Swimming Lesson

I arranged to meet Mrs LMS and Princess Lollipop at the Swimming Pool, so that we could all watch Little Prince swim. They arrived sooner than we did and were already waiting for us when we got there. As soon as Princess Lollipop saw us, she ran first to Little Prince and then to me and demanded "UP Mummy" and started to cry! Perhaps it was a combination of not seeing me all day, and having just been woken up from her nap, but she carried on crying and shouting for quite a while!! Mrs LMS had to take Little Prince through to the changing rooms to get ready for his lesson, as Princess Lollipop would not let go of her stranglehold round my neck! As soon as they left Princess Lollipop started shouting that she wanted her brother and sister, and crying and screaming when I wouldn't let her run after them. She carried on like this for the next 10 minutes or so before finally calming down, I was getting very pitying looks from all the other parents in the waiting room - I'm sure they were relieved it wasn't their child acting up!!

When Princess Lollipop had finally calmed down, she started to watch the swimmers and try to spot her Brud Brud. She did have a couple more mini tantrums about the fact that she couldn't go in the water. I'm much too much of a wuss to swim in the Winter, so she'll have to wait until its a lot warmer before I take her swimming lol. Little Prince did very well in his lesson and his teacher said afterwards that he had worked through all the requirements for Stage 2 and most of the requirements for Stage 3 of the badge system they use. Although he fusses and whinges about going swimming, once he is there he loves it and tries very hard, and since he started his medication he has improved tremendously.

After Little Prince had finished his lesson Mrs LMS supervised him washing his hair and waited for him in the changing room to get dressed. We then dropped Mrs LMS back off at OUR shop, before I brought the littlies home. Little Prince immediately wanted to finish his sausage roll from lunchtime, but he was fairly tired and quiet and just wanted to veg out on the sofa. He put Princess Lollipop's favourite channel (Playhouse Disney) and sat quietly watching with her and reading his latest Harry Potter book. This would NEVER have happened prior to him starting the medication and the difference it has made to our lives is astounding. Just having a nice, quiet, relaxing evening with the littlies like this would have been utterly unimaginable (unless Little Prince was ill!!). And after living with the chaos and stress his behaviour has caused for our family (and especially me as his primary carer) for so long, you really do learn to appreciate the little things like this :-) It also reminds me how far from the norm our family life had got and how much we had been struggling, that a simple thing like watching TV and reading quietly is so noticeable!!

Little Prince's Hospital Check-Up

Today was Little Prince's first check-up with his Paediatrician since he has started taking the ADHD medication. The appointment was late morning, so he could have gone to school beforehand, but I decided it would have disturbed Little Prince's routine too much to send him to school, then take him out, and then return him back to school, so he had the morning off. He happily got up with Mr Messy and Mrs LMS, ate his breakfast and revelled in the treat of being able to watch TV in the morning. When I got up I bathed Princess Lollipop and conditioned and combed through her hair, now we have a regular routine (condition Mon/Wed/Fri) her hair is looking absolutely gorgeous and doesn't get so tangled that it makes her scream to have it combed through :-) Princess Lollipop's biggest objection to having her bath was the hair dye stains Drama Teen had left on the bottom of the bath from dying her hair blue again the other night! It took me ages to persuade Princess Lollipop to sit down, as she was mincing around the stains shouting "Ewww" and "Fix it ewww"!!!

Once we were all dressed and ready I took Mrs LMS and Princess Lollipop to OUR shop and dropped them off there. Princess Lollipop started to sob once she realised that I wasn't getting out of the car, I hate leaving her in such a state, but also realise that Princess Lollipop has to learn that Daddy and Biggest Sister can look after her too - it doesn't always have to be Mummy!

After filling up the car we set off for the hospital, the last time we were there I allowed an hour for the journey and to get parked, and we were late! This time I again allowed an hour and we were over half an hour early!! I can't win!! Me and Little Prince went and got a drink from the hospital cafe, Little Prince chose sparkling mineral water, and pulled some very amusing faces when the bubbles hit his mouth lol. He isn't used to having fizzy or sparkling drinks and said he liked it, but it made his mouth and tongue feel all funny. After we'd sat in the cafe for ages enjoying our drinks and playing Harry Potter themed 20 questions with each other, it was time to go to Little Prince's appointment. Little Prince was quite worried we'd get lost, but I pointed out the same artwork on the hospital corridor walls that we'd looked at on the way to the cafe and he stopped fretting so much. I also pointed out that was a good way to make sure you were going back the way you came - if you notice things on your route, and he took this very seriously, constantly pointing things out we had seen when walking to the cafe. As he has a phenomenal memory he noticed a lot more things than I had!!

