Saturday 29 October 2011
Friday 28 October 2011
A blogger splits herself in two!
I love writing Five Kids and Counting but there are definitely some aspects of me that are missing from this blog - I love to get on my soapbox and sound off about current affairs and politics. I don't want to muddy the waters here so I have started a whole new News, Current Affairs and political blog at www.mammpolitico.wordpress.com. You can follow @mammapolitico if this is your cup of tea. I've begin by looking at the way debtors are treated in this country in the light of the Eurozone crisis and today a review of John Humphrey's look at the future of the Welfare State. I'll be keeping Five kids for all things a parenting and family. I have just one more project up my sleeve - always was a multi tasker... so watch this space!
Thursday 27 October 2011
Music as Therapy
I was so excited to be tagged for Music as Therapy by mum2four the brilliant meme started by misslexywoo.
I don't get much time to listen to music these days but my DH has earphones permanently fixed to his head and he has assigned me organisor and curator of his ipod. We always have music on in the car although it's a fight as to who gets their cd in first !
When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.
Let it be, let it be, .....
And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, ..
Copyright:Paul McCartney,John Lennon
This next choice is one of my all time favourite songs - love the Alexandra Burke version too:
I don't get much time to listen to music these days but my DH has earphones permanently fixed to his head and he has assigned me organisor and curator of his ipod. We always have music on in the car although it's a fight as to who gets their cd in first !
To take part in the Meme you have to choose
3 beautiful songs.
3 different bands.
3 sets of lyrics that touch you in any way you want to show.
So here are my songs:
This song sums up my philosophy for life really....
Let It Be - The BeatlesThis song sums up my philosophy for life really....
When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.
Let it be, let it be, .....
And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, ..
Copyright:Paul McCartney,John Lennon
This next choice is one of my all time favourite songs - love the Alexandra Burke version too:
Hallelujah- Leonard Cohen Now I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for music, do you? It goes like this The fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you She tied you To a kitchen chair She broke your throne, and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Baby I have been here before I know this room, I've walked this floor I used to live alone before I knew you. I've seen your flag on the marble arch This is love not some kind of a victory march It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah There was a time you let me know What's really going on below But now you never show it to me, do you? And remember when I moved in you The holy dove was moving too And every breath we drew was Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Maybe there's a God above And all I ever learned from love Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you It's not a cry you can hear at night It's not somebody who's seen the light it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well really, what's it to you? There's a blaze of light In every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you And even though It all went wrong I'll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Yeah but it's not a complaint that you hear tonight, It's not the laughter of someone who claims to have seen the light No it's a cold and it's a very lonely Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah… Leonard Cohen 1984 & 1994 and finally I want this one playing at my funeral !! |
Wednesday 26 October 2011
Halloween Love it or Hate it?
Blog fever is taking my house - my daughters' helped me with the making of this vlog so bear with the wobbly camera work ...
In all truth after making this video we decided we would dress the little ones up and take them trick or treating and we did throw a pumpkin into the trolley at the supermarket this morning - so I guess we love Halloween after all!
In all truth after making this video we decided we would dress the little ones up and take them trick or treating and we did throw a pumpkin into the trolley at the supermarket this morning - so I guess we love Halloween after all!
Tuesday 25 October 2011
For every parent of a teenager
My eldest daughter is 13 years old and don't we know it at times - like any thirteen year old girl she can be moody and aggravating but also funny, loving and amazingly talented. She decided she wanted to learn to play the piano so armed with a book and a keyboard from ebay she taught herself to play. She can now play like this. Her grandparents were so amazed they bought her a piano. I don't know how she does it!
P.S That is not a tattoo on her arm but another 13 year old annoying habit - doodling on hands and arms
Her latest project is teaching herself to write in Japanese
Her latest project is teaching herself to write in Japanese
She can also draw like this:
So to every parent of a teenager:
When they are annoying you, frustating you, being rude to you, insisting they are right and you are wrong - take a deep breath - smile and focus on all the amazing things they can do - you helped them become the person they are and one day you will be truly proud.
Monday 24 October 2011
Take one chocolate labrador and put her in the bath ....
