Our time away, while nice, wasn’t as good as it should have been. Thanks to me having four bad nights of sleep in a row before we went to the hotel I was over tired, and my body reacted by giving me an IBS attack through most of our time away. Thankfully I could keep it fairly under control with paracetamol but it made it a little miserable at times. I was also suffering a bit with PMT so was a bit crabby with Mr H. We did manage to enjoy having time to ourselves though. The food at the hotel was fantastic, though the waiters and waitresses were a little slow (especially at breakfast on Tuesday, it took 20 minutes and Mr H going to ask for them for us to get some tea and coffee!). The view from our room was lovely, looking left over the garden and right to the hill across the (little) valley). I will get some photos up on Flickr soon… Mr H had a fantastic time at the climbing wall, it was even better than we thought it would be, I just wish it was closer to us as Mr H loved it and it would do him so much good to go out and climb more often. We spent rather a long time in the Trafford Centre on Monday afternoon and very nearly spent rather a lot of money on a new tent that was on offer (we’re glad we didn’t as coming home and looking online it’s really not what we want anyway).

We got home late on Tuesday and were then up early on Wednesday to tidy up for my uncle. It was fantastic to see him and my cousin, hopefully we’ll make it down to his in the next couple of months. We’ve still not seen his house and he’s been there for 5 1/2 years now. The tables he brought are gorgeous. They’re the ones I remembered from my Gran’s and are a lovely dark oak. We just need to find a home for them now, they’re a little too nice for the munchkin to use for drawing or putting drinks on (I don’t trust her to use a coaster yet!).

We’ve returned to more of a wait with Mr H’s job. It has been announced that there will be a big announcement about his department towards the end of the month, and Mr H’s team has a meeting with the big boss on the 1st October. We may discover then what is going to happen. Otherwise it’ll be November. We were hoping to fit in another week of camping before the weather gets colder (mid October - in theory…) but we’re not sure it’s going to happen now. We don’t want Mr H to be off on holiday when any news is announced, he’ll need to be around to sort things out and to get full details on what’s happening when if he is made redundant.

My job over the next couple of weeks is to get myself back into a good housework routine. We’re not going away anywhere and don’t have much on so it’s a perfect time for me to try and get organised. We’ll see what happens, I can’t lose anything by trying!

I do wonder whether I’ll ever manage to keep the house as tidy as I want it for more than 24 hours…I think that’s my record so far. It was never as bad when we lived in Cambridge, but down here I just can’t seem to stay on top of it. I think I need a new method of staying on top of everything. I did have a little notebook in which I wrote to-do lists everyday, that helped a bit. As did having a laminated list of jobs on the fridge that I crossed off everyday, though somehow that was easier to ignore.

I have discovered the Organised Mum website today. I’ve been wondering about getting a new diary, and these have space for menus and to-do lists as well. I do think being more organised generally would help me. I just need to keep working at it.

I’ve been having one of those weeks when everything just seems like too much effort. I’ve no excuse for it really, I’ve just not wanted to do anything. Thankfully after the bank holiday weekend I seem to have come out the other side and I’ve actually wanted to get on and do things. Mr H has driven us out to a nearby forest a couple of times and I think the fresh air and exercise (and laughs as he climbs the trees like a little boy!) have really helped. We’re going to try and get out there every weekend, it should help all of us. The munchkin loves the forest, there are often motorbikes nearby (she loves then for some reason) and trees to clamber on, as well as muddy puddles to make a beeline for (not if I can help it!). We’re wondering about getting her some proper walking boots as we’re doing more and more outside and her wellies aren’t really good enough for it. We’re not sure where to track any down at the moment though as she’s only got size 6 1/2 feet still.

