Jaidenasaurus

The second one was round about the moment he grabbed a handful of icing, and then smeared it on Grandad's leg!

Baking fun

Things I have baked recently and found they are good....

Apple muffins. I did a half batch, since that was how much apple I had. I put in half the quanity of sugar and used wholemeal flour. I still made 19 muffins in my silicone cupcake cases, so I suspect the original recipe made big ones. I cooked them for 25 minutes.

Chocolate and zucchini muffins. Ignoring the adaptations they'd made for them to be gluten free, I used a cup of white flour and a cup of wholemeal. I used only half the choc chips that the recipe suggested. I cooked them for 20 minutes, and we made about 25 from the batter.

The times they are a-changing

I plan to be a lot more active on this blog soon (if the kiddos let me! But I've got lots of pics to show you for those days they're less co-operative!)

Today I was mostly a pillow for Jaiden. He's been a cranky pants all day long, apart from our trip to Asda, where he actually smiled at a few people! I think he's teething and/or has a cold. He's a bit miserable, whatever the reason. Mind you, I mostly forgave him when he was sat next to me on the sofa and leant over to go 'mmmmmwah' and give me a big kiss. He won't always kiss me when I ask him to, just to emphasise his cheeky-monkey-ness, I think, so that made that kiss extra special!

Sophia's had a lovely day with her Daddy, at Nan's house. They were painting a tea set that she was given as a belated birthday present (One of those 'paint your own' sets). It still needs to be baked in the oven to set the colours, but she's enjoying playing with it as I type, offering round tea and biscuits. I think it'll have to be an 'after Jaiden's in bed' toy, but that will make it more special!

Oh the indignity of the pink coat

Milk moustache thanks to discovering how yummy the froth off the top of Nana'a cappuccino is.

Happy Birthday to mah bebe

He's a walking, talking, climbing bundle of energy and fun, and we love him to bits.

Now is the time

I've talked before about swagbucks, but NOW really is a good time to sign up. Not only do they have a special code to use when you sign up to get extra bucks (see below), but there's also a mega swag code day coming on Monday. These are days when they post codes all over their part of the web - on their facebook page, on twitter, on their blog... and we find them and put them in the code bar on the right of the front page, to earn extra swagbucks.

This is what swagbucks say about it
"Cyber Monday is going to be INSANE at Swagbucks.com - they're having a Swag Code Extravaganza all day long, which means that you can get 70 extra Swag Bucks if you snag all of the codes throughout the day! Be sure to get to Swagbucks.com bright and early so you don't miss a second of the fun!"

So why not sign up now, and don't forget to use the sign up code NOVEMBERSB - it's worth an extra 80 Swag Bucks when used during registration and is active for the rest of November!

Family chaos

JJ walks

11 months just flew by

Dear Jaiden,

You were 11 months old yesterday. You're almost a year old already, how that time had flown by!
Seems like just the other day you were a tiny baby, snuggled in my arms. Now the only times I get to snuggle you are when you're tired and cranky, want some of my food, or Sophie's having a cuddle and you want to get in on the action. Because it just wouldn't be fair for one of you to have a cuddle and not the other!

You love your sister and she loves you, sometimes too much (trying to pick you up, squeezing you too tight, or trying to tuck you in under a blanket and totally covering you up)! I love watching the two of you when you are playing together.

This morning Sophia woke up early because she was so excited to play with her tea set and 'make tea' for every one, or actually, to make tea for you (We'd had the tea set put away for a while and got it out again last night). She woke up at 5.30am and woke you up too! After you'd had your mummy milk you were desperate to get playing with her, and she wanted you too. I watched as you sat and chewed on some plastic fruit as she busied about pouring out tea for you. About the only thing she doesn't like to play with you is the train set, because you have a habit of picking up the tracks she's laid, so that you can suck and chew on them!

You're a very chatty boy, with very expressive 'oh's and 'oooh's. You have this really annoying squeak when you want something (you totally got that from Sophia, grrr!). And you also learnt to say 'MUM!' from Sophia. You say 'mum', 'dad-dad', 'hiya' and 'no'. You've probably got some more words than that, but those 4 are the clearest. You never took much to the sign for milk like mummy did, but I do see you using it sometimes when you want milk, or just want mummy. I've also tried to teach you the sign for please, and sometimes I think I see you use it. We'll have to work on that some more.

You have beautiful light brown curls and big brown eyes. It's funny because I wonder sometimes just how two children can look so similar and yet so different. Really, I think you look like me. I like it.

You have the most beautiful smile, and the fifth tooth (bottom, to the right of the front two) is doing its best to catch up with the 4 fully out. I think I might have just caught sight of tooth number 6 this morning (also on the bottom, but to the left) trying to make an appearance.

