Author: Scottish Mum

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Guest Post – Should you pay for your teen’s car insurance?

This is a featured guest post from Sainsbury’s Finance Money Matters Blog

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Should you pay for your teen’s car insurance?

Teenage drivers are the most expensive to insure. So when they get behind the wheel, it represents the beginning of a costly period for either parent or child. The question is, should you foot the bill for your kids?

What are your options?

The most expensive option is for them to be insured to drive their own car. There is the initial cost of the car, and the insurance premium will comfortably run to four figures.

Another option is to add your child as a named driver on your own policy. This is less expensive, but it does mean you will have to give up your car from time to time!

However, you must continue to be the main user of the vehicle. If you use it less than your child, it renders your policy void or possibly fraudulent, as far as your insurance company are concerned.

You can also look at different levels of cover. Third party policies are known to be cheaper than fully comprehensive policies, but this might not always be the case. If you want to save as much as you can, make sure you cover all the bases and get car insurance quotes  for fully comprehensive and third party policies so you can be sure that you are getting the best deal.

Should you make your children pay?

This is a difficult question to answer, and much will depend on personal circumstances and the relationship you have with your child. One thing you have to recognise is that very few teenagers will be able to afford any insurance policy for themselves. It is not uncommon for premiums to be in the region of several thousand pounds for the year, which is clearly out of reach for many teenagers.

Some parents like to split the money and set up a direct debit, considering it important that their kids learn to take some responsibility for their own affairs.

Consider the consequences

Insurance premiums for 17- and 18-year-olds are high for a reason. You might consider your child responsible, but statistically teenagers are far more likely to crash a car than any other age group. If you are ready to pay for their insurance, you need to be prepared to pay out an excess fee on a claim, too.

It is also worth noting that some young drivers might actually run the risk of driving without insurance if they can’t afford to pay for it themselves – possibly resulting in the loss of their licence and some very hefty fines to boot. So that might be another consideration when deciding whether to help your child financially.

The final call

It is important for your children to learn to be responsible for themselves, but helping them to get insured and allowing them the opportunity to drive gives them the freedom they might need to flourish. Every situation is different, and only you will understand what is right for your family.

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A “Dolphin Tale” Film Review

We were sent Dolphin Tale from Warner Brothers to review.

I am not quite sure where to start with this film.

It’s based on the Real Life story of Winter the dolphin.

Sad, funny, poignant and a lesson on overcoming disability when she has to learn to live without her tail.

I had half an eye and half an ear to the TV when it began, but from the moment the lovely dolphin caught up in ropes appeared on screen, I was hooked into following the rest of the story to see how it unfolded.  This very young dolphin was only 2 months old when she became tangled up in the ropes and cage of a trap.

There was one heartstoppingly scary moment where my hands were cupped over my mouth at the helicopter,  but you will have to watch it to see what happens.

Harry Connick Jnr is easy on the eye for any mum over a certain age so it was easy watching, and Morgan Freeman is brilliant in anything that he is involved in.

I don’t want  to go into too much detail about what happens in the film as it would  spoil it for you if you decide to watch it.

Funny moment, sad moments, and plenty for kids to identify with.

It is a winner and we highly recommend watching it.

Winter stars as herself in the film and she is a pretty good actress for a dolphin.

I spotted the film for sale at Amazon for a good price, and when the film is finished, children can go online to watch Winter in her real life tank.  There are 4 webcams in total and a history of Winter’s life from the moment she was found.  I had a thoroughly enjoyable hour working through the website and reading the actual story of how her life has moved along.

 

 

 

 

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My Dream Home

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Having boisterous children doesn’t do too much to keep our homes in pristine condition and I have a lounge that needs more work than I can shake a stick at.

I would love laminate flooring down, with an indestructible 3 x 3 seater combo, alongside some lovely chocolate-brown, or beige curtains for the windows.

I popped on to the Internet to see if I could find anything that I liked, and this just jumped out at me.  Yes, I might get tired of the colour scheme in time, but how fab does this look?

Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

After the lounge is cleared up, then I plan to move on to the kitchen and utility rooms.   My units are only a few years old, and they are similar to the colour of the ones in this picture.  This would be the perfect kitchen size.

Image: Paul Sutcliffe / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The only thing missing from this picture would be the appliances.  My old Belling Range cooker has seen better days, and with the slow cooker function out-of-order,  I looked for a new one.