This week is a bot of a muddle really. Firstly the bank holiday yesterday, tomorrow I have to have an x-ray on my wrist (same problem as in the past, I went back to the GP last week as we’re sick of me having a couple of days every few weeks when I can’t even lift the kettle or write without being in pain) and on Friday afternoon we head north. We’re dad-sitting on Saturday while Mum goes out for the day (7am - 10pm) with her choir(after the robbery last year she’s not happy leaving him for too long, we will be fine to go out for lunch/the afternoon as long as we leave a note in the kitchen saying where we are) before leaving the munchkin there and going here for 2 nights. You might remember this post a couple of weeks ago when we realised we needed a break but didn’t know what to do, well I finally converted Mr H. He realised how much a hotel break would be a rest for me and I think he fancies some nice dinners (we have a DBB deal). I’ve offered to take him here on Monday as he loves climbing and hasn’t done any in ages. There are no decent walls near here (though one is being built) so he only tends to go climbing when we’re at D&G’s in Scotland (G loves climbing too). As long as my wrist is ok I’ll be able to do a little bouldering as well and if we only do that we won’t need any equipment other than climbing shoes. He was a very happy blokey when I suggested it. Being the techno-geek he is he’s considering taking a couple of small speakers and an amplifier so that if we watch DVDs on the laptop in the evenings we can get decent sound…I do wonder whether that may be taking things too far (but the Harry Potter 5 - just bought it to take with us - may sound a bit crappy on the laptop speakers…argh….he’s converting [subverting?] me!).

Well, that’s a quick update from me, I’m off now to plan what to do with a huge bag of cooking apples we were given at church on Sunday. I quite fancy apple pie, but I need to buy some pastry as I don’t fancy making my own! Plus it won’t use that many of them! Do you have any favourite apple recipes you could recommend to me?

A few minutes of umming and ahhing later (post getting a cold wet flannel to put on her forehead) and the munchkin and I were on our way to the local NHS drop in centre to have a quick check of it. The lump was getting bigger and the munchkin wouldn’t let me anywhere near it.

Thankfully we didn’t have to wait for long and were called in to see a nurse in the assessment room. Apart from checking the munchkin’s pupils she didn’t look at her at all and just told me to keep an eye on her. As she was telling me how to identify whether the munchkin had any double vision I had to turn away from her to watch the munchkin (who was trying to climb onto her pushchair, an act which has caused her to tip the chair onto herself in the past) I was asked whether I was listening and to repeat what I had just been told! I felt like I was being spoken to as one of the many young mums that fill our town rather than a 27 year old graduate/ex-teacher.

I can’t decide whether she was being rude or patronsing or what. I definitely wasn’t impressed. I was worried enough about my daughter to bring her in to be checked out when she’d had a nasty bang on the head, of course I was going to listen to the person I’d gone to for advice!

I’m now toying with contacting the local PALS team as I came out of there feeling awful. I shouldn’t be made to feel like that when I’ve just gone for a bit of advice as a worried mother.

The munchkin has perked up a lot this afternoon, she was very subdued earlier. She is tired though. This photo was taken about 10 minutes after she banged it, just before we went out. I texted it to Mum to get a second opinion on whether to get it checked out. (sorry about the crap photo, my mobile camera is not good)

The lump is less pronounced now, her whole forehead is swollen instead.

As a result of the difficulty in getting the munchkin to tolerate a flannel on her head I did buy a Mr Man gel pack to use another time, maybe she’d be happier with that!

I’m snacking so much less. I think that’s the main difference. I just need to make sure that when I come off this and back onto a normal diet that I can keep the snacking down.

In other news…

• I have a new object of desire… There is a new Sims 2 expansion pack and I’m rather tempted. However, spending £90 on a camera and case 3 weeks ago means I have no money. I’m just going to have to save (argh…save…what’s that?!?). It does look good though. Oh, well, only 4 and a bit month to Christmas! Mind you, I’m still rather tempted to order it (and the cheap films I have sitting in my basket - Oceans 11 and 13 and Ratatouille)!
• We had a  lovely friend of mine over for dinner last night. N is someone I went to school with and is part of the group of 7 of us that still meet up frequently (well, they all meet up a lot more as they’re all still in the north…it’s just me who’s not). It was N’s birthday yesterday and she called me on Monday to say that she was staying in a hotel 15 miles fromher yesterday for work and could she come over for dinner as she didn’t want to spend her birthday alone in a restaurant. It was lovely to have a catch up and nice also to have her work pay for our dinner (she has a £15 allowance for evening meals when she’s away with work so paid in Sainsbury’s). Sadly I managed to over cook both the veg and salmon (I’m not quite sure how…), but N was just happy to have company and a good chat on her birthday. Sadly she’s likely to be away when I’m next up north, but hopefully we’ll catch up again soon.
• The munchkin has suddenly developed a huge love of jigsaws. She’s got very good at the ones we have around all the time for her so I dug out a fairly new one this morning (she was given it for Christmas but it was far too hard for her). She’s doing very very well at it on her own. It’s a 36 piece Postman Pat one that’s she’s seen once before. She’s almost completed it all without any help! I think I may be adding a new jigsaw or two to any Amazon order I make!

