christmas is a creeping...

SO ..... christmas is o a countdown now its creeping up faster and faster.... I used to love this time of year as my eldest son was due christmas day! although he arrived early! After a 9 hour hideous labour.... on the 22nd december at 6.20am!  SO this december he will be 14. yes 14 years old. Its scary to me.... where on earth did 14 years go? When me and chris lived in our little 1 bed cosy flat :-) our little 5lb13oz baby... that cried with horrendous colic for 4 months what a shock to me! Now he is not a little boy, he has turned into a kevin the teen deep voice the lot :-( its all alien to me :-( nobody warned me how it would be having a teenager? He has a girlfriend who is lovely thankgod and he is doing very well in school top grades so i can't complain. Just seems like yesterday that my baby was cwtched in bed with me....  But i digress christmas was always a double celebration! and i think now he has all fo the sudden grown its not the same anymore. Although he is ace... he adores his baby sister scarlett who is 6.... she asked him if he had written his list to santa.... so he sat and wrote a dear santa one out in front of her and let her put it up the log fire :-) i love that he adores her that he keeps the magic alive :-) he knows i bawl at polar express and the bell! maybe i have done something right with him?! x

Life with TYPE 1 DIA -Bloody - betes times 2

so we had clinic. All went ok minimal changes suggested. STILL on mdi mulitple daily injections 5 times plus a day....  On the flipside me myself and I yes thats right ME! a mother of 4 with two t1 kids has changed all the ratios all by my very self as usual .... and i have had a week of single figures bah 2. go me! On top of this stress the comp my son is in is closing the year he takes his GCSE'S ! I am lived - beyond livid. My son is very bright set to get high grades b 's to a*'s but this move will be detrimental so am comaigning against this too . WHY cant life every be simple!?

My garden is nearly finished!

I am so pleased with my front garden now. All my plants are established and growing well and the patio is finished. I just need to choose some coping stones to go on top of the wall :-)

 

PLANTS BOUGHT FROM 

 https://twitter.com/GardeningExpres

http://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/ 

I have added their twitter page well worth a follow!

Raising a little awareness... BCCA (Be child cancer aware) and 4T'S symptoms for type 1 diabetes

My mind is in overdrive tonight!
There are so many things we have to worry about with being a parent.... and the last thing on our mind is our children getting ill. We are all quite used of common viruses and colds, sick bugs etc. But there comes times when it can be deadly to put it bluntly. I never for a minute thought that this would be the case with my children until my son got ill.... He was 3.5,  it was June so when he started to ask for lots of drinks i put it down to the hot weather. BUT he started to wake in the night for drinks, i caught him drinking from the tap, he had also lost a lot of weight his little shorts fell off his waist. I took him to the GP and despite me giving a urine sample etc they gave antibiotics.. after a week he was so lethargic he couldnt move his head from the sofa he was fading before my eyes. I rang the GP and took him down with yet another urine sample - when we got there it showed ketones (protein) and a blood finger prick test showed blood sugar levels of 33.... normal levels are between 4 and 7.... he got admitted to hospital there and then. That night we were given the devestating news that L had type 1 diabetes something that was to change our lives forever. The consultant said to us that most children of his age were normally admitted in a coma :-( in DKA (this is so true my eldest sons sister was in hdu for a week with dka due to undiagnosed diabetes) All i can say is as a parent trust your instincts

On the same vein I have to add my friend Sarah had a similar worry with her son T being increasingly ill. He had leukemia :-( - she caught it and he beat it! Leading sarah to start her own charity and campaign for awareness in which she is doing a sterling job
http://www.bechildcanceraware.org/
Not wanting to scare anyone but these things can happen and as a parent listen to your instincts xx

Halen Mon seasalt review :-)

Last year i was watching Countryfile on a sunday evening.... it was showing the production of Halen Mon seasalt made in the Isle of Anglesey North Wales. My husband Chris and I were intrigued.... we went onto google to see if we could buy some to try as they  did flavoured seasalts.... that sounded gorgeous for cooking with!
http://www.halenmon.com/ 

Above is the link to their website which has a lovely layout easy to navigate.
So, after perusing on google we discovered  that we could buy a gift set on amazon this one : 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Halen-Mon-Salt-Gift-Set/dp/B005UCON4C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1376949469&sr=8-3&keywords=halen+mon
which contains... 5 different salts....
When we received these lovely little pots of joy (10g pots) we tried them all and wow they are divine they smell amazing! Oak, celery , spices, tahitian vanilla and plain. Out of them all the one that really wowed us was the "sea salt with celery seed" it smells divine and tastes gorgeous. I have to be honest i have never been a salt lover, in fact i didn't even use it to cook with or sprinkle on food! But this salt has changed my ways, its delicious sprinkled on a roast dinner or a little sprinkle in with boiled potatoes.
I would thoroughly reccomend this salt to anyone looking for adding extra flavour to cooking :-) I also like to support local /British companies

