Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

(Both girls tucked up in bed, it's about 7.15pm)

J.R (in a soft voice) "Baby, Daddy said lie down, good girl..."

Baby E.M "Naw."

J.R (still softly) "Baby lie down now..."

Baby E.M "Naw."

J.R (screams) "Lie down!!!"

.......silence.......

Baby E.M "Naw."

The best way to keep that clingy baby occupied while you're busy doing the dishes?

Need I say more?

"Bake Day" Sunday

And today it's: Really tiny White Choc Chip cakes!

(Most of which were actually eaten whilst still warm)

"The Childcare Website" Rant

If you've ever been seller at a car-boot sale and had people literally all over your car and hounding you as you're trying to set up, you'll know how this feels...

Signed up with a childcare website which helps parents to find prospective childcare locally. You set up a profile for yourself, outlining your needs, the number of children you have and their ages and browse the profiles of babysitters in and around your area. Well that's the idea anyway...

How it really works is you set up a profile for yourself, stating all the necessary information (and in my case i'm looking for An Occasional Babysitter), then babysitters and nannies hound me asking when I want them to start and how many children I have.

Obviously haven't even read the profile!

And nannies? I'm not even looking for a nanny!!

But they're telling me they can start in a couple of weeks and how much they charge.

And I get about 3 of these messages every day - I joined in Feb and they're still coming! Leave me alone!

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

Mummy "Come on girls let's go downstairs, J.R are you coming?"

J.R "No."

Mummy "Ok then, come on E.M"

Baby E.M (Pats her sister on the shoulder) "Bye buddy."

A Look At The Girls' Behaviour

Daddy has the day off today so I said this is his chance to see firsthand what these two "lovely girls" get up to.

I have posted on a parenting forum before, asking for advice as to why the girls play up so badly when he is not around. And i've had some varied responses including:

They're just trying to see how far they can push you, don't let it wind you up.

J.R misses Daddy being around all the time like when she was a baby and doesn't know how to express it.

And my personal favourite: You need to give them more attention.

Having read so many times, and now of course, from personal experience, i've learnt that no matter how much attention you give the girls, it will never be enough for them. So i'm happy that this is not the reason they behave in this way.

Of course the reasons may vary, but the behaviour remains the same.

They slap eachother, one screeches at the top of her voice which causes the other one to do the same, J.R snatches what Baby E.M is playing with (this I know is a superiority thing.) and J.R is very demanding and will demand one thing after another, while you're still trying to fulfil the first request. And above all, "No" from me means nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even to Baby E.M now. And I do have to repeat myself 3 or 4 times to get some sort of acknowledgment. They remove all the dvd's from the rack, draw on the walls and J.R has now started to break pieces of wood from the skirting board.

Daddy has seen all this occasionally in the past and at weekends etc but now I think it's finally sunk in. I'm not in tears over something minor. It really does get bad.

J.R's Birthday - Part 2.

Brighton: Sea, Stones & Gale Force Winds.

As promised, part 2. of J.R's birthday our day-trip to Brighton... and despite the description we all had a really good time.

Just go with the flow as Daddy says!

J.R loved the Sea Life Centre, I hoped she would :)

You should've heard some of the things she said to me, asking really good questions, she was really getting into it, no need for a tour guide!

And even Baby E.M had fun looking through the glass and seeing real fish swim up to her face.

Sea Life was definitely a good choice for both girls, and I would recommend it to anyone.

It's Mother's Day :)

That means I get to eat the lil bag of pink and white choccies J.R made for me at pre-school on thursday! It also means i'm off to see my own Ma to give her a card and her pressie, the new Tina album. Hope she likes it.

Ugh...i'm trying to be a good blogger, but honestly, today i'm so sick and I really don't have the energy. I barely have the energy to stay awake!

I've got some sort of bug or something - we're not quite sure what, but whatever it is it's been going around apparently. Early hours of this morning, just gone 3am I was kneeling with my head in the toilet...you get the idea.

And so today I feel like someone's slugged me in the stomach, all weak and bruised. *sigh*

Hopefully i'll be better for monday.

I will be better for monday.

Issue Of The Week: Concentration & Activities

Daddy and I were having this conversation earlier tonight. When it comes to the girls' concentration levels they’re very different. But not in the way we expected them to be.

