Crazy With Twins - The beautiful, funny & unsightly truths about raising 3 year old twins & an 8 year old singleton... with one on the way!

We all know how great summer is. It’s all about spending time with the kids and making lots of happy memories and with most of us heading off on our holidays, it’s an exciting time of year for everyone.

If you’re already working with a tight budget, then chances are that you’ve booked your holiday in advance and have probably paid it off, ready to enjoy – hassle free. However, many families still struggle with finding enough money to spend while they’re enjoying their break. Whether it’s for meals out, extra ice creams, treats for the kids or those spur of the moment activities. Finding the spending money for your holiday’s isn’t always easy, especially if you’re worrying about your finances or debts – for more information on debt management and advice, check out Creditfix.co.uk – afterall, you want to enjoy your holiday to the full!

So, with this in mind I’ve come up with 4 simple tips that will top up your summer spending money. Enjoy!

Stop before you shop

Buying all those clothes and accessories for the holiday is one of the most exciting parts of heading away! But before you hit the high street, check all your cupboards, drawers and wardrobes for anything that could be used again this year. Sunglasses, swimming costumes, sarongs, flip flops and beach bags – they’re all usually hidden! It’ll save you buying duplicate items, and don’t forget to take a look through the kids clothes and see if they might fit some of your younger children. You’ll save a bundle.

Cancel those TV packages

Many of us are currently paying for more than one TV subscription package, which can quickly add up. In the run up to your holiday, eliminate the packages that are used the least or simply get rid of them all. Remember, it’s only for a few weeks and you’ll have plenty of TV shows to catchup on when you get back.

Stop the takeaway habit

We all deserve a little indulgence, especially when the weekend comes around, with takeaways being the most popular choice for families. However, the money for your weekly takeaway habit could be put towards your summer break, and it could finance anything from a meal out to an entire week’s car hire. It’s a decision that might not be popular with everyone, but it’s only for a few weeks and think of all the extra fun you can have on holiday instead!

Find free things to do

Summer is all about days out with the family, but trips to the cinema, the zoo, theme parks and aquariums can be costly. Instead, try to find free activities in your local area like at the library or community centre. There’ll be plenty of reading challenges, creativity afternoons, or free taster sessions of sports or classes. There are plenty of budget friendly things to do at home too. Some of my favourites include:
• Arts and crafts
• Baking
• Movie nights
• Planting flowers in the garden

This is a collaborative post. A girl’s gotta pay the bills right?!

How to Take the Stress Out of Travelling with Kids

A family holiday should always be a fun and relaxing experience, yet every parent that has travelled with kids will know just how stressful it can be. Travel can be stressful at any time but particularly when you have kids in tow to look after and who could easily get bored, upset, scared etc.

With this in mind, here are a few tips for travelling with little ones which should help to take the stress away and allow for a relaxing break.

Take a Comforter

If your child has any form of comforter that helps them to feel relaxed then you need to make sure that you have this available to hand throughout each stage of the trip particularly at high-stress times, such as going through the airport or on the flight.

Stick to a Schedule

Children thrive on routine so it is helpful if you are able to replicate this as best you can throughout the holiday. This could include making sure that they are taking their nap at the same time, getting up and eating at the same time etc. Obviously, this will not be possible at all times and you will want them to enjoy the trip by staying up later than normal etc.

Keeping Them Entertained

You will want to avoid boredom at all costs while travelling with kids as this is what can lead to tantrums and/or tears. This means that you need to make sure that you can keep them entertained even during the dull parts of a trip, such as waiting around at the airport or on the flight. Toys, games and watching cartoons on a tablet are all good options to keep them entertained throughout the trip.

Fun Yet Comfortable Accommodation

Leading on from this, you should also think carefully about the accommodation as this is where you will spend a large amount of time. It should be somewhere that has plenty to keep kids entertained throughout the trip but also somewhere that they will be able to relax and enjoy privacy. Camping holidays in Italy are a great choice because they are kid-friendly with plenty to do while still providing plenty of comfort.

Have a Flexible Itinerary

It is a good idea to have a plan for each day so that you always have something to do but you should not enforce this itinerary. Children will not have the same energy or enthusiasm for getting out and exploring so you should be flexible and plan your days around how they feel.

Travelling with kids can be incredibly stressful for all if you do not plan ahead. Your holiday should always be a fun and relaxing experience and these tips should help you to keep the little ones happy throughout the trip so that it is a valuable experience for the whole family.

Baby sleep tips are one of those things that you Google when you are expecting your first child and often never revisit. Baby Sleep is one of the most important things for parents to educate themselves on, for two main reasons:

Your baby’s safety. This is your number one priority and taking on board some important baby sleep tips can help you to lower the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
Your own sanity. Yep, you read that right! Getting your baby into a good (and safe) sleeping pattern, will help you to get a better nights sleep yourself.

There’s a fabulous post on baby sleep safety on the Emma’s Diary website, which you can visit. The site is a great resource for parents looking for advice on a range of parenting issues from baby sleep safety, to feeding, health and development.

In the meantime, here are some of my own baby sleep tips, as a mum of four.

My Babies

I’m not one to brag, but my children all love their sleep and have all had great sleep patterns, even as babies.

My oldest, slept through the night from just 6 weeks old.

My premature twins slept through the night from 3 months old.

My little boy slept through the night from the day he was born.

However, this is not the norm. The majority of babies don’t sleep through this early, so do not worry if yours doesn’t. I just got lucky and birthed lazy children!

Please note that the baby sleep tips in this post are shared from my own experience as a mum. I am not a health professional and my advice should not be taken as medical advice. If you are concerned that your baby is sleeping too much, please see a doctor straight away.

