My Birthday!

 My birthday is here! I was spoilt rotten, surely the point of birthdays? Yesterday we went to the Browns for family lunch, and it was a triple birthday, for Stella (sister in law), Seth (nephew) and I (village idiot). I provided the cake, and for the first time I made a lemon cake! I've always gone chocolate before because, well, pretty self-explanatory really, but I learnt on Saturday that Seth doesn't like it - and he couldn't have a cake he doesn't like for his birthday lunch! I adjusted an orange cake recipe that I found in my Be-Ro book, and nervously baked. It turned out pretty delicious! Seth declared it nice, and it didn't last, so that's a win! I also had a request for another one from Zachary (another nephew) and Joanne (sister in law) said she's pay for it in a shop, high compliments! The thing that amazed me was how flat it baked, it'd be great for layer cakes!

Whilst there I was given lots of lovely gifts, including a dessert recipe book, bath stuff, candle, chocolates, and a wee owl pillow. I was also very kindly given money towards...

 Ta-da! I've been without a proper camera for yonks, and now I have this pretty purple swirly one! You can hope that most of the blog photos will now be better quality!

Then there was Rich's not-so-surprise gift -

 

It's so shiny! The case and screen cover he ordered for it haven't arrived yet, and I'm so terrified to scratch it that it's currently spending it's spare time in one of Sam's (clean) socks.

This afternoon we did a spot of shopping and Rich spotted this for me, a lovely new winter coat, and bought it for me! We also picked up a new long jumper/ jumper dress, but I've not got a picture.

This evening we all went for dinner at Silkwood Farm, which is in fact not a farm, but a restaurant. I had the amazing carvery, Rich had fish and chips, and the boys had chicken nuggets and chips, lemonade and a lot of fun in the play area. The best thing about Silkwood Farm is that they do Cake away. If you don't have room for their massive desserts, they'll box it up for you to take home for later. And so I did. Chocolate cheesecake. It was delicious, and there's still half left!

I have had lots of lovely cards and messages, and a package from Jess which included a book and chocolate, She knows me so well :) Thank you to all my lovely friends and family who've given me a lovely birthday!

P.S. If you're wondering about the medical appointment, it went very well, I am fine, all things done that needed sorting!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Why I love Rich

Probably about time for some husband mush right?

Just over seven years ago. Ah, so young. I was skinny, he had a fuller head of hair ;) This man is far and away my better half, and for reasons best known to himself, he likes me a fair bit too! Here are a few reasons why he is the bomb...

He does the washing up. I don't mind (much) doing the housework, it's not something I particularly enjoy, but for now, it's mostly my responsibility. However, I HATE washing up. I don't know why, as when I do do it, it's not exactly a long job, and I can listen to the radio and stuff, but looking at a sink of dishes makes me sad. So he does them.

He works insanely hard. I don't pretend to understand his job, but I know it's very target driven and that can be quite stressful. He often comes home mentally exhausted, but still has time to play with the boys. Or do the washing up.

The kids. Oh, how he loves these 2 rascally boys of ours. He is their favourite person in the world. When Ethan was very small, Rich started to get up on a Saturday morning with him so I could rest. This then extended to taking him to do the weekly shop while I slept. so not only did I get to rest, but the shopping was done too! When Sam was born, and big enough to be away from my chest for more than 20 minutes, he took them both. Trooper.

I love this picture. It's in Porthmadog, one of our favourite places. We had our honeymoon there and it's a great holiday spot. They sat here after fish and chips watching the fish in the estuary.


He appreciates my geekery. He loved Harry Potter Night. And after yesterday's le sigh about The Hunger Games dvd, he told me to buy it. I don't think he'd read it yet, but I had mentioned it to him a couple of days ago. He also told me we had enough in the pot for me to buy some new clothes,  and though the shopping was a slight disaster, the thought was there.

He also actively encourages the making of mars bar cake. This is a delicious but not always good thing. That really needs to stop now.

It's my birthday on Monday, and he spent a week or so (I had no idea) researching new phone contracts for me so I can get a new iPhone, as mine is starting to play up. also I've dropped it several times and it has a small crack in the screen, but we don't need to talk about that. It was a surprise, but when he was ill I answered the phone to a man from 3 who told me all about it, and even though he was sick, he was genuinely upset that the surprise had been ruined, bless him.

He puts up with my mood swings. I have a medical appointment on Monday (happy birthday to me!) which I'm uneasy about (nothing serious, all routine, but a new medical team so I don't know how they'll be about things) and so my moods have been even more swingy that usual, and he is brilliant about it. He's also booked the day off work so he can come with me.

He is silly. we have ridiculous inside jokes and watch stupid films. anyone else would probably roll their eyes at us. I don't care, we're hilarious ;)

There are many many reasons why he is awesome, but I'll stop there for now as he does check in and we don't want to give him a big head. Perhaps in another post I'll tell you about how we got started and the washing machine that got us back together. Love you Rich! x

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

First Day at School, and a not quite so sucessful second morning.

Yesterday was Ethan's first day at school, and he was very excited! He's got a new classroom (his nursery class was at the same school) and teacher, and some of his friends are there. I asked him what he wants be be when he's a grown up. His answer this year? Batman. I suppose it's attainable, batman is after all a regular guy under all the gadgets, no superpowers!

 He's not particularly impressed that he has to sit and his table and do a pencil skills worksheet before he can play though. He gets to have lunch at school though, which he's very excited about.

He also gets to do PE. Yesterday we took his PE bag in to school and he was quite upset that he doesn't get to bring it home everyday. He came home absolutely exhausted and fell asleep in the car on the way to do the shopping, which will hopefully not be a regular occurrence! He also got a treat in the afternoon for going to school so well, a Batman jumper he's been after for a while, nicely tied in with his goals!

