Blogger of the Week!!

As I left the place that pays my bills, I jumped on the bus and took a seat. Out came my iPhone and on went Twitter.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a tweet to me from DorkyMum saying congrats.  For what?

I saw the BritMums tweet right above and clicked on the link.  I, me, Tea&Biscotti, has been given a very prestigious award, that which is comparable to a blogging Oscar, a BritMums Blogger of the Week!!  Me…Blogger of the Week!

Not only have I been crowned by the blogging Monarchy, they have also expressed 1) a like and 2) a desire to try my Lavazza Wimbledon Challenge recipes!!  That’s a desire, and my blog, expressed to about 19,000 people, people!!  Can you chuffing believe it?!

Seriously, I best go and pour myself a cold shot of Limoncello to bring me back down to earth.  Grazie Mille BritMums, that was a much appreciated, lovely end to what has been a rather pooey week. You have single-handedly returned my mojo to its rightful place and are now the proud owners of eternal gratitude.

Awarded by the blogging Monarchy, who’d have thought it?!

X-O-X

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Cybher Gave Me a Headache!

By 8am I had left my tube ticket at home and had to go back for it, I had missed my train, a person took I’ll on the train I eventually got on and that one was redirected to a station where the tube was closed.

It’s fair to say that I had a headache before Cybher even started.

I met my new blogging buddy Mother.Wife.Me and for the first time met Making It As Mum who was laden down with luggage after a trip from Oxford and The Daily Mum who was very casually sporting her adorable four week old daughter, Bessy.

I didn’t know what to expect from Cybher but I was very pleasantly surprised and the free satchel was a lovely treat!

Let me tell you a few things I learned:

Business Cards

I had been stressing about business cards, remembering to hand them out, collecting others and deciding to whom I should give them. I think I gave out about five and probably came home with a handful too. To be honest, I don’t see the point in handing a business card to someone you chat with on what is probably a daily basis. I wasnt brave enough to go up to random bloggers saying.. “hello lovie, pop that in your new satchel!”. I still don’t know if that’s what I was supposed to be doing!

Boobs

Why is it a natural thing for us women to place our name cards on our left chest? I spent the best part of the day inconspicuously looking at women’s boobs in an attempt to know who they were.

Sessions

I was a bit greedy. Some of the sessions that I chose to miss, in hindsight, sounded much better than the ones I attended. Kid in a sweet shop syndrome set in – I wanted a bit of everything! How hard is it to make a choice? Very! I wish there was time to have attended them all.

My Blogging Future

This is the crucial bit. I learned that my book idea is a winner, that people would want to buy it and that I absabloodylutely should look into it. The best part of that is that I now have the know how and the contacts to help me get it started. For me, meeting and listening to Philippa Davies who blogs at Mrs Motivator was like finding the holy grail!

All day I listened, concentrated and took notes like I was preparing for an exam. I took it all in and I digested (most of) it. When the phone rang at 5:45pm to tell me to hurry home quickly because my daughter was poorly, I felt like I had been saved by the bell. My head was pounding. I don’t think I could have processed much more – I was facing meltdown, information overload!

The challenge now is to put my Cybher money where my mouth is and put to practice what the Gods of blogging taught me!

Big Grazie to Sian and crew for organizing such an empowering and inspirational day!

 X-O-X

Related Articles:

• Cybher Panic! (teaandbiscotti.com)
• Cybher 2012: Meet & Greet (teaandbiscotti.com)

 

Save The Children: #BlogitforBabies – The Movie

The Build it for Babies campaign is well and truly underway.  The launch of the virtual clinic was last week and this week we have made it to HollyWood with a #BuilditforBabies movie.

The leading lady, the one and only Annie Spratt, stage name Mammasaurus, tells us below why #BuilditforBabies is so important.  Go on, make yourself a cuppa, sit down and have a look!

You can also check out the #BlogitforBabies website for more ways to get involved.

Related Articles:

Save The Children: I’m building it for Babies, are you?

Save The Children: My Birth Experience #BlogitforBabies

 

Save the Children: I’m Building it for Babies, Are you?

A few weeks ago I was reading through some tweets and came across something that grabbed my attention: a blogging conference being headed by Save the Children and Google.  And it was in London!  Right.  I was going to go.

