Crazy Conversations: Fireman Sam

We've just finished watching a Halloween episode where there's a spooking competition to see who can scare the best. At the end, Station Officer Steele scares Norman and wins the competition.

E: That was funny Mummy! I think he won.
Me: Who won what sweetheart?
E: Sir won. He scared Norman!
Me: Do you mean Station Officer Steele?
E: His name is Sir.
Me: I don't think it is sweetie.
E: It is! That's what Sam says!

I can't argue with that, Sam does always call him Sir. It gave me a good chuckle though.

The Photo Gallery: 8am

Tara over at Sticky Fingers has set the theme for her 200th(!) Gallery post as '8am'. I haven't participated in one of these for quite some time but today is a very special day so I couldn't resist - Toby turns two! 

So here we all are at 8am and a bit before (is that breaking the rules? Shhhh!) and as you can see, Toby is enjoying his presents. 

 Elizabeth excitedly waiting for Toby

 Unfortunately Toby wasn't very happy about having to come downstairs....

....until he saw his presnts!

 He enjoyed eating his breakfast at the table on his special new chair, like his sister

 This was us actually at 8am.  Please excuse the washing in the background!!

Hop over to Tara's blog and look at what everyone else has been doing at 8am on their chosen day.

Rolling Rolling Rolling....

A few weeks ago, when Zachary was around 14 weeks old, he rolled onto his front. I was shocked! That's very early to roll onto your front but he did it twice and that was it. A few days later we started to get rolling the other way, from his front to his back, which is much more typical for that age. Since then it's been clear that Zachary has mastered front to back rolling and he would also try to go onto his front but never managed it.

Until this weekend!

While we were in Denmark, Zachary started rolling onto his front and he hasn't stopped. In fact, he's now started 'moving', using his hands and knees to shift himself around in a circle and forward to reach a toy. It's only minor but he rarely stays where I put him now. All this and he's only 18 weeks old.

Travelling to Denmark

We've just got back from a long weekend visiting family in Denmark. We decided to fly this time (last year we drove) and it was going to cost too much to hire a car so we opted for using public transport once we were there. The Danes have a very good public transport system so we actually found the travelling around much easier than we'd expected it to be with three very young children in tow, plus our luggage.

We took our double buggy with us and we found that both the trains and buses had plenty of space for us, with nice wide doors for us to get in and out of, plus big open spaces inside to park the buggy and still stand next to it. The trains were the best for this and had a lot of pull down seats to maximise space. Perfect!

Elizabeth really loved being on the trains and buses. Every so often 'The Wheels on the Bus' would get belted out or she'd tell us what we'd find (like the bell, which goes 'ding' in case you ever wondered). I love her enthusiasm for all the things around her but when you're tired from travelling (and from all the prep for travelling), an almost 4 year old that doesn't stop talking or asking questions can be a little hard going! Still, it was wonderful that we had questions rather than whining and she seemed to take the traveling in her stride. In fact, all three children did. Toby did get frustrated that he couldn't be out of the buggy as much as he'd like but we did get him out as much as we could.

We both agreed that using public transport worked out really well. We're going to talk about maybe doing another 'travel light' holiday next year, pushing ourselves a little and exposing our children to something different. Both Frans and I are in awe of his sister and her husband. They frequently take holidays with their two children (I think they're 6 and 9) where they don't rent a car, only know where they're staying for the first couple of nights and just go where they'd like. I've never 'gone travelling' and it would be great to be able to share something like that with my family.

Holiday Time!

We're off to Denmark today to spend a long weekend with family. We're celebrating some birthdays while we're there but mostly it's about catching up with family that we haven't seen for a year. That's right, a WHOLE year! No one has met Zachary yet and this will be the first time that both boys have been on an airplane (we drove to Denmark with E and T last year).

Truth be told I'm a little apprehensive. Not because of who we're seeing but because of how we're getting there. We're flying to Copenhagen and then relying on public transport to get around. It's too expensive to hire a car for the weekend as with three very young children, we need three car seats and a car big enough to fit them all. Not cheap. So trains and buses it is. We've tried to make things easy for ourselves; where we're staying is right next to a train station and a short(ish) walk from family members. We can get a train from the airport to Copenhagen, then switch to arrive by our apartment.

The apartment is worth a mention actually. We didn't want (for various reasons) to use a hotel or B&B for our stay and we can't crash with family so we're trying AirBNB. In case you've not heard of them, this is from their About Us page:

Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world — online or from a mobile phone.

