Contract of employment

THIS AGREEMENT is made on the 28 day of July 2010

BETWEEN:

1. The Young Household Ltd of Young Towers, Young & Younger Hill, London ("The Young Household"); and
2. Young Mummy

1. Young Mummy shall provide childcare, domestic, and editorial services to The Young Household as Chief Childcarer and Part-Time WAHM (Work At Home Mum) (but always within such parameters as may be specified by The Young Household and the primary employer, Ez and Fonz).

2. The Young Household shall pay to Young Mummy the grand sum of Happy Babies, and A Stressfree Working Life (plus any VAT) for all hours worked.

3. The Young Household shall reimburse any reasonable expenses incurred by Young Mummy in the provision of the services under this agreement, with a Drink at the end of each day (choice of which to be determined by Young Mummy), Dinner (ideally including Pud) every night and the Occasional Night Out.

4.1 Subject to clause 4.2 this agreement shall subsist for an indefinite period unless and until determined by one months' written notice given by The Young Household to Young Mummy or by Young Mummy to The Young Household.

4.2 The Young Household may terminate this Agreement forthwith by written notice to Young Mummy at any time if she shall:

4.2.1 Fail to deliver constantly entertaining activities to amuse The Babies; or

4.22 Fail to update her blog more than once a week; or

4.23 Turn up for work without a shower and wearing her pyjamas and slippers; or

4.24 Spend more time on Twitter than playing with The Babies; or

4.25 Not succeed in having a meaningful conversation with her secondary employer, Young Daddy, at least once a month.

5. This Agreement constitutes the whole of the agreement and arrangement and supersedes with effect from the date hereof all previous agreements and arrangements relating to the subject matter.

6. Any notice to be given hereunder shall be in writing and shall be sufficiently served by being delivered personally to The Young Household’s registered office. 

SIGNED for and on behalf of 

The Young Household Limited

Ez and Fonz

SIGNED by 

Young Mummy

Young Mummy

Vlogging Diary - ear infections

Instead of a vlog about my best week yet as a mum (I'll post about it later this week instead), a poorly Ez has hijacked this week's Vlogging Diary...

Apologies for my terrible lighting in the video. This vlogging lark is a learning curve, and I obviously have quite a long way to go yet! Although I quite like the fact you can't really see my face, it would make a much better vlog if you could. I shall go away to Vlogging School this week to work on improving next week's diary entry!

Goodbye purees

I'm going to start this post with a reminder - The Artist Formerly Known As Miss E will now be known as Ez, and The Artist Formally Known As Mr A, will go by the name Fonz. Still nicknames (obviously, I hope), but somehow they feel more like real people with these names, and they feel much more natural when I'm writing or vlogging about them.

As I mentioned in my Vlogging Diary this week, we've been having some problems with Fonz and Ez's feeding for the last week or so. I know it's normal for babies to go off their food when teething, but we just couldn't seem to get back on track when Fonz's tooth finally came through. And Ez was being equally challenging at mealtimes, even though she wasn't teething. I began to suspect that it was pureed food that was the problem. They just didn't seem that interested anymore.

We started traditional weaning at six months, having been advised to wait until then, and also to go for traditional weaning, I think because they were born early, and had always been on the small side. Having been given this advice from a healthcare professional that I really trusted, I was happy to do this and so we began pureeing food in massive quantities to meet Fonz and Ez's rapidly increasing appetites!

As soon as they showed interest, we also gave them finger foods, and both Fonz and Ez have chowed down on a large variety of different foods, from roast chicken to French toast. The amount of finger foods they have wanted has been growing recently and I realised that they are more interested in feeding themselves than taking purees off a spoon. So we made the decision. No more purees.

Today, with great trepidation, I served up cheesy chicken pasta bake instead of puree. I needn't have worried because both babies shovelled it down at a rate of knots. I was amazed, both by their enthusiasm, and by the amount of food they ate, and I got such a buzz to see them happily feed themselves.

