Kinetik Non Contact Thermometer

As a mum to two young boys, having a good thermometer to check for fevers is a must! In fact its one of the most important items you could have in your medical box!

When we got the chance to review the Kinetik Non Contact Forehead Thermometer we were thrilled! 

Freddie is now in the infant immunisation scheme so having a good thermometer is so important. Our current one is an in ear one and the tip is far too big for Freddie's tiny ears and its impossible to get a good reading from James as his ears are just so waxy!

I found it impossible to get a reading from Freddie after his eight week Jabs as the tip would just not go into his ear.

The Kinetik website states: Changes in body temperature, higher or lower, can indicate the start of an illness. It is particularly important to identify any significant changes in a child’s temperature. The Kinetik range of Thermometers are an ideal addition to your medicine cabinet. They are designed to offer a simple, accurate way to take a temperature and provide you with the assurance you need to monitor your family’s health and wellbeing.

We were sent the NCT1 model for the purpose of this review! 
This model is: Non-contact, with a one second infra-red reading, an in built fever alarm, its suitable from birth and has a 25 reading memory!

Freddie has just had his second lot of immunisations, so this thermometer is perfect for checking if he's got a fever from his jabs. Our old in-ear thermometer was far to big for his little ears. 

To use all you need to do is remove the cap, press the on/memory button, and hold 1-3cm from the forehead and press the scan button!

This is so simple to use and I'm very impressed with it! It is so small it fits in the palm of my hand and my hands are not that big!!

We first tried out the Thermometer on our 3 year old to see if it was any easier than the in ear one & It was brilliant! He normally fidgets and fights when we go near him with the in ear thermometer but I could literally point it at him and get a reading. He came down with a bug and had a high temperature yet our in ear was reading normal and the Kinetik picked up he actually did have a temperature. I definitely rate this as amazing for a fidgeting 3 year old.

Now onto Freddie. He's just had his 12 week immunisations and this has been brilliant for checking his temperature while he's sleeping. It has literally been point & press. Again the old in ear thermometer would not give a reading for his tiny ears, yet this did! We were able to check his temperature during the night without disturbing him.

And the biggest plus for me is when it's not being used for checking either of my two sons temperatures, it's also a room thermometer! I can carry it round our hose and make sure the house is at an ideal temperature!

Fantastic product, and the small size is definerly a huge hit from us!   

**We were sent the product free of charge in exchange for this review, all words, images and opinions are my own**

Silent Sunday

My Perfect Holiday #MarkWarnerMums

For me going on holiday is not just about spending time with your family and friends, it's about exploring new surroundings and photography. They say a photograph tells a thousand words. And these photographs definitely tell more than a thousand words. When I look at them, hundreds of thousands of memories come back to me about the wonderful time we had

Photography has been a massive part of my life from the age of sixteen, so whenever I go away with family or friends my camera was always the first thing packed. When I first developed my interest in photography it was long before digital cameras & smart phones were invented, so I was one of those geeks who took many rolls of film away with me.

This photography holds so many happy memories for me. It was when Cinderella's castle first came into view from the monorail at Magic Kingdom. This was no ordinary holiday though, this was our honeymoon. We had saved long and hard to be able to afford our dream holiday for our honeymoon. It most definitely was our dream holiday as I came home with 1400 photographs from ten days! 

Walking up Main Street and seeing the castle at the top is one of the sights I will never forget. It's something I had always dreamed of seeing and to be there with my husband was just so special.

Disney has a reputation for its spectacular fireworks displays and they really do not disappoint! This was taken after the electrical parade where all the floats are lit up! The images projected onto the castle were amazing and this was just a snap that came out so well. I really want to get this print on canvas for our wall.

I have always been a lover of animals so to have the chance to visit Sea World & Animal Kingdom was just a dream come true. Spending time at the dolphin pool at Sea World was just amazing. The Dolphins would swim right up to the wall and you were encouraged to stroke them. There was also a viewing area to see them swimming under water. 

The most magical day of our ten day stay in Orlando was 13th September -my husband Andy turned 29 that day and we had chosen to spend it at Discovery Cove swimming with the Dolphins!  

The park takes all your photographs during the Dolphin encounter which are available to purchase is different photo packages, including the copyright to the photographs so you can print out as many copies as you like when you get home.

Andy and Yoshi

Me and Yoshi. This was a dream come true for me as I have always wanted to kiss a dolphin.

Andy swimming with Dexter 

Me swimming with Dexter.

I really hope that one day, in the future we will be able to take our boys to visit Disney World and of course Discovery Cove to swim with the Dolphins. You have to be six to swim with the dolphins, so it's going to be at least six years before we attempt to visit again as Freddie is not even a year old yet.

