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Friday chat: To sleepover or not to sleepover?

March 13, 2015

Yesterday Anya was invited for a sleepover and my instant reaction was she’s only just turned six. How can she go for a sleepover? It’s not something I’ve ever really thought about because the situation has never arisen so it never needed any consideration. But now I have to think about it. I did a quick google search on sleepovers and came across a thread on netmums where they were discussing what age is right and some mums had happily has sent their kids for sleepovers at four and five. On the one hand it made me think that maybe I’m being over-protective but on the other I’ve always believed in trusting my own instinct as a mother. And what is right for one child doesn’t mean it’s right for another. At least that is what I told myself when reading the thread.

But on thinking about it further I know that Anya is mature for her six years. She is well behaved and doesn’t get up at night. She is respectful of other kids parents and is a very social child. Given all this my rational mind tells me that she is more than ready for a sleepover and will have a fabulous time. So if I’m being honest, the real question is am I ready? And the answer is no. My emotional mind is screaming ‘NO’ not yet! She has never spent a night away from me, ever. Would it be selfish to not let her go because of my own feelings? Richard felt exactly the same as me – no, not yet! Thankfully we are both very much on the same page when it comes to parenting our child.

I don’t think that there is a right age for a sleepover (within reason of course) – it depends entirely from child to child, where they are going and how the parents and the child feels about it. As the parents we need to be absolutely comfortable with it and confident that our child will be fine. But my dilemma is different. I am confident that Anya will be fine, I see no rational reason to stop her apart from my own feelings. She would not be going far so if I was needed for any reason I could be with her in minutes. I know what I probably should do but the question is will I be able to do it?

What would you do? Have your kids been for sleepovers and at what age? I’d love to hear your advice and thoughts.

5 fun and creative toy storage solutions

March 12, 2015

How do you keep your kids room tidy? Whenever I tidy up Anya’s room, it’s a complete mess a few hours later. It really makes me lose the will to tidy. I’ll admit that before we moved house I had reached the stage where I just closed her room door so I couldn’t see the mess and i would leave it like that for days and sometimes even weeks. Now that we’re renovating our new home and Anya will have an all new room, I want to make sure that it remains tidy and not like the mess in the picture below (I can’t believe I’m sharing this pic but this shows how bad things got!)

Apart from looking at the mess which troubles me, a messy room means that we often spend hours looking for stuff – especially things like little toys, game counters and lego pieces. With our fresh start I want to ensure that her room is neat most of the time and I also want to make sure that she is the one who tidies it. The best way to do this is to have a specific place for everything and so I’ve been seeking out fun but useful toy storage solutions. Anya’s new room is quite small so I also want toy storage ideas that work for small spaces. I’m not a fan of plastic boxes or anything modular and also I thinks toys should be tidy but visible because they add fun and colour to a room so I’ve had to dig a bit deeper to find some quirky and fun storage ideas. Here are 5 that I’m loving:

This is such a fun way to store those soft toys. Wire baskets cost pennies so you can have as many as you need and they also make really quirky wall decorations. I love these circular ones but you could get bigger rectangular ones which will store even more soft toys. So much more practical then lining up the toys on the bed which is what Anya used to do and then each night they were thrown all over the room!

You know all those teeny tiny toys that always get under your foot and seem to make their way in to every single room in the house? Yes, those annoying little toys can be housed in a shelf like this. A shelf with lots of little shelves and you can even wallpaper the backs to make it pretty like they’ve done here.

Nothing beats toy storage sacks and storage baskets. You can get such cute ones which look great in a kids room and the best part is that they allow you to tidy up in a hurry. Also they are great for all those toys that you can’t find any other home for. I will definitely be getting at least a couple of these for Anya’s room and I’ll be getting them from here.

Coat hooks aren’t just for coats – you can hang so much stuff on them. In a small room, instead of having a dressing up box that takes up floor space, coat hooks are a great alternative. They can hold a lot of stuff and the stuff is all very easy to get to. And I love the idea of having the cute dressing up stuff on display.

