I have mentioned before Ray’s bad eating habits. Watching her eat dinner tonight reminded me of the night a few weeks ago when she was playing up at dinner time.

She didn’t want to eat her dinner, and I said that was fine, but she would not be getting anything else to eat all evening. Of course she didn’t want that so she began to bargain with me.

Ray: “Can I eat two spoonfuls mummy?”
Me: “No ray eat it all”
Ray: “Can I eat three spoonfuls mummy?”
Me: “No ray, I didn’t give you very much, so you have to eat it all”
Ray: “OK mummy, how many spoonfuls do I have to eat”

I was beginning to tire of this conversation, so I said “Ray I will not quantify it!!” Ray the screamed at the top of her voice “Quantify it mummy, QUANTIFY IT, QUANTIFY IT!!!”.

Hubby and I tried so hard not to laugh, thankfully Ray was so caught up in her tantrum she didn’t notice our amusement. She copies everything we say, we have to be so so careful!

Tonight as I tried to referee between 4 squealing children, feed the baby and make dinner for us all I wondered why I do this to myself!

Last night I offered to take Rays school friend for a few hours after school. He’s a lovely child and great company for my two, and so it was arranged. We arrived home and as I proceeded to take off everyones coats, hats and gloves Ray’s other friend from next door arrived. I didn’t like to turn her away and so I invited her into play. Mistake number one!

From the minute they all began to play they screamed. Now happy screaming I can cope with, but constant crying, whining and telling tales begins to wear on me very very quickly. Not a minute passed without someone calling for me or bursting into the kitchen to inform me that they had been locked out of the playroom, or that someone had stood on their toe, banged their head, pulled their hair…..the list goes on and on.

To make it worse I had offered dinner to all four, and amidst all the refereeing and running up and down the stairs I had to watch baby D (who is now mobile in his baby walker) wasn’t venturing too close to the cooker, and that the sausages weren’t burning.

I am not feeling on top of the world anyway, I have a recurring sinus infection, and the doctor today referred me to the local hospital to see whats causing this. I am tired and just about worn out.

Thankfully after dinner Rays friend from next door had to go home, and for some reason everything calmed down. I don’t think that she caused the trouble, but maybe with one less they had a bit more space, more toys and were less inclined to show off. Anyway they decided to watch a Dora The Explorer DVD and the 10  minutes silence was bliss!

Next time I invite friends over I am going to limit it to one at a time. I do wonder how childminders cope, I obviously just don’t have the patience!

Just got time for a quick post this evening before the exhaustion takes me and I slump lifelessly across my keyboard.

I came home from work at the normal time this afternoon. Ray was heading out to dance class and Lisa was offering to take Jake and Dan over to a friend’s house to give me some alone time.

Well, on the way home I’d actually decided to spend some time with Jake this afternoon. The offer of alone time was tempting, but I decided to take him to the park while Ray was at her class, then the whole family would meet up afterward.

Jake’s obviously not used to one-on-one attention. As soon as we’d dropped Ray at her class, he raced out of the center looking for our car (which wasn’t there!) He seemed genuinely disapponted until I said “Let’s go to the park”

So, we spent an hour in the park together, and he chattered away to me while taking death-defying bounds about the place. I coached him in how to climb that big rope “web”, and after a while he started to negotiate it on his own. A little girl came along and kept us company, and he seemed to enjoy having a friend to play with.

I’m finding these one-on-one experiences really help me to ‘tap’ into Jake and see how his personality’s developing. Little chats at the kitchen table, usually interspersed with some “Dad, do you know somesing….” anecdotes show you how and what he’s thinking. We’re noticing recently that he’s seeking out negative attention from us whether it means misbehaving or crying, and the only way to deal with that is to ignore (or downplay) the negative and give him more positive encouragement.

For me, I find it easier to do that outside of the house. It breaks the routine and comes across as a bit of a treat, so hopefully he’ll end up looking forward to out quality time together.

If there is one thing that gets hubby and I down, it is definately the lack of ‘me’ time since the children have come along. Now and again I would love to lie in bed and read a good book, but with three young children and a budding new business we are lucky to squeeze in a daily shower, never mind some ‘me’ time!

I came across this article today via Lifehacker and as a seasoned multi-tasker, I loved reading the ideas of how to spend time more effeciently, and how to turn things like a boring wait in the car into some much deserved relaxation time.

