A Thousand Words

Paint It Black

2009-10-23T23:09:00.006+01:00

For Chloe's birthday Naomi bought her some finger paints. I have to admit that I succumbed to the image portrayed. I mean, look at it, can't you just see Chloe sweetly painting like that. In my mind's eye she was painting blobs with her fingers in bold colours whereas Naomi was drawing little stick people and faces and maybe even a bus. Yeah right!

What we actually got was this:

and this:

Not exactly as pictured on the box. Do you think I could get a refund? By the end of the (long) 15 minutes that I coped with it, Chloe's paper was so sodden with paint that I couldn't peel it off the table without it ripping. They did however enjoy pushing all the paint around and, in Chloe's case, banging her hands down on her paint soaked paper while giggling hysterically (I'm sure I'll look back on it with fondness once I forget about scrubbing the paint off of the walls)

Things I learnt:
- breastfeeding Isaac while supervising painting does not work
- the girls never do anything cleanly
- the messier it is the more fun it is
- there is a reason we send them to nursery.....

Just a quicky

2009-09-29T22:32:00.005+01:00

We have received an email from Naomi and Chloe's nursery. The full text is generally boring, but I thought you would all benefit from the following paragraph:

Could we please ask that you ensure your child is bringing in lots of warm clothes, willies, hat, scarf etc as the weather is starting to get colder and we all still want to be able to enjoy the outdoors. Please feel free to leave a bag with these items on your child’s peg if you prefer.

Well, it made us laugh. Sorry it's been so long since we last posted; more soon.

We Are Family...

2009-03-25T14:10:00.003Z

I finally got a nice picture of the 2 of them, though admittedly I took it on my phone so it's not very good quality.

Note that they are:
a) both looking in vaguely the same direction
b) they are not pulling each other's hair
c) Chloe is not biting Naomi
d) Naomi is not pushing Chloe
e) they are both almost smiling
f) both looking like they need their fringes cut

I would say it has taken me about a year to get this photo and I think the secret to success was the Thomas the Tank Engine they are sitting in and the packet of crisps they each have to eat in the car (why does Abington services not do normal size packets of crisps?)

Three Reasons I Love My Wife

2009-03-11T18:30:00.004Z

NUMBER ONE

NUMBER 2

NUMBER 3

I'm not sure that I need to say any more than that, really. Due 9-9-9 which would be a great date of birth if it happens. It's going to be a boy or a girl, but not both, because there's only one in there.

We Don't Talk Any More

2009-01-09T22:28:00.003Z

The commenting facility should now be fixed again if anyone feels like saying how cute our kids are. It is set up so that anything negative is automatically rejected as spam, as obviously you wouldn't really mean it (go on, I dare you to test it)

Thank you.
J

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day

2009-01-05T13:14:00.008Z

Yeh, right. As much fun as it is, as with everything good, it's nice to get back to a bit of normality afterwards. You know, do the dishes, catch up with the washing, not have to eat off of disposable plates, actually have clean clothes to wear again.

Christmas in our house seemed to go well, no food poisoning at least. We had friends over on the day and then managed to stretch out the present opening with family for over a week. The girls had a good time, though thankfully still don't understand fully what's going on so there was no early morning wake up on Christmas morning (ignoring Russell that is)

Things I learnt
* wooden christmas tree decorations are Chloe's favourite
* wooden christmas tree decorations seem to end up in more than one piece in our house
* horsey rides can be greatly enhanced by a saddle that makes trotting noises (and uncles that oblige)

* you can never have too many jigsaws (well, not yet anyway)
* Naomi does not pick up on subtle hints not to let on that she's already got that present
* Stripy tiger is not a song even though it's now on a cd
* hiding the advent calendar on Christmas morning really does work.
* singing Happy Birthday to Jesus is a big hit
* Naomi will always want what Chloe is playing with
* Chloe will always want what Naomi is playing with
* repeat above 2 until an adult intervenes
* notes are nothing, pennies are everything
* the front room can go from spotless to bomb site in less than 5 minutes (and relatively little noise - mental note, must not have the radio on so loud)

* New year parties that provide space for travel cots are the way to go
* being ill at Christmas sucks

Here's a picture of Chloe with her new found skill that will have to be put on hold til September now.

