CharlieBeth's "My Life As Mumma Walker"

I've not mentioned the bathroom much lately, have I? I admit that it is because it's been going quite smoothly, if slowly since he's only had a couple of hours per evening to get stuff done. The last casualty being the lid to the cistern which is cracked right across. Some especially tough plaster from round the window bounced off it.... But in general I've been quite happy with the progress. The bath was plumbed in been deemed unusable until the last of the board was up, and ideally, tiled. But we're all (literally) itching for a PROPER bath. Couple of nights ago he turned the waster on at the tub but it leaked a bit so he turned it off. He needed a different spanner which he didn't have. I sighed a the new delay but just got on with stuff. So, flash forward to tonight. Hubby is home from work having picked eldest son up from jujitsu, I'm making tea in the kitchen, while middle son plays in the livingroom and baby naps in his room. Georgie starts to m

I think I am losing my marbles a little... I am so absent minded right now! Hubby is putting down to a double dose of hormones (with me having the last week on both Pill & Implant), and I'm hoping he's right because that should settle down soon. But I'm horrifically forgetful too at the moment. Last week I forgot to make a packed lunch for Jack to take to school and had to scrabble round for £2 to buy him a school dinner. Today I totally forgot to meet up with another mum on the school run - something I do EVERY Tuesday - and she came round for us when we didn't show only to be told we'd gone. It didn't even click when she arrived at school, I just called out a cheery "hello".... She must think I'm so rude or ignorant :( And this isn't all. I'm also in a "can't be arsed" mood. I think a lot of that is because we are STILL waiting for hubby to finish the bathroom. I'm not being critical of him, I know he's doing h

Urgh... Less then happy day today. MH C&R think I owe them £1200 for self assessment penalties. But I can't get through on the phone! Nice manager lady said I could call from work (instead of run up a huge bill waiting at home while I have the kids screaming mummymummymummy coz I've dared to pick up the phone and look serious). Am sending them a letter instead and hope I get a reply soon. Otherwise I'll have to pitch up at the local office - in the town hall - with kids in tow. Pretty sure I don't owe anything......... but it's not impossible that I've fecked up somewhere. A little worried. I'd have to make MANY SMALL repayments and I just don't want it hanging over my head. On top of that the Boss wanted to talk to me about those meetings from Friday. Did I think it was really as bad and the Ops Manager had said? Frankly, yes. So then he had a huge off loading session and I'm sat there - again - listening to it all. Mind you, I'm one of the

I've had my implant out!!!! It's gone!!!! And it wasn't anything like as bad as I thought it was going to be. The lady who did it was very nice and let me waffle on as she removed it - my way of coping. She showed it to me afterwards! Eww! So now I have tapes over the wound to stay on for 5 days, and a bandage for 24hrs. If I loosen it, I'll bruise worse. (She had me repeat all that to make sure I'd listened and learned, lol) So..... One step closer! She actually squealed a little bit when she read my notes on why I was having it removed and read "planning for a baby" which makes me smile. She was less dazzled and more stunned when I said I already had 3 boys. She'd stopped at 3 saying a 2am nappy was the end point for her and babies :) I wonder if I'll ever feel like that? They say you know when you're "done" having babies. And I know I'm not. Not yet anyway. I just worry about how I'll cope knowing I can't have a 5th

I've had my implant out!!!! It's gone!!!! And it wasn't anything like as bad as I thought it was going to be. The lady who did it was very nice and let me waffle on as she removed it - my way of coping. She showed it to me afterwards! Eww! So now I have tapes over the wound to stay on for 5 days, and a bandage for 24hrs. If I loosen it, I'll bruise worse. (She had me repeat all that to make sure I'd listened and learned, lol) So..... One step closer! She actually squealed a little bit when she read my notes on why I was having it removed and read "planning for a baby" which makes me smile. She was less dazzled and more stunned when I said I already had 3 boys. She'd stopped at 3 saying a 2am nappy was the end point for her and babies :) I wonder if I'll ever feel like that? They say you know when you're "done" having babies. And I know I'm not. Not yet anyway. I just worry about how I'll cope knowing I can't have a 5t

I'm a very open person. I don't deal will with secrets so I tend not to have any, far too stressful. So when it comes to TTC for a 4th time while still with the same employer what do I do? I tell them! Well, my female manager anyway. My male boss already knows that hubby & I planned to have 4 kids, I told him that when he took me on, and I've had 3 of them in the 6 years I've worked for him. I feel he knows the score. I still have a job too! But that's all the detail I tell him. He is a man, and my boss after all. With no kids of his own I doubt he has much interest beyond "what will it cost me to have you go on mat leave AGAIN?" Since I only get stat mat and other people cover my work when I'm not there (or it simply piles up till I get back) the answer it pretty much nothing! My manager, on the other hand, is affected by my choice to try again later this year. She is the one who will have to cover or delegate my work while I'm away, she'

