My life is never easy. Had to get Lou his MMR jab after being told off about it by health visitor last week. Have no problems getting him the jab but was waiting for reminder to come thro before i took him. Lou being an xmas baby tho gets missed somehow and never gets reminders of any sort. So then i got told off by the nurse giving him the jab cos i should have taken him for it when i got the reminder. Hello, i didnt get a reminder! Dont these people communicate?

Anyway, everything worked out fine there, Lou in high spirits and doesnt need any more injections for about 2-3 years. Just Han's next year before she starts school. Bet i dont get a reminder for her either...

Apart from all that kerfaffle, lost more ferrets, one more died and one ran away. Dont blame him really, they're dropping like flies at the mo. Suddenly realised that apart from my 2 youngsters they'r all about the same age, and thats ancient! All this means that i'v been wandering around the garden at wierd hours shouting 'Ozymandias?! Come home!'. My neighbours must think i'm so odd! If Ozy doesnt come back then its just Istnofret left and she'l be upgraded to status of Proper Pet, getting a hutch and everything. Cant let the poor girl get lonely tho...

Then i had to wait for the delivery men to bring mum's sofas and surprise, surprise, turned up just as i left to fetch Han from nursery. Told them to wait; 'no love, cant do that'. Hmm, not a happy bunny. Told them they would cos i was fetching my daughter and i had their money! After that i couldnt fault them, such nice polite gents and they did a wonderful job!

All in all quite a mad week!

Found a new toddler group for Louis, in the afternoon so Hannah can go after nursery. This resulted in 2 extremely tired kids that were in bed for 5:15pm yesterday! Not seen Louis so happy before. He's so independant he needs somewhere to go and be himself. He got bashed over the head with a toy car by a small boy but just glared at him, totally unnerving the little bully! Seems to think slides are for climbing up not sliding down and ball pit should be devoid of all balls but thats pretty average for a 14 month old. At this age they might as well be teenagers!

Both kids had their reviews from health visitor, didn't learn anything new. I already know they're big for their age, eat well and are sociable. I live with them!

Spent last 2 days running around like a lunatic, nursey, toddler group, health visitors, vets and in between all that cleaning up after the dog that thinks its great fun to spread as much mud as is physically possible. Lovely.

My life is so hectic. Would I change it???

Cake! We like cake! At least the babies do. Or more accurately, they like licking out the bowl that had the cake mix in it. Was slightly concerened at one point as louis tried to get into the bowl, head first and following with feet as hannah clutched at the bowl shouting 'no louis!'. Needless to say the end result was a sticky mess that the dogs enjoyed once the kids were finished with it. Is there a particular reason babies like thing that are sticky and spreadable? Sometime i dont know what i'd do without the dogs. They can clean up messes that no amount of hoovering or mopping would sort out!

On a completely different note, i'v discovered (after several months) that chloe, the lastest foster dog can actually run and play without having a heart attack For all her (many) failings she is capable of acting like a normal dog and enjoying herself out on a walk. Unlike Jasper, who has much to learn. Like not chasing cars. Or magpies. Maybe when he's old and decrepit he'll be able to walk off the lead too. Probably not.

Why doesn't anyone tell babies about weekends? They seem to think its ok to get up at 6:50am as usual and immediately demand breakfast/nappies/toys etc. Which is not fun when the baby in question doesn't sleep at night. Which means i dont sleep at night. No, definitely not fun. As you can probably gather, Louis still screaming at night, had to get advice off parenting website (since i cant get hold of a health visitor for love nor money). General consencus was either comfort baby or leave him to cry. I'd got that far on my own! I need to know which option is best! And how come he can be that awake at night and still his usual self during the day while i'm like a zombie with a permanant coffee fix in my hand?

Anyway, Han back at nursery tomorrow and maybe (hopefully) things might settle back to normal. Whatever that is.

For some strange reason i want more babies. Someone tell me why?

Trying to organise Louis' christening service  which is infinately more difficult than it should be.

2 godparents who dont know each other + both sides of family + various friends + a church = complication!

Oh well, as long as i can get the camera working again it should be a good day...

How come my 3 year old is telling me how to look after my 1 year old? does she understand what he is saying? anytime he cries she knows just what he wants and even has her arms out to cuddle him before i can get there maybe its just my prowess as a mother that she's picked up on or her toddler insight understands him better than me! either way its quite infuriating having a 3 yo tell me what to do! bless her, at least she's trying to help and not just getting under my feet all the time. unlike the dog.

in all my years of owning and looking after dogs (i used to work in a kennels) i have never known anything as fat or greedy as my latest foster dog, chloe. i understand that she used to live in a pub and get treats regularly but come on, a saggy belly is not a good look on a ten yo german shepherd! she is forever getting under my feet (or under the highchair) in case of anything at all being dropped. the poor starving girl will eat anything that fits in her mouth, with the exclusion of spiders!

oh well, cant complain, at least they all give love back to me in bucketloadsand thats what a family is all about.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I know most of you think its just a marketing scam but there is some sort of history behind it, even if it is a bit lost in the haze. apparently Valentine was a priest who defied his roman emporer and continued to preside over marriages although the single men made 'better soldiers' and marriage was outlawed. He was killed for his trouble.

