The Madness of Children's Television

This week, and we're not through it yet, has been really interesting in the world of children's television. The first one was a "typical" Daily Mail article about Peppa Pig, entitled, is Peppa Pig making our children naughty?

I couldn't really believe it, even for the Mail it was fairly ridiculous and looked like it had been thrown together by someone cruising parenting forums looking for a "filler" story. It just is hysterically bad, and made me laugh.

One father spoke of his despair at how his four-year-old son had taken to splashing in what he gleefully called ‘muddy puddles’ on his way to school – copying Peppa’s favourite pastime.

 

Of course, no child has every splashed in a muddy puddle have they? Oh the horrors and evils of children's television. I personally love Peppa Pig. A lot of the shows feature grandparents, and with both sets absent from Joseph's everyday life, I truly believe Peppa has helped him understand grandparents and their role. One of my favourite episodes is about compost. I think Peppa is a wonderful programme, but I don't mind if you don't share that opinion, but don't let your kids watch it! Easy fixed!

The other big thing was Waybuloo. Waybuloo has been a constant for Joseph, it is not without controversy, however. Waybuloo features yoga, and has some principles that may be considered New Age, and some Christians are very much against it. Personally I love Waybuloo, as its relaxing and calming. It's a staple of the bed time hour. Last night I was cooking when I heard a strange voiceover on it. Cbeebies announced that they had made changes, cut 10 minutes off it, and put Dave Lamb as a narrator over the top of the track (he of Come Dine With Me fame)

I was quite alarmed, it changed the whole nature of the show, and made it sound ridiculous. I almost expected deeply sarcastic comments about the state of the bungle berry juice.

I even tweeted about it. And I wasn't alone, tweet upon tweet, in the most part up in arms about it. Today Cbeebies announced that they were reverting the bedtime hour and Waybuloo to its original state.

I am so pleased that they listened to reason and changed back again. Children are creatures of habit, they don't like sudden abrupt change.

And neither, it would appear, do their parents.

Baby Essentials at TKMaxx

Now regular visitors to my blog will know I don't often blog about products or shopping, but every now and then something comes along that I really believe in and I want to share with you. Tomorrow, Wednesday 11th from 1pm - 2pm there is a Twitter Party taking place in conjunction with Britmums and TKMaxx talking about those essential things you need to buy for a new baby. Twitter Parties are so much fun, a good gossip, some prizes, and you may even make new online friends. I urge you to pop along and have a look, the link will give you more information about how to take part. TKMaxx have some fabulous new arrivals in store - baby gifts, clothes and essentials. You can read more about it here.

TKMaxx invited me along to the Manchester Arndale store to look at their fabulous nursery range and do some shopping. I have a load of expectant friends at present, so it was very timely. I was very kindly given a gift card to use. Having a baby is expensive, it is estimated a new baby costs £3000 in the first year. Every little helps and if you can get great brands at great prices, then it makes sense to check TKMaxx out.

I am a confirmed TKMaxx shopper, having discovered it when I first arrived in the UK. At first I found it a bit bewildering but soon grew used to the concept. I love the fact that there aren't rows and rows of identical product, and there is loads of choice. I have to say, in the 10 years I have been shopping at TKMaxx I have noticed the organisation of the shop floor improve vastly. Today I was particularly impressed by how neat and tidy everything was and how it was easy to find what I was looking for.

 

I was amazed by what I saw today. Several brands of microwave steriliser and bottles, oodles of clothes, different types of sleeping bags including some leading names, amazing changing bags, blankets, towels, mobiles, even a highchair, all at prices much lower than you would expect to see in neighbouring shops on the high street. 

I found it really hard to decide what to buy, and this selection is what I decided on.

Here is a run down of what I purchased. Most items are for a baby shower I have been invited to, and I am so excited. Can you guess what flavour my friend is having? 

Bath towel: This is no ordinary bath towel, coming in its own bag, so great for taking to the pool. It's a double duty towel with a velcro closure cut out so you can wear the towel around your neck so you can place your baby straight into the towel, no clenching teeth required. The towel has a hood, so can be used as a normal baby towel as well.

Swaddling blanket: When Joseph was in hospital the nurses used to swaddle him to calm him down, and to do some tasks like medication. I found I couldn't use a square, no matter how many times I was shown, so bought a swaddling blanket, similar to this one. It looks very snuggly!

Sleeping bag: TKMaxx has a huge range of sleeping bags in lots of sizes and lots of well-known brands, I was spoilt for choice. I chose this one as the design is gorgeous and the fabric is really soft. I chose 6-12 months size as I think its the most versatile. For us it was great value as Joseph was in this size for 18 months!

Blanket: Another area where I was spoilt for choice was blankets. The shop assistant was laughing at me. My favourite had Eiffel towels on it, but she judged it too girly! So I chose this blue grey one. I love blankets for babies, for the pram, for an impromptu play mat, and for when the weather is either too warm for a sleeping bag, or the baby needs additional warmth. I also prefer blankets for day time naps.

