Sun, Sand & Tom Jones

It's so hot today!

Me and J.R are out in the garden while Baby E.M is napping.

J.R is saturated in suncream and playing in the sand, she told me off for not playing too (I was hanging the clothes) so I joined her for a bit.

But unfortunately she hasn't quite grasped the fact that you should never pour sand when the wind blows, and i'm still recovering from the blindness.

And on a random note: This afternoon I spotted Baby E.M doing a full on dance to Tom Jones' "What's New Pussycat?"...

Wish i'd got it on camera, one of the funniest things i've ever seen.

It's friday, and J.R isn't here.

It's really strange, suddenly I have too much time on my hands!

Open Mouth, Insert Foot...

Daddy and I are watching tv - as you do -

and the woman talking, a mother in her late forties is wearing the same top as me.

Me "Oh my god she's got my top!"

Daddy "Oh yeah haha!"

Me (sniggers) "What kind of mum shops in New Look anyway..."

It's Hard Work Being A Baby

Cos it's not like you can fall asleep whenever

and wherever you feel like it!

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

...with dandelions, dandelions and more dandelions!

The weather's great today, so we've been out in the garden most of the time.

My garden is choc-a-bloc with stuff, the patio furniture is out (finally), the easel is out there, hula hoops, footballs, rocking horse and various other washable toys have made their way out there.

And Baby E.M is picking dandelions, just the way her sister showed her to. Great.

Words On A Wednesday

I know i've mentioned it before, but Miss J.R has her 3 year check this thursday and it made me think. Would they ask if she could read any words?

Are children supposed to be able to read any words at this age?

So I thought i'd give it a go, using flash cards. See if she could not so much read, but recognise any words I gave her.

I'm pretty sure she can recognise her name, since she puts her name card in the box at school everyday. After 10 minutes of this word play, and she remembers "milk". Nothing else. But i'm sure that's fine, since her speech is great.

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

(When I brought the easter egg mobiles in from the garden.)

J.R "Thank you Mummy. Daddy... say thank you Mummy!"

Daddy (Sighs) "Thank you Mummy."

J.R "Good girl Daddy."

Back To Pre-School / Round Up Of The Holidays

Our Easter holidays consisted of: chocolate eggs, straw hats, more chocolate eggs, decorating a bonnet, painting giant eggs, easter cupcakes and making and decorating easter egg mobiles...

I hung the egg mobiles from a tree in our garden, Miss J.R only noticed today!

She went into school a bit nervous today - she has been off for two weeks - but she came home chirpy as usual.

I could tell she missed it.

I wont say we have Easter Eggs left. (I just wont say it.)

I'll be turning them into Easter Egg Brownies shortly...

Potty Training: Revisited

I know, I know, i've been down this road before (LOL)

But i've been practicing this with J.R and it seems to be working.

As part of the bedtime routine, ask her if she needs to go.

Before we go downstairs in the morning, again, ask her if she needs to go. So it can be done!!

But the problem is still getting her to go during the day. If it's gonna interrupt her doing anything she wont do it. And to be honest I don't know how to get around it.

She has her 3 Year Check on the 30th and the health visitor is bound to have something to say about that.

I don't care!

Besides, 90% of the advice i've been given is "She'll do it when she's ready. " So there :P

No "Bake Day" Today :(

J.R isn't feeling too good.

It sounds like she's getting a tickly cough.

Last night she just couldn't get comfy in bed and moved about so much she ended up at the wrong end! Then at 10-ish she woke up whimpering. I could tell there was something genuinely wrong 'cos she seemed quite dazed and felt warm too. She asked for a drink of water and to sleep in my bed. An hour and 3 cups of water later she was asleep again. Just stirring once in a while to cough.

Poor mite :(

But I didn't want her coughing all over something we were gonna bake together today so I decided to give it a miss...

Getting Clued Up: Baby Teeth

Baby E.M at 19 months old has 11 teeth. These seemed to come through quite quickly but then (for a long time) there was nothing. Then in the last week I noticed she's been showing the usual signs of teething again, red cheeks, dribbling, chewing her fingers... so I had a check and voila! She's very slowly cutting the lower lateral incisor on the right.

