Every Day is Mother's Day

I had a brilliant day on Sunday. It being Mothering Sunday here in the UK (but it's not Fathering Sunday later in the year, I wonder why...) I was awoken by the melodious notes of my children's voices winding up the stairs... well, they were giggling and yelling really but what the heck, they'd brought me a mug of tea and a little present (a purse I'd bought myself and given to the kids to give me. It's what you have to do to receive something you actually want rather than a bottle of talcum powder...). I chose not to grumble at the fact it was 7.30 in the morning (I am such a paragon of motherhood, no doubt about it!) and enjoyed my children's company for a while, until Naomi filled her nappy and the room emptied.

I then got up, got dressed and went downstairs to make a cooked breakfast for everyone, which I actually quite enjoy doing. I hassled Peter to get off the phone (he was talking to his brother, so fair enough but time was getting on!) and I called my mum, feeling slightly guilty I hadn't been in touch for some time. Actually, the last time we spoke it was in February when we had that big dumping of snow. The kids were home because school was closed so I sent them outside to play while Naomi had a nap. Thinking I had at least 5 minutes at a time of day that wasn't in the middle of the night for mum I called her. I kid you not, 4 minutes 30 seconds into the phone call (I know because our phone has that funky display thingy) I had to hang up on her because Keiran wanted to come inside and he was very wet with snow of course. *sigh* There are quite a few people I haven't spoken to for quite some time, all because I can't get five minutes uninterrupted at a decent hour of the day. Never mind, it won't be forever and hopefully my friends will forgive me.

But back to Mother's Day.

The day was looking completely perfect as far as the weather was concerned so we had a quick lunch after Sunday morning pottering (Keiran and I watched Dinosaurs, the movie) and decided to go for a walk. We initially chose Hatchlands, but it turned out to be closed so we went to the village of Shere instead. We went on a short walk, thanks to our Kiddie Walks in Surrey guide book and ended the day with an early roast dinner at the local pub. The kids were exhausted by the time we got home and peace reigned in the Lawrey household by 8pm. Bliss!

I logged on to the BBC website, as is my daily habit, and I found this beautiful series of portraits. They show pictures of pregnant women in the Congo. One mother hopes she will still be healthy and able to work in the fields after her child is born. How different that is from my hopes for after the arrival of my children! I am so very fortunate, I know. I wish there was more I could do. I hope those women all delivered safely and will one day see their children achieve more than they ever dreamed possible. Happy Mother's Day, every day.

FAIL!!

I asked Peter The Question No Wife Should Ask tonight.

I said, "do I look good in this dress or does it make me look fat?"

His reply?

A blank look and just one word.

Yes.

YES??? What does that mean? Honestly, FAIL, darling, FAIL!!!

Slightly disconcerted this evening...

The dishwasher is making odd noises. It sounds... well, it sounds wet.

Now, I know it's supposed to sound that way, but you know the difference between the right sort of wetness and the too wet sound... I'm hoping it's just that the dishwasher isn't as full as I usually have it when I put it on. I will ignore it and hope my floor isn't flooded later. That is the simple thing to do, if not the most practical I suppose. The trouble is, despite being old and decrepit I have an overactive imagination. If I hear a bump in the night I worry it's some bugger sneaking into the house and I just have to get up and make sure. One night I was so positive I'd heard the back door open I went to the kitchen and picked up a knife before wandering around the house, checking all the kids' rooms and even the cupboard under the stairs... if someone had broken in they would have freaked! I hope it would have been at the knife, not the sight of me in my dressing gown.

But back to my imagination. I imagine the worst so often that sometimes I make myself ignore things that are going on. Like the alarm that was sounding just a few minutes ago. I could hear it through the baby monitor and figured it was just a car alarm going off in the street. I knew it wasn't my car, 'cause ours is a blaring horn not a wailing siren so I ignored it. Next thing I know, Catherine comes downstairs and tells me there's flashing lights in the street outside. A fire truck had turned up. Bit dumb of me to ignore the alarm in retrospect. What if it had been a fire in Naomi's room? And there I go, imagining the worst again. As it turned out, they had a look around and left - false alarm somewhere.

My imagination keeps me awake at night. I'm such a control freak, I'll think about conversations I think I might have the next day or the next week and play them and replay them in my mind until I know exactly what I'm going to say. The problem with that is the person I'm talking with doesn't know what they're supposed to say so the conversation (if it even eventuates) never turns out the way I expected and it's usually not as bad as I think it will be. I don't do this for all conversations, by the way, only the ones I think are going to be stressful or difficult in some way. I've no idea why I do it. In my rational moments I know it's a tremendous waste of energy and entirely pointless, but I can't stop my mind from going around in circles anyway. Maybe it's a result of a stressful childhood. I did it as a teenager too and it sort of hangs around even now, when I'm adult enough to cope with difficult situations.

