A big fat SMALL

Today I bought myself a skirt, I spotted it a while back but it took until today for me to decide that I might actually get some wear out of it (skirts are not practical in soft play areas). The lady in the shop pointed the rack out, I went to pick up a Large, she gave me the Small. There was no medium so I took both sizes to the changing room. The small not only fit but looked pretty good.

This happy event is the result of a nearly two year diet (with a break when I went back to work after maternity leave, I needed the cakes to get me through the day). At the beginning I would have been happy losing a stone, now nearly 3 and a half stone lighter I still look in the mirror and see just as many lumps and bumps as there were before. In fact in my hyper critical eyes some bits are worse - the bingo wings were kept tort with a layer of fat and my rounded tummy didn't look quite as saggy (it's amazing how much carrying around 3 baby elephants impacts on the skin!).

So, I'm 2lb away from my Fat Fighter goal, this time last year I would have never thought that possible. I've never been a size 10 before, going straight from age 10 labels to size 14. I think I need a bit more practice at self love and accept that although my bikini days are behind me that I'm actually in pretty good shape.


Thought of the day - "Now crisps are high in fat, but they're also low in protein and low in
fibre! See, it's not all bad!" ~ Marjorie Dawes

Getting to the bottom of it

We've spent another busy week with another quiet weekend to recover!

Work saw very little of me (again) - don't want them to get too used to seeing me around. Anya was sent home with a rotten cold on Wednesday, I would have just dosed her up with Calpol but didn't want to risk disapproving looks from baby police. I had to take Thursday off to take Patch for a hearing test - he was referred in April after his 4 year check because of his poor speech, although in the last 5 months his speech has improved drastically (most of the improvement seems to have happened in the last two weeks). But rather than discover a problem later I thought it was worth taking him.

He was asked to play with toys and do various things with them to check he could hear the instructions. He looked at man and lady doing the tests as though they were from Mars! Eventually with a bribe of Series 4 Go-Gos and seeing the test as a competition with me, he completed all the activities. It turns out that his hearing is fine, and that he just chooses not to hear us!

The highlight of my weekend was clearing out my mobile skip or car as some may call it. I had a keen helper - who discovered a hat from last winter under one of the seats!

We tried Patch without any stabilisers on his bike but his balance (or more likely his ability to look where he's going) still weren't up to it, so he got the rebound ones from Anya's bike - these make him much more wobbly and so these took lots of shouting and getting used to.

Quote of the week - "today I had pasta and marbles for lunch" ~ Patrick managed to eat his way through the meatballs.

Thought of the week - “No one is as deaf as the man who will not listen.” ~ Jewish Proverb

Skywatch Friday - those magnificent men in their flying machines

While the older two were at school, Euan and I (having one child is so easy - we move quickly and can get so much more achieved!) went for a walk around the lake at the JCB factory to feed ducks and run away from the scary geese. On our walk we saw a group of very important looking men getting into a helicopter. As Euan's favourite book is currently Harold the helicopter (from the Thomas the Tank Engine series) we stopped to watch.

Euan wasn't too impressed with the engines at such a close range and he now tells anyone who will listen "very noisy" every time he sees anything in the sky.

To see a whole load more skies from around the world click on the button below

A bit of a pants week.

This week has been really hard work. It was my first week back at work after the summer holidays (11 weeks off) and I returned to a course in Birmingham, meaning I had to leave before 7am each day. Tim was also away for a few days so it meant a lot of juggling children. Patrick has, luckily, settled into school life really well and took to going to Pat, the childminder's, equally well (I think this is helped by the fact that "she gives me toast and biscuits"). He is completely worn out now though and after a week and a half of school I think we're all ready for half term!

On Friday night I suffered from a very uncharacteristic case of being sociable and, together with another mum, organised a Class 1 getting to know you night at the local pub (mums not children). I have to say that I was lead astray and completely blame the other mums for my struggling home at past midnight.

The weekend was a very lazy affair - Bike rides, walks, ice creams, beer gardens and a visit to the magic climbing tree.

Quote of the week - "If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers" ~ Edgar W. Howe

As happy as a horse in a hat

Real life once again gets in the way of my virtual one. So instead of trying to clear the house of a layer of debris, making the lunches for tomorrow and sorting out important parcels to get to post box in the morning, I've sneaked onto here!

The big event in the last couple of weeks was Patrick starting school. He began the school holidays by saying he wasn't going to go. Rather than argue, I just told him he didn't have to go yet. He continued this all through the holiday and until the morning he was to start. The evening before I laid out his uniform - he looked at it and said "I'll put it on but I'm not going". The day arrived he put his uniform on and I asked to take a photo. His response - "You can take a photo but I'm not going". So we got him out of the front door, shut the door, then he started screaming "Let me back in the house, I'm not going". We dragged him up the road, luckily his friend heard him screaming and waited for us. He went very quiet until we arrived at school and then he gave us a kiss goodbye and ran inside without looking back!

He feed back on the day was that there was a very naughty girl in the class who had broken his friend's model, scratched someone and had thrown a ball over the fence. And that he was going to go back as the jar of marbles wasn't full, when it 's full the class gets a party. He's been really happy going in and coming out every day since. I'm slightly worried that he seems to only be playing with Anya and her friends but so far she hasn't complained, I think she's enjoying playing the big sister!

Other exciting things:

I grabbed another day western riding (I so want to grow up to be a cowboy!). This horse is the very lovely Carlos.

Tim and I had an evening to ourselves, we saw Dave Gorman a very funny man who happens to be from Stafford. He is currently on a stand up tour of the UK and is cycling from one venue to the next. He had cycled 68 miles the day we saw him, I would have had to take the next year to recover!

We all dug up the 'bounty' of vegetables in our garden - should keep us fed for at least one meal!

Anya and I went to the party in the park, a celebration of the 100th birthday of the girl guides. Anya went as she's a rainbow, I went as I seem to have been sucked in as a leader - I'm Rainbow Butterfly (named by the girls - I had a near miss as Rainbow Dolphin!)

Including this photo as it makes me smile.

Skywatch Friday - Thunder in the mountains

Taken during a thunder storm in the South of France. Sat with a camera poised for ages but didn't get the lightening!

After the storm.

To see lots of other sky pictures from all over the world click on the button below.

Happy Birthday to Eu-Eu

I can hardly believe that you are only two - I can't remember the family without your energy. You light up rooms with your smile - pretty ironic given your current love of light switches.

I think you also struggle to believe that you are only two - you are always drawn to the more exciting older children. You have a school boys love of plastic gimmicks and would do anything for a new go-go. A go-go in a wheeled vehicle (train/car/motorbike) is your variety of heaven.

In the last 24 months the whole family has fallen head over heels for you and your dancing, singing, cuddling, twinkly eyed, yellow loving, happy ways.

xoxo