Co-Sleeping and Why I'd Do it Again

Co-Sleeping and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) has been in the news once again today but as is often the case the research is all about the risks of suffocating or overheating your baby if they are sleeping in your bed. This is NOT Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Lots of research is being undertaken to try and piece together what exactly happens when a child's body just stops working. Why their heart stops beating. Why they suddenly and sadly are taken from us and with no apparent reason.

Now I have that off my chest I would like to share my experience of Co-Sleeping. As with most things when it comes to parenting you have to make a decision based on your situation, your environment and knowing yourselves. My Husband was not allowed to sleep in the same bed as me and my children. He was more than happy for me to sleep next to our children and was more than understanding when I presented him with the reasons I would not be happy with him staying in bed with us. These were:

• He is built very large (think a bit like a rugby player!)
• He is a very heavy sleeper
• He is overweight
• He smokes before he comes to bed

This was our situation. I made a call, I was happy with this. Both my babies were healthy and they just liked to be near their Mother. It's a fact that your heartbeat and warmth are incredibly comforting to your baby. I got a lot of joy from this. I am not a heavy sleeper, nor do I smoke or drink. The next step to our Co-sleeping was to look at our environment. I would have a cover and was always warm and comfortable enough and my babies were happy in their sleeping bags.

I did all the important checks you would do when placing your child into their cot or Moses basket (which we did as well) No gaps, no teddies, no pillows, no duvets, baby on their back, no bumpers and all the rest.

Co-Sleeping was an amazing experience for myself as a Mother. It's just something I did and it came naturally. My daughter loved it a lot more than my son who took quite nicely to his Moses basket after the first couple of months.My daughter is looking forward to our holiday in 3 weeks because we'll be in a caravan and she'll be in the same bed as Mummy (she's 5! I still love snuggling in bed with Midge but she's such a bed hogger that her having her own bed is a much better option for us all!)

Did you/ do you Co-Sleep? Did it make you feel better about those few months or did it actually make you more anxious leading you to feel better not doing it? I'd love to hear your views. Here is a good piece of information from the BabyCentre on Co-Sleeping safely.

CupcakeMumma

Weekend of Fun! Part 2

As promised, here is part 2 of our wonderful weekend. After having a long but great day on Saturday, we made a rather last minute decision to ask Hubbie's sister if she fancied us taking her 3 eldest out for a while. Of course, as is only natural, she was very pleased and turned up with 3 very excited little people an hour later.

We packed a few food bits and some blankets into a ruck sack and headed down to the local park. I love this park, it's gorgeous. I must photograph it properly. We spent just over an our playing on the swings, slides, teaching our eldest nephew how to use the monkey bars and shoot hoops. He was ace!

Little A didn't need me hovering over him as much as he used to and in fact got a little grouchy if I tried to help him up the steps to the slide. I eventually backed off and let him get on with it (not sulking, much..) I sat down and took photos instead!

Playing with his cousin and being pushed by Daddy on the swings

A very dizzy Little G on the round about 

Very happy Midge

Hanging out with Z

After the park we were all a bit peckish so all 5 children, myself and The Hubby piled into Whetherspoons for a nice big lunch. Needless to say we were all very full when we arrived home. Midge, Z and Little G did some painting whilst I relaxed on the sofa watching O and Hubby play PlayStation. Little A was so tired he went straight to bed waking up to play with his trains just before everyone headed off home.

We had a great weekend. I hope you did too.

CupcakeMumma

Weekend of Fun! Part 1

I hope you all had the weather we had down here at the weekend because it was lovely! I spent both Saturday and Sunday morning on the edge of 'is it or isn't it going to rain?' but it didn't- thankfully! We ended up having a fantastic weekend thanks to the lovely sun and some heat!

On Saturday we took full advantage of Husband not playing football and spent the whole day just the 4 of us. Originally we were going to hop on a bus and travel to St.Ives but I decided that wasn't a good idea. Not only would the place be full of people on such a nice day, St.Ives is home to a lot of homemade, crafty goodness. My bank balance just wouldn't be able to cope! 

We opted for a more local day out. We checked out the new 99p store then headed to the car boot sale a bit further on. There were lots of sellers outside which was great because we haven't been up to the car boot in a long time due to the bad weather. I can't imagine many people have been standing out there selling stuff (that's for the hardcore!)

I found some good items though, such as: A good sized Elmo teddy which still talks. It's supposed to vibrate too but it is a bit old. We all love him (although he's mine!) and he only cost me a pound! I picked up a sweet little key cupboard, also for a pound and a gravy boat (a pound again!) which is the first gravy boat I've ever owned. I've always wanted one, lets face it, gravy in mugs just isn't right! After our little car boot adventure we explored the pet shop and went for a treat in McDonald's.

