Thank you Skype!

Well, I have now officially been an aunt for 6 days and I can honestly say I have not stopped smiling! I have cheek strain, in fact!!!

The only downer to my immense happiness… We won’t be able to get baby cuddles for a while yet… Because they are all the way in Finland, and we’re here in England.  So, factoring in weather, cost of tickets and school holidays, it’s not an easy ask…

So, here’s where the post header comes in, thank goodness for Skype! So far we have had 3 wonderful face to face calls, and my nephew gives me smiles!!!!!! (Ok, I know, could be wind, but apparently it’s only me, and his mummy’s brother, his uncle from the Finnish contingent, that gets these ‘smiles’!) to hear those little whimpers and gurgles… Oh I just want to reach into my screen and pick him up!

The children are so happy to see him, so proud to be big brother and big sister to him, and even the kitten has been informed he is no longer the youngest in the family!!

And Hubby Dearest, well. He just melts… Who’s getting clucky now then, eh??!

But seriously, I’m so glad to have this chance to be a part of my nephew’s life, albeit by screen, from a young age. At least he’ll know us, and recognise our voices, so when we do descend en masse, he won’t be totally overwhelmed (a little bit, perhaps!) when we smother him with our hugs and kisses!

Today I was speaking with my brother and junior and he was unsettled… So I sang a silly song to him, and it calmed him down. See, from so far away, I can still do this!! I love it!!

So, thanks again Skype!!!  You’re helping us create precious moments we wouldn’t be able to have without you!

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Diet??? Really??? Nah, I think I’ll live a little! And live for ME!

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So it’s less than a year until I reach that next milestone…40… And I have been trying to be good, reigning in my appetite, trying to ensure I don’t end up with that middle aged spread that seems to hit so many.

Actually, I did so well this summer! We had a very close family wedding and I really wanted to lose some weight so I felt confident, and looked my best for the week long festivities. And, d’ya know what? I did it! I hit 9 1/2 stone, a weight I hadn’t even been at on our wedding day! (Obviously I had been that weight before… Well, I had to have been, to get past it and tip the scales at my heaviest… I won’t say what that was!😜) I signed up to a diet plan, which was great, sensible eating and advice on top of the recommended products, and felt great! After a week or two of clean eating I was getting comments from colleagues and friends about my complexion glowing! (And a bit about the weight loss!)

I even managed to exercise… No mean feat for me! Being a mum, I find there is no time in the day for me to grab even half an hour to keep fit, and if, by some fluke, I do have spare minutes, the last thing I want to do is be getting sweaty by exercising! Just sitting down is a luxury! But, as it was the summer months and we had daylight so early, I set my alarm half an hour earlier than usual, and embarked on Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred, as recommended pay some friends on a weight loss support site….
OMG!!!! It was only a 20 minute daily workout, but I was sweating (oops, should I be ladylike and say glowing, or perspiring? Nope, sweating fits the bill perfectly!) like a P.I.G.!! Well, I’ve been told that’s a good thing, so I continued doing the programme.

Got to day 21 and my darling kitten, who was only about 4 months old at the time, used to watch me fascinated as I threw myself around, squatting and lunging, crunching and whatever else you have to do. He’d lick my face every time I came down on a press-up, ur try and climb on me as I did sit ups, then decided it would be a great idea to catch my foot every time I stepped forward to lunge. During one of these ‘playful’ sessions I managed to twist my knee, avoiding him during a lunge… It was preferable to squashed kitty… But oh , how it hurts!!!! I was gutted! I’d done so well and could see the difference in my body shape, and couldn’t continue it straight away because of the darned knee! So, bring as I’d set myself a goal, I found alternate torture, I mean exercise (😁), to carry on.

Then since the summer, and after the wedding, I went into free fall again…
Well, I enjoyed myself, I should say. I ate, drank, did no ecercise, and a little crept on again, but not too much! And this is where I’m at now. I’ve realised that it’s too much hard work to stay a specific weight. I’ll try to not go beyond 10 stone… I’ll attempt to do the odd bit of exercise, but to be honest rushing around, as a wife, mum and daughter in law, and working in a school, running around after 4-5 year olds, I think I can’t be classed as lazy! I’ll eat carefully, but I won’t deny myself ( though I should sometimes. Ok, one bar of chocolate is enough, but sometimes I just HAVE to reach for the second😳) and if I want to lose weight, it needs to be for the right reason…

Thinking back, I was concerned about one individual, one person who, in my life, has never fostered any confidence in me, despite being my elder, someone who should have been supportive but just wasn’t. I was seeing said person after a long time, and my self belief just crumbled. Those who know me would think I’m a self confident person with no worries like this, and generally I am, but I don’t know why, this person comes on the scene, and I’m 10 again, in the shadows ( though not in awe, I have to say… There is no one I’d rather be LESS like!) hoping I’m doing right by them. Still, after this summer, and the wise words of some precious folk in my life, I faced this person, got through what I dreaded would be an ordeal, and came out with a renewed confidence!

You know what? I’m great as I am! Proud to be nearing 40 and looking how I do! Lucky to be the wife to a fantastic Hubby, mother to two crazy kids, I have a roof over my head, and food and drink so that if I wanted, I CAN indulge!! I have the most AMAZING friends, FANTASTIC colleagues, the BEST family a woman could ask for… What more do I need?

Forever…

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Well, I can’t continue this blog without telling you about the most key person in my life for the last 17 years at least… My wonderful husband and soulmate.

We met at university, and it was pretty much apparent from the beginning, that this was it, we were in it for the long haul! From the moment I saw him, I knew there was ‘something’ about him, and as I got to,know him, it was just confirmed, this guy was my Mr Right, my Mr Forever…

As I mentioned before in my post about my Precious Pops, whoever came into,my life would have a tough act to follow, but I can proudly say, my husband has more than filled the spot. Kind, loving, caring, generous, brooding, honest, frustrating at times, but he’s all mine!

He had a big task ahead of him, getting to know my HUGE family to start off with, so I had him in training, armed with a large photo album before he even met my crazy clan! (It can take years…even I get co fused sometimes, and it’s MY family!) but he’s done it!

Telling my parents was not hard, as I knew they’d love him, in fact the first time I described him to Mum, she had decided she loved him already, and Pops, bless him was just happy I was happy!

Fast forward 17 years… So now we’re married with our own home and 2 children… It’s never going to be a totally smooth ride is it? Yes we argue, disagree, we don’t always see eye to eye on every issue. But who does?
Still the moments of happiness, and love totally outweigh these times, and it’s true, that saying,

“Everyone wants Happiness,
Without all the pain,
But you can’t have a rainbow
Without a little rain.”

He’s been my rock in times of sadness and pain, he’s held my hand and been with me through our babies births, celebrated happiness with me, surprised me, made me laugh, made me cry (with joy)… He is my everything, and I know my life would be incomplete if he wasn’t with me.

Love you babe! … In case you didn’t know!

(Oh, and did I mention, he’s my Source of Eternal Youth, my younger other half… Well, you’re only as young as the man you feel eh!!)

My two, erm, Angels!

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Let me introduce my son, 9 year old, Lil Man, and Brat, no sorry, Lil Princess, my 6-going-16 year old daughter.

It took a little while to become parents, due to some health issues, but once we got there, its been a crazy ride, from smooth sailing, to rocky road rollercoasters, but hey, I guess that’s just called parenthood!  Lil Man is a dude in so many ways, a child with a great sense of humour, and he rocks when playing the Dhol drum!  Ok, so academically, he’s not the strongest, but he’s got a great imagination!  He loves his sport, football, basketball, badminton, tennis, and excels at it,even though he is small of stature!  An emotional young man, he loves his family (except his sister, but at this age, I guess this sibling love is hard to come by!), feels change strongly, and has the temper of Vesuvius! I mean, the other day he stormed into my classroom at the end of the day and sneered at me ” I HATE your sandwiches!!!” Erm, ok…. “You put TOMATO in them!” Uh oh! The cardinal sin where he’s concerned! In a hurry to make packed lunches, I had inadvertently put tomatoes in his sandwiched, whoops!!

Lil Princess, well, she’s another story!  I love her to bits, a true character, she’s always singing and dancing… yes, a Drama Queen!  She thinks she is so much older than her tender years, and is constantly advising her friends, telling them what to do! But she is kind caring and considerate, always polite, the first one to volunteer to buddy up with a new child in school to help them settle in, perfect… Though it seems that that child only exists at school! Once were home, a whole other child appears!!!! One that regresses to 3 when she wants something, winding daddy and grandparents round her little finger, tears and tantrums when it doesn’t work, then an attitude of a 16year old when you try to reason with her!

Saying that, I wouldn’t change them for anything! As frustrating as they can be, they are a funny pair’ making us laugh all the time!

Take Lil Man the other day, when I became an Aunty… He saw some pictures showing my Brother Dearest having skin to skin time with Junior, on a hospital bed, swaddled in sheets, the pair of them. He sat pondering for a while, looking confused, then asked me “mummy, did Mamu (uncle) have the baby?” And why wouldn’t you think that?! After all, he’s the one in the pic, with the newborn!

And Lil Princess, well yesterday. She decided to educate us. She’s been learning about the human body at school. “Mummy I know a life cycle! First you eat something, then it goes to your throat, then your stomach. After your stomach it goes to your belly button, then it poops out of your bottom!” And proceeded to illustrate it with a flow cycle chart! Again child logic, it’s fantastic eh!

So there you have it my two crazy children, and I’m sure there will be more anecdotes over time!

Deck the halls…

Well, here it is! December the 1st! Christmas mayhem has been going on for the last couple of months anyway on stores, and on TV with the adverts…
And so the day has arrived, where the kids will excitedly ask, EVERY DAY ” Is it Christmas yet? How many days left?” , and advent calendars will be brought out too! (Yay for my Malteasers one!! Big kid, sorry!)

However, I face my biggest dilemma… What to do with the Christmas tree? We got the loveliest kitten in March, a feisty, active, crazy kinda cat, and this is our first Christmas with him! I’ve heard all sorts of horror stories involving collapsing trees and ornaments disappearing to the cat hidey holes that you discover half of your missing items it once you find it…

What to do??? It’s already the 1st and normally our tree would be up… Once I sort this dilemma out, I’ll be sure to let you know!!

Til then, Happy December everyone! 🎅🎄🎁

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