Under 5s 18th Aug

Neive tried out the local under 5's on Wednesday. She really enjoyed it. There was only 4other kids there, which is much quieter than she is used to, but I think that's why she enjoyed it so much. The play leader asked if I wanted to stay to make sure she settled - I said hell no, told Neive goodbye and ran out of there as fast as I could. Much to their surprise she settled great but she is totally used to that environment between ballet, toddlers, play dates, nursery. We will definitely be going back.

Back to school 16th Aug

Due to the high maintenance of Neive recently (moods) I gave toddlers a miss and went to the park (where I could whip her home if there was any misbehaving). I'm not being too hard on her - even my mum and dad will tell you she's been in an awful mood recently and they always say the sun shines out her bum. Anyway at the park, funnily enough, we bumped into Alison, Isla and Leah. So we invited them home for play and lunch. I had promised Neive hot dogs for lunch (not a healthy meat). Leah and Isla loved them, much to our surprise. Don't know how happy Alison is going to be serving them up often though. Both Neive and Isla love their bling and make up - they are very similar in their worshiping of princesses. Granny and granpa popped in for lunch too and when the girls came back down stairs they were looking gorgeous. It's the end of the school hoildays so Ballet is back on and everyone had to leave for 2 so we could head. Neive was as good as gold all day. Especially at the ballet. She loves it.

For Becky it was the first day at school. They all looked so smart in their school uniforms and Laura and Gordon are as proud as punch.

Mummy and Neivey 15th Aug

Neive loves tinkerbell and there is a new movie out. Neive and I haven't had a day with just the two of us since Beth was born. So I thought we could have a wee girly day out to the pics. We headed to toys r us to play with the toys. Neive wanted to sit on the bike and she tried to ride it (it has stabilisers on it) and shockingly she can ride it. I have no idea who taught her. I think she has strong legs and that is half the battle. She did two laps of the store and now I'm desperate to get her a bike. I have to wait till at least her birthday. We bought two sets of fairy wings one for me and one for Neive. Since she's been ill she has been playing up a lot. It takes nothing to turn her happy go lucky mood sour! I had really been looking forward to mother and daughter time but on the way to the cinema she melted down. It took me 20 minutes to get her to stop shouting and apologies to me. We were slightly late for the cinema by this point. The film was great and we had lunch at pizza hut. I wish I had headed home before the pizza hut! I could hardly keep her on her seat and called for the bill quickly. She slept all the way home and then some. Maybe next time :(

Steady now

Okay you'll never believe it but at 10 months old Beth is on her feet and walking, balancing and turning. It's pretty early and if you hold her hand she thinks she can run. Now everyone will think I'm so happy but she is taking some serious knocks. I just don't have eyes at the back of my head. She even tried to mount a toddler car and drive it. I managed to just catch her that time. I caught her half the way up a playframe on the stairs (Not proper ones but thin wood for gripping only). Okay - I'm glowing with pride really. She has the biggest smile on her face because she knows she is doing a great job.

Diarrhea 10th -14th Aug

So you’ll have noticed how far behind I go with my blog recently. First it was my birthday and I was away or enjoying myself too much. Then came the sickness. Neive and Beth have diarrhea and sickness and I feel like I've got the flu (without the runny nose - I‘m sure it‘s just exhaustion) Poor Neive is back in nappies for the week until things improve - poor soul. Wednesday morning we were getting changed in the morning and she tripped and fell on her bum. She obviously wasnt expecting the pressure and you can imagine the state of my carpet. We've been in all week from Tuesday to Sunday as we didn't want any accidents.

Marmaduke

We're real winners again. This time F called up the radio show for cinema tickets for the premiere of Marmaduke and won. Daddy wanted to spend some quality time with Beth and decided to take her swimming. So Neive, Granny chickens and myself had a girlie trip to the cinema. We all put on our lip gloss and got dressed up nice. Neive was very excited. They had these kiddy snack boxes for sale so granny chickens bought both Neive and I one each. I don't think I'll ever be too big for a kids snack box in my mums eyes. I loved every minute of it and especially enjoyed playing with my free spy kits that came along with it.

Goodbye Sean and Louise 7th Aug

Granny and Granpa chickens looked after Neive and Beth while mummy and daddy went to Edinburgh to say goodbye to Louise and Sean. They are heading home to New Zealand after 6 years of staying in Scotland. They also have some exciting news. Louise is due a baby early next year. We can't wait to come over to visit and we wish them all the best for the future.

New Shoes! 6th Aug

Neive inherited a bunch of dressing up outfits from her cousins and decided to be cow boy today. I really like that she is open to dressing up in something other than a dress. I was getting worried for a while there. All of a sudden pink is what girls wear and blue is for boys. Dresses are for girls and jeans are for boys. I don't know where it comes from? Nature v nuture!



