Party With The Lion Guard

As a child Lion King was one of my favourite Disney films and when I heard they were bringing out a spin-off show I was excited to introduce the new characters to the children. We tend to have Disney Jnr on at breakfast time so I can go get dressed whilst the children eat, and unbeknownst to me the children have been watching it quite a lot.

As the show has been so successful they are now releasing a line of toys, and we have been invited to host a party and give the new range a try. I was surprised to find my two knew the names of all the characters, as I had no idea, and when we unpacked the goodies we were sent they were very excited to play.

You can join us on Twitter on July 6th at 1pm where we will be talking all about the new range and sharing our thoughts on the toys. There will also be chances for you to win your own sets, so make sure you join us using the hashtag #LionGuardToys and following me and UKMumsTV.

See you then!

A Little Less Judgement

I haven't written about my chronic fatigue in a while, mainly because I've been feeling a lot better in myself and more accepting about our situation. For anyone who doesn't know, I was diagnosed two and half years ago with chronic fatigue, when my youngest was nine months old. At first it was thought to be post-natal depression but when I received counselling and was referred for further investigation they decided it was chronic fatigue and some depression.

That was two and a half years ago and since then we've been up and down, it's been a rollercoaster. It's taken a long time and a lot of struggles but we finally seemed to have managed a balance which means I get enough rest, the children are looked after and my husband gets time to himself as much as he can. It's working and on the whole I am feeling positive.

So when I hear comments like I have today it knocks me for six. I've always been quite a sensitive person, and with something like this that is extremely difficult and I've come across lots of judgement on, even more so.

We currently have various workmen in as we are undergoing a loft conversion. It's all been pretty smooth and with as little mess as possible, however there have been many a day when I need to sleep and there are strangers in the house. Strangers who don't know me and aren't aware of my illness and will definitely think it's weird when my husband goes off to work, I pack the kids off to school and nursery and then go to bed. In my mind it is a weird enough situation that I may step back and think there must be a reason for a woman who looks fine to be sleeping three to four hours in the middle of the day. I guess not everyone is like me.

Today I overheard two of said workmen saying what a nice life I must have, sleeping the day away. That's it, a seemingly harmless, throwaway comment. But it slapped me around the face and I'm still reeling.

Part of me instantly goes to guilt and sadness. I am a terrible person, mother and wife who does nothing but sleep. So what do I but use some of my newly-stored energy to clean the kitchen because that's what a stay at home mum should do.

The other part of me is enraged. How dare these men judge me like that. They are in my house, the work we're having done is paying their wages and what I do with my time is nothing to do with them.

But then the red mist fades, the tears dry and I step back and try and understand. They don't know, and hopefully they never will.

But maybe, a little less judgement would be nice.

Those Tiny Moments

In a few short weeks I will be waving my youngest off at the school gates for the first time and will really and truly say goodbye to those tiny baby days. As a mum you envisage these moments, and often wish for time to speed up and get there, but once you do you only want time to stop.

Stop to reflect on those tiny moments of days, months, years ago when your children were but tiny flutters in your tummy and you dreamt of who they would be, what they would look like and how in love you would be. When you unpacked and washed those tiny newborn clothes and hung them up with love and anticipation for when they would be needed.

Celebrating Father's Day With Braun

This week we've been really excited to be part of a campaign with Braun and Mumsnet, deciding if we are #TeamSoft or #TeamTickly for Father's Day.

Mr H was sent the Braun Series 3 Wet & Dry Shaver to try out and share his thoughts as a gift for Father's Day. We were really impressed with the shaver as Mr H has quite sensitive skin and so can't usually use an electric shaver, but because this can be used wet and dry it was a lot better for his skin. It also gave an amazingly close shave, which I love as I have to say I do like my man clean shaven!

After Mr H had tried out the shaver, the kiddos then gave their verdict on how soft daddy's face felt and we decided we are definitely #TeamSoft! This was a really fun project for us to be involved in and I love the final edit of the film, which we feature in along with four other vlogging families.



I've put together a vide from the footage we filmed ourselves, filled with some outtakes at the end. We had such a good time filming this it was nice not to be the only one on camera!



So are you #TeamSoft or #TeamTickly?

*This is a featured post.

Are We Doing Wrong By Our Son?

