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#tbt One from the Archive: The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Mummies Often Go Awry!

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#tbt One from the Archive: The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Mummies Often Go Awry!

(First published on The Contented Calf website on Monday 18th July 2011.) It was all planned. IT WAS ALL PLANNED!! I wasn’t going to attempt potty/toilet training until BF was nearing three. I’d heard and read so much about leaving it as long as possible and not pushing it, that in my mind, as long as she was out of nappies by the time she went to primary school, I wasn’t going to worry. One major attraction I could see over potty training a three year old rather than a toddler was that their communication, understanding, co-operation would be so...

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18 Easy Eco Swaps You Can Make Today (part one...)

18 Easy Eco Swaps You Can Make Today (part one...)

Many of you will have seen the inspirational Greta Thunberg speak at various global forums over the past year or so, if not do go check her out - she is truly amazing! As well as being inspirational herself, she does inspire all of us to act, and do something, doesn't she? But with all the fear and the noise, it can get so overwhelming, can't it? WHAT do I do? Can I really make a difference all by myself? Where can I start?  Well, in answer as to whether you can make a difference as an individual, the answer...

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#tbt One from the Archive: Happy New Year!! 🥳

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#tbt One from the Archive: Happy New Year!! 🥳

(First published on The Contented Calf Website on Wednesday 30th March 2011.) I always feel like March is actually the real start of a new year, not January. So, Happy New Year to you all !! In January I still feel in the depths of cold, dark (and in recent years, snowy) winter and all I feel like doing is hibernating. I exist in a fog of tiredness and early nights. But by March the days are getting longer every day, even before the change to BST, and the increased light seems to give me increased energy and enthusiasm for...

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The Strategy(?!?) of the #MumHustle

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The Strategy(?!?) of the #MumHustle

Many years ago, when 9YO was still very small, I was lamenting to a (male, without kids) friend of mine about how one of the things I really missed about work was being strategic. In response, he asked me the seemingly simple, innocent question, designed to make me miss my work life less: "Why can't you be strategic in how you're raising your kids?" He wasn't being facetious, or uncaring. It was a genuine question. I can't remember exactly what my response was. I wasn't rude. I didn't smirk, or rant. I think I just said something short about 'fire-fighting'...

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#tbt One from the Archive: Top 10 Lactogenic Foods for Breastfeeding Mums: Barley

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#tbt One from the Archive: Top 10 Lactogenic Foods for Breastfeeding Mums: Barley

(First published on The Contented Calf website on 23rd October 2014.) As a child of the 70s & 80s, say the word Barley and I think ‘Water’ (Mallet’s Mallet style) – the image that pops into my head is that of Robinson’s Barley Water. And perhaps summer. And tennis. The other thing that comes to mind, as someone whose mum is a coeliac, is “wheat, rye, barley, oats”, as her major glutinous no-no list. However, until recently, I would not have thought ‘breastfeeding’ or ‘lactogenic food’. Yet it is one of the Top Ten lactogenic foods that can help with a...

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