This Mums Blog!

When the kids are tucked up in bed, it's sometimes a case that I'm home alone for a few hours until matt gets home from work if he's on a close shift. If he is, and once the house is sorted, I'll spend some time writing meal plans, looking for recipes online, watching cookery programmes, Jamie Oliver in particular, watching Once upon a time on Netflix or maybe even a documentary. I've never been one for soaps or even movies unless it's a firm favourite. The Da Vinci code is my absolute fave!!  When it's me and Matt at home for the evening, we watch walking dead, Game of thrones and I have to endure his programmes of which consist NCIS, criminal minds etc. A lot of our interests are opposite, he likes anything with violence. Me, not so much. We sometimes watch a movie and get a takeaway. Not so much these days as Ive started slimming world.  On the very rare occasion we get a baby sitter, we sometimes will go for a meal. Some of our fave places include...

Today, like most days I have to attempt the supermum status. So much to do, not enough hours in the day? You know the kind. So... up at 6.30?? Not today!! Matt let me sleep in as had a headache so was up at 7am, he's feeding the kids so job done there. So, throws banana down my neck (fruit honest 😂) and run upstairs to get the girls clothes, I could have prepared last night but slimming world was more important (1st night - watch this space) and then cumpulsory walking dead!! Just started season 3! We're a little behind and only started last week! Anyway... got mollie dressed and done Leighas hair. She went upstairs to wash and I got washed and dressed then matt done the same. Out the house by 7.45! Walked to school, dropped Leigha off, walked to Tesco, picked up few bits then bused home. Mollie was asleep by the time we got home so that means all systems go:  clean clean clean!! By this time I have 50mins til I need to leave the House again! Floors, tidy clothes off the l...

This week is half term and we have our nephews staying with us for the week. So far we have done: Tuesday:  A 6mile walk and had lunch en route. On the walk we played football in a pitch we found in stony Stratford near the rocket park, we played tag and enjoyed ourselves. When we got home we relaxed and watched movies and had dinner. Wednesday: The boys dad (Matts brother) took the two boys and Leigha to the cinema to watch the lego batman movie and they had a great time. Matt was at work and so me and Mollie had some time at home to play and have sleepy cuddles (Our fave!!). We met Matt for his lunch break at work and we had a bite to eat too. Mollie had mashed potato and veggies. Loved it!! Later that afternoon/ evening we watched zootropolis and finding Dory. Both brilliant films!! Kids then had dinner and had baths and was put to bed. Today: my mother in law (also all the kids Nan) is visiting today. Matt isn't happy to be working but he finishes at 5pm and so he gets a ...

I've always been a very social person. Not tonnes of friends but select good ones. After secondary school most of my friends and me became distant. As with a lot of school friendships. However the best ones I still speak to now. A couple of friends I've been friends with since moving to MK when I was 7yrs old. Over the years I've made friends in different places. Some still around, some not. The best friends I've found are the ones who share a similar life to mine. Parenthood. All my closest friends have kids, a lot of which around my girls ages and in between. Above all it's something we have in common. We can rant, we feel each others pain and we're all tired and stressed together. But we do stupid shit. As mums, things we've all been guilty of! The first is parent shaming. Some of the time we don't even know we're doing it. We all have our own  ideas of the "perfect parent" and the lengths we should go to to fit that image. We all ha...

I tend to try and plan meals in advance. I do this to save money and be organised as much as possible.   I'm gonna try and remember to post our meal plans every week and will encourage others to join in if you meal plan, I'm always looking for inspiration. As Leigha is such a fussy eater, we tend to keep as much of the meal the same between us and the kids. Sometimes matts shifts will mean we eat separate to the kids but this isn't too often. I do my best to create fresh foods from scratch wherever possible. 9 times out of 10 if you come to my house I'm either cooking, prepping or cleaning up from cooking. Although these days chances are the dishes are sat waiting for me to do. I do homemade chicken nuggets, breaded fish, chips, curries, pies, burgers and things like cottage pie etc. This is this weeks meal plan: Saturday: Adults - garlic chicken, rice and salad - kids - plain chicken and rice and mixed veg. Sunday: Roast dinner (undecided on meat) Monday: Sau...

Sat here making plans for the week ahead that Leigha is home. Our nephews are staying with us for the week and so we are gonna have a house full. I try to do an equal amount of days at home and days out. Our home plans are: ❤️ Pizza making ❤️ Cakes and biscuits making and decorating ❤️ Craft sessions ❤️ Movies and treats ❤️ Play doh ❤️ Treasure hunt in the garden Our outside plans are: ❤️ Visiting our local soft play area ❤️ Parks ❤️ Nature walk Coping!!! School holidays can be stressful, Leigha gets bored and can honestly be a bit of a pain if her mind isn't stimulated. So I try and keep her as busy as possible and plan the next day on the previous evening. Without this organisation and structure I'd probably spend the whole holidays screaming at her. I swore when I was pregnant I'd never shout at my kids, I'd never say "shut up" and I'd never have such little tolerance for her chatting waffle. I think this is what we all do. The walk hom...

I've chosen to write this post out to spread awareness of just how tough gestational diabetes or rather any kind of diabtes can be. This is my story, if you've experienced GD, I'd love to hear your story. I went for my 28wk midwife check and my bump was measuring 6wks too big. So, my midwife put me in for growth scans. Rightly so, I had missed my Glucose test in the mayhem of Christmas so I rebooked and as expected, a phone call a few days after cake back that I had indeed developed gestatuonal diabetes. I just cried. My cravings were Frosties and now I couldn't eat them. I was devastated. My scan at 30+5 showed my baby to be weighing at 4lbs 8oz! She was a whopper already! I had my app at the maple unit (MK's clinic for the diabetic), and I was firstly given a horrific looking contraption that looks like a spear. I already had a needle phobia and I just wanted the floor to swallow me I was so scared. My diabetic Midwife gave me a different blood sugar tester, sma...

