Pollianicus

Brittany 2011

2011-07-21T12:14:00.003+01:00

We had an awesome holiday in France this year. Want to see some pictures? Of course you do....

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T19:56:00.002Z

Happy New Year everybody.

I am shamelessly copying my friend Natalie over at The Yarn Yard and have decided to set myself some goals for 2011.

Careful wording here. I don't want them to be resolutions as I don't want to resolve for or against something - hee.

GOAL ONE
Lose some weight. I have been reaching the upper limit on some of my jeans and I really don't want to have to buy the next size up. It would be much better to fit into them properly and even get down to the size down pile of trousers I have been reluctant to get rid of. I want to start eating more healthily. I am particularly interested in the Paleo diet and intend to try and use that for many of my meals and DH's. I think we will both feel better if we are eating better.

GOAL TWO
Declutter the house and garage - we have an excess of belongings which we really don't need. The garage is heaving with boxes. Really no need for it.

GOAL THREE
Linked to Goal One is to exercise. I want to run, swim and cycle every week. I think I need to try and exercise at least three times a week. Maybe cycling the kids to school and taking off on the bike afterwards. Or taking Orla swimming some afternoons. Or running while the kids are at school. There is also a Zumba class on in the evenings at the school.

GOAL FOUR
Clear some of my stash by sewing, spinning and knitting. Buy only for specific projects - no impulse buys.

GOAL FIVE
Get a job - Orla goes to school in August and if we are to ever get a house again we need more income. So - it makes sense for me to return to work. I need to find something I can do that works with the kids. We have no family support up here and no really close friends locally so it has to be something that I can get childcare cover with - easier said than done! My kids aren't always the easiest.

GOAL SIX
Okay I was planning on five - but this one is one I have been thinking about for a while. I have started reading more and want to continue but expand the book choice into things I wouldn't normally choose. Not sure how to do this. I feel the need to read a couple of classic books that I feel I ought to have read.

That's it for now - what are you going to be doing in 2011?

Christmas Greetings

2010-12-23T09:06:00.003Z

Okay - I am a bad blogger and also terrible at sending/writing Christmas Cards. I have a pile of half-written cards downstairs that I fear will not make it to the Post Office.

Meh - there's more to life.

So - today is the last day of school/nursery and the excitement levels in the house are very high. Fatigue has set in too with both Morgan and Orla looking really, really weary.

Ruaridh is in high spirits. It was his 7th birthday and he had some friends over for a very successful birthday party. There were party games including pass the parcel, musical statues, musical bumps and decorate the Christmas Tree! His cake contained every artificial colour you can think of and sugar to the max. All the kids had a wild time and a large glass of wine was earned by the end. He is thrilled with his presents - which ranged from a scientist white-coat and goggles to a ninja fighting hamster to lego to a calming cuddly dinosaur. All in all he had a great day and is on great form at the moment - so long as he (mostly) stays away from Morgan. They had a great time last night playing with the electronic kit Rua got for his birthday - I would really recommend it - it was pricey but it is his main present from us and is superb.

We have been living in West Lothian for a whole year now. In fact a year ago today we woke to so much snow that our removal van had no chance of making it to us. We had a minimal Christmas last year and actually had a lovely time. This year we are living in a slightly different house - round the corner from the other one. We love living here. It is 10 minutes from Martin's work. There is a huge local supermarket and a town with most things we need. Livingston, Edinburgh and Glasgow are all within easy reach. The school has (mostly) been a successful move. The boys seem settled in their classes and their transitions to the P2 and P5 went smoothly. I wouldn't say they are angels - and don't think they ever will be - but they mostly seem to be getting on well and are both clearly intelligent - just need to concentrate more.

Morgan continues to be interested in anything and everything and is often to be found readin non-fiction books learning in-depth facts about random things. Either that or he is playing vile games on a computer - sigh. He got his Aspergers diagnosis this year which we will be taking to the school in the New Year to discuss his key problem areas - fortunately there are only a few issues. He has take up Tae Kwon Do and was thrilled to earn a medal at a recent competition.

Ruaridh, apart from turning 7, is turning into a lovely, caring boy. He is still loopy as ever and can out-bounce Tigger. He is still on the melatonin and it has changed him so much. He gets a full night of sleep every night which is brilliant for him and us. Bedtimes with him are a breeze now. He loves his lego and building things. He also recently declared he wants to be an inventor - hence his birthday presents of a lab coat and inventing kit. We now call him Dr. Ruaridh.

Orla is going to be 5 in the spring and is a happy wee-thing. She is super-girly loving all things pink and shiny. She is now in pre-school nursery and loves it, especially since developing a special friendship with a boy ;-) She will start school next August and is more than ready. She is starting to read and write and I really don't see any problems with her at school. She is also doing Tae Kwon Do with Morgan and loves it.

Martin and I are much happier with our lot. We love living here. We moved here knowing next to nothing about West Lothian but have found it to be a great place to live. I have gradually found the best parks to go to and the best cafes ;-) I miss the sea though. I have made a couple of friends but it seems so much slower than Dunbar. I still keep in touch with a few friends from Dunbar-days though. Martin's work seems to be going really well although he is always busy and always looks tired. He is looking forward to a long rest at Christmas.

We are a bit stunned by the weather. We have had thick, thick snow since the end of November. The plummeting temperatures means that is not melting away. There is more apparently due today - please let it wait until after the (last) school run. This is what our road looked like at the peak of the snow:

And this is Morgan and me having a snow-fight. (The snow was too soft for snow balls so we just threw huge piles at each other)

I think that's us for now - my apologies if you were expecting a real card - I'm just not that organised.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year.

Lucy
x

About bloody time too

2010-10-03T20:53:00.003+01:00

I had an appointment this week with Morgan about getting him assessed for Aspergers. His first proper appointment since moving into West Lothian. So far - all he has seen is the school doctor and the GP.

I had no idea what to expect at this appointment and was surprised when I realised it was at a primary school and not at the hospital as usual. It turns out that the school in question is a specialist school providing care and support for autistic children and so the resources they have there are fantastic.

I met with two lovely women - one who was a speech and language specialist and one who was the Doctor. Morgan went off to talk to the language specialist while I went through a whole series of questions with the Doctor talking about how Morgan behaves and reacts and everything. I had a long list of behavioural things as bullet points in my organiser - so this took some time. We discussed not just his Aspergers traits but also his SPD (sensory processing disorder) and dyspraxia tendencies too. It was a really good appointment she seemed to actually listen and understand and was brilliant at explaining things I hadn't quite put together yet.

After we had exhausted all the points (and commented on the stupidity of previous Asperger (un)assessments) we swapped so I got to spend some time with the language specialist. She told me a little about what she and Morgan had been talking about and it was really interesting. She agrees that he is very intelligent and articulate but commented on his habit of swallowing mid-word. I think this is something to do with his oral-sensory issues.

Once the doctor had finished her assessment we all met up together again. Morgan was free to sit in with us or go and play in the soft-play area so he came in and out. They collated their notes and made some comments and then she said it. "He is Aspergers." Just nice and quiet. Did I hear right? "So - he is Aspergers?" (I needed some confirmation.) "Yes." My head went in a weird sort of blur at this point I had totally not expected him to be 'diagnosed' at the appointment. I think I was expecting to be told to come back for more tests in a couple of months. I think Morgan came back in soon after and she said to him something along the lines of: "Congratulations Morgan, you are a member of a special group of people - you have Aspergers." Wow!!

So - I have a son with Aspergers - it is official. And thhhhhhhhhhbbbbbbbbbbbb to that prime ass who said Morgan did not have Aspergers. He so does. He was wrong, wrong, wrong.

I am so relieved that we have finally got here. The next step is a report being sent to both me and the school after which we can meet up to discuss his care plan. At present I don't think there is a huge need for support for him but I want them to know all about it and be aware of triggers, issues that may arise and potential problem areas.

Does this change my son? Absolutely not. He is still Morgan and I still love him to bits. What I hope is that this will help other people to understand him as well as I do and allow him some self-understanding.

I am disgustingly proud of my son.

Washing Machine Blues

2010-09-21T19:13:00.004+01:00

Seriously - I couldn't make it up.

The saga of the washing machine....

My beloved Dyson was in storage while we lived in a house that insisted on leaving us a ton of unnecessary furniture. When we got it back last month it was plumbed in, welcomed home and set to work on washing clothes and duvets and it did an admirable job. A week after washing the last duvet (there were many) it decided to no longer play ball. It has started up its old tricks again. A load of washing put in on Thursday was finally extracted on Monday and by then I had had enough.

So - I sought advice. John Lewis was the majority call - oh I wish I had listened. Instead I was swayed by Boots Appliances - as they were recommended to me, they were offering free installation, they could take away my old Dyson and there was the winning option of next day delivery. I could have a new washing machine the next day - all plumbed in!!!

So I selected all the correct options and off my order went.

Meanwhile it's bedlam here this week. Lots of sleepovers, child juggling and school holidays. Last night I got a call confirming the order and assuring me my new washing machine would be arriving between 7am and 11am. Martin and I disconnected the old machine, switched off the water and placed a strategic bucket.

I was up early just in case the delivery was early. Then once Martin was up I went to shower so I wouldn't run the risk of missing the delivery. And we waited. The kids just pottered, played on the wii, did stuff. They had been promised a swimming trip once the washing machine had arrived.

By 12:30 I was getting a bit annoyed so called to see what was going on. I was put on hold while they contacted the driver to see what was going. They couldn't get hold of him. They would call me back when they knew what was going on...

15:00 - still no call back so I called back again. Kids behaving brilliantly and being really good about missing out on swimming. Monopoly was played. I was put on hold while they called the driver again... Still can't get hold of him. At this point I pointed out I had been waiting for way too long and really needed to go out and get some food. So - with my mobile in hand I made a mad dash to Tesco just randomly chucking things into the trolley so I could get back - in case the washing machine arrived while I was out. I wish.

Still no sign of the washing machine. New activities started with the children. Two cooking, one being creative with his scrap book and one building a wooden tank.

17:05 - called back again - this time using assertive, cranky voice. Once again they said they would contact the driver when I reminded them that this had not happened the previous two times. So - after being on hold for a while again I finally got the answer. The driver had been in an accident, hence the problems in getting hold of him. BUT - my washing machine wasn't on the van!!!!! WTF??? Well I was fighting back anger at this point. Why the hell have I wasted a day waiting for a machine that wasn't even on the lorry that everyone has been trying to contact and why did no-one realise this sooner? Grrrr.. So now we get the whole conversation about when they *can* actually deliver it. How about Friday? Ermm - no. I have a mountain of washing, no school uniforms, no shirts for Martin and I can't guarantee I will be in ALL DAY Friday as I have school and nursery runs and errmmm - a life. I was afraid at this point of agreeing something that I would later regret or forget. Instead I asked for a note to be put on my file and I would call them back at some point in the evening (they're open until 10pm). After I hung up I called Martin and exploded at him. Once I hung up one of my lovely friends called and I told her the whole sorry saga and it started to sound quite amusing.

Fast forward a little bit - kids eating tea and the phone rings. One of the supervisers/managers from Boots Appliances called. I was offered an alternative machine as the one I had originally ordered now wasn't available until Friday (I still don't understand this - where is the machine *I* ordered?) So first off I was offered one with a smaller drum. No way. Then I was offered an identical one to the one I ordered but silver, not white. This will cost £40 more - they will pay £20 if I will pay the additional £20. For me to get a machine tomorrow? Yes please. All sorted.

Ten minutes later - another call. Sorry - that one will not be available until October. How my head did not explode at this point I do not know. Don't worry - I have looked into alternatives.... Would you like a Hotpoint? Seriously? Whatever at this point.... I just want a washing machine so I don't have to go to the launderette tomorrow. So - I now have a Hotpoint washing machine on order which should be arriving tomorrow. At some point this evening - before 10pm - I will get a call telling me the time slot in which to expect my machine. Tomorrow I will get a call from the driver confirming delivery.... I just hope that both these things happen as I have school/nursery runs tomorrow and I would still like to take some of the children swimming. Won't be able to take them all now though as school intervenes.

So - watch this blog - will I get my washing machine tomorrow? I dearly hope so as I desperately need to get the washing backlog sorted.

***UPDATE***

The next day - washing machine delivered. Dyson beast removed - with a huge rip on the lino (Martin's fault, not Boots') - so have to sort that out next - typical huh?

Well - new washing machine does what it says on the can - and is a Hotpoint, not a Samsung. But hey - it works - and I actually really like it. It has a good warranty with it too - bonus.

Did you all notice the comment from Boots Appliances on the blog? I have to say I am impressed with their efficiency in finding this blog within hours of it being published. I emailed my reference number and got a call from them within 10 minutes checking that the new one has arrived and all is well!! Thumbs up to Boots Appliances for customer service and it is a shame that an error yesterday caused all of this in the first place! They have, however, fixed the issue and so are in my good books again. Have to dash - have to get some more washing on.... just hope my tumble drier can cope with the volume of washing...

The Horn

2010-09-13T22:25:00.004+01:00

You know when you are driving along the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow (or Glasgow and Edinburgh) and you see all those weird things. There are the sheep-covered pyramids at Bathgate, there's the weird Teletubbies horn just before Harthill, there's the hollow heads, the unicorn, the boat building...? Well 'The Horn' just happens to be at the corner of a really good Country Park ten minutes drive from us.

We had some friends over for the day and we all went up there as it was glorious weather and the seven (!) children needed to run for a bit. The play-park there is normally fantastic but it was all full of wasps. Not good. After the youngest child got stung on the mouth by one of the nasty wasps we decided to move away from the play-park and headed for off for a walk through the woods towards The Horn.

It's a fantastic walk and not actually that far so the boys could run off and choose sticks/branches for sword fighting/casting spells while the girls picked flowers and whinged about having too far to walk - it was one of those days. At the corner of the park you are faced with this:

It really is a great sight. Here's a bit of stuff about it:

There's lots more about it here.

Designed by Scottish artists Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion, it was originally commissioned to act as landmark between the two cities, stimulating drivers on a stretch of road that was notoriously bleak and featureless. From a rigid stepped concrete foundation, its silvery vertical form tapers for eighteen metres, before modulating into a swan-like neck which flares in turn into an oval trumpet. Pointing towards the motorway, periodically the Horn “speaks” to the cars that speed past below - one mechanism to another. The occupants, sealed inside their vehicles, may not be aware of this voice, others may have heard that it speaks, whilst others still may exit the motorway at junction 4, and walk to the base to clearly hear the Horn’s voice.

Quote taken from the Art in Partnership website as previously linked. For the record - I've visited it twice and the sound isn't working any more!

Pictures taken from Martin's Flickr set.

Reward Charts

2010-09-07T13:46:00.002+01:00

Last night I implemented reward charts. They have never worked for us - after two days or first failure the child in question (usually Rua) has abandoned it. This time - all three of them have two charts and they are on the fridge for all to see - so there’s a bit of a competition between them ;-)

Morgan gets a sticker for cleaning his teeth properly twice a day (it’s an Aspie thing - he struggles with toothpaste/toothbrushes) he also gets a sticker for doing his homework

Ruaridh gets a sticker for doing his homework and one for getting ready for school.

Orla gets one for going to bed and one for staying in bed.

All perfectly achievable but each child is struggling with a few things. I started it yesterday evening after Ruaridh had refused to do his homework. I called them all into the kitchen and told them what the plan was and how they could earn their stickers and what earning stickers would achieve (they can choose something in Tesco or can save up to buy something bigger).

So after starting it last night Ruaridh immediately sat at the table to do his homework, Morgan went to clean his teeth and Orla ran upstairs to get her pyjamas on. Glorious!! Orla went to bed beautifully and for the first time in weeks didn’t come down or mess about once. We’ve had a lot of her getting out of bed to get things, asking for a hot water bottle, wanting a drink of water, lots of silly things. So this was the first time she had a brilliant night for so long - very welcome.

This morning came downstairs to a happy Ruaridh already dressed - this is usually his morning battle. Such a happy morning with him, no problems at all and he got his sticker. Orla woke up and asked for her stickers straight away.

So far so good - hoping it will last….

They all think it’s really funny what the others are having problems with.

Something had to be done - homework has become a huge problem here so this way they earn something for doing their homework. Hope tonight goes well - think positive thoughts...

St. Abbs

2010-08-31T10:45:00.003+01:00

I went along to the Woolfish Festival yesterday in St. Abbs. I took Orla along with me and we went for a walk down into the village and harbour. (The main purpose being an ice-cream for Orla ;-) )

I adore the sea and being in St. Abbs reminded me of how much I miss it. West Lothian just doesn't have any! Oh well.

We started off looking at the memorial to the fishermen who drowned in the East Coast Fishing Disaster of 1881.

It's in a lovely setting, high above the harbour with stunning views along the clifftops.

Then we headed down the newly built steps down to the harbour. We had fun while we were sitting looking around, enjoying the sun. Orla decided to draw something but wasn't sure what. So I suggested this hut:

She wasn't so sure. So I drew the outline and she drew on the door and windows. Interestingly she drew the windows and door back to front - so door handle on the opposite side and the windows the wrong way round. Is that the way a four-year-old brain's work?

