Lock all the doors - A&E are heading your way!

I don't feel that I'm a bad mother or all that negligent. It's true that I sometimes shout; it's true that I should probably find time to sit and read with eldest daughter and it's true that perhaps A or E would like a bit of time with me without always doing everything together, but life is busy and sometimes there just isn't enough  time.

Having said that I am feeling extremely guilty and a little shakey when I think of two things that happened to me in the last week. On Sunday the weather was great and everyone had enjoyed playing in the garden. At the end of the day dh was taking bikes back to the garage and I was getting dinner ready in the kitchen with A&E. The eldest two were bouncing on our trampoline in the garden. I was busy discussing with A&E what we were about to make as I turned to wash up my cheese grater in the sink. I was still talking to them but they didn't reply and when I turned round a few moments later they had disappeared. I assumed they had gone upstairs or into the garden to play on the trampoline again. I called their names but no reply came. I popped my head out of the back door but couldn't see them. I ran past the two eldest children on the trampoline but they said they hadn't noticed them. I hurtled down the side passageway of the house through the open gate and into my front driveway where I found them standing on the doorstep holding hands with our neighbour from across the street.

In a matter of about 40 seconds they had run through the garden, down the passage, across the drive and decided to cross the road. Thankfully we live on a reasonably quiet street and my neighbour knew they were our kids and when she realised they were out alone calmy brought them home to me.

It took me a while to get over the shock and now we ensure that the routes out of the garden are always firmly locked.

Thinking I had put this episode of adverture behind me I was shocked when a similar event happened again yesterday. The girls were heading upstairs for a bath. I was just finishing putting boy in the middle's dinner on the table and then twenty seconds after A&E left the room I followed them. I screamed in horror as I saw the front door was wide open. I ran out and saw a lady opposite with her dog staring into my drive. I saw one girl and screamed "Where's the other one". The lady pointed out she was right behind me. I scooped them up, told them off, came into the house and firmly locked the door.

My other kids never behaved like this. Perhaps it's safety in numbers that they think it's fine to leave the house provided they are together. As for me - I am locking all exits from now on and starting to feel that all those people who say "Double Trouble" to me may just be right!

How far would you go for a friend?

Everyone should be lucky enough to have a wide enough circle of friends who will be there for you at different times in your life. There are those friends who will cook you a meal if you have had a bereavement; those who will come and hold your screaming newborn so you can have a rest; those who will drop everything and help you in an emergency and then there are those who go to extraordinary lengths to help you through a challenge in your life.

My mate Jonny deserves a medal as he has seen it as his personal goal to get me ready for running the Tel Aviv half marathon in 3 weeks time which I am doing to raise money in memory of my Mum. Come rain, snow or hail he has been there at 7am on Sunday mornings, banging on my front door, dragging me through the streets and encouraging me to keep up with him and run. He has advised me how far I should be running each week in training, insructed me to buy running gloves and a hat to get me through the winter, encouraged me that it's all for a great cause and entirely ignored the hatred that I felt for him in the early weeks. With no goal of his own in terms of a forthcoming run he has helped me purely for the fun of it.

It was by seeing him run the London marathon a few years ago that inspired me to run, and so a few months after the birth of A&E and with plenty of weight to lose I took up running with Jude (Jonny's wife). Under his instruction we built up speed and stamina and ran a 5k and 10k together.  As Jude had a hip injury and couldn't run anymore I felt inclined to stop too, but then Jonny took over and took me on as a challenge.

He complains that I moan too much, blow my nose too often and chat too much.
I complain that he runs too fast, spits too often and makes me go too far.

Having said all of this I know I owe so much to him. Last Sunday we ran 11 miles together - well almost together - and now I know that I will be able to achieve my goal.

11 miles - it's a really long way to go for a friend - thanks Jonny - you're a star!

If you would like to support my cause please see the fundraising page:

www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/runningforElaine

Tell me it gets easier?

Last week I had my online shopping delivered by a very nice man. He watched in fascination as A&E grabbed the yogurts from a crate, ripped off the lids, flung spoons out of the cutlery drawer and proceeded to eat them whilst dripping small amounts down their pyjamas.

He proudly told me he had eleven week old twins and then said:
"Tell me it gets easier?"
I looked at A&E having a fabulous time when they should have been heading off to bed and before I could reply he said "
Or just lie to me!"

The reason I haven't even had a chance to sit down and write a blog post over the last few weeks is because I never really have a writing window in my day. As much as I adore A&E my life has altered dramatically. One toddler is difficult enough to control and to persuade to stay away from the pan drawer/wasing machine/make up drawer - but two is virtually impossible.

