CharlieBeth's "My Life As Mumma Walker"

This is a fab day out! When the boys are bigger and easier to manage (as in i'm not having to carry two of them) I'll take them on the boat too, but for now seeing the fish and animals in the aquarium and taking a ride on the steam train is about as much as I can cope with! Hubby was working today so it was just us with Mamee & Papee. But at least that meant we could all go in the one car! We took the kids round the aquarium first. Jack picked up a quiz on the way in and was determined to win a prize so he made sure he read just about every sign and notice on the way round so he could find the answers. He won a medal for getting them all right! I was thrilled to see the otters this time, which have always been hiding when ever we've come before. Georgie loved seeing the tiny poison arrow frogs, and Jack & Tom thought the tunnel walkway was best. They all had fun looking at the rock pool exhibit and tried to identify all the different creatures. Oh, and they had

It's my birthday! I'm 35 today. A new check box on forms, half way between 30 and 40, and the same age my mum was when she had me, which makes me half her age and which also means that when Freddie is my age I will be 70! Wow.... I much preferred birthdays in my 20s. So... Call it a treat for the kids since I have the misfortune of having my birthday in the Summer Holidays. Or maybe call it refusal to get older just because another year has passed. This year we went to Bowland Wild Boar Park with the kiddies, and because it's my birthday MY Daddy paid! Heehee! We've never been here before but the boys have been pestering to go all summer after they found some leaflets (which they call maps and read in the car) and it does look good. With it being my birthday and the kids wanting to bring Mummy breakfast in bed etc it was lunch time before we arrived. We went straight to the cafe and ordered Wild Boar Burgers, which were yummy! The kids first choice of activity was

I'm sure you all know by now how much I love to cook with my kids, especially Jack who still dreams of running his own Pizza Restaurant one day. Did you know that 1 in 4 parents admit they have NEVER cooked with their kids. Every child that learns how to cook shares their new skills with at least one other person - and 92% use them at home. Cooking is finally going back on the National Curriculum this September after 20 years and I can personally say that I'm glad! Can you imagine a world where no one knew how to cook for themselves any more? Something like this..... I do like that video! It's been made to support the launch of Ben's Beginners, the first online cooking channel, made for children. It's a great new YouTube cooking channel (launching today) which has a range of recipes, taught step by step with DJ BBQ, and some great tips from Child Psychologist Richard Woolfson, on how to encourage your kids into the kitchen. BANGIN' BURRITOS from

I am totally hooked (sorry about the pun) on these rubber band loom bracelets! Every time I go into town with the kids I wind up with half a dozen or so bags of bands in with the rest of my shopping. I spend evenings and nap times looming away. The kids love my creations and constantly pester me for new bracelets. I've blogged about it before and linked to my YouTube playlist where I find all the tutorials I like to follow. But not all bands are the same quality, as I have learned to my dismay. The Hubby bought me some from ebay that were simply awful! 8 bands out of every 10 I tried snapped as I tried to put it on my loom. I have tried all the different brands available locally and found most were ok. But there is no consistency in what is available and finding a refill of the exact same colour I've been using is difficult too. Then I was sent this Rainbow Braid refill kit.  These bands are great! I've made 8 bracelets with them in the last week and had only

It's only been a few days but we've been back to Happy Mount Park already! What can I say, we love it here! This time we went with my Dad and Fay, again we've left Hubby at home to get some rest. This time this boys were itching to get up to the large wooden adventure area at the back of Happy Mount Park where we hadn't made it with Mum. They had a blast! They love the large sand pit and spent ages digging and rooting through it searching for "treasure", Tom was delighted to discover he could climb sections he was too small or nervous to get up by himself last time he played here, and Jack found he could jump and scramble further too. Georgie is still too small for this bit of the park, but he was perfectly happy digging with Mamee in the sand! Jack has discovered he can use the zip line now too. Last summer he was still a bit small and not quite strong enough to cling to the bar but now he has it totally sussed and was zooming down it over and over again.

