The Cosmo Blog Awards

I've seen a few people ask to be nominated in the Cosmopolitan Magazine Blog Awards. I've even nominated them.

It didn't cross my mind to ask people to nominate Baby Baby, but on reflection it would be lovely to have a parenting blog on the shortlist in the Lifestyle category.

If you would like to nominate this blog, or any other, click below. It only takes a minute. Nominations close soon, at the end of the month I believe.

Thank you.

.

The Cosmo Blog Awards

The You're Welcome Meme

I was delighted to be tagged by Mum at The Mad House for the You're Welcome Meme started by Sally at Who's the Mummy?.

These are the rules:

Recommend three new blogs you've discovered and loved

Tag three other bloggers and ask them to do the same

I love finding new blogs to read. It's difficult finding room in my Google Reader, but there are some blogs that are 'must reads'.

The three blogs that are new (to me) are:

It's a Mummy's Life

This is a busy and entertaining blog. It's occasionally outspoken, but always a good read.

Cherished by Me

This is a wonderful blog written by Nova. She is a mother of five beautiful children. She has only just started blogging and I think she deserves more readers.

The Moiderer
This is a new blog written by an old blogger! Dawn writes from the heart, I love her emotional honesty.

So there are my three choices. That's the hard part over, I could have recommended another twenty new blogs.

Ooh, that reminds me. I accidentally lost my blog roll and I need to put it back. [Memo to me]!

I'm going to tag three fabulous bloggers who I hope will take up the challenge:

Fraught Mummy at Brits in Bosnia

Liz at VioletPosy

SnafflesMummy

***

Ages ago the wonderful Mum at The Mad House gave the the Circle of Friends Award. I was touched by this. Thank you Mum!

I have to list five things I like to do. So, off the top of my head, five random things:

Walk

Talk

Read

Write

Sing

It has taken me a while to accept this award because I was worried about passing it on. You see, I don't want to leave anyone out from my circle of friends. In the eight months that I've been blogging I have found a wide circle of blogging friends. I couldn't possibly narrow this down to just five people. I can't tag everyone, that would take all day and I'd still probably leave someone out. So, my circle of friends, this award is for you. I hope you know who you are x

The You're Welcome Meme

Not a lot of people know that...

I'm honoured. Huge, enormous, massive thanks for this award goes to:

Mum at The Mad House

Is there a Plan B?

Geriatric Mummy

Baking Mad Mama

Angela at Incense and Peppermints

If you haven't read their blogs yet, I can highly recommend them.

The rules, and these have been applied rather loosely I have to say, are:

• Thank the blogger who gave you the award
• List 10 things about you that your readers may not know
• Pass the award on

I like the twist that the very clever Angela has added and I will follow her lead and tell you 10 things about me, but one will be a lie!!

1. My left eye has been twitching since I was ill last week. That's seven days now. I'm bored of it.
2. I could live on carrots and red pepper humous.
3. I have gone off chocolate.
4. I'm a bit scared of horses. I think Jerry Seinfeld was spot on when he described them as 'glassy-eyed, jittery beasts'.
5. I think I'm a rubbish mum most of the time.
6. I collect Russian dolls.
7. I can recite the alphabet as fast backwards as I can forwards.
8. I once went out with a man old enough to be my father.
9. I never eat the biscuit base on a cheesecake.
10. I love the smell of fireworks.

See if you can guess which is the lie.

I'm going to pass this award on to... anyone that fancies it. I know, what a complete cop out. I'm sorry *gets out violin* but time is not on my side at the moment.

***

Thanks to Rebel Mother at Another Day in the Madhouse, one of my favourite bloggers, for this lovely award x

Not a lot of people know that...

Eye Fang Ewe

I've been hoarding, squirrelling away awards from my lovely blogging friends.

Now it's time for a few thank yous.

Thank you Fraught Mummy at Brits in Bosnia

and Claire at 20 Something Mum.

Thank you Amy at Moving on From the Drama.

Thank you Chic Mama, Icklebabe.com,

Karen at The Real Mama Diaries and Muddling Along Mummy.

Thank you Emma Louise at Me, The Man & The Baby.

Thank you Carly at WADS

and Liz at Living With Kids.

Thank you Chic Mama.

Thank you Clare at Clareybabbling.

Thank you Rachel at Really Rachel

and Whistlejacket at Babyrambles.

“The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all.”

I am so grateful to you all, my virtual mantle piece is groaning under the weight.

If you're looking for some wonderful new blogs to read click on any of the links above and you won't be disappointed. That's a Baby Baby guarantee!

I'm afraid I haven't followed all of the awards' rules, but I'm even more afraid of the Zombie Chickens so I should pass that one on at least. If the following blogs already have it they are quite welcome to choose another - easy chickens!

