Feeling somewhat of a slacker today on Juneathon day 15, there was no specific exercise as such, me just making my usual days activities out to be considered as exercise… I did the usual walk to and from school to drop off and collect my Pink One!
My step count was pretty reasonable today too!
I did manage 15 toe touches, 15 sit and reaches and 15 sit ups/tummy tucks – which my Blue One also tried to do (he only did one!)- he looks much cuter doing them than I do!!!
🙂 xxx
Still not entirely sure what I have done to my foot and it’s very sore – so not an awful lot of activity for Juneathon Day 12.
As the Blue One was a bit better today, his temperature had come down a bit, we met with some friends in the park as it was such a beautifully warm day.
I managed to do a little bit of football with him – mainly him running around and me just kicking the ball back to him! It was nice seeing him being more his usual active and happy self.
Not a bad step count either considering how much I’m hobbling!!! Does include the drop off and pick up of the Pink One from school!
I also managed 12 toe touches, 12 sit and reaches and 12 sit ups/tummy crunches (these seemed such a great idea each day when the numbers were smaller!!!)
🙂 xxx
So for Juneathon Day 10, I still have a poorly little boy, so not much major exercise went on. When he had a few minutes where he was feeling a little bit more energetic we managed to go out in the garden and play a little bat and ball.
Then when the Blue One got a bit tired and we came in, I for some unknown reason decided it’d be a great idea to sort out all the kids toys!?! Why!?! I have no idea…
I’m sure the amount of toys they have grow when you take them out of the drawers! Eventually though I did get it all tidy again…
That was definitely a good 3 hour work out!!! There was also wrestling the first dose (of three) of antibiotics into the stubborn three year old boy – the second two doses he was a very good boy!
Finally – I did 10 toe touches, 10 sit and reaches and 10 sit ups/tummy crunches.
🙂 xxx
Usually I do intervals on a Tuesday but my running buddy Helen is away this week, so I had planned a run for my Juneathon Day 9 offering, but being anxious about my little boys high temperature, gave me a grumbly tum which resulted in me not eating much yesterday evening which in turn meant I felt like I didn’t have much energy to go for a run – it’s a vicious cycle!!! But enough about what I didn’t do and on to what I did do!
Well my Blue One still had an extremely high temperature today (spiked to 39.7 during the night) so I managed to get him an afternoon doctors appointment. Today was an OU study day for me, so the Blue One was with his nanny and grandad D, so come his appointment time I walked to the doctors (with a detour into the Coop) to meet them. Then the Blue One went back with them so mummy could do some more work! So my effort was two very short walks! Yay me!!!
I did also do nine toe touches, nine sit and reaches and nine tummy crunches/sit ups!
My Blue One now has antibiotics and following his reaction to the one dose he had this evening I have three work outs ready for me tomorrow!!! Haha!!! Wish me luck (praying some chocolate button bribery will work!!!)
Think tomorrow’s exercise level might not even be as high as today’s – shhh, don’t tell but I think I’ve got a sore throat!!! 😔not good…
Well, back to watching Transformers Rescue Bots with my awake poorly Blue One!
😊xxx
So for Juneathon Day 8 my main contribution was an hour of housework – additional effort in the fact I did the vacuuming which included the stairs!
There had been plans to do a kilometre (or possibly a mile) ‘run’ with my kiddies, but a poorly Blue One with a very high temperature (39.3 degrees celcius at its highest) who was a bit tearful (though he did eat his dinner bless him) put paid to that idea! He kept falling asleep today, which is very unlike him, and he went in the pushchair when we collected his sister from school – which he hasn’t done in months! He had a football session this afternoon where he just sat on my lap for 45 mins – his temp hadn’t been that high when I left the house! Praying a good nights sleep will have him back to his bouncy happy self – though after Calpol, he was more himself and wanted to play… as it was time to get ready for bed!!! Obviously!!!
I’ve turned on the pedometer bit of MapMyWalk – a photo of today below – but I am not entirely convinced by the figures if I am honest!
I also did eight toe touches, eight sit and reaches and eight sit ups/tummy crunches…
Hope everyone else has had a good Juneathon Day 8!
🙂 xxx
So today was quite a laid back day, but needed to do my bit for Juneathon. So this afternoon the Pink One and I walked to collect her brother from the child-minder’s and then a walk home – not saying it was quite a slow walk home, but my Garmin kept pausing!!!
The reason for the slow walk back to home is we did look at the stream, in the beautiful sunny weather with my small people
Then the kids were lucky enough to see a neighbours campervan, and he was kind enough to let them sit in it – he made their day!