Baby E.M is pretty good when it comes to doing things by herself for a long time. She may be the youngest, but she can sit alone and read books, draw, etc. for a good while without needing anyone around.

J.R however, doesn’t quite share her sister’s love for reading. Although she can play alone for a very long time when it comes to her Happyland people, but that's imaginative play. As for other activities like drawing, arts and crafts, and reading she can do one activity at a time for considerably longer if she does it with someone else.

One thing she does love to do alone though, is act. She will act out everything she's watched and taken a liking to. I've seen her playing everything from an ant in A Bugs Life to Mulan to Sid from Ice Age. She remembers an awful lot of her favourite movies and even knows a lot of the words.

So that's where the girls differ, Baby E.M already seems to be very academic and logically minded. Enjoying her books and learning from the pictures. Whereas J.R is the energetic one and concentrates better on activities which are very imaginative with a more active role.

食物!

I'm happy. Daddy's treated me to a Chinese takeaway for dinner. (Obviously with the catch that I do him a nice home-cooked dinner tomorrow night, but ain't that always the way!) Who would've thought that all this would cost just over £21!

• Large Chicken Chow Mein
• Sweet & Sour Pork Balls
• Barbecue Ribs (dry)
• Egg Fried Rice
• Chicken & Vegetables
• Side order of Mushrooms in garlic
• Prawn Crackers

Looks like there'll be leftovers for lunch tomorrow too! O_O

It's 9.55pm. Ruddy neighbours, i'm tired enough as it is without having to put up with some crappy club music at this time of the night. Which you can only hear the bassline of - which makes it even more annoying.

And just for the record, when i'm in bed at this time, it's because i've got things finished quickly and i'm trying to get a good quality sleep for once!!!

J.R's Birthday - Part 1.

Tea Party!

It was hard to choose just a few snaps from the 50+ taken

on the day...but here are some of the best of the birthday girl herself.

Lunch

Tea and treats

And changed into our comfy pyjamas for a slice of birthday cake...

It was a good day and J.R certainly enjoyed being the centre of attention!

(J.R's Birthday - Part 2. Coming 23rd March)

I am so tired, went and did a bit of a grocery shop when Daddy got in from work and while the girls' dinner was cooking. And now, after an hour of arguing with J.R that she has to sleep (and at this point I don't care where!) she is starting to settle. I've cleaned the kitchen, the cupboards are bursting with snacky things for tomorrow. And now it's time to begin the mission that is, The Birthday Cake.

It's three cakes in all and the time is just gone 9pm. I wish I had a Red Bull (or 4!) to cheer me up.

The Sun Has Got His Hat On!

This photo makes me smile so I thought i'd share it with you, it's the daffodils in our back garden, after months of being just leaves they've shot up to greet the sun! Aww :)

I call them - Daffys!

Dee Ess!

Or rather DS...

Has been the cause of a few disagreements in this house lately.

If i'm on it, J.R is 8 inches from the screen watching and learning how everything works, then if she's on it, Baby E.M is 8 inches from the screen watching 'cos it makes her laugh. But that's the problem - J.R doesn't like Baby E.M too close, she seems to have claimed some sort of rights to it.

These rights apparently state that once J.R is on the Ds she no longer has to, do as she's told, move if she's in the way, eat, or even just look up from the screen!

Something's gotta give here...

Who's gonna be a birthday girl real soon?

Go on, guess!

Yeah it's Miss J.R.

I can't help myself, i'm so excited for her. She's all grown up now, and this birthday of hers also marks our 2nd year in this house! How time flies.

I found out last week that there's staff training at the school on her birthday (d'oh!) so she wont get to go into school with a cake and sweets and have everyone sing Happy Birthday to her. I'm a bit disappointed, but then again there's always next year I suppose.

So since she'll be at home, i've organised a bit of a birthday tea party, just us girls. But Daddy is invited too if he would like to sit at our pretty pink table with lots of confetti, flowers and french fancies. Well, i'll leave it up to him :)

"Bake Day" Sunday

And today it's: Apricot Mini Muffins

Who would've thought that childrens baking was this easy?

It's all in the preparation I say.

Every time I have ingredients measured out beforehand it all goes a whole lot smoother. Then you only have to worry about keeping the mixture in the bowl!

