18 YEARS AGO...

18 years ago today... I became 'mummy' for the very first time...

...And today is the day I become mother to an adult! Yes, so he's still a teenager, but is a full legal sense he is an adult. 

18 years ago today the UK heralded the dawn of a 'new-labour' government ~ and now, in just a few days time, the boy born moments after the results were announced, gets to vote himself on the government for his future (and ours).

I will never forget the moment I held that tiny red boy in my arms and how my heart just knew such overwhelming love for him. His is the pregnancy I remember most clearly, and the labour and the birth ~ not because it was painful, but because it was beautiful! He paved the way for me: he gave me faith in my body and enough insight into of it's ways, that allowed me to safely birth 7 more children at home. He taught me that I am strong ~ and brave ~ and able!

Jake was not the easiest baby, or toddler, or small boy, or slightly bigger boy!
BUT he was always funny, chatty, clever, quirky and very winsome ~ he is still all those things. I always adored him - even on the days when he drove me to tears! 

He was always very easily distracted and discipline was difficult with him because he was very 'self governing' ~ such a strong sense of self and a will to go with it! In these regards he's not much changed, but the difficulties that come with those characteristics are now tempered with more awareness of how he affects others around him and a growing understanding of how to turn his struggles into strengths.

Jake always struggled with physical affection ~ even as a tiny baby ~ he needed hugs and cuddles, but disliked the restriction they brought. He cried to be held, then struggled to get down. He fed in a hurry and cried often for more, because he never quite took enough in one sitting! Thankfully, as he has grown he has found ways to show his affections without being uncomfortable ~ I even get a hug from him occasionally these days ;-) ~ and he is always very loving and affectionate towards his younger siblings - they adore him.

I know Jake has always born the brunt of my parenting struggles ~ being the first every step of the way is definitely the short straw! But I hope he knows how much I love him ~ that deep, deep love (and hint of pride) that wells up when I look at the lovely man he is becoming. I hurt when he hurts. I rejoice when things go well for him. I ache when I see a fall ahead, and I struggle to resist reaching out to stop him hurting himself, but, just as when he was small, he would rather run ahead of himself and face the scraped knees than walk quietly and sensibly by my side! He has always been a 'go for it' kind of person and I don't wish to change that about him at all. I want to send him out to 'go get the best out of your life' with all my blessing. I want him to aim high and not be afraid to fail ~ to be true to God and himself, to be faithFULL and fearLESS!

The way ahead is just about to spread wide before him, with choices everywhere he looks. Each choice will shape him and lead him to more choices. I'm not sure he has a plan really ~ and in some ways I love that he doesn't because he is free to go wherever his journey takes him. He's never really been a planner, or a forward thinker, and I suspect he will always be somewhat swept along by the waves that pass underneath him - sometimes bobbing gently along with life, sometimes hurtling rapidly towards the next adventure and occasionally (not too often I hope) recoiling from a storm. In six weeks time he leaves college ~ and full time education. He isn't going into higher education. He is content to have achieved what he hopes will be a very acceptable grade in his Btec and to now want to go and 'get a job'. Ideally he would still love that job to include photography in some way, but he is aware that his love of images may just have to remain a passion until he can find a way to make his passion pay!

And so I'm left wondering and praying about what the future holds for my grown-up boy:

I pray for his happiness.
I pray for his health.
I pray for his peace.
I pray for his success ~ however he measures it.

I pray for his 'one-day' marriage:

• I pray he falls deeply, madly in love, marries and stays faithful to beautiful Christian woman, who will walk by his side through all that life throws at him ~ the good and the not so great, as it is apt to do. And that he will cherish her like nothing else ~ and love her like his Dad loves me ~ utterly and completely. 
• I pray that his wife will love him, cherish him and encourage him, and when life gets rough she will know how to help him through. 
• I pray that his marriage will be strong and beautiful. That he will be able to take the good stuff he's learnt from his Dad and I and build on that to make his marriage even better than ours. That their faith in God will be at the very centre of every decision they make together and will be the cord that binds them and entwines them. 

