Are you pregnant? The eternal question…

Posted on November 14, 2012 by cambridgemummy

“Are you pregnant?” and “When are you due?” are questions that in my opinion, should be used only when you literally can see a baby arriving either through a woman’s sunroof or through her nunny.

You do not ask it at the school gate. Because everyone else will be listening to hear someone reply to you and say “No. I’m just fat. But thanks for noticing…”

You do not ask it at the swimming pool, to someone who is in the middle of threatening to tell Father Christmas that we’ve moved house so he won’t be able to bring us toys. Like really? Even if I was pregnant, do you think that’s the time to ask it and make me feel even more out of control???

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I’ve got baby news!! :))

Posted on October 28, 2012 by cambridgemummy

Baby news alert – no, I’m not pregnant. (Lovely Bloke has said that until I can work out how I can take a year of maternity leave and still have the business keep running, it’s not allowed. But I’m working on it…) Anyway, my lovely Sister In Law has baby news – we are very excited that Aunty A and Uncle S are going to have a baby next year. It’s been smooth sailing with the boys so far – we’ve not had any questions about how the baby got in there, but we are waiting for them….

Anyway, there’s no point me doing the job I do, and having the contacts I do, if I can’t help her find the coolest, cutest, funkiest stuff for the new baby. Heck, I’m even going to start a category about it – I can pretend it’s work but really, it’s not. It’s me having the fun bits of pregnancy without the aching back, going to the loo in the night and the panic over what sort of mummy I’ll be!!

So, the first challenge I’ve got, is to help her find some maternity clothes. She’s 5 foot 10 inches, possibly 11. And cannot get any trousers, jeans or even maternity leggings fit her!! But where do we go – it’s just got be something that’s got a 34 or 36 inch leg! You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find something that will fit her. Bless her. And she’s got an uber flat, toned tummy, so she’s already got a bump at 15 weeks. She doesn’t look flabby like I did – it’s a bone fide bump!!!!

And she needs a gorgeous dress that will work for her for the office – and also for her final hurrah with her husband, over the Christmas break when they have a couple of days in the hotel where they went for their honeymoon in the Lake District. It wants to be something that will work for tall people – because as her bump grows, it’s going to get even more difficult to find things long enough for her!!

So where did you go for your maternity clothes – I went to Blooming Marvellous and it’s gone now, so over to you….

Cambridge Mummy with a newsflash – you can save money when pregnant / a new mum

Posted on February 17, 2012 by cambridgemummy

This is not a sponsored post per se, but it is a post that I’ve gotten through one of our clients at Weston Communications. So I’ve got a vested interest in this working ;) But at the same time, I’m putting it on my blog because I want to share money saving offers with people who are pregnant, new mums or have friends who are…

Please go and sign up to Mum and Baby Online – a one stop shop – a place where you can sign up to information, coupons, vouchers, money saving deals and all sorts of great stuff from Pampers, Huggies, Hipp and Argos and more whose names I can’t remember, to get their newsletters and offers all sent to you, without having to sing up for them individually.

I have vivid memories, funny, hilarious and emotional memories of my time as a new mummy, with Mrs R, with us both with a little plastic bag – you know the one you get your pennies in from the bank – with voucher codes in them, planning our activities around them as new mums. It was a mission for us, to see what we could save in the course of a day by optimising our voucher efficiency. I am so happy just thinking back to that point. It’s makes me feel mushy inside. So if nothing else, sign up to Mum and Baby Online, get your free offers, codes, discounts, coupons and money saving freebies and have fun with other women like I did with Mrs R and our babies x

And on another matter altogether, what’s the best deal that you’ve seen for pregnancy or new families recently? It’s good to share!

The Cambridge Mummy blog on: ways to spend your weekend

Posted on August 27, 2011 by cambridgemummy

I was thinking today, that I’m actually a very lucky bird. This weekend and last I have taken the boys swimming in the morning, with a different family each time and then we’ve gone out for lunch. Whilst Lovely Bloke has been at home with either the ironing or the kitchen/dining room project for company. And next weekend, our boys will be with Grandma and Grumpy, whilst I do some filming for at The Baby Show for UKBabyShows.co.uk

Somewhere in the midst of all that, W has finally acquiesced a little, and allow us to start toilet training. This means that we’ve gone through so much chocolate that it’s a wonder he’s managing to sit still at all, there’s that much sugar carousing through his little body. I’m going to find it difficult to film at The Baby Show, because I get a) broody when I see the babies and b) miss my own boys. But I’ve got more of my head around this kind of thing – that by doing it, it’s going to allow me to be there in the first week when E starts school, at drop off and pick up – I know lots of women who won’t be able to do that so it’s something worth noting.I will also be there with W for extra cuddles and snuggles when he realises that E isn’t at pre school with him.

