I can't believe how fast the year has gone, all of a sudden I've looked at the time and November is around the corner. That means it can only be Halloween today!

Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. Mainly because I can get away with wearing all black and being my sarcastic self whilst telling everyone I'm pretending to be Wednesday Addams.

This year we decided we would do some pumpkin carving. I'm a dab hand with a needle and thread, but when it comes to pumpkins I don't know where to begin. Max was adamant that we needed a Disney themed one and whilst Pinterest threw out some amazingly artistic ones I resorted to good old Mickey's face. I took inspiration from this great video I found on the Florida 4 Less site.

Unfortunately things didn't go to plan so I used my back-up idea and cut the silhouette of Mickey's head rather than his facial features. Max seemed over the moon and loved getting mucky when we pulled out all the seeds.

I think we are definitely in the Halloween spirit now, I can't wait to dress up and see what spooky things we have in store at home!

Harvester is one of those classic brands that is continually doing things right and ticking all the boxes to please customers. With such an amazing choice on their menu I can't wait to take the family back to try something else. Thank you Harvester for inviting us, we will be back!

• We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - I didn't know what to expect of this Booker nominated story. I'm not normally one to read big awards books or even adult fiction. This story whilst being comedic and fun at times left me really confused with some of the language. It's about the relationship between humans and animals and whilst I loved the idea of it I really couldn't attach myself to the character and sympathise with her woes.
  
• The Savages - The Savages are a family of cannibals. But when there's a death at the family home, investigators want to know why this family love food so much. The book is almost an insight of carnivores vs vegetarians and the moral ground of both of them. Add that to a dysfunctional family that remind me a bit of the Addams family and I know it's a winner. I read this in one day and even snuck into the bathroom to get a few moments peace to finish it!
  
• Girl, Stolen - I loved that this book went straight into the action. Cheyenne is a blind sixteen year old who is kidnapped when someone steals her mums car. What happens next is a split narrative of the captive and the captor that will keep you hooked. I loved this story and couldn't wait to read it and find out what happened next. Highly recommended.
  
• How To Be Bad - E. Lockhart is one of my favourite teen authors at the moment. Her books are full of drama and suspense and keep me reading. Which is always a great sign when you see the amount I read. This one was a bit different, a collaboration with a great road trip story. It's enough of a light read to take on holiday but also enough of a dark read to keep you gripped. 

Maternity leave can be an amazing time for a woman. A time to bond and really grow as a mother. I treasured my time with Max, yes I struggled with PND but those few months together are priceless.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission have recently done a study about maternity leave and the problems some women have faced in the workplace so I thought I would share my experience with you all.

I found out I was pregnant quite late in term (6 months) so I had to rush through appointments, checks and arrange maternity leave almost instantly. In that time I found my employer to be fairly hostile. They were a well known sales company that had a high turnover of staff and didn't seem to favour females too well. I was told under no circumstances that I was allowed appointments during work hours and I had to stay on my feet all shift and only sit down for short bursts. Considering I was there until 38 weeks I'm surprised I managed it.

Once on maternity leave, I had no contact from my store. They never offered keep in touch days and became very reserved as it neared my return to work. Upon having a meeting to return I was told I was a liability for having a child, I should stay at home and look after him like all women should and they weren't willing to be flexible at all for me. I got sent to a store I had never worked in and my anxiety and depression started up again.

Legally I had to stay employed by the company for 1 month after returning from maternity leave or risk paying back all the company paid maternity pay. I couldn't afford to do this, so after two weeks of working in a place full of hearsay and negativity I went to my doctor. He signed me off for the remainder of the month and I handed in my notice. I didn't care about the potentially bad reference. I just wanted out.

Luckily I managed to pick up a new job in a company that is understanding and flexible with any issue I might have. I have compassionate colleagues who treat me with respect. But some women don't get this option and it takes them a long time to come back from such a negative workplace experience.

• The EHRC found that 1 in 9 mums were unfairly dismissed or made to feel like they should quit their job. As one of those I can tell you how demoralising it is to feel that being a parent should in any way affect your ability to work a job.
  
• 1 in 5 women experienced harassment or negativity from employers or colleagues over flexible working. My employer wouldn't even entertain the idea of flexible working even though as soon as I left they advertised for a role in those hours.
  
• 10% were encouraged not to attend antenatal appointments if they clashed with work hours. This is appalling as these appointments are vital and important to ensuring the health and safety of mother and child.
  
