A brilliant little big day with my little big boys

Today was a big day for us! Connor had his first afternoon at nursery!  I was hoping that being my second son to become old enough to go to nursery I would have felt more prepared but nope, of course I spent the whole last few days worrying myself silly and considering hiding him and myself away in a distant cave somewhere.

We have spent ages talking about him going after the Easter bunny has been. We chatted about his peg, his lunch box everything and even though he would occasionally get upset and say "no, I'll miss mummy" and cling to me he (even though I couldn’t see it) was totally ready.

He walked in, sat himself down at the table and started eating his lunch like he had done it a million times before. He even waved goodbye and smiled at me! I'm both beaming with pride and a little taken back he didn't even cry for me! Ha! Funny how the mummy's mind works...or maybe that's just mine!

With Connor at nursery I was able to spend some quality time with just Danny. Something I haven't really done since Connor was born. The odd trip to the shops here and there but nothing like this.

I gave myself up to the mercy of my four year old son and asked him what he would like us to do for the next 2 and a half hours. We ran a few errands, brought some budgie food (seriously,  this kid loves his budgies! He cleans their cage every morning and changes their food and water and is always chatting to them, it's really lovely to watch!) even if they are squawking cheeky little poop machines!

 We also found and brought the monster truck Connor needed to complete his Blaze die cast collection, which is pretty awesome!  It doubled as a well done on your first day and a thank you for giving me my sanity back and sleeping in your own bed again for the last week present. Safe to say he was thrilled and currently is sleeping in bed, along with 7 monster trucks...

We then went to Costa, I have never taken the boys into Costa simply because it's always been a no way it will be a nightmare in my head. But this was really lovely. He 'took me to Costa to cheer me up' ain't he a cutie!?  We sat there chatting away about how he wants to be a zoo keeper when he grows up but that he will call me to come and help him pick up the poop because I'm so good at it! Cheers son! He had a giant marshmallow tea cake and, to my surprise ate the whole lot!

After our little Costa date (and a Mother son karaoke session in the car) we went to Danny's favourite place of all time, an owl sanctuary in Fritton. This is also the pet centre that we brought our budgies from. We wondered about cooing at the fluffy little ducklings and said hello to all the owls there. As a special treat Danny even held his favourite owl (he has all the keyrings, fridge magnets and pictures of this owl... He's a little obsessed)  Fluke, the barn owl. He loves him that much he didn't even mind when he did a huge poop all the way down his jumper haha!

When we were waiting for Connor we were watching all the children playing in the playground and then ending the day with lining up in twos to walk inside. Then I saw the boys key worker running along the playground after Connor who apparently decided the line wasn't for him!  That's Connor alright!  He did conform to the line in the end ha! The staff said he had been really happy and confident, laughing and smiling all afternoon. After a quick cuddle he was so excited about his new car he couldn't wait to get home to try him out. Not a tear insight.
Super proud of my little dudes, it sounds strange but today they both seem to have grown up a little, which for once,  doesn't feel like a bad thing.

Thanks for visiting!  XxxX

Just a happy little Easter post

Hellooo
Happy Easter! Hope everyone has had a good one! Even with the awful weather 'storm Katie' brought with her... Since when did we start naming storms anyway!?

We have had a lovely little weekend. We went to pets corner, a strong favourite with the boys. It's just a itty bitty little well....corner with animals in. The boys loved holding easter chicks and baby bunnies, and of course wanted to bring them home. Not a good idea as they would probably become this one's lunch!!

You can go into the famous goat pen, where pretty much you get mauled by a small horde of horned beasts for what's left of the animal feed you have. It's a rite of passage in my mind. I still fully remember being scratched down the arm by a goat and my brother being headbutted in the goolies, still hilarious to this day! On this occasion no one got butted, we did get to have a little cuddle with an ickle baby goat too!

