Back 2 Skool

Recently I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do with myself when the kids have grown up and are going to school. I've been thinking I might go and help out at their school or a local school but the more I look into this the more I realise every mum wants to do this because of the hours and convenience. Plus when I do want to go back into work, I think I will struggle to get a job when I've been out of work for the best part of ten years.

So after chatting to the other half about this I've been thinking about Adult Education. My interests are in Advertising, Marketing and as Daniel put it - people. So I've thinking about Psychology with a view to linking into to marketing. I'm not sure how that will work yet but I think I'll be studying mostly in the evening when the kids are in bed. Its only supposed to require 8-10 hours a week so it sounds quite gentle and should be manageable  If I choose to do the degree I will have to find more hours but I will cross that bridge when I come to it!

A battle of wills

Today, while picking up Amelia from nursery she had a total meltdown about not wanting to wear her coat outside. Its currently -3 degrees so I was instant she wear her coat just till we get to the car, but it was too late. She went into full on screaming and throwing herself on the floor mode. I felt totally judged by all the other mums around me, even though they probably weren't judging me in any way but I felt like I had to stick to my guns, I wasn't going to back down and I think I may have even said the words "you're not going to win this!" So I'm literally wrestling with her and I managing to get one arm in a sleeve and she wriggles it out while I'm trying to get the other one in. At this point I decided the other mums had had enough of a show in How not to manage a tantrum and I just scooped her up and carried her out, while trying to push the buggy out and carry the various buts of arts and crafts she had been ejected with.
I managed to carry her under one arm kicking and screaming and squirming until she slid out of her coat as we crossed the road. In a bid to catch her  and get her out of the road, the buggy rolled into our parked car and poor Ayrton just looked at me like this is an everyday occurrence (Which I assure you its not!) She sobbed all the way home and is now sleeping soundly in her bed.

Now I've had time to wind down I realise the error of my ways. I should have just let her go out without her coat on. It was a one minute walk to the car and she was unlikely to have caught hypothermia in that time. I was so focused on not giving in to the tantrum that I forgot my mantra of pick your battles. Yes I may have somewhat won this one but was it worth it? No, and this was certainly not a battle I needed to fight.

Now in order to mend some bridges and ease my guilt I've got an afternoon of cake baking planned for us.

Snooze Shade

I've had the chance to use this a couple of times now and I'm really pleased with it. Its so easy to put on the buggy with entirely elasticated edges and velcro fastenings all around the edge should you need to connect it to the frame. The makers of Snooze shade claim they are yet to find a buggy or pram that this doesn't fit, and it certainly fits fine on both my iCandy Cherry and Maclaren Quest.

The shade makes it sufficiently dark and does a great job of blocking out the wind (or sun, but as its January I have yet to test that!) without over heating due to its breathable material.

My favorite feature is the little peep hole zip in the centre of the shade. This allows you to peek in at your sleeping baby without having to take the cover down or disturb the baby.
The shade comes in a little bag that you can pack the shade away in when your finished using it. The bag then hangs of the handles ready for the next time you need it. It seems they've thought of everything as they've even put a velcro connecter on the bag handle so it will hang on either separate handles or round a handle bar.

Over all I'm very pleased with the Snooze Shade and it helped my little man sleep soundly - until a shop security alarm went off! Perhaps sound proofing would be a good future feature!

You can buy a Snooze Shade direct from http://www.snoozeshade.com/ and other retailers.

Sunday Morning

So I've done my first trip to church and I managed to get through the door without bursting into flames. Joking aside it was a nice service. We sung a few hymns, listened to the vicar for a bit then I took Amelia to the playgroup while hubby stayed with Ayrton in the church. In the playgroup we did a couple of child-like hymns and some nursery rhymes then they had a biscuit and a bible story and did some colouring in and played with some toys. It was then back to the church for another hymn and the notices. Very pleasant all in all.

I saw a lot of mums there that I already knew, who said there were plenty of new faces today, and one mum who I met for the first time who straight away asked me if I was planning on putting Amelia in the nursery attached to the church. I was surprised that she came straight with a blatant question but it kinda proves we're all there for one thing.

