CharlieBeth's "My Life As Mumma Walker"

Welcome to the Pin it Party! with your hosts  My Life as Mumma Walker  &  Embracing the Good Life Let's keep it simple: Link up any posts you have that you would like to have shared on Pinterest Follow the Host boards:  CharlieBeth79  and  embracingtglife Check out and pin other party linkies - as many as you can! Follow as many of the other party linkies as you can Follow this party's board and wait to see your post get pinned!  HERE I'd especially love to see great blog posts with pics, recipes, DIY, crafting, reviews, blogging advice, beauty & fashion. That said, it's pretty much rules free, but please remember that mine is a parenting blog so don't share something which might be seen as too offensive! The Button: You don't have to take one, but it's there if you want it! Tweet Follow Pin it Party by CharlieBeth (Mumma) Walker on Pinterest By participating, linkers agree to be added

There are some great advantages to me and the Hubby both working part time and sharing both the working and the parenting roles. It's also a huge advantage that we only need someone other than ourselves to mind the kids one day a week, and that it's my mum who volunteers to do it. There are also some disadvantages to me not being the only person to pick the kids up from school. For example; receiving letters from school. Or, more to the point, NOT receiving them. When 3 different people pick up the kids the letters seem to go missing. Even though we have a noticeboard where they are all supposed to be kept. To be fair to the school they are pretty good and the vast majority of important information is texted out to parents too. I am the one who gets these messages in our family. But not everything gets texted. Last night as we were having our dinner Jack got up to go to the loo. As he passed the livingroom door he paused and looked at the stuff (way too much of it) what w

Today was my 2nd Booking In Appointment. I like this one! It's the "home visit". I've never really understood the purpose of it being a visit at home... the cynic in me says it's to make sure we're not living up to our eyes in animal faeces, leave crack pipes lying around, actually have access to running water, heat and power, lol. And maybe it is. But so what? Our house is a bomb site.... it always is to be honest. When I'm pregnant it gets worse because, aside from my "I'm too damn tired to do anything to care anyway" pregnancy attitude, Hubby goes DIY crazy when I'm up the duff. But for all the untidiness, our house isn't dirty. We had a whoosh round this morning to sort of tidy most the toys up, made sure the clothes that the kids scatter around had been picked up, no breakfast pots still lingering around... just enough to make sure people to sit and talk properly. But not trying to kill ourselves or make out we're so

At some point, when all this rubbish is over and done with, I will share a post about my insurance company. It's going to be a post worth reading so keep an eye out for that! In the meantime, I have been discovering a whole new world of window shopping. I have been browsing the t'interweb and real world for a replacement motor. I have had soooo much advice from so many people too. Some of it unsolicited, some of it good, and some not so good. But I have worked out that from my point of view there are two schools of people I need to speak to. My local and highly trusted garage, and other parents! In an ideal world where money was no object I would go and buy a VW Caravelle . I love those things! I have always loved them. 9 seats, tons of boot space, iconic.... what's not to love? Oh... the price tag! Sadly money IS an object, one I don't have all that much of. So even a 2nd Caravelle is well out of my price range for the age that I want. Time to look at other things!

Welcome to Magnificent Monday! Poor old Monday, the most hated day of the week... But Monday can be magnificent ! All it wants is to be liked !  Like this Monday by liking some new Facebook pages and making some new friends! CharlieBeth @ Life as Mumma Walker  &  Kate @ Family Fever Tweet   The Facebook Linky The Blog Linky By participating, linkers agree to be added to the blog.family-walker.co.uk email newsletter list, but don't worry, I wont spam you! I'll just email you invitations to linkups. You can opt out at any time

This time next week I will be 12 weeks and all these Secret Diary Posts will be made public! And I am very excited about it! On Thursday my brother-in-law's missus Rach will have her dating scan, and it's BIL's birthday on the Friday so they are planning to tell family then. Saturday... we'll be doing the same! But for now it's still all hush-hush!  Last night my SIL Jenny asked me if I had any baby news - she has always been so good at guessing when someone is preg (remember she was saying at Christmas that she expected Rach to be announcing). I had to fib and say that I'd know more by the weekend. Afterwards I thought I should have said "it's too early to tell" which would have been a handy play on words..... but I thought of it too late. I'm not as good at thinking on my feet when I'm tired and sickly! I'm still not enjoying the lying to folk bit, but at least I can blame my Hubby for my deceit!  So, in lieu of chatting

