Just the 3 of us....

As I mentioned in my last post, Mark and I are making a real effort to spend some quality time enjoying the summer with Calum before the twins come and we will undoubtedly find it more difficult to get out of the house or spend long periods of time away when we do.

We started swimming lessons with Calum a few weeks ago which have been a nightmare, whilst he loves the water he hates being told what to do.... The teacher actually said she had never seen such a head strong child before! Tell me about it! Kind of embarrassing/stressful when your kid is having a massive tantrum(read-hitting you, screaming at top of lungs, refusing to give up the toys that have been thrown in the pool to play with) in the pool in front of all of the other parents who are in the stands watching the lessons take place (parents are in the pool for C's class but another class for slightly older kids takes place at the same time). We've got a couple more to go in the term so we will see how it goes, tomorrow I take him on my own since Mark is away so wish me luck!

Last weekend we took Calum to a local farm about 10 minutes away called the Christmas Tree Farm. It's pretty perfect for his age, not too big and the animals are well behaved-you can buy food to feed them which of course Calum gets a big kick out of giving to the animals, especially the big cows whose tongues barely fit in the buckets! We went out for a lovely lunch afterwards and it was pretty much my perfect day-definitely something I can't imagine doing pushing a double stroller all along the way although guess we will have to get used to it!

Otherwise we're going to be taking Calum to see his favourite show (In the Night Garden) live Aug 20th (if babies haven't come yet), have already bought tickets to Calum's nursery outing to pantomime (an English Christmas tradition, it's a play which is sort of overly exaggerated and directed at kids) and even managed to score Olympic tickets for next summer's London games-Calum will be coming with us to not one, but two Olympic basketball events (let's hope we get to see team USA!!).

In addition to our night nanny I've also managed to find a babysitter-a retired baby nurse who lives nearby, who we are going to have once or twice a month to allow us to leave the twins and spend quality time with Calum as well as to allow for at least one day/eve a month for Mark and I as I've read that parents of twins (and parents in general for that matter!) often neglect their relationship more and spend more time one on one with the children rather then each other. Mark's family have all been amazing in offering to help and we're lucky to have them all so close by however I have a feeling we will be needing even more help then they can offer and look forward to having someone independent who I won't feel guilty about asking to babysit....

Anyway, that's us-Mark is in Marbella, Spain this weekend for his best friend George's bachelor party. George is getting married in Cyprus on Sept. 4th so whilst Mark is one of the groomsmen, it doesn't look like he will be able to make it with the babies on the way (I'm predicting delivery by Aug. 30th!). That leaves Calum and I home to get things done, the babies' nursery is looking neglected although lovely now that it's been painted so now I get to do the fun stuff and start dressing it! Also going through boxes of Calum's old baby clothes to see what can be used a 2nd time around-perfect for a rainy weekend which it looks like it's going to be. x

PS-Still having serious layout issues with Blogger-anyone have any suggestions on how to move the pics around?