Useful recent purchases

It is a tricky and sometimes complex process when trying to successfully parent a small child from a bed or wheelchair. It certainly gives my brain a work out.



My son is now 19 months old, still not walking, crawls at speed of light and is quicker than both his parents getting any where so to be quite honest parenting on the bed is a little risky these days! If I try to play at this level then I have to make sure toys are up for the challenge of entertaining a toddler for more than a minuet. I have been doing a lot of research from my chair or bed and made pointless and great purchases.

Pointless purchases for my sons taste:

An "Usbournes Holiday sticker book"- Mr Choosy likes some sticker subject matters over others,This particular choice was non negotiable and eventually thrown off bed in frustration at mummy persevering!

A Peppa Pig small library set, he likes Peppa Pig sticker book and television show obviously I was silly to think he would enjoy the books, silly mummy!

Lovely little books, not our sons cup of tea.

A tool work bench from Argos toys- it looked exciting to me, has a plastic drill fixed to bench and when you pull the drill leaver it makes drill noises,detachable hammer and screwdriver, plastic screws that twist when using the screwdriver ,all seemed hours of fun, silly mummy!

Workbench

Wenlock, the mascot for the Olympic 2012 games in London, oh how I kick myself for giving into the hype, Wenlock now sits in a toy box never to see the light of day. However our friendly mascot will be shortly making a great doggy toy so at least good old Wenlock feels like he has a purpose in this house!

Pointless Wenlock, poor old Wenlock,lovely toy, not for our son.

Useful purchases made:

An Aquadoodle classic mat and three pens- what a toy! Put simply it is a mat which you draw on using special water filled pens, the matt reacts with the water to produce strong blue marks on matt which dry eventually leaving the mat free for the next doodle. My artist husband drew a lion, teapot,tree,cake,sun,Peppa pig all to delight of our son, I drew my hand and a house to lesser reaction and son drew his artistic interpretation of life, lots of chaotic scribbles :) By placing the mat on the bed,all adorning water pens,meant for a good half hour of entertainment and when our child decided to try pens on our bed of course all that there was was water.

Aquadoodle classic mat £14.99 from Amazon

Plastic food set -from Toys R Us, massive selection of plastic food from fruit and veg to unhealthy junk, all here for your child to look at, try and chew, use as a hammer for a Xylophone and list all the words of food. I couldn't believe how plastic rubbish can entertain every day for a good twenty minuets!

Just like home mega food set from Toys R Us

Cultrad Turtle Star Night light-at night you switch turtle on and it displays colourful stars all over the ceiling. It also can be displayed with soothing music at the press of another button, from flute song to sounds of the sea. At 19 months Christopher is going through a clingy phase and this is the only thing that stops him being totally distraught at bed time!

Cultrad Star turtle night light available in all sorts of prices from retailers at Amazon.

Crayola doh -along with my sisters donated Play doh road side set with a garbage lorry and pneumatic drill fortunately minus annoying sound effects! This can be played with on my bed by reversing the Aquadoodle mate and playing on the non stick side to keep play doh from going on the bed but keeping it from being eaten, well good luck with that!

Doh available every where!

"Oh Dear" -,by Rod Campbell,flap book-join a little boy called buster on a journey around a farm to gather hens eggs, at each animals home there is a flap to lift to find the animal that lives within. Any flap book is a hit with little man.

Great flap book and 40% of normal price at Waterstones £3.99

Peppa Pig "George's Birthday",sticker book-he spends a good ten minuets enjoying sticking stickers in the places of the books, some where they should be others which shouldn't but they are peel off able for the future if he wants to revisit.

peppa pig sticker book by Ladybird

Tescos elastic waist band shorts -two pairs in green and blue sold for £5

Tesco cotton shorts two for £5

Tescos plain envelope neck opening t shirts -sold in threes in matching short colours.£3



ASDA value nappies- for some unknown reason they work better than Tescos or Sainsburys basic range.

Useful Non purchases, hand downs, gifts or free:

"The Toddler Busy Book". Loads of gentle activities to stimulate your child's imagination, brain development but mostly how to have some cheap, easy fun that any one can do.

