Rainy days and Mondays

don't bother me that much.

I don't like rainy days in the summer, but in the autumn, well, you expect rain and I can live with it. It's rained in epic proportions for most of the afternoon and it's still coming down now.

My lovely sister-in-law, E, has just phoned to tell me that she and her boyfriend got engaged this weekend and will probably be getting married next September. We are absolutely thrilled for the pair of them and can't wait to celebrate with them. As luck would have it, we are headed up to them in a month's time to celebrate an important birthday for E (cough, 30, cough!) so no doubt we'll be breaking out the champagne then.

Before then, of course, I have two birthday boys of my own to contend with and one more shortly afterwards. I realised, as I paged through the calendar, that there are exactly five weeks between Dan and Jack's birthdays, with Luke's falling inbetween. Still, given that their due dates were all in the same week (Oct 25th, 28th and 31st) a five week spread of birthdays is pretty respectable! A friend had her third baby boy this weekend and looking at her photos took me straight back to Dan's early days.

I'll be back sooner than usual for a birthday blog for Daniel. :-)

School run mum

September's here and I'm back on the school run.

Luke started school in Reception with Mrs M and Jack has Mrs T this year. They've been back a week and a day and both seem really settled in. Here are my two smart schoolboys.

I think Dan is missing them though. Several days this week he has seemed on the verge of going to sleep on the school run, but once he catches sight of them, he perks up again and makes it through until bedtime.

This photo is partly for Marie, if she's reading, so that she can admire his taste in books and partly for anyone else to say things like "wow, when did he get so big?" Dan will be one in a few weeks time and is definitely losing his babyishness. Two weeks after that, Luke will be 5 and three weeks after that, Jack will be 7, so the party season is truly upon us.

It is very strange to think that this time a year ago I was so close to delivering, without knowing it. For those who don't know, Dan was born a month early due to an infection and was initially pretty poorly for a couple of days. Thanks to fantastic care and antibiotics, he then started to improve really well and we were out of hospital just over a week after he was born. I was used, once upon a time, to telling the story of Jack's delivery as though it had been great drama and woe -it took Dan's delivery to make me realise that there are worse things than being in labour for a couple of days.

Menus, Wii and afternoon naps

I am hiding in the study, supposedly making a menu planner for this week, but in reality, surfing the net and thinking about tomorrow. The big boys are playing Wii with Daddy and Dan is having a nap after church.

Tomorrow, the plumber is coming to start fitting our new bathroom and I am SO EXCITED. It is shamefully shallow of me, of course, but we have been here since Feb 09, without a shower and sitting in the bath has lost what little charm it had to start with. However, it means an early start tomorrow, so as to be dressed and decent when he gets here - oh well, a small price to pay. :-)

Summer, summer sun shines bright

Except when it's tiddling down with rain! Yesterday's rain was of epic, biblical proportions. The water butt is now full and I can almost hear the apple trees sighing with relief.

Rain however is not much fun when it's the school hols. I can't take them swimming because of numbers, I can't face the cinema with all three of them, ditto soft play. Even walking in the woods seems like a lot of effort, especially as the car boot is stuck shut, which makes taking a pram anywhere a bit of an effort.

Still, we've had two weeks of holiday-away, so a quiet week this week won't have done them that much harm and next week looks a bit busier - we may even make it to the beach hut with Granny, if the rain, rain go(es) away!

Domestic disaster area

So, I'm blogging for the first time in weeks, because the alternative is tidying the kitchen - oh horror, or helping Tiff do the Child Tax Credit application. (Yes, those of you that get CTC, that's the one we had months ago, due in at the end of the month. I say nothing).

Dan's Christening went really well. All our friends came, we had a beautiful day and a wonderful service. Our much-loved Vicar Bob is retiring in September on grounds of ill-health. He has baptised all three of our boys now and said that he thinks that, asides from his own family, we are the only family where he has baptised all the children. We didn't realise when we booked it, but Sunday 11th July was six years exactly, to the day and date of Jack's Christening.

We didn't get any family-type shots, or even shots of Dan in his white shirt, but there are photos on FB if you're on there and for good measure, here's one of the boy himself.

