We saw SANTAAAAAAAAAAA and He Rocked.

Today we took Caleb to meet Santa at a Garden Centre nearby. We packed up and set off tentatively as we weren't too sure how he would feel about a big man with a beard dressed all in red. It can be quite intimidating for littlies I always think and have stood in line over the years with Sophie watching people removing their hysterical kiddies from the grotto.

We chose to go today as most schools around here don't break up until Wednesday and so we thought it would be nice and quiet. No wrestling a tired fed up toddler in a long queue.

We arrived and bought our ticket and went to the grotto. There was one family already in and then us so we let Caleb wander around the winter wonderland they had created. It was small but very cute and he loved it. He was agog. Unfortunately we discovered at this point that our camera wasn't working so all photos were taken on our phones which meant the quality wasn't so good. Big disappointment on his first visit for us.

We only waited ten minutes then the elf came and let us in. He was great and when we got in the Santa was so fantastic. Lovely warm friendly jolly man and Caleb although a little bit thrown by it all was very good and Santa told us sit at the door with the little one until he got used to him, which we thought was great. He spoke directly to Caleb even though we had to answer for him and within minutes he started to move nearer Santa until he was sitting on a little seat next to him.

Still Santa kept a distance and chatted to him and opened a present for him which was a cuddly sheep which Caleb is holding here. He loved it. Then they started chatting about Cars and Santa showed him a truck in his toy stash.  Caleb was moving in closer and Santa started chatting about his sleigh and how it didn't drive like a truck it flew pulled by reindeer.

Next thing we know Caleb's up on Santa's knee chatting away.  They even stopped to pose for a photo.

They had a lovely wee chat and we were in there for ages. Santa was so taken with Caleb he ended up asking what his favourite truck was and when we told him Caleb loves Fire engines he found one and gave him that as well as his little gift.

It was such a lovely experience and memory. I think Daddy and I enjoyed it as much as Caleb did.

WE LOVE YOU SANTA!!!!

Silent Sunday

Christmas Drama with the In Laws

Why is it every Christmas and families turn into raging loons??

It would seem that all over the world relationships are rocked by the dreaded decision of where to spend Christmas and who with??? Marriages suffer and children's Christmas's spent amongst warring families. Why???? I just  don't get it! As far as I was brought up, families all get together for Christmas whenever possible.

My papa's Birthday was on Christmas day and he had been a widower for a very long time long before his girls had children of their own so we always spent it with him and whenever possible with my Dads family too. My Gran was widowed too but she had her other son's family nearby so every other year went there. When we had both grandparents there I loved it as a child and even better if all Aunties Uncles and cousins were around too and we maybe got to go to a hotel other something similar. It was fantastic fun. I never remember my parents arguing about who went where or there being any hard feelings at all. My Gran and Papa got on very well and there was absolutely no jealousy or competition between them. I was so unbelievably close to my papa my Gran would have been very entitled to be a bit envious too but she was always very very happy to be with us all at any occasion.

So why oh why do so many people, including myself and my children, have their family special occasions spoiled by bloodymindedness and jealous carry on from Grandparents? My parents obviously brought us up with a very easy going holidays so are happy to go along with whatever we want to do but not my In-Laws!! They don't want to share any occasions with my family whatsoever. They want to separate us from my family and wont go to my parents for any special family events as they are insanely jealous that the kids spend any time there during the year and can't watch how settled and happy the kids are there. They aren't shy about telling my Husband about it either. I have always been very very close to my parents and they were amazing when I was a single parent helping me raise my Daughter whilst suffering from post natal depression. They've helped us out financially and are always there for my husband too for support but even after all that his parents make it very clear they would like that relationship to be less and that their grandchild should be closer to them than my parents as my parents have had their grandchild??? It's insane.

This should be the happy Christmas Image. Its how I remember mine. 

Anyway this year I arranged Christmas dinner at the local hotel where we had our wedding and just gave out an open invitation to all the family. As usual the in-laws wont come though and are now kicking off that we wont see them on Christmas Day.

