Grown Up

Had a good weekend. Yesterday I had a nice lie in and at 10am I fed Leo in bed and he went back off to sleep so I had lovely cuddles in bed.

While having cuddles I used my iPhone to mess around and this is the result, rather cool I think.





Now that Leo is such a big boy, he has moved up to a bigger car seat. I made sure the straps were the right height before putting it in the car. He looks really comfy in it.







This is just a few more pictures I took of Leo. I love the first one. He really hates the flash for obvious reasons and shuts his eyes tight. You have to time it right if you want a picture of him with his eyes open.









Another grown up thing that Leo has done recently is using a bowl. Sounds silly I know.



Another silly thing is Ellis playing on this application on Rob's phone called, talking Karl. It is really cute. You touch this little character on the screen and he laughs and repeats what you say. We had fun with that.



Today we went to Nanny and Grandad George's house for lunch. We arrive in time to fee Leo at 12ish and then we all sat to the table for our grub. Ellis wasn't in an eating mood which was a shame but the food was yummy. Ellis did scoff all the orange for dessert though.

We left around 2:30pm as Leo really needed a sleep and we were hoping Ellis would nap too but as we pulled into Sainsbury's car park by home he was still awake, only just though.

Rob has done a great job this weekend of helping me out with pretty much everything. I feel so useless! I am trying to do as much as possible but I'm always knocking my bad finger and it hurts, in your gut pain. I so want to take it easy so it can heal really well and quickly as I want to be independent again please.

How next week goes will all depend on how much help I can get really. I would really love for Leo to get to his Sing and Sign class on Tuesday morning as he missed last week, but I don't know how it could be possible. I also need to get back to the hospital to see the physio and Ellis needs to get to school and back. aahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Leo 9 Months Old

Leo was 9 months old yesterday. He really is growing up fast and is starting to make progress on walking. I'll try and get some video of him soon.

Here are the pictures I have taken. I couldn't pick a favourite.

Ellis at 9 months.

Can't type too much. Be back soon, hopefully.

Pain in the Finger!

I can't really type properly at the moment so I will keep the writing brief and just post lots of pictures.

I hurt my finger on Sunday afternoon as I was rushing to get ready to meet my Mum and Dad at my favourite Italian restaurant. I managed to have the meal, which was really nice before going to the Chemist for some advice. I was told to keep it elevated and to take Ibuprofen, which I did.

On Monday I dropped Ellis into school. He really didn't want to go and one of the ladies had to take him off of my leg. I wasn't sad as I left as I knew he would fine within 10 minutes.

I went and met up with my yoga friends for the morning and one of them so happens to be a GP. She took one look at my black, immobile finger and told me to get it checked.

So that night my Dad baby sat and my best mate Lucy took me to A & E.

We had a very long wait but had a wicked time chatting, making up stories of why people were there and ear wigging. I had an x-ray and I was then finally told that I had indeed broken my finger and I would need to come back the following morning to see a plastic surgeon.

What a right pain in the finger! Mum and Dad have been wicked though. They picked us all up on Tuesday and took me to the hospital. After a short hike we finally found the right department and I had my finger looked at. Physio, a splint, another x-ray in 2 weeks and a check-up is what is going to happen for now. If the new x-ray shows the bones have moved then I will need a pin put in, but I'm sure it wont come to that. Saying that I thought it would just be a bad sprain!

We have all been taken care of this week which has been greatly appreciated. Loads of people have offered their help and I am very grateful to have all this support.

Ellis has been getting on better with pre-school this week. He has been behaving and doing lots of lovely pictures which we put up in the kitchen. I will put them up in his room once the kitchen is full. I picked up his uniform on Monday so he got to wear it for the first time on Tuesday. Sorry about the pose.



Ellis loves photography and regularly grabs the camera and has a go. Here are some pictures from today.





















I love it when he pretends to do a video. His commentary goes something along the lines of, "this is Leo, he isn't very well today, this is the TV where I watch Peppa Pig, and this is Mummy" etc etc.

Mum dropped Ellis at school this morning and then came back to mine to do the ironing and tidy up for us. Then she picked Ellis up, we shoved some food into the boys and then all went up Nanny and Grandad's house for the afternoon/evening.

We had a lovely time and were totally pampered and taken care of. Thank you xxx

Leo was shattered by the time he had his last feed. I put him on the bean bag and he looked so cosy. When I transferred him into his car seat, he didn't even stir, so cute.



