me and mine {october}

Daddy is loving

* Christmas chocolate being out in the shops.

* the beautiful girl saying "Look at that" in the little way she does.

* going to Legoland.

* playing catch with the beautiful boy.

* watching The Walking Dead.

Mummy is loving

* a family day at Legoland.

* her new leather jacket.

* reading City of Bones.

* a trip out for afternoon tea with the girls.

* handbags instead of changing bags.

The beautiful boy is loving

* watching Team Umizoomi.

* playing hide and seek. 

* talking to us about Autumn and how the leaves are all changing.

* Polly, Progon and Which; the stones he has named in Nanny and Pops' garden.

* chocolate pillows for breakfast.

The beautiful girl is loving

* singing and dancing to Dingle Dangle Scarecrow.

* eating cheese.

* her new dolls house.

* Mummy's old Sylvanian Families toys.

* rabbits.

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a boy and girl bedroom

My kiddies share a bedroom, and luckily this works really well for us. They are both pretty good sleepers, and they seem to genuinely enjoy sharing their bedroom space.

As they get older, their bedroom is increasingly becoming their haven; a space they run off to together, to giggle and play and hatch plans. And as they get older, it some how seems more important for them to have ownership of their room; for it to be really theirs.

22

special treats

I love surprising this little pair. Nothing quite compares to the looks on their faces when I have genuinely surprised them with something they love. Sometimes I'll build a den at nap time, or I'll set up their toys before I go to bed so that they can get straight on with playing when they get up in the morning, or I might spontaneously suddenly decide at lunchtime that we are going to go to the bakery for sausage rolls instead of the usual sandwiches at home. I don't do it every day, or even every week, but once in a while; and they always love it.

1

cooking up a feast

My children absolutely love roleplaying games together. It's one of the nicest things to come out of having two children, is that as my littlest has got bigger, it has really sparked both of their imaginations when it comes to play. They really do like to play things together, and while some toys and games don't always make that so easy, playing at a play kitchen is one of the best. They will work happily alongside one another for hours cooking me up a feast, doing the washing up and bringing me copious 'cuppa-teas' and pieces of cake while I wait.

6

him and her {week forty-three}

he is obsessed with talking about autumn,

is looking forward to a week off of preschool,

and thinks no meal is complete without a chocolate biscuit.

she is potty training like a pro,

made Mummy and Daddy super proud at certificate week,

and loves pointing at herself in the mirror and laughing.

1

playing house

It has always amazed me,

that despite us always giving the children access to all sorts of different toys,

our son has generally gravitated towards animals and cars,

while our little girl seems desperate to care for everything in sight.

Who knows if it's nature or nurture

(I'm inclined to think it's nature but who knows)

but my little lady is currently obsessed with playing with small characters;

putting them to bed, helping them sit up, giving them lots of cuddles.

9

nobody puts baby in a corner

Right from the word go, I thought about the part birth order would play in shaping my children. There are long running jokes in my family about how my little brother got away with murder, but how I always had to do things the best. I'm very eager to please, whereas my brother is more independent. I have no doubt that your place in the family pecking order shapes your personality, and I was intrigued as to how it would mould my own children.

6

me and you {october}

Our October has been kind of boring,

that kind of boring where you never seem to get a second off,

but you feel like there's been nothing fun to show for it.

The Mr has been away quite a bit with work,

I've been trying my best to be a better housewife

and actually do more stuff around the house.

And so our days have been boring,

normal, quiet, simple.

And we actually really needed this change of pace,

for things to slow down just a touch,

so that we could get back to the simple things we love;

like sharing snacks and watching a film,

or taking to bed to watch Netflix in our jim jams.

Just spending our evenings together.

We reconnect in those moments.

We need those moments,

after busy days at work,

or crazy days with the children,

those moments are what keep us sane.

When we first got together we used to watch movies on Rich's computer all the time,

we'd snuggle on his bed, 

share a Vienetta (yes we'd eat half each, but we were young and our metabolisms were faster back then)

and watch all sort of random films his housemates had downloaded (not entirely legally) off of the web.

They were good times,

and its been nice to get a bit of that back,

even if I do tend to fall asleep a lot earlier these days.

10

him and her {week forty-two}

he can't wait to tell us each day who he was played with at preschool,

is obsessed with telling and hearing stories 'from our heads',

and was a total daredevil on our day at Legoland.

she is cheekier than a cheeky thing,

absolutely loves playing with her dollhouse,

and has a little crush on George from Peppa Pig.

5

chocolate treats

Since I officially became a (pre)school run mum

I've really started to see the appeal of a hot drink when I get home from drop off.

I've never been much of a hot drink fan,

and just tend to have a hot chocolate on very cold wintery days,

and will avoid tea and coffee like the plague.

But there is something so nice about the ritual of walking through the door,

putting on the kettle,

and then sitting down with a warm drink in my slightly quieter house.

I inevitably have to let my beautiful girl have a slurp

... she is a chocoholic after all.

When the drink is drunk I will go about my day,

doing jobs or playing with the little miss,

with a nice warm belly full of something yummy and sweet.

1

my style

I think we all set out on the parenting journey with certain ideas in our heads as to the sort of parent we would like to be. Some of those ideals stand strong and become a steadfast part of our approach as parents, and others fall by the way side. I'm in no doubt that there are right ways to parent and wrong ways to parent... I can do both in the space of a normal day, but on the most part I own it, I take the rough with the smooth, I accept that I'm making this up as I go along most of the time, I learn from my mistakes and I move on.

I kind of thought every single parent on the planet thought like that too.

But apparently not...

12

him and her {week forty-one}

he is loving doing lots of crafts at preschool,

likes telling us to "calm down boys and girls",

and when he grows up he wants to be big and strong.

she loves doing "I am the music man" at BabyBallet,
knocks on the front door and says "keys car" when she wants to go out,
and is still borderline obsessed with ducks.

2

siblings {october}

Last month as I sat down to write my Siblings post,

I had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach,

about something beautiful which was about to be spoilt.

My little twosome have become thick as thieves over the summer months

and with the impending start of preschool for our little man,

I was so worried what affect that time apart was going to have on their relationship.

Well that worry was entirely needless.

In fact these two are proof positive that the old saying

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is truth.

Because their mornings apart only seem to have made them closer.

They squeal with excitement when they are reunited each day

and they make up for lost time in the afternoons by doing everything together.

In fact I will confess,

these photos of them this month are some of my favourites of them, ever.

They actually bring a big wet tear to my eye

and a big fat lump to my throat.

Sure, they are a bit grainy where I had to crank the ISO to make up for the dim overcast light,

and nothing about the set up is especially exciting.

But this is them,

100%, completely, totally and utterly them.

Something about their relaxed smiles,

something in the way the giggles travel all the way to their matching eyes,

something in the completely obvious love and adoration between them

even while they just play a silly game with their brother and sister bunnies;

well it just makes me so incredibly proud

that those two crazy little creatures are mine,

and so proud that they love each other so damn much.

16

him and her {week forty}

he is measuring everything in sight,

thinks wellies go with every outfit (including pyjamas)

and starts each day asking if it's a preschool day.

she has learned the power of starting a sentence "I want...",

has started calling her big brother by his nickname Chops,

and would eat yoghurt every single meal if we let her.

1