Family Life Archives - Page 8 of 13

31Dec 2015

2015 Gratitude List – I am so Grateful for so many things

2015 Gratitude List – Grateful for so many things

2015 Gratitude List……So today is the last day of 2015 and I have so much to be grateful for. As a family we’ve had an amazing year, so many highs and thankfully not too many lows.

I want to make a list not to boast but to remind us as a family how far we’ve come and all we have to be grateful for. By focussing on what we are grateful for I can see things in a positive light and continue to move forward and grow as a family together in happiness.

House Move – This was the biggest thing to happen to us this year, we put our much loved house up for sale, had an offer the next day, went to see our now home the day after and made an offer ourselves and for four months after that, things dragged on with many highs and low. But we made it, we finally made it, in late November we moved house and we are in love with our new home. It already feels like our forever home and I am so grateful to live here.

Working with Good Morning Britain – Early on in the year I was involved with a project that Good Morning Britain were doing about the way people voted for the general election. I was an undecided voter and so they followed me throughout the election campaign to see how I made my mind up. For me the experience was amazing and the boy still has fond memories of our trip to London. I loved every minute of the experience and am very grateful that I was able to take part.

Work – I have an almost full time day job which I don’t really talk about on my blog, I work for the NHS and this year has brought so many fabulous opportunities to get involved with projects and new opportunities. I started the year telling myself that I would throw myself back into work after maternity leave ended and take every opportunity I can to say yes and get involved and its been a fabulous year. I am also very grateful to work with such a fabulous team, my line manager and manager are wonderful people who I really enjoy working with and under.

Family – I am and will forever be grateful for family. This year although our family hasn’t expanded like it did the year before! But we have grown in other ways. We have grown in love for each other. We have grown closer as a unit. We have grown stronger and learnt so much about each other.

Husband – I am grateful for such a loving caring man who is my other half, the milk to my coffee, the reason to my daft ideas, the calming influence when I’m on the ceiling. He is my best friend and makes me whole. He is always there for me and I cherish everyday we have together

Children- I am so grateful for the boys, the bring sunshine everyday, even when it’s raining outside. The teach me so much about myself. They bring me so much joy and happiness, I love them so much, I just want to spend so much time hugging them. This year they have both grown so much, the boy started school ( how did that happen so quickly?) and Flixster started nursery when I went back to work. I can’t express how grateful I am for them both in my life.

I have so much to be grateful for I could go on for quite a long time but I’m keeping it short with the main things in my life to be grateful for. I truly am thankful for so much, I feel blessed to be so happy in life. Thank you universe, thank you.

I hope 2016 brings us and everyone we know many more things to be grateful for, if you look hard enough even the greyest days have some sunshine, you just need to look hard enough to find it.

May 2016 bring health and happiness.

Jane

03Dec 2015

Moving Home! We’ve finally moved, I can’t believe how lucky I am!

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

Moving home, its been on the cards for the last half a year. I can’t believe it that we have finally moved house! I can’t believe how lucky I am. It’s been a very stressful few weeks. We moved last week after months of living in boxes tipping between actually moving and having the completion date changed, changed and changed again. We are in! I’m in love with our dream house. Unfortunately the first weekend was spent just trying to hold it all together as both hubby and Flixster were struck down with a vomiting bug (nice…..) We’ve also not had any internet which has been odd. I’m beginning to feel a little more human again after not much sleep for days and trying to catch up with myself coming backwards. The house is a complete mess but I’m so happy we are in our forever home. It still feels like a dream. I have loads of blog posts to catch up on but for now I’m just trying to find some kind of new normal, so that I can find time to sit down and write.

I just want to express my thanks to the universe for providing such a wonderful home for us, at the beginning of the year hubby and I listed exactly what we would have liked from a new home and I set about manifesting it, and now I’m sat here in the very home of our dreams. I honestly can’t believe it. Am I dreaming? It was as predicted a really emotional goodbye to our previous home as I suppose lots of people moving home feel, but this was balanced out by the excitement of arriving at our new home. When I have more time I’ll be blogging about the experience of moving home, if only to reflect on everything for the boys and to tell them the story of our move. Flixster won’t remember his first home and birth place when he’s older so I just want him to have something to look back on.

Thank you universe.