Changing bag: My final purchase was a changing bag. I was gobsmacked by the choice, and it was incredibly difficult to choose a great bag, but I wanted something neutral, washable, with some pockets but not too many and I think this one is perfect. 

TKMaxx is definitely worth a look for nursery items either for your own baby or for gifts. If you've tried shopping their before and found it bewildering, do try again, you might be pleasantly surprised!

Don't forget the Twitter Party tomorrow!

TK Maxx is providing as prizes eight £100 TK Maxx gift cards and one Grand Prize £200 gift card (which can buy a lot of babygros…or a discounted designer outfit for yourself). To be entered into the random drawing, tweet a tip or comment during party on Wednesday 11 January before 14:00.

#babyessentials Twitter party
Weds 11 Jan
13:00 – 14:00
Prizes: 8 £100 TK Maxx gift cards and 1 Grand Prize £200 gift card

Come join the conversation! Whether you’re expecting your first child, are a new parent or an old hand or are shopping for friends, this party promises to be a eye-opener, with candid baby-buying advice.

Living With Disability and Why DLA is a Godsend

The twittosphere is abuzz with news of the Spartacus report, which you can read here. I do not know a lot about the proposed Government reforms regarding Disability Living Allowance (DLA), to be honest, it scares me. As much as I know is that in 2013 everyone currently on Disability Living Allowance will be reviewed, and as a result many people will lose their benefit. This blog provides excellent and in depth insight into the changes that are proposed, and I would urge you to read and support Bendy Girl.

I don't talk about my husband much. He doesn't read my blog, not because he doesn't support me and what I write, but because he is a Luddite. If it's not on paper, it doesn't exist! He doesn't use Facebook or Twitter and certainly is not a blog reader.

My husband has a serious and life long congenital disability called Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita. He does know and support the fact I am writing about it today.  This disability affects him every day. I met and married Corey knowing about his disability and fully accepting him, but we cannot hide from the fact that, at times, his disability makes a huge impact on our lives.

DLA is a fairly unique sort of payment, I had never heard of it until I met Corey, but it is awarded on a sliding scale, to people with a disability, living in the community. It is non-means tested, and an acknowledgement that regardless of your income, disability can impact you financially. There are two components to DLA, mobility and care. Corey gets both a mobility and a care component.

I think some people are under the misapprehension that if you have a disability automatically you get extra support and help from the NHS and the council, but this is not the case. We don't get any additional help for Corey, if we need assistance, we use the DLA payments we get to help with the additional costs of living with disability.

Corey's disability means his hands are fused, he has limited function in his wrists, so there are a lot of household tasks he cannot do, and personal care tasks. His knees are also fused, and he cannot kneel, therefore many tasks are outside his reach. Even changing nappies is very difficult for Corey, he can't do it on the floor, and he doesn't have the strength or stability to lift a baby on to a changing table. We did nappy changes on our bed, but even that is hard for Corey.

Corey's biggest issue are his feet. His toes are bent under his feet, it is painful for him to walk, his toenails are constantly assaulted when he walks, he is prone to infections, both fungal nail and skin infections. Somewhat unbelievably, he is not eligible for specialist footwear provided by the NHS. He has to find boots that will fit him, which are expensive, and due to the way he walks, do not last very long. We are on the constant hunt for the pefect boot!

DLA helps us keep Corey healthy and mobile, and helps offset the impact his disability makes on our lives, and I am very grateful for it! Without DLA Corey would not be able to work, and would be able to claim a lot more benefits.

After having Joseph, the impact of Corey's disability became a lot more apparent. He gets very tired, it isn't fair of me to ask him to do night feeds and nappy changes. However, Corey does do the washing up everynight and hoovers and washes the floors. Lately under this cloud the government has put over people with disabilities has made him feel nervous about mowing the lawn, or hoovering the front room, in case someone tries to say he's not really disabled. I find that sad.

I'm eager to find out more about these changes and learn more about the campaign to ensure that people who really need it, do not loose their DLA.

Pinterest Addict - And a Pledge

I am addicted to Pinterest. It's a fantastic way to collate pictures, ideas, recipes and inspiration. You can repin other people's pins, you can pin your own stuff from the interwebs, its fantastic. It's visual, its pretty and its fantastic. And, unfortunately, addictive.

One of the worst aspects of Pinterest addiction is collating fab things to make and do, and you never do any of them. And that is what has happened to me.

My favourite board of my own is this one. I've got a few fab craft ideas to do with Joseph and now is far more interested I pledge to try a few and report back over the coming weeks.

I also pledge to make him one birthday present a month until May. I have created a board with some of the ideas I've gathered previously, and again will keep you updated, as long as you don't tell Joseph! Shhhhhhhhh
I have loads of fabric and trimmings and am looking forward to using my stash.

Joseph's main two birthday presents will be a toy kitchen, and a balance bike. The rest of his gifts will be either home made or from our local NCT nearly new sale. I want to make some toy food especially, and get some preloved kids pots and pans.

Joseph is currently learning his letters and obsessed by numbers so am looking forward to making the bean bags and the letters. I also want to make the travel car mat as we do a lot of appointments and travel and it would be great to have something easy to take for him to play with.

