Loved By Parents Blog | July 2012

Lovedbyparents Home:

12 months have passed and somehow, my wonderful, tiny little newborn has turned 1. As a mother of four, I am fully aware of how time passes quickly but I still didn’t feel prepared or ready for our darling little Eva to turn 1 years old. 

Eva has started to toddle around and is very proud of herself indeed as she takes a few steps and looks round at us all, waiting for a cheer and round of applause. Her teeth are nearly all through and her hair has continued to grow. This tiny little baby that I breastfed so tenderly now has a whole cup to herself and insists on feeding herself which normally ends up in her wearing most of it.  I can see her trying to assert herself and understand the world around her.  As her mother, I am so proud but a little sad. Eva is our last baby and in some ways, every step that she takes is towards something bigger and we are leaving another phase behind us which we won’t revisit again. The strong maternal instinct that I have inside me will never just disappear I’m sure but it’s time to move on and embrace the next stages in each of my children’s lives.

Lovedbyparents HQ:

Lots of work has been taking place at Lovedbyparents HQ this month. We have been planning some exciting projects which will be announced later in the year. The sunshine has finally arrived. Better late than never! We do hope that you are enjoying lots of family time and remembering to apply some all important sunscreen. We have fantastic competitions and features on Lovedbyparents this month. We do hope you will have a chance to put down your copy of 50 shades of Grey and have a read through!

Until next month,


Tina Summers
Editor

Loved By Parents Blog | June 2012

Lovedbyparents Awards 2012

After a very tense four weeks of public voting, the wait is finally over and we have announced the winners of our hugely popular parenting awards.
Hundreds of products were entered into each category and over 44,000 people voted for their favorite products and brands. Social media sites were buzzing with excitement yesterday as the awards were announced throughout the day.
All products were tested by a group of real parents and shortlisted before opening the final decision to the public votes. Winners were provided with a prestigious Gold, Silver or Bronze Lovedbyparents Award badge.
Gold Winners included Mamas & Papas for Best Pushchair Design, BabyBjorn for ‘Best Highchair’, Little Tikes for ‘Best Activity Toy 0-1 years’ and Ocado for ‘Supermarket Of The Year’.
A full list of award winners can be found here :
http://www.lovedbyparents.com/awards/2012awardresults/

Congratulations to all of this years award winners and a very big thank you to Lovedbyparents Award sponsors. We look forward to seeing your shiny logos around the market place.
From all the team, have a great month!

Tina Summers

Editor

Loved By Parents Blog | May 2012

Lovedbyparents Awards 2012

This years Lovedbyparents Awards have been bigger than ever with hundreds of products and companies competing for a prestigious Lovedbyparents Award. A panel of ten parents and children have tested each and every product to produce a shortlist of entries.  We have been astounded by not only the level of entries but the quality of each and everyone. It is amazing to see the range of products that are now available in the market today. We look forward to honouring the best ones with our gorgeous Lovedbyparents Logo.

The public vote is now open and we kindly ask everyone to cast their votes for their favourite products within each category.  We look forward to finding out who will be this years Lovedbyparents Award Winners on the 11th June!

A very big thank you to all of this years award entrants, sponsors and the fantastic team at Lovedbyparents.com for all of their hard work.





Tina Summers

Editor

Loved By Parents Blog | April 2012

Our 2012 Lovedbyparents Awards are now closed. Thank you to everyone who enquired and entered this year. We have been thrilled with the record number of entries we have received and amazed at how many wonderful products there are to choose from.


The testing stage will now begin until May when we will be announcing those all important shortlisted winners. There is a lot of hard work ahead but we hope that when you see our Lovedbyparents logo on a product, you will know that it is a product that is truly Lovedbyparents. and one you can trust.

We hope you all had a fantastic Easter break and are looking forward to the Summer months ahead. A very popular time for potty training! With this in mind, we have posted some helpful tips to aid you on your journey.

This months Fab Woman is the lovely Amanda Jenner, inventor of ‘My Carry Potty’. Her inspiring story is one many of us will be able to relate to and one I am sure you will enjoy reading with a cup of tea in hand.

Don’t forget to enter this months competitions. We have some fantastic prizes up for grabs!



Have a great month!


Best wishes,





Tina Summers

Loved By Parents Blog | February 2012

Valentines Day is often referred to as 'The Most Romantic Day Of The Year'. If you are looking for a gift for someone special then please do read through our top ten recommendations. Happy Valentines!