Baby Sleep Positions

It’s really important that your baby sleeps in the feet to foot position. This means your babies feet are at the foot of the bed. This stops your baby from slipping down under the covers and overheating.

You should put your baby down to sleep on their back. As newborns aren’t able to roll over by themselves, they need to be on their backs, so that their airways are clear.

The Lullaby Trust recommend that your baby should sleep in their own bed and not co-sleep with you. This is so that they don’t get too hot, slide down under the covers, fall out of bed or get rolled on, by you or your partner.

You should use lightweight cellular blankets, to prevent overheating or suffocation. A brilliant alternative, which I used with all my babies, are Grobag baby sleeping bags. These are also endorsed by The Lullaby Trust.

Some newborn babies sleep better when swaddled. Check YouTube for how to swaddle properly and make sure your baby’s face and head are not covered with blankets.

DO NOT USE COT BUMPERS!
I don’t care how pretty you may think they look!
These have been known to kill babies through suffocation, strangulation and overheating.

Babies do not need pillows or duvets. Avoid using these.

Remove toys from the cot before your baby goes to sleep.

Baby Room Layout

For the first six months of their lives, the safest place for a baby to sleep is in their own cot, in your bedroom.

The optimum room temperature for a baby to sleep in is 18-21 degrees. Make sure your baby is not right next to a radiator or in direct sunlight. There are guides to refer to, based on room temperature, so you can tally up how many layers of clothing and blankets your baby will need or which tog of baby sleeping bag to go for.

Gaps around the cot should be at least a foot wide or under an inch. This is to prevent an older baby from getting their head stuck if they try to climb out of the cot.

Have a dimmable lamp to hand for night feeds. You may also want a drink for yourself and something to keep you awake whilst you are doing night feeds – whether that’s a crossword, a TV or a kindle. I used to write blog posts and tweet the 3am club! It’s dangerous to fall asleep whilst feeding your baby.

Do not store carrier bags or nappy bags in the baby’s room. I’ve read of incidents of these blowing across the room and suffocating babies in the night.

Blackout blinds will help your baby sleep and train their brains to associate daylight with daytime. However, make sure they are either cordless blinds or fit a cord safety device to prevent strangulation. Make sure windows are locked and that windows are not accessible to a crawling / climbing baby.

Baby sleep monitors and movement sensor alarms

When my oldest daughter was just 8 weeks old, a friend of ours tragically lost their baby to SIDS. From that point on, I did not sleep. I was up 10-15 times per night, just checking that my baby was breathing. I couldn’t afford a movement monitor at the time and it affected both my own sleep and my mental health. When I was pregnant with my twins, I knew I couldn’t go through that fear and that lack of sleep again. So I invested in Angelcare baby monitors with movement sensor alarms. These are not mandatory but they gave me real peace of mind. I could sleep at night, knowing that if for any reason one of my babies stopped breathing, an alarm would sound, to wake me up.

These baby sleep tips would not be complete without me mentioning a few things you will need to know, about movement sensor alarms.

If you have twins, these alarms will only work if your twins are in separate cots and the cots are not touching. Bear in mind that you will need to play around with the sensitivity on both alarms, to make sure that one monitor is not picking up the opposite baby.

The alarm will sound if your baby rolls off the sensor pad. Be prepared for this and try to stay calm and not panic, when it goes off. If your baby genuinely needs first aid, you will need to stay calm and in control, but the majority of alarms are false alarms. If you get a lot of false alarms, adjust the sensitivity.

Make sure you fully read the installation instructions and that all cables and cords are stored securely out of the reach of the baby and other children.

Baby Bedtime Routine

It’s well worth getting your baby into a good bedtime routine. It helps them to unwind and get sleepy. Many people choose to do a bath before bed, but for my children, baths always made the hyperactive, so we moved bath time to the mornings. I’ve always read a story to my children at bedtime and given them cuddles with their milk. Whilst a baby might not understand the story, they love the sound of your voice and it’s a lovely way to bond.

Baby naps

Baby sleep tips aren’t just for bedtime. Young babies will nap a lot during the day and as they get older, naps will become less.

DO NOT leave your baby alone to nap in a car seat or on a sofa. This is dangerous. Make sure your baby is laying flat in a moses basket, crib or cot for their nap. Stay with them or check on them frequently.

Refer to baby sleep guidelines for your baby’s age, so that you can make sure your baby isn’t napping excessively during the day. Too many naps will affect night time sleep patterns.

Is it safe for my baby to sleep through the night?

Now this happened with my youngest baby and it was just pure luck, but this leads onto something important I’d like you to note. If your baby does sleep through the night from birth or from very young, you need to make sure that they are still getting the right nutrition. This was something I checked with my midwife and a doctor, as I was worried. If your baby is not waking for a night feed, this is fine as long as they are making up for that during the day time. My son was having a feed at around 10pm at night and he was waking for his first morning feed at 6am. He fed two hourly during the day and had a healthy and consistent weight gain throughout his infancy. If your baby is sleeping for long periods and not gaining weight, or not making up for missed feeds during the day, please go and see your GP, midwife or health visitor.

Gina Ford books

The books that became my bible with all four of my babies, were Gina Ford’s Contended Little Baby Book and A Contented House with Twins.

Now before you launch into an anti-Gina speech, hear me out…

I HAVE NEVER left my baby to cry or tried the cry-it-out method.