It was such a beautiful way - the harbour was stunning and the sea blue. I loved this boat:

(Did you see the swan swimming in the water - it was having a snooze and bobbing about on the water.) And the lifeboat station:

After an ice-cream we climbed back up the steps to the Village Hall and we sat and chatted with friends. I knitted and Orla sat on the floor doodling:

Look - she was writing her own song, here's the music:

All in all a lovely day out.

Decopatching

2010-06-25T16:44:00.001+01:00

I've read lots about decopatch - mostly inspired by Lucy over at Attic24 and finally got round to ordering some kits this week. I ordered four kits from The Imagination Workshop. I decided to go for kits as an easy start. Each of the kits came in a cute box with instructions, a special brush, glue/varnish, a sheet of paper and a papier mache animal. I ordered in some extra paper too to give us some choice.

It's half-day today so after lunch we set up the table and launched into them.

Orla chose the dolphin:

Ruaridh chose the tiger:

Morgan chose the elephant:

Leaving me with the cat. After about 40 minutes I had finished mine and the kids were about half way through and their interest had waned. So we cleared them all up and will finish them another day.

Here they are so far:

I think these kits were brilliant and all three kids were able to tackle it with a little assistance from time to time. Will definitely be thinking of what else we can decopatch....

How does your garden grow?

2010-06-15T14:00:00.000+01:00

We're renting at the moment - so can't really do anything with the garden.

Instead we have been using pots and sacks and tubs for most of our growing. Look how lush everything looks:

Busy Busy

2010-06-07T15:30:00.001+01:00

Hmmm - not sure where to start this blog.

I'll go back to last Thursday night when Ruaridh had the best bedtime in years. He was asleep before 8:10pm. I stupidly tweeted about it, jokingly wondering if he was ill, within two hours he was puking all over the bathroom and running a high fever.

The next day the poor boy continued to puke and had a really spikey fever - which at one point had him hallucinating about destroying his bed! Bless him. By Saturday he was getting better but was still not himself but it was the day of the Gala. We decided it would be best for him to stay at home so Martin took Morgan and Orla up to the meeting point. The school theme was beach:

It was an incredibly hot day and before the procession there was a long, rambling presentation/play/thing - involving tier upon tier of Flower Girl and attendants and things. Martin was not impressed with the length of it and apparently a flower girl collapsed in the heart. In their wisdom the primary school groups were at the *back* of the procession so the wait before the very slow walk was soooo long. One of our neighbours was in the group but her girl was an attendant - so was at the front of the procession - an hour ahead of us. So she bunked off to get to the gala in time to find her daughter. It really has made us think about what we would do if Orla was asked to be one of the flower girls, sorry bower girls as they are called locally. I think Martin and I would be tempted to say no but think Orla would be gutted - hmmm - few years before that is a possibility.

Anyway - back to the procession. So glad Ruaridh wasn't there - with all the waiting around, even if he had been well, he would not have coped at all. So - when he finally got dressed and he and I had our lunch I took him to Livingston and bought him a Lego model as he'd had such a crummy few days. We headed back to Bathgate and avoided the town and parked on the far side of the gala field. By this point it was incredibly hot and Martin had no money with him and two hot children. Fortunately I had some and so got them some food while we watched two lunatics doing stunts on Motorbikes *shudder*. By that point the kids were getting restless so after a go on the Hook-a-Duck stall and a bounce on a slide we took them to the play park at the edge of the field where there was some shade. Rua didn't go into the park (which is completely unlike him - he would normally be the first there and the last to leave) choosing instead to sit in the shade.

See - no bounce:

We headed home pretty soon after that.

Sunday was a lazy, rainy day with a mission in the afternoon which I am sure I will tell you all about soon.

Today there is no school as it is a local holiday. I was going to take them all to Edinburgh Zoo but it seemed a bit too much for me on my own so I opted for our smaller, local zoo instead. I made a packed lunch for us and packed up the waterproofs and off we went.

Well - it cost us £20 to get in!!! Do you know how long we stayed? 90 minutes - and that included going back to the parrots three times, having a snack and choosing tat from the shop. We were all very disappointed.

There was a monkey area that all three kids refused to stay in for any length of time because of the smell. There were so many animals there that looked ill and sad. Most of the animals looked like they had been rescued - which I would be sympathetic towards if that was the case - but there were no signs reflecting that - so not sure if that is what they were or if they were neglected/not happy. I certainly felt very uncomfortable there. The monkeys were not the only animals that stank.

There was a mini funfair in the middle that you had to pay extra for and didn't seem to be open anyway. The whole thing had the feel of an extended petting zoo, run in someone's back garden. Very odd. The cafe was naff - chocolate bars galore and a filthy toilet. The parrots were great and the kids all liked a cockatoo who liked dancing and could say 'hello'.

There was a large selection of animals there and not all of them looked unhappy and while we were there they re-homed the pygmy goats into a great-looking enclosure with lots of grass and space. We didn't want to eat our lunch there so had a quick snack and got back into the car.

After that we headed off to one of the big Country Parks near here - Almondell and Calderwood. By this point it was trying to rain but we plodded on. We walked from the car park down to the visitor centre which was shut for lunch. Next to it there are some benches and a BBQ pit and a playpark. The kids had a great time. We went back to the visitor centre and picked up a leaflet on the walks. We started off on one but Rua was a but whingy by this point. So instead of doing the full walk we cut back along the river. We found a bit under three huge horse chestnut trees where the kids could play by the river. By now it was raining but the trees gave us enough shelter. The kids had a ball - pretending to fish, jumping on the rocks, chucking stones in. Lots of fun. I found a big, dry rock and sat and knitted in the rain - hee.

Once they were wet enough we headed back to the car and home. We are now all sat in the lounge watching Astroboy, looking forward to pancakes for tea. We will definitely be going back to the park - was much, much better than the zoo and was free. If we get some nice days over the summer we could go and paddle in the river - it's a good, safe place to play. Must add it to my list of days out for the summer holidays.

Dietetic Appointment

2010-05-12T19:21:00.004+01:00

I took Morgan for a dietetic appointment today.

On the way he asked if I was going to ask them to force-feed him with a tube - oh bless. I think he was really worried - although he did a very good job of covering it. Although - he has this last few weeks been getting infected fingers which I was wondering whether it was due to a reduced immune system. He does have the added problem in that he doesn't do pain - and will go out of his way to avoid pain. So - with pus-filled, swollen fingers he will not allow any puncturing at all so we have been using magnesium sulphate and big dressings and plasters and bandages. Anyway - I am digressing.

So - I took along an eating diary for him which looks like this:

A Typical School Day

Breakfast
Large bowl of coco pops with full-fat milk
Sometimes a glass of milk too

Snack
Penguin Biscuit
Milk

Lunch
3 Scotch Pancakes
2 Strawberry Frubes
Water

Tea
Half baguette of par-baked bread (has to be just cooked – so white, not brown)
Frubes
Water or Milk

Things he has occasionally:
waffles (not the potato ones)
pancakes – with butter and sugar
ice-cream – but has to be Mr. Whippy style, not scoop
other cereals – rice crispies, cornflakes
tunnocks tea-cakes, wagon wheels
if we go out for pizza he sometimes has a deep-pan base – with nothing on it
nutella (but only on a spoon, not on another food item)

Things he will not touch:
pasta
rice
potatoes
vegetables
fruit (except the strawberry in the frubes)
meat
fish
cheese
fruit juice
nuts

As you can see his diet has become extremely limited which causes no end of frustration.

The appointment was at the *huge* hospital in Livingston where, having already taken Ruaridh recently (oh must blog about that one too), I knew to expect the parking to be dreadful. So we arrived at the car park half an hour early to allow for parking which actually only took 10 minutes of driving around until I eventually followed someone walking across the car park. I felt like a car-stalker.

The appointment went really well. Morgan had a new Dr. Who magazine with him to occupy him in case of any long waits. I was glad of this as the waiting room was clearly normally used by people a lot older than both of us. We saw the dietician and a student.

They saw I had the food diary with us and went through it in detail and I need to do some measurements for them tonight - how big is his bowl of rice crispies, how much milk does he have on them, how big are his pancakes and so on. They will analyse everything he is eating and determine if he is missing out on any key vitamin/mineral groups. (Probably Vitamin C and Iron.)

In terms of what to do next there was a number of things we will do.

Firstly they will analyse his current diet and supplement if necessary. They have a soluble, tasteless one that could work for him. (Every other child-supplement I have seen in a Chemist has always been fruit-flavoured which Morgan would not take.)

Secondly they are sending me some information on a slowly, slowly approach to introducing new foods. Something we have thought about doing before but never really got very far with. She insists that this be done with just one new food at a time and to choose something, with Morgan, that he does not see as too challenging. So I think we are going to start with carrots as this is something he has looked at before.

Finally he will probably be referred to a psychologist. First though we need to get the Aspergers diagnosis - so I need to push this with the school/GP. If he does not get the Aspergers diagnosis this time then she will refer him for a psychology appointment from a diet point of view. So it's reassuring that it will not be the end of the road if we get another no.

All in all a fairly positive appointment - I went in not really expecting a solution but more just some ways to possibly go. Morgan was okay through most of the appointment but was clearly getting stressed by the end as he was spinning around on his chair. It was incredibly hot in there too - I have never understood why hospitals have to be heated to incredibly high temperatures - insanity.

Birthdays

2010-03-29T15:59:00.002+01:00

I like March. It's my birthday month - and also my daughter's birthday. I like my birthday. I like to know it is *my* special day. I like to be spoiled and treated for the day.

And I was.

I woke up to a bed full of children and presents. Lots of fun things - money to spend from the parents/parents-in-law, chocolates from Martin and the kids, my first *ever* signed card from all three children - a very special thing.

My main present hadn't arrived. I bought a new spinning wheel at Christmas but I never quite got on with it so I decided to spend a little more and get the wheel I really wanted. So I have bought a new (to me) Asford Kiwi and it is lovely. She is bright red and called Marcy - not named by me - and I may change her name - we'll see.

Anyway - back to my birthday. Martin had taken the day off as he has some holiday to use up and he was off to India the next day. I had planned a trip to the New Lanark Mill with a couple of lovely friends. We had an absolute ball. Great mill, great company, great lunch and great shopping at the mill/wool shop. I bought some wool for a sweater for me and Orla and got a little more for Martin's just in case I ran out. We had lunch at the hotel rather than in the cafe. Was perfect. Steak sandwich, wine, knitting, birthday cake and tea. Thanks Sally and Natalie it was a lovely day.

I came home to another Steak dinner and good wine with Martin.

All in all a lovely birthday.

The next day Martin was heading off to India for ten days - more of that another time - and more on Orla's birthday some other time.

Do you like the new look of the blog? Was playing with some of the new templates available.

I am in need of a cup of tea and I promised Martin roast chicken for tea - better get it in the oven!!

Moving house in a blizzard

2010-03-05T14:50:00.004Z

Wow - three months since I last blogged. Naughty blogger ;-)

Since I last blogged - we have moved house (in a blizzard) and had a whole heap of problems and changes.

This is what we woke up to the day after we moved in.

As you can imagine there was *no way* the removal van was going to get anywhere near the house. You'll notice Martin's car is not there - that's because it got snowed in down the road - being an automatic - it is terrible in the snow.

So we had no removal van for TWO WEEKS because of the snow, ice, Christmas and New Year. Actually - it was good fun. Fortunately for us we had got the keys the week before we moved in and spent one night over the weekend here. (We couldn't move when we got the keys as we wanted the boys to finish the term at the old house and then Ruaridh had a birthday and Martin had an exam... so it was the 22nd we moved out and in theory the 23rd we would move in.) The night we spent here over the weekend we filled the cars with things like sheets, duvets, Christmas presents (phew) and other things. We left all the dirty washing here and camped out. Another bit of luck (which we are now cursing) is that the landlord left half their furniture here. Which means we had beds, sofa, chairs, kitchen stuff, a washing machine, tumble drier.... Now we have all our stuff back it is a complete pain as we have so many duplicates and nowhere to put it all. We have a lot less bookcases so we have boxes and boxes of books in the garage. We have had to keep some stuff in storage as we simply have no space for it all.

So not the smoothest of moves - along with problems at the old house that we didn't get chance to sort out as the weather made driving anywhere so dangerous. Even now in early March we still have snow and ice on the ground. It has been a hard, cold winter. The temperatures were so low that the snow just piled up and up on itself. The drainpipes fell off the house, tiles were damaged, the garage door broke, the outside thermometer fell to pieces - not fun.

Anyway - the boys started at the new school and seem to be getting along mostly okay. It hasn't been easy for them. Morgan is struggling to make new friends but he has finally started talking about people which is a good sign. He is now obsessed with reading and reads late into the night. Ruaridh's transition was not so smooth but his new teacher is getting to know him and is finding some strategies that help him. I have a meeting with the school to discuss his progress next week. Orla should have started nursery in January but they lost her forms! So she will start after Easter now. She is more than ready for it. I think we are starting to drive each other nutty being together all the time in the week.

Finally now in March we can start to see some signs of Spring through the snow. I think we are all looking forward to being out more and getting to know the area. I've spotted a few parks and open spaces for us to explore. I want to get us all onto bikes. Orla is getting a bike for her birthday (in fact we pick it up tomorrow) so that should help with the school run. Ruaridh loves scooting to school (when there is no snow) and Morgan seems to like just walking - especially as one of his new friends goes the same way as us.

I'll update more soon as there is a lot going on with the boys and assessments....

December in Edinburgh

2009-12-07T14:59:00.003Z

December in Edinburgh means Winter Wonderland. Princes Street is busy with shoppers and the Gardens are full of fun things to do. There's the Big Wheel, the Markets full of the smells of burgers, mulled wine, crepes and coffee. There's the ice rink and the rides. It's actually great fun.

On Saturday Rua and Orla had their annual Christmas Party paid for by IBM. Santa showed up:

Presents were given out, food was eaten, magician show was watched and balloons shapes were made. Martin took them while Morgan and I went and explored the sights and smells of the Christmas Market.

We bought a crepe and a burger, he went around the Ice Maze and had a go on the Helter Skelter. (That wasn't so good as he hurt his hand coming down.) Then we went to get a hot drink to escape from the cold rain. We sat and knitted and read while trying to look out of steamy windows. Then we did a little shopping and met up with the party goers. Orla was now out of her party dress and dressed more sensibly so we decided to go on the Big Wheel. Fortunately it had stopped raining by now and the light was rather wonderful. So after queueing for 20minutes we got on and off we went. It was lovely - we got some amazing views over the city and Martin took some rather wonderful pictures.

Here's me, Orla and Morgan having fun on the wheel:

Happy Hallowe'en

2009-11-05T11:24:00.005Z

Okay - I know it's a little late - but I feel I need to be more cheerful. So - some photos taken from Hallowe'en last week:

This is Orla about to go to the Hallowe'en Party - she won a prize for her costume. She accessorised with a cat, broomstick and a pair of wellies!

This is Morgan ready to go to the same party holding Orla's broomstick as she had loads to carry already! He had white face-paint on under the mask. I didn't manage to get a picture of Ruaridh before the camera battery died - whoops.

This is the gang on Hallowe'en night setting of guising - t

hey had fun knocking on doors and getting sweets for telling jokes. We still ha

ve a ton of sweets as my kids don't really eat that many. They especially don't touch the chocolate as they don't like the taste of cheap chocolate (so proud).

Yeah - that's me. 'Nuff said.

Just put a small version of this picture in as it was kind of scary. Martin looking particularly gruesome.
The pumpkins:

Hope you all had a Happy Hallowe'en. Bonfire night tonight and we're off to a beach bonfire!!

Update

2009-11-04T10:32:00.001Z

The news came - it was not good.

No idea what we're going to do.

Feel sick thinking about it.

Time for more tea.

Brrrr

2009-11-03T11:58:00.002Z

Well it is November 3rd and being cold I guess is going to be the norm from now until .... we move into our nice warm house. Trying not to think too much about moving at the moment as despite the huge list of things I really need to work my way through I can't do any of them until we are over one huge hurdle. Won't bore you with the details - but I really hope it gets sorted out soon as it is really stressing me out.

So - it's cold. I think all of the male members of the family have stinking colds. One is at home watching TV and dressing up as Buzz Lightyear but is so congested with thick green mucus that I am only assuming the school will not want him near them. DS1 is at school - and seemed happy enough to go this morning. He had a headache last night and took paracetamol for it. (He won't touch calpol with a barge pole). DD is off at nursery - fortunately I grabbed the childminder this morning and she took her up as DS2 was still in bed. DH is at work with the start of a nasty cold. Poor thing had to meet one of his bosses at 7am!!! this morning for breakfast so was up around 5 - fortunately for me I slept through the whole thing.

We have so little food in the house and can't go out because of DS2. If DH gets home at a sensible hour I may nip out to go to Asda and top up.

I don't have a cold - fortunately - just feeling a bit low as I am over-whelmed with the stuff I need to be doing but am resisting.

Sorry for the boring blog - not a lot to say today - I have some more exciting ones buzzing in my brain - but right now I need a cuppa - can I make you one?

Day Two

2009-11-02T09:35:00.002Z

So - day two of the daily blogs for a month. I'm doing this one early in the day as I plan to be busy for the rest of the day.

Not a good start to the day - DS2 is home sick - he's absolutely choked with a cold. And, trust me, he's vile when he has too much snot. Guess it means his class will be quiet today.

