Win tickets to The Baby Show at ExCel London This March & A Poddlepod

This March get ready to enjoy a fantastic shopping experience at the UK’s leading pregnancy and parenting event of the year. The Baby Show with MadeForMums will be taking place on the new date of Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th March, at the ExCeL London. Find everything you need for bump, baby and you - with amazing offers all in one place, for three days only!

There will be over 200 exhibitors showcasing a huge array of essential baby products from trusted brands as well as the latest innovations. All the major baby retailers will be there, alongside market leading brands such as, iCandy, Stokke, UppaBaby, Philips Avent, Chicco, MAM, Nuby and high end Italian brand Peg Perego who will be launching in the UK at the show! There will also be independent brands that you won’t find on the high street.

There will be a wonderful line up of speakers on The Baby Show Stage with MadeForMums including experts from the world of breastfeeding, sleep and nutrition as well as real parents giving their first-hand stories and advice including authors Giovanna Fletcher and Clemmie Hooper.

You can win a copy of Clemmie's book "How To Grow A Baby *and Push it Out here.

If you are looking for more personal and tailored advice, you can benefit from private 15 minute appointments with The Baby Show Experts at the One To One With The Experts Area – you just need to book your appointment on the day. And once you’ve shopped until you’ve dropped, don’t worry about all the carrying as you can take advantage of the free Emma’s Diary Collect-By-Car service where you can drop off all your purchases and continue until you’ve got a carful!

It really is a must-attend show for mums and dads to be, parents, friends and family members. I’ve teamed up with The Baby Show to give away one pair of tickets worth £20 each and a Poddle Pod bundle which includes an award winning Poddle Pod, a removeable cover and storage bag – worth £49.99!

The Baby Show is taking place on Friday 3rd March – Sunday 5th March inclusive, open from 9.30am to 5.30pm each day. Standard on the door tickets are £20. For more information please visit www.thebabyshow.co.uk.

Entry to the giveaway is via the Rafflecopter widget below and please take a moment to read the extra terms and conditions which apply below.  You can find my terms and conditions on the Competitions page.

UK entrants only and the giveaway ends at 11:59 pm on Tuesday 21 February.

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Good luck

Additional Ticket Competition Terms & Conditions

No purchase necessary. Entrants must be aged 18 years or over. Competition is open to UK residents only. Entry into this competition confirms your acceptance of these Terms and Conditions and your agreement to be bound by the decisions of The Baby Show. Entry is strictly limited to one person per ticket code. The winner will be notified by email or phone call once the competition closes. The winners will be selected at random from all the correct entries received before the closing date and time. All prizes must be accepted as offered. There can be no alternative awards, cash or otherwise. Entrants will receive a ticket code which can be activated at http://www.thebabyshow.co.uk/. Tickets cannot be sold on to third parties.

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For Mums Returning To Work - Could This Be The Answer?

When I left Swansea University in 1985, I had a shiny new English Literature degree and very little practical experience of the working world.

At 17 I was a Saturday girl in F. W. Woolworths on the make-up counter and still remember the excitement of Pick 'n' Mix sweets.  You could even buy broken biscuits by the pound. Good times!

You can work anywhere in the world as a PA

But it became clear that, at 21, I had to get some practical skills and fast - before testing my parents' patience to the limit.

So I studied a Diploma for Personal Assistants - typing, shorthand, law, economics, marketing and communication.

This was shortly before the business world switched on its collective PCs and life was never the same again.

I honestly believe that it was the skills I gained as a PA which eventually allowed me to get an entry level marketing job and work my way up.

It's not much different today for graduates and school leavers.  Jobs are in short supply and employers understandably want employees who can 'hit the ground running'.

And it's even tougher for mums returning to the workplace.

When I left my last job, I was Practice Director and Head of Marketing for a large Welsh law firm. Walking back into that role after almost 10 years would be a huge challenge!

Part time jobs are in short supply, particularly those with hours that fit around school times.

But one solution may be to do as I did all those years ago and train as a personal assistant.

Today more and more employers recognise the need to attract and retain well qualified staff and many allow home-working on non-critical days to create a more flexible working schedule.

Lots of office tasks can also be carried out remotely - for example diary management, organising meetings and preparation of documents.

In fact, virtual assistants are also becoming more popular and I know of some fellow bloggers who employ them to handle their social media work.

These are careers that offer great flexibility and would complement other home-working jobs.