I Think I'm Paranoid

2008-12-31T11:29:00.007Z

Ok, I havn't posted for a while because all I seem to want to do just now is rant and I thought I'd save you all from that. However, it's meant that there have been no updates and I'm getting into trouble for that, so here goes....

(disclaimer: these are just my rambling thoughts and if anyone thinks they might have upset me by something they've said, don't worry, you haven't, just refer to the title!)

I got asked an interesting question recently: 'Are you a full time mum?'. I automatically answered yes as that's what I am, I can't actually think of anyone I know who is a part time mum (much less would admit to it). The response to my answer was 'oh, that's nice' as if I'd chosen the easy option. On seeing Russell's face I realised I'd answered incorrectly and what they'd really meant was do I work. As a typically paranoid mum I of course read way too much into a simple conversation starter (and managed to spent 1/2 an hour dissecting it with Russell afterwards)!

Why do we do it? The majority of mum's I know are the same, if they don't work they spend ages justifying why this is right and if they do work they spend ages justifying why they should, rather than just being happy with where they are and enjoying life! I had a conversation with one of my friends recently (who doesn't have children) who said that a lot of the pressure mum's are under is put there by themselves. I think she had a very good point, the majority of people do not expect us to have a spotless house, look gorgeous every day, hold down a full-time job and cook every last ounce of food from scratch. We do set these goals for ourselves and if it's because we think that's what people say it's either based on a one off comment, something that we read too much into or comments from someone who really has no idea what it all involves. We also look at other people and think they're managing it all but you never see what goes on behind closed doors or what a person is feeling like or even look at what that person does compared to what you do. The lower I feel the braver a face I put on for the outside world and I'm sure most people are the same.

The biggest bug bear seems to be to work or not to work. My friend asked me if anyone had actually directly told me that I should be at home looking after my kids. My answer was yes and I know I have, but I can't for the life of me remember who by, which would suggest it was either someone who doesn't have a huge impact on my life or was a very small part of a conversation. My friend did however go on and say that if she'd had kids she would have stayed at home. Now paranoid mum here immediately thinks 'what's that if it's not telling me I should be staying at home with my kids'. I don't know if I'm right in interpreting it that way but I never let her know how I interpreted it so I haven't exactly helped the paranoid mum cause!

On the work issue, I always say we can't afford for me not to work. While this is true for our current lifestyle I'm sure we could survive on one income if we changed our life a lot, it's just not a step we've looked at. If I'm honest with myself I'm the type of person who has to work. It's easier to see that because I'm in a job I love and feel valued at and feel that I make a difference. Recently, I've been thinking a lot about the whole 'am I doing the right thing by working?' and I think ultimately I am. I might not have the right work/home combination yet but I cannot imagine myself not working. There's a part of my brain that I have to use that is not used by looking after kids and it's a type of work that, without qualifications, doesn't really lend to working at home (and I'm discovering qualifications and kids are in no way an easy combination). This is quite a tough discovery to make as ever since I was a little girl I've wanted to be a good, full-time housewife and it's a shock to discover that it's something I won't be. However, when I'm thinking properly I can see that I can be a good mum even if they're not with me all the time. Also, when I look at the social skills that my girls are gaining from the couple of days they're at nursery I think those are skills that I personally wouldn't be able to recreate elsewhere, just because of the type of person I am. Hmmm, not sure if I've just been justifying myself or trying to say that everyone is different so you can't measure us against the same stick just because we're all mum's!

People tend to be very quick to let you know when they perceive you are doing things wrong (and I'm guilty too) but I'm not going to go into all the things I've been 'told off' about (sometimes in the most public way). What I do want to say is that I find the few positive responses so uplifting and encouraging. Parenting can feel like such a gamble sometimes that it's nice to be told when someone thinks you actually made a good decision.

