Stopping at Two??

The question of how many children to have is such a personal one and there are so so many factors involved in reaching an answer. It’s a question that we are considering a lot at the moment. There are so … Continue reading →

Celebrating Life

Posted by Caroline Elliott

There is no getting away from the fact that death has featured heavily over the last week. Both in our personal lives with the recent death of hubs’ Grandpa, and in the wider world with the hideous and terrifying acts of terrorism in Paris, Baghdad and Beirut. The consequence of this can be to make things seem rather grey and sad, let alone scary, but instead I am choosing to celebrate life.

I have seen some wonderful things from media across the world this week that remind me that we cannot let the terrorists win by living in fear, hiding away and mistrusting each other. This wonderful daddy had a fantastic lesson for his little boy, and I love this advice from an Australian reporter. Both remind me that focussing on the good is even more important at times like this, so my word of the week, is celebrate. Here is a snapshot of our week, celebrating the little things and the ordinary moments amongst the sadness and usual everyday challenges.

Saturday with the Paris atrocities looming large Hubs and I headed to Cambridge to do our Christmas shopping. We had prearranged for my parents to look after the kids for the day and we very much enjoyed a day spending time just the two of us and getting excited about celebrating Christmas in just over a month! I was also celebrating at the end of the day as apart from a few bits for each other we are basically finished wth Christmas shopping! Hooray, I have never been this prepared before!!

The big event of our week though was the funeral for Hubs’ Grandpa on wednesday and the wake which we hosted at our house. Grandpa Bill was 93 and had a wonderful long life so the line with have given to Monkey is very much that we were celebrating his life, rather than focussing on the fact that he is no longer here. I am not sure how much he understands but I think Monkey just about gets that Grandpa isn’t here anymore. He had been declining for the past year so Monkey hasn’t seen him for a quite a while as we didn’t want him to remember his great Grandpa like that but we know Grandpa was so so proud to have lived to see 2 of his Great Grandchildren.

All went as well as can be for a funeral, obviously with tears and sadness but there was smiles too remembering some of his adventures. Funerals are funny things as they are so sad but they do bring people together too and it was lovely to see some family friends we haven’t seen since our wedding and relatives who live a bit far away to be seen very regularly. The wake was nice though filling the house with people can definitely make it feel a bit small!

I had spent much of the week prior to the wake cleaning and making the house probably cleaner and tidier than it has been in a long while, evidenced by the fact that my Mum almost fainted with shock at the sight of it, and my step-dad asked if we had got a JCB in to do the cleaning – cheek! hehe It was nice seeing it so clean and tidy but there is no way it will last as it took so much effort and I much prefer to spend my time having fun with the kiddies as much as possible!! (I may just be a bit lazy too but the kids are a much better reason not to be tidy all the time than admitting that!)

Other than that it has been a pretty normal week. I am having a bit of a saga with Ikea over the purchase of a new kitchen cupboard but I won’t bore you with any of the details here. The kids and I have had some truly lovely moments and I would like to share some of those with you just to celebrate the happy ordinariness of our week.

Monkey snuggling up in his bed under just about every soft and cuddly toy or blanket he could find!

LM enjoying playing in the tunnel for the first time. She has shied away from going in any tunnel before but had a whale of a time with her big brother this week.

Mummy and Monkey time while LM was out with my parents fro rhyme time on Tuesday. Lots of painting and chatting and laughter, especially when he decided he must paint my nose! Cheeky thing 🙂

Monkey copying his sister. She randomly enjoys lying on the floor kicking her legs and this week Monkey decided to join her. It was so cute watching them play together chuckling away doing such a daft thing!

Monkey beng a superhero…. I have adored this, what a cutie.

Monkey taking a break from being a superhero to have snuggles with his Mummy and sister… though LM was less cooperative!

LM looking adorable in her dressing gown after bathy. Rubbish quality photos as I have been using an old phone but you get the idea.