Sunday was a little unexpected. Someone I know was giving away an amazing old parrot cage! I couldn't pass it up so Danny and I collected it. Danny had to ride in the front seat of the car, which is a first for him and he was so amazed! He also asked me about a million questions. "Mummy, what's that stick for, whats the peddles do!? " He also had control of the radio and apparently my deezer playlist "Pop punk anthems " (which by the way is a brilliant playlist!  - Bowling for soup, sum 41, all American rejects, greenday etc etc) is 'really weird but a bit good' which, I can live with! I'm slowly working on his musical taste, he does like Coldplay, maroon 5 and stereophonics which I consider a win...the sigala sweet sweet loving song, little mix and Justin beiber parts are ehhh so and so acceptable. I mean everyone likes a bit of beiber right!? Is it too late now to say sorry!?


Anyway! Back to the cage!  When we got it home, it was like a scene from a movie!! Ha! We all had sponges and scrubbed it clean, the boys seemed to really have fun making the new house nice for their budgies and it only ended up erupting into chaos towards the end when Connor had gotten bored and realised if he flicked his sponge on a stick thingy, whatever they are called, he could send bubbles everywhere. Which, in a room surrounded by windows wasn't that funny! Once it was all cleaned up and in place we popped in peep and woody and they suddenly looked so tiny! It's lovely they now have enough space to fly about and a water bowl big enough to bath in though! Plus, eventually when the boys are older it would be lovely to have a bigger bird, just whilst they are loud and prone to poking their fingers through the bars a teeny budgie is probably a much safer option. Even though woody, who absolutely detests me, can give me a nasty nip!

Today was really rubbish weather wise so anything outside wasn't an option and being half term and rubbish everything inside would be packed to the rafters. So we popped to the garden centre because the boys wanted to spend their pennies on getting the budgies a few new toys (another bonus of keeping budgies....everything is soooo cheap!)
We stopped for some lunch too, we generally take food wherever we go because eating out with a 4 and 3 year old can either be wonderful and you come away really feeling like you're rocking this parenting thing....or it can go to hell and you end up marching the children out having not even  eaten most the food you have paid hideous money for red faced and pissed off! Ha! Well, today went pretty well. We didn't have to wait for anything as we ordered off the front desk and they actually sat nicely and politely and even a few old people smiled at them so must have been good! Danny is always pretty good, he is easily bribed if necessary!  Connor is, I believe, part feral and quite unpredictable... And not so easily bribed! Hopefully starting nursery after easter will tame him a little! I'll be a howling mess but I'm quite looking forward to having a few afternoons a week just with Danny before he starts school in September (!!!) He has already complied a list of places he wants us to go on our afternoons together, one being the library then Costa for hot chocolate and cake...Yes!! Ha!
We did end up popping to our favourite budgie lady too. And we did pick a new budgie to come home with too. He's called bullseye (a toy story theme) and he seems to be settling in well. We may get another one or two in time now we have the room!

Craig and I have ordered the boys some bunk beds too this week! Argh!!! The first item we have brought to do with Baby number 3 Argh!!  They did used to share but we did separate them, but they have been asking to have 'sleepovers' in each others rooms since so I think the move back together won't be a hard one.
 I have my scan date through too, for my 20 week scan!  I seriously can not wait to find out what this little one is! Craig thinks it's a boy, I'm putting my money on a girl,  simply because when I was pregnant with the boys I had beautiful hair, skin and nails and I felt great. This time I'm turning into an old hag who feels sick 70% of the time and who needs to wear gloves to hide my hideous lizard like hands and split gross nails haha!
Have a great week!
Thanks for visiting! XxxX

We have a little secret.....

For the last couple of months, I’ve found it almost impossible to write posts for this blog.

Because I write from the heart – but I couldn’t yet share what was inside it.

Every time I sat down to write a post, I stared at a blank screen. The words didn’t flow.

Because I wanted to tell you something, anything, everything.

I'm pregnant!!  

I just had a feeling a few days before I was due on, that I wouldn't be coming on. In fact I tested three days early and bang straight away two lines staring back at me. I just stared at them for what felt like hours! So this was such wonderful but terrifying news, opening ourselves up to this again is... Wonderfully terrifying.

I have had early scans, at 6 8 and 10 weeks all have been perfect and a great help to myself and Craig. Seeing our little budding baby growing and wriggling about on the screen thinking that this could be the one we get to cuddle and kiss and spoil rotton just like our boys!

