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please ignore me I'm trying something out!!

Overtired

The tiredness you feel when you haven't slept even though you need to sleep and was not helped by :

1) working out in head what needs to be done in work the following day!!
2) going to bed late - would it been better if I'd gone to sleep earlier?
3) being kicked in the back from 5 onwards and then having demands of downstairs from Car who came into bed again

This is the tiredness I felt this morning and that I still feel now - I try and relax and am fine for a bit but I just don't know - I then get all sicky feeling , have a headache which feels like I've drunk the bar dry (I haven't) and get all grumpy and assy.

The kids are in bed, short and sweet tonight, Neb is in Welsh and I'm turning this off and going to try and relax!!

BNM

Great Minds Think alike

I'm really busy this week but did manage to have some great ideas about blogposts except it seems that everyone else has got there first:

I was going to post about whether using social networking to inform everyone about labour progression was going too much. A freind of mine gave birth yesterday (eventually) and her husband had been facebooking everything. Well everything up to a point, we hadn't heard anything since Saturday night and we were all getting worried as she had started labour and stopped again once already! Do you think he should have shared labour? Would it have been better if they had waited and just announced the birth.
But not going to post this because Me, The Man and The Baby has just posted something similar but about Twitter.

I was also going to post a pizza recipe with pictures but it seems that Frugalicious Food has posted a recipe (and hers has children involved!).

I was going to post about losing followers but it seems I have gained three new ones, thank you peeps! And I'm in no way getting a big head about this so you'll not have to worry.

So as you can see, great minds think alike and my mind hurts from work yesterday so better go and do some breakfast for the girls so can go to work again today!!!

See you soon

BNM

Knickertastic

Yes, I think we're cracking it. Potty training that is.

At last, I don't have to put up with screaming child who doesn't want to sit on the potty. For the last two weeks and with praise, "lots of clever girls", "well done" and no bribes (there's me worried that we would have to resort to chocolate) we have managed to let her have naked time on potty (no nappy)  on what started every night and then went on to every day after nursery up to the point where Friday I went to buy some knickers:

So Car is now the proud owner of some Fifi the flowertot knickers:

 which when I gave them to her made her very excited and we had lots of squealing and happiness!!

So yesterday and so far today we have had a knicker day only. No nappy and only potty, she has even been so good as to go on the big toilet before her bath . So my quandary is now do I put her back in a nappy to go to nursery tomorrow or do I risk the knicker approach!!


BNM


PS It seems that my excited post last week about reaching 100 followers was too early because someone has stopped following so am back to 99 again :(
 

Win a holiday or Clarks shoes - SPONSORED POST

Do you have a pair of favourite shoes?

Shoes that have a history behind them, from well worn shoes to shoes that you only wear on special occasions.


Well, thanks to Clarks, you have the chance of winning a £3,000 holiday of a lifetime or one of 7 free pairs of shoes given away weekly for six weeks!

During the Facebook competition called "Every shoe tells a story”  the judges will pick their 7 favourite stories each week to win a free pair of shoes.  In addition, stories can be voted on by the public and in order to win the grand prize the story must make the top 10 finalists at the end of the competition.  The judges will choose the winner of a £3000 Trailfinders Gift Card from these finalists – so make sure you tell all your friends to vote!

So do you have the shoes and the story, if so then enter the competition here.

Bang

Yes that is me exploding.
I was worried last night that I was getting stuck in a rut and that I was blogging the same thing to you all - that you were getting bored and going off me or that I was boring you but as one of the bloggers on the fabulous Blogger Ed foum (you must drop by very friendly bunch and they don't bite well not all of the time anyway!) said "It doesn't matter if you think your boring, we all do think we are boring but (I) write for the hell of it no matter who reads". (Yes, I am paraphrasing here!)
So anyway if I bore you today then please go away and come back some other day when I am less so.

But getting back to the explosion - I am sorry if bits of my brain hit you - I would promise to clean up but it may have to wait a while.