There was the walks to and from school to do drop off and pick up and don’t forget the three toes touches!!! All in all, not a bad day!
🙂 xxx
So it’s the first day of June and is therefore the first day of Juneathon!!! I have decided to participate, as I enjoyed taking part in Janathon. Didn’t know what I was going to do today, after not feeling great during my Eltham Park 5 mile run yesterday.
I then decided I would attempt a run with my two small people, my Pink One is 5 years old and my Blue One is only 3 years old. They’ve always wanted to go for a run with mummy – so after collecting the Pink One from school, we came home and got ready to go. I didn’t know what I would be letting myself in for, this could’ve gone hideously wrong!
They actually did very well. I had planned a mile, which the Pink One would’ve coped with no problem, but was probably a bit optimistic for my Blue One bless him! We did short bursts of ‘running’ and the odd walk, at one point I had to carry the Blue One but couldn’t managed that for too long!
Don’t forget I also got up this morning and touched my toes as well – which I tweeted this morning!
All in all not a bad start to Juneathon – how long will it last!?!
Happy Juneathon everyone!
🙂 xxx
I thought the blog post by Love From Clueless Mum was very inspiring, so thanks to her (and her inspiration mr and mrs t plus three) here’s my list, in no particular order, of 50 things that make me happy…
1. My children when they play nicely together – the laughter is lovely to hear even if I’m thinking at the back of my mind “this is probably going to end in tears!”
2. Taking photos – my Nikon D60 was my first baby, it was bought the October the year before the Pink One was born – I love taking photos, I take far too many, and when I find time I like to put my favourite ones on Redbubble – you can find my images here and I’ve written a post on some of my photography which you can find here.
3. Singing – it is a great stress reliever, I am a member of a choir too. You can hear some of my singing on YouTube if you wish and I have also sung on some of my audio blog posts
4. Studying with the Open University – it’s been one of the most challenging things I have done, but also very rewarding and opened up other opportunities I could never have foreseen
5. Beautiful blue skies on a cold crisp winter day
6. Running – as an anxiety sufferer this has been great for my mentality and the subject of my first ever blog post! It’s even more enjoyable when I go with friends – Helen and Kay have been marvellous at supporting and encouraging me.
7. Big family gatherings
8. Seeing a Robin redbreast – it just feels significant to me
9. Seeing my friends succeed – that in itself is inspiring
10. Seeing my Social Media presence grow
11. Blogging – when you finish a particularly good post (in your opinion) and it’s taken quite a lot of work, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as hitting publish
12. Reading someone else’s blog and thinking what a fab post (and realising it’s not just me! Lovely not to feel alone especially when it comes to this parenting malarkey!)
13. My 100 Days Style Challenge (especially painting my nails!!!) – which I will be writing a separate post on (at some point! So much going on – need more hours in the day!!!) – but I was inspired by Kat Henry (links to her Blog and Instagram) who in turn was inspired by Kathryn (links to her Blog and Instagram) – amazing women!
14. Nights out with my mummy friends that I have known since the birth of the Pink One
15. Writing down the funny things my children say or mispronunciation of words – these are currently on my phone, but I am gradually transferring them into a book which I am handwriting that they can have when they grow up! (think I have about 2 years worth to write up for both of them!!! haha!!!)
16. Sitting on the sofa with my hubby and watching some crap TV or a film
17. Actually managing to go on a date night or day with my hubby
18. As much as I love my kids nothing brings a smile to my face as to when they go for a sleepover at nanny and granddads!!!
19. Getting an assignment for the OU submitted
20. Getting the result of assignment back (when it’s a good one!)
21. Starting and finishing a creative project that I’ve seen on Pinterest, or come up with myself, even if it takes me a over a year!!! One example I blogged about you can find here!
22. Seeing my kids facing when they see the birthday cake I have made for them, regardless of the sleepless night and tears that have gone into it… I’ve posted blogs about the Pink Ones cake and the Blue Ones cake and the amazing Sister who helps me!
23. Christmas – we love this festive season as a family and we probably go overboard, but the expressions on the kids faces makes it all worth while
24. The fact my Blue One is out of nappies during the day!
25. Getting to have one-on-one time with each of my children
26. When you email a company and they are actually very helpful – in the latest instance Sistema, the makers of the water bottles we use, I let them know that even with careful cleaning the bottles lids smelt of stagnant water and they posted me some new lids with no fuss whatsoever
27. My self designed tattoo – a tribute to my kids, if you look in the wings you can see their first initials A and a J – this is on my left thigh and I love it! Again, I designed it and then waited a year before I had it done. It was actually a major stepping stone in my struggle with anxiety! What really helped was my phenomenal tattoo artist! I had it done at Jesters Tattoos in New Eltham, and my artist was Manda!
