Friday 26 November 2010

Thankful Friday

I have borrowed this idea from another blog that I follow and I think it is a nice idea: to log every Friday all the things you are thankful for. It makes you appreciate all you have in your life that is good and helps if you are feeling a bit negative. This time of year I am automatically feeling a bit down. Partly I think to do with the weather: lack of sunshine and cold dark nights, but also because I am reminded of my mum even more so than usual at this time of year. It was at the beginning of December three years ago that she was taken into hospital (four and a half weeks before she then passed away). It has put a permanent damper on Christmas for me really. I used to really love Christmas and I still like it and know that it will still be a nice time of year for me (having three children certainly makes it fun) but it will always remind me of my mum. Today we had some bad news, my husband's uncle (his Dad's twin brother) died. He was sixty three and had bowel cancer. It is really sad, especially for the close family that he leaves behind and that has brought back a lot of memories for me about my mum today. It seems that when you lose something in your life it helps a bit to look at what you do have in your life so I thought that I would do a thankful Friday post today.

This week I am thankful for:

- Three lovely healthy children who make me proud and happy every day and a wonderful husband.

- Hot drinks - hot chocolate, tea and coffee have helped warm me up in these freezing weather conditions we are currently experiencing.

- The boys "after-school" clubs - gym bobs, tennis and swimming they really enjoy them and I feel they are really productive.

- Friends: they can make you feel so much better after a cup of tea and chat.

- Knitting: my therapeutic past-time that I enjoy doing in the evening when the four-month old will let me!

-Amazon.co.uk: I order loads of stuff from here and I love the fact that I can actually get nearly anything I need from there. I recently ordered a toy from there that I couldn't find anywhere else when I searched the net!

- Chocolate!

The list could go on really, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Halloween 1990 vs. Halloween 2010




This year I went trick or treating for the first time in approximately 20 years! I went with the kids for their benefit (obviously!) but was surprised at how much fun I had! The last time I went trick or treating was circa 1990. Back then the supermarkets in this country hadn't jumped on the band wagon selling all sorts of paraphanelia from pumpkin costumes for babies to skull-shaped drinking goblets: it was no way as commercial as it is now and more up to you to improvise at home.
So the last time I went trick or treating I was most likely a witch, dressed-up in a black skirt of my mum's, a black jumper, a bin bag as a cape, some black face paint as lipstick and a homemade cardboard witch's hat. My brother was most likely a ghost (a white sheet with eyes cut-out) or a scary monster: dressed in black clothes with a simple scary mask. Once we were dressed-up we would venture out with a carrier bag (most likely Sainsbury's or Tesco) to collect our treats in and a scary rubber spider or snake as the 'trick'. I remember a lot of the kids in our village would use eggs as their 'trick', we never had any thrown at us on our doorstep but most mornings after the night of Halloween we would find remnants of egg and shell on our driveway. As for the 'treats', I remember one lady being totally unaware that it was Halloween and she said all she had was some biscuits and so we got a digestive each! I also remember one lady giving us a small box of cereal each! The rest I think gave us sweets of some kind, but what I do remember is having to work a bit more for our treats: a lot of the people that did open their doors (and some didn't) expected a trick before they would give the treat! This year when I went out I noticed that all the people that answered the doors were there with a bowl of goodies already in-hand.
My children this year were dressed as skeletons (and the baby was a pumpkin but she fell asleep before we were due to go out so she stayed st home with daddy!). All their outfits were purchased on-line from a well-known retailer (Tesco!) along with Halloween pumpkin buckets to collect their treats in and even a bat torch to take out with them. We went around our Close first and then ventured around the rest of the housing development. We quickly realised that the best houses to go to were the ones with pumpkins outside - as this gave the message that they were entering into the spirit of Halloween! There were some amazing scenes: one house had two huge pumpkins (home-grown) with excellent carvings; another house had lights illuminating cobwebs all over the house and when they opened the door the adults were all dressed-up and music was blaring - they were obviously having a party ! Another house had fake legs and arms hanging from their front door with fake blood and hand prints on the windows! I was truly amazed as to how much effort some people had gone to! My four-year old and two-year old absolutely loved it. It became a real game to run around looking for the next house with a pumpkin, and there was a fight for who got to ring the bell or knock on the door first! They both came home with a bucket nearly full of treats and they both slept like logs that night! Although I don't necssarily agree with all the commercialness of Halloween these days I think it is probably more fun than it was in my day!!

