Do I live up to my blog title?

This morning, my husband called me lazy. His justification behind this is that I often leave things around the house long after I have finished using them. I argued that this makes me untidy, not lazy, but there's no point arguing with my husband, because, depsite his superior earning power, he is in fact, an idiot. ;)

So lets look at the definitions:

la·zy/ˈlāzē/

Adjective:

Unwilling to work or use energy: "he was too lazy to cook". Characterized by lack of effort or activity.

un·ti·dy/ˌənˈtīdē/

Adjective:

Not arranged neatly and in order. (of a person) Not inclined to keep one's possessions or appearance neat and in order.

Now I'm pretty sure I come under the untidy definition, but just to validate me, please give me your opinions...

...after reading a list of what I've done (so far) today in no particular order.

• Made tea for myself/husband.
• Sorted breakfast for me and boy & cleaned up.
• Made the bed (x 3)
• Emptied dishwasher.
• Did additional washing up, dried and put away.
• Did laundry and hung on line.
• Did 3 loads worth of ironing (including the stuff that had been on the line).
• Weeded the lawn and flowerbed.
• Dead-headed all the flowers.
• Edged and mowed the lawn.
• Put all clean clothes away.
• Stuffed 2 loads worth of cloth nappies.
• Cooked fusilli arrabiata for me and the boy for lunch & cleaned up.
• Put all laundry away.
• Cleaned all surfaces in the kitchen.
• Started cooking dinner for the three of us. 

Honestly, the only times I have sat down today was to get Ben down for his nap, to stuff some nappies and eat lunch. I now understand what my mum meant when she said she was on her feet all day.

Also, in the spirit of being honest, this is a particularly busy day. I would normally mow the lawn while Ben is asleep, and might not get quite so much stuff done, but it proves a point doesn't it? Ben has been "helping" me with more or less everything, apart from the ironing, and making the beds, which he unmade countless times, and has hardly watched any TV, apart from right now because he's been running about all day.

So what are your opinions? Validate me, or agree with Dave?

Edited to add: Should I also mention I'm recovering from a virus at the moment?

Is this sleep training?

Ben hasn't nursed to sleep in an age. Unless he's really sleepy, he is all kinds of bouncy and awake after nursing. Normally I let him bounce about on me until he fell asleep, and then transferred him to his cot. He'd sleep for between 1-3 hours, then wake up, usually insisting on going into our bed.

On Monday, I decided to change things up. I know he can go to sleep by himself. I've seen it. It's happened before, but it hasn't happened since we moved him into his own room, so I decided to experiment and see if he would go to sleep in his cot.

Monday was 90 minutes of picking him up (immediately) when he cried, singing, back patting, turning Ewan back on, rocking, calming and eventually, without tears, falling asleep. I stayed next to the cot throughout with my hand through the bars. He slept for 2.5 hours without waking.

Tuesday was the same bag. He only cried to be picked up twice though, compared to the eleventy times Monday. He slept for 3.5 hours before waking.

Wednesday, took 45 minutes. He settled without asking to be picked up or crying once. He held my hand as he fell asleep. He slept for 4.5 hours before waking.

Last night, Thursday, I told him I would sing to him if he lay down and closed his eyes. Eventually, he stopped giving me kisses through the bars, and fell asleep to me singing "go to sleep my baby" after 30 minutes. He slept for 4.5 hours without waking.

Then I started having doubts.

Am I sleep training my son? Is he likely to be suffering because I'm making him fall asleep in his cot instead of in his mummy's arms? When he falls asleep, is he stressed and miserable? Even though I am right there to sing and comfort him? The thought of it is stressing me out.

Tonight is the 5th night of attempting to get him to sleep in his cot. Eventually, I would like to work towards him spending all night in there, as he is such a wiggler that neither me, nor his dad, sleep that well when he's in bed with us, but I'm having doubts.

Are we doing the right thing by our son?

Answers on a postcard please...

The Rich Tapestry of Life

You know when you go shopping and you see that single kids shoe in the shopping centre, or on the side of the street? Yeah? The childrens cardigan left on a swing? I'm sure you've seen those. Ben has now added to that rich tapestry by deciding somewhere in The Centre MK to remove a solitary shoe and throw it out of the pushchair. I retraced my steps... quickly. I only had 2 hours parking, and shopping to get. No sign of the shoe. Maybe somewhere in Milton Keynes there's a toddler with just one, size 6F blue shoe, who now has found the yin to his yang? I can only hope so, because they still fit Ben. *humpf*

Any other joys when shopping? Why yes! There was the man in House of Fraser, who obviously assumed, as I was looking at leather wallets, that I couldn't afford to buy anything by Hugo Boss, by announcing in front of another customer "you do know these are between £85-90?" Yes thanks. I'm well aware. I was looking at that one on the website. As it turns out, the leather is pretty poor quality for something so expensive. Needless to say, I didn't purchase it, but not because I couldn't afford to. Idiot.

Once I'd bought Ben a new pair of shoes, and gotten all my shopping, we headed back to the car with a mere 5 minutes to spare. When we got to the car, I discovered that Ben had circumvented his nappy and there was wee EVERYWHERE. I did a very classy, side of the road, nappy change, as I didn't have time to find a changing room, and off we went. I rang Dave, to let him know that I was heading home, and did he want me to drop in to the office with the banana muffins he'd forgotten. He said he was nearly finished, and in the course of conversation nearly made me hang up on him. I may throw away the gift I bought him out of sheer spite... and drink all of the gift I got myself.

