Thursday 31 March 2016

Me & Mine - March 2016


Now what a month March has been! It has been full of ups and downs and thankfully it is finishing on a high with our long awaited house move planned to complete next Friday. But the one thing that this month has been full of like every other and that is fun and laughs as a family. 

Mummy is loving:

~ Our Center Parcs holiday at the beginning of the month
~ A much needed girly night out with my best friends
~ Completing my half marathon and in a great time
~ A weekend away at my Mums with the boys & hubby, much needed family time.
~ Our Good Friday with our best friends
~ Exchanging on our new house

Daddy is loving:

~ Chocolate
~ Our long awaited holiday at Center Parcs
~ Finally exchanging on our new house
~ Watching the Night Manager
~ Lots of family days out during the weekends
~ His new toy, the iMac

Finley is loving:

~ Visiting the local Fire Station
~ His first trip to the new trampolining park with mummy
~ All the cycling at Center Parcs
~ Having Chocolate for breakfast on Easter Sunday
~ His Easter bonnet parade at preschool
~ Topsy and Tim - totally obsessed

Noah is loving:

~ Making chocolate crispy cakes and eating all the eggs!
~ Swimming at Center Parcs
~ Mummy & Daddy ditching the pushchair for most days out
~ Lambing weekend
~ Staying at Granny & Grampy's over Easter
~ Hot chocolates with Marshmallows
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A Cornish Mum

Wednesday 30 March 2016

Family, Sea, Sand & Happiness

We have just got home from what can only be described as an amazing day. We set off early to pick up my Mother-in-law to go on a road trip to see my Grandad-in-law who lives in Swansea, a 2 hour drive from us. The boys are brilliant in the car, thankfully, as long as they have their DVD players and a wee break half way through the journey.

We were making good time so we stopped at the Bridgend Designer Outlet to stretch our legs and to have a little look around the shops. The boys didn't actually let us have a proper look around, because what 2 & 4 year old likes shopping, and this was made quite apparent to us when Finley said 'I hate shops!'. After I grabbed a Costa we were back on the road and on our way to see Grampy Doug, the boys were so excited!

We arrived just after 11.30am and the boys couldn't wait to get up the stairs to see Grampy Doug, until we actually reached the stairs where they halted and didn't want to move. After a little persuasion we were up the stairs and greeting Grampy Doug and giving him his Easter Egg. As the time went on the boys warmed up and they really wouldn't leave him alone, giving him lots of attention and wanting to eat all of his food. Typical children!


After lunch we left Grampy Doug to watch the cricket and headed off down the beach which was a 5 minute drive away. The boys couldn't wait to get on the sand and as soon as their wellies were on they were off. Seeing them running along the sand in the sun is just what I needed after a stressful few weeks. To see the happiness on their faces and to hear them laugh together was truly beautiful.

We walked along the beach looking for shells and just enjoying the sun. Swansea beach really is such a beautiful beach and the scenery surrounding it is incredible.



The boys had so much fun running up the sand dunes and then sliding back down them on their bottoms like a slide. Normally I would be worried about their clothes getting dirty and covered in sand but not today, today was a day to let things go.



When we reached a little stream of water that led down to the sea the boys obviously had to run along it, where they both got soaked but still had smiles beaming across their faces. They spent some time digging at the sand on the side of the stream and throwing it into the water, such simple things brings the biggest joy.



Then we made our way back to the car, but before we could the boys had races up and down the sand dunes and ended up rolling about in the sand.


Upon getting back to the car we had to change the boys as they were soaking wet and covered in sand ready to head back to Gramp's to have a cuppa before heading home. On arriving back there, the boys couldn't wait to tell him about their fun on the beach and proceeded to climb onto his lap to tell him the story. Once our tea had been drank we were saying our goodbyes, which took a while as the boys kept going back for more kisses.

