Thursday

I had an early start today, although not as early as Mr Messy who left to go to London before I woke up. As he was away I had to drive Mrs LMS to work, taking Princess Lollipop with us, which was the only reason I'd got up so early!! Even though I am not a morning person, that was the easy bit of the day!! As soon as I returned home chaos ensued!! Nothing seemed to go well and it was a fraught, stressful morning urgh! In the end, however, I managed to get everything ready and everyone in the car and set off!! We paused at the Post Office to post the designer bridal gowns back to the designer after Mr Messy's big shoot at weekend. We also had to stop by at the bank, so I could give Drama Teen some money, as she was having her restyled today. Then I dropped Drama Teen off at OUR shop and me and the Littlies set off on a a long drive to meet up with Baby Sis and her gorgeous little baby. It took about 2 hours to get to Baby Sis's house, and the drive wasn't too bad, especially as the Littlies watched a DVD each. It was a bit confusing in the front listening to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Harry Potter in jarring stereo, but I can cope with that if it keeps the Littlies happy and amused for long drives!

Once we'd arrived at Baby Sis's house had a little break from the car, and Baby Sis's baby had eaten her lunch, we loaded the car back up with Littlies and set off again. This time we were heading for a shopping centre where we'd arranged to meet a fellow adopter we'd met up with in Ethiopia, and haven't seen since then. The family lives overseas, so it is difficult to get together, its not that we were avoiding them!! We met this adoptive family on our first trip to Ethiopia, when I travelled with Baby Sis, and we'd got on like a house on fire, probably due to our shared Northern Town roots, and both me and Baby Sis were very excited at the opportunity to see this friend again :-)

When we'd got together and were sat chatting Little Prince was talking to the other adopter's older two children, well to be honest Little Prince was doing a breathless non-stop monologue on Star Wars and the other children were listening, they probably couldn't get a word in!! The other adopter showed us pictures of her home, home town abroad and her Ethiopian children. I can't believe how much they've grown!! The other adopter said the same about Princess Lollipop, I guess two years makes a HUGE difference lol. We chatted for ages, before going for a walk round the Shopping Centre, Little Prince was still going and the other adopter's children were starting to look a little shell shocked!! After a lovely few hours together we said our goodbyes, fingers crossed its not another two years before we can get together again!!! Little Prince has mentioned the other two children a couple of times and wishes they could play/chat together more often :-)

Next we were dragged in the Disney Shop by Little Prince, not that it took much arm twisting to be honest lol. Surprisingly I ended up buying things for Little Prince (a cap and a fancy gadgety pencil case) rather than Princess Lollipop - its not often that way round in there!! We had a quick stop in the Croc Shop, but I didn't like the styles they had available in Little Prince's size, so we left without buying anything. Little Prince had been talking about the City Centre's Big Wheel, that we'd seen when we'd been chatting in the cafe, and both he and Princess Lollipop made it obvious they wanted to ride on it. Being a complete wuss about heights, I was extremely grateful when Baby Sis offered to take my Littlies on there, and let me stay on solid ground with Baby Niece :-) Thank you Baby Sis :-) Baby Niece wasn't as impressed with this arrangement and was crying, with big fat tears rolling down her cheeks by the time her Mummy returned :-( She would play with my hair, start to relax her head onto my shoulder, realise I didn't feel/smell/look like Mummy and jerk her head back up and cry, repeatedly. I'm so sorry for upsetting you Baby Niece :-( She settled almost straight back down once her Mummy reappeared, but was obviously getting fractious, as was Princess Lollipop, so we decided to call it a day and go back to the car.

Getting out of the car park was a trauma!! The exit ramp was like a helter skelter for cars!! And driving a bigger 4x4 style car, made me feel like I was going to fall off the edge the whole time, obviously I wasn't there were high concrete edges to the ramp, it just felt awful!! Baby Sis had told me how horrible the exit was when we were entering the car park, but I didn't realise just what she meant until I was driving it!!! We'll park somewhere else next time!!!

Princess Lollipop was fast asleep almost before we'd left the Town Centre, and Baby Niece was settling down too and might have fallen asleep if Little Prince hadn't decided to keep her amused!! He was so cute and sweet with her though, bless. I'm not sure that repeatedly banging his head on his own car seat because it made her laugh was a great idea though!!! We called in at a drive in place to get Little Prince something to eat, I thought Princess Lollipop would wake up to eat too but she didn't. She woke up just as we were about to drive away, and didn't seem that bothered so I decided to get her something later, or when we got home. When we were almost back at Baby Sis's house Baby Niece was getting more and more upset (she was hungry and tired) and started to cry :-( This upset both Little Prince and Princess Lollipop who had to put their hands over their ears, Princess Lollipop complaining "It too loudy!" Little Prince was upset that he couldn't cheer Baby Niece up, and was blaming himself for her being sad :-( It was quite a relief to arrive at Baby Sis's house. We only stopped long enough to all have a turn going to the loo, before setting off back home again, letting Baby Sis feed Baby Niece in peace - she was too distracted by her big cousins jumping around and making a lot of noise to feed!!

Once we were on the road again, I realised we hadn't got enough petrol to get us all the way home!! Trouble is I realised just as we sailed past the last garage!! After a few minutes of quiet panic I remembered a Supermarket Petrol Station just a little out of our way and headed there. I grabbed a drink and snack for the Littlies from the Petrol Station Shop before setting off again, hopefully they will both have eaten enough to go straight to bed once we get home. The drive was mostly plain sailing, except when Princess Lollipop dropped her almost empty crisps packet where no one could reach and then started to scream at the top of her lungs every few minutes for what felt like hours!! She can literally make an ear splitting noise - your ears ring afterwards!!! This was obviously very unpleasant while it lasted, especially for Little Prince sat next to her on the back seat!! The sooner we reach the end of these "Terrible Two Tantrums" the better!!!

When we got home I collapsed on the sofa, feeling absolutely exhausted!! I can't imagine how tired Mr Messy was after driving for twice as long as I did and he was still managing to be on his computer!! He explained that there was a big hoohaa going on at work and that to sort it out he will probably be flying out to the Indian office soon for a couple of weeks!! And depending on how that goes he might come home and then have to go to the Australian office!! Not really what my exhausted brain wanted to hear :-( Especially as the timing means he will probably be away before Little Prince goes back to school :-(