CharlieBeth's "My Life As Mumma Walker"

This mentions sex. If you are a member of my family PLEASE STOP READING THIS POST and go see my other blog post about the lovely family holiday we just with the kids in Wales , ok? OK, now that they've gone.... I blame the fact that we spent 3 nights sleeping apart. Our holiday home was a little snug on bedroom space so we gave Jack & Tom the double bed while we took the twin beds and shared with George, it was the only place we could set up the travel cot and Georgie can't share with his brothers just yet (no one would sleep!) Waking up this morning, laid next to my hubby, in our own bed....  I've missed having him next to me at night.  I rolled over to snuggle up to him and, according to Hubby, my boob slipped out of my top. This was all the encouragement he needed, and I needed none at all. The "no sex around ovulation for two months" ban was broken. Oops! Damn those pesky pheromones! I'm checking my temps daily and haven't had that

A while back I posted my Summer Bucket List . I'm happily working though it! Anglesey for a long weekend.  Rhosneigr beach - where we got engaged Newborough Warren beach - Coz it's beautiful and miles long - Couldn'd find the beach but enjoyed Newborough Forest instead! Hen Blas working farm & play zone - Kids will LOVE it what ever the weather - Hen Blas has GONE! But Foel Park Farm replaced it beautifully :-D Sea Zoo - Ditto

I mentioned more than once we have a small house for the number of people - and amount of stuff - that we make up. We're very much on top of one another and crowded with the kids things. Only having the one reception room ad housing the majority of the kids toys in it is the main reason for that! We could pack it all off upstairs but we like to watch them play, and to join in, and sending them to their room to play seems a little mean. The living room looks like an explosion in a toy store by the end of most days with Georgie's walker and music table taking up most of the space, closely followed by the castle and bat-cave that the bigger boys own, and then there's usually an assortment of building blocks, construction toys, and books (100's of books!!!) taking up the rest of the floor space. Oh... and any clothes the kids have discarded through the course of the day. By dinner time it all NEEDS to go away. Our dining table is in the living room, a drop leaf table

I woke up very sad knowing this was our last day. Good job Hubby had his head screwed on right though because he suggested NOT going straight home after kicking out time at 10am. He suggested we did something else fun on the island instead, get another full day out if it and get home for bedtime. So we went in search of the beach at Newborough . I went as a kid. It's a huge long beach stretching from the Menai Straits to Llanddwyn Lighthouse with a forest has lots of different routes to get access... And I have no idea which one we need. My mobile internet wasn't good enough to pinpoint it on Google Maps (I don't own a paper one, oops).  Thought I'd found the right place though so we parked up, loaded Georgie's pram with beach toys and fishing nets and set off on our 20 min walk to the sands. An hour later and we are still walking. We've not brought the picnic because we were only going to be a couple of hours, and I just know the kids are going to be hungr

It must have rained in the night but by morning the blue skies were on their way back. So instead of going to the pool again we took the kids to Rhosnegir to show them were we got engaged on the beach 8 years ago. We bought fishing nets and went scrambling through rock pools looking at fish and crabs, and collecting shells. They were thrilled to spot a little fish, about to be rescued by the returning tide, and crabs both alive, and also dismembered by seagulls! They poked at dead jelly fish and collected loads of shells. What is it with little boys and dead things?  The kids LOVED the rock pools! And we loevd taking them to play on them. This is the kind of stuff I've always wanted to do with my kids. After that we crossed the island again and headed for the Sea Zoo . I must have been here a dozen or more times as a kid and I'm happy to say its every bit as good as I remember it. If you ever come to Angelsey you need to visit this place. It's amazing for

This was such a brilliant day! The kids woke up unreasonably early but we had loads planned. We started off with a quick play on the site's play park before checking out the heated pool. None of the kids are swimmers (lessons are on my to-do list) and even Hubby isn't too happy in the water normally (I had to force him to buy & pack swim shorts for himself) but we had the pool to our selves until the last half hour. We'd brought armbands, a swim ring, and a baby float for Georgie, and all got in. There were pool noodles there to borrow too and we had so much fun splashing and paddling about. Me and Jack stayed longest and he's been promised swimming lessons as soon as I can organise some for him back home. After lunch we drove across the island to Foel Farm Park . I'd planned to te them to Henblas working farm & adventure park but I've told been it's shut down. I was recommended to try Foel Farm Park because it was the closest thing, and I think

