Rollercoaster Mum

Silent Sunday

2013-05-19T08:00:00.000+01:00

A Year in Pictures - Week 20

2013-05-18T10:07:00.003+01:00

It's been a fairly ordinary week - dominated by the relentless routine of life, spiced up with a dash of lying (don't ask) and a pinch of pride as both girls are in the school Achievers Assembly this week - much to the joy of Little Miss Sunshine in particular who couldn't stop smiling at the thought of her first 'cerkificate'.

Just look at that smile - she was grinning like a Cheshire Cat!

One of the huge joys for me this week was realising how green everything looks all of a sudden, despite some pretty dodgy weather the countryside looks like someone has taken to it with enormous amounts of green paint - glorious when the sun does deign to shine.

Look at those green fields

Loved this card too that Little Miss Sunshine did for the Knights and Princesses party she went to last Sunday!

Check out the sword!

Linking up with the Boy and Me for lots more pictures of May 2013.

A little bit of Flower Magic!

2013-05-16T14:16:00.000+01:00

We have great hopes for the garden this year - mind you don't we do that every year? Last year was soo cold and wet though that nothing much happened and we got thoroughly disheartened but with gardening every year brings new hope and you pick yourself up and have another go. I think it was Alan Titchmarsh who said that gardeners are a always a hopeful, optimistic bunch - you have to be really.

Rollercoaster Dad is in charge of the veggie patch and although I do get involved that bit is his thing. So far the rhubarb is doing spectacularly in the old bath, parsnips, potatoes, carrots, runner beans and peas have been planted and we are nurturing a couple of courgette plants and some tomato plants that were planted earlier in the year. The strawberry plants have started to flower and the gooseberries and currants are looking good too.

The revamped flower bed - just waiting for the plants to grow!

Now to the flowers - this is my bit as Rollercoaster Dad is not really that interested in these. We have two main 'flower' beds - neither of them huge. One has been a bit of a disaster the last few years so this year I am determined to get it going again so we have lots of pretty flowers in the summer. Looking at pictures from a few years ago when Little Miss Star was a toddler it did look gorgeous for at least one summer (until the builders doing our extension decided it was a great place to dump their rubble - hmmmm) so it would be nice to think it could again. Last week I splashed out on a few new perennial plants from the local garden centre and these have now been planted, bark chips put down and plants I didn't want taken out.

That bare patch that needs filling with flowers

The other has been quite successful and has become reasonably established with perennials like Phlox and Geraniums but it does have one rather bare patch without any plants. I wasn't quite sure what to put there so I was very pleased and rather intrigued to be sent some Flower Magic from Miracle Gro recently. This seemed ideal for filling that gap. Now what, you might ask, is Flower Magic?

The pack I got came in a nice pink colour and promises all sorts of wonderful flowers such as Marigolds, Californian poppies , Candytuft and Cosmos amongst up to 29 other varieties. The pack contains flower seeds, feed and coir all in one and you simply shake the pack,sprinkle the contents evenly over the soil surface, water it gently and leave, just watering if it drys out. There is even a handy indicator as to when it has got too dry as when it turns a lighter brown it needs watering. It really couldn't be simpler. You can continue to sow with it up 'til mid June so it's still worth trying it out if you have some areas that need cover - especially with our late spring this year.I sprinkled my magic about two weeks ago and as promised the first few shoots are now beginning to appear. According to the packet I might expect flowers in about 4 weeks so here's hoping. I'm certainly impressed as to how easy it is as although we grow our veggies from seed I have rarely used seed for flowers. If you want to have a go the 1kg packs cover up to 4 metres square and cost around £11-£14. I'll let you know how the magic works in a few weeks!

Not the clearest photo but you can just see a few shoots of those magic flowers showing through!

Disclosure: I was sent a pack of Flower Magic for the purposes of review but all words and opinions are my own.

Macro Monday - Water droplets (and a sneaky bee!)

2013-05-13T01:48:00.003+01:00

This week we have gone from this:

Gratuitous bee - because I love them and the the sunshine!

to this - sun to rain - I hated losing the sun but taking photos of water droplets was cool!

Silent Sunday

2013-05-12T08:00:00.000+01:00

A Year in Pictures - Week 19

2013-05-12T02:20:00.004+01:00

For a short (working) week this has seemed like a really loooong week - why is it that a week after a holiday seems like that? I can't even remember what did happen last weekend - oh yes it was sunny and we had BBQ's. I think we even ventured out - to a great free local event called Grow For It - at one of the local posh schools. Alan Titchmarsh was wandering around and the kids got to pond dip, make bird feeders and collages, paint flower pots and plant things, amongst others. The rest of the week was mainly about rashes and Rainbows - both featured by Little Miss Sunshine. The sun slowly disappeared - the wind and rain came back with a vengeance and Little Miss Star featured in Achiever's Assembly (again!)

