Weekend stuff…

It’s been a really lovely weekend.

We haven’t really done anything so much except potter about.

I’ve cleaned my bathroom from top to bottom like I usually do on a Sunday… done a coupla bits… bought mother’s day card and pressie… (unknowingly intelligently I have opted to visit my folks on Mothering Sunday, meaning I have to buy a present can take the present with me)… this is a load off my mind as you can tell…  

We took the girls out for shopping yesterday and had lunch in a little cafe where utterly abnormally, they were a joy and a delight to be around. We found a little place with cheap cafe food in a slightly more faux-upmarket decor … if that makes sense..?!

The result though, was a really nice lunch and the girls were an absolute pleasure to be with.

We didn’t do much of anything else yesterday I don’t think…. (not sure why I struggle to remember yesterday…. Surely a sign of over working myself)

We organised some wedding stuff… getting measured for the suits and stuff, I picked my bridesmaids dresses all that kind of stuff..

Typical ‘weekend stuff’ stuff

Then today - we had a pretty lazy day again. We got up late… thanks to the girls playing in their room for a while this morning… we had a late breakfast… and went to the park, fed the ducks… had a run about…

[....Is it just me or does Ella suddenly look like a child and not a baby?! She's enormous ... and... today was our first ever trip out without the pushchair... (actually it's the second but first sounds better!!)]

There has been moments today when they’ve been a little hmmm…. how to put it….? Testing? Rowan is testing the theory of bad moods and possible causes at the moment…. for example … today she was absolutely fine in the park and then was suddenly … foul.

Her explanation?

The sun got in her eyes and that made her grumpy.

But.. hey. I can see it for what it is. She’s just not sure what the rules are for this type of thing. She has no idea what constitutes a good reason for a bad mood. For all I know she listens to my reasons sometimes and thinks I’m an absolute fruitloop!

So… we came back and collapsed unconscious on the sofa for 40minutes whilst the girls went brain dead to Peppa Pig DVD (gotta love it) and then put Ella down for a nap.

Rowan and I made biscuits …

(out of a ready to bake kit from M&S - really recommend it I have to say … the biscuits were really nice and it was dead easy) and we attempted to watch a movie together… we picked Cinderella Twist in Time (Xmas present from Grampty) … 5 minutes after this photo,

she wanted it turned off because it was boring!!

Then she specifically requested this movie (5 points if you can guess it from the still) and paid attention to it for approximately 9 minutes before she wandered off. Not quite time for the cinema yet then.

She is funny.

But one thing for sure….. she is gorgeous.

Mummy cuddles

Mummy cuddles, originally uploaded by Little Nut Tree.

This is the girls watching Peppa Pig at the end of the day today.

I got home from work and took Rowan to the shop. When we got back Peppa Pig had already been on TV and so we put a DVD on for 15 minutes.

Honestly - I know I go about this but it is ‘drug-like’ in it’s effect.

They go limp like lettuce and gawp at the telly for as long as it plays.

It’s like TV Valium for children. Well my children at least.

What *is* nice … is I get to sit there (here in fact - right where I am now - there in this picture) for 15 minutes and have nice cuddles and a relax before the onslaught of bath time…. ah the peace…..

(Click picture for extra notes on Flickr…)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Today wasn’t my first mother’s day.. It was my third.

But today felt very special. More special maybe even than my very first one ever. Because Rowan made my first ever Mother’s Day card at nursery and I didn’t know anything about it until today.

My first handmade card.. with a little help from Nursery…

I opened it and immediately sprung into tears.. shocker!

But she made it.. just for me. And that’s so special.
Also, when Scotty dropped her daughter off at nursery the other day, Rowan went up to her and asked her to say hello to her mummy at work.

Scotty called me to tell me, on the way in to work.

Even though I miss them all day anyway.. I only thought I knew what ‘miss’ meant until I was suddenly reminded that she was somewhere without me.. and thinking of me.

Sniff sniff… so cute.. I could just feel the strings of my heart being plucked like a toy guitar in the hands of a three year old

We had a great day today.. We went for a planned walk to the park and Rowan had a good run around and being that our park is on a hill … unsurprisingly she then slept for two and half hours, got up at 5pm and was back in bed at 7.30..

I love to climb… It frees thy soul…

Mummy and my girls.

The little hat that wouldn’t stay Velcro’d..

One tired little girl..

We then did the walk I will have to do to the new nursery, so I know where I’m going and suddenly all hell broke loose..

Well..

I say hell. Actually hail.

This gorgeous sunny day turned into the most freezing day for ages. We could see our breath and suddenly there was hail everywhere.

