Monday

I couldn't have a lie in this morning, as I had to get up and get Princess Lollipop ready to go to OUR shop with Mr Messy. She was NOT happy at having to wake up earlier than she wanted to, and was clingy and grumpy all through getting her up, getting her breakfast and getting washed and dressed! Mr Messy was late back from dropping Little Prince at school, so we had time for a snuggle on the sofa, and that seemed to cheer her up a little. When Mr Messy arrived home, he explained he had been chatting to one of the Dad's from school who is an artist and might be able to work with Mr Messy to offer something extra to his photography clients.

We got Princess Lollipop ready to go out, and Mr Messy collected Little Prince's tablets to take to school, as he had forgotten to give one to Little Prince in the morning as they had been rushing. Princess Lollipop was excited to "find it Little Prince" but I think she'll be upset that he has to stay at school and she can't! As soon as she stepped out of the door she started to complain about the cold, despite being wrapped up snuggly warm!

Now I've cleaned up the kitchen and dining room I'm off for a nice leisurely shower, with no interruptions :-) Then I've got to take my car back to the garage, who can hopefully fix it today so that I'll be mobile again!! I can't wait :-)

After dropping my car at the garage, they gave me a lift to OUR shop and I spent the day there with Mr Messy and Princess Lollipop. When Princess Lollipop had a nap in the afternoon, I sat next to her on the sofa and read some more of my book, I'm now up to the fourth book in the series, and I'm really enjoying reading again :-) I left OUR shop in time to pick Little Prince up from school. He was in a bad mood as soon as he realised his friend J had football today and couldn't come to play, even though we've arranged that the boys can play at J's house tomorrow, he is sill in a foul mood. He is definitely acting like his medication has already worn off, even though he took it later today than usual :-(

The garage rang and said they need to keep my car until tomorrow to finish the repairs, which turned out to be more extensive than previously thought! So now me and the littlies have to drive back to OUR shop to pick up Mr Messy and Drama Teen. Princess Lollipop is throwing a strop because she wants to put her own coat and boots on, and can't quite manage. Little Prince is being impatient and sarcastic with her. Fun times!!!

Sunday

Mr Messy took Princess Lollipop downstairs, so I had a lovely, child-free lie in, bliss :-) When I did finally get up, I had to rush round to get ready to go to the supermarket before it closed. I went on my own as Mr Messy was watching football (or pitboll as Princess Lollipop says) with Princess Lollipop, Drama Teen was mooching around looking miserable as she wanted to see Boyfriend (and we only have one car so she had to wait till I got back) and Little Prince was refusing to get dressed!

Due to my car being broken all week, this is the first time I've been out properly for ages! So I made the most of it, slowly wandering round the supermarket, with no whinging "Can I have..." it was heavenly :-) After finishing the shopping I stopped to get something to eat before driving home. When I reached home Princess Lollipop was fast asleep on the sofa and Drama Teen was upstairs, so me, Mr Messy and Little Prince put all the shopping away. Once Drama Teen noticed I was home she started pestering to be taken to Boyfriend's house, Mr Messy set off to take her and I stayed at home with the Littlies.

Little Prince had decided to reorganise his Match Attax card book, and so we sat together sorting all the players into their national teams, so he could keep each country together. This is not something he would undertake normally, as it would take too much time and patience.

When Mr Messy returned from dropping Drama Teen off he sorted out the littlies tea, both littlies ate it all up, and as Little Prince hadn't eaten any lunch this was a relief. After that his behaviour deteriorated badly, and he was back to his old favourites of screaming, jumping around madly, throwing tantrums and slamming doors :-( Eventually he stomped upstairs and slammed into his bedroom to play in there for a while. When he calmed down he came back downstairs for a while before it was time to get ready for bed. He was NOT happy about going to bed as Mr Messy had promised to have a "boys camp out" in the lounge with him, but I explained he had to go and have some quiet, calm down time in his room until Daddy decided it was bedtime and THEN he could come back down. I took Princess Lollipop up to bed, and then stayed in bed reading, so "the boys" could get their camp ready. Little Prince slept on his Ready Bed, but it deflated during the night and he moved to the sofa. He must have slept well as Mr Messy had to wake him up in the morning to get ready for school!

Happy 8th Birthday Little Prince

~*~ Happy birthday to our Gorgeous Little Prince ~*~

During the last week, it has been Little Prince's 8th Birthday :-) We all got up to be with him when he opened his presents before school, even though Princess Lollipop was less than impressed with getting up!! She was even less impressed that all the presents were for Little Prince and not her!! She had to sit on my knee being cuddled to stop her from raiding the present pile! However, seeing how upset she was Little Prince, with no prompting or anyone asking him to, brought a present over to her to open :-) And after he had opened each present he would hand it over to Princess Lollipop to examine, luckily most of them were safely boxed, while he started on the next one :-) He is such a generous sweetie :-) He got some lovely gifts from us, our family and his friends including a Star Wars version of Battleships, a Star Wars matching game, lots of Lego, a Darth Vader and a Clone Trooper voice changer helmets and lots of American sweets and choccies AND a Clone Trooper figure from LMS and her American Boyfriend. He loved everything and was so excited :-)

He didn't make any fuss when it was time to get ready for school and ran upstairs to get washed and changed into his uniform. Drama Teen left to catch her college bus, but came back moments later and said she missed it! As my car is awaiting repairs, I took Drama Teen to college in Mr Messy's car and Mr Messy walked the littlies up to school to drop Little Prince off. He and Princess Lollipop got back home before I did, and once I returned with the car Mr Messy went off to OUR shop. Princess Lollipop was tired so she and I had a quiet day, before Little Prince came home from school.

When he arrived home he immediately wanted to examine all his presents and get them out of their boxes. His medication was wearing off and it made him very impatient and he wouldn't wait for me or Mr Messy to read the instructions before he was off trying whichever toy it was! This lead to a bit of frustration as things didn't always work how he thought they would, but he managed to not have any tantrums and coped pretty well :-) His attention span was practically zero, so that by the time me or his Dad had read the instructions of the toy he wanted, he was on the next one and it took a bit of hard work to contain him!

After eating a normal amount of tea YEAH, Little Prince was reluctant to have any birthday cake. When offered the icing Yoda head, he changed his mind and ate it up, albeit a lot more slowly than he normally would.

He did have one short shout at Mr Messy, as he had just repeated my (ignored) instructions to stop playing and go and get ready for bed. But this didn't escalate into a full tantrum, just a moment of shouting and then he compliantly went to get ready :-) Well done Little Prince :-)

Saturday

Mr Messy and Drama Teen went over to OUR shop early this morning, as Mr Messy wanted to take a small filing cabinet from his office at home to use at the shop. If he gets there early he has much more chance of parking right outside the shop, so he doesn't have to walk too far with the heavy filing cabinet. As they had left early he was gone before me and Princess Lollipop came downstairs, Little Prince was already downstairs waiting for us.

We are stuck at home today due to my broken car, I hope we can find enough to do to keep the littlies from getting too bored and fractious! I've got to upset Princess Lollipop soon and take her for her bath, as she didn't get her hair conditioned yesterday as I had to go to the garage with my car. I did get Princess Lollipop's hair done, but a little later than I intended as the littlies got distracted by playing bubbles :-) Little Prince would blow them and then Princess Lollipop would try to catch them all :-)

Little Prince and Princess Lollipop played together on and off all afternoon. However, at one point Little Prince got very frustrated and angry with Princess Lollipop when she wouldn't be quiet so he could hear his programme on the TV, he pushed her hard and she fell over and banged herself on the playpen/barrier we use to close off part of the lounge for him to play with his small toys. She cried and cried, and Little Prince was almost as upset as she was, I think he shocked himself at how hard he had pushed his sister and how easily he had hurt her :-( He ran off out of the room, and when he came back Princess Lollipop ran away from him, scared - which upset Little Prince SOOOOO much. He was very remorseful and very upset to think that his precious little sister was now scared of him. When Princess Lollipop saw how sad he was she ran over to give him a hug and kiss, and he was so thankful that she still loved him. I had a stern talk with him about how he was much bigger than his sister and how he had to try and always remember to be gentle with her. He promised he would try, and I think he will remember the shock and hurt he felt for a long time and won't do anything like that again, till he forgets!

Drama Teen got the bus to her Boyfriend's town during the afternoon, so Mr Messy arrived home from OUR shop on his own. He was very tired and has hurt his arm somehow, he doesn't even know what he's done to it! Drama Teen texted later in the evening to say that she and Boyfriend were going to the cinema and then for a meal, so it sounds like they may have sorted out their differences :-) Princess Lollipop fell asleep just before Mr Messy arrived home, and had about an hour's nap, hopefully she will still sleep tonight!! While she was sleeping Mr Messy and Little Prince shared a pizza, but it took a lot of encouragement to get Little Prince to eat any of his pizza as he just kept repeating he wasn't hungry. His appetite has seemed back to normal more or less these last few days, so this was quite worrying, especially as he'd refused to eat any lunch either :-(

While Mr Messy was out collecting Drama Teen from the restaurant, I got Princess Lollipop ready for bed, although she shows no sign whatsoever of being tired! Little Prince is also still downstairs as Mr Messy had promised that they would have a camp out in the lounge, but now Mr Messy has a sore arm he has postponed the camp out :-( Little Prince is trying to persuade me to sleep downstairs with him instead, and so far I haven't been able to come up with a way of saying no without upsetting Little Prince!! Urgh!! I hate camping, ever since sleeping in leaky Girl Guide tents I just can't stand it!!!