So what exactly does a personal assistant (PA) do?

In my days as a PA to the chairman of a construction company, I found this included anything from buying the wife a gift, picking up dry-cleaning and ensuring the right sandwich was ready to eat at midday precisely.

Things have changed a little today (although if you watched "The Devil Wears Prada" you might take a different view).

PAs work closely with senior managerial or directorial staff to provide administrative support, usually on a one-to-one basis.

It's your job to help them make the best use of their time by dealing with secretarial and administrative tasks.

For example:-

* creating and maintaining office systems such as data management and filing
* handling travel arrangements
* presentations preparation (research, document preparation, photocopying, meeting arrangements)
* screening phone calls, enquiries and requests
* meeting and greeting visitors
* organising and maintaining diaries and making appointments
* dealing with incoming email and post
* producing documents, briefing papers, reports and presentations
* organising and attending meetings and ensuring the manager is well prepared for meetings
* liaising with clients, suppliers and other staff.

Starting salaries are between £17,000 and £25,000 but in central London these can range from £22,000 to £30,000 rising to £50,000 in Executive PA positions, depending on the level of experience and the type of business.

You can find some excellent PA courses in London or you could try contacting your local authority for a list of colleges which might offer something similar if you live elsewhere in the UK.

Make no mistake - a PA position can be very influential indeed and I think it's an excellent stepping stone to a higher managerial role in time.

And there's nothing like being a PA for learning the valuable people skills you need to succeed - no matter what the job!

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Tinnitus Sufferers Long To Hear The Sound Of Silence

Readers of this blog will know that I suffer from Tinnitus and I have written previously about the impact it can have on your life.

This week is Tinnitus Awareness Week (6-12th February ) and it's a good time to remind ourselves of how great an effect the constant sounds in our ears can have on our mental health and our daily life in general.

Tinnitus can be incredibly isolating

The British Tinnitus Association describes Tinnitus as “the perception of sound in the absence of any corresponding external sound”.

How innocuous that sounds, doesn't it?

Weirdly, sufferers usually find that their sounds can be quite individual.  Some hear whooshing or whistling, others hear kettles, crickets or even music.

The perceived sounds can range from a low rumble to a high pitched squeal, from very quiet to loud volume levels.

As you might imagine, many people living with the condition find that it impacts their lives to such an extent their mental health is affected, often finding it difficult to accept they will never hear silence again.

At the time of writing, there is no cure for Tinnitus.  Sufferers tend to rely on alternative therapies and lifestyle adjustments to get through their day.

Personally, I have found the Tinnitus Forums on Facebook very helpful but these can occasionally be very dark places and you realise how devastating an impact Tinnitus can have.

This is compounded by the fact that those we live with often cannot fathom why we find it such a struggle.

And stories abound of doctors and ENT specialists being less than sympathetic, if not downright dismissive.

The Husband is used to my carrying musicians earplugs around with me.  If we go, say to a school concert,  I'll whip them out of my handbag and shove them in my ears to avoid a Tinnitus spike.

A spike is where something triggers a rise in the volume and duration of your Tinnitus.  It can be something like an ambulance siren passing by you on the road, a balloon bursting, a door slamming or someone shouting.

You can also trigger a spike if you have a sensitivity to certain foods or additives - possibly for example aspartame or gluten.

The most asked question on the forums is simply this "will I ever know silence again"?

Tinnitus can be incredibly isolating and, because it is so difficult for non-sufferers to understand, it is easy to feel alone.

It may not be cancer or heart disease but it can have as great an impact.

It is nice to see then, that NRS Healthcare, a leading mobility and daily living aid provider based in Leicester, has created a useful infographic to raise awareness of the condition.

Their aim is to help those living with tinnitus to understand that they are not alone in their experiences and suggest how they may be able to relieve the effects of their condition with certain types of daily living aids.

NRS Healthcare has also launched a competition on its Facebook page to win an Amplicall Telephone and Doorbell Indicator for those who are living with tinnitus.

Very useful for those of us suffering from mild hearing loss as well!

As you can see, the infographic features celebrities such as Will.I.Am and Barbara Streisand who suffer from this distressing condition.  Chris Martin from Coldplay is another sufferer, as is Ozzy Osbourne.

If you live with someone who suffers from Tinnitus, now is a great time to sit down with them and really listen as they tell you what it's like and how it affects them.

