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Just over a week ago me and the amazing Penny Golightly,held a twitter party all about shopping habits and family treats. We found out how about how you stick to a budget, choose appropriate family rewards, spend your money wisely and that your shopping habits have changed recently compared to previous years. it was amazing, there were so many tips and ideas and I wanted to […]
I have made no secret that as a family we love Micro Scooters. Both the boys have a Maxi Micro, we also have a Macro Sprite and one of their stunt scooters. We are also loving the accosories that they have and the boys have been testing some more out.
Scoot Beamz (£6.99)
These have been a huge hit and I have had four of the local mums ask me about them. They are lights that for on to any scooter. You can have them on fast flash, slow flash or constant and they come in four colours. They make the boys stand out on dark and dismal days.
Rucksack (£25)
So you have dried your oranges, what do you do with them?
Both the boys have stockings that I made for them when they were first born and each year I fill them with an assortment of items. So my top tips for stocking fillers this year are: Playmobil Fi?ures (£1.97) What can I say you can never have too much Playmobil! Magic Spring £1.49 – Yellow Moon Perfect
Stocking fillers for six and seven year old boys Read More »
As a family we love York. It is only an hours drive for us and somewhere that we enjoy visiting and browsing. This past weekend was St Nicholas Fayre in York, which is billed as one of the most popular Christmas markets in the UK, with thousands of visitors coming to York over the four-day event.
We hadn’t been to York for a while, so thought that we would try and do some Christmas shopping at the Fayre and gave both the boys their pocket money and we set off with a challenge to try and buy presents for my mother in law and farther in law.
There is something about the festive season and the darker evenings and nights that cries out for a burning candle and these decorated pillar candles are so simple to make and look amazing and the secret is tissue paper.
I was delighted to hear the news that Princess Catherine and Price William are expecting there first child this afternoon, but after reading that she had actually been admitting to hospital with Hyperemesis gravidarum brought back so many memories for me.
Hyperemesis gravidarum or HG is a horrible affliction and thankfully not a common pregnancy condition. It affects up to three per cent of mums-to-be. But if you’re unlucky enough to suffer from HG, it is miserable and can be just hell. HG usually begins at between four weeks and seven weeks, easing off at between 14 weeks and 16 weeks of your pregnancy. In most cases, HG will end by the time you’re about 20 weeks pregnant. Unfortunately, for me and up to another 10 per cent and 20 per cent of sufferers, HG goes on to last for the whole pregnancy.
The hardest part for me was people kept offering me advise on ways to stop the sickness, including ginger, acupuncture eating little and often and every other morning sickness remedy out there and I just wanted to scream at them. I wasn’t suffering for morning sickness, i was suffering for every minute, every second sickness. I didn’t even get respite from being asleep as I would vomit in my sleep. I was being sick as much as 100 times a day and dry heaving in between.
Before I fell pregnant with Maxi I had suffered from a Molar pregnancy and so when I started vomiting excessively we were really concerned that I was having another one. I was admitted to hospital and given an urgent scan, put on fluids via a drip and my fluid outtake was monitored. Various medications were discussed, but both MadDad and myself were very anti medication as we had never managed to get full term with a pregnancy. My first admittance lasted three days and I was discharged once I could tolerate oral fluids.
Things went downhill pretty fast and I was readmitted within the week. This time is was clear that I needed to accept that some medication was essential. So we started on what was to be a week of trial and error to find one that actually stopped the sickness. I was very lucky and my obstetrician had been with us through the Molar pregnancy and didn’t skimp on trying all the meds. Some doctors are reluctant to try the more expensive medication such as ondansetron. Mine tried it, but it just didn’t work for me. In the end I needed cyclizine, but couldn’t keep it in orally, so here started the three times daily injection in my bottom that MadDad did for the remainder of my pregnancy and even then it didn’t stop all the sickness, it just made it more manageable.
I suffered terribly and find it really hard to put in to words the utter awfulness that both my pregnancies were. The only way I got through them was with the support of my wonderful husband and supportive GP and consultant. I thought I was dying, I felt dizzy all the time. It was as though I was suffering from permanent sea sickness. I was emotionally unstable and depressed. Being sick all the time does nothing for your hormonal balance. I was lacking in B vitamins.
It got to a point where I couldn’t even sleep in the same bed as MadDad as I couldn’t bear the bed moving or the smell of him. I couldn’t cook food and lived off rice and reheated mash and peas for months. The only relief I got was the hour of acupuncture I had twice a week and as soon as they took the needles out I felt terrible. I lived for these hours.
For one I am glad that I didn’t blog when I was expecting the boys as I was in a very dark place and the only thing that got me though was knowing that at the end I would have a baby.
So my hope is that Kate doesn’t suffer to badly and that her treatment is good, but I am thankful that she will have raised awareness of this terrible condition.
You are one of 7 billion humans on earth – the densest planet in a 4.6 billion year old solar system. You are in a galaxy spanning around 110,000 light years, in a universe containing an estimated 9 sextillion stars. With the right technology you could see over 142,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilometres into space. Humans have been practicing forms of astronomy for centuries, but the developments we have made from the 19th Century onwards have been particularly illuminating, and we now know more than ever before about the universe.
It’s no wonder that people are so fascinated with what lies beyond our humble planet. The most exciting part is that star gazing is now a pastime that is available to everybody with a desire to learn more about our solar system.
Not only is amateur astronomy a fascinating hobby, it’s also a great way to spend time with your kids and bring what they learn in school to life. To make stargazing a truly rewarding experience, you’ll need a telescope and a good place to spot the stars. While there are plenty of stargazing spots in the great outdoors, having your very own indoor observatory is even more convenient.
If you have a loft , this can be the perfect place to set up. Not only is it convenient to star gaze in the comfort of your own home, but it is also a good way to make the most of your loft and save it from becoming a dumping ground and a wasted space. It’s common for lofts to go unused, and this is one way to ensure you’re getting value out of every room in your house.
However, you might need to do some renovating to ensure it’s the perfect stargazing space you’re after. If you have a sky light, or are thinking about adding one for star gazing, it may help you to get more use out of your loft as an additional room during the day too. You might want to consider making it a bit more comfortable with some seats, a carpet and maybe even a lick of paint.
Budgeting for this project may take a bit of planning. Whether you save up to pay for your loft-turned-observatory, or look into whether a loan may help you cover the costs, it’s best to sort out the budget ahead of time.
In addition to stargazing among the comforts of your own home, you’ll probably have an Internet connection handy and can easily find out what you’re looking at. This will also allow you to check if there is anything particular to look out for that night. Sites like astronomy.co.uk are great for finding out what’s happening each night in theUK, and you get the satisfaction of understanding what you’re looking at and learning how to find different planets, stars and other phenomenon.
Some exciting sights to see from your loft over the rest of 2012 include a lunar eclipse in late November, Jupiter reaching its closest point to the Earth in early December and the Geminids Meteor Shower in mid-December. So, get your telescope at the ready and head up to the loft for some magical views of the night sky.
I have two boys aged six and seven who are hard task masters when in comes to toys. So we have put our heads together and products our list together. Some of these items I have received to review, some we have bought for the boys and others they have played with and lusted after
