Another year over (well, almost!)

Just thought I'd do a HAPPY NEW YEAR! post for a change. 2006 saw Beth turn from a baby into a toddler. And Sian turn into a teenage 3yo! I love them both to pieces and wouldn't be with out them, temper tantrums and all!

I wonder what 2007 will have in store for us? Hopefully permanent housing (if we're lucky somwhere with a garden!), a win on the lottery would be nice (heh), but above all? I'll take good health and friends and family to share joys and sadness with, both online and in real life :o)

Vent...........Vent......... Vent

Clive you do NOT need to shout at us all day everyday. I don't care if thats waht your mother did (she still does i know, everytime we go up i have to re-teach sian how to talk quietly) in fact, can you TALK to your kids, not shout at them the minute they open their mouths or just get up from where ver they were sitting.

If you didn't want to take sian to see her cousins for her birthday why didn't you say so when i was booking it? instead of today AFTER the fact. How was I supposed ot know at the *BEGINING* of the month that you were going ot be too tired to drive? or why didn't you say that you only wanted to stay ONE NIGHT. I asked you these questions whn I booked. so don't f*ing complain about it now.

And if you want to go and see YOUR FATHER in PUTNEY then YOU ARE GOING TO HAVTO DRIVE CAUSE I CAN'T!!!!!!! don't come over all "i'm the taxi driver " when you know damned well that either he uses the work car *out of working hours* or we drive or take the bus. I have no problems with the bus, we have two pushchairs.

photos

• An oddity in the UK... children rear facing after 9mos.... in fact, a child harnessed at 3 is odd!
• The girls in their christmas PJs...... we always get new PJs on chrsitmas eve. This year Beth chose them.
• Santa came and left a piano, a big hit with both girls!
• She does have a lovely smile ;o) ok, i'm a bit biased!
• Sian has all the attitude of a 13yo LOL i don't even remember why i took the picture!

Happy Birthday Sian Louise!

It seems impossible that 3 years ago you were a tiny little 3lb 13oz shrimpy girl who's head was smaller than Mama's boobage! Now, well you're still tiny, but your attitude and big mouth sure make you heard! I love you to peices my precious one, even when you're being a teenager!

Merry Thingymas!

We tracked Santa last night (http://www.noradsanta.org) and Sian and Daddy left him out a mince pie and drop of whiskey to say thank you - I wonder if Santa ever gets drunk? Or sick of mince pies! Must apologise to the reindeer though, we forgot to get them any carrots :o(

This year, Sian understood the concept of unwrapping presents LOL. She went through her stocking in record time hehe. Beth opened her first one and was quite contented! It reminded me of Sian's first Christmas- bear in mind, this is only her 2nd! I can't beleive she'll be 3 in just 2 days. My littl ebaby is fast becoming a little girl (with a big attitude!)

After we did stockings in Mama and Daddys bed we went downstairs. Santa left the big presents unwrapped this year. Sian got a piano........ HIT! She sang "I am the muskick man" for about an hour! In fact she's bashing away on it as I type. Beth got a peek-a-blocks school bus........... she's more interested in the piano lol. Ah well. Sian liked the bus too- in fact I have a photo of her sitting in it! There other big present this year of course was the trip to CBeebies Live! on Saturday. (Sian still wants to see it again- can we? can we? pleeeease?)

We went over to GrannyJan and Grandads to spend the day from about 11.30am. Christmas is defintaly a time to be with your family if you possibly can. Mum started lunch and I finished it. Found out that both the girls like asparagus! Oh and christmas pudding with clotted cream! I'm rather stuffed wtih good food and good company now.

Sian and Beth got so many new clothes today it was unbeleivable! But i think the jackpot for friends presents must have gone to Uncle Steve- he managed to find the "something special" DVDs cue two giant smiles from the girls. Their CDs to each other probably ran a close second!

CBeebies Live!

The show was FAAAAAAAAAN-Tastic! Sian sat through the whole first hour entranced, joining in at all the right times. Even Beth was fairly still for a toddler! (ok, mama milk helped!)

We saw Justin and Mr Tumble (the girls favourite person), The Tweenies, Postman Pat- and Jess, Pingu, Naughty Noo-Noo, The Koala Brothers, Boo, PC Plum, Spencer and The Bobinogs. When we came out and asked Sian if she enjoyed it? She said no LOL then said she wanted to go again. If only we had the spare money sweetie! Defintley a hit methinks.

From all the over priced souveniers we managed to come home with.......... just the £4 program! Mind you, 4 portions of chips and a tub of maltesers came to £12... we should have gone abck to the car first! SIan was so cold her hadns were blue though and we just wanted to warm her up. (HAH)

The customer service through the whole arena was poor. No-one knew what anyone else was doing. (piss up in brewery? no way!) and the facilities for changing children's nappies was totally inadequate. In fact, we ended up changing Beth on the seats during the interval.

i have a goal!

if you'd please ignore the socks, lumps and bumps and headless body! this is a size 18designer number from debenhams. it's not only ON me. it's done up (so sucks to you ms. snotty attendant who told me i needed 2 sizes bigger.)

now onto my goal.... i want to fit into this dress nicely by my birthday. that's 2months away. i'm down just over a stone already, i reckon another 12-14lbs and i'll be happy to wear it to the theatre. oh, with the addition of a strapless bra!!

i did get a new fleecey jacket today... size 18! it's shrot in the sleeves LOL but fits nicely everywhere else, even done up

