Well, Em decided when she woke up that she was well enough for school. 45 mins later her energy levels crashed and I decided that she wasnt going to make it after all! She was a lot better than last night, but she had about 3 energy slumps over the day, so I think one day off was a good decision. She told both me & her dad that it was "boring" at home, so I hope I did a good enough job of being boring that she feels more than well enough for school tomorrow! Dont want fake aches and pains in her first term!!! However Soph found it so exciting having big sis at home that the only way to get her to nap was to load them in the car and go on a "magical mystery tour" (where I let Em choose left/right/straight on as appropriate). Soph was asleep in no time but Em kept me going for 10 miles!

Contrary to weather reports, we suddenly had the first snow of the winter on Sunday night. Al took this snap before bed. It was almost completely melted by breakfast, so our fears about how to get to school etc werent realised! For us in the Midlands this is a sort of average fall which we might get 3 or 4 times in a winter. Any more than this and the roads get clogged up and no-one goes to work or school! We get that here about once a year. I got stuck in the snow for 2 hours when Em was a baby and was glad to bale out and stay the night at a friends house rather than battle for 2 hours to get the other mile home.

She did a good job of looking sad here! This was about 75% genuine today but 100% genuine last night.

And here is our laughing walker today! She's able to turn corners and do 10+ steps today. Starting to fly around!

Emma was so tired after school. She has a cough & cold which has knocked her for 6 tonight. She fell asleep on the sofa, and went to bed early, so Im not hopeful that she will make it to school tomorrow. She is also suffering from nightmares at the moment, and had one tonight at about 8pm, though last night DH informed me that it was 2.30am (thankfully he hears her!) last night and 4am a few nights ago.

Here are a few pics I just uploaded:

This is Soph's favourite activity at the moment. I dont mind pegs all over the floor (sometimes she will also put them back in again!) but when she walks the short distance to the kitchen bin & drops them in I am not quite so happy!

This is just amazing to me! She actually chose to crawl after the vacuum and play with him ("George") while he was on! Emma is just about ok with him now at 5, but prefers to be much further away than this!

Emma drew this for a competition at school. I dont suppose she'll win as she's up against Year 1 & 2s, but I'm proud of her! We dont actually have a dog, but that is a tail-less one for some unknown reason, and those are birds in the sky with the sun. I had to stop myself from helping her as I so wanted it to be good. In the end I suggested that she could cut out the picture of me, which was looking most lonely on it's white background and mount it on a bright piece of card, and I suggested that as she is great at drawing people, it might be a good idea to do a picture of somebody for her entry. She then made me stand perfectly still for 5 minutes while she drew ME! (Usually she draws daddy, from memory.)

And below is a bit of a blast from the past, but it's me on my wedding day! We borrowed a scanner and I thought I should make a start on scanning my wedding photos, just so we have them copied somewhere.

Sophie doesnt think she can walk! I expect most children are like this? Em certainly was - I knew she could walk weeks before she did! So today at Toddler Group, one of my friends said "I didnt know Sophie could walk" and I replied "She cant yet" and then we watched her take about 4 little steps to face a different dirrection! But if I say "walking" to her, she reaches for my hand, she doesnt realise I mean solo! So at singing time, as we were sat on the floor, I let her stand up for the singing. She's starting to do the actions to "3 naughty monkeys jumping on the bed" which is so cute (bouncing up & down without me holding her, touching her head, clapping at the end of the song)! And as we sang about 10 action songs, she stood a long time, with the inevitable moving of feet to stop herself falling over, and she did take up to 6 little steps to do that. But of course, although I think it's practically walking, she doesnt!

This is Sophie's special smile!

This is me & the girls at the weekend. Sophie was asleep, hence the odd angle. And Em was happy to snuggle up like the old days (mostly that's a daddy treat these days).

And here is Emma helping Al mix concrete on Saturday for the waterbutt base. That's the enormous waterbutt behind them, and (in pieces) the summerhouse. Em is standing on the roof!

I finally wrote up my Jersey holiday on the Holidays Group on Friday night (took > an hour including uploading pics). As I pressed Save my ISP crashed, for 36 hours.  I promise I will try again soon!

