I dug three holes in the garden today - I feel great! The neighbours will think I'm burying the family....!  I'm shredding my waste card and bank statements etc and burying them in the vege plot - let the fraudsters stick them back together now! The paper should hold onto water so I'm going to plant beans, cucumber and courgette (zukini?) on top of these holes. But first I need to do more shredding - one full hole, two to go!

6 o'clock is now a hallowed time in our house - no talking allowed! This is because the BBC is screening Shaun the Sheep every day at 6pm on CBBC. Even Sophie smiles when she hears the theme tune!

If you're curious, try Shaun's Official Website.

These were the photos I tried to upload last night!

We're succeeding with water with this little girl - her sister held out for juice! She likes Ems old baby heinz cup coz it makes a great noise (squeak) when you chew it and she doesnt have to work hard to get the water out!

This is a big hit - she will quite happily chew celery for ages and as it doesnt crumble I cant see that it could be a choking hazard.

The door bouncer still goes down well.

These are Emma's bean and cress, which she dutifully waters (floods) every day! Trying to persuade her to cut the cress so we can eat it now - she prefers to uproot one at a time to eat. I shall be old before its all eaten at this rate!!!

To help out a friend who's moving I had Em's best mate J over for lunch and play. It's great to have him round but he's almost a year younger than Em and doesnt know our house rules, so I worry all the time about him tripping over, eating poisonous plants etc! His house is always spotless and tidy (well, whenever I see it!) so he gets what I call "flitting disease" here - empties out all the toys he can see like a kid in a sweet shop, never stopping to play with them. At home he only sees one or two at a time but here most are out on display all the time as we've inherited some rather large toys and are short on storage, and he cant choose what to do.  Anyway, I hovered around all the time, dragging Sophie with me as she was miserable but too distracted to sleep at her usual time (later crashed out in her buggie in the garden).

Well, I was going to upload some pics but it seems it's not working. It will have to be a Foto Friday then!

I've just had a bit of a cry over this, but it's a warning about post-natal septicaemia, so I'll copy the link here, for anyone who's interested.

I'm very tired! I got distracted on the way to Preschool this morning before realising I was taking my DD1 to Toddlers instead of Preschool (she should have been dropped off first). We were already late!

Then later on we went round for an informal 2nd birthday party at a friends house. She was the perfect host - lovely food, chilled out about the mess, happy to have the kids roam the house (youngest 6 months, oldest 4.5) - 10 kids in total. Then her Health Visitor turned up (expected) for her 2 year old's 2 Year Check and the little princess threw a tantrum having been perfect all afternoon! Just before that, mine did the same, only she kicked and hit me as I tried to naughty step her, knocking my glasses wonky, which hurt (later found I'd been scratched above my eyebrow, which was probably her). Then she did the same again, and I followed her past the HV into the kitchen to take her for a "word" by the stairs and one of my friends said "no Emma, don't say that! Mummy doesnt do that"! I realised just how much I tune out what she says to me to avoid taking nasty things to heart as Im very unsure what she said, but it was probably "no mummy dont hurt me!" or something that my friend didnt want the HV to get the wrong idea about! The words didnt hurt but Im still a bit shakey about the hitting. So I decided sat in the car when we got home to tell Emma that from now on, if she hits me when I'm taking her to the naughty step, when we get home - so she doesnt have to be embarrassed in front of her friends - I will be smacking her on the bottom. Hurting mummy isnt acceptable. Im not too happy about teaching her not to hit me by smacking her, but I can not physically lift her to the naughty step any more, and just occasionally when she goes too far, she wont back down and go to the naughty step when told, so I have to have somewhere to go when that happens. I cant think of an alternative!

Emma popped these on Sophie last week and Grandad snapped her - not sure Sophie knows why the world looks different all of a sudden!

Bit of a rough night last night - I had a migraine and Sophie was waking frequently due to a cold and presumed teething. I ended up sleeping upright with her in my arms for a few hours as it was the only way I could handle it - and then only barely! If she'd not needed to feed I'd have been downstairs pacing the lounge in front of late night TV, which is my way of coping with the pain. I've been a bit dazed as a result today. Sophie's not settling well tonight - had to go back up after a mere 10 mins and all she wanted was another feed, when a week ago if she woke an hour later she would settle for the dummy (two hours and she wanted another feed).

Inlaws have gone home - we're all missing them - for lots of reasons!!!

Some photos from the last week:

Emma after a birthday party!

Sophie learning to sit (not long now)!

Emma & Sophie cuddled up on the sofa.

I actually got some gardening done today - I feel human again!

Sophie went to sleep so I laid her in her buggy in the lounge by Grandma, who was reading, and headed off into the garden, past Grandad (who is laying a patio for us!) and me & Emma sowed some peas and beans in old loo rolls arranged in old mushroom/tomato plastic tubs. Then we went round digging up weeds and old veg left in over winter. It's ridiculously warm and dry here at the moment.