BN thought it absolutely essential to take a photo of the moment for my blog..

Now… granted you can’t see the hail here.. but trust me - it was there and it was cold and wet. I was not impressed to be 15 minutes walk from home at that particular time

End of the first week and Ella had a little surprise for me. What a lovely daughter…

So, end of first week. Not so bad. Today was very busy work-wise and I had a little surprise when First Girl came in to see me.

I quite quickly batted that one out of the park.. there’s plenty of time to deal with that..

Ella had a little surprise for us today.. she only woke once at 1.30 this morning and then slept through until 7.30..

Bargain.

I LIKE the child that has decided I deserved one night of sleep at the END of the week of work.. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not ungrateful … but when I was flagging somewhere around Wednesday, would have been good..

Not only this little gem though - Ella decided this evening would be the evening that she would roll over for the first time.

The first thing I was terrified I may miss - I saw all of Rowan’s firsts - and she saved it till I got home. Bless her.

I cried.

Rowan spent her second session at nursery today and got on really well except she apparently became a little over-exuberant with a plastic hammer and a child’s arm.

Josie may not be surprised to hear this

Anyway - I’m shattered. It’s been an interesting week back and obviously things haven’t been exactly easy. The good news is - I haven’t met anyone new at work yet that I don’t get on with and it looks like we’re gonna have a good year.

Famous last words ….

well. well. well.

So - it was my first day back and it wasn’t too bad. Leaving the girls this morning was hard although I did notice it was leaving Ella that was hard, not leaving Rowan. I certainly don’t mean anything by it but I presume it’s because I’ve left Rowan before and she’s older etc. etc.
I was so on the verge of tears and I didn’t want to upset Rowan so I just left before I got too upset.

First thing this morning was a nightmare trying to get ready and so on. It’s very difficult to think about getting out of the house, getting dressed, getting showered, getting bag ready, what do I need? I even got everything ready the night before and it still took ages to believe I was ready. I know it sounds silly but when you haven’t been doing it for 7 months - it’s a lot more complicated than you’d think! It was all I could do to be out ready for afternoon appointments while I was off let alone getting ready first thing. I am crap.

Anyway so long day - didn’t get back until 6.45pm and the girls were in bed by 7.45pm and that’s a lot later than normal but it was a very, very busy day and I never got to eat anything after breakfast. Such is the life of a busy office manager!!

So, do we just get wee everywhere or what then?? lol

It’s been a back to normal day today. Rowan asked to do her letters today for the first time in ages. Christmas & G&G’s kind of removed them from her mind I think. Not that I mind - she is only just 2 afterall.. all at her pace at the moment.
We started little letters today - or I should say daddy and Rowan started little letters today. She knows all of her alphabet all by name and most phonetically as well. Speaking with a primary teacher over Christmas I understand that it’s beneficial for them to know the sounds as well as the names for an easier start at reading at school (this is usually how it’s taught apparently) so we are starting on that with the little letters in a slightly more structured way. She’s desperate to learn and asks to do them over and over all the time so it’s just up to her at the moment to show us what she wants to do and when. I’ve bought her a colour poster for her room with numbers and colours (just for when she wakes up in the morning really before we let her loose!).

She can count easily up to 6 and can read up to 12 so we’ve started on shapes and colours and we got some well placed christmas presents to help with that. She coming on leaps and bounds each day and is putting more and more words togther with every step. She added ‘don’t’ to ‘want it’ today making herself verbally clearer (she’s always shaken her head with this so we knew what she meant)… obviously Rowan being Rowan it had to be something centred around the ‘no’ option.. but hey.. development’s development

Ella still isn’t doing much physically (apart from growing!! we got out the 9-12 month clothes today and she’s 5 months next week!! )
We really thought she would roll over really early (or should I say earlier than Rowan did which was 5 months) - and in fact the HVs did too because of her weight - (digression - I do like my actual HV but her assistant has never done much to enamour herself to me - pointedly holding her hand over Ella on the change table at 12 weeks old and saying that bigger babies roll early and I should be careful before I walked away from her didn’t do much to further her standing! I did point out then she wasn’t showing any interest in anything other than her own hands but apparently I shouldn’t go on what happened with my first child because they’re all differnent - oh really! I’m shocked. There was me thinking they were all the same.) .. so although Ella’s showing signs of being interested in what’s behind her she still really hasn’t done anything positive about getting it!

