So I’ve been a bit busy…

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

Thankful Friday

This morning I managed to sleep in until 9am. I wasn’t sound asleep as the girls were awake but I was able to doze while the girls played together nicely. OK, so when I did get up the living room looked like a bomb had hit but at least my batteries were recharged!

This week I am also thankful for:

• The abundance of blackberries available. Yesterday we picked almost 3lb of juicy berries which will be saved in the freezer to make pies and crumbles through the winter. We shall go and pick more next week when more have ripened.
• Winning a photo competition on Facebook. My prize was my photograph printed onto a canvas. I’m really thrilled!
• Katie having a couple of good days.
• My lovely dad buying the girls a new pair of school shoes each.
• My husband working extra hard in the evenings after an early start for his day job. He  does the church gardening for extra pennies and out of this next lot of money he says I can have a new laptop. Love that man so much.
• Managing to lose 2lb this week. I have put on far too much weight this summer and when schools go back I will be back on the wagon properly. This has been a good start.
• My Grandma. She turns 91 in October and this week I learned that she has said some really lovely things to my dad. She is reflecting on life and making amends for some things that she has said in the past. It just shows that it is never too late to make amends.

Thankful Friday is back

Apologies for my absence. Life has been really very good lately. Anthony has been enjoying his new job and I have been enjoying being a mummy. We finally seem to have found our roles again and it is having such a positive effect on family life.

This morning I was showering both the girls and I said to Robyn “It’s Friday! We’ll be able to have a lovely weekend together”. She replied “Yes we will. Daddy doesn’t have to go to work at the weekends anymore and he is not as grumpy at his new job is he?!”. I admit that what she said really choked me. Even she has noticed how much happier we all are.

So many things to be thankful for:

• My family. Every day I am astounded at how much love is in our little family.
• The sunshine. We have been blessed with good weather the last couple of days. It makes such a difference.
• Birthdays. Robyn turned 7 on Sunday and she had a lovely day. She also had a birthday party last Friday which was wonderful. She has a great group of friends.
  My best friend also had a birthday this week. She turned the big 3-0. Gutted I couldn’t be there to help her celebrate but we will make up for it in the summer.
• Ice cream. Yum!
• Paracetamol. I had some horrible headaches this week 😦
• Winning £5 on a scratch card this morning. It paid for coffee and cakes in a café.
• Friends. This morning I went out for a walk with friends and then to the park after the café. Without them I would have sat indoors with Katie and probably wasted this beautiful day.
• Make-up. I’ve finally decided to start wearing makeup again. Only a little bit but I’ve realised how much better it makes me feel. Who’d have thought that a bit of confidence could be found in a pot of eye shadow?!

Have a lovely weekend everyone. We are hopefully heading out for some picnics so we can enjoy the sunshine that is forecast.

Thankful Friday

So much to be thankful for this week!

• Anthony got the job that he had the trial for! We just found out this evening. Totally thrilled!
• Lorna had a healthy baby girl. She has called her Alexis Iona and has 2 big brothers to look after her. We will hopefully be able to go and see them all on Sunday. I am so excited!
• I am thankful for my mum and dads apartment in Morecambe again. We were able to go there this week and take Robyns best friend with us. I love being able to make happy memories for my children.
• Thankful for good friends who help us out in various ways.
• Thankful that we can now start to try for baby number 3 again after a little break.
• Thankful that I was able to take Katie to church on Easter Sunday ON MY OWN! She was a good girl and most of all the task didn’t daunt me. I did it and I will do it again!
• Thankful that I continue to make people smile with my photography.
• Thankful that we have been able to spend some lovely time as a family this school holidays.

Thankful Friday

I’ve just got back from Robyns school assembly. Robyns class (year 2) did a performance of “The Gruffalo” for the rest of the school and the class 2 parents. It was really wonderful!
The children all performed very well and there was an extra special guest, The Gruffalo himself! School had hired the official costume as a suprise and it was so wonderful!

This afternoon Class 2 are going off to Burnley on the bus to actually meet Julia Donaldson, the author of The Gruffalo. They have been learning all about her and her books for the last few weeks and by chance she is in the area! Robyns school have managed to arrange for the children to go and meet her and they are able to take a book each to get signed.

Robyn has made me very proud this week. We had parents evening on Monday and we got a mixed report from her teacher. She is very, very capable of producing wonderful work but lets herself down by having sad days for no apparent reason where she does very little and is quite withdrawn. We had a little chat and ever since Monday Robyn has been a little superstar at school. She has done some fab work and has been very happy and enthusiastic. Most of all Robyn is proud of herself. She has realised it is nicer to be happy at school. Even 6 year olds have the choice to choose happiness. She has realised that being happy makes you more productive and more responsive. She has got so many compliments this week on her happy smiling face.
I am wondering whether her sadness has something to do with Granny Mary. As you may know she was very close to her Granny who sadly died suddenly last July. At the time she seemed to cope OK but now she has started to talk about her more and I think things might be hitting home a bit. Hopefully we can work things out and encourage her to talk.

So, today is Friday and here that means Thankful Friday. What am I thankful for this week?

That I spoke to my mum on Mother’s Day and managed to agree that next year I would like to send her a card and she will do her best to accept it graciously.