I absolutely love this from the Stoves range – the colour is absolutely fabulous, and how much would that brighten up a bland and beige kitchen?

My second choice would be the beige version which is just as lovely, though the red one would be my secret passion.

Moving on to the utility room, there is the possibility of bigger washing machines and tumble dryers.  I will continue with my self-centred dreaming of perfection, and nothing less than a HUGE capacity washing machine and dryer would do for me as there are six people in the house.

I have a 9kg washing machine just now, but only a 5kg tumble dryer, so a bigger tumble dryer would be one of my first priorities if money were no object and I could choose absolutely any machine that I liked.

Look at this beauty for a tumble dryer.  It is an 8kg LG machine and very near to almost double the size of the load that I can get dried in one cycle with the dryer that I have got just now

Doing washing for 6 means the machines are never off.  Two of mine play outdoors football twice a week, so that’s 2 huge loads just on football kit and nothing else.  My 9kg machine copes quite well, but for that extra oomph, and the chance of being able to wash the superkingsize quilt, my wishful thinking leads me to my current ultimate machine for washing.

I have an LG already, so it’s easy for me to drool over this stunner.

This one has a MASSIVE 11kg load.  It is my current dream machine.

The only thing left on my list for downstairs would be the built-in dishwasher to replace the one I have which is not in very good working order.  The runners of the top tray keep popping off and the track is twisted, making sliding in the bottom tray very difficult and heavy.

Looking around, I would be happy to have the Zanussi.

What a machine this would be.

This covers the downstairs of my dream house.  Now  have to think about what I would put upstairs….

Looking forward to February, I am really excited to let you know that around half way through the month, there is going to be a super dooper giveaway for one of my readers who blogs and wants to benefit from a dream machine to go in their home.

You can keep watching my blog for it arriving, or you can leave a comment on this post with your twitter or email address in the comment and I promise that I will let you know when it goes live ……

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Slow Cooked Mince & Tatties

Two things got made in the Scottish Mum household today and they were complete opposite ends of the spectrum.  I made apple muffins and a hodgepodge of rubbish and odds and sods that were lying around the fridge for supper.

The apple muffins are a pretty standard recipe so I won’t do them.  I did the muffin type recipe that I just substitute different fruit for.  I learned how to make nice muffins when I did the post for Prince’s fruit.

Onto the Slow Cooked Mince & Tatties

Now this is not the Scottish way, and it is probably not anybody’s way of making mince and potatoes, but if we don’t try different ways now and again, we never find out newer and quicker ways to feed our families without slaving over a hot stove.

I do a lot of cooking, but I really dislike it with an enormous passion.   My dislike for cooking is probably the reason I love my slow cooker so much.

So rather than proper mince and tatties, this is more of a  Hodgepodge 

Here we go.

1kg of Mince, browned in a pan with 2 smallish onions.

With the kettle boiled for the slow cooker, I decided that I was going to be lazy today and throw it in the pot for later.

I rustled up about 1 kg of different vegetables and 2 kg of baby potatoes which I cut into halves and some into slices.

Along with a couple of stock cubes, about 25 ml of lemon juice and a pinch or two of salt, I threw it all in the pot and added water – and then proceeded to ignore it for the next 4 hours while it cooked.

When we were ready to eat, some cornflour to thicken and bobs your uncle.

Part of me was slightly worried about how this would turn out, but I have learned that the only thing that ingredients in food have to be precise for is actually everything to do with baking and pastry.  With anything else, pretty much anything goes with trial and error.

Sundays big meal cost me less than £10 with masses of food for everyone and enough left over for tomorrow, so that will be two big meals for £5 each.

Ok, slow cooked mince and tatties doesn’t look fabulous on the plate, but it tasted amazing and no slaving over a hot stove.   There is just something delicious about potatoes cooked hot pot style.

I had forgotten to make a loaf so we used apple muffins to soak up the gravy.  What a combination..

 

 

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Sand Art Home Packs from Kids Bee Happy

Sandra from Kids Bee Happy sent me some sand art packs to review.  My children whooped with delight considering they absolutely loved the sand art at our Christmas Party last year (that sounds such a long time ago).

The little packs come in boys or girls style pictures and the transformers and car pack was a huge hit here.

In the packs, there are 10 tubes of sand, two little sticker pickers to take the coloured paper off the picture to reveal the sticky bit to put the sand on to.   A sheet of instructions is very welcome and makes the project easy to follow, and with little pictures to show you what colours could be used, it is lots of fun.