Friday

Princess Lollipop and I had not long been downstairs, when the Mum of one of the boys who missed Little Prince's party knocked at the door. She apologised profusely for E not being at the party, but she and her husband had mistaken the day and had gone the day AFTER they should have done!! Apparently E had been extremely cross with them, and it had cost them a trip to Pizza Hut to cheer him up lol. She came in for a chat and we arranged for Little Prince to go and play at E's house next Thursday. E has moved to a new school and the boys still really miss each other :-( However, E's Mum was saying that she was not happy with the new school E goes to and she is considering moving him back to Little Prince's school. I daren't mention this to Little Prince as he would be absolutely gutted if it didn't actually happen! But he would be thrilled to bits if E returned to his class :-)

After E's Mum had left me and Princess Lollipop carried on with our morning, and I was just about to take her for her bath when Mr Messy rang to say that he'd arranged for me to take my car to a local garage that specialises in my car's make. So we abandoned the bath plans and got ready to go out. I dropped Princess Lollipop off at OUR shop with Mr Messy and carried on to the garage. The mechanic agreed that the breaks were broke, and I'm booked in for them to be repaired on Monday, and have been advised to not use my car as the brakes might not be safe. As Mr Messy is in OUR shop on Saturday, me and the littlies will be grounded again :-(

I returned straight home from the garage, I'd arranged that Mr Messy would bring Princess Lollipop home later. I sat down and read some more of my book :-) It is fantastic to be calm and unstressed enough to enjoy reading again - I can't remember when I last read and finished a whole novel!! And I hadn't really realised what a crushing weight dealing with Little Prince's out of control behaviour had been, until now and that weight has been lifted! Its not only Little Prince's life that is changing for the better with this new medication :-)

Mr Messy arrived home just in time for me to get ready and go out to pick Little Prince up from school. We went straight from school to his swimming lesson. He was ready early and I let him play in the shallow end (with me closely supervising from the side) until his teacher was ready for him. I was a bit concerned with how silly Little Prince was getting - splashing wildly and jumping around madly! I made him come out of the pool for a few minutes and he was calmer when he was allowed to play again. After his lesson his teacher said he concentrated really hard and worked very well - so perhaps he'd got his "sillies" over and done with before his lesson :-)

We called at the chippie on the way home and Little Prince said he was hungry (wonderful - that's the first time he's said that since he started on his medication) and ordered a large amount of food! When we got home he didn't manage to eat all of it, but he had a pretty good go at it :-)

A friend of ours gave us a small bike that her daughter had grown out of, for Princess Lollipop - its pink with tassles on the handlebars and is very girlie!! We had tried to keep it as an extra surprise for her birthday, but she'd seen it and WANTED it!! So after we'd finished tea Mr Messy went and brought it downstairs for her, she LOVED it - she can't ride it at all, but she loves sitting on it and waving goodbye to everyone :-) Little Prince can just about sit on it too (when Princess Lollipop isn't looking!!) and managed to pedal it :-) He has NEVER managed to pedal a bike properly, and he got so frustrated and upset that we got rid of his bike years ago. However, now we think he might be able to manage - another fantastic result for the medication :-) All the little boys his age (and the younger ones he plays with) ride bikes and it is such a big part of childhood to whizz round on a bike, that I've always been so sad that Little Prince will miss out on this. And now it looks like he won't have to miss out, it might seem like a small thing, but its HUGE to me (and Little Prince).

Even though his medication had worn off Little Prince played nicely with the large dolls house we have upstairs. It is filled with tiny, delicate furniture and usually Little Prince is so rough and impatient that he breaks many of the small pieces. This time he wanted to show me what he'd been doing - he had arranged one of the rooms beautifully and not broken a single piece :-) He did get silly when we told him it was time to get ready for bed, but eventually went upstairs and (touch wood!) we haven't heard him since!!

Princess Lollipop has been tired all afternoon, and she fell asleep while I was tidying the kitchen so she is in bed too!! Drama Teen is upstairs in her room, her and Boyfriend are still "working things out" which seems to involve LOTS of tears on her part :-( I hope they can sort things out soon as I hate seeing Drama Teen so sad :-(

Thursday

Me and Princess Lollipop had another quiet day, she was still tired from Little Prince's party yesterday and had quite a long nap. And when she was awake she didn't want to play she just wanted to be cuddled up on my lap, I hope she's not coming down with something else!

Drama Teen spent most of the evening after college in her room, she has had an argument with her Boyfriend and is pretty upset about it :-( She doesn't want to talk to me or her Dad about what she and Boyfriend have argued about and wants to work it out between them on their own. I just feel helpless that my little girl (Yes I know Drama Teen you aren't a little girl any more - but you'll always be my little girl) is hurting and I can't do anything to help her :-(

Little Prince went up to get ready for bed at 7.45pm and finally came down for hugs and kisses at 8.30pm (he said "I got a bit distracted" lol!! It is taking him longer and longer to get ready! We are being fairly lenient about all of this as we realise his medication is affecting his ability to get to sleep and its not something he's doing deliberately. Once he goes up to bed we have started to say that its ok to be awake, but he has to be fairly quiet and in his own room! This seems to be working and he's managing to get to sleep at a more reasonable (but not great) time. Hopefully he will carry on managing to get to sleep a little earlier each night and eventually he'll be back to having a good nights sleep!

Party Time

We are hosting Little Prince's 8th birthday party today at an indoor play centre, the same one we visited at weekend with Lil Sis and her family. Little Prince is EXTREMELY excited!! I'm totally disorganised!!! We've got to pick him (and a friend) up from school, rush to the Supermarket and get a birthday cake and party bags, then rush over to the play centre for 4.30pm!! Its definitely going to be rush rush rush!!! Princess Lollipop is fast asleep on the sofa, as she was really tired and she'll get over tired and grumpy if she didn't get a nap before going to her brother's party, where she will also run round non stop!! There are about 12 children (including the littlies) coming so it should be loud and chaotic - just how a little boy's birthday party should be lol. I've got to go and pack a bag of party clothes for Little Prince and hope I get it right!! And fingers crossed Princess Lollipop wakes up in time to get changed too!!

Well Princess Lollipop woke up almost as soon as I'd written the sentence above lol. So I got her changed into her pretty dress that she got for Christmas, and she was extremely impressed that the dress had a matching hand bag :-) And that she could finally wear her "pawkul doos on" (sparkle shoes-on, all clothes/shes have "on" at the end for some reason!). Mr Messy arrived home in time to get Princess Lollipop's car seat fitted in his car and for us all to get round to school in time to collect Little Prince.

We also collected Little Prince's friend C, who we were taking to the party with us. Plus the ginormous present she had bought for Little Prince!! We arranged with C's Dad that we would drop her off at home when the party finished. On the way to the party we had to make a quick stop at the Supermarket, for a birthday cake and party bags and fillings!! I left the three kids and Mr Messy in the car and ran in as quick as I could! I met Y's Mum, who had been to college and was going to do some shopping before meeting us at the party (Y had travelled with hsi best friend's Mum). We arrived early, which gave me time to get the party bags filled!! Little Prince and his friend rushed to the toilets to get changed out of their school uniforms and then were on pins waiting for their friends to arrive. I managed to persuade them to go and play instead of just hanging around, and they did and had fun :-)

It wasn't too long before the other children started to arrive and they all seemed to be playing together nicely. However, one little boy T wasn't having a great time :-( His Mum said it was probably because he was under the weather and was hungry. After a few minutes T, threw a strop and ran off and hid in the play structure and ran away everytime his Mum tried to talk to him! Eventually she persuaded him to come back to where we were sitting and offered him a snack to eat, however T had got himself so worked up he refused and ran off again! Luckily the play centre has one secure entrance that children are only allowed out of with their parent, although to his credit T didn't even think of trying to leave. After making his point, T finally came back to us and ate his snack, which cheered him up a little but he then started saying he didn't feel very well and wanted to go home :-( The next drama was when R ran to her Mum crying, apparently she couldn't keep up with her big sister and C (the girl we brought with us) and had lost them and was all upset. After a hug from her Mum she cheered up :-) Until she and the older two girls came running to me to tell us that a bigger boy had been pushing them and swearing at them!! We told them to ignore the boy, who was obviously a bit of a thug, and asked the three of them to "look after" Princess Lollipop in the toddler area for us for a few minutes. This distracted the girls and they were delighted to have a "living doll" to play with!! They were soon happy enough to go and play in the older kids area again :-)

Finally the children were called to the party room to eat. I'd booked a cold buffet for the food (it was on special offer lol) and thought the variety of food provided was good, the amount of food to feed 10 older children and one Princess Lollipop was paltry! The children ate almost everything and I'm sure if there had been more available they would have eaten more! The dessert was a choice of one item from a plate of tiny cakes and biscuits (eg one jaffa cake!) which seemed very stingy!! The children didn't complain, although I'm sure they'll all want something more to eat when they get home!!

There was time for a little bit more playing and I hoped there would be no more drama, but there was! This time some of the children were playing football in the "ball enclosure" when Little Prince came out sobbing and wouldn't tell us what was wrong :-( After a lot of hugs and comforting from Daddy he told us that J had punched and hurt him, this was confirmed by T's Mum who had seen it all happen. J obviously realised he was in trouble and ran and hid in the toilets!! When he came out I went over and told him it wasn't nice to hurt people and that he had to come and apologise to Little Prince, he did so immediately and the boys shook hands and ran off to find something else to play together :-) I do like that about boys that all the hurts and fighting can be so quickly sorted out and forgotten, girls (well our older two at least) seem a LOT more complicated!!

When the children started to leave, Little Prince gave out the party bags and thanked each friend for coming to his party and saying goodbye :-) As party hosts we had to stay until all the others had left, but finally it was our turn to pack up and get to the car. We dropped C off at her house and then came home. Little Prince was allowed to open one present tonight, as I didn't want him getting over excited just before bedtime, its hard enough to get him to settle down at the moment!! He opened his present from H & L, and it was a Disney 20Q - he loves it and has taken it to bed to play on instead of reading tonight! I was so upset though as Lil Sis has got him a 20Q!!! Sorry Lil Sis, we'll have to see if we can exchange your present :-(

After having a snack it was time for Little Prince to get ready for bed, and like I said he didn't want to read Harry Potter tonight, he wanted to play on his 20Q game. As is becoming more and more usual it takes him hours to settle down and I can still hear him banging around in his room and its after 10pm! I wish he'd go to sleep as I've got all his presents to wrap up before I can go to bed!!

