Dear all Mums the Worders...

Dear all Mums the Worders,

We have been having to make some big decisions about the future of Mums the Word, and you have probably been aware that there have been some difficulties with hall bookings, activities and numbers of attendees in the last few weeks, which has meant Mum's the Word is getting difficult for us to sustain on a fortnightly basis, from both a cost and personal effort angle.

(This week's group is cancelled, again for reasons beyond our control.)

We have both now been back at work for six months, and our boys are no longer able to be left lying under a play gym for 2 hours on a Friday afternoon so this makes it much more difficult to bake, plan, prepare and keep Mums the Word safe for them, as well as keep it fun for us.

We absolutely loved everything about MtW when we started last autumn, and we felt there was real enthusiasm from those of you who came. Recently that enthusiasm  has waned on both sides and the effort we put in does not seem to yield the same kind of response. We are fully aware that this is due to our reduction in energy for flyering, advertising and keeping you all up to date in time for our events.

So, sadly, we have decided to stop the group as we feel we cannot give it what it needs anymore. We would absolutely love any of you who wanted to take the baton to keep it going, and we could give you all the equipment and information you may need to continue.

Please let us know if you are interested - it may be something that could be passed from mum to mum over the years, and be kept alive in Stokey for a long time.

We are sorry to be writing this email - we have loved meeting you all, eating cake and exchanging ideas with you.

We will keep the website and the Facebook page open over the summer in case anyone wants to get in touch about starting the group again after the summer when winter afternoons start creeping in again and tea and cake is more needed!

See you all around,
Best,
Alice and Alice x

Clothes, glorious clothes: 3rd June

Is your wardrobe more slummy mummy than Sex and the City? Do you feel more 'bag lady' than 'Carrie Bradshaw'? Are you needing to re-stock and re-invent your summer wardrobe to create your signature summer look?
Well, fear not and guess what?? Mum's the Word are having a summer Clothes Swap on Friday 3rd June. Bring your lovely, but no-longer-worn-by-you pieces - be they ladies, men's or children's, and swap them for something else.

It's free, it's eco friendly and you get new clothes! What's not to love...

Thanks to all of you who came along last week to play bingo -  we hope you're enjoying your prizes- many thanks again to all the lovely local business who contributed prizes: Rio Cinema, Homage, Pictures & Light, Baby Bath House to name but a few...

So from now, what with all the bank holidays Friday's over with for a bit, we're back on our two week timetable now with lots of fun stuff in store.

We are always after suggestions, ideas and input though from you, and we would especially like the blog to be used more as a forum for all, rather than just a messsage board used by us. So please follow us, comment and get involved. We'll do our bit and post more interesting things as well as weekly updates, we may even get guest bloggers on so any suggestions/offers there would be greatly appreciated...
See you Friday,

Alice & Alice x

Early Easter Eggstravaganza!

 























Hello everyone,

Hope everyone is well and making the most of the eggstraordinary glorious weather. To continue the bright and beautiful feeling the sunshine has brought, we're getting into the Easter spirit early this Friday and we'll be decorating eggs. We'll supply the eggs and crafty bits to make them pretty as long as you bring eggstra energy for some eggcellent egg blowing!

Cakes, tea and coffee as usual - with the welcome addition of fresh cafetiere coffee donated by Homa http://www.homalondon.co.uk


 

Mum & Baby Yoga this Friday

Hello everyone,

Writing this from my desk - yes I'm back at work (part time) - but it's not too bad and am looking forward to a sunny day in the park tomorrow! I'm also looking forward to Friday afternoon as we have a mum and baby yoga session with local yoga teacher Madelaine Heinemann. She will be instructing an hour long class that you can complete in it's entirety or dip in and out of at your leisure.
 

The class is a fun way to bond with your baby. There are gentle postnatal recovery postures for mum, which restore the uterus, abdomen and pelvic floor muscles, help regain your posture, prevent stress incontinence and womb prolapse and relieve shoulder, neck and back discomfort which are all common postnatally. The class also includes yoga movements for the little ones which are incorporated into songs and nursery rhythms. The session is a great way to reclaim your body after giving birth.

Madelaine teaches classes locally and her details are below.

To counteract the health benefits we will have cake and tea/coffee (we now have cafetiere coffee, for all you caffieneaholics!)!

Hopefully see you on Friday - don't forget to follow us on our blog and on Facebook for the latest updates.

meanwhile, enjoy the sunshine,

Alice (and Alice) x

Yoga teacher / therapist       Madelaine Heinemann     

More details of  Mum and baby classes on enquiry. Contact  mad4yoga@gmail.com 

For more information on other local classes/qualifications    website see: www.madyoga.co.uk   

Benefits of Baby Yoga

Strengthens the muscles in the legs and back aiding all movement.

Develops balance helping sitting, crawling and walking

Stretches the chest allowing baby to breath more deeply.

Opens the hip and knees joints and keeps them flexible.

Stimulates the internal systems helping to keep baby healthy.

Helps prevent and relieve colic and constipation.

Strengthens the immune system.

Helps to settle babies and improve sleep patterns.

Tactile stimulation contributes to the development of the brain and nervous system.

Ping Pong!

Hello!

We hope you have all enjoyed these past two weeks and have perhaps even ventured out into the long-overdue sunshine once or twice? Well, it's time to 'ping' back inside again to Mum's the Word tomorrow because we're getting out the table tennis tables and we're up for a game!

Of course there'll be the usual tea and cake (in fact the chocolate cake's in the oven now and it smells delicious, if I may say so myself!) and what better way to work off the confectionary calories than brandishing a bat and playing Ping Pong?!

