The Gallery: Joy

Time to enter this week's Gallery from Sticky Fingers

The joy of speed:

The joy of cake:

The joy of snow:

Together we are stronger

The last 48 hours have shown me the strength of love & support I have from my friends and family. Other people that have been through similar situations have told me that this is the worst stage of a divorce when you are in a limbo between being married and being able to start again.


The support I am getting both off & online is helping me through the transition. Phone calls, e-mails, messages on FB & Twitter and real life hugs are all a great help. My kids give me so much love and tell me things such as:

you are the best mummy ever

they love snuggling up to me in bed or on the sofa and E is doing her best to help me as much as a 6 year old can. 

I do still have my concerns about them, E couldn't make her mind up whether she wanted to speak to her daddy on Sunday and chose eating tea over getting home in time. Then when I tried to set-up the Skype call she said rude things about her dad but was upset when she couldn't talk to him. The fact that the only way she has of direct contact with him is through Skype is very frustrating to a young child.

O has an interesting twist to much of his role play which maybe his way of dealing things. He was playing with ducks in the bath and told granny that the ducks were mummy, brother & sister. When asked were daddy duck was he said that the daddy had drowned. When he plays with his sister's dolls he insists that he is their mummy and not their daddy. At playgroup today he was creating family groups of animals - none of them had a daddy in. Even the farmer was the brother of the little boy figure and not the father.

I am hoping that the lady from the advice group can offer me constructive advice on how to get the kids through this. But until then I am going to adopt a new motto for the kids and I:

Together we are stronger

thanks to Josie at Sleep is for the Weak for this week's Writing Workshop prompt!

One of those days - again?

Josie at Sleep is for the Weak how did you know I needed to write one of these kind of blog posts when looking at this week's workshop....

Judging by the number of times I've started a tweet with aargh today it has definitely been one of those days...

We are all still in post holiday meltdown mode as we are all missing parents/grandparents and all the other family we enjoyed having with us and sharing the load over the long weekend. My kids are more whingey, whiny, argumentative and pains in the bum than normal and today I'm tearing my hair out...

It all started well with kisses & cuddles in bed and a lazy late get up. Then E starts to be picked on by O who has a nasty tendency to pull his big sister's hair out. Separation leaving her in bed watching TV and me plus small downstairs for breakfast. He then finds a leftover chocolate cookie and spreads crumbs all over the place, even with the supplied plate as he shakes crumbs off onto the floor...

At some point he does his first wee accident and gets clean pants on. Then I have finally persuaded E to help change her bed so leave him playing downstairs... I come down after 10 mins to nasty whiff and him pantless and looking guilty. He has wet his pants and taken them off and then pooped on the carpet and rubbed it in with the shoe box we were using to store Playmobil... Upstairs to clean him up and then downstairs to clean carpet.

This when I get some much needed me time on laptop with a coffee whilst it sounds all peaceful upstairs. The kids come down with O in big sister's Sleeping Beauty dress and make-up... Things could be looking up .... until they go back upstairs.... Sounds of big sis washing little brother's hair so it can have spikes in it.... He appears downstairs with nothing on but some black makeup on his face (& buttocks) and spiky hair. Upstairs I go to get him dressed and discover MY makeup box on their bedroom floor...

Right I think lets feed them that should be relaxing. All starts well until O upends his water on sister's plate and other things. Naughty step treatment fails miserably as he keeps giggling and returning... Finally finish lunch and contemplate lovely latte from Tassimo machine - BUT - it says it needs descaling - BUT - it won't operate descaling cycle - 20 minutes later I get a coffee...

Out in hall with E when a trickle comes down the gap of the stairs as O pees on landing through gap...

AARGH can I have a better day tomorrow - please??