Hubs’ operation

Posted by Caroline Elliott

My word of the week this week is operation. It could also have been apprehension as we have been apprehensive, nervous and well a bit scared you know what-less at time about this. While everyone keeps saying he will be fine and while I know they are right and logic tells me they are right, its hard not to worry when it is someone you love so much. There are risks associated with general anaesthetic and while yes most people are fine, I’m afraid I just don’t trust life to be kind and I am not näive or blasé enough to ever think “that won’t happen to us” because I know it could.

I also know there is no point dwelling on the risks and fears either. What will be will be and there is a much higher likelihood that he will be fine so all of that had basically been bottled and we have got on with life and looking after the kiddies while talking in practical terms about the operation.

I’m also nervous about his recovery and what it will mean for our life for a bit. I don’t think it will be terrible, and I think he will be on crutches for a few days and then steadily get back to normal…. But the unknown always makes me nervous. More so than ever now that there are 2 children to think about. When will he be able to be on his knees changing a pooey nappy? When will he be able to carry our girl downstairs? When will he be able to leap up and run to a child that has fallen and bashed themselves and is screaming? This happens more than once a day for both our clumsy children so when can he be in sole care of them again?

I feel so selfish too but although I am far more worried about him and his recovery and how much pain he will be in, I am also nervous for me. How much extra work am I going to have to do while he recovers? We share responsibilities, take it in turns to get up early with LM and both do the household chores. I’m nervous about how long he is going to be out of action for all of those things and, selfishly, how long I am going to have to do everything? I know many Mums cope either as single parents or because they have less helpful husbands, but I have always been very lucky with mine and the sharing of our responsibilities, and am still often shattered! I know in truth I will cope, because you just do in such situations, but I am nervous about it nonetheless.

This is basically just an outpouring of everything I am feeling on the morning of his op. Right now he is getting ready for his taxi to take him to the hospital as we felt that would be less stressful than waking the kids up and dragging them out at 6.45 in the morning!

Update. Hubs’ op went well and they repaired the torn cartilage in his knee (they weren’t sure if they would repair or remove it beforehand) and he is feeling good after the anaesthetic although a bit tired and his knee is definitely painful. The huge dressing is very much limiting his movement and while he is ok to put weight on his knee he is quite slow on his crutches. I was able to pick him up by 1pm which was great and as I write he is in bed hopefully having a snooze. He needs quite a bit of help at the moment and as I said, his knee is really causing him some pain.

We already had a very excited LM try and run to him for a cuddle at the hospital so it is definitely going to be interesting making sure the kids don’t cause him any more pain while he recovers.

As you can probably guess from reading the above, I was a bit of an emotional wreck this morning and the relief when he text to say he was coming round was immense. Yes the next few days and potentially weeks will be a challenge but we will manage of course we will. The apprehension is over and the recovery and getting on with things will now begin, which is why my word of the week is operation, not apprehension.

Feeling a little nostalgic

Posted by Caroline Elliott

This week has been a bit tough at points. I always find it the same in the holidays, trying to keep both kids entertained and happy invariably makes me feel like a bit of a failure and questioning my choice to be a SAHM.

In truth we have done better this time but because of a combination of chicken pox and tummy bugs Monkey has actually been off pre-school for about a month and he is definitely ready to go back now. He is bored and flitting from activity to activity. He is clingy and jealous of the attention his little sister needs and demanding so much attention from me constantly. In short he is driving me a bit nuts. I’ve really just tried to keep busy and not focus on this too much. Next week we will be back to routine and I am sure things will improve. I have felt a bit low this week though which may be why certain things are making me feel a bit nostalgic.

First of all, our little lady’s feet have grown, meaning it is time to say goodbye to her pink wellies (and all her other shoes but somehow I don’t feel nostalgic about those!). I’m not sure if it is because she is the second child or because we have decided she is our last baby but I am definitely more nostalgic about some things with her. Perhaps also because she seems so diddy. Monkey, on the 90th percentile of the growth chart and seriously tall for his age, has never really felt diddy. Anyway I also love her wellies so much. She has had so many adventures in them over the winter and I am a bit sad to say goodbye to them.

Another element with her being the second child is that we don’t always pay as much notice to her milestones as we did with Monkey. The big ones yes of course, but the little ones, not so much. With Monkey I was keeping an eye on his hand eye coordination and fine motor skills to make sure he was on track. With LM I haven’t paid nearly as much attention. This week I decided to have a look back at my blog to see what I was up to with Monkey at her age, I really do love my blog for the ability to do that and it was so lovely to see what he was up to at her age and remember what he was like as a little (ish) toddler!

