Birthday boy

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I last posted!! I’m not sure what happened - the first week I just didn’t feel like posting anything anywhere, was just feeling too negative, and then I just didn’t get round to it.

Since last time we’ve had Alfie’s birthday. He was 3 - where did the time go??? I think he had a lovely day. He liked his presents - a wooden bus, an Ostheimer duck family and 3 books. I didn’t get round to making him a pond for them. He also had the cake he desperately wanted - In the Night Garden. He was so pleased with it that it was worth the £8. We haven’t had a good track record with birthday cakes in the past. I don’t make them, I prefer to buy them, but we’ve always had trouble finding the one the birthday child wanted. One year we were going to get Ellie a Blue’s Clues cake and the week before her birthday we saw one in the local supermarket but decided to buy it closer to the big day. Of course we went in the following week and couldn’t see one on the shelf. When we asked we were told “oh, we stopped selling them last week”

Last week I went to Peterborough with a friend. If you read her blog then you’ll already know we had a bit of an adventure trying to get back to the car which included me getting locked out of the car park while she was shut inside with the babies. If not here is the story (and it’s a lovely blog too).

I bought some Amy Butler fabric in John Lewis to make a changing bag but I haven’t got round to starting it yet - have been trying to finish the things I cut out several weeks ago. Just got a pair of trousers to go and then I can get cutting. I am slightly nervous as it wasn’t cheap fabric but it should hopefully be nice. I also bought some packs of interfacing and wonderweb only to discover I obviously thought I needed to stock up last time I was in there as I already had a couple pf packs of each in my box. I really must check what I actually need before I go in future!!!!!

What else? I can’t remember now. I’m sure I had loads of things to post in my head but they’ve gone now.

The children are all well. Barney/Amos/whatever we’re going to call him is having a really miserable time right now. I have no idea what is wrong with him. Part of me wonders if it’s teeth, or tummy ache, or just that he is one of those miserable babies. He has slept in his cot for the last few nights and has managed to go for fairly long stretches of sleep (4 or 5 hours) so we’re obviously disturbing him when he’s in our bed.

Oh, and talking of beds, we put Alfie’s new bed up in Jack’s room. Jack had been adamant he didn’t want Alfie in his room or this other bed in there but given the chance to help daddy he was very enthusiastic. Alfie hadn’t been keen on the idea of a big boys bed either but again, when he saw it he changed his mind.

The plan was that we would assemble the bed now to give Jack chance to get used to it and then try Alfie in there over the summer holidays but of course he wanted to sleep in there that night. They were still messing around at midnight and when they eventually did go to sleep they were both in the same bed - which was very cute! We’re not trying it again until the school holidays!!

Poor little Jack is seeing a speech therapist again because he’s developed a really severe stammer. It started before his birthday last year and would go in phases of being bad for a couple of weeks and then disappear for a few more weeks, then come back again. Now it’s all the time. Some days are better than others and it’s only the odd thing he stumbles over but other days are so bad he can’t say anything without struggling. He’s starting to become really aware of it now as well and sometimes starts to say something and just gives up. Sophie says the children at school copy the way he speaks which is horrible and I’ve had a word with the teacher although she was very surprised when I said he has a stammer as she’s never noticed it….

It breaks my heart to hear him struggling to speak, especially knowing how cruel other people can be and knowing he will almost certainly be teased or even bullied over it. Some days I just want to cry for him. I really hope that speech therapy can help him or that he is one of those children that grows out it.

Bethany has now finished her exams and is bumming around at home. We’re hoping she will get herself a job so she can earn herself some money and give her something to do - mind you, she has been very good at keeping Alfie occupied as he loves her so much.

That’s it for now. Until next time, enjoy the sun!