I'm so glad that I'm your mummy (even if I wish sometimes that you'd still call me mama and not MUM!)

love you,
Mama

Today

Today feels like a get stuff done sort of day. My house is full of junk and I want to get rid of it!
There's a toy swap coming up at one of our mum and toddler groups and Sophia's preschool is having a table top sale, so I think those will be great opportunities to be rid of a few things (and hopefully not bring too much back into the house!)

I've tackled the washing up so far, but I think the kitchen needs more sorting than that. The plastic boxes drawer is getting out of control and there's stuff all over the surfaces. And I want to sort out my bookcase and probably remove some things from it.

But first, I smell that someone nearby has a stinky bum!

peekaboo!

I was doing so well with the posting, and then somehow life got in the way!
I'm still around, posts mulling about in my head. Can't write them now cos I have a sleeping bubba in my arms and we need to get up and out the house soon (well, we've been up for hours, but dressed with clothes and handy things like that!)

Flashback

This was back before JJ was born! I think she was taking baby on a 'wenture'.

Visiting my mummy (and my daddy too)

We're visiting my mum and dad today.

I just did half an hour on the treadmill while they took the kids to the park. And I get to have an uninterrupted shower too!

Later we'll bake a cake for my sister in law whose birthday it is on Saturday.

I like my mummy's (and daddy's) house.

Facebook status highlights from the last week (or illustrating just how random my life is sometimes)

We're hardcore. We go to the park when noone else is there and it's about to rain!


It's mitt? I thought it was mick. Is mitt even a name? Apart from oven mitts


Row row row your boat, gently down the stream. Mary mary like a jelly...


Just scored amazingly on reduced veg in morrisons. Haven't had a haul like that in ages


Doh-got too good at the reverse psychology thing-i've got a bowl of fruit i actually want to eat myself,but soph is insisting on helping me


This is definitely soup season. Just put pots of butternut squash & carrot soup (with cumin seeds) in the freezer. Watch out world, I'll be making more soon.


Re car insurance - I phoned my supplier and told them I was leaving them cos i had a quote that was over sixty quid cheaper, and they said they'd match that quote. In fact, they gave it to me for 30p cheaper than my best quote. Hurrah!


Sophia told me today that "i've got a baby growing in my belly like tilly". Just now she told me "i can't put my toys away cos the baby is coming."

Just an average day (the early edition)

The night before....

JJ ate too many beans (out of nan's rice and peas) and also fell asleep on his bottle, so was full of gas! He cried out in his sleep quite a bit, and at 11.30pm he was clearly not happy. We picked him up so as to not to wake up Sophie, and changed his nappy and gave him some gripe water. Lots of cuddles and pattings and rubbings finally resulted in a burp and he did settle back to sleep eventually without waking his sister up.

5.20am  I hear murmurs and chats over the baby monitor. I look at the time, groan, and choose to ignore them cos it's happy noises.

5.30am I hear the unmistakable noise of Sophia shouting "MUM!" and more "ooohs and dadads" from JJ. I realise that staying in bed is not an option. I get up and discover the crack on my heel is really sore, and walking on it really hurts. So I semi limp to their room, not putting any weight on my right heel. Actually, I go to the bathroom first, and have another few "MUM"s shouted at me, so I yell back "I'm on the loo!"

I go in to their bedroom and pick up Jaiden and change his nappy. Sophia tries to talk and tickle him, but he's not having any of it. He wants mummy, and that is that. Once his nappy is done he sits/stands up and determinedly makes himself as close to me as he possibly can. Sophia is also trying to get in on the cuddle action, so I have one in each arm.

Soph refuses to wee, so we go downstairs (If a camel can drink a lot of water and go for ages without a drink, what animal can go for a long time without weeing?! A Sophia, that's who.) I'm learning not to battle over it every time, only the times where we'll be away from toilet facilities and I want her to go before we go out or whatever.

We come downstairs and I put JJ down on the floor, and he collapses in a sobbing heap. I put the tv on - it's still before 6, so bbc breakfast hasn't even started. I gather up the necessities - phone, tv remote, tissues, feeding cushion, and JJ and I settle in for some mummy milk and snuggles. Soph moans cos she wants snuggles and milk, but I tell her the baby has to have his milk first. (Mummy's priority really - it's been a long time since I fed JJ the night before, and really I want him to feed quickly for my comfort more than his!)

We channel surf a bit and find something called something like 'make do and mend'. It's gentle enough for my brain, and interesting enough to distract Sophie from her moaning. JJ takes his time, looking up to check on the world every once in a while, but finally he's done. Well the milk is done, he's actually still hungry so I go to the kitchen and get him a bottle and some milk in a cup for Soph. He goes on the cushion at my feet and Sophie comes up for a snuggle with me.