 

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Family (Gramps day)

Today we celebrated my husband's gramps life.... we do it every summer. He was an amazing man, he raised my husband and was a father to him the best role model a boy could have - he quite simply made him the lovely man he is today.
We went for a lovely family meal at the local pub 18 of us lol! Roast dinners all around - fab no dishes for me after hehe.
Afterwards we went down to the local park where all the boys/men played football as we sunbathed under trees.
I took some lovely photos - it was nice to use my camera again.... i have been a bit lazy in not using it much lately.

#Spend20K.

“This post is an entry for BritMums #Spend20K Challenge sponsored by The National Lottery, with more ways to win more money on the new Lotto game. Find out more about new Lotto, which starts in October, here – www.national-lottery.co.uk”, and link to this page (http://www.britmums.com/2013/08/join-the-spend20k-challenge-win-shopping-vouchers/).

Everyone dreams of a nice win on the lottery..... i often lie in bed at night and let my mind tick over with what i would do with the money if i won.....
20k is a LOT of money i could do so much with it!! Where would i start?

Firstly.... I would donate £1000 to the local children's diabetes unit, this money would get put into paying for children to go on courses that are run by richmond house Course are run there teaching children with Type 1 diabetes how to do their own care and carb count therefore controlling their own health better. This is close to my heart as my youngest two children were diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 3.

My daughter Scarlett testing her blood sugar levels herself age 3

Next on the list would be to book a holiday in Disneyland Paris :-) i would say disney florida  BUT with 4 children that would cost an absolute bomb so this would do us just fine !

Then there would be a trip to Germany Velbert to go and visit my family - sadly my aunty has dementia now but i really would love to see her again and my Uncle Karl so that he can meet my children, I went over there last year with my mum and sister. Also while there we would visit my amazing 2nd cousin Anita she is so funny and lovely and kind! She lives in Cologne with her husband. I would take my mum and dad with me too (built in babysitters too?! lol)

 My lovely family in Germany.

I would take us all clothes shopping!!! yay my favourite! I would treat us all to new clothes and shoes:-) With 3 growing boys and a daughter its not cheap and i don't get to treat them and lavish designer gear on them... I would let the boys go and choose all the hollister and blazers /vans stuff they desire. As for my daughter i'd take her into Next where she would be in clothes and shoe heaven lol!

As for the house I would do one simple thing and thats get my garden patioed tidy :-) its in dire need of doing all the slabs are raised and uneven making it unsafe for the children.

Lastly whatever is left would be put into saving accounts for the children so that when they are old enough they will have some money to help them learn to drive, set up a home etc.

http://www.britmums.com/2013/08/join-the-spend20k-challenge-win-shopping-voucher/

care...

i am having a bit of an epiphany

front garden makeover.....

This year we decided to makeover our front garden which was very overgrown with plants and mini conifers. The reason we never bothered with it before is because our previous neighbours had horrendous massive leylandi in their front garden and the roots killed everything i had tried to plant! I had a beautiful weeping willow and it died :-(. Sadly my neighbour passed away suddenly when we were away on holiday, it was a council house so we got new tenants within weeks. The new tennants hated the trees and chainsawed them all down - hooray! SO.... we dug up all the conifers etc, dug up countless massive roots grrr, fed the soil up with chicken poo and blood and bone. We then bought some beautiful trees from the dutch garden centre an ornamental lilac, ornamental cherry and a magnolia. I was then lucky enough to win a nice voucher for gardeningexpress where i ordered a number of perennials including, stock, astilbe, heuchera palace purple, firecracker, golden queen to name but a few! Having such a lovely garden made us think we would like to now sit and admire it.... plus we get a lot of nice sun in the evening out there. Our new neighbours were doing a patio in their front garden and they offered to help us do ours :-) soooo today was spent moving the plants up a bit... and digging out a place for the new patio. A new wall is being put in tomorrow i can't wait it looks fab already! on the pics i have added you may see two bright tiled cemented on the wall - they were made by scarlett and Llewi at Cwmbran big event we loved them and wanted to keep them i think they are a lovely feature!

i'm in love

with this lipstick its stunning i neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddd it!!
http://lipcote.com/home/?p=4226

