31/08/2010

The Gallery: #Blogadesh


This weeks theme for the gallery at sticky fingers is One day (the 29th to be precise) in August to bring attention and raise awareness of the fact that three great Mummy bloggers Josie,Sian and Eva have travelled to Bangladesh to help Save the Children with their amazing work.

The brief is to use any photo that you took on the 29th of August.

So here is mine. It's not arty or sophisticated, the camera work lacks skill but it basically sums up a lazy Sunday in my house, Monty and Lenny lolling about and Blossom kicking away on her play mat. I look at this photo and realise how lucky my children are, hell even how lucky my dog is! My children are fed, watered, clothed and happy. My dog is walked and if I am being honest a little tubby. All are healthy.



I have heard grumblings this week of the state that our country is in and yet we still send aid to crisis ridden countries. Anyone who thinks like this needs to have a long hard think.

If you are ill we have the NHS in this country.
If you are hungry there are many charities and support agencies that will do their best to make sure your welfare is improved.
If you are in poverty we can to some degree rely on our welfare state to do something.

A lot of people have it so much worse. We have been lucky to have been born here not there.

Think about it.

Diet what diet? Whoops.


This week I have not excercised other than some big beefy walks with the twin stroller.

Oh and I appear to have forgotten I am on a diet. I keep eating things and then remembering that I am not supposed to be eating things like that.  You know, cake! If I am honest I am finding it hard to be good while breastfeeding, I'm good all day and by the evening I need comfort food.

So not a good stroll back to shape week for me but next week I endeavor to do better.

29/08/2010

A superhero party and a decorated cell

Last week we had a party for Monty to celebrate having kept him alive for 3 whole years his 3rd birthday.
The theme was superheroes, as you can see from the picture,lil legs was a rather cute Sportacus from Lazytown. He desperately wanted his Daddy to be Sportacus too, as did the Gorgeous Husband as he is unhealthily OBSESSED with Lazytown let me tell you. But they don't do them in grown lanky fella size so we had to make do with this outfit


Yes (snigger) Daddy was Superman!

We hired the local hellhole sportcentre for two hours where mini people dressed as Spiderman, Batman, Buzz Lightyear, Stormtroopers,Ben 10 , Indiana Jones and  about five kids dressed as Superman went mental played virtuously and wholesomely on a bouncy castle and assorted highly flammable plastic toys.

This was all well and good but then we came to the eating part. The sport centre had provided a cell the size of a gob of spit small but perfectly formed function room. They failed to mention that the room next to ours was holding a Chav Wedding classy affair where people smoked fags celebrated the nuptials of two barely legal fresh faced individuals.

Oh well at least there was cake!





Monty certainly enjoyed the cake and his sister had a Buzz Lightyear dress which someone kept calling a bib

I know, cute right?

Incidentally Parklife Cakery baked the cake. But on the day  I passed it off as my own handywork (as you do.)

Our house.

I look at my babies and pinch myself.

I am in awe of everything they do. I cannot believe I have produced such wonderful beings.

I hate the speed at which it is passing and want to pause this moment forever.

As a Mum of one everything is the next stage, the next development.

As a Mum of two everything is happening too quickly and I want my babies to stay babies. I don't want the next stage yet as I want to savour the current one.

With Monty's babyhood I was determined to maintain a sense of balance and order. In Blossom's I relish the chaos and breastfeed in my sleep!

Three years ago today we moved into this house and filled it with boxes and a tiny twelve day old baby. (And a big dog!)

Three years later it's just filled with love.


Ahem. Well and a whole load of other stuff, but, y'know.

26/08/2010

Last week it was shorties birthday


We were having a party for Monty the Saturday after his birthday (the Tuesday) so wanted to keep his actual day really simple, just a picnic, cake, scoot along the seafront and not much else.

It rained, just drizzled initially.

My family are so British when it comes to summertime, carry on regardless and all that.