Beth's first shoes

i know it's a bit late, but here are beth's first real shoes. they're totally trashed now with paint, glue, play dough and sand! we need to get the kids feet measured either tomorow or friday. i'm actually hoping they *haven't* grown as the budget doesn't stretch to new footwear right now! (it will if it has too, but we're going away for a few days after christmas)

we started sian's first christmas the tradition of getting new PJs christmas eve. we still need to get this years, so i think we'll combine the buying of PJs with measuring of feet on friday! a top to go under beth's christmas dress is also a must as it's a short sleeved (although heavy weight) spring/autumn dress. it was so pretty though - and PINK! I chose 2 PINK outfits for my child! I hate pink!!! nah, they're cute. Sian has a black/fushia outfit from grannyjan and grandad and her christmas out fit is a pair of embroidered jeans and a christmas t-shirt she chose herself!

ramble ramble ramble

asthma woes

it's well over three years since i had to have pred. ugh. on the other hand, it'll be good to breathe again! i really am bad about my asthma, yet so ready to sort the kids out. my meds got changed from qvar 2x2 (3x2 when it's bad) to symbicort 2x4 while its bad and 2x2 once it's under control again. oh and i've instrcutions to head to a&e if it gets worse with a follow up on Jan 2 i've been eatng ventolin liek it's going out of fashion htis week or so.

breast feeding props

i've been a peer supporter for breast feeding mothers at our local sure start baby clinic for just over a year now. i asked the health visitor yesterday if the BF rate has increased this year. as the answer was yes, i think i've done my job well! (and i enjoy it too) next year we're hoping to run our own peer supporters course- which i've been told i should ace LOL. i can't wait for that as it's being run by the lady who inspired me to want to go further with this (i'd still like to be a BFCounselor one day, but at least with K's course i won't be answerable to anyone but surestart)

oh and i fell in love wiht a dad yesterday! he wants the best possible start for his kids, and that includes nursing till they're 2. mama is pregnant wtih their 2nd baby (due Jan 13, can't wait to meet them!) and still nursing the oldest. she was worried about nursing two, till she saw me nursing sian in stay and play. sian's near enoguh three now, so she was quite happy that it'd be possible to nurse two. and her hubby will help as much as possible :o)

signing updates

sian learnt some clothing signs this autumn with justin and mr tumble's help. she can now sign and recognise the signs for:

hat (already knew it!), gloves, scarf, dress & trousers

beth added to her one and only sign so far of milk:

dog, lion, crocodile, rabbit

we're getting the something special dvds for christmas/birthday from uncle steve and mama so they'll be used lots next year during our shcool hour.

christmas decorating

sian helped me to decorate grannyjan's tree today. and her and beth are also trying to UNdecorate it. it looks really nice in red and gold, with white lights. but i've had to push a chair in front of it to stop them pulling the decs. off! we also put some tinsel round a light stand in red & gold to match the tree. no pictures as i don't have the digicam with me- i'll get some friday instead.

we have lots of tree ornaments at our house, and no tree to put them on :o( i've also got two personalized ones for the girls ready to order. hopefully we'll be in a place we can get a tree next year.

housing

still in temporary accommodation. it's getting a little small now the girls are growing older- i'd say bigger, but even my fat baby is skinny! nothing suitable has come up since before we went to wales *sigh* maybe we will end up moveing to wales next year? i'll miss a lot of people here if we do that though.

nursery

we're defintley home schooling the girls at least till they're 7. after that we'll see. sian will be starting in january. if i sent her to shcool it wouldn't be till september. she'll probably learn more in 1-2hours a day at home than she will in the 3hrs she'd have at school. no need to worry if she's sick (or any of us for that matter) we already have a couple of feild trips planned- ice skating and a soft play. and we'll be able to take family holidays when clive's off work rather than in the more expensive tradtional holiday period. i'll probably start up a new blog for home edding so that we can see what we've done and what's been acheived each month.

jewellery

we made the descision to let sian's ears close up. she's been ever so good with her earings, but lost 2 diferent ones in the space of 4 days. now i have 2 odd earrings and 2 spare backs! and the 2nd pair of earrngs cost me £15 two days before she lost one. her ear closed up a little in the time she didn't have earrings in and she screamed when we put the new ones in. if she wants them done again thats fine....... when she's a teenager - like 16!

the girls both have chinese new year symbol necklaces and sian also has a birthstone necklace, guess who's chains we can't find? yup. beth has her rooster on at the moment. we have to go back to a little gift shop in tenby (wales) but that will probably be a trip when we go on our main holiday next year.

i can't find any earrings i like to switch mine out for. so i guess i'll have these in forever! actually i saw some in the avon book for £1.50, but they're teardrops and dangle. the girls do like to hit me about the face when they're having temper tantrums! we'll see. i might get them then again.............

off! owf!

oof! ee! oof! there a bit bumpy.

what do you think sian was taling about? She's 3 (well almost!) so keep it clean!









cobble stones! she decided she wanted to walk over them intsetd of on grass or tarmac this morning LOL. typing just doesn't do her actual voice any justice cause it was SO funny.

