Samuel was born on 22nd September. Our long awaited and much longed for 3rd baby. I’ll be back to blogging soon I hope. Pregnancy this time was tough and there wasn’t much to blog about other than feeling sick, aching all the time, not being able to walk and gestational diabetes.
Still, he is here now and we are getting used to night feeds. I don’t even know if I have any readers left. I’m waving to you if I do xxx
I couldn’t decide how to do todays posts… my dad and Anthony both deserved some words and photographs and so in the end I decided to give them a post each. This comes on behalf of Robyn and Katie too.
Anthony is a wonderful Daddy to our girls, a really great Daddy.
The love that they have for eachother is so clear to see. My husband wears his heart on his sleeve.
A few weeks ago Robyn asked some questions about Anthony being her step-dad. It upset me at the time that her “real” dad had been feeding her information that was confusing and unkind. Today though she made it clear that she knows and understands what makes a father different from a Daddy.
Thankyou Anthony for being such a great Dad. You are one special man xxx
It is no secret that my Daddy is my hero. Here we are together when I was aged 11.
He is not only my dad but a great friend too. We laugh together nearly every day and I know he is always there if I need him.
I feel so lucky to be able to call him my Dad. He really is the greatest. This photo was taken on my wedding day.
I love you Dad. Happy Father’s Day xxx
Over on The Gallery this week the theme is “Friendship”. I have 2 best friends and I feel truely blessed to have them both.
3 years ago today I married my soul mate. Here we are with our precious girls after we signed the registers in church…
The 26th May 2007 was THE happiest day of my life. I know it’s a cliché but it’s true. First and foremost Anthony is my friend… 
But he is also my wonderful husband…
Happy Anniversary my wonderful Anthony. I love you xxx
See now I couldn’t mention friendship without talking about Lorna… I have known her for 14 years.
Here we are on the day of Robyns baptism…
Here we are on a rather drunken night out…
And here we are on my wedding day… did I mention that it was 3 years ago today lol.
We can go for weeks without speaking what with busy lives and living a few hours apart from eachother but when we do speak it’s as though we’ve never been apart. Friends like Lorna are very special.
So cheers, here’s to friendship and also to marriage. Long may they prosper xxx
Just a quick post as I’m not really feeling too well. I seem to have a tradition that says “Mel must have a sore throat at Easter!”. Ah well, off to bed in a bit and hopefully I’ll feel better in the morning.
I just wanted to share some pictures from our Easter celebrations at my parents house today.
Bubbly to start…
Followed by a spot of Rosé…
Followed by a scrummy dinner of roast lamb and various vegetables (oh, and more wine…)
Followed by an Easter egg hunt for the children…
Followed of course by eating the chocolate…
What do you call a bunny with no ears?!
Anything you like… it can’t hear you!
I hope you all had a very blessed and happy Easter xxx
Anthony is listening to some very cheesy music from the ’80’s this evening. Music from 1989 to be precise (I’m not sure why that year inparticular!).
In 1989 I was in my last year of primary school, we then moved house and in the September of that year I began my first year at secondary school. It wasn’t an easy time for me. I knew nobody at the school apart from my sister. I missed all my old friends and wished I could have gone to the same schools as them. I struggled to fit in at secondary school and started eating by way of coping with the stress I found myself under. Food became my comfort when I felt sad, and I did feel very sad.
While Anthony is playing these tunes from 1989 I’ve been singing along and logging into itunes and downloading a couple of songs. Richard Marx: “Right Here Waiting” is one of them along with Boy Meets Girl: “Waiting for a Star to fall”. Then he played Angry Anderson: “Suddenly” and tears filled my eyes.
Why?
Not because it makes me sad. It used to but not anymore. Now it makes me so incredibly happy.
When I (along with the whole of the UK I think) first heard the song it was while watching Neighbours (Wiki tells me in 1988, not ’89). Scott and Charlene got married and I was a happy 10 year old girl. The wedding on TV was between my two favourite characters. Jason Donovan was my hero and Kylie Minogue was playing a tomboy. I could relate to her. She was a mechanic and she wore trousers, not skirts. That was me!
I watched that wedding open mouthed. It was like a fairy tale. Every little girl dreams of getting married and the song that played in that episode stuck with me. “One day… one day”, I thought, that will be me. I will get married to the man of my dreams and it will be my very own fairy tale.
Fast forward then to when I started secondary school. Life was not rosy. I was that tomboy like Charlene in neighbours but there was no “Scott”. I was not popular and I pretty much hated life if I am honest. Like I mentioned before, I turned to food. I grew overweight which just made things worse. I was the already unpopular girl who was now fat. Oh fabulous. Two years later we moved house again and I started another new school. I already had no confidence and I was already fat. Fitting in was just never an option. I carried on the only way I knew… by eating and by putting my head down. I had a couple of good friends but there was never going to be a “Scott”. I wasn’t interested anyway. I knew nobody would be bothered with me so there was no point trying.