I have a meeting with the Nursery Staff this morning when I go back to get DD - to see how she is doing. Should be fine, unlike the boys I don't think I have too many worries with Orla.

So plan for the day - not very exciting:

Attack the kitchen
Start preparing wool for sale at the Wool Festival at the weekend
Washing... (never ending)
Watch This Morning as Bill Bailey is on
Drink tea
Nurse Sick Boy
Phone new school to make appt to see H/M

Trying not to go overboard today as I don't want to wear DS2 out. Will have to go to the corner shop and stock up on essentials as I don't think I will make it to a supermarket today - bother.

NaBloPoMo

2009-11-01T23:03:00.002Z

NaBloPoMo - November is National Blog Posting Month. The idea is to blog every day for the whole month. I will point out now that I don't expect to achieve this as we have every intention of moving house mid-month.

So where do I begin? November is going to be a hectic month and today has been a busy start. I went to the amazing German delicatessan in Gullane for cake and coffee. I had the most decadent chocolate and pumpkin pie and a cup of tea. It was lovely sharing the morning with friends to celebrate a birthday. Lovely.

Unlike the weather which was shocking. I was very late back which was a bit rubbish for Martin as he was supposed to be going out to study. He went anyway - but of course it meant he didn't get as long as he needed and was late back here - in the middle of bedtime. Sorry hon!

Tomorrow I plan on starting a severe house de-clutter. I need to go through everything. There is simply no space or indeed need for all the stuff we have accumulated at the new house. I want to get rid of at least a quarter of our clutter. Martin has made a good start with thinning the books on the shelves. I plan on getting rid of all the nappies, baby clothes, feeding bras, maternity clothes, car seats, high chair and stuff that just fills boxes and boxes.

If I do need that stuff again then I can peruse eBay. Not making any statement here one way or the other - only time will play that one out.

Right - going to grab a cuppa and head to bed - reading a good book at the moment, and want to see what happens next. I won't tell you what it is as I may need to save that for a day when I can't think what else to blog about.

Fleetwood Mac

2009-10-23T09:34:00.003+01:00

I have been a Fleetwood Mac fan as long as I can remember appreciating music. I'll admit to a small Abba phase when I got my first tape recorder - I remember recording a concert off the TV - well trying to - we didn't realise you had to press the Play and the Record buttons at the same time. Following that I remember liking Adam and the Ants whenever they were on Top of the Pops. My first crush was John Taylor from Duran Duran and I was rather partial to a bit of Wham and A-ha.

When I was 16 I had my first boyfriend. He had this amazing record player that would play both sides of a record - one after the other - the needle arm went under the record for the second half and one of the albums we would listen to over and over again was Tango in the Night. Every time I hear any of those songs I am taken back to those times sat on the floor in his bedroom listening to those records and (look away now mother) making out. I won't bore you with details of that here though. *blush*

But they were early poppy days. I don't think I ever really appreciated music properly until I was given a couple of compilation tapes by my brother and one of my school friends both trying to change my taste in music and it worked. I was now in Sixth Form so about 17/18 years old. On those tapes I distinctly remember listening to and loving Albatross, Black Magic Woman and Man of the World. All early Fleetwood Mac songs - I was hooked.

I spent the next few years expanding my music taste and buying/listening to a wide range of stuff. Throughout that time Fleetwood Mac has always been there. I have a number of their albums on vinyl and then on cassette. Of course my favourite is Rumours - no-one can miss the emotion in that album. Tusk also became a firm favourite.

I lost interest a bit when the band had a member shuffle and Billy Burnette and Rick Veto joined the band - they seemed to lose some their Rock/Blues feel.

So - fast forward to this year. DH has always known my love for Fleetwood Mac and suddenly sends me an email saying do I want to go and see them at the SECC. Well of course I do. So that was last night. My ears are still buzzing.

The Herald have posted a review of it - but now here is mine.

To set the scene I won't bore you with the history of Fleetwood Mac - I simply don't have time and Wikipedia does a fine job. The line up was Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Now before I went to see the concert I will admit to having pre-conceived ideas of them. Stevie Nicks, to me, always seemed to be a bit weird, a bit out of it and a hippy stuck in '80s clothes. John McVie I always had down as a bloody good bass guitarist. Lindsey Buckingham I will openly admit to knowing very little about and Mick Fleetwood is basically a God. Mick is the one I really wanted to see. In fact I would have paid good money to see him play 2 hours on the drums - but that might have been a little over the top.

Anyway - on with the show. I had a seat up in the Gods - well that's what it felt like. But it was almost central to the stage so the overall view was superb. There were two huge screens for close ups too - so I didn't miss much.

This was not a publicity tour for a new album - they openly admitted to it being a Fun Tour to showcase some of their old songs.

I was intrigued by Stevie Nicks' costume changes - she started off with a black floaty/lacey dress which she changed for another black floaty/lacey dress which she changed for a red floaty/lacey dress which she changed for a black floaty/lacey dress. She accessorised with boots/heels/floaty shawls (I was trying to see if they were hand-knitted) and her trademark Top Hat. She totally looks like she fell into the late 1970s/early 1980s gothic era and never got out again. She had a black tambourine and black microphone/stand all dripping with ribbons. She played with the ribbons on her stand throughout the concert. Despite that her voice is still the same - so unique. Her on-stage dynamic with Lindsey was hard to miss. The pair of them openly flirted the whole way through singing a load of songs with/to each other. At one point I felt like I was intruding on some kind of foreplay. Very odd seeing as they are not a couple anymore and Lindsey is married with 2 children. Reading their biographies on Wikipedia certainly makes their relationship sound very stormy.

The whole show seemed to be a Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks showcase. It seemed to all be about them. They did all the talking, mostly about how good it was to be back together and wasn't the past turbulent. The songs they played from Rumours were full of meaning and emotion.

The songs were fantastic - second up was The Chain - probably their best known track and when John gets to do that great guitar riff ..... the camera/screen showed him for about 3 seconds before flipping back to the skirts and the ribbons on Stevie. Very disappointing. Likewise whenever Mick got a good bit on the drums you got a brief glimpse - the audience would roar - and then it would be back to Lindsey/Stevie. I was getting a little annoyed.

At one point Lindsey did a solo guitar/song while everyone else went backstage. I have to admit he was fantastic and he really is a great guitarist..... but I wanted more John and Mick.

It wasn't until the encore that Mick finally got to talk to the audience and played a fantastic drum solo in World Turning. Glorious - but too long in coming. I wanted to see more of Mick. He introduced everyone to the audience (about time too) and reiterated what I could openly see that John McVie was definitely the quiet one in the four. Choosing to stand just in front of Mick throughout the concert and not moving from his spot except to leave the stage/come back on. He didn't say a word.

So - to sum up - as I seem to be all over the place. Fantastic, glorious concert that I am thrilled to have seen. But... too much Stevie/Lindsey and not enough John/Mick.

Wind Farm Open Day

2009-10-13T13:03:00.004+01:00

It's been a while since I blogged. Can you believe it's October already - time is flying.

It's half-term here this week and today is a lazy day. We had a busy day yesterday - more of that later and perhaps more on Ruaridh's blog too.

What I really wanted to tell you about was our visit to the local Wind Farm.

It was a great day. There were fliers and posters all around the village and local town and so many people said they were going to go. The school went along earlier in the week with the eco-group and they seemed to ahve a great time although none of my kids went. The flier told of a free lunch - so over 800 people showed up - fantastic!! They ran out of burgers and had to go off and buy 300 more!!

There was a big marquee with lots of information about the Wind Farm and its 16 turbines. There was face painting:

There was a bouncy castle and a few stalls. Best of all was a tractor ride (a tractor pulling a large trailer with hay bales in it to sit on) that took you right up under one of the turbines. I have always loved wind farms - I think they are stunning - and to see them up close was a real treat. Once at the turbine Martin got off and walked back so he could take a whole load of photos.

The windmill is 80metres tall with each blade being 45metres long - giving a total height of 125metres - fantastic!

All in all a great afternoon out - all three children were buzzing and telling us how good it was. I wonder how many turbines it would take to get rid of our local nuclear power station....

Photos, as ever, taken from Martin's Flickr account.

2009-08-25T13:24:00.003+01:00

Wanted to show you some photos of the kids from France:

The chuckle brothers:

Orla and her ice-cream:

La France

2009-08-05T10:48:00.003+01:00

Just spent two weeks in France.

Started with a 5 am start to catch the 3pm ferry - made it, through torrential rain, with 10 minutes to spare. Crossing was rough, rough, rough - 2 out of 5 of us vomited. I didn't vomit but did have a vomiter on my lap..... nice.

Arrived in Cherbourg feeling grim, checked into the hotel and showered the ones of us who smelled bad.

Went out for dinner for moules frites - nom, nom, nom.

Next day we drove to our campsite on the Vendee coast. Fantastic location. Kids had a ball the first week. Kids club, swimming, climbing, eating.

Second week we headed East and spent a week in a gite just south of the Loire Valley. Lots of chateaux, food, wine, fun.

All in all a good two weeks. The journey back was very stressful as the kids were sick of being so close to each other in the car. DVD player and Gameboys definitely helped.

Now for some of Martin's photos (thanks hon).

Hot, sweaty children:

Clos Luce - the house where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years:

Lots of sunflowers growing in the fields:

Proud Peacock:

Moules et vin:

Bacchus, God of Wine:

My Life according to JJ Cale

2009-07-16T08:59:00.001+01:00

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 20 people including me. You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song titles. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "My Life According to (BAND NAME/ARTIST)"

Pick Your Artist:
JJ Cale

Are you a male or female?
Everlovin' Woman

Describe yourself:
Crazy Mama

How do you feel:
One Step Ahead of the Blues

Describe where you currently live:
Right Down Here

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Let's Go To Tahiti

Your favorite form of transportation:
Lonesome Train

Your best friend is:
Old Friend

Your favorite color is:
Super Blue

What's the weather like:
Cloudy Day

Favorite time of day:
After Midnight

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Strange Days

What is life to you:
Precious Memories

Your current relationship:
Feeling in Love

Breaking up:
Too Much For Me

Looking for:
Cajun Moon

Wouldn’t mind:
Playing in the Street

Your fear:
Death in the WIlderness

What is the best advice you have to give:
Don't Go To Strangers

If you could change your name, you would change it to:
Magnolia

Thought for the Day:
Wish I Had Not Said That

How I would like to die:
I'll Kiss the World Goodbye

My motto:
Anyway the Wind Blows

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009-07-16T07:43:00.006+01:00

***Contains Spoiler***

If you haven't read the book or seen the film then don't read on.....

So - took Morgan to see it last night and loved it. Cinema was packed out and there was a real buzz. We had rubbish seats - right at the bottom to one side - so the screen seemed distorted for some shots making me feel a little dizzy.

The film itself was fantastic - picking up where Order of the Phoenix left off.

The film flowed quite nicely and I think sits well as a film in its own right. You can see how it has to fill the gap between 5 and 7 - with some enforced story telling. There was a huge amount missing from the film - so some explanations were a little weak - but to do justice to the book would take at least a 12-hour film - and then you'd still be missing stuff out. I think I need to go back to the book to see just where all the gaps are - but I'm not going to discredit the film for that. It has a job to do - get from OoTP to The Deathly Hallows.

You can really see how the three key actors have developed as actors through the years, as have the characters. The passion in this film as the characters find love is really amusing and at times seems to take over the story - and Voldemort seems to be in the back of the film for a lot.

I feel the horcruxes were only lightly explained - but maybe this will be talked about more in the next film(s). The scene where Dumbledore and Harry visit the lake really is scary and I think the whole cinema jumped (although we were expecting it) - I was holding Morgan's hand at this point. (For his sake - of course ;-) )

Highlights for me:

Harry taking the lucky potion - very funny
Ron in love with Romilda
Hermione hating Ron
Ginny
The twins shop

Annoying things:

Charlie and Bill not in it (or Fleur)
Only brief Lupin appearance
A lot of story twisting with the Weasley house (or maybe I don't remember that bit from the book)
Very little discussion on Sirius' death
The whole Half-Blood Prince was not explained at all - just one line saying who it was
No Dumbledore funeral (I did warn you this had spoilers in)

Oh - and a side note. I took Morgan along - he is eight in September, has watched all of the Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean films and I was a little concerned about taking him to such a dark film - he was fine. On the other hand the TWO YEAR OLD GIRL on the same row as me was not having a good time. Whatever possessed her parents to take her I do not know - pure insanity.

Shuffle

2009-07-14T14:43:00.003+01:00

For ages now Martin has wanted to buy me an iPod and for years I have resisted. I didn't see the point to be honest - I need to be able to hear what the kids are up to - to minimise chaos.

But - I have just taken up running - yes you did read that right. So I mentioned that I'd quite like an iPod Shuffle to run with. No sooner said then done and the DH-fairy waved his wand and excitedly cam home with this.

He just can't help himself - he loves buying gadgets - even if they are for other people. Fortunately for him he got it right and this is just what I want. I don't need a display (I'll be running) I just needed something small that does the job. I may even put some audio books on it at some point - but for now loud music is needed so I can run to the beat.

You have to love Apple for their packaging - they do it so well.

Drool at leisure.

So much to tell you

2009-07-06T09:47:00.008+01:00

As usual I have been a sloppy blogger. I see I haven't blogged since Easter - wow. Maybe I should try for a big fill in blog - but let's face it - that's not going to happen so I'll go for a bullet point version - hope I cover everything.

Orla

Cute as anything

Almost toilet trained (still hit and miss with pooing and still in a night nappy)

Hair now cut into a gorgeous bob but is incredibly slow to grow - wish she had Morgan's thick hair

She'll be starting ante-pre-school nursery in August (yes it really is called that)
Her favourite colours are pink, purple and blue

She still loves accessorising pretty outfits to add her own flare

She still has enormous eyes

Morgan

Look how handsome he is getting

End of term was good

He enjoyed Sports Day this year (unlike last year)

He has become obsessed with GoGo collecting

His behaviour is (mostly) improving and he is learning responsibility for himself and others

He has rediscovered a friendship with an old friend which is lovely.

Ruaridh

Having to steal a photo from Martin for this as I don't seem to have any recent photos of him - must remedy that.

He has his usual summer tan so is getting all the usual comments

He is still a monkey and loves hanging upside down - note to self - find a gym for him

He will start school (again) in August which I am two minds about

Despite outbursts of anger and frustration he is calming down and is showing his compassionate side more and more

He contintues to show his creative side with drawing, telling stories, dressing up and making models

That's it for now - I have a big bit of news to blog soon - but am a little scared by it all - and can't quite believe it - so will reveal all another time. (No - I'm not pregnant.)

2009-06-24T16:18:00.002+01:00

Why is he so smiley??? Because he just got FIVE PACKETS of GoGos for eating a piece of carrot.

Easter Holidays

2009-05-11T12:04:00.008+01:00

The first week of Easter we headed down south to catch up with lots of family. As we are such a big family now there was no space for us at either set of parents so we decided to hire a cottage in Staffordshire close to the Shropshire lot and not too far from the Cheshire lot. It worked really well. The cottage was an old Post Office and was perfect for us. We had a Tesco delivery the day we arrived and lots of space to spread out.

Martin's sister and husband were over from Ireland with their 6 year old son and 3 year old daughter so there was lots of catching up to be done as we hadn't seen each other for ages. We did lots of trips out to local attractions and excuse me while I steal some photos from Martin's Flickr to show you some of it.

One trip was to Hawkstone Follies an Eighteenth Century park famous for its follies. Sounds idyllic huh? Well after a huge mix up we were two hours behind everyone else so a pleasant 4-hour visit turned into a 2-hr fast (and exhausting) hike where I ended up carrying Orla for a large bit of the return trek while Martin went searching for Morgan who had gone missing. We definitely earned the ice-cream at the end. The views were outstanding though and Martin got some cracking photos.

I think this one was taken just after I'd met back up with Martin and Morgan - I was relieved that he was okay and not at the bottom of a huge gully. (The things that go through a mothers' head when she is worried...)

Being so close to Ironbridge it would have been rude not to visit some of the attractions. Enginuity was a great hands-on science museum - aimed at children. I was very impressed although did spend more time looking for Ruaridh than actually looking at the exhibits. Was great fun though. Here's Ruaridh closing the dam on the huge water cycle:

This was Blist's Hill - a replica Victorian Town. Has a bank, a baker, a pub, a printer and a candlemaker where you can spend your 'old' money. Was a great day out with lots to look at and explore. Morgan and Finn (6) got on really well and found a shared passion with Football. Well, more accurately with collecting football cards. Neither of them really knew much about football at all. They did both declare that they were Man U fans - so to try and stop this they went to see a real football game. Wolves were playing (and won) Southampton.

They look they had a great time don't they?

Orla also got on really well with her cousin Tess (3) - here they are chasing bubbles.
On the way back home we went via my Aunt's house and met up with my cousin Liz and her three children. Was lovely to have lunch with them and let the kids play before heading back home. Here I am with Liz and her lovely daughter Martha.

Even Super Heroes have to do their washing.

2009-04-03T13:06:00.003+01:00

Following an incident with some yoghurt it became apparent that Ruaridh's Spiderman outfit needed a wash. Thinking about it it occurred to me that the dressing up clothes never get a wash and my kids (especially Ruaridh) wear them a lot. Rua spends a lot of time dressing up - especially near bedtime...