While we were at the cafe I had quite a sad conversation with Little Prince, he was wishing that he wasn't different from all his friends. He said he's the only one in school with Dyspraxia or ADHD and it makes him feel different and the odd one out. He also said he wished he didn't have his "crazies" (how he describes his hyperactive behaviour) and that all his friends can have "crazies" and then calm themselves down, but he can't do that and keeps having the "crazies." He kept repeating that he just wants to be normal and like everyone else and not have any problems. He also said that his friend D had told him that people with Dyspraxia or Dyslexia are cleverer than other people, which I had to tell him wasn't true. I explained that his intelligence is one of the parts (or jigsaw pieces) that makes him, himself and that his Dyspraxia, ADHD and ASD were just more parts/jigsaw pieces that all came together to make one wonderful boy. He still wasn't that happy, but seemed slightly happier than he had been. Its a lot for a little boy to face, and he will have to contend with for the rest of his life. I wish he could have a smooth, easy. problem free life but I also love him exactly the way he is and wouldn't want to change him! I wish there was a way I could make life easier for him, but I'll just have to accept that I can't and just support him as he learns to navigate life with his challenges and hopefully help him reach his full potential.

We only had enough time for one game of Table Football before the nurse called us in to check Little Prince's height, weight and blood pressure. This time he knew that there were no injections involved and didn't try to hide under the examining bed, and the whole process went a lot more smoothly :-) We were given a "mood chart" for Little Prince to fill in, to give the Paediatrician an idea of how he was coping throughout the day, and after that we played some more Table Football. It was a 1-1 draw when the Paediatrician called us into his office, so Little Prince was happy he wasn't losing.

The Paediatrician asked me how Little Prince had coped on the medication, and I explained that the medication was very effective for the first 6 hours, but much less so for the next 2 hours (it is supposed to last for 8 hours). And also that Little Prince is very very irritable when the medicine is wearing off, his appetite has dropped considerably and that he is having great difficulty getting to sleep. The Paediatrician said that Little Prince had lost 3lbs and was concerned about that, he asked us to try and give Little Prince high fat foods (ie junk foods!!) and to attempt to have at least one medication free day per week, and more if possible during the school holidays. He then prescribed Little Prince more medication to help him get off to sleep at night, but said it had a 50/50% chance of working - but as it doesn't have side affects he recommends trying it. Getting more sleep could also help Little Prince stop losing weight as the metabolism slows down during sleep and so he wouldn't be burning up as much of his calorie intake. The Paediatrician also noted that Little Prince is still quite hyperactive despite the medication, but due to the weight loss he wants to keep Little Prince on the same dose if at all possible. The normal interval for the next check up is 6 months, but the Paediatrician has requested to see Little Prince in 3 months to keep a closer eye on his weight. The Paediatrician said he would be happy for Little Prince to have maintained his weight, he doesn't have to put on weight, but he wants to keep a close eye on it.

After the appointment we went to the hospital shop so that Little Prince could chose a sandwich, the one he wanted had salad on it, so he refused to have that and after a lot of "umming" and "ahhhhing" he eventually settled on a sausage roll and packet of Mini Cheddars - high fat junk food, just what the Doctor ordered!! We then had to walk all the way to the other side of the hospital to get the new medication dispensed at the Hospital Pharmacy. We had to wait for over an hour at the Pharmacy and Little Prince was getting more and more upset that he had missed lunchtime break, although otherwise he coped very well. When they called his name he marched over to the dispensing window and told the Pharmacist "That took a LONG time!!" She apologised to him and said they were very busy at the moment, and that calmed him down :-) We then trekked back to the original side of the Hospital, noticing familiar artwork all the way :-) And hit our next delay - the parking ticket machine! It wouldn't accept my £2 coin, it kept timing out before I could get any notes in and I was getting more and more frustrated, and Little Prince was getting more and more impatient!! We had to go back to the Hospital Shop to change the £2 coin to two £1 coins, which finally worked :-) Little Prince had finished his Mini Cheddars while waiting for his medication and ate half of his sausage roll on the drive back to school, although I would have preferred he'd managed to finish it!

I signed him back into school and apologised for his lengthy absence and explained how long everything, especially the Pharmacy, had taken. Little Prince was very happy to be at school and dived off to his classroom with barely a goodbye to me :-) I am so glad that despite his challenges that he enjoys school so much :-) As there was so little of the school day left, I came home and rang Mr Messy at OUR shop to check how Princess Lollipop was doing. He said she was whingy, but agreed that it would be better for me to stay at home until I needed to pick up Little Prince. If I did go over to OUR shop I'd only be there an hour before having to leave Princess Lollipop again (and upset her all over again) as Little Prince has his swimming lesson straight after school tonight. It has been nice to have an hour or so to myself, eat my lunch in peace and quiet and have chance to update my blog without someone trying to "help" :-)

Another Catch Up!!

This last week has been horrendously busy! Mrs LMS returned home from America on Saturday, which caused extreme levels of excitement in Little Prince! And just to make it that much harder, Mr Messy had forgotten to take Little Prince's new pack of medication out of his car (locked in the glove compartment) from when he'd picked up the new prescription! So we had a VERY VERY VERY hyped up Little Prince with no medicine!! As Mrs LMS didn't arrive back until late afternoon it was a looooooong day for us all!!