28. Getting an unexpected compliment
29. When my husband takes holiday time off work – love us all being together as a family (and it means its not just me telling the kids off)
30. When the kids do something the first time I ask – I also think this would make me faint as it does not happen often (if at all)!!!
31. When Stephen Amell personally liked a Facebook message I posted to him!!!
32. The smell of clean washing
33. Warm sunny days where you can just be lazy
34. The ‘dates’ I have with my Blue One in the Morrisons café – used to do this with my Pink One as well before she started school.
35. Getting a good bargain – regardless of what it is I am buying – it could be cleaning products to some lovely new clothes – a bargain is a bargain!
36. Watching my children sleep (they can’t answer me back when they are asleep) they look so angelic
37. The look on my Pink One’s face when she got a note from the Tooth Fairy for her first lost baby tooth (you can see the tinyletter in the photo of them sleeping above)
38. My kids excitement when Father Christmas has been
39. Developing my logo/brand for Jog on Mum
40. Having a lie in
41. Getting breakfast in bed
42. Getting my hair cut and coloured – I love it so much and afterwards I feel like me again! I have the best hairdresser!
43. Hearing my children say “I love you mummy, you’re the best” – I may not actually be the best mummy but to them I am so that’s all that matters! *grumble* *moan*
44. My tummy not being bloated and uncomfy at the end of the day – blooming IBS, still not great and I have been following a low FODMAP diet since February!!!
45. A long hot shower without my small people for company (also in that line, going to the loo on my own too!)
46. Snow days with the kids
47. Days out at Brighton with the family, walking on the pier, playing dolphin derby and eating hot doughnuts! My hubby proposed to me on Brighton pier so it’s extra sentimental to me!
48. A lovely hot cup of tea – not one that has been reheated in the microwave for the umpteenth time, or left in there, or half drunk in a rush in the morning, one that you can savour as you watch some TV, read a book or are reading a particularly good blog post – ahhhh, bliss! Sometimes it really is the little things in life – the thought of this is just making me smile!
49. Looking through all my photos and videos (particularly ones of the kids) I could lose hours if not days to doing this!!!
50. People reading my blog, liking it and getting comments!!! It’s definitely a good ego booster!!! 🙂
It’s been nice to write a positive improve your mood kind of post, and 50 is quite a large number, really makes you think and sometimes you’ll be surprised that it really is the little things in life that make you happiest – such as that hot cup of tea or the sound of your children laughing – what would be on your list?
Comment below and please share this post – it would be much appreciated!
🙂 xxx
***Disclaimer – To my darling Pink One and Blue One – if you are reading this now you are older, please don’t judge mummy too harshly, remember I love you and adore you and always will, I am only human and occasionally things just get to me. If you are ever lucky enough to have small people of your own, you may actually understand some of these points and may even appreciate mummy having written this! I only get these feeling of guilt as I care about you both so much!***
I am quite nervous about doing this post and wondering what people would think of me, is it too much to be sharing? But reading the fabulous blog of The Unmumsy Mum (give her blog a look – it’s brilliant!) – has given me the push and inspiration to do this because sometimes honesty, and just being truthful, is the best policy, and when it comes to being a mum (or dad) – we’re in this together!!!
I think I spend my entire time just feeling guilty – becoming a mum seems to have amplified this feeling a hundred fold, plus I’m Catholic so I know all about feeling guilty…
Guilty when I used to work and wasn’t around for my kids.
Guilty now I’m a stay at home mum but sometimes wish I still had a job in an office with adults! Adult talk and a hot cup of tea!
Guilty for being a shouty mummy. Never ever thought I’d be such a shouty mummy prior to having children! This has seriously taken me by surprise!
Guilty for reading the blogs and sites that will help you stop being a shouty mum in these easy steps (if I have learnt just one thing about having children is that nothing to do with them is ever easy!) but just being too bloody tired to be able to carry out the suggestions and still being shouty!
