Wednesday again started in the same way as any other school day. We got out of the house on time and left daddy at work. Arriving at school I parked the car while the children were talking happily in the back.   We arrived early and it was raining hard, it was jumping off the road. The children wanted to play in the puddles. I told them to stop, but they were laughing whilst splashing around. Having too much fun to listen to mummy and do as they are told.

I got the umbrellas out of the car, my son’s was previously broken on a windy morning, https://justmuddlingthroughlife.co.uk/2018/11/07/wednesday-and-a-broken-umbrella/

I had considered getting him a new umbrella for Christmas. I was looking at buying him a Star Wars one.  This morning he announced that he wants a transparent one.  I found one on Amazon but wanted to actually see it before buying it.

We walked into the breakfast club, the children dumped their bags and rushed to the table. Today was Christmas dinner and Christmas jumper day, there was a sea of Christmas jumpers and a little boy in his school jumper. My son had his Christmas party this afternoon.  I said goodbye to the kids and drove to work, thinking about my son and his request for a new umbrella.

After work, I had a search for an umbrella. Matalan, Home Bargains, TK Maxx, Asda then I finally found one in B and M Bargains. It is automatic, so not sure how long it will last, but it is what he asked for and only £2.99.

It’s hard as a parent trying to keep everyone happy. First the Christmas jumper and then the umbrella. There is so much that they want for Christmas that I have not bought them, the main one being the expensive Lego lorry. I am really hoping that he will be happy with what he has got, I found the umbrella just to see a smile Christmas day.  I am wondering though whether I should be buying a back up that is stronger.  Maybe this one will surprise me and actually last a few months.

He had asked my mum for a monster truck and no he has not got one of those. Trying to keep up with what a child wants, you rarely can because they keep wanting more. Christmas is so expensive and as a parent, we can only do our best. I love my children very much and if I could afford to buy every toy they ask for, I would, but I can’t. I am hoping that on the day they will be pleased with what they have got.  I’m sure they have more than some and less than others, but I don’t want them to be disappointed.

So my son had his Christmas party this afternoon he had a good time and won a pencil sharpener playing pin the nose on Rudolf.  My daughter had enjoyed her Christmas dinner, she liked her turkey. Despite eating though, they were both hungry after school as they always are.  Is it just my kids that always have empty tummies after school?  Is it school that gives them the appetite? When I was a child I’m sure I came home and did my homework and I ate my meal in the evening.  There was no toast and I’m sure if I had asked for it I would have been told, ‘no wait for your dinner’.

My mum gave me some presents from relatives today, they are under our tree and my daughter has already been trying to look inside them.  Like mother like daughter because I do that too.  I am impatient and need to know what I have got.  If these presents are still all wrapped on Tuesday morning I will be amazed.

Once home today, both children ate their dinner and they went to bed well.  My 7 year old was the first to go to sleep, my 5 year old followed soon after, once she had come downstairs a few times. Does anyone else have a child who refuses to clean her teeth?  Some days my daughter is good, on others, she will leave the brush and tell me no.  I can’t force her and she is very good at clamping her mouth shut.  I have tried telling her what happens when you don’t clean them but she is not listening.  Has anyone else experienced this one?

Work again tomorrow and two more days left of school, it will soon be Christmas. Anyway, I am going to go now and get some rest. Try and build up some energy ready for tomorrow morning, for work and the ongoing stress of being mum.

Another day, another Tuesday, it started in the same way with my little girl whining as I lifted her out of bed.  The feeling of exhaustion, I hate getting up in the morning and 6.30am is too early for me.  My son was already awake but he was hiding under his duvet with the iPod that he had found on daddy’s side of the bed.  Getting him to put it down and get dressed was another challenge.  Reluctantly he started to put his clothes on but would not put the iPod down. Surely we are not the only parents whose household technical gadgets have more authority. If only I could work how to set a routine to get Alexa to make him leave the iPod and iPad alone. However, I’m sure he would just laugh at her.

Daddy didn’t need to go to work today so it was just me trying to get the children out of the house on time. I feel like I am constantly nagging at them but they will not do as they are told. It is an ongoing struggle however, we arrived at school on time despite all my stress. Once I had parked the car the children started climbing. My son had bought his fish that he made yesterday with him. He was playing with it on the back seat and kept dropping it from the parcel shelf into the boot with me screaming at him to stop, why would he not stop? Maybe because it was more fun to ignore me and carry on.

Then I left them at the breakfast club, my daughter was enjoying her shreddies. I had then decided that I would take the car to the garage for its tyre to be looked at. Driving there I was thinking the worse as the driver’s side tyre keeps losing pressure. https://justmuddlingthroughlife.co.uk/2018/12/17/monday-craft/

I got to the garage before it opened and waited. A while later the mechanics arrived and my tyre was finally examined.  They did not find a puncture but he advised me that the casing on the tyre was damaged. He said that it is common for Michelin tyres to wear out inside and then need replacing as losing air. My tyre was put on in 2015, it hasn’t gone that far, I had hoped that it might have lasted longer then it has.

A theory that I have is in August I had a puncture which the garage had mended. The patch on the tyre was fine but I had driven on the tyre flat as it had broken down at the side of the road outside my house. I had turned the car around and brought it back onto my drive whilst flat. I doubt that did the tyre much good. So after purchasing a new tyre hopefully, my stress over the car is over for now.

I wrapped more presents for the kids, I’m nearly there, but whatever I buy for one I have to buy equally for the other to make it fair. Christmas is an expensive time, all the little bits really add up.

When I collected the children from school, my daughter told me off for not giving her spare clothes for her class party this afternoon. I didn’t know she had a party, no one had told me. Tomorrow my son has his party, so he needs some clothes packed for him. They have their school Christmas dinner tomorrow, my daughter is excited about her turkey dinner. My son has got his normal packed lunch as his reaction to turkey was yuck. It is also Christmas jumper day for them, they are both excited about this.

The children both read this evening but putting them to bed was a challenge. Both ignoring me as if I was not stood there. I told them that if they did not just go to bed then Santa will come, neither believed me.  I then introduced them to Alexa’s new trick.  If you ask her how many sleeps to Santa, she will answer your question and then Santa will give you a message. My 7 year old was very impressed by this, believing it really was Santa.

They have finally gone to sleep, my son, as usual, was in bed before my daughter. My 5 year old came back downstairs a few times but she is now asleep. We are watching, ‘weather from hell, caught on camera’.  It is scary just how dangerous the weather can be.   We live on a slope raised above the road, the river is a little way so hopefully, we will never get flooded, but it is horrid the damage water can do.  The number of times I have laid in bed listening to thunder and lightning, I have always told the children that it can’t hurt them. On this program, a man’s house was hit by lightning and his bedroom caught fire, he was lucky as he was not in there at the time but it has really made me think.

Anyway, I am now going to get some rest. I have a busy work day again tomorrow. I am now going to build some energy, ready for the stress of tomorrow and my job of being mum.