1. A box of luxurious Chocolates from Lindt.
http://www.lindt-shop.co.uk/our-ranges/lindor/lindor-gift-box-285g.html RRP: £9.99



2. LOVE HEARTS Egg Cups & Egg Cosies from Findmeagift.co.uk RRP: £7.99
http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/novelty-egg-cups-love-hearts-egg-cups-and-cosies.html



3. I love You Cushion from Sainsburys, RRP: £5
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/home_and_garden/gifts/valentines/forher/list.html?hnav=4294903301

4. New 'Say it with eggs' Mini Frying Pan from Lakeland, Ref 16047, £9.99
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/16047/Lakeland-Heart-Shaped-Mini-Fry-pan

5. Garnet Earrings 14k Gold Wire Wrapped Deep Red January Birthstone from Etsy, $44.00 USD
http://etsy.me/zBFMVt

6. Red Wall Heart from mydeco.com, £84
http://mydeco.com/search/?query=red+wall+heart&prefdb=&fastsearch=1&searchsrc=searchbox&sv=default%2Cgrid

Loved By Parents Blog | January 2011

Our 2012 Lovedbyparents Awards are now closed. Thank you to everyone who enquired and entered this year. We have been thrilled with the record number of entries we have received and amazed at how many wonderful products there are to choose from.


The testing stage will now begin until May when we will be announcing those all important shortlisted winners. There is a lot of hard work ahead but we hope that when you see our Lovedbyparents logo on a product, you will know that it is a product that is truly Lovedbyparents. and one you can trust.

We hope you all had a fantastic Easter break and are looking forward to the Summer months ahead. A very popular time for potty training! With this in mind, we have posted some helpful tips to aid you on your journey.

This months Fab Woman is the lovely Amanda Jenner, inventor of ‘My Carry Potty’. Her inspiring story is one many of us will be able to relate to and one I am sure you will enjoy reading with a cup of tea in hand.

Don’t forget to enter this months competitions. We have some fantastic prizes up for grabs!



Have a great month!


Best wishes,





Tina Summers

Loved By Parents Blog | December 2011

With 6 days until Christmas day, this must be the least shopping I have ever done. One year, many years ago before the times of children, I actually managed to shop, wrap and smile by October. Needless to say, those days are long gone and I suspect I will be joining the long queue of shoppers over the next few days. I do hope you are all managing to enjoy this festive season and spend time with your loved ones.

Christmas would not be the same without traditions. Decorating our tree is something I look forward to all year round. The children's handmade decorations are added and the multi colour tinsel is added to the tree. For the past 11 years, we have never had a perfectly positioned tree but It is unique to us and when I look at it, I can't help but smile. Looking forward to the New Year, makes me reflect on everything that has happened over the past year. The children will be another year older and I have a big milestone ahead. What will your New Year's resolution be?

Please don't forget that our awards open on the 9th January 2012. I am really looking forward to working on the project again and seeing all of your wonderful submissions.On behalf of the whole Lovedbyparents team, I would like to thank you for all of your wonderful support over the last year and wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas!






With Love

Loved By Parents Blog | November 2011

After months of planning and hard work, we are delighted to share with you the new Lovedbyparents site. With an easy to use menu, you will find all of your favorite monthly features, reviews and competitions.


This is a very exciting time for Lovedbyparents and we look forward to hearing your feedback.With just under 2 months to go now until the Lovedbyparents awards 2012 open. We have been really busy preparing and adding new categories and awards.Time really has flown past and I am really looking forward to working on the project once again.

It has been lovely to see Santa on twitter. Times really have moved on! Each week as everyone starts to count down the weeks until Christmas I really stop and think about how much has happened in the last 12 months. I must say, it is my favorite time of year and I really look forward to decorating the Christmas Tree and celebrating Eva’s 1st Christmas.

This month, I have thoroughly enjoyed researching Christmas Advent calendars- a hard job I know but someone has to do it!

Lastly, Our lucky winners of our Disney On Ice competition had a fantastic time at the Wembley show and sent us a lovely email as a thankyou!

“Thank you so much for the tickets to Disney on Ice, we decided to take Lily and Zak as it felt wrong to leave him out and I'm glad we did as he sat still and watched the whole thing! Lily loved seeing all the characters and got so excited to see mickey mouse she clapped and screamed at the top of her voice.”




Thanks again it was truly fantastic,


Katie, Lee, Lily and Zak xxx


We hope you enjoy the new site and continue to share with us all the things that are Lovedbyparents.



