3rd & Bird on CBeebies

3rd and Bird is a pre school series following the treetop lives of a community of different birds. Having been asked to review this latest edition from cBeebies, I dutifully sat down with my two year old daughter, and when I asked her a few minutes into the first episode whether she liked the programme, I got no response whatsoever, which, for those of you who have not had the pleasure, means - YES she absolutely definitely does!

A thoroughly engaging, tuneful fair, 3rd & Bird has loveable characters in abundance and catchy tunes galore. My daughter was so engaged that by the third episode she was singing and dancing along with the theme tune and asking for more each time an episode ended - you cannot get a better endorsement than that...

When watching the christmas special: "A very Squooky Christmas' there was almost no consoling her as the three main characters Samuel, Rudy and Muffin attempted to reunite the lost little mouse; Squooky with his parents on Christmas Eve. You'll be pleased to know of course that all turned out well with some valuable life lessons learnt along the way, community spirit and team work are a few of the things touched on and all episodes have similar themes.

Although there are the obvious stereotypes, they are harmless; the style conscious and rude french "Missy' and the slightly crazy country bumpkin and stuck in 70s Kiwi 'Mrs Billingsley'. A musical bonanza using both original and well known tunes interspersed within each episode taking your child on the tree top journey with what will undoubtedly become well loved and favourite characters, thoroughly enjoyable and would definitely say - get your pre schoolers to watch it!

Abi's 1st Birthday Extravaganza

WEll I simply cannot believe it! An ENTIRE year has gone already. Abi turned one last Friday. She's now a year and a week old! Abi is one. Its OVER a year since Abi was born! Our little baby is ONE! Whichever way I say it, I still find it hard to comprehend, and to be honest it has not really sunk in that Matt and I are the 'proud owners'[j.bridger] of a one year old daughter!

It was also so much more of an emotional experience that I ever thought it would be. All the memories of the year before came flooding back, and they were so vivid, which to someone with as poor a memory as mine was pretty intense! I was able to recall so clearly the feelings of being in the hospital, knowing we were hours away from meeting our little creation. The wonderful feeling of happiness and peace that we were lucky enough to experience throughout the entire birth, all that came flooding back. And as I sat there looking at my beautiful girl playing and laughing my heart felt as though it would burst with the hugeness of it all!

Surely it can't be like this every year I thought, and then voiced to my sister in law....Wrong she said, after seven years she still feels it. Wrong said my mother in law, after THIRTY SEVEN YEARS she still feels it! You know what though? That thought, that I would always remember and always feel the same surge of emotion THAT many years from now, Thats's THE BEST unbirthday present EVER! ;-)

UK Family....We want more!

Ok, so first let me be totally honest and upfront - I am being paid to write this review, however once I got into the UK Family website (UK Family Beta Version) I can honestly say I think this may well now rival babycentre.co.uk as my point of call for all things baby related!

Other than the afore mentioned Baby Centre until now I’ve not found another website that has given me everything I need all in one place, and lets face it ladies, that IS WHAT WE CRAVE right…lets keep life simple! Trawling through countless sites all offering a bit of this and a bit of that gets tedious right and UK Family certainly does seem to have everything, the only thing I would want for though is MORE!

MORE of the great articles, MORE of the advice (Adviceopedia) and certainly MORE of the great videos! Specifically I would highly recommend the advice on sleeping and bedtime, especially for those of us now thinking about getting the little bundles of loveliness off the old formula and onto cows milk…. there's a few articles that lead you through that process and advise on the choices we have i.e. slowly but surely....OR....(shudder) Cold Turkey - Think we'll be going for the former!

Health A-Z is a great gadget, but again, it just needs MORE! What is there however is great and it's VERY easy to find what you are looking for.

Finally the best bit in my opinion is the List Bank! For community websites this has to be the ultimate gadget, let me explain! Go to 9 things to think about when shopping for a pram....well except it's now 10 things to think about, as I literally JUST went on, added a list item - and its there already, with the title updated - CLEVER or what! You can add items to the lists already created or start a new list yourself! It’s great!

Oh the joy, oh the pride, oh the rapture....oh my god!?

The other day whilst my mum was taking care of Abi, they were reading a book together, one of these ones with household and every day objects strewn accross the page with the idea that you are somehow teaching your 10 month old child something, other than how not to rip the pages of the book!

Anyway, whilst going through the book, apparently when they got the the party section of the book which has cakes, bicuits and baloons etc all over the page, when my mum dutifully asking Abi "Where are the cakes, where are the biscuits?" etc, not only did she point to the biscuits, but she then grabbed at them in a mock miming action and looking every bit the Marcel_Marceau and then even placed her imaginary biscuits in her mouth, looking very pleased with herself indeed!

