Reasons to be Cheerful...1,2,3, Josh, Dan and Trinity

I'm joining in with the Mummy from the heart's R2BC blog hop this week. Each of my children have given me something to be cheerful about...

1. Joshua has worked so hard all week on his homeschool work. He has pretty much completed everything I have set for him everyday this week with minimum fuss and I don't think he has had any school work related meltdowns - which is brilliant! His handwriting has also shown amazing improvement this week. I'm not bothered what his handwriting looks like per se, but it is usually a good indicator of how well he is coping in other areas of his life. Probably sounds a bit weird - but we have tried and tested it several times when he has been receiving occupational therapy sessions vs when he has not and the difference is totally incredible.


2. Daniel, our very own brilliant Chef, has been busy practising his 'cheffing' skills this week in preparation for tomorrow - complete with bossy head chef attitude (but it is really cute at the same time). He is in the live final of a cookery contest tomorrow and I really hope I don't let him down. I am his 'helper' but I'm a complete disaster area in the kitchen.


3. After yesterday morning's scare - I just feel so thankful that Trinity was ok and the problem so quickly resolved.

So these are my reasons to be cheerful this week, what are yours?

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Would you know what to do?

I had a horrible little scare this morning with baby Trinity. After her morning breastfeed, I sat her upright on my lap and noticed she was turning a shade of purpley-blue. I realised she was not able to breathe. I guess a gunky throat combined with her milk had blocked her airway. One of the things that is so scary about choking is that, contrary to what I had imagined previously, it is silent. She wasn't coughing or making a noise - she was just silently turning blue.

Immediately, I was just about to turn her onto her front, head downwards and start to give back blows to clear the blockage but thankfully her body's own gag reflex kicked in and she brought up all the gunk and milk all over herself and me!

I was so relieved that I couldn't care less about all the clearing up I'd have to do.

Although I am by no means any kind of expert and actually am not even sure how much I can remember, it made me realise that the past first aid training I had done had sunk in sufficiently at some level to help me know what I had to do. I have always wondered how much I would remember (and I always hope that I will never need to find out) in a real emergency situation - but our little scare this morning made me realise that it is so important for parents to know the basics.

It is definitely worth getting yourself booked onto a First aid course. It often doesn't cost very much and at the end of the day, it is worth spending that money if it means the difference between being able to help your child in an emergency situation and not knowing what to do.

In the meantime, there are also resources available online that are worth taking a look at. We regularly practice fire drills with our children and we have taught them how to put an adult into recovery position. We also practice how to phone the emergency services for help. I truly hope and pray that they will never have to use that knowledge for real but if they ever do, I hope that having had a practice will make it that bit easier for them to do it.

I know that St John's Ambulance do an app that can be downloaded and The Red Cross have online videos and resources to help you learn the basics.

Don't wait - just equip yourself with a few basics including what to do if a child is choking, basic CPR and things like burns and bleeds. Make sure that you would know what to do!

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Dear Santa...

 

Dear Santa NorthernMum.com,



 

We heard that you were going to make somebody's wish come true this Christmas with your fantastic competition to win Next vouchers for the perfect Christmas outfit.

 

The boys were busy writing out their Christmas wishes in secret yesterday and, totally independent of each other, this is what they came up with...

Joshua's Christmas wish



Daniel's Christmas wish

 

So Santa may be able to help with the Wii part if we are extremely lucky, and although you may not be able to guarantee any snow for us, our perfect Christmas outfits from Next would involve preparing us for snow as we believe wishes can come true!

 

Let's be clear... the boys are REALLY hoping for snow - this is what they have been drawing today!

"OMG! Snow already!"

Daniel's snowman (strangely wearing a pirate's hat!)

So much snow, we'll need a digger to make the snowman!

 

Ok, now onto the outfits. Being extremely technologically challenged, but very keen to give this a go, I have Pinned our family's wishlist Next wardrobe onto Pinterest here. I have also, on Pinterest, added explanations about why we have chosen the items.

 

I'm going to pick out a few of my favourite items here to give you a flavour. There are LOADS more ideas we have pinned on Pinterest so these really are just a few:

 

This Christmas is going to be a really special one because it will be the first time ever that all five cousins on the Beesley side of the family will spend Christmas day together, so I couldn't resist but to include an outfit for each of my lovely nieces.