We headed to Edinburgh to see daddy, meet for lunch and go shoe shopping - Neives favourite. Both girls were due shoes - Beths first pair. She's the same width of foot as Neive but needed a smaller soes size as she's on her feet early. As daddy didn't finish for ages and ages I took the girls to the beach.



Beth is getting really steady on her feet. I was quite impressed I managed to get a photo of her standing with no support.


Unfortunately she did fall over 5 seconds later.

Summer holidays 1st-3rd August

As the girls cousins were still on their summer holidays we invited them to stay for a while. There were too many people for the car so we stayed around the village. We went a walk through the woods and I like to tell crazy stories like "there's where the trolls live" and "that's the car that got hit by the whomping willow". Zack was totally gullible and asked a million questions about the whomping willow.



I got Neive to take some photos of us all. It's a heavy camera so for a two year old I'm pretty impressed.


The kids favourite part was definitely the puddles. I swear they were trying to go for a swim in some of them. Needless to say my bathroom was totalled that night.



Becky, Zack and Ben are all loved up on there baby cousin and are always looking after her. She got a ton of cuddles and pushes on the swing. The kids were great the whole time. It was really enjoyable and I hope they had a good time too.

Carnwath Show 30th July

So Carwath show isn’t as much fun when it is pouring down with rain. As F was off and we have been busy out and about I didn’t put any entries in this year. Girls I promise we'll spend hours on our cookie decorating next year. Neive was engrossed in the Highland dancing. I think she'd love to give it a go however her daddy has other ideas. He found out that the outfits cost as much as 400 pounds - so he'll never allow it. We didn’t stay too long but we had to see Jay showing his very own calf.



He did ever so well and kept the cow under complete control and for the last time Neive -we are not getting a cow!. After we headed to Edinburgh for a play date/bbq at Alastairs and Catherines house. What a difference an hours drive makes. It was totally dry and warm in Edinburgh. They have a massive back garden and could run about till their hearts were content. Beth is always on the go and you can hardly get a minutes peace. She always heads for the steps or electrical socket. It’s like she's programmed for danger?

30th July

We spent the afternoon at granny chickens house. They have a little tykes car and Neive would push Beth about in it and then demand a push herself. It was slightly unfair though - not only did Beth have more weight to push but she had to do 20 minute shifts versus Neive’s one push up and down the garden. It is lovely seeing them play so well together. Neive really can’t wait to have a fully interactive friend.

Polkemet Park 29th July

Fraser took the rest of the week off and we went to Polkemment park to do some ceramic painting. We went a walk by the river. The grounds are lovely and the park is loads of fun. Neive loves spending time playing with her daddy but after a week she gets very upset when he has to go back to work.

Isla's Birthday 27th July

Hard to believe but Isla has turned 3. Where does the time go. They held a party at almond valley heritage park. It was mermaid themed as this is her favourite. We all chipped in to get her a Giselle dress. She really is a princess.



Alison made a fabby mermaid cake with blue icing. You could tell everyone who had enjoyed a piece as they had a bright blue tongue.





We had a picnic birthday lunch in the picnic barn. Alison made way too much and there was hardly a table left for anyone else to use.




We all had a great day and Alison was very impressed her house was mess free. Birthday parties away from the house is the way to go.

Forest Hills - 25th/26th July

F paid for us to have an overnight away at the hotel we got married in. It brings back such happy memories and we try to go every year. On they way there we headed to Stirling where F gave me his credit card to go shopping. Once we checked in we had drinks on the veranda at the front of the hotel. Unbelievably it was beautiful weather and back home is was cold and raining.



We walked to Kinlochard to call home. That’s the wonderful thing about Kinlochard no phone reception. We wnet for drinks and dinner and I order the exact same meal we had for our wedding dinner. Then we went for a swim -we’ll I floated in the water - same thing really. They had a folk singer playing Scottish songs in the bar. Next day we had a slap up breakfast and F paid for me to get a full body massage - bliss!! Mum and dad came over with an Indian for my birthday dinner from Biggar (my favourite).

My 30th Birthday Party

F is a gem. He organised a 30th birthday party for me - I know how can I be 30!. Obviously, my mum, his mum and some of my friends; Alison and Laura chipped in too. All I had to do was turn up. Most of the week was spent hitting the shops for something nice to wear. I feel a bit bad about it because Beth spent 2 days in a stroller whilst I tried on dresses. It got so bad that she burst into tears as soon as I closed the curtain on the dressing room. I was late for my own party but the girls hadn't slept well the night before and they went for a mammoth nap. I knew if I woke them up mid-nap I would be asking for trouble.


My mum and dad hired a magician - everyone thought it was a great idea to entertain the kids with but who are they kidding it was totally for me. We had one at our wedding too and I love them. I got him to make a special birthday hat and dad told him to make sure his wee girl was star of the show. F organised a buffet/BBQ to feed 300 people unfortuantly there wasn't as many people as that there. Everyone tried their best but there were loads of cakes and food left over.