Once the milk is all drunk, I get to have a bit of personal space and regroup. Oh actually, there was a dirty nappy changing in there somewhere too. Mid mummy milk I think, cos I remember thinking that I still felt uncomfortable.

I grab my laptop and check in a few places - see if I have any move likes for my blog page on facebook, read back some of the events of the last few hours. I earn a few swagbucks, read a coupleof blogs, try to figure out my blog analytics and fail (it says I've got a ton of page views and traffic from another blog, but having chatted with them on facebook, they say they've never read my blog or reffered people here. Odd!) That's blogger. Google analytics says I've had no traffic at all, which I know is also wrong!

Soph asks for something to eat, and I have something too. Finally manage to get a glass of water too. It's about 7.15am by now.

We have a few meltdowns. Soph cos JJ's taken her cup, JJ cos Soph won't give him her food. JJ comes overs several times saying "mmmm" and chomping his mouth to show me he wants some of my food. He also finds Sophia's discarded plate and we play peekaboo with it. I catch sight of what looks like tooth number 5 having a good try at breaking through the gum.

At some point (after I've got to see the weather forecast) we switched over from bbc breakfast (which we turned to at 6.10am once that other program had finished) to cbeebies.

7.30am I change another dirty stinky nappy and we manage to tip nappies all over the floor. (I opened a new packet, and then they went everywhere) We'll pick them up at some point.-

8am Soph trips over her own feet and cries and comes for a cuddle. She's tired and would have done better with another hour asleep, but once she's woken up, that's that.

JJ comes over and wants to be picked up too. Generally once one is picked up, the other wants in on he action too.

At some point I started writing this blog post, it was before Sophia came over, cos I started typing with two hands, and that was reduced to one, and then none for a short while.

It's almost 8.30am and I can hear Menard's up and getting ready for work (slightly later than normal cos he works closer to home on a Tuesday). I think I smell another nappy, so I'll end this post here.

(I finish by spell checking and find it amusing that the blogger spell checker doesn't recognise the work 'blog')

Edited to add - nappy was a false alarm, so we spend time having snuggles and kisses. JJ's very good at 'mwah-ing'

Facebooking it

I've jumped on the bloggers facebook bandwagon and have created a facebook page for this blog. I'm still figuring out all the ins and outs, but why not jump in and 'like' me now, and one day you can say "I read her blog way back when...".

Treasuring the snuggles

JJ's got to the stage where he wants to be up and at it, so I don't get to sit and snuggle his very often. Expect when he's asleep. So I will get up and dressed and on with the day in a minute, but first I'm enjoying this snuggle.

Answer

Yesterday's photo was indeed Jaiden. I thought the colour of the wall would give it away, but I guess I'm probably more up on the colour of the walls in the different places we've lived!

Flash back

Guess the baby

Being a mummy is hard work

I'm a stay at home mum. I assume most of my readers know that, but just in case they didn't.

Right now I'm shattered. We have finally got Jaiden pretty good at sleeping, but my body doesn't seem to have caught up. Add to that a couple of weeks of being ill - stomach bug followed up with flu-y cold, and it feels like I'm wading through jelly.

Jelly. Must remember to make jelly with Sophia tomorrow. Since I told her we would, she's unlikely to forget, but it would be good if I could plan it in rather than trying to do it at the last moment while trying to juggle six million other things.

I'm tired, I keep eating silly things instead of the healthy stuff I ought to be. I know that there's most likely a connection between energy levels and what I eat, so I'm trying to do better.

But mostly, I just feel like I need to say that being a mummy is hard.

It's amazing too, but today, it's hard. I'm off to bed soon (just after 7pm!) and I'm sure tomorrow will be better. Goodnight all

Feeling like I live in some sort of cartoon

We popped to my parents house to check on things while they were away on holiday the other day and I needed to pick all the tomatoes off their plant because a cold front was moving in and we knew they wouldn't be doing any more ripening on the plant.

I had Sophia and Jaiden with me, so I went out the back door, leaving Soph and JJ to watch me through the glass back door. I was picking away and while I did Sophia managed to slip outside to help me pick. I didn't think anything of it cos JJ was still inside, until it came to us going back inside...

Jaiden loves to play with Nana's brooms, which are usually stacked next to the back door. I'd deliberately moved them away from the door cos I didn't want him blocking us out with a broom in the way. However I obviously hadn't moved them far enough away....

Because sure enough, he'd somehow jammed a broom between the back door and a box that sits at the end of the kitchen. I was able to push the door open a couple of inches, but no more. Soph and I were trapped outside, with no phone, no keys, and no one to help!

