REVIEW: KIDS TSHIRTS

So a fab Company called KIDS TSHIRTS www.kidstshirts.biz sent me 4 tshirts,

one for each of the boys so that i could review them:

 

 

 

 

The Tshirts looked lovely as you can see from the above picture, the blue tshirts were very vibrant and eye catching. All of the sizes were a good fit and i had asked for sizes that were relevant to their age group. The older 2 boys came in sizes small and extra small so i was sightly worried that they wouldn't be a good fit but they looked great!

 

 

 

 

 

Danny had a dark red with a mustard coloured lightening bolt, he loved it as he said it was just like his favourite boy wizard would wear!!

 

 

 

 Taylor loved his penguin print one and insisted on walking around like a penguin for an hour after putting it on!

 

 Jack did exactly as he was told with his, fell asleep and gave cuddles!

 

Sonny wasn't in the best of moods for picture taking due to teething but he looked lovely in his 'Keep Calm and Rock On' print tshirt.

 

 

 

 

The designs that are printed on the tshirts are great quality as are the actual tshirts, and they are brilliant value for money and are in the sale for £7.99 each at the moment with free uk delivery.

 

I have a bit of a 'thing' for anything in the keep calm print so these tshirts were always going to be a bit of a winner but i can honestly say they really are fab quality and great value. As a mum that bins t-shirts on a daily basis due to stains and general wear and tear i was very pleased that these washed/dried and ironed well and still looked brand new! Well Done www.kidstshirts.biz

 

 

 

 

School Run Etiquette...

Hello again,

Lets talk about school run etiquette because frankly, i have none.

In the space of time since Danny started in reception last September i have gone from full hair and make up, best clothes only to pyjamas, slippers and hair net. Alright not quite that drastic but give it time, he's only in year 1.

So here it is, these days i have to choose which is more important:

*Giving the boys the breakfast they choose  VERSUS  Straightening my hair

*Feeding the baby VERSUS finding a well matched outfit

*Making and drinking a desperately needed coffee VERSUS applying make up

* Convincing the boys they need to wear coats in the hammering rain VERSUS brushing my teeth

I know, sounds drastic doesn't it, but let me tell you that it should be an Olympic event getting 4 boys (2 babies and the other 2 completely unwilling) Fed, washed, dressed and to school on time. OK, i probably manage the on time bit about twice a week although we are never so late that the school day has started.

It doesn't help that i don't have a set breakfast routine, I would rather feed the boys what they want for breakfast (within reason) and know that they will not be hungry, than try and get them to eat what i want them to and then they be hungry during the day. This results in me making cheese on toast for breakfast more than once a week. Whilst we are on the breakfast subject, who made the rule that the 2 boys that are old enough to choose must never have the same breakfast. I mean if one of them accidentally wants the same as their brother, they will go out of their way to change their minds so that Mummy  (who clearly has too easy a time in the morning) has to make separate breakfasts every single day.

Lets make a confession, once whilst i was 8 months pregnant with Sonny (number 3) i wore my pyjamas with a tracksuit over the top on the school run just because it meant approximately 68 seconds less time taken to get back into bed once i got home.

Only last week i wore my husbands clothes for the school run because Jack threw up over me around 3 seconds before we were due to leave. Picture this, Men's jeans, a men's jacket and body warmer with hair scraped back into a greasy ponytail. I came straight home, showered and changed but the mums at the school gates wouldn't have known that.

So basically the moral of the story is, If you see a mum at the school gates who possibly doesn't look their best, don't judge. They could have been literally running around like a mad woman all morning and not had time for themselves. Trust me, its not down to laziness that i look like a tramp most mornings and i know that some of you will say to get up earlier (but then that would be those of you that don't have a 3 month old baby)

I used to be really hung up on looking my best for the school run but as long as Taylor chooses cheese on toast then i choose a greasy ponytail!!!


Yummy or Slummy  Which one are you?...

I have never known guilt like it...

