mummy didn’t feed me today cos she spent all day on her cooter so i’m really hungry and i need some apple
Yep, my little darling really did say that to Ady at bedtime tonight! Not true, although I did spent about an hour on the computer while Teeny was napping trying to get some work done – but he had breakfast, lunch and tea and plenty of attention – but he did get his apple!
A really, really bad night with Teeny last night – she has turned into the toddler tantrum queen seemingly overnight and strops about all manner of odd, previously no problem type things – the latest is being put in her car seat – she shakes her head, no, then goes rigid so you have to struggle to bend her in then just SHOUTS (no tears) until she wears herself out, then is fine again! Yesterday she did not like, going in the car seat (twice), leaving the beach, having her nappy changed or having her shoes put on – normally she is a total angel about shoes and nappies and even goes to get the nappy and the changing mat then lies down on it and fetches her shoes and everyone elses at the merest mention of going out! I knew she would have tantrums as she is very independant and has been since she was born more or less! Monster was very mild in his tantrums, he was articulate quite early and could always be jollied out of them and I always knew what was likely to trigger them and avoid it if possible. She is much more unpredictable but as everyone keeps telling me – like mother, like daughter! Anyway last night she went to sleep fine but woke at about 11 just as I was about to go to bed, and from 11 till about 3 I was up and down the stairs every fifteen minutes or so until I brought her into bed with us – at one point she just shouted for about ten minutes – again no tears, just rage! She has also taken to walloping Monster if he is not doing what she wants – which I won’t stand for and even if we were of the ‘well hit her back then’ school of parenting he wouldn’t anyway – he’s too mild mannered – she does do a very cute ‘sorry’ when told off of stroking and cuddling whoever she is apologising to! So today we have all been a bit tired and ‘not at our best’!
In the morning I tried to do some work, had another run in with Freeserve / Wanadoo / crap broadband suppliers, mediated in the whole instruments toy box war, then we had lunch and drove into town to collect some photos we’d dropped in yesterday and have a wander round. Teeny did not want her ice cream, Monster dropped his and people were giving me obvious evils for having a wee baby in a pushchair with an ice cream (it was a mini milk for crying out loud, thats practically got nutritional value!) but then she had just demolished a winnie the pooh jelly lolly so she was looking quite sticky and sugared up! We then dropped into see Grandad and Uncle, which was nice as the kids went straight off to mither my brother and left me free to chat to Dad, then Mum came home and Ady came over too after work, so nice to just do that impromptu type of thing after only seeing them once a month when they were staying at our house! All to sleep now and fingers crossed for a better night!
Ooh love these real weekends!
It’s taking quite some getting used to having Saturdays and Sundays really – ever since we met me and Ady have worked weekends – obviously I havn’t since having Monster but he still did, so to have him finishing work at 4pm on Friday and not returning till Monday morning is most strange – but nice!
Yesterday we went to Earnley Butterfly and Gardens, which was C & J’s (Adys brother and his wife) birthday treat to Ady. It was really nice actually, all four kids really got on and entertained each other and althouhg it was a bit erm rustic shall we say, the animals were good and the butterfly bit was nice too. We have arranged to see them next weekend and go to Pooh Corner if the weather is nice – its great that Ady and his brother are seeing so much of each other (they were seperated as kids and only really got back in touch a couple of years ago) and its so nice for the twins and my two to be growing up with their cousins. We also went round Chichester in the morning and despite me getting very stressed in McDonalds with the kids messing about instead of eating we had a nice day including getting the dinosaur book for Monster’s leappad in ELC at half price – hurrah!
Today Ady is out in the garden with Monster using his birthday pressie of a hedgetrimmer (I know, but thats what he wanted!) while Teeny is sleeping and I am, well actually I’m doing this but I am allegedly working! Later we are going into town for a wander along the seafront – ah bliss! Next week is shaping up nicely – I have had email replies from two local HEers, on Tuesday I am going to a fellow MP Bloggers, on Wednesday we have my friend R and her son E round in the afternoon – R is 20 weeks pregnant, was convinced she was carrying – and desperatly wanted another boy but found out at her scan this week she is having a girl so will be dressing Teeny all cute and flowery and making her do cute girly stuff to convince R its not so bad having a daughter! (I am not being flippant here – I really wanted another son too, and was quite upset when found out Teeny was a girl at the scan but overcame it by shopping for girls stuff, browsing girls toys and having a justifiable reason for shopping at Claires Accessories aged 30! – now of course I could not imagine not having a daughter and am really glad Monster did not have to deal with not being the only son!). On Thursday we are going to the local get together club for HEers, which only leaves tomorrow and Friday to be filling! On Tuesday night we have friends coming for dinner, we are going to a 2nd birthday party on Saturday – oh its so nice to be living near to friends again after 2.5 years of not really needing a calendar as we were not doing anything worth writing down anyway!
peace is restored – well sort of!
The evil bug has abated! Monster threw his juice back up this morning but then he had guzzled half a cup on an empty stomach! The Goddard day began at 4.45am today when we all awoke, Teeny first, then me, then Monster, and finally although not through choice – Ady. We all came downstairs and sort of faffed about till about nine when Ady went off to work. I rang my mum who kindly came over to watch the littlies while I nipped to Tescos – well that was the plan, what actually happened was Teeny fell asleep, Monster insisted on coming to Tescos with me. He was actually quite helpful and narrowly avoided being squished by others trolleys but did double the shopping bill by asking for cocopops, kinder eggs (for me and Teeny Mummy), a Travis toy (which we have been promising since Christmas!), a doll for Teeny, the cheapo Tesco version of Guess Who? (which I have been eyeing up for ages – huge educational value in that game – and sure enough he played about five games with my mum and really enjoyed it and got the hang of the question asking, elimination, eye colour, glasses wearing, beards, bald – loads of observation etc, biscuits and so on!