Weaning's been a really hard slog. It's never been straightforward and I have often found mealtimes incredibly stressful as I'm faced with one or both babies screaming because they're not happy with what's on offer. I blogged back in January about my anxiety about feeding when I was still breastfeeding, and it's never really gone away. The emergency feeding regime the babies were put on after losing too much of their birthweight in the first couple of days really took its toll emotionally and their size and weight has been a sensitive issue for me since then. And still is, if I'm honest.

Maybe we should have chosen baby led weaning over traditional weaning. Maybe we should have moved on from purees months ago. Maybe mealtimes would have been less stressful if we had. But we didn't, and there's no point worrying about it now.

Today was a good day. I feel excited and relieved that Ez and Fonz are ready to move on. It's a sign they're developing, and I'm all for encouraging their independence. I have no doubt that we'll have good days, and we'll have bad days. But through them all I've got to remember that I'm doing my best, and my babies are healthy and happy. Because that's what's really important.

Vlogging Diary - teething woes

Before you watch this video - I've decided it feels too awkward saying 'Mr A' and 'Miss E' when I'm vlogging, so I'm giving them a name-change! Miss E is now Ez, and Mr A become The Fonz (Fonz, or Fonzie). Anyway, here's what we got up to last week...

The Weekend Review: Phil & Teds Dash with double kit

You may remember that a while back the kind people at Phil & Teds sent me a Dash inline pushchair to trial. I had imagined it to be a useful second pushchair, great for trips up to town, but I honestly can't remember the last time we went out in our old pushchair since the Dash arrived! We've tried it out in all sorts of situations - long walks, a nip to the local shops, our first trip on the London Underground, our first trip in a black cab, fighting our way down Oxford Street and even a stroll along the beach. We've given it a good testing, and here's my honest review.

The Dash looks smart and modern

It's good on any surface, including grass

Strengths:

The 'intelligent handle' includes a trigger fold and braking mechanism, making the Dash really easy to fold and unfold. When folded it's compact size means it fits easily in the boot of my small car. Out and about, the pushchair is really manoeuvrable, and the suspension is great, even on rough ground. Both seats are multi-position so they can recline. Miss E and Mr A happily sleep without reclining, so I haven't had to use this feature very much. The sunshade was invaluable over the heatwave, and I also use it to encourage the babies to nap.

People often seem concerned that the baby in the back gets a raw deal, but I can honestly say that neither Mr A or Miss E seem to mind being the rear passenger. In fact, I would say that Mr A actively enjoys it, as he loves playing with dangling toys, which can be hung from the seat in front. And contrary to general opinion, I think the view he gets from the rear seat is pretty good - I liken it to being in the back seat of a car - you can't see straight ahead past the seat in front of you, but you have a great range of vision to either side.

Of course the Dash's main strength is its width. The inline design means that it's no wider than most single pushchairs and it makes shops and crowded places much more accessible for me. My side-by-side pushchair doesn't fit through the doors of a lot of my local shops, so it's been fantastic to be able to pop down the road to pick something urgent up. I've used it for those little trips that a lot of my mummy friends would use a sling or front carrier for (obviously not possible with two babies!). The Dash has also made me feel much more confident about heading up to town - I would never brave the tube with a side-by-side pushchair, but I have no fewer worries about it with the Dash.

I also feel a lot less conspicuous when we're out. When you're pushing twins you can get a lot of attention. This can be lovely, but can also make me feel quite self-conscious at times. When we're out with the Dash it's a lot less obvious that I've got twins, so I feel a bit less stared at.

 Mr A loves the back seat (double kit)

Both babies enjoy the view

Weaknesses:

Unfortunately the Dash isn't suitable for two newborns, so it isn't ideal for twins (with the double kit it's suitable for one newborn and one toddler or two toddlers). A pushchair is such a big purchase and when we were considering our options before the babies arrived, we had to look for models that would last us for a few years.  Unfortunately, buying a new one six months down the line just wouldn't be an option for us.

The braking mechanism on the 'intelligent handle' requires two hands to operate. This can be really difficult if you're trying to hold a baby at the same time!

The Dash is really easy to fold, but you do have to remove the double kit from the back before you can fold it. It's pretty straightforward to do, but is a bit of an added faff if you're in a hurry.