Whether a flat for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries. And with world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetise their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.

So we're staying in an apartment where someone actually lives. They won't be there of course! It's a little weird but it allows us to see our family because we couldn't afford it otherwise (or we couldn't have another holiday later in the year that's just us).

Jumping back to the car issue, due to relying on public transport, we're having to pack fairly light and only take what we really need. Two smallish pieces of hold luggage (one is a hiking backpack) and minimal hand luggage and it's been a challenge! It has made me realise that we can get by on a lot less than I usually take, and I usually try not to over-pack anyway. It's the nappies that take up all the space - two different sets for two different children - but at least we won't be coming back with them.

We're all really excited about our trip. Elizabeth is ridiculously excited about going on a train - it'll be her first time - and it's going to be such an adventure for the children. I've never 'travelled' so this is going to be an experience for me too!

Make-It Monday: Reversible Shorts

There's a blog I've started reading recently; Make It Perfect.  It's a sewing blog and I love it!  One of the posts was about 2-in-1 shorts and the pattern was free to download from here.  So off I went and got the pattern for reversible shorts, thinking "Yeah, I can make shorts.  Easy."  This was a few weeks before I bought the Lazy Day shorts pattern. I printed everything out and read the instructions, left it for a few days, read through everything again, left it for a few days... And on it went. I then started the Lazy Day shorts and Elizabeth asked if I was making them for her. I explained that because I made her a dress, Toby was now getting shorts made for him. However, since I made her dress, E asks me to make lots of things now ("that's OK mummy, you can make Baby Annabel a new top" or "mummy, I think I want another dress now. A pink one.") so naturally she told me that I could make her shorts once I'd made Toby's. So kind of her. 

So this brought me back to these lovely looking reversible shorts from Make It Perfect.  Elizabeth saw the elephant fabric (Michael Miller's Elephant Romp Midnight) in my stash and asked for that so I got busy cutting. I made the first half fairly quickly (the elephant print side) but then switched to another project. I came back to complete these shorts a week or so later. Doing the shorts from the second fabric (plain turquoise cotton) was much easier as I felt more confident with what I was doing.  I even added a pocket which was an option within the instructions.  I then had to combine the two to make the shorts reversible. 

I spent a lot of time making sure my seams lined up and that everything was where it should be. I hadn't realised when I started these shorts just how important it would be for my sewing to be fairly accurate, at least at the points where the two pairs were going to be stitched together (waistband and leg holes). Luckily I did a good job and I didn't have any issues. Phew!

This time, getting the elastic in at the waist was much easier and I made the channel slightly bigger than I needed, to give myself a bit of room should my sewing not be as accurate as I would like. I really struggled with the hem on the leg holes actually. Each pair needed to be turned in and I found it difficult to get both parts to be equal. I took my time and got there in the end. Stitching it was then easy and I like the double row of stitching. 

I love these shorts, as does Elizabeth, but they were quite time consuming and tricky for someone just starting out. I feel I've done a great job though and because they're double layered, they feel really good and hang really well. I'll definitely use this pattern again but once I've got some experience under my belt.

School uniforms

Elizabeth isn't quite at the age where she'll start school.  She'll start next September but it's something that we've talked a lot about recently as most of her friends from her pre-school, Jack and Jill's, are moving on to school now.  I've had to explain to her that because they're older than her, they will go to school now and then when she's bigger, she'll go.  She's really excited about it.

So when I saw a blog post over on the Mellow Mummy blog about the Debenhams back to school competition, I asked Elizabeth if she'd like to choose her own school uniform (cue 101 questions about school uniform....) and then write about it.  She didn't really respond very well to me asking her why she'd chosen all the bits she picked out - like getting blood out of a stone! - but I did manage to get something from her.  So here it is, Elizabeth's very own 'perfect' school uniform!

We started with the dress.  It had to be a dress.  She wouldn't even entertain the idea of wearing something other than a dress.  Can you tell she likes dresses?  Everyday I get told that she must wear a dress and she gets quite upset when I say it's too cold right now.  Until I say she can wear a pink top, but I'm digressing.  So we looked at dresses.  She chose this really lovely red floral number because "red and pink and white are my favourite colours".  I thought it was a little smart for school but at least the girl has taste.

I think this dress was a close second for her.  She really likes that it's pink but she did keep choosing the red one above when they were next to each other.  I thought the pink dress would win every time.

