Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Still Alive!!

Well hello!! Thanks to all of you who have kept in touch despite my absence from blog-world of late. I thought it was about time I gave you a really brief update of the Wellyboots tribe!

Well we survived Daddy being away with great success and even managed a trip to Wales for a long weekend to see him in action! His absense has even resulted in a much greater level of acceptance of household chores for all :)

Since then life has been ticking along steadily, with it's usual ups and downs of family-life and homeschooling :) On the whole the boys are doing very well - the usual ebbs and flows of enthusiasm taking their course! Joel seems to have finally grasped that 'making 10' strategy that we were struggling with some weeks back (no, we've not been at it constantly since then - just a steady drip-feeding and regular visits!!) and Jacob is nearing the end of Sing' Maths 2B, which means we will be into 3rd grade Maths. Having looked ahead, I think we might do some CGP Yr3 stuff first - for consolidation purposes - before we move on. I don't want to bull-dozer ahead just yet with Maths and leave him still back at Yr2 level for English. I'd rather concentrate less on the maths and broaden our horizons a little :)

Today we learnt the (potted) history of Ireland; from the Celts (300BC) to the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1921) and the declaration of an Irish Republic in 1948 - yup - that was a long tough one, but some very interesting stuff there and it made the boys see that we 'English' are not always the good guys!! Didn't we do some nasty stuff to those Irish people back then in history - no wonder they hated us!! Anyway - not dwelling on politics, but I learnt loads today hand-in-hand with my boys :) I think I might remember more than them, but ...!

I think I might try and attempt some kind of 'lap-book' type thing for our studies of Ireland. That really would be adventurous for me. I'm trying to figure out HOW I might do it though!! Any of you done any 'lap booking' can give me some advice?

In History we are just reaching our studies of Egypt (having done 'UR' and Babylon briefly last week and made 'early' clay jars - which we still need to seal and paint). I'm really looking forward to having a good delve into Ancient Egypt :)

If you are all wondering WHY I haven't been around much it is basically that come the evenings I am spent on 'giving out' - so to blog takes too much brain work!! I have been busy vegging on e-bay buying far too many nappies for the new baby! I have decided that, bearing in mind I will have two babies in full-time nappies for at least 6 months (unless Ellie trains early like Boo did) and Boo still in them at night, life could get VERY expensive to keep using 'Nature Baby' disposables. SO, we need to go back to re-usables. I used to use Kooshies, but to be honest I never found them that fantastic, so I have been on a 'best nappy' hunt :) I have discovered MINKI nappies - and they are simply fantastic. I have NEVER successfully used re-usables at night but now I not only have Ellie back in them full-time daytime, but I have BOTH Ellie & Boo in them at night - with NO leaks and nice dry-to-touch bums in the morning!! I also really like WONDEROOS and I am about to try out Fuzzi-Bunz too. A friend of mine is selling me on her size 1 Tots-Bots for when the baby is newborn. The Wonderoos and Fuzzis can be used as wraps and as stuffables, so they will come to good use with the TotsBots :) I just like the idea of something I can use like an All-in-One for ease of Paul using it too. He seems to like the Minki's best as well :) Thank goodness for e-bay though. I can get them for half the price and they are still in great condition even though they are 2nd hand :)

The pregnancy is going fine. I'm getting fatter all the time and the baby is lovely and lively now ;) !! The children seem to be quite excited about the prospect of another brother/sister and Phoebe keeps saying "your baby out now?" in a questioning, yet demanding type way! and "your baby kick me!!" - not sure she appreciates that much!!

Anyway - that's my brief update and I shall TRY not to leave it so long next time. In the meantime I shall try to get round the blog-ring and visit you all over the next few days or so. I've given up e-bay for the next two days at least - I've spent all my money!!

I forgot to mention - we have our annual LEA visit on Thursday. I'm not at all worried - we have it in the bag!! :)

5 comments:

Jax Blunt said...

Good to see you back Caroline! And thanks for the update :)

Sarah said...

Nappy talk makes me feel so old! There was so little choice when I was buying nappies (never managed to bring myself to buy any subsequent times round when there was more choice!) so we only ever used kooshies (pah to them) and then terries.

Anyway Caroline, nice to hear from you again, glad all is going well.

Anonymous said...

Only been reading your posts for 3 months and was wondering where you were. Glad you are doing ok. We have just bought nappies from http://littlelamb.co.uk/ at a really good price. Thought it might be worth a look and they are DEFINITELY easy to use. If you want prefolds i am trying to sell some. Anyway good luck with the inspection- sounds like you have it sussed though. Carolx

Jan said...

I have a load of nappies here you gave me that worked well on M even at night. Would you like them back for Ellie?

I don't think we're going to make it over this weekend, much as we'd love to see you. C was asking this evening when we'd next see you all. But if I think we can manage it I'll call you nearer the time.

Caroline said...

nappy comments - I have tried my fuzzi bunz now and I love it - even more than the Wonderoos (more 'wicking' I think!). Little-lambs I have looked at and they are very much like Tot-bots, except have velcro and as my friend is selling me on her tb's without velcro (therefore more versatile) I'll be happy with those :) Kissaluvs - hmm - they do look nice, but I think they are likely to be similar to the tb's aswell. Prefolds I have loads and I also sewed a lot of my terries into perfolds a while back - although am regretting that a little now as they stuff better as flat nappies (more flexable).

If anyone has any Fuzzis (small, medium or large!) or TB's wraps, or maybe even Minki's they'd like to pass/sell on to a new home - give me shout please :) Also if anyone has finished with any terries, fleece liners, or boosters/inserts - I'm on the hunt for those too!!

Now I'll go put tea in and blog later