Liz at Living With Kids

Clare at Clareybabbling

Chic Mama

Josie at Sleep is for the Weak

Kelly at A Place of My Own

Eye Fang Ewe

You Are A Great Read & That!

Goodness me! Not one, not two, but three lovely bloggers think I'm a great read.

Here's the badge to prove it:

Thank you Hot Cross Mum, Emily at Maternal Tales and Laura from Yummy Mummy Flabby Tummy. They are also great reads. Go see!

The rules, and as usual you can modify if you like, are to list ten happy memories.

Here are my ten happy people, places, events and things, in no particular order:

1) Andy, my husband. He has made it his life's work to make me happy and he is succeeding. I hope I make him happy too. I feel I could try harder to do this.

2) Presley, my two year old ray of sunshine.

3) Cash, my one year old jolly poppet.

4) The Flaming Lips. I first saw them live at The Royal Albert Hall. I sang and danced so much I couldn't speak or walk properly the next day, but it was worth it to be part of an amazing concert. See:

5) Waking up on Christmas morning and shouting 'HAS HE BEEN?' to my parents. I loved the magic of Christmas and I hope I can recreate this for my boys.

6) Orange ice cream. Not orange sorbet, although that's okay, proper orange flavour ice cream. I had some at some seaside town or other when I was young. I've never seen it since. Dear Blogosphere, please would you fix it for me to find some orange flavour ice cream. Thanks.

7) Sydney, Australia. I lived here for a year and it is officially my favourite city in the world ever. I lived in the colourful suburb of Newtown. I worked in the CBD. My office overlooked the Harbour Bridge. At lunchtime - if we didn't go to the Wentworth Hotel for drinks - I could walk to the Opera House and sit in the Botanic Gardens. I made some great friends and had a blast!

8) Dancing the night away at our wedding. One of the songs we danced to was written by Andy (aka MC Heapey) and I with our dear friend Paul (aka Johnny Cashpoint). Of course you can hear it, but I'll warn you, it may not be everyone's cup of tea. Turn it up!

9) Standing on stage with my husband performing a song wot I wrote. I was soooo nervous, but I was proud that we were doing something together, something that not many people do. Proof:

10) Being involved in a very big, very hush hush business deal. I had a cloak and dagger existence for a month while the MD and I prepared the company I worked for, for sale. After they saw the accounts that I had prepared, the buyer upped their offer. When the sale went though I got a big fat hairy bonus. Those were the days!

I'm passing this award on to five wonderful bloggers who are indeed great reads, and they may not have this award yet... If you haven't visited them before, now's your chance:

Leslieanne at Life With A Little Dude

Linda at You've Got Your Hands Full

Claire at Claire Lancaster's Weblog

Liz at Violet Posy

Mwa at Lost in Translation

***

Thanks also to the fabulous Tish Tash Toys for the Meme Award. Check out her gorgeous shop too:

***

For more great reads you can head over to the Best of British Mummy Bloggers carnival, currently being hosted by Clareybabbling.

***

I've written some more reviews for the Great Toy Guide. We love the Star Wars laptop, but are not crazy about the VTech Toy Phone!

***

Finally, huge thanks to Leslieanne at Life With A Little Dude for awarding me this gorgeous badge for being one of her readers. There are no rules attached to this one. So thank you for reading my blog. If you would like something pretty for your sidebar, look no further, this is yours:

Well, apparently it is National Cupcake Week! x

You Are A Great Read & That!

Your Blog is Bleeping Fabulous!

If you're not keen on swearing please look away now:

Huge thanks to the lovely (40 weeks pregnant) Dancinfairy at A Place of My Own and to the wonderful Carol at New Mummy for this bleeping fabulous award. Please go and visit them, their blogs are bleeping fabulous too!

The rules:

• Thank the person who gave you the award
• List five current obsessions
• Pass it on to five worthy blogs

So here are my current obsessions:

1. My children. Presley and Cash are the most amazing little things. It's hard to believe I pooed them out (as my husband jokingly describes childbirth)! I record in my diary every new word, every tiny development. This weeks diary entries have included: P asked for more sultanas and used the sign for 'more', C worked out how to turn the TV back on after he accidentally turned it off. Clearly these are not major achievements, but they are in the diary!
2. Blogging. I only started my blog two months ago, but I'm now obsessed with improving my writing and reading blogs, I've got around 150 in my reader and I hate getting too far behind!
3. Potty training. This is around the corner. I've bought potties and pants and got some books out of the library. I'm looking at Presley wondering if he's ready or not. When he is I hope I am!
4. Fruit loaf. I adore fruit loaf, toasted with butter. I first tried it years ago when I lived in Australia where they call it raisin toast. At Easter I found a hot cross bun loaf. I've tried them all but my favourite is Warburtons raisin and cinnamon.
5. Baby names. I have been obsessed with baby names since I was a little girl naming my dolls. I've lost count of how many baby name books I own. I can tell you the meaning of most names. In those long years before I met Andy, when I had just about given up hope of having children, I knew what I wanted to call my children. Sad eh?! Presley and Cash were never on my list, so all that effort was wasted in the end! I lay in bed at night thinking what we would call numbers three and four, even though numbers three and four are totally imaginary.

