Chocoholics Dream....

Our trip to Cadburys World was a huge success.

DS did very well as it was very busy with lots of children, crying babies and lots of noise.

If you haven't been, the tour starts off with you watching a couple of short videos of how the Cadbury brothers started off.

DS managed to just about sit through the first video but when we were moved to a cinema type room for the second I knew he wouldn't sit through it so I mentioned it to a member of staff asking if we could skip this bit and get on with the tour freely, she was very pleasant and said that was fine so off we trotted.

DS was very good throughout the factory but wasn't really taken with anything. He came out of his pushchair shortly later and walked holding Daddy's hand.

I couldn't believe how much free chocolate you are given!
Our best bits were the free chocolate (obviously) and the little car ride.

Afterwards we made our way to the hotel nearby - now this was DS fave bit! He ran around the room, jumped on the bed with a huge smile on his face!
I ran him a bubble bath, he stripped off and jumped in.
DS slept well, as predicted he was very excited and Mummy was very tired so I fell asleep first (get in!) whilst Daddy stayed up with DS until he also nodded off.

So this morning DS woke up very early, we had breakfast and left as DS requested that visit washing machine shop so that was our next stop

Even Cadburys World cannot compete with the much loved washing machine...

Mmmmm....Chocolate....

You don't need me to tell you this but genetics play a massive part when we have children.

There are things DS will do and I will know instantly that he gets that from me and I think 'yep, that's one of my genes in him' or 'that's definitely one of Daddy's'

I am going to make a confession now....I'm a chocoholic!

Don't give me crisps or biscuits but chocolate? now you're talking!
I eat it when I'm happy, sad, excited, depressed and nervous and if I could, I would even bath in it as I love it that much!

(this may not be actually me!)



I feel that loving chocolate is in my genetic make up as I cannot for the life of me give it up, so it didn't come as too much of a surprise when DS showed signs of being a chocoholic too!

With it being half term next week, I thought what better thing to do than to get us pair of chocoholics to Cadburys World!

So I've booked our tickets and a nearby hotel for the night so we don't have to rush back.

We've never been before and are hoping that DS is going to be able to cope with it but if not then we will bring him out and play on the park (we always have a back-up plan).

One thing I do know is that DS loves staying out, he will love sleeping in a hotel and will be that excited he will probably do his happy jumping til very late (see why I'm taking Daddy with us eh? He can stay up with DS whilst I get some kip! Im not daft eh??)

I figure if Cadburys World is too much of a sensory overload for DS then he will still enjoy the adventure of sleeping 'in another bed' so it will be a win win whatever.

Can't wait to go, will do my next post telling you all about it but in the meantime here is another picture of me! (well sort of.....well no it isn't at all)

And Reeelaaax!....

This weekend has been just wonderful!

Thats because this weekend, I was treated to a gorgeous and relaxing Spa break.

My local Carers Centre are truely a wonderful bunch!
They have identified that us carers are knackered, run down and quite simply flagging from the demands of our caring roles.

So they decided to do something about it to help - they are pure saints!

A member of the Carer team came out to me, did a short assessment which went to a panel who awared me a pot of money to spend on a relaxing spa break to energise and relax me - I've been soooo excited ever since and internet hunted for some nearby hotels that offered spa breaks.

I must admit, I think I could do with it...

I arrived at the hotel yesterday, checked in, dumped my things in my room and headed off to the spa without delay!
I was booked in for a back scrub, back massage, indian head massage finishing with a relaxing facial - It was soooo heavenly!

After my treatments, I floated out of the spa and up to my room and ran myself a deep gorgeous bubble bath which is a treat for me as everytime I attempt a bath, it is claimed by DS before I get chance to get in so knowing that this was going to be all mine was divine!

I ate dinner in the restaurant with a lovely glass of wine then headed back to my room to sleep. When I woke in the morning, I looked at the time and realised that I had been asleep for 11 hours! I can't remember that last time I was allowed to sleep that long! I felt like a new woman!

I went down for breakfast then left feeling very much relaxed

and the best bit is that I have enough in my pot to do another one!

Thank you all you lovely peeps at the Carers Centre, you really are fabulous!

My Birthday Boy....

Today is a special day.

Today is a great day.

Today is DS's 6th birthday!

Do not ask me where the heck the last 6 years have gone because I haven't a clue!!

It doesn't seem that long ago when I  was nursing this baby...

and now I have this growing and big boy...

I told DS that today was his birthday and that he was still going to school, and we would celebrate his birthday after school. I also sent a party bag in to every child in his class.

So as DS was going to school, I went to work.

DS absolutely loves his family visiting and us all being together so what better than for everyone to come round for the special guy on his birthday.
So I arranged for Daddy, Nanny, Uncle x2, Aunty x2 and cousins to come round for a birthday tea. We got a yummy chinese in, had a little cake and sang happy birthday with DS blowing out the candles (we had to repeat the singing and blowing out the candles about 4 times due to this being DS fave bit!)

DS loved all the fuss, he did his happy jumping with a big smile on his face!
After a hour or two, he retreated to his favourite room in the house - the utility room (for obvious reasons!)

We couldn't persuade him to come up for a pic so we all went to him for one!

My birthday boy has had a great day which means we've all had a great one too.

Happy birthday to my gorgeous superstar xxxxx

Ahoy there....!

Today was DS Pirate themed birthday party. Even I dressed up!
Planning a party for DS (and I suppose for any other child with special needs) requires alot of thoughtful planning and precision.

