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Mother’s day has never been a big thing in our house. I’m sort of blaming Nathan for this fact, because the kids are little and it’s his job to buy me something (anything!) for mother’s day. Or at least ensure I get a sleep in and a cup of tea made for me.

Of course, like everything though, this hasn’t happened and I’ve spent my previous 4 mother’s days walking around the house grumbling about being under-appreciated and screamed at. Thanks kids, mummy loves you too.

I’m not bitter.

Anyway, this year being the first year that Amy is at school, there will be a mother’s day gift coming home for me, probably hand pasted with glitter on it somewhere. Considering it will be my first mothers day gift, it’s going to be brilliant, whatever it is. I’m quite looking forward to it.

I’m lucky. My biggest worry is that I won’t get a cup of tea, or that Amy will jump all over me in excitement and make sure that I can’t sleep. Both of these things are likely to happen.

Some mothers aren’t so lucky, and there is a big drive to buy charity gifts for mother’s day this year.

UNICEF has an online store, where you can buy charity presents for this mother’s day. The Mother/Baby pack is especially important, because it would allow a HIV positive woman to give birth and breastfeed, without passing HIV to her baby. One thousand babies a day are infected with HIV, and without treatment, many will die before their second birthday. Medical centres are often long distances from remote villages and travelling to them is beyond most mothers means. The mother/baby pack allows medication to be distributed and used easily by the mother.

So, if you’re wondering what to get your mother this year, or trying to work out what your older kids can buy you, and you’d like to help out a family in need, then the UNICEF shop is for you.

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Kidspot and I received monetary compensation for writing it. I wouldn’t have agreed to participate in a campaign that I didn’t feel strongly about however, and I think that UNICEF’s charity gifts are an excellent idea.

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This post sponsored by The Mother Media

When my daughter was born and we were living in the suburbs, I used to see a lot of mothers with jogger prams, running. Running was never my thing and I used to trudge from Dynnyrne, all the way down into Hobart with Amy in the pram, once a week at least.

I imagine if we’d stayed living in the suburbs, we would have kept walking all over the country side.

However, we moved out into the rural areas of Tasmania, where I spent hours every day, walking to the corner of the sealed road, along my gravel road, wishing for Amy to fall asleep. Kilometres of walking, designed to stop her screaming and give me some peace.

I was rather fit.

A few years on and we’re living even further out in the rural areas, with land and lots of poultry. Our roads are unsuitable for walking; a 110kmph highway runs along my front fence and there is no real verge for walking on.

Because we’ve got pasture and a giant flat area for Amy to play in, for this Christmas, we bought her a bike. She doesn’t know it yet, obviously, but part of the reason her father has been whipper snipping for hours each day, is so that the grass is short enough for learning to ride. He’s leaving some long parts and we’re going to create ‘bike tracks’ for the kids.

With Amy getting a bike, we needed something equally fun for Isaac and a trike was what we decided on. I hadn’t gotten around to buying one yet, luckily, because the opportunity to review one came up.

The Smart-Trike 4-in-1 has some pretty amazing specs. It adjusts for a baby as young as 6 months to ride and recline (oh the sleeping possibilities! do you know how much I would have loved one of these when Amy was a baby?) all the way up to a 24+ month old to ride alone. Having a clutch means that Isaac can pedal as much as he likes and yet, we only move at my speed.

Best. Idea. Ever.

I’ve not let Isaac ride it yet, in fact, neither child knows about it. But that doesn’t matter, because this tricycle? It’s AWESOME. I wish I’d had it for him 12 months ago when he decided that he absolutely NO WAY was NOT letting me put him in a pram.

This has caused some issues, as you can imagine.

Supermarketing is a pain in the arse and he bolts at the slightest chance of freedom.

I think this tricycle is going to change all that.

We  don’t have footpaths, so when we’re at home I’ll take the handle off and let him ride around, like an older child.

But you can bet your socks that I’ll be putting the handle back on and letting him ride around the shops, while he’s strapped in, so he can’t bolt.

I figure it’s only fair, that he’s given a chance to run over all the adults who spend their time glaring at his screaming meltdowns, or pushing past him.

The Smart-Trike. Giving toddlers back some power.

Well, some power that doesn’t involve screaming tantrums.

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It’s no secret that I love myself a Dyson. I mean, LOVE.

When Dyson offered to send me their newest product to trial, I was excited. The digital slim.

Shiny and blue. Small. Battery operated and with amazing suck. I was in lust.

Of course, in the month that I’ve had it, it’s had a giant work out.

Amy likes to climb the cupboards, to see what we might be hiding in the top cupboard, out of her sight.

It was inevitable that she would tip something out accidentally and I was prepared for that. I wasn’t prepared for her to throw handfuls of flour out of the bag and then use the flour on the floor to make footprints.

Creative? Very. Also messy.

The regular vacuum cleaner, also a Dyson, is a pain. I mean, it’s fantastic and all, but it’s big and heavy and I dislocate things hauling it around to clean up messes. And as it’s an older version, the foot isn’t all ballified and doesn’t move easily for me.

So a tiny little vacuum that I can manoeuvre is so welcome.

Frankly, I adore it.

The only down side, is that sometimes, if Isaac has been particularly messy with his cereal and I’m having to work hard to get it all, the battery will go flat mid-suck. That can be the only problem.

So thankyou Dyson.

Also, please can I keep it now?

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This post sponsored by Nuffnang

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When Nuffnang rang me and asked me to participate in this campaign, I was happy to oblige. Of course, then I had to really think about times when something good came in a small package and that’s where I got a bit stuck.

The cliched thing of course is to talk about the children. At 7lb6 and 7lbs respectively, they were rather small, delicious and lovable. Of course, then Amy started to scream and scream, so she was less a ‘good’ thing and more of a ‘god I love this kid, but why is she the only one screaming’ kind of package.

And Isaac, well, it’s probably not fair to compare them, but he didn’t scream as a baby, so comparisons are hard not to make.

But hey they were small, cute and when I swaddled them, they looked like little packages.

Sort of.

I kept thinking and really, all I could come up with was baby animals (have you see the ducklings?!) and stuff like that.

Not exactly things in packages. I’m not married and not engaged, so I can’t tell a story of a ring in a  box – well I could, but I’d be lying – although it would make for the perfect good things/small packages story.

I can’t do it though.

I think that maybe, my best good thing in a small package is always going to be a book. Inside of a book, I get an entire world, someone else’s life and a great story, all in a small package. That counts, right?

Anyway.

The point of all this?

Cottees Cordial is reducing their cordial sizes from 2ltr to 1ltr, but the smaller bottle is merely more concentrated. It all makes up to the same amount of cordial.

Now, I’ve been tempted to blog about Cottees before and just never gotten around to it. Simply put, they are the only cordial I have found that has natural colours and doesn’t send Amy off the rails. I can’t vouch for the other flavours, but the orange coloured ones are all coloured with turmeric and carmine, lovely natural things that don’t send Amy batty.

So Cottees are the only cordial I buy anyway. And now they’re getting smaller, which means they’ll fit in the cupboard better and I’ll be able to stock up when they come on special. Win win I think.

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Now comes the fun part.

Nuffnang and Cottees are offering $1000 cash to the person who shares the best ‘When good things have come in small packages’ story. Obviously I’m not eligible, but YOU are my lovely readers.

In the comments, share your best ‘Good things/Small Packages’ story and I’ll select the best 3 to go into the draw. The responses across all the participating blogs will be read and the best response will win $1000 for themselves. There is nothing random about this competition, with winners selected on how well their story is told.

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