I wonder if this will be Ella - she’s already very capable of shouting for what she wants so is moving really necessary..? - she doesn’t cry for a bottle anymore she grunts and straightens her arms and goes red in the face whilst shooting you the evilist looks!!! “Feed me - feed me now or feel the wrath of Ella!’ It’s amusing to say the least.. or at least it is now we’ve figured out what she means.. it’s not long before it turns into a scream

The only other addition to the family days is Rowan’s toilet training. We’ve been out to buy bedmats today as Rowan’s new favourite pastime is taking her nappy off in bed and weeing everywhere. JOY!

We were very much in the way of thinking - we’ll let her take the lead in terms of toilet use. She wanted to sit on it ages ago so we got her a little padded loo seat (bless) and she sits on it every night before her bath but it’s very hit and miss (not literally ). If anyone has any suggestions about this I’m very open minded about what works and what doesn’t. We have no idea really where to start. Her language isn’t quite far enough to explain it to her. If we talk about weeing and wotnot in the loo she just says yes to everything. She is starting to say when she needs a wee but sometimes I think it’s just that she’s already done one so we end up going to the toilet for no reason… hmm ..

So.. do we get rid of nappies in the day and get wee everywhere while we learn or what..?

Rowanish…

I can’t believe how fast Rowan is growing and changing.. it seems like 5 minutes ago she was saying a few stilted words about drink or tea or eye, nose, ear and now it’s ‘my nose’ or ‘I can’t find it’ or ‘where is it?’ Small changes I know but they make all the difference when you’re trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t entirely speak your language. It’s amazing to see how she can absorb language quicker than anything I’ve ever seen or experienced.

Think back to learning high school French or German - I didn’t always struggle exactly but it was never my strongest point. But Rowan just catches on instantly with most things. She call a plate a bowl and we correct her and then she knows - teach her to count to ten and she got it within a few weeks really, She’s never done colours before but today she learnt pink using this light box we have in about 2 hours - that really got her enthusiastic (really recommend that btw)..

I asked her what she wanted for tea today and her sense of humour is really starting to become obvious - she looked up at the ceiling, said ‘hmmm… cake please mummy’ and then laughed her head off!! She knew she couldn’t have cake but she said it to make me laugh - I think that’s just hilarious!

She is starting to say she loves you and that she thinks you’re pretty or that she thinks someone else is pretty. She saw a woman with glasses on while we were out shopping the other day and actually said - ‘lady glasses daddy - pretty!’ She really has all the elements of conversation now bar the joining words (whatever they’re called - it’s along itme since I did GCSE English!!) conjunction something..? I dunno

She’s also picking up telling you how she feels - we were amazed that she was able to tell us a couple of weeks ago that she felt sick - I’m almost ashamed to admit that I thought nothing of it - we made her eat tea and then sent her to bed only for her to throw up everywhere at 4 in the morning - oops! BUT we live and learn - I now know that she is able to tell me she feels sick - seeing as she hasn’t even been sick for 8months (since she was about 18mnths) I think it’s pretty damn impressive that she even remembers what it feels like - let alone to call it sick?! I mean really! It really does pretty much constantly enthrall me that they must just learn everything all the time - from the woman at the shop or your friend or TV - Rowan said to me the other day that I had to pay the lady at the shop - I don’t ever remember saying that to her - I probably did but the point is I didn’t labour it certainly - so I said it once or twice in passing and she stored that away for when it was appropriate..

Having a 4 month old in the house as well as a 2yr old is pretty funny as well - Ella is just realing that there might be something in this rolling over lark - she’s really trying - forver arching her back to try and see what’s behind her - straining to see what Rowan is doing all the time - her little face just lights up whenever Rowan takes an interest in her - kissing her, playing or laughing for her.. Beautiful to watch - and we’re savouring it honestly - I can’t remember being like that with my sister by the time we got to 13 and thereabouts so I’ve made a mental note to enjoy it while it’s happening!!

Rowan is always trying to revert to babyhood - pretty funny but not unexpected - I’ve seen plenty of kids do it - she suddenly needs to be fed, have sippy cup held for her like milk or similar things.. I’m totally indulging her when the time is right and encouraging her to do ‘big girl’ things too - there’s all the time in the world after all.

She got her big girl bed a couple of weeks ago - truth be told she was ready for it weeks ago but we thought the arrival of a new baby and the disappearance of her cot all in one go might be a bit much for her but it turns out we probably didn’t have to worry about a thing - she’s taken to it like a duck to water - so to speak - and hasn’t had so much of a murmur of disturbed sleep - yet anyway!

Ella will be moving into her room soon - we only have a two bedroom house - so they have to share eventually and I’m not sure how long we can cope having the baby in our room - D feels on edge all night in case he makes any noise and wakes her.. he’s not resting well so give it another month or so and they’ll have to bunk up. I keep meaning to look up tips for how to make that work well….