The Price of Fame

Over here in recent months (cos really that's how far behind I am with blogging) I have been swelling, not just with pregnancy either, but also with a little bit of pride.

In January our brother in law, Alex, was recruited as the new face of the BBC's preschool channel.

The good fortune honestly couldn't have shone upon a more deserving guy. (Alex was even AP on his mission and the really good kind too, not the kind you secretly want to poke in the eye or even better bake laxative laced cookies for).
So you can probably imagine how thrilled the boys were to see Uncle Alex on TV, right?

Wrong.

Thomas was immediately traumatised as to why on earth Uncle Alex was shacked up in some rather different house (which is the set for the channel) with a woman who was very much not his Auntie Jo.

Gradually he overcame his grave suspicions of infidelity and we were able to watch in relative peace without him voicing concern every 12 seconds that all was not quite right in the world.

We dutifully switched our allegiances from our usual (very selectively chosen to maintain my sanity) programs and channels and started to watch Uncle Alex instead.

Turns out having a celebrity in the family has it's downside.

In supporting Uncle Alex my kids were exposed to TV shows that I'd previously avoided at all costs and pretty much immediately Eli was completely enamoured with 'In the Night Garden'.



If you're thinking 'I've never heard of that show'. First of all let me say, lucky, lucky you. (And I really, really mean it!)

Secondly let me go ahead and provide an explanation. Think Teletubbies (but without that incredibly creepy sunshine that was actually a baby), but whilst thinking teletubbies imagine slightly more drug influenced creators. (If such a thing is imaginable).

Can you picture it perfectly in your head now?

A garden world full of characters like Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka, the Pontipines and the Tombliboos. That spend their time being escorted around on either the Ninky Nonk or the Pinky Ponk. (Seriously now you think you're the one that's drug influenced don't you? But alas, no, it's all true I assure you). The characters remain annoyingly almost mute but are narrated by the super calming voice of Derek Jacobi. Which just about stops my head from exploding whenever I am cruelly subjected to the show.

Where an average episode involves the Tombliboos trousers falling down followed by a aimless trip on the Ninky Nonk. The End.

Just as well the channel scriptwriters seem to have a bit of a thing for dressing Uncle Alex up as a woman (which results in his becoming his mothers twin) because the endless amount of amusement that brings me almost compensates for my In the night Garden hell.

But in the mean time at least we have the flipside that we can go on the channel website and print out our very own (if slightly disturbing looking) Uncle Alex to colour and how many kids can say that about their Uncle?

Some things I should have blogged about but didn't because I was just too lazy.

Remember how my boys always had hair that looked something like this?

(Though I admit Eli's is particularly insane in his picture.)Well around Christmas Thomas started asking to have his hair cut 'all spiky' just like his dad. So I eventually relented and took him and felt saddened the entire time as I watched him grinning from ear to ear as the stylist cut off all his hair.

He looked SO grown up but also super cute so I quickly learned to live with it!

A few weeks later Sabbath day boredom kicked in and we decided it was time to bid farewell to Eli's hair too.

Rob somehow managed to persuade him and we pulled out the clippers and went to town on his head. In fact Rob went to town with a little too much ferocity and mistakenly put the number 3 guard on instead of number 6.

Which resulted in hair so short that we had to resort to shaving our hairy boys forehead because his forehead hair was longer than the hair on his head.
Eli wasn't so impressed with the outcome. He asked several times for his hair back and confided to anyone who would listen with disgust that 'my daddy did it to me!' Fortunately it's growing back now and we'll be keeping it long (but not so dishevelled looking) in the future.
Thomas who didn't escape the Sabbath day boredom also got his hair buzzed off and at the end of January turned 4! (Yes I am ashamed I'm blogging about this 2.5 months late.)

He chose to go bowling and somehow even with the bumper bars up he managed to beat me. Well, more precisely utterly thrash me considering he whooped me by 30 points or so. Clearly all my bowling prowess on the Wii just didn't transfer into real life. Gutted.

Blasted Nintendo people giving me a false sense of confidence and achievement.

February saw England get its worst snowfall in 18 years. Usually we get a mere sprinkling that leaves within a few hours but this snow kept on coming and lingered for a week or so.
The boys (including Rob) of course were thrilled and made the most of every snow filled day.
I on the other hand put on as many clothes and possible and waited for it to pass.
Whilst wondering why on earth I wasn't born somewhere warmer and how come global warming hasn't actually made me any warmer at all.
After months of watching from the sidelines Eli recently officially started football training for the West End number 5's alongside his big brother. For the most part he has zero clue what is going on and runs around aimlessly which is far from productive but on the bright side it is very amusing to observe.
Today is our 6 year anniversary. I'm actually not even at home with Rob. I came to my mum's with the boys for a few days this afternoon. 6 years has flown by. But I am grateful for the husband I have and the time we have spent together.