The dreaded clinic visit and annual bloods

I am so glad that is over with - clinic with the kids. Its always so stressful trying to remember everything and explain. I was shattered too having been awake from 4am battling to raise a hypo that didn't want to come up :-( after speaking to the dietian it turns out that the supernoodles i gave s for tea, asda have the carb content incorrectly printed on the packet and refuse to change it! GREAT thanks for that ASDA i will be complaining! To top it all off then the kids needed annual bloods done, they have never had them done in our hosp in the 6 yrs i have been going there even though i asked. While we were waiting another little boy was having his down and he was screaming the place down - my two were petrified then! BUT i have to say there were marvellous even s at 6 sat on my lap good as gold having hers done in her arm bless her. I am hoping i can continue to keep their levels good like they have been this past week, after looking at L's for june and july they were awful :-( But now he has stopped sneaking food and started to Bolus for it fingers crossed we can make things right and that i don't get made to look an awful mother anymore

Kate's irish beef stew with extras!

2 large onions, 3 cloves garlic, 2 leeks sliced, 1 large sweet potato cubed, celery sliced, whole baby carrots, whole baby button mushrooms, 500ml stock i use a knorr rich beef stock pot, 500ml red wine, cornflour mixed with a bit of cold water for thickening, tsp parsely dried, tsp thyme dried, salt and pepper. I used two packs of cubed beef i cooked them in the oven first in a little water and seasoning, i added a bit of the strained juices into the stew later on. Basically chuck in the beef and oinion fry off a little bit together and then chuck everything in and bring to the boil then simmer tastes lush x

aviva expert

I just have to blog about this godsend of a monitor! In the 6 years we have lived with type 1 diabetes this is fab! A blood glucose monitor that works out insulin! sounds simple i know. .... but its not lol. I still have to carb count all meals. But this is far better, L is taking more responsibility working it out with me and learning and his levels have been the best they have been in a long time. 

 https://www.accu-chek.co.uk/gb/products/metersystems/index.html?product=avivaexpert

Lamb with courgettes (quick and easy freezer to fresh meal!)

This is easy for feeding a family!
Take some frozen lamb chops (very cheap to buy in a large pack already frozen in most supermarkets)
Pop them all into an ovenproof dish, drizzle over a tsp olive oil, squeeze a fresh lemon over them, add a sprinkling of frozen thyme (again bought from supermarket reduced and frozen, or in the boxes of herbs they sell) Season with celery salt which is what i use of normal seasalt and black pepper. Cover with foil and back on a low setting (gas 4)  for an hour to hour and a half .  In the meantime griddle some sliced  seasoned courgettes and add to the lamb near the end of cooking time, serve up with some cous cous :-)
Dead easy and the kids love it


http://www.coolcookery.co.uk/win-a-new-whirlpool-freezer-with-cool-cookery/

Bore da! Shw mae?
Ooooo my first blog post :-) Let me introduce myself.... I am Kate, mum of 4 children  three sons age 13, 11 and 9 and a daughter 5 soon to be 6. I've been married to my husband for 7 years in july but together for 17 years. I am a sahm mum since i left my job to become a carer for my youngest son when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes age 3, unfortunately another 3 years later my daughter was also diagnosed age 3. I won't lie its hard going, before when i knew nothing about diabetes i did not know the work that is involved. My son currently has 5 plus insulin injections a day and probably about 10 finger prick tests, same for my daughter, its not plain sailing. I will go into diabetes and symptoms in depth on a seperate blog post and about my being an avid supporter of JDRF. You're probably wondering about my blog name.... well its stating the obvious really! My eldest son plays for a local football team as left winger or striker and has done since he was 6 :-), My youngest son also plays for the same local team for under 9's in a similar position,. SO every saturday and sunday morning i spend freezing cold on a muddy pitch supporting my boys and i LOVE it! I actually hate football i wont watch it on tv it bores me rigid but i adore cheering my boys on lol. My sister calls me soccamom hahahaha. I am an avid beleiver in children being outdoors and not being couch potatos. I encourage them to do sports, they do swimming and athletics too. Although they have an xbox they are only allowed on it at weekends or maybe and hour in the evening and i don't have xbox live ... but do you know what? they don't moan about it! In fact when i say to my 9 year old go and have an hour on the xbox on your own within 10 minutes he comes downstairs and goes on with his football/bike or scooter lol. Since i had to leave my job i have retrained as a teaching assistant as i love working with children, unfortunately, my daughter has been very ill recently so i need to focus my time on her. If it wasn't for the internet i would have gone insane by now i have met such wonderful people online its unreal, dating back to 1999 and we are still in touch via facebook!  I think i am probably boring you all now .... so i will say nos da, (but will be back soon with more ramblings and reviews and complaints i expect!)