Anyway, on a happier note valentine tea tonight was a success, at least once the baby stopped screaming!.

Enjoy your night everyone!

It started to be one of those day from shortly after midnight last night. Not a good start! Lou had decided it was getting up time and was leaping up and down in his cot shouting for dad. This went on for quite some time but i actually managed to get to bed around 2:15am. I stupidly assumed the nights antics would make baby sleep longer but no, right on cue (7:15am) he woke up and immediately started his baby talk singing. Again quite stupidly i ignored this and went back to sleep. Big mistake! Lou has discovered how much fun it is to create a really stinky nappy, take it off and spead the contents far and wide! Talk about sharing! This included cot, windowsill, blankets, hair, face, legs and, obviously, fingers. Bathtime! Took 2 baths to get him cleaned up and a lot of scrubbing to get room back to former glory. All this before 10am!

The rest of the day was a mixture of screaming, squabbling, barking dogs and very, very tired children. It certainly made me realise why i'd given up work. If i cant handle being up til 2:15am i'v got no chance working til 5am then looking after the kids!

Oh well, its 9:30pm now and peace is finally restored. I think i could sleep for a week. And looking back, it wasn't really one of those days, it was only a morning!

Just thought i'd stick in some piccys of the wedding last september.

for anyone out there planning a wedding you dont need to spend a fortune! we had a tight budget but everyone pitched in with handmade dresses, borrowed cars etc and the day was perfect. the kids were impeccably well behaved, so much so that louis slept thro the ceremony!

massive thanks to the angel at woodhouse for being our reception venue - great job!

everyone thats important to us made it to some part of the day and my wonderful cousin nicky sang both at the church (fields of gold-sting) and at the reception for our first dance (i'll be your shelter-the housemartins) 

Lynne, you were fantastic, the dresses were beautiful, i cant ever thank you enough for the hours you put in making them, especially while you have my father to deal with!

 

I've become a stay at home mum fairly recently and its driving me mad! don't get me wrong, i love being at home with the kids but sometimes i just need a bit more adult conversation than the bit you get at the school gates (hannah is at nursery now, just finished her first half term).

Had a complete meltdown the other evening, kids whinging constantly, and i just thought I NEED TO GO TO WORK!

Those of you that know me know wot i did and can possibly understand that it helped me let off steam! those of you that don't know me seriously don't need to know wot i did but i was forever being told it was a strange job for a 5'2" blonde woman. still, i like to surprise people and it certainly did that! Anyway, if you're reading this Martin, give me my job back!!!

thinking about taking up karate again too, got some serious flab to lose after having louis (over a year ago) but i'm not sure that i could train under anyone else after running my own club...

i'm just not good with authority.

hopefully getting the horses over here will mean i can ride more but looking at the state of the fencing in the field its going to be a huge operation! not to mention that i dont actually have a horse box to bring them all the way across town. need to speak very nicely to the right people methinks.

Just in case anyone is wondering about the vast amount of animals i seem to have, they'r not all here now...

Caddy and Ron have sadly passed away, both from old age. Zeke was living with us while his family got a new house and has gone back to them now. i miss him the most. Jasper is our dog and Chloe is our foster dog from Thornberry Animal Sanctury.

Lucy is my 20 year old cat and Ozy (or Ozymandias) is one of my 3 ferrets.

Obviously theres Winston and then theres Apollo. His real name is Apollo's Fir, an anagram of April Fool as he was born on 1st April. no-one even knew his dam was pregnant and the poor girl had a jumping lesson the day before giving birth

OK so i have got loads of animals, but they're so much fun!

Anyway, got stopped mid flow there while the washing machine flooded all over the kitchen

Carrying a 13 month old child around a steep field in the snow aint my favorite pastime, and its not made any easier having a 3 year old contstantly asking "mum, wots that?", "mum, wots dad doing?". (as it happened i didn't have a clue wot he was doing as he had disappeared down the hill, into some trees and was nowhere to be seen).

 not that you really want to know any of this but sometimes a rant is a good thing.

the main thing is that 'the boys' should soon be brightening the hearts of the old folk at woodhouse with their antics, and best of all theres MILES of bridleways without ever touching a main road. bliss! its something neither me nor the boys (thats the ponies by the way, Winston and Appollo) have ever known.

as soon as i can i'll add some pics of the boys cos they'r so beautiful. dont tell anyone tho, cos i'v not let our yard owner know we'r leaving yet...

Spent dinner time traipsing around a frozen expanse of field in the shire brook valley, seemingly just for the hell of it! got wierd look from an old bloke walking his dog so spoke very loudly about mending fences, because actually it wasnt all for no reason, hopefully the horses are moving home and coming to live near us. we'v just discovered that its much cheaper to rent our own field than to rely on livery from someone else, even with the inconvenience of having it for 11 of the 12 months in a year!