Guilty for screaming at my daughter when she’s only been back from a sleep over for less than two hours as she’s made her brother cry more in that time than he’s cried in the last two days she’s been away and telling her I wished she was still away! Feelings beyond guilty – I am such a horrible person! Who does that? Oh, me!!! She’s only five!!! Head in hands shame…
Guilty that sometimes I am so shouty on a particular day I actually give myself a sore throat! What must the neighbours think!?! Fortunately they’ve got kids too!!!
Guilty when I’ve been shouty and the small people come and hug me and say “mummy, I love you!” and not being very appreciative of the hug at that time as I am still feeling grumpy. I love you small people, always will – I sometimes just don’t like your behaviour and need a few moments to gather myself and calm down.
Guilty for losing it over the small stuff! Why did I start this? Can’t back down now, I am the parent and need to make my point…
Guilty for being on my iPhone instead of paying attention to my children. I can usually judge how ‘bad’ my day has been by the percentage of battery left on my phone!!! The lower the percentage the tougher the day!!!
Guilty for not enjoying my kids ALL the time. We’re only human and sometimes the days with a small child can feel so long and when they’re in one of ‘those’ moods, where everything you suggest isn’t good enough, it’s hard to find the joy!
Guilty for wondering at times, all be it fleetingly, when it’s been a tough day, if I should’ve become a mum which leads to more feelings of guilt as there are women out there who are desperate to be a mum and spending vast quantities of money and straining relationships to try and get this honour!
Guilty when I spend the day wishing for the kids bedtime.
Guilty once they are in bed that I’ve been so shouty at them all day and not played with them more! They look so angelic and beautiful when they’re asleep – you do wonder how you could’ve got so angry at them!
Guilty because I think sometimes my days are way harder then my husbands day at work in an office! He gets to talk to big people (who are not necessarily better behaved than small children, but that’s not the point) and not constantly discuss why chocolate buttons do not constitute as lunch – well maybe they do, just not when you’re 3!!!.
Guilty that the minute the hubby steps through the front door I pass off the kids – possibly before he’s even got his coat off – if it’s been a ‘bad’ day! Argh – That’s it – your go!!!
Guilty for wishing my kids would shut up….please!?! You wait so long to hear them say “mummy” or “daddy” for so long and then it gets relentless…!!!
Guilty for wishing my kids would go away and leave me in peace for 5 minutes! Seriously guys I can go to the loo all by myself!!!
Guilty because for a split second now and then, these beautiful people I love and made and will always love, I highly dislike them! Well actually it’s the behaviour I don’t like really…
Guilty for admitting I couldn’t have been a stay at home mum until one of my children was at primary school – so I only have one to deal with for the majority of the day! Would have been the same regardless of who was born first! It’s just seems so much easier dealing with one once you’ve got two!
Guilty as I sometimes act like a petulant child! No seriously I do, and it’s not something I am proud of! “It’s not fair!!!”
Guilty that I won’t let my kids mix the Play-Doh colours! Please don’t do it!!! *shudder*
Guilty because I wish my 5 year old or 3 year old would ‘just grow up’!!! What are you? A kid or something!?! Oh… Then realising, that though the days may go slowly the years are flying by and they’ll be all grown up before I know it! *sob* It can all be so confusing on the old emotions!
Guilty for allowing one bit of bad behaviour from my kids ruin what had probably been a lovely day up the that point and holding a grudge because they upset my rose tinted ideal! That’s it – you’ve ruined the day! *Grumble*
Guilty for making a promise to my small people that I don’t keep! We ran out of time, actually out of whatever it was, or it wasn’t on the Sky+ box like I thought, or I only really promised to have a quiet life and made sure we couldn’t carry out said promise! Oh the shame!!!
Guilty for really wanting a week off from being a parent! So I’m human…
Guilty as there are times I enjoy my studying more than playing with my kids! It doesn’t answer me back…
Guilty that I sometimes find my Blue One ‘easier’ than my Pink One! (aybe because he’s the second child or because he is a boy!?! He just seems a simpler creature to deal with! He does have his moments though!)
Guilty when I hear my horrible side coming out of my daughter’s mouth as she shouts at her brother! I cringe when I hear her and think “Oh no, that’s all me!” 😦
Guilty for constantly saying “in a minute” “wait a minute” “not just now” “give me a minute” when my kids ask for my time! They do seem to time it perfectly when I am in the middle of something like getting their lunch/dinner, making a phone call or trying to write a blog!!!
Guilty for not being the mother I think I ‘should’ be! I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others, and what seems to be their amazingly well behaved children, and can only do my best, but I always feel I should be doing better!
Guilty when I feel super proud because my kids are ‘so bright’! A moment of feeling smug and then seriously guilty about it!
