tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86494616599136440772024-03-13T08:31:17.141-07:00Pow! Supermum!Ok so i'm not Supermum, but then who is? This is my blog, join me as I fumble my way through life as a Mummy of three, and who knows we may even have a few laughs along the way!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-49687277132197979922020-05-28T13:07:00.000-07:002020-05-28T13:07:21.850-07:00Comfort in SoundWhat. A. Week.<div>
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How is lockdown treating everyone? (Tell me in the comments if you want- but not going to lie I probably won't read them...sorry.) I have been spending the week trying to re-engage myself with the world. It seems my brain has vacated the premises for the past few weeks and with the threat of being back at work looming in the not so distant future, I thought I should try and remember how to function as a human being.</div>
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I've been working on my novel, (Probably best not to get too excited over that though- it's been a work in progress for the best part of 10 years and still not even close to finished.) and reading more autobiographies from some of my favourite comedians. This weeks offering was 'Mack the Life' by Lee Mack. I can confirm he comes across equally as funny on paper as he does on the TV- take from that what you will. </div>
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I've also spent the week trying to cut back on my alcohol consumption before I get to the point of having to admit to myself that maybe I have a problem. More than a little bit of wine and beer has been consumed over the weeks. I should probably also look at fixing my sleeping patterns. 4am is not the time to be going to bed if I have to start getting up before 9am again, although the latter will probably get easier when I ditch the hangovers.</div>
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I've spent a lot of time listening to music during lockdown- probably because it goes well with both drinking and staying up until the early hours. It has been great to re-discover some of the bands I used to enjoy, like I had completely forgotten Razorlight existed! I've been introducing the kids to the likes of Bowling For Soup, Fall out boy, Good Charlotte, Blink 182, Paramore, Feeder- It's been so much fun seeing their reactions. I actually caught Sam singing some Good Charlotte while playing X Box the other day. That made me smile until I realised the song he was singing... 'You know the happiest day of my life, is the day that I die....' Erm. Yes. Maybe don't sing that at school Sam. Oops.</div>
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I was very excited to get a ticket to an online new material gig for Sarah Millican this week! Sarah Millican and friends live from my bedroom! The 'show' consisted of a few different comedians trying out some of their new material, followed by Sarah and her husband Gary Delaney. It was brilliant. I can now also tune in every Wednesday for my comedy fix. Something to look forward to! </div>
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Well I should probably go and put the kids to bed, not that I can crack open the wine so they may as well run round for another 5 minutes.. </div>
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Maybe 1 glass won't hurt? (Not an alcoholic... I promise!)</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-86817629164688906502020-05-13T07:51:00.003-07:002020-05-16T02:18:41.016-07:00Buttered Parnsips..Good Afternoon (Or Morning, or Evening, maybe even Goodnight, depending on what time you find yourself reading this...)<br />
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Another week has passed, and today we see the first signs that lockdown is being eased. Apparently we can now see 1 member of another household at a time providing we meet outside, and stay 2 meters apart. So I can now leave my children home alone, and meet 1 of my parents (but not both) in the local park providing we stay 2 meters away from each other. An excellent plan with only 2 minor draw backs-<br />
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<li> I can't leave my 10, 7 and 6 year old's home alone. (Well not without the house being burned to the ground or 1 of them killing the other.)</li>
<li>If another family member decides to take their household to the park at the same time, we must immediately leave as though you can be around total strangers in the park as long as you maintain social distancing, you may only speak to family/ friends on a 1-1 basis.</li>
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I think I have grasped that correctly? I also understand that while we are not allowed to invite family members into our households, we can invite in total strangers for the purpose of selling our homes. So.. No family members that you know have also isolated for 7 weeks- but all the strangers- (Who knows where they've been) are allowed to parade around judging my decor. We can also return to work- but don't return to work, and don't go on public transport, unless you have to go on public transport, but also GO TO WORK, unless you can't.. Well Boris, thanks mate, that makes perfect sense.<br />
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I've been reading a lot this last week, I find comedy the best distraction right now so read Sarah Millican's<i> 'How to be champion'</i> (which apparently involves an overhaul of your knicker draw and pissing in the passenger seat of your car). Followed by <i>'Buttered Parsnips'</i> by Joe Lycett (Occasionally known as Hugo Boss). Now the latter did cause a little confusion as I didn't read the title before buying and got an email from Amazon confirming my purchase of 'Buttered Parsnips'. Which led to many questions such as, ' Can I buy parsnips on Amazon?' and 'Surely you'd want them with honey not butter?'. Confusion aside, the book has had me laughing out loud while the kids sit there staring, probably assuming Mummy is in 1 of her hysterical moods again and so they should probably just leave her to it and make the most of not being told they have to get off the X Box...<br />
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In other news, the kids are going to go stay overnight at their Dads this week for the first time in 8 weeks. Little apprehensive, not going to lie. Being on my own in the house for 24 hours seems a long time now I've become accustomed to them being here 24/7. I plan to use the time to clean the house- take the dog for a long walk, and eat food that doesn't involve fish fingers, or chips. However I imagine it will be spent drinking wine, listening to music, and sleeping. I'll let you know how that plays out... Roll on normality and the Monday night Barge pub quiz!<br />
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I shall leave you with my favourite photo of the week... BBQ FOOD!!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-78992640458801320022020-05-06T07:27:00.000-07:002020-05-06T07:27:14.583-07:00I'm not ok.. (I promise)Isolation day- 53.<br />
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Wow. 53 days since 'normality'. </div>
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Honestly I think I am finally adjusting to life in lockdown, not that it is getting any easier but I feel like my moods are slowly starting to improve. The kids are doing amazingly, they've finally stopped fighting me whenever I ask them to do school work- mainly I fear because it is so much fun to laugh at how bad Mummy is at maths. Seriously- I'm sure I didn't forget that much from my school days, so they must be teaching them something new. (That's my excuse and i'm sticking to it.)</div>
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The kids ramblings have become my entertainment- Just the other day they were sat having a brainstorm about all the reasons they won't drink water (squash is the favourite in this house.). The best of which were-</div>
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<li>Its too wet. (Huh? isn't that the point?)</li>
<li>Its tasteless. (So how can it taste bad?)</li>
<li>It comes from the sewer. (Not sure where they are getting theirs from..)</li>
<li>It's dirty, because you wash dishes in it. (I'd like to add that I do not fill the kids cups from the dirty dish bowl) </li>
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Well at least they are being creative.<br />
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Getting them to physically leave the house is proving difficult- despite my Aunt sending them a swingball set and some other outdoor toys they would much rather veg on the sofa like a bunch of teenagers. When asked to come outside because the weather was 'lovely and warm outside' the response I got was 'Yes Mummy but it's lovely and warm inside too.' Well you can't argue with that...<br />
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Loki has also FINALLY stopped asking for snacks every 7 seconds after the day we actually ran out and he had to wait 2 days for our next shopping delivery. It seems he now has a new found appreciation for the snack cupboard, and without the constant demands he seems much happier. (as is Mummy- pictured as proof.) </div>
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I received an email this week from work checking in to see how we all are, featuring some of the things others have been doing during lockdown, and also asking for us to share what we have all been doing. My work colleagues have apparently taken up an array of new hobbies, from making their own clothes, to running. I decided not to share any of my new interests as I am not sure becoming a chain smoking alcoholic with anxiety is exactly what they were looking for to lift everyone's spirits. They are also looking for suggestions about how we can kick start the business again once all this is over but I figured my idea of converting the office prayer room into an AA meeting venue probably wasn't going to make the top ten.<br />
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I decided this week to re-join the world of dating- its been 5 months since the kids Dad moved out. (Wow that went a little swift.) So I thought I would embrace this new world of online dating, after all we can't exactly leave the house right now. It was a little cringe worthy I have to say- See below for my top 3 worst responses-<br />
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<li><i>"Hi beautiful, as we're all locked down- why don't I drive by your house, you can stand outside and we can see if we like each other"</i> - Right. So an excellent plan with only 2 minor drawbacks- Number 1- I am not giving you my address. Number 2- From that sentence, I've already decided I don't like you. </li>
<li><i>"I knew I recognised you from somewhere- I remember seeing you in Asda once, you were doing your shopping- you were wearing a black coat. We didn't talk or anything, but I remember thinking I'd love to get to know you, and was so excited when I saw your picture on here"</i> - WTF. This 1 was actually stalker level creepy- now i'm hoping this was actually a made up scenario that you thought would impress me with some weird love at first sight thing- but actually it just made me throw up a little in my mouth. </li>
<li><b>Dick Pics</b>. No explanation needed- UNMATCH.</li>
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Well that is about all the excitement to come out of my little house in the past couple of weeks- I shall leave you with this- the best meal I've made myself in weeks- Starter for 4? Nope. Meal for 1. Life is good.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-49890985012624119732020-04-13T11:39:00.001-07:002020-04-13T11:39:09.801-07:00Cabin FeverWhat a week.<br />
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We are now in our 4th week of lockdown. We haven't left the house for anything but essentials for 24 days. The past few days have been tough. It's the first time I've felt like I am actually not coping.<br />
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The week didn't actually start too badly, however looking back on it I can definitely see how I ended up falling into the black hole.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__6B9iBlo8A0rgT0G7xPw9_aTqJJyIdRZ2IppG6Be0rPrLq5HRUb1Xy9A-8Vg2G-oQ_yPZOln2tJgbj05MhLQVQJGmncdEFrgzJB_CyAibcSuvS6kTY1g1X7KLHyKJ5YFaK8P4r1eVGk/s1600/20200409_200504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__6B9iBlo8A0rgT0G7xPw9_aTqJJyIdRZ2IppG6Be0rPrLq5HRUb1Xy9A-8Vg2G-oQ_yPZOln2tJgbj05MhLQVQJGmncdEFrgzJB_CyAibcSuvS6kTY1g1X7KLHyKJ5YFaK8P4r1eVGk/s200/20200409_200504.jpg" width="150" /></a>I decided it was a good idea to cut my hair- those who know me will know that doing experimental things to my hair is usually the first sign that I am feeling a little out of control. (My poor hair has suffered an awful lot over the years thanks to that particular coping mechanism...). I gave myself this cute fringe which I am now not so sure I like but hey it will grow back before we are actually allowed to leave our houses again right?<br />
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Then I decided that I would do some retail therapy- I have an aversion to online shopping, I much prefer going out and buying local but of course that is no longer an option. I also shop a lot when I am stressed- but of course I just figured it was boredom and so definitely nothing to worry about. I ordered some gifts for some of my close friends to cheer them up- probably totally unwanted junk but again- this was impulse buying at its best. I also ordered the kids a new paddling pool (probably 1 of my better purchases). I finally stopped when my bank balance started to look a little less healthy and I actually debated transferring all my money to a friend to look after before we got to a point of not being able to eat.<br />
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Loki's birthday was also this week. I was very anxious about it. I wanted him to have as 'normal' a birthday as possible. A friend bought him a cake and dropped it round, and I had a few presents I had managed to get on my Amazon binge although most of what he had wanted was out of stock or wouldn't arrive in time. Despite that he still had a reasonable pile of presents by the eve of his birthday. I wrapped everything, including all the presents relatives had sent. Writing their names on the labels made me a little emotional that we wouldn't be seeing any family and that it was on me to make his birthday special. Despite my worries he had a good day. Even announcing that it was 'The best birthday ever' but I still had all the Mum guilt that I could have done better. Even though I had been up since 6am- it took a bottle of wine to get me to sleep.<br />