When we got home Teeny had awoken but (a first!) Granny had got her back to sleep again and they got on well for the rest of the day. Later my dad came over too, Ady was home early and mum and dad took a sofa to their house to store till we have the extension and room for it and so the playroom / office is looking a bit better and more spacious now.
evil bug strikes the Goddard home
Yesterday was an erm, interesting one – for some obscure reason we thought it would be a good idea to go to work with Ady again. We tried to be sensible, we took the people carrier instead of his company car to prevent Monster from travel sickness and allow the kids to eat all their usual in car snacks which they were not allowed in Daddy’s new car. We were going to Newbury, Reading and Slough. By Newbury I was feeling distinctly unwell, by Reading we had to stop for ten minutes for me to sit down on a compost pile in B&Q to catch my breath, inbetween Reading and Slough I was that person you feel sorry for by the roadside, and again at Boxhill – won’t go into my usual deep detail but it was not pleasant! We got home soooo late at about 7.30pm, I went to lay down for half an hour while Ady bathed the kids, then I got up to help him put them to bed, Teeny was asleep by nine, Monster not long after, but he was awake again at ten with us stripping down his bed, his PJs, his cuddly toys and so on – I then spent my night sitting holding a bowl for Monster while telling him it was okay and not to be scared, or running up and down the stairs to Teeny (she is currently sleeping downstairs, us and Monster are upstairs!) – my feet actually ache from going up and down stairs so many times, I lost count but it must have been about 20! Brought her into bed with us at about 3am by which time Monster had finally stopped being ill and fallen asleep. When me and Teeny woke at 6.30am Ady had already been gone an hour as he was doing three stores in Wales today. (hence him getting the nights sleep while I was up despite me being the ill one!). Cancelled the friend who was due to come round and spent the day with two poorly, clingy, cuddly children getting several phonecalls from Ady as he too went down with the bug – he arrived at Swansea and felt ill, by Bridgend he had been ill, by Cardiff he wanted to die and he finally arrived home through the thunderstorms and flooded roads at 8pm – just 14.5 hours after he left!
On the plus side we did quite a bit of educational stuff today – me and Teeny read her magazine with Dora stories and she can point to all the characters, trees, cars etc, we did some colouring, we read the dinosaur book, built a marble run taller than Monster, tidied the playroom, had a big discussion about why we are sick, what it means, why its scary and so on…so a very practical biology lesson there then!
Jenny – will email / ring you in the morning but yes I think we should put it off till next week! Hopefully tonight everyone will sleep, tomorrow we will all feel better and Saturday we are off to the local Butterfly Farm as Ady’s birthday treat from his brother, with Ady’s bro, his wife and the twins. Have also had some emails back from the EO people I contacted and am going to go along to a HE group locally next week, wish me luck!
the curse of summer
Teeny is poorly! She has had a really evil cough at nighttimes and when she runs around too much during the day for well, weeks really. I have suspected asthma for some time but every time we have enough of a bad night waking up coughing for me to think about taking her to the doctor she will suddenly be fine again for a few days… this weekend she has not been herself at all – quite miserable, a bit whingy and last night she would not go to sleep, despite being really tired she just tantrummed at me until she wore herself out, she then woke again a few hours later and was up for about two hours, coughing and crying, she finally went to sleep at about 12.30am and was awake again by 5.30am – BAAAAD night! So this morning I have taken her to the docs. She has a whole combination of stuff wrong at the moment – a big back tooth coming through, she is suffering badly with hayfever, the cough and she is also tired from not sleeping well. Doc listened to the asthma fears, listened to her chest and prescribed antibiotics if I wanted them – I took them and will see how she is later on before deciding whether to start her on them or not. I’m loathe to start her on an inhaler really – Monster had one prescribed when he was about her age and although I think I used it once or twice I don’t want to have one unless its really neccessary – will have to look into some alternative treatments for breathing / coughing problems. Monster is also suffering with hayfever and has what I would diagnose as a ‘sympathetic cough’ although doc kindly listened to his chest too! Teeny is now asleep – quite peacefully too and Monster is mithering me to do something with dinosaurs!
So to continue the rest of our weekend… On Sunday we went over to Ady’s brother’s house. C (his brother) married to J and they have twins called M (girl) and J (Boy) who are three months older than Teeny. Very spookily they are going to HE too, which is lovely as it means we have someone else we know doing it and the kids will all grow up doing it together. I say spookily as Ady and C did not grow up together, their parents split up and them and their sister were put in a succession of children’s homes, foster carers etc. They lost contact for a fair few years but when their sister died three years ago it brought them back together and we have grown if not close, then certainly friendly with them. It helps that I get on quite well with J, and we all clearly have similar ideas about bringing up children! We had a nice afternoon in their garden, the twins are a bit overawed with my two running around, but it makes a change from it being Monster cowering into my skirts so it was nice for us anyway! Honestly he has gone from being a shy, introverted, didn’t know how to interact with other kids to the life and soul of the party! In our first week at home we saw three other boys his age who he wouldn’t have remembered from before we left (he was only 15 months old when we moved) and all three of them are now his best friends – and it was lovely to hear that all three of them have gone on about playing with Monster again to their parents too – at the party on Saturday he had two girlfriends, was running about and clambering on the slides and climbing frames like he had always done that sort of thing – which was great as I spent most of the party talking about HE and was able to point out the small boy leading everyone else and say ‘well clearly we won’t have ANY issues with socialisation!’.
Yesterday we went on a hunt for sandpit sand, none in B&Q, none in Wicks and having really annoyed all the builders doing serious shopping in both stores trailing round with a pushchair and a small child getting in everyones way we recruited Grandad to come with us to Toys R Us where we got the sand, some new buckets and spades and a paddling pool. A happy hour was spent in the garden with Monster shouting at Teeny for knocking down his sandcastles, me shouting at Teeny for throwing sand and Teeny shouting at her dress which was too long and kept tripping her up! We came indoors for tea and thats when she started to go downhill – see earlier.
Today we have internet food shopping coming from Sainsburys which is a good excuse not to go out, Teeny will hopefully get a good sleep, I’m off to make a dinosaur scrap book with Monster, and I have emailed one of the local contacts to arrange to meet up, emailed to join the local(ish) HE organised group, will email another later and will also go through the EO contact list to see whether there are other local folk…the sun is shining but we are all indoors nursing our itchy eyes and snotty noses!
Still not a dinosaur day, but what a weekend!
I did type up quite a long and (I thought!) witty update post on Saturday morning including the sparkly powder incident but blogger erm lost it somewhere so I will recall what I can, add to it and the sparkly powder will have to wait for another day!
Thursday – the big birthday for Ady went pretty well – he got a fair few pressies, Mum, Dad and brother came over for a takeaway in the evening and although he said the next day it had not felt that ‘special for a 40th birthday’ (at which I had a secret tee hee knowing what was still to come) he enjoyed the day!
