Water play

Isn't it great, all this fantastic weather - Lets just hope it's not the only sunshine we are going to get - and good weather means water play. Dylan has been dying to get out into the garden to play so mum took him into hers, he loves mums garden, there are so many weird and interesting things to play with and break.

Today though it was just fun playing with buckets of water, getting drenched and chucking water at the cats and dogs.



He has been teething - his molar teeth are coming through and its been painful, Ive been using ambasol which usually has good results but even that hasn't been easing the pain, so it was lovely to seem him today smiling and laughing, just enjoying himself.

I change when my bloke isn't around!

Its true. Ive always laughed at those girls who suddenly stop answering their phones, who change to fit in with the "boyfriend", it seemed strange to me that they mould their personalities to fit with someone else. If the someone else loved them wouldnt they want them to be the same all the time - to be true to themselves?

Today I had the most gorgeous day with my wee man. I've got my bike back up and running and have attached the trailer my papa brought for us. We cycled all the way to Tynemouth (about 4 miles) and joined friends Jo, baby Naiomi, Helen and baby Archie and Annette and Orla. We had coffee and played. Babies running, walking and crawling all over the shop.

Im a clean living mumma who loves her little boy.

Keefe picked up Dylan and took him away.

Without my wee man around I drink, smoke, swear, listen to my car radio so it blows out my ear drums and worst of all drive above the speed limit.

Im a wild child!!!

Its a scary world

I woke this morning to hear this on the news.
Why was this guy so angry that he took a gun and torn the lives from 33 people. What could justify such action?

I turned and cuddled Dylan. It scares me that Im bringing a little human up into such a sad and angry world. What will he accept as the norm in years to come. How can we change it?

Plans of fools

Two posts in one day. Almost too much. But had to blog after my previous post to tell the world about my failed plans.

The last time I made plans I went out with a friend, watched a great movie - cant remember the title, but it was the one with Bridget Jones playing the woman who wrote about bunnies. I then proceeded to get drunk, behave in a rather bizarre manner had a fairly strange night, it was good.

So knowing Keefe was taking Dylan tonight I made plans. I booked tickets to watch another film and got ready. Then Keefe, who was looking after a rather grumpy Dylan, called me at six o'clock to say that Dylan hadn't settled, in fact he had cried from the moment he left me. He said he was bringing him back.

I didn't tell Keefe I had plans. I said "call me if you have any problems", so was my fault that he called? I cancelled my plans and I waited for Keefe to ring me to say he was bringing Dylan back, but he didnt call.

I've spent the night cleaning the house, putting up a blind in Dylan's room (its a real mess but I give up trying to cut a straight line)and drinking wine. Bugger me, the trials and tribulations of being a mommie.

Blogging.

I'm not sure if Ive covered this before but Ive been lax in my blogging recently cause I'm not sure about the direction it's going in. I loved my old blog but felt that I needed one for Dylan, so I started this one, then I found myself just blogging on this one and not on the other, but I find it hard to blog my own feelings on this one because its Dylan's.

I know blogs are whatever you are want them to be about so if this changes direction and you don't like it I suppose I'm saying sorry. Im not like D-Man with a huge readership, frequent updates and post of hillarious content, but at least I will be blogging on a more frequent basis and I suppose the title is ME, MYSELF and Dylan so I can blog about me and not just Dylan.

Can I?
Should I?
or more importantly
Will I!

New cot - big boy

Today Keefe came and helped me prepare Dylans bedroom for the big move. Keefe did all the difficult cuts and I laid the simple (Straight) bits of laminate flooring. Ive already painted the walls - blue of course - and put up his pictures.

It felt strange preparing his room away from me but its time. Whenever I go to bed I wake him with my snuffling about, tonight it will be nice to climb into bed, switch on my bedside lamp and read without guilt. Ive place a box by the side of my bed so he can get into my bed unassisted.

We just had a trial run. At about 10.30 tonight Dylan woke up and cried out. When I went into the bedroom, his bedroom, he was sitting in his bed just waiting for me. With the light from the hallway he proceeded to inspect his room, pointing at all the pictures and things I have hanging from the ceiling for him. "Ohhh", "Ahhh" and our favourite "Eeee", accompanied by him patting his chest and grinning. Once the room had passed inspection he toddled into my r and had a good look round, checked out the bed by climbing on it,(the box worked) climbed off after pulling the cats tail and toddled back to his room where he climbed back into his bed and went to sleep.

My baby aint a baby no more. He is a toddler - with his own room.

Birthday boy

I wasn't going to have a party, because there are so many parties for us to attend this month, but then it hit me that it is just not the done thing to NOT have that first birthday party picture.

So in my usual haphazard way I sent out emails to friends and family and then ran round all day yesterday attempting to get the house, myself and Dylan organised for the said party.