I have so wanted to tell you about how waves of nausea have been hitting me so hard many times I've been scared of throwing up on my shoes mid sentence. How I've been so hideously tired some days I've woken up and been counting down the hours until I can sleep again. How totally terrified I've been getting to each milestone, each scan and being so happy once we have gone past it.

The boys are very excited, Danny ridiculously.. Connor not so much!  It's taken all day to actually get my head around it all...it's actually happening!!  And before its asked...no I won't be upset if this baby is a boy. We make amazing boys! It would be lovely to be a Mother to a girl and I'd love to see Craig as a father to a girl...but after all we have gone through to get this far I can honestly say boy or girl it doesn't matter!  Plus, I can haul out all the boys baby clothes again if this one is another little boy! 

But yes! After a healthy 12-week scan today seeing our happy wriggly little baby, I am happy to share that our baby number three, god willing, will be arriving in September.

A little brother or sister for my boys.

The last pea in the pod.

The baby of the family.

I’m so happy to be sharing this news with you all finally – and hope you will join me as my bump grows bigger and we get ready to become a family of five.

This is the best feeling ever.

I am already counting the days until I get to hold this little one in my arms.

Our family is growing by two feet!

Mooshy I love my kids post, you have been warned! 😂

Well just look at that. March already!? This year is whizzing past! With it being a sparkly new month and all I thought I should really try dropping in a little blog post as I'm not doing very well with my write a post a week resolution....

 Today it's been pretty crap weather wise so it blew out any plans we had made that included being outside. Me and both the boys were at home, no plans no nursery no errands. These type of days are a real blessing I think. A chance to catch up on stuff or just relax together without watching the clock and worrying about being late for everything (which I usually am!)
Anyone who knows my boys knows that they fight like cat and mouse. Everything is a competition. Who eats more food, who gets up the stairs first,  who makes the biggest tower the list goes on and on. Generally I leave them to fight it out unless they start actually fighting and they need pulling apart.... Danny is quite sneaky and winds Connor up quite a lot or tells Connor to do naughty things, which he does of course. Connor is quite chilled out but will be the one throwing the first punch when he is pushed too far.  I'm not sure what came over them today but they have been lovely! Helping each other and minimal squabbling. Let's hope it continues!  I've been feeling a bit crap lately I've had a chest infection that turned into a sinus Infection, which was awful! Seriously gross. That's almost cleared up now so today I really wanted to spend some one to one time with both boys, as to be honest, I've been getting through the last week or so with the help of movies, kids kindle fire and the promise of cake and milkshake. All so I can grab 10 minutes of sleep before I start drowning in my own snot again. Being a mum and being ill really sucks.

Danny loves reading and he had grown bored of short stories so I brought him a few chapter books. I thought Roald Dahl stories would be a good place to start. I loved them as a child so I really enjoyed reading them to him. We started off with the twits. He found it hilarious in the beginning chapters describing the twits (especially Mr Twit's beard full of old food!) and the tricks they played on one another
..the worm spaghetti and the glass eye in his beer were his favourites. I love how Roald Dahl can create words and they are both perfect and totally ridiculous such as the Frumptious freaks! We finished it today, it was lovely to see him so excited about finishing the book and finding out what happened to Muggle wump and the roly poly bird! I think we will read fantastic mr fox next or Danny champion of the world. Danny is obviously desperate to read the one about 'him'!  I'll look forward to reading these again to Connor, for now he is more than happy with the gruffalo (seriously I can recite that in my sleep!)

Something they can both agree is brilliant fun is making forts, tents, houses out of blankets and pillows. They especially love tucking a duvet behind the sofa and hanging over two dining chairs placed at the front of the sofa. They can hide under here and pretend it's their house. They only come 'over to mum's house' aka come into the living room for food and to watch TV. Which I suppose is how they will act as teenagers as well!!

They both love anything crafty and messy. Danny got some air hardening clay for Christmas and has been asking to use it since boxing day! Today they made pots for Mother's day. They really listened to me and made some pretty good little pots! Danny's first attempt of a small pot with  'a sausage and a pea' inside really did make me laugh though!

