The Real Reason I Have Been MIA

Indeed the Siswick Family is expanding this year.

On August 29th we'll be expecting numero tres to make a preferably pain free appearance.

Really we just thought when we make babies as cute as these ones below we'd be doing the entire world a disservice by not procreating further.

You are welcome world.

Rob had been hesitant to have another.

I think our lives have gotten pretty easy with the boys being bigger (well as easy as life can be with 2 preschool aged kids who fight almost constantly anyhow) and the thought of starting from scratch all over again was more than a bit daunting.

But we made our decision and what seemed like 5 minutes later (though it was several months) I was peeing on a stick and seeing our future change right in front of my very own eyes.

Of course now Rob keeps saying deeply terrifying things like,

Maybe a 4th wouldn't be so bad.

Maybe we should have two more close together again.

Easy Tiger! I only just regained my sanity from having the last two close together.

Plus this much I do know if pregnancy number 3 had been pregnancy number 1 Thomas may well have been an only child.

Number 3 has had me encounter the joys of morning sickness for the very first time.

I am now kind of regretting smirking to myself as friends suffered with constant nausea while I was pregnant the first two times. Karma obviously does exist.

This time round I don't know if my friends are more happy that I'm pregnant or that I'm sick with it. That's true friendship eh?

Never have I been so tired in my life. By the time the boys are in bed I am completely done for. Fit for nothing else but sitting on my backside on the sofa trying to muster enough energy to get to bed.

Hence the serious blog neglect since just before Christmas through to right about now. I'm powering through so that blogging isn't another thing to catch up on when I finally have energy once more. The laundry is gonna take me several months to get on top of alone.

This pregnancy I have had serious food aversions so when I actually fancy something I just go ahead and eat it. With the boys I spent the first trimester eating baked potato's, this time round has been a completely different story.

My diet has consisted of such delights as

cheese and onion pie,

strawberry trifle,

cheeseburgers and Cadbury's creme eggs.

Which leads me on with gratitude to the NHS who only ever weigh you at your very first appointment and never ever again. I have a feeling I'm gonna be really appreciative of that this time round with a diet consisting mostly of fat and sugar.

It is good to be British.

Our fish just all passed away on Thursday (fungal issues we think) and Thomas was upset (I guess he'll really miss them for the 8 seconds a week he used to notice them) so to stop him crying we told him and Eli about the baby.

Thomas wants a sister.

Eli wants a brother.

Come August someone is going to be seriously disappointed.

But for us we'll be delighted with either.

Wordless Wednesday: When Words Just Aren't Required

Christmas Revisited

For a super efficient blogger (which title I bestowed lovingly upon myself) I appear to be doing a shoddy job of blogging of late.

Three weeks into January I still don't know what day it is most days and I still haven't really found homes for the bazillion new toys the boys got for Christmas.

So here I find myself on the 23rd January blogging about Christmas. Which to be completely honest is tiresome even for a covert Christmas lover such as myself.

So here is the whistle stop tour of Siswick Christmas 2008

This year we started a new family tradition of taking the kids to the cinema on Christmas Eve. We had never plucked up enough courage to take either of them before. So we held our breath and crossed our fingers and hoped we'd all emerge alive and not too humiliated.

Because humiliation is always a factor when going anywhere with testosterone fueled 2 and 3 year olds, lets be honest.

We found that skittles turned out to be our greatest ally in keeping the kids still and quiet.

Both boys inevitably ended up sitting on our laps which resulted in Thomas kicking the woman in front of me full on in the back of the head, but she was pretty good sport about it.

But then again you can hardly make a scene in the middle of a movie, thank goodness!!

I made sure not to make eye contact on the way out just in case.

Surely the cutest sight ever? If only I could get them a recording contract.

We spent our Christmas Day at Rob's parents with his siblings and all 8 Siswick grandchildren were in attendance a recipe for chaos and disorder all over.
I excelled myself by giving my mother in law another thoughtful gift. (Clearly I should have stopped putting some thought in and actually got on with making the flaming thing seeming as I was embroidering away late into Christmas Eve, the sloth strikes again).

The result? She cried.

And who on some level doesn't wanna be responsible for making their mother in law cry?

It was just an apron that said Hands Down Best Grandma ever, along with hand prints of all the Siswick posterity. I know, I'm too kind.

The kiddo's got plenty of new stuff and for the most part love it all. Though we do have 2 rescue packs gathering dust but we're OK with that because have you any idea how annoying the Diego theme is as an alarm clock? Not a good way to start any day.

But the best gift of all was the one the kids got for us. For 3 solid weeks they slept in until 9am. Bliss! Plus Rob was off so we took it in turns to get up and the other would carry on slumbering until 10am.

Merry Christmas indeed!

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the legendary Siswick gift game. Which involves everyone buying an unusual/wacky gift and we all choose but can swap freely. But my brother in law Dan ended up with this Mankini (a la Borat) which will have me crying with laughter for years to come.

Seriously would you want this guy as your dentist?

So that is Christmas in a rather large nutshell. Now only 17 more blog posts I need to actually get cracking on.

Well and the 439204 that are currently calling me from my google reader. Sorry folks, I'll get there I promise!

Looking Forward

2009 is upon us.

It came upon me so unexpectedly that I completely forgot to make New Years resolutions that I would undoubtedly break at some point between now and Spring. Hey, at least I can't disappoint myself now, right? Hallelujah to that I say.

Here is a sneaky peak into what 2009 holds for us over here, try not to get too jealous.

First up: Potty Training

Why our dear Father in Heaven didn't send these little people to live with us completely toilet trained is beyond me, seriously.

It brings out all the worst parts of my character and magnifies them a gazillion-fold.

Thomas was dry both day and night by day 4 (bless his heart) but still by pee on the floor number 8, in the second hour, of morning number one, I was seriously contemplating throwing both him and myself under a passing bus. It was so tempting.

But SuperRob came to the rescue and saved the day.

Before I get ahead of myself and start imagining a glorious repeat of Gina Ford's (baby Nazi though she is) magical 'Potty training in one week' plan I should probably consider that this is Eli I am dealing with.

The child responsible for such antics as these? (Disclaimer: Not a link for the faint hearted or weak stomached).

Is freedom of bodily functions really what we want to give that little hellion?

Plus no SuperRob on hand to save the day this time.

So I'll be treating myself to some of this, you know, obviously, because I'm worth it.

But mostly because I'll no doubt be needing it, by the gallon.

The summer (a term I use loosely to refer to the months June through to August and not a specified period of delightful weather because hello we live in England and we haven't actually seen the sun for more than a few minutes at a time since 2006) will host our family summer holiday. This year we're going with my side of the family to lovely Great Yarmouth on the East coast. If it is a patch on last years Siswick gathering we're in for a real treat.

Unless of course 3 months in we're still dealing with potty training. Light of potty training fortune please shine upon me.

Our last milestone of this year comes in September when Thomas starts school full time from 8:45-3:25 every single day.

Oh how I'll mourn for the first week at the loss of my firstborn.

Which will speedily turn to total jubilation followed by the making of a chart to countdown the days to September 2010 when Eli will be joining him there full time too. Ah good times.

2009 could also be the year we add a new addition to the Siswick family, so watch this space. After all what better way to celebrate getting your house entirely baby kit free than by having another, right?

But I may have exploded from over consumption of Cadbury's creme eggs before any of the above actually occur, but come on, what a way to go!

Because lately I'm just too lazy to Blog but my kids are really cute!