Happy Birthday Chloe !!!!!!

My baby girl was born eight years ago tomorrow. I remember this night eight years ago.I was so excited to know that I would have the baby who had been kicking and hiccuping every night - just as I feel asleep, for so long. She was very comfy apparently - the nurses had attempted to induce me 3 times and failed miserably. Chloe had to be born by C-Section in the end as there were a few things that doctors were concerned about if I had a natural birth - the cord was lower down than she was and had the cord come out first it could be a risk for the baby. So I went down to the operating theatre at about 11am and I remember getting really nervous at this point. But it wasnt so bad. The worst part was having the injection in my spine. They gave me gas and air to help at this point and I rememeber bursting out with laughter for no reason, and then bursting into tears right after. But once the anaesthetic had kicked in and Matt was sitting by me, I was very relaxed. Chloe was still reluctant to come out and they had to use forceps to get her out in the end. She was crying when the nurse brought her over to me. She laid her down next to my head and I said my first hello. At the sound of my voice, she stopped crying and moved her head towards mine. It was the sweetest moment. I saw her face properly for the first time and was in awe at how amazing she was. She was a dream baby, she slept when I wanted her to, she was a good eater. She didn't cry very much at all. I had to stay in the hospital for about 5 days after the C-section and I would spend hours just staring at her. Instant obsession! I couldn't sleep, but not in a bad way. I didn't want to waste time that I could spend admiring her. She was funny right from the start too. She would pull the cutest faces and when she sneezed she made a really cute little noise after that always made me laugh, even though laughing hurt :-)

This last year has been hard for Chloe, she has moved away from her home town, away from her aunt and uncle Leanne and Dan who lived with us and who Chloe is very very close to. Away from her family in Wolverhampton, away from her school friends who she still misses a lot, and into a new country in a completely different environment and she has had to adapt to a completely new life. I'm very proud of how she has coped with this - and soon she will have to do it all over again. Two new schools in the space of a year for Chloe but I am very hopeful that this move will turn out to be a good thing for her. I hope living in a place where there is more to do, more children who are potential friends, and somewhere that is more like what she became used to in Wolverhampton will be good for her.


So tomorrow my baby girl turns 8! We made a birthday cake together today. Chloe wanted a rich chocolate cake, so that is what she has. I can't wait to eat it. It looks so scrum!

I am looking forward to tomorrow. Laura came up from Deal last night and surprised Chloe so she will be here for Chloe's birthday. She has a fair few presents to open, we are going to Geronimo's play area, which is in Rhyl just round the corner from the new house. If Chloe is feeling brave she may go on the drop slide!!! Then we are going to Toys R Us so Chloe can spend her birthday money, and out for dinner at Frankie and Benny's - yum!!!

 

I'm sure Chloe knows how much I love her, but tomorrow she is going to have no doubt at all that she is a very special 8 year old. Happy Birthday Chloe, I love you loads and loads babe.

Love Mum xxxx

 

And the moving begins....

Yesterday we had the keys to the new house for the day. We managed to move 6 car loads of furniture over to the new house. They have put a new carpet down in the living room which matches our couch so we are really pleased with that. It makes a massive difference to the room, which looked a bit shabby with the old carpet, but it looks really cosy now and I cannot wait to start living there!
Matt's parents, Sue and Dave came to stay for the day and helped us out with the kids while we moved the furniture and they came to see the house and helped lug some of the stuff - THANK YOU!!! 
This time I remembered to get some photos of the house so I will add them below, there are quite a lot....

I really think this house is going to suit us perfectly and is going to be much more cosy than this bungalow. I can't wait to start living there!!

We went out for a meal last night at a pub called the Ffrith. Its the first meal we have had out with Sue and Dave for almost a year and it was really nice - apart from Eden grabbing my plate- one of the metal 'sizzler' plates, and burning her little hand :( But I got her some ice which she munched on happily for a while and she is fine now. She ate meatballs and spaghetti - with her hands!

Jemma amused us all greatly by ordering half a roast chicken and then saying she doesn't like eating meat off the bone! I had ribs and chicken. Its the first time I have ever had a rack of ribs, and it won't be the last! Yummmy. Chloe covered her plate in pepper -d'oh! But she made up for it after by eating all her pudding and most of Jemma's too!
I was absolutely knackered last night and today my arms hurt from all the lifting, but I am so excited about the move! These two weeks are going to crawl by! This place is still falling apart. It appears the septic tank isn't working again due to all the raw sewage that has backed up into the back garden again - just horrendous, and if the landlady DARES to attempt to keep any of the deposit she is going to meet the full extent of my wrath. After what we have put up with in this house she should feel grateful to have had the rent paid on it for that last year, let alone anything else. So I am perfectly willing to seek legal help if she tries to wangle the deposit from us. 
I hope it doesn't come to that though and I just feel grateful that we will be moving to a normal house, with normal drainage, gas and electric supplies! I pray the new house doesnt prove to be a pain in the ass like this one has!
Right I am off now, we actually have some space here now to store boxes and I want to get something done today.
Two weeks, two weeks two weeks!!!