Anyway, rant over, normal service will now resume(we'll leave it to time to define what I mean by normal service - will it be a lack of posts or back to posts about kids with lots of pictures attached!)

A new blog

2008-12-30T10:55:00.004Z

I've been thinking about starting a new blog for a while. Thousand Words was set up to share pictures and stories of Naomi (at first) and then Chloe and Naomi with anybody who was interested. Occasionally I'd like to write a more political or faith-oriented post, and this doesn't feel like the right forum for the job.

First post is here; http://ethicalfaith.wordpress.com/

I hope you all enjoy. I'll be updating the look and info of the site for a while yet, so it might be worth looking back even if there are no new posts.

Pretend you're happy when you're not......

2008-11-18T20:45:00.002Z

....because your nose is full of snot.

It's a song, really it is. If you don't believe me just ask the girls at my work as it seems to have become part of the daily soundtrack (which took a turn for the better today with Seal and Presidents of the USA and no 'How much is that doggy in the window' from Sheena). Now, if I were to sing 'Stripey Tiger' that wouldn't be a song (you really need told by a bossy 2 year old for the full effect).

Anyway, we're ill. I've lost track who it started with, I think it may have been Chloe who was sick first, which was closely followed by her getting jags/jabs, closely followed by Naomi being sick and waking up at 4 in the morning and not going back to bed. Then I thought that it was Russell next but apparently he was last weekend (ie the first so now we know who's fault it was) so it must have been me next. Myself and Chloe are the wusses who have had to take time off. You'll be pleased to know we're doing well at passing it round as my boss is off at work, Debbie's lot seem to be going down with something and I saw today that the Hibs squad have been hit by it too (bonus).

Being a ~~sick~~ unwell family isn't fun, as you can well imagine, but we've been lucky that we've taken it in turns so it's not a complete disaster site yet. Everyone bar Chloe seems to be on the mend now so I really have no excuse to complain anymore (unless you count Naomi telling you she has a snotty nose every 2 minutes).

Lucozade all round, I say.

Caption Competition

2008-10-01T22:47:00.003+01:00

I'm sure it was loaded when we left it?
She's escaped again?

Anyway, I'm sure you get the picture - suggestions in comments please, I'm off to A&E in the morning. If there are any exceptionally good captions by then, you can choose the colour for the next one. Judges word is final - Naomi is judge. I suspect she'll accept anything as long as you want blue.

She was showing signs of....err....New shoes....

2008-09-29T10:25:00.004+01:00

Unfortunately, I forgot to have my little chat with Chloe about 'this is not a competition', 'you do not need to beat the last injury' and 'this blog thread stops right here, no more please' oh and last but not least 'if I take you into A&E one more time I'm sure you will be being sent to live somewhere else'

After 48 hours of pulling and a fair amount of wriggling in her sleep the lovely purple cast was no more (at 4am in the morning). We decided to be colour co-ordinated and also to keep Naomi happy, so went for pink. I think we'll go for red next. Mind you, this cast was put on by a woman so is probably there to stay...the other one was put on by 2 guys, what can I say.

It can't have been that bad a return visit to A&E as we also braved John Lewis and got Chloe her first pair of proper shoes. She has even chubbier feet than Naomi so between that and a need for buckles she was left with the cat shoes. If she's lucky she'll get to wear them again if she grows into Naomi's old ones. I don't seem to be quite as excited about these as I was about Naomi's but that's probably because we caved in earlier and got her some cruiser shoes - which lasted about 4 wears until she repeatedly pulled them off (velcro) and lost one.

Well, she was showing signs of being left handed...

2008-09-25T23:48:00.003+01:00

P.S. Apologies to those who don't get the in-joke.

Half Way Up The Stairs

2008-09-18T09:48:00.011+01:00

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, waaaaaaaaaaaa:

Let Me Entertain You

2008-09-18T09:48:00.010+01:00

Oops, wrote this in August but was waiting to add photos. Still not done the photo adding but here you go..... (please note, this post was written before the previous one but the heart attack section is definitely relevant)

We've been going through quite an exciting developement time with both the girls just now and it's made me realise that some things are just as exciting the second time around. However, I do now understand why my parents have less photos of me than Debbie (I'll make sure I let Chloe know at regular intervals that she isn't adopted though!)