I am ridiculously excited about this holiday! This is the first time the five of us have been away without staying with family. I've been planning it since LAST summer, I've tried to be as organised as I possibly can be so that we can just get on and have fun. I've been watching the weather forecast for a week! Friday morning and we got up at the normal school time and I rushed around making sure everything was checked off the list, packed up the car.... And still had 3 hrs before we were due to set off. Whoops...! Still, plenty of time to get the kids bathed and have a bit of lunch, triple check everyone has been to the toilet before we set off.  It's a 3 hour drive to our holiday, but it took 4. Damn the M6 and its pointless speed restrictions! To be fair to the kids they were ok for the vast majority of the drive. The got restless and giddy for the last half hour or so. But when we actually arrived it was like someone had shoved rockets put their backsid

A while ago I mentioned trying to conceive while still breastfeeding . At the time George was feeding 2-3 times a day. Now he's dropped to just the one feed a day, as part of his bedtime routine. He doesn't have much then these days. Image from  lactationnarration.com So... the question is... Will this ONE breastfeed a day affect my fertility? Hopefully not. From what I've read on sites like iVillage and KellyMom . Since George is now over a year old, and only feeds once a day - and not very much at that - I should have almost my full fertility back. In fact it's more likely to be the contraceptives I've used since (the implant and pop pill) what would be having an impact on my fertility now. I've been reading a bit on  trying-to-conceive.com  too which backs this theory up. According to them cutting out night feeds and other feeds (but not all, so if you're in my situation but still feeding more, don't worry), or even just chopping and

It's a Friday Blog Hop & Link Up but it runs all weekend so you have plenty of time to get your links up and meet some other lovely bloggers. You can post just about anything, but please remember mine is mainly a parenting blog so please keep your posts reasonably family friendly. I wont block you for a bit of swearing but posting anything really offensive will get you the boot. It's not fair to others who follow the rules. The Rules! 1) Follow your Host  (that's me)   at  CharlieBeth aka Mumma Walker   and Mumma Walker Tries for a Girl on as much social media as you can Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | BlogLovin | Instagram | YouTube | Stumble | Pinterest 2) Check out & link up / follow as many other bloggers as you can it only works if you remember to follow others 3) Grab a button to share on your post, blog page, or hops  page ,  share on social media <br><a href="http://charliebeth.blogspot.co.uk/"&

Jack's (5) "Thank You" card to his teachers "Thank you for letting me be in red class, Jack W" Tom (3) wrote "Teacher" on his envelope

A way back I saw a few people is the US and Canada posting up "Summer Bucket Lists" (such as Jessica Scott ) and I thought that it was a brilliant idea! As a family we are guilty of not doing as much as we could or should. I am the one full of big ideas, Hubby is the one who "ums" and "ahhs" about stuff until it's too late and it's all passed us by. Last summer - the first School Summer Holidays we had as our eldest moved up from nursery to reception - was a bit of a flop, so I decided that wasn't happening any more. I booked THIS YEARS summer holiday LAST YEAR and made sure it was paid off months ago and that there was money in a separate "holidays" bank account to make sure we have petrol money and admission fees covered. Our Summer looks like this: Anglesey for a long weekend.  I loved it here as a kid! Rhosneigr beach - where we got engaged Newborough Warren beach - Coz it's beautiful and miles long Hen Blas wo

This part of the TTC Journey drives me crackers. The waiting. Waiting for AF to finish Waiting to ovulate The Two Week Wait Waiting for lines to show on a test... Waiting for AF to show and start all over again! Right now I'm waiting.  AF did show up just as it was supposed to.... but only lasted less than 2 days! I'm telling myself that it's a side effect of coming off the pill and that it's only the first cycle and I shouldn't really expect anything to be "normal" just yet. I'm waiting for "normal" I am trying to find enjoyable ways of "wasting" this time! Yesterday I spent more time than I should have watching Twitter for #RoyalBaby updates! (massive congrats to the Royal Couple on the birth of their first baby son!) Today - aside from writing this blog - I am spending time with my middle and youngest boys while Big Lad has his last day of school before the Summer. For the next few days I'll be planning, pre

