Exhausting festive fun: Christmas 2012

Disclaimer: Yes, I know everybody’s bored of Christmas now, but this is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and write this!

It was a busy old Christmas and New Year in this house, with lots of fun, buckets of celebrations and all packed into what felt like a quite short space of time!!

I suppose it started properly with Lilly’s first school nativity play- she was a littke star in a play called The  Perfect Recipe for Christmas, she wore white clothes and carried a large tinsel star round her neck. We also got to watch her performing a dance routine with her after school dance club, all dressed as Santas and dancing to All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey. Lilly gave a very enthusiastic performance which we all loved, and Isla wanted to join in so badly that she had to be forcibly ejected from the room after the huge tantrum when we wouldn’t let her! But safe to say, Mariah was the tune of the festive season and I think it’ll always put a little smile on my face when I hear it from now on!

The girls went to meet Father Christmas (or Farmer Christmas, as Isla remains convinced he is called) at the local garden centre grotto. When we first went in, Isla wasn’t sure one bit she was going to like him, and had to be carried in against her will. But she softened towards Farmer Christmas when he mentioned that he might be able to bring chocolate on Christmas Day, and by the end we even had Isla smiling and sitting on his knee with her sisters. Lilly was very chuffed to be able to deliver her Christmas list in person, although we were a bit worried as it contained a couple of quite difficult to source presents, such as “a toy rainbow”…

Lilly only finished school a few days before Christmas so we didn’t have as much time to do Christmas arts and crafts and baking as I would have liked, but then I think you are so full of ideas in the run up to Christmas but in reality there isn’t as much time to do them in as you think! Still we managed to bake and decorate some Christmas cookies and various other bits.

Me, as a cookie, apparently…

Another pre-Christmas highlight was the night the local rotary club Santa came down our road on his sleigh/float. They do it every year, but it has always been past the girls’ bedtime by the time he comes, so they’ve never actually seen it. But one night I heard the music in the neighbourhood while they were still awake, and thought he was coming, so I told Lilly and Isla all about it, but he never came. A few nights later, when Tony was on lates, they had just gone to bed and I heard the music again, so I kept an eye out, and once I knew he was definitely coming this time I just couldn’t resist and went upstairs to wake the girls (only the big ones!) and we went onto the porch to watch Father Christmas (and Rudolph) drive into the close. Father Christmas even came up to each house and gave the children sweets – it was really magical, especially because the girls weren’t expecting it… and luckily they went back to sleep no trouble and both woke up the next day talking about Father Christmas coming to our house!

For the first time ever we hosted Christmas Day at our house – as we moved this year we finally had enough space to do so, as we normally go to Tony’s mum and dads for Christmas Day. A couple of days before Tony took the girls out for a few hours while I did all the essential pre-Christmas cleaning and tidying, especially in the kitchen. When they all came home Isla came into the kitchen, stopped, looked about, and then said (genuinely puzzled): “Mummy. Why is it tidy???”

On Christmas Day, the girls woke at a reasonable hour to find Father Christmas had left their stockings at the bottom of their beds (first time he’s been brave enough to do that!) and that there was an actual mountain of presents under the tree downstairs. It took us AGES to open them all, and it was great because there was just the right amount of ripping open presents and playing with them as we went along.

The funniest one was when the girls opened a set of fairy wings and a wand each and wanted to put them on straight away. As soon as Isla had hers on she started jumping and before long the bottom lip came out and the arms folded. “They not working…” she sulked, as she failed miserably to make the wings get her flying…

Late morning Tony’s mum and dad came round with more presents, and the turkey went in the oven… Christmas dinner went absolutely fine, apart from me burning my arm on the oven (minor incident) and forgetting to cook the much-anticipated Pigs in Blankets, but hey, there’s always something you forget isn’t there! Eve cracked her ‘Baby’s First Cracker’ at the table and enjoyed a few vegetables as finger foods (something she’s very into these days). There was also a great moment where we realised that her two top front teeth had come through and everybody sang her a chorus of “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” at the dinner table, much to her bemusement… Isla still isn’t so keen on poultry, although she ate a little bit of turkey before she remembered! Lilly declared it was “the best dinner ever” and even ate sprouts!

I loved Lilly’s writing on the gift tags…

On Boxing Day, my mum, sister and her boyfriend came round and there were yet more presents, and the usual buffet. Eve made everyone laugh when she grabbed a freshly baked roll off the buffet table (from her vantage point in her highchair) and proceeded to slowly but surely demolish it entirely! So, safe to say, she’s definitely on the finger foods!!!

Best presents the girls got this year – for Eve definitely a cuddly Iggle Piggle that sings and makes noises and a Disney Choo Choo Sounds train. She loves them both! Isla’s favourite was a Peppa Pig Foldaway Kitchen… she has been busy making people cups of tea and various meals ever since, and she insists that all her customers (she calls them “shopkeepers”) sit the other side of it, so their food can be thrown at them though the hatch! And Lilly got the chocolate lolly and egg makers she wanted, plus loads of things to make which always go down well with her.