Mr Messy and Drama Teen went out to OUR shop in the morning, and then Mr Messy left Drama Teen in charge while he went to do a shoot. I picked her up after lunch, so that she could look after the littlies and I could finish off my surprise wedding present for Mr and Mrs LMS (a scrapbook of their wedding photographs). I'd been working on this all week, but only in the late evenings when the littlies were both asleep in bed, so I've been staying up till 2am and later most nights! I'm exhausted, but hopefully it will be worth it and they will both like it!

Mrs LMS came home on her own, as she has to apply for a Spouse Visa for Mr LMS before he can come over here. However, when he comes over here on that Visa it will be legal for him to work straight away and so they will be able to support themselves independently. Mrs LMS is staying with us until Mr LMS comes over, and it is lovely to have all my babies under one roof again, although I know I have to make the most of it as once Mr LMS arrives Mrs LMS will be leaving home for good.

Drama Teen has been having a really bad time as she and her boyfriend have broken up, probably for good this time :-( And she is totally heartbroken. It hurts to see my precious little girl so sad and not be able to do anything to comfort her :-( I'm also very worried that she seems to be eating very very little, and she has no weight to lose, she is already extremely slim.

I've been out to an Indoor Play Centre with J and her three children (two boys age 7 and 9, and one girl age almost 4). J owns the local Designer Children's Boutique and we've been saying for ages we should take the children out together! We were supposed to start off by having lunch at the Bistro near J's Boutique, but even though we had booked a table there was nowhere for us to sit (the Bistro owner had let another party have our table an hour earlier, and they were still eating and chatting). Instead we got takeaway chips and sat in OUR shop and ate them. The boys all seemed to be getting to know each other and getting along pretty well :-) We went to an Indoor Play Centre that J takes her children to regularly, but it was our first visit. There was a LOT for the children to play on, but the toddler area was bigger than Princess Lollipop was used to and she got to the top level and started to cry for Mummy LOUDLY! I had to squeeze my way up toddler sized stairs and through toddler sized tunnels to reach her, she was not happy that there wasn't enough room for me to carry her and wailed the whole way down. However, as soon as we got down and she'd had a bit of a snuggle she was totally happy to go and play again. Both J's boys are very into football, which doesn't interest Little Prince at all, so he was feeling a bit left out. It didn't help when the oldest of J's boys came over and told his Mum that he didn't want to play with Little Prince any more as he was tiring him out!! Little Prince was quite upset and I was sad for him too :-( J's boys went off to play with a ball together and didn't really let Little Prince join in, it might have been easier for Little Prince to get to know just one brother at at time, as J says her boys are very close and Little Prince can take some getting used to! On the way home he did say he'd had a great time, so it wasn't all bad :-)

Mrs LMS has been applying for jobs constantly since she arrived home, she has tried to re-register with an Employment Agency that had her details previously, but they didn't tell her that she had to make an appointment with them to do that, so she goes back early next week. She has also got an interview today for a telesales job, not what she is looking for, but in this economy and in her position (having to prove to the British Authorities that she and Mr LMS can support themselves) she is giving it all she's got. Good luck Mrs LMS :-)

Princess Lollipop is TWO!!!

During the last week it has been Princess Lollipop's 2nd birthday. I can't believe my tiny baby is two already!! She is too small to be that big!!!

We started the day early, as Mr Messy had to get to OUR shop and he wanted to be there when Princess Lollipop opened her presents. The presents were in the lounge, so Mr Messy took Princess Lollipop straight to the dining room for breakfast before she found out what was in the lounge lol. She insisted on eating TWO Weetabix (Weetabixes??), she's probably starting to make up for all the not eating she's been doing for the last week!! After she had finally finished and wasn't bellowing for "MORE BWETTA" (only muttering quietly about wanting Mummy's toast!) we took her in the lounge. She was overwhelmed by the pile of presents and clung onto me as she inched closer. At first she didn't want any presents, but we eventually persuaded her that they weren't that scary and she started unwrapping them. She is our first child to open a present and then want to play with it straight away, the older three always wanted to dive straight to the next present lol. She would get so engrossed in the new toy that she'd completely forget she had more to open lol. She got a "Pat Pat Rottit" (Little Einstein's Rocket and figures), "Mick Mick dands" (Mickey Mouse dress up hands), "Manneee and tooooos" (Handy Manny and tools) a "Titchen" (wooden play kitchen) and a mini wooden clothes rail filled with Disney dressing up. She also got a dolly baby care bag which she immediately understood was for looking after her babies, although she did keep sneaking swigs of their bottle of milk (play milk bottle so she wasn't actually drinking it!!). She liked the idea of the dress up shoes (plastic "high heels") but found it a bit hard to walk so would demand that we put them on and then take them straight off again!! She was almost scared of the Disney dressing up dresses, and it took her until mid afternoon to try on the two she recognised (Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell) for about five minutes each. After that she would pull me over to the rail and get me to show her each dress but would refuse to put them on, I'm sure she'll get used to them and want to play with them eventually!!