Thinking i'd do a bit of homework on the subject, I found this online. The "Eruption Sequence" of Baby Teeth:

Right now Baby E.M has 4/4 upper and lower central incisors, 4/4 upper and lower first molars and 3/4 lateral incisors.

So as you can see, she's developing pretty much on time! Bearing in mind the table states average times, in reality it can vary 6 months either way, but it's good to know everything's in order so far :)

So today my J.R has drawn the characters from Mulan.

She loves that Disney film - and often plays the leading role!

Here's her artwork in her own words:

They grow up so fast! *sniff*

The 3 Year Old Artist

It started off as a bit of fun, just scribbling like crazy on the blackboard.

Then Miss J.R realised... Hey, I can draw circles. And different sorts of lines. Then, using the tips Daddy gave her on how to draw faces, she drew herself.

Now, she draws everything she sees.

They say drawing and being creative is important for very young children, it helps them to express themselves. And it's something they can be completely in-control of.

The sky's the limit!

Typical. As soon as I get a day to myself it rains. A lot.

Have You Seen This Duck?

I did not sneak Duck out of the girls' bedroom last night.

And I did not tell J.R that I have no idea where he is.

And I definitely did not suggest she tidy her room in order to find him.

Would I do such a thing?

Ok, ok he's in the washing machine.

Yes...that's J.R asleep with an Upsy Daisy skirt and wellies on.

What? I always put them to bed in pyjamas.

She did it all herself.

Honest!

It's My Week

It's My Week. Every week I buy nappies, wipes, formula milk and god knows how many toys. Daddy pointed out, (and love him he has tried to tell me this so many times in the past) our girls have everything they could possibly need and more. But me myself, there's a heck of a lot of things I need that I just get on without... I spend all my time and my money on those girls.

So it's been decided, this week is my week. Yay! I'm not even allowed to buy anything for the house - which is the other cause I shop for the most - just myself.

Clothes, shoes, makeup. Whatever. As long as it makes me happy. Sometimes it's just gotta be done :)

Little Miss J.R: 37 Months

If I had to describe her in three words?

Lively, Determined, Exhausting.

As soon as she enters a room she must be the centre of attention.

If that's not possible (e.g there are guests over) she will protest everything until she's sitting on my lap with everyone staring at her, as she throws dirty looks across the room at my guests.

She will only wear skirts or dresses. I have to come up with a pretty good reason to get her to wear her pyjama bottoms!

Before she knew the word for skirt, she used to call it "dancing".

She loves to dance and act out her favourite films.

She is determined. If she's told she can't have something, she will work on getting it. Even if that means climbing up to reach it when you leave the room!

She is completely exhausting 90% of the time.

She wears out my energy and my patience.

She has the ability to make me laugh, scream and cry all in the same day.

And I love her with all my heart.

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

Both girls at the dinner table.

J.R (In soft voice) "Good baby, baby wants treats yeah?"

Baby E.M "Yesh."

J.R (Shouts) "Eat your dinner then!"

My Mealtime Madness

I've been sitting here for ages now. Why is it always like this? I feel like i'm fighting a losing battle trying to get her to eat her dinner nicely. ...No, it's not Miss J.R, it's the Baby. She scrapes her food off the plate, pulls the tablecloth, stabs the tabletop with her fork, she refuses her food - only to cry when I take it away! And what's worse is that she doesn't do any of this when Daddy is supervising the mealtime. Only me.

Ah, Bank Holidays...

Don't you just love an extra Sunday? Yes I know it's Monday, but it may as well be a Sunday with shops open limited hours, all the banks closed and some stores not even opening at all! It's insanely boring. That explains why us Brits spend bank holidays either having a bbq or starting some pointless DIY... can you tell I hate this?

Happy Easter!

It's 3.15pm and all is well...

Baby E.M is napping (finally) and J.R is rooted to the sofa in front of a movie. Eggcellent.

This first half of the day has gone ok, I really did expect a riot...