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I haven't really eaten much at all this week- the kids have been eating me out of house and home but my appetite has just disappeared. Probably not a total bad thing given that I'm not doing a great deal and do not want to emerge from this 3 dress sizes heavier. However when I ended up more than a little tipsy on half a glass of wine I realised maybe I should try and eat a little more, if for no better reason than being able to finish a couple glasses of wine in an evening without getting wasted.<br />
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Then came the anxiety. Now I have been down this road so many times- you would think I would be better at recognising the signs right?<br />
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WRONG.<br />
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I found myself questioning everything. Friends didn't reply to a message within 10 minutes of reading it and obviously they've decided they don't want to talk to me anymore. I have probably annoyed several people this week with my outbursts of 'Don't talk to me then'. (Sorry guys). By some miracle most of my friends have understood- some more than others, but that doesn't stop me feeling incredibly disappointed in myself for not just keeping my shit together.<br />
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Towards the end of the week I had the worst night I have had in a very long time. I went to bed early, I couldn't explain it but I just didn't feel 'right'. I woke in the early hours having a full blown panic attack. I haven't had a panic attack in years. I was a crying, hyperventilating mess. I couldn't pull my thoughts together into anything remotely coherent but lucky for me I had a friend on the other end of the phone to talk me down. I really hope he knows just how much it meant to have someone not judging just being there- although I do feel like I need to even the scales a little- this person has saved my life more times than I care to count!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOSHrZ52wfWOR537x9wjab2fMQRX4d5XndYmUuy-y7SRCAmI-Rlmm0cs9tBNmW3RHJN2dQo1WGW0f3KvTSwgo8ORhf-8QF154BGdDMRJ3YWNfsV_ugXVn1tRmXWyzx6vq_o-RFflWg1M/s1600/20200411_132720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOSHrZ52wfWOR537x9wjab2fMQRX4d5XndYmUuy-y7SRCAmI-Rlmm0cs9tBNmW3RHJN2dQo1WGW0f3KvTSwgo8ORhf-8QF154BGdDMRJ3YWNfsV_ugXVn1tRmXWyzx6vq_o-RFflWg1M/s200/20200411_132720.jpg" width="150" /></a>After that I realised I needed to do something to pull myself back out. Usually that would be going out, seeing friends/ family. Of course that isn't happening any time soon. However the next day the kids paddling pool arrived. Turned out I hadn't quite thought it through as the damn thing holds 1400 litres and the hose connector is dead- so a 12 litre bucket and all the trips back and forth to the tap it was! The kids enjoyed themselves for all of 20 minutes before Loki decided to pee in said pool and they all bailed out. Kids.<br />
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The sun was shining though, so that made me feel a little better, if not a little sun burnt (really must invest in suncream).<br />
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We decided to go for a walk over the weekend. I needed to drop my Mum some milk, and since she is only 5 minutes round the corner I thought we would take the dog for a short walk. It was harder than I thought it would be having to drop her things outside the door and only wave from the window. My parents live in a first floor flat, and like us have been isolating for a while now. I miss being able to drop in, and the kids miss going round and being allowed to eat all the sweets and chocolate their tummies can handle. Especially given that it was Easter weekend, something I couldn't even bring myself to celebrate. The kids luckily had a few Easter Eggs delivered by their Dad- from a safe 2 metre distance of course.<br />
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Just as I thought I was sorting my head a little- I was hit by a migraine. I get them a lot even when not dealing with this much stress, but usually the kids will be at school or their Dads, and I can lock myself in a dark room to recover. No such luck when you are quarantined. I was taking paracetamol like they were sweets, trying to sleep where I could but with very little luck. Even at night when the kids were in bed I couldn't shift the pain behind my eyes. I would lie in bed for hours just wanting to scream into my pillow. I also couldn't stop thinking about the way I had treated my friends all week because of my own mental state. I sent more messages I would go on to regret.<br />
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After more than 30 hours of barely being able to see let alone function the fog finally shifted and I started feeling more 'normal' again. I scrolled my phone to assess the damage- I feel damage limitation is officially out of the window. (Again, sorry guys!)<br />
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So now I am picking up the pieces of what has been 1 horrendous week. I am comforting myself with the thought that I cannot be the only person struggling right now. That these uncertain and difficult times are challenging for all of us, and reminding myself that those who can't handle me at my worst, sure as hell do not deserve me at my best.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-35646485463535517212020-04-07T11:32:00.001-07:002020-04-07T11:42:49.437-07:00Day 18..Carole F*****g Baskin!18 days.<br />
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18 days locked in a house with 3 tiny humans.<br />
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It's been an exciting week- we went on an adventure to the living room and beyond! I also caved and watched 'Tiger King' on Netflix- what a ride that was!! Just when you thought Americans couldn't get any crazier, along comes Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin. If you haven't checked it out already, and you fancy making yourself feel better about your own life- I would suggest giving it a watch!<br />
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Honestly I expected to have lost it, but we are doing better than I thought we would be by this point. The kids are all in relatively good spirits and I have to say I am extremely proud of how they are coping.<br />
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While we are all worried about losing our sanity during this long, long time behind closed doors with our darling children, I think we often forget just how hard all this is on them as well as us.<br />
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Just 2 weeks ago they were living in a life full of routine, getting up early, going to school, seeing their friends and teachers. Now they are stuck inside the house 24 hours a day, with a Mother who apparently has less of a clue how to do their maths homework than they do, and is developing an increasingly worrying wine habit.<br />
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It's actually been really uplifting to see how they have adapted. 2 weeks ago, getting them to play nicely together was an uphill struggle. There would almost always be 1 of them sat with me complaining that the other 2 would not let them join in. They would argue, and bicker, and generally do all the things that brothers and sisters do to make each others lives as difficult as possible.<br />
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Now, I get times where I actually feel redundant. We sit down every morning for breakfast together, and then they sit and do some of their school work if they feel like it. Then I am left to my own devices for a few hours while they build forts in the bedroom, run round the garden, play ball, and generally enjoy each others company.<br />
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I went to check on the boys a few nights ago and Loki was not in his bed, he had climbed in with his brother and gone to sleep- This would never have happened without Sam screaming the place down before. I really hope this continues long after Covid-19 is gone.<br />
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We've found a new appreciation for our garden, where usually I have to drag the kids kicking and screaming they are now loving any opportunity to get some fresh air, and soak up some vitamin D. We even rescued a bee, which I have counted as science class. We named him Buzz-Zee-Bee (After Buzz Lightyear of course). </div>
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The kids have also enjoyed costing me a small fortune in Sky Movies. This weeks offerings were Frozen 2, full of catchy new Frozen songs that are now stuck on a loop in my head, and Trolls World Tour which cost me £15 to RENT for 48 hours. So naturally I made the kids watch it 4 times just to get my £15 worth. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge44cJr4BkIXl4XCx_kB2mRlqNSRQ8O2reORxCguOCJdvs018X9E73SpbiVWKxciZu8VUPpXJEF0XNnOKQmC5_JhB-xpkFRGH4hSxqWqr20t18091SgIAn3Z3KSi6fCCROGZ0R2m3QxMw/s1600/20200405_183535.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1436" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge44cJr4BkIXl4XCx_kB2mRlqNSRQ8O2reORxCguOCJdvs018X9E73SpbiVWKxciZu8VUPpXJEF0XNnOKQmC5_JhB-xpkFRGH4hSxqWqr20t18091SgIAn3Z3KSi6fCCROGZ0R2m3QxMw/s200/20200405_183535.jpg" width="179" /></a>I finally convinced the boys to let me cut their hair- Sam dared me to shave his head, and since he isn't leaving the house for the foreseeable I went with it. Loki changed his mind last minute but still went much shorter than usual. I offered my hair dressing service to Sky- she politely declined. (Can't say I blame her) I may have to let lose on my own hair before long- who knows if this lock down goes on much longer I may go full Britney and shave my own head- (For the laughs) Something for you all to look forward to in the coming months...</div>
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It's not all been plain sailing of course- I have found myself crying into my pillow on more than 1 occasion as the reality of what is going on in the world sets in. When all this started in January, who would have predicted that the whole world would be put on hold for an unknown length of time. Friends, families, separated for what already feels like a lifetime. Its strange how even the friends and family that you rarely see seem that little further away. </div>
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I am extremely thankful to the friends and family who call or text me day after day, adult conversation is definitely in short supply so every message, every call helps pull back those tiny pieces of my sanity, and stop me from toppling over the edge. I think most of you will know my struggles with anxiety and depression over the years and I am fighting hard not to fall back into the black abyss. </div>
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Like many, my main coping mechanisms for dealing with my depression have been going out, just getting out of the house, making plans, and forcing myself to stick to them. I know some of my friends think I am mad for making plans through this time as we really do not know how long until life returns to anything that resembles normal. But making plans gives me something to focus on, something to look forward to, it gives me hope that life WILL return to normal at some point. I am terrified of going back to being the person who can't leave her own house, who is scared to walk out of her own front door. </div>
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Right enough of that- happy thoughts from here on out!</div>
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I will leave you with this- my favourite picture from this week- Yes, they have been in their pj's ALL DAY, and no, I have no idea why Loki is holding a card reader...</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-35209733155415120722020-04-01T09:57:00.002-07:002020-04-01T10:25:34.473-07:00Good friends send bread and milk- the best friends send WINE!Hello again!<br />
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I thought I would update you all on the apocalypse day.. erm.. well honestly I lost track of days?<br />
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It could be day 8- it could actually be day 973.. who knows!!<br />
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No work or school has left me all over the place and wondering how long my sanity will hold out.<br />
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Despite numerous lectures on the importance of social distancing and not going to the shop every 5 minutes, my children do not understand the concept of rationing. People give me funny looks if I try and take 3 kids into the spar- and apparently being a single parent is frowned upon in the end of days.<br />
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Who knew?<br />
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Loki insists on helping himself to whatever food he can find. I spent 10 minutes cleaning the living room and went back to the kitchen where he tells me that I must<br />
'Look in the cupboard'. So I do. 'Where did those penguins go Mum?'. He asks, then proceeds to run up the stairs while I stare in disbelief at the empty pack of penguins. When I finally caught up with him and asked where he had hidden them he pointed gingerly at his tummy. Yes ladies and gentlemen the little swine had in fact gobbled up 6 penguins in the space of about 7 minutes. No snacks for the rest of the day- which of course means much upset from the other 2. Give. Me. Strength.<br />
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We ventured out yesterday for the first time in 10 days, to pick up the click and collect order from a certain well known supermarket. It is the first time we have been out since all this lockdown madness began. The queue for said well known supermarket was ridiculous- people waiting 2 metres apart across the car park for an hour just to get in the door. I was so glad I could drive in collect my stuff and immediately leave! Or so I thought- being the only person at click and collect I thought we would be in and out in minutes- but that was not meant to be. I was greeted at my car window by a girl who obviously hadn't got the memo about social distancing. She then went off in search of my shopping.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNplAsTR9gtCJ8VlxymNaohfIoYQoj-p-3u5Ztea1OsRFwWbxuSUc14S-b-gflXb98ACn9VDUkPq7Vme5EtU9tBvQ9fegLPIKosfpvbmObz46S2RibbHW5Wt22HKpMEuUdzpVGJkP2RQ/s1600/20200331_112614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNplAsTR9gtCJ8VlxymNaohfIoYQoj-p-3u5Ztea1OsRFwWbxuSUc14S-b-gflXb98ACn9VDUkPq7Vme5EtU9tBvQ9fegLPIKosfpvbmObz46S2RibbHW5Wt22HKpMEuUdzpVGJkP2RQ/s200/20200331_112614.jpg" width="150" /></a>20 minutes I waited in my boot for her to return. When she finally arrived with my shopping she announced that the top 2 rows of shopping on the left of the trolley were mine- and everything on the right. So what was below the 2 rows on the left I hear you ask- well that would be someone else's shopping. She then went back inside and left me to it. I debated pleading ignorance and taking the lot but of course I didn't. (Honest) But I did wonder how leaving that shopping with me was going to help the spread of Covid-19. If I did have it (which I am assuming I don't?) then I could have infected the lot? Now looking at my own shopping and wondering if it is actually covered in corona germs...*Runs off in search of Dettol*<br />
