Embrace The Camera 29th September 2011

Wow..where the heck did that week go!!

We are mid movin and shakin thing's up in our house at the mo - there are bags and pieces of furniture and flatpack boxes of new furniture from Ikea all.over.this.house!  I am excited for the end result (which will be people sleeping in different rooms, other rooms having more storage and less stuff on the floor and finally having a guest room (slash store room, slash washing room, slash playroom, slash study, slash craft room etc!)  But not so keen on the mess we are currently living in!

Anyways, now we have the school run to contend with, we are busier than ever and the days go so quickly.  There was me thinking that with one less child in the house I would have more time....er, no..plain and simple!

I'm going to devote this weeks Embrace the Camera to my littlest Lily....she gets a bit bummed when we leave her big sis at school...so when we get home, we have cuddles on the sofa for a bit to make up for it...

I love my sofa snuggles with Lily...it sets us both up for the day!!

And then when Avie gets home from school..look who gets the cuddles......

6 months to overhaul my life!

Exactly 6 months today...I turn 30.
eeek!

The 27th March 2012 will be my 30th birthday!

To be honest, it is just a number to me -

i'm not sad to be leaving my 20's behind or worried to be entering
my 30's in any way, shape or form

(ask me when I reach 40 and i'm sure it'll be a different case!).

But...

I am using that day as a future goal to improve my life in many ways...

I don't have the best will power in the world, so I'm hoping by setting myself this date as a goal and by writing it all down, it will give me the motivation I need!

So, here are my main goals...

* Health and Fitness *
I have always been one of those skinny girls who could pretty much eat what they want and do no exercise and it wouldn't matter to my weight (hate me yet?!)  I had Avie at 24 years old and when she was born it was such a shock to the system, that the last thing on my mind was eating healthily and exercising...yet within weeks I had pinged back to my pre-pregnancy shape!  So three years later when I had Lily, I assumed (wrongly) that the same would happen.  That I would just ping back into shape without trying.... 
This is NOT the case let me tell you! 
It took me 18 months to lose most of the weight and I am still 4/5 pounds off my target pre-pregnancy weight.  I also have a wibbly wobbly tummy that I desperately want to tone up!  It's hard being at home all day surrounded by food - I find I snack constantly rather than eat properly during the day.  

I want to set my girls a good example...I would hate for them to feel the pressure to diet.  So I want to instil in them the importance of eating healthily.  Bryn has a bit of a veggie patch going on in the front garden and although this is only his first year doing it, we have had strawberries, raspberries, cucumbers, tomatoes and just recently some carrots.  Hopefully this will only get better and better the more experienced he gets with it.  Already I am seeing Avie and Lily take an interest in what he does and they love picking the ripe offerings!  Avie has said on more than one occassion that daddies fruit and veg are tastier and I'd have to agree!

So by 27th March 2012, I want to be in the best shape I have ever been and improve my family's healthy eating and exercise routines.

 

* Career *
We have decided not to have any more children (although don't hold me to it!  I keep thinking maybe we will have another one or two once Lily is at school. 
I get very ill when pregnant and need to be in hospital on and off,
so think it is probably unlikely, but we'll see.) 
Anyways, with the decision as it stands at the moment, Lily will be starting school in 3 years time and my goal for then is to stay at home for definately her first term...but I then want (and will need) something for ME.  I will have been a stay at home mum for 8 years by then...and much as I don't want to wish away the girls' younger years, I am looking forward to a time when I will be doing something for me!
I have ideas about what I want to do...but i am going to spend the next 6 months exploring these ideas and working out what I really want to do,
once both of my girls are at school.
(Gulp..writing this has made me get really nervous at the thought of not having another baby!  Anyone out there suffered from hyperemesis whilst pregnant with some babies but not others?  I'd love to hear from you!)

* Home *
We have been back in our house after the renovations for 8 months now 
and I still don't feel settled in it yet!

We are contemplating moving the girls into the same room...in bunk beds
and in fact this may even happen in half term...so only weeks away now! 

A lot of my clothes in our bedroom remain folded in piles at the end of our bed. 

There are toys everywhere..in every room. 

We need to put our pictures up on the walls (Can you believe we still haven't done this!)

We need to properly define areas in the house so we know what purpose they serve.  There are so many "dumping grounds"...we need better storage
and I wouldn't mind a bit more colour splashed around!! 

