Ways my life has changed since I started blogging

I've been writing this blog for over a year now. To be honest I'm very surprised with myself that I've kept it going this long, especially after my previous blogs fizzled out very quickly. The difference this time is that instead of just writing to myself I've discovered that there is a whole world of blogging out there that I wanted to be a part of. I've really found myself part of a community, and although I'm only at the bottom end of the scale I'm loving being a part of it.

I started this blog at the very beginning of my maternity leave, which probably helped because being away from work meant that my life is centred upon my family and home. I'm back at work now, but now that I've laid the foundations I think that it will be much easier to continue.

Before blogging I used to spend a lot of time faffing about online anyway, so at least now this faffing has a focus. I have also noticed many other ways in which my life has changed since I started blogging:

• I take a lot of photographs. I particularly now photograph everyday things, rather than just special occasions.

• I don't devote as much time to the baby journals as I used to. Writing the blog has proven to be a much better way to document events in the life of our young family. The main benefit is that photographs can be added instantly, rather than having to wait to get them printed out. My intention is to look into getting this blog, or at least parts of it, printed out so that I have a permanent record to keep (please do let me know if you have any recommendations for companies that can do this!).

• I must admit that sometimes I organise an activity or trip out for the sole purpose of blogging about it.

• But because of this we've done lots of things that we perhaps wouldn't otherwise have done.

• I joined Pinterest around the same time as I started the blog, and I've already done many of the activities that I've pinned. Pinterest is full of ways to entertain children, crafts for children and craft inspiration for myself. I've also found lots of new blogs through it.

• Related to that, I've also picked up my crafting a lot more. I enjoy blogging about things that I've made, and it inspires me to get things finished so that I can share them. I still spend time crafting in my evenings.

• I've found that bloggers and tweeters are a lot more honest about sleeping habits than real life friends. I take enormous comfort from reading my Twitter timeline first thing in the morning, particularly at the weekend, and seeing that many other people have also suffered from disturbed nights. Perhaps people are more willing to admit to these things from behind a screen rather than face to face.

• Talking of Twitter, I didn't see the point before I started blogging. Now I'm there throughout the day, lurking away and trying to pluck up the courage to join in a conversation. I thought it was just a place to shout about what you were up to, but in reality it reminds me of the old AOL chatrooms that I used to frequent in the early days of the internet when hardly anyone was using it.

• I used to lurk a lot on forums and would never actually take part. Now I'm much more confident about joining in with discussions online and I really enjoy it.

Fellow bloggers, what has changed in your lives since you started your blog?

Magpie Monday - 30th July 2012

Now that I'm back at work, I find myself just a few minutes walk from three charity shops. Being out of the town centre they are also very reasonably priced. I'm not really one to buy lots of bits and pieces for around the house, I try and aim for a relatively uncluttered look. But there are certain things that I think really can't be counted as clutter, and books are definitely one of them.

I was extremely pleased with the little haul that I picked up in my lunchbreak at the end of last week. I've been after a simple book about the body for Harry for a while, and this one is pitched perfectly. He is absolutely fascinated by it, especially learning about the skeleton and the digestive system. We've also been reading a few short poems together so I picked up this book of children's poems. Some of them are a bit strange and there's a section on 'Creepy Poems' but I think that he'll like them. Then I also found a book of Number Rhymes which is brilliant, each page is a different number with lots of little poems and activities.

My favourite book is an Usborne book - Learning Games. It's fantastic! It has lots of little games in it to help children learn their letters and numbers. The book itself contains the backgrounds for the games, and then there are instructions to make themed counters and cards to use with it. The letter ones are a bit advanced yet but I think that the number games look just right, and I've bookmarked a few to try. They are quite simple and could be easily adapted, I might just have a few to share!

Finally I couldn't resist these two vintage Ladybird books - Dinosaurs and Aesop's Fables. They're a bit battered, but at 10p each I couldn't leave them. I think that Harry will like them but they will have to be for supervised reading, I don't want them to fall apart!

I will be linking up with Magpie Monday over at Me and My Shadow.

The London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony - we were there!

Last night, the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony took place at the Olympic Park in London, and we were lucky enough to actually be there! I posted last week about how, despite not receiving any tickets in the first round and only a few to less popular events in the second round, thanks to my husband's determination and persistance over the last few weeks we have been lucky enough to build up an excellent selection of tickets. He was even able to secure a ticket to the Opening Ceremony just a couple of days ago for his sister to join us. We are also extremely fortunate in my parents, who have effectively put their lives on hold for the next couple of weeks to act as our babysitters!