I’ve heard a lot of people disregard Gina Ford books, because they assume it’s all about leaving your baby to cry. If you think this, then I feel you’ve probably misinterpreted the book. The theory behind Gina Ford’s routines, is that your baby actually wont scream and cry loads, because they are “contented”. The routines mean that your baby is well fed, well rested, well stimulated and has lots of skin to skin contact. All your babies needs are addressed in these routines.

The routines are quite strict, so I personally would recommend keeping the principles and the time gaps the same, but slightly adjusting it to suit your family life. I stuck quite rigorously to the routines with my first three children, but I pushed everything back an hour, so we’d be starting our day at 7am instead of 6am. This worked a charm for us.

Obviously this isn’t going to work for everyone, but I’d always recommend these books as a great starting point for understanding a baby’s needs. There are not just baby sleep tips, but also baby feeding tips, bonding tips, nap time tips and also things like how to keep your baby entertained.

As my twins were premature and low birth weight, I had to stick to a two hourly feeding routine to begin with, a three hourly feeding routine after that. And then once the were a healthy newborn weight, I transitioned into the Gina Ford twin routines. My youngest baby demand fed for the first few weeks of his life too, and then I switched to the contented little baby book routine.

So there you have my top baby sleep tips. I hope you will find some of these useful.

If you have any baby sleep tips of your own that you’d like me to add to this post, please feel free to add them in the comments below!

*This post is marked as an AD due to the collaboration with Emma’s Diary and the link to their website. However, all words and opinions in this post are completely honest and entirely my own.

Pets have been something that my husband and I have discussed a lot. We currently have a cat. A white cat called Nala, with heterochromia – meaning she has one blue eye and one green eye. She’s quite stunning. We’ve both had dogs before and although we both love dogs (in someone else’s home), neither of us wants one, for all manner of reasons. There are only three types of pets we have considered getting.

A bearded dragon
A Kakariki parrot
Rabbits

After months of mulling over the options, talking to experts, doing our research and visiting all of the above animals, we finally made a decision. That decision just happened to coincide with the twins 7th birthday.

“If you had two pets, of which one was a boy and one was a girl, what would you name them?”, we asked the twins one afternoon.

Oblivious to the fact I’d already visited said pets, the twins came up with the following answers:

Max and Ruby

Topsy and Tim

We actually thought these ideas were far better than any of the names we’d been tossing around between us and we settled on a pair of names instantly.

Excitement got the better of us, and we decided to give the twins their birthday presents on the morning of their party, rather than their actual birthday. We were up extra early, as the twins school friend was coming to spend the day with us. I had to “pop out” at 8am to “collect some presents”. As the twins sat excitedly on the sofa, with not the slightest clue what their birthday surprise was, Mike and I walked in, carrying Max and Ruby.

Max and Ruby are Orange Netherland Dwarf rabbits, which we bought from a local breeder. The breeder shows many of her rabbits and I’d previously been to visit them at her home, so I knew they’d been well handled. Our new pets were only 10 weeks old when we got them and they’ve grown loads already. Netherland Dwarfs are the smallest of all domestic rabbits and so they won’t grow to the full size of “regular” rabbit breeds. Ruby is much smaller than Max and will probably stay that way, as bucks tend to grow larger than does.

Tiny and Fluffy were over the moon with their new pets, although no doubt it will actually be Mike and I taking care of them most of the time. Max and Ruby are super cute little bunnies and the whole family is smitten with them.

As you can probably guess, the title of this post sums up a somewhat chaotic weekend! In fact, May was a chaotic month from start to finish. The good kind of chaotic though, apart from the broken bones, but I’ll come onto that in a minute! Most of May was the fun kind of busy, which is why I’m a month behind on publishing this post!

The first weekend in May, played host to Bunny’s 12th birthday (and party), and Tiny and Fluffy’s 7th birthday party. The very same weekend, we were also attending another child’s birthday party too and we also had an extra little girl to look after. I’m still not quite sure how we managed to fit everything in, but SOMEHOW it all worked out.

A Grown-Up Dinner

We started the weekend off, taking Bunny out for dinner. We thought it might be nice for her to get some time with us, without her siblings. Bearing in mind her age, we also thought she’d appreciate doing something a little more “grown-up”. She’d not been to TGI Friday’s since she was very little and couldn’t remember it at all, so we headed to the one at Gloucester Quays. Bunny loved having free reign of the adult menu and got herself a mocktail too. I can’t believe how grown up she looked and it was lovely to have some time with her without the little ones continually interrupting.

We knew that at TGI Friday’s, they like to humiliate people on their birthdays by singing to them, so we pre-warned Bunny. The staff however, were sensitive to her awkward pre-teen age and instead of singing to her, they discreetly brought her a big slice of birthday cake with a candle in it. I think it was really sweet and sensitive of them to do that and she was thrilled. She found TGI’s to be a real treat and now wants to know if she can go there with friends!

Bunny’s 12th Birthday Party

After months of discussions about what Bunny wanted to do for her 12th birthday party, she suddenly changed her mind at the last minute. She wanted a birthday party at Cattle Country again. Last year we hired out the whole of Cattle Country Adventure Park and had a joint birthday party there for all three of them. This year, she had simply left it too late. However, the twins had been invited to a birthday party at Cattle Country on the same day as Bunny’s birthday. A plan was soon formed. Instead of having a full scale “party” at an age where me pre-teen wasn’t sure if parties might be a little childish, she decided to scale things down a bit. The more sophisticated pre-teen option was to simply take three friends out… to Cattle Country.

So Mike took the three little’s and I took Bunny and rounded up her friends, to head off on our afternoon out. The four older children were given a little more freedom to wander, on the condition they stayed together as a group and checked in with us every half an hour. Whilst the twins enjoyed the party they were attending with all their friends, Mike and I took Bear around the park to do all the toddler-esque activities.