Mum has a day off tomorrow. We are staying in in the morning and then Rob should hopefully be home in time to take us to Big Stars followed by Charley's birthday party. Nothing much planned for the weekend.

Broken Finger

I've broken my index finger on my right hand. Typing is hard so blogging will have to cease for a while.

No exciting story about how it happened. I just caught it on a door handle and twisted it.

Be back as soon as I can.

Softplay

Early starts are doing me in but not much I can do about them.

For some reason I got a bee in my bonnet about the house. So I did house work all day until we went out at 3pm.

It was hard to do as I can't leave the boys on their own at any point really so to start with I locked Ellis in the kitchen using the stair gate and Leo had the living room, which he is pretty safe in.

Then I let Ellis out as he got bored and I put Leo in the door bouncer for a bit.

So there was a lot of juggling done and I got 90% of the house done which was brilliant and I was very pleased.

In the afternoon we met up with our Mummy friends at the local softplay centre. It can be really busy but it wasn't too bad.

We all seemed to arrive at the same time, including Rob which was nice.

Basicially we sat down chatting and the kids played. Here are the pictures and video from the afternoon.









Everyone seemed to have a really nice time and we all left at 4:30pm.

Back at home, I started dinner, Rob fed Leo, Ellis watched telly and then I finished off the cleaning.

That was it for the day. Uncle Dave came over in the evening to sort out some car stuff with Rob and I came to bed with my laptop at about 9:30pm.

Going to do some reading now and then get some sleep as I'm on the early again tomorrow.

Horse World

The plan for today was to go to Sainsbury's in the morning for a small food shop and then home for lunch before going to Horse World for a couple of hours and then dinner at my Mum and Dad's.

The weather was just horrible today so I decided against Sainsbury's to start with and then later on against Horse World too.

The day commenced with yet another early start which is becoming the norm and I'm not happy about it, but not much I can do. Leo went down for a morning nap at 9am and didn't wake until 11am, which is when I put Ellis down for his nap.

I got to spend some lovely time with Leo today which was really nice. I just watched him, played with him, read to him and had lots of chats.



I gave him his lunch at 12:30pm and Ellis was still asleep.



Leo and I played some more and he had lots of practice with the walker before I put him down for his afternoon nap at 2pm, and Ellis was still asleep!

I did the ironing and some washing, tidied up and got dressed. It was 3pm by the time I had finished so I went to wake Ellis up but he was already awake. Nearly 4 hours he slept! The zoo yesterday must have really tired him out, plus the early start didn't help.

I shoved some food into him, got him dressed quickly and then Leo woke up. I changed him and got him dressed, fed him, packed the bags and packed the kids into the car before leaving to go to my Mum and Dad's for dinner.

At Mum's we just mess around really and chat before eating lots and lots of food. This week though I finished setting up the Wii Fit so that Mum could have a go. It was so funny.



Then Ellis had a turn.



We left quite late but it didn't matter as I knew Ellis wouldn't exactly be ready for bed at 7pm.

I put the boys in bed, sorted out the bags and then went to bed with my laptop. It's actually quite comfy using it in bed and a lot nicer than sitting on the sofa in the living room. I might try and do it more often. It will stop me picking at food during the evening too.

I so hope I have a better night tonight. Leo woke up screaming last night and didn't settle until 1am! I don't feel too bad though.

Tomorrow, depending on the weather, I am going to go to Sainsbury's for a few bits and then in the afternoon we are going to meet up with our Mummy friends at a soft play centre for a natter.

Zoo

Woke up feeling exhausted. Ellis was awake by 5am so I brought him in with me but he doesn't sleep, he just fidgets and sings.

Downstairs, Ellis started the morning off being so nice to Leo that I was shocked. He spoke to him nicely, gave him toys, kissed him and was just generally a wicked big brother. I couldn't praise him enough and his reward was cuddles, kisses and Mr Tumble (TV show).

It was tipping down with rain first thing and I really didn't fancy getting ready for the zoo so I didn't. I sent a text to my Mum saying I wasn't going but she said she was because Chloe was so excited. I hadn't told Ellis just in case I changed my mind. It was 9:30am and I was due to leave in an hour. I had to get the 3 of us dressed, do a packed lunch, feed Leo, pack the changing bag and get a bag of spare clothes ready. I have no idea how, but I managed it.