The lovely warm weather. I’ve managed to just wear my fleece jacket outside instead of my big winter coat.

Swimming. I went to the pool on Wednesday with my friend and had a really lovely time. We have promised to go more often and I really believe that we will. I might even go on my own on Monday.

Bread. This morning I woke up to fresh bread again. That smell is just divine and it tastes good too!

Childrens nurses. Yesterday Katie had to have blood tests at the hospital. I don’t mind admitting that I was dreading it but the nurse and nursery nurse were really fantastic. Katie came away with a sticker, a colourful plaster and an award card with a silver star on.

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Friday

I’ve had a really lovely week. Lots of family time and plenty to be thankful for…

I am so very thankful to report that we have our car back. Yes, you are reading that right! Over 10 weeks (that is 73 looooong days!) after the car initially broke down we are £1370 worse off (or rather my dad is until we can pay him back!) and we have a car with a new engine and a new fuel pump among other things.
I am thankful that the mechanic got it mended and incredibly thankful that my dad has been able to lend us the money. My heart aches with love for my parents. The support they give is constant and unconditional. I feel so blessed. We had them round for dinner on Wednesday night so that we could show our gratitude. We had a really wonderful evening.

Old friends. I had a lovely chat with an old school friend this week and yesterday my Godfather came to visit my parents. We went to see him while he was here and all ended up going for lunch together at the pub. My dad paid for that too. Did I mention how fab my dad is?!

Sky+. Katie has obsessions. One of the current ones is for The Disney film, Bolt. We recorded it on Sky+ a while ago and since then she has watched it more times than I can count. There are some days when it is played on a continuous loop. I’m sure she would have worn a DVD out by now. She has already worn out Shrek 1, 2 and 3 after her obsessions with those!

Playgroup. Katie loves it there so much. She adores her keyworker and the feeling is mutual. It is really lovely to see them have a big hug when we get to playgroup.

Daffodils. I finally managed to find some this week. They are brightening up my windowsil at the moment. Beautiful.

Thankful Friday

It has been half term this week and we have had a lovely time relaxing as a family after I returned from my retreat. I will blog about that another time when the kids are back at school. For now it is enough for me to say it was wonderful but I missed my little family more than I ever imagined I could.

So this week I am thankful for:

• My family. I am thankful that we can spend time together and enjoy it and also that we are able to spend time apart. We are a family that laugh, cry and be silent together and yet we allow eachother the space we need. To me that is perfect.

• The NHS. This week Katie had successful appointments with various health professionals to continue the support that we recieve. I was speaking with someone from the States last week about the NHS and it made me realise how lucky we are in the UK. I am so thankful that we get free healthcare that makes such a difference.
• My friends. One inparticular this week has been great to have around. I am building up a firm friendship with her and we are soon arranging to go swimming together. We have also promised to take our girls (her daughter is Robyns best friend) to the cinema together.
• My parents. Yet again they are helping us out financially by facilitating the loan that we need to get our car fixed. This time it needs a new engine which is going to cost around £850. Ouch.
• The kindness of others. Last Sunday while in France we were a bit worried about catching the bus to the train station in time to get the TGV we needed to catch the flight home. There was lots of snow in Taizé and we had a big hill to walk down with our luggage. A lovely French girl offered us a lift down the hill and so we caught the bus and got home. We were so thankful.
• Good food. In Taizé the food is basic. When I say basic I am being generous. It was lovely to come home and eat good, tasty food! 
• Taizé. Taizé is a magical place for me where I can feel at peace. I cannot describe how I feel when I am there but I get an immense feeling of wellbeing. That only has to be good.

Have a good weekend everyone xxx

Thankful Friday

I’ve been meaning to start Thankful Friday blog posts for a while. My friend Mel always writes on and it always makes me sit and think about my own week and what I should be thankful for.

So here I am. This week has been a fairly frustrating one. We have waited in for the mechanic to come and fix our car that broke down on 27th December, yes that is almost 6 weeks without a car! I have been quite poorly with horrible dizzy spells that make me pretty much unable to do anything apart from sit or lay with my head very still. Katie has been quite difficult this week too. The tantrums have been creeping back 😦

However, this week I am thankful for:

1. The mechanic finally turning up on Wednesday afternoon and eventually managing to get our car started. We dashed straight out in it just because we could. We felt so free!
2. The NHS. Robyn saw her consultant today about her hiatus hernia. Her tablets have been increased and she is back on the list to see the surgeon again at his next clinic in April. I saw a doctor on Tuesday about my dizzy spells and got some tablets to help the symptoms. If they dont work I have to go back. They are not doing much so far so I will certainly be going back again after my break (see my next thing to be thankful for). I also picked up my new glasses on Monday. New prescription so I am now able to see properly again and thanks to the UK benefit system my new specs only cost me £10.
3. My husband. On Sunday I go away to Taizé on retreat for a week. My husband will be home alone with the girls. For this i am so so thankful.
4. Playgroup. Katie being able to go to playgroup has been a lifeline for me this week. She is so happy there and that makes me happy!
5. I am thankful to my friend Mel for helping me to see things from a new perspective. Life is good. Things can only get you down if you let them. My outlook on life has totally turned around since I started to understand you can get anywhere in life if you really want to.
6. For our £10 winning lottery ticket on Wednesday.

Happy Friday everyone!