I did my best not to panic and after uttering a "help me God" prayer, I set to jiggling the door back and forth to try to get the broom to move lower. Luckily it was jammed with the broom bristles at our end, and even better, the door doesn't go right down to the ground, but is slightly raised. I managed to jiggle the broom down to the ground and then shove the door to force to against the bristles and open. Thank God!

I found my phone and called my mum, trying not to laugh too much about what might have been!

Spring forward, Fall back

The clocks changed last night.

Kids' internal clocks do not change overnight.

They woke up at their usual 6am, which was now 5am.

Menard took them downstairs at 5.45am.

I got up at 7.30am (which used to be 8.30am, and about the time JJ gets tired and demands mummy).

M went back to bed.

We're going to the 11am service at church, which is what would have been 12 midday yesterday.

So we're obviously having our extra hour this morning.

The way I see it, Menard is getting his extra hour to sleep. I just get an extra hour looking after the kids!

Wear your cape with pride

This is a word of encouragement for mums, inspired by a friend's facebook status about her son wearing his superhero cape, and then she went on to say she was off to do some cleaning, and I asked if that would be while wearing a cape?!

Hey mum, yes you, the one over there feeling frazzled. You are a hero. You run your home despite a million adversities, you take care of your kids come rain or shine, sickness or health, you cook, you clean, you do a million and one things and yet there's no company award or pay bonus for doing what you do.

But you know what? You're a super hero. You are!

So go ahead, wear your cape with pride, knowing that you're the best woman for the job.

bleugh

sickness bug over the weekend

coughs and sneezes and head cold since yesterday

need to upload photos from my camera

soothing sisterly love

Jaiden had had over a month of waking up in the night due to teething (4 teeth in 4 weeks, it was a nightmare!)

Once he was done teething he just got in the habit of waking, and we (Menard and I) were so tired that we'd just bring him into bed with us and let him at it with the mummy milk. But I wasn't getting any much sleep, nor was Menard, and I was also getting terribly sore because it wasn't really that he wanted the milk, he just wanted something something to chew on. One night I dreamt that I was a sausage being chewed on!

So, we decided it was time to fight back. We'd try the controlled crying method - checking on him, making him comfortable and safe, but ultimately, if necessary, letting him cry it out rather than sticking him on the boob at the slightest whimper.

We arranged for Sophia to stay at grandparents for a few nights (we had her during the days!) put Jaiden's cot in Sophia's bedroom, and went for it. Wednesday night - he slept through*! Thursday night - he slept through! We concluded that we were waking him, and he was waking us, and that really, it might be best for all concerned if he stayed in that bedroom with Sophia once she was back with us. Menard did a whole heap of work moving things around and making it possible to have Soph's bed on one side and JJ's cot on the other.

On either the Thursday or Friday I was chatting with Sophia, explaining what was happening, and generally trying to big up the idea of the two of them sharing a room. She was all for it, which was a blessing! I was explaining that JJ might wake up in the night* but that it would be ok. She could sing 'Twinkle twinkle' to him (he responds well to that song when she sings it to him, it's very cute). She had a little practice, but then she came out with "STOP CRYING, BE QUIET JAIDEN, I'M SLEEPING". And I thought, yes, that's more likely to be an accurate representation of what will happen!

* When I said that he slept through, what I meant was that although he woke up once or twice, it was only to have a tiny cry or a little chat and then he self-settled back to sleep. When he'd been in our room, he knew we were there, and immediately wanted out.

The parable of banana

There's been sooooo much going on round here, and I desperately want to revive this poor neglected blog. I won't make any promises, cos those always get broken, but I will try to do better.

Last night was the first night that Sophia and Jaiden have shared a room (ok, so they sort of did on Friday, but we ended up bringing Soph's mattress out onto the floor of our bedroom, due to her being poorly... blah blah, big sickness bug, everyone poorly, weekend gone, and that's that!)

We put Jaiden down first and waited for him to go to sleep (we started putting him down awake last week, Wednesday. It took him half an hour to settle the first night, with a couple of checks and cuddles, but now he seems to have got the hang of it and only cries for less than a minute), and then we put Sophia to bed. She's always been a chatter in bed, and we were hoping that she wouldn't wake up her brother. But since on Friday night he slept through tears and puking and much noise and chaos, I was fairly confident he'd be ok.

Menard and I were shattered, so we went to bed too, and listened to Sophie over the baby monitor, attempting not to fall asleep before she did!

And this is one of the things I heard her say. I have no idea what the meaning of this parable is, but I'm sure Sophia could have told you last night!

"...and Jesus said, "here's a banana for you, Sophie, and here's one for you...." "

There you have it, the parable of the bananas.