So all in all, we had a fab Christmas… and then the birthday celebrations began (but that’s a seperate post…)

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Christmas 2011

We have just enjoyed our fourth Christmas as parents and had yet another wonderful couple of days.

The girls were, of course, spoilt rotten and me and Tony didn’t do so bad either!

For the first Christmas Eve since Lilly was born, Tony wasn’t working so we had the whole day together to get into the spirit. Lilly and I had done a huge ‘Big Shop’ in Asda the day before so the house was laden with treats and the fridge was bursting! In the afternoon we’d made a chocolate Christmas Cake and then decorated it on Christmas Eve. We decided to invite family round for a few hours so Nanna, Grandad, Aunty and Uncle came round for some food and to play with the girls for a while, and to sample our (delicious!) cake. Then in the early evening Isla and Lilly had their baths before sprinkling reindeer food outside the front door, hanging stockings and leaving out a mince pie, orange squash and a carrot for Father Christmas and Rudolph.

Of course Lilly was hugely excited by everything but was also a little bit confused by the concept of ‘Christmas Eve’ and ‘Christmas Day’ meaning when she went to bed on the 23rd and 24th we weren’t quite sure whether she realised that the next day was or wasn’t Christmas Day! She was also very worried that Isla wouldn’t sleep all night (bit of a cheek really as Isla ALWAYS sleeps all night, but the same cannot be said of Lilly!) She said: “Isla, I hope you are going to sleep all night, because if you are awake, Father Christmas will say: ‘I’ll have to come back next year’ and then we’ll get NO PRESENTS!”

Disaster of that kind was averted, thankfully, as both girls slept until morning… although Isla did wake up crying after a bad dream at about 4.50am. I went in and calmed her down and both of them (incredibly) went back to sleep for an hour before Lilly woke up at 5.50am. It was funny as she was chatting ten to the dozen about something before she spotted the filled stockings on the stairs and stopped… her face was a picture!

They opened their stockings on our bed as usual. The first thing we noticed in comparison to last year was Lilly’s “Tazmanian Devil” approach to present opening – she seemed to have ripped hers open in a matter of milliseconds! In previous years opening persents has been a much slower process as Lilly has wanted to play with everything once she opened them. But not anymore!

Isla on the otherhand didn’t quite get to grips with the concept of present opening until slightly later on into the Christmas celebrations – at first she was happy to hold the presents, have a look at them but then wait patiently for somebody else to open them for her!

Santa brought a lovely collection of little gifts - Isla’s favourites being a snail which sticks its tongue out when you squeeze it (hillarious) and three wobbly men who always return upright when you knock them over (equally hilarious!). Lilly’s fvourite things were a couple of Hello Kitty bits, a recorder (she surprised herself with how loudly she could toot it), lots of chocolate things, a teddy bear and a couple of Disney books.

After stockings we got into our Christmas dresses and went downstairs where there were plenty more presents under the tree.

The two biggest presents though were Lilly’s new Cosmic Lights scooter and Isla’s Cozy Coupe car, which Lilly no sooner set eyes on than paper was flying (hence no photographs!) Isla LOVED her car from the second she set eyes on it, and spent almost all of Christmas morning sitting in it!

The girls had lots of lovely presents. Lilly’s favourites (apart from her scooter) were a Snugglepets Puppy (which barks and responds to you stroking it) and ladybird snugglepets pillow, a Kiddizoom junior camera, Hungry Hippos game and a jewellery box which you decorate with stick on jewels (a genius present in hindsight as it has provided hours of calm playing in the face of all the other manic excitement of Christmas!) Isla liked her VTech rocket shape sorter, her various books with buttons to press, Waybulloo laptop toy and yet more Clipo bricks. In fact, I was really pleased about how well Isla’s presents went down, even though we had to coax her out of the car to look at them, they all seem to be quite good buys so far.

On Christmas afternoon we went to Tony’s mum and dad’s for our Christmas Dinner, and there were more presents for the girls, including a Doll’s House for Lilly.

Isla was a little bit grouchy in the afternoon (probably because she was away from her new car!) but she enjoyed her dinner and made a huge mess in the process. Lilly, who is going though a very fussy stage, provided amusement by insisting on trying an After Eight and the resulting rather over enthusiastic face of disgust!

On Boxing Day my mum, sister and her boyfriend came over for some MORE presents, a few games of Hungry Hippos and something to eat. In the afternoon it was back to the inlaws for presents with Aunty and Uncle before two exhausted little girls fell into bed.

All in all a great couple of days and everybody has been spoilt rotten and stuffed their faces with lots of unhealthy treats!

This time next year we’ll be joined by another bundle of fun – and we’ve already bought her a matching stocking!

Now we are going to relax and make the most of a few days of calm before the next big celebration – Lilly’s fourth birthday on New Year’s Eve!

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Center Parcs has given us a festive feeling…

We have just returned from another really lovely break at Center Parcs.