Friday was a learning curve for all of us – as I was doing the routefinder for Ady’s store visits first thing in the morning I suddenly had the brainwave of us all going with him, kids and I could wander round the shops while he did his store visits, meet back up for lunch and all get a go in the brand new spangly company car – so we unpacked all the car seats from my car, loaded the pushchair into the boot, Ady went through the food parcel I’d packed for the kids and vetoed half of it (No bananas in my company car, no chocolate, no crisps – he nearly fainted at the prospect of fruit winders!). We merrily set off, Monster started to get a bit tossy and turny in his seat, his colour went from his usual off white (he’s quite a pale child) to a greyish hue and he suddenly looked all panicky and asked to sit on my lap! Knowing what was coming next I declined just as he threw up pink gloop everywhere all (milk and ribena combined I assume as thats all he’d consumed so far!). Ady did his upmost to remain calm and passifying to his beloved son, whilst frantically cleaning the inside of his brand new company car! I did my best to be nurturing and earth mother like without actually getting any on me in the cuddling process. We cleaned everything up and continued on our way with me frantically trying to distract him using a wide array of singalongs, I spy, knock knock jokes and talking about dinosaurs! Teeny slept most of the way! While Ady did his store visit we wandered around the store (B&Q) stalking dinosaurs – likely followed by the store detective wandering why a grown woman was creeping round B&Q with a small boy and a baby in a pushchair shrieking ‘look a stegosaurus footprint, do you think he went this way?!’ instead of actually looking at or buying anything in the shop. The return journey was uneventful, thanks to a travel sickness pill and both kids falling asleep again – bad news for bedtime still having both kids snoozing in the car at 4pm so we did what any responsible caring parents would do and took them over the pub beer garden to wear off some energy – and of course in order for them to be allowed to play they needed to be accompanied by adults patronising said pub so we had a drink too!
Saturday dawned a beautiful day, which was a huge relief. Ady’s brother had arranged to come over with his wife and twins (same age as Teeny – also going to be HE’d)to see Ady for his birthday and we had talked oh so casually about maybe popping over the pub (where 40 of our friends and family would be gathered with a buffet, birthday cake, banners, balloons and a collectibe shout of ‘surprise’ waiting for us). Ady spent the morning wandering about in grubby jeans and no top, cutting the hedges in the garden, wandering why I kept nagging him to put something nice on to go to the pub, fussing about getting the kids changed to go over there and getting all stroppy when he suggested going to the park instead of the pub – Nic ‘No, we’re going to the pub!!!!!!’. It all went off spendidly, everyone came, a good time was had by all, the kids had a fab day, we’ve got arrangements with friends for the next million weekends and it was a great welcome home / birthday party.
More from then till now later…
mainly a good one – but GRRR broadband!
So today started well, having told Monster that no, it was not a dinosaur day and coped with resulting foot stamping and pouting we had to go to the post office so what better opportunity to visit yet another small town centre to see whether there are any new shops there (Littlehampton for those local readers ;-)) nothing new but did buy some nice tops for myself and some underwear for Teeny (realised that when she stops wearing vests cos its too warm and is wearing a dress she will have nappy access and will be constantly removing it and making puddles everywhere so bought her some cute knickers to hamper her progress!), got stopped by a breastfeeding gang out promoting it and handing out balloons and badges to help with their questionnaire – very liberating – and great to see! Came home for lunch, rang up about the ongoing endowment cheque saga and was given a definate timescale of two weeks (we’ll see!), then rang back freeserve (or wanadoo as they are now calling themselves – well i can tell them exactly what they wanadoo but i don’t think it would become me!) after waiting 8 hours for the call back i was promised as soon as an operator was free! Basically when we moved I rang to tell them, was charged £20 moving fee and told it would be up to 20 working days but would probably be 10 before the new number was enabled for broadband, so have been using dial up (at expense!) while still paying this months broadband charge and as the ten days were up i thought i’d see if they had enabled it or whether it will be longer, explained the whole thing to the bloke who could not find me on the system, gave him old phone number, new phone number, old address, new address, date of birth, mothers maiden name, cats eye colour, sons inside leg measurement, colour of my underwear and my second cousin twice removed’s favourite record by The Beatles! He put me on hold forever, stars were born and died, species became extinct, the children grew up, left home, married, had children and retired, he came back and told me to redial and press 3 and they would be able to help me. Slightly peeved I redialed, pressed 3 (thats press 1 to speak to someone who has only a basic grasp of english, let alone any knowledge of computers, press 2 to listen to the worst hold music in the world (which I am still humming in my head!) and press 3 for the scouse bitch (apologies to anyone from Merseyside, I generally have no issues with you and even quite liked Atomic Kitten!) from hell who I ended up talking to)who I once again explained the whole situation to, once again went through the whole old address, new address tango with and who then told me the moving thingy hadn’t been done and she needed to take the £20 charge from me again over the phone, but if it had already been done and I got charged twice just to ring them back and they would refund it. I do concede at this point to perhaps becoming a tad erm, terse and she ended up telling me she did not like the way i was talking to her, and that she was trying to help me but i kept shouting at her… she then put me on hold (presumable so she could tell the other people in the office what an evil cow she had on the phone) and came back to say that actually it had been done and they had charged me already. I asked how this had been magically done in the five minutes we had been talking and she said she had tried to explain but I just kept shouting, I calmly told her that the only reason I had been shouting was because she had asked for my credit card details and that all I actually wanted to know was whether or not I was ready to connect back up again. She refused to give me her name, refused to give me a name of a supervisor and simply gave me an email address (which bounced) to complain to, having finally told me that it was still in process and would be a few more days….
A few deep breathes later and a phonecall to the pub across the road where Ady’s surprise party is to finalise some last minute stuff (maybe I soaked up alcohol calming fumes through the phone?!) and I more or less recovered….
The went to Asda to get birthday cakes, candles, balloons and banners etc, purchased several bottles of wine and a face pack which I am about to apply and soak in a big bath while consuming said wine while lovely husband (40 tomorrow so a mid life crisis could be imminent – this time next week I will probably be cooking my own dinner while he is off cavorting with some teenage blonde!)cooks dinner….who knows tomorrow we might even get some educating done! guess i have taught them the art of complaining at the very least, oh and some retail experience too! Tomorrow may also see the blogging of the sparkly powder incident from Monday which I have not yet shared…
Slowly settling back in…
It is starting to feel like home again this week, we had a really good weekend with a trip to the dinosaur place (excellent place with huge planet earth dinosaurs to modern day man exhibition – we went round twice! with massive animatronic dinos and loads of educational information, outdoor gardens with Sussex landmarks in miniature, a massive outdoor with lifesize dinos walk, a small train, a big garden centre and more!), Monster was in his element – really impressed us with how many of them he could name, how much he knew about them all and so on – he has nagged me every day since to go back! Friends came over for getting drunk, eating curry and emotional speeches about how much we had all missed each other on Saturday night, they stayed and we were all up again with the kids by 7am Sunday morning – then another friend and his little boy (just a few months younger than Monster) came over on Sunday afternoon. It was great to see Monster playing so well with a new strange child, they eyed each other up for about five minutes, then disappeared to Monsters bedroom and proceeded to play together for about three hours really nicely – Teeny even joined in for a bit although she was quite busy charming the pants off the old friend who left muttering about ‘really wanting a daughter!’It took about an hour to clear up after the boys who had strewn pretty much every toy in the house (and believe me thats a lot!) around Monster’s bedroom buit worth it!
