Day 16: March eighteenth two thousand and fourteen

Today's positives:

1: I gave the kids an incredibly RARE treat for breakfast and surprised them with donuts. I had to cut them in to little pieces because "they're too sticky Mama" LOL.  They did enjoy them though!

2:  I built the kids a fort with chairs and sheets. Everyone enjoyed sitting inside, including S!

3: The kids decided they wanted fruit for snack, J enjoyed the blueberry's the most and G loved the grapes. S almost had a sneaky chomp on a strawberry, or as G calls them "strawbellys".

4: We read some of the new books great Grandma sent in our fort.

5: lately J has taken to climbing in to my lap for an afternoon nap. I love snuggles from my little guy.

6: The kids have all been giving each other lots of hugs and kisses today, S included!

7: S tried so hard to pull up on the sofa tonight. She came VERY close!

8: The kids have given Gangan lots of cuddles today. I think they have REALLY missed her this week. They even enjoyed a nice long pre-bedtime singsong. Including hits like, You are my sunshine and Dingle dangle Scarecrow. 

Goodnight all

- Sophie Jayne

Day 15: 3/15/14

Today's positives:


1: I did get lots and lots of cuddles with all three of my babies today.

2: J and I had fun making S laugh by blowing raspberry's and kisses on her cheeks.

3: G watched chicken run with Gangan and kept her company for a while. I must say she makes an excellent recovery companion. :)

4: J and Grandpa watched Yo Gabba Gabba.

5: I tried boiling potatoes instead of using hash browns in my ham and cheese casserole at lunch and it was YUMMY!!! J asked me for more and even ate all of his broccoli!

6: G had her first totally accident free day in 2 weeks! I am hoping potty training is once again turning in to potty trained!

7: S enjoyed smiling and waving at her Grandad on Skype this evening, and she had strawberry/apple food and nilla wafers afterwards. She grinned the whole time.

8: Gangan and Grandpa read Put Me In The Zoo to G at bedtime.

9: J helped me with the laundry. He carried clothes to the washer and put them in and helped me empty and fill the dryer. He is such a helper.

10: G and J sat on my lap. J fell asleep and took a lovely long nap and G just laid still and relaxed. I am going to miss that when they are big.

Looking forward to getting some good sleep tonight, it's been a busy day!

It's my littlest nephews 2nd birthday today. Happy Birthday baby L! We love you x

Sophie Jayne

Day 14: Almost Weekend

Today's positives:


1: This morning I made the kids french toast.

2: G and J went out with their Dad.

3: Me and Sen had fun walking around the grocery store just the two of us.

4: S is DEFINITELY calling me Mama! *GIANT GRIN*

5: S got to go with her Daddy this afternoon so I started making the quilt I have been planning for her.

6: When the kids got home I made them hot dogs and grapes. Their favorite! Then they had a giant cupcake to share from Grandpa.

7: I took them in to our yard to sit by the lake and we fed the ducks. It was so relaxing. Gracie said "I see a Mama and a Daddy duck, but where is the Gracie duck?". Both of the kids kept calling "Come on eat duckies, it's sandwiches, your favorite" LOL.

8: We came inside and read half of  The Grinch that stole Christmas.

and then it was bed time!

I feel like I haven't seen enough of my babies the past couple of days, I am REALLY looking forward to tomorrow! I think soccer at the park is in order :)


Goodnight all

- Sophie

Day 13: Surgery Day.

Today was Gangan's wrist surgery. It didn't take very long and now we get to start the road to recovery. Praying it's a speedy trip!



Today's positives:


1: Our friends came over to hang out while I cleaned up ready for Gangan to come home. Everyone had fun playing together and watching movies.

2: We took the kids to Chik-fil-a to burn some energy. They had fun climbing all over the play house.

3: G and J got to go have fun playing at their friends house. They had big smiles when I went to go pick them up :)

4: The children all went to bed so well tonight.


