23-01-12 Love New Blogs Weekly Showcase

Car dancing

Car dancing. It’s addictive. Ironically (and somewhat sadly), it’s probably not recommended for drivers. But it can make long car rides with small children in tow, highly entertaining. Especially if aforementioned children have not yet developed the coordination required to actually do anything more synchronous than flap their arms about madly, vaguely in time with the rhythm. Add some freakishly out of tune toddler vocals to the mix – and you have your own version of the Partridge Family. Or in our case, the Galah Family. But somehow, it always harmonizes into its own sweet symphony and I wish I could bottle the moment.

Some would say that car dancing and blogging have a lot in common. Yes, they would…. If only they would obsessively overthink things like I do.

It is easy to read a sophisticated, melodic, popular piece of writing and then feel as though your own blog is a clunky, madly waving toddler in comparison. I know that I have. Especially when I first started blogging. But the truth is that other people probably read your blog and feel exactly the same way.

Recently I’ve learned that not only should we march to the beat of our own drummer, but that we should also dance around the kitchen to that beat, sing home spun lullabies to that beat… and even car dance to that beat. Because we’re writing about our lives, our experiences and our thoughts… not anyone else’s. And we should live as we intend to write.

“You don’t get harmony when everybody sings the same note.” Doug Floyd

So… Just. Be. You.

And if you’re really not up to car dancing this week, then sit back with a hot cuppa and enjoy this week’s Showcase symphony!

Introduction kindly written by Misha from The Bling Buoy

Brand new! 0-2 months

What Would Nigella Do? – Nigella and Me

As with all good ideas…somebody’s already thought of them, acted on them and blogged about them. So I make no pretence to be original here – this is really an indulgence for myself. I love cooking but am really not very good at it. Don’t get me wrong, I am much better than when I tried to woo my husband and burnt the soup, but John Torode is definitely not head-hunting me. Thank God.

The SportyMummy – Things I know: Goodbye Holidays!

I know that I am standing on the cusp of 2012, excited and enthusiastic about the opportunities and challenges this year will bring.I know that I am excited about blogging. I am really enjoying sharing my stories and becoming part of a world-wide community. I know that I would really like to build a community on my blog to support, encourage and motivate parents and children to be involved in youth sports and an active life-style.

Mummy’s Little Stars – Printable reward charts online: Countdown to lift off

I’m a mum first, have a part-time job and around both of these I manage KiddyCharts.

I have two kids and one husband; two is enough for me and I only just manage to keep track of them.

My daughter, Little Miss Chatterbox, is six going on forty and my son, Stuntboy, is four, and wants to be a superhero. I need to be one to keep up with him.

I shall share some of my kids exploits with you. Names changed to protect the innocent. Oh, and also because its more fun.

mummyglitzer – All About Us

Following redundancy from an international bank, I am a SAHM recently relocated to Bristol from Bournemouth, trying to drag up bring up the gorgeous, energetic and happy whirlwind that is H; a typical boy who loves anything that makes noises that mummy doesn’t like and getting into drawers and cupboards he shouldn’t!

iwantyourtalent – The Boy Did Good

He really did… EPIC Polaroid camera of dreams was received for Christmas with a side of colour and greyscale films. Nom. I’ve been super excited to use it to take some rather sexual arty pictures and have waited until now because I was a tad scared of breaking it/couldn’t find anything worthy of my polaroids.

So, today, I finally whipped it out.

3-6 months old

Hello Wall…. – Tantrums, Peppa Pig & Cake

Littlest turns 2 soon. And don’t I know it. That behavioural slide becomes more evident each day. I was killing time in town yesterday and she was hollering at the top of her voice ‘Hepig! Hepig!!’. This is, of course, toddler speak for Peppa Pig which is flippin’ everywhere. There is no escape – from £1 a go kiddie rides (helpfully placed outside Mothercare and Jojo Maman), to lollipops in M&S. The Piggy brand is everywhere, coaxing children to scream until worn-down parent says sod Gina Ford, gives in, thereby losing money, losing face and losing the will to live.