Until next month,



Tina

Hair time

I don't know if anyone else seems to have this problem with hair but both Leah and Sienna have inherited my thick black hair.It is not the easiest to get a brush through and i am ashamed to admit that there have been times where the brush has literally given up and came to a halt whilst still hanging from the middle of Leahs hair. I have tried different detanglers and 'special combs' but nothing seems to work properly. I admire other children with their little bunches and have always wondered why Sienna is so insistent on having her hair down and then today whilst playing a game of hairdressers it came to me.

As i sat with my back to Sienna she carefully brushed my hair and then the torture began.She was pulling it and trying to clip things into it, all the while telling me to face the front, sit still, she will be finished in a minute and be a big girl for her for five minutes longer.Half of me wanted to laugh because it suddenly dawned on me that she sounded just like me. These were all of the things that i have said to her whilst trying to persuade her to sit still and i realised how uncomfortable i have made her feel. Granted i don't tug on her hair or lick her face but

Growing up

Matthew had his Cup final on Saturday and he rose early to knock on my bedroom door and remind me that we had to leave in 3 hours time. Half asleep and glancing up at him as he stood before me in all his kit I thought to myself that really is love of the game.

3 hours and fifteen minutes later I stood alongside the pitch with the other parents (all men but very accepting of me and my continuos team talks ) trying to contain myself as the game kicked off. Matthew has already asked me countless times throughout the season not to yell from the sidelines but I just can't contain myself and each week end up nearly loosing my voice as a result.

I have tried to change the tone of my voice to make it sound a bit deeper and more masculine but there's only so much I can do. I like to think that i'm supportive but Matthew says it's embarrassing. I even offered to manage the team at one point and no matter how many times I tried to persuade him that I could come up with great tactics he literally begged me not to volunteer. I asked him why and he replied with a simple " mum, you wear heels on a football pitch, you don't know the rules of the game and every time you look down at your iphone you miss a goal". My response, "And your point is Mathhew?".

Change

Everything seems to be changing and it always seems so unexpected yet in some respects things were very similar this time last year. We had birthday celebrations, Sienna has grown atleast another foot and even the cat is roaming free and very unsuccessfully trying to catch birds!.

Matthew turned 10 last week and even though I want all of my children to grow up and live full and happy lives it feels like it is all on the horizon and I don't think any amount of time will prepare me for the whole leaving home scenario. I know I may be jumping the gun slightly but I can't help it. On Matthew's birthday I even asked him if we could make a promise that we would always spend his birthday together and he happily agreed. I felt like pulling out a piece of paper and a pen and drawing up a legally binding contract which I could hold him to forever! The worst of it is, I actually had it all figured out in my mind.

My mother still tells me that "children never stop needing their parents", and whilst I do agree, I couldn't imagine waking up one day and the house not being full of noise and chaos. When you think about things sometimes it makes you put things in perspective and make the most of everything your children bring you, in a blink of an eye another ten years will fly by and they too will be flying the nest just like we did.

Lolly

After having three children i felt that i had made my contribution to society and that it was now someones elses turn to make sure the human race didn't die out. As a mother i still feel that you have a natural instinct that kicks in every now and again but for me personally as soon as i hear the arguments begin at 6am it soon fades.


However, after two years of pleading i finally gave in and took the next step to add an addition to our family. Lolly was born on the 20th August and came home to us on Saturday. As soon as i held her i knew that she was the one.She is jet black and so tiny you can just hold her in the palm of your hand.


I stood in the pet shop, frozen with fear.As a child i had grown up with every animal imaginable.A Goat,Chickens,Rabbits but never a 'normal' pet like a dog or a Cat. This feeling of panic came over me and it reminded me of the day Matthew was born.That familiar feeling of Oh, what now! . The feeling of responsibility and overwhelming love. It's funny because even after all these years i still question whether i am responsible enough to have a cat!. The children are delighted with her of course and want to shower her with love but i am still getting used to this tiny little Kitten that keeps squealing at me.


On the plus side atleast she is house trained and will be able to go outside in a number of weeks rather than years!. She won't grow up to answer me back and she can stay at home all on her own without the need of a babysitter!


"Maybe" Leah asked " when i am a little older we can get a dog?"
"No" came my reply. "Simply not".

Swimming with Sienna

I can't really remember swimming as a child but then what woman in their right mind would have taken four small children into a pool on their own ?. My father wouldn't have come out of fear of catching germs so we settled for swimming costumes and the garden hose!.Although this didn't help me gain any certificates or swimming medals!. Just a grazed knee from slipping on the slabs of concrete.