We booked our parking at Ebbsfleet International for £8 and then caught the Javelin train in to Stratford. It only took about ten minutes, and because we arrived quite early the train was nearly empty. It was a very smooth process, and we arrived right in the middle of the Olympic Park. It was starting to get busy, with lots of people milling about. We wandered around looking at the lanyards that many people were wearing, unfortunately I'm not very good at celebrity spotting but there were lots of people with the title "Athlete" which was very exciting! We were right opposite the Olympic Village, and we could see all the country flags hanging out of the windows.

We had some tickets to collect, so Ram went and joined the queue at the Box Office. The queue didn't seem too long, although it did take a while to get everything sorted. Then we went into the Westfield Shopping Centre for some dinner. The shops had all closed but the restaurants were just letting the last people in, so we were able to enjoy a relaxed dinner in an emptying restaurant away from the crowds outside.

At 5pm the Olympic Park was opened to the public. We weren't first in the queue and had expected a long wait to get through security, but to our surpise the process was really fast and we didn't have to wait at all. The older gentleman in front of us set off the metal detector as he went through, and proudly produced the reason - a gold Olympic medal from the 1964 Olympics! Of course we were suitably impressed, and he allowed us to have a close look at his medal - and even to touch it!

On the other side the atmosphere was buzzing. There were television crews aplenty, and when Ram recognised a BBC presenter he couldn't resist jumping in front of the camera, an event shortly followed by a phone call from his cousin who had just seen him live on television!


We took a slow walk up to the stadium, pausing frequently to take plenty of photos and drink in the atmosphere. The Olympic Park was beautiful and clean, and although busy there was plenty of space to mill around. We had to refill our water bottles so we found the free water fountains, and there were plenty of toilets too which is always appreciated!


Then it was time to enter the Stadium. Our seats were pretty high up which was a steep climb, but because the area in the centre was so big we still had a good view. The first thing that we noticed when we took our seats was the "paddle" attached to the seat in front with lights on the front of it. Of course there was much speculation about what was going to happen, especially where the cauldron for the Olympic flame would be as there was nothing obvious. The set, with its grassy hills, waterwheel and little cottages looked pretty permanent.

Even though the televised show wasn't due to start for a long time, we were still entertained. Four huge clouds were being marched about, and at intervals different animals were brought out into the fields, alongside actors performing little pieces - moving the animals about, playing cricket and having picnics on the grass. 



As 8.12pm approached we were able to see the paddles in action as they lit up to form a huge countdown to a flypast by the Red Arrows - we couldn't see them because we were well under the roof, but we heard them! We also received our instructions, as there were lots of things that we had to do to help create the atmosphere. We were all given 3D glasses which let to great excitement, although of course we found out later that there was nothing 3D in the show at all, it was just to make us part of the scenery!

For the beginning of the show the entire audience area was covered with with huge blue sheets, which we had to push up and down from underneath to create the effect of a sea with a tiny island in the middle. Unfortunately it didn't actually make it to the televised show which is a shame as it must have looked really good! Then the show began.

It was truly spectacular. There was so much going on in all directions, it was impossible to take it all in. It was amazing watching the co-ordination going on below, as the countryside set was slowly dismantled and the Industrial Revolution began, complete with rising towers and the forging of a huge ring in the central furnace, which rose up to meet the four other Olympic rings in the roof of the Stadium. Then the journey began through Britain's modern history with a few surprises along the way - I still can't believe that they persuaded the Queen to take part in a James Bond segment!


The Athletes Parade did take a while, and to be honest if I'd been watching from home this would have been the point at which I went to bed. But actually being there was an amazing experience. Afterwards a group of cyclists circled the stadium with huge glowing doves on their backs - a representation of the doves that were released at the Games in ancient times to signal peace. Then followed the speeches and of course the lighting of the cauldron, which was beautiful and was followed by some spectacular fireworks.


It finished late, and we were a little concerned about our train back to Ebbsfleet. However it turned out that once we'd walked to the station it was only a very small crowd, and we were on a train back to the car within minutes.

We had a brilliant time and I'm so lucky to have had the opportunity to experience it. The show was absolutely fantastic and it's an occasion that we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

Did you watch the Opening Ceremony? What did you think?

Want to involve your children in the Olympic spirit? Why not make some Olympic Rings or an Olympic Torch!

How I organised the Lego

I posted the other day about how I was sorting out my childhood Lego, and how I was trying to come up with the best way to organise it. Pinterest seems to suggest that Lego organisation by colour is the way to go, yet all of my commenters were of the opinion that it all had to be mixed up together. Organising by colour doesn't really work for me, as it's not like we have mountains of the stuff, and if you are looking for a brick of a particular size you don't want to have to hunt through a box of each colour. I'm also not sure that I'm quite ready to mix it all up together, as we have lots of small useful bits that I don't want to get lost.