We've made a start on Jack's ship! We've talked about some of the basic things a ship needs lke a hull, hold, masts and sails. I don't think we're expected to make a working rudder etc at this stage! The kids in his class are only 5 and 6 years old after all (although it would have been fun to try). We talked about what materials would be good to make the ship too. Papier Mache is no good to us this time, it would go soggy in the water. We need something that will float, but that isn't too heavy. We went with a plastic tub for the hull, a small cereal box for the hold with a small polystyrene block inside so we would have something sturdy to hold the masts in place. Lolly pop sticks for masts and fun foam for sales.  Jack got to painting the hull and hold while I did some of the fiddly bits of cutting out. He wants to make a pirate ship so I drew and snipped out a skull and crossbones for his sails. He glued the lolly pop sticks together to

Welcome to the Pin it Party! with your hosts  My Life as Mumma Walker  &  Embracing the Good Life Let's keep it simple: Link up any posts you have that you would like to have shared on Pinterest Follow the Host boards:  CharlieBeth79  and  embracingtglife Check out and pin other party linkies - as many as you can! Follow as many of the other party linkies as you can Follow this party's board and wait to see your post get pinned!  HERE I'd especially love to see great blog posts with pics, recipes, DIY, crafting, reviews, blogging advice, beauty & fashion. That said, it's pretty much rules free, but please remember that mine is a parenting blog so don't share something which might be seen as too offensive! The Button: You don't have to take one, but it's there if you want it! Tweet Follow Pin it Party by CharlieBeth (Mumma) Walker on Pinterest By participating, linkers agree to be added

This is amazing! There really is nothing quite like the first scan. The first time you see your baby, even if it is on a screen and not for real and face-to-face.... there is still something so special about it. With my three boys I had always used a pregnancy test on the morning of my first scan. Just in case, you know? Just in case I was wrong, and I wasn't pregnant at all. Just in case it was my mind playing cruel tricks on me. This time I didn't. This time I was scared in case is was negative instead of paranoid that it might be. I was working today so just before 11.30 I left work and went to fetch hubby - he was working too but at least that meant my Mum already had George, and Tom too who had been sent home from nursery sick. We arrived just before our appointment time of 12noon and got seen about 20 past. We were the last on the list! The sonographer thought she'd finished and then found us sat waiting, but she was lovely so it wasn't a big deal.

 How much Wholegrain do you eat? I'm sure you all know about eating 5 portions of fruit and veg each day, but do you know the recommended portions of wholegrain? I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. I didn't until recently. In fact since around 95% of adults in the UK don't have the recommended amount I think most of us don't know! Are you ready....? It's 3! 3 portions of wholegrain every day. Think over what you eat in a day... are you getting them all in? If you're anything like my husband you're going to be exclaiming "how on earth am I supposed to eat all that?" but it is easier than you might think. Just a few simple changes in your shopping list and everyone will be eating wholegrain without even thinking about it! Cereal - The big brands like Kellogg's and and Nestle all do wholegrain cereals, and naturally the smaller and supermarket home-brands follow suit. Even if you have picky kids who only like sugary cereal you

Welcome to Magnificent Monday! Poor old Monday, the most hated day of the week... But Monday can be magnificent ! All it wants is to be liked !  Like this Monday by liking some new Facebook pages and making some new friends! CharlieBeth @ Life as Mumma Walker  &  Kate @ Family Fever Tweet   The Facebook Linky The Blog Linky By participating, linkers agree to be added to the blog.family-walker.co.uk email newsletter list, but don't worry, I wont spam you! I'll just email you invitations to linkups. You can opt out at any time

