Family Wellness Mama

So, the big day has been and gone and we're bubble and squeaking our way through the last of the Christmas leftovers. The little mans room resembles Toys R us' shop floor after a busy Saturday and I can't even look at another mince pie. Sitting here, three days later, drinking Baileys and eating Chocolates with no idea what day it is. I can look back on the past week with a fondness that is typical of Stage 5. I have come to the conclusion that, for parents, there are not 12 days but 5 stages of Christmas: Stage 1 - Annoyance  Leaves have barely begun to fall from the trees outside when most shops are erecting their Christmas Trees inside. Much premature excitement from the little ones follows and you'll spend the next few months reminding them that advent calendars don't have 100 windows for a reason. Stage 2 - Panic Yes, the shops have been banging on about  it for months but you didn't realise it was this close! Stage 2 panic usually  peak

Getting stuck in at a playcentre When I first stepped foot into a children's play centre a few years ago I thought I'd walked into a zoo. A zoo filled with children out of their minds on sugar. The music was booming and the place smelt of dirty nappies and greasy food.  The children were climbing over each other inside ball filled containment areas or running headlong into cushioned walls. The strobe lighting gave me a headache and the couple next to me were having a heated debate about an episode of Jeremy Kyle. Despite all of this, the little man loved the place and since then we've spent at least one afternoon a month in a play centre. Over the years my feelings towards play centres have changed. Maybe my senses have been dulled because of repeated exposure or maybe it's because the first play centre we visited was on the more 'scary' end of the spectrum. But, I'm now able to enjoy our time at the play centre almost as much as the little man. H

Mummy's favourite! So, the advent calendars are open and Christmas time is officially upon us. Although the stores have been trying to win me over since Halloween; now that it's officially here I've decided to well and truly embrace the festivities.  It's only two days in and we've taken the little man to two Grottoes and a Christmas Fair. The tree is up and we've started work on a home made Christmas snow globe!  I'm also feeling a tiny bit smug about the fact that I'm three quarters of the way through the Christmas shopping. If you're not in the Christmas spirit yet, I hope our Grotto snaps below will help get you in the mood. Commuting bears Could Penguins replace the Liver Birds? The little man was shocked to discover that the walls weren't real Sleepy bears

Have you seen a matching scarf and gloves? Missing since September. So. I've come to the conclusion that - for children - hats, scarves and gloves sets are the worst winter investment ever! This glove is thought to have survived a visit from the glove munchers My son has an exceptional talent: at least once a week he manages to come home from school minus a glove or scarf. The hats are usually safe on his head; though he did exceed expectations this week by losing his jacket too Name tags make no difference either. *The magical glove munching fairies at school actually seem quite partial to a tag or two. I think it's high time coat manufacturers cottoned on (geddit) to a niche in the market and built in, irremovable , hat, scarf and gloves sets! The search continues for this fella's colorful  companion  But, for now I'm at my wits end. We're only a few months in to the school year and the little man has lost three gloves, two

So, it's been seven days now and the wounds have almost healed. Well, enough for me to finally talk about it... Last Sunday, after a wonderful family afternoon at nanny's house. We returned home to a scene of horror. Our beloved hamster, Shay Shay Bombay, was dead! Not only was she dead but, she had died in a most spectacular way. Shay Shay had come over all dramatic and dragged her little hamster house to the ground floor of her tiny metal condo. She then removed the roof of the little house and sprawled out on the upturned roof to die. Since we had all bustled into the little man's room together. It would have been impossible to hide it from him and, as I try to be as honest a parent as possible, I wouldn't have wanted to lie. However, I wish we'd had a little more time to prepare ourselves. I was actually crying when I broke the news about our fluffy friend who wasn't, as she appeared, sleeping. Even Daddy was choked up! Shay Shay had been  the wo

Check out our very own Pudsey coat hanger, designed and decorated by the little man... We'll be auctioning it to the highest bidder at nanny's house on Sunday. If you would like to donate to children in need, please follow this  link

