International Blog Swap Day

I've been partnered to take part in the International Blog Swap Day. So here's my post.

I'm going to tell you about my son who is Type 1 diabetic and how we came to know he was diabetic.

It all started with us becoming worried about his weight, thinking we wasn't giving him enough food, so we increased his portions of food.We carried on for a few weeks weighing him as we went along, he still wasn't putting weight on, he loved his food so it was strange for him to be losing weight while were feeding him up, We started to ask our parents and my grandparents if they thought he looked skinny but it wasn't really a problem with them at the time, they thought he looked OK eventually when our parents hadn't seen him for a while they became concerned so we worried even more. it wasn't just us noticing the problem.

His concentration had dropped in school and at 7 years old his learning hadn't come on since he was about 5. School just thought he would catch up and that it was a case of him learning at a different rate so didn't intervene.

His behaviour also suffered he was starting to be in trouble for something most days.

He also wanted to constantly drink.

Having six children at the time and the rest of them being fine growing and weighing just fine, thoughts started going through my mind what if i take him to the doctors and they take him and the others away thinking we were neglecting him. I couldn't lose them they are my life. 

We started to take photos of him eating and being happy just to prove our case if we were challenged about his weight and after a few days the concerns that he still wasn't gaining any weight got too much and we took him to the GP.

Within about 2 minutes the GP had checked him over and asked him to do a sample of urine, which he did straight away as this was a constant thing as well. The GP dipped the urine using a glucose testing strip and a ketone testing strip. He instantly diagnosed Diabetes and was straight on the phone to the paediatric team at our hospital, he told us to go straight home and get things ready for a stay in hospital.

Looking back on this we were so lucky he wasn't a lot worse than he was as he was only showing moderate ketones in his urine so it was detected quite early. had he of developed ketosis this could of been life threatening, and to think we were scared of taking him to the doctors!

At the hospital he was given a bed and lots of people came to talk to us, which Taylor loved being the centre of attention as he loves being the star of the show! We met our paediatric diabetes nurse Stacy who informed us what the plan of action would be and more tests were done. Over the next couple of days she would be educating us how to treat Taylor at home, The paediatric diabetes consultant was due to be clocking off for his annual leave just as we got there but he came and sat for over an hour talking to us and explaining about type one and reassuring us it wasn't something that we had caused by diet and got to know us a bit. Not many people would be as kind as this after they had clocked off!

He was given two insulin pens and a monitor that night and the nurse started working out how much insulin he needed to lower his glucose levels with hourly testing and corrections. The next couple of days were full of little snipits of information on how to test, inject, correct, and who to contact if we were struggling, the dietitian came to see us too to explain which foods we would need to give insulin for, although the first few days we were given set doses to give him until we fully understood.

It was the most tiring time and the fastest we have had to learn so much but at least we had an answer about what was wrong with our son and we knew we could totally control it. It was a relief!

On coming home we had home visits from the Diabetes nurse and the dietitian to help us and advise us but we were coping quite well and it was decided we would start Carb counting and working his insulin out for ourselves. Our son had totally shocked everybody with his positive attitude to testing by himself and he even injected the insulin by himself after us checking his doses. He must of been feeling so poorly over the past few weeks.

His behaviour improved and the school work has come on leaps and bounds and school have now started helping him a bit more to catch up, It is awful how much a high, or a low blood sugar can change how a person acts and concentrates.

After just over a year past diagnosis at age 8 he was given the opportunity to go onto an insulin pump which we were so excited about. the pump is worn all the time and is connected to tubing which clips onto a cannula site in his tummy, which has to be changed every 2-3 days. this means no more needles other than this cannula change.

After yet more training over a few weeks we came away with an insulin pump and a testing machine which controls it via blue tooth - that's right we can now blue tooth our sons insulin from the kitchen!!

The handset is set up to work out the insulin dose for the amount of carbs we enter so his levels are fine tuned and we can control the speed at which the insulin goes in for different types of food rather than all the insulin going in at once. 

Also instead of having a single background dose of insulin the pump constantly pumps insulin at a tiny level through out the day which can be adjusted hourly.

He can now start to live a normal life and join in with everything that his friends do at school without worrying that his glucose levels will drop as we can adjust this for him for P.E lessons, break times etc. 

now age 9, he loves being on the pump, its his little gadget and it has improved how he feels so much. he is now starting to count his carbohydrates in his meals by himself and we have every faith that he will be able to cope by himself in secondary school. and to think that 2 years ago this boy was doing age 5 work!