We do do a lot of the same activities but there are some I did with Monkey by now that I haven’t done with her. I guess it goes back to what I said earlier about her being so diddy and because she is our baby… But I think of her as not being able to do things yet because she is too young.. When she really isn’t! So I have tried to make more of an effort to do a few more activities with her and will try and do more of this when Monkey is back at preschool next week and she and I have more 1 on 1 time together.

Then Monkey and I had some 1 on 1 time together on Tuesday and did an activity that made both hubs and I feel nostalgic about our childhood. Bubble painting! I will share more about that in a day or so but it really was great fun!

The final reason I have been feeling a little nostalgic is because I have been looking through some of my childhood photos with Monkey. During a chance encounter with a friend’s parents they mentioned that they thought LM looked like her Nanny (my Mum) so I was having a look to see who she did resemble and Monkey very much enjoyed seeing his Mummy and Uncles when we were little (more on this to come in a few days too!).

I hope the holidays get easier as the kids get older, as I have always hoped I would be the Mum who looks forwards to the holidays nd enjoys them rather than wishing them over. for now though I am just getting through the week as best I can.

How was your week? Do you get nostalgic when your little ones reachmilestones or grow out of certain outfits?

Our Bonkers week

Posted by Caroline Elliott

This last week has been a bit bonkers really. Some lovely highs but some bonkers moments too.

Friday was lovely, a nice day topped off by a visit from my little bro. The kids adored playing with him for the afternoon and then his lovely girlfriend came so we had tea and a good and natter Friday night, which was really nice .

Then I was planning on heading down to London for one of my bestie’s birthdays at the weekend. I’ve let my London friends down a few times since having kids and I was determined nothing was going to stop me going as I did not want to let her down, again. Hubs had a rotten cold but though still coughing a lot he was feeling better in himself. LM was really poorly though with a horrible high temperature and she wasn’t herself. Still I knew in my heart it was just a virus and I knew that hubs could cope so I put worrying Mummy thoughts aside, got my determined head on and drove down to London.

I had a wonderful night with 2 very very lovely ladies and it was so fun to really relax knowing I was staying at my friend’s house (rather than rushing to get the last train home) and we had lots of giggles. We ended up in Gordon’s which is London’s oldest wine bar and it was so cool sitting in the old tunnels.

Meanwhile back home, things weren’t going so well. LM was really really poorly and unhappy which definitely made hard work for hubs. Then to top it all off she did a poo in the bath! Never a fun thing to deal with and even worse when you are on your own. Apparently Monkey was an absolute star for daddy thankfully. It was an early night for our poorly girl and that was the last I heard that night.

The next morning I got the first sleep in (till 7.45) that I have had in years, then checked in with hubs. I apparently text at a bad moment as I got a short reply telling me to come home ASAP. Oh God. But a phone call later and it was just a bad moment and he was doing fine. Told me not to rush, so knowing my friend was asleep I made the most of being able to lie in bed and doze for a bit (bliss!).

Hubs’ trousers after being cut open by the paramedics

The came another phone call from a very odd sounding hubs. Saying he was sat at the table but his knee had locked and he couldn’t move it at all. Not to worry though his parents were coming to help and hopefully his muscles would relax soon. Nevertheless I decided time to get ready and head home. Over the course of the next couple of hours with his situation not improving I got regular updates that he had called 111 and they sent a non emergency ambulance and well, turned out his knee was partially dislocated! Hence not being able to move it. So his trousers had to be cut off, and with a bit of gas and air his knee was popped back in.

He was told to go to the walk in centre for an x-ray and did as he was told (by which time I was home) only for the nurse there to basically disregard everything the paramedics had said, refuse to x-ray him and sent him home saying speak to your gp. Wonderful waste of a couple of hours that was!

Meanwhile back at home LM had a very long sleep and my brother and sister in law popped over. Monkey and Uncle Paul had tonnes of fun playing star wars lego together.

Hubs has now spoken to his Dr and they think he may have torn the cartilage in his knee so may need surgery. He has an MRI scan booked and is waiting for appointments with the Musculoskeletal team to jump through hoops while they figure out what is wrong. We spent a couple of very worried days not knowing whether he should sit, stand, walk, drive etc. amid concerns it would dislocate again so he was getting lifts everywhere and being very careful. Yesterday he had an emergency appointment at the private physio he sees for his back and they were so so helpful and put our minds at rest. They also suspect a cartilage tear but have said he doesn’t need to be especially careful in terms of movements etc. Phew!

