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Simplified Mum Life

Nina A Spencer – Motherhood Mentor – Simplifying the every day for busy overwhelmed mums -Mum Of Twins Twice! Placenta Accreta Survivor, Mental Health Champion, On my own simple living Journey filled with adventure and travel . Embracing The Imperfectly, Chaotic moments of motherhood.
Screen Free Weekends

Screen Free Weekends –

A couple of weeks ago my family and I stayed at Finca de arrieta In Lanzarote.

While we were there I shut down my phone and any form of tech, Other than my camera – I’m a blogger after all, I can’t very well not take pictures.

It was great spending the weekend “offline” I was able to connect better with my children, I wasn’t bothered by news, and I was able to take in the beautiful surroundings.

It seems we have become a society or even a world where having a phone or tablet in our hands is the norm. From sitting at home to passing time on a flight even while we are walking down the street Think Pokémon Go.

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It’s not just the younger generation that is screen obsessed either – both my mum who can’t go half an hour with out her phone and my In-laws who’s house rules used to be no screens while you’re visiting – otherwise what’s the point of visiting. It’s a different story now however with candy crush being the game we play as a family replacing the old favorites like monopoly & snakes & ladders.

My mother in-law it seems has even started catching Pokémon

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I am also screen obsessed Maybe even as far as addicted. I am often telling the children ‘just one more min while I scroll down my Instagram feed or message friends.

In a bid to gain back some control over the screens and give myself that feeling I had back at Finca de Arrieta, I am launching screen free weekends.

I know if I say no screens over the whole weekend we are bound to fail. So my plan is to limit our screen time throughout the weekend.

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Adventures

Traveling with Twins – In Flight.

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Today I am back with another Traveling with Twins post for you following on from my at the airport this how to make sure your flight goes smoothly.

Our twins first flight was just before their first birthday since then we have been lucky enough to travel at least twice a year.

I know sitting in a confined tin can with any amount of children can seem like a daunting prospect but it doesn’t have to be.

I have even managed to take J & M on my own on a couple of occasions,

So here is what I do to try and beat the cabin fever.

Toileting

  • Make sure you use the toilet before boarding the plane. – even if they insist they don’t need it I still make my two try you could be a long time with seat belts on!
  • Sometimes if the kids are desperate the cabin crew will let you use the toilet before take off!
  • Make sure you have a spare set of clothes just incase they can’t hold it in.
  • Now I’ve been in a situation where I need the loo and I have two children with me – My advice is If they are happy in their seat leave them. They can’t go anywhere. And there isn’t a lot they can damage in their seat.
  • Otherwise you could take them up to the toilet with you however there isn’t a lot of room for three in those toilets. – Cabin crew may talk to your little ones while you go to the loo. All you have to do is ask.

Activities

  • We pack the electronic nanny with us in our hand luggage but remember you will need them in flight mode so download what you can beforehand.
  • Make sure you have kid’s headphones – you don’t want to be on a 4 & half hour flight with peppa pig on a loop in your ear! Kids headphone will often have limited volume too so no need to worry about little ears being damaged
  • Pack a new thing – a magazine, small toy, coloring book. – It doesn’t have to be expensive.
  • I once packed a lucky bag – The excitement of something new and not knowing what is in the bag was enough to keep them busy for a while!

 Reverse the role.

  • Kids love a bit of responsibility I tell mine to let me know when the seatbelt sign is off. This doesn’t always work they still ask for the tray table down or their bag but I get them to keep an eye on the light and tell me when its gone off!
  • While the cabin crew are doing their safety spiel I get the kids to watch if they are old enough and then let me know what to do with life jacket, and how to put on my seatbelt!

I’m Hungry

  • So there is often a trolley of snacks up and down the aisle, on our journey of 4.5 hrs we see the snack bar three times! It can cost a small fortune.
  • Pack some snacks in the kids hang luggage – fruit, popcorn, juice, crisps, even a sandwich!
  • Chose one thing off the menu and don’t veer off.
  • If you only have a short trip eat before you travel.

Getting off

Wait until the end – If you get out of your seat first your going to be holding people up behind you and if you have more than one child your more likely to get split up due to everyone trying to rush off

Take off  & Landing

  • To prevent ears popping and hurting little ones make sure they have some sweets or a drink they can have while taking off and landing
  • For babies I recommend their dummy or feeding them the sucking will relies the pressure in the ears and sooth them during this time.SAMSUNG CSC

So they are my tips for the flight, can you think of any more?

If you have a great tip leave a comment below and don’t forget to follow me on bloglovin of wordpress for more Traveling with twins.

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Health & Fitness

How do I explain death to my 4 year olds?

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In the four years my children have been alive a number special people in our lives have died. The Twins had been a little young to know whats happening. When I lost my Nan my twins were only two. They will have noticed she wasn’t here anymore however they don’t really remember her! 

A couple of days ago however the next door neighbour of my nan (who I have known since they both moved there about 30 years ago ) died – She had been having a few health issues over the past year but had such a positive outlook! She was in her 90s and so much more agile than my nan was at 90!

