Flow Rider Surfing

So, the surfing pictures are back! 

We all had so much fun. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone thinking about it. It was Stella (Rich's sister) and Carl's 20th anniversary so they had a party. Both families were invited and as such we were split between the 2 wave machines, so I only have pictures of the Brown clan as we happened to split down the middle. There was a quick instruction video, and then off to get wetsuits. 

Now, aside from Rich, none of the men had worn wetsuits before. Ethan had a fit of shyness and so asked to change in the shower cubicle. While they were in there, all the blokes got ready and came out. With their suits on backwards. Much fun was poked, particularly at Carl who though he has never worn one before, has a wife who can scuba and has her own suit, so we thought he'd at least remember that the zip goes up the back!

Our lovely instructor Tom showed us briefly how to bodyboard and get up onto our knees, and off we went.

 Stell with Tom

 After Stell's first wipeout :)

 Big Sam (Rich's younger brother) and you can just spot Rich biffing it at the back. We were shown how to glide fairly gracefully to the side to stop, but while it looked simple, it was very much not.

Hence my look of intense concentration! And here I am...

 It is my unfortunate privilege to inform you that in this position, with the water wooshing up and under the board, your...ahem...personal area... gets a little bashed. It wasn't that big of a deal and not really painful but I am assured it was worse for the men. Sorry fellas. Still, an incentive to learn quickly how to get up on your knees!

Despite the look on my face, I really enjoyed it. Even if wetsuits are the least flattering piece of clothing in the entire world.

Rich above, and with his brother Big Sam below.

 I really didn't expect much from Ethan, I thought he'd either refuse to try, or try once, fall off, and then refuse to try. However, he put us all to shame! He had several turns and wants to go again. I was really impressed with how brave he was as it's not one of his strong points. He absolutely loved it and really wants to go again.

With help from the instructor, and on his own :)

Too fast to snap! 

We were also shown how to do it standing up on special thin wooden boards - a little like skim boards on the beach. However there are no photos of this, even though I managed to stand up alone for a whole ooh... 15 seconds ;)

We did it at The Flowhouse at Xscape, Castleford, and we absolutely loved it, the water was warm enough that we didn't get cold in between turns, and the instructors were friendly and helpful. Now, it's a little pricey at £22-25 for kids and £30-35 for adults, and we were incredibly grateful to Stella and Carl for being so generous as to pay for everyone. There are group deals and multiple session deals, but still it's a bit teeth-suck inducing. I still would go again though, it was tons of fun and for a special treat definitely worth it. And the look on Ethan's face when he'd done it by himself was absolutely priceless. 

So overall, I'd definitely recommend it, even with the price. Hang 10! Surf's up! Kowabunga dude! Yeah, I'm not really pulling that off at all, am I.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Valentine's day and the end of the chocolate ban

Time has once again slipped by without a post. What can I say? Three children under 6 is BUSY. I also try to abide by the rule of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, where he says to the groundhog, "don't drive angry!" though in this case it's don't blog grumpy, as being hungry tends to make me a little snappish.

I love this movie more than is a normal amount.

So, quick roundup. We've had a fairly uneventful month, although after a week of sleeping through Henry got another cough and it was all over, sad trombone. However, it has now passed again and fingers crossed, he's back on track. 

Speaking of illness, I have got a raging case of tonsillitis. It began a few days ago with a tickly throat and continued with a trip to the walk in clinic on friday night (the big V!) where I was told "Oh yes, that is a lot of pus." Why thank you  grumpy nurse, that's exactly what I wanted to hear about the inside of my throat. Gross. This was then emphasised by the pharmacist who when checking my antibiotics said "so take 2 four times a day.... is it a bad infection?" Clearly that is a large dose of penicillin, for which I am very grateful. Don't worry, there is no picture. This is not that kind of blog.

Last weekend my Dad was up to visit now that he's home from New Zealand which was lovely, I've missed both him and my mum while they've been gone. She's still out there, sunning it up! Dad was kind enough to take the big two boys out on Saturday afternoon so that Rich and I could have a bit of a rest and then we had a delicious chinese takeaway for dinner, naughty but oh so good. So good in fact that Rich and I had it again for dinner when I got back from the doctor on friday... oops. While he was up he took this picture for us, which is I think the first one of the five of us together.

Even though it was taken before I could get my Sunday morning make up on, I still love it.

Valentine's day was a bit drab what with the illness, but it was still nice. I made this for Rich...

