The awesome Hannah from Mumsdays has started a new linky for recapping the week, looking back across blog and social media to see what’s happened, what’s gone well and what’s been popular. In my case this week it’s a bit ‘mock the week’ because I’ve been on a collision course to disaster starting with an almost faint and ending with a fall but next week WILL be better!

My favourite post of the week involved eating this bad boy banoffee pie!

I also really enjoyed doing the research for my post on toddler play schemas, any mum of an under three needs to take a look at the links I posted, it explains a LOT about Joss’ play personality and behaviour! This was a post that got a lot of my friends talking on some of the Facebook groups I frequent which was great, I also hit my best ever page views for it which is AMAZING!

Monday this week started with a call to the doctors about another nearly faint, I have very low blood pressure so am reading about staying healthy and upright! Tuesday saw Joss and I meet up with Hannah and Aggie and their boys – ‘farm boys’ as Joss called them, because she got to run around Bill Quay Farm with them, her favourite place in all the world! I really enjoyed some adult conversation and hope we can continue some #nemumshour and #nepblogger meets, would be great to see Grace soon too!

Onto Wednesday, a work day for me, I got to finalise a blog post that I hope will be published in a professional capacity which is really good for my profile! Wednesday evening was #nemumshour over on twitter and it was great to celebrate finishing my dissertation! I blogged a wee piece about my journey

Now I have some free time I’ve been reading some blog posts about pursuits I’d like to take up, I especially love crochet so Attic 24 is always lovely to stop by. I also enjoyed seeing what other folks have been doing with their Cake Angels goodies, don’t these look and sound amazing! Ruth’s fab series on summerwear saw me getting excited for nicer weather and Joss will finally get to wear a daisy print dress I bought last year in the sales!

This week ended with me taking a tumble from these bad boys, I’m fine, pride is a bit hurt but I’ll be back in my skyscrapers tomorrow!

Today’s to do list looked like this:

That top one, bind dissertation, that’s scratched off. I’m finished, after the following:

Ask me tomorrow how I feel and I might tell you, for now I’m pooped!

This weekend it was Daddy’s turn to have a birthday, the big 3-0 – just letting him have a month of being ‘the older guy’ in my life before I join him.

What’s the story with this photo then? The big event got underway with 30 gifts for 30 years, I loved choosing them, some practical some fun, there were garden lanterns and seeds for the summer, party glasses and hat, coffee and biscotti, a few IOUs for a steak dinner and a night out, pancake mix for breakfast in bed after a big birthday night out, the usual socks, some pavement chalk for playing out with Joss in the spring, too much to list but glad I split the wrapping over a few days!

We took a trip to the beach to blow away the cobwebs and burn off our fish and chips!

Then we returned home to a knock at the door from our neighbour. The lovely folk at Cake Angels had delivered a parcel just in time for the big day, some cake decorating goodies for Joss and I to test drive, I loved the bright pink bag, what’s this? Toddler toes in the photo, Joss barged me out of the way to nab the pink tissue!

Here’s a rundown of our review parcel:

2 packs of toppers one fruit themed the other vehicles, these are great quality and travelled brilliantly in the post!

A tub of choc fudge icing that smells amazing!

White mini marshmallows

A pot with four kinds of chocolate sprinkles, including my fave choc curls

And two candles making up a 3-0 for daddy!

I had promised a banoffee pie so how lucky that the pack we were sent had just the things to complement! The marshmallows are under the cream nestled in the bananas and we used the candles, chocolate sprinkles and banana toppers to finish it all off!

I feel another choc themed post coming up soon so we can review the fudge topping and sprinkles and toppers some more!

As a busy Mammy who is currently finalising her dissertation I have to say a big thanks to Cake Angels, they get a thumbs up and recommendation from me for giving the perfect finishing touch to home baking, have you checked out their webpage?

There are loads of great recipes and best of all decorating inspiration especially for kid’s cakes!

If you haven’t seen the mini marshmallow sheep cupcakes you need to seek them out, so cute!