Danny is crazy on letters at the moment so we made this mummy sign together too, and Connor and I made a Jerry mouse as he's bonkers for Tom and Jerry!  I'm looking forward to painting them at the weekend once they are all dry!
We made Peppa pig and minion cupcakes (nothing fancy, packet cakes!) and Connor helped me to wash up (after his man and boat had had a paddle of course!)

They were so lovely today and now they are both snuggled up in bed I'm all warm and fuzzy about how lovely today was. How proud I am of my little boys,  and how quickly they are growing up.

 Danny starts school (actual uniform wearing Monday to Friday big boy school!!) in September and Connor will start nursery next month (argh!!!!!) These days are numbered as the next steps for both of them will be here before I know it and days like today will just be fond memories. Maybe that's why I wanted to write about today and cement it in my mind a little....

Okay, I'm getting all mushy now and I'm fighting the urge to run upstairs, put them both in sleepsuits and cots, give them bottles and turn on baby TV nightscreen whilst rocking them to sleep again!

Of course not all days are as lovely as today, some days I just about manage to make it till bedtime and feel like screaming into my pillow and banging my head against the wall. But today was a good day and I'm really feeling blessed tonight....even if I have just found Connor asleep in my bed for I'm sure the first of many times tonight!

Crazy stuff! Till next week!

Thanks for visiting! XxxX

Chinchillas, Costa and Roald Dahl quotes anyone?

So this week I wanted to do something a little different. Steer myself a little back to why I originally started this blog
 So here's five little snippets of information about me :)

1. I have had quite a collection of different pets in my life so far; cats, dogs, rabbits, Guinea pigs, hamsters, chinchillas, fish and a pony!
Some of them were animals I took in on a whim until I rehomed them to somewhere much better. I brought the chinchillas for example, from an advert in the paper . A male and a female being kept in a small box.  I absolutely loved them, they really were awesome but I didn't really have the time and space for them but they seemed happy. They were also constantly shagging and poor rosie was always pregnant!  I rehomed them to a chinchilla crazy lady who had a whole room in her house dedicated to chinchillas!! She updates me from time to time. I do miss the little guys though!

Wow I look young.... Currently I have a big stupid slob of a dog (a boxer lab cross) Alfie who was a rescue dog who we couldn't say no to, even if I wanted something no bigger than a spaniel!

A tropical fish tank (totally Craig's thing, I just think it looks pretty!)  and two little budgies. One who is fairly tame, another who absolutely hates me and is always trying to tear open my fingers, little git.

2. I have I dunno 10+GCSE's all C and above...except PE where I got a D but I spent most of my high school years avoiding PE as much as possible, scheduling my counselling sessions over PE (for some reason I was offered them when my parents split up,which I thought was brilliant as it got me out of double PE for two years ha!) forging lots of notes and hiding in the loos. I hated it ha! Three A levels in law psychology and sociology all grade B and above, an AS level in English language studies and an NVQ3 in childcare learning and development.  So I used to be quite a clever cookie before I had the boys and my brain began to be filled with kid crap!

3. I have quite a few dream jobs. Originally I wanted to train as a probation officer or a criminal psychiatrist, that was the dream but then I loved my job I loved being with Craig and didn't want to leave him for university and by the time I had finished college I was so sick of education I do wonder if I would have even stuck at it. Perhaps one day I will retrain, never say never!  Although I do love being a mumma and clearly I am for life now, so I can't ever really see myself going back to a full career mind set, not in that way anyway.  I feel that that is an alternative life I could have lived and one I think that will always be 'the correct one' study, train, work get a career but not the one that would ever have really worked for me.

 I have however, given the idea of my next job quite some thought as I won't always have teeny children at home to care for. As silly as it sounds whenever I go to Costa or Starbucks I always find myself imagining being a barista, I mean it even sounds exciting! The uniform is pretty cool too! I did a few shifts in a pub before and really enjoyed it (even if I was a bit crap and couldn't pull a pint of Guinness no matter how hard I tried!)  so maybe?  I do wonder how they remember all the different recipes though! For the same kind of reasons I would love to work in Lush too, I mean making soaps and chatting about different smells and what not would soo suit me! I would really love to, and I'm sure I will in the future, be a foster carer. We looked into it before but decided our boys were a bit too young at the time and it wasn't quite as we first thought. I'm positive one day I will be a foster mum or an adoptive mum.