Young Daddy finds pushing the Dash slightly awkward with the double kit attached, because he knocks his knees on the double kit as he walks. He reckons the handle should be a bit longer for a more comfortable walking position.

Summary:

Phil & Teds describe the Dash as 'the active urban inline' and I think this description is spot-on. We spend a lot of time out and about, and the Dash has been great in every situation. I think it's ideal for urban living, and for me it has definitely taken a lot of the stress out of our outings as I haven't had to worry about whether I'll fit in wherever we're heading that day. I wasn't sure it would win me over, but it's made me feel much more free and more like the independent and outgoing mum I always imagined I'd be. For our family, the Dash has been a real winner.

Spec:

Weight (with double kit): 12kg

Width: 62cm

Price of Dash: £435

Price of Dash double kit: £73.95

For the Dash's full spec and other details head over to the Phil & Teds website, where there's also a video and a spinning view of the pushchair.

The Messy Play by Huggies Wipes Challenge

I think that I'm too late to enter the Huggies Messy Play Challenge (the closing date is today - oops!), but I didn't want to miss the chance to share the pictures of Miss E and Mr A getting messy.

I took the plunge and got out the finger paints for Fathers' Day, so we could create some original artwork for Young Daddy. I was kind of prepared for the babies to get mucky, but didn't forsee the extent of the mess, and they were none-too-pleased to be cleaned up afterwards! But I did get some great shots of them 'creating'....

Here were the rules of the challenge (as laid out by Huggies):.

1. The messier your baby is in the photo the better. (The challenge is cleaning up!)
2. Post the photo to your blog with The Messy Play by Huggies Wipes challenge. (It can be an old photo or a previous post).
3. Send a link of your blog post featuring your Messy Play photo to @Huggies_UK on Twitter or online.team@Huggies.com to participate.
4. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/messyplaybyhuggieswipes/ to see all the blogger submissions and links to their blogs. Submissions will also be shouted out by @Huggies_UK on Twitter.
5. The top 3 messiest entries will receive Huggies® gift packs of Huggies merchandise.

COMPETITION CLOSES JULY 14TH

A wonderful week

We're home today, after a lovely week oop north with the in-laws. Having extra pairs of hands around to help out with the babies, has been, in short, incredible. It's made me realise what a difference having people around to help can make. My parents live locally, but they both work full-time and have diaries so packed they rival the most dedicated socialites so we don't see as much of them as we (and they) would like.

Highlights of the week include:

* Seeing Mr A and Miss E develop a close bond with their grandparents. It has been so lovely to watch these friendships form, and makes me really sad that it will be a while before they see each other again.

* Learning some basic baby signing. Granny Jill suggested buying a book, so we've integrated a few basic signs into the days. The babies have really responded, and we think we've started to recognise some of their sounds for particular words ('cat' is a real favourite). Will write another post about this in due course.

* Having dinner out with my husband. Staying at the in-laws meant there were readily-available babysitters onhand, so that we could head out to the gastro pub in the village. I didn't get drunk at all. I promise. *ahem*

* A lovely afternoon at the seaside, strolling along the beach, eating fish and chips and icecreams and meeting up with a fab Twitter friend and her gorgeous twin girls.

* Our first night away as a couple since Mr A and Miss E arrived on the scene. We went to a wedding on Saturday, and left the babies with their beloved grandparents for the whole day AND NIGHT. We did miss them, but loved waking up in the morning at our leisure and enjoying a lazy cooked breakfast.

There was only one real negative about the week and that is that Mr A has taken to waking up early. Very, very early. I think the latest we've got up for the last ten days is 5.50am. I'm hoping this is down to teething (a new top tooth has made its appearance today), and not just that he's going to be a permanent early riser. I feel particularly sorry for Miss E, who gets woken up each and every morning by her brother when she quite obviously wants to remain asleep.

I shed a tear (ok, quite a few tears) this morning as we said goodbye and headed off on the long car journey home. And now it's back to reality with a thud as I contemplate a to-do list that has been steadily growing over the last few months instead of ever getting any shorter.