Author: Oana

Christmas Gift Guide: A Swimmer’s Dream

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As promised, my Christmas gift guide this year is going to be highly unconventional, especially when it comes to gifts for children. I support learning through play as an educator and Emma does get toys at Christmas but I do think that our children need to develop other skills in parallel: confidence is definitely one of them! Emma was send this month not one but two brilliant swimming aids: an Aqua Sphere pair of goggles and a SwimFit, the brilliant floating device everyone is talking about! We did put them to test at the pool and we are writing this review to tell you why they would make brilliant Christmas gifts! The Aqua Sphere goggles were brought to my attention in a local children’s magazine. I did approach the PR in charge with the promotion campaign within the UK and they happily agreed to send Emma a Vista Junior Clear Lens pair. What makes Aqua Sphere different from other goggles, you ask? Like all Aqua Sphere’s goggles, the Vista Junior has curved lenses for 180 …

Professional Blogger Tips and Advice

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Ha, when I first started this blog, three years ago, I would have never even dreamt that Mama’s Haven would one day come to be classed as one of the top mummy and inspirational blogs in the UK! Then this month, a number of things happened. For starters, I realised that my ultimate dream of living off my blog has become reality! I did not make the amount I need to live off in cash but I did make it in review products and partially, remuneration! A great point to be at and definitely, a big reason to get out of bed each morning, knowing that my work will bring in satisfaction and rewards! October 2015 has also been the month that saw Mama’s Haven chosen as one of the top 5 parenting blogs in the UK by the Blogging Edge community (by the way, voting is still open until tomorrow and does take literally one second, do stop by and give us a loving vote, please!) which has been a huge honour and the …

Luxurious Christmas presents with a difference

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I told you the other day, this is going to be one interesting month here, on the blog, as I have so many gorgeous products to tell you about! We all have at least one special person in our lives for whom buying the right Christmas present always proves a challenge. Not necessarily because they are fussy with what they like and prefer but because we love them so much, we want to present them with that unique, special gift that conveys our message of love and appreciation to them! So I thought of putting together a few ideas of Christmas presents that would communicate a message of lavish love to those special people in our lives: 1. Handmade, locally produced gorgeousness Etsy is the perfect place to start looking for one of a kind, personalised presents that are guaranteed to enchant. Mel, a lovely friend I met through the wonderful world of blogging, and with whom I forged a strong friendship that comes from love of books and shared experiences and worldviews, has launched …

Christmas Gift Guide: Best Children’s Magazines

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I was planning to hold on with my Christmas gift posts until the first of November but I have so many beautiful things we have been reviewing lately and am itching to tell you about and so many lovely gift ideas have been suggested to us that I am caving in! I am starting this year’s gift idea blog series with a less obvious Christmas present idea for a child, as I am sure there will be plenty of toy gift guides out there to pick and choose from! One of the things I will be getting Emma this year is a magazine subscription, as this is the sort of present I know she would really appreciate and it is something that will keep on giving long after the festive wrapping paper has been scrunched up and recycled and the mince pies been eaten! Emma is an inquisitive (very nearly!) six year old who LOVES facts and I think she would love getting the ECO Kids (the magazine I have in mind for her) in …

To the mother whose child was just given the all clear…

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I rejoiced with you this week, when I read your good news. I rejoiced with you from the darkness of my bereaved parent existence, knowing that you will never get to know my reality. I rejoiced for your son and I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the pain my son endured in the last two weeks of his life and that fact that yours was spared all that, and you the totally heart-wrenching feeling of helplessness of having to watch him die. But your social media update, which was picked up by so many churches, individuals and even by a local newspaper, made me very sad too. You see, your update, as hope giving as it is meant to be, (as I do suspect you see it now as your life “testimony” to the Church, a confirmation they so desperately seek of a God who can perform miracles), has totally left out several facts and a huge group of parents and believers who have fought “the good fight”, just like you, but never pulled …