As you may or may not know, I work in Higher Education and this week and next week is one of our busiest weeks as we prepare for and then register the little darlings (I am allowed to say that as they are soo much younger than I am and tbh look about 12 these days anyway). So, yes my head has exploded, because again this year we have had a record intake in our department and yet again even after asking a) for promotion or b) for more money, I am still the only one dealing with them all.

Image courtesy of  Kotelenez / PhotoBucket

Anyway that is what my head feels like, I have lists upon lists (so obvioulsy I'm blogging in work to relax!), I have tidying of my area to do so that when they arrive I'm not knee deep in paper!!

Best get back to it!!

BNM

Abracadabraa......a Review

"I'm going to turn mummy into a frog, a chicken , turn you into Nanny Plum.. do Nanny Plum mummy... "

Before you think I've completely lost it - I better explain.

After Peppa Pig, the most requested thing to watch in our house is Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom and its got to the point now that the words above are said on a regular basis (especially if in local park and waving a magic wand (stick) around!)

So, you can imagine how happy I was when I was sent the new Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom dvd to review. The words BenHolly dvv mummy were screamed and we sat and watched the entire DVD from start to finish.

For those of you that don't know about this series (where have you been), Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom is a BAFTA award winning animation set in an enchanted magical kingdom following the adventures of  Princess Holly and Ben Elf.. Princess Holly is a fairy who cannot quite get magic right and who seems to turn her friend Ben Elf into things quite often by mistake. Their adventures are always funny and are saved by the Wise Old Elf and Princess Holly's Nanny - Nanny Plum.

The new dvd, released on 27th September comes packed with 10 episodes, plus a bonus episode. The episodes include:

Gaston the Ladybird

Queen Thistle's Teapot

and the Royal Fairy Picnic









So, if you like us have a budding elf or fairy in your house then go out and buy the Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom dvd, out to buy on dvd on September 27th for rrp £12.99. Car would highly recommend it to you and gives it a big thumbs up!
Oh and if you're budding elves or fairies would like to visit the Little Kingdom then they can do so here.
BNM
This is a review post and the thoughts on the product are solely my own.

Can you hear me?

No, honestly if you can't then please tell me is it because I talk too quietly, if I'M SHOUTING can you hear me now? You can, good.

Can you tell me why my kids can't, why I have to ask them about a thousand times do to one thing and when eventually when I do get an answer its a NO! WTF!!!!
I feel like I'm turning into a shouty mum, not a happy mum who plays with her kids. I don't want to ask them to do anything because they just ignore me. AND then to make things worse, Neb asks them to do something and they do it - just like that!!
I just feel like crying, why am I feeling like this - I may as well just stay in work and let them all get on with it without me!

BNM

Potty Tales 1

Hi all

As you know if you are regular readers of this blog, Car had developed a hatred of her potty by screaming at it rather than sitting on or getting anywhere near it.

Anyway over the last week, we have tried some PMA (postive mental attitude) and spent some no nappy time every night and asked her to sit on potty. We've highlighted to her that she doesn't need to do anything but if she does wee, wee or poo poo in it, then I will buy her the aforementioned peppa pig potty (god, I'm at it again!) and so she has been doing it. As her nursery is also very good, they've been sitting her on the toilet at break time and Neb came home on Friday to say that the nursery staff had made him laugh by saying that Car would now run to the toilets, drop trousers, take off nappy, throw nappy out and sit on the toilet.

Getting her to sit on the potty every night has been a bit of a struggle with tears most nights but by Thursday she has realised that it was happening and just got with it proclaiming "It's not horrible, I not cry"!

Seeing as she is getting good at dropping her own trousers now, we have decided to get to the next nappy stage and buy some pull ups. I explained that these were like pants that you could pull up and down and she got very excited when they were "Bob,can fix it " ones!!

