The Gallery - Emotions

This weeks The Gallery hosted by Tara over at Sticky Fingers is having a mash up with the Writing Workshop organised by Josie at Sleep Is For The Weak.

The theme being Emotions

I have chosen PRIDE as my emotion. Regular visitors to my blog will have gathered that when it comes to my boy I feel such immense pride and love, I find it overwhelming. However, for a change I have used a photo that does not feature my little man as I have tried to use a metaphor instead (oooh hark at me lol)

Eyes well up at the slightest thing

My heart bursts with pride everyday

Overwhelming, unconditional love for you

These feelings so powerful and strong

I am so grateful to have you in my life

Overflowing and gushing like a waterfall

Never ending is my love for you

So proud to be your mummy .

(photo was taken at Lydford Gorge in Mid Devon)

It's not the winning, it's the taking part!

So yet again we have failed to win the World Cup. Surprised? No, me neither. We were never going to bring it home, because we are England and we are winners at being runners up.

As a nation we always support the underdogs. Look at programmes like X Factor and Britains Got Talent, as soon as that sad music is played with the contestant revealing their tragic lives, we immediately want to support them. Sometimes we continue to vote to keep contestants on shows where they are clearly not the better dancers or ice skaters etc, but because they are so bad and get a rough ride with the judges we want to see them again on the next weeks show.

Therefore, when it comes to sport why don't we just accept this and move on. England is usually the underdog, especially in football championships, so why raise our expectations only to have them dashed? Instead we should just go into each match not expecting too much, and then if we were to do better than we expect it would be a bonus!! However, because the press and footballing world big the England team up so much we as a nation go along with them and get ourselves believing we could win. Really what we need to do is accept that this is not 1966 all over again (as gets mentioned every time this competition starts!), and actually we are not good at playing at an international level.

Therefore, I think that what people don't want to see end is the social element that the England World Cup dream brings with it. Like it or not an event like this brings people together more, and what with the sun shining aswell we English feel happier and enjoy feeling this way. Friend and fans gathering together to watch the game, flags being put up in windows and on cars, houses being painted faces being painted, football shirts being worn and football songs being played again and again giving us hope that maybe, as in 1966, we could bring football home.

Now that the dream (well thats all it ever was really) is over the nation is mourning and asking why we played so badly. In reality, what we are really grieving is the end of the euphoria the World Cup brought to the nation and the drinking and the sense of being united with each other usually over a pint!

Ps
I did not actually watch any of the matches but was kept up to date with now bad we were through Twitter and the news!

Non musical chairs

As I walked back from the kitchen earlier, I heard a little squeal coming from underneath the dining room table. I peered down and could see a cheeky little face peering up at me



Then he began to re-arrange the chairs which are quite heavy I hasten to add, here he is in action




Five minutes later and this is what he managed to do



Cheeky monkey! :-)

The Gallery - Creature Comforts (ahem!)

This weeks theme over at the brilliant Sticky Fingers is Creatures.

I was lucky enough to go on a safari trip to Kenya a few years ago, which was an amazing experience and one that I would love to do again one day.

The photos I have selected are a bit rude (so turn away now if you are a Mary Whitehouse type lol!) but I think show striking parallels between the animal world and mankind.

Note how the lioness was just sat here minding her own - probably thinking about what she has to get for dinner!

It lasted all of 1 minute (sound familiar? ha ha!) oh and then surprise surprise he gets off her and goes straight to sleep!!

I wonder if she is thinking "so is that it?"

Men, it appears, are all the same whatever their species!! :-)

Fathers Day Outing

So yesterday was Fathers Day, the first for Burton's daddy and the 36th for mine! We all spent the day together yesterday and went out for a little boat ride along the river Torridge in the afternoon along with Jon's dad too (well it is his boat!). We launched from Appledore and sailed for an hour which was good timing as Burton had decided he was ready to disembark by then!

It was the first time since being born that Burton had been on a boat (his last trip was 4 days before he was born!), and we bought him his very own life jacket which was a little too big really and he did complain about having to have it on! Here he is wearing it:



I dont think there was any need to make that gesture at me even if he was fed up wearing it lol! I had to bribe him with little biscuits for a lot of the journey!

When we first got on Burton seemed more interested in his book then looking at the scenery!



My dad enjoyed his boat trip. He got on to the boat wearing a hat but within 1 minute it flew off into the water ! Luckily his daughter risked her hand and managed to rescue it from the grips of the motor propellor! I then had to rub suntan lotion into his *ahem* delicate head patch lol never had to do that before!



Burton had a go at sailing the boat which he seemed to enjoy as he bounced up and down in an excited manner!



I made sure everyone else was well protected with suntan lotion and then forgot to do my back and shoulders so I have a lovely set off strap marks now! Here I am with my sailer boy (and biscuit bribes!)



It was wonderful way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon and once we got back to shore we all had a delicious locally made ice cream. Burton sampled some and his face was a picture- a mixture of delight and confusion at the ice cream sensation in his mouth! I have no photo of this as I was not able to hold my dripping cornet, Burton and my phone!

