due to technical problems with work, I am not dressed, I have not had breakfast, we have not gone to the home ed group (curses!) and I am really questioning the wisdom of trying to work for myself from home….
gibber, gibber.
I’m not sure whether I feel better yet, haven’t had time to consider it!
as I felt terrible today, and consequently we’ve done very little.
still managed to do some hama with dd, which was nice. Her creativity is coming on in leaps and bounds - her artwork never fails to amaze me. She is sometimes held back by the fact that she doesn’t know how to do something right, and so won’t just try, but that doesn’t seem to apply to hama. Perhaps I should be exploring different mediums for her.
She also played in the garden for ages in the sun, which was lovely. Me, I went to bed with ds - this cold hit me hard, and when I blacked out and fell over, I decided it was time to take it easy.
Ds seems OK, although we are running into his stubborn streak increasingly now. He aims for the most unsuitable things - radiator caps and shoes are big favourites. And he hates being told no. Good points are that he loves his bookstart books, and can be kept amused for minutes on end with a box.
Oh oh, I can hear him coming to find me again…better go!
was busy doing other computery stuff and forgot to put an entry on 
Not that we did anything much yesterday. My mother turned up unannounced before I’d got dressed *blush*, which derailled the morning somewhat, and then we had friends round in the afternoon. We had plans to do stuff with dd and her friend, but in the end they were playing so nicely that we left them to it (chalk up another point for socialisation then!)
Ds is getting incredibly mobile and is starting to pull himself up on to his knees to look for things - joy.
And I did manage to hoover - that’s my contribution to starting to clear the house. This is becoming a joke - in a fit of enthusiasm some weeks ago I bought a LOT of books on Ebay (had some idea that I was going to start a bookshop) and they will be arriving soon and I’ve *nowhere* to put them. What am I going to do?? Aargh…
I’ve visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited? made by marnanel |
For the critics! Yes, I do live in the uk…. 
but I don’t know which county various places are in, not helped by the fact that some of them don’t seem to be on that list! lol, still, it’s been very educational for me! (Also, I have only included places where I know I’ve been and stayed for a weekend or so (so thank you to all those Karate courses that took me all over the country.)) Further updates later, although I won’t repost the map again - I thought it was a good idea to do it this time though.)
I’ve visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited? made by marnanel |
but that’s mainly because I know names of towns and don’t know which counties they are in *blush*
with the entry on the right day!
We went to Elsecar as well - met up with Barbara and co. We did it all! Saw Punch and Judy, the clown show, wandered round the gift fayre, talked to other friends, starting trying to sell my services as a web consultant (where did that come from?????) went on Thomas, had lunch, had snacks, bounced on the bouncy castle (well ok, I didn’t get to do that) and finally played with the outdoor science track toys. Was really impressed with dd and her friend with that - shame it was so popular though - it took half an hour for them to have a turn, and really dd was getting too tired to wait any longer, so I made them share a turn rather than her friend waiting even longer for a turn of his own. (Horrid mummy).
Then we had tea at her friends house, home, bath and bed. For her anyway, I’ve got to catch Small yet! (Why oh why is my baby nocturnal?)
Got a really busy week planned ahead (can’t remember when I used to fit in work) - feels like we are beginning to settle down into this lifestyle now. Do need to do some serious excavation on the house though - this room is unusable and it’s just silly for it to be that way. At the very least it ought to be an office and storage room with added piano instead of just a pile of junk! Dd can’t even get to the piano at the moment (I’m telling you all this so that you can encourage me to clear up - or nag me, whichever!)
If the weather holds I’m planning some gardening with friends tomorrow - after I spend the morning catching up on yet more paperwork *sigh*, Tues is bfg which we’ve got to go to - there’s a birthday party, Wed is our first home ed group and nightwalk with woodcraft folk, thurs is nappuccino and dancing, Friday is another nappuccino and then dd’s friend is staying over. Saturday may involve falling over in a heap….
it’s Saturday!
So what did we do this morning?
Here’s a clue
It just about fitted in the garden. But only just. And then dd’s friend arrived to pick her up and take her away, so we’ve just pottered this afternoon.
It’s Real Nappy week coming up as well - so I thought I’d share this with you all.
Doesn’t he look cute?