It's also a great time to take steps to protect your hearing (and especially that of your children) because, whilst we now think Tinnitus is a condition of the brain, there is no doubt that constant exposure to loud noise has an effect.

Let's hope by Tinnitus Awareness Week 2018, greater strides have been taken to bring Tinnitus even further forward into the public's consciousness so that we can all talk about it openly - and work together towards finding a cure.

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New Releases, Free & Bargain Books Link-up Week 7 2017

How are you all this week?  The heating's cranked up to max and we're waiting to see if the snow arrives here in Dinas Powys.

We were cheered up by Wales' rugby win against Italy last Saturday and all that cheering certainly keeps you warm.

It's unusual for Wales to have a win in the first match of the season though so everything is still crossed.

There's just one more full school week before half term so if you want to enjoy some quiet reading time, I'd make the most of it!

As usual, there are some great books on the linky - and don't forget you can always add your own to spread a bit of the book love.

Don't forget that I still have plenty to be won on my competitions page and don't forget my problem page here.

Happy bargain and freebie book hunting on this link.

Have a great week!

Sharing the Love of Books
Enjoy our selection of New Releases / Free & Bargain Books this week

Authors please feel free to add your own books
Readers please free to add your own finds
(any genre except erotica welcome)

This weekly link up is hosted by Beck Valley Books & these awesome book loving blogs...
Monday
 Life as Leels | IrishdaisylovesRomance | Book Babble | All Romance Reader
Tuesday
It's My Side of Life | Celticlady's Reviews | First Time Mommy Adventures 
Wednesday
Beck Valley Books | Cinnamon Hollow Reviews
Thursday
Miki's Hope | Nicki's Nook
Friday
Ebook Addicts | I Love Romance | Colorimetry | The Ultimate Fan Blog | Mother Distracted
Saturday
Totally Addicted to Reading | 3 Partners in Shopping | Angie's Angle | I Create Purty Thangs | Wishful Endings
Sunday
Lynchburg Mama | LibriAmoriMiei | Ali - The Dragon Slayer | Wondermom Wannabe | Deal Sharing Aunt | Rambling Reviews 

For Pre-orders post - PRE-ORDER / genre / title /author

For New Releases post - NEW / genre / title / author

For Free Books post - FREE / genre / title / author / end date 

For Bargain Books post - SALE / price / genre / title / author / end date
(Strictly no Erotica please.  Steamy romance is fine but watch those covers people, incase any underage child is viewing it!)

Click here for this weeks awesome selection!

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My Problem Page Edition 6 2017

This week I'm talking about what to do when you don't find your wife attractive any more, how to cope with a 6 year old little boy who seems depressed and dealing with a friend who feels up your partner.

If you would like any advice, feel free to treat me as your agony aunt. Just message me or pop a comment in the comment box at the end of this post. I promise to be gentle.

Here are this week's questions.

Q: Why does my girlfriend expect me to be her personal counsellor?

A: Because she’s your girlfriend and that’s what people in relationships generally do for one another.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking, however, that just because she tells you her problems she wants you to solve them. 

We women like a sounding board but we’re quite capable of solving our own problems most of the time. 

If you are dealing with the same issues over and over then could you seek other help - professional, doctor, family, friend? 

Is it a problem outside of her control? 

If it’s just day to day niggles then I think you need to ask yourself why it’s irritating you so much and either find a way to reduce her offloading to you or consider changing your girlfriend. 

She really does deserve someone prepared to listen to her.

Q: What should you do when your wife turns off your sexual desire? 

A: Do you mean that your wife no longer turns you on or that she is no longer interested in sex? 

The two are quite different things. 

If you are no longer finding her attractive then you need to ask yourself why. 

Has she put on a lot of weight? Is she always too tired? Have you recently become parents? Has she lost her sex drive through hormonal changes such as the menopause? Does she suffer from depression? Are there unresolved issues between you? Is she angry with you for some reason? 

It’s not just about you, you know, and you owe it to her to have a frank conversation about how you are feeling and what is going on with her. 

You also need to ask yourself is there anything you are doing that is contributing to the problem. 

Women are not there to provide sex on tap but deserve to be nurtured and respected just as men do. 

You found her attractive enough to marry - this may well be just a pit in the road that you can get around.

Q: Is it wrong when a girl who is a "friend with benefits" gets in a relationship with another guy and doesn't tell you for 2 months? 

