September, Oh How I Love Thee....

September really is one of my favourite months of the year. Birthdays are the main thing but I like it when it starts to get cooler but not too cold and not too wet.  So, here's what has happened since the last post.

1. Baby boy is now 4. FOUR years of being a mother to 3 little boys and I really can't remember life before it. This is where I am supposed to be in the world.

2. Liam's birthday was centered on him. He went to nursery then daddy and I took him to the local soft play center. He LOVED it. There were only 4 other kids in there at the busiest time so he ran himself ragged for 3 hours.

3. We collected the big brothers from school and went out for a meal at a local public house. Liam had his favourite dinner of jacket potato with beans and cheese and a blackcurrant fruit shoot drink. The kids then played out in the park.

4. James surprised us with how co-ordinated he is these days and with his agility.

5. We then went home for birthday cake. Liam blew out the candle and the kids tucked into a third of a cake between them with squirty cream. The cake was supposed to serve 16!

6. Liam had been invited to a party on the Saturday before his birthday but we chose to go away for the weekend instead.

7. What a mistake that was! The weather was ok but there had been rain and the park had 6 inches of water at the bottom of the slides and under the swings. The kids indoor play area was over-run by older kids and the staff didn't seem to care. The entertainment was cringeworthy but fine if you like hearing "OMG" and "LOL" EVERY 30 SECONDS. It was too much. It hurt my brain. For the first time ever we left a getaway break early not feeling we could do it another day.

8. The day after was hubby's birthday.  We dropped the kids in town and went for breakfast in a town restaurant. It was nice to have a rest day.

9. Hubby has run out of petrol TWICE this week. We've discovered that when the tank is low, we shouldn't park on a hill. Also, we've discovered that the fuel light that tells you that you are very low on petrol only seems to come on when it's virtually running on empty.

10. Today I have driven the car for the first time in about 8 weeks.

11. Liam has gone up a year in age but up about 3 or 4 years in tv preference. He no longer likes Disney JR but loves Disney XD.  He now has 2 new favourite tv shows. Phineas and Ferb and Crash and Bernstein. How can it be so? My little man likes this sort of stuff already!

12. Still on the subject of Liam, he's being a bit of a naughty boy at school. Nothing major, just a case of being in a little trouble with his teachers for being a bit pushy and rough with other kids. Not spitefully, but just a bit "bumpy" when someone is in the way and being a little bossy. We think (and hope) it's because the dynamics have changed. He's no longer the little one, he knows he is one of the oldest in the class and is demonstrating that. He's always been the little one, the one at the bottom of the food chain so to speak so now he has found a new "power" of age, size and strength all in one go and is discovering new boundaries with his teachers.

13. Matthew and James are happy with their school and James is getting on very well with his new books. He's on the picture books before learning to read. He's doing so well and loves going into school.

14. I had my smear test last week. Nothing has come back yet so fingers crossed that is good. My nurse thought I may need a repeat one as she wasn't sure she had enough cells. So far I've not been recalled nor had a scary hospital letter.

15. Finally, this is my last weekend of being 32. Monday I turn 33 and head rapidly to my mid 30's. On Friday, bestie and I are off out for a curry and visiting some of the public houses in the village on a girls night out. I do actually like being in my 30's. I'm more self assured and confident in myself in these years. I am not trying to please others all the time, I'm happy to have my voice heard and I am happy to be able to do everything I need to for the kids. I've dedicated their early years to them and I would like to think that by this time next year or at least by the time I'm 36 I can be back at work with the knowledge that my children are in school and being looked after so I can think about contributing to the household. I just need to find a job that's ideally 9-3, Monday to Friday term time only and maybe, well, ideally, have a day in the week off too to catch up with friends and housework rather than squeeze it all into a weekend. I guess that is me and a few million other women wanting those hours. :)

10 Years

Yesterday would have been my 10th wedding anniversary.

What can I say about that?

I was 22, I was too old to be dubbed "too young" when I married. I made my choice, I had a baby on the way and I just got rolled away in the moment.

A moment that seemed out of my control. Life snowballed at an incredible rate and being pregnant, I thought it was for the best for baby.

I'm far from a control freak, though I often joke about it as I like to be organised - there is a difference but at the time I felt I was doing it for everyone else but myself. My baby, my ex, my family. Everyone seemed so excited for the first wedding in the immediate family since 1980, I  was the first child and first grandchild, first niece to marry so there was alot of excitement surrounding it all.

Excitement from everyone but myself.

I didn't want to be a single mum. I didn't want baby to know his mum didn't try to make a go of it with his dad but I didn't want to keep on living in a hostile relationship.

I've said it before and I've said it again, the only reason I went through with it was because of fear of letting everyone else down.

But hey, that's all in the past. Thank God for divorce eh?

Return To School

Well, it's official. My little cherubs are back at school.

James looked great in his little uniform although I swear he's grown an inch or two as his trousers aren't so long as they were.

 My poser James!

 Under the tree at school.

My 3 boys on the way to school yesterday complete with book bags, pe bags and lunch.

