to use words, so pictures instead.

Yup the other one has gone too

He sits

They’re gorgeous.

Isn’t funny how the most horrible day can turn out to be lovely in the end. I think we’re okay.

Oh and fuckme I’d completely forgotten how shit (ha) the first week of metformin makes you feel.

salvation came in the form of a tall brunette

Thank you

Monday & Tuesday were great - went out, had fun, C has nearly finished lots of what she’s doing, I looked out some Evan Moor pockets for next week if she’s interested. On Wednesday I was feeling ill & C was tired so we had a quiet day watching films & playing. Ballet was traumatic, Jasper screamed (a lot), Claudia was upset by some bitchy kids. Jasper didn’t sleep on Wednesday nght. Yesterday started well but I had to go and rescue Lily from school (cue school induced panic state) which meant no Jelly Legs and no supermarket. Lily & mum stayed for dinner though which was pleasant, Japser was charming

We watched the last episodes of Rome & Battlestar Galactica & I finished a jumper for Jasper (I knitted the 12 month size because he grows out of everything so fast).

Jasper didn’t sleep last night. He hasn’t slept this morning. He is very, very grumpy (i.e. extremely loud) and I am very, very tired. Claudia is playing Sims II. I really don’t feel like dragging a screaming baby out of the house in the rain, nor do I fancy nagging Claudie to get ready so I’m not sure we’ll make ERAPA (even though C will be really cross with me).

Did I say I was tired? And pissed off? We still don’t have any food. Maybe I’ll go to Lidl later.

In fact I’m on strike until I get some sleep - I’m not doing ANYTHING. Pah.

Oh guess what … still not asleep. Still screaming. No interesting post.

Welcome back campers! Bit late I know but I’m struggling with lack of online time

Big news is Claudia’s tooth It fell out yesterday & there’s another very wobbly one next to it!

She’s so pleased, she spent her tooth money on a Happy Meal

We’ve entered the crazy world of spelling tests .. snail, floppy, was, slipped, goat, zebra, elephant (!) etc, only one she got wrong was “two” instead of “to”

Jasper loves his bouncer

Both asleep must knit now & perfect my swearing … life’s good

I’ve been blocked from commenting on my own blog! Pah!

Alison - Tuesday would be lovely TW is really good, well written, dark, funny, lead female character is a black lesbian, language is obscene - always good!

I’ve sent Simon & the kids out to Lidl for some peace & quiet & I’m medicating the back pain with more wine.

Claudia got a badge at gymnastics this morning! Completely unexpected so that was nice She’s finished her first peice of knitting & is now working on number two - maybe this one will be a scarf She’s being very gorgeous at the moment! She’s nearly finished the Bob Books (I’ll have to reasearch what to do next), has decided she like the Jolly Phonics workbooks (they are pretty basic so I’m thinking of trying Explode The Code, she could do that independently which is what she wants) and wants spelling tests lol

Jasper had his first accident - took a nose dive off Claudia’s lap head first onto the edge of the hearth He had a massive bump & a little cut but soon recovered to his normal happy self. Soppy mother alert **that boy is supremely delicious, I adore being his mum**

I’ve been trying to blog the last couple of weeks since Monday - have to admit defeat it isn’t going to happen. We’ve been busy, done some good stuff, J is five months old babbles like a … umm …. babbling baby, he sits up quite impressively too

We’ve spent the last week being ill in turn and Friday was spent collapsed in front of the TV eating brownies.

I have done something bad to my back … even alcohol isn’t helping with the pain .. it’s some fucked up shit motherfucker*

Oh & it’s the READING FUCKING HALF MARATHON tomorrow. That is all.

(*been watching The Wire it is really expanding my vocabulary).

