Thursday

This morning was horrendous, which was VERY puzzling as Little Prince had been given his medication. I was nearly in tears most of the morning, especially when Mr Messy and Drama Teen went out to OUR shop and were out for well over an hour. I couldn't believe Little Prince's wildness, how could he be like this when his medicine had been working so well?!?!

I took Little Prince upstairs with me for a chat, and to separate him from Princess Lollipop (they were winding each other up so much!). During our chat, Little Prince admitted he had spat out his medicine this morning, which to be honest was a huge relief. I explained that it could be dangerous for Little Prince to do that, as I would then tell his Paediatrician that the medicine wasn't working and he would prescribe stronger tablets, which could be dangerous as Little Prince wouldn't actually need them!! He seemed to take all this in, and was very upset that he'd been so silly! At least I know that his medicine DOES still work and can stop panicking!!

As Little Prince hadn't fully calmed down I took Princess Lollipop to Tiny School on my own. As we pulled up she started to say she "needed Mummy" and she was still saying this as I left her! The staff do a very brisk (but caring) handover and I left Princess Lollipop, listening to her saying she "needed Mummy" and getting higher and higher. It seemed a long two hours before I could pick her up!! I think this "easing in" is as much for me as it is for Princess Lollipop!! When I did pick her up she did a very short sob in my arms, and then jumped down and said she didn't want to come home yet! She then marched off back into the house with her arms firmly crossed, saying she just had to finish something lol. I managed to persuade her to come home, and she was much happier chatting away about what she'd done, and very excited that she will be having lunch at Tiny School tomorrow :-)

We then had to wait for Drama Teen's Doctor's appointment to finish, she has been suffering from very similar symptoms to Mr Messy and is getting worried that she has pneumonia too. Luckily the doctor said she "just" has a viral infection and should drink lots of water to help her recover, I'm so relieved that I haven't got two seriously ill ones.

Princess Lollipop demanded that Little Prince go outside and play on the trampoline with her, so they are both out there playing nicely (for now!). I have been left in charge of Peach (Little Prince's favourite doll) and have had to give her, her milk, sandwich and get her to sleep for her nap! Little Prince treats Peach as an extra family member and is now getting quite stroppy that Princess Lollipop is being loud in the lounge and might wake Peach up!!

Wednesday

Yesterday was Princess Lollipop's first day at "Tiny School" (her name for the nursery/childminding service I have chosen). Tiny School comes very highly recommended by lots of people, and when we visited it seemed lovely and nurturing and a perfect place to get Princess Lollipop used to being apart from me. Me and Little Prince dropped her off, she cried a little but not as much as I expected her to, and then me and Little Prince went out for a quiet lunch together. We ended going to two separate cafes, one for lunch and one for cakes! Little Prince ate loads, his new medicine seems to work much better at allowing him to eat, whilst also calming him down. Princess Lollipop only stayed for an hour on her first day without me, and when we picked her up she grabbed hold of me and sobbed, she had huge tears pouring down her cheeks and clung so tightly round my neck. The staff assured me that she had been fine during her hour, and that we should carry on easing her into staying there. We decided to have her stay for two hours next time and build her up to the full four hours she will be staying there. We've decided to have her stay there two mornings a week, so I will have some time to myself and try to regain some semblance of order round the house, and see if I can find my sanity under all the chaos lol.

After we got home from Tiny School, Princess Lollipop wasn't very keen to talk about it, and just turned away when we mentioned it. However, by the time Mrs LMS got home, she was proudly telling her that she'd been to Tiny School :-) And at bedtime she told me that she was told off for climbing on a chair, and that she played with cars and Lego and tomorrow she wants to do colouring and drawing.