After dropping him at his physio the kids and I explored a nearby play park which was fun but late in the afternoon for them and nearing tea time so it did get a bit stressful towards the end! Glad to know hubs can drive himself around again rather than needing lifts everywhere with kids in tow.

So it really has been a topsy turvy week. It was always going to be as there was bound to be jobs to catch up on after I’ve had a weekend away but it has been even weirder with all the to-ing and fro-ing about hubs’ knee.

I’ve felt really guilty about the fact I wasn’t at home when it happened and that has been really hard. Topped off by Monkey making some delightful comments including “you’re not as good at that as Daddy, be better like Daddy. ” I know not to take any notice but it was the cherry on the cake and was feeling really low and rubbish anyway. But you can’t please everyone all the time. I wanted to be there for my friend for a change and there’s no way anyone could have predicted this would have happened while I was away. So now I have caught up on my sleep I am feeling a bit more rational about it. Oh the joy of Mummy guilt eh?

We also had a lovely pancake day and it may be the consumption of tonnes of pancakes that led to me feeling more cheerful haha. Monkey was a great help with making both american pancakes and the traditional ones, bless him.

I’m also dead proud of myself, as one of the jobs that didn’t get done at the weekend was replacing the light switch in the kitchen (it broke Friday night when the actual switch fell off annoyingly) so I decided to give it a go myself. I’ve never done anything electrical before but made sure I turned it off at the mains and thought it shouldn’t be too hard to replicate what was done on the existing switch. Anyway, I did it. I didn’t electrocute myself and the switch works so hooray for that!

Things seem to be settling back to normal now which is nice, and just in time for half term craziness haha. How has your week been?

Starting the year feeling organised

Posted by Caroline Elliott

The word of the week, and of the past few weeks in our house to be honest, is organised. Hubs had a good long break over Christmas for the first time ever and it really was amazing. We got the house tidier than we have since Monkey was born I believe and made a decision between ourselves that we were going to get ourselves more organised. We are out of the baby days and the building work in the house from the extension is all finished so there really is no excuse anymore.

So far we are doing well at the general cleanliness and tidiness of the house. We have implemented a tidy up time before bath time every day to get Monkey to help us tidy up the toys and we are both trying to be less lazy and get the washing up done straight away and to generally just keep on top of things. I’m not going to lie it is hard work some days when we are shattered but we are managing and it is lovely to have a house that is on the whole clean and tidy most of the time. It means our weekends are freer to enjoy rather than needing to blitz the house and feels a little like we have grown up haha. Took till our early thirties but we got here!

All tha hand me downs we have for LM to wear for the next few years!

There has been some bigger organising going on too. Hubs has tidied and organised the garage and we have some new shelves up in there though it is a work in progress. He has also been organising the loft and making a huge amount of space in there. Which is where I come in! Half of the stuff in our loft is clothes for the kiddies. Hand me downs for LM to grow into and clothes Monkey has grown out of. We have already given away a lot but there was some serious organising to do of the remaining. So that has been my job this week. Sorting all the various bags and boxes of clothes properly and finally. I have also found homes for lots of the clothes and am hoping one of our neighbours with a new little girl may like the rest otherwise it will be off to the charity shop with it.

Another big project has been sorting out the TV. We have been Virgin Media customers for a long time but only have the basic package and honestly the price has just been going up and up and up and driving us crazy. It hasn’t been that great either as the Tivo box is just so slow sometimes. So we have been trying to work out what to do and have decided to give freeview a try instead. There was an aerial in our loft from previous owners, though it wasnt connected and it took a bit of back and forth to the shops, hubs has been in and out of the loft fixing the cables and we had to try out a couple of different boxes but we finally seem to be sorted now.

There are a few things to get used to and different buttons and things we have to learn but on the whole it seems to be working well. Though we have had to spend money to get to this point it will cost a lot less overall as we won’t have the monthly outgoings anymore, yippee!

My personal little project has also been organising our family photo albums. I plan to write a bit more about this later but it is quite a task getting it all sorted as I got quite behind. I love photo albums and though it is taking a lot of effort organising photos on the computer, getting the best ones printed out etc. I think it is so worthwhile. Especially in the digital age where otherwise you just end up with thousands of files on a computer that no-one ever has a chance to look through let alone organise. So it is a bit of a labour of love getting that all organised!

So there we have it, tonnes of organising going on! Feels good to get things done though doesn’t it?

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.

An Autumnal Week and a visit to NT Box Hill, Surrey

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I love Autumn, I always have. All the gorgeous colours on the trees and the best days are the ones with a clear blue sky and a crisp feeling in the air. We have been really lucky I think with the weather so far this autumn and there has been some really glorious days. We are also really lucky where live as we are surrounded by trees and I love seeing all of the colour when I look outside or go for a walk.