Today has been a different story. He was not excited, he was grumpy. My guess is he was still tired as he woke up in the night too and they are both early risers. His lunch was not right, even though he chose crackers cheese and mini sausages instead of a sandwich last night. He didn't want his coat, but then cried because his ears were cold. He wanted to be carried to school. He most definitely did NOT want to sit and do his worksheet (tracing circles today) because that would take him up til register time and he wanted to play. Because it's Thursday, Rich was working from home and so came on the school run with us, so then he was upset because Daddy had to go (not Mummy you'll notice. what am I chopped liver?!) When we left he was sitting on one of the teachers lap crying. It'll be a long day all round I fear.

Also we decided to take Sam in his reins rather than the pushchair. This was a Mistake - note the capitalisation! He normally stays in the pushchair just outside the door, but of course came in and then wanted to play. When we left, he started to scream. He screamed all the way home (sounds worse than it is, it's a 3 minute walk) and then threw himself on the floor and screamed for 30 minutes. It took cuddles from Daddy (again, he wouldn't have me - chopped liver) and his dummy to calm him down, but only when he decided.

I think today might be a 2 nap day. possibly 3 if you count Ethan, as I doubt he'll make it to bedtime. Le sigh. Oh well, perhaps they'll surprise me and it'll be fine. Perhaps I'll be blessed with massive reserves of patience today (please please!). Maybe it'll be fine. Maybe I should go and make dinner now (9:45) so that it's one less thing to worry about later. Yes, I think that's the one that will come true.

In other news, yesterday I noticed in Asda that The Hunger Games is out on DVD. In a special edition double disc with mockingjay necklace. I already have a mockingjay pin on my bag, so I don't need it do I. Le sigh nouveau.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

An eventful few days, or, my sons, aka Casper, and my niece, aka the heart-stopper.

Warning - this post contains talk of vomit, and the close call of a child. But don't worry, she was fine, and completely unharmed - no gore.

"MUMMY! My tummy hurts!" followed by wracking sobs.

It's about the worst thing to be heard as you're drifting off to sleep at 11:45 on a Sunday night. It's only pipped to the post by being woken by the sound of a quietly sobbing child, who then proceeds to throw up everywhere before you get them to the bathroom. I only narrowly avoided that this time as Ethan had forewarned me of feeling sick, the sob-and-puke is his go to sick move.

Hand on heart, I'd rather be ill myself for 24 hours than have a late night sick child. Nothing can prepare you for the panic of a child about to vomit on the top bunk. Do you attempt to grab them and run to the bathroom? (this was tonight's choice, but has had little success in the past) or do you let them (continue to) throw up where they are, and hope to contain it to one area? This prevents The Trail, buy goes against the nature of preventing a giant mountain of laundry.

Poor Whitey White Bear. He has now been initiated into the Fraternity of Daz.

He looks so melancholy, poor chap. Side note, we've had Megamind on several times recently, and I can no longer say the word melancholy (at about 1:05) properly.

So by Monday lunchtime all was sorted. Ethan was tired, quiet and still the colour of Casper, but not throwing up anymore. 

Tuesday dawned with everyone bright and happy, and we went off to visit Amy, Hayley and Austin for the last day of the holidays. After lunch we decided to go to the pond across the road where there's a small field to run on. When we got there a tractor was cutting the grass, going around the edges in ever decreasing circles. Sam almost burst with excitement at seeing a tractor, and so the children played in the middle and the plan in my head was to simply move to the cut part after the tractor did another lap, where we would then have enough room. 

Hayley had a different plan. She began running to the bottom of the field, so Amy and I shouted to her to come back. She paused, turned, saw us calling her back, and carried on. At this point, the tractor turned back towards the bottom, and we got a bit worried. When Hayley still didn't return to us, Amy started to get upset (hint, this is an understatement.) and her shouts got more panicked, but she was holding Austin and didn't know what to do, so I started running. Here was our mistake - you see, Amy runs. Most mornings. I do not run. ever. I'm going to guess there was about 200m between Hayley and me, and let's face it, I'm not going to be outrunning any tractors. However, I could hear Amy starting to sob in her shouts and so I just went for it. 

It was genuinely the most terrifying moment ever, I don't know if the tractor driver saw what was going on and if he did whether he understood. Perhaps from his perspective he could see Hayley, and where he would be driving and knew it would be fine, but we definitely could NOT see that. The tractor passed and it looked like it was within a foot or 2, though when I got to Hayley I saw that he'd swerved and missed a large patch of grass, so I'm guessing now that he saw and calculated, and wasn't even particularly concerned he might hit her, as he knew he wouldn't.

Hayley laughed. We did not. But the important thing was that she was fine, and I'm pretty sure after Amy's dressing down she's learnt her lesson. I felt like I was going to collapse and die on the spot. While walking back up to the house, I could see my foot prints in the long grass, and they were very far apart, I was really pushing it! For the rest of the day, my legs felt like jelly. Driving home was interesting! 

So, Tuesday early evening, we get home. I order pizza as a last summer holidays huzzah, and while we're waiting for it to be delivered, Sam throws up everywhere. Ill child at night/Casper part 2. Only it's worse in three ways. Firstly, because Sam refuses to throw up if he can help it, so it ends up being some kind of horrific choke-fest with each episode. Secondly, we were literally almost out the door to pick Rich up from the station. Thirdly Rich got it too this time, a few hours after Sam. I was using hand sanitiser like it was going out of business, and fingers crossed am so far unscathed. Sam managed to turn it around really quickly, and by 7am was fine again. Rich, not so much.

This morning Ethan started reception at school, but more about that later, as this has become a bit epic and the car seat still needs cleaning. Oh yes, that happened. I'm exhausted.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!