 

It was such a great day and I hope football season doesn't start for a long time! This Saturday we're looking forward to a little pre-holiday shopping trip to Plymouth. I'll be blogging tonight about our lovely Sunday at the park with a few extra little people! 

CupcakeMumma

Christmas Lights..Already?

Who doesn't like fairy lights? I get why they're seen as Christmas lights of course I do but I think those pretty little lights are far too nice to stuff back in that box marked 'Xmas Decs' and shoved back into the loft don't you agree?

Some people don't agree actually and that's okay. It took a while to convince Hubby that by keeping fairy lights up nothing bad was going happen..yeah, he was worried. I now have some beautiful fairy lights hanging over my window next to my side of the bed. My room has a wonderful, peaceful atmosphere and I have enough light to read a book before bed. What could be better?

I know what could be better and thanks to UKChristmasWorld I have better. I was very kindly sent a set of solar powered lights that are in the form of dragonflies to review. They are so pretty!

Now, due to some pretty nasty weather the wind made a good job of our garden fence (by which, I mean it totally tore it down) I couldn't show them off in the way they were intended to be shown off.
This, however, is not a problem. As long as you place the mini solar panel which charges the lights in a place of natural light (your windowsill) your lights will work perfectly well by the time you get to snuggle into bed with that book. Here they are in action:

They even change colours! I like the green which is unusual for me.

I've placed the lights in my children's  room because they were just as taken with them as I was. I've seen these lights around before but they snapped easily, were poorly made or really cheap looking. These lights are not thin, they are not 'cheap' looking (and no, not because they are expensive, they retail at the very good price of £14.99)

When our garden is back to its best I will definitely be buying some more. See, this fairy light thing isn't such a bad idea is it?

CupcakeMumma

Reasons to be Cheerful

It's that time of the week again where I share some reasons that I have to be happy about my life be it big or small. I have other things going on, I'm just so tired and so lonely sometimes. I find it hard to look for the 'good things' some weeks even if they're obvious! This is a happy post though! *Bats away negative vibes*

Here are my Reasons to be Cheerful for  this week!

1) I ordered 2 night lights the other day and they turned up this afternoon. I think they're so pretty. The toadstool is for Midge and the bunny is for my very girly room (sorry hubby)...(I'm not sorry)



2) We're heading off to Plymouth next Saturday which is something to look forward to. Hubby has been working really hard all week doing overtime so we can have some extra pennies and a family day out. We'll be getting some clothes for our upcoming holiday to Cambridge. I have a feeling I'll be packing two types of clothing just in case!

3) Little A has been saying more sentences this week. He now says 'Where you gone?' and 'Where are you' which is adorable.He's still not saying much else and we're working on limiting the dummy in the daytime before nighttime just as we did for Midge.

I hope you all have some reasons to be happy this week too.

CupcakeMumma x

Craft Time!

Where have I been? I have not blogged properly in a while which is very odd for me. I've been a bit tired, my anxiety has been causing all sorts of problems for me but otherwise I'm good! I've decided to blog about my most recent Crafty Creatives box because I haven't written about them in a while and I'm feeling creative so why not?

The theme for this months box is Glamour. Not my usual thing I must admit. I usually wait for the post man to bring my box before I read any spoiler posts but I gave in this time and peeked! I honestly didn't know what to expect from the theme and I'm a lot more into it than I thought I would be!

This art card is beautiful. I have already framed it by putting some of the included velvet fabric behind the card and it's now hanging by my bed. Every box comes with an art card and there isn't a single one I haven't liked so far.

 There are some lovely pieces in this box. Here are some silver beads which will make a lovely bracelet, green crystals and a pair of teardrop shaped stones which will be made into a pair of earrings for someone I love. Crafty Creatives were even kind enough to include ear hooks and jump rings too.

 This months kit is all about making a pretty hair clip.I can't wait to have a go and see what I come up with!

There's this lovely stamp and gold ink pad which looks so pretty. I'll be using the stamp on the back of my envelopes for my letter writing.

Finally there is this black trim included and a beautiful rose which I'll probably pop onto a ring blank for use as a statement piece of jewelry. There are some other items included but I won't spoil everything (winks)

Hope you enjoy your CCBox this month and if you want to know more, head over here to check out the fabulous Crafty Creatives site.

CupcakeMumma

Reasons to be Cheerful

There hasn't really been much to blog about recently. Who stole the beautiful weather by the way and how much for it back? It's May! I'm all for a bit of rain, it's very important after all but come on, a little bit more sun please?

I haven't been about much but I love the Reasons to be Cheerful link up and as I have a few things to be happy about I thought I should get typing.