Saturday 2 October 2010

A nice surprise made me think about my life







I was just nosing on the news updates of my "friends" on facebook this evening (as usual) when up pops my friend of 15 years that I haven't spoken to for a while for a chat. It was a lovely surprise as she is currently on a university course in Finland for a few months and I haven't seen her for a few years now. We were best friends when we were 16 which seems like a long time ago now. Back then we were both very similar. We were both going through similar problems and hence we built up a good friendship. The funny thing is that she doesn't seem to have changed much and is still doing higher education courses and not yet settled down/had kids. Compared to me who has been married 5 years (and in serious relationship with my now-husband for 9 years previous to our marriage); now have 3 kids and haven't been in higher education for 10 years! In some ways when I think about it I envy her: the carefreeness (is that a word?!) of being single, only having yourself to worry about - going out drinking, having a laugh, doing what you want when you want. But then on the other hand I remember when I was like that and I often felt lonely like my life was lacking something. Having the responsibility of three children is not easy, but I enjoy it. I am often stressed, I worry too much, I am always tired, I sometimes get angry and sometimes I feel very sad and emotional (which is to do with losing my mum)...and I cry and feel sorry for myself...but I also feel happy, content and grateful that I have three gorgeous children and a wonderful husband and I feel fulfilled - like I have achieved what I wanted in my life. I still feel like there are things I want to do - but I think it is essential to have goals otherwise life would be very depressing. I am happy with my life at this moment in time...and I guess that is all that matters. (pics of my 3 gorgeous kids xxx)

Tuesday 28 September 2010

A few spare minutes (would be nice!)

I don't do blogs half as regularly as I would like. I simply do not have the time. When I sit down I am either feeding the baby, eating a meal or checking my emails/facebook: they are about the only times I sit down these days. When I do think about doing a new post I always feel there should be something important to report but I have been thinking and maybe I will just do short posts as often as I can otherwise weeks pass without me updating.

So today Primrose has been for her first lot of jabs. That was four hours ago and she is still not asleep - grumbling and shaking her legs about in her bouncer chair while watching C-beebies! The boys have high temperatures and runny noses :( Jacob has gone down for a nap and Finn is just chilling out on the sofa, but keeps pestering me for a go on the the c-beebies website. I should feel less stressed today as they are not on their full-form full-of-beans hyper moods, yet I feel on edge as Primrose won't settle and just wants me to pick her up all the time. In the meantime I am trying to do a mountain of washing (Finn wet the bed - the double ('big bed' as he calls it) last night just after I had put clean sheets on as well :( He goes to bed in our room and then Dave transfers him to his bed when we go to bed); tidy the kitchen; tidy-up toys and vacuum and countless other little things like nappy-changing and meal preparation. Then in the evening I am knitting (got loads to do - sister-in-law is due in a few weeks and have some birthdays and Christmas coming up so I want to do some gifts for my nieces). Well, Primrose has worked up to a proper cry now so I will have to leave it there. I will post some pics soo of the boys birthday party that we had last weekend!

Sunday 12 September 2010

My home-educating quest...