I bloomin’ love Cattle Country as there’s just so much to do there. Soft play, park, drop slides, rowing boats, jumping pillows, trampolines, tractor rides and animals to pet too. The older girls all got to see 6 week old piglets, handle small animals and bottle feed baby lambs. Baby Bear ran around like a lunatic, enjoying everything the park had to offer toddlers. And the twins both returned to us as a hot, sweaty, happy mess.

The Twins 7th Birthday Party

Tiny and Fluffy chose to have a gymnastics party for their 7th birthday. We put a limit on the number of children they could invite this year, so they decided to go with just inviting the girls in their class (it seemed the fairest way). We made a traditional party buffet and let the gymnastics coaches take it from there. The two coaches at Checkers Gymnastics did an amazing job and my twins loved every second. They played a combination of games, tried some gymnastics moves and tried some trampoline moves and generally had a lovely time.

I simply didn’t have the time to bake two birthday cakes this year, so I cheated and bought one! The children didn’t seem to mind though!

A broken thumb

After the party, having done a day out the day before and prepping all the food in the morning, whilst keeping five children entertained, Mike and I were knackered. The twins friend, who we’d been looking after for the day, got picked up and went home. We knew if we were to sit down, we’d fall asleep. So our stay-awake solution, was to take the children to the park. It was a sunny day afterall.

Unfortunately, whilst we were at the park, Tiny fell off the climbing wall and landed on her thumb. She came over to us crying and we could tell with a single glance, that she’d broken it. Her thumb was pointing the wrong way!

The landlady of the pub next to the park, came out to help. She provided us with a first aid kit (ice pack and sling) and even made Tiny a burger for her dinner, as she knew we’d be in A&E quite a long time. Mike and the other kids went home and I took Tiny to A&E. Sure enough, after some waiting time and an Xray, Tiny had indeed broken her thumb. It was strapped up with adhesive bandage and I took Tiny home, feeling a little sorry for herself.

It wasn’t the best end to a lovely (albeit busy) birthday weekend for the girls, but it got Tiny out of doing any writing for a few weeks! It happened on SATS week too, so she’s managed to get a teacher scribing all her answers for her.

Next up… Baby Bear’s birthday!

How many of you mums and dads booked a Babymoon before your baby was born? How many of you didn’t, but wish you had? Are you pregnant and planning a Babymoon right now? According to LoveHolidays, there’s been a 52% increase in online searches by people planning a babymoon. With this in mind, I thought I’d share a post on babymoon tips.

What is a Babymoon?

Well quite simply, it’s your last little holiday or weekend away, before your baby is born. Some special time to relax and enjoy yourself, a bit like a honeymoon, before your adorable new sleep-thief makes it’s way into the world. I think it’s really important to spend some quality one to one time with your partner (if you have one) and to make the effort to look after yourself, before your new arrival.

My Babymoons

With my oldest daughter (now 12), I didn’t have a babymoon at all. It was simply something I couldn’t afford at the time.

When I was expecting my twins, I booked a babymoon in London over a long weekend, in a four star hotel. I enjoyed 3 course dinners out, swimming and spa treatments and a little bit of sightseeing. I was 30 weeks pregnant at the time and in hindsight, I feel I would have been better off on a short haul trip abroad. As much as I loved my babymoon in London, I developed SPD around the same time and London was simply too much walking for me to cope with. I was in pain. If I could go back in time, I’d have made that babymoon a more relaxing one, sunning myself on a beach somewhere warm.

As I prepared for Baby Bear to arrive, I took a trip to France, with my three daughters. It was just before I met my now-husband, so I didn’t have a partner on the scene. Taking my daughters probably made it less of a “babymoon” and more of a “holiday” but it was fantastic to get away and spend some quality time together as a family, before our family dynamic changed.

I had also booked a solo trip to Kos towards the end of my pregnancy, but due to motorway closures, I missed my flight and I can’t put into words, how disappointed I was.

The point of this post, is that forward planning is the most important aspect of a babymoon. Here are a few babymoon tips from me, on things to consider when planning a babymoon.

Babymoon Tips

Plan a babymoon. Whether it’s with your partner, a friend or even your own children. BOOK IT. It’s worth it, trust me. No matter how many children you already have, your family dynamic will change with your new addition. That time away will give you a chance to recharge your batteries, boost your morale a little, cement your relationship or your support network and put a smile on your face. You’re growing a human, you deserve to have a little you-time.
Even if you are the fittest person on the planet and your pregnancy has been smooth sailing until now… plan your babymoon to be relaxing. Overdoing it with trips, excursions, walking etc could well spring up complications, such as fallen arches, SPD, back ache and other minor pregnancy ailments.
Allow an extra night. If you’re flying, book into an airport hotel the night before. Pregnancy plays havoc with your emotions and I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer the emotions I did, when I missed that flight to Kos. I was inconsolable. I had thought that allowing 5 hours for a 2 hour journey and allowing an extra 2 hours for check-in was plenty. It took me 7 hours and I arrived in the terminal just as my flight took off.
Over pack! Pack every medicine you might possibly need. All approved by your own doctor or pharmacist for use in pregnancy. Pain relief, indigestion relief, allergy relief. The last thing you want to be doing on your babymoon, is tracking down a doctor and trying to ask in another language, whether what they are prescribing you, is safe for use in pregnancy.
Get travel insurance and CHECK that your travel insurance covers you whilst pregnant. SOME DON’T! Whilst nobody plans to go into premature labour and hopefully nothing like that will happen, you need to cover all your bases. Sods law would have it, that if you buy the insurance, you won’t need it, but if you don’t buy the insurance, you probably will!
Get a “fit-to-fly certificate” from your midwife or doctor. When I arrived at Gatwick airport I was asked to produce this, prior to them allowing me to check in. If you are in your third trimester or you carry your babies quite big, they WILL refuse to allow you to fly
Use a tool like the LoveHolidays Babymoon Finder, which helps you choose a destination for your babymoon based on your due date, how long you want to fly for and what type of holiday you’d like. It tells you the latest date you can fly, based on NHS guidelines and suggests countries and deals for you. It basically takes all the stress out of deciding when and where to go!