Which now I look at it kind of seems like an order, or slightly obnoxious. "Hey, You love me!" At least we all know now who wears the pants... The words in the back are the lyrics to All I ask of You from Phantom of the Opera, which was sung at our wedding. I totally stole the idea from seeing something similar online, but changed the scrabble tiles for keyboard letters, because we've never played scrabble ever, and also because we had an old broken netbook. He loved it, and got me my favourite chocolates now that the ban has been lifted. which segues us nicely into the diet.

So, I've lost 12lbs in about 4 weeks. I cheated once as my sister Sam sent some homemade chocolates over for a belated Christmas gift and they weren't going to last. I'm pretty pleased with myself, that's a decent chunk of weight and I'm almost to the first stone off. All the right places are shrinking, and I feel a lot better about myself already. My end goal is to be able to fit into my wedding dress by our 9th anniversary, which is July 23rd, so I've got plenty of time. In between I've got little goals to get to, the first one being 12st 7lbs, which I beat just over a week ago. The next one is one stone off, which will be 12st 4, only 2 lbs away. I'm not happy with the numbers, but I've decided I'm not ashamed to write them down. They're only numbers, and they don't define me. My body has done amazing things (insert cheesy music here) and grown 3 humans. It has acceptable wear and tear. But just because I'm not ashamed doesn't mean I can't improve.

As for the month of no chocolates and sweets, I thought it would be harder. I'm really glad I did it as it made me realise how I was eating a bit of chocolate here or a few of the kids treats there. I've not felt the need to gorge on it now I can have it. My dad brought me back two large bars of Cadbury's Blackforest Chocolate, which is quite possibly the most delicious flavour ever, with little biscuity and cherry flavoured jelly bits. I ate more than I should have, but not as much as I would have before. It was however still too much for my digestive system since I had my gall bladder out, which it reminded me of with some wicked stomach cramps. Therefore, I still have chocolate lurking about the house and hopefully it'll last me a fair while longer. So, success for now!

Last of all, I'll just mention the amazing family trip out yesterday where I dosed myself up and we all went indoor surfing with extended family. I was however doing the surfing and don't have the pictures back yet so I shall do a proper post on that another time. 

For now, despite the tonsils that are trying to kill me, life is good.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

I'm sorry, December was a blur

Sorry folks. We had a mad December, with 5 rolls of wrapping, 4 batches of bread rolls, 3 excitable boys (plus us!), 2 Christmas days, and 1 chest infection. Doesn't quite roll of the tongue like a partridge in a pear tree but hey, it's what we had.

We also had a visit from the reindeer in town, which of course sent the excitement into a tailspin and yet I had no parachute.

 Why yes those are my boys hands reaching for the nose. We avoided any fingers in nostrils scenarios and the lucky reindeer was left unscathed. 

Time to decorate the tree!

 We got these white lights 2 years ago as a last resort, one of our old strings blew around the 19th of December and I went out to buy more and there were none anywhere. These were in Asda and I actually didn't really like them to start with, they're berry lights, so LED with little balls over, but now I love them. Oh and when I got home and took the old lights off to put them on, it turned out to be a loose connection and they were fine lol! Those now go around the window.

 Placing the star. sidenote - will you look at the legs on that boy?! He's part grasshopper I swear.

 New Christmas jumpers :) 

Not long after this we went down to my Mum and Dad's for first Christmas, where we received many fab presents including this canvas from Jess:

 And this scarf from Mum:

And oh my goodness, the most delicious homemade chocolate fudge ever from Amy. So good that I made it for Ethan's teachers' Christmas presents. I'll add the recipe to the blog soon.

Gingerbread in the hizzle!

 I had help from both boys this year and it was a lot of fun, almost no stress, the exception being those bleeping snowmen. We used cadbury snowballs and mini marshmallows glued together with royal icing. Balancing them was... fun...

More importantly it was delicious, though the boys spared no thought for structural integrity while picking at it over the course of a few days.

Apparently turning it around didn't occur to them and one evening there was a crash as it collapsed. The next morning I was confronted with "Mummy! What did you doooo?!" before the fell back to munching.

This year Ethan was a wise man in the nativity with his cousin Zach

The hat was a little big but he loved it.

Then it was time for Christmas number 2 (on Christmas day this time) at home and the Browns. Ethan was incredibly excited to get his bike, and a new Batcave and lego and allsorts, and Sam was more than happy with the plethora of trains he got!

We also got a soup maker which is totally fabulous and I got the boys to eat actual soup!

