Baby and me: The world´s cutest alarm clock!

 I read a while back an article comparing life pre and post-parenthood. There’s on characteristic in particular that I miss. Again related with sleeping: the weekends late wake ups or the typical weekend slumber.... 

You see, I have the cutest alarm clock that works wonders when it’s early morning! I love the way it works for the typical weekday. I mean, it does not allow snoozing, it’s guaranteed that when it’s time for you to wake up, you will definitely wake up...!  So there’s no dozing off, and then realize that you are incredibly late (you may be late, but for other reasons, not the extra sleeping time)!

There’s one catch though. It does not distinguish a weekday from the weekends... And so, everyday around 7am the alarm rings! Time for wakey-wakey!

 

Yes, my little one is the cutest alarm clock! I just hope that soon enough he learns the notion about weekends! And maybe he does? Because during the weekends he usually gets up earlier...Maybe he knows that during the weekends he has his mummy and daddy all for himself, and so he wants the extra time with us! And well, there goes the extra hour sleep... But its worth it! An extra hour with our little one! We have to treasure this little times, as I have been told over and over again, they go quite fast! In the other hand... oh, slumbering during weekends I do miss it!

And what about you?  Do you have a cute wake up call?

 

DIY tutorial: 5 min Halloween banner

Halloween is tomorrow! yeahhh!

I have no decorations at all! Noooo....

So I had to come up with something really fast and easy to make! There are these beautiful banners around the net... Don´t expect mine to be one of those! Here is a visual of mine:

As you can see my banner is just a quick version so that my house was not the only one without any Halloween decorations at all! Yes, you could just stop by any Poundland or Asda shop to buy something, but let’s be real, the decorations in the shops are just...well, definitely not my cup of tea!

Here´s how I made it:

 

It was an easy process!

1. I quickly draw something in basic software (Paint.Net) and print it out! (it took me just a couple of minutes, honestly!)

 2. Then I cut out the letters

3.      Used 2 coloured ribbons, and just taped the letters to the ribbons

4.       Then just attached it to the door! Now tomorrow the little ones will know that our house is available for some trick or treat!

What about you? Ready for Halloween tomorrow?

 

Scarves are a mum´s best friends!

I am still struggling with my post-pregnancy body shape... It has been 10 months and I still exhibit a mummy´s tummy! I know that I should be making some effort in exercising, but... I have so much in my plate right now, that I have no time or strength to make an effort to do it once I am home. And when home, my time is always consumed by my little one!

So a solution for this when tehere´s no time to exercise.... I turn to the second best thing: body camouflage! And what better way to do it than by diverting attention from my mummy tummy by accessorizing? And hence the scarves....  I have been piling up scarves during my pregnancy. At the moment I own quite a collection...

If you don´t have a huge collection (and even if I mentioned that I have quite a collection, I don´t have a huge one) there´s a way to maximize the scarves look  by using them in different ways. And here enters Wendy from Wendy´s lookbook. She is one of my favourite fashion bloggers, she is so imaginative when mixing up looks, layering and in hairstyling!

This video that I am posting from her is an ´oldie´, but I always watch it to get ideas about how to wear a scarf differently:

 

Hope this video gives you some ideas about how to wear scarfs!

Scarves present many other advantages for a mum besides camouflaging your tummy... :

Do you need some privacy when breastfeeding? Use a scarf while breastfeeding!
Your baby spat all over your top and you don´t have an extra one? Cover the spots with a scarf!
It´s cold and you forgot your baby´s blanket? The scarf  will substitute it!
Your baby is bored and you don´t have more toys to entertain? Scarf will keep your baby busy, particularly if it has some fringes...

Scarves are the ultimate mummy´s best friend!
 

Do you have any other ideas on how to use scarves?

 

Baby and me: Sleep. No sleep.

Today. 5.30am.