Laimon Fresh

Laimon Fresh 

I’ve been asked to review the ‘Laimon Fresh’ sparkling Lemon-Lime & Mint Drink.

I was sent a recipe card with ideas for the drink, here is one that I tried from the card: - 

Laimon Berry Fresh 
Glass: highball 
60ml vodka
4 blackberries
4 blueberries
1 tsp lemon juice.
1 tsp sugar syrup
Laimon fresh 

Muddle two of each berry in the bottom of a shaker, add ice and everything except laimon fresh. Shake hard. Fine strain into glass over crushed ice. Top with Laimon fresh. Garnish with blackberry and blueberry and a leaf of mint.

‘Fresh berries packed with antioxidant qualities add to the natural ingredients in laimon fresh to present a fruity refreshing long drink’

Other recipes include:-

Laimon Rum Punch 

Glass: Highball
60ml Havana club 7yr old rum (think any rum will do)
Dash angostura aromatic bitters
4 tsp lemon juice 
1 tsp sugar syrup
Laimon Fresh to top

Shake all ingredients except the laimon fresh. Strain over ice in glass, top with laimon fresh. Garnish with a mint sprig.


‘Rum punches arrived on English shores when traders returned from global jaunts during the early 17^thcentury. The word ‘Punch’ is derived from the Hindi ‘Panch’ meaning five and these early drinks had five ingredients. The laimon rum punch follows this recipe, replacing more traditional tea with fruity laimon fresh.’

Bitter Laimon 

Glass : Rocks
30ml Campari
30ml Martini Rosso
Top with Laimon fresh

Shake campari and martini rosso over ice. Strain over fresh ice in the glass. Top with Laimon Fresh. Garnish with Lemon Zest. 

‘The natural sweetness of Laimon fresh works in contrast with the herbal bitterness of the campari to deliver a serious sip for discerning drink fans.’

Every mum/dad deserve a drink at the end of the week as a treat or “me time” Laimon fresh is the perfect drink to have with a dash of Rum or vodka. You don’t have to go on the amounts above if you don’t want that much alcohol you can choose your desired amount.

This is so much easier than trying to get the right amounts of cordial in a mixer or using the same old lemonade and coke, and would you ever think to add mint into the equation? I wouldn’t of thought about it but it does add to make theflavour unique.

The taste of the one that I tried was amazing and really gives a refreshing taste of summer! Even my husband who would never touch anything like this tried it and commented that it would be nice with a BBQ!

Another thing that he was impressed with was the use of only 100% natural ingredients and juices – no aspartamesweeteners for once! No artificial additives and no preservatives.

Pasteurized sparkling juice soft drink “Laimon fresh” 

ingredients :- 
Carbonated water, sugar, apple juice concentrated 4.4%, Lime juice concentrated 4.0 %, natural flavouring “Laimon Fresh” (Aromatic substances, Lemon, Lime, and mint oils) Natural flavouring “clouded”. 
Store in a clean, cool, dry and odourless place away from direct sunlight and freezing temperatures. Serve chilled. 

Laimon fresh is available to buy in a 330ml can, a 500ml bottle or a 1.5l bottle for a larger mixing session!

Stockists include:- Tesco extra, Nisa, Booths, Costcutter, Sainsburys, Proudfood, Londis, Waitrose, Centre Parks, CJ Lang and Spar.

Facebook -https://m.facebook.com/LaimonFreshUk

Twitter.com:- @LaimonFreshUk
www.laimonfresh.com

virtual colic support

virtual colic support

I have been asked to have a look at infacols new ‘virtual colic support centre’www.colichelp.co.uk
This is their press release introducing the service to me.
Infacol – worlds first virtual colic clinic for parents.
A new web app aims to bring reassurance to parents worried about colic, whatever the time of day or night.
On average, anxious first-time mothers make 16 trips to the doctor over a childs first year, with colic being in the top three concerns of new mums.
Colic affects up to one in four babies. It is often associated with crying fits which may last for three hours or more, and occurs mostly in the late afternoon, evenings and night-time, unfortunately when GPs are often not available. Cuddling or trying to soothe the babys doesn’t always help, which can be very stressful for parents.
The virtual colic clinic app, launched by Infacol (Simeticone), Britain’s number 1 selling infant colic remedy, is the first of its kind. It offers a new way for parents to get immediate, 24/7 support by accessing video response answers to important questions about dealing with colic; either through a smartphone, tablet or desktop.
“we know that anxious parents are turning more to online research as GPs are unavailable late into the evening, which is when colic can hit. Infacol want to give new mums and dads someone to turn to when in need of this extra support and guidance, at any time of the day or night” says Nikki Khan, Infacols expert midwife.
Designed to answer the questions of parents on the subject of colic and provide extra support for parents in need, with the help of midwife Nikki Khan, the launch follows the success of the ‘Is it colic?’ web app, which helps to quickly identify whether a baby has colic through ten simple yes/no questions.
The 24/7 virtual colic clinic works by encouraging parents to choose from 50 of the most commonly asked questions around colic from a drop down menu or alternatively to type their own, and then providing them with an instant video answer from Nikki Khan.
The virtual colic clinic can be accessed atwww.colichelp.co.uk via multiple device platforms including smartphones, tablets and desktops.

