12th August

This post is sickening and full of love. Be warned!

12th August is our wedding anniversary. This year, 2016, we celebrate 6 years of marriage. Mostly marital bliss! In the last 6 years, our marriage and relationship has gone from strength to strength. We were just Mr and Mrs Childs, the two of us, for 18 months before we became a team of three and then last December there was four of us! 

I am always really excited for our anniversary, we never buy huge gifts, in fact, I don’t get Scott anything but he always buys me something special to represent the tradition, paper, wood etc. I am interested as to what my gift is this year. For some reason, I just really look forward to celebrating our anniversary. I look forward to it and get excited about it. We talk about the day and what we did at what time, what we ate, who we saw and what we enjoyed. I love sharing the memories and even the photos with Jenson now too. The yearly reflection on the wedding DVD comes out too and catching up on the photos albums! The standard wedding traditions. 

We have been good at celebrating our anniversary:

• 1st Year – we went to London for three days and saw The Lion King.
• 2nd Year  – we went to Mersea and had a picnic in a special picnic basket, we had a take away. Jenson was 6 months old.
• 3rd year – We went to Windsor for a few days and went to Legoland.
• 4th year – we had a dinner out, but we went to Disney on the 16th!
• 5th year – we went shopping for Emeline’s Nursery last year and had dinner out.

It is hard with young children but it is the only time that actually, I really want us to be a family. Our marriage was the start of our family and our adventure and I think we should celebrate together. This year, we are going to the beach. The weather is meant to be lovely and we will have warm doughnuts, fish and chips, ice cream and fresh seafood. Every year we go and make a real day of it, we always have a lovely time and that’s how I want to spend it tomorrow, the four of us. 

So, to my Gorgeous Husband, 
Happy 6th Wedding anniversary. Thank you for another wonderful year full of laughter, tears, happiness, anger, frustration and love. We are the best team around, the A team, and I love being part of a team with you. We have two, truly wonderful children who have changed our lives for, mostly, the better. I love the husband and father you are. I love the life and family we have and the memories we make.

Thank you for working so hard for us as a family and giving me the family I always wanted. You’ve made my dreams a reality in the best possible way and there is no one else who I would wish to share these dreams with or my love with.

Love you always, xxx

Roll on tomorrow

Today has been a bad Mummy day. 

On top of woman hormones which have returned after a long 15 months, Jenson has been the biggest whinge bag and Emeline has been in the most amount of pain from constipation. 

Now, of course, I am trying not to be dramatic and I am not wishing the end of summer away for Jenson to immediately start school, I am a teacher and I can’t wish away this beautiful, summer holiday but I missed nursery a lot today.

I am feeling like the world’s worst mum after losing my shit for the 50,000 time. That’s just today. Jenson has lost the ability to listen or even acknowledge me when I am talking and has developed the whiniest voice known to man. This is followed by 28 million questions yet he can’t even answer or decide when asked what sandwich filler he would like!!! I am a firm believer in carrying out out threats and discipline! So, no bedtime stories was threatened and then he lost that. That’s one of our favourite times of day being just us and Jenson, he loves stories and the absolute last resort but I had counted to 5 about a million times and I was begin to scream like a banshee. Bad parenting!!! We got Jenson out the house to let off steam in an attempt to change his attitude but it just wore him out and made him worse!!! 

Emeline has been constipated since Thursday, this is so unlike her. It is also uncommon as a breastfed baby. She has struggled and strained so much. She finally passed some yesterday but this was not easy for her. She cried and cried and sobbed and sobbed. Lots of leg cycling, baths and cuddles things started to get easier for her, she cut down her meals and has gone back to just breast milk. As a result of her straining, she has a tear in her bottom. The poor little poppet has exhausted herself with crying but she finally has softer stools. Emeline has been waking up with tummy ache and is so tired from her restless nights that she has been snuggling me. She never sleeps snuggling me so that has been a special treat. 

Being the summer holidays, I had lots of lovely fun things planned for my days with the kids but I am still waiting to be paid, usually 26th of the month but they hadn’t realised I had returned to work! This has put a stop to the world being our oyster feeling!!! Worrying about money is the biggest stress. I realise how fortunate we are and I make the choice to work so we can have and do nice things together as a family but we also live to our means, we have survived well on statutory maternity pay and still been able to do lots of lovely things, visited places, gone on days out, ate out and had lots of take aways but I wanted this to be extended over the summer so it’s mega frustrating. Payroll have reassured me I should be paid by the end of the week but that’ll be almost 2 weeks late. Frustrating. 