Well except for today when J.R decided to make a fuss of the eggs before attempting to crack them open (even though I told her Mummy had to do it) which left a nice egg yolky mess all over the chair and kitchen floor.

Have you ever tried picking the entire contents of an egg off the floor with only kitchen roll? Hmm...

5 Reasons Why

Having Girls Is Better Than Having Boys

1. You have a choice of the most imaginative names.
2. When they grow out of 'baby' clothes, you can dress them in the most up-to-date fashionable outfits. Not just t-shirts and trousers all the time.
3. Potty training girls is, well, simpler shall we say?
4. Girls are more eager to learn to do the things that they see Mummy doing, and see it as 'their job too'. Which lets face it, is better than seeing a 3yo boy pushing a little pink buggy around!
5. While they're young you can experiment with any 'do' you like on their hair and people will always say they look cute ;)

Miss J.R has surprised me today, she's being very good.

It's 1.10pm and her lunch is cooling down in the kitchen, meanwhile she's quietly watching Pocoyo. We've been to the shops this morning and she's been very well behaved, not a single tantrum. In fact she didn't even talk that much, walked steadily there and back. It's quite scary actually. She seems ok, not off colour or anything.

It's times like these that make me wonder whether it's her or me?

Mizz-e-ble Baby

I have a miserable baby here, want her?

Baby E.M is being mizz-e-ble (according to J.R). She's ratty and doesn't want to play with her sister.

I'm singing "Miserable baby, la la la, la la!" Baby E.M hates that, she hates it when i'm right. She's climbing all over my legs and stopping me doing chores. Standing in the middle of the room looking glazed over and then breaking into the most annoying whinge.

I ask her "Baby wants bed?" To which she doesn't reply, but looks guilty and rubs her left eye.

It's almost midday. Night night Baby!

J.R's Football Vocabulary

We find it hilarious, but she's getting there bless her!

Tulsi

(Chelsea)

Michael C-A-N (Michael Essien)

Kalou

(Balloon)

Oh dear, we can blame Daddy for that one!

A Very Choccy Easter

Chocolate eggs, Hollow chocolate bunnies, Mini eggs...Is it a bit early to be thinking about this? What with all that on store shelves already, it doesn't look like it. The girls don't really know or understand anything about Easter. All they know is they get chocolate that day, but that's not what I want it to be about. I plan to teach them that Easter marks the beginning of Springtime, baby animals being born etc. So i've made the decision this year not to get them Easter eggs.

Does that sound harsh? Not at all. Money-saving maybe.

Even without Mummy and Daddy's contribution the girls still have at least 3 eggs each coming their way, maybe more. Plenty!

Although Mummy still has to buy Daddy an Easter egg. *Sigh*

And a really big one apparently.

Ooh it's Friday the 13th! Big deal though right...we have 3 of those this year.

I did not forget it was thursday today.

I did not wake up late and I did not forget to put the rubbish out the front for collection.

I did not forget to do the laundry all day until about 9pm...

'Cos I do not forget anything.

Baby Plant Update

1 Week Old.

And it's doing great! I have to admit after something like 2 days of no shoots I was beginning to think uh-oh :(

You can't tell from the photo, but the shoots are about 2cm tall.

J.R is impressed...Ahh the wonders of nature.

I've been so busy (nothing new there then) and excited about J.R's birthday, planning the cake, planning the day-trip! Barely found the time to post anything on here 'cos I was out most of the day!

I am buzzing with ideas for decorating the girls' room. Following the decision of an Alice In Wonderland themed cake for J.R's birthday, I took it a step further exploring the same theme for children/toddlers bedrooms. And this forms the basis of all that I found:

Clear blue sky, green green grass, oversized nature.

I was thinking, not being the artist I wish I was (lol) of using the basic elements:

And instead adding, butterflies, rainbows, and happy things linking in with the colour schemes i've seen on some children's furniture pieces with the same theme. Hmm...

Well so far i've bought the colour for the beautiful clear blue sky. And the green in the picture is the colour the room is at the moment, so I have another tub of that in the shed somewhere.

But what next?

Stelios + PIZZA?

I've been laughing about this since the beginning of the week when the leaflet dropped through my letterbox.

