We have a 3 John Barrowman albums to give away.

To enter, please answer the following question:

(Q). What character did John Barrowman play in Torchwood.

To be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize, simply send your answer to sarah@mumstop.com.

All entries to arrive by 19th March.

(Above – John with his Mum)

Buy Link - http://www.sonycmg.com/releases/john_barrowman/john_barrowman/

Tracklisting:
1. When I Get My Name In Lights (from The Boy from Oz)
2. One Night Only (from Dreamgirls)
3. Copacabana (from Copacabana)
4. I Won’t Send Roses (from Mack and Mabel)
5. Memory (from Cats)
6. The Kid Inside (from Is There Life After High School?)
7. My Eyes Adored You (from Jersey Boys)
8. Don’t Cry Out Loud (from The Boy From Oz)
9. So Close (from Enchanted) duet with Jodie Prenger
10. Unusual Way (from Nine)
11. You’ll Never Walk Alone (from Carousel)
12. The Winner Takes It All (from Mamma Mia!)
13. Oh What A Night (from Jersey Boys)

BG is really lucky to have two sets of Grandparents that love her very, very much and though sometimes that can be a bit overwhelming it’s a good thing. She can be spoilt at times by them, but with clothes and books rather than toys or sweet treats.

You see BG’s Grandparents realise that they way to her heart is not through material things but to spend time with her!

My Other Half’s parents live quite close, so they see her quite regularly and with often have her for the day or the night (if we’re really lucky). They had her to stay this weekend as me and OH had a rare night out, they took her to the garden centre and then they spent Saturday in the greenhouse planting carrots and potatoes, it does help that Granddad is a potato farmer. BG had a whale of a time. Her nana can’t wait to start teaching her how to bake and cook and I can’t either. It’s those times that she will look back on remember fondly (I hope).

My dad lives further away but he tries to visit once a month and again he loves to just spend time with her reading and playing. Now my dad really isn’t into gardening or cooking, but when we were younger he took me and my sister to concerts, art galleries, plays and museums and he can’t wait to do that with BG and fill her head full of knowledge and share his passions with her.

As I said BG is a very lucky girl, she gets the best of both worlds with her Grandparents and I’m grateful for that, I think they are very important part of her life. Mine were to me and still are.

What are your children’s relationships like with their Grandparents?

New Mummy
New Mummy’s Tips

Campaign launched amid fears that lullabies are dying out as parents sing pop songs and theme tunes to tots
Parents are more likely to sing pop songs or TV theme tunes than lullabies to their children at bedtime according to research* released today.  Almost nine in ten (88%) British parents admitted to singing and playing pop songs or TV theme tunes while a third (29%) said they sing or play sound tracks from children’s movies. One in ten parents even confessed to playing or singing rock music to their nippers.

So, is the beloved lullaby in danger of being ‘rocked out of the nursery’ by Lady Gaga?

Sadly, that seems to be the threat as, although almost half of parents quizzed (40%) thought that lullabies are great for teaching children words and music, only one in ten (12%) said they know the words to traditional lullabies.

With these time-honoured melodies not being passed down from generation to generation, will they soon be forgotten? Not according to Sophie Barker from Grammy Award-nominated Zero 7 who has recorded a collection of favourite bedtime cradlesongs and has set up a Facebook group to campaign to ‘Save the Lullaby!’.

“The album, ‘Lullaby’, makes a stand for our forgotten bedtime tunes,” says Sophie, “ it reminds parents of the magic and soothing quality of our traditional lullabies – we’ve even included a sing-a-long lyric book for those who are more likely to know the Friends theme tune than Frere Jacques.”

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=298014110957&v=info

Yes that will be my daughter, thank you for staring and tutting it’s very helpful

Last week me and BG took a trip to our nearest big town to meet my best friend and her daughter for lunch. Me and BG have only ever taken the train once before when she was much younger and it was a complete disaster. I thought that now BG was older and walking it would be easier getting her on and off a train with the buggy, oh what a fool I am!

The journey out was absolutely fine, a nice lady helped us on with the buggy and we found seats near the door for a quick exit. BG sat on my lap the whole trip eating grapes and asking ‘what’s that?’ over and over again, and every now and then giving the passengers her killer smile.

It was the return journey that was a complete and utter nightmare, we had been for a lovely lunch, BG and my friends little girl (who is 7 weeks younger) had a great time in soft play and a good time was had by all. The problem was that BG was now tired and starting to get grumpy. So we get on the train, there was no one around to help so we struggled on. I got BG out of her buggy and we sat down and before the train even left the station she started to moan.

