Tis the season - nearly there now!

Busy Busy again and managing to get round the snow and ice – although we still have a little bit left on the field! 

Kids started the week with a snotty cold, before I had my kids I used to be Brown Owl to 30 little girls aged 7-10 and one thing I could not stand was snotty nosed children, and now have my own – I still can’t stand the sight! As soon as one of them sneezes I’m like a woman possessed – “who sneezed, who was it? Have you got a runny nose?” and I’m there with the tissues – If I’m driving – well I just don’t know how I manage until I can turn round and wipe it!

They have been brave little soldiers though – as I have tried to carry on – dosed up with a bit of calpol and that seems to have kept them going, although very very tired after their two days at nursery and as husband was on call and not coming home till late – tea time and bath and bed time was a huge struggle, the noise that two very children make when so tired is unbelievable I just didn’t realise, but we got there!

Friday was a day to try and relax but get things done and we delivered 4 bags of clothes that I have been holding onto “just in case I put the weight back on” to age uk, and finding a bulb for the oven light.  

Saturday has been the best day by far – we got to go to the zoo, see Father Christmas and watch the Pantomime all within 5 hours!

We went to Colchester Zoo to celebrate my friends little girls 3^rd Birthday and whilst it was still only about six degrees, the kids had fun running around seeing all the different animals.  The kids were playing in the play area and this [approximately] 8-9 year old boy decided to belch just as I past him and even though his mother was there I still said very loudly “I beg your pardon” He and I was so shocked when I said it, I think I just went into mummy mode!

We stayed the night at my mum’s as I didn’t fancy the 2 hour drive home in the dark and it was just an hour to hers – the plan was to bring her back for last minute Christmas shopping, but she had a little trip down the stairs and needed to rest so I’m going on my own to the outlet centre Springfields in Spalding so should get a few bargains.

We arrived home Sunday afternoon to husband putting last minute touches to our outside light decorations – we just have the rope lights showing the outline of the house – which looks really pretty as we only have one street light down the road and so it looks all sparkly and festive.  Inside decorations will go up next weekend and hopefully there will be a tree left somewhere for us to purchase – I like the smell of a real one!

Kids have their first Nativity Play this week, which I’m sure will be a tear jerker, we have been learning the songs, no lines and no costumes to make!

Have a good week all and  happy shopping!

too much to do!!

hi mummies,
sorry I've not posted for the last couple of weeks, but well, super super busy as usual!
I have finished my Christmas shopping!!! well, I'm at the point where if it's not been bought it's not going to be!! ;) nah, we've pretty much nailed the kids Xmas lists (much to my dismay) and we've spent a FORTUNE! :( next year, it will be different!!!! I'm allowing it this year as it's our first Xmas altogether :) and for a bar-humbug like me it's amazing, because for the first time, EVER, I'm actually really excited about December 25th..... not sure when my loathing began, but i always disliked the run up to Xmas as a child because of my name.... lol
I've wrapped about 120 presents, and ive still got about 3 more to do, which i keep putting off! lol..... decorations are up, four advent calenders hung on the wall (plus 4 cardboard ones) altho i didn't even think of getting one for Ben or myself.... oh well, always next year!
So, what's been happening?? snowed under with uni work as per usual, although our tutor group report got a 2:1!!!! we were all sooooo happy, and it's kicked me up the bum to carry on--- altho I'm now panicking because I've set myself a standard.... hmmmm

Kids are doing great, Eryn starts her new uni in Jan, and altho she's turning into a right little madam, she's being super-cute at the same time. She's at the point where she knows what she wants but cant communicate it, so throws a wobbly instead :S She had an appointment at the hospital 'cause the health visitor thought she had clicky hips, she was soooo brave (braver than me) when she went for the x-ray. All came back clear (which means that i was right to think she was just weird when she used to scoot around on her bum in a half shuffle half crawl fashion) so that was a great relief!

Ethan was Joseph in the school play, bless him..... he was soooo miserable! lol, but just soooo Ethan! He very much enjoyed the snow (unlike me, i hate that too!) and is having a fab time at swimming and Beavers :D

Josh and Harry are good too, Josh is also Joseph in his school nativity.... and Harry is an alien.... not quite sure how that's Incorporated into the story of Xmas, but I'm hoping to hear all about it after Ben sees it next week :)

They've been hard work recently (all of them I mean) don't know why, but very much hoping things will settle down soon!!

Our beloved 'Hank the Tank' broke down on Sunday, in bloody Bournemouth of all places! so we had to get my cousin's other half to rescue Ben (thankfully me and the kids were at home) and well, he was gone most of the day and all evening :( hoping to have the car back today though, it's too cold to be walking miles everyday! Lucky we got a warranty when we bought it so we don't have to pay for the repair!

We went to see Jack and the Beanstalk at the Kings last night. It was the first time Josh and Harry had been to a panto and we all had a fabulous time! We were offered the chance for one of the boys to go on stage at the end but none of them wanted to do it :'( and i was too old apparently :( lol

Oh we babysat my 'nephew' on Saturday night! it was soooo weird having a tiny 6 week old baby to cuddle.... and i did cuddle him, ALL NIGHT because every time i put him down he screamed! (his mum assured me he sleeps through! lol) I loved having him, but it did make me wonder how i coped alone when Eryn was tiny.... just goes to show that no matter what, you just get on with it... and how quickly you forget... And it was amazing to see Ben with him! He was absolutely loving it! Baby was asleep in his pram in the front room with us from 7-10 and Ben was up every 5 mins checking on him! and then he offered to feed him, and hold him- even at 4.30am..... Made me realise what i missed out on from not having him around when Eryn was born.... the wonders of hindsight eh?

But Ben has his very own baby now! Reggie the Rabbit.... Reggie the house rabbit.... during Ben's week off he decided to get a rabbit, i agreed as long as he takes full responsibility for it (i know, i sound like a mum! lol) I have to admit, he is very cute, and he's got an indoor cage and we only let him out in the evenings.... so kind of a house rabbit, but if Ben's happy I'm happy.... lol

Right, that's about it from me, im supposed to be finishing my report on Pedestrian Behaviour.... oh the joys....
Hope every one's ok! xx

Haven't thought of a title - no time Nowadays!

Haven’t thought of a title!

Quite a productive week this week despite the weather! – Last year during the bad weather we decided to invest in an old Land Rover Discovery, not too old but of sound structure and body work, this year we invested in some Mud n Snow tyres and way hay away I go! I was off in the snow for operation Christmas Present Hunt.  I didn’t realise until I got home how much I had actually managed to buy, just that I had very sore hands from carrying it all – as usually I would of had the buggy. I was also very late going to bed that night as I started to wrap as well – a first for me I can tell you.

I am very lucky in my job for the time that I have left [soon to be made redundant thanks to our No 1 – the PM] in that I am able to carry on working from home, so that part of my week was the usual meeting deadlines and keeping on top of things. 

I brushed off that Daughter didn’t want to go to Nursery on Thursday as – “oh never mind then, but let’s get dressed and see where we end up”, and there she was waving energetically to me with the biggest smile I’ve seen for a long way from the Nursery window happy to go and play with all her friends. And when I arrived to pick them both up I was introduced to the amazing world of Glitter and how does that actually get in your nappy again Son I ask when it comes to bathtime.

Its now Sunday night – [just about] and the kids social diary is filling up fast – 2 parties today the first a Village Christmas Party for the kids unfortunately we missed Father Christmas so pressies should be in the Village Interest Shop tomorrow. This party was followed by a Birthday Party in Kings Lynn at the local soft play area – fun was had by all and I was particularly proud of daughter as she came and told me that someone had “weeed” in the upstairs part, I checked her clothes before telling staff that it was definitely not my child who had done it.  Fun was then had by watching the teenage staff trying to climb up the slide with five children following to see what was occurring! 2 more Birthday Parties to go before Christmas, plus Panto and Village Coffee Morning, shopping, working, coursework and eating, sleeping!!!! I am never bored nowadays!!!!!!

So the first reason why this post is so late is I have just completed my first assignment for my course 1250 words yeyhay!! Just a few words over, but I’m quite surprised how I feel considering I was up until 1am this morning in mid flow to be told by husband – “you know you will start to make mistakes” I had been sitting at the kitchen table since 7:30pm.  I have read it and re-read and submitted it – no going back now!

The second reason this is so late is due to my secretarial skills, husband has interview in the morning and is not aux faux with Powerpoint and producing slides, so after submitting essay, designing flow charts and inserting photos into said slides my wrists are not feeling part of my hands of arms anymore – they are somewhere floating in mid air typing this piece, so can just about sign off and say goodnight, I have to say I’m guilty of not reading Hanzors today from yesterday – Big Sorry Hanzor! Will try and catch up with it tomorrow on my coffee break at work! And lastly to say I have added more technology to my world – I can now twitter from my mobile! @mummyrella – think that is the correct way to write it! Have a good week all.  Mummyrella x

The one in which I apologise

I am so sorry (although I bet you didn’t miss me) – but I completely forgot to blog these past two Fridays.

It’s a rather busy time of year, isn’t it? And that’s my excuse.

I have been combining work/motherly duties with Christmas shopping and must admit that this year – more than ever – the interweb has been my friend. I have not actually been to one shop, but I have 90 per cent of the gift-buying done.