Back at Christmas Mr H’s GP sister D suggested that he may have a gluten intolerance due to a range of symptoms that have been ongoing. We’ve finally got around to trying to cut gluten out of his diet (and mine to keep him company just for a couple of weeks). We’ve tried to get Mr H’s own GP to give him a blood test to see if it’s likely but so far we haven’t managed (he’s not picked up on the hints D said to mention to him so we may have to just be direct). We’re now trying it ourselves first (though it’s hard work just for a trial, Mr H is wondering about whether to go to the doctor again and just ask directly for the test).

So far we’ve discovered that half the contents of the freezer and cupboard are off limits and that gluten free bread is ridiculously expensive ready made and a bit of a faff to make ourselves. We only started this at the weekend so haven’t seen any differences yet. I’m not expecting to see much difference in me (except possibly my weight as I’m eating a bit less - not that I’ve been weighing myself lately…) but we’re hoping that it’ll help Mr H feel better. His brother was diagnosed with coeliac disease a couple of months ago (also after being prompted by D at Christmas) and there can be a genetic link.

Half of the fun is making lunches for Mr H. He hates cold rice so rice salads are not an option and there is no microwave at work (to try and encourage people to sue the canteen) so he can’t take food in to heat up so it’s a case of buying a jacket potato at work (£2:50+ a day) or me making bread for sandwiches. So guess what we’re doing? Yes, I’m having to bake the bread. We’ve discovered that it doesn’t last even as long as the normal bread I bake so we’re going to have to try slicing the bread as soon as it’s cool and freezing it.

Following this diet is making me realise quite how wheat filled our diet is. We eat a lot of bread and pasta usually, we’re not good at eating a wide range of carbs, even all our cereals are wheat based. We’re having to be a little bit more creative in the kitchen, we’re eating more rice and have plans for jacket potatoes later in the week (not something we often eat, Mr H’s hometime is too variable, I’m just going to have to be strict with him this week!). Dinner tonight is a king prawn stir fry with rice noodles, hopefully the noodles will be ok for Mr H…he’s a fussy sod sometimes!

I’ve also had my eyes opened about the amount of processed and ready prepared food we eat. I’m having to really re-think the way we’re eating. It definitely won’t hurt in the long run!

We met at church when we were both students in Cambridge. We both volunteered to help with the PA system for the evening services at the same time. I didn’t really understand why I had to do it, but I had a strong feeling it was right for me to volunteer. Even though we’d been at the same church for a few months we only (knowingly) met at the student lunch after the morning service on the same day we were starting the evening PA.

A bit over 6 1/2 years

19 days

10 months

11 months.

5 years.

July 26th.

It was around 100. Roughly 1/3 family, 1/3 our friends, 1/3 my parent’s friends (they were paying for absolutely everything and insisted, I did know them all at least, Mr H’s parents were no longer around so couldn’t invite any friends). We married at 3pm and just had one reception, no separate evening thing.

Dad made us a very traditional square cake. The bottom two layers were fruit, the top was sponge (well, lemon madiera as I don’t like fruit cake). He had to make a special plastic mould for the marzipan and royal icing before squeezing in the sponge the day before.

The church in West Yorkshire that I had attended while growing up, which my parents still attend. It was also close enough to where Mr H grew up for his old church friends to come to the service too. The reception was at a local hotel. When we were younger my gran would take us there for the carvery lunch on a Sunday whenever she was staying with us.

We started with melon, then a buffet with hot and cold meats, poatoes, salad etc, followed by a buffet selection of puddings. We wanted our guests to be able to choose what they wanted to eat (and pretty much everyone eats melon).

9, Mr H, myself, 4 bridemaids (my sister and my three youngest girl cousins), best man and my parents.

Yes. Though we don’t have a lot of contact with the best man anymore.

No. But I had a couple of tears during our vows.

I can’t think of single special moment, there were lots throughout the day for different reasons.