Today was a good day, today was amazing. It was full of giggles, smiles and love from my little boys. It involved family and that is one of the most important things to me. 
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Preschoolers And Writing

Finley is off to school in September so I am feeling a bit of pressure to try and get him ready, but I don't want to be a pushy parent. I know his preschool will be doing all they can to get him school ready but I think if I do a little helping at home he will be really ready as I really don't want him to feel lost.

Finley has a tendency to get bored really quickly and lose interest in certain tasks. He will quite happily sit on the iPad and play games, educational ones most of the time I would like to add, but when it comes to colouring or writing, he will sit there for a few minutes then say he has finished.

Over the last couple of months I have been asking him if he would like to write his name in birthday cards. He is really interested in doing this so we get all set up, I write his name in large on a piece of paper so he can copy it and we sit down to do it. This is an activity that takes no more than 2 minutes but after a few seconds he can't be bothered and gets silly. He will write the F and the I and then just fluff the rest of them and say done. I know this shouldn't frustrate me as he is learning but it really does. And I also know he isn't going to pick things up straight away but I know he can do it when he really tries.

I have decided rather than getting him to write in cards, we will just practice his name on pieces of paper. This way if he gets silly about it, it won't matter. So I've written his name in large on a piece of paper and drawn two lines, which I have then photo copied. I have done them in both upper and lower case.

I was hoping that because this activity has less pressure on it that he will take a little more time to do it. And also as the pressure isn't on I won't get so frustrated when it doesn't go the right way. And this seems to have worked, just the other day he wrote his name in his magazine all by himself, proud mummy! And I truly believe that once the pressure is off he learns so much more, but at school there will be a little bit of pressure and that worries me.


The other thing is the holding of the pen/pencil. He holds it most of the time like you would if you had a spoon stirring soup. On the odd occasion I see him holding it properly so I know he can do it, but I don't know if it's just down to laziness or that he needs prompting. This is all new to me as Finley is my first child to be going to school so I have never gone through the whole going to school process and I don't know what stage he should be at.

Does anyone else's 4 year old that isn't at school find writing boring? I don't want to put too much pressure on him but I do want him to be ready. 

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Easter Fun For All The Family - DVD Bundle Giveaway


With such unpredictable weather this Easter holiday, it's hard to plan what to do with the kids. As every parent knows when it is raining there is only so much CBeebies and Disney Junior that children, and us adults, can watch. So to make the Easter holidays that little more bearable and to keep the kids smiling I have a 4 DVD bundle to giveaway to one lucky reader.


There's fun for ALL the family this Easter with this DVD package from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, including:

In Yogi The Easter Bear, the Easter Bunny has been captured by some crooks who want to spoil the holiday. Can Yogi and Boo Boo rescue the Bunny before the Ranger sells them to the Siberian Circus? A holiday adventure for the whole family.

Tom And Jerry Spy Quest Original Movie is the feature-length animated adventure following the notorious cat and mouse rivals.

Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies is the must-watch animated compilation for Easter. Bugs Bunny refuses to deliver Easter Eggs, forcing his cartoon friends to go and hunt them out themselves.

Scooby Doo Meets Batman features two Scooby Doo movie mysteries in which the gang go to Gotham City and join forces with Batman and Robin to fight the forces of evil.

Order today: http://po.st/WBEaster

T&Cs
- Prize for 1x winner is 1x Yogi The Easter Bear DVD, 1x Tom And Jerry Spy Quest Original Movie DVD, 1x Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies and 1x Scooby Doo Meets Batman DVD.

- Giveaway runs from 30th March 2016 at 12am to 5th April 2016 at 12am.
- There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
- The winner will be picked at random. The prize will be delivered to the winner within 28 days of confirmation of delivery address.
- The Editor's decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.

- The promoter of this competition is Fetch Dynamic Ltd. 

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Sunday 27 March 2016

Saturday 26 March 2016

Just Another Linky #48

Welcome to week 48 of Just Another Linky with myself and Beth at Life As Mum. Thank you to everyone that linked up last week. This is the place to link up any post, old or new, that you are really proud of and would like to show up. We have a great selection of link up's each week so all topics and subjects are welcome.

