I want to talk to you about a very special boy called Grayson. Grayson is just a few months older then my own toddler Oli. I've been following his mother's blog now for a while and have got to known lots about Grayson and have found out exactly why Grayson is a special little boy.

At 3 years of age he can still not walk or talk, his communicative skills are going to be a struggle and may never come, but physically although his body is weaker than you can imagine and his legs have little to no tone, it is possible Grayson could find a way to move.



Grayson unlike other boys such as my Oli does not get to enjoy going to the park or playing as he is not capable, his weeks are made up of hours of physiotherapy, this is where the trike will help him tremendously! You see the trike will allow him to strengthen his legs and core muscles whilst he is having fun like every other little boy and girl, he will be able to go to the park with his little sister, side by side on their trikes. He wont have to peddle as the special trike will do it for him.

He's a , which is the term given to children/adults have “a Syndrome without a Name” Grayson has brain damage, severe Global Developmental Delay and is physically and mentally disabled. He has a rare genetic condition that may never be found.

You probably won’t have heard of many children like Grayson who don’t have a diagnosis as they are rare, they are not publicised about as they don’t have a “fashionable” condition, this doesn’t make them less important or worthy of support and treatment but unfortunately more often than not this is what happens.

Grayson's mum Kara has found some fantastic support thanks to SWAN UK, they are a charity without any government funding set up by the Genetic Alliance to give families like Kara's support and a voice for their special babies. In the past 6 months they have helped her family and Grayson a great deal, supporting them with help/information, introducing them to families in the same situations, sending support/love in tough times and she says would be lost without them.

Kara has decided to do something to show her support and one way that to do that is to go about getting people's attention. She has a head full of hair, beautiful long brown hair which SHE IS GOING TO SHAVE OFF to help raise money for the following...

1. A 3rd will be donated to SWAN UK, as Kara has said, the support they have given her family as a whole this past 6 mths has been unmeasurable, she has found other parents who understand her day-to-day, who can help her fight through the hard times and smile with her on the good days. SWAN are completely reliant on donations and that’s she's chosen them to be her main charity.

2. The 2nd 3rd shall be given to Cerebra, Cerebra helps Children like Grayson with brain related injuries. Cerebra is a unique charity set up to help improve the lives of children with brain related conditions through research, education and directly supporting the children and their carers. They do not receive any help from the government and rely entirely on the generosity of their supporters.

3. Lastly the final 3rd of donations shall do something greatly important to them. They are fundraising for Grayson to have a TOMCAT trike. The trike estimated quote is £1800, this is more than she can afford on her own.

And if that's not enough, Kara is donating that hair to an amazing charity called The Little Princess Trust to makes wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer. I can not admire Kara enough for doing this, it is true that once you become a parent you would do anything for your children.

The day that Kara is having her hair shaved is being turned into a fun day - Grayson's Great Fun Day. Which brings me on to some of the ways you can help! If like me you just cant help but to want to help after reading his story and his mother's pledge to support these charities which have and are helping her so much.

• Firstly and the most simple, head over to Grayson’s Great Fun Day Virgin Money Page, where you can donate anything between £1-£1 million
• Secondly – They are running 2 raffles on the Funday, one for large prizes and one for smaller, if you feel you have something to offer please do contact Kara at any prize would be greatly appreciated and all donations shall be shared on various posts on my blog and receive the recognition they deserve. (If you've donated because you've seen a plea from me I would be more then happy to share about it via my blog, & page!)
• Thirdly – If you are in Kent, can you help them on the day? The event is being held in Bishopbourne, Canterbury on the 26th August 2012. They are on the look out for all types of entertainment and volunteers –
• Fourthly – help advertise this page on the NET, through your blog/website/twitter or Facebook, social media is an awesome way of getting info out.
• Lastly – Come join them on the day. If you want more details then feel free to email Kara –

We in this house love toys with bright colours and Lamaze certainly do that via the wide range of toys they sell. We've just made Dylan's very first toy a Lamaze snail which is rather colourful and crinkly, it's helping him on that road to eye and hand co-ordination. Lamaze have kindly given me one of there new products, the Lamaze Turtle Tunes to give away to one lucky reader. All you have to do is fill the rafflecopter form below.