Our one year old was wide eyed with intrigue as he watched our 3 year old chocolate labrador Lola being lifted in to the bath - he couldn't work out why she was in there and looked a little bit concerned for his bath toys! Luckily labradors love water and Lola didn't mind at all as we lathered her coat with the gorgeous smelling Pet shampoo from Natural & Clean (I'd been sent this by the company after chatting to them on Twitter - they make a range of green products for cleaning home and pets) Lola had been getting a bit smelly and we had run out of our usual dog shampoo so this arrived just in time for her much needed bath. We don't bath Lola often as too much bathing can strip the natural oils from her coat but when we do we are very careful to use a quality product. The shampoo smelt gorgeous and the packaging was so posh it put our budget human shampoos on the bathroom shelf to shame!
We soon had a very soapy dog but the shampoo was really easy to wash out.
Lola was a very good dog loving the attention, then with her customary shake soaking everything and everyone Lola ran downstairs and found herself a spot near the patio doors to dry out. In the meantime I headed off to her dog basket which was also becoming a bit whiffy and gave her blanket a quick squirt with Natural & Clean Pet Spot and Odour eliminator - this too smelt fab and soon put a stop to that little whiff of essence of dog.
The end result was a very happy dog smelling fresh as a daisy and with a lovely shiny coat - who knew dog washing could be such fun ?!
To find out more about Natural&Clean's lovely products :
Follow @naturalandclean on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/Naturalandclean
Sunday 23 October 2011
Saturday 22 October 2011
Saturday is Caption Day
Saturday is caption day once more - so here is this weeks. FInd more on Mammasaurus
I'll caption yours if you are so lovely as to caption mine.
Follow me on twitter @5kidscounting and find more great pics to caption by searching #SatCap
I'll caption yours if you are so lovely as to caption mine.
Follow me on twitter @5kidscounting and find more great pics to caption by searching #SatCap
Thursday 20 October 2011
Thursday's Thought
I'm joining in with Pinkoddy and TheRealSuperMum with a fab new Meme Thursday thought
This is a chance to open a topic for discussion so join in air your opinions get something off your chest
My thought for today is - should the older generation and by that I mean mostly retired people have a longer memory when it comes to young kids playing up in shops ( by playing up and I mean anything from only a little bit of an "I want" to a full blown tantrum)
I am used to my kids being stared at in supermarkets if I take them in during a weekday as two are them are currently home educated BUT it really annoys me when I see mums being given steely looks by older shoppers when their little ones get a little overheated - surely they if they are parents themselves they can remember the terrible twos or the times kids who have had enough of shopping want to go home decide to take a tactical approach to getting mum out of the store. Aren't we all guilty of keeping our kids shopping a bit too long sometime?
I'd also add it works both ways - I've seen younger shopper get really annoyed with the elderly shopper who takes a long time to load their shopping ... what do you think?
Find more Thursday thoughts on twitter #
This is a chance to open a topic for discussion so join in air your opinions get something off your chest
My thought for today is - should the older generation and by that I mean mostly retired people have a longer memory when it comes to young kids playing up in shops ( by playing up and I mean anything from only a little bit of an "I want" to a full blown tantrum)
I am used to my kids being stared at in supermarkets if I take them in during a weekday as two are them are currently home educated BUT it really annoys me when I see mums being given steely looks by older shoppers when their little ones get a little overheated - surely they if they are parents themselves they can remember the terrible twos or the times kids who have had enough of shopping want to go home decide to take a tactical approach to getting mum out of the store. Aren't we all guilty of keeping our kids shopping a bit too long sometime?
I'd also add it works both ways - I've seen younger shopper get really annoyed with the elderly shopper who takes a long time to load their shopping ... what do you think?
Find more Thursday thoughts on twitter #
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Monday 17 October 2011
"Even God hates Wall Street"
"Even God hates Wall Street" - or so said a banner waved by a protestor in Times Square New York on Friday. I'm a bit of a news addict at the best of times - even found myself watching Russia Today when the one year old accidentally sat on the remote control. (The russian interpretation of the protests in New York agains global capitalism and banking greed was interesting to say the least) The news is always in the background in our house and can lead to some interesting questions. So the five year old asks me to explain why god hates Wall Street and I launch into a story about how it's not good to be greedy hoping to give a simple analogy - so she looks me in the eye and says - so does that mean God hates me because I ate all the chocolate biscuits .... and off I go again fishing for an answer......
Saturday 15 October 2011
Saturday is Caption Day
Saturday is caption day over on Mammasaurus so I'm jpining in again -what about this picture?
I love to see you captions it has been so much fun. I'll pop over to your blog and caption your picture if you join in the linky !