The most important of all my babymoon tips though… remember it’s supposed to be fun and relaxing. Planning a babymoon shouldn’t be stressful and nor should the holiday itself. Give yourself plenty of time to book, to pack, to get there, to make it as calm as possible. This is your time to bond with your partner and your unborn baby and just take a break from normality.

Good luck with planning a babymoon, let me know if you have any babymoon tips of your own?

Post written in collaboration with LoveHolidays

Over the half term holidays, we spent 6 days testing out and reviewing the Vauxhall Grandland X. I’ve always been a Vauxhall fan. I learnt to drive in a Vectra and an Astra. My first car was an Agila and I’ve also owned a Zafira. I just find Vauxhall’s really easy to drive, pretty comfy, good value and ideal for family life.

I previously reviewed the Grandland X’s little sister, the Vauxhall Crossland X.

The two cars are actually very VERY similar, with the most obvious difference being that the Vauxhall Grandland X is significantly bigger than the Crossland X. I like bigger cars. I feel safer in bigger cars. So before I even started the engine, I preferred the Grandland X to the Crossland X.

Vauxhall Grandland X Review

The most basic model of the Grandland X is the SE, weighing in it’s starting price at £23,785*. Although for some reason the Tech Line Nav model, which contains satellite navigation and a few additional features, actually has a slightly lower starting price on the Vauxhall website, at £23,415*. Next up in specification and ascending prices we have the Sport Nav, followed by the Elite Nav and the top of the range model is called the Ultimate, with a starting price of £34,935*.

The Vauxhall Grandland X and Family Car Safety

As a mum, safety is my number one priority for everything and cars are no exception to that. What I loved about the Vauxhall Grandland X is that is that you can switch the child locks on and off at the touch of a button on the dash. Gone are the days of having to get out and wiggle a key around in the side of each back door. And not just the doors, but the windows too. There’s a button on the drivers side which controls all windows and overrides the back windows. So if you’ve got some charming little terrors in the back who are likely to lob things out of their windows and blame it on their sibling… you can just lock their windows.

This car also has automatic braking, so if you get too close to the car in front, it will beep, display a warning message and actually brake for you. The dash will also show you warning signs, road signs, speed limit signs and if you want to, you can switch on lane assist, so it will tell you if you veer over the lane dividers. I personally disable lane assist as I find it irritating, but this is very much down to personal preference. One thing which I did find hugely helpful though, was the little indicator lights on the wing mirrors. These would flash orange if there was a car in my blind spot, so I’d know it wasn’t safe to change lanes.

The Grandland X In-Car Tech

Another super smart bit of tech on this car, which is pretty bloomin’ awesome if you ask me – is the adaptive headlights. Picture this… you’re driving down the road at night and a car is coming the other way… the main beam on the Grandland X dips automatically BY ITSELF without you doing a thing! And once the oncoming car has passed, the Grandland X automatically switches back to main beam! It knows the difference between a street lamp and an oncoming car and only dips and beams when it needs to. So you’ve no worries about accidentally blinding another driver. Genius or what?!

The Grandland X also has advanced park assist, meaning that if you are struggling to parallel park into a particularly difficult space, it will actually park it for you. I don’t know how I missed this at the time of driving it, because I would most certainly have tested out that function. However, I didn’t know it was there, so I parked the traditional way. I say the traditional way, but to be honest, parking is a DODDLE in this car. Front and rear parking sensors and an excellent rear reversing camera were options which were present on the model I test drove and they make parking so simple. The clarity of the reversing camera was exceptional. You could see every tiny detail and the camera worked in harmony with the visual and audible parking sensors.

With the Vauxhall Grandland X’s Techline Nav model, you get integrated Sat Nav in addition to the standard Intellilink Infotainment system. Use this Infotainment system to connect your phone to your car, via Bluetooth and access your contacts, music and make calls through the cars speaker system. I loved this feature as I currently use the sat nav on my mobile phone, which runs my battery down and disappears when I take a phone call. Furthermore, if your smart phone is compatible with wireless charging, you can simply pop your phone down on the pad and the car will wirelessly charge your phone for you. My husbands phone has this. The fact that my phone doesn’t, probably suggests I should get a new phone!

And for when the children are NOT in the car and you want to enjoy some solo drive time without the regular chants of “Are we nearly there yet?”, the Grandland X has a kickass sound system. A Denon 8-speaker sound system with inbuilt subwoofer, provides great sound quality when you want to belt out some tunes.

For the gadget geeks, or people like me who just love the novelty of a new toy, let me tell you about the boot… Wave a foot underneath and with a “BEEP” the boot opens itself. Wave that tootsie under the back bumper again and “BEEP” the boot closes by itself too! Storage wise, the Grandland X has 1652 litre boot space and the rear seats fold down if that’s not enough for you. We were pleasantly surprised by how much we could actually fit in the boot. I used it to travel down to Dorset with all my Body Shop kit and my suitcase, and there was still space for more stuff! On the way back I discovered I could actually get my trolley case in without needing to be split into two.

