A Mother's Ramblings

When Big Boy was diagnosed as being a diabetic we were told by the lovely Paediatric Diabetic Consultant that we would be seeing a lot of him over the next few years. I thought that it might be like my Mum's consultants who she see's once a year or so, but a few days after getting home we received a letter to meet with the  Dietician and to see our lovely  Consultant in just under two weeks time.  That is how on the hottest day of the year we found ourself sitting in a waiting room in Milton Keynes Hospital waiting for our name to be called.  Somehow our admission notes are missing AGAIN and so our  Consultant asked us for a few details (such as when was BB diagnosed, How long had he been showing symptoms before he was diagnosed, what medications is he on etc) before taking a quick look through BB's diary of his sugar levels.  A minor tweak was made to what levels of insulin we would be giving to BB and at what blood sugar levels and then th...

Top Ender is quite a crafty little Miss, and Daddy and I will often find small things she has made on our pillows at night. I love that she loves being crafty and when we were offered the Flair Paper FX which can turn old magazines and bits of paper into bags or other accessories I knew she would love it. Today Tops finally got a chance to play with it and after we got home from a morning in town she hunted out some paper before starting to weave them together. Tops was determined to do it on her own and so she sat reading the instructions and working out how to do it all on her own. The instructions are fairly simple step by step stuff and there are further instructions on how to make different projects. Tops was able to follow them easily, so she knew what she was doing and as I wasn't allowed to help she was really proud of what she created. I was really supportive of the work she had created, and said how fab it was but Tops was a little disappointed, so after...

I'm in holiday mode this week, we are away at the start of the week to France for a few days and so our food is all something fun and holiday like. I'm also carb counting because that is the way we are being taught to help manage BB's diabetes through diet. We aren't on the plan officially yet, we are just getting used to it ourselves and having to make notes on how many grams of carbs Big Boy eats (and the rest of us, just so he isn't different) but at our next dietician and consultant appointment (sometime in September) we will more than likely be moved across. Saturday - Gluten Free Fried Chicken Daddy hardly ever gets to eat KFC style chicken any more, because buying Gluten Free KFC style Chicken is near impossible. I do however have a few tricks up my sleeves and have worked out how to make it at home! We use Polenta as our flour and a mixture of Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Garlic powder and Chilli powder to give our own KFC style secret ...

When we do Big Boy's blood tests or injections he sometimes decides that it is the worst thing in the world and throws a bit of a strop and will storm off yelling; "I'M NOT HAPPY!" Daddy normally mutters under his breath "Which one are you then?" which allows Top Ender, Daddy and I to laugh and break the tension. We give it a few minutes for Big Boy to calm down before going to find him, have a cuddle together and everything is fine again and we're ready for whatever we need to do. When I was in Iceland's with my Mum yesterday, I saw a pez dispenser that I had to get for Big Boy. I thought it was funny, Big Boy not so much. Follow my Weight Loss and Fitness Journey at Pippa World

Big Boy loves getting parcels from Duplo, as soon as one arrives he puts away whatever he was playing with so that he is ready to open the box and see what new toys are there. This afternoon he was just about to play with some trains, whilst Top Ender and I did some step aerobics, when a parcel arrived. Big Boy had put away the trains and opened  the parcel  before the delivery driver was back in his van! Inside the parcel were the new Duplo Read and Build sets, which are due to hit the shops on August the 1st 2012. Big Boy saw that one was about a car and a plane and decided that was the set he would open first, he is really into anything that moves at the moment! This is a new concept for the Duplo range, and is in conjunction with publisher Dorling Kindersley but I think it has been executed perfectly. The books are a story and instructions on how to build the bricks together to make the characters in the story. As we read the book together I was thinking how they ar...

Daddy loves eating burgers, but unless they are 100% Pure Beef he can't eat them. There are a few brands that we have discovered we can buy but they tend to be on the small side to eat just one and eating two is just too much (for me at least) and so if we want a good burger we tend to make our own, or rather Daddy does. I decided that I was going to make some for dinner last week, and as I normally use egg as a binder it was going to be an experiment as Daddy is reducing the amount of egg he is eating, so I couldn't use it this time. The burgers were so easy to make I thought I would include how to make them here.  I made a lot of burgers so that I could freeze some for use at a later date, but Daddy ended up eating them for lunch over the next couple of days as they were quite nice. I took a pack of low fat beef mince, and added to it a chopped white onion, a handful of chopped plum tomatoes, some seasoning (salt and pepper) and some parmesan cheese that happened to ...

