My baby is 1 and my tot is 3!

This week my baby turned 1! He is now nearly a toddler rather than a baby and this makes me sad :( I'm thinking more and more about baby number 3 now but it doesn't seem to be happening at the moment despite me cutting their feeds down to bedtime only. Anyway, baby turned one this week and tot turned 3 last week and to celebrate we had a party with all their family and friends in our garden at the weekend. We had a ball pit and their aunty and uncle kindly bought them a slide as a joint present. There was party food and Thomas the Tank Engine cake for baby and Henry Tank Engine for tot (which I made - had been stressing over them for weeks but they turned out okay - not perfect - but good enough for the tots to be happy with them!). It was a lovely day but I am only regretful of one thing: that I didn't try and enjoy more of it. I guess this is difficult to do if you want to be the perfect hostess! I was in the kitchen practically all day preparing food, getting drinks (coffee orders were high due to my nice new Gaggia!) and tidying up. At the end of the day I had to ask my husband if tot had played well with his friends and he had to fill me in on what happened for most of the afternoon out in the garden as I was so pre-occupied doing things. I wish I could have spent more time enjoying the moment with everyone. So I will have to come up with a better plan for next year! At least everyone else had a good time though and the two stars of the show had a ball so that's the main thing!

The little sweet shop

There is a little unit just up from the High Street where we live that had intrigued me for a while - ever since we moved here three years ago I suppose. When you walk past it you can see big bags and boxs of sweets. The sort of sweets that I remember as "penny sweets" from my childhood, or "pick'n'mix" as my son would call them. I presumed that it was a wholesale warehouse that supplied shops etc. The windows have shutters up and there is no sign across the building or "open" sign on the door: nothing to suggest that it is the sort of place that the public could just walk in off the street into. Anyway, one day I was passing it as we were on a late-afternoon walk - boys both in the buggy as they were tired but refusing to nap. As I approached the building I noticed children running in and coming out with little paper bags of sweets. So I got the boys out of the buggy and in we went. I have just finished reading Roald Dahl's "The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me" to tot and it sort of reminded me of a Dahl novel. Tot's eyes lit up as he saw the vast array of penny sweets sitting there in little tubs. There were shrimps; white mice; fizzy bubblegum bottles; fish n chips; cola bottles; jelly babies; flying saucers; beer bottles; midget gems; wine gums; cherry cola bottles; fried eggs to name a few! There was an old man with a long grey beard and bizarely a baseball cap who was very friendly and helped tot pick out "50 pence worth of sweeties". It took me back to my childhood when our Dad used to take us to the corner shop in the next village (as our village shop didn't open on a sunday in those days) and he would let us get 20 pence worth - which meant 20 sweets, I think it was the highlight of our week! It has made me realise that it is the little things that matter as a child: the fun things that they do as a routine - weekly trip to the sweet shop; weekly swimming session; afternoon in the park; playing with friends in the back garden; a trip to McDonald's; stories at bedtime, it is these little things that I remember from childhood more so than big events such as birthdays or summer holidays. So even though I don't really want to encourage my boys to eat lots of sweets I just love the sentiment behind this little "sweet shop"!

Another virus for my poor baby

Today we went to the GPs with baby - again. He had a high temperature the last day of our holiday and for a few days after that. He also had a runny nose and was off his food. I was not overly concerned about this but last night he started to develop a rash all over his torso. By now his temperature had returned to normal and I did the glass test with the spots - so wasn't worried it was meningitis. Anyway, this morning the rash looked worse as it had creeped up to his neck and forehead, so I took him to the doctors. The diagnosis was that it is just a virus and therefore they cannot prescribe anything. She said she had seen another baby this week with exactly the same symptoms, so it is obviously doing the rounds whatever it is. It is very frustrating when they say this because it's like you just want them to give you some magic cream to make it all better again! But at least I got peace of mind that it is nothing serious.

The grass is always greener...

I would love to be able to post better written blogs on here. I used to want to be a writer and when I read back my blogs I really don't feel they have much of a writing style to them. I am finding this very difficult to achieve for two reasons: 1). when I try and get the blogs written in the day I either have tot in one ear waffling on, asking me questions etc. or baby whining to be picked up/fed etc. and so I just try and get to the point and get the blog done as soon as possible and 2). By the time I have them both asleep in bed in the evenings it is getting on for 9pm and all I want to do is lie in front of the TV with a cup of tea and some chocolate cake! I used to love reading but again for these reasons I do not find the time to do this either - unless I have the motivation and energy in the evenings. I know I should not complain as they are not little for long. I will have plenty of time to sit on a laptop recording my every thought when they have all flown the nest - and of course then I will probably sit there and wish I could go back to the days when they were babies. I guess it is true that the grass is always greener on the other side.

Center Parcs

I'm now a Center Parcs fan. We had decided to do a mid-week break there as we had already been to Cornwall at the beginning of the summer. We tend to do two separate holidays each for a week as it breaks up work a bit more fo hubby. As much as I love a beach holiday to Menorca or such place we decided to stay in this country this year due to Jacob being so small - well, really more to do with not being able to find a good deal on a villa or apartment as it would be a nightmare to all try to sleep in a hotel room (as we did with Finn last year). Anyway, we went for Center Parcs as we were able to get a 2-bedroom woodland lodge which meant the boys had to share a room - but it worked out fine really. I think there was only one night when baby woke up - screamed - woke toddler up - who also screamed! This was the last night and baby had a roaring temperature (I think he got some sort of infection from going swimming every day - is okay now) and tot was so tired from all the days activities that he fell asleep without dinner and so woke up as he was hungry (normally not even a screaming baby wakes him when he is really tired!). Anyway, the park was great. We went swimming every day and cycling and walking around the lake. Tot had a great time on all the adventure play areas and at the kids disco (he is not shy at all and it is so lovely to watch his emerging personality). We also went ten-pin bowling and had a few drinks at the bar (drinking mojitos reminded me of my pre-mum days as I usually only drink red wine!). As a present for my 30th my mother in law treated me to a pampering day at the spa there. This was great and I really wish I could do that every week as a time-out from the kids (but at £38 a time this would work out rather expensive!). So all in all we all had a lovely time and are already talking about going back there!

A wonderful surprise...

It's official. I am now 30. I am not going to get depressed about it, but it does sound so much older than 29! It is of course only a number and you are only as old as you feel: which some days for me I am still a teenager and some days I am well into my thirties or older! So for my birthday I went to the seaside with my hubby and boys. We all had a lovely time, especially tot who was 'pretending' to fall over as he paddled in the sea and was up to his neck in it and loving it by the end of it, while babe and hubby enjoyed making sandcastles.

For my birthday hubby bought me a steamer. I was very pleased with this as I needed a new one and I didn't expect anything else big as he had bought me a new coffee machine for our 4th wedding anniversary at the beginning of the month. Anyway, the steamer had been sat on the table for a day and a half when hubby asked if I was going to try it out soon. I had some broccoli to steam that evening so in a hurry as I was preparing dinner the evening after my birthday I grabbed the box to get out the steamer. Imagine my surprise as I opened the box and noticed another small box - the sort of small box that can only contain a ring or earrings with a message, "Your real birthday present" written on it! I opened the box to reveal a beautiful gold band studded with seven diamonds. An eternity ring from my wonderful husband. It was quite easily the best birthday surprise ever!