Chocolate pumpkin and banana muffins

1 and 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 mashed bananas
1/3 cup applesauce
1/3 cup milk (we used skimmed)

Mix flour, baking powder, cocoa and sugar in a bowl.
Mix all the other ingredients in another bowl.
Mix wet and dry ingredients together.
Spoon into mini muffin cases and bake at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for 25 minutes until they stop singing!
Cool on a cooling rack. Consume.

I used up my self-raising flour in the last recipe, so this time we just used plain.

Again, the applesauce is a replacement for oil and could be replaced back again!

Since the last recipe wasn't that sweet, I decided to experiment with a quarter cup of sugar in this recipe. I expect it could be substituted for honey, although you make need to adjust other liquid levels.

Ok, so they're done. They're slightly odd in that they've puffed up and the outside is crispy, and the inside is a bit gooey on some of them. The ones we've tried we've just sort of squished flat in order to eat them.

Soph thought they were delicious, mind you she would have eaten all the mixture if I'd let her!

Overall, they're quite banana-y and chocolate-y and pretty yummy really. And they've gotta be pretty healthy too!

Courgette, Carrot and Sultana Muffins

1 (generous) cup of self raising wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup grated courgette
1/4 cup sultanas
1 egg
1/2 cup applesauce (I used home cooked from scratch)
1/2 cup milk (I used skimmed)

Mix together dry ingredients (inc carrot, courgette and sultanas)
Mix together wet ingredients
Mix wet and dry together
Spoon into mini muffin tins or cases (we used mini muffin silicone cases)
Cook at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for about 20 minutes. (Carefully) listen to see if they are still making noise, cook a little longer until they're quiet, or test with a skewer or toothpick and cook until it comes out clean. We made 28 mini muffins

As you can see, there's no fat and no sugar, with the applesauce replacing them both. Some of these turned out a little bit dough-y in the middle, think I needed to cook them just a little bit more. They weren't very sweet at all. I think a couple of tablespoons of sugar or honey would probably make them more appealing.

I think they'd be better cooked slightly longer, and with a little more sweetener.

Sophia says she doesn't like the carrot ones, but I pointed out a couple that I said didn't have carrot and she wolfed them down. Ok, so that was a lie, but I was pretty sure it was her hatrid of carrot that was colouring her judgement! While I've written this I'm pretty sure she's had at least one more (hence my reason for doing mini ones!), so I think they've gone down well.

If you don't have applesauce, I'd suggest perhaps use 1/4 cup of oil and 1/4 cup sugar or honey, less if you're happy with a less sweet version.

I took photos, but will have to add them later

Mega muffin bake up

My sister Hannah shared with me her (or that she'd acquired) recipe for beetroot, sweetcorn and carrot muffins. She absolutely loves them. Sophia loved them for the first 2 that she ate, but after that she said that she absolutely did not want to eat them (thank goodness for the freezer, anyway!)

Anyway, all that inspired me, along with a muffin 'formula' I found in The Tightwad Gazette, to attempt to create some fruit and veg muffins of my own (with the intention that they be healthy ish snacks and would sneak some fruit and veg into my daughter!)

And the day for that grand bake up is TODAY.

I intend to share my recipes, and our reactions to them!

Lover of finger foods

silly

My baby got big!

My baby started preschool today!

(this was the best pic I could get cos she kept moving!)

 Bonus pic, with Nana and JJ

One word

TEETH
Well actually, tooth. Jaiden's. It still hasn't come through properly, but it's coming and going and giving us all a run for our money, especially at night, for the last fortnight.

And putting bonjella on is like trying to wrestle a bear. I will say that once it's on it helps and he generally settles again, well, eventually. Sometimes he just settles in for a night on the boob in bed with mummy.

All in all, mummy has little brain power, and what I do have has to be used for proper grown up things and not for coming up with fun blog posts.  But I'll do my best to be back again soon.

"Little Grandad"

ooh, look Mummy's got the camera out...

Oh, this is my new hat that Nan and Grandad Felix got for me.

I can see you mummy!

Cool dude!

French beret style

Can I have the camera? It's shiny!

Let's get this off again

That's better

Happy 8 months old today, Jaiden!

quick update

It's hot here. Well hot for us, and muggy and not cooling down at night. It's making me get back into my want to wash all the things phase again!

I soaked a bunch of JJ vests and bibs in biological washing powder (i usually use non-bio) and soda crystals (caustic soda). It was great, whitened the whites and got out the stains, including some that had been on there since the days they were used by Sophia! Tomorrow I'll be rummaging around to see what else i can soak!

I also made some of these breakfast burritos.
I did quite big tortillas and think i over filled them, but I've got six in the freezer and ate one today (I used less than the recipe suggested - i just did it with what i had). Next time i think I'll use smaller tortilla wraps, and put a bit less in, but what I've got in the freezer would be filling enough to eat one for a meal.

