Let them be children, give them time to grow

It's a New Year, and we look froward to meeting all those little ones that are due to join us this year. So today I've written a blog for parents, be they old hands or first timers. These words are mine, they're not here to advise or lecture, but I hope they make you think!

They're so small

Now that I have a child, the whole world is a different place.

Being a parent changes you like nothing else in the world, this tiny human brings you a new perspective on everything. It doesn't matter how many books you read, classes you take or advice you are given; somehow you are never prepared.

The first few months are hard, you have this new responsibility - this tiny human whose cries vibrate around your heart and you'll do everything in your power to stop them being upset, to make everything right for your child.

Sometimes I changed to her favourite
Shuktara blanket to help calm her down

Except you don't know how, and your tiny human can't tell you how... and since you're not sleeping a full 6-8hrs a night it becomes really hard to guess. You read internet pages about week 1, week 2, week 3... everyone is telling you how your baby should be developing. No-one tells you why your baby has woken up grumpy and crying. Eventually you fall back on 'Hungry? Try feeding. Uncomfortable? Try changing. Scared? Hold baby and rock. Bright light? Move to a dark room / shady spot...Overworked? Perhaps a drive in the car' The guesses continue and sometimes a combination of all the things you try will work, sometimes they wont. You'll keep trying & never give up.

For each parent this tiny human takes your primary focus in life, so it's easy to forget little things like where you put down your glasses / house keys / coffee. It's often said that us women give birth to our brains, well we don't - it's just our entire focus is taken up by our child. Everything else is insignificant in comparison & with the sleep deprivation we just don't care about trivial things. We're trying to survive and do the best for our child.

Everyone you know is trying to help you survive your child growing up. People will bombard your email / Facebook / Google+ accounts with internet quotes & advice, and this doesn't stop when they're past the infant crying stage. Your friends & family have the best will in the world and all will wade in with their advice, observations, and well meant help. Nobody knows your baby like you do. You have to trust your instincts, learn what your baby needs - you know best. Really you do!

Dance in rainbows, enjoy childish things

My latest 'internet advice' is to smack my pre-school 3 year old to correct her behaviour, you may have seen it...smacking is supposed to result in respect for others. Babies arrive with their own basic, primeval personality - their neural pathways for basic survival are already there (fear, hunger, love, etc). Over the next 5 years they'll fine tune who they are with experiences & example; you can help shape the future but you'll never be able to change their core personality - literally their brains are not 'wired up' that way. Take care & remember that until they are 5, they're still learning - behaviour is a form of communication not a way to "get what they want" or "annoy".

I believe smacking a child that's upset will not result in 'respect for others'; it will not teach the child how to deal with the cause of the upset or help your child deal with the situation when it arises again in a more controlled manner. Until a child has learnt how to deal with a situation, every child needs to be guided through how to react. You as parents will know when your child is testing your boundaries; refusing to put on pyjamas at night, not eating supper but requesting sweets instead... Scenarios your child knows & usually behaves for but tries to change to their current will, well then you have to be strong and correct their behaviour as you see fit.

Being a parent is hard, but the rewards are immeasurable. I believe that you have to take care of yourselves, slow down and spend time with your little one. Help your child learn, show them by example the person you want them to be, include them in your family & friends activities, and enjoy their company. Fill them with a passion for life, a sense of wonder and self confidence to try new things. My child shows me a new way of seeing the world; we laugh, dance in rainbows and regularly go on adventures. We enjoy childish things because soon she'll want to do something else, something a little more grown up; like start her own family.

Thoughts in a faraway place

The Shuktara blankets & Rainbow makers are available, along with other child toys, at www.unikgifts.co.uk

Friday Funny: Children

www.unikgifts.co.uk

Pop over to our Facebook page to see our u-ni-k friends playing hide and seek in the Autumn woods.

Memories to be cherished, in a box or a book!

This week we've launched Anna's beautifully decoupaged memory boxes; made from sustainable wood and hand finished by the talented Anna they make the perfect gift for any new baby!

All parents collect momentos of their baby's childhood: the hospital name tag, first shoes, a lock of baby hair, a ticket stub of their first journey... just about anything that will bring back memories of that first special moment that baby did something for the first time.

Anna keeps The Naughties pieces in their own boxes, Ida's box (seen here) has been decorated in a woodland theme as Ida is very much an outside girl with an impish (or faerie) zest for life. Her beautiful box incorporates all the essential elements of a british woodland and if you look carefully a special selection of cherished family photos of her grandparents. A wonderful treasure box that she'll love to go through and ask her parents all about the stories associated with the treasured keepsakes. Find out more about the memory boxes and buy one for your little one here!