She also didn't want a cheese burger cause *she* was hungry, her *tummy* wanted the cheese burger. silly mama, it's the tummy that rumbles!

beth wehn asked if she's going to behave...."neh" said with a defintie no shake of the head. do you want mama milk? "yeh" with a yes nod.

she also said she was cheeky, didn't learn it from her big sister it came naturally! the child is as smart as her big sister, and as cheeky and forward too!

some sian funnies

i wish i could catch sian on videos with some of her phrases. here are two of my favourites from yesterday

"oh my gosh, i need my bra"

"i don't want to calm down, you calm UP"

We bathed the girls last night- well clive did while i hung laundry in their room. and while he was bathing beth i nursed sian.

after boo was all nice and clean she was picked up by daddy and pointed in our diercetion going "dat, dat" clive asked what she wanted and she signed milk for us

OMGOMGOMG!!!

I just managed to get tickets for the girls to see CBeebies Live!!! They are going to have a blast!

BIIIIG christmas/Birthday present for Sian and Beth, at £81.35 for all 4 of us! Wow! Normally this stuff doesn't happen to me!

and I've lost a stone! oh and bought new clothes a size smaller!

I'm a happy bumble bee! And i'm shouting, yes!!!

Photo (late!)

Me and my girls.... We gate crashed mums birthday photo shoot to get htis one of the three of us. I really like it :o) most
unusual as I HATE HATE HATE having my picture taken

Sian and Beth just after Beth's first birthday. Those trousers are now indecent on Sian, and the dress fits Beth!


Just two random pictures. The red coat makes Sian look so grown up now (sob) and the christmas decorations brought out the imp in Beth!

Not a baby any more :o(

My baby is officially a toddler! She started walking with confidence about 2weeks before she turned one. Soooo for her birthday we asked Grandma to buy her her first "real" shoes. She looks so grown up now. The photo of them before trashing (read, painting!) is on my mums pc though, as is her cake photo. So that will have to be waited for! I will however share a picture that was taken recnetly so you can see how much the kidlets have grown

"halers"

well, that's what sian calls them any ways! I sat and watched tweedle dum and tweedle dee pull apart the spacer and halers and put them back together perfectly tonight. Darnit, I should have given them some water to wash the spacer in!! they both can also follow all the steps to medicate themselves (with a little help in sian's case and a lot in beth's) did i say follow? they do it for me these days! sian can't quite manage to depresst he haler down yet, but she likes to try!

glasses, ears and a house

so, last night my glasses fell apart at the seams... quite literally! i couldn't see a darned thing unless it was inches from my nose. that warranted a trip to the opticians this morning. luckily as we're getting tax credits i didn't have to pay for my sight test AND i've got £29 to put towards a spare pair of glasses (i paid for some memo-form glasses as they were on special offer and the kids like to hit me in the face a lot!)

ears next. we were walking past claires accsessories and talking about ear piercing. sian asked to get hers done, and when asked 5more times if she really did want them peirced, said yes. she was very brave and is now the proud owner of december birthstone earrings. and mama has some february birthstone earrings too. my mum isn't too pleased with our descision, but she's OUR daughter (note, the word daughter? at 33mos we *still* get asked if she's a boy or a girl) i can't beleive i've finally got mine done though! i wasn't allowed to have them done till i was 16, by which time i wasn't interested. sian asked me to do my ears too so i got brave and did it. still not sure if i like it or not! but i have a wish to get my belly button done, when i lose 5stone.

house. we saw a lovely house that we had to turn down. cause we can't be here to sign the tenancy agreement on monday. darnit.

Oh gosh, I hope not!

Sian's had a wheezey cough for the past couple of weeks. So I've been giving her her "halers" like a good mama. She asked me to take her to the Drs today, to which daddy said "they'll just tell you to put her on her ventilator" well we didn't go quite that far, but we did set up asthma checks for both of us. me tomorow and sian next week... hopefully she won't be so wheezey by then.

The girls both enjoyed noseing around Dr Lamberts office, and now sian wants to know about bugs and blood cells! She was very good, letting Dr L look in her ears, take her temperature and she made her listen to her chest twice LOL.

I've started skipping. I haven't skipped for years. but yesterday i did 150 and today i did 200... wonder if it'll be 250 tomorow! I also (eventually!) managed to get on the trampoline to do 50 back bounces... then Beth decided she wanted to be in on the fun too. I have a sense of Deja Vu!

keep looking

so, we thought it was all good to go with the flat. we wanted it, it suited us. then we went and parked clive's minibus in the parking spaces. darnit, the bus is about 3" too long for the space! that and we can only have one parking permit, in spite of the fact we need two. so either clive leaves his job (no way!) or we pass on the flat. i spent the whole morning on the phone trying to sort parking out to accept the flat (the kitchen, the kitchen!) ah well. something better will come up i'm sure

we've had no heating and hot water intermittently for a while now. yesterday everythign came to a head wtih that and i phoned our housing officer (lovely lady, jsut hard to get a hold of!) she arranged for the gas enginere to come out today - earliest appt- and we found that we need a new CO2 moniter- you can't just change the batteries! and that our gas boiler apparently isn't up to standard regulations, GRRRREAT (said with just the right amoutn of sarcasm!)

oh me oh my! sian wants to paint!

so, we now have a light shade, curtains and wall paper border for one room. that'd be the girls room where ever we end up. the shade is humphreys corner and the curtains and border and winnie the pooh but it's all the same sort of shades! and sian, bless her heart, watns to paint theire room! so i'm gonna let her. yup maybe i'm crazy. io don't care. if she wants to have a go, let her i say!

we saw the flat....

