Saturday's Positive

Seeing LMS's Shingles symptoms finally stop getting worse, and even improve slightly. This illness has hit her hard and I've been worried about her, so its lovely to see her getting better, even if it is painfully slowly :-)

Getting some crafts done, even with the Littlies around :-)

Seeing how happy Princess Lollipop was about her Sticker Chart, and knowing the stickers and rewards at the end of the week (visit to the local National Trust property or Indoor Play Centre depending on the weather) will actually motivate her (sticker charts did nothing for Little Prince) and starting to feel positive that the sleep situation will get better :-)

Having an hour to myself in the evening once everyone else was in bed, to write my blogs an reflect on my day :-)

Saturday :-)

Mr Messy and Drama Teen went to an open day at the University she wants to attend today, they set off really early so I didn't see them before they went. There's no rest for the wicked, I had to get up to OUR Shop to drop off the editing laptop and pay both the Assistants. One Assistant couldn't make it to work, and the I managed to get open the shop minutes too late, to catch the other one! After frantic texts to Mr Messy via Drama Teen (he was driving) I found out that Assistant Two would call back in an hour to pick her wages up, and would come in during next week to do the work she should have done today. I spent a fruitless hour sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting, but eventually she arrived we sorted everything out and I was free to lock up and go :-)

I called round for petrol, and while I was there noticed I still had some huge cardboard boxes in my boot that were left over from when LMS moved back home. So I decided to pop over to the tip and get rid of them while I was out and nearly there anyway. While I was at the tip, I noticed a man getting rid of a small (almost unused!) computer desk and was cheeky enough to ask if I could have it for Little Prince! The man said yes and its now in the boot of my car, waiting for me to find room for it in the house, while we get rid of Little Prince's over large and falling apart desk! As the Northern Saying goes "Them that don't ask, don't get" :-)

When I got home I sorted out the Littlies lunch and medicines and hopefully gave LMS a little break from looking after her siblings - I thought I'd only be out for 20 mins or so when I went to OUR Shop and ended up leaving her for almost two hours, poor thing. She's definitely on the mend with her Shingles, but still very under the weather :-( I got various jobs done and then took my laptop to my Craft Room to print out Princess Lollipop's Sticker Chart, and got distracted! I started sorting out the buttons that arrived in the post this morning and arranging them into glass spice jars that I'm going to put on some mini shelves to store/display. As I decided to sort them by size, it took my ages and poor LMS was left on her own downstairs for a long time again - sorry LMS :-(

When I was downstairs again I was motivated to get on with some more crafting and set about spray painting a tin lunchbox ready to be decorated and made into something new :-) I managed to get it completely painted before I went to bed, and it feels great to be getting on with another project :-)

Mr Messy and Drama Teen arrived back from the University Open Day buzzing about how great it all was :-) I'm so glad, as Drama Teen had set her heart on the course, without ever visiting the University or town its situated in! So I'm relieved it lived up to her hopes :-) Drama Teen then had a quick shower, got changed and I took her round to Boyfriend's house. Princess Lollipop came with us as she wanted to meet Boyfriend's dog, a very friendly and well trained border collie. She was VERY impressed with the dog and it probably won't be long before she starts on "Can we have a dog?" like the others already do!! Its not happening, no way, no how!! I have enough with four kids, a husband and two cats, we're not adding a dog to the mix aswell!!!

When we got back Princess Lollipop descended into constant tantruming, and was obviously very tired. I cleared away the dinner plates, set the dishwasher off and came back to the lounge find her falling asleep on Daddy's knee! As she had only fallen asleep moments before I managed to get her awake enough to come upstairs and to fall asleep again in her own Princess Bed - she will be very pleased to get another sticker on her chart tomorrow :-)

During the evening I recovered the seat of my Craft Room chair, which was surprisingly quick and easy to do and looks fantastic, even if I say so myself :-) It makes a real difference to the evenings getting both Littlies in bed at a reasonable time and its definitely spurring me on to keep up the baby steps towards Princess Lollipop sleeping in her own room.