I finally feel we are making some progress towards being a home-educating family! A few weeks ago I met up with a lovely lady and her five children (ranging from 9 to 18 months!) that live locally to us and have been home-educating for about four years. I immediatedly got on very well with her and really felt like we were on the same wave-length, and her children were so polite and friendly. It really instilled confidence in me that home educating is a totally do-able option for us. The day after this I met up with my usual mum friends and another mum who I didn't know quite so well. As all the children are due to start school next year the conversation inevitably turned to schools and said mum who I don't know quite so well asked me which school my eldest was going to. Until the day before my usual response to this was that I was considering home-education but still applying for the local school; but this time I said that I am planning to home-educate (full stop and no mention of applying to a school!). The said mum, who is lovely btw, said, "How lovely and what made you think of doing that?" and "Are you qualified to do that?". Her response on the subject was very postive despite not knowing anything about it (she thought it was lovely that I wanted to educate my children myself but she thought I'd have to be a qualified teacher!) and it made me realise that a lot of peoples' views on home-educating may come across as negative simply because they don't know anything about it. I've been worrying about how I will justify myself to people that ask why I home-educate, but really I think there is no need to feel defensive about it. Some people will not get it and not agree - that is their opinion, but I think there is also a lot of people out there that just simply do not know anything about home-education and so when they ask questions I should answer them in an objective and not defensive manner.

Thursday 15 July 2010

She is here at last!




Primrose Susan was born on 3rd July 11.58pm weighing 8lb 3oz and she is beautiful.

As usual my birth plan went out the window (don't really know why I bothered to write one up for the third time!). I went to hospital on my due date - 1st July - for a few checks and all was fine so they sent me home and asked me to return on the saturday. So 9am on saturday we were back at the hospital - had BP check and fetal heart monitor on and all was fine and the midwife was about to send me home...then they remembered they hadn't done a urine test...so they did this and found ++ of protein. My blood pressure wasn't too high but the swelling in my ankles had got really bad and so they decided I was "borderline pre-eclampsia". The doctor told the midwife to do a stretch and sweep and send me home until monday. Then ten minutes later the stretch and sweep turned into the proposal to break my waters and have me induced. I felt scared at the prospect of this - although I had been induced with my first and I was getting really frustrated and had said to hubby I didn't want to be sent home again with no baby, so although I was apprehensive about it I was quite pleased that something was finally happening. So at midday they broke my waters (worse experience than the first time - "tough as old boots" it was according to the midwife - nice!), then they gave me two hours to see if the contractions started naturally...they didn't, so the drip was set up...along with an antibiotic drip that I had to have every four hours during the labour due to a urine infection that I didn't realise I had until I got to the hospital that day.
By 9pm I was 10cm and ready to start pushing..."a few more pushes like that and your baby will be here" the midwife said encouragingly. However, I pushed for nearly two hours and couldn't understand why I couldn't push my baby out. Then they got the scan out and saw that her face was round the wrong way and so every time I pushed she was just pushing into the wall. Then the doctor showed up and suddenly I knew things were not going according to plan. They explained how the baby's head was stuck and so they would take me into theatre to try a ventouse delivery...and if that didn't work then they would have to do an emergency c-section...I just burst into tears at that point...as I signed the consent form I don't think I have ever felt so upset, scared and powerless. I tried to stay positive and kept telling myself that they would get her out with the ventouse as they had done quite easily with my first-born. So I was wheeled into theatre and that was terrifying in itself, especially as hubby had to go and get gowned-up and it seemed like ages before he was back by my side. They tried three ventouses before one finally "stuck" and then I had to push again...and I did, as hard as I could until it felt like my head would explode. After about another 5 minutes of pushing the doctor said what I had been dreading..."we will have to do the C-section". It was like the end of the road...I just lay there helpless with tears running down my face...I didn't stop crying until I heard my baby's first cry.

At 11.58pm Primrose Susan was born. She was lifted over the screen and I saw her for the first time...my beautiful daughter. It took an hour and a half to stitch me up and hubby held her close to my head. It was so frustrating not being to hold her straight away as I had done with my other two, but once we moved to recovery we made up for it...she latched on straight away and fed for about an hour! Then the midwife got her dressed and put her in a cot and told me to get some sleep. I would have done but then the after-pains started. Apparently these get worse with each baby you have, whether it is that and the fact my stomach had just been cut open but it felt like I was having contractions all over again...it was so bad I didn't sleep all night and I couldn't even sit up to see Primrose who had been put in a cot at the end of the bed. They gave me more painkillers but it didn't seem to be helping and the doctor even came back to take a look at my stomach. By 7am it had eased luckily and we were moved to a general ward. I stayed in another two nights, my platelets were low as I had lost a lot of blood and my haemaglobin is still low but they let me go home with some iron tablets. I was so pleased to get home and back to my other children, but it has not been easy so far. Hubby only took a week off work so I'm now home alone with the three of them and still trying to recover. I was quite emotional about the whole experience for the first week: horrified that I had to have a C-section third time round when I had had natural births with my first two; annoyed with medical staff for not realising that she was in a difficult position earlier on; frustrated that perhaps I had not done all I could to move her into a better position, but I am coming to terms with it now and after all is said and done I have a beautiful baby daughter who is safe and well.