See you tomorrow
x

Baby Massage

Hello everyone,

The lovely Valentina is back with us this week to treat us to another of her hugely successful baby massage lessons. Depending on demand she'll run one or two demos during this Friday's MtW, each lasting about 20 minutes.

Don't forget this the last Friday before we go FORTNIGHTLY - so there will be no MtW on March 4th, but we'll be here on March 11th, not on March 18th, but back on March 25th and so on and so forth - you get the idea! We'll post a timetable up with forthcoming events and dates ASAP to avoid any confusion!

So to celebrate the last weekly gathering we'll have tea, cake and plenty of chatter.

Hopefully see you Friday.

Alice and Alice
x

Very sad times...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone,

We'd like to let you all know that we have decided to change things at Mum's the Word.

Just four months after our launch, and after many fun Friday afternoons spent playing bingo, doing crafts, and swapping anything we can think of, we're finding ourselves out of pocket every week due to dwindling numbers and hefty overheads.

MtW is the only group of it's kind locally with the focus on activities for the parents. Our feedback from most of you is that this is a great concept, and that you will continue to come to the group. The problem is of course you can't all come, all of the time (thank goodness - we would never have enough cake!). Joking aside though, and it breaks our hearts to say this, we are going to have to stop completely if we don't get some more bingo-playing cake eaters to support us each week.

So, from February 25th (this Friday) we will start to run MtW every other week. We hope this will entice more of you to come each time, and will give us more time between Fridays to think up fun and innovative things to do.

We'd really appreciate your further feedback about the activities, the venue, the concept, and would like to hear any of your ideas, and whether you'd like to see MtW stay on the Stoke Newington parents' calendar. If any of you would like to get involved, running a 'Week of my Own' or making cakes, please let us know. The more of you who get involved, the more likely it is that MtW has a future.

It has been great getting to know you all, and we hope to keep MtW going for many years, so please email us to let us know what you think.

 

Thank you,

Alice and Alice x

Make Mine a Manicure...

Hello, 'ello,

The daffs are up, the sun is at last beginning to shine (well, sort of!) and we're longing for spring to come and warm the cockles of our souls. So what better way to rejoice in the coming of the warmer months than to treat yourself to a manicure to add a little colour to your life...

We've teamed up again with Beautify salon http://www.beautifyn16.com/ (which is conveniently located right under Abney Public Hall) to offer you a Quick Manicure (nails shaped and finished with a colour or buffed to shine) for a bargain price of £5 - this is £4 off the regular price!

We will operate on a first-come-first-served basis, so when you arrive, and you want a manicure, we will give you a number (rather like Argos, or the cheese counter at Morrisons - but a little less chaotic we hope!) and then they will take place in that order. We think this is the fairest way of doing it. The salon is directly under the hall, down a flight of stairs - you are welcome to take your baby with you, but many mums prefer to leave their baby with a friend upstairs and enjoy a little Me Time...

We'll have the regular tea, cake and chat going on upstairs.

See you Friday.

Crafty Love...

Sometimes feel bad that you lavish all your attention on your little bundle of joy and not on your other half?? Well, now's the time to reset the balance because tomorrow at Mum's the Word we're making Valentine's cards! We've got all the stuff, you bring your creativity and a touch of romance. Ahhhhhhhh.
x

Recipe Swap

We are having a Recipe Swap, which involves you lovely lot bringing along a few copies of your favourite recipe - family meal, baby meal, baking, anything you like!) to pass onto others in exchange for their own faves. We could even make a Mum's the Word recipe book if you all get involved!

So you have a week to choose your recipe, print a few out, and tell your friends to do the same! You will hopefully go home with a pile of new recipes to try.

Look forward to as many of your recipes as you can muster. Of course homemade cakes from us, tea and chat.

Lingerie Lounge

Babies + boobs + bras = bad news.

That is, until now, because Rosa Lingerie http://rosalingerie.co.uk/ are descending upon us this Friday to turn our bad fitting bra hell into lovely lingerie heaven. We all know that having babies wreaks havoc on the body and it's oh-so easy to forget about mum once baby comes along. We get bigger, smaller again (eventually!), breast feed and run around all day so it's no wonder that 80% of us are wearing the wrong size bra.

We will have an expert to talk us through the rules of buying a bra, to measure us, to show us a selection of underwear, including nursing bras and swimwear and, best of all, to give us discount vouchers for Rosa Lingerie on Church Street.

Some come and have a cuppa and beat the boob-blues!

See you Friday!

Bingo's back!

Hello, and apologies for the late posting this week -  what with the flu and going back to work we're a little bit behind, to say the least. But fear not, this week at MtW we bring you Bingo!

We have prizes and we have tea and we have cake. What more could you want!?

See you tomorrow...

Happy New Year - we're back this week.

Hello mums (and dads) and Happy New Year to you all.
We hope you all had lovely Christmas's and Happy New Year's and are rested, refreshed, and ready to go in 2011.

We return on Friday, and to welcome in the New Year we're kicking off with an 'Unwanted Present' swap - the perfect opportunity to get rid of that, ahem, less than lusted-after loot.
All you need to do is re-wrap that toilet roll holder from Sue next door, or the talc and hankies from Great-Aunt Gladys, and we'll put them in a sack and everyone will get something else at random. Who knows - you may even get something you want! And if not, there are plenty of charity shops nearby...

We will, of course, have the usual tea, cake and chat. And the door price is still £4 despite the VAT increase!

See you Friday...