This Blog Has Moved

I'm trying out a new blog site which allows private and public posts on the same blog (rather than trying to keep 2 blogs updated).

You should have received an invite to see the new blog which should give you access to the private posts too, if not, give me a shout.

New blog is here - http://www.enolassneezes.vox.com

Louis Toilet Bleach

Well today is the day.  My baby is 2 today.  Can you believe at?  Time seems to have flown by.

We started with a leisurely morning opening pressies in our pyjamas, well the boys were in their pyjamas anyway.

Louis definitely seemed a lot more interested in these presents than he did in the ones at Christmas but that today was all about him whereas Christmas is for everyone.

In all honesty, we could have probably stopped with the presents after he opened his little Upsy Daisy because he was happy then... but we didn't.

When we first saw the present with Theo's name on it we thought the Birthday Fairy must have gotten confused.  I was going to put the present to one side and let her come and collect it tonight but Theo figured it out.  She'd brought a present for him too so that he didn't feel left out what with Louis getting all the presents. lol  She did a good job too, Power Rangers jigsaw was just the ticket :D

Adam wrote the envelope for Louis' card from us.  He likes the way Louis says 'watermelon'.  That and the fact that if you call him something, he says not... whatever it is you've called him.  Like, aww my baby..'NOT baby', is Louis grumpy? .. 'NOT gwumpy' and so on.  Adam asked him if he was a watermelon last night ??? And the response was... 'NOT watermelon'

Now naturally there was a bunfight to be had.  We all decamped to Tiddleypeeps with 18 other littlies and watched them run around for a couple of hours.  I actually think it went really well.  Adam and I pumped up 20 or so modelling ballons in the morning which we took with us.  Lots of the children just wanted the long balloons, then I made a couple of swords which prompted requests for more and Richard, they guy who runs Tiddleypeeps then decided to show of his balloon modelling skills which resulted in him being inundated with requests too.

After having discovered on Thursday that he could do the big slide, there was no stopping Louis, and when I tried to extricate him from the climbing frame to do the birthday cake thing I ended up pushing him, face first (from hands and knees though, not from standing) into the carpet, oops, sorry babe.  He didn't seem to notice though and after a bot of distracting tickling, I managed to pursuade him to come back to the table rather than go and play on the slide.  Unfortunately Richard doesn't do things by halves so bringing the cake out involved 2 or 3 renditions of Happy Birthday as they weren't loud enough, followed by a discussion / arguement about who's birthday it was.  By the time we got round to the blowing out of the candles Louis was screaming because he wanted to go and play and I couldn't put him down!!

He did come round though, when he saw that he got to blow out the candles.

Theo enjoyed the playing too, especially as his best friend from school, Ezra, was there.

After the party we went home to open the mountain of presents he had received from all the party guests.

This picture is the one I've chosen for today's Photo a Day project.  Louis, sporting one of Richards balloon creations, hiding behind a present.

Tina, Jack and Hannah bought Louis this spiderman top, and as soon as he saw what it was he told me he wanted to take his short of and wear it.  So that's what we did.

And I just like this photo.  Louis unwrapping presents without relinquishing the lolly pop

Now finally, why Louis toilet bleach?  Well, as you may be aware, littlies usually need a little help with their writing.  So, in order to help Jack with Louis card, Tina wrote Louis name on a piece of paper for Jack to copy.  She left him writing the card then when she came back, read what he had written "Louis Toilet Bleach".  When she asked him why he had written that he said he had just copied what his mum had written.  Tina checked to find she had written on the bottom of her shopping list and as she wasn't there to tell him to stop, Jack had just kept copying.  I'll be keeping that (handmade) card and re telling that story in years to come.  Hehe

Shopping

Today has been mainly about getting ready for Louis' party tomorrow.  At the last minute I decided, rather than just add the sweets I'd bought to the playgym party bags, I'd make up my own.  So off Louis and I toddled to get some goodies to go in them.  £100 later we're sat at home putting little bags of sweets and goodies into party bags.

