanket it once was, but I loved it and I took it everywhere with me.

My parents were desperate to part me from my beloved smelly ribbon but I was having none of it.

We were holidaying with family friends and the family friends had a dog. Lets call him Bob in the interest on non disclosure.

I liked Bob - we had been playing together on the beach for most of the day.

I'd been having fun letting him knock down my coffee cup sandcastles and watching him dig. Then things got bad. Very very bad. As we packed up our belongings to head back to the car I felt a huge surge of panic. My silky ribbon was gone.

I cried and I sobbed for days. I was anxious and I couldn't sleep. I wanted my ribbon back with every inch of my being.

Then one morning the holiday photographs flew through the letterbox (shows how long ago this was... post, morning??) and as I sat on my mums knee looking through them she started to chuckle.

"Look.." she said "I managed to get a shot of Bob burying your ribbon."

I looked at her - I thought she was joking but she clearly wasn't. I know that I was only five but something changed between us that day and the feeling I had as she chuckled has always stuck with me. 

My crew have all had their attachments. In just about every photo that I have of Sonny's pre school years he has his thumb in his mouth and his Cuski draping over his shoulder. ModelGirl has her cot quilt that she still sleeps snuggled up in even though she is eight and FunnyGirl has a bit of a thing for all things silky..... but we'll talk about that another time.. 

I've never felt the need to take their comforters away - especially as I gave it to them in the first place. 

I know that they will  give it up when the time is right for them but I have other parent friends that have resorted to the same drastic measures as my mum did. 

It seems to be quite a contentious issue - but what do you think? Is there a right time to ditch the dummy or blanket and how will you go about it?
You don't need to be tagged to join this meme just let me know so that I can link to you. 

I dream of sleep...

Before I begin, I should say that this was never intended as a stand alone post but as I was merrily typing away in Tara Cain's comment box after reading about her own little madams sleep issues, I realised that I had in fact produced an essay on my own plight! So to spare all of her readers the agony of a page long comment - I thought that I would inflict it on you all instead... because you are supposed to be interested in what I have to say... right? (this is where you leave a comment to say...."I love reading about your life / loves / disasters / traumas etc.." do add or delete there as necessary.

Right... for you to fully understand what it is I am going on about I suggest that you read Tara's post here, but don't forget to come back!

Now I have the same problem as Tara but in reverse! FunnyGirl (now 6) has some weird kind of sleep 'issue' that the doctor said she would grow out of when she started full time school. She hasn't.... and not only has it continued but she now holds the enviable title of "Most reliable child to fall asleep during assembly".
At one point we were talking six assemblies in a row.It got so bad that they have to put her on the end of a row to catch her as she naps. And if that wasn't bad enough, she even fell asleep during their big Easter assembly..... in church!

She goes to bed early (always by 7pm, or earlier) but when she wakes it generally has a 5 in front of it. Yes FunnyGirl is not so funny - she is a true morning person. I on the other hand, am a night owl.

We have tried keeping her up later in the evening but there is no stopping her. When she wants to sleep - she sleeps. In fact you can be having a conversation with her, turn away for a minute and then she is sparko! One of ModelGirl and TotallySonny's favourite family tales is of the time that she fell asleep whilst having lunch at a pizza restaurant. I was wedged between the girls and turned to one side to help ModelGirl cut something on her plate, when I turned back a moment later there she was head first in her hot pizza, out like a light!

Six years of early mornings really do take their toll. We've tried all kinds of things - but nothing's worked. We gave her a Gro-Clock and a strict set of instructions on acceptable parental waking times. 

She thought this amusing and we realised for the first time that it wasn't her fault that she wakes early - as before Gro-Clock she hadn't been aware of what time it was. It was simply the time that her internal clock said GO FORTH AND WAKE THE WORLD in big bold capital letters with bells and whistles attached.

Then we decided on a damage limitation policy. We let her have a TV in her room. Yes I know TV is evil but so am I after five years of having to get up when I should quite frankly just be going to bed. Her TV only has DVD playing capabilities and she, being a child of the modern age could teach any adult how it all works with ease.

Only that didn't really work either because she liked to turn it up loud enough to not only wake us - but also everyone in the house next door (we are detached).