Sooo..... the Hubby has taken it upon himself to resume with the bathroom ! This can only be a good thing. It is loooooooong over due! But I'm not having a go, I know he gets things done in his own time (even if he ever actually finishes anything, hee hee). It's his week in work so so he only has today (Sunday) off to get anything done and since we do now have the floorboards that we have needed since 2003 he thought today would be the day to get things done! Which means we need to get out of his way. I packed the kids up and did a couple of bits locally (popped into Asda and what have you, treated them to a McDonald's lunch), and then drive down to Old Holly Farm . I'm sure you all know how much we LOVE Old Holly Farm! If you're local in Lancashire, or just passing through, you need to call in here. It's not just for the kiddies either! The Cafe is lovely and the shop is very sweet (not to mention the ice cream is to die for!) First port of call for us

Yesterday I thought I was starting with a panic attack. I used to get them years ago when I first suffered from SAD and again when a long term relationship ended traumatically, but it's not something I've had for a very long time. Like more than 12 years. I started with the trembling, the aching tingle in my bones, esp my forearms and hands, my breathing went shallow, I could hear the blood rushing through my ears, I wanted to run and hide. But from what? I was just sat in the livingroom on my own. Hubby at work, Jack & Tom in school & nursery, and George having his nap in his room. I was totally freaked out for nothing! It passed. I mentioned it to Hubby who is worried about me and Bean now, but I figured it was a one off and tried to forget about it. This afternoon it happened again. Same sort of time of day. This time, being a weekend, I have all the kids with me. Georgie was napping again and the other two were playing nicely and quietly in the same

Who agrees with this? Just lately we've been having a few issues with our eldest's behaviour. He's not a bad kid or anything, but his attitude has not been what we would like recently. He's almost 6 so I get that a lot of it is his age, and exposure to other kids in school, and generally not being under our influence as much as he was when he was at home full time. And I don't want to come down on him like a ton of bricks or anything, but there are certain things I want to curb. He seems to think everything should be handed to him on a plate, regardless of his lack of manners, appreciation, and gratitude. He thinks he should be able to have the latest toys and games just because he wants them, feels no need to do anything he is asked, interrupts other peoples conversations and shouts until he is heard, barges people out of his way, and (the one thing I will keep coming back to because it grates on me the most) seems to have totally lost the ability to say plea

This week Jack came home with his latest Creative Homework Project: Magic & Mischief, Spells, Fairy Tales and Pirates As usual there are 5 areas for Jack to choose from: Art/DT, Dance. Music, Writing, and ICT. This time Jack has been swayed to try a Music project! "Learn a Pirate Song" so we've planned a fun little Google and YouTube search to find some good ones for him to pick from.  (I will be checking first without him to make sure I only let him discover age appropriate songs, Pirates have not always been known for their PG rating). He wants to give the Art/DT project a go again - he loves these and I do too. We're making a boat from different materials, e.g. stuff from the recycling box, and thinking about what we are going to use that will be suitable and why. The third part he's chosen to do is the ICT which this half-term is to use a paint program on the PC to make a map of a fairy tale land which might feature things like castles, forests, g

Welcome to the Pin it Party! with your hosts  My Life as Mumma Walker  &  Embracing the Good Life Let's keep it simple: Link up any posts you have that you would like to have shared on Pinterest Follow the Host boards:  CharlieBeth79  and  embracingtglife Check out and pin other party linkies - as many as you can! Follow as many of the other party linkies as you can Follow this party's board and wait to see your post get pinned!  HERE I'd especially love to see great blog posts with pics, recipes, DIY, crafting, reviews, blogging advice, beauty & fashion. That said, it's pretty much rules free, but please remember that mine is a parenting blog so don't share something which might be seen as too offensive! The Button: You don't have to take one, but it's there if you want it! Tweet "Heroes of the City" have launched their Movie App and have been kind enough to let us

I've got my "Green Notes"! Whoo! I have been waiting for this day for the last 5 weeks! My first midwife appointment! I was working today, but my manager knew what my appointment was and was totally fine with me popping out for a hour to go. Despite the road to town being shut (without notice, I might add) I managed to get to the doctors just in time! Actually, I was a little late but the midwife was at reception having a natter when I got there so I got away with it. I am thrilled to say that I have the same midwife team as I've had with my 3 boys. One lady (Tracey) has moved on to another district, but the other two midwives I know and trust (Sue and Leslie) are still there. I saw Sue today and she recognised me too which made me feel instantly at home and safe. We had the usual chat about my health in general, my BMI (which is up again after I gained a pound last week, making me 14st 1lb), if I wanted screening for Downs (I don't) and what we thoug