Cousin Amber (aged 7) would look amazing in this dress.

Cousin Erin (aged 5) would love these cute shoes!

As the boys have lived on hand-me-down clothes from a dear friend of ours, I have never had the opportunity to shop for clothes for them, so I have made the most of this 'virtual window shopping' to pick out some outfits that will make them scream with delight!

Joshua (8) and Daniel (6) would each get a pair of these Angry Birds gloves, for the snowball fights they are wishing for!

Although I do now have the excuse to shop for cute girls' clothes, I find that in reality I rarely get the time with the boys being home-schooled (and Josh having major sensory overload and meltdowns at the thought of going anywhere near a shop!). So I have also really enjoyed picking out an outfit for baby Trinity, too.

 

There probably won't be many Christmases where I can get away with dressing baby Trinity (8 months) in cute novelty Christmas outfits, so I'm going to make the most of it for her first Christmas.

Having recently bought his first new pair of pyjamas in years, we have discovered that Daddy looks great in purple pyjamas... so we think he would also look fabulous in this purple shirt.

New shirt for Daddy.

And as for me, I think this coat would look amazing with the rest of the outfit I have chosen...


Great looking coat for mummy?

...BUT when has a mother ever been able to put herself first? So I have opted for a coat (this would be my first new coat in twelve years!) that is more suitable for playing in the snow.

Practical, but still stylish!

So here's hoping for a snow-filled (and clothes-filled) Christmas, otherwise Trinity might just be wearing her birthday suit and getting chilly in the snow.

Baby you can leave your hat on!

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An Amazing Advent!

As my boys keep reminding me, it isn't long until Christmas. In this family, we each have a chocolate Advent Calendar to help count down the days - one little treat each day...

This advent, Pushchair Trader are going one better. Rather than giving away little chocolates, they are preparing themselves for one of the biggest giveaways this year. Over the 24 days of Advent, they are giving away over £13,000 worth of pushchairs and car seats, all from top nursery brands including Mima, Britax, Phil & Teds and more!

Starting on 1 December, each competition will run for seven days with the winner being announced on the eighth day. Some lucky people will even get a call on Christmas day to be told they have won - what a great Christmas present!

Entering the competitions is free, and can be done through the Pushchair Trader website.

Good luck!

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Absolutely no spill cup!

Well, I think we found the Holy Grail! No, not the Indiana Jones movie... but every parent's quest - the 'No Spill Cup' that actually doesn't spill!

We've tried similar types of cup before for our boys when they first moved from bottles to cups, but there always seemed to be a leak. Well, this offering from Nuby does exactly what it says on the packaging - it doesn't spill or leak.

The Nuby First Cup we tried with Trinity has proved a hit - she loves being able to hold it herself with the chunky handles so much that she won't let go when she finishes her drink. The cup comes with a cup spout, which has a seal so baby has to suck to get the drink out (but only a tiny sip gets the drink - we've also had no-spill cups before that were impossible to get to work... and yes, mummy and daddy had to try and failed back then!) The Nuby cup also comes with a teat, which is interchangable with the spout, to help the transition from bottle to cup more easily.

It has graduated fill lines, too, so you can easily see how much baby is drinking - important if they are still on milk.

The neck is also quite wide, making cleaning that little bit easier. And, of course, it is fully sterilisable (although we couldn't find that on the outer packaging, it is on the leaflet inside).

The other big plus is that it is really intuitive and easy to put together. Because the 'valve' is part of the actual spout, there are no fiddly bits to put together. That's a really big plus point on those bleary-eyed mornings when baby has kept you awake most the night!

Trinity loves this cup as it makes it easier for her to drink without needing anyone to help her... we love it because it is easy to fill, clean, and use and it really doesn't leak!

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Toyologist Review: HexBUG Scarab

Review by The Beesley Buzz.

The Scarab is one of the many HexBUG toys available and I have to say it is GREAT fun!

The fairly large six-legged insect-like robot can run pretty fast across a room or table, and looks just like a real bug would as it scurries along. It has proven to be robust, too, having survived both falling off the table and being picked up by a curious baby old! And it can even flip itself over so never gets stuck on its back.