We became friends with benefits when we were both single. Then she went into relationship with another guy and lied to me for two months. During that time she claimed all the time she was honest.

A: Well what do you expect? 

Friends with benefits is exactly that - sex with no strings attached. It sounds like she means a lot more to you than you realised, or are willing to let on. 

The fact that she didn’t tell you for 2 months hints that she knows how you really feel. 

You either have to tell her you want a relationship with her or, I’m afraid, put up with it if you want her in your life. 

By the sound of it you need to be honest with her or you’ll regret losing her.

Q: How do I deal with my 6 year old son who seems depressed?

A: I think you need to be very careful about labelling his behaviour as “depressed”. 

Do you mean he is withdrawn, tearful, moody? Does he play with other children? Is he isolating himself in his room? 

All of these things can equally be signs of tiredness (what time does he go to bed?), poor nutrition (does he live on soda and chicken nuggets) or possibly bullying at school. 

I think you need to look at what is going on with you as a family and then assess whether there is something external (i.e. at school) or medical going on. 

If you’re pretty sure it’s medical (and there’s nothing like a parent’s instinct for that), then you need to take him to a doctor for a check-up. 

Could you make time to sit with him each day, either after school or before bed to chat to him about his day just to see what comes up? 

If he’s not a communicative child, why don’t you ask him to do some crafting or draw a picture of his day - the things kids draw often show us exactly what they’re thinking. 

Try not to worry to much but do take action. 

Hopefully it may be something simple like a virus which is laying him low for a bit but you are quite right that the situation needs to be addressed quickly - for your own peace of mind, as well as your son’s.

Q: What should I do if my friend felt up my girlfriend? 

At a party I guess they talked or something, they held hands, he felt her chest, they were drunk but talked about wishing they were closer, etc. I really liked her before, now I’m conflicted. What do I do? My friend lives hundreds of miles away normally, so he’s not stealing her.

A: It really depends on the circumstances. 

How do you know your friend felt up your girlfriend? Did you see it or did she tell you? Was she distressed by the incident? 

If so, then I’m afraid you have to talk to your friend to tell them that their behaviour was unacceptable. 

If, though this was a clumsy drunken fumble in a nightclub then I’d be asking myself if my ‘girlfriend’ was all that loyal and although I might forgive, I’d certainly be keeping a closer eye on her and my friends. 

It really depends on whether you think she was a willing participant or was taken advantage of. 

And you need to be really clear which one it was before you take any action that might ruin your relationship with either your girlfriend or your friend.

How would you have responded to these questions? I'd love to know. You can find more advice on my problem page.

Disclaimer: All materials included in this post are intended for informational purposes only. This post/information is not intended to and should not be used to replace medical or psychiatric advice offered by physicians or other health care providers. The author will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.

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How To Grow A Baby *and Push it Out by Clemmie Hooper Midwife

A while ago I shared my 5 pregnancy and new mum bibles and number one on the list was "What To Expect When You're Expecting" by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel.

Brilliant, concise, helpful but ever so slightly scary and with a greater focus on what could go wrong than right I found.

But a new pregnancy companion has just been published which is a breath of fresh air to those more serious, finger-wagging tomes out there.

How To Grow A Baby *and Push It Out is a unique week-by week pregnancy companion written for a whole new generation of modern maverick mums.

The author is the refreshing new young voice of parenting, NHS midwife (and Mother of four girls including twins) Clemmie Hooper.

As Clemmie says ‘Each pregnancy and birth is unique. There are no rules and there isn’t always a right or wrong way to do things. I want to empower women so that they feel they have a choice. Being an advocate of this, as a midwife and a mother is fundamental to me’.

She has over a decade of NHS experience behind her, the author has also earned the title of one of the top Instagram parenting experts (and high ranking digital influencers) @ mother_of_daughters and founder of the super-successful blog Gas and Air.

Chapter by chapter Clemmie’s writing style is fresh, funny and honest, underpinned with non-judgemental sensible tips and advice. Everything you will ever need to know about being pregnant is covered, right through to ‘You Got This Mama’ - a chapter devoted to supporting women as new mums after delivery.

What really makes How to Grow A Baby unique is that it encourages the reader not to accept everything they are told, but also to be curious, and challenge and question the information they are given, right from their first hospital ante natal appointment until after their child is born.