Useful,crammed with activities for toddler, by T Kuffner

An empty clean ice cream tub -filled with water, bin bag or changing mat on bed, play sink or swim by dropping small plastic non mechanical or electrical toys into the water, from cotton wool to wooden door wedge to cutlery both plastic and metal we have had fun doing this for ten minuets.



Tea set- donation from sister and a greatfully received item too! Comprises of a tea pot, three cups, three plastic spoons, plastic milk jug and a saucepan, masses of fun and a good half hour of entertainment every day!

tea sets are available every where.

Retro Fisher Price fire engine, the ding of the bell as the wheels go round is particularly great as is the extendable ladder!

Bubble mixture and bubble wands- our set is a bumper set of three tubes of mixture and different snapped wands, I can do bubbles sat in a chair and firing bubbles into his room for him to pop. I am loving this activity probably more than my son! Dog loves it twice as much again!

Jumbo bubble set

A "Scuttlebug"- lightweight, well made, foldable trike that fits in a shopping bag! Amazing item, should be on every parents list! Mr mischief doesn't seem keen on trying to walk at all, happy to coast sofas, happy to go under and over any thing but getting upright makes him fret. So the Scuttlebug is a smaller piece of equipment than a walker and offers the incentive to use leg muscles to get around, he even uses the trike as a toddle truck, standing up and pushing it around a room. Will be great to take on holiday with us when he is a little older and confident on it.

Scuttlebug available from good toy shops

"Brain Games for babies and toddlers" by J Silberg.This book offers lots of ideas for different stages, some are a bit obvious such as reading to your child, tickling a child, singing to a child but other suggestions are interesting such as hiding a little toy and asking him to find it. All very do able from any position, floor,table. I use stacker beaker cups and hide a wind up bath toy under one and take two more beakers move all three around and ask him to find the toy, like the hustlers trick only making it very obvious what beaker I put toy under before I start!

No idea where friend got this from but good old Amazon sells it cheaply.

Apps- "Wheels on the Bus" song and games from Kids Game club on Apple store, "Happy and you know it" song and games on apple store, Twinkle Twinkle Kids game club again, our favourite is "Old MacDonalds Farm" again song and games for free from the Kids Game club on apple store. All free and all enjoyable.

thanks to lisisoft for image and to find out more about this app and others mentioned follow this link, for app go to app store on ipad.

There will always be complete flops I guess with my son and completely attached to toys that I will still be trying to pass on when he is a teenager, for now I think my worshipping at the alter of Amazon has to have a break before my bank account does so he'll have to make do with old fashioned kitchen pans and a wooden spoon like we all did back in the day!

Finally please do listen to me chatting on a BBC Ouch  podcast about my assistant Canine Partner dog, I cringe at myself when I am live but heck have a laugh :)

Podcast on assistant dogs

x

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Things you smugly believe about child rearing before having kids!

 

I know I know, if you are sat reading this and are pregnant with your first child, I don't mean to join in with the misery crowd who say it will be life changing and you have no idea what is coming your way but errrr you don't. Make the most of the quiet before the storm!

 

Husband and I at a Halloween event. Prior to parenthood.

My top ten naive thoughts prior to being a parent

 

1. People who struggle to go out with a baby and get somewhere on time are disorganised, after all it is just a matter of just slinging a nappy, wipes and some milk for a baby, in a bag!

 

My trusty Canine Partner who has seen so many stages of my life, with my lovely husband, pre parenthood.

2. I will still be the same person I was before having my child, my child will not mean I loose me, we can still go anywhere to visit friends,go on holiday anywhere etc.

 

A friend of mine and me on holiday in Holland prior to parenthood although I was pregnant then!

3.Parents who don't try to look presentable are just lazy, there is always time in a day to do make up and dress well.

Husband and I at another party we held pre parenthood.

 

4.There is no reason for a house to be messy and in caious as when the child is asleep you can do the housework.

 

5.My child will not be difficult at meal times because I will only allow him to have healthy foods right from weaning and he will therefore love grapes,apples, asparagus,beat root and find delight in eating a carrot!

Me,husband and some great mates in Holland, I was pregnant then.

 

6. I will be able to go shopping with my child without any difficulties.

Guitar hero to 3am in the morning with a uni friend. Still awake so must have been prior to being a mummy.