I had a great day and poor Fraser had a very very very tiring day. But I really appreciate all his hard work and love him loads and loads. I'm very lucky to have him but Shhh don't tell him that.

Burnt Hand

So Neive burnt her hand on the stove. I can't quite beleive it myself as I always watch her around the stove and use the back rings. I had finished cooking the pasta and put the pan to the opposite back ring. I had my back to Neive chopping vegitables and Neive (who had brought a stool down from upstairs earlier in the day) put it next to the counter and pulled herself up and touched the hob. Luckily enough it was cool enough that the burn wasn't too bad but I was so upset. Then she was so upset seeing me upset. Then for the next two weeks people constantly kept asking her what had happned and then re-scolding her to not touch burny stoves and she constantly burst into tears. I'd like to say that I'm sure nothing like this will happen again but the truth is you turn your back for a second and anything could happen.

Scooter

Neive has been desperate to get a scooter (as all her friends have got one) does it really start this young? We told her that we weren't going to buy her one. So she would have to save up. So after dinner she brings her dishes to the kitchen, she picks up toys once she's finished playing with them and she gets pennies for a scooter. After weeks of saving she had enough for a visit to the Disney store. She is now the proud owner of a mini mouse scooter.

East links

As toddlers is off this week we arranged to go to East links family park for a day out. I was in two minds on whether to go. Neive has started playing up at bedtime and it's taking us till 9:30 nearly 10 o'clock to get her to sleep. Before Beth came along, if she was playing up we would leave her to play in her room or scream until she eventually decided to go to sleep. After a couple of nights she realised she wasn't going to get any attention and she may as well go straight to sleep after we read her some stories. Now Beth wakes up screaming, as she can hear Neive making a racket, and we have to go settle her back to sleep. Hence we are walking past Neive's room and she just keeps going all night. I eventually took pongo off of her and put him in the naughty cupboard for 5 days and she gave in. I hoped the next night she would have learned her lesson but when your favourite toy is already away she's thinking "what can they do now" So all this week I can't even start to clean up till 10 pm and Fraser and I have not even talked or seen each other. Put on top of that that Beth is wakening about 4 times a night (I'm hoping more teeth rather than she's just a bad sleeper) and you can tell I'm struggling.

I just didn't think I could cope with an exhausting day. I'm glad I did go though - it turned out to be a brilliant day. We hit the train first which circles the park so we could see what they had on offer.



Neive went on the big go carts and Beth on the baby ones. She is getting so big and is sturdy enough to sit on without help. She still falls off when it's moving though if you don't hold on.




Neive's favourite was the pony rides. Unbelievably it was Jays first pony ride. He lives on a farm so I thought he would have been on loads of them by now. He loved it.





We went on trampolines, loads of animals, a fortress with slides, tunnel and climbing ropes, ball blast, jelly bean jumper, family cycle carts, haystack barns (doesn't sound like much fun but is -Leah especially loved it)







Thank god Granny chickens came to help which makes lots of difference.

I'm a real winner

Toy story 3 comes out on general release on the 19th and Real radio was running a competition to get premiere tickets for the Sunday before it's released. Fraser asked me to call up to see if we could win them. When he came home on Saturday morning from B & Q I told him I won them. He wouldn't believe me and when I asked why he said I was the most unluckiest person her ever met. This is quite true I never win a competitions but I won this one. We decided to leave baby with Alison and take Isla instead. (Sorry honey it was 3d and your really on your feet!)





When we got there (ultra early) we needed to kill some time and decided that bowling with 2 year olds was a good idea. It's not. We had the sides up and the roller but after three shots they were bored. I think we'll go back when they're older -like 18! After some pizza and loads of toddler "I want the same as she's got" we got popcorn and headed to the cinema. Neive wore the 3d glasses all the way through and she loved it. Toy story was not a dvd we had watched a lot with her. She is mostly into 101 Dalmatians, aristocats and the fox and the hound. But she hasn't stopped talking about it since.

It's too dark in the cinema to take a good picture but here's one with the 3d glasses.

Rosa's 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday Rosa.

George invited us over for a birthday morning to celebrate Rosa's first birthday. I remember Neive's 1st birthday party - she was ill and spent most of it sleeping. Rosa was also having a nap for the first part and just looking bemused for the later part. They must really wonder what on earth is going on. Especially when a bunch of toddlers show up at their house and basically demolish it. Even blowing out the candles was different this time because you have loads of kids desperate to blow them out too. This is the best picture I could get and you can hardly see Rosa for other kids clambering over her.




We had a great time and the only bit of quiet to be heard was when the kids we eating cake and chocolate.