I must say I have REALLY missed hanging out with them and playing today. Looks like they are going to be out most of tomorrow too. I am going to really really look forward to the weekend (or maybe keep them up a little late tomorrow *grin*)

Goodnight all

Sophie Jayne

Day 12: Catch up blog

This weeks positives:

Sunday -

1: We had church. G, J and S all stayed in their classes until the end!

2: We enjoyed a pretty chilled out day.

Monday -

1: The kids got to see their Dad.

2: I took an early afternoon walk with S and Gangan. S slept in her Moby almost the entire time.

3: We met our friends at the beach. The kids had a wonderful time, G and J both flew kites for the first time (G actually managed it by herself!). Then we went back to our friends home for dinner. It was such a lovely time.

4: The children received their birthday/Christmas presents in the mail. James got a beautiful wooden London bus with peg people and Gracie got an amazing pink sparkly Doc Mcstuffins kit! They were so excited.
 
5: G asks me to sing about her a lot so on our way home I asked her to sing about me, I got "Mommy moo Mommy moo YOUR A MOMMY MOO hahahahaha"

Tuesday -

1: We decided to take the kids to the beach for a picnic.


2: We enjoyed laying in the sand. G chased sea gulls and J carried around giant balls of smelly seaweed.

3: The kids played on the swings in the playground for a few minutes.

4: Gangan and I stopped to get drinks. Gangan found a fruit juice drink we haven't seen since I was a little girl in England. It was fun to share it with the kids!

5: I put lavender oil on S before bed time and she fell asleep almost instantly!

6: Not REALLY a positive but I woke up at midnight to hear G having a massive tantrum on her bed, went in to discover she thought it was breakfast time and was rather disappointed it was not time for toast.

Today -

1: I made pancakes for the kids breakfast.

2: The kids watched Finding Nemo.

3: S walked using her walker for the first time today! She was so proud of herself. She would take two or three little steps and then stop to wave and smile.

4: S also said her first word this week! Grandpa has taught her to wave and say "Hi". This morning I was also treated to a round of "Mamamama". She is growing up way to quickly!

5: The children ate some of the chocolate that came in the parcel on Tuesday. Chocolate buttons (my favorite!). G ate hers in about 3 bites lol. J quietly went in the living room and sat next to S and decided to share with her. He would eat one then give her one. I might add that she thought this was BRILLIANT. He is such a kind little boy. Oh and btw... S had her first taste of chocolate this week! LOL (much sooner than I had planned...)

I know there is a million things I have forgotten. It's been a rather wonderful week :)

Goodnight all

- Sophie Jayne

Day 11: Noland Trails

Today's positives:

1: This may not really be a positive but I found it kinda funny... J managed to unscrew and take down the baby gate on their bedroom this morning. I woke up to two little faces peering over me with big grins! Needless to say I will not be putting it back up and I am actually quite looking forward to my new morning wake up call :)

2: S showed off her new clapping skills at breakfast. She was also holding on to fingers and taking steps.

3: We took the kids out for a hike through the local park trails. It was so beautiful. J hitched a ride on the front of S's stroller until I put her in the Moby. J kept saying "Look at the water, it's beautiful.". G found a walking stick the same size as her and carried it the whole way round (I think it was between 2 and 4 miles).
G found a hollow in a tree and got inside pretending to be a fairy. Both G and J posed for pictures in the tree. The breeze was cool but not freezing and the trails were steep and sometimes challenging. PERFECTION! I have been waiting for a long time to take my kids for their first stomp through the woods and it was wonderful.

4: Everyone was pretty tired from the long walk so we had a massive lunch and watched How to train your dragon.

That was pretty much our day.

Church tomorrow :)

Sophie Jayne

Day 10: 3/7/14

Today's positives:

1: S woke up full of smiles. :)

2: When I came to get S, G and J out of the bedroom this morning, J was cuddling S and G was telling her "I love you" then G turned to me and said " Don't worry Mommy, I love you too".

3: G and J helped me pick up all the toys this morning.

4: G asked if she could watch her Pirates movie this morning and was totally glued to it!