So I Just slung on a coat and set out the picnic  in the drizzle. The drizzle became rain and my poor little Nan just dutifully put on her cagoule. My Grandad put on what I can only describe as a dodgy Tommy Hilfiger fleece ( the fake kind that you buy from the market with a shirt with Kelvin Cline emblazoned across it) I started to laugh hysterically until My Mum informed me it was not even my Grandad's fleece but her soon to be Husbands. Whoops.We sat and ate in the rain.

Then I noticed there was snot on my trench coat. A long silvery line of snail trail courtesy of lil legs.

Then Blossom sharted over herself. And  me. I literally had shit all over my top.

Monty opened his presents and we packed up the picnic and literally flung everything into the car and drove to the closest soft play place we could find.Monty was none the wiser and just thought it was all part of the treat. He ran rings around my Grandad and exhausted my Mum. All good stuff.

The gorgeous Husband saw his Sergeant with his kids, and I joined in with the chitchat.

It was only afterwards I remembered the shit all over my top.

Oh. Bloody hell.



This was the day after his birthday. There was no rain the day after. Typical.

25/08/2010

New wheels!

As I mentioned here I have been using a new double stroller generously given to me by Maclaren.

I push a Phil and Teds sport with the double system, and my other buggy is a bugaboo. So I guess I am a tough crowd as both buggies I already own are great in the most part.

But I have to say I am so impressed.

Good
I like the fact it is so light in comparison to the Phil and Teds.t fits in the boot easily (if it makes any odds I drive a Mercedes A class where the boot is small.)
I like the double storage, this gets lost with my Phil and Teds as the storage becomes the foot well.
The hoods are a decent size and have an added rain canopy.
The raincover is excellent and folds small. Therefore not taking up all your under buggy storage space.
The pockets on the back of the hood are great for storing phone and keys and the drink holders hold both my water bottle and Mo's cup with grabbing reach.
I can virtually fold and unfold it one handed with Blossom on my hip! Hurrah!
The hinges have been covered posing no worries to tiny fingers.
It is reasonably priced by comparision to most doubles at just over £220-£270 depending where you buy.
It steers beautifully for a side by side.

Bad
It doesn't do curbs well, I have to get all my weight behind it to tilt it.
The two seperate handles as opposed to a handle bar can make one handed pushing hard.

To be honest I really dont think any double buggy is going to be easy peasy, it is double the weight and width. I have got this one wedged in my front door where I just left it for the gorgeous husband to deal with when he got home!!! But that is not a bad reflection of the Maclaren I just live in a narrow victorian house with silly sized doorways!

This buggy has really changed my mind on strollers, I have to admit to being a stoller snob before but I've had such an easy ride with this that I am contemplating putting the Phil and Teds in the loft!

So THANKYOU Maclaren!

Losing pounds (and I don't mean money!)

I want rid of my baby weight.

It doesn't suit me, some women suit being bigger, more cuddIey, they glow with bigger boobs and have an hourglass shape. Not me - my face looks like it should have two postcodes and my tummy leaves a lot to be desired.  That coupled with normal sized arms and legs I cut a rather odd looking figure at the moment. Kind of an apple (fruit not the brand!) version of Mr Potato Head.

I was lucky enough to be sent a double stroller by Maclaren in exchange for blogging my journey back to shape. The idea is I exercise with the buggy and fit exercise into my everyday life.

 I started my journey here .I've got to be honest it's really hard! My difficulty is keeping the kids happy in the buggy while I try to exercise. They love breezing along during an epic power walk and I love walking too. But the stress sweats from the small people shouting shouting every time we stop is frankly a bit annoying.

Maybe I need to time exercise around nap time and give Mo a muffin?

Anyway something is obviously working as I have lost 3lb and am now under the 11stone mark which was a huge deal for me.

So I'll keep bombing around, and watching what I eat as it's obviously working and I'll report back!

Oh and I will be reviewing the double stroller soon too. I am very impressed with it!

24/08/2010

How to prevent a head that is shaped like a box?

When Monty was Blossoms age his head was box shaped. I am not exaggerating, it was due to the fact that he did little, him being one of those babies that was in no rush to get, well, doing. He just lay on his back, sat in his chair, screamed on his front or toppled over when  I attempted to sit him up. Obviously he ended up doing all of these things he just liked to keep me on the gin my toes!