Anyway - I grabbed as many as I could that didn't have cardboard or sparkles on and put them all on a low spin, low temp wash and then hung them all up to dry. I found it quite amusing to see them on the line so took a few snaps. Looks good huh? Still need to re-shape the muscles on the Spiderman costume but apart from that they've come up really well.

Happy Birthday Orla

2009-03-28T21:25:00.002Z

Party Hat and Plate at the Ready
Originally uploaded by Martin Burns.

Orla was three yesterday and had a lovely day.

She started off by climbing into bed with me while I sang Happy Birthday to her. She then looked under my pillow for her presents - hee.

We all had breakfast together and Orla opened her pile of presents. She got lots of girlie things - clothes, bags, a hat, a baking set - lots of fun stuff.

After we had taken Ruaridh to nursery we met a friend at the local soft play cafe and she had fun playing with him. Was a bit too busy though .

In the afternoon Orla went to nursery and seemed to have a lovely time. Ruaridh and I made her a cake and put together her main birthday present which had only just arrived. We got her a wooden fold-up cooker and an ice-cream stand. She has been having great fun cooking for us and selling ice-cream in her shop. When Martin was home we had tea and sang Happy Birthday again and she blew out the candles.

Today she had a party too. Just lunch at a cafe in Dunbar with some friends. Was lovely. I took along a bubble machine which was great entertainment for all the kids. I also took the kite which was perfect as it was really windy - although it did get a bit gusty so we had to put it away after a while. All in all a good birthday and party. She fell asleep on the way home - very unlike her - it was all too much.

Tacos for tea

2009-02-26T19:16:00.003Z

Tacos for tea
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

Tonight we had tacos for tea - the first time we had them. We've had tortillas plenty of times - just not tacos. I know, I know - same food just different folds...

There are two bowls of mince - plain and spicey - although the kids barely touched it. Oh well - more for Martin when he comes home.

Morgan had toast (as usual)

Orla in her new spotty coat

2009-02-26T19:09:00.001Z

Orla in her new spotty coat
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

I bought Orla a new coat today. Her last warm one was an eBay special - a pink tweed one - which has done her proud. This was a bargain too £5 - can you believe it? It is super warm too. She loves it and I get the feeling she may want to sleep in it tonight.

Shiny Shoes

2009-02-21T21:44:00.002Z

I was in the local town earlier this week and noticed the shoe shop had a half price sale on all boots. So Orla and I went in. I tried on all the nice boots in my size but they were rubbish - too dressy for me and not practical at all.

In the meantime Orla was jumping up on the chairs selecting which shoes she wanted.

So, I asked what they had in the sale in her size. They went to look. The assistant apologetically came back with one box. "This is all they have" she muttered. Well - they were gorgeous. A deep cherry red boot, really shiny and just lovely. Orla tried them on and they fitted perfectly. She ran around the shop testing them and was thrilled. And to top it all they are called 'Lola'.

Half price too - what a bargain.

Here she is posing for photos in them - excuse the hip action - not sure where she got that from, certainly not from me.

A weekend in Northumberland - Part 2

2009-02-17T21:04:00.005Z

On Sunday we decided to head into Newcastle and do some city stuff.

First of all we headed for the brilliant Life Centre. I have to say this is one of the best visitor centres I have ever been to. The layout is fantastic - they don't force you through on a trail. You are not crammed into small spaces. It is spacious with a huge amount of hands on stuff aimed at kids of all ages. I had trouble keeping up with Ruaridh as he wanted to do everything and *loved* that there were steps everywhere so things that were too high for him he could drag a step up to and get on with it without having to be lifted up to see things like in so many other places. There were things to climb into, hide in, dig, hang from, poke and explore. Absolutely fantastic. So many highlights and I am sure I will miss some out.

The first area we explored was looking at survival and had a lot about life in deserts and in the Arctic. You could dress up as an Inuit:

Build an igloo (or hide in one) - although this one was built by someone else and Ruaridh and Orla had great fun knocking it down:

Orla had a go at driving a rickshaw - and Ruaridh insisted I put on my (imaginary) seatbelt before we could set off:

We did a bit of digging in the gravel looking for bones:

After lunch we returned to this area to go to one of the talks on survival in the Arctic. It was a fantastic presentation by a guy who really pitched the talk to children making it interactive. Morgan's hand was constantly up in the air answering questions. At one point we were asked how to walk on deep snow. "With tennis rackets" Morgan answered. So - he was called up to the front and cut-off tennis rackets tied to his shoes and he walked across a ball pool (to represent deep snow). A proud Mummy moment!

Morgan and I (and later on Martin and Morgan) went on The Crazy Motion Ride. Basically you watched the screen and sat in a motion-seat while you went through a mine on a runaway car - really, really good fun.

The other show we all went to was in The Dome - where big comfortable seats gave us a great view of the sky above us looking at the winter sky. Again they had got the pitch spot on. Even Orla managed to sit through this and was fascinated by the animation above us. We learned about stars and the constellation of Orion - which we all spotted on the way back to the Hostel that night. It was really, really good.

Finally we finished off our visit to Life with a spot of ice-skating. Hmmm - it's been a while and I did not like wearing the heavy boots. I'm sure ice skates didn't have heels when I was a child. They were not at all comfortable!! And I was terrible!! Orla had some cute ice skates that fitted over her boots but she agreed that she wasn't very good either. In fact out of all of us who went on (Martin stayed at the side taking pictures) Ruaridh was the best at it and had fun too!

Following on from that we headed to the Metro Centre where we had a few things we needed to buy like a new battery for the camera. Then we went for a meal at Nando's which was great and the kids behaved beautifully. We finished off with a trip to the cinema at the Metro Centre to see Bolt. It was Orla's first trip to the cinema and she had a great time. In her own seat for most of it and then on Martin's lap, my lap and finally on Morgan's lap!!! We went back to the Hostel happy and exhausted.

All in all a fantastic (and expensive) weekend away.

A weekend in Northumberland - Part 1

2009-02-16T21:02:00.009Z

We decided to go away this weekend as Martin has holidays to take and the kids have some time of school/nursery. I had a funeral to go to on the Friday which meant we couldn't leave until 3pm so needed to go somewhere close, well within 2 hours. So - we went to Northumberland and had a fantastic time.
We stayed in a Youth Hostel in the hills in the thick of the Roman stuff. We had a family room - so 3 sets of bunk beds - on the bottom corridor so was handy for the kids who found their way round easily. The Youth Hostel staff were lovely and the hostel itself was fine - although the main living areas were freezing as one of the boilers wasn't working. The Youth Hostel was very close to Vindolanda:

The Roman army appears to have occupied the site of Vindolanda around AD 85, after the Governor, Agricola, had brought the northern tribes to bay at the battle of Mons Graupius. The Romans called the place 'Vindolanda', as many documents and an inscription confirm, perhaps because they were turning into Latin an existing native name, thought to mean 'white lawns' or something similar. The fort guarded the central section of the vital east to west supply route, known now as the Stanegate, and when the Wall was built some 40 year later, Vindolanda took its place between Housesteads and Great Chesters as a Wall fort. The early forts were built in timber, and required replacement every seven to eight years, even if there was no change in garrison, and the fifth such fort was constructed early in Hadrian's reign.

Taken from the Vindolanda website.
We were also close to Hadrian's wall and lots of other Roman sites. It was fabulous. Morgan, especially, liked it all as he is learning about some ancient civilisations at school at the moment. On the Saturday we decided to 'do' the Romans and headed off nice and early to Vindolanda on foot.

I wasn't sure that Orla would cope with such a big walk and through snow and ice so had the foresight to pack the Ergo. The moment she saw it she declared she had to go up on Mummy's back. It was nice to carry her again - it's been a long time. She was very chatty and good company. She was on my back most of the way there and then on and off while we visited Vindolanda. As we arrived they had a potter at work showing how the Romans made pots. The kids loved it and got the opportunity to use the air drying clay to make their own shapes using moulds.
Walking through the reception we were faced with a frozen fountain and a couple of statues:

The site itself was covered in ice and snow so we couldn't see all the finds. Even so it was a glorious morning and the kids had fun exploring. The snow covered up deep drops next to excavated walls so bouncy Ruaridh often found himself thigh-deep in the snow. He had taken his light sabre with him which was extremely amusing. Martin got a great shot of him in the snow:

Morgan was a little more sensible and tended to stay to the bits where you could see what you were walking on:

We came away from Vindolanda feeling pretty tired with the walk back to the Hostel looming. Morgan was fine but the rest of us were a bit grumpy. I put Orla onto my front in the Ergo and she slept all the way back and Morgan and I walked quickly. Once we were at the YHA we picked up the car and set back to pick up Ruaridh and Martin who were walking at a much slower rate. Ruaridh seemed to like diving into the snow so it was taking a while to walk!! After that we went to the Roman Army Museum. The kids were a bit restless there so we didn't really get the chance to see much. I think I would have liked to spend more time learning about the soldiers' lives but just didn't get the opportunity.
We were all a bit weary by this point (and damp) but decided to do one last visit and headed off in search of the Wall itself. It seemed silly to be spending the holiday talking about the Wall and not going to look at it - so we tried a few places and they all had too far to walk (we were tired and wet by now). Finally we tried a small place just by the YHA itself. It was perfect. There was snow, wall and great views. What do you think?

Bigger version of the panorama available here.
After all that we went back to the hostel to get dry and to eat. All in all a fantastic day out exploring Roman Northumberland. Would really recommend Vindolanda especially to anyone in the area.

A Sad Day

2009-01-29T11:25:00.002Z

Polly
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

Today is the day I knew was coming. Polly was put down this morning.

We got Polly at the same time as our beloved Kiedis. Both from a friend and before that they had been rescued from a cat's home. In cat years Polly was now in her 80s - a grand lady.

Polly was always 'my' cat. Kiedis was always Martin's. Polly was incredibly shy and it was very difficult to find her sometimes. Despite that I loved her to bits. She was the longest cat I have ever seen - despite being so small she had incredibly long legs when stretched out. She had a pink nose and beautiful silky black and white her fur. She loved to sit on window sills sunbathing and in the summer her coat appeared to go brown. We joked that she went rusty in the summer.

The kids always liked her but never got near her as she was so painfully shy. Orla said last week that Polly was her best friend.

Over the last few weeks she stopped eating dry food and a trip to the Vets told us she was in the first stages of kidney failure and had a heart defect too. Since then she has got steadily worse and eating less and less. This week she stopped eating completely and the weight that was left on her was dropping off.

Ruaridh and I took her to the Vets this morning where I was told that it was for the best to let her go - which I completely agree with. Her spirit was going this week - every time I found her she was such a small shadow - nothing of her. Ruaridh waited in the waiting room (thank goodness for the packet of Maltesers in my bag) while I said goodbye to her.

I have yet to tell Morgan and Orla - will do that this evening.

Polly - I will miss you. You have been a companion to me for so long.

Thorntonloch Beach

2009-01-07T16:21:00.008Z

Took Orla and Ruaridh for a long walk today on Thorntonloch beach.

The beach there is beautiful. Lots of squishy sand and fantastic views... oh and a HUGE nuclear power station....

Anyway - we played on the sand, drawing pictures, looking at the rock pools. Then we went towards the power station where there is a huge two-level walkway that you can go round. So we did. I took a load of photos - all on my mobile. I wish I'd taken a better camera with me as the light was lovely.

The kids were exhausted by the time we got back - job done!!

Oh I seem to have one picture twice on the mosaic - oh well - wasn't deliberate.

Happy Christmas Everyone

2008-12-26T12:00:00.003Z

We had a lovely day full of presents and festive cheer.

Morgan was first up at 3am - yes you read that right - 3am!! He refused to go back to bed. Martin and I had only got to bed at 1. He went downstairs and watched TV - but I knew he was awake so only dozed on and off - and Orla was restless as she had been ill the day before with a fever. Morgan opened up his stocking presents but thankfully left the ones under the tree.

Eventually at about 8 we let him come in to our room and woke Orla up and Ruaridh came in too. We all opened our stocking presents - of course Morgan had none to open - and said he'd lost half of them (huh?) By this time Morgan was fit to explode. "I am craving opening my presents." So - we went down and started breakfast and let them open one present. Then we started on the pile. Ruaridh was great this year - helping to give out the presents as this is the first time he has been able to read.

Present highlights

The boys got a wii with various games - which they are loving. I have to admit to not liking it at all. When it's on there is so much noise over whose turn it is and the others shouting out instructions... Not a fan. I can't sit in the same room as it when it is on and it is in the lounge so it's a bit of a bummer.

The boys also got transformers, star wars storm troopers, pyjamas (in fact we all got pyjamas) , some art sets, dressing up clothes and lots of other stuff.

Orla's main present was a toy rocket complete with Space Buggy, Aliens and Astronauts. She loves it (as does Ruaridh). She also got a ton of girlie stuff including a Dora, a pony, a pretend birthday cake with blow out candles, a big box of play food, a new Ikea doll bed (painted pink - hee) and a ton of hair stuff. What a girl!

I did really well and was a bit over-whelmed. Martin went completely overboard and I am thrilled. He got me a gorgeous Per Una long cardigan and a load of stuff from Fat Face. I got a fantastic knitting kit that I have wanted for ages - no doubt I will blog about that on my knitting blog at some point. I bought myself a mitten knitting kit from Posh too. I got a load of books and some chocolate and smellies - I feel very pampered.

Martin of course was the worst off. He did get some books - mainly political - a DVD set, cufflinks, chocolate and shares in the wii.

Christmas lunch went surprisingly well with Ruaridh munching on the turkey and orla munching on the carrots and sausages. Morgan had sandwiches! Crackers were pulled, hats worn, fun was had. Result!

It all started to go pear shaped in the evening when they started to get tired.

All in all a great day though - hope you had a lovely time too.

Christmas Party

2008-12-08T09:41:00.005Z

I hate to blog someone else's story - but sometimes needs must.

Martin took Orla and Ruaridh to the IBM Christmas Party on Saturday in Edinburgh. They had the best time ever. There was a magician, food, a balloon guy and Santa. What more do kids need? Orla went up to help the magician - I wish I'd been there to see that - she's only 2. Our kids have *never* been asked up to do anything before. I think I would have cried.

Orla was in the smaller child's room and opened up her lunch box, placing everything carefully in front of her before eating anything. I just love her hat - do you?

Ruaridh clearly was having a great time over lunch too. So nice to have kids who will eat anything at a party - not the case with Morgan at all. While all this was going on I had taken Morgan to the Seabird Centre in North Berwick.. We had lunch there and I had taken his usual with us - Hovis white bread and flora - and asked for a plate for him! I had a lovely prawn baguette. Oh well.

After lunch the kids all went upstairs to where the room had been set up to wait for Santa. Orla went straight over to his chair and sat down and took some persuasion to get out of the chair. Look at her face - so sad. I just love the party dress and wellies look!!

Santa came up trumps for both Orla and Ruaridh. They went up in age order - with the youngest first. Orla was the first child to go up and not cry - hurrah. Ruaridh was the first child to go up on his own - hurrah.

They look like they had a great time. I know afterwards Orla had a huge sleep - she was so shattered. Martin took them to Borders on the way home where there was a Harry Potter party - oh the new book is out isn't it? Must get around to buying that at some point.

One Word Answers

2008-11-18T09:56:00.002Z

Saw this meme on Dee's blog and thought I'd give it a whirl:

Where is your mobile phone? Stolen
Where is your significant other? Work
Your hair color? Auburn
Your mother? Kind
Your father? Grumpy
Your favourite thing? Knitting
Your dream last night? Organisational
Your dream goal? Peace
The room you’re in? Cold
Your hobby? Knitting
Your fear? Death
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home
Where were you last night? Meeting
What you’re not? Patient
One of your wish-list items? Order
Where you grew up? Village
The last thing you did? Wiped
What are you wearing? Jeans
Your TV? Big
Your pets? Old
Your computer? Slow
Your mood? Depressed
Missing someone? No
Your car? Filthy
Something you’re not wearing? Jumper
Favourite shop? Borders
Your summer? Wet
Love someone? Hubby
Your favourite color? Green
When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
When is the last time you cried? Sunday

Stuff

2008-11-07T14:37:00.001Z

Stuff
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

I love this photo. This is a shelf on our wonderful Welsh Dresser. Look at the mix of things on there.

There is a fox card - a birthday card to Morgan from my Aunt Madeleine.

Ruarish's Christening plate - made by his lovely Godmother Marion.

The cushion at the back was made for our wedding day by Irene - isn't it lovely?

There's a tin of string - for when you need string.

Two pairs of sunglasses bought for an 80's party we went to recently.

Aquarius - one of the best card games I know made by the lovely people at Looney Labs.

Two cups and saucers which I adore, but never use!

Enjoy the view.

Monkey Mayhem

2008-11-03T10:57:00.004Z

On Sunday evening Ruaridh found some scissors.

He's done this before and is not allowed scissors.

But he found some - not sure where they were - but he is not allowed scissors.

Why you might ask...

Do you see all the bald patches on his head? That's why - that time - a couple of months back - he also attacked Morgan and Orla's hair. A couple of years ago he attacked my wool (an absolute no-no.)