 

 

7. My child will not play up as both husband and I will always be on the same page and lay down the same boundaries.

Husband and I on Holliday with some friends, great if soaking wet times.

 

8.My child will always be dressed smartly, no excuses, no matter how lengthy, painful or difficult the dressing a child task is there is no excuse for a child to be any thing less than immaculate and dressed to impress.

 

More friends and I after Halloween event but they had all taken outfits on, heck I threw caution to the wind those days and didn't care :D

9.I will refuse to buy into the idea of purchasing a vast volume of toys, baby equipment and clothes. No child needs more than seven outfits per season, value nappies will be as good as top brands, lots of toys are pointless and brought by parents who would rather make a purchase than give a child time.

Me looking like I have had loads of sleep, ahhh sleep, obviously before I became a parent.

 

10.My child will have a routine and it will be kept to to the second as a good routine makes for a calm child.

Even Yasmin looks like she got more sleep pre parenthood/super nanny days!

 

My answers to these smug statements now I have a child can really all be summed up simply.....

Oh you just wait and see!

My detailed responses would be:

Our son arrived, old breast feeding clothes thrown on, we have had no sleep but happy.

1. For some reason getting out to meet someone at a particular time always seems to fall at a time when your child wants a sleep and is grouchy, you couldn't get him to go to sleep a little earlier than usual so he would be in a good mood for going out and now he is kicking off and wanting a nap and refusing to help with proceedings. We pack everything for a day and still there is something missing or more of something required and we just don't have the ability to carry a baby suitcase !

My son, one week old with his Snowman that he loves now, brought by blurry eyed daddy when stood trying to remember shopping list in Tescos!

 

2. You will never be the same person again,when your child is crying with exhaustion and a friend just wants to chat,your child hasn't been changed for a while or needs to go to bed at set times etc, you invariably will never be the laid back, all the time in the world friend you used to be.

 

A new little man in our lives, hair errr combed at speed of light, roots massively obvious, no time to put make up on but am feeling so proud! Proud we have made a healthy little boy but also proud I can hold him like a normal mummy.

3. I haven't combed my hair today, nor have I got knickers on! Ok I am out of action in terms health and can not reach knicker drawer or comb but even when not recovering from surgery, I still struggle to find time to comb hair so make up goes out the window! Although the rise of BB cream at least makes making my face look fresh.

Make up totally abandoned now !

 

4. When you have been trying to keep up with a very busy child,doing parenting tasks with restricted movement and pain, you use twice as much energy on the smallest of tasks. Cooking meals, cleaning after meals and cleaning the child, changing childs clothes twice a day,entertaining your son, going to hospital appointments with a small person in toe not enjoying appointments etc. By the time it gets to little ones bedtime you are exhausted and ready for bed. You do not feel like doing a load of housework, a quick piling toys into a small mountain in the living room, wipe down of surfaces and there endeth the day.

My sister smiling at camera, with my nephew who was a colic baby, she tried to warn me about parenthood, I thought oh yeah yeah big sis, I take my smugness back now big sis ;)

 

5. When weaning our son he was given fruit organic pots with baby rice, vegetable meals, fromage fraise, home made spaghetti bolognaise blitzed.In the first few months he ate every thing and any thing. He loved banana, strawberries, every vegetable except sprouts and then suddenly decided he didn't like the texture of banana and would throw it on the floor, hated carrots although enjoyed them earlier on, turns his nose up at toast despite having enjoyed it once. Suddenly, almost over night became a bit choosy ! Every parent sets out to give their child only healthy food, what kind of parent doesn't care about what their child is eating but the reality is more often than not you can sit and demand your child eats something, give them nothing else because some children develop very strong wills and will go for days with almost nothing in their stomachs and become listless. Let's face it any child of my husbands and I was going to have strong will, it is our sheer determination to keep moving through pain that has kept us from being totally wheelchair bound in our lives. If one meal was not up to the little princes standard there will be guaranteed hell to pay for at least four subsequent meals even though he hasn't tried them!

 

6. Shopping with children is hell. I have no more to say on the matter, if you can have more than a second to look at nail varnish then I am waiting to hear how?