it was ok. nothing special, although i did fall in love with the recently refurbed kitchen! (so much storage!) and there is a BATH! having dealt with a dodgy shower now for a year, a bath would be a luxury :o) oh and the loo is seperate (and large! important for toddlers learning to use the big girl "too-let") we could even fit a book shelf in there rofl. well i'd have to stick a nappy pail and a bin in there anyways!

the bedrooms are actually smaller than where we are now, BUT they have built in wardrobes so floor space wouldn't be taken up with clothes storage (which it is here, c & i don't even have a hanging rail like the girls do!) i think i'd be inclined to squeeze us into the smaller room so the kids can play in there room as well as sleep in it.... although they're going to need some flooring and repainting, one room is BARBIE pink and purple, even *I* don't like the purple! the otehr is yellow with badly stencilled red teddies on the walls. we think a pale yellow with humphries corner light shade (current) and curtains. but who knows *shrug*

the living room is red at the moment, that will have to go eventually. it's livable with for the sake of a quick move. and the floor isn't too bad either- well once we've thrown down a couple of rugs! it might even be possible to make a living section and a dining section and a tiny toy area.... or i'm being super ambitious! i'll give it a go. not like we have HUGE amounts of furniture!

i have to phone monday to see if we can park the work vehicle there (16 seat minibus) the housing officer thinks ther emay be issues iwth that not just for match days (need a permit as we're right on top of twickenahm rugby ground) but parking a trade vehicle in general. if it's a yes to the bus we're taking it if not we know not to bid on any more on that estate!

uh oh!

the house is no longer safe! beth took her first (cute!) wobbly steps today. i missed out on sian's first steps so this was extra special for me. wonder if it'll be another couple of months before she does it again lol.

speaking of houses. we have to pay council tax, gas and electirc and we're good to move house! we're looking at a flat closer to the parents tomorow morning. if it's as spacious as i rember we'll probably say yes, and hope they can let us have both properties for a week or so to decorate and move more easily!

Trains, Pizza and Ice Cream!

That was Sian's request for the day. She's been asking to go on a train for some time, and she wanted some ice cream. The pizza she wasn't so interested in, but we had a late breakfast whihc, for her, consisted of three (yes, you read that right!) sausages -opened out of a roll!

so having gone into hounslow and been to mother care (sheets, pillowcase and beth needed t-shirts) and marks and spencers (clive wanted some jeans and he's got short legs) we decided to take a train to hammersmith to get some lunch... and do some more shopping! well i have a new baby to buy for (got that yesterday) a big sister- very improtant person! and a freind is getting marreid so we got her some silly books. and in spite of it supposedly being beths shopping trip, sian STILL ended up getting new clothes. I swear she has more than all of us put together! still, they were cheap

housing.... a year on!

SO, we have been here a year now. FInaly we got our rent arrears sorted out (yay!) well almost! and we have had offers on 2 places that we're top of the list! the first was monday, and we refused it. Nice block and all but i have issues with the 14th floor! friday 1st we go to view another flat on the same estate... 2nd floor this time! i can deal with that. course not sure how getting kids and stroller up and down stairs will wrok.... sling time again methinks if we're not going to far! we rather think we're going to take it though. will let you know after the viweing! i do know that the property has jsut had a new btahroom and kitchen put in though

money issues!

finally, we have our housing and council tax benefit sorted out! 10months of adjustments later we'll have a nice reduced payment for a whole 2mos! gonna suggest to clive we try to keep paying the old amount to try and clear our debt though

got a letter form the dept of work and pensions saying they're stopping my carers allowance for not responding to there letters. i responded to the same blasted letter twice! so i called them today and got it all sorted and my dads name spelt correctly over the phone. no need to worry there.

just the child tax credits to sort out now and we're sorted. gonna try that one later on while the kids eat their teas!

I am an angel, really!

i love this photo of Sian in the pizza place. It's so natural looking, normally she pulls faces or does BIIIIIIG cheesey grins.  All i need to do is crop everything else out till i'm left with my big girl.

mmmmmm citrus

Beth got rather peckish waiting for pizza the other night... so she decided to suck the lemon instead! Luckily her food did turn up soon after this picture (or I might ahve been in the dog house!)

education other ways....

Most of Siân's stay and play freinds are off to nursery htis coming september. She won't be going as she isn't 3 till December. And she quite possibly won't be going *next* year either if we do decide to home educate her. Neither Clive nor I were over enamoured of school and learnt more after we left.

I got to thinking about what she has learnt in the way of shapes and colours..... i'm sure i'm missing some too!

shapes:- star, moon, sun, triangle, square, circle, heart, "hole" this is a semi-circle in her eyes!
colours:- red, yellow, green, pink, orange, gold, purple, blue, black, white, silver

counting she's not so hot on.... 1-2-3-4-7-9-10! the joke of that is she can and does go correctly from 1-10 and can tell me how many #s of things are there (as long as it's 1-4!)

oh and she knows a few anmials from baby signing too
dog, cat, cow, sheep, pig, horse, crocodile, frog, rabbit, monkey, lion, tiger, snake, tortoise, butterfly, bumble bee, snail

next i guess it's the alphabet.... with family specific letters i think, but there is plenty of time for that.

a typical day....