Nobody warns new parents about what to expect when a child starts to develop colic, for first time parents it can be a really anxious time of worrying that there is something seriously wrong with baby or thinking maybe something you are doing is wrong.
Numerous visits to the GP with an apparent happy baby stress parents to the point of despair whilst seeking answers as the problems generally effects babies later in the day.
Even some experienced parents get caught out as colic can effect some babies differently to others, not to mention Granny appearing with the bottle of gripe water that gets spat literally everywhere!
Most people have heard of colic but how many people can actually tell you the facts about how it may affect your child?
The fantastic new ‘Virtual colic support centre’ does just that.
It is there 24/7 to answer every question regarding colic you may have and even diagnoses colic.

Information of this site should be given to all new mums and dads as the amount of stress that can be lifted by getting 

answers about why baby seems to be in pain and constantly crying is invaluable.

The site has a simple to understand layout firstly giving two options. The virtual colic clinic and is your baby showing signs of colic.

The ‘is your baby showing signs of colic’ part of the site asks ten simple questions to advise whether or not your baby is likely to have colic.

The ‘virtual colic clinic’ part offers all the answers to the questions you might have about colic. These can be accessed by either searching through the possible questions in a drop down menu or by simply typing the question in.
All answers to your questions are given in video form by infacols midwife as if it is a face to face meeting!
The website also shows where to buy infacol, which is even available in some 24 hour stores if parents cant wait until morning!

This is a brilliant service which has the potential to help many parents.
Spread the word!
www.colichelp.co.uk 

Hotel Chocolat 'You Crack Me Up' Easter Egg

Hotel Chocolat ‘you crack me up’ extra thick egg and chocolates

I recently reviewed a chocolate wreath by Hotel Chocolat and was blown away by the quality and detail of it.

I was very pleased to be asked to review another of their fine items in the Easter range.

Once again the presentation of their product makes you feel so special! This is no supermarket Easter egg and it can be used to make the adult enjoy Easter just as much as the children.

This Easter egg would impress Royalty!

When delivered (which I have to add was super fast) it came carefully packaged in a protective box and arrived in perfect condition. On opening the box there was a very posh gift bag with the Hotel Chocolat logo on, tied with ribbon and a named gift card attached.

Inside the bag was an arch shaped box that is a very tasteful design and a simple but exciting description of its contents.

‘You Crack Me Up - extra thick egg – An irrepressibly upbeat egg bursting with smiley face pralines and happy chicks.’

On opening the box there is the story of Hotel Chocolat’s extra thick eggs explaining they designed their eggs 13 years ago and were advised by experts to make the egg as thin as possible and put the chocolates on the outside, but they did the opposite making it as thick as possible and hid their cute little chocolates inside the egg.

There is also all the ingredients and legalities on the bottom of this insert.

The egg is wrapped in two separate halves in golden foil and the chocolates are wrapped in paper in the middle of the two halves. There is another description paper explaining the types of chocolate.

There is a chocolate brownie smiley face, (crispy chocolate butter cream encased in milk chocolate)

Milk praline fried egg (a milk chocolate, hazelnut praline-filled half shell, topped with a white chocolate fried egg)

Crunchy praline (crunchy biscuit pieces and praline encased in mocha chocolate)

Milk chocolate chick (cast in mellow and creamy 40% milk chocolate)

White soldiers (creamy white chocolate soldier pre-dipped with a dollop of creamy chocolate yolk)

Smooth caramel bow tie bunny (a dapper Easter bunny cast in smooth and sensual caramel milk chocolate)

All of these chocolate were absolutely divine and would send any chocolate lover to chocolate heaven!

