Nurofen is Great

Headache is almost gone now!
THANK YOU NUROFEN!!
It was almost an early night for me, but then if I had gone to lie down you know the kids would have decided to throw a very noisy party!
Daughter went out with Granddad and his wife today and had a great time, and they even brought me a Mother's Day card from her that she made at the park. Which was really nice because as always when they come to visit I always seem left out of the gifts, not that I mind although a 15p fudge bar would be fine by me...Hehe
Son got another jacket/jumper, daughter got a cute little lilac dress with a little purse on it, and 2 pairs of tights, and hubby got a jacket.
Although the jacket had been worn by Granddad a couple of times so I guess his gift doesn't count so much on the scale.
I'm waiting for the big Easter Egg score to come my way in a couple of weeks, (but they were a bit vague as to whether we are getting eggs or something more useful).
Don't get me wrong I'm all for useful gifts (I've sent my mum a list of stuff, space saving vacuum bags, a jigroll- so I can do those jigsaws and put them somewhere while we eat, clothing vouchers- I did make a new request that my clothing vouchers are for Asda instead of Evans in future though, love the clothes just don't like the price.)And I can get 10 pairs of sweats instead of a pair of trousers and a top with the same amount of money.
But where was I...
Oh yeah, so hubby took son out to buy mother's day cards and I got back into the loft thinking theres only a few things left to take out before starting to put all the sorted suff back in....WRONG!!
But to be fair a couple of the big bags of soft toys are to be washed and donated so needed them out.
Did find a Star Wars monopoly game and a Spiderman modelling kit which are very exciting.
And also found a few gluebooks I had started, mainly to just store potential images that I may or may not be interested in painting in the future so finishing them will be fun, and saves me a lot of paper falling out all over the place.
But still not any closer to actually sleeping in the bed as yet.
Wondering how tomorrow will unfold...

The Health Visitor Comes

Its been an interesting day.
We ran out of kitchen roll, toilet paper and baby wipes this morning so me and the kids made a mad dash to the shops. Didn't want to tempt fate with the two little poop machines in tow.
Daughter was a bit of a terror again to and from the shops, think it was excitement over the health visitor coming to do sons 6month + review.
And daughter likes her coming, but then she thinks any guests mean she's going to get presents...
Well a few hours later and a time out or daughter and health visitor came, weighed son, a whopping 9kg (19.15lbs) at just 34 weeks.
Well he's only just above the average line so its not that big. Tested his grip on some bricks and a rattle. He's progressing nicely.
She was also impressed with our daughters speech and said she was very advanced for her age which was great.
Now just to get the potty training sorted and then we can focus on her reading and writing skills. Not that we're trying to push her or anything.
Back to the potty training, we finally made it to 19 today so daddy will be buying the toy tomorrow whilst me and the kids are at playgroup, so it'll be at home for when we get back.
I've also noticed she seems to follow a pattern, manages to make the first 2 attempts on the potty and then forgets what she was doing and everything else goes all over the floor.
So from now on she gets the magic star for completing a day without accidents on the floor (obviously days wearing nappies don't count). Think she wants the Little Einstein toys or Fifi and the Flowertots Doll.
Either way its a more complex task for her and we're not buying toys every five minutes. hehe.

Crazy Day...