OK so £100 was not all on party goodies.  I did buy books and other bits and bobs for party bags together with pass the parcel pressies, but I also bought some groceries and toiletries too, it's just that that's my beef about Tescos.  I go in there for 1 or 2 things and come away having spent loads.  Admittedly they're not forcing me to spend but still.  Our particular branch is a bit pants for food but if you want toys, books or DVDs then you're spoilt for choice.

Today's photo is one of the book aisles in Tescos.  Louis and I spent a while there deciding what to buy so I made the most of a quiet moment when there was no one else there.

Catch up

Yesterday I took myself off to Costco to get a fabulous photo storage box that one of the ladies at Saturdays crop was toting.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any.  I did manage to buy 10L of Bold 2 in 1, 6 million nappies and sweeties and dried fruit packs to go in the party bags at the weekend so it wasn't a wasted journey.

I accidentally ended up in Hobbycraft!  It was an accident, honestly.  I was following Satnag instructions for going home but I got into the wrong lane, a left turn only lane which took me into the Crown Point retail park so I just HAD to go to Hobbycraft rather than just turn around and drive out again.

I got modelling balloons for Louis' party, watch this space.

After all that traipsing round I had to rest my poor weary feet so I called into Costa for a skinny decaf latte and a spicy meatball sandwich and this photo opportunity presented itself.

On Wednesdays Louis is in nursery until 5 so after I pick Theo up from school we have a couple of hours together, just the two of us.  Today it was spent 'practicing' with the modelling balloons.  We had fun and Theo now has a balloon sword and a flower (which was supposed to be a sword but I ran out balloon after doing the handle so now it's a flower).

Today Louis and I went to Tiddleypeeps for a play and to confirm numbers for the party on Saturday.  I didn't realise it was parent toddler morning so it only cost me £3 and Louis got fed and watered :D  He climbed the stairs and slid down the big slide on his own for the first time today.  We did it once together and then there was no stopping him.  I think he'll be having a great time there on Saturday.  On the bad side, he was attacked by a very unpleasant little boy whilst he was playing in the cars!  Louis was sat happily playing when the boy just walked up to him and grabbed his face, he's got finger nail marks near his ears and scratches all down his cheeks.  The monster's Gran saw and was right behind me as I dash over and pulled him off Louis.  She took him away and told him off.  5 minutes later he did it to a little girl!  I saw his Gran pick him up and leave with him kicking and screaming under her arm.

This afternoon we went to have a cuppa and a natter with one of the mums from school.  Well when I say we, Louis fell asleep in the pushchair on the way there and didn't wake up until we were at school waiting for Theo.  I had a really pleasant afternoon, I'm hoping to return the favour next week.

Today's photo is Theo ready for his swimming lesson, showing off his new goggles.

Normal Tuesday

Normal Tuesday today and not many photo opportunities.

Here's a, roll down the window and stick your arm out, photo of the gates on my way out of work this morning.

Doh

What am I talking about, nothing happened today... that's what you get for posting before the day is over.

I started my BSL Level 3 course this evening :D

To say I was nervous would be the understatement of the year.  I got there to find about 12 other people already waiting, and chatting away in sign language, gulp.  I had a bit of a panic thinking that if they were all that good already then maybe I was in the wrong room.  It turned out that most of them started the course in September.  There were actually only 3 of us that started today and there was no need for the nerves.  I understood most of what was going on, especially the dirty jokes during the coffee break hehe.

Looking forward to next week.  Now I just have to get myself down to Deaf Club or find myself a friend who can sign so I can practice.

Gadgetry

Not been up to much today so there you go...

Having run a little low on inspiration and opportunity today I have resorted to taking a photo of my new phone.

I wanted a close up but the restrictions of my non macro lens were a bit limiting. I took a leap and actually figured out how to switch off autofocus and got this shot. Obviously, the buttons are out of focus, but I think it's pretty.

I'm definitely liking this phone.  Well all apart from the battery, it runs low sooo quickly, it's a pain

Swimming for Fun

Adam had to go to work again today so Theo, Louis and I finished off putting together my drawers.  A group effort that involved Theo passing bits to me, me fastening them where they need to go and Louis jabbing at the drawers with a screwdriver.  Twas a tad scary at times.

That done I sat and had a play with my phone some more.