Next we tried an assigned box of toys but she was falling asleep before she got to choose which box she wanted and I always got it wrong.....

She recently turned six and is now in her second year at primary school. She's a bright, active child - who despite what our GP assured me has not grown out of falling asleep anywhere and everywhere or waking at are-you-kidding-me O'Clock.

I would love to know your thoughts on this. 

Do you think that it's better to get your kids off to bed early, and for them to wake early - but giving you an evening to yourself? or

To let them stay up later (giving you little or no, me / us time), so that you don't have to get up so early in the mornings?

I know that there isn't an answer for us, other than accepting that those random pre-dawn one to one, single child conversations can actually be all you need to get you through the day.

Thanks to Tara Cain for being the inspiration for this post... don't you know that pink hair is in?

I got my second Blythe!

Lets call her a christmas pressie to myself. I had no idea that Yan had bought my other beautiful girl - so now we have the beginnings of a family! For those who are interested..... (and it seems that lots of you are!), she is Blythe Urban Cowgirl!

ModelGirl's News...

Today she ran in from school and threw down the letter onto my keyboard. 

"Look mum, look! I got the letter."

The letter that she so proudly waved before me was an invitation to join the elite Leicestershire school children's dance project. The same one that had allowed my own dance training to flourish when I was a child.

It is times like these when being a mum if the best feeling in the whole wide world. 

Well done honey. I am so proud of you.

xx

The BMB Carnival....

Welcome to my first hosting of the BMB blogging Carnival. As I'm the boss this week I am going with a birth / birthday / rebirth theme as it's my birthday this week and well it seemed like a good thing to do. It is quite a lot of work getting though all of the posts that I have been sent but I have found some amazing new blogs to add to my reader. I hope that you will enjoy them as much as I have.

I hope that you don't mind me kicking off with my own post. This is a story of rebirth and recovery following a very near fatal brush with post natal depression. It's called Me...

We are all programmed to think that the transition from person to mother is a smooth one. Your due date arrives and a beautiful baby is delivered by a Stalk wrapped in the finest cashmere blankets but in reality we know that is not the case. As mothers we deal with our own birth stories and move on, forgetting our own horror stories as quickly as we forget those around us.

Kelly from A Place of my Own is sharing an amazing journey with us here. Many of her Twitter friends (me included felt as if we were part of her experience) wanting to help and advise. Her story is sweet, lovely, from the heart and proof that you should do what you feel is right for you and not what you are being told.

Kelly and Piran – you guys rock.

And as for Claire at OMG pregnant / Then There Were Three, well she had the textbook birth that we can only dream of. Of course without the text advice of her Twitsters it could have been a totally different story!

Laura from AWNTYM shares her unexpected birth tale with a very sweet though slightly unnerving outcome!

Josie at Sleep is for the weak time travels through her birth story.

Over at the Angels & Urchins blog they plea for the smug side of motherhood to let rip. I know I'm good but how great are you?

Tara at Sticky Fingers tells an all familiar of tale of evil party bags packed with malicious swag! A true pet hate of my own, though i do seretly like getting to scoff all of the BAD sweets that I remove!

Karin at CafeBebe, has a birth experience not unlike one of my own (hey I’ve had 4!) .Four down mum to go shares a young fellas birthday story. 

Pippa at A Mother's Ramblings tells how birthdays in her life are a huge family affair. HomeBaked explains her obsession with Christmas.

Liz at Living with Kids has the birthday grumps that can only be truly appreciated by a fellow Scorpio! With you all the way Liz!

Elaine at Little Sheep learning has some wise words and practical advice on how to prepare siblings for the arrival of a new baby.

Everyone who knows me understands that I have a rather unnatural obsession with Hello Kitty, i am a nice person (i hope) and I don't kill people so I just go with it. Then I saw this from Alpha Mummy. OMG if I could have any more children (which i can't) I would be on the next plane to Taiwan (via Hello kitty World in Tokyo of course).

And my final mention has to go out to the best little blogger on the block. My little fella TotallySonny. It's his birthday next week and he so wanted to submit to the carnival but he said can't I ask him to blog about birthdays after he has had his? Urm... NO! I said but please stop by his blog anyway!
BMB are always looking for new carnival hosts. http://tinyurl.com/6doadr