A lovely Easter holiday

Well I think we can safely say we were lucky these past few weeks.  The first week of the Easter holidays we hung out, took it gently due to Ben being knackered and a fair few friends being away, but then headed down to Cornwall in the second week and lucked out with then weather!  It was wall to wall sunshine, and we had an absolute blast staying with the Price's at their (incredibly hospitable) in-laws, building sandcastles and damns on the beach, eating ice-creams and all sorts of other things you just wouldn't expect to do on an Easter break.

Easter holidays

We have limped our way to the Easter holidays and have begun them with a poorly boy.  he came home from school on Friday and effectively flopped.  He's not really 'ill' 'ill', but has had a high temperature at night and has been in our bed ( very unusual unlike Becca who has come into our bed every night since about Xmas!).  He's very up and down and has complained about earache.
Anyway, yesterday wasn't particularly adventurous, and today we simply headed to the cinema to watch the Penguins of Madagascar - which was surprisingly funny,  There were parts Paul and I were completely wetting ourselves laughing!  Kids seemed to enjoy it too....!

Tomorrow we are planning on going to Oxford with my mum but we may have to see how he gets on tonight, I could do with a night without 4 of us in a King size bed.

On a more positive front, we have had lots of fun with craft stuff, and have hung our little wooden eggs/flowers on an Easter branch.  Rebecca was a bit less random on her 'egg hanging' with all of them on the same branch,  Paul told me to leave them but there are some things that do bring out an element of 'control freak mother' in me and I had to re-hang them once she was in bed.

the kids have made more Easter baskets that they will ever need, and they requested a countdown calendar like the advent one I made with lots of  surprises in it, such as days out, craft activities and (of course) chocolates.  This evening we painted the bottom half of some old yellow plastic eggs I found a blue colour so we can try and turn them into minions tomorrow... Ha ha, who needs phonics anyway!!!  (Good job my kids are pretty academic as I ignore all that extra learning stuff and go straight for the fun things at home!!)

Well I don't think today will go down as a memorably impressive achievement-filled one.   Ben had Forest school, which basically involves a long coach journey to a field and some trees, to run about a bit in the rain, climb a few trees, cook marshmallows and then a long journey back covered in mud.  All very good for a kiddo who lives in the inner city with no access to the countryside, but we are 5 minutes walk from a lovely wood and hill, plus we have the pleasure of camping at every opportunity - so not really world changing for him.  Still, it beats phonics I guess!

Becca and I attempted a 'Mum and Becca day out' but didn't really manage much bonding time.  We headed to the farm park in the knowledge that it would be quiet due to the weather and it is free as we have passes.  But on the way there we passed a bad car accident which had obviously only just happened.  I went past, but then had a change of heart and turned round to see if I could help.  It's a tough decision as obviously I had Becca in the car, but it isn't a particularly busy road so I felt I had to at least offer.  In fact I was of some use, as I spoke to the emergency services and then stayed with the lady in one of the cars until the paramedics arrived.  But obviously having Becca there meant I had to keep an eye on her too and she got upset so I had to take her out of the car and I think she got a bit cold, so was pretty grumpy by the time we eventually made it to the Farm Park.  Becca doesn't do cold very well (which doesn't bode well for scout camps!).

We managed to watch some lambing and hold a baby chicken but only really lasted about and hour and a half at the farm park before heading back, and she slept on the way home which is very unusual these days so I guess she is a bit under the weather.

The rest of the day was taken up with Frozen viewing, until it was time to collect Ben, who seemed to have brought the best part of the forest back with him on his trousers.

2 years on...

and so much has happened!  Today Ben lost his first tooth.  A big deal.

Yes this blog saw me through relationship cock ups, finally meeting 'the one', marriage, pregnancies and the world of the little toddler.  Then Facebook took over and I moved onto snappy one liners to update my life on a daily basis.  Some days I miss putting down a bit more detail so, although it may be a temporary reprise, I'd like to try and record a little more.

Ben was beside himself with excitement on losing the tooth, which he has been wiggling for days.  I have to admit I am a little gutted about the loss of his lovely looks to one with a wierd gap in his gnashers, but his excitement was infectious and he leapt upstairs at the sign of bath/bedtime in his enthusiasm to get to sleep to allow for the tooth fairy's visit.
I had intended to place 50p under the pillow which seemed reasonable but Paul had already shined up a nice £1 coin so who am I to deprive the boy from more spending power.  I have a horrible feeling the morning will come even earlier than 5.59am start I had today.
On which note, Rebecca has spent the last 2 months coming into out bed anytime between midnight and 3am, something which we keep meaning to get around to resolving but never quite managing to get the strength or determination to see through.  We are the epitome of slack parents.