All in all a good fathers day was had by all!

Fathers Day Carnival - Happy Daddy's Day

The wonderfully creative Snafflesmummy has created a Fathers Day Carnival so I thought I would add a post as I have not participated in a carnival before!

I wish my own Dad a Happy Fathers Day of course and my Step Dad, but I dedicate this entry to my son's daddy as it is his first Fathers Day this year.

Dear Daddy,

From the moment you first took my hand

I sensed your love for me

The first time you held me in your big strong arms

The bond between a father and son began

You say when you look at me it's like looking in a mirror

I look at you, and see my Daddy, the man I will become

You (and Penguin) are my best friend

I hope that will never change

I love you, Daddy

I always will xxx

Happy Daddy's Day

Fun at the Farm Park

A few miles from where I live is the North Devon Farm Park. It is not the best tourist attraction I have ever been to, but because you can feed the animals and touch them and get close to them, I thought it would be great to take Burton there.

I have paid for a years membership so now all my visits are free and a bag of food costs just 50p so I feel it is a couple of hours well spent for not a lot of money. As Burton gets bigger our visits may get longer as he will be able to use the adventure playground outside, which unfortunately does not have baby swings. However, there is an indoor soft play area complete with a ball pit, so that amuses him for a while.

Let me introduce you to some of the animals we met:

3 little pigs - not sure of the breed (something I feel the park needs are signs telling you what animals you are looking at!) but they have wiry hair and are quite friendly.

This is Harriet the goat. She lost her kid last winter in the snow so she has adopted that sheep (since it was a lamb) in the same pen. Children who visit the park can have a go at milking her in the morning - something which I know Burton would love to do but he is too small to squeeze it out of her!

Then we saw some baa baa black and white sheep with little lambs - aaaaaah!

Burton enjoyed watching these and kept saying aaaaah to them!

He got quite excited!

However, he wanted to eat their food pellets and was most put out when I said "no"

There are a couple of lamas here too and one of them looks like it has an afro hairstyle lol

The Billy goat gruffs were quite rough and boisterous

There are more livestock than this but this gives you an idea.

The park has recently been taken over by new owners, so I am hoping that it will offer a bit more going forward, because if I had to pay £7.50 each visit I probably would not go that often.

But all in all it was a good way to pass a couple of hours!

The Gallery - Motherhood

Motherhood is the theme for this weeks Gallery over at Sticky Fingers this week and what an emotional topic that is (well for me at least!)

There are so many photos that I could use here to explain what motherhood means to me, but I don't think you want to see pages and pages of photos! I have loved every minute of motherhood so far, and I have found the whole experience very overwhelming at times. I feel extremely privileged to have helped create a new life and be able to watch it develop every day.

Motherhood, for me, is the best thing I have ever done and as you can tell I could waffle on about it for ever, probably!! Even writing this makes me tearful - what a silly Mummy I am lol!

Anyway, I don't have a photo of me crying (which would probably help sum up motherhood for me!), but after looking through all the photos of my motherhood to date, I stumbled across this one which which was taken when Burton was about 6 weeks old.

It was taken in Burton's bedroom. He was still sleeping in a moses basket in our bedroom at the time,but I would always feed him in his room because of the very comfortable nursing chair.

This image portrays me during the early stages of motherhood when I was still trying to find my way through the haze of sleepless nights! Notice the baby book on the stool which I occasionally read in the early days, just to reassure myself that I was doing ok and what I was going through was "normal". Around me are the gifts we were given when Burton was born- the cuddly toys and the photo frames and story books. Note the open drawer behind me with the muslin sheets in ready to grab if one was needed. A glimpse of his cot - not yet used but ready for the day he would spend his first night in there. Me breast feeding which, back then, I was doing every 2 hours! Complete with a glimpse of a breast pad sticking out of my nursing bra!

Now that Burton is 11 months old being a Mummy means getting rewarded with beautiful fun moments like this

when his gorgeous smile melts my heart! Thank goodness for digital photos because I will always have special reminders of my motherhood forever :-)

Thanks to Tara for such a brilliant prompt this week: such a great way to celebrate motherhood!

I am looking forward to seeing what motherhood means to everyone else in this weeks Gallery- I have my tissues at the ready!

Weetabix or adhesive-abix

Dear Weetabix,

I do enjoy eating you and you have served me as a breakfast cereal countless times during my life to date. More recently, I have introduced you to my son who enjoys you mixed with fruit (and his fingers!).

However, I feel I need to ask why on earth are you so hard to remove from cereal bowls once you have been eaten? Or indeed anything you come into contact with once you have been covered in milk? It is almost impossible to clean off bowls or surfaces that you have encountered once you have become dried on - I need a power washer to remove you!

I have also found that wiping you off my son's face is really difficult, you get so ground into skin and hair - such a nightmare! Cannot really use a power washer on his face though! Instead I try to wipe as I go, which is not easy with a baby who does not want his face washed at the end of a meal - let alone every couple of minutes!

So the way I see it:

Weetabix + milk = adhesive with the power of super glue!

