Oooh it's all very exciting. Not very much happens in our village so the arrival of a huge film crew has sent everyone into spasm. My husband was so beside himself that he dragged me to the pub (shame!) on Friday night to do a bit of star spotting.
The programme is called Cold Blood and apparently it has Pauline Quirke and Matthew Kelly in it. I say apparently because we didn't actually see anyone famous, but at least we had a night out.
My friend is a Countryside Ranger and she is getting free breakfasts from the TV catering crew. She is also my running partner. She is going to have to run a bit flippin faster after 3 days of cooked breakfasts.
I expect I am going to be popular at about 10.50 as I need to walk straight through where they are filming to get to the twins toddler music class. Keep a look out when the Programme is aired in June for a slightly dumpy, harassed looking woman, crossing a pub car park with a large double buggy!
Monday, 26 February 2007
Thursday, 22 February 2007
Five Boredom Busting Activities For Children
Blimy didn't realise it had been this long since I last wrote in this blog. First I had a really bad cold that refused to go, then we had more snow - makes life difficult in this neck of the woods. Then it was half term and I had to find something to keep my brood fully occupied. This was in addition to my usual work through the website and the various other 'sleep expert' things that are ongoing. Anyway here I am again.
I decided to make this entry useful for those who have toddlers and school aged children and have to find something for them to do. Here is our itinerary for half term week:
1. Eureka in Halifax, West Yorkshire - this is a museum especially for children. It is really good for all children from around 9 months old. There are pre-school activities, a couple of soft play areas and exhibits which follow the infant and junior national curriculum e.g. parts of the body. Everything can be touched and there are some great gimicks such as a talking robot (lady is hiding in another room). I was waiting for Jeremy Beadle to appear.
2. Picnic in the park. Just went to the local park but took a picnic to make it more exciting.
3. Library - again stayed local, but they have a storytime session that passes a bit of time on. Got into a bit of a sweat tidying up after the twins.
4. Viking Festival - York 14-18 Feb. Great fun. Loads to see and do and most of it free or for a nominal charge. Also had afternoon tea at Betty's Tea Rooms - yum yum. Surprisingly child friendly as well. Even with my tribe.
5. Swimming - bit of a hassle, but good fun when your in. Its the getting changed and dressed which is the nightmare.
That's it for now. Oh went to see Charlottes web - I cried when the spider died!
I decided to make this entry useful for those who have toddlers and school aged children and have to find something for them to do. Here is our itinerary for half term week:
1. Eureka in Halifax, West Yorkshire - this is a museum especially for children. It is really good for all children from around 9 months old. There are pre-school activities, a couple of soft play areas and exhibits which follow the infant and junior national curriculum e.g. parts of the body. Everything can be touched and there are some great gimicks such as a talking robot (lady is hiding in another room). I was waiting for Jeremy Beadle to appear.
2. Picnic in the park. Just went to the local park but took a picnic to make it more exciting.
3. Library - again stayed local, but they have a storytime session that passes a bit of time on. Got into a bit of a sweat tidying up after the twins.
4. Viking Festival - York 14-18 Feb. Great fun. Loads to see and do and most of it free or for a nominal charge. Also had afternoon tea at Betty's Tea Rooms - yum yum. Surprisingly child friendly as well. Even with my tribe.
5. Swimming - bit of a hassle, but good fun when your in. Its the getting changed and dressed which is the nightmare.
That's it for now. Oh went to see Charlottes web - I cried when the spider died!
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Great Week
I am having a good week this week. Several of my clients have been successful in getting their baby's to sleep through the night and have posted great reviews on the Forum. I have been recruited to provide expert advice at experts@about.com. There are clearly a lot of desperate parents out there using the service and I am getting a great deal of job satisfacton out of helping them.
The children and I had some press photographs taken on Sunday and they have turned out really well. Keep a lookout for them in the newspapers and on the website.
The kids are off school today because of the snow so we are going to go and do a spot of sledging this afternoon. I'm not sure who will enjoy it more them or me.
Not much more to report. Hope everyone has a great week too.
The children and I had some press photographs taken on Sunday and they have turned out really well. Keep a lookout for them in the newspapers and on the website.
The kids are off school today because of the snow so we are going to go and do a spot of sledging this afternoon. I'm not sure who will enjoy it more them or me.
Not much more to report. Hope everyone has a great week too.
Monday, 5 February 2007
Baby Sleep Answers Forum is a Great Success
After a worryingly slow start, the support Forum on www.babysleepanswers.co.uk has finally come into its own. There are a number of threads on there which follow the progress of clients using the Baby Sleep System. Most of them now have baby's who sleep through the night.
Due to the success of the website generally, I am going to be featured in a number of news stories over the next few weeks in the local and national press. I will keep you posted as they appear.
Due to the success of the website generally, I am going to be featured in a number of news stories over the next few weeks in the local and national press. I will keep you posted as they appear.
Why it’s not a good idea to swim with twins
Last week I decided to take the twins swimming (on my own). I had managed to convince myself that it would be easier now they are a bit bigger. To be fair it didn’t start well and most other people would have perhaps taken the hint and decided against it – not me though!