Anyhow, i took Sienna swimming this morning at our local health club. We were both really excited and as we got changed i tried hard not to stare at the range of women who were literally baring all. Sienna on the other hand, just stared and pointed. "Mummy, she has boobies" followed by her introducing herself to the women who were standing near us."hello, i'm Sienna Summers and my mummy has boobies to". I smiled sweetly and hurried Sienna along to the pool.


Once we were showered we walked through into the baby pool and as i lifted Sienna in she smiled with delight. Within the space of two minutes she was then announcing that she could 'do it on her own'. Little did she realise that i would infact have to hold her as her tiny little feet wouldn't be able to reach the ground without her head going underneath the water. As unimpressed as she was by this she was still fearless.Always wanting to go one better, asking to go in the big pool and even if she could lay on the sun lounger to 'relax'.


As cruel as it may sound, i was well aware that if she had been wearing arm bands she would have been able to float but i wanted to hold her, to help her, to show her how to kick her legs. To simply spend some time together without her going off to do it 'on her own'. She clung to me and laughed as i spun her round singing nursery rhymes.


Twenty minutes later she was threatening to take her swimming costume off as it was time to go!. Enough of mummy time i think!.


Overall,It was a wonderful morning and Sienna said she had a great time and asked when we were going to be returning.So next Monday, we will be returning for round two!!

Family ties

I firmly believe that family and friends shape and influence our children and the way they will grow up to be. Matthew,Leah and Sienna are fortunate to have lots of family and friends that love and understand them. Each of my children remind me of one of my siblings.Leah is very artistic like one of my sisters, Matthew has the same temperament as my brother and Sienna looks and acts just like my other sister Effie.

During the school holidays Effie agreed to look after Sienna for four days. She had very kindly taken the time off work to spend with her and i knew that together they would have a massive adventure. As i phoned to speak to her Effie relayed tales of her finding Sienna straddling her dog whilst trying to clip clips into his hair and screams of 'Oh no Sienna, not the Ralph Lauren!'. Sienna hiding the cupboard key whilst playing shop which no amount of bribery would lead her to reveal it and the demands of 'i need to watch Fifi whilst i sleep'.

I laughed so much as i pictured Sienna doing all of these things and my heart warmed as i listened to Effie laugh and giggle calmly as she recited each story. It reminded me of times when we were younger when we would team up and lock my brother in the cupboard or convince him to lie down whilst we wrapped him in toilet roll as he could only ever be the 'sick' patient while my sisters and I were the doctors. Life was full of laughter and adventure back then. The only point to note is there were three of us up to mischief and only one of Sienna that weekend. She dosen't need any encouragement to be naughty, she can pre plan all on her own.

I do think i love my sister more as i have grown older. Life experiences bring you closer together. As an aunty i respect her greatly and as much as i wanted to divorce her when i was younger i wouldn't swap her for anyone else. She has always held the role of 'big sister' and i 'little sister' which i love and still feel has alot of mileage in!. I only hope that my children are as close as they get older.

Life through a Vacumn

Do you ever get that feeling that your constantly being pulled from one direction to the next?.

With 'Back to School' at the forefront of my agenda life has become a juggling act of lunchboxes, school uniform coats and shoes!. The past seven weeks have flown by and whilst I am looking forward to returning to 'normal' life routine I can't seem to get my head around the fact that another school year is about to begin. My life seems to be a series of threes. Three children, three of everything. I listen and smile as my friends tell me how their school labels have arrived thanks to the internet and hope that my children won't be disappointed with the fact that mummy has used a black marker instead. Perhaps they will be thankful that this year I have remembered the right teacher and class!.

Last year did not get off to the best start. We had hurried along and i was feeling ever so pleased with myself as we set off to school.The children looked smart and clean!, no term time stains! and as we approached the school gates I noticed that it was surprisingly empty. What could have happened you may ask?. Oh yes, inset day! so all of the excitement of school had to be carried over to the following day.

As Matthew stood in line a sick feeling washed over me as i realised that he was labelled right down to his underwear in the wrong class name!. How you may ask had this happened?. I had concentrated so hard on getting everything right that i had infact got it very wrong.

The look the children gave me needed no words to follow, it was one of complete understanding.

Cool Mummy

I have noticed that as Matthew and Leah are getting older they are beginning to have their own ideas on what is 'cool' and what is not.With mummy fitting into the 'not' part. Gone are the kisses at the school gate and the big waves and smiles when i arrive to collect them. Matthew would rather i don't call him any baby names or buy him any t-shirts with cartoon characters on.Preferring to go shopping with his father instead.