This is what I've come up with:

The boxes are from the Pound Shop, and they are a good size, although I'm not sure how sturdy they will be over time. They are difficult to open and easy to shut, which I've heard is a good system for organising children's toys. I have four Lego categories - bricks, flats, houses (windows, doors, roof pieces, trees, flowers and general sloping bits) and other (car wheels, windscreens and steering wheels, people, and all the other small useful pieces). The Lego train is still out and being played with (constantly!) so I'll have to find a separate box for that and all the pieces of track.

They don't take up too much space, and there is plenty of room for growth. I have a separate folder for the instruction leaflets. Most of them are laminated and held together in order with a ring in the corner.

I also have a box the same size for technical Lego, which Harry is too young for at the moment, and one for Star Wars Lego freebies which we've collected with The Sun which are also a little bit fiddly for him.

So far I've found that it's worked really well. When I'm trying to build something from the instructions I can find the piece that I need quickly, and I'm really pleased to see that Harry is also expressing his creativity by making all sorts of things from the plain bricks - today he made a garden centre and a recycling centre!

First shoes

Do all babies scream when you take them to be measured for shoes, or is it just mine? At the weekend we took Mia to the shoe shop and had her fitted for her first pair of shoes. I'm afraid that we're not terribly sentimental about these things, and tend to make our shoe purchase decisions based upon price rather than style. Well, it's not as though they wear these little shoes for very long anyway is it!

They are pretty shoes though, and I can't stop myself looking at the little card that they gave us with Mia's photograph on the front, and sighing over the fact that we no longer have a baby, now we officially have a toddler.

A trip into my blogging archives

Last weekend I celebrated a year of blogging. But I am afraid, dear readers, that I have not been entirely honest with you all. What what I failed to mention was that this is not my first blog. In fact, I was one of the very early pioneers of "blogging" when I set up my very first website, in about 1998. One of the features on this website I called "Jennifer's Diary", and I wrote an online text diary by updating the page every few days and adding a date at the top. Unfortunately this website (which I believe may actually have been called "Jennifer's World") has long since disappeared.

I set up my first real blog in 2006, when I was first living with my now-husband in our lovely little flat in Worthing. I was delighted to find that it is actually still in existence and can be found here - I had forgotten about most of the entries entirely, and it was a lovely trip down memory lane.

It offers a tantaslising glimpse into my life pre-marriage and pre-children. Considering that I had all the time in the world, the entries are surprisingly short. There are a couple of early forays into vlogging, sadly now lost in the mists of time. Highlights include an exciting tale of drama at the level crossing, a magic cactus and our new tap. With eerie foreshadowing I even included a picture of my cross stitch work in progress, the completed project being blogged about here.

Then, along came a baby, obviously a great time to start a blog, so in early 2010 I had another go. It took me a while to get re-started, and the fairly short-lived result can be found here. This blog was only aimed at my immediate family, the idea being to share pictures of what Harry was getting up to. I knew nothing whatsoever about the community behind blogging, which is probably why it didn't last long. It's a really nice record to have of a couple of months in Harry's early life, including his first steps outside and making his first biscuits.

Then of course this blog came along, and based on previous experience I've kept it going a lot longer than I expected to when I began. Looking back at my old blogs has made me realise how important blogging has become to me, and how much it will mean to me when I'm able to look back at it in the future as a record of this period in our lives.

Do you have any secret blogs from the past?

Introducing children to art - Soutine

I'm very interested in art. As well as studying at GCSE and A-Level, I've visited lots of famous art galleries across the world. If I'm nearby in London I always try to pop into the National Gallery, sometimes just to visit Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Rousseau's Tiger, but my favourite art gallery is probably the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

So I've been inspired by Red Ted Art to begin introducing Harry to some of the great artists, having seen some wonderful projects linked up previously.

I didn't really know where to begin, so I decided to let Harry choose and took out my collection of arty postcards. It's quite a varied collection, some were bought because I like them, some to remind me of paintings that I've seen in galleries on holiday, and some are not necessarily to my taste but were bought to be used in various school projects. My absolute favourites adorn my desk at work, so if I want to work on those I'll have to bring them home!

We looked through them and I asked Harry to pick out the ones that he liked, and then from those to choose the one he liked best. Harry's favourite colour is green, so it was no surprise when he selected an image that is mostly green - Chaim Soutine - Paysage.

I decided that because of Harry's age (he's 3) then probably the simpler the better, so I took out the poster paints and some thick brushes. I showed him how to put plenty of paint onto the brush, and to make big, sweeping strokes. He helped me to pick out paint in all the colours from the original painting.

When it was dry I took out my oil pastels and encouraged him to add some details. He made lots of little spirals to try and copy the shapes of the leaves in the trees, and also some bigger yellow shapes for the houses.

It might not look very much like the original, but we had a lot of fun looking more closely at a painting. I really enjoyed looking through my postcards with Harry and seeing what caught his eye, so I will definitely be doing that again soon!