They say any publicity is good publicity...

Facebook reviews... are they valuable or detrimental?

This has always been something I've been in two minds about. The review option for businesses can be really beneficial, as long as it's a good review you are receiving. Then there's always businesses that have bad days and I think for the most part people can accept that. But what about when a business receives a response that they don't feel is justified? This is exactly what happened to The Howard Springs Bakery in the Northern Territory. They received a one star review from a customer about a cold pie and an out of date iced coffee and boy were they not happy! They responded in a less than nice fashion (check it out below) and boy has that blown up in their face!

COLD SEASON

Cold season is a pain for Mums and kids. You'll rush them off to the Dr then you'll be turned away most of the time because your Dr will tell you that your child's cold is viral so antibiotics are of no use. Here are some tips to help NHM Mummas out this cold season:

1. Buy some Hydralyte icypoles from the chemist and let your little one suck on them to keep up their fluids if they're old enough

2. If they'll eat stick to really basic foods like toast

3. Nurophen is great for pain relief but you need to use Panadol to bring bubs temperature down

4. A young baby can't blow their nose enter the 'snot sucker' above to get the junk out. It's all rather gross but it works. I've even had mums tell me they suck it out themselves! A mother's love knows no bounds. I myself have done this

5. Pop some books under your child's cot at night so they're on an incline at night. It will help with the nasal drip and stop them coughing as much

6. Use saline drops to help with a blocked nose

CHANGES TO WASTE COLLECTION

Times are changing for your Green Bin.  Food scraps will now be collected in the Green Bin starting July 30 to help with landfill. What do you think of that?

Lake Macquarie Council have started handing out kitchen bins and compostable garbage bags on to collect food scraps for the green bin. Green bins will now be emptied weekly, while general waste and recycling will be collected on alternate fortnights.

The Herald reported that Mayor Kay Fraser stated “This is a significant change for our city, but one which has substantial long-term environmental and financial benefits,” “It will reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by an estimated 17,000 tonnes a year"

What are you reading?

I remember when I was a teenager I had specific magazines that I would read religiously, some that I would read at friend's houses and others that I would scoff at claiming they were for old people. So you can imagine my horror now as I sat down to enjoy a read of Cosmo, one of my old faves to find that I am now way too old for Cosmo! When did this even happen? It's all about one night stands, what you should study at University and wait for it... acne! In the latest issue there is even an article on 'The Art of Doing Nothing' with a tagline, 'Imagine measuring a day's accomplishments not by your to-do list ticks, but by the number of times you stopped to take time out and watch the sunset'. Ha! Excuse me? 

So I closed up the eagerly anticipated new magazine and picked up my Home Beautiful magazine which I'm sure reminds me of what was on my mum's coffee table growing up. When did this ageing process happen? 

What are you reading? And please don't say Cosmo!

THE PERFECT NIGHT OUT WITH MUM

Growing up some of my most special memories were those spent just with my mum without my brothers. I always loved the time we had together just the two of us and still do today! 

One of the things we used to do together was go and see musicals. My first was when I was 7, we went and saw 7 Little Australians WOW it was so amazing! The next year Big River with Cameron Dado what a spunk he was, then we went on to see all the big shows together Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and who could forget Jesus Christ Superstar with John Farnham and Kate Caberano such precious memories. 

When I heard Beyond The Barricade from the UK was coming to Newcastle on Friday June 29th at the Civic Theatre I was beyond excited. The show is critically acclaimed and features performers from Les Miserables from the West End including songs from The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, The Lion King, Mumma Mia, Jesus Christ Superstar, of course Les Miserables and more. 

We want to send you on a date to the show with your daughter or mum! To win a double pass just LIKE our post on FACEBOOK and SHARE it on your timeline. 

If you want to grab tickets you can do that here

Good Luck Mummas! 

Katy Perry goes back for more Orlando

Katy Perry and Orlando are back together after splitting last year, after they claimed one of the main reasons for their split was not being able to spend much time together. The pair are determined to stay on track and se each other as much as possible despite both having busy schedules. 

Do you think relationships can work after a break up? 