I used to listen to that song and cry because I had so much hope and it was all gone. I honestly thought my little girl dream would never happen. The song reminded me of all that I wanted but was out of reach. I’d never get that I thought.
Fast forward again to May 26th 2007. My wedding day. The day I thought would never happen. I found my “Scott” and he is the man of my dreams. When Anthony and I got married it was my very own fairy tale. Now I could listen to that song and cry tears of happiness, not sadness. My dream came true. The first verse of this song I keep harping on about goes like this:
I only dreamed that I would find,
A loving heart and open mind,
To see the real me,
And I hoped that you would be the one…
We had the song played at our wedding reception. It wasnt our first dance, it was too much of a song for me and not us. It is a song I will never forget. It is a song that reminds me to never give up.
Good things happen to good people 🙂
I love New Years Day, especially when I’ve had a lovely quiet evening in the night before, no hangovers and extreme tiredness here!
The day feels fresh, there is anticipation in the air and you can sense the new beginnings that comes with a brand new year. We have just taken down all of our decorations. They are now packed away and stored back up in Robyn’s attic bedroom. The living room feels a bit bare but at the same time it feels brighter. Now comes the task of sorting out all of the toys. We need to go through them all and decide which ones will go upstairs to the girls rooms, which ones will go to my mum and dads house and which will stay down here. We sorted out the toys that needed throwing away/rehoming just before Katie’s birthday so at least we know one task is done lol.
I’ve just started a 365 project on Flickr. Here is my first shot:
From now on I’ll probably only post my monthly mosaic here but feel free to keep an eye on the project on my Flickr page. You could even join in. The group I am doing it in is one set up for members past & present from my OU course but there are lots of 365 projects on Flickr.
We’ve also started a new savings scheme… £1 a day for 2010. Hopefully we will stick to it and by this time next year we will have £365 to treat ourselves with!
Well, we are about ready!
Yummy things have been prepared to eat, presents are wrapped and have been sent to Santa, we have all we need from the shops, we’ve been to the doctors with Katie and got antibiotics and an inhaler lol (thankfully she is fine in herself, she just can’t shake off this cough!) and we are now waiting for the festivities to commence! I just wanted to leave a Christmas blessing for all of my friends…
May the eagerness of the shepherds,
The perseverance of the wise men,
The obedience of Mary & Joseph,
And the peace of the Christ child
Be yours this Christmas
And remain with you always.
Amen.
Have a wonderful Christmas everyone. I hope you get all you wish for and more. Keep warm and safe.
Merry Christmas!
On Tuesday my baby girl turned 3. We had a really wonderful day! We gave her a Baby Annabell doll which has been a huge hit. Nanny & Grandad have got her a pram for her to go in for Christmas!
She was at playgroup in the morning and we sent in a birthday cake for her to share with her friends. She ran in with her chest puffed out so she could show off her new badges! After playgroup we had a lovely afternoon indoors playing with her new things. Bubble Buster from my mum and dad was another present which was a big success, aswell as the Bilibo from my Grandma. We are thinking of getting one for Robyn too as they both adore it!
After we collected Robs from school we took them for a suprise visit to Santa. Robyn was totally awestruck! Her accent changed straight away from the slightly more Midland accent she uses at home to the totally Northern accent that she saves for when she is with her friends! She asked Santa for swimming goggles. Every year she manages to ask for something she has hardly mentioned at home. I have been assured now that Santa will be able to bring goggles on Christmas morning lol… thanks Tesco! She also asked for “Purple stuff”. She has told me this lots of times luckily. Santa will be wrapping all her stocking presents in purple paper, hopefully this will suffice! Katie did not say a word to Santa but she did smile and seemed to enjoy the experience (even though the photograph suggests otherwise lol).
We rounded the day off with a visit to McDonalds and another birthday cake. An absolutely perfect birthday for a 3 year old!
I’m so happy right now. We have had a worrying week as we were not sure when we would get the money owing to us from Anthonys work. With Katies 3rd birthday next week and then Christmas obviously it was a worry that we could do without! We tried our hardest to keep positive though and this afternoon my Dad came round with some cash to keep us going. It turned out that we didnt need the loan (although the couple of hours relief it gave was worth more than any money could buy). We got paid this evening every penny (and a little bit more than we were expecting).
We also heard that one of the ringleaders in the horribleness from work was getting handed her notice this evening. Karma is a lovely thing. Sorry, not very kind of me to say that but she really is a nasty piece of work.
I am now just 1lb away from losing my first stone in weight since I started on the Metformin for my PCOS. A huge milestone for me that is making me really happy!
We are currently waiting for Anthonys sisters to arrive. They are driving up from Essex and MK to celebrate Katies birthday and for us to have an early Christmas celebration. The house is lovely and tidy, we are happy and the kids are being well behaved. Anthony has just nipped out to buy some tequila and some Tia Maria to add to the alcoholic beverages we already have so that we can make some cocktails. It could be a long and joyful evening tonight!!
So happy Friday everybody.
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