The Ice Wall comes to Manchester...

As a Mumbassador for The New Ice Age whose aim it is to "show you just how convenient, beneficial and healthy the frozen food option can be for you and for your family", I decided to meet the team who came up to Manchester to promote the campaign with their fantastic Ice Wall!

The Ice Wall in Exchange
Square.

The New Ice Age is a fun and informative site about all the uses of frozen foods created by The British Frozen Food Federation and has fantastic tips, hints and interesting facts all about using frozen foods and indeed they also have some fantastic competitions and hugely informative blogs so make sure you have a look at http://www.thenewiceage.com/  for clever ways to save money whilst using healthy frozen foods for the family. 

The Ice Wall was first launched in London where massive blocks of ice holding hundreds of food items were put together as a wall on display for the general public. 

This year it came to Manchester where in the early hours of a freezing cold saturday morning (Jan 22nd), the crew were setting up the huge blocks of Ice in Exhange Square near the Printworks.  I ventured down around nine in the morning and had the pleasure of meeting Lauren and Rachel, the fabulous girls of The New Ice Age who had quite wisely brought extra pairs of socks and gloves to keep warm whilst standing outside all day!

This year, the Ice Wall had a massive twist.  Instead of different foods being encased in the ice. It was money!! Hundreds of pounds in notes, coins (all covered in plastic of course) and even some mini coloured capsules containing the BIG prize of £200!!!!  Basically passers by were encouraged to have a guess of how much money the Ice Wall contained.  The people with the closest guesses were invited to come back and...have a go at chipping away at the ice to win the money!  You might think this was easy but some of the entrants took it all very seriously, taking time to try to *add* up what they could see inside the wall.

I spent the morning hopping from one foot to another (it really WAS very cold) and chatting to passers by about the Ice Wall and taking my cue from the girls, I tried to get lots of people to enter to come back and have a go!! 



An entrant wins some cash!



The correct answer is the equivalent to how much an average family of four could save by using frozen foods for a year instead of the fresh alternatives and no, I'm not going to tell you, but you can find out by reading all about it on the website!

If you want to learn more about what The New Ice Age are all about and find out how you can reduce waste in your kitchen and indeed help your food budget go to The New Ice Age and sign up for fantastic features, more campaigns and incredible competitions.  You can follow them @TheNewIceAge on Twitter and Facebook!

Why not comment below and tell me what your favourite frozen food recipe is and which frozen food product do you buy most in your house?

How many babies?...

So this time last week, I became an auntie again!  I already have a nephew who is nearly seven years old but now have the tiniest, most cutest and delicate little niece with cheeks the size of tennis balls!!  Her brother finds her a wonder, wants to play football and Ben 10 games with her but has been told he has to have a little patience!  She is gorgeous, with lovely black hair and big big eyes, she is as serene as her name suggests and at the moment, she sleeps all the time!

I remember the stories my mother would tell me of when I was born.  Apparently my brother wanted a playmate to rough and tumble with.  We also have a big gap of six and a half years between us so when I did come into the world, he somewhat went into a mood with my mom and walked off!  Upon being asked why, he said "I asked for someone to play with, I want to play football and wrestle with, this baby is bald, tiny and can't even speak!"

I'm not sure how long it took him to understand that some babies are indeed born with little hair and small but some thirty odd years later, we get on quite okay ;o)

For my two there is only a gap of two and a half years between them.  I get a little jealous when I hear that my sister in law takes my nephew to school and only has a tiny baby to deal with when I had a period of time tearing my hair out with two babies and trying to potty train the eldest just after Mikey was born.  (I was supposed to train her earlier but I quickly became very heavy and big and couldn't do anything!).  I felt the days go by in a haze of hectic madness trying to keep two fairly young ones from being bored and possibly killing each other.  Now of course that Mikey is just over two, Sofia is in school and life is alot easier to manage!

We originally had wanted a gap between the two children we had *planned*.  We thought four or five years would be good and I would still be under forty so any possible issues with health might just be okay.  Obviously the plan didn't go down very well but looking back and now seeing my sister in law with a seven year old and a new born, I don't envy her and I'm really glad things turned out the way it did.  I don't think I could have coped with the sleepless nights and all the other issues surrounding young babies when I had my eldest at a stage where my personal freedom was so much.

Don't get me wrong, it works fabulously for other people and I think it's great and wholly admire anyone who can have more children at whatever stage! However for someone like myself with very little physical or mental stamina, it's worked out just right for me when I sit and think lucidly about it.