Yesterday I took the littlies into town where they behaved very well considering I was dragging them round pretty much every clothes shop in Worthing including changing rooms to try stuff on (quote of the day from Monster when I tried on some cropped trousers – ‘they look silly Mummy’, ‘why?’, ‘they look like clown trousers!’ hrumph – is he in league with Ady to prevent me from spending?!), bought them a cheap (as in £1) pressie each in The Works (man, I’ve missed that shop!) for being good, popped in to see mum at work where she enjoyed showing the much fabled grandchildren who used to live in Manchester to all her workmates, then back to Mum and Dads house to congratulate my brother who has finally got himself a job after two years of looking! and ask Dad to mind them while I ‘did’ Tescos. He did and I spent a happy hour trailing round, buying food for the week, all the kids summer shorts and T shirts, a coffee maker machine and River Cottage cookbook for Ady’s birthday pressie and generally relished being childfree! Last night our friend who is moving to Ireland came round….so nice to be dropped in on again after two and a half years of only the milkman ever ringing the doorbell!
Today we spent a nice morning with a short walk round the local shop to get magazines and lunch, then a lovely afternoon with a very good friend I met at baby clinic when I had Monster and she had her little boy. She is 20 weeks pregnant with number two, horrified at the prospect of E starting school in September (he is 4 in July) and has been toying with the idea of HE but didn’t want the committment. Feeling not unlike some religious cult recruitment freak I told her about how I intend to do it, quelled some of her own fears, answered lots of her questions, offered more info including book loans if she wants it, and no doubt left her deeply pondering. I also found myself saying that the greatest feeling I had once I had finally made the decision was relief that I won’t have to through any of what she is worrying about happening and almost a certainty that I am doing the right thing just by how calm I feel about it all now. Its amazing how many people when I tell them about it are either interested, have considered it or can certainly see the benefits despite it not being feasible for them personally….I really believe more and more people will be HEing over the next 20 years till it becomes commonplace rather than an exception.
Rest of the week is as yet unplanned – tomorrow I aim to ring some of the local HE contacts and see if we can arrange some meet ups. Monster really has the taste for playing with friends now and I want to keep on that roll! Planning for surprise party on Saturday also needs finalising tomorrow so it looks like a busy – and fun – rest of the week ahead!
Grrr! Nothing quite so simple as just moving back in and settling straight back into our old lives! Negatives out the way first then – the house feels so small – its like if you ever go back to your infant school years after you left and what felt like a massive great hall to you aged 6 is just a smallish room where they have assembly, the playground feels like a small back garden and you just feel like Gulliver wandering round Lilliput (was that the place’s name?! must read that to Monster, he would love it!), NOTHING has a home, the dyson is being moved between Teeny’s room and infront of the front door, if I leave a basket of washing infront of the washing machine you can’t get in the kitchen and just generally argh! Have been a pooh mummy all week too – after leaving the kids with my parents all day every day (well 9-5 which is way longer than I would normally leave them!) over the weekend and missing them like mad once Ady got back to work and I had them to myself I have just shouted at them all day yesterday and today! Have not caught up with anyone yet and feel a bit at a loose end really. Enough self pity – the plusses are inumerable – the probs with the house being sorted are temporary – i got our next door neighbours letter this morning (and opened it by mistake) – rubbish postie – I have had three items already for other houses in the road! asking if they have any objections to our planning permission to extend the kitchen and put a third bedroom ontop for Teeny – that will make all the difference – at the moment Teeny is sleeping downstairs in what will be my office one day, my computer and all the kids toys are crammed in what will be the playroon / HE room and furniture destined for the big future kitchen diner is strewn about the place taking up too much space! Ady’s job seems to be going well – loads of travelling, but a lovely brand new company car (complete with air con, cd player and various other spangly stuff, ooh and a petrol card!) he gets a mobile phone and much to his dismay a laptop! A real proper job! All is in place (except escaping to finalise the menu and pay for it all!) for the surprise 40th party for him next weekend, loads of people have RSVP’d to say they’ll be there so its shaping up for a bloody good day, I am going to start phoning old friends tomorrow to arrange stuff for next week so I am not trapped in the house with the kids all day long and I will also ring all the nice folk who HE and live round here and have promised me cups of tea! Keep forgetting that we’ve been home less than a week and although this was our home for years, it does not mean it will feel ‘like home’ straight away given how much our lives changed (including the arrival of Teeny!) in the 2.5 years we were away – I left here with one crawling baby and have come home with two walking, climbing children! Lynda has rung to say she misses the kids and thanking us for her cards and gifts – and she sent a real tear jerking email about how she felt bereft at us leaving and we have left behind a big part of us with her which she will treasure – aww!
So onwards and upwards and look to the future etc etc etc…next week will bring Ady’s 40th, happy reunions with old friends, some new meetings with brand new ones, the welcome home / Ady is old party and maybe even broadband! Not to mention the cheque for the whole deposit back on the manchester house (was bloody worth it after all – all that scrubbing of skirting boards and hoovering of light fittings!)…
WOO HOO! BACK ONLINE!