There are still Positives

Despite all the trials and tribulations we are undergoing at the moment, there are still many positives. LMS has found she has an inner strength and maturity that have got her through all the recent stresses she's been under. She has also started to be more like the woman she was becoming before she married Mr LMS, a happy go lucky, sociable, fun and funny young lady :-) I'm glad to have that LMS back :-)

Drama Teen is on the cusp of becoming an adult and forging her own future life. She has set herself goals and is working hard to achieve them. She is looking forward to life at University and gaining the qualifications to start her career in Counselling Psychology. Even though I'm dreading my little girl leaving home, I'm glad Drama Teen is so positive and happy about this next chapter in her life :-)

Little Prince is coming on in leaps and bounds at school, his gains in his writing skills mean that he is catching up to his peers in that area. Despite his severe dyspraxia he has successfully learnt to tie his shoe laces, and he is hugely pleased that he has learnt this before many of his friends at school (and Daniel Radcliffe the actor who played Harry Potter, who also has dyspraxia). He has successfully transitioned from his original Teaching Assistant to a new TA, and is comforted that he will be able to cope with the move to a new teacher in September (his first change of teacher in four years!). I'm glad that Little Prince is making so much progress :-)

Princess Lollipop managed to successfully overcome her total terror of pooing, and was making great progress in learning to manage cleaning herself up afterwards. I'm confident that once we she has got back into the habit of it, after we have got through this illness induced constipation that she will be just as she was before. She is out of her co-sleeping cot, and we are on the way to getting her to sleep all night in her own bed. She is very, very excited to be starting at nursery school after the Easter Holidays, and can't wait to wear her uniform to match Little Prince's :-) She talks about going to "Big School" daily and can't wait :-) I'm glad that Princess Lollipop is getting healthier and growing up so confidently :-)

LMS

LMS worked her little socks off getting everything in her house sorted out and packed up, moved to our house and stored in the attic. I am very proud of the mature and hard working way she coped with all of this. Unfortunately after the stress of Mr LMS walking out on her, having to pack up her hopes and dreams and come to live back at home, must have completely undermined her immune system and she has come down with shingles :-( Which is horribly painful, especially as its on her eyelid, face and head :-( She is managing to joke that she is a pirate, as one eye is almost swollen shut, but is very tired and in a lot of pain. Poor LMS - get well soon darling xxxx

The Beginning of the End!!

Of co-sleeping that is!! Well fingers crossed it is anyway!!

As I'm feeling much more positive now my anti depressant medication is at the right level, I decided it was time to tackle one of the biggest causes of my depression - lack of sleep due to Princess Lollipop!! We had to make changes to our sleeping arrangements anyway, as when LMS moved back in she brought her super king size bed with her! We put that in our room, which meant there was no more room for the co-sleeping cot, and Princess Lollipop would have to get used to sleeping in her new Princess Bed.

I made an appointment with the Health Visitor, not expecting her to be much help as I've found them unsympathetic, and lacking in knowledge or understanding of adoption and attachment issues (which I feel are the main reason for Princess Lollipop's insecurities during the night). However, I was very pleasantly surprised to find none of this was true and the Health Visitor was VERY helpful and understanding :-) She understood my wish to take things slowly at a pace Princess Lollipop can cope with, and made some great suggestions to accommodate this.

We are going to take things slowly and move forward with baby steps. The first step is to get Princess Lollipop to fall asleep in her own bed and to use a Sticker Chart to reinforce her achievements. Unfortunately the day after the Health Visitor's visit Princess Lollipop came down with a bug and I had to delay starting the new regime. Once she'd recovered from the high temperatures and started to eat and drink again, I took her to the Doctor about her constant night time cough and noisy breathing. He prescribed an antihistamine to see if its allergies/hay fever causing the symptoms and it worked, almost immediately. The difference is astonishing, instead of snoring like an old man, or waking up choking as she can't breath through her nose and is sucking her thumb, she slept quietly and soundly :-) The next problem we are battling with is a reoccurance of her constipation and total reluctance to allow anything to pass (as it hurts) which makes it hurt even more :-( I started her back on her Lactulose and that has helped a little, but she is still waking in the night and screaming and flailing for hours, me and Mr Messy are exhausted :-( So I'm renewing her prescription for Senakot and putting her back on that while we clear this "blockage" it worked last time and once she has a few normal poos with no pain she will be fine again. And hopefully we'll all be able to sleep!!