Paid for our Hols :-)

It has taken over two years of hard saving, and even then we got so very close to having to cancel when Mr Messy didn't have a new contract! But today we did it :-) We paid the balance on our Disney Holiday - balance owing £0.00 YEAH :-)

Look out Mickey we are coming to see you soon :-)

Poorly Mr Messy

Mr Messy went to the Doctor's while I was in Legoland - it must have been serious for him to go without my nagging him for days, although the Big Girls did say they nagged him instead lol. The Doctor wanted to send Mr Messy straight to hospital (diagnosing either pneumonia or bronchitis), but he refused to go, and was given antibiotics and instructions to return to the surgery if he didn't feel better after the weekend. The antibiotics helped a little, but Mr Messy was still struggling this morning and made an appointment to see our regular Doctor. The Doctor confirmed that it definitely was pneumonia and said Mr Messy should take at least 4 weeks off work. That's pretty difficult when you are self employed and the sole provider for a big family, and Mr Messy won't be able to take time off :-( We will all do our best to take as much of the work and stress off him as we can, but there isn't that much that we can do :-( I'm very worried about Mr Messy as he has been pushing himself so hard for a long time, he has a full time IT Consultancy job and his Photography Business to run and he has just got the latest assignment in his OU Degree Course! He is trying to do too much and burning himself out in the process :-(

Everything is Changing!!

I've just come back from visiting a very well recommended child-minder's near to OUR shop. I am getting desperate to get some time to myself, to catch up on housework and to do something I enjoy (crafts) that I've decided to see if Princess Lollipop will settle there and give me that much needed break. Princess Lollipop LOVED the setting, its like a nursery in a home, but with much fewer children, and played really happily while I chatted to the Owner. She is booked in for an hour long trial tomorrow afternoon, although when we left and I said she could go back tomorrow without Mummy she wasn't very keen on the idea!! We'll see how she goes tomorrow... If she settles then we'll try her for a full 4 hours and then I've got to decide how many mornings I want her to attend!! Five is tempting, but that's just the "end of Summer Holiday stress" talking, and I'll probably enroll her for just 2 or 3 mornings per week.

That's not the only change! Mr LMS has had his fingerprints taken over in the US, and sent off his Visa Application with the extra payment to expedite the decision. This means that once the file reaches a case worker's desk they will have a decision in 15 working days or less!! Mrs LMS is getting more and more stressed by this, and can't seem to let herself believe it will be a positive decision :-( I am sure it will be, as they deserve to be together after all this time apart, and they have followed the application procedure to the letter.

In preperation for Mr LMS's arrival Mrs LMS had been looking for a flat for them both to move into. Its been frustrating for her, as she doesn't really know when he will get here (it depends on the Visa Application) and she wasn't sure where to look. If she lives in a village near us, then it is a much nicer area, but they would need a car, an added expense they are trying to avoid. If they move into the town where her job is, they would get "more flat for their money" but the area isn't as nice. My best friend Mad Cat Lady, has two properties that she rents out and on the off chance one might be available Mrs LMS asked me to talk to her. One of her properties was available, but it is a big house and the rent is well over what Mrs LMS can afford (she has to work her budget out on just her earnings as they don't know how long it will take Mr LMS to get a job). Oh well back to the drawing board. But not for long :-) Mad Cat Lady got back in touch, to say that she could drop the price to what Mrs LMS can afford, and rent it directly to her instead of paying Estate Agency fees. It also solves a problem Mad Cat Lady is having with recent tenants, well its a problem with the neighbour who is so mean and nasty that people move out again as soon as they can!! Mr LMS is well over 6ft tall and very protective of Mrs LMS, so I don't think the nasty neighbour will take him on and try causing any trouble!!

Another change is our cars!! A friend of Mrs LMS was selling his sporty car, as he is a personal trainer and can't fit all his gym equipment in the boot!! Knowing that Mr LMS would love a car like that, and liking the price, Mrs LMS arranged to buy it!! She sensibly asked the friend how much he had to pay in insurance for it, and he told her £700 which was high, but not ridiculously so and so she went ahead and bought the car. Once she had all the details and started to get insurance quotes she found a HUGE problem. Due to her and Mr LMS being under 25 she couldn't find insurance for less than £1500, and that was without even putting Mr LMS on the policy!!! She spent hours on the internet and on phone calls trying to sort it out, but it turned out £1500 was about the cheapest insurance she could find, and many insurance brokers refused to even consider insuring her or Mr LMS!! So Mr LMS has decided to give her his car and let her take over running that until they find a car they like and then sell it/trade it in and he will have the sporty car! Is this his mid-life crisis car lol??