Eating UP, Sleeping DOWN

Little Prince's appetite seems to be returning, thankfully. He is such a skinny rake and uses so much energy up each day, that I was getting worried about how little he been eating once he started on the medication. So I'm thrilled to see this return to wanting to eat :-)

However, his sleeping doesn't seem to be getting much better. He is tucked up in bed as normal, allowed his reading time and then he is supposed to go to sleep. He doesn't!! He is up and down the stairs saying he can't sleep and using any number of excuses to either sleep in my bed, or to stay downstairs! He stays awake for hours and finds it really difficult to settle down. He hasn't been on the medication for a week yet, so hopefully there is time for this to settle down and for Little Prince to get some much needed sleep!

Tuesday

After her mega late night last night, Princess Lollipop didn't wake up until almost lunchtime!!! And even though it was lunchtime she had to start the day with her "bweta" (breakfast) which she now manages to eat all by herself - her dexterity using a spoon (or fork) is better than Little Prince's is now!! Although while his medication is working he is managing to improve his fine motor skills tremendously :-)

Mr Messy came home in time to collect Princess Lollipop and take her with him to get Little Prince from school. He came home with both Little Prince and his friend Y, who was coming to play. This is becoming a very busy week!! The boys played in Little Prince's room for a while before coming downstairs and playing on the Wii together. Unfortunately one of the controllers wasn't working properly, so they couldn't play two players. I was very proud of how they took turns and helped each other out on the various games :-)

After they had eaten their tea, they went back on the Wii and weren't quite so co-operative with each other! Little Prince kept trying to take over when it was Y's turn and got very impatient and shouty when Y wasn't winning on his turn! Just as Y's Mum arrived to pick Y up, Little Prince was in full shouting, screaming melt down mode - he was accusing Drama Teen of stealing his metal detector and hiding it! I sent Little Prince to the lounge while me and Y's Mum chatted in the hall, and after she'd gone dealt with the melt down!

Little Prince is now in the kitchen making himself a snack, its great to see his appetite is returning :-) And he has just come in and asked if he could have "One of those relaxing drinks. Oliver-time" Any guesses lol???

Monday

Me and Princess Lollipop had a long lie in, I think all the playing yesterday, followed by a late night made Princess Lollipop very tired. We then had a very quiet, leisurely day just pottering around the house. Princess Lollipop just seemed to want to snuggle on my lap, or lie on her back on her trampoline - I guess she is still tired!!

Mr Messy closed OUR shop early and came home, he collected Princess Lollipop and took her up to school with him to collect Little Prince. Mr Messy had arranged for one of Little Prince's friends to come round to play after he'd called at home to get changed first. Little Prince was very excited :-) When friend T arrived both boys ran off upstairs to play in Little Prince's room, this is a new thing for Little Prince as normally he is only allowed a few minutes in his room with friends before having to return downstairs to play under closer supervision! This came about as every time I allowed him and a friend to play in his room they would manage to break something or get out every single toy in there and refuse to tidy up!! The play time has gone very well, apart from one incident - they boys were trying to get themselves a packet of crisps, and managed to knock a box of cereal all over the kitchen floor!! Once Mr Messy had returned from picking Drama Teen up from her friend's house I got it all cleaned up - and to give credit where its due the boys had tried to vacuum the cereal up themselves :-)

Little Prince had chicken curry for tea, at his request, however, he said it was too spicey and threw it all in the bin! He ended up eating almost half a cheese pizza instead, roughly the same amount he would normally eat, when not on his new medicine.

He and Drama Teen played a game of Monopoly together, and Little Prince was THRILLED that he won :-) He put 4 houses on one property and when Drama Teen landed there she couldn't pay and he bankrupted her!! Even though he had played this with her, and he's been begging to play Monopoly for ages, as soon as the game was over he was grumbling about how little Drama Teen played with him!! This reaction drives Drama Teen loopy and she gets impatient with him and says she won't play with him any more!! We keep trying to tell him that he should try not to complain and remember the nice game he just played!!

At bedtime, he couldn't find his comfort Blankie (he has to have it to sleep) and so he was up and down from bed for ages! However, when I went to bed at 11pm he was already fast asleep, which is the earliest he has been asleep since starting his new medication :-)

Unfortunately Princess Lollipop decided this would be the perfect opportunity to refuse to go to sleep and she was downstairs with Daddy until midnight!! When he brought her to bed she did, under protest, finally go to sleep!!!

Cousins Come to Play

Little Prince has been VERY excited all morning. My Lil Sis, her husband and their 5 children are coming over today. They are coming over to drop Little Prince's birthday present (he will be 8 next week) and then we are going to go to an indoor play centre for a mini birthday party. He took his tablet later on this morning (10am) so that it would last and cover the time his cousins are here. He spent a long time playing on his DS again this morning, but once I'd finished my jobs and settled down in the lounge I told him he had to stop and play something else. He has been in a bad mood ever since!! I told him to tidy his room and that lead to a HUGE tantrum, he slammed the baby gate on the lounge door, stamped all the way upstairs and slammed his bedroom door!! He spent 10 minutes or so upstairs and then came down and said he was sorry :-) He then took me to show me how tidy his room was, and he'd done a great job :-) Normally it takes him 10 minutes just to get round to starting, so its amazing how much work he managed to get done in the time he was upstairs :-) He had a few more moans about how bored he was, went upstairs saying he was going to bed as there was NOTHING to do a few times!! I think most of this is excitement and anticipation of his cousins arriving, and its nothing like his behaviour normally escalates to! He is now glued to the front window trying to spot when they arrive, I've told him what sort of car they drive but he doesn't know what that make/model looks like so it didn't help!!

He's seen what could be them and pelted to the front door to make sure. I think he's a bit excited!!! It is them - and he's happy again :-) Phew :-) Well that didn't last very long!! As soon as he saw his cousin T (similar age, similar problems) he ran upstairs and hid!! He has told everyone to leave him alone and refuses to come downstairs!! Luckily Lil Sis, having a similar son, understands (thank you Lil Sis). We all have a bit of a chat, and a cuddle and coo over their newest little one, who has grown so much since I last saw her!! And what chubby cheeks she has - just like her Mummy at that age :-) After a while we loaded up into our cars and headed off to an indoor play centre, the one we went to has a great toddler area. When we were signing the children in we also found out that Lil Sis's oldest two (14 and 11) could play, which pleased them and surprised us parents as normally they are either too old or too tall to play!

We spent a good few hours at the play centre, Princess Lollipop loves running around and up and down the slides in the toddler area. After the children had played for a while we sorted out some food, which given how many of us there were and how fussy some of us are took quite a while lol. Little Prince refused to eat anything at all, and just drank half a blue slushie (he's NEVER been allowed a blue anything before!!!). While everyone was eating Little Prince hid himself in a corner of the toddler area and refused to talk to anyone. Once his cousins had finished their meals, they tried to get him to play - he refused. Me and Mr Messy tried to persuade him to play, as his cousins live on the other side of the country and they don't get together very often. He still refused and ran off to hide in the older kids play section! Life's certainly never dull with Little Prince around!! Little Prince stayed hidden until we sent cousin T to find him, he found him and brought him back to where we were all sitting, however on the way Little Prince thumped him!! We made Little Prince apologise immediately and told him that was completely unacceptable behaviour!

It took a while to round up 6 mobile kids and 1 baby and get them back into their shoes and coats, but we eventually managed it!! Both Little Prince and Princess Lollipop fell asleep in the car on the drive home lol. Lil Sis and family came in for a cup of tea and a chat, and to drop off Little Prince's birthday presents and pick up the things I'd sorted out to give them. The boys played a lot better together this time, apart from Little Prince getting irritated with T and trying not to let him see what he was doing on his DS, which once he was told to stop he did. In fact it was the three girls that weren't playing as nicely this time lol.

Lil Sis and family and Mr Messy (taking Drama Teen's Boyfriend home) left at the same time, and Princess Lollipop was devastated that Daddy went without her :-( She did give cousin Baby a lot of "tiss and hud" (kisses and hugs) before they went. Then while we were saying goodbye on the doorstep, Princess Lollipop tried to shut me out of the house - I could hear her giggling wildly behind the door!! Little Monster lol!!

When everyone had left and the house was as calm as it can be with Little Prince in it, I got him some quick snacks for tea. It took him about 3/4 hour to eat it and he needed constant encouragement to keep going, but at least I know he has eaten something nutritious before bed!! He then went up to bed, although didn't settle down until Mr Messy and Drama Teen got back and Mr Messy tucked him in.

Princess Lollipop was thrilled that everyone had come home, although she refused to hug Daddy and immediately demanded "More nint" (more drink) from Drama Teen - who sometimes feels that is her only role in life for Princess Lollipop!!

I Think this Medicine Will Change My Life

This is what Little Prince told me yesterday, and again today! And I think he's right :-) He can already see the benefits of it himself, and says he's in love with his medicine, bless :-)

He has been playing on his DS ALL MORNING! This isn't unusual, what is unusual is that he is still playing the SAME game and concentrating soooo hard. He hasn't had ANY loud and angry outbursts! I've been able to leave him playing in the same room that Princess Lollipop is napping and he hasn't woken her up! We have had long sensible conversations, without me having to say his name repeatedly to regain his attention. He's asked questions and waited for the answer before moving on! He's made thoughtful and relevant comments, not just gone off in a disorganised ramble about his imaginary world! He has been incredibly kind and patient with Princess Lollipop and not shouted at her or hidden himself away from her at all today. He is nothing short of a dream to be around and I'm LOVING the peace and quiet :-)

The peace and quiet lasted until 2pm!! Then first he started whinging constantly that his game wasn't fair! That he couldn't do it and it was stupid! Then he started getting impatient with Princess Lollipop who was trying to get him to play with her. I am making him come off the DS in a few minutes, and he is whinging and moaning about that too. I have enjoyed the peace and quiet and enjoyed how pleased Little Prince was with his concentration abilities, but enough is enough! And it isn't peaceful any more so he has to come off it!!

