Hating the school run

Im trying to think what's been going on around here since i last blogged.

-the inlaws have been and gone

-Caleb started nursery school. This was him on his first day. Every morning 9am - 11.30am. Sounds great but its actually a gigantic pain in the butt; getting them both up and ready and out the door, drive to the school, get the pram out to walk over, battle the elements (its forever windy and rainy), get him in and changed out his wellies (its forever windy and rainy), leave, battle the elements back to the car  (its forever windy and rainy), pack up the pram into the car, get home around 9.15am, deal/play with Aaron, do some chores, get Aaron ready to go again, leave at 11.15am,  drive to the school, get the pram out to walk over, battle the elements (its forever windy and rainy), get Caleb,  battle the elements back to the car (its forever windy and rainy), pack up the pram into the car and get home at 11.45am. Can you tell i hate it? Its so not worth the hassle for the 2hours of Caleb-freedom. However, he loves it. I should really focus on that :-)

- There's a possibility Aaron has a cows milk protein intolerance so the two of us are dairy free for the next 2months to test it out. He was going up to 13 days without pooing and has eczema. We're a week dairy free and he's pooed 3 times, its looking like they might be right. Im still breastfeeding hence why im dairy free too. Oh how i miss cheese. 

- Theres more crap going on at my work, which i really don't want to be dealing with when im off on maternity leave but i have no choice. So im looking at being reinterviewed or taking voluntary redundancy. Crap crap crap.

Pinterest

I have a new addiction. Pinterest! Wow. I love it. So many ideas, so many things i want to make. I just keep pinning and repinning. Ive managed to get quite a few friends hooked already as well. Its fun to daydream!

Anyone else on? My username is chezzat

Be Still and know that I am God

I am not the most Christian of Christians. I know i could be a much better person but my belief in the existence of God is strong and i cannot imagine life without a faith. There have been a couple of times in my life where i/my family just would not have coped without having God to turn to.

Ive been quite anxious recently, in relation to my health.

Yesterday in the madness and stress of this house (the kids/the inlaws etc), i had a bath before my hospital appointment and this verse came to mind

Be Still and Know that I am God. (psalm 46 vs 10)

Be Still and Know that I am God.

It really spoke to me and gave me a sense of peace. How important it is to BE STILL in the madness of life and know that God is God. The God of all things.

People are praying for me and that is a wonderful reassuring feeling. Someone at Church took my husband and I aside on Sunday and shared some amazing words and prayed. It did wonders for me and i was very emotional. Someone else shared with me his struggles with trusting God and trying not to be anxious and he got very emotional, which really touched me as well.

So, yesterday i had a CT scan on my inner ear and an MRI scan on my head. I had been feeling very unsettled about it. When up in those dark lonely hours during the night the mind runs away and i start to think the worst about what it could be. Thankfully, the MRI wasn't as bad as i had been dreading. I got a bit panicky as i was moving into the machine but managed to put mind over matter and keep my eyes shut and focus on the music! 7 songs later it was finished!

I feel very relieved these tests are over but now I need to pray for good results.

I thank Ian, John and Rodger for their prayers/encouraging words/texts. At times like these having Christian friends, having a Church family and having a faith mean more to me than my words can express. Maybe that realisation will help me to become a more Christian Christian.

I finished something!

*Gasp* Can it be? A stitching blog that actually has some finished stitching? Yes! Hurrah for me. Started a year and a half ago i finally finished this piece right in time for my nephew Harry's 1st Birthday. Obviously it didn't make the framers in time but finishing the stitching was my goal.

The inlaws arrived from Canada on Thursday. My house was so clean and tidy for their arrival. At the moment, I am enjoying having the extra hands to entertain the toddler and hold the baby.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

From this 1 year old

To this big 3 year old!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my beautiful big grown up boy!

Soccer mum

Im trying to find some time to stitch on my nephews birth sampler. I started this over a year ago. He turns 1 on the 26th January and i really want it to be his 1st birthday present. It was supposed to be his birth present! I am so nearly finished, look!

Tomorrow Caleb starts Football lessons. Signing him up for this was my first experience of the dog eat dog world of motherhood lol You had to go to the sports centre when it re-opened on the 28th December and queue to sign your kid up. There were 20 places. I arrived at 10am only to find the damn sports centre didn't open 'til 1pm and i had plans that afternoon. So, my mum went for me! She arrived at 1.05pm to find 6 mothers in the queue already. Caleb got a place and has 12 weeks of classes ahead and then we shall queue again to try and get a place on the next block (if he enjoys it). Crazy eh? He's excited, he has boundless energy and is obsessed with "fast running" at the moment. "Fast running" with a ball is his dream come true so this will suit him perfectly!

As we enter the world of Statutory Maternity Pay i am trying to be more organised with food buying. I am actually planning meals. I might publish to my blog each week, not for interesting reading but simply for my own motivation and to keep track of what we've had. This week i planned for us and for Caleb:

Monday- Chicken Casserole and rice / chicken nuggets and rice
Tuesday - Fish cakes, potatoes and vegetables / fish fingers, potatoes and vegetables
Wednesday - my mum shall provide
Thursday - Tomato and Cheese Pasta Bake
Friday - Beef Casserole and rice

I am not planning the weekends!

Tomorrow is also Caleb's 3rd Birthday party; a joint party with his friend Eve. We have a sports centre booked for a bouncy castle and soft play party. 20 kids. That should be great for the tinnitus!

Ear issues

So, for my 5 year blogiversary winner, I didnt do any fancy number generating thing. I asked my husband to pick a number and that number happened to be Michele's comment! Congratulations lady! Michele is one of my first blogging friends and she's just had a birthday so i was happy about that.

Ive been at the hospital this week regarding my ear. I got Labyrinthitis at 36 weeks pregnant (*) which left me with tinnitus and partial hearing loss in my right ear. I was hoping it would gradually get better and the tinnitus fade away. Wrong. 3.5 months later and its as bad as it was on day 1. Yesterday I seen the consultant at the hospital about it and they confirmed my fears; my hearing probably wont fully return and I have to learn to live with the tinnitus. Constant ringing in your head is torture. In conclusion, i have to get fitted for a hearing aid and i'm booked to have an mri scan to see what's happening inside. I am dreading the mri scan. I feel claustrophobic just pulling a jumper over my head (especially when it gets stuck aaah) so the thought of an mri makes me nervous. Oh and there's the results too..... All in all, i was/am quite gutted about it. The doctor wasn't particularly pleasant and i came away (in tears) with more questions than answers. As he was shoving a tube up my nose to take a picture (i think) he informs me that normally they do the tube shoving under local anaesthetic. What?? Cheers for that!

(*) and by 'got' i literally just woke up one morning with a ringing in my ear and loss of hearing, How strange to go to bed fine and wake up to that.