I love to see you captions it has been so much fun. I'll pop over to your blog and caption your picture if you join in the linky !
Friday 14 October 2011
Reasons to be Cheerful
Today I'm joining in with the bloghop on Mummy from the Heart's fab blog with my reasons to be cheerful:
1. Although the week got off to a rough start with a horrible bullying issue for my girls on the school bus I'm happy to say the school took the bull by the horns and dealt with it swiftly by banning the culprits for a week - so great to see a school tackling bullying head on.
2. My one year old who seemed to be a reluctant talker started to copy every word that came out of our mouths - see video post yesterday - think he is going to be a chatterbox.
3. Letter from mortage company saying we had missed a payment turned out to be a computer error - though the hubby had spent the lot in William Hill ( tongue firmly in cheek I hasten to add!)
4. Got invited to a fab event for Drinkaware in London via Mumsnet Blogger network - can't go but still nice to be asked.
5. Found £10 under the one year olds bed - he has taken to pulling my purse out of my bag - thought I'd just overspent the budget. On reflection what felt a really stressful week has had some really good bits
1. Although the week got off to a rough start with a horrible bullying issue for my girls on the school bus I'm happy to say the school took the bull by the horns and dealt with it swiftly by banning the culprits for a week - so great to see a school tackling bullying head on.
2. My one year old who seemed to be a reluctant talker started to copy every word that came out of our mouths - see video post yesterday - think he is going to be a chatterbox.
3. Letter from mortage company saying we had missed a payment turned out to be a computer error - though the hubby had spent the lot in William Hill ( tongue firmly in cheek I hasten to add!)
4. Got invited to a fab event for Drinkaware in London via Mumsnet Blogger network - can't go but still nice to be asked.
5. Found £10 under the one year olds bed - he has taken to pulling my purse out of my bag - thought I'd just overspent the budget. On reflection what felt a really stressful week has had some really good bits
Thursday 13 October 2011
Wednesday 12 October 2011
Mumsnet Better Miscarriage Care Campaign - My Story
Every woman who has ever had a miscarriage carries a tiny scar on their soul - the baby that never was.
I have five beautiful children so almost feel I have no right to the tears that are falling as I write this - I hope that by sharing my story and adding my voice to the Mumsnet Better Miscarriage Care Campaign I can turn a great sadness into something positive.
My miscarriage was discovered at a dating scan - I had two children already and had no reason to think that there would be any problems with this third pregnancy. Ironically I had had early bleeding with my first two babies but with this baby there was no bleeding so I had gone to the scan with my DH feeling completely sure all would be well. It was my DH that noticed something was wrong soon after the sonographer started scanning - I heard the panic in his voice and watched his face crumple as she told us that the baby had stopped developing at 6 weeks.
We were quite quickly put into a side room where a doctor explained briefly I would need a d and c. I was completely numb and terrified - I just wanted to go home to my two little girls. They left us in this side room (which was actually a storage cupboard) and we just cried and held hands - we were so shocked and devastated we just couldn't speak. We were told to come back in the morning after I had been nil by mouth for 12 hours to have the op and briskly sent on our way. We passed lots of pregnant ladies with their partners on our way out and I knew they knew by our tear stained faces and frozen expression we had been given bad news. I felt guilty in case seeing me in the state I was in spoilt their scan visit.
Telling our parents was hard but telling our eldest daughter who was 5 was harder - she is 13 now and still remembers the baby that never was. I went back to the hospital the next day onto the surgical ward and that was where things went from bad to worse. I was due to be one of the first to be taken down to theatre but I kept being put back due to "urgent" cases - by 5.00pm in the afternoon (I had arrived back at hospital at 8.30 a.m) a nurse found me to be so dehydrated that I needed a drip putting up - this led to the suggestion that the operation would need to be put off as I was too dehydrated for it to go ahead. This is when I completely broke down - a passing hospital chaplain hearing my crying came in to offer help and with his intervention the doctors agreed to go ahead and I went to theatre at about 7.00pm. As much as I didn't want to say goodbye to this baby the thought of having to come back and wait all over again the next day was unbearable.
I have had three more babies since then - I have had scans in the same scan room as the one in which we had the bad news - those scans were heart stoppingly awful until the point at which the screen was turned to show me our baby moving. I know how lucky I am, as so many women have miscarriage after miscarriage and never get to see the flicker of a tiny heart beating.