Days when it’s 2 o’clock & Jasper hasn’t slept yet. When I can’t find the nappy wraps & resort to a swim nappy - then forget about it & he’s soaked from armpits to toes in minutes and so is the bed. When not allowing Angel Delight for breakfast means she hates me FOREVER. When I have no clean clothes (that fit) & can’t find any underwear. When the wireless DOESN’T BLOODY WORK. When Claudie is knackered and cries because someone put a pig in a suitcase (Babe), because ALL her friends are in Level 4, because she keeps falling over. When each meal has involved chocolate & I curse the absence of alcohol (no I don’t wonder why I’ve put most of the weight I lost back on). When Jasper is teething. When the cats puke and I drop glasses and cut myself and we eat stale bread. When my clever, beautiful child who I love with all my heart *cleanchedteeth* strips every living thing out the garden to make muddy potions. When they both get through 3 changes of clothes & PJs & towels & blankets. When I promised to make pancakes but the baby WON’T STOP CRYING.

That’s when I feel like screaming but I haven’t so I must be making progress! 2 days without shouting despite massive provocation..

Apart from that we’ve done all the usual stuff (C read really well - I’m very pleased), I read a huge pile of FIAR books (including The Bee Tree, a great moral tale of the wonders of reading ) planted cress, avocados stones & apple seeds. We did a plant search around the garden (maybe if she knows what the plants are she won’t be so eager to kill them) and C took a load of pictures. We didn’t get out (see no clean clothes) but cooked bread, pizza & masses of tomato sauce for lasagne.

I finished Flora over the weekend - just in time for the warm weather

I’m blogging today as a typical home-edding day for us (well Monday to Wednesday anyway, Thursday & Friday are completely random), don’t expect it to be interesting

Claudia is under strict instructions not to come into our room until Simon leaves for work at 7am (Jasper wakes for a feed at 5, but if he’s not disturbed he’ll sleep for another couple of hours - C coming in before 7 sets us up for disaster), this morning Simon found her wide awake sitting in bed with a pile of books at 6:30. She came in with me & J when he left and we lay in bed chatting until about 8 o’clock by which time Claudie was starving. I pottered around sorting Jasper out, getting some washing on, tidying the kitchen & trying to figure out wtf is going on with my computer while C ate breakfast. She continued a cartoon strip she’s been doing of her & Jasper - she’s really interested in punctuation marks & speech/thought bubbles - having adventures, J played grab the cats (very dangerous as Teeny will attest, they don’t require any provocation to attack), until he got tired & hungry. He was fed, slung & asleep by 9:15 and C picked some stuff to do.

First maths - Singapore/MPAH - subtraction & addition within 20 and fractions (we also read Mathstart Give me Half & Divide & Ride). She really enjoys maths, we tend to be doing a couple of things at once filling in gaps in her knowledge & practice while also doing more complicated stuff. I read a Maple Hill Farm book (an old favourite) and then she did some Getty-Dubay which is preceded by the ritual Sharpening of Pencils. We’ve been reading When We Were Very Young for a while but C wanted something new today, she picked Flower Fairies of the Summer. I read her a couple of poems then she picked The Song of the Poppy Fairy for her copywork - after she’d drawn her picture she wanted the rest of the book read so I obliged. She is incredibly proud of her copybook - I was pretty sure she’d like the idea when I suggested it to her (she loves writing) but didn’t expect her to want to do it everyday. We’ve got a lot of the plants in the book in the garden I showed her where they all were & she wants to take picture if them when they are flowering. Reading was pretty low key, just a couple of Bob Books, I read her a couple of Usborne Beginners (Tadpoles & Frogs and Spiders). That took us up to lunch time & Jasper was awake by now - he & Claudie watched half a Baby Einstein while I did more washing

C had lunch and played in the garden for an hour or so, then both had a bath. She wanted to do some (incredibly easy) science workbook about magnets so we did that then I explained about the iron that attracts magnets - she went around looking for ferrous metals, then read How Plants Grow & a bit of Linnea’s Windowsill Garden. She really wants to do a lapbook about plants of flowers so we’ve been getting stuff together (I got some seeds to plant tomorrow & a couple of avocado stones), she’s planning to put her flower pictures in and wants to learn how to use photoshop. I suppose that took about another 45 minutes. C did a load of puzzles then we went for a walk to the park (& Claudia spent some of her bribe money on chocolate), Jasper had his first go in the swing & Claudia played with another little girl there. We got back just in time to hang out another load of washing & get changed for swimming.