My friend Mad Cat Lady visited to give Princess Lollipop her birthday present, and Princess Lollipop refused to look at her let alone speak to her! Little Prince loved having her here though, he took her to show her how tidy his room is (he tidied it yesterday all by himself) and read a Lego book with her. She was very impressed with how calm he was :-) Princess Lollipop started to bellow that she wanted "MORE BWETTA" again, and when she gets an idea in her head she just repeats the phrase until you give in!! So she ate two MORE Weetabix!!! When she was leaving Princess Lollipop did manage to say very clearly "Tant oo Mad Cat Lady predunt" (Thank you "Mad Cat Lady" present) which also impressed Mad Cat Lady :-)

When Mr Messy and Drama Teen arrived home, I had intended on searching in the cottage at the bottom of the garden to see if the "play food" was stored in there, so I could bring it in and clean it up for Princess Lollipop but it was already going dark and there's no lighting in the cottage so it will have to wait for another day. Princess Lollipop was fast asleep (kneeling on the sofa next to me with her head on my lap and her bum in the air lol), she'd fallen asleep not long after Mad Cat Lady left but she started to stir when she heard Daddy and Drama Teen. When she was more or less awake I went to make the littlies their tea, which despite her obvious hunger earlier and it being one of her favourite dishes, Princess Lollipop fussed and whinged and pushed her plate away shouting "NO." Mr Messy came in to see what all the noise was about and he managed to get her to eat most of the meal, then I took her into the lounge to get her cleaned up while Mr Messy got the candle lit in her birthday cake and brought it in. Princess Lollipop was slightly scared of this bright burning thing in her cake, and wasn't happy that we sang "Happy Birthday" to her either, but she made a creditable effort at blowing out the candle and ate most of a large piece of cake too.

During the day Princess Lollipop had started to sit on her potty (we had brought it down to try and get a urine sample for the Doctor and she had screamed and refused to go near it, so we just left it in a corner of the lounge and ignored it)!! She then started demanding to take her trousers off each time she sat there, and tried very hard to get her popper vest undone and take her nappy off (which luckily she can't manage quite yet!!). So I'd asked Mr Messy and Drama Teen to get her some knickers on their way home from OUR shop. As seems to be her "modus operandi" Princess Lollipop liked the knickers (Minnie Mouse ones) but refused to wear them at first. Half an hour later she was happy to put them on, and even happier to drag them off to sit on the potty!! In fact she was so much happier with a bare bottie that she refused to put the knickers back on again!! Which totally embarrassed Mr LMS when he and Mrs LMS got in touch with Facetime (it shows real time pictures) lol. They had met up with our very first foreign exchange student, a lovely Chinese girl who stayed with us for a year when she was 15-16 years old. We have kept in touch but haven't seen her for years as she moved to Canada, near to where Mr and Mrs LMS got married. They didn't get any photos, but apparently F hasn't changed at all :-) Miss you F xxxxx

The potty training was a non starter really, we got off to a good start when Princess Lollipop managed to wee on the potty the first time she sat on it without her nappy on. But after that she had two accidents and didn't even seem to notice what had happened. I thought that her 2nd birthday was a bit too early and I was right lol. I'm going to leave it a few months and try her again, probably in the Easter holidays, when hopefully its warm enough to run around with a bare bottie if thats what she wants!! I find thats the fastest way to start off potty training, no fiddling with clothing and underwear, just have them run around in a top and bare bottom half and Crocs if they are outside (although it was jellies when LMS and Drama Teen were little and I think Little Prince had washable canvas shoes).

Bit of a Catch Up

SUNDAY

Me and the littlies had a quiet day as Mr Messy and Drama Teen were out at a Prom Fair (like a Wedding Fair, but concentrating on services for Proms). Little Prince was not impressed with the quiet day, but the weather wasn't that great and I couldn't think of anywhere to take them! We did have a lot of phone calls from different family members wanting to talk about Mrs and Mr LMS's (I'll have to think of a better name now lol) wedding. Some were shocked, some were upset, some were worried about how me and Mr Messy were feeling about it all, but everyone certainly reacted lol.

MONDAY

Happy Valentines Day everyone :-)

Mr Messy and Drama Teen were at OUR shop in the morning and at a pre-wedding photoshoot in the afternoon. Me and the littlies had another quiet day at home, as Little Prince is on school holidays. He managed to stay calm even though Mad Cat Lady visited, she was very impressed with his behaviour :-) She has seen him at his worst and the difference between that and his new demeanor is astounding :-)

Wow just Wow!

Poorly Princess had a really disturbed night and I was barely conscious when Mr Messy got up to go to OUR shop. He went downstairs to get his stuff together as he has a photoshoot this afternoon, then he suddenly reappeared in our room and said he was turning the light on. I thought he'd forgotten something and needed to look for it, but he said "you need your glasses" he had to repeat himself a couple of times before it sunk in! Then he started messing with his phone, I thought he'd seen something on Facebook from his brother, who's girlfriend is expecting in a few months. Then he handed the phone over and it was an email from LMS announcing she and American Boyfriend got married!! I'm not sure with time differences when exactly they got married!! They got engaged at Christmas, and didn't tell us, and then went over to Canada and got married with just themselves and the Officiant's wife and daughter as witnesses!