I have also booked my grocery shopping to be delivered.

So how smug am I?

Well, not much, to be honest. There’s still plenty to do, of course.

This week all children’s activities have been put on hold while we get over the snow (which I’ve just about had enough of now, thank you), although daughter starts a new gymnastics club tonight so we have to get there – even if it means a two-hour journey home!

I was so proud of her this week as she did her Grade 1 piano exam and got a merit – just two points off a distinction, too! – so all the hard work paid off. Son has the same exam in March, so he’ll be competitive enough to try to beat her *sigh*.

Tonight we have the dreaded primary school Christmas fair. Having chaired the PTFA for a year, I can tell you it’s far more enjoyable being behind a stall than in front of one – I predict chaos. As son has made a biscuit, which will be sold there, we have to go so we can buy it. I won’t be there for long: I try to approach it as a SWAT team would, with a quick recce and out again before I spend too much (I always do on the raffle).

Tomorrow the village I live in is holding its Victorian fair, which should be lovely with snow on the ground – v Dickensian. It also means it will be biting cold, so I hope the shops will be giving away their samples of tea and coffee to us!

Hope all is well with everyone in 7Yummymummies land!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 [this is patience!]

What another busy week we have had a ‘normal’ week Monday to Thursday was work for me and for kids a mixture of child minder and nursery school, so by Friday kids a big grumpy  But we had to be in a fairly good mood as we had a Social Worker visit. So I decided it would be good to meet at a soft ball play area. Energy levels were certainly on a high!

The visit was just to catch up to see how the kids were doing and sorting out our post adoption plan, happy to say that this went well and brilliant news is that the kids have settled so well that nothing specific with regards to health, emotional behaviour or development needs to be followed up, now just waiting for a date in Court to finalise everything [yes it has been delayed AGAIN but fingers crossed everything should be finalised in January now.

Whenever I want to sit down and tell you what’s going on with the kids like when they are in the middle of a tantrum, being little tykes with the terrible twos or being really good and angelic [cough] – I am just not in the right place to do it, so when I do get round to sitting down and writing usually in the evenings, the days frustrations seem to have filtered away as the little darlings are fast asleep in their beds [almost!] son has already got up to tell us he’s not tired so now in our bed until he drifts off.  I do find that if there is a problem with sleep I tend to let them come into our bed – we are trying not to make a habit of it and so when they are in deep sleep they get moved back to their beds unless we all manage to cope in one bed! [ie we are in deep sleep too!]. 

My great ambition at the moment is to learn to find constant patience, so any great tips on relaxing and counting techniques would be greatly received.  I think for any new Mum or Dad patience is the biggest thing.  I would say that we have led fairly selfish lives up until we became a family and then when you become, three, four or five, and patience comes to the forefront or finding it certainly does.

Our prep classes have become quite valuable to us, we have found that being able to reflect on them and surmise the reasons why son and daughter maybe in the particular strop, sleepless or happy moment may be due to regression, anxiety, frustration or just sheer happiness does help us cope with most things, but when on a Sunday afternoon after the sixth bought of crying that day and wanting whatever the other one has or hasn’t got – then patience gets harder to find and time out periods seem a little quieter way to deal with the situations for all. And then the conclusion is easier to come too, quiet time = reflection time which = sleep time and they both manage an energy boost of 40 winks ready for the next half of the day!

I do hope everyone from 7yummymummies is ok as there have been no other blogs on here this week.

A bit of a week

I know I shouldn’t complain – but I’m so tired, my energy levels are low and I’m just starting to get a little twitchy over the forthcoming festivities.  This could be due to a number of things including the combination of getting over last week’s medical episode, a stinky cold and having to look after kids and work from home at the same time due to childminder being ill.  Bless her she is an absolute godsend but when my family support network is far far away life can be a bit of a struggle if mummyrella’s life balance is upset!

Also darling son for the past week has decided he wants to come and cuddle with us around 2 am every night and so last night I took matters into my own hands and put him back in his sleeping grow bag – result! He didn’t come shuffling in to us until around 6:30am so a fairly good lie in if I do say so myself.

That was written about 2 hours ago and now back from a brisk autumnal walk I have found new energy! Kids on the other hand are fast asleep on sofa’s I have worn them out, we did at least one miles walk through the countryside walking through muddy puddles peppa would be proud of and across fields and through the trees playing hide and seek along the way.  It got tough on the last stage as son being only 2 ½ had to have a piggy back, but really pleased with the result. 

Got a chicken in the oven cooking lovely and will go and do potatoes once finished this. Also trying to tackle the Christmas present crisis – don’t know if facebook helps me in this arena as getting a bit prickly hearing how many of my friends have “finished the big shop” eeeeeeeeeggggggggggggghhhhhhh I will get it done but am having to book a couple of days off to go and blitz it.

I hope all my fellow yummymummies are well as bit concerned about their silence – lets hope they are all ok and look forward to hearing from them soon.

The other big news this week is the up and coming Royal Wedding – oh I do like a good wedding and yes I think I am a bit of a Royalist – I found my paper clippings from 1981 I was 10 years old!!!!!

So this time I was thinking it would be a lovely time to celebrate with my children and I’ve decided I’m going to try and hold a street party! Haven’t asked the neighbours or friends yet but once William and Kate and set the date I will start my planning.  I do have one other big concern in that I hope it is not on the 25^th June as I am attending Cybermummy11! – awaiting for the badge to link you all to it but you can also get there from http://www.bmbblog.co.uk/

My darling son’s latest comment at the dinner table last night – Mummy you’re not fat, Daddy you are fat and I will be fat just like you!!!! – where did that one come from? Answers on a postcard! Have a fun week x

One for the Romantics

This week has been one for the romantics.

On Monday, it was our 3 year anniversary of getting together, so we went out for a lovely meal at 8 Kings Road (The Brasserie) in Southsea. It was a lovely meal - couldn't fault a thing, and I left feeling thoroughly stuffed. It was so nice in the restaurant - we were the only ones there, as it was a Monday, so we had exclusive service. The décor was lovely too, with chandeliers and huge flower arrangements and awesome mood lighting. It was really really nice.

We went over to Keydells on Tuesday. How have I never been here before? I've been to Garsons in Fareham, which is awesome, but never ventured into Horndean. Freyja loved it in this garden centre. There was so much to see, and she loved the displays. She was slightly terrified of the Santa mannequin though - I wanted to get a picture of her with him, but she just clung onto me for dear life. I bought a few baubles to put on our tree (when I put it up) and Freyja's first stocking (even though not that many of her presents will fit in it...) I'm going back again on Thursday with my other friend so she can buy some Xmas decorations. I love shopping for Xmas decorations!

We went to see a pre-school on Thursday. We have decided that Freyja needs something like that. She enjoys seeing her little baby friends and playing at home, but I don't think it's constant or constructive enough. We went to see St James' preschool along Milton Road, as they accept toddlers from the age of 2. Freyja's 2 in April, so we went to see it to put her name down. It seems really nice in there - loads of keyworkers and loads of happy children. As soon as we got there, Freyja got stuck in and played with the building blocks, building loads of towers and then followed some of the other children to join in with a sing song. She was really sociable and not intimidated at all. I think we're on to a winner! We are going to put her name down for 2 afternoon sessions a week - it's reasonably priced, and will definitely help her (and me).

On Friday, we went to a wedding in Salisbury. It was my boss' wedding, and he chose an absolutely beautiful venue. It was at Old Wardour Castle in Tisbury, followed by a meal at the Premier Inn in Salisbury. The castle was stunning. It reminded me a little of our chosen venue (when we can eventually afford it) - it was so romantic and picturesque and Nichola (the bride) looked wonderful. It was a really nice day and Freyja was a dream, considering she was awake for about 14 hours.

It's been an eventful but relaxing week, and we've had lots of fun. My personal blog has been coming along leaps and bounds too, so who knows what'll be happening next with that! I have a few product reviews to be completed, and I'm featuring as a guest blogger at some point over the next few weeks on another popular mummy blog. I'm enjoying it!

Have a good week xx

oh Mummyrella that must have been so frightening for u!! hope she's well and truly on the mend now! xx
Well girls, hope you're all having a good week. I am, surprise surprise, really busy :(
so, what's been happening in Nolly-wood this week...
Well, when i collected Eryn from nursery last Thursday I was informed that she'd basically been a little Moo! she'd been very naughty and cheeky and was pushing all the other little ones over! :O i didn't really know what to say to be honest, and i had warned them she was in an odd mood... ooopppsss.... and Friday was the same! In fact they took her on a trip with the older kids (to the laundrette) just to give the others some peace.... hmmm....
Anyway, Friday night Et went off to his dad's and the boys came down.... they had obviously eaten a bowl full of Skittles for their tea 'cause they were absolutely full of beans.... wish the same could have been said for me-I'd had a banging headache all day and i was exhausted. I had a bath as soon as Eryn went to bed, and then i went to bed.... it was just gone 8pm!!! but i obviously needed it.

On Saturday we went to pic up a single bed, kindly given to us by an old school friend of mine. Now Josh and Harry don't have to sleep on a blow up bed! Top and tailing it is tho until we can get bunk beds after Xmas....