So I am three months into the job, - but who's counting??? (me!!!).  the job itself is mainly fine, I actually managed to settle into the team ok and get on with people fine, although I find it a very negative position given that I constantly have to deal with disciplines and grievances, and the list of people who I have pissed off is growing longer by the day.  I hate leaving the kids when they are ill - which has happened this month with Ben being poorly a few weeks ago and Rebecca ill today.  But I realise this is something every working parent has to deal with.
I'm hoping that at the end of this job I can have a bit of time to reassess the finances and perhaps not work regularly again for a little while.  I just need to stop spending money......

Well I made it through the first week of work, although I only JUST made it, and had to leave early on Thursday with a migraine, which was pretty disappointing as I didn't want to come across as a slacker.  Hey ho, I think the stress of the week got to me, whilst we had a lovely time away for the weekend before, adding that to Ben's party and then all the organising of the kids etc, it was probably a bit much for me.  I return to the office tomorrow and I'm not too down about it, I think the job won't be brilliant, but it will be generally OK.  I am capable of the technical stuff, whilst it will take me a while to get to know the key ones I think I can work with the managers.  I just hope I manage to settle into the department OK.  I think it is only now that I am mourning the redundancy from the old job, as I realise how hard it is to leave a place when you don't really choose to.  Starting a new job is easier when you chose to leave the last one, because you aren't looking back with rose tinted glasses.

I have definitely enjoyed my time with the kids more, and today they were absolutely gorgeous.  It's full on getting them up and out of the house in the morning - and I know Paul finds it hard getting them home and sorted, but they seemed fine with things last week, Ben loved his extra time at nursery -helped by the fact that they went Christmas mad, so he was helping with decorating the place!  becca seemed fine too and was in the best mood she's been in.  So we just have to hope that continues.

Ah well, 2 weeks till Christmas break :-)

Time has flown past and the end is nigh.  Well not the end, more the beginning, but part of me also feels like it is the end.  Having been made redundant when I was pregnant with Ben I was relieved of that "returning to work from maternity leave" feeling.  Despite a brief foray into the world of work with a local posh hairdressing chain and the consultancy work, I've not really had to deal with the proper challenge of juggling a job and kids.  This all changes next week as I return to the coal face and start to attempt to juggle a 3 day a week job with 2 kids.  I've got mixed feelings if I'm honest.  I'm sad that I will be leaving my kids in childcare 3 days a week, until late when it's dark.  I'm terrified of having to get them up, fed, dressed and out of the house with a deadline, and I have NO IDEA how I will manage the house stuff without a bit of time to myself in the week to get things sorted.  That said, I am looking forward to having a mental challenge, adult company without the constant interruptions, not having to sweep under and clean the dinner table 3 times a day, and being able to listen to my choice of music in the car for 1 hour a day as I travel to and from work.
I'm lucky in that I only have 3 weeks of work before I get the Christmas break so hopefully it will be a gentler introduction.  We'll see,  wish me luck.....

well that was a bit of a shit week what with having an ill son, an ill husband, being ill myself and having a happy, bouncy little girl into the mix.  This was supposed to be my first week of freedom after having finished my work, and having 3 weeks before I start work.  I managed 2 hours in town on tuesday shopping but other than that it didn't quite happen.  Ben was clearly not well when I picked him up after nursery on Tuesday, by Wednesday he was grim and Paul was off ill.  Thursday saw Ben off nursery, but luckl=ily dispatched to grannies whilst Paul and I slept (separate beds!) - and today I had to call Paul to come home from work at lunchtime cos my head was pounding.  I'm hoping that the worst is over and we will have a nice weekend.  It's not a fat lot of fun being ill at the best of times, let alone when you have kids to look after :-(

that said, Rebecca has had us in stitches all week, she's a real chatterbox and never shuts up, god help us when she can actually say words......!

it's been a fair while since I last posted, partly because any real spare time is spent doing this consultancy work which was due in yesterday (yeah, well never mind eh) and in other areas of my life I have used up all energy, enthusiasm and commitment in persuading my son that pooing in his potty is preferable to doing it in his pants.  In which respect we seem to have finally got somewhere.  If I had written this 7 days ago it would have been one of slight despondency, but finally we seem to have cracked it and today was the first day that he finished the day in the same pair of trousers he started in.