Six-year old Daniel says, "It's fun. And it tickles if it runs while you are holding it!"

Dad says, "It's not at all what I expected - but it is great fun, and provided a lot of entertainment, as you can see from the smiles in the video!"

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Shadow puppets

Joshua made a T-rex. Look at those fierce teeth!

Mondays seem to be a good day for homeschooling. It is probably due to both me and the kids feeling relaxed and refreshed from the weekend and ready to make a start on the week ahead. Well whatever, the reason, I'm not going to complain - We just try to make the most of it on good days!

The boys whizzed through all their 'folder' work today so quickly that we even had time to make shadow puppets. So simple, yet such fun! The boys were able to plan out their puppet, draw it, cut it out and then attach the sticks.

Daniel made a sea monster...

We talked about how shadows are made. Light. Transparent / Translucent / Opaque. How the sun casts shadows. And why mummy's mermaid on acetate didn't work anywhere near as well as Josh and Daniel's shadow puppets.

Trinity also loved watching as she was mesmerised by watching the puppet shows the boys did with their puppets.

This is a great activity to remember for a rainy day. Apart from being great fun to do, it also costs next to nothing.

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#Healing4Kerry

Being new to the world of blogging, we have only recently become aware of a fellow blogger who is really unwell and despite not knowing very much about the situation, we want to join in prayer this evening to pray for healing for Kerry from multiple mummy.

Having had some positive news this week from another friend who has been critically ill - I am holding on to the power of prayer.

If you are not the praying type, then please join in by sending positive thoughts.

These tragic circumstances could happen to any of us at anytime and if it was me or my loved ones I would want to know that as many people as possible were standing with us in prayer or positive thoughts....

So from all of us here, we pray for full healing and recovery for you Kerry!

xxx

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Toyologist Review: Pokemon Pokedex

Review by The Beesley Buzz.

One word: WOW! That is what our six-year-old son gasped when he saw the Pokemon Pokedex. It has been on his wish list for a long time, so it was a dream come true when he was handed his very own.

The Pokedex is an electronic gadget (it needs 3 AAA batteries, not included with the product) to help your Pokemon fan learn more about the different Pokemon characters, and to test their knowledge.

There are two main options to help with this. The Pokedex option takes you into a database of all the Pokemon characters, where you can learn about their evolution, type, height, and weight. You can also search for a particular Pokemon by name, or by size or type.

The second option are the Trainer Challenges. These are a series of games to test your Pokemon knowledge, including naming the Pokemon, working out which of two Pokemon has the advantage, which doesn't belong in a set, and a general quiz. I think the idea is to help your young Pokemon fans learn more about the characters, but in this house, our six-year-old took the opportunity to test Daddy... before declaring that I knew nothing!

You can change the contrast and the volume of the music / sound, and the unit is very easy to use with just four self-explanatory buttons. The screen shows only a few words at a time, making it easy for small eyes to read clearly.

The only downside is that the screen is not backlit, so the text dissappears quickly in poor light or if it is too bright, although adding a back-light would obviously increase the cost and battery consumption.

All in all, this would make a great gift for any Pokemon fan. Ours hasn't put it down since it arrived!

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Summer memories - Joshua at the Produced in Kent final

Photo courtesy of Produced in Kent

 I have spent the evening tidying up my emails and came across this photo of Joshua from the Summer. He had made a 'picture' from vegetables that had been produced locally and was lucky enough to be selected as a finalist.

Here are the shorlisted entries that went through to the live final.

I remember being so nervous for Joshua that day. He had confidently produced his original picture entirely unaided but that was at home i.e. in familiar surroundings with only his family around him.

How would he cope in unfamiliar surroundings with a load of strangers around???? We have seen all too often that our dear Joshua can so easily reach meltdown when things are not familiar as we have blogged about before.

I needn't have been nervous because on this occassion, Josh did amazingly well. He just focused on the task he needed to do. He completed it in mega-quick time and again worked completely unaided whereas some of the other finalists needed support from their teachers / parents for the fiddly bits of cutting the vegetables etc.

Here's the Produced in Kent gallery showing pictures from the live final. Joshua got the Silver medal.

Needless to say we were SO very proud of him - not just for his silver medal but because we knew just what a big acheivement it was for him to 'hold it together' on the day. Well done Josh!