Ah Xmas, while we're on that subject, can i have some opinions please.... Ben says we should get everything on the kids lists. FULL STOP. We've set a limit on how much we're spending on each child (well, each boy 'cause Eryn, altho she's got loads, will be more excited about the boxes things come in) The way I've always done Xmas with Et is: he writes a list, I get the majority of it and divvy up the rest of the items between my aunt and my mum- end of.... and if there's still anything he really wants which wasn't bought, he always gets money from my nan and my dad for Xmas so he can buy it himself (usually at half the price i would have paid BEFORE Xmas)
Now, my darling Ben spends an astronomical amount of money on each of his boys at Xmas, well, pretty much double what I'd usually spend on Et.Which is fine, but obviously this year Ethan has to have the same!!! but I've already divvied up his list between my family and well, he doesn't want/need anything else.... and he's got PLENTY! but Ben is still hell-bent on buying J and H everything they want.... We had a little chat last night and basically Ben told me he doesn't agree with me that once we've reached their individual limit then we're to stop buying. I'm just worried we're spending money that could be used for other things (IE bunk beds!) on stuff they don't bloody need!!! ..... Rant over.....
Anyway back to the weekend... Ben went out with his mates in Southampton on Saturday afternoon/evening so i descended on my mums and made her look after Eryn for a bit while i got some work done. Then on Sunday we went round to my nan's for tea with the rest of the family.
Eryn has been better at nursery this week, altho I'm changing her nursery as of January. She's been offered a place at the uni nursery and it's much more convenient for us so I've accepted it. Will be sad to leave where she is though :S
Ethan started his new swimming lessons yesterday, it was much less stressful being closer to home and he really enjoyed it. I went in the pool with Eryn while he was in his lesson and she, well, didn't cry.... still wouldn't go as far to say she had fun, but she was ok! lol
And this evening I'm taking Ethan to the cinema, just the two of us :) so we're both looking forward to that :)

I think that's about it from me this week.... take care girls xxx

Lest we Forget



Lest We Forget  14 -11-10



Firstly I would like to start today’s post by remembering all those who have fallen in battle, for giving me a life for which I can enjoy with my friends and family.  I will never forget.

And so it is timely that life has been put into perspective again.

After a very eventful night / early hours of Tuesday morning can I please bring your attention to CROUP, as a new mummy I had heard about it but that was as far as it went, until my daughter woke us with her rasps for breathe over the baby monitor.  I would like to praise the quick response of NHS Direct, as well as the paramedic and ambulance crew that came to our aid and took myself and my daughter to A&E.  It was a frightful experience, but she recovered quite quickly, and reading the leaflet on CROUP which I was sent home with.  I would like to remind mums that as winter is upon us to make sure you have read up about the symptoms of Croup and not to scare you but that it can be fatal. For more information go to http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/

CROUP [Laryngotracheitis] is a viral illness that affects the larynx [voice box] as well as the airways to the trachea [lungs] and it is more likely to occur in the winter months.  Croup usually affects children aged between six months to five years. 

My daughter’s symptoms included a temperature of 40^o C, a very loud rasping noise as well as a runny nose, other symptoms can include a ‘seal-like’ barking cough.  The terrible rasping noise is known as an inspiratory stridor and was very distressing to hear, particularly as she was sleeping, we have been told that it usually tends to be worse at night. 

[picture from http://www.mychildhealth.net/what-is-child-croup.html]

The ambulance crew and paramedic were fantastic and administered drugs in the form of a nebulizer which at the time didn’t seem to make much difference and because of her high temperature they decided it was best to take her to hospital.  The paediatrician diagnosed Croup and what with the combination of more nebulizer drugs and good ole’ well known paracetamol liquid  her temperature was back to normal within 3 hours and instead I had a hyperactive child running around A&E in her underwear which was a wonderful sight to see.

The week then continued with a mixture of slow, quick, quick slow events - dropping son off at Nursery, bless him he looked so beautiful waving to me and blowing me kisses through the window and having cuddles and rest time with daughter whilst she recovered.

And whilst I was putting the final bits together for this post I looked up and thought this is what family life is all about on a lazy Sunday, husband was DIYing in the shed and making things – what an achievement – kids playing nicely together after a brisk walk over the fields with Poppy Dog and all her friends [8 dogs turned up today] and mummyrella sitting at her kitchen table surrounded by DIY, toys, washing up, whilst busily concentrating on her blogging!

And now after a wonderful Roast Dinner kids in bed, husband chilling with a cup of tea I can put the final sentence together and wish everyone a happy week x

Edging Closer to Xmas

There's 42 days til Christmas (or so eBay tells me...) - and I'm quite impressed with how organised I am. I have done most of the shopping - there's only a few little bits left, and I've just lugged a load of wrapping paper all around town, so I'm going to spend this afternoon wrapping up stuff. Freyja and James have buggered off to Somerset for the day/night so I'm all on my lonesome - an ideal time to wrap their stuff up without them noseying at what they are!

This week has been quite a nice one (minus the crappy weather). I worked at the weekend - James went airsofting on Sunday dressed in a suit, and got shot in the head. Good times. I worked that evening, and monday evening too. On Tuesday, my friend and her 2 girls popped over for a brew which was nice. James and Freyja went to his boss' birthday thing in the evening - Freyja can be such a dirty stop out! I stayed in, as I was shattered from working all weekend and just fancied slobbing out watching crap telly. On Wednesday, I drove us over to Bognor Regis to see one of my old schoolfriends - I'd never driven to Bognor before, so had no idea where I was going, but managed to find my way there to be welcomed with a brew - That's always nice! In the evening, James went to a gig at the Wedgewood Rooms and I went to the cinema with one of my friends to see Saw 3D whilst his girlfriend stayed at mine to babysit Freyja. It was a good film, but not as good as the others (I have a bit of an obsession with the Saw franchise), and my eyes were hurting by the end of it, because where we sat wasn't the easiest to appreciate 3D films, and I struggled to focus. Good film though. On Thursday, my friend and her daughter popped over in the morning for a cuppa, and we chatted and caught up. In the evening, my best friend and her boyfriend popped over and we watched the first episode of the new FX series "The Walking Dead" - it's awesome! Can't wait to watch the next one, which was shown last night, but I haven't had chance to watch it. Yesterday, a friend and I were supposed to be going to the Devil's Punchbowl, but we stayed in instead. She came over in the morning and we had a lovely afternoon of chatting, watching CBeebies (couldn't find the remote) and a bit of Jeremy Kyle. Fun Fun. I worked yesterday evening - I was given full responsibility for the back bar, glasses, cashing up, float, and delegating of tasks - basically being a manager. It was cool! And I handled it easily. Simple pimple.

James and Freyja are on their way to Somerset now for his aunt's birthday. I couldn't go because I'm working tonight, so I've just got in from town, and I'm going to watch some TV whilst doing some wrapping up. Working tomorrow night too, but I'm looking forward to Monday because it's our anniversary and we're going to 8 Kings Road for a fancy meal. Ooo err.

Have a lovely week x

The one without a title ...

Have you noticed how everyone is amazed by the fact that it is November and it is cold?

I’ve fallen into that trap myself – complaining on the playground about the wind, the rain … I wouldn’t complain (honestly) except that after the howling gales last night I awoke this morning to find half the contents of the recycling bin around the back garden. Picking up damp and dirty newspaper, envelopes and assorted plastic is not a way to start the day.

On a good note, my son was NINE this week. I cannot believe that my baby boy (born weighing just 5lbs 3oz) is now a nine-year-old boy.

I don’t know about you, but I usually spend the actual day of my children’s birthdays going through what I was doing on the day of their birth. Both were born first thing in the morning – and I had to have caesareans, so there is no memory of agonising labour pains – so I have the whole day to remember, hour by hour, of welcoming them into the world.

I love doing it, but I do wonder how much I forget each year!

This year’s toy a la mode is Lego Wars Halo Wars. The lounge is awash with bits of Lego and I daren’t get the vacuum cleaner out until all pieces have been removed. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

His party was a lot of fun last Saturday. He went to a laser tag place and we watched a small TV screen as he and his friend skulked SAS-like in the dark, zapping each other. Unfortunately, two of the dads went in and won each game! Their scores were officially declared null and void …. Bloomin’ competitive dads.

What really made me hoot was watching my daughter run through the chamber. She was wearing a bat-wing t-shirt and for some reason, as she ran around with laser gun in hand, she reminded me of Princess Leia.

Now his birthday is over (and my brother’s, which is the day after), I just have my dad’s and nephew’s to deal with. Then I can start to think about Christmas …

hi ladies.....

Hope you're all doing well..... bit concerned about the lack of posts? can someone please let me know what's going on???

