It is no secret that I love shopping online and while you used to have to visit a local plant nursery or gardening centre to find the plants that you want for your garden, these days you can shop online instead. And there are plenty of great reasons to do so, which is why buying plants online has been steadily growing in popularity.

Are you interested in learning about a few of the benefits of buying plants online, whether you want to give a plant as a gift or you need to look for specific flowers, bushes, and trees that you want to adorn your front and back gardens with? Then are you sitting comfortably, let me tell you more......

More Variety and Choices

Shopping online gives you the opportunity to make purchases from all over the world. And when it comes to gardening, there could be plants online that you simply can't find locally. This means that you don't need to make any sacrifices when it comes to the vision that you have for your garden. Just be smart about your online purchases by only shopping with reputable sellers, purchasing your plants early enough so that they'll have time to bloom at the perfect time after they're planted, and making sure that the plants you purchase are suitable for your zone.

Get Very Young Plants at Reasonable Prices

Another great reason to shop for plants online is the fact that you can get your favourite flowers and trees while they're still very young. Once you transplant them into your garden, you can watch them grow and you can nurture them with the right fertilizers and the right amount of sunshine and water.

Plus, when you purchase younger plants, you can often find them at very reasonable rates, so you can save money in the long run if you shop online rather than at a retail location where the plants are already larger and pricier.

Ask Questions from Online Experts

The best online plant sellers will have experts available to answer your questions. So if you aren't sure if a particular plant is really right for your garden space, you can ask questions before you make a purchase, just as you would do at a regular nursery or garden store. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of making incorrect purchasing decisions while you shop online.

Enjoy Free Shipping (and we love free!)

Many online retailers also offer free shipping, especially after you spend a certain amount of money. So instead of spending money on fuel to get to and from the garden centre, you can instead stay home in your comfortable office room or living room, shop for your favourite flowers, and then have them at your door in a matter of days at no additional cost. If you already prefer shopping online versus shopping in a brick and mortar location, consider getting all of your gardening plants and supplies on the internet as well. There are many reputable online gardening shops, such as The Gluttonous Gardener, that offer a variety of plants and gardening gifts, so there is definitely no shortage of options.

Tweet

Back to School! It seems like we have been talking about it since the children broke up from school but no matter how long those 7 weeks seem, they soon fly by and there is frantic last minute purchases that are apparently essential in a 10 year olds life!

She will be going into Year 6 this year so we will have the preparation for the dreaded SATS and although they are not the "be all and end all" of your child"s education, the National Tests (SATs) can potentially be quite stressful (for parents too). Providing your child with some simple "steps to success" will improve their confidence and help them to feel prepared. 

So I am really pleased to be working with Collins this month, who have produced a parent guide that includes practical information or parents about each stage of their child’s education, as well as product recommendations for key stage. This is a FREE (we love free) guide that parents can download at www.collins.co.uk/parents 

There is some really useful on the website about talking to your child when they have finished their homework or revision tasks, asking questions like "How do you feel that went?" "Do you need any extra help?" "What areas are you still struggling with?"

They suggest that learning should be a fun process by trying to shape some of the key exam objectives around the interests of your child. For example, with percentages, fractions and word problems, why not take your child shopping (this works for me)? By connecting knowledge with experience, things start to "make sense" to children.

In addition to this great resource, Collins are also offering a 25% discount plus free P&P on the Collins Back to School range of books until 30 September 2015 using promo code SCHOOL25 which can be used on the colllins.co.uk website.

To ease your little ones back to school/to make life a little easier this back to school, Collins are giving away £100 worth of dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases and revision guides, tailored to your child’s school year. For your chance to win, simply answer the following question on the widget below:

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms & Conditions

The Prize: £100 worth of dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases and revision guides tailored to the school year of the winner
The winner will be chosen at random by the random winner generator on Rafflecopter and notified within 7 working days by email
Collins will make every effort to provide the books detailed here but this cannot be guaranteed
By entering this competition, you understand that your details may be retained for future mailings. You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.
There is no monetary equivalent.
Little Lilypad Co take no /responsibility for loss or damage in the despatch of prizes
If the prize is unclaimed within 7 days we reserve the right to redraw the winner.
End Date 12/09/2015 at 12am

Tweet

I was determined to remain active whilst I was pregnant, although SPD slowed me down considerably in my second pregnancy but our baby blogger is now struggling with similar symptoms during her third trimester so when Britmums said that they were working with Deep Freeze Pain Relief, we knew we wanted to be involved.

A recent study from Deep Freeze revealed that 26 per cent of pregnant women exercise twice a week, with a further 16 per cent exercising once a week. However, of the 36 per cent of those who choose not to exercise, 20 per cent choose not to due to back pain. This is a really interesting statistic and one that both myself and Lynette, our baby blogger can relate to. Here is her story ...

I have always been keen to keep myself fit and active from an early age, Having attended many clubs for exercise over the years, and taking part in different activities. When I was pregnant with our first child, I took things very easy due to a complicated start to the pregnancy. Although I tried to keep myself active, to be honest I didn't want to do anything that may cause a problem. As a result I put on a lot of weight. 

