Defining Moments

Pregnancy changes you in many ways, physically, emotionally and spiritually. You go into it with your eyes wide open, I know that is what I did. When it came to it though, I realised that I couldn't ever prepare myself for something I had never done before. It was a guessing game and completely foreign to me. It was a case of listening to my body and rolling with the punches. 

Of course it's now almost 4 years since I welcomed Leo into the world, and those 4 years really have, in every sense of the word. FLOWN BY. We walked around bleary eyed through the first couple of months, found magic in all of the firsts that happened in the blink of an eye, and celebrated the little life we were helping to grow and mold, to teach and love.

These early years have been a mixture of different emotions, and when people describe parenthood as an emotional roller-coaster, they really have hit the nail on the head. Anxiety, laughter, worry, happiness, exhaustion, more laughter and that feeling of doing something completely amazing. That feeling growing when you see your child learning and excelling.

There is one thing that I lost in those first few years, and that was myself. My world was revolving around Leo completely, and quite rightly so, but I was existing as Leo's Mum. It was last year when I decided to start making some life changes that have completely changed my life. My world still revolves around Leo, and I wouldn't change that, not ever. He will always be the very center of my universe. I did need to do something just for me though, something that helped me re-discover 'Laura' again. I knew that somewhere under the title of 'Leo's Mum' that 'Laura' was still in there...Somewhere, but how was I going to coax her out of hiding? 

There were a number of things I wanted to do, I wanted to lose weight, and this was actually my very first point of call. I began watching what I was eating, and the weight started to melt away. I needed to visit the opticians because ever since I was pregnant I had felt that my eyes weren't performing as well as they once had. In fact there were days that everything felt a little hazy, nothing to sinister but it was a noticeable difference to me. I booked myself an appointment at Optical Express, and they completely cleared me. They told me my eye sight was perfect without even a hint of prescription. This of course put a big smile on my face, 

A year later I feel pretty amazing about everything I have achieved this year. I feel like by giving myself time just for me in an evening, time to get out of the house and go to the gym that I have been able to re-connect with myself again. 

Parenthood changes your life forever, and it will always define you, but ultimately you are still you. Never feel guilty for needing some time out. Find a way to work it into your daily or weekly routine. 

A happier parent makes a happier child.

Never feel guilty about doing something just for you. You deserve it.

I'm Still Around!

It has certainly been quieter than usual around here lately, what with the house move and everything else that has been going on, there hasn't been time to catch a breath let alone blog about it! You see real life has been getting in the way of late, and among all of that I have been taking some time to do something new for myself.

I have pulled out a selfish card and put it to use straight away, since moving back home last month I decided it was now or never to give myself a theoretical kick up the back side… and I started the gym. Over the past few weeks the hours that I would usually spend catching up on blog posts, have been spent grafting in the gym.

I am feeling so positive about everything, and I love being able to do something just for me. I have been getting in from work and getting Leo ready to bed and off to the land of nod, and then handing the baby monitor over to Granny so that I can pop out for an hour or so. The silver lining to being back at home, is being able to leave the house in a evening, and the even more amazing thing is that I am not missing out on any time with my favourite little man.

In just under a month I have lost 10lbs, and it came away so much easier than I ever expected (Once I let go of chocolate and Coca Cola!). This month it seems to have halted and I haven’t lost any more, however I have maintained my loss thus far which is a reason to keep on feeling determined. I am by no means over weight, but for me to feel comfortable in my own skin I need to shed a few more lbs and get toning!

Leo has adapted really well to being back at Granny’s and it hasn’t taken long to get his room together. He has his car bed pride of place along with all of his worldly possessions. If anything Leo is loving being back at Granny’s and the change has just been an easy adjustment for him.