Phew what a day, I am TIRED !! And I have more to do tomorrow.
The plan was if the weather's nice we will go do some gardening (it will be nice for this summer, we've only been here almost 3 years).
But it was awful and cold and windy, not rainy though, so I opened my big mouth and said
"Hey, why don't we sort out the loft",
So up the ladders I went, thought I was going to get stuck with my big booty but should have been more worried about my head getting wedged trying to get boxes down.
The plan was to get everything down, organise and throw stuff away, and then put the rest back up tidily so we can get to the water tank if the need arises. You know for stashing the millions etc. I wish.
Hubby was helping retrieve the boxes then had to feed our son for his nap and entertain our daughter so her constant questions didn't put me off and I fall off those ladders. (Yep she's at the stage when she has to question everything).
You'd think I'd be used to it by now as my sister would constantly ask questions while watching tv, especially films, so if there was anything on you wanted to watch don't do it with her in the room. (She did it until she was about 15 too which was a nightmare).
Anyway back to our eventful day, now where was I... Oh yes, well we didn't get everything down because there wasn't enough room in our bedroom and even as I type this there's stuff all over the bathroom floor. But I'm having a rest.
So started going through the boxes, found some really amazing things like a few sketchbooks I'd mislaid and a lot of tat.
And a lot of stuff that I really don't have the space for but can't quite bring myself to throw out or donate them just yet, like my micro machines death star, and my WWE bash at the beach wrestling ring.
But I am donating all the old kids clothes to charity and I've wrapped up my pottery pig collection too, so that will be gracing a charity shop window in the near future.
I know I could use an auction site, I could use a swap shop, but those take time and they're still in the house, and then there's the taking them to the post office with the 2 teeny weenies in tow. I know I can't be bothered either, so to a worthier cause they go.
We braked for lunch and no sooner were we downstairs daughter whipped her togs off and used the potty, she almost got a standing ovation for that one. her second attempt also hit the mark, so she was on a roll and only needed 4 more attempts until the cuddly toy was in her little mitts but to no avail.
If she had managed to get on the potty and not pee all over the floor this afternoon she would have only needed one until she achieved her goal. Never mind.
Didn't get much done this afternoon because daughter was following in my wake just in case I found something toy related that she could snatch from my grasp, so I gave up in the end.
I did find some temporary tattoo paints (oil based not henna) and we had fun with those once son was in his cot, daughter now has a pig and a dragon on each arm, a flower, a chair?, a bat, spider, person and a yellow blob on her legs.
Why a yellow blob, she wanted a "poorly" on her knee to go with the one she has on her other leg hehe.
I might give up now and just relax for the rest of the evening because even if I get it all done I'll still have to change the bedding and have a bath.
So a camp out on the sofa/kids floor is how I'm ending this evening.

Granddad's been and Gone

Well today was a little easier than normal the wife didn't come with granddad for his visit so hubby had to go out with him and our daughter, don't think granddad would have coped by himself.
It was good for me because it meant hubby could pick up the nappies we desperately needed, saving me a trip to the shops, I could watch what I wanted on the TV for a change, son and I partook in a little bit of rocking out to the Kerrang music channel.
Also it meant I could get a little housework done, i really don't like doing it when everyone else is about, under my feet or making me feel jealous because they're playing video games....Not that I get this choice very often. But the stairs look wonderful now, I lost the special attachment for the dust buster so had to do it with the dustpan and brush...At least my arms got a work out if nothing else.
And even better granddad paid for the nappies so we have a little more cash now than we thought we would have.(If the wife was with them he doesn't usually pay for stuff) But they do take our daughter out once a fortnight so I am grateful for that.

Happy Valentines Day

So have you had or having a nice valentines day?
Ours has been different to say the least.

I mean I know not to expect anything too romantic and crazy as we have 2 small children so anything we do do will involve them in some way or another. But then we remembered that Nanna i.e. the Mother In Law was coming for a visit today.

So my first job was to get myself and the kids dressed and out to the shops to buy milk as we'd ran out last night, and Nanna always has at least one cup of coffee whilst she's here. And then there's all the tidying to be done before she gets here so she doesn't fall over all the kids stuff.

Oh and hubby and I gave each other a Valentines card. ( He bought me 2 Keri Arthur-Riley Jenson Guardian novels a few days ago and said I could have them early)

He didn't know what he wanted so he's got some cash to buy himself a book or add on for his webpage or whatever he likes really.
Anyway that done and then daughter and hubby had to go meet Nanna in town (she is able to come straight here on the bus by herself as she's done it before, but she wanted meeting), which was fine as son was asleep so I got a few more bits done without daughter running around my legs and taking out what I've already put away.

So halfway through washing the pots they roll in and wake son up, well he was asleep in pushchair behind the front door so can hardly blame them for that. Daughter got a nurses outfit which once on she spilt banana milkshake down so more washing for me woohoo!!, she also got s peppa pig towel and some ducks for the bath, but the ducks she can share with our son.

Have noticed a pattern whenever Nanna comes one week son gets loads and daughter gets hardly anything and then the opposite happens the next time she comes.