At first it wouldn't sink in, I had no idea what I thought. Me and Mr Messy had guessed ages ago that LMS wasn't telling us something, she got evasive about answering questions and just seemed to be keeping something from us. And then there was American Boyfriend sorting out all his stuff and getting rid/selling loads and saying his sister was taking over his room etc. We didn't guess exactly what they were planning, but we knew they were planning something!! We know you too well LMS lol.

Mr Messy told Drama Teen and she said "Random! Brilliant!" lol. She admitted to me later that she already knew!! American Boyfriend had said something to her ages ago about him being her real brother when he came back to England. She said she thought they'd forgotten as it is now so close to LMS coming home!! Little Prince woke up and came in to see me and have a cuddle and I told him, he was thrilled that American Boyfriend is now his real brother, but wishes he wasn't "a in-law brother, just a brother" so I told him he could call him his brother if he wanted to, which pleased him :-)

Mr Messy admitted he was upset and that he would have loved to have been there and photographed it obviously. He was hugging Poorly Princess a few minutes later and said to her "you won't run off and leave me will you?" I think his Daddy heart is hurting :-( Later he said that it was my job to wear a hat and his to walk her down the aisle, and that he was sad, very sad and hurt :-( He has been sad and non communicative all day, said his day was cr*p and has ended up with a headache. When LMS rang up to talk to us, he said he didn't want to talk to her right now. When she and I were talking about their plans to have a Vow Renewal and family party on their 1st or 2nd Anniversary, Mr Messy was muttering that it wasn't the same, she was already married and it just wasn't the same. He's hurting badly and unfortunately it will take him a long time to come to terms with the way this has happened :-(

I came downstairs and re-read LMS's email properly, and agree with her she is old enough to make her own decisions and decide the course of her life. And this does save them a lot of money in Visa fees and airline fares. Of course I'm sad that my first baby got married without me there, but I am also happy that she is so happy. She and American Boyfriend look deliriously happy in the photographs she sent :-) And my baby looks so beautiful, the most beautiful bride ever of course :-)

~*~ CONGRATULATIONS MR AND MRS LMS ~*~

Poorly Princess Week

TUESDAY
All three children were at the Dentist in the morning. And the Dentist confirmed they all have healthy teeth :-) After they'd had their appointments I had to drop Little Prince off at school, which made Poorly Princess Lollipop howl and sob, she didn't want her Brud-Brud to go :-( We then drove over to drop Drama Teen at college, which upset Poorly Princess again :-( We went to see Mr Messy at OUR shop, which didn't cheer Poorly Princess up at all :-( We left OUR shop in time to pick Little Prince up from school, and got home in time for his friend E to come over to play. Poorly Princess was upset again, as the boys played upstairs in Little Prince's bedroom and not with her. She didn't eat any dinner and again had a very disturbed night.

WEDNESDAY
It was pretty obvious that Poorly Princess wasn't getting any better, so I made an appointment with the Doctor at the Surgery near OUR shop. The Doctor examined Poorly Princess's chest, ears and throat and took her temperature, which was quite high. She prescribed a broad spectrum antibiotic, but as there were no indications of what was wrong with Poorly Princess, she asked us to get a urine sample. She gave us a specially designed baby urine bag, which looked simple enough. When we finished at the Doctor's we went to OUR shop, and my Mum was there - she and my Dad had arranged to visit and there was no point cancelling due to Poorly Princess's illness. Me and Mum sat on OUR shop sofa and chatted, Mr Messy went to the bakery to get some sandwiches, cakes and drinks as Poorly Princess wasn't up to going out for lunch. My Dad had gone out to the Pub to get himself a liquid lunch! He returned in time to collect Mum and for them to walk to the bus stop. Even though she hadn't wanted to talk to Grandma and Grandad Poorly Princess was upset that they had gone, and fell asleep before they even went past on the bus. She had an hour's fairly settled nap :-) When we got to school to pick Little Prince up, he and one of his friend's wanted to play together, J's Mum said she would have the boys at her house to give Poorly Princess a rest, thanks L :-) Poorly Princess didn't appreciate this gesture though and sobbed all the way home for her Brud-Brud :-( At home I put the baby urine bag on her, and to stop her trying to pull it off put a nappy over the top. It was obviously very uncomfortable, and Poorly Princess was not happy at all :-( I removed it later after we'd collected Little Prince from J's house, and it had become detached and all the urine had gone into her nappy instead of the collection bag!! The Doctor had asked that we collect the sample before starting the antibiotics, but Poorly Princess was so hot and ill that I decided I just had to start her on her medicine. She hates the taste of the antibiotics, but I managed to get some down her, followed by some Calpol, fingers crossed it starts to work quickly.