I have decided that one night a week, instead of a shower I am going to take a book to the bath and completely relax for at least one hour. I am also going to try to go to bed 1/2 an hour earlier each night and get another bit of reading done.

I am hungry, but I don’t want to eat any junk and we are out of bread. Hubby if you are reading this please take the hint and run up to the shop for some provisions. I would be forever in your debt!

I know that I am very very lucky. My husband is a great dad, and more hands on than most fathers. His flexible working hours mean that the children have him at home from 3.30pm every day and have a very close relationship with him.

But still I want more. We often argue about how much more I do about the house and for the kids. For example hubby would rarely think to feed the children, and if he does it will never be dinner, more likely toast or biscuits. He would NEVER think to wash them, preferring to take them out with dirty faces and unbrushed teeth.

There are just certain things that are my domain, and while I accept that most of the time, sometimes it really gets to me.

I was relieved to read this article last night called “Bringing Out The Superdad In Your Husband”.

I realised that often instead of helping my husband learn what needs to be done, or showing him what the kids routine is, I prefer to nag. Probably a lot. I don’t always realise that I know what to do because I am with the children all day every day while he is working.

How would he know what the baby eats for breakfast, what consistency to make his cereal at or where Rays tights are kept? I do that stuff, every day, and I have never made a point of showing him.

Also it’s probably not that big a deal if they miss brushing their teeth once in a while, or go out with weetabix moulded to their faces. They certainly don’t care.

I think in future I will try to make an effort to appreciate hubby more for the things he does do, and help him learn how (or when) to do the things he doesn’t.

Most of all, I must not nag, I must not nag, I MUST NOT NAG!

I just read this article ‘The Simplest Path To Success’ and thought it deserved a bit of a shout out to anyone out there felling a bit lost or unhappy.

Too often when things are going wrong, we blame everyone and everything else, afraid to address the real cause of our problems. This article made me think, I hope it does the same for you.

I was reading this post on Heart Songs and it made me think of something that happened earlier today.

I was visiting my mums house and she had given Jay a bowl full of grapes. As usual Jay was wandering around clutching his bowl and as usual he tripped and fell, smashing the bowl.

He looked at me, his face crumpled and he began to wail, telling me over and over again how sorry he was.

I wasn’t in the slightest bit annoyed, after all its only a bowl and I kept telling him this. But he just got so upset. Then I felt terrible.

Does he honestly believe that I will be angry over a broken bowl? I do often tell him off for walking around while eating and drinking, a he always drops and spills stuff but I don’t get angry with him.

As I watched the huge tears roll down his cheeks, my heart almost broke for my wee boy, who just didn’t want to disappoint!

For the last few weeks Jay has been waking the house between 6 and 6.15am every morning. The result has been a fairly grumpy household, as the rest of us just need more sleep than that.

Ray has been very teary, Hubby and I have definately not been in tip top form, but of course Jay will fall asleep by midday and can’t be woken, so he ends up the only one who is well rested.

We have tried cutting out his daytime nap and putting him to bed a bit later, but nothing works, he still gets up at the crack of dawn.

Yesterday the clocks went forward an hour. But as Jay and Ray had quite full day we put them to bed at 7.30 as normal (even though technically it was 6.30 by their body clocks). Jay went promptly to sleep and I was expecting to hear from him at dawn this morning, but the cry didn’t come. In fact at 7.10am Ray came and woke me up as she needed to use the toilet.

Ray and I then went downstairs, got some breakfast and watched some TV. Jay woke at 7.30am and baby D didn’t rise until 8.30.

Ha Ha, we fooled his body clock! He thought it was 6.30, but I got an extra hour in bed. I just hope this continues. He is a sucker for routine, so fingers crossed we may actually get some decent sleep around here!

Finally!

I hate the winter. As a self diagnosed SAD sufferer, I dread the onset of the dark nights, rainy days and cold cold weather. Lucky I live in Ireland eh?

This week we caught our first glimpse of some sheep nursing the first of the spring lambs, our first daffodils, and our first rays of sunshine for weeks.

I love the spring, because that means that summer is just around the corner. Holidays, day trips, picnics in the back garden, all the things I love.

Hopefully the new season will also wipe out all the horrible runny noses and persistent coughs that have plagued us all winter and will instead bring a happy healthy family.