It seems like the kitchen is the main place I spend most of my time in, with cooking, cleaning and then eating it feels like my second home, but I have never really liked how it looked but didn't want to spend money on redecorating it if there was a chance of moving out. 

Fast forward 3 years and it looks like we are staying here for a few more years,

so if I am being made to stay here I want it to look like how I want it to look like.

 

Also, why not make a blog about it, so it might help someone else out as this won't cost an arm and a leg to do.

Heres the before picture.

First thing first painting the cupboards 

This is the paint we used and we had to get a bigger tub as our kitchen is on the bigger side but there is a £20 option and to be honest, we still have half a tub left so we would have been fine getting the smaller one.

It's super easy to use and we only needed two coats for the cupboards and it drys so quick.

Next on the list is the countertop which I choose a marble effect 

I also sealed the edges of the countertops for a little extra protection which I got from the pound shop and its just a kitchen & bathroom sealant.

There are still little bits I need to do like get some bits and bobs for the kitchen and of course more plants but right now, looking into the kitchen makes me incredibly happy.

If you can look on freecycle, Facebay and charity shops to see if you can get anything free or cheap! 

  

happyhomemadehome have some amazing DIY posts to try

1.Calamine Lotion

   This was a miracle worker with both kids as it soothed them so quick,

 when lily was screaming just rubbing it in seem to help as she just stopped and let you all calm like.

You can get a decent sized bottle from boots for £1.60 we used it for both kids and I think we still have had a bottle left but it does smell a bit, not bad and it does leave white chalky marks where you have applied it.

2.Anti-Histamine

 First, I just want to say do not put on the skin this should only be taken orally and for over 1, we gave it to lily whenever she started itching and it seemed to calm it down so we kept up with it till her chickenpox had finished, we got boots antihistamine for £3.99 it is a bit costly but we only needed to get one bottle.

Bonus tip bribe with chocolate, its the only way I managed to get my kids to take it as its very minty.

3.No Clothes

Ok, so this is a no brainer but don't put clothes on them as you can imagine the fabric rubbing on the blisters and just driving the kids mad and I didn't realize how much worse it would be for lily compared to Connor because lily wore a nappy which once peed in would really make the chickenpox sore and all her chickenpox was mostly down there so we had to bite the bullet and stop her using a nappy.

It was a blessing though as she didn't wet the bed once or have any accidents throughout the day so we have decided to stop using nappies, but what we did for the first night was cover her bed in towels so if she did wet the bed it would have been easy to take off.

Another reason to go no clothes is, that it helps dry off the blisters which is the end goal in all of this.

4.Cool bath

Just let them have fun in a lukewarm bath, it helps with itching and feeling sore down below but also lets them let off stress by water fights and generally having fun,

I wouldn't put anything in the bath that could irritate the blisters but once most of the have popped its probably fine to add bubbles ( i did ) just don't forget to pat dry don't rub.

5.Distraction

For me, this was the hardest because it doesn't always work so this is the last thing I do but if they start moaning about being itchy, find something to take their mind of it, E.G board games, roleplaying, painting, anything that might let them focus on something else for a few minutes.

Connors scaps have nearly all gone now and lily is blister-free, it been a tough few weeks but we have made it out the other end and relief I feel knowing there's not going to be any more chickenpox and just in time for the school runs again.   

I hope this list can help someone else that's in need of it but just remember it might work for some and it always might not work.

 

Just remember to breath and know it won't last longer than 7 days!.

*oopsie heroes has been gifted exchange for a blog post*

We all fear the time it comes to potty training your little ones but I know and I'm sure most other parents have forgotten about night time potty training which is on a whole different level, for one they are asleep, two who wants to wake their kid up in the middle of the night to pee? 

With Connor, we made sure we did the normal things they tell you too, like no drinks before bed, a trip to the toilet and most nights he did wake up dry and other nights he comes into our room with wet clothes on crying and this is where oopsie heroes come into the picture and what is oopsie heroes you may ask? well, its the ultimate bedwetting alarm.

So

What's in the box?

It's so quick and easy to apply that you could do it when they are asleep ( Just in case you forgot )

So what happens now? well the sensor is connected to an app that can install on your phone called oopsie heroes that triggers an alarm on your phone 

Every time your child wets the bed the app lets you know so you can wake them up and after 6-8 weeks, their body wakes up knowing that they need the toilet which is the end goal of toilet training!

Oopsie heroes make your little one feel like a superhero smashing nighttime bedwetting.

It's funny how something so small can make such a big impact in your life 

If getting woken up by the alarm puts you off from using it just remember that there's a 99% chance your kid is going to wake you up crying or if they sleep through the wetness wake up sore which means all day moaning and I can tell you want I rather deal with.

