SO long

I can't believe it has been so long since I have been on my once loved blog. I still love it, but have become so busy it is less loved than laundry, food making, cleaning, school run, nursery run, swimming lessons, ballet and tap lessons, football lessons, church, netball and trying to keep up with friends and family!

So Christmas happened. Santa came, Nativity plays were viewed, presents were exchanged and food was enjoyed. Emily is in love with all things Sylvanian, Joel all things that bounce or fly in the sky and Seth all things chewable. It was fun opening gifts as a family of five.

January was hectic as Jamie sat at the desk night after night writing reports and crunching data after the early entry exam results came back. Oh the joys of being a Head of Department, or should I say the joy of being the widow in the room next door!

Joel has grown out of all his trousers yet again, we can't seem to keep up. He is happiest when in the garden with his football and was really proud of his new football socks from Santa. He has learnt to write his name and is enjoying learning, he looks out the window and declares that he can see his name or a friends name by finding one letter from that name. Being a kid must be great! He is also the master baker in the house with biscuits and scones being a favourite.

Emily is great. She has recovered after her accident in November. Her finger has healed amazingly and she seems to be able to move on from it, although I will always be fearful of doors after seeing the damage one can cause! She likes her glasses and is enjoying being in Year one. Her reading is coming along and she is amazed that she can read to herself!

Seth is lovely and celebrated his 8 month birthday yesterday. We are in the middle of food and how messy is that? I had forgotten how much I hate the whole learning about food thing!He got his first tooth last week and is just about crawling. Life is going to get a little more interesting in the next few weeks!

So this week is half term. We have had a lot of fun already. We have become a coupon collecting, voucher and code finding family... and with savings success. We have been to Eureka today which was great, busy, noisy and so much fun and Legoland today which again was pretty manic but we had a fabulous time! Tomorrow is a play day with friends, the hopefully Dunham Massey or Lyme on Friday! Jamie is looking forward to going back to work for a rest!

Time Flies

Well, it has been a while so a quick catch up is probably needed.

Emily has had her first school report. It was great, she is doing well and seems to have embraced learning. She is not so good at following other children's rules or listening to their opinions. I wonder where that comes from? She has been a social butterfly with lots of parties and play dates, it can be tricky balancing family life with her calendar.
She has had her fifth birthday, she got a new bike, hopefully the stabilisers will go over the summer.
Note, her friend's horror as Emily was ;spitting' out the candles!
Joel is great. He is attempting to be toilet trained with some success but not amazing! He found it hard to understand why Seth was getting presents for arriving in the world and Emily was getting them for her birthday, but what about him? Life has hard lessons! We have been to the open evening for his Nursery school, it will be weird to see him in uniform! He has his next cardiology appointment on August 4th. He meets his new cardiologist as our other has moved to another hospital. We hope he cooperates as he like 'Dr Bani'. Joel enjoying a game at Emily's party!
Seth is four weeks old and doing well, or better than he was. He has been in hospital with a urine infection but is picking up. He is on antibiotics until they do some tests to rule out any problems with his digestion system. He doesn't like it as it tastes of aniseed, but he has no choice. We met his plastic surgeon on Thursday; he was very reassuring that his cleft is on the minor side and should repair well. His surgery is scheduled for September 14th, his 3 month birthday, so we have only 2 more months of his 'special lip'. He is sleeping well at night, on the whole, only 2 feeds, but he can be grizzly in the evenings. We are using infacol which seems to settle him and reduce the times of crying.
Jamie is well, he is on the countdown.... only 5 more school days to go. Emily is on the count down only 10 more days to go!

I am on the count down... only 11 more moths to go before back to work!

On another note it is 9.30pm and Jamie has Emily at the out of hours dr as she has been complaining of a sore ear! Hope they will be home soon with an Emily who is not in pain.

It's been a while

The royal wedding was fun, Emily had a not the royal wedding party at school. We made cup cakes to share!We also went to Lyme Park for a picnic and walk. We had a great time! Do you like the new statues in the garden?

Joel has been busy improving on his football skills, we now have a broken light fitting in the lounge and other bumps and scrapes in the house. We are hoping for some dry weather so he can have target practise in the garden!

I am on maternity leave now! I made it to the end and am now 38 weeks pregnant and counting down. We brought the moses basket and a few toys down tonight for Emily and Joel to play with. They were amazed when we got the photograph albums out showing them sleeping in the basket, or sitting in the same baby bath or chewing the same toy! They are excited but I think a bit confused about the whole thing. They know a brother is coming but when Mummy and Daddy say soon, but he still isn't here! I suppose life from a child's view is very odd! I am swollen and have higher blood pressure than usual, I am being checked every 3 days, and they say baby may arrive early because of it! Jamie is on holiday this week as is Emily... so maybe this will be the week.

Jamie is taking the kids into Manchester tomorrow for the victory parade. They are excited, I don't fancy standing around with swollen ankles being squashed by lots of people.

Well, the bag is packed and the camera is charged, the children's bags are packed and we are as ready as we can be... maybe tonight is the night!