Let me tell you what he did this time:

Cut Orla's cushion that is on her bed
Cut the tail off Orla's hippo and sliced its ear
Cut Upsy Daisy's dress to shreds
Cut hair off another of Orla's dolls
Cut up a hair tie
Cut the ends off the blind pulls in our bedroom
Sliced across the seat of an upholstered chair in Morgan's room
Cut up and spread throughout the house a whole ball of wool
Hacked his own hair again - much worse than last time and no photo - yet.

(And that's all I've found so far - wouldn't be surprised if I find more destruction)

I'm furious with him - he will never see another pair of scissors in his life....

Right - off to vacuum up the hair...

Pumpkin carving

2008-10-30T09:37:00.002Z

Pumpkin #1: E.T.
Originally uploaded by jdaws47.

I couldn't resist blogging this.

Isn't this the most amazing pumpkin *ever*???

Martin - I'm sure you can do better darling....

I'm off to hide and giggle a little.

(Oh - I didn't carve it by the way - as if!! I found the pic on the Flickr Blog - cool carving huh? Bravo!!)

Flexi-Schooling a go-go

2008-10-24T17:37:00.003+01:00

Ruaridh has not settled into school at all. Don't get me wrong he loves being there - it's all one big adventure for him. That's the problem - he's totally not ready to be sitting at a desk writing to order. He is disruptive, loud, sometimes angry and even violent. If he stays in school full time I fear that he will become the trouble-maker of his year. I don't think that's fair to him or to his classmates. He is actually very intelligent and is learning to read and is good at maths.

He has finally in the last two or three months started to enjoy drawing but writing is something that does not interest him. A lot of the emphasis in school is on writing. Learning your letters and numbers, writing your name or whatever else they are working on. That's the bit he struggles with.

He also is not great at socialising. Boys tend to play rough and if someone does something he doesn't like he is not good at walking away or saying 'no'. Instead he lashes out or bites - not good.

I do wonder if a lot of his problems are caused by Morgan. Having an aspie big brother is not easy. Morgan shows a lot of his emotion through anger and is not good at resolving issues or feeling empathy. Morgan does, however, respect his elders (most of the time) something that Ruaridh appears not to do. The Headmaster at the school is baffled by Ruaridh and can't get through to him at all.

So - after writing to the LEA I now have the go ahead to flexi-school Ruaridh. The woman at the LEA was really helpful getting back to me very quickly after speaking to the Headmaster about Rua. She is also the person I contact if I decide to HE Ruaridh full-time - so I am pleased that she is so approachable.

Flexi-schooling, for Ruaridh, means he will be spending some of the day at school and some at home. I sat with his teacher this afternoon to discuss his timetable and we are going to give it a two week trial and see how it goes. He will be doing three mornings at school and coming home for the afternoons. Then the other days - he will spend one in school and one at home. This is more to do with the timetable to avoid him missing his favourite part of the week (sewing!) and to ensure he can keep up with group work.

Who knows what the future will hold for Ruaridh. He may go back to school full-time in January. He may come home full-time. He may come home full-time for the rest of the academic year and then start again in P1 or P2 next August. We just don't know.

An hour at the beach

2008-10-20T10:49:00.003+01:00

I was in Dunbar the other day - killing time before Morgan had a birthday party and we ended up, with a kite, at the beach. Orla was with us too.

The pictures were taken on my mobile so forgive the quality..

I made a pattern with some shells and played around with the contrast/colours on the photo editor:

Orla likes to draw on the sand and dig in it with her hands:

The second picture is 'The Shapes' from Mister Maker - a CBeebies program. The whole family are a shape so Orla asks us "draw me" and we draw a triangle and she puts the faces on. So - I drew all of the shapes in the sand and she drew faces on them. Simple things... (Oh and for any perfectionists who watch Mister Maker - I know there is not a pentagon in the program - but we needed an extra shape.)

The kite is new to us this week and we have had a few successful flights now. It took a while to get going as there wasn't much wind. I finally got it up to the full length of the string - but on a small beach this meant it was flying over the sea. So when the wind suddenly dropped the kite got a little wet... We had to drag it in through the sea and sand - all fine though - I think it's almost dry now...

We also went to a cafe for a drink to hide from the rain for a bit and Morgan and Orla played with some of the toys there. They played mainly with the castle - but there are no soldiers for it - so my inventive kids used the pigs and the cows from the Noah's Ark to attack and defend the castle.

And the chocolate brownies are to die for...

Look Mum - no teeth

2008-10-01T10:32:00.002+01:00

Look Mum - no teeth
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

Isn't he gorgeous???

He lost two teeth in one day last week. He looks really funny and is lisping. He is very proud of the gap though and was thrilled that the tooth fairy paid double!

Like his hat?? It's a Gryffindor one from the Harry Potter films - knitted by me. I made Ruaridh one too.

PINK

2008-09-12T23:33:00.001+01:00

PINK
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

Yes, that is a shout. I hate pink. I have two older brothers and two sons - I don't *do* pink. My hair is red(ish) and pink is just a disaster on me - and I don't like the colour so pink just doesn't happen in my house.

Then Orla was born. Suddenly the house was filled with this seeping marsh of pink. It was vile - pink everywhere. Every time she was bought clothes or given hand-me-downs it was pink.

It's taken me a little over two years to weed it all out.

Gradually over the last few weeks Orla has been getting more and more demanding with what she wears. This morning really was the end of the line. She refused every pair of trousers in the draw:
"No. Pink."
She wants pink trousers - but she doesn't have any.

So - I gave in - and we went shopping.

And the picture shows the haul. She was most excited about the pink boots which she refused to take off and she had to stand on the checkout desk and get her feet scanned when I was buying it all.

So expect to see pics of pink, girlie Orla from now.

I feel sick.

It was 7 years ago today...

2008-09-02T08:30:00.003+01:00

So - seven years ago today we had just called the Midwife. The night had been eventful - we had walked up a very big hill to watch the Festival fireworks, my waters had broken, we'd gone into hospital to have everything checked, we'd come back home and waited... and now we were off.

Morgan is seven today - and I think his labour will always be the clearest to me in my memory. Everything was new, it was the first time I had had a baby, first time I had laboured, first time I had created and delivered a new being.

I think birthdays should be for the mothers - after all it's us who remember how that particular person arrived in the world and how much hard work it was. So - where's my present? Oh yeah - that will be the tall, handsome seven year old!

So - seven years on - how has it been? Well I am immensely proud of him - sometimes my heart wants to explode with emotion. He has not been dealt an easy hand - his Aspergers sees to that. His eating fads, his anger, his social problems and all his quirks don't make him an easy child. But - he is doing brilliantly. Since we have moved I have seen a lot of changes for the good in him. His new school really are fantastic and spot any triggers early on, rather than waiting for him to get into big trouble.

So - today he is seven. He's always the first up. We heard him getting up so we called him into our room for a hug and told him to bring his presents up. He ran down and came back up, out of breath.... "Are they all for me?" It took him three trips to bring them up and he was suitably excited. Morgan has always been good at doing the excited face at present opening time.

He had a good haul this year - lots of books, some Meccano, an electronic kit, some Top Trumps and a Game Boy. Of course it's the Game Boy that stole the show and we have laid down some rules to go with it - not sure how it will go. I am hoping he will use to get the time he needs in his own world away from others - and he may become less angry with his siblings.

Time will tell.

So cake making (or buying) this afternoon.

Happy Birthday Morgan - I'm so proud of you.

TMI

2008-08-27T11:26:00.003+01:00

TMI - Too Much Information - this post contains a tale of blood, menstrual cycles and frustrations.. If you don't want to know then just look away now. You have been warned.

Still here?

Are you sure?

Well - okay then. Although I am not sure where to begin. I have/had polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) which means that instead of my body releasing a nice fat egg each month - i.e. ovulating - my ovaries keep hold of them and the ripe eggs form cysts on my ovaries. This has/had the effect of stopping me having periods. So, for me, I could easily go a year without a period. Heavenly some people might think. But - it did mean that getting pregnant was a big deal - how do you get pregnant if there are no eggs. Also it wasn't just about the periods - there were other symptoms to PCOS - I'm sure there is a long list somewhere online but for me the most evident ones are depression and acne - oh deep joy!

So - after lots of investigation and fertility treatment the doubly amazing thing happened - first, I ovulated and second I got pregnant. Woohoo. This meant that my PCOS effectively stopped as the best cure for PCOS... is to get pregnant.

So - after DS1 was born I breastfed him for 16months. In that time I had no periods - which is fairly normal for a breastfeeding woman - and not surprising given my PCOS. I stopped feeding and then one month later had a period - in February 2003. In the March I got pregnant again. This time I breastfed for 21 months and got pregnant again while still feeding - at exactly 18months post-natal - just like the first time - but this time with no period at all! Third time round I breastfed until DD1 was over two and have had no periods at all.

So - that was in April - I think. Two weeks ago - in early August I found a small amount of blood when I wiped and thought I'd started. But the bleeding soon stopped but other symptoms suggested something else was happening. I think I actually ovulated - woohoo.

Then this morning I have been in black mood from hell and have really wanted to harm small animals. (Don't worry I didn't.) So - I wasn't really surprised to find that I have properly started a period. I'd forgotten how much I hate them. My last one was February 2003 and before that it was September 2000. They don't happen very often really.

So - there you have it - no real point to this blog - except for me to moan about my rubbish cycle and the unpredictability of it all. The ironic thing is I spent ages filling in a health form last night about a third of which is now not correct!

Off out to buy chocolate and red wine....

Oh - and must get a mooncup - not bothered investing in the past....

Ruaridh's First Day at School

2008-08-19T10:33:00.005+01:00

Always an emotional time - when one of your children take a big step. Today it was Ruaridh's turn to start school. I think he was excited - but did complain about putting on his new coat (too big!). Hopefully he will grow into it. He doesn't particularly like change and it takes him a while, sometimes, to wear new shoes or new jumpers - today it was the coat. The compromise was he could leave the zip open.

He loved walking to school in his new uniform - just like his big brother. He disappeared in the playground (to have his photo taken with his brother I later found out). He came back eventually to have his trousers adjusted as they are, as usual, too big on his waist - he's such a skinny thing - just like his brother. Trousers these days seem to be made for much larger children than mine.

Then they queued up and in his excitement he swung his bookbag into another boy's eye. Said boy was very upset *sigh*. So now he's in school for the morning - and it will be mornings only for two weeks when he will go full time.

My stomach keeps turning over when I think of him there. He's a funny wee boy - in some ways he oozes with confidence. But he is also very emotional and if something upsets him he howls. I do hope he listens to what he is told. Growing up is hard huh?

Been a long time since I blogged and rolled

2008-08-18T11:15:00.002+01:00

Today is the last day of the summer holidays - and I am very happy about that. It has been a long, wet summer. The weather has been shocking, the kids have been fighting and we've had a long string of house problems that have really not helped matters.

So tomorrow we will have to be up and out by 8:50 which, if we make it, will be a huge achievement. Both Ruaridh and Morgan will be going to school with Orla cheering them on.

We were talking about it at breakfast and I asked Ruaridh what he will be wearing tomorrow.
"My Darth Vader top" came the reply - hmm - I don't think that's part of the school uniform.

I still have some name tagging to do and need to find their school bags - but I'm almost there. I am looking forward to a calmer house - at least for the mornings as Rua will only do mornings for the first two weeks before launching into 9:00-3:30 in September - six and a half hours with no boys - I can't wait.

Orla and I have big plans for when the boys are back at school (she doesn't know this yet) and there are going to be some serious changes around here.

Teeth and Museums

2008-08-01T13:49:00.004+01:00

On Monday I dropped Orla and Ruaridh with the childminder and took Morgan off to Edinburgh for his latest appointment at the dental hospital. Unfortunately Morgan's treatment is ongoing there and it is taking a long time. Each appointment can only be a certain length as Morgan will only cope with it for a little bit at a time. He is getting better and this week even managed to have an injection - in fact I don't think he even realised that that is what was happening.

It was a different dental nurse this time though and Morgan and I did not like her very much. She was very patronising to Morgan and when it came to the key bit when his filling was put in she was *very* slow getting it ready which was not good for Morgan - with various dental tools in his mouth. He started retching - poor boy. It took a lot of willpower to not yell at her. His dentist was as lovely as ever and is so calm and gentle with Morgan explaining every step and observing him all the time to see if anything is too much. Morgan did so well.

As a treat we had a couple of hours in Edinburgh and didn't rush home as usual. We decided to visit the Museum - one of Morgan's favourite things in Edinburgh. The National Museum was built in the late 1990's and added to the existing Royal Museum. It's design was based on a castle with light being a key consideration in the layout and the placing of displays. There are hidden seats and quirky peep holes which the kids love.

They have also been adding interest to the current exhibitions by putting little to-dos for the kids. So in the section where it is talking about Scottish History during Roman times they have a soldier dressing-up set:

We had a good wander round. It was a shame the older part - the original Royal Museum is completely sectioned off at the moment - but as this is because they are completely gutting the place it is not all bad news. We did come across some unusal things like this ram's head snuff box:

Made in the late 19th Century it would have been wheeled up and down a table after dinner - apparently popular in the Army!

We visited our favourite spot in the museum where there is a real train engine - it's huge! Also lots of model trains with buttons to press. We have spent a lot of time here in the past. I found it a good place to sit and breastfeed while the kid(s) ran around pressing buttons.

All in all the museum got a thumbs up from Morgan:

Concorde Golf Bravo Oscar Alpha Alpha

2008-07-29T09:55:00.004+01:00

Last week I took the children to the National Flight Museum just up the road from us in East Lothian. We've been lots of times before and one of the big advantages is the large amount of running about space. The exhibitions themselves are not fantastic if you've been a couple of times - but the kids like them! I took out membership this time so I can see us going back a couple more times over the next few weeks.

The highlight of any trip to East Fortune has to be Concorde:

On 30 October 2003 British Airways announced their decision to locate one of the prized Concorde aircraft at Scotland’s national Museum of Flight.

NMS fought off stiff competition from more than 60 bidders around the world to secure Concorde Golf Bravo Oscar Alpha Alpha for the museum.

The aircraft had been decommissioned in August 2000 and was no longer airworthy, so alternative means of transport had to be used to move Concorde from London to East Fortune. On arrival at the museum, an extensive restoration programme commenced to re-instate the aircraft to her former glory.

The work was carried out by Air Salvage International (ASI), together with NMS’ specialist conservation team.

(Taken from the NMS website)

Just look how big the wheels are...

I'm glad I never flew Concorde - because their pilots look a little irresponsible - what do you think?

Monkeys Climbing

2008-07-26T15:53:00.005+01:00

Ruaridh Clips On on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Martin has just got round to putting up some photos from our holiday to France. The site we were at had lots of climbing stuff to do including this course for kids - maybe 3 metres above the ground - through the trees.

Both Morgan and Ruaridh had a go - Ruaridh was only just old enough to go on it - but had an absolute ball. He has always loved climbing.

Morgan raced round and thoroughly enjoyed it too. I think Morgan went round the course three times.

Fun packed day

2008-07-23T18:56:00.007+01:00

Just to prove it's not all misery here I had a great day with the kids today.

My good friend and her three kids met up with us at Heatherslaw to catch the 11:00am train this morning to Etal.

It's a small steam train and all the children were very excited by it.

We put the four older boys in one compartment on their own (two 6yr olds and two 4yr olds) which they loved and told silly jokes for most of the journey.

Orla and Andrew stuffed grapes in their mouths for most of the journey.

When we got off the train it was a short walk up to Etal Castle where we had lunch and the kids all had a huge run-around.

Ruaridh and Orla just love climbing...

The camera battery died at Etal Castle - so no more photos!

After that we walked into Etal - a tiny village with a lovely looking pub and a tea-room. Then we headed back to the train - with one sleepy toddler and five happy children.

We took the kids to the mill across the river. I stayed outside and got a cup of tea sent to me while my friend took the older boys into the mill. I definitely had the better deal. Not a particularly child-friendly visitor place - but fun was had nevertheless.

After that we took the kids to Scremerston beach just next to Pot-a-Doodle-Doo where I had some painting to pick up from last week. The beach was fab - it was warm but not hot and the kids stripped off and got mucky. Two of the boys found, and picked up, jellyfish which was a bit of a test. Fortunately there were no stings as we think they were dead.

All in all a good day out - but very tiring. Must get them to bed soon....

MeMe

2008-07-17T09:05:00.005+01:00

Yeah, yeah - I know some people detest these - but this one is kind of fun and uses Flickr. So here we go... I got this from Stitch Marker. Here's how you do it. (And apologies for the blatant copy and paste - but no reason to re-type it all.)

Using fd’s Flickr Toys,

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
Using only the first page, pick an image.
Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:

What is your first name?
What is your favorite food?
What high school did you go to?
What is your favorite color?
Who is your celebrity crush?
Favorite drink?
Dream vacation?
Favorite dessert?
What you want to be when you grow up?
What do you love most in life?
One Word to describe you.
Your flickr name.

Can you guess what some of my answers were?

Notes:

Too many people give their animals 'human' names in my humble opinion...
One of my photos came up - can you guess which one?

