Monday's Positives

Finally getting to the Supermarket and restocking on Diet Coke - I ran out last week and I've missed it sooooo much :-)

Spending the afternoon with Mrs LMS, its hard only seeing her once a week, so any extra visits are to be cherished :-)

Spending the evening with Mr Messy and drinking Diet Coke :-)

Monday

I had to take Drama Teen to college this morning as she'd missed the bus!! Once we'd dropped her off me and Princess Lollipop went to the Supermarket, then to a fast food place for lunch before going back to college to pick Drama Teen back up again. We sat in the car for ages waiting for her and Latest Boyfriend to appear, and then I saw them walk out of college, but when I looked again she had disappeared!! Then to my surprise Mr Messy drove past me!!! Drama Teen had been supposed to text her Dad and tell him I could pick them up and he didn't have to do it, but he hadn't received the text so he turned up anyway!

Princess Lollipop cried and complained about not having Drama Teen and Latest Boyfriend in our car for ages on the drive home. Well we didn't go home, Mrs LMS was off work so we went round to visit her. I started to feel very unwell on the way there, so when we arrived she kindly agreed to come round to our house to help me out with Princess Lollipop during the afternoon. It was lovely to have her round for a chat and she seemed to enjoy Princess Lollipop's antics :-) Drama Teen was in her bedroom studying and Mr Messy was home early too, although he has a bad cold and is feeling rough so was taking it easy on the sofa.

Mrs LMS was tired out, she isn't used to her siblings energy levels any more!! So I took her home and called to the chippie for a quick tea for us all on the way home. Little Prince arrived home from his friend C's after tea, having had a great time :-) He wasn't happy that it was nearly bedtime and used every excuse he could think of to stay up a little later, he was eventually persuaded into bed and while I was tucking him in, Princess Lollipop fell asleep on her Dad's knee downstairs! Another quiet evening for me and Mr Messy - I could get used to this :-)

Sunday's Positives

Mr Messy looking after the Littlies so I could have a much needed nap - thank you so much Mr Messy, I really truly appreciated the opportunity :-)

The Littlies having a wonderful (and tiring for Princess Lollipop at least) time at the Indoor Play Centre :-)

Managing to book Little Prince's birthday party exactly when I wanted it to be, despite the very late notice :-)

Sunday

The lack of sleep is getting to me, when Princess Lollipop woke me up I was so tired I was shaking :-( It didn't get better when I came downstairs, my head was banging and I just felt bleugh :-( Mr Messy was out at a shoot, so it was just me and the littlies. I knew I wasn't going to cope with much, so I made sure Little Prince had his medication first thing, before doing anything else! Princess Lollipop decided to help herself to a snack after breakfast and managed to drop and smash the bowl on the way back to the lounge! I had to get her and Little Prince to stay in the lounge while I cleaned up, there were sharp bits of bowl all over the hall and the littlies were still in bare feet! By the time I'd finished Princess Lollipop had worked herself into a state in the lounge, which winds Little Prince up and it was total chaos!!

Mr Messy arrived back not long afterwards, and was so kind that he let me go back for a while before he had to set off for his next shoot. It was bliss. An hour and a half of sleep, with no wriggling, poking and talking from my tickly haired Princess, and I know her hair is tickly because she spends a LOT of the nights under my chin, tickling me awake!! I know I sound all comlainy but the lack of sleep is really getting to me at the moment :-(

After I woke up Mr Messy had to go out on his next shoot, he took Drama Teen out to assist him. I got the littlies ready and took them out to an Indoor Play Centre, a different one to the one we usually go to, but the one where Little Prince wants his birthday party this time. The littlies had a great time, I managed to book Little Prince's party at a very convenient time, despite leaving it till the last minute :-) By the end of our time at the Play Centre Princess Lollipop was obviously very tired and kept bursting into tears, the Centre is HUGE and I couldn't find Little Prince for ages!!

Once Little Prince emerged from the play equipment I got them both ready and we set off home, via a fast food place for a Drive Thru' We arrived home before Mr Messy and Drama Teen, who had also gone out for something to eat! After everyone arrived home Princess Lollipop didn't last long before falling asleep, and it was soon Little Prince's bedtime. Me and Mr Messy watched one of his Benidorm DVDs before going to bed ourselves.

Saturday's Positives

Having a fun day with my Littlies :-)

Getting a couple of bargains at the Car Boot Sale :-)

Having an early night, and some undisturbed sleep :-)

Saturday

Me and the littlies had to drop Drama Teen off at work, and then we drove over to a Car Boot Sale. Unfortunately by the time we got there (an hour after opening!!) the windy weather meant that most stalls were packing up!! Quite disappointing after the distance we drove to get there!! I did manage to find a few bargains though, another toy doctor's kit for Princess Lollipop. Its the identical one that Mrs LMS and Drama Teen had when they were little!! Little Prince managed to find a few little toys for 50p each and was thrilled with his purchases :-) I also managed to find a couple of metal trays that I'm going to use to make magnetic dress up dolls for Princess Lollipop's birthday :-)

When we got home me and Little Prince played some more Lego Harry Potter on the Wii. I love the fact that the characters don't die they just fall into Lego pieces, the lack of violence is much better for Little Prince and doesn't get him as wound up, and its just plain fun :-)

I also found out that Drama Teen has been sacked from her job :-( They said she was just too slow - which is a bit unfair as this was only her third 4 hour shift!! So the Manageress's comment "You've been here 3 weeks now and should be faster" was, in my opinion, way out of order!! She has been there TWELVE hours and when you employed her you didn't say she would be cooking, you just landed that on her on the first day! I won't be going to that deli/cafe again!! I hope Drama Teen recovers ok from this as Mr Messy said she cried when she reached the shop, hopefully she'll realise that it was the manageress expecting too much rather than her not performing. Big hugs Drama Teen (((((((((())))))))

In the evening I took Princess Lollipop to bed to settle her down and blinked and it was suddenly 10.30pm!! I decided that it was too late to get up again and got properly ready for bed. Sadly that was the most sleep I got all night as Princess Lollipop had yet another wriggly, disturbed night :-(

Friday's Positives

Princess Lollipop managing her bath with a minimum of fuss and no tears :-)

Me and Little Prince having some time to have some fun together :-)

The outstanding progress Little Prince has made in his swimming :-)

Getting both Littlies to sleep at a reasonable time :-)

Friday

Me and Princess Lollipop had an extremely slow start to the day, after a VERY disturbed night! Neither of us was keen on the idea of waking up at all, so we had a slow gentle quiet morning :-) Well apart from when I was doing Princess Lollipop's hair in the bath, but she didn't make as much fuss as usual, probably because doing the conditioning every other day is keeping the tangles at bay.

After lunch we had to go and pick Mr LMS up from work. He'd meant to go to the gym straight from work, but due to sleeping through his alarm had overslept! He didn't seem too bothered by that fact, so he's probably still not feeling 100%. He was miffed that when he saw the Doctor he hadn't been prescribed any medication, and that the Doctor refused to give him sleeping pills and said (like we all keep telling him) that they are bad for him!!