Well its been a whole week and a very long one at that! Wednesday was full of last minute stuff, Thursday Lynda had the children at her house while we hoovered and polished as Pickfords emptied each room into their VERY big van (I even cleaned skirting boards, never before in my whole life have I cleaned skirting boards!). Then there were tears all round as we said goodbye to our next door neighbours and then Lynda – very tough! We had a bad journey home really, as we were about to lock up the house for the last time, Ady had cleaned his way out of the kitchen floor, and just checked one of the kitchen cupboards to find all our fragile stuff had been missed by Pickfords! We had to load three whole cupboards full of crockery, glass dishes and so on into our car, around the two (not very happy!) cats in their carriers, the travel cot, overnight stuff for the four of us, shut the kids up on the journey bag of food and toys and stuff! We hit major traffic through Birmingham and again at Heathrow but arrived back at our own house at about 8.30pm – parents met us there, kids ran from room to room all awake and excited, cats were cautious but crept out of their carriers. We then could not find anywhere the litter trays we *know* we loaded into the car, or the cat food! So we took the kids back to my parents (grazing the people carrier on the lamp post by the drive that the old car always used to just about get past – eek!), Ady went to the supermarket to buy cat food, litter, litter trays etc then we finally got the kids to sleep at about 10pm, ate a very well cooked (as in burnt – not delicious!) lasagne and fell into bed exhausted. Friday me and Ady met Pickfords to unload the lorry in the torrential rain, they finished at about midday when we were left with a too small house with too many boxes! We had this foolish idea that we would be sleeping in the house that night, we ended up unpacking all day and going back to my parents for food and sleep Friday and Saturday nights. On Sunday night we collected the kids and brought them to their new home. Monster LOVES his new room – as he should, its really cool -pics soon I promise! Teeny is sleeping much better with no nighttime coughing (which leads me to wonder whether the damp in the old house was causing her problems?!). Today Ady started his new job and it went pretty well as first days go – he was given his company car – really nice – I had a go when he got home to dash up to Boots for emergency supplies – brand new, cd player, air con etc – better than mine!! He gets a phone tomorrow, got his petrol credit card today and what with the whole Monday to Friday 8-5, early finish on a Friday its like a real proper job!
Kids drove me insane today, a combination of the first time all day on my own with them for months, a smaller house, pouring rain all day long preventing Monster from ‘going to the seaside’, me trying to unpack the last few boxes, bad nights sleep for the last few days and general being one and three years old! Tomorrrow I plan to get out for a few hours with them, seaside if sunny, shopping if rainy!
The best news is that my Dad has offered to mind the kids 2-3 afternoons a week which will negate the need for finding a replacement ‘Lynda’ or childcare, cheaper, kids get to be looked after by someone who loves them and generally a better all round deal! Hurrah for my dad! and he is coming round to the whole HE idea too – slowly but surely!
Anyway, this is dial up instead of broadband so slower, costly and tying up the phoneline so a very tired Nic signing off for noq!
ITS THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW NOW -EEK!
Last lunch with Boss Lady today – quite emotional actually – no one cried but she and I were both pretty close and Ady spouted lots of silence filling nonsense so he is feeling it too! Will be in touch as I am carrying on working for her and Ady is going to work for her father but we won’t be meeting weekly for coffee and chats anymore! Lynda dropped the bombshell that Friday is her birthday – good news in one way as we can buy her a slightly more extravagent gift and feel justified, bad news in that we now need to think a bit more. Have pretty much decided on flowers, a birthday cake from Asda with a cute pic of the kids on it, wine and maybe chocs too – have bought a thank you card which I will write tomorrow night and a cool record your own message card which we will get the littlies to sing Happy Birthday into for her – Ady keeps asking things like ‘what will you miss most about living in Manchester?’ the tram into the city centre within 10 minutes, easy access to a Lush shop, the fact that every weekend we think of somewhere new and exciting to take the kids, ‘what will you be most pleased to see again at home’ the sea! etc, etc. Teeny is now coughing franically in her sleep – two unbroken nights sleep about to end I fear!
Have gone no mail on MP and Fluff, normally yahoo takes days to do it, this time it worked within hours – still going offline altogether tomorrow when I pack the computer up but may sneak onto dial up with the laptop just to check – so perhaps a nice calm blog entry after the weekend once all is calm and settled, or a series of frantic hysteria throughout!
FOUR DAYS AND COUNTING!!
Another manic day in the countdown to the move! Today after a very warm weekend I decided the children *must* have summer shoes to be wearing – we had had their feet measured last week and they said they both had a couple of weeks left in their shoes anyway so we decided to wait till we get home, but as a fickle female I changed my mind looking at all the other littlies in their cute sandals yesterday at the farm! So went to The Trafford Centre Clarks first thing and sorted them both out with Doodles (the little canvas, chuck em in a machine wash summer shoes) but they had no ‘real’ shoes we liked for either of them. They do this Stomposaurus range which Monster, via Daddy’s influence decided he liked but they had nothing nice in either of their sizes, they then decided at 11am they were both hungry – Monster ‘ Lets go to the food bit and sit down and have chicken nuggets from McDonalds’ who taught my three year old about brand recognition then?! So we relented in the interests of an easy life and no cooking for tea! We then bunged the photos (more of them later!) in for developement, me and Monster had a quick trek round Asda then went to the next Clarks – still nothing, then finally to the last local Clarks where we got Teeny new shoes (hugely cute little floral ankle boots which she keeps fetching to show me and trying to get on herself – sooo my girl all obsessed with her new shoes!) but still nought for Monster. Then home where Ady continued to fret about hoovering the curtains, reupholstering the skirting boards and dusting the linoleum or some other such cleaning type nonsense in the interests of getting as much of our deposit back as possible! All set for a good day tomorrow – taking Boss Lady for one last lunch then shopping for something special as a pressie for Lynda (nanny, childminder, surrogate Mum for me while we’ve been up here type treasure!) and obviously more polishing of the carpet, cleaning of the light fittings and dusting of the curtains!
Struggling to get a cast members list like on Merry’s blog atm – although confident with the help of Jax (waves at my IT icon!) I will get there so here is our current fave pic of Monster and Teeny
An EXCELLENT day today to ‘celebrate’ our last weekend up here! We went to Tescos (dead classy us eh?!) for breakfast – that was a weekly thing for us on a Sunday morning before Atkins diet last year which we never took up again after Atkins finished! Kids behaved like angels, Teeny sat in a high chair pointing at all the other babies in there and shouting ‘aaabee’ at them whilst eating at least two slices of toast, Monster decided he was ‘getting hungry’ and ate two of my sausages, two slices of toast all liberally dipped in ketchup! We then went round Tescos buying bits to make up meals for the rest of the week based on what is left in the freezer and cupboards – kids still behaved like angels – Teeny in Ady’s arms being carried round expressing delight at all the ‘aaabees’ and Monster being the very best food shopping companion ever, he held onto the trolley all the way round, took stuff off shelves and put it gently into the trolley, when Teeny was walking along and knocked stuff off shelves he put it back on again and helped load it all onto the conveyer belt – dream child! We then popped home to drop the shopping off and went on to the local working farm at Stockley which is always a fab day out. It was packed but kids had a ball! Teeny was beside herself to meet pigs
cows, sheep, ducks and various other animals she can do the noises for but has previously (in her memory anyway!) only seen on TV, in books or played with in small plastic animal form. Monster was less enamoured with the animals although he was quite taken with a rabbit but then he has seen them all before – many times! He did however love the sandpit
check out the matching outfits – a bit sad I know but I have not bought them any summer clothes yet and these Ireland T shirts were the only short sleeved items to dress them in this morning! Plus I like to dress them in easily identifiable colours if we are going somewhere busy so I can spot them in the crowd if needs be!