And if he never marries ~ I pray that the relationships he has with Jesus, his friends and his family can be all those things for him!



We love him Lord. When he was a tiny baby Paul & I entrusted him to you, acknowledging that he was always more yours than ours. We've raised him as best as we could and taught him of you. We've encouraged him to find you for himself ~ and he has. So now, it's coming time to let him travel with you, without us so much at his side. It's nearing the time where we have to let go and let him find his own path. It hurts Lord, but then Love often does. Look after him Lord ~ he's Your precious child.

Last Week

~ Last Saturday the girls and I went to get Phoebe a new phone, as her hand-me-down one died and she would be getting one in a months time anyway, for her birthday (as is our tradition at 13). We took the opportunity to grab lunch, a hot-chocolate and a doughnut together :D. Then the girls hopped on the bus to Chester to meet up with Abbie's BFF, and go to 'craft club' ~ they're getting so grown up!

~ Last week Joel decided to have some fun with a 'Sick Science' can crushing experiment, but it may need to be repeated as it didn't really work. Not sure why. Maybe water was not hot enough, or possibly the cans weren't soft enough metal. We'll try again with Coke cans.

~ Last week little man learnt to hop ~ he was a bit pleased with himself :D

~ Last week we embarked on a new activity to do together each week. The bigger chids and I have decided not to carry on with 'Igniting Your Writing II' any more ~ it's a good course, but we all feel the need for something more 'hands-on' and all the children do enough English and writing in other ways. Instead we have decided I will do proper cookery lessons on a Wednesday! Last week we had some left over chicken bones (from the night when Paul rescued my burnt meal attempts ~ see the irony there), so we made chicken soup. It was just going to be plain, but then I found we had some Thai spices and lemon grass 'flavour pots' in the cupboard, so we converted it to Chicken Noodle Soup.

I did very little towards this (I just chopped the mushrooms to oblivion and then did the bone picking towards the end, because the chids had run off to do some other work whilst it simmered) ~ and I have to say it was DELICIOUS! In this case many cooks did not spoil the broth ;-)

This week we're making biscuits and next I think we'll make pastry. The little chids will probably join in with those too. I want to keep a mix between savoury, sweet and 'staples'. I've invested in an old fashioned home-ec' book, so between that and Delia I think I should be able to teach them the basics that they may all need one day :D

~ Last week (and so far this week too) Chip has been BIG into wanting to know how to write his letters and numbers. At his demand we've done lots on paper; I've let him make up his own way a lot, because it's just good for him to play with emergent writing; and we've done some like this too ~ because it's fun. He tells me what to write in dots and I obey!

~ Last week IT SNOWED!!

Not for long, but big soft flakes fell for about 20 minutes or so. It was enough to cover the ground; enough for DD to make a tiny snowman; enough for some of them to throw a few snowballs at each other; and enough to satisfy their craving to simply stand in the falling snow!

Chip remembered how cold it was last time I think, so he was very reluctant to go outside. Instead he watched from the comparable warmth of the living room window ~ and then agreed to sit there for a bit while I took a few cute photos of him watching the snow fall ;D

When the snow stopped falling and gave way to sunshine, we came inside and painted snowy trees instead. By the time we were done the snow outside had all melted away :(. We were glad we enjoyed the moment while we could!

Artwork oldest to youngest (Mine, Abbie's, TP's, Lilo's, DD's, Stitch's and Chip's);

I just want to say that with Chip I learnt from last week, and only gave him a half sheet of paper. Then he set to work and did his almost ENTIRELY by himself (the last one). He drew around the triangle templates by himself, he drew the ground and the dividing lines by himself. I initially drew the tree trunks and stems, but he did ALL the over-lining by himself. He then chose all his own colours and painted it entirely on his own. When it came to the snow, he chose to do it multicoloured and arranged them where he wanted them, I just helped him squeeze the tiny dots of glue. I think his might be my top-pick of the week! I think it's incredible and I absolutely love it!