Not every part of my day was awful, there were glimmers of sparkles and glitter. Every woman needs sparkles and glitter! Last week, we had our milk stolen from our door step, after reporting it to the dairy, they suggested I reported it to the non-emergency police line incase there were more in the area and/or it happened again. I felt ridiculous. I also wanted my order refunded and needed to report it to get our money back, the dairy were fab. However, it was earlier today that our local newspaper reported on a similar incident, which made me howl laughing!!! 

Breaking news:

http://m.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/14655009.Thieves_steal_milk_and_bottles_from_outside_a_house/

There were others in our neighbourhood, I certainly didn’t take my milk story to the newspaper!!! 

We also snuggled up and watched Minions on the sofa with lunch – that was disappointing! Our day was made better when Jenson’s school uniform arrived, labelled jumpers, fleeces, pblo shirts and PE kits and we had a fashion show! Can’t believe how grown up he is, nor the expense!!! 

I know that, hopefully, I’ll wake up feeling a bit happier tomorrow. Scott is on nights so I’ll get an early night. I am currently drinking tea and watching series one of Desperate Housewives. Tomorrow is a new day and it’ll all be okay. Jenson would have slept really well and Emeline will be less grumpy. 

Fingers crossed! 

Rye Harbour

Last week, we had our second caravan holiday of the year. This one wasn’t with Haven, and the park or caravan wasn’t as nice as our prestige one at Littleseas but it was clean, modern and we had central heating, and two bathrooms to Jenson’s delight. This holiday, I went away with my parents and both Jenson and Emeline. My parents had the double room, Jenson had his own room with the beds pushed together and Emeline and I shared a room. Park Holidays were far more accommodating to having Emeline in with me, they removed a bed so she could come in the single room with me.

We stayed at Rye Harbour, a beautiful location near a nature reserve. The sound of the birds first thing was mesmerising. Most days, we took a stroll past the harbour and listened to the birds. Across the harbour was Camber Sands, the beach looked clean, bright and just beautiful. We were so lucky with the weather, it was foggy most mornings but that lifted to sunny days. We even came home with a suntan! Over the week, we visited Rye, Hastings and Camber Sands. 

Rye was nice, a quaint little town that was hard to work out how to drive around! Hastings was an extra special treat, Jenson rode the miniature railway, we wandered around and looked around the small museums. We then had fish and chips on the beach and watched the Lifeboat training, Jenson was in his element. On Thursday, the sun beamed as soon as it came up. Of course, on the journey to Camber Sands, it started to rain. We arrived and searched for a reasonable car park, but they were all ridiculously expensive. £10 for 3-6 hours!  The beach was stunning, the sea was out and there was a lovely breeze. We set up our new Lidl beach tent, a bargain at £12.99, Jenson has has his diggers and bucket and spade and we were set for the day. We enjoyed our picnic on the blanket and ran in and out of the sea all day, finishing with an ice-cream. 

It was a lovely week, I really recommend a British holiday. We live in a beautiful country with lovely locations, the weather will often let us down but even in the rain and sun, it’s down to who you spend it with. Jenson and Emeline were so lucky to spend the week with Nana and Grandad, as was I and as were they. 

Could we be anymore British?!

The weather is beautiful this weekend, in particular, today. It’s so warm and there is a slight breeze so you don’t realise how hot the sun is! 

In line with British Tradition, we rushed off to Lidl (we weren’t one of the many that queued waiting for it to open though,  desperardoes!!) to get BBQ food! 

Everyone was dressed in appropriate summer attire, caked in suncream and wearing sun hats. We returned home to play in our garden which is beautiful compared to this time last year, Scott mowed the grass, essential in sunny weather and I hung out the washing – we had the smallest pile, it didn’t need doing, but it was a “lovely day for it“! 

Jenson has been in his element, we had the paddling pool out for a while and we played on the swings and slide. I then got the garden tray out and we built a dinosaur city with mud, water and some of the cut grass. He was able to get as messy as he liked and he was in his element. We ate our lunch outside, it would be rude not to! Finally, Jenson and I got the chalks out and played noughts and crosses on the patio, he won, which I let him! 

To finish off our day, we have made ice-lollies with fresh orange and strawberries and I’ll need endless amounts of aloe Vera on my shoulders because of my sunburn – no matter how much cream I add! Emeline even has some breast milk lollies in the freezer! 

Welcome, British Summer Time! We are so ready for a warm and wonderful one! 

Beautiful Dorset

Our week has been spent outside, all week! It has been beautiful. In true English style, the weather has been all over the place. We’ve encountered sun, rain, hail and even snow! The snow was whilst we were sat on the beach too, we would not be beaten and preserved though! 

Even our caravan site didn’t disappoint us, there were walks along but the coast and a beautiful chisel beach. We just had to look out our window to see the sun setting behind during the evening. 

