2009 so far

Well the boyz and I took a trip upto Carlisle to see my Mum, Dad and Sister and her family.
I packed the car up and got all the kids in their carseats by 2pm ish on the 2nd Jan and set off up towards Stoke on the A50.

Just after joining the M6 Theo woke up and started to cry so I pulled into Knutsford Services and decided that cake and drinks were in order.

I put Zac on my back and Ryan on my front, Theo in the pushchair and Max walked beside us.

We spent an hour (ish) there, eating cake, drinking juice/coffee and feeding the babies, then we all used the toilet facilities -- Moto services- with child sized toilets, and changed the babies.

We did the rest of the trip with a mini stop at Lancaster to throw some jelly babies at the big kids -- the babies didn't wake so it was a calm trip, 6 hours in total.

Saturday 3rd of Jan- the weather up in Cumbria was frosty and had been for days so the flood in the field opposite my parent's house had frozen and we went out for a slide. Theo wasn't keen on the slippery ice so my Mum took him for a walk over the field while Max and his cousins and My sister slid about on the ice.

Tuesday 6th Jan- we all went swimming at the local mini pool. My Mum, sister, her two kids, myself and Max and Theo all went in. The babies slept/watched us from the side. My sisters two kids aged 7 and 3 were doing really well swimming around, Mum held Max and I held Theo. Max did really well imitating swimming motions being held by Mum and Theo was reaching out for the float that I was throwing away for him. We all had great fun and there were no tantrums AT ALL which is what really made it memorable.

My Dad has recently had a wind turbine installed in his garden- it's connected to the house electrics and when the wind blows it generates electricity. Unfortunately this November, December and first week of January have been the calmest in the last 2 years at least- so his energy production has been minimal. The middle of the second week of Jan, I think, the wind picked up and energy production started in earnest! By the end of the second week winds had picked up to Gale Force 7 and the electricity meter was running backwards and then as the system catches up with itself it remains the same and energy is sold back to the grid. Iwas supposed to be driving us all back on the Sunday but had a bad feeling about it as the winds were high (GF7 - 9) and so I postponed it til the Tuesday when the weather prediction was better.

Other things we did at my Parent's were:
Max played 10pin bowling and boxing on the Wii- we discovered that he was very very good at it!
We went to the Soft Play-- once M and T went with Gran alone and another time we all went.
We went shopping in Carlisle with Mum, and I got to go into town with just the babies and met up with 2 friends from School and had a good gossip and catch up-- it was as if we'd never been away (except instead of the fit lads we were talking about kids).

Oooh I also had a wonderful Back Massage at The Retreat, Kirkbride which totally relaxed me and is probably one of the longest moments that I've been away from ALL the kids since Z and R were born.

In the last 2 weeks of Jan we've not really done anything special, we've been to Stay and Play and Max has been to Playgroup. ooh except we've been in the local papers.

Leicester LLL has opened a breastfeeding support cafe once a week on weds 10am-12, and I was interviewed about the importance of having the right type of support when you are embarking on the journey of being a breastfeedingmother, I've put a copy of it on flickr- pic article The official opening of the cafe is this Wednesday and I'll be there with just the babies and some slings.

Subjects that Max has expressed an interest in are: How babies are made; How Volcanos are made. he's expressed an interest in writing numbers, and knows that 5 (fingers) and 5 (fingers) makes 10, that 4 and 4 is 8, and that 4 and 2 is 6. He knows how to write the letters a and o, to write his name max, and recognises most of the numbers 1-12. Today he showed an ability to jump rope with two people winding it!


Theo has expressed an interest in drawing, throwing, climbing and jumping, and caring for a baby (a doll ).

Zac and Ryan are both sitting quite well supported, and Ryan has decided that he needs to be on his feet and if supported will make steps. Zac also likes being on his feet and they are both enjoying being vocal and interesting in everything.

I will still attempt to remember to update this blog more often- as I'm struggling to remember details.

Happy New Year- 2009, Year of the busy Mum!

Wow 2009! Time goes so fast.

We are now a family of 6 +2!

Myself, Dh (Darling hubby), our 4 boys, Max, Theo, Zac and Ryan and visiting regularly Dh's two kids from earlier in his life... Ant (21) and Koren (14)

Max will be 5 in just under 7 weeks, Theo is 2yrs and 2.5months and Zac and Ryan are just over 3 months old.

This year will be truely the Year of the Busy Mum (namely me!).

Tomorrow Myself and the boys are driving up to Cumbria to stay with my Parents for 9days. This will be the first trip up there that I've done with the babies too. Dh is staying at home and hopefully will be finishing the miniextension where the fridgefreezer will go.

I'm a little apprehensive as to how our drive will go. I know that we can do the journey with 3 stops, but that was without the babies, we may have to stop overnight at a hotel. That would be 'interesting'!

I'm looking forward to this year for many reasons, seeing my kids grow, sharing my knowledge and experience of birth, breastfeeding, part-time ecing, babywearing of singles and twins. Loving the days when the chaos works, learning from the days when chaos could be better organised (gotta love organised chaos), home-educating Max, getting Theo out of nappies.

Max- into Ben 10, spiderman and computer games (preferably with Ben10 in them), he can count to 20, and count down from 10, read and write his name on paper AND computer, starting to tell the time, knows that milk makes yoghurt, cheese and butter, asking which creatures have bones or not, knows that a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, knows how babies are born (he watched Theo's birth), can use a camera, make things out of playdough, throw things, build things up and knock things down, and many more thing that will come to mind later, I'm sure.

Theo- likes throwing, banging, climbing, bouncing, cuddling, and giggling. Not a great talker but understands EVERYTHING. Has made up a few signs for himself, so am encouraging him to use more from books that we have. He's also starting to use the toilet, perhaps this is a continuation of the part time ecing (elimination communication) we did when he was a baby (before he started running)

Zac- a big smiler, so laid back, ticklish, giggles, likes kisses and cuddles.

Ryan- rolling onto his side, smiling, giggling, trying to sit up, like kisses, not so cuddly as Zac.

Things I hope to accomplish this year:

1. Keep adding to this Blog (in a more clear and concise way than this post!)
2. Arrange the house a little so things have a place to live that isn't a pile.
3. Go on holiday.
4. Have fun as a family.
5. Find a little time each week for Myself and Dh.
6. Start up our slingmeet group again.

I should be able to accomplish these things.