Other celebrations this week are that my phone is back from being repaired and has a new screen, hurrah, so nice to have good camera back again, and we have a new car. A new second hand car at any rate. Hubs’ car cost us £1500 2 1/2 yrs ago and has done really well for an old banger but lately is more reminiscent of a tractor than a car, making the house shake whenever the engine is on. The radio is falling off and basically it is a heap so it was time to get hubs an upgraded car. His new car is not much newer but an updated model with lots of boys toys and gadgets and we haven’t spet a lot again but it is a nice car and hasn’t done too many miles, so hopefully it will last as well as the previous one.

So there we have it, despite the sadness that threatened to overwhelm the week, there has been lots of things to celebrate too.

What have you celebrated this week?

Siblings November 2015

Posted by Caroline Elliott

It is that time of the month again where I share a little update of our gorgeous siblings, and I am also using this for my word of the week post this week. Because the word that best describes my little siblings at the moment, and is therefore my word of the week, is proprietorial.

You see there is a lot of jealousy and possessiveness going on. Monkey is very much at the stage where everything is “Mine” and he is constantly telling his little sister “no go away” “no you can’t have it” “no it’s mine.” Even when some of those things certainly aren’t his as they were given to her for her birthday. For her part LM is no longer a placid little thing who meekly accepts his dominance. No she screams her head off and clutches on with a vice like grip. It’s a difficult one and I am all for kids sorting things out themselves but it is difficult when one is that much younger and can’t verbalise an argument.

So Monkey has taken to hiding things and putting them where LM can’t reach. We inadvertantly started this as there are some toys that are too small for LM, who puts everything in her mouth still, and those things must be kept out of her reach. Now though it is whatever he doesn’t want her to play with. They also of course both always want what the other one is playing happily with. They just can’t leave each other alone, they have to have what the other has, or join in the game too.

This doesn’t just go for toys as it extends to me too. One of Monkey’s favourite phrases right now is “but I want you” even when I am standing or sat next to him. He wants my attention constantly… and so does she. You can guarantee that if Monkey climbs on my lap for a cuddle, that within seconds LM is running over screaming and clawing at us to get him off and sit in his place. No matter how happy she was with whatever she was doing at the time. She is the same if hubs is giving me a cuddle, screaming and insisting she gets on on the cuddle action.

There are so many times at the moment where I am purely a human climbing frame as if I sit down for a minute I will without doubt have two children who must suddenly be clambering all over me. Don’t get me wrong the cuddles are lovely and it is nice to be so wanted…. but it is blimmin exhausting too. It would also be nicer if either of them would actually sit still and cuddle for a few minutes.. but instead I get bums in my face, elbows in ribs, my shins being stood on (er ouch), nose yanked, hair pulled…. you get the idea, it’s not relaxing!

Mummy climbing frame

I know it is inevitable and part of their growing relationship and they do have some lovely moments too where they show how much they love each other. Like when Monkey copied Daddy and took over the tickling of LM.

And when they were sat in a box together…

And when they were snuggling up on the sofa together.

LM still worships the ground her brother walks on (unless he is sat on my lap) and wants to be wherever he is (which doesn’t always go down too well with him). If he is laughing, she will laugh too, when he is happy, she is happy, and sadly sometimes when he is screaming, it sets her off too.

So although it is challenging at the moment I love watching the way their relationship is growing and changing.

Rollercoasters and Fireworks

Posted by Caroline Elliott

It’s been an interesting time here lately, full of ups and downs – which makes talking about rollercoasters very apt in more ways than one. Diving straight in, sadly Hubs’ Grandpa passed away last week which is obviously very sad indeed and Hubs has been helping his parents navigate this difficult time. Add to that both hubs and I were pretty poorly last week and for some reason LM was waking up betweeen 4 and 5am every day leaving us exhausted and in bed not long after the kids.

We were a little better by Friday, still exhausted but my brothers and their lovely ladies came round for a takeaway and catch up. The kids loved seeing them as always and we had a really lovely fun evening too, just what we needed after a tricky week.

Then Saturday morning we woke up to discover my car had been broken into and the kids’ dvd players were stolen. Gutted, horrified, angry are a few words that spring to mind. The car hasn’t a mark on it so at first I wondered if a door maybe hadn’t shut properly and it hadn’t locked when I last used it… but then I remembered getting something from the car the previous afternoon and specifically locking it. So I have no idea how they got in or why they chose my car (has having the extension done made us a target??) espcially as we live in a really nice area. It doesn’t really matter though and what is done is done… It has made me so wary about what is left in the car now and making sure all our doors and windows are always shut and locked in case they decide to come back!