Uh, we're doing ok. JJ is now climbing stairs! This afternoon he followed Soph up and almost got to the top before i even realised he'd gone up. There's now a dining chair on its side to block off the entrance! He also likes to try to stick his arms down inside the toilet if he gets the chance. I'm sure he'll be walking before we know it....

we're here!

Soph's has tonsillitis and or hand foot mouth disease (a virus that is less that than it sounds!)

JJ's now most likely got a virus that's making his ears bother him (lots of ear tugging)

We're surviving as best we can...

A brief glimpse into our crazy

It's 9.13am. I'm watching a little bit of BBC breakfast news and information about the Olympics.

Sophia and Jaiden are playing with her singing microphone. Sophia loves it cos it makes noise and it's a microphone. Jaiden loves it cos it makes noise and rolls along the ground (other favourite toys - empty coke bottle, not so empty coke bottle (removed before it got tooooo shaken up!) an empty plastic beaker....)

It's pretty noisy, but they're both happy for now. Unfortunately we need to go and get washed and dressed and on with our day in a bit. I think we'll just stay here for a little bit longer and enjoy the sibling unity!

Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary

to my Mummy and Daddy. (Sorry, this was the best photo I could find!)

Time flies

However did these two

 grow up into these two? (And that's already nearly a month ago)

(And yes, it's entirely possible that Sophia's missing her trousers in that bottom picture,

cos that's how we roll around here. Or how she does, anyway!)
(This was Jaiden trying out the forward facing car seat for size, and he liked it, so that was that, it was his! We're currently using the one my parents bought for their car, in our car for Sophie. We really ought to get around to buying another!)

Seaside

The seagulls were circling round and diving for food thrown up by a lady on the beach below. I thought they made a beautiful picture against the backdrop of that sky

Cuddles

"I have to cuddle him, even if he's not so sure!"

Helping nana feeding Jaiden

You can't make this stuff up

A couple of days ago I walked into the bathroom, turned my ankle over (just like that) and made a big noise knocking myself and the towel rail to the floor.

Earlier today i stubbed my toe on the same foot, running upstairs to get Soph a top to wear.
 
About an hour ago I was coming in from the garden to look after JJ while my mum took soph upstairs to poo "I need a poo-poo" is not a statement to be taken lightly! Earlier soph had done a wee, and then, for reasons known only to herself, she'd tipped the potty out on the path just outside the back door. I hosed it down a bit and thought nothing more of it. But coming in quickly, I slipped on the wet patch, landed on the kitchen floor, banged my knee and made the pain in my ankle and toe considerably more.

Ow

Jaiden

language is a funny thing

There are some words and phrases Sophia uses that I want to record here for posterity.

"pic-mick" instead of picnic

"That's mines" when something belongs to her

"Going on a wenture". I think that I've posted that on before - Sophia's pronunciation of the word adventure. I think that'll probably stick around as a family word, cos I use it too now!

"I lost you" Which is what she says if she sees something or someone that she hasn't seen in at least five seconds

7 months and counting

Jaiden turned 7 months yesterday. I think the last month has been a total growth and skills explosion.

In the last month he's started eating solid food (actually that started just over a month ago, but he's really got the hang of it now!), started crawling and perfected his methods and about a million things inbetween.

He can now blow raspberries (and enjoyed it so much that he did them on me when he was supposed to be nursing!) and this morning he and Soph were having a raspberry-off (taking it in turns to do them at each other!)  And it was wonderfully sweet hearing him copying Sophia growling (like a lion/dinosaur - I think it was open to interpretation!)

I have a million photos which I will endeavour to get uploaded to the computer soon. We took Jaiden to meet my maternal grandparent's for the first time and we went on holiday with my parents for a week. Hence all the being not-here. I really want to blog a bit more, cos it's such a good way to remember the little things.

(final random thought - isn't it a bit silly that blogger's spellchecker doesn't recognise 'blog' as a word?!)

Photos, or not

I really wanted to post some photos, but I have no idea where my camera lead is. I'm hoping Menard will know, but he's still in bed.

Photos coming soon, hopefully!

Sadness and Confusion. It's hard being two

We've spent a few days this week with Debbie, who flew in from Texas on Tuesday. She's been staying at my parents house, but my mum's had a very buy week, so although we were over there 3 times, we only saw my dad once, and my mum not at all.

The first two times we arrived at my mum's Sophie said "where's nana?", I told her nama was at work and she looked sad and said "poor nana". The third time it happened she didn't even comment, just shook her head sadly.

We dropped Debbie off at the station on Friday and all the way home Soph was asking about the train, and where it was and where it was going, and she kept talking about "the other mummy". She obviously remembered that Debbie and I shared a name, but she'd forgotten which name it was!