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I have to admit that where school work is concerned I have been a little slack- While Facebook is being filled with pictures and statuses about home schooling- My little angels have spent most of their days either playing in the garden, playing on video games, watching TV, or their favourite- Eating! We did take a break and bake some cakes a few days ago- and school work is there if/ when they want to do any. Sky has so far been the only 1 to take me up on that- and this was the result- Well she's not wrong!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3yh4vfBMWGfgRf8sZpYsNBi0VQU8-U6BdOVTOGqRAEbG8ycyh3QGtfpYSQeQGNPhSKS2t2VFTf8Fnxl-cgWc1eKnwSCUCaCqMe4agDytzBXNEKhxROW0rLdhHwVIZV9mAx33mrjjkX1Q/s1600/20200330_115802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3yh4vfBMWGfgRf8sZpYsNBi0VQU8-U6BdOVTOGqRAEbG8ycyh3QGtfpYSQeQGNPhSKS2t2VFTf8Fnxl-cgWc1eKnwSCUCaCqMe4agDytzBXNEKhxROW0rLdhHwVIZV9mAx33mrjjkX1Q/s400/20200330_115802.jpg" width="300" /></a>You know what? This is an incredibly stressful time- and the kids are facing these huge changes, just as much, if not more so than the rest of us. They are away from their friends, classmates, teachers. Routine has gone out of the window and I will be damned if i'm going to start arguing with them over sitting down and doing some maths that honestly, I probably wouldn't be able to help them with anyway. There will be plenty of time for school when the apocalypse is over. Even if there isn't, the mental health of my kids is slightly more important than their ability to work out X if Y is Z and Z is a giraffe.. That is after all, what calculators are for!<br />
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So to all those parent shaming perfect Mums and Dads out there-(we all know at least 1 right?) Just do us all a favour for the next few weeks and FUCK OFF! No-one cares if little Henry can do long multiplication, or if darling Jane just penned an epic tale of triumph in the face of this deadly pandemic.<br />
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My kid put matching socks on today- alright Susan! That's a win in my book!<br />
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I joke of course- if you can hold your child's attention with school work without wanting to stab yourself in the eye with a pencil after 7 seconds then congratulations. (But its still not a competition).<br />
If you got up at least once this week, and actually put clothes on then well done! If your child has survived a whole week of lockdown- You are doing great! Give yourself a pat on the back- and a very large glass of wine!<br />
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Speaking of wine- one of my lovely friends had wine and gin delivered to my house yesterday- so at least at the end of each stressful day, I can drown my sorrows. Its quite possible that I will emerge from my house at the end of all this a raging alcoholic, but I am embracing the madness and will worry about what happens later, when we are eventually allowed to leave our homes again-<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cheers Everyone!</span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-48541516848116351482020-03-28T08:21:00.000-07:002020-03-28T08:21:51.796-07:00Kids, Wine, and Isolation. (Apocalypse Week 1)Well, hello world. The past 3 years have apparently been so hectic that I haven't updated you all.<br />
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Lucky (or not as the case may be) for you all, I, like many people all over the world, have found myself with a great deal of time on my hands while we all #lockdown in our homes for the foreseeable future.<br />
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A lot has happened since my last post. Back in January I ended my marriage of 11 years, and began 2020 full of hope and optimism for the future. 2020 would be the year I find what makes me happy, while finally giving my 3 beautiful babies the lives that they deserved.<br />
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Turns out fate has a dark sense of humour, and despite a rather promising January/ February- March brought with it the apocalypse and despite my best efforts to hold everything together, life finally ground to a halt on March 24th. <br />
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I want to start by saying I actually feel incredibly blessed to be in the situation that I am in right now. While around me friends and family are losing their jobs, I have actually been put on leave with full pay for 3 weeks, and given the opportunity to spend a whole bunch of quality time with my babies.<br />
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However, as I am sure the parents among me will agree- Entertaining small people who are used to the routine of school 5 days a week, is challenging at the best of times. At least in the school holidays you can leave the house! So I thought I would come back here and share with you our time in isolation, in hope it provides a little entertainment, and if nothing else makes a few of you feel better about your own time inside.<br />
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<u><b>Week 1</b></u><br />
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So we began week 1 full of good intentions. The kids came home from their last day of school with folders full of 'school work' and while there was a little bit of upset at leaving their friends, they were generally in good spirits and looking forward to the longest school break in history.<br />
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<b>Day 1- (Saturday)</b>- I had planned to spend our weekend going shopping, stocking up on essentials .(but definitely not panic buying because that is BAD people!!!) We were going to head over to the toy store and grab all the stationary, colouring books, and crafty arty bits we could carry, as well as maybe treating the kids to a new board game. But of course, Loki woke with a cough.<br />
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Trying not to panic, after all the tiny asthmatic germ magnet is sick at least once a month, I decided we would have a day in and hope it was just his asthma and he would be fine again tomorrow.<br />
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<b>Day 2- (Sunday)</b>- He wasn't better. In fact his cough had gotten worse. To add insult to injury, it was also Mothers Day. A very emotional Mummy emerged from the bedroom.<br />
The kids were excited to give me the homemade cards they had made at school. I avoided having to use the likely corona infected teabag Loki had stuffed inside his by telling him we would keep it as 'The Emergency Teabag' and placing it on the fireplace. I cooked a roast dinner, and we watched movies in our pj's.<br />
Their Dad popped in with some supplies since we had not been able to go out shopping. He was also supposed to be having them that night but we decided on reflection that sending the poorly 1 to another household with yet more people to infect was probably a bad idea, and so I also had to come to terms with the idea that this was going to be life for the next 14 days. Happy Mothers Day to me.<br />
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<b>Day 3- (Monday)- </b>I called work to let them know that thanks to a poorly child (who by this point was starting to show all signs that a full recovery was in fact on the cards) I was stuck in for the next 14 days, and so would have to work from home. I spent most of the day stuffing snacks in the faces of the kids as my only means of stopping them from yelling whenever I answered the phone- thankfully I don't speak to many customers, and a lot of my job can be done via email- but safe to say by the time 5:30pm came I was exhausted from juggling both work and childcare.<br />
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That night we watched along with the rest of the country as Boris announced that we would be effectively in lockdown for 3 weeks. <br />
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<b>Day 4- (Tuesday)- </b>Working again- although with a whole lot of stress and uncertainty piled on top as our field guys were told they would be taken off the road for the foreseeable. By that afternoon I was told that I was to take paid leave for the next 3 weeks. The kids seemed excited by this prospect, and so I said goodbye to my main source of sanity and normality for 3 weeks. We celebrated with pizza from a certain well known franchise- left on our doorstep, for 'contactless' delivery of course...<br />
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<b>Day 5 (Wednesday)- </b>Boredom was starting to set in for the kids. Having apparently exhausted <i>all </i>the toys in their rooms, they insisted they had nothing to do. They also decided that food was the sole solution to their boredom, and I had to lock away the biscuit barrel to stop them demolishing the last of my precious custard cream supply.<br />
Deliveries from supermarkets have also become exceptionally sparse- being payday I tried to get a delivery slot from every supermarket in the town and failed. I finally managed to get a click and collect slot- but that slot is Tuesday 31st. Despite many talks about rationing with my ever hungry hoard, they could not be silenced- and so I sacrificed the custard creams. RIP biscuity goodness.<br />
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Before bedtime- my throat had begun to hurt.<br />
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<b>Day 6- (Thursday)- </b>The kids decided we should all be different characters for the day- Sky decided Mummy should be Mary Poppins (Despite looking and feeling more like Mother Gothel without her magic Rapunzel hair fix- seriously that woman kept a child locked away for over a decade- no wonder she went bat shit crazy) I of course took my role extremely seriously- bursting into song at every opportunity and hoping that at least to my babies I was in fact 'Practically perfect in every way'.<br />
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The kids have also found a new appreciation for each other in the absence of friends, even hugging and kissing each other goodnight. Its the little things.<br />
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<b>Day 7- (Friday)- </b>Despite feeling like I may cough up a lung at any minute- I decided I would get outside and sort the garden. The kids had by this point gone 6 days without any fresh air and I figured at the very least they should soak up some vitamin D. (Typical isn't it that as soon as everyone is locked in their homes the weather vastly improves.)<br />
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I then suggested that a camp out in the living room would be fun, and we set about making a den from sleeping bags and random items of furniture. Of course come bedtime Loki decided he didn't want to sleep in the den unless Mummy also slept in it with him- so a night on the floor getting the covers stolen by a 5 year old was now on the cards.<br />
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Thank God for wine.<br />
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Bring on Week 2!!<br />
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(Special thanks to friends this week who have kept me sane with regular messages/ phone calls/ care packages.. you know who you are.. and you are all very much appreciated- love you all.)<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-971473944476533032017-08-06T03:06:00.001-07:002017-08-06T03:06:46.270-07:00Camping..The Whole Sorry Saga!<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We had been looking forward to our camping trip for a long time. Spending weeks, and lots of money on new camping gear, much of which we didn't really need but excitement took over. After a test run in the garden, we were finally ready!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzRzWfaQBRPXagbnSmks6hRo6IjRhJmhDi65Vs_uUtecbN1_UAwV2rB1PpxnsWaQ8nkvuz6zlDdMMPcfUcsdE-r-mIgY7RTfzxslRX3vGY3p9ednEOBeGgDoSp5KuzazrGEgdCZQLOfik/s1600/20170724_102852.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzRzWfaQBRPXagbnSmks6hRo6IjRhJmhDi65Vs_uUtecbN1_UAwV2rB1PpxnsWaQ8nkvuz6zlDdMMPcfUcsdE-r-mIgY7RTfzxslRX3vGY3p9ednEOBeGgDoSp5KuzazrGEgdCZQLOfik/s320/20170724_102852.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Monday morning arrived, we were woken bright and early by three very excited children! All the bags were packed and ready by the front door, and hubby spent an hour playing car Tetris to get it all in the car! The kids were squeezed in amongst pillows, blankets and sleeping bags and we were off!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nearly two hours later, we arrived to a very wet, and very windy Blue Dolphin Holiday Park. While I checked us in, hubby watched others on the site trying in vain to pitch their tents. I grabbed our pitch details and we nervously made our way to the tent fields.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The only pitch big enough for our tent left was right at the top of the site, with very little shelter. There we found the broken remains of a tent that had been left behind. An airbed still inside the wreckage, and the now ripped free guy lines were still pegged to the ground. I looked at hubby, and he looked at me. The kids were excited and dying to get out of the car. Question was did we brave it and risk suffering the same fate as our previous occupants? Or get back in the car and head home? We decided to go for it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We grabbed our coats, and heaved the doors open against the wind. The kids watched from the car as we grabbed the windbreak, hoping that between that and the car we'd have some sort of shelter to pitch the tent in. The windbreak took several attempts to put up, pegs flying out of the ground as fast as we could hammer them in. After what seemed like forever it was finally up. We got the kids in their coats, and enlisted their help to get the footprint laid out, a child in each corner to hold it down while we ran round with pegs. (Having three children does have its advantages). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then came the tent, again getting the kids to sit on corners while we pegged it down, while the wind fought against us. At that point the heavens opened, and the wind got worse. We decided to put the kids back in the car. I then ended up barefoot, guiding the poles into their sleeves while Joe pushed them in. Finally, after many failed attempts, and a constant battle of wills the tent was up, well in a fashion..</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXmvfaPZBb8t6UmQqnXxvw3R2Pr20Nh9DzwYUHNi1Rsi8cW8xqNLkxAgOcRj4UyOPiYM3K4RPCFXlsL8ISWL31Fac0IK3wA0wiQ2efuhqAjn13bOxlFlwI6MuhV9-ipAmhso58Lbh7Cc/s1600/aviary-image-1501760080015.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXmvfaPZBb8t6UmQqnXxvw3R2Pr20Nh9DzwYUHNi1Rsi8cW8xqNLkxAgOcRj4UyOPiYM3K4RPCFXlsL8ISWL31Fac0IK3wA0wiQ2efuhqAjn13bOxlFlwI6MuhV9-ipAmhso58Lbh7Cc/s320/aviary-image-1501760080015.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The wind was blowing a gale, and even though the car was sheltering us, the side of the tent was still being blown severely from one side. We heaved out the guy ropes as far and as tight as we could, scared that at any moment they would rip from the tent. They didn't. Then on the advice of some tent talkers on Facebook, Joe went round with the bag of spare pegs (That I'd had to talk him into buying, who's laughing now!) and double pegged the guys, while I got inside the tent to attach the bedroom pods. The whole tent felt like it would blow away any moment! We then hurriedly threw the kids, and all our belongings inside. As if by some miracle we were pitched!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We took a look through our food supplies, there was no way we'd get a BBQ or a stove lit in the wind, so opted to head down to the restaurant. It was very loud, not what we were used to from the Golden Sands Haven, but there was food, and wine! So we sat down to eat, although in the back of my mind was the constant worry of whether our tent would still be standing when we returned! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few large glasses of wine later, and we made the trek back to the tent. The kids were exhausted, and Sam was pale and complaining of tummy ache. We tucked them into bed, covered their sleeping bags with extra blankets, and to our surprise they were fast off in minutes. Then came the long night ahead with the tent blowing all over the place. Somehow we managed to sleep.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyWCXqLvcQEMvDlxy2_4RM2nLPfIYPQn9U2k9tKuvj2EbmpsjVJ4DBli_4eLt_KxViXvbqT7yEEy9PL6jhZOHjk6KJBaG9iLkZqXl5hsUX6ZTYpvJQMMGdSGxdKhBrx3HYbrr38uxZ_o/s1600/20170725_081628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWyWCXqLvcQEMvDlxy2_4RM2nLPfIYPQn9U2k9tKuvj2EbmpsjVJ4DBli_4eLt_KxViXvbqT7yEEy9PL6jhZOHjk6KJBaG9iLkZqXl5hsUX6ZTYpvJQMMGdSGxdKhBrx3HYbrr38uxZ_o/s320/20170725_081628.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next morning, the wind had died down a lot, although it was still a bit breezy. We manoeuvred the windbreak around the front of the tent, and managed to cook some sausages for breakfast. Then came the endless trips to the toilets. It seemed every time we returned from taking one of the kids to the toilet, another would be 'desperate to go' despite insisting not five minutes earlier that they didn't need to go. By midday we were finally all unpacked, dressed, and ready to go investigate the park! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We spent the first hour in the arcades, the kids racking up an amazing number of tickets in their first hour. We then made our way to the swimming pool. We were let into the pool at 2:10pm, and were given bands 'just in case' the pool got busy. We were shocked that for a holiday park with accommodation for hundreds of families, there was only around twenty cubicles in the changing rooms, of which four were family sized. We all got changed, fought through the crowd for lockers, and by around 2:30pm we were finally in the pool! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The kids were loving it, even if there was barely any room to move! Unfortunately, despite Loki measuring over a metre tall, the signage at the pool showed him being much smaller than the one metre mark, and so he was refused access to the slides. So while Daddy took the other two, I tried my hardest to keep him occupied, while he screamed for the slides. They then opened the outdoor pool, which we had been told was heated, so we thought we'd give it a go. It was freezing! Every family that headed out, came straight back in. Obviously it wasn't heated, if it was then the heaters weren't working! After only twenty minutes in the pool, an announcement came over the tannoy. 'Could all people with red bands please exit the pool'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We proceeded to drag three screaming, upset children out of the pool and towards the showers. By the time we got there was a huge queue for the dozen poolside showers. By the time we'd showered and got our towels, there was a queue for the changing rooms. More people were still being let into the pool, and so we stood for fifteen minutes with three cold children, before finally getting a cubicle. Even then we had jumped the queue as a kind lady with two older children insisted that we go ahead of her after seeing our shivering small people.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UAvdUfG8xp8tp75THNXllr_rMxZ4h5bQ2bKEcrJThK_7nt8_wZcBMp_-_o3KmPA699gv7ROvBpALynDglp4nMWf_btEYFWb9jmC9B4cEe6xBvGhGklV6MVl4Zqsr2O4HqXBnc9nuILQ/s1600/20170725_192725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1UAvdUfG8xp8tp75THNXllr_rMxZ4h5bQ2bKEcrJThK_7nt8_wZcBMp_-_o3KmPA699gv7ROvBpALynDglp4nMWf_btEYFWb9jmC9B4cEe6xBvGhGklV6MVl4Zqsr2O4HqXBnc9nuILQ/s320/20170725_192725.jpg" width="180" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We headed back to the tent, and cooked some burgers on the barbecue, before heading back to the park for the evenings entertainment. We arrived to find the kids entertainment had started early and so only caught the last five minutes. We decided to hang around and have a few drinks to wait for the next set to start. At this point Joe was complaining of a headache, and had started to look very pale. Not half hour later he began shaking, and we made the decision to head back to the tent. We stopped on the way to grab Joe some painkillers, but not five minutes after taking them he started being sick. He headed straight to bed while I got the kids in their PJ's and tucked them into bed too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I spent most of the evening reading, and praying Joe wouldn't be sick in the tent. I finally drifted off to sleep around eleven, but was woken again not long after. Loki had kicked his way out of his sleeping bag and was freezing. I went to tuck him back in and realised he had wet the bed. I can count on one hand the number of times he's wet the bed, it wasn't a situation we'd planned for. Not wanting to wake Joe, I quickly changed him into clean PJ's, and grabbed all three of the kids blankets, one for him to lie on and two to cover him with. Then worrying he'd be cold, I grabbed a spare big towel and put that over him too, and went back to bed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was woken not an hour later, he'd wet himself again! This time I took him to the toilet, cleaned him down, and put on his last pair of spare PJ's. With no spare blankets left, and a pile of wet, wee covered bedding building up, I had no other option but to let him sleep in with us. I spent the rest of that night waking every hour and asking him if he needed the toilet. Every noise woke me, and with three of us on a single airbed, getting comfy was impossible.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dSyYeYguyWDWzl4EfWeVhFe6zrD_y163bF82X7ROjGtp5YgRI-4I8gOojJERmzIT0I7788Fpfhu89UmsjsTzAtUaXS5wkCqOjJXy-JsCA-rIWwqlxzKE2jlyGRqW-UaRi00Y14a4y9s/s1600/20170726_133523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dSyYeYguyWDWzl4EfWeVhFe6zrD_y163bF82X7ROjGtp5YgRI-4I8gOojJERmzIT0I7788Fpfhu89UmsjsTzAtUaXS5wkCqOjJXy-JsCA-rIWwqlxzKE2jlyGRqW-UaRi00Y14a4y9s/s320/20170726_133523.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next day the weather had reverted back to wind and rain. Our attempts to cook resulted in a windbreak snapping into three pieces, and a stove that wouldn't stay lit. We also had a bin bag full of bedding that needed washing, and so we ventured back down to the park to for some breakfast, and while Joe and the kids were eating I headed to the launderette. Finally all the bedding was washed and dried, and we took the kids round the arcades for an hour. It had started to rain seemed to have subsided but the wind was getting worse, worrying about the tent, we headed back. The kids spent the rest of the day playing battleship and Go fish. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Around 4pm the rain stopped, and while the wind was still going strong, our neighbours were out packing up. We let the kids run around outside for a while, and got chatting. They said the forecast they'd seen said there was due to be a thunder and lightning storm over night, with more strong winds forecast for Thursday and so they were heading home early. Their tent had seemed much sturdier than ours in the wind, we talked about packing up, but with sunshine forecast for Friday and Saturday we decided to risk it and stay. The rain started again at 5pm and so we decided to opt for a Burger King tea, as without a windbreak we now stood no chance of keeping the stove lit and I didn't want to risk lighting a BBQ in the wind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After eating, we headed out into the sunshine to go back to the tent. No sooner had we left, the heavens opened. We half walked, half ran back to the tent, but by the time we'd made the ten minute walk we were all soaked through to our skin, and our shoes were so wet they made squelching noises when we walked. We dried off and changed into PJ's to play more games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That night the wind had all but disappeared, and we went to bed content that we'd made the right decision to stay. That was until around midnight. I was woken to the tent sides pushing in around us. The wind was stronger than it had been all week, and the rain had started again. I dived out of bed, and went out to check the guy lines, thankfully they were all still in place. Joe suggested we move the car to try and shelter the tent from the wind, but it was impossible to tell what direction it was coming from, it seemed to be blowing in from all sides. We got back into bed, but I woke every hour, checking on the kids, and checking the guys, until finally the wind subsided around 3am.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWXalKu5zl3VyX15bKs3PsloSSbDnd3J9ZplNcNf114rHxDq2DI5Ve44FSOl9Cbi-LPFldouhNwXwrFuQoU95jZG0eRFuAG6fUOKCjQhJyzI0roz7McAJZK9cJ7qURiRBq6o0jKxICKM0/s1600/20170725_131603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWXalKu5zl3VyX15bKs3PsloSSbDnd3J9ZplNcNf114rHxDq2DI5Ve44FSOl9Cbi-LPFldouhNwXwrFuQoU95jZG0eRFuAG6fUOKCjQhJyzI0roz7McAJZK9cJ7qURiRBq6o0jKxICKM0/s320/20170725_131603.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next morning we managed to get the stove lit long enough to cook sausages and bacon, and we decided to go swimming. The kids were excited, and we'd bought a rubber ring for Loki to make up for him not being allowed on the water slide. Unfortunately we were met with the same time restrictions as before, but this time managed forty minutes before we were asked to get out, so spent yet more time at the arcades.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We returned to the tent at 2pm. The wind had picked up again, and despite having bought burgers for the BBQ we were forced to admit without our windbreak we couldn't light it. We checked the weather and the once sunny forecast for Friday was now showing even stronger wind and yet more rain. We decided to cut our losses and leave early. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You'd think that once the decision was made the rest would be easy, right? Wrong. No sooner had we started packing up the airbeds, the rain started. It couldn't be more than a shower, rain wasn't even forecast. Wrong again. The showers kept coming, one after another. A new neighbour arrived while we were packing our bags, got halfway through pitching before abandoning their tent and their pitch. We kept going, playing car Tetris again whilst trying desperately to keep everything dry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We finally got everything in, and chucked the kids in the car while we began taking down the tent. Luckily we managed to get it down between downpours but the tent still went in it's bag damp. Our neighbours returned, and started dismantling their tent. They'd booked a caravan instead and were deserting their camping adventure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once all packed up and ready to go, we headed back to the park. Loki had been desperate all week to see Rory the tiger, so we spent the evening at the entertainment, before driving home. It was the most relaxed we'd been all holiday, no more worrying about getting back to a collapsed tent, no more getting caught in the rain, and most importantly, no more junk food! I have honestly never craved a salad more in my life EVER!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We arrived home, tired, and ready for bed at around 9pm. The kids were exhausted and were in bed asleep not long after. It may have been a stressful week, but for the kids it was one big adventure and they loved every minute! Next time, we'll try a less hill top location, Golden Sands here we come!</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-62486384493566318562017-08-03T03:53:00.002-07:002017-08-03T03:53:24.601-07:00For The Love Of CatsWell hello there!<br />
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Once again, it has been a while since I've sat down to write, but I guess that's life as a Mum of three! I also had some technical issues as the youngest Young decided throwing his cup of juice at the laptop was the best fun. It was turned off at the time, and we dried it all off pretty quickly, but I didn't dare turn it on for a week in case there was any water lurking, thankfully there wasn't and when I finally switched it on everything worked fine!<br />
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So as many of you know, the Young household consists of me, my hubby, and our three children. We also have two dogs, Taz and Misty, our border collies, two cats, Bobby and Luna, two rats, Severus and Boj, and my eldest son has a hamster named Ron. So, it's a bit of a zoo around here! Now, me being the crazy animal lover that I am, this week we decided to expand that animal family..<br />