This is the first time we've ever been to Docker Park Farm , loads of the other mums on the school run have been recommending it to us so we thought we'd take the kids and check it out, their Papee (my Dad) came with us. It was a rainy day but that didn't stop the kids from having fun. We arrived with rain coats and wellies fully expecting to get soaked, but there was loads of stuff to do indoors so it wasn't really a problem for us at all! First off the kids wanted to play on all the toy tractors and ride-on toys which are all over the place, it was a great way to burn off some of the excess energy before we started to have a look at the animals. It started to rain after a while so they abandoned their tractors and had a look round one of the large barns full of pigs and goats. Jack spotted a massive piggy poo in one of he pens and thought it was one of the most disgusting and coolest things he's ever seen! Typical 6 year old! Next they found a play barn fu

This was a lovely day! My Mum came to visit and to spoil the kids, as only a Nana knows how. We gave Hubby a day's peace and took the boys over to Morecambe to have a play at Happy Mount Park. We headed straight for the central play area and paid them in for a play on the cars and climbing frames. I fully expected to be sat having a chat with my mum while the kids played, but instead I was sat watching my mum follow Georgie round and "help" him on the climbing frames and slides. I couldn't help chuckling to myself as I know Georgie is more than capable of doing all these things by himself. But Georgie and Mum have a lovely bond and frankly I think she enjoyed trailing around after him. There was a certain amount of hesitation though as she was unsure if she wanted to follow Georgie or snuggle Freddie! At least while I was feeding Freddie she had that decision made for her, but as soon as he was finished feeding she was sat giving him a long cuddle while I pushed G

It's Freddie's first trip to Old Holly Farm! Not that he will remember it of cause, but still, it's a nice memory for me of no one else, hee hee! It's looked like rain all day but the sun managed to stay out while we were out side and that's all we needed. We got there late in the day so I'm glad I didn't buy any animal feed this time. The calves were far from hungry when we went to see them. There was another family doing the same circuit as us and their kids were tying to feed the calves but only one was mildly interested. My lot decided to swerve the sleeping baby cows and play on the wooden play ground for a bit instead, although it's a bit high for Georgie who went shooting off the end of the slide and gave me a fright (he thought it was awesome). I was glad to get into the soft play this time. Venturing out with all 4 boys on my own is ok, but still a little nerve wrecking at the moment. I've been carrying him in the sling which gives m

Well it was just me, Jack & Freddie today. Tom & George wont stop fighting so they have been "grounded" for the day and had to stay home with Daddy. Mind you, I get so little quality time with Jack that this isn't a bad thing for us at all, and Tom is now scared of butterflies so we wouldn't have got here this summer if they had all come out today. The weather is a bit iffy today to. It's been really warm, but very muggy, raining on and off, and it feel like we're due a thunder storm. Made for a cracking photo of the Ashton Memorial though! A good day to do something indoors! Jack loves the butterfly house. He spent ages waiting quietly and stock still (such an amazing feat for my fidget bum son) in the hope that a butterfly might choose to land on him. And one did.... the tattiest, scrattiest butterfly you have ever seen landed on his HEAD! I got some photos of it so that Jack could actually SEE the butterfly that landed on him. I think he

Here's what Fertility Friend says about baby this week (same as last week, FF didn't believe I'd get to due date any more than anyone else did!!!): Hooray! You're in your fortieth week of pregnancy and your baby is now due. Don't worry if you're still waiting as you due date passes. It's not unusual to still be waiting for your baby to be born since a normal pregnancy may last for up to another two weeks. An average size baby now weighs about 7.5 lbs (3400g) and measures about 21.5 inches (50cm) long. Crown to rump measurement is about 14.8 to 15.2 inches (37 to 38cm). As you will see when your baby is born, these are averages only and vary from baby to baby. Your baby may weigh and measure more or less that this. The presenting part is down in the lower portion of your uterus and pressing through your softened and partially opened cervix. You may be surprised by the initial appearance of your baby when it is first born. Her h

The Health Visitor came round again today. I'll be glad when the kids are back at school for these visits, it's almost impossible to have a conversation because they get so giddy when she comes round. We've had the same HV for all of the boys and they love her to bits. She looks a bit like a pixie They spent 5 mins showing off the LoomBand bracelets I've been making for them! She's happy with his progress though, and very happy with this weight. He is now 10lb 4oz! Little chunk I'm putting that down to the mammoth feeds he has a night. I bring him in to our bed for a feed around 2am and he's usually still there 2 hrs later! Very glad I've got co-sleeping/dream feeding sussed now. I'm just latching him on and going back to sleep, only waking up to switch sides I do feel like I could sleep for half the day though... I don't feel tired a such, just very very sleepy. She's coming back in 3 weeks, when the kids WILL be in school & nurse