 

7.I have a good husband and usually we are on the same page but occasionally he will do something that is different to what I would deem acceptable. He likes dressing our son in almost thread bare but easy baby vest because we are not going anywhere ,where as I would like our son to try and keep up appearances and at least wear elasticised waist trousers and t shirt just in case.

Ahh we took our son to meet some friends at a local restaurant. First trip out, pandemonium but we got there and was lovely to be with friends.

 

8. I honestly used to think my son would be mostly in dungerees,matching vest with socks on his feet. More often than not we buy dungarees sets with matching vests and then the vests don't end up with dungarees due to tricky poppers,so easy worn vest goes on, socks due to parents difficulty putting them on and sons ease to remove them, they are abandoned.In winter my son is in a snug fleece zip suit during the day because it is easy to dress him in quickly.

Meeting some of our good friends. First time we managed to get our son out.

A great mate with my lovely boy.

 

9. Get ready to purchase, I am careful with this but in times when going out is not an option you need things to entertain a child with, even if you are playing with him or her you need something to play with! Books are great and free from the library but like it or not children love toys and there comes a time where you have to accept you will need to buy them including that plastic junk you swore you wouldn't buy prior to having a child because the plastic junk is what seems to entertain them for hours compared to a brio train set!

One of a fair number of what I deem plastic junk toys, keeps Mr mischief out of mischief, I am referring to the husband there, gives him something to do with our son hehehe.

 

10. Our child has a routine but our life doesn't, hospital appointments out of county means he has to travel with us and traffic means we don't always get home in time for his usual bedtime. When a child reaches 6 months your baby will not sleep when you are out and about and as a result will have their entire routine thrown out the next day which causes a little tension!

My final response to new parents to be would be:

No one could have told me how lovely it is to be a parent and how every day feels like Christmas day where you feel excited to see their smiling face the next morning no matter what the day before was like. No one could have told me how putting my child first would become the most important aspect of my life. No one could have told me that I wouldn't care about career progression,what money we have, what possessions we have, as long as our child is happy and ultimately has a good life with choices that I have not had in my childhood opened to me. When Mark and I are old codgers I hope he will be proud of us and know all our choices from the moment he was born were for the best life for him x

No make up at all not even combed hair but my husband and son have given me the most confidence I have ever had in my whole life, a reason to always keep going, learning to walk after ever surgery again, they have given me the most joy ever, ok life is busier, sometimes harder, more draining and not carefree at all but is definitely the happiest

 

 

 

 






 

 

 

 

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Dogs, baby,husbands and life. AKA "feelings"

I am a woman who is trying to help drag the UK into 2012 by giving practical advice to help new disabled parents source accessible high street baby and child equipment and discuss methods of carrying out parenting tasks from nappy changing to bathing a baby.However as I am a disabled parent every now and then it feels important to air my experiences or feelings, it is ok to have sad feelings, annoyed feelings, be exhausted, feel it all gets a bit much, these feelings are what makes us normal and what every parent, able or otherwise feel.

I have spent six weeks and counting almost entirely house bound.I have also spent six weeks very separate to my son which is the worst pain I have endured with my illness. I can cope with a lot of actual physical pain,that requires getting a grip, taking painkillers and applying clever thought in order to cope with an "on strike" limb. I can endure being house bound,done it as a child, why not as an adult, but being unable to open my sons cot after his nap and watch him hold his arms out to me and all I can do is stand by the cot giving little man a kiss on his forehead whilst we both wait for daddy to come and help, that hurts.I can not cook for my family right now as I can not stretch to reach the microwave or oven hob. I can't make any one drinks.Usually I have ways of doing things but I am out off action at the moment whilst my body is in lock down. Not being able to help care for my son when I love doing parent things is tricky. Women do things differently to men.My lovely husband has tried hard to care for me and our son ,despite his severe pain that left him shuffling like an old man, he has just got on and kept going.Equally for the past few weeks I find Christopher sporting an old baby vest and a budget nappy and that's it.