And, as it was a family occasion, we made one of our regular attempts to take a photo of all five boys together. I think this is the best and one for the album, I'm sure you'll agree.

I had to do battle with the menance of flying ants today, so I had better go and get that kitchen straightened out. Good night. :-)

Game face on

Next weekend is Dan's Christening and we have about 30 of our very best and closest friends and family coming to help us celebrate. I can't wait!! I'm praying for good weather, as for the first time, we're going to have the do afterwards at home. Whatever the weather, it will be fab to have the chance to catch up with so many people, many of who are coming a long way to see us.

I need my game face on this week. I feel really stressed out about the preparation to be done and am battling a daily sensation that it's all down to me and that the only other adult in the house thinks it's all just going to do itself. Given that most of the food is coming from Waitrose, this is pretty irrational of me, but I get overwhelmed quite easily at the moment. I've skipped church this morning (I think this might be the first time I've ever done that) to get the preschool accounts straightened up, so that's one less thing to think about. Boys are still in their pyjamas, so had best go get them dressed. Say a prayer for me this week. :-)

Football's coming home

in economy class seats. And I think they'll be avoiding an open-top bus parade for fear of eggs....

Tiff got footballs strips for all three boys a couple of weeks back, as this Sunday was football-strip sunday at our church. I'll try and get a photo of them up, because they do all look awfully cute, albeit a bit sweaty (for that sort of money, I would have expected cotton, not polyester!). I got a packet of chocolate buttons in church for knowing why the song we did "Jabulani Africa" was doubly appropriate. Tiff says he knew, but I'm not convinced.

All my boys went back to church at 3pm to watch the game and I went to the gym. I have been a member of a local gym for about 3 years now, although from Oct-Apr I was on a maternity break and from Apr-now I was on a laziness break. So, today, I went and swam in the pool for about 20 minutes and it felt great to be moving without a pram or a sling or a small person to consider. I did feel a mild pang while I was swimming - last time was in the pool was two days before Dan was born and it was weird being there without a bump. (Well, I have a bump, but it's podge, not baby!)

I went onto church and met the boys and watched the second half. Jack seemed only mildly disappointed, Luke says he was supporting Germany anyway and Dan just wanted to chew someone's shoulder. He'll be nine months old on Thursday and has been on the outside for longer than he was on the inside.

Sports Day

It was Jack's Sports Day today and I went with Daniel in tow. I momentarily considered taking Luke out of preschool to join the fun, but realised I would probably quickly tire of chasing him all over. I think he had more fun at preschool, where they had induction visits for the new children. According to him, he had to tell them what to do, which was no doubt right up his street!

Jack came in third in his running race and got a sticker. The school invite you to bring a picnic and eat with your child - it was really nice to spend a bit of time one on one with Jack (sort of). Dan managed to spot someone else's sandwiches and rolled over several times in order to stick his hand in and try and get one. Fortunately, they were friends...!

Weighed in today, as I missed last week and I lost 2 of the 2.5lbs I put on following my birthday, so I'm back to 1stone off and back on track. :-)

I'd love to be able to add some photos of sports day, but the camera never made it out of my bag, so above are two photos from last summer, when Dan was just a bump and Tiff was there as well.

Here come the girls....

Monday was the 5th anniversary of my Dad's death, so I went out for lunch for Mum and my sister, A. I feel kind of bad to say that I had a lovely day, but I don't think even Dad would have wanted us to be weeping and wailing five years later. We looked at his entry in the book of rememberance and agreed again that that dove in the illustration looks more like a seagull, went for lunch, then went to the beach and threw roses in the water. It was really lovely to spend child-free time with Mum and A and we had a good giggle.

In other news...Dan's first tooth is definitely through and the one next to it is coming. He can now move to where he wants to go, rather than just randomly rolling ad wriggling all over the floor. I think this is partly responsible for two consecutive nights of dreadful sleep. Yawn!

Half term

Oh, I LOVE school holidays....no, really, I do. :-) No leaping out of bed, just us at our own pace.

Today we have been to the beach with Granny and nephews 1 & 2. The boys had a riot and ran round with a football, we took it in turns to jiggle Dan. It was lovely. Then this afternoon we went to a birthday party and I had the chance to catch up with some friends.