Its all completely nuts if you ask me. I'm fed up arguing every holiday with my husband over their attitude. I love my husband to death but I am not going to put up with our situation forever with his parents. How do people live like this, in battle, forever.

Big Girl, Big Dance

My big girl had her school Christmas Dance this week. The preparation for this used to consist of curling her hair and letting her put on a tiny bit of my lip gloss. Not this year.

This year I had to, cut her hair, apply her fake tan, blow dry her hair, straighten it and help her de-fuzz. I know, I know she's only 13 but after seeing the photos of her friends, I reckon I got off lightly. Some of them had been for full head hair extensions, spray tans and acrylic nails. That shocks me. I'm obviously one of the stricter mums, but hey I thought me big (wee) girl (baby) looked lovely if not a little old and tall for me not to shed a tear.

Christmas Cards.

I hate Christmas Cards. I hate them cluttering up my house for a month and collecting dust. I don't like them hanging on my walls either. After a week they always look tired and tatty. I hate sending them. I hate writing them and the cost of their purchase and postage. I hate that every year you get more and more and lots from people you never see and are unlikely to see again. I think Christmas cards suck!!!!! Bah Humbug. 

Having said that, *clears throat*, I do love sending out photo cards of my kiddies dressed in embarrassing clothes. The last two years we have dressed them up, taken the photos and ordered photo cards to send to close friends and family instead of the bog standard shop bought ones. Then, due to the price of doing it that way, I limit it to just 20 cards. That may seem a bit stingy but I just don't see the point of huge quantities of cards being sent to people who probably recognise the names on them but can't quite remember who we are.

Christmas 2009

Lots of Cutie pie smiles last year

Last years photo session was a huge sucess and the kids were great in their santa suits. This year wasn't as sucessful and we had a lot of photos of Caleb struggling to escape and looking at Daddy who was behind me waving Haribos around. 

Christmas 2010. 'Where's my sweeties'

So this year the photo cards were thrown together from a mixture of actions shots and eyes everywhere shots but we had great fun with them and the kids were having a good laugh. Isn't that was Christmas is all about in the end??

So what to do with the Christmas cards we get? Well the Christmas cards I receive I don't put up.We have a lovely little basket that sits beside our tree and holds all the cards. I leave them there for the kids to look through and once Christmas Day is over I will be letting them make Christmas Card Collages with the pictures with glue and scissors. See I'm not so bah humbug after all I'm just not a big fan of Christmas Cards the old fashioned way is all

. 'Let me down'

 'Ok. I'm off'

We Love 'Wow'

We had a lovely surprise last week when the postman came. It was a fabulous birthday present for Caleb from the lovely people at 'Wow' toys. We did some reviews for them before and they thought it would be a nice idea to send a prezzie for Caleb. It was a Ronnie Rocket and his little face was a picture when he opened it.

Unfortunately it arrived the day of our hospital dash so he didn't get much time to play with it but he made up for it the rest of the week.

Thank you so much Wow Toys and especially Tanya for your lovely email about Caleb's health.

Our Snowy Day at Grannies

Today we woke up to the most glorious coloured sky and sunshine. Hubby was nightshift last night and didn't come home until after 9am so he fed and dressed Caleb while I managed a peaceful shower. When Hubby went to his bed I decided to pop up and see my Mum and Dad as I'd mentioned to Mum I may go to the wool shop in the next town and get wool and a pattern for a cardigan for Caleb. So around half past ten and in a torrential downpour we packed up and went the 2 miles to my parents house. When we arrived I said to her once the rain eased we could head off if she liked so we settled down with a cup of tea, Caleb watching Cars and Dad even came through from his office and had a chat and played with the wee chap.

We sat for around an hour waiting for the rain to ease. It seemed to just go on and on forever and was really throwing it down so we made another cuppa and some lunch. At around midday we looked out and saw huge massive gigantic snowflakes. We never get snow like that here at this side of the coast. We all said, 'oh it wont last'. It went on all day.