As a new blogger I have been looking for ways to improve my writing skills and most importantly how to improve my blog on the whole. I thought I would go along to see what it was all about.

I was not prepared for what I saw!!

On Saturday 14th April 2012, the event mostly concentrated on Save the Children’s Build it for Babies campaign.   Build it for Babies brought mums and dads (mostly mums) together for the day to brainstorm ideas on how we bloggers can do a huge shout out to raise awareness about the campaign.  At #BLOGUP2012 I sat in awe, mouth open most of the time, as I witnessed the heart wrenching pleas of mothers in Bangladesh.  For most of the day, and I don’t think I was alone in this, my whole body ached to run home and give my beautiful, healthy daughter a huge kiss and a hug.

I sat and listened to the speakers recount their tales of mothers who had given birth in the most horrid conditions, lost multiple children and basically spent their lives nursing their sick children to their death.  At times it was hard to concentrate on what was being said as I my eye was drawn to the No Child Born To Die notice.

Stories were told about Shejali, who had given birth in total to 6 children,3 of which had already died.  Shejali is currently 7months pregnant.  Another mother had lost 3 children and her 4th was ill and requiring medical assistance that just isn’t there.

Most women in Rwanda don’t name their baby for the first 8 days of its life simply because it is unknown if the child will survive.  Particularly in rural areas where disease is rife, babies are known to die within the first few hours of life.  nutrition is also a catalyst in this.  The women don’t have healthy diets throughout pregnancy, living mainly off beans and not much else.  This creates stunted growth and development in babies and nearly all never recover from this if they do survive.

Looking at the picture of where Shejali was going to give birth made me shudder.  I immediately thought of my own birthing experience, as did most other women in the room.  As much as we complain and abate the NHS for its lack of this and lack of that, the truth is, we lack for nothing in comparison. We are so so lucky to have the health care, the support, the cleanliness, the attention that we have throughout pregnancy, birth and afterwards and that is why I am getting involved by blogging for babies!!

I could not imagine working in the fields for up to 15hours a day whilst pregnant with twins. I could not imagine being in the throes of labour and having to walk oe be carried by my fellow villagers for miles before I could get help – and that’s if I made it in time!  This, dear readers, is the reality for these women.  How lucky and fortunate are you feeling right now?

So thank Heaven above that Save the Children are campaigning with Build it for Babies.  The objective is to build 7 birthing clinics complete with equipment and trained staff whose salaries will be paid for the first year.  These clinics are a lifeline not just for the mothers but for the babies who have no choice but to be born into this world.  These clinics are a ray of hope, that sickness and death will no longer be a worry. That these mothers will be awarded the luxury of kissing their child as we are every breathing day.

The new clinics in Baniachong and Ajmiriganj will reach:

• 21,500 women of child-bearing age with family planning services
• 3,000 pregnant women with antenatal care
• 2,190 newborn babies with postnatal care, breastfeeding support for their mothers and antibiotics when they become ill
• 2,218 infants aged up to one year, by helping their mothers to breastfeed and wean them safely and reducing the chance of life-threatening diseases such as diarrhoea and the risk of malnutrition
• 43,600 people in the area with information on how to stay healthy and where to get help if they do become ill.

If you want to know more or find out how you can get involved, pay the Save the Children website a visit here.

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE IN:

30 seconds – follow STC on social media

Facebook | Twitter: @savechildrenuk and @savechildrenpr | Youtube | Google +

5 minutes – take a campaign action

Take our campaign action to break the chains of hunger

15 minutes or longer – blog it for babies!

Help raise awareness and build momentum for the campaign online – starting on the 23 April. You could tell the story of your birth, or the birth of your child through the social channels you love to use.  This is not,I repeat, NOT just for mummy/daddy/parent bloggers.  It doesn’t matter what blogging category you fall in to – travel/photography/cooking/crafting – if you have a child and this post has resonated with you… write a post and link it back to Build it for Babies..  it’s that simple.