This time, we wanted to experience the Winter Wonderland they do each year, as the first part of our build-up to Christmas.

We had booked plenty of lovely Christmassy activities for Lilly to do, including Christmas pottery painting, a Santa and Snowman hunt and a Frosty the Snowman art session which involved lots of glitter and Christmas stickers!

Lilly enjoying the 'Frosty the Snowman' art session

The weather at Whinfell Forest (Cumbria) was fabulous for the whole week – it only rained the day we left. The rest of the time it was crisp and sunny – perfect.

We were very excited to hear that there was going to be a fireworks display on the second night at 5.30pm – conveniently timed before the girls’ bedtimes, which is usually about 6.30pm. It is only this year that Lilly has recovered from her total and utter terror of fireworks - in fact on November 5th Lilly actually ventured out into the neightbourhood with daddy to admire the fireworks… even the really loud ones! But this was her first proper display.

We had such a tiring day on the Tuesday – starting with pottery painting in the morning. Lilly chose to paint a snowman, a stocking and a Father Christmas shaped ornament for the tree. Technically there should have been a lot of red and white involved… but I think Lilly considered white a little bit too boring to paint much of – so snowman ended up with a red face and Santa’s beard is a very attractive mix of purple and green! But they do look rather lovely all the same – and once again I was so impressed with how delicate and detailed she can be when she tries!

In the afternoon we’d gone swimming – which can be a bit of a military procedure with two little ones at the best of times. Everytime we have taken Isla swimming (on all our three previous visits to Center Parcs with her) she has hated it, where Lilly has always loved it. I think Isla has found it a bit of an overwhelming, noisy and hot experience. And at first when we took her in she was upset again and grizzly. So I sat with her in the baby pool and she sat on the edge with her feet in, playing happily with a bucket and a watering can for a while. Once she had acclimatised to the environment we tried taking her into the big pool – and this time, she actually seemed to quite like it! In fact, after a little while, she was giggling! It was a major breakthrough!

Lilly’s favourite thing about the pool as always was going round the ‘rapids’ and dodging the water sprays (she calls the big one Mr Sprayer and the little one Mrs Sprayer!) She also liked swimming outside – which was rather cold, I must say!

After the swimming we were all exhausted so decided to get a bite to eat in the village square instead of going home for tea and coming out again for the fireworks. It was a great plan (although an expensive one) – I was way too knackered to cook after all that exercise – and the timing was just perfect as the fireworks display started not long after we finished eating.

The display was brilliant - and all set to Christmas music. Watching Lilly’s face was the best thing for me - she was totally in awe of what she was seeing. Isla even tolerated the first few fireworks but once they started getting noisier she got upset and Tony took her back to the lodge. As Lilly and I walked home afterwards in the dark she was talking ten to the dozen about what she’d seen and what a “fantabulous” day she’d had. Such a wonderful thing.

Isla is chuffed after doing a slide all by herself for the very first time!

During the week we did plenty of walking and took in all the soft play areas Whinfell has to offer. Isla climbed up and slid down a slide all by herself for the very first time – and was pleased as punch with herself as a result! It then meant that she got a little bit overconfident and wanted to follow Lilly into the ‘big girls” area of the soft play – which meant that I once again found myself six months preggers and flying down numerous ‘tunnel slides’ and crawling through too-tight spaces to rescue a child who was stuck!

We also took part in the Santa and Snowman hunt which involved following a trail to find a series of Christmas related questions which we had to answer (some of them quite hard: name all of Santa’s reindeers being one of them… we *may* have had to google this…) At the end an elf gave Lilly a little prize for taking part and all the entries were entered into a draw… which we only won! We had a phonecall later on to tell us that Lilly had won a teddy making session and we took her up to the Time Out Clubhouse where she chose a tiger toy, was helped to stuff it and then picked an outfit to dress it in. Being totally mad on soft toys this couldn’t have been better for Lilly!

Lilly cuddles up with 'Amelia', the tiger she stuffed herself after winning the Santa and Snowman Hunt

There were, of course, some stressful moments – Isla is at that stage where she only wants to walk and refuses to go in her pushchair. The only problem being, she doesn’t neccessarily want to walk in the same direction as everyone else and is rather prone to falling! Lilly moaned a lot because we didn’t get her a bike, and is possibly the world’s slowest dawdler at the best of times. And Isla was a little bit scared of the jet planes and Chinook which were practicing their flying overhead… although I loved them, I must say. Hubby wasn’t very happy because the nearest place to park the car while unloading was a fair trek from our lodge. But all in all I would say this trip has to go down in my memory as our best trip to Center Parcs yet – and we’ve now been seven times (Elveden twice, Sherwood once, Whinfell four times)!