He is back to being chaotic! Emptying out toy boxes then playing with the toys for a few minutes before moving on to something else. He has had a number of outbursts - tears, anger and irritation. He is also back to ridiculing or shouting at the TV programmes that Princess Lollipop likes to watch. We had a few games of co-operative Bop-It, where I had to do the the "spin" and he did the other three commands - he managed to beat his previous high score, and consistently scored more than he usually does and he also managed to not get frustrated when he didn't get a good score. So there are still positives even though his behaviour is mostly back to "no medication" style. He is now playing on Mario Kart on the Wii, with Princess Lollipop thinking she is playing using the spare controller lol. So far he is winning so he isn't getting frustrated - we'll see how it goes!! In the end the game got too frustrating for him and he switched the Wii off :-(

He ate his tea up, chicken and veg and a smoothie drink, but won't eat anything else - normally he'd want a dessert too. He hasn't really eaten much all day, and given how skinny he is it is quite a worrying side affect - fingers crossed he gets over it soon!

He has also become very agitated this evening as Drama Teen promised (and signed a piece of paper to seal her promise) that when she and Mr Messy got home from OUR shop, that she would play a board game with me and Little Prince. While she was at OUR shop this afternoon she got invited to her friend's house and went there and stayed for tea. Little Prince is feeling very upset and unloved, he feels that Drama Teen is doing it deliberately to avoid playing with him :-( I don't think she is, but I can't convince him of that :-( I am very cross at her though, for forgetting her promise like this and putting herself first once again, all Little Prince wants is half an hour every now and again for her to play with him and she constantly avoids it.

Drama Teen has JUST arrived to cries of "What took you so long?" from Little Prince!! She gave him a hug, but he still feels like crying and still feels like he takes second place to everything in Drama Teen's life :-( I have asked them to choose a game that we can play (although it can't be Little Prince's first choice of Monopoly as it takes so long!!) and we'll have a game before its time for Little Prince to go to bed. Hopefully this will make him feel better and he'll be able to settle down to sleep tonight!!

We played Battleships, moe and Little Prince on one team against Drama Teen. It didn't take long for Little Prince to get the hang of the game, although he had to be reminded where to place his pegs to show where he'd "shot" and to actually tell Drama Teen when she'd hit one of our ships, not just pull his face!! More through luck than judgement our team won :-) Of course this delighted Little Prince :-) However, within minutes he was complaining that it was only one game, and telling Drama Teen that she never plays with him. I had to get between them and remind Little Prince we'd just played a lovely game that he'd thoroughly enjoyed and that if he carried on making a fuss and picking on Drama Teen she wouldn't want to play with him again!! This seemed to calm him back down and he got ready for bed, only complaining that he wanted to sleep downstairs and not in his room!! I let him read for 15 mins, that turned into 30 mins!! Then I tucked him up and told him it was time to sleep - I've not heard banging and crashing from his room, so he is either reading again or he has gone to sleep!! Fingers crossed its the latter!! I'll check when I go up to bed!!

Well I checked at 11pm when I went to bed, and everything was quiet seeming - until I opened the door and saw him playing on his DS!! AND he managed to sneak downstairs and get his big pile of sweets!! I took his DS off him and hid it in my room for the night and told him he had to go to sleep or he would be too tired to play with his cousins when they came over tomorrow!! I didn't hear him come out of his room, so hopefully he DID go to sleep!!

Negotiations!

With a not yet TWO YEAR OLD!!! Princess Lollipop has recently started to try and bargain her way out of having her bath and hair conditioned!! All the way up the stairs she tells me "Baff Mowow" (bath tomorrow)! Then once we are in the bathroom and the bath is running, she tells me "Baff spash. NO head. NO dish-on-er." (Bath splash. No brushing hair. No conditioner)!! Then when that obviously isn't going to work she starts with "Spash. Head minute. Wait." When I tell her that we've got to do her hair and conditioner "right now" she tried to run away in the bath!! It is a big bath, but not THAT big lol.

And its not only her bath she negotiates about!! She is starting to decide what she wants to wear or not wear too!! A fashionista at ONE!!! Yesterday she couldn't decide if she wanted to wear "Pwitty boots" (pretty boots) or "Parkul doos" (sparkle shoes). Whichever one I put near her feet she would shout "NO!" and pull her foot away! This went on for a few minutes before I had to make the decision for her - pretty boots! All the way to OUR shop she told me "Pwitty doos mowow" and I'm fairly sure she'll remember tomorrow too!!!

Phone Call from School

I've just received a phone call from Little Prince's Teacher at school. After I got over the panic of seeing school's number pop up on the phone, I was THRILLED to hear what she had to say. She had brought Little Prince to the office with her to ring me, so that he could hear what she had to say too. He has struggled for so long, he needs every boost to his confidence he can get, so thank you for that too Teacher. Apparently he has just written FIVE PAGES of LEGIBLE work!! That is the most he has EVER managed :-) Normally if he manages a sentence or two that is considered a success!! This is a HUGE HUGE deal and I can't express how proud I am of my Little Prince :-) Its overwhelming and I'm almost in tears!

Teacher also said that he didn't eat much lunch today, and said he felt sick :-( She asked if we could send in some snacks for him next week, so that if he gets hungry he has something to eat. I'll send him with some fruit and I'm sure Teacher will encourage him to eat if he needs to. I've been researching his medication and some children regain their appetite once their bodies have got used to the medicine, and others don't - so we'll just have to keep a close eye on him and see how he gets on. Teacher also told me that he has still been fidgety, but nothing like he normally is! This is amazing progress and I can't believe that is only his second day of taking the medicine! And because its had such a dramatic affect and so immediately it proves that Little Prince has got ADHD, as if it was anything else making him so energetic and impulsive the medication would not have an effect! I feel vindicated :-) And I can't resist an "Up yours!!" to the school gate mafia mums!!! Naughty but satisfying :-)

He's Home

I've collected Little Prince from school and he seems fine, well he's talking even more than usual and doesn't seem that much calmer to me - which is pretty normal for Little Prince lol. His teacher (well the TA who had taken the class this afternoon) asked to have a word and told me that he hadn't eaten much lunch, a known side affect of the medication is lack of appetite. Although once the medication wears off later, he should regain his appetite and have a big tea, fingers crossed! I took the teachers version of the ADHD leaflets I'd been given to school, and his new Classroom Assistant has taken it home to read tonight, tomorrow she'll bring it back so that his actual teacher can read it. His Classroom Assistant reported that he'd concentrated really well this afternoon in the French lesson, although as its her first week I don't know how that compares to an unmedicated Little Prince during French lessons! The TA also said that Little Prince had been very good this morning in class too, but that hasn't usually been one of his "problem" times as the mornings have a structured routine, which suits him. His friend D has come home with us to play, and I've let them play in Little Prince's bedroom, the state of the room when they've finished will give me a clue as to how Little Prince is!!

I also spoke to my friend who works at our Doctor's Surgery in the Pharmacy, to see if the surgery would be willing to prescribe Little Prince's new medication or if I'd have to get it from the hospital each time. She said it would depend on the individual Doctor we saw at the surgery, but assured me that the one we usually see would most likely prescribe it for us :-) That is good as he has been extremely supportive during the last 18 months or so, while we've been trying to get help for Little Prince. I have complete confidence in his judgement and in his ability to work with the hospital Consultant to give Little Prince the very best care that he needs. She also complimented me on how great Princess Lollipop's hair is looking (she is black) which I really appreciated :-) She also said her own daughter's hair is very similar in texture to Princess Lollipop's and B now has beautiful waist length ringlet curls :-)

I feel so much better now I've seen that Little Prince is still the same little boy, and not some drugged up zombie! Which is what widespread opinion would have you believe is the effect of medicating children with ADHD. Hopefully the lack of appetite won't be a long lasting side affect, and tonight he will be able to eat a normal (or bigger!) tea.

Thursday

I was worried that after yesterday's protests Little Prince would refuse to take his medication this morning, but apparently he reminded Mr Messy that he had to take it, and took it with no fuss whatsoever :-) Phew :-) Mr Messy talked to his teacher when they got to school and told her Little Prince is now on the medication and asked her to keep a very close eye on Little Prince. When I go and pick him up, I'm going to give the teacher the ADHD leaflet produced for teachers that the Nurse gave me, hopefully that will explain to her what she needs to look out for and how to support Little Prince. I'll read the leaflet before I hand it over, so we'll be able to discuss it if we need to.

Once again me and Princess Lollipop are having a quiet day. I'm too distracted and worried to be much use at anything, so there's no point trying!! I think I'll feel better once I've picked Little Prince up and seen how he is, and talked to his teacher and found out how he got on at school today. I wonder if it would have been better to wait until weekend to start Little Prince on the medication, then I could see for myself how he copes and what (if any) affect it has. However, I also wonder if I put off starting the medication till weekend, if I'd keep finding reasons (excuses!) to delay starting the medication. And with Little Prince being so apprehensive yesterday, putting it off might make it seem an even bigger deal to him! He asked for the medication this morning, so its probably best to take advantage of that decision and start him straight away. I just can't help second guessing myself at the moment!! Urgh! This has been such a hard decision to make, even though I thought I made the decision over a year ago with his previous Paediatrician! I just hope this is the right decision, especially as the Doctor yesterday said he'd be on the medication until he's 18!!

More about the Assessment

I forgot to mention that me and the Doctor talked about Little Prince's diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The Doctor didn't seem impressed with the way Little Prince had been diagnosed with ASD, and said normally there would be an ADOS or DISCO assessment, both of which take 3-4 hours, and neither of which Little Prince has undertaken. He said that he could refer Little Prince to the CAHMS unit attached to this hospital, for a more formal assessment of ASD if we wanted. However, he did acknowledge that the diagnosis has given Little Prince much needed support at school and that the advice they have been given by the Autism Team has really helped them cope more effectively with Little Prince. In the end we decided to leave things as they are for now and see how Little Prince gets on and review this decision in the future. He also said that it is now recognised that ADHD, ASD, Asperger's Syndrome, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia are very commonly seen as co-morbid conditions and that it can be very difficult to work out what the core problem is.

Another affect of ASD can be that the child is more sensitive to the ADHD medication, so the Doctor has started him on a fairly low dose of the medicine. He is on a long acting form of the medication, which means he will have to take one tablet each morning, which will take roughly 30 minutes to be affective and then last for 8 hours. This will cover him throughout his school day and the early part of the evening.