It’s another one of those days where I think we might be getting a bit more balance in our lives, aside from the chaos that’s happening in the parts of the house that are being carved up as I type…

Of course, I’ve now got renewed purpose for my weekend evenings – they are filled with the twilight films. I’m Team Edward, before you even ask, and anything else would be just plain wrong. Watching the films has taken me back to feeling like a teenager – that love can and does conquer everything else. That love can be something all consuming and that you don’t care – that you crave it like “your own personal brand of heroin”. That makes so much sense to me. I remember how I felt about Nick, my boyfriend from 15-19 years of age. He was my first true love and the loss of our relationship was like a bereavement. A proper bereavement, even though we both instigated its demise in different ways. Even now, I look back on it and remember the times fondly, and hope that our boys have those experiences themselves, because they are so special.

I was emailing with someone who isn’t into the whole romantic cliches thing the other night and she asked about my newfound love and why it was affecting me so much. I said it’s because “I have a hitherto previously undiscovered passion for handsome young male vampires who spout the love lines that I think we women should be on the receiving end of every single day without fail”.

Twilight is even making me make more of an effort to be lovely to Lovely Bloke, who is grafting away right now, acquiring another new skill, of plastering. I’m hoping that if I keep telling him how well he is doing, how proud I am of him doing this project, making him cups of tea and bringing him pizza, he’ll reciprocate with statements of love and worship and adoration that would be amiss from the lips of Edward Cullen himself. It’s a project, but then I like a challenge.

So that’s all sorts of different ways I’m spending my weekends at the moment. What are you doing?

The Cambridge Mummy blog on: Missing my old sister in law

Posted on August 5, 2011 by cambridgemummy

Before Lovely Bloke, I was with someone for many years. It was a bad relationship and we really were not well matched as a couple but what I did have, was the equivalent of a sister in law, even though I wasn’t married to “the previous applicant” and nor was she to his brother. I loved her very much, and we both got into trouble a couple of times from saying the wrong thing, albeit unintentionally. But we’d work it out and she was a really important friend.

Watching Glastonbury tonight, with U2 has made me realise how much I miss her – hanging out, going to Glastonbury together and having the best time ever, despite the fact that the previous applicant was sick all over me and stole a sleeping bag from me in the middle of the night. Because I liked hanging out with her, she was like the big sister I’ve never had. I’m all teary now – I do miss her and I’m very sad that when the relationship with the Previous Applicant ended that relationship had to end as well. The fact that it wasn’t through my choice and apparently not through hers either, made me even more sad…

Life moves on, she’s got three children with the Previous Applicant’s brother and I’ve got my life with Lovely Bloke and our Lovely Boys. I have no idea what is happening for the Previous Applicant but I wish him well, wherever he is… And you know what, I wouldn’t change my life and what’s happened for the world. But just in case you find this blog post my lovely, somewhere, somehow, I’ve still got my Denby teapot. And I treasure it because we did have some great times together, despite me and the Previous Applicant being so badly matched together. The good thing that came out of that whole thing was me and you, and I won’t forget our driving up north together, hair tangled everywhere, me needing the loo and you telling me I’d got to “hold on” a bit longer!

Lots of love, Liz x

Postscript: Despite the lovely note from my old Brother in Law as a comment on this blog and a Facebook email from my old Sister in Law, a week after posting this post I received an email from the Previous Applicant. He is unhappy with my referring to him and my past. He’s concerned that I have unfairly misrepresented him. So to be clear, both he and I said and did things that I’m sure we both regret. His email revealed a very different recollection of our lives together to mine. And that’s just life isn’t it? People view things differently. He’s not a bad person and nor am I. We just didn’t work together. We were both to blame in different ways. I don’t think I’m a saint. I don’t think I am perfect. Unfortunately, as he isn’t in the online world he has the view that I’m basically broadcasting online without cause. Because he lives in an offline world, I appreciate his perspective. I of course view it differently because I live and work in an online world.

Even though Lovely Bloke doesn’t do online stuff and doesn’t really like it, he leaves me to get on with it. I’m sensitive to Lovely Bloke’s perspective in my writing, in radio and tv interviews and when referring to him and Our Boys in my public life.

The difference between now and ten years go, is that neither him or anyone else for that matter, is in charge of my life. No one dictates what I can and can’t do, what I can and can’t say, what I can and can’t write on my blog. That’s not to say that I’m not sensitive to the feelings of people who I care about, like Lovely Bloke, lets be clear on that. The years before I met Lovely Bloke shaped me – they’ve helped me become the person I am now. And that’s not just my experience with the Previous Applicant, it’s everything that I went on to do, explore and try before I met Lovely Bloke. From trampoling to trying interesting risottos, it was all good. And thank you too, to the friends and lovely people I met and had some brilliant times with :)

Today, I’m in charge of my life, I’m sharing it with someone who I think is the bees knees. It’s brilliant to be on the same team as him. Our togetherness is enabling us both to raise our boys to be strong, independent individuals who look after themselves, help others and play nicely, most of the time. They don’t eat all their vegetables, but Rome wasn’t built in a day was it?