I apologise if you are not a parent and reading this (in which case, why are you reading this and not out drinking and enjoying your social life....??!) -but if this kind of stuff makes you wince just be grateful that you are only reading about it and not living it.

I'm nearing the end of the policy updates I have to do, and the kids are getting nicely settled into their respective nurseries on a Tues and Thurs.  I start work in a month, so I can nearly taste those few days of freedom between finishing this work and 4th December.  Bring on Chapel Spa and an afternoon of lying on the sofa watching the last 8 episodes of X Factor USA..... (I love my son but it does my head in when he won't let me watch my choice of TV).

So November is upon me and it's my mum's 70th birthday next week - that's almost as scary as the fact that I am 40 next year.  She definitely doesn't look 70 that's for sure.  :-)

Interesting weekend, although not al easy. It swung from a lovely easy day yesterday when Paul took the kids up to his mum's which allowed me to go and spend a little money at a second hand baby clothes sale and then do some work, to a tougher day today where Paul was hungover/ill all day.  It started as a drunken hangover thing at 2am, but given that it is now 8.30pm Sunday night and he is still in bed, methinks it is not simply the result of drunken antics, poor thing.  However after being awake a lot of the night, up early and in charge of the kids all day I am knackered and appreciate even more how much he does (though obviously I won't tell him this and fully expect compensation in the form of lie-in's or nights out....)

On other thrilling news we are at the very end of the Killing 2 -one more episode to go.... arrrgh it has been brilliant, thank goodness they are just releasing a 3rd one at the moment in Denmark.

Oh, and ben and I saw Fireman Sam this morning, at the Literature Festival.  ok so not exactly cultural but it was the best I could manage given current circumstances.....

Just caught up on last night's Homeland - so good to have it back - quality tv :-)

....and Toby's travelling Circus gives me ten minutes of peace to write some drivel and drink a cuppa.  God bless Milkshake (apart from those bloody awful adverts of baby dolls who pee - ffs who wants a toy that wets the carpet, they'll sell one that poos and vomits all over you  next).
It's been a tough week with Rebecca full of cold and growing 3 teeth - poor thing.  but it looks like she may be on the mend, although her sleeping habits are still leaving a lot to be desired (I fear Paul didn't get much rest last night, sharing a bed with such a wriggler).

I'm feeling the pressure a little with the contract work I need to get done this month. With Rebecca missing nursery this week, and ben having half term in a few weeks time I don't have loads of time to spare, so will have to forego the Killing 2 viewings and possibly (shock horror) keeping up with the new series of Homeland  whilst I immerse myself in flexible working and sickness absence policies oh joy.  Still, it's cash, and thats what I need at the moment....

The prospect of starting work 3 days a week in December is increasingly daunting,  now the euphoria of actually getting a job has worn off I am simply fearful of the practicalities of being a working mum... But I guess every other working parent copes so I will simply have to as well.

Hey ho... Rebecca is about to spread her snot all over my laptop so better go for now....

and so it came to pass that at 2.30am I am the only member of the household awake and everyone else is happily asleep.  grrrrr.  My glands are swollen and it hurts to swallow.  Hence the need to get up and (quietly) gargle with aspirin.
But on a positive note, it's the longest Rebecca has gone in her own cot for a week.....  She's got 3 teeth on the way, and boy do we know it.  Won't sleep on her own, swings from happy to grumpy in a millisecond, and was sent home from nursery after an hour today, scuppering all my plans of getting any work done.  Ben seems to be happy enough at his place, bless him we are seeing such a change in him at the moment, his language is increasing so much, and the phrases he uses actually fit the situation.  He's also pretty knackered all the time as he is not napping in the day.  the good news is that he usually goes straight to sleep in the evening.
Right, one more gargle then it's back to bed to no doubt toss and turn for a while.

Big day

It's a big day tomorrow.  My "big" baby is off to his new nursery, and my little baby is off to her nursery for the first time. AAAARRRGGGHHH! I'm not too worried about Ben, we have been talking about his "new nursery with the scarecrow in the garden" for a while and we popped in today and he was straight in there playing with the toys, and cried when I made him leave.  Rebecca however, I am nervous.  but I also know she will cope because she has to!  I'm only leaving her there for a morning tomorrow so we will try adn break her in gently.  I am giving myself tomorrow and thursday "off" the  it'll be down to hard work next week when they are at nursery and I will try and get this blooming consultancy work sorted.....

