Wii is not fit, Wii is fat man..

So between a fleeting thought and a moment of impulsiveness I bought the Wii Fit plus. I have been good I set it up the day it arrived and even let it weigh me.  What a harsh evil bugger it is..! On the one had telling me I am obese and need to lose weight for my health and then the next telling me how clever I am with my excellent posture. It seems to want to fill me full with emotional contradictions and leave me unsure as to whether its worth me even bothering. 

Actually that's not entirely true, its defiantly more fun than traditional exercises.  I can take my instructions from a nice English accented male instructor who has a lovely toned body (there was no way I was going to listen and watch miss super fit skinny instructor) He is very patient with me, doesn't mind when I fall over trying to do the yoga poses and gives me lots of praise for getting things right.  The aerobic exercises have the kids in stitches watching me trying to keep up with them and they are also easy enough and fun enough that they want to join in to.

All in all I think it was a good investment but I am not holding my breath for any miracles as I can't my head round the idea of dieting just yet.  If nothing else I hope it will make up somewhat for the huge amount of time I spend sitting in front of a computer.

BTW I actually sweated yesterday, from my forehead and all sorts of other places, this is good right :0).

Ode to the middle one

Your job is tough my little one

Middle child but eldest son

Much is asked from your little head

Brush your teeth and keep well read

 

Elder sister tall and true

Gets to do stuff you can’t do

Baby brother small and cute

Sometimes wish he had a mute

 

And there you are, Mum’s little solider

Thinking thoughts of one much older

Helping out as much as you can

And still at times need a lending hand

 

This small poem is to let you know

That though is doesn’t always show

Mummy loves you with all her heart

And nothing will ever keep us apart

 

I’m proud to call you my eldest son

You bring so much happiness, joy and fun

I’ll hold you close everyday of my life

Through good times and bad, through trouble and strife

 

Always there by your side

For now and forever

Even after I have died.

My guilty secret and the trouble with sand.

 

I feel terrible Tom the gardener worked so hard in the garden getting it back under control.  He was here all day and it was all back breaking work with the added hazard of possible missed poos to be treading in.  His only instruction he left me with was to water the new planted shrubs that he had carefully chosen and arranged for me.  In fact in told me to water them verbally and left  me a note and do you think I have remembered to water those plants at all. I wouldn’t mind but the boys and I planted some veg too and they haven’t been watered either.  So today the garden is going to get a good soaking not sure whether this will help the dehydrated plants but it will relieve some of the guilt (Tom is back on Friday and he’s going to be able to tell isn’t he.)

Anyway now I have that off my chest I can tell you all about the fun we had with the sand.  Took them all to Stanwick lakes yesterday, yes all, the boys and the teenager (who brought a friend).  Stanwick is a beautiful place to walk with big picturesque lakes and ducks, geese and swans galore. That is not the reason we went of course.  We went for the 4 massive wooden climbing frames embedded in tons and tons and tons of lovely soft white sand.  Never do I remember to bring a bucket and spade but at least this time I remembered the change of clothes and a towel.  In the middle of these lovely climbing frames and sand is a water play bit which has water pouring out of and in to various bits that can be climbed on and walked through.  It really is a fabulous place to go on a warm day, the trouble is between the sand, mud, bird doodoos and water its also the messiest place in the world.  We had been there not 5 minutes and Ninja was totally soaked from head to toe and complaining of it being a bit chilly.  I was prepared, I gave him the look and told him if he got changed now we’d have to go home.  Suddenly his clothes weren’t that uncomfortable and he was off again getting more soaked.  Humf started off well sat in the nice dry sand, stole a bucket and spade from some unsuspecting kid and began to build sand castle so I sat on a grassy knoll with a eye on both and breath a sigh of contentment.  5 minutes later Ninja was back again, well chuffed that he’d made a friend and was “getting” everyone with him.  Distracted by the over excited Ninja for those few minutes I turned to look over at Humf again.  There were the bucket and spade, but no Humf. I scanned the climbing frame,  nope not there, shit time to get off my butt.  In to the sand pit I go walk round the climbing frame, walk over the climbing frame still no Humf.  Panic is starting to rise, seriously where can he have got to in the 30 seconds I was talking to Ninja.  Teenager gets screamed at to help search now, the girls separate and we each take a direction.  Within a couple of minutes searching I notice a woman looking slightly concerned over at something and get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I walk over there  and low and behold there is Humf stuck up to his knees in mud with a massive grin on his face.  Relieved I have got him and he is fine overwhelms me and then the realisation not only am I going to have to get him out of the mud but I am going to have to get him cleaned up somehow too, hits. 

A little girl and I manage to ply him from the sticky place and I strip him immediately (well after a photo op) tell him he was naughty for disappearing and guide him to the wet play area.  There in just a nappy on he eventually gets cleanish and for the rest of the day my eyes are clued to him. 

 

The trousers were a pale beige at the beginning of the day.

Apart from this little incident the whole time was brilliant and the boys fell asleep with that worn out but it was fun look about them, and I think so did I…

                  

She's done it to me again !!!

Ok it maybe a bit of a rant post so if you don't fancy it I'd navigate away asap.  So being single has it pitfalls as you may imagine and mine are suppose to being cushioned by my mother.  Well she at least gives me something else to focus my aggravation on.  This weekend though really topped the biscuit in taking the pee out off me, and proves that for her, I am just a convenient distraction from her facing her own messed up life and her own personal Eastenders plot. 