After scrubbing floors, cleaning windows (why do I put myself through this) baking a cake - a whole fiasco that deserves its own blog, but not got the time - I finally filled up my wine glass and welcomed Jo, Becki and Josh (my next door neighbours) as our first guests.

From then on it was just one wonderful guest after another, Kath (From the theatre) Daniel (Keefe's son), Malcolm, My mum and dad, Nicky and Rob, Rich, Andrea and Kiera, Annemarie and Ged, Carol and her two grandsons Nathan and Costa, Sue and Jack, Julie and Eva, Annette and Orla, and Sue - without Mathew cause of chickenpox - it was a mad 3 hours but totally lovely and I really appreciate the effort that everyone made in coming on such short notice.

Dylan finally allowed me to put him down at 4.30 and slept for a whole 35 minutes - he is just so bally nosey.

Keefe left with Malcolm, Daniel and my baby boy and I filled up my wine glass, ate the last of the pringles and humus and chilled.

Fabtastic - Happy Birthday Dylan, I love you so much.

PS Camera broken so cant download any more pictures - WAHHHHHHHH!!!

New Shoes

Nanny San got so excited at the prospect of buying new shoes today that instead of going off and doing the weekly shop we went to Clarks and brought Dylan not one but two pairs of shoes.

I have to say the service was lovely, they made it such a special occassion. Measuring up his little feet and trying on several styles before settling with the ones we did.

They even take little pictures so you can remember the day. Still to be scanned so for the time being here's a couple of pics of the wee man in his shoes.





Dylan was, as usual, a total star and once he got his new shoes walked round the shop flirting with the staff and generally enjoying his new freedom.

I felt a huge lump in my throat cause he really is developing into a little person and its finally hitting me that this is all very much for real. Its taken me a while but Im so very happy and content!

Sex Bomb

This one is for all the girls out there, who didnt get a valentines day card (like me).

My very own little sex bomb





I just know he will kill me for photo's in this blog. But hey, Im his mommie and Im allowed!!

My baby is walking.

Dylan has been bimbiling for the last couple of months, I was convinced that he was going to walk before Christmas but he just took a couple of steps and then dropped to the floor to resume his crawl.

But this last week he has been taking a few more tentative steps and tonight he walked right across the living room, raised his arms and grinned like an idiot. Suddenly he has found his feet and he is Loving it.

This video was captured a week after this post, but captures him perfectly.


My baby is a big boy!!!

Keeping your child occupied

There are lots of ways for us mums to keep our little ones busy whilst we do the things in life we are meant to be doing - cleaning, cooking, eating cookies but we have to bear in mind health and safety and the whole childhood abuse thing.

So what did I do...



It was very good whilst I let him play with the toilet roll



But once I tried to take it away

He's becoming such a little personality, knowing exactly what he wants and what he doesnt.

Work - its a big yes

Well I went into work and it wasnt too bad, it was actually quite good. I talked to Mick and laid all my cards on the table. I told him how I felt and asked for his help and support. We talked lots and were open and and grown up about the whole thing.

Not sure if it was the depression clouding my view, or just fear, but Mick was actually lovely and made the whole process of coming back really easy. He isnt the bad guy I was fighting with last year. Perhaps as Ive found myself again my perceptions of people will change. My first week was actually enjoyable, I felt as if I could do it.

Dylan loved spending his time with Nanny San and I so looked forward to seeing him after a days work. Our days off were spent just enjoying being with each other.

Say hello to the new positive Shannon. Part time ICT Tutor and full time mommie.

Back to work - Wahhhhh

Yes tomorrow is the big day! I'm returning to work, fighting with Mick the Mawanker and attempting to keep my sanity. Ive got myself organised, bags packed for Dylan and me. My uniform has been firmly placed in the bin and Ive raided George at Asda for cheap work trousers and a couple of tops that don't make me look like a frump. I'm sat here a little bit apprehensive about returning to work but no where as nervous as I was last time.

Dylan and I have been really lucky in a way to have this extra time together. I know I shouldn't be looking at sick leave as "lucky" but Ive seen him grown so much in this last four months that I feel confident he and I are both ready to face the big wide world again.

I'm feeling pretty positive. Pretty certain of what I want to be doing and where I need to be going. Now I just have to hope that Mick and NTC will let me do what I do best (No not blog and surf the Internet)but teach and interact with people - enthuse them about computers and learning.

And how is Dylan doing this week. Well he has started pointing at things and naming them. Obviously nothing he is saying as yet is really intelligible but he definitely has set words for certain things. Mum and Dad's dog is "oof" and the various cats are always screeched at with "at". I'm sometimes "mama", but more often that not I just get raspberries blown on me. K is addressed as "Da" which makes him smile no end.