Costochondritis and Concussion

The pain I've had for a few days in my shoulders, neck and back, along with a headache was getting worse not better, and I developed a cough. Yesterday I realised that the pain reminded me of the pain I had back in 2008 when i was fighting infection after infection - costochondritis.

Oh and then after my appointment with a doctor this morning (who said yes, I think so, and gave me anti-inflammatories) I went for a walk with my mum and the kids and a couple of other folk at Forty Hall and managed to walk into a tree branch and give my forehead a great big whack. And I've been a bit dreamy and out if it and generally feeling rough, with a big fat headache too. Think it's only a minor concussion, but that was enough.

sleep oh sleep

JJ and Sophia have both had a cold for a few days, and I stupidly tried to eat cauliflower (and curly kale) on Wednesday evening to see if JJ could cope with them (going through my milk, to him). Previously it gave him nasty wind, but I was hoping now he was older he'd be ok. All of that has resulted in crazy days and crazier nights.

Last night JJ slept from 8.30pm to 4.50am. Result! Maybe in the next week or two I might manage to claw back some of that lost sleep, though I'm not pinning my hopes on it!

A few days ago Sophia found a ball of tangled, screwed up hair. The sort of thing you might find in the shower after you wash your hair, or after you've combed out a child's plaits.

Anyway, she said "my hair!" and brought it to me quite distraught. She wanted me to help her to put it back on her head! I had to take a very long time explaining to her that hair grows, but then when it's getting too old it falls out and new hairs grow to replace them. She was eventually comforted, and allowed herself to put the ball of hair in the bin.

Jaiden is getting very good at moving himself around the room. He's not yet crawling, but he can turn himself about 180 degrees or more by moving himself with his arms. And he's very good at rolling, you never quite know where you'll see him next and he can move in a blink of an eye.

The other day he was lying in the middle of the room and Sophia got her push along car (which she's really getting a bit big for, but enjoys all the same). She started pushing it in a circle around JJ. He was so excited and desperate to see her and what was going on that he started turning himself around in a circle, following her all the time! I'm sure it won't be long before this litle guy finds how to get up on his knees, and then we'll be in for it!

Yum yum, hm, maybe?

JJ started eating real food on Thursday. It was sweet potato. His face was a picture. (I did take photos, but didn't manage to capture that particular expression. Also, the photos are still on the camera, so I will upload them later).

He's had it twice now. He had 6 or 8 spoonfuls the first time, and the second he had 1 1/2 ice cubes worth, I'd say (I cook it up, freeze in ice cube trays and trasfer into a bag once they're frozen. That makes small portions easy, and once he's eating more it makes it easy to mix flavours, taking a cube or two from a couple of bags).

His general opinion seems to be that he's not totally sure of this sweet potato thing, but he'll keep trying this eating thing cos it might get better!
I've not cooked anything else yet, but we have some bananas, so I might try some of that today, or might stick with the sweet potato. With Sophia I gave each food 3 days before I introduced a new one, but I was wondering about doing 2 days this time around. With Sophia I recorded it on the calendar so that I'd remember. I don't currently have one for this year, so... anyone know where I can buy a calender in july?!  A diary might do instead!

A little bit random

I had a dream in the first part of the night, last night. I got up for the toilet and one line from the dream struck me as funny, so I saved it on my phone. I just found it, and had to share.

So far as I recall, I was posting a teddy bear, and some other peple may have been doing the same, and then I told someone else about the event and I said "And I was round the corner, posting it in Italy"

I have no idea where that came from. We were definately in the UK, but somehow, the shop round the corner was in Italy.  My brain is weird. Very weird.

JJ's new skill

This little guy started off on his back.

He's very proud of his new skill :D  (Just look at those chubby cheeks! He's a right chunky monkey now, and super long, he's 4 1/2 months now, and wearing 6-9month babygros and vests)

Peeping out from under piles of washing

Seriously, will it ever stop?! Every day this week I have put in a load of clothes, and done my best to get them dry (no dryer, raining all week) and just about managed to get the rest on the dirty stuff to fit in the basket. But without fail, every morning there have somehow magically appeared out of nowhere enough stuff to fill a load without even touching the full basket that's still there from the day before.

But other than that minor issue, we're doing well. JJ's getting longer and is now sleeping in the big cot cos he outgrew the wicker crib he had at first (the one which I slept in as a baby, and my mummy did before that!)

Sophia's had a growth spurt too, I'm sure. I watched her washing her hands at the bathroom sink* the other day and realised she was reaching for, and getting the soap, and this was without standing on the little step box that I swear she still needed to use, just the other day.  Some days I think we're making progress with potty training, other days not so much. I resorted to bribery with chocolate buttons, but I'm not sure what next now the packet's empty!