Jack has always been a bundle of energy, right from the moment he was born. As soon as he could move he was off and hasn't stopped since and to this day he doesn't sleep until he literally crashes out. And we love him for it. He wouldn't be our boy if he didn't give us a fright at least once a week, and he daily gains one scrape or another.

At three months old

My Cleaning Tips For Busy Mums

If you're like me, cleaning your house is something that isn't top of your list of things you want to do but definitely up there on the need list. I am not someone who can sit at home with my kids for too long before we all start going crazy so through the week I'm often out and about trying to keep them entertained, as well as working one day a week and trying to maintain my blog and my YouTube channel. This leaves very little time for cleaning the house, and yet I cannot stand it when it is a mess (which is a lot lately). So over the years I've developed a few cleaning hacks I thought I would share that helps me keep on top of things, for the most part, and still have time to do the things I enjoy.

1. Have a basket or container in each room for toys. I find it so much easier to just whip round at the end of the day and throw whatever is lying around in storage boxes I have in each room, than to try and do a huge sweep and tidy up. It takes all of five minutes to shove the toys away and every now and again when I have more time i go through them all and sort them properly.

2. Get the kids to help. Carrying on from my above point, before the children go to bed, go out to play or play with something else, I try and get them to tidy up what they've already been playing with. I cannot stand walking into a room and every toy we own in the world has been tipped out of it's boxes as it just is so overwhelming to me and the kids to tidy up. The children aren't fans of tidying - who is - but doing it as we go along tends to make it a little easier, plus it teaches them to tidy up their own messes, hopefully saving me a job in the long run. Hopefully.

3. Break down the jobs into smaller tasks. Instead of standing in the house, amidst the chaos, thinking 'oh my goodness I just don't know where to start' (which happens a lot, I might add), I try to break each task down in my mind. So when I get a slot in the day I'll focus on folding the washing, then next time I'll try and put it away, and maybe a time later on I'll whizz the Dyson around. It just makes it feel more manageable in my head if I do it that way, otherwise I'd end up sat on the sofa watching Real Housewives, too overcome to attempt to tackle the mess.

4. Make the beds. It's funny how such a quick thing to is so often overlooked. I've started going into each bedroom each morning and straightening the pillows and pulling the duvet back over the bed and the room instantly looks so much tidier. It is also a lot nicer getting into a made bed on a night.

5. Don't walk past things for another room. There's always something that needs to go in another room, so don't walk out of one spot empty handed. I find this applies particularly when going upstairs - there is always something that needs taking up. I have a basket on the bottom of the stairs for putting things in that need to go u and whilst my children and husband seem to refuse to adopt the habit, I often take things up as I go, and kill two birds with one stone.

I hope those tips have helped just a little bit to try and get on top of your housework, leaving you more time to do the fun things! At the end of the day, our children won't appreciate having a tidy house as much as they will having time with you so try not to let it stress you if your house isn't perfect.

*This is a PR collaboration

Why Shop On The High Street?

I'm not going to lie, I'm a a big fan of online shopping. Being a busy mum and also having chronic fatigue, my opportunities to get outdoors and actually shop in a real-life store is limited. However there are definitely set-backs from not being able to try clothes on before you buy them and the amount of clothing I return as it just doesn't look as good as it does in the photos on my screen ,is probably more than half of what I buy. So every now and again, when I get the chance, I take a step out of my front door and into a store and actually try things on and find what fits. It's also a chance to have some child-free time and just relax and be with my friends, which as a mum is a real treat.

Your Youtube #73

Hello and welcome back to Your Youtube and thanks for joining in! My co-host and I Sian love watching your videos each week and we love seeing you all link up. This week's video of the week is from Mumology  who attempted to ask her friends and family some questions about herself but instead ended up with quite a hilarious video with some fab editing! 

Over to the linky - please link up no more and two videos and please DO NOT link up unless you are prepared to return the favour and watch at least two in return. This linky doesn't work unless everyone who joins in is willing to take part, so let's help each other out. Over to you! You can also join us at the Your Youtube Facebook Group here.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Tiniest Moments Can Be The Most Beautiful

The night is dark - the sun has finally fallen after a long Summer's day. His room is dimly lit from the hallway light, which we keep on as he has a fear of the dark that has somehow been ingrained on him since he was little. He's never been a good sleeper, and that doesn't seem to be changing as he gets older, which makes for a tired mummy.

But still I am here, as I always will be.