The Christmas Bug

The Mummy household has been completely taken over by the Christmas Bug. And I'm not just referring to the Festive Spirit - which has taken over the living room, kitchen, hallway, etc then spilled over and leaked out in the form of a wreath on the front door.

No, the "bug" I am referring to is slightly less endearing although the effects are just as pronounced albeit in a different way.  The winter vomiting bug has struck.  Although a very minor skirmish with Little Prince, I am anxious not to repeat the experience.  I thought MEN were bad when poorly but Little Prince took it all to a whole new level!  Between croaks demanding water, calpol and, eventually toast, Little Prince also produced a few of his more immortal lines. 

Although a 3, "nearly four!" year old has very little concept of his own mortality, Princess Mummy was rushing up the stairs with a tray to hear "Hurry up Mummy, I'm running out of seconds!"  Accordingly, I increased my pace to discover that it wasn't a cry for the toilet, but more a statement of his emotions. 

So Little Prince is now officially emotionally deeper than his Mummy.   Must be careful not to drown in the puddles of Dettol I'm spreading around the Castle.

Harvesting the Money Plants

So, Christmas is coming (in 22 days to be precise) and we are all feeling the pinch in our purses.  Stretching the pounds, eking out the pennies etc etc.  Even Prince Daddy has taken to closing doors behind him and turning off lights which is a Christmas Miracle all by itself.  It's down to being born in a barn under starlight he claims but I think he's mixing himself up with a slightly more important baby!

Little Prince's school however, is under the impression that we are all millionaires and bathe in champagne every night.  Or at least have spare money we'd love to give to them.  So far this term, we've had requests to join the 100club (whatever that is).  Also to donate some clothes in case some of the children need a change.  I was glad I did hand in the clothes as Little Prince has had his share of "loaners".  Yup, Little Prince has disgraced himself once and fallen into the "water play trough" many, many times. On one memorable occasion, Little Prince's Teacher was still laughing as he handed him over at the end of the day. He said Little Prince had run across the play area, slipped when trying to stop, then launched into the water play trough and finished in the breast stroke position, actually doing the breast stroke!

Then preparations for the Christmas Fayre got underway and boy did the School want us to pay.  Firstly it was the request for bric-a-brac, then tins for the hampers.  Then each child came home with books of raffle tickets they were expected to sell to their nearest and dearest at £1 per book.  Next, all of the little angels came home with a letter saying they need a costume for the Christmas Concert.  Admittedly, that cost more because I bought a costume from ebay.  I did try making a costume but my Roman Soldier came out looking more like the Robot Little Prince thought he was originally playing.  It was even harder to convince him that he wasn't to be a "robot soldier" once he saw my attempt at armour! 

The day Little Prince came out of school clutching a McDonalds cup did baffle me a little I admit but I soon found out that we were expected to decorate the cups then fill them with sweeties for the school to sell at the fair.  Oh, and there was no chance that the children could buy their own cups back!

The next expense on the list was the Gingerbread House competition.  Parents were expected to make gingerbread houses and decorate them.  Then the school would sell these on.  Firstly, if I'm ever going to cook from scratch it would be for my own biys, not for someone else, and secondly, I would not inflict a first (or even second) attempt at a new recipe on anyone who could possibly sue me over food poisoning!

The other demand for money which I did not like, was the Operation Christmas Child shoebox appeal.  Although I wholeehartedly support this charity, and donate boxes through other businesses, I was not pleased with the way this was "encouraged".  The school printed up shoeboxes and cards and handed them out at the school gate to each child.  Also enclosed was an instruction list of items that must be in each box.  A recommendation list is helpful, but not an index of what we must supply.  On adding up the items, a friend and I believe that if you follow the school's list, it would have cost best part of £20 to fill the overlarge "shoeboxes".  Plus the £2.50 handling fee for the box' transportation.  I would have bitten the bullet and completed the box regardless, had I not seen photographs of the handling centers where the boxes are stripped down and repackaged to make the distribution more even.  So I will be making my usual arrangements and passing up the school's offer this year.