I'm passing this award on to five blogs that I love reading because they are well written and have either made me laugh out loud or cry in agreement. They are:

My Shitty Twenties

Not Waving But Drowning

Who's the Mummy

Half Mum Half Biscuit

The Potty Diaries

Please check them out.

Dancinfairy was also kind enough to pass the Honest Scrap award on to me too. I already have this on my virtual mantelpiece so I will add your name to it. Thanks very much.

Your Blog is Bleeping Fabulous!

I'd like to thank...

Wow, I've been given three more awards! I'm overwhelmed and of course over the moon.

The rules are you say who gave you the award, give a bit of information about yourself and then pass it on. You then let the recipients know. Simple. Of course if you've ever tried to do this you'll realise it takes ages because you have to find the awards, put them on your blog and then decide who to pass them on to, calling up their blogs to get the links. Oh well, maybe it just takes me a long time. It is worth it though to spend a little time valuing the blogs that inspire you. So here goes:

This is the Lemonade award given to me by the amazing Rebel Mother at Another Day in the Madhouse. If you haven't already seen her blog please take a look. She has a lot on her plate but deals with it with humour.

For this award I need to list three things I'm grateful for:

1) My husband

We only met three and a bit years ago, but knew almost immediately that we were meant for each other. We are happy. He recently said to me, when I was apologising for putting on weight, that he loves me unconditionally. I feel the same way about him too.

2) My children

I have two beautiful boys aged 21 months and 9 months. Before I met my husband I worried that I would never have children and this saddened me, but here I am now with two amazing lads. Yes, we're fast workers! It is hard work having two so close together, but so rewarding. If you have children, you'll know.

3) Living in the UK

I know we complain about the government and the weather, but there are a lot worse places to live. We have democracy, the National Heath Service and very few natural disasters.

This is the Honest Scrap award given to me by the lovely Katherine at Supply and Demands? Please check out her fabulous blog.

For this award I need to list ten things about me. I'm tempted to copy Katherine and list ten embarrassing things about me as this is funnier. She misread the instructions! Let's see where we go with this:

1. I'm a qualified accountant.
2. In my last job I managed a department of thirty-six staff
3. I hated my last job
4. I love being a Stay At Home Mum
5. I make cards and made my wedding invitations myself
6. I sing and write songs (blatant self-promotion here)!
7. I had my gap year when I was 30
8. I've done a skydive, couldn't breathe for the minute of freefall, thought I was going to pass out! Once the parachute opened it was heaven.
9. I have a tattoo of the Chinese symbol for peace on my arm (I wish it was somewhere more discreet and covered it up for my wedding)
10. I love animals, in fact I'm quite soppy about giraffes and big cats

There, quite boring really, maybe I'll do a post at a later date about embarrassing incidents!

This is the One Lovely Blog Award given to me by the lovely Clareybabble at Clareybabbling. Her blog is refreshing and honest, please take a look.

For this award you list five pet hates:

1. Bad driving
2. Intolerance
3. Isms (sexism, racism etc.)
4. There only being 24 hours in a day
5. Did I say bad driving?!

Here are the blogs I am making awards to. Please take the time to pay them a visit.

Tim (aka The Dotterel) at Bringing Up Charlie. Tim was kind enough to write about little old me in his post New Kid on the Blog 2. He reviewed my post Food Glorious Food and expanded on the way we give attention to our children. I was moved by the trouble he went to.

Laura at Synchronization of Us. Laura wrote an honest and moving post recently about her baby son. She has a lovely family.

Ruth at Look Left of the Pleiades. I don't agree with everything she says, but I agree with a lot of it and her posts are certainly thought-provoking. Ruth is honest and down to earth. She also writes about her gorgeous son at All About Bertie.

The Wife of Bold is very funny. She has four girls under five (and I thought I had it tough with two under two)!

Brit in Bosnia does what it says on the tin. A fascinating read.

Ian at Single Parent Dad writes beautiful and moving posts about life with his gorgeous son.

All Grown Up... Still Feeling Like a Kid is a great blog by a mum of one, soon to be two.

Clareybabble at Clareybabbling wrote a wonderful honest post about how life really is when you're a new mum, even though she gave me an award I think she deserves one back.

Perfectly Happy Mum is one of my new favourite blogs, please take a look.

Leslieanne at Life With a Little Dude is a lovely new mum with a new blog about her beautiful baby boy.

For the recipients please choose one of the above awards that you would like on your blog. For everyone else I'd like to thank.... you for reading xx

I'd like to thank...