To top off a great week of getting Car used to the potty, last night we had a small breakthrough. We had come to realise that Car was actually refusing to go in the potty and waiting (honestly she must have kept so much in one night, I had to change her allover again!) for us to put her nappy on her. That is, until last night, when I stripped her during "Total Wipeout". She sat on the potty a few times, then started to get agitated and demanded we put her nappy on. I stated that we weren't doing this because it was bath night.
As you can imagine, she was getting right arsey so off I wenrt to fill the bath up and took potty with me. She followed me up, and demanded to be let in the bath. I was a firm mummy and held my ground and eventually with hysterical tears got her to sit on the potty and yes she weeed! She started laughing as she was doing it so we hope (lets cross everything) that we may have started on the process of potty training.

It is such a big step for Car, my baby is turning into a little girl and I know it will be better for all of us but also I feel like she's finally shedding layers of babyhood. Just one more thing to do after potty training and that's dummy removal!!!

Anyway I shall keep you updated with how its going!!

Lego® of me .. its only a magazine - a REVIEW

I know I'm so funny aren't I...

Anyway did you know that Lego®  have a magazine (yes an actual hard copy one) and you can get it delievered to your house for free!! Its guaranteed* to keep child happy for at least 2 days (*well it kept Bel quiet and even Car had a look!). The magazine is part of their Lego® Club which is available online

Here's some of the info: 

 

LEGO® Club members receive five FREE magazines a year starting with LEGO Club Jr. for ages 4 – 6 years, which promotes independent reading, counting and writing

they then graduate to LEGO® Club Magazine for ages 7+, full of comics, competitions, activities, sneak peeks, info on LEGO® Club events and regular LEGOLAND vouchers. On LEGOClub.com there is exclusive content like ‘Buildits’, ClubCodes, the LEGO® Club Show and a chance to sign up for monthly email newsletters of the latest LEGO® news.

Bel jumped up and down and hugged me when she saw both the magazines but said that LEGO ®Jr is too little for her ('cept she did do the puzzles) and decided that she preferred the elder one. She even asked if she could get some of the new lego shown in the magazine for Christmas. I am very happy about this as I do secretly love LEGO (even though some of it does go in the hoover!)

So, if you would like to subscribe to the FREE magazine, (DID I SAY IT IS FREE!!), then follow the links and wait for the postie!!

LEGO Club homepage - http://club.lego.com/en-GB/default.aspx

LEGO Club magazine sign up page - http://club1.lego.com/en-GB/legomagazine/default.aspx

LEGO Club Building steps - http://club1.lego.com/en-gb/buildit/models.aspx

LEGO Club Cool Creations - http://club1.lego.com/en-gb/gallery/default.aspx

LEGO Club TV - http://club1.lego.com/en-gb/News/default.aspx

 BNM

Wooo Hooo

This wasn't the post that I was going to write today - you'll get that later- but before I went to write I got to my dashboard as normal and noticed this :

You may or may not be able to see it but I have reached a 100 followers - what can I say but thank you. I'm so chuffed that 100 of you follow/ read me - you are all either a) mad or b) bored!!

So a big thank you to all - you can't believe how happy I feel. It's been about a year and a month since I started waffling at you all and there are many times where my words have dried up and I've been unable to blog but I'm so glad that I've found this cathartic (yeah I had to check I had the right word there) way of cleansing my thoughts because when they go round and round they may go pop!!


BNM

Normal service will resume I promise!!

New mother's ruin

A  mother's ruin used to be gin (which is disgusiting thing if you ask me!) but I think I have found a new ruin - bribery. The common bribery tactics (or tictacs as used to be said in a Welsh comic programme when I was little!) in our house are:

Food Time
If you eat all your supper you can have pudding
which normally leads to
If you eat that 2 mouthfuls there, mummy will be very proud and then you can have some pudding...
which then leads to
 Will you please just eat something and I'll give you some pudding (normally I have to leave the room and go and swear in a corner by this point!)

