The person I've become.

When I was pregnant, I didn't have a clue. I don't have many pictures of me during that time and I never read the pregnancy magazines or blogs (I never knew those kind of blogs existed) and I got bored of the pregnancy apps. So I just continued in ignorance. One thing I was sure of, though, was that I'd never be a certain type of Mum. One that stuck their kids artwork on the wall or took them to cooking classes. And I was sure I would never take my kid to a show such as The Chris and Pui Roadshow.

Well the whole artwork on the wall thing started from the day she 'drew' her first picture, so that's one thing ticked off the 'things I shall NEVER do' list. She's signed up for cooking classes that start next week. And today I ticked the kid show box. While we were waiting for the show to start, I wondered how I'd last an hour listening to their songs and wondered how the hell I'd come to this place I promised myself I'd never reach. And then the lights dimmed.

Watching Lil mesmerised by these two people, a switch was flicked. I found myself getting emotional. Who gives a shit if I've turned into someone a lot of people don't think is cool. My kid grinned and sang her way through the entire show. It was as if her year had been made, she was breathing the same air as two of her favourite people who she has only ever seen on TV. Christmas had come early for both of us. My heart felt as though it was going to burst as she sang along to nursery rhymes I'd taught her (although I fear she listens to Chris and Pui singing them way more than she listens to me... 'stop mummy').

I just don't give a damn anymore. As long as my little buddy is happy and joyful, I'll sit through whatever show she wants to watch (I must admit though, I'm a secret fan of this duo). I'll hang all her pictures on the wall, no matter how ugly - because she is the most precious little idiot in my world. Who cares what anyone else's perception of Motherhood is, whether they think it's pathetic or wouldn't be seen dead doing that. It's what you make of it.

Groovy moves and all...


This isn't a sponsored post. 

Halloween: How To Glue Stuff That Looks Nice.

I have a friend, let's call her Janet. She's clever and she knows a lot of stuff. I often text her when I have a question I don't know the answer to, she's like an encyclopedia. She's also really funny / sarcastic / good with words. And she is SHIT HOT at crafts. I often wish I could be more like her and then I realise if that were the case, we probably wouldn't be friends and have late night conversations about, well, I'll leave that for another day.

Anyway, I asked her if she'd like to do guest posts on here because of everything I said above. She was reluctant, I think, because she can also be a bit of a div at times. But I love her all the same. So here is a guest post on Halloween...

I don't know what it is about Halloween, but I love it. I think, maybe, it's because it's the first 'thing' I get to decorate the house for in the run up to Christmas. It satisfies the urge to transform things just a little, as it's generally unacceptable pull out the christmas tree and fake snow in October. I have a box in the loft labelled 'Halloween' filled with all kinds of spooky goodies. I did this pre-child, which apparently is a bit weird. I disagree. One of the best parts of Halloween for me now though is that it's a pretty solid craft theme to focus on with my kid. We love to craft here, but it always seems a lot more fun when it's for a reason, and it feels like all the mess was worth it, rather than just having yet another 'lovely' painting of squiggles and a giant glitter explosion to clean up in the kitchen. 

Here's a fairly simple Halloween craft that you can do with a kid of any age, and you will probably be pretty happy to have on display in the house for the rest of October (and then pack away to bring out again next year because how could you possibly throw them away?). 

Halloween Tea Light Holders

Warning: this is not for anyone - child or parent - who detests getting sticky. You will get very sticky hands. The mess in this activity is pretty focused though and easy to clean up - provided you don't let your kid run around the room brandishing a gluey brush that is. 

You will need: 

- clean jam jars big enough to fit a tea light inside

- tissue paper/crepe paper 

- black paper/card

- glue (PVA glue works just fine - if you want to get fancy then you can use a proper decoupage glue) 

- glue spreader/paintbrush

First, you'll want to cut your tissue/crepe paper into lots of small strips. Unless your kid is old enough to do the cutting themselves, do the cutting before you get any glue out. Once the glue is in the hands of a child you don't want to be distracted. Trust. 

Stick your glue in a pot and let your kid go crazy with a glue spreader. You want to coat the whole outside of the jar, including the base and the bit where the lid would screw on. Even out any over-zealous glue spreadering so it's not crazy thick. It's easiest if you hold the jar while they do the gluing. Those sticky jars are wily. 