Although these all seem like relatively small expenses, when combined, they do add up and to help out with everything would be beyond the reach of most families.  Added to the school photographs, plus school logo branded pump bags, the logo branded book cases, the weekly "donation" towards the fruit and milk available all through the sessions for the children, well, the family budget can only stretch so far. 

So Princess Mummy put her foot down with a firm hand and announced no hundred club, no cups of sweets, and definately no gingerbread houses! (that last was as much for public safety as my purse)  It can be hard saying no but it was either that or no Santa so the choice became Do I treat my kids or someone else's?  And the answer to that was clear. 

So off I go out the back to give the money tree a good shake and hope it has something more than coppers to drop in my basket. 

A tribute

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11791194

I had my next Blog entry planned out (a mini rant on the way our schools seem to always have their hands out) but on Thursday night, something awful happened in our community.  I initially felt that this was too raw to Blog about, but I feel that I cannot let something like this pass without comment.  Disrespectful as it may be to write about this event, I feel that it would be somewhat worse to sweep it under the carpet.

You may have seen in the news recently that a lady was killed in a house fire having passed away from smoke ingestion.  For those of you who need a recap, please check the link above - I'm not going into details here.

What I wanted to say was that this lady was a true neighbour and we were getting a fair way onto being real friends.  There are a lot of rumours going round from people who only knew this lady by sight, but having lived next door to her for a number of months, I can confirm that yes, she was a quiet lady who kept herself to herself.  She was also a considerate lady, a kind lady and a lady who had strong family and social values.  Taking care of her mother and sons, she still had so much love to give to her beautiful dog and to share out with the neighbourhood.  Collecting newspaper vouchers so she could give Little Prince the Lego sets is one example, but in no way was he the only child in the street.  If toys came her way, she would collect and pass them on, just her small way of saying that we all mattered.

Every day she could be seen walking out with her dog, and always made time to stop and chat, her biggest worry being that she would upset the neighbours with the dog barking or the music from her son being too loud (It never was, despite the notoriously thin party wall)

Her son is a true credit to her.  His strength and dignity after this tragedy bears through his upbringing.  A quiet and polite youth before this, we would regularly lend him tools and he sought Prince Daddy's advice on the care of his pushbike more than once.  Very aware of his role as "man of the house" whatever his private arguements with his mother were, they were just that. Private. And whenever he spoke of her, or she him for that matter, it was the love and respect for each other that always shone through.  Now that she is no longer with us, I have every belief that he will step up to being the man she has always known he had inside.

Sleep Well Wendy, we'll miss you more than you'd ever believe.

NOTICE:

There will be no blog entry today due to personal tragedy.  I will try to blog again in the next few days.

After yet ANOTHER break

I haven't blogged for ever so long and its gotten to the point now where I feel I can't go back cos I've been away too long. But I'm a hard faced mare so I'm making my grand return. Yet again.

So much has happened since we moved to Mold and my last blog in August, but I'm mostly going to concentrate on Little Prince's start at at school.

But first, the Heelys. Huge mistake! I fell down, got up, fell down, got up... you get the drift. It's a good job I'm used to falling down and comfortable with hitting the floor! In the end, Prince Daddy confiscated my wheels for my own health and safety. So now I have some very nice shoes! I have put them away until either I become balanced enough for them (HA!) or Little Prince grows into them. Guess which will come first!

So, Little Prince started nursery in September. One week he has a morning session and the next week is an afternoon session. As you can imagine, this plays hell with Princess Mummy's internal clock, and on one occasion so far I have taken the Little Prince to his afternoon session an hour early and we had to return home and leave again later. Little Prince took this all in his stride, as you may have expected.