I gave my Mum a one ringer and packed the kids in the car.

We arrived after my Mum as I popped to Sophie's house to pick up some discount vouchers but I don't think it was too long after.

It was still raining and Ellis was asleep in the car. It took me ages to set the buggy up and to get them into it.

We stepped into the zoo all bundled up warm and dry, until an older boy ran into Ellis and sent him flying! He landed flat on his face and was covered in water and mud. He hit his head and was just generally soaked. I had to take his gloves off which was the only spare item I hadn't brought with me. He really did need the gloves as I was to discover later on.

The zoo was very busy and we seemed to arrive with a bunch of people who obviously did the same as us and headed straight for an indoor exhibit. Before we could go in though, Ellis really needed the toilet. I had to hold him up in a bush as I just wouldn't have made it to the toilet in time. It was the longest wee I had ever seen!



We saw a few exhibits before stopping for lunch, around the same time as everyone else. We were really lucky though and Mum managed to grab a really good table. Everyone was really well behaved for lunch and Leo scoffed all of his grub. I did have a moving target though as so much was going on around him, he just kept moving his head to look around.

After a toilet stop the kids had a go on one of the many small rides by the cafe.







It was then time to make our way around the park to see some animals but the kids were more interested in all the muddy puddles!



It rained quite a lot but Ellis was good about wearing his hat and he walked the whole time. The rain didn't bother these guys.



One of the highlights of the day for Chloe was getting her face painted. She chose a giraffe and I think it turned out really well.



Just outside from where her face was painted, there was a little merry-go-round. Ellis wanted to have a go but he picked the most rubbish thing to ride on.



We saw some bird and the kids ran through the butterfly enclosure before we stopped for a while for them to play in the water.







Mum and I were stood in the rain getting quite cold so we thought it would be a good idea to go back to the cafe for a tea and to just generally warm up. I knew Ellis was freezing and his hands were very cold after playing in the water. He complained that they were hurting him. I tried to warm them up for him but I think it hurt too much.



The cafe was busy but not like lunch time so we found a table quite easily. I fed Leo, Ellis had some snacks, Mum had a coffee and Chloe went to sleep in the buggy.

I changed Ellis into all his clean, dry clothes and new trainers and then wrapped him in blankets in the buggy. He was so tired and cold that I think he quite liked the idea, although he didn't want the rain cover on.

We stopped in the shop on the way out and Mum bought a couple of rubber snakes. I had a look around but I didn't see anything worth buying and Ellis wasn't bothered so that saved me a few quid.

We said our goodbyes in the car park and loaded up the cars and left.

Ellis was buzzing most of the way home and was singing and chatting away until we were almost home. He fell sound asleep and I moved him on to the sofa but he didn't wake up.

I struggled to wake him up at 5pm and he then just sat on the sofa until bath time. He did get Leo laughing again which was well cute.



I bathed the boys and Rob arrived home from work just as I was getting them out. He helped to finish off Ellis and put him to bed while I did Leo and had a shower.

Today was really good fun. It was exhausting and hectic too but well worth it. Ellis had an amazing time but I do feel sorry for Leo as he was literally just left in the buggy. I couldn't show him stuff as I couldn't then watch Ellis. It was just too tricky.

I spent my evening blogging and I am now off to bed. Have no idea what we are doing tomorrow but I need to think of something before I go to bed so that I can just get up and go in the morning. I expect we will just go to Sainsbury's and then up Mum and Dad's for dinner.

Pancake Day

Today was pancake day. I actually forgot while I was making the boys their breakfast so they didn't end up having any. But I did.



We had a lazy morning just chilling in the living room.







In the afternoon we walked to the doctors as I had to have my blood pressure checked and then we went into Sainsbury's before walking to Sally and Anna's house.

Everyone was there this week and to say it was hectic is an understatement. There were 6 adults (2 that are pregnant) and 9 children!





Generally the kids all got on quite well. There was obviously a few tiffs over toys but it wasn't too bad considering how many there were. The best game was Anna screaming at the boys to get in the house which was under the table.



I was shattered by the time we got home and Ellis was being quite hard work so that made it that little bit harder. He pushed Leo one too many times and so I changed him and put him in bed with no story at 6:30pm.

Off to the zoo tomorrow, weather permitting.