Television Time
Car, you can have your telly on and then Bel has hers. Deal! 
which is OK until Bel does have her telly on and then Car will throw a tantrum and then we have
Car, we promised remember we did Deal thumbs (don't ask!), remember Bel gets a program now and then you OK!
which may or may not lead to Car's tantrum abaiting or Bel getting fed up of her screaming and will just turn the tv over/off...

Playtime

If you girls play nicely I will give you some crisps/chocolate/cake - this is obiously the one that we most use (or is that just my misconception!)

Pottytime- 
As we are forever training Car, the new bribe we now use is  If you sit on your potty you will get a sticker.

This is something that actually for bribery works and is still working - it is something they do in nursery when she gets on the big toilet. One of these days she may stay on it for more than a few seconds!!


Obviously the major problem, with bribery is when it goes wrong, when it turns into public enemy number one. This happens in our house because of the gap between Bel and Car, so if , for instance I say to Car eat up, pudding bribe and then she doesn't and I give her pudding anyway Bel goes and has an all mighty humf and says "But you said to her Mummy...." GRRRR

So, do you bribe your kids - and if so with what and does it always work?

BNM



 

How organised are you?

After reading Single Mummy's post about re-establishing routines and realising I was about to submit a long comment I thought I' d blog about it instead.
So are you organised?
I'm not super organised or efficient or anything major like that but I do make a meal plan (despite being laughed at for making one on the Blogger Ed forums) which is nothing like this one.
So apart from making a meal plan, what else do I do. I don't have a tidy house and I know I should make the effort more with that but I have kids and they need to play ( thats the excuse I'm sticking to anyway!!).
I do though try and get things done on a weekday morning before school and me having to dash off to work. Its meant to go something like this (what actually happens is next to it).

7am Get up, and get dressed   Already up as Car who has slept in bed with us (AGAIN!) has shouted and moaned for 10 -30 mins so may have been up since 6-6.30!!

7.30 Serve breakfast and make pack lunch for Bel  Burn toast and spread that chocolate spread on it, hoping noone will notice its burnt.

7.40 Send Bel to get dressed (this will take about 30 mins for her to do, if not more), get Car dressed and sat on the potty at least once (she will sit on it now but holds her wee in until she has a nappy on!!)
Get Car dressed at 8, as catching up with blogs on  reader and writing ones own, also playing games on Facebook!! Make my lunch (if I remember ) if not remember to buy a subway at lunchtime!!

8.15 Leave House for school, work, nursery  Leave house at 8.25 for start of work at 8.30 (yeah right!) after struggling to get childrens hair brushed, shoes put on, find both my shoes after Car played with them on the weekend.

8.30 Get to work and breathe!! 8.35-8.45 Get to work, apologies for lateness and thank god I have a few hours before entering madhouse again!!

So as you can see organisation is my middle name!!!

BNM

Lunchbox losers

Yeah, school has been back for over a week (they started last Thursday here!) and already we are having issues with Bel's lunchbox. I think I've nearly got it there but unless she wants to eat the same thing until October then am gonna have to get my thinking cap on (or yours?)

So far this is what she gets in  her lunchbox :

Cereal Bar / Flapjack
Juice carton
Crisps - depending on flavour in cupboard!
Some smoothie fruit (courtesy of Ella's Kitchen - no not freebies / review - just right instead of fruit which gets squished or bruised)
Salad Pot - Cucumber sticks, Carrot Stick and Sliced Pepper


So that is the normal fayre that goes in - then I put a main in. This is where the problem is, Bel decided a while ago that the only bread she would eat is the crispy french stick that Grandpa eats or the home made bread that Grandma makes with her machine. Now, I love nice bread like the next person but I can't offered to buy crispy baguette or crusty rolls every day!! So Bel's main lunch menu can not involve bread, or tortillas, or pittas (because they get soggy!)

