World

Naughty or Nice?…

| amazonianmummy

Do you do Christmas Eve boxes? It’s a tradition I started a few years ago in our house.

We use them as a ‘farewell’ present from the elves and if they get a box…they know they have been put on father Christmas’ nice list.

I used to put a Christmas movie in them but now with all the festive films you could wish to see readily available on Netflix, amazon and now tv (to name a few) I haven’t put one in.

This years boxes are made up of a new pair of pyjamas, a selection box, a few festive themed colouring books and pencils, a small present and a cuddly toy! My children are 7 and 1 and this works for both of their ages only with a small few changes like the baby has crayons instead of pencils.

I then wrapped everything individually in brown paper, drew a reindeer face on the front and then stuck on Pom poms for noses. A simple yet very effective decorating technique.

Once all the presents are in the box it looks like they have a lot, so it’s more exciting for them…but in reality everything in the box (apart from the pyjamas) was relatively inexpensive.

The colouring & activity books were from Poundland, the pencils & crayons were 50p each packet from wilko’s, the selection packs were 75p each from wilko’s, the cuddly toys were around Β£8/Β£9 each from tk max, the polly pocket was around Β£3.50 (in the Sainsbury’s sale) and the little bus was Β£1 from Poundland. Both pairs of pj’s were from gap.

If you do boxes – let me know what you put in yours. I can’t wait to see their faces when they open these, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year, especially when you have children x

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Alright pet?!…

| amazonianmummy

When is the best time to introduce a pet into the family? We have a goldfish called Matilda but seeing as the kids can’t stroke her and she’s not very good at catch, my eldest child has been pestering me for a pet. 

She adores cats. We used to have a cat called Stanley when she was younger but he went out one day & didn’t come back. She used to tell everyone that he went to sainsburys πŸ™ˆ (do you think I shop there too much?!) but as its been 4 years – I don’t think he’s coming home. 


(Stanley 😻) 

We were recently offered a little kitten by a friend of mine who just wanted her to have a good home. I was keen, but my other half wasn’t so sure. Our youngest is 19 months and may be a bit too ‘hands on’ with a kitten. 

As well as cats and dogs – I love tortoises. I don’t know why, maybe it’s their little wrinkly faces or the fact they’re like little living dinosaurs 😍 I saw a picture recently on Gina Martin’s Twitter (if you don’t know who she is you should check her out – she’s awesome, she launched the campaign to make ‘upskirting’ illegal) she has a gorgeous rescue tortoise called Gary Tortellini (amazing name right?!). It was Gary’s birthday and she made her a birthday hat – I literally can’t even deal with the cuteness – LOOK πŸ‘€


Do you have pets? If so what do you have? And what ages were your children when your new addition came along? I’m pet broody…proody if you will! Is that a thing? πŸ˜‚ if not it should be x 

Mean girls…

| amazonianmummy

As it’s National ‘Mean girls’ day today…I thought this would be a perfect time to share my experience.

In my teens and *just* into my twenties I had been part of a big group of girl friends. We went on holidays together, laughed together and cried together. I loved having lots of friends, there was always someone there to talk to or give advice, always someone to meet up with if you were bored and I thought we’d always be friends. How wrong was I? 

Looking back on it now, it wasn’t as great as it seemed at the time. There was always bitchiness and jealousy among some of the group and girls would take sides with one and isolate the other etc. I always tried to stay neutral in those situations, I like everyone and anyone. I treat everyone with the same respect (sometimes more) than they give me, I was a lot softer by nature then, but now, if you cross me – You’ll know about it. 

That’s exactly what one of my *best* friends did. I was on holiday with another friend of mine and this so called best friend of mine slept with my *then* boyfriend! 

A friend out of our group told me what she’d done when we got back. I confronted her and she swore blindly that she hadn’t. I confronted him and he said the same. Naively, I believed them – either I was too young and dumb to see through them or they both deserve an Oscar. If she had come clean to me at the time and admitted it – it would’ve been him that I showed the door too, but she didn’t, she stayed quiet. She let me move in with this guy when she knew what they had done. 

He became more and more controlling and she became more and more distant (probably out of fear of me finding out the truth). So did the whole of the ‘gang.’ No one was there for me, no one was on my side. I was the one being isolated.

When I finally did see the light – after slip ups on both their parts – I spoke to her. I was crying, upset and I actually apologised to her! I wanted my girls back. Do you know what she said? ‘It’s too late for that, it just won’t work anymore, I don’t think we can be friends.’ She was the one in the wrong but somehow she was the one that got to keep all our ‘friends.’ She was definitely the ‘Regina George’ of our group! I was devestated (at first) but then I realised if they could just drop me like that, then they never really were very good ‘friends’ to begin with. 