Once we'd dropped him off at home, me and Princess Lollipop went round to visit Daddy at OUR shop. He said he'd keep Princess Lollipop with him, as Little Prince has his swimming lesson after school. I came home and had just enough time to have a quick snack before going to pick Little Prince up. We then had a lovely time playing Lego Harry Potter on the Wii before it was time to go to his swimming lesson. We don't often get time where its just the two of us, and it was lovely spending that one on one time with him :-) Moments to treasure :-)

Little Prince's swimming teacher had him practising his butterfly stroke, and he is coming on really well, his teacher was having to jog up the side of the pool to keep up with him. She is very very pleased with his progress and attitude and loves teaching him :-) I asked her about when Princess Lollipop could start lessons, and she said we could go back to group lessons, Little Prince would be in Top Group with her, and Princess Lollipop would be in the Beginners Group with 3 or 4 other little ones and the instructor in the water with them. We are going to try it out after the next half term, as Princess Lollipop will be 3 by then!! I can't believe she'll be THREE next!!! I'm not sure how/if she will cope with being in a swimming lesson, but we can try it and see how she gets on :-)

In the evening we managed to get both littlies to sleep at a reasonable time and me and Mr Messy were going to watch one of our Christmas present DVDs together - however, we couldn't get it to play on any of the devices!! Mr Messy hasn't been feeling very well this week, and needed cheering up so I told him to watch it on his laptop with his headphones, so he's doing that and all I can hear is the occasional laughter from him - glad he's enjoying it and he looks happier :-)

Drama Teen went round to Mr and Mrs LMS's house from college, and they are bringing her back at some point. She wanted Mr LMS to teach her some karate, which I didn't know was her thing, but she says it is :-) Hope they are having a good time and that Little Prince doesn't find out because he is desperately missing Mr and Mrs LMS at the moment!

Thursday's Positives

Getting Little Prince's under bed tent finally cut out, it was my big stumbling block and now I've actually chopped up the material I know I'll get on with it :-)

Finally finding my card reader so I could get the photos off my camera, and seeing all the photos on there from Halloween, Disney, Christmas and various bits in between :-)

Little Prince managing to have a playful and pleasant evening without his medication :-)

Having a lovely evening with Mr Messy :-)

Thursday

Princess Lollipop was at Tiny School this morning, so I had the morning to myself. I got some jobs done round the house, procrastinated a LOT and then eventually got on with what I was supposed to be doing - cutting out the pieces for Little Prince's under bed tent. I want this to be one of his birthday presents, and have left myself with VERY little time to get it finished!! I have left it till the last minute and am now under pressure to get it finished!!

Mr Messy called home around lunchtime to drop off his work laptop, that a courier was booked to pick up and return to the office today. I had to leave a note on the door when I went to pick Princess Lollipop up, and keep my fingers crossed that the courier would wait for me if he came while I was out! Luckily he did, and the package is now safely on its way.

When Little Prince came home from school, he wanted to play Lego Harry Potter on the Wii with me. Last time we played the game glitched and we couldn't move any further forward with it, so we had to start all over again :-( Little Prince played well for a while, but needed frequent breaks to play with Princess Lollipop, which kept both of them happy :-) We haven't managed to get as far in the game as we were before, but we've made a great start :-)

Me and Mr Messy spent the evening watching TV together :-)

Wednesday's Positives

Getting my ironing done, without having to do it myself :-)

Spending the morning chatting with S :-)

Managing to get Mr LMS to agree to go to the Doctor :-)

Wednesday

My friend S came round this morning. She does my ironing for me, and I am so so grateful :-) Its well worth the cost as I hate, despise and detest ironing! Plus we get to chat while she's ironing :-)

I had to go and pick Mr LMS up from work in the afternoon and Princess Lollipop was very excited at the thought of seeing him. She completely ignored him when he got in the car though!! He hasn't been well since the weekend, so I bullied him into going to the Doctor! I took him home and waited while he picked up his GP Registration Form, then drove him round to the surgery, which is almost next door to OUR shop, so me and Princess Lollipop went there to see Mr Messy. Mr LMS soon reappeared in OUR shop, grumpy and disgruntled. He had to have a check up with the Nurse before he could be registered, so he couldn't see the Doctor until tomorrow. Well at least he's got the admin stuff over and done with and can see the Doctor tomorrow and get sorted out!!

I picked Little Prince and his friend E up from school, and brought them home. The Big Boys played together really nicely, but Princess Lollipop got very very grumpy and screamy!! She was obviously tired, but I didn't want her to go to sleep this early!! After E's Mum collected him it was time to get the littlies ready for bed. Princess Lollipop fell asleep very very quickly, but Little Prince was up and down quite a lot before he settled.

Princess Lollipop was quite restless so I laid her on the sofa, rather than have to keep running up and down stairs all evening! However around 9pm she woke up crying with a sore tummy and it took ages to get her settled. She was wide awake by that point and there was no chance of getting her back to sleep!!

Me and Mr Messy were watching the TV programme "There's One Born Every Minute" about women giving birth. Princess Lollipop was both fascinated and repulsed by what was shown! She was alarmed by the screaming the labouring women did, and thought the newborn babies were YUK. She DID NOT like the idea that she had been in a tummy and been covered in YUK!! She also DID NOT like the fact that she had not been in my tummy, she seemed really disturbed by this idea :-( Eventually she just started to sob and there was no consoling her, so I took her to bed and snuggled her to sleep. Strangely she then slept better than she has for ages!!

Tuesday's Positives

Catching up on lots of household chores :-)

Little Prince coping with and enjoying both his sessions of Tae Kwon Do :-)

Princess Lollipop not screaming or crying when she woke up in her cot, and just calmly coming downstairs to find me (and Daddy). This is a HUGE leap forward for her and she has only managed to do this a few times, hopefully she has relaxed enough that she doesn't panic and scream/cry when she wakes up in the night :-) Well done Princess Lollipop :-)

Tuesday

After yet another disturbed night me and Princess Lollipop completely overslept this morning!! We were up way too late to get to Tiny School, which meant I didn't get my morning to myself and still haven't got Little Prince's under bed tent started!!!

Even with Princess Lollipop's "assistance" I managed to get a lot of jobs done round the house, frustratingly slowly, but at least they are done :-) Princess Lollipop hasn't stopped eating all day, I'm hoping that it might make a difference to her sleeping tonight, I desperately NEED a good night's sleep!!

Little Prince went to Tae Kwon Do straight from school and loved it. We then rushed to the chippie to get a quick tea, before dashing back to get him to Sports Fighting Tae Kwon Do at the Village Hall. The session is run by the same TKD instructor that runs the club at school, and in this one the children wear padding and helmets and actually kick each other - the main draw for Little Prince. He was quite nervous and overwhelmed when I dropped him off, but when I picked him up his instructor said he did really well. He'd started off quite timidly, but soon got into it, according to his instructor "he's got no fear"!!! The instructor also gave Little Prince a warning that if he found out that he'd been practicing his moves on his sisters then he would be immediately banned from the club - hopefully that will deter Little Prince!!

When I got back from dropping Little Prince off at Sport Fighting, Drama Teen went out on her first proper driving lesson. Her very first lesson was at a racing track in an Aston Martin, arranged by her Dad :-) She didn't seem nervous at all before her lesson and was quite pleased with herself when she got home :-) Worryingly she did admit that she finds it hard to concentrate on what her instructor is telling her, while also driving and lost concentration a number of times!!! I hope her instructor has good insurance lol!!