So with all the arduous lying on his back he developed what between my Mum and i became as affectionately known as 'slap head' due to the back of his bonce having the appearance of being slapped (just for the record I did not slap him, nor did my Mum and baby slapping is not something I am making a joke out of.)

So when  I was offered the theraline baby pillow to review I thought we'd give it a go as I am a vain Mummy and did not much like my boy having a box shaped head.

She has been using it for months now, and has never shown signs of slap or box headiness!

Other than square bonce prevention it also claims that it
  •  keeps babies head in an ideal sleep position
  • allows head to turn
  • free circulation of air allows baby to breath easily
  • supports rapid correction of deformities
It is machine washable and costs less than £20, to check out their other items go to http://www.theraline-shop.co.uk/

Personally I think it did what was required of it successfully and would be money well spent if your childs head was severely deformed from lying on their back.



Many thanks to theraline for use of the cute baby image.

16/08/2010

Three years ago

'


Three years ago I looked like this!
Three years ago  I woke at 6am with 'period pains.
Three years ago I ignored them.
Three years ago I had 'a show.'
Three years ago I ignored that also.
Three years ago I got up and made a picnic.
Three years ago I went to a picnic on Hove seafront with all of my Husbands colleagues thinking that braxton hicks really bloody hurt.
Three years ago I walked around that picnic holding my back and unable to sit down.
Three years ago I paced up and down to the toilets thinking I probably just needed a dump!
Three years ago my Husbands colleagues kept asking him 'if Mrs M was alright?'
Three years ago I convinced myself that there was no way I was in labour at 38 weeks as the flat was in boxes and we were waiting for the sale  to go through and move into our house and it would all be perfect and......oh.....ouch.....


Three years ago I was wrong!

And  this little fella came to say hi



Monty will be three tomorrow.

I think he will anyway, if you ask him he says 'I think I'm probably gonna be three?'

07/08/2010

The foods the thing

Blossom is five months old and it will soon be time to start weaning.

Its been two and a half years since I weaned Monty and things have changed. Baby Led Weaning was something I read about when I was pregnant with him and was very popular in Brighton where he was born. I thought it was a fantastic idea. Then we moved when he was a few weeks old and I kind of forgot about it and went along my merry puree way thinking I was  Annabel Karmel in converse.  I just kind of went the route that the Health Visitors guided at the weaning talk. He loved his food and progressed to lumps and finger food in a matter of months so it never really was an issue.

He's not so good with his grub now though, but I guess it is hard to eat a meal when you can't breath out of your nose. I have no idea how he survives on so little calories but that is another post entirely!

So this is a post for pleading for advice. Books you can recommend, personal experience, top tips, great websites etc. Hit me with the good stuff please as I am in a bit of a quandary. I like the idea of BLW but I am concerned about the initial stages, getting enough protein into her before she can really chew. I know that food under one is just for fun and breast milk will largely be enough for her. Can you do a combination of the puree way and the just giving her what we are eating for her to discover or is that the silliest thing you have ever heard? Does that defeat the whole object?

See what I mean? Help mucho appreciated!

05/08/2010

The one where I become less of a fatty?

Blossom is five months old and  despite losing a stone I am still not happy with the amount of baby weight I seem to be clinging onto.

So I intend to do something about it.

Unfortunately for me it is going to involve eating less and moving more. But still consuming enough to breastfeed. Yes people this means cutting out chocolate. And cake.  (I am sobbing as I type.)

I know. YUCK!

Luckily for me I have the support of Maclaren who have given me a twin stroller to review whilst using their stroll back to shape programme

By blogging about it I hope that will give me the incentive and the willpower to succeed. The alternative is public humiliation. And we all know that I have had enough public humiliation in my ickle life (see my urinating on stage post)

So,  target weight is 9stone. No time limit but before Monty and Blossom go to university would be just grand.

Wish me luck people! Oh and Nudie Princess if the next time I see you you flaunt cake at me. That is just mean ok?