So we shall see what tomorrow brings.... But right now I'm off to stuff my face with junk food and my brain with trashy novel :-)

ADHD Assessment

I collected Little Prince from school at the start of afternoon break, as that was a natural "break" in his day. I thought we had plenty of time to get to the hospital and get parked in time for our appointment - I was wrong! We got to the hospital in time, but then had to queue to enter the car park for ages, with Little Prince panicking in the back asking every few moments were we late! He was quite wound up by the time we did get let into the car park!

We also ended up on the opposite side of the hospital to where we needed to be, and Little Prince wanted to run the whole way!! Then when we got to the Children's Outpatients the receptionist was busy dealing with another patient and didn't buzz us in - cue more panic! By the time we finally got in and sat down, Little Prince was as high as a kite!! Playing with and then abandoning toys within moments. We played a couple of games of table football, I won the first game, which Little Prince didn't take too badly, and just demanded an immediate rematch. When it looked like he was going to lose the second game too, he had a tantrum, shouting about Mummy cheating and it wasn't fair and he hated this game! Luckily the nurse then called him in to be weighed, measured and have his blood pressure taken. He got quite worried about having his blood pressure taken, asking repeatedly if he was having an injection or if the cuff was going to squeeze his blood out! Once the Nurse finally got the cuff on and set the automatic blood pressure machine started he said he liked it and it felt nice and warm. We then had to go and wait again, this time it seemed we waited for ages and Little Prince was getting more and more wriggly and silly!

We were finally called in to see the Consultant Paediatrician, who was fantastically patient with Little Prince :-) He asked many many questions about Little Prince's background, early childhood and behaviours then and now. He also had Little Prince do some co-ordination exercises, which he teased him saying he was checking if he was drunk. Little Prince went off into a lengthy story about how he drinks beer all the time at "his base" (his imaginary world!). I was so embarassed and assured the Doctor that Little Prince wasn't allowed to drink fizzy drinks let alone alcohol!! He seemed very used to dealing with children like Little Prince, so hopefully he believed me!! While me and the Doctor were talking, Little Prince kept interrupting, messing with the privacy screen, taking his shoes on and off, getting all the toys out and generally messing about - in short he was typical Little Prince!! At one point when he read one of the posters in the room that had the word "inject" he hid under the chair and made the Doctor promise he wouldn't do any injections before he would even consider coming out!! After all of this the Doctor said he felt we should consider stimulant medication, which is what I thought he would say. But to think about this in the abstract is so different from it being "there" right in front of you. Even though I know that the medication is what Little Prince needs, it was so hard to actually get the word "yes" out. But I did. The Doctor talked about the possible side effects and the fact that this is a controlled medication and must be kept safe and secure at home. He prescribed Little Prince 30 days worth of a pretty low dose, and made another appointment to see him again at the end of next month to see how he is getting on. The Doctor also said that it was alright to give Little Prince the medication over weekends and school holidays, which was such a relief as I NEED a break!

We then had to go over to the hospital pharmacy to get the prescription filled. The Doctor had also warned that our GP might not be prepared to prescribe this medication, and if that's the case we will have to go to the hospital pharmacy every time we need a repeat prescription. He also said that I might have to show identification to be able to collect the medication, again because its a controlled substance. All this really hammered home the seriousness of the decision I've just taken. In the end the pharmacy didn't require ID and there was no problem with them prescribing it.

On the way home Little Prince was adamant that he DID NOT want to take the medicine and that he liked being crazy. I tried to explain that he would still have plenty of energy, but that the medicine would help him "pause and think" before he did something, so that he would stop getting in trouble for doing silly things at school and home. He isn't convinced, hopefully he will co-operate in the morning and take the tablet!! We called in at the supermarket to get some groceries, and I let Little Prince choose himself a treat. He chose what he thought was bubble gum, but that turned out to be bubble gum flavoured candy floss! Then we went over to MacDonalds for something to eat, which Little Prince was very impressed with as he'd been there yesterday on the way home from the cinema with Daddy. He isn't normally allowed to go so often!!

Once we got home I showed Little Prince what his tablets looked like, as he'd started to obsess that it was an injection, despite repeated denials of this from me! He wasn't that reassured when he saw the capsules! I think its going to be a battle to get him to take it tomorrow morning!

Mr Messy hadn't realised that Little Prince had already eaten and made him and Princess Lollipop some tea, which Little Prince eagerly ate. Then it was time for him to get ready for bed, and I gave him the book that the ADHD Nurse had given me for him, it explains ADHD from a child's point of view. He wasn't too keen on reading it, complaining that he wanted his Harry Potter instead, but once he'd started reading and seen that the little boy in the book and himself had a lot of behaviours and feelings in common he was keen to read it. I left him tucked up in bed reading and said that he could finish the book (it was short and not very complicated) and then had to settle down to sleep. About 20 minutes later Little Prince came down saying he'd finished reading it and that he'd thrown up in the toilet! He made me look at the toilet to "prove" he actually had thrown up, which he had! He doesn't seem ill in the slightest, and has no temperature so I think its just a combination of overeating and worrying about this appointment that has caused this! Fingers crossed its nothing more serious. I explained what I thought to Little Prince and he was fairly satisfied with this explanation and settled back down to sleep pretty easily.

Back downstairs Mr Messy was watching football, so me and Princess Lollipop played Lego for a while before I got her into her pyjamas and took her up to bed. She actually asked for her pyjamas so I think she was ready for bed!!

Wednesday

After yet another quiet morning, me and Princess Lollipop are just getting ready to go to OUR shop. Mr Messy will be looking after Princess Lollipop for the afternoon, so that I can take Little Prince to his ADHD Assessment appointment. We've been told to allow up to three hours for the assessment to take place - I have no idea what they are going to do!! Which will no doubt wind Little Prince up, as he gets worried if he is doing something new and doesn't have an idea about what will happen! Well at least if he is wound up they will see him at his most hyped up!!

I'm known/suspected for a long long time that Little Prince has ADHD, and have more or less come to terms with the fact that he will need medication to be able to meet his potential. Now its so close to probably happening I'm feeling scared. Doubting myself, my parenting abilities and the decision I'm probably going to have to take. ADHD medication is very powerful and has quite a few possible side affects (raising blood pressure, suppressing appetite and growth and sleep disturbances) are the benefits going to be worth taking these risks with my precious boy? And then there is the widespread view that ADHD medication is used by inadequate parents to control their unruly kids and is handed out by GPs like Smarties. I'll be faced by this sort of prejudice if people realise he is on the medication. Then again the "mums at the school gate" already view me as an inadequate parent who is raising a mini hooligan! So it can't get much worse lol. I'm also worried about the medication changing Little Prince too much, he has such an enthusiasm for everything and I don't want to loose that part of him, just to be able to direct his boundless energy to more constructive activities and for him to be able to reach his true potential at school.

I talked to a teacher friend last night, who reassured me that from what she's seen of Little Prince it is his lack of impulse control that's the problem, and not my parenting - I needed that and it did help. Thank you :-) I'll hold onto that thought as I'm facing the most difficult decision of my parenting so far.

Tuesday

Me and Princess Lollipop are having a quiet day. I'm worrying about Little Prince's appointment tomorrow (ADHD assessment) so I'm not much use at anything anyway. I didn't sleep very well either so I'm tired, which isn't helping. Mr Messy and Little Prince have decided they are going to the cinema together tonight, they were supposed to go over Christmas but with all of us being ill they never got round to it. Despite Drama Teen's verdict that Little Prince wouldn't enjoy it, they are going to see the new Gulliver's Travels with Jack Black, mainly as its the only suitable film on tonight! Hopefully Little Prince won't get too bored in the slower parts of the film, Mr Messy says he'll distract him with popcorn, so he should be fine :-)

Princess Lollipop fell asleep next to me on the sofa again, I'm beginning to think she does still need her naps, just shorter ones! It will have to be a short nap as we have to collect Little Prince from school in less than an hour! I should go and get some more sorting out done, but I'm just not in the mood so I'll stay here and mess about on the laptop till its time to wake Princess Lollipop up instead!!

Up at school collecting Little Prince, Princess Lollipop tried to join in a game of tig with Little Prince and his friend J. The boys slowed down and let her play, and when it was time to get back to the car they held her hands and walked over to the gate with her it was so sweet - even the teachers were saying "awwww" lol. Little Prince didn't argue about not having friends over to play as he was excited about his cinema trip with Daddy, which is a relief as I dread the nightly tantrums over someone coming over!

Mr Messy and Drama Teen arrived home very soon after we did, and Little Prince had already got changed out of his school uniform and was raring to go!! We managed to persuade him to wait as they didn't have to leave until 5pm ish! Both he and Princess Lollipop had snacks, although Little Prince didn't want to get too full so he would have room for his popcorn and hotdog!!

Once "the boys" had left, me and Drama Teen sat down to watch the latest episode of Glee she'd got saved. Princess Lollipop liked the music and danced to it, but she wasn't too impressed with the dialogue parts!! When Glee had finished Drama Teen went off for a shower and me and Princess Lollipop played in the lounge. It will soon be time to get her ready for bed, hopefully I can get her settled before "the boys" get back, if she sees Daddy and Little Prince that will be it for sleeping for hours!!

Well I didn't get her in bed before "the boys" came home! But as it was so late on a school night, we got Little Prince in bed pretty quickly so Princess Lollipop wasn't too rev'd up by him! Then my friend rang, and we had a lovely chat - its always nice to catch up :-) Just before we finished our conversation Princess Lollipop fell fast asleep on my knee, so once we'd said our goodbyes I got her in bed and I'll probably go for an early night myself. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep better, but as its Little Prince's ADHD Assessment tomorrow I doubt it :-(

More Monday

Luckily his snack calmed Little Prince down and he managed not to tantrum too much more. When Mr Messy came home and Little Prince asked if he could play with Princess Lollipop while me and Little Prince played a board game. Once Mr Messy had had a sit down and relax he played with Princess Lollipop in the lounge and me and Little Prince played Disney Trivial Pursuits in the dining room. We played two games and I won both, which made Little Prince angry all over again. However, he managed to just have a bit of a shout and moan but didn't lose his temper too much (he didn't throw the board and pieces!!). He moans that we don't play enough games with him, but it is so hard and stressful to keep him on an even keel when playing with him!