Today I ventured out with the boys, all four of them, by my self!!! I didn't go far though, just down the hill to Nursery because they've been holding Stay-n-Play sessions fpr newborn to 8 years old during the holidays and I thought it would be a good idea if we went (beats being at home!) It was great, the kids had a fab time ( apart from Tom randomly biting Jack, really hard too. Left a mark ) Freddie got fussed over a lot! I hadn't realised just how many people had taken an interest in my pregnancy, I had mums I hardly know - as in never really spoken to or simply haven't registered in my brain at all - come to speak to me about having four lads now, and how they weren't surprised he was big on account of how big my bump had been by the end of the school year, etc etc etc... I must walk round with my head in the clouds or something! Either that or I'm spending so much time trying to herd my kids from one place to the next that I simply don't see al

Well, that's Freddie made all official! Never been to register one of my babies alone before, but mum called last night to say she couldn't make it over today to mind the kids, and there was no way we were taking them all with us! That meant Hubby had to stay home with them. But even I can't misspell Alfred James. I'm loving people commenting on how content and good Freddie is I took him in the sling rather than faff about with the pram & disables access / stairs, or lugging the car seat about, and he just snuggled up and went to sleep. I don't think he was even aware we'd left the house let alone ventured into town. Chilled out baba! Facebook has changed it’s policy for posts to Facebook pages like mine. They are only showing posts to a few likers unless I pay to boost the views. Since I don't earn money from my blog (or at least not much, not even enough to buy one posh a coffee a week) I wont be doing that. The best way to make sure you

Two Weeks Old I can't believe Freddie is two weeks old already! He has settled in as part of our family so quickly and so well. I am hugely proud of my older boys for not only accepting their littlest brother, but for loving him so much. I have been doing less well thanks to a bout of anaemia - a result of the excessive blood loss I suffered during the birth. Aside from the general tiredness, my legs felt like lead, I was horrifically out of breath doing something as simple as climb the stairs, and completely unable to breathe when I was laid down. It made for several totally sleepless nights, which in turn lead to a dip in my mood. But the iron tablets finally kicked in and I am now pretty much back to my self. I can sleep again, I can move around again without panting, I have discovered that I am SLIMMER now than I was at the start of my pregnancy (always good news), and I am fully enjoying being a mum to four boys! Here's what Fertility Fri

We've been visited by more family today Hubby's dad & his missus, youngest bro-in-law, the twin Sisters-in-law, and the OH & kiddy of one of the twins. House was bursting at the seams so we headed out to the Brewers Fayer again (I should have a discount for all the business I put their way). Freddie did us proud, he just loves all the snuggles he gets! Georgie loved playing with his cousin Harry, there's only about 5 months between them so they get on great. Jack & Tom were charged with keeping an eye on the younger lads in the soft play while the grown ups got to know Freddie, and they did a great job. Poor Georgie though... He did his usual post party trick and threw up all over me and his fav Georgie Pig PJs right before bed. He'd over stuffed himself on chocolate cake and milkshake, and rough housed with "uncle dafty pants" (Harry's dad). Bad combination for someone who doesn't like to eat in the evenings. After everyone had gone h

This anaemia seems to be on it's way out now, thankfully. I had another good nights sleep last night, in fact I over slept and was still in the shower when the health visitor arrived! Midwife called in shortly after. They coincided, and clashed over Freddie's sticky eye needing a swab. Was almost amusing watching two women I highly respect have a very professional non-argument in front if a patient. HV thought he needed a swab taking to check for infection, MW didn't think he did. Long story short, MW did the swab! Other than his crusty eyes both women are happy with Freddie. He's gained a lot of weight! Last week he had dropped from 9lb 6oz to 8lb 12lb, his 6% loss. Today he's a whopping 9lb 12oz!!! My blood test results came back as low but much better than previous, so I've been recommended to get a repeat on my iron tablets instead of changing or going for a transfusion. I can cope with that. My breathlessness has all but gone, I'm sleeping aga

So this is the end of World Breastfeeding Week this year. What a cracking coincidence for me to have had my baby just before the start of this years campaign! So here's my story of getting settled with breastfeeding with baby no.4 27th July 2014 - Day 1 Baby Freddie is born, 3 weeks early, a traumatic birth, and heavy blood loss. He's still groggy and I am in a state of shock... but we try with breastfeeding anyway. I'm really pleased that I manage to get him latched onto the breast reasonably quickly. It's an advantage that I've done this before, but Freddie never has and he needs teaching! 28th July 2014 - Day 2 I'm all for "feeding on demand", but over night Freddie didn't "demand" ... I'm a little worried as he is going 4hrs+ between feeds, although he does latch on for a longish time when he's there. He's a big baby though, despite being 3 weeks early he is 9lb 6oz, and because I have been under consultant ca