My husbands hands are getting worse ,which is cruel being that he is a graphic artist, so he favours old vests because the poppers are so worked he can dress our son easily and given that he is practically a single parent at the monent I do not blame him for keeping his tasks simple.However when I am in charge I always find smart clothing for our son to wear for the day and as any reader will know by now, I don't buy inaccessible clothes, he has elastic waist shorts, envelope opening t shirts, all easy dress clothes but still the trusty vest is utilised.

Son almost dressed!

I have chucked medical advice out the window, doctors asking me to hardly move my leg due to precarious replacement is just stupid when I have a small child and a mothers heart! The doctors would have been kinder to have kept me in hospital so I didn't have to hear my son cry for me yet not be able to reach him! So with my canine partners help, I get back on that floor , move my blooming leg and at least sit with my son who now understands once I am on said floor I can not move and so he brings his toys to me, or passes them to my dog to take to me if the distance is too long to crawl. These moments in the day, no matter how my ankle pulses hot shooting pain through me at night, how much morphine I take to combat pain or how many times I vomit due to high morphine doses, these moments of time and happiness with my son are worth every thing to me.

Yasmin helping me onto the floor

Finally it is difficult at the moment because I seem to find myself amongst pregnant people. I am very much looking forward to people I know having babies as will be playmates for Christopher. However there is sadness in me too, I feel sorry for my son that he will never have a sibling. I and my husband can not risk all that having another child will entail on our joints. We would probably never leave hospital as we both already have damaged joints requiring yet more surgery which we both keep putting off for the sakes of Christopher. i would dread to think what would happen if another child was on the scene. This fills me with sadness, not for myself but purely for Christopher and so I thank god for my Canine Partner dog Yasmin who although is getting old is being a great happiness and company to our little man. He squeals with delight as Yasmin my dog goes and gets us a book to read and brings it to him on my lap. He loves it when she rolls around on the floor and laughs his head of which makes her do it even more this mischevious pair! He brings his toys to her for her to play with and she brings me books to read to him.

Thank god ,despite being very young when I got Juvenile arthritis/ Stills disease,all those toxic chemo meds both myself and my husband have taken over the years, we have managed to have a healthy, happy little boy. For that I am so so grateful and will not allow myself to be so selfish or complacent about what I have as I know there are couples out there who can not have children.


Thank god for Canine Partners, we have a well trained and patient lab who stays still whilst cars are being lined up along her furry back. "Canine Partners" is not just about a helper dog but about being a friend during more isolating times.

To find out more about Canine Partners, a Charity that helps disabled people's lives directly, please go to Canine Partners website

August is also Stills disease awareness month, Stills is another name for Juvenile Chronic Arthritis. Over 12000 children are diagnosed with a form of arthritis in the UK today and is the second most common illness a child can suffer with in Britain, childhood diabetes being the first. This illness is an immune system faulty programming that attacks the whole body, eats joints over night and leaves young children with dangerously high temperature, rashes and swollen lymph glands and ravaged joints requiring years of surgery to patch up the body over a lifetime. If you are interested in learning more please go to the Stills R Us website

Thanks to whoever is reading this, sometimes you just need to talk x

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The ginormous boot and Bakin Boys cakes

It sounds like I am about to narrate a new Rohld Dall book to you but sadly no, I have different tale to tell!

I am small, it is no big secret, I am small every where and I stand at a whole four foot nine!

I went to Southmead to have current plaster on my left foot removed, I felt quite excited as there was a chance I would be told I could try weight bearing. The nurses then produced a monster steel boot and told me I could try to put my weight through my new ankle if I wore this contraption.I looked like the terminator and the heel on the thing was almost as tall as an ABBA platform boot! It is ginormous, huge straps going all the way up the leg with an odd bicycle pump provided with it to inflate a huge side impact air cushion. I felt a cross between a 1970s Volvo and a glam rocker in it. I tried to move my leg once it was fitted and couldn't, it was that heavy! Finally my mother managed to sit me up to get off the hospital plinth and I tried to stand and I have never felt so tall stood on this mega shoe but meanwhile my other good leg was left suspended, dangling in the air!!! Hmmm not that practical, we got out off the room, monster boot firmly on and once reached the car park I said "mum this is bonkers I can't do rehab in this, I can't even move my leg to try and get my muscles fired again", we did a 360 degree turn and headed back to clinic. I have been now given a ridiculously tiny Velcro and strap material foot splint and was told I am not allowed to weight bear in this but can at least remove splint to shower and exercise, so no forward, still many more weeks of not going any where and foot out of order still,however at least can shave my yeti leg and can enjoy a shower without adorning a charity bag on my leg to protect a cast from water.