He now has 8 teeth, four on the top and four on the bottom. All of which seem to have caused a sore bottom and sleepless nights. But he is now eating like a little pig and loving almost everything. The only thing he has so far "yucked" is mackerel and Lychee's. But I keep on trying them!

He is going to mum for child care. I'm really happy about it but do fear I'm going to have a child who is 8 stone before he is two as mum seems to think the best way to stop him crying is to give him his treat box (Which he already pulls out of the cupboard by himself). She also believes in old fashioned ways of child minding - this included sink bathing....



Yes that is an apple he has in there with him. Lets face it, if he's in the water and eating he wont get messy!!!

HELP!!!

Dylan the Elf

Ho HO Ho... think I might be a bit late with this one, but just found these pics and had to do a blog to show them.

At our last week of Sing and sign we had a Christams session. All the babies were supposed to come in fancy dress. Unfortunately, Jo, Annette, Suzanne and I seemed to be the only ones who were in on the secret, but with our Reindeer and snowmen hats, we sat in festive costume not careing one iota if we looked silly.

Dylan of course looked gorgeous - if slightly sulky. He wouldnt keep his cotton wool beard on and was teething a bit. But cute!!!


Could this be his first kiss with Niaomi?



I actually think he was after her dummy, but in years to come that little snippet of information will have been forgotten.

Walking with the girls.

Just a quick blog, and not really about anything, but this morning whilst Annette, Jo and I walked to Sing and Sign I took this picture. Just think it was gorgeous!



Sometimes when I walk with these two they turn my world upside down with thier questions. Today though we pretty much walked in silence just enjoying the park.

Bath time with bubbles.

Oh my, we had fun - Dylan is now sitting happily in the bath on his own, although he does prefer to be in his seat. I think it gives him greater security when splashing water and attempting to drown the toys, of which there are numerous all with very strange names.

K is primary bather - and the toys have names like "Freddie Frog" who comes from the Bahamas and talks in a very pronounced accent, or "Polly Penguin" who is from "Africa" (HUH!). Generally I sit on the top of the stairs grinning, listening to the chatter. Dylan gurgles, yells and giggles his way through the stories K tells him, trying his best to get him as wet as possible.

Today K called me into the bathroom to view our very own little bearded Pixie.



Things are getting easier between the two of us and I think this is reflected in our attitudes towards each other. Ive become, with the aid of my happy pills, a lot more relaxed and in relaxing the little things that would have wound me up before no longer bother me.

Get me I didn't hoover this weekend, or dust - and not for the first time. And the Bathroom is on my list of things to do, so please no comments about the lovely tiles in the background.

First real bout of sickness.

Dylan has been really poorly this last week. He had a serious bout of diarrhea. Last Saturday it was bad, really bad!

This week he has had such appalling nappy rash, caused I'm told, through the acidic pooh. I tried all sorts of creams but you know what worked best? Egg White. Yep smeared liberally over the offending area and left to dry.

We had lots of nappy time, which meant several small "accidents" but I really didn't mind cause laminate flooring can be easily cleaned.

Dylan smiled through most of the week, even though he was obviously in a lot of discomfort, today was his first "hard poo". Too much information Helen? Anyway I was a lot happier to let him go off with his dad knowing that he was getting better.

Drunken weekend.

Had a very drunken sleep deprived week and weekend with Bridget. I think the best part was actually allowing myself to get drunk and not sleep. Do the things I used to do with my girlfriends.

Chat, drink and talk crap.

Dylan suffered in no way at all. In fact the few times he woke and we brought him downstairs he entertained us quite nicely. If not for Dylan I probably wouldnt have gotten to bed at 6am on Saturday morning.....

We did a quick ticky tour round Newcastle - seeing the Baltic gallery and the Quayside (we got a ticket -BOO) and enjoyed an ice cream.

Saturday night we joined Annmarie and watched "Miss Potter" a lovely chic flic and a great way to spend the evening. Catching up with Bridget was lovely and I really enjoyed our time together. Im not sure who was leading whom astray but a good time was had by both of us.

Bridgets First Night in Newcastle

She drove through wind and howling gales. The sleet slashed against her windows and my directions were, as normal, a little bit crap. But eventually she found her way to us.

Dylan took to Bridget right away, smiling at her throughout his tea and flirting like a little flirty thang.



We started the evening quite sensibly, but two bottles of wine later, half a bottle of vodka(Just me) and a whole box of very luxurious chocolates Dylan was invited downstairs to join us.



Both Dylan and Tina were rather upset at just being given the empty box.



But soon found a way to entertain himself



Took me and Bridget at least another hour.... we should have followed Dylan's good example.

Arghhhhh

I have at least six posts but cannot get pics from Photobucket to reduce in size so am scuppered...

Anyone got any ideas.

Contact me

PLEASE!!!!