How many sleeps?

If you are a parent you will be very familiar with the phrase..."how many sleeps?" We use it for Christmas, Birthdays, Holidays and special treats, it's a concept which kids and we parents find very easy to use. Today I find myself asking "how many sleeps?" because today I got the letter I had been waiting on....AJ my youngest had got her nursery place at our local school!!! 5 mornings!!! she has been delayed in getting her place because the school which we use is getting a new all purpose Nursery built and it is not quite finished yet. To say that I am delighted is an understatement, don't get me wrong I love my children dearly but my eldest daughter is very independent and is happy to go anywhere and with anyone who offers but AJ is not cut from the same cloth. I have struggled to leave AJ with anyone and this has been going on from a very early age and even now she is over 3 and the shutters will go down and she refuses to leave my side(remember my earlier blog about having to go to Sunday school?) 99% of the time I really don't mind her wanting to stay with her mummy the majority of the day because she is quite funny and has the most amazing knack of picking up songs very quickly(she can sing most of the Mama Mia and High School Musical soundtrack!!)but that little 1% is what I really miss..reading my book without her turning the pages for me...not having to watch cbeebies or pop...not having to continually refill her drawers because she has tipped them out...the list goes on and on. So roll on Nursery because I'm sure it will be the making of her and me..and in case you're wondering 48 sleeps to go!!

Bursting the Bubble

This morning was a "bubble bursting" moment in my 8 year olds life. HC was as usual moaning about having to get up for school and demanded to know why her 3 year old sister was still in her bed and not having to get up and ready. "Don't worry" I told her, "next year after the summer holidays AJ will be going to school everyday" Then came the reply "but were will I be then?" uh oh....then I had to explain how many years exactly were left of daughter number 1's school life..as you can imagine it didn't go down very well! I still don't think she really realises how long her school experience will be because when you are young you really don't have the concept of time, years go by very slowly, Christmas, birthdays and summer holidays take forever to come round. It's only now when I have entered my 30's do I really grasped how quickly the years go by and I still feel like I am still in my late teens not about to hit 40 in 7 years...gulp!

Mobile Blogging

I'm still not feeling well today and have spent most of the weekend in my bed, I even had to miss a night out with my friends last night and Church this morning. However as a mum of two young girls I'm not used to having so much "down time" so to say that I am enjoying myself just a little bit is spot on. I'm watching American Idol at the moment, hence the picture taken by my mobile as I'm lying in my bed and I'm blogging from my mobile phone...how clever am I? I still can't imagine how these contestants cope with being slated on national television..oh someone has just let some fireworks off...on a Sunday afternoon? I'm really grateful for my mobile phone this weekend as I have been able to keep up with everyone without having to keep getting up and answering the house phone, also I have been able to keep texting my husband to bring me cups of tea!!!which I have to say a big thank you because he does and he makes the best tea ever! Oh brill Diagnosis Murder is on...ttfn!

Sleeping Beauty

I took this picture last night of my lovely AJ after she had fallen asleep in our bed whilst she was watching the television in our bedroom. Both my girls think this is a great treat and are always delighted if they are allowed to do this, sometimes we have great difficulty in getting AJ to leave the room as she would quite happily spend all day in there! It's amazing how the simplest things make kids happy...the cardboard box a toy arrived in...an empty shampoo bottle in the bath...a roll of sticky tape, paper and a pair of scissors. My eldest daughter is thrilled if she gets to stay the night at her Grans without her little sister being there to spoil her fun. When I was young one of the things I loved to do was to sneak into my grans "big bed" in the morning when I was spending the night there and to cuddle in and wait on my Papa bringing us our breakfast in bed. I love these special memories and I hope as my girls get older they will remember these things fondly too and not just the new toy that they got at Christmas and Birthdays.

Ouch!

I'm sitting here this afternoon feeling really sorry for myself because for the past few weeks I have been suffering from sciatica in my left leg. Unfortunately for me instead of improving any even though I have had loads of prescriptions from the Doc it's getting worse. So I duly went back to the Docs today and had my prescription upped again. Thankfully at the start of all of this I had the good sense to invest in a prepaid certificate from the chemist which cost me £31.50 and lasts for 4 months, if I hadn't my bill for my sore leg would so far have cost me £47.25! and its only been just over 3 weeks since this has all started. It's also meaning this week that there are certain things which I'm really struggling to do and I'm having to give these jobs to other people which is something I don't like to do....internet home shopping for my groceries, I am really particular about choosing my own fruit and veg, examining my eggs for cracks and impulse buying all the offers that supermarkets all seem to have on! My ever growing ironing pile which my lovely mum has offered to do for me, my mum will be laughing at me saying I miss doing my ironing but ever since she got me a brill stream generating iron for my Christmas I can't get enough of it!