Sunday 20 June 2010

The waiting game after our holiday...
















We had a lovely holiday in Cornwall but now it is back to reality and I have just 12 days to go now until my due date! I am nervous and excited just as I was with the other two. People say you should be less nervous about the labour third time around but if anything I am more nervous this time - because I know what can happen and that whatever scenario occurs it is not going to be nice. But like my friend who has just been through a difficult labour with her second said to me last week: it is only for a day, yes it is horrible pain, but then it is over and you have your baby, there's no better present than that!

So, here I am like a beached whale and I really have had enough of this pregnancy thing this time around. I started getting swelling in the legs, ankles and hands a good few weeks ago and now my hands are so stiff in the mornings that I keep dropping glasses and struggle to butter a piece of toast and hold my toothbrush. The heartburn is getting worse, having heartburn every day for five months is not fun. Now to add to it my blood pressure is creeping up. My midwife and doctor are keeping close tabs on it, and I have my own monitor at home, because I had pre-eclampsia with my first-born. My second pregnancy was totally symptom-free and I thought this would be the same but it appears not. So I am checking my blood pressure several times a day desperately hoping it has not gone up as I don't want to have to go into hospital for observation: I can't as I have my two little boys to look after. I am dreading having to leave them when the time comes as they have never stayed anywhere over night without me or hubby before. We have a plan that either my Aunty or my Dad will come to our house and look after them so I'm sure it will be okay, and again I have to keep reminding myself: it is only for a day, unless anything out of the ordinary happens I will in and out of hospital as quick as possible and will discharge myself if necessary as I did last time! So we are now playing the waiting game and it's very nerve-wracking but I am getting quite impatient and keep thinking it will be any day now...

Friday 4 June 2010

Great Nana

Last week my husband's Nan (Great Nana to the kids) passed away. She was in her eighties and had a good long life. Along with her other life achievements - one of which was being a nurse, she also had 11 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren - something alone to be very proud of in my opinion. So today we said goodbye to Great Nana at her funeral. There was requiem mass at her church and my husband had the honour as a pall bearer. My three and a half year old was asking where Great Nana was when we reached teh cemetry as we had told him we were saying goodbye to her. I had to try and explain as best I could that she was in the box which is called a coffin that Daddy and the other men are carrying. He asked me how she would get out and if there was a door in the box, and I explained that she wouldn't need to get out as she was having a nice long sleep just like Nana is and that then they will go to heaven above the clouds. It is a difficult concept to grasp even for an adult, I know that he didn't really understand but I wanted them to be part of it. Some would say that it is not appropriate to have children at funerals, and I understand when there are people that are very upset they don't appreciate children running about shouting and laughing, but it is part of life and why shouldn't they be part of it when it was their great grandmother? After the funeral there was a wake around at Nan's house. It was very strange to be sitting in her house when she was no longer there. However, it was nice to meet up with family, it is just so sad that it takes events like this in order for us to all get-together.

Friday 14 May 2010

7 weeks to go...






















I'm counting down the weeks now until the arrival of our little angel: baby no.3. 7 weeks to go and I'm getting excited and nervous! The last two weeks seem to have been more difficult than usual. My legs have started to really ache when I stand for too long and have developed some varicose veins :( It is also so difficult to bend over to pick up things - which is an essential part of daily life with a 3-year old, 19-month old and a room full of toys...and then there is the killer heartburn. I haven't updated recently as it is just so difficult to find the time...even as I speak I have the 3-year old in my ear asking me what something says in a book!