PHONE CALL
During the evening I got a call from a very upset Lil Sis, asking if I knew when Mum and Dad would be home. We tried to work it out based on what time bus they had caught. Then Lil Sis explained that one of our cousins had called round that morning to let her know that our Auntie M had died that morning :-( Auntie M was being treated for cancer, but the last I'd heard was that the treatment was going well and she was recovering. Unfortunately she'd started with breathing difficulties and gone back into hospital, and although days earlier she'd seemed like she was getting better and was about to be sent home, she'd taken a turn for the worse :-( Her husband, two sons and one of their wives were with her when she died. Me and Lil Sis agreed that she should go round to see Mum and Dad and tell them in person, and that I would contact Baby Bro, she'd already spoken to Baby Sis.
I was completely shocked and so sad. Auntie M was a lovely lovely lady. When I was at Primary School me and her eldest son used to go to his house for lunch and to watch TV. I used to visit each week when LMS was a baby too. She had many health challenges, but lead a full and happy life despite all of that. She was an inspiration. When Drama Teen was born with a facial difference, I knew thanks to Auntie M, that it wouldn't stop her living her life to the full.
Bye bye Auntie M, love you and miss you :-( RIP

THURSDAY
Me and Poorly Princess spent the day at home, she was still fairly listless and didn't want to eat but her temperature wasn't as high and she did have moments of being her bright had happy self :-) When Mr Messy got home from OUR shop he got the potty out of the attic, cleaned it up and we tried to see if we could get a urine sample from Poorly Princess on there. NOPE! She hated sitting on it, I think that has she still has a bit of a temperature that sitting on the cold plastic was uncomfortable :-( She got more and more upset and still didn't produce the required sample :-( During the evening she got very upset, she would demand that Drama Teen came downstairs, but ignore her once she was here and then sob when she went back to her room :-( She eventually fell asleep and we got her to bed.
Little Prince told me he had been crying at school, he had cried so much that he couldn't tell his teachers what the problem was :-( He told me he was upset because he is missing LMS, these last few weeks before she comes home seem to be the hardest for him :-(

FRIDAY
Although Poorly Princess had a disturbed night, it wasn't quite as bad as it has been previously :-) When she woke up she wanted breakfast :-) For the first time this week she managed a whole weetabix :-) Getting her antibiotics down her afterwards was even more of a trauma though! I tried using the medicine syringe, but she screamed and writhed out of the way, so most of it went down but some squirted down her chin!! She was happier to take her Calpol :-) As her temperature seems back to normal I've lowered her Calpol dose to just one spoonful instead of two. She is obviously still not herself as she doesn't want to play, she still just wants to just cuddle on my lap and she keeps crying for "Find it Brud-Brud" but she is much improved from how she has been. The crying for Brud-Brud went on and on and on and in the end I decided enough was enough and got her settled for a nap. She had quite a long nap, but disturbed every single time I tried to put her down! So I spent the enforced sitting still time, researching local rental property prices for LMS when she returns from America.
Poorly Princess slept for quite a long time, and in the end I didn't have time to drop her off at OUR shop and return to pick Little Prince up from school. So she came with me to collect Little Prince, and then we drove straight over to the swimming baths for Little Prince's swimming lesson. Mr Messy met us at the baths, and took Poorly Princess back to OUR shop, while I took Little Prince swimming, Poorly Princess was NOT happy to be going off with Daddy. Little Prince had a fantastic lesson, and for the first time he looked like a "real" swimmer :-) He manages to propel himself through the water, but always looks like he is flailing rather than swimming, when he swam his 20m his teacher said he did it in "his own style" rather than a recognised stroke lol. But today his front crawl looked fabulous, he swam four strokes, turned his head to breath and swam so fast too :-) My eye's were filling up with pride at his progress :-) Talking to his teacher after the lesson she said that the medication has made a marked difference to how Little Prince is swimming and his progress is astounding :-) She is almost as proud of him as I am :-) I thanked her too, without her patience and dedication and sticking with Little Prince despite his behavioural difficulties he wouldn't have made the progress he has. Little Prince is lucky to have her and his class teacher in his life - they both love him and really want to help him succeed :-)
When me and Little Prince got back to OUR shop, Poorly Princess was playing happily with Daddy, which was a huge relief after the teary goodbye earlier! We stayed there for a while before I brought the littlies home with me. While driving I asked Little Prince to empty/refill the dishwasher when we got home, which is one of his jobs. He fussed and whinged for the rest of the drive, but when we got home he went off to do his job. After a few minutes he came to see me, quite upset - he had lost his temper and slammed one of the plates into the cupboard very hard and it had broken into pieces. He was very upset with himself and worried that he would be in trouble. I said I was very disappointed that he had broken the plate, but that I still trusted him to complete the rest of his job nicely, which he did.
Mr Messy and Drama Teen arrived soon after we did and brought a chippie tea, yeah no cooking :-) Poorly Princess wanted to eat some chips (and has also been asking for crisps) we think she is trying to replace her lost body salts and besides its been about she's eaten for a couple of days, so we aren't stopping her!
Little Prince spent most of the evening playing with his electronics kit, making things from the instruction booklet and from his own imagination, he had a great time. Poorly Princess spent most of the evening whinging and being loudly out of sorts :-( She is now asleep on the sofa beside me, as I'm not ready for bed and if I take her upstairs she'll want me to be there with her!!