For budding musicians and nature lovers, the Lamaze Turtle Tunes is bound to be a hit! Each touch-sensitive, colour-coded part of the shell of this colourful, plush cuddly toy plays a different note. Music scores are available, so as baby grows and develops, you can play along with favourite nursery songs. The four different music modes awaken auditory awareness while the bright, bold colours stimulate baby’s visual development.

Product Features:

Choose from 4 different music modes
Shell is coloured to coincide with song book
Touch sensors allow for easy activation
Song book included

Suitable for age 0-24 months.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I've not really touched on this subject before, I guess what with a pregnancy which kept me on my toes and then having Dylan come along it's not been something I've thought to blog about. Oli's speech has always been something of a issue since he started talking which was rather late but then I'm a believer that every child will do things in their own time. He did start to talk but words are not as clear as they can be, he's got much better over the last year and I do think pre-school has kinda helped but it didn't spark off as much as a improvement as we thought it might do.

One of the first things we did when we moved back to our local area was to get in contact with the local health visitor who said she would refer us to speech therapy as well as arrange a hearing test. Well we didn't hear back and then I got ill again with the pregnancy, everything just seemed so hectic that we just didn't get around to chasing them up. No letter ever came. It was only when a Health Visitor was here doing Dylan's first check up that she picked up on Oli and questioned us about it that suddenly within a couple of days we got letters with appointments.

I am looking forward to talking and working with a professional for Oli's speech though I cant help but to be nervous, which is confusing me. Why am I nervous? I know this is nothing to worry about and I've heard lots of stories about children who needed speech therapy to help them, my little brother was one of them. I know it's nothing I've done wrong either so I muddled to why I feel this way. Since the letters come through, we went to the hearing appointment and as I guessed his hearing was perfect but then I knew this and I know that the only problem is the speech.

I got tagged by the lovely Merry over at Patch Of Puddles who wanted me to share a picture which to me says childhood. Now I could of picked a photo of either of the boys or one of them together or even one of from when I was younger but I didn't, instead I chose a photo from my husband's childhood. Just recently his sister shared some photos from their childhood on facebook, some of him as baby, some rather embarrassing ones and some from his various birthday parties each year.

In West Africa children don't get birthday parties, they don't have cameras to catch those embarrassing moments and some children barely make it through childhood. I've already started to teach my toddler not to take things for granted, he may shout drink and within minutes he's sat with a glass of squash. Children on the other side of the world may shout drink but they wait longer then minutes until they receive one, much longer.



WorldVision have until the 30th August to make the most of their matched funding from DFID. Every single £1 will be doubled by the government. It’s a great time to donate some money and know it will go to funding long term projects that will rescue lost childhoods and put hope into the future of West Africa. We need to raise awareness and get people putting just a few pounds into that fund and make the most of the matched funding.

What you can do. Blog!

Find a picture that says childhood to you, from your childhood or your own kids and blog it. Add words about what childhood means to you if you wish.

Add it to the bloghop below and feature the bloghop code too if you wish.

Make sure you tell people about the matched funding opportunity at DFID and include the link

https://www.worldvision.org.uk/giving-forms/single-gifts/*/giftId/62/

We’re trying to double the impact, so tag two people to join in. You don’t have to wait to be tagged to join in though.

Tweet, Facebook share, Pinterest, G+ and use the hashtag #LostChildhood if you can.

All entries will be pinned to the and the best entries will feature on their blog too.

I'm tagging...

A Mother Ramblings

The Diary Of A Frugal Family

And 1 more means 4 and one more

Susan K Mann

Bringing Up Charlie

Today we said goodbye to Rex, Rex was our Giant African Land Snail which I got back in March 2009 from Freecycle. I remember seeing a ad one day from someone in the town next door saying that they were giving away a Giant African Snail and a tank. I was 8 months pregnant at the time and had no pets, I looked up snails online and saw that they were so simple to look after so I agreed to take it off her hands.

That was over 3 years ago and I guess that's why I'm a little sad, it may only be a snail but it's grown with Oli. Only last year he got too big for his original tank so I treated him to a new one. He from being the size of a penny to the size of my hand. It's rather sad that he's popped it now as they can grow to the size of your arm, that would of been fantastic to of seen.