The following photo shows that at times, James still has such a baby face!

Still so little and innocent looking.

The first day was a major success. He just went in as directed by his teachers and went off. He came out of school happy but tired and seemed to really enjoy his day.

This morning was a different story altogether.

He got ready great, walked to school brilliantly, even waited patiently as we were early. As the doors opened we were about halfway back and 2 kids in front began to cry. So James joined in. He was dragged in sobbing.

The routine in nursery was that parents take the children in, help them put away coats and bags and encourage them to find their name stickers for the attendance wall but this new routine is much more grown up. You say goodbye to mum or dad at the door and go straight into the classroom. Starting as the mean to go on.

It did not help this morning that I had to go in the door right next door (the one he used to use) with Liam as it was his first day today. Most kids in the reception class were quite happy settling in with each other sorting out book bags and the like with James and the other 3 crying kids didn't look at all happy.

James was shooting me evils for being in with Liam and putting on the most sorrowful, emotionally blackmailing face as he saw me across the room. I just waved my boys off and left. Horrid mother that I am. Ha!

I know it's all for show, I've seen it with other kids regularly and as soon as mum has gone, then the need for sympathy disperses by the time mum is out of sight.

I did catch sight of him later when I went to collect Liam. Needless to say, he was happy running about shouting and laughing with his best friend Ryan. The teacher let me pass him a hat over the school gate as it was blooming scorching hot today and he was happy to run back in ready for lunch when they were called in.

Liam LOVED his first day at the "BIG nursery" He is very fond of his teachers and came home with a painting and a paper plate covered in sticky stars. Liam is going to be the creative one. One of his teachers said he did cry at one point when they were getting ready to go home. He saw James playing outside and was upset that he had to sit down and wait to go rather than go back outside to play. He seemed very happy to be there, happy to get home and after a quick lunch promptly fell asleep on the sofa for a well earned nap!

Matthew is a typical "Big Boy" of school. When asked how his new teacher is, she's "alright". Does he think he'll be ok in that year? "Yeah". What did you do today Matthew? "Not much" What are you learning this term? "I don't know. Maths, English, books, bit of history - the normal!" Agh - When do males learn the art of conversation?!

So then, two days in and it's a bit of a settling in jobby for the next couple of weeks. Let's see if we have more tears tomorrow.......

September September September

It seems no time at all since we began thinking of the school holidays.

Tomorrow my big boys go back. We then have a home appointment with 2 of Liams teachers then he begins his new nursery on Thursday.

Where has the Summer gone?

Last week we noticed an abundance of berries on bushes and trees, the leaves are already turning and falling, the nights getting longer.

Summer in England has been good this year. I note this now as it's been against the normal pattern for the last few years of hot but wet. Let's be honest,on the whole we Brits LOVE to talk about the weather, we LOVE to complain about it. It's too hot, too cold, too wet. We'll find something to complain about. In the summer it's light too early, the kids won't sleep as it's light too late. We have people who complain about the lot.

I however, always state to be a realist and I enjoy the little bits of nature that we can't control. I like the light evenings, I like the bright mornings. I don't even mind if we have a wet summer.  We are an Island, rather a small island compared to many places and common sense denotes that islands tend to be wetter. Why? Water surrounds us, the water cycle is something we all learn young (Year 2 or age 7 over here) but it seems 90% of people forget that. They don't seem to understand the laws of science that states that the hotter it gets, in theory, the more water is evaporated into the sky, creates clouds and therefor rains. Air pressure has been different this year so we have had a drier summer but we recently had a really bad rain storm which caused a lot of flooding not too far from where we live.

Last week, I had a moment and got my hair cut shorter. About 6 inches shorter to a choppy jaw length bob. Whilst I don't hate it it's something I am getting used to. I will be growing it long again.

Two weeks ago, we were rather busy with the electrics. Tv on, computer on, all general things working as normal, heating the oven for dinner and so forth when the power went off. It turned out something had tripped the fuse. We restarted everything and it went again after about 15 seconds. Worried about electrics we unplugged a few things in the living room and tried again. This time all was fine. We, for some reason decided to boycott the original plan for dinner and get a takeaway. The next day was our anniversary so I cooked Steak, chips, salad and the like. The Thursday I put the oven on to do lunch and after 30 minutes I realised that the oven wasn't heating up. The fan was on, the light was on, no heat. So I did a little investigation work a la Google to discover the element that heats the electric oven had gone. We were able to use the hob and top oven in the mean time (dual oven) but it was frustrating that the main oven wasn't working. We got it fixed last week for a nice little set back of £72. We could have got the part off ebay for £10 but whilst hubby is normally good at DIY type things, he didn't want to risk taking apart our £600 cooker and getting it wrong. He intently watched as the repair man did the job and said if it ever happened again he'd be able to do it.

When the kids are back at school I am going to start baking again. I haven't made a cake for a while but I want to do one and I have an idea for Liams birthday cake in a couple of weeks. I just want to practice it first. Watch this space.