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Monday 7 September 2015

Out with August, In with September..

So, after having an involuntary break from blogging for various reasons, I am back. Woo. Apologies for being absent. A lot has happened in the few short days that have been September and a lot was whizzing around in my brain, so I needed a few days to think about stuff and have a bit of time to myself once the children were sleeping in bed.

The 2nd September saw my 5 year old begin a new school year in Year 1. Thankfully, he and his class have the same teachers as they had in reception so it wasn't much of an upheaval for them as in previous years, but still change in the respect of new class room, new curriculum etc.



My mum and I had a conversation on Friday afternoon. It got me thinking about a lot of things, how you perceive peoples relationships, in daily life and on social media, how they only tell you the good parts and not so much of the bad. How you are lead to believe everyone else is in a perfect bubble of love, with perfect children, no rowing, no voices raised.

I've had a lot of thinking to do over the weekend, and sometimes too much thinking is a bad thing. So, to try and get away from my head and my thoughts, I took the boys and Miss DL up to my mums for the afternoon on Saturday. We had lunch, and took Bella the dog on a walk to the park with my brother and the kids.




Miss DL was in the sling, and whilst the boys were playing with their uncle, I took the opportunity to sit on the swing. I like nothing more than being able to sit with my eyes closed on a swing, feeling the breeze in my hair and letting my mind run free. I held on tight to my daughter, her first time on a swing with mummy, and thought about her, her brothers, fun times we have had and will continue to have over their childhood.

We stayed late, having tea and the kids playing with my cousin who popped in to see them. Having eaten nearly my mums entire cupboard contents, we left happy and with full bellies. I got home with two sleeping youngsters to carry into bed, and their big brother dead on his feet.

Sunday was the day for Master D's swimming lesson. We have to be up, ready and at swimming for 9.15am. It normally involves me trying to watch Master D swim, whilst preventing Master L from doing any damage to himself or the leisure centre, and either getting Miss DL to sleep or feeding her. Fun times.

Today was Master L's first day back at playgroup. He has been asking me for the last week when he would be going back to school, I could finally say it was his day to go! He was so excited bless him. He raced his brother to get his uniform on after breakfast, raced him to the car, and was thrilled when I told him his brother had gone into school so it was his turn next.

After having a lovely morning of peace with Miss DL, involving friends, babies, bacon butties and tea, it was time to pick little legs up from school. He was so happy to see me, and to top it off, we was treated to lunch by his friends mum. Topping off a lovely day I think.



H.x

Tuesday 1 September 2015

We survived the summer holidays!!

That's it. The holidays are finally over. Both boys are bathed and finally sleeping in their beds after a fun packed, argument filled summer holidays.

Master D's uniform is all labelled up, ironed and hanging in his wardrobe ready for tomorrow morning, and his school shoes, book bag and PE kit are all by the door with his coat. Master L doesn't return to playgroup until next Monday - something I haven't yet mentioned to him as I know he is expecting to go tomorrow after his brother has been taken to school.




Myself and J took them both to get their hair cut today too. That was an experience in itself. Who would have thought, on a Tuesday at 2pm, barbers shops everywhere (ok, not everywhere, but the ones local to us) would have queues out of the door! More schools are back tomorrow than I had initially thought. Oops.

After a good 35 minute wait, both Master D and Master L came out looking less "orphan Annie" than they did when they went in. Although they have taken Master D's hair a bit shorter than I'd have liked, its a damn good job it grows so quickly!

We have had a lovely summer holiday. My Dad, Step mum and sisters came over at the beginning for a week. We baked cakes, visited a big park where my dad watched Bowls being played, and explained to the boys how to play it. We celebrated my Dads birthday with a nice family meal and generally spent as much time with them as we could.

We have been to lots of local parks, been on walks with Cleo, Master D learnt to ride his bike with no stabilisers and Master L has become a pro on his balance bike. We had a week of swimming school where Master D got his 5m badge, and we have been to endless soft play areas where we met with friends from school.

