Its been ages since I updated this and so much has happened.
Rachel had her 3rd birthday. We managed to get away without having a proper birthday party this year. I think it will be the last year we manage that.
She had a great day. Auntie Sarah stayed with us on the saturday night so we had a pyjama party with popcorn and “the aristocats”. When daddy got home he blew up her birthday surprise. Yes he got her a smallish bouncy castle which we had in the lounge for the day! It seemed much larger in the lounge than it had looked in Costco, and we filled it with her presents and balloons. She loved it and really enjoyed being thrown into it by daddy. However this game soon led to bouncy castle gate 1,2 and 3, when auntie Sarah threw her in and let go so she bit her lip, then later uncle Luke did the same and finally when we let it down and put it away, all of which led to tears but we soon got over those!
Present wise, she got a camera, a dolls house, a horse- not real of course-, more books and colouring books, a gruffalo, some bath toys and a tabletop chalkboard. So plenty more “stuff” to fill the house with!!
As for visitors we had auntie Sarah, uncle Uke ,uncle Andrew and granny and grandad, who were taking Ben on his holidays as we were going away for a short break to Dorset on the Monday.
She had a peppa pig birthday cake and we did a buffet lunch.
All in all it was a lovely day and a good start to our holidays – finally some family time with daddy!
On the Monday we packed up the car and set off to our caravan holiday. The weather was ok, but unfortunately not the heatwave we have had for the last 2 years round rachel’s birthday.we stopped off at a little chef on the way for lunch and finally got to rockley park at about half 3. The caravan was lovely, a brand new one for 2011 2 bedrooms, although we only used the 2nd bedroom for storage, as Rachel is still not sleeping by herself…
The travel cot would only fit in the lounge, so the sleeping arrangements became Rachel and daddy in the bedroom and Jack and I in the lounge. While I unpacked and fed Jack, daddy and Rachel went for a walk of discovery. They went and found the beach – nothing to write home about there and then up to the main complex where Rachel discovered the “round and round chair”, slide and swimming pool. We had tea in their pub, the mash and barrel, then looked
in at the evening entertainment but it was a bit loud for Jack who was getting tired and hungry. We went back to the caravan and got the kids settled for bed, although having skipped bath time this took a while with Jack..for that first night I thought I would be ok just on the sofa but Jack was very unsettled and would not sleep unless with me, so it was quite cramped and not too comfortable. On the second morning therefore I was shattered, so while I
had little sleep in the bedroom, daddy took the kids for a walk.
Later on we took them back up to the main complex where Rachel went -gulp, heart in mouth..- on the bungee trampoline. She seemed to enjoy it as she was flying up into the air!I was terrified just watching her but she is fearless.
Rachel and I went swimming, the pool was lovely and warm and although she had her armbands
on and was loving it, she wouldn’t let go of me! Although having said that she insisted on going on the small water slide twice while I waited and caught her at the bottom. Of course the first time went swimmingly – forgive the pun – the second time she bumped her head which caused some tears. We decided not to take Jack in yet as he had developed a mild cold. That evening we had tea in the caravan, then while I settled Jack and set up the sofa bed, daddy and rach went to see what was on entertainment wise. Jack fell asleep pretty quickly, so I laid him on the sofa bed and pottered around tidying up a bit. Daddy and rach came back about 9 and she went to sleep pretty quickly.
Had another restless night with Jack…..
Wednesday was daddy’s birthday. And as a special treat we were going to peppa pig world for
the day. But first we took Rachel up to the swimming pool for the free swimming lesson. Daddy took her in and she had a go with various floats and going underwater. The swimming coach suggested we got her some goggles as she has an aversion to getting water in her eyes.
She also gave daddy some tips for when we get Jack in the water.
We went back to the caravan, got everything together and set off for peppa pig world! It seemed to take forever to get there, but it was worth it when we got there. Rachel loved it. She went on everything, mrs rabbits helicopters, grandpa pigs train, the boat ride, daddy pigs car, windy castle, georges dinosaur ride and mr potatoes playground. We had lunch soon after we got there, although it was a battle to get Rachel to sit and eat anything as she was too excited and wanted to go in the spaceship play zone! After we had done everything, some things twice, we let her go in the shop to pick out some things to spend her birthday money on and then set off walking to the exit, stopping to go on a couple of other rides with daddy, including a roller coaster which she loved of course!
As soon as we got her into the car, she was fast asleep and she didn’t wake up until we got back to the caravan. The weather had been unexpectedly nice so we had all caught the sun without noticing. The kids look very cute with a little suntan!
When we got back, we stopped at the complex and daddy treated us to tea. This time we had to battle with Rachel to sit down as she just wanted to go on the slide and the round and round chair!!
As Rachel had had a long sleep in the car, we knew she wouldn’t want to go to bed at normal time, so daddy took her for a swim, while I stayed to sort Jack out. Again Jack settled quickly so I left him to sleep on the sofa for a while before transferring him to the cot. Was nearly 10 when Rachel and daddy got back and she went straight to bed.
On the Thursday we were all still a bit tired from the busy day before, so we chilled out for a bit before going for a little drive. Had a look in some shops, then had lunch in a cafe before going into Poole for a little walk around. By this stage I was feeling pretty rough with a cold so we didn’t go too far before going back to the caravan. We then took both the kids swimming briefly before they closed the pool for activities. Jack seemed to enjoy it and only screamed when we got out!! I was amazed to see the difference in rachel’s ability after obey a couple of times. She was much more confident and was happy to brave swimming on her own and was actually managing to swim a little bit. I reckon by then time we come back from Crete she will be swimming like a fish.
We had tea in the caravan and then as usual, daddy and rach went to see the entertainment while Jack and I got ready for bed and packed up.
Friday was hometime 😦
We had to be out of the caravan by 10, so we packed up the car, stopped in for Rachel to say goodbye to the slide and the round and round chair and then set off home…
Wish we had stayed for longer.
So the next day, Saturday, Jack reached the milestone of 18 weeks old. By this time we had started Rachel on food and she was sleeping through (mostly) from 8 till 8 (she doesn’t do that now, but never mind,,), so we decided to start Jack on some baby rice. He scoffed it all!! And very little came out again, if any!!hurray. I know they reckon it’s early to start them on food, but he seemed to enjoy it so I think it was the right decision to try him now. However it didn’t help his sleep in the miraculous way it did with his sister!!but oh well, we can’t have everything I suppose!! So over the last 5 days he has been having baby rice. Yesterday I doubled the amount and he had it all. Am hoping he will become a better eater than his sister and that this will then rub off on her as the mealtime battles are quite draining.
lifesincejack 