What i struggle to understand is how on earth the past nine years have gone past so quickly and where have my babies gone. I find myself trying to show them that i can be cool which seems to backfire almost everytime. Take yesterday for example, i decided to reinvent the Yoyo knowing how much i loved it as a child. Sienna dragged hers along the floor pretending it was a ladybird! and Matthew and Leah watched in awe as i explained how there was a great skill to playing with a Yoyo and so many 'cool' tricks to learn. In my defence i had not attempted any of the great tricks in over twenty years but simply thought it would be like riding a bike.How could i fail.

I swung the Yoyo round up in the air expecting it to swing back and loop just like it used to. Matthew and Leah ran for cover as i explained it was my warm up attempt. The next twenty minutes pretty much went along the same way. Seeing that i looked rather deflated Leah assured me that it did not matter as i had given it a good try and i could always buy a book from which they could learn.

I sat up last night thinking about the Yoyo incident and came to the conclusion that i may not be an expert at Yoyo anymore and i may not get everything right all the time but my children will learn that trying is the most important thing. They may grow away from me slightly at certain points in their lives but they will come back.That i am sure. If i continue to love them and encourage them to grow i can't fail.

When i kiss them goodnight every night and their little eyes look up at me and tell me that they love me who needs 'Cool'.

Tooth Fairy

Matthew (9) and Leah (7) both lost a tooth yesterday and normally the Tooth Fairy is so organised that they wake up the following morning with a nicely written note and a shiny fifty pence under their pillows!. However i have it on good authority that the Tooth Fairy could not have visited last night as after a very exhausting day trip she had fallen asleep on the sofa after a much needed glass of wine.

The children woke up this morning to find their polished teeth still in the same places they had left them the night before .Then followed the discussion as to why she hadn't come. Did they not wrap their teeth in enough tissue (they had already used half a toilet roll each!), had they been forgotten about? and then the golden moment.. "Mummy,do you think the Tooth Fairy has come down with Swine Flu" Leah asked with a very concerned look. I tried very hard not to giggle but Matthew replied very swiftly with " Leah,everyone knows the Tooth Fairy can't get Swine Flu, she gets fairy flu!".

And so tonight the teeth have gone back underneath their pillows accompanied with two letters asking a number of very important questions! Let's hope the Tooth Fairy remembers tonight or who knows what tomorrow may bring!..
The magic of little minds!

Tooth Fairy

Sienna Summers

Watching Super-nanny the other night my mind was mentally taking notes. If only painting flower pots and calmly talking to our toddler would restore order in our household. At the moment it feels like we have become a family of one child instead of four. She simply rules the roost and at times you can feel so many different emotions running through your body as you speak to her you know that if you don’t laugh you will simply cry.

Feeling like a parent pro the realisation of having a third child was so different to how i pictured it in my mind and to look back and think that at the time i was worried about how her older siblings would react to her arrival.

For a two year toddler her conversational levels are quite impressive, to look at her she is ever so beautiful and as she sits in her push chair singing, people comment on how adorable she is and i can only push and hope that nothing untoward will come out of her mouth.

We have tried the naughty step,the naughty corner and removal of her favorite toys to combat her swearing and demanding behaviour but she still continues. All 2 ft of her standing in front of us with her hands on her hips telling us that she is in charge and that we must listen to her. She is shockingly intimidating for a small child.

I can do it on my own!

I clearly remember the day Sienna entered the world. She was conveniently one week late and i had resigned myself to the fact that she simply did not want to come out of my tummy and they would have to go in there and fetch her using any means possible.She was a big baby and had a beautiful mop of thick black hair.Much to my shock she did not make much noise just simply latched onto my breast and happily fed for the next hour and half.

Fast forward two and a half years and my big baby is now a rather tall outspoken little girl who has her own ideas on not only how the world works but how she would like the world to work for her. She believes she can do everything on her own from dressing herself, using her body as an art easel and even dictating to her older siblings.

Having taken longer than normal to get ready this morning we were running late for school.Which amazes me as we have been doing the same routine for the last six years and still i hear myself reciting the same words over and over again like a parrot.

Sienna decided to grab her older sisters bag which held all of Leah's prize possessions and make a run for it into the garden. Leah can then be heard screaming after Sienna to return her belongings and Sienna replying with a delayed "But Leah,it's soo bootiful". meanwhile with butter all over my hands and partly on the bread i am longing for Friday to come already.