Photographer Credits:
1. lucy's evil twin, 2. spaghetti bolognaise to die for S-T-E-A-M-I-N-G!, 3. Alan, 4. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 5. Stony DeCoco, 6. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo..., 7. lonely planet - Maldives, 8. Cranachan in the fridge, 9. Poppies in the wind, 10. cotton baby wrapping shirt, 11. Life on Death, 12. Rock and/or Roll

Owl

2008-07-10T17:36:00.001+01:00

Owl
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

This cheeky little chappy is destined to become a cuddly toy. It's a lot bigger than it looks - about 12 inches tall. All cut out and ready to sew up - maybe once the kids are in bed. I've not sewn anything for years....

What a Week

2008-06-21T10:15:00.003+01:00

Well I have had one hell of a week - and I will no doubt forget most of it as I try to recall it.

On Monday Morgan was not well - with a cold and a barking cough - so I kept him off school. I had errands to run so he came with me, in his pyjamas - cruel Mummy. By Monday evening I was getting the cold too.

My cold, of course, was much worse than Morgan's - maybe something to do with the fact that I am completely and utterly worn out at the moment - I need a holiday.

On Tuesday - with a week to go until we go away I thought I'd better find out where the tickets were. No post today except an eBay parcel for Martin - where were the tickets? I phoned Canvas Holidays to find out where they were to be told that they had been sent to RCI - our booking people (through the bank). So I called RCI and they told me they had sent them on to us and to phone them back the next day if they had not arrived.

On Wednesday I coughed and spluttered all the way to the herbalist. I told her all by woes and she concocted a foul tasting brew for me to help with my energy levels and my hormonal balance. I actually quite like the taste of it - but I'm weird like that! By Wednesday pick up I was feeling horrific - absolutely stuffed with a cold, hot and cold fever and a fine chesty cough which set off my asthma. Morgan had been in trouble at school - with mischief and lying - so much so he was sent to see the Headmaster! Wednesday night was shocking - I felt so ill but had so much to do for Thursday...

On Thursday I went to see my accountant in Duns as my PurPur accounts need a huge amount of help. They were lovely but the outcome is I have a huge amount to do and pay in a short space of time. Once home Ruaridh took up his role of chief mischief maker and surpassed himself... ending up with him spraying perfume in his eyes at ten o'clock at night.

On Friday I remembered about the tickets again - and still feeling dreadful phoned RCI back. They were surprised that they had not yet arrived and I got bolshy with them and after about four phonecalls they told me that Canvas Holidays were re-issuing the packs to us direct. I still had a huge amount to do ready for the holiday but my stress and asthma levels were so incredibly high that I forced myself to sit and knit for most of the morning or I really think I would have ended up in hospital. Friday afternoon was thankfully sunny, but the wind made it cold, for the Sports Day. Races were watched and run. Photos were taken and fun was had. Morgan didn't do very well - partly to do with having had no lunch that day - and he got very upset about it. Things got better when a girl in P3 gave him one of her badges.

Friday evening Ruaridh's mischief continued when I found chunks of hair on Orla's shoulder and then found him with a pair of scissors... as you can imagine I was livid by this point.

It has been a shocking week - with far too much on and no support. I should have been in bed for a couple of days but with no help that was not possible. Instead a cold that should have gone quite quickly has been dragging on and on and I have little energy left and no patience. Martin is supposed to be getting a role in Livingston - with a minimum term of a year - this would change my life so much - I wouldn't be a single mum for the week any more. Unfortunately he is not sure if this is going to happen - news which absolutely devastated me - and I've been crying on and off since.

On a funny note though, Martin came home on Friday evening to find a parcel on his office chair (remember - the one from eBay - or so I thought.) Guess what was in it? The travel tickets.... made me laugh and laugh and cough and cough,

Ruaridh's Transition Report

2008-05-23T10:40:00.003+01:00

Just to show it's not all bad news around here Ruaridh has just come home with a report. It is transition information as he moves from Pre-School Nursery to Primary One. He is the youngest in his year and can be a bit wild - so I was a bit nervous about reading his report.

I won't bore you with the whole lot - but here are some quotes:

"Ruaridh has settled into the group well. He has made good friends with his peer group and the adults around him. He is making good progress but still needs a little support when remembering rules and how our actions affect others. Happy little boy who makes full use of the nursery."

"Ruaridh has a very good concept of simple maths. He is able to count to 30 with confidence and makes good use of the number games on the computer."

"Ruaridh has been good fun at the nursery. He has a great sense of humour and knows how to use it. He continues to need a little support in one or two areas but he is one of the youngest in the group. We have really enjoyed Ruaridh's company and will miss him. Good luck at school and have fun."

It's a lovely, positive report. Of course it is by no means perfect and he will have to work hard at school to keep up with his peers - some who are almost a year older than him. We did consider keeping him back a year - but another year in nursery would bore him and he runs the risk of getting into trouble. The year ahead will be interesting for Ruaridh.

ADHD now

2008-05-21T12:06:00.004+01:00

Following on from the meeting we had a couple of weeks ago we received a letter. The letter told us that the staff had met following the meeting I had had with them and it was suggested that Morgan could be ADHD. Now I did wonder about this suggestion and did think it could be, in part, a response to my reaction to them telling me Morgan is categorically not Aspergers. As to Morgan being ADHD it is something that has not occurred to me when considering Morgan's character - Ruaridh possibly - but Morgan no. However, not wanting to throw the baby out with the bath water I spoke to Martin and he got the afternoon off work so we could go along to the appointment together.

We both did some reading and thinking before the meeting and talked it over on the way. I think that came across straight away in the meeting as we were very clear in stating that we did not agree with the current diagnosis. The Doctor discussed his reasonings for the diagnosis - which were based on their observations in controlled environments. I can understand how the diagnosis has been made. However we were rather frustrated that they had not taken on board Morgan's key trigger areas for his more worrying behaviour. For example within the classroom (where he was observed) he knew what was expected of him, there was nothing new for him. He was simply doing some work in the classroom, sitting in his usual seat, with his peers and working. If the observation had continued into the Playground they may have seen some of Morgan's issues becoming apparent. He struggles to play with the others and to make friends. He often tells me that no-one likes him, that no-one wants to play with him. Lunch times are a continual problem for him - he takes a packed lunch in every day as his eating limitations do not include anything on the lunch menu within the school.

The observation made with the clinic at the last appointment were also structured. He was told what to do and his reactions were observed. This was done with adults only and Morgan, although excitable, seemed to enjoy the tests/games and responded well to them - but not at all as an Aspergers child would do. Again we wondered if this was because he *is* confident and eye contact and communication are in fact fine for him. There was no chance for him to be observed in an unstructured social environment where the issues we consider him to have become apparent. So frustrating.

We went on to discuss why they now consider him to be ADHD and his excitable nature was discussed - fair enough. Dyspraxia was also mentioned as they noted that Morgan was fairly clumsy - something that Martin and I have never noticed.

The meeting concluded with a four point plan:

We are being referred to Edinburgh for a second opinion (at our request)
Morgan will be assessed for ADHD
We will be referred to a dietician to see if we can make any progress on Morgan's eating
We will receive some of the analysis already done on Morgan

So - nothing definite to report but an interesting meeting nevertheless.

Watch this space...

Deflated

2008-05-08T13:52:00.004+01:00

Had Morgan's assessment today in Selkirk. He was taken off for about 40minutes to play some games and do some activities while being watched/assessed. I sat and knitted *grin*.

Following the assessment Morgan came bouncing out and they went off to discuss. After about 10 minutes I was called in while Morgan played ludo with one of the staff.

Morgan does not have Aspergers or any other signs of anything on the Autistic Spectrum. He is, however, a challenging child. What about all the eating problems? That, apparently is not a sensory issue but Morgan's way of controlling things. Even though it has been going on since he was 16months old? Apparently some children show controlling behaviour from birth.

I really don't know how I feel right now - I guess I should be happy for Morgan but I am also confused as to why he displays so many signs of Aspergers and is not. Apparently Aspergers (and Autistic Spectrum Disorders) are communication issues and because Morgan can clearly communicate and maintain eye contact and speak clearly he does not have any of them.

The observation carried out at school was done during a lesson and Morgan behaved beautifully (of course). I'm sure it would have been different if it had been carried out during lunch-time where a lot of his problems become evident.

We are now being referred to a parent support group to see if they can help with our issues. We will have to wait and see.

To be honest - I am gutted.

Help me out

2008-05-07T20:45:00.003+01:00

I am going to get the kids a trampoline. The more I read up on it the more I see the need for one. Trampolines have been used to help many Aspergers kids control their anger
- and given the week I am having I think we need some control.

So - I have a few contenders - please comment and let me know which I should get... (All are 10 ft with enclosure)

Sport and Leisure UK £149.99 - free delivery - free ladder, cover and bouncy hopper
Outdoor Toys Direct £144.99
Focus DIY £99.00
Trampolines First - £179.95 - free ladder and cover

Please help....

(feel free to suggest more to confuse me more...)

Breastfeeding and Dentists

2008-04-17T12:34:00.003+01:00

Orla has a horrible tooth - I won't shame her by posting pics - that's just not fair. The tooth in question was coming through when this happened. After her operation she was given antibiotics and she took ages to get better - she was really poorly - poor thing. In fact reading back on my blog I see she had two teeth coming through and an infection and had just had an operation poor thing. Anyway - back to the tooth - it's brown and very soft - and horrible to look at.

I took her to the dentist about 2 months ago with it (and for a general check up) and was told by the newly qualified dentist that it was decay and I had to stop breastfeeding at night as this was clearly to blame. I never really bought this but didn't challenge her at the time as there are other issues with Morgan's teeth that seemed more important at the time.

So - I had an appointment today with my dentist - a lovely lady dentist who is definitely not newly qualified. I called up to ask if she could see Orla too as I have been getting more concerned about the tooth. No problem. Orla was an absolute dream - I'd taken lots of toys and the buggy for her to sit in while I was seen. The dentist chatted to me first asking for a bit of back history. The conversation then went something like this:
Dentist: "Does she still take a bottle to bed with her at night?"
Me: "She's never had a bottle in her life."
Dentist: "Oh - well what's this about her night feeding?" (From the notes the newly qualified dentist had made)
Me: "I still feed her at night."
Dentist: "Oh - that's not the problem then. Tell me again about when she was ill. Was she on antibiotics?"

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather. This dentist knows her stuff and knows that breastfeeding does not cause tooth decay. So as I had feared the antibiotics seem to have caused some decay on a couple of Orla's teeth following her operataion. Poor lamb. It is reassuring though that the feeding is not to blame.

Fortunately for Orla there is nothing to do at the moment - we just need to watch it carefully and look after them.

Phew!!

Motherhood

2008-04-09T19:41:00.004+01:00

I may delete this at a future date as this may get a bit too close to the truth...

I have had a shocking day. I went out to meet two of my lovely friends. Between us we had nine children - seven behaved beautifully, two didn't - and my boys were the terrible two....

Their behaviour at the moment is appalling. They are rude, they have no respect for me or anyone's belongings, they don't listen and to be honest I don't like them at all at the moment.

Driving home from a truly shocking day I did start considering my options - and none of them were pretty - and my those sheer drops at the side of the road are awfully tempting...

I need to do something but I just don't know where to begin. I feel I have no support here - sure I have friends who listen to me moaning (thanks guys...) but I need someone here with me - backing me up and I just don't have that at the moment.

Bollox bollox bollox.

A Walk in the Woods

2008-03-14T12:07:00.010Z

I took Orla and Ruaridh for a walk in the woods near our house yesterday. I carried Orla on my back:

.. and Ruaridh went stomping ahead:

until we got to the secret delve where there are some lovely seats - including Ruaridh's favourite - the throne:

Orla brought along her toy dog and rabbit:

I let Orla down and the little monkey refused to go back up so walked all the way back - all round the hill, along the track and back home.

Orla and Ruaridh held hands on the way home - very cute..

A Guide to Nits

2008-03-12T16:52:00.003Z

Step One: Allow one of your children to catch nits.

Step Two: Panic

Step Three: Pull yourself together and head to the shops

Step Four: Buy everything to do with nuking nits

Step Five: Assemble all products, parents and children in one place

Step Six: Run a bath

Step Seven: Parent A - Strip child A, use electric nit zapper on child A to kill any live bugs, insert child A into the bath.

Step Eight: Parent A - Strip child B, use electric nit zapper on child B to kill any live bugs, insert child B into the bath. Meanwhile Parent B washes child A's hair with special (environmentally friendly) shampoo.

Step Nine: Strip child C, use electric nit zapper on child C to kill any live bugs, insert child C into the bath. Meanwhile Parent B washes child B's hair with special (environmentally friendly) shampoo.

Step Ten: Parent B washes child A's hair with special (environmentally friendly) shampoo. Parent A - strip.

Step Eleven: Parent A - use electric nit zapper on Parent B to kill any live bugs. Meanwhile children A, B and C play beautifully in the bath.

Step Twelve: Parent B - use electric nit zapper on Parent A to kill any live bugs. Meanwhile children A, B and C play beautifully in the bath.

Step Thirteen: Parent A washes own hair with special (environmentally friendly) shampoo in the separate shower. Meanwhile Parent B extracts children A and C from the bath leaving child B to have a tantrum.

Step Fourteen: Parent A continues with shower and enjoys a little moment of peace - away from the chaos in the rest of the house. Meanwhile Parent B puts pyjamas on child C and encourages child A to put his own on. Meanwhile child B continues his tamtrum.

Step Fifteen: Parent A puts on pyjamas and dressing gown and braves the chaos. Meanwhile Parent B extracts child B from tantrum and helps with pyjamas.

Step Sixteen: Parent A applies lotion to child A's hair and re-comb - to remove eggs. Meanwhile Parent B escapes to wash own hair with special (environmentally friendly) shampoo in the separate shower.

Step Seventeen: Parent A applies lotion to child B's hair and re-comb - to remove eggs. Meanwhile Parent B continues with shower and enjoys a little moment of peace - away from the chaos in the rest of the house.

Step Eighteen: Parent B puts on pyjamas and dressing gown and braves the chaos. Meanwhile Parent A brushes hair, applies lotion and re-combs - to remove eggs.

Step Nineteen: Parent B catches child C and Parents A and B apply lotion and re-comb - to remove eggs.

Step Twenty: Parent B applies lotion to hair and re-combs - to remove eggs.Meanwhile Parent A collects up all towels for washing and vacuums the scene of the crime.

It never rains...

2008-03-05T20:18:00.002Z

This week has been a busy one - and it's only Wednesday.

On Monday I took Morgan to the Dental Hospital in Edinburgh. At his last check up he had an X-ray taken which revealed a couple of problems with his teeth - so off to the big hospital to get him checked out - it took over an hour to drive in - so not the ideal way to spend your morning. Morgan was great - we took along some reading and some top trumps (and knitting for me) but we only waited five minutes before going in. The dentist was lovely and took on board my comments on the medical form about Aspergers. Once he had had a look round Morgan went off with the silly nurse to get a sticker for being brave. The dentist told me he has problems with four of his teeth and although not hurting Morgan yet they may well do soon. And as these teeth are not due to fall out for another three or so years we need to get them filled. He has four new molars at the back - adult teeth - which although fine at the moment could also start to decay. So - the first thing to be done is to protect them.

We will have to go back for another three or four appointments to get all the work done - oh joy!! I can't take Rua or Orla as it is just not safe and I need to be there for Morgan. So it looks like my childminder will be making money off me over the next few months!!

Morgan was brilliant - but not sure how he will cope once the work starts.

The whole thing took about half an hour and I had allowed two hours (the letter suggested this) so we decided to go off to the museum for a bit. We had a lovely time, it's not often I get Morgan to myself.

On the way home Morgan had fun playing with the camera on my new mobile:

Tuesday I went to the doctors. I have a cyst on my back which needs to be cut out as it keeps getting infected. Nothing life-threatening (although they will send the cells off to be tested). So - I need to make another appointment to have it removed - it can't be a Monday or a Friday (the most likely days for Martin to be at home) and I won't be able to drive afterwards. (I have to drive to the Doctor's as it's about five miles away). Not quite sure how I will juggle that one! I also had Orla with me and asked the Doctor to look at her ears and she has a bacterial ear infection so is on anti-biotics to clear it up. Unfortunately she hates them (they taste of sherbet - bleugh) so we are having to syringe it into her mouth.

Today we took Morgan to his first appointment at the Autism Unit in the Borders. It took us over an hour to get there and we all went as they wanted to see the family. So Martin had the day off work. It actually went really well - the kids were great in the car and at the appointment. The boys played together really nicely the whole time - the main upset was before we went in when Ruaridh wanted to play with the water machine - oh well. Orla was hilarious when she brought a toy oven and a doll over to the table and proceeded to shove the doll into the oven and attempt to shut the door. We won't analyse that just now! They took a full history of Morgan's life and behavioural issues. He will be observed at school and also be back to the centre again for a set of tests. Yet again - that will be fun - as I will no doubt be on my own next time with all three of them. But they have a good range of toys in the waiting area - so it will hopefully not be too bad. We took them to a large soft play area on the way home as a reward for being so good all day.

The week is not over yet - I am at the dentist tomorrow which I am absolutely dreading as I have been getting a lot of pain on one side.

It never rains... but it pours...