Blue skies - ahhh!

My rather rashy and proud little Rainbow off to her first ever Rainbows meeting

Not normally a fan of municipal planting but these tulips looked so amazing

Candy pink blossom - who can resist that pink fluffiness!

Linking up as always with Th Boy and Me and all the awesome photographers on the 365....

Making Lunches fun with a bit of Monkey Business

2013-05-09T12:50:00.000+01:00

The postman rat-a-tat-tatted on our door last Saturday - always fun as that means a parcel - yay! I was a bit non-plussed by this particular package until I remembered that I had said I would review some of Walkers Baked Hoops and Crosses - their new crispy snacks.

What's in there then?

The rather exciting looking box was fallen on immediately by the girls who wanted to know what it was all about - the intriguing hole in the top leaving us guessing. There were squeals of delight from Little Miss Sunshine when she found a toy monkey holding a bag of crisps inside. Much undignified monkey business followed as they fought over said packet of crisps.

Awww it's a monkey -and crisps!!

The packet we were sent was Roast Beef flavour and we all thought they were very tasty, light and crsipy. The girls in particular fell on them with great delight - although to be honest I've rarely known them turn down a crisp as they are very much treats in the Rollercoaster House. They would probably have enjoyed all the flavours - there is also Prawn Cocktail and Salt and Vinegar.

Yummy!

The Hoops and Crosses are fun (although I'm not sure I really need to encourage my kids to play with their food!) The relative healthiness is obviously a good thing- they are 56% wholegrain with no artificial colours or preservatives and only 85 calories per bag (I think that's good but I don't tend to take too much notice of calories!) The wholegrain thing is more of a biggy I think - we always have brown bread and my kids get plenty but apparently 27% of kids don't get any - nada, none at all - that's quite shocking so Walkers Hoops and Crosses will give you some in a packet of crisps- gotta be good for some. I would buy them again and the girls would be delighted to get a packet in their lunchbox as their Friday treat and I would be happy to put them in my lunchbox too!

And as for the monkey - she has been named Martha the Monkey (don't forget the the or you will be in trouble) and has been added to Little Miss Sunshine's forever growing menagerie!

Martha the Monkey

Discaimer - This is a sponsored post and I was sent the marketing pack for review. All words and opinions are my own.

Macro Monday

2013-05-07T01:47:00.000+01:00

This is really Macro Tuesday isn't it? But as we've had a Bank Holiday (national holiday for non Brits) here in England this week it feels like a Monday today. This week I am featuring the snail - they make great photographic subjects but I have to admit to feeding them to our chickens afterwards as, although fascinating, they eat far too many of my plants - the little blighters!

The greedy Garden Snail

Snail shell

Silent Sunday

2013-05-05T07:30:00.000+01:00

A Year in Pictures - Week 18

2013-05-04T18:30:00.000+01:00

What a whirlwind of a week - parties, playdates, sleepovers (and that's just the kids) - even I have a night out this week though - mmmm imagining that glass of wine! Most importantly though the sun shone and that just makes everything better. Looking forward to a weekend of gardening and planting those plants I splashed out on this week. Photos have been few but this one is my favourite.

Linking up with the awesome The Boy and Me as usual - do head over for lots more photo addicts.

It's a Bank Holiday Weekend - Already?

2013-05-03T07:30:00.000+01:00

Where has the time gone? I can't believe we are two weeks in to the school Summer Term already and my little baby girl is in her last term in Reception class - eeek. This bank holiday weekend has sneaked up on me in a similar fashion so I'm not really sure what we might do, other than enjoy the sunshine (hopefully!)

