The Blog of a Full-Time Working Mum

Anna has already spent 4 full days with us and things feel so much smoother and easier now. The boys are really comfortable with her. They listen to her and follow her guidance. She is really good with manners and discipline. She  is also very patient and rarely raises her voice. She is firm but kind. In only 4 days, Anna has managed to cover most of the boys' daily routine: - Change Ryan's nappies (wet and soiled nappies) - Get the kids dressed and teeth brushed - G ive the boys breakfast - Put Ryan to bed (for his daytime nap) - Serve lunch and dinner to the kids - Play with the kids - Give the kids a bath - Encourage the kids to tidy up the toy room at the end of each day I am so proud of her! She has done so well! We just have a couple of things to work on but I think we are almost there: - I need to prepare a meal planner so Anna knows what to give Ryan for lunch when I am back at work next week (Dylan will be back at school himself and will be h...

I find it very difficult to describe Day 2.  It is a mixture of emotions: confusion and concern. Dylan is taking well to Anna. He  is easy going and understands what her role is and what he is supposed to do. Ryan, on the other hand, does not understand why Anna takes care of him when Mummy is around. Ryan throws tantrums because he wants Mummy (he is only 22 months).  Anna confessed she was worried about Ryan. She feels that he won't take to her: What if he cries for me during the day (when I am not around) and that she is not able to cheer him up? I reassured her and explained her the reasons why he acts the way he does and that it would improve in a few days. I, on the other side, am a bit concerned about the kids' safety. We went to town this afternoon to do a bit of shopping and she did not seem to pay much attention to the boys, more engrossed in her shopping (or maybe because she knew I was there?). Also she does not seem to check probably before crossing...

Yesterday was our first day with our au pair Anna. We went to France to visit family and also to pick her up this weekend. She happens to live in the same town as my mum's family (it is not a coincidence though, she was introduced to me by a relative). I mentioned it in a previous post. Here is the link if you wish to catch up:  https://theblogofafulltimeworkingmum.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/choosing-au-pair-definitely-not-easy.html?m=1 The trip home lasted about 6 hours, which was quite challenging. Not because she is a difficult person (on the contrary she is really lovely). It is just that I cannot really do small talks and find it hard to converse with new people (particularly when it is at length). But I think we did well :). Once at home, I showed her around the house. I also showed her where the useful things were (cockery, cutlery, coffee/tea, toilet paper, etc...) and gave her the rest of the day to settle down and unpack. One thing I made sure of (as soon as she a...

Yesterday was a nice hot day. We thought it would be nice to have a Fish and Chips at the beach. So we did! It was really lovely and relaxing having our dinner whilst looking at the sea  until the dog arrived. Tr evor and the boys had finished their dinner by then and were throwing stones in the sea when a little dog arrived. The dog had a ball in her mouth and clearly wanted to play "fetch". Trevor threw the ball once, twice, three times... But the dog kept coming back for more. It was fun at the beginning but after a while it became a bit irritating. Also Dylan is petrified of dogs. Trevor decided to throw the ball very hard hoping the dog would not come back but, when he did, his ring flew out in the air!!! We were both shocked! Where did it go? None of us saw where it landed! We went from shock to panic mode and started searching frantically for the ring. But then it got even worse... Dylan made a poo in his pants, R yan...

Around this time of the year every year, Dylan and I go and pick blackberries to make a crumble :). We did it again yesterday. We did not have to go far, our local park is full of them. It did not take us long to fill up our containers. However by the time we reached home, Dylan had eaten the content of the first container. Needless to say he was not very hungry anymore so we made the crumble tonight instead. I used the Berry Crumble recipe from allrecipes:  http:// allrecipes.co.uk / recipe/26195/ berry-crumble. aspx Ingredients (6 people): 300g blackberries 250g flour 200g sugar 180g butter   Method: Preheat the oven to 200 C / Gas 6. Lightly butter a shallow baking dish Arrange the berries in the dish Mix the sugar, butter and flour with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the berries. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until crumble is golden and berries are bubbly. S...

What a weekend!  I am absolutely knackered. Have you ever felt like you were drowning? That's how I feel! There is simply too much going on right now. Don't get me wrong. I love change. I hate routine. I like to try new things. I cannot sit still. But for once I just would like to sit on my bum and do nothing, just sit on the couch and watch telly all day. That is what I need right now.  But there is just so much to do... We are moving home soon. That's fantastic. I am really looking forward to it. But this comes with disadvantages too, like actually moving (packing and unpacking). I spent my weekend going from room to room and making piles of things to sell or donate; then started to advertise the stuff for sale on ebay, Facebook or Preloved (and organising dates/times for people to pick up). Nightmare... We also started shopping for flooring as our new house is a new-built and flooring is left for us to arrange. It is exciting but a bit overwhelming. Too much ch...