Little Prince went to bed as soon as he got home from his second session of Tae Kwon Do, it was already after 8pm and he has school tomorrow morning!! Princess Lollipop fell asleep very soon afterwards, despite being desperate to stay awake and see her Daddy, who was late home as he was on a photo shoot.

I watched "Suits" a programme that has been advertised for weeks now and I've been really looking forward to :-) This episode was a bit slow, as they were introducing all the characters, however it was still fun and I enjoyed it :-) Princess Lollipop woke up just as "Suits" was ending and came downstairs, she was very tired and went back to sleep very quickly and is now laid beside me snoring loudly lol.

Monday's Positives

Having a lovely restful day with Princess Lollipop :-)

Managing to get Princess Lollipop's bath and hair done with a minimum of fuss :-)

Having a lovely, long chat with my friend :-)

Monday Monday

Me and Princess Lollipop took Drama Teen to college in the morning and then returned home and had a quiet day at home. I spent the day working up the courage to get Princess Lollipop in the bath and get her hair done. It wasn't quite as bad as I expected, although it did take quite a long while, with lots of avoidance techniques from Princess Lollipop. I'm going to make sure I do her hair regularly this week so it doesn't get so tangled and get it back to soft and silky condition.

Little Prince had Drama Club after school, so we didn't have to go and get him till later in the afternoon. He was in a foul and rough mood when he got home, so he had to have his evening medication, which we normally try to avoid. Princess Lollipop was fine at first then she started to demand to play on his iPod Touch and wouldn't play nicely. She had a complete and utter meltdown when it was taken off her and just wouldn't calm down. In the end Drama Teen took Little Prince upstairs to play while I got Princess Lollipop to sleep, she woke up an hour or so later in a much better mood, but of course didn't want to go to bed at a sensible time!

During the evening I got to have a long phone chat with a good friend. She is going through her second adoption and things aren't going smoothly at the moment, I hope the next meetings with the Social Workers help her to see which is the best way forward. Thinking about you...

Sunday's Positives

Seeing our lovely friends S & C and their lovely youngest children :-)

They loved their canvas :-)

Having a much less eventful day than yesterday :-)

Little Prince and Princess Lollipop having a lovely time at S & C's house again :-)

Sunday

We set off to visit some lovely friend's almost as soon as we got up, they live 3 hours away so we wanted to set off in good time. They had invited us to stay a few months ago when Mr Messy was quite ill with his pneumonia and needed a rest and chill out, they looked after us wonderfully and it gave Mr Messy a much needed pick me up. As a thank you Mr Messy had done a photo shoot with their two youngest daughter's and Princess Lollipop all dressed as fairies :-) And today we were delivering a canvas from that shoot as a present to them, as well as getting to visit them again. They are a lovely, lovely family and Little Prince feels so comfortable there and loves helping with the pigs and chickens, and spending time out side in their huge garden/fields looking for flints!! Which the ever helpful C encouraging him to find the biggest pieces he can!!! I wonder how on earth our suspension copes on the journey home!!

It was lovely to see our friends and spend time in their company. We shared a meal with them, Little Prince calls the meals there "feasts" as all the food is laid out on the table and everyone serves themselves. Unlike at home where he is served his meals ready on his plate. He was overwhelmed by the fact that there were quite a few other visitors at C & S's house, and wanted to run back to the car and hide. Me and S persuaded him to play with the Lego in the corner of the dining room while he got himself comfortable with all the visitors. He calmed down and was ok within about half an hour or so :-)

Later in the afternoon C took Little Prince, Princess Lollipop and their youngest daughter out to collect eggs. After a long while we thought about sending a search party out for them!! Then a sodden footed Little Prince burst into the room!! He said he had somehow got stuck in a frozen puddle, which left his trousers, socks and trainers soaked!! S offered to put his trousers in the tumble dryer, while he sat warming up near the fire wrapped in a blanket drinking a cup of tea, and I managed to persuade him to eat something too. We had to set off for home when Little Prince's trousers were dry again, we wrapped him up in Mr Messy's coat in the car so he was warm and snuggly. Princess Lollipop fell asleep within minutes of setting off and stayed asleep through a "wee stop" at a services, but woke up at the next "wee stop" and was very grumpy! We turned her DVD player back on and she quietened down, well she stopped shouting and screaming at least!!

When we got home we got Little Prince straight to bed, well we tried but he was up and down for ages!! Princess Lollipop was another matter, she had had her sleep and wasn't interested in going to bed at all!! Mr Messy took her up so that I could write these blog posts, I haven't heard from either of them since so I presume they have both fallen asleep!!

Saturday's Positive

Today was so hard and its difficult, almost impossible to think of any positives :-( I couldn't write this on the actual day, as its taken till now to think of anything positive about the whole day :-(

And all I can come up with is the fact that I didn't blow up in temper at Little Prince and managed to deal with the situation calmly.

Saturday

Me and Princess Lollipop overslept so we had to rush round like mad things getting ready in time to take Drama Teen to work! As we were leaving I noticed my purse wasn't in my bag and started to worry! I got Drama Teen to text Mr Messy and ask if he'd picked it up for some reason?! Mr Messy was in London for a Trade Show all day and I wondered if he might have it with him, very unlikely but better than thinking it might be lost or stolen!!

Once we'd dropped Drama Teen at work we went round and picked Mr LMS up and took him to town to spend the day with his friends. Mrs LMS was spending the day staffing OUR shop, to save me from having to spend the day in there with the two littlies running round causing chaos!! I had hoped to take the littlies for something to eat and then to an indoor play centre, but with no purse we had to return home instead.

When we got home I still hadn't heard back from Mr Messy so I tried a few more times and eventually I got to speak to him. It turns out he had no idea where my purse could be!! I was really panicking now!! The last time I had it was at Little Prince's swimming lesson on Friday, I went out to the car to see if it had fallen out in there somehow! I was just frantically searching when Little Prince appeared at the door with my purse in his hand!! He had "found" it!!! I didn't believe that for a moment, and the story slowly emerged, with more truth added at each telling!! Apparently when Dad had gone out first thing, Little Prince was playing on the PS3. The first story was that he tried to download something free and it wouldn't let him until he'd put in my card details!! He admitted later that it wasn't a "free" download at all, and that he had just wanted it! He has no impulse control and having had one success using my card, obviously just tried again!! I checked our bank and nothing was showing up yet!!

I was devastated that he had done this again! Despite all the warnings and punishment last time he did this (signing himself up for Club Penguin just before Christmas - a debt he had to work off, and he was grounded for a week on top of that) he did it again. I will have to start taking my bag and purse upstairs each night :-( And I am just gutted that I can't trust Little Prince at the moment.

