Titanic Belfast

We have been to Titanic Belfast and thoroughly enjoyed it (despite the fact I cannot stand hearing about the Titanic which is unfortunate considering I married a Titanic nut!).

We had gotten hubbie tickets for Titanic Belfast as part of his Christmas present and I thought that I was being clever and picking the last Saturday in March thinking that the initial rush would be over, of course I didn't read it right and ended up choosing the opening day, my goodness what a crush!

Hubbie enjoyed himself immensely and I enjoyed all the history surrounding Titanic, the era it was build in, the work involved, the people associated with the building and operation of the ship, just didn't like the bit about it sinking and especially didn't like reading about the body of a two year old boy being found - this definitely struck a chord with us as our twins are now two and it greatly upset us.

For the interactive ride there was a very long queue, it was having a few malfunctions not surprising considering it was the 1st day of the exhibition but we stood for well over an hour waiting on it. The staff, or crew as they were called, were as helpful as could be, offering to take us on to the next bit and maybe coming back to see the ride later if we wanted but we said we were ok to stand, and then a while later more crew came up and asked again if we wanted to skip it offering us 50% off vouchers on our next visit because of our delay if we did want to move on.

The gift shop was pricey, but then they always are in places like this, some lovely pieces of jewellery and Belleek had some gorgeous pieces that I would've loved to have brought home but 1. we couldn't afford them and 2. we don't have anywhere to put them so we just had to leave them be.

The one thing I'm sorely disappointed over is that we didn't get to see the staircase, it's not part of the exhibition so I understand why lots of people are up in arms that one of the guys from JLS got to see it and tweeted a pic of himself infront of the staircase:

So unfair and it makes me wonder why the staircase is part of the advertising if it's not open for public viewing. Just goes to show that the paying customer isn't that important, it's the hype that celebrities can bring is the real issue here. 

Maybe someday we'll all get to see the staircase because really that's the one thing I was most looking forward to.

 

 
 

1 flu, 2 colds and a sore throat

That about sums up my week.

Hubbie is down with a flu-like illness, our twins have a bad cold each, and I'm fighting a sore throat and hoping it won't turn into anything worse as we can't afford for me to get sick with Hubbie starting his new job on Monday.

It's been nothing but colds, chest infections and sniffles in our house since Christmas and I'm looking forward to the day when we all wake up and there's not a runny nose in sight, green is fast becoming a colour I hate.

Fingers crossed it's something that by the weekend it'll be easing up and all three of my monsters will be up and running again by next week.

Listography: Top 5 Things That Makes Me Happy

• kate takes 5 asks us this week for our Top 5 Things That Makes me Happy so here are mine...

• Our identical twin daughters. They may be little monsters but they're our little monsters and we wouldn't want them any other way.

• My kindle that Santa brought me Christmas past, I feel completely and utterly lost if I don't have it near me at all times.
• My husband. Despite being made redundant he hasn't let the dooms and glooms overtake him and he's turning his down time into something productive (like diy round the house) and focusing on what the next stage of his working life is going to be.
• My Mummy. Regardless of what age I am she'll always be called Mummy. She's had it really rough the last year or two but she's still standing and if it wasn't for her I don't think any of her children would be as strong as we are today, it's thanks to her that we turned out as well as we did and nothing we can do can ever show her how much she means to us, although according to her her twin granddaughters were a good start!
• Baking. There's nothing better than creating something you know everyone will enjoy and even better when your friends and family know you're planning on doing some baking at the weekend and they put in requests for their favourites. I love that feeling.

Monochorionic Diamniotic Twin Pregnancy

Monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twins share a single placenta with a single outer membrane and two inner membranes. MCDA as described by the NHS 

 From the day we told everyone I was pregnant everyone joked that we would be having twins, my Mother being the biggest culprit and more than likely the ring leader of it all and when the Midwife told us she could see a second blimp on the screen and had to go get the Consultant we still thought she was joking, until the Consultant Mrs Scoffield confirmed that yes we were having twins. I started giggling, I couldn't help it. Hubbie just sat there with this weird look on his face. We were then taken to Mrs Scoffield's room and again I was covered in the horrible gel and our twins were examined then we were told that they were MCDA twins and as straightforward as possible we were told the facts, what my ante-natal care would be, what the worst case scenarios were and what actions would be put into place should the worst happen.