We wish them good luck. 

xx

GIVING UP LAMBTON PARK? WHAT A DOG ACT

How do you feel about fences being placed around Lambton Park and dogs running around inside off leash? This is the plan that the Council looks set to put into place as more off leash areas are being explored for dog owners. Other suggestions of fenced off areas for dog owners included Carrington foreshore, Maryland Drive Reserve and Acacia Avenue Reserve. Lambton Park is currently such a beautiful spot, a hive of family activity daily with Mums and Dad's teaching their kids to ride their bikes and playing outdoors. 

How do you feel about sharing it with Newcastle's Doggy population? 

Below are the results of the Newcastle City Council survey that was recently undertaken. 

CREATE AN EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR KIDS THESE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

Create an experience for your children these school holidays, something that they'll remember for a lifetime. Kids themselves have called their Rhubarb Jam workshop experience "amazing", they have been excited by their chance "to get onstage" and be able to "do your own thing". 

The 'Pump Up The Jam' July School Holiday Program promises to enhance your child's creativity by opening them up to an amazing creative arts experience. They'll be given a theme and a framework and get to develop their own show in 5 days. It will ultimately be shared with their families. 

Each Jam packed day sees your little one singing, dancing, acting and also developing sets and prop making. Your child's individuality is celebrated as they develop their own characters, storyline, lyrics and choreography under the mentorship of experienced creative arts professionals. All this happens in a fun, inclusive and pressure free environment which gives every child involved the opportunity to showcase their personality and shine! 

The workshops are coming to Kotara South Public School in July. Places are limited BOOK HERE

BEFORE YOU HAVE ANOTHER BABY READ THIS

I just emailed myself to 'hang out the washing' I'm not even kidding having 'two bubbas' as my 2 Year old refers to our family is exhausting. You pick one up? You have to pick up two. You pop one on your lap, you have to have 2 on your lap. My first was rather breezy she'd just feed and sleep and smile so I thought might as well have another. I've heard it will be great when they can play together and they'll be close friends but at the moment it is super hard. I constantly feel guilty about not giving my baby as much attention as I think I should give her and it breaks my heart that I'm sort of forcing my 2 year old out of her babyhood early by not being able to baby her as much as before. Anyway sure it will get better eventually just a word of caution to Mummas considering having another bub close to their others. 

Big shout out Jemma from 'Maxy + Mimi Coffee' for putting up with us today. I went there today to support an NHM Mumma creating a great new business but I'm pretty sure we were more of a nuisance than a support haha. 

Cornelia Frances dies aged 77

I was sad to hear of the death of Cornelia Frances from cancer. She was best known for her role in Home and Away as Morag, Alf Stewart's sister but I fondly remember her from The Weakest Link and her awesome abruptness when telling contestants, 'good bye'. 

RIP Cornelia 

xx

NEWCASTLE HOUSING MARKET SLOWS

I don’t know if you’ve noticed that the FOR SALE Real Estate boards are staying up substantially longer in Newcastle than they were 12 months ago. 

It’s likely that people are after a particular price in line with the heavily inflated property prices we’ve seen lately and the market says no. 

In March Australian house prices on average grew .8% well below the double digit gains we’d seen the year before. 

Research however shows that it’s high end properties in Sydney and Melbourne that are seeing the biggest drop. I’ve known people in Sydney and Melbourne who sold this year and didn’t get what they’d expected too. Similarly high end suburbs of Newcastle like Merewether have also cooled off slightly. Strangley enough suburbs like Shortland, Jesmond, Glendale and Edgeworth and other suburbs coming off a lower base seem to be holding up slightly better. 

If you are currently selling and you aren’t getting the offers you expect it’s worth considering that you’ll be buying into the same market so that provides some relief. 

Khloe Kardashian Proud Mumma

Mommy's Little Love

3m Likes, 18.4k Comments - Khloé (@khloekardashian) on Instagram: "Mommy's Little Love"

They used to tell us about every intricate detail about their lives. These days the Kardashians are a little more quiet. Here's Khloe's 6 week old daughter True Thompson taking nap. Ohhh cute. 