Joel chose not to do the watercolour work, but instead did a rather fabulous sketch of a turtle (using a tutorial book we have). 

 ~ This week has been a bit bitty so far, but the three younger ones did have fun with Steve Spangler's Coin Tower experiment (looking at friction and inertia). They weren't entirely successful with it, but had fun trying and I think Lilo did manage it in the end ~ when I wasn't videoing of course!!

A Short Long Month

November always seems like such a long, long month. 

The long, cold nights and short dark days set in; jumpers get pulled from the cupboards, never to go away again until spring and it's hard to lift your mood when the sun sets at 4pm!

This November has admittedly been unusually mild, yet still it's seemed like one of the longest months of the year. But, thankfully, it has been sandwiched by a couple of breaks in the hum-drum...

The first slice of the sandwich was at the very end of October. We took a family walk in the countryside, not too far from home (minus the two eldest boys who opted out). It was a warm and sunny day - perfect weather in fact - and we had a lovely time together. The days preceding had been a bit wet, so in places it was more than a little muddy, to the point of almost losing shoes and boots! Thankfully the children mostly thought this all just added to the fun and adventure of it, all except Chip, who wasn't so keen :D Whilst walking Chip and Stitch had a great time looking closely at all the different kinds of fungi we came across ~ and there were many!

We also had the unexpected priviledge of watching a lady training her young Border Collie dog for sheepdog trials. This was fascinating to all of us.

We also discovered an amazing old oak tree, which was managing to sustain itself despite being almost completely hollow at the base...

 - so hollow in fact that two of us could stand up in the centre of it and look up to the light coming in above, where a branch had once been. Presumably it had been storm damaged, and/or struck by lightening, but it was quite incredible to stand inside a tree!

More pictures in this slideshow;

November 5th came and went and Paul was out, so we watched fireworks from bedroom windows. However, after considerable amounts of persuasion, Paul lit a bonfire on the 6th. This was our very first family bonfire (a good way to dispose of the felled holly tree) and tbh, it could have done with being a bit less windy! The smoke and flames were bit too unpredictable to roast our marshmallows without considerable bravery! Still, Jake and I did so, and passed them round :D

School wise we have just plodded on. A couple of the children are reaching the ends of things now ~ just in time for the end of term :D. Chip has been wanting to do more learning activities too. I don't take as many pictures as I should, but here's a couple from this month

Many mornings Chip comes into my room with a handful of cars and begins his day by lining them up on the 'mountains' of bedding! 

He also counts them and groups them ~ he has that organised sort of mind I think. He can now count reliably to about 14 in sequence, or about 12 if he's counting objects and consistently recognises almost all the numbers to 10 (only really getting 7 & 8 wrong occasionally). I've started insisting that if he wants 'screen time' (on the tablet of laptop) whilst we are doing school, then he must choose a learning app/website. He has quickly got used to this idea and is happily working away on a few now :D

Another thing that seems to have made a sudden leap, is his drawing. He loves to draw and colour, but mostly, up until now, it's been draw 'something' and get us to guess what it is. Then he'll decide when we are right if he likes that idea! One day last week though, Abbie asked him if he could draw a person and after an initial refusal, and no further persuasion, he then drew this and shocked us all;

According to him it is "A Mummy, a baby and a spider mummy." I think the decorations around the outside are the spider web, and the extra red legs are intended to be trousers (after-all I always wear trousers).

We've all been learning about Molluscs in Zoology and the children have really enjoyed looking at my seashell collection, from various beaches over many years (spot the two 'oddities' in this picture) ~ how many can you name?

One thing that has been a little exceptional this month, is that Paul had to make two trips to A&E within the space of a couple of days! Our children are hardly ever ill, and even more rarely need any emergency treatment, but one Sunday morning DD was practising some gym in the lounge, as he does all the time, kicked Lilo's foot and fell awkwardly on his neck. For the rest of the day he walked with it to one side and was still doing so by evening. His shoulders were also misaligned and he was still complaining of pain, so, being a neck injury I thought I had best play it safe and get him checked over. It was just a muscle pull thankfully, but even with a hot wheat bag wrapped around his neck for most of four days plus gentle stretches, he still couldn't hold his head straight until the Friday. 

