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....

Just a quick one today.....

Hey ladies, it's Monday!

I have just had the laziest weekend imaginable. On Saturday we didnt even get dressed. This was mainly because Lucie had kept me up all night as I was at mine on my own (with the kids of course!)and I could barely function for being so tired!

I didn't get up to anything really during the week - Krazy Kaves on Tuesday, a few trips to town 'shoebox shopping' and the usual school runs. I did book a hall for my Operation Christmas Child Packing Party (thinking of which I need to get myself down to Eastney to pay the deposit). You can find more details here . The event is now going to be livestreamed too which is very exciting!

On the MommyTube channel this week we are talking about baby names so I thought I'd bring it up here as well - why did you choose your names? Do they have special meanings? Do you have any cute or crazy nicknames for your kids? Also I asked "what names are popular where you are?" but as most of us on this blog live in the same place, that one may come out the same! You can still answer it anyway if you like!!

You can check out my vid on the subject here .

Have a great week all :) xxx

going away .............

10^th October

Apologies this is a late one again, I did start this on Sunday, but a busy week had by all with new experiences, and just had to get some sleep.  Then realised it was Monday!!!! 

I left the family for one night eek! I had to go to Newcastle for work which meant an overnight stay on Tuesday, the plan was for Nanna and Grandpa to come up and give Husband a hand – however when I got back he was a trooper and had done it all on his own, well Nanna was in the background as a stabiliser but he did really well, the girls at the Nursery said that when the kids were dropped off at 7:30am Husband looked a bit shell shocked but he was there to pick them up after work again  and Nanna said he had the patience of a saint whilst grandson decided he was going to sit everywhere but in his car seat!!!!  I rang once – I chose my time carefully, just after tea but not after bath as I thought this would be less painful or tearful to all.   I haven’t really gone into too much detail, but this was the first time of leaving my children since we have become a family,  just over 12 months and it was lovely that they both wanted to speak to me and they seemed so content and kept saying Mummy work, mummy come back soon.

I then found that being away from them I still got up early!!! 5:30am – what was that all about – here I was able to catch up on my sleep, but only just barely got my 7 hours usual sleep.

We all were a bit shattered by Friday, however by Saturday we seemed to have recovered and were ready to see my Niece and Nephews, brother and sister-in-law and celebrate my birthday all over again!

To this week’s subject – gizmos and gadgets – both children had those zebra seats that are like mini carousels that go up and down when they bounce and round and round – my daughter particularly loved this and would spend ages spinning round and going into her own little world, I got a lovely highchair which could recline all the way back and found use for both children for a quick nap after lunch.

Wishing you all a good week. x

All Work and No Play

This week has been a bit of a slow one. I've had one of them weeks where I look back, and can't remember what I've done. Sounds awful doesn't it?

Last weekend, James and I toddled off to Southampton with Freyja. James was getting his eyes tested to see whether he was eligible for laser eye surgery, which he is, but only the uber expensive kind. So that can't happen for a while. Whilst he was in with the eye-man, Freyja and I had a wander round West Quay. I love that place, but struggle to exercise self-control when it comes to the shops. I bought a few Christmas presents, and we went for a hot chocolate before coming home. That evening, James had some friends round because they were going airsofting the next day, so I went out with me bezzie mate Leila and had a few too many malibu and cokes. No hangover though! 

On Sunday, Freyja and I did a food shop, and I worked that evening. The rest of the week was pretty quiet. I went to visit one of my Netmum friends with another one of my Netmum friends, and ate lots of biscuits and drank lots of tea. It's lovely having so many lovely people as mummy friends - couldn't have done it without Netmums. I worked that evening (again). On Wednesday, I had to wait in for a delivery, so we just minced around the house and did a bit of housework. Thursday, a friend came over for a drink and a natter. I had a couple of deliveries from PR companies who want me to do product reviews on my personal blog. I couldn't believe what they sent me, it was like Christmas! Freyja dived in to a massive box of Organix Goodies - I think I know what'll be her treats for the next couple of weeks! On Friday, my friend and her daughter came over in the morning and Freyja and Gracie played for a while. They were both being pretty moody though - when Gracie gets moody, she whinges, and when Freyja gets moody, she hits - not a great combo. I worked again last night, and working again tonight and again tomorrow night! Just thinking of the money... 

On to our theme of gadgets and gizmos. When Freyja was first born, I went through a bit of a phase of wanting all the cool electric toys. She had a play gym that she really enjoyed, and a door bouncer that she loved (except it was a bugger to get her out of it). She had a walker that she pushed around the house, but never got that much use out of it really. Apart from that, she had a musical light show thing for in her room which helped her settle when she was much younger, but that's about it. I have a big love for traditional wooden toys, jigsaws, books, and blocks - I much prefer to buy those sort of things rather than the battery ones. There's nothing wrong with them, obviously, it's just personal taste. They tend to last longer when they don't have batteries in them - not to mention it's a lot quieter without so many gadgets on at the same time! I just don't think that that many of them are very educational - the ones Freyja has, have got ridiculous voiceovers and make ridiculous sounds that don't sound like what they are aiming to sound like, so they're pretty pointless really. You just can't beat a bag of Megablox and stacking cups/shape sorters - she has hours of fun with that kind of stuff! 

Have a good week - I'm off to sort the house because my mum is coming to visit tomorrow and staying with us for a week, so I suppose I best go and make her bed up! x

Travelling light ..

I had to laugh as I waved off P, my daughter, this morning as she went off on her first school trip since joining secondary school.

About 150 of them (+ 20 teachers) are going on an Outward-Bound style weekend. It means old trainers, old t-shirts, joggers and waterproofs. Most of the clothing will get wet; some of it will have to be thrown away.

As we struggled to get everything into the very large bag that that I used when we went away for the summer, I realised she had sneaked in a bit of contraband clothing: a pair of shiny flat pumps (just what you need in a youth hostel); a glittery belt; a couple of disco-style tops. I threw them out – only the essentials were allowed if she were to fit in such things as toiletries.

The bag just about zipped up. It was heaved into the back of the car and off we went. I was worried we’d overpacked, but on seeing her friends I realised the bag we’d packed was about average in size and weight.

Off they trundled, all excited (more worries from me: it won’t be long before we will wave goodbye to this gaggle of girls as they make their way to Torremolinos or Benidorm for a holiday in the sun).

Then I noticed a group of boys who are in the same year making their way to school. Surely some mistake? Weren’t they going on the trip? They appeared to be empty-handed. Oh no – on closer inspection, they appeared to be wheeling what appeared to be nothing more than a lunchbag on wheels!

How could they fit in sweatshirts, trainers and walking socks in such tiny bags?

It was the perfect example of how males and females pack differently for the same thing. And I bet the girls wear only two things all weekend …

busy busy busy

Hi ladies.....

so sorry, been sooooooo ridiculously busy i forgot it was Thursday!! lol.... anyway, just want to say a massive well done to Liz for all the hard work she's put in for the shoeboxes!!! i haven't read the write up in the paper yet but i will..... we did it in the school i worked in and i think it's a fab idea :D xx
Well, what a week! and it really has flown by!!!! Friday I had uni and i got issued my first practical assessment- a real experiment, on real people! i assumed as it was the first one it would be a breeze- how wrong was i!???!! in fact I'm dreaming about the bloody thing and I've not ever started it yet!! arghh....
Friday night Et went to his dads and Josh and Harry came round. We didn't really do a lot but both Ben and i were exhausted (which is quickly becoming a regular thing!) I'd spent the day feeling like poo and randomly throwing up, and in the middle of the night Ben was really sick too :( so we decided to have a quiet day on Saturday. My cousin ho is in 'operation move baby' mode suggested a walk round Farlington Marshes on Saturday morning, but the boys didn't want to go :( I figured Eryn would appreciate being at home more than stuck in her buggy for a couple of hours (she still wont walk outside) so i went on my own leaving the kids with Daddy.... Shame they missed it though, there was me, my two cousins and their 5 kids (between them, excluding the bump) and 3 dogs. they had a whale of a time hunting crabs and clams and spotting birds :) Incidentally, Baby still hasn't made an appearance though (it's my cousin's eldest birthday on sat and i'm edging my bets that bump will arrive as an extra special birthday pressie for his big sis!) Saturday afternoon Ben took the boys home and we pretty much flaked for the rest of the day. We decided against taking Moo moo face swimming on Sunday as we'd both been ill, and instead went out to buy ourselves a new TV (following the tragic death of Ben's beloved one a few weeks ago) well, we came home with a new TV, birthday and baby arrival presents, Christmas pressies and then as a very big surprise!!! Ben bought me a netbook so i've got my own laptop to do my uni work on :D he is officially the WORLD'S BEST BOYFRIEND!!!!!!! :D
Ethan returned home Sunday night and in true Et style, put a hilarious dampener on things..... he moaned about the new tv!!! said it was the same size as our old one (which is now in our bedroom) errrrr no Ethan it's 8inches bigger lol.... and when i showed him my netbook he was like 'oh right' !!! i said 'aren't you impressed?' to which he repied, 'er mummy, i'm a child, i'm not going to be impressed with a laptop' LOL bless him.....
Monday Eryn was in nursery for a few hours while i went to a meeting at uni. She's getting on so well there now and isn't even crying when i go now- just pulling a really sad face (bottom lip quiver etc..... u know the one ;) ) i had a lecture on Monday night that i missed 'cause Ben wasn't home from work in time, so I've got loads to catch up on :( Damn lifts!!!! lol
Tuesday's are killing me!! I don't see the kids all day!!!! :( I drop them off just after 8 and i don't get home till just gone 6 :( i hate it!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday was lovely, although Eryn was very clingy! Et went swimming and i took Eryn to the soft play centre while he was having his lesson. She loved it! It's the first time she's really actually enjoyed herself at one, and she didn't want to leave.
Today i had to do a stupid computer course at uni, and I'm in again tomorrow morning.... all this balancing everything lark is HARD!!!
Oh Ethan randomly announced he wants to become a vegetarian... i have no problem with this- i was one for 6 years.... but when i asked him if he actually knew what it meant he said no!! lol.... once i'd explained he soon went off the idea..... God knows where he got it from though!!!
This weeks topic, hmmm...... i don't think i've actually brought anything to keep them amused apart from the obvious playmats, gyms etc.... but i do let them play with things they probably shouldnt.... the kitchen drawers, glass photo frames, knives and forks, cameras, remotes, mobiles, and yesterday Eryn was playing with my hammer :S lol..... but it's all supervised if that makes any difference! lol.... oh i had a vibrator that was what i thought was well hidden.... Ethan always managed to find it!!!! (he was about 2 at the time lol) Bless 'em....
The pic is one of the ones we had taken.... i love it..... till next week..... xxxx

hiya!!

apologies for my missed week last week i felt like death and spent most of the day in bed or on the sofa and completely forgot to do my blog!!!

although i havent blogged for 2 week's i don't have an awful lot to talk about!!!

last week we didnt do that much cause i didnt feel that great for most of it!
we've started going to krazy kaves on a tuesday morning - with it being parent and toddler morning its a nice change from big kids bounding around, not that i complain about that cause taylor is normally the one bounding around haha!! its just nice not to have to follow fin's around he has a little bit of freedom!!

on saturday night we went to see jason manford at the guildhall. he really was hilarious!! havent laughed so much in ages, definately worth going to see!! after we went for a few drinks in guildhall, somewhere i havent been for nearly 2 years lol!! i felt so old! everyone looks about 15!! i'm only 24 myself but it made me feel ancient being out!! after we all drunk stupid amounts of alcohol we went for a curry. was a really good night!

you can probably imagine what i was like the day after haha!! i spent the whole day in bed, woke up at half 12, phil made me a fry up and i got back in bed - what a slob lol!! kids didnt come home from my parents until half 5 so i had a whole day to recover thank god!! dont no how people do that every weekend!

we didnt do anything monday, tuesday we went to krazy kaves again and today i havent really done anything!! i've just started doing avon so my mums friend - whos the area manager for portsmouth came and showed me whats what, i've been and given a few books out down my road and a few friends have one but i don't think i'll be one of the avon ladies who make a bomb lol!! none of my friends really seem interested so will just see how it goes!! (if any of you who are around the fratton area want an avon book let me know hahahhaa!!)

my 2 have had loads of dif baby gadgets
play mats - didnt like
play nests - taylor had one and loved it but grew out of it really quickly so didnt bother getting finley one cause he was even bigger lol
swings - neither liked theirs finley looked to screwed up cause it was like a little bucket seat and cause he was huge he didnt fit right!!!!!!!!
bouncy chairs - the both loved their chairs. i put taylors in the loft completely forgetting about it and when we were sorting the loft out we found it when finley was just born so he had that and loved it but i thought it was abit hard, so went and got him another one which he absolutely hated!!! so was a complete waste of money cause he went back to taylors old hard chair haha!!
finley had a bumbo for 3 weeks, cause his legs were so fat we had to push him down into it (this was at 3 months!!!) so he got frustrated with not being able to move his legs at all haha!!
they've had every baby toy going and didnt play with any of them. i've wasted so much money on trying to amuse them but nothing worked!!
now they both love wrestling and play with their wrestlers all day everyday!! least thats one thing in 6 years that they like and stick to!!!
i expect every parents the same and gets things they think looks nice and fun and the kids arent interested!!! wonder how much gets spent every year on unwanted things lol!!

anyway i cant write anymore finley is having a moan cause i'm totally ignoring him!!!!!

see ya :)

Dino,Rain,wedding and a poorly doggy...

Hi everyone,Firstly i would like to say a big well done to Liz with the launch of her new mummytube channel.Ive been keeping up with it and it lovely to get to know different mummys from all over the world and there view on motherhood and more.You should all go and check it out.
Those of you local to some of us 7mummies (Portsmouth) will know about the sad event that happened towards the end of last week.

Earlier in the summer a 53ft dinosaur was erected on Southsea common.It was built for a touring art project,took 3 yrs to make and cost way into the thousands.It was due to move to colchester then Cardiff and back to remain in portsmouth.But in the early hours of friday morning(suspected students) burnt it down.The whole community are totally devastated that someone could be so selfish and thoughtless.Kids loved it and it could be seen for miles,Its just such a shame.

Friday was a horrid day day, i had so much to do and the whole day was non stop torrential rain.Its day like that when i really hate the fact that i cant drive,we got soaked walking to and from school.Then again after school as i needed to take Jaydon for a haircut,after a swift visit back home for Jaydon to get changed we then had to take him back to school as he had a cinema night before going back to collect him at 8pm.I was literally wet through to my undies.

Saturday was mums wedding,she looked soo beautiful.Skye wouldnt keep quiet through the service so MrB took her outside.The food was lush and over all was a fab day.

This morning my bestfriend phoned me and said her boxer dog Missy needed a trip to the vets,would i mind meeting her there and looking after her 9 month old son while she saw the vet.So i took he little man with me to my trip to asda,he was an angel bless him.When i met up with my friend a bit later she was distraught.Poor missy has cancer and has to go back friday for an op and see how far it has spread.Its so sad,not only has missy been a big part of the family but she has been a part of our friendship for the last 9 yrs.In the last 13yrs this was only the 2nd time ive seen her cry (my friend that is,she was 16 the 1st time) :( Me on the otherhand i cant remember how many times she has seen me sob lol.

So the topic of gizmo's and gadgets..I dont think my 2 had loads really,both had playmats but neither showed much interest.Playpens..Jaydon loved his but Skye would lose interest after 10 mins.Bouncy chairs..Jaydon would only chill out when he was in his chair,but Skye only liked hers if she was being Fed at the same time.Jaydon absolutely loved his walker,and would try and climb into it once he was able to pull himself up.There are so many different things you can buy for kids, most i think arnt really needed and are just a reason to help the toy companies make more money.

Now days Jaydon is happy as long as he has a computer console to play or skateboard if the weather is ok.Skyes is happy with babys and anything she can dress up in.

Have a good week xxx

Gadgets and Gizmos

Morning everyone! Another looooong week last week, must be the weather! I think where it gets dark so much earlier now it makes it feel alot later than it is so by about 8 o'clock I feel like I should be in bed! Likewise, when I wake up at 6am and it's pitch black I do not want to get out of bed!

So this week I've mostly been buying bits and bobs for my Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. I've picked up some lovely stuff really cheap, so much so that I ended up with too much to fit into two boxes so now I'm doing four! Now just to get them wrapped and packed. I'm arranging a packing party through Portsmouth Netmums so if anyone else is interested in joining our little venture please let me know!

Last week was also the first week of the MommyTube and it was fab to see everyone posting videos. If you like reading this blog you should definitely check it out, the link is in the sidebar. I do Mondays on that too and the other ladies are all great.

I loved Becki's '5 embarassing moments' theme last week but I really couldn't think of a single thing! Surely my kids have embarrassed the hell out of me at some point but my mind is totally blank! As for this weeks topic, it should have been Noeles this week but me being my usual useless self I forgot to ask! So this week I want to know what kinds of gadgets and gizmos you have bought to try to keep your little ones entertained.

I have tried just about everything going so far with Lucie. She has two playmats, a door bouncer, (although for her it's not so much a 'bouncer' as a swing as she is so little her legs don't come close to reaching the floor!) a bumbo, a rocking chair and a bouncy chair and I want to get her a baby walker! She likes to play on all of her things but gets bored easily and doesnt like being stuck in the same position for long. A combination like the one pictured above seems to work! In fact since I started writing this I have already moved her from my lap to her chair to the playmat and now to the bumbo. I think (or hope) that she will be much happier when she can sit alone for longer and maybe move around a little. I got a playnest from the car boot sale but one side was punctured! I think she'd like one of those so will have to keep my eye out!

When Brett and Courtney were little they had bouncy chairs, playmats, nests and then walkers later on, these days as long as they have a DS in their hand they are happy!

Have a great week :)

3rd October - It's all about ME!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone, well I think I’m mainly going to talk about today as it is my BIRTHDAY!!!!! Although I am 39 years old today I look upon this a new day, a new beginning and hopefully how life will continue as it has done!  I had a wonderful start to my Birthday morning with breakfast in bed – boiled egg and toast, cup of tea, orange juice, presents, cuddles and cards.  Although this will be my 2^nd Birthday with my two gorgeous children it felt like my first – I was more relaxed about the whole day and felt that yes this is what it’s all about, what I have been wanting since xxx years ago.

Before the kids went to bed Saturday night [yesterday] they both sang Happy Birthday to me and my son bless his cotton socks sang “Happy Birthday to my Mummy” I had tears in my eyes it was so so sweet.  However by 1pm on the day of my Birthday [today] I had tears of frustration in them – found said son with his face in my just iced Birthday Cake, I know it didn’t look like a pristine shop attempt but it was my attempt and my Birthday Guests were arriving in less than an hour!!!  Anyway Husband came to the rescue and patched it together with the colours of the Canaries, even though we aren’t football fans – no one seemed to mind, and I have to say that I think it looked better than my attempt!!! – can that count as one of my embarrassments????

 Anyway here are my other thoughts to embarrassing situations that I have had to get out of,  not quite the 5 but we are getting there!

1.      Courtney - daughter asking to see my poo

2.      Son is in trolley in the supermarket and I ask him what he is doing and there looking up at me is his willy doing a sausage impersonation!

3.      Going into a toilet when shopping with daughter and daughter saying about the lady who just vacated the toilet – mummy that lady’s done smelly poo!

This is a lot harder I think! I have lots more to say so you can also catch me on my other blog http://thoughtsfromavillage.blogspot.com/  have a good week all xx

Poo Times Two

This week has been quite a nice week actually, apart from the odd toddler tantrum lasting a day... She has calmed down a bit for the latter half of the week and has been lovely every day, so I'm a happy mummy. 

I worked Saturday evening, which was nice and hectic. A new girl has started, so at least we're not understaffed any more. On Sunday, we went up to Guildford for a couple of hours to see some friends - 2 of them hadn't met Freyja yet despite being a year and a half old, so it was lovely to see them, and they really enjoyed spending time with Freyja. We had a yummy dinner, as well as winning a pair of awesome Converse on eBay. Score! 

On Monday, we didn't really do anything. I did go out for a couple of hours in the evening though, to have a couple of drinks with one of the guys I work with as it was his birthday. On Tuesday, one of the girls I went to high school with (who now lives in Bognor Regis) came over with her little girl and we had a lovely morning of tea and biscuits. The only bad point to their visit was Freyja & Cerys were playing outside, and Freyja decided to step in fox poo and stand, rigid to the spot in tears, until I managed to prise her shoes (which had a double knot I couldn't undo) off her feet. I just left the shoes there in the middle of the garden until James returned from work and cleaned them. I don't mind baby poo, but fox poo is a different story. And it stank. I worked again that evening, but it was a quiet one, minus the uni students taking over half of the pub for a while! 

On Wednesday, we had the car, so I went into town and did some early Christmas shopping! My logic is that if I spread the cost over a longer period of time, we won't be in xmas debt in the new year. I got a few bits for Freyja, and managed to find a couple of bargains. We went to visit my friend Jess after, before picking James up from work - that's the only annoying thing about having the car - getting stuck in the 5pm rush hour traffic to try and get to Fareham, with a restless hungry toddler. Lovely.

We went to Moby's yesterday for a couple of hours - I've never seen it so busy! We had to park on the industrial estate and walk down, in the rain. But it was nice, and it got Freyja out of the house for a while. She was so cute - she saw a lady there, who was holding her newborn baby. Freyja walked past, eyed up the baby, and gave the mum a big cuddle! It was so adorable! She also knows how to hold her own - a 3 year old hit her, and she hit him back! Good on her! I worked last night again, but luckily, I'm off tonight so I can actually have a Saturday off for once. James has some mates over as they are airsofting tomorrow, so I've decided I'm going to go to the pub for a bit. Yoink! 

As for this weeks topic of embarrassing moments, because Freyja isn't old enough to talk herself into trouble, I don't really have that many embarrassing episodes. I spoke to James and asked him if he could remember any moments, and naturally, he came up with the one vile one. You know how during labour, some women accidentally poo. It's normal. It's a bit of a taboo subject, but I'm not one to sugarcoat things. Anyway, I was one of those women. But, whereas in most cases, the midwives manage to clear it up before it shows itself, she missed some. As I was changing position (they tried getting me on all fours), I apparently had a bit of poo stuck to my bum and wafted it right in James' face. I don't think he'll ever let me live that one down. Anyway, enough about poo. Apart from that, and taking half an hour to put up a pram in the middle of the Argos car park with a load of builders laughing at me, there's not much else that has embarrassed me. Yet. 

Have a lovely week xxx

A tidy mind ...

I am drowning in a sea of mess.

I’ve had quite a lot of work these past few weeks (for a freelance writer, this is an enviable position to be in so I am not complaining).

But it does mean that housework has been relegated to well below the Top 50 household chores chart.

Providing food and cleaning clothing for the children comes top of the chart, of course, but everything else has pretty much taken a running jump.

After three weeks, I am overwhelmed by what needs to be done. I have managed to vacuum very quickly (the lounge), the kitchen remains just the right side of hygienic and the guinea pigs have been cleaned out every week. I have snatched a few minutes’ bathroom cleaning, too, but unfortunately it means the sink is clean one day; the loo the next and the shower screen the next.

Such haphazard approach means that NOTHING looks clean. Added to the fact that the children’s things seem to overtake each room, I feel despair.

But, the room in which I work is the absolute worse. The “study” is an appalling mishmash of books, technology and pieces of paper. As it is essentially the box room, there is no room to swing a kitten - never mind a cat.

In there, somewhere, is all the paperwork I need to fill in my tax return. But goodness knows where it is. I am in a slight panic now as I want to send off the paper version (rather than doing it online) in the next week.

Perhaps I should ask my son to don a hard hat complete with headlamp, burrow in and find it. Who knows what else he may find? A new species of monkey; Narnia ...

The children seem oblivious to it all, of course. When I ask them to tidy up their mess they look around, slightly confused. Is what I am seeing a mirage? Are those hair clips, bobbles, magazines, combs, discarded clothes really there> In the middle of the lounge? I do believe they are.

And what about the Tamagotchi, Toxic magazine, Go-Gos? Yes, i really do think I can see them.

So why can’t they? It drives me nuts, even though my threshold for mess is much higher than my husband’s!

Anyway, this weekend I will tackle it. I can’t promise a study of Zen-like calm, but I will try to rationalise and store away properly in a way that means I can access the things I need. If that doesn't happen it means I have unexpectedly discovered a hidden entrance to another world. See you next week (maybe!).