So that's my story - I join with Mumsnet to demand on behalf of all women compassionate, appropriate co-ordinated and ongoing care after miscarriage - if it wasn't for forums like Mumsnet many women would struggle to cope once the immediate "medical" situation is dealt with so women should have better access to help even some time after the actual miscarriage.
As for my baby that never was - I believe that although he or she never had time here on earth my baby waits for me in God's arms and one day I will be reunited with my little one - and in truth I'm a mummy to six.
I have five beautiful children so almost feel I have no right to the tears that are falling as I write this - I hope that by sharing my story and adding my voice to the Mumsnet Better Miscarriage Care Campaign I can turn a great sadness into something positive.
My miscarriage was discovered at a dating scan - I had two children already and had no reason to think that there would be any problems with this third pregnancy. Ironically I had had early bleeding with my first two babies but with this baby there was no bleeding so I had gone to the scan with my DH feeling completely sure all would be well. It was my DH that noticed something was wrong soon after the sonographer started scanning - I heard the panic in his voice and watched his face crumple as she told us that the baby had stopped developing at 6 weeks.
We were quite quickly put into a side room where a doctor explained briefly I would need a d and c. I was completely numb and terrified - I just wanted to go home to my two little girls. They left us in this side room (which was actually a storage cupboard) and we just cried and held hands - we were so shocked and devastated we just couldn't speak. We were told to come back in the morning after I had been nil by mouth for 12 hours to have the op and briskly sent on our way. We passed lots of pregnant ladies with their partners on our way out and I knew they knew by our tear stained faces and frozen expression we had been given bad news. I felt guilty in case seeing me in the state I was in spoilt their scan visit.
Telling our parents was hard but telling our eldest daughter who was 5 was harder - she is 13 now and still remembers the baby that never was. I went back to the hospital the next day onto the surgical ward and that was where things went from bad to worse. I was due to be one of the first to be taken down to theatre but I kept being put back due to "urgent" cases - by 5.00pm in the afternoon (I had arrived back at hospital at 8.30 a.m) a nurse found me to be so dehydrated that I needed a drip putting up - this led to the suggestion that the operation would need to be put off as I was too dehydrated for it to go ahead. This is when I completely broke down - a passing hospital chaplain hearing my crying came in to offer help and with his intervention the doctors agreed to go ahead and I went to theatre at about 7.00pm. As much as I didn't want to say goodbye to this baby the thought of having to come back and wait all over again the next day was unbearable.
I have had three more babies since then - I have had scans in the same scan room as the one in which we had the bad news - those scans were heart stoppingly awful until the point at which the screen was turned to show me our baby moving. I know how lucky I am, as so many women have miscarriage after miscarriage and never get to see the flicker of a tiny heart beating.
So that's my story - I join with Mumsnet to demand on behalf of all women compassionate, appropriate co-ordinated and ongoing care after miscarriage - if it wasn't for forums like Mumsnet many women would struggle to cope once the immediate "medical" situation is dealt with so women should have better access to help even some time after the actual miscarriage.
As for my baby that never was - I believe that although he or she never had time here on earth my baby waits for me in God's arms and one day I will be reunited with my little one - and in truth I'm a mummy to six.
School - what is the point?
School - I just don’t get it.
What is the point ?
They make me sit, at a table - for year after year,
and fill my head
with stuff I don’t want to hear...
I can’t get it right,
I won’t read the words
and nobody listens
I can’t make myself heard.
So they tell me I’m useless.
I give up and draw on the desk and throw away my homework and mess up the test.
So they keep me in at lunchtime and sit me by myself.
I can’t wait for school to be over - so I can work for MYSELF
Monday 10 October 2011
National Novel Writing Month here we come!
After discovering that the world doesn't stopped turning if I don't blog for a fair few days I have decided to set myself an even greater challenge than blogging regularly - I am joining in with National Novel Writing Month - 50,000 words to be written between 1st and 30th of November. I wrote a childrens book about 5 years ago and actually sent it off to an agent - and received a lovely rejection later saying that it was "didn't fit in with their list" but that it was being returned "so i could have the earliest opportunity to find the right publisher" - I thought this was an outright discouragement but on discovering the letter in a box of old letters in the attic I think perhaps it was a more encouraging response than I interpreted at the time. Anyway this novel won't be a children's story - I have a few ideas percolating in my head so we shall see what appears and whether I reach the finishing post.
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