I was upset for the rest of the day. I told Little Prince I was so upset with him that I wanted him away from me for a while, so that I could calm down. I sent him to the dining room to get all his homework finished, which included last weeks unfinished tasks. When he had finished I explained to Little Prince what our day could have been like, and asked him to think about whether or not it was worth it to take my purse, use my bank card and then hide it, rather than have a McLunch and then a play at an Indoor Play Centre for a few hours!! He was very very subdued and upset with himself, but I'm sure next time temptation presents itself he'll act impulsively and without any thought for the repercussions again :-(

Friday's Positives

Quite a few of my "cute bits" for my Craft Room arrived in the post this morning :-)

Having Mrs LMS spend the evening with us, and seeing how happy it made the littlies (and me) :-)

Watching The Graham Norton Show in peace, as the lovely Mr Messy took Princess Lollipop to bed :-)

Friday

Drama Teen had another A Level resit today, so she didn't need to go to college until the afternoon. She looked after Princess Lollipop while I had a relaxed shower and got ready, thank you Drama Teen :-)

Then we had to set off, first to get petrol, then drop Drama Teen off at college. Princess Lollipop was trying to persuade Drama Teen to come to the Supermarket with us and then go to College, she misses her sister when she isn't here. At the Supermarket I didn't have to get that much so I used the DIY Checkout, which Princess Lollipop obviously didn't understand. All the way home she told me off for not giving the pennies to the lady and telling me that she wanted to give pennies to the lady!! I'm not 100% sure that she is convinced I'm not a shoplifter!!

When we picked Little Prince up from school, Princess Lollipop had a HUGE long lasting tantrum in the playground!! Then we got home and Little Prince started off in a HUGE tantrum, I can't even remember what he was shouting about, but there was a LOT of shouting and slamming doors!! I had to make him take his evening medication, which doesn't happen often, but there was no way he, or I could have coped with the rest of the evening without him having his medicine!! Eventually I managed to get him to get changed into suitable clothes, I had to make him change out of shorts and t-shirt, and we set off to his swimming lesson. Mr Messy picked Princess Lollipop up and took her to OUR shop, a huge relief as I didn't want any more HUGE tantrums!!

Little Prince had a good swimming lesson, and his very understanding teacher let him do the lesson in flippers as he was embarrassed about still having nail varnish on his toes and worried that people would see it and laugh. His teacher is so good with him and so understanding of his quirks and foibles :-)

After swimming we went to OUR shop to pick Princess Lollipop up, Mr Messy had to stay there editing today's photoshoot as the client wanted images this evening. When we got home Mrs LMS rang to say she was coming round to spend some time with us, I asked her to call at the Chippie to pick up some tea for us all. The littlies were extremely excited to have her visit, as now she and Mr LMS are working they only visit at weekends and the littlies miss them so much.

Thursday's Positives

Having a quiet day to myself :-)

Contacting the Social Worker to restart the process to initiate Direct Contact between Little Prince and his Birth Mum, something he craves and has done for years now :-)

Thursday

I didn't get chance to blog yesterday as I had an early night, so I'm catching up now :-)

Princess Lollipop went to Tiny School and Mr Messy picked her up and took her back to OUR shop for the afternoon, so I had a day off :-) I planned to get on with sewing Little Prince's under bed tent, but I was so tired and muzzy that I couldn't concentrate and decided to leave it for another day. Instead I read a book - Bubble Wrapped Children by Helen Oakwater. Its all about how contact via the internet (usually Facebook) is affecting adopters, adoptive children/adolescents and birth families. As I already know how easy it is to find Little Prince's birth Mum on the internet, and how tech-savvy Little Prince is and how desperate he is to reconnect to his birth family, this is something very close to my heart. After reading a few chapters I got in touch with his Placing Authority to remind them that we want to seriously explore direct contact between Little Prince and his Birth Mum. When we last asked about this Birth Mum had recently split up with her long term partner and moved to a new house, and we were asked to wait 12 months to see how stable Birth Mum would be after all these upheavals. Well that was a year ago, and given the fact that Little Prince has his own computer, boundless curiosity and a very good grasp of how to use search engines etc. Before Christmas he managed to sneakily use my Bank Card and his sister's email address to sign up for a Club Penguin account!! So I don't think it will be long until it occurs to him to sign up for Facebook and search out Birth Family. I would much prefer that contact occur out in the open and within a supported environment and with Social Worker back up. I told the Social Worker I deal with, all of this, and she promised to write to Birth Mum that day to set up a meeting to discuss this with her, and then to get back to me immediately. Unfortunately the SW is moving to another part of the country in about a month, so she will only be able to start the process and won't be around to see it through. This is a huge pity as she is the one who has been supporting Birth Mum each year with Letterbox Contact and has built up a relationship with her, hopefully Birth Mum will be comfortable with another SW taking over this role, and also trust them to guide her through direct contact if it goes ahead. Once again all we can do is wait and see what happens next....

I picked Little Prince up from school and agreed that his friend Y could come over to play and have tea. Y wanted to go home and get changed first, and I had to go and pick Princess Lollipop up from OUR shop, so me and Little Prince went to pick her up and then drove round to Y's house and picked him up too. The boys played on the Wii most of the evening, they didn't eat much of their tea as they were itching to get back to their game and no amount of persuasion could get them to eat some more!! Mr Messy was out on a photoshoot during the evening so he didn't get back until later, he was quite happy that the boys hadn't eaten their pizza as it meant he could finish it off :-)

Wednesday's Positives

Having my hair cut and feeling so much better now it isn't all in my eyes :-)

Having the lovely S as a friend, and the opportunity to have her round and chatting most of the day :-)

I am so so grateful to S for doing the ironing, I really truly hate ironing and it always piles up to ridiculous proportions - but now it is back under control and thanks to S going to stay that way :-)

Being so proud of Drama Teen for the work she has put into her resits - well done :-)

Wednesday

This morning my friend S came round and cut my hair, so I no longer look like a shaggy sheep dog and can actually see now my fringe is out of my eyes :-) S also does my ironing, and as she hasn't been since before Christmas there was a "bit" of a build up!! It was lovely having her round and chatting and wonderful to have the ironing pile cut down in size :-) We've agreed its probably better if she comes once a week from now on, hopefully that will stop the build up!!

Mr Messy was out at a business networking meeting after OUR shop closed, so he was home late. Drama Teen went round to Latest Boyfriend's house for the evening so it was just me and the littlies here for most of the evening. They were much better behaved than they have been for a while, perhaps they are finally over the Christmas Madness and things will start to calm down again (fingers well and truly crossed lol).

Drama Teen resat one of her AS level exams today and feels it went really well, I'm proud of her determination to improve her grades and for her hard work in getting ready for this exam - I hope she gets the results she worked for :-)

Tuesday's Positives

Sitting in my Craft Room working out my very first project (Little Prince's Under Bed Tent) I'm going to do in there :-)

Having the guts to finally go to my (well overdue! I've been avoiding it!!) medication review :-)

Having the Doctor be so so understanding and helpful and taking the time to really try to help me :-)

The prospect of this depression lifting on the new dosage of medication :-)

Having lunch with my lovely husband and youngest daughter :-)

Hearing from our eldest daughter that some blood tests she's had have come back clear, and her problem will probably be cured with simple antibiotics :-)

Tuesday Afternoon

After picking Princess Lollipop up from Tiny School we met up with Mr Messy and Drama Teen (she'd finished College early and was having her hair cut at the Salon near to Mr Messy's shop). We dropped Drama Teen off at the Salon and then the rest of us went for lunch. Princess Lollipop was on top form and had everyone in the Restaurant in stitches!! For once she actually ate her lunch AND pinched some of mine and her Dad's!! And still had room to pinch half of my scone!! When Drama Teen had finished having her hair cut, she came and met us at the Restaurant - her hair looks lovely (as always).