That day we were due to go to Thorpe Park with Hubs’s work friends and after the shock and anger from the theft had abated a bit we decided to still go… even though it was absolutely pouring with rain. The journey there was awful as it was so wet and miserable and I have to admit to wondering whether it was worth going at all. But thankfully when we arrived the weather dried up and we had a wonderful time.

Obviously going to a theme park with small children is a little different to going on your own. It was far more about the kids’ happiness than our own but they were seriously happy. Monkey was just about tall enough to go on a few rides and he had a whale of a time on his first ever rollercoaster! Although he shouted that he didn’t like it on the first loop, by the end he was loving it and he loved a wet ride too. I have to say though it is such a swizz that you are supposed to buy a full price ticket for anyone over a metre tall, but there are barely any rides that kids can go on unless they are 1.25m or 1.4m tall. There is about 4 maybe? Such a con to have to pay full price for a ticket for them! Thankfully hubs’ work paid for the tickets – though don’t even get me started on full price vs online tickets!!

Of the rides Monkey was allowed on, we did go on a couple he was less keen on, one that was in the darkness that was a bit scary for him, and the last one we went on was a spinning one that he hated. He screamed and cried throughout and I have to admit I felt really dizzy and sick when we got off!! Overall though he had a great day though and lots of fun with our friends’ kids. LM wasn’t big enough for any of the rides but she had a fab time too… mainly splashing in as many puddles as she could find, especially muddy ones! Her waterproof trousers are far too big for her but at least they kept her a little dry, I really need to find wellies in her size though as her shoes got soaked.

It was a lovely but really tiring day. Thankfully the journey home was much drier and easier and we made it home just in time to go to a fireworks party at a friend’s house. It was great fun and the first time Monkey had seen any fireworks. He loved the sparklers and enjoyed the firworks though he did find them a bit loud so we went inside to watch from the conservatory after a few minutes.

We had such a lovely time but the day was taking it toll on us and we headed home and the kids had a later than normal bedtime and we crashed straight after them, at about 8pm! Sunday thankfully was a much easier day because the hubs and I were still exhausted, and writing this on Monday, we still are. I think we need a good few more early nights to catch up on our rest and hopefully an easier week as that would be lovely…. though this morning my phone screen has died so I now have no phone while I can send it away to be repaired or replaced. The fun never stops does it??

Mummy Bloggers

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Blogging had been such a help to me since becoming a mum and making the decision to be a SAHM. It has helped me share my experiences and to feel less alone thanks to the wonderful community of parent bloggers out there. There is so much power in blogging and as well as helping each other we can be quite influential.

I was recently sent the following info graphic about the rise and stats of Mummy Bloggers which I find hugely interesting.

Top 50 Mummy Bloggers In UK

Rebateszone.com

Who knew there was quite so many of us out there? I admit to being honoured to be included in the top 50 bloggers on here. I confess to being a little sceptical about this however as there are many fantastic and far more influential bloggers than I who have not made it onto this list. (Never mind the absence of any daddy bloggers…) I wonder whether it is more a chart of those of us that responded rather than a chart of the top mummy bloggers..

Hubs says I should not worry and enjoy it and I guess though I am not sure I agree I do feel very proud that someone feels that I belong on this chart alongside such wonderful company.

Whether I do belong on this chart or no I do hope that I have helped other mummies as much as other bloggers have helped me. That is all I really care about. Parenting can be so hard at times and so difficult to know if you are doing it ‘right.’ Reading other Mums’ experiences helps me to know I am not alone and that there is no ‘right’ way and that I am doing ok. I hope my blog helps other Mummies to feel the same way.

The building work is finished

Posted by Caroline Elliott

My word of the week this week, is finished, because we are finally finished with all of the building work involved in our garage conversion and extension. I say finished but when is anything ever really finished? There are still niggly things needing doing but the major renovation work is now done. For anyone who hasn’t been aware, we previosuly had a garage and a car port. The garage has now been converted into a lovely new room, the car port is now a proper garage. We have also moved our front door and had a small utility built at the front.