These keep my kids happy for several hours, and they’ve enjoyed them thoroughly.  We found it easier to have a piece of white paper with a fold in it to shake the excess of each colour of sand on to.

Once they’ve shaken off the sand on to the paper, I can then slide what’s left back into the little bottle it came from so that it doesn’t get used up too quickly, and there seems to be plenty of sand with each pack to do all the sand art that’s needed.

There are little tabs and laminate pockets so that if you have a laminating machine, you can preserve the picture for the future.  I am just sad that our little trusty machine gave up the ghost a few weeks back.

That doesn’t stop them being popular though and the sand art pictures now adorn bedroom walls.   Once again, a lovely thank you from @kidsbeehappy on Twitter for such a fabulous experience.

You can buy them at Kids Bee Happy for £8.99 per pack.  Perfect for any birthday present, or just as a standby for rainy days.

 

 

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What NOT to feed our pets !!!!

Most of us are guilty of it, and I have many a time scraped the leftover food into our dogs dish, or given her a treat or few from what we are eating.  Apart from a vague knowledge that grapes and chocolate are not that great for dogs, I had not really looked into it in any depth.

I’ve seen a few statements recently about dogs and wolfing down the Christmas candy, and I am guilty of giving the lolloping labrador of the house the odd square of chocolate and she is highly addicted to melon.

I am however, going to change my mind on the chocolate issue as having a look at some of the symptoms of doggie overdose have me utterly convinced that one more square of the cocoa variety is going to have her rolling onto her back with all four paws up in the air for her final breath.

Just to put things into perspective, I had a look for the most poisonous foods I could find for dogs (and other pets).  If your pet shows any of the signs or symptoms of poisoning after eating any of these foods, call your vet urgently.

1 – Cocoa  and Caffeine Treats

Chocolate – say no more, and coffee bean type treats.   Seemingly they overstimulate the heart and the nervous system.

Signs of Poisoning :  Increasing heart beat, agitation, diarrhoea, shaking, very thirsty, restless, seizures

2 – Fruits – Grapes and Raisins 

Thankfully I found no evidence of poisoning with melon as a result, but the possible effect of grapes and raisins opened my eyes as they can damage or cats and dogs precious kidneys.

Signs of Poisoning: Very thirsty, being tired, being sick and needing to pee more often.  As few as 4 – 5 raisins could be poisonous for a dog up to about 10kg.

Fruits – Seeds

Keep away form apple, cheery, peach and plum seeds as they contain cyanide.

It doesn’t take much to realise that a pet ingesting cyanide may become very sick, very soon.

Signs of Poisoning: Sickness, heavy breathing, irregular heartbeat, coma.

Fruits – Avocados

As well as having a high fat content, persin can cause problems in dogs.

Signs of Poisining: Sickness and diarrhoea.

3 – Alcohol and Yeast

I have heard of people laughing at stories of tipsy toms or drunken dachshunds (well, not really, but you get the picture).  It seems that alcohol has a similar effect to chocolate in poisoning our pets.  I think we might have been more aware of the dangers of alcohol in comparison to chocolate, but it is still a bit of a shock to realise that it affects all pets nervous systems.

Bread doughs and uncooked yeasty mixes are attractive to dogs but give the same effect as the yeast turns to methanol.

Signs of Poisoning : Increasing heart beat, agitation, diarrhoea, shaking, very thirsty, restless, seizures

4 – Vegetables – Onions

Any of the onion family can cause problems for our pets, and can also include garlic and chives.   They can destroy blood cells and damage kidneys.

It is difficult to know how much is too much, but effects from these can build up in the system.   Watch table scraps for cooking with onions and garlic in it.

Signs of Poisoning : Increased heart rate, tiredness, lethargy, being sick, diarrhoea, pale gums, blood in pee.

5 – Xylitol

This is a sweetener, used as a sugar free replacement and often used in chewing gum and sweets.  It does not agree with dogs, and causes an increase in insulin leading to low blood sugar, and can cause severe liver damage.

It does not take much to poison a dog so be aware if your four legged friend gets into a pack of your sweeties.

Signs of Poisining: Staggering, collapse and seizures, being weak and could be sick.

6 – Macademia Nuts

Pets in general tend to like nuts, especially dogs and small animals, so I was surprised to see that macademia nuts can cause muscle and nervous system problems for dogs.

