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!