Not sure if this makes any sense but here is a before and after of the front of the house (or at least up to the point where the garage door went on).We need a step and other work doing out the front (remember I mentioned niggly things?) but that will be happening fairly soon I hope.

Inside our hallway is the same size as ever but where the old front door used to be it now leads into a lovely little utility room. We love this room as it means the noisy washing machine and tumble dryer can now be well and truly shut away, meaning hubs and I can actually hear each other when they are on – potentially saving our marriage hehe ;).

Our living room now no longer has many toys stored in it as they are all in our lovely new playroom/study. Which is here.

We love this room with the grey walls and we went for a lovely soft (but bleach cleanable) carpet as we spend a lot of time in there on our hands and knees playing with the kids. We decided to be bold and step away from our usual Ikea furniture (which we love) and get some different pieces in there. Hubs found a fab place, Swoon editions (not a sponsored post in anyway) where we got this gorgeous unit we are using as toy storage, a lovely new desk and chest of drawers too.

We also went to our favourite Multiyork (again not sponsored) to get this gorgeous vibrant snuggle sofa and chair. We love being able to choose the fabrics ourselves and I always love what I call “Jewel tones” like these.

We still need to get some curtains, maybe cushions and decide what to have on the walls (there are the niggly things again!). We still need a bit more toy storage too though haven’t decided what form that will take. I love our book shelves though (Ikea picture rails, bargainous) and we did push the boat out when it came to the radiators, one in the lounge and one in the new room. Big and chunky and lovely.

Hubs bought this piano for £50 on ebay before we met and it has never had a home in this house and has been basically dumped in the conservatory with loads of other old furniture. It now has a proper home in the new room, and it has really helped free up space in the conservatory again making that room feel so much bigger again.

Having the garage itself finished, with a posh roller door (hubs’ choice) has made a huge difference too as for the past couple of months the entire contents of the garage have been kept in the conservatory. I allowed hubs to get his car in the garage once but then I am afraid it had to come out so I could reclaim the conservatory as that is our primary messy play area and very much needed on rainy days! Some of the stuff that is now in the garage needs to be sold and we need to get some shelves up and work out proper storage in there too.

So yes I say we are finished but as you can probably gather… there is still lots of things to be done. We also want some coat hooks on the walls in the utility to free up space in the hall and need to get a better shoe rack as there are constantly shoes all over the floor in the hall…. But the building work at least is finished and the building inspector has approved the work so hooray for that!

Me & Mine September 2015

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Yep that time of the month again to share some family shots so we can look back at how much we have all changed over the year as the months have gone by.

We had some, er, fun, trying to get family shots of us while we were on holiday – and some shots were far more succesful than others.

We took some on a boat… one where LM was not interested,

and another where she just wanted to grab her brother’s head (one of her favourite pastimes).

Then we tried really hard to get a shot of us in the evenings as the sunsets were gorgeous, but with just our phones, well we weren’t very successful! This one is nice but the lighting is terrible.

This one is just awful, good shot of Monkey but not sure what happened to my arm, it looks about 3 times the size it normally is (I hope) and hubs looks a bit pained!

Then we tried the flash and well neither kid remotely looked at the camera. This snap actually reminds me of the kind of shots you used to get pre-digital photography, with the flash on and nobody looking at the camera, do you know the type I mean?

Ah to be a good photographer eh? Still good for posterity I suppose!

Our Holiday in a Nutshell

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Last week we were on holiday. We had a lovely week in Menorca but it wasn’t without its challenges… life with 2 kids rarely is I think! Here is a little about our holiday, in a nutshell.

So it started off pretty well, Monkey loved the plane journey and was so excited to be flying bless him! LM was less impressed, especially by the delay when we were sat on the runway for ages! She did sleep a bit though thankfully and we survived the journey pretty well.

The hotel was lovely we loved our apartment and it was in a great spot, not too far from the pool but not too close for it to be too noisy in the evening. We opted for a 2 bed apartment which was very spacious and meant that hubs and I would have our space once the kids were in bed, compared with previous holidays where we have been stuck on the balcony or in the bathroom while Monkey was asleep.

