Goodbye…..and the top conclusion!!

We are off on our holidays tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So I have quit on the top project!!!  Austin fell out of the race on day 35, Noah fell out today on day 42…Caitlin is still going strong with 9 tops left but as I want to choose her clothes to take with us I am quitting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’ll see you with tonnes to report back on in a week and a bit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Hair cut!

Today Caitlin went for her first ever professional hair cut!  Up until now I have cut her hair, I’ve always been pretty pleased with how it turned out too.  But since she is being a bridesmaid I decided to treat her to a proper cut.  Caitlin loved it….

We went with Lucy who has her hair cut professionally all the time, so she went first to show Caitlin how its done and then Caitlin had her turn!!!  I have to say I’m not overly impressed, I can’t even tell it has been cut never mind a better cut than I usually do!!!!!!  We’ll see in the morning but I think I will be chopping a bit more off on Thursday………..  I like it long but it’s at that in-between stage at the moment…not long but not short….so as she will be photographed a lot next week it needs neatening up….

I LOVE Elvis!!!!!!!!!!

Yipppeeeeeee Elvis lives again!!!!!!!!!!!  I can not explain how wonderful that is!!!  This morning I did a 4 mile round trip to school as Richard is on earlies and so we had to walk.  I had totally misjudged how much extra time I would need with one child walking… I’ve only done the walk with 2 in the pram!!  So I ended up doing well over half of the journey there with all 3 in the pram, on wonky pavements…my back is knackered from having to correct the pram and stop it going into the road.  It’s only meant to hold 2 at a time and so with 3 it is very heavy (I think about 6 or 7 stone!!) and hard to manoeuver!!!

In order to be able to walk to school we had to stay at the new house!!!!!!!!!  All of the upstairs is carpeted now and so they all stayed in their new beds….

Caitlin up in the slide bed…very happy!!  And Noah just excited to be there……..

…even Austin looked very excited to be in a bed where his head and feet aren’t both right at the ends…..

After we’d dropped Caitlin at school we went back to the house to arrange Austin’s bedroom….

(Austin fell asleep on the floor so I left him there…)  It looks great, loads of space and all fresh and nice…

..but after I arranged it and put most of Austin’s possessions in there it seemed a bit of a waste.  Noah and Caitlin have loads more toys as they are bigger, so although their room is bigger it’s also a lot fuller, so now I am considering putting Noah in Austin’s room and putting Austin in with Caitlin!!!!!!!!!  Best decide soon as move in day seems to be getting scarily close even though we have no kitchen still!!!!!   I see us becoming regulars at the carvery across the road!

School reunion!

Yesterday was my school reunion.  I nearly didn’t make it as Austin is all spotty, but his spots had really gone down by the morning and so as he was still well we decided it must be a sweat rash and so I went along.

It was really weird seeing people from school, I haven’t seen most of them since I left!!!  Obviously I see Louise all the time and there were a few others I’d seen 7 years ago at a wedding, and a few I email or facebook but about half I hadn’t seen in 17 or 19 years!!!!!!  I had a great time and it was really nice to catch up with everyone.

We went for a walk to the site of our school which is now a housing estate!  There is a board at the entrance which has some info on the school and a picture of me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I can not believe of all the years that the school was open they happen to pick a photo with me right at the front and very visible!!!!  I am the short one at the end of the front row (left side)!!

As there was nothing left of the senior school we went up to the junior school and the buildings of that were completely unchanged… Caitlin and Noah loved running around in the grounds!!

Today Austin is still spotty, but still well so I have no idea what’s wrong with him….  Surely he can’t have anything if he is completely well….

Spotty Austin!!!!

Austin is covered in spots!!!  After a diagnosis via facebook….and a comparison from photo’s of Noah at 5 months….I think he has the chicken pox!!!!!!  Good job I didn’t take the label off my new top…we might not all be going to the wedding!!!!!!!!!!

He seems completely well with it, the only thing I have noticed is he has been a tiny bit sick after his last few bottles but I only mean enough that could be mopped up with a bib still on him, so nothing really!!  Great timing!  I was supposed to be going to a school reunion tomorrow and obviously the wedding next week…….  Looks like tomorrow is definitely out, although he’s well I don’t know who else is going and don’t want to expose people who might really want to avoid it…..

Weird thing is I have no idea where he has got it from….  2 weeks ago it was Caitlin’s birthday but we didn’t really go anywhere that week…..  I guess just form the shops…

The end of the road for Austin….

…in the big top project!!!  I had a feeling Austin would be the first to run out (not including me!!) and today on day 35 he finally ran out of clothes.  That’s over a month’s worth of 3-6 month tops!  Which given they are supposed to last 3 months means he would only wear each one 3 times…what a waste.  Really most of his tops are getting a bit tight so he is ready to move up to the 6-9 month tops but I think I will squeeze him into my favourite smaller ones for a bit longer since he has a few I totally love and he didn’t get to wear much….

Even Noah only has 3 tops left, whereas Caitlin has a fair few….  I’m not including jumpers as I class those as coats really….

No wonder I couldn’t close Austins drawer!!  Really must slim down all of their collections, although I don’t think Austin has quite that many tops in the next size…but he does have plenty!!

I won’t be naked!!

It was becoming a worrying possibility that I would be going to Alex’s wedding naked!!!!!  I had it all planned how once Caitlin went back to school I would go on the hunt for my wedding outfit, but then Elvis failed his MOT and so I have been doing the school run via bus or lift’s and walking.  I know it’s our own fault for bending the rules and sending Caitlin to school using an address we do own but haven’t moved into yet….  Coming home on the bus this week has been taking over an hour and a half!!!!!!!  Fun!!!  And even walking to school has taken just over half an hour so that’s over a 2 hour commute just for the pick up!