Soph was awake & upset for an hour in the middle of last night, so I've meandered through today on a haze of sleep deprivation. Thankfully she actually napped in her buggy all the way round Tescos, then in the car until just before school-run time (thats over 3 hours). But she was crying and coughing pittifully by 7pm so I had to skip the bedtime routine completely and just go straight to the bedtime feed. I reckon she's caught a second couhg/cold just as she was beginning to surface from the last one. I'm fed up with being the sick-house. She's napped best on my lap and I've not had the energy to walk, cycle or even some days to drive further than school and back. So now I am living in a tip, and we caught our first mouse of the autumn today (always get a few in this time of year, wish we could work out where they get in!) so I really need to be keeping the floor spottless. Hmmm, it's covered in toys and dry washing (Soph loves emptying the washing baskets & I havent kept up!), hope the mice cant find any crumbs!

One story which made me laugh today was from Emma. I guess with Fireworks night last Monday, there's been a lot of talk about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. Yesterday to entertain Sophie I got Emma's toy washing machine out. It did the trick, until Em came home from school, when there was intense competition and not much sharing over the thing. Today Em was a bit more easy-going, but she got her chance and put some of her socks inside it. Then she remarked to herself "what am I going to use for gunpowder now?" "Gunpowder?!" asked daddy, startled. "For the washing!" she replied. "You mean WASHING powder!" he replied, relieved. She shoved a tissue in the "powder drawer" in the end.

Got to be quick - poorly baby just waking up! She seems worse today - maybe it's teething, maybe an extra cold?

In my hometown they're just waiting to see what a storm surge will mean - flooding expected down the East Coast, worst for 50 years. Where's Noahs Ark when you need it, eh? Think all my family are high enough up to be safe.

....I want some sick leave!

Well, just as Sophie finally got over her tummy bug, after a "milk-only" Wednesday (when I walked around the town centre with her for 3 hours as she was grumpy, tired & kept waking up coughing at home and I had a migraine that wouldnt calm down for ibuprofen), the cough took off - aaargh! DH was off work sick with it Thursday and Friday, and will probably drag himself in to work tomorrow, though he isnt fighting fit yet (fine til about 3pm today then had a complete energy crash). Em and I have been feeling completely washed out & grumpy today (I fell asleep on the sofa after lunch, until Em annoyed Soph and the commontion woke me). And Soph, well she sounds like she's been gargling with razorblades - poor thing can hardly cry she's got such a sore throat - she sounds so much like Rod Stewart! This is when you either want a magic wand to make everyone better, or a Fairy Godmother to come and look after the family for you, so you can concentrate on getting better yourself! Sadly, I have neither, so it's time to tough it out.

On the plus side, we went to the fireworks last night, and got to see the whole 20 minutes - yippeee! This might not seem much to you, but Em is terrified of loud noises. In 2005 DH borrowed industrial ear defenders from work for her. We paid our money to get in the park, and she lasted 4 minutes. She was sobbing and we had to leave. She stopped crying only when we got home - a 20 minute walk! Last year I had a 3 week old baby so DD1 and DH went in together and I drove home. Got home just as the display started (we arent all that far away). 1 minute later DH rang to say they were leaving! We'd forgotten the ear defenders, and he had sobbing-limpet-girl stuck to him. I loaded baby back in the car and drove to pick them up, as I knew the car would be more sound proof. This year she was scared but managed to be brave. And we cheated - we decided after spending over £25 in 2 years and getting 5 minutes out of 40, we werent going to risk it this year, we went for a freebie outside the gate. So we were behind the display, ready for a quick getaway. But neither girl wanted to leave early!

Earlier in the day, Soph amazed us. Al took an hour settling her for a nap she obviously needed. Once asleep on our bed (he tried 3 times lowering her in the cot!) she was our for the count for about 90 minutes. About 30 mins into it, we burned the toast downstairs, and the smoke detectors went off. Al dived for the front door, I for the back, for the through-draft. When the beeping stopped on our mains detectors (we have one in every room except bathroom and kitchen) we expected Sophs screaming to take over, but not a peep! She did that as a newborn in my arms when Grandma burned the toast, but to do it a year later!

Anyway, I need an early night!