I had come prepared with snacks, drinks, toys and books but that was not what she wanted. What BG wanted was to get down and walk up and down the train and being the mean mummy I am I wouldn’t let her. The train is a small, wobbly one carriage affair and was really packed I didn’t want her walking and falling into people. Of course BG didn’t understand that and started screaming and trying push me out of the way and the tutting started and became quite warm and started to get stressed.

I eventually had to put BG in her buggy and she liked that even less and grew louder and louder. I tried to calm her down and bribe  placate her with everything I had but it didn’t work. I was just thankful that the journey is only 20 mins long.  We got off the train (with no help) and I walked home as quickly as I could because I felt embarrassed that BG was screaming so much , she fell asleep on the way.

If you were on that train last week I am sorry if her screaming irritated you, unfortunately she’s a only 15 months old and doesn’t know how to talk properly yet so the only way she knows how to communicate that she is unhappy and frustrated is by screaming and crying.  You’re staring and tutting makes me feel like I’m a terrible mother and actually makes the situation worse. She was not being naughty, she was tired and grumpy not unlike your selves.

So I ask you next time you’re on a train or bus or in the shops and a child is screaming, please don’t judge the mother or child is a process we all go through, have a little patience.

Carol x

New Mummy
New Mummy’s Tips

I want honest answers now, how much TV do your kids watch?

When BG was born, I vowed to not let her watch TV at all but somehow and I’m not sure how she does watch it.

It’s not on all day and I worked it out she watched about 2 hours a day and I’m worried that’s too much at 15 months.  She has her favourite TV shows on Disney and gets really excited when they come on.

To be honest it tends to go on when I’m trying to do something like the housework or getting food ready, the rest of the times its off and we have music on and play or read books. I don’t really watch day time TV as it drives me insane, but will catch up on Sky + while she’s napping.

So back to my original question, how much TV do your kids watch?

How much is too much? Am I letting BG watch too much TV?

Carol x

New Mummy
New Mummy’s Tips

I’ve noticed lately a lot of children BG’s age and younger have their ears pierced. One toddler that could only be a few months older then BG had a small pair of Creole earring’s in, she was also dressed in leopard skin print and Bet Lynch sprung to mind.

I thought to myself how cruel to that little girl. Now I might be ‘slightly’ bitter and biased, my ears where pierced on my 1^st birthday, however earrings don’t suit me so I’m now have useless holes in my ears.

I just think that at that ages babies/toddlers are going though pain and discomfort with teething and jabs that why add extra pain to their lives. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it is for them to try and sleep with those earrings in, especially when they don’t understand what they are.

Needless to say I won’t be getting BG’s ears pierced, if she decides when she is older that she wants it done then fair enough.

So where do you stand on piercing babies ears? Are you children’s ears pierced? What made you decide to do it?

Carol x

New Mummy
New Mummy’s Tips

Hello and welcome to Mumstop new blog.

My name is Carol and I’m a stay at home mummy to a very active 14 month old daughter generally known as BG (Baby Girl). I’m really excited about writing here at Mumstop and hope you enjoy what I have to share.

I will be bringing you a mixture of my life as a mummy and what’s going on in the world of parenting and your comments and opinions are more than welcome.

This week me and BG have are trying to get more active and get out a bit more, we spent so much time in doors due to the bad weather that we went a little stir crazy. Monday we started a new baby and toddler group which BG enjoyed but was full of really grumpy mums!

On Tuesdays we have story time at the library and on Thursday we have Musical Minis where BG gets a chance to run around, dance and sing (basically tire her out).

These outings are really having a great affect on BG, her confidence and independence is growing every time we go and it’s wonderful to see, the only problem and it can be quite expensive to do all of this and its still too cold to spend a lot of time outside. I did use BG’s Christmas money to pay for Musical Mini’s as that’s the biggest cost.

To be honest one of the cost is snacks and coffees afterwards, so I make sure now that I have snacks for me and BG in our bag and I’m limiting myself to one coffee out per week.

Do you go to any groups or play sessions and how do you deal with the costs?

Carol. x

New Mummy
New Mummy’s Tips

On Sunday me, BG and my other half all sat down at the table for a lovely family dinner, sounds quite natural for most families but we don’t do it very often.

I try and make sure that me and BG eat breakfast and lunch together every day, I think it helps with her feeding if we are both eating together plus it’s nice to sit down together but dinner time is another matter.

BG eats relatively early at 5.30 any later and she gets grumpy, the problem is that OH works different shifts so some times he is home at 4.30, other times 7pm, and if he is working a late shift he won’t be home until 10. I have to make the decision whether to wait for him to come home and we eat together or eat with BG. I have to admit I generally wait for him to get home, unless he is on late night of course (I couldn’t wait until 10pm).