We all miss you already Rob!

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!

Well That Flew by!

Dear Friends & Family,

We decided this year to be responsible and do our part for the environment and not send out Christmas cards to our loved ones and to try this approach instead. Well, really we're just incredibly lazy and disorganised but you probably knew that already.

(Techno retards please note that all words highlighted in a different colour font are actually hyperlinks to more information on that topic not just pretty writing).

2008 started on a massive high for us. Having one child master potty training over the Christmas break left us feeling the world was indeed our oyster. It is amazing how those little things really make a truly enormous difference. At the end of January Thomas turned 3 and it really has been a delightful age for him, mostly.

In February Rob was able to go to France for his 3rd annual snowboarding trip. Carol once again stayed home with the kids (and her mum). Carol incidentally is adding up all these snowboarding days and when it gets to a number she is happy with will get her own back and take a trip of her own, without either kids or husband, with just chocolate and books for company somewhere very warm and blissfully quiet.

In April we celebrated our 5th anniversary and wondered at where the time had gone.

It was also all change at church for us. Rob finally got released from his calling in the Young Men's program which he'd been involved in pretty much since we got married, so Carol finally got her husband back on Tuesday nights. Rob is now teaching the youth Sunday School class. Carol got released from her calling on the Relief Society Presidency (women's organisation) after a 3 year stint and was called to be the Primary President. A challenge she quickly grew to enjoy.

Also April saw our family grow by 4 fish. One has since passed away but we remain astounded (and a little bit impressed with ourselves) that we have managed to keep the remaining 3 alive so long.

In May our baby Eli turned two. May also saw Carol and Thomas endure an overnight stay at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary due to Thomas breaking his radius and Ulna driving a car down a slide. We hear these things are only to be expected when you have sons. We feel sure this isn't the last of our trips to Accident and Emergency.

In July we enjoyed a family holiday in Wales with 23 lovely folks from the Siswick side of the family. The sun obviously does shine on the righteous because it turned out to be the loveliest week of the whole summer.

Having waved farewell to playgroup in July (where he had been attending thrice weekly for the previous 9 months) in September Thomas started at Nursery School and absolutely loves spending his afternoons there. We also had a pleasant surprise when Playgroup called to offer Eli an early starter place rather than him wait until January and he now attends two mornings. All the workers adore him and we have had several offers to take him off our hands. Occasionally we have been tempted to agree.

Rob keeps busy at work with Velux and continues to take advantage of managing his own time and the perks that allows. He has been playing football in a fair play league based in Sheffield and as they had a break in fixtures for Christmas his team 'Yorkshire New Saints' were top of the league.

Carol keeps busy with the boys and is constantly entertained by their antics and enthusiasm for life. She is a bit concerned that maybe she now loves The Backyardigans more than the children.

Thomas loves his weekly football training with the West End Under 5's and loves being a Huddersfield Town season ticket holder along with his dad, grandad and Uncle Phil. He is getting big so quick, has recently mastered writing his name and we are constantly amazed at the wisdom and knowledge that pours out of his constantly moving mouth. He starts attending Primary at Church in the new year and is thrilled to officially be a big boy.

Eli still loves his penguin more than anything in the world and 2008 saw him slowly gnaw the poor diseased looking birds beak off. He still likes to entertain us at any opportunity and gives the best hugs ever. He recently moved from his cot to a bed and did so far more smoothly than we ever imagined. We love hearing his little prayers each day and other Eli-isms.

We are already enjoying the Christmas Season and seeing the boys buzzing with anticipation is wonderful.

2008 has been good to us.

We hope it has been good to you too!

With love,

The Siswicks
Rob, Carol, Thomas & Eli

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

It actually snowed this morning (about 37 snowflakes to be exact but hey, snow is snow!) and it just seemed far too perfect to not get festivities under way.

Eli about to throw the bauble at me because he could make it 'stick' to the tree.

So excited for Christmas this year!!

My little elves getting the job done.

On a side note the Eli monster is officially out of his cot and in a bed (our house is 100% baby kit free, hallelujah!). He even slept through falling out of bed on night 2 and slept this morning until 8:30 (we can only hope it wasn't concussion related). Joy! Here he is sporting his new haircut courtesy of Joel and the most random hairdressing technique ever.

SO proud of their efforts! (Please note we have never been to either the Hard Rock Cafe or Copenhagen, T Shirt courtesy of Thomas drenching himself whilst washing his hands at school today.)

Obviously I let them have free reign and decorate the tree to their own preference.

Which was of course to cluster all the baubles in one preschooler high area.

So of course I stripped it bare and decorated it beautifully when they were tucked up in bed.

Here's hoping they never notice the difference!

Remember, Remember the 5th of November:Fireworks & Festivities

Last night was no less than our most random British celebration.

