 The mammasaver household is abuzz with holiday fever.
Visiting our relatives on the West Coast of Ireland in June, we will gloriously not need any new clothes (we shall be packing jumpers, not bikinis) but manage to make the most of Atlantic beaches, acres of sky and fresh air.
However, this time round, our little boy will be over two years old. to the uninitiated, this means an enormous hike in the price of airline tickets, despite the fact that our two year old would most probably sit on our knees for the whole journey.
With a little digging though, we discovered that we could pay for endless baggage allowance, infant pricing (instead of child pricing) and our entire car to travel to Ireland for £250 less than the airline price by taking the ferry.
We will need to check our that our breakdown cover is valid for travel to Europe, as my Gaelic is rudimentary at best.
I can manage 'tea, 'cake' and 'milk,' which should see us through a tricky half an hour, but knowing our luck, our trusty Corsa will break down in a hidden Gaelic-only pocket of Donegal leaving us without so much as a cheery smile.
Now, where did I see that Gaelic dictionary?
Do you have a cunning wheeze to cut down the cost of travelling with children? Please share below!
 It seems that our flat is currently under offer (hurray!), following weeks of cleaning, tidying and trying to maintain a unsustainable illusion of cleanliness and tidyness, toddler in tow. What would have come in handy though, is this rather lovely prize bundle on offer from Natural & Clean, a company who are proud that their products are safe for people, pets and the planet. Included in the bundle is the Whoops a-daisy, a product that would come in handy for those potty training times.
Pour on the piddle, and this magic stuff soaks everything up, meaning that your carpets don't take such a hit and your house doesn't have a rather faint smell of widdle. As for the other products, they are pretty self explanatory, but come with the mammasaver tried and tested seal of approval ( the spot cleaner is especially good).
You could win the following bundle of lovely cleanliness: - Natural & Clean Whoops a-daisy!
- Natural & Clean Spot Remover Wipes
- Natural & Clean Bin Deodoriser
- Natural & Clean Spot Remover
| | All that you need to do is leave a comment and 'like' the Natural & Clean Facebook Page.
All instructions are laid bare below, and the competition runs until 26th May 2012. Good Luck!
 With only five days left to listen to this interesting report from Business Scotland, click on the following link and scroll to 4 minutes.http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01gw2vjIt examines the pressure that parents are under to buy, buy buy in a baby's first year and beyond, as well the avenues some parents have gone down to (gasp) make money from their children...
 Do you ever have a period of a few weeks in your life where your body seems to trip into one problem after the other? The past few weeks have been one of those. - A nasty cold
- A possible cracked rib/bad rib sprain (ooch)
- The Mother of all sinus infections
Not exactly perilous, but a right pain in the neck (and ear, nose and throat). Thankfully, my swollen hamster-face has started to deflate, and has allowed me to open my jaw wide enough to slot in pizza. Food other than soup is to be celebrated under such circumstances. The surprising pizza is from Iceland - discovered on the way home from the doctor's today. For a mere £2, their Mediterranean Stonebaked Pizza has a wealth of rather lovely, expensive ingredients - courgette, spinach and decent quality peppers. Not bad for a store sometimes associated with frozen food of dubious quality....
 I have been tagged by the lovely mummyplum and aworkingmum to complete the following tag, started by mother.wife.me.
It's a opportunity for women to give their personal perspective and experience on modern motherhood.
The rules are as follows:- Post the Rules
- Answer the questions in as much or as little detail as suits you
- Leave a comment on MotherWifeMe so we can keep track of the meme
- Tag three people and link them on your blog
- Let them know you tagged them
- Tweet loudly about taking part using #amothersworkmeme
Without further ado, here is my contribution:Did you work before becoming a mum?Yes - since leaving university, I worked for a large cancer charity and then as an English teacher. I very much enjoy teaching, and look forward to returning to work when we're ready. What is your current situation?I look after our little boy full time. I hesitate to say 'Stay at Home Mum' as it can lead to negative assumptions. I am very lucky that I have a supportive partner who feels the same way as I do about being the primary carer for our little boy. Without his support, our lives would be very differentSoon after he was born, I knew that I didn't want anyone else to take care of our son, no matter how lovely or well qualified.I also felt that the extra money that I would earn wouldn't be worth the additional stress that would be brought into our home. No matter how organised, slick and efficient my marking and lesson plans would be, I knew I would resent the time taken away from my son and the impact that would have on our family.Money has been very tight over the past two years, but as I cannot believe how quickly the time has passed, nor how much our little boy has changed in that time, I am certain we made the right decision for our family. Although I do miss being in a wordly, busy adult environment, I know that I would miss my son more. I know I can return to work, whereas I can't return to our son's childhood.Freestyle - a chance to get across your own point of view on the subject.Last year, I was called for Jury Service. As our son was not in childcare (and being breastfed), I appealed to be excused. The courts advised that I'd need official proof of my status as a full time carer for my son. However, as he's not disabled (nor elderly), I cannot be classed as a carer. I was told by the Department of Work and Pensions that as a full time mother, 'you're not a carer.' Ouch.I remember this when I'm changing nappies, feeding, up at 2am...On a serious note, it worries me that full time parents have no official status under the Department of Work and Pension guidelines. Officially, in the eyes of our government, full time parents are doing, well, nothing.
 I've just read anarticle from the BBC about a survey conducted by Ribena (of all people), claiming that parents are feeling the pressure when it comes to playing with their children.
A reasonable reaction would be 'eh? What? Anxious about play - a bit of a contradiction, no?' However, on reflection, you can see how this can happen.