4. My top beauty products that I 100% need are: mascara, enough said. Nail varnish and false nails I have always, since I was about 11 had painted finger and toe nails. My natural nails are gross and weak and just no. Probably my hair straightners as my hair is really thick and curly, it has the ability to look beautiful but also to make me look like a cave woman. No one ever knows, so the straighters regularly save the day!

5. A few little quotes (I loose hours on pintrest with things like this)  that have caught my eye recently.

 

A quick mini update for this week: the boys went to their first football group and they seemed to really enjoy it even if it was freezing!  Danny really listened to everything he was told and joined in, Connor did aswell, but also ran about screeching too, he was kicking the ball though!! 

Until next week! 

Thanks for visiting!  XxxX 

So long January!

I'm back!! Finally! Danny dropped my phone accidently into the dog's water bowl and ruined it. 10 days...10 days!!! I've been waiting for the insurance and the repairers and blah blah 10 days!! It's been hard! How I've missed Spotify! Anyways I'm back and all is well again!
So what's been happening?  Well, it was Connor's third birthday on the 19th. It's always quite hard to find things to do with it being January and freezing.  But he chose to go to pirate Petes play area and had an awesome time running about like a loon whilst me and Craig frantically visited three different Argos' to finally get a Blaze monster truck! He loved all his presents... Loads of cars, dinosaur, gruffalo, planes, trucks and hulk stuff. This was pretty cool. Craig and I got it for him to carry his cars cars about in rather than a back pack.. he seemed pretty happy!

We went to high altitude in Norwich again. The boys love it there. Just a place to burn off a load of their energy by bouncing about, jumping onto a big red pillow and throwing basket balls! It is great fun, but a tad expensive. But hey. You only turn three once!!

Craig starts working nights for three months next week so we graciously accepted the chance to escape for a bit together when my lovely mother in law (almost!) offered to watch the boys last Saturday.  It almost feels naughty having a few hours kid free wondering around Norwich as if we were a young couple without two little hooligans! We wondered around shops (with the kids in mind of course)  After actually having the chance to look at everything in the Disney shop without having to worry about the boys seeing and wanting something Craig Is now totally desperate to get the boys into star wars because he wants a remote control BB8.. Oh dear!  We had lunch out... And ate it whilst it was still hot and didn't have to share!!

 We visited Lush..  Which is a shop I always used to love and spend a fortune in. Before the kids....I always thought I'd love to work in there, making soaps and smelling amazing and being covered in glitter is just so perfect! After seeing my clear excitement over soaps and bath bombs Craig treated me to a few and we, of course, brought the boys a few too. We got them a really cute little blue robot bath bomb. I thought of Connor especially because he loves pretending to be a robot, but he actually got really cross with me for making his robot melt in the bath and refused to get into the bath. Oh dear. 

Danny loved his, a shea butter and something or other one. He smelt like a little baby again for a few hours at least!  I got the glitteriest one I could find! The Sunny side bubble bar. It smelt totally  divine and I was really excited to get into a bath of glitter! I was so hoping I would get out all shiney and have glitter in my hair!  It didn't but it smelt sooo good!

I also brought a non child book. I've never brought anything like this before, but just felt drawn to it.. And at only £2 I thought it was worth a look!  Mindfulness plain and simple a guide to inner peace by Oli Doyle. It's actually really interesting! It's all about retraining the mind into a different, calmer way of thinking. By not giving into your thoughts and ideas, just living in the moment and being peaceful, not worrying about things that have or haven't happened yet. I'm about half way in and think it's pretty awesome so far.

We snuggled up together and watched harry Potter and the chamber of secrets the next day to combat my mummy guilt for spending a few hours away from the monkeys!!  I love that they enjoy Harry Potter so much. Dobby is now Danny's favourite character, Connor loves fluffy the three headed dog!  On Craig's last day off we bundled nanny into the car and we went to the now Stick man trail  at high lodge in Thetford. The boys love it there, following the little character signs. Plus they can run and climb, jump in puddles, squelch in mud and collect sticks! All the little 'hidden' play areas and musical instruments are great fun! Hiding in teepees, the wobbly bridge, super high slide and the gruffalo are always highlights too. Oh and there's a gruffalo child statue now too!