Jem again.

Jemma starts her new job today! Good luck Jemma! I hope you love it and I am sure they will love you. I forgot to mention in the last blog I posted, how proud I am of Jemma. She moved away from her home town, to pretty much the middle of nowhere and in the time she has been with us she has turned her life around.
I've seen her conciously make the descision to try to get a life for herself. To get up in the morning, to take care of herself and to not allow bordom and lethargy get the better of her. 
Well done Jemma, you've kept the smile on your face and I have loved having you here so much. I hope you love your job and Rhyl and make loads of amazing friends, because you deserve to be as happy as can be. Love you Jemma and GOOD LUCK TODAY!

 

Water Babies

Today we went to see the new house in Rhyl again. It is actually even nicer than I remember! I am really looking forward to moving there now. I had intended to take a load of pictures to put on here, but I completely forgot. That will have to wait until we are in the house now. This bungalow does not seem like home at all anymore, I have completely detached myself from this house now and it wasnt hard to be honest with all the negative things that have happened lately. Can't wait feel at home again.

After we went to see the house again we took the girls swimming. It was really good to see them in the water again. Chloe LOVES swimming, and Eden loves it just as much judging by the way she was in the water today. When she was a tiny baby I took her to Water Babies and I am so glad I did.


She remembers all the things she learnt, even though it has been about 5 months since she last went swimming.

Eden at one of her first Water babies lessons.

The water in the learner pool came to just under Eden's chin when she stood up, but she would NOT let me hold her. She was walking and jumping and when I held her she was kicking and doing tigerarms and everything. She's such a clever babba. Chloe swims like a fish too now, and I have promised her that I will take her swimming once every month from now on. I told her if I don't take her I have to have a punishment and she decided my punishment would be that I would have to cook her a feast!!

Well thats it from me for today, Being Human is on! Byeeeeee xxxxx

Day Off - yeah right!

I've been so busy lately. Three weeks working full time and a trip to Wolverhampton and then to Deal during the weekends. I've been looking forward to today thinking I could actually have a day off!! Nope. My car failed its MOT so I had to walk Chloe to school and will have to walk to pick her up and this house is a proper TIP. I've spent this morning tidying and doing some bits for a task at uni. To top it off the tap in the kitchen is busted and we have had to turn the water supply off. So we can't have a bath, use the toilet, have a drink and once again we have no heating and we're freezing :-(
My car needs new number plates on front and back and a list of penickity things like head lights aiming too high and lose bulbs, plus new brake pads. This is gonna set us back £300 and we could do without that right now. If only money grew on trees!

I can dream!

 

Laura

There is no way I could blog about Jemma without mentioning her sister Laura. Laura is younger than Jemma and attending a Grammer school. Currently she is studying hard for her GCSE's. She's coming to stop with us at the end of February and has timed it so she can be here for Chloe's birthday. Chloe is gonna LOVE her being here. Its a surprise too, so I think Chloe will feel really special so thank you Lou!
I remember Laura as a baby was soooooo funny. She literally had NO fear and would chuck herself all over the place and laugh her head off. She became a gymnast at a young age and I was amazed the times that I watched her in competitions - she could flip and somersault and EVRYFING!! Not only is she clever she is also extremely beautiful - YES you are Laura :-P

 

 

 

Laura x

I think the world of these girls. Love you millions Jem and Lou xxxxx

Jemma

This blog is dedicated to my gorgeous niece Jemma. She has been living with us since September and in that time she has been dabbling in photography. She has a massive collection that I hope she will turn into a portfolio and possibly sell someday - they should be seen for sure. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

 

She's pretty talented don't you agree?? :-) 

She's starting a new job soon so GOOD LUCK Jem xxxxx Love you honey.

 

 

Weekend in Deal.

I'm off to Deal tomorrow night for the first time in over a year. My nephew is over from Oz and I am gonna see him for the first time in YEARS. I can't wait to see all the family, its been waaaaaay too long. 

My family in Deal - this isn't everyone but here we have: Me, Matt,Eden, Chloe, Peter, Mum, Laura, Shannon, Marg, Billy & Kt Emily, Jane, Jenny, William, Carolyn, Judy, Willy xxxxxxx

My sister has been through a rough time recently and I can't wait to see her and give her a hug. I'm at my Dad's at the moment and he has a lovely picture of me and my sister that was taken about 8 years ago so I took a picture of it to post here - 

 

Love you Judy xxx

While I am talking about my family in Deal I should mention my Mummy. She has been struggling to get around lately and over the last couple of years it has got much much worse. She has had a bad hip for many years due to an horrific accident she had when she was around 20. She also sufferes with a condition called Schlorederma. This condition is pretty rare and she has not really had any clear answers from the doctors as little is really known and each case is unique so they can't even properly advise my Mum on what she can expect. Very often if something is hurting she puts it down to this. Recently she had an x-ray on her knee and the doctors have put her on a waiting list for a replacement knee. We are hoping that this operation will give her a new lease of life. It may be her Quezacotl - bringing new life back to her, and she may even be able to manage stairs again!! It would be great to see my Mum up and about and not in so much pain all the time. So fingers, toes, legs, arms, everything are crossed that this operation is a success and that she wont have to wait too long. I'm picturing nice walks along Rhyl beach this summer with my Mum and my girls. 