Using an outgrown or unwanted piece of furniture like an old cot is another fun idea for storage in a kids room. Even a moses basket that is no longer in use would make a great storage solution. You can use it to keep so many things like soft toys, games or books. And it looks so much cooler than boring chests of draws or plastic storage boxes. Even if you don’t have one you could find a vintage crib in a junk shop which will look even better than a modern piece.

With all these fun and creative toy storage ideas, I am really hoping the days of mess will be behind us. I’m especially loving the coat hook idea and the wire baskets for Anya’s room. They save space leaving more floor space to play and they add colour and character to the room. Do you have any ideas for keeping your kids room tidy? Do let me know in the comments.

How to take great photos of your kids with an iphone

March 11, 2015

Want to improve your iphone photography? This post has so many handy tips for anybody who wants to improve their iphone photography. This is part of a whole series of photography posts so do check them out – there are some links at the end of the post. But for now, if you want to improve your iphone photography skills, read on.

I am so excited to have the super talented photographer Julia Arif sharing her tips on how to take better photos with your iphone of your kids. Many of us want to learn to take better everyday photos of our kids and this is exactly what Julia is showing us how to do. All of Julia’s tips are easy to action and you can start trying them out today. Julia is a professional portrait and lifestyle photographer who is also mum to one adorable little girl. It was when I discovered Julia’s beautiful instagram feed that I knew I had to ask her how she does it. All the photo’s on her instagram are taken with her iphone only which is quite unbelievable when you see the stunning photo’s. Julia has agreed to share her top tips with my readers so if you want to learn to take better photos on your iphone get reading these tips. After reading we can all get more creative with our iphones! Now over to Julia.

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Caramel Spring Summer 2015

March 9, 2015

A quick start to the week today with this beautiful new Spring Summer collection. Possibly one of my favourite UK brands for kids, each and every season their new collections don’t disappoint. Classic, understated looks that are so stunning in their simplicity. The collections for boys and girls are both equally beautiful. With the boys I’m loving the vibrant colours mixed with neutrals and also the range of cool, summery trousers on offer. If I had a boy, I really think Caramel would be high on my list of favourites for him. And for the girls it’s classic cut dresses and some beautiful separates too. Now all we need is Summer to hurry up and arrive!

Friday chat: Feeling guilty

March 6, 2015

I’m not talking about mum guilt. Feeling guilty as a mum is a thing that’s been talked about so much on and off the internet so I won’t add anything more to that, at least for today. I am talking of another kind of guilt – yup there are so many of them! I am talking about work guilt or working at home mum guilt. The whole working for yourself and feeling guilty that you’re not doing as much as you should. These last couple of weeks I have not been very well at all. I am slowly recovering but in the midst of my illness, we had to pack everything up (again) and move house to a temporary place while our builders have started with our home renovations. On top of that there have been numerous kitchen planning appointments, extended meetings with the builders, liaising with the Council for required permissions and so much more. If you’ve ever done a complete house renovation, you know it’s a huge project.

While I’ve continued with this blog as best I could during these last two weeks I’ve had a constant nagging feeling of guilt. Guilt that I’m not doing enough on my business. Guilt that I did not post for two days last week. Guilt that every waking minute should be spent planning, tweeting, pinning, replying to emails instead of having a few minutes of down time to recover from my illness. I have had to take some time out because when you’re burning up with temperature, focusing on work is not easy or even possible. So I have had no choice. But that just makes me feel even more guilty.

If a friend of mine came to me with this predicament, I would strongly give her the advice that when she is ill she needs to take some time out – guilt free. After all, nothing is as important as your health. But I was struggling to take this advice myself. Until I decided that a sick, exhausted, unhappy me would be no good to anyone. Not to my family, not to my work and not to our building project. So I have worked fewer hours this week by just focusing on the priorities and letting everything else wait. Because of that I’ve been able to taken some much needed rest and I am actually starting to feel better and happier for it. Those feelings of guilt won’t disappear overnight but I’m realising that sometimes it’s so important and necessary to focus on yourself. We all put so much pressure on ourselves be it for our work, family life, parenting (often all three combined) that when we can’t do as much as we feel we should, those big, ugly feelings of guilt start to rear their heads and become difficult to shake off. But with effort and determination we can and should shake them off.

