Toadstools, Binty Bunny & friendship

1) Friendship and surprises – Yesterday, was a day of two halves. Lovely visit to a friend, and my Albie had a good first session at the school nursery but it was swiftly followed by scary accident at home. Albie banged his nose and cut it badly and there was a LOT of blood. He’s okay now, but a little sore. I was feeling pretty shaken up & upset, (we all were). Today, Mia came to see me & brought me a surprise she had hand embroidered for Sylvie. I was blown away at such a special thoughtful gift! (I may have shed a tear or two!) and it really cheered me up.

I love it so much!!

2)Binty Bunny – When Sylvie was born, a lovely friend sent us a bunny she knitted, affectionately named ‘Binty’! Sylvie loves her & tries to chew her! 🙂 Sign of a loved toy I think!

3) Love – Albie adores his baby sister so much, he can be a little ‘full-on’ but I love how much he cares for her… This was a photo from first thing this morning. Complete with taped up nose!

4) Minecraft vest – My second eldest son decorated a minecraft vest for Sylvie a while ago! She wore it today for the first time!

5) Sunshine – Feels warm today and it makes a world of difference to our day! Sitting outside with my children & they are eating ice cream cones 🙂

When best friends marry, and 12 weeks of baby joy…

Today’s five…

1) huge declutter – we have an ensuite bathroom that’s not been used for years, instead it was crammed full of stuff being stored. Today, it’s nearly empty & with some DIY & a bit of love, we will have a bathroom back! Bags still need sorting but it’s a huge progress. It had been one of those “lets put it off another day” jobs. Phew!

2) My mummy – went our briefly with my mama today, only to a supermarket but it was nice to get out with her 🙂

3) 12 weeks my beautiful baby girl is 12 weeks today. What an amazing few weeks we’ve already shared. I love her more than I thought would be possible! She’s slotted right in to our family!

4) Love – Two of the loveliest friends I know married today! I don’t think I know of a couple more suited to each other! They never fail to make me laugh, & they have completely made my day – Just wonderful news!

5) Saturday nights Snuggling with some of my brood watching The Voice, with nibbles & drinks – perfect!

Crease-free clothes & Crusts…

My five for today…

1) Food success – My 3 year old ate crusts. He normally eats a mouthful from the middle! Sandwich of choice was houmous & cheddar on seeded batch.

2) Soldiering on & doing a previously hated chore – I am up to my eyeballs in stinking cold, ribs hurt to breath in & sneezing isn’t much fun…but, I’ve managed to achieve some ironing. Never used to do ironing as life is too short to worry about a few creases, but I started doing it in a bid to keep on top of laundry, check what the clothes we wear are like so I can charity/chuck any out; & I discovered much to my horror that ironed clothes look nicer! 😉

3) Text convos with a friend – it’s nice to have a conversation, even if it’s via text, with a person that doesn’t scream “mama mama” right in your face or demand you wipe their bottom or sit screeching at you for no reason other than they appear to feel like mentally torturing you. Sometimes, it’s quite lonely being a busy mum of young children. You rarely get out the house, even when you do, it’s virtually impossible to maintain a conversation that isn’t interspersed with “please stop hitting your brother, “we don’t like it when you use those words…”, “could you let me talk please? I’m trying to have a conversation here…”, “The baby doesn’t like being poked in her eye, could you stop it please?”, “Please don’t touch that, put it down, do not break it… Oh too late!”. I am supposed to be positive here aren’t I? Well, I do love them despite this so I guess that will do! 😉 I think it’s really hard sometimes trying to make time for friends, with such busy lives & loads of children, but it’s something I want to try and do more.

4) Bank holidays I realised only yesterday that it’s bank holidays coming up & that means my chap is home. We are like ships in the night at the moment, passing each other in the house, barely muttering as we don’t get time to talk. I miss him being here sometimes, & he helps a lot. So I’m looking forward to Thursday night when he comes in from work, ready for a long weekend with family.

5) Sun – it is shining, snow is blinding but the sun is out & that always makes me feel happier!

The ‘Five Things’ thing & simplifying…

I’d been thinking for a while about starting a blog to document my progress with decluttering, and the process in simplifying and improving my life. Since the birth of my fifth child, my first daughter, my head has been in quite a whirlwind trying to adjust to the chaos and I felt I needed to make some changes to how we do things. It’s a very slow gradual process, but we’ve made a start! My aim is to get rid of things we don’t tend to use or need and along the way, make life easier! Less clutter, means less stress over housework and then I can focus on the more important things, like my family!

So far, we’ve managed to get rid of quite a few bags of things/clothes/stuff to charity or the tip, and anything else has gone on eBay. 🙂 Which leads me on to the “Five Things” – Over on Keep It Simple, Mia has started writing a list of five positive things that happen to her every day, and I thought that would be a good place to start, so here is my list of five…

1) Ebay – We’ve started decluttering and selling some bits on here to try and fund a new laptop for the family. With seven of us (okay, two are still a little bit small to use computers yet!) – there are a number of arguments over computer usage. My older boys need them for completing work, and playing games on occasion, but it’s not working having to share all the time, (plus a laptop would be useful for me!) so, it’s on our list of things we are saving up for. The less arguments and stress in my household, the better, so this is a fairly high on my list of things to get. Sellling stuff feels good! 😀

2) Crochet – I taught myself to crochet a couple of years ago, and I love it, but it’s hard to find the time. Today, I’ve managed a few rows! This doesn’t sound like much, and that is because it isn’t! 😉 But it’s nice to be making things again.

3) Communication – Talking things through when things aren’t quite going to plan can work! Instead of keeping it all stuck in my head, it’s good to get it out, and improve things.

4) Gurgles and Coos – Sylvie is smiling and cooing loads – she does this thing where she looks at you and her eyes seem to well up with love, and then she gurgles at you whilst shrugging her shoulders! It’s a funny thing to try and describe but it warms my heart and today she just makes me smile even though I am feeling a bit poorly. Can’t believe my beautiful little girl is 11 weeks already!!

5) Texts from school – no school tomorrow because of snow – which means NO school run, and all my brood safe at home! 🙂