Bonfire night/Guy Fawkes night.

Yes, that cheery celebration of catching those crafty catholic conspirators who plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder way back in 1605 when frankly gunpowder was the best option you had for attempting to blow up British government or anything else really.

That Guy Fawkes fella was the chief conspirator and so therefore greedily gains all the glory by having the whole evening named after him.

Luckily their plans were foiled and they had the pleasure of death by being hung, drawn and quartered. (The good ole days were fun, right?)

So in memory of the occasion us Brits unite for some Fireworks and of course generally food.

When I was a kid (forever ago) we used to make our own Guy's out of old tights and clothing stuffed with newspaper and fling him on the bonfire during the nights festivities, you know, just for fun.

Bonfire night has had mixed reviews from our kids thus far. Year one at 10 months Thomas was enthralled and delighted, Year two he was terrified and Eli was oblivious, Year 3 we decided to skip it entirely (which is practically treasonous behaviour) and this year we just planned to attend our church shindig which some bright spark (no pun intended) had arranged for Friday night.

Friday night is 2 days too late for Bonfire night.

But we figured we could get away with it because fireworks have been sporadically going off now for weeks and fortunately our kids are too young to pay any kind of attention to a calendar. Phew!

Alas I didn't take into account that both playgroup and school would be whipping them into a fireworks night frenzy yesterday (thanks for that British educational system) Thomas came bounding out all over excited that today was the big day and we could have a bonfire and fireworks.

I explained that we were having ours on Friday instead at church with all his friends. He reacted like I just told him Santa doesn't exist coupled with a future without TV.

Yes, that badly.

Fast forward a few hours and we were in the in laws garden. Rob had been to Tesco to get us some family friendly fireworks. (I have to admit all fireworks are spoiled forever to me now. Having spent 4th of July at Disney's Magic Kingdom nothing can top that. It was seriously firework heaven. Everything else is just a bit lacking in comparison.)

Impressive I know!
One little boy who is thrilled regardless.

So you may recall we have two kids.

One of which practically emotionally blackmailed us into the whole impromptu fireworks fandango.

Where's Thomas you wonder?

Well this will be our firstborn indoor with grandma because after the very first lame firework he announced 'I want to go home now!' Typical.

So I'll leave you with a cheerful little ditty we used to sing as kids at this time of year,

Guy, Guy, Guy,
Poke him in the eye,
Put him on the Bonfire and let him die.

Charming, no?

Wordless Wednesday:Return from a Trip to the Park With Dad via a Muddy Puddle or Two

Why it's Worth the Expense of Buying Things Pre-Assembled

A month or two ago (yes I am somewhat behind in my blogging I admit it) my mum popped up on a Sunday afternoon. The boys were thrilled to see she had not only brought Grandad Fred with her but also a trampoline (or tampoween as Eli pronounces it in his slightly Chinese accent) of their very own.

1 trampoline,

2348 pieces,

Some pretty vague instructions,

1 missing piece,

1 faulty bolt,

4 adults,

1 severely blistered and bleeding finger,

1 potential heart attack,

1 possible hernia,

1 angry outburst,

Several red faces,

A couple of short fuses,

2 excited boys,

A few hours longer than we anticipated.........

Totally worth it!

The One Where I Get Sentimental

Recently I read 'for one more day' by Mitch Albom, it had been stashed under my bed for months and months where I keep my vast collection of unread books. I love Mitch Albom's books (if you haven't read Tuesdays with Morrie or the five people you meet in heaven you really must) but they always give me so much to think about and reflect upon, and to be honest in my life right now which is best described as utter chaos I have little enough time for actually reading. Thinking and reflecting are luxuries I definitely don't have time for.

But I pulled out for one more day and I was hooked within minutes. As I read one line struck me deeply and has been on my mind ever since,

And I realised when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know.

Isn't that just perfectly true?

As I have pondered I have thought about how grateful to my own mother I am, and how it wasn't until I had my very own children that I realised finally, fully and completely, how much she actually must love me. Ever since I experienced a feeling of love so deeply overwhelming that there are no words to actually describe it, as I held my very own infant in my arms (even if they were a bit on the hairy side) and felt love grow and mature I have felt both humbled and amazed to realise that my mother had had those exact same feelings of love and dedication for me every single day of my life.

I thought about the pure love I feel for my boys and how everyday I am amazed by this unconditional love I have for them, (and they're both at totally unreasonable ages and push my love to its limits at times) and the amazing beings they are.

As they both grew inside me and I felt the first flutterings of life a relationship began that I never imagined could be so wonderfully powerful.

I know I will never be a perfect mum and I know they will never be perfect children. Neither of those things exist, anywhere. We can but do our best.

But my love for them will always be pure and in my eyes they will always be perfect.