Football Practice

After the ballet disaster, I was keen to find something active that Jasmine could get involved in, and noticing that she is very good at kicking and dribbling a footbal, asked her if she'd like to give football a go. Benjamin goes every thursday after school and is coming along really well - he's got great pace and scores pretty much every game. Nick took the afternoon off work to come along. He never gets to watch Ben play football and was keen to see him play for the first time in his new Arsenal kit that he got for Christmas, as well as see Jasmine's first training session.

Ben and another boy give Jasmine some tips

doesn't look like she needs their help to me!

Look how tiny she is!

How handsome is he!

Little Jasmine looked so tiny on the pitch with all the other bigger boys (and the two other girls), but she did fantastically! She listened well, paid attention and really tried hard with the ball skills. When it came to match time she got stuck right in and didn't shy from tackling for the ball, even scoring a goal for her team! At one point she banged heads with another child and that seemed to be the end of her. I think she was just cold and tired - she'd already done a full day at nursery and the training session lasts an hour. After a pep talk I managed to get her to the edge of the pitch, and when Ben the trainer came to encourage her she was off like a shot, back in the thick of it.

Every parent's worst nightmare....

Meningitis. A word that strikes fear in every parent's heart. Whilst we were eating our dinner, Jasmine pointed out a purple rash on her arm. It didn't look like it was caused by an irritant so Nick went and got a glass. The rash didn't disappear under pressure, so I tried it too, and it was there bold as anything. I started to worry, but tried to keep calm so as not to frighten her. I then called the emergency doctor, half feeling a little like an overreactive mother, half not caring if I appeared as such. The doctor returned our call within minutes (which felt like hours!) and after a short conversation, ascertained that we had nothing to worry about as she was showing no other symptoms such as drowsiness, lack of appetite etc. The relief I felt was overwhelming. I couldn't stop cuddling her all night! When it comes to my babies, I'm not taking any chances.

Meningitis is not just something that affects babies and children. It's worth us all knowing what to look out for

'Can the World just not stay saved?!'

My favourite quote from 'The Incredibles'. As uttered by Mr Incredible himself. I like it because I understand exactly how he feels. I share his frustration when my 'was clean just a minute a go' house looks like a hurricane has just swept through - the hurricane in question being Ben and Jas. I mean, can it just not stay clean??? Err, no would be the short answer to that question. Just take a look at the evidence below:

Exhibit A

After I had managed to calm myself down suitably, I allowed the kids to help me with the ironing by collecting as many 'empty' hangers as they could. Unfortunately 'empty' got lost in translation and a good while later, they returned with arms full of hangers. Now I know we don't usually have that many spare hangers knocking around, so I knew before I even made it up to the top floor what sight would greet me. Yup. They'd gone into all the wardrobes and taken everything off the hangers.

I had to take a minute and sit down. Visions of the hours of hard work I had put in just the day before tidying up our 3-storey, 10 room house flying through my head. A full time job, a large house and two energetic, inquisitive children sometimes just gets the better of me. Nick ordered the children to bed and Ben promptly burst into tears crying, 'we were only trying to help!'

Me, I just felt drained. Guilt, guilt, guilt. A mother's nemesis. I feel guilty that I have to work so much, guilty that I am then often too tired to spend hours playing with them/reading to them. Guilty that I sometimes then have a short fuse when I have no energy left, a pile of washing the size of Everest and 3 bathrooms to clean.
Needless to say I also felt guilty because I knew they couldn't be blamed, and how else was I supposed to feel anyway with their sorry little faces looking up at me, eyes all dewy, eyelashes growing longer by the second.....? So whilst Nick tidied up the clothes, I put my little horrors to bed, read them a story, kissed the tears away and dragged myself back downstairs to tackle that ironing. They may be horrors at times, but they are cute ones. And they're my babies.

......Later in the night I went back to check on them both, as I usually do, and wondered what that blue light was, coming from the wardrobe. I opened the door and this was what I saw......


Kids! Luckily they only drive you mad half as much as they make you smile :-)

Budding Hairdressers? Let's hope not!

I let Jasmine play with my hair last night and when she tired of combing (read 'pulling out'), twisting and putting in pony tails Benjamin took over. After a while of attempting to brush out the mess he and Jasmine had made of my hair by now, he disappeared, returning a few minutes later with his hands clasped around something. I was watching American Idol rather intently and only noticed, rather absently, as he tried to climb behind me again to continue that he looked a little shifty. I asked him what was in his hands and he reluctantly opended them to reveal a pair of nail scissors! 'No!' I said. 'But mum, I can't comb it out, I was just going to....', he tried to explain, eyes going all puppy dog on me. But I was having none of it! If I didn't have such a finely tuned mother's instinct, the little monkey would have gone back to his position behind me and snipped away at my hair with me none the wiser! I'd have probably only realised when I combed it out myself later and clumps came away!

My little Girl can tie her shoe laces!!!

