Addict.

Hi, my name is Sarah, and I am an addict.

With the big house move looming we are in major declutter mode. Today we tackled the children's books. 

Apparently I can't have enough copies of either The Gruffalo or The Gruffalo's child. 

I have a horrible feeling there may be at least one more of each lurking in the house as well.

All hail the Gruffalo army!

On the positive side though both schools are getting a box of age suitable books each for their library and anything unsuitable is off in a third box to the charity shop. 

Much less to move with us. Whoop Whoop!

X x X

It's been an epic day

It's been a tough day. 

To be fair it wasn't ever going to be a great day but it turned out to be a bit harder than expected.

Sadly my husband paternal grandmother passed away suddenly 2 days before our daughter was born. The funeral was today. 

My mum very kindly offered to watch the two smallest while we attended the funeral and wake, the two eldest were in school as usual.

As you know DD2 has her own backpack of issues that need sorting each day. Thinking ahead I made sure she had spare uniform and all the possible supplies she needed for the day. I told her TA as I dropped her off that hubby and I would be out of contact for the day as there was a family funeral and I'd topped her up with every possible supply they needed. 

With in an hour the school phoned us asking us to pick DD2 up. At this point the funeral was about 20 minutes from starting and we were a good 45 minutes drive away from DD2. 

In the end we sat through the service completely distracted by clock watching, managed a few handshakes with the relevant people as we left and apologised a lot. 

We missed the wake.

Then we grabbed the small ones from my mum quickly and hurried onto the motorway only to get stuck in traffic due to an accident for an hour.

We eventually picked up DD2 just after 1pm. I knew I was to angry to talk to anyone yet so I was planning to just grab and go. Of course the TA, a different one from the morning, needed a quick chat.

TA; Just to let you know she had a very loose BM.

Me: Yes. That's because of the laxatives and medication she on for the scan.

TA: Oh! Is she on medicine?

How I left that school without head butting the wall in frustration I'll never know. It was a very grown up moment for me in hindsight.

Rest assured I will be having a meeting with the schools SENCO (Special educational needs co-ordinator) on Monday to find out just what is going on.

She better brace herself, this mama is not happy!

X

Family news

DD1 has lost another tooth! That's

 4 now, and with a few teeth already wobbling the tooth fairy is going to be a regular visitor over the next few weeks.

DD2 has survived the great poop flood and is now on a much less stressful maintenance dose while we wait for her ultrasound. Her  blood test results have revealed she is very anemic which is now  being treated for as well. It's still early days but a lot of nasty things have already been ruled out which of course is great news.

Gman has had a very grown up haircut. I swear he's aged 3 years in 30 minutes! He has also taken the role of bodyguard to Baby W and defends her bravely against anyone who gets to close. Usually by shoving them out the way with a good telling off. 

Baby W is much admired by everyone and has settled into the family really well. With a little touch of teamwork Daddy and me are surviving the night feed, though W almost goes 4 hours between feeds so we aren't doing to badly.

X x X

Starting small

There is much excitement in the house at the moment as we all cross our fingers and wait on an important phone call. We may finally be about to receive the offer of a council house. Please cross your fingers for us.

It does mean however the threat of packing is looming, and there's no time like the present so I'm starting now by decluttering and packing away things we won't miss for a few weeks. 

Job 1 is a small bookcase in my bedroom. I'm taking it one shelf at a time as I'm a still very much recovering. If I can do a shelf or cupboard a day though then we'll soon be miles ahead though. 

So far I have filled a carrier bag with knitting and crochet patterns I no longer needed, rediscovered the hilarious Mum and Dad ladybird books and found a book I haven't read yet. I hope it's as funny as his shows, I'm going to start reading it in the bath shortly. I'

 Just waiting for a storm to pass. I'm a bit of a wuss with thunder. 

 I watched an old rerun of The Moaning of life yesterday while feeding Baby W, I do love Karl's sense of humour. Poor Baby W Startled a few times when I burst out giggling.

Anyone else enjoy his programs?

X x X

I'm playing a dangerous game....

I knew it was risky when I started knitting. 

Was there enough pink wool left to squeeze out a small baby hat? It's going to be close!

X x X

A trio of tulips

Not long before our new family member arrived, we took a family walk over to the local garden centre. As it was just after Easter there were several very good reductions on spring bulbs. Hubby helped the children each pick a £1 pot of Tulips for me to enjoy on the lounge windowsill. 

I came home from hospital just in time to catch them in full bloom. They were beautiful and brought a smile to my face when ever I past them. 

This morning though they had definitely past their best. A quick scan of advice on Pinterest told me to remove the flowers and allow the leaves and stems to die back naturally. Hopefully this means that I will get to enjoy their beautiful colours again next year, and if I'm very lucky the bulbs may even split to create even more baby tulips to enjoy.

Fingers crossed.

X x X

P.S - My hospital appointment today went very well and I'm cleared to resume daily life. In the promise I take things slowly of course.

X x X

In bed with Bob

Day 9 of bed rest and I'm starting to go a bit mad. I think it's probably sign I'm ready to start getting up. Currently I only pop downstairs to make the occasional cuppa and share dinner with everyone. 

My pain is now minimal if I move with care and not rush myself. Sneezing and coughing are still a bit fear inducing but I'm confident I'm not about to burst open at this point.....Hopefully. 

Today I have mostly been watching the delightful Bob Ross on Netflix and knitting prem baby hats. Tomorrow we are off to the hospital for our Day 10 checkovers. 

Cross your fingers for us.

X x X

Introducing....

 Baby W made her appearance (finally!) On the 9th of April 2018 @8.22 weighing a teeny 7lbs 7ozs.
 She's completely perfect and her siblings are all crazy for her.
 Recovery for me is on the slow side but I'm feeling more myself every day. I'll soon be back up to speed no doubt.

 X x x

Living in an inbetween place

 Sorry it's been so long. As my title suggests I'm sort of existing in a world of in-betweens at the moment.
  Baby S is due on the 5th of April. Everyone is surprised I've almost made it to term as the other 3 were all 38 weekers.  We have almost nothing planned for the Easter holidays as a result as she's now due any minute really.
 We are still in our private rented house, we've come so close to getting a council house several times now but it's always slipped through are fingers. As a result odd jobs are being left and I don't dare start any thing in the garden.
 DD2 now has a pedeotrician! She's currently on some pretty hefty medication to clear out her digestive system ready for an ultrasound scan to look for any physical causes of her incontinence.  It means 2 weeks of very unpleasant bathroom situations though, the scan can't come fast enough! It's all for a good reason of course but not the best way to spend a heavily pregnant Easter half term.

 So as you can see I'm in quite a perplexing place. Not much we can do other than try and smile through it. Eventually the baby, house move and scan will come. Who wants to get me it all the same day? Lol
 X x x