Anyways, busy week as always.... Friday night Ben had bought some fireworks, but as our garden is more like a yard we decided to descend on his mum and dads to borrow their garden... well, he'd spent a fortune (£52 to be exact) on what was literally going up in a puff of smoke. I was not amused!! £52!!!!! and they were proper crap!!! well, what i saw of them! Eryn was absolutely terrified so i only got to see about 5 before i spent the rest of the evening consoling her. :(
Saturday i was, if I'm honest, absolutely dreading, Ben was on call all weekend and i was expecting to be left with the kids (and a mountain of uni work to do) but thankfully he didn't get called out. so we went round my mums for a quick cuppa (I'd phoned her to ask what my step dad wants for his birthday and then suggested we popped round) I'd warned her it was all of us.... anyway, we turned up and she said 'Oh, i didn't think u meant all of u all of u!!!' Shes really not a child person, in fact she recently told me if she had her life again she probably wouldn't bother having children..... errrr, yeah THANKS for that Mother....
After the very quick cup of tea (she couldn't wait to get us out the door!) we went to Staunton Country Park. £50 for a years membership for Ben, me and up to 5 kids- bargain! Obviously Ethan has been there loads (we had memberships before) but Josh and Harry hadn't been and they all had a great time :) Eryn appears to have developed a fear of animals though, crying when we got too close to them :(
After that we went on a massive shop and were completely knackered by the time we got home.
Sunday morning Ben got called out and i took the kids shopping for his xmas pressie from them.... cor u can tell they're his kids- talk about wanting him to have the very best :S but we pretty much nailed it so that's one thing out the way. Sunday afternoon we took a trip to Garson garden Centre on the way to drop the boys home. It was CHRISTMAS in there!! :D picked up a couple of pressies and the kids loved all the decorations (and so did I ;) )
Monday was, well wet! i got absolutely soaked taking Ethan to school, and Eryn, the only dry one kept shouting 'WET, WET' from her pushchair.
Tuesday was the long day at uni, very boring and depressing. My cousin and i were late and well one bit of rain and the whole of Portsmouth comes to a complete standstill!! Grrrr
Ethan's swimming lessons have come to an end so he's now gonig to the local pool on a Wednesday so it much more convenient :)
yesterday Eryn and i went to Tesco's to double up our clud card points.... i was expecting to spend about £50 in there and £50 on diesel (however much i love hank the tank, we go through a lot of diesel!) but instead i ended up with £2 change from £175.... hmmmm, not so good. But I did pick up yet more xmas stuff..... we then had a quiet afternoon at home which was lovely, quality time with my princess :D Last night when we were sorting through the xmas presesnts which i've stratigically placed on top of our wardrobes, the wardrobe collapsed, hitting Ben on the head! highly amusing (he was ok) so he's off to buy one today.... oh the excitement! lol
And today i popped round to my cosins to see her and the baby, he's got soooo big already! and we're having him overnight in a few weeks which i'm very excited about! :D
oh, Ethan is (hopefully, as long as he likes it!) joining the Beavers!! i think he'll love it and thrive there. He's starting next Friday and is soooo looking forward to it.

Right, i think that's me pretty much done... hope everyone is well

xx

I must, I must I must improve my patience!

Second rewrite of first sentence – I was going to say my age is catching up with me but NO on a positive note – it has just been a very very busy week again in the mummyrella household! Mr M has been on call all week so this has left me to do everything and I can say how hard it has been and I give great praise to all those single parents out there that have to do this week after week after week.  It didn’t help that I had to travel into the office everyday Mon-Thursday which was an 86 mile round trip.  I think the kids found it a bit hard too not seeing daddy for about 72 hours straight, but they were kept busy and son was having difficulty adjusting to the clocks going back anyway and was asleep on the sofa everynight by 7pm.

This year the kids enjoyed the fireworks from afar as last year they found it a bit daunting and getting used to their new routine as we only had became a family 3 months earlier – I take this point to raise National Adoption Week – I caught up with a few of the programmes on the tv and one on Radio 4, they bought memories flooding back to me of all the anguish, frustration and impatience of waiting to be assessed, interrogated, approved and matched that we had to go through and then all the joy, love, completeness and happiness of having our two wonderful children coming to join us. I cannot compare this to a pregnancy or childbirth, but I take that part of our family journey as being that.

The other reason for staying in for fireworks also was to be at home for the dog – poor Poppy Dog she is only 4 ½ but she seems to fear them more and more each year and the DAP plug in doesn’t seem to do much either, not sure what to try next year.

Had a fab time on Saturday at my Nephews birthday party, yes I know we enjoyed spending the day with him on his actual birthday but we also enjoyed bouncing on the bouncy castle and meeting all his friends a big HIGH FIVE to “L” who was 5 – may the force by with you My Nephew!

Then today I spent an hour and half!!!! In kwik fit whilst they replaced my tyre as I had a screw in it and it had gone flat – but don’t men dawdle when they work!!  It was like watching a kettle boil – it was like it was never going to be finished  -  I must be more patient – but when you have a mountain of ironing to do, the shopping, the cooking, the Course Work and reading to finish I need more hours in my weekend!!!!!

Just a final note to say thanks to a few friends that I have caught up with this week, the welsh, the one at 26 FRoad, the sister-in-law’s sister and the colleague. Hope you enjoy the read!

Where's this Week Gone?

I'm confused... only 4 of us seem to be doing a weekly post?

Anyway, what have we been up to... Not much really, the weather has been a bit psychotic, so we've not ventured far.

I worked on Saturday night, and we went out all dress up on Sunday (check out the pictures on my personal blog: http://www.metalmummy.co.uk/2010/11/halloween-zombily-grotesque/) We had an awesome night, it wasn't as busy as it had been the previous 2 nights, but it was still good. My contact lenses looked awesome, although trying to see in them was quite difficult!

Mum stayed here over the weekend, and left on Monday. James was off on Monday too, which was nice. I worked that evening, complete with semi-brushed out back-combed hair. It was a really quiet night, so after doing a load of cleaning, I left at about 10:30.

On Tuesday, we popped over to see my friend and her 2 girls. It's lovely going over there for a brew, and Freyja can play. When I say play, I really mean squabble, but her and my friends daughter do get on a lot of the time. The problem is that they are both so strong willed and stubborn. They kind of need eachother to knock eachother down a peg or two. It's amusing to watch.

Wednesday didn't involve much at all. On Thursday I had to wait in for 3 deliveries - the Tesco shop, our new tumble dryer (present from mum for Xmas) and Freyja's main Xmas present (a toy kitchen). My hallway was full of boxes, it was such a mess! Well, it still is, but I'll get round to it. At least that's most of the Xmas shopping done - I like being organised, but the problem with doing it early for me, is that there's loads more weeks left before Xmas - i.e. more time to see things I like and want to buy, therefore spending more than I would normally. Damn.

We went to the library to enrol ourselves yesterday. It's a nice little library near us, and has a nice kid's section, and as Freyja is loving books, I thought it would be a good time to enrol her. She was good to start off with. We had a bit of a sing-a-long with the lady who works there, and Freyja loved copying the actions. Then it came to singing Old Macdonald, and we had loads of cuddly toy props, which Freyja did NOT want to let go of. So there she was, running riot around the library (which is meant to be quiet) with an arm full of pigs and cows and the other arm grasping onto Farmer Macdonald for dear life. When I took them off her, the demon erupted. She threw a massive wobbler, in the middle of the library, ran under the library counter and started pressing buttons, ran through the exit (when I was trying to check books out) and tried to escape onto the road, threw herself onto the floor in a paddy and then wouldn't get into the pram without a fight. Christ almighty, it was horrendous. Looking back, I was kind of brave (or stupid) taking her in there in the first place.

I worked last night, and was put in charge of cashing up. It's nice having a bit of extra responsibility, but a pain in the arse counting loads of change. It did get me out of cleaning the bar down though!

This weekend we don't have much planned for. James has just taken Freyja to the shops to do some Xmas shopping, so I'm just getting some housework done. He's off to Airsoft tomorrow too, so I'l find something to occupy ourselves!

Have a good week x

How do you organise yourselves?

I wish someone would invent a planner that you could insert into your brain. I’m forgetting so much at the moment!

I’ve always been a list freak, but this week takes the biscuit. Unfortunately, I have so many lists that I don’t know which one to look at.

I do envy people who seem to be able to take everything in their stride and just remember *everything*. I feel like a whirling dervish this week.

I’m starting to remember days of the week by the activities that are happening. After-school dance club? It must be Thursday. Karate? It must be Monday (this is new, however, so has yet to find a place in my befuddled brain). Piano lessons and gymnastics? Ah, yes, it’s a Friday.

I’ve tried putting key days/dates etc in my phone, but as it isn’t a smartphone (and its owner isn’t that smart either) it never alerts me to what I have carefully inputted. And, yes, I have looked at the instructions.

The children just think it’s hilarious that I flap about so much and my other half just rolls his eyes in amusement.

But they don’t know what it’s like, do they?

We work, look after the children and all the rest of it. I won’t say I have to do all the cooking and cleaning, though, as that is shared. Nevertheless, it’s no wonder we sometimes feel mentally exhausted.