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Bath time Baby

 

 

Trinity has always loved her baths, right from that very first bath she had when she was a few days old. She seems to love the water and really kicks her legs and feet to make big splashes in the water. Sometimes I wonder if she is deliberately trying to get mum and dad soaked wet!!!

 

For many months, just being in the bath seemed to be exciting enough for her. But as babies grow bigger and washing them starts to take a bit longer, it is always great to have some bath toys to play with in the bath.

 

So when Nuby sent us these fantastic bathtime toys to try out, all three of the kids were keen to get in the bath!

 

 

 

 

The Nuby bathtime 'Bath Letters and Numbers' contain all 26 letters of the alphabet and the numbers 0-9. They are made from foam and stick to the bath tub and tiles once wet. These are a great way for preschoolers to learn their letters and numbers whilst having lots of fun (which, let's face it, is what learning should be about!)

 

The Nuby 'Squid Squirter' packaging describes it as having "super squirt action" and you can take it from a very wet mummy and daddy that promise proved true! So just a word of warning, if you don't want the whole bathroom (and you) to get soaked, then you might want to ensure this is used in a very gentle controlled manner because otherwise the water really squirts out fast and far!

 

On the other hand, you could wait for a warm summer day and include this in your outdoor water play and let the kids go wild with it without fearing for your poor bathroom getting too wet.

 

 

I couldn't get over just how great these brightly coloured letters looked in the bath tub. Both products are brightly coloured and really great fun to play with. They would make a brilliant gift for a young child for Christmas as an alternative to the usual toys, games or clothes.

Nuby have also recently revamed their website and it looks amazing and is so much easier to navigate and find the products you are looking for. Why don't you pop over and take a look!

 

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Baby number three: We all love Trinity sooo much

It is way past my bedtime. Trin will probably wake shortly for a night feed as she has started doing again (I know, I know, bad habit to get into but don't feel ready to face any sort of controlled crying just yet), but couldn't let the day be over without saying just how much we all love Trinity and how lovely it is having her around. She always has the sweetest smiles, the cheekiest grins, and the giggliest giggles and is just such a happy baby.

Yes it sounds soppy and twee but I don't care. To think that a few years ago we were not even sure if we were going to have a third baby, and now it feels like she has been here forever. She seems to have a magic that is infectious and makes everyone around her happy. I remember when we went on the tube trains in London where nobody normally speaks to each other or smiles, in our carriage there were so many people smiling at Trin and commenting how lovely she was.

I can't get over how smitten the boys are with her. I thought that the novelty of wanting to 'hold the baby' would wear off but 7 months on, here they are always asking "mummy, can I cuddle Trin".

I especially love it that however cross and angry Joshua gets with the rest of us, he always only has gentleness, smiles and oodles of love for Trinity. It is just so special.

And as for Daniel, I have never heard of a more original excuse for staying up late and not getting to bed as he is stroking Trin's head and talking baby language to her, I tell him to get to bed. He replies "but it is not my fault that Trinity is soooo cute. It's God's fault for making her so cute!"

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Tots 100 CenterParcs family challenge: Meet The Dragon Defeater!

Meet The Dragon Defeater...

 

A waterslide like no other, the Dragon Defeater promises you the ride of a lifetime. It feels like you are actually riding on a dragon. The most enthralling and exciting waterslide that a LEGO person has ever dared to ride on...Watch this amazing video and see for yourself...

So now you have seen our waterslide ride in action, here's how we came up with the idea. CenterParcs and Tots 100 certainly made sure it was a family effort for us as we were all involved with coming up with various ideas and scribbled them onto paper as our 'blueprint' from which to then make our model.

First up, Daniel's BIG idea - He thought it would feel amazing to actually fly on a dragon. And if you survive it - you defeat the Dragon. Hence our overall concept and name of our waterslide became "The Dragon Defeater".

So once you climb up ready to start the waterslide ride, entry had to be into the dragon's mouth, naturally...

Next came Joshua's rather bizarre dream. He had only a few nights before dreamt about a waterslide which included a 'jump' in it - so that idea went into the mix...

And here's how that translated into our model...

Phew - he made it over the jump! There is also a big plunge pool underneath for those who don't quite make the jump. Oh and before you set the health and safety police onto us, we let our imaginations go wild for this ride and would not ever actually be making this ride for real!

