Stomach pains & facial injuries...

Oh lord, a rather unpleasant evening culminating in me spending my night in the bath attempting to soothe the horrific pain attacking my upper abdomen, all the way round to my back. Long story but basically leads me to a dairy & meat free diet. You don't realise how much you appreciate lasagne until you can't eat it in all it's glory. Picked up a lentil lasagne recipe earlier but to be honest I don't have high hopes. After going dairy free when the eldest was a baby I mistakenly thought it would be easier this time around but I tell you what, it's bloody harder! The sweet temptation of that chocolate biscuit in the cupboard, the lure of the beauteous mac & cheese bubbling away in the oven, ooft it's almost impossible to resist. But alas, I mist. I only hope when the mystery of the invisible knife tearing away at my innards is located, diagnosed & removed, that I can resume my wondrous ventures into all manner of cheesiness & chocolatey desires. But for now, it's dairy free, vegetarian, hot water & co-codamol to see me through until that glorious day.

Aside from that, the experimental Minecraft free day (I hate that damn game) went fairly well. Kids spent most of the day outdoors with no arguments over mines, creepers, horses & whatever other balls is in the game. We had a few hiccups along the way as expected. Spectacularly, 10yr old sister bursts in the back door & stands howling in the kitchen, clutching her face as if she has a horrific GSW & screaming to the point I was concerned my glasses were on danger of smashing. So o head into the kitchen expecting another scratch or bump to accompany an overreaction, when she moves her hand & holy shit, her face is swollen & already starting to bruise. Cue serious feeling of guilt for assuming the worst. So I rush for a cold damp flannel & some arnica cream while she recites the rather bizarre event which resulted in her injury. Apparently, 8yr old brother was swinging higher than usual on the swing & was attempting to kick the washing line (as you do) & his shoe came flying off, rebounded off the washing line & smashed her in the face. For a start I really want to know what possessed him to kick the line in the first place & how hard could one possibly have to swing for ones shoe to come off ones foot? Thankfully, with my exceptional quick thinking & immediate treatment she remarkably hasn't came out on a rather large nasty bruise!! So for any mums with accident prone children who always seem to be covered in bruises, invest in some arnica cream. I think I got it for about a fiver in Holland & Barratt & it bloody works.

So in the end it's been quite a nice day kidwise & I've loved seeing them out in the fresh air instead of goggle eyed in front of one of the most boring looking games I've ever laid eyes on. It's all good & hopefully it will continue.

- M

Sunshine & stories...

Nice sunny day in Scotland again today. Was extremely chuffed being able to get out with the boys again & get plenty of fresh air. Started off in the back garden kicking a ball around & playing on the swings when inspiration hit me, chalk stories. Asked the 3yr old if he fancied getting the chalks out again & he was more than happy to oblige. So we sprinted around the front & got started. I drew a picture of a lady & we began writing our own chalk story. We both took turns adding pieces onto the story with new drawings. We ended up with a pretty great story about a princess, a dragon, a castle & an evil witch who turns princesses into bunnies...

The poor bunny Princess Mummy was turned into.

Our story with our princess, dragon, witch & castle.

To be honest, it was a pretty fun & quiet day on the whole & I don't really have much to say tonight. Which is weird because usually there's some disaster to share. 

What I did however realise, is it's only a short time until the summer holidays. I solemnly swore that this summer, we are not making the same mistake we made last year. Granted, the weather wasn't particularly nice but we spent most of our time indoors, watching TV & not doing anything particularly fantastic. But this year, things are gonna change. After making a conscious effort to try & do more screen free time I realised this can't be temporary. Whether it's days out, days playing board games, playing in the garden or doing something else fun, this summer has to be fun, family-orientated & totally freaking awesome!!

- M

Funny moment of the day came courtesy of the eldest on his way home from nursery this afternoon with his epic Star Wars spelling skills. "Mummy, cream soda sounds like Master Yoda." You really had to be there to appreciate how funny it was.

What's that yellow thing in the sky?

In a surprising turn of events, we woke up to a sunny Scotland this morning. So the plan was to get outside, play & get some much needed vitamin D & fresh air! While trying to come up with some fabulous game or crafty activity to do, it came to me that we never just go out to play any more without purpose. So we grabbed some street chalks, a ball & headed out. Unfortunately, the 8 year old brother was glued to the screen & we couldn't prise him away, so it was just the two boys & 10 year old sister for the afternoon.

Bamboozled by the mysterious fiery yellow ball in the sky, the boys seemed rather surprised to be ushered out the front door without full Arctic proof gear on.

So it started with a box of sidewalk chalks (we used crayola ones we managed to get for a bargain in a local shop) & a smile...

But apparently, said smile wasn't good enough as it wasn't anatomically correct...

... but in comes 3yr old to fix it...

At this point, 15 month old is more interested in digging about & pouring them onto the path...

... but eventually joined in the fun.

I actually remembered just how much fun it was just doing normal 'kid' things that we did when we were younger. But as an adult, realised that it's more than a bit of fun as we were counting, identifying different shapes, doing the alphabet & practising writing skills, so it wasn't just like an afternoon spent goggle-eyed in front of the pc or the PS3, we were all getting something out of it.

The rest of our time outside was spent on the trampoline, playing on swings & running around so hopefully some half decent sleep is on the cards (highly unlikely).

But it wasn't all without it's drama. Between a seriously mistimed fall (Ollie falling faced down just as I kicked the ball, connecting with his head), scaring the shit out of each other screaming (bloody bees), a near miss from faceplabting downstairs (prevented thanks to my epic catching skills) & trying to see who could consume the most bacteria (prize goes to Ollie putting a used dog toy in his mouth, note that we don't actually have a dog!!!!), we still had our moments. But where's the fun without some heartache?

In amongst games of hopscotch, drawing & copying letters etc, I realised that it had been ages since we had just been 'outside' with no toys, no gadgets brought from inside into the garden & just doing something exclusively together. Today, I made a promise to myself to get outside more, even if it's regular Scottish weather & we have to go out in hurricane & downpour proof clothing to jump in puddles. We spend way too much time indoors, way too much time on technology & too little time focused just on us with nothing else to think or worry about.

Technology, toys & gadgets have taken over & it's inevitable that we're going to get sucked in & at one point or another it's probably going to bite us in the bum. Today I was bitten. Hopefully, we can start as we mean to go on because realistically it's NOT healthy to have so much screen time & it's going to affect our relationships if we're playing a PS3 game with each other instead of one on one communicating & working together at something. Technology has it's place & it's a wonderful thing but maybe it's time to step back, take a look at how often it's being used & see if we're using our time as wisely as we could be.

- M