Was wondering if the thought had occurred to her that it was Valentines day or not and she did mention with a disgusted look on her face how much mush was in the shops because of Valentines day. ( Brain into overdrive wondering if she knew it was today or not and if so did she put me in the camp that it means nothing and I wouldn't care about her being here, or was she playing the territorial mother towards her precious son and wanted to sabotage even our most lame attempts at a nice Valentines day)
Who knows....All I know that is after this little rant I will give as little thought to the potential craziness of the M.I.L.

So if you have an equally strange Valentines or even a toe curling horrid one I would love to hear it....

Now to order take out and have a bit of a relax!

Early Night???

Well last night I thought I'd take the night off from everything internet related and get some much needed sleep, so I went to bed just after both kids were asleep thinking...

"Yay I'll get at least 4 hours sleep because the kids don't wake up until at least 10pm"

WRONG!!!

As soon as I got into bed so started what was going to go onto be at least 6/7 trips out of bed to see to him before the usual 10pm, but then he had just caught a cold so I can't really blame him. But I couldn't believe it and now tonight son has been up once since putting him to bed about 5.30. Oh its such a pain in the bottom I can tell you.

Fingers Crossed....

...That hubby's teeth will NOT be hurting so he is able to look after the kids...
....That daughter has been good enough for daddy to take both her and our son to the deep to see the fishes...
...That I get enough sleep tonight so I don't fall asleep during Twilight's 3pm showing tomorrow...

Yep its been rearranged, my sisters coming to take me to the cinema and I am very excited but a lot can happen during the night, especially with these kiddies...

Jealousy

Daughter has started playing a little rough with little G. She's even taken to hitting him if either me or hubby tells her off for doing something naughty and he's in her local vicinity. If he's not then it could be me, or the walls, or even the furniture that gets a punch.
I've noticed that because he's started to roll over by himself she tries to do it for him even more now, using his mat instead of actually turning him so there's more of a chance that he might get hurt.
Also once he's on his front she thinks she can ride him like a pony...
I mean I know hes 17lb and 8oz (got him weighed on Wednesday) but blimey he's only 6 months old. Oh and when he's in the pushchair and she tries to climb in and sit on his legs oh my life!
I know its a bit of jealousy coming through and I know that most of the time its a healthy thing that she's not afraid to show us she's jealous but after speaking to my mum...
She told me about a family she knew and they had 2 kids about our kids age and the youngest was in the cot with one of his arms poking through the bars and the other child managed to break the arm and the parents had them both taken from them because the social workers thought it was the parents that did it....
I don't want that to happen with our kids.

Does our Daughter Need Medication???

Well Nanna seems to think she might...I don't know what to think really, apart from the fact that we won't be medicating our 2 year old any time soon that's for sure.
Ok maybe I should run through the visit from my hubby's mum last friday.
She arrived about 11.30 and had brought loads of clothes with her as usual (I swear our kids could manage a new outfit for about a month at the moment), most of the clothes were for our son because the next sale had ran out of most of the girls stuff by the time she got there (at 7am) but our daughter managed to come away with a few bits and bobs and she wasn't too fazed by little G getting more clothes than her, well they're not toys are they!
To my eyes big G seemed to be acting well and like her normal self a little excitable but then who wouldn't be at Christmas and with far too many family visits than any of us are used to.
But about 2/3pm big G starts getting a bit grumpy and starts to tantrum so she might get sent to bed. (because its been too exciting for her and she's getting tired). but hubby's mum doesn't mention anything whilst she's at our house she waits a couple of days and then decides to tell us her wondering's on our daughters hyperactivity and asks whether or not we should think about a trip to the doctors for some calming medication. I don't think so.

So Tired

Well its almost 8 am and I've been up 3 hours with our son already, daughter should be up a.s.a.p. sp this has to be a quick blog entry I think. Son's rolled over again for the third time this morning, nice to see him doing it without daughters help for a change.

The reason I'm so tired is that son wakes up with out fail anytime between 4am and 6am and the past 2 days daughter has been falling asleep at 4.30pm and then getting up again about 7pm until 11pm/12am so I'm not getting enough sleep obviously. This always happens after Granddad visits and takes daughter out for the day, because she has such a fun time at the park or at the soft play place she gets tired and needs to nap which would be good if she would just go to sleep at the normal time too. Oh well fingers crossed for her early nighting tonight so I can get more work done.