Signs of poisoning: Being sick, being lethargic, shaking and body temperature increasing.

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For the future, out goes chocolate for my girl, and thankfully her favourite melon gets to stay.   It is important to remember that not all animals will show all symptoms, so if your animal has overdone one of the things on this list, and begins to show the symptoms – please get good advice from a vet.

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A Christmas Tale – 26 Gorgeous Children – A Party – Special Needs

Saturday was a revelation.  A group of parents run a special needs club at the weekends, with the support of a school and the grateful advice and help from the National Autistic Society.

We borrow a school premises and open up to children with ANY type of disability up to the age of 14 in Aberdeen –  not just those on the autistic spectrum.   We also accept siblings, as there was nowhere that any of us could go with all our children to play, or be involved in activity sessions.

The mix of excitement, christmas coming, a certain man in a red suit, and lots of sugary chocolate is not always a recipe for success, so I met the day with a certain feeling of elation and caution for how it might proceed.   We are all volunteers and we don’t get paid.  I think  it is important to mention that up front, as there is sometimes confusion over how we all fit in to the structure.

There was a lot of excitement last week because of the party, and arrangements had been in place for quite a while.  We received a lovely offer from Kids Bee Happy who provide parties using sand art to come along, which I eagerly accepted.  The lovely Lorraine from Aberdeen arrived with a couple of tables and was soon in constant demand.

Be very aware, that this is no mean feat to undertake for anyone, let alone a  fledgling business.  It takes a confident entertainer to enter a room with such a large proportion of special needs children.  If your products don’t cut the mustard, you will hear about it very quickly from them.

The sand art had generated a buzz of expectation, as it is a new childrens activity, both to me, and to the other parents from the group.  We were all keen to see how it worked – and how our children would respond to it.

It was fabulous.  Children who usually have little or no interest in sitting still for long periods of time were concentrating and working on the projects.   The tables are set up as a unit which contains 6 bowls of different coloured sand.  All in all, there were 12 colours of sand that the children could choose from.

The children (and many of the adults) chose from the racks of pictures that they would decorate with sand.   This is a very hands on and engrossing task to get to grips with.    With lots of pictures to choose from, age groups from 2.5 – 45 were kept amused.   I even noticed one granny having lots of fun.

  To make the sand art, using a nail, or a little stick, the artist peels each section back on the picture one at a time.  That opens up a section which is sticky.  Little fingers then choose a colour of sand and carefully spoon it onto the picture.  When the picture is shaken, the sand remains on the picture for a fabulous colour effect.

It can take anything from about half an hour to 45 minutes to complete a whole picture.

Our children did pieces of their pictures at a time, then laid their pictures aside and came back to them after eating, or running about.  The fact that they could dip in and out throughout the party make it the perfect activity.   Just watching the concentration on their faces was amazing.

Some children did several pictures, and when they were finished making their creations, the pictures were laminated to take home as souveniers.

The finished and laminated pieces of art have a little hanging tab at the top.  I think they would be perfect to add a little calendar to the bottom and give to relatives and friends as presents.

Lorraine liked this santa picture, as the child who did it used all different colours of sand for the background.

This is a new business for Lorraine in Aberdeen, and she was constantly in demand from parents, who were asking her for cards for future childrens parties and school functions.

Everyone agreed that the sand art was a lovely and welcome surprise which would keep children entertained again and again and again.   We really all recommend it for any function, school fete or party.

For such a large group of special needs children – they did themselves proud.

 The concentration levels and interest was amazing, and many parents were delighted to see their children enjoying such a time consuming and high concentration requiring activity.

Poor Lorraine was inundated and we over-ran terribly due to how much everyone was enjoying it.  She certainly had to work very hard.

We also provided a bouncy castle, plenty of food and the local magician, Garry Seagraves Magic.

 I had seen Garry work while I was in the oil industry at functions, and now, as a parent, I have seen several of his magic shows that are tailored towards children.   He also had experience of giving shows to special needs children – and with the trademark leather trousers, long hair and trusty rabbit Basil, the children all seem to gravitate towards him.

He was the natural choice for our kids.  I don’t think there are many parents of primary age children who have not seen one of his shows as he is quite the celebrity to local under 12’s.

The red man arrived to hand out some presents, and photographer duties were sadly lacking as I managed to miss getting a picture of him – my excuse is that we had to sort out our pressie mishaps when some labels came adrift.

