Saturday, November 24, 2012

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!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

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

Saturday, November 17, 2012

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!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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!)

Friday, November 09, 2012

Flashback

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

Thursday, November 08, 2012

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.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

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."

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

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...".

Monday, November 05, 2012

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.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

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!

Friday, November 02, 2012

Flash back

Guess the baby

Thursday, November 01, 2012

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