After a 4 year gap, and getting back into a good exercise regime I am now 38 weeks pregnant with our second child. Apart from morning sickness in the first 15 weeks, I managed to keep myself very active and busy. However, as the middle of the second trimester approached, I started to suffer with pain in my middle back. I found sleeping exceptionally difficult, and sitting for long periods of time was almost impossible. As the third trimester approached, the pain had moved to my lower back and into my pelvis.

As you can see, I have a beautiful baby bump but exercise was now practically impossible and even getting in/out of bed was painful. I was extremely disappointed that I was not able to do a lot without having to rest. Exercise was a no go. Walking was a struggle, so how would I be able to go to Yoga or walking in our village, so you can imagine that I was thrilled to test the Deep Freeze Cold Patches. 

The box contains a foil pouch which is resealable with grip seal. The pouch contains 4 patches and although they have quite a medicated smell you don't notice this once the product is applied and under clothing (although they do stay on better if you wrap something around it like a bandage). The patches are a good size and I found them easy to use, although given my discomfort it is a shame that they don't last more than a few hours as I would really like a full night's sleep before the baby arrives.

With back pain affecting three out of four mums to be and the barrier of taking oral painkillers when pregnant being an issue, most mums to be just stop keeping active during pregnancy despite the health benefits. Thankfully, the Deep Freeze Pain Relief Cold Patch offers initial, effective drug-free pain relief from muscular back pain during pregnancy*, just like an ice pack, and provides long-lasting cold analgesia to the site of pain. The adhesive patch is applied simply and easily, and can be worn without restricting movement or needing to be replaced frequently to maintain the cooling effect. Deep Freeze Pain Relief Cold Patches are great news for muscular back pain during pregnancy. 

As a final (and slightly humorous note) the patches have also been found to help our baby bloggers husbands back after he fell through the ceiling during their extension work on the house (I kid you not - here is the picture to prove it) and he is now a huge fan of the pain relieving properties of the Deep Freeze Pain Relief Cold Patch.

I'm working with BritMums and Deep Freeze Pain Relief Cold Patch, writing about pregnancy and muscular back pain. I was provided Deep Freeze Pain Relief Cold Patch and have been compensated for my time. All editorial and opinions are my own. Visit Deep Freeze for more information.

Tweet

We have seen lots of back to school guides detailing where you should buy your uniform or how you can prepare your child for school but what about Mum? How do you prepare yourself for your child starting school?

I see many of my friends with their children starting school this September and them never having experienced the school run, the playground politics, the missing cardigan(s), the endless birthday parties and the emotional separation. So here is my guide, from a mum who has been there, for preparing yourself for the first year of reception.

Uniform can be expensive but children wear it every single day.

The Schoolwear Association states that, on average, schoolchildren wear their uniform for ten hours a day, nearly 2,000 hours a year, but parents spend more on clothing that their children wear less – only during school holidays, weekends and in the evenings. On average, families shell out £63 per child on outfits for the six-week summer holidays. The research puts the average price of a full primary school uniform in the UK at £33.48 with secondary school uniform at £88.05. Adding PE kit put the figures up to £42.32 for primary and £127.32 for secondary. It is worth getting the best quality that you can afford .

Tip : "Easy iron" clothes are not always "non iron", choose wisely.

Label, label, label.

Uniform gets lost, alot. 

It is much easier to lay claim to your childs jumper or cardigan if it has a name label inside it. 

Tip: Don't automatically put the label on the inner label as these can be cut out by unscrupulous people. Not suggesting this has happened but it *could* do!

Be prepared for their social calendar to become busier than yours.

During reception, while friendship groups are forming, it seems common practice for every child in the class to be invited to every single birthday party. Depending on your class size, this can mean a lot of weekends taken up in a variety of soft play, activity, entertainment or disco parties. Don't book yourself anything for a Saturday afternoon for the next 12 months.

Tip: Buying presents for 30 children can become expensive, so buy GREAT presents in the sales. Check out the department stores too, such as House of Fraser Toy Department have some great sales on, which means that you can stock pile presents and not have to rush out on the morning of a party and spend much more than you want to. This *may* have happened to me once, trust me you don't want that panic buying frenzy on your bank statement.

You will get a new circle of friends too.

There will be cliques form in the school playground because that is what happens but you may also find some great friendships along the way too. Of course any new social situation can be intimidating but it's worth remembering that if you're worried about making friends lots of other mums will be feeling exactly the same way! There is nothing like sharing important life moments with someone who is going through the exact same things as you, at the exact same time. I have really good friends that I met in the playground some 6 years ago and the bonus is, our girls are still friends too.

Tip : It is useful to get the phone numbers from a couple of mums. This is handy when your child comes home with a strange request, such as "bring in white clothes on Friday" or "wear your own clothes tomorrow", validating this with another mum always gives me peace of mind!

It is okay to cry.

You know this is the time you become that embarressing mum? The one that kisses your child in front of their friends, tells them that she loves them for all to hear and after you have waved them off into class with a big smile, it is okay to turn around and have a little cry. It is a big day for you too! 

Tip: Having tissues to hand will score you brownie points with your new mum friends in the playground.

Tweet