The Bling Buoy – 10 things you don’t know about me….

On the morning we were due to go white water rafting down the Zambezi River in Africa, there was whispering amongst our Tour Guides of cancelling the event. There had been heavy rainfall the previous night and the rapids were angry. But we were on a strict timetable. And so it was decreed that the show must go on.

Kids One Stop ShopBlog – Thrifty Tips – Love Your Leftovers

An average family wastes £50 worth of food every month, that’s £600 a year! With a few simple changes to the way you shop and use your food you can stop waste and save money.

The trick is to plan, plan, and plan.

Pinkoddy’s Blog – Abbreviations

Are you relatively new to the internet/wonderful world of texting?

Or do you just get lost with all these abbreviations?

I’m always getting K from my teenage son!

Well help is at hand with this list of translations.

AAMOF
As a matter of fact
AF
Aunt Flow (period)

Mammasaurus – Blogging Come Dine With You

I am requesting a Blogging Come Dine With You. Like ‘Come Dine With Me’ but for bloggers….ish

I am looking for bloggers who will cook me a meal or show me the sights of their town. This is not me after free food – we can combine this with a booze hounds night out with other blogging folk in the area – think a bloggers knees up that we can blog about… … But before this soiree I need food – and after maybe a sofa to sleep on.

A mums internal monologue – It turned out to be an 8 incher

Oh and if you’re wondering what turned out to be a 8 incher, well…

Ju’s musings on life – Party planning

I’ve mentioned previously that at the weekend we are expecting the arrival of fifteen, seven and eight year olds from The Eight Year Olds class, to attend his belated ‘Harry Potter themed birthday party’. Realising we were going to be seriously outnumbered (what were we thinking???)…

MotherWifeMe – First nursery days… don’t traumatise husband

Note to self: in future, remember to call husband and update him on Tinkerous Toddler’s nursery experiences ahead of broadcasting them to the world via blog.

Oh dear. MotherWifeMe done a bad thing. My brain has become so accustomed to spilling out its swirling, whirling contents onto a blog template, that sometimes I do things in the wrong order.

Poor baby-daddy-husband innocently clicked onto my blog for a quick read over an afternoon cuppa in the office, only to find news that his darling Tinkerous Toddler had been in floods of tears during her second day at nursery yesterday.

from fun to mum – Sleep Advice Blog Hop

One of the biggest cliche of having children is sleep deprivation. As I wrote in a previous post, I am grateful that Little Miss G is a good sleeper, but then I thought that she is a good sleeper partially because Mr H and I “gave her the gift of sleep”. Before you dismiss me as a totally bonkers or showing off mum, please hear me out.

Older Mum (In A Muddle) – Shiny And New

By the end of the twelfth month I often feel like I’m trapped in a ramshackle room piled ceiling high with dusty disused furniture and mouse chewed cardboard boxes full of discarded rusting toys and sorry looking one eyed teddy bears. Then midnight strikes on the eve of New Year and I’m finally allowed to savour the Shiny and New Potion that is resting on a three legged table situated between the hypnotic ticking of an old oak grandfather clock and a skeletal coat stand.

Here come the Girls – Tips for Bloggers

I’ve now been blogging for six whole months. I’m not sure if that makes me a newbie or an old pro. Does six months give me leave to give blogging tips? Probably not. Oh well I’ll do it anyway.
There is so much I still don’t understand about blogging. What is it? Why is it so addictive? Why is it called such a stupid name? How do you improve your stats? Why on earth are bloggers (or mummy bloggers at any rate) so obsessed with gin, its gross.

A Hell Of A Woman – How Buffy Saved My Life

This is a difficult post to write.

There are plenty of people in my life who know how important the programme Buffy the Vampire Slayer was to me. In fact, it was a running joke for quite some time.

However, I don’t think any of those people know why. After all, it’s not every day that someone credits a work of fiction with saving their life.