So i am on a mission to get our house how we want it within the next 6 months!

* Relationships *

I really need to pay attention to my relationship with my lovely hubby. 
Don't get me wrong, thing's are fine..but we are feeling the need for more time together - date nights etc ...investment in our relationship after 2 children would be a good thing to focus on.  Most evening's I end up on my laptop and he does work...so we need to have no computer nights and devote some quality time to each other.  I'm looking forward to this!

I also need to work on my friendships.  I am in the minority of my best friends when it comes to already having children.  Because of this I feel left out of arrangements that are made and I am discounted because I have children.  To be honest a lot of the time I would say no to the various plans, but it hurts when I am not asked.  However, I must make more of an effort to keep in touch with my friends...there is a lot of truth in "out of sight, out of mind".

* Finances *
I always think this is an icky topic!
We are a family of 4 on one teacher's wage....
It is tough, but we are doing okay.
We are quite good at making our money cover what we need and if the car suddenly blows up..we usually have a little spare money in order to fix it, but are not in the position where we could afford to replace the car.

We have future plans that involve money money oh and more money..

At the moment we are happy in the house we are in,
but have plans to move in a few years.

My husbands car is on its last legs and will need replacing in the next couple of years.

But in the more short term, we need to quickly save save save in the next 6 months....
because...
We have the travel bug...
we went to New Zealand for our honeymoon for a month with Avie in a campervan and loved it..and want to give our girls the opportunity to see other countries. 

Because Bryn is a teacher and I am a stay at home mum at the moment, we have the luxury that we could go abroad for a 5 week stretch every summer if we want
(and if we could afford!).
It was because of this that we have been desperately saving airmiles for years now...in order to have enough to get one free adult flight to sydney, so that we could travel round Australia one summer in the next couple of years.  Saving enough to cover another 3 flights was going to be tough, but we realistically thought we could do it. 
BUT
now that dream has been shattered due to airmiles unfairly changing their terms...from mid november under their new scheme, we'd need double the number of airmiles it has taken us years to save and we'd have to pay £500 (at least) to cover the taxes for the flight.

So..because we were at risk of losing all the miles we have saved for so long...
a couple of weeks ago we used them to cover 4 flights somewhere else....
which I will blog about very soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
VERY EXCITING!

But we are now in the position where we are saving like mad to cover this unexpected trip!

* Getting crafty *

I must must must complete the many crafty projects I have started and attempt the many I have saved on my pintrest addiction....

 

So as you can see, I have a few plans for the next 6 months....there will be more and I will add them as and when I think of them. 

Roll on turning the big 3-0!!!

I'm really going to miss her...

My little super star Avie has started school....

Two weeks ago now and five days before she turned 5, my big girl confidently walked through the gates to "big" school.....the school she will be at for the next 7 years and the one that her little sister will join her at in 3 years time (gulp!).

She only knew one little girl at the school, who has been a friend of hers since birth having been born only 3 days apart...but who she is not particularly best buddies with.  So in effect she had no comfort blanket - she was going in with a room full of strangers.  And being the sensitive little soul that she is, I foresaw nervousness in the days running up to starting, tears at the moment we would be separated and a battle getting her to go every morning, especially after the first 2 weeks when the full days started.

BUT I couldn't have been more wrong!  My little sweet thing, turned into a confident excited big girl the second we walked into "her" school.  And I couldn't be more proud of her!

All summer I have caught myself looking at her thinking she was too young to be starting school, she was going to be swallowed up and was losing something almost, by starting so young (and I realise she has been home an extra year than she would have been had she come on her due date of 30th aug!)  But now in her uniform, when she runs out of school struggling to carry her coat, book bag, lunch box, drink, and the various toys she has taken (much to the teachers' delight i'm sure!) and she greets me with such a beaming smile, I know she is ready.

And my other littler super star is getting used to the fact that her playmate is gone for most of the day.  She is realising that she has more one on one time with mummy now and that she has free reign of all of her big sister's toys!!

Say "Cheese"

Lily

how I love my lovely little girl

she is so sweet, so caring, and so so pretty

that is until you ask her

to smile at the camera and say

"CHEESE".....

Hideous...right?

Sorry Lily...i can't believe as your mother that I have uttered that word about you, but when you're older i'm sure you'll agree!!! 