The internet is telling us baby Dad Tristan cheated on her while she was pregnant with Bubba so she left his name off an anniversary card for Kimye. We hope the internet is wrong. 

TOP 5 KID FRIENDLY CAFES IN NEWCASTLE

Mum said today 'back in my day you couldn't leave the house when you had kids. No one would let you into a cafe they just turned you away'. WOW I thought, that's super mean. Having said that, to go to a cafe with the kids isn't often enjoyable, you just have to woof down what you're eating and skull your coffee as fast as you can while you direct them around like a neurotic actor on the set of an epic drama. Enter 'kid friendly cafes', my main problem with them is the coffee tends to be rather crap - well not always here are a few cafes that offer a kid friendly experience and a good brew. 

1. Kids of Thunder - 114 Maitland Rd, Mayfield. New on the scene they offer elaborate play areas and great coffee. NHM hasn't tried it yet, the only thing we're not sure on is they said they only do sweets and we love us some smashed avo. 

2. Habitat Cafe - 513 Glebe Rd, Adamsown. This place is seriously great, its pretty secure with a great play area. I used to meet with my first ever and only Mum's group here and we always had a great brew and a blissful time. Fun fact, Sonya Cameron who initiated the group was also the midwife at the JHH who delivered my second baby Lilly. I am a huge fan of the JHH and their Drs and nurses how blessed we are to have them. 

3. Goodness Me Organics 617 Glebe Rd, Adamstown. I've had good coffee from these guys before their organic eats are also really good. It has a lovely vibe and Mums with kids are welcome, it's also rather secure. 

4. The Secret Garden Charlestown Square. Nice coffee but a limited menu. Having said that the play equipment here is ample so the mums that I see there often look pretty stoked for some time out. I've also seen mums sort of 'settle in' there, bringing out snacks for their kids that they've packed. The vibe I get from here is that it's much loved by Newie Mummas. 

5. Black Circle Cafe, 12 Alma Rd, New Lambton. My friends have recommend you go to Black Circle because there's a great kid friendly area, the Peaberry's brew is good as is the food, they have an 'all day breakfast menu' and they do free baby chinos. 

Wrong car lady!

I took my littlest to Paw Patrol yesterday and then we drove over to Glendale to go for Sushi Train. He fell asleep on the way over so I sat in my car for a little while after we arrived and let him sleep a bit more. All of a sudden the passenger door opens and a slightly dishevelled woman leans in. In my shock, I yelled at her and asked what she was doing and she quickly shut the door and walked away. Innocent mistake, could be. I wasn't so sure after she then proceeded to start trying to open the doors of three other cars nearby. So I pulled out my phone, took a photo of her and that's when she suddenly found the car she was looking for and they then drove off. 

It makes me wonder though... A friend of mine's husband once opened the passenger door of a car in a carpark, hopped in and started talking to his wife. Only the woman next to him wasn't his wife, but a stranger who thought he was trying to attack her. I know him and he's pretty harmless, but it would have shocked the poor woman! 

Has this happened to you? 

Silent Saturday

So if your kids play soccer through Northern NSW football league you may have seen an email about Silent Saturday which is going to be this Saturday, May 26. Basically as a coach, parent, spectator etc. you can't yell out at the kids on the field. Oh my god I am in so much trouble! Yes, I am that mum. In my defence, my mum was also that mum at my netball games growing up. Hell, she even got banned, by me. 

So naturally, I'm concerned about this weekend. But, I do feel it's necessary. And how tragic is that? How come days like these even need to be implemented? When did the school age sport games turn so competitive? When did us as parents start putting so much pressure on the kids to constantly perform well. And more to the point, when did Saturday morning sport start to turn nasty, even violent? I've heard stories where parents are physically fighting each other! Don't we enrol our children in team sports so that they learn to work as a team? To enjoy some active and fun time with their mates? But lastly, is a day like Saturday going to make us think about how we are acting at the other games or will we all just go back to yelling out, 'kick the damn ball!'

AND THE WINNERS OF PAW PATROL AND JACKIE GILLIES ARE....