 All in all, it was a successful party.  We over-ran and we owe a great deal of thanks to all the entertainers, volunteers, helpers and even the school janitor who never, ever complains about what we request of him for the club.  He was not due to be in Aberdeen at the weekend and came all the way back  to open up for us when our weekend cover janitor could not make it in.  That’s dedication.

Disclaimer:  The parents of all children included in this post have given permission for their images to be used.  Sand Art was provided by Kids Bee Happy, and was a most welcome addition to our party.  It is one that we will definitely repeat in the future.

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Thank you to Warner Bros. for the lovely Xmas Gift.

Last week, the postman delivered a lovely surprise from the team at Warner Bros.  The box was a little battered and bruised from the long journey to the Scottish Mum Family up in Aberdeen.  I left it sitting until the boys came home from school, as it was addressed to us all as a family.

When my mini people arrived home, the first thing they came across was the box.     There was much excitement and bright lit up eyes about what could possibly be in it for them.

They opened the box, and what was in side was delightful.  A gorgeous hessian sack, tied with ribbon and with a jingly bell attached.  Lifting the sack up gave the jingle jangle that signalled christmas had made it early to the Scottish Mum household with the first seasonally wrapped pressie to hit our home.

Inside was a collection of lovely DVD’s for us to watch.  They pulled them out.  Some of the DVD’s were Yogi’s First Christmas, Polar Express, Scooby-Doo and the Lake Monster, Bugs Bunny Christmas Tales, Happy Feet, Yogi Bear, Ben 10, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

At first, I thought they might think the films were too young for them, but they have been happily working their way through them and discovering some old favourites.   It just goes to show that you never get too old for a good old cosy up on a cold night and putting on a good family film.

The gorgeous Scooby Doo Mystery Machine seemed to be simply a toy car, but on closer inspection, it turned out to also be a holder for all 41 episodes of Scooby Doo in a Limited-Edition Deluxe Set.   They also included 2 bonus live action movies and 4 episodes of the new Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc, Show.

It was a gorgeous gift and considering I was expecting to just see Polar Express arriving, it was a very welcome and unexpected surprise.

Thank you very much Warner Bros.
Kind Regards

Scottish Mum Blog

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Fitting In Nicely With Society

With a special needs child who can’t fit in with crowds, we struggle with the regular family holidays where children were meant to fit in with groups of people.  He was never made to be held in a small apartment, or to sit by a pool, or even to be able to join in with childrens’ clubs that are often a huge feature of mum and dad chilling by the pool and letting someone else look after teenies or tweenies.

The day we discovered caravanning was a total fluke.  After a disastrous trip to Disneyland Paris, we took stock on the way home.  Our trip began with a car breakdown in Glasgow while driving from Aberdeen to Paris.  It didn’t get better while we were away, when middler struggled to cope with any and all queues in Disneyland.

The complex we stayed in was not special needs friendly, and unless you were willing to spend a fortune, there was nowhere to go and play.  It was a disaster.

After a rotten few days, we decided to head for home early using the scenic route.  We stopped off near Le Havre and as it was a lovely day, we settled on the beach for a few hours.

Middler had a whale of a time on the near empty beach and on going to a supermarket, we decided to buy a tent on the spur of the moment.   With much trepidation, we found a local campsite close to the beach.

We pitched our tent.   We had our car, a tent, and two blow up beds.   Nothing to cook on, and nothing to eat off.  All the kids were in seventh heaven and had a whale of a time.   Nobody stared at middler when he did something silly or said something out-of-place.   At the time, I put that down to being a different language and that they had no idea what he was actually saying or doing.

When we got home, I booked us a static caravan up at Grannie’s Heilan Hame to see if the caravan environment was for us.   The man of the house was working, so I drove up from Aberdeen with the three kids and the dog.  They all loved it.

The next week we got home, we decided to just go and “look” at caravans to see if we would prefer a touring caravan as I didn’t fancy going to the same place all the time.

That “look” at second-hand caravans saw us walk away with a van for that year, and the following year we went back for one with a better layout for us.  We chose a triple bunk at the back.  Yes, it’s messy back there at times with three children.

          

Thus began our adventures into Caravanning…..

People on caravan sites are just fabulous.  I have rarely come across anyone who doesn’t show understanding for children with special needs.  We book sites where the childrens’ park is close by, or overlooking where we are parked in the van.  The boys  always find someone to play with, and adventures are always on our doorstep.

