Child of Our Time Personality Test

I have been following the BBC's Child of Our Time for ten years now. For anyone who doesn't know this is a documentary presented by Professor Robert Winston which follows the lives of 25 babies who were born around the turn of the third millennium as they grow from infancy, through childhood and on to becoming young adults. 

I have always been interested in psychology and personality traits so this is probably why I have followed this with such interest. If you are interested in what your personality is then you can go to www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/personality/

Here's mine:

LOST finale...my thoughts

Hubby and I are/were complete Lost fanatics! For 6 years we have been watching Lost and I have to say it has been very emotional wasting those 100 odd hours of our life, but worth it :) 6 years ago was when we first met and became an 'item' so Lost has been that extra bit special for that reason too.

Disappointment?
I know a lot of Lost fans are saying the finale was a disappointment but I have to disagree. Yes a lot of things were not explained like the numbers and what happened to Walt? But I really loved the way they tied it up.  Lost would not be Lost without some unanswered questions and some leeway to allow us to make up our own minds. And anyway, when dealing with themes such as life, purgatory and the afterlife there is only so much the writers can achieve. A lot of it is down to symbolism and individual belief systems, for none of us really know what is waiting.

Here is how I saw it:
The plane did crash on the island and there were survivors, the life they were living on the island was real, if you like.  Jack's dad, Christian, even mentions that the island was real.  However the 'sideways flash' life they were living (where Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 landed in Los Angeles instead of crashing on the island) was purgatory.

In Purgatory the characters needed to meet each other in order to remember and 'let go'.  For most of them it was love that allowed them to remember and let go.  As Lock says to Jack 'you don't have a son'...Jack had a son in the sideways (purgatory), even though he was childless during his life (eg on the flight and the island).  Jack invented and needed David (his imaginary son) to be able to reconcile his issues with his own father, which was the one thing keeping him from moving on.

Benjamin Linus doesn't go into the church at the end because he has still not moved on and forgiven himself for the deaths of Rousseau and Alex.  In the sideways, Ben is Alex’s history teacher and joins her and her mother for dinner, becoming for a moment part of their family.  Ben obviously needs a bit more of this experience (although a fantasy) before he can forgive himself and join the rest of the group in moving on to the afterlife. Or another thought of mine is perhaps he is scared he is going to hell or what the 'afterlife' holds for him?

I think a lot of people are getting confused by what was real and what was purgatory (a stop gap) because of the concept of 'time' during the show. Time is a central theme which runs throughout and as Christian explains at the end 'there is no now'. So although Hurley and Ben were left on the island at the end and Kate etc managed to get off the island, everyone eventually dies.  Perhaps they lived until old age, when they die is irrelevant because everyone eventually dies.  So although we saw all the characters at the end reunited in the church it does not mean they all died at the same time and at that age.

Another issue with time which seems to have left a few people questioning things was the bomb going off.  The sideways wasn’t the result of the Oceanic plane crash, or the Season 5’s nuclear bomb detonation. The bomb served a useful purpose, but it didn't kill everyone – it propelled the characters from 1977 to 2007 to defeat smokey and protect the island.

There are a lot of things in between which I still haven't had time to ponder such as the Dharma Initiative etc but I only watched it last night so these are my first thoughts.

I might just have to waste another 100 or so hours of my life and watch it all again now!

How to keep a Sun Hat on a 1 year old

Wow what a gorgeous weekend it has been!

This is my kind of weather!

We have been outside all weekend and Baby Belle has loved it, especially the paddling pools!

However could I get her to keep her sun hat on? Could I hec! She is coming up to 14 months so she was only tiny last summer and mainly sleeping in her pram so this is her first 'real' summer.

I didn't think the sun hat would be a problem, she brings me hair clips to put in her hair all the time and she didn't mind wearing a hat in the winter.

The story of this weekend has been...I put her hat on her and she pulls it right off, so i put it on her again, she pulls it off.  This goes on for about 5 minutes until she is getting grouchy and then she decides to throw it in the pool! Hat one hangs out to dry and out comes hat numéro deux. You get the picture.

Anyway I found a way to do it!

If she doesn't realise it is on her head it is not a problem, it would seem. So I distract her (raisins do the trick) and put the hat on. BUT I have to make sure the front rim is turned up slightly..if she catches sight of the hat she will try and pull it off again.

I'm not sure this is the best method (trickery) so please do share your experiences with me too :)

If your baby really won't keep a sun hat on by the 'trickery method' then a hairband is worth a shot.  I find that BB doesn't mind hairbands so something like this will also keep a lot of the sun off their head:

The Gallery: Self Portrait

Tara has set us a very hard task this week with the theme of 'Self Portrait'.

I really had no idea which photo to put in this week, I thought perhaps one of the professional shots but then that seems so typical so I decided on this one because I was happy and obviously finding something very funny!

It was taken at our new office.

THE Persian Carpet

I have wanted a really nice, big, luxurious Persian Carpet for a while now. You know one that can stay with you for years and years and gets even better with age.