Baby Sis's Baby's Baptism

Well isn't that a tongue-twister of a title lol. Mr Messy and Mrs LMS had left yesterday for a business meeting near to where the Baptism was going to be, so there was no point them coming home and they stayed over there. Mr Messy in a Hotel and Mrs LMS at my Baby Sis's house, so that she could help Baby Sis out getting the room ready for the after Baptism Party. Apparently Baby Sis turned into a Baptism-zilla and had everyone jumping out of her way to get things done!! I wonder what she will be like when it gets closer to her wedding date lol - I'm glad we live so far away!!!

Drama Teen had arrived back from the celebration meal last night feeling very unwell and had gone straight to bed, poor thing. And when I woke her up she didn't feel much better, so unfortunately she wasn't going to make it to the Baptism. She did manage to look after the Littlies for me while I got our outfits ironed and helped me get both the Littlies ready - thank you Drama Teen :-) Once we were all dressed up in our smart clothes we loaded the car up and set off. As Little Prince had had his medicine he was pretty calm in the car, he played on his gameboy and Princess Lollipop watched various DVDs. The Gameboy and DVD Players are a godsend for long journeys, and I don't think I'd manage to take the Littlies very far at all without them!!

We got caught in a traffic jam entering the motorway that delayed us for ages, and then we got stuck behind a line of very slow traffic once we'd left the motorway - so we were late! Luckily it was a fairly modern church and they'd left the doors open, and we could sneak in and see most of the ceremony. I got quite emotional seeing my Baby Sis stood up at the front, all grown up with her own Baby! Goodness knows how many tissues it will take me to get through her wedding!!!

After the Service, I asked Mrs LMS to come in my car to the Baptsim Party - so that she could look after the Littlies while I dashed in a shop to get some wrapping paper for the present!!! I'd forgotten the day before!! Little Prince decided to go with Daddy to the Party, so it was boys in one car and girls in another lol. I whizzed round the Supermarket and managed to grab suitable wrapping paper, wrapped the present when I got back to the car and then we drove to the Party. Baby Sis had arranged to have a Bouncy Castle at the Party Venue, as there were so many children attending. And we hardly saw either of the Littlies the whole time we were there!! One of Baby Sis's friends had made her lots of beautiful cupcakes, some even had Baby's picture on them, with an icing flower placed in her hair - gorgeous but I couldn't bring myself to eat one!! The ones decorated with pink icing and flowers were delicious though :-)

It was lovely to see all our family and to finally (after NINE years!!) meet Baby Sis's (almost) Mother in Law - she seemed like a lovely lady and doted on Baby Sis's Baby :-) The other shock was we met Mr Messy's long lost God-daughter!! Her Dad had been Mr Messy's Best Man (Mr Messy had been his Best Man too) and they had been friends for years and years. However, he and his wife went through an acrimonious divorce at the same time we moved house and we lost touch. Through the magic of social networking we found out just before the Baptism that God-Daughter was a friend of Baby Sis and Mr Baby Sis!! It was fantastic to see her and catch up on years of happenings in her family and ours!! We'll be making a trip over to see them when Mr Messy can fit it in his busy schedule!!

Little Prince was supposed to be going home with Mr Messy but changed his mind at the last minute and refused point blank (and had a huge meltdown) to go in the car with Daddy, saying he had to be with Mummy. I'm beginning to feel so suffocated again!! At least its only a week till school restarts!! I wish I could be like most of my friends, and dread the end of the holidays and being apart from the children - but I can't wait :-( Little Prince is so hard to deal with and the long Summer holidays make it all so intense and difficult that I just need some time for myself :-(

Anyway enough moaning - all the very very best wishes for a long and happy life to one of my precious little nieces. Happy Baptism Baby Sis's Baby xxxxx

More Catching Up!!

LAST WEEK - MONDAY

I spent the morning running round like a lunatic, getting packed and ready to pick up my friend S and her son Y, to drive down to Legoland YEAH :-) I had left everything to the last minute, so we were running late, as usual! Just as we were about to get in the car I got a phone call from S, to say that Y had insisted on waiting in the garden for the last half an hour, and when was I going to arrive, as she was cold?? So we piled into the car and picked them up, then I realised I had forgotten my camera, so we went straight back home again to pick it up!! We finally set off an hour later than I had hoped!! Little Prince and Y played on their Gameboys together, they teamed up somehow on Lego Star Wars and played happily for hours. Princess Lollipop watched her DVDs, I had hoped she would have a nap, but she was too excited to sleep and stayed awake the whole journey! We had to stop a few times for "my weewee's coming" but not too often thankfully. Princess Lollipop also decided that she would use her "suitcase potty" which she had adamantly refused to use up till then!! It did make stopping for "weewees" a lot easier :-) On one of our stops at a garage, we did find the most yummy sweeties - Wine Pastilles (like Fruit Pastilles but softer and sugarier yum yum) I think me and S are addicted!!

