A Reminder of Two Special Granfields xxx

This ornament wasn't very expensive, in fact it cost me £4.99 in 1997, funny the things you remember, but it is worth a million....

At the beginning of December 1997, I was five months pregnant with Xene, we were living in our very first rented flat, waiting to move into our very own mortgaged house, I was a student nurse, trying to finish my first 18 months core programme before baby came along, Asa was working as a Duty Manager at a Local Leisure Centre.

We didn't have very much money, but enough to buy presents for family members.
I had bought a pair of tracksuit bottoms for my Grandad, I was much more organised then!

But that December in 1997 wasn't great, my Grandad never made it to Christmas, and he never got the tracksuit bottoms I had carefully wrapped for him. So in January I took them back to the store and spent a very long time going through the Christmas Ornaments, trying to find the right one, and this is him...

This little fellow has stood on my mantelpiece every Christmastime since then, to remind me of you Grandad.

Two years later, I was pregnant with Lochlan, our family suffered another blow, my Uncle Freddy went to join my Grandad.

So now when I look to my mantelpiece I remember two Granfields, I miss you both and am sorry that you never got to see my six wonderful children, but I do tell them all about you and they all know to be extra careful with Mummys Special Ornament xxx

Notcutts Christmas Lights Review

Every year we have had a REAL Christmas Tree, this year, we explored the possibility of having an artificial one, however all of the children were completely against it!
So we ventured out on Friday afternoon to pick a REAL tree from the local Garden Centre.
We chose a lovely 6 foot Christmas Tree and brought it home!

With quite a large tree we need lots of lights on it, before the children cover it in every decoration imaginable. So I was very excited when we were given the opportunity to review some lights from Notcutts...

They came in a very sturdy box that we can store them in which is excellent as I always seem to have to untangle all of the lights each year!!

 

 

Here they are on the Christmas Tree, as you can see they are so bright the camera went a bit nutty!!

Usually we need to have two sets of lights on, but with these, they are certainly bright enough by themselves, in fact Eowyn asked me for a pair of sunglasses because they are so bright!!

 

And here is the finished tree once the children had added the essential baubles, stockings, Disney ornaments, in fact anything they could find!!

The lights are superb and light up the entire room, they have a really long lead on them, meaning we do not need an extension lead to run them, which is a first.

Notcutts have an excellent range of Christmas decorations on their site, they are just up the road in Sunny Suffolk, so not too far at all.



 

I NEED A New Pushchair!

Throughout the last fifteen years I have had MANY Prams and Pushchairs, that is because I have had six children, so there have been many different combinations that I have required, doubles, travel systems, ones able to take Buggy Boards, in fact you name it, I have probably tried it!

But I know I am not alone in this, nearly every mum that I speak to has the same kind of Pram Obsession, I think it must be something to do with hormones, once you become pregnant you become fixated with Prams and Pushchairs....

Our youngest child Tyrus has reached 18 months today, and as he is my last child, I no longer have a need for the double pushchair that he has shared with Eowyn, so it is time to look for, what could be my very last pushchair (sniff, sniff).

He is getting quite mobile, but still has a few naps every day, plus he is way too heavy for me to carry when he gets tired, so I need a lightweight pushchair that lies back for when he has a little snooze, it needs to have a raincover and a hood.

Whilst browsing on the internet I had a look for Pushchairs at Bambino Direct. They have a vast range to choose from, and at reasonable prices too.

 

I have found a few that I like the look of, although when placing the photos near to each other, I obviously have a particular requirement, dark coloured with a hood!!

 

As much as I love testing out pushchairs, with six children to drag shopping with me, it is not ideal, with Bambino Direct it is free delivery for orders over £50, meaning I can shop from the comfort of my own home and have it delivered at a time convenient to me, without having six children telling me how BORING shopping is!!

 

 

This is a featured post for all those pramaholics!

 

The Wonders of Pregnancy

Throughout all of my six pregnancies there have been many changes in terms of advice, regarding sleeping positions, weaning, dummies, in fact if I were to compare all of the advice I had been given, my brain would probably explode, not to mention all those ever helpful people that can’t wait to give you their opinions! (whether you asked for them or not).

