So what do you do with half term? Despite the children seemingly only just returning to school, its half term again and if you are anything like me, feel the need to become Entertainments Manager for the week?

 

We have allsorts of activities planned from arts, crafts, games, designing (and I am hoping we might be able to throw a little bit of shopping in there too).

 

All children are different, boys seem to want to play games and do experiments, while girls are happy with colouring cards and accessories. Or is this a classic generalisation? Is this an old fashioned viewpoint and am I being unfair?

 

I remember from my childhood that my brother played with his "Masters of the Universe", while I played with "Barbie" and "Sindy" (Sindy has the same colour hair as me so she was my favourite"). Did my mom encourage that or did we merely choose the toys we wanted to play with?

 

What do you do with your children? Is it merchadising and advertising that defines what we want and like? Or is it just part of being a boy or a girl?

 

Whatever it is, there is a definate penchant for glue and glitter in our house, so this half term we will be handcrafting cards, customising gifts for the family but will probably be kicking a ball around in the leaves too!

 

Who cares if football is for boys ..... maybe I am not so old fashioned after all?

Are you a little like me? Always looking for that unusual, gorgeous and beautiful gift? Whether it is for a new baby, christening, wedding, birthday boy or girl, I am always on the search for the latest gift that is special or unique.

 

We all know that on the internet we can pretty much find anything from handmade and old fashioned to completely bizarre and weird, so the quest for the perfect gift is always a difficult one.

 

The Little Lilypad Co was derived from my own passion for finding that special present and having lots of little boys and girls to buy endless birthday presents for. So having an unlimited supply of ideas became second nature but an evolution of my tastes has occurred too!

 

As my own daughter grows up and finds different likes and dislikes, my own knowledge of what children "really" want developes too. We have been in London this weekend and the Christmas gifts are already in the shops. Sometimes expensive and complex games are great but other times children just want to put on some wings and pretend they are angels (and lets be honest, we all want to pretend that too sometimes).

 

So I think that as the Lilypad evolves, you will see an evolution of the items we offer. We would love your feedback and ideas too! We will have some classic items and I am sure we will have some interesting and rare ones too.

 

But maybe, just maybe we will keep the wings ...... for those cute angelic moments!

 

 

What are you defined as? A Mum or a Business Woman?

 

There are some people at the school gates who only know me as a mum (well a mum running out of the playground in heels and usually on a mission) but one who does the endless round of parties, play dates and play dough!

 

Whereas there are people I work with who cant imagine me with sticky fingers anywhere near my laptop or blackberry or my manicured fingers anywhere near glue and glitter.

 

Nevertheless I am both mum and business woman, so does this mean I have a spilt personality, one that I switch between?

 

When I first ventured in the world of business, I have to admit that the word "networking" filled me with some fear and apprehension but everyone was talking about it and I didnt want to appear naive or unprofessional.  So I put on a facade and "pretended" I was as confident as the next person ( and I think I convinced a few people too). 

 

So now I am a little older (ahem) and wiser and having met lots of inspirational ladies in business, I know that I dont need to categorise myself as one or another. Today I worked with www.mumsclub in launching Business Mum Week with a Capture and Canapes event in Birmingham and once again, it was fantastic to network with other like minded women.

 

So in the end, what does that make me? I maybe a determined business woman and I am most definately a loving mum to my darling daughter, so I think that pretty much makes me a "Business Mum".

Well, hello again...its the other half of the Little Lilypad back again! What a busy few weeks its been. We have had lots of new stock in (that I have to constantly lug around) and lots of new friends joining our team. I know this as my other half continually interupts my sport viewing with excited whoops of '5 new followers' and '410 twitter friends now .. look look'. We have also had 2 baby shows, both of which I attended feeling a little delicate (self inflicted) but admirably only managed to drop one boxfull of stock on my foot whilst on the numerous journeys in and out of the show. Luckily it was only the box of TeddyKompaniet BabiBoo comforters (incidentally these are literally the softest thing in the world) so no real disaster.

 

I will leave you with a question and a revelation.

 

Question: Do all 5 year olds, despite being sound asleep wriggle and change sleeping position every 5 minutes? I'm mystified how they can be head on pillow, on their back at the top of the bed 1 minute and face down at the bottom with legs hanging out the next. 

 

Revelation: If a child asks you to crouch at the side of the bath, close your eyes and open your mouth...dont do it! Theres a good chance a plastic teacup full of soapy bathwater mixed with Johnsons baby shampoo, liquid bath foam wash and what im fairly certain was a knot of hair will be poured in to your mouth. Dont worry though its just 'green slime, witches breath, troll teeth, bat wing tea."   -  Thats alright then.