If you're stuck for things to do to why not check out the National Trust's website of '50 Things to do before you're 113/4' which they have relaunched this week with 15 new things added to the list and if you sign your children up to the website they can unlock secret challenges and games as they do more of the 50 things. They have some great ideas to get the kids outside and active like fly a kite (no. 7) or create some wild art (no. 18). There is something for everybody and all weathers and although it is promoted by the National Trust you don't have to go to one of their properties to do them - no 13 is 'make a mud pie' - you can do that in the back garden and it's especially fun if it's been raining! Chris Evans has done a brilliant synopsis of the 50 things here on an Audioboo -

listen to ‘Chris Evans' Bank Holiday Guide’ on Audioboo

If you do fancy a day out and you're in the South East - how about trying Petworth House and Park in West Sussex which we visited a couple of weekends ago on the National Trust Free Day Out. It is an enormous stately home still lived in by Lord and Lady Egremont, set in beautiful grounds laid out by Capability Brown complete with a lake, a herd of deer and several follies. The only problem we had that it was so popular that weekend that the car park was full so we had to park over the road and walk across a green to get there. We started off with lunch in the restaurant (set in a stunning hall) to make sure we had plenty of energy and then we set off to explore the house.

lunch in that big hall

Next up was the Servants Quarters. They are huge and I think my favourite bit as they really bring them to life. The girls enjoyed turning the churn in the winter dairy - trying to make butter!

Trying to make butter!!

Once these were explored we walked across the courtyard to the big house where a lovely lady told us all about the spaniel hunt - there are toy spaniels hidden all over the house and if you spot them all you get a sticker (they are quite small and hard to find but we did spot them all - hint - look upwards!) She also told us about the treasure chests in the rooms which are activities for the kids to do. Little Miss Sunshine was particularly keen on these and they included dressing up, dolls house furniture to rearrange and even a place setting to set out like a posh dinner table. I would say though that at age 8, Little Miss Star was a little left out as most of the activities were a bit young for her but she was a bit young to appreciate all the old pictures and things in the house.

Grand spot for dressing up!

Once all the spaniels were safely found and stickers collected we headed off into the grounds for a walk and the beauty of these is that you can wander around these for free! They are also perfect for ticking off a few of your 50 things. You could climb a tree, roll down a big hill, fly a kite, explore inside a tree or hunt for scary (mini)beasts amongst others.

Running down that hill

We enjoyed exploring the old boat house and the follies, running down a big hill and clambering around on trees whilst I admired the lovely flowers in the gardens and of course took a few pictures. As usual the girls had to be dragged away and really didn't want to come home.

The Lake (and a dog)

If you want some alternatives to the National Trust then how about one of these ideas on this handy graphic from Moneysupermarket - there's some deals and the results of a survey on the 'days out habits' of families in Britain - looks like we like our days out but we also love a bargain!

Image source: MoneySupermarket Travel Insurance

As for this weekend - well I'm not sure what we're going to do but I reckon we'll definitely have a go at ticking off at least one of those 50 things even if we don't go for a day out. I can practically smell those mud pies cooking in the garden! Whatever you do have a great weekend and enjoy that extra day off!

Oh and I'm linking up with Country Kids over at Coombe Mill - I'm sure there will be some more ideas over there on the other blogs too so do take a look (just click the badge!)

Disclosure - I have not been paid in any way for this post. All words, pictures and opinions are my own.

We love books - a couple of (book) reviews

2013-04-30T10:43:00.004+01:00

We really do love books in the Rollercoaster household (even Rollercoaster Dad ) although the grown up members of the household are severely lacking in time to read these days but the girls are fast making up for us. They can both often be found with their little blonde heads stuck in a book. Little Miss Star reads properly long chapter books these days - in fact the problem can be finding age appropriate material that isn't boring or badly written. Some of the girly books series about things like ballet, fairies and small animals are truly awful - they have their place but there's just too many of them. Little Miss Sunshine is only in reception and is storming along on the reading front but at that stage where everything is sounded out but the main thing is she really tries to read her books, even ones which are really too tricky!

I've not really blogged about books and reading before and I really should have as it is something I feel passionate about. I have even added a little widget from Goodreads to the blog (down there on the right) to show what we are all reading or have read recently! As a child I never had my nose out of a book - I think it drove my mum mad. I would go to the library, get out my allotted 4 books (so good you can take out way more these days) and I would have read them all by the end of the day!

I am really pleased that my girls seem to love their books too so I was very excited to be offered the opportunity to review some children's books from an innovative publisher called My Little Big Town. They have a range of children's books ranging from ages 2-12, many of which are aimed at encouraging reluctant readers to read for fun, especially young boys. Now obviously my girls are not particularly reluctant (or boys) but I was intrigued.

For Little Miss Sunshine we picked 'Anisha's Adventures in Bangladesh' by Moinul Islam. This is the first in a series of books about a little girl (she even has her own facebook page) who is given magical necklaces on her birthday for herself and her pony Chloe. These transform them so that they may fly anywhere they want, taking pictures and finding out all about new places. Anisha is from Bangladesh so this is the first book and she explores her own country finding out all sorts of things about where she lives using her magical camera.