Dan has cut his first tooth today, the day after he turned eight months. Jack has not one, not two, but THREE wobbly teeth.

I had a lovely birthday week/weekend; so much so that I put on 2.5lbs at SW this week. Oh dear! Well, I enjoyed it all, so not complaining, just getting back on with it this week.

Tomorrow we are off to my sister's for the afternoon to let all five boys play while we catch up and to stay out of the way of the landscapers who are coming to do our patio (hurray).

21 again

Oh, alright, 35. 35!! Halfway to 70, yikes.

I've had a lovely day. I had lunch with Anna, Marieke kept me company for the after school/pre dinner slot and Tiff was home at about 6.30. How could a girl want more? Well, I also lost another 1.5lbs, so I got my first stone sticker at Slimming World - yey for me!

:-)

Confessions from the Home Front

Well, weirdly, given that I've just started blogging, yesterday I decided that I needed to cut down my online time. Today, I sent the modem lead to work with Tiff. I'm still slightly stunned (and slightly ashamed) of how much I got done today. I guess those ten minutes (oh, alright, 20 minutes) here and there really add up. I think we'll be running this experiment for another couple of weeks until I can maybe learn some self control and in the meantime, I'll be logging on most evenings to check my boards and emails.

21 again, tomorrow. Yikes!

Just Jack

Jack is our PFB (precious first born) and is 6.5 yrs old. He was a total textbook baby - if the book said that your baby might roll over from 12 months onwards, that's what Jack would do. He was (and still is, mostly) very cheerful and easy going. Jack is in his second year of school and loves to read.

Jack is quite a serious sort of chap, but comes out with some great lines. The other night we were eating dinner together, which was fish and talking about how Jesus had fishermen as his disciples. We were talking about the calling of the disciples and I said to Jack "So Jesus said, come with me and I will make you...." There was a small silence and Jack said "something to eat?". Okaaaay. On the other hand he recently told me that God talked to Moses through a burning bush (yep) and told him to go home. I had to pull my Bible out to double-check that was right - bible lessons from my six year old!

Jack has just been away this weekend on his very first Beavers camp. Tiff went with him and I'm still not sure which of them had the best time. It was quite strange being home alone with the "littlies" and I wasn't at all thinking about the day to come, when all four of them will be off and I will get some peace and quiet. :-)

Loo-key Tiff-in

Here's honourable son number two, Luke. Luke is half past four, to use his own words and regularly voted child most likely to give me grey hair. Luke is a little person with a big imagination and a recently discovered talent for telling tall tales with a straight face. On Monday he assured me so absolutely that his preschool key worker was off sick for the week that I nearly FBed her to wish her a quick recovery. You can imagine my surprise when she was handling sign-in on Tuesday morning. Then on Tuesday afternoon I got a very convincing story about how a big dog had attacked another preschool worker's dog in front of the children and they'd had to scare it away. I fear he is destined for a life of crime, or possibly a career in politics.

Luke made me smile today in the car. We were on our way home from swimming lessons with a little friend in the car. They started to talk about the sky and Luke said "God lives in the sky. We sing a song called "I have a Father in Heaven" and that's about God. He is all our Fathers."

Today at Bible Study, we looked a passage from a book called "Barefoot in the Kitchen" by Alie Stibbe. This is an amazing book, which really speaks to me. We looked at a passage about cultivating an inner attitude of praise. The study acknowledged that it's hard to maintain this when you've got small children who need you all the time, but challenged us to try to cultivate a heart of blessing and compassion, which can remain cheerful in the face of constant interruption. This is a big challenge for me. Only last night, at a church meeting, I was thinking how great it was to be able to focus on worship. It's been 6.5 yrs since I sat uninterrupted through a church service, or really got down to worship without a little hand in mine. This is just a season though and when it's over, I know I'll miss it. In the meantime, it's about finding the presence of God where I am. :-)

The postman came

He didn't ring twice. In fact, he didn't ring at all, he just left my parcels on the front door step. Ho hum.