We then moved on to shoes.  Well Elizabeth didn't like any of them because they're all "black and boring".  I explained that all school shoes were black so maybe we should look at what else the shoes had on them or in them to decide which ones we wanted.  Have you guessed it yet?  Elizabeth likes these delightful shoes purely because they're pink inside.

To finish things off, I told Elizabeth that she could wear a new coat.  At first she picked a rather lovely navy blue puffy coat with pink hearts all over it, which I thought was quite nice for a three year old.  Then she saw this and no other coat even came close! Not only is it pink but it's covered with Peppa Pig.  I thought Elizabeth was going to burst when she saw it! 

So that's what Elizabeth would wear to school if she could.  I asked her if she wanted a cardigan to keep warm but apparently she doesn't need one becasue "my Peppa coat will keep me warm Mummy, don't be silly!"  That told me then.

Make-It Monday: Boys' Shorts

Feeling empowered by my successful attempt at making a summer dress for Elizabeth, I decided to try a pair of shorts for Toby next. 

I got the pattern for the Lazy Day Shorts from a lady I found on Facebook. Sarah is behind Made By Jack's Mum (MBJM) and she makes clothes and has also released her own sewing patterns. I explained to her that I was a novice at sewing but liked her shorts and she assured me that they were quite simple and I'd be able to make them. So I bought her pattern and she was right!

I had already purchased some dirt bike fabric a while ago, thinking it would be great made into something for Toby.   I went and dug it out, then got to work.  The pattern itself was purchased as a downloadable PDF document and it was easy to tape the pattern together - much easier than some of the other PDF patterns I've bought but haven't made yet.  I cut out my fabric and followed the well written instructions with ease and very quickly progressed through all the steps.  The most time consuming part for me was getting the elastic through the casing I'd made for it as I didn't quite sew straight and one part was therefore a little narrow....  It was all fine though and the elastic does sit flat - just!

They fit Toby really well.  These are designed to go over reusable nappies but we use disposables as well.  I was worried I'd ONLY be able to use them with the cloth nappies but they fit great either way.  The pattern comes with variations and I'm going to try the trousers next.  I'm actually excited!  I think just a cotton fabric will look too much like PJs so I need to work out how to line them I think.  I might do a bit of experimenting and/or Googling and see what I come up with.

So here they are:

I've been a little quiet...

I've actually been really poorly. Almost three weeks ago I caught a sickness bug from Elizabeth. She wasn't too badly affected, just off her food mainly and a little tired. She was only physically sick twice. I was really hit hard though. I spent the first night with my head in a bucket and the following day in bed. Frans had the day off work to be at home and look after everyone. I didn't eat or drink anything (other than a few pieces of toast and sips of water) for 5 days. On day 8 I started to feel better. 2 days later Toby got ill and he had a really bad case of diarrhoea, so a different bug this time. Unfortunately both Frans and I caught this one but again I was hit a lot harder. I'm now feeling really good and over all the bugs but I've lost a lot of weight and am still feeling a bit weak. Fingers crossed no more bugs come our way.

Make-It Monday: Doll's Sleeping Bag

Elizabeth has been asking me for quite some time to make her a sleeping bag for her dolls. When Toby was younger and used one, Elizabeth would steal it at every available opportunity and put a teddy in it so they could sleep. Now that Zachary uses one, she has started doing this again. When I told her that it wasn't for playing with, she asked me to make one.

So using scrap fabric, I set to work. I've made this up as I've gone along so it does look a bit odd but it works so I'm not complaining. Neither is Elizabeth :) I did use this opportunity to 'play' a little. I used bias binding around the arms and neck, just to try something and practice my curves. I'm also adding poppers to the shoulders and side to make it easier to get the dolls in and out, but also to practice adding them on to fabric. I've not done it before, so again it's a good opportunity for me.  As you can see, I haven't yet finished the edges or put poppers on so it's still a work in progress.

Elizabeth's Nighttime Antics

Most nights now, when I go up to bed, I find Elizabeth in some strange state in her bedroom. Sometimes it's simply that she's fallen asleep whilst climbing into bed, so her feet are still hanging out. Other times it's a lot more elaborate, like last night. 

