3 year olds see the world in a wonderful way. Hannah has just discovered traffic lights, and they seem to provide infinite entertainment.  The joys of watching a line of cars stopping at a red light just so they can wait until it changes colour is unimaginable. Along with this immense sense of fun is a curious wisdom. Hannah announced to me today that she was going to be a teacher , because then she can stay at nursery!

She is a typical blonde female though  . Clutching my A-Z in her little hands she exclaimed, "they're roads! they're like this road, but not this road!". Helpful. Especially as I was lost at the time...

As promised, an update on the sorry state of my elderly cat. The poor thing no longer has any teeth so biscuits and nice meaty bones are out of the question. Anything too rich promptly makes her throw up so we're left with good old shop's own brand cat food. Which she doesn't like. Typical. Apart from the issues with feeding her, she seems to be suffering from senile dementia, often forgetting that she has eaten recently, or even how to get up the stairs.

Of course, as with most elderly animals, or indeed people, her hearing and sight has deteriorated significantly. As a result she misses when trying to jump the  baby gate and yowls loudly in complaint. Just because she can't hear herself doesn't mean the rest of the street can't hear her!

Oh well, 20 years of age isn't bad for a cat that shouldn't have made it to 6 months. At least she's happy making everyone else miserable!

On a completely different note, the screaming from the ferret hutch in the back yard has ceased, as both girls are now rather fat and most definately out of season. I expect to hear the patter of tiny paws in a couple of weeks.

The ponies are both looking well, having been subjected to a week of good riding. The obstacles in our way on the bridleways were sometimes terrifying but always overcome. Burnt out horse gates and wooden bridges; who knows how many trolls live under these things?

Why do I tell you these things? Because this is my life, the trials and tribulations of being a busy wife and mum. Its how I am and what I love. And somewhere out there, there are others with the same issues, wondering what they did to deserve such a hectic schedule. And even if  you don't identify with what I write, at least you can have a giggle at my expense.

Its good to get it all out, and once its on paper (or screen) its so easy to have a good laugh and look forward to the next installment.

Its been a busy week for us, with Hannah off nursery due to illness but protesting every day that "I'm fine! I'm feeling better!". Despite her being poorly we managed to keep up her education with trips to the park and museum, lessons in baking and a nature reserve visit. As long as we stayed fairly near a toilet we were fine!

Louis has been enjoying his baby signing lessons, lauging at me waving my hands aroung and insisting "COW", "MILK", "MUMMY". Hannah has picked it all up with alarming speed, especially as she hasn't actually been to a lesson yet. I hope I'm showing her the right signs!

Apart from all that, the instant the babies have gone to bed in the evening I have rushed up to the field and dashed out with the ponies, accompanied by my Mum. (I don't leave the babies alone, Daddy is in from work by then!). The boys are looking great, trotting up hills and making us duck under the lowest branches they can find. Time to try out the new western tack tonight, now that the girth has enough holes punched in it to fit around Apollo's belly.

In trying to find a saddle cloth for Winston I came across some horse beads with bells that supposedly bring calm and harmony to both horse and rider. A nice idea, but not vey Winston. Mind you, he'd get fit trying to run away from the jangling only to find that it follows him!

After much faffing about I finally have my new camera. I realised after the old one broke that i didn't have the reciept but figured that the shop (a well known electricals retailer) would have a record of the transaction. Not so. They have records of every other transaction we made, old camera, photo paper, SD card, etc. but not the important one. The customer services lady was very helpful and ran checks to find said transaction. After crashing 3 of the shops computersand finally finding a promising match, she checked the debit card, only for us to realise it had been changed and therefore was a different number! The next suggestion was to find the relevent bank statement.

Typical, then, that the only one missing from the past 2 years was the one we needed. 1 trip to the bank later and a new one was ordered. Finally, proof that I had, in fact, purchased the camera!

However, nothing is ever straight forward and we were greeted in the shop by a different person with no idea of what was going on. There ensued a rather one sided argument in which the CS manager said it still wasn't proof of purchase and we didnt have the box and software so her shop would be charged, and we glared back at her. Smiling through gritted teeth, she asked us to peruse the cameras in the same price bracket as the return and choose the one we wanted. Works every time!

So I have my new camera, with a higher spec than the last one, with 2 sets of batteries and some high quality photo paper thrown in. Yay!

I decided, quite stupidly in hindsight, to take Chloe to meet the horses this evening. Having seen Chloe with the cat, I figured she wasn't going to be all that brave with the boys. She's not exactly a small dog  but 14.2hh ponies are quite a bit bigger than her. The poor dog was shaking when they ambled up the field towards her.

The boys being what they are were more interested in trying to eat Chloe than worry about her and they soon had an uneasy sort of rapport.

Time to let Chloe off the lead. Making sure there was a very loose quick release knot fastening the gate (and Chloe could fit under the gate) I let her go. She shot off up the hill as fast as her 4 legs and fat belly would allow!

After convincing Chloe to come back in the field with me things seemed to be going well, until she got a little over enthusiastic and ran around the back of Winston. She brushed against his back leg and time slowed for me. I saw the thought proccess happen in Win. I saw him wait for her to reappear in front of him. I saw him reach down to bite her. I saw him miss. Phew! Then I saw him raise his foreleg and start to bring it down towards her head. "NOOOOOO!" Large fat dog cannot move as fast as large angry pony. "WINSTOOOON!". If that had been any other horse, I would be one dog down by now, but Winston, bless him, actually listens to me when I shout. He looked sheepish  for a while then came over for a cuddle as if to say to Chloe, " She's my mum, not yours!".