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Meet Draco!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZM9IicPIVC7j39rk3J9vlL-mGkRoj8FnzP0-X_iWgBqXjR8covqVZhu7Upehkq9ianuePPg2zHuOnEhEHyCUWnHe33SXC2tfnCkscetVvaCdXkAgriYBgqCHfPEacaHxNxBBGan-Vfns/s1600/20170801_132744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZM9IicPIVC7j39rk3J9vlL-mGkRoj8FnzP0-X_iWgBqXjR8covqVZhu7Upehkq9ianuePPg2zHuOnEhEHyCUWnHe33SXC2tfnCkscetVvaCdXkAgriYBgqCHfPEacaHxNxBBGan-Vfns/s320/20170801_132744.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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Adorable isnt he!</div>
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He's a rescue kitty from the same place we got our other kitties. He was born outside, and was found with his Mum and sister. They were all completely feral. He spent a few weeks at the rescue, before they concluded he and his sister would have to go to a stables home, as they wouldn't allow anyone to touch them, or pick them up. He was taken to the vet to be neutered but when he came back to the rescue, he seemed to take more of an interest in the people around him. He would come investigate what was going on outside his cage, even letting the lady who runs the rescue to hold him, so she decided that actually he would be better off in a house, with a family to love him.</div>
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So how did Draco end up being ours? </div>
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Well we went on a (rather disastrous) camping holiday last week. (That's a post for another day.) We actually ended up coming home two days early due to the horrendous rain and wind! When we went to pick the dogs up from boarding, we decided to pop in to the cattery to see the rescue kittens, and the kennels to see the rescue dogs (as we always do). Anyway.. in the cattery was an adorable black kitten. She was completely feral and hasn't yet let anyone do anything with her. So, me being me, decided I wanted to give her a chance at a new home. We had to undergo a home check, so filled out some forms and came home.</div>
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Once home, I got thinking, how do you go about taming a feral kitten? Our other two while they were rescues, had never lived outside, and were born in rescue. Doing a little research, we found the most common route was, if possible, to let them learn from other cats. Before you say it.. I know, we already have two other cats, perfectly happy, tame cats, so why couldn't she learn from them?</div>
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Simple answer, its summer (Although someone should tell that to the weather). This time of year our mogs Bobby and Luna, are out and about, exploring, lazing about in the sunshine on top of the shed roof, or curled up in the shed. It's what they do every year, in the winter we can't get them to go out, in summer we can't get them to stay in! (Picture for attention.)</div>
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Bobby and Luna</div>
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So, I had the idea that we could give two little kitties a new home. The rescue where our adorable little feral kitty is coming from didn't have any other kitties that needed homes as all kittens were reserved so that's when we decided to head to the rescue we'd got Bobby and Luna from four years ago. We had a pick of the lovely Draco, or two little black and white kittens who were super friendly. The other two came right over, were meowing, and totally adorable, but when I heard Draco's story, I just had to say hello! The lady at the rescue picked him up, and he eyed me nervously, he was visibly worried when I stroked him but soon decided I wasn't going to hurt him. He was handed to me, and within a couple minutes he was purring and snuggling in. I reserved him, and rushed home to get everything ready!</div>
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Later that day Draco came home. He was VERY nervous, and hid in his bed for hours. Once the kids were tucked in bed, I went to say hello, he hissed at me and swiped his paws and for a moment I wondered if we'd made the right decision. I opened his cage door and settled down with the TV on waiting for him to make his move. Finally he showed his face, watching us from his bed. I let him sniff my hand and gradually the hissing stopped as he got closer and closer. By the end of the evening he had snuggled on my lap for a cuddle, although still wouldn't come to my hubby.</div>
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We've now had Draco for 5 days, and he has gone from strength to strength! He's made friends with the dogs, and is even brave enough to come out of his cage when the kids are about. Although Bobby and Luna are not too impressed, Bobby has sniffed him, and seems to have accepted him, I'm sure Luna will accept him soon too. She's a moody madam when she wants to be but always comes round in the end. Tomorrow is the big day for our little feral kitty to come home, and a whole new adventure will begin! </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-23517750049962977092017-03-09T04:43:00.000-08:002017-03-09T04:43:08.611-08:00Student again, take..4?Last week I decided to try a creative writing course at college. I love to write, and try to find time when I can, but since having the kids my words just don't seem to come out in the same way that they used to.<br />
I used to like sharing what I'd written with people, now I am far too scared to open up and let people read my work. I just don't feel like my writing has the same quality that it did before, and I'm really hoping a more academic setting, and some motivation to actually do some writing will help.<br />
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I suppose my ultimate goal is to get something published, be that a novel or a poem, it's something I have always wanted to 'tick off the bucket list'. To be honest I'd be happy if it just improves my writing style enough to get more followers with the blog! I really do think having children kills brain cells. My mind goes blank every time I sit down to write, whereas before I had so many idea I could write for hours. I think my mind is too full of Peppa Pig, and Lego!<br />
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I suppose the other problem is that before kids, if I got an idea I could grab a pen or the laptop and just write then and there, lately I find inspiration will hit right in the middle of changing a nappy, or cooking the tea. By the time I get a pen and paper I've lost it again. In the evenings I'm just too exhausted to think about anything. <br />
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Fingers crossed having 'homework' and actually engaging my brain a couple times a week will help!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-63115133280048668592017-03-09T04:32:00.000-08:002017-03-09T04:32:01.529-08:00ChangesSo, once again it's been forever since I last updated here, I guess there has been a lot of stuff going on and I've not really had a chance to sit down and get my thoughts into words.<br />
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Joe and I decided to give things one more go, we've been back together since just after Christmas, and things are going really well. We will be moving back in together properly in April, and I can't wait to be a family again! <br />
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The one thing I didn't anticipate is the reactions from friends and family. It's funny how when you break up with someone the world and it's dog suddenly decides to weigh in on your relationship. While we both probably said things about each other to our friends, I assumed most people would understand that we were both in a bad place emotionally, but apparently not.<br />
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There's been mixed feelings among both our friends and families, some good, some bad. But what grates on me the most is the people who start with 'I know it's your decision and up to you but...'<br />
Like they honestly believe that we've just jumped back into this without any thought to the consequences. The truth is we were still close even after the split, still talked and saw a lot of each other, and not just for the kids. We probably talked and communicated with each other more than we have in years. It gave us both a chance to find out what we really wanted, and a chance for us both to air what was bothering us before the split without the worry of upsetting the other.<br />
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For the past couple months we've just carried on communicating, being honest about our feelings, even when we know it's not what the other wants to hear, and it's been going really well. The kids are happier, and I am so much more content with being able to spend more time with my babies too.<br />
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I know non of us can see the future, and I'm not going to say it will definitely be forever this time, but I hope it is, and I hope we can keep working through things, and making each other happy again.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-18136835019080521572016-11-11T13:15:00.000-08:002016-11-11T13:15:11.084-08:00Drowning.. So, after convincing myself I was finally coping, finally doing better, last week has left me feeling the complete opposite.<br />
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Picked the kids up as usual on Wednesday, and for some reason, I was so irritable, not even sure why. It was a relief to get them to bed, even though I hadn't seen them for two days.. Thursday I was hoping to feel better, but I found myself snapping at the smallest things, so in the end, I gave them all some snacks, put on a DVD and went to hide in the kitchen.. As it happens that turned out to be a disaster in itself, as no more than ten minutes later, I re-appear to find Sky and Loki had got hold of the Vaseline, and some colouring pencils from the drawer. You can imagine what comes next.. Faces covered, hair covered, and my coffee table completely coloured in.<br />
All cleaned up, tea made, kids bathed, and into bed, and I hit the sofa for some chill out time and some TV, but even then I found myself just not feeling right. This leads me to bad decision number two of the week.. Wine. After a couple glasses, I took myself to bed, and actually slept really well. Why is that a problem? I hear you say.. Well next day still feeling awful, despite much sleep and rest, luckily with Sam at school, only Sky and Loki to contend with, but even so, by mid afternoon I'm feeling exhausted all over again. No idea why after my nights sleep. Drag myself through the rest of the day, surviving on caffeine and using the TV as a babysitter, and finally it's bedtime.<br />
Well I thought, since wine seemed to work so well last night.. I poured myself another glass (see where this is going) except it didn't really have the same effect on a not so sleep deprived me, and so two glasses later, I find myself a crying heap on the kitchen floor. Not even the dogs wanted to console me. Apparently alcohol and depression.. not a good mix (OK so I knew that already but apparently I'm not a fast learner)<br />
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It used to be the loneliness that got me.. the being alone. It used to be worse when the kids weren't here, when nothing filled my time, but lately it's been the opposite. I find myself getting so stressed over silly things, getting completely snowed under by silly tasks like keeping up with the washing, or the dishes. When the kids aren't here, I am coping better at being on my own, I am finding little things to do like walking the dogs, swimming, going to the library, spending time with friends when I can, and generally I don't cope that badly. However, when I take a step back, I realised that actually, I spend my child free time dumping all responsibilities, dumping all the jobs I could be getting caught up with, that might help when the kids come home, and just leaving everything until I absolutely have to do it. I've gone from desperate for something to fill the time, to just wanting to sit down, and sleep.<br />
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I desperately need more motivation, my house is slowly being piled up with a mixture of clean clothes I haven't put away, and dirty clothes I've yet to wash. I want to do something fun with the kids, but have absolutely zero motivation to actually do any of it. I debate taking them out and going somewhere, but then the idea of three kids alone petrifies me and I once again resort to 'Let's watch movies' No wonder they don't want to sit through them anymore.<br />
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I have no idea why I have felt so low this past week. I haven't really spoken to anyone about it either, as I prefer people to think that I am doing better, and that they don't need to worry. I had a fairly good couple days when they went to their Dad's this week, kept myself busy doing stuff with friends, which was nice. Felt much better picking them up this week, but still there's a lingering irritation in my head somewhere I can't put my finger on. I've tried sitting down and thinking about what is bothering me so much, but I just don't know.<br />
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Evenings when the kids are here, I sort of feel trapped I guess, like I can't leave the house, but I don't feel I can ask friends round as then I'm stopping them going out and doing something more fun. There's only so much TV you can watch, and I'm feeling too mentally drained to do much else..<br />
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Anyway maybe I should stop wallowing in self pity and just force myself to do SOMETHING. Hopefully next weeks post will be more cheery...<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-73300178764785354672016-11-02T04:07:00.001-07:002016-11-02T04:07:25.177-07:00Single Mum 101So.. it's been a while. I really need to blog more often, then maybe I could come up with a more exciting intro to my posts than 'It's been a while'. So from today, I'm going to start working on a weekly post.. I know you can hardly contain your excitement, right?<div>
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I'd say a lot has happened since my last post, but then i'd be lying. Turns out life as a single Mum is actually pretty dull. Not the time with the kids of course, that's as exhilarating, joyful, painful, and exhausting as ever! Looking after three kids on your own five days a week is HARD! But then everyone tells you that bit. Its the time without them no one warns you about.</div>