We met Simon at the pool - Jasper & I watched them swim for a little while then walked around to Lidl for a few bits and pieces. He fell asleep on the way there and I managed to get some knitting done when we went back to the pool. C hasn’t gone up, which she doesn’t seem bothered about at all (no extrinsic motivation for that girl, she is so uncompetitive it’s painful) - I’ve booked her into the same class as it’s the only time we can manage) but we’re trying to sort out a few private coaching sessions (so middle class ) to see if they can get her breathing sorted out. I’m completely out of my depth with it - how do you know when its been too long without any progress?

Simon drove her & the shopping home and I made dinner (pasta & pesto for C) when I got back, C was knackered & in bed asleep by 7:30 (bedtime story was Rosie to the Rescue I think).It was a pretty standard day, but C & I are making a real effort to be nice to each other - we had no shouting and that made it lovely (Jasper has learnt a new funny face so we spent a lot of the day coaxing grins out of him & taking pictures as well ). My computer is still playing up so I’m planning an early night.

… I’m sat up waiting for an auction to end, everyone else is asleep, the peace is lovely.

J is mostly better today, sick this morning but happy again by this afternoon, I knitted him a hat to match C’s (no pattern, in Biggy print again).

We’ve had a weird week, on Monday Simon took the day off, he did some work in the kitchen while I took C & J (who slept the entire time to Jelly Legs). It was swimming in the afternoon, I’m a bit frustrated with it really & not sure what to do. C is apparently ‘borderline’ for going up to the next level. I’d rather she stayed put until she’d mastered the level but I’m fairly sure that she can do what she needs to (I don’t know whether the teacher hasn’t noticed or if she hasn’t done it in class), she doesn’t seem that bothered either way but now says she doesn’t like the lessons (they are boring, they never do anything new) & the other kids mess around so the teacher doesn’t watch her because she’s telling the others off. Don’t really know whether to try and push her up to the next, leave her be, change to another teacher/venue or what really … hmmmm.

On Tuesday C went to MIL’s - I cleaned, what she did is secret . Wednesday was absolutely perfect lots of good stuff, natural progression, progress, new interests etc etc (and v. good reading), NO arguing. The Singapore Thinking Caps puzzle was codes & C loved working it out, she made her own code up spent a couple of hours writing messages that I had to decode . Ballet in the afternoon, J only screamed for 8 minutes on he way there (17 on the way back - counting keeps me sane), I read while he slept. The other mothers chatted to me like I am an actual Human Being - cool

Jasper had his OVG visit on Thursday - only MenC this time but a blood test as well (both hands poor love, he was a star as always) - pah to the woman who wanted to know how much I get paid for it, yup I pimp my kid to medical research for a bit of extra cash (:rollseyes:). C ended up in tears when I hurried them out of the house to Lidl (wellies for Lily) & was such a state I decided to give football a miss. She cheered up & charmed the play therapist with her secret codes. J started puking & was a bit feverish in the evening, I managed to settle him at 11pm after walking around the block for ages.

Friday was our local HE group drama production - we had to miss it because J was not well at all - I don’t think Claudia will ever forgive me usual GB but apart from that she was completely neglected in favour of puke boy.

Today C & I made pizza & the chocolate cake that we were going to take to the play, I managed to get some nappy boosters made & lots of cleaning. Simon did various jobs & C mostly played in the garden. I paid her £2 not to speak for 10 minutes (she managed 20 ) it was blissful

My hair is falling out in large handfuls and Claudia’s computer is shagged (power supply?).

Poor J - fever, copious vomit & foul smelling diarrhoea

C’s in a strop with me too.