Happy New Year to all Essex Mums (and Dads... and Grandparents...!)
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are currently enjoying your first of many enjoyable and restful days in 2010. Things here at Essex Mums have been hectic over the last few weeks but I hope you'll be able to see the results of my labours in the form of two new exciting areas of the website.
Health & Fitness Special
We all tend to overdo it at Christmas, and then make resolutions to get fitter and healthier on January 1st Well, this year Essex Mums is here to help you make that happen! On the
homepage you will see January's special feature on Health and Fitness, with links to lots of great ideas for
getting fit,
eating well and
getting your kids active. As well as information from fantastic organisations such as MEND and Change4Life, schemes and classes from Hockley playcentre Monkey Bizzness and Basildon gym David Lloyd. we also have help and advice from our very own forum members, which is probably the best support you can get. Come and post in the dedicated H
ealth & Fitness support thread if you need some advice or would just like to talk about your own health and fitness journey.
Alternative Shopping Guide
Following the success of the Alternative Christmas Gift Guide, Essex Mums now has it's own
Alternative Shopping Guide, featuring lots of fantastic ideas for gifts, toys, clothes, house and home. It has everything from practical purchases for new parents to the most gorgeous handmade clothes you could wish to see. Come and take a look, and if you would like to be featured or have an idea for something that would fit in, let me know.
Events for January and February
I'm now compiling the
events calendar for 2010 so if you have anything you would like to see added, please send it to
events@essexmums.org. Likewise if the details of a class or group you run are not on the
Classes and Groups page, please let me know. There is currently a lot of information on this calendar so in the new year it will be broken down into areas to make it easier - keep an eye out for that!
Specials this year
Over the next few months I'll be running special features on using cloth nappies, and on young parents. If you would like to get involved, please let me know.
Competitions and offers
I've had lots of people asking if they can run competitions on the site and offers for Essex Mums. I can hardly refuse now, can I?! In the next couple of months you'll see a new page for these, so if you have anything you'd like to be featured please get in touch!
Come and say hello!
If you haven't stopped by the
forum in a while, make it your new year's resolution to come and say hello! You'll be guaranteed a warm welcome in the
introductions section, can just dive right in to one of our friendly daily chats, or see if anyone in your area wants to
meet up. I can say with some certainty you're unlikely to find a friendlier group of Mums this side of the internet!
Everything else
As always there is lots to work on, and I'll be adding more to the
Map and the
Useful Website page. The forum continues to tick along nicely with everything from daily chatter to storming debates happening every day. On top of that we have the much-anticipated results of the Essex Mums Awards 2009 so keep an eye out for that! Once again I'd like to say that if there's anything you'd like to see on the site, please do let me know!
Thanks for all your support and hope you have a lovely 2010!
Louise
www.essexmums.org