Saturday 1st November 2014

Spooky Sawyer Halloween Party...

This is the best attempt at a group photo of the little monsters...never work with children or animals.

Grubs up. Apologies to parents for all of the sugar consumed!

Are those pumpkins just hovering above?

Mamma witch! Mwhaaa mwhaaaa mwhaaaa!

Cutest little monster ever!

So scary it's blurry.

Yee haa sheriff!

Lady bug grub!

Look at that little pumpkin in the background! That lady loves those toys!

Showing off outside.

Toffee and chocolate apples...yey!!!

Sparklers are so much fun.

Grandpops did a fab job with the fireworks.

Gorgeous kiddy winks.

Excellent artistic face painting guys!

Good times!

The hat caused the crazy face!

Reluctantly wearing the hat!

Ahhhhh!

Snogging the cowboy!

Thanks for coming everyone. Happy Halloween and bonfire night!

Wednesday 29th October 2014

Half Term is here and I decided the boys are ready for starting university...

We met our friends Esther and Daniel at Keele to take a trip down memory lane for us Mummies.

I thought I had forgotten where everything is but once we drove into Newcastle I went into auto pilot. It was quite surreal!

Now we decided £1 shots in the union and cheesy chips weren't massively appropriate (despite being very tempting) so we opted for playing at Keele Hall and having a picnic on the quad.

10 years on it was lovely to visit and see all the 'kids' studying or mostly mooching around. 

The boys seemed quite impressed.

Endless fun in fallen leaves!

A 'new' sculpture on the quad made for a good game of hide and seek.

I'm coming to find you!

Daniel entertained a group of students by attempting to hide in a bush. Convinced he was camoflauged because of his trousers he backed into the foilage...he forgot about his bright blue coat!

We then had a trip to Trentham Monkey Forest. Esther and I were all relaxed until we had to walk through this prison like cage to get in!

How big are these monkeys?

Three monkeys.

Difficult to tell the difference.

Love Freddie's face...erm there's a monkey over there.

Just chillin

Monkeys are brilliant.

Lots of monkey impressions!

Crazy people.

Highly recommend the Monkey Forest.

Sunday 19th October 2014

Freddie update....

Well we are going through lots of little highs and lows with the little man at the moment.

I will get the lows out of the way first....

Number one on the list of Freddie Mark's bad habits at the moment has to be the tantrums. He has always had a very strong personality and we have commented from the start on his fighting spirit. That spirit is currently culminating in several tantrums a day whenever he is asked to do something he is not particularly keen on at that moment...these range from having a bath, eating his dinner or getting dressed, to brushing his teeth or switching the ipad off. A typical tantrum may last anything between five minutes to an hour.

The second reoccurring issue we are having with Master Sawyer at the moment is the inability to sleep through the night. He wakes up at least a couple of times a night and then is usually up before 6, ready to start the day but rather grumpy because he is tired! Hopefully this is just a phase and will be over soon!

Now, enough of the negative lets look at the highs...

It seems we may have finally made progress with getting Freddie to feed himself instead of us having to spoon feed him like a baby! It's only small steps but he is definitely happier to fill his face himself at meal times and receive lots of praise for doing so.

He is much more confident and able on playgrounds and parks. We have noticed a real increase in his strength and speed which is lovely to see.

A trip to Drayton Manor Park yesterday also confirmed he is now tall enough to go on some of the fast rides! He has passed the 90cm mark! Obviously, Freddie being Freddie, he has decided roller coasters and fast rides are the things for him. As Jon and I are passing the signs saying 'not suitable for people with heart conditions' looking a bit anxious, Freddie has a stubborn look of defiance about him as if to say...."ha, I laugh in the face of danger!" We have been told if things stay good there are only two things he cannot do because of his condition....become a deep sea diver or an astronaut. 

I have no doubt that when Freddie grows up he will tell me that he is going on a trip to explore shipwrecks with his buddies and that his career advisor has told him to apply to NASA for an apprentiship.

Showing off in the Autumn sunshine.

Beep beep!

I absolutely love this photo! Look at that for an excited gummy face!

That is neither Freddie nor Samuel but a completely irrelevant meerkat that I snapped at the zoo.

Xx

Saturday 11th October 2014

Today I decided to take advantage of having a camera on my phone and snap a typical day in the Sawyer household....

Well the day started at 6am but photos of anyone that early in the day are rather scary so we start in Morrisons cafe...

Like father like son. After the hardship of the weekly shop a big breakfast is a must!

They don't come much cheekier than this. 

It's a selfie day! 

Going shopping is sooooo boring!

Then it's off to work for Mummy...a trip to Trent Bridge Cricket Ground.

Registrar selfie whilst no one was watching! Another lovely bride and groom say "I do" at one of Nottinghamshires fab venues.

Whilst Mummy is hard at work, the boys go out to play! Bramcote Hills Park in the rain!

A bit of gingerbread baking in the afternoon turned into a rather messy affair. The boy likes flour.

After dinner a bit of playing and then....

The usual bedtime tantrum from Freddie! 

And now a very tired Mummy and Daddy Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Thursday 9th October

Very proud of the big lad today....

He did a grading at Aikido to go from a white belt to yellow. 

Well done Samuel. You'll be a black belt in no time! 

Wednesday 17th September 2014

Freddie is now officially a pre-schooler.

The little tyke has moved into the pre-school room at nursery which has more of a class-room feel to it than the other areas. We are a couple of weeks in and the drop off is still a rather emotional event. As much as he is used to the nursery, it is still a change in his environment that he needs to adjust too. He now attends for two and a half days so hopefully going more regularly will help him settle.

 Starting pre-school seems to have coincided with an increase in the frequency and intensity of Freddie's tantrums and the inability to go to bed on his own!

We have tried pretty much everything in the non-existent toddler parenting handbook: reward charts, naughty step, time out, taking toys away etc. Few have had little impact and we are now just hoping it is a short-lived phase. 

The not going to bed well at night is a bit of a shock to the system after getting used to them both going without any problems. However, the little man looks genuinely upset when we walk away from him at night so a few extra cuddles cant really hurt....can it?!

His favourite thing at the moment is Fireman Sam. Anything to do with the Welsh ginger all round super hero goes down very well with Freddie Mark. I struggle to keep up with his and Samuel's games as they combine fire fighting with The Little Kingdoms 'Elf Rescue' adventures (Ben and Holly) and the 'Octonauts' deep sea explorations! I usually just smile and nod.

I have been feeling a little bit more anxious about his heart recently. I honestly have no specific concerns at all I just start fretting and 'google-ing' silly little symptoms. The light bulb has switched on today though when I realised we are getting towards that time of year again.

In a weeks time it will be three years since the little dude had his surgery and in about six weeks we have his annual Glenfield visit to face. My much needed reassurance from the experts only seems to last between ten and eleven months and as much as we dread the visit I think subconsciously I crave someone just to acknowledge that everything is ok.

I think he is stronger than ever...and cheekier!