I was amazed, when a couple of days ago Jasmine showed me her shoe laces all done up and proudly announced she'd done them herself. Admittedly I didn't believe her, but Nick confirmed that she could indeed do them herself and had been doing them for a few days. Not something he thought I'd want to know??? The laces don't stay done up for long, but all my demonstrations of the bunny going 'over the hedge and under the bridge' have paid off. Ben was very frustrated that he hasn't yet mastered this particular art - he's usually the one to learn things first and felt a little left out. He's taken a renewed interest though now that Jasmine beat him to it and hopefull should be able to do his own laces soon too.

A Winter Wondland

We spent the weekend in Birmingham andon our way there, Nick stopped to take some pictures of the scenery. This arctic chill had some purpose after all - allowing us to take some beautiful scenic shots. Though I must admit, give me 30 degrees in the shade over ice any day!

Clothes Shopping: Online Vs In Store – the Jury’s out

Desperate to update my wardrobe, and equally desperate to avoid having to elbow and shove my way through (most likely with both of my kids in tow) the hordes of fellow bargain hunters and the inevitable mess they create in the stores, I decided to conquer my fear of buying clothes online and went on a mini spending spree. Why the fear? Well, being classically pear of shape, I find it very difficult to find clothes – particularly trousers – that fit me the way I want them to. Anyway, I digress….. Having now received two of my deliveries out of three; I can only say that I have learned a thing or two about virtual shopping, most of it not so good
.
Lesson number 1:
Items often look nothing like they do on the computer screen.
I bought a ‘lime green Kimono-style Cardigan from Dorothy Perkins, that looked more like a pale, pastelly green on-screen. Well, it was in fact lime green. Very lime green. And not much in the way of a cardigan either. The material is so thin I’d be cold in summer never mind the arctic chill that is currently sweeping the land.
The moral? Not sure really. It was all rather misleading, so not my fault at all really.

Lesson number 2:
Check, double check and triple check the returns policy. I simply assumed you'd be able to return unwanted/unsuitable items free of charge. WRONG!
Case in point, I ordered two pairs of ballet style pumps from Urban Outfitters. I am actually a size 4 ½ in shoes, but sometimes need a 5 and sometimes need a 4. I erred on the side of caution and ordered both in size 5. Well, apart from the fact that yet again the picture didn’t match the real product (the green satin shoes looked more like a pale silver online, but were in fact VERY green – see lesson 1 above), neither pair fitted. They were more ‘flip-flop’ than ‘ballet pump’. I discovered after trying them on, screaming in despair and phoning the company, that I would have to pay for the return and then re-order and pay again for delivery if I wanted another size!!! My other alternative is to return them to my nearest store. Well, I wonder where that is……? Well, I can choose from Birmingham, Bristol or a couple in London. Not exactly near are they! So this weekend we are going back to Birmingham, for the 3rd time in less than 2 weeks, to exchange my shoes. Luckily we have family we can visit or that option would be unthinkable.
Anyway, I sent an email to the Customer Services Department detailing my dissatisfaction and reluctance to shop online with them again.
The moral? As I said above, triple check the returns policy and make sure you are happy with it before you click on ‘submit’.

Lesson number 3:
Don’t have one….yet. I am waiting for my 3rd and final delivery, this time from ASOS. It is probably also doomed to failure as I did order two pairs of trousers in a size 10. Size 10? Ha! After the excesses of Christmas (ok, and the last few months), I’ll be very lucky to fit in a size 10.
The moral? Order your true size, or order 1 of each and return the one which doesn’t fit – though only if you don’t have to pay to return it!

So, which do I prefer – shopping online or in store? I am a true girl. For me, nothing beats going out with a girlfriend for an afternoon spent wandering around the shops and stopping for coffee or lunch – or both. You get to try before you buy and there are no delivery/return costs involved. In reality though, that is a rare occasion to treasure and behold, and online shopping is less stressful than battling the Saturday crowds with reluctant kids and husband in tow, during a snatched hour between a visit to (an also too busy) Sainsbury’s and cleaning the house. You also have the advantage of being able to view the full range on offer and pick out the bargains more easily. Unfortunately your expectation of what you think you ordered, at least in my case, doesn’t always match up to the reality of the delivered item.

The Sunglasses Gang

'Pippi' stayed over from New Year's day, and the kids put on their sunglasses and hats so they could look like her! I took this picture just before she left.

Ahhh!

I had the family over Yesterday for New Year's Day and, in an attempt to entertain the now 1 year old Nathan, took him down to the playroom and offered him any toy he wanted. He rejected the Thomas the Tank Engine train set, shook his head at the cars and ignored the building blocks. So, what was it he chose? The dolls and the pushchair!!! We took them up to the living room, and despite the room being full of bodies, he pushed it all around - though mostly over - everyone! with 'Baby Gail' (front) and 'the one who's name we don't remember' at the back

Meanwhile, Benjamin and Jasmine were busy digging for dinosaur bones with their dad - it's a mini kit that you have to 'excavate' and then you can put all the bones together once you've found them. Messy, but kept them pleasantly occupied for hours.

May this be the best year yet!