Chloe seems non the worse for wear and enjoyed a lively walk after her near miss, which she is currently sleeping off. Its a hard life!

4 day weeks are so off-putting. I never have any idea what day it is!

Early this week I met my friend Jem up at my old place of work, Moscar Kennels and Cattery. Its been some time since I was last up there and I can't believe how much has changed. The kennels have been brought right up to date with luxury beds and even hotel rooms (for dogs,

We traipsed over to Graves Park to look at the animals and have a good chat about everyones gossip. Louis discovered that he can't run yet as his legs don't keep up with his body, but its OK as his head broke his fall!

I'v been to Thornberry Animal Sanctuary to deliver some old horse rugs (I don't think our 2 boys need 9 rugs) and actually managed to leave without any more animals to my name.

Apart from all that I have been rationing chocolate, looking for a new camera and wondering when the children find time to grow. They seem to be doing a lot of it lately.

The horses have new brushes which Apollo spent half an hour tonight trying to eat while I tried to brush him. He really doesn't look any better for being groomed but we're all used to that.

 Looking forward to going riding after the farrier has been on Tues. For that matter, looking forward to the farrier coming on Tues...

Happy Easter to all of you, and to those that don't celebrate, enjoy the bank holiday anyway!

Lou has made a full recovery and has been happily tucking into his barbequed grub  this weekend. Yes, I made sure it was fully cooked first. He's lost some weight so we need to get that sorted out but its not looking like a problem. The poor boy was starving this morning. He ate his toast and banana then came back for some of my bacon buttie. (Thats on a breadcake, not a teacake. Just so you know).

The kids are both loving having the ponies over this way and have been toddling around in the field enjoying the sunshine Hannah has extra scratches and bruises from dashing up and down in the grass and I managed to fall down on the path to the field with a child in each arm. The result of that was very bloodstained jeans and a very annoyed me cos thay were my new ones! The kiddies both survived it tho cos they landed on me.

I need a new camera as mine has definately given up the ghost. I'm finding a wide variation in prices  for the exact same model, from £25 to £90. I know I've had problems with it but I really like this camera and its got a luvverly optical zoom on it. I'm in a photography competition at the end of the month and not having a camera might just cause some issues...

Anyway, time for me to go, I'm feeling quite sick after eating too much chocolate cake.

 

Its been a stressful week so far. Poor Louis has been ill and although he's just about carried on as normal I'v had to rush out to get more nappies and baby wipes, and soon I'll be needing new sheets too! The washing machine is working overtime on all the bedding Louis is dirtying and at the same time Hannah is going through yet another bed wetting phase. Thank God for mattress protecters!

I eventually decided enough was enough and it was time to take Lou to the doctors. Since we missed baby clinic on Tuesday I had to get him an 'Urgent Appointment' on Wednesday and don't those receptionist make sure you know how priveleged you are to get one?! Anyway, Louis off food for 24 hours and off milk for 48 hours and has some concoction to put in his water. Luckily he seems to find it quite tasty and is making a rapid recovery. Hannah keeps telling me she's poorly too and needs some of Louis' 'medicine'. I dont believe her...

Steve's car has had to be scrapped so we are down to just the FLOG, which is in dire need of new brakes and a wheel bearing or 2. It makes for interesting mornings, trying to get the children up and dressed while Steve makes his dinner for work and everyone piles into the car to take him. Don't know whats going to happen when Han's back at nursery.

As for the senile cat, she sleeps all day and yowls all night at the moment. She camps out under Hannah's bed and I'm becoming slightly concerned that Han might start thinking its a monster...

I'm thinking that as the poor thing has just turned 20 theres not much longer left for her, so we just have to try to be patient and put up with her.

Completely forgot that today is Apollo's 10th birthday and Lucy's 20th. She getting seriously senile...

Brought the ponies over to their new field yesterday, after all the stress and messing about over the past 4 weeks it only took 2 phone calls and the job was sorted. I found out on the off-chance that there is such a thing as a 'horse taxi' (!) so I phoned Horse and Rider to get the phone number, they were very helpful and gave me a couple of options. I played eeny, meeny and chose one, called him and he said " How soon do you want it doing? Today's better for me!" FANTASTIC! So for 50 quid the ponies were on the move.

I warned the bloke that Win had only ever been boxed once and Apollo never had. He shrugged a bit and said to put the best one in first. (?) After some whispered conferrings between myself and Rachael, my brother's girlfriend, we decided on 'Fearless AP'. A couple of minutes and a rattled feedbucket later Apollo was in and fastened. All this, of course, was watched intently by Win.

Winston's turn. Rach led him over and he began to quiver. This horse believes gremlins live everywhere, especially grates, plastic bags and horseboxes. There was no way he was going in there. What did we think he was, stupid? Rachael expertly led him in a small circle and somehow ended up further away from the box. And he still wasn't budging. After much rattling of meadowmix in a bucket, it slowly dawned on us that this wasn't going to work. I took over from Rach and tried all the tricks I know, including approaching from a different angle in case it looked any better that way! Eventually the stubborn animal got right to the bottom of the ramp with 4 of us working at him. I had his head, Rach and the poor horsebox bloke had a long rope around Win's backside to stop him backing up and Steve had the feed bucket just out of reach inside the box.

The only way to go on was to lift Win's hooves onto the ramp and hope he kept walking. It just about worked and Winston suddenly rushed into the box after his bucket of feed.

They were in. And if they had been any other animals, the injuries (to us) would have been a lot worse than a few aching muscles.

The trip after that was uneventful but I am told that the boys bit each other for the full 8 miles.

Thanks to everyone involved and if any of you ever need a horse taxi, go to horsetaxi.net

I'll tell you about the senile cat some other time...