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.

:-)