Got home to my son who is causing some concern. He is totally up with reading words, speaks a lot, studies all his toys, loves to be around friends and family but will he walk, no he will not and he is now 19 months I realise. He will stand up against a sofa, hold onto sofa and coast along but he will not walk be it holding my mothers hands or a toddle truck. I know he will probably do it in his own time but in the meantime my husbands and my joints are being destroyed rapidly trying to lift him around. We don't know how else to encourage him to get verticle. Today he was rolling on the floor with the dog, dog stood up after quite a few "roll overs" and there ended the mimicking her!

We are also having a clingy phase at the moment, he hates not having us near by and decided to be up crying till 1am yesterday night/morning. So yeah I have to be honest, child rearing is not always a total joy joy joy and breeze, do not be fooled by any parent who says parenthood is one big fun time and easy, every day brings joys but also a heck of a lot of frustration, exhaustion and pain in arthritic parents cases.

Mr clingy finally asleep, husband trying to get his art work out to the masses and here I am blogging again, well I hate not doing any thing useful and am not here to just whine to any one living. I have to tell any reader about this amazing website, nothing to do with being creaky,bendy or wobbly, purely to do with bargain hunting and all helps every parents money stretch further but goes back to what I was saying about budgeting as a disabled parent. The site is:

Approved food this is a food shop that saves you 80% on all sorts from biscuits to chocolate to dishwasher tablets, to cooking sauces and baby products.

Basically as the guy on the "Approved food " video clip says "it's about more food in your cupboard, more money in your purse". 


As an example we got 48 Bakin Boys cupcakes for £2 so watch put friends and family, when you have a cup of tea here you will be expected to eat one of these cakes, that or the giant boot ,the hospital still made me take back with me just in-case I grow an extra foot over night for it to work, might require feeding, it looks to big to be inanimate, a picture will be on display tomorrow, too tired tonight to photograph the beast in the corner of the room. 


Good night all x

Budgeting as a disabled parent.

                                                          

No one is immune from the difficult times we are all in as a nation, well perhaps the CEOs of banks, Dave Cams millionaire mates and the professional footballers, they seem to be doing fine. The normal folk are pulling in their purses.

When every one feels poor every one looks for a scale goat,the disabled seem to be one of those targets but these times will flow on and good times will be abound once more for every one but disabled people will still be left with no choice but to budget hard. This is the reality of disability, our DLA, which is a benefit received whether working or not,is there to purchase equipment needed to be as independent. For any able bodied parents ,baby equipment doesn't come cheap but imagine if you can only physically manage to work one out of hundreds of high chairs available in the high street baby stores, you can bet it will be the most expensive model! So rather than moaning about annoying expenses,why are the accessible models of car seats,high chairs etc the most expensive, we have to accept that is just how it is and allocate DLA to the need, after all this is why the government part with DLA, to cover extra expenses due to disability. I am sure my well friend ,due to have her baby in the next year ,would love the Maxi Cosi Axis car seat (£300) that swivels on its base to face the car door because it makes every parents life easier but it is the most expensive model on the market at the moment and why spend that when you can manage with a cheaper model? To disabled parents this seat is possibly the only option for being able to get a child out independently.

So we budget to allow for such costly purchases, we never know what physical need will be next up but I will surely be searching the shops for reigns in no time. Oddly enough, my possible solution to the child running off issue came from a John Lewis sales person in combination with advice from the "special need parent" section of Mumsnet. The suggestion being a dog lead!!! I kid you not!! A dog lead (no not for child to wear) and a "Scuttle Bug" plastic, fold up, lightweight trike for a toddler that  folds down to fit in a shopping bag. This will be in a future blog and all will be explained and probably re thought when my son actually walks!



The trike costs £30 ,the dog lead costs £8. More about how this will work in a near future blog, trust me this will not be something my well peer will require,she may love the scatter bug but again it isn't a need to manage a physical difficulty.

