Complete random event...Hilarious!

After our long walk this morning the kiddies worked up an appatite, so we went into town for some grub.

We went into Debenhams as it is family friendly and has lots of space to manouvre the pram and park it up next to the table.

 Anyway, we were sitting eating our lunch and 6 ladies who were leaving the cafe stopped at our table and smiled. This would've been fine, however they continued to stare and smile for a few mins. As i'm sure you can imagine, this was awkward so i smiled back at them along with some light laughter, they then left.

I think they were taken by our brood of 4 children ( Well behaved at this point.) Either that or we are local celebs, maybe i should've gave them my autograph along with a pic of our family, lol!

After they left i could not contain my laughter. I was crying with laughter as this is the first time we have encountered anything like this. We do get stares from people and some commenting on our large family but these ladies were sooo over the top.

 Yes, we have 4 young children....Get over it!

Easter Holidays!

I haven't got much time to blog at the moment
as kiddies are off for the Easter break. I will try my best to keep my blog updated though.

We have been super busy since the easter hols started. On easter sunday the kiddies woke up to some tasty treats at the bottom of their bed that the easter bunny left :-). They spent the morning nibbling away on their choc eggs (they got 2 each.)

Afternoon came and we went out to the park. Kiddies had their bunny ears on and looked the part. We had lots of fun playing tig and hide and seek!

It was time to go home as grandad was collecting kiddies. They went to braughtyferry park and beach. It was a great end to easter Sunday!

Easter Monday was relatively quiet, the OH was working and most places where closed.
However, we had a little egg hunt in the garden that went down well!

The past couple of days have been spent going on long woodland walks and visits to local parks.

We are planning A couple of day trips for the 2nd week of the hols along with soft play and visiting the local library.

So far everyone is enjoying being off school, nursery and work.

Personal thoughts on my icandy peach jogger

I mentioned in a previous post about my excitement putting the icandy peach jogger through its paces. Well, for the past couple of weeks i've been using my jogger due to the snow and sludge.

First impressions on the peach jogger's very first day of use; very easy to put together, easy one hand fold, easy to open, heavier and bulkier than my icandy strawberry, but i suppose this is to be expected as it is an all terrain pram, harder to push one handed as i need to hold my 3 yr old boys hand and my other 2 older children hold on to each side of the pram.

 However it copes fantastic on the snow/ ice/sludge along with very muddy conditions ( my icandy strawberry cannot cope with these conditions at all.) I haven't had the chance to test out on the sand yet, but i'm sure it will cope well with the front wheel locked.

We made good use with the big basket and stored a few bags of shopping. I did find the basket to be exposed to the elements though.

 I also love that the seat unit can face me and lie flat (unuasl on 3 wheelers.) The seat is also vey roomy, i sat my  average weight, slightly taller that average 3.5 yr old in and he had plenty of room and did not look out of place sitting in the seat. He does not use a pram at all anymore, i just tried him in to get an idea of how long the jogger will last, and i can see that  it should fit Bella until she is a toddler and no longer requires a pram.

Overall i really like it and so does my OH, he prefers the peach jogger over the strawberry, however i still prefer the strawberry. We will be giving the jogger lots of use though as it's perfect for rougher terrain and is able to cope better in harsh conditions.

Bella's 3 months update

Bella Rose was officially 3 months old on the 16th of March. She has really come on and her little personality is starting to show, which is wonderful. I have listed below all the things that has been happening with Bella's development over these weeks:

• Babbling and cooing away all the time. She uses this as a way of expressing how she feels.
• starting to laugh along with smiling ( started smiling at around 5 weeks old.)
• rolling on to her side and trying her best to fully roll over. She wriggles to the other end of her playgym.
• Lifting her head and neck up when lying flat, like sit ups.
• Started to show interest in toys and prefers certain ones.
• started sleeping through the night (7pm -6am.) This started happening lasy week.
• She loved her hands and loves munching on them at every opportunity.
• She has had her 2nd set of immunisations and weighs 13 lbs.
• recognises her siblings by name.