So far this week she has had - tuna pasta salad, tuna salad, puff pastry squares.

BTW a puff pastry square is very simply : tomato sauce, cheese , tomato, bacon on puff pastry then cook. I also change this a bit and put pesto in the sauce if with it!

So that's three things - I also do pizza sometimes which she will eat and cooked sausages but apart from that I am stuck!!!

Please anyone help me rack my brains so that a) Bel doesn't turn into a tuna fish and b) my sanity gives away!

BNM

Bookworms, beasties and birds!

Yes your gonna have another three parter from me , its so busy in work at the moment (preparing for new intake of students!) that everything is jumbled around my head and when I get time to put it down this is what your gonna get!!

Anyways, lets get to it

I love books, no hang on thats not right: I LOVE BOOKS. I always have, my dad said that when growing up and as soon as I could read, you'd find me in a corner with a book. So, as you can imagine I have loads of them, stories which I'll go back to time and time again. (the most read is probaly Jane Eyre - I love it!!, but not the film, they always make Rochester too pretty - see here, or  here,  and Jane Eyre is never plain enough ). Anyway, on my first ever visit to my (then) future in-laws house I was in awe. There were, as there are now books everywhere. More seem to sprout on every visit there - and their not just one kind of book, there are different kinds, some really old and genuinely expensive, some paperbacks, many first editions and if my MIL buys more cook books she is going to have to buy a new kitchen!! Anyway, their love of books has been passed down to Neb and though we only have a few first editions (bought by in laws!) between us we have many books.

And it seems that Bel has now inherited this love, she learned to read quite quickly - we started her before school did as they seemed to dither about starting her, making her wait! And now, after our visit to Winchester she has many new books to read. Not only did we buy her two books ourselves, the in laws who came down for a day bought a pile of books for her and if that wasn't enough, Neb 's brother Nad's g/f is also an author so she came home with 4 books written by her!!

Since being back she has read 3 of these 4 books - try them out their called "History Spies". And has increased her love of history and she has just told me she would like to go to Pompeii and the amphitheatre!!

She's now sitting here with her nose in the book, which is great, but can someone tell me how I can get her to get dressed and not read her book every 5 seconds, I need a book that's called "How to read and listen to your Mummy"!

xxxxx

Can someone explain to me why every beastie, be it worm, spider, centipede, moth has to be held and looked at in great detail. I mean when you've seen one you've seen them all haven't you! And I don't really like catching and holding worms girls but I do because I'm your mummy and thats what mummy's do!!

xxxxx

And the birds, well that's me. While in the zoo on holiday (Marwell Wildlife - good day out but a bit expensive!) I saw some of these - sorry for the pictures their through the wire! And I thought hang on that 's me !! I wonder if they do my job in work and come home and do everything else!!

So can you guess what it is - its a bird of prey found in African deserts.... no its a :

Anyway thats enough randomness from me, I'll try and catch up with all your randomness tonight. 

BNM

Toilet Humour

This post has been a long time in the making with many toilet related things happening around me lately so this may be al ong blog with lots of different bits in it.


1) How do you stop a 2 1/2 year old shouting in the middle of a theme park, next to people eating food, whilst having a tantrum these words "I'm not coming Mummy, I'm having a poo" and then stand there in a mid crouch postion. We tried to move her several times and all we got was "I'm still pooing mummy!!" I apologise to you if you were sat on the table close to her while this was happening but thank you for the knowing smiles!!

2) Why would said 2 1/2 year old (yes, you guessed it Car) not potty train but will follow you into loo and crouch down next to toilet and pretend to pee (noises and all!) and then ask for tissue. Then she will proceed to putting said unused tissue into toilet and want to "Lush the loo"!

3) On potty subjects, I have showed Car the magazine (Argos catalogue to you and me!) and she has decided that she wants this one a Mamy Baby Bug Potty

but then I saw this one and as you all know we are Peppa Pig mad so may just get both.

but I don't know if getting either will mean she will actually use it.