Midwife has been, took note of all my symptoms and took my blood. She thinks it's still the anaemia too. She's going to get the test results tomorrow and call me. Worst case: hospital for a transfusion. Hopefully won't come to that, but they can't increase my iron tablets. They might change them. If i do have to have blood given it should only be a few hrs max and she can't see any reason why I couldn't take Freddie & keep him fed. I'm not expressing well (lower milk supply prob due to anaemia too) or I'd leave him with his daddy & a bottle. You know, "bed rest" (or sofa rest in my case) is great in theory, and awesome for a day or two. But I'm getting fed up now. I want to go and do stuff with the kids. I want to go and show Freddie off. And I want to be able to breathe while I'm doing it. I'm bored of laying about, bored of watching Netflix, bored of reading my kindle, bored of my apps and Facebook... I want to go

image from http://www.unitedhealthdirectory.com/ My anaemia is becoming a real problem. I'm calling the MW in the morning. Freddie had a great night last night, one long feed 1-2 and then a shorter one at 4:20. Only after the last feed I found I couldn't breath well enough to lie down. As soon as I do I struggle - a lot. I'm gasping for air and coughing and it doesn't get better. I'm not too bad sat up, but sometimes I get breathless for no apparent reason. Climbing the stairs does me in completely, and I'm yawning and coughing my way through the kids bedtime stories. I've looked up post-partum anaemia and this is something that can happen, along with palpitations. All to do with not having enough oxygen flowing through my body because the the iron deficiency. Oh the joy! I'm still talking the iron tablets (and suffering the grim side effects) but my breathing it getting worse. My blood loss has increased a little too. Not much, and without the bre

Baby Freddie is ONE WEEK OLD! Well...... My last Bumpdate was a bit off, wasn't it!? I updated that on the Saturday evening ready for posting on the Sunday as normal. But everything changed overnight!  The short version is I woke up early in the morning in labour, but thought it was a false start like I'd had with my 3rd baby. I was wrong! By the time I had worked that out everything was a bit rushed. The full story reads a bit like a comedy movie, with plenty of bodily fluids, cringe worthy moments, and comings and going of cars, taxis and ambulances. There was also the terrifying moment when I arrived at the hospital, without my hubby, to be told I had suffered a cord prolapse and needed and emergency c-section NOW! Lucky I avoided that, but baby was born very quickly, in a state of shock, and not breathing. They brought him round quickly and he is fighting fit now, home, and very very loved. If you would like to read the full story - with the

My Mother-in-law and her other half came to visit  today & meet baby Freddie. The plan was to take the kids to Morecambe and let them play while chat and pass Freddie round for cuddles. Didn't happen... Flaming wrecked tire on my car! All the wall is ragged, and it's flat. Didn't know when I got in, with all the kids & hubby, ready to go out to a play zone with MIL & her HO following in their car. As I'm turning the car round he flashed his lights at me and waves out the window. He's spotted the flat. Tried pumping it up but you could hear the air hissing out of the tire as fast as it was going in Apparently ford galaxy's dont come with a spare tire... Just a puncture kit. Mine being 2nd hand has no such thing. So no play zone until I can get my car to the garage in the week. I need the glow plugs looking at anyway, and the air con. But still.... Annoying as hell! We walked to the local park instead - in the rain. But it worked out ok. The

SO the midwife came round today. She weighed Freddie. He is 8lb 12oz currently, which is a 6% drop. She said they expect 7-10% so he's done really well! She saw he had a mucky nappy, saw him piddle everywhere while he was getting weighed, and saw him latch on for a very noisy, guzzley feed, so she's happy with all of that too. He's had his heal pricks done. That was the hardest part - finding a bit of his poor little feet that had healed enough from all the hospitals tests. She also had a poke if my tummy etc and is happy with me too. She's stunned that I haven't been crippled my after pains with this being no.4 but I've not suffered at all so far. Hubby says it's pay back for all the pain and discomfort of my late preg and the birth! We won't see her again until Thu next week! Unless I feel the need, and then I can call her. She seems to think that everything is ok and that I know what I'm doing by now. I'll take it as a compliment. F