It is a picture book but not in the classic 'read in 5 minutes' book - I read it to Little Miss Sunshine over 2 nights. The recommended age is 5+ and she is not quite at the stage where she could read it by herself. I think the age is more to do with understanding the story and the facts in the book. It was certainly a good way to introduce her to a different culture and learn about the world. We are looking forward to the next book which is to be set in London so that should have some familiar places too. This was Little Miss Sunshine's own review of the book: (she wanted to draw the pony but said she couldn't hence the flag!)

Little Miss Star picked 'Gorgeous George and the Giant Geriatric Generator' by Stuart Reid. This book is aimed at 9+ and although she is only just 8 she's a pretty good reader but she did struggle with the first couple of chapters but once she got into it she didn't put it down. It sounds complicated but the author quite quickly explains words like 'geriatric' and 'generator' in the book within the context of the story. I thought it had overtones of Roald Dahl books and as she loves these it wasn't a surprise that she liked this book.

It is about a young boy who starts to notice strange things happening in his town and when his much loved Grandad goes missing he sets out to find out what is happening with the new girl (and his only friend) at school - Allison to help. They uncover a dastardly plot by the evil owner of the local power plant and his horrible wife (also George's teacher) to produce cheap power and control the town. It has mystery, adventure and pranks with poo - what more could you want! It is a good book and a very entertaining read. Boys would love it and any girls who've got over those awful ballet books!

This was Little Miss Star's views on the book.

Disclaimer: We were sent two books to review but all views and words are my own.

Macro Monday - The Petworth House Edition

2013-04-29T00:50:00.000+01:00

It was the National Trust's Free Day Out last weekend and we made the most of it by a visit to historic Petworth House. As well as the house they also have amazing grounds with beautiful flowers so I give you - Macro Monday - the Petworth edition....

Light shining through a Narcissus

Gnarly tree bark

Wood anemone

Snakeshead Fritillary

Magnolia stellata

Silent Sunday

2013-04-28T07:30:00.000+01:00

A Year in Pictures - Week 17

2013-04-28T01:07:00.000+01:00

We've had sunshine - proper, warm, lovely sunshine. The downside of that is time for blogging becomes even harder to find so it's taken a bit of a back seat this week. We headed off to Petworth last Sunday for the National Trust Free Weekend (more of that later in the week) and had a great time Spaniel searching and running around the grounds. I ventured along as a parent helper on eldest's school trip, survived the onslaught of 7 year olds and enjoyed being out on a beautiful day. There have been trips to the park after school and lollies instead of biscuits for snacks. The garden has started to come alive in earnest and life has been warm and good.

Having fun at Petworth House

Fabulous day and place for a school field trip

School trip montage - we found slow worms and butterflies, made clay and twig art and enjoyed beautiful scenery and a spot of history

Linking up as always with The Boy and Me - for lots more photo inspiration head on over - just click the badge.

Silent Sunday and Macro Monday

2013-04-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

Love this picture so much I am linking with Macro Monday too!

A Year in Pictures - Week 16

2013-04-21T01:18:00.006+01:00

This week we have had school, sunshine (at last), showers and soiree's, along with a smattering of sewing, some hard hail and recognition of respect, most of which have not been captured on camera, so I give you what has....

Linking up as always with the Boy and Me and all those other photo addicts - just click that 365 badge..

How to make a wormery - a kids activity for National Gardening Week

2013-04-18T11:23:00.001+01:00

As promised on my post yesterday for National Gardening Week, I thought you might like to see how we made a wormery. This is not strictly gardening of course but it is about wildlife in the garden and teaching the little'uns about wildlife and the natural world around us. Worms are (after the brilliant bees of course) one of the most important creatures in a garden. They recycle the 'rubbish' like old leaves, enriching and aerating the soil at the same time, so making it a better place to grow things in.

This is a really easy project to do with the kids and it can be done inside if it's a rainy day (apart from actually finding the worms of course!) Unless you're like us and just do it outside in the rain anyway.

1/ Find an old plastic soft drinks bottle and carefully cut the top off:

2/ Find some soil and some sand (we used soil from old pots last year and sand from the sand pit that we gave away last weekend). Layer these alternately in your plastic bottle so you have distinct layers (this helps to see where the worms have been later)

3/ Then go find some worms - in your garden if you have one, or just out in the fields, woods or park (don't start digging up the flowerbeds in the park though!) This is best bit although Little Miss Sunshine wasn't too keen on holding one.