Moving Home

10Nov 2015

My Emotional Child

by Lyric ⋅ 2 Comments

When I thought about myself as a parent before I had children, I always thought about the sort of parent I’d be. Would I be strict? Would I be gentle, or would I get all shouty? I never thought about what sort of child I’d have.

The boy is now 4 years old and has been in school for half a term. Being his mum obviously I know him inside out. I know what motivates him and what pushes him away. I know what he loves and doesn’t love. I know he’s a very emotional child.

He has masses of empathy for other people. If he sees someone being told off or being treated unfairly he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like loud noises, or shouting. He always knows when I’m sad, even if I’m just pretending, even when he’s busy doing something else. He gets very upset watching sad things on television, he fights back tears.

I have never told him to not be so sad, I always give him cuddles when he feels like that, and I have certainly never used the words ‘Man up’ because it’s not who he is. But I sometimes struggle to explain it to someone else.

How do you explain the complexities of an emotional child in a couple of sentences to someone you’ve never met?

Sometimes I just say he’s an emotional child, sometimes I try to explain he has a lot of empathy. Sometimes I say nothing and just let people come to their own conclusions. I just don’t want him to get hurt by anyone. It would break my heart if anyone ever told him to stop crying or man up, or if they told him it was silly to cry.

I want him to be who he is, true to himself, not having to hide his emotions. I want him to keep his empathy and to understand other people’s feelings.

I love him for exactly who he is and I don’t want him to be changed by others who think he should fit a different mould.

30Oct 2015

Pumpkin Patch – Our First Time!

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

Last weekend we packed up the car with all the paraphernalia you need for a day out with small people and headed to our local ‘Pumpkin Patch’. We’ve never been before. My beautiful American friend Jenny from Let’s Talk Mommy has a yearly tradition with her children and when she was young of picking pumpkins. I guess over here in England its never been that popular before. When I was young pumpkins were of course available in the shop to carve and I remember buying one sometimes to carve. There was one year that my dad carved the pumpkin and my mum made a pumpkin pie…it was awful! I have since found out that pumpkin pie is in fact a delicious dish so I have no idea what my mum did that year!

Before we had children I used to dread halloween, I hated being disturbed by trick or treaters so we’d always just go out instead to avoid it all! However once again children have changed me and I now look forward to the night. I love putting up the decorations and getting ready for all the little ones who come to our door to trick or treat. So this year I wanted to start a new tradition for our family and head out to the pumpkin patch. It was also a fab chance to get some snaps of the children. We have an SLR camera which I have mentioned before but we don’t use it half as much as we should so I jumped at the chance to take it with us a practise my skills (of which I have very little!).

I love this shot of the boys going through the Maize Maze together, I try to get the boy to hold Flixsters hand more often now when they are walking, I especially love how Flixsters pointing at something in this shot.

We loved spending time looking at the pumpkins growing in the field. Flixster mainly just loved the mud, touching the mud on the pumpkins and walking in the most mud possible. But he is only 18 months old!

The sun was shining and he was enjoying himself!

There were quite a few rotting pumpkins which the boy loved, being a boy anything gory seems to fascinate him.

I really loved the visit, being outdoors with the boys, running around, taking photos, looking at all the pumpkins. I think it’s something I’d really like to do every October to kick off our halloween celebrations. A new tradition in our house has started.

22Oct 2015

Finding time to Blog

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

It’s already been over a week and a half since I last posted on my blog. Life just seems to get in the way. I have so many things I’d like to spend time writing about and documenting, but I never seem to be able to find the time.

I have a full time job and on the days I’m not in work I have Flickster to look after. I also volunteer as a peer supporter at the breastfeeding group each week so that takes up another morning. Then of course there are weekends, which are spent in a spin of washing, cleaning, family time, going out.

I must make more of an effort to spend just a little more time documenting life as a family. I want the boys to have their memories to look through in years to come and my blog is way of doing this.

The other thing of course that takes up a lot of our time at the moment is moving house. It’s really getting quite stressful as we move towards the date we are hoping to move into our forever home, with packing, putting things in storage and sorting through all the clutter there seems to be little time for me ever but I suppose thats standard for mums.