We fed the baby goats and lambs,
had ice creams, cream teas and chocolate cake then went home and baked dinosaur biscuits (kids having eaten organic bananas bought from the farm shop on the way home!) for tea, kids had big splashy bath and then went to sleep amazingly quickly. We continued our packing efforts with the cutlery drawer (how does it get so icky!) and the plate and bowl cupboard (how do a family with only two people who eat off anything other than plastic bowls with Buzz Lightyear or Winnie the Pooh acquire so much crockery?!). Have now eaten lovely roast beef dinner, drunk two glasses of wine and am feeling all at peace with the world….remind me of this in three days time when I am stressing about moving and not having packed and generally pondering why we ever had children!
Loads of learning gone on today too – a great day all round!
Just for the sake of getting photos on my blog and will even it up with some cute ones of Monster tomorrow, here is Teeny dressed as woody!
and here is Teeny and I in Ireland recently.
Pics of Ady and Monster to follow!
Urgh what a day! Starting off with the rest of the week so far – Thursday we did some work then walked into town, lovely day weather and family wise! Friday we planned to go to the local(ish) small scale theme park, Gullivers World, which is usually a fab day out – small scale rollercoasters, flying aeroplanes rides etc for the littlies, oh and a newly finished large dinosaur themed section to feed Monster’s need for learning all about the big reptilian ones… so we sent an email to Boss Lady telling her we were taking some time out on Thursday night (which we both then spent a sleepless night about her reaction to!) packed up a picnic for the children, stopped at Asda on the way for posh prepacked sarnies for me and Ady and pulled up to find it – CLOSED! Argh! After some discussion about how next to proceed – Knowlsely Safari Park, Blue Planet? we finally decided to go to Bruntwood Park – a free but huge and very well set up park with tea room, about four different play areas, ice cream vans, a duck pond, oh and the added Ady bonus of the planes from Manchester airport taking off and landing at very low levels every few minutes…arrived, found space to sit, went back to car for plastic backed rug, sat down, ate picnic (reminder to self, always check Ady prepared picnics in future!), I took the plastic backed rug back to the car and returned to find shaky Ady had ‘lost’ Monster for a short period – very traumatic for him, not least because Monster was simply playing games with him and was behind him as he ran round a big tree all the time, frolicked in park, totally wore little people out and had them both asleep before 7pm! A great day all round! We then packed up the kitchen cupboards ready for the move. It has occurred to me, although I don’t intend to dwell on it too deeply that if we can manage without x,y and z for a month, two weeks, a few days while they are boxed up waiting to be moved we likely don’t need x,y and z at all – but that level of decluttering would just be too radical and likley to inspire a replacment of all our cr*p visit to Ikea within days!
This morning did not start so well and TBH probably got worse! Bad night with Teeny, up pretty much from 2-4am with her, so when Ady woke me at 8am I was not the vision of maternal morning loveliness I could have been! Came downstairs to find him focused on cleaning all three downstairs rooms at the same time – kids trying to play around the cleaning in all three rooms – imagine an explosion in a toy factory with a dismantled Dyson, unplugged but with cable trailing throughout two rooms, damp j clothes in various locations, one child dressed (as he had wet his PJs by not getting to the loo on time) one child in PJs, both with breakfast of chocolate spread on toast still evident round mouth and hands, spongebob squarepants on at top volume on one TV, local radio on full blast in the kitchen and ooh, you’d be about half way to visualising the scene! Two sets of potential new tenants due to visit the house in just under two hours…. as first set arrived kids and Ady had been evicted to the garden, I was on my hands and knees picking up various coppers and 5ps strewn about from emptied moneyboxes and the house had the aroma of freshly changed nappy wafting romantically about – ah well guess we don’t care what happens after we leave! Also had a phonecall from the letting agents of our own house to say that the inventory they were supposed to be doing this morning was not happening due to an administrative error and would be carried out on Monday instead so not to change anything before then – fine expect my Dad was due to go round there this afternoon / tomorrow to totally redecorate half the house ready for us to move back into. I went totally mad at them, telling them I did not want to hear any further excuses and I suggested they find some way of carrying out the inventory today and called me back once it had been done. I then phoned my mum to find out why I had not been told that a car has crashed into one of the garden walls and knocked it down – she said she ‘didn’t want to worry me’. Many frantic phonecalls, several involving me shouting very loudly ensued and I think we have finally remedied the situation – never, never again will I rent out a property to tenants and I hope never never to be living in a rented property either….total 2 1/2 year nightmare on both counts. So with me making shouty phonecalls and Ady doing frantic multiroom cleaning the kids have been pretty much ignored and have played up bigtime! Both have been doing their very best attention seeking antics, both have been shouted at lots and it has not been a happy family home by any means! Alls well in the end, both tucked up with many kisses and cuddles at a very respectable hour, both parents clutching medicinal alcoholic drinks and eating up surplus easter egg chocolate (all needs to go before we move!) and the world is a better place once more!
Tomorrow I hope to sort out the pics on this blog, spend some time with littlies and aim to reduce my speaking normally to shouting ratio accordingly!!