Losing track of Mr H during the reception and finding him out in the hotel garden playing tag with my little cousins. During with vicar’s sermon he said that there are only three things you need to remember for a successful marriage and my gran spluttered out from behind me “Only three?” (they were communication, compromise…and one other I can’t remember right now)

Around half our guests were diagnosed with food poisoning (in the form of the norwalk virus) in the days after the wedding. Mr H was also ill with it though not as badly as one guest (hospitalised with dehydration, she couldn’t breastfeed her 3 month old baby). Much of the blame was placed with the hotle in the Health and Safelt Executive investigation, one ofthe chefs had an upset stomach but went back to work in the kitchen before he had been symptom free for 24 hours. However as Dad had made the cake that couldn’t be ruled out either. My parents did, however, get a small reduction on the final bill from the hotel.

This gorgeous, tiny little cottage on the edge of Snowdonia, North Wales.

Two weeks.

<p>20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change?

I think I would make more of an effort to lose weight before the big day. In some photos I look rather pregnant.

The left at the moment (right when looking from the foot), but we do swap over every so often.

King size.

Our shared faith is a huge help, we also come from families with very similar values which means that on many things we have very similar opinions. We know each other very well and can generally predict what reaction the other will have to something (it also makes it very easy for me to buy him presents).

I think the arrival of the munchkin. Within 6 months Mr H graduated from university, he got a job, I left my job, the munchkin was born, Mr H changed jobs and we started house hunting nearer the new job. Most of that was precipitated by the imminent arrival of the munchkin. I don’t regret it now, but there were a lot of changes at once and I’m not good with change. That combined with a bit of PND left me on antidepressants for a few months. There were weeks when I struggled to do anything more than look after the munchkin (and blog occasionally). Mr H was working full time as well as doing all the housework. It was a very hard few months for all of us.

Mr H, he has income, I don’t.

26. What is your song?

We don’t really have a song, however the soundtrack to Shrek is pretty special to us. It was the first film we watched together and we’ve always loved the music. On our honeymoon it was played rather loudly in the car as we drove down the country lanes with the windows open.

Mr H doesn’t do dancing! Hence we didn’t have one.

It was an ivory, duchess satin two piece, with an A line skirt with train and a square necked, boned bodice with purple, pink and clear crystals all over it. This is the best picture I can find of it.

A large mixed posy which included several colours of roses, lilies, lisianthus (sp) and more. It was created my a school friend of my sister’s who had her own floristry business. Looking back I think it was a bit on the large side, but I was more than happy with it then.

No, we didn’t ever consider it.

Don’t worry about what anyone else wants (apart from your fiance(e)) it’s your day, and hopefully you won’t do it again.

Mum has offered to babysit the munchkin for a couple of nights in September in return for us going up to keep an eye on Dad while she goes for a long day away (7am-10pm) with her choir. I think this would be bliss and what we need at the moment, however Mr H keeps bringing up negatives.

Will two nights be enough? Probably not according to Mr H, he thinks only a full week away would help him.
A couple of nights in a hotel (one option) will cost too much money for him to relax (apparently he’ll spend all his time thinking about how much it’s all costing!) - well, yes, it won’t be very cheap, but we can scrape together enough money and we still need some time out. And it gives me time out from cooking and meal planning as the offer we’d use is DBB.
What about the cost in petrol just to drive to my parent’s house?
He suggests some time camping, but that’s somewhat weather dependant (let alone rodent dependant!). It won’t be restful if we go and it’s wet and windy, that’s not conducive to sleeping in a tent!

Argh! I don’t know what we’re going to do, all I do know is we need to do something!

Whatever happens I’ll be going up for that weekend to look after Dad as L starts her now job on the Monday so she can’t go. Mum needs to be able to have her own time out too.

Within 10 minutes of playing with it I’d taken some great shots, and it’s so easy to use. My favourite shot from the first night has to be this one:

(Quite proud of myself there - that’s the first time I’ve been able to put a photo in myself from Flickr!)

Breakfast time this morning also produced some lovely images - and one slightly less lovely…

If you click here you can have a look some of my best shots form the last couple of days. I’m still playing with the settings and experimenting with the best shot facility (where you can choose some preset settings to try and get the best shot for the situation - you think of a situation, it’ll be there - there are 41 options [including 4 for video and one for sound only] and space for you to save one of your own).

I’ve not managed to use it yet, we bought it just before I had to go to church and Mr H didn’t trust himself not to pay with it if I got him to charge the battery while I was out. It’s currently charging. Look out for some new photos tomorrow!