We are thrilled about this!  Who remembers the review we did of Haven's Cala Gran Holiday Park back in August of last year? ( It's here if you want a recap ) You might recall that we had a simply awesome time while we were there and that the kids loved it so much they cried when it was time to leave... So when they offered us the chance to be Ambassadors this year I'd have to be deft to turn them down! And the timing is perfect as only this weekend we were discussing what holidays we would like to take this year. The kids want to go back to Cala Gran , I fancy trying out  Hafan-y-Mor , or maybe we'll try some where totally different! But what ever we do, there is one thing I'm sure of; we'll have a great time!

Welcome to Magnificent Monday! Poor old Monday, the most hated day of the week... But Monday can be magnificent ! All it wants is to be liked !  Like this Monday by liking some new Facebook pages and making some new friends! CharlieBeth @ Life as Mumma Walker  &  Kate @ Family Fever Tweet   "Heroes of the City" have launched their Movie App and have been kind enough to let us have access to the full package ( see my review ) It's available on iPhone, iPad, and Android Phones & Tablets. AppStore: Download | GooglePlay: Download The Giveaway! To celebrate this Movie app Heroes of the City are giving away this lovely kit featuring a book, DVD, and die cast character toys from the show. They are suitable for ages 3+ Entering is simple, but please read the T&C. a Rafflecopter giveaway The Facebook Linky The Blog Linky By participa

You're probably wondering where I've gone! I am still here. I am still reading other peoples blogs. I haven't forgotten you all. I promise! Right now there's stuff going on in my life that I can't write about just yet.Some of it good, some of it not so good (but working on making it good!) All of it I will blog about later. Right now though I can't think about anything else so rather than stick my great big feet in my mouth and cause a whole lot of hassle I am keeping schtum! And to cap it all off I am having a rough year as far as SAD in concerned, and I am suffering from a rather nasty bout of sinusitis too. So I'm not too much fun. I could come on and make a token post or two but I would only wind up rambling on about SAD etc and to be frank I have done that to death in previous years. So in the mean time I hope you will continue to join my link parties, and do stick with me... it's almost February, and I always perk up come Feb and the start

Welcome to the Pin it Party! with your hosts  My Life as Mumma Walker  &  Embracing the Good Life Let's keep it simple: Link up any posts you have that you would like to have shared on Pinterest Follow the Host boards:  CharlieBeth79  and  embracingtglife Check out and pin other party linkies - as many as you can! Follow as many of the other party linkies as you can Follow this party's board and wait to see your post get pinned!  HERE I'd especially love to see great blog posts with pics, recipes, DIY, crafting, reviews, blogging advice, beauty & fashion. That said, it's pretty much rules free, but please remember that mine is a parenting blog so don't share something which might be seen as too offensive! The Button: You don't have to take one, but it's there if you want it! Tweet "Heroes of the City" have launched their Movie App and have been kind enough to let us

I am SOOOOOO struggling with watching my diet! Most of the time I feel like I could kill for some carbs. Soft bread rolls, hot dog buns, that kind of thing. Pasta, rice, noodles, creamy mash.... It's all I want! Not good when you're trying not to gain a ton of weight! Where I nabbed this photo from and why I'm trying not to get hooked! I have revised my Weight Watchers. I was going to wait until 2nd Tri to do this but I changed my mind! I have altered it to say I am breastfeeding which gives me extra points so I can have what Bean is asking for, but not gorging myself for the sake of it. I can change it again to "maintain" instead of "loose" weight, but I'm leaving that for now. I'm sure I will be glad of those points later in the pregnancy. But as well as this sudden increase in appetite, I am also being sick. Although not after I have eaten. I feel sick almost all the time. I feel like I have eaten too much salt or swallowed a mo