So to sum up, do I miss my ‘sex and the city’ style girl gang? Sometimes yes…but overall no. I keep my circle a lot smaller these days with true friends who would – and have been – there for me in a crisis! Some girls can be so mean. So if you find yourself in a similar predicament, let those toxic people go…new people will come into your life and it’ll be even better than you could have ever imagined – you go Glen coco!! X 

What’s that sound?…

| amazonianmummy

Rain glorious rain! Oh how I’ve missed the sound of you on the Windows, whilst being curled up on the sofa under a blanket, with a good book. I will *try* and never moan about you again…but I know that’ll never happen…I’m British – take weather out of the equation and there’s not much else we have to talk about haha! 

As much as the heatwave was nice I’m so looking forward to cosy indoorsy evenings, wearing jumpers, Halloween…let’s face it it’ll be Christmas before we know it πŸ˜‰πŸŽ…πŸΌ the year is really flying by. 

I hope you’ve all had a lovely summer and with a few more weeks left before the children go back to school…what are your best tips of things to do with them or places to take them that don’t cost the earth? We’ve been to parks, the lavender fields (which is a great day out if you go on the tractor ride etc and is inexpensive) done lots of drawings and paintings, swimming, local events like the Kingston dragon boat race are a nice day out, cinema & softplay…but mainly we’ve been indoors trying not to melt haha so if you’ve got some good ideas for days out please leave them in the comments πŸ˜„ X 

10 facts about me…

| amazonianmummy

Hey guys I thought I’d share some facts about me so you can get to know me a bit better πŸ˜„…

1. I never used to like tea (unless it was a dipping sauce for biscuits!) but now I like a good cuppa!

2. Still drink related…not all the facts will be don’t worry haha…I don’t like coffee or fizzy drinks! No coke, no fizzy alcohol…none of it βœ‹πŸ» I find it disgusting!

3. If I could have a superpower…it would be to fluently speak and sign every language in the world – how amazing would it be? You could talk to and understand everyone…and you’d finally know what the nail technicians say about you when your sitting in the salon haha!

4. The personal achievement I’m most proud of (after the births of my beautiful children) is passing my driving test! I adore driving and the freedom it gives you. 

5. I once stood behind Rod Stewart on a Harrods escalator…I was that close that I could’ve pinched his bum…I didn’t…but I could’ve πŸ˜‚

6. I used to work at Wimbledon tennis club…at the time of the championships it was mayhem and I never fully appreciated it – but now I don’t work there I miss it on those magical two weeks of the year πŸ“πŸŽΎ

7. I don’t have a middle name!

8. I love writing, drawing, painting…anything creative really – although I don’t get much time to dedicate to it all right now! I can’t wait for the day that Lulu has to build a big paper mache monstrosity for ‘her’ homework – I’m all over that! πŸ™ˆπŸ˜‚

9. I’m on a three month countdown to the big 3-0 😱

10. My biggest goal is that I really want to become a published author and/or have something I’ve written performed on stage or screen! 

Tell me some things about you in the comments! 

I want to get away…

| amazonianmummy

I’ve never really thought about moving away before. I don’t know if it’s because I’m approaching 30 or because I have a family of my own now but I’m fed up of living where I do. 

It’s not a bad area don’t get me wrong but it feels more crowded than it used to; for example – I park two roads away from my daughters school and walk the rest of the way because the traffic gets so bad on the actual school road, by 8.30am I’m lucky if I can get a parking spot…if I leave the car any further away I may aswell leave it at home and we’re not really within walking distance! Also, some of the teachers at my daughters school were my teachers when I was younger. When she started the school I found that to be a comfort but the older she’s getting I realise that I don’t want her life to be repeating mine.

I find myself scrolling through pages on rightmove at lovely houses in the country – but also not too far from the sea, with lots of land that the babies and I could plant vegetables in, bury a time capsule (lulus desperate to do this) have a little local school & a village pub on the green and maybe even keep a few chickens. Who have I become?! 😱

This one caught my eye…isn’t it gorgeous?! It looks like a cottage straight out of ‘the holiday.’ 


In my early 20’s my dream house used to be London penthouses, close to all the action and imagining living out my ‘sex and the city’ SJP lifestyle. I never moved into one of those and unless I win the lottery…I’ll probably never move into my dream house either but it does go to show that your tastes change alot as you get older. 