Now I'm stuck with a snail corpse & not quite knowing what to with it. We've got no soil in the garden where we can bury him and we're moving again soon so no point in really doing that. I guess we need to bin him but I just cant bring myself to do that. We've already decided what we're going to do with the tank, Oli's going to pick a fish to put in it. Thankfully he doesn't really understand death at the moment and probably wont even notice Rex missing, so I don't have that as a issue to deal with. His biggest issue is trying to decide a name for his new fish.

I got sent a gunamuna gunapod when I was pregnant from the guys at Clothing at Tesco to review with Dylan for when he finally made his appearance. Now we've pretty much had good weather since he was born, thankfully the sun waited until I had given birth as I don't know if I could of coped with this sun and a pregnancy. My poor sister in law who's due to pop next month has pretty much spent the last couple of months sweltering and dealing with swollen feet. It's ok because apparently the weather is meant to change over this weekend, so we might be using more of our gunapod.

We got to use it the other day when we decided to take a trip to the park and the weather was a little breezy and Dylan just needed that extra layer. It's a soft 1.6 tog fleece so not quite as heavy as a 2.5 tog. He looked quite happy to be in and fell asleep wearing it, I found the fact I could open it up without waking him quite handy when I got him home as it was warmer indoors. I personally love how soft it feels and cant help but to give him extra cuddles when he's wearing it.

There's so many ways the gunapod can be worn, it's the first wearable blanket that does everything you need. You can unzip the bottom easily to change a nappy or to let the feet breathe, you can unsnap the top getting to his/top, you can remove the entire front so you don't have to wake them up to put it on. .

It's available online for £20.00 and comes in a choice of 3 colours - cream, brown & pink.

Last night whilst watching the Olympics something had a grip of me from the moment it started, it was like I was drunk on Britain. I really wasn't fussed about the Olympics, I know it's fantastic that we got picked as the host country and that so much hard work had gone into it but I just wasn't that interested. I don't know if it's because I'm not overly into watching sports but I wasn't planning on watching anything not even the opening ceremony. Of course my curiosity got the best of me and along with the rest of the UK, I switched it on. From the moment it started I was gripped, Danny Boyle had really truly done a amazing job. I had never felt so patriotic before, ok I was a little patriotic when watching the Queen's Jubilee shindig but last night had me wanting to stick a Union flag on a pole in my front garden. Gosh, the nostalgia of the maypole dancing had me thinking back to my childhood - see I'm not that young. Anyway I thought I would share my Olympic tweets timeline with you to show you exactly how I felt about the opening ceremony, scroll right to the bottom and work your way up to read them in order. I bowed out at about 11.15pm as I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore! Did you manage to watch it all?

Thank you for for your comment on my rude binmen post, I found it yesterday when approving comments for my blog. I usually approve all comments, even the rude ones because after all everyone is entitled to a opinion. Yours is one I didn't approve but instead I've decided to share it in a post. Which by the way, how am I doing so far with my grammar? Rather funny you commenting on a post where I talk about rude binmen, how about your comment being rude? I wouldn't stop you mid sentence to correct something you've just said?

You obviously don't know much about me if you took the time to leave a correction to my grammar as a comment instead of actually replying to the content of that blog post. Firstly, I'm a blogger not a write, you hear that? A BLOGGER NOT A WRITER. I'm not getting paid to sit and fill this with content, I've not got any qualifications behind me to say look I spent years and years perfecting my grammar and writing. I have a GCSE in English, that's about it. Secondly, I got better things to be doing then going through posts I write with a fine tooth comb. I do read over them, sometimes and I do spell check but at the end of the day I'm not out to impress anyone so I leave it how I write it.

I'll let you into a little secret, I actually hate writing. This whole putting words down, I'm not a fan of it. When I'm writing in this blog, I'm mainly doing it for myself. It's like a form of therapy sometimes, just jotting down my thoughts and random doings in this way. I'm going to carry on blogging the way I am, carry on making grammar and spelling mistakes and if you don't like it? Just don't read my blog, simple as that.

Gym equipment has a normal representative association with the healthy, fitness driven, lifestyle conscious professional aiming to keep in shape with the few remaining hours the home offers from the respite of working life. However, the very sobering fact that the most common cause of death amongst children 1-4 is through unintentional injury, requires us to always maintain a safety first policy for gym equipment at home.