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First few weeks I was too much of a hormonal, broken mess, and so spent most of my kid free days wallowing in self pity, or being dragged out by friends to try and cheer me up. However as time goes on, friends have to go back to their normal lives, coping got easier, and then I had to start finding stuff to do. Now as a parenting team, finding time alone without the kids is a rarity, you pretty much forget what doing nothing even feels like, the rare night off, despite all your best laid plans usually end with you collapsing in an exhausted heap and just catching up on some much needed sleep. Now I have two nights, two whole nights, every week, where I have no little darlings running around the house, two full days of nothing. </div>
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First few evenings alone were spent Bridget Jones style, drinking wine, and singing at the tops of my lungs. (much to the despair of the dogs and probably my neighbours) Of course instead of belting out Celines 'All by myself', I, like any self respecting alternative female, went with some Evanescence, and My Chemical Romance. Oh, also, throw some Coldplay into the mix occasionally, just to give it that real 'kill me now' feel. </div>
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Back in the child free years, I'd have just gone out, wandered into a bar, been bought a few drinks, had a bit of a laugh, stumbled home at 2am. Now though, apparently people don't really 'talk' to each other anymore, so unless you go out with friends in the first place, you're left with the bar staff, who mainly just feel sorry for you, or some guy who was already drunk by midday and is mainly just shouting obscenities for the entire pub to hear. Also, what is this new obsession with 'pre-drinking'? Instead of going to a pub, enjoying your night out, half of it is now spent at home getting drunk <i>before</i> you head out, meaning most pubs are now empty until at least 10pm, by which time, nearly 30 year old me is getting ready to go home, to roll into bed.</div>
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After speaking to a few friends, I thought I'd give this 'Online Dating' thing a go, see if I couldn't meet some new people. Turns out, that doesn't agree with me either. </div>
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1, I refuse to <i>pay</i> to be introduced to men I probably won't like anyway.</div>
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2. I'm not very 'interesting' on paper (or screen) reading, writing, socialising doesn't exactly entice men in..</div>
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3. Even when you do get talking to someone, 90% of the time they're only looking for 'casual relations' </div>
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So basically, I've decided to just concentrate on me for a bit. I've been reading more, started going swimming, even thinking of joining the gym, so if you fancy a laugh, you know where to find me...</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-11080350996006509092016-08-25T14:56:00.000-07:002016-08-25T14:56:55.261-07:00Six feet from the edge..<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, where to start. This is probably going to be pretty long winded and so I will apologise in advance. Joe and I have separated, and the kids and I have moved out to a new home. Things had been wrong for a while, and everything peaked a few weeks ago and we decided to go our separate ways.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Things have been really hard, emotions pretty much running wild, and obviously we've been trying to keep things amicable for the kids. I never thought that this is where we would end up. We've had our fair share of up's and down's over the years, but somehow we always got through them, but this time there is no going back. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's strange because while obviously I've been upset, a part of me has mainly been relieved. Relieved that it's over, that I don't have to paint on a smile day after day, and pretend that everything is OK. I miss family life, more than anything I miss being a family, the kids having their Mummy and Daddy together. It's hard hearing the kids cry, it's hard when they ask when Daddy is coming home, or now we've moved asking when we can all go home. It breaks my heart that they're hurting right now, and that it's our fault.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've spent most of the past few weeks crying, it's easy to hold things together in front of the kids, but when they go to bed, I sit here alone and my brain works overtime. I've already succeeded in pushing away the people who matter most to me, the only people who have actually been here, I don't mean to. The kids being with Joe is hard. I've never been the sort of parent who has much time away from their kids. I love being with my kids, they may be the most annoying small people in the world at times, but I can't imagine life without them. Without them I just feel lost, it's like my heart is racing the whole time they're away and all I can do is try and distract myself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Amongst all the stress, and tears, depression has also managed to rear its ugly head. Nights I spend alone are the lowest I think I've ever been. Anxiety has thankfully been relatively controllable, still has it's moments, but it's mainly the thoughts in my head that are dragging me down. But I've decided to try counselling.. Now anyone who knows me will know that talking about how I'm feeling is not my strong point, never has been. I tend to let things build up and build up and then everything will pour out at once. I don't want my kids to see that, and I don't want them to grow up thinking they can't talk to anyone about the stuff that's bothering them either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My marriage ending has dragged up a lot of stuff from the past that I thought I'd dealt with, but apparently I've just been boxing it up in my head, storing it all away ready to hit me when I least expect it. I don't know if talking about it will help but one thing is for sure they sure as hell can't get any worse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I guess, to my friends, I'm sorry if I've been a pretty crappy friend recently, I really don't mean to be. To Joe, I am sorry that we couldn't work things out, I'm sorry that it had to end like this. Most importantly to my babies, I'm sorry I couldn't be stronger. I'm sorry you have had to be stuck in the middle of all this, I love you more than you could ever know. Right now I just need a little help to get myself back on track, and everything else is going to have to take a back seat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-83820897773415269062016-06-11T14:07:00.001-07:002016-06-11T14:07:12.662-07:00A bit of a rant.. Sorry!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ok, so I usually try to keep horsey talk to a minimum here, as I know that most of you who read my blog posts tend to be non-horsey folk and I don't want to bore you, however something has been bugging me for a while, and where better to vent about it than to all of you, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, after a few years break from riding while spending my time having babies and getting married, I decided to get back in the saddle. Horses have been my passion for as long as I can remember. However I found getting back into it much more expensive than I remembered..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I rang round a few local riding schools to get some prices, the first gave me a price of £35 for a half an hour private lesson, or £30 for a half an hour 'semi-private' (with 2 others) lesson. I thanked them and promptly hung up. £30 for half an hour? I used to pay £9 for an hours group lesson! There must be cheaper out there. But after ringing round several other places I found that this was actually the going rate for lessons! So I booked a lesson for the following week, and told the hubby that it was actually £20 so he didn't get too mad...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After a couple weeks of lessons, Sam, my eldest asked if he could also start lessons. I was delighted! I've always wanted the kids to experience the fun of riding! So I rang the riding school and enquired about a lead rein beginners group lesson to get him started. Again came the familiar price tags. £27 for a half hour lesson! So in total I would be paying £57 for an hour of riding! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being a horsey Mum, I decided I couldn't go on paying out that amount of money, and so we bought Zoom. Before bringing him home, I obviously had to find a place to keep him, and so called up the stables where I had kept previous horses, but was amazed to find that the price for a DIY stable, had risen from £30 a week to £45! I decided I would ring round, but we found many yards no longer even offer DIY as an option. 1 Yard owner telling me she didn't want DIY as DIY people are 'messy' another saying people on DIY 'don't take care of their horses'. I think the main reason they don't want DIY owners, is that they don't make them as much money!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Eventually we found a yard for £25 a week DIY. For non-horsey people, DIY means you get use of a stable and a paddock, but you do everything yourself, and you need to pay for bedding, hay and feed separately. Zoom being a cob, and a relatively good doer means he doesn't cost me anywhere close to the £57 I was paying for lessons, and hurrah! All three children could have as many rides as they liked, with free tuition from yours truly. Perfect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, since then a few of the kids friends have been to ride Zoom and spend time at the yard, and what really gets me is that while all of them loved being around the horses, and absolutely love riding is that had they not been friends of ours, non of them would be able to afford riding lessons. This is something that really grates on me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For those who don't know, the UK is in the middle of a horse crisis. Horses are being dumped left, right and centre, and a horse or pony can be purchased for next to nothing, because people purely can't afford to keep them anymore. The market is flooded with youngsters, that have been bred with no thought as to where these horses and ponies will end up. I read an article saying the way forward is to get more people interested in horses, that the more people wanting to own a horse will help find homes for so many unwanted abandoned ponies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is only 1 problem. Only people with money can afford riding lessons for their kids these days. Maybe if you have a good job, and an only child, £30 for half an hour doesn't seem that steep. Well I'm telling you, the price of keeping a horse hasn't increased that much since I was a kid paying £9 an hour, the only thing that has changed is the attitude of yard owners and riding schools!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take the price of hay and bedding, which is a massive drain on a stables finances. I used to pay £2.50 a bale for straw and £3 for hay, and we're talking 10years ago. You can still pick up hay and straw at this price, shavings used to be around £6 a bale, and are now around £7.50 so minimal increase for 10 years right? Feed is still available relatively cheaply, for only a few pence more than it was back then too although the big brands with their 'new improved' (actually exactly the same) feed and supplements would like you to believe otherwise. (Top tip read your labels, often you pay double for the same stuff with a prettier label) I also suspect that big yards will be getting discounts on those prices as they are able to buy in bulk. So whats driving these massive price increases?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When did we start pricing out normal people from being able to enjoy these amazing animals!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other thing that strikes me is everyone seems to have gone a bit snobbish where ponies are concerned. Where riding schools used to be filled with shetland ponies, little welsh cobs, they now seem to be opting for bigger, flashier horses. I was shocked to see a very petite little girl of 6, being taught to canter for the first time on a 15hh horse, her legs barely passed the saddle flaps!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When did we fall out of love with ponies? Most of the yards I visit as part of my job now seem to favour 14hh+ no matter how small the rider. In fact when I was looking for a pony, I asked the advice of a few local instructors to see if they knew of anything suitable. When I said Mother/Child share, they instantly started telling me of 14.2 and 15hh horses they knew would do just the job..Hang on a minute, how do you teach a 6,3, and 2 year old on a 15hh horse? I wanted a fun little pony, and so we went out on our own to look and that's just what we bought. However the same yards completely lost interest in wanting us as liveries, they only wanted big competition horses to make the yard look good, not a 13.2 scruff bag gypsy cob. (He is a scruff bag but he's our scruff bag ;) ) I've found many horsey people look down on you for riding a pony rather than buying yourself a big competition horse (which FYI most of these sorts can't even ride the horse in question and in fact make bigger fools of themselves by being so over horsed)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also question the price of 'Working livery' again for non horsey folk, working livery gives you all the perks of full livery, you only have to come visit your horse when you want to ride, with 1 catch, your horse or pony is used in riding lessons at the riding school. Most yards I approached wanted me to consent to Zoom being used for a MINIMUM of 4 hours a week for lessons, and furthermore, they wanted me to pay £55 for the privilege. So lets get this straight, an hours lesson is around £35 and that's a group lesson, say he is used for 8 half an hour private lessons, the riding school have then made a whopping £240 from using my horse for their lessons, and my £55 more than covers feed and bedding. Back when I got my first pony working livery was FREE and rightly so! As owners, a horse being used in the riding school comes with risk. Risk they may be injured while being ridden, that they may pick up bad habits when allowed to get away with certain behaviours whilst being ridden by novice riders. Their shoes (If they have any) will need changing more often should they be used for hacking and road work, tack will need cleaning and replacing more frequently. Why would you pay someone £55 a week for that? Of course, the other issue, if I put Zoom on working livery, he could well end up too exhausted to want to be ridden by me, and the 3 kids should he already be being ridden by others at the riding school!