Have you ever played footgolf? No? It is so much fun. You have to try! It is like golf with a twist, a new way to play the old game. It is also cheaper and more family-friendly. I tried it for the first time last night. I was looking for a crazy golf place near us but found none, only a standard golf course. However I found out that they offered different types of activities like footgolf and frisbee golf. So we played footgolf. You get a soccer ball (kids get slightly bigger balls). The aim of the game is to complete each hole by kicking the ball into the holes, with the lowest possible amount of kicks. Footgolf players play on the same golf course as the standard golf players. The footgolf holes are gigantic holes placed close to the standard golf holes.  Footgolf holes have different coloured flags. It takes about 45 minutes to complete a 9-hole course. It is fairly easy for a younger child. Dyla...

We had a pizza evening last night. I never know what to cook. I can never please everyone. If hubby likes what I cook, the kids don't and vice versa. It is a nightmare. I could not handle any more criticism about my cooking (not last night). Everyone love pizzas at home hence why a pizza evening :). The kids made their own. Dylan made a ham, olives and goats' cheese pizza and Ryan a Chorizo pizza. Ingredients for Dylan's pizza: Pizza dough base Pizza sauce Ham Goats' cheese Olives Grated cheese Ingredients for Ryan's pizza: Pizza dough base Pizza sauce Chorizo Grated cheese Both the boys enjoyed the activity. Even Ryan managed to participate in the activity (he is only 22 months). Daddy helped him place the Chorizo slices and the grated cheese onto the pizza base (more cheese in his mouth than on the pizza though as you can imagine - too tempting). Dylan did everything himself: spread the pizza sauce onto the pizza base, cut...

Nothing better than a good old game of paper plane flying. I love retro games. They are simple games but they are loads of fun.  Nothing beats a game of Ludo (sat on nan’s lap on a cold winter day) or pooh sticks game (during the Sunday walk after a nice and filling Sunday roast) or building a den in the forest with your buddies on a hot summer day. I felt a bit nostalgic yesterday and thought of all the things I used to play with as a child. One of the things I remembered playing a lot with is paper planes. I mentioned it to Dylan and he welcomed the activity with enthusiasm. We found an easy template for our planes (just a traditional paper plane template) on Wikipedia, made our paper planes, coloured them and gave them names (mine's called Speedo and Dylan's Lightning). We tried to fly our planes from the upstairs window first but both our planes landed in the neighbours’ garden (oops!) so we decided to launch them from the top of t...

Yesterday evening Dylan and I made some cupcakes. I am no baking expert and I don’t like the mess so it is not something we do often. Ryan was in bed (he is only 21 months old) and daddy at work so I said OK. Mum and son's bonding time. I did not have baking chocolate (and I was a bit lazy as well to be honest) so we used chocolate cake mix. Dylan mixed the dough with the hand mixer and placed the cupcake cases in the muffin tray. He also cleaned the bowl -by that I mean that he licked the bowl. Because it was a last minute thing, I forgot to take the butter out to prepare the buttercream frosting (I had tried to melt butter in the microwave in the past but it was a disaster. I completely ruined the buttercream). Luckily I found a trick online to soften butter quickly. Definitely one of the best baking tricks ever! Basically, what you need to do to soften butter quickly (but don’t want to melt it) is to put boiling water in a glass to heat it. Leave ...

Do you know how to make a bicycle sound like a motorbike? All you need is a playing card and a clothes peg. I did not have one so I sacrificed my plastic notebook cover instead. Never mind it was almost time for a new one anyway :). It brings back so many childhood memories. My dad used to do the same thing with the sides of a camembert box (the wooden ones). They make twice as much noise! Sorry dear neighbours :)!

We went for a walk in the woods on Saturday. The plan was to go to the beach but the weather was not that great so we decided to go to the woods instead as it is more sheltered (in case it rains). To make it more fun for Dylan (walking is not much fun apparently - or so he says), I organised a scavenger hunt for him. For those who don't know what a scavenger hunt is, it is a game in which the organisers prepare a list defining specific items, which the participants seek to gather or complete all items on the list. It is very similar to a treasure hunt but without the clues. Preparation time: It takes 10 minutes maximum to prepare your list of items and gather what's needed. You will need: Scavenger hunt list Pen or pencil (to tick what has been found) clipboard (optional) Bucket to collect items or camera (personally I prefer the camera option - I'd rather not go back home with a bucket full of leaves, mushrooms and creatures of all sorts) Activity times: ...