This’ll be a quick post - I had rather a lot of work to do, so we had a quiet day in. Still managed to fit in painting, sticking, and baking, so don’t think dd missed out too badly! I think she needed a quiet day - we’ve had a hectic week. And she’d got a date arranged for Saturday, so I knew the weekend would be hectic too.
Did want to pop this on to show the mood we’ve had.
Happy girl, happy mummy.
come on, we’re nearly there.
Thursday I irresponsibly went out for lunch at the house of someone I’d only met virtually. And I took the children with me! Well, I knew that she was a real person, as a friend of mine (hello Sarah) had met her previously. And I’ve met her on ukp and msn, so it wasn’t that bad, honest. And given that I met dp online and then for the first time at dawn on my doorstep, I wasn’t that worried.
We had lunch - J supplied quiche and I brought chocolate gateau. Dd thoroughly enjoyed playing with someone else’s toys for a change and ds loved all the cars - we’re going to have to get some I think. He’s got a fire engine at home, but it isn’t enough.
Back by about 3pm and we’d missed mother, who had dropped off a lime green fleece hat, scarf and gloves set for dd, actually from her cousin, although dd decided that they had been grandmas first. I’ve got a piccie - I’ll put it up in a bit. Quick turn around and back out for her ballet lesson. Always amazed to see how well she manages with things like dressing herself when you see a room full of other children - I winced to see them just shoving their feet any old how into ballet tights, while dd sits herself down and puts them on carefully. She can be so very precise when she tries.
She was tired by the time we got back from ballet, but we still managed the evening without any major fall outs. She must have been tired as she slept through til 8.45 the following morning, and without any accidents as well. Bonus.
quick recap - it’s been an important week I think, and I don’t want to gloss over it.
Wednesday morning was our free showing of Cat in the Hat, and I got us up and organised on time, and was outside the cinema, having successfully negotiated the city centre, found the car park and all the rest of it, for 9.45. Unfortunately, I was outside the wrong cinema Whatever did we do without mobile phones? Rang home, got dp to check the email - guess what, I should have been at the nice easy to park at out of town cinema. *sigh* Drag miserable offspring back to car (paying £1.80 for the privilege of parking for 3 minutes!) - ring the organiser of the outing, let them know we’re on the way, ignore small voice from the back seat saying “B’s mummy wasn’t late” (aargh….) and arrive at the correct screen in the correct cinema just as the titles start - hah!
Dd loved the film - I thought it was dire, and highly inappropriate. A lot of the jokes were very smutty, and Dr Seuss is presumably spinning rapidly in his grave somewhere - most of it went over dd’s head though, for which small mercy I was grateful - wouldn’t have liked to try to explain the dirty hoe joke for example.
Then we went on for lunch - couldn’t eat at Sainsburys as planned as they had half the seating cordoned off for no apparent reason (why? It’s lunchtime!) and ended up in Debenhams. Was overcharged, but managed to find a small amount of assertiveness to complain and get money back - food there is really overrated, but I like to go out for lunch every now and then with the children - it’s a nice treat for us all.
Home for an hour or two and I cooked mushroom risotto - which seemed to go quite well, although took longer than I expected. Neither dd or ds liked it which was a shame, but dp thought it was ok, if a little bland (which is the problem with trying to cook for the whole family including the 10 month old baby) so I reckon it was a success.
Then out to Woodcraft folk - it’s a pleasant evening for me as well - the other adults there are welcoming ppl (although I did struggle to keep a straight face at the end of the night, when we were exorted to make friends with a tree, um, yes well…) and the children are very good with dd. The session was on trees, and dd drew a wonderful picture - if I can find it around the place, I’ll scan it and pop it up. It had roots, trunk, branches, leaves and a butterfly.
Home and a late supper and an early night.
Another day with few disagreements, and dd being the mature little girl that she used to be. She is thriving again, and it’s wonderful to see.