How do you organised women do it? I want to know your secrets. Come on, now. Don’t be shy: tell me how you stay organised.

where is everyone???

hmmmmm, i am obviously missing something! where is everyone??
I'm currently sitting in my car outside uni feeling like the worst mum in the world!!! I've signed up to take part in a third yr's experiment (which unfortunatly i have to do in order to pass this year) and 5 mins before i left to take Eryn to nursery, she shut her finger in the door of the washing machine :'( bless her, well, it was actually in the opening mechanism, but u get the point.... i then HAD to just take her to nursery because i've got to do this experiment. I filled out the incident report for the 3rd time in the space of a month :( notgood :( her finger was red and a bit swollen but she could moe it ok.... BUT I FEEL AWFUL!!!! kinda ruins the lovely morning we had at krazy kaves today :(
Anyway, this week... where has it gone?? its friday tomo! its flown by! Ben and I had a great evening out together on Saturday, it was lovely it being just the two of us :) Ben's parents had Eryn and even had her sleep in their room, so it was kinda like having a whole night off! When we got back to their's on saturday they sat me down and told me that now, as far as they are concerned, Ethan is one of their grandchildren, and he will be treated no different to Chloe (Ben's brother's daughter) Josh, Harry or Eryn.... it was soooo nice to hear, they truly are wonderful people xx
Sunday we went out to lunch with Ben's Nan and parents. I couldnt believe Eryn, she was running round the resturant being her cheeky self and was babbling away to everyone, and even let one of the waitresses pick her up!!!! my daughter really has grown up! She's like a sponge at the mo too, repeating loads of words and learning things every day....
Ethan has been a right cheeky sausage all week, answering back etc, but he's soooo funny when he does it that i find it really hard to tell him off! he really is old man Albert! lol ;)
He had another inset day on monday and Eryn was at nursery so we went bowling. It was lovely to spend some quality time with him on his own, and he keeps telling me how much he enjoyed it--- MUST do it more often!!
Tuesday was uni day but a lecture was cancelled so i had 4 hours to get some work done. I'm nearly up to date on one subject and i do feel like a great weight has been lifted... one down 3 more to go :S
Yesterday my cousin with the gorgeous baby came round. Bless her she's doing so well, she looks fab and is radiating the new mum happy glow :D .... and it was lovely to get some cuddles from baba..... although Eryn was not too impressed! lol.....
So thats about it from me this week, must crack on and be experimented on!! lol, hope all are well xx

Trick or Treat and Tick n Tock!

I’m writing this after an exhausting day, not only did the clocks go back – How many of you forgot!!! But It’s Halloween as well and for a mummy who now has two smallish children – [3 and 2] it has been a bit daunting.  We managed not to arise until 6:45 – 5:45 in old time and have kept the kids amused most the day playing and hiding but by 1pm my little son didn’t know what to do with himself so husband took a trip around the village to get him to have a nap for half an hour before heading out to a Birthday Party, this seemed a bit too much for my daughter to cope with trying to put dressing up clothes on but once she saw the sparkly spooky spider tights I had bought her the mood changed, however by the time I had put on her hat and her gruesome hand gloves we had hysterics again as she couldn’t get her fingers in the gloves properly and she seemed to be having a fit of paranoia / perfectionism.   I had to change son into his costume when we arrived as he managed to get a good sleep in –thankfully – that changes later on!  Anyway Party was good fun – as I think I enjoyed it more trying to spin plates! A good lady entertainer with circus skills – I managed to spin one plate for 10 seconds with daughter hanging off leg saying “mummy please do it for me, please, please” well it was never to be repeated again could I get the dammed plate to twirl. 

I am writing this as I am eating the last of the sweets from my trick or treat bag – bit of a fuddy-duddy I decided I was not taking mine out to trick or treat – we were quite happy to stay in the warm! Had lots of knocks on the door – poor poppy dog a bit stressed and the effects of the long day had taken its toll on son as he was over tired on the sofa and needed to be comforted, both fell asleep on the sofa and have gone to bed zonked out – lets hope it’s not too early a rise tomorrow!

The week for us was pretty normal as we had last week off and so it was work, child minder, nursery and normal weekend.  We went to see my nephew on Friday as it was his 5^th Birthday and the kids played well together, Saturday I returned to Venture Photography – stuck to my guns and came away with ONLY the “free” photo which was all included in my £15 experience voucher from gurgle.com – thank you gurgle! – There were some lovely photos and luckily it was dark as it became a bit of a tear jerker with the music n’ all but I was really pleased think I choose the best one with all of us in it.

My Open University course – I need to study more! Trying to find the time, so will have to cut this short and get on with some! Hope you all have a good week xx mummyrella xx

Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

Wow, this week has just flown by!

Last weekend, James' auntie and uncle came down from Swindon to stay with us for the day, so we took them to the Water Margin in Gunwharf. It's so lovely there, and such good value. They loved it - as did Freyja, who seems to eat everything in sight. She was particularly favouring the prawn crackers and hoi sin sauce, along with 3 bowls of ice cream! Must be her teething that made her do that.

On the Sunday, they left in the morning, and we went to the Tenth Hole with some friends - it was very busy, which James didn't like much. He's not a big fan of crowded busy places. On Monday, James had a day off work, so we drove up to Somerset to see his grandparents. Well, we did eventually. The car broke down (more like didn't start) so we had to try and find a neighbour to jump start it, which didn't work, so the same neighbour offered to drive James down to the garage to get a new battery. Finally, we got on our way and it was lovely to see them. We stayed there for dinner, and drove back early evening.

On Tuesday, I had a walk round to my friends house and had a cup of tea while Freyja was being a demonic bully. I don't want to be that person who has a kid nobody wants to play with! She's in the process of learning that being a bully isn't a good thing.

We didn't do much else for the rest of the week. I worked on Thursday night which involved putting all the Halloween decorations up. What a mission! Trying to make cobwebby things out of a bag of fluff took me for ages. But it's looking good! Who knows if the decorations will stay the whole weekend though. I know that last night, whilst working again, a few of the masks went walkies, so who knows what else will be "lost" over the weekend. Work last night was horrendously busy - I didn't finish til 2am and here I am, up at the crack of dawn again. I'm taking one of my best friends for tea and cake this morning for her birthday, which should be nice. We have to pop into town this morning to get some bits for my Halloween outfit. I'm working tonight, but my mum is coming down this afternoon to babysit Freyja tomorrow night so James and I can go out. I'm dressing up too - I can't wait! I have white mesh contact lenses and everything! I'll be posting some pictures I'm sure. I just love Halloween!!

I'm not sure if we have any sort of theme or topic this week? So I'll leave it at that. We're just in the middle of teaching Freyja some new words. It's so lovely hearing her talk! My baby girl growing up so quickly :(

Have a lovely week x

Is it time to go back to school?

OK. Is half term over? My head is spinning!

I know it’s not just my children, but their bickering and jab-jab-jabbing at each other with barbed tongues and pointy fingers has completely done my head in this week.

If it’s not the “tell him to leave me alone” or “she keeps bugging me” or the “accidental” tripping over it’s arguing and slapping.

Gawd love ‘em.

Is it time to go back to school yet?

But when they are affectionate towards each other, it couldn’t be nicer. In fact, I’d go so far to say that it makes my tummy tickle to see them being lovely to each other and helpful and all “do you want a drink?”

It makes up for all those times that they spend at each other’s throats or are constantly talking, yabbering and shouting.

This morning was another lazy day (for them) – and failed attempts to get Take That tickets (£90 each? I don’t think so) – before I decided we were all suffering from cabin fever.

Today, though, we went to see CBBC’s Kirsten O’Brien do an art show and it was lovely! She was incredibly lovely to all the children who went on stage (including my daughter!) and the art tips she gave were fab.

Tomorrow will also be a family day, too, and I’m looking forward to it so much. The camera will be in full force, with me taking terrible photos, but I’m hoping this is the sort of stuff they will remember. Not me having a full blown, throat-aching shout at them because they are goading each other and taking things that little bit too far.

keeping up???? :S

hi ladies, hope you're all well..... sorry for the late post- but well, what a week! (AGAIN)
Half term when I'm at uni- not fun!!! In fact its been a total wash out- i feel sooooo guilty. Ethan has been to my cousin's, his Granny's, my Nan's, with my Dad and my step-dad. We had one whole day together, but Eryn was a bit poorly and had been up all the previous night, so we didn't actually do anything :( But he has been swimming 3 times this week so he's had fun, just not with me :(
Last night i actually went out!!! with my fellow students.... OMG I'm way too old for all the drinking malarkey now!! i had a fab night- dressed in a toga ;) but as soon as i got home i puked, repeatedly, and this morning i feel like death! i had to get my step dad to drive me to uni 'cause i was way too hungover to even think about driving- and i still feel awful now- trying to keep up with the 'young-uns' i really shouldn't do it!!
I did have loads to say, but well, my hungover achey head has gone blank, so I'll leave it very short and not-very sweet :S
xx

And I will Drive 500 miles ....................

It’s Sunday night around 7:30 and kids are all tucked up in bed – phew – what a busy day! And week!  We decided to take this week off before half term as the kids aren’t in school – Monday and Tuesday were chill out days then Wednesday I headed over the hills [sorry Mountains!] to South Wales to see my best friend, in her new house.  I was getting a bit stressed about the journey with the kids on my own – over 230 miles each way – So I had a plan J I thought it would be a good idea to find a soft play centre for the kiddiewinks to run and get rid of all their pent up energy from sitting in their confined spaces for 2 hours and did I find a cracker! Jam Jam Boomerang near Coventry Airport What made it even nicer was I met up with my cousin and her 9 week old baby girl and we were able to have a natter and some food before starting our journey again – it was so good – I didn’t realise we had been there for 2 hours and needed to get back on our roadtrip if we were to make South Wales for teatime.  Had to do a quick pitstop an hour later but we made it and had a lovely time.  The first night ended up with the 3 of us sleeping in the bed altogether with me getting a finger in the eye and head butted, and it was a pretty stressful time for the kids when first getting them settled as apart from staying at Nanny’s they have not been anywhere else.  By night two they had gone down quite quickly and I ended up sleeping the other end of the bed so I had to keep moving my feet out of their way but it was a lot better and the 3^rd night was good too. 

