Kids Don't Come With A Manual : Book Review & Giveaway

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How many time's have you heard the phrase " I wish kids came with a manual?" lots of times I bet, I for one know that I have uttered those very words myself on more than one occasion. Everything you buy these days has a manual, but when you have children who are the most precious thing in the world we are expected to just get on with things on our own.

Being a parent is amazing and yes we do trust our instincts and manage to look after our children just fine. But sometimes it is hard and we second guess ourselves as parents. 

The North East Baby And Toddler Show : Ticket Giveaway * Closed *

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On Saturday the 16th of May 2015 the North East baby and toddler show will be coming to Gateshead international stadium, it looks set to be a great event for all us parents and parents-to-be here in the North East.  This event will be a great way to find out more about products and classes available for us parents here in the North East. 

The DreamSnatcher By Abi Elphinstone : Book Review

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The Dream Snatcher a debut novel by Abi Elphinstone. I was sent this book for my eldest daughter to review however I was curious about it so started to read it myself and I really enjoyed it. 

Slimming World Diet Coke Chicken Recipe

 I have been trying out lots of new healthy recipes and one of the recipes I kept hearing was diet coke chicken. When I first heard of this at my Slimming World group I thought it sounded awful but people said it was nice so I gave it a try and I actually liked it and my oldest daughter loves it. So here is my version of the recipe. 

You will need

• A bag of frozen chicken strips or 2-4 chicken breasts
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 large or 2 small onions
• Red and green pepper
• 1 can of diet coke
• 8 tbsp passata
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 4 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 200 ml chicken stock
• Fry light cooking spray

To Make

Cbeebies Live - Mr Tumbles Circus

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Last Monday we were lucky enough to go to see Cbeebies live Justin and Friends : Mr Tumbles circus show at Newcastle's Metro radio arena. I took my toddler Sophia with me who is 22 months and my three year old niece Heidi came along too.

Foods To Eat When You Have Gallstones

When I was 32 weeks pregnant with baby number two I suffered horrendous tummy pains - seriously it was more painful than childbirth! After numerous tests and an ultrasound scan I was diagnosed with gallstones, which are apparently very common during or soon after pregnancy. As I was pregnant and on a maternity ward at the time the medical staff did not give me much information other than to try and avoid foods with more than 5% fat in. 

I was unable to get my gallbladder removed due to being pregnant and there was no way I wanted to suffer that pain again (I had 4 attacks in a week). So I spent hours searching online to see what I could eat without trigging another gallstone attack. Honestly there wasn't very much information available and the information that was available was very contradictory. 

I lived with gallstones for six months before I got my gallbladder removed, getting it removed was the best thing I did and 9 years later I have not suffered any complications or pain.

 Over the six months that I lived with gallstones I worked out what I could eat without triggering an attack and what foods were safe to eat with gallstones and what foods to avoid. 

The best advice I can give is to not eat any foods with more than 5% fat in them, check labels and avoid foods that you know will trigger a gallstone attack. 

HomeExchange Memembership Giveaway * CLOSED*

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 If you have more then two children then holiday's can be pretty expensive and a tricky business, as hotel rooms rarely cater for larger families. So when I heard of HomeExchange I thought that this would be a great idea for someone with a larger family or someone who prefers home comforts. 

HomeExchange is a company that helps you arrange to home swap with another member in over 150 countries worldwide for a holiday in each other's homes. So you go and visit another country on holiday and stay at someones home rather than a costly hotel and they go and have a holiday at your home at the same time. HomeExchange have twenty year's experience with 65,000 listings on their website and have helped over 1,000,000 exchanges take place to date.