Guilty for not sitting down and doing more ‘arts and crafts’ with them – but I am just not very good at it! I am a control freak, and the mess just makes me twitchy! Plus, I just end up taking over as they’re just not doing it right… oh the shame…
Guilty for writing this and putting it ‘out there’! It’s been cathartic to write and hope will make one other mummy (or daddy) realise they are not alone!
If this just helps one other person feel better about themselves, gives you a laugh, makes you realise it’s not just you – least my guilt will have done some good! There are many more things I feel guilty about, but think the above is enough for one post!
I love these small people dearly and wouldn’t be without them, they really are my life, my everything, but the occasional sleepover at nanny and grandad’s is very much appreciated I can tell you!!! 😀
If I mention to anyone else that my children can misbehave, it’s met with remarks of disbelief! “But they’re such an angel, I can’t imagine it!” – as long as my children are beautifully behaved for other people, The hubby and I must be doing something right… just wish I got to see more of this amazing behaviour!!! *sigh…*
Please comment and/or share so I can alleviate some of my guilt… Please… I will even beg!!! 😜️xxx
So I can be a proud artsy fartsy creative mummy – I have actually completed something worthy of Pinterest and in this post I’ll take you through the process of how I went about making it! What I will admit before I start (which I haven’t seen on other creative/crafty posts – whether it’s because they’re just more organised than me or just don’t admit it) it took me from ordering the A2 canvas in August 2014 to planning this in September 2014 and finally producing the completed article in April 2015… only eight months… oops…
This all started because I love the song “This House” by Gary Barlow (My 5 year old has told me she thinks she’s “getting in love with Gary”, time to listen to another CD in the car I think – but I digress!!!) – I identify with the lyrics and just think it’s a beautiful song – I’d also been inspired by some canvasses my friend had done with her children – using masking tape and paint – remove the masking tape and you’ve got a beautiful canvas!
So I took the line I most liked from “This House” and planned it on an A4 piece of paper – laying it out and getting the idea of what I wanted my canvas to look like!
Then placed it in the plastic bag with the canvas (ordered from Amazon, link found above) where it sat (and collected dust) until 29th March 2015 – when I finally got to work! I used 25mm width masking tape – which I split into four;
This took me about three evenings, 2/3 hours each time, whilst watching TV and sometimes faffing! I did then find that this supposedly A2 board wasn’t quite four pieces of A4 – it was slightly narrower so had to adjust my measurements – I reduced the distance between the letters, so wasn’t too bad in the end!
Initially I was going to paint the whole thing using all our handprints, but I thought this might not be enough to make the words stand out, so I then split the image into four sections and make a paler version of the colour I wanted each of our handprints to be.
Next was time to add the handprints – so started with myself and the husband! My handprints are purple and the husband’s are green. I did ours top and bottom so that they surrounded our children. Once these were dried, the next day was to add the children’s! By this point, I’d spent a lot of time and effort on this, so I was very vocal to the children that they were to only put their hand down when I told them and not to move it around so it smudged the colour (way to go mummy, removing the fun from this activity) – they were both very good! Unsurprisingly – I did the Pink Ones handprints pink and the Blue Ones handprints blue! Though the Pink One told me after she would have preferred red! I told a fib and said we didn’t have any red – she caught me out! “mummy – come here please, you said there was no red, I have checked the box and there is red…!?!” Oops…
I still find it strange that the Pink One and the Blue One’s handprints are similar in size, considering the Pink One is 2 years and 3 months older!!!
Next was the fun bit (though slightly nerve wracking after all that work) – well for me anyway – the removal of the masking tape!!!
The only annoying thing was, because I used really high quality ELC poster paint (about £1 per bottle), where bits of the paint were thicker on the handprints, as I took the masking tape off the paint flaked – but not to worry, a little touch up with some more paint and it was done!!! Yay!!!
I am super chuffed with this, it may not be perfect, it may not be exactly as I imagined it, it may not quite have been the family affair I initially envisioned (yes I got a little possessive!) and the ‘A’ may not stand out as much as I would have liked, but over all it came out just great! The sentiments of the image may not seem to be in this household all the time – but this is a house filled with love… most of the time!!!
So, what’s the estimated length of time before it actually gets put up on the wall!?! Haha!!!
Any questions don’t hesitate to contact me! I would be very happy for any comments or if you’d like to share this post – it would be much appreciated!!! Share with me any of your masking tape creations – that would be fabulous to see!!! 🙂 xxx
Jog on Mum 