I however keep a baby book, probably because my parents kept a baby book for both my siblings and me. Mine shows a number of special moments captured forever within this precious time capsule. I've tried to keep the tradition going with Kathryn and her book sits proudly alongside mine waiting for more pieces.

Here's a few pictures of my baby book!

I looked everywhere for a lovely brightly coloured baby book that reflected the one from my childhood but couldn't find one anywhere... So I've pasted pieces of Kathryn's childhood so far over the book I bought for her...

About 12months after starting Kathryn's we have discovered the Fill and Tell - My Best Book About Me. This is a wonderful baby book that is full of bright colours and pieces that make the story all about baby!

So however you want to cherish those baby first moments, with a book or a box - we have selected the best of each and they're available to buy at u-ni-k gifts.

Walkabout Wednesday, my little routine!

Anna and I are often asked how we manage to run u-ni-k while keeping up with active toddlers, houses with building work going on, and wild gardens that need tending to!

Well as well as the loving support of our friends and family; we also have a routine. Now while the bed, brush, book, and bed routine for the toddlers is steadfast - the routine that helps us out the most is more to do with us rather than the kiddies.

Finding time for a personal routine is key, but only if you manage to keep it!

Wednesday's are Anna and I's 'routine day'. For Anna it's meeting up with other Mummies at a toddler's play group; letting The Naughty play with her friends while Anna has a much needed chat with a cup of coffee.

While for DangerBaby and I, Wednesday is our Wisley day or walking day. No matter the weather we head on outside for some fresh air and run around! We see lots of plants and animals on our walk around and DangerBaby can now moo, quack, buzz, jump and approach wild insects & animals with care.

See if you know some of the creatures we see on our walks:

 

At the moment our favourite creatures are spiders, bees and ducks. We see a lot of bees and ducks but yesterday we saw something else... and it had it's own babies.

We know what it is... do you?

Answers in the comments later!

Blue is for boys... isn't it?

Blue is for boys and pink is for girls, a universal truth that we all know or are brought up knowing. I've never been one for pink...not even as a child.

It's amazing how many pink things you are given when you are a little girl or have a little girl. Probably because most people don't think past the mantra - blue for a boy, pink for a girl. 

I'll let you in on a secret...You'll find frustrated Mummies walking around the boys section desperately looking for something that is still 'girly' enough for their little girl but in a colour other than pink. The 'sick of pink' usually kicks in at about 18months. Pink's OK but nothing but pink for 18m becomes a little too much!

So as soon as our house renovations were completed (we moved out when Dangerbaby was 1 week and moved back in when she was 9months) we painted & decorated the whole house. We chose quite neutral colours so that we could put up our pictures, paintings, and photographs without worrying about if the frames we had would match. We also chose paint that could be easily wiped clean!

DangerBaby's room is white and not themed. I didn't want to redecorate in 3 years time when her craze is...Dogs instead of jungles or Planes instead of trains?! So I chose to personalise her room with colour instead. I chose calming neutral colours that could be easily adapted over the next 5 years or so!

Her room is definitely cream, blue, oatmeal and dark brown. Think of driftwood on a holiday beach and you have the colour pallet just right.

Kick off your shoes and paddle in the warm blue waters!

I have a wall sticker in DangerBaby's bedroom that is light blue, she has light blue in her curtains and a cream carpet. There's not an ounce of pink in her décor! There's enough pink in her wardrobe to convince anyone that she's a little girl! 

I find blue to be a very calming colour, I love water - especially the sea. Being near water calms me and  since I would like DangerBaby to be relaxed and calm in her bedroom – I have introduced blue into her room as well.

We have a blue trim and blue squares on our memory quilt:

Blue features in our memory blanket
by FatHenandFlo

In fact Susan quilt stitched the whole quilt in blue thread!

So on the 'reverse' side we have blue flowers, hearts, birdies all stitched into the white. So lovely!

I can't find our actual tree but this is close!

We have a blue wall sticker  

(a bit like this one without the baubles, and ours has animals and a little boy playing a pipe and well lots of other stuff)

We have blue detailing on her curtains

Duck Egg as this interiors shop calls this
particular shade of blue

If you want to add a touch of calming blue to your little ones room then we can help (or if you can't let go of the mantra – little girls must have pink I've added some purples too!)

