done and dusted

Blogtober is over.

I really enjoyed the challenge of writing every day, and I almost managed it. Almost.

I think I missed four days which out of thirty one, really isn’t bad. And I have good excuses reasons why I missed the four days… The first day I missed was because I was unbelievably tired. Um, hello, I AM pregnant, so I should be allowed a night off to sleep. The next two days I missed were because of this. Stupid baby brain. And the last day I missed because I was being pampered. Um, hello, I AM pregnant, so I should be allowed some time off for pampering. Or something.

According to my stats, I have gone from an average of 1.2 posts per week to 6.3. That’s quite a change in just a month. I thought that it would be really hard finding something to blog about every day, and was pleasantly surprised to find that actually it was quite easy. I am quite cross with myself for missing the four days though.

I did, however, manage 87% of the challenge, which means I would get an A. I haven’t got an A since I was 16, so that is fine by me.

spot the deliberate mistake

I am at my mum’s house. I brought my laptop with me, just so I could blog tweet do some work.

Anyhoo, turns out that even if I did fancy planning a lesson or two I can’t. Laptop: check. Power lead: check. Plug: um…

Even my subconscious doesn’t want me to work, and who am I to argue?

one step at a time

My daughter does not do fruit. Every day when we pick her up from nursery we are told that she ate everything except her fruit. EVERY DAY.

Until today.

When I collected her this afternoon, the nursery nurse was even more excited than usual.

Nursery Nurse: she ate some apple this afternoon!

Me: really?!

NN: well, she put some in her mouth and then spat it out again.

Me: ok, well that’s good…

NN: yeah, I think she thought it was celery.

Me: she eats celery?!

NN: well, she puts it in her mouth and then spits it out…

This is progress people.

job done

Way back at the beginning of the month I set myself the challenge of completing my daughter’s hat by the end of blogtober.* For the last week or so I have been unbelievably tired. Partly due to being pregnant, partly due to needing a holiday (good job it’s half term this week). Whatever the reason for my extreme tiredness, it has meant that I have done hardly any knitting.

It’s amazing what not going to work does for the old energy levels. Today I was woken up early by my daughter, have been running around like a mad thing all day, and STILL had the energy to knit this evening. Once I got going I was done in no time. As of ten minutes ago, my daughter has a hat, and my mummy guilt is gone.**

* Usually when I have a deadline I leave it until absolutely the last minute to get it done. I told myself that the hat had to be done by October 31st. I finished with FIVE days to spare. This never, ever happens. It must be the pregnancy hormones…

** At least until I decide she needs a scarf…

memory lane

I may be a grown up, responsible, professional mother to one (nearly two), but really I am just a big kid.

Today I have been down memory lane on youtube and have found some of my favourite tv shows from the good ole days. You know, when it was always sunny, kids could play outside, and a mars bar cost 14p.*

First up…

GENIUS! This was such a good cartoon. I remember when Juliette got kidnapped and I had to wait a WHOLE week to find out what happened to her. I think I barely slept.

Next…

…because, well, obviously. We used to watch this after tea at my granny and grandpa’s house before heading home. Happy days.

I LOVED Pigeon Street. My favourite episode, and one I quote to this day, involved Gerald bouncing across the screen on a pogo stick while the narrator said “Spring is in the air and so is Gerald”. Sheer. Genius.

Randomly we were talking about this at school a few weeks ago. I sooooooooooo wanted to be Chock-a-girl when I grew up.

Heidi was on EVERY summer holidays. Even though we had seen it a bazillion and three times, we always watched it. I have no idea why. It was dubbed so very badly, and really, nothing interesting happened. The theme tune is quite catchy though…

My favourite show, without doubt, was Rentaghost.

It made me laugh out loud. I can’t quite bring myself to watch an episode now, just in case it’s not as good as I remember. Although just watching the opening is bringing a smile to my lips. Maybe I’ll give it a go…

*Actually only the mars bar bit was true. The fact that I watched so much tv was probably due to the fact that a) other than our garden there was no safe outdoor space where we could play and b) it was raining.

you live and learn

Important life lessons I have learned today.