Well hubby only went and suprised me and got one didn't he! He had to spoil the surprise before it got here because it was stuck in customs for a week and we got a letter. So for the past week I have been pestering him asking what type is it? A Nain?  A Tabriz? What colour is it?! We have a small one which has red in it but I really really wanted a cream and blue one. So anyway...it arrived and look.....

What a beauty! Can't wait to get a grand room with wooden flooring to have it on.  And how did he get the exact colours I wanted!  And it is BIG (7X11 feet ish) Needless to say he has lots of brownie points right now :)

For those who don't know their rugs then you should visit this site or google them and you will appreciate their greatness :)

3-in-1 Deluxe Smart Trike Review & Giveaway

I have been very lucky and given a 3-in-1 Smart Trike in Pink to review. Seeing as I am super nice (and we already have one) I am giving one lucky reader the chance to win this gorgeous Smart Trike worth £75. Details are below this review.

I was so happy about being given this, not just because it is a lovely trike, but because it is from The Early Learning Centre. Growing up my mum used to buy us a lot from ELC and I have such fond memories of going into our old local branch. So this has been very nostalgic for me!

Onto the Smart Trike:

Construction: 

The hubby actually assembled the Trike but I watched and I could have easily done it!  Easy to follow clear instructions. You will not have a problem at all!

Features: 

The best thing about this Trike is that it can be adapted to the age and ability of the child. BB has only just turned 1 and so we kept the seat belts, seat reinforcement/back support and safety bar on for her. The handle at the back moves up and down so you can adjust it to your height so it is comfy to push and the handle also steers the bike.

The trike also has a foldable foot rest and this was great because she is too young to pedal. As your child gets older you can remove all these things, including the steering handle and they can use it like a normal trike.

Finally the trike comes with a detachable adjustable UV canopy, bag and tipping bucket at the back. The bag and bucket are very handy for when we go out for walks as I can keep a few things in them.

My only negative thing about this Trike would be the sun canopy, it is quite flimsy and when there is a slight bit of wind it doesn't come in much use really. But it is detachable and so doesn't affect the trike as a great buy.

Testing:

Once assembled we took the Smart Trike down to the local park. BB loved it from word go, I thought she might be a bit scared but she was so happy in it and secure too. It handles very well. You really need to take it outside to see how it manouveres because when I was whizzing her around the lounge in it I thought it was going to be a bit of a pain.

That afternoon my brother was having a BBQ at his house so we also took it there to test it out on the grass. Again it handled like a dream and BB never wanted to get out (As you can see in the pics below).

Conclusion:

An amazing buy which will grow with your child and last them a good few years. Perfect for spring/summer walks and days out, could even be used as a pushchair alternative on nice days. It is not cheap at £75 but your child will get so much use out of it for years to come, it is a great investment.

The Pictures:

Our First Test Around the Block

Sitting in the garden whilst I hang out the washing :)

2nd Test drive at my brothers House

The competition:

Please Note: This Trike is suitable from 10 months + (to 3/4yrs)

If you would like to win a newly boxed 3-in-1 Smart Trike then all you have to do is:

1) Comment below showing your interest

2) Follow and/or Subscribe to my Blog

For an extra entry you can also Tweet and/or share on facebook (please be sure to let me know if you do this so I can add extra vote(s) for you.

The winner will be randomly selected on the 1st of June and announced on here.

GoodLuck x

AND THE WINNER IS.....

JumblyMummy

Congrats and please email me with your contact details

A lovely Blog feature

I just had to share this local feature with you :) It was in 3 of the lovely Life Magazines 

Finding time to blog

We are back from holiday and I must say BB was a little angel. We had an amazing time. Cottage was gorgeous and weather was lovely. I will write a post about the trip and how we coped with travelling for the first time with our little girl and share some pictures soon too. This leads me onto a problem I am having at the moment...

...finding time to blog.

I have about 30 blog posts I want to write, about 3 reviews I want to share and about 10 of you lovely other bloggers/readers have tagged me in 'meme's' and given me awards but I feel terrible because I simply haven't had the time to do them yet.

I notice that some people do a post a day...Please share your secrets with me. How do you do it?

I don't have a ridiculously busy life. I am really lucky because Grams looks after baby belle two afternoons a week so I can go to the office. Once at the office I 1) Help with issues there 2) Write my monthly features for the magazine I have recently started writing for 3) Place tesco orders online and maybe, just maybe 4) Start to write a post for my blog.

During the week Soraya and I tend to take it quite easy and casually go to the parks, baby groups, meet daddy for lunch and go to our fav hangouts of Costa, Starbucks or Kiddicare. It is our time together and as she doesn't nap much now I don't really have any time during the day to go online, twitter, promote my blog or more importantly write! I don't want her seeing me on my phone or laptop all the time anyway but when I do try (to check the weather for example) she wants to go on it too. And BB going on my laptop consists of whacking every key to see what it can do....doesn't make for the best reading.

Do I have to do a post a day for my blog to be successful or will you stick with me if I just do one every now and then? What are your thoughts, does quantity make for a successful blog or is it the quality that matters? And of course how do YOU find time to write?