5: I made the kids veggie samosas for lunch. J said "It tastes like fireworks", they were pretty spicy LOL.

6: We all got our pencils out and colored this afternoon.

7: I vacuumed this evening and G  "helped" me by pushing her bubble mower around behind me. :)

It's been a very quiet day today.

Hoping for a warm and pleasant weekend!

Goodnight all

Sophie Jayne

Day 9: March 6th

Today's positives:

1: We got our grocery shopping done today. Everyone was super well behaved around the stores.

2: I finally got J some cheese sticks and he LOVES them!

3: We met up with our friends at Chikfila and the kids had fun in the play area.

4: I made the kids fish sticks for dinner and they ate them up!!

5: I also made "muddy worms" for dessert. Chocolate pudding with gummy worms in. Yum Yum.

6: I was putting G to bed and she said "Mom I wanna talk about something" so I answered "Whats that girly?" G: "God", Me: "What about God?", G: "Just that he really loves us". Me: "He sure does G" :)

7: I was laying in bed with S getting her to sleep and she reached over, put her hand on my cheek, grinned and let out a happy sigh. I love that.

It's been a busy day today! Quiet time tomorrow me thinks.

Goodnight all

- Sophie Jayne

Day 8: March forth for improptu pancake day.

Today's positives:

1: We had an impromptu pancake day in honor of shrove Tuesday this morning (A day late...). G ate her weight in them i'm pretty sure lol.

2: S was getting upset waiting for breakfast so G and J fed her baby snacks to make her happy.

3: G sat on the floor and played "Doc Mcstuffins" with S. She even sang Time for your check up! So cute.

4: The kids were excited to bring down their self portraits and hang them up. We put J's on the fridge... The perfect place! He calls it "My Boy"

5: I forgot to mention that J has taken to having little fridge picnics by himself in the past week. He always goes for the cheese and I find him in the middle of the kitchen, elbows deep in the bag with a giant grin and covered in cheddar!

6: G watched Hotel Transylvania today while J and S had a snooze.

7: We all had a lovely long chat with Great Grandma.

8: S played in G and J's bedroom with them and thought it was wonderful! She was smiling and waving.

9: J had a brilliant time painting himself orange with his pasta at dinner time. Earning him his second shower of the day!

Hope it's not so cold tomorrow! Time to get outside and play.

Goodnight all

Sophie Jayne

Day 7: Snow Day

Today's positives:

1: S is finally starting to sleep through the night. The past few nights we have only been up at 1 and 5 and only for about 20 minutes!

2: G and I went out to the store. She loved the snow and enjoyed looking at the different animal tracks.

3: We all played blocks together, even S enjoyed knocking them over.

4: I got to read some new books to J and G.

5: S ate some cake crumbs at lunch time and thought it was wonderful!

6: The kids were playing with their toy kitchen, and stopped to say a blessing before eating their pretend lunch!

7: I was looking at G's paper from Sunday school and it had questions from the lesson for the parents to ask the kids through the week. G remembered the answers!

8: J and G finished their self portraits with Gangan. I MUST remember to take pictures.

9: S has been smiling all day but the cutest part was her laying on the carpet and falling asleep like a scrunched up little caterpillar.

10: G did a 30 minute dance work out with her Gangan.


It's been a pretty good day :)

I love that all three of my babies are sleeping soundly in their beds. Perfection!

Sophie Jayne

Day 6: Weekend!

Saturday:

1: We talked to Great Grandma on Skype!

2: We built a fort in the bedroom and had orange glow sticks. It was awesome.


Sunday:

1: The kids ran excitedly in to their church classes.

2: We played soccer at the park.

3: We shared an Oreo ice cream blizzard.

4: We played on the playground until it was almost dark and soaked up the warm sunshine.

Today's positives:

1: The kids started a self portrait project with Gangan.

2: We had cuddles and watched Megamind.

3: We had fun wrestling and being silly together.

4: The kids enjoyed their first snow day. Tomorrow we may brave going outside if their colds are better!