So, what has happened since I last posted? It was my mum's birthday this week, she would have been 57. So I have been thinking about her even more than usual. I bought some ivory lillies that were her favourite and some purple fresia and put them in a vase in the lounge for her. We will go to the cemetry on Sunday to leave some flowers there for her. It's been just over two years now since we lost her. I miss her, and think of her every single day...I never realised it was possible to miss someone so much and how there are always more tears even when you think there couldn't possibly be any left. So in memory of mum we are meeting for sunday lunch this weekend with my brother and his family and my mum's ex-partner (I don't quite know what you call a partner who has lost their other half but is now with someone else? Anyway, he was with my mum for 10 years and I used to refer to him as my step-dad, it's difficult now that he is with someone else though) at my mum's favourite pub restaurant near to where she lived. It wil be strange to be doing that and her not being there, it is very sad but somehow everyone remains very upbeat when we meet on this occasion. I think we all just hide our feelings - that's what it is.

Anyway, today we have had a nice day out at a country park near to us. The boys had a great time, and we were all tired when we got home. This weekend I also plan to make cakes with Finn as I said we would do it this afternoon and by the time we got home, and unloaded the grocery shopping that we had also done and sorted some washing and the usual cleaning of the kitchen, I was just too tired to entertain the idea of cake-making. So we have been taking it easy with books and TV this afternoon, then an early bath for the boys and their dinner before sitting down to do this while I wait for hubby to get in from work.

Other news, I have been doing lots of knitting: it is my new hobby, and I'm getting a bit obsessed with buying yarn! I will post some pics of what I have made when I get a chance.

Feeling a bit more positive about the home-schooling issue. There has been a lot of talk amongst my circle of mums recently about schools as some of the children are due to start school this september (Finn is next september as his birthday is middle of september) and so they have all just heard about whether they have got into the schools they wanted. There are two really good village schools within a few miles of our little town where we live and then there is the lower school in our town which hasn't got as good a reputation - mainly due to the large class sizes. Well, the village schools this year have been over-subscribed and some of the kids that live in our town didn't get in. I have put Finn's name down for both these village schools and plan to apply in November and then I have until April next year to decide whether to send him or home-school. Well, I'm thinking now that if he doesn't get into these village schools then I will definitely be home-schooling. Anyway, we have decided that as it stands home-schooling is our plan, but I need to see how it is once no.3 comes along as I am a little worried about how I will cope. I spoke to it at length with one of my good friends. We were best friends at school and have stayed friends ever since and I value her opinion but she thinks home-schooling is a big mistake and ended up basically accusing me of wanting to do it because I have control issues and not for the good of the kids. I felt quite hurt about that, and I agree I do like to control things a lot, but I really do only want what is best for my children and what makes them happy. Anyway, enough about that for now...I'll attach some recent pics before I run out of time!

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Easter Weekend


We had a lovely long Easter weekend and now it feels likea bit of an anti-climax this morning: hubby back at work and no plans for the day. Anyway we went to the Norfolk coast and visited a few National Trust places. The weather let us down a bit but we all still enjoyed ourselves.

On the Good Friday we visited Grandma and Grandad and cousins and Bank Holiday Monday we went to see Grandpa. Finn managed to eat four eggs on Easter Sunday and they still have a stack of them left!

Anyway,the plan today is maybe to go swimming if I can summon up the energy and then down to the library for some new books for the boys.


I will add more pics later - it is on a go slow at the moment and I need to go and get the little one out of bed!

Wednesday 24 February 2010

My dilemma continues...

Today at the tumble tots class the lady that runs it asked if it was this september or next september that Finn starts school. People are asking me this more and more each day and I just tell them that it is the following september as his birthday is in september. I can't be bothered to explain that actually I am seriously considering home educating him and he is therefore not going to school (I have told family and close friends - although I don't talk about it much as no one shows much enthusiasm about it). I think I am worried that people will judge me and think we are strange in some way for not wanting to send our children to school like everyone else does, and then I guess it is also because I am not totally confident that this is the right decision yet so I figure there is no point in telling people about it yet if he does end up going to school.