Why am I telling you all this? Because these feelings are so relevant to this blog and because I’m hoping that by talking about it we can help each other realise that we shouldn’t feel guilty for not working enough (or for anything in our lives). That it’s ok to take time out or even a day off and that will actually help you feel better and most likely work better. That if you work from home it doesn’t mean that you should feel like you need to work all the time. And because sometimes we all need to take a step back and remember what’s really important so I hope this post will serve as a reminder to me in the future.

Are you a mum who works from home? Do you feel guilty when you can’t work as much as you should or could? I’d love to hear how you deal with this guilt?

{photo via}

A quick & easy family dinner: Cheesy quesadillas

March 5, 2015

Since December we have been living with very limited kitchen facilities – a hob, no oven, barely any kitchen space and barely any cooking equipment. On top of that, the area where the make-shift kitchen was is freezing as it wasn’t heated. We have now begun renovations on our new home so I can’t wait till be have a brand-spanking new kitchen. But these last couple of months have been a challenge. Takeaways aren’t really our thing – I just think they taste nowhere near as good as fresh, home-cooked meals. So I’ve been trying to think of meals that are very quick to make on a hob but are still fresh and healthy. Eggs have been a lifesaver and as much as I adore them, I still want variety. And that’s where these delicious quesadillas have saved the day!

From play date food to after school snacks to a fast but fresh family dinner, quesadillas are quick, easy and so versatile. You can eat them three days running but with completely different fillings and you feel like you’re having a different meal each day. The tortilla wraps are handy to keep in the store cupboard and when you don’t have time to cook or just don’t feel like it, you can whip up a meal in minutes. The filling can be absolutely anything you have lying in the fridge already or anything you fancy. And these can be made ahead and just heated gently in the oven.

I made these the other day when I had some roast chicken around (which I had bought as without an oven, roasting a chicken is difficult!) so I went for chicken and cheese quesadillas Here’s what I used:
Flour tortillas
Shredded roast chicken
Grated cheese (I used emmental but have used cheddar and gruyere before)
Finely sliced spring onions
Handfuls of coriander
Finely sliced small green chilli
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter or oil

To make, simply take a tortilla and fill one half of it with your filling and then fold over the other half. It’s much easier to make these by filling half a tortilla and folding over. Heat a pan over a medium heat and melt a tiny drop of butter. Use very little butter to make sure they get crisp – too much and the tortillas will go soggy. Place the filled tortilla in the pan and cook on each side for 2-3 minutes. Remove, slice in to wedges and dinner is ready! It couldn’t be simpler. (For my kids version, I only put in chicken and cheese as not all kids like coriander and onions and of course no kid likes chillies). Such an easy dinner that really takes so little effort.

Some more filling ideas: I always like to use a bit of cheese as it helps keep all the filling together but apart from that, anything goes. Ham, mushrooms, re-fried beans, mozzarella, pesto, peppers, tomatoes, tuna, left over roasts, chorizo, bacon, broccoli, sweetcorn, prawns, guacamole, spinach and so much more. I’ve spoken savoury fillings as this is meant to be a quick and easy family dinner but for a bit of an indulgence I am planning to try a sweet version soon – maybe chocolate spread or peanut butter and fruit. Sounds yum!

{all photos by ebabee}

I’ve linked up to Honest Mum’s Tasty Tuesdays.

Dreamy dancewear by Girls on Tiptoes

March 4, 2015

Ballet classes for little girls seems like a rite of passage in the UK. It’s not a ‘thing’ in India and so being Indian and never having done ballet myself, it never even occurred to me to put Anya in ballet classes until she started asking to join when she was around 3 and a half. I’m glad she did ask though as there is nothing sweeter than watching a bunch of tiny little girls floating around in tutu’s. She’s since given up ballet due to other activities but while she did it, I loved watching her pirouette and twirl and do all those graceful ballet moves. Now I’m wishing she hadn’t stopped especially as I’ve just discovered this new range of gorgeous ballet clothes for little girls .

