Manners, crafts and eye tests

Common manners would dictate that surely if you are messaging someone that you would reply, especially when you had been on within the last 5 minutes? no? Trying to sort out collection for this tent is driving me potty! yes they got in touch asking when would be good, so i said any evening and what days i am in. And nothing again for a whole 24 hours. I think it is pretty rude!!  breath.. breath I'm sure i'll hear something soon! I did send another message today saying what times would be good in case they didn't get the message clear enough!!  Can you tell i'm annoyed?!

Yesterday I didn't get chance to write my blog as it took about 3 hours to get little man settled in his bed, to be fair, I had already put him down, and when hubby went up I asked him to run me a bath and id chance it incase he woke up... dear lord!! he woke up kicking and screaming and ended up in the bath with me, then tried to put him back to bed which took two hours ugh! I was so tired and rather fed up. No I don't like the cry it out method and can't really do that as I can't just dump him in the cot, there is no side on his cot so he can get out and personally i think leaving your child to scream in distress is rather cruel! nothing wrong with a cuddle you are not going to spoil them. My daughter although by his age was in her own room albeit in her cot, was not left to cry it out. She was read stories etc and so I try this with the little monster who just wasn't in the mood.  So I thought today was going to be awful when really both children have been behaved, played nicely gone down for naps, ( little man not daughter) and watched dvd's with barely any words. Very odd!


Yesterday they weren't their best, just screaming, tantrums and the rest. Yet when out in town they were well behaved. Daughter went for her eye test and turns out she is slightly long sighted. I hadn't noticed !! feel slightly guilty, i only noticed in the test as she was squinting. So today when watching and curious what she could read i could see she was squinting too. Funny though how shes done so well with her reading this year? Wondering if she has just "stressed" out her eyes a little with all the reading? not sure tbh. Been told to go back in 6 months, no glasses for now and we'll see how she goes. Yet with practically everyone in the family needed glasses( apart from me, touch wood) its not a surprise if one of them needs glasses. Though i felt so.. silly, i didn't even know what my hubbies eye sight was. Stupid memory! Shall see how we go!!

Tomorrow its a drink with the girls! that being a coffee in Leigh with my mother in law and friends and I can't wait, it will be nice to see them and have a chat, hope kiddies behave.. ( I do mean mine!) got a crafting session in the afternoon, some magnet making which sounds a bit interesting! and really hoping that little man doesn't scream all the way though this like he did the bingo.. really wish he wasn't so vocal in the screaming. Yes i know its the way toddlers communicate but not really a great thing when i'm in the middle of people!

Got a few things to get as well for holiday which has definately been confirmed with the holiday sight soo wooo!!! can't wait :)

Here comes the rain again! :)

Well I couldn't resist, its one of my favourite songs (I have a varied music taste! ) And with all the rain we've had on and off today i thought it was app. Although not as much as some who have had it today and barely any thunder storms ( come on!! ) where as in Manchester with hubby there was atleast 4... no fair :( though thunder bothers me a little, I like the lightning. I know I'm weird but if you are reading this then you already know that!!

Not much activity today, I just thought i should post something.. we've had a little bit of a crafty and tv day as its been pouring down. I attempted to sort out toys.. which with the kids around is silly. Attempting to gather things together for our trip and trying to keep fingers crossed that we get some nice weather. I know you get what you get in this country but a little sunshine will be nice please!

In other news the tent sold on ebay for more than the buy it now price! whooo! just need the buyer to get in touch! ( which they better do soon, i did post it needs to be gone by sunday!) another fingers crossed as it would be nice to have the money before we went! 

 Now as you should know I am a BzzAgent, i get to review products  for free! ( Always nice!) all you have to do is complete surveys ( not lots) and do some on line activities. These are pictures of littlest's t-shirt after eating spaghetti. Obviously he is a baby and got it everywhere! normally i wouldn't even dream of getting this all out!

And yet look, i pre treated it first with the Persil stain ball eraser (you just use a little liquid onto the stains and rub it in, which i did do all over)
Put it in the washing machine on a longer load then 30 mins and this is the result! I think it is rather good going. Now don't get me wrong i've had some hit and misses but this is the best one so far, on purpose that is! So i would recommend this. Even just for tough baby stains!!

Biting my tongue.