Children have a natural inquisitiveness and it is unfortunate that the varying nooks and crannies of the gym have become an appealing magnet for children’s fingers as the danger from the heavy machinery can cause serious injuries through bumps and bruises of the weights and metal frames.

Severe tragic cases from 2009 include former boxing professional Mike Tyson whose little girl was found strangled by the chord of the treadmill, whilst damaged tendons and torn fingers are also recorded ill-fated cases. The treadmill has become a rising danger as reports of paediatric burns have increased in recent years from the fast moving surface and its popularity among home fitness users.

Securing the gym area with a lock and key is the preferred option for anyone who has the luxury of a separate gym room, but often the equipment is located in a more accessible area of the house. Whilst we are always vigilant with our children’s playtime it is sometimes unavoidable that a child might want to investigate the equipment.

Accidents are possible with the absence of a parent, but the following set of points should aim to widen our education for children’s protection from dangerous equipment.

§ Weights and heavy objects should not be active or placed on heights within the equipment set up but remain at the bottom when not in use.

§ Any open holes or gaps in the equipment should be covered and child proofed.

§ Cables and Chords should be tied, wrapped or secured away out of site.

§ Any purchase of a weight or running machine should include a protective barrier.

§ If there is no space to separate kids from machinery then make sure the safety keys are removed and with more modern equipment, take the magnet with you.

§ Install strict punishments and off limit s for approaching an area around the equipment in addition to a locked child barrier.

Thousands of cases each year record home negligence from gym equipment and child’s injuries but maintaining a vigilant and safe approach can reduce the level of injury.

Author Bio – James Barnett is an author on behalf of Powerhouse UK documenting researching family fitness and child protection.

Cass over at Frugal Family doesn't know how much she made me smile by posting about her son's fussy eating. Our toddler seems to have his ups & downs when it comes to eating and I suppose I could class this as fussy eating. A year ago he was at his worse and just didn't really seem to want to eat anything other then chips. Chips with tomato ketchup. I remember half the time giving in because the tears and all the upset was stressful for all of us. Putting any new foods in front of him was refused, he wouldn't even give anything a try. I tried all sorts of things, I didn't force feed or scream blue murder at him.

It's strange because when he was a baby being weaned, him took to all sorts of flavours be it jar food or homemade food. I remember when he gradually moved on to more solid food, he started to eat more less the same food as us. He would have things like enchiladas for lunch and curry for his tea. He adored spicy food and I guess this has stuck around as one of the foods he will eat these days are Spag Bols and Chilli with chilli's being his favourite dish. You would think this means he likes beef but put anything like a burger in front of him and you're greeted with a pointblank no.

Sometimes it seems to be a hit & miss too, like he will reach for garlic bread to go with his chilli and sometimes eat it. Other times when offered it reacts like we've just offered him a early bedtime or a day without toys. I was surprised the other day when treating him to a Greggs from town, he didn't want the pizza he usually has but when for his dads ham and cheese bake. It's like there's a little switch on him which when turned on will try new and different foods but when switched off, it's programmed to only want chips.

What made me smiles about Cass's approach is that she waited it out, Master Frugal came into his own and went after these new foods himself. I guess that's what Oli is started to slowly do with surprising me with trying new things. I know when it comes to children and just waiting it out can work. The day before Oli turned 2, he wanted a bottle of milk every night which meant me waking up to chuck him in a bottle. People thought I was crazy for accepting to do this but I knew this was what he wanted and needed and I knew that he would gradually stop. And he did, the very day before his 2nd Birthday he just slept through and then continued to do so every night since. He's even turned into a fantastic sleeper who will sleep from 7/8pm until 8/9am.

Cass's approach has made me feel confident about knowing that I'm doing the right thing at the moment by just finding food he will eat and not stressing over it. Mealtimes should be enjoyed not turned into a challenge.

Ok, so they know how to show the kids a good time too but of course they would - they produce some of the coolest toys around. When it comes to introducing kids to technology they seem to be ahead of the game, they've given us the Leaptop, Leapster Explorer and the LeapPad Explorer. All 3 of which my toddler owns seeing as they make great Birthday/Christmas presents. Helps to keep him off our iphones if he has his own gadgets. For me I think these kind of toys can be used so well for educational purposes at the same time as being fun.