Louis finally succumbed to an afternoon nap at about 3, which meant he was still asleep after Adam got home from work at it was time to leave to go swimming.  I ended up leaving Adam and Louis at home and taking Theo swimming myself.  

Theo was really excited about the swimming.  He likes 'swimming for fun' as opposed to swimming lessons and we've recently convinced him that it's OK to get your face wet.  Now he loves to swim under water and dive to the bottom for toys and rings.  So... we decided to buy him some prescription goggles.  Only £20 for a pair of +8.0.  I know his glasses prescription is +10 but 8 is as high as they go off the shelf, if you want anything higher then you are talking silly money and at 4yrs old, swimming for fun, £20 is more than enough to spend on goggles in my opinion.  And +8.0 has got to be better than nothing.  Adam gave him his goggles at bathtime last night and he's been desperate to use them ever since.

As the parent child session is the last one of the day, I took my camera in the hopes of getting a sneaky pic of the changing room for todays photo.  At the speed we get changed, we were almost the last to leave so I managed to get one or two pics.  I didn't use flash, I didn't want to startle anyone in any nearby cubicles (or make it obvious I was taking photos where I'm pretty sure it's not allowed).

Flat Packing

By the exciting nature of todays photo you could be easily fooled into thinking I was housebound again.. but you'd be wrong.

I went out to play today.

Vicky and I are organising, between us, a scrapbooking crop at Samuel Taylors / Embsay Crafts in Embsay and today was our first proper date (we did have a bit of a drop in day in November just to give people an idea of what we were doing).  It was full!  Initially we thought we'd be lucky if we got 6 people but 16 people came and there are more than that on the mailing list now (29 to be exact).

I had a great time and spent too much money, like you do.  And from all the comments we've had, it sounds like everyone else enjoyed themselves too.  The shop must've made plenty of money out of us too, £40 in crops fees then everybodys spending.  If mine was anything to go by, they made a fortune (oops).

I went home via Next to collect some school trousers I had ordered for Theo, then Tina's to pick up Louis party bag and to beg some babysitting favours, thank you Tina <3

Louis had had a party invitation for the afternoon and Adam couldn't take him so Tina offered seeing as Hannah was going too.  She actually had him nearly all day!  I dropped him off about 9, on my way to the crop, so that he could play with Hannah.  He stayed and played, then they went to the party and he fell asleep in the car on the way back to Tina's so he didn't get home until just after 4pm!  Busy day!

When I got home just before 6pm it was to find that Adam and Theo had been re arranging funiture and my bed was buried under a mountain of clothes.  They had moved my drawers out of our room and into the boys room so that we could put the new drawers into our room (they've been sitting in the utility room, flat packed, since before Louis was born!).  The new drawers were still in pieces, layed out in the space where they were going to live.

Adam and I spent a couple of hours putting the frame and drawers together before bed.  Tomorrow I just need to finish up the drawers with the centre support and then they need securing onto the runners and I can start filling them up.

And last but by no means least.  Just as I was loading up the car to leave this morning the lovely postie delivered my new phone, the T-Mobile G1.  So I stuck that in my bag and whilst I was chattering away, meeting new people and setting up my workspace, I dug it out of the box, put in the sim card and battery and put it on charge.

Unfortunately there is no phone signal in the shop so I didn't get to actually play with the phone until I was in the car in the car park at the end of the day but at least it was charged and ready to play with.  It's taking a bit of getting used to, I didn't realise how much I relied on predictive texting, with a full keyboard this thing doesn't have it.  I love the touch screen though.  The camera is 3.2, same as my old phone, but this one doesn't have a flash which is a pain, I hadn't realised that.  Still, I like it so far and I'm stuck with it for 18 months so it's just as well.

Housebound

Theo stayed off school again today.  He was definitely better than yesterday but still a bit green around the gills.  His temperature shot up again early afternoon which another dose of Calprofen sorted and he soon picked up.  He's been fine since though so hopefully he's seen the last of this bug, he can have a pleasant weekend and be back to school on Monday.

So obviously with a poorly child we haven't been out anywhere today so todays photo is what came into the house.  the nice postie delivered these for me today.  15 x 10ml pots of Dr Martens Wonder Balsam to keep my new boots in tip top condition.  I actually ordered 1 lot of 10pots from an ebay seller before Christmas.  He added the extra 5 pots for free because of the delay.