New Year's was pretty blah, We stayed up until midnight by accident and were underwhelmed by the London fireworks before getting off to bed, to round out 2013 in our usual lazy fashion!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Dad's Birthday

This weekend was my Dad's birthday, so we went down to Reading to spend some time there. Oh I miss Reading. It was my home town for so long that it still feels like it is.

 We had some present opening, and then all went to Coral Reef - super retro childhood memory-inducing fun! It's a swimming pool, with rapids and slides and jacuzzis. We had a whale of a time (no pun intended!) and it was Henry's first swim. He adored it, and stayed in for over an hour, when mum got out with him and Rich and I got to play with the biggies. They both went down the water slide, Ethan 3 times, despite being scared. Sam had a lot of fun sitting by the tipping bucket and watching it dump a load of water on people, which he thought was hilarious.

 Ethan got on well with his arm bands, with a third one used as a float. Handy really, as he and I got separated in the rapids :S It was horrible, really awful. He got out of the 'current' for want of a better word, and I didn't. There was another parent there who saw and tried to help me out, but I ended up just asking him to watch Ethan while I swam round (panicking the whole way) as I couldn't swim back. When I got round, he was gone, and the man said he'd floated just around the corner... which he hadn't. In my head, he had already drowned. Luckily, he's made of sterner stuff than me, and had spotted Auntie Jess and was trying to swim towards her. Meanwhile, Rich had found me and we were both panicking when I spotted him and Jess got to him just as he was starting to get a bit upset. He is fine about it, not bothered at all. I feel sick when I think about it, and wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's done now though, and over. 

 After swimming we had party food picked by dad with the kids in mind, on muppets plates and cups, and had this surprise Kermit cake made by mum and Jess. Please excuse the pyjama clad legs. 

Sunday brought church and a chance to see friends, albeit fairly briefly for most, as the rest of my little clan are all for leaving immediately. Delicious dinner with more desserts and it was time to pack up and head off again, but not before Sam found Grampa's ear. He's got a bit of a thing for ears, especially when he's tired.

Then came the long trek home, which wasn't too bad actually, and we are back to the routine of Ethan at school, Sam begging to be allowed to go to school, and Henry just being a great big gorgeous sausage.

Life is good :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Family Holiday Episode Two - the countryside

 On their way to the holiday house, Mum and Dad found this gorgeous little river, full of waterfalls, so on the Friday when the weather wasn't really good enough for the beach they took us back to it. It was completely gorgeous, and fun for my little rock hoppers!

 There was a sign above the door on this wheelhouse that said open, though we didn't find out what it actually was. I just thought it was completely gorgeous, townie that I am.

 The boys were incredibly excited by these holes in the bridge, as you *might* be able to tell. It was actually a handy holding place as they couldn't get down to run off!

 See, good rock-hopping spot! Though it was pretty much only accessible by...

 This rather ordinary looking, but quite scary, bridge. It was only maybe 10 feet from the ground, but incredibly narrow. The gaps were quite big, so you had to look at your feet, and I had Henry on my front so you sort of have to plan 3 steps in advance. Mum refused to cross it altogether.

It was heaven, especially as no one fell in. We took a short walk upstream, Sam was excited by several passing dogs and Ethan had great fun throwing in stones with Daddy and sticks with Grandma.

The garden at the house was incredible, perfectly made for small boys. It was deceptively large, with trees and bushes, large rocks and a bridge, brilliant for hide and seek and playing monsters with Uncle Jonny. The house itself was also lovely, enormous (fairly necessary, as there were nine of us), beautifully furnished, and a better equipped kitchen than mine, seriously, the oven needed a degree to work it. We never really figured it out, something about telling it what you were cooking?!

All in all, we had a pretty fabulous time. So much fun and good company, I'm still on a comedown!

 

The way home was very peaceful ;)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Family Holiday episode one, the beach!

 We had a wonderful family holiday this summer, In Aberporth, near Cardigan in west Wales. We were really lucky and had two glorious days and one very good day to be spent on the beach. It was a teeny local beach and quite quiet. We arrived in town on Saturday and had a quick shop stop, and back to the lovely house we were staying in, Then on Sunday after church and dinner we popped down to check it out.

 Sam loving it with Aunty Jessie

 Ethan exploring with Grandma

The boys were ecstatic, sand and sea, it was all they desired! The beach also had a small stream running down the side so they had a nice shallowish place to play.