This was taken ten minutes into the snow. 

I am the biggest scaredy when driving in even a flurry of snow so I started to panic a little bit around 3pm. Dad volunteered to run us home in my car later and my Mum would follow us down and pick him up then head for their shopping.  Relief. I relaxed a bit then and Caleb had great fun playing with Grannie and raiding the sweetie drawer. He was a wee star all day and loved standing at their windows watching the blizzard. He's great.

He loves sitting on Grannies worktops and watching out the windows and playing. 

Had a lovely day out and really am staying in now until the snow clears. Phew.

Papa was out clearing the drive so he was more interested watching than counting fingers. 

My Babies Sunday Night Hospital Dash

Our Sunday night was a nightmare.

At around 6pm my husband went up to change Caleb's nappy before dinner and after 2 minutes he shouted me up. In his nappy was a lot of diluted blood and a small clot which had come out as he was wetting it. My first reaction was confusion then the thought that blood is never good. We hummed and hawed for a minute and then I said I would take him to the doctors on Monday morning when they opened. We came downstairs and I started to think about it more and more, so went on twitter and asked a few of the nurses on there and it seemed the general consensus was that with a little one it is always advisable to see someone sooner rather than later. I gave him some dinner and phoned Doctors on Call and got an appointment for around 8pm.  We wrapped up warm, packed a bag and headed off in the snow to the hospital.

When we arrived at the doctors a lovely Indian lady doctor who told us she had a little boy Caleb's age herself saw to him. Caleb thought she was great. She was very gentle and when trying to examine his tummy had him giggling a lot. It really put me at ease. After seeing the blood stained nappy and clot she sent us straight over to the pediatric ward at the hospital.  We went over and saw the lovely nurses who settled us in and put a bag on Caleb to collect a urine sample. He thought it was all great fun and let them do all their obs and entertained like the trooper he is. After an hour or so we managed to get his sample to them and they took it away to test and we were told we would have to wait for a doctor and as it was busy it may be some time. Caleb spent this time playing with cars on the big boys bed he was in and drawing on the bed table. He was an angel.

Around midnight a very nice lady doctor came and saw Caleb, she explained that his sample had a lot of blood, protein and leukocytes(excuse my spelling). She asked a lot of questions about his health and examined him again. She told us she thought it may be a Urinary Tract Infection but as Caleb is a boy and they are a lot harder to contract as a boy, and as he hadn't been ill at all it was all a bit strange. She decided she would have to consult her Registrar. Again we were left to sit for some time.

Around 2am a nurse came and told us the Registrar wanted another free flowing urine sample from Caleb and we would have to catch it in a cup they would give us. I felt impending doom at this but as I knew it was for his own good I got on with it. Then the games began of trying to chase a naked boy around the bed while trying to get him to drink and eat at gone 2am. What fun! Eventually at 3am we got one after he peed on the bed once and twice on me. Then they told us they were treating it as a UTI with antibiotics. His last sample was to be sent off to culture and see what grew and they would phone us on Wednesday with the results. If it shows he has a UTI and because there was no external reason for it, ie a virus or illness of any kind, they will be looking into the functioning of his kidneys through an x-ray and scan.

Today he's having more symptoms and seems a bit more uncomfortable when he's passing urine which is new but as always is still a soldier, but now we sit and wait for the results.

Tonight he's as cheeky as ever 

Thank you to everyone for their reassurance and advice while we were in hospital and since. It made it a lot more bearable having people to talk to.

Christmas Shopping

Its a comin people!!!!! Christmas that is. No matter how much we wish it would take a little longer its arriving quicker than I ever thought. The work I wanted done in the house is unlikely to be done in time for the tree going up, the hair appointment I meant to phone and make hasn't happened and so may not be done in time, the huge clean out and room move I wanted to do for the kids isn't likely to happen before and I certainly haven't managed to shift those few extra pounds, BUT I have finished my Christmas shopping. Yay me!!!!!