Not sure whether I’ve previously mentioned ds latest achievement - he can clap his hands together to make a sound - he is thrilled with this. He is so different to how dd is it’s almost untrue - he sits and does his best to take things apart and he will try and try again - dd won’t try to do something if she isn’t sure how to carry it through - she is determined to get things right. Difficult to assist when often I’m not sure what is meant by getting it right.
was busy. First of all it was ds 8 month check with the hv - he’s 91st %ile for length, but under 50th for weight- yeah right. Really is time they changed the charts, and I won’t be doing anything major to up his food intake - but it did shake me. Now I remember why I don’t go near hvs usually. Then we went to breastfeeding group, where the resident pro breastfeeding hv was extremely scathing - muttering about breastfeeding plateaus, and the fact that ds is obviously fine (and the softplay area was open again, so that was good).
After group we did the shopping - 90 minutes, two children, tescos didn’t stand a chance! And dd was great throughout. OK we got a bit of whining here and there, but nothing we couldn’t handle, and overall it was good. I’ve no idea what flicked the switch - has she perhaps deschooled now? She’s certainly going around telling everyone that she is never going to school - you should see the expressions ppl get!
I’m cooking.
And if you know me IRL, you’ll know how intimidated I am by that concept. But I’m giving it a whirl, and hopefully….
but today has been pretty good too.
but ds is crying and it’s time for bed, so you’ll have to make do with that cryptic entry for now.
and it’s been sunny too!
We haven’t done anything specific - i’ve been pottering and getting various jobs done, but what has been nice about it is how much dd has amused herself today. We’ve done some stuff together - she helped hanging out the washing for example, and made her own lunch again - but a lot of the time she’s just been happy to get on with her own little projects with me in and out.
She’s done jigsaws (methodically at that!), played with fuzzy felt, made glitter piccies, used a workbook (colour and wipe animals and shapes), played Thomas, Trouble on the Tracks on the computer and just generally been lovely. It’s amazing what a difference it’s made to my state of mind - I’m at the evening, and although I’m physically tired (ds having me up at 6 didn’t help!) I feel fine in myself.
We did have a few moments of trauma - as when she managed to trip over ds and I didn’t know who to pick up first (moments when it is really useful that dp works from home - boy can he get down the stairs quickly when I yell!) - and we’ve argued a tiny bit tonight, but overall, it’s been good.
It’s meant that I located paperwork, managed to do some business emails, hooked up with someone to arrange a day out later in the week for us (in fact two someones and two days out!) got washing done and hung outside (she came out and played on her climbing frame in the sunshine which was great), done financial stuff, discussed recipes and caught up with some de-cluttering, and ds has had a nice day too instead of forever being ignored while I fight with dd.
Now all I’ve got to do is figure out why today went so well and whether I can repeat it!
and a lovely time was had by all.
In depth religious, philosophical and educational debates (not necessarily all at the same time), good food (I brought home the recipe!) , two (count them, more than one!) glasses of wine in one day!, lots of dressing up, cutting, sticking and playing, and then this morning I took the children to a mothering sunday service at our friends church.
Feels a little strange - I am not religious atm, although I was as a child and teenager, but I strongly believe that my children need to know about religion and churches and so on, both for the politeness aspect of being able to be in all places and also so that they can make informed decisions for themselves later on. Still felt odd though, especially as I knew the hymns, and rather think I knew the preacher. Hm.
Mothering sunday lunch (and I think my mother was more thrilled with the daffodils that dd brought her from church than she was by any of the gifts she was given), and we survived it. Moment of pure joy though, when my nanny sister, who is not supportive of my breastfeeding, took hold of my hefty 10 month old ds and gasped and said “what are you feeding him?” Oh, only the good stuff.
And then we went and bought our tent. Far too windy to do anything at the moment with it, but we’ve got it now. We also bought a Karrimor back carrier thing - as noticed earlier ds is getting kind of heavy, and dp thought that a proper framed back carrier might be the way forward. And it was in the sale…
but ds is bouncing off the walls.
He is so tired, but will he go to sleep? Fat chance. Dunno how ppl do controlled crying though - about 30 seconds of him yelling and I’m a nervous wreck! I’m beginnin to wonder if I’m on too many alternative parenting lists though - there was a woman with a tiny baby at dds ballet class yesterday, and she had the baby strapped into her car seat and was just sitting ignoring her wailing - I found it almost physically painful. That’s not to say I don’t ever ignore ds crying - but it is a rare occasion, and usually when I’ve tried everything I can think of and he still isn’t settling.