Flu and cookies

Well, I have been sick since before Christmas, I then picked up and felt better. I went back to school on the first day back and had to be brought home as I had a near fainting episode at my whiteboard. I got flu! Which one they don't know, but what I know is that nearly 2 weeks later I still don't feel 100% but I am better than I was and I have 32 children waiting for me back in class.

Today we had a pyjama day. It was a good way to recover as we were all tired and weary of routines, illnesses and life. It was so unusual for us that Emily didn't know what one was but she really enjoyed being in her nightie at tea time! So note in the pictures they are wearing their pjs despite it being 3.30 in the afternoon!
Yesterday we met up with the McCulloch clan from across the country to celebrate Christmas. It usually happens before Christmas but the snow stopped that this year. We have this great tradition of one family buys for another with a set budget. This year we received a great gift, we always do! Kids baking sets, a grown up apron as well as cookie jar and a gingerbread decorating book. So we tried out a few of them today. It was a little messy but so much fun and tasty too ! Joel has been back to the hospital last week for measuring and tests. His height has jumped massively and he is now 95cm! This means he is above the 91 percentile, something the dietitian thought would never happen. His weight has improved too (75 percentile) and he is no longer on infatrini! The milk he has been on since he was 2 weeks old has now left our home, not bad considering he is 2 and 5 months... and at 98p per 100ml we are no longer a drain on our doctors surgery prescription costs! (not that they ever questioned!) Joel continues to enjoy dressing up, he will use whatever her can find... including his underpants!

He did make me smile when I could hear, "yucky, yucky," coming from the bathroom when Joel was having his bath. I went to ask what was yucky only to be told... "my bottom, Mummy!".

A parcel arrived from Canada last week and in it were some homemade biscuits, which looked and tasted great. Thank you Soren, Kate and Sophie for sharing your cookies with us!

Well, I have successfully distracted myself with this for 30 mins so it is back to planning for tomorrow. Here's hoping I can get through the day without feeling faint or weak and that my class can forgive me for being off for 2 weeks and leaving them with a supply teacher!

It has been a while... and it will take a while to read this one!

It is 2 weeks until the end of our summer break and we have nearly finished the DIY. The conservatory is done, we just need to save for two pieces of furniture. We all love it, it is a great place to play, read and look out into the garden. It is even a good place to do school work!

The loft has had its fourth and final coat of paint and all it needs is some blinds on the windows so that when we need to sleep in it (in two weeks) the sun won't blind us!

The weather has been pretty unpredictable so we have had fun in our 'lounge cinema' complete with beds, popcorn and blankets. We have also popped out to visit Stan at Manchester Museum and have been to feed the ducks at Woodford Park Garden Centre. Sun would be nice so that we could enjoy our own garden a bit more.

We have been on holiday with friends on the Isle of Wight. Our god daughter is 11 and about to start high school, it was fun spending a week with her and her family. It is bizarre that the tiny little baby we were holding all those years ago is now holding our toddler's hand and playing with him in the sea! The sun shone for most of the time, we played on the beach, picniced a lot and had a fun time. We stopped at Longleat and had a great time at the Safari Park. Our kids love animals so it was a fab thing to do. Emily was beside herself at the thought of meeting Sportacus and Stephanie as well as holding a millipede! Joel enjoyed the train ride and the safari boats looking for sea lions and hippos!

Joel has had his second birthday. He got a scooter and a football net as well as fire trucks, rockets, animals and books. He even got a personally addressed and signed copy of Cave Baby - the new Julia Donaldson book! I am so excited for him - thank you Auntie Nic and Uncle David! We went to Monkey Forest with the McCulloch tribe and had a fun time with the 140 Barbarary Macques (not sure how to spell them... monkeys will do,).

It is hard to work out where the last 2 years have gone, Joel has been an amazing addition to our clan, he brings so much joy and laughter to our house and has a real love for all things four legged. I am sad to see the baby time go but he will keep us busy in the toddler years as he is as strong willed as his sister and Mummy! ( He also has a great thowing action like his Daddy, but sadly it is not just balls that he likes to throw!)

Well 2 weeks left, we are off to Greenbelt - a Christian arts and music festival. It is the first time we have camped since our America Trip in 2003 and the first time with 2 children. It is only for 2 nights..... I will let you know how it went. It is also results day for Jamie on Tuesday. He will find out how the students did in their exams and how his department has performed this year. Emily, Joel and I are going to our church kids club - the theme is super heroes. I don't plan to dress up in a cat suit! My parents arrive for a dessert afternoon with friends and family to celebrate Joel and Jamie's birthdays. A little late for JoJo but lots of people are away in August!

Then, before we know it, the 5 weeks that I have longed for since Christmas are done and I am meeting my new class of 32 Year 6 children on Wednesday 8th Sept after 2 days of Inservice training. Before that, I need to successfully convince a very adament 4 year old that she needs to wear black shoes to school and not pink ones. I have tried all summer and failed but this week I am biting the bullet! Wish me luck!