As yet unnamed!

My weird big bellied son

 

This has got to be one of the funnier things Charlie has done recently. He is such a weird kid with so much character that keeps us laughing all the time. Tonight in Noemie's room before bed time, he decided to use his big belly to knock over her change piggy bank. He kept doing it over and over so I took a video of it and he continued on with it for a while. At one point he kept knocking it over, picking it up and ended up in our bedroom looking in the mirror while he repeated it and giggled hysterically to himself. 

Earlier in the evening, I gave him new shoes, kinda like velcro'd sandals for the summer. He was so excited that he did a little foot stomping dance for me and when I asked him if he liked his new shoes he pointed at his feet and said "nu shooooos". He's so much more chatty than Mimi was at this age. 

In potty training news, Mimi didn't have any accidents today but is a bit obsessed with the toilet. She gets like this with anything new and interesting (kinda like I get with my various hobbies, fortunately none involve the toilet). Susanna took the kids to Gambado this morning and they apparently spent most of the time in the toilets, lol. Then at school it was the same thing and before we could leave when I picked her up today, I ended up standing in the bathrooms for 15 minutes and only when I promised ice cream was she willing to leave. But first she had to wash and dry her hands of course. She managed to do a poo in the toilet as well which surprised us all as I had heard that most kids get scared of that despite being fine on the toilet otherwise. Hopefully she just continues on being fine with it all. Clearly she was more than ready despite the fact she told me as recently as last week that "I like to do wee wee in my nappy. I wear nappy forever!" Glad her definition of forever was like 3 days in this case. I'd bet she'll also be thrilled that I'm sharing this on her blog... then again, she is super proud of herself and has informed me that we ALL have to buy her toys for going wee wee and poo poo on the toilet. Hear that grandparents? 

Another playdate at our house

We had the perfect weather today which worked out well for our impromptu playdate at our house. I offered to host one yesterday afternoon during the school run and we managed 6 little ones, 4 Moms and 3 nannies. This morning I managed to make a marinade and prepare about 10 chicken breasts, boiled the corn on the cob to go on the grill, had sausages ready, made some super yummy potatoes in the oven and then decided to bake some banana muffins. I'm exhausted today but it was well worth it and a lot of fun. The kids ate well as did the rest of us and it was nice to be able to sit out in the garden and not melt. And even better is to have nannies as they do all the tidying up! This photo is two of Mimi's little girl friends and then the younger brother of one of the boys that goes to school with the girls. In fact we went to his birthday party up in Holland Park earlier this year where Mimi got to ride those quad bikes. Next playdate we are going to try and get more boys involved. They all play so well together! 

We have been properly potty training Mimi starting yesterday. We figure she's been ready for a while and it was more laziness on our part as diapers are so easy and convenient. The nice weather has made it easier as she runs around with less on. She had two incidents yesterday morning when we first started but hasn't had once since. She even went to school in the afternoon and had no accidents. Peeing at school on her first day of potty training! Today was another good day so hopefully it keeps going like this. If anything she is in love with sitting on all the toilets in the house that I had to force her to bed tonight. Otherwise she'd probably still be on the toilet now at 9:30! I'll take her to the mall next week so she can pick out any toy of her choice, assuming training continues to go well. We're not dealing with nighttime just yet. She'll know when she's ready. 

Have a busy few days ahead of me so am going to get to bed early tonight. Am totally exhausted I can't even get motivated to knit. 

More Ice Cream!

You'd never guess that I was back on Weight Watchers and that Kirk was also exercising and watching what he eats! It was scorching hot in London today so when we walked past Baskin Robbins, there was NO way we were not going to stop in. Charlie was awake this time (he slept through our visit to his favorite bookshop) and he got to enjoy his usual vanilla on a cone. Kirk and I had half fat frozen yogurt though I ended up eating half of Mimi's ice cream as well. Mimi wanted to try some of Charlie's ice cream and Charlie is very sharing and he thought it was pretty cool to let his sister lick his ice cream. He kept offering it up to her. Usually she refuses anything that Charlie has licked or even touched but I guess there is an exception to every rule. 

Fingers crossed my weigh in is a good one tomorrow! We're going on holiday in approximately 10 weeks' time so I'd like to lose a much as possible by then. I have no desire to be the beached whale. I remember our last trip to a beach (The Seychelles) where I was around the weight I am now and how miserable I felt about my appearance. I'd love to shed about 20lbs so wish me luck! I might even do progress photos if I remember to take some tomorrow.

Mimi loves ice cream too!

Figured it was about time I shared a Mimi ice cream photo after all those moments we got to see of Charlie. We took the kids to Baskin Robbins this afternoon but poor Charlie missed out as he fell asleep about 10 seconds after we left the house and woke up just as we were finishing our ice creams. We ran errands before hand as well so he snoozed for a while.  

The past week was a lot less busy than the previous one which was nice for a change. The kids had a playdate on Thursday over at Hannah's house. Charlie had a great time as well as Mimi. The girls adore Charlie and they all play with him pay plenty of attention to him. It's nice that siblings are welcome at the playdates we go to. I think one of the next ones will be at our house soon and I plan on inviting some boys to join in as well. 