So just to really add to the dragon effect, as the rider makes the jump, pyrotechnics would go off either side of him triggered by sensors.

Throughout the other amazing twists, turns, tunnels and curves, the flow of water would be lit up with red and orange lights making it look like a 'River of Fire' being breathed by the dragon.

Joshua thought of that idea, inspired by a candle light bulb he has.

Daddy loves the idea of huge whirlpool-style funnels and inspired by the new Tropical Cyclone ride at Center Parcs Elveden Forest, we had to include our very own version...

Of course you will need a huge plunge pool to splash into after the funnel. This will give such a huge splash that you will finally fully defeat the dragon as no dragon could keep breathing fire with so much water splashing up and extinguishing it's 'flames'.

Here was the construction stage well underway...

and the final (huge) waterslide... (you will need to see the video near the start of this post to fully appreciate the size as scale of this beast as it wouldn't all fit in a photo very neatly)....

So do you dare to ride it? Will you Defeat the Dragon? We hope you enjoyed your ride on the amazing Dragon Defeater waterslide.



Each month for the next 10 months, CenterParcs are going to be challenging bloggers to complete a fun task with their family. This month's challenge certainly was good fun! So this is our entry into the Tots100 Let your imagination flow with Center Parcs design-a-waterslide challenge.

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Are you Savooing yet?

Okay, a while ago I asked you the question, Do yoo Savoo? Savoo.co.uk is the place to find the best deals and voucher codes for pretty much anything you are planning to buy.

Before you place that order, it is worth just popping over to Savoo and taking a quick peek to see if they have a deal that will save you money on that order.

And now they have another reason to start keeping an eye on those deals and telling your friends about them....Just by sharing one of their exclusive deals on either facebook or twitter, you could win £500. How amazing would that be! It really would be like Christmas come early. Click here to find out more or follow Savoo on their facebook page.

If you don't Savoo yet, pop over now and start making the most of those fab deals whilst you are doing your Christmas shopping.

There are some pretty amazing exclusive deals on there right now*...

like this one...Exclusive £10 Off £20 Spend at THE BODY SHOP. Now you can afford to treat yourself as well as buying a nice Christmas gift!

and this one...Exclusive 10% Off Orders Over £90 at Boots. I know I wish I had checked any Boots offers before I stocked up on those baby essentials before baby Trinity's arrival.

So what are you waiting for...off you go and check out some of those amazing deals for yourself and don't forget to share them with your friends to be in with a chance of winning that fantastic £500 prize!


*We have tried to ensure all info is correct at time of posting but make sure you check the offers at time of purchase.

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Dying for the loo

Yesterday, 19th November 2012 was World Toilet Day, and like everything else in my life at the moment, I am running behind so this post is a day late, I'm afraid.

I have pinched that title "Dying for the loo" from something I read a few years ago that opened my eyes to something I previously had little awareness of. The full article is well worth a read and can be found here.

The statistics seem to have improved since then, instead of killing 5,000 - 6,000 children a day, lack of sanitation kills only around 2,000 children a day. Hello? Did you hear me? ONLY 2,000 children per day! How can we stand by and let this happen! That is 2,000 children too many who are losing their lives each and every day from something that should and could be prevented.

Now statistics are not my strong point and in all honesty whenever I see numbers my brain kind of panics and switches off (something to do with bad memories of maths tests at school no doubt!). So whenever I see shocking statistics like these I need to take a moment to translate those numbers into something that I understand and makes it a bit more real rather than just a number.

So for example....

When I hear that every year, around 60 million children are born into homes without access to sanitation (wateraid), I need to tell myself that that is like almost all of the population of the UK not having access to sanitation.

When I read that around 700,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation, I need to tell myself that is pretty much the equivalent of the population of San Francisco dying each year.

When I realise that diarrhoea kills more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined, all of a sudden I realise that something we consider as a pretty minor illness, becomes a anyting but a minor illness in areas of the world where there is a lack of proper sanitation.

Would we stand by and let that happen to children if it was happening here? Add your voice...

Visit Wateraid.

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Reasons to be cheerful...getting through a busy week

 

Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) It was Daddy's busiest week of the year. There were some very long days, and lots of hard work but he made it through this week (and so did we!).

