Author: Scottish Mum

Posted on by — 5 Comments

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.

—————————————————————————————————-

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

Posted on by — 4 Comments

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.

Posted on by — 10 Comments

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.

🙁

Posted on by — 7 Comments

My Kate Benjamin Black Leather Studded Duffel Bag – and a 20% Discount Code for Accessories Direct

I had a lovely offer through my e-mail recently.  Most offers from PR’s that I accept are centred around my children or gifts, but every so often, one comes along that I really can’t resist taking the opportunity to accept for myself.

I was given a document with an option to pick three items that I liked from in order of preference.   I made a quick decision that this campaign was tailored just for me (ok don’t burst my bubble) and eagerly returned my choices to the PR.

I opened my pack to the feel of a lovely designer dust bag covering whatever contents there were inside.  I was immediately impressed and impatient to see what lovely creation that I had been sent.   I had been sent the lovely Kate Benjamin Black Leather Studded Duffel Bag (opens link in new window) and I knew I was in heaven.

I was surprised to see that all three of my choices were from the Kate Benjamin range, so I must have been destined to receive one of her fabulous designs.

REVIEW

Now down to the nitty gritty that all bag lovers want to know.

I have to say I was delighted to receive my first choice from the sheet, and was able to really appreciate the bag.  The Kate Benjamin Black Leather Studded Duffel Bag retails for £175.00 and the attention to detail impresses.

The first thing that struck me was the wonderful smell that emanates from a new leather bag.   The bag is a mixture of suede and leather and with the most exquisite gilt buttons, hoops and fastenings.

Can you tell I am completely besotted by this bag?   Maybe this incredible feeling of elation at a lovely item is something that only an appreciator of bags can understand.  I know that my sister in law, who is a handbag connoisseur is going to be green with envy when she spots it.

Now for the picture of my real, actual bag with its dust bag.  I so love this.  I’ve shown the inside lining which has a lovely shade of  fuchsia and is beautifully finished throughout.

   

The body strap which is detachable makes it the prefect bag for me.  When I am shopping or out with the boys, I like to have my hands free to carry other things.

The outer bag is 100% Leather and the gorgeous Inner is 100% Cotton.  I can see I am going to get a lot of use out of this lovely, lovely piece of perfection.

Accessories Direct also have gorgeous jewellery, hats, purses, umbrellas, fascinators, slippers, gloves, wallets, scarves, gifts for all.  I actually love this Linden French Multi Striped Bunny Rabbit, and I wish we had someone in the family with a child young enough to give it to.

DISCOUNT FOR BLOG READERS

To go with my post reviewing this fabulous bag, Accessories Direct have allowed me to give my readers a huge 20% off non-sale items from the website.  All you have to do to get this discount is to enter this exclusive code when you buy.

“FESTIVE”

The discount code is valid until 9th December 2011 and I would recommend buying early to avoid the Christmas post rush.

And if you sneak over to their website (opens link in new window) you will see they also have a Facebook Promotion going for the 12 Days of Christmas which looks fabulous.

 

Disclaimer:  I was provided with the Kate Benjamin Black Leather Studded Duffel Bag by Accessories Direct to review.

 

Posted on by — 13 Comments

Just Dance Kids on the Wii & Giveaway

Just Dance Kids by Ubisoft came to us recently through a lovely contact who wanted us to try it out and review the Just Dance for Kids game.

The disc has lots of kids favourites – including :

  • Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
  • Hokey Cokey
  • The Lion Sleeps Tonight
  • Jingle Bells
  • Crocodile Rock
  • Shake Your Groove Thing
  • The Shimmie Shake
  • Intuition
  • Despicable Me
  • Positivity
  • Follow The Leader
And lots lots more.  All the songs are at Just Dance Kids on the website.

It just goes to show that sometimes, kids are never too old to enjoy something that they’ve been given.    Here they are with the Gummy Bear Song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F1cJNadpkQ

My boys had a lovely afternoon playing all the songs on the disc, and we had an afternoon with friends, and their cousins over who were all younger and were tickled pink to be able to dance about to the tunes.  I wish I could have videoed them all when they were doing it, but my boys happily went on before bedtime and I managed to sneak up behind them and get the videos.

They really enjoyed going back to some of childrens songs and singing along to the older ones they knew as well as some of the more recent ones. Littlest said it was good fun being a “kid” for the day.   When you dance to the tunes, you build up a score that means you can challenge your friends and family to see who gets the blue score and is the winner with the highest score.

The screen has a cool icon that means children can skip the song themselves if they want to change the routine, and don’t have to go back into complicated menus to find the next songs.  It’s a little touch that pre-school children who don’t yet read will enjoy as they can shuffle through the songs to please themselves and choose from singers like Michael Buble, the Wiggles, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.