DS loves playbarns but as he is very noise sensitive, visiting these types of places are just not a option. He cannot stand the noise of alot of children running around shouting, screaming or squealing with delight and he particulary hates children crying.

Playbarns for DS are sensory overloads - sight (lots of children), noise (shouting/screaming) smells (smells of food being cooked in the kitchen) its simply all too much for him to take in and process which results in him becoming distressed and attacking the children displaying his protest.

So I cranked up the old cogs in my head to have a good think about what to do and decided that I would approach the owners of our local playbarn to ask if I could hire the place exclusively for a party for DS.

Yes they said! It would cost me a pretty penny for them to close it down to the public but very much worth it I thought!

So today the playbarn was ours for 2 hours with only a handful of invited children to keep noise levels down for DS.

DS loved it! He ran around quite happily and even played with some of his chums - we had created a perfect and calm setting for him - fab!

His gorgeous cousins dropped by to look in on him

It was a great day enjoyed by all with a shattered boy by the end of the day.
I really appreciated everyone that came and helped to make it a success for such a special little boy.

Its arrived!....

Yay! Remember me telling you about the trampoline I ordered?....
Well it arrived!
So yesterday I saw DS off to school and set to work on assembling it together so that when he came home, it would all be ready

Now I'm usually pretty good at this sort of thing but this was a nightmare!
It was all going wrong!
I started at 8.30am and by 11.30am I had made little progress.

So I called (begged) Daddy to come round and help.

Daddy said even though he was in mourning (re Sir Alex Ferguson retiring from Man Utd) he would still come round!

Half a hour later, both me and him are fighting with this trampoline.....and losing.

By 12.30 I was getting a bit worked up and could of cried. It was so frustrating and I was gutted that it wasn't going to be finished for DS coming home, so I sulked inside whilst I quickly rustled some lunch up for us.

To my surprise, when I came out, Daddy had seemed to cracked it! Yippeee! and was making great progress with it.

We quickly ate then got back to work knowing that we didnt have much time, we managed to do everything but the safety net by the time DS came home.

DS stared at the trampoline in amazement then did a big run towards it, climbed on and bounced away to hearts content

This is what makes it all worthwhile, the stabbed hands, the cut fingers, the ripped skin on my hands,the grey hairs I must now have from the stress of it, the bruised knee (I knealt on a screwdriver - ouch) seeing his enjoyment on this.

Dare I say that I will attempt the safety net part when he has gone to school....alcohol at the ready I think if anything like yesterday...

Morning Campers....

Last night DS experienced his first 'camping adventure'!

Oh yes, that's right, we camped out in the garden!

When I told DS that we were going to sleep inside the tent, he looked thrilled and was very exciting doing his happy jumping everywhere.

So I made us a warm and comfy bed inside the tent, when DS saw that, he did some more happy jumping.

We said goodnight to Nanny and settled down for the night.
As expected DS was like a wiggly worm for a little with excitement, he couldnt keep still with his gorgeous smile then he eventually started to calm a down a little. Several times I attempted to pop a bedtime nappy on him but he wasn't having any of it, snatching the nappy from me, unzipping the tent, chucking the nappy outside saying 'bye nappy' and zipping the tent up again - I couldn't help but laugh, he is so comical.
We listened to the wind blowing against the tent and snuggled more closely together.
Very shortly DS was fast asleep and  I sneakily popped a nappy on him

Truth be told, I fell asleep not long after him.
DS slept until it became light. When he woke and saw where he was, he remembered and gave me a big smile.
We stayed there a while listening to the birds singing before coming into the house for some breakfast.

I'm really happy that DS enjoyed our night 'camping' and that it was a success, think I may look at camping for real and have a nosey for some suitable campsites - Yay!!

Keeping my Promise & Carry on Camping....

I've been working hard in the garden for the last couple of weeks. My Dad was a brill gardener and his garden was a very pretty sight with lots of flowers and plants.

I lost my Dad at the back end of last year and when he learnt that he was poorly and only had a matter of time left he showed me how to garden. He taught me how to care for plants and flowers, how to re-pot and how to keep them alive and healthy so that I could carry on and maintain the garden.
I watched him closely with the flowers and absorbed everything he said asking questions along the way.

So now the nice weather is here I got out in the garden and started work as promised. I dug, weeded, planted and raked - the sweat was dripping off me and my back was aching but I carried on.

Feeling satisfied with how it was shaping up and was pretty sure that My Dad would be too, I glanced towards the door and thought I caught a glimpse of him sat in the doorway grinning at me as if to say "whos a clever clogs then"? I had to look again because I was sure I saw him!

So its just a matter of waiting for my plants to produce some flowers - fingers crossed!

I had a little bit of time before DS came in from school so I decided to get the 2 man tent out as he loved playing in that last year.
As I was unrolling the tent from its bag, it felt sureal that the last one to touch it was my Dad, it was him that had put it away and had rolled it up so neatly with its pegs and here I was unrolling what he had done.

Deep in this thought, I erected the tent remembering when I did it last year and him sat watching me laughing when a peg sprung up. In the end he got up and helped me with it - still laughing!

Its not perfect but its up okay. When DS came home, I told him that I had a surprise in the garden for him. He rushed straight outside and dived inside the tent wearing his beautiful smile that can get him anything he wants!

After sitting in it a while he then wanted both me and Nanny to get inside

If the weather stays nice and warm then me and DS will spend our first night in the tent, he would love that!

Eventually, I managed to get him out to have a bath and get ready for bed but as I passed some time later and not one to miss out on the fun, there was Molly the Cat relaxing in it!