The restaurant was nice enough and there was plenty of variety in the buffet. The downside was that the set times were a bit later than the kids normally eat so was a bit challenging keeping them going some days… and the restaurant environment was a little distracting for LM at times so the dvd player and baby jake came to our rescue at most mealtimes. I know there was other people judging us and I probably judged us too but it was worth it to he able to eat without juggling a wailing baby. At least there was lots of other families with small children there which was brilliant as lots of us in the same boat trying to keep babies and toddlers happy.

LM absolutely adored the pool and was desperate to be in there whenever we went near it. Both hubs and I had so much fun with her in there which was lovely.

We also sometimes set up a dinghy with some water and toys so she could have a play in there and she adored that too.

Unfortunately though Monkey was not a fan of the pool. It was very cold as the water was being constantly recirculated and really didn’t ever get warm. As a result, after the first day Monkey point blank refused to go in and if we attempted to coax him in we were met with screams, shouts and full on meltdowns. Joy. Such a shame too as the kids pool was great with slides in and so all the other kids seemed to absolutely love it.. and LM had absolutely no problem with the temperature. We did occasionally persuade him to play by the side of the pool or paddle a little… but it took a LOT of effort!

There was a lovely little beach literally within 5 mins walk and it was gorgeous, really secluded and surrounded by bushes so very peaceful. The only downside was that it is a preservation beach meaning that they are not allowed to remove any of the kelp and seaweed that washes up onto the beach so the beach was covered. Monkey and Daddy still had a fab time building sandcastles and we got LM paddling for a bit… but sadly she didn’t much like the sand so wasn’t happy there for long.

So we had one little one who didn’t like the pool and one who didn’t like the beach. Not exactly a recipe for a relaxing beach/poolside holiday. After a couple of days we realised we needed to do something else as the kids were driving us mad and we were getting snippy with each other.

Our first little outing was a trip to the capital Mahon to visit the market. Monkey had a meltdown to end all meltdowns and we ended up using the naughty spot on a random street corner while I walked a screaming LM up and down in her buggy to get to sleep. Not exactly the best start! We did turn it around though and had a lovely boat trip on the harbour and a nice lunch. I will write more about that in a seperate post though.

The following day was a very chilly day and we planned on going to the little zoo on the island which was really lovely as many of the animals have been rescued and have lovely big enclosures to enjoy. Unfortunately it poured with rain shortly after we arrived meaning we go soaked as we looked round. We still very much enjoyed it though, and because of the rain we practically had the place to ourselves. The kids loved looking at all of the animals and running from shelter to shelter!

In the evenings after dinner we generally wandered around with the kiddies, Monkey made friends with other kiddies and LM loved toddling around. She really is a sociable little thing and kept going up to people meaning I had to have a few slightly awkward conversations, but for the most part people cooed over her and she basked in their attention! One evening after walking around she had a little cry but got over it and we didn’t think much of it. I carried her back to the apartment where I looked down and realised my shorts were covered in blood! She had a nasty nasty cut on her toe and we felt like terrible parents for not even realising. Poor thing.

There was a mini disco at 8.30 every night that I am pretty sure Monkey would have loved as he loved dancing on the stage and dancefloor but LM was too tired to stay up for it and as they were sharing a room it was easier to put them to bed at the same time. So hubs and I took a few drinkies with us up to the apartment and either read our books, compared photos or just had a natter. Quite nice to have a change from tv and blogging that takes up our evenings normally!

The journey home was similar to the first and LM slept a bit on the plane but took a lot of entertaining the rest of the time. Monkey was really good but it was still hard work and by the time we had got our bags and the car and made the long journey home from the airport it was nearly 11pm. A very long day and I think we are still recovering actually!

It was a good holiday but it definitely had quite a few negatives unfortunately. I am not sure we will do the same type of holiday again at least not for a while, and hubs is adamant he doesn’t want to make a plane journey again until LM is around Monkey’s age, as he feels that the stress of the return journey wiped out the benefit of the rest we had gotten that week. I don’t feel that it was quite that bad but we do enjoy our UK holidays too so will stick with those for a while I think!