Had a friend visit who is now living and working in Romania. We sat in the garden sipping tea and catching up and then she stayed for lunch - lovely!

Al got back from France at 6pm, bringing Pear Cider and chocolate with him. Tried the chocolate - yummy! Not tried the pear cider yet - Al tried in in a restaurant in France and bought some, bringing it back in his case wrapped in a t-shirt - very relieved it wasnt broken!

Sophie's sleep and general behaviour have gone from bad to worse and my usual sunny girl is crying on and off most of the time. I'm so glad my inlaws agreed to stay til Saturday as Alan is in France Tue-Fri. I'm pretty sure it's teething pain, though they dont look imminent. We wondered if it was tummy pain as all these new solids were slowing her down somewhat, but taking Minti's advice on constipation seems to have worked that one out! Last night she slept 3 hours at a time, so Im a bit headachy today. Hope she's sorted by the time Grandma & Grandad go, as Al may be in North Carolina next week, and even if not, I'm going to be on my own daytimes...

Got tearful and screamed at Em a bit this morning, had to remove myself as it didnt seem a good idea to have a tantrum infront of a 4 year old ! Think it's just the disturbed sleep catching up with me, or is it PMT? Who knows! We went out shopping in the afternoon, just for odds and ends. It went well except that I left my purse in the car and we had to walk all the way back across town for it. Sophie slept for the whole 2.5 hours. She was pretty tearful this morning so I think that maybe I was just joining in!

Hope tomorrow's better!

The inlaws arrive tomorrow, so it will be good to have company.

I took Emma and Sophie on the long promised bus ride today. We just got on and stayed on for the whole hour, just for the fun of it. I've been promising it for so long. Emma was so pleased and excited - she was worn out afterwards and watched the whole of Chicken Run afterwards.

Em got invited to a friend's birthday party this morning in a brill softplay area inthe neighbouring town. I'd woken up with a headache so was having a no brain day, and as Al was rota'd on to do sound desk for the Easter service at church, that left me to take the girls. It took me 20 mins to get to the other town and then I got lost and it took me 20 mins to find the right industrial estate! Pre-kids I never got lost - I over-prepared - but this time I winged it and got caught out. Well, we didnt miss much and it was a nice opportunity to chat to other parents. It's a place to consider for Em's birthday in the autumn. If I can find it again of course!

When we got home, while Soph was sleeping and Em & Al were blowing bubbles in the garden (from the party bag) I sprinted around the house hiding eggs and writing a list of "clues" - words & pictures. I've never done it before, but Em's been hiding some wrapped eggs I bought her around the house for weeks, so I thought, why not? Al & Em had a great time finding them all, then we overdosed on chocolate! After that Em and Alan decorated opposite sides of the same egg which I'd bought her at Aldis using some money her aunty gave me to buy her an egg with.

At bedtime, Al was sitting one girl on each knee (as instructed by Em) for prayer time, and they looked so cute I grabbed the camera.

Nice to have a Bank Holiday so Al could be at home all day.

Soph is not herself at the moment, and the evening bedtime, which was resulting in her sleeping to 2 or 3am most times is now interupted at least twice before midnight. Plus she's far clingier during the day. On the up side, she didnt wake me properly til after 8 this morning. Then Em came in at 8.30 this morning and at 9 we went into the spare room as we all felt it was time to get daddy out of the bunk bed!

I caught up with the washing today - filled the washing line. It wasnt as windy as yesterday, so a few things didnt dry, but the sun was glorious.

Em got washing more of the carrots we dug up yesterday - the one downside to "grow your own is having to wash them IMO, so I'm only too happy to have her wash them, even if I have to finish them off later (dont tell her!).

I forgot the thing that made me laugh most today.

I went outside to hang out the washing leaving Soph sitting in the Bumbo seat we've just been lent and Em chatting to her. When I came back in, Soph was still happy and Em proudly told me she'd "oiled Sophie's cradle cap".

"Oh yes" I said, trying to sound casual "where did you get the oil from?" (there were several possibilities, none of which she'd been to before.) She led me to the dining table and showed me a small blue tube of teething gel!

Well, it was nearing it's "useby" date! And funnily enough, as it had dried on, I've been gently pulling it out - bath & hair wash it tomorrow - and guess what - the cradle cap has stuck to it and is coming out nicely!

Em was trying so hard to be nice to Sophie, so it's rather cute really. Glad Soph hadnt been scratching - that could have really stung!

The weather has been glorious!

I feel tired out without Preschool at the moment, but it's been a productive day.

I played "sort the washing" with Em this morning - I'd run out of collapsable stacking boxes which I use for washing so Em & I sorted the washing into 4 piles "mummy & daddy's", "Emma's", "Sophie's" and "downstairs" (she loved being given permission to throw bibs & nappies over the bannister - threatened her it was just for the game), while Soph bounced in her door bouncer.