We left the clinic feeling completely and utterly drained we were on an emotional high after just finding out we have conceived identical twins naturally but we were also terrified about what may happen to them but that wasn't the end of our day cause we then had to go and get bombarded with all the healthy eating info etc from another Midwife (and I must admit I don't remember a word of what she said).

Our twins shared a placenta and even though there were two inner membranes the dividing wall between them was far too thin and we were at a risk of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome and our babies would need constant monitoring to ensure that if it did happen they caught it in time to act on it. Coupling TTTS with my history of high blood pressure I was going to be poked and prodded every chance they got.

That was the start of having an appointment every Wednesday fortnight until Christmas to make sure both our babies were growing at a rate they deemed acceptable, I was taken off my blood pressure tablets and it was watched constantly and I was put on aspirin and iron tablets earlier than I was expecting because of our twins (the 1st time I had a pee after taking those was quite a shock!!) and instead of being scanned by a Midwife I had another Consultant doing the honours and the only thing he really said to me was don't worry if I don't talk, that's a good thing cause it means everything is ok with your babies. Some talk would've been good as it would've put me at my ease a little more but he was doing his job and I can understand he couldn't be distracted.

We managed to get to Christmas without any fear of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome and for that we were grateful but as soon as I thought I'd be able to have a semi-normal pregnancy I was told I still had to have fortnightly appointments, but at least this time I was allowed to go to the normal ante-natal clinic and not the Specialist upstairs so I got to feel a little more normal at least.

We were really lucky in that our twins didn't suffer any problems, we were able to avoid TTTS and our girls were born healthy at 36 weeks, because they were MCDA twins I wasn't allowed to go over 36 weeks as it posed too great a risk for them. My caesarean was planned for 1st March 2010 and everything went smoothly with our girls as perfect as possible

Catherine (L) born 9.46am 6lb and Anna (R) born 9.48am 5lb 7oz

And now in a fortnight's time they'll be 2!!

Surveys, product trials, scanners etc

I must admit I devote a lot of time to completing surveys, taking part in product trials, testing certain products in blind trials and scanning my shopping each time I buy something. I also use coupons and money off vouchers quite a bit too.

My husband calls me the crazy coupon lady and makes comments like I'll be on that Extreme Couponing programme very soon.

I'm not that bad, well I hope I'm not that bad!

Each day I log onto certain survey sites and complete whatever surveys are available, and I also answer a few screening questions to see whether I'm suitable for other surveys that they have, sometimes I'm suitable sometimes I'm not but I always get entered into a prize draw for my time regardless (haven't won one of those yet but maybe someday).

From one of the survey sites I had gathered enough points to redeem them for a £15 Amazon e-voucher and with this I bought my brother-in-law's Christmas present. From two other survey sites I had enough points to redeem them for £4 each which went straight into my paypal account and I used them against my sister's Christmas present.

From doing product trials and blind testing I had received Boots vouchers which went towards gift sets for my in-laws.

From scanning my shopping I had redeemed enough points to 1st get a £10 love to shop voucher which also was used in Boots and just recently I had redeemed my points to get a £10 New Look voucher which I should receive next week, just in time to buy myself something nice to wear on Christmas day.

If you search in the right places you can get coupons and vouchers for money off various items and if there's a new product out sometimes that voucher is to try the product for free, Facebook is brilliant for things like that. I've got a great wee stock pile of Persil Non-Bio and Comfort Pure for very little money because of coupons and as we've got twins we do an awful lot of washing so this has helped save us a lot of money in the long run.

I maybe a crazy coupon lady but we've saved a lot of money this Christmas and I intend to hopefully save a whole load more for next Christmas so we're able to splurge a little more on other areas.

Organised!

Santa has one trike left to buy, Mummy has a lot of baking to do and Daddy just needs to get paid so we can give all his nephews and niece their Christmas money and that's all the Christmas present bought, wrapped and waiting to be delivered.

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Organised is not something you would associate with our house but this year for a change we're all organised and ready and raring to go (I even have all the Shloer bought and hid away for Christmas day).

Other than the fresh food we'll need nothing else needs bought that we're aware of so far so why do I feel like I'm missing something?

Santa Pressure

Our daughters may only be 21months old but already we're feeling the pressure for Santa to perform and next year is already making us nervous as they'll be old enough to start saying what they want and we won't want to disappoint them as each Christmas is becoming more and more special as they get older and even I am losing my bah humbug status with each year that they are here and am looking forward to all the excitement and joy that a family Christmas brings.