1. Don’t pour rice crispies a) with one hand and/or b) when not wearing glasses.

2. Asking your toddler to choose her own socks on the day you are taking her to have her feet measured may not be the best idea.

turns out i’m a techie

When I was younger, people who were into technology were known as geeks. I was never a geek. I knew nothing about computers or anything vaguely electrical. How times have changed. Now I have absolutely NO IDEA how people lived in a world before cars, mobile phones, dishwashers, t’interweb, baby monitors. Turns out I am a geek after all.

I can vaguely remember the days when I had no mobile phone, but now? If I leave it at home, I may as well have chopped my arm off.

I have naturally curly hair, so would be LOST without these.

My boyfriend has always been the cook in the family, so washing up was traditionally my job. When we bought our house, the fact that it had plumbing for a dishwasher was a HUGE plus point.

My favourite piece of technology though, without doubt, has to be the machine that let me see this on Tuesday…

Now that’s just magic.

See more amazing technology over at I should be folding laundry.

yawn

This is exactly how I feel tonight…

Goodnight.

happy happy joy joy

Blogtoberfest has included several milestones for me. First there was the anniversary of my granny’s death, our fifteen year anniversary, my first blog birthday and now… post number 100.

And as luck would have it, today I have some AMAZING news to share: I am pregnant! Eleven weeks and four days pregnant to be precise.

This is  our second child, so I have spent the last few weeks fighting off nausea with ginger beer while chasing a toddler about. And then going to bed at 8pm. Oh. My. God. Have I been tired. When I was pregnant with our daughter the bulk of my first trimester fell over the summer holidays so I was able to nap/lounge on the sofa whenever I wanted needed to. This time I found out I was pregnant two days before term started. It certainly made going back to school that little bit easier, but some days I am amazed that I managed to stay awake, let alone teach.

I am incredibly lucky in that I don’t get morning sickness. I get waves of nausea, but have never actually been sick. When I was pregnant with our daughter I had no other symptoms of pregnancy, and as a result I ended up taking at least three tests over the first trimester, just to make sure I was still actually pregnant. This time I only needed to take one test. I have had way more nausea and a bump since five weeks.

There’s no mistaking that bad boy.

My rapidly growing bump has caused a few wardrobe issues. When I had finished with my maternity clothes, I packed them up and sent them to my mum’s for storage. The only problem now is that she lives 80 miles away, and until today had no idea I was pregnant. All this has meant some serious outfit planning. The number of clothes in my wardrobe that I can actually fit in is diminishing daily. Fortunately I am going to stay with my mum next week. My plan is to take an empty suitcase as the only clothes that fit me are already at her house.

This morning we had our scan. It was amazing. With our daughter we were both too nervous to really see anything other than the heartbeat and the fact that there was ACTUALLY a baby in there. This time, although we were both a little anxious, we were able to see so much detail. Our baby kicked, waved and even stuck it’s tongue out. Magic. The only thing it wouldn’t do was get in a position where it could be measured. We tried everything. I had to jump up and down, the sonographer poked my stomach (soooooooo not funny when you have had to drink a bottle of water before hand). Eventually she got the measurements and we could go back to admiring the baby.

arr, jim lad

I was listening to the radio on my way home today, and I heard about a new political party that has been set up in the last couple of months. They want to reform copyright law and make file sharing legal. Fair dos: t’interweb has changed the way people use music/films/tv and I fully agree that the laws need to change to reflect the way that people now use and access their entertainment.

There I was happily agreeing with what the man on the radio said, when they went and told me the name of the party: the Pirate Party UK. Immediately I imagined the man sitting in the radio studio with an eye patch and a parrot on his shoulder, and for some reason found it hard to take him seriously. Personally, I’m not sure that this was a good choice of name, but hey. What do I know?

So, because I have nothing better to do work to do my laptop open, I thought I might use the Pirate Translator and translate a section of their policy. THIS is what they really want to say…

Arrr, we want t’ legalise non-commercial file sharin’ and reduce the excessi’e length o’ copyright protection, while ensurin’ that when creati’e works be sold, tis’ the artists who benefit, not monopoly rights holders. We want a patent system that doesn’t stifle inno’ation or make life sa’in’ drugs so expensi’e that patients die. Aye.

I wonder if Captain Pugwash will be standing in the general election?