Then on the Saturday Abbie was carrying the Henry (hoover) downstairs, got the flexible tubing caught under her foot and fell off the bottom stair. She landed awkwardly on her foot, cried out and then carried on, but within minutes she was struggling to weight-bear, it was swelling and a hard lump had appeared on the top of her foot. I was pretty certain she had broken it, but also knew it was not a good night to do so! Paul was in and out and had commitments until well after 9pm, so I made her comfy on the sofa with her foot up and waited on her for the rest of the day! When Paul eventually got her up to A&E, they took an X-ray but were not completely sure whether it was broken or not (seen by nurse specialist rather than Dr), or whether it might be a torn ligament. She was sent home with crutches for the weekend and an appointment with the Orthopaedics on Monday. Poor girl struggled around all weekend and by the end of it she was complaining her hands and upper-arms were in more pain than her foot! that said, she was still unable to weight bear at all. We were all hoping is was a break rather than a ligament tear tbh, as we weren't sure she was going to be able to manage much longer on crutches and the recovery time would also be quicker with a break. So, come Monday morning she and Paul headed off to the hospital - again - and she came home with this;

I was glad I was right this time at least (although a little irritated that they hadn't just cast her on the Saturday night). She has only 'cracked' the outside bone of her foot (more than a greenstick though), but she is in the cast until just before Christmas. She can walk in it, and isn't using her crutches much at all, but still has to spend most of her time with it elevated to stop it swelling. It's driving her crazy with itching, but she is coping well. 

Something interesting that did come out of having an X-ray done, is the knowledge that, to the medics surprise, she has no growing plates in her feet ~ she is fully fused and done growing - which is a bit annoying as she is stuck at a half size, but also means she is unlikely to get any taller, which she is quite pleased about :D

The second slice of the sandwich came towards the end of November, when Paul and I were given a lovely gift to enable us to take a weekend away together. We were a bit last minute booking and ummed and arrred where to go, but ultimately we chose The Lakes because that really is my happy place! We decided though to explore some areas we hadn't really done before and I fancied being near the sea as well as the mountains, so we chose the western Lakes and stayed in Boot - a tiny little village in the valley of Eskdale. We stayed in a     Inn which was fantastic ~ comfortable, beautiful views, real fires and incredible food ~ what more can you ask?! I shan't bore you with a gazillion pictures and I shall blog about the trip separately over here, but if you're interested the pictures are on the slideshows below;

The end of November also brings Lilo's birthday, and this year she is 11. She's still such a little girl in many way. She still plays with her dolls and an essential on her list this year was some more Lego Friends, but the other things she most wants now is a 'tablet', so apart from the one toy all she really had was money ~ and plenty of it  ~ enough that after Christmas a tablet should be within her grasp! But I wanted her to have something else to open and she had been asking me to make her a cushion for a LONG time, so with just a week to do it in, I embarked on making her this  ~ 60+ rows of 154 stitches, endlessly counting in sevens;    

 and I did it! 

I found some other fun uses for the pattern along the way too, and will be tempted to do it again without the deadline ;-)

It perfectly held a single ball of wool and would be great for stopping it rolling everywhere when you're working! Also lovely as a little 'pot' for holding bobbles and scrunchy type things. A friend of mine also suggested it as a hat, which you maybe could with a little adaptation and the right shaped head!

Anyway, back to Lilo's birthday...

The final day of November saw DD and I back in Wigan at another Gym competition. He did very well and came away with 2 bronze medals. The competition was harder this time because he was against more boys. He narrowly missed bronze overall for his group of 8, and came  12th of all 19 under 10's. Sadly, despite excellent warm-ups, when it counted he under rotated for his low-bar dismount and landed on his bottom, thereby losing a full mark. With that added he would have done considerably better! 

And that's it, we're into December and the run up to Christmas has begun!