Yesterday we went to Glasgow and had a day trawling round the shops finishing all the kids shopping and managed, despite a grumpy 2 year old, to get it all done. The place was heaving and the Disney Shop was practically so full I couldn't move. I had to queue for an hour to pay and spent way more than I meant to but at least Caleb will get a 'Big Mack' truck from Disney Cars and a 'firedebubba as Caleb calls red the fire engine' from Cars too.

I had to restrain myself from buying every piece of Disney Cars stuff in the shop but Hubby had me well warned. I did manage to sneak in the cutest Mickey Mouse soft toy in his fab winter woolies for my new nephews Christmas too.

I dont even like Shopping but I loved the toy shopping yesterday and picked up some great clothes for Sophie and bits and bobs. I think the kids are going to be over the moon on Christmas Day and that makes it all so worth while.

Today I went online and finished my few little bits of shopping for the adults too so now I'm officially done with present shopping. Now I just have to try and tackle my list of things to get done and see if I can get at least a small amount done before the big event comes. HO HO HO Merry Christmas.

HE'S 2!!!!!!!!

Well, it's official. My angel turned 2 on Saturday. He's a big boy now. *sobbing*

My angel

Actually, it was a great day, regardless of all the work it entailed I really enjoyed it. 

We had all our families here. (including gorgeous brand new little nephew who was as good as gold) Caleb had a ball. He managed to stay up nap free until 6pm and then collapsed in an over excited heap. 

This is one tired boy. 

Everyone got on great and enjoyed the food and celebrations in good humour. My 5 year old Nephew Callum and Caleb had great fun with all the toys and ran wild. which was great fun to see, they shared everything really well. Although they had a squeeze at the cake before we got to light the candles there were no disasters. 

Bit squished

Sophie was a great help and a good laugh. Hubby and her were on call with drinks and unwrapping prezzies. 

His little face was a picture.

All in all it was a great day and my kids rock by the way. Happy Mummy. 

My Mummy and My boy

Is she really my child? 

My gorgeous sis and Bubs

New Garage

Grannies

Disney Cars Driving Me Nuts.

Disney Cars is to its credit one of the best Disney films of all time in my opinion. The graphics and scripts are second to none. I love it. Or should I say, 'loved' it. This was before Caleb made me watch it 4 times a day for months.

When we get out of bed in the morning it can be the first thing he says, 'want cars'. I have to try and distract him from thinking about it all the time. When we get downstairs it's almost impossible to distract him. I try everything and even put music on and say to him to come and dance. I try to get him to help with breakfast and let him potter around my feet but he generally whispers away 'want cars want cars'.

We've been stuck in a lot with the virus we've had and also the weather's been pretty hairy but I try to get him set up drawing or helping me, but still he's saying 'want cars want cars'. I'm demented.

Yesterday I managed to get away with having it on once over lunchtime, and then telling him it wasn't working for the rest of the day, but today it's been relentless.

We have the toys and a beanbag with Lightening McQueen on. Bless him he calls him 'stickers' his nickname in the film and he knows all the names of all the characters. His absolute favourite is Big Mac the truck which we don't have yet but maybe Santa might manage. (mines Mater but don't tell anyone I have a favourite.) Now Hubby's informed me that the sequel is due out in the summer of 2011. I'm not sure whether to be happy that I may be able to sway him away from watching the same one over and over again or whether to dread more months and months of freak out tantrums if I don't put Cars on.

Disney, I love you but you're cars are wearing this mumma down. :o)


This is not a sponsered post.

Before and After - My gallery post

This week in the wonderful Tara Cains Gallery over at sticky fingers, we were asked to do our before and after photos.

I apologise in advance for some of the picture qualitys as I don't have a scanner for the older ones.

Anyway here Are my kiddies, before and after.

Caleb 4 Months 2009

Caleb 6 Months

Caleb November 2010 Nearly age 2

Now for my girlie , this is a really long before and after.

Sophie age 9 months 1998

10 months

Sophie now age 13. 2010

Where does the time go with our kiddies?? It seems like yesterday Sophie was born never mind Caleb. He is 2 in 3 days time and that seems like I blinked and missed it. Enjoy every day with them.