A really good day today after a really cr*p one yesterday! Yesterday we had Lynda to look after littlies while me and Ady went to boss lady’s house to collect some paperwork. Which we did okay, went and bought Ady a new jacket (always a trauma trying to get him to buy any new clothes – I swear he would still be wearing the M&S rugby shirts he had when I met him 12 years ago given the chance!), then we came home to prepare for his trip to London today and till Friday. So three days and two nights away – tricky for us who are not so good at being apart – the stress made us really squabbly – even infront of the kids – something I always swore I’d never do. Poor Monster was asking someone to go with him for a wee wee and he got ignored for ages…we patched it all up again and the kids went to sleep – we then spent HOURS trying to make up all the various paperwork folders and manuals only to find Boss Lady had printed the wrong ones – reprinted them all, ordered a pizza as too late to cook, then Ady packed and we fell into bed about midnight – alarm set for 6.30am with Teeny waking every half an hour! Waved him off this morning, Lynda arrived and I spent a happy hour wandering round Sainsburys buying ‘single girl food’ – chocolate, wine, treats for brekkie for me and the kids tomorrow, some cake mixes to entertain us and so on, then came home to hear from Ady that the office he is supposed to be Health and Safety auditing is an empty room with no furniture or anything – frantic phonecalls and texts batter about between me, him, Boss Lady and Boss Lady’s husband (the man who’s company we are doing the work for) and eventually I go to meet Boss Lady for lunch – have a fab lunch in the poshest area up here locally (glad I ‘did’ lunch there before we go home again!), come home and find Ady is coming home again tomorrow instead of Friday – hurrah! Lynda then gives the loveliest speech about how if I need anyone over the next few days I only need to call her – day or night – she is home both afternoons and will gladly come round, and invited us over at some point over the weekend – REALLY going to miss her! Had a great couple of hours with the kids (see I can do it alone – lol) – Monster was on the verge of a tantrum after he and Teeny both sat on the little plastic tray which houses his dinosaurs so I said we could make a new home for them with an old tissue box (hastily emptied of tissues!) and he insisted on using the ‘box of ‘tuff’ (box of stuff – a birthday present from Teeny to him last year – two big boxes of all crafty stuff – glitter, felt, pom poms, stickon eyes, little hands and feet, pipe cleaners, lace, scraps of material, you get the idea – oh and some leftovers from Merry’s MP christmas craft kit!) so we got out an old shower curtain to cover the floor and both of them got stuck (quite literally – we all needed to bath the pritt stick out of our hair!) in with decorating the tissue box and spreading bits of the box of stuff throughout the house! They then both ate ALL their tea, while I hoovered up (the Dyson is now a symphony of glitter, lametta and other sparkly stuff whirling round whenever you turn it on!) had a very splashy bath and they both went to sleep really well – an excellent day topped off by a text from Ady to say he is on the train home tonight after all! ETA about 10pm! And the rest of this week and beginning of next week when he was expecting to go to more H&S audits is cancelled so we are free to pack up and do any last minute Manchester type excursions too!
The day of the move edges ever closer! Today we went to the City of Manchester stadium (where the Commonwealth Games where held and home of Man City FC) to get a photo of us all stood infront of it – the last place on our list of northern landmarks with the four of us infront of them! Also trekked round Asda and Tescos trying to find Ady some smart shirts for meetings he has to go to later this week (nights away from home – wah! how will we all cope?!). Bumped into Lynda in Tesco – Monster insisted on walking round with her for a bit – she said she loved it and he can be really well behaved but we generallys save the supermarket visits for when she is looking after them so it was a bit surreal for all of us to be there together! Ady and kids then played in the garden for a bit, then I watched Dora with them before their baths – Teeny is so funny with her clapping and dancing along to the songs – you only have to ask her ‘where are we going?’ to get her up on her feet twirling around!
Yesterday we went for a last meal with my mate from up here – D. He is a funny bloke, he sings and performs but is actually quite shy and he’s gay – which is totally not an issue but he did not tell anyone for ages so there was all this speculation about him – Monster was really funny asking why no ladies lived at D’s house and then saying how much he loves D – D is not too child friendly – well okay he’s terrified of the little people and gets all flustered if they even try to talk to him, let alone leap on him with kisses and cuddles – very amusing as this seems to be magnetic to both ours who would happily clamber all over him given half a chance! We had fondue – which we’ve never had before and was actually quite nice – if a little chaotic with a fondue merrily bubbling and burning on a low table with the two kids running about high on all the sugar from the sweets and chocolates D kept bringing out for them! Fun though and as Ady said I think me and D will both miss our friendship in a pretending we are Will and Grace sort of way!
Tomorrow Lynda is here to mind the monsters while we have a final meeting with boss lady before we go, then on Wednesday in theory Ady is going down to London for a couple of nights – leaving me all alone to manage the bedtimes, nights and early mornings with the kids which will come as a total culture shock after having him home for three months! Lynda is coming on Wednesday though – and in a way I am looking forward to doing some Mummy stuff with them instead of family stuff!
More of a test to see if the comments thingy is working than anything to report! Just got back from ‘our last night out in Manchester’ very early as the restaurant was quiet, we were seated and ate early and frankly I was a bit drunk by 9pm! Had a great day today – went to Chester Zoo where Monster had a fab time racing about and Teeny loved showing off all her animal noises – of course her full reportoire of about six she was a bit stumped and pointed and squeaked at the giraffe then tried moo, oink, miaow, woof and gave up! As I don’t know what – or even if – giraffes make a noise with Monster we simply did a hand high in the air to show that giraffes are very tall so I tried to teach her that but she was not having any of it! She loved the lions and tigers and the penguins, hated the bat cave, adored the monkeys and wanted to join in with the elephant babies spray water playing! Monster got a big rainbow fish (too big to be a rainbow fish mummy, it must be a rainbow whale) and Teeny got an elephant helium balloon which they battered us with from the back seats of the car all the way home. A great day had by all! Yesterday was also good – pouncing upon Monsters dinosaur interest we have made playdough dinosaurs with home made play dough (did it on Thursday to keep Monster quiet for a while whilst I did some work and then yesterday when I said he couldn’t play with the playdough as there was none left he told me we could just make some with salt, flour and water – that kid’s too smart!), then plasticine, bought some toy plastic dinos, got a dino dvd (which is a nice enough story but rubbish for teaching any real facts – grr!) and a really good book for teaching me all the answers to the questions he keeps asking! He can already identify (scuse spelling!) stegosaurus, pterodon, t rex (although he says the whole name!), tricerotops, diplodocus and knows you don’t get dinosaurs in zoos ‘cos they are stinked!’. He has also grasped that some eat veg (well trees!) and some eat meat (well other dinos!) and all the various scales and horns were for self protection. Think this one could run and run! Also Ady has totally bought into HE now – all of a sudden he has started commenting himself about how glad he is the kids won’t be going to school cos of x,y,z. He turned some Trevor McDonald thing about teachers off in disgust and is really into the idea – he has been shown just how much the kids have learnt while he has been home with us full time for the last few months, and how much they love to learn – it really sunk in when I said to him that Monster should be sat in a classroom with 30 other kids in a years time having to put his hand up and wait to be acknowledged before he can even speak, let alone ask a question, go to the toilet or learn something – imagine how that will curtail his sponge brain!