Radical Reward Charts:  Carrot or Stick I loved reward charts! I started using them a few years back when our Jack first started to potty train, and they worked a treat. Since then I've tried to keep the reward charts going to to be honest the kids got a little bored of them and they started to lose their effectiveness until we'd all but given up on them... Starting not to sound like "love" after all? Well it seems that all I needed was a change. A bit of glamour.... No more tatty bits of paper with stickers slapped on haphazardly (because that's what they had degenerated to). How about lovely, long, glossy, INTERESTING reward charts? How about a different design for each kid? How about sticking a picture of the kid on the chart to he can see himself climb to the top? Oh Yeah! I'm in love again! Check these out: Radical Reward Charts Ours came in the post this week. I'd sat down with my iPad with Jack & Tom and let them pick out their

This week it's Tom's turn to cook. He choose fish fingers and this brilliant idea for potatoes; an octopus!  The fish we picked up from the fishmongers wasn't really the right shape for fingers (it wasn't a uniform thickness for one) but we applied the same technique and made fish bites instead. The kids liked it though saying they looked the the rocks the octopus lived in. So it's all good! And Tom LOVED making the mash potato tentacles!  Fish Bites (or fish fingers) Serves: 4-6 | Prep Time: 10 mins | Cooking Time: 20 mins Ingredients 400-500g of firm white fish (skinned & filleted) 100g breadcrumbs 1 tsp oregano pinch of cayenne zest of 1 lemon salt & pepper 1 egg oil Method Preheat the oven to gas mark 7 (200c / 400f) Cut the fish into desired shapes Mix the breadcrumbs, oregano, cayenne, zest & seasoning Dip the fish in beaten egg and then in the breadcrumb mix Spread the oil over a ba

I'm on a big count down in my head for our holiday next week. It's just a weekend away in Wales to any one else, but to us it's our first family holiday - just us and the kids - EVER ! Sure we've been away with them before but we've always stayed with family. Even going to France to see my Dad doesn't feel like a holiday because it's just visiting my Dad. Only we have to take a plane to get there. THIS is a HOLIDAY! I've been list writing. A sure sign that I am excited and nervous about getting things right, Hubby hates my lists but without them we'd forget something (relatively) important like socks for the kids, or phone chargers, or the booking reference for the holiday it self! Today's important list was the Holiday Shopping List . I drove hubby crazy this morning trying to tap his brain for "Do you know where this is? Do we still have that? Will we need the other?" but I don't want to buy something we already have, or pa

It's been a great week! I love Summer and I love spending time with the kids outside doing fun things - so much better than trying to find something suitable for all three of them to do at home. And a summer like this one doesn't come round every year in Old Blighty! I'm taking full advantage of the weather before it changes! Saturday we went to a party at Fairfield Orchard (my Wordless Wednesday post this week) where the kids played traditional party games out side in the sunshine and played amongst the apple trees. A genius idea if there ever was one. Sunday we did the Madame Tussauds review, but we also bumped into Captain Jack Sparrow himself (well, a damn good look-a-like) in Carol Island. He gave the kids chocolate pirates treasure and had his picture taken with them. I desperately wanted to get a photo of myself giving him a snog but felt the hubby would disapprove! And then we had a good long play on the beach, splashing in the sea - the first time Tom has eve

It's a Friday Blog Hop & Link Up but it runs all weekend so you have plenty of time to get your links up and meet some other lovely bloggers. You can post just about anything, but please remember mine is mainly a parenting blog so please keep your posts reasonably family friendly. I wont block you for a bit of swearing but posting anything really offensive will get you the boot. It's not fair to others who follow the rules. The Rules! 1) Follow your Host  (that's me)   at  CharlieBeth aka Mumma Walker   and Mumma Walker Tries for a Girl on as much social media as you can Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | BlogLovin | Instagram | YouTube | Stumble | Pinterest 2) Check out & link up / follow as many other bloggers as you can it only works if you remember to follow others 3) Grab a button to share on your post, blog page, or hops  page ,  share on social media <br><a href="http://charliebeth.blogspot.co.uk/"&