The children here mostly played three at at time – all lined up in a row, and all having an individual score.  The game also lets them play against each other in teams to see who comes out on top.   It’s a neat feature.

My boys are getting older and we have some more games on the way to review, so we have decided that someone else should get the benefit of this disc to have fun with over Christmas.  We certainly enjoyed it.

—————————————————————————————————————

If you’d like us to send you our review copy, just leave a comment with a way to contact you – and tell me which song you like best from the playlist and why.    The full playlist is on the website – and remember this is a copy that has been opened and used for a whole day.

Just Dance Kids

Disclaimer:  We were provided a copy of the Just Dance Kids Game for  the Wii to write this review.

 

Posted on by — 8 Comments

Sleep is for the Weak

Image: m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

After reading  Jane’s blog yesterday at Northern Mummy with Southern Children about the 7pm bedtime routing beginning to change, I had to laugh as I saw it at about 10pm, while I was trying very hard to ignore the 2 reprobate children who were still wandering the house looking for snacks and drinks.

I can’t remember how or where it started to deteriorate.  The boys have never been good sleepers and one is up with the sun and goes to bed with the sun.  In summer, he sleeps for about 4 hours a night.

It was a very fast progression, this bedtime lark.

Within a few short months, peace and tranquility at night-time  had gone.  To clarify, in my humble estimation, peace and tranquility is only broken if more than one child spends upwards of an hour or more screaming their heads off at bed time.

The deterioration of the bedtime routine clashed with the onset of cot side climbing and big boy beds.  Overnight, the children constrained by cot sides found the freedom that they had longed for.  No longer were we able to keep them from moving.

In middlers case, the next step was to move a child gate to the door of his bedroom to give him that little extra room to manoeuvre, without being let loose on the world at a moments notice and without anyone watching his back.   I thought I was so clever with that little trick  and congratulated myself on my cleverness with smug smiles to all.

Smugness laughed in my face as within a week or two, middler had managed to learn to climb over the gate.   Red raw eyes over the next few weeks of staying awake and outside his door to stop him heading off in the middle of the night made me look as if I had a huge vino habit.

Smugness reappeared when I found a dog gate in Argos that looked the same as the child gate, only much taller, and the red-eyed eyed witch disappeared as sleep came back to the mum of the house.

All too soon, the returned smugness evaporated when he realised he could throw a wobbly, lob a huge kick in the direction of the gate and it would fly off the door in a testament to his strength and ability to grab the fleeting tastes of freedom that he had managed to acquire before.

Elder and littlest get tablets to help them sleep.  It must be something that runs in their birth family.  This permanently awake condition is totally alien to me.    I was the poster child for the long lie campaign as I only ever wanted to get up out of my cosy little pit when I had to.

To this day, I still need three alarm clocks set to get me up, yet the slightest whimper from a child usually wakes me (oxymoron I know).  I do say usually as I sometimes sleep through all madness with oblivion.   There are only so many waking hours that a sane person can survive on (who said I was sane).

My boys are fast approaching the teenage years, and with so little sleep in their lives so far, I can’t help but think that they are going to grow up into insomniac nightwalkers, destined to walk the streets at night.  My paranoia knows no bounds !!

I have long given up the fight for bedtime as it is impossible to make someone sleep if they don’t ever feel tired.    The tablets are wonderful when they work and if I catch the odd glimpse of a yawn, I take that as my excuse to race to kitchen, fill up a pint glass full of milk to help tip the almost sleeper over the edge with a full belly.

They say Margaret Thatcher only ever got 5 – 6 hours sleep a night and since she was dubbed the “iron lady,”  I guess that really means that sleep is for the weak, and the rest of us are chicken lily livered sleep loving bedaholics.

 

Posted on by — 29 Comments

What is wrong with a label?

What is in  a label?

If I had a £ for everyone who said that they didn’t want their child labelled, I’d be doing quite nicely by now thank you.   I have to wonder why we have such an aversion to labels, or names, or public affirmation of issues.   Many do accept the labels their children are tagged under, but for every one who does, there are many who don’t.

– Is it a Scottish thing?

– Is it a larger than life British thing?

– Is it one of those stiff upper lip Britishisms that has us refusing to admit that our children may “have” something.

– Might it be that we might be blamed for it if they do?

– Could it be that we are in denial and don’t want to admit there is something wrong with our children?

– Should it be that we ignore what is right in front of our eyes?

Isn’t a label a reason for people to call our children stupid, or thick, or spazzer, or idiot, or dumbo, or something else as equally offensive?

Perhaps denying that there is anything specifically wrong means that we don’t have to face the problems that are staring us straight in the face.  Keeping the denial going means that we can pretend we have the illusion of a perfect family can’t we?

– What if we use the label?

– What if other people learn about the condition that a child has been labelled with?

– What if the label teaches others patience.

– What if the label means that academics and medial staff have to take notice and provide some help.

What is so wrong with having a label?  I have endometriosis, I was infertile and I am a food addict.   I am not ashamed of any of those so why do I hide them in real life?

My children now have labels.  In my stupidity when they were younger, I remember hearing the most ridiculous words coming out of my mouth.   I would start by saying ” I know he has issues, but I don’t want him to go through life with a label.”

Nobody will fight our choices if we choose not to have, or to use the labels, but at what cost to our children?   Are the labels beneficial to them and are we really just digging our heads in the sand and hoping it will all work out alright in the end?

Why is it so wrong for so many to have their child come under a  label?

 

 

 

 

Posted on by — 9 Comments

Lightening Strikes with Wowee’s Light Strike Assault Strikers and Accessories

A fabulous offer which was perfectly timed for the birthday of the  littlest boy of the family.    Scottish Mum Blog jumped at the chance to take up Wowee Light Strike Product review and eldest did his first youtube bit – his nerves get less and less as the time goes on.

The box arrived a few days before his birthday, and as it came around 8pm at night, littlest sadly saw the huge box that ended up sitting in my garage for the few days.    There were all sorts of questions and guesses around what could be in such a big box and it was quite nice to see that he didn’t storm the garage in the dead of night to open the box.

Recommended for age 8 +, these are the products that my boy has hankered after for a while now.

In the box they provided

– Assault Striker G.A.R.-023 with target
–  Assault Striker S.R.-143 with target
– An Intelligent Targetting System
– Rapid Fire System Accessory
– Scope Accessory
– Enemy Scanner Accessory
– Refractor Launch System Accessory

I could talk about these for ages as they are all flashy lights, fabulous sound systems and the only thing we were missing to make it a fully fledged laser tag type set up was the jackets.    I can see the jackets being on the Xmas list this year.  The boys were over the moon to be playing with this set, and I don’t blame them.   Flashing lights, pretend guns and safe targets lets them play at superheroes and cops and robbers all day.

You need a lot of AA batteries though for everything so make sure you stock up on them if you buy these and take them home.   We’ve been using ours a lot and the original Duracell batteries seem to have coped well.

The simplest way to let you see what the guns to is to show you elders first attempt at you tubing his opinion on something.  He’s done pretty well for a first attempt, and for someone who struggles doing talks in front of groups.  Forgive the video for being a little dark, but he’s so proud of what he’s done, that he wanted it to be posted online.

Disclosure – We were given the Light Strike products for this review.

 

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Winner – Littlewoods Christmas Giveaway – November 2011

The winner of the fab prize from Littlewoods is : Squeakymom, or @meedja on Twitter.

DM me your name / address details so that we can get the goodies sent off to you.

We had a shortlist of 12 and through random picking, Squeakymom drew out as the winner at number 8.  Commiserations, but fabulous answers to the shortlist who were:

Katie Vyktoriah
mi_shmash
Zoe G
laura seaton
Zoe R
Susie
Tracy K Nixon
Squeakymom
Maria Knight
mazz mullarkey
Katherine Coldicott
Katherine Aitken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on by — 12 Comments

Special Birthday Film Night

Last week there was a little boys birthday in our house.  Thanks to the lovely Claire from Cheshire Claire, and talking to her about the successful film night that she had for her son’s birthday a few weeks ago, I decided to copy her and have a few friends over to play for littlest (ahem, sit and quietly watch a film was the plan).

There was much excitement for the planning of the party to come and littlest spoke of nothing else for about a week before the actual day.

The invitations went badly when a few of the children he asked turned him down flat.  School has been difficult for him recently and living with his brother is not easy, so I was sad to see him being distressed about it all and I decided to make it extra special for the boys who did manage to come.  I asked a few boys whose mothers I know and who do actually like my boy, rather than the popular crowd he would like to be in with.  With a few confirmed film nighters, it was down to me to arrange the quiet peaceful night to come.

I had strict orders of what had to be done for the party.   There were to be no brothers in attendance which I thought was fair for him, since he carries a heavy burden day-to-day with his older brother – and at times he is expected to act older than his years.

We started off with some fireworks.  Apologies for the poor quality photos for this post, but we were all so busy having fun that photos took second place to being mum for the night and I think that just set the boys off into mischievous mode.