Space and Comfort in the Vauxhall Grandland X

When talking about space, it’s important too that when choosing a family car, you consider how well car seats fit in. For a five seater car, this one is pretty spacious. We had no trouble at all getting two car seats in the back and my 12 year old in the middle between them. When I had little man with me too, I was able to disable the front airbag at the touch of a button and fit his car seat effortlessly in the front passenger seat. I think if you are looking for a five seater family car, then this has to be one of the best.

Comfort wise… well the Grandland X had me at the heated seats, but it also boasts heated steering wheel and windscreen too – just to show off! The pricier model has full lumbar support if you opt for the ergonomically certified AGR sports seats with tiltable cushions. This is great for both comfort and back support.

What’s the Grandland X like to drive?

But what’s a car review without talking about the actual driving? We drove this on the motorway down to Dorset. We drove it through the countryside. We drove it into town. And we also drove it out into the Cotswolds. Despite this being a manual model, and I tend to prefer automatics, the Vauxhall Grandland X was such an easy drive. The steering was super responsive, but without being oversensitive (nobody wants to sneeze and end up in a ditch now do they?!). Despite the big alloys, it was a very smooth drive. The cruise control got whacked on for motorway driving and does manual driving really get much simpler than that?

This is such an economical car too. Bearing in mind that this was not an eco design car, I was really impressed by it’s fuel efficiency. I did around 500 miles on one tank of fuel.

My verdict on the Vauxhall Grandland X

So let me summarise a moment. The Vauxhall Grandland X is spacious, easy to drive, comfortable, economical and has all manner of safety features and technical gadgets to make driving a breeze. And let’s face it, raising a family has enough stresses, without your car being one of them. If they made this in a seven seat version, I’d buy one in a heartbeat!

f you’re after a 7-seater car, make sure you check out my review of the Vauxhall Zafira Tourer.

*Prices, models and features referred to in this article were accurate at the time of publication and checked on Vauxhalls’ website.

Disclaimer: This post is a working collaboration with Vauxhall, but all words and opinions are entirely honest and entirely my own.

Bunny has been doing acrobatic gymnastics for six and a half years and tumbling for one and a half years, trying to reach her gymnastic dreams. She started when she was just 5 years old in one of the recreational classes, like my twins are in now. She started in the Blue group, which at the time, was the youngest group of gymnasts. She did two gymnastics badges per year and gradually moved up to the green group and then to the general gym group. From there she moved onto the development squad, where they prepare for competitions. Then a few years ago she got moved to the C Squad, where they first start doing competitions. This really lit her fire and her ambition grew.

Bunny has never had any false illusion of grandeur. She knows she’s not going to be an Olympian. Gymnastics is not going to be her career. Gymnastics has never come naturally to her. She’s not naturally flexible, she’s fearful when it comes to tumbling and her balance has not always been great. She’s clumsy, skinny and has big feet. But it’s never put her off. It’s meant she’s had to work ten times harder than the gymnasts who have an innate natural talent. It’s taken her much longer than most gymnasts to move up through the classes. But it’s never clouded her passion or her determination. Her end goal has always been the same. Bunny’s gymnastic dreams are to get to the A Squad and compete in national and maybe even international competitions. The top gymnasts at her gym get to compete at Disneyland in Paris and that is Bunny’s ultimate gymnastic dream. She won’t get there this year… but maybe one day!

Last month, we had a bit of a setback.

Things weren’t going great for Bunny. She has some issues at school. Friendship issues, bullying issues, drama over the drama production, peer pressure, detentions and few phone calls home. She has some personal issues too (the pre-teen hormones are well and truly kicking in) and she was feeling vulnerable. She found out that her gym partnership had been split and her partner was moving up and she wasn’t. Not only that, but her partner was skipping out B Squad and going straight to A Squad. Disappointment isn’t a strong enough word. Bunny was devastated. We had tears and angst. We had, wanting to quit and throw the last 6 years training away. She didn’t want to do gymnastics without her partner and she didn’t want to get left behind again (we’ve been through this before with a previous partner). She felt like she would never be good enough. We had a very sad little girl indeed. And I’m not ashamed to admit, I was heartbroken too. I cried over it myself. It’s horrible seeing one of your children feel so low and so upset, knowing there’s nothing you can do to make it better.

But after the dust had settled, I assured her she just needs to keep working hard and doing her best and prove to her coaches that she’s good enough to move up too. I said if she genuinely wanted to quit, she could, but that she needed to think it through and not make a rash decision. Gymnastics is her passion and I knew she didn’t want to leave really. This was just a setback.

And just two weeks later, on a random Sunday afternoon, a message pinged into my inbox.

Bunny was being offered a trial. Not for B Squad, but for A Squad. And not only for A Squad, but WITH her previous partner who had just moved up!

I didn’t want her to get her hopes up too high. It was just a trial. There were no guarantees. But she was so excited she barely slept. And all day at school she couldn’t take her mind off the trial. She kept messaging me. She even asked if I could pick her up from school early so she could rest her legs for a bit and then do some stretches before the trial. I said no of course. School is important too.

Eventually the time came to take her to gym. She was a nervous, excited, uncertain ball of panic! We arrived early and she ran straight to her partner to tell her she had a trial. I stayed. I usually drop her off and pick her up, but I stayed the full two and a half hours. I chatted to some other mums to pass the time. I did a bit of work. And I watched through the window at the times when I thought it wouldn’t distract her too much.