Two trips to the seaside were enjoyed, with picnics and candyfloss. Ice cream and Ice pops have been eaten until bellies hurt and I can't count how many empty crisp packets I've picked up off the floor. The swimming pool has been up all summer, and although is hasn't been used as a pool much thanks to the great British weather, the boys have still enjoyed using it as a house, a target for catching cars and a jumping obstacle to name but a few.

We have had countless re-runs of Bing and Peppa Pig - starting to hate the sight of both programmes now, after being quite taken with Bing. Not to mention video after video from "Evantube" or Stampy from Minecraft, or Hotwheels cars on a "super fast, brand new, really long" track, before one to many kinder egg surprises being opened. Kill me. Please. If I ever hear that bloke with the annoyingly squeaky voice talking about Minecraft ever again, it will be too soon.

But I would be lying if I say there has been no arguing, tale telling or fighting between the two boys. There has also been endless rows over someone taking a toy when he shouldn't have, or another not playing "properly". Plenty of tears have been spilled over bumped heads and fighting over something menial before playing nicely again for 5 seconds.

I am so, so ready for school to start again. I love my children dearly, and I enjoy spending time with them, but 6 weeks for children so young is far too long. They are getting bored of soft play areas, going to the park is wearing thin, and their trampoline and toys at home are "boring" now too.

I am starting to crave the routine we have when the boys are in school. We are all usually up, eating breakfast by 7.15am, then after a bit of TV (normally Peppa Pig or Bing! which we have recorded - around 70 episodes of each!) we are dressed and ready to leave at 8.25am.

After dropping the boys off at school (8.50am start for Master D, 9am start for Master L) I either come home with Miss DL and have breakfast, or I call to my friends for breakfast/meet in a café.

Generally our week is full of play dates - ok when I say play dates, I mean Master L is in play group, I meet friends with Miss DL who either sleeps or feeds whilst I get to sit down, drink tea and eat cake whilst catching up on the latest gossip/news - before collecting Master L at 12noon. Then we have lunch and more play dates or we go home with the idea of a bit of housework, if it hasn't been done that morning.

We try to fit in a visit or two to my Gran's who we see weekly, I take her shopping, or we just sit and talk, play with the children, and she tries to kill me off with tea and chocolate biscuits. Is it just my Gran who insists on offering you a slice of cake, or a chocolate biscuit, or a fruit scone, with your tea.. every few minutes? She should know, after 24 years, I will always help myself if I wanted something. Thankfully, she wouldn't have it any other way.

With the new academic year starting, with it, brings new challenges to keep us busy. I will be joining Slimming World next week, once Master L is back at playgroup. I have an aim to lose 2st of "breastfeeding weight" that I have piled on purely since feeding Miss DL. I took the advice to "eat full fat everything, and don't say no to a treat" too literal, and ended up eating no less than 1 cake at most sittings.. including after breakfast. It is no surprise that I weigh more now than I did when I was 38 weeks pregnant. Hopefully I will lose it no problem without jeopardising the milk I'm making for Miss DL.

I will also be starting my Breastfeeding Support Worker course towards the end of September. Breastfeeding is something I have found a new an intense love for. I am so eager to begin this course and become a qualified support worker, there to help mums through tough times with their new born babies. And hopefully get a few snuggles with teeny babies too! Its a 14 week course, which will take me through to January, where I will be shadowing a qualified Breastfeeding Support Worker on home visits and onto the wards at my local hospital. I will update you all throughout the course. I cannot wait to learn lots of new things! This will also help towards my university application once I have done my Access to Nursing course in collect next September, as it will all be volunteer work. 

Of course, I will still be keeping up to date with my blog, taking time to wind down and share my life with those who take their time to read it. But for now, I shall leave you all in peace. My date with Ben & Jerry is calling me..


H.x Brilliant blog posts on HonestMum.com