So today Caitlin should have been at school but by 8.10 I realised I had no hope of getting her there at any reasonable time so I made Richard phone in sick for her and I went off to town.  Outfit hunting with all 3 of them was not fun but I think I have got one….

http://www.monsoon.co.uk/invt/52036603&bklist=icat,5,shop,women,womentops,newomantop

I hope it will be ok.  It is years (if ever) since I have bought a patterned top, but I figured since it was close family I should make a bigger effort than usual!!!  Now I have one week to accessorize it!!  Advice very welcome!! I had to take advice on the top from a man in Monsoon… He was really helpful actually!!

Noah was very fed up after all that shopping…but Austin was still all smiley!!!

Time…..with Tanith Carey.

I have been sent a book to read and review by Tanith Carey.  It’s called “How to be an ‘Amazing Mum’ when you just don’t have the time”  You can find her website here….

http://www.tanithcarey.com/Tanith_Carey.html

Life with us at the moment is even more hectic than usual…we have a newborn baby, we’re renovating a house, we have loads of cars to fix and we still have a social life!!!!!!  So to say we “don’t have the time” is an understatement!!!!!!

I have to admit when I signed up to review the book I did think…if you are that time-starved (which I am) will you have time to read the book???  I also expected it to be like other books that tell you to get organised….  So my copy arrived, quite a while ago actually, and my initial reaction was great it’s not massive I might just get chance to read it at some point.  I then opened it up and discovered it was written in bullet points which was GREAT!!!  It meant that I didn’t have to sit and read big chunks of it, I could read loads of points or if I only had 1 minute I could just read one point!!  I absolutely LOVED that about it.  I am addicted to Hollyoaks and make time to watch it most days, but I could read a couple of pages of the book in the adverts..great!!

The book starts off with saving time in the kitchen.  It is full of loads of fantastic ideas to both save time and ones that just make life easier.  Some I already do, like cook in bulk and freeze, which made me think the book was on my wavelength.  Some I haven’t thought of but why not????  Like make a stash of Marmite sandwiches and freeze them..then on packed lunch day when you are out of bread/fillings/time you can just grab one and you are done!  Given I consider myself the queen of freezing food I can’t believe I didn’t think of this!  I also loved the bit on in a rush give your kids a bowl of cereal for tea..it won’t kill them!  I so agree with this, once in a while they will be fed and fine and have done this in the past and my kids are fine!!!

There is a whole section on picking the right toys with less bits, less mess to clear up and therefore less time devoted to it!!  I am hopeless at this and I am a complete sucker for all the wrong toys.  She suggests boxing up toys and rotating them so there is less to get out and create mess with, and they will have renewed interest in the others when they reappear!  This is a great idea and one I’ll definitely do when we move in a few weeks!

In the housework section there are lots of tips to get the kids to help – like get the kids to put there own shoes away which Caitlin and Noah do….well most of the time!  They also put their dirty clothes in the washing basket…something my mother in law is always impressed with.  And put hooks at their level which we have and that really is a God send.  There is also a section all about make up etc which I didn’t read yet as I don’t wear make up..but I will be reading as I do wash and brush my hair and I’m sure there’s something useful about that in there too!!

I could go on for ages telling you all my favourite tips and ideas but then you wouldn’t need the book :-)!  I’d highly recommend it, it’s great!!!  As I said I already do a lot of it but I do loads of things for an easy life…  Lots of these I hadn’t thought about when I only had Caitlin though…so for the first time mum there is loads of help, but even for people who like to think they already do all the time saving tricks out there I’d bet there’s at least a few in here for you and its an easy book to read so won’t drain you of all your free time….  You could read a couple if you arrive at school a few minutes early etc……

Heads up!

Caitlin got a styling head for her birthday which she absolutely loves!!  Today she “painted” her face……

…can you tell that she has just painted the entire of the doll’s head and neck???  I don’t wear make up so she has no idea what happens with it!!!!!!  I have to say I find the head a bit scary..I keep catching a glance of it at night and thinking we have a person decapitated on our floor!!!!!!!

This past week we have been packing and moving and painting and rushing to get the house finished and ourselves in!!  In our old house we now have nothing in the box room (except Austin’s moses basket) and in Caitlin and Noah’s room there are just mattresses on the floor and some toys!!!!!!  Slowly but surely we are getting there and I can not wait!!!!!!!!!!

Out and about!

Today we went to the park…  It was nice not to have to rush about dropping and collecting Caitlin in school all through the day but I think Noah misses her now she is in school full-time.  He’s always asking about her and today was crying loads asking when we were collecting her!  He then fell asleep so I think he was really tired too, but he definitely misses her…..

It was unbelievably sunny today..typical since I packed away all the really summery clothes this week!  We went on the swings and Austin had a great time on there with Noah….

After playing on the swings we went to find the sculpture bench which was at the far side of the park but a nice walk and it was a very nice bench even if the rubbish piled up behind it suggested it usually has a different use to our photography!!!!!!!!

Nice though it was and I got some lovely photo’s…..

…I doubt we’ll walk over to it again….

After school we headed over to the new house where my Mum was busy painting and me and my Dad went to cash in our old lead pipes…we got £195 which was really good for some rubbish!!!

Then we headed home for tea and bed!  I have moved poor Caitlin back in with Noah!!  She has moved bedrooms about 10 times this year, going backwards and forwards for viewings etc…but Austin is such a noisy sleeper I can’t share with him anymore so I have moved him into Caitlin’s room!!!