After lunch we went back to OUR shop for a short while, then I brought a very tired Princess home. Little Prince was at Tae Kwon Do, so we didn't have to go and pick him up for a while, which allowed Princess Lollipop to have a quiet, restful watch of the TV, which seemed to help her tiredness :-)

Mr Messy was home when we came back from Tae Kwon do with Little Prince, and so we left Drama Teen babysitting Little Prince while we took Princess Lollipop with us to the Supermarket. We needed a big stock up so I wanted Mr Messy to come too, to help with pushing the the truck lol!! Princess Lollipop fell asleep on the way home, but woke up again when I put her in bed!! And she is showing absolutely no sign of wanting to sleep yet!!

Tuesday Morning

Princess Lollipop was, yet again, very very restless in the night. The only thing that calmed her down and got her back to sleep was letting her stroke my face, which involved much eye and nose poking and not a lot of sleep for me!! We couldn't have a lie in either, as its Tiny School this morning. Princess Lollipop fussed and fussed over her breakfast, but eventually ate a reasonable amount. She was not happy about going to Tiny School, no tears just a lot of arguing. When we got there she stood outside the door with her arms folded saying she wasn't going in, but as soon as her teacher opened the door she was as happy as Larry and waltzed off inside!!

When I got home I sorted out the pile of parcels that had arrived this morning, a couple of books Mr Messy has been waiting anxiously for, a lacy edge paper punch I've been waiting for and a pretty new, waterproof coat for Princess Lollipop. Little Prince will be upset when he comes home as there was nothing for him, but as its nearly his birthday all parcels for him have to be hidden!!

My next job was to measure up Little Prince's cabin bed ready to make an underbed tent for him, hopefully for his birthday. I have enough plain cream, heavy cotton in my stash to make the whole thing so that has saved me a pretty penny :-) All I need to buy is some bias binding, hem weights, "stick and sew" velcro to attach it to his bed and felt for the Star Wars themed decoration. I think I will just get the basic tent sewn for his birthday (just over two weeks away!) and add the decoration afterwards, so I can take more time over it and get it right!

I realised as I was busy working out quantities of materials to buy that I was late for my Doctor's appointment and had to rush to get there. Luckily she was running late so nobody minded that I was late :-) I had gone in for a medication review for my anti-depressants and was pretty worried that I would be taken off them!! The Doctor was lovely and spent ages talking through how I felt, how I was managing etc. She has decided to put me on a stronger dose of the anti-depressants, as I am still feeling a bit down and have little to no energy most of the time. She has also recommended I talk to the Practice's Counsellor and see if Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help lift my moods. Then she checked my blood pressure (fine) and weight (very not fine!) and said I really should think about losing weight. She said to see if the new dosage of medication helps me feel better and then see if I can slowly start to make changes in my diet and lifestyle to help me lose weight. She acknowledged that now is probably not a good time to try and start to lose weight, but to wait until I was feeling more positive, I really appreciated her understanding and compassion. She also mentioned that when I'm feeling ready for it that the Practice and prescribe sessions at the Local Council Gym at a slightly discounted rate - I will bear that in mind for when Princess Lollipop starts at nursery.

Monday's Positives

Getting rid of the ugly, broken office chair out of Mr Messy's ex-office :-)

Getting a new pretty chair for my Craft Room :-)

Monday Monday

Princess Lollipop excelled herself with nighttime antics last night! She woke up around 2am (total guesstimate as I can't actually see the alarm clock without my glasses lol) shouting, loudly and repeatedly "I want a bucket"!!! She fell back asleep for a while and then woke up and shouted "I want..I need" and then fell asleep again!! The third wake up she shouted for me a few times and fell asleep as soon as she was holding my arm. I tossed and turned for ages after all this and was tired out this morning and neither of us woke up till about 10.30am! We then had a quiet morning while I got on with some jobs around the place, then after lunch we drove to pick up some chairs I'd won on E*bay. I had my fingers crossed that I would fit them all in the car, along with me and Princess Lollipop in her carseat.

Before we set off to get the chairs, we took the old broken office chair out of my Craft Room and threw it away at the tip. The GPS got us to the right road, but then abandoned us with no idea where the actual house was!! So I had to drive up and down peering down driveways trying to see the house numbers! After driving up and down the road a few times, I finally found the right house! The five chairs (four for OUR shop) and one for my new craft room all fitted in the car, so we drove straight round to OUR shop to drop the chairs there. Princess Lollipop decided to stay there with her Daddy, so I returned home and had just enough time to get my new chair up to my Craft Room before having to go and collect Little Prince from school.

Little Prince was "odd" when I picked him up from school. He seemed spaced out and answered questions about what he'd done at school, just with very quiet "hmms." He stayed like this for about an hour at home too. I'm really not sure what is going on and will have to check with school and make sure they are giving him the correct dose of medication!!

Princess Lollipop was very tired and grumpy when she and Mr Messy returned home from OUR shop. She was very possessive and screamed, shouted and hit Little Prince if he tried to sit next to me! She refused point blank to eat her tea! And wailed and shouted at anything and everything! It was quite a relief when she finally fell asleep!! Little Prince was very pleased that, for once, he got to go to sleep later than his baby sister :-)

Sunday's Positives

Having Mr and Mrs LMS visit :-) It was lovely to see them and see how happy the littlies were to have them here :-)

Getting the giant TV out of the dining room and being able to walk all the way round the table again :-) Thank your Mr Messy and Mr LMS :-)

Making a HUGE start on clearing out my Craft Room :-)

Starting to put my things in MY Craft Room :-)

Enjoying a relaxing evening watching Sherlock Holmes and then a programme about British Musicals (I'm a HUGE fan of Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice) :-)

Sorting out Sunday

Drama Teen helped me bath Princess Lollipop - she played Phineas and Ferb songs on her iPhone while I brushed Princess Lollipop's hair and provided chocolate as a prize for finishing too. Then not long afterwards she was picked up by Latest Boyfriend's Mum and spent the rest of the day at his house.

Much to Little Prince and Princess Lollipop's excitement Mr and Mrs LMS spent the afternoon with us :-) Mr LMS helped Mr Messy take the old broken (HUGE!) TV to the tip, while me and Mrs LMS chatted and looked after the littlies - who spent the whole time whinging that they wanted Mr LMS back! Then they looked after the littlies while me and Mr Messy spent a couple of hours clearing his Ex-Office (my future Craft Room)! We got rid of bags full of rubbish. Filled boxes full of stuff Mr Messy needs to sort through when he has more time. And generally emptied most of Mr Messy's stuff out of the room :-) There is still more to do, but Mr Messy needed his inhalers and a sit down after all the sorting, so the rest will have to wait a while longer. I have started to gather up my craft supplies from around the house and put them on the cubby shelving in MY Craft Room - I freely admit its claiming behaviour lol. But thinking about it I haven't had a room all of my very own since my Little Sis was born when I was almost 5!! Which was quite a long time ago lol. And its so much fun planning how to decorate it to suit just me, not anyone else :-) Mrs LMS did ask me if I was going to do any actually crafting, or if I was just going to make it a pretty room lol.