The egg itself had a two tone marble effect of milk and white chocolate and had the Hotel Chocolat logo on it, it was by far the most inviting Easter egg I have ever seen, I have yet to see another one as thick as this one. (It definitely isn’t one for sharing with the other half!!)

As with the other product I reviewed in December, the attention to detail and the feel of quality and pride put into the products really make the recipient feel special.

There are a lot of companies that used to be regarded as quality chocolatiers but in my honest opinion Hotel chocolat make these companies look very mainstream. This is extremely posh, fabulous quality chocolate which every chocolate lover must try!

The ‘You Crack Me Up’ extra thick Easter egg can be purchased for £28.00 at hotelchocolat.com and is worth every single penny.

Visit Hotel Chocolat on Facebook & tell them craziimum of many sent You. 

https://m.facebook.com/HotelChocolat

Choopie City Hooks

 

Choopie City Hook

 

I was also sent the ‘choopie city hooks’ which have solve my main problem with my Phil & teds smart buggy.

I have a large changing bag which doesn’t fit underneath the pushchair very well and when I hook it over the handles – it drops to the floor!

My changing bag really has everything in it and is quite heavy but these hooks are so durable and strong.

I have one fitted either side of the pushchair under neath the handle grips – which was so easy just using a strong velcro strap, the hooks rotate 360 degrees  to get it exactly at the angle it needs to be.

They would have no trouble at all carrying shopping bags in the same way.

Could also be used to hang toys on the car seat or on wheel chairs and car headrests etc.

These will get plenty of use on the pushchair now, I wont have to struggle with my changing bag on my shoulder and they will definitely get a new use after the pushchair!

Cityhooks are the ideal stroller accessory to attach any changing bag to a stroller, with the added benefit of hooking on anything else a parent might need.

• Easy to attach velcro straps
• Hooks swivel a full 360 degrees
• No clipping makes it easy to slip bags on and off
• Perfect for diaper bags, purses, grocery bags and much more
• Multi-purpose: can be used on wheelchairs, car seats, cribs and more
• RRP - $9.99

For more information visit www.Choopie.com 

Choopie are on Facebook please pop over & tell them craziimum of many sent you. 

https://www.facebook.com/CityGrips

Choopie City Grips

Choopie City Grips 

I have been sent a pair of ‘Choopie city grips’ to review.

I love to personalise my pushchair and think these go lovely with my additions.

The grips on my pushchair are made out of foam and don’t feel as though they would last and also feel awful when wet.

These grips make them slightly thicker and comfortable and much more durable keeping the value of your pushchair.

They are easily removable, and suitable to be washed and dried in a machine… Excellent for a clean freak like myself!

They fit snugley to my foam grips so there is no worry about them becoming loose and they come in different designs, myself having black and white spotty ones.

For more information on the city grips visit www.choopie.com 

I have these fitted to the Phil & Teds Smart which is heavily customisable and these finish it off brilliantly!

Soft, stylish & comfortable grip covers slip onto any stroller’s handlebars in seconds, preventing and protecting against everyday wear and tear.  Avoid grimy, sweaty hands with durable and easy-to wash citygrips.

• Easy to attach
• Made of plush durable material
• Stylish patterns make your stroller stand out
• RRP - $12.95

Choopie are on Facebook pop over & tell them 

Craziimum of many sent you. 

https://m.facebook.com/CityGrips

 

Koo-di iPad holder

Koo-di iPad Holder Review

I was asked to review the Koo-di iPad holder & was sent a set of questions to answer as my review.

*All reviews & answers are my own words/Honest opinion*

When you received our product what were your first impressions?

 What a fantastic idea! I had thought about getting a DVD setup for in our minibus for a while but didn't like the idea of wires to attach to the car sound system and separate screens etc. The fact that DVDs are becoming dated and always scratch in our house also put me off so the idea was scrapped.

Then along came the Koo-di iPad holder, and the idea was brought back to life.

Not only can we use the full functionality of the iPad for games and streaming TV and movies etc but also there are no wires, if like myself you don't have a 3G iPad it can be tethered to the iphone to share it's connection as a hotspot, the sound is also adequate on the iPad for the row of seats it is set up on. 

There is no concerns for the holder keeping the iPad safe on our awful roads, the fit is snug and secure and it is held in with a small strap over the top, this also makes it easy to slide the iPad in and out of the holder whilst strapped onto the headrest which we have done. The straps that keep the holder on the headrest are very strong Velcro and are stretchy and must fit most cars as it fits our minibus headrest which is quite large, I also hate iPad holders that don't look right near the buttons and around the screen but with the Koo-di this is not a problem all buttons are perfectly in place as is the screen. It looks really smart and feels really smart.

