Freddie's Allergy Issues

Over the last few years, well since around May 2016, we began to realise Freddie had issues with some foods. 

When he was weaning, we followed all the guidelines and introduced him to full fat cows milk in his foods. Then when it came to swapping him from formula to cows milk we realised there was definitely a problem. The first day we tried he had around 4oz of full fat cows milk over around 12 hours and that night he was a nightmare! He was grumbly, he had a gassy stomach, he was only sleeping for around an hour or two at the most. He then got very bunged up and didn't go for a number two for three days! We thought he wasn't ready for full fat milk, so stopped giving it to him. When we tried again a couple of months later the same things happened.

We then approached out GP who suggested as mummy cannot tolerate full fat dairy products maybe Freddie was the same, so they suggested keeping him on the 1-2 years toddler formula and then moving him to green top cows milk when he was 18 months old. 

So 18 months came and we slowly started swapping an ounce for an ounce, so replaced an ounce of formula for an ounce of green top. By the time James birthday arrived in the August, Freddie was fully on green top and we saw there was definitely a problem still. His sleep was horrendous and he wasn't going to the toilet for number twos very often and when he did he would be screaming his head off. So it was back to the GP who prescribed him movicol. Even with that he was still struggling.

Then he reached his second birthday and he was ill. He spent the whole night before his birthday vomiting, yet he was still crying for his milk. So we mixed his milk with some water. We kept giving it to him like that for a few days to make sure the bug was out of his system.

We soon noticed that he wasn't needing the movicol in is milk, so it was back to the GP who referred him to the hospital. This was when we started to suspect that he was having an issues with all things dairy, so we decided to take him dairy free to see if it helped! And it did! We moved Freddie onto almond milk to see if it helped in and after a couple of weeks he was starting to sleep a whole lot better. 

After a few months on the almond milk we decided to try him on Soya milk as we knew this could be bought in individual sized cartons, the idea was that if he settled on it we would purchase the cartons and he could take them with him once he started nursery. The day after he first tried soya milk we noticed he was having a lot of runny nappies one after another. We didn't think much of it till a few days later when he started to be very wheezy and coughing a lot. He was still having really bad nappies so I started to look online and found that the symptoms he was having matched soya allergy. So we immediately put him back onto almond milk. 

When his hospital appointment finally arrived he was in and out and told he had intolerance to dairy and soya. He was then referred to the dietitians. 

We saw the dietitian in the November who basically said keep him as he was and we would see her again a few months later. By the time he saw the dietitian again in the February we had taken him wheat free as we suspected wheat was the cause of the issues he was still having. And he was so much better! The dietitian team then referred him back to hospital where he was officially diagnosed as Non Ige Allergic to Dairy, Soya and Wheat. 

It is still very much a learning curve for us as the diagnosis is still very new, and finding things Freddie can and can't eat. If you have any tips please leave them in comments below or email us!

(AD) Night Zookeeper Review

James is just about to finish Year Two at school and to be honest Year Two has not been the best for James. As he is so young he is actually working at levels below what he should be.

When we were approached by the people behind the website Night Zookeeper we were thrilled.The Night Zookeeper website is An educational platform that helps children learn new words, understand them in sentences and create amazing stories shared around the world. Children draw their own magical zoo creatures that go through the zoo to help 
them to develop their creative writing skills. This is something that James is definitely going to 
need to improve on for going into Year Three in September. 

The Night Zookeeper website says "The foundation of all great writers is their broad and rich vocabulary. We help your children learn thousands of new words through exciting, personalised activities and games." 

It also states "Children are then challenged to put their learning into action, producing stories, reports, poems and other styles of writing. Their work will live in a personal portfolio that can be shared with family, friends and a global audience

James has absolutely been loving the challenges he has done so far! He has been loving designing his own characters and writing about them

What I love the most is the fact that children get instant feed back on what they have wrote. For example on one of the challenges James has already done, he forgot to add punctuation in at the end of his sentence and once he pressed enter it reminded him.

I can see us using this with James over the summer holidays a lot to get him ready for the challenges he is going to face once he moves into Key Stage Two in September. 

**We were gifted a 3 month subscription to Night Zookeeper and also sent a copy of one of the books in exchange for this review!**

(AD) Win a Swimfin!

The boys have really been loving their Swimfins and today we have an exciting competition for you over on on our Instagram page where you can win your very own Swimfin!!

Visit https://www.instagram.com/mrshockallz/ and like the photo, follow us and also follow https://www.instagram.com/swimfingb/

You have until midnight on 14th July to enter
Terms & Conditions: No cash alternative, Colours are subject to availability, Decision is final. 

Living Arrows 2019 27/52

Welcome to Living Arrows post 2019! If you haven't heard of the linky before, This was set up by Donna at What the Redhead Said and the name comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth" Each week I post one photo of James and one photo of Freddie and share what they have been up to that week! 