2) Having a fab Granny to step in and help out so much (otherwise I may not have coped this week as there were a lot of clashes with the boys clubs / timetables and I could not have managed to be in two places at once without Granny's help). She also helped out a lot last week during our sickness bug - so she really is an amazing Granny!

3) I have had a few lovely competition wins this week that have made me really happy. I know this one will make me sound really 'materialistic' but I really am not, it is more what that represents to me. My 'comping' time in the evenings is my way of escaping from having to home-school and look after the kids all day and it is also my way of contributing to the household as I had to give up working in order to be able to homeschool the boys. So I was really delighted to win a £30 voucher to spend at Big Blue Cuddle from a giveaway at BlogbyBaby as not only do they sell some lovely items but your purchase also goes towards charities that they make a contribution to. It really is a great idea. I also won a months supply of Kelly's ice cream as a runner-up in their pudding recipe competition. I won the party pieces facebook photo competition - which is really nice because I am generally rubbish at taking photos, and I was totally shocked to be one of the winners in the Britmums/Aunt Bessie's recipe challenge.

Would you believe that I had actually tried to make a decision to cut back on competition entries this week and then this happens!

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Ask Her Friends Review

Hi, it's Richard here. And I've been on a secret mission to find a perfect gift for Becky with a little help from AskHerFriends.

AskHerFriends is a great concept. Designed for husbands, boyfriends, partners, brothers... in fact, men in general, to help them find the ideal gift for the woman in their life.

Registering with the site was pretty simple. There was an explanation of the steps right at the top, but lots more information about why this was a good idea further down. I know why this is a good idea already - I can't buy decent presents for my wife and any help I can get is welcome!

They have a fabulous "Ideas map" tool where, with just a few clicks, I was invited to answer some questions to help the site narrow down the list of choices for me to choose from. This wasn't entirely simple - the questions were simple, and the answers were right there on the screen, but I honestly couldn't answer all of them! No problem, though, as the site seems to know better than me and accepted that as a mere man, I couldn't possibly know and it carried on regardless. Phew!

After I gave a price guide, it gave me a list of possible options. The next step was very easy - click to add it to the short list, or click that she wouldn't like it. This was a very quick process, and gave a good range of possible options. Once you have a selection of gift ideas selected, you can go ahead and ask her friends.

The alternative, which I also tried, is to go through the catalogue and browse by category and/or price. There are loads of gift ideas on there, including many I would never have thought of myself! Bijou, unique and personalised gifts abound, and there was no shortage of imagination on offer. There are ideas for all price brackets, too, so this should suit every pocket. The problem with browsing the catalogue is that it all becomes a bit too much! Again, very easy to add things to a short-list, but very difficult to know what my beautiful wife might like as a present to start with!

 

Whilst browsing the site, here are the pick of my favourites* (not necessarily for Becky - as her gift is to remain top secret until it arrives!):

 

Under £10:

 Chocolate Scrabble

 

 

£10-£30:

Karlsson Pictogram Rainbox Wall Clock

 

 

£30-£60:

 Nancy Dee Black Brooke Dress

 

 

 

On to the real benefit of the site - asking her friends! There are a number of ways of doing this, from sending emails direct from the site to her friends, connecting via Facebook, sending a link direct, or even sending a rather cryptic message to the lady in question to ask her to forward to her friends. I'm not sure how well that would work for a secret gift. I chose the Facebook option and we were off.

 

Friends being asked to help have a simple way of giving feedback - rate each thing on the short-list (of up to 10 ideas) from 0 - 5. If they wish, they can add comments to any of the products, or a comment overall, and click send. Add their name, and it's done. All the feedback is then put together for the hapless male to look at and decide which one it will be.

 

 So, no excuse for more socks this Christmas (although some rather fancy socks are available from the site if that is what your lady would like), AskHerFriends and see what they think of your gift ideas!

 

Do check back for the second part of the review to find out what Becky's surprise gift is once it arrives.

 

The Beesley Buzz was asked to review the AskHerFriends website and they are kindly providing the chosen gift. However, all the opinions given in this review are my own.

*note: we have endeavoured to check that prices correct at time of publishing but please check the price at time of purchase.

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