The thing is..I don't even know where she learnt "cheese" from - but whenever she sees the camera (and this applies to a stranger with a camera on the street too by the way!) she scrunches up her face and says that damn word - cheese!!

I have worked out that i need to quickly snap the camera when she relaxes her face in between one "cheese" and the next "cheese" and normally I manage to get a nice picture too!

And here is just a lovely normal picture of my youngest so we don't forget how cute she is okay...?!!!

Ah..that's better....

(Love you SO much Lilster...just please remember that!!)

Blogging pressure...

When I started this blog (only a few months ago!) I did it because I wanted to capture memories from my little family growing up so the details never fade.

But somewhere along the way this has almost felt like a chore, in the respect that I feel I need to update my blog in a "timeline fashion". 

So I feel like I can't blog about something that happened today...until I've blogged about the simple everyday amazing thing we did last wednesday which I still haven't written about.  But then usually I don't have the time to blog about both events, so I put the laptop to one side and tell myself that I will blog about both of those events when I have some time to myself at the weekend.  In the meantime however, lots of other events that I absolutely must blog about, pile up and in my tired stressed out mind, I feel I just can't cover them all so put off doing them at all!!

WHY i put this pressure on myself I haven't got a clue!  I am a bit of a perfectionist and like order in my life...hence the need to document things in date order i guess.  But why I feel the need to do everything all at once so I'm up to date in one sitting, I really can't understand!

I also see all of these linking up opportunities to other blogs and think they are such a great idea - especially Embrace the Camera over at the anderson crew which I try and participate in because I want my kids to have pics of me with them, but for some reason I don't get prepared for them early enough and then miss out on them...pathetic to get bothered by it, right?  But I am at the moment!!

Today I have woken in such a grumpy mood!  Can you tell??!! 

My big girl has started school....
I have had her little sister pining for her everyday whilst she has been at school - and so far she has only done half days!
Avie has also had her 5th birthday...and the next day Bryn had his birthday..
Avie's party is today...
We have not had a weekend free of social events or people staying for what feels like months, so I haven't been able to keep on top of the house or the ironing or food shopping or paperwork or blogging or anything along those lines!

So from here on in, I have decided to document whatever I want, when I want!  That way I may manage to blog more and it will be one less thing to stress about! 

Sorry for the rant!!

AND...
R.E.L.A.X.   Think vino is definitely on the agenda for this evening!!!

Embrace The Camera 1st September 2011

We are feeling a bit lost today...Bryn has gone back to work and we are missing him already. 

That's what you get when you marry a teacher...5 weeks "off" in the summer is AMAZING, but we really get used to him being around the house...and so it hits us really hard when he goes back to work!

He's actually been back in work since last thursday, but he's only been going in for half days since then...but starting today he is in all day.  I know most people will have no sympathy for me because of all the time "off" he has had (I wouldn't have prior to meeting Bryn!)..but the thing is that he works SO hard outside of working hours all year round.  He's up and off early to work so he can fit in some lesson planning before he teaches and then when he gets home, he has a couple of hours with the girls, then he works till 10/11pm most nights...so where most people can finish work and have their evenings all to themselves..he does not.  Plus he works a lot of the summer holidays anyway....but with us milling around him!

So anyway...that is how we are feeling..

lost. 

We will get used to it..we always do.

Lily keeps saying "dada wok" and then "bye bye dada wok"! 

And Avie finds a million things that she must remember to

tell daddy/show daddy/do with daddy the split second he walks in the door

 and I manage to achieve less than half that I normally achieve when he is home with us!!

So in honour of how we are feeling today, I thought we would have a couple of "daddy love" photos.....we know he will be missing us too and would rather be home with us listening to the girls giggle (and fight and moan and whine).

He doesn't get in the photos that often, so it's nice to include him in my link up this week with Embrace the Camera over at the Anderson Crew.  He won't like me for this though..as in both these pics he was in desperate need of a haircut..it goes really high and fluffy when its long!  Tee hee!!  Hey..but we love you Mr David..warts n all!! (Not that he has any warts...just want to clear that up before I get myself into even more trouble!!)

Rightyho..i'm off now to make the most of the last few precious days with my little girl before she starts school on monday...i'm going to miss her SO much..but hey that is another blog post waiting to be written.....