Later a fellow Freecycler came round to collect two speakers which were clogging up our garage. We've got a load more stuff that needs to go that way. As it happened, she was the one I got some 2nd hand nappies from, so it was good to be able to return the favour!

Then we went out in the car to post my nephews easter egg and on to the Farm Shop as we're out of sausages and most fruit. Em enjoyed seeing the chickens, lambs & calves on the farm to.

Later we got our new bike trailer out and went for a short ride to get Soph used to it, and coz it was such a lovely day.

Lastly we dug up the last of the carrots. Leaving them in over winter means the slugs have had plenty, but they love the purple ones, are neutral about the orange ones and ignore the yellow ones! I love weird coloured veg!

We had great fun playing on the Shaun the Sheep web page, learning the song & stuff.

In case you havent visited it yet but love Shaun (from the Wallace & Gromit movie) as much as we do, here's the link !

Yesterday was a play day  - I took Em round to play with J. However, they both had grumpy days and kept squabbling. Js mum says she's much better when I leave her there to play - why do kids do that?! Sophie napped in a buggy all afternoon. But then she was wide awake at 5.30am this morning - co-incidence?! As a result (although I did get her back to sleep after a while) Im dazed today and got dressed at 12, and the girls are still in their jimjams. Better go feed them - its that kind of day!

Poor Al had to get up at 5.45 this morning to go down to Ware to try & sort out the machine they'd been installing for the last fortnight - he got back just in time to kiss Em goodnight!

Soph woke me at 7 this morning, but as it's school hols I managed to con her into going back to sleep with another feed. No sooner than she was alseep than there was a light knock at the door and in tiptoed Emma. We had a cuddle and listened to the radio for a bit. I wanted to leave Soph asleep but Emma said she wanted to cuddle up to her and then prodded her so much she woke up - doh!

After breakfast, I left Em playing "boo!" with Soph and took a quick shower. Then I suggested to Emma she put an old Body Shop facemask on me, and she allowed me to put an old "adam ant" type stripe across her nose with it. After 10  mins or more we scrubbed it off - she didnt like that bit so I guess all she'll want to do from now on will be apply it (liberally) to me! Well, I'll have my own personal beautician at this rate - she loves using my epilator - sadist!!!

One of my friends has recently started working again since staying home while the kids were little. She's had to hit the ground running, as they're recruiting, which she hasnt done before. Anyway, she was promised term-time working only but they've broken that promise already so I said her kids could come round for 2ish hours today while she went in. Em had a great time - she looks up to M (6) and she is best mates with Ms younger brother T (4), so to have them both at once, well she showed off big time, spending time on the naughty step early on for bashing T! Sophie fortunately decided to fall asleep in my arms soon after they arrived, so I put her in her cot where she stayed asleep for maybe 2 hours - a record at lunch time! The kids then watched two Wallace & Gromit short films and then played hide and seek until their mum picked them up.

Sophie then fell asleep again - back in her cot - and I tried to get Emma to sow seeds on a sunny but windy day! After Sophie woke up we retreated to the shelter of the greenhouse, and sowed peas, cucumber, sweetcorn, courgettes, beetroot and sunflowers. I still have to clear away the leftovers of last summer - going into labour in October did not help with harvesting all that stuff!

Just before dinner there was a knock at the door and the daughter of another friend was there with her scooter for Emma - she's 8 now and they're about to move house, so we are being passed on all manner of goodies! K came in and stood shyly until I asked her if she wanted to hold Soph so I could get on and cook dinner - well, I wont look a gift horse in the mouth....! K proceeded to look after Sophie, who was quite tearful, while I served up dinner and ate it. She then spooned puree into Soph's mouth even after her big sister E (11) turned up and went to play with Em in the garden. Only when Sophie had finished entirely did she join them. Lovely! Then I got a text from their mum saying dinner was on their plates - then it was hard to get them to go. Oh well!

I feel quite worn out from all the activity, but it's been great to see Em kept so busy (even if she was showing off a lot of the time) - she loves playing with kids of the same age or older but of course being the eldest, and not living near cousins, that's a hard one to do!

Well, today was a nice day with no headaches, but I did some very silly things, like trying to open the front door with the car key, and saving/renaming some photos on the computer and thinking "Al sure did take a lot of similar ones" until I realised I was renaming the same two!!!

After church in the morning (late as usual!) we had roast chicken pretty late then headed off to Emma's favourite park coz I had a text from a friend to say they were going there for the first time. We had a great time. Sophie had her first go in a swing, wedged upight with coats. Al took some photos:

Emma has been taking lots of photos on the digital camera. Some of them very perculiar - glad its digital! Here's one of the one's worth keeping!