Hi Mummas, 

We are working so hard to bring you great prizes and experiences and we really appreciate your support in our first few weeks of the 'I GOT IT FROM MY MUMMA' radio show and NHM Newcastle Hunter Mummas website and socials. We know how hard it is to work as a Mumma and what we aim to do is to keep rewarding you for being great Mummas by creating unreal experiences for you to win and entertainment you can enjoy in your 2 seconds of downtime per day. 

We'd be so grateful of your continued word of mouth support, at your next coffee or play date or even when you're chatting to other Mummas on messenger. 

OUR WINNER for 'Shine it Up' with Jackie Gillies  is Lateece Turner! Congratulations beautiful Mumma! Hopefully you're inspired by Jackie tonight and get to blow off some steam in a precious night off with your friend. 

OUR WINNER of 4 TICKETS to PAW PATROL LIVE! at Newcastle Entertainment Centre tomorrow is Leanne Peterkin. Well done Leanne, your kids will have an experience that they can remember for a super long time. 

Prizes still to come include our WIND DOWN WEEKEND in the Hunter Valley for you and your loved one, a BRIDAL SHOWER or BABY SHOWER HIGH TEA at the Novotel, MR MAKER tickets and VIP LAH LAH Experience tickets. 

Thanks so much for your support MUMMAS! 

Love NHM x

Chrissy Teigen after the birth of baby number 2

If you haven't seen @aliwong's new Netflix special, you are bad at picking Netflix specials #asianpearunderwear

1.6m Likes, 18.9k Comments - chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) on Instagram: "If you haven't seen @aliwong's new Netflix special, you are bad at picking Netflix specials..."

Just yesterday I was saying to Bec, I wish people were more honest about what your body is like after birth, it doesn't just 'spring back' especially after baby 2 or 3. You know how you see Hollywood depictions of the woman leaving the hospital looking like she never had a baby? I loathe that, it does nothing for a mother's self esteem. In fact three days after I gave birth I went out for the first time to Door 34 in Cardiff my favourite and one of the young well meaning staff said "wow, you still haven't had that baby yet" sob. This is why we love supermodel Chrissy Tegan. 

Apart from her and John Legend being 'couple goals' she is so raw and honest. Here she wears those fabulous afterbirth undies we all know while giving a nod to herself looking like a pear in mesh after birth. Two-year-old daughter Luna can be seen playing in the background.

You know why this is great? It's one step towards our daughter's feeling less shame about their after birth bodies. Hopefully one day all the shame we feel about our bodies is gone. A mother's body gives life. It's a beautiful thing in whatever form it takes and should be celebrated. 

Uh oh Lovedale!

Some could say this post is an attempt to ease my extreme envy at not having been to Lovedale this year, but in my defence a lot of my Facebook feed has been taken up with negative comments. The most disturbing being cases of drink spiking and wineries claiming that boutique wines can cause effects of spiking? I've been to plenty of wineries and never felt like my drinks had been spiked. 

As we had seen prior to this year's Lovedale, there were plenty of restrictions on bottle sales and this had been met with some unhappiness. This is a tricky one because as we all know there are a few that can manage to ruin things for all. 

Tell us about your Lovedale experience if you managed to go this year?

Oh My Phone! .. what happened to our phone's today?

Sooo I was on my way to a meeting and Maps didn't work, oh no, how was I meant to get there? Then I had another appointment that I needed re reschedule and OMG no SMS, they kept bouncing back?! Was this your morning too? Surely my phone must be broken I thought? I kept turning it off and on, turns out it wasn't my phone's fault, Telstra is broken! 

I did some research and it turns out this is the second incident this month for Telstra which ran into difficulties in early May. Wow this is not ideal. I did a radio gig for a big brand earlier in the month and they asked me to promote the fact that 'Optus' was now the no 1 telco, I said 'surely not' but reported the facts regardless. Maybe they were right. Until you lose the use of your phone you don't know how important it is to your everyday life. Where were you today when your phone blacked out? 

The best photoshop fail I've seen yet!

This just couldn't possibly be better! 

It was the comedy issue so perhaps they could have gotten away with it...

Can you spot the not one but FOUR rogue hands in this issue. Hint... my fave is the one under the platform. 

Thanks for making my Monday GQ!