The Sound Of Life

I'm sitting here tonight trying to decide what to write about today and whilst I'm doing it I'm listening to the great Peter Kay reading the first chapter of his autobiography. In this he talks about the sound of life and it made me think about the "sound of life" that my children and my husband make all day, starting with the racket my dear husband makes when he gets up and ready for work, the protests from daughter number 1 about the fact that she has to get up for school, the yells from daughter number 2 that the television is not on and so on. Other sounds echo round my house all day as well.. telephone, hoover, washing machine, microwave and the enjoyable gossip from my 2 friends who were round for coffee. The sound rumbles on all day and now finally it's 8pm and daughters 1 & 2 are now in bed and it's wind down time for me now and I have to confess that I'm really enjoying the silence of the "sound of life"

The Biggest Nightmare: Part 2!!

Can't believe I forgot to blog yesterday! just about to prove how useless I am at keeping up to date with things. Anyway back to today...I am babysitting for my cousin Allan and his wife Lorna, when I say babysitting he is nearly 3 and an absolute joy. However his arrival has brought out the most horrible side of my beloved child, AJ who has so far today had 4 tantrums and has tried to beat him up on numerous occasions. I am a broken wreck and it is only 3 o'clock in the afternoon,thankfully his dad is on his way to get him and I would love nothing better than to crawl into a darken room with a large bottle of wine! but daughter number 1 is on her way home from school so round 2 between her and her sister will commence just shortly!

The Biggest Nightmare Ever!!

Today my 3 year old well and truly put me to the test, AJ as she is affectionately known burst into my room at 7.15am and started to chap on my forehead as you would do to a front door that has no bell. I then went for a bath whilst she was safely holed up in my bedroom watching Tiny Pop. However when I came out of the bath, towel wrapped round me etc...I was greeted by the sight of my front door lying wide open, I started to panic and began to call for my delightful child. I reached the open door and being as careful as I could so not to expose my towel clad body shouted out again for her..no reply..shouted again, then just as I was about to race upstairs to dress and start the hunt she appeared from round the corner of the house, dressed in pjs, pink fluffy boots, a denim summer hat and carrying her shawl and dummy! "I was just having a wee look round"the innocent party responded! I then had the honour of taking the afore mentioned nightmare to Hamilton for some well needed new clothes(hurrah to Adams for bringing out Dora the Explorer clothes!)that earned me at least 5 minutes of cooperation in the clothes shop it went down hill very quickly after that. To cut a dreadful afternoon short I began to look like the sort of parent that I would normally feel quite sorry for in a public environment! and my mother who had accompanied me was heard to mutter "I cannot do this again" Bliss

Day of Rest

Today was a typical Sunday..no long lie, I was up and ready to go to Church this morning. I am a member of my local Church choir and it is greatly frowned upon by our choir mistress if we are not "out" on a Sunday. Sadly I was not destined to hear our Revs service(Great Blogger..check out IAIN C's RANDOM REFLECTIONS) as my 3 year old decided that I must accompany her to the little ones Sunday School..Noah's Ark, but it was actually quite good fun as I got to play with glue and crayons. My day of rest truly began at my mums who made my my Sunday dinner and told me to put my feet up! Thanks mum! It's now 6.15pm and I am getting ready to head home to disturb my husbands day of rest as he has had the house to himself all day...lucky him!

Suite Success

Went power shopping with my husband today, it took 2 hours in total to abandon kids at my mothers, drive into Glasgow, stop for a McDonald's and then buy a new 3 piece suite...do you get the play on the title? Pretty good going! Also managed to break a tooth on a Polo mint so now I'll need to make a visit to the place I really have an irrational fear of...the dentist! Anyway have returned home without the children and the missing bit of my tooth and my husband has adopted his usual position...horizontal on the couch(won't be doing that when I get my new one!) So I find myself fed up, probably lots of little jobs that I could be doing doing but I really can't be fussed. I should probably spoil myself rotten with a big bubble bath(so much more peaceful when you don't have any children hammering on the door to get in to the toilet or stripping to get in with you as my 3 year is prone to at the moment!) So I'll shall go and take full advantage of the peace and quiet!

I said I would do it

I have spent the past few months now following closely Blogs of people I know and have greatly admired the devotion they have in maintaining them on a nearly daily basis, so I have finally decided to get busy. I was never the sort of person that kept a diary,started faithfully every New Year but had always given up by the 3rd or 4th of January! I have chosen the name for my Blog as it was a nickname given to me by my old workmates and it was the name I fondly gave to my first car, and I have to admit that it was on the shortlist for baby names for my first child! Luckily we refrained from naming our child after a car and an old Smokie song I am sure that would have been something she would have cast up to us in later life. My sister is still shocked that she is named after someone my parents saw on a Tenants Lager can....Same again......I better not tell you although some of you may remember these very cans!