Over the weekend we even had our very first movie night, we were due to go to our local river festival and see the boats all lit up with twinkly lights. However rain put a stop to that and we decided to tuck up together in bed and watch Ice Age with a bag of Toffee Popcorn, Leo absolutely loved it. It was our very first movie night, and having Leo at an age where we can snuggle up with a good family film is just lovely. Leo had such a fun evening that the next morning he demanded to watch Ice Age with.. *wait for it* a bag of popcorn! I get the feeling we will be making this a regular activity!

My selfish card is also extending into vehicles… I am finally getting the pennies together and upgrading my clapped out car. The plan is to treat myself to a convertible Mini Cooper in the next few months!

Although life has been much busier than usual and I have been much quieter, I am still around. Normal service is being resumed and I am feeling so incredibly positive about absolutely everything that is happening.

You Amaze Me

It is so easy to get lost in those blue eyes of yours, the way they sparkle, the way that they shine. 

Watching your facial expressions as you move through the world, the way you study a Butterfly land on a leaf and that look of amazement dashes across your face. The compassion and worry in your voice when you saw a dead hedgehog in the road, the way your little voice quivered when you told me 'hedgehog hurt. hedgehog died'. The way you accept the most simple of explanations, and that the hedgehog has gone to sleep for one last time and is now happy way up there in the sky. 

Nothing tops watching you growing up, teaching you about the ways of the world. The good, the not so good and at times the things I wish I never have to tell you about. You are at an age now where you are wanting to know so much, but still learning and not fully comprehending. Still completely innocent. 

When you do something wrong you look for reassurance in me, you run up and kiss me over and over. That's your apology because 9 times out of 10 your feeling to stubborn to use your words for that one particular punch line. You run out and about in the garden, you scoot up and down Granny's drive, and boy have you got fast. You pick daisy's on your travels and bring them back to me. You say 'for you Mummy!' and present me with a bunch that you picked just moments before. You truly sweep me off my feet!

You have the most infectious giggle, and it is a sound that don't go a single day without hearing. You find adventure in everything that you do, and your giggle rang louder the day you sat on my lap as we drove up Granny's long drive way! You laughed even harder when you managed to grab control of the steering and we almost bumped the pillars on the driveway! That would have been an interesting conversation to have with the grandparents little man.

All of a sudden you have completely slotted back into Nursery, and go off with no tears at all. In fact you are so excited by the time we get there, that you ignore the line of people waiting to go inside and run straight past them, under peoples legs until you are inside! There are no goodbyes for Mummy, and I you are completely happy until I turn back up three hours later. 

Each day you are learning something new, saying something new or surprising me in some way. You make my heart melt and I beam with pride. We are on the count down to your 3rd birthday now, and another year has almost come full circle. It amazes me what each year instills in the both of us, and although you started the year as a toddler, we will be leaving it as a 3 year old. A little boy who will be in his very last year before school. A little boy who will be going on many more adventures, and making me even prouder. 

Watching you grow up is the most amazing thing, and I love sitting on the front row, watching, listening and living life with you.

Simply Winging It

As with many aspects of life parenting presents you with many different choices to make and paths to choose along the way. I have realised recently that I am not one to follow any which way guide on how to parent Leo, I just take everything as it comes.

You could say that I am simply winging this parenting lark, taking the good with the bad, the happy and the sad and making decisions as I go along. This means that I don't set un-realistic goals and I just let time work it's magic. 

Of course we make plans and we have structure in our lives, I guess that is why bedtime is a fun process and not a battle to keep him in bed. It is why he wakes up fully refreshed and ready to face the day ahead of him. When I say I am winging it what I mean is I go with whatever life throws my way, I have never set a age where I thought 'I want Leo in a bed by the time he is...' or 'I will have the bottle off Leo by the time he is...' to me they are un-realistic goals that I couldn't reasonably enforce. 

They are simply aspects that evolve in their own time and I am not one to want to rush that along. Every change that happens in Leo's life is ultimately governed by him, and the last couple of months have been full of change. Leo made the transition from cot to bed, he began to leave blanket and his milk bottle behind during the day, he even started nursery and in recent weeks he has given up the bottle for good. 