We were invited to go along with some other parents *waves at Emma V, Emma B (yes 3 Emma's, including me!) Leanne, Kim & Gaby* to a LeapFrog event at the Museum of Childhood in London. This was both Dylan's first blogging event and trip to London, it was also our first time attempting to take two children this far without the comfort of the car. Of course I totally wimped out and made sure the man came with us so that I had a extra pair of hands. And what great hands they were, he helped to look after Dylan whilst me & Oli had lots of fun which is currently a secrets but we can say we had LOTS of fun with these secrets and we look forward to unveiling our fun in September.

They layed on a lovely snack table for us when we arrived, of course we were desperate for cold drinks after the whole pram/toddler tube experience. Typically of my child he went straight for the double chocolate cookies which were the size of his face. Rather embarrassing when all the other children had gone for the fruit. Cheers for that Oli darling. Lunch was fantastic and this is something which is great when it comes to mummy blogger events, after running around after children and trying to keep your cool when it comes to getting to and from events with little ones it's nice to have to worry about forking out on buying your own lunch or trying to find somewhere to have it. I really couldn't get enough of those chocolate brownie slicesduck wraps.

We were sent home with some goodie bags and what really made me smile is that even though it was Oli who was invited to the event, they had treated Dylan to a few goodies. They're top secret at the moment but I can show you the My Pal Scout which Dylan is already enjoying, I must take advantage of the personalisation option which allows me to add his name to it and change the music. They even gave us mummy's a treat from The White Company.


Oli's already started to pick out what he thinks him and Dylan should be getting for Christmas, the LeapFrog catalogue has become his new favourite read!

You can find LeapFrog over on where they hold lots of competitions and talk about all the new products yet to be released.

Thank you LeapFrog for a fantastic day out!



Disclosure : Our travel costs were covered as well as being provided with lunch and a goodie bag. This doesn't effect our opinion as we're already big fan of LeapFrog.

We thought we would let you know what we've been up too today whilst you've been hard at work.

Well we started off having breakfast in the garden, this was of course after waking up just before 10am. It seems your children have inherited your love of lie ins. The toddler played whilst me & the baby sat and had a feed. I think he enjoyed having his food outside too.

We then left the house for a random adventure with the toddler leading the way, baby went off to sleep. I think it's too hot for him as he's still asleep now though I'm sure he'll be awaking soon for a feed. Somehow we ended up at the park, no surprise there. Though we also went and saw the animals at Pets At Home as we usually do, I do think when we move we'll have to get him a fish. Sadly they don't sell clown fish, we did have a good look for that Nemo fish. We then went flower shopping at Homebase, Oli picked out a sunflower which has made me feel rather guilty for forgetting to plant one with him this year.

I promised him that we could get the paddling pool out when we got home, this enabled us to leave tear free from the park. Of course the pool came out, I may of drowned our kitchen floor in the process of filling it up. We really do need to invest in a hose. The sand table has also been lovingly abused today, we may have half our house now buried in. This will keep us entertained come the next BBQ. Which reminds me that I really should get it out to give it a good scrub though I do think this should be your job. Anything garden related should be serviced by you.

Of course it hasn't been all fun & games, I have done a few loads of washing this morning and have it all out and hanging. Some clothes have even been put away, I wont lie to you and say I've ironed any because the ironing board is still in it's wrapper, where it's been since you bought it for me several months ago. The house is spotless and I've even had a run around with the hoover. Though this time I was careful not run over any Jurassic Park extras.

I'm off to chase a naked toddler around the garden, have a fun evening at work.

When it comes to holiday time be it half term, inset days or as it is now - the summer holidays I turn into some miserable mother who does nothing but grumble - even more then I usually do. You see for me being a stay at home mum means I get to do stuff during the week, our fun times come on days when the big kids are at school. Life seems to be easier then when it comes to wanting to use soft play or go on days out. And by easier I mean less queues and places are not as busy enabling me to keep a better eye on the toddler and move about freely with him and the pram.

I know for Oli I only have another year left when he's not at pre-school to make the most of this and I guess this makes me a little sad, I know my view on holidays will change when it comes to him being at school as weekends and holidays will become our new time to do things together. It's been a strange week thinking of how this time next year, Oli will be saying goodbye to his pre-school teachers and saying hello to big school. I've read so many blog posts this week about how your children have been saying goodbye and having pre-school graduations, it seems that most of you couldn't hold back the tears. I know I'm going to be exactly the same, I still refuse to believe my toddler is a toddler. Though I have learnt to let go of him much more now that we have a new baby in our lives.

