children Archives - A Little Lyrical

08Jan 2016

Dear Boys….. A memory of Christmas 2015

by Lyric ⋅ 4 Comments

Dear Boys… A memory of Christmas 2015

Dear Boys,

Another fabulous Christmas has been and gone and now we are looking straight in the eye of a new year, which is already filled with so much promise, excitement and gratitude. I just wanted to take the time though boys to write about our Christmas so that as it starts to fade from your memories you will be able to look back at this letter and remember.

The Build Up to Christmas

The build up to Christmas for us was hectic, we had just moved into our fabulous new home but everything was in chaos, the house was still half full of boxes and we seemed to be constantly trying to unpack and sort (just as we are now still). We’d had a few awful bugs which went through us all (literally) However we did manage to fit in some lovely Christmas activities though which included a trip to Winter Wonderland (an indoor theme park) and also breakfast with Father Christmas at a forest school.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started early (as it always does with you two, one day I hope you will sleep later than 5am!) and we went downstairs to find that the elf had gone back to the North Pole but had left a Christmas eve box for you both.

The box had new pj’s (which is a tradition now in our house) for you both, a couple of books which I get out every year as I think they are lovely Christmas books. There was also the Muppets Christmas Carol dvd as that’s the one I always hold back to watch on Christmas eve as a family. It’s something I always did with my mummy when I was living at home so I like to carry that on. I’d also put in some hot chocolate, that we could have with the film and some minion popcorn which I know the boy would love. Lastly there was a Christmas jigsaw which I thought would be fun to do, as it turned out I ended up doing it on my own and some reindeer slippers for the boy. I didn’t get any for Flixster as he just doesn’t keep them on long enough. Then at the back I slipped in the usual Father Christmas plate and some reindeer food.
During the day on Christmas eve we just spent time together as a family, daddy had to spend most of the day in the garage building your play kitchen as we hadn’t had time to do it before. I took Flixster out for a walk for his nap to a local mill shop where I went to look for some Christmas place mats as I realised we didn’t have enough for the next day.
As it started to get dark I could feel the excitement building, the boy wanted to get the reindeer food out on the lawn, so we had made you both some tea, put the new pj’s on and stood at the front window scattering the food from the window onto the grass, which was followed by drinking hot chocolate and watching the muppets Christmas Carol.

After hot chocolate it was bed time so that we could wait for Father Christmas to come (we put out the obligatory mince-pie, carrot, milk and magic key of course!) and mummy and daddy could have some dinner and settle down to wrap the final bits!

I love that Father Christmas always leaves snowy footprints on the carpet!

The morning came very quickly and of course you were both up early. The stocking on your doors kept you busy whilst we all got ready and dressed. When I was a child we couldn’t go down until we were dressed and altogether as a family (well at least my mum was there!) A quick photo on the bottom of the stairs to capture the moment and then into the lounge to see if he’d been..

After a few presents had been opened we moved to the kitchen to start preparing our first treat for the day a fabulous daddy special breakfast. We took the play-doh toy sweet shop with us. The boy had wanted this for so long, I’m really not super keen on play-doh and even less so on mixing the colours (shock horror) but it was worth it to see your face and the fun you’ve had with it. It was the first time I’ve seen you playing quite nicely together and it made my heart feel warm and fuzzy.

The breakfast (which was more brunch) was so lovely and I was thankful throughout the day for having my family around me, food on the table and presents under the tree. I am so lucky to have so much to be thankful for.

Soon after breakfast my mum and dad arrived as we had invited them to come to ours for Christmas day, it’s the first time in 9 years we’ve been able to do it as we now have a bit more space to host people, rather than having to drag the table to the middle of the living room.

The boys played with Grandma and Grandad whilst hubby and I sorted out a starter. We put Flixster down for an early nap so that he’d be awake in time for the main dinner in a couple of hours time.

We did a trio of mini starters which consisted of tomato and basil soup with a slice of baguette bread, pate with crisp bread and prawn cocktail on a lettuce leaf. I’m sure I could have come up with fancy names for it but I like to keep things simple.

I’d looked forward to setting the table for so long, all the time we knew we were moving I was planning the Christmas table in the back of my head. I wanted it to be amazing to look at visually, I love Christmas so much. After a break of an hour or so it was time to serve the main event.