oooh what a lovely holiday

we had such a nice week away in Devon, the cottage was fab, lovely animals to feed and weather was sometimes nice, sometimes grim but generally not bad for September.  Ben was a bit variable as he is in the middle of dropping his nap, but is still knackered so if we went anywhere in the car he'd fall asleep then wake up grumpy and not want to be wherever we happened to take him.  So swimming and beach were greeted with "I don't want to do that"..... until we gently got him into it.  Unfortunately he was absolutely adamant he didn't want to sit in the bike seat so we didn't get to go for a bike ride as both Paul and I would really have liked to do - Becca would have been fine, but he flatly refused, but then had a total paddy cos he wanted to go on a bike ride and couldn't get the fact that it wasn't possible if he wouldn't sit in the seat.  Toddler meltdown ensued.....!
But in all a lovely week, glad to be home but sad that paul is back to work tomorrow.  Ben keeps asking to go back to the cottage.  Luckily we are off to the Forest of Dean this weekend with the Haigh clan so I was able to say we are off to a new cottage this weekend :-)

holiday holiday holiday

Wooooohoooooo! we're off on our jollies tomorrow, down to Devon. It's been one hell of a long time coming and I am sooooo ready for a week away with my hubbie and the 2 ragamuffins.  It's Rebecca's birthday on Sunday (where did that year go??!!) and our anniversary on Thursday so we have lots to celebrate.  The kids have been so much fun recently but also absolutely exhausting.  Ben has dropped his nap, which generally means he becomes a little nutter about 4pm and runs around like a lunatic hitting Becca and saying NO.  Rebecca is obsessed with climbing stairs and generally following Ben about waiting to be hit.  Bless her.  He tipped a jug of cold water over her in the bath the other day poor wee thing,  It;s tough being number 2.
So here's hoping for some sunshine and fun :-)

Busy watching the Paralympics - absolutely amazing.....

Ch-ch-ch-changes....

well life got a little busy there - actually that;s not really true, it was simply that I got a little knackered and I couldn't muster the energy to write much.  But I have a holiday in sight (6 days and counting), I've had a nice relaxing weekend with the family at home, I EVEN managed to ride my bike into town today, the first time I have ridden it for3 years.  It was FAB.  I have vowed to do it more when I have a little free time.

On which note, there looks to be a little free time on the horizon.  I have a job!  which starts some time in December (or maybe November) as HR Adviser - 3 days per week and a decent salary.  They have been great at sorting out the hours so I can go in late and drop off the kids too. I'm really looking forward to it, although no doubt once I start I will moan, but it is a 12 month contract which is great.

So to prepare for that the kids are enrolled in new nurseries and start them the week after we get back from our hols.  I have the policies work to do for IC which I promised to do by the end of Sept but have no chance of doing by then, but if I can knuckle down and get them done in 6 weeks then I can have some time to myself before starting the job.  Woohoo - now there's a motivation!

I just hope Rebecca copes ok at nursery - I'm less worried about Ben, as I think he will be very happy at his place.  We had two settling in sessions this week but I stayed with her, I think we just have to take a deep breath and deal with it at the time.  She's really showing her personality now and often has us in stitches laughing at her.  She has to toughen up a little given that Ben has a tendency to whack her every now and again.  This evening he tipped half a jug of cold water over her in the bath, poor wee thing. Felt so sorry for her but also had difficulty stopping laughing too.  Her will get a big shock once she starts to fight back....

Hayfever

I am rather tired but cannot sleep due to a chronic case of snotty nose.  It must be hayfever and I just can't seem to stem the tide of snot -there is some serious pollen  in the air tonight and if I lay in bed I'd just drive Paul up the wall with sniffing and sneezing, so I have taken some antihistamene and will wait until it (hopefully) kicks in before heading back upstairs to try and get to sleep.  Grrrr

camping

we didn't make Sagga camp due to the potential pox (which hasn't emerged....).  but last week, given the weather reports were favourable, we decided to head to the Forest of Dean to camp as a family for the weekend.  We stayed at a lovely site, with plenty of space for Ben to run about, with great facilities.  Friday night was hard going, Becca woke regularly and YELLED.... pity our poor neighbours!  but the next night she was calm ( if still awake a lot!).  Saturday we headed to Symonds Yat and managed to persuade Ben to go on the little boat over the river, and his highlight was throwing stones in the river.They both had a really lovely time and Paul and I, whilst knackered from the lack of sleep, really enjoyed the time away too.  I think camping with babies is tough but toddlers is great.  It's hard work as you don't get any real break, but once Becca is Ben's age, i can see we will really get into the swing of things..... :-)