So, the October half term decided to, very helpfully, fall the very week before I got paid.  It was my week off with the little man and I was keen to make it a fun one; though we were on a budget.  One of our most memorable days out during the holidays was also one of the cheapest, I kid you not, and the little man still hasn’t stopped talking about it. We had an actual full day of fun family adventure for under £20! Our journey started at the Albert dock ferry terminal where we bought our tickets and were pleasantly surprised to find out that Mersey Travel were running a half term promotion. Three attractions for the price of one: Ferry ride, Spaceport and the U-boat Story. We hopped aboard the ferry and sat outside on the top deck to listen to some fascinating facts about Liverpool. Our first port of call was Seacombe Ferry Terminal for Spaceport . Spaceport was a two minute walk from the terminal and the helpful signs led the way. Once inside

So, we tried our hands at baking gingerbread men, women and children yesterday..... Not quite to the standards of the picture on the  recipe  but a good start. Plus, they we're easy to make and tasted delicious -- even the crispy ones! If you liked this, you might also like: Here's one we made earlier... Look who we found at the park Here's one we made earlier... Mr Robot Face Not so Incy Wincy And an interesting post on another site: Udderly all about milk

(Manuel Pizza Face) So up until a few months ago Wednesdays were the turning point in our week: The laundry had began to pile up, work and school had worn us out, and there was a whole 2 days to go until the weekend! Sick of our midweek energy dip and being too tired to talk on a Friday; I had a long hard think... I decided to change the way we handle our Wednesday evenings so that we would have more energy to get through the rest of the week.  Now every  Wednesday we do things a lot differently; since I'm the latest one home, as soon as my foot is through the door I swap my work shoes for my wellies and we go outside for a family adventure. By the time we return home, our tummies are rumbling so we prepare a fun family meal (see Manuel pizza face above). We then spend the rest of the night Colouring or playing make-believe with the little man before it's time for bed. Once he's tucked away for the night, my partner and I have a good old clean before settling dow

(picture A.B.C cinema, derelict interior  philld ) The 12 A cinema rating baffles me, over the past year almost every movie we've  been to see - as a family or just us parents - have been rated 12A's. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 12A, it is a rating given to Cinema films  by the  bbfc . According to their site, it is the parent's responsibility to asses whether a film is suitable for a child under the age of 12 before they've seen the movie, as I said baffling. Now the thing that confuses me is the monumental difference in content of films rated 12A. Earlier this year we took the little man to see a 12A film. It was family friendly and fun with likable characters and a lighthearted theme. Last week however, my partner and I went to see a 12A film, thankfully without the little man. The film had a dark twisted story-line, regular scenes with blood and violence as well as steamy romance. There were a lot of young children in the audience who yel

It's that time of year and we've been busy carving our super spooky pumpkins...

The little man and I made this delicious Toblerone cheesecake over the weekend. the recipe was given to me by a colleague and it tasted so scrumptious that I thought I'd share it with you guys. Toblerone Cheesecake INGREDIENTS: Base 200g Chocolate digestives /12-13 100g Butter The Filling 300g   Cream Cheese (Ricotta) 200g Whipping Cream 200g Toblerone Method 1. Crush digestive and melt butter in pan. Once melted add together and mix. 2. Place the base mixture in a spring frame cake tin (approx 8 inches) and press down until firm 3. Melt Toblerone in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. 4. Empty cheese into large bowl and beat until smooth. Lightly whisk cream until almost stiff and add to cheese. 5. Add melted Toblerone to mixture and mix well (light brown). 6. Pour mixture onto base, smoothing out. Bang cake tin on solid surface to ensure mixture settles. 7.   Refrigerate for 2-3 hours then add chocolate to top (I ad

Competitive mummying is a trend  I've noticed a over the past six years.Whenever we come into contact with mothers who have children of a similar age to our own, the feelers come out- It starts innocently enough when we're pregnant... Bump Comparison   Size, waddle and bump holding; all things we note as we pass other mums-to-be in the supermarket aisles. Some mums have been known to compare morning sickness too. The Birth   People love a good birth story, the more drama the better. Thanks to our strained National Health Service (another blog another time maybe) not many disappoint. The moment the words 'I did it all without so much as an asprin'' are uttered, the competitive mummy dragon rears its ugly head and it's downhill from there. Sleep   We mums love nothing more than being first to announce to the world that our little darling has 'SLEPT RIGHT THROUGH!' Though this is absolutely fantastic news for the parent, spare

