Party of Five

My 'Mothers Back Twinge' made a reappearance last night, resulting in a 1.5mile Juneathon walk rather than 'slightly faster than walking' jog. I must have picked Pip up whilst he was trying to escape or drive the car - his two most favourite activities.
Other than that the day was uneventful in the way that days are. Well actually it wasn't, having reminded myself by contorting my torso to look at my bulletin board (see above - it's the thing with writing on above the bibs and bags)
I went to Salto - a local gymnastics club that holds toddler sessions, took Pip and he chased a little friend around for 2.5 hours.
Then I went to a parent/child numeracy session at school, which, in my opinion, has come approx 10 months too late. It's supposed to help you work with your child on maths and give you strategies for coping with their problems. What it did was show you a teachers lesson and how column addition and subtraction was taught to the kids and then get you to practise it with your kids, then talk about it without kids for an hour. I've spent a better 2 hours but will continue to go. I doubt very much any child who is above national average standard will gain anything from it, yet 3/4 of the parents there were parents of high achieveing kids, naturally I don't include myself in that group.
I've also been trying to find my friend who commissioned this bag, to give it to her - she's vanished off the face of the earth!

did day 5 of the juneathon yesterday - a 2 mile walk - had a back twinge that I felt would be worsened by running.
I may have to duck out of day 6 because Pip (my 2yr old) is having severe breathing difficulties and I am contemplating taking him up to the hospital. The Dr this morning prescribed anti-biotics and an inhaler, but Pip freaks out so much at the inhaler it's making breathing a 2nd best to hoarse screaming, personally I'd prefer him to put breathing first so may take up to A&E to see if they can help him.

Munch is able to concentrate for a whole minute on his nintendo. Sadly for his teacher Nintendos are not allowed in school.
Pip is 2, he thinks he is 9 but he can only say 'boo', 'oi', 'no', 'help', 'mum' and 'dad'. He does a nice line in non-specific verbal communication though, accompanied by a dazzling array of pokes, prods and hits.
All our hopes are pinned on #1.

This greeted me on Monday, my poor little guy all puffed up and swollen with an accompanying red rash that made me cry.
After the school run we stood at the Doctors Surgery until it opened and got an emergency appointment. Many tears (from me) and a prescription for Loratidine later we were on the mend. Doc said it was heat rash, Sunday was hot and we went for a long dusty bike ride at Marston Vale (a tale of sore knees and nice cake), and she said it was likely that he was just out in the sun too long.
As much as I like my Doc, I do think she was wrong. The rash was not where clothes had been worn it was where skin was bare and it progressed to cover all his body on Tuesday. The swollen eye was a mystery, but I think the dusty conditions of the bike ride and the high pollen count probably contributed to it, Loratidine did work in soothing the rash and reducing the swelling. I am convinced the harsh sun brought out a non-specific viral rash, he's had them before and will no doubt have them again until he's a little bigger. Munch gets rashes too, Sam gets worryingly high temperatures.

He's better now, esp after a 35p Ikea Ice Cream.

All these following pics are taken pre-illness.
King of the Hill (well Prince of Playground, but a fearful Prince)Asleep in friends car after bike ride - note the shoe in hand and wildly inappropriate car seat for a child his age (my fault not friends).
This is 'dinner refusal but will eat breakfast all day' after the bike ride, photo taken specifically to document the 'non-crust' eating foibles of the smallest child in this house.

I have avoided both the gym and running this week. It's not been a good week and it is continuing to be a very sucky week, Hubby's job is in jeopardy (the reality of working in the house building industry is that we have to ride the waves of recession in a harsh way - he has been made redundant twice in two years).

I am not loving life so much at the moment.

You know the sun is shining, it's a balmy 20 degrees outside. Lots needs doing in the garden and I would love to just fling open the doors and windows and let some Spring in.
My only problem is this

Harry Houdini is a quiet assasin, stealth and quick gettaways are his speciality. Heights and small opening pose no problems for him. Being outdoors needs more than one person at home and currently there is only one person home and my nerves are frazzled.

He doesn't say much, but he forms his 'boos' perfectly!

This is an awesome pattern by Montesorri By Hand (old blog), Montesorri By Hand New Blog - called SewLiberated. It calls for oodles of interfacing and fabric, but I am hoping it's going to be my new 'big' bag - for 'big' read - Mummy's bag that holds a trillion and one things necessary for going out with kids that also means Mummy doesn't have to scramble around at the last minute trying to find stuff (nappies/wipes/drinks/snacks/toys/wrist straps/hats/socks/gloves etc).

My Old 'goto' bag is worn out and although it breaks my heart to retire it...

It has had its day. It also annoyed the hell out of me for not having long straps - a case of desire over function.

I have decided to use the camera on my phone more for documenting everyday life, because as we all know, taking a memory card out of a proper camera and plugging it into the card slot in the laptop is like way too time consuming.

Must go order topstitch needle for sewing project.