Girls on Tiptoes is a new line of mostly ballet bodies, leotards and leggings from Poland. This dreamy range of girls dancewear looks so comfy and soft – almost like a second skin. And the photography is so gorgeous too. It’s all so girly and pretty without being fussy. Just looking at the pictures makes me want to get up and start pirouetting! Even though Anya has stopped ballet, I am not sure I will be able to resist a piece – I’ve got my eye on the dotty all in one leotard which can be worn anytime, not just for ballet or dance (at least that’s what I’m telling myself!). But either way, I think Anya or any little girl will delight in having some of these gorgeous clothes in their wardrobe.

*Via the lovely Porridge with milk blog.
*I’ve linked up to Mummys got style Fashion Friday.

Get organised: DIY Washi tape calendar

March 3, 2015

This is one idea I really wish I had thought of. Especially in the last couple of months as we have been so unsettled. We moved in to our new place in December but we always knew we were there temporarily till the builders arrived and then we would have to move out again which is what we have done recently. Because I didn’t have a permanent space for anything, I stuck lots of pieces of paper and notes on the wall to serve as reminders. But I wish I had created a simple DIY washi tape calendar like this one.

This DIY washi tape calendar is large (you could go even larger) so I love that the whole families appointments, dates, events can be put on the same calendar. I would give each member of the family a different colour stickie so that there’s no confusion. And then everything is visible in one quick glance. Even if you’re not moving around like me, this is still such a great way to keep a track of the months events. It looks good and would work great on a kitchen wall or in any shared family room. Or even in a kids room purely to keep track of their activities. It’s also great for rented accommodation as washi tape leaves no marks. And at the end of each month, you just remove all the stickies and put in new ones for the following month. Simple, practical and so useful to keep track of everything in one place. When we move back to our home permanently I’m definitely making one of these.

Colourful wooden toys and decorations

March 2, 2015

Today it’s a colourful start to the week with these beautiful wooden toys and decorations. For me, the simplest toys are always the best. They allow a child to use their imagination and what is better than that? These toys which include stacking stars and wooden puppets are not only beautiful to look at but are just the kind of toys that encourage all kinds of pretend play. And then there are the sweet decorations including that colourful elephant garland. These wooden decorations and toys are the creation of New York based designer Laura Rodriguez who wanted to make designs that were playful and simple and that appealed to the whole family. Laura’s creations called Luez designs are meant to bring a smile to your face and a bit of cheer to any room in your home which is exactly what they do.

Once Upon an Alphabet

February 24, 2015

Now that Anya is six, I have been introducing quite a few longer, chapter books to her as I think she is ready to follow more involved stories. Some have been really good, others not so much. While we are experimenting with these longer books, we are definitely not ready to give up our picture books anytime soon. Anya is still young and loves looking at pictures in books especially ones where the pictures tell part of the story or add an element of humour and fun. Some picture books can be a bit babyish but there are plenty of far more sophisticated ones that are actually aimed at older kids like 6-7 year olds. Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers is definitely one of them.

You wouldn’t expect anyone to be recommending alphabet books for 6 year olds but this is no ordinary alphabet book. Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers is a collection of short stories based around the letters of the alphabet. The stories are very short and even though they appear simple, they are packed with humour, wit and unexpected twists. The words used in the book like ‘E for Enigma’ or ‘V for Victor the Vanquished’ are interesting new words and the accompanying illustrations are really fun too. One of my favourite stories is the one about ‘Danger Delilah’. It’s a book that Anya and I have read together but she has also been picking it up and reading it to herself. I’m a big fan of Oliver Jeffers and this latest book is no exception. It’s now on my list for birthday gifts too.

{top two photo’s by ebabee, bottom photo via}