4/ Put some leaves and grass on top of the soil in your wormery bottle (this gives the worms something fresh to eat) and add the worms on top.

5/ Finally wrap the bottle in dark coloured cardboard so that the worms are in the dark (as they are usually underground) and cover with clingfilm with a few airholes put in it as this helps to keep the humidity high and to stop the worms escaping (although this is unlikely as they will probably burrow down.)

Leave the wormery for a week, just sprinkle daily with a couple of spoonfuls of water - to keep it damp. Our soil was very wet to start with so this was less important but will be very important if you start with dry soil. After a week, take the cardboard off and admire the tunnels made by the worms. Our big reveal will be at the weekend so you'll have to come back them to see if it worked or not!

National Gardening Week and my seed buddy

2013-04-17T07:30:00.000+01:00

National Gardening Week this year is concentrating on gardening for wildlife, something which I believe is very important, especially for our poor bees which are having a hard time of it what with the varroa mite and now neonicotinoid pesticides. Without bees and other pollinating insects, not only will we have no honey but our food security could be under threat - something I wrote about in more detail last year.

With this in mind I am looking at what I might plant in one of our flower beds this year. We had to dig up most of the plants in it as although the bees did love them they were far too big for our little garden and the bed has needed a refresh for a couple of years - I am thinking of some Verbena bonariensis with some lavender maybe (although we've never had much luck with lavender before!) However I am holding off on the seed buying as my latest blogging buddies over at Social Fabric (see the badge in the sidebar on the right) are doing a fun get to know people seed exchange and I have a seed buddy which I am rather excited about. I have been sent their details and what plants/colours they might be interested in. I have been out to buy them some seeds and I will be sending them along with some silly facts about me and hopefully in return I will get a surprise package of seeds

This is what I got my seed buddy - they said they liked the colour blue so I majored in on that with some bee friendly lavender, sweet peas which smell gorgeous and every garden should have and some purple sprouting broccoli as a blueish vegetable! I also put in basil for the windowsill in case they run out of room in the garden, sunflowers as every child should grow a sunflower and some dwarf french beans as they are a great veg crop (and bees like bean flowers!) I hope they like them and I can't wait to see what I will get from them!

Of course it's not all about bees, gardening for wildlife also includes the birds, hedgehogs, ladybirds and all sorts of other insects, including the gardeners friend the worm and on that note I will be posting about how to make a wormery later in the week. Here's my favourite bee photo to finish:

National Trust Free Weekend - this weekend!

2013-04-16T11:27:00.000+01:00

Last year I wrote about our trip to Uppark House and Gardens on the National Trust free weekend and they're doing it again this weekend - the 20th and 21st April. All you have to do is visit the National Trust website, download the voucher and you can get a free day out for up to 2 adults and 2 kids. They are opening up over 200 of their properties for this and there's bound to be one near you. The website has full details of which properties are included.

For those of you who remember the National Trust as just a bunch of stuffy old houses it really has changed and lots of the properties provide loads of kid friendly activities including trails to follow, activity packs and toy boxes. And of course most of them have lots and lots of lovely outside space for the kids to run around.

We had a blast last year at Uppark, exploring the gardens, rolling down hills, following the garden trail, seeing the biggest dolls house ever and making echoes in the underground tunnels.

Admiring the view at Uppark House

Another great place to visit is Winkworth Arboretum which we visited last autumn to admire the fabulous autumn colour but is great in spring for spotting bluebells and magnolias. We had a picnic on a bench with a fabulous view, ran down hills, climbed trees and admired the ducks on the lake from the rather wonderful boathouse.

Collecting leaves by the Boathouse at Winkworth Arboretum

A little bit further afield from us we have also visited Avebury Manor. This is a great place for kids - every room has been refurbished in a different era from the house's history (it featured on a BBC programme 'To the Manor Reborn' a couple of years ago.) The best bit is you can play and touch it all - bounce on the beds, cook in the kitchen, play billiards, discover the secret door, do some sewing, have a go on the exercise chair. and admire the fabulous and colourful rooms. The kids loved it and when you've had enough inside there are wonderful gardens and of course the fascinating stone circle.

Trying out the exercise chair at Avebury Manor

The girls have loved every National Trust property we have been to and clamoured to go again so this is a great opportunity to try a visit to the National Trust, try somewhere new or revisist a favourite place- and it's FREE! We will definitely be taking advantage of it again - it's just a question of where, which may depend a bit on the good old British weather. We may be hunting out the deer at Petworth Park, trying out the fabulous looking new playground at the Vyne or checking out the daffodils at Hinton Ampner.