So, what did he bring? Well, he brought three parcels all containing things from the same company, Frugi. Frugi is a childrens' clothing company which makes lovely clothes in organic cotton. The factories they use to make the clothes are run on an ethical basis, with adults only working there. Their baby clothes are cut specially to fit over cloth nappies, which is how I first came across them in the quest to find something to fit over Jack's big cloth bum.

Anyway, this season, after applying at least once before, I am a Frugi Crusader, which basically means helping to promote them in return for a great discount and some freebies - what's not to like? Two days ago it was cold and rainy here, so I ordered these trousers and this top for Dan. Of course, today, it's lovely and sunny, but never mind, he'll still fit into them in the autumn.

The second packet was a second-hand pair of Frugi shorts, again for Dan. Last year, when Tiff was out of work, I got into buying second hand. I got quite a bit of Frugi gear second-hand. Having owned so much of it, I know it lasts well, so buying it second hand doesn't seem like too much of a risk. Natural Mamas, one of my favourite parenting forums, has a great second hand section and the shorts came from there.

Finally, the last packet was some fliers from Frugi. As a Crusader, I get an individual code to share with people. If you use DUCK at the checkout, you'll get 10% off, plus free P&P and returns in the UK.

I'm going to hang the nappy wash out on the line now and hope like anything that it doesn't rain!

Slimming World

I joined a local Slimming World class at the end of March. I have struggled with my weight for all my adult life, going in cycles of self-acceptance and self-loathing. I have tried the F Plan, WW, the make-it-up-myself, Paul McKenna, cabbage soup, thought about Atkins, from Pig to Twig, French Women Don't Get Fat and a dozen others. My sister suggested I gave SW a go and even offered to come with me (thanks, sweetie!) and the local class was convenient, so I signed up.

I've lost 13lbs so far and I really like this plan.

In other news from the home front, today I packed up all Dan's size one washable nappies. He is our last baby, so this is the last time I'll ever do it and it was kind of a bitter-sweet moment. I'm so glad he's doing well and growing, but I'm also very aware that these are the last of all the baby firsts for us. And speaking of Dan, someone's awake.

Here's Daniel!

This is Daniel, who was born in Oct 2009. He was born a month before his due date and was quite poorly to start with. He was in our local hospital's Special Care from his birth on Thursday until the Tuesday, when he was discharged to my care, within the hospital. We stayed in until the Friday, when he finished his IV antibiotics and we were both free to go.

It was horribly difficult being in hospital and our older boys, Jack and Luke, couldn't visit Daniel in Special Care. When you're expecting a baby, you read books to your older children about new babies, but nothing prepares you for a baby coming early and/or being poorly. The boys' birthdays are somewhat clustered in the autumn (their due dates were all in the same week!) and we had told them that the baby would be born after Luke's birthday, but before Jack's. As it was, Daniel came before Luke's birthday.

Although I would not want to repeat the experience of Daniel's birth, it was amazing how God fulfilled our needs and met us there in all the strangest ways. When he was born, we had not really discussed baby names - it was on my to-do list!, Daniel was the only name we had really liked and my Mum had pulled a bit of a face. When I grew up, locally to us, there were quite a few "naughty" Daniels and I think that had influenced her. The day after he was born, when he was still nameless, she came to us and said that she had pulled out her Bible and read the story of Daniel and that God had said to her that just as Daniel had trusted God to close the mouths of the lions, we were trusting God to bring our Daniel safely through this time of trial. So we gladly named him Daniel. That night, as I was sitting by his incubator, one of the cleaners came past, mopping and asked me if we had named our baby yet, so I told her yes, he was Daniel. She instantly said to me "Daniel was a strong man of faith and God saved him from the lions". I was too amazed for words. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Ps 46, v 1-3.

Hello and welcome

I'm Wendy, I'm nearly 35 and I am a wife of one and a mummy of three. I have never blogged before, but I'm hoping to make this a kind of on-line journal of motherhood. The title "practising the presence" comes from a book by a monk called Brother Lawrence who wrote about practising the presence of God in the smallest tasks before us. There are days when the washing and the cleaning and the cooking and the general care and maintenance of three young boys leave me feeling somewhat wrung out and separate from God, so I'm seeing if being barefoot on the holy ground of my kitchen floor will help me.

:-)