We stayed near Weymouth, so our beach visits consisted of driving there and we were not disappointed. For England, the sea was beautifully blue and the sand a lovely soft yellow. There were lines of beautiful shells to collect too. We stayed on the Jurassic Coast which is well known for its fossils and history. The views were breathtaking. 

Weymouth

View from the Pavillion

 

During or trip, we visited the Jurassic skyline which gave you a 360 view of Weymouth, Portland and the Jurassic Coast. The day was wonderful so the sky was clear and we could see for miles, worth every penny. 

A view of Weymouth

On Wednesday, the weather was hit and miss. A bit windy and it rained every so often, we decided to head out to Portland. What a treat. The sky was mostly clear again. We were even able to see the famous sea creatures of Portland and Jenson was so excited to see dolphins and seals in the sea in front of him. We drove around the island and kept to the coast were possible, stopping to take photos. We arrived at Portland Bill for some lunch, to check out the views and climb the lighthouse. Unfortunately, Jenson wasn’t tall enough so once we managed to console him, we continued our drive. 

Portland Bill

Jurassic Coast – view from Portland

Finally, we visited stunning Lulworth. I had visited previously as a year 10 geography student studying costal erosion, naturally, I didn’t not care then but now I value the beauty! We didn’t do the walk from Lulworth Cover to Durdle Door as it is not buggy proof and as we were taking Emeline in the car for the journey home so we were not encouraging cosy sleep!

The weather was chilly and very windy but that did not stop us, we visited both sides of the beach and climbed up and down the steps, Jenson was amazing!

Durdle Door

Breastfeeding on the beach

I really recommend Dorset, a beautiful place to visit for all walks of life, young or old too. It is a tourist attraction too and there are lots of accommodation choices too. 

Caravan holidays!

We have just returned from a lovely week away in Dorset. We stayed at Littleseas which is a Haven site on the Jurassic Coast in Weymouth. It it stunning and we saw some truly beautiful views. We were also very close to Portland too (I’ll do another post about what we got up to).

The journey was reasonable, Jenson was so excited to get there and thankfully there wasn’t any traffic. We had constant questions:

“Are we there yet?”

“How long now?”

“Will we be there in two minutes?”

Other than the hilarious questions which started 20 minutes in to the journey (which was 3 1/2 hours), Jenson was as good as gold. We used our best parenting tactics and he watched Inside Out on the iPad for a while and then played with some of his toys, we stopped for a Starbucks and to feet Emeline at Fleet services and then Jenson read a few books before falling asleep. I have learnt to always pack toys in the middle so he can fetch what he wants out the bag to play with, genius. 

The journey was simple and we used the motorways and main roads, we arrived in Dorset and Scott pulled up at a random location. Apparently he chose to put ‘Haven, Weymouth’ in to the SatNav rather than our actual location, we were at the wrong place. I wanted to throttle him. What a stupid thing to do. Twat! Thankfully, only 15 minutes later we arrived at our actual Haven! 

We had a Prestige caravan – bloody lovely! 3 bed with lovely facilities and central heating – so important for little peeps. We also have two bathrooms, one which was an ensuite. We don’t even have that luxury at home. We unpacked, had a wander around and went off to do the food shop, we found a local Asda, we don’t often go to Asda so that was exciting but Jenson finally got to sit next to his sister in the trolley, he has been asking since she was born! 

We planned to eat in each night so had easy dinners:

• Chicken thighs with jackets and vegetables.
• Pizza and salad. 
• Spaghetti bolognaise 
• Red Thai curry 

It’s best to plan ahead when staying in a caravan, so you have everything you need. Caravans have the essentials but now everything you need. A list for my next one so I don’t forget: 

• Oven gloves 
• Wooden spoon (couldn’t find one)
• Tea towels 
• Toilet rolls 
• Washing up liquid and sponges 
• Clean film 
• Tin foil 
• Pot of sugar 
• Pot of coffee 
• Tea bags 
• Shower towels 

I remembered most of these this time other that the tea towels, oven gloves and wooden spoon. It is a nightmare to stir without one. 

I find caravan holidays so easy and so cheap, I managed to take everything I needed for both the children and buy anything we forgot, nappies! We used disposable whilst we were away. It’s a home from home and caravans are so well equipped. I grew up in caravans as a child, both static and towing and I had my fondest memories. I want the same for Jenson and Emeline. 

Kitchen

Lounge

Main bedroom

One of the bedrooms

 

One negative, as I posted about previously was the space. Not ideal with a baby. Ideally, cots should be placed in the lounge. I am not happy with this, there is now way I am putting my daughter in the lounge when there is a kitchen between us, that’s my biggest issue. I was, however, able to put the Moses basket in the bedroom, she is just starting to grow out of it so luckily we managed to keep her in there for this week. 

We had a brilliant week. Now, trying to do everything possible not to spend our savings on a caravan!