Little Prince and Princess Lollipop weren't too happy that Mr and Mrs LMS went home in the early evening, and didn't stay for tea, they didn't make too much fuss though. After Little Prince was in bed Mr Messy made a batch of bread in the breadmaker, and it smelt wonderful :-) He said it tasted lovely too, I'm going to try some for my breakfast :-) Princess Lollipop, despite not having a nap during the day, was up and bouncing all evening! It was quite difficult to concentrate on Sherlock Holmes with her antics, but I think I actually understood this weeks episode :-) We were watching a programme about British Musical Theatre when Drama Teen returned home, and was immediately attacked by sword and axe wielding Princess Lollipop!! Foam sword and axe I must add lol. She finally went to sleep a few minutes later :-)

Saturday's Positive

Spending a relaxing evening with Mr Messy watching a film on TV :-)

Saturday - a looooooong day!

Mr Messy took Drama Teen out with him when he went to OUR shop this morning, and that was before me or Princess Lollipop had even woken up. She hasn't been sleeping very well and we are both tired most mornings.

The day consisted mostly of Little Prince and Princess Lollipop arguing and falling out. Lots of screaming and fighting from both of them. It was a horribly long day :-( It seemed to escalate even further when Mr Messy got home! We managed to get them in bed on time and I could finally relax :-)

We spent the evening watching a Transformers film on TV. It was quite amusing in parts, but I didn't have much of an idea of what was going on because I couldn't tell which Transformers were which, so didn't know who were the good guys and who were the bad guys!!

Friday's Positives

Wandering round the Craft Shop and then the Fabric Shop planning how my Craft Room will look, and planning future projects too :-) I really enjoyed myself :-)

Watching the very cheesy, but fun film "Big Trouble in Little China" :-)

Friday

Me and Princess Lollipop went out to a Craft Shop today and visited a few other shops too :-) I was very disappointed with the lack of choice in scrapbooking papers available and in the end didn't buy any. I did find a pack of six glass spice jars for less than £5 as I forgot to take my measuring tape I just have to hope they fit on the shelves I've already got! I couldn't find a plain, chrome kitchen roll holder either, so ended up buying that on Ebay when we got home again. I did find a magnetic noticeboard for my new Craft Room and I'm all excited and can't wait to get it in place :-)

Princess Lollipop decided she wanted to go to MacDonalds and I said no, so she stomped off shouting "Well I go Disney and YegoYand (Legoland) then" she didn't she had to get back in the car and come home lol. Another Disney Maniac in the family - my brain washing job is complete :-)

We had a pretty quiet evening, with chippie tea and early bedtimes for the littlies :-) Drama Teen spent the evening at Latest Boyfriend's house and came home quite late in the evening. She is quite nervous about starting her first job tomorrow, so she went almost straight to bed so that she can get up early enough to have a shower before going to work :-) She's got a Saturday job working at a Deli in the next village, the same one where OUR shop is - so Mr Messy will be able to ferry her to and from work :-)

Thursday's Positives

Enjoying a "day off" from littlies. I love all my children very, very much but sometimes, every so often I need some me time and I really appreciate Mr Messy understanding and supporting this for me :-)

Taking the Christmas decorations down and getting them all put away ready for next time. The lounge feels so much bigger and airier now and I like it :-)

Having Drama Teen willingly help out with jobs - she looked after Princess Lollipop to give me a chance to finish the vacuuming (and give Mr Messy a chance to wind down after work). She started emptying the dishwasher with no prompting. And she helped me get all the heavy boxes of Christmas decorations back on the high shelf of the upstairs cupboard with no complaining. Thank you so much Drama Teen :-)

And I started to claim my Craft Room - I moved all Mr Messy's stuff off one of the wall cubbies and put MY stuff their instead :-) Fingers crossed Mr Messy doesn't feel ill and isn't too busy to get the rest of his stuff cleared this weekend - then it will be mine all mine mwahahaha :-)

Day Off Day :-)

I took Princess Lollipop to Tiny School this morning and then had the whole day to myself, thanks to Mr Messy picking Princess Lollipop up and taking her back to OUR shop with him. I had a really productive day - I took all the Christmas decorations down, got them all back in their boxes and even sorted out the ones we don't bother putting up any more and bagged them for the Charity Shop. Then I sorted out Princess Lollipop's toy tubs, got rid of loads of MacDonald's Plastic Cr*p, a job I can only do when the children aren't here!! The cuddlies that have migrated downstairs from her cot are now back in their original place and a few got assigned to the Charity Shop bag too!! So long as only a few things disappear at once, they don't seem to notice!! I also rearranged some of the toys in the lounge and moved the dressing up rail to a much more sensible position, Princess Lollipop doesn't agree and keeps demanding to know "WHY my dwess ups dere now?" She'll get used to it soon, she adjusts to changes a lot better than Little Prince does. I also gathered up all Mr Messy's "stuff" from around the room and its now in a huge pile on the fireguard!! Normally I'd dump it all in his office, so its out of my way, but as I want him to clear out his office to make my it my Craft Room I can't!!

I've decided the next job is to clear one of Little Prince's downstairs bookshelves and put them on the spaces in his bedroom bookshelves, to create room to move Princess Lollipop's books onto the shelf, instead of exploding out of the now too small tub. I'll probably do that tomorrow if Princess Lollipop has a nap, if she doesn't then I'll have to postpone it till next time she's at Tiny School. I can't do it at weekend because Little Prince will insist on helping and then insist that nothing can move as he likes it where it is, I've mentioned my plan and hopefully presenting it as a fait accomplis will forestall any arguments about moving the books! Wish me luck with that one lol.

After I'd had some lunch and a rest, as my back was killing me, I got all the usual ornaments that had been displaced by Christmas decor put back. And then did a really thorough vac and dust all round the room, I thought I might as well as I had to move the sofas back to their usual positions anyway so it made sense to move them a bit further and vacuum under them too. I was still vacuuming when Mr Messy and Princess Lollipop arrived home from OUR shop, which didn't impress either of them!! Princess Lollipop doesn't like the vacuum cleaner and insists on having someone to sit with if I'm vacuuming and she's in the room.

I eventually finished just before Little Prince returned from Y's house. Little Prince began to run in circles round the lounge, excitedly exclaiming "I've got so much room" over and over again. After about 10 minutes of this we managed to persuade him to play on his iPod Touch (his favourite Christmas present) for a while before it was time to get ready for bed. As usual he took ages and ages to get ready for bed, he gets so distracted!! After the first time I shouted to him to hurry up, I had time to help Drama Teen empty the dishwasher, do all the hand washing up and clean the worktops, and he still wasn't downstairs!! He came down pretty quickly after the second "call" probably because he could hear that I was losing patience with him over how long he was taking!! Once he'd had all his medicine I took him upstairs and encouraged him to sort out the pile of clothes on the floor and take all the washing to the laundry baskets, and then tucked him in. Not long before Christmas he finally agreed to try reading other books than Harry Potter (an obsession that has lasted over a year!!) and I left him reading one of my old Famous Fives quietly to himself :-)

Back downstairs I finally got mine and Mr Messy's tea in the oven while he chatted to his Mum on the phone. Drama Teen joined us for tea, although she ate one of her pastas, rather than have the same as us, it was lovely to have her eating with us rather than her eating in her room. After tea she helped me get all the boxes of Christmas decorations put away in the upstairs cupboard, my back was feeling considerably worse, so I wouldn't have managed without her - thank you so much Drama Teen.