I ordered a huge “beast” pizza from our local Snappy Pizza place and I wish I had managed to get a picture of the HUGE box, but alas, the kids dived in far too quickly for me to be able to get any worthwhile photos as I dished out and served up slice after slice of monster pizza, but I did manage to snaffle elders plate as he sneaked upstairs with his pal and their plates of swag from the party food.

This plate is for an 11 year old, and he came back for a double helping.

Now, onto the quiet part of the night.  Was film night as nice and quiet as I had imagined it?

I’ll let you decide that for yourself while you listen to the shy and retiring children play with the fabulous Hexbug Nanos that  we were provided to brighten up littlests night.  You will need your sound on to appreciate the peaceful and calming environment of the evening.

Did they watch a film – not on your Nellie.

The boys were here from 4pm and all picked up at 8.30 so it was a looooong party.  After they all left, I scooped out a lovely tub of ice cream and whipped up a sauce of condensed milk, the Nutella spread that was so thoughtfully gifted to us, and added  Smarties and Fudge.

Wickedly sinful, but perfect end to the day.  Yum.

And to the wonderful PR that provided us with the Nutella and the Hexbugs to make his party go with a bang, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The Hexbug Nanos made the night extra special.

Scottish Mum
x

 

 

Posted on by — 23 Comments

Sweet Temptation – Who’s Right – Teacher or Me? Help…..

We had a situation last week.   I may be reading too much into it, but it really irritated me to the bone.

On the way home from school, elder was very quiet and piped up that he had a letter than I had to sign for him to take back into school.  I didn’t think that much about it at the time and just thought it would be for “yet” another trip for P7’s.

At home, he sheepishly slipped the letter under my nose and I read it with total disgust.  Not in disgust at him I have to say (although I had to show him some displeasure) but in disgust at the contents.

It begins by saying this type of thing:

Dear Mss xxxxx
I am really sorry for stealing sweeties from your desk, and I know it was just too tempting, so please please forgive me and I know you can never ever trust me ever again for lying and nobody likes a thief.   I have to say sorry to the whole class and I hope you can forgive me.
Yada Yada Yada you get the idea.

 Some of you may be shocked that on this occasion, I didn’t give my boy the third degree, or make him bow and scrape to a pretence of guilt in front of me.  Some of you may stop reading right now, make your mind up what kind of person I am, and then you don’t find out my side of the story.

Wind my neck back in for a month and we find a group of “professionals” and I talking about my boy, his future, and his transition to the big school next year.  As part of that discussion, I tell them about my sons sugar addiction and cravings.  Bear in mind that I am not talking about your average pouty child who just likes a sweetie or two.

I have only recently come to terms with the fact that my son is a sugar addict and that it is part of his condition.  I specifically mentioned it at the meeting where his teacher was present as I had only just found out for myself that he was not just an out and out thief from the treat cupboard, but actually has an illness that is a side effect of his condition and compels him to ingest sweet stuff.  He is just lucky as can be that his genes keep him as slender as he is with all the stuff he packs away.

It helps me to understand why we cannot have lots of bags of sweets in the house, or lots of packets of biscuits as if he knows they are there, he will get up during the night and clear the cupboards.  This behaviour has caused many arguments in the family with extended groundings, removal of privileges, promises of treats to leave them alone etc etc etc and NOTHING worked.  I was so in the dark that I thought my boy was just pushing the limits further than is acceptable.

Back to the story.   We have the teacher INFORMED that he is a sugar addict and that it is part of his condition.  Then the teacher leaves a bowl of sweeties on her desk to give to the children.  I can only guess at the reason for the sweeties, but I suspect they are an incentive for good behaviour.

Picture this.  An empty room with no adults around, and a group of boys who probably have little opportunity to make the grade for one of these revered sweeties help themselves to one and congratulate themselves on their cleverness at outwitting the adults.  One of the boys feels guilty, so dobs the rest of them in and says he didn’t pinch any “so I am told by my boy” .  He also tells me that the dobber in got off with it.

At this point, I am fighting the urge not to laugh as in the same situation, if I were a child in their shoes, I suspect that I would have helped myself to one of those sweeties too.  I am also irritated with the teacher for putting such temptation in the way of someone who has a sugar addiction and expecting them not to take one.   I am even more irritated with myself for expecting the teacher to even to remember that he has a sugar addiction.

I will not be carrying on this issue at home though I cannot tell my boy exactly what I think of it all.

They were warned – and my boy had to take the same punishment as the other boys who took a sweetie, but heaven above – why, why, why would you leave a bowl of sweeties on a desk in front of a class of kids.   It is utter madness.

What do you all think?