It's been hotter than hot here today... topped off with a NIIIIIIICE thunder storm! I got soaked through to my undies in less than a minute going out to check if the back gate was still shut. It was very refreshing though LOL

We "swam" in a giant paddling pool this morning- I never took our swimsuits out teh car from our holiday! and then we went and played in the sand this after noon... gosh, we could have been at the beach hehe.

beth learnt to paint today... she painted the paper, her face, my arm, her legs, her mouth (inside and out LOL) the easel and her shoes... oh and her sister too. then sian wanted in on the action so i painted her belly and back at her request. what else did beth get up to today... she ate the glue and pulled funny faces at teh taste of it (i would too!) and played iwth sand- probably ate that as well! she cruised the family room at an amazing rate and climbed on the "car" that sian "goes to the seaside" in.

tonight we wen tto the bowling alley so i could pick up the ball i sold on ebay and the girls got ice cream... that thunder storm only cooled the atmosphere a little! and we've added another sparky toy to our collection of park resorts limited editions (3x sparky and 1x sparkle to date)

i better get on with some ebay listings before i hit the hay for a couple hours!

Bloody Incompetence!

The housing saga continues, this time with our benefits. Beth has been in existence out side my body for over 9mos now.... but we're still only credited with haveing ONE child as far as housing/council tax benefit is concerned. Oh and cause I get £30/week in child tax credits we can afford an extra £20/week on rent.... back to not feeding the kids then!

It is too hot to drag the kids to the council and get complaing right now... but as clive is off work till the end of august (rember he drives american school kids to and from) we need the extra help for a couple months. once september comes we're back to noraml till june next yera.

I turned around

And my baby grew up :o( Beth is furniture crusiing like its going outta fashion! She also stood up unaided for a few seconds a few times today. teh first two times she did it my heart leapt! i atually saw what she was doing later on and it looked soooo funny! She balances on a table (chair, leg etc) till she's happy, lets go and pretends to sit down (think knees bedn from the hokey-cokey!) then a couple seconds later she pushes back up on the table (or whatever) again.

no, No, nO, NONONONONO!

Just to show you that 2yos can rear face quite happily lol although I'm not too sure about beth's face here and sian was giveing me her fake smile hehe. Wonder if we could fit 3 seatsa ccorss taht back seat .....

The real reason for this post is in the other picture.. We cleared a space and Daddy let go. Beth walked with the dolls pushchair on Sunday. I'm so not ready for this. SHe doesn't roll or crwall or belly scoot, just sits! She also has an excellent pincer grasp, can pass tiny peices from one hdan to the otehr and feeds herself finger foods quite happily. I guess I'd better let her loose with a spoon soon. Still nurses lots too though, thats my baby :o)

We had fun

In spite of his highness deciding to do overtime today, the girls and i went to Build a bear as planned. As in we planned a family outing over 2wks ago for today to go and stuff some "hug away from home" bears.

Each Build a Bear had 200 bears to stuff for ronald mcdonald house charities http://www.rmhc.org.uk/ so we went and did our bit. the machine scared poor sian to bits as it was rather loud- she wouldn't even hug hte bear after that! and beth wanted to eat the button ( although she did sleep through lunch so i guess that might ahve explained it!)

I want to go abck and stuff bears all day long lol well i'd certainly like to stuff one for each of the girls with a special message in it :o) after we did the bears we meandered round uxbridge looking in shops and (in sian's case) having tea partys with scooters! she also got a new book today - can't have to many books in the house! this one is quite grown up for a 2yo i htink it's a "charlie and lola" book and she loves the program too.

oh my!

My father in law (fil) knows where we live! Several times we've invited fil over to ours to see the kids or for a meal or to watch the footie but he's always said "no" or "maybe" and not come

He rang up out fo the blue last night and asked if he could pop over! Well we had jsut got in and i was cooking leftover burgers from a BBQ so that was no problem. I told him it was nice to know he knew where we lived!

sian's a star!

She was a little upset about it, but she sat on the big (kiddie sized!) toilet and did a poopie! and we read a book tonight called "potty, poo-poo, wee-wee" which she got a BIG kick out of LOL oh and she wanted to wathc "I want my potty" on 'dvdv' we have that book in our home library!

me, i'm wheezey and sneezey so i guess hayfever season really is here. better get my butt to the drs some time. i feel kinda tight chested so i suppose i really oughtta. and beth is rather chesty sometimes during the day too so theres another drs visit..... maybe we should make a family outing tomorow?

hmmmm

mum had a visit from her social worker today...... she's going to get in contact with housing about a house round the corner from my parents. it owuld be ideal cause it'd be close enough that i can get over there in an emergency but far enough taht we're a family alone as well.

all i have to do now is try to reach vinette at notting hill and raj at housing........ they're the hard ones!

the bike...

fits her! we adjusted the saddle to it's lowest position and her feet really do reach the pedals! now she jsut needs to get the strength ot pedal LOL

house update

too small......... waaaaaay too small! even the housing officer said she wouldn't put 2 U5's in it. our temporary house is small and its biggr than the one we just looked at

i now have to get on the phone to our housing officer and get them to bump us either up the list or up a banding to be in with a chance of the property on offer round the corner from my parents. at least i wouldn't be 30+mins away when i am needed then

ebay bargain!

sian's been asking for a bike consistently for over a year....so i browsed ebay. 50p!!! we're going to bognor on sunday to get it. now to find a helmet to fit her tiny head lol oh please let her feet reach the pedals!!!

it goes! it goes!

the car is now fully legal AND working! dh has ONLY been trying to start it in gear for the past month. all it needs now is servicing- it hasn't been used since last october heh.

we had some freinds over yesterday and sian twice asked to "wee wee potty" wtih no nappy on. i was impressed- she only did a little widdle teh first time but she was definley aware of when she was going. roll on the warmer weather- i can see potty, garden and picnics in our future!

