All posts by Mumof2.com

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I’m back! Happy 2013 to you all!

I hope you all had a good Christmas and spent it doing all the good things you like doing and that 2013 has started on a good note. If it hasn’t, well then I hope that things can only go in the right direction from here as there is another 355 or so days in order for it to get back on the right track.

Our building work is 99% finished and the dust is slowly settling. We were warned about the dust but no matter how much wet dusting I do, it is back with a vengance within seconds. All for a good cause though as we are now loving the changes and doesn’t feel like a dustfilled building site…just a dustfilled home.

I am also having thoughts of redesigning my blog – so check back every now and then to see how I go or if it is unavailable for a few minutes then you will know why. As I said in one of my first posts, I was bound to make some mistakes and learn during the process and I can say the learning curve has been steep over the past 3 months with a lot of information I am processing and realising I can’t make too many changes all at once.

Being a mum of 2 boys

Playground politics

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I honestly wish someone would publish a guide to playground etiquette for parents! It’s like a minefield out there. Yesterday, we went to a large softplay centre that is suitable for older children as well as the little ones. I had the luxury of sitting enjoying my caffeine fix whilst my supportive husband took the boys to the lego section to enjoy some quality time with them. We had spent almost the entire weekend painting whilst the boys have had the wii as a babysitter.

As I sat, enjoying watching what was going on around, I heard a sudden cry (the ones most parents ears prick to as it sounds like a ‘help!’). I found the ‘crime scene’ which was a little boy aged about 2 -3, very upset and looking around for a mum. Next to him stood a dad (not his), who was leaning over a large play fire engine, trying to precariously balance another child of a similar age to stop him from falling out of said fire engine. I had also heard the dad saying sternly ‘No! Don’t do that!’ to the little boy who was crying.

After a little while of the crying,  the mum of the little boy who was crying and sitting fairly near to me, sort of called out ‘what is the matter?’. She could have in all fairness gone to make sure he was ok a lot sooner than she did! The dad who had told this little boy off, looked and felt he had to offer an explaination being – ‘He tried to pull my son off the fire engine and out the side’. There was no apology from the mother or telling her son that it was dangerous and he should also wait his turn. I really felt for the man as the look on his face when he saw the mum was not knowing what to expect now that her son had been disciplined. Was she going to react in a reasonable manner? Was she going to give him a hard time for protecting his own child? Was she even going to believe his explanation?

It really is a very tricky line to tread. Do you tell other people’s children off? Do you just leave them? Do you remove your child who wasn’t doing anything wrong in order to avoid a situation? Do you approach the parents and say ‘Your child just pushed my child over 3 times for no reason!’ or in some cases ‘Maybe you should concentrate on your child a bit more than leave him to fend for himself as she has just whacked her head on the end of the slide’.

 

General

Tea making skills require more work

It’s weird – when I was little and right up into my teens – I only drank tea. I loved the smell of coffee but was a tea drinker through and through. I then had a gap year aupairing in Holland and discovered coffee there. Coffee in Holland/Nederland is an occasion. It’s not something you rush together and drink as fast as humanly possible without burning yourself.

Anyway, so along the way I have slowly become more of a coffee drinker and in all fairness it was since having the boys and I required the caffeine to keep me going from the moment I woke up. So, with the builders we have on site, it is a very good way of finding out how things are going by doing the tea runs. My tea making apparently requires more work. It is not strong enough for the teaspoon to hold itself standing up in the middle of the cup! Some days it’s great and others(I can see by the builder’s looks) it merely passes for a cuppa.

Yesterday and today, I resorted to making cakes in the hopes it would help disguise my tea debacle but even then I still have tricky customers. The electrician doesn’t drink hot drinks at all, so thankfully squash is ok but also doesn’t like anything chocolately and in fact would prefer a Bailey’s cheesecake – I have told him that alchohol and building are probably not a good mix.

I did try and leave the tea/coffee making items for them to make their own – and they weren’t touched (plus I didn’t have an excuse to go and inspect…not a clever move when you hear swearing and there hasn’t been swearing since the get go). We shall see how tomorrow goes…

Being a mum of 2 boys

Fever a child’s friend?

I am  slightly intrigued by an article which claims ‘Fever can be a child’s friend‘ – it is certainly not a friend in our household! Both our boys are temperature boys and they head straight for the 39.0c route on the thermometer as a start and wander very close to the 40.0c mark (at times over). It can sometimes take 2-3 days for them to get to under 39.0c with all the will in the world. Whilst I agree fevers are a way of helping to build an immune system, I do not necessarily find the information in this article helpful. I am no doctor nor health specialist or anything medical. Just a mum who knows how frightening the first high fever can be when you have a small baby/child.

Whilst I am on the subject of temperatures, what doctors class as a fever (anything over 37.5c) for all people is not necessarily an accurate way of classing a fever. Our boys normal body temperature is 36.8c , so anything between this and 37.5c for them should be classed as a form of a fever (give or take 0.3c or so). My point is, know your child’s usual body temperature – I have only ever had 1 doctor ask me this question!