The amount of toys that are marketed to parents through magazines, television adverts and more all hint at the wonderful playful world your children could inhabit if you would just buy them this ride on light up giraffe/talking monkey/interactive multimedia gadget.
However, the good news is that The National Trust have come up with a list of 'play musts' for parents worried about what on earth to actually do with their children, without spending much money at all.
The list sounds perfectly sensible, until you get to the last two suggestions:
| Climb a tree
Roll down a really big hill
Camp out in the wild
Build a den
Skim a stone
Run around in the rain
Fly a kite
Call an owl
Check out animals in a rock pool
| Catch a fish with a net
Eat an apple straight from a tree
Play conkers
Throw some snow
Hunt for treasure on the beach
Make a mud pie
Dam a stream
Go sledging
Bury someone in the sand
Bring up a butterfly
Catch a crab
| Set up a snail race
Balance on a fallen tree
Swing on a rope swing
Make a mud slide
Eat blackberries growing in the wild
Take a look inside a tree
Visit an island
Feel like you're flying in the wind
Make a grass trumpet
Hunt for fossils and bones
| Watch the sun wake up
Climb a huge hill
Get behind a waterfall
Feed a bird from your hand
Hunt for bugs
Find some frogspawn
Catch a butterfly in a net
Track wild animals
Discover what's in a pond
Go on a nature walk at night
| Go wild swimming
Go rafting
Light a fire without matches
Find your way with map and compass
Try bouldering
Cook on a campfire
Try abseiling
Find a geocache
Canoe down a river
| Canoe down a river? Find a geocache (whatever that is)? Did someone drop into the National Trust brainstorming session a bit late?
Anyway, as good the list is, the National Trust have missed out our little boy's favourite activity:
'Find a stick and poke any little hole you can with it. Holes in trees are especially prized.'
Right. I'm off to find a geocache*
What's your child's favourite 'play-must?' Comments open below!
*If anyone can actually tell me what one is, I'd be most grateful.
 New bras and pants can maketh the woman, especially if she is in need of something new post nursing or pregnancy.
With this in mind, here's a discount code for Figleaves that gives you £5 off your total bill: FIGFIVER (expires 30th April 2012).
Figleaves have a very wide range of sizes to choose from, from the smallest to the largest sizes.
They stock a lot of different brands (including nursing/maternity options), and have a range of different delivery options available.
This can come in handy, if like me, you manage to haul yourself and child to an actual shop, only to find said shop doesn't stock your size. Ah.
Happy shopping!
 Sponsored postThe mammasaver household is still in the throws of showing potential buyers around our flat. With it only being a small flat, it doesn’t take that long. In fact, a disproportionate amount of fussing seems to be going on when a potential buyer calls around.
No offers have yet been made, and in all honesty, it’s a blessed relief. If we did, we’d have to do things. Hire solicitors, removal firms and of course, find somewhere to live. (Duh).
One rather left-field way of finding a competitive price for home removals is by using uShip’s courier services online.
Type in your details (carefully), and you will receive a number of bids from local firms, willing to offer you a competitive price for your house move. The key is to add as much detail as you can, to get back the most bids from potential firms. Adding photos of the furniture and such like that need increases the number of firms offering a competitive bid also.
It seems efficient and a rather cunning way to get local firms to compete for your business. Frankly, an alternative to a whole load of ringing-round sounds rather appealing, when chasing after a toddler and attempting to keep on top of everything.
As for the viewers to our flat? Keep 'em coming. I can take it.
 It has been a little quiet on the mamma blog of late, due to our little lad of 22 months breaking his collar bone.
One almighty crash in on the bathroom tiles resulted in tears and snotters (from both of us) and a drive in an ambulance to our fair city's Children's Hospital.
One bumped head and broken clavicle later, things have been a little busy in the mammasaver household to say the least.
Not wishing to be without his mum for any real time at all, our routines have gone out the window and have been replaced with:
- cuddling to sleep. Sounds nice, but takes over an hour each night.
- only mummy being allowed to do things (such as dress him, lift him in and out of high chairs).
- a rather nervous little lad who is a bit worried about what might happen if I'm away for more than 10minutes.
Needless to say, time to do anything other than the bare minimum housework has vanished faster than you can say 'clavicle.'
What we did discover though, is the most unfortunate use for muslin squares yet. As our little boy is so small, slings are difficult to use.
However, a trusty muslin square is an excellent toddler sling subsitute, and doesn't fray in the wash.
Now hang on, was that really 10minutes? Better go...
 The past fortnight has seen a little trickle of viewers to mammasaver towers. Good news indeed, but not necessarily good news for our energy levels.
Not being the tidiest family in the world, each viewing involves few hours of preparation - cleaning, tidying, fussing, uttering sentences such as "I think we need to tilt that elephant to the left slightly."
One such viewing was arranged this week. The day before, an enormous amount of milk spilled over our lounge carpet.
Stale milk carpet is not a smell I imagine any potential buyers would be impressed with, so I set about cleaning the mess up.
A couple of years ago, we bought a Vax carpet cleaner on special offer through Amazon. Thank heaven we did - it has more than paid for itself and means that we can clean the carpets adhoc, instead of hiring a machine to do the job.
What annoyed me though, was the sheer expense of the carpet cleaner. The top-rated Vax Ultra Solution shampoo claimed to 'power through heavy traffic areas.' However, it left me a non-plussed and £17 a bottle worse off.
Enter trusty Stardrops once again. I employed the £1 per bottle concentrated cleaner (without ammonia) to our milk-spilled wool carpets, and it works as well, if not better than the Vax Ultra Solution.
I'm sure it doesn't have as many sophisticated conditioners, but at 1/17th price, I prefer to use it.
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