Monday

Poor Princess Lollipop had a dreadful night, she was very very hot and kept wriggling all night. She'd wake up and shout "UP MUMMY" despite already being cuddled, she shouted about being too hot, too cold, wanting a drink, wanting breakfast and generally kept me awake most of the night. I didn't mind too much as it was obvious she was ill, once his alarm went off Mr Messy got her some Calpol, which she promptly threw up all over herself :-( Enough must have stayed down to help her settle as she did go back to sleep for a few hours afterwards. When she did wake up she was still very hot, but it was too soon to give her more Calpol and I wasn't sure how much had stayed down either! She had some of my toast for breakfast, barely a couple of mouthfuls and was immediately rolling round the floor in pain :-( I did manage to persuade her to drink a little, but all she wanted was to be hugged on my knee all day. With her still having a temperature, it was like hugging a wriggling hot water bottle!!

She fell asleep in the afternoon, so I rang Mr Messy and arranged for him to pick Little Prince up from school and took her back to bed. She was very wriggly again, but at least she got some sleep! When we woke up and went downstairs, Mr Messy and Little Prince were home, but Drama Teen had gone on the bus to see her Boyfriend, as they are still trying to sort out their differences. She still doesn't want to talk about what has happened and I feel so helpless and want to help her, but I don't know what to do or say :-( Little Prince had got the first copy of his National Geographics Kids magazine (we bought him a 12 month subscription for his birthday) and he devoured it, and can't wait to receive the next one :-)

Princess Lollipop didn't want anything to do with her Daddy or her Brother, and just stayed cuddled up on my knee. She did manage to eat and keep down some plain rice pudding, and that cheered her up for a little while, but then she started being upset and whingy again :-( We gave her some Calpol and she fell asleep soon afterwards, but was still quite wriggly and unsettled when Mr Messy took her to bed. I don't think she'll stay asleep for long, so I'm typing this quickly before I have to go and be up there with her!

Rest of Sunday

The littlies were very excited about their Grandparent's visit and stood at the window looking out for them, and as soon as they saw them ran to the front door. However, they then refused to say anything but a mumbled "hello" and definitely NO kisses or hugs! Its not surprising really, as they don't get to see these Grandparent's very often. The visit went well, Nana (Mr Messy's Mother) was very understanding with the littlies not allowing kisses and didn't push it, she asked how Little Prince was getting on with his new medication and was very proud of all the new things he has managed to do now. Little Prince and Grandad had a game of dominos and then a game of draughts in the dining room while me and Nana chatted, and Princess Lollipop fell asleep on my lap, minutes after she had demanded (loudly!) that "Mick-Mick Pat-Pat" (her way of indicating the Playhouse Disney Channel) was put on. She slept soundly until I turned the TV off and then woke up demanding it back on!! How did she know?!?!

Nana talked (well bitched really!) about people in the family, I've heard it all before and just let it all go in one ear and out the other, there's no point trying to stop her or getting upset about it, so I make non commital umms and ahs and let her get it out of her system. One topic that did manage to annoy me was her attitude to her sister who has recently converted to Islam, and who now wears long skirts/dresses and a hijab. I had to grit my teeth and let her say her piece as saying anything contrary to what she says usually ends up making it a much bigger deal than it started. I think Little Prince perking his ears up and mentioning that he is a Muslim, finally got through to her and she started on another topic!

When Mr Messy and Drama Teen got home, she repeated some of the stories to him and chatted about how the photography business was going. Grandad asked if Mr Messy could have a look at his in car cigarette lighter socket as it seems to have eaten the end of the GPS lead! Mr Messy managed to sort out the cigarette lighter, but the GPS will need a new lead. When it was time for them to leave I went with them in my car, and showed them round OUR shop on their way past. They were both very impressed, especially with the pictures of their Grandchildren displayed in there :-) Nana was very surprised that it was Mr Messy that keeps the place clean and tidy, as he really lives up to his nickname and always has lol.

After they left we all, well all except Drama Teen who refused to join us :-( watched Herbie Fully Loaded. As someone who loved the older films when I was younger, I thought that Herbie was a bit too "animated" too much smiling and winking for my taste lol. But Little Prince who had never seen a Herbie movie before LOVED it :-) We thought he would lol. He got quite annoyed and kept pressing pause when Princess Lollipop made any loud noises!! After that it was time to get the littlies fed and ready for bed. Little Prince crushed the cans in the kitchen while I was cooking, and even though he moaned that he hated this being his job he got on with it :-) When their food was ready Princess Lollipop did the same as she did yesterday, refused to even look at the food and pushed the bowl away and screamed "NO" if I tried to feed her, yet when I took the untouched food away she screamed even louder for her "TEA TEA TEA"!!! I got Mr Messy to sit with them while they ate, as I just couldn't face another evening like yesterday :-( After Little Prince had gone off to bed, Princess Lollipop fell asleep on my lap again, I'm beginning to think she is coming down with something as she isn't normally this "screamy" or sleepy! And she has had a number of badly disturbed nights too, hopefully she'll get over it pretty quickly and be back to her more usual cheerful self! Mr Messy went up to bed not long after Princess Lollipop, his desire to watch the American Superbowl waned pretty quickly when he saw how late it was on lol. He's still tired from the all day wedding shoot on Saturday, so watching the Superbowl was never really going to happen! I stayed up messing about on the internet, and then realised what time it was and got this blog up to date and now I'm off to bed too - night night all :-)