My mother went to a fortune teller the other day.  Whether or not you believe, she told my mom some freaky things.  One being that she's just about to become a grandmother again or that she has already become a grandmother but she sees one more grandchild at some point. 

My sister in law is adamant she will not have anymore (she doesn't know about the fortune teller's prediction).  I scream inside my head and shout no, no, NO it will NOT be me.

It will NOT be me.

Part 2 of the Maclaren Journey

Well I don't think I could rave anymore about the Maclaren Quest Zodiac!!  Getting Mikey in it in the morning to take Sofia to school is quick, easy and with usual Maclaren style, the raincover is VERY easy to get on!

Yesterday we went to the Trafford Centre and with two children, I really needed to make sure Mikey stayed in his buggy.  I wondered if he would as it wasn't the usual big clunky pram I would always take him out in.  With no winter coat he had even more room for manouevre and was very happy to stay in there being wheeled around whilst he watched everything going on.

He was comfortable, I could put his nappy bag on the handles and there is even a little bag to put on the back of the buggy to put a couple of essentials in if needed!!  I felt that I wasn't getting in anyone's way either as it was a busy day in the shopping mall.

All in all, I would absolutely without doubt recommend the Maclaren Quest Buggy to any mother out there.  It is suitable from 3 months on, is nippy, lightweight and very stylish especially if you're a zodiac lover!!

It is reasonably priced and be sure it will last a very long time as is built with the solid reputation of Maclaren behind it.  You can find Maclaren on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/maclarenbaby and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MaclarenBabyUK Why not pay them a visit and choose your Maclaren today!

Does size matter? Part 1 of my Maclaren Journey...

My son is only two years old but he is built like a warrior of stocky proportions.  He is quite tall (or long, whichever you want to call it) and broad shouldered, so much so that I have to buy him size 3-4 tops!!

He has, as you would imagine, outgrown the pram and the buggy we had.  So on my travels for a new buggy, I asked the lovely Maclaren Baby UK (http://www.twitter.com/MaclarenBabyUK) for a recommendation on a wider buggy that he could be comfortable in.

Hence the arrival of a Maclaren Quest Zodiac buggy on my doorstep two days ago!!  This is typical of Maclaren style, lightweight, solid and nothing to faff with! You take it out of the box and voila! You can use it right away!  It is every mother's dream!

The Zodiac is a lovely navy blue colour with a silver constellation pattern inside the hood and stars on the chair and it also comes with a comfort pack (headrest and shoulder pads) that is tailored to your child's starsign so we have the ever fierce scorpio on ours!

What had worried me was of course how it would be when Mikey was sat in the buggy.  Would he be squashed (his shoulders mainly) and would his legs be hanging midair off the seat.  My prayers have been answered.  The chair of the buggy is nice and wide providing comfort for my lad to fit in quite easy even with a winter coat on.  The back is very sturdy with four reclining positions which keeps your child's back nice and straight whether sat up or lying down. (Some buggies do not provide enough support I have found in the past).  The seat also can be adjusted to give comfort to the calves so legs are not hanging over awkwardly.

The fantastic thing about the Maclaren Quest is that it is definitely usable for many situations.  It is in my opinion a rock solid buggy that you can take anywhere.  As far as size which was my biggest worry, it absolutely fits the bill for my son and I could not have asked for a better buggy!!

Part Two coming soon....

Lollicakes!!!

How wonderful is Twitter? Not only do you make very lovely friends and meet some highly interesting people but you get to win some fantastic prizes like these awesome Lollicakes that I received in the post today!!  These are round balls of chocolate cake covered in a layer of icing and dipped in hundreds and thousands and all on a lolly stick!!

Five rainbow coloured lollipop cakes (two have been eaten already!!)came to me via Royal Mail special delivery in lovely packaging and each wrapped in cellophane tied with a pretty bow!!  They are delicious little treats and fun for all the family.  My children have already given their total approval!

Why not follow them on twitter to be in with a chance of winning some for yourself and have a look at their website too!!

http://www.lollicakes.co.uk/
http://www.twitter.com/lollicakesltd

Thankyou Lollicakes for my yummy prize!!

Food, glorious food...

Whilst in my local supermarket the other day, I had a wander down the chilled meals aisle.  For a split second....JUST a split second mind, I considered getting something for my son from there.   I hadn't cooked and needed something to give him for his dinner as he doesn't like pasta like my daughter does.