E has taken a great liking to my dressing table and in particular the lip gloss. Whenever she gets the chance to grab one she insists on smearing it all over her neck. She is likely to be doing this at the same time that A has wandered into boy in the middle's room, climbed up on his bed, flung his match attax cards all over the bedroom floor and is working on colouring in his school reading book.

On Monday dh took the day off and we decided to go on a day out with friends. We met at the British Museum. Just getting there on public transport was an achievement in itself.  But it was as we arrived at the museum that I had a flashback of taking eldest daughter there with my Mum when boy in the middle was in his buggy and we decided it is not the most toddler friendly museum in London. And here we were with two of them.

It's fair to say that thanks to our friend the eldest two children had a great time in the museum. The youngest two enjoyed rolling on the marble floor, running as fast as they could in opposite directions to each other and leaving a trail of crisps and breadsticks throughout the African and Egyptian galleries.

Every morning I wake up and wonder what the day will have in store for me. How much spillage will there be around my house, dare I take A&E into the playground at the school run or will I never get them back in the car, or shall we just head off to a friends house so there will be less mess in mine?

So in order to answer the Tesco delivery man - does it get easier? Hell no, probably harder by the day but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Two turn 2

Our beautiful girls turned two last week. Normally you wonder where the time has gone but so much has happened in my life since these two girls came into our lives. For me, them turning 2 is a real milestone.

When I first told my Mum that I was expecting twins she declared that the first two years would be the hardest and then it would start to get easier. Well as she was right about most things I am hoping she was right about this too.

I normally write about how the girls have developed but they are just two cheeky two year olds. I on the other hand am one very busy mummy who laughs, shouts, smiles, tells stories, cooks,  learns, multi-tasks but most of all is completely smitten with my lot.

It's worth mentioning that in the past two years I have learned to:

Carry two increasingly heavy girls up the stairs at the same time

Talk on the phone, do playdoh and fold laundry - all at the same time

Easily find room to fit one girl on each knee for storytime

Change two nappies in record time

Have two dummies, two hats, two cups, two nappies, two lots of snacks in my bag at all times

Know when it's necessary to have two of a certain toy and when one can be shared

Really found meaning in the phrase - "Sharing is caring"

Amost tell them apart!

The power of two is very special. I am very honoured to be their Mummy and as all those random strangers like to say to me "ooh double trouble" - I say "double the love"!

It's a lock down

I got the absolute best present from DH last week. Some may find it a little strange in my choice of gift but it has saved me hours of frustration and has saved me lots of money on wasted snacks. Still a little confused? I am now the proud owner of the "Boots MagLock" system.

I have spent the last few months complaining that A&E are constantly moving their highchairs, opening the larder cupboard, climbing up and smuggling chocolate/raisins/crackers/dry pasta/tea bags/potatoes - you name it they have opened/eaten/dropped them all.

The power of the word "NO" eventually did work on boy in the middle when he was a toddler but the power of 2 is a greater force.

At my wits end last week after clearing up powdered jelly and lentils DH went out and not only bought the most powerful magnetic cupboard lock he then proceeded to fit it as well.

A&E looked on and listened to the noise of the drill as I explained that Daddy was locking the cupboard. I felt a perverse sense of enjoyment and power against my fabulous but cheeky double act. There were a couple of tense moments when DH thought it wouldn't work and we all left the room to as give him some man space to work in. Once it was fitted I was rather worried about shutting the door and potentially locking away all our good food forever if it didnt re-open. Extremely helpful advice on the instructions reminded us not to leave the magnet inside the cupboard and then shut the door - then we really will be in trouble (I am sure that will happen at some point!).


Not only do I have power over the youngest two members of the family it is working wonders for all of us. We keep the magnet high up on the extractor hood and so now eldest daughter and boy in the middle cannot get into the biscuit tin without asking permission. It is also working wonders for my self control as sometimes I cannot be bothered to get the magnet to open the cupboard to delve into the chocolate raisins  - benefits all round.

A week on and the constant demand for crackers from A&E has completely stopped. Occasionally they go to the cupboard and say "Daddy lock" and then they walk away!

The best thing is there are 4 more magnets waiting to be fitted to whichever cupboard they aim for next. Now I need to stop them from turning on the taps!