Hubby, who is religious, thoroughly enjoyed the service and even took communion, in some ways this makes me feel better about my heresy as he really wants to be there. At the end of the service we signed the register to say we had attended so we are now one tick towards our required 27 so Amelia can get into the school. Daniel pointed out that we were new and the registrar said good so it seems they're under no illusions why we are there particularly as we have a pre-schooler in tow. I guess they're just happy to have new people joining the church, and when the underlying message is do unto to others as you would have them do to you, it can't be a bad thing. - spoken like a true convert!

School Dilemmas

So I'm off to church in the morning. Trouble is I'm not religious at all, I'm doing it so my kids have a chance of getting into a good school. I actually feel very uncomfortable about it because I said I would never do anything like this, and it makes me a total hypocrite. I think its wrong to go to church if you don't believe in God and certainly not just so your kids can go to the attached school. I've been quite vocal with my friends about how wrong I think it is, both, because I'm not religious and because I shouldn't have to do this to get my child into a good school. But after a phone call to the local council they have told me that despite living 0.4 miles from a very good state school, the catchment area last year was only 0.2 miles. Meaning that Amelia would end up going to a school that not only wasn't walkable but is not a very good school.
A friend on mine whose daughter goes there is looking to pull her out and get her in a new school next term because she's so unhappy there.


So my options are; do nothing, cross my fingers and hope for the best and if we don't get into the local school the put her in the crappy one and try to pick up the slack at home. Or give up my sunday mornings twice a month for the next year and hope she gets into the very good C of E school.
So far Hubby and I have agreed we will try out the church tomorrow and see how it feels. Watch this space!

One of 'those' days

On my way home from a brief shopping trip today, I decided to take a slight detour and get the bus home. I was feeling lazy and cold and Ayrton was due his lunch so I took a gamble and decided to wait 15 minutes for the next bus. When it arrived the driver was unable to let me on as he already had too many buggys. the next bus was another 20 minutes away and could also be full so I decided to take the train which meant dragging the buggy up about 50 steps to a delayed train and more hanging about in the cold.
Having been late for nursery this morning, I hadn't had time to clear up after breakfast so arrived home tired and stressed to a dirty kitchen with only half an hour to get me and Ayrton lunch and then get back in the car to pick Amelia up from nursery.
Somedays, being a mum is the most exhausting thing I've ever done. But once I get Amelia home and I'm playing Gruffalo games with her as Ayrton giggles at her leaping around, its totally worth it.

Memories...

My friend Gina over at Florrie and Jack runs a fab little business making Memory Bears. These are friendly little bears lovingly made from your baby's babygros or clothes that hold special meaning or memories for you.

I loved looking at all Amelia's little babygros and remembering how small she was when she wore them or remember special event she wore them to and Gina takes these items and makes them part of a bear that you can keep on display rather than in bin bags in the loft (where mine were).

Heres what Amelia's bear looks like. I'm currently saving Ayrton's suits up ready to send of for his bear. 

The little elephant on the left side in included because every time she wore the suit Daniel would always say "hello elephant" to her. The spot bits are from the top she wore to Grandma and Grandpas 50th wedding anniversary, where they renewed their vows at the church they were married in when Amelia was just four weeks old. And the other items just because she looked so beautiful in them. Gina is great and working with you to see which items you like best and want to feature most prominently. She evens add a lovely personalisation of your choice.

Part of the experience is digging out the clothes and looking over them, I don't want to rush the process of getting Ayrton's bear done as he's still growing out of some of my favourite babygros which is just as well as there is quite a waiting list for these very popular bears.

Check out some more gorgeous bears here

I wanna be a billionaire so fricking bad....

Daniel and I watched a documentary tonight called The Queen of Versailles about a billionaire family in America. The mum spent all her time shopping and getting beauty treatments - typical cliche stuff. The thing I found most shocking was her out of control spending. She went to Walmart to buy christmas gifts for her 8 children and was buying several of the same item. I was so taken aback about at the shear wastage of money and all this while they were losing money in the business and having to making hundreds of people redundant in their business. She went on to admit that she only had 8 children because she knew she could hire nannies to help. :-|

It made me so thankful for what I have, I might not have a house with 17 bathroom and 25 staff members but quite frankly I wouldn't want that. I have a little end of terrace house and its all I need to keep my babies safe and warm inside.