A Royal Romance

I am just watching some highlights from today's royal wedding on the news, and it is still making me feel warm and fuzzy like it did when I watched it live this morning. I actually didn't think I would get to watch it live because of having two youngsters to look after and the fact that my OH refused to have it on the TV! However, he chose to catch up on some paperwork upstairs in his office all day so I was able to watch it - despite Burton's best efforts to get me to put Toy Story on for him!!

I am not a Royalist by any means, but I have a soft spot for William (and Harry) because I respected and admired their mother, and was very excited when she and Charles wed back in 1981.





I had a scrapbook back then with newspaper cuttings of the engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diane, so when they got married I remember now what I did that day. Shame I never kept that scrapbook - would have made an interesting read now! I also remember excitedly awaiting William to be born as it was near my own birthday in June.

I thought today's wedding was beautiful and Kate was so elegant and every bit the perfect choice for our future queen. I really hope this marriage does not end in divorce as they seem so very happy and confident together. It must be strange for Kate's parents - it's not like they can ever invite their new family members over for a BBQ is it? They, along with Prince Charles, must have been very proud of their first born today.

It has also been great to see our nation celebrating the wedding in such a British way. Whether that be in London cheering on the wedding guests, or those people who held street parties or similar 'do's' in their towns and villages. In our current economic climate where times are hard, it has been lovely to see our nation let their hair down and come together as one.

Flashback Friday - 2005

As it is the Royal Wedding today, I thought I would flash back to December 2005 when I travelled to Kenya to see one of my best friends get married. Elaine and Wayne chose a package which included having men and women from the Masai present which added a lot of fun and difference to the ceremony.



At one point they did one of their tribal dances which took us all by surprise - lol






They tried to get me to join in with their dance!! Check me out!! Terrible face I am pulling but all for comedy value :)


It was a lovely wedding and Elaine looked beautiful. She made her dress herself.



It was also very romantic due to the beach side venue



Of course we all celebrated well into the night afterwards!







For other fantastic Flashback moments go to Cafe Bebe

Jenson - The First 4 Weeks

I can not believe that Jenson is 4 weeks old already! The time has flown by even if it has been 4 weeks of very little sleep on my part!

He was born at 21:19pm on Wednesday 30th March and although 11 days early, still weighed a very healthy 9lbs 1 1/2 oz. Back then he looked like this





He took to breast feeding very easily, although maybe it was because I knew what I was doing this time round that he latched on much better than Burton did during the first week.





Sleeping wise it has been much the same as with Burton in that Jenson did not settle in his moses basket during the night, preferring instead to fall asleep on me and did not want to be put back down in his bed!




I have been sleeping on the sofa in our lounge with him since he was two days old, so that the OH does not get disturbed as he still has to work long hours every day. I was only getting 1-2 hours per night during the first fortnight, but now I am getting 4 although this is not 4 hours straight you understand, more like two lots of two! It's funny how 4 hours sleep is a good thing! I am hoping to try and move back in to our bedroom this weekend, as once fully asleep I have managed to put Jenson back in his bed these last few nights.

He is a very content baby and seems quite relaxed and unaffected by noise - just aswell with a noisy brother around! He likes to take in his surroundings and is very alert.



He likes to poke his tongue out and he lifts his head and neck when he lays on me and sometimes pushes up with his legs - he is very strong but then Burton was aswell.



He quite likes having a bath now and has shared a couple with his brother, although we have had to put a stop to that for now as Burton kept splashing him too much!



He is feeding well which I am pleased about. He got weighed today and is now 11lbs and 2oz which is great as it means he is getting plenty of my milk. It amazes me how much he (and indeed Burton did) can get after just 5-10 minutes of feeding per breast.

He is almost smiling - hopefully it won't be long until he does it properly, as Burton smiled for the first time at 4 weeks.

Burton is fascinated by Jenson but although it is sweet how much he wants to rub his head, I worry that he may do it a bit too much now and always does it just after I get Jenson to sleep in his bed!



It's amazing how quickly a new-born grows. He seems huge now compared to 4 weeks ago - my little baby is growing too fast really. Where does the time go? It is scary.

Happy Blogaversary!!

So my blog is 1 year old today! Happy Birthday little blog of mine.

A year ago I didn't really know much about blogging. I kind of stumbled upon it by accident really. I was fed up with Facebook, some people I thought were my friends had been really off with me and seemed to not care anymore, and things weren't great with my home life either. Yes I had a gorgeous baby boy who made me more happy than anyone or anything else, but my relationship with his Daddy, the OH, was strained and being at home all day was sometimes a little lonely.


