Having children changes your life

[ailbhe]

This morning, I got up, had a quick bath, got dressed, did my hair, had breakfast, cleared the table, took the melons out of the washing machine, chopped the vegetables for dinner, and put some fish broth to defrost.

I also answered a cry for help from someone running in her sleep to the nearest cuddle; she woke just enough to find me in the next room and fell straight back asleep on my shoulder. She napped, in total, for three hours today. Either she's about to grow or she has a sleep deficit as well as us.

When she's in bed this evening I hope to rearrange the pantry and make banana bread muffin things. I have a banana bread recipe; I'm just going to abuse it until it's dairy-free and muffin-shaped. Because I have a feeling that someone I know will just adore banana muffins, and I have a bunch of blackening bananas.

My favourite children's TV programme is no longer on on weekdays. We never watch TV at the weekend, so this is a bit disappointing. When I resort to TV I prefer it to be something I like to watch. How much TV is too much? 8 hours a day? 12? I think it's only on for 13 hours a day anyway. Perhaps I need more channels.

Tomorrow is library day and playground day, we hope. There's Rhyme Time at the library and then a choice of playgrounds. Rob has taken to bringing her to the park around the corner after dinner, too, which is nice. He has a lovely video of a couple of boys playing football with her - very polished-looking dribbling of the ball up to the toddler's feet, then, they hold it steady for her and stand back. It's incredibly sweet.

I'm developing the kind of relationship with the camping shop guys that I associate with the barmen at the local pub, if I'd ever had a "local" pub. I go in, they chat, I chat, we make jokes, friendly banter... I think I spend too much time looking for gadgets. But camping shops are the best place to get small versions of everyday stuff! And I'm going to get a proper rucksack. We tried all the ladies' ones and they are all too long in the back for me, so they've ordered in a shorter one for me to try. They were so sure the one in the shop would fit - they carefully positioned the supports over my hips, tightened all the straps, stood back, and said "So, how's that?"

"Shouldn't the straps be touching my shoulders?"

With the waistband properly tightened, the rigid back of the rucksack kept the straps a good inch and a half above my actual shoulders. It's possible to carry a rucksack like that - I've done it - but it's no fun. And we really hope to go camping again this autumn.

Comments

[laura0141.livejournal.com]

And the melons were in the washing machine because ...?

[ailbhe]

Having children really does change your life. No-one with children will question this at all.

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

*nod* didn't even occur to me to ask why :)

[mrs-warwick.livejournal.com]

I check the washing machine for dog toys and potatoes.

[k425.livejournal.com]

took the melons out of the washing machine

As you do...

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

"where are my car keys?" *look* "Ah! The dustbin, of course!"

"Where is D's 'Ellie'? Hmm... what was he doing earlier? Oh yes..." *check-fridge* "There it is."

[ailbhe]

My wedding rings live in the laundry basket with my watch.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Well the melons thing made perfect sense to me...

What was the TV programme? We have reasonable success with videos and DVDs - every time we find a show we like at a useful time they take it off, though. And that's with umpteen channels and several definitions of 'they'.

[ailbhe]

Fimbles! I like Roly Mo and Rocket.

[mrs-warwick.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to take the plunge and buy a Fimbles video/dvd. Rhiannon is always asking for them (she loves Roly-Mo) but it hasn't been on for ages. At the moment the only DVD we have that is her's, is Sing and Sign.

Do you watch Something Special?

[ailbhe]

I keep meaning to look up the times for Something Special and watch it. Rob watched it with her recently but I missed it. So she has seen it once.

[k425.livejournal.com]

It's on at 9.20, 1.20 and 5.20 on CBeebies (just before my personal favourite, Storymakers). But only on weekdays, so despite the fact that I'd love to watch it, we can't. Perhaps I'll try setting the video one of these days.

[mrs-warwick.livejournal.com]

I like most of Storymakers, but I hate Blue Cow!
why is it whenever we catch Storymakers it's a Blue Cow story?
(sorry Ailbhe, seemed to have hijacked your journal; and you heard Paul and me rant about Blue Cow at CCDE).
Rhiannon's current favourite is 'Step inside' - she keeps talking about going in the house for a story.

[ailbhe]

I hate most of Storymakers, especially the human presenters, but I like Blue Cow.

In fact, I don't like much children's TV with actual humans in.

[ellipunk.livejournal.com]

Melons in the washing machine? My baby is too small... /shudders to think of baby being mobile.
We are hoping to go camping soon - we got a set with a tent, a rucksack, a sleeping bag, a mat and a picnic blanket reduced from 80 euros to 25. We thought it was reduced to 50 but there was 50% more off that we didn't know about.
We go to the park around the corner every evening almost till it gets dark. They have a big hammocky swing thing that we put Ali in and then we play badminton.