In my first ever post I mentioned that fact that I had verged on Post Natal Depression. That was the first that a lot of my friends and family knew about it, and for that I want to say sorry. I didn't really want to talk about things much (I know, unusual for me)!! I felt that if I admitted it, if i said it out loud then that would be admitting failure. I felt the most immense guilt at the fact that I was struggling, I mean I have desperately wanted children for as long as I can remember, so I was obviously failing at being a good mum because I was struggling, right??

How wrong I was. Looking back now I know that and understand how I came to get so low so here are my tips;

Do Not: Undertake major construction work on your home during pregnancy (particularly in the last trimester)

Do Not: After being admitted to hospital after suffering from a suspected stroke (see previous post), try to continue like nothing has happened. It was obviously a warning that I was running on empty.

Do: Talk, Talk, Talk. Admit how you are feeling, to your Dr, Health visitor, Partner, mum, family, friends: anyone that you feel comfortable talking to. Saying it out loud helps you to realise what is realistic and what isn't.

Do: Trust your instinct. I will go into this more at a later date but Jack was very poorly and I let a Dr's opinion (although I knew it was wrong) affect the way I made decisions and knocked my confidence in my ability to do the best for my children.

And a few, here's to you's..... I want to say thank you to all of the people that kept me from going under, from completely losing the plot and feeling like a complete failure.

To You: The man who stands by my side, for better or worse. You are the best Daddy and Husband that a family could wish for. I know that if you had not been by my side for the last 6 months then I would not be feeling as fantastic as I am today- Thank You

To You- The little boys who have the brightest eyes, the cheekiest smiles and the most beautiful hearts. You make my life everything I've ever dreamed of- Thank You

To You: The person who was at the end of a phone, night and day. Who cooked for us and cleaned for us. Was by my side for most of my lowest moments and has loved me unconditionally for the last 31 years- Thank You

To You- The 3 who looked after the boys in the run up to Christmas so I could catch up with everything needed for the boys to have a fab time, who came with me to the Dr's to fight for help for Jack when I felt I was losing the fight.- Thank You

To You- Who helped ease the financial burden of complications caused by the construction work.- Thank You

To You- Who did all of my Christmas food shopping the week before Xmas when Jack was in hospital and we didn't know if he would be out in time for us to have a christmas. For running here there and everywhere to help look after the other boys- Thank You

To You- my Plymouth friend that sent me the pink card with a poodle on, you literally made so much difference in 2 sentences- Thank You

To all of you: that have helped clean, paint and decorate and get our house straight after all of the work had been done, so that we could have a peaceful family home again, who have looked after the boys or even offered to- Thank You

To You: who picked the boys up from my house and took them to school and the same the other way round at the end of the day. Who was always there at the end of the phone/text/whatsapp/fb/twitter-Thank you

And Lastly: To anyone who said I was doing a good job, who asked how I was, who realised that something wasn't 100% and cared- Thank You

I am truly blessed to have you all in mine and my family's lives. If you feel that I have missed you out in this post then you are wrong, I know what you have all done for me and I will never forget it.

If you see that someone is struggling, are concerned that someone isn't their usual self or think that something may be up Please do not ignore them or judge. offer a helping hand, an ear or even a cake! You will never know how much of a difference you could make!!!

38 Weeks Pregnant, They Thought I'd Had A Stroke!!

So, my 3rd pregnancy was a bit of a surprise. Sonny was only 7 months old and although we were trying to decide whether to have a 4th child some time in the future it seemed that the decision had already been made! It took me almost a month to come to terms with the fact that i was pregnant again for the 3rd time in 4 years and that in less than a year we would be parents to 4 children aged 5 and under.

Fast forward to 38 weeks of a very straightforward pregnancy and a Sunday morning. I woke up feeling fabulous and full of energy and started on a mission to cook lots of meals to freeze ready for Leigh's paternity leave period.