Guess at the moment I'm a bit of a bah humbug when it comes to the summer holidays, the though of taking Oli over to soft play makes me scream inside. It's going to be full of the bigger kids which Oli always wants to play with but they don't want to play with him, it's hard trying to explain that to a 3 year old. I know it would be a scrabble for me too trying to get a sit and finding somewhere to park the pram . I just hope the weather stays nice so we can do lots of things outside, though I am secretly hoping for a muddy day (reminder to self - get wellies!) so that me & Oli can go puddle splashing and get as messy as possible. It was only the other day when I was moving his wellies that I realized we hadn't actually done this yet, he must be the only 3 year old not of had that experience yet.

So our summer holidays are going to involve mostly me moaning, mud for Oli, avoiding soft play hell and hopefully maybe the odd picnic if the weather stays nice. Do you have fun plans?

How do you fancy getting your hands on the Peter Rabbit Library? The guys over at The Works have kindly given me one to give away.

I actually didn't know The Works were online until now, it's one of those shops we always pop into when in town and come away with either a new book or a toy.Or like the last time when we were just walking past and Oli discovered a basketful of Spiderman DVDs, at 99p each we came away with a couple.

Why not check out the other children's book collections available online? What I like about book sets like this is that they make great gifts. Take this Peter Rabbit library for example, it could make a great Christening gift for a small child to grow up with and read as they get older.

To enter the competition to win the Peter Rabbit Library just fill in the following...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We got sent the to try out with Oli. Now we've experience Mega Bloks before, when Oli was 1 he got a bag of the Bloks for Christmas to play with. Just before we received the Table I had put this bag away as I feared Oli had got too old for it as he seems to be more interested in smaller building blocks.

I did wonder how he would react to the table, but he was quite excited to see it. I guess it was the concept of it being a play table with bricks that got him wanting to play with it. I think the many possibilities that come on top of a child's already crazy imagination helped. It came with a car and a figure which could be wheeled around the track you can make, using the bricks he made a display around the circuit.


What I like about it is that it's available for little ones to play from the age of 1. But I think we'll be introducing Dylan to it earlier on by not having the legs up and using it as a floor toy. The Mega Bloks are fantastic for small hands and I guess that's why they were the first bloks that Oli started off with back when he was just 1.

When it comes to storing the Mega Bloks they simply go back into the table and the 4 main pieces are used as a lid. The legs fold back in allowing it to be slid easily underneath a bed, put into a cupboard or even under the sofa which is where ours is stored when not in use. The portability to it would even allow it to go places with you be it nannies house or even on holiday.

Mega Bloks can be found on both , and even on . We found this for sale but I'm sure you can find it at any good retailer where Mega Bloks are sold.

These pee caps actually make me giggle, I remember seeing them a couple of years ago and thinking how genius they are! Anyone who's dealt with changing a small boy's nappy knows the dangers of what comes with it. The moment that cold air gets to that tinky then you're faced with the prospect of a unwanted shower.

My youngest child seriously thinks it funny that I get to experience this, not his daddy - just me. It was alright at first but as he's getting older it seems that his aim seems to be getting much better. If you want to know what wee tastes like, trust me it's not nice. Yeah the delights of parenthood, huh. My worst experience of it as well as tasting it again was when we were holidaying a few weeks ago and I was just getting him ready for bed, when he decided to strike again. Not only did he get me and the clothes I was wearing soaked, he got himself soaked and the bed soaked.

Though as cute as those pee caps are I still don't think it will do the job, unless you're a ninja? The moment you whip that nappy off you need to be ready! I've certainly learnt my lesson and I have the next nappy at the ready, I do try slinging a baby wipe over it but that doesn't always work. Maybe I should wearing one of these hats when next doing a nappy change?

We're teaming up with Tesco's to celebrate it's amazing baby event which is currently going on in-store and online at Tesco.com until the 22nd July. You have the chance to win yourself a £100 Tesco Voucher that can be spent either in-store on online on all of your favorite baby essentials. To enter just fill in the easy instructions below, it's as simple as that.