Until then, I’ll continue my search (just incase haha!) & keep watching homes under the hammer and location location location. Have any of you ever taken the plunge and moved away from where you grew up? Did you love it? Regret it? Move back? I’d love to know! 

Should’ve gone to specsavers…

| amazonianmummy

My daughter was due her eye check so I made an appointment over the phone and popped along after school to specsavers. 

She was ‘star of the week’ at school this week which means we get to take this delightfully grubby little bunny teddy called Raggles everywhere we go…affectionately renamed by us as snot rag! 

Anyway, Lulu, snot rag and I arrived in good time for her appointment and perused the endless amount of glasses on display while waiting to be seen.


All the staff are friendly and accommodating and it’s not long before we’re seen. 

We were taken into one of the rooms where Lulu’s eyes were checked by using a mixture of little lights and a big machine that made the letters clearer or blurrier to get a good overall view on what she could see. 


I’m glad to report that both human and stuffed bunny both got glowing results in their eye tests and will not be needing glasses. The optometrist was lovely and really made Lulu feel at ease with all the checks & we will get another appointment for next year just to make sure everything is as it should be. 

If you’re thinking of getting an eye test for your child, look up specsavers online for your nearest store and booking info. I can’t recommend them highly enough! πŸ€“

Here ear…

| amazonianmummy

The past three weeks have been a little bit of a nightmare. 

My daughter was booked in to have her ears pinned back, her first ever operation. She handled it wonderfully…no tears…no drama…mummy on the other hand had a full on Kim K cry face sob when she went under the anesetic. I wondered if I was doing the right thing, hoping everything would go to plan and I could have her back with me soon. 

Once she was under I was handed a little buzzer…you know the ones you get in the harvester?…I was told when she was awake the buzzer would go off and I could retrieve my child, which made me feel like I was waiting for a table not my baby lol! 

The operation is classed as a day case, so once she was awake, eating and drinking again she was allowed to go home.

After taking the bandages off, one ear looked more sore and redder than the other one – but that was the one that was more prominent so we thought nothing of it. She had no temperature, no pain, nothing so we just cleaned it everyday and hoped it was getting better.

When we went for her one week post op check up – we were told that they were not happy with the redder ear and she would have to be operated on again right there and then. I had the baby with me, no clothes or anything for Lulu and I was a bit shocked that my little girl was about to have her second anesetic & operation within a week. 

When she awoke the second time, she was sore and sad and that made my heart sink. I was also told that she would be kept in for a few days on strong iv antibiotics as the ear is a hard place for antibiotics to get too. The baby was not allowed to stay at the hospital so luckily we had lots of great family members on board to take it in turns with me as to who would stay what nights. I wanted to be with her all the time but also didn’t want to leave the baby for too long so it was difficult, the more children you have the harder it is to split yourself in these sorts of situations.

Anyway Lulu felt fab in herself following the op and I think started to get cabin fever stuck in the hospital with the lovely weather outside. It was almost one week after the second op, her ear looked great, she was doing really well and I was expecting them to say we could go home but they dropped another bombshell…they wanted her fasted from that evening to possibly have a third surgery in the morning. 

I lost it by this point. The thought of her having to have a third surgery in two weeks when she was making great progress really really upset me. Thankfully the next morning the surgeon came round and said her ears looked great and we could *finally* go home! Which was great timing as we had a holiday to Devon booked for the following day and she so needed the sea air and change of scenery. We’ve still got two weeks of oral antibiotics to get through and we’re not necessarily out of the woods yet but we’re on holiday…her ears look fantastic…her confidence has grown and she’s so happy with them…although I’ve been told I need to learn how to do plaits now haha! X 

To all of the wonderful nhs staff that looked after my baby and helped to calm my nerves…thank you πŸ’—

The story of Benjy Bunn…

| amazonianmummy

We were lucky enough to be sent a copy of ‘Benjy Bunn’s Busy Day’ so tonight, after bath time my babies and I sat down to read what Benjy had been getting up too. 


You could be mistaken for thinking that Benjy is a naughty bunny…but that’s not the case, he just wants to help even if he gets things wrong along the way. 

The Benjy series was written in 1973 by Bev Scott Prior as a story for her children, now all these years later it has been illustrated by her own grandchildren which I think makes the book that little bit more special. 

My six year old managed to read the book to her brother almost without any help from me and her favourite part was when he tried to make his mummy a cake, she also loved the reoccurring worm illustrations and actively looked for him every time she turnt the page. When asked if she thought Benjy was a naughty bunny, she replied; ‘No mummy, he’s just trying to be helpful!’ 

Overall we really enjoyed the book and can’t wait to find out what trouble Benjy will get into next time…