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog. Thank you to everyone who comments on it. And thank you to the Previous Applicant, for his email – for helping me remember all of this on what would have been a regular Saturday afternoon. I hope that wherever he is with he’s happy and healthy, I really do, because life is too short to have ill feelings towards people. I’d like to think that he’s gone on to have a life as filled with happiness, adventure and love as I have. I’m sorry that he doesn’t like my having written this blog post. It wasn’t intended for that. I don’t want to cause any bad feeling and I’m sorry that it has. I hope this post script, being explicit about the fact that I know it wasn’t all his fault and that I was also to blame as well, goes some way to making him feel that this post is a bit more balanced.

Anyway, I’m off to get in the bath with my boys and prepare for our photo shoot with our fabulous friends tomorrow morning. Hope you all have a peaceful evening. Me x

Liz Weston is Cambridge Mummy, a self employed, full time working, mummy blogger and mummy to two lovely boys and wife to Lovely Bloke. They live in Cambridge (I know, but it’s good to be clear) and have a lovely life together. Most of the time.

The Cambridge Mummy Blog on: succumbing to branding for my boys…

Posted on July 8, 2011 by cambridgemummy

When I was pregnant with E, I gave a withering look to anyone who said that it was impossible to avoid branded clothes, toys and accessories. Why? Because my babies would be playing with wooden, educational, hand made, purposeful toys. They wouldn’t be bribed into getting dressed on difficult mornings with Buzz Lightyear underpants. No, that’s not my family…

Liz Weston the Cambridge Mummy with her toddler boys and Buzz Lightyear at Disneyland Paris

I actually kissed him, just like our boys did :)

Anyway, back to reality. Team Weston is now officially a Disney family. We’re wearing it, eating with it, watching it, playing with it and will shortly be using it to launch toilet training for W with a Lightning McQueen potty. And we’ve now had our family holiday with Disney. And it wasn’t cheap. Three nights in a three star hotel for £1,574. I don’t think Lovely Bloke and I have ever spent that much on a three night break hotels, so it was a big spend for us – and all down to Lovely Bloke, who insisted it was a good idea. I’ll write properly about it in future blogs.

I’m just going to put it out there. The experience our boys have had this week has been the most animated, excited, engaged, enthusiastic and basically the happiest I can see them looking for, well, I don’t know since when. And whether that’s a good thing or not, I don’t know. I just know that we’re all playing with Mr Potato head, in the nude, with Cars on in the background and we’re all happy.

Are you a wooden toys or Buzz Lightyear underpants family?

The Cambridge Mummy blog: Baby names…..

Posted on June 11, 2011 by cambridgemummy

Image courtesy of http://humanfertility.net/picking-baby-names/

Am not sure why, but how you choose your baby’s name is on my mind this afternoon…

With our first baby, we didn’t know if it was a girl or a boy, so we had boy names and girl names on a shortlist. When a son arrived, we were so grateful that it had all worked out in the end (there’d been a rush towards the end of the process and an emergency c section…) that the name didn’t feel like such a big issue. Nonetheless, we had to pick between Elliott and Max. We went with the former as the relatives were bounding down the corridor desperate to meet him.

With our second child, we knew we were having a boy, but there was still the shortlisting to do. But the problem was that we didn’t have hours of sitting around debating names. And Lovely Bloke felt that we couldn’t use any of the names from our other shortlist because that would be wrong, it was not giving our second child his own name, but more one that was a left over from the first time around. So we were debating William or Oliver. And in the end, after he arrived, I wanted Oliver and Lovely Bloke wanted William, so that’s what he was called, as I’d had two blood transfusions (I’m not great at the whole giving birth thing) and felt too weak to argue that much…

The things that drove our choices were:

1. We wanted something that other people weren’t picking. [That worked for E but not for W, bless him]
2. We wanted a name that wasn’t a family name, we wanted our boys to be their own people, without the burden of someone else’s history. [That worked for E, but not W, bless him. Although I only found out after we'd told everyone his name, when my mother in law helpfully announced it....]
3. We wanted a family name for a middle name. [Thankfully, we managed that one on both occasions...]
4. We didn’t want something that would sound too kooky. [I think we just about managed that as well. Time will tell I suppose]

What confuses me, is how parents pick baby names that they say up front, are after a pop star, famous person, or someone in the public eye? Aren’t most people in the public eye there for a fleeting moment of time, so why pick that name? And usually, it’s not their really name, it’s something designed to get attention, a stage name, instead of their real name.

What also confuses me , is how parents to be choose a baby’s name before they arrive. Lots of people do it, but to me, it seemed alien because I wanted to see my babies to check if the name would “fit” them…

Different strokes for different folks I suppose. How did you choose your baby’s name?