Today I

Today I broke down at a Google advert.  Yup, I'm that person.  God knows, how our children are so precious.  And we're all somebody's child.

The events of the past few days have been harrowing to say the least - a young man, too young, lost his life yesterday.  He was essentially at the time a civilian walking along the street.  And by civilian I mean that he was just like any other person walking along and going about his business.  I'm sure we all know the details of the crime so I won't go into them but it really brings home how precious life is.  The men who committed this murder claimed that they wanted to start a war in this country.  There is no war.  There is no war here, only a handful of extremists, fanatics.  And it saddens me that there are people on the "other" side of the fence who are ready to retaliate.  Against who?  Against innocent people so far separated from the real criminals here.  For me?  I lump the two into the same category.  Those British people who are waging war against people who share a religion with the murderers may as well walk arm in arm with them as far as I am concerned.  They want nothing more than to simply hate and to find a reason, any reason, to hate.  I for one, will hold my children closer, and think of the poor child left fatherless, and then on to all of the children left parentless by mindless violence.

I'll hold my children close, cherish the days I have with my young family, appreciate my family around me and the friends that I hold dear.  I have some truly amazing friends and I don't spend enough time making memories with them or making it known that I love them.  Some true friends that have stood by me through the years through difficult times and good ones.  I'll think hard about what it is exactly I want from life, in addition to all that.  I'll think hard about what I can do to improve myself as a person, and put a little more good in the world where there is so much hatred.  I'll be spending time living my life to the full.

Little Things

I really need to go find me some dandelions.  It's such a strange thing to be caught between far too busy to do things and far too bored with nothing to do.  We're far too busy as a family - now that I'm working after maternity leave has ended and Tom's hours are a bit sucky too, we have one day a week to do things as a family.  The rest of the time us girls are limited to how far our little leggies can carry us or how far the bus goes if we're lucky enough to be let on (damn buggy limits).  I'd much rather do things as a family but for now we spend our time wisely.  I've never hated running errands so much as they take up far too much valuable time!  But yes, I'm going stir crazy with all our bad weather.  Hopefully summer isn't teasing us today and we'll be off out somewhere nice seeing things on our day off this week.

Our Girly Girl

Miss Katie Sofia:

Somehow a girl like me, a bit of a tomboy as a kid, ended up with a very girly first born.  Katie's got a massive thing for ballerinas and fairies right now, so all twirly looking dresses are ballerina dresses.  She does little twirls and kicks and has a love for Happyland fairies.  She also loves pink.  I do wonder whether Freya will be the same - I think all little girls look up to their big sisters.

Freya is doing much better now and has cut her very first tooth while propping herself up on all fours for the first time.  She's been practicing rocking back and forth, but I think she'll be walking before she crawls.  At the rate she's going she'll probably be walking before she actually sits properly.  She's just in such a hurry to go places.

Katie's doing brilliantly too, she's taken to drawing (not on the walls just yet though, give her time!) and loves drawing faces, zig zags and circles.  She's doing really well with her reading considering her age - she can read numbers 4 and 5 and the letter x.  It's something!  I keep trying to get her to write the letter K but she's probably a bit too young as she's not having any of it.  She's started counting all the way up to thirteen, misses a few then counts from sixteen to twenty.  Clever sausage.  I'm very proud of both of my clever little girls.