This is not a sponsored or paid for post.

Macro Monday

2013-04-15T01:26:00.000+01:00

I've had clearer macro's but it was good to get out in the garden at last and see one of these guys.

Silent Sunday

2013-04-14T07:30:00.000+01:00

A Year in Pictures - Week 15

2013-04-13T17:31:00.002+01:00

The second week of the Easter holidays and it started with optimism,sunshine and a weekend spent out in the garden (yes, the shiny yellow thing in the sky actually made an appearance.)

Little Miss Star's belated birthday treat was the main event. We went to see Louis Pearl the Amazing Bubble Man which was excellent and thoroughly recommended if you have kids about 7 - 11. It has been downhill since then despite my attempts to entertain with cookery and gardening and now a week later the rain is falling in buckets. Time to go back to school I think (although I could do without those blasted pack lunches.)

Possibly my favourite picture this week was Little Miss Star helping out in the garden but I used that for The Gallery's theme of Happy, so here's a couple of others.

PS - please ignore badges and things being in funny places on the blog - trying to streamline it a bit but taking time 'cause of them darn rugrats!

The Amazing Bubble Man - pictures a bit blurry as I couldn't use the flash.

Kneading the bread (which was unfortunately disastrous, I blame the out of date yeast!)

As usual I am linking up with the Boy and Me and all the other lovely 365'ers. Do go and visit some more of them - just click the badge

The Gallery - Happy

2013-04-10T07:30:00.000+01:00

The sun was out, spring finally on it's way, it's the Easter hols and we got out into the garden at last - enough to make you H-A-P-P-Y!

Helping Daddy aerate the lawn involved lots of jumping - more reasons to be HAPPY!

Linking up over at the Gallery - click the badge for tons of HAPPY pictures!

Thoughts on Vaccinations and Measles

2013-04-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

I am fully expecting to get slated by some for what I am about to write (unusual for me as I rarely write anything controversial) but here goes...

Watching the news yesterday I was horrified, if not surprised, to see the report on 600 cases of measles in a part of Wales and the consequent queues for the measles vaccine. I get so angry that people do not go and have the MMR jab, or other vaccines, when they are scheduled. Why not go - I cannot understand - the whole autism link was discredited years ago now - partially in 2004 and fully in 2010. By not being vaccinated you are not only putting your own children at risk but also the whole 'herd' immunity. A 2011 journal article has described the vaccine-autism link as 'the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years'. So why oh why are there STILL people who refuse to have it until the frightening reality of the possibility of measles comes and slaps them in the face.

Measles is a horrible and extremely serious disease - a fact which seems to be overlooked by many. My mother had measles when she was a child and the doctors were concerned she would lose her sight and possibly even die. That is the reality of measles - even now in 2013.

I had my own frightening moment when Little Miss Sunshine was just 1. She had been due to get her first MMR but could not be given it because she had a horrid cold. The cold turned into bronchiolitis which she was given penicillin for. A couple of days later she was covered in a serious, itchy rash. In typical fashion it was a bank holiday weekend so we first went to the pharmacist who frightened the hell out of me by saying it could be measles(and it did look very like a measles rash.) I was incredibly worried because she had not had the MMR (not for want of trying). We got to see a doctor the next day and he advised it was probably an allergic reaction to the penicillin which seemingly it was but it still frightened the hell out of me and as soon as she was better she was carted off for that MMR.

Little Miss Sunshine's rash - actually penicillin allergy but was thought it could have been measles

To be honest the autism link was not enough to put me off anyway. I am a great believer in vaccination as it has saved millions of lives the world over with vaccines for diseases such as smallpox and polio. If you can have a vaccine to stop getting a serious disease why wouldn't you? Having been an inveterate traveller to some of the less salubrious parts of the planet BC (before children) I have had many vaccinations and felt much safer because of it and I have never suffered ill effects. The only reason I might have not had a vaccination for something was purely financial.

If you can prevent people from getting a disease that can kill then why not do it. Imagine if you could vaccinate against malaria - how wonderful would that be - and how many lives could be saved in the developing world. We are incredibly lucky that in the UK we have free access to such things and the NHS to fall back on when we do get ill. We should be campaigning for vaccines not avoiding them.

I am adding this post to the Slow Blogging Carnival over at Tots 100 - at least I think I'm going to - I'll have to think about it - slowly!