Radhav's Funeral

It was a bittersweet day. We knew that Rads was at rest, but still, we had to be sad for us.

Everyone was asked to come in bright colours- Rads fave was yellow and he ALWAYS followed my trampoline club tracksuit top when i was wearing it, how could i not? And his seond favourite was red (possibly seomthing to do with his football team LOL) there was a lot of cream and blue. You could tell the outlaws (Bandana finally got a divorce back at christmas and her ex's family were rather........ patronizing.... about radhav and his CP. when asked what they could do to help they got told "pay for the funeral")

Sian wore a yellow dress with white shoes and socks and Beth a yellow tee with white trousers and red & white stripy socks. I think i managed to incorporate in their out fits Bandanas colour wishes and traditional funeral colors for hindus! We were also given the honor of going to the Gurdwara after the english ceremony to hear Rads granny do the Hindu funeral, but two diabetics and two cranky, wet kids meant we ended up not making it.

I didn't even get to hear Dads eulogy :o( Sian decided she wanted to "play in garden" so we explored teh gardens of rememberance. The kids did get the honor of releasing a balloon each for Rads. They were meant for family. I had more trouble getting Beth to let go of hers than Sian, I thought it would be the other way round!

Mum and Dad said that there was a lot of wetness, but not a lot of crying. Everyone who spoke (Bandana had to cut everyones down and then turn people away) mentioned something to make the group smile (wetly!) I know dad rembered the day we made Rads "walk" on teh trampoline useing a rig belt. That was te last time he came trampolining.

Rads was the reason behind purchasing a Mangar wheelchair for people with special needs ...... he never got to use it at trampolining but he loved riding in it at BBQs!

wow! we got an offer!

If you've been following our housing saga- we're currently in temporary housing (not to mention rent arrears) Then heres some good news for us

We are going to view a house with 2 other familys next weds!!! Well, the kids and I are as Clive is at work. We're probably the 3rd option couple, but we've been offered a viewing!!!!

It's a bit off the beaten track and neither in Isleworth NOR the surestart area, but it's big enough to sleep the kids in a room of their own AND house their clothes and it has a garden (or I'd not have bid on it!)

Thing is, I eitehr want to be in the surestart area or isleworth so I really hope that the highest priority couple takes it (and that we're not the highest priority!!)

It's Real Nappy Week!

Just thought I'd share the fact that it's real nappy week LOL. Apparently there are a whopping 4 parents who use cloth nappies in Hounslow heh. Well we had 5 Cloth covered butts between us!

We also started stay and play in the new family room in te new community centre today. The room is much smaller than previosuly, but when all the work is finished there iwll aslo be an outdoor area. I do like the brightness and open plan style, it's almost sectioned off but not quite! Everyitng is at toddler/baby level which is nice (for them LOL)

Biggest pain is you have to hike the kids to the bathroom or kitchen with you if you need to go to teh loo or want a cuppa.

More photos!

Whats up there Sian? I don't know Beth!

Ah, something more interesting than the floor!

Me and my cousin........

Can I share my youghurt iwht you, boo?

A bethy boo photo post

Hmm whats that?

Have you got me, mama?

TWO cushions? am i that unsteady?

You're so funny, but it makes me smile!

The car seat does NOT impress me

ooh a treasure basket........

a (not so) shrimpy picture post

Being Cheeky, having thrown "sunny"

Ready to throw "sunny"

Just my sweet shrimp

Modelling her dolly sling

In the daffodils at Kew Gardens

Walking to the pub with Daddy

Love You Rads

What's the life of a man any more than a leaf?

A man has his seasons, then why should we grieve?

Although in this wide world he appears fine and gay,

Like a leaf he shall wither and soon fade away.

Just cause!

I couldn't post one without the other. Sian was in a grouchy mood and this was one of the few good pics we got of her.

Boo at 6mos

Beth 2 days before 6mos. Notice how well she sits up? Sian was 8mos before she started even considering this feat! Boo has been sitting for well over a month now.

Kew Palace

We went to visit Kew Palace, before it is completley finished and opened to visitors. It will be gorgeous when it's done. They are restoring it to as close to original as possible as they can. In the lift they have a replica of what the wallpaper would have been like in one of the princesses bedrooms. Only 15 children! Unfortunately we couldn't take photos inside teh palace, but mum did get one of us outside, as you can see. It was a gorgeous day, but cccold and windy!

Oh My GOSH!!

How do you frazzle me? Take 6 kids for a photo shoot at 2pm. Yup, my mum bless her decided to splash out and get a years worth of photos of her grandchildren. We had teh first session on Friday. How on earth we got any good pics of the 4 younger ones I just don't know. I will share when they come back! Next time (we have to do it 3 moe times yet!) it will be last sitting on a monday!

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yeah, i guess she's ready

we went out to eat sunday night and clive introduced beth to guacamole...... darnit i wish i'd had the camera and the ability to use it! she could not get enogh of the stuff!

the girly keeps trying to steal my food so i'm gonna have to start feedin her i guess..... today was banana, i wonder what tomorow wil bring!

FINALLY!!!

My sister cut my hair for me. Something else has ocme up every time we've tried so today we had another plan. I wasn't going for a hair cut! Jus tto take Sian to play with her cousins and then I was going back for my youngest neices 1st birthday party after baby clinic.