I had begun to worry early on that Chloe wasn't going to get any of the huge excitement that Naomi got as we would be used to everything. However, I hadn't allowed for
a) how bad my memory is ie. I can't remember when anything is due to happen so it's usually a surprise
b) differences in character, Chloe does things with a different flare to Naomi
c) I'm a mum and am allowed to get excited when my child say 'B' or waves/spasms an arm, even if it's just a fluke
d) how bad my memory.....ok, cheap joke

The other thing I had worried about was wishing Chloe's life away. With Naomi I didn't tend to wish for the next stage as I didn't know what it was so was content with where she was (usually preferring it to where she had been but that's debatable on the whole potty training issue). However, with Chloe it seemed to be a constant 'I can't wait till....
* she has head support
* she sleeps through
* her arms are a little less delicate
* she sleeps through
* she can sit up by herself
* she sleeps through
* she can sit up unaided
* she sleeps through

What I found though is that I did stop thinking ahead so much once she could sit up. I put this down to this being my favourite stage. Whereas most women are supposed to like the new born stage and most men are supposed to like the talking or leaving home stage I seemed to be a 'baby sitting but not moving' type of mum (aka lazy mum). This could be because of the many bonuses to sitting up. They're easier to dress and feed and they can entertain themselves more with toys, they make an ideal target for a big sister to push over and they don't move.

These last couple of months have been particularly exciting though as we've had many 'firsts' for Chloe:
* 2 front teeth
* crawling backwards
* sitting up by herself
* crawling forwards
* pulling herself up to standing
* cruising the furniture
* climbing the stairs

I maybe shouldn't have put the crawling backwards stage in as that is one I particularly hate as she just gets frustrated and upset when the place she is aiming gets further away. The rest I've been really enjoying, especially seeing the sense of achievement on her face, she just grins so much while she's shuffling around the front room.

It got me thinking 'is the sitting up stage really my favourite?' and I think the answer is no. I think the reason I like it so much is because it has become a marker for me as the point when they start taking a more obvious interest in life and making choices. Once they are sitting they can choose which toy to play with/throw away. Once they are crawling they can choose which out of reach toy to play with. Once they are cruising they can choose where to hang out. Once they are climbing stairs they can choose when to give you a heart attack. Once they are walking they can show who is the flavour of the minute and who's not.

Noami is not to be outdone. While Chloe is changing lots physically, Naomi is changing vocally. She is managing more and more sentances and even asked me a question where I didn't have to fill in any gaps. In the last couple of weeks her favourite question has become 'what you doing?' followed by 'why?'. This replaces 'me do it' so not a bad trade really. You have to do things sneakily and quickly in our house if you don't want a 2 year old helping. Her new question does mean I now have a new favourite question 'what do you think I'm doing'. She does at least have the decency to pretend to think before saying 'I not know' or 'I not know that one'.

She's also quite the bossy big sister and is very quick to tell Chloe off for trying to play with her potty or go down stairs. I think the first time Chloe falls down stairs Naomi is probably going to be as upset as Chloe is. (update: she wasn't actually that bothered)

I'm So Tired

2008-09-09T12:44:00.002+01:00

After last nights performance by Chloe she'd better have a whole mouth full of teeth coming through. Man, that girl can scream. Please excuse any spelling mistakes as I'm so bleary eyed, I dread to think how Russell is doing as he got the brunt of it. Naomi was up crying too but that was only because she fell out of bed and the sick side of me finds that quite amusing (yes, even at 2am).

I left Russell and Naomi fast asleep in bed with Chloe bouncing off the sides of her cot at 8 this morning. Apparently that didn't last long and she managed to wake them both up. Yet again, a small child being up half the night and not having the decency to be tired in the morning.