One thing that has remained constant is the Bounty packs that you receive throughout pregnancy and after the birth; they always contain a very handy book giving a week by week guide to the pregnancy and lots of little samples to try out.

For the first two pregnancies the book was very useful, but from the third child onwards, we had the wonderful world of the internet, which meant I could look up all of the information on the Pregnancy site Bounty    without a toddler or baby ripping the book or using it as a dribble bib.

3 weeks

20 weeks

Although I have had six children, I am still fascinated by the whole growing of a baby and I love the fact that you can follow through your pregnancy week by week , although I was always impatient and used to skip ahead a few weeks! The tiny little cell that turns into a full grown baby in just 40 weeks is truly amazing.

I find the whole concept utterly compelling, which is probably why I am so keen to train as an antenatal teacher , to be able to share in such a wonderful experience with so many people, must be an amazing feeling, and one that I am looking forward to immensely.

This is a featured post.

 

THE CHRISTMAS TAG

The lovely Sarah over at This Is Me Sarah Mum of Three tagged me in the Christmas Tag meme, and as I woke up today to find that my wonderful husband and the four eldest children had put up the Christmas Decorations whilst I was still sleeping, I thought now would be the perfect time to do it.

 

 

Q1. What's your favourite thing about Christmas?

 

I love watching the children's faces when they wake up on Christmas morning to a HUGE stocking at the end of their bed and they have a massive smile saying "He's been". After we have opened our stockings (yes, we all have one!) we all go downstairs to see if there are any presents under the tree, every year the pile gets bigger and their smiles get wider.

 

Q2. What's your favourite make up look for the festive season?

 

I very rarely wear make up, so if I do wear any it will only be mascara, eyeliner and some lip gloss.

Every year, during the festive season we have a Fancy dress Party at my husbands Rugby Club, so my make up for that is quite varied! This year the theme is Superheroes and Villains, so who knows what I will be wearing...

 

Q3. Real or fake tree?

 

Since Asa and I have been together we have had a real tree every year, this year we spoke about getting an artificial one, but the children and were completely against it, so we shall be going sometime this week to pick our tree.

 

Q4. Giving presents or receiving them?

 

Giving them of course. I LOVE wrapping presents and finding that perfect gift for everyone, I take great care in choosing each and every one.

 

Q5. Do you open your presents Christmas morning or evening?

 

We open them in the morning, stockings (well, Asa's rugby socks!) upstairs all together, when these are opened we have larger stockings, that I have made for each child (that reminds me Tyrus needs his completing)  hung on the fireplace in the playroom, and then the presents under the Tree.

For Christmas dinner we have at least one set of parents to join us, so the children will have more presents later in the day too.

 

Q6. Handmade Christmas cards or bought?

 

Each year, at least two of the children make Christmas Cards at school that we can order, so it is a little of both!

 

Q7. What's your favourite Christmas film?

 

That's a tough one. I agree with Sarah that Santa Claus the Movie is a great Christmas film, I remember going to see it at the cinema with my entire village school, just before Christmas, there was so much excitement, it brings back very fond memories.

Although I associate lots of films with Christmas, every Christmas Eve Asa and I put the children to bed and watch one of the latest movie releases that we both really want to see, and we have our own little Christmas Eve buffet of lots of lovely food and watch the film, although on a couple of years I have actually fallen asleep due to young babies or children late to bed!

 

Q8. What's your favourite Christmas food?

 

Everything! Except Brussel Sprouts and Christmas Pudding. I love the whole Christmas Dinner Experience and am becoming quite the expert. Last year we had 18 for Christmas Dinner. I love Mince Pies, the Turkey and all the Trimmings, and kind of Chocolate or Meringue Desert, and of course the left overs.

Asa and Neva make their own Pickled Onions every year and they are amazing, Hot and Spicy but very tasty.

 

I would like to tag Lucy at Lucy's Madhouse and Clare at Emmys Mummy