Do you use Pinterest? If you would like to use it and want to be invited, please let me know!

What do you plan to make this year?

Why You Should Blog

When I started this blog, I knew suprisingly little about blogging. I thought I'd write for myself, my friends and I knew I might get the odd google hit. I knew nothing about statistics, and in fact had been blogging for 9 months before I ever looked at the Stats tab! I didn't know anything about a blogger's relationship with PR, about working with brands, that charities might be interested in what I have to say, nothing.

Over time I have been completely floored by the interest in my blog, and have been stunned to receive a number of compliments, and approaches. This year I want to work on improving my writing, and on working with others, and am excited already to have been given some marvellous opportunities that you will learn more about in the coming weeks.

However, despite all this, my basic reason for blogging is intact, to tell stories, sometimes my own, sometimes based on research, sometimes other people's stories. And that's why I think you should blog too, if you don't already.

This week I read a post on this blog, written by a fellow mum of a premature baby (and a term one too), who I met through Bliss. I was so pleased to read I had inspired her to blog. Blogging is such a lovely way of sharing things, stories, recipes, craft projects, which I know Rebecca will have lots of, as she is a very dynamic and creative person.

I love to blog, and love to write, and I love to read blogs, although I don't always comment, which I must make more of an effort to do this year, it makes me happy to see new blogs popping up all the time.

Now with mobile apps, fancy phones, tablets etc, blogging is more accessible than ever, and a great way of making a record of thoughts, feelings and events. I'd highly recommend it, particularly to someone who has had a premature or poorly baby.

There are so many avenues to get started, if you need a hand to get through the start up process, give me a shout. Hoping to read a lot more blogs about our special little people this year!

Milk Dumping - How to Look After Your Milk

This picture appeared on my Facebook news feed today, and it prompted me to blog about this important issue. For the mum of a baby in NICU, milk is very precious, every drop of it.

Like many mothers of premature babies, I expressed milk for Joseph. It was very important to me to breastfeed him, and when he was born early I knew what I would have to do.

One evening I was told by a nurse that all my milk was to be thrown out. I had expressed about 6 pots by that time. I had stored it in the fridge for 48 hours, then transferred to freezer when I realised how much he was on. I was told this was dangerous, so I tipped all that precious milk out.

I didn't think to question it, until I saw another nurse telling a mother to store it in the fridge first then transfer. Then I realised there were no hard and fast rules and every nurse had a different practice. It was incredibly frustrating and heart breaking.

Another time I saw a nurse with a pot of my milk about to tip it down the sink. I managed to fly across the room and stop her. She said it was out of date. We checked the date, she hadn't read the calender properly and in fact it was fresh milk from that day.

The way our unit worked was that we had a communal milk fridge and a milk freezer. Each mum got a certain amount of space in which to store their milk. As Joseph was on restricted feeds for a long time due to NEC (necrolitising enterocolitis) I had oodles. I found it was safer to keep it at home. Unfortunately I didn't own a freezer that was suitable (it is recommended you don't use a small freezer on top of a bar fridge. My neighbour Rita came to the rescue. She gave me a key to her house, and I'd run in there and pop my milk in, and then grab it in the morning.

The best piece of advice I got was from an agency nurse. She said "no one cares about the milk as much as you do, it is your job to take responsibility, keep an eye on it, and make sure it is being used correctly". I have heard horror stories of babies being given wrong milk, of milk going missing or being thrown out if the baby leaves the ward or moves hospital.

Nurses are very busy with a lot to manage so its in your interests to take care of your liquid gold as if it was indeed gold.

Taming the Toddler

Since Christmas time, Joseph's behaviour has really changed. He is so much louder than he was, I guess because at Christmas time we had a house full of people of different ages, his sound was absorbed somewhat, and he had to be louder to be heard. Joseph's gentle "no thank you" or "not yet mummy" have been replaced by apocalyptic screaming. I am finding it hard to deal with at times.

However coupled with this, Joseph is becoming a lot more vocal, with a massive increase in his vocabulary and an improvement in his sense of comic timing, he is at once a joy and a delight as well as being a bit of a terror at times!

A lot of my friends use the "naughty corner" or "naughty step". I hate these techniques and its not something that I think would work for us. Most of my issues with Joseph aren't things he does, fair enough for pulling the cat's tail, biting etc, but most of my issues with Joseph are when he shouts, or is stubborn, and I don't think the naughty step works in those instances.

Joseph is just trying to find his way in the world, and although is a lot more verbal than he was, still cannot articulate his needs. So rather than punishment, I think we need to find a way of negotiating these difficult times together.

Joseph is also getting his 4 back molars and going through a growth spurt, and I think these two things are also impacting on his behaviour. This morning he had a massive paddy, no idea what over, and once he was a little calmer I sat him on his high chair and he ate and ate and ate. Why he couldn't just say "mummy I'm hungry" or as he said rather cutely on holiday "mummy can I have something to eat please?" our longest sentence ever!

I am hoping this phase is short lived,! Toddlers! So wonderful, but at times so frustrating!