Better than a kick in the knickers with a winklepicker

I know i don't post much about family life these days, but seriously, lookit! Violet did these. Her drawing's coming on in leaps & bounds at the moment - it's amazing. Stupidly proud of that little girl.

Hello! Long time no postie - apart from the occasional OMGLost ramble - so I thought I'd do a little Life Catch-up.

I wish my business lately had been down to anything more interesting than the sheer pressure of time a 3 year old who doesn't nap and a baby who doesn't sleep well in general cause, but alas I can't. The kids are a delight, though - Alex is a very cheerful little chap who finds pretty much everything hilarious and Vi's becoming a proper little girl now. She's going through a Princess Phase and spends most days in dressing up outfits, pretending to dance at the ball, or defeating witches and dragons. We made Rice Krispie cakes together on Good Friday (and by Gumbo, I'd forgotten quite how tasty those things are. Wasted on kids!) and I took her swimming yesterday - she's still very nervous in a pool but by the end she was happy just being held under the arms while she kicked her legs - a far cry from freaking out every time she couldn't find the floor with her feet.

Getting addicted to The Sims 3 AGAIN, too. Have gone back to my original game which got really hard after Dollis ended up a single mum with barely a penny to her name. It's all right now, though - she wooed a slightly feckless, lonely young man who turned out to be the sole heir of a massive fortune. Ker-ching! They're now married with another baby (the lovely Tulse Hill). I have tired of their remote waterfall retreat and am making them a Beach House. I am thirty years old.

Writing-wise, I still haven't got round to working on any of my original ideas. Rollercoaster is playing too hard on my brain - it's getting so close to the end. There should be a new chapter soon, Rollercoaster Fans - just waiting on my Beta. Don't worry, though - this isn't the final one. We've still got a handful of stories to go before 'Orpheus'. (*looks mysterious*)

Haven't posted here in a while - been mega mega uber busy - have had time to read stuff OL and do little comments & Tweets but little else.

The kids seem to have finally stopped passing that bloody cold to one another, although Alex still has a bit of a cough that keeps waking him up at night = bad sleep for all of us.

Bit manic with the run-up to Christmas - did the dry-run of baking for my extended family at the weekend - Christmas biscuits and the Nigella Chocolate & Pistachio fudge recipe that ladybracknell very kindly put on her LJ. Thought the biscuits were a bit rubbish at first, but now they're iced they're super. The fudge is amazing.

Christmassy things have continued a-go-go this week with us all going to Bluewater yesterday to do some last bits of shopping & take Vi to see Father Christmas in his Grotto. Unfortunately, Vi was just frightened of him. She also wanted to go on several fairground rides (a kiddies railway, a big wheel and the dodgems) which she decided half way through every time she didn't like any more. Oh well. And then there was the Toddler Group Chrimbo party today, which was lovely. Vi managed about 2 minutes of parachute play and then gave up on any semblance of organised fun and scampered off to chase her friend Henry (also disinclined to join in with the main events) round on a trike. Party food lunch for both of us. God, kids' party food is tasty. Why can't we always live off buffets of cocktail sausages, skips and jammie dodgers, eh? Answer me that, if you're so smart.

We found the car keys!

Unfortunately, I found them about 10 mins after the locksmith had arrived. Vi had hidden them right at the back of the playpen and then had denied all knowledge. *Sigh*.

Oh, and Alex has started teething (yes, already!) and currently can't go for more than about 4 hours without crying for a feed, so I'm getting him up at 10.30 for a feed, then getting up for him again between 2 and 3, then Hubs sees to him at between 6 and 7. Tiring.

I may have just been brilliant in the chapter of Rollercoaster I'm currently writing, or may have jumped the ficcy shark a little. Hard to tell. I'm fairly certain I've just written an action sequence that's physically impossible, but it was too spectacular not to. Hey-ho.

And La Reynolds was in Casualty again on Sat! Was just channel hopping and there he was! He was playing a Paramedic this time so I was concerned he was coming on as a regular. Alas though, it turned out he was a thieving scumbelina and got sacked before the episode was through. Oh well, at least that means I don't have to watch Casualty every week now.

Went to Farming World *again* today - with lady next door and her Granddaughter this time, as well as Hubs & a very well behaved Alex. Vi & the granddaughter (let's call her E, for the sake of her privacy) get along like a house on fire, and they played together beautifully for hours on end. Vi is starting to act like a proper little girl around her peers & was holding hands, chatting and laughing with E, sitting together and sharing their chips at lunch and playing pirates on a little boat. Beyond adorable. Luckily, it was really sunny today too, and we've all gone a little bit pink this evening.

Nice to be able to go out all day as a family. Can't wait til Alex is old enough to start actually enjoying stuff like this, too.