The ironic thing is though, when I'm in a stressful situation that I haven't had time to prepare for, I can cope really well. I can say what needs to be said with a reasonable amount of firmness, conviction or authority but hopefully still be yielding, to a point anyway. I'm one of those people that copes well with stress at the time then falls apart later. I guess that's a good thing. The dishwasher still sounds too wet though....

In the Land of Oz...

Another hysterically funny news item from home... It does raise a serious issue, however: would you have mistaken a kangaroo for a lunatic ninja?

Hero in underpants tackles a 'roo

'I felt the kangaroo jumping on top of us'

A man in Australia suffered scratched buttocks and shredded underpants wrestling with a kangaroo after it smashed through his bedroom window.

Beat Ettlin, his wife and daughter cowered beneath their blankets as it jumped on their bed.

But it then bounded into the room of the Ettlins' young son, who screamed, and Mr Ettlin was forced to act.

Mr Ettlin struggled to get the hopping marsupial into a headlock and drag it to the front door.

Shoved outside, wounded, it disappeared into a nearby reserve outside Canberra.

Inside, the animal - which Mr Ettlin said was about his own height, 5 ft 9 in (175cm) - had gouged holes in the furniture and smeared blood over the walls as it bounced around the house.

"I just kept holding the covers over my head and felt the kangaroo jumping on top of us," recalled Mr Ettlin's wife, Verity Beman.

She described her husband as "a hero: a hero in Bonds undies" - referring to a brand of underwear popular in Australia.

Mr Ettlin, who is 42 and originally from Switzerland, described himself as a lucky man.

"My initial thought when I was half awake was, 'it's a lunatic ninja coming through the window'," he said

Kangaroos are common around the outskirts of Canberra, but only rarely invade homes, experts say.

Breathing Earth

Today I found a very, well, I'm not sure if 'interesting' is the right word, although it is that, 'moving' might be better... thought-provoking, yes, that suits. I found a thought-provoking website today called Breathing Earth. It shows you the number of births, deaths and the amount of CO2 emissions over the period you've been watching, and you can look at a particular country too. There are white stars exploding all over the globe as a person is born, and less often a black star as someone dies. Frequently a country momentarily lights up red as it emits 1000 tons of CO2. I went searching for a country whose CO2 emissions had dropped since two years earlier, and the only one I could find (in an admittedly brief search) was Zimbabwe. That doesn't seem to bode well for the rest of the world reducing it's CO2 emissions. How to do it? It's easy, 90% unemployment, inflation in unmeasurable trillions of percent, a government led by a once good man turned tyrant... I shouldn't think so much. I should go and turn off the TV screen that no-one's watching...

What have you been doing?

Today, embarrassing myself in front of a bunch of sixth-formers *lol* I do love doing the A-level stuff, but sometimes it's so hard to know how to go about it.. Never mind, they're pretty forgiving (I hope) and a lovely group. Still, how could I forget what a homeostatic endotherm was, honestly the clue is in the name! Other than that, chasing Naomi - she's walking and getting into every cupboard she shouldn't be and completely disinterested in the safe cupboards. How do they figure that out? She must like the way my voice sounds when I say "no". Keiran is becoming a boy. Today he was mucking around with another boy at preschool. They had toy pliers and they were pinching each other's eye with them. As you do! So he's got a small bruise in the corner of his eye. He's also taken to pushing Naomi over sometimes. I don't think he's trying to hurt her, it's in a boistrous play sort of way, but I have to stop it, just in case. As for Catherine, she is (mostly) the calm in the storm. She helps when she sees a need, she does as she's asked, she's kind and gentle. I love her soooo much!

Right now, I've got a sore throat brewing, a sore back and a headache, but I'm happy. Who couldn't be, with such great kids!

Holiday!

Hooray, we are going away at Easter time to Brittany for 9 days! We can't really afford to, well, we can obviously but the money could be better spent... actually no. I don't think it can be better spent. This year has already been a difficult and stressful one and it's only set to be more of the same, unless some miracle occurs. It's important to have something to look forward to, I think. Difficult times only seem worse when you don't have anything to look forward to, and the tunnel is awfully long when you can't see the light at the end... It will be brilliant to get away as a family for a decent length of time. We are taking the fast ferry to Cherbourg from Portsmouth and then staying somewhere in Brittany. I've no idea where, but it's booked! We've got a new, smaller car seat for Keiran so Catherine will have more room in the back of the car and she will be able to sit by the window. The weather will be warming up, we can go to the beach.. can't wait!

In other news, Naomi is now walking very comfortably, and getting into mischief. She loves following Keiran around opening cupboards and pulling everything out of them... Keiran is developing so quickly at the moment. His drawing has changed in the last month from simple scribbles to recognisable constructions. He's drawn a lovely series of smiling faces and even a turtle! He's got a place at the local village school, Horsell Village which is great because it's a really good school and all the neighbours' kids go there. Catherine has a place at Box Hill school, which is a lovely place with a strong international focus. She's really looking forward to it, although she wants to board, no idea where we're getting the money from, but hey! It'll all be fine...