I had long thick hair untill midday today,now it's short and thick and she did her first razor cut. there will be picutres- when i get them!

So, we decided to play with a new toy at stay and play last week. The bike was a BIG hit with Sian, and she'd like one of her very own. Now do we get one like this... or one with pedals like she's been asking for since she was 18mos or so. She's earned her self a big treat with her good behaviour since christmas and we're just waiting for a weatehr imprvoement!

who told her she could...

...grow up so darned fast?

beth has decided that (despite all mama's intentios to wait till 6mos) she's ready for real food as well as mama milk :o(

banana, apple, hummus and yoghurt. that's what she's tasted so far. she stole sian's yoghurt spoon and shoved it in her mouth like it was going out of fashion, darnit i wish i'd had the camera handy!

i guess i'll be spending a little more time in the kitchen then so that we can give hre some of whatever we're having. i really am gonna be breaking out the babysafe feeder aren't i

The photo is from one of our stay and play sessions and a perfect example of how to use a "treasure basket" She's been sitting up since she was about a week shy of 5mos and the main reason the boppy is behind her is the floor is solid wood and i was doing "snack time" after i snapped her

e-bay, baby!

wow! i jsut sold 5 of my small fuzzibunz on ebay. for £5 each. I'm stoked. and 2 more are going at auction. my house on monday will be releived of..

5 pairs of too big trousers
5 small cloth nappies

my paypal account will be£50 or so richer! woohoo!

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Wheezeys-bouncin-bargains_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

if you're interested in bagging a baby clothes bargain (theres other stuff there too!) then feel free to take a peek

"Sian bowl-in'"

Yup, she went 10pin bowling today..... her 3rd time and she almost beat her daddy lol. She managed 15 frames before getting bored and mama bowling a couple for her before she finished off. G1- 109 G2- 97 Not allowed to take it up yet though, can't get shoes small enough for her, she can't pick up the ball yet oh and she still needs the ramp and bumpers!! There will be a photy when i get ot moms to D/L it.

woo hoo!

after being shoved from pillar to post about our housing/council tax benefits... we got confirmation today (finally) that we qualify for them!!! no more rent arrears.... well almost cause theres no way we could find £228/wk we appear to be in £2000 arrears, BUUUUUUT we won't be any longer! about £200 maybe cause i've been feeding sian instead, that can easily be remedied in the next couple months (i hope lol)

So that was the good news for the day. And the sad bit of the day was we went to our last "stay and play" at the focus centre today. Two more weeks (packing and creche for adult ed. courses) and it's going to be demolished and a new building and room are going to be in teh space. The new room is smaller, but has its own kitchenette, a quiet room, sensory room, kid sized loos and a garden....

there's life in the old dog yet!

i did it... i bounced- in jsut a leotard, good lord i must be mad!- and came 3rd in my group. not bad for someone just turned 30, had 2 kids in the last 2yrs and still nursing the pair of them too!

certain teenagers however will have asses kicked this weekend over a lack of tension, pointy toes and stretching!

i must be nuts.......

or something.

with very little practise i'm gonna do a trampoline competition.... last time i entered this one in particular sian was 12wks old, still nursing almost hourly and i still managed to come in teh top half! (i was feeding her right up to the point where i got *on* the trampoline. got dressed, bounced, got off and carried on!)

i bought ham, cheese, egg mayo, bread, cakes, cookies, salad, dips and fruit not to mention water and squash to feed 16+ hungry bunnies tomrow... they can create their own sarnies when they're hungry!

sitting!

it's official, bethy-boo can sit up all on her ownsome!

she's been trying a while and saturday could do 10-20 second stretches with the boppy cushion behind her, by tuesday she was able to sit for a long stretch unaided with nothing!

she's 5mos today and i looked back at sian's red book to see what she was doing at the same age. well not sitting that's for sure! she was all over the shop.

speaking of my oldest. she's just leaped from the 2% to the 25% for height in teh past 2mos. she grew 8cms in that time- no wonder she's been eating me out of house and home. last time she got weighed she'd gained 8oz in like 6wks and hit the 10kg (22lbs) mark taking her off the 2% and up there too!

i'm not 20-something any more!

i turned the big 3-0 on feb 28th, and to be honest, i feel about 25 still. i had a nice boring day, doing nothing out of the ordinary.

took the girls to stay & play for the morning, helped out at out baby clinic in the afternoon and went out for a quiet meal in the evening

first year i've had a cake since i was 16 and sian ate more of it than i did! it was nice though lol

house photos

so, as promised, house photos! from top to bottom

1. * living room from middle of wall opposite
2. * front of house
3. * 1/2 front garden
4. * double bedroom from opposite corner
5. * kitchen from end
6. * the closet in double bedroom- it has a 2ft high step *into* it! no, it's not used!!
7. * bathroom- the basin is behind the door

temporary housing

yes, i'm carrying on the housing saga. it'll be a bit jumpy (i apologize) but i'm catching up!

so, we were offered a house that was unfit for habitation, *but* they'd already given us a day to leave the B&B. what would they do next? we had 3 days left there.

we got a nice little (i'm used to large places!) house a few minutes away from the B&B. it has a big front garden and a small back garden. 2 bedrooms (double & single), 1/2 bathroom (you whack your elbown on teh shower surroudn when you're on the toilet!) living room & kitchen.