Vi had her first train ride today! She bloody loved it! We had another Playgroup Excursion to this park not far from Dover - it had been rescheduled from a fortnight ago when it had been raining, which was great because it's been a glorious day today. Vi had loads of fun, played with her little friend Henry (chased him around a lot shouting 'Henry, come back!'), kicked balls, climbed on climbing frames, covered me in chocolate icecream while remaining immaculate herself somehow - the lot.

One minor point, I'll have to create a virtual memo to myself that while my pride in many of my friends writing and publishing both online and in paper Gay Erotica is a fun addition to many discussions about literature, mentioning it to a group of mums from a Church Playgroup in the presence of their tots might not be a great idea. There was Tumbleweed Moment, and the conversation moved on. Hopefully they'll forget about that one or attribute the faux-pas to somebody else.

Great toddler conversation from today:

Little Boy to Vi: You're a Bashy-Bashy!
Vi: Not Bashy-Bashy; Vi-Vi. I'm a little girl.
Little Boy: I'm a boy. I've got a winkie!
Vi: I've got a winkie!

Also, while colouring in and waiting for her dinner, Vi picked up the calculator, held it to her ear as t'were a mobile phone and said:

Hello, Nana. (*pause*) Playing. I'm drawing Igglepiggle. (*pause*) Mummy's pretty, Daddy's pretty, Vi-Vi's pretty. (*pause*) OK. Bye-bye.

That kid. Cuter than a kitten full of baby rabbits.

Vi is slowly getting better, and as her puffy lip goes down her mouth doesn't look *too* bad any more. She's eaten loads so far today, which is good.

plus, my friend Claire has had her baby - I wanted to beat her, or least have a Father of The Bride 2 situation where we ended up having our sprogs on the same day. But it's great news for her, and she got a girl, which was what she'd hoped for.

Plus plus I am now Celebrity Endorsed on Twitter! David Schneider recommended me for Follow Friday - I'm well chuffed! I feel like I should have a badge made up.

I have been in need of cheering today. Due to irritable legs (ah, Pregnancy, never change) I took some time to get to sleep last night, and then Vi was up very early and has been, while generally in a better mood than lately, still quite temperamental. Plus I still have a bit of a cold and a very hoarse voice - not made any better by having to repeat phrases like 'come on', 'don't do that', 'hold my hand', 'eat your lunch' and so on ad infinitum. Oh, and Vi decided she wanted to watch Big Cook Little Cook while having breakfast today, which just sealed my bad mood. They are the shittest people on telly. And that includes Horne & Corden.

Anyway, what ended up cheering me was the discovery that Vi enjoys the dance numbers from Singin In The Rain - 'Make Em Laugh' is her favourite, but this number particularly cheered me. And, as Vi noted, they are very naughty for jumping on the table.



If you've had a crappy day today, give this a watch. I guarantee it will make you feel better. If it doesn't, there's something wrong with you.

OK, now why the Hell has Vi suddenly decided that she hates her bed? At what was supposed to be nap time today I came upstairs to check on her and found her lying, half asleep, on the floor next to her book box. All attempts to get her back into bed were met with horrified screams. I thought it might just be that she didn't want to nap today, but now that it's bedtime she keeps crying and leaping out as if it's a hot potato. All that's different is that I've changed the sheets, which I do every week.

*Sigh* It's been a long day.

New school term = the tots get to rule the roost at Playgym again instead of being pushed around by the bigger kids. Vi was able to have a really good scamper about this morning, and we saw our friends who moved away! These are the twins who are pretty much the same age as Vi - their mum told me the sweetest thing as they were playing... not only do the twins share Vi's current favourite book ('Night Pirates' - I really recommend it BTW, mums of little 'uns) but they call the Pirate Captain 'Violet' because she's got loads of curly hair. How cute is that?!? Then Vi and the twins did some Pirate Noises for us. It was ace. We hope to meet up with them on Fri for lunch before they head back.

Violet looks fantastic today, BTW. I put her in a bright flowery summer dress that I've been waiting for it to be warm enough to warrant putting her in for ages. we don't really have any tights that go with it, however, so she's ended up in red-and-pink striped tights. I thought if she was going to clash she might as well just go the whole hog.

Oh, and I dreamt about Rerun last night/this morning! I'd given birth to him at Sacred Heart hospital (and why yes, we had watched four episodes in a row the evening before). He looked like a boy version of Violet, and was wonderful. He could already hold his head up, which I remember dreaming probably wasn't that likely for a newborn. I was in love the second I saw him. We named him Elliot. It's made me feel really positive about his upcoming arrival today.

In even duller domestic type news, we're finally getting someone in to poke our outside drain. It's yucky and keeps overflowing. All of Hubs' attempts to clear it have failed. Very annoying going through several pages of Yellow Pages ads for companies with absolutely no idea of who to go for or what to expect. Getting a big national company to give us a quote because a, I've heard of them and b, they don't charge per 1/2 hour - I know how that game works! Still, I think it's going to be pricey. Got to do it, though - it's in our letting contract as one of the things we've got to sort out if it goes wrong.