Had the fright of my life last night. Thought Georgie was chocking or suffocating.... He woke us up round 4ish with this horrible chocking noise, went into him thinking he'd been sick or something and he was gasping for breath and really struggling. We'd tried to check if he had something he shouldn't in his mouth but he wouldn't let us touch his mouth or neck. I was all set for rushing him to A&E (I'm not normally a panicky mum, with 3 boys I've have a nervous breakdown if I was) but once he was upright he started to settle. He had a short feed and seemed better, but when I tried to lie him down he started to struggle again. So I spent the rest of the night sat with him so he could be upright. I booked him into the docs on the only free emergency apt at 2.50pm. Since he seemed ok enough I went to work. Didn't want to, but I'd agreed to be witness to two meetings. I was the only person willing and able to do it because they were potential disciplin

Ooh... Last night the bath was plumbed in. This evening it's OUT AGAIN!  Speechless. Anyway......... 3 days on the pill and it looks like my bleed is finally slowing down (touch wood) and I've only spotted since mid-morning. Georgie has been good for Daddy today while I was out at work and eaten and slept when he should have (bigger achievement than it sounds), Tom had dry pants all day at nursery and only one accident at home, and Jack brought home an age 7 book (he's only just 5) and read it to me really well only getting stuck on place names like Phillipine and Guam! Which is fair enough to me! So, bathroom aside, a cracking day! But now all I really want to is go to bed!

Had a moment with my eldest this evening. He's been taking jujitsu lessons on a Tuesday after school for the last half term and seemed to have been really enjoying it. It's one thing he's wanted to do ever since he saw the kick boxing during the Olympics. He couldn't believe people were ALLOWED to hit and kick each other since its something I try to limit at home! So when the chance came up at school I asked if he wanted to give it a try and he said he did. Sadly, this half term 2 of his friends dropped out. It is quite hard work and they are expected to achieve a certain level of discipline - not easy when you're only 4 or 5 years old. Yesterday he started saying he didn't want to go. I'm thinking its just because he's friends stopped or because the though he would miss out on something at home (we've borrowed an old He-Man DVD from a friend and he's loved watching cartoons mummy and daddy used to watch), mainly because he said it was becaus

Today is Day 1 on the pill. I'm still not 100% convinced that this pill is the right option. Ok, it's the only pill option while I'm BFing, thats covered. But I have another problem.  I'm  bleeding. I started the weekend before my consultation bout having the implant out and haven't stopped yet. I know some ladies have issues with bleeding on the implant and I'm putting this down to that (and it only starting now that I'm BFing less). The pill is the same thing. I didn't have trouble last time I was on it, but I wasn't very good at taking it and I was BFing Tom at the time. I stopped BFing and the pill at the same time, and got pregnant, so obviously no bleeding! I'm going to give it a try for a month and see what's what. Hoping that my body settles down. I can do without stressing about it for the next 3-5 months.

Ooooh! 2 weeks today till the implant comes out! 1 week till I start the pill! Wont deny I have a knot of nervous tension in my tummy thinking about it! It was Georgie's birthday last week and his party on the weekend. My littlest one is growing up, although he is still being breastfed and showing no signs of giving up. I can't help but wonder what difference that's going to make to our TTC. I'm not not wanting to wean him JUST so we can have another baby, he will likely self wean as my milk changes if/when I get on in my pregnancy - and if not I'll try to tandem feed. I enjoy feeding him, he enjoys me feeding him, and neither of us are ready to stop just yet. I'm hoping that the surge I should get from coming off the implant and pill will out weigh the effect of him still feeding. It is only 2-3 times a day after all, and other women get pregnant while BF (a friend from the school run still BF her 2yo and is expecting now). I know other people wean their babies

So this is what the wall looked like when folk arrived for the weekend for Georgie's party. Not great... but a damn site better than it had been! At least people COULD pee without being seen and heard by everyone. Apart from this one little bit at the bottom that didn't fit because, after taking the measurements, "something slipped". Mmm....  Never mind. My Mum, and my Mum-in-law, her partner and his granddaughter came to the house before the party. One of my sisters-in-law and her hubby stayed with us for the weekend. Luckily (since she is my hubby's sister) she knows exactly what he's like and sympathises with my situation. Actually, she laughed! A lot! But this is what we expected (love my S-i-L). No one else commented... Even my Mum although I expect she's saving it up for later (eep) Now.... these next few pics are what I am going to be stuck with for the next 7 days! Yay! Because she swapped his work days last week, he is now working until Su

Awww! What a lovely day! Almost all his cousins were there (not Ben as Bob & Rach are strapped with their wedding coming up this year) and they all had fun. Even Chris who is 12 this year joined in with the party, playing on the climbing frame with the younger kids. Baby Harry is the youngest at around 5 months younger than Georgie. George really liked having another baby to play with. My baby seemed so grown up, sitting on a proper kids chair, instead of a high chair, to eat his birthday party lunch. Crawling about everywhere, and having snuggles with his Nana and his Grandma, his Aunties Jenny, Rachel (not the same as Rach, confusing I know) and Amy. He LOVED Brewster Bear when he turned up to hand out balloons and party bags. He's been swamped with lovely presents of toys and clothes, and a hefty wedge of cash for his bank account too. Still find it hard to believe that he's one already.