It was 1998. I was part way through my second year at university having only just scraped through the first year by the skin of my teeth.

musodad – The Mimic Man and other holiday ‘classics’

Have I mentioned yet that I’m a World Record Holder? No? Blimey, how have I managed to keep that quiet?!

I admit I’m no Usain Bolt – evidence of this is when I pulled my hamstring in the dads’ race at O’s Sports Day a couple of months ago – no, I am a World Record Holder in dancing with 300 other people (they were work colleagues, by the way, not a bunch of randoms brought together in some sick X-Factor type stunt!) to “Superman” by Black Lace whilst wearing 80’s gear. I bet you’re so impressed, aren’t you?!!

Military Dad – Down With the Sickness

Growing up, I rarely got sick. I was a pretty healthy kid, and even the harsh winters of North Dakota couldn’t give me the flu. If I missed school, it was probably because I wanted to and not because I had to. This trend continued well into adulthood. I’d get sick maybe once or twice a year bad enough that I would have to miss work. I’d usually get over it quickly and carry on smartly. Then…I had kids.

An Essex Wife – Essex….How Do I Love Thee?

I am always saying how much I love where I live and how proud I am to be an Essex girl. so I thought, with the weekend approaching and people thinking of places to visit on days out, I would let you all know the wonders there are to see in the wonderful Essex town.

Chelmsford, the County Town of Essex, is a great place to live and visit. It’s the perfect complement of both urban and rural. A vibrant town centre with the ideal mix of high street stores, luxury shops and plenty of restaurants alongside

Musings of a stressy mummy – What has Hello Kitty got that I haven’t?

Yes I know she is cuter than me, probably has nicer clothes than me, definitely looks a lot better on t-shirts than me, but do you know what, along with her sisters of consumerism: Peppa Pig and Minnie Mouse, I’m a bit fed up of them.

The Princess and The Pickle – Eyes

I’m really getting into photography this year and I’ve been meaning to join in with The Gallery over at Sticky Fingers for quite a while, so here is my picture for this weeks theme – eyes.

7-12 months old

The Baby Wife – My Beliefs

‘I believe that there are things in this world we will never be able to explain. Nor do I want them explained. I am happy to feel there is an afterlife. I am happy to feel there is a God. I am happy to be married in his eyes, and will be happy to christen our children in his ‘house’. As an entity that provides an outlet for fear and grief, that brings hope, comfort and celebration in to so many lives, I don’t want to look for the ‘truth’. ‘

Actually Mummy… – Cute things my brother says

So, we’re watching Dumbo last night (I know, it’s not the visual masterpiece of Disney’s more recent creations, but it’s only 60 minutes long, and that’s how much time we had before the much anticipated final of Dancing on Ice). We get to the bit where the hallucinatory dancing elephants morph into various incarnations. Bug finds all this hilarious, until one of the elephants is hit by lightening. ‘Ouch’ he says. ‘That would of stinged’ [sic]. Bit of an understatement, I thought, but hey, fairly perceptive for a 3 year old!

Jennifer’s Little World – Comfort Objects and Giraffe

I think that most people have some sort of teddy or other comfort object that they have had since they were a baby. I have my teddy, who I must admit still sometimes comes out for cuddles when I’m home alone. And Harry has his Giraffe…

Dear Beautiful Boy – One Word

I realised the other day
that of the many things I’ve talked about on this blog
I’ve never talked about the one word that changed my life.

And with only a couple of weeks left until my beautiful boy turns one,
it seemed like it might be time,
time to talk about that one word,
talk about the day our lives changed
and the day that we found out we were going to be parents.

You’re not from round here. – Exercise fail.

Not an exercise fail like most. I haven’t given up or stopped. I was just a numpty!

On Tuesday I arrived at the university gym ready and raring to go. Having not exercised properly over Christmas I was really looking forward to a really good gym session. I got undressed and put my new running leggings on. I was excited to try them out. I looked down and realised my schoolgirl error. No trainers.