However, despite all of this I started the first step on the way to ending co-sleeping, getting Princess Lollipop to fall asleep in her own bed. She protested by shouting and shrieking loudly, but I still lay her down in her Princess Bed and then lay on the spare cot bed mattress on the floor next to her bed and let her scratch/stroke my arm (which is how she soothes herself to sleep). In spite of all the loud protests she fell asleep within about five minutes. Unfortunately due to the constipation she didn't stay asleep long, and I had to settle her twice more before giving up and getting into bed myself. Then when Mr Messy came up later she woke up and refused to stay in her bed and spent the night writhing, screaming, kicking and flailing around in our bed. However, she did achieve her new challenge so she has proudly stuck her sticker on her new Sticker Chart - well done Princess Lollipop :-)

I'm baaaaack :-)

Its been a "while" since I last blogged and a LOT has gone on since then! The reason I stopped blogging in the first place was that sadly Mr and Mrs LMS split up :-( Mr LMS decided (after only 4 months together, in the same country, as a married couple) that it wasn't working out and within a week had returned to the States! He would have returned quicker, but he was good enough to stay until after Little Prince's birthday. I am grateful that Mr LMS was man enough to both stay until after Little Prince's birthday and that he told Little Prince himself in person.

We were all shocked and dismayed by this sudden and irrevocable decision, that I at least, am convinced was made in anger and way to quickly. However, that is only my opinion and Mr LMS felt that he was making a rational and considered decision about his and Mrs LMS's future. Sadly this means that Mrs LMS is now reverting back to being LMS and she and Mr LMS will be obtaining a divorce as soon as Mr LMS can afford it and he can work out how/where to do this!! He is American, LMS is English and they married in Canada - good luck to him sorting that out!!!

As mentioned above, Little Prince has had his birthday and is now the ripe old age of 9! His birthday was totally Star Wars themed - he got Lego Star Wars bedding and books and annuals. He got Mario kart 7 for his 3DS, a game he has been CRAVING since he saw it advertised. That is when we found out that 3DS games unlike other Nintendo Gameboy games is region coded and we bought his 3DS while on holiday in Florida, and only American games will work on it! I ordered the game from Amazon.com and tried to console Little Prince, luckily it arrived pretty quickly and he was VERY happy to finally be able to play on it. He had his usual Indoor Play Centre Birthday Party, although we did change the Indoor Play Centre to a much larger one in a different nearby town. Princess Lollipop enjoyed the party too, and Little Prince and his friends were very good at looking after her as she followed them around the play equipment. He had a Yoda birthday cake, which all disappeared soon after singing Happy Birthday :-)

Princess Lollipop has also had her birthday and she is very pleased to be a Big Girl of 3 now. She got some new bath toys, an ELC rocket (she is obsessed with going to the moon!) and I made her some dressing up outfits (a Knight and a Superhero). She didn't have a party (I don't start those until the child is in full time school) but we took her and Little Prince to an Indoor Play Centre, and as that is where she had recently been for Little Prince's party she was totally convinced that she had had a party too :-) She chose her own birthday cake, a Disney Belle shaped one (complete with plastic Belle body and head!), it looked pretty horrendous but she LOVED it :-)

Drama Teen finally started her driving lessons, and delights in telling us "I didn't kill anyone" after each lesson!! Not reassuring really!! She isn't as confident a driver as she thought she would be, and loses concentration worringly quickly! She keeps on with her lessons and I'm sure she'll pass her test once the time comes :-) She has also submitted her application to University and got conditional offers from 4 out of the 5 she applied to :-) She has taken the resits of exams she booked and was initially disappointed with the results, but after thinking about them for a little while is now pleased that she is on course to getting the results she needs for her first choice University and course :-) I can't believe she is old enough to be even thinking about University, let alone applying to go!

Mr Messy is still struggling with his pneumonia :-( And at his latest check up the results of his spirometry test didn't make sense according to the doctor he saw! His pre-inhaler readings were too good for it to be asthma, but he reacted to the inhaler, which he shouldn't have done if its not asthma! So he is waiting to see the Practice's chest specialist to see if they can get to the bottom of what is going on, and see if the latest suggestion of COPD is any nearer to the truth. Its worrying to see Mr Messy struggling with his breathing so much, he has always been very healthy and this has hit him so hard :-( Fingers crossed that the Chest Specialist can sort it all out.