The warm-ups were long and pretty hardcore. She was put into her new trio (with her old partner plus a top) and in that one session they mastered a new move, that Bunny had never even attempted before. Holding their top in straddle, high above their heads, I watched as they repeated the move again and again. I know that as a mum, these kind of moves look super impressive, but to coaches and judges they can look sloppy. And all I could do was hope that the coach in charge was impressed enough to let her move up.

At last the wait was over. I was called into the gym and the answer I got, was just one simple word.

“Yes”.

And that was it. The culmination of six and a half years of training. All that hard work rewarded with her end goal. She is finally where she has always wanted to be. And yet this is also just the beginning. This is where the hard work starts. Training will change from five and a half hours per week, to ten and a half hours per week. Fees will go up. Difficulty and precision will go up. Competitions will be more fierce and more important. Those gymnastic dreams are closer than ever. And I’ve never seen her look so happy and so proud of herself. And of course… with that… comes a huge helping of mum pride too!

Big thank you to Rik McRae Astro Photography for allowing me to use some of his incredible images (the poorer quality images are my own – the good ones are his!).

I was recently asked to do an experiment, to find out the best mothers day spa treatments for combatting mum stress. In order to do such an experiment, I needed a way to measure “mum stress”… And guess what… there’s an app for that!

What is Mum Stress?

I’m not talking about the stress of spending time with your mother – I’m talking about the every day stresses of motherhood!

Personally, despite being a working mum of four, I don’t get stressed easily. At 21 I took to motherhood, like a duck to water. I felt like I was born to be a mum. My maternal instincts have been extremely strong since the moment I discovered I was pregnant with my first child. I’m also someone who has been through an awful lot in life. From life-threatening illnesses, to varying crises over the years. That means that I take things in my stride. I take stressful things one day at a time and refuse to let them bring me down. But EVERY mum, no matter how strong their resolve, no matter how patient, EVERY MUM faces stresses sometimes. For some mums it might be toddler tantrums, for some it might be the teenager answering back for the umpteenth time. It could be a huge pile of minor stresses adding up. It could be the 400th time you ask your children to put their shoes on for the school run. But we ALL face mum stress from time to time.

For me, I think if I had to rank my top three sources of mum stress, they would be:

My Tween answering back
When the kids are poorly (two of them currently have norovirus as I write this)
When one of them is heartbroken over something which is beyond my control

Those situations are ones where I feel the most stressed within myself, although I’m not one to vent that stress in front of the children.

So how do you relieve mum stress? Well writing is one way for me. My blog is my outlet and even sometimes writing posts which I don’t actually publish, can help immensely.

Buyagift offered me the chance to experience a spa day with my mum, in order to test which are the best spa treatments to combat mum stress.

Buyagift is a great gift option in my opinion, because you can gift somebody an experience (such as a spa day) and they can choose where and when they redeem it.

Mum and I chose to try out The Village Spa in Swindon. Included in our Buyagift package, was 3 spa treatments, a light lunch and full use of the facilities. I’ve blogged a full review of the village spa in Swindon, over on my travel blog.

The Experiment – Testing stress levels

So the idea was to test my stress levels in some ordinary home situations and to test them between each treatment at the spa – and compare my results. I used an app (supplied to me by Buyagift) called HRV4Training, which measures your heart rate variability. The app is primarily designed to help people with sports and fitness training, but it includes a stress indicator. Using your phones camera, it detects your heartrate and gives you a stress score based on “recovery points”. The lower the score, the more stressed your body is. The higher the score, the more relaxed you are.

I took three test readings at times when I was fairly relaxed and I seemed to get readings of 7.6 recovery points each time and a resting heart rate of 70-74 beats per minute.

So… My oldest daughter (11 going on 16) throwing a tantrum and answering back is probably my biggest stressor at home. My biggest source of mum stress. So after one of her tantrums, I whipped out my phone and took a reading. I got 7.3 recovery points. (As I mentioned – even when I’m stressed, I’m not hugely stressed in comparison with most people).

On arrival at The Village Spa in Swindon for our spa day, my heart rate was 74 and my recovery points were 7.6.

My first treatment was a back, neck and shoulder massage. I love massages and I think they have to be one of the single most relaxing things you can do. Mum had a massage too. We were side by side in a room with the two of us and two therapists. It was a thoroughly lovely massage, with calm relaxing music and wonderful aromatherapy scents. I couldn’t really fault it if I’m honest, other than the fact it seemed to be over too soon. After the massage, I scored a reading of 7.8 recovery points and a resting heart rate of 70 beats per minute. I was really surprised, that despite feeling thoroughly relaxed, I’d only gained 0.2 points.

Onto the foot and ankle massage. I wasn’t so sure about this to be honest. There was a foot scrub which was nice. Hot cloths, which were also nice, but not really a great deal of massage and not much attention on my ankles. It actually scored me a 7.4 in recovery points, meaning it hadn’t relaxed me as much as the massage. My resting heart rate of 69 beats per minute.

My last treatment was mini pedicure. By this point, I got the feeling that the therapist was rushing. For the mini pedicure, she literally just painted my toe nails. Nothing more. However, I was by this point, in a blissful, post-massage sense of mindfulness. The music was sending me into an almost-asleep meditation-like state. I scored 8 recovery points, with a resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute.

What are the best spa treatments to combat mum stress?

This experiment would lead you to believe, that a mini pedicure is more relaxing that a massage. And that a foot and ankle massage is only mildly more relaxing than my 11 year old throwing a tantrum. Therefore, having been there at the time, I’d have to conclude that this wasn’t particularly accurate.

So which were the best spa treatments to combat mum stress?