We were all; myself, my mum, Matt and our mates Rhyd and Amanda, VERY IMPRESSED, and not only is she great at miming, she's proving to be a Maestro on the piano aswell - if I could post videos on blogger believe me I would, it's genious! Not that we are planning our retirement yet mind you....

Where did that baby smell go?

I know that it's all 'part of the process/part of them growing up' etc, but when I realised for the first time yesterday that Abi no longer had 'that baby smell' I have to admit I was pretty sad. It was something I suppose I thought would last longer, and if I had known it was on it's way out then...oh...what? I would of smelt her more often? My mum pals will bear witness to the fact that this is probably an impossibility, as they teased me I constantly had my nose in her hair!? Anyway...It's gone, and to a certain extent, although she still smells lovely, it's not THE 'baby smell' and I am in mourning. This along with stopping breast feeding on holiday (her decision) means that she just no longer feels like a baby! She's a little person, with an affected laugh and unique smile (something akin to Roland rat and a gurning champion).

Well we survived our first family holiday abroad in Spain. Although we had a couple of days with no running water (literally flushing the loo with water siphoned from the pool) and there was no bath, so we have a hilarious pic of Abi being washed, rubber ducky an all, in a bidet!

Before you judge... this was, with no bath, better than the sink or the floor of the 'rustic' shower! You'll be pleased to know that we got moved to a property with both running water and a bath, and also got £200 compensation! Why is it though that as soon as you go on holiday you get ill, poor little thing, she was projectile vomiting and in such a bad way for the first few days, it was such a relief when we got our fun little Abi back again.

The sun is out, and where am I?....Back at work thats where!

How typical! The sun appears and I have to go back to work! Well we made the most of the long bank holiday weekend as you can see from these lovely pics. If you haven’t been we can highly recommend Hever Castle in Kent, only 50 mins lovely drive through the country...well worth a day trip - Wonderful gardens and lake (can't tell you about the castle as we faffed about outside so long, by the time we got to the castle it was closed for the day!)

Anyway, going back to work and how we coped and how I felt...well for one thing the thought of leaving Abi and going back to work was a LOT harder than actually doing it. I cried as I walked away from home the first two days, and did not cry the third day and then felt guilty that I had not cried for the rest of the day! Abi having not yet reached that dreaded stage where separation anxiety kicks in, is typically oblivious to my departure each morning, and just grins inanely at me as I wave goodbye from the door choking back my tears more often than not! When I return is a different matter however, and she seems to genuinely pleased to see me again that the whole day apart just melts away and I feel like the most loved mum in the world!

Lessons learnt:
1) Make sure you tell all your friends and family when you're going back to work so they all text and call - knowing everyone who cares about you is thinking about you on the dreaded day REALLY helps!
2) Have lots of lovely pics of your beloved on your phone so you can gaze at them, whilst looking like you are just a normal person reading a text or something.
3) DEFINITELY where possible ensure you have NOT been breast feeding during the day for at least a week before going back - as boob explosion is not a pretty sight, and will NOT ingratiate you with your boss or colleagues, it's just weird ok!
4) Set a reminder on Outlook to tell you to START getting ready to leave, (IF you are not a clock watcher of course) as if you miss that earliest train possible, you really feel like you're a bad mother who loves being at work more than being at home with your child (seriously even if it is only 15 mins or so till the next train, you are wracked with guilt!)
5) Don't take the welcome home for granted, make the most of the unbiased and unadulterated joyous reaction to your return, without judgement or any questions about where you've been - it's wonderful

All good things.....

It feels as though I've been off work for AGES, but at the same time, it's gone SO so quickly, but as 'they' say, all good things must come to an end, and in less than a week my maternity leave is officially over, done with, ended, caput, end of, no more, DONE....

I have a real mixture of emotions right now, and it was so hard today having my last Tues afternoon with the NCT girls, although that said, I am seeing them tomorrow, oh and on Thurs too...but the point is, although I knew this was going to happen, it's still hard, REALLY hard!

I had a great chat with a mum friend who's daughter is 16 months, and she had some wise words for me, 'it's just going to be different' I know that sounds so simple, but she's right. This is not the END of something, I will still be Abi's mum, and see her every day, it's not like maternity leave ending is the END of EVERYTHING, it's just that it feels that way at the moment....

IT/This, would be so much harder if I had not got so many wonderful women around me at the moment, and of course the simple fact that for the MOST PART, Abi will be with Matty all day, so she's gonna be REALLY happy bout that I'm sure! Anyway, will probably blog again once we are in the midst of our new crazy hectic lives, as Matt's new job at the 'right' paper starts on Thurs and as I said I'm back to Sky on Monday. So batten down the hatches cos it's hurricane season!