As I came off the phone to my mum I realised I was crying and J & M were looking at me!

I tried to explain but I don’t think they understood!

I tried the well “Mrs G” won’t be here anymore she has gone to be with my nanny somewhere in the stars!

Can we see her they asked! – I told them that we wouldn’t be able to see her again now.

I didn’t know what to say –  I think many of us are inept at dealing with death. I was talking to someone the other day who said I the olden days death was just what happened. In fact in times of poverty it was probably a bit of a relief as sick couldn’t work so therefore were a burden!  These times we as family dealt with the funeral ourselves.

Nowadays that job is usually  given to a funeral home so we only ever talk  about death through closed doors!

I am one of those inept people – I don’t deal with death very well and therefore am a little scared of my own mortality or selfishly the mortality of people around me (what will I feel when there gone?)

So with all this in mind I want to do the right thing by my two. I don’t want them to grow up with this fear that I have and that my dad had that death is something to fear so much so that it interferes with living!

Googling how to talk to a preschooler about death I came up with many don’ts

  • Don’t tell them that the person has gone to sleep – This may cause the child to not want to go to sleep
  • Don’t tell them the person has gone away – Leaving the child may then be an issue as they may think you have “gone away”
  • Don’t tell them the person has been so good that jesus wanted them – The child might start playing up so they don’t get chosen
  • Don’t tell the child the person is happy now they have gone – the child might question why the person is so happy when everyone around them is sad!

So what do I say instead?

What do I say to my 4 year olds about where this person who was a part of our lives is now?

How do explain death to them?

If you have any words of wisdom please leave in the comments below or message me on facebook.

Thanks

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Health & Fitness

Fitness Friday – So close!

If you follow my instagram feed and My Fitness Pal account  you will see that from Monday I started logging my food & tracking my steps –

I started the week quite terrible – It was my birthday on Monday so my food included chocolate cake! and as we had been camping over the weekend my watch was flat so I couldn’t track my steps either!

However as the week progresses I have done a lot better. I got up to 8500 steps on Wednesday – This was walking J & M to holiday club I also managed to fit a swimming session in too!

This morning I was hopeful that I could have hit the 10000 with a holiday club run and some free time for a walk around the village – Unfortunately M was poorly in the night and having a day off from Holiday club so you will have to check out my instagram feed later to see how I got on!

I thought I could also fit in a swim today but again with M off I couldn’t take her with me! Also My time of the month just arrived and she’s makes herself well-known so I’m just going to end up having a lazy day I think!

Updates

I’ve rejoined the Spa! – The motivation to swim there is so much better I feel so much more relaxed there!

Next step is to get up earlier and get a yoga sequence in before J & M get up. Yoga makes me feel so much better for the day ahead.

This past week knowing that you are following my progress has been my motivation, so this week my plan is a “a week of yoga” vlog on my YouTube channel.

The video will hopefully go live at the same time as next weeks Fitness Friday post.

To see how I get on don’t forget to subscribe to my Channel, Follow my Instagram feed & Follow me here on my blog!

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Health & Fitness

Another Baby?

Lately we, as a family, have been toying with the idea of having another baby.

I have two healthy children who are on a whole happy.

So why would we want another baby?

I had a planned but unwanted C Section – I have never really got over the fact that my children came out of the sunroof so to speak.  They were taken out 4 weeks before the due date according to when they were conceived.  They turned at every scan so chances are they could have turned again had they left them a bit longer.c965e1d0208d83623be8910d06517035

Anyway that’s another blog post!

I never wanted children until I found someone I wanted to make a family with then we wanted a big family.

I would love to have all my grown children round for dinner with their partners.

I love the moment in the film ‘It’s Complicated’ where her children are there and they are all having dinner around the table laughing and generally having a good time!

I would love to have those mornings again bonding with my new baby, (that newborn baby smell, the little noises they make) and generally getting to know each other.

Myself and Hubby are not getting any younger and I think if we don’t try again now it’s going to be too late!

However, in order to get my body and mind free of medication, I stopped (through the doctor’s advice) taking the tablets that I was on for depression.

I have felt myself dip! I’m crying a lot more. My anxiety is off the scale. I’m scared of everything!

I’m not sure trying to get pregnant is the right thing to do!

I think I need to be happy and present within the family I have got rather than trying to extend the family.

I think I need to get my wellbeing in shape.

I love my family and want to do all I can to keep them happy and safe!

I need to learn to accept that things don’t always go as planned.

I am going to concentrate being a better mum, step mum and wife to the family I have.

Although I would rather not be back on the meds I think if it’s what is going to keep me and my family happy then it is the right thing to do!

I have been to the doctor today and talked it through with her and, for now, I’m going to try using St, Johns Wart and she has referred me back for talking therapy.

If we still decide, in the future, that we want to extend our family, then maybe we will look into other options like adoption!

But just for now I’m going to concentrate on working on a better version of myself!

Where to next?