Last night, the floor was covered in toy food - Elizabeth had been feeding some of her teddies. The changing mat was out too so clearly someone had needed a nappy change at some point. My attention turned to the bed. Elizabeth had decided (again) to sleep down the wrong end of the bed but at least she had her head (sort of) on the pillow and was under her sheet. Only she wasn't wearing the pyjamas we'd put her in at bedtime. Alfred the bear was wearing those and was tucked up with her. Elizabeth was wearing her favourite pair of very warm winter pyjamas. I have no idea why because it's friggin' hot weather right now! (28°C yesterday and about 16°C overnight).

Swimming Lessons

We love the children's swimming lessons with Tamara at Baby Swimming. We started when Elizabeth was just 10 weeks old and now she's three and a half YEARS old! Which means that it's time for her to move on. Dolphin Swimming School was recommended to us and I've just heard from them about classes for my little lady. She'll be doing their 9.30 Saturday class from September.

So this means that Zachary gets to start with Baby Swimming! His class will be right before Toby's, still on a Saturday. Exciting times :)

I think that Elizabeth has mixed feelings about swimming. She enjoys being in the water and splashing around with Daddy but isn't that bothered about actually learning to swim. Don't get me wrong, she loves that she can do a lot of it on her own but I can't see her wanting to continue lessons once she can swim properly. I doubt she'll be interested in progressing to diving or trying to improve her speed. I don't blame her either - I'm not a fan of the water. But she's still young enough not to know that she can stop and young enough to enjoy it all anyway.

Toby is quite different though. He also started when he was 10 weeks old and he'll be 2 in 8 weeks time, but his attitude to the water is very different to Elizabeth's. At the start of the year, we almost stopped his lessons as he just cried all the time. Then one week everything changed and we have no idea why - he loved it! Something clicked for him, I think. He started to realise that he could move himself in the water, rather than being dragged through it. And now Toby is a little swimming star. He wants to swim constantly when he's in the water, he wants to jump straight in if you stand him on the side and he can't wait to actually do the lesson. Of course he likes the play aspect too but he really just wants to swim. Toby may well want to continue swimming when he's older; he's clearly inherited his Daddy's love of the water.

Make-it Monday: Summer Dress

This week I'd like to share a dress with you.  It's the first time I've used a pattern (although I vaguely remember using one in my teens when making something with my Mum...) and so I've really taken my time with this.  I spent a good while at each step making sure that I read it right and double checking everything.  I wanted to fully understand what I needed to do before diving in.  So this dress has probably taken around two weeks from start to finish but I'm so pleased with how it's turned out.  It's far from perfect but as I said last time, the most important thing is that it fits!

So this is the pattern I was following.  I chose the dress on the right and went for the most basic variation of it - no bows, no frills, just the dress.

The pattern consisted of four pieces; skirt front, skirt back, bodice front, bodice back.  In hindsight I should have paid a little more attention to where I was placing the pattern pieces to make sure that the finished dress would flow well across the join between the bodice and the skirt, but at the time I was just focusing on having the pattern the correct way round on the fabric and making my cutting-out accurate.

So the first new skill I had to overcome was bias binding.  I'd heard of it but had no idea what to do with it.  I found the instructions difficult to understand so I had to read them quite a few times and also consult Google before I felt ready to give it a go.  It turns out that once I'd done it, the instructions made total sense.  The neckline was relatively easy as it was square but I found the curve of the armholes much more difficult.  They're not really smooth but still sit well and look decent so I'm happy.

Then came the zip!  I've added zips onto simple cushion covers before but again, nothing like this.  I had to overlap the fabric from the front bodice section with the back bodice.  There was lots of reading and re-reading and consulting both Google and my Mum but I did it and am very pleased with how it turned out.

Everything else was really just basics.  I don't have an overlocker/serger so I used both stright stitches and zig zags for my seams.  I double-rolled the hem at the base of the skirt and was chuffed to bits that all my pieces and seams lined up well.

Elizabeth loves her new dress and ran into pre-school telling everyone that her Mummy had made it.  I love that she loves it and that's all the praise I need.

Nappy Free!

Hurrah! I finally have one child that doesn't wear nappies! Three weeks ago, the last weekend in June, we made the decision to stop putting Elizabeth in a nappy at nighttime. We had been talking about it with her for quite a while but it had got to the point where every other morning her nappy had leaked. She's just too big for them. So that Saturday morning we told Elizabeth that she didn't need to wear a nappy at night any more, even though she was showing no signs of being ready for this.