Don't get me wrong, I loved being a SAHM and it was what I wanted, but some weeks asides from my Mum, OH or his mum I didn't see any other adults who I could really chat and have a giggle with.

So I joined twitter last January and to begin with I hardly tweeted anything, because I didn't really 'get it' to start with and wasn't sure what I was meant to tweet lol! Therefore, I mostly followed the tweets of celebrities rather than non celebrities! Then a couple of months later I realised that I should be looking to follow and tweet with like minded people, and this led me to find some mummy tweeters. Upon following and being followed back by a small number of these mummies, I noticed that almost all of them had a blog which I read with interest, as I was completely oblivious to the blogging community! Being a SAHM I thought that I might like to start a blog where I could write down my thoughts and record tales of my baby boy.

So I googled 'blog' and found blogger and couldn't believe creating a blog could be free and so easy and quick to do! Thus,on Tuesday 27th April, 2011 Mummy Mishaps was born. My first post was about how I was feeling after leaving Burton to spend a few hours with his grandma - his first time without me since he had been born 9 months earlier! I did not like it at all! Funny how a year later Burton has spent lots of hours away from me now, and I have quite enjoyed that free time!!

As with all new blogs it took a long time to build up followers and to get comments and page views and to know how to advertise my posts on twitter. However, thanks to The Gallery my blogging and tweeting world was opened up to me and I started to 'meet' some wonderful people who have been so lovely and have been great company. My blog now has 116 followers which is just amazing so a big thank you to those of you who make up that number! The parent blogging community has just been brilliant and so supportive and helpful via twitter and blogging - I am so glad I discovered these social platforms.

I still need to show more of 'me' on my blog and write about subjects that affect me, and have the confidence to post the pieces I write, and not just save them never to be featured on my blog. Hopefully going forward I will rectify this. My posts to date have mostly been about my Burton and one day when he is older, I will be able to show him how he changed my life for the better, and how proud I am to be his mummy.

A year on and I now have a new baby boy to enjoy and blog about, and be equally as gushing and proud of! My little family has grown in the last 12 months and I look forward to sharing our new adventures with my blog :)




Here's to the next 12 months of blogging.

The Gallery - Green

Due to the gorgeous sunny weather we have been experiencing recently, this weeks Gallery theme set by Tara over at Sticky Fingers is GREEN.

My photos were not taken during the current nice weather we have had, as quite frankly as I just haven't had the chance to go out with my camera. However, they are ones I took a couple of summers ago with a micro lens which is why I was able to capture the subject in these green photos.













Don't forget to see the other green entries at

Metal Mummy Movie Meme - Week 10 : HORROR

This week the lovely Hannah from Metal Mummy has asked us to list a HORROR FILM which scared us.

I have to admit that scary films don't really scare me - some of them I find a little unsettling or downright sick but I don't hide behind a pillow or have bad dreams afterwards!

However, when I was about 10 or 11 I stayed at a friends house and we, no doubt sneakily, watched a film called A Company Of Wolves which maybe gave me the jitters at such a young age!





This gothic-fantasy film was released in 1984 and was directed by Neil Jordan.
Set in modern times, the movie takes place within the dreams of Rosaleen, a young girl. She dreams that she lives in a fairytale forest with her parents and sister, but one day her sister is killed by wolves. While her parents are mourning their daughter's death, Rosaleen goes to live with her grandmother who knits a bright red shawl for her granddaughter to wear.






The superstitious grandmother gives Rosaleen an ominous warning, to beware men whose eyebrows meet. She must also take care when walking through the forrest not to stray from the path. The ending had a bit of a twist if I remember correctly too, to identify where the dream Rosaleen is having actually ends......if indeed it does!!?

A Company Of Wolves is kind of a modern day take on Little Red Riding Hood but made into a horror fantasy film complete with a twist! I do remember how even having seen it once back when I was a child, it stuck with me for some years later. However, I watched it once again when I was much older, and it's a bit dated really and not scary to me as an adult at all. Yes, I am hardcore lol!

Don't forget to check out the other scary entries over at

Silent Sunday

Mumra Playlists - week 10

I feel a little bad as I haven't participated in Sarah's Mumraplaylist linky for a few weeks *hangs head in shame*. However, this week I am making a come back!

The theme for this week is WHAT SONG DO YOU KNOW EVERY WORD TO?