* She loves washing her hands. Not obsessively, don't worry, but I'm sure, like many other kids her age, she could play in the water for hours. She also sings her own little version of a song from a program on CBeebies which is called 'I can cook' which goes like this...
"Roll up your sleeves, and give your hands a wash, with slippy dippy soap, splish splash splosh. Have you done your hands? Washed and dried? Sleeves rolled up? Apron tied? What can you do? I CAN COOK!"

Random snippets

(What did they do to my blogger?!)

A text I sent my family yesterday... "Decided I would give my yeti legs some attention. It was rinse after every swipe. They're a bit red now, not sure if I'm a bit allergic to the cream I used, or they're just embarrassed from all the attention"

Happening right now - Jaiden's lying on the floor. Sophia was tickling his tummy and he was laughing like crazy, then she was showing him pictures in a book. Now she's got a blanket and has covered him up and told him to go to sleep cos it's bed time. Jaiden, however, thinks it's all hilarious and continues to giggle and squeal with delight.

dum de dum

I'll do my best to write some posts with real content soon, but I keep doing them with a baby in my arms, and that makes typing slower and it's easier to just post photos!

Jaiden isn't the only one who gets to enjoy the bouncy chair!

This rug

It's very special to me that I can remember playing on this rug when I was a little girl, and Sophia and Jaiden got to enjoy it too when we visited my Grandad. (Sophia is the one holding the book in the top right)

Reading

We love books around here, whether reading to your brother, with Nana or to your toys, it doesn't matter.

Double trouble

Jaiden LOVES Sophia and she's pretty keen on him too (so long as he doesn't stop her getting cuddles/biscuits etc when she wants them!). I have a feeling they're going to learn to team up to cause trouble any day now!

The generation game

The few days before Easter we went to visit my grandad (dad's dad) to introduce him to Jaiden and a re-introduction to Sophia. We well and truly interrupted his quiet life and gave him a little taste of our chaos! (Soph had just woken up when I took her photo, so she wasn't cooperating)

1002

This is my 1002nd post apparently. Missed celebrating 1000, so we can celebrate this instead :D

I am poorly poorly sick. Have been for two weeks now. Think we're on the up now, and if I can only keep on resting and sleeping as much as I can, I might be better by Christmas. No, seriously, by the end of the month?

(This is a from fair few weeks ago, but cute all the same!)

"Sophie cuddle, mummy photo" - I did as instructed!

You're never too young for the 'eat your hand' game

Why does he only chat when I'm not filming?!

This is a bad bad film - my hair features and JJ keeps kicking the computer, but I'm leaving it up cos it's cute in a silly way

another triangle mouth

Don't know what expression i'm pulling here!

No, there's nothing new on facebook Mummy

2 months 2 days

About five seconds after taking these I realised JJ had done his favourite trick of pooing while sitting in his bouncy chair! (the blur on the left of the second picture is his big sister moving too fast to be caught by a simple camera!)


(This blog seems to have turned into a photo blog for a little while, but I'm sure noone's complaining!)

Just hanging out

Sophia moments I want to remember

Old McDonald according to Miss Sophia "Farmer had a farm, ear ear oh! chick chick chick"

Yesterday she went swimming with Nana and Nana left her glasses in the shower afterwards and they had to go back to get them. Last night Sophia reenacted this event several time with her bear, and they also swam around the room.

Sophia's pronunciation of teddy bear "teh bear".

On Wednesday I bend down to pick something up and misjudged the distance and ended up wacking my head on the wall so hard that I saw stars and cried a bit. Sophia was very concerned and climbed into my lap to hug me. She said "shh shh shhh it's awlright mummy" (Which is pretty much what she and I both say to JJ at least ten times a day!)

Right now Sophia is sat on the floor with a bear in her lap watching 'Show Me Show Me'. When it comes to 'show me show me your groovy moves' she stands up and dances along with the presenters, and getting bear to dance too.

Oh, one more
"Grandad Jog, has some men. Couldn't put it together again. When they're up they're down"

Siblings

Sophia, once she got over her initial unsureness of Jaiden, has become a doting big sister, and JJ just loves getting his sister's attention.

As I type (on Monday morning) the two of them are on his play mat. Jaiden's lying down staring up at his big sister, and Sophia's got a pot and spoon from her play kitchen, and is pretending to feed him (I told her she mustn't actually put the spoon in his mouth but just 'tend).

Earlier this morning Jaiden was crying (I was changing his nappy and clothes). Sophia ran to get a tissue "sad eyes crying wet" she said, and wanted to mop up his tears.

I'm enjoying watching their relationship develop.

Photos to follow soon, once I've located the lead for the camera!

one, two, three, all present and correct