Once we are in the new house though, our forever home I will make more time for me and for making memories for the boys that they will have to treasure forever. But in the meantime I must remember this famous quote…

08Oct 2015

Moving House after a Homebirth – Saying Goodbye

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

A house is made of bricks and mortar, a home is where memories are made. One of the biggest memories of our time in our current house, if not the biggest was my home birth. My second baby was born in our home, right there in our living room. He took his first breath as I lifted him from the water. The first thing he saw was my face in our front room. He decided to make his way earth side on that day in that place. How can I say goodbye to that place, knowing what happened there.

We bought this house in 2006, it was a new build so we are the only people who have every lived here. It was our first home together as a couple, we have grown together, got married, brought our first baby home here and Flixster was born here. This house holds many many memories for us. We are packing our physical belongings and taking our memories with us but the one thing I’m struggling to physically let go of is the place where the miracle of life and birth happened.

While we are waiting for the last things to be tied up in terms of the house move, I’m preparing to say goodbye to one spot in particular that will always hold a place in my heart, my second babies birth space.

In order to keep his very special place marked I have written all his details on a piece of paper with the words “was born in this home”, folded it up and hidden it between the floorboards and the ceiling below upstairs. I know that it’s there and will probably be there now for a very long time to come. It has helped me get ready for saying goodbye to the special place.

So it’s with a heavy heart I will be saying goodbye but as the door closes on that chapter of our memories I’m ready to open the door on a wonderful bright future and turn the page to reveal the next chapter in our memory book.

I can’t wait!

28Sep 2015

Childrens Jokes

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

So I know that no one will ever find this funny, but I do because it’s so unfunny, and I want to write it down so that I don’t forget all his little moments.

The boy is a keen fan of jokes, I don’t think remotely for one minute he gets them, or understands them. He loves to make his own jokes up and he will say the same one over and over for weeks. I have to laugh….everytime….

On the way home from school today:

Mummy I’ve got a joke for you

Ok, thats great what is it? (Thinking oh no not again!)

What do you call a pork with no eyes?

I don’t know? What do you call a pork with no eyes?

Jurassic Pork! (Cue lots of fake laughter from me, and a whole lot of internal dialogue for myself)

Do I tell him that it’s Jurassic Park not Jurassic Pork? He hasn’t even seen the movie so how would he understand. I think for a moment, about explaining that its a park with dinosaurs, but will this just scare him?

He tells me that he’s told his teacher…oh great now his teacher has had to fake laugh as well. I try to think about where he’s got this idea for a joke from………a pork with no eyes………..I just don’t get it, I guess I probably never will. I love that boy so much!

15Sep 2015

Kitchen Wish List – Husband Guest Post

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

We are going to move house soon (if all goes through, fingers crossed, touch wood) and I’m looking forward to having a larger kitchen, our current kitchen is a good size for cooking on your own but it’s not really big enough for cooking as a family and it’s certainly not big enough for all the kitchen gadgets that I absolutely, positively need in order to make mealtimes more technical and science based.

I’ve been spending a lot of time planning for the new kitchen and this post represents my more realistic plans for the new kitchen and I’ve omitted some of the more esoteric, single use gadgets that my wife will never ever let me have…

The Coffee Station

Taking my inspiration from Pinterest, I plan to dedicate a section of the kitchen to a coffee station. Two small children have made coffee a major part of my life and I recently took the decision to reduce the quantity of coffee I consume and improve the quality. I really appreciate a fantastic coffee, and good coffee is worth the effort!

Wall Art

I love this print which can be found here, it will make it the centre piece of the my coffee station.

The Coffee Machine

We have a popular coffee pod machine which will be coming with us and it’s great for quick and easy coffee but I’m now looking to have some fun and practice the art of coffee a little more. I’ve been researching coffee machines and after speaking to a Sage representative at the intu Trafford Centre, I’ve decided that the Sage Barista Express is the machine for me. It offers an inbuilt grinder that delivers the right dose of coffee directly into the portafilter and a thermocoil for heating the water and generating steam for the milk giving me an opportunity to try my hand at latte art. Plus it looks good, I like the brushed stainless steel look, and the reviews are great.

To complete the barista experience, I’ll also be looking to buy a knock box and a stainless steel milk jug. I can’t wait to try and perfect my coffee and latte art!