Connor has been dry for months but stress from school and being ill takes us back to the start with bedwetting so this is a godsend as even though he doesn't wet the bed every night we can get in the routine of waking up before he does wet the bed especially if he sleeps in our bed.

He doesn't notice the sensor so sleeping on it is fine and once I forgot in the rush of bedtime to I stuck it on so once he was asleep and he didn't even stir.

Want an easy way to beat nighttime bedwetting here's their website  Oopsie Heroes

*I just want to start this post off that this was a gifted product in exchange for a post but everything that I write is all my own thoughts and Craigs *


Another warning please don't take this is if you are Pregnant or Breastfeeding which I am so, unfortunately, I couldn't try it out but Craig did.

So that's all out the way we can get down and dirty with the verdict...

So this hemp oil has worked so well which is brilliant because Craig suffers so badly with his anxiety to the point he can't sleep that well and it makes him feel sick most days so it's been my main mission to find things that could help as he hates the thought of going onto tablets because the thought of it changing him.
I know it's apart of him just like how his arm is apart of his body, weird thought I know but it makes him "him" and I love everything about him all his good and bad parts but I can't just watch him battle against his mental state.

Brown CBD kindly sent me their 3% CBG hemp oil which is £24.99 for a bottle of 10ml but currently, you get can 15% off with their code LAUNCH.


It's all very simple to use:
1-5 drops under the tongue for a minimum of 1 minute and the longer you leave it the better! 2-3 times a day but maybe start small before moving up to 5 drops.
Craig has been trying it as I mentioned before that I cannot yet and after a few days I asked him how he felt taking it and after.

First thing he mentioned that it makes him feel more at peace and at ease, it stops his heart rate accelerating which is what he really struggles to control when he feels anxious and that is a big thing as it saps all his energy, which in turn makes him feel even more overwhelmed so having the anxious thoughts but without the panic and the normal heart rate, means he can control the thoughts better without feeling crippled and that is the reason why he takes it before he leaves for and after work and just before he goes to bed.


Brownscbd also has a range of other CBD including tea, cream, RAW and water-soluble CBD and their CBG oil, they also come in 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%.

Being a mother is hard, no one said it would be easy but I didn't realize it be this hard, from the sleepless nights and never being able to go to the toilet in peace it takes a massive toll on your mental health and its even worse when your mental health is at a low.

I knew for over 10 years my head wasn't right but I just hide it behind closed doors and hoped no one would notice how messed up I was 
(only Craig noticed that I was a massive muck up and the unlucky sod still married me).

I found ways to manage my bad days and it was easier when you don't have two little people depending on you for survival

After having Connor life got a bit harder, Craig tried to help when he could but sometimes it just isn't enough when your own being doesn't want help, my main coping mechanism was the laptop before even dating Craig I used to be on the laptop a lot then year after year it got worse and worse to the point I used to stay up all night on the laptop and only work a few hours in the evening so I can be on the laptop while Craig was at work and my god did that make our relationship struggle and I admit it was mostly all my fault but to me, that's all I knew on how to manage my mental health, I'm a shy person face to face and most of the time on the internet too, so when you cant get friends in the real world you try to find people online to talk to.

See this is where the problem comes in... with kids you don't get any time to yourself so that took most of my laptop time and you guessed it my mental health took a dive.

Funny thing is that while in the middle of writing this post the kids came back from their nannas and that's the end of my alone time can you see how much I've managed to write before they came home? not much I can assure you.

One thing I never thought was part of my depression and anxiety was my hyper fixation, I just thought it was normal to be suddenly obsessed with something to the point it made you feel ill, see the thing with a hyper fixation is that you cannot stop thinking about it, you need to find out everything about it and then one day maybe a month or weeks you wake up and bam you don't think of it anymore and you feel a weight come off your shoulders like you can breathe again.
(well till the next hyper fixation hits you)


With kids, you can't drop everything to focus on that one thing even if it's like a heartbeat in your head that doesn't go away.

Oh but I'm rambling here, being a mother is also great there are the kids of course and they give the best cuddles (not much when its an elbow to the collarbone) and the things they come out with.
I said to Connor the other day that I was sorry I wasn't a good mum and he replied with that I was a good mum and he loves me its something I needed to hear.

12 years later I've gotten the help that I needed and I feel like a different person I still have my bad days but compared to before it's like I'm a new person, its something I should have done at the start 
(coming from a family that suffers from mental health problems you don't want to disappoint your mum)


Just I think I've talked enough about my problems so if life starts to get too much for you, go to the doctors, please.