The suits at EasyJet, err... sorry, Easy.com sat down and thought, we need something fresh, new...franchise-worthy...I know - PIZZA! There can't possibly be any good pizza delivery companies around, so let's start our own.

We'll call it EasyPizza. Genius! And hey, we'll only do large pizzas, only 6 choices of topping, charge for delivery and provide a 10p per minute order line number.

Move over Dominos - it's gonna be BIG.

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

Mummy "Miss J.R i'm just going to put all these clothes upstairs ok...?"

J.R "Ok darling."

J.R's Emotional Outbursts...

...and "The Step".

No, not the Naughty Step. This one has a completely different meaning.

It's not "You've been naughty!"

But "You need to calm down."

It has a max time of 3 minutes and is accompanied with a reassuring and softly spoken "How are you feeling now? Are you better?" to which the reply has usually been,

"Yeah, J.R's happy."

We have a cuddle, then she goes back to whatever it is she wanted to do, a little bit calmer and more able to think straight.

Why??

We keep our coppers in an oversized bottle in the living room, and have done for years now. So I can't help but wonder why the girls feel it's their job to fill the bottle with other rubbish such as biscuits, magnets, lolly sticks and worst of all...the money from my purse.

This morning I sat and stared in disbelief down the neck of the bottle, and counted up £6.20 in pounds, fifties and twenties.

Why!? And what's worse? You can't just tip the bottle up and have the coins slide out - oh no - as soon as you tip the bottle they all mix together! Great.

Sure, I completely emptied the bottle. But I got the girls to put all the coppers back in themselves. And no I didn't count them.

I'm back! Did ya miss me?

Yeah, that's what I thought...

When I got home yesterday everything was fine *sighs* Daddy did a good job, the girls were happy and the house was clean and tidy. There was absolutely nothing for me to do. Really!

Well, except maybe relax.

Red Nose Day @ Pre-School

A day of silliness at the school - clown included - raised over £120 for Comic Relief...

The theme was Silly or Fancy dress, so J.R went as Upsy Daisy :)

Here she is waiting for Daddy outside the newsagents.

She got soooo many compliments from strangers on the way home!

I wont be posting anything saturday or sunday, since i'll be in London on a bit of a girly night out and wont be back 'til early evening sunday ;)

The girls will be in the care of Daddy for those 2 days... I hope nothing's broken when I get back.

Learning About God

About 3 months ago I bought a cross for the girls' bedroom, and every night since, J.R has "talked to God" in the way i've taught her.

She puts her hands together and in a quiet, respectful voice says

"Night, night God. Amen."

I've tried to explain to her that God is resting, i'm not sure I can tell her much else at this age. Although i've tried this week to take it a little further by linking God to good and bad behaviour.

In a nutshell:

When you're a good girl, God is happy. But when you're naughty, God is sad.

She definitely understands what i've told her, and it seems to be having a positive effect so far.

The Story Of Baby Plant

J.R first planted some cress seeds in a plastic cup in her 2nd week at school, she named them Baby Plant, because of their tiny leaves. And she enjoyed the whole experience so much that I decided to buy her some for at home. She couldn't wait to plant them...

And watch them grow!

Our Li'l Organised Mind

Things Baby E.M does which seem just a little too organised

• Arranges blocks into colour groups

• Seperates carrots from the rest of her vegetables

• Puts her and her sister's shoes the right way round

• Picks up all the crumbs off the floor and...gives them to me!

It's My Little Girls' Birthday Very Soon!

It's exactly 2 weeks until J.R's 3rd birthday.

I can't believe how grown up she is now. You tend to forget about upcoming birthdays because of numerous stressful days and before you know it you're only days away from having spent another year with your beautiful little girl. I love to see her developing her skills, learning and enjoying herself. She's becoming a proper little madam.

Throughout the year, she’s gone through phases where she's been so rude in her replies and attitude towards me. She’d stomp her feet, walk out as I was trying to give a serious talk, continuously look away, scream in my face, tell me to go away, frown and look at me straight in the eye rebelliously. There's been times when I was absolutely furious. Lost for words. Completely heart-broken. Embarassed. Helpless...

But I never want to just lose my temper and regret it all afterwards. It’s been really tough.