In regards to resolutions...My diet has pretty much crashed and burned but I'm hoping to get back into it in the coming weeks! Exciting times lay ahead!!

Until next week!! Into February we go!

Thanks for visiting! XxxX

Love is lovely, so let it grow, let it grow

Evening!
So I'll try get this one in before the week is up! Into week 2 and still going strong with the resolutions!  Whoop whoop! Still eating well,  2.5lbs down this week. Which isn't as amazing as my first week....but not a gain so all good! Not doing anything faddy, just counting calories and making better choices! (and making sure I have enough left for a cheeky glass of wine..  Or two!)

A brilliant, amazing and super creative friend of mine over at the The salted tail(who was also the inspiration for me to start a blog) recently wrote about something that caught my eye. Here's the  link!
In a nutshell you sign up for a five day 'course' -5 days 5 emails that encourage you to find a word for the year. A mantra, something to refer to, focus on. You complete the small tasks each day and decide on a word by day 5. It was something she has done for a few years and I thought I'd give it a go too.
The first day was a guided visualisation about your perfect day, which I loved as I really am trying hard to improve my mental focus. I'd love to be able to meditate properly, or even just to turn my mind off from the constant I need to do this, I've forgotten that, oh what will so and so think for a while. One of the things I wanted to improve on this year was finding myself a little more, and I'm hoping things like this will help me. But more about meditating another day! I mean It has to be worth it...look at this guys face!!

In the end I chose the word Grow. Now, I don't mean I'm going to go full hippy and grow my arm pit hair down to my knees and only eat produce grown in the organic fields of wild fairies, powered by pixie poop. No, I mean grow in so many ways.

This is such a cute quote, and after writing pixie poop, I can't resist popping it in!


This year marks Connor's third birthday next week (!!) So he will officially graduate from baby class and into a fully fledged little big boy! He will be starting nursery in April (!!!??) Which will be both an exciting and terrifying thing for me. Connor and I have gone through so much (loosing his twin, complications and being induced 10 days early, his very quick and surprising birth, being a teeny tiny 6.1lbs when he was born, a massive high temp at 2 weeks old that even the out of hours doc had no idea about, knocking out his front teeth, being put out at hospital to remove a piece of plastic he had shoved up his nose plus much more!! I really find it hard to let go off him! I'm sure he will thrive and be brilliant...just have to let him GROW up!...  See where this is going!?

Saying that.. Him and Danny going to nursery together will open up, for the first time in just over four years, free time for me. Time for me to fill with something useful. A part time job? Helping and visiting family more?  Or voluntary work? Something I hope that makes my relationship with others to GROW and to bring new things into my life, to help me as a person to GROW.. Haha this is getting old very quickly!

Danny will start school in September too. Again, this is exciting and terrifying!  He totally loves nursery and everything about it! He's made some lovely friends and is even doing so well with his letters and writing his key worker is going to be sending him home with some little handwriting sheets!  How cute! Major proud mum alert sorry!

Craig's job role is changing and he is really looking forward to the new challenges ahead. He is so wasted in his current role, I can't wait for him to be happy in his job again. His new working hours and pay will also open up more opportunities to us too. Which is exciting, it feels like things are pulling together finally..

We still desperatly want our family to grow by one more. However that happens, it will, and I hope by this time next year we will have this, or at least be very close to it!

So yeah. Grow seems to work very well for me, I'd love for existing (and new)  friendships and family relationships to grow and bloom. To learn, listen to, and to do something new. To make life happy and exciting again. To really move on and grow from the experiences of the last year or so, to become a better more peaceful person.


So thank you and goodnight!  I hope the current weather (fooking freezing and crappy half snowing/rain/ so cold it makes your ears burn /rubbish) turns on its heal and we get some sun again!


Whoops..  Looks like my yankee collection as GROWN today too! Haha!

Thanks for visiting XxxxX