Hope you have all had a good week and have a great weekend.

Meet your hosts

Me - Kirsty - Something Crunchy Mummy - @crunchy_mummy
 
 
Beth - Life-As-Mum - @lifeasmumblog
Here are just a few linky rules:
  • No more than 2 posts a week - Please! There have been some people linking up more than this, please stick to just the 2 so it is fair on everyone.
  • Comment on the hosts posts and at least 1 other posts, more if you can.
  • New or old posts welcome.
  • Grab the badge below so everyone knows where to find us.
Feel free to tweet your post, along with the hashtag #justanotherlinky, mentioning me @crunchy_mummy and Beth @lifeasmumblog and we will retweet.

By linking up to this linky you are giving Beth & Kirsty the right to copy one of your photos if you are chosen for the Favourite Post of the week.

We are open every Saturday from 12am until Monday at 11:55pm.

This weeks Favourite Posts





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Tuesday 22 March 2016

What Is Duane Syndrome?

From just a few months old I knew that something wasn't quite right with Noah's eyes. I brought it to the attention of the health visitors a few times but they just dismissed it and told me not to worry. But I knew and a Mother knows best so I kept pushing until we were referred to see somebody. When Noah was 6 months old we received an appointment at our local hospital to go and see an osteopathic doctor. We attended and I was told there was nothing wrong but they would see him in another 6 months to just be on the safe side.

Over the coming 6 months I just knew in my heart of hearts that even though we had been told his eyes were fine, that something wasn't quite right. You could see it in some pictures when a photo had been taken at a certain angle and when shown to others they could see it to, people also commented on photos in which his left eye was turning in.

Just after Noah turned 1 we received another appointment at our local hospital. We attended and it was here we were told he had Duane Syndrome in his right eye. Now I thought it was going to be his left eye with the problem because that was the eye that turned in when he tried looking to the right. But his eye did this because of the Duane Syndrome in his right eye. I had never heard of this before and it made me a little concerned, as any parent would be when they are told their child has a health issue. They told me it wouldn't affect him and that he was born with it. They also told me that there was no treatment to correct it. That was all the information I received, however hard I pushed them in that appointment. But the fact of being told not to worry was not going to stop me worrying when I didn't know what Duane Syndrome was.

As most people do I headed for the internet for a little more help in explaining what it was. The first place I looked was the NHS Choices website and there is NOTHING on there about Duane Syndrome, so off to Mr Google I went. This is where I found out some more information and all the information I read explained that there was nothing that could be done, unless really bad in which a surgical procedure could be done which I hoped it wouldn't need to be. 

This is the quick explanation I got from NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders):
" Duane syndrome (DS) is an eye movement disorder present at birth (congenital) characterized by horizontal eye movement limitation [a limited ability to move the eye inward toward the nose (adduction), outward toward the ear (abduction), or in both directions]. "
After reading their whole explanation of Duane Syndrome it put my mind at rest that it wasn't going to affect him in his day to day life or his development, but it didn't stop me worrying that it would get worse.

In the latter part of 2015 I was starting to get a little concerned with his eye movements and still not fully aware of what the syndrome was I brought Noah's appointment forward to sooner than his 6 month check. I was getting concerned about his sight and wanted it checked as soon as possible. The NHS were fantastic and with no problem they made me an appointment at a hospital just 20 minutes away with his doctor. We saw her and she told me there had been no change and there was no need to worry. It was here I asked her to explain it a little more to me.
She told me that the Duane Syndrome was in his right eye which meant that he didn't have the right muscles in the right of his right eye (sorry a lot of right's there). This meant that his right eye won't turn out towards his ear which in turn means that his left eye will turn really far in towards his nose to compensate for the right eye not moving. This then all made perfect sense to me. I came away a lot happier than I had gone into the appointment.

Since that appointment he has had a sight test which showed that he has brilliant sight so the Duane Syndrome thankfully isn't affecting that.