• 1 in 7 were not given suitable workloads or work and as a result were treated unfairly in the workplace. This means that they not only put themselves at risk, they also could put their child at risk by not being able to take care of themselves. 

My employer, along with several others treated me unfairly. And this isn't a lone case with the facts above proving that more needs to be done to show fairness for women in the workplace. Having a child doesn't limit someone from what they can achieve.

I love it when treats arrive in the post. But the best kind of treats in the post are most certainly food items. That's where Moreish Bakes come in. A company that will actually send you or anyone else you know some delicious treats in the post!

Moreish Bakes was made out of a love of baking and wanting to surprise people with gorgeous scrummy treats. They haven't fully launched yet but we were sent a trial package of their brownies to see how good they really were.

When they arrived they were in a similar sized box to the Graze box, which fit perfectly into our letterbox. In a plain brown box you would never have guessed the delight that there was inside!

So right now I'm sat here with a stinking cold and a messy house. I honestly don't know where to begin with the housework and would rather curl up in a ball and hibernate. I've got half done posts and projects up to my eyeballs but can't seem to get the motivation to do them at all.

Me and Max had a really good weekend. We spent it just laughing, cuddling, reading and being creative. We made his friends Halloween cards and made cookies to decorate (that we ate before we could hand out!)

My blog seems to have taken a nosedive and been neglected something chronic but with so much going on at home it's hard to find the time. Me and Scott are trying to spend a bit more time together in the evenings as we both felt a bit neglected.

The past week has somehow resulted in an unexpected week off blogging. I never intended to do it, I just made a decision each morning to focus on myself a bit more than normal. In a normal week I tend to wake up and do the school run with Max. When I'm back I clean, blog, cook and run all the other errands in my other jobs before I head off to my paid job! No matter how much of a ruthless schedule I run to I need to take a break once in awhile, veg out on the sofa with a good book or do something with some friends.

Last week was a bit special though, I ended up doing something wonderful for the Young Women's Trust which will be up on their site sometime this week (when I've finished writing it for them). It left me as a bag of nerves to begin with and by the end of the week I was bursting with pride!

Max is settled in at school but I'm still finding it a bit of a struggle at times to connect with the other mums. Being a young mum I'm always used to people judging me and to find a few mums that aren't like that is a bit of a shock to the system. Max is having a whale of a time though. He's always grumpy when Friday rolls around,

Test driving the #thomasandfriends shipwreck track master. So easy to put together and it even packs away easily! #fisherprice

A video posted by Laura (@_laura) on Sep 7, 2015 at 6:06am PDT

Oral hygiene is a key part of our daily routine. As a family we all brush our teeth together each morning and night. We've made up songs to help encourage Max to grow up with a good dental routine. Our teeth might not be the best, I have a few fillings and Scott has some crooked teeth but we've told Max that as long as he brushes each day then his oral hygiene will be at it's best.

We were challenged by TePe to try and increase and better our oral hygiene over two weeks. TePe want to help families realise that there is more than just toothbrushes and mouthwash to keep on top of your pearly whites.

The Brushes: We were sent three brushes. Two TePe select brushes and one TePe mini for Max. I normally have to side with really soft bristled brushes as I've found normal brushes irritate my gums. Whilst these aren't soft bristled they were really hard wearing and felt like they gave a really good clean. They weren't irritating and Max did a great job brushing as the mini brush had smaller bristles and a great brush head.

The Interdental Brushes: When normal brushing isn't enough, the Interdental Brushes are time to take the stand. These small, plastic coated wire brushes are great for getting into the hard to reach places. I have a couple of teeth that could have been straightened with braces but they never bothered me. Using the Plaqsearch made me realise how they don't get cleaned as well as I thought so I spent more time using these small brushes to work on the hard to reach areas

The PlaqSearch: These scared the hell out of me. Not because they look horrible but because I knew I would be horrified at what I saw. PlaqSearch is a small tablet that is a great way of showing how well you actually brush. Once chewed it shows the new and old plaque on your teeth. Blue is for plaque over 12 hours old and red is for new plaque. Fortunately we didn't have as much blue plaque as what we thought we would but it was still shocking to see how our brushing technique isn't as good as what we thought.

After two weeks we were amazed at how a few simple changes to our routine could really improve our oral health. As we all know, we only have one set of adult teeth so it's good to take care of them to the best of our ability.

We are now taking steps to make sure that our hygiene is tip top by taking on board tips such as cutting back on sugar and salt, spitting instead of rinsing and making sure we brush for the full two minutes.

Note: We were sent products for a hygiene challenge.