Baby wakes up. Starts to get up and bounce his little bottom in the cutest dance... Mummy is barely able to open her eyes...  She mumbles: "Oh my little one, why aren't you sleepy?" 
Baby giggles and thinks "Baby wants to play!" 
Mummy slowly gets up and cuddles baby. Baby sweetly lays head on mummys shoulder, but is still awake. Mummy cuddles and rocks baby until finaly he falls asleep. 

Its 7am then.

This image includes the photo “Nuevas aficiones" by Andrés Nieto Porras,
available under a Creative Commons Attribution license 
Retrieved on  IMfree

 

DIY tutorial and template: Felt gift box

A while back I found a lovely picture of a felt gift box from the Internet, that inspired my template for this cute felt gift box.  I will be sharing this template, along with a photographic tutorial. These little felt gift boxes can be made with felt, craft paper, or other material, experiment, go crazy!

And here is how to make it:

1. Print and then cut the paper template and draw it on the felt finaly cut the felt.

 Here is the template! 

2. Punch two sides of the felt box (the correct places where to puch are located in the template)

3.Select a cute ribbon that matches the colour of the felt

4. Pass the ribbon thru the puched holes

5. Make a bow using the ribbon

6 and 7. Trim the ribbon ends

And your box is done!

If you have any questions feel free to comment, I will help you any way I can!

Freezing eggs as a job perk? Really??

 

I was utterly astonished with the news that Facebook and Apple would be offering the possibility of women to freeze their eggs as a job perk. Newspapers as the Telepgraph and Independent were dominated by headlines that were covering this announcement the past week. This is by far the worst idea ever that could arise from Silicon Valley. But I should not be surprised about it really. What better way for women to become even manlier at work than to get their motherhood postponed? That’s one less concern to companies about women becoming mothers. And one more concern to women, that clearly see that becoming a mother is not well received within companies (do we really need more evidence of this?), what other reason for this so –called perk?

 I am also reading about many opinions thatdefend this perk offer, claiming that it supports women in both keeping their jobs and their motherhood choices open, that it’s an investment in women from companies . However, I think this is exactly the opposite. And before this possibility was even considered, why not improving the work conditions by opening crèches, or offering bonus that contribute to nursery payments? 

Becoming a parent is still just an issue towards mothers, and not fathers. Of course only woman become pregnant, and only women can breastfeed (why not develop some research about man lactating?) but in long term parenthood affects both mothers and fathers, but in the work environment mothers are more affected than fathers. Women are more prone to sacrifice their careers when having children. I understand this completely, as after having my baby my priorities changed completely, as my little one will always come first.  Adding to this perspective there’s staggering evidence that suggests a gender gap in young professionals in the corporate sectors, which is largely associated with motherhood. We find similar results in academia, where women have more difficulties in securing grants, due to several reasons but mostly related with motherhood and sustaining a family.

However, freezing eggs is not a miraculous solution to solve this and this procedure should not be used lightly. Biologically speaking, a late pregnancy may have issues not only related with older eggs, but also due to the female body that is not longer at its most favourable time. And not to mention the risks involved with the eggs removal procedure, or its consequences. And even with your eggs frozen there’s no guarantee that there´s a successful insemination. 

Don´t misunderstand me, I believe that this procedure is a breakthrough to solve many infertility issues. I also advocate it to women who wish to do so to secure their chances of motherhood! My major issue with this as job perk is the underlying notion that becoming a mother is a nuisance at work. Companies would prefer you to postpone it. Or better, skip it altogether (maybe the perk would even include a surrogate bonus, so the pregnancy would be avoided) if possible. 

The bottom line is that we have a long way to go level the field in terms of equality at work between man and women, particularly when it comes to parenthood, where it is clear than mothers are more affected than fathers. There’s a long way to go in terms of support to maternity in the work environment. This matter should not be tackled lightly, and there are no easy solutions as the matter is extremely complex. But seeing this matter addressed in a responsible and well thought manor in a major company would be, at least for me, a major job perk.  

Inequality at work either at the corporate or academia environment is the norm. We still live in a man ruled world after all.