Noah then had his 6 month follow up appointment come through for just the other day. When we were there she asked me if I had noticed any change and I explained that I had been able to notice it more but wasn't sure if it was because I knew about it. After doing her tests, one involved holding Noah's head still and putting a fish in the blind spot of his right eye to see if it would move rather than him turning his head which he didn't like at all, showed that nothing had changed and there were no concerns. I did ask if it would affect him at all in the future and the only thing is that he will need to sit on the right of the class when he starts school. This is because if he is on the left he will need to keep turning his head which may give him a head turn and/or make him feel uncomfortable. This was a huge relief.

I wanted to write this post to make people aware of Duane Syndrome as it isn't very common and not many people know about it. The preschool mentioned to me a few weeks after he started that they had noticed his eye turning in and I explained that he had Duane Syndrome and they had never heard of it. I know it's not something major but it still is something that will affect him, so I feel I want to make it known so other parents that notice something will know to get it checked but to also know it's not something to be be worried about. But as I said with anything that affects our children, we will always be concerned about.
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Saturday 19 March 2016

Just Another Linky #47

Welcome to week 47 of Just Another Linky with myself and Beth at Life As Mum. Thank you to everyone that linked up last week. This is the place to link up any post, old or new, that you are really proud of and would like to show up. We have a great selection of link up's each week so all topics and subjects are welcome.

Hope you have all had a good week and have a great weekend.

Meet your hosts

Me - Kirsty - Something Crunchy Mummy - @crunchy_mummy
 
 
Beth - Life-As-Mum - @lifeasmumblog
Here are just a few linky rules:
  • No more than 2 posts a week - Please! There have been some people linking up more than this, please stick to just the 2 so it is fair on everyone.
  • Comment on the hosts posts and at least 1 other posts, more if you can.
  • New or old posts welcome.
  • Grab the badge below so everyone knows where to find us.
Feel free to tweet your post, along with the hashtag #justanotherlinky, mentioning me @crunchy_mummy and Beth @lifeasmumblog and we will retweet.

By linking up to this linky you are giving Beth & Kirsty the right to copy one of your photos if you are chosen for the Favourite Post of the week.

We are open every Saturday from 12am until Monday at 11:55pm.

This weeks Favourite Posts



My favourite post this week is from Kaye at Hello Archie with What is in Archie's Easter Basket. There are some adorable things and some great ideas.
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Friday 18 March 2016

What Made Me Happy This Week #4

I am back with my happy list after not doing one last week. This isn't because I didn't have a happy week, it was because I wrote a post about our week in Center Parcs and the whole week made me happy!

This week has been a busy one with a few bumps in the road with regards to our new house, but on the whole it has been a pretty lovely one. With the boys, even a bad day has smiles in.

  • Party Time. Finley attended a party on Saturday where he got to meet up with his best friend that he hadn't seen for a week, and they were both so excited! And he had the best time jumping on the bouncy castles and eating about 20 party rings and 30 chocolate fingers!!


  • Good luck wishes. I received a good luck card from the preschool for my run that all the children made as I was running to raise money for the preschool.

  • Completing a half marathon. I finished my Bath Half Marathon and did it in 2 hours, 15 minutes. I was aiming for 2 and a half hours so pretty proud!


  • Family support. Having my Mum, her partner, my husband and the boys come and support me doing the half marathon, it really meant the world to me having them there.
  • Doing some crafting with Noah. Now I am not a lover of craft but he was asked to decorate an egg for preschool so we got out the glitter, glue, paint and pompoms. I let him do it all himself and I think it looks great.

  • Park fun. I took the boys to the park after preschool on Tuesday with our friends, it was lovely to catch up and finally get to the park.

  • Our trip to the woods. A trip to our local Arboretum with friends and all our munchkins. It was a tough parenting day but still full of happy moments and beautiful friends.

  • My best friend. Seeing my best friend for the first time in nearly two weeks, I really missed her and now all is right with the world after tea, cake and chats.
  •  Easter. Having my first taste of a Cadburys Creme Egg this year, how it's taken me this long I don't know.





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