Not just yet though. Ben has saying "oh no" solidly for the last half an hour, and it currently throwing chickpeas across my living room. This is motherhood? I'm not sure if this is what I signed up for! ;)

Don't touch!

Last week I visited several places that had signs to this effect. We did our best, with our rambunctious toddler, to keep his grubby little fingers under control, but occasionally, he did succeed in grabbing things he shouldn't have. What can you do? He's a baby. He doesn't understand. He doesn't realise that shiny thing he's trying to grab is an Austin 7 milk truck that's 80 odd years old!

Parents, on the other hand, are. Unless they are totally illiterate, and unable to interpret a big sign of a finger poking something, with a giant red line through it, of course.

My guess is, the vast majority of parents fall into the earlier category, so why the hell did I repeatedly see people allowing their children to dick about with displays that very clearly specify that they're not for little hands?

Example 1: Parent of young boy. Aged about 8 or 9. Not only did he grab the steering wheels, wing mirrors, and gear sticks of several vintage cars, that were specifically marked with "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THIS DISPLAY", he climbed onto a raised platform, that was roped off, to dick about with child sized cars, one of which was a miniature Aston Martin of which there are only TEN in the world, two of which belong to Princes William and Harry. His dad not only allowed him to do it, but actually joined in putting his dirty fingers all over the pretty cars. What made this worse for me, was that kid was more than old enough to read the signs, and control his motor reflexes himself!

Example 2: Two mothers with toddlers. Estimated age 2. They were picking the kids up to ring the bell on a vintage fire truck over and over and over again. Then when the girls were bth fed up of that, they were placed on the immaculately restored paintwork of said fire truck, so that their mothers could take pictures. As a result of this, Ben had a massive paddy that I wouldn't let him touch the big red truck. Twunts.

Am I being a little bit over-sensitive about this? After all, it was only a year ago that kids decided to stave in the roof of my car. Maybe it needed a sign? Not that anyone would have taken any notice...

I'm also really fond of vintage cars, and love seeing them after restoration. I just don't understand why do people have so little respect for other peoples', and companies' property that they think it's okay to completely ignore the owner's wishes. Surely as parents, we have enough control over our children, to stop them from ignoring the rules? Even if the rules are stupid!

Tell me, which camp do you belong to? Do you allow your kids to flount the rules and touch things they shouldn't, or are you like me, and get really hacked off when people don't respect other peoples' property?

Couch to 5K

I've passed the half way point. On my 3rd attempt at completing the couch to 5km program, I have finally made it to Week 5 Day 2. Two 8 minute jogs, with a 5 minute walk in between, and I've kept my pace below 6 minutes per km for my running intervals which also makes me really happy. :) I'm now on the downward slope towards longer and longer runs. Friday is 20 minutes straight. I must admit, I am somewhat nervous about it. However, if I can do it I will be overjoyed, and I feel so much fitter so far. I seem to recover so much quicker than I did at the start, and my legs look slimmer and more toned.

After running in rain and sleet during Week 4.

Of course, there is another reason why I'm doing it, which helps motivate me to train in the wind, rain and sleet, and it's because I'm trying to raise money for Cancer Research UK by completing the Race for Life around Rugby School's grounds in July. I wanted to run this year, because I lost a colleague to cancer last year when Ben was a tiny baby. One minute she was fine, the next she had been handed a death sentence, and before anyone could get their heads around it, she was taken from us. I will also be running in memory of my beloved Nana.
 
If anyone would like to sponsor me, then please visit my sponsorship page on the Race For Life website. If you're local, why not sign up yourself or come down to the school and cheer the ladies (and me in my running tights) on!

I may update again if I complete the run Friday. Wish me luck!

Awesome hugs, yo!

Let me get this straight, Ben is a cuddle and run kind of guy. There's no lingering, no cuddles while watching TV, and it's like he's saying "yeah mum, I love you, but you've replaced that vase/plate/GameCube/door I broke last week, and I want to see how Ben proof the new one is."

So today, having realised that Ben had released last night's dinner (Thai green curry by the way) into his nappy, I took him up for a nappy change. He lay on the mat looking up at me sweetly. I kissed his tummy, just the once mind, as he smelled like crap, at which point he grabbed my head and pulled it into his chest.

Usually, after a few seconds, he'll push me away, but today I got awesome hugs, yo. He pulled me in tight and gave me a hug for a few minutes that almost made me forget all the sleepless nights over the last 15 months.

For once, there's no punchline. He didn't get crap on me/himself, or wee on the floor (as that was last night), he was just awesome. Now on the other hand, he's trying to use my boob as a step so he can climb the bedside table. *sigh* It was nice while it lasted.

Totally Bragging

Brother-in-law's girlfriend C looked after my baby boy for 30 minutes while I went for a run today. Ben has spent time with her before now, but never one on one, so it was a little risky.

I came home after my workout (4.09km in 29 mins) to a happy, smiling baby who had eaten some raisins and a biscuit, been a very good boy, and laughed the whole time.

C said she's never known a child to laugh as much as Ben. Pretty good going really... seeing as she works in a nursery for a living. He has laughed and giggled constantly until just now, as I nurse him to sleep.

I was also impressed that my confident, secure, outgoing boy was happy to be looked after by someone he doesn't know that well too. No tears or sadness when I left, just a wave bye bye at the window.

So maybe this breastfeeding, co-sleeping, attachment parenting lark is paying off. So he still wakes up 2-7 times a night, but I think, it's a small price to pay for his beautiful personality. Even if it does get on my tits (excuse the pun) every now and then.