Under the Weather

At one O'Clock this morning Adam was cleaning up sick off our bedroom floor and I was trying to coax Theo into taking the rest of the Calprofen he'd just so recently parted with!  His tummy ache was better though.

Here he is cuddled up on the sofa with Teddy and a blanket.  I've kept him home from school today, which is just as well cause he was fast asleep by lunchtime and has had more Calprofen to bring his temperature down and get rid of his headache.  I heard that chicken pox is doing the rounds so I asked him if he had any spots, to which he replied 'no, but I have stripes on my Power Ranger suit.' lol

A rare moment of peace.

My Poor Feet

Today was my day off with Theo at school and Louis at nursery.  My friend Tina and I went shopping, I had a couple of Christmas pressies to return and she had pressies to buy so a trip round M&S was called for.  I've no idea how far we walked round that shop but it was too far for the boots I had on.  By the time we got back to the car the balls of my feet were killing me.

We were supposed to go on to the White Rose Centre but both decided we'd had enough, and her daughter was ready for a nap so we headed back to her house for lunch and a cuppa.

Whilst at M&S I saw they were doing LCD TV / DVD combi at a reasonable price so I texted Adam with details.  We have been talking about getting one for our bedroom for ages.  I didn't expect any response but about an hour after we left M&S he said I could get one if I wanted.

Naturally this meant a trip back to M&S for a new gadget... but as I was discussing it with Tina she mentioned that the new LCD TV / DVD combi they had just bought from Argos was cheaper than the same sized M&S one and a recognised make (Bush) as opposed to M&S own brand.  So... a trip to (the much closer) Argos was called for and hey presto, we have a new 22" LCD TV with a built in DVD player and Freeview for our bedroom, wahay.

After all that, today's photo is the bunch of lilies that were on Tina's kitchen table.  As much as I wanted to, I'm still not brave enough to take photos whilst out shopping.

French Today

Tuesday evenings are Theo's french lessons.  Well kind of.  A friend of mine is a modern languages teacher and she has 2 children, both slightly younger than mine.  We go round there on a Tuesday evening, Theo and her daughter have 20 minutes or so learning french whilst I look after Louis and her son then they all have a play and stay for dinner.

This week Theo refused to take part in the french and both the littlies pottered in and out of both rooms.  My friend and her daughter had fun learning about animals in french though.  

Todays photo is of one of the books at my friends house.  It was going to be a bowl of peppers 'cause that's pretty and artistic (well kind of) but I want the photos to represent the day, somehow, more of a photo diary if I can.

Grocery Day

Monday is grocery day.  Morrisons today.

I had intended on taking some pictures in the supermarket but I got too caught up in entertaining Louis and making sure I got everything off the list, and not too much else, I didn't get around to it.

Instead I took this picture of the shopping in the kitchen once I got it all upstairs.  I'm just glad Adam didn't come home from work early.  He already thinks I'm a lunatic (he is probably right), can you imagine what he would think if he came home to find me lying on the kitchen floor taking photographs of the shopping.

Day 11

We didn't get up to much today, Adam was working most of the day so we spent the day inside having a bit of a tidy round.  Nothing drastic, just putting away the Christmas tree and tidying up the junk corners.

When Adam got back from work we went swimming, but there aren't really photo opportunities there.

I was playing with my Canon EOS 300D, trying to get some close up shots of various inanimate objects when this little head appeared in my viewfinder.

Has it been a year already?

I can't believe it's been a year since Mum died.  I took myself off to the cemetery this afternoon.  I'm not entirely sure why though.  It's not as if I took flowers, or planned on sitting and chatting or anything.  It just felt like it should be done.

As it turned out, I couldn't find the plot anyway.  I wandered up and down the general area but as we haven't had a headstone or anything done and she'd come back just to give us a roasting if we even thought about putting a cross there, there was nothing to identify it by.  Lisa did say there was a rose bush but that it was almost dead last time she was there so I assume someone removed it.

I must have a chat with everybody and see what we can afford to mark it with.  Will probably save my tears next year, or at least some of them.

I took this photo whilst I was there.  I took a couple of others too but my camera battery died, typical, and fitting for a cemetery, heh.  I think I might go back with my DSLR camera one day when the boys are otherwise occupied and get some decent photos.  There were lots of lovely flowers and beautiful headstones there.

On a cheerier note, I took the boys to Jack and George's birthday party this morning.  I think they both had a great time.  There was a magician to start with, followed by eating then game playing.  Oh, and did I mention it was fancy dress?

Theo asked Adam and me this afternoon if we believed in Jesus!  He said that Christians did and he did because they had learned about Jesus at Christmas.  I asked if that made him a Christian he said yes.  A bit young to be making those sorts of decisions in my opinion but who am I to stop him?  I'm sure next week he'll decide he's a Power Ranger or something equally exciting instead lol.

Cubed

I took Louis to the local playgym today.  We were supposed to go on Tuesday with friends but he wasn't well so I thought we'd go today.

I thought the bright coloured playthings would give me some great opportunities for photos today.  I found, though, that I felt too self conscious taking photos of toys in a room full of people.  Hmmm, going to have to get over that if I want 365 interesting (or nearly interesting lol) photos this year.

I managed to get this photo 'cause Louis was actually stacking these as I took snapped away :D.

Scrapping

I actually got round to doing some scrapbooking today, which is just as well because this entry is part of a circle journal that should have been posted on 23rd December.

For my photo of the day I decided to take a photo to prove I'd done some scrapping. Thing is, the light wasn't that good at I kept getting camera shake so I decided to do it on purpose.

This is my collection of novelty brads.

Oh and I got some great news today.  A good friend of mine is getting married later this year.  Yay, I can't wait.  HUGE Congratulations Helen

Satnag

Today's photo is of my new toy (well OK, our new toy).  A Garmin Nuvi 205wt Satnag.  It arrived just in time too, cause I had an interview for a place on a BSL level 3 course today and didn't know where I was going.

I'm not sure how they interview went.  The teacher who was supposed to be taking it was off sick so I ended up signing to a camera for five minutes.  Apparently the college finance director can sign, so if the tutor is not back in time then he will review the recordings and decide who gets in and who doesn't.  I should know by the end of the week, well hopefully by the end of the week seeing as the course starts next week!

P.S. Photo will come later, Blogger playing silly buggars and won't let me upload!

Edited 8/1/09 - Blogger finally let me add my photo.  Was it worth the wait?

BEDraggled

My little man is poorly.  He's got a temperature and feeling very grotty.  Last night was the worst, 2 lots of Calprofen were required (with a 6 hour interval of course).  After a nice long lie in this morning, thanks to Adam taking Theo to school, he seemed to perk up a bit.  He's still spent most of the day cuddled up on my knee but there were bouts of playfulness.  By dinner time this evening he was definitely flagging though and didn't eat anything until Adam got home when he ate a fair bit of his dinner.

I'm hoping he'll be feeling better tomorrow but we'll just have to see how tonight goes and see how much sleep he gets.

As a result, today's photo is a picture of Louis bed, seeing as that's what most of today was about.  He didn't get up until about 11 this morning.

Theo on the other hand, seemed to have a great day.  He came home from school telling me all about a story they'd had about an African girl who'd had a basket of fruit that she carried on her head.  The fruit was stolen by animals then a goat thing (but it wasn't a goat, he was certain of this) butted a tree and filled the basket up again with oranges falling from the tree.  He was very animated telling me all about it and the game they played afterwards with animal masks.  All in all a good day at school it seems.

Oh and at dinner he started singing a song about the fruit that the girl had in her basket.

Theo is doing really well with his reading.  He came home from school yesterday showing me his reading record book.  He'd read 3 books at school and brought a 4th home (which we read this evening)  His teacher wrote 'Theo told me this story in his own words using the pictures.  Brilliant!"  I have to admit, I thought learning to read was all about reading the words in the book, not making up your own story from the pictures but apparently that's a big part of it.  This was a book he had read at home with me though.  

The next comment says "Theo read this beautifully.  Super understanding of the story (skipped some more (in November his teacher wrote "I have skipped a few books to challenge Theo a bit more.  We'll see how he gets on" it looks like he got on well cause they've skipped some more))  The last book he read at school yesterday was 'Push!' and Mrs Kelly said "Fabulous reading.  What a star!"  We've got a little genius on our hands, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tyred of the Snow

First day back at school today and we woke up to a light covering of snow, which was nice.  Pretty but not enough to make walking difficult.  Theo was really looking forward to seeing his friends again and I was looking forward to getting out of the house.  I know we have been out and about this holiday but it really feels like I've spent 2 weeks sitting on my bum.  The walk to school was just what I needed I think.

My photo a day for today

I noticed this pattern in the tyres of the pushchair after traipsing through the mm's of snow to school this morning.

I tried to get a better picture with my 300D but zooming in closer to cut out the body of the pushchair meant losing the heart effect of the tyre pattern. This time compact triumphs over DSLR. 

Little Green Toes

Today was a messy play day and Louis REALLY got into it.

This is my 'photo a day' photo.  I just love the vibrant green outlining his little toes.

I'm happier with pictures like this of the kids for this project. Creative and familial in one rather than just snaps of the boys.

We had originally planned to go bowling this morning but ended up sorting through the boys clothes instead.  So to stave off the boredom I decided to let the boys loose with paint :D

I think these photos need no explaining, just enjoy.

The Tale of Despereaux

Yesterday I realised that the Cineworld vouchers that the lovely Helen sent me last year, 25 free child entry vouchers, do have an expiry date, so first thing this morning I checked the expiry date (31st March 2009) and how many vouchers we had left (17).  I also checked how many weekends there are before the vouchers expire (13) and on the basis that we don't pay for Louis just yet, decided we might need to find some friends to take to the cinema :D

Sooo, in an attempt to make inroads into the pile of vouchers we took the boys to see The Tale of Despereaux this morning.

I think they enjoyed it, I thought it was entertaining.  Louis fidgetted quite a lot, climbing up and down his seat.  Every now and then he'd sit and watch 10 minutes and there was no whinging.  Well apart from the time he wedged himself between two of the seats infront of him.  Oops.  Theo asked lots of questions and got a little worried a couple of times but all in all seemed to enjoy it.  Then it was back home for lunch and an afternoon spent playing on the Wii :D

Here is my photo for today.  Although we actually got up and did something today, there weren't really that many photo opportunities, especially when there's a big sign in the cinema saying use of cameras or recording equipment is severely not allowed (or words to that effect).  This photo of Louis was taken back at home in the comfort of our own living room :D

I have a feeling that lots of my Photo a Day / 365 photos will be of the boys.

Golden Acre Park

More pictures of Golden Acre Park.  Adam and the boys waiting whilst mummy takes yet another photo.  This was just before Louis gave in and succumbed to the call of the pushchair with fleecy cosytoes.

Theo decided to hide from me in a tree, only showing himself after the threat of giving all of his toys to Louis.  (Naturally I could see exactly where he was but it was funny)

We definitely enjoyed this walk.  Next time we'll be taking a bicycle and duck food.  And hopefully fewer layers as the weather will be nicer...  hmmm, I can dream can't I lol

Everybody Loves Jumping in Muddy Puddles

After spending a couple of days cooped up in the house we decided it was time for a trip out.  Car loaded and 17 layers of clothes later we set off for Golden Acre Park.

We had a really pleasant afternoon walk, even though there was mud everywhere.  Or is that especially because there was mud everywhere.  This is Louis splashing in the muddy puddles.  He had a great time and cheered a fair few passers by too.

Laptop

Todays photo is a picture of my laptop keyboard.

All I have done all day is sit at this computer.  I'm formatting blog entries into a blurb book so I can get them printed up but it has literally taken all day.  I started about 10 this morning and now it is 11.45pm.  It's all entered and edited, now all I need to do is preview and proof read it

Welcoming The New Year

I was thinking of reflecting a little on 2008 but that's far to deep for this time of night so I'm just going to say here's to a happy and healthy 2009 to everyone.

Hope you make some worthwhile resolutions and have better luck at sticking to them than me.

This year I'm just going for the one resolution.  Lose weight

This is me (and Louis of course) now.  This time next year there WILL be less of me (and more of Louis :D)