I have to say it was delicious, hubby did most of the cooking as its his thing. I helped with a few bits and the presentation of course!

Even Flixster ate way more than he normally does which was endorsement indeed! We all throughly enjoyed sharing the meal together around the Christmas table.

After dinner we were all very full and the boys were ready for a play again with a ll the wonderful things they had received as presents. They were very lucky, we tried not to buy too much as we are grateful for them having both sets of grandparents who also like to buy a gift or two. It was time for another tradition from my childhood, tree present’s. These were the very last present’s of the day hidden inside the tree, there are always a low value gift that’s usually a novelty, maybe a magazine, a tiny toy, bubble bath etc. I wanted to carry this on with the boys so I have done tree presents every year. We passed them around and everyone enjoyed the last of the presents.

The rest of the afternoon was spent drinking coffee and just being us. Grandma and Grandad left after the sun had gone down to go back home and we wound down for bedtime. Exhausted and happy the boys were put to bed and we had time together to reflect on the day (and eat the traditional Christmas day eve cheese and crackers!)

Another fabulous year together and another fabulous Christmas day, exhausted, happy and grateful we tucked ourselves up in bed to start again the next day.

So boys more family festive memories were made.

Please always remember I love you both unconditionally….forever.
Mummy

31Dec 2015

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

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

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

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.

23Apr 2015

My Favourite Songs

by Lyric ⋅ 12 Comments

I’ve been meaning to write a list of my favourite songs for a while.

I love music, it plays a big part in my life. When I’m down it brings me back up and when I’m happy it just makes me want to dance. I thought it’d be nice to share my favourites and the reasons why. I’d love to hear everyone else favourite music to. I’ll do it backwards chart style!

5. Elbow – One Day Like This

I love how this song makes me feel, happy. I love the strings, it just feels so big and beautiful!

4. Lonestar – Amazed

This is the song we had our first dance to on our wedding day. Hearing it always takes me back to that day, the love I felt and still feel now for my best friend who I was lucky enough to marry.

3. Celine Dion – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

I’m not sure how much explanation this song needs, I just love it. It’s how I feel about my babies.

2. Katie Melua – Thank You Stars

This could easily be my joint number 1 song, I adore the meaning behind it. I thank the universe and stars everyday for all that I have, for hubby and my boys. I don’t know whats up there in the universe but its something and for all I have been given I am grateful. This song sums up my feelings.

1. Coldplay – Fix You

My all time favourite song for a few reasons. Back in July 2005 when the hubby and I were still dating he took me to see Coldplay at the then Reebok Stadium (Boltons home ground) and I was already a massive fan of the song (which was new back then). The very last song they played was Fix You and before they played it they explained that they were also filming the video that night. They played it through twice (what a treat) and filmed the crowd as we sang along. I cried! I bought the single on CD as I knew it included the video and so had already become a special song to me.

On the morning that Flixster was born at home I had my playlist on random in the room as I was giving birth in the pool and just as he was being born this song came on. Of all the songs that I had (and there were a lot) it happened to be this one. This song was the first thing he heard when he joined us earthside. It was also apt as his birth fixed me after going through a tough time with the boys birth. Lights will guide you home…..

15Apr 2015

Siblings – A Photograph Project {April 2015}

by Lyric ⋅ Leave a Comment

I’m quite late publishing this post! I won’t make excuses, I’ve just been busy. What with work and other things that I’ve been doing and being struck down with the awful vomit bug (grim) the blog has been left a little to its own devices.

But better late than never I want to make sure the boys relationship as it grows is documented so they can look back on it.

So here we are in April 2015 already. Flixster is turning 1 and the boy is heading towards 4. It hardly seems two minutes since he was born but already a year has by! It’s hard to remember a time without two of them in our lives though.

On sunny days we like to visit the fab playground at the local sure start centre. They keep it really clean and tidy and its a safe place for them both to play together. I can’t wait until Flixster is chasing the boy up the stairs and down the slide.

The boy still dotes on Flixster, seeing his little face each morning light up when his big brother enters the room is just beautiful, I hope that never changes!

They already want the toys that each other currently has, no matter what it is! I have started being a referee between them but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Fingers crossed they stay as close as they are now!