Little Prince took to school like a fish to water. Without a backward glance he trotted in, as I dabbed my eyes with a lace hanky, for all the world like a 1940s mother sending her child off to war. I went to a cafe 5 minutes away (I DID time it!) and sat for the whole session, drinking coffee and watching my phone for the inevitable message that my little angel would be missing me so badly. It never came. Despite my being there to collect him 10 minutes early, Little Prince was one of the last out, and only when a teacher promised him he could go back. He still resents the weekends because he bounces out of bed ready to go and is forced into having a Play Day at home.

We've had a few minor issues. One of our first conversations on the way home from school went like this:

LP: I don't like X

PM: Why not?

LP: He's a willy head

PM: Don't say willy head. Why is X a willy head (yes, I know!)

LP: He keeps calling me naughty when I wasn't.

PM: Did you tell a teacher?

LP: No. (pause) I pushed him down.

Little Prince and X are now best friends and hold hands in the playground.

Sometimes I feel like he understands the world better than I do!

After the break…

My good intentions to blog regularly were foiled by that sneaky narcolepsy.  I've just had the cast removed after falling in the kitchen and breaking my wrist. The doctors couldn’t understand how I was more upset about breaking my favourite mug but Prince Daddy, who spent many, many weeks listening to me moan about horrible cups of tea, went on ebay and sneakily managed to find 2 identical mugs.  Somehow, the doctor in charge of me didn’t understand my statement that wrists heal and mugs don't.  I felt bad keeping her from her surgery – she needed that stick removing from somewhere uncomfortable…. urgently!

It also may be a while before I am able to blog again.  Prince Daddy, taking me at my word, bought me a lovely treat – Heelys! 

                           

He was so pleased to find a brand new pair, boxed and with tags in a charity shop for just a fiver (and in my size) that I decided not to tell him my statement of want was really just an attempt to appear daring and brave.  I mean, I didn’t think he’d actually APPROVE of me getting shoes with little wheels on the bottom.  So now I have decided to embrace the danger and ride away.  I wore them for the first time this morning, after studying youtube carefully for advice.  On my second fall, I saw a worried little face above me.  “Do you think you should wait til you’re a little bit bigger to do that Mummy?”  If I waited til I was any bigger, I’d be more top heavy than I am now!   I did agree that maybe that was a good time for a break though, and maybe a Kitkat.  Little Prince very thoughtfully ate both fingers of our Kitkat, thereby rescuing me from any further weight related handicaps.

I’ll promise to TRY not to break anything, but seeing as I can break a limb walking, don’t hold out much hope for the Heely shoes!

Not so much King Edwards as…

Little Prince’s first planting in the garden has come to fruition.  Whilst we were away, the potato plants we put in during March have flowered and died.  And so, without much hope, the boys dug in and pulled out the plants.  Obviously, Princess Mummy was supervising from a deckchair, and at one point, thought it was raining spuds! But no, Prince Daddy had given Little Prince control of the fork and Little Prince was gaily digging up his tiny – and not so tiny – potatoes.

So, from 4 jacket potatoes that had gone to “eyes” in the cupboard, (that I’d let Little Prince plant to keep him quiet) we now have a whole bucket of potatoes.  Enough that we are providing the roasties and the boiled for Queen Nanna’s famous Sunday Dinner.  Famous as she holds an open house – 6 immediate family, plus spouses and offspring, plus any friends that drop in.  Good times!

Lovin’ Summer

Princess Mummy and the Mummy clan are back from our first ever family holiday.  Relaxed and refreshed.  Little Prince had the most amazing time just running riot on the campsite, running riot on the beach, running riot in the fair… well you get the drift.

A member of our family has a static caravan and offered it to us free and gratis for a few days.  So we packed up the clan, arranged a cat sitter and headed out to traumatise the good people of Rhyl.

Despite our plan to go for 2 nights, I decided that 6 clean changes of clothes was a minimum for Little Prince and anyone who may either be slimed by him or in the area of the trail of grubbiness that seems to follow in his wake.  It turned out to be a good idea.  We ended up staying for 4 days and used every outfit once, and those that weren’t too filthy went twice!  And on the last day, my attractive offspring confided in me he’d only changed his underpants once!  He’d hidden the other clean undies which are all of a similar design!