4 Things meme

2008-03-03T18:12:00.005Z

4 Jobs I've Held:

Waitress
Baker
Segmentation Analyst
Dom Ass (Those in the know know what this is ;-) )

4 Movies I've Watched Over and Over Again:

Four Weddings and a Funeral
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Shawshank Redemption
Love Actually

4 Places I've Been

Maldives
Kenya
South Africa
Cuba

4 Places I've Lived

Leeds
Edinburgh
Iona
Cheshire

4 TV Show I Watch

The West Wing (All 7 Series a number of times...)
Grand Designs
Desperate Housewives
Commander in Chief (Just started watching this)

4 Things I Look Forward To

Glass of wine
Knitting
Baths (on my own, undisturbed)
Going out of the house as a family and having fun (but please no tantrums)

4 Favourite Foods

Chocolate
Roast chicken and roast potatoes
Good ice-cream
Steak and Chips

4 People I Email Regularly

My Mum
Martin
Vic
Janet

Busy busy

2008-02-29T20:22:00.003Z

I've been busy doing lots of things this week.

Lots of tidying, some knitting, some planning and a lot of work on my Mum's blog.

My Mum and Dad are travelling around New Zealand and Australia for 6 weeks and rather than them having to email lots of people I set them up a blog. I've enjoyed doing it - it's just a simple blogger template like mine - I'm not up to more complicated sites yet.

Today I added a google map showing where they have been so far which I have to admit to being rather proud of it.

View Larger Map

My map fetish has never faded.

What else is going on?

Well a big week ahead - Morgan has an appointment at the dental hospital in Edinburgh and also an appointment at the Autism Unit in Selkirk. Both big and scary and I'll be with him for both. Hoping to get a bit of retail therapy in on the Monday too.

Not a lot else going on - well apart from the mortgage for the housebuild has been okay'd so we can go ahead with buying a plot now...

He ate carrots

2008-02-15T09:03:00.003Z

We were sat round the table playing a board game the other night. I had Orla on my lap and she and Ruaridh were munching on raw carrot.

"Can I have some carrot?" said Morgan

My world stopped. I very calmly got up and got a knife and cut off a chunk of carrot.

"Smaller."

No problem - I cut off a slither.

We carried on with the game and he ate his slither.

"Can I have another?"

Another one was cut and handed over. I was being deliberately non-vocal about this whole process - don't want to risk upsetting the fine balance.

So - he ate two slithers of carrot.

After the game I said to Morgan that I wanted three words to describe a carrot - he looked at me puzzled. So I quizzed him.

"Crunchy or mushy?" "Crunchy."

"Orange or blue?" "Orange."

"Yummy or yucky?" "Yummy."

"Okay - time to get your pyjamas on."

As he left the room Martin and I did a silent War Dance - woohoo!!!!

Slowly, slowly. The next day I put three slithers onto his plate with his plain white bagel and margerine. He ate one and a half before saying he had had enough. But he ate them - totally unprompted.

Is this a fluke - or the start of something? I'm thinking about putting new (but plain) foods onto his plate and just seeing what happens.

I watched an episode of BBC's 'Freaky Eaters' last night where a girl could eat nothing more than burnt sausages, baked beans, chips, mash and bread. Her reaction to trying new food was very like Morgan's. Everything was fully examined for imperfections and only a morsel was allowed to enter her mouth with the full expectation that she would hate it. More often than not - she did. But she peresevered - she kept trying new things - she got used to the textures. Then she went to a farm to see food being grown (amazingly she had had no idea how a lot of foods were grown) and she picked and ate a strawberry and proclaimed how delicious it was. I could see the presenter wanting to run around and tell the world, to whoop for joy - but having to hold all emotion back - how familiar that is to me.

Names

2008-01-28T11:00:00.000Z

Names are a funny thing - they stay with you for life - unless you go about changing them or go and get married - but then only a bit of it changes.

So - what's in a name? The names we give our children serve as labels that they must live with and be called day in and day out.

When we were talking about the names of our children we felt it was very important to do or not do a number of things. Firstly we did not want to name our children after family members and thus ignore any 'traditions' held in either family. We felt like this with our wedding too. Our second requirement was it had to be a sensible name - that suited our surname - so Robbie was out. Finally we really wanted the name(s) to have a Celtic feel to them.

So - first time round we read lots of Name books and spent ages reading them out to each other. We got to 'Morgan' and read it out and both liked it. Who do we know called Morgan? Morgan Freeman of course. Fantastic - what a cool name. Interestingly we only wanted to use the name if we had a boy (even though the name can also be used for girls). We never did have a girl's name - as, of course, it was going to be a boy and he is. We added in Rowan to his name - in memory of our beloved Godson who died as a baby. Sleep in Peace little Rowan.

Morgan - From the Old Welsh masculine name Morcant, which was possibly derived from Welsh mor "sea" and cant "circle". As a (possibly unrelated) feminine name it was used by Geoffrey of Monmouth for the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay.

Rowan - Means "little red one", derived from Gaelic ruadh "red" combined with a diminutive suffix. This name can also be given in reference to the tree.

Second time round we again wanted a Celtic name. We again searched the books and this time came up with Ruaraidh which we loved. Again we only had a boys' name - and I clearly remember when I checked to see what the new baby was that I was relieved to have a boy - at least it was another the same as the last one. (Note: Ruaridh and Morgan are very rarely similar - so that was a mistake!) He was called Ruaraidh for the first two days and then we decided to drop the second 'a' and he became Ruaridh. For a middle name we chose Colm. We wanted a name to be linked with Iona - and using Columba would have been a bit over the top so we chose the Scots version - Colm.

Ruaridh - Means "red king" from Irish ruadh "red" combined with rí "king". This was the name of the last high king of Ireland, reigning in the 12th century.

Colm - Late Latin name meaning "dove". Saint Columba was a 6th-century Irish monk who established a monastery on the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. He is credited with the conversion of Scotland to Christianity.

Then I got pregnant again - and this time we found ourselves looking at girls' names - funny how we have guessed the sex each time! We had the Welsh Morgan and the Scots Ruaridh - so now it was time for an Irish name. We settled on Orla. We could have used the Irish spelling Orlaidh - but that would be difficult for the family - as they struggle so much with both the spelling and the pronunciation of Ruaridh. We know a couple of Orlas but they seemed chuffed to be sharing the name. For a second name we turned to our love of Tolkein and decided to use Eowyn. We were going to put the accent on the 'o' but on the day we registered her we could not muster the energy to explain to the incompetent registrar - so she is plain Eowyn - not that Eowyn is plain.

Orla - Means "golden princess" from Irish ór "gold" combined with flaith "princess". This was the name of a sister of the Irish king Brian Boru.

Eowyn - Means "horse lover" in Old English. This name was invented by J. R. R. Tolkien who used Old English to represent the Rohirric language. In his novel 'The Lord of the Rings' Eowyn is the niece of King Theoden of Rohan. She slays the Lord of the Nazgul in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

As for us - well I guess we didn't have much control over our names:

Lucy - female version of Lucius - Roman praenomen, or given name, which was derived from Latin lux "light". Two Etruscan kings of early Rome had this name as well as several prominent later Romans, including Lucius Annaeus Seneca (known simply as Seneca), a famous statesman, philosopher, orator and tragedian. Also, three popes have borne this name.

Martin - From the Roman name Martinus, which was derived from Martis, the genitive case of the name of the Roman god MARS. Saint Martin of Tours was a 4th-century bishop who is the patron saint of France. According to legend, he came across a cold beggar in the middle of winter so he ripped his cloak in two and gave half of it to the beggar.

Five popes have borne this name. Two other influential bearers were Martin Luther, the theologian who began the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, and more recently Martin Luther King, the American civil rights leader who fought for racial equality.

All meanings have been taken from the site Behind the Name

Happy New Year

2008-01-05T04:54:00.000Z

Happy New Year and all that...

2007 has been and gone. Christmas was fabulous. Chocolates were eaten, champagne was drunk, the kids went hyper and the tree looked fabulous.

All in all the Festivities were good. All back to normal after this weekend when we will take the tree and stuff down, clean the house and get back to some form of routine.

Not particularly looking forward to the school run on Monday morning as I think having to be dressed so early (or indeed at all in Ruaridh's case) will be a shock.

In the meantime we are all sat shivering as I have stupidly let the oil tank run dry and we have no heating until we can get the tanker out here. Thank goodness for the coal fire. May have to take the kids swimming over the weekend so at least we won't smell too bad.

So what will 2008 hold? Who knows. I have a couple of resolutions but no doubt will break them all - don't really feel like listing them as if they are down in black and white I will resent/resist all the more.

Hope you all had a good time over the holidays and have a wonderful 2008 to look forward to.

Why oh why?

2007-12-18T10:41:00.000Z

Every year I get super-stressed - and all over the same things. Too much to do and no time to do it in.

My week looks like this:

Wed: Rua has Christmas dinner at nursery
Thu: Rua's birthday party
Fri: Rua's Birthday
Sat: Swimming Lessons
Christmas Tree arrives - need to decorate it and the house
In-Laws arrive - need to move out of our bedroom and cook for the masses
Sun: Orla's Christening - so early church service and then masses back for lunch
Mon: Christmas Eve - have to remember to pick up the turkey from the Butcher
Tue: Christmas Day
Wed: Boxing Day - ILs go home - so we get our bed back - hurray
Thu onwards - no plans, nothing, at all, ever, again

So before Saturday I have to gut this house - which is covered in toys, clothes, trash - it's a bit of a bomb-site. I need to clean the bathrooms, kitchen and vacuum throughout. I need to get to the bottle bank so the ILs won;'t think we are alcoholics. I have all the presents to wrap - including the ones that need posting. I need to write and send all the Christmas Cards - including the ones to the US, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa!

So - what am I doing? Sitting drinking tea and planning... (this may last some time)

Nativity

2007-12-05T18:10:00.001Z

Nativity
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

Ruaridh had his nativity play today. It was superb. He was the star - complete with head-torch to light his/the way.

Start of the play was delayed due to the Star needing a wee (typical).

They sang cute songs, missed their cues and generally were exceptionally cute.

One of the Kings told me off for taking photos - in the middle of the play, the Angel refused to wear her halo and skipped Mary to Bethlehem, Jesus/Camel was ill so a Shepherd had to step in at the last minute (and found the costume a little itchy).

Oh - and the camel - well - they couldn't find a donkey costume - so they got a camel. I laughed and laughed...

Those of you who are listed as friends on my Flickr account can see all 57 photos here.

Back from Harrogate

2007-11-26T09:37:00.001Z

Orla and I spent the weekend in Harrogate. We stayed with my mum and dad in their caravan in Knaresborough. The reason for this madness? Well I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show.

The show was pretty amazing - lots of stunning stalls and flamboyant characters. I had fun fondling lots of the wool. I came away with a few things:

Three skeins of silk from HipKnits
An old 1970s Dinosaur knitting pattern
An old Christmas Craft book
2 pairs of chunky, bright knitting needles for the boys to try with
5 Indian-style floaty scarves for Orla for Christmas
A big box of boxes to store Hama beads in
A metre of green cord embroidered fabric which I have given to Kirsty from FBS to make into a new carrier for me

I met up with Jayne, Tracy and Kirsty - all for the first time. I love having 'virtual' friends. But it's even nicer when you meet the real person and find out they are even lovelier in real life.

The show was fab but I didn't get to spend enough time looking and shopping due to me feeling rubbish and Orla not really enjoying the day.

Next year I'll go without the child - maybe even Dublin???

Help!! I need somebody...

2007-11-19T21:11:00.000Z

I have run out of ideas - please, please help.

I need to be able to get my kids to sleep in the evening.

The problem I am having at the moment is the boys - they want to share a bed - fine - I'm a huge advocate of co-sleeping. But they just keep each other awake. Do I leave them to it and risk very tired and grumpy boys in the morning. Do I intervene and insist they sleep in their own beds - which juct creates tears and tantrums and runs the risk of waking Orla who is actually asleep before 11pm for once.

What do I do?

I really feel like I am in a no-win situation. I am not prepared to sit in their room until they go to sleep - because they fidget, mess, chatter, wriggle....

I have tried taking things off them - but am running out of things to take off them. We have tried star charts - which I ended up ripping up at the weekend as it was such a waste of time.

They seem to have no concept of the need for sleep and no respect for my desire to have an evening to myself. Right now I am not particularly enjoying being a parent - because it's seems to be all negative at the moment.

We are all worn out and grumpy and no-one seems to be willing to budge an inch. I guess Orla is wearing me out too. After being ill a week or two ago she has eaten very little and is relying on me for most of her nutrition. Would be fine except I have a stinking cold and I'm just exhausted.

When does this stop? When will it improve? When can I stop moaning and start enjoying life again?

Dinner Date

2007-11-10T00:23:00.000Z

I had a dinner date tonight. With my son, his best mate and his mum. We went to the local Italian restaurant.

It was really lovely - Morgan got to learn all about behaving in restaurants so it was good fun. I took a bagel with me - as I knew there would be nothing that he would/could eat and they were lovely about it. Served it up on a big plate like he was special. He ordered his own drink (milk) and wanted to give his cutlery back as he wouldn't need it - bless him.

He and his pal told silly jokes and chatted about random things. I caught up with my friend and ate pizza.

Morgan's headmaster showed up too - which was funny - but Morgan took it all in his stride.

At one point he wanted to go up and ask for a straw and I explained that we have to ask the waitress when she passes. This is all so new for him - we never go out to eat as it really is too stressful.

On the way home he said to me "I like you Mummy." I almost broke down in tears - because he really meant it and I was so touched. It's not often I get to spend time with him one to one. It was a really special time.

Ruaridh's turn next - we're planning taking him and his friend out for a curry in early December!! (At least I won't have to take special food for him!)

Eureka

2007-11-07T21:38:00.000Z

So - the boys have a new bunk bed (new to them - but second hand). I put it up on Saturday for them. Lots of excitement in the house. Morgan - being the oldest - claimed the top bunk, Ruaridh was happy with his large lower bunk. All fine...

... or not...

Since we have had the bunk Morgan has not slept in his bed. He has used excuse after excuse to sleep in our bed. He has happily slept with Ruaridh over the weekend and in my bed the last two nights. But this has got to stop. So we had a talk.

We have now agreed that Ruaridh can have the top bunk (insert eye-rolling icon here) and Morgan can have the bottom. For some reason the top bunk scares him - not sure exactly what it is - but he was so happy to be offered the change. Silly boy - why didn't he just tell me that he didn't like it up there?

So tonight - first night with the change and my boys are sleeping like angels, in their own (recently swapped) beds. Fingers crossed that it stays like this.

Bugs R Us

2007-11-05T13:43:00.000Z

Please can I have a bug-free week??

Two weeks ago it was Morgan - couple of days of fever, sleepiness and feeling crap. He now has a cold that won't shift itself.

Last week Rua had a couple of days of fever, sleepiness and feeling crap. Over the weekend he developed a cold.

This morning Orla woke with a fever and has been sleepy and looking crap all day.

Spotted the pattern yet? My guess is Orla will be sick today and tomorrow, start with a cold on Friday.

Will I wake up with a fever next Monday?

Calpol all round methinks...

Moving hell

2007-10-19T00:07:00.000+01:00

So - we moved house. Not a straight-forward move either. We had to move into a caravan for two weeks between houses as the dates got a little complicated.

Moving Out

We were completely unprepared. It was terrible. The stress was ridiculous, the problems plentiful and the tears flowed freely. Let's just leave it at that as I can't bear to think about it too much. (In fact there are still ongoing problems with our old house - that I really cannot deal with and am leaving it to Martin to deal with.)

The Caravan

Hmm... Not much better. The optimist in me (she's not often allowed out to play) assured me that it would be fine. Two weeks in a 3-bed caravan, by the sea, would be a lovely little holiday. In reality it wasn't. The caravan felt very small with the three kids charging around. The weather wasn't at its best, my patience was limited and the caravan was cold. Martin was there at the weekends, but during the week it was me, the kids and the cat. Bedtimes were the worst as the boys were constantly playing up and sharing a tiny room. I hated that part of it and have to admit to crying most evenings feeling both very sorry for myself and very lonely. There was no mobile reception so I was completely cut-off. On the plus-side it was situated on one of the most stunning beaches I know. Martin has taken some cracking photos and they really are amazing.

Moving In

We finally moved into our new house at the beginning of October - what a huge relief. All of our belongings magically appeared on the back of two lorries with ten removal men. (They'd had a cancellation so we ended up with two teams.) They unloaded eight huge pallets in just two hours. We had to make tea in shifts as we couldn't find enough mugs. All in all it was great and I was very giggly. A new local friend took Orla and the boys were at nursery and school so it went really well.

Settling in

Two weeks down the line we are slowly getting sorted with most boxes now empty. There is still a stubborn hard-core in the downstairs cupboard - in which I am hoping we will find some wine that has not appeared yet and Morgan's school bag! We had some of the neighbours round one Sunday afternoon for some drinks and snacks. The boys were angels - bless them! Was good to meet the new people.

Update: I found the wine - yippee! Still not found Morgan's school bag!!

Discovery

2007-10-19T00:06:00.000+01:00

Hey - guess what? I found my desk today. I had wondered where it had gone. There it was hiding underneath huge piles of stuff - you know - all the stuff that accumulates when you move. My desk was one of the last places to be liberated from the stuff. Admittedly most of it has now been relocated out into the hall - but I did fill a bin bag, fill the paper recycling box and double the contents of the box of cables.