Bedtime came and we explained to E that she didn't need to wear a nappy any more. Her response was something like 'that's because I'm a big girl!' We told her that she could leave her bedroom if she needed the toilet and that she needed to wake up if she needed the toilet while she was sleeping. We heard her go to the toilet half a dozen times before she fell asleep and she was dry when we went to bed. She woke up needing the toilet at some point in the night so it was a great first night. The second night she slept through with no accidents. The third night we had an accident to clear up.

Since then we've had maybe 5 or 6 nights where E has had an accident but the problem is that E just sleeps through it and we need to wake her. I'm sure that'll stop but in the meantime I'm getting less sleep and doing more washing.

Elizabeth is so pleased with herself though and we're both very proud of her.

Frankie

What can I say about Frankie?  We've had our ups and downs with him but he is very much a part of our family.  He's been with us for more than two years now - where has the time gone?!  He's gone from being a dog we couldn't leave alone to a confident boy who loves his agility classes and makes a new friend at every turn.  Everyone loves him!

Frankie came to us with very little history. We know he was originally from Ireland and was adopted by someone here in the UK. For whatever reason, they couldn't keep Frankie and he ended up with someone who kept him in a cage and abused him.

When we saw him at Stokenchurch Dog Rescue, we were unsure if he was the right dog for us. We took him for a little walk and then came back another day with Elizabeth to see what he thought of her. She was 15 months old at the time. They got on well and we decided that we would bring Frankie home.

So now, two years later, we have three children. Frankie ignores the baby, tolerates Toby but just adores Elizabeth. They have a bond which started right from when we brought Frankie home. He will protect her if he thinks she's in trouble. He puts up with her pulling him and treating him like a teddy. She can lay on him, command him, play with him and he just takes it all. When he's had enough he just walks away. These two are close and they'll only get closer as they get older. It's wonderful to see.

Make-It Monday: Cot-bed Duvet Cover

I got a sewing machine this year for my birthday and whilst that might not be everyone's cup of tea, I was over the moon! My birthday was quite a few months ago now but I haven't had the time to use it much, despite having a list as long as my arm of things I'd like to make. Now that I'm on maternity leave, I thought I would have more time to do a bit of sewing but that seems to have been a rather optimistic thought. So I made the decision a couple of weeks ago to try and do 15 minutes of sewing (or sewing related stuff) each day. My thinking was that if I only managed to thread the sewing machine, at least it was something, and every little helps.  It's working marvellously so I wanted to save my efforts to my blog, just to remind me about all this when I'm old and grey, hence 'Make-It Monday'. I might not get around to posting every week though, but I'll try.

My first proper 'project' was a duvet cover for Toby. We were given some duvets and duvet covers last year by my sister-in-law as her daughter had outgrown them. That meant they were a little girly, although of course Toby doesn't mind in the slightest. He sees a lot of pink every day. But I thought this was an easy enough thing to start with whilst also pushing me a little. I had to be fairly accurate with my measuring and sewing but it wouldn't matter if I made the duvet cover a centimetre too long or a centimetre narrower at the top. I'd not done buttonholes before so that was something a bit fun to try. 

So this is it, Toby's new duvet cover! He loves it and keeps pointing and saying 'raa'. And most importantly, it fits.

Sleep

I've just woken up to a grumbling Zachary; it's 4am and he's hungry. I can't believe the time as his last feed was 9 hours ago!! Over the past two or three weeks, he's done the odd night where he's slept for 4.5 hours, or one night was even 6.5 hours. At two months old, this is very different to my other two children. Whilst I accept that these longer sleeping stints are occasional, they're going a long way to helping me feel less tired every day. Thank you Son the Younger.

The Car Seat Conundrum

I thought this might be useful to someone in the same position as me :)

One of the first things I was concerned about when we found out I was pregnant with number 3, was how I got all my children safely in the car. And maybe squeezed my husband in too. I didn't want to be driving a huge car like a VW Sharan but I couldn't fit three car seats across the back of my Vauxhall Vectra. I did do a vast amount of research into which cars could fit three car seats across the back but there didn't seem to be many. The ones that weren't massive were too expensive for us as well so I accepted that Elizabeth would have to sit in the front. Luckily we could all be in Frans' car when we were going out as a family.

Now that Zachary is here, I've had Elizabeth in the front with me in the Vectra but I really haven't liked it, for lots of reasons. So I've been persuaded to get a new car. I spoke with some of the mums at school as a lot of them have a Vauxhall Zafira so I thought that might be the car to get. They all said that they couldn't get three car seats across the back and had one child in the boot (where there are 2 extra seats). Well that was no good for me! I need to be able to get the double buggy in and the dog sometimes. There were various other cars that came up in my research but they were either huge vehicles or lost space elsewhere - like the boot.