Our week started off with a lovely trip down to London. We started in the east visiting some very good friends of ours in Bromley. Both of their kiddies are almost exactly 6 months older than each of ours so it is lovely watching them all grow up. We wrapped up and went for a play at the local park and the littlies had a lovely time… but unfortunately both the older 2 fell and hurt themselves, which led to Monkey having an epic meltdown which was a real shame.

Then we drove west to stay overnight with my auntie In Raynes Park. From there we went to Box Hill in Surrey to enjoy some gorgeous autumnal scenery. I remember visits to Box Hill as a kid and it was lovely to share it, and the amazing views, with hubs and the kiddies.

It was a glorious day and we had a great time exploring – though it is worth noting that many of the trails, including the Hill Top Stroll, are really NOT suitable for buggies. LM did not enjoy bouncing around all over the place and in some areas we had to carry it anyway as it just couldn’t get over the stones and tree roots so we gave up after a while and just carried her or let her walk. Some of the trees are magnificent though and it was also really fun walking past cattle which grazing on the hillside.

There was lots to do and we enjoyed a gorgeous bit of sloping hillside with magnificent views… though we nearly lost the ball a couple of times and had to run and catch it!

There are a lot of natural play areas to explore and a nature play trail… unfortunately we only just started on this route before Monkey fell and scraped himself on the logs, giving him a huge graze on his side. Bless him this led to another meltdown and in some ways I don’t blame him but he really is a drama queen as his meltdowns are the same for a tiny cut as a nasty one. Anyway he wasn’t much interested in playing any more after that so it was homeward bound.

Monday dawned very wet and miserable and with hubs having a crisis at work and me with PMT it was definitely a gloomy start to the week and I was honestly so grumpy, bored and just fed up. But I have decided to snap out of it and stop being so moany as I am so lucky to have the life that I have and wouldn’t want it any other way.

So the rest of the week has seen some lovely autumnal strolls with the kiddies. Now LM has some proper little boots to walk about in that keep her feet dry in the wet grass we are able to get out and explore a bit more on foot. We don’t get very far as she is fascinated by every blade of grass but still it is lovely to see her wandering about and enjoying the fresh air.

Finally, on Thursday LM and I visited one of our favourite local farms (Sacrewell Farm). A neighbour gave us a voucher that expired this week so though it felt weird to go without Monkey I decided it worked better for the two of us to go alone, and actually, we had such a lovely time! She loved all the animals and really enjoyed wandering about and chasing the pigeons and even though it was a really wet and miserable day it was such a lovely morning. LM went through 3 pairs of trousers though with all her plonking on her bottom – I have ordered her some waterproof trousers and they will come in very handy for the rest of the autumn and winter!

So there we have it, a very autumnal week this week and now I have got over myself and stopped acting like a mardy teenager I have really enjoyed myself. How has your week been?

Our next big project

Posted by Caroline Elliott

We moved into our house about 3 weeks before Monkey was born. It is in the area both Hubs and I grew up in, an area that we love. We got it at a really great price because it needed work doing to it, more work than we initially realised to be honest! We moved in to a garage that was basically flooded from an old roof, a kitchen that was falling apart, rotton soffets with birds nesting in the eaves, pretty nasty bathrooms and both front & back gardens were a mess. Initially we thought we could live with a lot of it but gradually we realised we needed to do some work sooner rather than later.

So when Monkey was still a baby we did many of the repairs needed, had a new kitchen fitted, a new bathroom, and created a shower room out of the existing downstairs toilet and hall cupboard. We completely gutted and landscaped the back garden and made some “smaller” changes to the front, including a new gravel driveway area.

The ‘small’ changes to the front garden!

Our itchen when it was brand spanking new!

There have been smaller changes over the last 3 years, lots of decorating and replacing ceilings but one of the things we loved about this house was it’s potential to grow with us. Since early this year Hubs has had a bee in his bonnet that he has wanted to start this process. He felt, quite rightly, that if we want to extend in any way then we should do it now when the space is really useful to us. If we wait until we can more easily afford it then the kids will be older and it won’t be as useful to us as it is now.

So, it has taken months of decisions and back and forth and organising architects drawings and building regulations (thankfully we don’t need planning permission) and now it is finally happening. We are converting our existing Garage into a Study/Playroom, and the carport will become our garage. We are also moving our existing front door, gaining a utility room and potentially re-doing our driveway. Eek!!