For a lot of parents, routine is literally what we rely on. For others however, it's very difficult. I'm hoping that by sharing our basic school day routine, it may help someone get an idea of me that works. After all, all our lives are very different, but this is ours anyway, the timings are mostly a rough guideline. 6.30-7am: Woken up by either Mollie or alarm - wake Leigha up, all go downstairs, change mollies nappy and go into the kitchen. 7.05am: Breakfast together 7.20am: Get girls dressed, Leigha goes upstairs and washes etc then I do Leigha's hair. 7.30am: I get dressed, have a wash etc 7.45: Coats and shoes on and we leave the house. We now have a 35-40min walk to school - I know we're crazy! I then walk home!! 9.20am: Home and I die on the sofa for about 10mins!! 9.30am: House work starting upstairs, I have to take mollie with me or the world will end and the tears will flow. So bedrooms, make beds, open curtains, take washing out, vacuum floors (3ti...

As our eldest is in school everyday I can't really count her in this post too much. She's rather good at keeping her little sister amused when she's home. Until after a while she gets fed up with making the blocks fall down, pushing mollie round the room on her ladybird or playing row-row-row-your-boat and throws a strop and slums on the sofa in protest. "I'm done mum, it's your turn"! Excuse me?! When it's just me and little moo at home, it can be a job. A job and a half. She cries when I leave the room . Leaving her behind the stair gate looking like an abandoned puppy. Mummy needs a poo please bugger off!😫 She's getting better. Her "separation anxiety" is slowly improving. I get tears for a minute or so and then she gets distracted by something and forgets that infact it's not the end of the world. She remembers her unicorn and persues an attack on it. So, mummy can now quickly use the loo, eat something usually incredibly cal...

So, it's 6am and mollie has woken up early. 30-45 mins makes a big difference people. I'm convinced that matt and the girls are conspiring against me. Mollie in particular. This morning I've lost count of how many times I've received a particular pink megablock to the face. Do I move? Nope, that would make sense. Do I take the now deadly weapon off her? Nope, I sit there and tolerate it. Like an idiot. She gets bored and decides she's had enough of trying to give mummy a mild concussion. It seems she's trying to make amends and wants to climb up me for a cuddle, which of course would have been adorable,  if she didn't use my nipple to help pull herself up. The pain. Oh the pain. I love my baby dearly but her vice like grip on my very much unprotected nipple (No bra, at this time of day) nearly resulted in my adorable daughter being launched across the livingroom. Thankfully this didn't happen. She and the nipple are fine. I received my lovely kisses and ...

Every year we, like most people, make plans for the new year. This year we've planned to sort things in the new house, declutter mostly, decorate the last three rooms, tidy up the gardens and have a holiday in October. Although we haven't booked yet, we're planning on returning to Majorca where we went when I was pregnant with Mollie. It was amazing. This time it's hoping to be a bigger family holiday, my mum, brother and his girlfriend, my sister and her partner and baby and my father in law and matts little brother. It's gonna be amazing. This is our first time having a garden (EXCITED!!), meaning we can get garden toys, so far we have a plastic playhouse but we wanna get a wooden one, and find a wooden swing set with slide that's not gonna cost me an absolute fortune. I also wanna grow veggies. If anyone else grows veggies and wanna share some tips with me, please comment, I'm a newbie!! In regards to the house, I swear all I do is clean, I want it to...

My daughter Leigha had Gastroenteritis at aged 18mths. After she got over it she would barely eat any of the things she would eat before and I think she developed food anxiety. She's now 6yrs old and she's honestly a pain in the butt with food! To start with she will NOT eat fruit or veggies. She will eat most fresh meat, rice, pasta, most types of potato. No beans or spaghetti or anything of the sort.  This obviously makes meal times stressful. Her fave meal is fajitas. Of which she will choose chicken with the seasoning on it, cheese and mayonnaise in her wrap. She will eat chicken all day every day if I let her. Generally she's very good with how I serve it. She likes tandoori curry powder on it, BBQ sauce, she will tolerate a bit of gravy.  She's becoming fussy with "crispy bits" on things. Gimme a break!! I've tried bribing her, paying her, star charts, all kinds of discliple methods and even giving her the choice. I don't know what els...

How do I even begin!?  I am Sam. A busy Mum of two girls. We have Leigha who is 6yrs old and Mollie who is currently 10mths old. Myself and my fiancé of nearly 6yrs lead a busy life. Matt (my fiancé) works as a kitchen manager and works a lot of hours, leaving me to do most of the children's care by myself. When he's home he's fabulous but generally speaking I've created a routine to suit me and he just blends in and helps when he's here.  A bit of backstory. My girls have different dads. My ex of 5yrs ended our relationship only to find out 6wks later that I'm expecting. Talk about timing. He's still in her life but fast forward til Leigha being 7mths (Feb 2011) old I met the most amazing man who I'm now proud to call my fiancé. We got together (4th march 2011)  and him being the young age of 19 (me being 21), decided to take me and Leigha on as a pre-started family, falling in love with us both. Him and Leigha have been close ever since. So mu...