Midwife & Author Clemmie Hooper

The book covers each trimester of pregnancy through to delivery and beyond.  There are recipes for the various trimesters, tips on styling your new shape, a discussion on sex in pregnancy, how to write a birth plan, illustrations of positions for labour, what to pack in your hospital bag, top tips for birth checklists and even advice on booking a babymoon.

There's also advice on what to expect when having a C-section or being induced and the knotty issues of whether you should wax and if pooing is normal when giving birth (it is)!

The book is full colour throughout with photos and illustrations which add a quirky feel. There are lots of stories from other mums as well which are very reassuring and remind you that there's nothing you are about to go through that hasn't been experienced a million times by other women.

I really liked the book and would happily add it to my Pregnancy Bibles list.

Published by Vermilion Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House UK), How To Grow A Baby has a RRP of  £14.99 and is currently available from Amazon.

You can find out more about Clemmie on her blog www.gasandairblog.com.

GIVEAWAY

I also have one copy to give away.  Just enter via the Rafflecopter below.  Terms and conditions apply (please see my competitions page) and UK entrants only.

The giveaway ends at 11:59 pm on Friday 24th February.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

*Post contains an affiliate link

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On Being 52

Firstly, that number.  It bears no relevance to me at all - at least in my mind it doesn't.  It is an age other people are at.

And yet.  And yet.

I look in the mirror and the tell-tale signs are there.  A little more jowly, the hair adopting a frizzier attitude.

I hide the grey.

My hearing is caput and my eyesight strangely improving.  I joke with my optician that by the time I reach my death bed, my vision will be 20/20.

But.

This is all top secret because nobody these days is allowed to age too loudly.

Oh, you can be a fashion guru like nonagenarian Iris Apfel and take the streets of New York in mismatched geometric prints.

You can out-sass all the Millennials with their grim determination and glossy hair by wearing an improbable hat in a fast food restaurant.

The elephant in the room, though, is large, greyer than you are and trumpeting very quietly.

We have to keep our brain alert.  We have to eat oily fish.  We have to fight dementia.

We have to deny our bodies and, in equal measure, pretend the poor treatment and all-out grief we've given them over the years didn't happen.

My dentist gently said to me, as I moaned about my twanging gums, that "you have the teeth of a woman of your age'.

The truth is that staving of ageing is exhausting.  Weight-bearing exercise, power-walking, greeting the dawn like Maria Von Trapp on acid.

Frankly, I am the human incarnation of grumpy cat before 10 am.

And then there's the menopause.  Or at least I think there is.

You never really know do you?

It lurks around like a suspect in a poorly produced amateur crime drama, threatening to reveal itself and then fluffing its lines.

I recently had a blood test and when doctor's receptionist phoned through the result she said  "You're menopausal" and then "welcome to the club".

What did Woody Allen say?  Oh yes.  "I'd never join a club that would allow a person like me to be a member".

Quite.

The thing is, we're all living longer and longer.  So, 52 isn't that old any more.

And we're expected to be bloody grateful because we're alive - and so, I admit, we should be.

Life is what happens when you're making other plans as the saying goes.

I feel I am at a half way mark and need to plan the second half of my life.

I had my kids at 43 and 45 so they will form a large part of that.  I'm hoping I'm around long enough to be a grandmother.

So while most of the time I take strength from the bevy of older celebrities whose names are part of the warp and weft of the longevity tapestry (Mirren Dench, Moore, Thurman, Brinkley...), being 52 does mean you have moments of thinking -

Bloody hell I'm getting on a bit.

We all need an occasional moment to admit that.

We all need some time to embrace the fear.

You know, I think you can trace quite a bit of anxiety and depression to our denial of this fear of the end.

Our ancestors just 'got on with it' though, didn't they?  Our lonely worrying sessions pale into insignificance by simply watching the nightly news.

The problems of the many far outweigh our individual existence on this ball of dust hurtling through space.

This is probably why so many of the self-help gurus promote the concept of 'contribution', of giving something back.

It's another way of trying to find meaning.

I wish I could be more religious.  Those who have faith truly have a gift.

But something created the world, didn't it?  Something was there first and, I like to think, something intelligent.

I guess we'll all do what we usually do.  Sigh, drink more coffee, open another packet of biscuits and reflect that whilst perhaps life hasn't always dealt us the best hand, with a little hope, medicine and belief, the forthcoming years might be full of adventures.

The answer to our midlife malaise may simply be to embrace the power of gratitude.

Because after 52 years, I certainly have a lot to be grateful for.

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