I happened to try out a friend's Volkswagen Touran and three car seats fit! Nothing on the internet mentioned the Touran and none of the mums at school had one, which really surprised me. Not only can i fit my three car seats next to each other but the car is very versatile with so many seat configurations. And hiding spaces. LOADS of hiding spaces!

So now I'm driving a VW Touran. It's not my ideal car - I really didn't want an automatic - but it suits my needs perfectly right now and I guess that's what's important. Throw everything in and hope I've not forgotten something.

Am I Really Superwoman?

Child number 3 has been born!  5 weeks has whizzed by and I'm loving having little Zachary around.  It's tough having three children so close together but I'm finding the transition from 2 to 3 children much easier than from 1 to 2... so far.  Miss E started pre-school in January and most of the Mums ask me how I'm doing and usually end up saying something like "Wow, you're Superwoman.  I couldn't do it."  But am I?  And could they?

When I found out I was pregnant with number 3, I wasn't sure how I was going to cope.  Master T had just turned 1 (literally a week before I took the test) and I was already around 9 weeks pregnant.  That's a small age gap in my opinion!  And Miss E wasn't 3 at that point either.  Gosh, what the heck was I going to do when another came along?!  The thought of having another baby as 'difficult' as Master T was terrifying but I kept telling myself that I have a fantastic group of friends and family around me and that they would help me if I needed them.  And also that I'd survived once, I could survive again. 

So number 3 has arrived - Zachary came a week early and weighed a hefty 9lb 1oz!  He mostly seems to fit in with whatever is happening in our lives and I certainly don't feel like Superwoman.  I'm just rolling along, taking little steps and moving three children around from place to place.  I certainly don't have any special powers and I'm pretty sure that I'm slipping somewhere.  I rarely cook a good meal these days and the eldest two are lucky if I remember to brush their teeth in the morning.  I have friends that are definitely Superwoman, that keep the house perfect, cook good meals every night, do arts and crafts with the chidlren frequently, go out on play dates and are generally just amazing, plus a whole lot more.  I don't know how they do it!

But can anyone do what I'm doing right now?  Yes!  Those Mums that think they couldn't are wrong.  They absolutely can and they absolutely would if they were in my position.  I'd probably be calling them Superwoman too.

What Would I Do Differently

Someone on Facebook posed the question 'if you could go back to before you were pregnant, before you had any children, what would you do differently knowing what life is like once the kids have arrived?' I thought it was a really interesting question and it got me thinking about a lot of things.

I know a lot of people miss the partying and long lay ins (OK, I do miss having a lay in sometimes too) but that has never been the type of person that I am. Now that I have children, I realise that there were lots of little things that I just took for granted and never really thought about. For example, I can no longer simply walk out my front door and jump in the car. Leaving the house takes a good 20 minutes usually. The children need persuading to leave their toys, put on their shoes, nappies need to be checked, maybe a jumper needs to be put on, the dog needs to be let out then back in again, the toilet needs to be used and the changing bag needs to be checked and filled. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff too!

The other thing I miss is being able to walk down to the pub in the evening. If the weather is nice, there's nothing better than sitting in the pub garden with a cold drink and just enjoying the evening and each other's company. Bliss!

But truly, there isn't much I'd do differently. Yes my life is utter chaos but secretly I like it that way. I was never going to be someone who had a pristine house - my mother will tell you how hideously untidy my bedroom ALWAYS was - or someone who was always 5 minutes early for a play date. I moan and stress out that I'm constantly on the go but I hate it when there's nothing going on and nowhere for us to be. For me, life is pretty perfect.

Crazy Conversations 2

This wasn't a 'conversation' between me and Miss E, but between her and Master T. Allow me to set the scene. I'm in bed, it's around 7am. I slowly wake up to the sounds of my children 'chatting' when I hear this:

"Oh, sorry Toby, I can't change your poo..."

I was faster than Flash getting out of my bed! What greeted me in the children's room was Miss E standing at one end of Master T's cot, him laying down with his nappy undone (but thankfully still on) and a new nappy and wipes ready next to him. The poo was sort of contained  :-\  I shouted for help and Frans came in; he grabbed T's arms and I took his bum. A fairly normal nappy change continued!