Shuktara blankets

Seaside blues

Calming purples

Baby quilted blankets

Baby quilt coming soon to u-ni-k

Some blue detailing on your cot bedding:

Even some blue outfits, that look good enough to display on the wall: 

All available from www.unikgifts.co.uk

The little party dress

Every little girl deserves a party dress to wear and feel the bee’s knee’s in.

The very lucky Danger baby and Naughty have an Annafie dress each that us Mummies have chosen with the help of both our terror’s.

The naughty, with her Mummies help, chose an Annafie, Amelie in blue flowers for her party dress to wear to her first proper party. The "do" was a civilised afternoon tea for her Aunty Flo’s hen do. She behaved impeccably with her aunties, aunty Flo’s friends, Grandma and Mum all looking on, while she happily munched her way through delicate sandwiches, scones and little pastries.  

While tea was served she played peekabo with Aunty Katie.

She read books with Mummy 

while tea was slurped and the 

nattering started.

She span around and danced while the ladies munched their sandwiches. She played Silvanian families while scones with cream and jam were scoffed. 

She ate afew naughty cakes while the silly stories were told.

And she even managed to get us all playing hide and seek while the little naughty sweet pastries were nibbled by all. The end of the day had everyone singing “The wheels on the bus” while we tried to make her smile for photo’s. 

By the end of the day when she was sleepy and played out she curled up like a sleeping lion with Aunty Katie.

The perfect day and the perfect little dress for a very good little girl. The perfect gift from Mummy to daughter.

All Annafie dresses are  hand smocked making them perfect for every little girls body shape. They all follow a traditional design and are perfect for today's little girls. Either worn like Ida's or worn with wellies to puddle jump in. For pre-walkers and tom-boy’s, Annafie will even make a romper style in one of the pretty floral fabrics to make it easier for crawling around. 

We hope you find your perfect dress like Ida has. 

Later this week i'll tell you what Danger baby does in her Annafie dress!

http://www.unikgifts.co.uk/clothing/clothing_annafie.php

A bit of Friday fun...

Yesterday all the u-ni-k ladies went to Wisley with Italian Stallion & his Mummy for a 'Taste of Autumn'

There are three telling photos from yesterday that just need a witty caption:

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Please let us know what you think the little ones are saying in the comments below. Anna & I will judge the best one on Monday and contact the winner with a little surprise!

Work Life Balance anyone?

It's hard to be in business and be a Mum

My former work life
- the only thing that's the same is the no. of coffees!

Anna and I have a system, it's not perfect and really neither of us keeps to it but we're in the early stages so we're trying to stick to it. You see – we're supposed to work 4 days on and 4 days off. So I'm supposed to switch off for the 4 days Anna is rota'd on and visa versa. This includes Saturday as a work day. We have a pretty spreadsheet to track our days, a holiday system and an IOU days system. It's all very organised but doesn't take into account one fatal flaw. Anna and I.

Neither of us switch off on our rota'd off days, OK so we don't blog, Facebook or watch the sales inbox but we both work those days in our own separate ways... Anna will do more press work and I'll do more website stuff. Each day, every day. It comes with the territory of starting a new business, you just don't switch off.

I'm actually writing this blog at 11.30pm on a Sunday, Daddy DayCare is watching some movie by himself while I tippy tappy at the laptop. He'll come and find me every now and then to see if I need anything [aka 'have you finished yet?!'] and then he'll pop back to his movie for a while. Needless to say he's been a little neglected for a while.

He's not the only one. While I still keep 100% of my attention on my daughter, I do find myself watching my iPhone far too often – sorry to say at least once a week I'll look up and she'll have her head cocked to once side and will have emitted a 'eee?' noise. Heartbreaking. I'm more than happy to put the phone down, if the laptop is on and I can hear the email 'bing' for those all important sales emails.

All weather gear

Just to quantify things a little for those that don't know me, I am very much a Mummy. My Daughter and I spend hours a day playing, we spend time gardening, reading, playing ball, swimming and being outside. Both of us have waterproof trousers and jackets so that we can play in all weathers and we often do! But we have our indoors moments as well, which is when I fall into the temptation of working and turn to the technology.

So I'm trying to keep a life work balance, it's hard but it'll be worth it, as long as I have managed the balance just right! 

The result of all this hard work is the website http://www.unikgifts.co.uk and the lovely products you find there.

[Please note DangerBaby and I are meeting Anna & The Naughty later today to walk around RHS Wisley - the kind of work life balance I like!]