What makes a normal everyday breakfast cereal turn into an adhesive? How do you do this?

Another cereal with your type of super adhesive power is cornflakes, once they have dried out onto your cereal bowl they are also nigh on impossible to remove! I think some cereal manufacturers could do a sideline trade selling their products as super glue, because that's the kind of strength we are talking about here! I wonder if anyone has ever tested the adhesiveness of cornflakes or weetabix? Hmmmmm.....food for thought!

Obviously, if the cereal bowls are washed out straight after use this will remove all traces of you immediately, no problem. However, not everyone adheres to this and that is where the problems arise.

The solution?

I think that maybe all of your cereal boxes should come with a warning, informing the consumer of the consequences of leaving weetabix to dry out, and to therefore advise customers to rinse their cereal bowls straight away! In as big a text as possible please, because maybe this would encourage my OH to rinse after eating because he often leaves his cereal bowl with weetabix residue inside!

Thanks for listening.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny Paulin

A firm believer in the eat and rinse philosophy!!

Talking a load of crap as always!

Karen over at / Brighten Mum-Teenage Angst/> had the brilliant idea of setting up a Friday bog roll on a blog roll. What a great idea!! Lol. I say this with more than the usual enthusiasm as it seems I started Karen's ball (bog) rolling by coming up with the title whilst commenting on a photo in this weeks Gallery. I can only credit the marvellous Nickie over at /Typecast/> for her inspiring photograph of her toilet roll collection. I say collection because to have that many out on display is just showing off quite frankly!!

So here are my entries for the bog roll on a blog roll:

First picture shows our very 'ahem' posh toilet roll holder complete with a rusty bottom. Now don't get jealous of that type of high class customising, it took a lot of a bathroom dampness over the last 18 months to achieve that finish! You will also notice that the top roll is a different type of loo roll from the two beneath it. This is because I was down to my last roll this morning and after shopping earlier we have more hurrah! This new toilet paper claims to be bigger than your average roll so instead if buying 8 rolls get the same over 4! Better for the environment then? We will see how long it lasts soon enough.

I am not a toilet roll snob I usually get whatever is on special, although I prefer not to buy the basics like I did as a student, as even though they are cheaper, they are rougher and you get through them quicker so spend as much in the end as if you just bought average priced loo roll.








The second photo is the hiding place for my spare toilet rolls, as unlike some people I could mention I do not have such a huge display area for all of mine lol

The Gallery : Bee-ing still in life

This weeks theme in The Gallery over at the yummy cupcake(mmmm i want one please!) picture taking Sticky Fingers, is Still Life.

I took these photos last summer at my boyfriends parents garden, during a brief Burton nap break one sunny Sunday afternoon.

I love sunflowers: to me they seem such happy flowers and epitomise summer with their radiant golden colours. Bees are such busy little things, and to capture one taking it easy for a moment to savour the sweet sunflower nectar was great to watch and capture through my lens.

Mini Mobile Me

Yesterday the OH and I had a discussion regarding when it was acceptable for children, in particular our child, to be allowed a mobile phone. Now I appreciate that not yet being 11 months old, we have some years yet until this debate becomes a reality........or do we?

Now I hope I do not offend any parents here who allow their youngsters their own mobile phone, I am sure they have valid reasons for letting them have one. However, I just do not see why children - certainly those who are not yet teenagers - should have a mobile phone. Who on earth do they need to phone or text during the day? They are with their friends while they are at school, and once they are home they probably have access to a land line, telephone or a computer to communicate with.

I know that parents I have spoken to regarding this subject, who allow their kids a mobile phone, argue that they can find out where their children are when they are out their friends and they are contactable at all times. It makes the parents feel their kids are safer because they can be contacted and vice versa.

Well, call me old fashioned but when I was a child (and yes I know mobiles were only used by the yuppies back then!) I told my parents where I was going, and if I was going to a friends house I had to leave a contact number. If I needed to get hold of one of my parents I used a pay phone or asked the friends mum or dad if could use their telephone. Obviously, if I was at school I was allowed to use the office phone with permission, or there was a pay phone. Or failing that, I had to return home and tell them in person. Why have all these forms of communication been replaced with being given a mobile phone? It's just easier, I know, then having to go and look for an alternative solution.

By the time Burton is of primary school age goodness knows what the 'in thing' to have then will be - probably an iPad!! My OH (a self confessed gadget geek!) believes that if all of Burton's peers have a mobile phone (or the equivalent by then!) then he should too so that he fits in socially and wont feel left out. Of course I don't want Burton to feel excluded, but I also don't want him to have everything his friends have or grow up too fast

I know I have to accept that times change and I need to accept and move with them, but if kids are given adult accessories and gadgets so young, what is there for them to look forward to when they are older? Why does childhood have to end so early now? I think it is a shame.

I guess I do need to learn to embrace change more, but hopefully not at the expense of Burton's childhood. No doubt fast forward 9 years and he will have his own up to the minute gadgets after all!!

I would really love to hear your thoughts on this. Am I the only one who feels this way?