Last Monday I woke up with a raging sore throat and a blocked up nose. Fine no problem I can cope with a cold and I seriously don't expect lots of sympathy. The first thing my mother said to me on hearing my rough throat was "trust you to get ill before I am going away for the weekend". At which point I am thinking to myself "yes of course Mum all I wanted to do was get ill to put a dampener on your weekend". Then I get an email later on in the week basically having a go out me being ill, blaming me for my step dad for being an arse and inferring that we are all trying to ruin her life, plus having a quick pop at my teenage daughter by saying "well this will give her a chance to step up abit won't it" is it any wonder that as a teenager we didn't have a very good relationship". Again I do the grown up thing and ignore this email as her just spouting off. But she has managed to get up my nose anyway even with my best efforts not to let her get to me.

All weekend she has been in Amsterdam, all week she's known I am not well and on my own looking after myself and the 3 kids.  She's been to the sex museum, visited several cafes and done the red light district.  I know this not because she took the time to phone me and check how I am, or that she has emailed me to tell me she is ok, no I know this because I have been talking to one of the people she is away with on facebook chat.  No she didn't even try to contact me this way either.  This is suppose to be the person I rely on, can turn to in my hour of need, my stalwart in the face of the adversity that I am going to face over the next few months. 

Oh well I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, its just a good reminder as to why I thought I'd be ok if I moved away from her 74miles and why I would rather stay here than move back down to London.

Ok ranting over normal posting will resume shortly.

Teenager Daughters, The Royal Wedding and Blogging in the Garden.

Wow feeling super mega privileged to be blogging in the early evening warmth out in the garden watching one naked son spray the newly planted shrubs and himself, while other son is getting himself temptingly close to the hose then running screaming when his big brother goes to get him. Its at times like this that I realise how good it is to be alive and how lucky I am to be me. That no matter what life has thrown at me over the years (no more than others and probably a good bit less than some) I'm still standing and that I am actually making it. I feel like I have been holding my breath since forever and that now I am finally able to breath.

The scary teenager brought her interim report home today. This was the first time in ages that she volunteer to give it to me rather than leaving it in her bag for several weeks until I finally came across it. Rightly so she was proud of her report. It shows that even though she is also going through a rough period in her life she is actually doing very well. Pretty much on target for attaining the high levels that were anticipated for her at the beginning of the year and in some cases planning to exceed them. Her life is racing ahead whether she or I are ready for it or not. This September she will be heading for High School with all that entails (boys being my main concern lol) but also her GCSE choices and her reaching adulthood. As long as she is happy to have me at her side (well probably standing alittle behind her as mums can be so embarrassing) I will be content in the knowledge that I am doing something right.

She has asked me to start blogging more about her as she was so impressed with me being asked to write a review for a toddler cup that she wants me to start talking about hair extension and make up alot more. Clearly no hidden agenda there then. But should anyone like me to do a review on their latest make up range or false nails she has told me she will happily oblige in trying and testing them for me.

On another note, quite excited about the Royal Wedding if only for the fact that its seems to have brought out the neighbours need to suddenly get to know one another. As usual not a social event that involves the neighbours can go by with out Ninja wanting to take part. So I have confirmed to the street party organisers that we will be in attendance for the big day. Bless, they texted back to say thank you and that they will keep me posted on who will be coming, for some reason this has somehow made me feel I am involved with the organising and should take some responsibility for attending numbers, cue ringing around for moral support. As I live so close to where the party is taking place I am wondering if I should have an open house for the day to let people come and watch the ceremony as and when they want to. Can I be that hospitable? erm I'll have to chew over that one.

Just a quick footnote where did a sudden and passionatly unreasonable fear of spiders arise from in my baby son. I have bravely faced massive spiders without screaming in a vain attempt to not pass on any bad vibes and its not worked, he is even more scared of them than I am now !! how did that happen ??

My All Grow'd Up Cup from Happy HollyDaisy Ltd

About a week ago I was very excited to recieve in the "My All Grow'd Up Cup" in the post.  It came in a smart  brown box with a big clear panel showing its exciting contents inside.  With 4 different colours to choose from I had chosen the unisex lime green for Humf my 2 and 3/4 old.

At first I was a little confused as to what the concept of the cup actually was and why was it different from other toddler beakers, but upon reading the packaging I discovered it was a learning system to try to teach toddlers not to leave their drinks lying around with the potential accidents, spillages or cries of where's my juice.

Eager to give it a test run we opened it up and while I was intially disappointed that the beaker itself wasn't very big but I was pleased that they had been thoughtful enough to provide batteries.

So the basic concept is this, the beaker holder has suction cups that can be attatched to any flat surface, you insert the batteries in to this part and switch it on, you then give your child their juice and encourage them to put the beaker in the holder when they are finished drinking, this action then rewards them by allowing them to hear the elephant trumpet with their success.

As with all things with children the novelty of hearing the elephant trumpet wore off pretty quickly and he ended up having more fun playing with the holder sticking it on and pulling it off various surfaces.  I can see where this beaker would be an excellent addition to the travel kit as their juice would be within easy reach for them on car journeys and it would not be rolling around the floor spilling everywhere (aslong as they put it back in the holder).

I believe as a product this makes an excellent present for toddlers and mums but I don't believe it would be something one would buy for oneself.  Its is well designed and in attractive packaging, the cup is sturdy and the holder is kid proof and it makes a lovely unusaul present maybe for a 1st or 2nd birthday. It would definitly be something I would consider purchasing my friends and familys kids.  

http://www.happyhollydaisy.com/