I know I shouldn't and sometimes I wish I would speak my mind because sometimes, I bottle it all up and I get super pissed off and annoyed about it at home where no where else can hear apart from hubby! ( sorry dear!) Nothing overly in particular but I don't appreciate my dyslexia being compared to something that was self inflicted, drinks involved or not. If you are out late etc then that is your doing!

My dyslexia affects me every day, and alot of the time I take a lot of effort trying to correct my mistakes so that no one knows or at least can tell.  Hell I managed to get to University and hope to go back soon to finish my degree, that has to be something right? (Even impressed Hubby when he was looking at my previous exam results). Also I don't purposely wake baby up at half 5 or anything so if you are up late and tired in the morning then not my problem! I am tired because I've been up early, or been up in the night looking after a child with severe eczema, come back when you can understand this tiredness!!

Also if I had the guts I would have sent a scathing email to a person on Ebay today, who yesterday was trying to buy our new tent for £10 and wanted to come and collect it there and then after putting a bid on. But then today sent me an email wanting to retract it as they had been given a tent ... wtf! messing us around so much! Also still no one else has bidded and it finishes in the morning *hits head* come on! :(

 Hahaha there is me whining about ebay and just gone and looked and there are now bids on the tent thank goodness for that!!  phew.

Today was a lot better then yesterday, didn't have to shout at all today, which is sooo nice, yes a couple of words were said but nothing much. Dvd's were watched, kiddies were happy with ice cream and a hot dog from Ikea.. ( we popped out for a bit) All bathed and in bed and oh so nice :)
Daughter wanted to dress as a pirate today..

So for once not being a mean mummy I let her go out like that ( note she was dressed in leggings and a t-shirt underneath so it didn't aggrivate her eczema, see not even as simple as putting on some "fun" clothes)

Btw he got messier then that!

Got a few things on again this week, opticians for little miss, magnet making on Thursday (please please don't let him scream the place down again) also arranging to meet with friends. And officially one week till holiday!!! can't wait!

Oh and please don't kill me because I asked for the rain... ;) 

Weekend once more

As my daughters grandma said today, If there was a competion for moaning, my daughter would win it hands down every time. This is so true!! whatever you can whinge about she did today. Well this afternoon anyway. I appreciate kids don't want to be active all the time and she'd happily sit and watch dvd's all day if she could but we wanted to get out whilst we had some sunshine left, after all it is set to be very wet for the next week or so ( not complaining!! ) So after we did shopping and swimming this morning ( which she is really coming along with, in my opinion) we had lunch at home and about an hour or so we went for our walk. Not 10 minutes in she started to complain that she was hurting, then she was hot and thirsty. Gave her a drink. Still hot, her head was itchy (due to her hat) etc etc.

I tried to make it fun by trying to guess how many boats there would be on the canal, she was the closest with 7 in the end along the way we counted 16 narrow boats! never seen that many before in one go. And most are nice and give and little way or say hello which is always nice!

We went and searched for butterflies, heard some crickets, watched some bees and dragon flies and had a good day for nature... all around the complaining! Not sure how she manages to fit it all in. However we all made it back in one piece, after stopping at a shop on the way back for a cold drink. We did 3 miles. This doesn't sound alot but it wasn't a straight path and had to carry the pram up some steps. It was nice to get out as a family on a walk though, we don't get much chance to do that, and we proved your legs won't fall off either after 3 miles! lol.

Pity i don't think we can buy her proper walking sandles yet, i know this probably didn't help but it was too warm for trainers or something similar!  but finally she is asleep! eczema doesn't look too clever and there are a few new patches :(  also little man has a little patch ( and i do mean little) on his leg but something to watch over!

\And it needs to rain soon as its too muggy for little man to be comfortable !

Worshiping the single parent

I'm not quite sure how they do it, apart from the fact that needs must!! single parents seem to have the crappy end of the stick, bringing up the kiddies with no peace, having to work if they can as well as trying to sort out the work life balance. It must be so hard! I am thankful that my husband is around for weekends and evenings but omg during the day it is so hard!