I think i've covered most things. My other children have adapted very well to their new sister and are besotted. 

3 months post partum

Well it has been 13 weeks since i gave birth. I had a natural delivery with just a little gas and air at the transition stage and no stitches needed. I have recovered pretty well, albeit a few infections ( child birth infection, urine infection and 2 bouts of bacterial tonsilitis.) Apart from that, all is good physically and emotionally. I have had 3 periods since giving birth ( they always return very quickly for me unfortunately.) I found the first one horrendous and i lost quite a lot of blood, i was on fragmin though which exasperates it.

I'm also losing my hair that i held onto whilst pregnant. The plug usually gets clogged up when i'm washing my hair. My hair also gets very greasy really quickly, which is annoying. Thank goodness for dry shampoo!

I'm noticing that my skin is alot more oily and i'm more prone to spots. Also, since i gave birth i keep on coming out in hives, they are really annoying, not sure if it is a hormone change that is causing the hives.

I have not weighed myself, so don't know how much i've lost, however i'm now fitting into all my pre pregnancy clothes.

Overall i feel good and feel like my body is healing well.

Non existent grandparents :-(

The title says it all! Unfortunately we got a bad handout when it came to both sets of grandparents. It has been an issue from the word go, getting worse as the years go on. My OH's mother is simply insane and mentally unstable with an unhealthy amount of anger towards me.

 My mother puts herself first all the time and can't pick up the phone to find out how
our kiddies are doing and has broken several promises that she has made over the years. My father has no interest at all, he rarely talks to his gran kids and never plays with them.

 It is very sad as our children are amazing and special, it hurts that our families don't see the wonder and instead see spending time with the kiddies as a chore ( which, of course it's not.)

 My family live 5 minutes drive away and never call by to visit, never offer to help out, never invite kiddies for tea, basically very rarely spend time with them. On average they see kiddies once every 3 weeks, which i don't think is acceptable considering they live 5 mins away.   We never get offered to go to their house either.

My parents don't work at all, so have lots of spare time on their hands and they still can't step up to their role as grandparents. My OH's side live in Belfast, so i understand and accept they can't visit as much due to traveling costs. However, no phone calls, Emails etc to find out how we are and they have missed kiddies birthdays etc.

I just feel very hurt as i want our kiddies to have grandparents that are involved and a part of their lives. I see grandparents all the time collecting their grand kids from school, taking them to the park, into town, out for meals and of course spending quality time and ENJOYING being a part of their grand kiddies lives.

Rant over!

ps I gave birth to my baby girl 12 weeks ago and my family have only seen her 3 times for an average time of 10 mins each time. My OH'S family have not seen her at all and have not seen our other children in 3 years! This is how disconnected the situation is.

Battle of the prams

I'm super excited as my icandy peach jogger arrived today. I already have the icandy strawberry, which i LOVE! However, it is not the most pratical on muddy paths, sand,rougher terrain. I find the front wheels clog up badly due to the design. I then have to spend 1hr with a knife scraping all the mud, leaves and twigs out of the bearings.

I decided that i needed another pram for those days where we're trudging through muddy parks and walking up the Law (an extinct volcano) and of course the beach. Sooooo i decided the peach jogger would tick those boxes after reading loads of reviews.

I'm very impressed with the jogger, however it is never going to beat the icandy strawberry in terms of sleekness and elegance with its subtle curves, chrome chassis and soft fleece like fabrics. I will be using my strawberry as my main pram as it has the carrycot for my 11 week old, but i'm looking forward to giving the peach a proper road test in the near future. I will just recline the seat unit fully flat, facing me. It has a liner, so it's comfy enough for my baby to use now and then. When she reaches the 6 months mark she will be ok to use on a regular basis.

I'm a pramoholic as i'm sure you've guessed. I have been through around 70 pushchairs since my first born in 2006. This is much to my partners dismay. He does not understand my pram addiction,lol!