But we had our breakfast, got dressed up, the girls had one egg each. (I even caught them sharing at one point!) I called my Ma, it's her birthday next week. Even she sounded surprise to not hear screaming in the background!

But I still have cakes to finish and I still haven't helped J.R decorate her Easter bonnet. Must press on :)

10.45 am

Daddy is going to Chelsea v. Bolton today at the Bridge but has told me he'll be back around 6.30pm, meaning I can join my family for dinner at the new Chinese restaurant in town. I'm looking forward to it...

Healthy Start vouchers are now worth £3.10 a week. We've found that they open up a whole new world of healthy eating for us, from simple salads to wholesome meals... So I thought i'd share with you a couple of our favourite recipes. Buy ingredients in green with your vouchers!

Cauliflower Cheese

What You Need:

1. 2 large Potatoes
2. A Cauliflower
3. Grated Cheddar Cheese
4. Cheese Sauce Granules OR to make the sauce yourself:
5. Butter or Marg
6. 1tbsp Plain Flour
7. 450ml Milk
8. 1/2 an Onion
9. Extra Grated Cheddar Cheese

Cut the potatoes into bitesize pieces, add to a large pot of boiling water and start to cook, after 5 mins add the chopped cauliflower.

Once cooked drain the potatoes and cauliflower and put in an ovenproof dish. Make up the cheese sauce, pour over the vegetables, sprinkle cheese over the top and bake for 15-20 minutes at 180c/Gas mark 4.

To make Cheese Sauce: Finely chop and fry the onion in some butter or margarine, add another lump of margarine and add a generous tablespoon of plain flour and mix it in. Add a small amount of milk and mix, add some more and mix again - you should end up using approx 450ml of milk and as it gets hot it will thicken up. Then add a big handful of grated cheddar cheese to make it a cheese sauce.

This recipe is quite filling even on it's own, but if you feel you need a more complete meal, try adding a few chopped pre-cooked sausages to the dish before baking.

Warm Potato Salad

What You Need:

1. Baby New Potatoes
2. 1 Small Onion
3. Mayonaise
4. Fresh Chives or Spring Onions

Chop the potatoes into bitesize pieces and boil them in their skins. Cook until soft but still firm, drain. Finely chop the onion and stir in with the potatoes and mayonnaise while the potatoes are still warm, then add a handful of finely chopped fresh chives (or Spring Onions if using).

Serve immediately.

"To-Do List" Thursday

Wash whites

Re-arrange dvds so they're out of reach of little fingers

Scrub coloured chalk out of carpet

Put stray toys back into the girls' wardrobe

Buy coke before Daddy gets in from work!

The girls are at home with my parents. I'm walking up the hill, on my way to the doctors when I hear, "LISTEN YOU, you've been giving me attitude all holiday do you really think you're gonna get anything nice?"

A stressed out mum, walking in front of me with her 3 kids...

"Look stop it now you're getting really cowbag-ish"

Says another stressed out mum, to her toddler daughter behind me in the queue at the newsagents. Ahh...that's better! Though I know exactly how you feel, i'm just smiling 'cos for once it's not happening to me.

Oh My Frayed Nerves...

I'm gonna go all out here and say yes, I have had a REALLY bad day.

But what is a REALLY bad day for me?

It's when the girls wont play nicely together even long enough for me to go to the bathroom and they replace all form of communication with ear-piercing screeches.

A really bad day is when I have to drag us all the way to the shops for a £3 single bottle of cooking oil only to find when we get home that the bottle has dented in one side, which caused the plastic to split. And when I put that bottle of cooking oil onto the counter and exactly half of it spews out of the crack and all over the kitchen floor.

It's when, after cleaning the kitchen repeatedly to get rid of all that oil, I slave over a nice lunch for the kids, plate it up and spend 40 minutes trying to get them to eat it. And as a result of which, most of the vegetables are on the floor. But that's all that's missing from the plates.

I could go on but I think you get the idea...

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

Sitting at the table eating lunch, Baby on my left, J.R on my right.

J.R "Eww yuk Mummy yuk!"

Mummy "What's yuk hunny?"