We thought originally we had a month or so before work started but all of a sudden the builder is available and bam it starts this week! So we came back from holiday a little earlier than we would have, and have had some work to do ourselves. Thankfully we cleared out the garage a few weeks ago but we hadn’t got round to selling some of the stuff we want to sell :S. So all of that stuff, plus other garage bits are now filling our conservatory!

Plus because we are moving the front door, we have some bushes and plants to move around too so we have had some old horrible plants dug up and then we have been moving the plants we like into the spaces they left behind.

We have also been working out how we want our new room to look so have already ordered most of our furniture, some before we went away and some while we were away! All very exciting but always nerve wracking! Fingers crossed it all looks the way we imagine… I will share more details with our choices in another post.

I am nervous, excited, apprehensive and everything in between. Wish us luck with the chaos and noise and fun having the builders in for the next 8 weeks or so (!!!??!!!) will undoubtedly bring!!

So bye bye garage, car port and front porch, with the annoying front step and garage doors that barely close let alone lock. Spiders it is time to find a new home! 🙂

My word of the week this week, is project!

Birthday Celebrations

Posted by Caroline Elliott

My word this week is a great one, it is Celebrations, because we have had a week full of birthday celebrations!

Last week my little big boy Monkey turned 3! Sadly the poor thing was terribly poorly (believe me, poorly could easily have been this week’s word too as we have all been suffering) with a stonking cold and conjunctivitis, so it was a very chilled out birthday at home with a visit from his grandparents for lunch and an uncle & aunt in the early evening.

Saturday was the big celebration though with lots of family round for his party. He was so excited bless him and even though he was nowhere near 100% he was feeling a lot better, though by then poor hubs was really suffering. I made a Lightning McQueen cake, which didn’t work out quite as I hoped it would, but you could tell what it was meant to look like and Monkey loved it (and everyone said it tasted nice) so that’s all that matters.

It was a lovely family day with yummy food and lots of fun 🙂 Monkey was a lucky boy with lots of very lovely pressies and lots of attention from all his favourite people. We spent most of the time inside until Monkey commanded that we all went outside. “Let’s go outside, with Mummy and Daddy and Lots of Family!” When people weren’t forthcoming he stood in the doorway shouting “come on everybody!” lol love him.

Sunday was a fairly chilled day at home then Monday saw more birthday celebrations for my Father-in-law’s birthday. Another lovely happy family day at Grangranny and Granddaddy’s house.

Before we left we had got out a bag of hand-me-down clothes for LM who is growing all the time and found this gorgeous little tutu. I just couldn’t resist dressing her in it and she looked so cute in it! Granny loved her little pink princess and LM was so good even though she was really coming down with the cold by then and had conjunctivitis too. Granddaddy's birthday

Thursday saw the celebrations continue with one of Monkey’s friends turning 4 and a birthday party at a soft play centre. It got off to a very bad start with Monkey throwing the mother of all tantrums as he didn’t want to go. He screamed continuously in the car and made himself sick. I was so stressed and so angry…. but thankfully he perked up a little when he saw some friends and a piece of cake later he was much better and had great fun on the soft play. All that stress and hassle for absolutely no reason, toddlers eh?

Thankfully two of my best Mummy friends were there (we missed our very heavily pregnant friend that makes up our foursome but at nearly 40wks pregnant she understandably couldn’t make it!) and they helped remind me that they have had days like it with their kids recently too and as always it’s just nice to support each other. LM was cute again in her tutu and it was fun, though obviously ever so slightly chaotic with a bunch of kids at soft play! I was shattered by the end of it but Monkey was happy and we did have a lovely time so I am very glad we went.

This marks the end of a couple of months full of birthdays of family members and friends. In April we have 6 and in May there are 8! (there may be a 9th depending on when my friend’s baby arrives) So it is full of fun but also is a lot of birthdays in a short space of time. There are only 2 in June and none in July so I have to admit it will be nice to have less birthdays to think about for a while.

Do you have a time of year where there are more birthdays than any other?

Sunny

Posted by Caroline Elliott

My word of the week this week, is Sunny.

Firstly in the literal sense because the last few days have been gloriously sunny. The end of last week was wet and miserable and I was so fed up of the cold but the last couple of days have been the absolute opposite. We had a lovely day today at our local country park enjoying the sunshine with some friends and it was lovely relaxing in the sun – well relaxing as much as you ever can with an almost 3 yr old and a 5mth old!

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Can I really do this?

WotW

Hubs’ operation

Feeling a little nostalgic

Our Bonkers week

Starting the year feeling organised

Celebrating Life

Siblings November 2015

An Autumnal Week and a visit to NT Box Hill, Surrey

Our next big project

Birthday Celebrations

Sunny