With it being the start of the Summer Holidays for us we are trying to cram as much fun and family time into our schedule as possible. Of course at the same time we still want to make sure that we are eating a great variety of food and we'll still be having our special Friday lunch so you'll want to make sure that you look out for that too! Monday - Picnic Lunch We are going to be having a picnic with my sisters children (either today or tomorrow) and it will be a huge amount on fun! We are planning on a few Sandwiches, cold cuts, Boiled Eggs and a few treats but not too many as we don't want to raise BB's blood sugars too much! My sister has declared the weather to be good at the start of the week so we'll also be having some fun in the garden running round to burn off some of the sugar. Tuesday - Cheese Toasties Warburtons have sent me some great bread which Tops and BB said we should turn into Toasties. I've said Cheese toasties, but BB will more t...

It's been a week of giving Big Boy his injections and blood tests and we've got into a nice little routine now. Big Boy needs to feel in control of what is happening so he decides which finger we will prick to do the blood test, then he reads the figure on the monitor before he decides in which area we will inject his insulin and he helps us count to ten after we have injected the insulin before pulling out the needle to make sure that all the insulin enters his blood steam instead of being left in the needle. Now we just need to work on keeping his blood sugars in check... Saturday - Prawn Stir Fry I had this for dinner the other night and it was so delicious that I have wanted it again since. Rice noodles with stir fry veggies for everyone, prawn crackers and spring rolls for the children and sweet chilli sauce for Daddy! It doesn't take long to cook which is a Saturday night bonus and there won't be many dishes to wash up either which I think c ounts as a Satu...

Dear Friday The 13th, You lived up to your reputation this year didn't you? No wonder you are one of the most hated dates of the year. Yours Forever going to remember Friday The 13th June 2012 ---------------------------------- Dear Big Boy, I'm sorry. I know this isn't my fault, but I feel that it is. Love Mummy ---------------------------------- Dear Blood Phobia, For 33 years you have made me pass out at the sight of blood, but due to recent events I'm over it. I won't miss you, I hope you don't mind. From Never going to pass out at blood again... hopefully. ---------------------------------- Dear Diabetes, So lets look at the facts shall we? You could have had me, a 33 year old over weight woman or a just turned four year old boy. You made the wrong choice choosing him because now we're going to kick your butt. F*** Off Wishing you weren't here. ---------------------------------- Dear Summer Holidays, L...

A couple of weeks back Top Ender, my Mum and I were chatting about our mutual love of Salmon and about how we best loved to eat it. I suggested that battered Salmon would be my favourite as it combines my love of the not so local to me local Fish and Chip shop (we hardly go *sob*) and my favourite fish, Top Ender opted for Salmon Fishcakes (which I make) and my Mum chose oven baked naked Salmon (which is sort of a family joke, but is just Salmon with no sauce). Little did we know that the next day Princes would ask if I would like to create a recipe using their tinned Wild Alaskan Salmon! I thought long and hard about what to make. I could do a Salmon Pasta Bake, I could do Salmon Fishcakes, I could do a Thai Salmon Curry, I could do a Salmon Salad, I could do... there were hundreds of things I could do but nothing felt quite right. I even ended up swapping my meal plan around so that we ate the Friday meal on the Thursday night because I couldn't decide what to make!...

There are times when you are drawn to someone because you know that they are like you. I like to think that is why Leonifay  and I get along. We like to read each others blogs (although I really should comment more on hers!) and when she gave me the Reader Appreciation Award I was rather chuffed as I think that means she likes me! As is common there are some questions and rules to go with the award and I can nominate some blogs that I like to read to receive the award too. So here are the rules before you can have the answers to the questions!   The rules of this award are as follows  1. Include the award logo somewhere in your blog.  2. Answer the ten question below for fun, but only if you want to.  3. Nominate 10 blogs that you enjoy, or choose how many you want to!  4. Pay the love forward, provide your nominees with a link to your post and leave them a comment 5. Pay the love back with a link to who nominated you...

Last week it was an event and a half when we ended up rushing Big Boy to hospital and having a diagnosis of diabetes. We're quite lucky that I've been looking at what we've been eating more closely over the last few weeks because of my own healthy eating plans as it means that I know a lot about what changes we need to make for Big Boy to have a healthy diet along with Celiac Daddy! So next week I'm off to see a dietician who will teach me about carb counting and the like, but until then we are just making sure that the meals we are offering BB are slow release rather than short bursts! Saturday -  Lasagne I added some linseed to the lasagne as well as grated carrots and a can of canoletti beans to make sure that the mix was not only healthy but also filling and had fibre. Nobody noticed the linseed and I managed to convince the children that the beans were baked beans so they ate them! Sunday -  Roast Sausages Top Ender thought it would be a good idea to have...