Each change has been easier than I ever anticipated, and I am sure it is because we have just let time work it's magic. Leo has got to a point where he realises he no longer needs his bottle, and he understands that babies have bottles. He realises that he is now a big boy... Or a big girl depending on which time of the day you catch him! It was as though we had both come to a mutual understanding and decided that we weren't going to fight each other over it. Leo was given his beaker with squash as a compromise (water really would have been pushing it!) and we haven't looked back since. 

For the most part Leo is a really easy going little guy, of course I won't plaster over the tantrums because of course they go hand in hand with a two year old, but throughout everything he always has a smile on his face.

I like to think my 'winging it' attitude reflects my relaxed approach to parenting. Everything that happens is played by ear, if it works great. If not then we will find another way to reach the goal. If something hasn't worked out this time around, we wait a few months and try again. We are currently on the cusp of potty training and this is something that we are being very relaxed about, we don't want to push Leo to fast to soon. It is something that we need to address when he is 100% ready. The potty has been out since he was about 18 months old, but until a few months ago he wouldn't even sit on it. We have progressed in the sense that he will sit on it these days, he tells us he needs a wee and we all sit there in suspense wondering if this will be the moment that he takes that first pee. I wonder if I should reach for the camera... Then... Leo gets up and declares that he is done. Only for us to discover he hasn't actually been. 

As with everything else I am sure that first wee-wee on the potty is not very far away. We will keep on winging it in our relaxed approach and we will continue to watch Leo flourish.

Casabu- The Flash Sale Site for Parents

I was recently asked if I would like to trial Casabu – the flash sales parenting site with a very wide selection of products for parents and children alike. Casubu have daily sales from a variety of the exciting ranges that they stock, from clothing, toys, nursery equipment, maternity gear and many other great products with up to 90% off retail prices.

To benefit from the great savings on Casabu you first need to create an account or sign in with your Facebook account. Once you are logged in a number of special offers from that day are presented to you, and you can either have a look at these deals or head up to the tool bar at the top of the page, where you can shop in a number of different ways:

-By Brand

- By Age

- By Category

The website is really easy to navigate and I soon found myself browsing all of the toys suitable for Leo’s age range. With Christmas on the not so distant horizon, toys are all I seem to be thinking about at the moment.

I was really impressed with the toy selection Casabu have on offer, from jig-saw puzzles, ride on trikes, board games and fantastic wooden toys there really is a toy for everyone. To bring up all of the toys suitable for Leo’s age range: 18 months plus, I simply set the perimeters to reflect Leo’s age and the category that I wished to look in. Within nano seconds I had all the toys in front of me that reflected the search I had conducted.

I found the site really easy to navigate; from first opening the site right up until check out the whole experience was great. I found Leo the perfect Christmas present, a 53 piece wooden farm that I just know come Christmas Day he is just going to love. The farm cost £25.00 with a saving of around £25.00 thanks to the flash sale on Casabu.

It took 13 days from the point of order for my order to arrive, but from looking at the product information on I gathered there would be a slight delay. I wasn’t in any immediate rush for my order to arrive so that was no issue, but if you look on the page of the product you are looking to purchase it usually tells you if there will be any issue with delivery.

For any orders over £75.00 you can benefit from free delivery, and it would not be hard to spend the £75.00 either. Now I know about Casabu I will most certainly be shopping with them again, there are so many products that would make perfect gifts for Leo’s little friends, that I know my second order with them is immanent.

Casabu have been short listed for the Startup Awards 2012, the awards that celebrate the success of businesses who have been trading for less than 3 years. Casabu actually launched in April 2012 so to be nominated and shortlisted is a great achievement.

You can view the full short list at www.startupsawards.co.uk

Disclaimer: I was provided with a voucher to shop online at Casabu for the purpose of this feature. However all views and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.