 This was my view several times a day as I fed the Hen-beast, and it was lovely. I really believe that a day at the beach is pretty unbeatable for feeling content. It's like letting out a big breath you didn't know you were holding. I think there's a piece of me in the sea, I crave it. Jess and I swam out twice, the first day we were there it was pretty bracing, but still good. The second time the sun was streaming down all day and the water (well the top foot or so of it) was actually fairly warm, and we swam out to the last buoy and back and had a lovely chat doing it.

 Here you can see the remains of several dam attempts. It was blocked off successfully several times to let the stream fill, but moving water (and small children) will not be stopped.

 They spent all day running around and wearing themselves out, building and splashing and digging and laughing. It was wonderful.

It also meant they were exhausted by bedtime. So much so that several times in the week Sam actually asked to go to bed, where they snuggled up to watch the ipad and then fell asleep.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Why I carry Henry in 'That Thing'

This is a stretchy wrap. Specifically it's one of these, though mine was a gift. It is very comfortable, and you can almost not feel it at all, even with a big chunker baby in like mine. It is slightly unusual still to see someone wearing one, though I still don't expect the odd responses I sometimes get. Luckily the nice comments usually outweigh the bad.

Today specifically, while taking Sam to the toilet in town I heard "oh, she's carrying a baby in that... thing..." with a tone bordering on disgust. It made me laugh, as I walked hands free and able to help Sam, and go to the toilet without having to disturb Henry, while said woman struggled to hold her littlie and stop her toddler running off, while also trying to get a bottle ready. And no judgement on that, because who hasn't been there. I wasn't smirking at her, it would have been nice had she returned that courtesy. But back to 'that thing'.

Many people carry babies. When we had Ethan I started with a BabyBjorn, which attracted no comments, but was incredibly uncomfortable. I have heavy babies, and I couldn't carry him for long, and once he got to about 5 months I couldn't carry him at all, and before then I didn't carry him much anyway. That's when you stopped carrying kids, when they were too heavy, as I wasn't interested in a big frame carrier, and what else was there really?

When I had Sam, a friend sold me this sling - a tricotti - which is simple, but this is Sam at 8.5 months and actually the last time I carried him - he seemed happy enough but I decided it couldn't be right to have him all squished up like that anymore - he's actually cross legged in this picture, and not just a photo-shopped on head! So we stopped again. But it was so much more comfortable than the BabyBjorn because the weight was spread out rather than the skinny straps. Very helpful with my big chunkers!

In between Sam and Henry I learnt a lot about slings, particularly the ones you tie yourself. The ones I was looking at were scary expensive, but my lovely friend Harriet pointed me in the right direction and in fact bought me the blue one up there, and has lent me a non-stretchy woven wrap for Sam and when Henry's a bit bigger. I'm currently saving up for my own woven wrap as Harriet will be needing hers back at some point, but they're a bit expensive to just pick one and buy.

In the interest of keeping it real, I've left this photo as is. Please excuse bathroom detritus and toothpaste-y mirror.

There's evidence out there that suggests wrapping is good for avoiding hip dysplasia in little ones too, as a wrap supports all the way to the knees rather than having legs dangling. I also think it must be more comfortable to have a sort of seat of fabric. There's also stuff out there about bonding being easier among baby 'wearers' but I don't think that's something that can really be quantified really. More practised mothers can even breastfeed without taking their baby out.

So, sneery woman in the baby room, why do I carry Henry in 'that thing'? Well, I do it because it means he's close to me, he almost always falls asleep, and my hands are free to deal with my two dirty great cheeky monkeys, one of whom is a flight risk. But most of all, I do it because I want to. And when it comes to my children...

In other news, Henry is 8 weeks, and has been checked over and declared fine, and huge. School holidays are upon us, and we are actually coping quite well. This week Ethan and I made a magic wand for him, which he decorated with so much glitter glue that we had to wait all afternoon and overnight for it to dry. Next week - tie dye! I am apprehensive to be perfectly honest - last time I dyed fabric I was in secondary school, but we'll wear old clothes and go with it. Sam has developed a healthy obsession with ice-cream vans and runs to the window to watch them. He hasn't yet connected the fact that he went to the ice cream van at the park and actually got an ice cream, and that the ice cream van on our street also sells them, so we've not got to the "muuuuuummy can I have an ice cream?!" stage thankfully, as it's been coming every day recently. They are both very excited for our holiday (2 weeks to go!) as are Rich and I. Henry is blissfully unaware of any surroundings as long as he has a light fixture to stare at and boobs on tap, so I think he'll take it in his stride :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!