Thank you so much for reading this post! Do follow in the coming weeks when I, amongst many other blogging mothers, will be supporting this cause.

x-o-x

 

 

Follow a Newbie Friday

There I was chugging along with my new little toy just spouting whatever came into my mind.  Then along came Follow A Newbie Friday!  What a fabulous idea this little linky is, the brainchild of the wonderful Slummy Mummy over at From Slummy To Yummy Mummy. It’s a fantastic soapbox for us new bloggers to stand on and shout out loud that we’re here and we’re doing good stuff, thank you very much!

Starting a blog is a minefield enough and you tend to feel a bit like a small fish in a bigger than big pond.  Follow a Newbie Friday allows us to introduce ourselves and tell you what we do.  You can find out more about Follow a Newbie Friday here.

I started blogging because 1) I like writing 2) I felt like I’d lost myself a bit after having a bambina and 3) I wanted a new hobby, something for me to take care of.

Every week we will showcase some glorious new talent and this weeks little jewellery box consists of the following, all new, all sparkly, little gems:

IlMondodiIngrid is a lovely blog written in the eyes of 6 year old Ingrid. She’s the daughter of English/Italian parents and her blog documents the world in her eyes – genius idea.  Follow Ingrid on Twitter @IlMondodiIngrid

Mummys Little Monkey tells us how amazingly little monkey is doing since he was born 10 scary weeks prematurely.  His bow loving mummy documents his milestones step by step.  Pay her blog a well deserved visit and follow on Twitter @MummyandMonkey

Hollybobbs shares a not so pleasant driving experience that i’m sure all parents have encountered. Visit her site to view the ‘Baby on Board’ post.  Follow on Twitter: @Hollybobbs

Mummy Glitzer  talks about Number Two’s (and not the dirty kind, i know what you were thinking!) Visit her site to see exactly what kind of Number Two she was referring too. Follow on Twitter: @mummyglitzer

Mummy Mayhem has been crafty in nature this week. Visit her site to meet the original ‘Willy Arm’ and the soon to be ‘Patch’. Follow on Twitter: @mummymay_hem

The Happy Cook takes a ‘Big Leap’ and indulges in her passion for writing this week. Visit her site to hear more about the workshop she has enrolled in and the yoga, vision boards and morning pages that go along with it. Follow on Twitter: @The_Happycook

Everything’s Rosey shares her feelings and experiences of baby Freddie’s time in neonatal care and gives advice to other parents who may find themselves in a similar position. Visit her blog to read more on dealing with doctors and medical jargon. Follow on Twitter: @AimeeSawyer

One Mum And A Baby talks about her guilty pleasure and the maternity bucket list she wants to complete before her return to work in 2 months. Visit her site to learn more on this fab idea. Follow on Twitter: @onemumandababy

Keeping Up With The Joneses is an aspiring yummy mummy and this week writes about shoes,clothes, makeup and her latest shopping escapade. Follow on Twitter: @MrsJonesSW3

Emma Wards Words is in training and on a mission, but so far finds herself staggering for life as opposed to racing for life. Follow on Twitter: @emmawardswords

From Babies With Love is a new venture launching soon that sells organic baby clothing and donates all profits to charities supporting orphaned and abandoned children around the world. Visit her blog this week to be introduced to Ousmane, a 12 month old baby from Africa.  Follow on Twitter: @frombabies

Mummy + Mimi shows her and Mimi’s artistic side as they embark on their ABC challenge. Follow on Twitter: @mummyandmimi

This was my first week at work after maternity leave so I have unashamedly not had the time in the evenings to seek new bloggers. I have therefore, very rudely and very brazenly “borrowed” this list from Mummys Little Monkey – other than Ingrid whom I added.  As the week goes on I will keep an eagle eye out for other newbies and make a conscious effort to lure them into the lusciousness of Follow A Newbie Friday.

Now, I better dash… I’ve got about 25 new blogs to read! 🙂

Ps, if you 1) read and 2) like any of these wonderful ladies work (how very sexist of me, Im assuming they are all women!) do follow them/us on Twitter, Facebook, subscribe by email to their blogs and drop by once in a while a lovely comment – your comments inspire us to write more and well, this is the point of blogging.

Pps, If Ive missed you out, Im really really really sorry – send me a message, slap my hands and I’ll include you next time round…forgive me, yeah?! 🙂

Grazie tutti! xx