1) I have been receiving a lot of 'happy mail.' I love 'snail mail' (as posting letters is commonly referred to) because I can get so much out and I can show a friend I'm really thinking about them by taking the time to sit down and put pen to paper. I have been getting mail from new pen pals which is so exciting. I received this beautiful bracelet from an American pen pal.

Midge also has a pen pal now. They exchange gifts and everything it's the sweetest thing and her writing in school is coming on leaps on bounds!

2) This Saturday marks the last football game of the season which means Hubby and I can finally plan some family days out without his sports getting in the way! I love that he has a hobby, has something he enjoys doing and is good at but obviously I miss his company. It's hard to do things on a weekday as there's school and he works late shifts, so Saturday is a day to go out. Sunday is for pj's, roast dinners and maybe the park if we fancy it!

3) I passed my exam! It wasn't a hard exam but it was still an exam. I lucked out on a couple of questions by the process of elimination and others I got totally wrong (as usual the most obvious!) but I still passed and am now have an Anatomy and Physiology Level 3 Diploma. I'm looking into baby massage courses and reflexology. My vocation in life is to help people in some way. I find that by sending gifts once a month and writing surprise letters I help people but if I can help people with a therapy of some kind then that would be just great.

I hope you all have something to be cheerful about this week too. Please share it with me in the usual place :-)

CupcakeMumma x

Walkers Hoops and Crosses: Yum!

I was told as a child to never play with my food. It's something I have even said to my children in the past but now that Walkers Crisps have brought out their new Hoops and Crosses range, I think I'll probably be eating my words..

A tasty box of golden crisps Mmm

These tasty crisps come in 3 flavours: roast beef, prawn cocktail and salt and vinegar (which are all suitable for vegetarians). Unlike most crisps that are made from potato, Hoops and Crosses are made from corn. This is something I actually really like because it's different, the crisps are lighter and as far as crisps go, they're healthier too. 

Little A loved the roast beef flavour and I thought they smelt delicious! Midge had a try but didn't like the flavour we had. We've since seen some of the other flavours which she can't wait to try!

Little A offering my a 'cross'

Hoops and Crosses contain wholegrain (which 27% of young people do not get!) and are preservative and additive free. I can feel a little better about packing Midge off to school with Walkers' new range of crisps as opposed to our current brand.

A very cheeky monkey!

Why don't you give Hoops and Crosses a go and let us know what you think?

CupcakeMumma

*This is a sponsored review of a product that has been sent to me for free. All opinions are honest and my own (or from the mouths of my mini Cupcakes of course)

A-Z Challenge: Z

Z is for Zero Letters Left.

So there we have it. A whole load of blog posts for every letter of the alphabet. I hope I haven't bored anyone too much? In the beginning I lost 2 followers, but I soon gained 4 new ones and that's not counting Bloglovin so it's not all bad!

I actually really enjoyed myself on this challenge and might even sign up to blog every day in May with a few other fellow bloggers. I'm so pleased I've managed to complete the whole alphabet despite very low days and both of my children coming down with the darn chickenpox!!

Little A is now improving loads and Midge's spots are almost all gone which she is most pleased about! I'm still pretty sleep deprived but I'm pleased to say I've only stayed up way past my bedtime on 2 occasions to finish a blog post, I thought it would be so many more times!

I've since been in touch with some great bloggers who I now follow and will continue to read. I love how many comments I have received and how we have all now connected on other social networking sites too. I've also enjoyed chatting with my little sister who has also been taking on the A-Z Challenge as well. It's been fun!

Thanks for putting up with the everyday posts from me. I'm glad I did this challenge as I've manged to record some memories I might not have done. I've also made some great online friends too.Now to catch up with all the posts from other fab participants!

CupcakeMumma

A-Z Challenge: Y

Y is for Yesterday

Yesterday was a pretty miserable day I'm sorry to report. Little A decided to wake up at 10pm and not sleep at all and I'm not even kidding! I haven't even had a night like that with a newborn baby- horrendous! I did check my Twitter in the morning though and found out many parents had similar problems so there's some sort of comfort in that!

The day before yesterday was Trevithick Day. I was looking forward to this until we were all tired, it was super packed and started raining. In the end I walked Midge to the steam engines, took a few photographs then came home when the moaning started...

I was left a football widow for 3 or 4 hours until half 5 came around and Husband came home. Upon returning he took Midge out to the celebrations before the party goers came out. She spent her £5 from Nanny, went on 4 rides and one 2 prizes, happy at last!

The best bit about my day yesterday though was laying in bed with Midge whilst Little A caught up on some sleep in the morning. I laid there like a beached whale, Husband was downstairs doing his own version on the sofa and Midge was playing on our tablet, not giving a damn about how annoying SpongeBob SquarePants actually is!

Oh, I had a nice dinner too. Mash with homemade dairy and gluten free fish and peas. Y could also be for Yummy!!