Other than the playdate the rest of the week gave me a lot of knitting time. I also met up with Alice on Friday which was great as I hadn't seen her in a while as we're both so busy these days. 

Next week will be a bit busier but in a nice way. I think I might drive up to Ikea on Tuesday as I have finally figured out a way forward with my storage for craft stuff in the dining room. I'll have to book the RAC to come on Tuesday morning though to jump start my car as the last time I ran the engine was in early January! I must make more effort to drive or else it's pointless to have the car. It's also going to be a long weekend so that will be nice as well :)

Shopping with Charlie

The last few days seem to have been a bit of a whirlwind. Kirk took Thurs and Fri off so we went out to lunch on Thursday. On Friday I went to my annual dollhouse show at Kensington while Kirk spent the day with the kids and our nanny. The weekend was boring with totally awful weather and grumpy kids and a tired Mom and very patient Dad. 

Today was my usual Monday afternoon with Charlie while Noemie was at Nursery. We ran a few errands but then I realized I forgot to get bread for his dinner so back to Sainsbury's we went. We left the stroller at home so Charlie could tire himself out and he had a great time at the store. He insisted on carrying the basket himself. He stopped in the fruit aisle and put some oranges in the basket. I swapped them for the ones we ended up with as I don't particularly like big oranges. Then we were in the bread aisle where he added 2 loafs of bread which I swapped for a baguette. Then it was time to pay and he at least has the idea of what to do. I had to remind him we needed to pay for stuff before we bagged it of course.

    

After Sainsbury's, Charlie insisted on watching the tube trains come and go. We waited quite a while for one to arrive and then got lucky as 2 came pretty quickly one after the other. He likes to wave and say bye bye to them. Had I brought my Oyster card along with me I would've taken him for a quick ride around. Perhaps next Monday we can do that. Before we could leave the shopping center we had to go up and down the escalator twice, through HMV and finally I picked him up to carry him out so we could go to the park to play for a while before dinner time. We had a fun time together today!

Piggy tails and ice cream date

On Monday afternoons, Noemie is in nursery and our nanny leaves at 2pm so Charlie and I go out and do stuff just the two of us. This week we went to the pet supply store to order more food for our kitty and then we went to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. Charlie pretty much likes the cone with just a touch of ice cream. As he doesn't like what I like (mint choc chip), I got him a scoop of what his sister likes. He bit a bunch of the cone from the sides then decided to lick the ice cream a bit before nibbling more cone and then giving up. I ate the rest of his ice cream and took mine home to eat later on instead. We had a nice time though and spent the rest of the afternoon playing indoors before we had to go get Mimi. I was nice though and bought Mimi a scoop of her favorite as well so she could eat it when we got home after school.

  Noemie's hair is getting very long lately but she generally isn't a fan of having people mess with it. I love when we can get her hair into a pony tail or even a clip in it as it looks so sweet and much tidier. Usually she has hair in her face which is a shame really not to mention it looks so untidy. The other day she came running upstairs to show me her pigtails so of course I grabbed the camera. I didn't get any really great ones as asking her to smile results in her big cheesy fake grins so I just snap away and hope for the best. The pigtails are a bit wonky but I love her eyes in this one. Still trying to work out what her eye color is as it's green some days, light brown on others and then at times I could swear they are golden yellow. In any case she is a cutie pie. 

K has the next 2 days off so we're heading out to lunch just the two of us tomorrow and then he plans to spend the rest of the time with the kids. I have stuff to do on Friday so am going to do my own thing and spend time with everyone a bit as well.

Sibling cuteness and thank goodness this week is over!

 

It wasn't a bad week by any means, just felt really long despite it being short with the bank holiday we had on Monday. 3 playdates in the past 5 days makes for one tired Noemie and one exhausted Momma. It was mostly a lot of fun though the last one we went to was interesting. Totally fine but not entirely sure I want to join in next time around it's hosted at this place. Noemie and Charlie can just go with Suzanna. Nothing bad happened, just can find better things to do with my time. Next week is a playdate at S's house but I might not go only because K might take a few days off so I want to spend some time with him. The week after is at H's house and I will definitely go to that one! 

This video was taken after dinner tonight. Noemie has this thing where she wants Charlie to sit on her lap for some cuddles each night. She shouts at him that it's "laptime!" (we have a series of times like bath time, bed time, dinner time, brushy time and so on) and she sits on the floor and tells him to "come here and sit down Chaaalie!". He of course ignores her as he's busy being Dr Destructo. Suzanna put him on Mimi's lap and I had to video it as it was just so darn cute! So lucky they get along so far. In the morning when Charlie wakes up before her, he sits in his chair at the table having his milk and says "Mi Mee" over and over and looks at the doorway. No, he's not looking for the cat, he just likes to have his sister around. I asked Mimi if Charlie should go home with the nanny this weekend and she said no, Chaalie stays here and when asked if she would miss him if he was gone she said yes. 