We set off back home Saturday and I decided to have a lunch stop at Jam Jam’s again which still worked well and managed to only stay for about 45mins though this seemed long enough for them to play and eat.  We arrived safely home within 6 hours which was pretty good.

Then gluten for punishment today [Sunday] I had booked as in at Venture Photography as I had received a voucher from gurgle for £15, I have been told we need to be strong when it comes to the “presentation” next week and only go for the free photo – 7” x 5” . This was I think more stressful than my drive to and from Wales! I decided that to make the family complete that the dog needed to come too and I’m glad I did but it was eventful – luckily no accidents but the kids were literally bouncing off the walls – Son was particularly cheeky and kept running around – but the photographs [2 of them – they called in reinforcements] said that it was so nice that they had so much energy – I just hope my perspiration can be airbrushed out!!!!

GUILTLY  [oops] my OU course started yesterday and I promise after posting this I will log on and see what I should be doing.

So it’s back to normal tomorrow awaking at 6am to the alarm clock and off to work we go and see what the two Mr C’s have in stall for me – redundancy before March 2011 or after L

Topic this week – umm other peoples kids – before becoming a mummy I ran a Brownie Pack – 24 girls aged 7-10 – need I say anymore?

Spoons, Calpol, Work & Snot.

This week has been a pretty uneventful one, so I've not got much to report really. Freyja's been full of cold and teething like a trooper, so she's been miserable all week on and off. She gets frustrated when she's teething, and lashes out a lot, to the point where she hit me square on with a spoon! I wasn't too pleased with that, but Calpol seems to fix things. I should have shares in that.

On Monday, we didn't really get up to much. A friend came over in the evening though and we pigged out on Dominos while watching Harry Brown. Oh my God, what an amazing film. If you haven't seen it, watch it.

On Tuesday, we went with a friend and her little boy to the Natural History museum on the seafront. We had a feeling the butterflies were out of season, but there were still a couple of them left. We had a mosey around the rest of the museum and Freyja was terrified of the big dinosaur, until she knew it didn't move. Bless her. We popped down to the Tenth Hole for a bit of brekkie and a brew and then made our way back. It was a lovely morning. I went to work that evening - it was really quiet so went quite slowly.

On Wednesday, one of my good friends came over and we just chilled out and kept Freyja entertained. I worked again that evening, and we had a 100 man pub crawl comprising of drunk cheerleaders and american footballers - that was eventful.

On Thursday, another good friend and her little girl popped over, and we were joined by a fellow Netmum and her 2 girls - it was lovely having a house full of kids, but Freyja isn't that keen on sharing at the minute, so there were a few wobblers going on. My bezzie mate came over in the evening and we watched Kick Ass, which was again, an awesome film.

Yesterday a friend from Netmums came over with her little boy and we just chatted and caught up. I haven't seenher for a few months so her little boy has grown loads! I worked last night, and it was really busy, so that kept me entertained.

I'm getting a new phone this week - I can't wait to have a new one. I'm just waiting to hear back from them about whether I qualify, it's so exciting. I love gadgets! James' aunt and uncle are coming down from Swindon to stay with us this afternoon. They are going back tomorrow morning. It'll be lovely to have them, and they haven't seen our house yet. I think we are going out for dinner this evening, after we have a visit from James' sister & family this afternoon. Should be lovely. I'm not working this weekend! Woop! That's a first...

Onto this week's topic - I've not really had to deal with other people's kids yet. Freyja seems to be the bully at the moment, rather than getting picked on. We don't really have to handle older kids, but I remember once, when we were in Krazy Kaves, Freyja was playing in the toddler ball pit and a 6 year old launched himself at her and landed on her face. She wasn't too pleased with that. I couldn't find his mother anywhere, but he had a telling off by me. He shouldn't have even been in there! I suppose I have all of this to look forward to as Freyja grows - I'm not sure how I'll handle people moaning about her/me moaning to others about their kids. We'll see what happens!

Have a good week xx

Holiday blues

Here we go ... it’s half term – and some urgent work has just come in.

Why does it always come in just as the school holidays start?

Of course, now the children are at different schools, the holidays don’t quite dovetail.

Son is off today, as the teachers have the first of goodness knows how many training days (I know they work hard, blah blah, but, really ...). Both are off next week, then the following week sees daughter off Monday and Tuesday. ARGH!

I’d hoped we could have had a couple of day trips out, but sadly that doesn’t look likely anymore. One of their nans has stepped into the breach and offered to take them out for two days (not that the children are looking forward to the prospect), so that leaves three days ... it is giving me palpitations, just thinking about it.

No doubt it will mean getting up at 4.30am to work for a few hours so that I can give them enough meaningful time during the day. Then I’ll have to knuckle down again early evening to make up lost time.

Reading this back makes me sound incredibly selfish and as if I don’t want them around. Nothing could be further from the truth. I just find it very hard to balance the school holidays and work.

I’m sure we’ll get to enjoy some time together without resorting to bickering (you see? I *am* optimistic) and I’ll report back on what we manage to do as a family next week.

Yesterday was the dreaded toy fair at son’s school. This annual fundraiser sees us donating good quality toys that the children have outgrown and cringing at the tat that they (now just the one child, of course) bought with our hard-earned money.

McDonald’s toys used to feature very heavily on their buying list – simply because I refuse to eat there, so it was their way of exacting revenge on my prejudices.

This year I imposed an absolute moratorium on such toys and, like previous years, emphasised the fact that if he doesn’t spend his £1.50 (which actually buys A LOT), he can keep the money.

I can tell son has grown up that little bit more – for this year he came out of school with a very small – and very cute – little teddy that cost him 10p.

It doesn’t even look that dirty, although it may accidentally find itself having a quick dip in the washing machine!

Awww my 'nephew' is finally here!!

Hi ladies, hope you've all had a fab week.... sorry the post is a little later than normal, but my child-free 'uni work' afternoon was taken up my my gorgeous new 'nephew'..... my cousin went into labour in the early hours of Wednesday morning and was born at 18.13 yeaterday.... I dont think either her sister or i are in her good books though... the plan was for either myself or her sister to have her two girls while she was in labour. Being a week overdue and showing no signs of 'popping' i didnt take my phone to bed with me on tuesday night, and neither did her sister.... Well at 2am Ben and I were rudely awoken by a mid-contraction-scream of 'For F**k Sake u two, ive been ringing u for hours!!!' my darling cousin was standing in our bedroom clutching the door frame while her other half was getting their girls out the car!.... now usually we leave the key in the front door when we go to bed, but for some reason that night Ben had taken it out-good job really or my cousin's key wouldnt have opened the door.... ooooppss. So of they went to the hospital and i had to sort the girls out for bed- bless them they were so concerned about their mummy's sore tummy, and we couldnt find the stopper for the blow up bed. So the youngest had to hop in with Ethan, and the eldest had to make do with a make-shift cushion bed on the floor. Et was wide awake by that point and the little so and so's sat up talking till 3.15am!!
Yesterday morning it was the eldest's school photo day and i had to do her hair.... hmmm, she tried to convince me to do it in a way that i knew damn well her mum would murder me for, so i just did a basic ponytail instead. While i was putting it up she turned round and said 'Auntie Nolly, you're not very good at doing hair are you??'
Errr, yeah, cheers for that!! Anyway i drove the eldest to school on Hayling, ran round to their's to sort their dogs out, took their youngest and Eryn to feed the ducks and play in the park, came home sorted lunch, my friend popped round, I picked up Et, took him swimmimg and the other two to the soft play bit, then dropped my 'niece' of to my cousins on Hayling. Then went back to my other cousins, sorted out the dogs again, and finally got home- i was bloody knackered! But oooohhhh the baby is gorgeous!! me and his Auntie were literally fighting over him this afternoon. I can safely say that i'm now more broody than EVER!! lol! My cousin is doing great too- and looks fab! So many congratulations to them all xx
what else has happened this week..... Oh oh oh, we bought a new car!!! well, not a new car, in fact its a very old car, but u know what i mean.... it's (as Harry would say) A-Mazing!!! it's a seven seater!! so no more two car-ring it everywhere for us! it's HUGE!!! and it's now called Hank The Tank :D
Oh oh oh oh oh , even more exciting than that- i had parent's evening.... :D my gorgeous 6 and a half yr old son has a reading and comprehension age of a 11 and a half to I'm SOOO PROUD!!! and he's doing really well in everything(except P.E! lol) and i couldnt be happier!! AND he's gone up a group in his swimming classes as well!! :D clever little puppy xx
Eryn has been super clingy this week, which in some ways is lovely, but in other a bit of a pain.... she's also been biting me a lot :( and she's getting so cheeky, she's soooo adorable tho
we had a quiet weekend, Et at his dad's and only having the boys friday night. Ben took the kids out on saturday morning so i could get some uni work done which was helpful- boring but helpful lol.
And that's been about it really :S Ben's on call again this weekend so I dont really know what were doing yet :S

so this week's topic. I find 'other people's kids' very hard to deal with sometimes. Ethan hasn't really had many friends over- in fact only one since he's been at school- but that one spent more time with me than with Ethan. But we've had a few incidents at play areas over the years, oh and on his 3rd day in year R at school Ethan got punched!! and another time that year someone BIT his face!!! Now, i know my son and i know he can be a bit patronising and very short with people, but im damn sure he didnt deserve to be punched.... turns out the kid that punched him is well, the class bully even now- although he and Ethan arre now ok with each other. And the reason a child bit him was because Ethan had sat in his seat.... No justification for it in my eyes, but hey ho eh??? (that was pretty much the teacher's response GRRRR)
And i'm majorly protective over Eryn... even with her brother's, i get very annoyed if they upset her :S im not sure if it's cause she's the youngest, or because she's a girl, but i'm gonna have one spoilt madam who gets her bros into trouble alot on my hands i think.... lol
I have no qualms in telling off other people's kids when we're out and about, although i now do get the full story off mine first. Most kids though do like me (i think) but i am 'a bit scary' sometimes apparently... the first time i shouted at Ethan in front of Josh he went as white as a sheet- bless him- It doesnt happen very often, but when i shout, i shout :S
Right, i'd best go.... surprise suprise i've got loads to do.... have a good week xxx

Im going to come play in your house today...