Totally unrelated, here's a picture of Naomi trying to break into our house yesterday (taken on my phone, hence the bad quality). I didn't have the heart to tell her the bottom lock wasn't locked.

Guess who's back in town

2008-08-17T00:05:00.002+01:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted. Sorry. I could give you all sorts of reasons for not posting as regularly as I'd like, but mainly they'd be cheap excuses.

I thought everyone would like this photo. I think it's brilliant, even though I didn't take it. This is taken from at about twenty feet below the summit of the Cobbler (Ben Arthur), near Loch Lomond.

Dad, Tim and I climbed the Cobbler a couple of weeks ago with the girls on our backs. We had a great day, with good weather all the way from the car back to the car. What made that even more satisfying was that we got rained on while we were in the car, both on the way to the mountain and on the way back.

In case you were wondering why we didn't take the photo from the top of the mountain, here is a photo of it. Both of these photos were taken from the same place, and there's a couple of hundreds of feet of vertical drop behind the summit. We didn't feel quite ready to try lifting the girls up that yet.

I don't know if everybody knows that Jennie was off work earlier this year with stress. She returned from her maternity leave with no pause for breath, at the end of the financial year, to a finance department that had almost 100% turnover while she was on leave. Jennie was signed off from April to June, and didn't go back to full time until after Keswick.

The only reason I'm telling this here and now is because we want to tell folks that she is a lot better. Jennie came home last week and told me that she was feeling happier than she has felt, probably since Naomi was born. Thank you everyone for your support and regular prayers. We could not be saying this just now if God's healing grace had not been clearly working in Jennie over the last few months. Now, who's for a party?

Nothing to see here, part 2

2008-06-02T16:23:00.003+01:00

Those of you with a good memory won't need this link. Basically ditto with this picture instead:

The downside of the tooth news is this picture of Chloe at around 4 o'clock this morning.......that lucozade energy is looking tempting again.

When I Grow Up

2008-04-23T12:08:00.002+01:00

This picture was only taken a month ago.

She no longer fits the vest, the dress or the tights.
The raccoon has been lost
The coffee table is no longer that tidy
I've forgotten the carpet is that colour

But:
The cushions are not needed anymore
The smiles are bigger
The giggles are louder

Dream A Little Dream

2008-04-03T13:31:00.006+01:00

I've been meaning to do this post since August, ie since I was 8 months pregnant. Unfortunately (or fortunately) a little thing got in the way and as that little thing gets bigger it seems to get harder to find the time. However, I'm back at work and have a whole 45 minutes at lunch to fill with all the various internet based tasks I can think of (like buying a dishwasher, woo hoo).

The other night we heard noises in the nursery and went to investigate. We discovered Naomi asleep on the floor, next to her bed. Mum and Dad will probably be thinking that she's definitely my daughter and she's showing enough obsessive behaviour to leave me in no doubt of that (as well as the fact that I definitely gave birth to her) So, this reminded me of photo fest I had planned of Naomi mainly from August 2007 when I think she could tell something big was about to happen.

It all started quite normally with a quick sleep on Daddy's back

But then in June she discovered Daddy's hands made a good pillow

And by July Mummy's tummy was big enough to win over everything else

But by August Mummy's tummy kept kicking back (oh how I don't miss those early days of Naomi and Chloe fighting, when I was literally stuck in the middle)

So much so that the kitchen floor was comfier

And so was being folded in half

And no she does not have tonsilitis, she's just either too lazy to make it down the stairs or too lazy to make it to bed.

And before you think we only have one child, here are a couple of Chloe:

The lovely days when I could do my puzzles without being headbutted on the nose. Was she really ever this small?

Catching a quick kip in her big sister's cot (now Chloe's cot)

Eating is such hard work. Here's a general tip, if they fall asleep in the highchair, leave them in the highchair. May sound like common sense but obviously isn't to an overtired mum!

Holiday

2008-02-25T11:52:00.004Z

How did the holiday go I hear you ask. Well it was great if you ignore the sleepless nights, explosive nappies and endless rounds of washing.

For those of you who don't know we visited Andrew and Louise in Carrickfergus for a week.