But of course the main event of the whole week was saved for the afternoon of our last full day – a trip to see Father Christmas. Wewere all really impressed with it… Father Christmas was very authentic and really lovely – it melted our hearts to see Lilly so happily chatting away to him while so obviously in awe! She asked him for a surprise – and he promised her he had “just the thing in mind” for her, before asking her what Isla would like – “erm, I think a baby toy” Lilly suggested. She was also very eager to tell Father Christmas that she had made a snowglobe with his picture in it at the art workshop. And Father Christmas asked the girls to leave out a carrot for Rudolph on Christmas Eve. Then he gave the girls a gift each – a cuddly horse for Isla and a cuddly cow for Lilly. This AMAZED Lilly as she had been asking for a cuddly cow a few weeks ago – and Isla goes crazy for horses. So it just goes to show: He knows, you know.

Meeting Santa's reindeers

Our other holiday highlights included:

• Isla saying “wack wacks” to all the ducks - first time she’s done this
• Isla’s giggling when she, Lilly and I all went down a ‘tunnel slide’ together
• Isla giggling as we went round the rapids and Lilly’s hysterics at being splashed by “mrs sprayer” as we went
• Lilly’s insistence that she kept seeing a badger “I saw a badger! He was climbing a tree!!” and later, “I saw another badger, on the roof of that house!”
• Discovering a ‘secret’ play area that we never knew was there before – it’s above Cafe Rouge, for anyone who wonders…

So yes, we’re still big Center Parcs fans. And no, this isn’t a sponsored post! And it is so strange to think the next time we visit, there will be three children… yikes! And that this could potentially be the last time we’ll be visiting in term time… ouch!!

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The true spirit of Christmas

Last year we took part in Operation Christmas Child for the first time.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this appeal, basically you fill a shoebox with presents and useful items for a child somewhere in the world who is otherwise likely to go without, wrap it in Christmas paper and the charity Samaritan’s Purse will deliver it to those in need. It is something we feel really captures the true spirit of Christmas and is also a really good way to remind our children just how fortunate they are to have all the toys they have, and all the basic essentials of life right on tap.

This year, like last, Lilly and I went on a special trip to the supermarket, armed with our Operation Christmas Child leaflet, to get all the goodies we were going to need to fill it with lovely treats. Although Lilly was only 2 (nearly 3) when we did this last year, we quite often still talk about the “little girl in another country who hasn’t got many toys” and how we sent her a Christmas present last year, so she does still remember. Now, at nearly four, Lilly was really excited to buy the little girl some more presents, and started off by saying: “I will send her one of my toys because I am going to share with her!”

Off we went around the supermarket picking up some crayons, a colouring book, stickers etc… we also bought some toothpaste and a toothbrush (which Lilly insisted had to be the same as hers at home), some bracelets, bangles and other girly things.

Of course Lilly did quite often say: “Can I have one of those too?” so I kept reminding her how many toys and things she had, and how the little girl didn’t have many at all. She was allowed a set of stickers though!

I couldn’t quite get everything I wanted to in the supermarket – I wanted a little dolly and something cuddly which I had to pick up on a seperate trip, but we got everything in the end… so here is our finished effort…

To anyone who hasn’t done this before, I would really recommend it as a lovely, very visual way to introduce the concept of charity and giving to young children. Not only that but it teaches them that Christmas isn’t all about receiving, it’s about thinking of others and being generous and kind to.

It is obviously something that sticks in children’s minds for quite a while, which is great. And, if you donate the £2.50 postage fee online, Samaritan’s Purse will email you to tell you exactly where your shoebox ended up, so you can remind your little one about the little girl or boy they helped at Christmas time.

I very much hope that taking part in worthwhile charity efforts like this will help to develop my children’s kindness, generosity and consideration for others. And we only had one minor meltdown when I showed Lilly the little cuddly dog I bought to go in the box: “I wanted to keeeeeepppp himmmmm” she sobbed…

But then again, she is only three

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Christmas 2010

Each year since we’ve had Lilly, Christmas has got more and more exciting. Her first Christmas, when she was almost one, was a bit of an anti climax because we were all poorly. Lilly enjoyed it but also found it all pretty overwhelming. Last year, at nearly two, Lilly understood a little more and thankfully we were illness free, so a much better time was had by all. This year, at nearly three, Lilly definitely understands Christmas and has been really looking forward to it – as have we!

In fact, Christmas preparations in this house probably started in mid-November, when we spent plenty of days visiting garden centres to admire all the pretty trees, lights and baubles, one of the highlights being the World’s Biggest Santa at Dobbie’s Garden Centre in Southport (above)! We also visited Pleasureland in Southport with Grannie and saw Santa’s reindeers and met the snowqueen too.

As soon as people in the real world started putting up their outdoor lights, we started taking the long way home from nursery to ooh and aah at all the lights on people’s houses.

Because I’ve been off on maternity leave, Lilly and I have been able to indulge in plenty of Christmas arts and crafts, involving lots of glitter and glue. We’ve made Christmas cards for all the close family members, Christmas hats, Christmas decorations, felt Christmas stockings and collages out of last year’s Christmas cards. We’ve also baked yummy Christmas cookies and a victoria sponge based Christmas cake (Tony & Lilly don’t like fruit cake) with a snowman on the top.

Lilly was old enough this year to “help” us put up the Christmas tree, which we did on the last weekend of November as we couldn’t wait! When it came to putting the lights and tinsel (or glitter, as Lilly insists on calling it) on the tree, we were all going round and round it like a maypole! She was surprisingly good at putting on the baubles – but tended to have a four-per-branch policy, with all the best decorations on the bottom couple of branches, where she could
reach!

This year, Lilly had her first chocolate Advent Calender, a Peppa Pig one (and disappointing because it didn’t have any pictures behind the doors – note to self: purchase better calender next year). It turns out “Advent Calender” is one of the very few things Lilly can’t say properly – but she loved her “Alan Callydar”. A few times I caught her lovingly caressing the calender or trying to stick her fingers in one of the doors even though she knew she could only have one a day. But, considering the restraint level of a typical 2/3 year old, I think she did pretty well!

I suppose the recent snow has also been part of the preparations. This is two Christmasses in a row now where we’ve had snow on the ground. Our Christmas walk to Nanna’s house across the snowy fields is almost becoming a tradition! Tony and I were saying that Lilly will take for granted that you get snow at Christmas – if we don’t get it next year she’ll be wondering why not!

We had the usual fun in the snow – made a snowman and had snowball fights, until after a few days the snow got a bit icy and slippy and the novely wore off, of course. It is now December 28 and the snow is finally thawing, so hopefully outside will be a bit more accessible from now on.

Lilly is no longer scared of Father Christmas (last year, she was terrified – couldn’t even watch him on tv!) and the frst time she bumped into him was in the garden centre with Nanna. Nanna helped her write him a letter, and asked what she wanted: “A yoyo, scissors and a baby toy for Isla”, was the reply. (Yoyo inspired by too much Peppa Pig’s Christmas)! A few days before Christmas, Lilly remembered that what she really wanted wasn’t a yo-yo at all, she wanted a Tin Top. Tin Top, if you don’t know, is a character from Roary the Racing Car, he’s a blue American stock car, and she’s wanted him since she saw a little boy in Asda with one a few months ago. She already has the model Roary, which was one of her big obsessions in 2010. Luckily, Father Christmas was on the ball and his elves had reserved one for her a while back. On Christmas morning, I genuinely think she was only expecting one or two presents. When she opened the first thing in her stocking (a drum), she was really disappointed it wasn’t a Tin Top and said: “Oh. I didn’t want THAT!” Luckily, the second present out was indeed Tin Top, and all was right with the world again!

We spent Christmas morning in our house, ploughing through the presents, which included a play kitchen, lots of Fireman Sam playthings…. for Lilly and shape sorters, baby books, rattly, musical and chewy things for Isla. It was lovely to think that, on Christmas Day last year I felt Isla’s first kick, and this year here she was joining in the celebrations!

In the afternoon we went over to Nanna and Grandad’s house where Tony’s sister and boyfriend announced they had just got engaged! Before we sat down to Christmas dinner and more presents, including a child sized pink guitar for Lilly!!! Isla, predictably, was most interested in chewing on bits of wrapping paper! Mind you, she didn’t get much of a look in with many of her presents, as Lilly wanted to “help” her open them all, and then seemed to like playing with the baby toys more than the ones that were actually for her! 

On Boxing Day my mum, sister and boyfriend came over for some food and MORE presents, including a Thomas bingo set, books and clothes for Isla. Tony and I didn’t do too badly for presents either, my personal highlight being a new camera which I hope will help me take better photographs in 2011 – still studying the instruction manual as we speak!

All in all, a really lovely few days – and now the emphasis turns to birthday celebrations for Lilly on New Year’s Eve…

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Eating, sleeping and… being ill

Well, it’s been a little while since I last blogged. There just doesn’t seem to have been any spare time anywhere the past few weeks to just spend half an hour with the computer… whenever there might have been a chance I’ve been so tired i’ve just been napping instead!

So, just to bring things up to date… We have, of course, been getting ready for Christmas the last few weeks. We had our Christmas tree up in the last weekend of November as we’re all really excited about this year and couldn’t wait! Lilly really understands everything this year, as she is nearly 3, and knows all about Father Christmas coming and what to expect. She isn’t frightened of Father Christmas anymore, and even spoke to him when she bumped into him at the local garden centre with her Nanna the other week. She has watched Peppa Pig’s Christmas more times than you can imagine, and now has a fixation with the fact that she wants a yoyo for Christmas – which is what Peppa Pig asks for. When she met Father Christmas, she told him she wanted “a yoyo, some scissors, and a baby toy for Isla”, and all from the top of her own head!

Winter arriving has also seemed to bring with it slightly better sleeping from Lilly. For the last two weeks or more, she has been trying very hard to sleep through the night, even managing it on a couple of occasions (Hallelujah!) We’re not quite sure where it’s come from, but I suspect it is partly motivated by Father Christmas watching and partly by a morning cup of hot chocolate, which she only gets if she’s been good the night before. At bedtime, she quite often tells me: “I sleep all night mummy, and then I have chocolate milk to keep my tummy warm, and for a special treat!” I don’t care what’s done it, I just hope it is a permanent improvement! She has still had the occasional night where she’s had to have somebody sleep in with her – the other night it was the wind whistling at the windows which woke her up and scared her – but at other times, even when she wakes, she is determined to go back to sleep and “sleep all night”.