Nervous Breakdown at 5am

Well thats Christmas for another year and crikey am I tired...

It all started at 4.30 am, we all went downstairs to open gifts, daughter was going pretty fast (although it did take her until almost 7am to finish opening them all). Then about half past five we noticed that she was just sat there, hubby said she was having a nervous breakdown. We avoided a total blowout by daddy issuing hugs and kisses and she was ok and got stuck in the thick of it again. We had a few moments where daughter thought sons toys were more interesting or wanted to open sons presents instead of her own. And in the end there were just too many presents so daddy had to open the rest for her.

She got a little crazy as time went on as she wanted to play with the play doh we bought her but she had to wait until after lunch for that. But the bubbles were played with in the garden. Not for long mind because she kept falling over. She tried to do a bunk upstairs only once though which was impressive taking with her her pocoyo dvd to watch but managed to get her to come back downstairs nice and calmly for her lunch. Then we went upstairs to watch the three musketeers (mickey mouse) hoping she'd nap but nope no sleep for her.

Went back downstairs and hubby was nearly asleep on the sofa so we did play doh in the kitchen and then it was 4.30 pm and she fell asleep on the change mat. Son was good he had a few naps today and fell straight to sleep so hopefully I might get some much needed sleep tonight (if I'm lucky).

No Twilight for Me???

Hmmm well I officially stopped getting excited about my potential trip to the cinema with my sister tomorrow as hubby had started complaining about toothache this afternoon. If I didn't know any better I might think this family are conspiring against me to have any time to myself hehe, its the same if I try to have a bath when the kids are asleep I know one of them will wake up but will it be when I've just applied the shampoo, yep it usually is.

Oh well, its probably my own fault for getting excited about it anyway. Hubby's not too bad at the minute but I don't think I'll be getting much sleep, which will mean a call to the emergency dentist tomorrow and he better have it taken out this time because he's been loads bless him and they keep fobbing him off with X rays and antibiotics and its just getting silly now.

But then if its not hubby keeping me up I can guarantee son will wake up at about 2am for an hour or so anyway.

So Who knows what's going to happen but I don't think Twilight will be a part of it.

2 down 1 to go

Well that's almost all of the obligatory family events done, after tomorrow that will be it for us. So this time tomorrow evening and we will be relaxing and wondering how to keep all the presents hidden from little fingers. We've almost ran out of space as it is but its not easy hiding presents in the small bedroom as well as having all of our things in there too.
Wasn't a bad day though as it was Granddads turn and he and his wife usually take our daughter out for the day so as long as son has a big nap whilst they're out its a nice quiet afternoon.
And we did well in the non Xmas gifts department again today, daughter got 2 new coats and a cute pair of pink Mary Janes and hubby got a couple of t shirts and a pair of trainers.
The downside is that she comes home tired and falls asleep so then trying to get her to bed at night is a task and a half...11.25 I managed to get downstairs tonight but i I keep my fingers crossed she will sleep through until morning, just wish the same could be said about our son, he'll probably get up at about 2am and not go back to sleep until 3...

Home Alone....

Well not quite. Hubby's gone to watch the Harlequins against Northampton rugby today, left about 7.30 this morning and won't be back until tomorrow. Daughter keep asking where he is so if I say he's gone to the rugby with his friend, she replies...
"I want to play with Caitlin"
So then I have to explain that shes not there but after about half an hour she asks
"where's daddy?"
and around and around we go.
Trying to get stuff done with both the teeny weenies wanting attention is proving a little difficult although the trip to asda this morning went without too much of a hitch. (I forgot my list though). And they didn't have the trolleys with half baby chair and half for toddler to sit in so daughter was riding where the shopping was supposed to go, and managed to open sons pack of socks so we almost left with odd socks.
Hubby's just rang he's at the rugby and I've explained about our son being sick everywhere earlier. He did it yesterday too just as we were getting off the bus to go home so phew at least it was only round the corner.
Got a feeling the photo diaries I ordered for my mum and sister won't arrive on Monday when they come to visit so I'm glad I've got them other gifts.
Sister's going to go with me to see Twilight too, well she works at the Odeon in Huddersfield so then at least we can get in for free yay.
I can't wait...Especially since I thought I might have to wait for it to come out on dvd so I'm even more excited. Hubby said he didn't mind being left at home with my mum and the kids so woohoo...