According to Prince Daddy, we should let our kids get away with these small rebellions once in a while.  As I was shocked, speechless and trying not to laugh at the time, Little Prince has got away with it.  This once.  Prince Daddy has had a quiet chat about being clean and changing underpants which Little Prince listened to very seriously.  This morning he conducted an underwear check to make sure we were all wearing clean underwear.  When we were in the middle of town.  Hmmm. 

On a promise

Princess Mummy and clan have just got back from their first family holiday EVER! Give us a day or so to recover and sleep and then I'll be back with a MegaBlog!

A grand return! or not.

Princess Mummy is back! This is not so much a triumphant return as a sheepish slinking back into the fold. The Blog lapsed a bit (!) in February and the Mummy clan have had quite an eventful few months. I'll catch up slowly, bit by bit or this will be the longest Blog post ever.

The biggest news is that the Mummy clan upped sticks and moved house! We had been on the council housing list for ever, but recently had an assessment for Housing Association housing. Our second and third floor flat was deemed to be a death trap for an "unpredictable narcoleptic" (Unpredictable? Me?) So eventually we qualified on health grounds and in a matter of a few weeks from the offer, we had moved into our dream home.

The Mummy clan dream home. Anyone who has stood still near me for more than a few seconds has heard about our dream house. All Prince Daddy and I have dreamed about since Little Prince was born was a little house. Little 2 up 2 down with a garden for Little Prince to play in. And that is exactly what we were offered. The bonuses: hanging basket hooks, a washing line (which Ive raved on and on about) and something else. Oh yes, lovely neighbours! As someone who's only communicated with my neighbours to drop off mail or complain about parties at 3 in the morning, the neighbours here were such a shock. The kids play in the streets while at least one parent keeps an eye on all the children. Even Little Prince has been out playing in the street and this is something I dreamed of but never imagined he would be doing as young as he is. It helps that we are a cul-de-sac of just a few houses, off another small cul-de-sac so traffic is very minimal. The cats roam free and occasionally, a small dog escapes and everyone joins the chase, making a grand game for kids and adults alike. A game the dog invariably wins, moseying back into her house as everyone else watches in disbelief. And yet we never learn. Next time she breaks free, we'll all chase again.

oops

Princess Mummy is having to take a break from blogging as her computer apparently does not mix with Red Bull that well and has had to be returned to Acer to be fixed.  Sorry all

xxx

Respite

Princess Mummy had a long lie in this morning.  Queen Mummy took Little Prince last night.  He loves going to stay with Queen Mummy.  Both Little Sister and Littlest Sister have double beds so when Little Prince grew out of the travel cot, he started just bunking up with one of them.

Both of his aunties are a lot more relaxed than Princess Mummy and Prince Daddy.  Little Prince goes to bed later, has a DVD on in bed (he doesn't have a tv in his room at home) and sleeps in later.  So a grand adventure for him but less fun for the long suffering Sisters who sit through an hour of Thomas the Tank (current obsession) then get woken twice during the night for "wee wees."  To be fair though, Little Prince hasn't wet the bed once since he gave up nappy-pants.

Oh, and Little Prince is also a shocking duvet hog who likes to sleep in the middle of the bed.  Can't imagine where he gets that from!

Party!

It’s all finally got on top of Princess Mummy. I haven’t been right since Little Prince’s birthday party on Saturday. Although I have taken my meds as normal, for some reason they are not as effective as usual.

I can’t even blame elevated stress levels. Queen Mummy hosted the party, catered and sorted out guests. All we had to do was attend and bring cake which we did with gusto.

Little Prince had worked himself into such a state of excitement about his party and turning three that he had physically made himself sick! He kept no food down all day and yet still managed to bounce around like Tigger on speed!

