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Kirk came down to the kitchen on Saturday morning to find Charlie sitting like this while doing his reading homework. He'd already done most of this other homework on this own the day before right when he got back from school. So funny how one kid is so on top of his homework and just gets it done without us bugging him to do it. The other kid spends hours whining and complaining about homework so something that should take 30 minutes ends up taking 2-3 hours.
Somehow time seems to be moving faster than I remember it moving when I was younger. I swear it hasn't been 4 days since I last blogged yet somehow it is. The kids did some of those stuff your own bear kits after we got home from school on Tuesday (I can't even remember what I did on Monday - sieve brain alert!). I probably did more of the stuffing than either of the kids but they were happy with the end result. Not that either one needed any more stuffed toys, but at this point we've already gone overboard in that area so I'm giving up. At least they reside in the kids' rooms so they don't clutter the rest of the house. Gotta take every little win you can get.
Yesterday I went to brunch with some friends at Wolseley for some delicious food, good coffee, gossip and some knitting. I had some pretty awesome french toast with REAL bacon. The crispy American stuff. Not the thick chewy stuff that pretends to be bacon in the UK. I was so excited about my food that had it not been for photos that everyone took of their food, I'd have no clue what anyone else was eating. After brunch a few of us went on to some shopping at Harrods. I may have bought a new handbag from Valentino. I rarely spend money on clothes and stuff but handbags are my weakness. I'm trying to limit myself to one designer handbag a year. Like a new season purchase each January might work. We'll see though as the temptation might be too great before next January.
Today I had a parent teacher conference with Charlie's teacher. Totally proud Mom moment as he's doing so incredibly well in just about all areas. His handwriting needs a bit of work (funnily enough Noemie has the same problem). I'm not too concerned about his handwriting as it's not like it's THAT important in the big picture. Kids will be using laptops and iPads to do all their work in the next year or two anyway. Noemie already does her own research for school topics on my computer and is anxious for when she can have her own laptop.
To round off a busy week, tomorrow I have yoga in the morning and then a Pilates assessment session in the afternoon. I've been going to physio for a lower back ache and today I had my first rehab session so want to do pilates at the physio place as that would be a good next step for me. Hopefully I'll soon be able to start running and doing body pump classes too.
Noemie has been asking to go to Grandpa and Grandma's for a sleep over since sometime late last year so we finally went Saturday. K and C stayed home for a "boys night" which consisted of C staying in his pyjamas all day and then all day today and then a dinner of 5 pancakes, 1 pot of custard, 2 pots of jello, 2 pots of yogurt and a glass of milk. K is thinking C may have kept eating if it wasn't for the fact it was bedtime. Sometimes I wonder where C puts all that he eats. It's like he's growing vertically but not gaining much weight.
N and I went out to dinner with my folks and had some great food. Massive steak for N of course. Then this morning she had a breakfast that was in 3 courses... biscuits and juice, some fruit a bit later and then some toast even later on. She also helped Grandpa feed what seemed to be all the local birds some bread in their garden. It was actually pretty cute as they were all hanging out in the garden waiting for their breakfast as they get fed daily. There were 2 sets of Mr and Mrs Pigeons, some birds that looked like crows (but not as menacing), loads of robins and other creatures like squirrels. All literally loitering in their garden.
In other news I managed to throw my back out right after Christmas and as it was still hurting quite a lot I finally went to see a physio. I used to laugh at people who had back aches if they were under the age of 60 but now I've turned into one of them. Have no clue what I did but I had a needle stuck into one of my back muscles to make it relax and then I need to do a few exercises to strengthen the other muscles. I go back again on Tuesday for a follow up and hopefully I'll soon be back to normal.
Better get to bed now as it's back to the school routine again tomorrow. Perhaps some time to do week 1 of this years Project Life album. Going to try to stay on top of it this year as I'm about 48 weeks behind on last year. Oops.
Noemie and Charlie went back to school again today after a month off! It was as usual a happy moment and a sad one... I actually don't mind having them home with me as they are pretty easy going and entertain themselves/each other for the most part. The other part I just ignore. I also hate school runs and getting up to do them.
I had the awful realisation last night that I forgot to buy hockey gear for Noemie for this term and a reminder email came in last night telling us we needed it for... 2 days from now. So mail order was out of the question. Luckily Ling came to the rescue as she knew of a hockey dedicated store near her house so we had a little shopping trip today. Noemie was thrilled with what I got for her. Finally she can have something at school that isn't yellow or blue. Sadly the bag I got was blue as I knew they would complain if I sent her in with a pink bag. I won't whine more about this now as I could do an entire novel about what I think of school uniforms (HATE them) and what I think of everyone wearing the same stupid outfit to school. Grrr.
Anyway, Noemie has her first hockey session tomorrow and they will play twice a week this term. What you can't exactly see in this photo is that she has a mouth guard that is purple one side and gold on the other. Frankly I'm shocked the school didn't insist on yellow and blue ones considering these were all fitted at school (though we paid for them of course).
After dinner Noemie asked me to play jacks with her. So I did. And beat the crap out of her each and every time. No letting the kids win in this household. Reminds me of when I was little and I'd play Monopoly with my Dad and he'd delight in beating me each time as I'd sit there and cry as I lost everything to him. In hindsight it was good as I now hate to lose and will do whatever I can to win as often as possible. And I know I most likely won't win, I don't play. Or I play against a 6 or 7 year old as that increases the chances that I'll win. See, whatever it takes. I'll have to remember to blog about a project of sorts that I signed up to for this year. Maybe tomorrow. If I remember to come back on here again. It's taking time to get back into the habit and all.
On Christmas Eve day, we woke up to find our little Roborovski hamster had passed away. Great sadness all around but she had don well with being with us for nearly 2 years. These little guys don't live long.
So a few days after Christmas Noemie insisted we get a new hamster but this time she wanted a Syrian one so she could handle it more easily and she wanted it to be all hers. So off we went and came back with the fella in this photo. She named him Norman. I have to admit he is more rat like in appearance than I would like and that I think dwarf hamsters are FAR cuter, but it's not my pet so I have to get over it.
Last night I was looking at him before I went to bed and he was suprisingly running around in his cage. He's a pretty lazy little man and is often found up for an hour and then asleep for a while even at night when he's supposed to be running his hamster marathon. Then I noticed his rear end was a tad damp and he smelled (worse than he usually should). He appeared to have Wet Tail which is really not something you want as it is often fatal. There was nothing we could do about it at midnight last night but we agreed to call the vet in the morning and hopefully have stinky butt looked at.
Had to tell Noemie this morning that Norman was poorly. She was upset of course but I reminded her that as a pet owner she had to take the good with the bad and that we would get him to the vet asap. Kirk and I put him in the bath (no, not to bathe him or treat him to a bubble bath) so we could wipe it's butt to make sure he hadn't just peed all over himself. Lots of hissing ensued from Norman... can't say I blame him really. A thing the size of a T-Rex is trying to wipe his butt with toilet paper. And they hadn't even met before this morning.
We took him to the vet, he has wet tail but as he is drinking, eating and not showing the later stages of the disease we are hoping he recovers. I had to give him 0.04ml of antibiotic through a syringe which he was suprisingly okay with from how he grabbed the end of the syringe and sucked the medicine down (the entire drop of medicine). And he's drinking his probiotic infused water as well and eating. The first 24-48 hours are crucial so fingers crossed he pulls through.
Not sure if now is the time to admit this but the kids have already agreed that they will get 2 dwarf hamsters if Norman dies this week. One child is hoping her hamster still lives though while the other might slightly be wishing for another hamster burial later this week.
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