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I would love to have the funding to set up my own riding school, bring back cheap to keep, cheap to feed ponies, who are much more fun than big horses (especially when learning a fall from the big boys hurts!) Bring back riding for the masses!! Bringing back cheaper livery costs would encourage thousands back into riding and horse ownership. I'm sure I will get responses saying interest rates have increased, that the cost of loans/mortgages on the properties acting as livery/riding schools will have increased and they have to recoup it somewhere. Or that labour costs have increased, well show me a riding school that doesn't have a team of FREE workers who only ask for a free plod on a school pony at the end of the week, or a yard that doesn't completely rely on apprentices, and young workers to keep their costs down. Of course insurance is a big factor too, with people taking businesses to court for the smallest things, a place where there are half ton animals that can and at some point will injure someone, I understand that insurance prices will have increased, but the need for such a huge price leap still doesn't wash with me to be honest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I find it incredibly sad that so many young people will never get the opportunity to find their love of horses, their passion for riding as I did. That so many people are now so priced out of horse ownership. As we have seen with the horse crisis as bad as it is, its the horses that suffer for the greed of others.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-61522203707536186692016-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:002016-05-14T07:00:28.930-07:00PND and Me..<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ok so this post is about something very personal, something I have mentioned before but I've never openly spoken about. I was in two minds as to whether I would ever write this post, but I was reading a post on Facebook earlier and the comments proved just how ignorant most people still are when it comes to Mental illness and that there is still a massive stigma attached to it. So here goes..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">After I had my eldest son Samuel, I suffered with Post Natal Depression (PND). It started just a few weeks after Sam was born. At first I put it down to exhaustion, Sam had reflux and didn't sleep much at all. I also gave up breastfeeding at four weeks as Sam didn't take to it easily, the pain, the exhaustion, it all got too much. Looking back I think breastfeeding guilt was a big trigger of my depression. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When people think about depression they think it just makes people a bit 'sad' but it is so much more than that. For me the first 'symptom' I had was anxiety. It started with not wanting to go out alone with Sam. I would get an overwhelming feeling that everyone was watching me, that people were judging me and my parenting. If Sam cried while in his pram I would panic if I couldn't get him out immediately. I remember walking to my Mums house, and he started crying a few minutes from her house, I ran sobbing down the road. It came to a point where I was terrified to leave the flat alone. If someone walked too closely to the pram while I was out I would panic. At first I thought it was normal, that all Mums were over protective over their babies. I couldn't have post natal depression, women with post natal depression didn't want their babies, they tried to hurt their babies, I would never do that to Sam.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My health visitor came to visit, and as they do with all new Mum's she got me to answer some questions, it was a test for PND. It came back that it was likely that I was suffering 'baby blues' that may or may not be down to PND. She booked me in at the sure start for a baby massage class, and said that talking to other Mums would help. I nodded and smiled, and said I was fine, and then never turned up for the class. Next time she came, I changed my answers to the questions, I told her what she wanted to hear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">By the time Sam was a few months old, the anxiety was getting worse I was even getting panic attacks when out with my husband Joe. I was irritable all the time, the slightest thing would set me off. Joe wanting to soothe Sam when he was crying was like torture. Hearing him scream and not being in my arms made me shake all over, it was like physical pain. It would send my body into panic, the logical part of me knew he was fine, that he was with his Daddy, but the logical part of me was buried underneath the 'other' part of me. I would try and prise him from Joes arms, screaming that I needed him back that he had to leave him alone. This understandably put a massive strain on our relationship. We had no alone time, even when Sam was asleep I would stay and watch him, I couldn't relax, my whole body was on edge all the time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Joe has always worked nights, and while he was only working 3 nights a week, those nights were like hell for me. I would sit in bed, listening for every sound, convinced someone was going to break into the flat, that someone would get to Sams room before I would so I would stay awake all night. When Sam cried I would panic, because him crying meant that I couldn't hear anything, if I couldn't hear someone coming in how could I protect him? So I would rock him and beg him to please stop, but he would pick up on the tension and my panic and cry louder. Those were some of the darkest moments, the times where my desperate need to keep us safe could so easily have hurt us both. I would put my hand over his mouth and scream for him to just shut up. Even now, just typing those words is so hard. It makes me feel like such a failure as a parent, that I probably scared my son so much. I never wanted to hurt him, in my mind it was life or death, that other part of me was like an alarm in my head, screaming at me to shut him up before 'they' heard us. I still don't know who 'they' were, or why I was so scared.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Joe, during a row one day told me I needed to get help, that I needed to snap out of it. Even being so close to me and seeing how much my own mind was tearing me apart he still didn't understand why I couldn't just turn it off, be normal again. It's something many people don't understand, and I don't think until you have been through it you really know how it feels. He asked me to see a Doctor, but I refused, I didn't want to see a Doctor, if anyone knew what I'd done, how I felt, they'd take Sam away, I'd never see him again. Sounds ridiculous now but I was so sure he'd be taken into care. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">It wasn't until weeks later, when Joe refused to give me Sam back, that I saw in his face how worried he was about what I'd do, that I realised just how bad things had gotten. I cried, I started to think that the only way to make things right were just to leave Sam with his Dad. That everyone would be better off if I was gone, really GONE. I told Joe about my intentions, that it would be better afterwards, that he was better off without me. He told me he loved me, I cried, he told me he needed me, that Sam needed me. I agreed to go to the Doctors. I didn't think it would make a difference, my mind was made up, I would go, they would tell me what I already knew that they would take Sam away, Joe would see that I was right, and then I'd do IT and Sam could be happy with his Daddy. But the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't bare to be without Sam. I knew the only way would be for him to come with me. We'd be safe then, we'd be together. But I could never hurt him. It was then I realised, I needed help.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">The day of my GP appointment arrived, as soon as I sat down I could hear Sam screaming in the waiting room, it sent me into blind panic, other than to use the bathroom that was the first time he had been in a different room to me where I couldn't just go back to him. My GP saw how uncomfortable I was and let me go and get him. He was amazing, he reassured me no one was going to take my baby away, that I wasn't well, but most importantly I wasn't going crazy. It wasn't how it was supposed to go. Why wasn't he prising Sam away from me? Why was he so calm. My husband came in with us, together we made new plans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I started on anti-depressants, I made sure I wasn't alone with Sam for long periods and not long after that Sam started going to my Mum's or my Mother in laws one afternoon a week so I could spend quality time with Joe, we finally talked together for the first time in so long. I was still on edge the whole time I was away from Sam, but I had support, I could finally start to get back to being the person I was. We bought a dog, many of you know our pooch Taz. He gave me company during the long nights with my husband at work. He made me feel safe, even if I couldn't hear an intruder he would, he would save us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Recovering from depression is a tough road, I had PND again after both my daughter and youngest son were born. Nowhere near as bad as after Sam, but then I knew the signs, and so did Joe and I wasn't afraid to get help.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Even now, I'm still not free of depression and anxiety. I have days where I don't want to talk to anyone, that I want to shut myself in a room and never come out. People think I don't like them, but often if I'm having a bad day I don't like myself either so don't take it personally. I have nights even now that the anxiety is so bad I just want to scream, I still panic when the kids cry at night if I'm home alone, but I have never been back to the darkest days. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I still have days where I convince myself no one likes me, I feel offended by things for no good reason, I snap at people when I don't mean too. I binge on chocolate, I cry for no reason. I will never be the person I was before PND.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Writing this post has been so hard. It's taken a long time to put into words how I felt, and still feel. But if one person suffering reads this, and gets help, or if one person reads this and no longer judges people with mental health issues, then the pain of reliving my own personal nightmare will have been worth it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">I want to thank my amazing husband, without whom, I wouldn't have made it. For being there when no one else was, for putting up with so much, for living through it with me. For never judging me. </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-31703895143713652322016-04-22T23:58:00.000-07:002016-04-22T23:58:23.118-07:00He did it!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This blog post comes to you from a very happy, and well rested Mummy! For the first time in over 2 years we managed a full night with no children in our bed!</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sam and Sky had gone for a sleep over at Grandma's giving us a rare night with only 1 small person to contend with. Loki loves having some time where he gets Mummy and Daddy all to himself, he could play on the trampoline with no big brother and sister knocking him over and jumping on him, and watch whatever he wanted on the telly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then it was bed time, he fell asleep cuddled up to Daddy on the sofa and went up to bed around 7pm. We made ourselves some tea, watched some TV and were enjoying our child free evening when he woke up again at only 9pm. Evening over. Daddy spent the next hour trying to get him to go back off, only for him to wake up every time he tried to put him down, so Mummy's turn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We cuddled up in Loki's bed (cot bed=squished Mummy with neck in ridiculous position) 45 minutes of snuggling, stroking his face and rubbing his back later, and he finally gave in! So at 10:45 we went to bed. Loki has never slept in his own bed for more than 4 hours so we were expecting a wake up call around 2:30. But it never came. I woke with bleary eyes and picked up my phone and was amazed to see the time..4:15am and the house was still silent. No crying, no toddler crawling up the stairs. Silence. Worried I went to the boys room, and there was Loki, still sound asleep in his own bed. I crept back upstairs. I woke again at 6am. Loki still asleep. I couldnt sleep after that and ended up reading my book until he came up to our bedroom at 7am..yes 7am!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally Loki has slept through the night! Now we just have to hope (pray) it wasn't a 1 off...</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-64805851385850281722016-04-22T04:42:00.000-07:002016-04-22T04:42:02.133-07:00I'm back!<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Well hello there!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I suppose I should start by apologising for my ridiculously long blogging break.. Truth is life has been a bit hectic lately and finding time to sit down and write a blog post has been pretty impossible!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Firstly, there's life as a family of 5. Having 3 little ones running round the house has been hectic to say the least! Never a dull moment round here, be it Sam refusing to get off his tablet (best Christmas present ever apparently..) Sky deciding to go down the stairs on Sams old ride on Winnie the Pooh (don't ask) or Loki emptying entire boxes of Lego onto the floor every time I attempt to leave the room for a moment (you know to have a wee or put the kettle on). Hard to believe that Sam is now 6! Sky is 3, has just started nursery 2.5 days a week, and Loki has just turned 2! Where does the time go?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Then as if we didn't have enough going on, we bought a pony. (Madness I know) Please welcome to the Young clan.. Zoom!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zoom joined us last February, Sam had started riding lessons, and I had gone back to lessons again to start my British Horse Society exams, and so we decided that actually it worked out cheaper to buy a pony that we could both ride, and I now teach Sam (and Sky, and Loki!) myself, and Zoom costs us much less than riding lessons!