After wrestling him onto a bus and struggling to keep him calm throughout the journey, my good work was undone as we pulled up to the stop. Littlest sister had decorated the bus shelter with balloons and banners which set Little Tigger Prince off even more. So after physically restraining Little Prince while Littlest Sister undressed the bus stop, we bounced him to his Nanna’s where party food, presents, games and excitement wore him out.

A wonderful time was had by all, totally thanks to Queen Mummy’s effort-which is more impressive when you realise she is throwing a 30th birthday party on Sunday for Big Sister. So my sleep system won’t be back to normal for some time I think.

Inappropriacy

20th January 2010

The girls vs boys issue is very much occupying Little Prince.  We went to Pizza Hut for tea last night and Little Prince asked the pretty young waitress if she had a willy!  Luckily the poor woman was comfortable with kids and responded with the information that she was a girl and girls don’t have willies.  I must admit that Prince Daddy was not much use as he was too busy trying to hide his laughter at her face and my embarrassment.  One napkin just wasn’t enough.

All through the starter, Little Prince talked about the willy issue until we had a little chat saying that people don’t like to talk about willies.  This seemed to do the trick.

Until this morning when Little Prince asked the plumber if he had a willy and confidentially informed him that girls don’t have willies so the wee-wee comes out of their bum.

Sigh!

Girls and Boys

19th January 2010

Little Prince has finally realised that girls and boys are…um…different. 

The Mummy clan are not particularly privacy conscious.  Princess Mummy’s habit of falling down, crossed with a 3 year old means no one bothers to lock the bathroom door, and therefore, no one bothers to knock before entering! 

So Princess Mummy was getting undressed for a bath when Little Prince walked in announcing “we need to talk” (his term for wanting some one-on-one time without TV or radio)  This was swiftly followed by “Oh No!  Mummy’s willy GONE!” 

Little Prince ran right round Princess Mummy looking for the missing appendage as Princess Mummy leapt into the bath to avoid closer examination.

I explained to little Prince that girls don’t have willies, just boys.  We also talked about girls having boobies and boys not.  End of conversation I thought until Prince Daddy was dragged into the bathroom to be told that girls don’t have willies and Mummy doesn’t have one either.  I don’t know how he thought Prince Daddy might have missed it.

He took a poll, pointing at each of us in turn, where we said “I’m a girl so no willy,” or in Prince Daddy’s case, “I’m a boy so I do have a willy.”  I can see this subject lasting a while.

Update!

this is likely to be a long blog entry.  Pain in my wrist and a bad bout of flu meant Princess Mummy has ignored the blog for a few days, then the internet connection went down so today I will upload several days worth of blog entries all at once!

Iced In

The Mummy clan are currently iced in!  This is similar to being snowed in but the snow has turned to slippery ice and it’s too treacherous to step out of doors without Prince Daddy to scrape us up off the floor.

Prince Daddy is still manfully making it to work each day, but Princess Mummy and Little Prince are too afraid to head out alone.

Queen Mummy took Little Prince overnight on Friday.  Yesterday, King Daddy dug out the family sledge from when we were kids and Little Prince got his first taste of sledging.  He fell off a lot (naturally) then got straight back on!

I did receive an anxious phone call last night from Queen Mummy.  The temperature had dropped and King Daddy was worried about driving as the roads had gone very slick and the gritters have not been out in Queen Mummy’s area for several days.  Reluctantly, I agreed to Little Prince staying for another night.  Reluctantly only because I missed him so much.  In the event, it was very pleasant surprise night.  Prince Daddy and I spent the evening playing board games and cards and generally rowdy behaviour was the order of the night.

I am going today to collect my Little Prince and to spend the day with various assorted relatives.  Taking a toothbrush in case we get iced in tonight!!

Snow!!!

Princess Mummy is loving the snow! We have had quite a lot in Chester but nowhere near as bad as a lot of areas in the UK.  One friend of mine is bemoaning the fact that she has  had nearly none in Shrewsbury and so must go to work regardless.  We felt the same last week as Queen Mummy had a lot only 5 miles away as the crow flies when we had none at all.