A few weeks back Daddy and I suspected that Big Boy was a diabetic. Some tests during the half term at the hospital showed that as his sugars had returned to normal after a high keytones reading in his first wee of the morning, a diagnosis couldn't be made. The paediatrician on call was concerned enough that he thought that it warranted further tests and so the hospital arranged for us to be seen towards the end of August. Daddy and I weren't worried, we figured that the vague symptoms we had seen must have been attributed to some other yet unknown cause. Then on Thursday I smelt a wee that Big Boy had done, there was the unmistakable whiff of sweetness with it and I knew that there were keytones in his Urine. Daddy took a urine sample down to the Surgery who did a quick test and told us we needed to call the hospital and get seen as soon as we could. We remembered what happened last time and so I explained to the Nurse who answered the phone on the DAU and she told us to com...

Top Ender had asked for a rainbow lunch again, as the Rainbow Lunch she had during the last the school year was so much fun that she wanted to revisit it. I must admit that it is my favourite lunch to make because it is so fun and colourful! I didn't want to do just a straight copy of last time though and so I came up with a few new foods to add to her lunch. In the Savoury pot we have some baked Chicken mini fillet from last nights dinner, some mashed carrot, some grated cheddar, some mange tout (again from last nights dinner as is the carrot), some blue rice and some purple rice!  Creating food coloured rice is quite easy, you add a drop of blue for blue rice (obviously) and then just a drop of red to the blue rice to create purple. It looks horrid whilst mixing but as it dries it turns a lovely shade of purple. For the fruit rainbow we have Two Giant Strawberry's, a Satsuma, a Pineapple ring (cut into wedges) a few slices of Cucumber (it was going to be grapes ...

I hate driving on the motorway. I've done it enough times to know that I can do it (and do it well, I mean I've never been in an accident on the Motorway!) but I hate the speed and the lane changes and the other drivers and junctions that you have to come off at that look the same as junctions you don't want to come off at and I hate service stations and I hate hard shoulders and the lights down the middle and other drivers who drive with their high beams on... Anyway. On Sunday after we had seen the new Disney film Brave (review to come, but in short it's FAB!) we started driving home so that Daddy could watch the Tennis, as it is one of his annual indulgences (Tennis, Snooker, Air Shows and the occasional Concert). Unfortunately for us the traffic in London didn't want to help us and so an hour after we had left Chinatown we were still in London instead of nearly home as we had planned. Daddy knew that this was a risk when we went to the cinema, I guess that i...

I love my Mum a lot and so when I was telling her about the different shows that I had been offered tickets to go to by Milton Keynes Theatre and she said that she rather fancied going to see Midnight Tango I agreed to go with her, even though it really wasn't my cup of tea. HOW WRONG WAS I?! I know of Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace from BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, my Mum and Nan force me to watch them when I am at their homes and they are watching the show, but unlike my sister I have never really understood dance. I guess it comes from having no rhythm of my own. The show was passionate, exciting and I was enthralled for the entire two hours, although for me the stars of the show were the bar keeper and his wife who kept me comically entertained during the entire show but they could also dance and they made it look so easy! I know that I claim to have no rhythm, but the dancers had me so excited that I'm going to be looking into Tango lessons for me in...

It's nearly the end of the School year which is actually making me a little sad as even though I love surprising Top Ender with her lunches, in just a few short weeks I'll be making them for both Top Ender and Big Boy! I won't have my boy at home with me. I'm not quite sure how crazy I will be missing him but I'm sure that I'll soon get used to not having Big Boy around. This week we are doing a few of the lunches that Tops has asked for and some of her favourite from the last year. Monday - Olympic Torch Lunch The Olympic Torch is going past our road today and Tops and her school are going to watch it, so it's only right that we have an Olympic themed lunch! I'm going to give lots of fruit and veg because every Olympian needs plenty of fruit and veg in their diet and there will be some special treats too. Come and take a look on Monday morning here and on Facebook to see just how fantastic her lunch looks oh and whilst I remember if you have a blo...

I'm experimenting this coming week, I'm going to cut out all processed sugar from my diet and a lot of carbs too. It's been suggested in the comments over on Pippa World that I might find that this helps me to lose some weight and as I'm desperate for even just a lb to come off I'm willing to try! I checked with Daddy if he minded living this for a few weeks, but he said that if I hadn't of asked he probably wouldn't have even noticed. If you see potatoes/pasta/rice then just assume that I won't be eating them! Saturday - Beef Steak Tarragon  Many moons ago Daddy and I went on a diet together and this was one of the dishes that we ate whilst on the diet. We really loved it, it uses Creme Fraiche which I hardly ever buy, but as I'm on a diet I figured it was time to pull out the old trusty diet friendly recipes. As this one is only 382 calories per person when served with pasta. Taking away the pasta should make it around 256 calories and served...