Even when we eat together it is rarely at the table, we have a very small house. In the living with a drop-leaf table which we sometimes pull out to eat at, normally it’s up against the wall with BG’s toys in front of it, we don’t have the room to have it up permanently.

My dream is to have a kitchen big enough for a table that we can sit around and eat together, but until that happens I need to decide whether to eat with BG or OH.

Do you eat together? Or do you have kids and parents dinner time?

Carol x

New Mummy
New Mummy Tips |

Recent research* has identified the top 29 things that women want to do before they start a family. Why 29? Well, that is the average age for a woman in the UK to have a baby!

Over 1,000 women, aged between 18 and 40, were asked what they would like to do before committing themselves to motherhood. Running a marathon (21), bungee jumping (10) and learning another language (14)

all featured in the top 29, but top of the pre-pregnancy checklist is travelling the world. Other adventurous escapades to crop up on the list were abseiling (10), deep-sea diving (28), climbing a mountain (29), living or working abroad (17) and learning to ride a motorbike (26).

The list reveals several interesting factors about the priorities of today’s women, such as adventure being paramount. A third of the women interviewed (33%) thought that fulfilling their sense of adventure was essential before having a baby. They also recognised that being a mother makes it more difficult to be spontaneous and necessitates losing much of your past freedom, so doing as much as possible before having a baby makes sense.

Life Coach Georgina Burnett says: “It’s great that women are clear about the goals they want to achieve beforethey become pregnant and start a family. Whilst motherhood is a wonderful time of life, it’s a big responsibility and means you have less time to invest in yourself.”

While it’s important that women explore their adventurous side, women should also consider more traditional and sensible goals and some of these do appear on the list, such as buying a house (2), paying off debts (5) and saving money (9).

It seems that modern women are keen to ensure they’re in a committed relationship before considering starting a family, with getting married (3) and falling in love (13) both appearing amongst the top goals.

The top 10 are:

1. Travel the world
2. Buy a house
3. Get married
4. Establish a good career
5. Pay off debts
6. Become fully qualified in a profession
7. Pass driving test
8. Establish financial security
9. Save money
10. Take part in an extreme sport such as abseiling, skydiving or bungee jumping

*Carried out by Research Now on behalf of Leonville One Step

For my first column this year I have chosen something healthy. Fresh River Cobbler fillets are also cheap which is a godsend when you have a family to feed. River Cobbler is mild without that strong fishy taste so it makes it a perfect fish for young ones to try. In this recipe, the fish is coated in a little cocoa, which will encourage children to taste it. It’s sweet and spicy – try it and see!

As I’m sure that many of you will still have a few nuts left over from the festive season, the following recipe, Fruit ’n’ Nut Clusters, is really easy for you and your children to make and a great way to use up those nuts.

Spiced Cocoa rubbed River Cobbler Fillets
(serves four)

You will need:

• Four River Cobbler fillets, you could also use skinless cod or haddock
• 40g light brown muscovado sugar
• One tsp cocoa powder
• One tsp cayenne powder
• One tsp turmeric powder
• Pinch ground nutmeg
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp salt
• One tbsp vegetable oil
• One tsp butter
• Squeeze of fresh lime

Method:

• Pat the fish fillets dry with kitchen paper.
• In a large bowl, add the cocoa together with all the spices, salt and pepper and mix until thoroughly combined – smooth out any lumps.
• Coat the fish fillets with the spice mix by dipping the fish into the bowl and totally covering the fish. You will see it change colour immediately.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan set over a medium heat and fry the fish for two minutes before turning. Flip the fillets over. They should have a lovely caramelised sheen.
• Add three to four tablespoons of water and gently simmer for a minute or two. Add the butter and a squeeze of lime juice. Serve with cous cous or rice.

Fruit ‘n’ Nut Clusters

You will need:

• (This is just a guide – feel free to use whatever nuts and fruit you have in your cupboard)
• Rice paper for lining
• 200g almonds
• 200g hazelnuts
• 100g pecans
• 100g pistachios
• 200g dried cranberries
• 175g plain flour
• Two tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 200g icing sugar
• 200g clear honey

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Line the base of a 15cm square tin with rice paper. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl – except the icing sugar and honey.
• Put the icing sugar and honey in a large saucepan over a low heat and dissolve slowly. Continue cooking until it turns a light caramel colour. Add the nut and flour mix and combine well. It may not seem thick but will thicken up later.
• Spoon the mixture into the tin and press down well to make sure it’s level, then bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Leave to cool slightly – then when cold break into clusters. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

For more information about cookery classes with Kids’ Kitchen contact Suzanne Elman on 01702 711623.