Anyway, the instructor then went on to say how she thought it was a shame he wasn't going to school this year as she thinks he could do with "channelling his energies". I just agreed and didn't carry on the conversation. As soon as she said it I immediately began to think I would be denying him of opportunities if I home educated and that I should definitely send him to school. I do respect this lady's opinion some what as she does have kids of her own, teaches kids all day long and seems quite perceptive about things e.g one day she said Finn was really struggling with the balance exercises and she suggested that maybe there was something wrong with one of his ears: a few days later he had a cold and fever and I took him to the doctors, they looked in his ears and said he had an ear infection. The last week or so I had really started to feel more confident that HE was the right option but this has fuelled my doubts again. However, as I thought about it more I began to think "channelling energies" could actually mean suppressing them by putting him in an environment where he has to sit still and stay quiet, wait in line and all the other routines that happen in an institution where supposedly "socialisation" is to be with a group of children exactly the same age as you and where you follow the pack and the strongest personality.

I am just still in two minds about the whole thing precisely because of how out-going Finn is and how much he enjoys being with other children, I don't want to deny him that, and when this lady said what she said today it just confirmed what I had already been thinking. Yet at the same time he does have a strong personality: is very out-going, intelligent, easy-going and I don't want all this to be suppressed as soon as he gets into a school environment. I think he could really benefit from being taught on a one-to-one basis. I know I have over a year to decide but I want it to be clear in my mind and I want to make a decision either way sooner rather than later as it is really playing on my mind.

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Pancake Day and the 20-Week Scan


Well, yesterday was a pretty good day for us. We went for the 20-week scan at the hospital. All appears well with the baby, all measurements are average for the due date, and we are having a little girl. I am very pleased as I already have two lovely boys so I was really hoping for a girl, and I feel are family may be complete now.


In the evening we had pancakes with it being Pancake Day. Jacob was not keen on them but Finn loves them and had great fun watching his daddy flip them!

Monday 15 February 2010

Valentine's Weekend





































We had a lovely weekend just the four of us. We normally tend to spend a fair bit of time travelling at weekends to visit family i.e my dad or hubby's parents. I love to get out and about and visit people but I also love spending time with just hubby and the boys and this weekend was really nice. On Saturday I got my first National Trust fix of the year at Ickworth house in Suffolk. My sister-in-law introduced us to the NT a year ago with a yearly membership as a Christmas present and I have probably already said this in a previous post but I think it is one of the best presents I have ever received (apart from the rocking horse when I was a girl or my first car or my engagement ring of course!). Anyway, I am totally into NT places now and only wish there were more in our area. This is what I like about them:
  • It makes you feel good to have a walk outside in lovely landscapes and scenery and there are normally sheep roaming the fields and wild deer in woodland areas

  • It is educational for adults and children - learning about the history of the old buildings

  • It is a great photo opportunity - beautiful architecture and landscaped gardens

  • There is frequently a play area for children: outdoors and sometimes a small indoor area

  • There is nearly always a tea shop or restaurant that serves locally-produced produce: food is fresh and yummy and they cater for children. Sometimes we have lunch if it is a good-sized cafe or we will take a picnic in the summer and then go to the tea shop for a cream tea and ice cream for the boys in the afternoon

  • They frequently have a gift shop that sells local produce and pocket-money toys and good books: I have found some good children's books in these shops before

  • And with a membership entrance is free to all NT places in the UK - this is especially useful for us when we go on our annual summer holiday to Cornwall as there is an abundance of NT sites down there.
Anyway, enough plugging of the NT! On Sunday it was Valentine's Day. Hubby surprised me with a dozen beautiful pink roses and a lovely bottle of Cabernet Sauvingnon (I'm still having the occassional class even though I'm pregnant - I am not as pedantic about things as I was with my first pregnancy - this time around I feel I need my daily cappuccino and weekly glass or two of red, everything in moderation is what I say). I gave hubby a chocolate fondue set which I thought would be fun for us all to use as a family as we all love chocolate! The boys gave Daddy a big Toblerone which was so heavy Jacob could hardly carry it! We went out for a walk and then enjoyed the rest of the day pottering aroung the house; Finn and I baked a yummy chocolate cake and hubby and Jacob watched Ice Age 3 on DVD. The only problem with weekends is that they are over too fast.