Well I am bit sad really because I know the words to a lot of songs, as I would listen to songs over and over when I was a teenager. I guess the first song I can remember really singing along to all the words was this one:

Wham! Freedom

I was such a HUGE Wham fan and loved George Michael and wanted to marry him! Funny really in retrospect seeing as though he is gay! Anyway, I probably know the words to almost all Wham songs but this was the song that got me liking them and made me become their number one fan lol

Win Royal Wedding Street Party Packs

So with less than a week until the BIG day - what do you have planned to celebrate the wedding of William and Kate? A street party perhaps? Or a picnic or maybe you will just be watching it on your TV in your lounge?

If you are planning a street party then you are going to need some party decorations and accessories to really celebrate in style.

Well those lovely people from Innocent Drinks have a Royal Wedding Competition on their website where you can win street party packs! Prizes include free champagne, juices, deck chairs, bunting, flags etc... Everything you need to get your royal wedding party started!


All you need to do is log on to http://www.juice.innocentdrinks.co.uk and tell Innocent why your street is the most worthy-est of winners. Thats it! Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

So why not check out this competition - afterall, it could be your street that wins!

Getting Used To His Brother

While I was pregnant with my second child, I worried a lot about how Burton would react to it once it was born: living in his home and sharing his Mummy and Daddy. Although I was very happy to be expecting a brother or sister for my first born, I also felt a lot of guilt because I wouldn't have the time to devote to him as I had and I wondered if he would feel put out.

During the last couple of months of my pregnancy, my OH and I would tell a Burton that there was a baby in my tummy and sometimes he would rub my stomach, although we never really know if he fully understood what a 'baby' actually was!

Anyway, the morning after Jenson was born, Burton was introduced to his big brother for the first time. Upon seeing him in his moses basket, Burton didn't really pay him too much attention. That afternoon when the grandparents visited we got Burton to sit with his little brother for photos and he was not too impressed!!







However, by the second day he wanted to 'help' bath Jenson and 'help' change his nappy - I think it was more to do with the fact that it meant he could play with the water!

As the days have have gone by my initial worries have disappeared as Burton seems genuinely at ease with having a sibling and often strokes Jenson's head,




rubs his tummy and 'talks' to him.




He loves sharing Jenson's play mat




and when we put Jenson in his car seat, Burton likes to 'help' carry him to the car! It has actually got to the point now, where Burton is a little over zealous with his brother and prods and pokes him too much, especially when I have just got him to sleep and back in his moses basket!! He just enjoys having contact with him, when he wants to of course!

They have shared a couple of baths together now aswell, although Burton has tended to splash Jenson a but too much! Therefore, now we are washing Jenson first before Burton goes in, so he can be taken out almost straight after Burton is in the bath - much to his older brother's frustration!




So for all my worrying, it appears it was not really necessary at all! Yes, Burton does play up a little more sometimes which could be for attention, but then again he was showing signs of the 'terrible two's' before Jenson was born. Today he actually gave Jenson a sloppy kiss on the lips - the first time he has wanted to kiss him. All in all it seems Burton does love his little brother, and it won't be long I am sure until the two of them are running around and playing with each other and tiring their poor Mummy out!

Flashback Friday - 1997

So its that time of the week again for Flashback Friday. This weeks photo is from spring 1997, and was taken during a catch up weekend with the girls I lived with at university (we had graduated the year before). Our reason for meeting up was because Sally was off to Australia for a year, so we decided to meet up and give her a good send off.

We stayed at her Dad's house which is just outside Chichester, and the photos I am showcasing were taken on the Saturday night inside a cheesy Chichester nightclub - the name of which escapes me although Sarah from Mumara knows it as she used to work there - after lots of alcohol had been consumed around several Chichester pubs.

The most gutting thing about these photos is the realisation I will never have such a flat stomach ever again or be able to not wear a bra outside of my house! *sighs* ah well I was a LOT younger here! Check out our cheesy dance moves LOL - happy days :)






I am the one dressed in blue for those that don't know!

Don't forget to check out the other nostalgic Flashback Friday entries here:

The Gallery - My Blog

This weeks Gallery theme set by Tara at Sticky Fingers is MY BLOG, that is to sum up in a photo what our blogs are and what they represent.

My blog is called Mummy Mishaps due to me being a mummy who is clumsy and has stupid things happen to her! I cannot believe that on the 27th April, my blog will be a year old already! My blog has mostly been about Burton as I am a stay at home Mum, and so he has been the focus of my life for the last 21 months since I stopped working.