This week has been quite a busy one for James. On Wednesday they had Decathlete David Guest in school to do a sponsored sports event in school, Then Thursday he had the school's annual singing picnic where his class sang Witch Doctor by the Cartoons. Then also on Thursday he had a trip to the local Apple Store with Beavers to do one of their badges for this term! So by the time we got home on Thursday night he was shattered!

Freddie had a great week at playgroup, its sad to think he only has 9 sessions left after today. I know he will miss all the staff so much and I cannot thank them enough for all they have done for him since he started a year past January. 

Review of Milkshake Live

As a parent, kids TV shows, especially in the mornings are a life saver! My two boys love Milkshake on Channel 5 in the mornings before they go to school and playgroup!

The team behind Milkshake, over the last few years, have started to put on live theatre shows using some of the characters from the programmes they show. We first saw one of the live productions when James was two and he's now almost 7!

The latest offering is Milkshake Monkey's Musical, based around the channel's mascot - Milkshake Monkey! 

When we saw the show was coming to Sage at Gateshead we knew we would have to take the boys! We missed the last theatre show they did as we were away when they were here, so we knew we had to take them to this one!

So mummy booked the tickets to take the boys to see the show!

We booked to see the 11am show on 30th June as we knew seeing the earlier show would allow us more time afterwards for getting back home!

This tour they have two different types of ticket, the standard ticket and the VIP ticket which allows you to meet some of the characters from the show! We decided to get the VIP tickets this time, so after the show we got to meet Milkshake Monkey and Shimmer and Shine which both the boys loved!

The show features characters from shows that are on Milkshake including Digby Dragon, Fireman Sam, Nella the princess knight, Shimmer and Shine, Whisper, Noddy and the Floogals! There are also two of the Milkshake presenters. The show we were at had Derek and Olivia. 

In the show Milkshake Monkey wants to put on his very own musical and so the show is based around him getting everything ready for the show, even though he has a bout of stage fright! I won't go into too much detail about the show as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has not seen it! But what I will say is it was fantastic!

The show had a prompt start and including the interval it ran for just over an hour and a half which I think was a perfect length for small children. Even thought Freddie had his own seat, he actually chose to sit on my knee so he could see even more! He only started to get ants in his pants right at the very end!

The tour runs till the start of Novermber 2019, when it breaks for panto season, so check out https://www.milkshake.tv/milkshakelive for dates!

**We were not asked to write this review and we paid for our own tickets! We just wanted to tell everyone what a great family show it is!**

**Images are courtesy of Mark Thompson Productions on Instagram**

My Top 3 Spotify Most Played!

Music has always been a big part of my life, but since we bought the Google Home Mini back in January I always have music on in the kitchen when I am cooking or sorting washing out. I will also have music on while I am working on the laptop! In fact I have music on while I am writing this post! 

We have got my Spotify account attached to the Home Mini So today's post is all about what are my most played albums on Spotify!

Album Number One is Disney Lullaby Album. This album has been a godsend for getting Freddie to sleep on a night. 

Freddie is one of those kids that needs music to go to sleep. Where as James would use his Baby Tad, Freddie seems to need music to get to sleep!

 Normally the album only needs playing once and then he is asleep, but a few times it has had to be played two or three times!

Album Two is Stronger Together by D-Side. Now this band was a huge part of my teenage years and my early twenties. 

This album was the only one released in the UK, but another three were released in Japan, which I actually ordered online and imported! 

I am always playing this in the house as it is one of my favourite albums! I still keep in touch with some of the guys online. In fact Derek actually presents on Milkshake on Channel 5 which the boys love!

And finally Album Number Three is Elliot Minor by you guessed it Elliot Minor! I first saw this band when they were called The Academy and they supported McFly in Newcastle. 

After that I was hooked on them! I saw them do small shows on their own tours, They also did a full tour supporting McFly and I saw them in Manchester when I was at university and then I came home to see them play in Newcastle as we were front row! They released two albums, but this one is my favourite and I have it on virtually every day!

So there you go these are my Top Three Spotify most played albums! If you can suggest any music to listen too or if you have listened to these three let me know what you think of them!

Living Arrows 2019 26/52

Welcome to Living Arrows post 2019! If you haven't heard of the linky before, This was set up by Donna at What the Redhead Said and the name comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth" Each week I post one photo of James and one photo of Freddie and share what they have been up to that week! 

This week has seen the return of the sunshine! We started the week with daddy having two days off work, so he was able to do some of the school drop offs and pick ups for James which James was thrilled about! James as normal had Beavers which mummy was a parent helper this week!

Freddie has had a lovely week at playgroup and we even managed to finally get him to let Gaga cut his hair! He looks so much more grown up with short hair! Mummy kept saying when it was long he looked like a member of a 90s boyband!!

The best part of the weekend was on Sunday mummy and the boys went to see Milkshake live with Derek and Olivia at Sage in Gateshead! The boys had a wonderful time and mummy was glad to see Derek after a few years! Derek used to be in a band that mummy loved when she was growing up and she still listens to them now!