Monday, August 19, 2013

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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Sunday, August 18, 2013

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.





Friday, August 2, 2013

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