Prince Daddy has battled to work each day on his little pushbike, (4 miles each way) only to find other staff taking the day off and then posting pictures on facebook showing that they could get around perfectly well! Grrr!

Prince Daddy was home by 4 yesterday afternoon and so we took Little Prince out bundled up and in his wellies to discover the joys of a snowball fight!  We managed to engage an elderly couple (who threw the first balls!!!)  The snow was fresh and powdery and brushed straight off, so we did not have to worry about injury.  Although I may have looked a little odd with one purple glove and one hand brace.

We were only out for a short time before the cold got to us, but we did have fun. And Little Prince was very excited to have a hot bath and horlicks for bed.  I wouldn’t have thanked you but he seemed happy.

I’ve also had a birthday since my last post.  Little Prince is calling me an “old lady” but was forgiven as he and Prince Daddy brought me tea and Eggy Bread in bed.

(for those who don’t know, Eggy bread is a round of bread dipped into a beaten egg on both sides then fried in a tiny drop of oil in a super hot pan.  Filling and quick and very tasty)

As I don’t know what I want as a birthday present, it has been added to the tally kept by Prince Daddy.  I now have 2 Christmas presents and 2 birthday presents in reserve as I didn’t want anything last year either.  I’m not being difficult, I promise.  I just don’t want or need anything especially, and don’t see the point in buying gifts just for the sake of it.  Unless they are trinkets like the Special Sister teddy and lottery ticket bought by Littlest Sister.  Love and Dreams.  The best gifts of all.

Typed with 2 fingers

Apologies in advance for any spelling mistakes or extra letters.  I am pecking today’s blog out with 2 fingers which aren’t necessarily communicating with each other!

As Prince Daddy kindly told you, I had to take a break from blogging due to stress induced Narcolepsy (that bloody festive season!) and a broken wrist (that bloody Narcolepsy!)

Actually, Christmas at the Castle was fantastic.  Little Prince is nearly 3 and so really understood the whole Christmas Story for the first time this year, although even I was hard pressed to explain why Father Christmas brings presents to everyone for Jesus’ birthday but not for anyone else’s!

We stayed at Queen Mummy’s house from Christmas Eve to Boxing day, having been to a Christmas Eve party with Auntie Shark (as named by Little Prince) and Baby Shark (who is 5 and beautiful!  Little Prince has a crush!)

Father Christmas made a cameo at the party, and was brought to tears by the effusive  thanks of Little Prince. 

Father Christmas did us all proud, leaving a play kitchen, play food, Action Man and a bucket full of dinosaurs!!!

The bucket full of dinosaurs was the chosen toy to attend Church and the hymn “come and join the celebration ROAR! It’s a very special day DINOSAUR!” will be with the Princess family forever.  Luckily this is the Church where Prince Daddy and Little Prince were christened (at the same time) and where we are all well known, if not well loved!  That last part is in jest.  We are always greeted warmly, and allowances are made for Narcoleptic collapses and small child tantrums.  We are also regularly prayed for and it is to this I credit not having injured myself any worse in my falls.

I still hold Prince Daddy accountable for my broken scaphoid!  Had he not been in the kitchen, “supervising” my cooking, I would not have been tormenting him and would not have laughed myself into a cataplexy!  And I would not have had to have yet another nice chat with the Samaritan on duty at the hospital.  Each time I go in with an injury, I am flagged as a possible victim of domestic violence and Prince Daddy is lured away so I can convince yet another well meaning person that I do actually do this to myself (sort of!)

Genuinely, I do appreciate their concern, and I know there are people who need help, but there’re only so many times I can explain myself before getting a little tetchy!

Finally, thanks for all the sympathy, expressed via comment, email and text.  I’ve done with feeling sorry for myself now and am getting my routine back. 

Blog you again soon xxx