Here's a little list with just some of the great offers available...

Everyday Essentials:

Huggies Super Dry Economy Packs Now Half price £4.99 (was £9.98)

All other Huggies nappies Now Up to 1/3 off

Pampers Active Fit and Baby Dry Jumbo Packs Now 2 for £20 (£12.99 each)

Selected Johnson’s Baby toiletries Now Buy One Get One Free

Johnson’s Gentle Cleansing/Extra Sensitive Baby Wipes 95p

Tesco Easy Fit Pants Carry Packs (Maxi/Extra Large) Now £2.66 (was £3.55)

Tesco Super Fit Carry Packs Now £3.66 (was £4.88)

Bigger Baby Items & Accessories:

Avent Microwave Steriliser Now Half price £12.72 (was £25.42)

Tommee Tippee Explora First Grown Up Cutlery Set Now Half price £2.49 (was £4.99)

Mamas & Papas Pushchair Package with Footmuff and Raincover Now £65

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I swear my binmen are just trying to make me go all crazy on them. The day after we moved in and was getting used to being back in our old town, I had a knock at the door. It was the binmen who then walked off to the end of my drive and pointed to where my bin was to go. They were just so very rude and in my gobsmacked state I didn't say a word, not like I could get one in anyway. We had barely had chance to unpack the kettle let alone find out what day was bin day. I'm surprised with being several months pregnant at the time that I didn't go all hormonal on them there and then. The man was very angry about the way they spoke to me, lets just say they're lucky he's at work when they come around.

Yesterday though they really did take the pee, we had that label pictured stuck to our bin. Being in a rush to get out the house with two little one and trying to get the train on time made us forget to put the bin out. No worries I though as I was on the train, my problem and I'll just have to wait a couple of weeks to have that recycling taken away or take it ourselves to the tip. What I didn't like seeing when I got home was this attached to my bin, the fact they had came all the way down my drive to open up the bin to see it had contents inside of it and then label it to say why it hadn't been taken. I KNOW why it had not been taken, I didn't need this rude reminder to say so. It's the fact they took the effort to walk all the way down my drive on my property to check and label it. They should of just ignored my bin and walked right on past my house, it's our fault we didn't put it out. Am cheesed off, why couldn't he of took that bin and chucked the waste then and then continue to label it. They know I have children, so of course we get through lots of recycling and rubbish. I still understand that it was my fault it didn't get collected but don't you think it cheeky that they walked all the way down my drive to give me this so called telling off?

Edited

over on twitter just made a rather good point, what if I was away on holiday and I hadn't arranged for someone to put my bin out? She's right, it would be a clear advertisement to show that someone wasn't at home.

Have to admit when I first saw the Britmums #ColourMeInRK competition sponsored by Kelloggs I just had to take part, firstly I like fun (who doesn't??!!) and secondly I'm not going to turn down the chance to owning another box of Rice Krispies. Me & the toddler go through them as quickly as the baby goes through nappies, yes that quickly. Oli was rather excited when our package arrived, they had kindly supplied us with a mega box of colouring utensils. He spent all of that morning getting to know all these colours and how they worked, we had fun whilst being educated at the same time. Of course the real fun came the next day when we got the paints out.


Now I've not got a single arty/crafty bone in my body, it goes alongside my non-gardening & non-cleaning skills. But apparently my son hasn't inherited my lack of creativity. At the same time as munching on some Rice Krispies, perfect snacking whilst painting though I had wish we made some krispy choco chip popsicles beforehand (another activity for a rainy day!) Oli decided he wanted to stick down his krispies to the box, genius I said to him - teaching him a new word at the same time. What a great idea, so after helping him stick down some Krispies to the box he painted over them using the colour guide I had set up for him underneath the Krispies that were stuck down.


Come bedtime everything was all dry, so we've stuck the packet of Kripsies back in it's newly designed box and took some photos. They may be glue on my son's face in the picture below, after all the real fun does happen at the same time as getting messy! though my carpet may not agree I think we may have to buy some more boxes to decorate and keep us entertained in the holidays, though I think in the meantime we may print out some of the activity sheets to colour in. Don't worry if you've not got a printer, it gives you the fun of colouring in a picture online which comes to life once you've finished and have hit the 'finish and play' button.