5: We got another package from Great Grandma with some lovely new Thomas books to read and pool towels :)

6: J has given me lots of hugs and kisses today.

It's been a lovely weekend and a not bad start to the week!

Goodnight all.

Sophie Jayne

Day 5: Feb 25th

Today has felt like a long day but it's been pretty productive.

Today's positives:

1: The kids did some jelly-plate painting with Gangan.

2: S had her 6 month check up (we are a month late). She is healthy and perfect. Random nurses kept popping in saying "we were told we needed to come in and see how cute this baby is" lol!

3: We bought a soccer ball at the grocery store today, I am hoping the weather warms up enough next week to go play!

4: J and I got to go spend some time cuddling and watching Thomas :)

5: G asked to feed S her dinner and did a WONDERFUL job with a little help!

That's about it for today.

Ready for the weekend!

Goodnight all

Sophie Jayne

Day 4, Catch up blog!

I didn't get to post last night but it was a day worth posting about!


This was written on the 24th!
Today's positives:

1: J got to make cookies with Gangan,

2: G got to go on a special trip to the grocery store with Gangan and she took her little toy shopping cart. I hear she was quite the hit with the check out guy.

3: S got a lovely surprise in the mail from great Grandma. More baby cookies! She was very excited.

4: G also got a lovely new hand knitted sweater ;)

5: We met some new friends at the playground, it was freezing cold but the kids enjoyed running around and playing on the swings and slides. Then we went for dinner and had a nice time playing and hanging out.


Okay the past few day's jumbled positives:

1: My kids have enjoyed singing the icky sticky bubble gum song and I have taken to peeling that off me at least 5 times a day LOL.

2: I also printed the lyrics to the bear hunt song, G asks me to go bear hunting quite frequently.

3: I had a sleep over night with G. It was so much fun. We painted nails and listened to music. Made popcorn and watched tangled. She did spill half her popcorn in the bed much to our discomfort (I am still finding corn kernels  LOL). The best part was listening to my little girl talking and sharing her silly sense of humor and thoughts with me.

4: Yesterday I signed J and G up for classes in July. J is going to do a mommy and me gymnastics class and G is doing intro to ballet. I am SO STINKIN EXCITED! I am going to have to try very hard not to be an obnoxious picture posting helicopter mama!

5: My two oldest babies told me they love me last night. I love hearing those sweet words. They also both sang amazing grace with me.

6: Wednesday we put up the pop up tent in the living room and ate lunch inside it (including S).
S somehow managed to get a hold of J's pb and j sandwich and have a bit of a munch on it!

7: I got some lovely time with just J building legos and blocks.

8: When I went to check on the kids last night G asked me if she could tell me all her bible verses and then proceeded to do so. I love hearing my kids embrace God's word.



It's been a pretty happy and fun week.

I can't believe God picked me to raise these awesome little people.

More soon :)

Sophie Jayne

Day 3: Feb 22nd

I am having a huge mind blank over today so here goes nothing...


Today's positives:


1: I made the kids fruit salad for breakfast. Grapes, banana, kiwi and mandarin oranges. They loved it! They told me "this is like breakfast candy Mama"

2: S fed herself sweet potato cakes at lunch time.

3: We took the kids for a walk around the park this afternoon. Grandpa took care of S, Gangan chased J and I got some lovely swing time with G.

4: We all came home and crashed in front of Monsters University. Cute movie so far (we only made it halfway through). S enjoyed a dance with J to the music.

5: S wiggled off my lap and cruised around the footstool like a big girl! She also managed to shuffle across the living room (very slowly) on her bottom. Her mobility increases continuously.

6:  G is on day number 2 of no accidents, including a trip to the playground!

7: J and I read Goodnight Moon at bedtime. G was excited to read "The great Gracie chase".


Very pleasant day today. Church tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

- Sophie Jayne

Day 2: beeeboooor

Okay, I should explain beeebooor. Last year G and GanGan created a silly game out of throwing scrunched up paper in to an empty box. Every time G would miss the box Gan would yell BEEEBOOOOR, so now any time I trip, spill or do anything foolish ^^ that is what I can expect to hear lol.