We went to the park on this lovely autumn day... and look who we found in the pond... Meet Miggy the frog! Miggy squirted us when we caught her... Miggy's tummy was swolen, is she pregnant or warding off predators?... We also found Kidis the newt..... Kidis was very small and fast, he ran off our hands and back into the pond before we could have a proper look at him!   And this cheeky chappy........ Climbed up the nearest tree and threw nuts at our heads! *All pond creatures were given adopted names by the little man and returned to the pond after we'd had a good look at them :-) If you liked this you might also like: Here's one we made earlier.... Mr Robot Face! Not so Incy Wincy Back from our hols! Gay pride

                                                         ( picture by  Taylor Dawn Fortune  ) So the little man and I were chatting at the breakfast table the other morning when quite abruptly he asked.  “Mummy we’re do babies come from?” after choking on a mouthful of cereal, I recovered myself quickly enough to reply.  “Well a mummy and daddy wish very hard for a baby and then the baby grows in the mummy’s tummy until it’s ready to come out. Then the doctor helps the mummy to get the baby out at the hospital.”  “Oh, is that what the mark is on your tummy?”  “Yes, that’s exactly what the scar is” I said, thanking god for my emergency c - section. Though I was pleased to have avoided ‘babygate’ relatively unscathed, I couldn't help wondering whether the little white lie I told would come back to haunt me. Santa, the Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy and the magic baby bringing stalk are all acceptable tales in most family households.  Yet I do wonder if we shou

So last month I wasn't having the luckiest of times with my bank account.  M y account was hacked, I had a transaction go wrong and encountered a backwards cash machine which gobbled up my card and took my money too!    As a result I had to cancel my card three times, leaving me with no bank card for an  entire month. What I had viewed as an extremely annoying inconvenience has turned out to be a blessing in disguise.   Not having instant access to my money helped me to pace my spending and ensured that I only took out only the money I needed. If   I had to purchase something I hadn't planned for during the week,    I would need to go to the bank to withdraw the money and I soon realised it wasn't always worth the trip.   By the time my card arrived I had saved a considerable amount of money and was keen to find more money saving ideas to help improve family finances ... Here are my top five tips for saving money……. 1)     Ditch the plastic Pa

We made a boat using a mushroom tub, a straw, paper, string and a weight from daddy for the anchor.... The 'sinky sinky'  boat has already set sail on it's maiden vogage around the bathroom sink! :-) If you liked this you might also like: mr robot face Not sure if the two are compatible.... Fun with mum time Not so Incy Wincy Did Usain really create the lightning bolt

(photo:  http://www.fotopedia.com/items/soleils-leDiP-gHnWQ ) So I was watching my son having his swimming lesson the other day and I got talking to another mum. Her son had recently started reception class and she was in a state of shock.  She found it preposterous that she was not allowed to call the school to find out if her son had settled and was further astounded that she would have to discover what her son had eaten for lunch by asking him. This is no high maintenance mother dear reader, merely another victim of Triple S Syndrome. S tarted S chool S hocker Not many parents are prepared for the monumental transition from nursery to school. Yes, the children adjust after about a day, happy as clams with their new classmates they skip into school. But what about us? Parents whose children have attended nurseries have long been accustomed to having their every need, whim and demand met by their child's care providers. The lovely young ladies at your

(Photo http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-454444086 ) My son was at a party last week and I was rather shocked to see that not one single parent had a camera out to capture the special day.  When the birthday boy blew out his candles there wasn't a flash in sight, not even the child's parents dared risk a photo.  Has the world gone mad? we as a society are now so unbelievably off our heads on Child Protection that parent's are scared to take pictures of their own children in public! It is not illegal to take a photo of a child in public yet public pools, play groups and parks have us all believing it is. I understand that our children should be kept safe from harm but the effects of our overprotective society are already being felt. More children than ever are obese in the UK today and fewer than one in ten children play outdoors.  When will the overreacting end? There has and always will be danger in our society, but there are better ways to keep