Hi all,So sorry i didnt post last week.It was a bit of a ruff week and i wasnt in the right frame of mind to blog.I wont bore you with the details or we will be here all night lol.
I changed skyes days at nursery last week,she used to go every morning but would get upset when she had to leave at lunchtimes.So she is now doing 1 morning,2 full days with 2days off.She loves it but gets very grumpy when she realises the days she cant go.I think she is more then ready to start big school in september nxt year bless her.
Jaydon has been pestering me for weeks to get his ear peirced,im not sure where he got the idea from as he says none of his friends have it done-he just wants it apparantly lol.After the tenth time of being ask,while out shopping on friday i let him have it done.It actually looks really cool,i was worried it would look a bit chavie but it doesnt and he love it.
Mum and stepdad popped over lastnight,they had not long been back from there honeymoon in Egypt and came bearing lots of lovely gifts for the children.Rangeing from tourist tshirts/hats and maps to books and a lovely handmade egyptian painting for me and 2 lovely hand crafted ornaments of egyptian cats..I love them!! Im cat mad and am happy to admit that one day i will become that mad cat women,when im old and gray and living with 20+ cats haha!!!
Other peoples children..hummm Well im good with close friends and families children,but as Jaydon gets older and spends more time playing with the kids in our street and local kids that play in the area,im beginning to take a dislike to some of them more and more..Not just them actually, there parents too.
Im not sure about you guys,but growing up as a kid others peoples parents were thought of as scary grown ups.Now days it appears not..one day i had a little boy knock my door and ask for Jaydon to go out and play,i said no not today, he has family coming to visit soon.His responce..well let him out untill they get here..or another was.. Im going to come and play in your house today!! To me that is just rude.

As i missed last weeks topic i thought i would touch on it quickly..We had hundreds of names for Jaydon when i was pregnant, but during the last week i realised it was either going to be Jaydon Bradley or Bradley Jaydon.Soon as i saw him i thought yep he's a Jaydon,When my dad came to visit he said..Oh nan said to call him Bradley and i think bradley is so much better then Jaydon..After 19 hours of labour i was in no mood to deal with my dad giving me his views on my sons name.So i Just blurted out well his name is Jaydon dad so get used to it.To this day he very rarely calls him by his name..Its normally 'boy or son'.
I always loved the name Skye,after skye from neighbours(when she was the baby lol)and so did Jay,altho he wanted to call her Star after liking the name from the 80's movie LostBoys..But one day i heard a mother shout STAR at her child running off,and i thought no no no no...I loved Ava and wanted to call her Skye ava but it was soon poined out that it sounded like skyva,Jay wouldnt have her Ava Skye so we picked Skye Jessica.Funny as i mentioned Jessica 4 month before and he said no..Then i said it again 3 weeks before she was born and he loved it....Strange man lol.

Sorry for te later post..hope u have a good week xx

Other peoples kids!

Hey everyone, it's Monday!

We watched Toy Story 3 yesterday - finally - and it really brought a lump to my throat! For an animated movie, some of it was strangely uncomfortable to watch as well! Really enjoyed it though. I've had quite a chilled weekend which has been nice. The older kids stayed at their grandparents Friday night and didn't get back until late-ish Saturday so it was definitely peaceful indoors! I had to pop into town Saturday so it was nice not to have to drag them along! I also popped in to see Stew at the coffee shop and had a yummy bacon and brie pannini.

Noele has came up with a pretty interesting topic this week - other peoples kids! Most kids tend to really like me so that's not too much of a problem. Now as to whether I like them... lol. No, I think for the most part we don't have too many problems with other kids when we are out and about. Occasionally, at Krazy Kaves one of mine will come over saying someone said something or did something or keeps chasing them, stuff like that but I don't think we've had any real 'violence' issues! Thankfully! Also I am very lucky in that my children aren't nasty or spiteful (except occasionally to each other!) so I don't have parents coming to moan at me. If one did though and it was apparent that one of mine was at fault, I would of course have them apologise to the child in question.

In less than two weeks, however I will have a house full of other peoples kids as I am having my (4th annual!!) Halloween party! Can't wait!

Have a great week xxx

A week off or not - you decide!

I’m on time! Is it Sunday already I hear myself say, the week has gone super fast.  This week as the kids are still only at nursery we have decided to take the week off before half term and had lots of nice things planned but Husband has man – cold fair play to him his has called it a cold and not the flu so hopefully he will not be suffering too long, so it might be nice to have some us time together. 

Saying that four days maybe enough for all of us to be together and so Wednesday I am looking forward to seeing my bestest friend who has moved to the Rhondda Valley, yes travelling with two kids on my own from the East of England to the Welsh hills! – “exceptional some of my friends say” deep intake of breath for me – so some useful travel games would be great!  My plan is to leave around 10am and take the journey as it comes – if they fall asleep no worries just have to take them for a nice walk at the other end! – not sure how mentally capable I will be – but when we get there it will be a relief!!!!

This week has gone quick, quick, slow, as I work in the public sector we should here this week about budgets and whether I have a job post March 2011 or not – positivity is losing the battle at the moment.  So trying to keep my socks up and battle forward, some my say gluten for punishment and the day I travel back is the day I start my Open University course – an Introduction to Counselling and Sunday I have booked the four of us and Poppy Dog for a photoshoot, managed to acquire a voucher, but am sure will spending much more for Christmas!

Names – as some of you know – the first names of our children were already picked for us! But once our adoption is final – and that is another story!!!! We have planned to give them a middle name each – I chose my Nan’s middle name Alice for our soon to be daughter whilst Mr Mummyrella has always loved the name Alexander.

Bah!

I woke up yesterday morning, thinking "I'll do my blog post in a couple of hours when I have a bit more sense" and then forgot. All about it. Until now. Bah.

So, sorry about the late post - It's been a bit of a manic week, because we've had my mum visiting. It's been lovely having her, and Freyja has really enjoyed it. She arrived on Sunday afternoon, but unfortunately I had to go to work early evening, so I didn't really see much of her. On Monday, we did a massive food shop - she helps out enormously when she comes to visit and stocks our freezer with loads of meat and fish - saves us a fortune each week.

We have been shopping a couple of times - Freyja has some lovely warm winter boots (that she's currently struggling to get on the wrong feet) and she has a couple more stocking fillers. I've worked a couple of evenings, and James and I went to the pub once for a bit of us-time. We never get to go for drinks together really because of babysitting etc, so it was really appreciated.

We went to visit James' sister on Sunday morning before Mum arrived, and on the way, Freyja decided to projectile vomit all over herself. Turns out she had a bit of a bug - one of them 24 hour jobbies, so we had to strip her down in the middle of Fareham, and wash the car seat completely. It wasn't very pleasant, poor mite. A couple of days later, James got sent home from work for having the same thing. Also, not very pleasant. I thought I'd managed to avoid it (somehow) but it was my turn on Thursday. Whilst we were at the pub, I started feeling quite sick (not through drinking) so we came home. Later that evening, I started throwing up, and felt awful the next day. I still went to work Friday evening though.

Yesterday, we popped into town for a couple of bits, whilst James stayed at home sorting some computery stuff. Our friend Tom arrived at 6, because we had a table booked at Sakura for half past. It's the Japanese restaurant on Albert Road, and we hadn't tried it before. It was absolutely lovely, although I was bit worried about having sushi on a stomach which hadn't exactly been very good the past couple of days. After that, we went for drinks and got a tad merry for the first time in a while. It was great having both of us out together.

This week's topic that Liz set was baby names. As soon as we had found out that our baby was going to be a girl, we put our thinking caps on to choose a name we both liked. We had a few contenders, but we just wanted something a bit different - a name that meant something to us. James is really interested in Anglo Saxon and Norse mythology, and so Freyja felt like a perfect choice. In mythology, she was the goddess of love and magic, as well as beauty and fertility. It was perfect. As soon as I gave birth to her, I knew she was a Freyja and nothing else would have ever suited her. We decided to spell it the original way, with the 'YJ' rather than just the way - Freya is apparently quite a popular baby name at the moment, so we decided to be a bit different. Her middle name is Eowyn - yes, it's a name out of Lord of the Rings, but we got it from our love for Tolkien, not the films. Although the films are awesome. We just thought it went well with her first name. We're going to continue with the Anglo Saxon names if and when we have another child - Just have to try and find one that sounds half-normal. There's no way I'm going to be calling our little boy Ethelred or Aldrich - much to James' dismay!!

Mum goes home tomorrow. It will be sad to see her go, but it's been a lovely week. Hopefully things will get back to normal a bit - Ii haven't had time to catch up with my crap TV, or keep up with my personal blog! It's a hard life...

Bonkers week

Argh! I’ve done it again. Woke up with a start at about 5am today and realised I should have filed my diary yesterday.

I am sorry.

It’s been another bonkers week. Work, work, work – then I decide to launch a hyperlocal blog for the village in which I live and I started a course (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector).

You know that feeling when you have bitten off more than you can chew? Yep – that’s me this week.

Daughter arrived back safe and sound from her outward bound course – wearing someone else’s socks and claiming she had to borrow others’ clothes because she hadn’t got enough (read last week’s entry about the ridiculously large case she took that was bursting at the seams).

Of course, I found several clean pairs of socks and a pair of unworn joggers in her bag. Oh – and there was a towel missing. And the cheapest trainers in the world (£5 from Tesco) that I bought for her so she could wreck them and throw them away were untouched. Her half decent pair are ruined and the pair of shoes for the hostel are completely soaked, wrecked and stink.

Makes you want to weep...

This week I enrolled son into a karate class. He’s such a little sweetie, but I do think he can be a little too sensitive at times. This is no bad thing, but I want him to be able to defend himself if anything untoward happens.

He tried tae kwon do a few years back but I took him out of the class when the instructor threw one of those big sparring cushions at him. The episode terrified him and he was reluctant to go to karate, but the instructor was so welcoming and friendly that he decided to give it a go. He loves it. But then he always does the first couple of weeks. It’s usually when I’ve paid the full enrolment fees/licences etc that he decides he doesn’t want to go again.

Fingers crossed this time ...

witches and wizards, and too many E's and I's

Hi ladies,

Hope everyone is having a fab week.... looks a little quiet on here, unless I'm missing something?? which i possibly am- seem to still be in a world far away fighting the psychology degree madness....lol, anyway i promise not to whittle on about uni this week!!!!......
Right then, oh last Friday the boys came down and were full of beans, and all the kids turned into brats for the evening- i dint know what it is- probably the over-excitement of them all being together for the weekend, but they turn into devil-kids for a couple of hours.... but generally soon settle down :) ooohhh we introduced Josh to 'the flight of the navigator' film, does anyone remember it??? it was one of my faves when i was a kid. a few years ago i insisted on buying all my old favourites (wizard of oz, teenwolf, e.t etc) and subjected my Et to them.... so we made Josh and Et watch it on Friday night.... Harry soon got bored and went to bed but Josh and Ethan loved it :D
Saturday Ben got called out at 8am- i was not impressed!!! so off he went expecting to be back after a couple of hours- but no, he ended up having 4 call outs and didn't finish work till 4 :( which obviously left me with all the kids. I don't mind, and i do enjoy it, but i had sooooooo much uni work to do and none of it got done.... and more importantly i don't feel it's fair on the boys. They've come to spend the weekend with their dad, and they end up spending it with me. It must be horrible for them....i hate it when Ethan goes to his dad's and he spends the weekend with his grandparents instead (his dad is doing up a house for him and his gf to live in and his gf teaches kids gym, so she's not about either) although we did have a good day on Saturday. It was my 'niece's' birthday and my cousin had hired the play centre at Mill Rythe Holiday Camp on Hayling Island for her party. It was a wizards and witch theme and i had great fun dressing the kids up. The party was lovely, and my brother was down from London so after that i took the kids to my dad's where my bro was staying.... my dad's face when i turned up with them all was a picture! lol (the man has four kids himself but is adamant he hates children...) There's a park which backs on the the carpark outside my dad's flat and i reluctantly let Josh and Ethan go there without an adult.... I walked them round and my dad stayed with Harry and Eryn and watched the boys through the fence.... i RAN back round to my dad's and we spent the rest of the time outside because that way i could see them. When they wanted to come back they came to the fence and told us, so Ben (he got back from work then) walked round to get them..... call me paranoid but it's the first time I've let them go anywhere without me!! and i could c them the whole time lol... Ben then took them all back to the park while i had a nice catch up with my bro :D xx
Sunday morning Ben was called out again but me and the kids had a very lazy morning... at about half nine Josh announced that he, Et and Harry hadn't had their breakfast- errrr, well that's cause you haven't come downstairs yet..... oh yeah.... lol bless them. Ben got home about 11 and then the door knocked.... very odd for my house... it was my MUM!!!! she NEVER EVER comes to visit.... I've lived here for a year and i can count on one hand the amount of times she's been round!! My step dad was going shopping and she didn't want to go so she thought she'd come to mine- shocking!! lol.... it was the first time she'd met the boys (my mum, much like my father, is not a kid-person) and i think she was a bit shocked by how loud and hectic the house was.... Ben then took Josh and Harry home, and took Eryn too so i could get on an do an experiment for uni (lucky my mum did come round because she was one of my participants! lol) She left and my aunt and uncle came over (that was planned) and we had a nice relaxing afternoon with them :)
Monday after i picked up Eryn from nursery i took her to Asda.... she saw a disney princess ride on toy and fell in love with it.... I'd been adamant she didn't need one as she has a rocking unicorn that turns into a ride on thing but i bought it anyway- for Xmas..... although she did play with it when we got home.... I've got a major attack of 'mummy-guilt' going on, because she's in nursery etc and i keep giving in to her 'demands' all the time.... i think I've already got a spoilt brat on my hands.... ooppsssss lol xx Monday night i had my cousins girls for a bit while she went to the midwife- baby was due yesterday and he's still not here :(- but the kids had a lovely time running round like mad men and girlie's
Tuesday was uni day so i have bugger all to say about that...
And yesterday, ah, my day off :D Eryn and i had a lovely morning playing indoors and a very old friend of mine popped round too which was lovely. Swimming for Ethan yesterday so i took Eryn into the soft-play area again which she loved, and Ethan is doing soooo well in the pool- it's really amazing :)
Its parent's evening on Monday and i cant wait to see what his teacher has to say... i know he's doing well and i'm soooooo proud of my big clever boy :D xx
This morning i took Eryn to the baby group at the Penhale surestart centre.... it was a toss up between there or Krazy Kaves.... we didn't really enjoy it, and it's suddenly changed so you're supposed to book, which i didn't know (we haven't been for about 4 weeks), and well, we wont be going again!! It's sad really because i used to go to about four things a week there... Anyway, i think we'll be going to Krazy Kaves instead from now on....
Then my very annoyed 'cause she's overdue cousin popped round, and then it was time to take Eryn to nursery.... no uni today but lots of work to do.... and a long blog to write ;)
This weeks theme.... lol, well, I was adamant that Ethan was a girl so i allowed his dad to chose the name for a boy.... i wanted Jack, he said no and chose Ethan. When he was born and the midwife said 'it's a boy' i immediately said 'WHAT D YOU MEAN IT'S A BOY?????' i turned to Roy and begged him to let me call him Jack and he said no.... and that was that.... And I'm sorry but Ethan just doesn't suit him.... i'm not saying Jack would suit him better because I'm not ure it would.... but i really really dislike the name Ethan..... His middle name is Thomas which i chose and i still love it... he'd have made a good Tommy actually..... and his surname.... well, it's diabolical.... lol.... and his initials are E.T.C (which incidentally is why i call him Et all the time).....
Eryn on the other hand, well, that was my choice (i had no one to argue with me... lol) I wanted to call her Iris- it means Rainbow and i have a slight... ok... very big obsession with rainbows, and it was also the name of my lovely, wonderful great aunt.... when i discovered i was pregnant i decided if she was a girl, she would be called Iris (Ben for a boy wanted Preston.... Preston!?!?! wtf!!!) and i was more than happy with the name Iris. Oh and William George for a boy.... Until my lovely auntie Iris died.... i was devastated :( and i started to wonder whether i should call the baby it or not. When i asked other people's opinions i was met with 'errr no, its a terrible name' or, 'errr no' or, 'u cant call a baby that' 'that's an old woman's name'- errrr, well all old people started out as babies u know!!! anyway, i decided I'd just see what she looked like... I had millions of names, Emily, Emilia, Elsie (my mums reaction to that- if u call it that u might as well call it Ethel lol) Evelyn, Evie ohhh slight theme appearing here- i like names that begin with E lol.... oh and Martha.... but Martha McCarthy just sounds odd.... etc.... And i really loved the name Erin.... but next to Iris her name just had too many I's... so i decided to swap the I for a Y , and i love it, really love it. When she was born she definitely looked like an Eryn, well, she looked like Ben, but you know what i mean, so Eryn Iris it is :D ...... it's difficult though, because I've always been really hung up on my name, people never spelling it right, not pronouncing it properly etc.... and unfortunately she'll be in the 'got to spell your name out for everyone group' but I'm sure, one day she'll appreciate it lol.....
Right that's me done..... I'm sure i should have thought of a new theme by now, so how about for next week- other people's children.... after our experience with the kid punching Et at Krazy Kaves, how do you deal with things like that? or when children's friends are over? or troublesome toddlers at groups/nursery? do your kids friends adore u? etc....