If I were to rank the treatments in terms of how they made me feel…

The back neck and shoulder massage, was without a doubt, the nicest and most relaxing of all the treatments. I’d rank the foot and ankle massage second. The pedicure itself wasn’t particularly relaxing, but the atmosphere in the room was, and I was still feeling relaxed from my prior treatments.

The point of this though I guess, is that I got to enjoy some special time bonding with my mum. Overall, we had a very relaxing day and we both left, feeling happy and calm. Whilst I wouldn’t return to the Village Spa in Swindon again, I would most definitely choose a spa day with Buyagift again. Any excuse for a nice pamper session with my mum! This is the sort of gift you can give for mothers day, birthdays, valentines day, or just for an excuse to treat yourself.

You can see more about this experiment on Buyagift’s spa wars.

I was gifted the HRV4 Training app and a spa day for two, by the lovely team at Buyagift. I was not paid for writing this post and all words and opinions are completely honest and entirely my own.

We were recently offered the opportunity to review some artwork and frames from Desenio. Desenio is a stunning website full of affordable art posters, prints and co-ordinating frames. When I say affordable… I actually couldn’t believe the prices or the value for money, when I was browsing the website! It actually took Mike and I a few days to decide which posters to order. It would be so easy to choose art for every wall in the house from Desenio. There is a huge selection of very varied pieces of art. From abstract watercolour images, to inspirational quotes and even animals, it would seem there is something to suit all tastes.

For my budget, I was expecting to only be able to get three or four small posters and three frames if I was lucky. I was wrong! I managed to get SIX large posters, one GIANT poster AND SIX quality frames too. The 30×40 white wooden frames look so classy and they were only £12.95 each!

Whilst we debated every room in the house, trying to make a decision, two posters caught my eye and we instantly knew we had to get those! We have always called our youngest “Baby Bear” and now he’s a toddler, we mostly just call him “Bear”. Now Bear’s bedroom currently has a circus theme. So what could be more appropriate to go in a frame on his wall, than a bear on a yellow tricycle, with a dog holding an umbrella, on his back? The poster was aptly titled, “Bear on a yellow bike”.

And to co-ordinate with the bear on a tricycle, there’s also a matching bear on a bicycle, carrying a surfboard, with a bird on his baseball cap! If you want to search for it on Desenio, it’s titled “Surfing Bear Poster”. They were absolutely perfect, so we just had to have them. We bought them in 30x40cm sized posters (£9.95 each), with white wooden frames

Now personally, I think that two pictures side by side, would look a bit odd, so we needed to find a third. We chose the “Rules of a superhero” poster. Again we chose 30x40cm and white wooden frames, so that they’d all match. The poster bears the quote:

“True superheroes are brave and courageous, use kind words and do their best. Smile. Have fun. Laugh. Share their toys. Clean their room. Dream Big. Play in the rain and explore. Have good manners. Brush their teeth and do their homework. Help others”.

The three pictures together, look great. We staggered the heights slightly, for effect, but essentially had to put them very high up, to keep them away from curious little fingers. Bear LOVES his new artwork!

So with Bear’s new art in the basket, we decided that our oldest daughter, Bunny, should also have some new artwork for her bedroom wall. She currently shares a bedroom with her twin sisters, whilst we are awaiting our extension to be built. We thought a few nice pieces of art above her bed, would give her a nice little bit of space to reflect her individual taste. Now I know you were expecting me to say that we chose posters with bunnies on… but actually, Bunny’s obsession is cats.

Having perused every single cat poster on the Desenio website, we chose three that we knew Bunny would love.

The poster quite simply titled “cats”, was a black and white cartoon style picture of 14 different cats. This one was £9.95 and again we stuck with the 30×40 dimensions. To contrast with the cartoon-esque style, we chose a stunningly detailed close up photograph of a cat’s face, with a butterfly landing on it.

The detail and clarity in this “butterfly cat” picture makes you want to just keep looking at it. In a 30×40 poster, this one was £11.95 and worth every penny. So with a photographic cat and a bunch of cartoon cats, we wanted to add further contrast to this duo of wall art. We added “Proud cat”, which looks more like a painted, completely undetailed cat (almost a silhouette), with deliberate ink smudging around the tail.

We hung this one on the wall in a 21×30 size (£8.95), in between the two larger pictures. I love the contrast of three entirely different types of art, coming together as a set, based on the common theme of cats. It works. It looks great on the wall and my 11 year old is thrilled with it.

Our final choice was just for me. We bought a giant poster full of inspirational quotes for our hallway. As a writer, I’ve always loved quotes – I think they are good for the soul. We bought this one in a 50×70 size for only £18.95. And as much as I’d love to show you this poster, this one will remain a secret for now, as we are waiting to have our hallway replastered. Once it’s all fresh and painted, I will update this post with some pictures of that poster too! In the meantime, if curiosity gets the better of you, you can find it on the Desenio website titled, “Manifesto of Life”. It’s absolutely awesome, trust me!

The Desenio website was easy to navigate, had more artwork than I could even comprehend and checkout was quick, easy and secure. The posters and frames were exceptionally well packaged, but without being excessive. All the artwork and frames arrived quickly and in immaculate condition. I was thoroughly impressed with my experience with Desenio, from start to finish and I still can’t believe the value for money on their products. I would definitely shop with them again and I imagine one day I will have Desenio art work in every room!

Special Reader Offer

I have an exciting special offer for Crazy with Twins readers. Head over to the Desenio website and select the posters you’d like to buy and enter this code…

The code “CRAZYWITHTWINS” gives 25% off prints* on all of our sites between March 5th and 7th 2019.
*Except for frames and handpicked-/collaboration/personalised prints