I had realised as I loaded myself up in the icy car park with my gym bag, the baby change bag, 2 rubber rings, 2 sets of armbands, 3 towels and 2 small boys that I must resemble a wagon train mule. I staggered into the leisure centre, managed to pay, turned round and noted that my 2 little angels were nowhere to be seen. They had beetled off round the corner as fast as their little legs could carry them. I hared after them screeching like a banshee. Eventually I managed to get them contained in the family changing rooms. I secured 2 lockers and got Ewan changed into his aqua nappy. I was just starting on Joseph when I hard a splashing sound behind me. Ewan was staring at his feet as a stream of wee hosed out of the side of the aforementioned swim wear. Joseph staggered over to investigate and skidded through the wee onto his bottom. I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances and mopped up with my gym kit – uggghhh gross. Eventually after a chorus of screaming because they didn’t like having their arms forced into arm bands (I still remember my mum doing that to me) we set off in the direction of the swimming pool.
Now getting into a swimming pool with two rather naughty little boys is a bit tricky, particularly if you are trying to do with it any kind of decorum. You have to drop small boy number 1 into his rubber ring whilst stopping small boy number 2 from attempting to jump in. I wedged Ewan on the step with my knee and skilfully popped Joseph into the ring in the water. An almighty howl came from Joseph as he suddenly realised the water was cold. Ewan then tried to make a run for it, before he too was catapulted from the steps into his ring. We were now the entertainment for the rest of the pool who had up until now been swimming sedately up and down, no doubt trying to relax. In an effort to shut my two screaming boys up, I started to shout doopey, doopey, doopey doo as I dragged them by their rings up the pool. “whaaaaa” reverberated around the glass roof. “doopey, whaaaa, doopey, whaaaa” it was all starting to get a bit embarrassing. We were joined in the nick of time by another mother with a medium sized baby. Ewan and Joseph were distracted enough to stop howling. Joseph decided to start shivering instead. It was now inevitable that several people were going to report me to the NSPCC Full Stop Campaign for making a very thin boy go swimming in arctic conditions.
We managed to stick it out for another 10 minutes before managing to haul ourselves back up the steps and return to the changing rooms. It was my turn to shiver whilst I dried and dressed my boys. I made the sensible decision to skip a shower and when we arrived home I treated myself to a well deserved lie down. What did I learn from this experience?
1) Wait another year before trying again;
2) Sometimes the sympathy I get from the people around me is well deserved;
3) Joseph needs to get a bit more blubber on him.
Oh well another adventure in the life of a multiple mum.
I had realised as I loaded myself up in the icy car park with my gym bag, the baby change bag, 2 rubber rings, 2 sets of armbands, 3 towels and 2 small boys that I must resemble a wagon train mule. I staggered into the leisure centre, managed to pay, turned round and noted that my 2 little angels were nowhere to be seen. They had beetled off round the corner as fast as their little legs could carry them. I hared after them screeching like a banshee. Eventually I managed to get them contained in the family changing rooms. I secured 2 lockers and got Ewan changed into his aqua nappy. I was just starting on Joseph when I hard a splashing sound behind me. Ewan was staring at his feet as a stream of wee hosed out of the side of the aforementioned swim wear. Joseph staggered over to investigate and skidded through the wee onto his bottom. I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances and mopped up with my gym kit – uggghhh gross. Eventually after a chorus of screaming because they didn’t like having their arms forced into arm bands (I still remember my mum doing that to me) we set off in the direction of the swimming pool.
Now getting into a swimming pool with two rather naughty little boys is a bit tricky, particularly if you are trying to do with it any kind of decorum. You have to drop small boy number 1 into his rubber ring whilst stopping small boy number 2 from attempting to jump in. I wedged Ewan on the step with my knee and skilfully popped Joseph into the ring in the water. An almighty howl came from Joseph as he suddenly realised the water was cold. Ewan then tried to make a run for it, before he too was catapulted from the steps into his ring. We were now the entertainment for the rest of the pool who had up until now been swimming sedately up and down, no doubt trying to relax. In an effort to shut my two screaming boys up, I started to shout doopey, doopey, doopey doo as I dragged them by their rings up the pool. “whaaaaa” reverberated around the glass roof. “doopey, whaaaa, doopey, whaaaa” it was all starting to get a bit embarrassing. We were joined in the nick of time by another mother with a medium sized baby. Ewan and Joseph were distracted enough to stop howling. Joseph decided to start shivering instead. It was now inevitable that several people were going to report me to the NSPCC Full Stop Campaign for making a very thin boy go swimming in arctic conditions.
We managed to stick it out for another 10 minutes before managing to haul ourselves back up the steps and return to the changing rooms. It was my turn to shiver whilst I dried and dressed my boys. I made the sensible decision to skip a shower and when we arrived home I treated myself to a well deserved lie down. What did I learn from this experience?
1) Wait another year before trying again;
2) Sometimes the sympathy I get from the people around me is well deserved;
3) Joseph needs to get a bit more blubber on him.
Oh well another adventure in the life of a multiple mum.
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