4) Leaving my daughters lack of toilet training habits behind, I thought I'd mention that the other day myself and Bel did some toilet graffiting.  Now normally this kinda thing is frowned upon and (probaly) illegal but on our visit to The Black Boy pub in Winchester (yes its were we went down sarf!(south)) we were told my Nad, my brother in law that it was actively encouraged and the toilet walls of both male and female are filled with all different kind of moral/immoral graffiti! I would've taken a picture of the walls but I forgot my camera in the house. Anyway if you ever visit the aforementioned pub check out the Welsh graffiti (yeah I know I'm awkward!!)

5) Whilst on the aforementioned trip we stayed at Nad's house. He has a very small cottage not far from the pub which he rents and as his g/f is currently in America working we managed to take over his house and bless him he slept on living room floor!! Anyway I'm waffling, and as this post is labelled toilet humour, better explain my thread of thought!! In Nad's bathroom next to the loo, there were some books and magzines. Now I'm all for books and magazines in the loo - if you ever came to our house you'd find - at least 3 books ( one being mine and 2 being Neb's!!) , a weekly newspaper, those free ad magazine things, a good food magazine and possibly a Bel book!!
Anyway my brother in law had : a mills and boon book - yes we did tease him on this but he maintained that they were a very good read !!, a book about books! and a magazine. Now this magazine had been sent to him from g/f currently in America and this magazine kept me and Neb in the loo for longer than needed. It is called "FOUND" and its a magazine which states " We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles - anything that gives a glimpse into someoneelse's life. Anything goes..."
Honestly its a fantastic read and it was great to see the varied lives of people emereging from documents found on the street. I am even tempted to order another magazine or two from them (if I can work out conversion rate - how much is 1$ in £'s??, and what rate to get for international shipping!)
You need to have a look at the link up there, to see what I mean as the website has many examples of the finds!!

6) Anyway was just about to wrap up this post when Car decided to let rip - what is it with my girls inablity to be ladies. Best go just in case she has pooed herself!!!

 BNMx

Walking is fun!

You all know that after our non Car walking time at our camping holiday here, that anything that will help make walking fun for her and less carrying time better for my back will go down well.
Luckily for me Clarks have designed a new shoe range especially for pre-school and toddlers, its a new edition to the Daisy and Jack range. Let see what Clarks say about them:

"The new Clarks Daisy Explores and Jack Nano shoe ranges, aimed at three to eight year olds, combine proven foot health benefits with the latest fashion trends and added extras ensuring your children’s feet are kept healthy which will contribute to their well being, confidence and happiness.

At the age of four, your child will develop a heel to toe walking style and their movements will be smoother although changing speed or direction will still be difficult. The most important aspect when buying shoes is to have growing room within the shoe so they don’t restrict development.

At this development stage, you need to be looking for shoes that have highly flexible fore-parts, shaped and stable back-parts, additional padding to cushion active feet, made from breathable materials such as leather and fully adjustable fastenings.

The Daisy Explores & Jack Nano ranges combine all of these qualities at a range of prices , with the added benefit of a friendly Clarks trained fitter in your local stockist to ensure your child gets the best fit. With lots of fashionable styles to choose from, view and order online at www.clarks.co.uk/kids."

Having been lucky enough to receive a Clarks voucher - I've had a look at some of these shoes and I fancy this for Car: 

 Daisy Play Inf - £30 - for more details see here

and these for Bel

Daisy March Jnr - £44 - for more details see here  

As we all know having the right fitting shoes is good for your childs growing feet (and to avoid getting corns, bunions and other icky things, good for your own feet!).  And if their happy there'll be less winging and crying and less carrying for me. Fantastic

Disclaimer - the above post is a sponsored post for Clarks

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Car to us whilst on holiday - look mummy the weeping willow is crying into the river!!!

Thanks for that Grandpa!