I picked one up (ok, perhaps it was more than a split second...) and had a look.  Not only did the big chunks of fish lurking underneath the lumpy mash make me shudder and almost vomit but when I looked at the price, I nearly had a coronary!!  Three pounds for the tiniest meal that wouldn't fill Mikey's tummy if he even gave it a second glance and so then it got put back with another shudder and a swift exit from that aisle.

I will admit as babies I did give both my children some variation from the little jars that you can buy especially porridge or rice pudding but I quickly stopped buying as the cost mounted up and the fact that I didn't think my children were getting enough nutrition from a tiny pot that had a shelf life of just under two years.  These were quickly binned in favour of a hand blender and I pureed my own foods for them until they were old enough to eat solid *chewy* food.

I loved the fact that I knew what was going into their foods, how fresh it was and that I could freeze portions for another time and that my purse wasn't feeling the heavy burden of the pound coins flying out of it!

Again this is another personal comment as I know with all the kinds of things going on in our lives, moms/dads don't always have the time to cook from scratch and as they are labelled so, these jars/packs are there for our convenience and ease of living.  It would be better if they were easier for our pocket though!

If anyone has time (5 mins to prepare and 1 hour to cook), and has a baby they are giving puree food to, why not try sticking a drumstick, half a carrot, potato, and any other veg you want, a handful of lentils and rice into a pot. Cover with water, add a teaspoon of tomato puree and cook. You can add flavouring as you wish or not.  This will puree into many meals for your little one and you can freeze the excess to give you peace of mind that you have a nutritional meal for your little one after you've had a very busy day and it's easier on your budget!

Hormones...who needs them!?

Well, so far my plans for world domination seem to have been thwarted at every possible angle.  I mean seriously...how am I going to be Queen of the Earth and all the Universe if I cry at anything and everything which most recently was Bee Movie! (yes...Bee Movie...*rolls eyes*)

I have always been a soppy girl.  Sentimental, romantic and over emotional led to my heart breaking a number of times and too many nostalgic moments in my brain whilst staring out of the window with a cup of coffee.  You might say I have always been hormonal no matter what time of the month!

After the arrival of my babies, this seems to have increased a thousand fold. Now I don't just cry tears, I cry torrents of gushing water that can break dams and sink a million ships.  At the end of these catastrophic events, I am left with swollen red eyes that could make any frog jealous and a headache the size of America.

This possibly would seem ok if it happened and I recovered with most sanity intact.  But more and more as time went by the crying was accompanied with dark dreams, overwhelming hopelessness and furious anger directed at P mainly but at myself too.  A few months later after listening to the girls at work urge me on, I went to the doctor and came out armed with prescription anti depressants and a name for my *hormones*

Post natal depression comes along to most of us who have had babies in a number of ways.  A vast spectrum of feelings can pass through our heads and it just depends on the person on how we deal with these feelings that can either bring us out the other end unscathed (relatively) or allows us to learn to get on with it, to recognise the dark times and try to cope with or without drugs and/or family support.

Without boring the socks off everyone, I decided to cope without the drugs.  I had tried various ones from various different types of *family*.  Some made me sick, some made me not want to get up in the morning (but once I did i was ok) and some just didn't seem to help at all.  So I am here, sans drugs, and I get through the waves of emotion that hit me once in a while the way I know how to.  It isn't fool proof but for me, it's ok. It is a very personal thing.

Recently I had some bad news.  I had heard that a young woman who I knew and liked over the years but never really got to become friends with due to usual life commitments etc took her own life.  She had suffered the very dark type of PND.  The one where you couldn't get up, couldn't look at yourself, at your kids, wouldn't speak, wouldn't eat, nothing worked.  Her mother took care of the kids whilst the husband worked and after 2 long years she seemed to finally be ok and came out of it.  But I think this was because she had made her choice and her choice made her happy.  Now her sons have no mother in their lives and this saddens me deeply.  It saddens me that she felt there was no other way out.  I cried for days, not just for her but for every other man, woman or creature that suffers from depression and I guess this blog is just to say...in a round about way - if you are suffering from PND or even THINK you might be, or depression even there IS help and there is a way out but you have to want it.  Go to your doctor, midwife, people at work even if you've never talked to them before, your partner, neighbour whoever, if you ask for help you will get it.

I am not some kind of mad crusader trying to sugar coat the world but I do realise there isn't enough information about PND out there so if we push now, if we are all strong enough then we can help our daughters and their daughters and so on.

If you think you may have it or someone you know may have it have a look at the website http://www.pni.org.uk/ for more help and information about what you can do to help yourself or someone you know.