I had a "pajama day" today which meant I stayed in, knitted and kicked back all day long. Much needed time to myself. I finished knitting another little dolly and started a little elephant for Charlie. Didn't do much tidying up at all but will catch up next week. We're off to a birthday party for one of Noemie's little friends on Sunday so will just kick back tomorrow and Noemie and I are going to make birthday cards.

So grown up!

This video is from the past weekend. Noemie loves to hold Charlie's hand and walk around with him. She's getting better at not going too fast with him and looking out for him so he didn't run into any doors this time! 

Poor Noemie woke up at 4:30am yesterday and Kirk went to her. We figured it was a nightmare or something. 15 minutes later he was back in her room again and she told him her ear hurts on the outside and she needed some cream for it. So he put some moisturizer on her ear and she went back to bed. Not for long though and it was my turn to investigate. She wanted hugs so we cuddled for a bit and I convinced her to go back to bed. I went back to bed and minutes later she cried so I went back in and she told me her ear hurts on the inside and that she needed to see a Dr for some medicine to make it better. I told her the Dr wasn't open at 5am but that if her ear still hurt later on I would call them and take her in but that in the meantime I would be the Dr and gave her some Calpol. She finally settled and that was it. 

We had Hannah over for another playdate and all was going well until around lunch time when she said her ear hurts again and that she needed to see a Dr now. I tried calling our GP but their lines were busy for 15+ minutes so I dosed her up with more Calpol (she didn't have a fever but I figured if her ear really did hurt it would help). I kept trying and then got the recording that they were closed until 2:30 for training purposes. She melted down a bit after lunch and ended up wanting a nap, telling me her ear was getting worse and worse. 

I headed out while she was napping to the garden place to pay my invoice and then decided to try the GP one more time. As luck would have it they had a cancellation so I got an appointment... in 10 minutes time. So a quick cab ride and I was home and Mimi was waiting for me at the door all ready to see the Dr. She was a lot warmer and was shaking a bit so I knew she had a temperature. The Dr confirmed this (38 degrees/100.4) and looked in her ears and said they were red and swollen. Not quite infected yet but getting there so she is on a course of Amoxycillin for 5 days. We went home so I could drop her off before going back out to the pharmacy. She insisted we all go together but said she was sick. I asked her if she felt like throwing up sick or just unwell sick and she said just unwell. I was marvelling at how great it was that she could tell me what was wrong, how she felt, etc. Makes things so much easier than trying to guess what is wrong. 

She had a good night, slept really well and didn't need any Calpol today. No fever either so she went to school this afternoon and was just fine. We are going to yet another playdate tomorrow in Chelsea. She has such a busy social life, it's wearing me out! Apparently she has a little boyfriend at school called Charlie. They hold hands and walk around together. Then there is a boy called Nicolas who is always trying to kiss her but then, he tries to kiss all the girls. She is pretty darn cute though so who can blame a fella for trying, eh?

A very painty painty playdate

Not the best quality video but you get the idea. There was a ton of paint involved and 3 very happy little kids. The weather wasn't particularly great but we still had our BBQ. We ate inside of course. The girls had a lot of fun giggling through lunch and played a ton. They were upstairs, downstairs, indoors, outdoors... and Charlie was having a great time as well as it was like having 2 big sisters for the day. While he was taking a nap, the girls decided they wanted to paint. I know what Noemie can be like once she gets going and H was wearing a cute little dress so I got a spare set of Noemie's clothes for her to change into just in case it all got out of control. And out of control it got. H's Mom had paint in her hair at one point. Lots of hand washing, a ton of baby wipes and some paint licking courtesy of Charlie. Glad we have the playroom where we don't care where the paint ends up! H lives in a flat and they have white carpet so not exactly great with paint! H and her Mom are coming over tomorrow again for some more playing before H goes to school (Mimi doesn't go tomorrow) so I wonder if there will be a repeat of today? 

We had an awesome day and we all said goodbye at around 4:30pm. Noemie was so wound up and excited that she wouldn't go to sleep until 9pm for a change. She'll be so thrilled tomorrow morning when she gets up and I tell her H is coming over again!

Growth Spurt?

Maybe I am imagining things but I am pretty sure Noemie has grown a bit in the last week or so. I noticed a difference this morning when she woke up and commented on it and I am even more convinced after seeing her next to Charlie. The first photo was April 18th and the other one is from today. The only difference I can see is that C has shoes on in the first photo and N has them on in the second photo. But both shoes have the same height "heel" so that can't be the reason. 

I have a few videos to share but need to download them off my iPhone so will do that tomorrow. The kids have gone from playing nice to screeching at each other back to being best buddies. Lots of giggles and lots of tears. Lots of heart warming moments and lots of frustration for Mom and Dad. 

We are having Noemie's little friend Hannah and her parents over for lunch tomorrow and then a little playdate for the kids. Hopefully the weather is improved so they can be indoors and outdoors. Hannah's Mom wants to learn how to knit so I am going to do a little lesson tomorrow as well!