So, I *may* have mentioned previously that our household gets it’s fair share of bugs (Immune Building or Bug Heaven ). At one point there wasn’t a week that went by that there weren’t antibiotics of some description in our house and to try and balance the bacteria war – I would try and get some probiotics in the boys, usually a powdered form of lactobacillus acidophilus that would go very nicely in some yoghurt.

Now that winter is here, and there appears to be a variety of bugs going around that aren’t very pleasant, I have resorted to the usual kiddies multi-vitamins but also elderberry extract and echinacea drops when something is brewing. Hopefully, this will help us out over the next few months.

 

General

Christmas in October

I am usually a procrastinate to the last minute kind of person – must be the adrenalin rush of racing about to get everything done. So this year, I had noticed a friend of mine had booked her Christmas grocery delivery slot at the end of October. I honestly thought it was a bit early to be doing it and then the nagging suspicion was that there was most likely a reason for it. So 2 days later, yes a WHOLE 2 days later, I thought ‘well it wouldn’t hurt to just go online and book a slot with maybe something in the shopping basket’. Shock horror! I could not get a delivery slot for the Christmas week and when I booked a slot for the week before Christmas, it would not allow me to add anything from the Christmas range to said slot!

Horror and then shock that the grocery company was dictating to me that it was ‘too early’ to buy Christmas goodies that could have gone in the freezer when they have already had all their Christmas week delivery slots taken. Pah! So I thought indignantly, well, I’ll just to go a different company then only to be met with no bookings in December. I could order for October and November but nothing in December.

Serves me right for trying to be a little organised and mess with the Christmas spirit! December it will all have to be and maybe, just maybe, I may even put a reminder on my phone to see if I can get a delivery slot instead of fighting my way 3 rows deep to get to the chocolate!

General

Lost in translation

Right, so thankfully I have an anti-spammer that picks up dodgy/automated comments to any of the posts on mumof2.com and I should have probably added this to the Learning the ropes…version 2. I was having a look to see whether any had mistakenly been ‘mis-diagnosed’ and couldn’t help but laugh at the latest in response to Dust…Dust…Dust… which reads :

“I enjoy you because of all of the effort on this web site. Betty take interest in making time for investigation and it’s really simple to grasp why. Many of us notice all of the lively method you produce functional thoughts on this website and therefore improve contribution from others on this issue so our favorite girl is undoubtedly becoming educated a lot. Take advantage of the remaining portion of the new year. You are conducting a very good job.”

It was for a credit check site (yes…has no relation to Dust and building whatsoever!) I  have decided to start a page featuring the ones I laugh at AND are clean and that are genuinely not from a real person who has taken the time to comment.

General

Learning the ropes…version 2

You may or may not have read my learning the rope blog post (I have added the link in case you wanted a refresher).  I thought it may be nice to let you know that www.mumof2.com is a while month old! Bring on the candles and cakes!

I have a buzzing brain and a new addiction, which is actually helping my chocolate addiction I should add. Anyone with Toblerone or KitKat chunky shares…apologies for the fall in profits this month. I am still toying with the idea of changing the look of my blog and am now trying to incorporate a lot of the advice and tips I have seen and read. One little step at a time is my new motto.

Having never been on twitter before nor created a new facebook page or using WordPress, I am kind of pleased that I haven’t made any great big mistakes and crashed all forms of communication in linking them together. It has opened a whole new world and I am loving learning all the new things that go with being a blogger. Sort of like being a new parent where you bumble along and figure out what works and what doesn’t. I can say that I am trying to figure out the twitter etiquette (note to self – maybe buy a book on this!). There are some amazing, helpful people out there who have been very patient with me or who have just given advice out of the goodness of their hearts.  My confidence is growing slowly although my addiction is growing at a faster pace.

I can say for our first month we have  had :

Visits: 139
Unique Visitors: 79
Pageviews: 380

Don’t worry – I don’t have any specific information on who has visited etc!!! I just wanted to thank all of you who have visited, commented and been really supportive. The numbers may seem very small to some, but for a new blogger I don’t think they are too shabby.

If there is anything you particularly liked, feel free to comment and if there is something I haven’t covered and you would like me to guest blog  – please let me know either by twitter or my facebook page

Being a mum of 2 boys, Recipes

There’s something about popcorn

It’s a wet, miserable day and the boys have been enjoying playing on the wii. Our late lunch is slow cooking away and I thought it would be a good idea for a quick snack. Usually I turn to fruit or cashew nuts (sweety nuts as they are known in our house). But today the popcorn was calling. I love the anticipation of waiting for the kernals to pop and then that popcorn smell and it brings back all sorts of memories.  At which point in time I am kicking myself (again) for not cooking a smaller amount – I have never, ever, managed to have the right amount of popcorn for the pot – and end up juggling popping corn whilst emptying the already popped corn into a bowl.

Being a mum of 2 boys

Bug heaven or immune building?

The first few years of a child’s life are always the critical ones. The learning curves are so steep for both parent and child. Now that our boys are a bit older, the one complaint I hear from ‘new’ parents is how their child is always sick after going to a soft play area or a day or two after going to nursery, and the memories come flooding back. Read on