Wednesday 31 October 2012

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Relaxing Retreat...

Before we had kids the prospect of going away for the weekend conjured up thoughts of relaxing lazy mornings, leisurely strolls, trips to the local restaurants and bars, and romantic evenings.

How things have changed.

We enjoy making the most of our weekends and getting out and about with the kids.

I never imagined however that merely surviving the weekend would feel like a massive achievement when you throw a baby and a toddler into the equation.

Returning home still talking to one another and without having filed for divorce deserves recognition of gold medal proportions in my book.

Here is a checklist of things the brochure didn't tell you to expect on a family weekend break:

• To arrive at your destination looking like you've travelled from the other side of the world when actually you've been in the car for a couple of hours.

•To resent the pitiful looks the hotel staff give your children when you are shouting at them to stop crying after you have just rudely awoken them from slumber in the car.

•To only get a few hours sleep because the toddler is too excited and the baby doesn't understand what's going on.

•To disrupt other people's breakfast when the toddler tips over the entire container of weetabix.

•To attempt to laugh it off when the baby nearly chokes on a piece of toast and you manoeuvre in to perform the heimlich.

•To tidy up the basket of potpourri the baby has tipped over his head.

•To be ready with the toddler's wooly hat in the cafe when he declares his tummy hurts and goes a very suspicious shade of green.

•To apologise to the hotel manager after the toddler pukes all over the bedding.


The plus side to all this is that when you become a parent your ability to cope with any form of curve ball thrown your way drastically increases.

Shit happens...
And often puke happens.
You get over it and get on enjoying the precious time with your babies.

Another weekend to remember.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

The big bad wulf

Our eldest has been learning how to recognise letters and words with the use of phonics at school.

His teacher recently held a parents meeting in order to explain what phonics are and how they are used.

I have to say I came away thinking it was quite complex for four year olds.


However so far the method seems to very effective in helping our little learner develop.

Whenever we read together and I ask him what a word is he chops up the sounds (the kids literally use a chopping action) and eventually he will read the word.

My only concern with phonics is the impact it will have on his spelling.
We have been told not to correct the children's spelling if they have spelt it how it sounds.
This makes sense to me at four years old because the emphasis is more on teaching them to read than write. However, it will be interesting when they start having to learn how to spell correctly.

I am very happy and impressed so far with our little boys start in the world of education!


Thursday 4 October 2012

Reminder

Being a mother of two young children means being reminded of certain things is more often than not very useful.

However we are once again approaching a time when we are reminded of the fact that our littlest little man is not perfectly healthy.

Every day this week we have had a letter addressed to the 'carers of' which I always know to be medical letters before opening them.

Next week we will be returning to the place that brings all of the memories and mixed emotions  flooding back. The complete despair, heart ache and exhaustion of watching our special boy battle against so many problems. Then the elation and excitement of being able to take him home for that very first time just under a year ago.

Four months have passed since his last scan and it has once again become impossible to imagine that the doctors would say anything other than his heart is perfectly fine. They never say that and they will never be able to, it's just that to know him and to see him developing so wonderfully you would never know there was even an issue.

All we can do is hope that the doctors do not find any new problems and that they are happy with the scan results on the day.

This week I was momentarily thrust back into the world of poorly hearts when he started showing symptoms that we have been advised not to ignore under any circumstance.

Thankfully after an immediate visit to the doctor I was fairly reassured it was not his heart and actually just the first of what I'm hoping wont be too many winter bugs.

It is so important to live life as 'normally' as possible in between these brief reminders of the traumatic times last year. It wasn't easy at first but the show did go on and the little man is thriving better than any of us could have ever dreamed this time last year.


How wonderful it is to forget.







Wednesday 3 October 2012

Dexter

On an addiction scale that almost equals 'Prison Break' we are currently on to the third series of American drama series 'Dexter'.

I urge anyone who likes to indulge every now and again in a little dark drama with a bit of added humour to put the Dexter box set on their Christmas list.

The main plot line of the whole series is unlike anything I have seen before.

Dexter Morgan is a blood spatter pattern analyst for the Miami Metro police department. In his spare time he is a serial killer.

Reluctant as he may be though he is absolutely the hero of this wonderful drama.
It takes some time to accept that you view this sadistic blood obsessed murderer as a hero. He does however have a 'code' of killing which means he only murders the 'bad guys'.

Michael C. Hall plays Dexter. He plays the character so well and has done for seven seasons that I wonder whether he struggles to be out of character during his day to day life!

I dare any woman to not develop a crush on this very good looking vigilante despite his very unusual hobby.

There are some other great characters in the series including Dexter's sister Deb. Deb is a police officer in the same department as her brother. Her every other word is a swear word and she is obsessed with furthering her career. However, her obvious vulnerability and dependence on Dexter makes her a very likeable character. She is completely unaware of Dexter's secret life which makes their relationship very entertaining.

We are only half way through season three but so far I have loved every episode.