River Adventures

I prefer quieter sites to the big commercial ones, and with the boys growing faster than I can believe, I know that we will need to visit more of the big facility sites in the next few years for variety.  In 2012, we’d like to head down to France with the van, but that will depend on how the year goes.

There really is not that much to owning a caravan.  After deciding you want one, it is just the simple mechanics of getting one that your car is able to tow and getting out there and having fun.   My boys friends go on holiday once or twice a year, but we go away as often as we can, and in summer this year, we spent 5 out of the 6 weeks of school holidays on a site.

People buy caravans from upwards of a few hundred pounds, but you do have to try to find one that fits your family and isn’t damp.  It can be done on a budget, or for a fortune.

I loved the camping lark, but I was determined to have my comforts to do it.   If camping / caravanning was going to be our holiday future, I really couldn’t do without my hairdryer, kettle, cooker, bathroom or comfy bed.

Chilling Out Making Shadows on the Roof

Chilling Out Making Shadows on the Roof

Call me soft, but there is nothing better on a cold windy day than to be wrapped up warm and cosy inside the van listening to the rain pitter patter on the roof, and wondering how on earth those hardy campers in tents manage to do it.

Diggerland

We pondered over a motor home v a caravan.  For us, the benefit of a caravan and being able to leave it on a site while we had fun touring in the car won over the prospect of having to pack everything away to take a motor home everywhere we went.    Caravans also have less maintenance, and the prospect of cheap caravan insurance swung the decision for us.

We have had huge adventures in the last three years.   I have shared lots of them on my blog, but I’ve gathered some of the pictures taken while we were away to show you here.   We love the van  If we every had to sell her, we would be devastated.  It really is a second home for us.   We prefer Caravan Club sites to the Independent ones as having the security of wardens appeals to me if I take the boys away on my own.

Cool Dog

Our caravan is my own little corner of adventure.  What’s yours?

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Disclaimer:  This is a featured post.

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Gurgle Baby Milestones – Software License Giveaway – Closes 23rd December 2011

The people at Gurgle Baby Milestones have offered me three licenses to give away for their software.

Let me tell you a little about how it works.

The software can be installed on a PC or a Mac in a few minutes.   Baby milestones helps you to learn about, keep track and organise all your family memories for the future and I have used information from their website to describe it quickly.

You can add all the children that you already have, and you can also keep a trying to conceive.

Many parents use scrapbooks, pieces of paper, photo albums and more to record things for the future, but the Gurgles has turned it into an easy to use permanent reminder.   The software will give you relevant reminders and information to look out for and encourate at age and stages up to age 5.

Babies start to laugh between 2-5 months of age.  So when your baby is 2 months old, a reminder to look out for their first laugh will start to appear in the list.

The first time you see a reminder, you’ll probably want to know more, so just click on the reminder.

Then, one day, your baby will laugh for the first time – a wonderful moment you’ll probably want to capture!  You can open up the reminder again and record exactly when they first laughed.  If you’ve taken photos or video of one of their first laughs you can add these to the reminder, and you can record in the notes what triggered the laugh, where you were…in fact, anything you want to record.  Then click “Turn into record” to permanently record all these things and when they happened.

Now, your baby’s first laugh will be permanently recorded for you to look back on.  You’ll no longer be reminded to look out for their first laugh, but don’t worry, there’ll be plenty more developments to look out for as your baby’s growth proceeds at an amazing pace!

There are hundreds of reminders like this, covering both big and small milestones in your child’s development to 5 years of age.

I didn’t have my children as very young babies, and using software like this might have given me something nice to look back on and remember.

As it was, I faced three toddlers arriving at once.  Sadly, taking pictures and keeping records fell by the wayside while I got to grips with being a mum.  I truly regret that I was not organised enough to record everything, as the precious little time we have when our children are young flies by so quickly.  You really wouldn’t think so, but you blink, and suddenly wake up one morning, ten years older.

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I have three licenses to give away.   You can try the programme for free on the website, but I have licenses for the full software package to give away, each one worth £14.99.    The winner will be chosen by random generator on the 24th December.

All you have to do is:

  • Leave a comment to tell me that you want to enter.
  • Leave me a way to contact you – either email or twitter id.
  • If you want to, you could tweet I want to win Gurgle Baby Milestones software with @scottish_mum at http://wp.me/p1aG8Y-W4.  No pressure, you’ll still be entered if you don’t.
  • For an extra entry, use a separate comment to tell me after you have followed me at Networked Blogs at Facebook.  http://www.networkedblogs.com/blog/scottish_mum/popup

Good luck.