i couldn't fit in teh shower when i was pregnant, not that it mattered, it leaked down in to the kitchen so we travelled over to my parents weekly to wash properly. i was NOT impressed when the landlord didn't have it fixed till beth was 3wks old though.

i've managed to get two cots into the single bedroom- there is now nowhere for the kids to play upstairs! but theres no storage to speak of so beth is still in her moses basket/ our bed and her cot is the girls "wardrobe" i'll have to take a picture of the room though cause i'm happy with the general effect. at least the kids have some drawers to use. clive and i get to use the floor and a couple tubs for our clothes storage. i'm never too sure which is the dirty washing and which is the clean!

i guess some pictures of our new place then? we're lucky to live in a sure start area (http://www.surestart.gov.uk) so i take teh kids to "stay and play" most days to get us out the house, the girls socialising and stop me stressing! i also started a course - didn't finish it as beth wasn't ready to be left though i gave it a go. all this is free which is helpful as we're in rent arrears, but that's another rant!

Beth's birth story (late!)

i'm a baaaad blogger! but here (almost 5mos later) is elisabeth jade's birth story

Beths EDD was Oct 11/12th depending on if you went by LMP or U/S dates. I had no idea what my body was going to do as far as baking this child was concerned as Siân was induced.

October 9th started out as a normal day, the only odd thing was Siân having a mega long nap in the afternoon- i ended up having to wake her for her tea at 6.45ish, and she didn't go back to sleep till after Beth arrived and everyone had left GrannyJans. It was one of the few times I've *ever* left her to cry it out to sleep, I hate doing it. We walked to the store to get a little credit on my phone (£5 goes NOWHERE when you've got a midwife and doula to keep updated!) Siân decided to swing from our hands all the way there and all the way back, I think it was a combination of that, the pineapple and clive feeling neglected! that caused the events of the evening!

around 9.30 i couldn't get comfy for love nor money so i asked clive to call dad as i wanted to be somewhere with a working shower (ours leaked into the kitchen so i couldn't labour in it, and we'd always planned to have teh baby at there house) Siân was not sleeping for love nor money and I just decided to nurse her for a while. brainiac decided he didn't want to disturb dad so early. i had to tell him about 5x over the next hour to call to get Siân and myself picked up. In the end I did it myself!

10.47 i called fiona (mw) to tell her i was on my way to mums and she'd probably meet me in teh shower! i also sent a message to my doula (who never was!) to ask how much notice she needed to get to me. while on the phone to fiona the backache that had just niggled became constant and i was having to breathe through it

10.55 dad came to get us, clive installed Siân's carseat and i made myself decent and hobbled out to the car... hopeing my waters wouldn't break on the journey over (they did, but we put a towel under me and i had a towelling dressing gown on, the seat was saved!)

11.00 i sent a text message to fiona to say i'd had a show, and my waters had broken mid message! so the delivery was likely to be quick as we seem to go in fo rthem in my family lol dad jumped a lot of lights tonight hehe good job no police cars were around! i did have to make him take a slightly longer route though cause i was NOT manageing over the bumps, a head in the birth canal made them rather uncomfortable!!!

11.07 (12mins for a 15-20min journey, not bad!) i got to mums and walked in while dad got Siân sorted out. bless my mummy. she was there for me, all drugged up for the night on morphine! there was no time for a shower or my TENS machine (which was upstairs) "eljay" was going to make an appearance!

11.16 baby was crowning and i was trying to hold out for fiona to get tehre.......... erm nope! this was NOT going to work, i tried!! Siân asked me what was going on so i told her "mama's having the baby sweetie" she knew right from the moment I got the positive that we were having a baby, and she came to all my appts & scans wtih me

11.20 oooooh boy. i neeeeed to push. mum had a go at perineal massage lol but i confused us both so we gave up there. she just carreid on massageing my back- which she'd done since i managed to flop onto her bed 10mins ago and just rock on my hands and knees!

11.21 elisabeth jade came out all in a rush. dad couldn't beleive it when we yelled at him for a little assisstance! i talked mum through guideing her head out, and she wasn't sunny side up lol i guess i just have back labour.

11.22, it's a girl! sian got to see her baby sister as soon as mum had managed to unwrap the cord from round her mouth. she came out and gave a good ol' yell btw. i couldn't do anything but flop lol. i did manage to tell mum that the cord was to be left as long as possible before cutting... the midwife still wasn't here just yet so i relaxed a little while mum wiped and wrapped beth up.

11.30ish... fiona, clive and my FIL all turned up within mins of each other. poor clive lol. he didn't get to cut the cord or be at beth's birth!

I'd told mum that I wanted the cord to stop pulsating before it was cut. And that I didn't want a managed 3rd stage. Fiona was smashing. She waited as long as possible before cutting the cord. Asked me what I wanted to do with Bethy about cleaning and nursing her. And didn't even think about helping the placenta out! I'd also said that Beth was to get her Vitamin K orally not IM

Clive took Beth to see grandparents and sister while Fiona and I meandered bathroom wards to get the placenta delivered... gravity was a great help there! Trying to guesstimate the blood loss was interesting though lol. Mum has one of those sensor flushes on her toilet and everytime I leaned back.........! Two more pushes standing over the loo and the placenta was there. On later inspection Fiona said to me "oh, you have a dirty duncan" I'm thinking... huh?

Fiona checked me over and I had a 2nd degree tear, that didn't need stitching. Beths Apgars were 9 & 10, she was 7lbs 13oz so 4lbs heavier than big sister. and 7cms longer at 52cms