I am a slooooow learner, some of the life lessons folks have before they’re say 10 years old bypassed me completely with others I was a bit late to the party. Here’s my rundown of ten things I learned before I hit 30 some deep and philosophical, some not so much, and my ten things I want to achieve before 40!

Ten things I learned before 30

1 – Life is about moments, not things (yeah, deep)

When I was 21 I got my first break following a long internship, paid employment whilst living at home. After savings (learned this one early, very sensible!) and board and lodgings I had a lot of cash to burn, and hitting the MAC counter to the tune of a hundred quid at a time, Waterstones Wednesdays and hanging out in All Saints and Reiss was a moneypit year for me. I enjoyed it, really enjoyed it, and am glad I was fortunate enough to experience a more louche lifestyle, but quickly realised what I really wanted was my own place, and to get out and enjoy life more. Nine years on and one mortgage and baby later my ‘money pits’ look very different, and yet I now hate to shop, preferring to spend time seeing the world through Joss’ eyes instead.

2 – Don’t judge anything or anyone by their cover

This works on two levels, at the sharp end just give folks a chance and at the lighter end, I read about the TV series Girls for a year before I saw the first episode, yes sir, that claptrap was not for me, I freaking love it now!

3 – Learning to deal with disappointment sucks, but is worth exposing yourself to

Learning this at ten when everyone else did would have saved me a lot of heartache but life doesn’t always work the way we think it should. Sometimes life doesn’t match up to the picture perfect in my head, my response was often childish, the weather changed my plans, unexpected bad news came, I missed the bus, my child’s birth was not as I imagined, that one hit me hardest, how can you help a child navigate life’s disappointments if you react angrily yourself? A hard lesson still learned daily…

4 – The only thing worse than having a spider/fly/moth in your room is losing the spider/fly/moth in your room

THIS NEEDS NO EXPLANATION!!

5 – The thrill of the tattoo gun is addictive

The noise of the gun, fresh ink, choosing something awesome, the hot pinching pain, I think I love the process as much as the end result, hooked.

6 – Becoming a mother is nothing like I thought it would be and yet the best thing I have ever experienced

This whole blog is testament to the journey

7 – It’s OK to start over

See number three, I don’t always get it right, it’s OK to dust it off and move on

8 – Better to speak up in the moment then think of your best comeback an hour later

True dat, again, still learning

9 – If in doubt shake it out

Bad days begone, bring on the trumpets, dance like no-one’s watching

10- It doesn’t pay to live a life of all work and no play

Whether it’s 80:20, 20:80 or 50:50 that suits you best, your work life balance is your own business, take breaks, make no apologies for needing a break, another toughie but you can’t take care of others unless you take care of yourself

And ten broad things I want to achieve before 40 in no particular order:

1 – Make some good savings for the future
2 – See more of the world with my family
3 – Help Joss to enjoy a good book
4 – Learn to declutter
5 – Bake better bread
6 – Maybe buy a house and sell our flat
7 – Take the next step in my work life
8 – Take some time out from work and study
9 – Learn yoga
10 – Say yes to more things

This week I headed back to the Big Smoke for work for the first time since I had Joss. It felt strange but familiar and I felt guilty to go but pleased to get my teeth into work, a trip of dichotomies then! Thankfully I made it back just before the bigger stations closed due to flooding and severe weather warnings, a trip to hospital followed on my return after an ear infection turned nasty, but it seems like we’re back on track again today, so I thought I’d share the project I set myself.

When I was pregnant with Joss I undertook a ‘tour of the UK’ presenting findings from a big research study I’d been working on, I kept a photo diary for her and this time I’ve decided I’m going to take a different toy of hers travelling with me for company each time, photographing the sights along the way, so this first one is Owl goes to London:

A trip to the Farm at the end of the street this weekend and of course little pig had to come to see his bigger, real life counterparts too.  Joss had me in absolute stitches, she was hooting and giggling at a big Tamworth boar scratching on a fence post, it was funny, but not that funny; when she finally got her words out and shouted “piggy dancing!” I saw the funny side too and almost fell over because she was so tickled by it. 

Later little pig joined us for lunch and took a dip in her water cup, and then it was home to dig out the other farm animals and continue the fun and games.