Lots can happen in 30 minutes

It's tough finding the time to train for a half marathon with 4 young kids. Dh knows that the Sunday morning 8am slot is my time to run and train but other than that I have to fit training in around A&E's sleeping patterns, my babysitter, dh and the short winter days which don't allow a lot of time for running in the daylight on the streets. Driving to the gym and back takes up 20 precious minutes when I could be running so all in all my training isn't going so brilliantly.

And so it was the other day when I decided I would trial an early morning run from home. Eldest daughter had stayed overnight at a friends house and A&E were already up and drinking their milk and hitting dh on the head with their bottles. Dh wasn't thrilled about the idea as he claimed he wasn't awake but I had brought him his necessary morning cup of tea and so all he had to do was to get boy in the middle up and dressed and watch A&E.

As I opened the front door to the cold, damp, foggy winter morning, I caught a glimpse of A&E peering down the stairs waving at me. However, this was my time and I was determined to stretch well and run a couple of miles before coming home by which time I assumed breakfast would be in full swing.

I ran my 2 miles and it took about 25 minutes. As I opened the front door A&E came running out of the kitchen towards me. They are just beginning to speak so I asked them "Where's Daddy?" The answer that came back - "Bed bed bed". Assuming they were wrong and perhaps asking for bread I hollered up the stairs "You're not still in bed are you?" With that shout dh clearly shot out of bed and in a panic ran down the stairs.

"Do you want to go into the kitchen first or shall I?" was all I could manage to say.

I think we went in together and surveyed the scene. There were miniature smarties covering the entire floor surface of the kitchen. My laptop was sprinkled with a fine covering of salt and the girls had clearly been in the process of heading towards the breakfast cereal.

Clearly A&E had enjoyed a fabulous 30 minutes on their own in the kitchen. I am just thankful they hadn't manage to harm themselves in any way. I was initally blamed because I shouldn't have gone as dh said he needed more sleep. Dh was blamed for being completely irresponsible. Then we looked at the clock and realised there was no point in blaming each other. With only 20 minutes to go before the school run I cleaned the kitchen and dh finally got boy in the middle out of bed.

Needless to say I haven't made it on another early morning run since.

There's no-one quite like Grandma

My blog posts have been rather sparse over the past few months as I have been extremely focused looking after my dear Mum who sadly lost her fight to the terrible illness that is breast cancer some six weeks ago.

Not wishing to dwell on this sadness I wanted to dedicate this blog to her and the wonderful world of Grandma's.

My Mum, Grandma Elaine took on a completely new role in my life when I first announced I was pregnant some 9.5 years ago. Already a Grandma 4 years earlier when my nephew arrived she was very nervous throughout each pregnancy and she would tell anyone she met that she was an expectant Grandma. She took on her role of Grandma/maternity carer most seriously being there for my Sister and I each time. She looked after our older children while we were giving birth and prepared small meals when we came home from hospital so as not to overwhelm us. She washed and cooked for us and loved rocking a crying newborn to sleep whilst singing "Ai la loo" - a song she invented for them all.

As her grandchildren grew up she had time for each and every one of them. She knew all of their after school activities down to the time and location, she knew what made each of them tick. She carried photos of them all with her in her wallet and she was never shy to show them to friends, acquaintances or strangers.

Grandma Elaine never lived close by to our family. She lived in Sheffield but a few years ago they bought an appartment round the corner so when they came to stay they took over school pick ups and generally helped me out. Two years ago my parents retired abroad to live close to the sea and to my sister and her kids. They moved back for 2 months for the arrival of A&E and when A&E were 6 months old we spent a month living with them in their new home abroad.

My Mum was the centre of our family and felt it her duty to keep herself up to date with her daughters and all her grandchildren. If I phoned her one morning to say boy in the middle wasnt well, wherever she was or whatever she was doing she would call back later in the day to see how he was doing.

She had a special knack in always choosing the perfect dresses for her granddaughters and nothing gave her greater pleasure in the past 18 months in choosing two coordinating dresses for A&E.

She had plenty of time for cuddles, she loved reading stories to the kids and telling them wonderful stories of her childhood such as "Uncle Stephen and the sugar" whilst spooning in food and persuading them to eat. She sat through dire ballet shows, choral recitals and school plays and delighted in anything her grandchildren did.

All her eight grandchildren totally adored her and she will always hold a very important place in all of their hearts. I lost my Grandma (my Mum's Mum) when I was 13 and because my Mum kept her memory very much alive she was and still is an important role model in my life. I promise that Grandma Elaine will remain a key figure for my children throughout their lives.

There really is no one quite like Grandma. And here is Grandma 'Laine with my Dad surrounded by their 8 "chickens" in June this year.