I also found a load of parcels that I meant to post before we moved - whoops!

Now all I need is an Internet Connection....

Morgan Update

2007-10-19T00:05:00.002+01:00

Morgan started a new school as we moved and has been made to feel very welcome. His new school have listened to my concerns about Morgan's issues and have taken them on board. They are incredibly supportive and he seems to be benefitting from it already.

When asked he chooses his new school over his old one all the time. I asked him why today and he said because his new teacher is lovely. (And she is!)

The day we moved into our new house I took Morgan to the hospital in Musselburgh for an assessment with an 'Associate Specialist' in the Mental Health Team. She asked me a lot of questions about Morgan looking at his birth, his early years, his development and his life in general. Off the back of this we received a letter detailing the interview/appointment which makes interesting reading.

As we have moved regions he is now being referred to the Borders Hospital and we await the next appointment which should be with the Occupational Therapist.

Having just had half-term I have realised that shops are no longer an option for Morgan - he simply cannot control himself - and I don't want to put him in the position of getting into trouble because I need/want to go shopping. It certainly is an interesting learning curve.

Eating-wise nothing much has changed recently, just the same same old. He did bite into a carrot this week but it hasn't led to anything else.

My heart bleeds for Morgan and my motherly instinct is to protect him at all times which I obviously cannot do. I wish I could be there to hold his hand every day in school and help with every situation that arises and explain to people why Morgan did what he just did. But I cannot, and that hurts. Similarly at home I do need him to be the big boy some of the time so I can get the others to sleep, or make tea, or whatever..

Stop the World - I want to get back on...

2007-10-19T00:05:00.001+01:00

I really feel like I dropped out of the world for a while. Having no internet connection for so long has been kind of nice, but I want back in now...

I have a load to blog on - so be patient while I get up to date. A lot seems to have happened over the last few weeks with moving house and some interesting developments with Morgan. When I get chance I will update them all.

Panic Stations

2007-09-12T10:26:00.000+01:00

What do I do first???

Clean the house?
Sort the washing?
Pack for the 2 weeks away?
Pack more boxes?
Attack the garage?
Attack the garden?

... I'll have a cup of tea and think about it.

It's all going pear-shaped

2007-09-07T10:44:00.000+01:00

We're moving house soon - did you know? Now the dates got all complicated so we are going to be in a caravan for 2 weeks - not as bad as it sounds as the caravan in question is on a beach and this will be sunny September (fingers crossed). So it's really a holiday.

All was going well, until I phoned the removal company to confirm the dates and to pay. She happily took my payment and then when I mentioned the dates (which I had already discussed with them) she reminded me it was an Edinburgh Holiday weekend and would mean triple pay - so maybe the Tuesday and Wednesday would suit - ermmm no!!!!

So am now waiting to find out how much it will cost to move on a Bank Holiday Monday. In the meantime I am trying other companies with very little success.

Have also contacted the caravan park to see if we can extend the stay if need be - in case we move out on the Thursday/Friday - but that's not possible - because it's the Bank Holiday Weekend and they're full.

Not having a fun day at all.

Happy Birthday Morgan

2007-09-03T09:54:00.000+01:00

Another year has passed my and my baby is now 6 - can hardly believe it. He has shot up recently and now towers over Ruaridh. He is now wearing age 7 trousers and I think I am going to have to remove about 2/3 of his trousers from his drawer as they are just so short.

He had a party on Saturday at a great Soft Play centre in the Borders with a select number of guests. It went swimmingly - no tantrums and few tears - hurray! The food was a hit, the kids were all polite and Morgan was a fantastic host - gushing over all his presents and having a fantastic time. We came away tired but not stressed - marvellous.

His birthday itself was yesterday and he was so excited to get yet more presents - from us and grandparents. His main present was a new bike - having only just learnt to ride his bike he has gone from small bike with stabilisers to huge bike without in a matter of weeks. He really does look grown up. We had a quiet morning and then went off to Pease Bay - where we are going to be living in a caravan for a couple of weeks - and ran about on the beach for a bit. It really is a lovely beach and I am looking forward to moving there.

And to top it all off yesterday afternoon while Martin and Orla slept (she had an ear infection on Saturday night so both were exhausted) Ruaridh and Morgan did a whole load of chores for me. They picked all the fallen, rotting apples up, stacked the canes and the tools, did some weeding and then picked up some broken clothes pegs for me. Wow! Oh - and we stripped the damson tree - so I now need to make jam!

Martin and I had a huge list of things to do pre-move but of course hardly touched the list. I did some sorting in the dining room and found the piano again. We also moved the sofas round at 11 o'clock at night - fun huh?

So - busy week ahead - lots of sorting - I want to get rid of lots of books, clothes and toys that are just cluttering us up.

I fixed the car Mummy

2007-08-30T22:41:00.000+01:00

Not the words you want to hear from your three year old.

Last time Ruaridh 'helped' with the car I found him rubbing sun-cream into it with a beautiful felted flower I had bought for my mother's wedding anniversary. (Still not sent it off Mum - it's a little grubby now...) Ruaridh and Morgan didn't want the car to get sunburnt...

Anyway - Ruaridh came in yesterday and said "I fixed the car Mummy." So - I asked him to show me. He took me out and proudly took me round the side. Now over the weekend Martin and I cleared out the garage - pre-move to freecycle stuff. We found two hub caps for the car. As we have one missing we got the box out to put one back on. Ruaridh watched me trying to put one on but it kept pinging off. So yesterday - he did it for me. Bless him - he has actually fitted it on. I don't want to know how long it took or how he did it. He was helping Mummy and that's what matters.

The Jungle Drums have been Drumming

2007-08-21T12:20:00.000+01:00

School is back. Morgan started back yesterday. I forgot to buy him some indoor shoes. I forgot to label his new lunch box, his new clothes and his bag. I forgot to get his gym kit ready. But at least we made it to school on time - just! He has a new bike, early for his birthday. It makes him look so grown up - and makes getting to school much faster. He is so thrilled with his new bike - I've never seen him smile so much!

He is very tall now - he is in Age 7 trousers now - despite not quite being 6. Fortunately the trousers my mum bought him (thanks Mum) have an adjustable waist band so they don't fall off his skinny waist. Ruaridh looks short compared to him.

Ruaridh started pre-school today - so he was thrilled to be going back too. We went in, looked for his peg - and he didn't have one. "Oh - they all have the same pegs, their names have been moved up - but we've kept the same pictures." (There are two classes - one morning and afternoon so the pegs are shared so each peg has a picture and two names on it.)

"Where's Ruaridh's?" I ask his teacher.
"Oh - hi there - what are you doing here?"
"Ermmm..."
"I was told Ruaridh wasn't coming back."
"Ermm - by who?"
"Well you're moving aren't you?"
"Yes - but not yet - and don't you think I would tell you?"
"Hmm - I guess the jungle drums have been beating."

They have indeed. So - poor Ruaridh was not expected back at all - and I have told the school nothing about us moving - I was waiting for the dates to be finalised. I am a little peeved that they took someone else's word for it - oh well - all sorted now and a new peg found. (With a bike on it.)

Where did the summer go?

2007-08-15T20:51:00.000+01:00

Morgan starts P2 on Monday, Ruaridh starts pre-school. Where did the summer go?

I can't believe it is almost over - I feel we've done nothing we wanted to.. I had so many plans - but where was the summer? There was so much rain, so few beach visits. We've been doing a lot of house-days - which has brought Morgan and Ruaridh closer I think - well their fists seem to touch a lot these days - lol.

I'm praying for a nice September so I can get lots of stuff done before we move - clean the house, the curtains, the garage, the garden... pack... go live in a caravan for two weeks (did I mention that?)

Hmmm - should really be putting the kids to bed - but was hoping they would do it on their own.. one day...

Water Fight

2007-08-10T12:52:00.001+01:00

Water Ballons
Originally uploaded by Pollianicus.

A good water fight needs plenty of preparation.

I think it took me a good half hour to prepare these balloons and the kids threw them all in 2 minutes flat.

Fun was had though!

Swimming

2007-07-30T22:54:00.000+01:00

I take the boys to swimming lessons every week in Eyemouth pool - it's fab there - the swimming instructors are lovely and the lessons are really good. Much better than our local pool.

Ruaridh is in a water-confidence class. To progress he has to be able to swim a width on his back and a width on his front (with armbands/toggle). Ruaridh is hyper-confident - but not very good at listening. This is the boy who will jump off the 5-metre diving board into the deep end of the pool. He's only 3 - but wow the confidence in that boy is amazing. So he can go up a class - even though he hasn't done his widths as he has the confidence. But there is no space in the next class. Which is fine as the next class up is Morgan's and the thought of those two in the same class. So - I now need to coax Morgan into showing them how good he is so Rua can get his place and Morgan can move up too.

After lessons today I went in the pool with Orla. Well she is normally fairly chilled in the pool, loves the sling I have or sits in a baby-seat or plays on one of the big floats. Not so today. Today she wanted to swim. She kept throwing herself away from me convinced that she could go it alone. I ended up putting arm-bands on her - and even then she wanted me to leave her. Don't get me wrong - she was having a ball, absolutely loving it. She is so like Ruaridh it scares me senseless!

Bits and Pieces

2007-07-28T19:48:00.000+01:00

Morgan has at last learnt to ride his bike - yippee. He has been trying for ages and ages - but just didn't seem to have the nerve. Today I asked a neighbour to pump his tyres and then I gave the bike to Morgan. He got on it and took off - just like that. About time too. The holiday in France definitely helped - he was using one of those balancing bikes that a boy in the next tent had and Morgan learnt the whole balancing concept. Great to see Morgan all smiles today - something we're not seeing much of at the moment.

Orla is getting cuter and cheekier by the day. She crawled into the kitchen last night calling "Yes, Yes" all the way (at least that's what it sounded like. She now has 9 teeth - as the first of her molars put in an appearance this week - and don't I know it - lots of extra nursing - and she now comes up to me and helps herself - or tries to.

Ruaridh is Ruaridh - we're getting the usual summer-time comments of "isn't he brown?", "have you been sunbathing?" "have you been on a sunbed?" *Sigh* What do I answer? He's a monkey at the moment - very loud and full of beans.

House news for you all too. We are moving to Cockburnspath - which is really exciting. About 15 minutes from Dunbar. The school is much smaller than here. The house is lovely - just round the corner from the school. Very happy about it all.

Eccentric Ruaridh

2007-07-19T14:38:00.000+01:00

Ruaridh does make me laugh. Last night he was a bit of a monkey and was refusing to go to sleep so in the end I just left him to it and got on with other stuff - like getting Orla to sleep. Eventually after a lot of messing about he went to sleep in his bed.

When I went to check on him I found him wearing his superman pyjamas, his Thomas the Tank Engine hat, a pair of safety goggles, green jester print Babylegs and a pair of thick Peter Rabbit socks. Eccentric? I think so.

Girls will be girls

2007-07-17T22:47:00.000+01:00

I've always been a bit of a tom-boy. Never really into all the girlie stuff - and I hate pink.

I have two older brothers and had two boys - then Orla arrived. Woah!! I've never seen so much pink in my life - it was terrifying. Over the last 16 months I have managed to reduce the amount of pink in the house and although she does wear some pink it's not as over-powering as I see with a lot of other girls.

About a month ago her hair finally grew long enough to start tying back and mine is growing again too - so we have had a couple of girlie hair attempts - much to Morgan and Ruaridh's amusement.

Anyway - today I was getting Ruaridh's clothes out so he could get dressed and Orla came in to check it out. She crawled over to her drawers (Rua and Orla share a wardrobe) and pulls out a pairs of trousers and starts to pull them on. Well once I had convinced her that removing her pyjamas and changing her nappy first would be a good idea I helped her put them on again. I then lifted her to where her tops are and she chose a nice green t-shirt.

A bit later on she crawled up to me wearing a hat she had found (hers). Later still she appeared with a sandal and started to wave her foot around with the obvious intention of getting me to put it on for her.

Once the boys were in bed we were having a chilled time in the lounge and she brings me a hairbrush and lies her head on its side - clearly wanting me to brush her hair.

Is my girl a girl or what? The boys were *never* like this. It's like she has woken up with attitude today.

In Morgan-land - he went to bed at 7 for the second night running. I'm worried about him - he is barely eating and is so lethargic. Think I'm going to take him off to the doctor tomorrow.

100 Books

2007-07-15T02:11:00.000+01:00

Look at the list of (100) books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicise the ones you want to read.
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Hmm - lots of books on there I feel I *should* have read. Also quite a few I have read and did not enjoy!

Holiday Eating

2007-07-15T00:58:00.000+01:00

We've just been on holiday. We went camping in South-West Brittany and had a great time. I think we had two rain-free days (insert rolling-eye smiley here).

One thing I wanted to blog about while it is all still fresh in my head is Morgan's eating while on holiday. I figured it would be relatively easy for him. He loves long-white bread (baguettes to you and me) at home so figured France would be a good option. Hmm - life is never easy is it?

I fortunately packed a load of oatcakes which saved the day on a number of occasions.

Our first day we made a day trip to the beautiful town of Concarneau and ended up, by chance, eating at the best restaurant there. A fab little place. Morgan decided to try a crepe - and wolfed it down so quickly we ordered another. I was so happy I was practically in tears. Of course I hid this from Morgan because he needs to see that eating is normal... Anyway - I was so thrilled with him - not only had he tried something new he had actually liked it too. Of course we then hit a new problem - the fallback of vanilla ice-cream didn't work as it had 'bits' in it (real vanilla).

So Morgan had crepes practically every day with bits of baguette when he could cope with it and oatcakes when all else failed. Ice-creams were hit or miss depending on the bits - Magnums seemed to go down okay as they didn't have the vanilla flecks in them.

By the end of the holiday I think he was getting a bit fed up of the crepes and practically went on hunger-strike. He had cereal and some milk but stopped eating anything else. This was just as were leaving for home. He spent the last two days of the holiday sulking near the tent or sleeping. He was very lethargic and bad-tempered. There was nothing that would tempt him. We tried every bribe we could think of - we just needed him to eat. If he accepted food he would hold it in his hand and not eat it. Very worrying.

Now we are back home he seems happier again - he is eating again. The same old things though - nothing new. When will this change?

Morgan's Aspergers

2007-06-14T18:07:00.001+01:00

Note: This is a work in progress that I will pass to the school before the end of term for his new teacher to use next term.

Although not officially diagnosed we strongly suspect that Morgan is Asperger's. This has an impact on many areas of his life. In order to prevent further frustration in school I think it is important for everyone to be aware of Morgan's problem areas, triggers and possible solutions. In order to prepare this I have been doing a range of reading on the subject and if I quote any of these sources I have referenced them at the end.

What is Asperger's syndrome?

I will assume that the reader has some knowledge of autism. Asperger's has been recognised to be part of the autistic spectrum but is by no means the same as autism.
The 'Triad of Impairments' (Lorna Wing, 1981) are identified as:

Problems with social interaction and relationships

Problems with communication

Problems with imagination

Morgan in P1

Morgan has had a very mixed year in P1. My first appointment with his teacher the first thing I was told was "Morgan is very immature". This really threw me and I remember being quite upset by this. I know he is by no means the perfect child but immature? That had never occurred to me. Looking back I can see how this description came about. At points of pressure (for example lining up at lunch time) Morgan's triggers are all being set off and his behaviour can be seen to deteriorate. These are obviously stressful times for him and perhaps these are the areas where alternatives could be considered - for example avoiding queues by jumping them or waiting to the end.

Morgan has been attending a class to look at his pen-control. I look at his drawings and he is not as accurate or creative as some of his peers. His colouring in is not neat at all. I remember in the first few weeks of P1 Morgan started to get homework. He had to draw a picture to show something about the book that was read together. He found this incredibly difficult. Firstly he couldn't think what to draw and secondly he couldn't then draw the chosen picture. I found myself having to suggest pictures and then having to draw them for him. Interestingly a picture he chose to be drawn on a number of occasions was 'Morgan reading the book'. So nothing to do with the story at all.

By complete contrast he is in an advanced reading group. He has a reading age of 10 and a comprehension age of 8 (when tested earlier this year.) There are four in the group and they read stories and answer questions on them. He is more than able to understand and read the stories but isn't as good or quick as the other three at writing the answers. A solution to this was for him to use a highlighter pen to show he had understood both the question and the answer.

Ref:

1. Martian in the Playground - understanding the schoolchild with Asperger's syndrome. by Clare Sainsbury

A Sad Day

2007-06-12T23:28:00.000+01:00

We had some sad news yesterday. Martin's cousin's son was killed in a car crash. He was 18 years old and we are shocked and stunned. For someone so young to have their life stolen away is just wrong.

I've been thinking about him and his family all day. I cannot even start to imagine the pain his parents and sister are feeling right now. Tricia, Alan, Amy - my heart is bleeding for you right now.

I spoke to my mum - my reaction when I get bad news is always to talk to my mum - and we spoke about her brother. John, my uncle, was killed in an accident when he was in his late 20s. He left behind a young daughter and a widow. It was before I was born so he never knew me or my brothers. I asked my mum how she coped - and she said she doesn't know. Her mother (my Gran) never got over it. My mum still finds it incredibly sad that John never got to see us or his daughter grow up.

Life is so precious and too short.

Ross - you will be missed by everyone whose life you touched.