Thursday 11 February 2010

Tennis











Finn goes to tennis class on a Thursday. It has moved indoors now due to the cold weather but is out on the tennis courts when the weather is good. I took my old digital camera today and took this photo of them all as they stood in line for the register at the beginning. The camera then decided to stop working so I plan to take a few more with my Nikon camera in two weeks time after half term. The instructor has said that she would like some photos for the website so I'm hoping I'll get some good ones next time - that actually involve rackets and balls as it is a tennis class after all (although for Finn it is just a social event!). I have also included a few that I took on my mobile - but the quality is not very good so I will add more soon.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Ways to amuse ourselves without a car...










Our car has annoyingly been out-of-action for two days now so we have had to find ways to amuse ourselves at home or within walking distance. Yesterday we went swimming as luckily we have a leisure centre 5 minutes walk from our house. Both boys had a great time and Jacob slept through the night for the first time in months - think I will do that more often! It is hard work taking two under 4s swimming but I am trying to make the effort and make the most of it before number three comes along and we will have to wait until the weekend then and go swimming with hubby.

Today we walked to the local shop for a few supplies and this afternoon I put Jacob down for a nap and Finn and I made jam tarts. He absolutely loves baking and helping me in the kitchen. I love cooking and baking too, although I'm not so keen on the cleaning up afterwards when Finn helps out! I made myself a nice strong cappuccino though with hazelnut syrup and cinnamon sprinkled on top as a change to the usual chocolate. Finn had a babyccino and we sat down with our drinks and a jam tart each before I tackled the tidying up!

We are lucky that we live in a nice rural town so it has a village feel to it yet we can walk to the High Street and find all the amenities we need really: banks, small supermarket, library, post office, card shop, deli, children's shoe shop, bakery, tea shop, weekly market and we walk to the doctor's surgery which is a 10 minute walk not far from the reservoir which is good for walks in the summer. However, there are some drawbacks. All our family and some of our friends all live in the main county town which is twenty miles away, so I often wish I could live nearer to them; and the bus service here is appalling. To get to a village just ten minutes away (which is where we need to go tomorrow for tumble tots) involves catching a bus that only runs every two hours! So hopefully hubby will be sorting the car tonight - fingers crossed.

What we do on a Wednesday...


My smallest boy has now started Tumble Tots. I go in with him to his class compared to his older brother who is in the 3 years -school age class and goes in on his own. Jacob is only 16-months but wants to do everything his big brother does - from climbing to role-playing with cars and even drawing (which Finn at the age of 3 and a half has only just got into!).
Jacob is still a little nervous about climbing the apparatus at the moment though and the instructor commented last week how he is not as confident as his older brother. This has surprised me as at home he climbs the stairs in seconds and drags chairs over to the sofa so that he can climb up onto it and then climb onto the window sill, and generally shows no fear at all. Physically he is a lot more advanced than Finn was at that age. I can only assume that the lack of confidence at tumble tots is the environment which is intimidating him a bit at the moment. It is a big group with over fifteen toddlers and mums and there is a lot of equipment to look at - it must be quite daunting for a 16-month old. He seems to enjoy it anyway, and I'm sure his confidence will grow in time.
So this is what we do on a wednesday. As they are in different classes we have an hour to kill in-between and so I normally treat them to a trip to McDonalds for lunch. It is a once-a-week treat as I don't normally let them eat fast food. In fact, I don't think Finn stepped foot in a McDonalds until he was three. I used to be a bit obsessed about not feeding him anything that wasn't organic or that had refined sugar or salt in it. I think you become more relaxed once you have your second child though and you learn not to worry about things quite so much. Everything in moderation I say. Anyway, Finn certainly knows what MDs is now though and recognises the big yellow 'M'! I think he looks forward to this day all week as he loves Tumble Tots and McDonalds! We are vegetarians, although we do eat fish so the boys normally have fish finger happy meals, or recently Finn has taken to asking for a Filet-O-Fish (as that is what mummy normally has!) so he will have that, Jacob will have a small pot of Plum Baby food and they will share a happy meal. Luckily there is not a real fight for the toy - yet!