James is now three and still has not been abroad yet. Orlando was actually the last holiday that Andy and myself actually went on as James arrived the following year. We have still not had a family holiday even before Freddie arrived due to buying our first family home together. Hopefully 2016 will be our year!

**This is our entry for the 2016 Mark Warner Family Ambassadors Programme**

Parents worst nightmare.

It must be every parents worst nightmare, getting a phone call from your child's school saying they had had an accident.

This is what happened to me yesterday. I dropped James off at school as normal then headed down to aldi for their baby event then back to the children's centre for Freddie's baby group. We had not long left the children's centre and as normal I rang my dad to see how my parents were. My phone beeped n then when I hung up I had a text saying I had missed a call from the school. I rang them straight back and found out that my poor boy had fallen over and banged his head. 

I went straight round to the main entrance and then down to the nursery, I found my boy with an ice pack on his forehead. He had been jumping and lost his balance falling over and knocking his head on one of the units.

He's still not really himself and very quiet but I'm sure he will be much better for Monday. 

**Hes had a check up with a&e and he's all good just has a nice egg on his head & bruise**

Freddie at Two Months

Freddie you are now two months old! Its crazy how fast the last two months have gone! 

You started your second month with a stay in The Great North Children's Hospital with a bout of bronchiolitis. It was a long three days & nights for mummy, daddy & James and of course nana & gaga too. You had to be fed by tube for 48 hours & you were also on 0.5 litres of oxygen. Mummy never left the hospital while you were in. It broke my heart seeing you so poorly.

You are just going into 0-3 size clothing although you are still in newborn vests & also sleep suits from mamas and papas. Just like your brother your feet and legs are growing out of sleep suits before your top half! You are in size two nappies. When you were weighed at six week & five days old, Mummy was shocked to see you were 9lbs 13oz! You seem to be hitting the same weights as James did but a week or two before he did. Then when you got weighed a week later before your injections you were 10lbs 7oz! No wonder I thought you were heavy! 

Your feeding has been crazy due to your hospital stay as your feeds were reduced to only two ounces so it took a couple of weeks to get you back up to the four ounces you were on before you were ill. You are generally sleeping from 8 or 9 at night till normally around 3am, then back to sleep till around half seven. Because of this you are feeding every two hours in the day. You can also be such a fuss pot when daddy is giving you a bottle, you will take an ounce & pretend to fall asleep so daddy will pass you to mummy, then suddenly wake up & want the rest of you bottle.

You had a lovely first Christmas, despite being ill & got spoilt off our family & friends! Your favourite presents were your bean bag from nana & gaga, your baby gym from nanny & pappy and your lullaby owl from mummy & daddy.

You seem to sleep better when there is either noise around or when you are in your pram, so when James is at nursery you are normally wide awake! You have started smiling a lot lately mostly at mummy or James. You can never take your eyes of your big brother. James still has finally given you a quick cuddle & he has started stroking your head when you are in your basket. I think now you are getting bigger and vocal he's not as scared of you. 

You went to a birthday party for our friends daughter turning one, you got a nice kiss and cuddle of the birthday girl! 

You went with James for his pre school injections, he was pretty upset, yet you slept through his crying. When it was yours the week after you screamed, which mummy wasn't surprised with. You also had your eight week check at the same time & you were showing off your smile.

I wonder what you will be doing next month

Love you Freddie bear 

Love mummy xxx

Silent Sunday

Our 2015

What can I say about 2015 other than what a year!

January saw us make the decision to start looking into buying our own house. We saw numerous properties till we saw a gorgeous little three bed roomed house in north Kenton. We put an offer in and it was accepted!! 

February we gave our two months notice on rented property and started packing up, clearing out and arranging storage for our stuff.

March we celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary, then found out the day after we were expecting baby two! 

April we celebrated my 30th birthday and also moved out of our rented house and in with my mum and dad while the house purchase went through.

May we completed on the house and took ownership on 27th May! We also announced baby two was on the way after our 12 week scan.

June our gorgeous little nephew Jayden was born two days before his wonderful mummy celebrated her own birthday. We also officially moved into our house! 

July we had our 20 week scan and announced baby two was another boy! James had his first visit to the nursery he would be starting in September.

August was the month James turned three! We celebrated by going to Big Luke's at intu metro centre and watching the metro gnomes show! James also started potty training at last! 

September James started nursery school! We were so proud of our little man! He had a rough start as he was so used to being with mummy, but now he loves it!

October we started preparing for baby boy arriving!

November our second little boy Freddie Andrew Tinline Hockley arrived on the 25th at 1219pm. 

December well first Christmas in our house and first Christmas for Freddie although he slept through most of it! We ended December with a stay in great north children's hospital for Freddie with a bout of bronchiolitis.

2016 is going to be another great year with James starting primary school in September and watching him and Freddie grow up!