J.R picks a fleshy bit of turkey drummer out from between her back teeth and wipes it on my sleeve...

J.R "Yuk."

An opportunity arises for myself to peruse the shopping complex alone...

That is, i've asked my Ma if she'll babysit for me this morning so that I can hit the shops alone (being that I would normally do it on a school day and there are no school days for the next two weeks).

Believe it or not the sun is actually shining today and though it isn't hot hot, it's not exactly cold either. Blimey!

20% Off At ELC with Müller Little Stars!

This is brilliant, I love ELC anyway :)

But spend £1-something on a pack of yogurts and get 20% off in Early Learning Centre?

Now that I can do...

Find the voucher in the card sleeve of the packaging...snap them up while you can!

Offer covers Müller Little Stars yogurts and fromage frais.

Here it is, 10am Monday the start of the school Easter break and more importantly the biggest test of my sanity! Since the weather's looking pretty bleak for the rest of this week I thought i'd only make plans for indoor activities, and if we're lucky and the sun does come out we can have a wander outside.

I've also started collecting the ingredients for my Easter theme cupcakes which i'll be starting at some point soon since Easter is only a week away :)

"Bake Day" Sunday

And today it's: Fairy Cakes

Aargh! The mess! It's ok... (takes deep breaths)

As long as you're prepared for it and EXPECT mess, it isn't as bad. That and J.R's decided she's gonna eat the chocolate sprinkles off the table one by one, so that saves me cleaning that up then doesn't it!

The Domino Effect

There's a scene in Robots, if you've seen it, where BigWeld lines up hundreds of dominos of all sizes to create a massive tidal wave domino effect... And while J.R was watching it this morning she asked me for some crayons to do some drawing. But look what she did with them!

I think the lesson here is: Be careful what your children are watching, 'cos what they watch - they copy.

A Day To Ourselves

Could there be anything better than shopping and eating out...without the kids?

Thank god here in the 21st century they realise that just because you're a parent it doesn't mean you're never entitled to time alone with your partner ever again, or not at least until your children have grown up and left home!

No, in fact experts recommend that you have time away from your children at least once a week, and take that time to do whatever you want to do for yourself.

And we've done just that. The girls we're safe and sound at Nanny & Grandad's while we wandered around the town, in and out of clothes shops and the Food court for a late lunch. Laughing and talking about everything and nothing. It was wonderful to spend so much time, uninterrupted and know that we weren't in any kind of rush to get back. And that's what was so great about the whole thing, we don't have to do anything ott special or exciting (or expensive!) But it was just me and him, not being Mummy and Daddy, but just being ourselves.

Easter Chic Treat

J.R is so proud of this, she made it at school :)

It's called "Birdies-cake"

It's a (cornflake) crispy treat topped with mini marshmallows and a fuzzy chic. N'aww...

Today I signed the paperwork for J.R's school funding, there's a scheme from the government here that entitles all* 3 and 4 year olds to free registered childcare for 12.5 hours a week, 38 weeks of the year. Might sound confusing but when you throw in the school holidays, training days etc. it comes out even. That means that when the pre-school reopens in April after the Easter break, J.R will be attending from tuesday - friday every week. Excellent. Now to find something to do with my own time!

*I say all but there may be differences in cases due to individual family's incomes etc.

So don't quote me on that, if you want to know more just check the website.

It's the 1st of April and I have to be totally honest here and say it did take me a while to remember that the 1st is actually April Fools day.

So far it's looking good for me, as i'll probably only see Daddy today and he will not be in the mood haha, so I searched the web for April Fools pranks nonetheless...and look what I found. It's called Oops, we're having another!

I played this prank on my husband. While pregnant with our 3rd child, I "used" the left-over pregnancy test that came in the 2pack. After getting an obivious positive, I put it away for safe keeping for a year or so. On April 1st, I left the test out on the bathroom vanity for Hubby to find. He was never happier to hear the words "April Fools."

Congratulations Jill V. I absolutely love it, since I too put my positive tests away for safe keeping. But if I was to play this prank on Daddy...I swear he'd be out that door way too fast for me to say "April Fools!"