I needed to go to the supermarket for a few supplies and got ready to leave when i started to feel unwell, my left eye couldn't focus and i could feel the start of a headache so Leigh offered to go to the supermarket. Once Leigh had gone i started to feel a lot worse and knew that something wasn't quite right. I got pins and needles in my face and a numbness of my hands and fingers, all of which was only of the left side of my body.  I felt very unwell and began to panic so i called my mum and she told me to call Leigh and tell him to come home. Leigh arrived home and i tried to explain to him what had been happening and he had a very confused look on his face. Leigh was insistent on dialling 999 and i couldn't understand why but to be honest i wasn't really aware of what was going on at this point. I would later learn that my speech was very slurred, although i wasn't aware of it at the time. An ambulance arrived at the same time as the emergency paramedic vehicle, so i had 2 paramedics dealing with me whilst the 3rd helped Leigh get our other boys into the dining room and away from the situation. I had to do a lot of exercises like touching my own nose and following finger movements with my eyes and these were repeated numerous times over the next few days. I had my blood pressure taken and when it was through the roof the decision was taken to get me into hospital. I spent the next few hours with various Dr's, neurological and obstetric and at around 2pm i started having labour pains. I was sent for a CT scan (hilarious having contractions in a lift full of people and then whilst having to lay still under the CT Scanner) but thankfully the scan came back clear. I was then admitted to the maternity ward where it seemed that the baby may be on his way. 9 hours later when the pains were no closer together and only marginally stronger i convinced my mum and Leigh that they should go home, they would need some sleep should things progress and that the boys would need to see their daddy having watched mummy being taken away in an ambulance. Once they had gone home the Dr decided that we needed to see if i was going to be having a baby anytime soon, and found that i wasn't dilated at all. I decided to take some painkillers and try to get some sleep. I woke the next morning and everything had stopped although i had convinced myself that after 12 hours of pains that the baby wouldn't stay where he was for more than another few days (little did i know that he wouldn't make his grand entrance for almost another 4 weeks).

I was discharged the following morning to the care of the Stroke Team at the hospital as an outpatient. I have to say that the care i received was amazing, even if i did hold the Dr that told me i wasn't in labour personally responsible haha...
The stroke team arranged an MRI scan of my brain and thankfully they found one! but on a serious note they didn't find any bleeding or signs of abnormality. The Dr decided that i was possibly suffering from a type of migraine that mimics the symptoms of a stroke and that although very scary didn't cause any lasting damage. I have had a few episodes since but painkillers, a lay down and sometimes sleep help the symptoms ease quickly. I think its very important to recognise the signs of a stroke using the F.A.S.T rule:

FACIAL weakness: Can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped?
ARM weakness: Can the person raise both arms?
SPEECH problems: Can the person speak clearly and understand what you say?
TIME to call 999.

for further info see http://www.stroke.org.uk/

Hello and welcome to my very first blog post. This one is a bit of an introduction and if it bores you to death then this blog probably isnt for you! I am going to give you a quick run over our family history to bring you up to speed and then we will go from there, so here goes;

1999: Joined the Royal Navy
2000: Met Leigh (My fantastic, all enduring husband)
2002: Married Him!
2003: Diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and told probably infertile. (Also left Royal Navy)
2007: Adopted my 1st Son
2008: Gave birth to 2nd Son (and also moved across the country)
2011: Gave Birth to 3rd Son
2012: Gave Birth to 4th Son and verged on the edge of postnatal depression for a bit, not 100% sure that im fully recovered but working on it

2013: Decided to start a blog and here we are.....

Obviously lots of things happened in the months and years between these key dates but these are the things that have shaped my life so thought it only fair that they get their own post for now.

I am a stay at home mum and i love almost every minute of it, some minutes of it seem longer than others but i get through on a wing and a prayer! I have been called many things along the way, mental, crazy and a baby machine (rich really, seeing as i thought my machinery was bust).

Do Not Ask me if we will keep trying for a girl, it makes it sound as if my boys are 2nd prize and they are aything but!!

Going to leave it there for now.

oh, i intended for this blog to be a bit funny so let me tell you what son 2 said to me today. Mum, how come your belly is still fat even though the baby came out ages ago!! heee'bloody'larious