Blog : Little Lilypad Co

 frog-facebook     frog-instagram   frog-pintrest  frog-twitter

 

The Little Lilypad is a lifestyle blog mostly written by a mum to two beautiful, cheeky and entertaining daughters. It is sometimes written by the Man on the Pad or by one of our baby bloggers. Occasionally we accept guest posts too. There is frequently talk of sustainable living, saving money, lifestyle and travel. It is hopefully helpful, sometimes funny and always honest.
search engine by freefind advanced

 RSS Feed

Category: Views & Ramblings

  1. Sleep is for the weak!

    Posted on

    My blogging mojo has been a little sporadic lately and this has more to do with a lack of sleep than a lack of blogs! Its ironic that with the amount of hours we have been awake, that I dont have blog posts coming out of my ears but it is official, the littlest member of the Lilypad family has decided that sleep is for the weak.

    Sleeping Baby Girl

    Our little angel is totally adorable, a complete cutie and a true gift to our family. She is interesting, funny, chatty and gorgeous but apparently she likes an early morning party. Everyone tells you that no two children are the same but with my first daughter being a text book baby, sleeping 7pm to 7am, I was quietly smug in my abilities to create a routine and I will hold my hands up and say I was so wrong. (This maybe the only time you ever hear me utter these words, so it maybe wise to keep this blog post).

    In the early hours of this morning I was woken with the little lady shouting me to "come get me" and once my eyes were open, I automatically reached for my phone to check the time and saw that I had emails, messages and social media notifications. Now admitedly I should have be wondering why I was getting all these messages in the middle of the night but you have to be thankful for a permanent broadband connection eh? Technology is such a big part of our everyday life now, it seems crazy to think that it doesn't seem all that long ago I was using a dial up on the computer to access the internet once a day.

    ID-100207400

    But I digress .... I sometimes think that the light nights have woken the little one, so as the dark nights draw in more and more, maybe we might just get a little more sleep. Although with the threatened power black outs, it looks like we might all be in the dark ..... which might also put an end to the midnight emailing too!

    Disclaimer : This post is brought to you in association with Virgin Media.

    Image courtesy of supakitmod at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  2. 50 things to love about life that are free!

    Posted on

    I see lots of lists such as 50 things to do before you are fifty or 50 free things to do with your children but what about creating a list about 50 things to love about life ..... that are free?

    50 THINGS

    If you asked my two year old what are the things she loves, it would be a different list to my eight year old and a completely different list to mine. So I asked a group of amazing ladies what they would add to the list, so here is our collective list of the best things to love about life .... that are free!

    1. Love
    2. Family
    3. Drinking a cup of tea while it's still hot
    4. Fresh bed linen
    5. Freedom of choice
    6. Sunshine! Warms the face and the soul
    7. An unexpected lie-in on a Sunday morning
    8. Hugs - giving and receiving
    9. Second chances
    10. Paying someone random a compliment
    11. When your teenager asks if you are ok
    12. Chatting to a old friend and completely forgetting the time
    13. Being able to have a hot bath without someone needing the toilet
    14. Hope
    15. Counting your blessings
    16. Time - either having it for yourself, or giving it to someone else
    17. Hearing your child say mummy for the first time
    18. Cuddles
    19. The smell of cut grass
    20. Real caring and genuine friendship
    21. Waking up on a morning to find one your children snuggled in beside you
    22. Watching one of your children be kind to a sibling for no reason
    23. Dancing to your favourite tune
    24. Wearing your best clothes just because
    25. Being awake before anyone else in the house is pretty amazing.
    26. Playing 'Pairs' with the children and they genuinely beat you
    27. A bedtime without a tantrum
    28. Sleep
    29. Hearing your child giggle
    30. Showing kindness to someone - especially when they're having a bad day
    31. The unexpected things
    32. Reading a great book
    33. A song evoking a happy memory
    34. Exercise
    35. Learning a new skill
    36. Laughter
    37. Creating an adventure for your children
    38. Finding something you thought you had lost
    39. The crunch of autumn leaves under foot
    40. Snow days
    41. Being spontaneous
    42. Smiling at a stranger - especially on the underground escalators
    43. Writing ..... a love note, a blog post or a story
    44. Peace
    45. I love to fall asleep next to someone I’m in love with
    46. I love to wake up next to someone I’m in love with
    47. Watching the stars twinkle in the sky
    48. Stories around a campfire
    49. Kissing in the rain
    50. Walking barefoot on the grass or in the sand

    What would you add to the list?

    Thank you to the following lovely ladies for their contributions, Molly, Jenny, Mary, Jenny, Pink, Annie, Donna, Cat, Carolin, Michelle, Helen, Andrea, Helen, Aly, Cass, Liz, Becky, Anya and Kellie.

     

  3. Finding funds for family festivities

    Posted on

    There are 70 sleeps till Christmas. Ooops I did it again, I mentioned the C word before November! There has been a rule in my family that we don't mention Christmas until after my brothers birthday in November. He used to get really upset with any of us that started talking about Christmas before his birthday and when I say he used to, I am still only referring to last year!

    So we have to do stealth Christmas preparation prior to November and I have been having a clear out of the bedrooms in readiness for the arrival of Father Christmas. Unfortunately for my other half, this also meant I was clearing out anything that gathered dust on a regular basis .... it is a good job that he doesn't sit in the same place for very long.

    Christmas

    So I went through all the children's old clothes, toys and our somewhat amazing dvd collection and on the recommendation of a friend, decided to do a car boot sale. I did not relish getting up at 5am in the morning but we did laugh at us bartering over 50 pence. Whilst I was determined that we were not coming home with a car full of stuff, I didn't want to give everything away for pennies as the profits of our little Sunday morning venture was going towards our family festivities. Unfortunately with music and movies so easily downloadable these days, the dvd collection remained one of the only things remaining on our little pasting table, so the minute I got home I got the app on my phone for Music Magpie. Doing a car boot sale and selling all our dvd's was never going to make us rich but it was a definitely a unique way to declutter and in the end we had a giggle doing it. 

    The only person who wasn't laughing was my eldest daughter, who was not amused at me clearing out her room .... especially when I told her that if we didn't declutter her room Father Christmas wouldn't be coming to her because he would think she had too much stuff! Well, it was the only way ......

    Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

    Disclaimer : Whilst we received recompence for this post, it is based on personal experience only and is not in any way affiliated.

     

  4. UNICEF - Charity doesn't always begin at home

    Posted on

    Family is at the heart of the Little Lilypad Co and I remember as a child being told that "charity begins at home" but what about all those children whose home is not like mine or yours?

    There are countless charities across the globe and each and every one of them deserves support and recognition but we were approached this month by UNICEF to share their work. UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation working for children and child rights. They work in more than 190 countries with families, local communities, business partners and governments, to help every child reach their full potential.

    With everything that's going on in the world today, it's important we support international charities like UNICEF. Over two million refugees have fled the crisis in Syria, half of them children. They urgently need our help.
     
    If you would like to make a donation, you can go direct to their donate page. 
     
    Disclaimer :  We received no financial compensation for this post only the warm fuzzy feeling of doing something good today!