Rhyl Promenade

 

On a completely different subject I saw the most bizarre sign in a Children's centre on Monday. Chloe's appointment was at 1.30 and I was there from 1.20. I spent half an hour staring at this bloody sign before being told I had been sent to the wrong department. I had been wondering why they would why want a defibrilator station in a children's department!

30 minutes of my life wasted staring at this sign.

Bad week!

Miniture disasters afoot in the Dawes household this week. Saturday morning we noticed the boiler wasn't firing. This house gets its gas through a bulk storage tank, and the tank was completely empty!
We placed an emergency order, but they still didnt get the gas out to us until this morning (yay). However, this morning when we woke up we had no electric! One of the cables has blown and not only that but the vehicles were blocking our private road so we were stuck in the house. They told us that they were unlikely to fix the broken cable before 8pm tonight, so we all got in the car and have come to my Dad's in Manchester :-)
Its so warm here! Bliss. 
At least we know when we go home we will have heating, hot water and I will be able to have a bath!! Its amazing the things you take for granted - just being warm and being able to wash, so basic, but when you don't have them it makes life miserable!

But, when you put it in perspective its nothing really. Yesterday I read about a woman who has lost all four of her children in a house fire. The eldest was a nine year old boy and the youngest a two year old girl. She also had another girl and boy. She managed to get out, then tried to get back in to save her children. Two died in the blaze and two were taken to hospital, but died that night. 

The mother has been in the back of my mind since I read about this. To stop a mother from going and trying to save her babies is not the most humane thing to do - I know in that situation that I would want to be trying to get them and if I died trying so be it. I can't imagine what the mother of these poor kids is living through, it must the closet to hell that you can get. So being cold, having no telly, no bath, its nothing because right now my girls are well and happy and we're together. That means I am as happy as can be xxxxx

Moving On.

Petamy

The above picture is the bungalow we have been living in since April last year. We love this bungalow, despite the fact that it has given us nothing but trouble since the day we moved in! First was the problem of turning the water on and subsequently having gallons of water pouring down the walls and through the ceiling in the hallway, bathroom and Chloe's bedroom. Second, the boiler had not been saftey checked before we moved in and we had no heating or hot water for the first two weeks. We then thought that we would still be able to shower as the shower was electric, but no. The shower had not been wired in. Since then we have had leaks in the roof and mould coming up through the floor in the backroom due to lack of damp proofing. On top of that I had the lovely discovery in the middle of a very hot summer of a giant pile of raw sewage in our back garden! The drainage here is a septic tank and as the tank had not been maintained at all it was competely useless and the sewage just backed up until it spilled out into the garden - nice.

So, last week we had an e-mail informing us that the landlady wants to sell up. We would be given two months notice if there was an offer on the house - as if any fool would buy this money pit! So we thought we would take our fate into our own hands and find somewhere else to live, so we did!

Welcome to our new humble abode! This is a very big Victorian house in Rhyl. Its not the most modern of houses, but we can live with a bit of retro decor, I actually think its really cosy :-)

Its going to be odd going from a bungalow to a house, with stairs. Eden loves stairs. They are going to be a novelty to her for a while and I am having visions of her using a tray to bobsleigh down them :/

The rooms are all a decent size and we have a front room with an archway through to a back room, and then towards the back of the house is another room which we will use as the dining room:

The location is great. We will no longer be in the middle of nowhere and will be living amongst civilisation once again. We will be a two minutes walk from the beach and the town. There is a fair and indoor play area for the kids and it is just down the road from one of Chloe's favorite places -Rhyl Sun Centre.

For Jemma - our niece who lives with us, it is a 20 mintues walk from the place she is just about to start working at, and she will be walking past a skate park twice a day! We are hoping it won't take long for her to make friends :-)

For Matt there is a Bargin Madness within walking distance - all his Christmasses have come at once! 

For me, I am gonna love living by the sea again. The particular area we are in reminds me a lot of the North End of Deal and that is a very sweet thing for me. Being able to walk along the beach whenever I feel like it is something that is going to bring back so many memories of my home town :-D

So we have a busy time ahead. I have to sort out my car first - MOT is due and it is making a horrible screeching noise lately - not good. I am gonna have to change doctors asap as I am in need of a gynacoloy appointment very soon - it dawned on me today that I haven't had a erm, check up (lol) for a looong time - before Chloe was born and she is 8 soon! naughty me!! But there is a well woman clinic very close by, so thats not too much of a problem. We are gonna have to change our address at the banks and all the tedious, boring form filling and phone calls that come with moving, as well as all the packing and actual moving - and I am going to be back at uni soon so the timing is pretty bad. oh. joy.

But I am looking forward to it and am feeling very postive about the whole thing. I hope we are happy there, and have a sneaking feeling we will be there for a long time - I hope so anyway because moving is a pain in the backside!!!!