Today's positives:

1: G has not had a single accident all day, which included a trip to 2 grocery stores and a mid outing potty run lol.

2: S caused her first mischief today. She managed to grab her pouch of baby food and squeeze it all over herself and her highchair. It was an adorable mess though.

3: G earned cupcakes for going on the potty. Pink ones!

4: On the way home from the store, J enjoyed showing all the cars that drove past us at the stop light his "cakecakes" out of the window. All was going smoothly until he realized he might be able to post them out of his window. Thankfully Gangan was quick on the mark and foiled his cake smashing plot.

5: G said thank you for every meal she was given today. She also asked to say the blessing at dinner and did in fact say it for the first time ever tonight. "Thank you God for this food... I don't know what else to say. Amen". :)  She also broke in to prayer mid meal and asked "be with Auntie Shay and her house. Amen"!

6: S put herself to sleep tonight. I do not believe in the "cry it out" method but I do believe children should learn to feel safe sleeping in their own beds (in their own time). I nursed her and cuddled with her, laid her in her bed and we smiled at each other, I stroked her hair and covered her up then turned out the light and hid around the corner. My little Rennyroo rolled over and went to sleep safe and happy. I feel both  pride and sadness at this little accomplishment. I hope it's a sign of security.

7: J put away all his and sissy's clothes (with a little help from Mama). Such a helper :)

8: All three of my little love bugs have snuggled and shared something they loved with me today. G showed me her Minnie Mouse game, J snuggled with his blankie and S just rested her head on my chest, closed her eyes and sighed. I feel so happy and complete :)

I hope you have all had a happy day.

Goodnight all

- Sophie Jayne

Day 1: Feb 20th

It's taken a long time for me to be ready to start to this blog. Ironically I am starting this on a day I have not felt particularly brilliant but my children have been such little rays of sunshine on this cloudy day I had to share.

Most of my readers will know by now (especially as I am related to almost all of you ;) ) that my husband left me about 6 months ago. It's been a bit of a bumpy ride but through the grace of God, the support of a loving family and friends and my three beautiful children I am making it through this storm. My boat is less taking on water in torrential rain at high seas and more in a gentle ocean with the occasional high wave.
This blog is a take on my previous blog and is in no way meant to be a place to unload but instead a reflection of the happiness often times over looked in a hectic and chaotic world. So... without any further delay... Day One:

Today's positives:

1: We started a MOPs group and today was our second time attending. The children seem to LOVE it. They ran in to their classrooms without any hesitation, which is a big deal to anyone who knows my kids. They used to be shy but now they are excited to make friends and in most situations learn about Jesus!

2: G has started drinking out of a big girl cup. J can be a little mischievous if left unattended with an open container of water but for the most part it's going well.  I am pleased to finally let her reach the milestones we have been putting off because of having her little brother so close behind her.

3: G also asked me to use the potty while we were at MOPS. A huge victory in the steps towards a diaper free life.

4: S managed to pull herself to standing on the side of her crib. I am a little surprised as she has not really taken to crawling yet but I think this is only fueled by the desperate desire to keep up with bubba and sissy.

5: J threw his arms around my neck and cuddled with me for 40 minutes today. Sometimes I wonder if my little feller can just sense when I am stressed and needing time out and some love. If so I hope it's because I am managing to give him the same on his off days.

6: J also told me "I love you Mama" today. Those words are such a sweet medicine to a tired Mama.

7: G ate her dinner, including broccoli!

8: J thanked me for making dinner.

9: S managed to fall asleep without nursing tonight. I feel both a little sad and a little happy lol.

10: J sang Jesus loves me with me at bedtime.

11: I asked G what the best part of her day was and she said "When we went to MOPs and when you came back to me"

I know I am missing a thousand things from today but I think this is a pretty good Day 1.
I am going to sleep well, resting in the peaceful memories of such a love filled day.

Goodnight and God bless all.

Sophie Jayne