Once we'd finished playing I made the littlies their tea. And now they are having a relax while watching TV, hopefully Little Prince will stay calm and be able to settle down to sleep sooner than he did last night. He really could do with a good night's sleep to help his mood for tomorrow!!

We've just got a call from Drama Teen who is out with friends first to watch a film and then to have a meal together. She was saying she has just arrived at the restaurant, so she'll need picking up in an hour or so. Mr Messy is going to do the pick up duties, and he'll call at the local Chinese Takeaway on the way home for mine and his tea. Little Prince has asked us to save him the prawn crackers and battered chicken nuggets. He wanted noodles too, but we said we'd buy some and cook them for his tea one day this week, as they'd taste better than cold noodles from the night before!!

I tried to get Princess Lollipop settled for bed while Mr Messy was out collecting Drama Teen, with no success whatsoever! Perhaps she heard Mr Messy saying he was bringing Chinese food, which she LOVES, so she was waiting for that!?! Drama Teen was in a very good mood when she got home, and spent a while playing Aquadraw and then tea parties with Princess Lollipop. Little Prince will be so jealous as he is desperate for Drama Teen to play with him, but she finds him so hard to deal with she keeps refusing :-(

Monday

Mr Messy is at OUR shop. Little Prince is at school and Drama Teen is at College. Me and Princess Lollipop, however, are stuck in the house all day as a courier is coming to pick up Mr Messy's broken Kindle - sometime between 9am and 5pm!! And as always happens when I need to stay in all day, I have a burning need to go out - somewhere, anywhere!!! Urgh its going to be a long day!!

I got some more of the dining room sorted out while Princess Lollipop ate her breakfast, which she managed perfectly all by herself :-) She is such a clever girl :-) I just wish things like that came just as easily to Little Prince, it just doesn't seem fair that he has to struggle so hard to do simple things like use cutlery, that come so naturally to most people. Hopefully though having to work so hard will give him the drive, determination and work ethic that along with his boundless energy will take him far in his life :-)

Well the courier has just called and the broken Kindle is safely back on its way to Amazon. Once Princess Lollipop has finished watching "Mick Mick" (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) I can take her up for a bath. I couldn't before as I can't hear the door bell/someone knocking on the front door from the bathroom and I didn't want to miss the courier. I've also lost the urgent "need" to go out now I know I can if I want lol. I don't know why I ever bother trying to plan things lol. Princess Lollipop fell asleep before her programme ended, so I still haven't managed to do her hair!! I have managed to get a few other jobs done, and have my lunch in peace (Princess Lollipop always wants mine, even if she's got the identical thing!!) so it hasn't been totally wasted. Hopefully she'll wake up in time to have her bath before we have to go and collect Little Prince from school.

The phone ringing a couple of times woke Princess Lollipop up and she was NOT happy to be disturbed! Doesn't bode well for her bath!! The first call was from the local council just checking on some details on OUR shop's Business Rates form, they are so inefficient - they lost the first form and then ring up so that I can repeat what is written down!! Hopefully it will now get sorted out though!! The second call was from Mr Messy after his visit to the Doctors. I couldn't resist an "I told you so!" when he said he'd been given antibiotics for a chest infection!! Perhaps now he'll start to recover from his cough, and we can all get a good night's sleep!

I was right about Princess Lollipop's bath - she sobbed and screamed, even though her hair wasn't very tangly and took hardly any combing through! I think the combination of having just woken up involuntarily and then the indignity of the hated hair conditioning was too much for her. As soon as she was out of the bath she was back to her sunny self again - although she does keep reminding me "bath ow head!" Poor little Princess :-(

When we got to school to pick up Little Prince, we seemed to be waiting for ages. I'd seen lots of children from his class come out, but no sign of Little Prince! I asked one of his friends and he pointed out Little Prince playing in pile of mud/snow at the opposite side of the field!! I took Princess Lollipop and marched over to see what was going on! While we were walking towards him I saw the group of boys start throwing things at and over someone's garden fence at the edge of the field!! Unsurprisingly I went ballistic!! I made Little Prince walk all the way off the field and round to the playground gate, despite him being at the end of the field nearest the car!! I then told him off and asked him if he thought me or his teacher would be proud of what he was just doing, he shamefacedly said "no" and apologised. I told him I didn't want to see that sort of behaviour repeated and then we went off home.

Once at home Little Prince was extremely volatile! He played on one of his favourite Wii games (Lego Harry Potter that has been missing for months!) for about 5 minutes before turning the Wii off in a temper! Then he cried because Princess Lollipop wanted to share his crisps and went and threw them in the bin! Then he burst into tears for no reason!! I think its probably a reaction to being up so late last night, and hoping he's not coming down with something so close to his birthday! Both he and Princess Lollipop are now quietly eating a snack, fingers crossed that helps his mood too!!

Rest of Sunday

I managed to get a super quick shower, without the littlies arguing or killing each other, result :-) Once we were all completely ready we drove over to OUR shop, filled the boot up with rubbish/recycling and got rid of it at the tip. We then drove over to an indoor play centre, booked Little Prince's party and dropped lucky with a special offer of £2 off per child :-) Sorted :-) We then stayed to play for a while, that stretched into three hours!! And no it didn't tire Little Prince out!! Nothing ever does lol.

I chatted to a Dad from Somalia, who's little girl looked so like Princess Lollipop it was like a glimpse into the future! The two little girls played together with a garage and cars lol. Eventually it was time for me to drag the littlies out and get home, three hours in a place like that is long enough for anyone!! Not for the littlies though, I had to bribe them with chocolate to get them in the car!! Princess Lollipop and the little Somalian girl gave each other a hug before we left, it was so sweet :-) The Dad says he goes there pretty often, so hopefully the girls will get to play together again sometime.

On the drive home Princess Lollipop fell asleep and was NOT happy to wake up when we parked outside our house! She is now sat next to me on the sofa trying desperately to go back to sleep. The trouble is her Mean Mummy keeps poking or tickling her to wake her up again!! If she sleeps now she'll never go to bed at a reasonable time!!

After tea, Little Prince helped me put all his things on his new desk, he also showed me where he wanted all his pictures to go on the "cupboard" part - he then sat there for ages sharpening his pencils and admiring his desk :-) I think he likes the idea of having a more grown up desk, and I certainly like the idea of having somewhere for him to keep all of his technology bits and pieces (camera, DS, iPod etc) together and safe from Princess Lollipop's fiddly fingers! And having the doors on the desk will make the dining room appear tidy, even when Little Prince has made a mess on his desk :-)

Little Prince was a bit late getting to bed, so he didn't have time for any reading, which annoyed him! He came down with "headaches" and "can't sleeps" for ages afterwards, I think the last time was after 11pm!! Mr Messy took Princess Lollipop to bed and I had a relaxing evening watching TV and catching up on messages.

Sunday

Mr Messy woke us all up early with his coughing this morning :-( And given that I'd got to bed really late after all my sorting out last night, and that Princess Lollipop had a fairly disturbed night, I was not happy :-( Mr Messy kindly took Princess Lollipop downstairs, and gave her and Little Prince (who was already downstairs) their breakfast, so I got half an hours much needed undisturbed sleep :-) Mr Messy brought Princess Lollipop back upstairs when it was time for him to get ready for his photoshoot, so I had to finally get up.

Downstairs Little Prince had noticed that his old computer desk was cleared now, and that his bookshelves had been tidied up. He'd also found the pile of board books I'd removed from his bookshelves, and he was very happy to put them in Princess Lollipop's book tub, so long as he could read them himself sometimes and on the understanding that they are shared books! Like I said yesterday he finds it hard to let go of people and things, which given how much he's lost through adoption is very understandable.

Mr Messy finally got Drama Teen to get out of bed and they got ready to go out on their photoshoot. Their first shoot is a family shoot, at the family's house in a nearby village. The second is a fashion shoot at OUR shop, which shouldn't take too long according to Mr Messy. Fingers crossed this means they'll be back in time to help me get Little Prince's old computer desk out into the cottage.

I need to have the fastest shower ever known, so I don't leave the littlies on their own for too long!! Then we are going to go over to OUR shop and get all the recycling taken to the tip, and then I might take them over to an indoor play centre to play and so that I can book Little Prince's birthday party. So I'd better get this published and get started or we'll never get everything done!

Saturday

After a very disturbed night, by both Mr Messy coughing and Princess Lollipop waking up, I got up with Mr Messy. Mr Messy was going out early with Drama Teen to do a pre-wedding photoshoot in a nearby city. So me and the littlies had to get ready and go over to OUR shop to open up and be there till Mr Messy and Drama Teen get back. Little Prince was thoroughly unimpressed by the prospect of spending the morning in OUR shop and protested loudly. He spent most of the time in OUR shop whinging that he didn't have his Blankie and that his Gameboy was boring and too hard. He ran around OUR shop , which was immediately copied by Princess Lollipop, making the normally quiet and peaceful shop loud and chaotic!

Luckily they were having a tiny moment of calm when someone came in! Her daughter is getting married and she wanted to ask for details of wedding packages and prices. All the wedding information is on the website, so I handed her a business card and said her daughter could contact Mr Messy for a chat anytime.

I've just heard from Drama Teen, the shoot went well and they are on their way to OUR shop and will be here in about an hour. Little Prince has settled down now he knows he will be leaving in an hour, and isn't moaning that he is hungry or wants Blankie at the moment! Phew!!