Keep hold of the jar and hand your kid a pile of tissue paper/crepe paper strips. Let them cover the jar with them, any which way they like. You'll probably need to flatten them down a bit as they go, and maybe add some more glue to any bits that need it (I just put glue on my finger and poke at it, it's way easier). 

Once it's completely covered in paper, you need to add another coat of glue over the top. You can do this right away, but if you have a little helper wanting to do it 'all by myself' then it's better to wait until it's dried some as it's pretty easy to tear the paper when doing this top coat. 

At this point, it's important to make sure that there's no bits of paper sticking out over the open part of the jar. You want any paper around the opening to be completely flush and stuck down. If you have any sticking out it's pretty likely to catch fire when you stick a candle in there. Trust. 

Cut some faces from the black paper/card and stick these on. If you use card they may peel away slightly and need re-sticking once the glue has gone tacky. 

Leave them to dry and you're done! Don't leave them to dry on paper. They will stick to it. I know this sounds obvious now, but at the point of leaving them somewhere to dry you'll probably also be dealing with a glue covered child heckling you and demanding a biscuit. 

Once they're completely dry you can stick a tea light in them and you have a pretty sweet homemade Halloween decoration. If your kids are in love with them and want them in their rooms, then those little battery LED tea lights work well too and they shouldn't burn down the house as a result. Result! 

Semi-interesting side note: crepe paper is much easier for little kids to stick on, as it doesn't tear very easily when wet and they have a tendency to not be gentle, but tissue paper is way easier to flatten out and keep layering over any mistakes. Other than that, just use what you have available. We used both, and you can't see a difference. 

I'm not the first person to glue some orange tissue paper to a jam jar and stick a candle in it, this same idea is all over the internet. I'd try to find who did it first but I'm pretty sure that would be an impossible feat. 

Janet blogs here. She's on Twitter too.

SPD.

When I was pregnant, I suffered from Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. It was the most uncomfortable part of pregnancy; morning sickness I could sleep through but SPD was, at times, excruciating. At my first osteopath appointment, I asked Elliott if he had treated any pregnant women with it and what he knew about it. He was kind enough to email some information over for me to share on this blog.

Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction can be incredibly painful. There are three moveable joints in the pelvis that really, don’t move very much at all. For the majority of the time, the pelvis fulfils its function in transmitting force from the legs and supporting the pelvic organs, however the changes occurring in pregnancy mix things up a little.

During pregnancy a hormone called relaxin is released to increase joint mobility so that the pelvic cavity can expand during labour. This is possibly one of the reasons women may suffer from joint pain during their menstrual cycle, as the joints then rely on muscular rather than ligamentous support. The surge of relaxin leads to greater mobility of the pelvic joints (one at the front just by the bladder, the other two lie just under the small dimples on your lower back).

Due to the force coming up from your legs and transferred to the pelvis, the change in weight bearing during pregnancy, the effect the baby has on the abdominal musculature and organs, the pelvis becomes more vulnerable to the effect of asymmetrical load leading to changes in joint mechanics and then pain.

That is the complicated part. As osteopaths we simply detect the asymmetrical force or tension (i.e. a shortened back muscle or inactive abdominal muscle) and we try and establish balance. This could be with stretching, manipulation etc. We then prescribe exercises to stabilise the change that has been made. These exercises can be very gentle but effective.

An osteopath quite active in treating pregnant women is Caroline Stone. Read up on her work if you are interested in learning more about SPD. For more information please don’t hesitate to contact us at Revitalize. 

You can find Revitalize on Twitter and Facebook.

QUICK QUICK...

It's all go over here. After weeks of cursing the fuckers who pulled out of our house, someone finally took it so we were able to go ahead and find a house back where we belong... closer to London. So we have just under a week until we move again and this time I hope it's for a lot longer than three months. That's why things have been quiet. WE ARE MOVING BACK! Which means two things: I'll be back on the work saddle (I am already but juggling Lil alongside this has become impossible - I'm interviewing childminders and nannies over the next few weeks) and I'll get my social life back. Just in time for my birthday and the start of the festive season (I ain't even gonna apologise at how excited I am for Christmas) which brings me to this:

DEAL WITH IT. This amazing piece of work is brought to you by the fabulous Heather Young - go check her brilliant blog out here.

I have so much to tell you and show you but right now I have a screaming toddler to deal with. Must dash...