Wednesday's Positives

Little Prince managing to cope very well with the disappointment of not going to his friend's house, and not having a major blow up over it. I'm really proud of how he coped :-)

Mr Messy taking over with Princess Lollipop when she had pushed me to the limit all day :-)

Having a lovely relaxing, no responsibility for the littlies, time off, early night :-)

Thinking of this resolution in the first place - I'm really enjoying going to bed on a positive note :-) And I did think of these Positives last night, even if I didn't post them till this morning lol.

Wednesday's Goings On

I thought me and Princess Lollipop were going to have a quiet day in, but I got a text from Drama Teen begging me to come and get her and Latest Boyfriend from college and drop them off at his house. As it was very cold, and they would have had to walk for an hour to get the bus I took pity on them and said I'd collect them, besides she bribed me with the promise of a bar of chocolate - so how could I not?!?! About ten minutes before we were due to go out Princess Lollipop decided she wanted some cereal, and as she has hardly been eating for the past few days (she doesn't seem ill at all, just not interested in eating!) I wanted to take advantage of her willingness and get something down her!! She insisted I fed her rather than do it herself, and as that normally works out quicker I didn't argue. Then my Mum rang up for a chat, so I was balancing the phone on my shoulder trying to get Princess Lollipop to keep eating, she was much too busy demanding to know who was on the phone and when would it be her turn!! It was a pretty quick chat!!

Once Princess Lollipop had finally finished her cereal, and with minutes to go before we needed to leave, I realised that Mr Messy had probably forgotten to take Little Prince's medicine to school when he dropped him off this morning. Giving him the benefit of the doubt I rang him to check, and he hadn't realised he needed to take any, then he started to ask about the packages that arrived in the post this morning. Asking what they were, where they were from - I got more and more impatient with all the questions, I didn't know the answers and I now had NO TIME left to get to college, and had an extra errand to run too!!

I dropped the medication off at school, with Little Prince's new Classroom Assistant, who insisted on having a chat, as I politely tried to get away as quickly as possible!! Then Little Prince appeared wanting to know what I was doing at school, so I had to explain to him too. It seemed to take ages to get out of school again!! Finally back in the car I had to race to College, breaking the speed limit most of the way there, luckily the drive is mostly on country roads that rarely see a Police Car! I made it and was only 5 minutes later than I said I'd be - wow!!

Princess Lollipop was NOT happy when we got to Latest Boyfriend's house and Drama Teen got out of the car, she kept demanding more kisses and hugs and then wrapped her arms around Drama Teen's neck and refused to let go!! Drama Teen has spent a LOT of the Christmas holidays with Latest Boyfriend at his house, and I think Princess Lollipop has missed her. When we did get back home Princess Lollipop was in a foul mood and would ask for something and as soon as I got it/did it she would change her mind - this carried on ALL afternoon!! She did cheer up slightly when it was time to go and collect Little Prince from school.

Unfortunately it was then his turn to be in a foul mood, as non of his friends could come round to play. I said he could ring up one friend and ask if he could come round, and this lightened his mood considerably. He came off the phone saying Y's Mum had just popped out but that he and Y had arranged for Little Prince to go to Y's house to play, they had sensibly said they would get Y's Mum to ring up and confirm these arrangements when she got back from her errand. When she did ring it was to say that Little Prince couldn't come round that evening (Y's Dad was about to go working abroad for a couple of months and they were having a family evening) but that he could come round tomorrow evening. Little Prince took this news very well, I had expected a huge tantrum, I told him how proud I was of how he was coping with the change of plan. Well done Little Prince.

Instead of going to Y's house Little Prince and Princess Lollipop played on his computer, until Princess Lollipop got bored and came to watch Cbeebies instead. Then Little Prince started to watch videos on YouTube and ended up watching silly ones that have scary faces jump out at you. He has been insisting on watching these all over Christmas and scares himself silly with it. So we had a chat about why there is "Children's Internet" and "Grown up Internet" and agreed that he would stay off YouTube and go back to playing on Club Penguin instead. He played on there for about half an hour and came to tell me it was much nicer and he felt a lot better, fingers crossed he remembers this lol.

When Mr Messy came home he was working on something complicated on his computer and needed the littlies to be calm and quiet, which of course meant they were loud and crazy!! It was giving me a banging headache trying to keep them under control, and it was my turn to be in a foul mood!! Mr Messy suggested I had an early night, and he would look after Princess Lollipop for the evening and bring her up when he came to bed. It was just what I needed, time to relax reading a book then fall asleep without fighting an unwilling toddler to sleep too. I hardly read any of my book before falling into a deep sleep, bliss :-) I just wish the wind hadn't been so loud and gusty in the night, it woke me up and was obviously disturbing Mr Messy and Princess Lollipop as they were both very very restless, and trying to get back to sleep in the middle of them wasn't easy!!

Today's Positive

Princess Lollipop restarted at Tiny School after the two week Christmas Holiday, and went happily in filled with excitement, and no tears at all :-) And after months of medication to counteract a fear of poo-ing will now poo on the toilet, with no tears at all :-) I know, I know not a great thing to be blogging about, but after all the pain and fear she has been going through it is a HUGE achievement for her :-) As she says each and every time "I a bwave bwave giwl" and she really is - well done Princess Lollipop :-)

Today's happenings

Not a lot really lol. Mr Messy re-opened OUR shop after the Christmas Holidays, his assistance didn't turn up, we don't know why yet!! Princess Lollipop went happily back to Tiny School, demanded a kiss and hug at the door and then ran off to play :-) Drama Teen started back at College, but only had one lesson the whole day, so Mr Messy picked her up and took her back to OUR shop for a few hours. While she was there she paid her Christmas money into her bank account, posted her Provisional Driving License application and dropped off a CV for a potential part time job!! She was feeling so productive when she got home she went and tidied some more of her room - well done Drama Teen :-)

As everyone else was out me and Little Prince had a lovely morning together :-) We tidied away all his Christmas presents and the Lego he'd spread all over his bedroom floor (he wasn't too pleased with that one lol). Then we built one of the Lego sets he got for Christmas, my job was to find which pieces he needed and he put them all together. Then we played the new Wii Lego Harry Potter game, we make a good team - Little Prince does all the complicated maneuvers and I collect all the coins shouting "Get the coins!! Get the coins!!" good fun :-)

Mr Messy and Drama Teen came home mid afternoon as it was so quiet at OUR shop. Mr Messy then spent most of the afternoon fighting with the new TV and DVD/surround sound system, I'm not really sure what he was doing or whether or not it worked!! I do wonder why we can't just have "sound" why it has to be soooo complicated lol (and don't tell him but I can't really tell the difference anyway!!). And I'm really, really wondering why he is doing all this when the s*dding thing doesn't even play DVDs and will have to be returned soon!?!?! It must be one of those "man things" lol.

Today's Positive

Today me and Mr Messy cleared out all the Christmas junk (wrapping paper, cardboard packaging etc) and took it to the tip and the house is bigger and airier again :-)

Drama Teen spent the day at home and spent quite a lot of time downstairs with us, and it was lovely having her around :-)

Little Prince's uniform is all ironed and ready for him to re-start school on Wednesday (thank you so much Drama Teen) :-)

I've got three loads of washing done and almost caught up on the washing I was ignoring over Christmas/New Year :-)

Christmas Pressies :-)

What did you get for Christmas?