Went to the library today, and we were late for some reason I thought the activity was 2.30- 3.30.. .no it was 2-3. I got confused with the other time of 10.30-11.30. So we missed half of spooky bingo. ( it was just spooky picture cards. ) so I had a whining 5 yr old as we were late and then continued to whine because she wasn't winning! To top it off little man was screeching, and screeching as he wanted to go and look at the fish but I couldn't leave misses on her own.. so had to endure all that and wishing the ground would swallow me up as it was so embarrassing and someone I use to work with was there! thank goodness I got on with her but still I'm not very comfortable with seeing people from work. Just own personal reasons that and I left whilst on maternity leave so didn't really say goodbye to people etc. Alas water under the bridge

So after the library we popped very quickly into Leigh and got some ice creams so to keep the children happy, we had been at the park before the library so they've not had a bad day all in all. Except when I get, "I'm bored" etc.. I kinda flipped my lid! Being to the park, going to the library (which i paid for ) ice creams bought and all the toys under the sun upstairs and I get I'm bored, or I can't reach that ugh!!  Also eldest wanted to watch what she wanted on tv but I have put my foot down, as we had it on for hours this morning with inane drivel! god help me.

I know I sound awful but I have done stuff with them today and struggled with trying to keep the 17 month old entertained whilst taking the 5 year old out to do something instead of being stuck at home. Hardly a terrible parent. I also pushed both children on the swing plus a friend of my daughters so I'm not all terrible am I??

I will be glad for daddy to be home and at the weekend so there is another voice of authority to back me up. ... So I'm not just the evil parent in the house ;)

Wandering neighbours and ebay selling!

Finally sold one of the tents! it was the more expensive one and it went a bit cheaper then i would have liked but it is gone, as in gone gone!  not even in the house and was all done within an hour! but least its extra money towards the holiday. So so far we have enough for three tanks for fuel which should last for the holiday! Whoo! seeing as money is a bit tight at the moment it will come in very handy!! and that is is only just over a week to go - 10 days ish the purse strings are tightly tied. Come on holiday!


On another note a neighbour in the street, or rather family member of a neighbour as I'm not sure if she is over here permanently or not thinks it is ok to go wandering into other peoples gardens when they are not in. I watched her do it, She went into the next door's garden, tried the back gate, which was locked. Had a wander in the front and then wandered off. I have no idea if this woman has any  issues mentally, i don't personally think so. She doesn't speak English so i can't tell her to bugger off, as she has been in our garden once letting her grandson ride his trike round our car, i opened the door to see what was going on and she just came and jabbered at me in, what i think was polish ( please don't get me wrong i have no issues with people from different countires!) then she wandered off. I have since heard other rumours that she has stolen things from other gardens but i personally haven't see this.

Not sure if we are just over protective of our properties, but i just think this is a huge violation of space considering the person who lives at the property she keeps visiting has been there a couple of weeks now.  Hate confrontations but i think something needs to be do soon. Like a phone call to the community police etc!!

five minutes peace

Anyone read the book, Five minutes peace, featuring the "Large Family"? well today i felt like Mrs Large ( not due to my weight or anything lol) just at the end of the day, I put little man to bed and settled down to have a nap too as i was awake before 5 this morning! sooo tired. So what do i get, "mummy can you read me a story" this was from my daughter, now i don't really begrudge her a story (though she is fully capable atm of reading one to herself) but i was so tired. so i said five minutes.. but she carried on complaining where it meant it woke her brother up ugggh!! Eventually got him back to sleep and went to read her a story under my terms. But doesn't change the fact now that i'm super tired.

I need a really good coffee! But thankfully it isn't long till bed time. And I am hoping i get some decent sleep tonight. The main thing is three days into summer holidays and I haven't killed the children yet ;)!!

Here are a selection of photos from our walk on Monday to the park at Pennington Flash. We are really lucky to live a nice walk away from such a beautiful park. The top picture is of the canal and my daughter this was at 9 am as we wanted to get out before it got to hot, she was trying to get around me  as i said don't keep throwing pebbles in or you'll end up falling in like your uncle... ( i won't embarass you ;) ). Middle picture is a new ish structure that resembles lock doors that we get on a canal it says "unlock" on it. It shows we haven't been down this way for a while as i hadn't seen this before  the bottom picture is the path heading out of the park and towards the main road, i took this as i like forest esq paths. I often find myself day dreaming about such paths. Seeing as i like to write creatively and role play on line ( think online story writing but with others joining in the plot!) i try to imagine these sorts of scenes. That and it is so calm and peaceful! I really am  a nature girl at heart. 

Going to go and get some sleep me thinks and see if it is nice enough to go to another park tomorrow. We need to get out and on the cheap! Take care x