I couldn't remember what I had mentally planned for Top Enders lunch this Friday, so when I came home from my workout at the gym and she came downstairs I gave her a few options of things I could make with what we had on hand. Top Ender decided that a Sausage Roll would be the best option for her lunch, seeing as they were home made and as she loves a sausage roll. Top Ender asked if she could help make her lunch today so this has been a joint effort. Pulling the sausage roll out I thought that I might be able to make Daddy's rocket idea, but as the roll was as big as the box I was putting it in, I realised that it didn't have space for any additions. The shape reminded me a little of a fish, so pulling out my food pens Top Ender and I quickly drew some scales, fins and an eye. Top Ender was most disappointed that the eye wasn't a cross because the fish was dead! I think she has been watching too much anime. The rest of the lunch was chosen by Top Ender, ...

Last night after we had eaten dinner, Top Ender and I were going to go swimming whilst Daddy watched the end of the Andy Murray tennis match. It should have been Daddy taking Top Ender, but Daddy had wanted to watch the tennis and so I had said I would take Tops instead. As luck would have it just as we were ready to go the tennis match finished and so we decided that we should all go as a family. Despite it being quite late compared to the children's bed times, we didn't mind we knew that a good swim would help the children go to sleep and to have a good sleep. I've discovered over the last couple of weeks that exercise means that the sleep after is deep and relaxing and solid. I do love a good solid sleep, and I'm loving the gym even more but that's for posts over at Pippa World so if you have no idea what I'm going on about head on over! We arrived at the pool and were soon having fun. After Top Enders swimming session with Daddy a couple of weeks ago we...

The weather is pretty miserable at the moment, here in the UK and so I've been looking at old holiday snaps to cheer myself up. This was taken by my husband at Poseidon's Temple at Sounion on our Honeymoon in Greece. It was a long hot bus ride, but really worth it to see the temple at sunset.

As well as preparing the freezer with plenty of ice cubes  and ice lollies  I'm getting it ready by filling it with plenty of home baking too. During the summer we always have a few picnics with home baked goodies when the weather is nice enough and this year will be no different... even if my baby is going to be leaving me to go to School at the end of it! The great thing about having the freezer full of treats and home baked goodies is that you can whip something up in an instant, you know what the treats contain and also it's fun to be able to bake without any mess. Bake without any mess? Yes, bake without any mess. When baking make double batches and put the second batch either baked or unbaked in the freezer. If you freeze them baked you can just throw them in the picnic box and let them defrost whilst keeping other things cool and they will be ready to eat in just a few hours. Normally it's enough time to get to where you are having your picnic. Freezing ...

My Mum and I used to watch quite a lot of films together when I was young. My Mum knows everything about every actor ever and is the best person to have on your Trivial Pursuits team and so when we saw that Murder on the Nile was coming to Milton Keynes Theatre we were really pleased to be offered tickets as it was one of our favourite films to watch together on a Sunday afternoon. The stage version was fantastic, my Mum and I really enjoyed the show and despite already knowing who did it and how they did it and when they did it we were caught up in the drama as it unfolded. My Mum knew who a lot of the cast were, partly due to her encyclopaedic knowledge of people in the entertainment industry (I recognised some of their faces, if not what they were from) and partly because she is really clever! It was really nice going to the theatre and not seeing a musical as I normally go and see. I guess having my Mum as a theatre companion makes me appreciate a wider range of t...

I do love a good meme and the one that Jo has created and tagged me in is about one of my favourite subjects. No, it's not about Dr Pepper (still not had any and we are already in July), no it's not about going to the gym , it's not about making up storylines for Kids TV programmes for after the water shed... it's about Daddy aka Flyfour . Thanks Jo for letting me chat about my Man! Where did you meet your partner? On the internet actually. I was waiting to talk to someone else I knew from work and he (being Daddy) started a conversation with me. I have no idea why, I think he was just chatting up girls who lived close to him. What age were you when you got together?  I had just turned 20, he was 21. I think. It was a long time ago lol. Did your parent’s instantly take to him? Yes, they did like him. My Gran often referred to him as "Our People" and if my Grandfather hadn't died a few months before I know they would have got on like a house on f...

Every morning when I get back from the gym I start making Top Enders lunch (I post the pictures on our Facebook page around 8am if you haven't already seen). I have a little routine going where I put in her drink and fruit before making her sandwich and then the last thing I add is a treat snack. Top Ender knows that the treat snack is only to be eaten if she has eaten all the rest of her meal, but she normally doesn't have a problem with this!  I do make a lot of biscuits and cakes that I wrap and put in the freezer for pulling out for lunch box snacks, but recently I have been buying some multi-packs of cakes that Tops and BB like, after seeing how quickly they demolished the cakes that McVities sent us over the Bank Holiday Weekend. The great thing about having the individual packs is that I know that as there are only five in a packet that I can't sneak one, which helps my diet too. If you want to know how I'm going then pop over to Pippa World . Monday...