Stepping off the Merry-Go- Round, My New Approach to Blogging

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I have had a bit of a break from blogging recently and it has really made me think a lot about why I blog, what I want to get out of it and what I want going forward. I have rechecked all of my priorities and decided to make a bit of a change from here on in and focus on myself and what is right for me and as a result I will be scaling right back.

I love writing and I love creating a record for the kids when they grow up and I don’t want that to stop but I can’t let my blog take over my life the way that it has. I can’t keep getting stressed out because I haven’t managed to post in time for a linky. I can’t be glued to phone to ensure I comment on the requisite number of posts that each linky needs me to comment on. I just can’t keep up with it all. So I need to stop putting so much pressure on myself to do so.

I will still be here and I will still be writing what I want to write. I will also still be reading lots of lovely blogs and commenting when I want to comment – but not for the sake of it or because I feel I have to.

I will be stopping my MaternityMondays linky. I have really enjoyed it but I am finding it too much work at the moment. I will still be joining in with lovely linkies, but not on the scale that I was. When I have a post suitable for a certain linky I will join in but I am afraid I won’t be a regular with many linkies from now on.

I will hopefully have time to reply to comments on my blog again, I am not making any promises, but I would love to actually respond to people who take the time to comment on my blog. This has completely fallen by the wayside over recent months and I hate that I haven’t replied to people… but I just havent been able to keep up.

I’m not worrying about my stats at all anymore. If people read it then they do, if they don’t they don’t and I need to not care about that. I am also not going to work as much with PRs anymore. I have a couple of things in the pipeline and there may well be some tempting opportunities so never say never but there definitely won’t be as much. I just can’t be bothered. I don’t want to be a professional blogger, this is a hobby not a job for me. I don’t want to write anything because someone else wants me to and I don’t want anyone else having any say about what the content is of my blog. It is my blog and it is for me (and anyone else who wishes to read it).

I won’t be worrying about what people think when they read my posts. I won’t be writing things for the sake of it or in the hope that it will get people to like me.

For me that has been a big downside of blogging. I don’t have a whole lot of self-worth if I’m honest, this isn’t a pity party and I don’t generally talk about it on here because I haven’t the time or energy to rehash it all but there are some things that have happened in my life that have not given me a whole lot of self-worth. After telling me most of life that he had nothing worth living for my Dad eventually lived up to his word and committed suicide. I know it wasn’t about me but when your own father doesn’t even think you are worth being alive for it doesn’t give you the best opinion of yourself growing up.

Then years later my group of best friends, who I thought really knew me and got me, proved that they didn’t. They believed me to be capable of doing, saying and thinking things that I would never have done, said or thought. Some of us got through it but most of those friendships ended. I am in a much better place now than I was then and I do have wonderful friends now who do really know me. But that experience left behind some nasty scars. I am very guarded and always worry that what I do or say will be misinterpreted. Maybe it was my fault. Maybe I am as awful as they thought and it will happen again?

I was sent a meme recently with a question that asked what I thought people liked most about me. This is what sparked a lot of my thinking of late because I really realised that I have no idea why people like me. I wouldn’t even like to hazard a guess and I realised at this just how badly my self-worth has been damaged. I’m not writing this for sympathy. I am writing this as I realised that actually much of the community side of blogging isn’t helping me. It appeals to my needy attention seeking side, wanting people to like me, to get me. And I don’t think it is that healthy.

I have a husband who adores me and children who love me as much as I love them. My family is amazing and supportive and lovely. My mum and step dad are wonderful as are my in-laws. I have amazing friends who do know me and do like me/love me. I don’t need the whole world or the whole blogging community to like me. I don’t need new best friends.

I’m not knocking the blogging community here… on the whole it has been very good for me. I have received so much support with my PND and difficult times and there are so so many wonderful bloggy ladies out there. The problem lies with me and I need to take control and work on myself. I need to stop competing or feeling I have to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ so to speak.

I don’t want to stop blogging entirely as blogging inspires me to be a better parent. I have found so many wonderful ideas for playing with the kids, for cooking, for parenting, for everything. It makes me think and question myself and find ways to improve myself. I also love so many wonderful blogs that I still want to know what you are all up to, how you are getting on and support you in the way that you have supported me. I just need to get off the merry-go-round of constantly blogging and linking up and give myself a break.

