1. So big new round these parts, the Liverpool Womens NICU has been televised and everyone is commenting on it and asking opinions etc. It has been filmed while i was on maternity leave..obviously…but if you want to watch the next one its on ITV at 9pm next tuesday or you can watch it on itvplayer and catch up with the past two episodes. There are certain members of staff getting a bit of a following and earning some celeb points 🙂 *Coughcoughcoughdrdewhurstcoughcoug*

2. you ever have so many screens open on your desktop that when you pull and shrink them all..you think…woooooaaaahhhh. Not sure if you pc users can do that or if its just a mac thing. 

3. Friday was own school clothes day and it is now i can say how thankful i am that our kids wear uniforms to school. Somewhat stressful start to the morning…i tweeted that i could do with a coffee and cake but obviously i didn't follow through with that. Im not insane enough to think that a coffee shop with a toddler and a very mobile baby is a 'rest' So had to make do with a diet coke and a bit of dairy milk. 

4. we have watched a bit of Glastonbury this weekend. Is it crazy that i would love to go?

5. I have been really blessed recently with some great bookings for my little fledgling photog business. I have met some new faces and also got to know some not so new faces even more which is really really cool. Learning all the time though, i need about another day and a half a week to actually sit down and properly 'learn' 

6. On the flip side of that has been a bit of a lesson in providing a service to people. In that they can just easily flip round and change their minds and you are left with gaps which could have been filled with something else…time for a cancellation policy i think 🙂

7. beach day…

8. three weeks till the end of term! Waahoo…love school being out for summer. although that means its about that same amount of time till i go back to work ….

9. Very excited to meet some special little twins this coming week. Its going to be fun. 

10. My girls (the little ones) got a very official letter this week telling them that they have a 'place' at a mums and tots group in September. You know up here..there are waiting lists for tots groups. Its got to be good right? lol

teamjames

I've been getting ready to schedule a photo shoot for my family… I think our photographer is on vacation right now, but I'm getting closer to booking the session. I really am. Its hard for me… I still feel like it just won't be complete. But, for now this is as complete as our family will be. I know our photographer will do their best at creating the best images for our family. A family, that may be missing a very important member, but is still wonderfully… WONDERFUL!!! 

via 4timesthefun.typepad.com

Brilliant post by a fellow photographer, mummy to many and friend on why you should find time to have some family shots taken. If you are in her area check out the amazing offer she has going right now.

today i went shopping, with two of my five. Matilda is happy sit in the trolley or frolley as she calls it but Jemimah is no fan of the baby seats so i usually carry her in a harness, which at the age of nearly 9 months is not much fun for me. So once i have navigated the huge supermarket aisles with a trolley whose wheels are somewhat possessed….im just about ready to fall into a heap. 

On the way out of this supermarket was a lady trying to sell a subscription to a magazine. I obviously hit her demographic 'cos she pounced on me like a cat on a mouse…but you know what puzzles me..people who start with the words..

'i can see you have your hands full but…'

Now really ideally you want someone to follow that statement with…

'let me get you a cuppa…'

'let me help you out to your car..'

'allow me to carry some shopping or get you a cupcake….'

but no, instead invariably it is followed with…

'this will just take a minute…'

which, of course, is an out and out lie…either that or 60 seconds is a lot longer than i thought it was…..

and i stood politely while she waved her laminated card of coupon benefits and incentives to get me to sign up. Matilda started whining and Jemimah started wriggling and making noise and she clucked and cooed and said 'ahh..she looks tired'…don't you hate that comment!

'No lady..im the one that has just carried this 8kilo baby round a supermarket while pushing a toddler in a psychopathic trolley…its ME who is tired..'

Next time im hoping that im brave enough to look at my watch when they say 'it will just take a minute' and say 'right you have 60 seconds and then im walking'

I did manage to get away without committing to anything, it might have been because in the end the kids wanted lunch or it might have been that salesperson had the scariest finger nails and lip gloss i think i have ever seen outside of a pantomine dame's dressing room! =)

anyway waddayagonnado..?

Signing off tonight with this..i always have a willing queue of models in my house..sometimes they even fight over it….

teamjames

beautiful huh? Well the trick is remembering to feel blessed when those gentle voices are shall we say not quite so gentle right?

After a long hot day, church, lunch out, a long walk home and a ice-lolly in the garden, this was the best we could do. But life with five kids is messy and chaotic and i think it fairly clearly demonstrates that here.  =)

Happy Father's day to these kid's awesome dad and to my own wonderful dad as well. 

teamjames

so, yeah..it happened i turned 40. All that 'trying to stop it' didn't work and it happened, like the tide coming in…its downright inevitable. Happy to report, however, nothing changed…much..nothing fell off, nothing drooped (anymore than normal), nothing ached ..(er…again anymore than normal) and I haven't, as yet, started fantasising about riding off into the sunset on a big harley….

actually thats more of a blokes mid life crisis thing isnt it?

so whats the female equivalent?

Probably best not to know…and don't suggest toy boys people. 'cos i already have me one of them *heh heh* 

Speaking of the hubster, he managed to somehow correlate a book of memories from my friends and family and presented it to me on my birthday. Hand on heart, i didn't look through it much on the day, didn't want mascara running down my face before the party got going and since then life has been frantic and its one of those things that im saving for when i have a bit of 'me time'

*insert hysterical laughing* yeeeah…right..

Anyway to those of you who did contribute I am so incredibly touched and honoured that you would spend time to write down and send me your thoughts…thank you thank you 

One not so good thing about my actual birthday was the downright torrential weather ALL day. One of those days when the weather forecast was BANG on and it started raining when they said it would and stopped when they said it would about 7 hours later just as the last couple of friends were leaving….i think there were people in the garden planning construction of an Ark!…and the kids turned the garden into a mini glastonbury…using all the outdoor play stuff even in the throwing it down rain, even using water pistols. Northern kids are just plain tough. 

Sadly I have hardly any pictures from the day…i know..how lousy is that for someone who takes photographs but i guess if I'm not behind the camera then it, sadly, won't get up and take some pictures for me. But there were a few. 

opening cards first thing. Which i have to say was incredibly early.

I so fell in love with this cake when i saw it. We asked Lizzie Harris to do this cake for me. You can find her incredible cakes here. So, so incredibly talented. We all adored it. The kids loved checking out their 'icing' counterpart. Just.so.clever. 

Another birthday surprise was my aunt, my mum's sister, arriving by train in Liverpool from Brighton and surprising us…which was such a lovely treat..she is a crazy lady =)..just about blew my mum away i think!

So our party ended late afternoon, you know it was a school night n'all. In fact, these days parties don't end in the wee small hours, its sensible times, designated driver, kids need to nap type parties…So for us,  when it all died down, when we had waved folk home with our thanks, appreciation and hugs, tidied up, mopped the floor, put tired and sugar filled children in bed, turned off the wii and the 80's music,  retrieved a few hundred sausage and lolly sticks from under the sofa,  recycled the empties and packed up the left overs……

I sat with a cup of tea and a piece of birthday cake and wondered what the next decade of my life will hold….

bring it …..

=)

teamjames