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the end of last summer, after many months of job searching and having no luck in finding anything that would work around the family, I started my own business as a freelance groom. I have lots of lovely customers who pay me to look after their horses while they're at work, or on holiday. I am loving every minute of it! It doesn't feel like work as I enjoy every second! I feel incredibly lucky that my lovely husband Joe has been so supportive, even when holiday cover has meant me working a 7 day week! He is always there to look after our little people if I need to drop everything to help a client, and without him the business would never have been possible!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While we are welcoming new members to the clan, we also had to say goodbye to a few too. My Uncle Gordon, who had suffered from MS for many years, sadly passed away in June last year, after a short battle with lung cancer. The MS meant that he couldn't undergo life saving treatment. I have been fundraising for the MS Society in his memory ever since. (you can donate here- www.justgiving.com/Lacey-Young3 ) I was hoping to run this years London Marathon, however due to a knee injury and a chest infection my Doctor advised that I defer, and so I will now be running London Marathon 2017!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also had to say goodbye to our little staffy Lola. Unfortunately just after Christmas she attacked our other dog Taz. It was completely out of character as they've always got along, so we put it down to maybe her coming into season or feeling a bit under the weather and carried on as normal, just keeping an extra eye on her. But a few days later she did the same thing again. Taz was nowhere near her at the time he was sat in the kitchen watching me cook and she flew at him. When I got her away she then went for me as well. So we took her to the vets, who thought that she could possibly have had a brain tumour, or other neurological condition as when she turned it was literally like flipping a switch, she went with no warning and would be back to her normal self seconds later. We made the difficult decision to have Lola put to sleep. One of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make, but I feel it was the right decision and hope she is happy playing over rainbow bridge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So.. its been a year of up's and downs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hoping to keep you all more up to date from here on out!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-29512867225757295422014-07-27T02:19:00.001-07:002014-07-27T02:19:16.936-07:00It's been a while..Why hello there, it's been a while! A lot has changed since the last time I had a chance to blog.. I am no longer a Mummy of two, I now have 3 beautiful little people in my life. Our bouncing baby boy Loki arrived on 10th April 2014 weighing in at 8lb15oz! (Believe me that was a shock after my other two arrived weighing 7lb10.5oz) Say hello Loki!<br />
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This time around I've found myself firmly in the AP camp (attachment parenting). It wasn't something I intentionally set out to do, with Sam I was far too scared of crushing him to give co-sleeping a go (a fear put into me by numerous midwives and health visitors) and baby wearing wasn't something I had really heard of. I did wear Sam in a Mothercare carrier a few times out walking the dogs but that was about it.. Breastfeeding went horribly wrong as Sam wouldn't latch well, and would come on and off almost constantly throughout a feed making me so nervous of feeding in public that I would just never leave the house and so with very little support from professionals, I gave up and put him on formula at 4weeks.</div>
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With Sky, I progressed towards AP but was still very aware of the opinions of the people around me. She co-slept on nights she wouldn't settle, and would come in with us from around 2am until Sam would wake up around 6am. I experimented with babywearing after chatting online to the very lovely Steph at snugiwraps, and used a stretchy and a ring sling when dog walking, and doing the shopping, but primarily she would go in the pushchair. Breastfeeding went much better with Sky, she took to it like a pro from day 1, and since she would latch, feed for 20minutes then go another 2hours before needing another feed, being in public was much easier.</div>
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This time around, I have in honesty completely ignored the advice from health visitors and midwives and done everything the way I want to do it! I babywear Loki absolutely everywhere and sometimes even tandem wear Sky and Loki </div>
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The pushchair was redundant so we sold it. We co-sleep every night, and despite Loki being a bit like Sam for popping on and off while breastfeeding we are still going strong at nearly 15 weeks. I've had plenty of people telling me i'm making a 'rod for my own back' or that Loki will 'never sleep in his own bed' but i'm guessing non of these people have ever met an 18 year old who can't sleep at night unless he's cuddled up in his Mummy's bed..</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-83974436151998344732013-08-29T12:41:00.001-07:002013-08-29T12:41:04.679-07:00Happy Camping!So, this week we embarked on our first camping trip.. with the dog! After a successful camping trip with the kids back in July, we decided to take along our border collie Taz, as he loves being outdoors.. not to mention it saves us the £30 kennels fee!!<br />
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We went to a camp site called New Farm Holidays near Boston, and it was fab! There was lots of places to walk Taz, and the husband was happy as he got to have a proper campfire, and the kids were more than happy running around!<br />
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As you can see.. Taz loved every minute!!<br />
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We also took the opportunity to visit the farm where Taz was born, as he was bred in Boston. It was lovely as he got to run with all the other collies, including his Mum and Dad, and the kids loved being around the dogs (especially the puppies!!)<br />
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Overall a great holiday!! So great we have already booked again for next year :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-6233083386048830482013-07-25T13:47:00.001-07:002013-07-25T13:48:02.476-07:00My £1000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer!!Well hello there! It seems I have been away from the blogging world for a while.. Being back at work seems to have taken up what free time I had! However from today I am determined to get back in on the action, so be prepared for lots of new blog posts ;)<br />
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So yesterday I signed up to Breakthrough Breast Cancers £1000 challenge.. So basically I have challenged myself to raise £1000 to help fund their valuable research, and to hopefully make life a little brighter for some of the men and women who are battling Breast Cancer, or know someone who is. I have two family members who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer, but thankfully neither of them are terminal cases, unfortunately I have friends whose loved ones are not so lucky..<br />
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So my first event to raise some cash is an online auction which will take place on my facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Laceyschallenge">https://www.facebook.com/Laceyschallenge</a> this will be on October 29th 2013 so please if you would like to donate an item, or would like to bid come over and give us a like!!<br />
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I am also hoping to do a sponsored 5k swim, time and place to be confirmed but I will keep you posted!!<br />
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If you do fancy donating (give generously guys its a fabulous cause!!) Please visit my Just-Giving page at <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Lacey-Young" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.justgiving.com/Lacey-Young</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-75930496236042089912013-03-15T08:18:00.000-07:002013-03-15T08:18:16.169-07:00A birthday, and a new bedroom!!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This week has been really hectic! I feel like I've not had a minute too myself, the builder started on Monday, converting our bedroom into two rooms to finally give Sky her own space. The builder is a friend so at least we didn't have strangers in the house all week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tuesday was Sam's third birthday, I really can't believe he's three, the time has gone so quickly, we went out for a meal at lunch time, and then had a proper party in the evening. He loved every minute, especially playing pass the parcel which he had been begging me for!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He was very lucky and had two birthday cakes, one from Asda, and one made by my friend Stacey's very clever Mummy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Wednesday we went out too spend his birthday money, he bought lots of dinosaur train toys from Argos, even though he has never liked the dinosaur train TV series, he absolutely loves the toys! They are quite large though, and along with all his other presents the house is very full!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Wednesday, Sky and I also went to baby massage, it was our second week, and Sky is really enjoying it, she loves being with all the other babies and she constantly stares at them and makes lots of cute noises. It's nice to get out and talk too other Mummies too. Today we decided too practice some of our massage and I think its safe to say Sky enjoys it...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sky's bedroom was finished this morning, and we've just got too paint and decorate now! I can't wait till its all finished! Our room is quite a bit smaller but is still plenty big enough for us, and Sky's room looks much bigger than we expected! I'll be sure to get pictures up as soon as its finished!!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-86274789044442403012013-03-01T03:55:00.002-08:002013-03-01T03:55:54.642-08:00It's been a while..<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once again life has gotten in the way of posting! A lot has gone on since my last post so here goes...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Firstly, our lovely little guinea pig Coco died :( I don't know why, he seemed a bit quiet and when I picked him up he was making a funny clicking sound when he breathed in. Thinking maybe he was just annoyed at being picked up, I put him back in the hutch, and left him thinking if he was still the same that afternoon I would make an appointment at the vet. Well by the time I had been out to walk the dog, he had passed away :( I came in, and saw him laid flat out, with Pop sat next to him, and knew straight away, as they didn't often sit together during the day. So, since we'd only had him a week, we took both guinea pigs back to Pets at Home, just in case it was something infectious, we didn't want to risk infecting another guinea, and anyway it was unlikely Pop would accept another male. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had phoned beforehand and was told we could have another 2 guinea pigs, however when I got there they said they only had 1 for sale, and he was another male, so we wouldn't be able to introduce him to Pop so we returned both guinea pigs. While waiting for them to sort out a refund, I had a wander around, and in the rehoming pen (they rehome some pets for a local centre called 'The Ark') was 2 beautiful baby bunny rabbits named Bubble and Squeak, they had been left as part of an unwanted litter, and needed a home together. Well I have always had a soft spot for rabbits and 1 of them (Bubble) is almost identical to Thumper, the bunny I had growing up, so I decided to take them instead. They are now very settled and happy in their new home, and yesterday we bought them a big playpen to attach to the hutch so they can get a stretch of their legs even when we're not around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In other news, I got the results from my first assignment on my Open Uni course, I scored 90 out of 100!! I am really pleased, as wasn't sure how well I'd done and was half expecting to fail! It has motivated me to keep going, as I had lost the enthusiasm for it a little but I am back on it now!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We have also just started to wean Sky, which has been lots of fun, she absolutely loves her food! So far she has had baby rice, a Veg and rice mix baby food, mashed banana, and a bit of toast. She is doing really well, we got her weighed yesterday at 21weeks and 2 days, and she now weighs in at 14lb 7oz.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She really isn't as chubby as she looks in this picture, she had a dress and 2 cardigans on as we had been for a walk and it wasn't very warm!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lastly, I booked tickets this morning to see 'Within Temptation' Joe really likes them, and it's a but of a surprise, I haven't told him I booked tickets yet.. well he reads my blog so if your reading Joe, SURPRISE!! </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-16842184469902768132013-02-14T14:58:00.001-08:002013-02-14T14:58:27.029-08:00First Assignment down!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last night, I went to my first tutorial for my Open University course. It really made me feel a lot better about the whole thing, as after reading through the materials I was feeling a little out of my depth but I feel a hundred percent better about it now. I think I was just trying to study with the kids in the background, or after the kids were in bed and I was too tired to concentrate, but after having a couple hours to really concentrate properly I am feeling much more confident!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So today, with all my new knowledge fresh in my brain I sat down to write my first assignment, it was only 750 words, but when you haven't written an essay in nearly 8 years its really hard to know where to start! It took me nearly 2 hours but I got there! All ready to submit! Here's to hoping for good results! Fingers crossed!!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8649461659913644077.post-25918799975586574912013-02-13T01:28:00.003-08:002013-02-13T01:28:53.590-08:00Pictures as promised!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As promised, pictures of our new arrivals Coco and Pop :)</span><div>
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