I got some lovely snuggly warm slippers, do I sound like my grandma or what?!?!

I got a gorgeous hand woven scarf that Mr Messy bought me when he and Drama Teen visited our Exchange Student and her family in Berlin :-) Its made of cashmere and merino wool and is SO warm, I LOVE it :-)

Yes there is a slight theme here lol, I like being warm :-)

I also got some great books, dvds, perfume and spent quality time with my lovely family - the best present of all :-)

Well that and my very own room!! No me and Mr Messy aren't arguing lol, he's given me his old office to turn into a Craft Room :-) WOW my very own craft room :-) I've gone planning crazy and have all sorts of inspiration on Pinterest, just waiting for Mr Messy to clear out his stuff (I'd call it junk but I'm being extra nice to him at the moment lol). I'm so excited :-) I just can't wait to get started and then to get crafting :-) I'll have time to get things done while Little Prince is at school and Princess Lollipop is at Tiny School (and real nursery after Easter eek!!) and I won't have to panic about clearing it all up from the dining room table before they get home either - giving me loads of extra time and less stress :-)

I plan to scrapbook, I loved making Mr and Mrs Messy's Wedding Album, it was so much fun and I'd like to do more. I can also get myself organised and finish the Lifestory book I've started for Little Prince, which I'm doing digitally and then I can get one done for Princess Lollipop too. I want to get back into sewing, I've got tonnes and tonnes of American Girl doll clothes patterns that I never got chance to use before Drama Teen grew out of them. I'd also love to try quilling, its always intrigued me and I've never had chance before. Pinterest has got me interested in trying out decoupage with Mod Podge too, and I'll be giving that a go as soon as my Mod Podge order arrives :-) When Little Prince heard me talking about my new Craft Room he asked if I was going to make him his 100 Good Wishes Quilt - so that (and Princess Lollipop's one) can join my ever growing list of projects :-) I'll finally the room to get all the things I've planned for Princess Lollipop's Pink House made.

And all this will give me a focus and interest that is MINE. And although I'll be primarily making things for the house or the family, it is MY interest - not Janet the wife, not Janet the Mum, it will be just Me - Janet :-) I suffer from depression (I take medication for it, I'm not just saying it) and if left to my own devices without a "plan" I vegetate in front of my computer and do NOTHING, literally nothing. Then I look round at the house and how untidy I've allowed it to become and that depresses me more. The fact that the washing pile is exploding out of the washing baskets depresses me more. The fact I haven't planned what to eat for dinner that night and we end up eating the same old thing depresses me more. The fact that life didn't used to be like this and I used to be more active depresses me more. So this new focus and interest will hopefully help to alleviate that, help to keep me occupied and even exercise my fading brain cells a little :-) And give me chance to re-find that creative, happy person I used to be :-) Which will be good for me and for the whole family :-)

Christmas lessons learnt

This Christmas I learnt that Father Christmas doesn't mind if I don't exhaust myself trying to get the whole house cleaned and tidied before his arrival!! I didn't do the usual mad dash round the house, and Father Christmas still thought I was a good girl and left me my presents :-) And I enjoyed Christmas MUCH more as I wasn't stressed and exhausted before it even happened :-) I need to take this to heart, and remember that I don't have to be perfect - good enough is good enough :-) I often feel that I have failed because things aren't perfect, I have to remind myself that things don't have to be perfect - just good enough :-)

Christmas clearout

Today Mr Messy and Little Prince went to the DIY Shop to buy a saw so that they could make a bird box. Apparently the sales were on, and they bought quite a bit more than "just a saw"!! Drama Teen was supposed to go with them, but didn't get up in time, she wanted to buy some baking supplies from the Supermarket to make brownies.

Later that day after I'd wrangled Princess Lollipop in the bath, with assistance from Drama Teen, we managed, eventually, to get her hair conditioned and combed through. We ran out of the Curly Q conditioner that I had been using on her hair, and have been using different conditioners that we bought on our holiday in Florida. I'm not impressed with them. The first one I ditched after two tries, Princess Lollipop's hair felt "crunchy" and not soft and healthy like it usually does. The second one is working better, but doesn't condition Princess Lollipop's hair as much as Curly Q did. I'm only using this conditioner until the new lot of Curly Q arrives, and then hopefully Princess Lollipop's hair will go back to being glossy and healthy again. And as a great added bonus after a week or so her hair becomes MUCH easier to comb through, so the battles with Princess Lollipop over getting her in the bath might lessen. I certainly hope so, especially for Princess Lollipop's sake, its awful having to force her into having her hair conditioned and making her scared of having a bath :-(

While we were bathing Princess Lollipop Mr Messy took Little Prince to his friend J's house for a few hours, so that he could meet J's new Border Collie. I can't quite believe that J's family have got such an active dog as J is pretty similar to Little Prince and you'd think they had enough on their plates lol. Once we'd all finished and we were all ready. Me and Mr Messy left Drama Teen babysitting Princess Lollipop, they were watching Phineas and Ferb together :-) We stuffed my car full of all the Christmas rubbish and cardboard needing recycling, which was a large amount as it consisted of the packaging from the new TV we bought to replace our broken one. And 50" plasmas (don't ask Mr Messy is in charge of household tech lol!!) don't come in small boxes!! We managed to get rid of all the cr*p that had been cluttering up the house and it feels much nicer (and bigger) again :-) And at weekend we'll borrow Mr LMS and he and Mr Messy can get the huge old TV to the tip too, and I'll have my whole dining room back :-)

Once we got all the littlies to bed, well Drama Teen is in her room (hopefully) revising for her re-sits (and not on Facebook!) me and Mr Messy are watching one of the BluRays we got for Christmas. We can't watch DVDs as the new surround system won't play them. Mr Messy is hopping mad and will be returning the system tomorrow!

Happy New Year

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack :-)

I've been pestered by a number of people (you KNOW who you are!!!) to start blogging again, so I'm trying :-) I can't promise how often this will happen but I will try to post more regularly :-)

Anyway I'm not going to try and catch up on the last few months!! Mr Messy has been ill with pneumonia (and has also developed pretty severe asthma), which the doctor says is unlikely to improve much until Spring and the weather gets warmer. He has been struggling and hasn't been able to be as supportive as he normally is, and its been hard work. However, we are getting through and looking forward to Spring :-)

We had a quiet Christmas. Just us and all five kids (I'm counting Mr LMS now too). So it wasn't quiet really, it was noisy chaos and it was LOVELY :-) It was SO QUIET in the evening when Mr and Mrs LMS had gone home, Drama Teen was in her room and the littlies were in bed!!

Todays happenings consisted of visiting family in the Ancestral Homeland. It was lovely to see my parents, Baby Sis and her baby daughter and briefly Lil Sis and her family. We were going to visit Mr Messy's Mum but she was on her way out, so we'll visit again soon to catch up with her too.

And to round off this New Year post I'd better let you know what my New Year's Resolution is - I'm going to try and think positively and count my blessings. I'm going to keep a note of something positive for each day of the year - and today's positive was seeing my Mum and Dad and my two lovely sisters and all their lovely children :-)