My blog also features the odd review and recipe thrown in along the way. There are also some meme's and self penned posts. I have really enjoyed participating in The Gallery and more recently Silent Sunday and Flashback Friday. My blog, together with twitter, has enabled me to meet some like minded people who I have loved getting to know and interact with through cyber space, people who have kept me sane when I may not have seen any adults in real life for a few days! Everyone is so nice and helpful and supportive of each other, I feel so proud to be a part of the parent blogging community :) so thank you to you all.

Of course now with a second child in my life my blog will also feature Jenson aswell as Burton: the two loves of my life without whom my life would be ........ well dull and meaningless quite frankly!

Therefore, I guess this photo best represents Mummy Mishaps going forward now :)



Ps
I would like to add that since I joined the blogging community and twitter, there have been times when some lovely people have been made to feel bad about the content on their blogs. Their posts have been criticised and comments have been posted which have caused upset and even made some people think about giving up their blogging. Our blogs are just that - ours! They belong to us and are written by us and we should be allowed to voice our opinions on our blogs. If people don't like what they see or read then it is simple : don't visit that blog again rather than leave hurtful comments. Ok rant over!!

What's In My Fridge Meme

So I have been tagged by 3 lovely ladies for this Meme:
Me from TheBoyAndMe
Carolin from caro_mad
Vicky from mumsfordnsons85

The idea is to take photographs of the contents of your fridge to show everyone what lurks in there on an average day. I have to admit that I took mine on Saturday just after we had an online delivery to make it look better, as had I taken the photos the day before there would not have been much food to show you!

Ok so without any further ado here is the inside of my fridge












So basically it contains the following, starting from the top shelf,:

*1st Shelf*
Strawberry jam
Lemon curd
Philadelphia
Strawberries (opened pack)
Tomato puree
Horseradish sauce

*2nd Shelf*
Haloumi cheese
Mature cheddar x 2 packs
Grated cheese
Mild cheddar
Dairylea triangles x 2
Vanilla buttercream

*3rd Shelf*
Fromage frais for B
Yoghurts for B
Lurpack unsalted butter x 3
Babybels x 25
Organic yoghurts for me

*4th Shelf*
Tortillini
Whole chicken
Cooked cocktail sausages
Beef stewing steak
Buffalo meatballs
Chipolatas
Skinless Sausages
Pancetta
Fresh tomato and basil pasta sauce
Gammon steaks
Cooked smoked ham slices
Cooked chicken breast slices

*Vegetable Drawer*
Carrots
Leeks
Salad Leaves
Bag of pre prepared cabbage and leeks
Red and orange peppers
Mushrooms
Courgettes
Strawberries
Lemon
White seedless grapes

*Chilled Drawer*
Semi skimmed milk x 2
Smoothies
Fosters

*Fridge Drawer*
Heinz tomato ketchup
Helmans Light Mayo
Branston Pickle
Semi skimmed milk


So now its my turn to tag some other fridge owners!

Kerry from MultipleMummy
Alethea from Momonawire01
Emma from A Matter Of Choice
Lauren from Real Housewife Of Suffolk County

Good luck!

Silent Sunday

Baby Royale Blanket - A Review

A few weeks ago the lovely people from Hello Baby Direct offered me the chance to review a baby blanket - with a newborn on the way I jumped at the chance to take them up on their lovely offer.

Baby Royale Blankets are different to your average blanket because they are actually made from a mix of organic bamboo and organic cotton (70:30 ratio) which adds a touch of luxury to the feel of the material, aswell as a natural fibre based alternative to more conventional blankets available on the market. The manufacture of these gorgeous blankets are based on replicating traditional weaving techniques which makes the quality of them all the more superior.

The inclusion of organic bamboo is certainly very Eco friendly and bamboo contains some amazing ingredients which makes it ideal for use in a product for babies. Indeed bamboo is naturally hypo-allergenic and is kind to sensitive skin and does not aggravate skin conditions, such as eczema, or respiratory ailments such as asthma. It is also naturally anti-bacterial and because no pesticides or insecticides a used on this plant while it grows you can be rest assured these blankets are safe for your newborn baby.

The blankets are a good size measuring 90cm x 75cm and are available in three colours: white, blue and pink. They really do feel very soft to the touch and on his second day in this world I wrapped my new baby boy in the blanket, and have been using it ever since.

These blankets cost £35 each and are available to buy direct from the Baby Royale website or from the online nursery shop Hello Baby. I think these blankets offer excellent value for money and knowing that they have been made from a sustainable source, bamboo, and that the end product is 100% bio-degradable makes them an even better purchase.