Easter 2013 , a set on Flickr. Egg hunts, carrot cake baking, hat decorating, trips to parks, Brewsters, Wacky Warehouse in Morecambe AND Preston, Old Holly Farm, and Georgie's 1st birthday. A very busy Easter :)

Sorry for the unoriginal line, but seriously, where the hell has the last year gone? He can't be one already, he's not even walking yet! He still wants booby juice 2-3 times a day! He still cries when I leave the room! He's still my 'baby' not a one year old boy.... But he is. The ton of presents, helium balloon, Peppa pig cake, and the family party booked for Saturday kind of prove that. I think I'm sad because I know I only get to do this one more time. Georgie is already on the verge of not being a baby anymore and I'm sad because its gone so fast. Next time I find my self in this position it'll be be the very last time. Need to pull myself together! It's been a great day! Just me and the kids coz hubby is STILL tinkering with that bloody wall! (There are a few more bits of wood nailed in, but no plasterboard or anything. Good job I've taken tomorrow off!) So I took them down to Preston for the day. Deep Dale! Pound shop to spend their pocket

Oooh! It just goes on and on!!! Yesterday was fine. I went to work, nothing had changed when I got back, all was ok (well, not OK but you know, not worse). But today I'm off work to I am charged with taking the kids out for the day so he can continue to "crack on" ... these words will find their way onto his tomb stone! So a quick food shop, nip into B&Q for hubby, and also Wickes, then a McDonald's lunch for me and the kids before camping out at the local Fun Factory for as long as they'll let us stay. I paid for an hour, we were thee for 3! Part way through our Fun Factory-ing I get a call from Hubby. Remember that he NEVER EVER calls me normally. When I answer he sounds shaken  breathless, and unhappy. My first thought "has he been crying?" then "Oh crap! He's injured  He's called for an ambulance and there's blood and limbs everywhere!") so I asked the obvious: "Are you alright? What's happened?!" while

My implant is due for removal on April 29th. I have the pop pill at hand to start taking a week before, if we choose to use it. The idea of going on the pill was to regulate my cycle, but because I'm feeding Georgie I can't have the combi pill, and the pop pill won't do the job. Question is, do we bother? Answer.... Yes I think we should because we want a summer baby this time and a baby conceived in May, June or July would be too soon - as in too close to the other boys birthdays. Must remember that when my hormones kick in!!! The flip side is Nov is our cut off date for a baby born before Sept 1st. Lets say my cycle stays the same (it won't most likely, but hey) then the cycle starting Nov 16th is our last chance. And if I'm not already pregnant I'll have to decide if we want to keep trying for a girl and miss that school deadline, or just go for it and see what we get - most likely a lad. Urgh..... I'll cross that bridge when (if) I come to it. Tr

It's gone. Actually GONE! I was supposed to take the kids out for the afternoon so hubby could crack on and get the job done, only things didn't go according to plan. It started by Jack wanting to go to church this morning. No way I could take all 3 kids, they would run riot! So I agree to take him and hubby stays home with Tom & Georgie. When I get back George is still his his PJs and Tom is half dressed. No worries, lunch first then dressed and off to the park. It's Sunday so it's a roast dinner and takes a while. As soon as hubby finished his meal he's up and off to sort out the bathroom. I'm impressed! Then I hear "stuff" falling down the stairs. Bits. Lumps. You know, rubble... Hubby calls down "no one is to come up and down the stairs for ANYTHING!" and I think that's probably a good suggestion. Then it occurs to me... The kids clothes are up stairs. I glance round the livingroom door and up the stairs to assess risking hi

7 words I had hoped I would never hear my husband say. "I have to take that wall out" ... Ooohhh my god! He has been itching to knock a wall down in this house for as long as I've known him. From wanting to move the kitchen door (its fine where it is!) to making a new back door (that opened in to thin air coz we live on a hill) to making a window for the landing (nice idea but no way HE'S doing it) it's been a constant. Must be a man-thing. I have NO desire to knock walls down in my own house, ever. I like my walls. They keep the roof on! And until now I've held him off. Story is this; the bath broke. It split and needs replacing. A pain but not the biggest deal in the world. I had hoped that maybe a new bath would also mean we could finally get rid of that smelly old carpet and maybe even change the bathroom tiles. But it has become sooo much more. The new bath has been in the livingroom for 2 weeks. The old bath has been pulled out and stood on its end