Sunday

Mr Messy took Princess Lollipop down for her breakfast, allowing me some uninterrupted, child-free sleep :-) When I finally crawled out of bed, he had also got her dressed in a pretty dress, which she LOVED showing me, she also loved showing me the matching "nik niks" lol. Think we'll have to discourage that one lol.

I got some tidying up done, with Princess Lollipop's help, while Little Prince emptied and refilled the dishwasher, under protest! While we were still working Mr Messy and Drama Teen went out to OUR shop to get ready for today's photoshoot. Princess Lollipop was heart broken that they were going out without her again :-(

We've just had a phone call from Mother in Law, to say they have just stopped at a Service Station for a coffee and will be here soon. No time for any more tidying up, she'll have to take us as she finds us!!

Rest of Saturday

Princess Lollipop fell asleep not long after my last post, and I had to wake her up to go and collect Little Prince from his friend's party. She was NOT happy!! She whinged and cried when any of the other Mum's (who she sees every day at school!) talked to her!! And when we got home she was still in a foul mood, she screamed at her tea (one she usually loves) and refused to eat it, but didn't want it taken away either! Little Prince was getting upset by all the screaming and screeching and despite his medication he was getting sillier and sillier too! It made for a very stressful evening!

Again due to his medication Little Prince couldn't get to sleep, so there was no point sending him up to bed to have him coming up and down the stairs for hours, so I let him stay up till 9pm (MUCH later than his normal 7.30pm/8.00pm bedtime!) and he still couldn't sleep. He read his Harry Potter book and was still reading when I took Princess Lollipop up to bed!

Mr Messy and Drama Teen got home a lot earlier from photographing the wedding than they thought, and as Little Prince was still awake he came down for hugs and cuddles from them. Drama Teen was tired and went straight up to bed, but Mr Messy stayed downstairs and chatted about how it had all gone before I took Princess Lollipop up to bed. I must have fallen asleep too (Princess Lollipop has been VERY disturbed the last couple of nights so I was exhausted) as I don't remember Mr Messy coming to bed at all!!

Saturday

Sorry about the lack of blogging, nothing has gone on, nothing interesting happened and I got lazy lol. Today Mr Messy is out with Drama Teen photographing a wedding, so me and the littlies went to open OUR shop this morning. We didn't arrive till mid morning, as Little Prince was very grumpy and tired, this not sleeping is really getting to him! Mr Messy asked him what he wanted for breakfast and instead of answering Little Prince stormed upstairs and put himself back in bed! I let him have a little while longer in bed and he was a little happier when he got downstairs and actually ate his breakfast!

As Little Prince is at a party this evening I decided to hold off giving him his tablet till later, so he was a huge handful at OUR shop, which in turn wound Princess Lollipop up and I ended up with a banging headache :-( When it got to about 2pm I'd had enough, most of the shops shut at lunchtime, so I left a note on the door saying "Off photographing a Wedding. Open as usual on Monday" and took the kids to MacDonalds as Little Prince was whinging how tired he was. I hadn't realised that there was a football match playing at the ground near the MacDonalds we went to, so we had to queue up for ages to get through the traffic - if I'd known we'd have gone somewhere else! The car park was heaving, so we got a drive through as I thought it would be impossible to find somewhere to sit and eat inside. When we'd finished eating we set off home, I paused at a house on the way home that had a marble fireplace displayed outside, that I'd arranged to buy for OUR shop. I was supposed to have texted the owner to let him know when he could drop it off at OUR shop, but that was way too technical for me to get in a text message - so I wrote it down (how old school lol).

After we'd got home Mr Messy rang, to let us know the wedding was going well and that they were having a break while everyone ate their meal. The wedding party hadn't catered for their photographers, but luckily they were near to a lovely Italian Restaurant we've visited before and nipped over there for some lunch. Then I had to get the birthday present wrapped and get Little Prince to write the birthday card, and we set off to drop him off. It was only down the road at the Village Hall, but as it was pouring down with rain, we went in the car! Princess Lollipop sobbed and shouted for Little Prince when we said goodbye to him, she really hates to leave him behind. I gave her a biscuit when we got home and with that and watching her favourite TV programme with no interruptions from her big brother, she soon cheered up. She is very very tired though and doesn't want to get off my knee for a moment, not that I'm complaining, but one handed blogging is pretty difficult!!