Friday 15 January 2010

Home Education - the starting post











Yesterday I finally felt like I was making some progress with starting to home educate my oldest. He is nearly 3 and a half so I don't want to rush him into school work, but he so wants to learn. Yesterday I drew a few letters in dot-to-dot form on a scrap piece of paper and asked tot if he would like to try drawing over the dots to form letters. He was very enthusiastic about it and loved the idea that he was forming letters all on his own! I had to keep showing him how to hold the felt tip properly but he really surprised me as we had tried this about 6 months ago and he was totally not interested. However, this time by the time we had finished he had written 1-10 and A-E in upper and lower-case. This morning I asked if he wanted to do some school work and he said, "Yes! I want to do school work right now!". He is so eager to learn new things and will just pick up books and look through them on his own if I am busy in the kitchen. We read books to him every day and he just loves them. It has made me realise that I think home education would be really beneficial to him and perhaps not as difficult for me as I thought. I am definitely swaying more for the home education yet I am still not ruling school out until the third one is here.

My new nephew

I don't see this blog as a daily journal where I should note down all that happens or concerns me. I have always thought of it more as a record of notable things that are happening in my life. I have failed to keep this updated though. On 26th November I became a proud Aunty to my brother's son and I haven't even put a post on my blog about him up until now! It is so difficult to find the time - that is the problem. Right now my boys are having bath time with Daddy. By the time they are both tucked up in bed (usually no earlier than 8.30pm by the time I have got the oldest one off) I am in no mood for thinking and just veg out (and recently fall asleep!) in front of the TV for the evening.

Anyway, I have met my new nephew twice now and he is lovely. I think he looks a lot like my brother did as a baby. I know they are going to find it hard as parents but I think once they have got to grips with it they will be great, and I look forward to many memorable family times that we can all share in the future.

Friday 1 January 2010

Happy New Year - looking forward to 2010

Happy new year. I am very much looking forward to 2010 and what it may bring. It is likely that the most important and exciting thing that is going to happen to us this year is that we will be expanding our family! A new baby due in July! I am very happy about it as I wanted another baby. I have been a bit apprehensive about telling others though, worrying that their reactions may not be as enthusiastic. My dad made some comment about contraception although I think he was only joking really and I worried how my sister-in-law would be who has just one child through IVF, and my other friends who had been finding it hard to conceive there second while I'm onto my third already. But really I guess it is no one elses business except ours. We are the parents, the ones who will feed and nurture this baby, we are the ones who have let ourselves in for many more sleepless nights and headaches with three under 4s! But as difficult as it is sometimes being a mother is easily the best thing that has ever happened to me and I can't imagine my life without them.

Another thing to look forward to in 2010: we have just booked out summer holiday to Cornwall. We are going four weeks before my due date so I feel a bit nervous about that. But we decided that one last family holiday as the four of us would be good for the boys, even if that does mean I will be spending most of the time sitting on the beach like a beached whale - sounds quite relaxing actually, if only that was an option! Anyway, despite the cottage being in the middle of nowhere it is actually only about twenty minutes from a perfectly good hospital - will make sure it is programmed into the sat nav!

New Year's Resolutions : normally for me it used to be to give up smoking (did that five years ago now) and not drink as much - which I obviously don't do much of now that I'm pregnant. I think resolutions are for if you are unhappy about something in your life and you want to change it, and really I am quite happy with my life so I am finding it hard to come up with some resolutions. Maybe mine should be to watch what I spend more and not buy unnecessary extras at the spermarket. With number three on its way and only having the one income we need to be careful. There was a time when a trip to the supermarket meant a new toy for tot, but the fact that our lounge now looks like a toy shop has made me more firm about saying no, and they will have a gingerbread man instead.