A bit of a break

Posted by Caroline Elliott

My word of the week this week is break. You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet on here this week and that is because life at home is currently very hectic, so I have taken a bit of a break from blogging. There is still tonnes I would like to write about but I just haven’t the time or energy for it at the moment with everything that is going on.

Our garage conversion and building work is going really well and when this is published, in theory the new room/old garage should be finished and ready for furniture to go in. As I write the plumbers are plumbing in the radiators and the carpets should go down in a few hours. This is a huge relief as the last couple of weeks have been hard work.

The first stage of the building work was all outdoors and so other than being noisy didn’t really interfere with our day to day life much. Since cutting the doorway between the new room and the lounge it has been a very different story. The dust has driven us mad. Not fun at the best of times it is definitely less than ideal with a 10 month old crawling everywhere and getting in to everything!

So we have been covering furniture with quilts and sheets (meaning lots more laundry to do, as if we don’t produce enough laundry already) and I have lost count of the amount of times I have swept the floor and steamed and been on my hands and knees trying to clean up the dust…

It has also still been noisy and smelly (paint) and there has been people in and out a lot. Our builders are a really good bunch and they love the kids but having strangers in your house all the time is just a bit weird and parenting with an audience really isn’t fun! Plus the conversations I have had to listen to/be involved in (generally moaning about their wives and women in general, fun, and occasionally sharing how little sex they have, way tmi for me!) is just a bit weird.

So the kids and I have been playing upstairs a lot to keep put of their way. Plus of course lots of trips out in between the rain (or even when raining).

Going for a walk in the pouring rain ay 9am on bank holiday Monday while the builders fitted the door tp the new room

Going for a walk in the pouring rain at 9am on bank holiday Monday while the builders fitted the door to the new room

LM has actually coped really well with it all so far, basking in the adoration of the builders and giving them the biggest smiles, but the strain is starting to show with Monkey. He still wants to be a builder and is ok with them but he doesn’t like them being in his domain I don’t think. If I have to pop out of the room to deal with LM he doesn’t like being on his own with the builders so wants to follow me everywhere or stands and cries. Honestly this morning I was settling LM to sleep while the builder was cutting bricks outside (SO noisy) and she was trying but obviously struggling through the noise. I got her to sleep and came back down to find Monkey (who I had convinced to stay downstairs for a few mins) hiding with tears in his eyes. Pfff. Poor thing but I am at a loss what to do sometimes, I can’t be with him every second of the day.

We also haven’t had a front door for a couple of weeks now so have been traipsing round the back all of the time. Meaning the buggy, shoes coats, etc have all been living in the lounge along with the dust and the builders… just not ideal, any of it really and I have to say that being able to actually use our new front door for the first time was very very exciting!!

One of the purposes of the new room will be toy storage, which is also making us think about storage throughout the house. It is also going to be Hubs office so a lot of the office stuff and files will come down from upstairs and go in there. So my word of the week was nearly sorting as we have been using any spare time (?) to go through cupboards. We have been throwing away lots of old stuff and have sorted some things for charity shops too. I have started to ditch some toys (charity shop again) and have more boxes to go through yet. (I swear toys multiply of their own accord, they are taking over our house!!).

So yeah not a lot of time for blogging really (I wrote most of this on my phone while watching bake off and the rest in 5 min bursts as today has been chaos).

At one point today we had the builder, 2 plumbers, an electrician, and a carpet fitter here at the same time. t worked well and lots got done but it was chaos!

At one point today we had the builder, 2 plumbers, an electrician, and a carpet fitter here at the same time. it worked well and lots got done but it was chaos!

But a break probably is no bad thing. I have been feeling slightly disillusioned with blogging for a while, possibly because life is busy and I am exhausted, but all of the commenting and linkies and sharing, let alone writing, has been feeling like a chore.

But I do love writing and that is why I blog really, as well as to create a record for the kids to look back on. So it won’t be too long a break I am sure… just a break until we return to something resembling normality I think!! I was going to add I some shots of how it is all looking now but it has taken me so long to write this post that I can’t be bothered so will save them for another post.

How has your week been? Slightly less chaotic I hope?

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