I love to start posts with a confession. And this is a corker. I started this post before Christmas and now, it’s nearly New Year, when I’m getting to publish it. You’ll note I’m not writing “finish it” because I’m not even nearly there. I started with saying that I’m writing this post on here, because I am too under the weather to do Christmas cards and a family newsletter. So instead, I’m going to do this, here, and link to all sorts of things that have made an impact on us as family, in 2014.
The short version – We are all well and relatively, thriving. Colds and yuk bugs aside, we are all doing well. Richard is sticking out working for someone else (even though I want him to stop and be a house dad again), I’m working flat out and learning to delegate more from a work perspective and the boys are still benefiting from Daddy and I being ships in the night because we work opposite to each other so that they have one of us before and after school each day. Our families are all still well and a source of constant play and happiness for the boys.
We started the year in style with friends on the South coast and launched ourselves into 2014 with gusto. By the time we got to Elliott’s birthday in February, I’d picked up what we thought was a rotten chest infection from a private jet (I know, I know, the glamour) in Paris. Sadly, it turned out to be pneumonia and because we didn’t realise very quickly, it took hold and resulted in my Mum (AKA Wonder Grandma) moving down here to care for me and support Richard in looking after the boys and keeping everything moving, whilst I laid in bed. Going nowhere, doing nothing.
By Easter I was much better and we went to the Isle of Wight. This was lovely and set the tone for our approach to the year – going on holiday to avoid all things domestic related!!! We managed to get to June, but found ourselves sneaking off to Greece for a week of sun, sailing and playing. We loved it so much, that when the opportunity came up to go back in August, we snapped it up and went back there again!
It wasn’t a fabulous January to July if I’m honest. I am now the owner of an inhaler and due to subsequent infections, we’re facing up to these dark, winter months with trepidation as I’m statically likely to get it again, now I’ve had it once.
The boys have not noticed anything to be honest. They’ve loved having me around more and they really enjoyed the school holidays – hanging out with Grandma and doing lots of playing with friends. So much so, that we had ahem, another holiday – at Butlins with the Batman to my Robin – Mother Rouse, and her two boys who are besties with mine. It was an eye opening experience and in hindsight, I think we did too much in one week, but still, Elliott and William got to learn rude words from Dick N Dom, so good things did come from it.
As I said, our families are all well – I’ll leave them to update you on their news via their own Christmas cards though! We’re looking forward to doing lots of family stuff with them over Christmas and as well, spending time with our other families – our bestest friends – those whom we can play scrabble with, drink shandy with and won’t complain if anyone shuffles off to bed at 10pm.
The picture below shows really nicely how Christmas started out – Lovely Bloke and I having fun with other grown ups. Then the boys sleeping in with Grandma over Christmas. The arrival of scooters and Nintendo DS’s – which all of my boys and my own Daddy loved. And Daddy’s brilliant buffet dinners of ham in coca cola, with the one bit of the kit that Ikea sent us to enjoy our dinners, that we can easily use in action – the napkins (that’s another story) and then finally, the pinnacle of Christmas – getting our bears from Build a Bear using vouchers Grandma and Grumpy bought them for Christmas. We were planning on saving the vouchers until The Blessed Toothless was back in stock, but as he’s not in until the end of January, the boys have gone for Bat Teddy (a white teddy dressed as Batman) and Captain America (a blue teddy dressed as, you got it, Captain America). And the one I love the most is the photo of me surfacing from my bed, to receive a snuggle from Elliott. Albeit one where I act as a cushion whilst he watched tv. But you gotta take what you can get these days.
What it doesn’t depict very well is the fact that the week before Christmas both boys were off school with a god awful cough, chest, sobbing with tiredness, not sleeping thing. Then we let William back to school, only for him to have to miss his last half day because he was so under the weather. I finally succumbed a few days later and given my pneumonia earlier in the year, it went straight to my own lung and Christmas has been pretty much written off. I remember the gorgeous roast potatoes of Christmas lunch though – the boys say that Daddy needs to go on “Bake Off” every time they taste his ham or roast potatoes. We love it. And he doesn’t swell with pride. Much.
Anyway, I’m tired. The boys are tired and we’re watching transformers for the hundredth time, so I’d better go and pretend to be surprised with what’s happening on screen.
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