Anyway, he’s in bed now, so I need to sort out the broccoli (cooked earlier, should be cool enough to put in freezer now), the washing (washed earlier, needs hanging out in dining room), and my pudding. Have remembered to lift dd - beginning to wonder what we do next - we are taking her to the toilet round about midnight every night, and we haven’t had an accident for a couple of weeks now, after a bad run of accidents every night.
Ah well, this isn’t very educational is it? Well, we didn’t do a lot today. That’s not true - I did a lot today. Sourced a new supplier for my fledgling business, had my final life coaching call, helped out a couple of ppl on ukp, dealt with support emails from clients, failed to find the paperwork I need to deal with my sharesave, made lunch, made tea, did two loads of washing, hoovered (!), attempted to give dd her reading lesson - she claimed that she felt sick and needed to lie down so that didn’t really happen - beginning to wonder what is going on there :-(, referreed several squabbles, cuddled my children, hugged dp and spent far too much time browsing the internet.
Hm, no wonder I’m tired. Night all.
trying again after blogger ate this the first time
Have just had phone call from home edding friends - and I’m off over there with the kids for an overnighter!
So, see you all tomorrow, after mother’s day lunch with the family (suspect I might need to blog by that point!) I’m also hoping to pop in to outdoorfocus and pick up a tent…
Have a good weekend!
ps Joyce, good to see your blog is back, but your comments aren’t working! Welcome back to the blogworld though, I’ve missed you.
We don’t eat a desperately healthy diet. I’m veggie and dp is carnivorous - you can often find us of an evening with roast veg for me and roast chicken for him. I’d like to cook more, but I’m fairly incapable, and I want to offer both of the children an interesting, varied, balanced home cooked diet. Any and all suggestions on this welcome! Meals I can cope with include baked potatos, broccoli cheese (ds doesn’t like cauliflower and I agree with him!), pizza (although I have been resorting to bought ones, I can and used to make them myself), um that’s about it. While ds was on pureed veg I was doing reasonably well at doing it myself - now that he should be on more varied solid stuff I’m beginning to struggle. So if anyone wants to leave their favourite (really easy to cook) recipe in the comments, I’ll lift them and stick them on a webpage for us all.
What I’m saying is - help!
but all in all a pleasant afternoon and evening. Dd didn’t request the tv on when we got in - instead she wanted her bi blocks out. Then it was tea time, and she wanted to play dominoes, so we had three games, and she won all three. After tea and bath, we went for a reading lesson instead of watching Maggie, but that didn’t work too well - she may well have been a bit too tired for it, and the concentration certainly wasn’t there. I think there are some sounds that she struggles with - I was sent to Speech and Drama lessons for a lisp, and I think she’s got a touch of one too. But a lot of the problem tonight was that it was funnier to make daft noises than it was to comply with the instructions, so I quit. No point in getting myself stirred up over it. We’ll fit it in tomorrow I hope - we aren’t planning on going out until her dance class, so hopefully we’ll have time for a few things that are outstanding - some planting, two reading lessons, card for grandfather, couple of competition entries, plus I’ve some stuff to post (so that’s a nice walk to the post office as well) and some papers to find for some phone calls I’ve got to make.
Ooh, hadn’t realised there was that much outstanding, sounds like we’re going to have a busy day! We also bought some scone mix (sorry Roslyn
popped over to see Barbara this morning. The girls played reasonably well together - it has to be said that it was dd who wasn’t being nice and Barbara and I coo-ed over ds and her sonlight books alternately
We also planted more sunflowers, and discussed E’s cress seeds. Then a swift lunch, and we departed to do the shopping, while Barbara trundled off into town.
Home mid afternoon, after buying more seeds (I’m determined that something will grow this year, and I don’t think it’s going to be the strawberries ) Dd and ds are playing with her duplo sized bricks - well she’s building, he’s knocking down and she’s screaming about it. We’ve had lesson 3 of 100EL (hoping that if I document out progress it might keep me going with it!) and that’s about it for the day so far. Not going to woodcraft tonight as they are going swimming and that’s not something I can easily do with two offspring, neither of whom swims. not to mention the fact that I’m blind and deaf without my glasses, and I don’t like to swim in them!
Right, got to go push buttons on the oven, will update more later.
rounds: 4 / 95 (4%)
sections: 5 / 10 (50%)
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