News — mum

(First published on The Contented Calf website on Tuesday 25th October 2011.)  One Thursday morning a couple of months ago, I suddenly realised it was approaching 11am and BF and I had not really done anything. I wasn’t really that bothered as it was half-term from her usual Thursday morning swimming lessons and so we didn’t have to rush anywhere. And to be honest, I was quite enjoying just pottering around. However, it did spark off me hearing this song on my internal jukebox. I’m not sure the words are entirely correct, but these are the ones that came to me,...

In my opinion, small plastic toys are definitely up there, along with single-use plastics as 'pointless plastic'. Despite the protests of love by the kids, there is no long-term use for or use of this plastic. It's literally production of waste. But kids' parties are often FULL of it, and it's SO HARD (almost impossible) to get away from. It takes fore-thought and effort. We're by no means perfect. At all. I'll start by being up front and say that whilst I say no to the shiny plastic helium balloons, I did say yes to latex helium balloons, which whilst better,...

(First published on The Contented Calf website on Sunday 24th July 2011.) So are you all dying to find out how our four days of Potty Training went (The best laid plans of mice and mummies)? What was our call yesterday as to whether we’d send BF to nursery in pants or nappies? Were we ‘totally potty’ to attempt Potty Training....?   Well, here’s my mummy report:   Day One, Thursday (aka D-Day!) To be honest, it was a bit of a mixed bag.  It started off well with BF being very enthusiastic about wearing her ‘big girl pants’. In the...

(First published on The Contented Calf website on 25th March 2014.) Helping support breastfeeding For a breastfeeding mum, Almonds are one of our Top 10 Lactogenic Foods, helping to support breast milk supply as well as our general health.   So what is an Almond? Look up the definition of ‘almond’ and you will get something along the lines of the dictionary.com reference: A small widely cultivated rosaceous tree, Prunus amygdalus, that is native to West Asia and has pink flowers and a green fruit containing an edible nut-like seed. The oval-shaped nut-like edible seed of this plant, which has a yellowish-brown shell [ii].   And what makes Almonds lactogenic? The healthy fats, protein, calcium...

(First published on The Contented Calf website on Tuesday 19th July 2011.) As you will know from my last post (The best laid plans of mice and mummies), BF, Hubby & I went on a knicker-buying outing ahead of BF’s imminent transition from nappies to ‘big girl pants’. While we were out shopping we took the opportunity to stock up on a few extra t-shirts etc for her too. First up, though, was underwear. BF’s really into her TV characters at the moment. Her absolute favourite is Bob the Builder. (Slightly ironic as I’m currently trying to cut out any...