The Coffee

We’re big fans of Pact coffee and we currently use their service to provide us with small batch, freshly ground coffee for drinking at work (I use a Hario V60 dripper and my wife has ‘borrowed’ by aeropress), so I can see us adding beans to our subscription as we like the variety that pact gives us.

I’d also like to mimic the espressos served my favourite Manchester coffee houses, so I’ll be buying some Cult of Done espresso as served by Pot Kettle Black and Barnraiser as served by Grindsmiths and North Tea Power’s Deerhunter house blend.

Knives

I’ve always wanted to own a set of Global knives but I’ve been a bit intimidated by the sharpness and precision of their Japanese steel but I think I’m old enough and proficient enough to now invest in some.

Knife Block

As much as I love Globals, being a father to two young boys has made me a little more safety conscious and the Joseph Joseph LockBlock is a locking knife block while prevents little hands from being able to remove the knives.

Chopping Board

I’m obsessed with Joseph Joseph and their innovative approach to design, so I’ve got my eye on their Index chopping boards which are stylish and space-saving.

Fridge Freezer

We’ll finally have space for an american style fridge freezer, this Samsung one is perfect, and I’m sure the boy will love being able to access chilled water and ice on demand!

Scales

I like the idea of the Drop scales which link to an iPad based recipe app and I think that fits well in my ‘smart home’ strategy (although I’m not sure about the iKettle)

Other stuff

I want to make fresh pasta, so I’m going to need a pasta maker and our pots and pans could do with a refresh, why not leave a comment and give me some recommendations? I’ll keep you posted on the progress of the kitchen and I’ll write reviews of all the items listed above as and when we buy them.

08Sep 2015

An Emotional Start to School

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

My beautiful boy has been in school for a week tomorrow. My lovely best friend and buddy has started school and its been an emotional start for him.

The boy is a very emotional little person, he always has been and it’s just him. It’s part of his personality and I love him for it. He shows empathy to other people who are upset or sad. He is very sensitive to being told off. On the odd occasion he would do something not quite right at nursery he’s be distraught if he got told off, even hours later when I’d pick him up he’d cry when the staff would tell me. He’s very tactile and tells me when he’s feeling sad and needs a hug. He’s just a perfect and gentle person (on the whole!) So I knew starting school would be hard for him.

At nursery the staff understood him and how emotionally sensitive he is, they’d hug him when he needed it, I know at school teachers can’t do that. They have too many other things to do and all the other children to consider.

He’s been going into school fine in the morning with no problems but it’s the evenings when the strain on him is showing. Everyday after school once we are home there have been tears and sobbing. It’s been breaking my heart to see him so upset. I’ve tried talking it out with him but I don’t think he has the words to explain it at the moment so just says he doesn’t know why he’s so upset. I love this little guy so much but I don’t know how best to help him.

(First day, after school shot – hence the untucked shirt!)

I have to remember he’s only just turned 4 (he’s an August baby) and school is a massive change for him. Even though he’s used to long days at nursery, school is a completely different environment and peer group.

I hope dear sweet boy that you can make some friends at school and that you start to enjoy it. I’m sure you will, it’s just going to take time to adjust to everything. It’s a new environment, new peer group and new adults to care for you, new routines, new rules and new lessons to learn.

For now though as always I’m here for you, to hold you and hug you and wipe those tears away. We can get through this together xxxx

17Jul 2015

Time

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

Sometimes just sometimes I wish there was more time. I know more time is never going to happen but I can carry on wishing for it. I probably spend too much time doing meaningless jobs around the house and not enough time noticing the world around me.

I don’t spend enough time with the boys.

I’m guilty of spending too much time cleaning the house but in the moment I’m doing yet it feels important to me.

I’d love to have more time to spend exercising and pursuing hobbies or painting, reading or drawing but those times never seem to come.

Other days I just want to turn back time to see your children as little babies again, to relive our wedding day or to speak to people that we have lost. But never a truer word has been spoken when it was said that tomorrow never comes and yesterday is the past. There is only one day and that’s today, so I need to stop wishing for more time and try to make every minute meaningful and have purpose.
I’m back at work doing my usual hours now and have made a real effort to throw myself into every opportunity that comes my way. I want to do as much as possible to be helpful at work and make a change. This has had the surprising effect of making me enjoy work so much more. I’ve turned positives into even more positives.