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!