My friend will be able to use normal reigns, if I used reigns I would dislocate my elbow trying to restrain my child.

As part of budgeting,we sold some large baby items ,that my son no longer needed, on Preloved. We sold baby monitors, a baby bath seat that swivelled any way making washing baby hair easier or getting to child's back etc, a baby activity gym and the amazing and vital bit of disabled parent kit THE BUMBO. All in all we didn't do badly and it allowed us to buy our son a lightweight easy unfoldable buggy that I could actually work completely on my own and the left over money went towards the car seat!

Preloved in my experience is easier for selling on items for disabled parents that eBay. With Preloved there is no commission taken from sales and you can specify pick uponly and advertise specifically in your area or spread your net further if you are prepared to ship.I can not get to the Post office easily so all my sales were based locally and people came to pick up item in person. 


I recommend the book "How to have a baby on eBay" , a must for any parent who wants to purchase designer or lovely baby items that would cost a fortune new, on eBay for a fraction of the price and hardly used! We got our sons activity gym, brand new ,for five pounds,in the high street it would have cost thirty pounds, a new with tags John Lewis baby boy cord dungarees and striped jumper that were the latest range being sold on eBay for half the price.Baby's clothes wash badly and shrink so you are often lucky to get two wears out of any outfit plus your baby grows rapidly.I have always brought my son the age range of clothes above his actual age to allow for shrinkage of clothes in the wash. Next clothes wash well in my opinion ,as do Tescos and when I buy new outfits these are the shops I visit. 


Join every baby club going for vouchers and money off clothes,nappies,milk:

Tesco baby and toddler club

Sainsbury's little ones club


Asda baby and toddler club

Aptaclub Aptamil baby milk

Boots Parenting Club

Pampers Village

Huggies club

Bounty mother and baby cub


For free samples of all baby related items from the following websites, well worth your time looking through and applying for freebies.


Baby samples
Baby free stuff


Cow and gate where you can get a cuddly free cow.



 Freebieholics loads of free samples for men and women and child



Hipp join the club for vouchers off baby food.

Latest free stuff

Latest stuff free my favourite free place for all the family, I have had make up, chocolate,moisturisers,cereal bars and nappies and loads more from here.

ABSOLUTE MUST VISIT FOR UK PARENTS AND RECOMMENDED BY WHICH MAGAZINE AND MONEYSAVINGEXPERT:

APPROVED FOOD amazing groceries deals on food and drink at 80% cheaper.

I did what every mother does and brought pointless items, a baby cot mobile, why oh why!!! I couldn't reach it to turn the wind up wheel, he was interested in it for four weeks but would have equally enjoyed a few sparkly mirror disks hang over his cot which would have cost me three pounds from Hobbycraft as opposed to £20 for a mobile. 


 We did the nursery/ his room up in plain white walls so as to not get into expensive or painful re decorating when he starts to enjoy Ben 10! I brought ,from ebay, decal purple and lime green spots to stick on one wall. We got a huge IKEA wardrobe with drawers and shelves in it and chose cheapest white doors for the front and stuck more decal spots all over it. We had an old 60s wooden kitchen shelved unit which we painted white and put some bright colour toys on display. We have to have a normal bed in his room as our changing space and a place to play and read to our son. Fortunately my old single bed from my parents house was available but this is a needed piece of equipment for most physically disabled parents so this is an extra need due to your disability. 


My best budgeting advice is use the local library.All babies love cuddles and being read to. Librarys  stock all baby and toddler books from touch and feel books to black and white pattern baby first books through to my sons top reads, "Penguin" by Polly Dunbar to "Pants" by Nick Sharatt. Best all it is all free as is the library parent and child music and rhyme groups, come to think of it our library offers one of the few accessible baby groups in Gloucestershire!


Every one is struggling at the moment, really this blog is applicable to every parent at the moment and I hope it helps some because if I had found a blog page like this I would have found it useful. Most of it is obvious stuff I know but finding those baby clubs is not as easy as you would think, my son is 17 months and in writing this blog I realise how few clubs we knew about and will see if he is still young enough to sign up to some I have mentioned.