When Mr Messy and Drama Teen arrived, I took the littlies out, well after we'd chatted for a bit! I decided to take them shopping for new pyjamas in the nearby town. On the way there Princess Lollipop fell asleep, Little Prince was still telling me every few minutes how hungry he was so we went for a drive-through. I got Princess Lollipop a kids meal, thinking she would wake up - she didn't! Little Prince ate all his kids meal and most of hers too!! She didn't wake up till we were parked in town and I got her out of the car to put her in the buggy, she must have been really tired!! As she was now hungry and Little Prince was STILL hungry (he must be about to have a growth spurt!!) I bought them both a sausage roll from the bakery. I had to get a pack of 5, as the single ones were still very hot, Little Prince at two of those too!! Princess Lollipop was a bit pickier and only nibbled at hers until she decided it was a "samidge" (sandwich) and she liked it. I got both littlies four new sets of jammies, and then it started to rain so we ducked into the indoor shopping centre. There was a homewares shop, so we had a look in there to see if they had any of the big plastic tubs we use as toy storage, we need a couple more. They did :-) I was happy, Little Prince wasn't quite so happy as he had to carry them so that I could push the buggy. We did go straight back to the car, despite his extremely generous offer of letting me go to Next (my favourite clothes shop, that Little Prince HATES with a passion!). We did visit one more shop, a black hairdressers, I wanted to check if they stocked the range of products (Curly Q) that I'm now using on Princess Lollipop's hair, unfortunately they don't so I'll have to keep ordering it online.

We got back to the car and loaded up all the shopping, children and buggy and set off home again. My brakes started making horrible grinding noises, but it stopped again after a little while so I thought the problem had sorted itself out. Not too long after we got home, Drama Teen and her Boyfriend arrived home too. They went to watch a film, and for Drama Teen to give her Boyfriend the scrapbook she had made him for his birthday next week. She has been working on this for months, so I hope he appreciates it. When Mr Messy arrived home from OUR shop, it was obvious he wasn't feeling very well, he was extremely tired and ached all down one side :-( I tried to persuade him to go to bed, but he didn't want to, so he lay on the sofa dozing/watching TV. Little Prince was extremely hyped up (he has been all day!) and in the end I persuaded him to go to bed slightly early and have extra reading time, to give us all a bit of peace! He did have a tantrum about wearing his new pyjamas, as he wanted to wear his old ones that are waaaaay too small, although he insisted they weren't!! I made it worse by making him get all his old pyjamas out of his wardrobe so that I could put them in the bags for the Charity Shop - he hates to let go of things, and I normally sort things out when he's at school or asleep, but got carried away this time!

Once he was settled I got Princess Lollipop ready for bed in some of her new pyjamas, she looks so cute in "proper pyjamas" rather than a babygrow - so grown up too!! Unlike her big brother she was very excited to wear her new pyjamas, but she is a girl who loves clothes so that's to be expected lol. She was sat next to me on the sofa and I noticed she was leaning on me and getting heavier and heavier - she'd fallen fast asleep! Mr Messy took her up to bed and I set off to take Drama Teen's Boyfriend home. My car was making the grinding noise even more this time and it didn't wear off, so I'll have to get it looked at. I think its something to do with the brakes and Mr Messy says it probably needs new brake shoes. I believe him as I know nothing about cars!

When I got back Little Prince sneaked downstairs and asked if I could tuck him in and told me he'd really missed me. He must be worrying about something to be acting unsettled like this, on top of the hyper behaviour all day. Hopefully we'll find out what's bothering him soon and be able to sort it out! The noise of me bobbing in and out of Little Prince's room must have disturbed Princess Lollipop as she woke up when I got downstairs, I got her settled but she woke again about 20 mins later. I went to get her settled again, and half an hour later Mr Messy came up to go to bed himself, so I went back downstairs to get some more sorting out done. I finished sorting out Little Prince's old computer desk, which then lead to me having to sort out his downstairs bookshelves, so that I could fit all the books he'd had on his desk back onto the bookshelves. Why does one little job always lead to more and more jobs!?!

Hopefully tomorrow Mr Messy and Drama Teen will be around in daylight (they have two photoshoots) to help me get the old desk stored in the cottage in the garden. Then Mr Messy needs to get some extra memory put in Little Prince's computer and reset it all up in my old computer desk. I've told Little Prince this is the plan (he doesn't handle surprises very well!) and he's already planning what pictures he's going to stick on the inside of the monitor "cupboard" and which of the pictures I've got stuck up there he's going to keep and what he wants to get rid of. He seems very excited about getting a new desk and getting his computer working again :-) Although now that I've just taken two printers to the tip, he's asked can he have a printer too!!! Typical!!!

Well its very late and I've got two littlies to deal with tomorrow so I'd better get off to bed! Night all :-)

Friday

Me and Princess Lollipop were woken early by the phone ringing, so as we were awake I decided to get organised and go over to OUR shop to see Mr Messy. It has nothing to do with the fact that my laptop needs the operating system re-installing and so I have no internet!! Princess Lollipop hardly protested at all at this morning's hair conditioning, which is a huge relief - I won't have to steel myself to get it done each time now!

I called in at our Accountant's house before going to OUR shop, to drop off some more paperwork with him. Then we went and filled up my car at the garage, and walked over to OUR shop. Princess Lollipop was so happy to be there and to see Daddy :-) After playing for a while she and Mr Messy went for a walk to the Bakery to get us all a sandwich and cake for lunch. Princess Lollipop insisted on carrying her own cake back to the shop, but as it was a gingerbread man it survived the journey!

After I'd finished lunch I left Princess Lollipop at the shop with Daddy, and went back round to our Accountant as he needed me to sign some stuff and then went home to start sorting out Little Prince's desk. I managed to get a little bit done, but not as much as I'd hoped. Hopefully this weekend I'll finish getting Little Prince's desk cleared and get rid of it, I'm dreading seeing what's underneath it given how messy Little Prince is!!

I picked Little Prince up from school and we drove straight over to the tip, to get rid of some rubbish/recycling and then drove to the swimming pool for his swimming lesson. Little Prince was extremely excited to be back at swimming, and was bouncing off the walls by the time his lesson started! Luckily his teacher is used to him and knows how to handle him! She had him swimming lengths of the pool for the first part of the lesson, encouraging him to swim two lengths without stopping. Once he had done that for 15 mins he was calmer and he was allowed to play diving for toys and jumping in. When his lesson finished he had a tantrum about having a shower and having his hair washed - he tried to lock himself in the changing room! I eventually persuaded him to stop being silly and have his hair washed. The next tantrum was over the fact that I said he had to get dried and dressed himself and I wasn't helping. He threatened to go home in his swimming trunks and towel, before finally getting ready!! Swimming lessons can be tiring for me too!!

We drove round to OUR shop to collect Princess Lollipop and then returned home. Just as we were leaving Drama Teen arrived and she and Mr Messy remained at OUR shop to tidy up, lock up and order tea from the Pizza Place. They arrived home not long after us with boxes of yummy pizzas and garlic bread with cheese.

After Little Prince had gone to bed I had a chat with LMS on Facetime, which I think is the best invention EVER (well apart from chocolate!!) as I can see and talk to my big girl while she is so far away :-) Part way through the conversation the connection dropped out, and LMS sent us a message to say her battery had died!! Once she had managed to plug her phone in and get enough charge in it, she rang up and we talked again. When we'd finished chatting I took Princess Lollipop to bed, intending to come back down and do some more sorting out. Instead I fell asleep and stayed there till morning!

Thursday

Nothing much happened in the morning, just me and Princess Lollipop pottering around getting housework done etc. Mr Messy arrived home from OUR shop early, to get ready for a fashion photoshoot, Princess Lollipop was very excited to see Daddy, but kept bursting into tears and having tantrums over the smallest thing. It was obvious she was extremely tired, so once he was ready, Mr Messy took her upstairs to get her settled down for a nap. Unfortunately he fell asleep too!! I took the opportunity to get some more sorting out done. I tidied and sorted out "Boy World" which is a part of the lounge, protected from Princess Lollipop, by a large freestanding playpen-like structure. I got rid of loads of broken bits of toys and rubbish that were in there and put all the toys back in their respective boxes. It looks so much better now, and Little Prince has so much more room to actually play in there! He has decided he wants all his Lego upstairs in his room, and as Princess Lollipop keeps reaching into "Boy World" and pinching his Lego and putting the small pieces in her mouth, I'm quite happy with that.

Mr Messy woke up in time to go out to his fashion photoshoot, and I carried on tidying and sorting in "Boy World," until I heard Princess Lollipop wake up over the baby monitor. Luckily she woke up in time for us to get ready to go and collect Little Prince from school. I was hoping she would wake herself up, as she is so grumpy if she is woken before she is ready! At school I chatted to a couple of my friends, negotiated with Little Prince about who could come and play next week! Then I remembered to send him back to pick his scooter up, all of which meant we were the very last people to leave school!

Back at home Little Prince threw a tantrum about having to take the Lego I'd found in "Boy World" to his bedroom and to having to get changed out of his school uniform! Eventually he did complete both jobs, but it was a battle! Mr Messy and Drama Teen arrived home at similar times, and not long after Mr Messy answered the phone to T's Dad asking if Little Prince had taken one of T's Lego figures. Little Prince acted strangely when asked, and so I took him up to his room to talk to him privately and to check if he had the figure in his room. I'm still not sure whether or not Little Prince took the figure, but I couldn't find it anywhere in his room or in his coat or trouser pockets. While we were in his room I took the opportunity to get it tidied up, and it looks a lot more organised now :-)

I was still in the mood for sorting and organising later in the evening when Little Prince had gone to bed, so I sorted out more of my old computer desk. Its amazing how much rubbish accumulates when you don't go through things regularly! Next I want to sort out Little Prince's computer desk, as its a mini child sized one and he's too big for it now and then he can use my old desk. Another advantage is that my desk has doors that I'll be able to close on the inevitable chaos and mess that will soon occur to the desk once Little Prince is using it! And getting rid of Little Prince's old desk will also alleviate the crowding in that part of the dining room and we'll be able to use the cupboards properly again too :-) Its all good :-)

Wednesday

After a nice leisurely start, me and Princess Lollipop went over to OUR shop to meet up with Mr Messy. The leisurely start did include the not so leisurely, conditioning and combing through Princess Lollipop's hair, and she started crying as soon as I got the bottle of conditioner out, and then protested throughout the whole procedure, despite there being very few tangles and me being extremely careful. I think its because she is so used to it hurting that she protests partly because she is scared and partly out of habit! My new regime of conditioning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays seems to be working as her hair is much more manageable now, and it is getting back to its beautiful glossy condition :-) And it is a relief for both of us to have a couple of days off from "hair" over the weekend :-)

When I got to OUR shop me and Mr Messy swapped car keys, and we walked back to where our cars were parked together. I was going to take Mr Messy's car (without a Princess Lollipop car seat) to go to the Citizen's Advice Bureau, and Mr Messy was going to use my car (with a Princess Lollipop car seat) to go and pick Little Prince up from school later. Although we got half way to the cars when Mr Messy said he hadn't brought my car keys with him, and I needed to get some things out of my car before I set off! I growled and stomped back to OUR shop, retrieved my car keys and stomped back to the cars again, muttering and grumbling all the way!! When I'd finally got the things I needed out of my car I gave Mr Messy my keys back and he and Princess Lollipop went off to his favourite Bistro for some lunch, while I drove off to my appointment. Princess Lollipop was a bit confused and upset at first, but the promise of "dunch" (lunch) soon changed her mind, and she walked off hand in hand with Daddy very happily.

