Wordless Wednesday - There's no fun like snow fun

GOSH - Teens First For Health

If you have read my blog before you will know that I did a post a couple of weeks ago all about GOSH, and the charity that supports all the amazing work they do there, (if you didn't see it you can read it here).

I am in complete awe of the work that they do at Great Ormond Street, and when I was asked by them to get some information out there about a new campaign they are fronting, I was only to happy to oblige.

GOSH has put together a fantastic site aimed at getting kids, teens and their parents to get fit and stay healthy

Children First for Health is an award winning health and hospital information website for teenagers, children and parents, run by Great Ormond Street Hospital, they provide thousands of clinically approved pages of age-appropriate content and advice, put together using a mix of the clinical skills and experience of the fantastic world-famous staff with a creative team of writers and designers to provide all ages with a trusted educational health resource.

I have been looking all over the site for a few days now and they really are full of load of information and fun stuff for all the family to do and to take part in , there are games and cool videos to watch in the site and kids can register to make the site personal to them, even better as far as most kids (and parents) are concerned is the chance to win an i-pod just by registering.

If you have kids especially teenager it really is worth giving this site a visit, even if it is only to get the answers to all those embarrassing questions teenagers are going to ask at some point

A Letter To My 16 Year Old Self.

This post is inspired by a theme on the writing workshop over at Sleep is for the Weak, this is my first time so be gentle with me.

Dear Lolly,

let me start this letter by saying I know you will take absolutely no notice of anything I say,cause knowing you as well as I do it is apparent to me now that at 16 you think you know it all...please for once listen and hear this YOU REALLY DON'T.

You are bright and clever, your teachers are always telling your parents that, so try to apply yourself a little bit more, you will see that things that came so easily to you now are not quite so easy to grasp once you are past 30.

You will actually manage to pass all of the exams you take much to your parents delight and your relief, but the camping trip you take to Spain as a well done present, please be careful, you are far to trusting and not everyone is as nice as you, do not walk back to the campsite with the really friendly German guy, take this from me when something looks to good to be true it usually is, what happens will change you, but I promise you will be fine and not all men are like that.

One day you really will thanks your dad for making you go to university, yes I know it will be hard work but you will learn so much more than just the academic stuff, more than anything else you do in your 20's your time at uni will make you into a much better person and will eventually lead you to a career you love...I know it is hard to believe you will find a job you enjoy but it is possible to work an enjoy it

Men are not all bad and although you will meet your fair share of tossers (especially the scousers, yes I know he is gorgeous but he is really bad news STAY AWAY FROM HIM). You will meet the one just as you get to your 28Th birthday, grab him with both hands and hold onto him, don't play hard to get and don't muck him around, it will only cause trauma there is no need for. I know you think now that you do not want children, they smell, they are noisy and they mean you cant spend all your money on going out and buying new clothes and makeup, I do however promise you this, you are going to have them and you are going to think that it is the best thing you have ever done, you will feel love like you can't believe.

Your mum and dad will always be there for you, even when you drive them mad, spend as much time with Nana and grandad Phil as you can, and never be afraid to tell someone you love them, life is to short to hold it all in.

If you listen to nothing else I say in this letter please,please listen to this, laugh everyday, love like there is no tomorrow and never sleep on a cross word.

Love

Lorraine (aged 39 1/4)

P.S. People will eventually stop calling you Lolly, but not until you are 35, live with it.

All Change...Again!!

Its been all change in our little world again recently, I mentioned in an earlier post that I had given up my job as it was having too much of an impact on the time I got to spend with smurf, in reality I didn't really love the job anyway and it was not too much of a wrench to leave it. I loved spending lots of time at home with smurf, we had an absolute ball, but since then he has started nursery and I needed something to do in the hours when he was there, as well as still letting granny get her daily fix.

I know from reading some other blogs and from the other mums I twitter with that finding any part-time work is not an easy task, and finding something along the same lines as your pre-baby career is nigh on impossible. I have however been exceptionally lucky and after agreeing to do a favour for a friend and take a 6 week temp job I have ended up with a new job, in HR (my former career) which lets me work hours that coincide with nursery finishing time, meaning that smurf goes to granny for a couple of hours in the morning, is dropped off at nursery then mummy picks him up from nursery in the afternoon. Seemed like the perfect solution, the company are really child friendly, the managing director has two small children so they understand about things like, nativity plays and school fairs and the like.

I must admit I was excited to be taking on the new challenge, until day one of the new job, when smurf screamed the house down when I said I was going to work, he clung on he cried, he begged me not to leave him...it will come as no surprise to you that I left for work feeling like the worst mother in the world.

Smurf had got so used to me being there over the few months I was at home with him all day that he just did not like the idea of going back to mummy being away a lot, I did try to explain to him that I would only be at work while he was at nursery , but I am sure you will know there is very little reasoning with a hysterical toddler. I had moments all of that day where I was on the verge of telling my new company that I had made a mistake and couldn't take the job. However I did persevere and now a couple of week down the line things have settled down and Smurf is fine when I go out to work now and is always excited to See me when I pick him up from nursery, I am loving my new job and relishing the challenge it is providing, I had actually forgotten how much I loved working in HR, its seems so long since I did it. Everything has a downside though and mine is much less time to spend on twitter or my blog...oh well back to the drawing board for time organisation skills.

GOSH...what a great cause!!!!

I have been a really bad blogger of late, lots going on in my life and just have not found the time to write, I kept meaning too, but time just seemed to be running so far ahead of me I couldn't catch up.

But then I saw the X-Factor finalists performing their charity single last weekend on they show and was determined that I would make the effort and find the time to do a post about Great Ormond Street Hospital and the completely amazing job I think they do there.

Great Ormond Street has been a children's' hospital since 14Th February 1852, it only had ten beds and was a welcome addition to a city where one third of children born died before adulthood, of diseases we think little of today.

Over the years the hospital has changed and developed and grown massively in size, from those 10 beds in 1852 to well over 350 beds today, in that time as well as growing in size the amazing place has become a beacon of hope for parents with sick children all over the UK ,GOSH has the widest range of children's specialists of any UK hospital, and is the largest centre for children's heart and brain surgery as well as providing amazing care and treatment for children with cancer.

The hospital works with the Institute for Child Health and is the largest centre for research into childhood illness outside the United States, recent high profile breakthroughs include successful gene therapy for immune diseases which were made after nearly a decade of research.

I have been lucky and my child has never needed the help that GOSH can provide, but its nice to know it is there should you ever need it, they do however need all the help they can get and things like the X-Factor single benefit the charity that the hospital set up, GOSH has relied on charitable support since it first opened. The copyright of one of my all time favorite books was given to the Hospital by the author J.M.Barrie, it is of course "Peter Pan", this was his way of continuing to give his support to Great Ormond Street even long after he had gone, another of the main sources for this support is Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (GOSHCC). The NHS meets the day to day running costs of the hospital but the fundraising income allows Great Ormond Street Hospital to be at the forefront of child health care and research into childhood illness and disease. The charity also help families whose children are in the hospital with accommodation to allow them to be with their sick children.

I think GOSH is a very worthy cause and if you are interested you can find out all about the amazing work the hospital and the charity do by going here.

Newborn Tetanus Vaccine Generator

I'll Sleep Anywhere!!!!