Playgroup Xmas Party

Phew just got back from the playgroups Xmas party and I hardly did anything but they don't half wear me out watching all the kids running around and chasing balloons. Daughter had a great time, she even sat with the other kids at the table when they were eating, which she didn't do last year, so I was very proud of her for that. The only problem with the Xmas party is that daughter got so tired she had a nap this afternoon. it's always a worry as she doesn't fall asleep until about 3pm and then wakes up about 5pm for tea time and then it takes hours and hours to get her to go to sleep, especially now the kids are sharing, I have to be there just in case she doesn't try to wake son up once he's asleep.

Although she does keep picking at her snotty nose and wiping it on her face so she looks like she's wearing a comedy moustache...

I've made a decision with regards to the doodle paintings, the background on a couple of them will be a very basic cartoon style and the others I will paint a more realistic background, especially for the fish.

I'm quite excited about the challenge especially with using acrylics as I've done similar in oils before but never in acrylics. And with having two little ones I don't really want paintings drying all over the house and the smell from the turpentine about.

I'm even excited about the potential mixing paint challenge, as I am useless at it at the best of times but if the end result is anything like what I have in my head then it will turn out quite well.

And I've managed to download a few potential backgrounds so if I can just keep the kids asleep I'll be able to start one on the spare canvas I have.

Getting There Slowly

Well I've been busy busy busy, not necessarily all work but it doesn't feel like I've stopped for a while now.

What have I been up to...Well firstly I've been researching which banks it would be best to go with and I'm going to sort that out on Tuesday as I'm in town for an interview, I know another one, also Wednesday I've got a 3 hour course to attend to do with market research and the initial stages of starting my own business. Had my initial funding interview on Wednesday afternoon, it went well and didn't take the full hour like it was supposed to.They never do even the doctors I spend longer in the waiting room hehe.

But I digress, got a few forms to fill in from Wednesday and have to fill a couple of them in by Tuesday so I can get a market research grant, which will be a great boost, means I'd be able to get a lot of work done in one go and put it all in the shop to see if it sells. Very handy.

I've also started phase 3 of the cards, hopefully by the end of tomorrow I will have finished at least one set to put in the shop. I also thought of a few more things I could paint etc. so phase 1 of the new batch is also under way. So its quite good at the moment, with plenty to do and with doing a combination of phases 1,2 and 3 I can mix it up and not get fed up of just tracing images all day and night for a fortnight.

Also hubby's taking our 2 year old daughter on a play date tomorrow so they will be gone all day so as long as I can keep our son quiet or asleep I can get a lot more work done, although we are swapping the bedrooms over at the minute so think that will be the main job I do tomorrow.

Rain Stopped Play

It's been one of those days when it doesn't matter what you needed to do it just doesn't get done.

I decided yesterday that because today was grandparents taking our daughter to the park day that I could sneak into town while they were out and get some greetings cards and plain card to start the greetings cards idea I had...

Well I should have known that today was not going to be the day for it when our daughter got up about midnight and wouldn't go back to sleep til about 3.30 am. Which is fine I could've had plenty of sleep until you remember that we have a 3 month old son who seems to want to get up between 5am and 6am...

By this time I'm feeling a little tired to say the least and I'd almost given up on the idea, but once the grandparents arrived and took our daughter to the park, realised I had to get some bits from the shops so why not put son in the chest carrier and hop on the bus so I can buy my card equipment...We step out the front door and oh no its raining, and I don't like to take him in his pushchair because its Saturday and the buses will be busy...

So in the end I just nipped up to the local shops for the few bits we needed and will either have to go to town with both the kids and the pushchair or wait to get the stuff when I go for the interview on Wednesday...which defeats the object because I wanted to get a couple done for then.

But I've just had a minor brainwave...I know there's some card making products somewhere upstairs but now I'm hoping they're in the cupboard but I've got a nasty feeling they've managed to make their way into the loft...And the torch has no batteries.....

Well for now I still have plenty of images to be manipulating in preparation of making them into cards and painting so at least I'm still keeping busy, busy, busy.

I hope it gets better after a good nights sleep.....