It’s funny because the start of her better sleeping coincided with her being poorly. A couple of Friday nights ago, she was sick in the night a couple of times. Later in the week she had a bad chest infection complete with vicious cough, which needed antibiotics.

Unfortunately, whatever made her sick didn’t want to stop there, and a few days later, Isla was also being sick. The first time was at the end of her morning nap – when we went up to see her, her face was covered in it… she was crying like she was terrified, poor thing… awful. It seemed to only last a day and she remained in really good spirits throughout, but then, 6 days later, it came back – this time it seemed more like full blown gastroenteritis… and although she was over the worst of it in a day, two days later – you guessed it – Tony and I also had it. Urgh. All I can say is, if the girls felt anywhere near as awful as we did when we had it, they were very much braver than we were!!

Illness has also had a knock on effect on weaning, which really seems to have stalled. Since being poorly, Isla hasn’t been too keen on food and even the ones she had previously tried and seemed to quite like – carrot & banana – she doesn’t seem keen on anymore. Carrot got a full blown “yeuck!” face and banana didn’t fare much better. Parsnip has fared slightly better, but if there is even so much as the teeniest tiny-est lump (by which I mean a very soft piece, less than quarter the size of a pea), so much retching ensues I’m terrified she’s choking to death. In the last few days I haven’t given her any solids at all, and yesterday it was back to just one serving of porridge at breakfast. But I wouldn’t say her eating is particularly enthusiastic. She likes sitting in the highchair and getting plenty of one-on-one attention, but I get the impression she likes chewing on the spoon more than she likes eating the stuff on the spoon. We will just have to take things slowly and see if her enthusiasm builds I suppose.

And of course, it is only a matter of weeks now until the world is jumbled up all over again when I go back to work – I have now formally applied to do reduced hours, which will mean I will get two afternoons a week at home with the girls. And it is not so much the actual going back to work which worries me – I have done it before and know it won’t be too bad – it’s the logistics of how on earth I actually leave this house early enough in the morning to get there on time!! Doing the reduced hours means that, at least on two of the days, I need to be at work by 8am. It is 45mins drive away, plus ice scraping time. I am already imagining in my head the amount of military precision and night-before planning that will have to be done if I am to achieve this goal!

I’m also nervous about how Isla will take to nursery – generally I am sure all will be fine, Lilly was the same age when she started and never batted an eyelid. Isla is very laid back and accepting, so should be ok, but she also seems quite sensitive. I took the girls to a soft play place last week and had them both in the baby area where Lilly was enjoying the slide while Isla was looking at the other babies and toys. All of a sudden it all seemed to get a bit much for her and she started crying. I took her out for a while but when we went back in later, the same thing happened again. So I hope she will be ok with the bright and busy surroundings of nursery. Fingers crossed.

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A seasonal way to to teach good will

Among the many qualities I hope to instil in my children is a charitable spirit, consideration for the feelings of others, kindness and a willingness to do nice things for other people just ‘because’.

So I was excited this year to take part in Operation Christmas Child with Lilly for the first time.

The idea is simple: You donate a shoebox of fun toys and useful items and Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian organisation which runs Operation Christmas Child, delivers them to children who would otherwise go without at Christmas.

Amidst all the excitement of Christmas preparations in our house, the debating of whether to buy Lilly this present or that present and the inevitable decision to buy them both (!) this is a great way for adults and children alike to be reminded that not everyone is as fortunate as we are.

So, after explaining to Lilly what we were going to do – buy some Christmas presents for a little girl like her, but who lives a long way away and who does not have any toys, we set off to Asda to look for suitable gifts. On the way, Lilly decided that the little girl we were buying for was called Jill (after listening to Jack & Jill Went up the Hill) and we chatted a little bit about ‘Jill’ and how happy she would be that she would get some presents at Christmas from Lilly.

We took our shoebox into the supermarket to make sure what we were buying would fit, and we referred to the instructions Operation Christmas Child leaflet to make sure we were buying the right kinds of gifts.

The advice is to include something from each of the following four categories: 

Toys e.g. bear, soft toy, tennis ball, finger puppet, jigsaw, yo-yo…

Educational Supplies e.g. felt pens, pencils, colouring book, picture or puzzle book, chalk, stickers…

Hygiene Items e.g. toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, hairclips, soap, flannel…

Other e.g. sweets, gloves, sunglasses, hat, bangles, necklace…

We had a good look around and Lilly made a few (inappropriate) suggestions before we settled on some plasticine with shape cutters, a mini My Little Pony, a teddy bear (toys); crayons and a colouring pad (educational supplies), toothbrush and toothpaste (hygiene items) and a packet of jellybeans (other).

Back home and it was time to wrap and decorate the box.

Lilly helped by applying (lots) of glue to the outside so that I could stick down the Christmas paper, and then by drawing inside the boxes to make them look pretty too. Then we packed the stuff inside and included a photo of Lilly and Isla with “Happy Christmas from Lilly and Isla in England xx” written on the back.

Now all we have to do is drop it off at nursery before the deadline (which is fast approaching, by the way, if you want to take part too), and then once Christmas gets a little nearer I will remind Lilly about our box and about ‘Jill’, and we’ll also talk about her on Christmas day too, so that Lilly can imagine her opening the gift we sent. I haven’t had a proper look yet but there are some videos on the Operation Christmas Child website which I might show her so that she can understand.

Lilly is still a little young to properly understand what this is all about, and I think it is currently beyond her comprehension that other children don’t live exactly the same kind of life as her, let alone have to go without the things she takes for granted. But it’s never too soon for her to learn to be considerate and caring towards others and I’m sure we have both got a lot out of taking part in this really worthwhile appeal.

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It had to happen…

Yesterday we had a nice day with my mum visiting Botany Bay in Chorley. We had some nice lunch then wandered round their Christmas shop, where we picked up some Christmas colouring books for Lilly and a little red bell bauble which she took a shine to.

Later, Lilly discovered the 1990s equivalent of a Kiddizoom camera on one of the second hand stalls. She loved it instanty because it has a string to wear it around your neck, similar to the binnoculars they have at nursery which she is currently obsessed with. It was only £2.99 and she spent the rest of the day taking pretend photographs and telling me to “say cheese”. Imagine the delight when we discovered later that we could put batteries in it and now she can actually make it flash too!

In all the excitement, Lilly nearly left behind her handbag, which currently goes everywhere she goes and is filled with an assortment of random items. Luckily, she remembered in time and we retraced our steps successfully before somebody picked up her handbag believing it to be one of the second hand sale items!

After a while, we decided to go to Astley Hall, which is just up the road. I’ve never been there before but my mum has. It looks like a great place to take children, as it has huge grounds.

By the time we got there, Lilly needed a change of clothes after drenching her tights splashing in muddy puddles. Lilly has been so good with toilet training lately that I’d only come out with one change of clothes. We had a brief look around Astley Hall but Isla started getting agitated for her bottle so we sat in the cafe while she had it.

After our drinks Lilly asked to go to the toilet, and then I changed Isla’s nappy and decided now would be a good time to head home. Lilly had just been for a wee, Isla was fed, changed and tired and I was hoping she’d have a nice nap on the way home as I was planning on putting her to bed an hour later to pre-empt the clocks going back overnight.

20 minutes later, we’re on the M6.

“I need a wee-wee”

Yikes.

“I can’t stop now Lilly, I’m on the motorway. Can you wait until we get home?”

“Um, yes”

Phew.

A minute later.

“Mum, mum. I need a wee-wee.”

Oh, gawd.

“I know Lilly, but we’re on the motorway. I’m not allowed to stop. Let’s think about something else. Erm… which is your favourite episode of Same Smile?”

“I need a wee-wee. I need a wee-wee!”

Oh cripes.

“Lilly, please try to hold it, we won’t be long”

At this point I decided to pull off at the next junction. But, as I searched for the first available side road, it happened:

“Mummy, I need a wee-wee! It’s coming out! It’s in my knickers!!”

Oh GAWD!!!

So, with no dry changes of clothes left, Lilly had to travel the rest of the way home in just a t-shirt with one of Isla’s blankets over her, in a wet carseat. And of course, all the drama had woken up Isla and thwarted the long-nap-in-the-car-plan.

At least the car seat cover is machine washable.

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Had a lovely Christmas…

It’s currently boxing day and all’s calm… Lilly’s asleep, i’m on the net and T is playing with his new computer game.

We’ve had a really nice few days over Christmas. Unlike Lilly’s first, we were all in good health and able to enjoy ourselves, and it was lovely as Lilly was old enough to get a bit excited and have some idea of what is going on!

Up until Christmas Eve, Lilly was absolutely terrified of Father Christmas – she couldn’t look at pictures or cuddly versions of him even, and she kept saying “I don’t like Christmas!” But she started to realise there was some link between the dreaded FC and presents – so she soon started saying “I like presents!”.

By Christmas Eve, we managed to look at a few Christmas cards with FC on them, and Lilly was happy to point to it and say “Fah Chrismas!” And on Christmas Eve before bed the three of us read The Night Before Christmas, hung up the stocking and left out a carrot for Rudolph.

We’ve had plenty of snow over the past week, and although we didn’t have any fresh flakes on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, we still had plenty of it on the ground. It was ok to walk on on Christmas Eve, when Lilly and I walked over to Nana and Grandads while T was at work, but by Christmas Day and especially today, it has just become like compacted ice – I’m terrified to go outside because I don’t want to fall over!

Lilly walks to Nana's house in the snow on Christmas Eve

Lilly slept in until 7.30am on Christmas Day, then when she got up she found her stocking on the landing filled with presents, which she was really excited about and opened them in bed with us. She got a lot of stickers and crayons and other little Peppa Pig things, and was really happy with those and didn’t really want to come downstairs (where she didn’t realise there would be more presents!)

We got downstairs but Lilly was a bit upset at leaving her stocking stuff behind, so we watched a bit of Peppa to calm her down (Christmas special – she was terrified of the Father Christmas in it a few weeks ago, and cried so much we turned it off… this time she frowned at him a bit but said: “I not cry.”)

After a while she became interested in the presents under the tree so we turned the tv off and got cracking! Her main presents were a Peppa Pig camper van and a wooden Thomas the Tank railway with some additional trains to go on it. The first Thomas related item she opened was the Thomas engine, and she said: “Need tracks now… I open the tracks!” like as if she knew there was also a trainset under there!! I said to Tony, it was a good job there was!!

Well, one Thomas was opened and the tracks were out she wasn’t really interested in opening any other presents, so some of them only got opened this morning!

Safe to say, Lilly loved her trainset!

And, in the morning, while we were sitting on the sofa watching Lilly with her presents, I felt the first definite kicks from her little brother or sister! I’ve been feeling something for a week or so now, but nothing I could confidently say was definitely the baby moving – but this was certain! And yesterday evening I felt more – this time more like movements than kicks, and today too i’ve felt plenty of wiggling. A fantastic feeling, which makes me feel much closer to this little life inside me which I’m sometimes too busy to think about, and what a brilliant Christmas present for me from my littlest one too (at exactly 15 weeks)!

After that, we went round to T’s mum and dads, where there were more presents and Christmas dinner, which was lovely. The big present they got Lilly was a huge Wendy House, which is currently in their living room and taking up rather a lot of space, but will go outside once all the snow and ice clears! Lilly was absolutely over the moon with it, and even declared: “This is perfect!” so again, another hit!

All in all we’ve had a really lovely time and we’re thinking of taking Lilly to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor tomorrow as an early birthday treat, as if she hasn’t been spoilt enough already!!

Ooh, and I forgot to say – my morning sickness has gone!!! Whoop whoop! I reckon it disappeared about the 14 week mark. I’m feeling much more normal now and am even contemplating trying a cup of tea or coffee again sometime soon – well maybe in a few weeks time, don’t want to jinx it!

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13 weeks three days – still feeling sick

Well, I am now totally “out of the closet” at work, in the family and with friends, which feels good!

But just as I thought the morning sickness was fading a little it seems to have reared its head again – I felt terrible all day yesterday. However, I’m starting to think it might have been connected to not drinking enough water… I usually drink water all day at work but didn’t have much to drink yesterday, and today, as I started feeling a bit peculiar again, I started drinking and it seems to have kept it at bay. So, maybe I have a bit of a strategy from now on!

It’s also worth reporting that I had my swine flu jab last week - at 13 weeks pregnant. The jab itself was fine - my arm ached like crazy that night though and if I wasn’t pregnant I would definitely have been reaching for the pain killers! It’s still a bit sore a few days later, but nothing too bad. I feel glad that I’ve had the jab now as I’m protected and don’t have to worry when I hear horror stories about women dying in labour or after having emergency sections.

Aside from that, there’s not much new to report, suppose I am just getting impatient to start feeling kicks now… although it will likely still be a few weeks yet. I have my 20 week scan at the end of January, and I think with the excitement of Christmas and Lilly’s second birthday that is going to arrive so quickly… and then I’ll be half way through the pregnancy!!!! Quite scary really, and I think time is just going to fly by…

I have an appointment with the consultant in between Christmas and New Year where hopefully we’ll be able to discuss the birth – both Lilly’s and the one I want this time. To be honest, I have a bit of a fear about this birth – and a bit of a realisation this morning that this might get worse as time goes on. I suppose the crux of the matter is I really, really want a VBAC. But I’m so scared that I won’t be able to do it – that when it comes to the crunch I won’t have the determination or resolve to birth naturally, that they’ll offer me an “easy way out” and I’ll take it. Do I really want it as much as I think I do? Can I be strong enough? Can I cope with the pain and the pushing and everything? Will i get the support I need or will I be unlucky and end up with a horrible midwife who isn’t encouraging and doesn’t help me?

And on the practical side – will they want me strapped down on a monitor, unable to move around and help things along naturally? Will they start messing with me too early on then put me on this stupid “time restriction” by which I must’ve reached a certain dilation or they threaten me with more intervention or surgery?

This time the birth feels like such an uncertainty – something that I perhaps have little or no control over. If the baby is breach, they’ll be telling me to have an elective section. If the baby is overdue, likewise.

I haven’t thought all that much about the birth yet, but as you can see, when I do, I feel a bit overwhelmed with worries. It wasn’t like this with Lilly at all – I just trusted that all would be fine, and it never crossed my mind that I’d have a section, let alone under a general anaesthetic. I really don’t want that again – I just want to be normal!

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