Anyway enough rambling – off to see if this produces the opportunity for comments or not!
Leap Pad continues to be a best buy here – the Toy Story 2 book I ordered off ebay arrived this morning as did a Dora book ordered from some collecting tokens deal in one of the tabloids my brother reads – so an exciting post for Monster today! Lynda has been here for the last two days and Ady and I have done sterling work with the garage and the basement, both of which are now ready for the move – as I type I should really be packing up the cupboard under the sink – my task for this evening! Getting really excited about the move – it will be great for the kids on so many levels – they will have ready made playmates in the shape of the friends who we made before we left children who are the same age as Monster, their little cousins who are just a couple of months older than Teeny (and will also be HEing!) a fair few local contacts through HE lists I have already made and all the other groups and HE gatherings that seem to be going on in the area generally. A bit concerned about what I am going to be doing work wise but I know something will turn up and even that is a bit exciting in a ‘new opportunity’ sort of way. Monster has sprung great interests in ‘space’ and ‘dinosaurs’ largely based on an extension of the Buzz Lightyear obsession (which also has Rex the dinosaur!) a dinosaur joke book (I know!) a space man duvet cover and Daddy talking to him about them lots. He is also highly interested in bodily functions! I just know there are loads of HE type opportunities within such a vast spectrum and am itching to get to the library, get some scrapbooks and so on but there is no point in starting stuff like that mid move – think I might make a start on some web research and some project ideas though and scout around for some cheapie books from The Works or somewhere – don’t want to lose the interest by ignoring it. Teeny is as adventurous and mad as ever – she is going great guns with her few words and her animal noises and is just so hilarious to be around. Both children are so touching in the little things they do for each other too – there is such a big bond between them, and such love – yesterday while Monster was eating his tea he said he wanted his juice so I told him to go and get it then, Teeny pushed her chair back, stood up, found his juice, gave it to him then sat back down and carried on with her tea. Today they had some easter egg each for their pudding and after I had split it between two bowls for them Monster sat on the sofa next to me but Teeny put her bowl down on her table so Monster put her chair ready for her, then when she had sat down he pushed the table in for her….so cute! Learning is such an organic experience and part of just living it seems such an alien concept to me now to be sent off for seven hours a day to sit and learn! Feeling very excited and positive about life and the future generally at the moment….skips off happily to start under the sink cupboard!
A Happy Easter had by one and all in the Goddard house. Granny and Grandad arrived for their last ever vist up here (we move back down there in just over two weeks) on Friday – to much excitement from Monster and Teeny (even Teeny recognised them this time – although she flatly refused to stay alone in a room with them for the rest of the weekend – going mad if me or Ady tried to leave!). Had a long conversation with my parents on Friday night about the whole home education thing – both of them listened to what I had to say – I expanded upon what I had previously told them about it all and my reasons for wanting to do it – talking through following a curriculum, the options of HE as opposed to state and private schools, how we would tackle socialisation, the various resources available, the vast network of HEers and so on. Although I am sure neither of them are yet convinced I think they have finally grasped that it is not one of my fancy notions or five minute wonders (not that I think I am particularly prone to such things anyway!) and that it is a well thought out and researched lifestyle choice. I honestly believe that as time goes by they will HAVE to accept it as the children prove it is the right thing for us as they get older anyway. So I sort of feel the topic has been put to bed a bit – which is exactly what I wanted before we go home – a result! On Saturday we walked into town and had a takeaway and drunken mini egg hiding session in the evening. Monster and Teeny awoke before 6am on Sunday which meant only Ady witnessed the egg finding frenzy with them. They were both good about not consuming all 12 easter eggs there and then and even managed to sit at the table with the grown ups for a cooked lunch (although they had nuggets and alphabites as opposed to the roast pork the rest of us enjoyed!), Sunday evening was spent watching William and Mary and trying not to cry infront of my parents (especially at the teenage pregnancy bit) before an early night all round. Today parents went home, taking our second car as an early birthday pressie for my brother (Ady will be getting a company car when he starts the new job) and we had a brief wonder around the town and did some more packing and cleaning. Nothing of great educational note to report but I always feel proud of what great children they are when they are around my parents – so a pat on the back for me and Ady anyway!
a pretty good couple of days here – yesterday Lynda was around for most if it which meant me and Ady achieved loads of moving stuff – repacked basement boxes and got them down from 22 to 7 – huge achievement and wonder quite how we accumulated so much cr*p in the first place! We have still got about 5 boxes to sell on ebay – not sure whether I really well get them all photographed and listed and sold and out the house before we move, or whether they will end up moving with us or whether we will simply be realistic and give them to the local charity shop before we go! We have already given them loads of the kids toys – and felt all glowy and warm when we walked past the shop today and saw them all in there for sale! Did two trips to the local tip – pangs as we chucked the old car seats – especially the baby baby one – it has in its time craddled our two most precious things in the world – seems sad that it ends its days amoung the broken tvs and old fridges! i also managed to condese the kids toys in the dining room / playroom to 12 storage boxes all with lids firmly closed – this means more toy boxes went up into their bedrooms (okay are still piled up in the corner waiting to go in their bedrooms!) – and three boxes packed of photo albums and the like. Today we walked into town and finally bought the Leap Pad we have been debating for ages for the little people – huge success – all hail the leap pad, long live the leap pad the leap pad is king! Monster LOVES it – so far we have only got the freebie book it comes with but have other books in my view already! He is in bed currently playing with it and is so proud of how much he knows – and Ady was so surprised at how much he knows – really afirms the belief that he is learning all the time and we are doing a good job – oh and it might just keep him quiet on the 5 hour car journey coming up too! We got more boxes delivered today for the move and I became a proper customer at Viking Direct – ahhh stationery (said in manner of Homer Simpson and Do-nuts!) first order arrived mere hours after ordering and although it was all stuff for work there was that frisson of excitment while opening the boxes – oh and we got a free new customer welcome gift of easter chocs and biccies too! Then Ady and kids frollicked in the garden (including emptying out and washing the sandpit) while I did some work. Parents arriving for the weekend tomorrow so Ady is currently making their room habitable, Teeny is long since asleep and Monster has finally reliquished the leap pad in favour of Buzz Lightyear and is now yelling for me – so time to go!