Parks and postmen

So predictably we paid last night for going out yesterday when Chloe wasn't 100%! She was up part of the night with a high temperature again. This morning she woke up feeling better again although she was very grumpy from lack of sleep and I wasn't much better! It was decided that a morning at home was the best idea!

I've said before that staying at home often fills me with dread as a bored preschooler can be a nightmare! We have entertained ourselves this morning with a new postman game which was an instant hit. All I did was cut a hole in a box to be a post box. Then we filled a couple of envelopes with pictures we'd drawn and addresse them to people Chloe chose. Voila! A really easy role-playing game. 

After playing for a while we walked to the park, as thankfully it is a nice day. I love our park; it is such a blessing to have a really good playground so near to our house. If you are looking to buy a house which will be good for having a family in then definitely look to be near a park!

The day at the farm that nearly didn't happen.

Today I went with Chloe and Livia to a farm park in West Sussex. It was organised by Chloe's preschool and I was very keen to go because I have not really had much of a chance to get to know people. The dash to drop off children and then go and run errands means that no-one really chats outside the preschool. Chloe was super excited; especially as I had promised her a pony ride after she completed a reward chart a month ago. We had attempted to take her to a farm a few weeks ago to reward her but she had been ill so we had to cancel.

But! Yesterday Chloe went down with a temperature and was feeling quite poorly. During the night she was up several times and needed dosing with calpol to keep the temperature down. I still have no idea what is causing the temperature; she frequently suffers with ear infections and tonsillitis. We tend to only go to the doctors now when it continues for a few days or makes her very miserable. The amount of antibiotics she has had so far in her life is ridiculous!

Anyway this morning she miraculously was so much better! I had been praying and praying, as I lay in bed listening to her moaning in her sleep that we would still be able to go to the farm. Thank you God that you made it happen! We had a lovely day. I had been worried about a whole day out with both the girls and how feeding and changing and toilet trips would work but it was fine. The preschool teachers were fab and helped me out when there were things that were difficult to do when looking after a 5 month old baby.

A few highlights:
- Chloe having her first pony ride which she LOVED. I could see her chatting happily away to the girl leading the pony. I love riding so really hoping she will follow in my footsteps.
- Chloe going on a 'doughnut ride' down a dry ski slope with one of her teachers whilst I took photos.
- Watching some lambs and baby calves being bottle fed.
- Chloe making friends with a girl (not from preschool!) in the soft play and playing a pirate game. "The yucky pirates are coming to get us and are going to whack us with sticks!"

Chloe has been feeling a little worse for wear this afternoon but we had such a great day. I know she'd say it was worth it!

Meal planning

In the new spirit of sharing about how our family works, I thought I would blog about how I plan meals...

I find food shopping fairly stressful because it is one of the main ways in which I can make a real difference to our monthly budget. I tend to be a scrimper by nature and I can sometimes let this creep too much into my weekly shop! J has recently instructed me to spend more, as he needs more food in the house! 

Other than the cost, I enjoy planning meals and I love to cook meals from scratch. I find it relaxing and satisfying to produce something that I know I have made and my family can enjoy. Having said that, I don't always cook from scratch and we don't always have healthy food! But that's fine. I don't really feel a massive amount of pressure to home-cook everything. Although that can change when I run into someone at the supermarket and suddenly wish those ready meals would disappear!

This is how my meal plan usually looks:

- One dish that will do two meals. Eg lasagne, shepherds pie, chicken casserole.

- One dish that I haven't cooked before or is a bit more 'fancy'. When I say fancy, I mean I will spend a bit more on herbs or quality cuts of meat.

- One quick and easy regular dish. Something I have cooked loads before - usually pasta of some sorts.

- One 'naughty' dish for the end of the week. This will be for when I have no more fresh ingredients because I'm going shopping the next day. Possibly fish and chips, pizza or a bought curry.

That leaves us at 5 meals. Often there will be one night a week where we eat at our parents' or at a friend's. There will usually be a night where one of us is eating out somewhere so the other one plus Chloe will eat from the freezer (we are very good at saving leftovers).

I love family meals and planning our shopping list. This week I'm trying a whole roast chicken in homemade peri peri sauce. Yum!

Result below!

Changes!...possibly?!

Second post of the day, woah! 

I have been playing with the idea of changing the focus of this blog slightly. At the moment I only post when I feel like I have something meaningful to write (ha!). Normally this will be to do with what God is teaching me about life through being a mum. I still want to do this but I also think I'd quite like to make this blog a bit less formal, more diary-like. I'm hoping to post much more often...possibly twice a week or more?!

Whilst I like to think that my blog might encourage other mums, I also want it to be a window into our family (like I was describing in my previous post today). I want to record for my own sake and anyone else who may find it interesting, what family life was like for us as time went on. 

So if you fancy reading about life in our family then I hope you will keep checking in :) I am so happy that this blog has almost 3000 views. Golly gosh. 

Families

I find families so interesting, anyone else? I am always asking people how many brothers and sisters they had and whether they liked it or wished their family had been different. I also watch a couple of Vlogs on YouTube which follow various families because I love the insight it gives into how family life works for them.

As Livia gets bigger I am thinking more and more about what our family will look like. Will it just be the two girls or will we decide to have any more children? I still don't know the answer to that question! I love the idea of a big family and find big families really interesting (did anyone else love the documentary '19 Kids and Counting'?). But I love the fact we have two girls and like the fact I can spend so much time with each of them. Hmm...

I guess I am also feeling quite broody which is unexpected for me! I miss the newborn stage already - Livia is getting ready for weaning soon eek! With Chloe I was in no rush to have another baby. We were perfectly happy to have a longish gap of 2 and a half years. If I miss a new baby already then I can't imagine never having that again!

I guess the good thing about having children young is that we have a long time to decide. Two girls for the moment is lovely. I am more than content!

Choose happiness

Life at the moment is going really well. There are lots of positives and not many negatives. Chloe is getting on really well at preschool; Livia is gorgeous and I'm loving interacting with her more; J is about to be announced as a new elder at our church, and I am busy with various little projects and have a nicely full diary with regular toddler groups, lovely friends to see and support from family.

The only thing about when times are good is that it can make you feel a bit sad that it won't last! I know that sounds very pessimistic but it's true! In a few months I will be returning to work 2 days a week which will change our routine completely. I am a bit nervous about how Livia is going to cope being away from me (especially as she won't even take a bottle yet!). Some close friends of ours are looking to move away, which is sad (but if you read this, I know it's for good reasons!). And probably the biggest thing for me is my parents are going back to India in January and are also selling our family home too.

A big part of me wants to mope about and feel sad about the changes that are coming. It's so easy to feel like you are entitled to feel bad and take it out on everyone else. But... There's nothing I can do about any of these things, especially mum and dad going, so I could either make life boring and miserable by choosing to feel sad, or I can choose happiness in the situation and enjoy the positive things in my life.

I trust that God has good things in store for me and he knows the path ahead. I am very thankful for times of blessing and plenty. But I know I will also have plenty of blessing in the hard times too.

 I will choose to praise God and be joyful today!

Update...

After posting this I was talking with Chloe. I haven't been great at choosing happiness today and have been a bit tearful. When I say 'choosing happiness' I don't mean denying how you really feel or making my kids think I don't approve of being sad. So I said to Chloe that I was feeling a bit sad today and I'm sorry for being tearful. She said 'Thats ok mummy. I'm trying to cheer you up.' What a beautiful girl!