Not Liking Today

Today sucked. Completely totally and utterly sucked, and not just because of this hideous virus I've had since last week.

I got up feeling like a zombie and staggered around getting worse by the minute. Hubby was here for a short while before he went to work so he offered to get wrapped up and take me for some fresh air and lunch to the harbour.

So I started to get the house organised and struggled through the haze of feeling awful. Meanwhile Hubby tried to get Caleb organised at which point the little chap started freaking out. It started soon after his first nappy change, then in the bath, then when trying to dress him, then when he got his jacket on, then shoes, then car, then in car, then when parked, then when car parked in front of us obscuring the view of the van at the other side of car park, then over lunch, then at the rocks, then walking back, then in the car again, then when driving away, then at his dummy, then coming home, then getting jacket off, then shoes, then having juice, and so it continued.

Hubby's response?? 'That child's a brat.' Nope dearest, that child's coming down with something, (and a bit of a brat sometimes).

Anyway the only time he stopped was when hubby read him a book this afternoon.

As for Caleb's health. Yes, he does indeed have my virus. Great!!

*deep breaths*

Wordless Wednesday

Was considering driving off.

Nuff said.

My Names Gerrard.

Hi there. My names Gerrard the Bear. I've been lucky enough to go for a week to go to in Ayrshire in Scotland to stay with Caleb and his family. He has a sister who's a bit girl and and Mummy and Daddy. His Mummy has said I can borrow the computer to write a summary of my time with them.

I arrived last Tuesday while everyone was still in bed so was lucky enough to get in for cuddles before everyone got up.

Caleb especially likes cuddles and so does his sister although being 13 she pretends not to. Mummy said that's because of hormones? Not sure what that means but sounds very serious. I hope not as I liked Sophie a lot. She wouldn't let Mummy take a photo of her with Caleb and I though cause it 'wouldn't be cool'? I think I'm pretty cool and so did everyone else. Bloomin hormones.

Anyway, back to my adventure. I'm prone to getting sidetracked so please excuse me if I do.

Last week the weather here in Scotland was all yukky so we didn't get out much so Mummy Daddy and the tiddlers tried to make up for it in my last few days holiday and took me out a lot.

 Whenever we went out I got to sit in the back of the car with Caleb and Mummy always remembered to strap me in. Safety First!

Caleb's daddy is a policeman so we got to go and see the big broom broom vans and cars at the police station. That was fun and we met some Policemen and I got a cuddle. This was probably my favourite day as what boy bear doesn't love a fun police car. 

We also went to the beach and had a walk. I kept running off to sit in the sand but Mummy said it was too cold for that just now and that I had to stay all cosy with them. 

I really liked it though as it was super windy and fun. Mummy says maybe I should try windsurfing one day if I like the windy beach so much. This is where lots of people try windsurfing It looks fun.

During our walk we went past a golf course and Mummy says that sometimes the Scottish Golf open is held here. I wasn't sure what that is but it sounded very grand. 

Sometimes I got to hang out with Mummy and Daddy on my own when the tiddlers were asleep and I got a diet coke. Mummy said I could only have a little as she didn't want me up all night. We watched a funny film too that I liked and saw fireworks that night. Fun!

Caleb sang all the way there. It was a giggle. 

We went to visit Caleb's Gran one day. Daddy said we had to and we had a nice time. We got lots of goodies to eat and Caleb even shared his crisps with gran and I. 

This day we went to see the view of the Isle of Arran from the top of a big hill with lots of sheep on. It was lovely but very cloudy and cold. We didn't stay long in case I caught a cold. I loved my fur blowing around outside. It made Caleb giggle a lot. 

All in all I had a lovely visit in Ayrshire. I only wish I could've stayed longer and I was very sad when Caleb got upset when I climbed into my parcel to go onto the next family. I hope he's ok now. I'm sure he will be. Mummy gave him a huge hug and one for me too so I didn't feel left out.