The journey was hot and sunny, it was sweltering in the car, especially as the children complained when we opened the windows, that it was too loud!! We were all relieved to get to the hotel, unfortunately as we were getting the suitcases out of the boot, Little Prince and Y ran off! Little Prince had been cooped up in the car for far too long, and his medication had run out so he was HYPED to the max! He ran over to the hotel's decorative pond and bridge, and refused to come back. By the time I'd convinced him to come back Princess Lollipop had run off dangerously close to the pond and I had to try and get both of them away from the pond and into reception! Little Prince "doggied" (he jumps around on all fours acting like a puppy dog) around reception making a lot of weird noises as we tried to check in, I ignored him as I'm used to it, but I think S was embarrassed.

We went up to our room, with Little Prince trying his best to run away the whole time, and left our suitcases there while we went out to eat. On our previous stays at this hotel we have driven to a shopping centre where there is a Frankie and Benny's Restaurant, which all the children enjoy eating at - and its so noisy there anyway they don't disturb the other diners! Little Prince wasn't much calmer during our meal, and spent a good measure of the time under the table! We did manage to get all three children and ourselves fed before returning to the hotel for a good nights sleep. Unfortunately I didn't get a good night's sleep as Princess Lollipop (who was sharing my bed) was very very wriggly, and it took hours to get Little Prince settled down to sleep. I had realised too late that we had run out of his Melatonin (medication which helps him sleep) and his prescription wouldn't be ready until we returned home!

TUESDAY - LEGOLAND DAY

After yesterday's gloriously hot weather, we couldn't believe it when we woke up to rain! S had forgotten to pack raincoats for her and Y, although looking at the size of her suitcase she had packed everything else!! Something we were going to be thankful for later in the day!! We had a lovely breakfast in the hotel, Little Prince wolfed down his English Breakfast but Princess Lollipop fussed and didn't eat very much. She had a few spoonfuls of her breakfast and refused to eat any more, but screamed the place down when the waitress tried to remove her bowl!!! They soon learnt not to try and touch it lol.

The children were all excited when we got in the car to drive over to Legoland, it is only a 10 minute drive from the hotel. The traffic was clear until we got to the drive into the Legoland carpark, where we had to queue for a little while, I chose to pay for the "preferred parking" which is slightly more expensive but much closer to the entrance - something you really appreciate when leaving the park after a long day!! As it was still raining once we had got in, S bought herself and Y a bright yellow Legoland poncho. Y made a huge fuss and didn't want to wear it, but S made him as he was already getting fairly wet! He got used to it pretty quickly and stopped complaining :-) We hopped on to the Hill Train to take us to the bottom of the steep hill, Legoland would be much nicer if it wasn't built on the side of a hill!! Of course the boys then decided they wanted to go all the way back to the top to go on the Viking Ride!! Urgh!! I got a day long workout pushing Princess Lollipop in her buggy up and down that hill!! The park wasn't very crowded due to the weather, and because of the "Exit Pass" hand stamp Little Prince gets we managed to ride every ride the children wanted to go on, without much queuing to wind Little Prince up. We also discovered that Princess Lollipop is a total thrill seeker!! The faster the ride the more she loved it!!! S discovered I wasn't joking when I told her that almost every single ride in Legoland gets you wet!!! She never took her poncho off!!

It was getting near to the end of the day when the boys ran off in front saying (I thought!!) they were going to "Look at the water!!" When we finally caught up with them they weren't looking at water - they were IN water!! Despite the rainy weather, they were playing in the "Kids Wash" a water play area which shoots water up from the ground and sprays them from above with fountains!! Both boys were in there fully clothed and DRENCHED!!! After I got over the shock and encouraged by S to see they were having loads of fun, I stopped being cross and left them alone :-) They had a whale of a time, and played there for well over an hour :-) We tried putting them in the electronic drier when they'd finished playing but you could still wring them out!! So we went to the nearest shop and bought towels, and dry t-shirts (S had spare trousers and shorts in her bag) and got them changed. The young assistant in the shop was wonderful, he let us sort out the boys and get them in dry clothes before paying for the items. And he found paper and pencils to keep Princess Lollipop amused while we dealt with the boys. The boys trainers were obviously drenched too, Little Prince agreed to put plastic bags on his feet and then put his trainers on, but Y refused point blank to do the same. So his Mum carried him on her back all the way back to the front of the park - she is only tiny and Y is nearly as big as she is, I really don't know how she managed!!! Near the entrance there was a cafe, so we called in to get the children something to eat before returning to the hotel, we were all so tired we didn't fancy going to the hotel getting the boys sorted and then going out again! Little Prince was at the end of his patience and his medication had long worn off, so he was very shouty and angry while we ate. And when we finally left the park and were walking to the car he was overcome with wracking sobs, saying he wished Tummy Mummy could be here with us and that he missed her so much. He was totally overwhelmed by his feelings and we couldn't calm him down at all :-( I breaks my heart to see him so so sad and not be able to do anything to help him :-(

It wasn't any easier to get Little Prince to sleep, even after being at Legoland from opening till closing time! Nothing tires out my boy - he's my energiser bunny he just keeps going!!

WEDNESDAY - DRIVING HOME

We all slept in on Wednesday morning and were in no hurry to get ready, we were still too tired from the day before!! By the WILD while we tried to check out, he kept trying to go into the closed lounge next to reception, and screamed and kicked when I brought him out. It was extremely difficult to get the check out process finished while also trying to wrangle WILD Little Prince, and Princess Lollipop who copies everything her beloved big brother does :-( We eventually managed to get sorted out, and the receptionist gave us directions to a Beefeater Pub that served breakfast - off we went. Little Prince had a HUGE tantrum at the Beefeater, as I'd not heard him and ordered him the wrong drink!!! After a lot of persuasion he did eat his food and drink the wrong drink!

It was a huge relief to have all the children strapped in the car and set the SatNav for home :-) The journey wasn't as calm as the journey down to Legoland, Little Prince and Y kept arguing over what game to play and Princess Lollipop got caught up with all the negativity and joined in!! We stopped for some late lunch, at a Service Station with Mcdonalds thinking that would suit the children. Ha!! Little Prince got in a total strop because we didn't sit in Costa Coffee on the comfy armchairs, he sat under the table refusing to speak or eat, despite being "starving" moments earlier! I bought him something anyway, hoping to entice him to eat and eventually after a lot of fuss and kicking he did eat something, while staying sat under the table. I had been pushed to the edge by then, and burst into tears, S was lovely giving me a hug and then finding some Wine Pastilles in the shop as a gift :-) She was so sweet, I think I might still be there drowning in a flood of tears if it weren't for S - thank you so much. There wasn't that much driving left before we were home, it was so nice to be home in my own house, with my own bed to look forward to :-)

THE REST OF THE WEEK

We didn't get up to much on Thurs and Fri as I was recovering from all that driving (its soooo tiring!!) and the stress of trying to deal with an overly hyped up Little Prince. On Saturday I realised I had done too much "nothing" and that I'd better go shopping for Baby Sis's daughter's Baptism present!! I got Drama Teen and her Boyfriend to look after Princess Lollipop at OUR shop and just took Little Prince with me. Its easier with just one of the littlies, and I couldn't have taken Princess Lollipop as I'd forgotten to clean her buggy after she had a weewee accident at Legoland! Me and Little Prince rushed round the shops to find a nice present, we also picked up the filled buckets for outside Princess Lollipop's playhouse. I'm not overly impressed with the flowers used to fill the buckets, as I'd asked for pastel, pretty and girlie colours - and instead I've got big showy bright coloured flowers!! We managed time to get a lovely lunch at the Town Art Gallery, although Little Prince was upset we didn't have time to look round the gallery itself as we had to hurry back to pick up Princess Lollipop.

When we got back to the shop I dropped Drama Teen and her Boyfriend off at his Mum's house as they were all going out for a meal to celebrate Boyfriend's great GCSE results. It must be getting to be a serious relationship if Drama Teen is now being included in family events!!