Kind Regards
Scottish Mum

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Christmas Twinkling Tree Lights

When Christmas Trees and Lights asked me to try a set of lights, I just had to say yes.  I like twinkly things you see.  They sent me some lovely Multi Function LED Lights that are for both Outdoor and Indoor use.  There were 120 bulbs on the string and a box that has a switch to toggle the different functions of the lights.

My set are coloured, and they can flash in combination, or in waves, sequential, slo glo chasing, flash, slow fade, twinkle/flash and constantly on.

We had our tree up with the plain white lights that came with it.  We are not a real tree family, but we do like our tree to look nice in the evenings.

These LED lights use little power and last longer than regular lights.   They cost £13.99 at the moment as they are on offer.  They also come in a handy little plastic tub that the lights can go back into for next year.

How did they shape up.   Well, when I added them to our tree with white static light on and switched them on, the kids all shouted coooool in unison.  I think that says it all really.

Christmas Trees and Lights also have some gifts, and THIS ONE is quite cool really.  I remember the one that my grandparents used to have in their hallway which was rented.  I wish I had kept it really, but the pink version looks better than the black.

Some of the effects are in the pictures I took.  I found it really difficult to be able to get an image that shows how well the lights show up the tree.  This is how our tree started off with just the white lights that it comes with.

To get a decent effect, I took pictures in the dark.

Disclaimer:  I was provided a set of LED Lights for this review.

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Teethscapades

The one thing that hasn’t been boring this last month in our house has to be the Dentist.

Dentists are usually one of those things that rarely make a dent in my life.   As a young thing, I chose veneers and a crown in place of expensive jewellery for milestone birthdays as my own chompers were damaged as just a wee thing.

I spent every year of my life from age 8 to about 20 ish with my hand covering my mouth when I smiled.  I used to sort of grimace with my mouth closed when I could, or limit the amount that I laughed.

Granted, it means I don’t have as many smile lines as most people my age (huge benefit to not smiling for over 12 years) and I had no jewellery to show off as I grew up, but I could finally smile without worrying how people would look at my damaged teeth.

Fast forward xx years and I decide that the last Dentist I took my children to was a snotty, freshly out of Aussie Dentistry novice.  He gaily lambasted me in front of my kids for the fact that their teeth had signs of damage.  I guess he never bothered to read the fact that they are adopted, that baby teeth were rotten before they got to me, and adult teeth have come in pretty weak for some reason.  Naa, just complain, complain, complain.

So, off goes I, when a new Dentist opens up and I think I can actually get a NHS Dentist to cut the potential costs for my ageing mouth of chompers.  I happily sign up myself, my husband, mother and three children.

We all have check-ups and they give me an x-ray to see if there is any decay behind my many veneers.  To my dismay, a semi-front tooth needs a filling.

The man of the house goes first and while a wisdom tooth is being extracted, the Dentist slips and spears her finger while her hand is in his mouth.  Cue tests for HIV, hepatitis and other things I can’t even begin to imagine for both of them.  Oh the joys.

I have hidden decay tooth filled, and happily, old veneer doesn’t pop off during the process.   I skip home with glee before coming back the next week with eldest for a filling.

He makes Dentist next customer more than an hour late as he starts to scream the place down every time she came near him with needle to freeze his mouth.  Major sweating from Dentist and I, bribery and corruption – and much holding of head and hands to help get it done.  Afterwards he says “that wasn’t so bad”.

Filled tooth with veneer starts to ache, badly.   I return for a new appointment for the Dentist to tell me that the last filling was close to the nerve and she tried to take out the filling to put a bandage on the nerve.   She froze my mouth, nothing, still felt it.  She added more freeze, and yup, still didn’t work.  After that I was sent packing with antibiotics and a wish and a hope that it starts to calm down over the weekend.  So far, it’s still a wish and a hope, but it’s only coming in excruciating waves every 30- 60 minutes instead of every 20 – 30 minutes.

Yesterday, the man of the house bit on a sweetie from the kids, and his filling from three weeks ago fell out….

Surely our trips to the Dentist will subside soon………… I am hoping they are all sorted out BEFORE Xmas and New Year hit us.    The way things are going, I am not entirely hopeful of a happy ending.

Toothache hurts – end of story.

🙁