Highlights were definitely:
the kids first trip on a boat
fresh, warm bread every day
pancakes for breakfast
outdoor climbing
the coastal road
visiting the farms
Russell getting to process photos
Louise taking the kids out for walks

Amusing/entertaining, for some of us, moments were:
Jennie trying to climb onto the harbour wall
Naomi falling out of bed and trying to climb back in before we noticed
Russell losing grip and swinging across the rock face
Andrew clashing with the pram in his orange jacket
Naomi's attempt at an Irish accent
Jennie forgetting to take the change bag out of the car on the ferry home.

A word of warning though, something strange seemed to happen to Chloe in this family photo!

Maybe it was because they didn't seem to appreciate the fine waterfront at Carrickfergus or maybe it was to teach us not to leave Chloe on random green boxes.

Pineapple Head

2008-02-19T12:41:00.003Z

Well, more like Carrot Head but Crowded House let me down on that one.

5 months have passed and hardly any posting has been done, in my defence our downstairs windows are shiny and clean for the first time in 3 years....

So to update any of you who haven't given up looking at this site, we started the weaning process again. Funny how with Naomi I couldn't wait to start solids but this time I was putting it off, the thought of all the puréeing etc. However, I finally read the instructions to my blender and woo hoo, it actually did its job!

Chloe's looking to follow in Naomi's footsteps and is being taught very well (that's Naomi's hand you can see attempting to fight for the spoon). So far it sounds like her little tricks are not going to be followed by an 'uh oh' but a very dirty chuckle.

Here's the smile that goes with the chuckle. If you've been a recipient of Chloe's horrendous screaming fits you'll be pleased to hear there seem to have been less of them in the last few days and more of the chuckle (long may it continue)

Congratulations, and Jubilations...

2007-12-30T22:30:00.000Z

Andrew has been over from NI with his wife, Louise. He, Adrian and me, with our respective wives (and children) were all at Dad's on Friday evening, when the doorbell rang. Dad went to answer, and came back saying, "Boys, I'd like you to meet somebody very important; this is my fiancee, Susan."

Needless to say we were stunned, we didn't even know he had somebody special around. Many congratulations to you both. We're really looking forward to getting to know Susan better.

Bicycle Race

2007-12-12T08:56:00.001Z

Oops, just found this unpublished post from August!

Although Naomi can't ride a bike yet she is quite addicted to them. She gets quite impatient if Russell is riding his bike without her on it and whenever Russell, Sophie & Callum cycled off the field without her she burst into tears. After 2 weeks of eyeing up Anna's bike she finally got on it on the last day.

To top it off she got to have a go on Tim's moped.

Hot off the press, well hot compared to August but probably more luke warm. Naomi fits her own bike at last, though she has to ride it Steve Peat style.

What's New Pussycat

2007-12-10T23:08:00.000Z

Debbie took us to Sophie & Callum's school's christmas fare on Saturday. While I vanished to feed Chloe she swapped Naomi for this:

It made strange noises whilst pointing at its nose. Mainly these sounded like neeme meow or neemeeow.

But don't worry, it vanished overnight and Naomi returned so panic over.

I'm Only Sleeping

2007-11-12T18:15:00.000Z

Ooh, the excitement again, Chloe's first swimming lesson. I was obviously more excited by it than she was as this picture was the result. She fell asleep with 5 minutes of lesson still to go. I felt the belly flopping into the water to 'humpty dumpty' went very well as she naturally falls forward when asleep (though how the splash didn't wake her I don't know) and the slow cuddle to 'twinkle twinkle' went like a dream as she was already nuzzled into my shoulder. All in all a good lesson, she even survived the underwater bit, she just looked a bit put out that she couldn't sleep yet!

Whilst Naomi is a bit of a charmer, alright, a big bit of a charmer, Chloe appears to like impersonating people inbetween smiles. Here's her impression of Grandad Hasson coming to say hi (it still takes a lot of concentration so the facial expressions are not a true representation of the person):

and this is Grandad Simpson coming to say hi: