Ahhhh bliss!

I am writing this post in an empty house! I have a coffee, some biscuits and I'm listening to my friend Sarah talk about her wonderful business Archie's Boutique on Croydon radio.

Today is my first Wednesday morning with Noah at nursery. I have nearly cleaned the whole house, just the bathrooms to do after elevenses. I kept finding myself at the bottom of the stairs listI was halfway through the housework when I realised that not only will I have this precious time to do the housework, but also the house wont get in such a mess as two whole day a week there will be no one in the house! I can't stress how pleased I am we put Noah in nursery! Of course we haven't paid anything yet, so I may feel different when we are really scraping the barrel to get by!

Here's Noah posing for the obligatory 'first day at nursery' shot

I wonder how long I will go on enjoying it. Noah was really good on his first day, but he does have a tendency to be pretty rough with other kids. I may just come to find it completely embarrassing picking him up each week and hearing all the naughty things he has done!

Baking (or not) with a toddler

I am beginning to search for structured activities I can do with Noah. He is such a busy bee and I want to try and get him to sit down and calm down so we can spend some time learning and playing together.
Today we tried an alphabet puzzle, he copied every noise I made of the letters, but his interest in the actual puzzle was none and he soon wandered off. I tried some flash cards, the have colours and number but I was just trying to get him to tell me what the pictures were of. Some I knew he knew for definite but his response was just "no" to everything!
So after he walked into the lounge and asked for the telly to go on AGAIN, I decided to crack out the big guns; "Noah we are going to bake something!".
I had a very simple cookie mix I got for christmas, so I thought it would be fine! We donned our aprons and he seemed pretty keen!

He liked mixing things and I thought he would like using the rolling pin as he likes doing it with playdough, but no, he lost interest about then.

So I pretty much made the biscuits myself, he cut one out I think, but that was under duress! The end result was good though and he did enjoy them!

Snack time

Noah and I are completely obsessed with popcorn at the moment! We have it as a snack most days it's just us!
Sweet toppings usually involve cinnamon, my favourite being melted better with dark brown sugar and cinnamon.
Savoury has been more varied.
Today's was scrummy; lemon olive oil, raspberry balsamic vinegar, oregano and Parmesan.
So tasty and so few calories as well. It is better fresh but intend to make a big batch on a Tuesday and just flavour it as we eat it over the next few day! Noah will quite happily eat it plain, he gets super excited when I say I'm getting it!

Bx

Thinning out the wardrobe

Like many women my wardrobe is absolutely jam packed full of clothes I never wear! Thomas' is exactly the same though!

I recently managed to add even more to it as some clothes that were in the loft now fit again. I do have lots in there that is too big now though but I hate to get rid of things 'just in case'.

So I have started a new long haul decluttering (for both of us). I have turned all the coat hangers the wrong way round, the ones that are still the wrong way round in 6 months are gonners! I'm sure it will just make me want to wear those things and it won't work at all, but I have to try!

Bx

Travel Sickness

Does anyone have any suggestions in dealing with travel sickness in toddlers?
Noah has been really sick a few times that has clearly been just due to being in the car. Any over the counter medicines and the pressure point bands are all for 2+. We tried ginger biscuits before but he wasn't that keen and I don't really want to give him biscuits every time we go in the car!

Bx

A big family decision

Today we took the plunge and made a big decision!

Noah will be starting at a nursery as soon as possible.

I was dreading this kind of decision, I thought it would be hard to chose, hard to think of leaving him with strangers, that I would feel neglectful. I Don't! I feel such peace about it.

Just before Christmas one of our regular Noah minders decided she couldn't do it any more. It was such a blow, I had just committed to working extra hours at work so I couldn't take the day off and from all that we knew of the local nurseries the good ones had massive waiting lists. The only solution we could come to was Thomas requesting flexible working hours. It was accepted on a trial basis; he had Mondays off and worked 8-6 Tue-Fri. It was HORRENDOUS! Well still is, we're still doing it! Thomas is exhausted, we never see each other as there are things going on most evenings, so we eat and then go our separate ways. We had planned to get Noah into a pre-school in the summer when he was 2 so we were going to look around this month and get his name down somewhere. We thought maybe we could cope with 6 months of this!

Fortunately we found that our top choice could actually take Noah straight away on our chosen days. It's the one at the hospital where Thomas works, so it's so convenient. Literally the biggest blessing going!

So he's going to go all day Monday and Friday whilst I am at work, but also he's going to go on a Wednesday morning. I am hoping I will be able to use this time to get the housework done, also to run chores, get my hair done or just read my book! Whatever is most needed to keep our sanity! At the moment the house is complete chaos, we just never have the time/energy to get anything done. I know I can hear you asking, 'so why are you sitting around writing a blog post?' Well I'm eating my lunch as well, it's the only thing on my to do list that wont give me indigestion! I also like the fact that I wont be worry about trying to get these things done in my time with Noah, and he can have my full attention.

It's going to be money we don't really have, but we are going to utilise the childcare vouchers to make some savings. I think the monetary sacrifice will be worth it, for a happier more relaxed family.

2013 is already looking better than last year.

Bx

THE 100 Book List

For those of you who are new readers, I have been reading my way through a booklist that I compiled. I began nearly four years ago, right before we got married. Since February 2009 I have been making my way through the list. It is actually way more than 100 books as each series only counts as one book. I am currently on number 50 (which happens to be a series of six).

For those of you who have been following my progress, this blog will incorporate the list.

I will try not to harp on about it too much. I may mention when I have finished a book. Big up the ones I have especially enjoyed. Moan about the ones I hate.

Whatever I do, the list can be found on the right hand side of my page, the ones in brackets are the ones I HAVE read.