I was very early for my appointment so I called in to a nearby shopping centre and got some lunch and a cake :-) Once I'd eaten that I drove round to the CAB, found somewhere to park and went in for my appointment. I was seeing them to get advice on filling in Little Prince's Disability Living Allowance renewal form, as they had all the info from last time and the form is very daunting! I was there with the Advisor for over 2 1/2 hours filling everything in, and then him taking copies of letters/reports that would back up the case for Little Prince still being eligible for this benefit. The Advisor is going to copy the whole form and then send it off tonight, as the current award runs out at the end of this month, and I've been very lax in getting the form sent back (I received the renewal notice in September last year!!). Fingers crossed that Little Prince is once again awarded some benefit, as the little bit of extra money is very useful in paying for replacements/repairs to things he breaks and giving him some extra treats or paying for private assessments/therapies if he needs them. It will probably take quite a while to hear back from this application, but if it is renewed then it should also be backdated to when the first award ran out, all we have to do now is wait and see.

It was very difficult filling in the form and being hit with a HUGE dose of reality about Little Prince's daily struggles and challenges. I wish there was somewhere on the form to tell them how loving he is, or how kind and gentle he can be, or how he can make Princess Lollipop laugh like no one else, rather than JUST focusing on his problems :-( After the appointment had finished I went back to the shopping centre to have a mooch round the shops, just to give myself some time to get over the sadness that filling the forms in brought on. That hour walking round and window shopping was very healing :-) And by the time I had got home I was feeling ok again :-)

Little Prince wasn't at home, as he had gone to play at T's house, but Drama Teen went to collect him not long after I arrived. Mr Messy was getting himself ready to go out to a meeting with other local business owners, which he said was very useful and he'll be attending again. He also said that the other business owners had commented on how they loved how OUR shop looked :-) Yeah me (interior designer of OUR shop) :-) Drama Teen got the littlies tea ready and supervised their eating, although Little Prince played up for her and I had to intervene and potter about in the dining room to keep the peace! Mr Messy got home not long after Little Prince had gone to bed, and on hearing him Little Prince came downstairs to check what was going on! He went back to bed and seemed to settle after that! Mr Messy got Princess Lollipop into her pyjamas, while I put our tea on and Princess Lollipop made sure everyone's tea tasted good for us :-) She eats so much some days!! She isn't overweight, in fact in the leggings she's been wearing recently she is quite skinny, and is very active, but she is "solid" and feels like she is filled with concrete lol.

Me and Drama Teen watched the new episode of Glee that we had recorded, and as Mr Messy doesn't like Glee, he took Princess Lollipop off to bed. He didn't return, so I presume he fell asleep too!! When Glee had finished Drama Teen went off to bed, and I asked her to take up all her shoes that she keeps leaving lying around in the hall - she pulled her face and FORGOT to take them!! I am getting so cross about this as I've been asking her to do this job for a LONG time now!! If she isn't careful I'll tidy them myself - into the bin outside!!!! Argh!!!!

More Monday

When Mr Messy and Drama Teen got home from OUR shop, me and Mr Messy went out to the Supermarket to finish off the shopping that was missed last time. We left Drama Teen and Little Prince at home, Drama Teen revising for a Biology Exam tomorrow and Little Prince watching a film. They were arguing and falling out before we left, so I hope they won't kill each other before we get home!!

Princess Lollipop was very very tired, and fell asleep in the car on the way there, fingers crossed that doesn't mean she'll be up all night! We still didn't manage to finish all the shopping as quite a lot was out of stock! Including the large plastic tubs that we use as Princess Lollipop's toy storage - we need a couple more to get the lounge more organised. Its very frustrating to want to get everywhere organised and not be able to get hold of the things I need!!

When we got home Little Prince was just finishing his tea and then it was time for him to go to bed. He wasn't too happy that he had missed his reading time, but settled down alright after a token protest. Its well past the time Princess Lollipop has been going to bed recently and she is still wide awake and going strong, looks like its a late night for us again :-(

Monday

Mr Messy had already taken Little Prince to school, and Drama Teen had gone to college by the time me and Princess Lollipop woke up. We had a quiet breakfast followed by the dreading bath and hair conditioning, Princess Lollipop started crying and protesting while I was just rubbing the conditioner through her hair, and it went downhill from there! When I had finally finished combing through her curls and got her calmed down and dressed, it was time to drop her off with Mr Messy at OUR shop. He was going to look after her while I visited our Accountant to sort out some more end of year accounts. In the end it was a really quick, simple visit to the Accountant and I was home again in no time, normally I'm there for hours!

I decided to have a quiet lunch on my own!! It was a huge luxury to eat without having to share, or jump up to make a drink for one of the littlies, or referee their latest argument :-) After I'd finished my leisurely, quiet lunch I decided to get on with my list of jobs for the day before going to pick Princess Lollipop up. I had forms to fill in and send off, and phone calls to make, both of which are easier without the littlies "help"!! I had a very productive afternoon, and got everything I wanted to do done :-)

I picked Little Prince up from school and then we went over to OUR shop to collect Princess Lollipop. Little Prince was upset that I still didn't want to have friends come over to play, but I still don't feel up to dealing with the chaos that always ensues! When we arrived at OUR shop, Mr Messy was talking to a prospective Bride and Drama Teen was at the shop, she had obviously gone their straight from finishing college. We stayed for a while, before I took the littlies to the Newsagents for a snack on the way back to the car to come home. At home the littlies have been playing skittles quite nicely together, and now are settling down to watch something on TV although they aren't agreeing what to watch!!

More Sunday

When Mr Messy and Drama Teen finally got back from their photoshoot, I decided that me, Mr Messy and Princess Lollipop would go to the Toy Shop to look for ideas for Little Prince's birthday. Despite trawling the WHOLE huge shop we only came up with two ideas!! A Kidizoom Video Camera and a pair of Clone Trooper roller blades! Both of which I'm sure he'll love, but that doesn't seem much to be getting him!! He is now so difficult to buy for that its becoming impossible to think of things to get him!! Typical male lol!!

Princess Lollipop insisted on going to "HOT" when she saw we were near to McDonalds! And she was totally thrilled to get a Scooby Doo toy :-) When we got home Little Prince and Drama Teen were watching a Harry Potter dvd, while Drama Teen got on with her homework. Drama Teen scooted off upstairs at the first chance she had, but she does have a Maths paper due in tomorrow so I'll forgive her.

I left Mr Messy with the littlies while I went to start sorting out my tip of a computer desk. I took a break when I made Little Prince his tea, but apart from that I carried on working at it all evening (apart from dealing with Princess Lollipop)! There was a lot of paperwork to sort through!! I found things I'd been looking for for ages!! I've still got more to do but the majority of it is now done :-)

Mr Messy got Princess Lollipop ready for bed and she settled down very easily, however she woke herself up coughing an hour or so later, I managed to get her back to sleep pretty quickly. However, the second time she woke up she would NOT settle back down, after an hour of trying I took her downstairs and left her in the lounge with Mr Messy while I finished the last bits of sorting out. When I finished I came and joined them watching "pitboll" (football!) and Princess Lollipop was STILL wide awake!!

Sunday

Mr Messy got up with Little Prince and they had "boy breakfast" together - a modified version of an English breakfast (bacon, sausage and eggs). They both love this breakfast and the "boy time" together :-) Me and Princess Lollipop stayed in bed a bit later and by the time we got up Mr Messy and Drama Teen had already left to go on today's photoshoot. Princess Lollipop showed no ill effects from her sickie episode last night and ate up her breakfast with no problems. I, on the other hand, feel rough again :-( My cough has gone worse and I've started to feel achy again :-( I think it might be time to visit the Doctor!

Sickie end to Saturday

I took Drama Teen's Boyfriend home, accompanied by Drama Teen of course, they have to be together every moment they can, bless :-) I was planning to call in the Supermarket on the way home, to get the bits and bobs that Mr Messy and Drama Teen couldn't get the other day. However, while we were still driving I got a call from Mr Messy to say that Princess Lollipop had woken up, thrown up all over him and was crying for her Mummy :-( I hurried as fast as I dared, got Boyfriend dropped off and sped off back home. When we got there Princess Lollipop was completely recovered and spent the next hour bouncing around and playing happily!! She decided her dolly had a "poo-poo bot-bot" and demanded we get out her changing mat and give her a baby wipe to deal with her baby :-) First she very gently cleaned the dolly's face, then she stripped off dolly's pants, subdued her by dropping her on her head and then wiped her bottom :-) It was so sweet to see her playing like this :-) So sweet that we told LMS to Facetime us so she could see it too, she Facetimed us, but Princess Lollipop refused to "change" baby again. She did spend quite a while "performing" for the camera though, which LMS and her Boyfriend find very amusing :-)

While we were doing this Mr Messy was upstairs re-dying Drama Teen's hair, her blue had begun to fade (its only a semi permanent dye) so she wanted it re-dying. When Mr Messy had finally finished he took Princess Lollipop off to bed, I stayed downstairs chatting to LMS for ages then tidied up and went off to bed myself.