In these past 3 years, we've gone through lots of ups and downs together. There were times when I struggled to keep everything under control.

But if I could sit her down and have her understand one thing it'd be this:

Things are not always be easy for Mummy and Daddy, but we will always love you. Not only when you're a good girl, but always. You might be charming and obedient one day, and then disrespectful and rude the next. But we love you just the same. We have to be hard on you sometimes but it's for your own good, we have to teach you right from wrong somehow, and we are trying our best...

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

J.R (chilling on the sofa, calls her sister)

Baby E.M "Wha?"

J.R "Come 'ere."

Baby E.M "Naw."

It's almost 11am, and Baby E.M has just woken up. She looks better, she's definitely slept...I didn't take her downstairs when she first woke up (around 7.45am) because all she did is cry and whinge, and had the tell-tale red shadow round both eyes. So I told her firmly she was to rest until she felt better, and I do feel bad - just a little, but at the very least I know it's for her own good.

Besides, she'll be all better once she gets a Nutella sandwich and a banana down her :)

Congratulations! It's A... Bag

I was in mid-ransack of the cupboard under the stairs when I found...

A plastic bag full of card-making supplies.

This may be from a time when I thought I would make New Baby cards, with beautiful little handmade pieces and sell them on a certain internet auction site. Turns out I had a little talent there...until I took a look at the ones already on the site.

They were so simple, printed mostly, and stupidly expensive.

The type of card that you pick up in Clintons, read the code, find the price and mouth "Oh my god!" as you flip the card over and return it neatly to it's display.

So lets just say that little business never got off the ground...

That's It! Naps!

Following the stress of sunday, Daddy and I have formulated a plan that includes the use of a strict routine for Baby E.M. Nap times. 11am - 12pm and then 3pm-4pm except on wednesday/thursday when the second lot is interrupted by the school run for J.R. In which case she can catch up when we get back. But it has to be done. It's a step towards getting her used to seperation, she can't stay up all day like us when it means she becomes miserable and touchy. Because that's when we don't get along.

I'm hoping we can stick to this...'cos I seem to be the only Mummy whose children refuse to take a nap!

You Need Eyes In The Back Of Your Head!

Every day I have two options. (1) Sit and watch the girls all day and do nothing else.

(2) Go about the house, get the chores done, whilst supervising the girls' play, stopping and starting whatever i'm doing. 99.9% of the time it'll be the latter. I don't have the ability to sit and do nothing. But look what sneaky little happenings take place in my "absence"... I snapped her red handed whilst hiding round the kitchen door. Tut tut tut.

Pulling My Hair Out

"Bake Day" is all well and good, until it's finished. By which time, my kitchen is a mess (baking the creations), my front room floor is a mess (eating the creations) and both kids are screaming over each other for a drink. I've been treated with zero respect today and i'm worn out. Baby E.M is being miserable and J.R is having trouble concentrating on me, or even acknowledging me when i'm talking to her. They wont play nicely together, if left in their room together, within five minutes one will be crying and the other one will be looking guilty.

Meanwhile downstairs there's a pile of washing up in the sink that looks like I haven't touched it in three days when it was all done this morning. The whole place needs hoovering again - mess travels - and the clothes need to be hung out to dry. Whoever came up with the definition of the "stay at home mum" as a lazy, money scrounging, ready-meal eating, couch potato needs a kick in the arse. This is the hardest job i've ever done, and if that's the way they want to define it now, it looks like i'm missing out.

"Bake Day" Sunday

And today it's: Apple and Raspberry Muffins

Miss J.R is having a bit of trouble concentrating today, most of our baking session consisted of me calling her name 2-3 times in a row, to be acknowledged with a "What?" only for her to lose interest in me again while I explain what she needs to do. Oh well, Baby E.M had a good stab at it and the cakes were made in the end regardless...even if most of the batter was eaten out the mixing bowl.

I haven't done any baking or decorating for a good few weeks now (lacking time and funds) so I came up with these this afternoon.

Daisy Trellis Cupcakes. Aren't they pwetty...

The Current Obsession At Our House...

Wobots! It's played about 3 times a day for the last fortnight, what's more - J.R has learnt how to switch on the tv and dvd player just so that she can choose when she watches it.

Hey it beats watching CBeebies all day!