Was it easy to set up? (If it had to be set up)

If not, why? 

Ridiculously easy! No leaning to one side or forward thanks to the elasticated straps. It took seconds.

 

 

Was it simple to understand how to use the product? 

 Couldn't be any simpler.

What did you and your little one think of the product? Was it what you expected? Did you love it? If so why?

 

 It is fantastic, I am not allowed to leave the house without the iPad now, the holder stays in situ on our headrest and I just slide the iPad in and put on what ever the kids want. They love it and it will be a God send for our longer journeys in the summer! (If they all agree on the same thing to watch)

If you had to would you make any changes to improve it?

 

 I couldn't improve it

Would you recommend to a friend or other Mum and Dad? 

Please tell us why?

 

 Definitely it is so much more versatile to use an iPad than a DVD player, I have no worrys about it damaging the iPad with the soft materials and stitchings used and every functionality of the iPad is there for use including power ports, headphone jack and buttons. It in no way restricts anything even the camera is spot on.

So if you had to sum up what you think of the product to your friends, what would you say? 

It is fantastic, it is cost effective as the iPad is used all the time, it will in no way damage or scratch the iPad and the kids will love it!

to buy your own Koo-di iPad holder visit :- 

http://www.koo-di.co.uk/ipadholder

I give the Koo-di iPad holder 10/10 

McDonalds Style Sausage Burgers

McDonalds Style Sausage Burgers

Ingredients:- 

500 g Pork (Mince)

Seasoning:-

8 g Salt 

3.5 g Dextrose or Glucose Gel 

1.8 g Cornflour 

1 g Sage

0.3 g White Pepper 

0.2 g Yeast extract (Marmite)

Method:-

Add all ingredients into the food processor for 5 minutes, when it's evenly mixed divide the mixture onto 6 patties & chill for 1 hour

Fry or Grill 

Making Play Doh

Quick play doh recipe 

What you need :- 

• 2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• Up to 1.5 cups boiling water (adding in increments until it feels just right)
• food colouring (optional)
• few drops glycerine (optional- adds more shine!)

Method:

• Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl
• Add the boiling water
• Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough
• Add the food colouring and glycerine (both optional)
• Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone. * This is the most important part of the process, so keep at it until it’s the perfect consistency!*
• (If it remains a little sticky then add a touch more flour until just right)

You can store this play dough in an air tight container for at least 6 months. If you live in a humid climate you might need to store it in the fridge and out of sunlight.

Enjoy with your child(ren)

Amber Necklace / Anklet

I was sent two Amber products, a necklace for my 3 year old daughter & an anklet for my 10 week old baby. 

My daughter suffers from eczema & is lactose intolerant, the necklace so far has helped with her back teeth coming through, no red cheeks, eczema is no where near as bad.

The necklace is to be worn under adult supervision, if you buy  any jewellery it's advised you take all jewellery off at nap / bed times. 

The anklet is a tad too big for my baby but it looks stunning & I'm looking forward to using it when she's bigger & teething. 

*I will do another review on the baby amber anklet*

Amber Teething Necklace is a traditional baby teething remedy. A natural analgesic, amber used for centuries in Europe. 

Wearing Baltic amber close to the skin will help calm a baby without resorting to drugs. Natural anti-inflammatory and pain relieving properties of baltic amber are perfect to soothe teething babies.

Amber is used for a lot of natural healing take a look on the website below you might be surprised at the things it can help/heal. 

if you'd like to find out more about 'Amber products' pop over to the website/Facebook page below. 

If you'd like to buy a amber product please visit :-

http://allthingsamber.co.uk

Why not pop along to their Facebook page at :-

facebook.com/pages/All-Things-Amber

Cheese Scones

Cheese scones 

175g (6oz) Self Raising Flour
Pinch Salt & Pepper
1 x 2.5ml (1/2 Tsp) Mustard Powder
25g (1oz) Margarine
75g (3oz) Grated Cheese
1 Medium Egg
2 x 15ml (2 Tbsp) Milk

1 Heat oven to 220ºC, 425ºF, Gas Mark 7. Grease a baking tray. 2 Mix flour and seasonings, rub in margarine. Stir in cheese, reserving a little for the top. 3 Mix to a soft dough with the egg and milk, reserving a little for glazing. 4 Roll out to a round 1.5 cm (½ inch) in thickness and cut into 8 triangles. 5 Place on the baking tray and brush with egg and milk and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown.