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

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

Was I Being Punished?

I was really looking forward to James and Freyja coming back home on Tuesday. I had been keeping myself busy all weekend to try and take my mind off them not being here - I worked Saturday (which was insane) and on Sunday, me and a few friends went to the Tenth Hole. For the first time, we treated ourselves to High Tea - OH MY GOD - it's £25, but between us, it was about £8 each, but what you get is phenomenal - 6 slices of cake, a plate of sarnies, scones, tea and coffee - I couldn't finish it. I felt like royalty - everyone kept staring at us as though we were sophisticated, when in actual fact, we are the opposite - a bunch of cake crazed maniacs who wanted a treat. On Monday, I did loads of housework, then went out for some drinks of the evening - I thought I may as well take advantage of the not-having-to-be-up-in-the-morning factor. James & Freyja were due to land at about 2:30 the next afternoon, so my plan was to drive over to Southampton to pick them up, spend the afternoon with them, and then go to work in the evening. In actual fact, the plane was delayed for 3 and a half hours, so they landed at 6ish, and I had to just drop them off and whizz off to work. So I didn't get to see them at all :(

The next morning was hideous. Freyja screamed for half an hour after James went to work. She cried, didn't want to be with me, didn't want hugs, didn't want to play. It was horrible. I took her to Krazy Kaves which she enjoyed loads, brought her home, and she cried some more. She wasn't too bad after a nap, but wasn't the same until James came home. She flung herself at him as he came through the door as though her life had briefly ended when he wasn't there. The way she was being with me, it was almost as though she was punishing me for leaving her for 4 days. Alongside that, she was also going through a bit of separation anxiety with James. What a way to make me feel like shite?! I don't see my baby girl for 4 days and she cries at me. Not the nicest feeling.

As the week went on, she got better, and now she's pretty much back to normal. She still has a wobbler when one of us goes through the door, but she gets over it quick enough. We can't help having to go to work.

Onto this weeks topic of food. We try to give Freyja a home cooked meal everyday - it doesn't always happen though. We do have fish, veg and chicken fingers in the freezer, as well as a supply of meatballs. We also have tins of baked beans and things like that in the cupboard. Most of the time, if we have a home-cooked meal, we will stick some in the fridge - enough for Freyja to have for the next 2 days. She easts everything we make. She's the easiest kid to feed I've ever met - ever since she was 5 months old, she's eaten everything. She loves fish, meat, veg, salad, fruit, pasta, cous cous - she's a dream to feed. When she was younger, I used to puree things and freeze them in ice cube trays, then once frozen, put the cubes in a freezer bag and label it. Then each meal time, I would grab a few cubes of whatever I had, and heat them up. The other thing I couldn't do without were frozen vegetables - I have a stock of broccoli, spinach and peas in the freezer for when we don't have a homecooked meal for her. I'm hoping she doesn't go through a faddy stage (although she probably will) - she's been a dream for the last year!

Have a good week xxx

5am Is Not a Nice to Time to Be Up

I'm not used to this early morning rising lark. Freyja has been sleeping through the night for so long, that the early morning days have been long gone. Until this morning, when, after a 7 hour shift at work (finishing at 2am) I had to get up again, at 5am, to take my gorgeous fiancé and my precious Freyja to the airport. They are off to France for 4 days today, without me *sob* - in fact they are there by now, so I'm hoping Freyja was the lovely well behaved toddler she can be, rather than the not-so-well-behaved part-demon she chooses to be on several occasions.

Anyway, my week has been fairly uneventful - other than having visits from a couple of bunches of friends during the week, I've been taking advantage of the dry weather and getting my mountain of washing done. I didn't realise we had this much stuff! I worked Friday night/Saturday night/Sunday night last week - which is nice when you see the pay packet roll in, but knackering at the time. I love working there though, so I can't complain, and it seems as though the boss' are happy with me being back working for them. Worked again last night, which was crazy-busy - we had an offer night, where rum was 99p, so you can imagine the amount of people we got through the door. Today, I'm working again - this time it's Southsea Fest, an annual charity music festival that goes on in various venues around Southsea - the Deco being one of them this year. We're hosting some of the alternative/metal bands, so I'm going down a bit earlier than my shift starts to watch some of them before I start having to run around like an idiot. I've got nothing better to do with my day, so I may as well!

It's weird not having James & Freyja here - I'm at a bit of a loose end. Today isn't so bad, because I have stuff to do, but Sunday to Tuesday, I have no plans at all - if I don't make any, this house is going to spring-cleaned to the max - James isn't going to know what's hit him when he comes home!!

Anyway, time to continue drinking my naff cup of tea - we have no milk, so I'm using skimmed milk powder. Ack. Then I think I'm going to pop into town for a bit, then head to work. Have a lovely week ladies xx